Second Chances: Batwoman

Chapter 18

Alice was grinning widely as she entered her lair to find the other members of her tea party waiting for her.

"Well, was your mission a success?" the host of the tea party, who was none other than Jervis Tetch, aka, the Mad Hatter, asked her.

"Yes. All of Gotham's worst have been released, including my Mouse." Alice said with a grin.

"You act as though I care about this Mouse. He's a loose end. Losing him is not worth our big plan." Mad Hatter said.

"We'll need all the help we can get to prepare for our tea party. However, there was a complication." Alice said.

"I knew Batman would show up. Why do you think I went to such lengths to train you to fight so you'd be able to fight him." Mad Hatter said.

"Except he didn't show. Someone else did. A woman wearing her own batsuit." Alice said.

"Batman didn't show up?" Mad Hatter asked.

"No. And if I didn't know better, I'd say that he's left Gotham." Alice said.

"Well, perhaps we should put that to the test. What do you think, my Queen?" Mad Hatter asked the person sitting next to him, their Red Queen, aka, Alice's mother, Gabi Kane, who'd survived the crash along with her daughter, but she and Beth had been rescued by Dr. August Cartwright, though Alice had killed him a few years later after Beth had adopted her Alice persona and she'd realized that Cartwright had begun using her mom for more than just helping take care of his son. The fact that he'd violated Gabi in the worst way possible had pushed Alice over the edge, so she'd killed Cartwright and then she, her mother and Cartwright's son Jonathan, who became her mouse, had escaped, only for them to fall into the care of Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter, who'd taken them in and while Alice was already following his schtick with her own obsession with Alice and Wonderland, he'd used his mind control tech on Gabi to convince her that she was his red queen, something Alice was going along with, especially since he'd helped them all recover from Cartwright's captivity. Though that didn't mean that she still liked him.

"I think that we should find out what happened to Batman before we can continue our plans." the Red Queen said emotionlessly.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Alice asked, knowing that the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen made the final decisions around here, something that honestly seemed wrong to her, since after all, she was the title character of their story, but who was she to argue. For now.

"What?" Mad Hatter asked.

"Every villain in Gotham owes you for getting them out of Arkham. Why not use that to draw this new Bat out to find out what happened to Batman and to see how much of a threat this new Bat will be." Alice said.

"I have to admit, that's not a bad idea. We better call them in. I can think of one criminal in particular who will be offended that Batman apparently left without saying goodbye." Hatter said.

"Honestly, we probably don't even need to do anything. We just need to get the word out and that clown will do the rest himself, since he is an egomaniac who will take it personally that Batman didn't even bother to say goodbye before he split town." Alice said and Hatter nodded.

"Get on it. Your idea means that you are the one who implements it." Hatter said and Alice nodded, though as she turned around, she had to resist the urge to glare at the Mad Hatter, since she was getting tired of the Mad Hatter treating her like this. However, if there was one thing she'd learned over the years it was patience. She just needed to wait until the time was right and then she'd get her revenge. Not only on Tetch, but on everyone who'd wronged her. She just needed to wait until all pieces fell into place.