To Play the Fool

Chapter Thirty

~Three Days Ago~

"Absolutely not. We have already had this discussion, and I will not be having it again." Jackie's father slammed a stack of files onto the counter in emphasis.

"But before then we didn't know where he was hiding," she argued. "Now we do."

"And the professionals will handle it."

"They don't know Grayskull cave," Batman interrupted. "It's deep, it hasn't been mapped out fully, and there are multiple tunnels. The Hatter has the advantage down there. As soon as he hears the FBI coming, he could drop Jenny down a chasm or kill any number of the other hostages."

"Why not let the Mad Hatter bring me to her? I'll swallow a tracking device or five, put a few in my clothes, maybe embed some in my skin, and the FBI can follow me down the rabbit hole."

Jackie's father glared at her cheerful presentation of her plan. "How many have you already swallowed?"

"Just the one. And Batman gave me this." She pulled a bobby pin out of her hair that had a red heart charm on the end. "Isn't it perfect? It has a battery life of a week and a half and can be read from 20 miles away. When I need you to come find me, I just have to turn it on."

"Can the signal go through 500 feet of solid rock?" Batman and Jackie exchanged a questionable glance. "The answer's still no. I'm not risking Jenny's life at the expense of your own."

"But I have the both of you watching out for me. I'll be fine!"

"There are far too many risks involved. What if you have an allergic reaction to the drugs the Mad Hatter gives you? What if he never lets you wake up? What if you can't break free and he slits your throat? What if he gives you a lobotomy before you find Jenny? The answer is no." He walked away to the living room to end the conversation.

Jackie bit her lip, trying to hold something back, but it all came out anyway. "Okay, Daddy. I didn't want to do this, but I'm not asking for your permission."

Agent Harkness stopped in his tracks. "Excuse me?"

"I'm asking you if you want to be involved since I figured you would want to know what I was up to. You can either follow the tracking devices that Batman has so kindly provided even though he doesn't like my plan either, or sit at home and play it legal. But I know that the Mad Hatter still needs a Queen of Hearts and if he's targeting our family specifically, he's going to love me. It's the best chance we've got to get Jenny back, and I'm not going to waste it." With that, she grabbed her maroon corduroy jacket from off the back of her chair and stormed out of the apartment.

Her father groaned in defeat. "Don't lose her," he ordered Batman.

Batman handed him a hand-held computer with a screen that showed a dot on a circular field. "I won't."

~Today~

The courtroom was set up for a trial. The jury was in their box, each with a small chalkboard in their hands. Some had already scribbled down 'Stupid things' along with their own names, lest they forget them before the trial was over. A man dressed as a Gryphon with a beak tied to his face and golden wings attached to his back, was on the front row sitting next to a high school aged boy with hooded lizard eyes, dressed in a pair of overalls. Two of the jurors were labeled as guinea pigs. The rest were just warm bodies to fill seats.

In the witness box was a woman in an apron wearing a chef's hat and holding onto a pepper shaker. In the center of the room was a man, the Knave of Hearts, dressed like a red Robin Hood with hearts sewn to his clothes. He was held down by a pair of shackles bolted to the rock floor. The King of Hearts sat in the stand, dressed in a heavy black robe, a thick white wig, and a crown pressed down uncomfortably on top of that. The Queen of Hearts sat at his right hand, wearing a long red dress with roses sewn onto her waist. She was slumped over with her head between her knees and her red hair spilling over her dress. Her crown sat on a pedestal to her right.

All of the participants in the trial were handcuffed to their seats. Only the King and Queen of Hearts weren't struggling with their bonds. The King sat more or less regally in his high-backed chair, owning his position as if the handcuffs meant nothing to him. The Queen, on the other hand, was incapable of reacting, although her hands were clutching the armrests in a white-knuckle grip. The others were pulling at the handcuffs, hoping to break the bars in the jury box and witness box that they were attached to.

A man in a blue patchwork suit was milling around the room, adjusting costumes, checking handcuffs, applying makeup here and there. Most of his effort went to the Knave of Hearts on the ground, making sure he was dressed exactly right. When there was no more to be done to everyone else, he turned to the dais with the thrones.

"We're almost there," said the man in the hat. "Just one last person to take care of."

The man held a small bottle of smelling salts under the woman's nose. The Queen of Hearts woke with a start, throwing her hair back and nearly hitting her head on the back of her throne. The King reached out to try to touch her arm to steady her as she looked around the room in confusion.

"Wonderful, you're awake!" the Mad Hatter chirped. He set the crown on top of her head and put in a couple pins to keep it there. "Now to bring in the witnesses."

~ Two Days Ago~

"You're telling," Batman said in her ear. "Quit picking at your dress."

Jackie curled her fingers into fists and placed them on her lap. "And you're distracting."

"Turn to your left."

She turned her shoulders so the rose pinned to her dress with a camera hidden in the petals could get a better look around the crowd of students filing the Student Union. The student government of Gotham City College was throwing a costume party in preparation for Halloween the next week. To fit in, Jackie wore a red prom dress with a white underskirt, roses sewn to the over skirt that was pulled up a bit to expose the petticoats, and a white, light jacket over that. Conveniently, she had bought it only two days ago. Going to the party was her idea since the Mad Hatter had taken his last victims from the school. Wearing the camera and hidden earpiece was Batman's idea.

Oddly enough, she couldn't get him to come to the party himself even though he would have fit in wonderfully. He preferred to sit on the roof with a computer that was hooked up to the security cameras in the building and the camera Jackie was wearing.

"Who am I looking at?"

"Zorro. The one not dancing."

Jackie picked up her tiny purse and heart-topped scepter and crossed the cafeteria floor to get to the dance floor. The closer she got, the more Batman had to turn down the volume on his end of the radio. When she reached Zorro, he pulled back a bit in surprise at being approached by a girl. "Zorro, nice," said Jackie.

"Thanks," he shouted over the noise. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"Queen of Hearts." She gestured with her scepter to the crown on her head. "See? You going to dance?"

Zorro shook his head and pointed at the cast painted black on his leg. She was a bit disappointed, and he left her to find a group of his friends. "It's not him," said Batman.

"I don't think that was him," said Jackie. With only one ear to work with, it wasn't surprising that she was having trouble hearing.

"Go around the dance floor again."

She edged her way slowly around the dancers, giving Batman plenty of time to get a good look at all of them. What he was looking for was a mystery to her, but he was better at picking out strange men in a crowd than she was. Partly because she was a part of the strange crowd. One man in particular caught her eye and she just had to point him out. He was wearing hockey pads spray-painted black, a black ski mask with pointed ears sewn on, and a bat insignia pinned to his chest.

"Not now," he growled. "Look for someone invisible, but not a loner."

Pushing her way around the edge of the room, Jackie turned around a few times so he could get a good look at everyone from every angle. As she turned back around to get a view on the party-goers again, a janitor trying to empty a garbage can bumped into her, spilling a cup of water he was holding in his other hand, all over her dress and arms. She took in a long, sharp breath in surprise.

"You're the Queen of Hearts," he reminded her. "Be mean."

"What is wrong with you?" she shrieked.

"I'm sorry," he sputtered.

"You should be fired for incompetence! I will have your head!" Jackie very nearly hit him with her scepter with her arms flailing around.

"That's enough," Batman directed. "Storm off."

Jackie did so in the direction of the restrooms, trying to wipe off any water as she walked. "I feel like such a jerk-face. If the Mad Hatter didn't see that, I'm not doing it again."

"I'm sure he did."

Jackie pushed open the door to the bathroom and found a sink with a mirror. She pulled out a stack of paper towels and started patting her dress dry. Several girls milled around behind her, coming in and out of the restroom. Some were fixing their makeup, some were adjusting their costumes, some were throwing up in the toilets.

Batman noticed that the video was swaying awfully close to the counter, then quickly over-corrected to stand up straight again. "Jackie, are you alright?" She tried to throw away her paper towels and missed when she leaned too far sideways. "You've been drugged. What did you drink?"

She escaped from the bathroom and headed down the hallway. "I didn't drink anything." She tripped and fell to her knees. While she was getting back up, she sniffed her arm. "DMSO. I think I was roofied."

Dimethyl Sulfoxide. A chemical that is absorbed into skin at a phenomenal rate, often pulling other chemicals with it. He didn't have to get her to drink anything to drug her. "Get out of there, but try to walk like you're not drunk."

"I'll try." By clinging to students and stair rails and students she mistook for stair rails, she made her way downstairs to the student lockers. When she found a free one, she took off her flower and set it in the back. "Locker number 089, code 9999. Thanks for keeping an eye on me." Then she took out her earpiece, put it in her purse, and locked it in the locker with the camera-rose.

Batman waited and watched the doors from his vantage point on the roof. He had lost the elusive janitor almost as soon as Jackie stormed away from him. Several minutes later, he saw Jackie passing through the rows of police and campus security, on her own. They disregarded her as just another drunk sorority girl. As she made her way down the road, a small pick-up truck pulled up in front of her. The driver offered her a ride, and Jackie accepted.

With the help of a batarang, Batman placed a tracer on the truck, certain it wouldn't be left anywhere near the cave. Then he let Jackie go.

~Today~

"I don't want to do a trial," Jackie complained. "I'm supposed to play croquet today."

"We can play later," the King of Hearts assured her. "Right now, we have to convict the Knave for stealing your tarts."

"Stealing my tarts? They're right there." She nodded at the large table overloaded with strawberry tarts in the center of the room. "I've got plenty of tarts. I want to go play croquet!"

"Look, this trial is going to happen whether you like it or not," the Mad Hatter said. "Now you can either cooperate or I can put you out again." He brandished a syringe full of a sedative.

"You are out of line, Hatter," she replied with a malicious grin. "You act like you're better than me, but you have no idea who I am."

"You listen to me," the Mad Hatter ordered, grabbing her face.

"No you listen to me, Hatter," Jackie snapped, kicking him away in the crotch. "I have been shot, stabbed, drowned, starved, poisoned, bludgeoned, strangled, tortured, burned alive, caught in a bear trap, hit by a truck and none of that could stop me. I have taken on several men eight times your size at the same time and won. I could kill the Batman if I chose to. You kidnapped my sister." She stretched out her fingers and shattered the metal encircling her wrists. "And you think you have the upper hand?" Her left hand darted out and latched onto his throat. She stood up, picking him up off the ground with her. "You. Will. Pay."

Jackie threw him across the room into a rock wall, broke the handcuffs off the King of Hearts, picked up the scepter leaning next to her throne, and stalked after him. The King of Hearts leaped out of his throne and ran for the nearest exit, leaving Jackie with the Mad Hatter all to herself with an audience of about thirteen people.

The Mad Hatter scrambled to his feet and aimed a can of pepper spray at the Queen of Hearts' face, but she was having none of that. She knocked it out of his hands with the scepter, pinched his wrist with two fingers and twisted it until it snapped. Then she swung the scepter at his stomach, breaking the cheap wood.

"It was just too good to pass up, wasn't it?" The Hatter threw a rock at her head, but she leaned to her left just in time. "You already got one of Agent Harkness' daughters. Why not try for the second?" He threw a few more rocks, all of which she either dodged or batted away with the broken scepter. "She fits the part so perfectly, doesn't she."

"Well I only get a few chances at a time." He took a stun gun out of his pocket and turned it on. Jackie didn't back off, but she didn't advance as he waved it around like he was wielding a dainty rapier. "Tell me, how is your dear father handling losing both his daughters?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Her right hand covered the electric prongs, zapping her skin black, but she didn't flinch. The next second, the stun gun was crushed and the Mad Hatter was weaponless. "Thing is, he never got the Jackie back that he lost. He got me instead." She grabbed his coat lapels and pushed him into a wall where she punched him in the jaw three times before she let him slip out of her grasp.

He sputtered for a second before regaining his footing and stumbling backwards. "So he only had one daughter that he cared about losing, and I've had her for an entire week." She rushed him and punched him in the spleen. "Do I sense some Daddy issues?"

"There may be a few, but you don't get to throw them around." Her arms snaked around his neck in a headlock as she cut off his supply of blood and oxygen. "My guess is that you've got some Mommy issues of your own."

"My sister," he gasped, falling to his knees.

"Oh, who cares who you blame for being sick and twisted. Right now, all you have to look to are me and my fists."

~One Day Ago~

Last night had been long. Batman had tracked Jackie to Grayskull cave, which confirmed their suspicion of the Mad Hatter's hideout, but he couldn't follow her down until she found Jenny. Until she called for help, there was nothing he could do. Now he just had to wait. The plan was for the FBI to rescue all the hostages, but Batman wanted to be there just in case the Mad Hatter needed a few solid socks to his jaw.

Soon after Jackie disappeared, the DNA results came back on the blood in Jenny's apartment, which Agent Harkness had been given as soon as they were produced. He was still owed several favors by nearly everyone in the FBI and two and a half decades of work made many people loyal to him. The name they got was Jervis Tetch, a patient of Arkham Asylum that had escaped several years ago and was presumed dead. He was being treated for sociopathic tendencies when he became roommates with one James Carroll, a schizophrenic man who was desperate to return to Wonderland. That was where their friendship began. None of this, however, helped him figure out how to help Jenny.

Bruce woke up somewhere around ten a.m., which was early for him. Not much fighting for him the night before made sleep come easier. Alfred was gone to the supermarket for grocery shopping, and with his secretary missing, Bruce didn't feel much like going in to work. Wayne Enterprises could survive without him for a bit out of respect to Jenny, although he wasn't entirely sure if they would be able to survive without her.

He wandered downstairs to the kitchen and after a bit of struggling to find the cereal bowls, poured himself a bowl of Raisin Bran. Alfred would frown at his lack of a decent English breakfast, but sometimes he just needed something simple to make and eat. Pulling out a newspaper to catch up on the happenings of Gotham the old fashioned way, Bruce slowly devoured his bowl of cereal over stories of the missing seventeen people. With no explanation for it, the press was beginning to go with aliens until the police would give them some solid answers.

Twelve jurors, three witnesses, one Alice and one Queen of Hearts. That sounded about right. Only one person was missing: the King of Hearts. For the life of him, Bruce couldn't figure out who the Mad Hatter would pick to play that part.

Knock knock knock! Someone impatiently knocked and rang the bell on the back door to the kitchen. Bruce looked up to see if Alfred was coming, but then remembered that he was out running errands. He reluctantly left his morning reading and breakfast to open the door for a thin man with mud colored hair, a large box at his feet and a pad of paper with a pen in his hand. "Delivery for Mr. Bruce Wayne," he said.

"I guess that would be me." He took the paper and scribbled his name down. "What's in it?"

"Nothing, actually."

Bruce looked up just in time to see a stun gun stab him in the neck. There was enough time to avoid it, but he made a distinct decision not to. The electricity turned his entire body into jelly right before he collapsed into a soggy heap on the ground.

The last one, the King of Hearts, was Bruce Wayne.

~Still Today~

Bruce ran out of the 'courtroom' as soon as he was able, leaving Jackie behind to deal with the Mad Hatter. As he raced down the corridors of the rabbit hole, he dropped his crown, his wig, his gavel, but held on to his judge's robe just in case. The Mad Hatter hadn't had the time to take down his markers denoting the paths he needed to take. They were small, phosphorous-tipped stakes driven into the floors. Bruce grabbed a nearby lantern when he saw the light running out in the tunnels.

The rocks and stream of water cut and froze his feet, but he ignored the pain. The Mad Hatter had taken his shoes out of some effort to dehumanize him. Whatever purpose it held, it was effective. Despite being able to push the pain out of his mind, his progress was still slowed.

The markers split into three different paths, none of them certain to lead to Jenny. If the Mad Hatter was as clever as the FBI thought he was, he would have left several fake trails, and possibly no real ones. Bruce closed his eyes and attempted to use his other senses. No discernible breezes, no bats to give him a hint, no smell of fresh air. He had to strain to hear it, but there was something there in the darkness.

Voices were coming from ahead. It sounded like two men screaming to be let free. That was something he could use. He pressed forward into the darkness, fighting it back with just a lantern. With only his ears to count on, he made several twists and turns in the labyrinthine cavern, hoping that he wasn't headed for a trap. Considering that he wasn't expected to get away, it was unlikely the Mad Hatter had planned for his arrival.

Bruce found light coming from a hole in the ceiling, as well as the voices. He threw the lantern up there and pulled himself up. What he found was a long mahogany table that never should have fit through the cavern, all set up for a massive tea party. The table had to have been constructed in the room itself. Tied to three of the chairs was a dwarf, a scrawny man with greasy hair, and Jenny in her blue-and-white cocktail dress, white stockings, black shoes, and a blue ribbon in her straw-straight hair. Her eyes looked dead and she wasn't struggling like the others.

He found a knife on the table and cut the three of them loose, saving Jenny for last. When she was free, she fell forward into her mock-turtle soup, but Bruce caught her before her head could hit the table. For a moment, she met his eyes, but didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Jenny, talk to me," he begged desperately. "Are you hurt?"

Her eyes wandered away, confused. "He says my name is Alice."

His heart fell into his stomach. He ran a hand through her hair a couple times, finally resting it on her cheek. "What has he done to you?"

"Hey, where's the nutjob?" the dwarf demanded.

"The Queen of Hearts is taking care of him. We need to go back to the courtroom." He draped the robes around Jenny and picked her up with her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Why?" the other man asked.

"If you want to find your own way out, be my guest."

Bruce carried Jenny out of the tea party room and down the tunnels back to the room with the Mad Hatter. The March Hare carried the lantern, leading them back the way Bruce had come. He had conveniently left a trail of blood drops from his feet for them to follow. Carrying Jenny was slowing him down, but he doubted that she could even walk on her own at this point. She needed food and sleep soon.

The four of them emerged on the courtroom to find Jackie still rearranging the Mad Hatter's face. He wasn't even capable of fighting back anymore, and Jackie didn't look like she was about to stop anytime soon. Then she went from fearsome fighter to terrified little sister in a matter of seconds like someone had flipped the switch on her personality. "You found her! Is she okay?"

The March Hare and Dormouse dared to go through the Mad Hatter's pockets and take the handcuff keys to unlock the jury and the one witness. With all the extra handcuffs, they made sure Jervis couldn't move an inch. Bruce pushed the thrones off the dais and set Jenny down on it. Jackie ran over to her sister, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"Jenny, are you alright?"

"My name is Alice," she argued, pushing herself weakly away from the Queen of Hearts.

Jackie paled visibly. "No. No, you don't have to pretend anymore. He can't hurt you. I won't let him hurt you."

"My name is Alice. Get away from me." The look in her eyes was pure terror, and the only person it was directed at was Jackie.

Bruce could see Jackie's heart being crushed into a thousand pieces as he felt something similar. "Jenny. No. I'm your little sister."

"My sister's not a monster."

Jackie reeled backwards, so Bruce quickly stepped in. "We need to get her out of here as soon as possible. Is anyone coming to help us?"

She pinched a heart-topped bobby pin in her hair. "The FBI is coming. I'll find the way out so they'll know how to find us. You'll take care of her?"

He nodded. Jackie gathered some coils of rope, tied one to her waist, attached the end to a rock, and started walking out of the cave, leaving a trail behind. Bruce returned to Jenny, gathered her into his arms, and urged her to go to sleep while the rest of them waited.

~Twelve Hours Ago~

The girl in the large red dress woke up only with great effort. The first thing she did was look around for visitors, and smile when she saw one. "Hi. I'm Jackie Harkness." She held her hand out to the man next to her. A hand that was inexplicably glowing, providing light to the rest of the rock room.

"Bruce Wayne." He returned the gesture, finding it odd that the two of them had never officially met. "Why are your hands glowing?"

She pushed herself up into a sitting position next to Bruce. "That's your first question? Don't you want to know where you are or why you're here or who you're playing?" Question successfully evaded.

How much would Bruce Wayne actually know? Nothing about the Mad Hatter, for starters. "What are you talking about?"

"We are going to be part of the trial from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Jackie started listing people off on her fingers. "We've got Bill the Lizard, my favorite character. He looks like a lizard too. There's the Gryphon, this professor with a nose like Sherlock Holmes, the Duchess's Cook, this woman who works at a diner, the White Rabbit played by a bicycle messenger. From the pictures in the paper, he's kind of cute. There's a dwarf playing the Dormouse, and another guy playing the March Hare. Apparently he's a sex offender; shared some intimate pictures of his girlfriend with his friends when they were both 17. Then there are a bunch more people in the jury."

"Where are they all? Have you met them?"

"Nope. We're being kept separate from the 'commoners.'"

"Why?"

"It may have something to do with the fact that I'm the Queen of Hearts, and you're the King. Or maybe there wasn't any room for us. In either case, we're stuck." She pulled on the chains attached to their ankles which were connected to the rock floor by a bolt, to make her point.

"Is there a Mad Hatter?" he asked out of curiosity. "What about Alice?"

Jackie's face grew noticeably hard. "The Mad Hatter's the one that kidnapped us. He already has Alice."

Bruce Wayne finally put two and two together long after Batman already had. "You're Jenny's little sister. How has your family been doing? Are you alright?"

"As soon as I find Jenny, I'll let you know."

"Jenny's here?"

She nodded and turned to him in a hushed voice. "Mr. Wayne, I'm not going to lie to you. We're all in a lot of trouble. This man, the Mad Hatter, is a known serial killer. My dad was in charge of his case, and I think he wants revenge or something. He's going to kill us all if I don't stop him."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to beat the ever living snot out of him as soon as I know where the others are, but I'm going to need your help. I need you to take care of Jenny. I don't know what he's done to her. I mean I do know, potentially, what he might have done, but I really have no idea. Find her if you have to, and make sure she doesn't get more hurt."

"Of course I will."

"Good. To do that, I need you to cooperate with our lord and master, the Mad Hatter. I've already been more than a little grumpy, and I'm starting to develop an addiction to sedatives. Not deliberately, of course." She ran a hand over the puncture marks in the crook of her arm.

"When does everything go down?"

"I'm sort of playing this by ear." They heard a noise from down the cavern and Jackie turned out the light on her hands only for another faint light to replace it. "Remember that the King of Hearts is agreeable. The Queen is not. If anyone's going to take bullets down here, I will."

The light grew brighter and illuminated a gaunt man with a blue top hat. "Jackie, arm."

She held her arm out to him so he could tie some medical tubing around her bicep and insert a needle into her vein. "Where did you put Jenny?"

"Alice is fine. She's with me. Sweet dreams." He left the room with the lantern, plunging the two of them into darkness.

Jackie slowly collapsed onto Bruce's lap, using his leg as a pillow. "Sorry. Hope you don't mind."

~Later Today~

It took Jackie more than two hours and several coils of rope to find the way out of the cave. During that time, Jenny slept fitfully. She almost didn't trust her dreams to be just dreams. Every time she woke up, she clung to Bruce even tighter, and he was happy to oblige. Occasionally when she awoke, he fed her a tart, but she couldn't eat more than a couple bites before feeling sick. Then he would urge her to go back to sleep, running his fingers through her hair until she did.

Jenny woke up again with a start, terrified of whatever she had seen. Bruce pulled her back to him to comfort her. "Can you talk to me? What are you dreaming about?"

She frowned. "I can't remember. My head is fuzzy."

"Are they nightmares?"

"No. It's just noise. And I just feel so alone, like I'm being dropped into an oubliette and left to rot. Then I wake up and you're here and I can't go back to that loneliness."

"I'm right here. You're not alone."

"No. Everyone I trust is always taken away from me. There's no one here!" She curled up into a ball, clutching her head.

"But you're not alone. Your family is coming for you, and the entire FBI. Your dad's an FBI agent, remember?"

"Yes, I remember that. He taught me how to lift prints when I was twelve."

"What about your mother? What do you remember about her?"

"She's a nurse. She doesn't like it when I get myself hurt, but she never says anything. I can see it in her eyes. She wants me to stop spying on the neighbors from the trees."

"Why did you spy on them?"

"Because they're there."

"What else do you remember?"

"I have a little sister. Jackie. And you." She turned her head up to meet his eyes. "I know you. Your name is Bruce Wayne."

He smiled at the sound of his own name and that she was remembering some less important things. "Do you remember your name?"

This troubled her, and she had a hard time coming up with a response. "It isn't Alice."

"No, it's not Alice. You're much better than an Alice."

Her brows furrowed and she retreated further into his arms. "Can you just talk? I don't want to know about me anymore."

"Okay." He brushed some hair away from her eyes. "What do you want to know?"

"You know my parents, but I don't know yours."

Not a subject he often broached, but he felt like it was something he could tell Jenny. He ran his fingers through her hair to help her relax. "My dad Thomas was a doctor, not a businessman. When I was little and he was still in medical school, he would read me his medical terminology books so I would go to sleep. He was never CEO at Wayne Enterprises. He chose to work at Gotham General Hospital. He met my mom, Martha Kane, when he was an undergrad. She was his math tutor. He wasn't even taking any math classes. Mom was heir to the Kane Chemicals fortune, and lots of people said Dad married her for the money, but I know he loved her. No Wayne has ever married for money. I know I won't."

Jenny wasn't listening anymore. Her head was nodding into sleep. He kept combing her hair with his fingers, feeling grateful that she was even alive in his arms.

What exactly would they have to deal with? The signs of psychological trauma were making themselves apparent. A touch of Stockholm syndrome, an inability to sleep, nightmares, memory loss. Actually, the memory loss seemed to be more likely a form of retrograde amnesia, something she only would have gotten from ECT. Bruce had to fight to keep his hand from curling into a fist in her hair. Jenny's mind was something special, amazing, phenomenal, and the Mad Hatter had the audacity to think that he had the right to destroy it. He had nearly killed Jenny without actually killing her.

In that moment, Jackie came back into the courtroom missing half her dress and with the FBI in tow. The entire room erupted into applause except for Bruce, Jenny, and Jervis. Among the crowd was not Mr. Harkness as he was still not officially allowed on the case. Jackie cautiously approached Bruce and Jenny. "How is she doing?"

"She's sleeping. I think she's going to be fine. She seems to remember you."

Her face brightened with a smile. "Thank you for staying with her."

"Well thanks for the rescue." He stood up, carrying Jenny in his arms. "I think it's time to go."

"I agree."