Tetch knocked on the door, and it was answered a moment later by Alice's husband, Billy Dodgson. "Jervis!" he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to speak to you about the regrettable position you've been placed in," replied Tetch. "And now the regrettable position we've both been placed in."

"Yes. Yes, come in," said Billy, slowly, holding open the door. "I told…Alice not to bother you..."

"I think it only right that she did bother me," retorted Tetch. "It concerns me, after all."

"No, Jervis, it concerns me and my family," retorted Billy. "And I'm going to take care of them."

"And how exactly are you planning on doing that?" asked Tetch.

Billy said nothing, but opened the door to the living room to reveal Batman standing there.

Tetch stared at him. Batman stared back. Then he extended his hand. "Hello, Mr. Tetch," he murmured.

"H…hello," stammered Tetch, shaking his hand cautiously.

"Congratulations on your rehabilitation," continued Batman. "It's a shame all this unpleasantness had to come along to ruin it."

"Oh…well…I'm not sure it has ruined it," said Tetch, slowly. "I mean, you're here now and you can probably handle the miscreants responsible…"

Batman and Billy shared a look. "And who do you believe is responsible, Mr. Tetch?" asked Batman.

"I…don't know," he stammered. "That's what I came to ask Mr. Dodgson…"

"You think Mr. Dodgson knows?" interrupted Batman.

"Um…yes. Why…why wouldn't he?" asked Tetch, puzzled.

"What exactly have you been told, Mr. Tetch?" asked Batman.

"Alice told me that…you had gotten mixed up with a bad crowd…that they were blackmailing you…" said Tetch, slowly.

"Alice told you that?" repeated Billy. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. She came to see me with Catherine. She was very distressed…"

Batman studied him carefully. "I think he's telling the truth," he murmured. "Or he thinks he is."

"Of course I'm telling the truth!" exclaimed Tetch. "Why would I make something like that up?!"

Billy let out a sigh of relief. "You see, I told you, Batman, he doesn't intend any harm!" he said. "I told you he was a changed man, and that I trusted him! Batman thought you had reverted to your old ways, and that you were after Alice and Catherine again, so he made up this plan to protect them…"

"I…don't understand," stammered Tetch.

"Alice and Catherine have, after my insistence that their lives were in danger by an outside force, been taken to a safe location," explained Batman. "They've been there three weeks now."

Tetch stared at him. "No," he stammered. "No, no…they're at my house."

Batman shook his head. "No. That's Clayface."

"Clayface?" repeated Tetch. "Why…why would he impersonate them?"

"I told him to," retorted Batman. "I sent him."

"You?" gasped Tetch. "Why…would you do that?"

Batman looked at him. "Because I didn't believe you were cured," he said. "I was monitoring you, and I saw you visiting your old friends in Arkham and I thought…given the opportunity and the motive, you would return to your old ways. I wanted to be sure you really were sane. So I had to test it."

"Test it?" repeated Tetch. "By…by making Clayface impersonate the people I love…by asking me to kill Jonathan…"

"Kill Jonathan?" said Batman, surprised. "I never asked you to do that."

"Well, Alice…Clayface did!" shouted Tetch, suddenly furious. "Perhaps you shouldn't have sent a lunatic to do your bidding! You think this was a heroic thing to do, do you?! Playing with my emotions and forcing me to make the hardest decision of my life…"

"I had to be sure you were cured!" shouted Batman.

"Dr. Leland certified me as sane!" shouted Tetch. "It was her job to judge me, and no one else's! Certainly not yours!"

"If you had seen half as many so-called cured lunatics as I have…" began Batman.

"That's no excuse!" shouted Tetch. "You know that's no excuse! You had no right to set this up – you had no right to do any of this! I might have killed Jonathan, and his blood would have been on your head! And you dare to judge me as insane?! You?!"

He choked out a laugh. "I have never in my life heard such complete and utter…nonsense!" he shouted. "But of course you don't believe in rehabilitation or redemption or curing oneself, when night after night you doom yourself to the same endless cycle! Your insane pattern of darkness and violence which you never want to give up, so you can't understand why anyone else might! Why anyone else might want to move on with their lives and stop playing these ridiculously childish games! Oh, you and the Joker are the same kind of man, although you'll never admit it! Why don't you just grow up and stop pretending to be the hero in your head, and start taking responsibility for your actions, just like the rest of us?!"

He whirled around and stormed from the room. "Where are you going?" demanded Batman.

"If Clayface wants Jonathan dead, there must be a reason," snapped Tetch. "I'm going to find out what it is, and I'm going to make him see sense. I'd ask you to come along, but you're in no position to deal out advice on sanity, are you?!"

He gave Batman an utterly contemptible glare and slammed the door. Batman stared after him. "I have to go after him," he muttered, heading for the door. "He can't stop Clayface on his own, especially if he decides to be violent. I shouldn't have trusted Karlo in the first place; he is an amazing actor, after all, but I didn't think I had a choice. I couldn't actually put Alice and Catherine at risk…but I was so sure…I was so certain the moment Tetch was offered the possibility of having Alice…he would return to being the Mad Hatter."

"I hate to contradict you, Batman, but I think if he had been able to have Alice, the Mad Hatter would never have existed," murmured Billy. "I think you're wrong about Jervis. He's not a madman at heart. His true nature is good and noble and sane, and it was an unfortunate situation that drove him mad. But he's cured now. And if he returns to madness after this, it will be your fault."

Batman said nothing, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.