The Scarlet Apprentice

Long time, no see

Y/n walked into the office first and let out an annoyed sigh, holding her hand against her forehead to combat the headache she had brought upon herself. The office was boring and bare, as it always was, and it held the same feeling of undeserved power within its walls.

Nothing had been moved around since the last time y/n had visited his office, except for the new addition of all the paperwork and clutter that occupied the directors desk. It was practically flooded in documents to be a signed and to be sent, its messiness dragging down the sophisticated atmosphere.

Shortly after she entered, Hayward finally made his way into the office, and calmly closed the door behind him as he slowly walked over to his seat which was the opposite side of the desk. Before he sat down, he brushed many of the pointless items to the side with one arm and kicked the chair back with his foot.

He slumped comfortably into the chair and picked up a pen to fidget with in his hands, before sending a glance up to y/n after noticing how she was still standing in the middle of the room.

"Please, have a seat." He gently waved his hand to the free chair opposite him.

"I'm not having a fucking seat, are you crazy?" She scoffed at him as she began trailing around the room in circles to manage her frustration.

He cleared his throat, "I see that you're angry-."

"Angry?" She paused and scowled at him, "that doesn't even begin to describe it."

"Look, I think if you could just take a seat and calm down, this conversation would go smoothly." He suggested.

"Calm down? I have every reason to be angry." She gripped the back of the chair and leant over it slightly to talk to him, calmly funnelling some anger out by tightening her grasp on the chair, "you flew all the way out there, you took wanda from me and now you're keeping her from me in this stupid fucking facility. I have no idea what you're doing to her, you won't even tell me if she's okay, and you're acting like nothings even fucking happened."

In the silence she left, he thought to himself before he then nodded, understandingly, "take a seat."

With one last sigh of defeat, she pulled the chair back and slumped down into it, clutching the wooden armrests of it as if they were stress relieving. She was as tense as ever as she sat face to face with the man who brought out so much frustration - not only because of her experience with him before wanda, but because of how he seemed to jump back into a friendship-like bond in such a causal manner. He was acting as if he didn't just trick wanda, knock her out and fly her so far away from her home, and that's what annoyed y/n.

"Where is she, Hayward?" She asked, shaking her head with a shrug.

"It's good to see you again." He smiled, once again, completely ignoring her question.

She dropped her head up to the ceiling and groaned loudly before shooting it up to look at him with an enraged stare, "is this a fucking game to you?"

"It's not a game, it's a precaution that I have to make." He corrected her, dropping the pen and intertwining his fingers on the desk.

She shrugged, "Why?"

"Because wanda maximoff is extremely dangerous and can't be on the loose." He explained, "with her power, she could destroy the world if she wanted to."

"But she doesn't want to." Y/n told him, "don't you think that if she wanted to do that then she would've by now?"

"What if she decides she wants to one day?" He suggested.

"She was settling down in a cabin miles away from the rest of humanity. She was learning to control her powers - she was being careful, and she was isolating herself for people's safety, even though all she needed was someone there for her." She rambled with her heart aching in her chest, "she had everything ripped from her once again. All she needed was someone - anyone, but she completely isolated herself from any kind of life, and she did that because she cares."

"Why do you care so much?" He asked with a furrowed brow, "What, you've gone soft now?"

"I haven't gone soft, I've just looked past the bullshit you've told me." She scowled at him, her hands instinctively gripping the arms of the chair even tighter.

"Look, If I'm being honest-." He began to say.

"Are you?" Y/n asked, "being honest?"

"Oh, come on, y/n, I haven't lied to you about anything that big." He told her, hoping the confidence in his tone would convince her.

"Right, of course. So that mission you sent me on which would actually lead to my death wasn't planned down to a schedule, no?" She sarcastically asked, watching the way his confidence dropped.

He gulped - but hid it well - and his mind began trailing through all the possibilities that could follow him depending on his next words. Then, he settled on the one he was most intrigued by.

He told her, "I can make a deal."

She crossed her arms and leant back into the chair, her suspicious gaze burning into Hayward, "what kind of deal?"

"A deal that will benefit us both." He explained, "you will get what you want because I'll let wanda go, and I'll get what I want."

Then, she intertwined her fingers, placed her hands on the space of the desk in front of her and leant forward, "and what is it you want?"

Without missing a second, he instantly replied, "You."

Her brows fell to a clouded furrow, "What?"

"You're my greatest agent, you're very intelligent, and now you've had experience with witches and magic." He explained, "you're a great asset to this organisation."

"An asset to this organisation or a threat to you and your job?" Y/n asked with a squint.

Instead of arguing back, he agreed, "both. I used to not want to admit that, but now I don't care. You are a danger to me, but I don't fear admitting it because I know you won't let wanda stay with us. You'll hand yourself over, since you seem to care about the maximoff so much. And god knows what we might do to her if she stays here." he looked at her and shrugged lazily, "So, you either hand yourself over and let wanda go free or you walk away, and wanda is ours to do as we please."

"Or I'll just kick your ass right now and get her out myself." She suggested as she pushed herself up and out of the seat she was restricted to.

"Fine." He shrugged, looking down at his hands.

The moment, however, that she stood up straight, the door burst open under the forceful push of 2 heavily armoured guards. Y/n didn't have any time to react before the guards had swarmed in and restrained her arms behind her back.

"You know where to go." He nodded at the guards.

So, without wasting anymore time, the guards began leaving with their grips tightly on y/n. The eyes of the innocent bystanders fell upon the sight as they watched y/n struggle to break free from the guards, but none of them stepped forward.

Monica and Jimmy had furthered into the back of the building in hopes for a plan or any kind of explanation as to what had happened, but they hadn't found anything.

Again, y/n could've easily broken free from the guards had she just used her powers, but she wouldn't let herself release something so powerful around so many people, especially not when she was so emotionally overwhelmed.