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Deep in the city of Gotham, it was a calm night as not even a cricket could be heard. This was an unusual night for the city as it wasn't considered one of the most dangerous places to live for a reason. But the citizens were not complaining as they attributed the low crime rate thanks to the Gotham Police department spearheaded by commissioner Gordon, and the infamous Dark Knight who protects the city from the shadows.
Many citizens of Gotham were actually walking down the streets, feeling safe for the first time in ages as they went out for a night in the town to enjoy the moment of peace, before some crazy super villain decides to ruin it with whatever master plan they have cooking. But for now none of that matters to them as they were going to enjoy their evening for the first time and what felt like forever.
From his lair known as the Batcave, the world's greatest detective was observing the police calls and observing footage of both Arkham Asylum and Blackgate prison at the same time.
The Dark Knight of Gotham was dressed had to toe in light heavy duty titanium tri weave liquid gel armor with kevlar/titanium metal plating on his chest, lower arms, upper legs, knee flank boots, and cowl. His signature cape/glider was draped over his shoulders. And his yellow utility belt filled with gadgets and other equipment for his missions was strapped around his waist as always.
This individual was none other than one of the greatest superheroes of Earth, known by many names but most popularly known as the Batman!
As Batman was observing the monitor is on every place he could think of to watch out for crime activity, he checked the time and saw that it was almost time for his midnight coffee, so he decided to remove his cowl to reveal that he was a handsome looking man in his late 20s with prominent cheekbones and slicked back black hair.
Unkown to most of the world of Batman was in reality famous Playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne. Although he acted like a bachelor billionaire who uses his money for charity in other social events, this was really nothing more than a cover that way if anyone ever found out he was Batman no one would ever believe them as he acted nothing like the Dark Knight.
Bruce was also no dummy as not only did he train for ten years to hone his skills to become Batman, but he also had various degrees in many different fields, one of which included teaching. He got those in case he ever needed to pass down the mantle of being Batman.
But for right now Batman / Bruce Wayne's thoughts were elsewhere as he was observing the low crime activity.
"Strange..."said Batman, as a well-dressed bald-headed man who was wearing what could be described as a butler outfit came into the Batcave with what looked like a serving dish with hot coffee on it.
"A little paranoid on how quiet everything is, Master Bruce?"asked Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's loyal Butler in the closest thing he had to a family.
"Its quiet, too quiet and something tells me it's not supposed to be this quiet."said Bruce, as this is the first time in a long time that Gotham has experienced this level of quiet, and for some reason that bothered him.
"I suppose it is too quiet. After all it is unusual that none of your rogues are in action, although that's probably because most of them are in Arkham Asylum or Blackgate prison at the moment."said Alfred as he handed Bruce his coffee.
"Thank you Alfred. I don't know why but my gut instinct is telling me that something is wrong."said Bruce says he was observing that most of the individuals that the public calls his rogue gallery were locked up in their cells.
Joker was struck down on his bed with a face mask to keep him from biting, although Bruce saw nothing out of the ordinary as Joker mostly appeared to be mumbling to himself like he was in his own little world... which he was.
Harley Quinn as usual was balancing herself out literally as she was currently doing a handstand while saying how great she feels when all the blood rushes to her head...?
Scarecrow meanwhile was mumbling to himself incoherently after Batman foiled his latest attempt to use fear gas in the city of Gotham, inadvertently exposing Jonathan Crane to his own fear gas, and it seems to be taking time for the effects to completely wear off.
As for Killer Croc, he was currently in his prison cell / abandoned sewer line eating a piece of meat that the guards threw down for him to eat, as it was too dangerous to go in there and give him the food personally as he already took the hands of one of the guards, and now said guard has a hook for a hand.
Meanwhile at Blackgate, Bane appeared to be having withdrawals after long time denial of his venom, the drug that gives him his super strength.
While Oswald Cobblepot AKA the Penguin appeared to be complaining on the quality of food, going on and on about how his family was practically royalty back in the day and he deserved only the highest grade food etc.
"Something is clearly bothering you Master Bruce, otherwise you wouldn't be so jumpy right now."said Alfred, knowing his employer long enough to know that something was on his mind.
"Jervis Tetch."responded Bruce, as Alfred raised an eyebrow.
"The Mad Hatter? What does he have to do with this?"asked Alfred, wondering why Jervis was making his employer so worried as he was not a really dangerous villain other than his mind control capabilities.
"Last month, Hugo Strange kidnapped him from Arkham. Normally Jervis wouldn't be a much of a threat on his own, but in the hands of someone as dangerous as Hugo..."said Bruce, knowing full well that Hugo Strange was one of the most dangerous people he has ever encountered.
The man was a mad scientist of genius level proportions, who wasn't afraid to go beyond the boundaries of moral and legal in order to achieve his goals.
"Yes, I suppose it is strange as I wonder what someone has dangerous as Hugo Strange wants with a low level criminal like the Mad Hatter."said Alfred, as Bruce stood up and started removing his old gauntlets and putting new ones from the table he uses when he's building new equipment.
"What all those gauntlets for, Master Bruce?"asked Alfred, noticing the gauntlets on the table were more high-tech with more prominent spikes, and added metal/rubber padding on the knuckles.
"These gauntlets are made of Nth metal. According to John Constantine, it seems Hugo has recently gotten an interest in the world of magic, and the occult."said Batman, has he began preparing the weapons he used against villains who use magic.
"Why would a man of science like Hugo be interested in magic?"asked Alfred, wondering what was going through the super villain's mind.
"Hugo is a man who feels like he needs to understand everything that remotely interests him. My guess is that he stumbled onto the world of magic and immersed himself in it in order to understand it in a way he could understand."said Bruce says he began preparing his equipment.
Batman felt like this was going to be dangerous, and since most of the time his gut was right he decided to be extra careful. So Bruce proceeded to place on his more heavy duty utility belt and began to fill it with all kinds of gadgets and weaponry to prepare himself to go after Hugo Strange, as the man wasn't one of the most dangerous villains he's ever faced for no reason!
Batman proceeded to put on his signature batarangs for all kinds of purposes, including ones made of Nth metal. Batman and proceeded to put a hidden one on his logo in case of emergencies. Next he placed a container filled with liquid explosives on his utility belt. He been proceeded to place his batclaw grapple gun, taser, smoke bombs, non-lethal electric charge gun, freeze grenades, ultrasonic bat beacon, high powered explosives, and titanium steel handcuffs.
"Considering the... creatures that Hugo Strange has created over the years I suggest your arm yourself with something more, powerful master Bruce."suggested Alfred as Bruce picked up a pair of nunchucks, a retractable bo staff, as a katana with a bat shaped guard and the ability to become sharp and non-sharp.
"Those all the gifts the Ninja turtles gave you."said Alfred, remembering that the Ninja turtles gave Batman those weapons after they teamed up to stop the Shredder and Ra's Al Ghul.
"Your right. Hugo has created monsters over the years to protect them so I better be armed."said Batman as he strapped the katana behind his back.
"I also suggest you take some of these potions that Mr Constantine gave you in case you ever deal with magic-based criminals."said Alfred as he handed Bruce a bunch of vials containing potions that John Constantine gave him.
"Thank you, Alfred. Now I'll be heading out to a warehouse known to be owned by a subsidiary that Hugo owns. That's my best lead on what he did with the Mad Hatter."said Batman as he made his way over to the batmobile.
"Please be careful, Master Bruce. Hugo Strange is a man without morals, and is willing to do anything in the name of his research."said Alfred, as Bruce put on his cowl and jumped into the batmobile.
Once inside he activated the vehicle and started driving off, out of the batcave!
"Now to find out what Hugo Strange wants with the Mad Hatter!"said Batman as he drove out of the batcave and headed off to the warehouse owned by Hugo Strange.
-=O=-
About forty five minutes later Batman arrived at the warehouse, and drove right in after he hacked into the warehouse's computer main frame and allowed himself to go into the garage. As soon as he did did he launch himself out of the batmobile and activated the night vision and crime scene feature of his cowl in order to look for evidence.
"I was waiting for you to arrive, about time too."said a middle aged bald man with a large beard, wearing an expensive looking suit.
"Where's Jervis Tetch, Hugo?"asked Batman, wondering where Hugo was keeping the Mad Hatter.
"Oh that interesting patient of mine. Well I'm afraid to tell you Batman that he's in less than... stable condition." said Hugo Strange as he pressed the remote, causing the wall behind them to start moving away.
Batman looked on as he saw that behind the wall was some kind of lab with a large metal cylinder connected to a whole bunch of high-tech computers. And not too far from the cylinder was the Mad Hatter sitting in a nearby chair, and he looked like he was in a... catatonic state!
"Jervis actually came to me to help him with something he has been obsessed with for a while. And me being a generous man I decided to help him out in order to better understand him."said Hugo, as Batman approached him.
"Ah, ah, ah, one more step and I feed the Mad Hatter to the crocodiles underneath him."said he was he held another remote, forcing Batman to stop himself in his tracks as he had no idea of Hugo was bluffing or not.
"You see, Batman. Mr Jervis Tetch aka the Mad Hatter has always been convinced that wonderland actually existed. At first I thought he was out of his mind, but as he explained more and more I began to wonder if he was telling the truth. So after that meeting we decided to study the world of science and magic, and we discovered that there actually exists a world where all the beings of fairy tales actually exist. Oh you should have seen the look on Mr Tetch's face when he thought he could meet the real Alice. I, on the other hand had bigger ambitions so I decided to put him in his current state."said Hugo as he began walking towards the metal cylinder.
"What are you planning, Hugo?"asked Batman, wondering what Hugo Strange's ultimate angle was.
"I know you already know the answer Batman, I could never understand why you ask these pointless questions when you've already come up with several deductions. Well I'll humor you and tell you that after discovering that this world full of fairy tale creatures is real, my interest was peaked as I just had to understand them. I had to see how they tick, how they worked, and see how they could help me with my research!"said Hugo, as one something peeks is interest he pursues it to the very ends of the Earth.
"Magic is not something that you should mess with if you don't understand it, Hugo!"said Batman, as plenty of fools have messed with forces they didn't understand and paid an ultimate price for it!
"Yes, that's right, I don't understand it! And that is exactly why I'm doing this! So I can understand it! I am a man of knowledge Batman, and if there's something I don't know, I must seek out all knowledge of it at any cost!"said Hugo with a smile, as he needed to understand something he felt like he didn't know anything about!
'That is why he is doing this! He doesn't understand anything about magic so he wants to understand it and mold it in his own image!' thought Batman, understanding what exactly Hugo wanted to do next!
He wanted to go to that world of fairy tales in order to study it and mold it in his own image!
"Hahahahahahaha! You should have seen the look on Mad Hatter's face when I betrayed him. He honestly thought I was going to give him a piece and give him his Sweet Alice. But the fool is too much of a loose cannon to allow him to be a part of my plans. So that is why I got some...sane help..."said Hugo as the sounds of multiple people approaching could be heard.
"I have assorted my own League of villains hand-picked by yours truly. I decided not to use people like the Joker or others who are straight out insane and only think about themselves. I handpicked individuals that can be controlled through their own vices! So well I do enjoy your company Batman, I am a busy man."said Hugo as he pressed the red button on one of the computers, which seemed to turn on the machine.
"Hugo, no!"said Batman, as Hugo looked at the large metal cylinder as it began to rotate and soon electricity started to shoot into it as what looked like energy started to form!
But something quickly went wrong as it appeared to be malfunctioning!
"What?!"asked Hugo as he began to wonder what was going wrong before he noticed that someone had sabotage the machine.
"Revenge..."said Mad Hatter in his mindless state as Hugo and Batman quickly realized that he was the one who sabotages the machine.
"It appears Mad Hatter knew you were going to betray him, so he decided to get back at you."said Batman is the machine went haywire and soon what felt like the vacuum of space started pulling them to the portal!
"Jervis, you fool!"yelled Hugo as he was the first one absorbed into the machine!
As Batman tried to dig in his heels he too was absorbed along with the batmobile! As Batman looked he saw several other individuals being sucked into the portal as well, but he felt like he was getting very tired as he began to pass out.
He tried to reach for his batclaw in order to escape, but a piece of debris from the warehouse hit him in the face, knocking him out instantly as he went limp and fell into the void of the portal.
-=O=-
Batman awoke with a serious headache as he began to look around and study his environment. He stood up and looked around, and much to his relief of batmobile was not too far from where he was.
"Just a few scratches but nothing the batmobile couldn't handle."said Batman before he began studying his environment.l
Unlike the dingy Warehouse he was in, he appeared to be in an enchanted Forest... a forest that appeared in layman's terms to be... magical?
As Batman looked around he saw that he appeared to be on a large hill of some kind, and not too far from his current location was a large looking building that look like it was some kind of school...?
"I guess I can understand how Alice felt when she first fell down the rabbit hole..."said Batman, feeling like this case was going to be a serious headache.
More so then the one he was already feeling as a couple of fairies looked at him with suspicion, but he paid them no mind as he started making his way to the school like building.
