Selina watched out the passenger window carefully as Dr. Young drove down Broad Avenue. The streets were clear, as they often were this late at night in this part of town. This suited Selina just fine. The fewer witnesses out, the better. She kept her eyes focused on the addresses as they passed by. 30, 34, 38-

"Here!" she pointed. Dr. Young pulled the car over. 42 North Broad was directly in front of Selina as she opened her passenger door.

"Find some place to park your car and meet me back here," Selina told her. "I'm going to scout the place."

Dr. Young nodded and drove further down the block. Selina stood in front of the building. It was a run down, two story building that may have been a townhouse, once upon a time. Now it looked as if it had been abandoned for years. Selina took a few cautious steps towards the front door. It was dark out in the streets, with the only light coming from neon punk 'Live Nudes' sign that flashed every few seconds. Probably what Jervis was using to attract henchmen, Selina thought. Briefly, she wondered if the man she'd fought on the pier was also under mind control. Was it wrong not to feel bad about that even if he was?

"Kyle?"

Selina turned her head and nodded in greeting at Query and Echo. The two women walked towards her. Both were armed. Echo looked around. "Where's the doctor?"

"I'm here," Dr. Young said, jogging up. "I parked my care down a side street. I saw a few more cars pull up at the intersection of Broad and Main."

"Ozzie said he'd send a few of his guys to surround the place," Selina said. "They'll catch Jervis and friends if they try to run."

Query walked up towards the front door. "We ready?"

Echo nodded. "Ready."

Before Selina turned her attention to the lock on the front door, she gave Dr. Young a final look. "Last chance to back out Doc. Are you sure you want to do this? It could get ugly."

Dr. Young rolled her eyes. "I survived a riot at Arkham Asylum, being held at knifepoint by Victor Zsasz and almost being blown up by the Joker. Let's go."

Selina shrugged. "Alright Doc. Don't say I didn't warn you." With that, she focused on the lock on the front door. It was a standard lock for this sort of building. Child's play to pick. It only took her moments to pick the lock. She pushed the door open slowly, in case there was an alarm. When no noise went off, she gestured to the three women behind her. "Shall we ladies?"

Query stepped forward. "Echo and I will take point. Dr. Young, you hang back. If we run into any trouble, run and get Cobblepot's guys."

Dr. Young nodded. "Understood."

No more words were said as the four women entered the townhouse. From what Selina could tell, they were in a cramped hallway. As they made their way deeper into the building, the only light that illuminated their path came from the flashing neon light outside. There was no sound coming from anywhere in the building. It was getting eerie.

"Are you sure that this is the place Doc?" Echo asked. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years."

"I'm positive," Dr. Young said. "The door was locked, wasn't it? This building's being used for something."

Selina agreed with her, but a sinking feeling came over her. Maybe Jervis and Eddie had been here, but they were too late. Suddenly, Query paused and held her arm out.

"Quiet!" she hissed. "You hear that?"

Selina stopped and listened. It was faint, but she could hear what sounded like muffled sobbing at the end of the hall.

"Is that…crying?" Dr. Young asked.

Query didn't respond, instead raising her firearm. "Let's go slowly."

Query and Echo stalked towards the room at the end of the hallway, Selina right behind them. The hallway opened up to a large room that must have been a living room. It was empty, save for a few bookshelves and a ratty looking sofa...and a large cage in the middle of the room. There, sitting on a stool was a young blonde woman in a blue dress and white apron, holding her face in her hands and weeping. Selina realized there was only one person this could be.

"Kimberly Bierko?"

The young woman looked up, her face red and tear streaked. "Help me!" She cried out. "Please!'

Dr. Young pushed past the other women and rushed over to the cage. "Are you alright?"

Kimberly nodded, then began to cry again. "Thank God, I thought no one would find me."

"Are you alone?" Selina asked.

Kimberly shook her head. "The Mad Hatter and his men are upstairs," she said pointing to the staircase behind her. "He's got Mr. Nigma up there too!"

Query and Echo stalked forward, eyes on the staircase. Selina walked up to the cage door. There was an electric lock on it, one that Selina didn't have the expertise or equipment to hack. No prizes for guessing where Jervis got it from. Dr. Young kept her attention focused on Kimberly. "What happened?" she asked.

Kimberly took a shuddering breath, than began to recount her story. "I saw an ad for a new beauty salon in the Bowery, but when I went to the address, he was there, in a car. He asked me to come along with him to a tea party." She paused. "I thought it was weird, but he said he'd pay me. He brought me here and made me put on this dress. He kept calling me Alice. It was really creepy."

"Did he hurt you?" Dr. Young asked.

"No, he never touched me. After the tea party though, he wouldn't let me leave. I begged to go, but he wouldn't listen. When I tried to run, he had one of his guys lock me in here. He said we had to wait for Dormouse to show up."

Dr. Young furrowed her brow. "Dormouse?"

"That's Jervis' old nickname for Eddie," Selina explained. "What happened when Nigma showed up?"

"Mr. Nigma told him he had to let me go. The Mad Hatter tried to get him to stay and have a tea party and said something about a March Hare. Mr. Nigma got really upset. He started yelling at him, saying he was past this and that he needed to take me back. The Mad Hatter said he would, then he gave Mr. Nigma a cup of tea."

Selina brought her hand up to her forehead. Oh Eddie, you really shouldn't have done that. "And the tea was drugged, right?"

Kimberly nodded. "He passed out right on the table. The Mad Hatter told his men to take him upstairs and make him comfortable. The next time I saw Mr. Nigma, he was all spaced out, like Hatter's guys. I screamed for him to help me, but it was like he couldn't hear me. Then tonight Mad Hatter let him go to get his things. He said Dormouse was going to be staying here from now on."

Selina clenched her fist. "I doubt that," she said. She turned her attention to the staircase. "Time to clean Mad Hatter's clock."

"Wait!" Dr. Young called out. "What about her?"

Query looked over disinterested at the cage. "What about her?"

"We can't just leave her like this!"

Selina let out an impatient sigh and took another look at the lock. She tried shaking it, only to get a small jolt of electricity. "Jesus!" she hissed out, drawing her hand back. What the Hell was up with Eddie and electricity? "Query, Echo, either of you know how to get this open?"

Query walked over to take a look. "It's an old design of the bosses'," she said. "Only one way to get that open. Stand back." She pointed her gun at the lock. Before Selina or Dr. Young could stop her, she shot it. The lock flickered off and the cage door fell open. Kimberly Bierko stumbled out, collapsing into Dr. Young's arms. The gunshot echoed throughout the house and the five women could hear movement from upstairs. The sound of footsteps

Selina glared at Query. "So much for the element of surprise," she snapped.

Query just shrugged at her. A voice reached their ears then. "Alice?"

Kimberly grabbed onto Dr. Young tightly. "Oh God, don't let him take me again!" Selina looked at Dr. Young and gestured towards the way they came in.

"Time for you two to go Doc. We'll cover you."

Kimberly didn't need to be told twice as she made a run for the exit. Dr. Young hesitated for a moment. Selina looked back at her impatiently. "Get going! We'll get Eddie!"

Dr. Young nodded. "Be careful," she said. She ran towards the hallway just as six large men made their way down the stairs, each of them wearing a party hat. Selina recognized three of them as the men who were with Eddie at the docks. She unfurled her whip and took on a guarded position. The men said nothing as they advanced towards them, which made Selina guess that they were as brainwashed as Eddie was.

"Don't shoot them if you don't have to," Selina warned Query and Echo as they got into defensive stances. "Last thing Eddie needs is to be surrounded by dead bodies."

Query nodded. "Hand to hand suits me just fine." The six men then rushed towards them. Query stepped forward and drove her fist directly into the face of the man in front, breaking his nose. She then swept her leg out to knock down the man to his left. Echo quickly came up from behind her to take on the man to her right, launching herself at him. The pathway to the stairs was now clear.

"Kyle!" she yelled out. "We'll take them! Get upstairs and get Eddie!"

Selina nodded and charged up the stairs, leaving Query and Echo to their brawl. Personal feelings aside, she'd never complain about the two of them again. At the top of the stairs, Selina paused to gather her bearings. There was a door slightly ajar to the left of her and she could hear faint, almost manic muttering in the room within.

"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail,

"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle – will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?"

Keeping a firm grip on her whip handle, Selina pushed the door opened and walked inside.

Selina gasped as she entered the room. It was bright, with the walls completely painted with flowers and characters from Alice in Wonderland. At the far end of the room, Selina could see a large table, with a tea set all laid out. At the head of the table, pouring a cup of tea and humming sat Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter himself. He gave her a jaunty little wave when he noticed her.

"Twinkle, twinkle little Cat! How I wonder what you're at!"

Selina almost didn't register the greeting. Her attention was taken by the man sitting next to Jervis, wearing an ornate green jacket and a blank, unseeing expression on his face. She ran towards him. "Eddie!" She stopped short when Jervis slammed down his cup of tea.

"How very rude!" He tutted. "You're interrupting our tea party!"

Selina took her eyes off of Eddie and glared at Tetch. "Alright Jervis, you've had your fun. Let Eddie go right now and that'll be the end of it. I'll let you walk out of here." Well, she would. Selina couldn't exactly say the same for Query and Echo.

Jervis just shook his head. "No, no, I don't think I will. Dormouse is quite happy here with me. And so was Alice, before you and your naughty friends spirited her away!"

"Happy?" Selina repeated. "Happy!? Jervis, look at him!" Eddie continued to sit there, motionless. If he had any awareness of what was going on around him, he showed no signs of it. Selina almost hoped that he didn't. Better for him to be locked in some fantasy land Jervis had cooked up for him than to be aware of not being in control of his own body. "He's almost catatonic!" She continued, waving her hand in front of Eddie's face for emphasis.

Jervis' face fell slightly and he reached a hand out to pet Eddie's shoulder. The gesture made Selina's skin crawl. "It's only for a little while," he whispered. "Only for a little while. You'll forgive me for this someday Dormouse."

Selina watched him carefully and noticed for the first time how wide eyed and disheveled Jervis looked. Even at his most lucid, Jervis was a Rogue that Selina was never quite able to use her wiles on and he was in no state for her to even try that now. She had to be careful in how she approached him.

"I don't get it Jervis. Why are you doing this? What did Eddie do to you to make you this angry at him?"

Jervis abruptly took his hand off of Eddie and cocked his head quizzically at her. "Angry?" He asked her. "I'm not angry at him. Dormouse is my dear friend, my last friend."

"You put all of your friends under mind control Jervis, or just the reformed geniuses you can use for a scheme?"

His face twisted into a scowl then. "You of all people should talk!" He screeched. "Did you or did you not risk his life to save your own hide not three months ago? And Cobblepot! Cobblepot says he's his friend, but he's a liar! He only wants to use him for his own ends! I told Dormouse so, I told him, but he wouldn't listen, he couldn't see who his real enemies were! I had no other choice! I'm not using him, Ms. Kyle," he pointed his finger at her. "I'm protecting him from the likes of you!"

Selina was dumbfounded. "Me?" She repeated. "Eddie doesn't need to be protected from me!"

Jervis furiously shook his head. "Oh yes he does," he seethed. "You've broken his heart twice, you've played with him when it was convenient for you then you threw him away. He told me so, he's told me all I need to know about you! I am the only real friend Dormouse has now. I'll protect him. I'll keep him happy in my own little wonderland. It's what March Hare would have wanted."

March Hare? Wait, did he mean-"Crane?" Selina asked. "Is that who you're talking about?"

Jervis nodded frantically. "Yes, yes. We were three friends you see. Me, March Hare and Dormouse." Jervis' voice hitched as tears came to his eyes. "March Hare is dead now. Dormouse was gone. But I've got him back and this time, no one will take him away or hurt him. I'll keep him safe."

"You think this would make Crane happy Jervis?" Selina asked. "Tell me, what exactly would Jonathan say if he saw you with Eddie like this?"

Selina actually didn't know herself what Crane would have done, but she remembered all too clearly how possessive he had been. The flicker of doubt and fear that appeared on Jervis' face told her that he remembered too. Just as soon as it came however, he shook it off. "He'd understand!" Jervis wailed, his voice almost cracking. "He knew how important it was to keep him safe! You're the only person in this room who's hurt Dormouse and I won't let you do it again!"

Selina opened her mouth to retort but the words wouldn't come as the pieces from the last day and a half began to fall into place. The missing pictures from Eddie's apartment, the caseload he'd taken in in the past few months, his withdrawal from anyone who could be considered part of his support group...it all had to be set off by something. That something, Selina realized, was her. She knew what she had to do to talk Jervis down. She'd known all along what she'd needed to say, she just couldn't admit to it.

"You're right," Selina breathed out. "You're right Jervis. I betrayed Eddie's trust. I put him in danger. I hurt Eddie. I didn't realize how bad I did until tonight."

Jervis didn't lower his guard, instead narrowing his eyes at Selina. When he didn't say anything, she continued. "I went to his office because I wanted to clear the air with him, but most of all, I wanted the chance to apologize to him. I want to do everything I need to do to make it right." Selina kept her eyes focused on Eddie, hoping that on some level, he could hear her. "And if he can't forgive me, if he doesn't want me in his life anymore, then so be it. I'll accept it." Selina turned her gaze to Jervis now. "But that has to be his decision Jervis. Not mine and sure as Hell not yours. If you want to help Eddie, then let him make his own choices and let him go."

Jervis chewed the bottom of his lip. "You...really don't want to hurt Dormouse?"

Selina nodded. Almost there. "Really Jervis. Cross my heart."

Jervis hesitated, then his face broke out into a grin. "Prove it." He leaned down to whisper in Eddie's ear. "Dormouse, here's that awful woman who tricked you! Take care of her."

Eddie got up out of his seat, picked up his cane where it had lain against the wall and climbed over the table to lunge at Selina. She jumped back, realizing exactly what Jervis intended. "You son of a bitch," she hissed. "You say that you're Eddie's friend and you're using him as a human shield? I thought you were above this, Tetch."

Jervis sat back down in his chair and poured himself another cup of tea. "I thought you said you didn't want to hurt him my dear," he laughed. "Why don't you just leave us be?"

Selina unfurled her whip. "Not a chance Jervis," she said. "Query and Echo are downstairs taking care of your gang and Ozzie's got his men surrounding the place. There's only one way this is going to end for you."

Jervis' face paled, but he laughed again. "And only one way it'll end for you! Kill her!"

Eddie lunged forward again, swinging his blade at her. Selina dodged it effortlessly. Just like at the pier, she realized. She knew there was no way Eddie could beat her in a fight, but now that she knew what was going on, somewhat, there was no way in Hell she was going to actually physically hurt him. The best way out of this was to get him back to his senses, somehow. "Eddie!" She yelled out. "If you can hear me, fight it!"

Eddie made no sign that he had heard her, lunging towards her again. Selina swore under her breath. That clearly wasn't going to work. Now, if she were Jervis Tetch, where would she place a microchip? Selina's gaze went to Eddie's ubiquitous green hat. She readied her whip. She had to make the most of this shot and just hope that she didn't lacerate his scalp. With a crack of her whip, she knocked his hat clear off, sending it flying across the room.

"Eddie!" She yelled out. "You ok?"

Eddie paused for a brief moment and lunged towards her again. "Dammit!" she cursed. She could hear Jervis chortling at the table.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

Selina ground her teeth. Okay, if the chip wasn't in the hat, where could it be? She studied every detail of Eddie's costume as she stalked towards her. It wouldn't be in his jacket she thought. Too unprotected. Jervis couldn't have implanted it inside of Eddie, could he have? She prepared to dodge again as Eddie came with striking distance of her again. He was close enough that she could stare almost straight into his eyes, a dull, expressionless green behind the purple domino mask-

The mask. The mask! She'd wondered why Jervis would go through the trouble to take his glasses and that was the perfect reason why. With a quick movement, she aimed her whip at his right hand, sending the cane to the ground. Before he had any time to react, she dropped the whip and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands.

I'd better be right about this, she thought. As he tried to pull away from her, she brought her hands to his face and ripped the mask off. As she did, he pushed her back. Selina tensed, hoping that she had done enough.

Edward blinked once. Then twice. As he focused on her, all the life and intelligence came flooding back to his face. Then he brought his hand up to his eyes and groaned. "Selina?" he murmured. "What are you doing here?" he took look around the room. "What am I doing here?" He lowered his gaze to his person and pulled at the garish coat in disgust. "Where the Hell did this coat come from!?"

Selina's shoulders sagged in relief and she began to laugh. "Welcome back Eddie."