18 Partners

Please read the Author's note in the end. It's important.

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"So this man, Jason, what is his speciality?"

A man wearing a black suit with a blue tie, with little hair on his head and a white, fair skin complexion, spoke on his phone with a calm look on his face.

This man was Phillip J. "Phil" Coulson. A highly decorated agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the right hand man to Nick Fury, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. himself.

The past three years have been really eventful for Coulson, considering he was tasked to investigate Stark Industries and was even given a raise in his Salary; Which was really weird to Coulson as he didn't remember doing anything remarkable at the time.

Just the previous day, Coulson was given a mission by Fury to run ground interference, surveillance and tactical operations in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation surrounding a satellite incident, or at least, that's what they wanted people to believe.

Upon reaching New Mexico, Coulson was provided with new information about this mission. Information regarding a certain someone being a part of this mission.

Someone named Jason Andrews.

For this mission, Coulson was tasked to work together with him.

Coulson didn't know the reason as to why that was the case, but he decided not to question it. It was his speciality, do what you are told without asking too many questions.

Coulson was still a little bit curious though, as Fury decided to hand this mission over to this man named Jason, instead of a professional like 'Hawkeye'.

He was also having some questions regarding the favor Fury asked of him while handing out his mission. It wasn't an order like usual as Fury asked Coulson pretty nicely to let his acquaintance hire Jason as a waiter in her diner, which once again surprised Coulson.

He thought it must be to maintain an undercover for the guy, but the way Fury asked that was like he was requesting Coulson.

It was not easy to pick up on, but Coulson have been working under Fury for many years now. He knows when the guy is giving orders and when not.

An hour ago, Fury told Coulson to go and meet this man and explain everything to him regarding this mission in twenty words or less. Coulson found this odd but didn't object.

For that particular reason, Coulson was here in New Mexico, currently standing outside his acquaintance's diner. He was on a phone call with Fury at the moment, and was smiling warmly at his surroundings so as to not look suspicious.

"So this man, Jason, what is his speciality?" Coulson finally asked what was going through his head for a while now.

If Coulson wants this mission to be successful, then he needs to know what this supposed partner of his is capable of.

Despite being curious of this man's identity and origin, Coulson decided to not ask anything regarding that and just asked the question which was important for the mission.

Fury on the other hand, after being asked this question was silent. He didn't want to share anything about Jason with anyone. At least not yet.

S.H.I.E.L.D. knew about the event that took place in Harlem three years ago, which also includes knowing about the man who defended a kid from the Abomination that day.

That's all they know about that man, because Fury destroyed every single information regarding Jason from that incident himself.

Fury knows just how far could S.H.I.E.L.D. go to acquire Jason as an asset, he is their Director after all. He would make sure that none of them get any information regarding Jason till he allows it.

There is a huge reason as to why Fury always goes out of his way to not let anyone know about Jason's identity, but that's something he wouldn't share with anyone.

Despite all of this, Fury still decided to answer Coulson's question in a vague, but very much true manner

"Punching. He specialises in punching."

Fury said in a serious tone of voice while looking at the destroyed mountain in front of him, with many people in uniforms doing on-site investigation of the place.

"Um, guess he is a fighter then." Coulson said to himself while looking at the diner in front of him.

"You can say that. Now, I have my hands full with this incident regarding the destruction of a mountain, I won't go into details as it's not important for your mission. Just know that I will be busy, so if you have any problems or find anything of importance, contact Agent Hill. She is the one in charge for this mission in my absence. She is also the only other person with information on Mr. Andrews." Fury said while picking up a rock from the ground and inspecting it with a knowing look on his face.

"I will keep that in mind sir." Coulson said with a calm expression on his face as a young couple passed by him.

"Then get to work Coulson. Find out every piece of information regarding that 'satellite', or at least, find out as much as you can. I want to know what it is, where it came from, and what's the purpose of it coming here. I know how capable you are Coulson, don't disappoint me." Fury said in a serious tone of voice and threw the stone he has on his hand towards the destroyed mountain.

"I will get right on it sir."

Just as those words left Coulson's mouth, the call ended. Coulson put the phone inside his bag, and started walking towards 'Isabela's Diner' where his partner for the mission was supposed to be in.

Looking at the entrance of the diner, Coulson felt nostalgic. He used to be a regular here 7 years ago, when he was tasked with a mission to find some hydra agents working undercover in the nearby building to this restaurant.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Coulson decided to focus on his mission and opened the door in front of him, only to be tackled with the smell of his once favourite freshly baked bread.

'It hasn't changed a bit.' Coulson thought to himself with a smile on his face as he looked around the place.

"Phil? Is that you?!"

Hearing that familiar voice calling out to him, Coulson turned around to see the source of that voice.

Isabela Fisher, commonly known as Izzy, the owner of this restaurant was staring at him with wide eyes and a huge smile on her face.

Seeing this kind woman after a long time, Coulson couldn't help but smile genuinely.

"It's nice to see you too Izzy. I hope you are doing well." Coulson said while moving towards Izzy and giving her a side hug.

"Of course I am. I have sweet people like you looking out for me. Anyways, if you were going to visit, then why didn't you say so beforehand?" Izzy said while returning Coulson's hug with a smile on her face.

She was really surprised to see Coulson after such a long time, just as surprised as she was when he gave her a call the previous day to hire Jason.

"I was busy with work you see. It kind of slipped my mind to give you a call, so upon reaching New Mexico, I decided to surprise you." Coulson said while separating from the hug and looking around the diner for someone.

Izzy noticed this, so she decided to say

"Well, it sure was a pleasant surprise for me, and I am sure it's going to be for Jason as well. I should have known you would give us a visit considering Jason was working here."

"I hope so. Where is he anyway? Is he not here yet?" Coulson asked seeing there was not a trace of a bald head anywhere to recognise his partner, as he saw in the picture Fury sent him.

"Oh, he is here. Quite a hardworking guy I tell you. He has been a huge help since he has been here, even though it's only his first day he still did his job properly without making a mistake! Well, there was one but it's fine." Izzy whispered the last part to herself which Coulson didn't hear.

"That so? I am glad. I will like to talk to him if that's alright with you?" Coulson asked Izzy's permission seeing as Jason was working for her. Can't take him away during his work time now can he?

"Oh it's fine. He is taking a break right now. You will find him inside the kitchen. Take your time both of you, it's fine. Elisa, another waitress here, should be here any minute now so you both don't have to worry." Izzy said while going back to prepare another order, but not before pointing towards the kitchen to Coulson.

Coulson after getting Izzy's permission, started making his way towards the kitchen while taking a bread from the counter.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Coulson's eyes caught the sight of the guy he was supposed to be working with.

Jason Andrews, the man who specialises in punching.

~

Jason was currently staring at the paintings of fishes with a plain look on his face. To be honest, he was missing those monsters back home.

He was really bored, 'San Francisco' was really peaceful. He was happy for the people living here, but not for himself.

Where is the alien dude Fury said he would get to fight here?

Where is the goddamn action?!

Just as Jason was lost in his thoughts, someone tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

Turning around, Jason was met with the sight of a really kind looking man who was giving him a smile.

Suspicious.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Andrews. I am Agent Phil Coulson with Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Coulson said with a smile on his face.

Jason after hearing Coulson's words, looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said in a plain tone of voice

"Good for you."

Coulson:- "....."

Coulson after hearing that response was silent for a bit before saying

"I am sorry. It has become a habit of mine to introduce myself this way. I am from S.H.I.E.L.D. Mr. Andrews." Coulson said as he extended his hand for a handshake.

Jason didn't take his hand but instead looked at him in confusion and asked

"So....?"

Seeing that Jason was genuinely confused after hearing him, Coulson decided to be patient with him and said

"I work for Director Fury. He sent me here to give you all the information about your mission."

"Oh."

Jason finally realised who this guy was. He remembered Fury telling him that he would assign a person to help him out during this mission. So Jason thought he must be the guy Fury talked about.

Fury also requested Jason to try not do anything stupid, which Fury was sure Jason was going to do regardless. Jason forgot about this request anyway.

"So you are the guy Fury talked about?" Jason asked while accepting Coulson's handshake.

"You are correct. We both are going to be working together for this mission, I hope we work well together." Coulson said before taking his hand back.

"I guess. You can call me Jason if you want." Jason said as he found this guy to be alright.

"Alright Jason, then I would like to ask you to come with me to our headquarters in a few minutes. We have got some work to do." Coulson said as he started making his way out of the kitchen with Jason following suit.

Just as they were making their way out of the kitchen, Jason said while walking

"Wait. What about Izzy? She can't handle this much work alone."

"Hm? You don't have to worry about that. She has more than a few hands to help her. There is one more waiter and one waiteress working here other than you. They were just late today due to some circumstances, or so I have been informed from our sources." Coulson said while moving towards the exit.

Before leaving, Coulson saw the concerned look on Jason's face as well as someone standing behind him so he decided to quell his worries by saying

"Well, I guess you are right. Why don't you ask for her permission before leaving? Can't have you losing your job during your first day now can we dear nephew." Coulson said with a wink at the end.

Jason found this pretty odd before realising someone was standing behind him. He turned around to notice it was Izzy standing behind him with a raised eyebrow, so he decided to ask

"Can I take my leave for today?"

???:- "ANOTHER!" Crash!

"After cleaning that up of course."

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Author's Note:-

These are some important information about this book which happened canonically but weren't mentioned-

1)- That mountain Fury was investigating, was destroyed by Jason and Fury knows that.

2)- Izzy has always considered Coulson a friend, despite Coulson's tendency to keep certain boundaries between himself and others.

Coulson never talked badly about anyone, neither did he showed any hostility towards anyone. He has always treated everyone nicely and was overall a very nice guy in Izzy's eyes.

Despite his friendly nature, Izzy could see that Coulson tended to push people away in a manner that they wouldn't notice. Like he was trying not to make friends. Which was one of the reasons Izzy was sure Coulson didn't consider her a friend either. She was just an acquaintance to Coulson, which she was fine with. She still considered him a friend though.

So when Coulson gave her a call the previous day, she was really surprised. It was not that Coulson suddenly disappeared on her or anything like that, she knew that Coulson finally found a job as a principal in a school out of town so he had to move all those years ago, or at least, that's what she was told by Coulson.

He still visited her Diner from time to time to enjoy his favourite bread, so they kept in touch.

3)- Coulson remembers that the previous year, Fury suddenly called him to ask for advice regarding 'how to make a good impression on someone when meeting them for the first time', which Coulson told him to bring something nice with him to give them as a sign of good intention.

At the time, Coulson thought Fury might have found someone special in his life, and thought his Director was too shy to say it out loud so he also decided not to comment on it, less he made Fury embarrassed, or worse, angry.

The next day, Fury called him again and was in a really happy mood and even raised his salary! This shocked Coulson as he really did not expect Fury to do this.

Despite his shock, Coulson was still very happy with this outcome, both for himself as well as his director; thinking that the 'date' must have gone well.

He still doesn't know the full details why Fury gave him a raise, but he was happy nonetheless.

~

That's it. I actually planned to include these parts in this chapter but decided against it, as it was getting way too big and boring for my taste.

If you guys have any questions regarding this chapter, plz comment as I haven't explained everything in full detail. As to why only Fury and Maria Hill know about Jason in the entire S.H.I.E.L.D?

The thing is, Fury said that, but it wasn't the complete truth. He lied to Coulson here.

Only a few people in S.H.I.E.L.D. know who Jason is, which EXCLUDE Hawkeye and Black Widow.

Fury is hiding something, so don't trust anything he says or does in this fic for a while. At least not until Avengers.

Thanks for reading!

Peace.