Steps Ahead

"Fuck!! We've been fooled!!" Hunter screamed out.

Stood next to Green(His New Green Arrow Name) was Shadow, (Batman,Kinda) and their surroundings were five unconscious bodies.

All wearing body armor that looks exactly like that of Alfie's.

Thinking they finally found Alfie, they followed their tacks down south of Manhattan only to find that they were fakes.

Meaning this was a critical point in time for puppet Alfie.

Even now Queen Selena is busy at the moment dealing with American authorities due to her sister, Caterina who was an Amazon as well as her sister.

So all three of them was elsewhere not focused on puppet Alfie, this was the worst thing they could think of.

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

An alarm went off as Hunter quickly brought out a disk which showed a hologram, a green digital-like screen appeared before him.

On the screen were videos of the STARK tower, a small scuffle in the lower levels of the building and on the upper floors were a few mind-controlled men and women moving around devices as professor Selvig screamed out telling them what to do.

A large device on the roof of the unfinished STARK tower stood there, they knew what it was, and they were running out of time.

The screened switched to another camera showing Tony's main floor where he currently lives.

On the couch was a man they know all too well, fully covered in his black and orange armor without a helmet and laying down on his back on a couch.

As if knowing he was being watched, Alfie raised a glass of liquor at the camera and smirked, if that wasn't irritating enough he even winked.

Greenie slowly breathed as he turned off the digital disk and looked to his right.

"We're running out of time, the tesseract has already been set up to open the portal. That bastard Alfie is there right now." Greenie said as he motioned his hand to make a sorcerer's portal.

"Wait, if he is then we can't jump at him blindly." Shadow said as darkness and shadows itself seem to radiate out of him.

Greenie frowned. "Oh is that so? How about we have some tea while we plan out our counteraction against Alfie, while we ignore the tight schedule we have."

Greenie crossed his arms as he said sarcastically.

"You already know he's planning something if he puts himself out in the open, and knowing we don't have much time for this chance doesn't mean we should just jump in without our heads." Shadow advised.

"Or he knows we'll be hesitant and cautious right now so he's using it to provoke our actions to waste time…" Greenie said as he stared at Shadow.

"…"

"Fine." Greenie said with gritted teeth. "Let's plan something out before he pokes his head back down the ground."

"We will." Shadow said. "But not right now."

"Then what the hell do you have in mind D?" Greenie asked irritably.

His family, his kids had been targeted for a while, he's not really in the mind for patience.

Shadow on the other hand was a bit calmer, he knew rushing this wouldn't be good, no matter the time, place or situation.

"We have to regroup."

Greenie almost screamed in frustration but held it in as his face behind the mask turned red.

Regrouping is more time being wasted.

Seeing Greenie not able to handle this at the moment, Shadow decided to lead.

His hand went up to the die of his head and touched his comms. "Selena, we're coming to meet you, be ready."

With Selena in mind, Greenie hurriedly made a portal to her location only for Shadow to stop him again.

"No, not yet."

"I will literally stab you in the eyes with an arrow!! What now?!" Greenie turned and growled out.

"Selena is in the middle of talking to US officials, if we appear over there then the chances of it going ugly is high."

"Then what do you suggest?" Greenie asked, he is usually smart but he loses his patience and a lot of his thinking when his family, mostly his two younger girls are afraid and in hiding.

"We get some help. Unlike us, we don't have influence over the people since we've been operating in the shadows, but I know a few people who do." Shadow said with a smirk.

"I'm not going to like it am I?" Greenie asked dejectedly.

Shadow shook his head. "Steve Rogers and Tony Stark."

••••••••

"Located the tesseract?" Thor asked as the group put a hold on their arguments.

After finding Loki, Thor arrived just to see Steve, Tony and Natasha in a helicarrier containing Loki.

Thor arrived with his red cape torn and ripped, his face showing bits of bruises.

Frustrated, Thor grabbed Loki and prepared to take him away and ask for the tesseract's location.

But as it should, Tony and Steve intervened as it originally would have.

Updated, Thor now works with the others to locate the tesseract as Loki was obviously not talking.

"I can get there faster." Tony stated.

"Look, all of us—" Steve spoke only to be interrupted by Thor.

"The tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." Thor said as his words were ignored.

Tony turned to leave, confident in finding the tesseract faster than any quinjet or other flying transportations.

But Steve grabbed him. "You're not going alone!"

Tony smacked Steve's hand off him and stepped up in his face. "You gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put. On. The. Suit." Steve said word by word.

*THUUDOOM*

The helicarrier shook as one of the engine was blown off the helicarrier.

The team was blown apart, each in different areas.

"Put on the suit." Steve looked up and said, but this time with encouragement rather than a challenge.

"Yep." Tony didn't need to hear it twice as he ran for his suit.

"Hill?!" Nick Fury got up with some effort and groaned before he made his way towards the control center of the helicarrier as Agent Hill reported the status of the helicarrier.

Knowing which engine was having the problem, Fury forwarded the information to Stark to take care of it.

Below the main level, was Natasha and Bruce.

Natasha looks over to Banner, who is breathing heavily, having landed hard. He is gripping the grated floor to maintain control, but his eyes are green, his face intense.

"I'm okay, we're okay right?" Natasha said softly, but with anxiety.

Crewmen came to see if they were alright but she shooed them away.

Bruce continued to struggle in suppressing the rage, his body constantly heaving up and down, slowly turning back and forth from green and his normal skin color.

"Doctor…Bruce, you gotta fight it." She said as she tried to free herself from pipes holding her leg. "This is just what Loki wants, we're gonna be okay. Listen to me—"

She paused as she heard footsteps, slow and casual ones.

Her gut was twisting with a bad feeling.

She looked towards the walkway and she saw black and orange, and then the face of the footsteps.

This person had the scepter in his hand.

Alfie McBride.

"Shit." She swiftly took her pistol from her holster and aimed it at Alfie McBride while anxiously side glancing at Bruce Banner.

"What are you doing here?" She simply asked, her leg still stuck.

"Hello Agent, don't mind me, I'm only looking to odd up the evens in our favor." He said as he kept his eyes on the struggling Bruce Banner.

"Yeah, I don't think now is a good time." Natasha didn't wanna shoot or else it might aggravate Bruce even more, she wants to keep it as calm as possible to give Bruce Banner the chance to calm down. Hopefully.

"Oh but it is, it's the perfect time." Alfie with his dark but starry eyes walked up to Bruce and flipped him around with his leg, which prompted an angry roar.

"RAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHRRRR!!" Bruce Banner who is turning more green roared at Alfie.

Watching this, something clicked in Natasha's mind.

Alfred McBride had the scepter and was here for the Hulk, it was obvious what his goals were.

Her hesitation disappeared as she pulled the trigger laying fire towards Alfie.

And just as the chambers made some noise, Alfred McBride's eyes shined in gold as he turned towards Natasha and a kunai was taken out and swiftly waved around in inhuman speed.

*DING*

*DING*

*DING*

*DING*

*DING*

*WHOOSH*

Natasha groaned in pain holding her hand as she looked back at Alfred McBride in horrifying shock.

The man used a japanese style weapon to deflect all her bullets, that was not something a human was skillfully or speedily capable of.

And if that wasn't enough, just as he deflected the last bullet, he used that same kunai to throw it at her pistol hard and fast enough to disarm her.

This man was dangerous.

Though it seemed he was superhuman judging by how his eyes lit up golden.

Alfie focused his attention back towards Bruce Banner and slowly put the sharp end of the scepter towards his chest.

Just as it touched the Hulk's chest it roared out again, but unlike his usual angry scream it was a scream of roaring pain, excruciating pain it sounded like.

*KKAAAAGGGGHHHHH*

A shockwave spread out dangerous enough to pop people's eardrums nearby, the scream echoed throughout the whole carrier.

A certain God in the helicarrier opened his eyes, a frown donning his face.

"Huh." Alfie looked at the screaming Hulk with a frown.

It hurt so much the Hulk held his head still screaming.

"Curious." Alfie thought aloud.

Either the mind control is going to take a while, or it doesn't work on the Hulk.

There was also the chance that Alfie was not using the scepter right.

This was his own plan, to take the hulk into Loki's new puppet, a good addition it will be.

Loki has forbidden Alfie from killing midgard's champions as they were his main audience.

Loki's main plan was to get captured, infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D. base and cause division to break their group and leave them helpless.

And he was going to do it all himself, Alfie on the other hand was supposed to lead Professor Selvig plans, protect and stay AWAY from helicarrier and the champions for the sole reason of worrying Alfie might go off and kill them.

But now Alfie was here doing Odin knows what.

But he lacks the fact that Alfie was never really good with orders, it doesn't matter which side he's on he will always go rogue here and there.

"Well, we'll leave it at that. Agent." Alfie bid his farewells to Natasha as he just…disappeared, out of thin air?

"Sir." Alfie stepped out of the mirror dimension right next to Loki, who was standing over the body of a certain Agent.

Alfie handed the scepter for Loki to take, which he did, Loki snatched it off of Alfie's hand and stabbed Alfie with it as he was blasted to the wall.

"I did not ask for your presence, you disobedient fool." Loki said harshly.

Alfie casually stood up while his head was dipped down towards Loki. "Taking the Hulk under you would have made a good chess piece."

"I do not need more of these puny midgardians in my midst." Loki took steps towards Alfie and glared at him. "What I need is that portal open."

"And it will." Alfie looked to the center to see the glass prison container gone. "I believe breaking them apart will only bring them back stronge—"

"You overestimate yourself, soldier. You may have been the one with the strategies so far but you will do AS I SAY!!"

"Sir." Alfie expressionlessly dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"What of the beast?" Loki asked, referring to the hulk.

"Incapacitated, it seems to fight the power of the scepter." Alfie informed him.

Loki frowned. "That's absurd." He looked at the scepter with his own thoughts. "Let's go."

Alfie created a portal as Loki stepped followed by him.