Chapter Text
It hadn’t even been 24 hours since Luca had received his vaccination jab, the night had been a difficult one, his whole arm was dead and he had a splitting headache, but he was able to sleep it off, that’s when things started getting interesting. He could feel a warm sensation running through both his arms, though, it wasn’t painful, he found it quite soothing, like his arms were constantly being massaged by an invisible force.
He didn’t worry too much about it, ‘just a side effect of the jab’ he thought to himself, then, as he sat at his dining room table with his laptop, he noticed a spider on the wall ahead of him, about three metres away, he had never been fond of spiders so stared intently at it, unable to avert his gaze in case it moved closer to him, he lifted both arms, bringing his hands together and mimicked holding a gun in his hand, aiming down the sights of his raised thumbs he pretend shot at the spider and there was a loud bang and a flash, he startled, releasing his hands and hearing a clatter on the ground in front of him.
His heart was racing as a feeling of terror washed over him, he pushed his seat back, clutching the arms of the chair tightly, he noticed a black scorch mark smeared across the wall where he had previously seen the spider and his heart jumped again, he looked to the ground all around him and there, to his surprise, rested a smoking handgun, his hands started quivering as he released his grip on the arms of the chair, ‘What the hell just happened!?’ he thought to himself, then, as quickly as it had all happened, the handgun disapparated, though, the scorched wall mark remained.
xXx
It had been a few days now since the ‘handgun’ incident, he lived alone so hadn’t alerted anyone in his house and none of the neighbours seemed to hear anything, either that or they were too afraid to pry, but Luca had concluded that it was no illusion, he had conjured a real life handgun that day and it had fired off, killing the spider on the wall, he was too afraid to say anything to anyone about what had happened that day but was eager to understand how he did it and, more importantly, how he could do it again. Every day he would bring his hands together, as he had done that day, and try to repeat what he had done but to no avail, ‘maybe I imagined it’ was a thought that plagued him every night, but it did not stop him from trying to recreate what had happened.
Settling in for the night, Luca put his feet up on his coffee table and slumped into his sofa clutching his game controller, he knew he wasn’t the best at playing video games but he enjoyed living vicariously through the characters and shaping them into a vision of how he wanted to see himself one day, it was a bit childish but it served as an escape from his mundane life and fed his wild imagination, that’s when it happened, as he sat there, focusing on his assassin video game, he noticed in the corner of his eye there was movement behind the coffee table, he didn’t have any pets so immediately jumped up, terrified of what might be behind the table, it was a small man, about 2 foot tall, wearing white, 15th century robes with a hood which hid his face, the figure looked up at him, his arms poised ready to strike and his stance that of a trained fighter, Luca stared back, a wave of recognition washing over him, “Ezio?” he said, not quite believing that he was staring at a life-like version of the video game character he had just been playing as, the robed figure relaxed his posture, extending his arms out to his sides and bowing low toward Luca, “Ezio Auditore De Firenze, at your service, master” Luca’s shock turned to elation, “I knew it! I knew I could make things appear!” he shouted as he jumped in celebration, then turning back to Ezio, “Are you real?” he asked, leaning in close, Ezio stared into his eyes, a mischievous grin growing across his face, then, as quick as a flash, he darted at one of the sofa cushions, disappearing into an explosion of feathers. The air cleared as the feathers settled, the couch cushion had been shredded open and Ezio stood, once more, with his hood over his head, Luca noticed the two hidden blades at his wrists retracting out of view, “Does that answer your question?” Ezio offered.
xXx
A few weeks had passed, Luca was getting used to conjuring things and people, though, they wouldn’t hang about for very long, he had learned that he could conjure almost anything with the right amount of focus but, depending on the size and complexity, it could drain all of his energy, so he was often very tired. One Sunday morning, Luca had accidentally imagined a herd of pigs into existence which tore through his house destroying all the furniture and smashing through his front door before disapparating, this did not escape the attention of his neighbours as they questioned their own sanity at seeing a herd of pigs charging out of the quaint little bungalow at the end of the road, but Luca simply deflected any questions as nonsense. The more he practiced, the better he got at controlling things, he was slowly taming his wild imagination, but his lack of confidence and self-belief seemed to work against him, whenever he would lose control of something it was often because his anxiety got the better of him, he knew he needed help but was not keen to be tagged and bagged for experimentation.
Whilst listening to the news one evening Luca saw that a friend of his had also developed powers, she had now been recruited into the Avengers by Tony Stark himself. The news reports showed her using her powers to help the community before, finally, the Stark Industries private jet showed up and whisked her away, ‘Good for her’ he thought whilst secretly wishing it had been him, ‘Perhaps I should use my ability to help the community in some way’ he pondered as the news ended, then snatched up his keys and headed out to the town centre.
It was Saturday night, he knew town would be heaving as the night life escalated, he walked down the main high street, his eyes darting about, then he heard raised voices coming from one of the side streets so carefully approached. A young boy, barely old enough to drink, looking a bit worse for ware, was holding himself up against a wall, slowly creeping down the street whilst a group of men heckled him, ‘this is it, you just need to scare them, spare that poor guy any further humiliation by humiliating them instead’ he thought to himself as he grew nearer, making sure to stay out of sight, then he concentrated hard and, out of the shadows, emerged a fully formed figure clad in red and gold armour, he had done it, he had conjured up Iron Man, Luca felt his limbs grow weak as he struggled to maintain his focus, “Hey knuckleheads! How about you pick on someone your own size?” Iron Man said as he stood facing the group of undesirables, his visor flicking up, revealing the face of Tony Stark, “Like me!” he wore a cheeky grin as he raised one arm towards them opening his hand with the familiar ‘whirring’ noise of his repulsor beams, the men stopped their heckling and, instead, turned to Tony, “Someone splashed out for Halloween this year!” the tall man said as he began laughing, the others joined in, “Yeah! I’m quivering in my boots, Iron Man is gonna kill me, haha!” another man said, Tony’s visor clicked shut and his repulsor beam fired launching the tall man back twenty feet clutching his chest, “That was just a warning shot, you’ll be fine in five to ten hours, but you should all get outta here before I set my phasers from ‘Stun’… to ‘Kill’” Iron Man said as his repulsor beam started whirring again, the other men hurriedly picked up their fallen leader and scurried away with him. After a few minutes Iron Man disapparated and Luca sat against a wall, panting for breath, ‘I did it, I actually did it’ he thought to himself as he smiled joyfully at his accomplishment.
xXx
He was getting used to using his new-found abilities, the strain was getting less and less as his body learned to accept the toll his powers took on him, though, he knew he’d need to figure out a better way to control his powers so the fatigue wasn’t so draining, he worried what long-term effects it might be having on him but was enjoying the rush too much to care. He had taken a particular interest in Wanda Maximoff, often trying to copy how she looked to be controlling the flow of her powers, channeling them like waves of energy, he often wondered if he might better control his own abilities if they emitted a spectral colour, he could handle things a lot better if he could visibly see them.
He would often look up news reports or camera footage of Wanda in action, he couldn’t help but feel close to her, he knew and could feel the pain she hid behind her eyes, the pain of losing a sibling. Luca had lost his sister a year earlier, she was a few years older than him and had raised him in the absence of their father, their mother having to work non-stop to afford a roof over their heads and put food on the table, his sister had been the one constant in his life that he could rely on when everything would come crashing down around him, and it had, several times in his life, and, true to his belief, she had been there to pull him out of the rubble. But there was a fire one night at the local gas company which spread, leveling several buildings in the surrounding area, one being the office building she was working in, Luca hadn’t worried at first as it was out of office hours but the phone call the next morning from his mother would bring his world down around him, they had only found one body in the wake of the night’s fires, it had been hers, she had been working late that night to earn more money to go towards a holiday for their mother’s birthday. The company that owned the building had been fined a huge sum for not having the proper fire safety measures in place, but it would never be enough in Luca’s eyes.
He hadn’t been the same since, distancing himself from others, becoming increasingly closed off, even to his mother, who had moved away from the city to try and escape the pain in her own way. Memories of his sister flooded back to him whenever he saw Wanda’s eyes with their pained expression, Luca wished he could reach into the TV and embrace her, ‘I understand you’ he would think to himself.
xXx
‘Tonight’s the night’ he thought as he straightened his fancy shirt and sprayed himself with aftershave, smiling in the mirror as he did, then walking over to the dining table where he had set two places and had an open bottle of wine on the table by the side of the candle at the centre. He sat in one of the chairs, closing his eyes to focus his thoughts, the room fell to silence… “Do you have any beer?” came a sweet voice from across the table, Luca opened his eyes, “Of course, I’ll just go get one from the fridge” he said as he jumped up from his seat and ran to the kitchen, cracking open two beers and hurrying back to the table. He handed a beer to Wanda, she looked up at him, her sapphire, blue eyes piercing his outer shell, looking into the deepest recesses of his soul, “So… why am I here Luca? And…more importantly, what’s for dinner?” Luca returned to his seat, placing his own beer down on the table, “Well, I kind of really like you Wanda and…I was hoping if we had a sit down and talk about some things, you might grow to like me too” Wanda let out a hushed laugh, “I’m not the real Wanda, Luca, you know this, I am a puppet who looks, sounds, smells and talks how you think I should. The fact that I can say these things to you, being that you are my puppet master, tells me that you have some serious psychological issues, you’re technically berating yourself here, challenging your own insecurities.” Luca grimaced at her words, she continued, “Personally, if I were you, I would have conjured me here and just taken me right here on the table, I know there’s enough dirty stuff in your head to piece together an exciting scenario” Luca’s face turned bright red, “I…I know but…and, don’t get me wrong, I want that more than anything but…I want to be with you on an emotional level as well as physical…I’d feel like I was taking advantage of you if we just did THAT, I have a lot more respect for you than that…even though you are just a product of my imagination…I have to stay true to myself, and that means exercising a bit of restraint” he let out a laugh as he gazed across the table staring into her eyes, “Oh Luca, I feel what you feel… mainly because I have come from your imagination but also because you know what I have been through and the things I am having to deal with, I understand your pain, I understand you, but you shouldn’t get emotionally involved here, it isn’t real, it’s all in your head, and whilst you have all the tools you need to get through this without any outside help, I think you really should get help, you’re not in a good place, trust me, I know... I am you” Wanda’s voice trailed off as she disappeared from the table, ‘What am I doing? I am, actually, losing my mind’ Luca thought to himself, his head held in his hands as he rested his elbows on the table. The doorbell snapped him out of his stupor, “Dinner is served, my love” he said into his hands before rushing to the front door to collect the takeaway pizzas.
xXx
The days rolled on, each one more mundane than the last, but the nights…the nights brought danger, excitement, heroism, the nights were where Luca felt more alive than ever. The images of the Avengers seemed to yield the best results, Luca was a massive fanboy of all the Avengers so could, very easily, conjure up one, two or even three at a time and their actions would be almost identical to the real thing, people would heed the warnings and the words of icons like the Avengers. Some nights there would be no need to intimidate or humiliate anyone, so he would just conjure them up to spread hope amongst the people and then have them fly off into the distance before disapparating to seal the illusion that they were actually there, until one day this backfired, he had conjured up the image of his friend who made it into the Avengers to deliver an empowering speech to the local kids in the park, little knowing that her mother was walking through the park that day and immediately started making her way over to her, Luca panicked and made it appear that his friend had not notice her own mother and flew away before she reached her. He died a little inside as he had to watch her Mum walk away with her head hung low. He decided never to conjure his friend's image again as this was her hometown and these were her people, and he didn’t want to bring any more pain to anyone who may have known her in her old life.
As Luca sauntered back through the park, thinking about the misery he had just caused, he began questioning the morality of what he was doing, using the images of other people to manipulate the feelings of others. He always tried to do things for the greater good but there was a thin line between what was actually good and what was selfish, he had always believed that there were no selfless good deeds, but, at the end of the day, a good deed is a good deed, if he could make someone else feel good and make himself feel good at the same time then is anyone really losing out? He descended into his thoughts yet again until his usual pattern was broken, he could feel a presence nearby, a warm presence, the presence of a being that didn’t wish him harm but that was watching his every move trying to remain hidden from him, he found a sharp corner and headed toward it, sensing the presence getting closer, he pressed his back against the wall watching the corner he’d just turned, if he was being followed he was certain to catch them here, he heard footsteps growing nearer and nearer...