Title: Who wrote these orders
By: Tiffany F
Pairing: Clint Barton(Hawkeye)/Phil Coulson & one-sided Clint Barton(Hawkeye)/Horatio & Horatio/Grant Ward (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Fandom: CSI: Miami/Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Rating: NC-17
Note: Sort of a sequel to my piece "Arrow" but you don't necessarily need to have read it for this to make sense.
Disclaimer: Do not own, claim, and no money is made here.
Summary: When I get depressed, I write sad fic. I had my birthday forgotten by two very close friends and started writing this yesterday. I don't know where I'm going with it, but here it is so far. Barton is being deployed on some very unusual missions with Coulson. When he's injured on six of the last ten, the latest one so severely that he's in a coma, Fury gets curious about exactly where the missions are coming from. Coulson maintains they're coming from Fury's office. With Barton injured as badly as he is, Fury calls the man who is the closest thing to a father Barton has; Horatio Caine. Horatio is going to find out who dared hurt his son so badly.

***

Barton looked around again and tried not to sigh. He didn't like the perch he'd been forced to take to cover the meeting Coulson was holding down in the square. There was only one building high enough for him to be on with a clear line of sight to the man talking with Coulson. Barton looked at his watch again with a frown. The meeting was supposed to have started five minutes ago, but there was no one in the square. The lack of life worried and puzzled him. He could just make out his handler in the far alley where he was waiting for the contact to show before he stepped out, but there was no one else around.

He wasn't even sure what he was doing there in the first place. His assignments for the past five missions, six counting the current one, made no sense and he'd ended up in medical every single time. Barton wasn't stupid, he knew there was a pattern involved, he just couldn't place it. Biting back another sigh, he activated his comm. "Sir, do you see your contact?" he asked.

Silence from the other end made his frown deepen and he checked Coulson's position through his scope. The man was gone. "Sir?" he asked again. "Coulson, where are you?"

Several explosions and a rumble were his only answer and the building started to collapse before he could push up. Barton swore, abandoned his rifle and shifted quickly. His only choice was to ride the rubble and hope that he didn't get hurt too badly when he landed. Barton didn't think there was anyone around who would be able to dig him out again.

***

Horatio was at a crime scene working with Eric when his cell phone rang. "Excuse me a minute, Eric," he said, pulling out his phone. "This is Horatio."

"Horatio, it's Nick Fury."

"Hello, Nick, it's been a while," Horatio said. "What's happened to Clint?"

Eric looked up at the mention of the name and frowned. He still didn't know who the mysterious archer/expert that Horatio called in to help on a case was, but he didn't like the other man. Eric really didn't like the easy banter that Clint had with Horatio. He kept working, but focused on the phone conversation, or at least what he could hear of it.

"It's bad, Horatio. I'm still working to figure out what the hell happened, but the Hawk's in medical and they don't think he's going to wake up," Fury said. "You're the closest thing to a father he has, I know he'd want you to be here."

"There's nowhere else I want to be," Horatio said. "Which facility is he in?"

"The Helicarrier. There's a jet waiting for you at the airport," Fury said. "I'll meet you on deck and take you to him."

Horatio's eyes hardened. "I want answers, Nick," he said. "Hold on one minute. Eric, I've got to go. Finish up here and talk with Alexx. I'll call when I know when I'm going to be back. Thank you. Nick, what do you know?"

Eric watched Horatio leave the crime scene and sighed. It didn't look like he was going to be getting answers any time soon.
****

The pilot checked Horatio's ID and took off without talking. That wasn't too uncommon for the SHIELD pilots and Horatio sat in the back and tried not to give into the urge to pace. When he'd taken in the abused and broken young man he'd promised two things; to always be there, and to provide a safe place for Clint to run to any time he needed an escape. Horatio didn't always get along with Nick Fury, but that was because they were far too much alike to be good friends. They did respect each other and the work the other did to help people.

"Mind your step, Sir," the pilot said when they landed. "The Director is waiting just off to your left as you exit the jet."

"Thank you," Horatio said. He waited until the ramp was done moving and started down it. As always, the Helicarrier was a bustle of movement and noise, yet no one seemed to want to get close to their director. "Nick."

"Welcome on board, Horatio," Fury said. "This way. I've had some files routed to a tablet that you can look at. I don't have CSIs here, my smartest people are also some of my blindest and I think this is something that needs a criminal investigator on it. I have questions and I'm not finding answers."

"What can I do?" Horatio asked.

"Missions are assigned by my office, usually by me for the higher level and top secret issues," Fury said. He unlocked the door and gestured for Horatio to go in first. "I have a select group under my direct command and that's not counting the Avengers. The mission folders go from me to the handler in charge of whichever asset I choose for the mission and they both meet with me for a pre and post mission briefing. The asset also has to go through a debrief with their handler after meeting with me and the final reports end up on my desk. For six of his last ten assignments, Clint Barton's missions have not come from my office."

Horatio glanced over. "Is that unusual, Nick?" he asked.

"Very. If a handler of one of the highest ranking assets has a mission they want to use that person on, they have to come to me for approval," Fury replied. "No one should be in the field without my office knowing about it, and yet Barton was. Not just one time, but six. For every single one of those assignments, he's come home to medical."

"It sounds to me like someone is trying to get my boy hurt or killed," Horatio said. He looked over at the other man. "That is not acceptable, Nick."

"Not it's not, and that's also where I'm having problems," Fury sighed. "Stop here a minute. Barton has one handler, Horatio. I don't trust him out in the field with anyone else. Barton is very stubborn and most of my people think that translates over into insubordination."

"Phil Coulson," Horatio said. "I've met him and know about his personal relationship with Clint. What's going on there?"

Fury sighed and leaned against the wall. "I wish I knew," he said. "I've talked with Coulson, but the answers I'm getting aren't answers. Horatio, I think you're right that someone is out to hurt Barton. I just don't know who it could be, or why they're doing it."

"Let me see Clint and look through the files," Horatio said. "I might need to go look at the places he was on these missions, Nick."

"It's too dangerous, they're all in the middle of war zones or some sort of uprising," Fury said. "I can get you video, but I can't let you go in there. I know the scene can tell you a lot, Horatio, but you'd be dead before you got there and I'm not letting anyone in there right now."

"All right, video would be good," Horatio said. "Is his team in there?"

"They've been hoping for news," Fury said. "You know Natasha, right?"

Horatio nodded. "I do. I'll have her introduce me to everyone else," he replied. "Nick, I might not be able to find answers for you, but I think I'll be taking Clint to recover when he wakes up."

"Horatio, the doctors say he probably won't. He had a building come down on top of him."

"He'll wake up, Nick. He has to."

***

Everyone looked up when the door opened and a strange red-haired man they'd never seen before walked in. The rest of the Avengers were even more surprised when Natasha got up, walked over to the man and hugged him.

"Hey Natasha," Horatio said softly, holding her tightly, "you know he'll be okay. Clint's strong and he won't let something like this keep him down."

"You didn't see him, Horatio," she whispered in reply. "These wounds, they're the worst he's suffered and the doctors don't have any hope for him. I don't know what happened. Clint shouldn't have been there."

"Nick told me," Horatio said. "You want to introduce me to your team? They're staring at us."

Natasha pulled back and nodded. "Horatio Caine, this is Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers," she said. "The Avengers. Guys, this is Clint's father."

"Wait a minute, I thought Hawkeye was an orphan," Tony said.

"He has no blood family left," Horatio said softly, "but I took him in when he needed help the most. I consider him my own, Mr. Stark. Just because I'm not in a file here at SHIELD, that doesn't mean Clint's not mine."

"Okay, just saying," Tony said.

"Where's Coulson, Natasha?" Horatio asked.

"With the Director trying to figure out what happened," Natasha replied. "Come on, Clint's through here. I'll find the doctor to come and talk with you about what the injuries are."

Horatio nodded. "Thank you," he said. "It's nice to meet you, gentlemen."

Tony waited until the door was shut behind the two red heads and then looked at his friends. "Any idea who that is?" he asked. "I don't know the name, so he's not with SHIELD."

"He had a badge and gun under his jacket," Bruce said. "I think he's a policeman."

"A policeman getting access to SHIELD," Tony said. "Well, I guess stranger things have happened. Bruce, you ready to head down to the lab to get to work?"

Steve looked over. "What work?" he asked.

"Come on, Cap, Barton was where he shouldn't have been," Tony replied. "That means that he's either going out on his own or someone sent him out to die. Bruce and I are going to try and work out which one it is and find out who did it."

"Mr. Stark, could I talk with you for a moment, please?" Horatio asked from the doorway.

"Okay, you move silently," Tony said. "I thought I was used to the assassin glide, but you have them beat." He stood up and went to join Horatio in Barton's room. "What do I call you?"

"Horatio is fine. What do you know about Clint's latest assignments?" Horatio asked.

"Not a lot, but I've got a tracker in SHIELDS computers and I was going to go dig through and see what I could find," Tony said. "Fury's livid which means someone somewhere is screwing up badly and if it hurts my team, hurts my friends, then I want it stopped. No one hurts my friends and gets away with it."

Horatio studied him for a long moment. "I think we have a common goal in mind, Mr. Stark," he finally said. "I'm not going to be leaving Clint's side until he wakes up, but Nick did give me access to some files. I work as a criminal investigator, a CSI, and I'm very good at finding patterns where things shouldn't be. Will you let me know what you find?"

"Let me have the file numbers you already have so I don't get duplicates," Tony said. "I'll route you anything I find in the system. I've tried to get Fury to let me in, but he says he wants to take care of it. He should know by now that I do better when I'm working on something. Especially when my friends are in trouble or hurt. Me sitting still isn't a good thing."

"Do you really think you can find answers to what's going on?"

"Yes."

"I'll see about getting you into the system," Horatio said. "Nick owes me a few favors and help on the case would be nice."

The pair looked over when the doctor came into the room. Tony nodded. "I'll wait outside until you know exactly what's going on," he said. "Doctor, you need to quit with the messages of doom. I don't care how hurt he is, Hawkeye is going to wake up."

"Mr. Stark, please just leave," the doctor sighed.

"Fine, I'm going. I'll just be outside."

"Doctor, I'm Lieutenant Caine. What is Clint's exact status?" Horatio asked softly.

"Agent Barton had a building come down on him," the doctor replied. "We don't know what his exactly location was prior to the bombs exploding, but given his skill-set, we figure he was either on the top floor or the roof. He was extracted from under several hundred feet of concrete debris with rebar and other construction rubble surrounding him. As it stands right now, we had to operate to install a metal plate in his skull and drain some fluid out to reduce pressure on the brain. He has multiple broken bones, bone fractures, and splinters. One of the broken ribs punctured a lung and we had to repair that surgically as well. His pelvis is fractured in three places, and we haven't even been able to count the soft muscle and tendon damage. He's in a coma and I don't expect he'll ever wake up again."

Horatio moved over and sat down next to the bed. "He's a very strong young man, doctor," he said softly. "Say he does wake up, what are the chances of him going back into the field again?"

"We're looking at at least a year of physical therapy and surgeries, Lieutenant," the doctor said. "Somehow, and I don't know how, his spine is fine. There's no risk of paralization, but with his head injuries, there are still going to be multiple problems."

"Thank you," Horatio said. "I'm going to stay with him."

The doctor nodded. "The director told me, you're cleared to stay as long as you want," he said. "We've brought in an extra bed for Agent Romanov, you're welcome to use it as well. The director also said you were conducting an investigation for him?"

"I am, so I'm going to need all of Clint's medical records," Horatio said. "Everything, no matter how small. Nick gave me a tablet to work on, is it possible to have the records sent to it?"

"Let me have the IP address and I'll route them to you." The doctor took the tablet and made a note on the notepad he was carrying with him. "You'll have them in an hour or so. Push the call button if you need anything else."

"I will, thank you, doctor," Horatio said.

"What do you think?" a voice asked from behind him.

Horatio sighed. "If this was an accident, Nick, then I want to know how it happened," he said. "Tony Stark seems to think he might be able to help me out. Would it be possible to let him into the files as well?"

Fury snorted. "He'd be in them even if I didn't let him in," he said. "Yeah, keeping Stark busy is always a good thing. Phil's outside. Do you want to talk with him?"

"I do. I also wanted to ask if there's any recordings from Clint's radio system on these mysterious missions."

"It's garbled and so far our people haven't been able to do anything with it," Fury admitted.

"Do you mind if I send it to my lab?" Horatio asked. "My sound people are good and they don't talk."

"These are unsanctioned missions into war zones, Horatio. I trust you, but I can't risk this audio getting out, no matter how much you trust your people," Fury said.

"Then is there a lab where I can work?" Horatio asked.

"Yeah, talk with Phil and I'll have him take you down," Fury replied. "There's a camera set up in here to monitor Barton. I'll have you linked in."

"Thank you."

***

Horatio wasn't surprised to find the rest of the team missing when he followed Fury out into the waiting area. "Phil."

"Lieutenant Caine," Coulson said with a nod. "It's good to see you again. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"So do I," Horatio said. "Phil, you're the only one who handles Clint. What's been going on?"

Coulson sighed. "The missions have just been going wrong lately," he said. "It's almost like someone knows we're there before we can do anything."

"Phil, these missions you've been going on, where have the orders been coming from?" Horatio asked softly.

"I thought they were coming from Director Fury, the folders have been coming to my office through the usual channels and nothing about them was raising any red flags with me," Coulson replied. "It wasn't until after this last mission that I found out the director has no idea about the missions and there's a problem. Someone, somewhere, wants Clint hurt, Horatio, and I have no idea who it is."

"It seems to me that the problem should have come to light much sooner, Phil, especially as Director Fury told me that it is standard procedure to meet with him both before and after the mission regardless of assignment," Horatio said. "So how were you getting Clint out on these missions without that standard meeting?"

"That's my fault. Clint doesn't do well at meetings, so it's not uncommon for me to attend for both of us and handle his debrief when we're in transit," Coulson said. "He wouldn't have known anything was different."

Horatio looked down with a sigh. "Phil, you still would have been in those meetings and Director Fury would have asked where they were coming from," he said, blue eyes slanting up to look at the other man. "So that tells me that you weren't going to these meetings before the missions and you were lying to Clint about them."

"I did go to the meetings and Director Fury never had any problems with the missions," Coulson said.

"Phil, we never had meetings for these missions," Fury said from where he was looming in the background. He didn't lurk well. "I don't know what the hell you're remembering, but I was never in meetings for any of these assignments. SHIELD had no business in any of these six areas, and I sure as hell wouldn't have sent Barton into them."

"But Sir, we did meet for these assignment," Coulson said.

"Nick, it sounds to me like there's more than one issue here," Horatio said. "I want to get that audio feed cleared up and then I'll review the folders. Would it be possible to be sure there's a guard on Clint at all times? Someone wants him dead and they very nearly succeeded today. Until I can be back with him, I want him under guard."

"I'll have the Black Widow stay with him," Fury said. "Come on, I'll show you to the lab you can use. Coulson, you go to my office and wait for me. We're going to have a long talk about this."
****

Horatio had just pulled up the first audio track, the last one from the latest mission, when the door to the lab opened and Tony walked in. "Hey, Horatio, so I've been digging through everything and it turns out that Barton's been getting hate mail and death threats from someone inside of SHIELD. He just filed them away, I don't know if he told anyone about them, but some of these are pretty bad."

"Bad enough to warrant a risk of discovery?" Horatio asked. He brought up the track and started to tease it apart. "Agent Coulson maintains that protocol was followed perfectly for each of these missions."

"Agent sleeps with the rule books," Tony said. "I suggested blood and DNA tests for him because, around here, anything is possible and I think that Fury is going to do something about that. It's possible we have an Agent double running around. Natasha isn't letting anyone but the doctor in to see Barton. Finding these threats puts everything on a whole new level."

"Yes it does," Horatio said. He managed to separate out the vocal track and isolated it to play. "I see what Nick means. That is garbled."

Tony moved around to the other side of the counter and put his phone down next to it. "Just needs a little magic," he said. "JARVIS, vocal audio track only. Run it through the filters, rebuild the base and match to Barton's sample."

"Yes, Sir."

"Your tracker?" Horatio asked with a smile.

"JARVIS is my AI, runs everything for me around the house," Tony said. "If he can't get this rebuilt, then no one can."

"I shall do my best, Sir," JARVIS said. "Lieutenant Caine, it is a pleasure to meet you. Agent Barton has spoken of you once or twice and I had hoped to be able to meet you."

Horatio chuckled. "It's nice to meet you, JARVIS," he said. "So, I'm guessing you see everything that happens at the Tower. Did you notice anything unusual lately?"

"Agent Barton has become more subdued than normal, but he wouldn't say what the matter was," JARVIS said. "There have been two arguments between him and Agent Coulson, resulting in Agent Coulson sleeping elsewhere."

"Fights? You never told me about fights, JARVIS," Tony said. "You're supposed to tell me these things. I'll find the audio on those, Horatio. Everything at the Tower is passive recorded, I just have to get in there and pull it up."

"It would help," Horatio said. "Right now everything will help."

"The track, Sir," JARVIS said.

"Play it, J."

Barton's voice came over the speakers. "Sir, do you see your contact? Sir? Coulson, where are you?"

"That is all before the first explosions, Sirs," JARVIS said.

"So Phil was on the op," Tony said. "This needs to go up to Director Fury. JARVIS, send it up."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm going back to medical to review files, Tony," Horatio said. "The doctors are getting me Clint's reports and if you could send me the threats and hate mail, that would help."

Tony took the tablet and checked the IP address. "Yeah, I can totally send things to this," he said. "Nick won't use my tech for SHIELD business. He's afraid I've uploaded JARVIS into it and am slowly trying to take over the world. Which I totally am, but I'd be more subtle about it than that."

Horatio smiled. He liked Tony. "Thank you for all of your help with this, Tony," he said. "I'd like to know who is trying to kill my boy before he wakes up."

"We'll find out. I'm tracking IP addresses on the notes. Whoever was sending these knew computers though, so it'll take me a while to do it. That's not to say I won't track them down, but I'll have to work at it."

"Please keep me updated," Horatio said.

"Tell Hawkeye I miss him already," Tony said. "I'll come down in a bit and talk to him. I just want to get some of this taken care of first."

***

"Horatio."

"Natasha," Horatio said with a nod. He pulled a chair over close to Barton's bed, being careful of all the wires, and sat down. "Has there been any change at all?"

"No, he's still in the coma," she said. "What did you find?"

Horatio sighed. "Things that are worrying me," he said. "Did you know that Clint's been getting death threats from someone in SHIELD?"

"He never mentioned it," Natasha said. "You know how he likes to keep his problems to himself and never say anything to anyone about it. That said, I'm not surprised. When he was taken as a slave by Loki before the Battle, he led an attack on the Helicarrier. No one seems to be able to see that he did his best to keep people alive and a lot of people blame him for the deaths that day."

"How many died?"

"Not nearly as many as you would think, but more than had to. I think the official count was twenty one, but Coulson came back to life, so twenty," Natasha said. "The team Clint was leading was here to provide a distraction for Loki and cripple the Helicarrier. They weren't here to kill, and I know that was Clint's order."

"So we have friends of twenty people to look at for these death threats," Horatio said. "That's something that Nick's office is better suited for. I want to know more about these missions that he's been going on, and why Phil Coulson remembers meetings about them when there weren't any."

Natasha shrugged. "Around here, that sounds almost normal," she said. "When you deal with alien incursions and threats from guys who think they're Nazis, you learn that anything is possible."

"I imagine you do," Horatio said. "Tony told me he suggested blood and DNA tests for Phil. Do you think that should be extended to everyone?"

"Everyone on the team at least," Natasha said. "I'll go talk with Fury about it. I'm sure it'll do Clint good to hear your voice."

"Thank you for staying with him," Horatio said.

"Nowhere else I'd rather be," Natasha said. She nodded to Horatio and left. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Hey Clint, it sounds to me like you've got some problems going on up here. You're a smart boy, so I wonder if you knew something was wrong or not before the building you were on blew up. The doctor says he doesn't know where you were perched, but I know you. You were up on the roof and you found a way to ride the blast and protect your back. I wish you'd been able to protect your head too, but explosions are so unpredictable. From the sounds of things, you did good to come out of this like you did."

He looked down at the tablet when it beeped and started to pull up files. "This would be easier if I knew what I was looking for, you know," he said with a smile. "I should have taken you to the lab with me a few times, not just for the day you were there a few months ago, but for a whole case so you could see exactly what it is I do. There are so many tiny little puzzle pieces that have to be fit together to solve a case, and starting off blind or with pieces that don't match, that makes it harder. That's not to say it's impossible, I'll find answers to the questions I have, it'll just take a while. This would be easier if you were awake, you know, Clint. Not to mention it would make a lot of people happy to have you back. I wonder if Nick would let me take you down to Miami while you're healing up. Sitting in the sun makes everyone feel better, I think, and I know I'd enjoy spending time with you again. I'll have to ask him."

***

Tony took the time to let Fury know what he was doing and then suited up and headed back to the Tower. He couldn't access recordings from outside his lab and he wanted to find out what the two arguments between Barton and Coulson were about. Once inside, he sealed off his lab and sat down at his desk. "Okay, so when and where were these fights, JARVIS?" he asked, fingers flying over the keyboard.

"I pulled the relevant video up for you, Sir, when you expressed interest from the Helicarrier," JARVIS said. "Would you like me to play the first one?"

"Yeah, let's see what this is all about."

The monitor in front of him came to life, showing the floor that Barton and Coulson shared. They had painted the walls a robin eggshell blue and had furnishing that were both complimentary and shocking when compared to the wall color. Tony had a feeling that the shocking was Barton, but he would have to ask to be sure. He heard the pair before he saw them.

"I'm fine, Phil," Barton was saying.

"Fine is not having twenty stitches in your arm from the string on your bow snapping," Coulson replied, coming into view. "What the hell were you thinking, Clint, going into battle without checking your gear first?"

"I did check it," Barton said. He appeared and flopped down onto the sofa. There was a white bandage around his right arm from his wrist up to his shoulder. "I check my bow four times a day and you know it, Phil. Before I shoot in the morning, after I'm done shooting in the morning, before I shoot at night and when I'm done shooting for the night. I had just replaced that string the day before and it was fine. I looked it over when we were en-route. I don't know what happened, but this isn't my fault."

"No one else touches your gear, Clint," Coulson said. "No one gets near your gear. You expect me to believe that someone was able to sabotage you without you knowing about it?"

Barton sighed. "It's either that or the string was faulty out of the lab," he said. "You know the R&D guys make me everything I need. Even my eyes aren't microscopic good, Phil. If there was a small flaw in the string, it's possible I wouldn't have seen it during any of my checks."

"JARVIS, pause for a second," Tony said. "What's that on Agent's inner arm almost buried under his sleeve."

The image shifted and enhanced. Coulson had his sleeves rolled halfway up his arms, and a patch of some sort was only just visible from under the roll. "What is that?" Tony asked. "Agent doesn't smoke and I can't think of any other sort of patch he would be wearing, can you?"

"No, Sir."

"Call Fury for me," Tony said. "I remember the battle that led to this argument. I saw the string, it wasn't tampered with in a traditional manner. In fact, I think I have it in the lab somewhere because I wanted to see what had happened with it. Where'd I put it, J?"

"On the scanning table, Sir," JARVIS said. "We were going to attempt to make an unbreakable string for the bow."

"That's right, thanks. Fury, why would Agent Coulson be wearing a patch on the inner skin of his left arm?" Tony asked, rolling over to the scanning table.

"I can't think of a reason he would be," Fury said. "Horatio's been talking with me about these threat letters Barton's been receiving. Have you had any luck tracking down who is sending them?"

"No, Sir, Director Fury," JARVIS replied. "Whoever was sending them laid a trail of IP addresses. I will eventually be able to track them back, but it will take me at least another day, if not longer."

"All right, keep at it JARVIS," Fury said. "Now, what's this about a patch, Stark?"

Tony waved his fingers towards the frozen monitor. "JARVIS, send him a screencap," he said. He picked up the broken string and looked at it. "That cap is from an argument that he and Barton were having about Barton not caring for his bow."

"The day Barton doesn't care for his bow is the day I retire," Fury said. "No, that's not anything I recognize. I'll ask him about it. Keep at it, Stark. I want to know what's going on on my ship."

"We'll find you answers, Nick," Tony said. "It'll all come together. JARVIS, where's the big magnifier?"

"On the shelf where you last left it, Sir," JARVIS said.

Fury snorted. "I'll leave you to it. I gave Horatio your phone number, so you might be getting a call from him."

"Yeah, that's fine," Tony said. "I'll call you back when I know anything. JARVIS, this isn't right."

"What is the problem, Sir?" JARVIS asked.

"There's charring on the inside of this string," Tony replied. "Barton's strings are custom made out of mystery materials that SHIELD isn't talking about, but there shouldn't be a way that it could char from the inside, is there? Where's Bruce? I need Chemistry to happen in here."

***

Fury put his phone down and looked across the desk at Coulson. "Take off your jacket and roll up your sleeves," he said.

"Sir?"

"Just do it, Phil, don't mess with me," Fury said. "There's something very wrong on my boat and I don't have a clue what's going on, and that makes me mad. I want to know if it's possible we've had Loki back in here and no one caught it. Let me see your arms now."

Coulson stood up and took off his jacket, draping it neatly over the back of a chair before he rolled both sleeves up to above his elbows. "I don't know what you're expecting to find on my arms, Sir."

"That patch there, Phil, what's it for?"

"Some of my medicines for my lung, Sir," Coulson replied. "Medical worked them into a patch so they would release slowly into my system and I didn't have to worry about build-up and possible side effects on my liver and kidneys."

"That's all well and good, except that they never told me about it," Fury said. "I also know you, Phil, and you'd have extra with you. Let me have one of them and let's see exactly what medicine you're getting from these patches of yours."
****

Horatio looked up when Fury stormed into the room. "I take it you got some not so good news?" he asked.

"Coulson's being drugged," Fury said. "He's back in medical being evaluated, but whoever is doing this is one of my people. I want answers, Horatio." He looked at the bed. "Has there been any changes in his condition?"

"Nothing so far," Horatio said. "The doctors are starting to push for me to take him off life support."

"With Coulson down like he is, the choice will be yours," Fury said.

"What drugs was Coulson given?" Horatio asked.

"A chemical mix that would create some very realistic hallucinations," Fury replied. "Enough that he would believe that he was meeting with me and be cleared for ops that he had no business being on. I don't know how he's managed to act normal for so long, but no one picked up on anything wrong. Not even Barton."

"That's not true, Nick, Hawkeye was picking up on something, he just didn't know what it was," Tony said.

"God damn it, Stark, I've told you not to do that," Fury growled.

Tony came in and put a tablet down on the bed's table. "Yeah, yeah, shoot me, I've heard it all before, Nick," he said. "I watched the tape of the second argument and also what happened immediately after Coulson stormed out of the apartment. Barton knew something was wrong, but he blamed himself for it. Thought that he was putting too much stress on Agent after the attack and physical therapy. I wish he'd felt like he could talk to me about it, but I've been busy in my lab working."

"Clint's smart," Horatio said. "I wouldn't mind beating up his blood family for what they did to him, but that's impossible to do."

"Can't kick ghosts," Tony said. "I've tried, just leads to broken feet. I also found out, with Bruce's help, that Barton's gear is being tampered with. That broken string he had that led to all those stitches, it was treated."

"Treated how?" Fury asked.

"Each arrow Barton nocks creates a minute friction on the string as he draws it," Tony replied. "Generating heat. The broken string, and we need to check his stock of strings to make sure there aren't more like this, would slowly char and finally snap. Whoever did it probably hoped that he would die in battle because that's where he shoots the most. There wouldn't have been enough draws during any of his practice sessions to do this. They didn't help, but the creep hurting my friend was counting on failure during battle."

Fury sighed. "So someone is drugging my right-hand man and trying to get my top sniper killed," he said. "I don't care what it takes, you two, I want to know where those threat letters were coming from and I want someone in my office that I can question."

"We'll find them, Nick," Horatio said softly. "Is Phil going to be okay?"

"Once we get the drugs out of his system, they think so," Fury said. "They also don't know who gave him the patches, but it wasn't medical."

"We're looking for someone who knows Chemistry, someone who knows the Avengers, knows Coulson and that Coulson trusts," Tony said. "I mean, think about it, how many people outside of medical would he take anything from and actually use it?"

"Not many," Fury said. "Get me a name, Stark."

Horatio looked over at Tony once Fury was gone. "I haven't seen him that mad before," he commented softly. "What can I do to help?"

"Get Barton awake and back with us," Tony said. "He'll be able to tell us more than recordings can. Bruce is working on the strings and other medicines from their floor. I'm tracking the IP addresses on those messages. JARVIS, hack into the security cameras in Coulson's office. Let's see who's been visiting him the most other than Barton."

"Yes, Sir," JARVIS said, voice coming from the tablet.

Horatio glanced over with a smile. "Taking over the world?" he asked.

"One tablet at a time," Tony replied with a grin.

***

Coulson woke up and realized he had a migraine. He groaned and closed his eyes, trying to block out as much light as he could.

"Hang on," a soft voice said, and the light was dimmed down. "There, how's that?"

"Where the hell am I?" Coulson asked.

"Medical," Steve replied just as softly. "You've been unconscious for about six hours, Phil."

"What happened? Was I hurt on an op?"

Steve sighed. "We're not sure what's going on, but no, you weren't injured on an op," he said. "I'll get the doctor to come in and explain it a little better, but until we're sure what's going on, the director asked that Bruce and I stay with you."

"Bruce?"

"I'm here," he said. "I'm also not surprised you have a migraine, Phil. You've been given some pretty heavy drugs for the past few months and withdrawl from them isn't going to be pleasant. Here's the doctor."

"Agent Coulson, how do you feel?"

"Like my head is about to explode," Coulson replied. He didn't dare open his eyes, even with the lights dimmed. "What drugs did you people have me on?"

"It wasn't us, Agent Coulson," the doctor said. "Here, let me give you something for the pain. Dr. Banner, Captain, this is just standard grade migraine medicine. It'll knock the symptoms back enough that he can talk with us a little more easily."

"If he gets worse, we'll know who to come to," Bruce said softly.

Coulson felt the medicine enter his IV and winced. "What is going on?" he asked. "Where's Clint?"

"Barton's injured, Phil," Steve replied. "His father is here with him."

"Horatio's here? How long have I been out again?"

"You've been unconscious for six hours, but we estimate the drugs have been in your system and interfering with your daily decisions for at least four months, if not longer," the doctor said. "You should be feeling less pain now, Agent Coulson."

He risked opening his eyes a little and blinked when pain didn't stab back into his brain. "When is someone going to tell me what the hell happened?" he asked.

"We're not sure what's happened, Phil," Bruce said. "You had Barton out on an unauthorized op and a building came down on him. He's banged up badly and the doctors don't have much hope that he'll wake up again. The drugs that were, and probably still are to an extent, in your system were causing hallucinations leading you to believe that your ops were authorized and the problems only just came to light. Someone in SHIELD is doing their best to kill Barton."

"You're saying I've been compromised," Coulson said.

"Do you remember who gave you the patches, Phil?" Steve asked. "You told Director Fury that it was medical and the patches were a slow delivery system for some of your medications. The problem is that medical has no idea where they came from and those medications couldn't be put into patch form."

"It's all, my mind is a blur," Coulson admitted. "Clint's hurt?"

"Badly. When we're sure the drugs are out of your system and you're not sick from them, you can go see him," Bruce said. "Horatio and Natasha are sitting with him right now, Horatio's also helping with the investigation."

Coulson wanted to shake his head, but knew it would make him sick if he did. "What's happening?" he asked.

"We don't know," Steve replied, "but we're going to find out. We'll take care of it, Phil. You rest. Bruce and I aren't going anywhere."

***

Horatio was reviewing two of the threat letters, comparing language and usage when his cell phone rang. "Horatio."

"Hey, it's me," Eric said. "When are you going to be back at the lab?"

"I'm not sure, Eric, this is more involved than I thought and it's possible I could be gone for weeks," Horatio said. "I've already talked with Calleigh and she's going to handle assignments for me."

"Cal's good, H, but she's not you and we need you here," Eric said.

"Eric, this is more important than the lab right now," Horatio said. "One of the federal agencies has asked for my help in an investigation and I'm going to honor that because they do more good than a lot of people I know."

"So you're working with Clint then?"

Horatio sighed. "Eric, you do not know the whole story and your tone is out of line," he said. "I'm asking you as a friend to drop this now before you make me mad. I will be home when you see me. I need to go, I'll talk to you later." He turned off his phone before Eric could say anything and sighed.

"Problem?" Natasha asked from the spare bed.

"One of my people," Horatio replied. "He was working the case that Clint consulted on for me and, according to Clint, has a crush on me."

"Clint's got good eyes, he's probably right," Natasha said.

"Which is a problem because I don't see him in the same light," Horatio said. "I'll deal with it when I'm back in Miami. Right now, I think I might have found something. These notes were written by two different people."

Tony looked over from his tablet. "Which could also explain this nightmare trail of IP addresses they were routed through before they reached Hawkeye," he said. "What are you seeing?"

"The language used is inconsistent with one person," Horatio said. "Even when someone is trying to hide their identity, certain things come through in their writing regardless of how hard they try to eliminate it. We learn to write by rote at school, but everyone develops their own usage and styles as they grow. I'm seeing two very different people here. Both are native English speakers, one comes from a wealthy family and has been in the military a long time. The other is more likely a scholarship or military paid education, and is a doctor."

"Medical or academic?" Tony asked. "There's both in SHIELD and we need to narrow that down."

Horatio looked up when Fury entered the room. "Director."

"I heard what you were saying, Horatio. Finish it up, are we looking at one of our medical staff or one of our scientists?"

"I would lean towards scientist right now, only because some of the wording isn't medical based," Horatio said.

Fury sighed. "So we're looking for two people, one of whom is from money and military to the core," he said. "The second is poor but worked their way through school with help from the government and is probably a scientist. Narrow that down with the other clues we already have and I think I know who the first person is."

"Who do I have to kill, Sir?" Natasha asked.

"You will stand down, Agent Romanov," Fury replied. "I need you here with Barton until this mess is over with and we can figure out what we're doing for him. Stark, you come with me. I need a hacker that can't be traced and I know damn well that means JARVIS, no matter how much I hate it."

"Do you need me to keep working on the threat letters, Nick?" Horatio asked.

"No, I think you've given us the information we need," Fury replied. "Now I want you to talk with the doctors about your boy and what all is going to happen there. Coulson has woken up twice and is showing improvement each time. They're flushing his system as fast as they dare, but he's going to be in withdraw for at least two weeks."

Horatio nodded. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help out."

"Trust me, I will," Fury said. "Let's go, Stark."

***

Tony followed Fury up to the office and waited until the door was shut behind them before he dared say anything. "You have an idea who it is, Nick?" he asked.

"You were out by the engine keeping us in the air during the battle," Fury replied. He sat down behind his desk. "I think people forget exactly how good both my memory and my hearing are. I didn't take action because I thought someone was just running their mouth post battle, but I think now it's time to do a little digging. I don't want anyone to know we've been looking. Understand?"

"You get all of that, JARVIS?" Tony asked.

"I did, Sir," JARVIS said via the tablet Tony was carrying. "Though I would remind Director Fury that I need some hint as to who I am looking for. Sifting through the entirety of the SHIELD system could take me a week at best."

Fury sighed. "I want you to check into two accounts, JARVIS," he said. "Same person, just one's personal and one is professional."

"Yes, Sir," JARVIS said. "Given the level of detail seen thus far in the electronic communications, I will assume a high level of protection around both of these accounts and proceed accordingly. I will keep you updated on my progress."

"Nick, can I ask how you came up with this name?" Tony asked. "I'm kinda shocked by it, honestly."

"No one knows it, but she lost her boyfriend in the attack," Fury replied. "I also know for a fact that she's never liked Barton, not from the moment he joined SHIELD, and has seen him as a threat to our work. Given the events of the attack on the Helicarrier, I'd be damn surprised if she doesn't blame Barton for her boyfriend's death. Now, I don't know who our second person is, but I agree with Horatio's assessment that it's one of the science team. You focus on them and find out who I need to interrogate."

Tony nodded. "Easy enough, but it'll probably be tomorrow before we start seeing results," he said. "JARVIS and I are good, but we can only work as fast as the data stream lets us."

"Get me a name and get me evidence one way or the other," Fury said. "This is ending now."
****

"Doctor, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you," Horatio said. "Clint is remaining on life support until I have lost all hope that he will wake up. Until that happens, you will continue to treat him as if he is going to wake up in an hour. Should I find out that you are skimping on his treatments, or that you missed something because you've locked yourself into the mindset that he's going to do, then you'll have to deal with me." He stepped forward and looked directly into the doctor's eyes. "You'll find that I'm scarier than your director when my family is concerned. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Lieutenant," the doctor said.

"Good. Now, I want full reports on Clint's injuries," Horatio said. "I was promised those hours ago and they have yet to appear. It's entirely possible that he could be receiving better care elsewhere and I want to know if that's true or not."

"I'll go get the files now." The doctor all but fled the room.

Natasha looked up from the tablet she'd been working on. She was learning a new language for an op. "You really are almost scarier than Fury," she said.

"I was holding back," Horatio said with a smile. He moved over to the bed and looked down at Barton. "I would happily take him to Miami with me if I thought he would get better treatment there, but I don't think he will. I do know that SHIELD has the best medical department around."

"Not to mention there's a risk that your friend might show up," Natasha said.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about him," Horatio said with a sigh. "I know that I need to talk with him about his feelings for me, but I need to be able to focus on Clint right now."

"He doesn't know about your relationship with Clint?"

"No, I haven't talked with anyone in Miami about it," Horatio said. "Frank Tripp knows, but that's only because he knew Clint back when he was living with me. I think it would be too dangerous to let people know that I helped raise one of the best assassins in the world."

Natasha looked up with a smile. "Not many people would take pride in that, you know."

"He's never killed an innocent and he doesn't let people suffer," Horatio said. "I'm proud of Clint for doing what he loves."

"Everyone should have a parent like you, Horatio. I wish I had someone to be proud of me."

"You do, Natasha, you have Fury, Clint, and your team," Horatio said. "If your family can't be proud of you, then who can?"

***

Next part of Who wrote these orders.