A/N: Thanks to all that reviewed!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Face to Face
"I said it over and over and over again! Now let me repeat it slowly so that your idiotic minds can try to comprehend what I am saying: Find. Me. The. Notes."
Jervis looked around at the henchmen that were staring back at him with a blank stare. He rubbed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. "You each have walked and examined Arkham from top to bottom you say? And yet here we are again in Arkham. Can someone tell me why?"
None of the men answered and Jervis began to get more frustrated then he already was. Letting out a heavier sigh, he clenched his fist. "Alright," he whispered the word mostly to himself and took his top hat off, playing with it in his hands. "Do you know what you call a Hatter without his hat? Anyone?" No one answered. "He's not called a Hatter at all, actually he's madder then you think for not wearing his hat in front of his henchmen."
Jervis took his hat in one hand and threw it at the nearest henchmen, the hat began turning into sharp blades as it flew through the air. The unlucky henchmen fell to the floor as his head came rolling off of his body.
Jervis ignored all the blood coming out and just stepped over the dead body to retrieve his hat. He brushed the hat for a moment and placed it back over his head. "I feel better." He once again stepped over the body and leaned on the desk, crossing his arms. "Now, I suggest that you start cleaning this up." He began walking to the door and when he reached it he turned around to look at the remaining henchmen. "By the way, for every day that passes with no sign of those notes, one of you will be losing more than your mind." Jervis then opened the door and left the premises.
I opened my eyes when I heard a small moan, quickly I stood up and realized that Jonathan was slightly breathing harder and his hands where clenched into fist as they tangled themselves in the sheets.
A nightmare?
I took a glance at the clock in the room and noticed that it was past midnight. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and sat on the edge of the bed. I looked over to Jonathan and carefully I placed a hand over his head thinking that it would stop his nightmare if he felt a gentle touch on him. Luckily, he did respond to the touch as his hands began to unclench from the sheets and his breathing began to settle down.
I shook my head in an attempt to keep a yawn from coming out of my mouth, slowly I began to stand up from the bed but once I did my vision began to blur. I sat back down on the bed and closed my eyes in an attempt to regain my normal state. Soon after, I heard a soft knock on the door, and I saw that Alfred began to open the door.
"Master Wayne, at what time do you suppose you are going to have your… midnight snack?"
I would have laughed if it wasn't for the huge migraine I was feeling at the moment. "Actually, can you bring me some aspirin for this huge migraine and some leftover food?"
Alfred nodded. "Right away Master Wayne."
When he left the room I glanced at Jonathan once more. I wonder when he'll wake up. Standing up, I quickly remembered something, the person that shot Jonathan was looking for his notes and whoever it was must have stayed long enough to have cleaned up the mess left in Arkham. Someone wanted to kill Jonathan, which means that there might be some clues on whom ever tried to kill him left in Arkham. Taking one last glance at Jonathan, I head out of the room.
Alfred walks into Bruce's room with a tray and soon notices that Bruce is nowhere to be seen. Looking at Jonathan, Alfred murmured, "Somehow I don't think he's taking a bath."
Before Alfred could leave the room, he saw that something was in the floor beside the nightstand. He walked over and placed the tray on top of the nightstand and then kneeled down to retrieve a brown burlap mask.
Alfred looked it over and stood up. "Two men hidden behind masks are what you two are." He placed the mask inside the nightstand and began exiting the room. Not once noticing the shifting that began moving on the bed.
I stood outside of the mansion as I began to get on the red motorcycle. Somehow, I knew that I was going to get an earful from Alfred but I decided to not think about that in the moment. Starting up the bike, I headed out of the mansion into the night streets.
The trip to Arkham became like an everyday thing to me that I could close my eyes and still I'll be able to reach it. Stopping on a red light, I noticed that a young girl with blond hair was running away from a man who was chasing her down the street into an alleyway. I frowned and moved my bike onto the sidewalk. Getting off, I crossed the street and headed into the alleyway in where I saw the girl running into.
"Please, leave me alone! I don't want to go back!"
A man was holding the girl by her arms in a way to control her from swinging at him. She kept struggling but the man tightened his hold on her even more.
His back was turned towards me that it was easy for me to sneak up on him and knock him behind the head. He fell to the floor and the young girl turned around to look at me. She had a frightening look on her face that when I moved slightly forward, she began trembling and she looked like she was paralyzed with fear.
I was about to open my mouth to say that she was safe but instead she interrupted me by screaming random things.
"My name is not Alice! And I don't know any Hatter!"
She began to run by me seeing that it was the only way to escape but I quickly caught her arm to make sure she stopped. All the while she kept struggling from me to let her go and she then began to scream some more.
"Please, no more! No more controlling my mind!"
Controlling her mind?
The moment my hand loosened on her arm she sprinted away from me that I decided it was best to let her go. Mind control? Who-
"I was wondering if you ever heard of a device that could control the mind?"
Suddenly, one name came into my mind: Jervis Tetch.
Running back over to my motorcycle, I began to start it up and pass up every car that was in my way, the whole time that I was making my way into Arkham my mind kept going back to Jonathan. Could Jervis have anything to do with the cause of Jonathan being shot? The more I thought about it, the more I speeded up to reach Arkham.
Jervis was looking through a random book from a book-shelve when his henchmen came into the room. Jervis closed the book and placed it back on the book-shelve. "This better be good."
"Sir, after going through every book we could find in Arkham, none seem to be the one you have mentioned."
Jervis frowned and gestured for the man to leave him alone. He left leaving an enraged Hatter in the room. "Jo-na-than, oh where, oh where are those NOTES!" He banged his fist on the table and left the room in such a rush.
Passing by the hallway he yelled through the whole corridor so that all his henchmen could be able to hear him. "One hour! One hour for all of you to clean up your mess!"
He began walking outside and heard the noise of an engine. Jervis then noticed that a black blob was walking out into his view. Sadly, he could not make out who the person was since everything seemed to be covered up in the night's darkness.
A low, intimidating voice soon began to speak up. "Who are you?"
Jervis began to smile. "The real question, my friend, is who are you and what is someone like you doing in a place like this?" Amusement filled his voice which seemed to anger the other man.
"Don't joke around with me! You were the one who sent out a man to try and capture a poor innocent girl!"
Jervis was confused for a moment then he soon began to realize what he was talking about. "Oh, you mean Alice, naughty little thing. See, this is what I'm talking about, none of this would be happening if I just had Jonathan's notes."
"Jonathan Crane?"
The moment Jervis heard the name fall from the strange man's lips, his smile widen. "You know where he is, then. Well, my dear friend, now I can't let you leave." He took off his hat and narrowed his eyes at his new rabbit. "How about joining my tea party?"
A/N: Word of advice: Never, never leave your word document open when you have a five year old running around and decides that they want to delete your work when you're not around.
1 . Finally Bruce comes face to face with Mad Hatter! I swear I had to re-write this chapter 3 times before the confrontation could happen. And even then I wondered if I should have made the confrontation so soon.
2 . To those who don't understand why "Alice" is easily able to escape from Jervis so quickly will be answered soon. But it does tie in with why he is so bent on finding Jonathan's notes.
3 . Did anyone else notice the slight "movement" when Alfred left the room? I wonder if this means that an ex-doctor is finally waking up…
4 . Jervis hat was something from the "Looking Glass Wars" by Frank Beddor, which interested me when my sister bought the book. I thought it would be cool that Jervis have something more than his mind control to try and protect himself; it does make him a bigger threat now. But what do you guys think about that little extra added?
5 . So, I wonder how Bruce will fare off with a psychopathic Hatter with a sharp blade hat. Action in the next chapter that's for sure!
Please review!