"Why this is a lovely tea party, my dear Alice! Yes, yes, tea party; to drink to your heart's content as we all go as mad as a hatter!", the voice laughed in a way that greatly unnerved her as her captor was from the sounds of things... as mad as a hatter. "Oh, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, I think we could use some more tea!".
Poppy narrowed her eyes, realizing why the girls kidnapped were blonde, all because they resembled Alice, well, to this twisted Mad Hatter, and all of this is taking ordnance from the book Alice in Wonderland, etc.
She replied, "No, thank you.", and then suddenly, a man appeared out of nowhere from behind the big chair, "No? I think you mean yes! Oh, come on now, wouldn't you like some tea, dear Alice?".
"My name is Poppy, not Alice, and I ain't going to drink your tea!", Poppy shouted as she moved, trying to move, but even if she moved her chained leg away, she couldn't get away from the arm floor chain, and then she saw the man in green with a tall, gray hat with letters and such narrow his eyes, and click something on a teapot, and she shrieked out as the floor chain pulled her back to her chair, the foot chain bruising her side as it moved suddenly with the iron ball.
The man, the Mad Hatter replied, "Tsk, tsk, I'd expect much more of manners, dear Alice. Let's try this again, shall we?", putting a cup full of steaming tea in front of Poppy, "You wouldn't want me to go even madder, would you? Now, I say 'Wouldn't you like some tea, dear Alice?', and you say, 'I would like to have tea, please.'. Simple.", with a wide smile.
The Mad Hatter cleared his throat, "Wouldn't you like some tea, dear Alice?", with a delighted, curious smile, and Poppy slammed the teacup back at him, and he shouted in anger and pain, as Poppy tried to take off the wig, but it was like glue or something, "I'm not Alice, I'm not blonde, I'm Poppy, and I'm dark-haired with highlights! I don't want your freaking tea; I want to go home!", trying to get out of the chains again.
The Mad Hatter snarled, "You've been a naughty girl, Alice! Tweedledee, Tweedledum, take #42 to the cages; a little time cooped up and going mad will do Alice wonders! And after that, you take #1 from her cage! This tea party needs to be perfect, perfect for the camera!", panting before taking a deep breath, "Alas, I need to clean this suit up...Good thing that I got backups...Of course, a Hatter always never forgets to look fabulous for a tea party!", chortling and laughing as he left in a dance, singing nonsense.
The two brutes quickly grabbed Poppy, uncuffing the arm chain of the floor free from her, and started to drag her away, while still in her leg chain, while she was trying to kick and fight when one of them lifted her up higher and she swung her arm out and knocked off one of their caps. Almost in an instant, the man froze before life suddenly started to return to his eyes.
"W-wait... where am I?", the man asked as he looked around before he realized that he was holding Poppy. "Wait, who's child is this? What am I doin-", he didn't get a chance to say much more as his partner grabbed the cap and placed it on his head before once more, he went stoneface and almost lifeless in the eyes.
Poppy's head was already quickly turning at what she had saw. 'Those caps... some kind of mind control?', she thought to herself. 'Probably everything's got something to do with mind control... that tea probably had something laced in it too...'
Soon, the distant whispering and murmurs got louder, and her eyes widened as under dim lights here and there, in shadows, is all the girls that got kidnapped over the last few weeks, with wide, frightened, and almost awed eyes, most blue eyed, a few brown-eyed, and a rare light-green-ish blue eyed one, and all shades of blonde, with most light blonde, a few dark blonde, and a couple being strawberry blonde, looking scared, with some looking dazed, while others are either crying or shivering in their tattered blankets, and a couple eating a few scrapes of tea-themed food, relishing slowly to eat while looking nervous as they nitpicked at it, and worse of all, the cages didn't even have their names or such, but only numbers on each cage.
She was dragged to the farthest one on the end, with an empty cage of #42, and was thrown in, with the chain ball and all, and then the men went back up, all the way to cage #1, where a girl whimpered, "Please don't make me go back there...", as she was grabbed out of her cage, and headed to the scene lot with the tea table and all, where now she realized that the lights were actually movie light sets.
"Which neighborhood are you from, Poppy?", a quiet voice asked, and she looked over to her next-door neighbor who is #40 presumably, after a glance across the hallway to see that across from her is #41. It's one of the dark blondes with the light blue eyes who is looking at her, having asked the question, and she searched her memory before blinking in surprise, "You're Bonnie Saunders, ain't you?", having seen her in the files on the computer in the Cave.
"How...?", Bonnie whimpered as Poppy sighed. "You and all the rest of the girls have been reported on non-stop.", she told her. It was a half-truth for Poppy.
"You're different from the others...", Bonnie said as Poppy was trying to mess with her wig, "Yeah; a friend of mine was almost taken but I saved her and got myself taken instead...".
Bonnie sighed softly, "You're a hero there, but you can't save us here, Poppy...Tweedledum and Tweedledee will catch us even after you get a few out...It's impossible to get all of us free...Believe me, we've tried...", gesturing to her own ball chain.
Poppy replied, "And what's up with that weirdo guy? It's obvious that he's literally mad as a hatter.", with a disgusted frown as she configured one of her legs to try to push and pull the wig off, gritting at the pain, but not caring as she wanted it off.
"I don't know... I think he thinks that he's the real Mad Hatter and he wants his tea party... a few of the girls... tried to go along with things but nothing was ever right with him. He would just snap and claim that something wasn't right...", Bonnie sniffled.
"Suppose that option's out the window then. Play along and hope it goes right that he just lets everyone go...", Poppy grimaced.
Bonnie nodded, "We thought that too...we couldn't help it if we can't remember every little detail from the book or movie...most of us had read the book, a few had seen the movie...but it has been a year or two since reading or watching for all of us at school or home...we really tried, honestly...he just is...", as she explained.
"Mad.", Poppy finished. "And all this in just a few weeks...", Poppy bit her lip. "The first one's the worst of us all... I don't know how much more she can take... some of the other girls... they're talking about how they wish for their tea to be poisoned, just to end it all...", Bonnie whispered.
Poppy paled, whispering, "Crap...", and Bonnie nodded, "That pretty sums it up...If we behave as best as we could, we get bathroom breaks after doing takes, and we get fed randomly, never on a set schedule, and after dark, he goes off somewhere, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee is security on the inside...Outside is both good and bad...".
"What do you mean by that?", Poppy frowned, and Bonnie moved to the back of her cage, and Poppy followed her action, and Bonnie replied, "You see those red blinking dots?".
Poppy nodded, "Yeah...", seeing more darkness, and Bonnie raised her leg chain, and blew through one of the iron hackles like a dog whistle, and Poppy's eyes widened as she heard chains dragging across the floor and the blinking red dots getting closer and closer before the occupants of the blinkers got revealed as two big dogs in miserable shape yet having soft, curious eyes for Bonnie, one looking like a mixed breed of a malamute and a Pitbull, having the furry, smiling body and face of a malamute while having the muscles and size of a Pitbull, and worse of all, the coat is dyed pink with dark stripes.
The other one looks like a Great Dane and a bulldog mix, having the body and tail of the Great Dane while having the size and face of the bulldog, natural white with black and gray patches in the fur colors...Bonnie replied, "The short, big one is Bandersnatch, and of course, the pink furry, big one is-", as Poppy whispered in horror, "Cheshire Cat.", appalled by the treatment.
Bonnie then kept still for a few moments before the two of them went back to where they were before. It seemed like every little bit horrified her more and more of this Mad Hatter. But Poppy was never one to give up; she had to find a way to escape, to find a way out and get help. She was sure that her Mama was already probably on the warpath, and they would all be trying to track her down. Poppy however felt that it would be of better help if she could escape and then lead her family back to wherever they were all being held.
Meanwhile, back in the Cave, Martha replied to Alfred, "From the best snapshots of this truck from all those weeks during the kidnapping moments of each girl, I arranged overlays of the city map with the locations of the reported kidnappings, it seems like they do a grid of kidnappings in different school neighborhoods every week they did, and now, thanks to the camera traffic lights, it looks like the location of their base is in the area of the industrial section...Since it's 42 girls, counting Poppy, they need a big place to contain them all, and best bet is either one of the abandoned millhouses, or one of the old storage warehouses.".
Alfred replied, "All of this would make a really good case for the police to lock up the kidnappers, but not until after you rescue Poppy and the other girls, yes?", and Martha nodded, "That's the plan. I do have trust for some of the good cops including Captain Gordon, but you heard the rumors of cops getting dirty or corrupted, involved in dealings, and double-agent spies as well, from several of the bad guys that Kel nailed down, from hearing on comms and all. I am not going to let them mess up a rescue mission, and Kel agrees.", as Kel gave a grunt of agreement in her head.
"Fair enough. But how can Kel track without being seen on the ground in the risk of notifying the police on one of their patrols? I mean, with night approaching, Gotham is still active with people, and I doubt a public car would work, giving Kel away, if we need speed to track, like how we did with the boat on the river.", Alfred asked curiously.
Bruce's voice said behind them, "There's something else that Lucius worked on, and it would fit Mama, and besides, I'm not as fast as Mama is on foot, but a Batmobile would work excellently.", and Martha turned around in the chair with Alfred doing the same on his feet, as she replied, "What do you mean by Batmo-", before widening her eyes like Alfred, surprised and silent.
"What do you think?", Bruce asked as he was holding a mask in his hand, a black one with large ear points going straight up while the rest of him was decked out in what could be called a full on black armor with a yellow emblem on the chest that had a black bat on it and a long cape that was wrapped around him. It had points at the bottom of it; in some ways, resembling a bit like bat wings as Martha fully pieced it together.
"A bat?", Martha asked as Bruce nodded. "Great survivors, and fitting considering that first time we found this place after the funeral.", Bruce explained.
"So, a Batman?", Alfred raised an eyebrow as Bruce nodded, "Able to stay in the shadows and strike probably just as much fear as a 7-foot emerald amazon that's invulnerable to seemingly everything and could bench press a tank without breaking a sweat.".
Martha exhaled, "You have comms in your mask there?", and Bruce replied, "All decked out in comms, thermal vision, night vision, and anti-glare/scratch-resistant vision in regular mode. My belt here got everything I could think of like smoke pellets, long-distance batwing blades, mini bags and flashlight for clues, and this is a grapple gun for rooftop access. This suit can handle bullets, knives, punches, etc., and this cape is flame-proof, able to turn into a shock blanket from the release of my neck, and durable.", pointing out angles Martha and Alfred would think up.
Alfred blinked in surprise, "You certainly covered everything, Master Bruce. That is quite an intimidating sight, I have to admit...Through do you have a voice adjustor as well?", and Bruce put the mask on, pressing something tiny, and a deeper, slightly rough voice replied, "I think it's time for Gotham to welcome Batman as well.".
"Well... hard for anyone to tell.", Martha chuckled. "Isn't all that stuff a bit heavy?", with a hum. "A bit; but I've been practicing with it... some more time and I should be all fully set no matter what. But... well, true testing is required. But don't worry, Mom, I said I wouldn't take any unnecessary risks.", Bruce explained as she nodded.
"Right.", Martha then took a deep breath and turned around. "Now then; we probably have a decent idea where these men took Poppy and the other girls... but it's still a wide area.".
"I'm certain Kel could pick up the trace if close enough at least.", Alfred said as Martha nodded. "Hopefully... Still, any more ways to narrow it down, it would be much helpful, Alfred.", she said as she got up from the chair as Alfred took over.
Alfred nodded, "Of course, ma'am. I'll be on comms, and I'll warn you if the police scanners are getting warm on you and Master Bruce in the meantime, while I keep looking into the cameras closer or perhaps finding the owner of the truck if I lock on the license plate. After all, one of those camera shots, they could have been slow enough to show it.".
Martha replied, "Excellent. Now, about this Batmobile?", and Bruce smirked, clicking a remote from his belt, and then from another wall in the lower bay, Martha heard rumbling, and she walked over closer to the railing to look down, see the wall opening up to reveal one of the caverns that has been dug into a hideout garage, hiding a now rolling car into the lights of the Cave. She heard Kel's voice mentally exclaim, "With Bruce, he's intimidating and impressive, but this, this is insanely amazing!", in her head.
It was a slim black car that rode low on the ground, covered in what looked to be some high-quality armor plating though Martha had to guess that it probably didn't affect speed, and two very obvious batwings near the back with what looked to be a jet engine almost in the rear.
"Quite a car...", Martha admitted. "Is that a jet engine in the back?", she asked. "Sort of; a bit of a smaller one but effects are similar; mostly to quickly get it up to speed in a hurry.", Bruce explained.
Martha nodded, "I see. And you say it'd fit Kel?", and Bruce nodded, "I modified the seats to fit all sizes and heights. Lucius thought the test runs would be a tank or an armored police car. With discreet checking, I got some of the profits from each department thanks to their products in Gotham and all, along with my heir advantage to being the apparent heir of the company in getting a pay cut too, all paid for this suit and this car, and I made sure that there's no paper trail to me or you, Mom.".
"You really thought this out, son. Alright, let's go.", Martha replied, taking the zip pole down to the lower bay floor, with Bruce following her, and so, with clicks and such, Bruce took the wheel as Martha took the passenger seat, and then took another way to another secret exit as the car revved up to Martha's amazement, yet it was a smooth, comfortable ride, and once it came into the road, Bruce pushed the lever for the jet engine, and she wasn't even pushed back by the force, but felt it really going fast, and of course, the landscape blurring by as well, with the windows tinted from the outside, yet able to see from the inside.