Janurary 10th, 1989
SHIELD Base Triskelion, Washington DC

"This was not what I had in mind when I told you that the kid wasn't the priority, Coulson!"

If it was possible for the veins in Fury's neck to stick out any further, Coulson didn't want to know. He didn't have much choice but to stand there and take the tongue lashing. He hadn't told anyone about his plan for Barton and had made the call to recruit him on his own, in the field. He expected this reaction.

"Yes, sir," Coulson acknowledged.

"What on God's green Earth has gotten into you?" Fury roared. "I send you to recover dangerous contraband and you come back with an eighteen-year-old circus punk!"

"And the dangerous contraband, sir," Coulson added.

"Did I say it was time to give me lip?"

"No, sir," Coulson replied, fighting hard to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching up.

"Just where do you get off bringin' in a recruit without even getting permission to do the recruiting? You know full well that's not anywhere in SHIELD SOP. So please tell me where you got the crazy notion that it's a good idea!"

Coulson held his tongue. He had been ordered not to give any lip, after all.

Fury gave a resigned sigh, folding his arms across his chest. "It was me, wasn't it?"

Still, Coulson didn't say anything. Only gave an acknowledging shrug.

Fury tossed his hands up and made his way back to the chair behind his desk. "All right, go," he said, flopping into it and waving a hand. "Lip away."

"Barton's marksmanship is off the charts," Coulson said, "and he's got a natural talent for stealth and undercover work, both of which I experienced first hand. If he can trick someone who's known him for years without any training, imagine what he can do with some."

"Okay, you got my attention," Fury allowed, "but that doesn't explain why you had to take two days to drive back from Texas with the kid instead of taking a three-hour flight out of Houston."

"Barton has trust issues," Coulson stated, "not too surprising, given his background. Wanted to take some time for him to get comfortable with the idea and get to know SHIELD without a life-destroying crisis happening all around him."

"Sounds to me like you've already decided on a plan for him," Fury stated, suspiciously.

"It's my recommendation that his training isn't through SHIELD Academy, as normal," said Coulson.

"Why? From the way you're goin' on, it sounds like he would stride through Operations breaking records like he's bustin' through paper."

"It's not the skill training that's the problem," Coulson said, "it's the interpersonal training. Everyone he's ever supposed to have been able to trust has tossed him aside or worse. He needs to know that he can trust the rest of SHIELD or it's not going to work out."

"What, exactly, did you have in mind?" Fury asked.

"Place him with an SO to begin with. Give him a bridge between him and the rest of SHIELD. Someone who can focus on his training and introduce him to the rest of SHIELD in the way he needs."

Fury considered this for a moment, flipping through the assessment file Coulson had handed him. The moment stretched on long and for a moment Coulson was worried that Fury was going to toss him out of his office and toss Barton out on his ass.

"Well, then, based on the assessment of the recruiting agent," Fury said at last, "that is the method of training that I am endorsing. But, the final word is down to Director Carter. I'm not officially the Director yet. She's just letting me make the big decisions more and more. But I doubt she'll disagree."

"In that case, sir," Coulson said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a piece of paper that he unfolded and handed to Fury, "I have a list of potential agents that I think would be a good match as an SO for Barton."

Fury took the paper and gave it a cursory glance, then he crumpled it up and tossed it into the waste basket. "Nope," he said, "I have someone else in mind."

"Sir?"

Fury pointed at Coulson.

"Sir, you know I'm only a level five agent. Supervising Officers are required to be level six or above."

"Hell, Coulson, I'm getting a promotion," Fury replied, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a binder that he slid across to Coulson, "I see no reason not to spread around the love a little. Welcome to level six. A worse punishment for your actions on this mission I can't come up with."

Coulson reached for the binder with a confused look on his face. This, he had not expected. Not in the slightest.

"Now," Fury continued, getting back up from his chair again and making his way to the office door, "let's meet this wonderkind of yours."

Fury was first through the door out into the spacious waiting area outside of his office, Coulson hot on his heels. Barton was there, sitting in the black leather couch and his feet up on the coffee table, absently paging through a magazine on motorcycles. He looked up when they came in the room.

Fury looked at Barton for a long moment. For his part, Barton looked up at the one-eyed-almost-Director of SHIELD with a look of trepidation. He seemed surprised into a sort of paralysis by the gaze. Fury turned his attention back to Coulson.

"Coulson," he said, "does your new recruit have his boots on my coffee table?"

"Looks like, sir," Coulson replied.

This seemed to galvanize Barton into action. He jumped out of the couch, tossing the magazine back on the table. It skidded off the side and fell on the floor and he hastily picked it up and set it on the table again.

Fury's one eye looked back and forth between Coulson and Barton. "You two deserve each other. Get started."

With that, Fury went back into his office and closed the door behind him.

Coulson and Barton both stared at the closed door for a long moment, an awkward silence settling over them.

"So, what does he mean by that?" Barton asked tentatively.

"It means I'm your new Supervising Officer, in charge of your training," Coulson said, then turned toward the exit out to the hallway, "c'mon."

"Wha... where are we going?" Barton asked, rushing to catch up. "Like, paperwork and stuff?"

"We'll start on that tomorrow," Coulson replied, "we're taking some time to relax for the rest of the day. How are you with cars?"

"Cars?"

"Yeah. Restoring them, maintaining them, general tinkering."

"Guess I never really thought about it. Why?"

"We're going down to the garage," Coulson replied, "I'm gonna introduce you to Lola."

Thanks for reading, everyone. This concludes part one. I've got a couple of other stories in mind, but it seemed better to split them up rather than keep going with one, obscenely long story that was clearly more than one story. I'm going to get to work on part two, if it will finish gelling together.

In the meantime, if you want more of a peek into my headcanon, check out "Out in the Cold." It's my take on what Clint was doing during Captain America: The Winter Solider. It has some small hints about what might be happening in part two of SHIELD Origins: Hawkeye.

Until later!