Chapter 224: Eight Hundred Scheming Hearts in One Organization

Although last night's Gotham was a win-win for all four sides, it was clear that everyone would eventually face their own second day.

What must be done still must be done; winning once does not mean winning again.

At this moment, the Mad Hatter, as usual, was selecting an audience for his stage, while Ma Ma Zhaodi observed his play from the side. It was the plot of Alice in Wonderland, yet there seemed to be some differences—the stage setup was less like a play and more like an artificial amusement park, a recreation of the fairy-tale world from Alice in Wonderland.

A giant rabbit hole, bubbling shrinking potion, the Caterpillar Colonel, the grinning Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts shouting "Off with her head!", and a house with two rabbit-ear-shaped chimneys.

He had even built a small pool on the stage to serve as the Pool of Tears from the fairy tale.

"Alice, come play with me!"

He pulled one of the blonde girls on stage, and together they dove into the rabbit hole, entering this artificial fairy-tale world and beginning to dance. The girl's gaze was vacant, and she replied like a marionette: "Yes, Jervis Tetch."

"No, call me Tetch!"

"Yes, Tetch."

Thus, the blonde girl danced gracefully with the Mad Hatter.

However, even with height-increasing shoes, the heights of the Mad Hatter and Alice did not match, and the Alice he controlled lacked the thinking ability of a normal person. After just a few steps, the Mad Hatter was stepped on twice and was even lifted up by the hand by Alice.

"Stop! Stop!"

A furious shout echoed across the theater stage. The Mad Hatter was furious at this imperfect dance. He angrily pulled his hand from the girl's grip and drew a gun from beneath his tuxedo.

"This is not a perfect day! You are a fake too; die!"

Bang!

The bullet left the barrel, and the girl fell. A flower of blood bloomed on her chest. After she hit the ground, the golden wig on her head scattered to the floor, revealing dark red hair.

Beneath the black robe, Ma Ma Zhaodi's hand instinctively rested on the pistol at his waist. At this moment, he finally understood why all the girls on stage had uniformly long blonde hair, and why, despite clearly not wearing hats, they were still under the Mad Hatter's mental control.

A wig is also a kind of "hat."

"No! No, no, no!"

After knocking down the girl, the Mad Hatter screamed and placed her wig back on her head: "No, no, my Alice has blonde hair, not red! I really should have pinned the wig on with a stapler like before. No, no, no, I can't do this to Alice! Someone, someone! Thor!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi stepped forward and replied mechanically: "Boss."

"Throw her out; I never want to see her again! Throw her anywhere—oh, and you over there, come clean the stage!"

"Yes."

Ma Ma Zhaodi picked up the girl on the ground and walked toward the theater exit, already holding fruit candies in his hand. Since the Mad Hatter said to throw her anywhere, he now had a legitimate reason to take her to a hidden area.

"Tonight, call Batman or Catwoman to take her out."

When Ma Ma Zhaodi returned to the theater, the bloodstains on the stage had already been cleaned. The Mad Hatter climbed back up, and one of the row of blankly standing blonde Alices stepped forward, took her hand again, and wanted to continue dancing.

"Hey, Tetch."

A voice suddenly interrupted the Mad Hatter's dance party. The Penguin walked in through the theater's front door.

"Put your business aside for now. The Joker says Mr. Freeze has detected something—the latest movements of the Riddler's forces. He needs someone to go with Man-Bat to carry out a mission."

"Does he have to pick my rookie subordinate?"

"We don't have many people we can use, Tetch. Whether you accept it or not, this is the Joker's order."

Jervis, his face dark, let go of the girl. He ran to the bottom of the stage, picked up his broken cup with the words "Drink Me" written on it, which was also something mentioned in the fairy tale.

"What are you looking at me for?" He pulled a tea bag labeled "Soothing Tea" from his pocket, tossed it into the broken cup, poured hot water over it, and asked the Penguin: "Why not just take him away directly? Do you think I could say 'no' to the Joker?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi's nostrils flared; he smelled the scent from that tea bag. More precisely, it wasn't tea at all.

His pockets contained all sorts of scents: belladonna, psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide—all psychotropic drugs, hallucinogens, stimulants, and the like, full of high-tech and harsh ingredients. He didn't know if the Mad Hatter had become obsessed with these things after overdosing on them himself, or if he simply wanted to use them to boost his combat power. In any case, this guy had gone as crazy as one could possibly go.

The Penguin replied: "You know, Tetch, the Joker needs to use him, which means he needs to control him. You have to hand over his controller."

"Fine, fine, take everything of mine." The Mad Hatter sneered: "But remember, I am the one maintaining our army. Anger me, and no one will have it easy."

He threw a remote control with a button at the Penguin: "You know how to use this thing; stop coming to bother me."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Tetch."

The Penguin pressed the button, and Ma Ma Zhaodi obediently followed him out of the theater. Before leaving, he applied a buff to the Mad Hatter to ensure no one else would die next.

After the Penguin left the theater, he took Ma Ma Zhaodi directly into a car.

"Drive, go see the Joker."

"Yes, Mr."

When the driver started the vehicle, the car sped off toward another luxurious theater in the Upper West Side owned by Falcone, where the Joker was currently located. The Mad Hatter chose theaters to satisfy his fantasies, while the Joker chose them simply because he loved jokes and performances.

But Ma Ma Zhaodi couldn't help but complain inwardly: Why do you super-villains all like meeting in theaters so much?

Just as the Penguin's car was halfway there, the front of the car suddenly turned. Ma Ma Zhaodi raised an eyebrow as he watched the car drive into the underground parking garage of a building, floor after floor, finally stopping at the lowest level.

"Alright, Thor." The Penguin waved his hand: "Get out of the car with me."

Ma Ma Zhaodi walked out of the car blankly. Several burly men in suits emerged from the parking garage and firmly restrained his body.

"No tailing, right?"

"No, the signal jamming is fine too."

"Good."

The Penguin reached out and pressed the control-release button on the remote: "Mr. Thor, our deal isn't finished yet. Since you survived, we can now talk about the follow-up matters separately."

(End of this chapter)