Mad Hatter's Cell
The large guard wasted no time in reacting to the open door.
He motioned a nod as though it were just the psychiatrist, his hand atop his hat in greeting.
Within moments he let out a faint gasp at the unsightly man before him.
"Hey!" He flashed his firearm, pointing it like a finger. "D-don't get any closer!"
Despite his weapon, the tip of the gun shook. The quivering trailed all the way up the man's arm; he couldn't get his eyes off the intruder's abhorrent face.
All the commotion peeled Jervis' eyes. It was difficult to make out anything with unwashed hair dangling in his view, however that didn't stop him from initially grinning.
Until, of course, he witnessed the walking dead.
The Mad Hatter's breathing involuntarily picked up speed; it forced such wind to his lungs that each inhale burned.
He wanted to move and scream and run away, yet the straps held him to his torture. His muscles contorted his smile to a petrified expression that clung to his face as tightly as his closing hands.
His balled fists dug so deeply into his palm that thin streams of blood pooled at the curve at his fingertips.
No words came from The Mad Hatter's lips. He was finally silenced.
Contrary to both Two-Face's and the guard's words, Harvey rushed over to where Tetch was strapped in, cringing in slight sorrow at the sight of him. The quick decision may have been risky and even stupid, but to be frank, Harvey didn't enjoy seeing Jervis in that condition.
He figured Black Mask could handle the guards and such if more were to come, right now Harvey wanted to free the madman, but something held him back. His worse half's voice, his scowls and scolds ringing in his ears.
'What the hell are you doing?! Just leave him there, scumbag deserves to be trapped here forever!'
Harvey's growl of disagreement suggested hope for Tetch. The look on his ally's face, the sheer terror in his eyes made the good man halt his aggressive air and sigh softly.
He lowered himself so they were at the same level, Harvey being right in The Mad Hatter's line of view so the commotion would be blocked out of his sight as much as possible, only to be focused on the two-faced man in front of him.
"It's okay, Tetch. We got you. I got you. Gonna get you outta here." His tone was, surprisingly, attempting to be comforting. Even if he didn't think it would help, there was no harm in trying. His concentration was so fixed that he didn't notice his own hand gently patting the other's in a show of friendly reassurance.
He quickly turned his head so he could look over his shoulder, checking Mask's situation. Harvey's opinion of him was... undecided, for now. He chose to be cautious of him, to not completely trust him. After all, he sounded like quite the character already by the sound of his plans, and the talk of involving both Dent and Tetch. Using what they had for his own means.
Still, he was grateful for being freed. He surely owed him one for that.
As he returned his gaze to The Mad Hatter, he payed more mind to what he was actually doing and feeling. What first came to his attention was his breathing, fast and forced, obviously suggesting he was terrified of what was happening currently. Harvey was never any good at sympathising with or calming people. So he decided to achieve his goal of slowing the man's breathing not with words of encouragement, but with memories.
'Showing sympathy is weak.' The darker voice echoed in his mind, as he had done once before. Harvey mentally shushed it and went ahead with his small plan of using past interactions' dialogue to strike familiarity in the other, to perhaps calm him.
"Tetch? You alright?"
His expression was a very slightly concerned one, which was the most emotion (apart from anger) he allowed himself to show to the other rogues. It was rare to get Harvey to genuinely smile, never mind feeling worried for another person.
Black Mask figured that it might be better to let Harvey handle this. He hadn't interacted with the Mad Hatter before, and if he was in these cells... he must truly be mad.
From the scene unfolding before him, it was yet again the district attorney who seemed to simply enter without consequence.
He spoke of comfort and of comradeship. He put on an air of kindness and sympathy, promising freedom. Jervis furrowed a trembling brow at such a show, trying to believe it.
When Harvey's hand graced Jervis', his shaking palm opened on contact. Jervis gasped at the red streaks under his own fingers.
He opened his other hand, equally painted in a thin coat of crimson.
The panting didn't seem to let up, even with the presence of Harvey. Jervis jerked at his wrists. He jerked harder and harder with no success; with every tug he would he would look beyond Harvey.
The black faced creature just stood in the background, looming like an omen. It was like an icon of a past filled with death, the present teeming with torture and a future full of madness.
This could only be a nightmare by the hand of that psychiatrist.
The Mad Hatter looked right back into Harvey's yellowed eye. His trembling reduced in vigor now that he realized this would pass.
A nasty smirk crept across his features.
With a soft voice, The Mad Hatter began to speak.
"Alice sighed wearily. 'I think you might do something better with the time,' she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers."
He pulled himself to the side to have a gander at the skull-headed demon among them. He continued to mock Two-Face upon returning his gaze.
"Am I alright? All right? I have lost my rights."
He glared eerily at Dent. His filthy hair covered most of his face, except the single tattooed eye that pierced into the man, the figment of this lucid dream before him.
The Mad Hatter would not let this fluke moment of control go to waste.
The first thing Harvey noticed about Tetch's reaction was the man's hands opening, one doing so under his own. His eyes shifted downward, to find small trails of blood on his palms, self-inflicted. It made him widen his eyes in surprise, but only for a split second. A couple of blinks, perhaps in disbelief, and he was back to his usual stone-faced expression. Although, it didn't stop him from keeping his own hand atop his, gently patting it once more.
Then he saw Tetch struggling, attempting to escape the restraints that were tying him down. At this, Harvey took his hand away only to be replaced with both hands undoing said restraints. He was even gentler with his actions, cautious about what state The Mad Hatter was currently in. Harvey didn't want to think about what the staff could have done to him.
Once he successfully freed Tetch's arms, it was then and there that Two-Face decided to speak up. It was also then that The Mad Hatter quotes from the very fairy tale that his whole persona was based upon. Harvey sighed, gazing at the man's eye (which was the only feature visible thanks to his hair). Two-Face grew stronger and decided to respond not to those words, but to his following comment.
"You'll be gettin' more than a lack of rights in a minute if you don't shut the hell up." The voice threatened evilly, before a kinder sounding grunt followed, his mismatched eyes now fixed on the ground below him. The good man returned.
"Tetch, just..." Harvey quietly remarked as he looked up again, at Jervis' eye. His gaze fixed on the tattoo that was adjacent to said eye, the memory of seeing it for the first time washing over Dent.
It was no time for memories now, he told himself as he leaned forward and grasped the man's shoulders, perhaps as a sign of desperation, pleading. 'Look at me, dammit.'
He shook him slightly, which moved the filthy hair that fell over and covered The Mad Hatter's face.
"You're okay now. Trust me. You ain't gonna get hurt anymore."
It was an interesting sight to Mask. He was trying to help the man, but his other side emerged at the wrong moment. He hoped Harvey would be able to pull this off.
The touching felt so real. The contact from Harvey was especially gentle; the hand to hand contact did bring on a tear unbeknownst to him.
The pressure along his arms was released with the straps.
It all happened so quickly. Despite his freedom, Jervis was pinned down by the threat of Two-Face. Jervis' eyes widened but not in fear; rather in familiarity.
He had had good dreams and bad dreams in the countless hours of forced fantasy. He'd seen Joker beat Harley, had tea with Oswald and played chess with Jonathan, sometimes in ridiculous places. He had seen Harvey before; most recently as an antagonist.
What was he this time?
Jervis kept a cocky, toothy grin all the while Harvey pleaded and shook him. He much preferred it when Harvey was around.
The shaking seemed to make it all click. The kindness, the release, it all made sense.
If the devilish man was a symbol of his deeds, he had an idea what this particular Harvey was.
He was the one who believed him, the personifications of anyone who believed him. He was the one who Jervis should focus on. Jervis should let the haunting evils linger in the background; they were just the opinions of people who didn't understand.
Harvey and Two-Face knew of the temptress' wicked way.
Jervis finally responded, coherently and of no reference to any book.
"Thank you, Harvey."
He paused, his hair now parted enough to see clearly, both literally and figuratively.
"May I please speak only to Harvey, Mr. Two-Face?"
Harvey soon stopped shaking Tetch by the shoulders, keeping his gaze fixed on him. The grin seemed to unsettle him though, and became concerned that The Mad Hatter had gone truly mad.
Once he had heard his words, he sighed and closed his eyes in relief, hanging his head down a bit. He even chuckled, but it wasn't the cold, cruel laugh of Two-Face. No, it was soft. It was just Harvey, as Jervis had requested so politely. That was what made the good man laugh at such an ironically unfunny time.
His hands soon let go of the other man's shoulders, and Harvey stood up straight, offering a small but very genuine smile as he verbally answered.
"It's just me, Tetch. It's Harvey." Harvey had assured him, a gentle and kind tone to go along with it. Two-Face was safely locked up in the back of Dent's mind, for now. It was only a matter of time until the bad man returned to the surface.
If Jervis thought this situation was a mere dream, and Harvey an actor playing a role, then that would be good enough if it meant he could leave and not question anything. After all, who is anyone to ask questions regarding a dream's storyline? It wasn't like it made sense.
Harvey glanced around the room, perhaps to check his surroundings. His gaze quickly returned to Jervis though, wanting to stay close to him in case guards attempted to take him back and strap him down again, as if he was some sort of wild animal. There was no way they would be let near Tetch now.
Trust is always one of the most important factors in a friendship, and Harvey hoped the man in front of him trusted him enough to leave the asylum quickly and quietly.
The corner of Jervis' mouth twitched when he heard Harvey laugh. The man's head hung low added to the comedy; he couldn't help but take part.
A healthy, hearty giggle serenaded Harvey's rise. Tetch's arched brow and sparkling eyes made it seem like Harvey was an ascending angel.
Jervis slapped his hands on the arms of his chair. With that he, too, stood up.
The two men forcefully met at the breast. The Mad Hatter's arm wrapped around Two Face's upper torso and patted his back in a masculine show of friendship. He balled a bundle of black and white fabric as he laughed.
"Harvey! How good to see you!"
The Mad Hatter boomed as though meeting a long lost friend. His words were muffled by cloth, although he kept muttering things that could not be understood. He pulled away from Two-Face; an embarrassing damp mark left from his shed tears.
"How is life, my dear friend?"
The Mad Hatter turned away from Harvey. He began to walk, tucking an arm behind his back. He waved a bloodied hand in short circles.
"Bah. Do not speak!" He shook a single finger twice. "Tell me all about it over tea. I want everything!"
Jervis walked right toward the skull faced man. He seemed to ignore him, only continuing to flip his hand in the air to add emotion to his conversation with Harvey.
"I do know they will have set up a nice table for us in the common room."
The Mad Hatter sounded increasingly pleasant, it was almost unsettling, almost sad. He appeared unfazed at this point; everything was a dream, one in which he curiously had control.
He had to learn to deal with the everlasting truth of what he had done, and to do that he must only fill his world with people who accepted the truth of what made him do it. Who made him do it.
Harvey was rather taken aback at the surprise embrace that Tetch gave. The odour that came from the man was... not pleasant, but it was the intention of said man's actions that counted. He had obviously been stuck there for god knows how long, it was a sad sight, so he let himself be met at the breast with Jervis, more for his sake.
Soon enough, Harvey stepped back and gazed at The Mad Hatter with a look of worry. Once his words had started filling the air, the cheery tone got to the good man. It was almost eerie.
Still, he dwelled on it now. Harvey needed to focus on getting Tetch out of there. He walked alongside him, glancing at Black Mask as he did so, perhaps to indicate that it was a good time to leave, before anything else happened.
His attention returned to Jervis and his words, the happy air about him a little peculiar but otherwise, he was pretty much back to normal. Most likely a result of The Mad Hatter's belief that this was all going on in his head, thanks to one of his own inventions. Harvey didn't think of this, instead his thoughts were distracted by the bad man threatening to lash out once more. That was one thing he didn't want happening, at least not right now.
He didn't respond to Tetch's dream-esque, calm and collected words. Instead he simply grabbed his arm with his closest hand and led him out the cell, careful not to alert any other staff. Black Mask would most likely be following close behind, so that was something Harvey didn't need to worry about. Not that he particularly cared right now, though.
Now he was walking at a decent pace, keeping a firm grip of Tetch as they passed each basement cell. Some were obviously occupied, with the imprisoned inmates either screaming at the top of their lungs or just babbling incoherently. Even through thick steel doors, their voices were clearly audible. It was almost chilling to think of what the doctors and orderlies could be doing to them.
Two-Face cackled inside Harvey's head. A cold, malicious noise that rang in his ears.
'You're so weak. Let me handle this.'
The coin was right there, sitting in the pocket of his inmate uniform. All he needed to do was flip, let it decide who took control.
His grasp on the other man's arm tightened considerably. He balled a bundle of fabric as he grunted in protest, responding to the bad man's hisses that built up in his head.
Finally, he spoke to Jervis.
"We're just gonna get outta this hellhole, alright?" A slap on the shoulder with the scarred hand further proved his physicality, a sign of friendship, albeit seemingly held back by something. He was almost reluctant both with speaking his words and executing his small actions.
Two-Face was trying to stop Harvey, without even consulting the coin now.
He was going to leisurely walk with Harvey to the common room. He was going to have a nice stroll, sit down on the most comfortable cushions and offer the man the best British biscuits and tea there ever was.
Until his arm was squeezed...and his pace quickened.
"Oh-!"
The cells blurred past, shouting and hollering of the fellow inmates like a theme song of their sudden dash.
Jervis placed a hand on his head. He was doing so in habit, as though his hat was still nestled in his scalp.
As if to follow Harvey's lead, Jervis also peered behind to catch a glimpse of the other actor in this dream. He appeared further and further away; he was being pushed deeper into the background.
The Mad Hatter pulled his hand off his hair when Harvey's voice beckoned him to return his attention.
He stared at the other man with a fully focused gaze.
Jervis flopped like a rubber band, his large upper torso easily shoved by the reassuring slap from his saviour.
He was oblivious, so starstruck and deluded to have noticed any hesitation in Harvey's voice. The threat of The Bad Man, The Judge or anyone else failed to scare Jervis. This dream had a meaning, a lesson; Jervis was going to forfeit control to get to the memorable end in high hopes.
He took a hand to Harvey's white arm. He patted it twice; one for both men. Even though he wasn't Tetch's favourite, it was kind of Two-Face to let Harvey out just for him.
Jervis' eyes sparkled like blue crystals.
He began to speak.
"No, Harvey."
His tone was gentle and sane.
"You are going to get me out of this Hell."
The Mad Hatter grinned.
"Only you can."
Black Mask was impressed with how Harvey handled Hatter, who was clearly losing it. Gently, but continued to push forward.
"There are several trucks out there waiting for us. They can take you to your hideout Two-Face.
And Tetch- It was a pleasure to meet you. Hope to do business with you in the future."
Catwoman's Apartment
Selina was cleaning up the remains of Holly's tinkering.
She frowned slightly to herself. When was the last time she'd heard from Ed? Or Ivy?
She should check up on them both, silence was never good when it came to either of them.
She heard a knock at her door, and went to open it
'Helena' was outdoors. Dressed in civilian clothes this time, and holding the tracker
"Hey, you dropped something."
Selina took it from her, twirling it in her fingers.
"Looks like all that training paid off." she said casually.
"I'm impressed."
"I'm not receptive towards people touching me- but it was an emotional moment, so I let me guard down when you tapped to "comfort" me. But I suppose there still isn't much trust between us."
Selina leaned on her doorframe, looking at Huntress.
Or whoever she was.
"I thought you were in this business long enough not to take this kind of stuff personally, Helena. He never did, either."
"Yeah, and his style didn't work well for us. Couldn't work with him or another team."
Selina shrugged.
"Look, Helena. If you can't work with people, then why come to me? Why ask for help when you know this is how I operate?"
'Helena' let out a sigh
"We're living in strange times. Especially now that he's gone. Things are changing and I'm figuring out how to adapt."
Selina's eyes softened.
"I...understand that. So am I. Things are different now, I have to be more careful. You should too."
Helena nodded
"We both have made a lot of enemies in our careers. But if we are to continue to work together- that requires trust. I hope one day- that can happen."
Selina nodded, slightly.
"The world has changed, Helena. And I don't know how everything is going to pan out. But for what it's worth...I hope so too."
"I look forward to meeting you again Selina- I guess you know where I live as well- you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours- that's how you operate?"
"We'll see, I suppose. For now, I've got some human traffickers to go slay. See you around, Helena."
"Perhaps I could lend you an assist on that. Just let me know!" She started to walk down the hallways and left the apartment.
Cherry Hill
Black Mask's False Facers met with the leader of the Odessa Mob, Alexandra Kosov. He was on a tablet.
"Dobriy vyecher Alexandra."
"What have you called me for?" She scowled.
"I'm here for a call to peace, Kosov. As we both know, we have been competing over this area- wasting resources, cutting out our nose to spite our face. As a sign of goodwill, I offer a partnership of sorts. I will stay out of your area- for a modest payment-"
"Idi na hui. Coward. You aren't in a position to bargain! We Ukrainians are proud people who won't be so easily!"
"I see you're not just another pretty face. I never expect a payment without a reward." He said. "I'm going to let you know that I am willing to give you control over the trafficking rings on this coastline."
Her eyes widened.
"All of them? Clearly there is a catch?"
"None except a cut of the profits. You will have full control over the area. That is my deal. Take it or leave it."
Alexandra let out a smile. This was quite the offer- a lot of money could be made from it. She had little intention of holding up her end of the deal. If Black Mask was using his goons for other operations, it means the stations would be abandoned anyways. Still she preferred not to aggravate him and take his offer at the time being.
"It's a deal. "
"Pleasure to do business with you, Kosov."
Black Mask felt contempt at himself. Kosov wasn't a visionary like him, she was greedy and only cared about her crime family's wealth above all else. He couldn't trust her to keep crime contained- but a temporary uptick will be worth it if his schemes come to fruition. In the meantime, he will let The Odessa Mob deal with the Cat.