"There is something beyond Loki. I've read the reports of what Stark saw through the portal." He's also heard from Stark himself who is obsessed with what he saw, who is trying to make Phil do something though Stark himself doesn't know what that something is. "And my guess is the scepter was made for him by that entity. Put the right weapon in the hand of your agent and let them do their work."

It's how Phil's operated for years. He doesn't have to give orders in the field because he trusts Nat and Clint to know their own capabilities and what to do. He steps in when there's something they don't know or can't see coming for them.

"You could be right." Coddling Clint and telling him not to worry is the wrong thing. There is a lot to be worried about. Intergalactic threats are real now, though Phil's known about aliens for years given Fury's little trip when he was a rookie agent. "We haven't seen signs of a connection, however. The scepter is more a key to the door from what I've read. It can open and close it. Your mind isn't a key even after having the scepter poke it. If anything, we should be more worried the scepter is a tracking beacon."

That's a possibility that's come up in his conversations with Stark. They've got a big neon sign flashing "here!!" to whatever is out there.

"We take what you know, what Stark's scene and we start planning now for what's coming. Together."