Mirror ∞ Marvel ∞ bk. 1

Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Clint spent the rest of the day moving his stuff from his apartment over to the Tower. He had decided to keep the apartment for himself, in case he needed time away from everyone, but he needed clothes and his coffee over in the Tower for daily use. When evening rolled around, he finished up for the day and went back to Avengers Tower.

As he walked into his floor of the Tower, Lucky greeted him warmly. Clint hung his jacket on the wall to the left of the door. His keys went on the circular kitchen table along with his coffee cup. It was empty, sadly. He checked the clock. 8:36. Time for at least one more cup.

He walked from the table over to the small kitchen and started the coffee pot which he left on the center island. As it worked its magic, he walked over to the TV on the other side of the apartment-like suite. He dodged the couch to find the remote. Clint flipped through channels until he settled on a New York Rangers game.

With the sound of skates on ice from the TV, and drip coffee from the pot, Clint closed his eyes as he stood in the center of his floor of the Tower. Another sound joined in. A rush of pouring rain on the windows made Clint open his eyes. He walked forward, passing the kitchen wall and his bedroom on the right until he stood before the large floor to ceiling window. With the rain on the glass, the lights in New York City's skyline became distorted through the darkness. Clint hummed to himself.

The coffee stopped dripping. He turned from the window with a sigh. Retrieving his laptop from his bedroom, Clint grabbed the coffee pot and sat on the black couch facing the TV. He took a large drink and then set it down. He had to unlock his computer.

When he had done so, the Shield logo popped up and he entered his highest clearance codes and fingerprint. Clint accessed Paige's file. There wasn't much, but he was curious about her foster care situations. Seven homes in eighteen years wasn't odd. But, to Clint, that in itself was odd. How had she managed to stay in foster care that long with her powers the way they were?

And why hadn't she been placed for adoption? She had been found as an infant.

Clint scrolled to the beginning of her records. To his surprise, a lot was missing. But one thing wan't... genetic testing. Only these weren't her results. Clint frowned. He closed the file. Who had been tampering with her file that early on? No one had known what an Asgardian was in 1991, but Shield had no record of her in their system. They hadn't been the one to hide her.

Suddenly, Tony's voice came through, "Clint. Mario Kart tournament. Lounge. Twenty Minutes. Be there."

"Right," Clint responded, absentmindedly. When Tony stopped transmitting through the Tower, Clint looked up and spoke again, "Hey, Jarvis, can you record the next episode of Dog Cops for me?"

"Of course, sir. Enjoy Mario Kart."

Clint rose from his seat and carried the coffee pot over to the counter again. It took him a few minutes of fishing around before he found his black and grey travel mug. Once he did, he transferred as much coffee as he could. Usually he would just take the pot, but with Mario Kart things could possibly get violent and he didn't want to risk breaking it.