"So... wait. I'm Alice?"

Mad Hatter responded to The Joker's question with hysterical laughter. All of his hypnotized 'goons', even Batman, mimicked him.

For once, the sound of laughter didn't excite Joker. In fact, it might have even scared him a bit.

'Geez, this toxin in my blood must really be having serious effects on me - I'm mellowing out!' Joker thought.

"Oh, Alice... So clueless." Hatter purred as he reached out and gently rubbed his fingers down Joker's cheek - over the clown's scars.

Joker calmly reached up and swatted his hand away. "Don't touch me."

"Tut, tut! Don't be cross with me, Alice..." Hatter reached out again, but this time his hand went for Joker's green hair, grabbing it and tugging it.

"Hey, quit it! For someone so posh, I expected more manners than this! Don't you know it's not polite to bully a guest?" From his left pocket, Joker produced a small knife. He quickly swiped at Mad Hatter, but found this tactic to have been useless - Hatter equally as quickly disarmed him and got him around the throat, placing the blade against his neck.

In this little maneuver, Joker had ended up standing and facing Batman, whom he locked eyes with. For some reason, he expected his enemy to suddenly break through Hatter's control and save him or something.

Then suddenly, to his surprise, Batman stood up fast enough to knock his chair over.

"Move another inch and Alice's blood paints the walls, Batman." Hatter warned, making Batman freeze.

"Oh ho ho~, go ahead. My blood's killing me, anyways!"

"I love your sass, Alice. It's very arousing."

"Wait... what?"

"You heard me, my sweet..." Hatter nearly breathed this into Joker's ear.

Joker's face went blank as he tried to process what was being implied. "... I feel like a bit of a hypocrite by saying this... but you're sick. A real nutjob."

"I love the sound of your voice..."

Joker furrowed his brow again. He wasn't necessarily liking the position he was in - his back was to Hatter, he had a knife to his throat, and he was too weak to fight if things took a step in any which direction.

The clown looked back at Batman, who hadn't moved a muscle. "Come on, tough guy. He won't go through with it. He's all talk. Save me already!"

"He can't hear you, Alice."

"Oh, I think he can. He can always hear me when I talk to him. We have a connection like that. Don't we, Batsy?"

Batman's hands balled up into fists, and in response to this, Hatter pressed the knife a little closer to Joker's neck.

"What are you waiting for, Batfreak? If you let him do this to me, then you're no better than anyone else here, and I'll really lose respect for you, you kn-" Joker coughed again.

"Oh, my sweet Alice... You're suffering. I see now why you want him to move - you want me to put you out of your misery."

"Let go of me, you psycho!" Joker shouted back, now beginning to squirm a bit. "Bats, help! Pretend I'm Robin or something!"

Batman didn't move.

Joker narrowed his eyes, now glaring menacingly at the Bat. "If you don't help me, I'll kill everyone you care about. NOW MOVE!" He roared.

Still, Batman remained frozen in place.

"Let's go, Alice... We'll be safe together in here." Mad Hatter started to drag Joker away. Joker was too stunned to even fight, and the last thing he muttered before the door closed and locked behind himself and the Mad Hatter was...

"... Bats?"