Avengers Tower
Afternoon
T'Challa was the first to spring into action. He jumped into the air, his Black Panther suit appearing on his body as he summoned it. T'Challa stood in front of the guests, bullets bouncing off his armor as the kinetic energy charged up. Behind him, the other guests were preparing for battle. Jax and Stein clapped hands, merging together to become Firestorm. Tony removed is glasses as the Mark L suit covered his body, the glasses folding into the suit. Logan popped his claws as Thor summoned Stormbreaker, his eyes flashing with lightning as it sailed into his hand. And finally, Caitlin's red hair turned icy blond as her eyes turned a bright blue and her skin paled.
"Crashing my wedding was the last mistake you'll ever make!" Killer Frost hissed before shooting ice daggers out of her hands.
As the fighting began, Clint had forced his family to the ground, using the chairs as cover to protect them from the barrage of bullets. Bruce had tackled Betty to the ground as Barry sped over, checking on Wanda.
"We need to get these people out of here!" Steve shouted over the gunfire as he turned to Sam. "Sam, take Wanda and the civilians back to The Playground! The rest of us will join you there soon."
"On it," Sam said as he rushed over, taking Wanda from Barry. "I got her man."
Barry nodded, trusting Sam as he handed his unconscious wife off to his friend.
"Barry, head outside, get the injured to safety," Steve ordered and Barry sped outside almost before Steve was finished.
Harry, having overheard Steve's orders, was helping Clint lead his family over as Roy and Thea, having caught on, began heading there, fighting off some of the gunmen who tried following them. Rhodey, in his War Machine suit, blasted the gunmen with Tony t try and cover the civilians.
"Lady Sif, protect the civilians and go with them. We will be along shortly," Thor ordered as he threw Stormbreaker, hitting one of the gunmen's weapons and sending them flying back.
Sif wanted to argue, but she knew this was not a request from her friend and lover. This was an order from her king. So, reluctantly, she pulled out her sword, repaired with help from the Wakandians after the battle of Earth, and began making her way towards the civilians.
Peter Quill, his mask on, fired at some of the gunmen as Drax raced towards them with a roar. Drax tried to stab them with his knife but a blast from the weapon that had downed Wanda sent him flying back. Groot tried to wrap his fingers around the gunmen but they managed to evade his fingers.
At the same time, Natasha pulled out the pistol she had kept hidden in her dress and fired at Alexei but, with a smirk, Alexei dodged, throwing one of the disks on his belt. Natasha jumped, narrowly avoiding the disk. The disk returned to Alexei's hand as Natasha crouched on the ground as she landed on her feet.
"How'd you get out of your cell? Matter of fact, how'd you survive Nebula using the stones?" she demanded.
"Come over and find out," he mocked her.
With a sneer, Natasha rushed him as they resumed their fight.
Sara disarmed one of the gunmen, taking his weapon and returning fire as Oliver pulled out his bow and quiver, shrunken to pocket size, a gift from Ray Palmer, and returned them to normal size with the press of a button. His quiver on his back, Oliver notched an arrow and fired at the man in League uniform. The man reached out and stopped the arrow in an eerily familiar move. Oliver narrowed his eyes before firing another arrow and rushing the other archer.
The red haired woman rushed Steve, whirling a knife she tried to strike Steve with. Steve grabbed her arm and threw her over his shoulder; however she reversed her position and landed on her feet, pulling out a second knife.
"Who are you?" Steve demanded and she sneered at him.
"It's sad that you don't know!" she hissed as she rushed him once more.
A gunman was opening fire when he felt something crawl on his leg. He'd barely looked down when he was suddenly flipped, his leg pulled at a painful angle.
"Yeah, how do you like that?!" Scott cheered as he restrained the gunman.
Bucky used his metal arm, placing the hand over the barrel of a gun, stopping it from going off before he grabbed the gunman and tossed him to the side. The gunmen hit the wall back of the head first and was knocked out almost instantly.
Cisco fired off Vibe Beams from his hand as Killer Frost created a long ice dagger, which she used to cut through some of the gunmen. Logan roared as he cut through some of the gunmen as well and Thor threw Stormbreaker as T'Challa jumped into the center of the room, the kinetic energy discharge knocking most of the enemy off their feet.
However, what none of the heroes realized was that this had all been a distraction. In the corner of the room, most of the civilians had been led through a Breach, only Sif and Bruce remained. Sif entered the breach but she didn't see that one of the gunmen had been waiting for that. Using the same gun that had taken Wanda out of the equation, he fired. Bruce was hit with three blue rings of energy and he crumpled to the floor as the Breach closed.
"Target acquired," the gunmen said over the Comms as he grabbed Bruce and began dragging him out.
Hearing this, the red haired woman laughed as she got to her feet, facing the united heroes with a chilling smirk.
"It's been a blast, but we'll meet again. Soon. And when we do, you will all suffer," she promised them.
She dropped a small, metal ball to the floor. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a bright flash went off, blinding the heroes momentarily. When they regained their sight, the red haired woman, the man dressed like the League of Assassins, Alexei and the gunmen were all gone.
The playground
Later in the afternoon
Sam, Harry, Betty, and Sif were all waiting when the Breach opened and the heroes, minus The Guardians, emerged at The Playground.
"What happened?" Sam asked almost immediately.
"They had some sort of device, it blinded us long enough for them to escape," Steve said regretfully.
"Whatever their intentions were, it wasn't to kill us," Stein added.
"Not today. But from what the red head said, it certainly sounds like that's their endgame," Tony added.
"Where's Bruce?" Betty suddenly asked and all conversation stopped.
"Isn't he here with you?" Natasha asked and ice entered their veins as Betty shook her head.
"He was behind me at the breach. He didn't follow me. I assumed he stayed to fight," Sif said regretfully.
"Their endgame wasn't to kill us…it was to capture Dr. Banner," Barry realized with dread.
"But why?" Cisco wondered.
"He's the Hulk. There could be a million reasons why Hydra would want him," Bucky said grimly.
"So what now?" Sam inquired.
"We find these Hydra remnants, they lead us to Bruce," Steve said in a voice that left no room for argument, not that anyone wanted to.
"The Guardians are searching for them in The Benatar but no luck so far," Rhodey explained.
"That red haired woman, it seemed like she had some sort of grudge against you," Hope said as she glanced over at Steve.
"Most of Hydra does," Sam noted but Steve shook his head.
"No, Hope's right. The woman, it seemed personal to her. She seemed insulted that I didn't know who she was," Steve said as he thought about the woman.
"They seemed like they were prepared for is. All of us," Oliver noted. "How'd they know we would all be here?"
"Well, they had to know Captain America was getting married today. That would tend to draw out the crazies," Scott noted.
"I think what Mr. Queen is implying at is that they were prepared for the Green Arrow and the Flash to be there. They anticipated that heroes from other earths would arrive," Stein explained and Oliver nodded.
"But how could they know that?" Caitlin asked confused.
"The only way we'll get answers to those questions is if we find them," Steve said, his voice hardening. "And we will."
Unspecified location
Same time
"They were stronger than we thought. Next time, we bring more men," the red haired woman told Alexei, who nodded.
"As you wish," he said with a smirk.
"Still, the plan was a success," she said as the man dressed like a member of the League entered. "How is our…guest?"
"Restrained, for now. Are you sure that it will hold him?" he inquired.
"I was assured that it would restrain the Hulk. Now that we have their friend, it's time to move to phase two," she said and Alexei raised an eyebrow.
"And what is phase two?" Alexei inquired and she laughed a chilling sound.
"Chaos. Absolute chaos," she said gleefully.