Where the stealth advantage could easily be eliminated for both us and the Wakandans was by sheer numbers. It was geometric; and it grew exponential in a short time in a short space. The Wakandans were holding their own, but their fighters didn't have the nano regenerative capabilities that Stark nano armor had. This was the iron man version of a healing factor. Short of fighting something major like Thanos/brother we could stay in the fight nearly indefinitely. Enemy fighters continued to be destroyed at a solid rate by us and the Wakandans alike, but the enemy was now overwhelming our relative air superiority and concentrating their fire on the strongest of the Wakandan fighters. Reinforcements from the kingdom were coming in but China had dozens of more fighters and other powerful attack craft, including advanced combat UAVs, to assail us with.
"It's getting crazy out here Di!" "I know honey - hang in there!" A broadly directed transmission came through to all friendly air units - "This is Shield Director Nick Fury of the USS Kirby helicarrier attack group. Hang in there fighters - help is on the way." We immediately detected new contacts closing from the northwest - friendlies. They were Shield jet fighters; War Machine and Falcon were with them. They were coming in hot.
The Shield fighters opened up with long range missiles and solid tracking. This served as a herald of the death that was coming for this blatant act of communist led aggression. The Shield counterattack was solid; they flanked the enemy fighters that flanked us. The Shield missiles hammered into the enemy fighters and thinned them out fast. The Chinese still had the numbers despite the Shield insertion into the situation, but we had the greater firepower to deal with this threat effectively.
"Jesus honey their timing couldn't have been better," said Pete. "I know. Keep at it!" We maneuvered around like WW1 dog fighters of old. We still had plenty of conventional weaponry to use but the repulsor was ideal for the close quarter intensity of this air battle. Wakandan air casualties evened out with the Shield entry into the fight. "Iron patriot, iron spider, this is war machine; I'm coming in hot from your five o'clock." "Copy that colonel," I said. Falcon was now in the fray as well and fired off missiles mounted on his wings; they hit a number of fighters closing in on the Wakandans and blew them away; it opened a massive hole for us/allies to widen the hole.
Nothing needed to be said; all allied units went for that hole and with missiles cannons and repulsors widened that hole considerably. The concentrated blow of allied weaponry kicked China's commie butt in the air right then/there. It was a solid turnaround. There were still plenty of reinforcing enemy out there, but now the repulsor helicarrier USS Kirby was entering the fray more directly; her many guns and missiles were going off together; Kirby's ordinance had better overall yield than even China's naval force put together.
Having been in countless battles I always had that sense of when the scales tipped the other way, for or against. I could now sense with Olympian certainty that this battle would be ours...
"The enemy is pulling back," said war machine. Everything in the air was, back to their naval group; the naval group remained where they were. Mandarin wouldn't give up that easily. Plus he knew we wouldn't go on super offense without need. I was all for it but typically modern governments/alliances wouldn't do that. Given the demonic evil behind this I was all for obliteration in this case.
But...we had our orders. Pete war machine Falcon and I all landed on the Kirby's flight deck together. Director Fury and Agent Hill joined us there on the flight deck. "Good job everyone," said Fury. "The enemy's staying put in the Indian ocean for now; we've bought invaluable time." He saw my disgust plain. "I feel it with you too, wonder woman; but we have our orders." Peter took my hand; he was just glad it was over.
"What about the Wakandan situation?" Sam asked. "No more bombs have gone off, but it means little," said Hill. "The enemy's made their point; they've signified their alliance with Mandarin's greater communist alliance that now spans the world in different ways." "...Winter soldier's been sighted in Kenya; this was reported just hours ago. He may be linking up with the Sobek followers to do more harm to Wakanda from the inside. Parker, Diana - go back to Birnin Zana and work with the king to deal with this. The rest of us will stay here to watch over the Chinese."
Peter and I restored our helmets and flew off for Wakanda at high repulsor speed. Now that Barnes had been sighted - a deadly enhanced mercenary with tons of experience combat/espionage - I did agree that the greater fight was now in Wakanda's borders.
I was familiar with Barnes' file; he deserved better. If we could save him we would try, but not at the expense of the greater good. Deep down I still believed there was a Barnes' part that understood that, but if not... I stayed positive.
