The Blue Mage (Wanda Maximoff X Male OC) (ON HOLD)

Chapter II - The Blue Mage

Novi Grad, Sokovia, 2015 — Ultron Attack

Victor Faust POV

Victor left the sounds of laughter and the smell of vanilla behind and woke up. He punched the alarm clock and groggily stood up, massaging his forehead. While scratching his chest hair, he went to the bathroom and splashed himself with icy water. His gray eyes looked at him in the mirror's reflection. Why did he dream about Maximoff's again? They were gone, as far as he could gather from speaking with older customers. He even went through his limited access to family archives and tried to learn any spell that could locate them. Naturally, unsuccessfully. 

After showering, he made a quick breakfast, and with a cup of thick coffee, he went downstairs to his shop. While sipping a warm and strong liquid. Once inside, he placed his hand on a piece of exposed wall. His hand blinked with blue light, and the wall disappeared, revealing a small circular storeroom. In the center stood a wooden table filled with pots of flowers and intricate green plants. From the low ceiling hung thick combs of dry herbs and flowers, creating the image of a colorful rain. 

Even a person not familiar with the supernatural would sense a deep, magical aura that permeates the room. Victor placed the half-empty mug on the table and waved his arms. On his wrists and hands appeared blue magical circles that poured thin mist onto pots. The plants eagerly drank the mist, moving their leaves closer to him as if alive.

If there is one good thing about Sokovia, it is the people. Of course, not all of them. The steady degradation of the country led many into radicalism—violent radicalism, which was especially visible in the capital. If the situation was tense 10 years ago, now it is close to the boiling point. As the country was hurting after the bombings and radical protests, it was all the reason Victor needed to reopen the shop. Sokovians can throw any curse at the US or Stark as they want, and Victor will try to do what his grandmother taught him: help.

Victor narrowed his eyes, ignoring the slow-burning pain in his hands, and continued working. People are getting increasingly restless and buying out his stock, which is both annoying and worrying. Suddenly, he heard a loud knock on the door. Cursing, Victor quickly broke the spell and reapplied the illusion on the wall. He fixed his short black hair and opened the door.

An older man ran into the shop. His wrinkled skin was red and glistened with sweat.

"Mister Pavel? What is wrong?"

"Victor, you need to run!" The man put his heavy hand on his shoulder for support.

"What? Why?"

"There are... I saw robots flying around the city, all going in your direction."

Victor slowly blinked, looking at the man. He was certain he did not make such strong herbs for him.

"Mister Pavel... With all due respect, are you feeling well?"

"You don't understand! It must be Stark again! The Americans are attacking; we need to run!"

With a heavy sigh, Victor went outside. The street was just as usual: dusty and quiet. However, his eyes did pick up a small dot in the sky. The dots multiplied, and all of them were moving. Soon, the dots turned into actual robots, which looked kind of like Iron Man. All five of them landed on the street surrounding him.

"Found you." One voice echoed from all the robots at the same time. The machines turned their arms into cannons and aimed at Victor. On instinct, Victor gathered his energy and clapped his hands. A wave of blue fire erupted from his body, knocking them all down. Victor, fighting a violent cough, looked around the street, searching for more of these machines. With tears in his eyes, he saw the burned carcasses of weird machines.

"Oh God... I am so out of practice." With a groan, we stood, and still dealing with a cough, he turned to Mister Pave, who was watching him with a gaping mouth.

"Who are you?" Victor did not have a chance to answer as more bots appeared on the street. The scene got more chaotic, with more civilians running away from their houses, as robots weren't concerned about surrounding buildings or people.

"All of you stand behind me!" he shouted and raised his hand. Blue Shield separated the civilians from the robots, who sent waves of white blasts. The shield cracked but absorbed blasts. With his free hand, he conjured a thick tendril of magic that coiled and pierced the air. The tendril flew and punctured all the robots one by one. Taking a deep breath, Victor dropped the shield. All over him started to appear noises of breaking buildings, screams of children, and sounds of explosions.

"We need to run, everyone!"

"But where?!" someone shouted from the crowd that surrounded Victor.

"We go south. It's the quickest way out of the city." God! Victor wanted to sound more confident, but his muscles kept shaking. "Come on everyone! Stick close to each other and follow me."

The group started to run. As they were going, the destruction was getting worse and worse. More civilians joined them, and quickly Victor led more people than he could count. To prepare, he tried to go through the exercises taught to him by both his father and grandmother. Because there will be more, considering how every moment another bot appears. He destroyed them by sending small blasts of blue flame.

"What is happening?!" someone from the crowd screamed. Was that Pavel? It was difficult to tell.

"Look!" Victor turned to where a random woman was pointing. He saw a large housing complex, or more specifically, a large chunk of its wall, falling. Right at a group of people lying on the ground. Without thinking, he waved his hands as if trying to form a tornado and throw a blast of blue magic. The energy covered the falling piece and stopped it in place. Victor screamed and knelt, barely holding the wall in place. Some braver civilians ran and helped people on the ground. Once they were safe, Victor dropped the spell, and the wall hit the ground, sending a cloud of dust and sand at them. Victor closed his eyes and felt hands helping him stand up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. We need to keep moving."

We continued walking. Luckily, civilians were not seriously injured, and they all maintained a good pace. They finally reached the city exit. The place was full of people on foot and in cars.

"Everyone just run. You need to get out of here now!" Before he could say anything more, another robot dropped from the sky. This one was much larger and thicker. Victor had to raise his head to see his violent red eyes.

"I admit, I was under the impression I knew about all the enhanced people in Sokovia. You hide your powers well, Mr.?"

"Great... He talks." The robot's voice was surprisingly clean and soft. Then again, Victor is no expert on machines. "And the name is Victor Faust." He tried to take a moment to prepare his body for what was about to come.

"And I am Ultron. I wish I could say it's a pleasure, Victor, but your presence forced me to rush my plans."

"Let these people go, Ultron."

Ultron shrugged and motioned for the people to go. Civilians did not waste a second, and they all ran out of the city. Eventually, only he and Victor remained.

"Do you know why I let them go? Because they will die either way. Your existence will change nothing." Victor swallowed hard and threw his hands high. He conjured two large serpents from his hands, which rushed Ultron. Slightly tilting his metal head, he sliced one of the reptiles with thin beams of energy, while the other serpent bit violently into his body. Ultron looked more amused than bothered, and killed the second one with the same ease. He took a long look at Victor, as if calculating him.

"So, you are a sorcerer? This was not energy from our dimension. You are full of surprises, Victor. Unfortunately, very annoying people have already arrived and tried to evacuate the rest of the city."

"You just said it doesn't matter whether people run or not. Why not prove the point and let them leave?"

"A pathetic attempt, Victor. I'm done talking; as you see, I am on a tight schedule." Ultron rushed Victor, creating a huge dust cloud around them.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading.

Take care :)