entranceway | text } from Ace of Spades, the Wonderland Blog of Georgia Mason, entry #12

The Mirrors are watching us. This is common knowledge, one of the first things we tell newcomers. There is another Wonderland through the looking glass, and it's inhabited by the doppelgangers we call Mirrors. Calling them our "evil twins" would be an oversimplification, both because not everyone on this side would qualify as the "good twin," and because while these individuals are supposed to be our reflection and, in some ways, our opposites, that doesn't mean they're evil. Like us, they are complicated individuals and generalizations cannot capture all of them. They serve the Queen of Hearts, and the influence she has on the Mirrors cannot be understated. For one thing, she's their maker, though the Red Queen claims they would exist even without the Queen of Hearts' help. If they piss her off, she can also "unmake" them.

Sounds nice and bloodless when you put it like that, doesn't it? Well, take it from an artificial, imperfect copy with implanted memories that never really happened to me. I was made by mad science, not Wonderland magic, and I lived under threat of being "decommissioned," not "unmade," but the differences are negligible. It’s a pretty word for murder and a reminder that you're replaceable.

If the gun to their heads isn't enough, the Queen manipulates and lies to the Mirrors. She sets them at each other's throats, and she sets them against us. Wirt's Mirror carries a lantern with him constantly. He was convinced by the Queen that it held his brother. We examined it together and quickly proved that it actually contained some material tied to Mirror Wirt himself. It never had anything to do with his brother at all.

It's a lot of effort that shouldn't be necessary if she's as capable of instilling loyalty as she insists she is. She has their loyalty and fear, but their free will is their own. That's why she has to keep them divided. That's why she lies. And that's why instead of fearing the Mirrors, instead of bending to the Queen's wishes and being enemies, we need to become allies. We're all prisoners of Wonderland, whether we originated here or not.

Many of you may remember the portal incident from last year, when Leo Fitz and Cisco Ramon used a combination of technology and metahuman power to break through to the Mirror side. It was the first successful, intentional breach by a Real in recorded Wonderland history, and it happened because they consulted with Mirrors. Granted, the Mirrors in question were manipulating and lying to Fitz and Ramon, and the results of that experiment were in many ways disastrous. But this does not have to be how it is. Imagine what we could accomplish in a good faith partnership between Mirrors and Reals. We need to find a way to break the Queen's hold, both because it is the right thing to do and because it may be the only way we can take control.

A young Mirror once accused me of wishing death on the Mirrors because of the title of my zine. Shattered Mirror does have a violent sound to it. I can understand where she got that, but it was never my intention. I named my zine the Shattered Mirror because I want to destroy the barriers between us. We will never achieve anything if we continue to behave as they expect us to behave. Break the glass. It's time to rise.

Mirror Writing

[As usual, Georgia makes sure to leave copies within reach of the glass so that any interested Mirrors can snag a copy without actually crossing over and disobeying the Queen. Unlike usual, she very intentionally tugs down the curtain that normally covers her office Mirror. In big, bold, backwards letters she write ƧTͶƎMMOƆ next to a taped up copy of the article. Then she sits and waits.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I mean exactly what I f-fucking said. "Doesn't benefit you," don't be so fucking naive. Or do you think it's some how morally better if s-someone chooses to be an evil f-fucking douchebag? Wow, th-they've murdered all my friends and family, but gosh, at least it was their choice to do so!

I didn't really take you for a proponent of moral absolutism.

How the hell are you getting that from this conversation? I'm a realist. And I'm pointing out the fucking realistic consequences of your bullshit idealism. You're the one who seems to be fine w-with the idea of putting literally everyone in Wonderland in danger s-s-so long as everything is morally comfy to you, and you alone.

[She rolls her eyes beneath her sunglasses.]

My point is that I don't assume my opinions are right. And you're not being realistic, you're catastrophizing.

I'm speaking from experience here, dummy, unlike you.

Oh right, because you've had so much experience publishing controversial articles and distributing them to people who need to read it. Dummy.

[Yeah, she didn't love being called that.]

What, precisely, are you hoping to accomplish here? I can't take my article back. I'm not going to apologize for it. I also won't say I should have consulted you. I know my job. You focus on yours.

...Focus on my job? I'm s-sorry, you think this is my job?

Do you specifically look for the least relevant part of what I say and zero in on it? I don't fucking care.

It's just i-interesting how you think helping your shitty little cause is some kind of obligation of mine.

[She can't possibly think he's in this because he cares or because he's obligated. So maybe she's just banking on the whole thing holding his interest for long enough?]

[It doesn't actually occur to him that she probably doesn't need him at all.]

...Nah, you know what? This is boring. You have fun with your revolution, Georgia.

[She doesn't need him. But that doesn't mean she's happy to see him leave. Except that he's being a dick.]

You didn't strike me as a quitter, Mr. Sanchez. But if you're incapable of performing, you certainly aren't obligated to do anything.

Yeah, kiddo, it's gonna t-take more than dick jokes to convince me.

[And he hangs up.]

text } from Ace of Spades, the Wonderland Blog of Georgia Mason, entry #12

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