“I’ve seen evil close up. Most people don’t even know what true evil is.” Warren tried to resist the urge to shudder as he thought back over the close encounters he and the other X-Men had had with those he believed to be truly evil over the years. The worst kind? The ones who appeared to be one of the good guys but they manipulate everyone, causing everything to happen to their will. They were the ones who gave Warren trust issues.
Speaking of trust, Warren found himself considering Wanda worthy of some. He still didn’t know her but there was something about her that he connected with. He wasn’t sure what to make of it and he certainly wasn’t going to tell her the deepest, darkest secrets he knew, but there was something there between them.
Maybe it was something to do with the way they appeared to be talking quite openly. Both of them were holding back and not revealing every minute detail, but both were mentioning just enough to whet the other’s appetite for more information. But now and here were not the time and place for full-on back stories, especially ones as emotionally loaded as Wanda’s, at least that’s what Warren suspected.
So despite being tempted to ask more about Sokovia, Warren decided to save those questions for another time. “I’m sorry for what happened in Sokovia,” he said, genuinely, his eyes fixed on Wanda’s. He let that hang in the air for a moment, as if he was giving Sokovia a moment’s silence in remembrance of all of its lost souls.
“Whatever you’re curious about, just ask,” Warren continued when the moment had passed. “I work at a school after all. I wouldn’t call myself an educator but I will definitely try to fill any gaps in your knowledge.”
After his comment, Wanda took a moment to think. Could she say she knew what true evil was? There were people that would say she was. On particularly dark days, Wanda wasn’t sure just how much of it was true and how much was false. “How do you know?” Part of her knew there would no logical answer to a question like that, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
She could probably easily put Hydra down into that category. There was nothing ethical or good about that place. Despite the fact that was a pretty widely accepted truth, Wanda could always dismiss all of her thoughts and accusations against them due to the personal trauma. The way they had treated the twins there. Almost as if she was just building this up in her head.
As of recently, she’s done the same thing with The Raft. She was still dealing with the effects they had on her. Less obvious now, but it didn’t feel like anything that would be leaving her anytime soon. Still, she couldn’t objectively argue they were evil. There was a part of her that felt she deserved it. It was keeping her in line. She had hurt people. The witch didn’t have control over herself, but they did. The majority of people agreed that’s what she needed.
Wanda didn’t trust herself to make that kind of judgment. After all, she had put the Avengers down as evil for years before that got turned on its head. She had skewed judgment because she let her emotions get too involved where they weren’t supposed to be.
At the mention of Sokovia, Wanda broke the eye contact. Letting her eyes flicker down to the table, looking at the chipped black polish left on her nails. “Things like that happen,” Wanda dismissed with a shrug. She could get into how it broke her heart or about feeling homesick for a place that barely even qualified as existing anymore, but she let the moment pass quietly. “But thank you,” she added in a small voice.
At the lighter conversation, she willed herself to look back up at him. “You’ve done a good job so far.” It wasn’t just an empty attempt at flattery. Wanda genuinely thought that about him. “Is that offer only to do with X-Men and mutant history or?“ Wanda trailed off, giving him a small smile. Despite the initial distrust she had in him, he seemed like someone she wanted to get to know better.
