Steve, who'd been quiet through the exchange, finally spoke. "I think the reasoning holds. Numbers didn't save us against Apocalypse's first wave, they just meant more people got hurt learning the same lesson." He glanced toward Tony. "But that leaves Earth thinner while we're gone. If something else surfaces while we're a fold-drive away, who's holding the line here?"
"That's already handled," Fury said, before Tony could answer. "Director Carter and I will be running Earth-side command jointly for the duration."
A beat of silence. Clint glanced between Fury and Peggy, then around the table, apparently the only one willing to say what a couple of others were clearly thinking. "Not that I'm complaining, but when exactly did that become a two person job?"
"Since Apocalypse," Peggy said simply. "The scale of that crisis needed both of us running different halves of the same operation. It worked. We never saw a reason to change it back."
"I handle field command and crisis response," Fury added. "Peggy runs SHIELD as a whole and answers for both of us to the people who ask uncomfortable questions. Works better than either of us doing it alone."
That seemed to settle the room, the arrangement stated plainly enough that nobody felt the need to poke at it further.
Tony filed the exchange away with something close to approval. 'Good,' he thought. 'Command structure's solid without me having to think about it while I'm gone. One less variable.'
"Alright," Fury said, moving the meeting along. "Departure's set for tomorrow morning, local time. Stark, you'll want final checks on the ship before then. Everyone else, you have your assignments already, this changes nothing about day to day operations except who's off world."
The room began to break apart in stages, the way meetings like this always did, small side conversations peeling off before anyone actually stood. Sam leaned toward Clint, muttering something that made Clint laugh short and sharp.
"What," Natasha said, catching the tail end of it.
"Nothing," Sam said. "Just placing bets on how many times Strange and Tony argue about magic versus tech before they're even out of the atmosphere."
"I've got money on before liftoff," Clint said.
"I've got money on during," Natasha said, standing, tablet tucked under her arm. She paused near Tony's chair on her way out, close enough that the words were just for him. "Watch yourselves out there. All of you."
"Always do."
"You don't, actually," she said, not unkindly, and walked out before he could argue the point.
Most of the room emptied within a few minutes, footsteps and low conversation fading down the corridor outside. Shang-Chi lingered near the door longer than the others, hands in his pockets, waiting until it was just him and Tony left in any meaningful sense.
"Something on your mind," Tony said, not looking up from the display he was still scrolling through.
"This trip." Shang-Chi's voice was even, careful. "Is there any possibility it has something to do with my father?"
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