The Adventure Begins
“You need to believe in yourself. This is your greatest fault.” Stephen Strange chided gently.
A shaking hand brought the alcohol soaked cloth to the teenagers cheek gently swiping the cut on her cheek. Frustrated tears leaked down her face and he brought his other hand to brush them away before the young girl turned her face away. She’d been under Stephen’s care for a couple of months now but was still uncomfortable crying around his or Wong’s presence, something Stephen was still trying to figure out how to deal with.
Accidental Parenting did not come with a handbook.
“It doesn’t work- none of this does. Every spell I do does the exact opposite of what I want. I tried to move a freaking mug and it shattered.” Olive angrily gestured to her cuts and scrapes.
“To be fair- Wong would tell you that moving a mug is, and I quote, ‘Not an appropriate use of the Mystic Arts’” Stephen chuckled trying to ease the tension.
“What would you tell me-“ Olive asked softly.
She turned her head to look back at her teacher and Stephen felt the newfound pull at his heart that had been bugging him lately. His- No. This kid was going to kill him if she kept putting her trust in him.
“I’d tell you that maybe we should consider buying plastic cup’s for you to use if you want to throw them around. Might help to eliminate any unnecessary injuries.” Stephen teased.
Olive hissed as his fingers jerked, jabbing the cloth into her cut.
“Sorry-“ Stephen cursed.
“It’s ok.” Olive responded with a small sigh.
Silence lapsed between the two as Stephen finished cleaning out her cuts and carefully placed bandages over them. Picking up the medical kit he grabbed the used materials to dump into the trash where the shards of the mug had settled in the bottom. He winced as he noticed it was one of Wong’s mugs. Olive would be in it for sure unless he decided to take the blame himself.
He’d been doing that a lot lately because of this kid.
“Do you think I’m actually cut out for this?” Olive asked, “This whole magic mess. I mean- I’m just making problems for you and Wong…”
“Olive.” Stephen said. “We’ve been over this-“
“I know, I know…I just-“
“If I didn’t want to teach you kid, I wouldn’t. But you're improving every day and I can see how hard you're working towards this. Just believe in yourself a bit more ok?” Stephen said.
Olive glanced at her teacher, her insecurities still shining through. She opened her mouth preparing to ask a question before she second guessed herself once more.
“I’m going to brush up on my studies. I’ll be in my room.” Olive said.
She darted out of the room before Stephen had a chance to stop her.
…
If there was a single word used to describe Olive she’d probably pick ‘Persistent.’
She hadn’t intended on stalking the man- and in Olive’s defense she wouldn’t necessarily label this as ‘stalking.’ She was merely investigating Steven Grant while also hoping to get a hint on where and who Marc Spector really was. If it just so happened she waited until he finished his shift, followed him around London for a short period of time and found out where he lived in the process, well that was just part of the research process, right?
Still, the young girl found herself groaning in frustration as she stood across the street from the apartment building. She supposed she could have used a spell to actually track down Marc Spector, but with every spell performed her own cloaking spell would grow thinner and thinner. She wasn’t ready to admit defeat nor was she ready to face the inevitable rage from Stephen or Wong.
What was she going to do now?
The apartment door across the street slammed open as if answering her thoughts, and she nearly jumped out of her skin with the sudden noise.
The man who walked out of the building was not the same as the one she had seen enter hours ago. Gone was the shifty and awkward Steven Grant and in his place was a confident and hardened man. This was the man that she’d found pictures of, the mercenary she was searching for.
Cold eyes met hers with a piercing gaze that sent a shiver down her spine and Marc Spector strided across the street to her. At the same time she caught movement out of the corner of her eye up on top of the apartment building.
Holy Crap, was that- a bird? No, a skull? No- a bird skull with a body?
“Let me guess- Harrow sent you? Bit of a low for him, sending a kid after me. But I suppose he has followers of all ages.” Marc sighed looking rather disinterested.
“Harrow?” Olive echoed in confusion. “No that’s not-“
“Listen, I’ll apologize in advance but he sent you straight into a trap. He has something I need and something he can’t have. You're just going to have to tell me where it is and I’ll let you go.” Marc said.
Did the man think he’d caught her? Clearly she’d caught him-
Olive glanced between the Mercenary and the bird-man. With every second she found herself wondering if this was the best mission to prove her worth. She could hardly wrap her own head around the past day let alone these past few hours.
“I think we’re both a little confused-“ She interrupted, hands raised in a peaceful gesture.
Marc quirked an eyebrow.
“This is not one of Harrow’s companions.”
Olive looked up once again as the bird spoke and Marc finally caught on glancing wildly between her and the God.
At least she’d managed to catch him off guard finally.
“You can see Khonshu? What- are you an avatar?“ Marc scoffed.
“Worse- she’s one of those insolent little Sorcerer’s. Calls themselves Masters of the Mystic Arts. What would your magic even be without gifts from the god’s child-“
Oh- so he wasn’t a nice god. Olive found herself rolling her eyes as she often would during one of Stephen’s lectures.
“Listen- I’m not with whoever you mentioned earlier, and your little Canary is right. I’m a Sorcerer studying the Mystic Arts.” Olive explained. “There’s rumors, Marc Spector, of you and that bird-brain interfering with things that are better left untouched. People are seeing things they shouldn’t see and as a Sorcerer, it’s my job to ensure that people are protected from whatever it is you're doing.”
“Canary? You ill-mannered brat-“ Khonshu screamed, wind picking up around them. A garbage bin tipped over and rolled down the road from the sudden gusts.
“If your not going to stop what you're doing I’m afraid I’ll have to use drastic measures to ensure that-“
“I’m sorry- you think that we’re interfering with things?” Marc interrupted.
Oh for goodness sake- was this how Stephen felt whenever she interrupted one of his lectures? No…this would be more like how Wong would feel she imagined.
“I’m out here trying to save the world from a second global catastrophe and-“
It suddenly felt as if a cold bucket of water just get dumped down the back of her neck.
“Do you even know what Harrow’s capable of if he raises Ammit- I’m talking something as bad as ‘The Snap’”
“Don’t!” She recoiled quickly at the words. “Don’t say it-“
Those words would always haunt her for as long as she lived, reminding her of how lonely she became after that day, how unfair the world was-
“Just-“ She took a shaky breath. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
“What’s going on?” Marc gaped.
“You Sorcerer’s think you know everything-“
“Ok- enough from the bird.” Olive growled. “You’re telling me that you're not raising creatures from the dead and having them run amok- exposing a magical suit to the world and making people ask questions?”
“No! That’s exactly what I’m telling you. That’s all Harrow! And he has something far worse that he’s planning on using to find Ammit’s tomb to unleash even worse things on this planet.” Marc argued. “So if we’re done here I’ve got to be on my way to actually solve this problem.”
Sidestepping the young sorceress Marc made his way down the street-lamp lit streets.
“Wait- wait! I’m sorry!” Olive dashed after him.
She was not passing this opportunity up- especially if she had gotten it all wrong.
Thinking back to it, maybe she hadn’t ‘overheard’ enough of the rumor’s that Wong and Stephen had been discussing.
“Kid-“
“I can help!”
“Absolutely not.” Khonshu laughed. “I will not have one of you pesky little-“
“You're going somewhere- where? I can get us there in 5 seconds flat.” Olive pleaded. “I want to help- clearly the rumors started from the man you're talking about, and I believe you! But some people may not… and you don’t want someone more- uh…accomplished in the Mystic Art’s going after you.”
“I’m not a babysitter, and I certainly don’t need your help.” Marc rolled his eyes before stopping. “Wait, are you saying you're not even the best these Wizards have?”
“It’s Sorcerer.” Olive frowned. “And I should also mention that I could ensure that you and the Canary get trapped somewhere you would be unable to be freed of, and if I recall my history, Khonshu is in fact exiled from the other God’s so they wouldn’t really want to help-“
Marc glanced at Khonshu, “Is that true?“
Khonshu’s silence was a good enough answer.
“Perfect. So tell me where to take us and we’ll get going!” Olive exclaimed excitedly. “Oh- and maybe you could inform me of who I spoke to earlier…is Steven Grant your brother or?“
“Wonderful- exactly what we needed Marc. Another idiot involved in something they shouldn’t be.” Khonshu growled.