A Second [Clint Barton x Reader]

The Night Before

Part 20
***
Sunday; October 15th, 2023; 4:36 pm; The Mind Stone

Tony paced the room, biting his lip and looking up at the screen that currently had a picture of a yellow glowing stone on it. Everyone sat around a table, notebooks and pencils in hand, papers scattered across the desk, and multiple screens around what was deemed "The War Room" by Scott that showed lists of ideas and topics for today's discussion.

"Ok people. Think. Where are places and times that we have seen the Mind Stone." Tony says, opening up the floor for discussion. Immediately Clint, who was seated beside you at the table, chimed in.

"Shield base. The Joint Dark Energy Mission, Western Division. 2012. The Mind Stone was in Loki's scepter, which was at that base." You frown just the slightest. That had been a really hard time for Clint when he went under Loki's mind control. He'd still occasionally have nightmares about being under his control again.

"That'll be a tough one." Bruce agrees. It was one he certainly wouldn't be able to get. Nothing very conspicuous about a giant green hulk. "Clint you were... with him for a while. Did Loki ever leave you with the scepter?"

Clint's eyes glaze over at the question. He hated thinking about it. In a comforting gesture, you played a hand on his knee to remind him he wasn't there. Clint seems to come around a little and shakes his head, hand moving to cover yours.

"No. He doesn't. He guarded it at all times. And trust me, getting it from him would not be easy. He gets one of us under his control, and it's over."

There was a silence as people took that in, followed by another suggestion by Bruce. "We also used the Mind Stone to create the Vision. And that was in 2015. Might be a little easier breaking into our own tower."

Monday; October 16th, 2023; 12:52 pm; The Time Stone

You sat at a table with Steve, Natasha and Clint, eating some leftover pizza from last night's dinner. The only topic anyone seemed to be able to talk about were the stones and the mission.

"I don't think the Time Stone will be hard." Steve comments through half a mouth full of pizza. "We just gonna find a time when Strange was around or when the stone was. And if I'm remembering my research correctly, it should be at Greenwich Village in New York City. And if we pick our time right, Strange will be there."

He got a bunch of hums of agreement from the rest of the group.

Wednesday; October 18th, 2023; 6:27 pm; The Space Stone

Steve stood at the front of the room, a picture of the Space Stone next to him. "This thing has been everywhere. The easiest time to grab it is when I crashed into the ocean at the arctic. But that's gonna be tough terrain to bare. Any other ideas?"

"The first time I ever saw the Tesseract was in 2012. At the Shield base." You hum, mind tired. With the machine all built, talking about the plans was all you did lately. You were stressed.

Natasha, who was laying on one of the couches buzzed her lips a little. "That wouldn't be any easier to get. The Tesseract was under a level 10 protection. Getting it out might be impossible."

Steve looks up from his notes and to the group. "But (y/n) and Clint probably would be able to have access to it right? Weren't you two on base with it?"

"Well yeah," you nod, "I wasn't a high enough level at the time to be in contact with it though. Clint was tasked with just watching it. He wasn't allowed to know where it was going to. It was just his job to be security while the scientists worked on it."

"Not to mention," Clint adds, "that was the first time we encounter Loki, and he sort of took over my mind. And the half the facility. Even if we did have higher levels, we'd still run into turned Shield agents."