The Chitauri invasion struck New York with terrifying speed. While Sebastian Shaw and his allies pursued Loki's team, Hawkeye and Erik Selvig had already reached Stark Tower, setting up the Tesseract and its apparatus to open a wormhole. Loki, anticipating Sebastian's magical tracking, had used Asgardian spells to obscure Hawkeye and Selvig's positions, projecting their presence to his own location. This ruse, bolstered by Amora, Samuel Stern, and Carl Creel, delayed the Avengers, allowing the wormhole to activate unchecked.
This deception triggered the abrupt Battle of New York.
Sebastian's past-life memories gave him insight into the wormhole's mechanics—closing it required the Mind Scepter. Eager to seize it, he sought Loki, but the trickster, sensing danger, deviated from his original plan. Instead of leading the invasion personally, Loki vanished after opening the wormhole, leaving the Chitauri to rampage.
On a nearby rooftop, Natasha, wielding a scavenged Chitauri laser weapon, fought alongside Sif against Amora. The Enchantress' Asgardian magic was formidable, but Sif, one of Asgard's finest warriors, matched her with skill. Natasha's tactical precision kept the battle balanced, though defeating Amora would take time.
Amora unleashed green energy rays, forcing Natasha and Sif to dive for cover. As they prepared to counter, black smoke swirled, and Sebastian emerged from a distorted vortex. His wand flashed, Annihilation Ray shattering Amora's magical shield. He touched his wand to his throat, amplifying his voice with Atlantean magic: Siren's Voice .
A haunting, enchanting melody poured from Sebastian, its allure dizzying. Even Sif and Natasha, behind him, felt its pull, their senses swimming. Amora, the spell's target, faltered despite her mastery of charm magic, momentarily ensnared.
She broke free, but too late. Sebastian's wand trained on her, unwavering. Amora stepped back, forcing a smile. "No need for hostility. I'm your prisoner. My fate's in your hands, isn't it?"
Sebastian's eyes turned cold, devoid of emotion—Occlumency shielding his mind from her wiles. Before she could speak again, he cast an Unforgivable Curse.
Crucio! Dark green lightning struck Amora, who collapsed, screaming. Soul-deep agony wracked her, her body trembling as she begged for mercy.
Sebastian flicked his wand, ending the curse. A conjured concrete arm—Confringo-fueled transfiguration—seized Amora's neck, lifting her off the ground. For an Asgardian, with physique far surpassing humans, this wouldn't kill; it merely restrained, ensuring answers.
"Where's Loki?" Sebastian demanded.
"I… don't know—" Amora gasped.
Crucio! Another green bolt silenced her lie, her wails piercing the air. Broken by pain, Amora relented. "Loki's—"
A spear blade pierced her heart from behind, silencing her. Loki materialized, Mind Scepter in hand, grinning. "Sebastian Shaw, looking for me?"
Sebastian's wand flicked, shattering the concrete arm. Amora's body slumped, lifeless. He faced Loki, wasting no words. Aguamenti conjured water snakes, surging toward Loki.
An invisible force halted them mid-air, frozen. Three aliens descended, riding swirling air currents, landing atop the building. The leader—gray-skinned, noseless, one hand behind his back—waved, and Sebastian's water snakes dissolved.
Loki sauntered to their side, Mind Scepter gleaming. "Meet Ebony Maw, Black Dwarf, and Proxima Midnight—Thanos' Black Order. They heard you bested Corvus Glaive and Supergiant. They're here to… acquaint themselves."
Proxima Midnight charged, fury in her voice. "You crippled Corvus Glaive? I'll end you!"
"Crippled? He's alive?" Sebastian asked.
Proxima, Corvus' lover, roared, her Thanos-forged spear splitting into three black rays. Sebastian sensed death's Authority within, akin to Corvus' glaive. The rays tracked him from three angles, but his Ring of Harnessing Power flared, unleashing a gravitational pulse that bound them in place.
The rays were black spikes, morphed from the spear's form. Sebastian's gravity exploded, repelling them. They recombined in Proxima's hand, reforming the spear.
Through comms, Sebastian urged Natasha and Sif: "Chase Loki—he's fleeing with the Scepter!"
His wand rose, Fiendfyre fueling a torrent of hellfire—his Hellfire Authority . The blazing inferno surged toward Proxima and Black Dwarf, its searing heat and otherworldly power forcing them to recoil, their faces twisting in alarm.
"Hellfire Authority ? Retreat to me—now!" Ebony Maw barked, stepping forward. His telekinesis surged, forming a shimmering shield that repelled Sebastian Shaw's fiery onslaught. Glancing at Black Dwarf and Proxima Midnight, visibly wary of the blaze, he channeled a portion of his telekinesis to envelop them, crafting invisible, form-fitting barriers.
"My telekinesis protects you," Ebony Maw said. "Avoid prolonged exposure to those flames, and you'll be safe. Together, we end him. One Ancient One is enough—Earth won't birth another such threat!"
Black Dwarf and Proxima Midnight didn't reply, but their actions aligned with Ebony Maw's command. Black Dwarf charged, his massive frame aimed to crush Sebastian head-on. Proxima Midnight, agile and lethal, darted around him, her Thanos-forged spear targeting Sebastian's vitals. Ebony Maw lingered behind, his telekinetic field spreading, bolstering and shielding his allies.
Sebastian assessed his fiery spell—Fiendfyre amplified by his Ring of Harnessing Power. It couldn't overwhelm the trio quickly; Ebony Maw's telekinesis was pushing it back. Unleashing its full might to incinerate a wide area might work, but in New York, the collateral damage would bury countless lives.
He exhaled, focus sharpening. The Ring of Frost on his left hand glowed, and a Glacius spell blanketed the rooftop in thick ice, surging toward Ebony Maw, Black Dwarf, and Proxima Midnight.
Ebony Maw countered, his telekinesis carving a platform beneath them. He lifted himself, Black Dwarf, and Proxima Midnight into the air, hovering to evade the ice's grasp.
But Sebastian's wand flared again, Incendio reigniting. The flames licked the ice, melting it rapidly. Proxima Midnight scoffed. "Foolish choice. Your spells cancel each other out. You're no threat to Thanos."
"Don't underestimate him—" Ebony Maw began, but his warning came too late.
The melted icewater defied gravity, surging upward like an inverted deluge. With a roar, it coalesced into a torrential river, a serpentine mass that engulfed Ebony Maw, Black Dwarf, and Proxima Midnight.
Sebastian's strategy was precise: Glacius via the Ring of Frost condensed water vapor into ice at breakneck speed, then Incendio melted it, generating a vast water volume swiftly. His wand glowed white, Aguamenti guiding the water like a living entity. The river swelled under his control, trapping the Black Order. The spell drained his magic reserves, but its combat potency was undeniable.
Watery tendrils morphed into Water Snake Strangulation coiling around the trio's telekinetic shields, eroding them. Massive water hands wrenched Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf away from Ebony Maw, isolating them.
Ebony Maw reinforced his own shield, but Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf lacked his telekinetic prowess. Their borrowed shields faltered under the relentless water snakes.
Now was the moment. Blood Shark Bite! Sebastian sliced his palm, blood dripping into the water. Guided by his wand, it merged with the flow, forming a blood-red shark. The Atlantean spell, typically conjured water-based shark teeth. In water, with blood as a catalyst, it birthed a true blood shark.
The shark hunted blood, surging toward Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf, their shields gone. It dodged Proxima's spear, clamping onto her left leg. Blood poured, fueling the shark. She swung desperately, but water tendrils bound her, leaving her vulnerable. The shark split, a second forming, then a third, each biting deeper.
Two sharks became four, then eight. They overwhelmed Proxima Midnight, her spear falling lifeless to the rooftop. Sebastian and Ebony Maw knew: Proxima Midnight, one of Thanos' Obsidian Five, was dead.
Ebony Maw's composure shattered. "Sebastian Shaw! You'll pay!" Black energy—his telekinesis materialized—exploded, shredding the watery prison. Black Dwarf was hurled into a building, his bulk cratering the structure. The blood sharks, poised to strike Ebony Maw, disintegrated under the black energy's wrath.
A telekinetic storm surged toward Sebastian, a torrent of dark fury.