The Lady in the Mirror
Chapter One
The biggest problem with the infinite multiverse was that it was infinite, trying to find anyone in the colossal expanse that comprised creation was almost impossible even when you had the amount of power Wanda had. There was only one of her.
And yet, she kept looking because she had nothing else. Vision was gone, she had lost him twice and both times at her own hand, she didn't have any choice of course but that did little to help with the pain of her broken heart.
But she could bear the pain if she had her boys with her, and so she had set to her task.
The darkhold whispered promises to her all the while of course, promising her that she could find her sons if she would just delve into it's pages but Wanda wasn't going to fall for it, she had seen what the book had done to Agatha and she was not going to let it happen to her.
She would keep it, but only to keep it away from anyone else.
But with each day that passed that she did not have her boys the whispers became harder and harder for her to ignore, it promised that it could help her after all.
Wanda was going to try one more universe, just one more and if there was no sign of Billy or Tommy then she would open the darkhold to see what it could offer her, she looked further out than she had ever done before and found a very strange universe.
Wanda did not exist there, nor did Vision or any of her friend or anyone she had ever met. There had been other universes where one or two people had been missing, worlds with no Clint or Tony or Steve or Nat but this was different, this world had an entirely different history with entirely different heroes with cities and towns and countries she had never heard of before.
She had been ready to dismiss the universe entirely out of hand when something had caught her attention, in a city of shadows that had a bat and a brightly coloured bird for it's protectors there was someone hiding deep within the dark corners, stalking the shadows, stalking the bat and the bird.
A tiny boy, tinier than either of her boys had been and neither of the heroes he followed seemed to have any idea that he was there even though he was so close to them as they fought criminals and monsters.
He seemed to her to be completely alone, and she had to wonder where his mother was.
And so she had decided to settle her curiosity, and what she found had lit a fire in her stomach.
Timothy, that was his name, had a mother and a father as well but they kept leaving him alone. They would run off to distant countries to dig around in the dirt for bits of old pots while there son was waiting for them at home with only a half blind housekeeper to keep an eye on him and he kept sneaking out at night into what had to be one of the most dangerous cities in any universe.
Wanda decided then and there she could not leave him, even though it hurt her heart to do so she decided that Billy and Tommy would have to wait.
She had been a little worried about revealing herself to Timothy at first, but the boy had taken a strange woman appearing in his mirror quite well if Wanda was any judge of that sort of thing.
If anything, he seemed glad of someone new to talk to.
Wanda learned some new things about the boy, and rather quickly. Timothy preferred to be called Tim, he loved sci-fi and fantasy but not as much as he loved skateboarding and photography, he loved to take photos of Batman and Robin and he knew who they really were under those masks but he couldn't tell Wanda so she had better not ask him about it!
Wanda nodded and smiled as the boy spoke about everything that interested him, it was clear to her he didn't really get enough opportunities to do that. Tim asked her questions as well but sadly she could not answer him, sending an image of herself across the gap between universes was hard enough, sending a voice seemed to be beyond her.
The darkhold had whispered then that it could give her the power to do so but Wanda continued to ignore it, she was resolved in not giving into it and so she was going to find a way to do it by herself.
And so she did, it was tedious work and there were moments when her frustration grew so great that she had found herself reaching for the darkhold, but she always managed to pull herself away from it at the last moment.
And in the end, she had done it and the look of wonder in the eyes of Tim Drake when he heard her voice made every single moment worth it, and now she could begin her research into how to get into that universe physically.
Because Timothy Drake's parents clearly did not deserve him and Wanda couldn't leave him alone, look what he got up to when there wasn't someone to watch him.
If Janet Drake was not up to being his mother then Wanda would be more than happy to take over that duty for her.
When Mrs Mac had left for the night after making the boy dinner Tim started to prepare himself for his night-time adventures, the boy seemingly blissfully unaware of the danger he put himself in when he did this. "Tim," Wanda called out to him and the poor boy jumped, clearly still not used to her being able to speak. "Would you do me a favour? I'd like you to stay in tonight."
She didn't have to wait for the tiny boy to face her to tell that he was frowning, god he was so small. "But I need to go out, according to the police scanner Poison Ivy is attacking the Gotham treasury and she's using some new plant hybrids that's no one's ever seen before, it's a great opportunity."
Honestly, it was moments like this that she found herself wishing that Billy and Tommy hadn't aged up so rapidly, aside from all the other times she wished that because she could really have used more practice in being stern with her kids. "Tim, it's dangerous and think about it for a moment. Do you really think that Batman would be happy if he found out about you putting yourself in danger to take pictures of him?"
"No, probably not," Tim said with a frown before perking up almost immediately. "But that's why I keep myself hidden all the time, he's never seen me before."
"But what if he sees you tonight, or what if someone else does and hurts you?" Wanda was pretty sure that this was the right tactic to use, she could almost hear Nat in the back of her head telling her how identify weaknesses and exploit them for the maximum benefit.
"If you get hurt then Batman will feel bad Tim, even more so if he manages to find out that the only reason you were out there was to see him," Time now for the killing blow. "And I'd worry about you as well, my heart would break if anything happened to you darling boy."
A flush of red covered Tim's cheeks and he mindlessly tugged at a loose thread of his jacket. "I-I guess I could stay in, just for tonight though."
"Thank you darling," Wanda did her best not to look too smug.
At least, not when Tim was looking.
End of Chapter One