Chapter One - Reassigned

"This is Control. We've got confirmed Rising Tide in the area"

"Acknowledged"

"Command wants us to order you to pull out"

"Ignore them. We need to get it secured, and I'll be fine"

"It's a complication"

"Yeah well, if the job was easy-"

"-it wouldn't be any fun. Your extraction's on route"

Puffing out a breath as he cut power to the engine of the motorbike he'd 'borrowed' from where the owner had left it unattended, outside of a bar several blocks away, Level Six SHIELD Specialist Grant Ward slid off the seat and tightened the cuffs of his leather gloves.

Wordlessly, he slipped inside his target destination, using his training to blend into the background, ignoring the idle chatter of the patrons, as he made his way towards the upper floor of the building, before wordlessly slipping inside the apartment and making a beeline for where he knew the safe was hidden.

Bypassing the safe's security was easy enough, and it took him even less time to identify the mission's target.

It was going as smooth as a job could go, until the interception team showed up at his door.

Well, he supposed, at least he had broken in first this time.

They wasted no time in attacking first, working as a team in tandem, pushing him backwards and away from the safe, towards the kitchen, where they were hoping to corner him.

Their mistake.

"Agent Ward, this is Control. Come in"

He ducked under a high kick from the opponent on his right, before the second caught him with a punch to the chest. The attack didn't hurt, but it did damage his pride.

If the two idiots that had been sent to stop him managed to even land a blow, then he was either getting too overconfident or too sloppy.

Or, he growled internally, too much of both.

Using his advantages in both speed and power, it would be too easy for him to take out both men, he wanted to use his head, now it was now a matter of pride.

"Agent Ward, report"

His left hand grabbed the frying pan from the side, before using it to block another attempt at a high kick by colliding with his knee, his attacker staggering back in pain, before collapsing as Ward used the moment of his partner's hesitation to snap his own leg out in a low kick.

The force shattering his opponent's kneecap, he dropped to the floor completely, passing out form the sudden influx of pain to his system.

The second man froze at the sight of his now unconscious partner, and before he could regain his senses, the same frying pan connected with the back of his head and Ward's knee connected with his nose and forehead.

He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

"Agent Ward. This is command. Report in NOW!"

Blowing out his frustration, he reached up to tap his earpiece, smacking himself in the side of the face and bringing himself back online, "This is Ward"

"Agent Ward", he could hear the disappointment bleeding through his earpiece on just those two words, "respond quicker next time. We may have enemy combatants in the area. Be aware"

"Really?" He dragged the word out, letting his sarcasm bleed back through his earpiece, "I hadn't noticed", attempting to curb his temper, he added, "package secured"

"Your extraction will be on the roof. Thirty seconds out"

"Acknowledged. Ward out"

Sitting across from Maria Hill, who was looking at him, while seeming unimpressed, irritated and bored at the same time, was definitely not a highly regarded item on his places-I-want-to-be list.

"What does SHIELD stand for Agent Ward?"

Hill's tone was just like her personality, no nonsense, strictly business all of the time. She was, he had to acknowledge, the very definition of a consummate professional.

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division"

She leant back in her chair, seeming to relax slightly, "And just what does that mean?"

"That somebody really wanted our initials to spell 'SHIELD'"

She shot him a dry look, which indicated that her irritation was beginning to grow back, and quickly, so he pushed forwards with his answer, "It means, that we're the line", he was glad to see her relax again slightly, "between the world and the much weirder world, so that things-"

He reached inside his jacket pocket to pull out the package he'd secured yesterday in Paris, before sliding it straight across the table, straight into her waiting hand, and then pulling the cuffs of his gloves tight once again.

"-like this Chitauri neuro-link show up, we can contain them properly and keep them away from the general civilian population"

Seemingly ignoring him as he continued speaking, Hill took a moment to examine the device, before slipping it in to her pocket.

"I'm here to tell you that you've been reassigned"

She watched as several emotions flashed across his face, disbelief and confusion being the most prominent, "Erm … I'm sorry Commander?"

"Agent Coulson has requisitioned a mobile command unit to which you are assigned"

"Agent Coulson died during the Battle of New York", before she could interject, he felt the need to remind her, "not only did I read the report, but I was there"

"You actually read the report?"

"I do have access. I am Level Six"

"Welcome to Level Seven"

He turned from where he was sitting, ignoring the annoyed look on Hill's face and found himself face to face with a dead man, who was offering him a small grin, amusement dancing behind his eyes.

"Sorry", his face said he wasn't, "it was dark and I couldn't resist. I think there's a bulb out"

Phil Coulson was alive.

One Year Earlier
SHIELD Helicarrier
Skies above New York City

"What's the situation!?"

No response.

"Anyone!?"

There was another lurch as the Helicarrier shook in mid-air, and then his comms unit fizzled to life in his ear, a slightly panicked voice filling it a moment later.

"Ward! Is that you?"

"Yes ma'am. What the hell is-"

"It's The Hulk", Hill's voice quivered slightly at the end – for the first time in his life, he can hear actual fear in her voice, "Loki's men are here. The Hulk's gone berserk on the lower levels. Thor and Romanoff are trying to contain him. Rogers and Stark are attempting to fix the engines before we fall out the sky"

"And Clint?"

"Agent Barton is the one leading Loki's forces. We've got reports coming in saying he's making his way towards the detention level. Ward … Loki's down there … Coulson's on his way to the cell. They took out our cameras, and we can't let-"

"I'm already moving to intercept"

Sprinting, he ran straight past the main elevator and straight for the nearest emergency hatch. Dropping six levels down a ladder would be much quicker. He didn't even have time to waste twisting open the door handles.

Making sure the corridor was clear of other agents as he ran – Hill had said the security cameras were disabled during the initial attack – he swiped at some of the loose smoke that had filtered up from where the engines where, letting it dance around his wrist as his body absorbed it, let himself loose.

His own powers frightened him at times, especially with what it was he could do, so he attempted to never use them unless it became absolutely necessary, but right now Clint needed his help, and he was damn well getting it.

Shifting his body into smoke always made his breath hitch, just before he dashed straight into the hatch's bulkhead door.

And then moved straight through it, the smoke moving through the gaps at the door's frame.

Reappearing on the other side, he returned to the flesh, before dropping down the security shaft as gravity took hold of him.

Using his training, he held in the shiver of thrill and fear that crept up his spine as he grabbed hold of the sides of the ladder to slow himself down, counting the levels as he dropped. The moment he saw the 'D' stamped on the wall, he wasted no time smoke-dashing through the level's bulkhead door and dropping into a combat stance.

He moved onto the walkway, one of only two ways to get to Loki's cell – Coulson should've taken the second one – and then peeling off his gloves, he threw them into his back pocket and waited.

He didn't have to wait long.

The Avenger strode onto the walkway, and he stepped forward to meet him in the middle, his hands up in a defensive pose.

"Clint-"

He was cut off by a fist to his stomach.

It seemed that talking wasn't going to do him any good.

The two men exchanged blows, their fists colliding in mid-air, their training on full display as they blocked each other's strikes, their movements well placed, as they were able to match each other perfectly, their knowledge of the other's fighting abilities giving no man an advantage.

A glancing palm strike to his chest caught him by surprise, but it was enough to push him backwards, and towards the detention room … and Loki's cell.

It also gave Hawkeye enough room to fire off an arrow.

He attempted to dash in smoke form again, but he hadn't managed to move when the arrow connected.

He was half-way towards becoming smoke when it struck, pain coursed through him from his shoulder, but it didn't blow out the way it was supposed to as the arrow moved through him, however the force was enough to knock him even further backwards, right up to the steps, and then, failing to regain his balance, he fell.

His advanced healing helped him shake off the feeling of haziness as he righted himself on the floor, as he attempted to spring back to his feet, before he saw the arrow aimed squarely between his eyes.

Without thinking, he slammed his left hand to the ground and flipped the switch on his powers. He felt the steel grating under his fingertips and then it travelled up his arm.

His body's cells morphed to match the material, the soft cells of his skin swapping to mimic the stronger, much more durable steel.

The arrow bounced harmlessly off his forehead, falling to the floor, and sparking at the point of contact between his eyes.

That would've been a kill shot.

He darted back up the stairs, ignoring the arrows that were now being fired at him, hearing them clatter to the floor as their momentum abruptly died off against his skin.

He swatted several more aside with his hands before the vents above them caved slightly, drawing their attention away from their fight. Using the distraction, he lashed out, his steel fist breaking the bow cleanly through the middle.

Barton's blank features registered surprise at the loss of his primary weapon before his partner dropped from the now damaged vent, landing in a crouch behind him.

Deciding she was the bigger threat, Hawkeye threw himself against the Black Widow in a futile attempt at hand to hand combat. She swiped his initial jabs off to the side with her elbows, before throwing all of her weight into a knee that connected with his stomach, and caused all of the air to rush from his lungs.

Ward threw his hands up, palms facing towards the two of them and Widow used the advantage to slam Barton's head against them.

The steel did its job and the male Avenger dropped to the ground unconscious.

"We need to get him to a sealed medbay"

She didn't need to tell him twice.

Reverting back to his natural skin, he grabbed the fallen man and hoisted him onto his shoulders, before following the female agent away from the cells and towards the elevator.

"You know how to pilot one of those jets?"

"No"

"I can", sitting up, his hands flew to his head as a rush of pain hit him. Nat hadn't been kidding when she said she'd hit him upside the head.

"You got a suit?"

"Yeah"

"Then suit up"

"Quinjet 61652. You are unauthorised for departure. Stand down now"

"This is Agent Barton, open the hangar bay doors"

"Negative Agent Barton. Director's orders. No one in or out. Stand down"

"Damn it", he cast his eyes over the instrument panel, before turning to his two cohorts, "I can't override the door controls from here"

"Alright then", the Captain locked eyes with the two SHIELD agents, "we need a way to open the doors"

"We can't do that from here", Romanoff's explanation caused him to raise his eyebrows, "it's a security measure. Only the control room can open it, and if it's unauthorised then a security team will flood the room in seconds. Stops at least some of the enemy combatants from escaping", she offered as the super-soldier looked more confused.

"Damn it", he muttered under his breath, "well then we have to-"

He was cut off by the alarm blaring as the hangar doors began sliding open. The amber lights flashed to life, their rotating glow confounding the three Avengers.

"Clint, get out of here!"

Rogers just looked more confused, but Barton lunged for the comms unit, "Grant!?"

"Get out of here and go kick that false god's ass! I don't know how long I can hold off the security team for"

"We're going", his hand flew across the panels, bringing the quinjet up to full power as they flew out the doors and towards the city, "and thanks kid"

"Win this one, then come bail me out, and I'll consider us even"

"I'll even get Stark to buy you a drink. Best whiskey you're ever gonna have"

A chuckle filtered through, "I'll hold you to that. Good luck"

Present Day
The Hub
Location Classified

He dutifully followed Hill and Coulson into one of The Hub's many command centres, before they came to a stop in front of a large screen, which was showing footage of a hooded man falling out of an exploding building, landing on his feet and walking away.

"What was that?"

"That Agent Ward, was an unregistered gifted. We believe that he's a new one as well"

He'd heard these lines before, "You want me to go in and cross him off?"

"What?" Coulson was looking at him as though he were morbid, "No. This man's life just got a whole lot weirder. He needs our help"

"A welcoming committee", he was certain that this was Coulson's idea. Hill obviously thought it was hilarious, but she wouldn't have made him do this, "I'm a specialist. I go in, I get the job done, alone", he stressed the last word, but it was apparent that they weren't listening to him, "disarming a nuclear bomb, I'm your guy, but this…"

"Your latest marks from Agent Hill are excellent"

He listened as Coulson rattled off his file, completely ignoring him, as well as any objections he had to his new placement, if she hadn't been before then Hill was definitely looking smug now, "Combat, top marks. Hand-eye coordination, off the charts. Espionage, she gave you the best marks since Romanoff, though considering who your SO was, that's hardly surprising"

"Why am I being reassigned?"

Coulson flipped the file open the one of the back pages, rotating it to give him a glimpse of a page that contained a crude drawing he couldn't distinguish, before he pulled the file back towards himself.

"Under people skills, Agent Hill gave you that drawing", he looked contemplative for a moment, "I think it's a little poop, with knives sticking out of it-"

If Coulson expected him to laugh then he was going to disappointed, he ignored his Commander muttering about porcupines as Coulson rolled on.

"-My point is that my team needs a specialist, and I think, that maybe, just maybe, that you're the perfect man for the job"

And it didn't look like he was going to be getting out of this.

"I've checked out the files on your new team. There's no one there that warrants you wearing your gloves all of the time. Fieldwork only should suffice, so you can relax in that department"

He nodded as he and Hill walked alongside each other in the corridor, heading towards the apartments section of The Hub. He needed to pack his bags and she needed to speak to him outside of the confines of a recorded session in a briefing room, "Are any of them-"

"None of them will be made aware of your particular skillset, it is, and remains, classified Level Nine Intel. Agent Coulson is your team leader, you will be serving as his second-in-command, and both of you will remain, for now at least, at Levels Eight and Seven respectively, Congratulations by the way on the promotion, it is well deserved"

He nodded again, "Thank you. What are my orders regarding my skillset. I'm going to be spending nearly all of my time on this plane for the foreseeable future, and I do occasionally have to use it when I'm out in the field"

"I know that Grant, and Director Fury is also aware of this", they reached his door, and paused, making themselves face each other, "and while we couldn't deny Coulson's request at having you as his team's Specialist, we would prefer that your skills stay under the radar, however, if it should become unavoidable…", she trailed off, the implication clear.

Keep it hidden unless absolutely necessary.

Hill forwarded him a copy of the Level Seven files for each of his new teammates. They were pretty barren, and made for dull reading, but he made a point of memorising them anyway. Two of them were too young to have anything of actual note in their files, and the other two had quite a large portion of their files redacted, citing a higher clearance level needed, but at least he now had faces and names for when he met them tomorrow.

Phillip Coulson
Level Eight. Team 616 leader. Field agent, specialising in hostage negotiation and first contact situations. Fifty-one years old. Responsible for the bringing together of The Avengers. 'Died' during the 'Battle of New York', now returning to field work. Solid marksman and average combat skills.

Melinda May
Level Seven. Team 616 pilot. Forty-nine years old. Former field agent trained as a weapon's specialist, and formerly partnered to Phil Coulson, now serving in administration due to 'personal reasons', after the events of a mission in Bahrain, the same mission in which she earned the moniker 'The Cavalry'. Formerly an above average marksman and combatant – current ability unknown due to having left fieldwork several years ago. Agent May has agreed to pilot the aircraft, but not to re-enter the field as a combat specialist.

Leopold Fitz & Jemma Simmons
Both Fitz and Simmons have individual files, but are listed together often enough for management to warrant giving them a combined file. A team since their early days at SHIELD's Sci-Ops Academy, FitzSimmons, as they are called, are considered to be a single unit. One is an engineer and the other a biochemist, however I am unsure as to which is which. Both are twenty five years old. Neither one has been into the field before. NOTE - FitzSimmons are NOT cleared for combat.

Unconsciously he tightened the cuffs of his gloves again, before scowling as he re-read the information. He was working with two agents – admittedly legends in their own right – but two agents that were also past their prime, one of which was refusing fieldwork, and then he had two kids that he just knew he was going to be made to look after, that weren't even cleared for combat.

Why in the hell of it where they going to be in the field if they weren't cleared for combat!?

A firefight was almost a certainty.

And they wanted his powers to remain hidden?

Coulson's insane.

Resisting the urge to pull his own hair out, he snapped shut the notebook he'd been flipping through, and tossed it on top of the duffel bag he'd packed ahead of his moving to the plane he'd be living in from the morning onwards.

He'd already returned his apartment's entry card – there was no use paying for something he no longer needed. Then he'd stored all of his possessions into his only bag. All he needed to do now was leave first thing in the morning.

Maybe the team would surprise him.

They didn't.

Fitz and Simmons finished each other's thoughts sentences, they were (in a word he'd never say aloud) – 'adorable' – like two little puppies, where the most painful thing they'd experienced in their lives was a brief tap on the nose with a newspaper.

Their first real firefight they ran into was going to rattle them completely, and after meeting them, he wasn't sure they'd be able to handle it.

May was exactly what he expected. Cold, blunt to a point of being callous, calculating, and despite her age, she was extremely attractive. She could've easily passed herself off as someone who was fifteen years younger.

Looking at her, he could see the legend she was, but he could also see the ghosts of what had happened in Bahrain etched deeply under her skin, her own demons just lurking there. Pain that hid just beneath the surface of her skin, hiding behind steel eyes, just waiting for her to unleash them on the world.

God help whoever was foolish enough to stand in her way on that day.

And Coulson?

He'd met children that seemed less naïve than him.

Okay that wasn't completely fair. He'd read through Coulson's file, and he was definitely someone he could see himself enjoying working for. Hill's personal notes had him pegged as a by-the-book SHIELD agent, and a resounding company man through and through.

He had apparently also worked with Barton in the past and had overseen Romanoff when she was recruited to SHIELD in the beginning, so he thought they'd at least be able hold a conversation over that if nothing else.

Half an hour after walking onto The Bus for the first time, his mind is set on one thing.

Hill needs a new set of notes.

They track the IP address used by the member of the Rising Tide responsible for uploading the videos of their gifted onto the internet. Coulson drives the SUV, leaving his beloved Lola behind (and just why did he feel the need to bring a collectible car - with a name - on a long-term mission?), and leading the two of them straight for the source's current location.

Coulson tells him an anecdote about a woman walking a dog that seems pointless, but when he catches the man sporting an amused half-smile while shaking his head at him, he realises his mistake.

It was supposed to be a joke.

He still doesn't get it.

Why does the man insist on making them (cracking them?) while they're supposed to be working?

They track the source to a single van parked up in an alley, and they waste no time in pulling open the door, and looking every bit the agents the Rising Tide have been describing, they find their mystery hacker mid-broadcast, she makes a half-assed snarky remark at them, and he wastes no time in throwing the black hood he has over her head.

But not before he takes in what she looks like.

She's stunning.

Completely and utterly breathtakingly beautiful.

But that's not what captures his attention.

It's not the way her hair shines ever so slightly in the sunlight, nor is it the look of innocence that she flashes them when they appear in front of her out of nowhere.

It's definitely not a certain part of her upper anatomy that he fights to resist glancing at.

It's her eyes.

The two of them lock eyes for barely a second before the bag covers them, but he would recognise those exact shape and colour eyes anywhere.

The eyes he first saw on one of the worst days of his life.

They're eyes that remind him of home.

They're the eyes of the woman that saved him.

Authors Note

Big shout out to Freddyfrmelmst for help with the premise.

So this is the first chapter of a new work (and series), which combines Agents of SHIELD with elements inspired from inFAMOUS: Second Son.

Please leave me a review below, and let me know what you think - it'll only take a minute and I'll feel much better for it.

And as always, please feel free to message me about anything - I always reply and enjoy speaking with you all.

-MarvelMatt