"So why exactly are we here again?" Clockblocker asked his teammates where they stood in a little group off to the side.

"Because the Protectorate won against the Simurgh in Australia last week and they want to squeeze the most PR out of the event. So here we are at a top venue," Aegis explained. Again.

"Do you think any of the Avengers are going to be here?" Vista asked curiously.

"Um, maybe," Chrysalis said in her spider-silk and kevlar armor which had bright and dull green on its armored plates. "Say, I have to go. They want me in the armor for part of the event."

Up front and to attract attention, the mayor of Brockton Bay started to thank the Protectorate for all their hard work.

So three monsters that shattered the glass ceiling above them to admit villains into the gala surprised all the party goers. The Undersiders immediately fanned out as they dismounted. Grue shot darkness across most of the floor, while Bitch ordered her dogs to hurts the nearest heroes and Regent started tripping up the quickest to react. Three new additions to their team joined in.
Trainwreck's junk power-armor topped ten feet and carried a mean right hook, as Aegis found out. Shamrock, easily identified by the four leaf clover on the front and back of her T-shirt tripped Vista and Clockblocker into each other. And an unknown Tinker in light power armor shot stun grenades over at the New Wave family of heroes.

Tattletale licked her lips even as she grabbed one of the containment foam guns. Everything seemed okay, so far. She fired at Shadow Stalker before she could get a bead on Regent.

That was when the SHIELD Hellicarrier decloaked right above them, blocking the sun.

"Oh. Shit. They knew we were about to attack," she said to herself.

Just as Thor shot through the hole in the roof and landed with a huge thud. In the middle of all the darkness?

"Tattletale!" Grue shouted. "I thought you said that the Avengers weren't coming to this party?"

Thor laughed as the whirlwind he conjured sucked the darkness out of the room. "To arms, friends! To arms!"

Tattletale's power tried to make sense of how a hammer could suck away Grue's darkness, only to intuit about a star forged into a hammer that could control hurricanes. She could feel a headache growing.

"We're screwed!" the intuitionpath called out just as swarms of insects dropped in.

Chrysalis set her repulsors to fifty percent and shot one of Hellhound's pets right out the building. Her arm twitched inside her gleaming green armor.

Grue didn't have time to take that in as suddenly he found himself off his feet and barely avoided slamming into the ground face first and then managed to get a good look at his foe. He started sweating a bit as it was Black Widow and he was sure that Thor removing his darkness was not a one time thing.

Grue found himself glad he wore sturdy leather as he without it he'd be in even more pain as Black Widow hit hard in a rapid pattern of accurate blows. Grue's day took a turn for the worse as Shadowstalker joined in attacking him.

"Son of a bitch!"

Hawkeye let an arrow fly and Regent found himself in pain while he looked for someone to help. Another shot and the arrow then lodged in the Undersider's other arm.

Regent laid on the ground in agony and saw Bitch fly past him due to the punch of Glory Girl.

If Regent had looked at Thor he'd find that the Thunderer was treating Bullet and Milk like they were just a pair of unruly dogs that made a mess on a carpet.

"Sit down," Thor said firmly at the pair of growling dogs.

That ended the fight after he taught them to sit.

Coil sat in his base and fumed in both of his timelines. He let the one with the capture of the Undersiders continue so that he could discover through his PRT sources how this had happened. The other one he continued on and started to make discreet inquiries while he told the Undersiders to plan for the next public event.

In an abstract way, he put a rough estimate about how much that 'hellicarrier' cost and what it would take to get his own. At least ten years and taking over most of the north east section of the United States. And dozens of Tinkers.

He suspected that the PRT now wanted one of their own.

In his 'safe' timeline every door to his base blew up and PRT troops with black uniformed SHIELD agents boiled in, cutting down his mercenaries with precision. The PRT troops tried to use non-lethal force, the SHIELD agents did not.

Coil typed away on his computer to activate the purge program and the base's self-destruct.

"Wow, Tony was right," a female voice said from his computer. "You really are a James Bond knockoff villain."

"Who are you?" he demanded even as in the other timeline he started changing his outfit as quickly as possible for a more generic combat outfit his mercs wore.

"I'm Dragon, of course. And I am in all of your computers, you naughty boy."

If only he had another week, he could have that team from Boston here! "This all seems excessive for a small criminal like myself that is only seeking to stabilize Brockton Bay from the violence of the Empire Eighty Eight and the Anz Bad Boys."

"Really? Their criminal empires can't afford half of what you have here. And you are gaining that money with only illegal stock trading. They have to use their drug trades and illegal fighting rings. Or casinos."

"Nonsense."

The door kicked open as a draconian power armor of seven foot size stepped in. "Thomas Calvert, you are under arrest."

He stared at her in surprise. "The unwritten rules-"

"Are not there to be abused by people like you," she said in an even tone. "Not after we learned how you recruited Tattletale." Her electronic diary hidden in her notebook had been quite illuminating after they had spied on the Undersiders and Coil's other two pawns.

Coil dropped that timeline and then split again. In one he finished putting an overcoat over his tactical vest and activated the manual self-destruct. He headed for a secure fallback location feeling anger and fear.

In both timelines the doors to his base exploded as the PRT and SHIELD started their attack.

Dammit.

Papers rustled as he worked. He tapped down his daily list of steps, nodding as he noted five steps being complete. He grimaced at the buzzing intrusion of his secretary as he added a new step.

"Mr. Secretary, operations has sent a notice of an Einstein-Rosenberg bridge in the US southwest," the woman said.

Alexander looked up to stare out the dark windows. "Get Strike on their way."

"Acting Director Victoria Hand has them on the way."

"Keep me in the loop." Pierce leaned back and took a deep breathe. Four more weeks and he can start to move to have Fury's work disassembled.

An hour later, two SHIELD quinjets landed near the projected site. Uniformed SHIELD agents secured the area around the ten foot wide celtic-knot pattern burned into the desert floor under the moonlight.

The leader tapped his earbud. "This is STRIKE actual. No sign of any Asgardians." He listened a second, then nodded. "Confirm, STRIKE will scout the area and try to track any interlopers." Brock tapped his earbud and looked at his loyal men. "Remember, if it's Asgardians we try to talk. If it's Fury's people, take them down for interrogation. Clear?"

"Sir! Yes sir!" called out his team.

Half an hour later, his men had a trail. Except it led towards the egress point.

"Director Hand, it looks like we came on an Asgardian pick up. Six foot man, probably two-fifty pounds wearing leather boots. Walked right up to the Celtic knot thingie as best we can tell." Brock nodded. "I'll file the report when we get back to base." He then turned to his men. "Okay, photograph everything."

"Should we take a casting of one of the imprints?" his second in command asked.

He shrugged. "Not a crime scene and we'll be gone before it could set."