chapter three

Wanda woke up the next morning to the sound of faint fighting coming from down the hall. She was instantly on alert, slowly getting out of bed and making her way into the hall.

The fighting sounds were getting louder the further away from her room she got and Wanda was getting nervous. She stopped outside the room where the sounds were the loudest. She took a deep breath before rounding the corner, hands glowing with scarlet energy.

Her eyes widened when she saw the team fighting each other, unsure of what was happening. The scarlet energy dissipated from her hands as she walked further into the room, stopping to stand next to Kaldur. The Atlantean looked over at her and smiled.

"Hello, Wanda. Did we wake you with our training?"

Wanda's brow furrowed. "Training?"

Kaldur nodded in the direction of the team. "Yes, we are training."

Wanda looked back over at the team to see them still fighting each other. She cocked her head in confusion. "Where...where are their dampeners?"

Now it was Kaldur's turn to be confused. "Excuse me?"

Wanda blushed. "To make sure they stay in line...that their powers don't harm any bystanders."

Kaldur sighed internally. "Wanda, that is not how we train. We do not even use our abilities. This is to train us in hand to hand." Wanda nodded, feeling embarrassed that she would even suggest a thing. "Besides, Nightwing, Robin, and Artemis do not even have powers so they would have an unfair advantage."

Wanda looked over at the three normal humans, eyes wide. "How...how is that possible? Nightwing is bending in half! Backwards!"

"He grew up in the circus." Kaldur shrugged. Then an idea struck him. "Would you like to try training?"

Wanda stiffened. "Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you or anyone."

Kaldur chuckled. "Please, we are professionals. It will take a lot to even compare to our skill."

Wanda nodded, waiting by the side as the team finished their sparring. They noticed Wanda and immediately flocked over once they were done.

"Hey! She's awake!" Jason grinned. "Here to challenge one of us to a fight?"

Wanda smirked, gaining confidence around the team. "Yes, actually. Any of you think you can take me?"

"Wanda, have you even trained in hand to hand before?" Dick asked, noting the flinch Wanda gave and the far off look that took over her eyes.

"I am a quick learner." She shrugged, quickly composing herself. "So, who wants to fight?"

"I'll take you on." Artemis volunteered, leading Wanda to the middle of the ring. "So, how this works is whoever lands on the ground is declared the loser. No powers. You ready?"

Wanda nodded, getting into an amateur fighting stance. Artemis smirked, motioning for Wanda to make the first move.

Wanda ran at Artemis, fist pulled back to punch. Artemis easily dodged, grabbing Wanda's arm and launching her over her head.

Wanda surprised everyone when she landed gracefully on her feet. She grinned at Artemis, dashing at the archer once more. Artemis got into a defensive position, getting ready to block the punch coming towards her face.

Artemis was shocked when she felt a kick connect with her stomach. She looked up at Wanda and growled, deciding to take this seriously.

She ran at Wanda and put her hands on her shoulder, catapulting herself over her head to land directly behind her. She put Wanda in a headlock, making the younger teen cry out in shock.

A wave of scarlet energy exploded out from Wanda, sending the team flying backwards and Artemis off her back. The team crashed into the wall, falling to the ground in lumps.

Wanda gasped, covering her mouth. "I am so sorry! I-I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"

The team got to their feet slowly, looking up at Wanda with expressions varying from shocked to impressed.

Zatanna was the one to approach the trembling teen. "Wanda-" The girl flinched when Zatanna lifted a hand, making the magician rethink her choice to place a hand on her shoulder. Instead, she slipped her hand into Wanda's, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "Wanda...its okay. We know you don't have full control of your powers. These things are bound to happen."

M'gann nodded. "Yeah, when I first joined the team I freaked everyone out with my telepathic abilities. Stuff happens."

Wanda nodded slowly. "Are any of you hurt?" A chorus of 'no's rang out, making Wanda smile a little. "I think that is enough training for me for today."

"If you want, I can show you how to control your powers." Wanda gave Zatanna a disbelieving look. Zatanna shrugged. "I have magical abilities as well, I could give you a pointer or two."

"That would be nice...thank you."

Conner suggested the team and Wanda do something else besides sparring, something the team was grateful for as they were all getting tired. They made their way to the lounge and sprawled out, turning the TV on for some background noise.

After a moment of sitting in silence, Wally spoke up. "We should play two truths and a lie!"

"Why? We all know each other."

"But Wanda doesn't and we don't know Wanda. Besides, there is bound to be something we don't know about each other." Everyone reluctantly agreed. "I'll go fi-"

"No, let's have Wanda go first."

All eyes landed on the new girl and she shrunk back. "Okay, so I say two things that are true and a lie? And you guess which is which?" The team nodded and Wanda sighed, thinking for a moment. "Okay, I've got it. I am the older twin, I was born with these powers, and...I caused my parents death."

The team exchanged looks amongst themselves.

"Okay, that got dark quickly." Jason snorted, trying to lighten the mood. "My guess is the lie is you caused your parents death."

"Hmm...my guess is she was born with the powers." Artemis eyed the brunette for any tells, but Wanda had an amazing poker face.

After everyone said their guesses, Wanda decided to let them know the truth. "The lie was...I am twelve minutes younger than Pietro."

"Wanda, how did you cause your parents deaths?" M'gann asked softly.

Wanda got the far off look in her eye before shaking her head, returning to her poker face. "When Pietro and I were barely a year old, our powers manifested. My powers are tied to my emotions, so imagine a volatile infant with explosive abilities. Every time I cried, the apartment shook. One time, my crying brought the whole apartment building down, crushing my parents. Pietro and I only survived because he was next to me and I subconsciously made an energy forcefield." Wanda looked down to her hands. "We were found in the rubble and brought to an orphanage."

"Wanda, how do you know that is how things went? You were a baby!"

Wanda chuckled darkly. "It was in the newspaper for years, an unsolved mystery surrounding the scarlet glow that exploded a whole building, sparing only the infant Maximoff twins." She looked up, her expression darker than any of them had ever seen it get. "It didn't take Cadmus long to figure out it was one of the twins and they came for us."

A shudder went through the team as they realized the gravity of the situation. Wanda had killed before she could even walk.

Jason, being Jason, looked over at Wanda with a deadpan expression. "That's rough, buddy."

Dick turned to cuss his brother out but stopped when he heard Wanda laughing. He glanced at the younger teen and frowned.

Wanda Maximoff was a mystery and he was determined to solve it.

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