The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Not everything is as it seems

"What's that one right there?" Monica asked, now pointing to a different place on the screen.

"Strong winds." Mack replied with the same disappointing tone he'd had for the entire briefing.

While squinting her eyes and leaning closer to the screen, Monica sighed to herself. Her and Mack had been assessing anomaly's across the world for a few days now with no promising results, so they were starting to lose their patience. They hadn't found any explanations for the signals they were picking up on sword satellites which was, of course, starting to frustrate them.

"Are you sure, though?" She asked, "three out of five of the last cases we've checked out have apparently been storms. Mack, I don't see why storms are showing up on this radar, they shouldn't be that harmful."

"I don't know, Monica." He shook his head with a shrug, "god, I've dealt with things much worse than weather, you'd think I'd be able to figure this little thing out."

"It's not your fault. It's like these anomalies come and go without leaving any kind of trace." She explained, "I can't think what would be doing that."

"I'll have to ask y/n next time I see her. She's been through some shit, and maybe a clear view of the situation will be what we need." He suggested.

"That's a good idea." Monica nodded down to him.

She stood behind mack's chair, leaning over his shoulder to look at the computer screen for the information. With every lack of explanation, the two grew more frustrated and more impatient, until the lovely presence of Darcy Lewis entered the room with her usual bubbly countenance.

When she saw what the two were doing, she dropped her excited step and stood idly by in the doorway watching the two work.

"Oh- I was coming to join you in whatever you were doing, but this look incredibly boring." She awkwardly smiled at them while she remained by the door.

Mack spun in his chair and gave her whatever smile he could, "I don't blame you, it is."

"We've been at this for hours, days even, and we can't figure out what the fuck these are." Monica added.

"Well, what is it? Maybe I can give it a go." Darcy suggested with a shrug.

"There's these-... anomalies all over the world." Mack began explaining, "they have no correlation, and they could easily be mistaken for a storm or something like that. They show up on our radar, but when we send a team out to look at it, there's nothing strange. It's exactly the same, exactly as it should be. But these anomalies, they're not normal, and they might not be harmless."

"At first it was just one mistaken for a storm, but now they're happening almost every day." Monica added on, "if we can't find out what these are and stop them, someone could get seriously hurt."

"Could it be aliens? Wizards opening portals? Time travellers?" The doctor suggested.

"Surprisingly, we thought of all that. None of it checks out." Mack huffed.

For a moment, Darcy's expression hinted at the fact she was deeply in thought, but she dropped it seconds later with a shrug, "yeah, then, i have no idea."

The two agents at work turned back to the screen as Darcy ventured further into the room with them, until Monica caught a glimpse of something in the reflection of her computer screen. When Darcy left her space at the door, wanda maximoff came in behind her with a soft but shy smile, and Monica turned instantly.

She turned with a force that jolted macks chair and confused him, so he furrowed his brows, "what's the matter?"

Monica furrowed her brows after she realised that the girl who stood before her was, in fact, wanda maximoff, "Wanda, I thought you... got homesick and left early with y/n?"

Wanda's blank face dropped to a small confused laugh, "what? No, I wouldn't leave early. I'm glad to be here, the foods good. Bathrooms are nice, I washed my hands and carried on eating lunch with Darcy. And y/n loves it here, she's excited to see you guys, I'm not gonna pull her away from it no matter how homesick I get. I'll stay as long as she wants me to."

A silence flooded the room after Monica gave no reply to allow herself to listen to her thoughts. Her head was whirling with panic while her eyes constantly scanned over wanda's face.

"Where is she anyway?" Wanda casually and cluelessly asked, "y/n?"

When Monica made a rash prediction of what could've happened, she turned back to the computer screen with a force that, once again, jogged macks chair. However, even though he mumbled for an explanation, she ignored it and pushed the chair lightly to catch his full attention.

"Go to the data we have on New Jersey." She ordered, her eyes not daring to leave the computer screen.

"What? Why?" He innocently asked her.

"Mack, just show me the fucking data we have from New Jersy." She demanded, "now."

Then, without saying anything else, Mack hastily pulled up the information Monica was referring to and leant back in his chair to provide a view for her. Impulsively, she grabbed the screen and turned it towards her so she could read it, allowing her eyes to scan over every single file it had.

The moment her eyes landed on the file titled "New Jersy anomaly 31: West View 29" she felt her heart collapse in her chest. Her silence was noticeable and piercing to those who stood in the room with her, and Darcy felt like she just had to break it.

"Monica, what's wrong?" She asked, her voice audibly strained from the worry she got just by watching the way her girlfriend was acting.

Monica turned slowly and with tensity, "y/n left earlier... but it wasn't with Wanda."

"She left without me?" Wanda scrunched her face in confusion with a slight feeling of betrayal.

"No, no-." Monica rose from her chair as she began pacing out her panic, "she thought she left with you. It- you looked like you went with her, you- you did go with her. I thought she was just being sweet and taking you home but... she took someone else home."

Mack turned in his chair to look at the witch in the room, "someone who looked exactly like wanda."

"Theres only one person who could do that." Darcy mentioned, "or only one we know of, at least."

While the three agents sounded out their thoughts, predictions, and plans, the scarlet witch stared at the floor with her heart racing in her chest. Her breaths were heavy but quick, and her eyes were flooded by the blurry presence of the few tears that came with her realisation.

"It must've been when wanda went to the bathroom, right? That's the only time she was alone." Monica explained.

"I didn't see anyone come in or out of it other than when wanda came back and joined me." Darcy shook her head.

"So when could she have switched with her?"

"She's alone with her." Wanda blurted, completely interrupting the thinking trio, "y/n. She's alone with agatha."