"So...Mr. Hatter..."

"Please, just call me either 'Hatter', or even my mundane name, Jervis."

"...Okay..." Alise replied, blushing a little. "So...what are we making these for...Jervis?"

Alise hesitated a little on using his "mundane" name. She wasn't quite sure if the Hatter was sincere or if he'd hurt her for calling him by his real name. He didn't.

Instead, he grinned a bit, and answered vaguely, "I'm...working for someone, Alice. This someone wants me to help him change someone's mind and turn them towards his way of thinking completely."

"Can't the guy do it on his own?" Alise asked automatically and curiously.

The Hatter giggled at her remark. "Oh, Alice! No, he can't!"

Alise rolled her eyes. "Then your...boss...shouldn't be doing whatever he's doing in the first place, if he can't do things for himself."

"No, no, no! Don't say that, Alice! Shhhh! He might hear you..." Hatter said in a rushed and hushed voice.

Seeing her furrow her dark eyebrows, the Hatter explained in a whisper, "He may not let me keep you if he hears you say that."

"...I see...er, Hat-I mean, Jervis...where, exactly, are we?" Alise asked.

She never got the chance to truly take in her surroundings; she was too absorbed with not pissing Jervis Tetch, a.k.a., the Mad Hatter, off and keeping him pleased with her.

"Why, my dear," he said, waving his hands in a flourish and suddenly jumping onto the chair he was sitting on, "you're in Wonderland!"

Alise just looked at him, her soldering iron half-way to the spot she needed to solder.

"Er...I know that, Hatter, but where in Wonderland are we?"

"We're all mad here..." was his cryptic response.

Alise sighed, and then took a look around. A good look around. Her eyes drifted from the work-table she and the Mad Hatter were creating part of his mind-controlling devices on to the wall above it, which was covered in fifthy, ivory-colored subway tile. She gazed behind her, and that's when she saw it; a sign near a fire extinguisher that read, "Property of Arkham Asylum." Alise's heart nearly skipped a beat. How in the world did the Hatter manage to snag her from the city when he's been locked away? What the Hell was going on? Obviously, there was something going on that was much bigger than the Mad Hatter simply kidnapping her. Alise figured that she must be an incentive for him or something...

"Well, I guess the jokes about me coming here are coming to life," she said off-handedly, yet seriously. "How did you find me in Upland, Hatter?"

"I followed the White Rabbit, of course!" he exclaimed cheerily, tapping a forefinger on his large top hat a few times.

"I see..."

So, he used his puppets, his "rabbits", to follow Alise outside of Arkham. His "boss" probably allowed him to do this. Wonderful. That meant that it has to be someone of authority working in Arkham who's behind whatever's going on. Double wonderful.

'Oh well,' Alise thought. 'At least I can't complain about my life being so boring at the moment.'

She also had to admit that she's a bit...smitten by the Mad Hatter, and curious about he and the other inmates' lifestyles. Their spirits seem to be, well...free. They're not trapped by the rules of society. Sure, they may get locked up every once in a while, but that's only a physical barrier. Nothing stops a free spirit, after all.

Seeing Alise begin to space out, the Hatter took this opportunity to lightly stroke her cheek. She looked at him, smiled a worried smile, and put the soldering iron back into its cradle. He took her small hands in his, and helped her up from her seat.

"Come, Alice. Let us take a little break, shall we?" he asked, pulling her close to him.

Like the night before, his scent invaded her nostrils, and she could feel herself beginning to blush. Alise had never had a man like Jervis before. Hell, he was her first. Not too many guys her age seemed interested in her because of her eccentricities, and yet, here this man stands, ready to take Alise to bed once again. She knew this, because he was currently nuzzling her neck with his lips and slipping his hands under the skirts of the Alice dress she's wearing.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock that sounded on the door to the room the Hatter and Alise were in, causing both of them to jump slightly. Then, there was a click as an intercom in the room kicked on.

"You don't have time right now to play with Alice, Jervis. You played with her enough last night, if I recall. Right now, you need to continue your work, or you'll lose her," said a deep male voice with an accent Alise couldn't quite place.

"B-b-but..." the Hatter started to panic and fidget a little.

"No 'buts', Jervis. Do it, or you won't see your Alice again."

As if the word 'again' was some type of key phrase, two guards entered the room and suppressed Jervis, who began struggling with the much larger and stronger man. Meanwhile, Alise was snatched up by the other guard and started being dragged from the room.

"Noooo! Alice!" the Hatter yelled, reaching out a free arm towards her as if she were his only salvation.

Something...snapped inside of Alise just then. The Hatter didn't deserve to be treated in this way, and neither did she!

"Back off, you jerks!" she yelled, still struggling to get free.

Suddenly, with a quick, but very forceful downward movement of her right fist, she hit the groin of her new kidnapper. The guard keeled over in pain, and Alise took the opportunity to kick him soundly in the face, which gave him a bloody nose and knocked him out. Before she could turn to take care of the guard supressing the Hatter, she felt a violent shock course through her. This shock went on for a few long moments before Alise fell to the ground in a shaking heap. Seconds later, everything around her went black as she passed out on the cold concrete floor of Arkham Asylum.