Work Text:
“Remind me again why this place is still standing?”
The Amusement Mile, as usual, looked like a horror movie set. The night sky was cloudy, with only a meager bit of moonlight able to break through the endless dark. Carnival rides of various shapes and sizes – all with faded colors and rusted metal – loomed over them like monsters in a small child’s nightmare.
“I gotta agree with Nightwing,” Red Robin piped in. “Someone should’ve torched this place years ago. It’s fucking creepy.”
Jason held similar opinions. The old amusement park was one of his least favorite places to be sent for a mission. But when Barbara had found a lead on one of their most pressing cases, Batman hadn’t exactly asked for volunteers.
Over the past few weeks, four young women had gone missing from the streets of Gotham. All in the 18-25 age range, all conventionally attractive, and all blonde. For obvious reasons, the Bats wanted to find and take down the perp as quickly as possible.
Stephanie, thankfully, was taking the week off from the Masked Freak Brigade. Her midterms were coming up, and she insisted on using her every waking moment to study.
“I don’t need a protective detail, Bruce,” she’d scoffed when B had suggested she stay at the Manor. “There’s no way I’d be able to study here. Not with your dozens of children constantly running amok. I’ll be just fine locked up in my own apartment. Besides, I pity the poor fool who thinks he could take me.”
Turns out, the poor fool was none other than the Mad Hatter. Apparently, Tetch had escaped from Arkham a week before the disappearances started. It hadn’t been reported until earlier that afternoon because Tetch had hypnotized a janitor into taking his place. Once the Bats knew who they were looking for, it hadn’t taken long for Oracle to come up with a lead. Hence, their current mission.
Four of them had been sent to the park: Nightwing was searching the north side; Red Robin the east; Orphan the west; and Red Hood the south. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin had gone to Arkham to investigate the security failure. They’d been out there over an hour so far.
“Maybe we should convince B to buy it,” Jason snorted, “then we can demolish it ourselves.”
“Now there’s an idea,” Nightwing assented. “We can even –”
“Guys, tell me you’ve got something,” Oracle’s voice suddenly flooded the comm line. It held a panicked edge that Jason was not used to hearing from Barbara Gordon.
“What’s wrong?” Orphan demanded.
“Stephanie’s missing.”
Jason’s heart dropped into his stomach. No. Please no. Don’t let it be that.
“Are you sure?” Tim asked. “There’s a coffee shop she likes two blocks down the road from her place. Maybe she –”
“I’m sure. We had a deal that she would keep her phone on and with her at all times. But when I called to check on her, she didn’t answer. I pulled Robin from Arkham and sent him to her apartment. It was empty with no signs of a break-in. He checked the coffee shop, and the barista said Stephanie had come in for her usual around 6:00pm but left alone shortly after.”
It was after 9:00. Which meant Stephanie had been MIA for over three hours.
Tim’s voice had risen at least an octave. “That doesn’t necessarily mean Tetch has her. She could be a million other places.”
“I’m not finished,” Oracle sighed. “Robin and I tracked Steph’s phone to an alleyway halfway between the coffee shop and her apartment. Next to it was a spilled cup of iced coffee that was shown to contain a hefty dose of benzos. When Robin went back and questioned the barista again, he found one of Tetch’s mind control devices in her cap. Tetch must have instructed her to drug the first person that matched his desired description. Stephanie just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Jason shivered. Three hours. Steph had been with Tetch for three hours.
They had to find her.
“Everyone, focus,” Nightwing, ever the leader, ordered over the comms. “Oracle found evidence that Tetch is keeping his victims somewhere in this park. If Steph is here, then we’ll find her. I want everyone to maintain frequent radio contact, and watch your backs. We don’t know what traps Hatter may have set.”
“Copy that,” Jason offered so Nightwing would feel his speech had worked. He really was getting soft in his old age.
Orphan growled. If she got to Tetch first, the man would likely end up in a body cast. “Copy.”
“We’ll find her,” Tim assured, though whether it was directed at them or himself, Jason wasn’t sure. “She’s gonna be fine. It hasn’t been that long.”
Jason didn’t answer, but he knew better than most. A lot could happen in three hours.
Stephanie was not having a good time.
All she had wanted was some caffeine to keep her alive as she studied. Sure, she had known a blonde-abducting madman was on the loose, but her favorite coffee shop (The Mean Bean Machine) had a delightful lavender cold foam to which she was slightly addicted. Who could blame her for walking two whole blocks?
Barbara was going to kill her.
Her head pounded as she slowly regained consciousness. With the way her vision was swimming and how leaden her body felt, she must have been drugged. She tried to move her arms only to discover they’d been tied together around the back of the obnoxiously orange chair to which she was bound.
That turned out to be the least disturbing discovery.
Someone had changed her clothes. Instead of the bike shorts and oversized t-shirt she’d stolen from the Bat locker room – from Jason, more specifically; his massive, tank-like body meant his shirts were delightfully huge on her – she wore an Alice costume. Well, more like an Alice costume that a sorority girl with loose morals would wear to a frat house Halloween party. The thigh-high, white stockings and black hair bow felt pretty standard, but the dress was short, and the low-cut, corset-style bodice showed off a lot more of the girls than she would have preferred. And to make matters worse, her super comfy, stretched-out sports bra was nowhere to be found.
Guess Barbara’s hunch about the Mad Hatter being their guy had been spot on.
Trying very hard not to think about the man putting his hands on her or seeing her naked, she moved on to the rest of the room. There was only one exit that she could see. In front of her, a table was set up. The mismatched chairs and colorful tea sets looked to be taken straight out of Wonderland. And sitting in each chair was…
Oh God.
Tetch’s four other victims. All naked and bloody and dead. They were propped up against the table like dolls at a little girl’s tea party – that is, if the so called “little girl” was actually a psychologically disturbed, grown man with some gross fetishes.
But they were all dead.
Only years of experience as a crimefighting vigilante kept Stephanie from throwing up. Each of the women looked like she had been bludgeoned to death. Knowing Tetch’s history, he must have dressed them all up as Alice then killed them when they hadn’t pleased him enough.
And now she was his Alice. Likely wearing the same exact dress as her predecessors.
She forced herself to get it together. She could (and would) freak out later. For now, she had to get the fuck out of there.
Behind her, she started rotating her hands back and forth to loosen the ropes, just as Batman had taught her. After seeing what Tetch had done to those poor other women, she really didn’t give a shit about pretending to be a helpless civilian.
It took her longer than it should have with the drugs messing with her coordination. The knot had just begun to come apart when she heard a bone-chilling voice call out:
“Are you awake, Alice? Ready for more fun?”
She paused her work. If Hatter was here, she didn’t want him to know she was almost free.
Jervis Tetch swept into the room with all of the annoying arrogance he always did. If she had been wearing a certain shade of purple, she would have thrown out a witty quip, but she wanted Tetch to underestimate her. At least, until she was ready.
“Wh-what d’ya wan’ from me?” she asked, allowing some tremor to seep into her voice. She almost cringed at how her words slurred. Stupid drugs.
Tetch smiled, his teeth colored a grimy yellow. “Oh, Alice, I just want to have a tea party with you. That’s all.”
Steph glanced at his other victims. “Wh-wha’ ‘bout th-them?”
“Oh, don’t you worry about them,” he started. He stepped forward, taking the time to sweep his fingers through each of the dead women’s hair. Stephanie took the opportunity of his distraction to continue loosening her bonds. “They didn’t like my Wonderland. All they cared about was getting back to their mundane, pointless lives. It really disappointed me. But you won’t disappoint me, will you, Alice?”
He was looming over her now, his eyes lit up with ravenous hunger. Steph’s heart skipped a few beats. Almost there. She was almost free. She just needed to stall him a little longer.
“N-no, I won’ disappoint you,” she promised. The words tasted like bile on her tongue, but they had the desired effect.
Tetch reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “That’s a good girl, Alice,” he purred. “I’m glad I finally found my match. You, my dear, are perfect.”
Almost there. She was almost there.
“So, so beautiful,” Tetch continued as he reached up and cupped one of her breasts, stroking his thumb over the swell of her exposed cleavage. His touch was like acid burning her skin. “We’re going to have lots of fun, you and I.”
Almost there and… Done.
She ripped her hands apart and threw all of her weight into pushing the villain away from her. Tetch landed on his ass a few feet away.
“You will pay for that,” he growled.
But Stephanie was already running.
At least, she was trying to run. Her legs weren’t really cooperating – it was like wading through molasses.
Stupid fucking drugs.
She made it out the door only to find out it was the backroom for a mirror maze. A motherfucking mirror maze. Because of course Hatter wouldn’t take her anywhere normal.
“Get back here, Alice!”
He was right behind her. She didn’t really love the idea of going into the maze (she’d seen It: Chapter 2, thank you very much). But she loved the idea of Hatter catching her even less. Refusing to go back the way she came, Steph dragged herself into the hall of mirrors.
Jason kept an almost running pace as he desperately searched the amusement park. Every so often one of the others would pipe in with updates, but for the most part, things were silent.
His mind was racing. Stephanie was his friend. They had a lot in common – druggie mom, criminal dad, untimely death followed by resurrection, intense love of dark humor and junk food, the list went on – so they’d become pretty close in recent times. If Hatter had hurt her… well, the others would have a hell of a time trying to keep him from breaking Bruce’s number one rule.
He was so caught up in his rage that he almost missed what he was looking for. The building was old and dilapidated, like every other building in the godforsaken park, but the sign caught his eye:
Mrs. Hart’s House of Mirrors.
Mrs. Hart. Like the Queen of Hearts. The sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was called Through the Looking Glass… and looking glass was a synonym for mirror! That had to be it!
“Guys, I think I found something,” he reported, pulling out one of his crowbars. “I’m heading into the mirror maze towards the southwest exit of the park. Converge and cover all exits.”
With backup on the way, Jason stepped inside.
He immediately knew he was in the right place.
“You can run, Alice, but you can’t hide!”
Mad Hatter’s voice reverberated off the walls. Stephanie must have escaped, then. That, or Hatter was playing some sick cat-and-mouse game. Either way, Jason needed to find her before Tetch did.
Keeping his focus on the ground and his hand on the wall to his right, he started rushing through the maze as quickly as he dared. Every dead end made his heart leap into his throat. Faster. He needed to be faster.
He turned another corner, and something slammed into his chest. Every muscle in his body tensed for a fight until he registered what it was. Or, rather, who it was.
“Red Hood!” Stephanie yelped, clutching on to him like a lifeline. She was shaking and dressed like Alice from Wonderland, though “dressed” seemed like a bit of an overstatement. “He’s right behin’ me.”
She was slurring her words, and when she looked up at him, he saw her eyes were bloodshot and her pupils dilated. The drugs were still affecting her.
“Are you hurt?” He scanned, scanning her body for injuries.
Stephanie shook her head. “N-no, just drugged.”
“Good. Head for the exit. Someone will come for you,” he ordered as if she were any other civilian. He then quickly shrugged off his leather jacket and handed it to her. “Here, take this. You look ridiculous.”
Stephanie took the jacket gratefully, wrapping it around her shoulders. “Thanks.”
Jason nodded and reached for his comm as he watched the blonde leave. “I’ve found her, guys. She’s heading for the exit. I’ll keep Hatter occupied.”
As if on cue, Hatter came bounding around the corner. He took one look at Red Hood and froze.
“Y-you’re not Alice,” he gulped.
Jason spun his crowbar in his hand with a smirk. He was going to enjoy this immensely. “I’m afraid not. I’d start running if I were you.”
And thus, the hunter became the prey.
Steph held Jason’s jacket closely to her body as she finally made to the end of the maze. The cool night breeze blew against her mostly bare legs as she stepped outside. She’d never in her life been so happy to see the Gotham City smog.
“Steph!”
She looked up and saw Red Robin running in her direction. Upon reaching her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her tightly against his chest. Tears of pure relief welled up behind her eyes. She was safe now.
“I was so worried,” he murmured into her hair.
“‘M okay,” Steph assured, though her voice trembled.
Tim pulled away just enough to cup her cheek. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I have some fresh trauma to add to the pile, but physically, no. He jus’ drugged me t’ kingdom come.”
Tim moved his hands to support more of her weight. That’s when he noticed the outfit.
“What. The fuck. Are you wearing?” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. This was the Tim people so rarely saw – the one who blew up League bases and created a hit list starring his own little brother (even if said little brother had really deserved it at the time).
Steph felt her cheeks heat up. “I-I woke up in it.”
Red Robin frowned, and his grip on her tightened. “Oh, Steph.”
“Please don’t make me go there yet,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Tim, the other four he women he took – they’re dead. He killed them all.”
Tim pulled her against him once again. His embrace was warm – like the cozy fireplace in the heart of Wayne Manor. “Steph, I’m so sorry. But we got him. Red Hood and Orphan are cuffing him now. We’re gonna make sure he faces justice for everything he’s done. He won’t hurt anyone else. Nightwing is leading GCPD and medics here as we speak.”
Stephanie let out a sigh. The worst part of being kidnapped as a civilian was dealing with the aftermath – police reports and statements and getting swarmed by medics. And, of course, pretending she didn’t know any of the Bats. She laid her head against his chest and protested, “I just wanna go home and sleep off the drugs. I don’t need a medic.”
Red Robin laughed darkly. “Oh, they’re not for you.”
Stephanie couldn’t help but crack a smile. Mad Hatter had fucked with the wrong people.