They land without incident on the helicarrier, Phil instructing a crewmember to put Steve's gear in his room as Natasha moves to meet them at the bottom of the ramp..
"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers," Phil introduces, a note of smug satisfaction in his voice that makes Clint grin.
"Ma'am," Steve acknowledges, all earnest politeness.
Tasha counters with a slightly wary "hi," clearly not used to that sort of greeting. In the other timeline it had taken poor Tash a while to truly accept that Steve wasn't mocking her when he treated her with his peculiar mix of 1940s chivalry and honest respect for a strong, capable woman. That Steve is able to blend the two so seamlessly has often made Clint wonder if modern feminism has given chivalry an undeserved bad rap or if Steve is just that special. Clint strongly suspects the latter.
"They need you on the Bridge," Tasha tells Phil, "They're starting the face-trace." Phil nods briefly and starts to head inside. When Clint goes to follow, Tasha raises an eyebrow, looking put out. Clint knows she expected him to stick around and answer all her questions but Clint was serious about not letting Phil out of his sight, and besides, if they're starting the face-trace that means he'll have to make a decision soon about who should go get Loki when he surfaces. Clint turns and walks backwards for a few steps, mouthing an apologetic "Later" to Tasha before turning forward again and jogging to catch up with Phil.
"So," Clint says as he falls into step next to Phil, "first time around Tasha flew Steve out to Stuttgart to meet up with Loki. They exchange a few blows, Tony shows up in the suit, and between the two of them, they manage to 'capture' Loki," Clint does air quotes to go along with the slightly mocking tone in his voice because, seriously, how could they have taken a capture that easy at face value? "and they all head back on the Quinjet together. Thor drops in, literally, about halfway back, he and Tony and Steve fight over Loki for a bit, during which time Loki doesn't even try to escape, and it is eventually decided that Thor will come back to the Helicarrier as well."
"You're thinking we should do something different this time?" Phil asks.
"Actually, no," Clint says. "I'm thinking maybe we should let things go the same way. And I'm thinking we shouldn't explain about the whole do-over thing until they all get back. I'm just not sure if I'm right," he adds a little skeptically, stuffing his hands into his pockets in a nervous gesture that he knows Phil will interpret (correctly) as self-doubt, but unable to really help himself.
"Ok, so walk me through it," Phil says, and this is another one of many reasons why Clint loves his husband. No platitudes, no meaningless reassurances, just quiet support and sincere willingness to provide whatever Clint needs.
"Ok," Clint says, dragging his thoughts in order. "The main reason I'm thinking we should let it go as it naturally would is because of Thor. I already told you that Steve and Tony don't exactly hit it off, and the seeds of that discord are planted on the plane back from Stuttgart, which is why I'm not one-hundred percent sure I'm right."
"But?" Phil prompts, when Clint pauses a moment too long.
"But, I think Thor's the more important issue here," Clint admits. "We can work on Tony and Cap later, but with Thor, this is our first impression. And I know it seems counterintuitive, but I think the fact that Steve and Tony fought him to a standstill is a big part of why he was as cooperative as he was the first time around." Clint takes a big breath before he continues, because he hates saying bad things about his teammates, particularly when he is really only speculating from second-hand accounts, but he needs to get this out, see what Phil thinks of it, because apart from just being great at getting to the heart of things, Phil has met Thor before, while before the battle Clint had only seen him from behind the fletching of an arrow.
"From what I understand from talking to him, from hearing his 'glorious saga' about the fight," Clint smirks a bit, remembering the epic tale Thor had woven when he'd asked them all to fill in all the details he'd missed, being on the wrong side and all, "he started out not really thinking humans capable of dealing with Loki at all. Not that he doesn't respect us or anything, but his initial plan was pretty much to handle Loki on his own. But then Steve and Tony fought him to a standstill. I mean, yeah, he was holding back some on account of how he didn't want to kill anybody, but it should have been an easy fight, and it wasn't. That's kind of when he decided that we might be worth working with, as equals.
"So I think we need to let that fight happen. Thor knows you - if you and I go he's more likely to stop and talk. The Asgardians place a lot of importance on physical strength, and on bonds forged in battle. I think that initial fight showed Thor that we're worth fighting with, and I don't think it'll come to a physical confrontation if you're there."
"So you want us to stay here," Phil concludes with a nod, his tone indicating agreement, and Clint relaxes slightly. Team dynamics aside, he also really doesn't want Phil or himself that close to Loki anytime soon. "Are you going to tell Natasha and Captain Rogers what you know before they bring in Loki or after?" Phil asks.
"After, I'm thinking," Clint replies. "I'll probably give Tasha a bit of a heads-up regarding Thor. She'll be annoyed I'm not telling her everything, but I really don't want to explain it all twice and Tony will be pissed if I tell Tasha and Steve before him."
"Speaking of which -" Phil starts, as they reach the bridge and head toward the stations performing the face-trace.
"I want to have a talk with Steve before they leave," Clint answers, knowing where the question was headed. He leans up against the railing while Phil glances over the screens full of flickering images as the computers try to match the faces of Loki, Webster, and Selvig against millions of hacked images from cameras around the world. The technicians are studiously ignoring them.
"We never really gave Cap much of a rulebook here - he's gonna start off treating everyone on the team like a soldier under his command because that's what he's used to. Tash won't mind much 'cause that's what she's used to too. Banner will start out being grateful for anything that doesn't involve him and surgical table. But Stark - Tony won't stand for it. He'll resent the assumption and be even more insubordinate than usual just to piss Rogers off, and he'll be successful, because Rogers won't quite get why Stark's being so difficult. It all builds from there." Clint shrugs. "If I can get Cap to treat Tony like an equal from the start, I think they'll learn to work together mostly on their own. With a discreet push now and then," Clint concludes with a grin that drops from his face seconds later as he registers the words he just said.
Phil immediately notices and steps up next to Clint, placing a firm hand against the small of his back where it's hidden by the wall, the best he can do while they're on the job.
"I'm still here," he murmurs low, knowing exactly what has Clint upset. "It won't happen this time. You'll be here to protect me," he says, making sure his voice reflects his full confidence that Clint won't let anything happen to him this time around. Clint shudders almost imperceptibly, but a moment later he's pulled himself back together with a deep breath.
"Damn right," he murmurs back, the corner of his mouth tilting up in a crooked smile. He bumps his shoulder against Phil's briefly, and the corner of Phil's eyes crinkle in the way that means he would be smiling widely if he weren't currently on duty.
The sudden increase in activity around them indicates that the helicarrier is preparing for take-off, and Phil moves to look at the screens again, reminding the technicians to give priority to images captured from Stuttgart and the other cities that SHIELD's researchers had determined contained likely sources of iridium.
They both look up when Natasha leads Steve and Bruce onto the bridge. Steve is looking around in impressed satisfaction, Bruce with trepidation. Yeah, Clint's going to have to have a talk with Bruce too. Maybe while Steve and Tasha are off after Loki? Hmmm . . . he'll have to think about that.
"Gentlemen," Fury greets them after the helicarrier is level in the air and cloaked. Steve reaches into his trouser pocket and pulls out a billfold, handing Fury a ten dollar bill, which he accepts without comment. Clint snickers under his breath. Phil looks over at him, one eyebrow raised in amused query.
"Tell you later," Clint promises with a grin.