Second Chances: Batwoman

Chapter 20

Mad Hatter was grinning like crazy at everyone who'd decided to accept the invitation to his little tea party. All of his so-called friends, aka, the worst of Gotham's worst. Sitting at the table with him were basically the villains of Gotham's past. Sitting to his left was the Red Queen and to his right was Alice. Sitting next to Alice was Mouse, then came Riddler, Bane, Scarecrow, Clayface, Jane Doe, the Penguin, Cluemaster, Firefly, Professor Pyg and Calendar Man all sitting there.

"I see you all got my invitation." Mad Hatter said.

"What do you want, Hatter?" Penguin asked in a drawling voice.

"Is that anyway to treat the man who's responsible for none of you being in jail cells right now?" Mad Hatter asked.

"Why did you send your little stooge to free us?" Scarecrow asked.

"Because, I felt that you'd all been locked up long enough. This party needed some guests. Though I see that we're missing a few faces." Hatter said.

"Still, why are we here when we should be getting as far away from Gotham as possible." Penguin asked.

"Because it's a new day in Gotham. Based on what my dear Alice told me, it appears that Batman is gone." Mad Hatter said and he could tell that he'd gotten their attention.

"That explains why he wasn't at the riot when we escaped." Cluemaster admitted.

"If he's gone, then now is the time for us to make our move." Riddler said eagerly.

"Not quite. You guys probably didn't see it since you were busy sneaking out of the basement, but I was on the top floor of Arkham and someone else has picked up where he left off. Someone calling herself Batwoman. Plus the Huntress is back." Alice said.

"That could be problematic." Bane agreed, right as a very loud, cackling laugh pierced the air, causing all the villains to jump as they all watched as the Joker joined them.

"Sorry I'm late." the Joker said as Alice had to stop herself from placing a hand over her heart due to the scare the Joker had given her.

"Glad to see you could join the party." Mad Hatter said.

"I'm only here because I wanted to see why the rest of you were bothering to pay any kind of attention to this lame rip off. I'm honestly surprised that someone named Alice is just a secondary character to the Mad Hatter. After all, I thought that Alice was the title character." Joker said.

"Oh well, you know, he did save my life and besides, he was the one with the plan." Alice said with a grin that the Joker clearly recognized.

"What do you mean was?" Mad Hatter asked her, only to gasp as he felt a knife pierce his back, since Alice had stabbed him in the back. Literally with one of her butterfly knives.

"There was no point in killing you before, but now, in front of the rest of our fellow maniacs, I can use it to establish myself." Alice said darkly as she twisted the knife in her former mentor and captor.

"I took you in." Mad Hatter said.

"You enslaved me." Alice snapped as she proceeded to kill him.

"Well, that certainly put you on the map as the new leader of the wonderland gang." Joker said, chuckling crazily.

"Thank you. But now, onto new business." Alice said, pushing Hatter's body aside as she took his seat.

"Should we address the fact that the Joker's not so secret man crush ghosted him." Scarecrow said, only to have a gun pointed at his head.

"Say that again, I dare you." Joker said.

"Enough. He has a point. Batman did leave town. But now we need to know how this replacement will do." Alice said.

"I have an idea for that. After all, I think that Gotham needs to know how hurt I am that Batman never even bothered to say goodbye." Joker said and Alice nodded.

"I figured you'd say that and it's all yours, just leave me out of it. I want to fly under the radar a little longer." Alice said.

"Done. The rest of you come with me. I've got big plans that involve all of you." Joker said as he led the other villains out of the room, leaving Alice alone with her mother.

"And while they work on weakening Gotham, we will start preparing to get our revenge on daddy dearest for abandoning us." Alice said, grateful that even though Hatter was dead, his mind control was still active on her mom.

"Where do we start?" Mouse asked her.

"We start by letting Batwoman tire herself out dealing with those other freaks, and then we'll strike. Now, let's get to work." Alice said and Mouse nodded.