Arkham Origins: The Aftermath

Chapter 1: Merry Christmas

It was over before it even began. He felt that same tension in the room where you know that something bad is going to happen, that it wasn't over. But indeed, it was. As the whole room fell silent, he could only stand there and attempt to wrap his mind around what had just happened a moment ago. He could only stand there and watch as the poor, unfortunate woman scampered away from the unconscious Hatter on the floor. He could only stand there and listen to the ticking of multiple clocks mixed in with the soft sobs of the woman as she cried her eyes out. He stood there for a solid minute. Just thinking.

He then turned his attention to the woman. She wore a beautiful white and blue dress. Her blond hair fell gracefully behind her shoulders and was wrapped in a ribbon that matched her outfit perfectly. She was a dead ringer of the character she was forced to play by her kidnapper, to which he must admit, the resemblance was uncanny. He gave the woman some comforting words to her curled up form sitting on the colorful chair, doubting if she even heard him through her own muffled cries into her hands.

"You're going to be okay."

He said gently to her, deciding it best to take a softer tone when speaking. Mostly because that this event was certain to be very traumatic for someone this young, as he was trying his best to avoid having her get more upset than she already was. He didn't expect for her to say anything at all, however, she managed to remove her face from her hands a few seconds after he said those words. Her makeup was ruined and running down her wet cheeks, her not having the courage, nor strength to look up to meet him eye-to-eye.

"No. No it's not."

She stated very clearly, which was surprising to hear no tremble or voice crack at all in her voice. Wiping her hands on the front of her dress, she took another few seconds to take a breath before hiding her face and continuing to sob once more.
He was more than surprised at this reaction, but he hid it well behind a seemingly permanent frown. Turning away from the scene to give her privacy, and hopefully calm herself down on her own, the masked man exited the back room, seeing as there was no reason for him to waste precious time attempting to talk to her again and risk receiving a more worse reaction. He had then pressed two gloved fingers in a precise spot on his cowl while entering into a long hallway.

"Alfred, send the GCPD an unanimous tip to check out the hat shop located just East of the Bowery."

"Another anonymous tip? Right away sir."

After he had dismissed him to do his task, the Bat sulked to the end of the hallway, purposely taking his time to gaze over the paintings that hung loosely on the walls. All of them being Alice in wonderland related in some shape or form and having a thin layer of dust coated over them, like they haven't been properly taken care of in some time. He looked over one particular framed painting that caught his eye, it was a waterfall made completely out of tea. The clouds above it being teapots, pouring endless amounts of the drink into a body of water down below, the river ending over a waterfall. He remembered seeing something like this, a memory of but a hallucination flashed before his eyes. He had seen this river of tea only moments ago as one of the places he had to get through to progress in the trap he had fallen victim to. 'It is a possibility that Tetch used this piece of art as inspiration for the 'wonderland' hallucination he created.' The Bat thought to himself. He found the idea fascinating, yet terrifying and also so sad. This man had wasted his incredible knowledge on hypnosis and the human brain all for a children's fairytale.

"Master Bruce, it appears that the GCPD is too busy to pick up the phone as I received the bloody answering machine for the third time in a row."

It was clear in Alfred's voice that he was slowly growing impatient, which was understandable, as Bruce Wayne had hated getting the answering machine as well.

"They must have their hands full with the Joker and his 'contest'."

"Well, it certainly is very unusual for the police department of all places to not answer a phone call. Even if it isn't an emergency."

He glanced behind him to the door leading to the back room where he just came from. The Bat could still hear the audible sobs of the woman, muffled by the wall.

"Someone needs to bring him in, or else he might wake up and take Miss Pleasance hostage again."

"And I'm guessing that someone needs to be you?"

"I'll be quick."

"Do hurry sir, you do have more pressing matters that need your attention as well. I need not to remind you."

He turned on his heel, quickly making his way down the hall and to the back room again where the Mad Hatter still lay unconscious.

"One more thing sir, it just turned twelve o'clock. Merry Christmas, master Bruce."

"Merry Christmas, Alfred."