"Call it, Cap."
They were all assembled in what became the 'Planning Room'. Steve was at the front of the room, a screen behind him showing when and where they planned to steal the stones. Everyone else was gathered around in some semblance of a horseshoe.
Tony and Rhodey were seated on a table that had been pushed against the wall. Tony was fiddling with a new gadget that he had been working on, something to improve the grip on his Iron Man gloves. Rhodey hissed at him to put it away so the Captain could give his orders.
Clint, Natasha and Scott were sprawled on the couch. Natasha was leaning back against Clint's shoulder, her knees curled up to her chest and clutching a notebook and pen. Scott, too, held a pen in his hand and was scrounging around in his pocket for some paper. Clint twirled an arrow in his right hand; his left arm was draped around Natasha so that his left hand was in exactly the right position to steal her notebook. She feigned annoyance, but secretly she was thrilled that Clint was in a playful mood.
On the end of the couch, Rocket sat perched on the armrest. Arms folded, looking rather impatient. Bruce was on the floor next to him, and leaned sideways against the couch. The couch shifted a bit. Rocket glared down in annoyance, while Clint narrowly stabbed Natasha with his arrow. Natasha dodged it easily and elbowed him. Scott threw up his hands in exasperation.
Thor, of course, was in the armchair that he has wordlessly claimed since Day 1. To everyone's surprise, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses and there was an alertness to his eyes that they hadn't seen for a long time. And there was no beer in sight. Standing beside him, attentive and ready, was Nebula. Her eyes were focused solely on Steve and for once, she almost looked happy. Or perhaps happy was an overstatement - she looked determined.
"All right then," said Steve. "We've narrowed it down to three time zones and locations. New York, 2012 - space stone in the Tesseract, mind stone in Loki's scepter, and the time stone with Strange. Asgard, 2013 - the reality stone inside Jane. And two locations in 2014 - Morag for the power stone by following Quill, and a team will take Rocket's ship to Vormir where the soul stone is. All with me so far?"
Everyone nodded. Steve continued, "Now all that's left is to figure out who goes where. Some of this is obvious-"
"Asgard," Thor interrupted.
Steve paused, waiting for him to say more, but he didn't.
"Right," Steve said. "Thor will go to Asgard, of course, and extract the reality stone from Jane. He knows the place the best so that makes sense. No one's going alone though - who wants to go with Thor?"
"I'll go," Rocket chimed in. "Can't leave the big fellow on his own."
"Thanks, Rocket," Steve said gratefully. "Okay with you, Thor?"
Thor nodded his assent and waved a hand in Rocket's direction. Thanks, buddy, it seemed to say in that strangely formal Asgardian way.
"Right, moving on. Morag and Vormir. I think it makes sense to send Nebula?"
Nebula nodded solemnly. When she spoke, her voice seemed clearer than usual, though it still retained that serious, raspy texture. "Yes, I know Morag. I would like to take someone with military experience, if possible. We will need to be subtle and follow Quill carefully. No room for mistakes."
"Agreed," Steve said. "So your options are - me or Rhodey, and Clint or Nat would be okay too."
But Natasha was already shaking her head. "You'll be needed in New York, Steve," she said. "There are three stones there - two of which you were directly involved with. It's going to be tricky getting the space and mind stones. That place will be crawling with SHIELD - which is actually HYDRA - and also past versions of us."
"Agreed." Tony and Bruce said at the same time. They grinned at each other, and Tony continued. "Speaking of which, I should go to New York too. I mean, it's my tower we're infiltrating."
Everyone murmured their assent, and Steve spoke again. "Okay, that's settled. Tony and I will go to New York. We still need someone to go with Nebula to Morag, and a second sub-team to take Vormir."
There was a moment of silence. Vormir was a big unknown - even Nebula had never been. But the way she described it sent a chill through all the Avengers' hearts. Sure, Nebula was the serious type, but this was something extra.
"I'll go to Vormir," Natasha said suddenly, her voice cutting through the heavy silence with a clear, determined edge.
Steve looked at her, but not with surprise. Trust Nat to volunteer for this. "You sure?"
Natasha was already nodding. "It's what I've been working towards for five years. I've got this one."
"I'll go too," Clint cut in. His voice was a little hoarse, so he had to clear it and repeat himself.
Steve wasn't surprised. Ever since Nat had brought him in, he had slowly become more recognisable. He'd regained the colour in his cheeks and his sense of humour. Steve knew what Clint had become over the years. He'd listened to Nat's broken voice on the phone when she reported on Clint's recent activities, gently gripped her shoulder as they read Rhodey's reports together, checked on her in the middle of the night when she woke up and called Clint's name...and now he was back, really back, and it was like a huge weight had lifted from her shoulders. They had been partners from the beginning and it was right that they should be partners in the endgame now.
"Right then." Steve said decisively. "Nebula and Rhodey for the power stone on Morag. Nat and Clint for the soul stone on Vormir. That leaves Scott and Bruce. Bruce - I was thinking it'd be good to have you go for the time stone. Strange in 2012 is a bit of an unknown but doctor-to-doctor, you've got a good chance."
"Right you are, boss." Bruce gave a gesture a bit like a salute, touching his thick, green forefinger to his head.
"And Scott - we could do with a little help in Tony's tower. It'll be tricky to steal the stones from ourselves, especially with SHIELD crawling around. A little subtlety would be much appreciated."
Scott nodded. "Sure thing, boss."
Steve clapped his hands together and gazed around the room. "Okay then. Get into your teams, hash out the details. Then we'll be ready to go."