𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐑 - MCU

V. THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK, AGAIN

V. THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK, AGAIN
__________

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Steve said.

Steve and Luna stood over the table in the side-room, away from the main warehouse where the others were preparing for their temporal journey. Steve was there because, well, he was the leader. He had always been the leader, even when there was no team.

Luna was there because, well, because... she wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps because she had encountered an infinity stone before, or, her past life had. It didn't quite matter because there she was, leaning over the table next to Steve, files upon files laid out in front of them.

"Bruce, Tony, Scott, you and I are gonna go back to 2013. Bruce'll split off to find the time stone at the Sanctum Sanctorum, while the rest of us go to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Because we're there right after The Battle of New York, the tesseract and Loki's scepter should be safely stored there," Luna summed up, her eyes scanning the files on the three stones they would be searching for. "If everything goes right, we'll be walking out of 2013 with the time, mind and space stones."

"Good," Steve responded, rubbing a tired hand across his face. "Yeah, sounds good."

"I do wanna bring to your attention that there's some pretty big 'ifs' in your plan, Cap."

"I know, I know," he sighed. "But we don't have the time to make a better plan. We've waited too long already. I don't know about you, but I'm willing to take some pretty big risks if it means bringing everyone back."

Luna stared at the picture of Loki's scepter, and the yellow glowing mind stone beside it. All she could see were Wanda's eyes reflecting their power. "I'm with you. Seriously."

Steve looked at her, nodding, his eyes showing some weird mix of caring and pity. "The rest?"

Luna cleared her throat and pulled the other files from the bottom of the pile. "Thor and the talking raccoon—"

"His name is Rocket."

"He's fucking weird, that's what he is. Anyway! Thor and 'Rocket' are gonna go to 2013 as well, but they'll go to Asgard to get the reality stone. And, because Thor knows his way around the palace, we shouldn't expect much trouble from them."

"Are we sure sending Thor and Rocket by themselves is a good idea?"

"No, but you wouldn't let me go with them for some weird reason, so you're outta luck," Luna said, raising an accusative eyebrow at him.

Steve stared back just the same. "Sending you and Thor together would be like throwing a barrel of gunpowder into a sleeping volcano—it'd do nobody any good. Including yourselves."

"Whatever floats your boat, Cap. Okay, next! Nebula and Rhodey will be going to the planet Morag in 2014 to get the power stone, hopefully right before past-Quill manages to get his hands on it. Again, this one shouldn't raise any problems."

"Now, this last one. We barely know anything about it," Steve said, picking up the file on the soul stone. A picture showed a deep fiery orange gemstone, with its location 'Vormir' above it.

"Which is why I really don't think it's a smart idea to send the only two people without any superpowers or metal body armor."

"Nat and Clint are the two smartest and most clever people I've ever met. They'll figure something out," Steve defended.

"We don't know what we're sending them into, Steve!" Luna exclaimed. "All we know is that Thanos and Gamora went there, and only one of them made it out. Do you really feel good about sending those two?"

"I don't feel good sending anybody anywhere, Luna," he replied harshly. "There's no guarantee any of us are gonna come back in one piece, if at all. I'm thinking about the greater good here."

"Okay," Luna said, calming herself. "Fine. I trust you."

"Okay," Steve repeated before looking over at her. "You okay? Ready?"

"No and no," she said. Pushing away from the table, she put some distance between herself and those damned stones both physically and mentally.