"Are my eye deceiving me, or was that really Agent Clint Barton who followed you onto this plane, Skye?" Simmons gushes as she walks into the common area, Fittz quickly behind on her heels.

"You know about him?" Skye asks confused why Simmons is fangirling over a operations agent, instead of her usual sciencey types.

"Everyone is SHIELD knows about Agent Barton. I mean, the man is a marvel. The say he can't miss with a bow."

"He's a living scientific improbability." Fittz chimes in.

"I heard he practices with the bow for hours in a day. OMG, Skye do you think he's working with us?"

"As far as I know, he's just here to visit with Coulson." Skye says still a bit starstruck herself.

"Did you know, Coulson was once his handler." Fittz recites.

"Did you know, that Coulson was the one who recruited Agent Barton to SHIELD, against direct orders from the council itself."

"I actually did." Both Fittz and Simmons are temporarily taken off guard by Skye's answer. "He's an Avenger, who wouldn't want to know more about him. I read his file." She shrugs and the other two share looks of understanding.

"I hate to break up the Agent Barton fan club meeting, but would you three please focus on the fact that Coulson might be bringing a wild card onto this team."

"Agent Barton is not a wild card." Simmons scoffs.

"On the contrary, he's one of SHIELD's most dedicated agents."

"Who has murdered hundreds of operatives."

"While being controlled by Loki." Fittz says defensively.

"He's an assassin." Ward stresses. "He's killed others under free will.

"You're such a negative nelly." Fittz says before turning back to Skye. "So where is Agent Barton?"

"He and Coulson went into Coulson's office." Skye answers. "Agent Barton seemed to have some beef with Phil, so they're hashing it out. Might take a while, Barton was really not happy when he came here."

"Not surprising." Fittz says. "Agent Coulson was not only the man who saved Barton from himself by bringing him into SHIELD but he was also Barton's handler for years. Agents who knew the two while they worked together say that they were incredibly close. Must be hard for him, finding out that Coulson never really died."

"If you want to gossip." May says walking into the room from the cockpit. "At least get all your facts straight. You're right that Barton and Coulson were close, think of a father son relationship. But they started falling at odds ages before Loki, Barton, for lack of better wording, has always been difficult. Coulson started calling their arguments the rebellious teenage years. He and Barton stopped seeing eye to eye on somethings. But they still worked together, Barton is one of the best. Don't ever tell him that, but he is. But so is Coulson, that's how Barton got to be the man he is today. Coulson made Barton, but Coulson, at one point was also responsible for tearing Barton apart." Agent May answers.

"That wasn't exactly what I sensed. Barton wasn't angry, or resentful. He was sad, he felt pain so deep that he couldn't stop feeling it."

"Agent Barton has had a hard life. Harder than most, ever have to even dream of having. Don't ever mention this around him, but he's a mess. Always has been, probably is more of one than ever. He needs Coulson to help clean himself back up off of the ground."

"Mess or not, I hope he stays to help us on our next assignment." Simmons is lost is a daydream.

"Why are you two so excited to see him in action, I mean I understand, he's Hawkeye. But you two are over the moon."

"You must have not read all of his file, if you're confused. Agents Barton and Romanoff are living legends, Skye. It's ever agent's dream to work with them."

"It's not mine." Ward chimes in. "Now, is anyone going to address the fact that Skye brought a dangerous operative onto this plane with absolutely no authorization."

May glares at Ward. "The last thing Agent Barton is, is dangerous. I understand you have your difference with him, Ward, but there is no need to spout lies about him."

"He killed hundreds of operatives in a month, mind control or not, I say that's dangerous. And if what you say is true and he's unstable emotionally, then I really don't want him working with me."

"Agent Barton, regrettably, attacked those agents while under alien mind control. You know that. And as for his emotional state, Coulson will take care of that. I have full confidence, Ward, that Barton is no more a threat to anyone on this plane then I am. I want you to say nothing more on the subject."

"What do you think they're talking about?" Skye interrupts the two senior agents before Ward can reply.

"It's none of our business." May barks, taking a seat on the couch to make sure that no one attempts to spy. Her efforts however are moot for at that moment Coulson's office door opens.

"You guys better not be having a party out here without us." Coulson teases. "You don't want to miss Agent Barton's robot impression." Clint smirks, but offers to do no such thing. Ignoring the others he turns to May.

"Seems as Coulson won't let me off this place until we land, you mind if I drive. I haven't had the privilege to drive anything bigger than a Quinjet in a long time, and I miss it."

"Would saying no stop you?" May asks raising an eyebrow.

"Not at all, I was just trying to be polite."

"It's all yours, I trust you remember your way around."

"It may be a while since I've been here, but it takes a lot to forget a control room like that. I think I'll be fine. Afterall I did live on this plane for a year."

"How did he live on this plane?" Ward asks once Barton has sealed himself into the cockpit. "I thought this was new."

"I said refurbished." Coulson corrects. "Agent Barton crash landed this aircraft about ten years back. Took ages for SHIELD to find us, eventually they came back for the plane. Took even longer for them to put it back into working order, but eventually everything came into place as it should be."

"He's crashed this exact plane before and nobody sees a problem with letting him drive?." Ward stutters in disbelief.

"Not at all, and if you do, you can take it up with me in private at a later date."

"Why did you have me take the plane off the ground?" Agent May questions, looking from Coulson to the door Barton had just closed.

"The kid has had a couple of rough months. I figured some good old fashioned reckless fun as he would put it, can do him some good. Maybe it will set him down the right track again."