The Wizard and the Void - Chapter Thirty
Author: Milady Dragon
To say that the way things had been revealed had been a shock was an understatement.
When they'd discussed this before the Quorum, Phil had been certain that it would have been one of Pierce's Hydra people who would have revealed his identity. He'd been prepared for that, been waiting for it, and instead Wolfgang von Strucker's son had shown up.
Still, it was obvious this was something that Pierce had arranged. The boy wasn't a Wizard, and someone had to have gotten him into the chamber and past the wards and seals that kept non-Guild people out while the Quorum was in session. Only someone with their own access would have been able to let his accuser in.
Hells, he hadn't even been aware that Wolfgang had had a son.
After everything Phil had done, he was getting called down for one of the very few things he'd done right in his career as the Dark One. It really was quite ironic.
Still, a part of him was glad this was out in the open. He'd talked to Clint about it, tired of hiding who he was and just wanting to live his life. Perhaps it really was time that he was punished for his crimes. His only regrets were that he wouldn't be able to see Daisy get her Master's certificate, and he wouldn't have the chance to eventually marry Clint.
Daisy running to his defense was, of course, totally expected. Phil had been waiting for it, because as much as he loved her, she loved him back, and would do anything within her power to protect him. Not that she'd stand much of a chance against fully trained Master Voids, but Phil knew she'd do her best.
He also wasn't overly shocked about Jemma and Leo, since they'd been involved in things almost from the beginning. They'd also heard the story of what had occurred in Buda-Pest, and had already pledged their support to him, no matter what. He wished he'd been able to talk them out of it; it was going to be bad enough that Daisy would most likely be sanctioned in some way. To have anyone else be punished… Phil didn't want that.
And that also included Trip and the other young man, who was apparently Lincoln, Daisy's boyfriend. He was actually quite pleased that he'd joined them in their defense; it showed his true character as someone who cared, and would do what he believed was right.
All of his daughter's friends were willing to stand up for him, if no one else was going to.
Not that that would happen, not that they would be the only ones.
Marcus and Clint weren't in the room, since they'd been witnesses and were not members of the Quorum, but he just knew that both of them would be there the moment they could find a way past the magically sealed doors. Pepper standing up, as well as Ianto and Grand Master Stephen, that wasn't a surprise, either. However, the teaching Master Phil didn't know…how had he become involved in all this? From the happy smiles Jemma and Leo were giving him, the Wizard had a feeling they knew who he was and were pleased he'd come forward.
The two young Wizards who had interrupted the proceedings were a puzzle, however.
It was obvious that Grand Master Stephen knew who they were. Phil could tell that the girl was a Void Wizard, while her brother – they were clearly related – was a Cardinal…something that just didn't happen. Wizards followed along family lines, and siblings who were Wizards always were of the same order. He was curious to know exactly who they were, and just why they were there.
The pair made their way to the dais, the girl blatantly ignoring young von Strucker while the boy gave him such a look of hatred that his accuser took a step away as they passed. They each regarded Phil, and the girl took a step toward him, and then stopped, regaining the decorum she'd pulled about her as they'd been summoned forward.
"Will you please state your names?" Grand Master Stephen requested.
"I am Wanda Maximoff," the young lady answered, in an accent that Phil recognized as being from the Middle Kingdoms, "and I am a student Void Wizard."
"And I am her twin brother, Pietro," the boy followed, "I'm a Cardinal student."
There was another murmur from the gathered Wizards. Phil could understand it. Twins…one a Cardinal, and the other a Void…that was completely unheard of. Something was niggling at the back of his mind at that revelation, but he couldn't get it come forward.
Grand Master Stephen greeted them with a smile. "Please, tell us your story."
Both children turned to face the gathered Wizards. Wanda must have taken on the spokesperson duties for the pair, because she began, "We are from the Barony Sokovia. Some of what I am about to tell neither I nor my brother remember clearly, being as we were three at the time, but our mother explained it to us later. One day, a man came to our village, claiming to be a Wizard who was testing for magical abilities. Pietro and I…intrigued him, as we are twins yet do not have the same magic. He told our parents that we were special, and that we should be taken to the Wizard School as soon as possible."
In that moment, Phil knew exactly where this story was going to go, and his heart began to pound against his ribs, in horror and sadness for these two children.
Sokovia bordered the Kingdom of Buda-Pest.
"Our parents believed him," Pietro added. "They did not see what was coming."
"They had no idea that Wizard training did not start so early, we did not even have our dragons yet," Wanda confirmed. "So, we were taken from our home under false pretenses. It…our first, solid memories were of torture."
The uncomfortable shifting about the Quorum chamber accompanied Phil's nod at Wanda's story. It was coming back to him, where he'd heard of the twins before, and while he was glad to see them doing so well now, he couldn't help but mourn the childhood that had been stolen from them by a man whose only desire was power and he hadn't cared how he achieved it.
"This has nothing to do with my claim for justice," Werner von Strucker shouted, cutting Wanda off from her testimony.
Both twins turned to glare at him. Phil wondered if anyone else was noticing the furtive darting of von Strucker's eyes as they refused to meet theirs.
In that heartbeat, Phil wondered if he might just get out of this mess of his own making after all.
Apparently Grand Master Stephen had been making plans that no one had any idea of. He had to have gone in search of someone who had been at Buda-Pest, who had first-hand knowledge of what the Dark One and his cohorts had done there. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise, that the children he and the others had rescued were now Wizards in their own right, but it did.
If he did get out of this, he was going to seek them all out and check on them. He should have done it years ago.
"Be silent," Wanda hissed. Red, glowing energy began to form around her hands. Phil, reading the spell she was about to cast, needed to stop it before things got out of hand and she and her brother were dismissed without telling their story, let alone possibly face charges of using magic against a non-magical human without known and visible cause.
So, he stepped out from behind Daisy, who was still determined to protect him, and made his way to the girl, holding his hand out to her. "Calm, Wanda," he murmured. "If you lose control now, no one will hear what you have to say, and he could get away with what he's planning."
Her dark eyes met his, wide in awe, and the magic slowly faded away. "I apologize for my rashness," she said to him directly, as if it was his good opinion that mattered above everyone else's.
"No need," he assured her. "Just, please. Tell everyone what happened to you." He didn't care if he was punished or not for his past deeds; these children needed to speak, to get the poison out of their systems, and he wanted to help them do that. "And I should apologize for not checking on you all, after the fact."
Not that he could have; Buda-Pest happened six months before Loki, and after that…well, he'd been declared dead. Going back would have revealed his still being alive. He should have done it anyway.
Pietro shook his head. "You got us home. That was enough."
Phil couldn't help the warm feeling of pride, close to what he'd always felt with Daisy. These two had been through a hell of one man's making, and had come out on the other side seemingly stronger than ever.
Wanda turned back to the waiting Wizards. "It was not until later that Pietro and I discovered just who had taken us from our family…it was Wolfgang von Strucker, the so-called King of Buda-Pest."
"Lies!" Werner von Strucker denied over the sounds of the Quorum reacting to that pronouncement.
"No!" Pietro shouted over him. "It was your father who kidnapped us away, to study our power."
"He had this artifact," Wanda continued, "one that he used for this testing. It…hurt. For some, it twisted magical powers beyond recognition. There were fifteen of us alive when von Strucker was cast down, but there had been many more…who had been murdered by that bastard."
The Wizard remembered that artifact. He'd destroyed it, because there'd been something about it…it had been beyond this world, and Phil hadn't trusted it, and the danger it had posed. In a way, thinking back on it, it had reminded him of Loki's spear, the one the mad Asgardian had killed him with.
Maybe he should ask Marcus what had happened to that spear, for his own peace of mind.
"It was the Dark One who saved us all," Pietro said, into the sudden silence. "He came, with his companions, and together they cast down King Wolfgang and his corrupt government, and they set us free."
"How old were you?" Grand Master Ianto's voice was soft, as if he hadn't wanted to disturb the heavy atmosphere that had descended over the Quorum.
"We were four," Wanda answered solemnly. "Many say that it is too young for us to remember, but we do."
"Being the playthings of a psychotic bastard," Pietro added, "made the memories stronger."
"We were not there all that long," Wanda said, "compared to others, but we were twins with opposite power and he wanted to discover how that worked. We should not have been able to grow within the same womb, and yet we did."
Phil couldn't help the tears that prickled his eyes. "I wish we'd gotten there sooner." It was one of his biggest regrets, that no one had heard anything about King Wolfgang and his experiments before the rumors had reached him and Marcus.
He'd done some horrific things as the Dark One, but this…this, he was proud of, tearing down that castle with his magic and bringing those children to safety.
Wanda stepped right up to him. "But you came as soon as you could."
And, with that, she threw her arms around him, her body wracking with the sobs that finally broke free.
Phil held onto her just as tightly, his own tears dripping into her hair. Another set of arms wrapped around them both, and without looking the Wizard knew it was Pietro, joining his sister in their emotional reunion.
Every single person in the room was silent, except for Wanda and Pietro…and Phil himself, although he wasn't very loud compared to the twins. It was incredible to him, that these two children had survived and were thriving there at the school, and he wanted to get to know them better, to hear what they'd done in the years they'd been free, for them to know Daisy and her friends and hopefully become their friends, as well. And he wanted to find the other children of Buda-Pest and see how they were faring.
It didn't matter one bit what they did to him. Not in that moment, not when he was holding two dear children who had been through so very much and who were coming to his defense.
He couldn't help but feel the shame as well, of his upbringing, and how his parents had managed to twist him, but Wolfgang von Strucker hadn't managed to do the same to these two. Circumstances were different, he knew that intellectually, but in his heart he knew he hadn't been tortured and yet he'd turned so easily.
Suddenly, he could hear someone shouting, and without thinking Phil had both Wanda and Pietro behind him, his own magic rising within him, the Void coming at his unconscious call. Werner von Strucker had pulled something from his pocket, the sick sensation of twisted Void magic making the Wizard's gut churn as he raised his left arm, triggering his Shield spell from the enchanted bracer he wore under his tunic. It snapped into life, blazing blue, and the Petrification spell that had been cast upon the simple stone von Strucker had aimed at him splattered against the shield, ricocheting away.
Without a single thought, Phil's magic was protecting the innocents in the range of the mis-targeted spell, which included Daisy, her friends, Pepper, and the front row of Wizards, including the Voids who had shown such interest in taking him into custody.
Von Strucker screamed as the magic he'd attempted to use on Phil was safely dispelled, but that wasn't the reason for that noise…it was the arrow sticking out from the young man's shoulder as von Strucker collapsed to the floor in agony.
"So," a very familiar voice drawled, "seems like we nearly missed all the fun."