Chapter 3

Midnight Hope gazed around, finding nothing so far. "Hmm, I wonder what those disturbances were then," she said to herself, about to call the Watchtower when she felt she wasn't alone. She turned quickly, looking around. "Who's there?" She asked. "I know you're there."

"Well, well, well, I have to say; I never came across a hero like you before," a voice spoke up in the shadows. "Especially when it's a different colored Lantern. Do you come in a variety of colors?"

"Umm...just blue. Who are you and why are you so invested in my Lantern power?" Midnight Hope asked, looking around. "Show yourself!"

"Right. Where are my manners?" The figure chuckled, stepping forward to reveal himself. "I go by a name that I'm sure you're probably familiar with."

The Blue Lantern heroine witnessed a teenage boy around her age. He had slight tan yet fair skin, emerald green eyes, and slightly messy/wild orange hair. He was also wearing green formal wear with a card-like pattern on the inside. Along with having a green top hat with cards on the side, one card labeled 10/6 on the strap of his top hat next to the Red Heart Ace card, a black mask with a red heart and white spade prints covering his face, white gloves, black pants, dress shoes, and a cane with a white diamond on the top.

Midnight Hope blinked in surprise. "What...? You...You are...?"

"Yeah...I'm Mad Hatter," the boy responded, giving a small bow to the confused/shocked Lantern girl. "Pleasure to meet a beautiful girl like you."

"But...But that can't be right," Hope replied, having a hard time processing this. "The Mad Hatter is a neuro-genius adult named Jervis Tetch. The guy was obsessed with the Alice in Wonderland story to the point of kidnapping a woman to be his Alice when she had zero interest in him."

"Yeah...He had a hard time understanding love where things got out of hand," The young Hatter admitted sheepishly, somewhat surprised himself that this heroine did her homework. "I'm not Jervis, but I am following my own mad path to continue the legacy. Unlike him, I keep my identity a secret the same as you."

Midnight Hope was kind of confused here. I can't tell if he's bad or not. He's following in Tetch's footsteps, but why introduce himself to me if he's going to be a supervillain? She thought to herself.

The Blue Lantern decided to ask.

"Okay...So, why are you here?" Midnight Hope questioned, getting a little suspicious while hiding her small fear. "Come to hurt or kidnap me, as well?"

"What? No. That's absurd," the young Hatter answered calmly, shaking his head. "I came to apologize on behalf of my friend."

"Apologize?" Hope asked, still confused. "For what?"

The young Mad Hatter sighed gently. "You defeated my friend's mentor. When that happened, he was assigned to get you back as revenge. And while he was originally going to inject fear in you...I was the one who suggested using the anger toxin instead."

When hearing that confession...Midnight Hope blinked in shocked process before glaring at the new Mad Hatter. "You suggested what?!" She asked angrily, with her blue power ring glowing.

Before the boy could react, a large blue hand punched him, courtesy of Hope's ring. His hat fell off his head as he fell down to the ground, rubbing his jaw as he recovered from the punch, but he wasn't upset. "Okay...I deserved that," he admitted.

"You're telling me that the night where I got attacked by a gray-scaled version of Scarecrow where I couldn't stop feeling anger was YOUR doing!?" She exclaimed, recalling how she went uncontrollably ballistic at her hero friends with regrets after it was over...minus stuff involving Captain Atom.

"I know, not mad-tastic of me...Well, it kind of is, but..," the young Hatter responded, struggling to find the right words where he yelled very fast. "Ugh, I didn't know that you were a young generation hero at the time and I'm sorry, okay?!"

The apology did not reach her where Midnight Hope immediately constructed large metal-like clamped cuffs covering his hands completely before quickly pulling him close for her to grab him by the collar of his shirt. So he wouldn't pull anything funny like place a mind-control card on her head or whatever.

The young Hatter silently gulped wide-eyed in sudden surprise while looking at his captor's angry eyes. His crystal staff glowed a slight hue of yellow from that.

"Not good enough, Hatter Junior. What else did the new Scarecrow tell you? Or even his predecessor?" Midnight Hope asked, growling lightly.

"From how Jonathan Crane described you, he failed to mention that the hero who thwarted his plans was a teenager like the rest of us," Hatter stated, very upset about it. "He probably felt embarrassed admitting that truth. The point is, I had no clue about you not so different from us in living up to our own mentors' legacy until after it was too late."

Midnight Hope could somehow sense that he's telling the truth, but she was still bitter about it and she doesn't trust him. Even though the new Mad Hatter was sincere. Sighing gently, Midnight Hope had no choice but to restrain herself and push him away while letting go at a safe distance. Followed by ending her constructs on him.

"Why are you telling me this?" She questioned.

"Because my friends and I made an agreement on not going too overboard with what we do until we're completely adults like our mentors," Hatter simply answered, folding his arms. "We may be next-generation villains in training, but we don't carry the theme that far...yet. That only goes to the Clown Prince himself, and even we know better than to personally meet or even mess with him."

Midnight Hope still didn't trust the new Mad Hatter and his villain rookie friends. She crossed her arms, as well, and still gave an intimidating glare.

"So, you're just here for apologizing?" Midnight Hope asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing else? I'm surprised you haven't tried mind-controlling me as your Alice already or whatever."

"Oh, please. Why would I waste my mentor's devices on a newbie hero I just heard about?" The young Mad Hatter scoffed, picking up his top hat to brush off before putting it back on his head. "Besides, after learning about you, I thought it'd be the best time to warn you about putting your trust in someone who is not as good-hearted as you."

"Excuse me?" Hope questioned, very perplexed. "If you're talking about Green Lantern, then I can assure you that he's got a strong good good-willed heart of being a hero."

"I'm not talking about your mentor," The young Hatter explained. "I'm talking about a certain vigilante in Gotham City that's got a long reputation of almost going too far on his work."

The Blue Lantern took a second to figure out who the teen Hatter boy was talking about.

"Batman...," Hope muttered, yet kept her guard up. "Why would you say Batman's not good-hearted? Are you sure it's not because you're biased about being the next Mad Hatter?"

Hatty chuckled before looking serious. "I can see why you think that, but no. There's a bunch of stuff you don't know involving the Dark Knight. Exhibit A: The doppelganger incident. I'm sure you're aware of the time Batman suddenly went evil for weeks?"

"I am. He was another Batman from an alternate universe where the heroes are villains and vice versa," Midnight Hope stated. "The heroes thought he was going bad all of a sudden when he wasn't. What's that got to do with anything?"

"The doppelganger may have been responsible for those bad deeds instead of our world Batman, but he clearly got his research information in subduing the heroes from somewhere that would take more than three weeks of observation," Hatty reasoned, his hand behind his back. "And based on what I got from my mentor on his conversation with the Joker, it would seem that Batman was holding files on the following heroes' weaknesses to take out."

Midnight Hope's eyes widened at this news. The Batman keeping secret files on his friends' weaknesses? That can't be right. That would mean he doesn't trust them fully. She shook her head in denial.

"No way. Batman would never do that," Midnight Hope denied. "I get that he's thorough on his facts and research, but files on his hero team to take out? That's an invasion of privacy only a sicko villain would do."

"And you don't think he's capable of doing that? Especially any dirt on you to work against?" The young Hatter questioned, shaking his head lightly. "Tsk, tsk. Whose being biased now?"

Realizing that unfortunate revelation, Midnight Hope didn't want to think if Batman had kept a secret file in how to take her out. She was still a young teen superhero. Her glare towards new Mad Hatter returned as she refused to believe a single word he said.

"Hey, I may not know Batman too much personally, but I know him well enough that he's not some Arkham psychopath wanting trouble to eliminate everyone in sight," Hope stated, folding her arms. "Even if he did have files on heroes like me, that doesn't prove anything of him not being good-hearted."

"Which brings me to Exhibit B: Chilling Murder," Mad Hatter continued, bringing out two old-school photographs with the wave of his hand like a magician bringing out playing cards. "During a black-market auction with several of Batman's villains, he not only crashed it but also threatened to murder a gangster man under the name Joe Chill. A man responsible for Batman's existence."

The Blue Lantern girl looked at the photos of a man with white hair and icy blue eyes. "What are these?"

"The photos I have here are what was left of Joe Chill, after Batman last faced him on that auction," Mad Hatter explained, putting them on the floor and stepping away for Hope to take them. "The Dark Knight may have done several good deeds, but deep down the man has his skeletons in his Batcave. Some that are an endanger to both villains like my mentor and heroes like you."

Midnight Hope looked at the photos before back to Hatty. "What the...where did you even get these?"

"Let's just say we Gotham Grimtales are so well hidden from the public that we get our sources with the shadows," Hatty responded, still looking serious.

Midnight Hope shook her head in shock, but she was still in denial. Joe Chill, a random thug, was responsible for Batman's existence? It can't be possible.

"This can't be right. There's no way Batman would murder the same criminal that made him into a superhero in the first place," Hope argued. "I refuse to believe you. Especially since you're following in your mentor's footsteps."

"Whether you believe me or not, I don't trust Batman. And neither should you," The young Hatter concluded. "He had files on a newbie like Blue Beetle that nearly got him annihilated like the others. What makes you think that he doesn't have the same with you? Or any of us?"

Midnight Hope stood silent. She was still determined to believe Batman's good and decent. Considering he helped form the Justice League in the first place, stopped countless alien invasions, and saved the world multiple times.

"You...You don't know what you're talking about," Hope managed to say, sounding doubtful herself.

"Have it your way," Hatter shrugged walking away. "But don't say that I didn't warn you. Still...Please, be careful."

"Whatever...Hatter Junior." Midnight Hope replied with a glare.

The young Hatter paused before looking back at the heroine halfway. "Oh. And just to avoid confusion...it's Hatty. That's what my friends call me. Good luck."

After the new Hatter had left, Midnight Hope looked at the photos on the floor again before picking them up. She wondered if that new Mad Hatter was right about something. Could Batman have such a dark secret in committing murder?

"Ms. Hope!"

Getting out of her train of thought, Hope quickly hid the photos in her pocket and turned around to see Booster's robot friend racing towards her.

"Skeets? What are you doing here?" Midnight Hope asked. "Shouldn't you be with Booster Gold?"

"That's why I came looking for you," Skeets responded, sounding a bit out of breath. "He's in trouble."

Midnight Hope blinked before already moving. "Tell me everything while leading the way."

"I think it's best if I show you. Follow me," Skeets said.

Oh, dear. Seems Midnight Hope has been shown a side of Batman she wasn't aware of, but was Hatty speaking the entire truth? Or is there a bigger part missing? We shall see.

Please leave Redbat132 and myself a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418