Chapter 369: Flickering Light

26th April 2015, New York City

(Wanda Maximoff POV)

As if to prove her point, the moment the new wave of ships started to arrive, even with the blasters raining down on them, the slimes were able to make a temporary breach in the forcefield and go through. They were killed immediately by a wave of Maximoff's hand, but her point was made.

And so, while whittling down their numbers with the blasters, and as more and more stragglers started to break into the city Wanda nodded to herself, "Alright, I'm opening a section of the forcefield soon. By the way, remember the briefing, if you see any children of Thanos, or the Mad Titan himself, call it in immediately, and Doormaker will send the appropriate opponent to your location to fight them."

Ah, yes, the Children of Thanos. His prized lieutenants that are utterly devoted to him and his cause. Not that the Mad Titan wouldn't kill them in a heartbeat if it helped him achieve his goal. They were dangerous and had a tricky range of powers, which was why the Scarlet Witch had designated a list of people that should engage each one.

Maximoff then continued her orders, "alright, open section fourteen."

Immediately, the forcefield started to open up like a door, and an entire army of Chitauri and monsters started to flow in, ready to kill them all. And well, the defenders of humanity did what they were supposed to against these impossible odds. They charged.

Wanda decided to buy her comrades a bit more time by conjuring a giant circular saw of red energy that literally cut the charging army of Chitauri in half, creating a small pile of bodies that the still incoming wave of enemies climbed to get over. The flying Chitauri artillery were intercepted by the vibranium speeders that kept shooting bolts of energy at the incoming ships.

Honestly, it looked like they were winning, but Wanda knew that this was only the beginning. Her mother had trained her for this specific goal, this purpose, and it wouldn't be this easy. This was her time to lead humanity to victory.

The reality manipulator decided to kick things up a notch when she contacted one of the mutant generals, "Storm. You know what to do."

Without replying, a white-haired woman lifted into the air, creating a giant thunderstorm in seconds. Thunder roared as lightning kept striking the enemies outside of Wakanda's domed forcefield, until that is, a giant bolt of lightning charged up and vaporized a good chunk of the army, as well as a lot of the ships.

People started cheering, but Wanda knew that this victory was nothing but an illusion. This was the first wave, the small test. There was no sign of the Mad Titan or his infamous Black Order. From now on, Thanos will start to take them seriously.

The reality manipulator shook her head and spoke up, "Don't break formations. Blasters, stay at the ready. Frost, tell me when the Etherion Cannon is charged up again. Richards, keep me updated when the next wave of enemies is coming."

"Roger that," someone responded, but Wanda didn't care.

A couple of moments later, Reed spoke up, "The battleship is going down, and a dozen large ships are descending very quickly. What are your orders?"

"Do the exact same thing as before, but Doom, see if there's a way to break into their security somehow. It's a long shot, but if you find a way, we could end this conflict very quickly."

"Very well, Maximoff," the modulated voice of the leader of Latveria returned.

"Alright, the rest of you, stay gathered until Thanos or his Black Order show themselves. We already planned the encounters if they do, but most of all, leave Thanos to me. I'm the only one who can counter him if he decides to use the stones. But until then, stay together, our strength is that the battlefield is ours, and the entrance is small. We cannot divide ourselves unless we can take out their generals."

Everyone nodded without any protest. Thankfully, Gamora was a very good source of intel on their enemies, being Thanos' favored daughter herself. Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, and Cull Obsidian. These were the names of Thanos' lieutenants, his children, so to speak, that he raised from children until they became nothing more than mindlessly devoted to their father, and they see themselves as his weapons.

And as four large ships started to land, the revealed army wasn't the issue, it was the fact that they have arrived. The Black Order had arrived, each member on a different spaceship. And with that said, Wanda reviewed the information Gamora had given her about them.

First of all, Cull Obsidian was the strongest among Thanos' children. He used a chain hammer to fight his enemies, but his greatest strength was his innate resistance to energy blasts, and his physical prowess. This was pretty much like Thanos' version of the Hulk. He was extremely strong; his skin was practically unbreakable. He was a powerhouse on his own, let alone when backed up by an entire army.

Then there was Corvus Glaive, a master strategist, whose main power laid with his weapon, a glaive created from the salvaged remains of a Celestial. As long as the blade is intact, he is functionally immortal since he can be reborn from his weapon even if he has been atomized. And even then, the weapon itself can cut through atoms, making it ideal to fight opponents that rely on their durability.

His wife, Proxima Midnight wasn't any better. She held a spear given to her by Thanos that was created from a sun trapped in distorted space-time, acting and operating as a star, supernova, and black hole at once. Once thrown, it cannot be stopped, since the singularity folds space in a way that can affect nearby dimensions as well. As such, it can ignore magical protections, or just about any other kind of energy shielding, since it exists in multiple dimensions. The spear itself can only be stopped by Proxima, a very fearsome weapon.

And finally, Ebony Maw, the telekinetic who had a very fine control and impressive reserves. Honestly, from the sounds of it, Jean would have been able to crush him into pieces, but other than that, he was diverse enough and had enough experience to be able to keep up, if not defeat, most of his enemies. Wanda will need to deal with him herself to avoid needless casualties.

She spoke up, "Alright, listen very closely. The Black Order is here, and that means that Thanos isn't that far behind. Now, be very careful. These are not your average opponents, so here it comes. Sorcerer Supreme, you and Strange are in charge of fighting Cull Obsidian. His skin is resistant to energy, which means that magic isn't likely to work, but I know you can work around that. Other than this, he shouldn't be a problem. Doom, Reed, and the Fantastic Four are responsible for fighting Corvus Glaive. Susan's force fields should stop his glaive, but he's still dangerous, especially to Ben Grimm so be careful when you engage. Separate him from his spear and destroy it. After that, he should be manageable. Stark, you and the Avengers are in charge of fighting Proxima Midnight. You can't destroy her spear and don't try to shield against it. Dodge, if you can. Separate her from her spear, and she should have the capabilities of a super soldier that's been extremely well trained. Your little experimental weapon should solve things pretty quickly. The rest of you, deal with the army. Storm, I know you're exhausted, but try to take out the ships. Frost, the moment the Etherion Cannon is charged, destroy the ship. We have the advantage now, don't waste it."

"What about Ebony Maw?" Doctor Strange asked.

"I'll deal with him myself. If Thanos shows up, before I finish my fight, then I want you to fight him. I trust that you and your master will be done by then?"

"Yes, we should be," the Ancient One replied.

As if they were waiting for Wanda to finish, the Black Order started charging towards the defenders of humanity. The blasts coming from the Doormaker's portals above them seemed to wash over them. Their durability was just on another level. They jumped higher than the mountain of corpses in the small gap and started attacking the defenders. Various brave Wakandan tried to stop them somehow, but they were immediately massacred by a wave of Ebony Maw's hand. Foolish, but brave.

Honestly, if Gamora hadn't told them about the capabilities of her fellow Children of Thanos, the fight would have been far more difficult. Because the moment Cull Obsidian started to go on his predicted rampage, the apprentice of the Sorcerer Supreme opened four portals around all four of his limbs, stranding them away. The alien's skin was oddly resistant enough to stop the portal from cutting off his limbs, but it was enough to strand him. The Ancient One immediately jumped at the opportunity, hit him in the chest with the palm of her hand. Wanda didn't know what the hell that was, but Cull Obsidian's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell down, unconscious.

Wanda suppressed a grin at the stupefied look on the members of the Black Order's faces when they saw their strongest member be defeated in seconds.

Of course, the other fights weren't going as planned. Ebony Maw kept sending people away, breaking their necks, until he reached Wanda himself where he paused for a moment before speaking, "Hear me, and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to..."

Wanda interrupted him, "Are you seriously monologuing now, even as one of your members has just been defeated?"

"His sacrifice was a noble one, Stone Keeper. Should he have died, it would have been due to his own incompetence. If he had lived, our father would have punished him severely. But for all our father is strict, he is also merciful. He is prepared to leave this planet be, should you offer him the stones in your possession in return."

Wanda shook her head, "No."

"Then I will take them from your rotting corpse." The alien returned.

"Will you now? With what help? Your fellow Children of Thanos are dead," Wanda waved her hand around making the alien stiffen.

She was right of course. While they were having their dialogue, Stark had released a small cloud of nanotech that practically dissolved half of Proxima Midnight, and the combination of Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom had destroyed Corvus Glaive's weapon, while Susan Storm kept the alien immobilized in multiple forcefields.

"How?" Ebony Maw said.

He was more asking himself than Wanda, but the reality manipulator responded either way, "Gamora. She told us about you, about your strengths and about your weaknesses. She really hates Thanos, you know that, with a burning passion."

"That traitorous little…" the alien started only to be interrupted by Wanda, "Look, you're the ones who tried to invade our planet, and who want to wipe out half of all living beings. You don't think that people would ally themselves just for their own survival, for their family's survival?"

"I am going to wipe out your entire species off the map for killing my siblings," Ebony Maw continued.

He waved his hand and Wanda froze in the air, gasping for breath, "I was going to plead my father to be merciful, that this useless little primitive rock didn't deserve to be saved by his glorious self. But you have grown too far. I am going to get the stones from your cooling corpse and use them to wipe..."

Before he could continue, his voice stopped as a blade of red energy went through the back of his throat. Slowly, the image of a struggling Wanda disappeared into red mist, and the real Wanda appeared behind him, holding the blade that killed him, "The first lesson my mother told me is to be mindful of my surroundings and never talk in a fight. It's almost always a distraction."

Before she could celebrate though, the earth started to shake, and she heard Reed speaking up, "I just detected a massive power surge from the battleship. Dozens of ships are getting deployed. They're priming their weapons."

And just like that, Wakanda was being bombarded by energy shots coming from all over the place. The force field protecting them was slowly being overwhelmed. Things did not look good. Damn, Thanos used his own children as a sacrifice to buy himself enough time for an attack that might destroy the very forcefield that protected them.

By the way, I decided to change up the upload schedule a bit. From now on, I will post two or three chapters a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

If you want to support me, check out my Patreon. I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.