5 hours later, Phil Coulson descended the mini airplane in an outfit that could let a blind man know he was a tourist. Dressed in his California themed tee and shorts, Coulson swept on his sunglasses, true government agent style. and was lead to the car by the Californian team.

"You look very prepared to play your part agent Coulson." Agent Grey commented on his outfit.

"This is not going to be a relaxing visit. What have we got so far?"

The other agents filled Coulson on what the situation was, and on their drive to the next drop off, Coulson devised a plan, assigned roles, and the team was ready to execute by the drop off.

Only Coulson got off and switched rides, and the rest of the team covertly followed behind, all the way till Coulson was dropped outside the coffee shop, briefcase in hand.

Phil entered the shop, and in his first glance, he swore he would prefer a place that got his name wrong, over this place. The store made no effort to counter the Californian heat, and flies momentarily flew over the barely there coffee shop items. And the regulars sitting around, definitely looked like they didn't have their morning coffee.

<< I arrange to meeting with in charge man, like, please>> Phil spoke in broken Italian.

"We speak English, my friend. But you do not speak Italian." A man who looked like the manager walked up to him from behind the counter.

Phil stepped forward, and removing his shades, announced his intentions.

"I'm here to see Ivo Lancia? Also goes by, "The Roulette"?"

"Ah, but does Roulette want to see you?" The manager splayed his hands, and his employees and "regulars" stood up to greet the customer.

"I'm pretty sure he's gonna want what's in this case," Phil threw a side glance to the case in his hand.

"Let me take a look huh? I'll decide," the man moved forward and reached for the brief, but Coulson swung the case back and held up a wagging finger as everyone else in the shop held up their guns.

"Enh, no." Coulson forcefully said.  "I wanna see the boss, do you understand? Or is your English worse than you thought?"

"Suit yourself," the manager grinned at Phil and stepped back, letting his men bag Coulson up.

His eyes slowly opened as he felt himself being dragged by two men at either of his side. Through his fuzzy vision, he could see his surroundings: narrow backstreets with quick turns, laden with carts and trucks and garbage cans. The men in front of him passworded their way into a building, and the other guards checked him up before letting him in. His consciousness was fully restored by the time he was standing in the audience of the boss, the bent and beaten briefcase sitting center table.

"So, we tried to open this case of yours. But as you can see, we could not. We want you to open it for us now." Roulette explained.

"I could open it and give you what's inside, no problem. But only in exchange for something in your possession."

"Other than your life?" The boss cocked a brow and Phil took a punch or two in the gut.

The S.H.I.E.L.D agent chuckled and spat out blood.

"No deal."

"A man with nothing to lose," Roulette told his men.

"Okay, listen!" Coulson's strength came back and he powerfully spoke, shrugging the men off him. "'Cause I'm only gonna say this once. I've lost a friend for this job, and I don't intend to follow him up. So, you're gonna give me what I want, or you can spill my guts right here and use that case as a dough presser."

Roulette laughed.

"I like your style." His hands motioned for his men to release Coulson from his cuffs.

"Thank you," Coulson smugly said as he rubbed his wrists.

Within the second, Phil had the briefcase snapped open and spun it towards the Italian boss. Roulette got up to reach for it, but Phil pulled it back, earning disapproval from the mob.

"Me first. You recently did a heist on an excavation site. You can keep the gold, I'd like to collect the scrolls. I think this is a big enough room to keep them in."

The boss, who had been relatively calm up to this point, pushed off the table with anger stitched on his face, and went and got a sack from the back of the room. The bag landed with a thud next to the case.

"Yggdrasil." Roulette said, calmly.

"Excuse me?"

"Yggdrasil. The tree of life. You know not what is on these scrolls, yet you put yourself in so much trouble for them."

"My boss tells me they tell of the end of the world."

"He is correct. Now, what tale do the items in your box speak of.

"Technically, death, too." Coulson smugly said and opened the case again. "A semi military gun prototype," he lifted up the gun and pointed out the features,
"thumb detection in the handle; liquid helium cooled, titanium barrel and slide."

"Beautiful,"

Phil let the boss pick up a gun, and pulled the bag of scrolls to himself. He had the bag in his arms when the boss pointed the gun at him, his mob mimicking his actions.

"They're a story behind every name," Roulette smirked and prepped to shoot, but as soon as the hammer released, the gun exploded, stunning everyone in the room, giving Phil the chance to escape.

Phil ran back the way they had dragged him, knowing when to turn and what to jump over and duck under. The mob's screams and bullets grazed past him as they ran behind.

His team picked him up in the main street and drove off while they mob chased them.

As his team fended off the mob, his partner noticed the fan following Coulson had built.

"I don't suggest you stay in California, Agent Coulson."

"I don't plan to. Take me to the airport, yeah?"

He addressed the driver and the agent took a quick detour.

"Got an urgent flight to catch?" Agent Grey inquired.

"China."

"Business, personal, or pleasure?"

"Hopefully, personal pleasure!"

"Aha. Got a date, Agent Coulson?"

"Believe it or not, it'll be our second one."

"You seem quite attached,"

"Impressed, really."

"Well, good luck then, Agent Coulson." Agent Grey said five seconds before Coulson opened the door in the moving car as they reached a terminal.

"Gonna need all I can get," he smirked behind him one last time and jumped out of the car, ready to run off into the sunset.

oOoOoOoO

I need a better way to end this chapter, lol.

Couldn't find any Phil Coulson casual pics, so here's a young Clark Gregg/Phil Coulson, cause obviously, the first half of this book is in the "past"

Jennifer Grey is the irl wife of clark gregg, you know, the girl from dirty dancing! Nobody puts baby in a corner!