Work Text:
The phone rang, and Tanner was immediately alert. Only a dozen people in the world had the number for *that* phone, and every single one worked in the intelligence community. He turned to M, who was working through a selection of mission reports.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, I should answer this call."
M nodded at him, and extracted his phone from his suit pocket.
"Hello, Tanner."
"Bill? Phil Coulson here."
"Phil! Good to hear from you. How's Maria?"
"No, Maria was your motorbike. Mine was Jane. We named them when we bought them in the aftermath of that incident in DC."
"You mean when we 'borrowed' them from the showroom for a high speed chase. And it was the United Nations building in New York. A.I.M decided to spring a surprise."
"We bought the bikes afterwards as souvenirs. It was HYDRA agents, not A.I.M. And after we caught them, I flashed my S.H.I.E.L.D ID to get us out of the speeding tickets."
Tanner grinned. In this age of voice-manipulation and other digital trickery, it was important to verify identities. Both he and Coulson were spy veterans, and if the question-and-answer tradecraft might have seemed a bit much to an outsider, both men knew better. And it was always fun to reminisce about some of the crazy stuff they'd wound up doing over the years.
"To be fair, Phil, the fact that you even got hold of this number was a giveaway that it was you. So, what's new Stateside?"
"Officially, nothing. Unofficially, well... Things have gotten pretty hectic lately. And Director Fury wants to keep M up to date, via the back channels, in case the crap hits the fan. Special Relationship and all that."
Tanner cast a pointed glance at M. "I take it this has to do with half the Norse Pantheon turning up a few months ago?"
"That, Tony's Iron Man antics, Operation Angry Man, reviving Captain Rogers, all of it. It's hard to keep up. The Director's convinced something really big is coming, and he wants to resurrect the Avengers Initiative. Your friends at MI-13 will probably be getting a call at some point."
"I'll be sure to give Brian the heads-up, just in case."
"Which brings me to a question: Is it true? About James?"
Tanner sighed. "As far as we can tell, yes. It's Bond, so there's always a chance; Lord knows he's survived worse scrapes than this before. But officially *and* unofficially, he's confirmed KIA."
"Real shame. He was a good agent. One of the few who could keep up with Hawkeye and Widow. You know he and Natasha crossed paths before she defected?"
"Wouldn't surprise me. I think every agent in Russia encountered him, in one way or another, during the Cold War."
"So, how's your new Quartermaster doing?"
"Very well, thanks. Our data security's better than it's ever been. Mr Stark's not still bitter, is he?"
"What? The best technical brain to graduate Cambridge in a decade, and you guys convince him to work for Six, for a fraction of the money I offered? Have you got some mind control ray I don't know about? Can I buy it off you?" Tanner smiled at Phil's passable impersonation of Tony Stark. "Ah, he got over it quickly enough. Q's a patriot, like us. It's not about the money."
"You're not wrong."
A pause, then Tanner spoke again. "Do you ever miss it?"
"What?"
"Field operations. These days we're right-hand men for legendary spy bosses. Vital roles, but a world away from running surveillance on terrorists, or setting up a sting to catch a double agent."
"A little. Though if the Director's instincts are right, there'll be enough action for everyone before too long. Anyway, I have a meeting to discuss the latest threat vectors in the Balkans. Looks like SPECTRE have something in the works."
"It amazes me that they're still going."
"The Third Reich is dead and buried, but that hasn't stopped HYDRA. I guess it's true what they say; Old spies never die."
M slid a note across the table towards him. Tanner glanced at it.
"One more thing; M says to tell the Director that she'll see him at the UNIT symposium in six weeks. Apparently, the director of Mossad wants in on the Friday night poker game."
Coulson laughed. "I'll pass that on. Good to talk to you."
"Same here. Don't leave it so long next time."
"I won't. Bye."