Reed and Susan try to calm the Mad Hatter

Jervis Tetch gasped out a loud groan as consciousness quickly returned to him. The darkness that had consumed all of him vanished and in its place was a blinding light. The shock of waking up in this new place quickly faded from him, and in place of the shock was an intense pain that wracked his entire body. Despite the agony he felt, he immediately looked up to see his surroundings. It was a near-Herculean effort for the badly beaten man, but he needed to be sure that he hadn’t jumped from the frying pan and into the fire, as it were. His eyesight was cloudy, extremely out of focus, having had just adjusted to the blanket of darkness he had floated in, and all he could do was madley look around this way and that in the hope his vision would clear. The room he was in had many vibrant lights that stung his weary eyes, and out of this blinding white hot light suddenly came two out of focus humanoid figures. They slowly advance towards him, and he tried his best to scramble away. His ears rang, but he could hear an echoing, obscured voice off in the distance.

“What? What...is…?” Jervis hissed out, his wild eyes darting this way and that.

“Easy, easy,” Susan Storm-Richards urged in a calm voice, “No one is going to hurt you.”

“Sue, step away from him,” Reed said cautiously.

“What?” Sue said in surprise. She gave her husband a frustrated glare, “Shouldn’t we help this poor man?”

“We will,” Reed said, “We just need to take every precaution. This machine creates portals to other worlds. We can’t possibly know right now where he could be from. How his being here could affect the natural balance of our world. For instance, if you introduce a new species of, say, a frog to a new ecosystem it could have dire …”

“I get it. I get it,” Sue smiled at the esteemed World’s Smartest, and apparently verbose, Man, and then looked back at the intruder, “But we need to at least try to calm this poor man. Look at him, Reed. He looks like he’s been through hell, and he looks scared to .”

Sue took a few steps back and said in a loud, clear voice, “Hello, there. My name is Susan Storm-Richards, and this is my husband, Reed. I know this is all has to be shocking for you, but you’re safe. We aren’t going to hurt you. We’re here to help you.”

The ringing in Tetch’s ears was slowly fading and he caught the melodious sound of Sue's voice telling him that they weren’t going to hurt him and that they were going to help him. His twisted mind instantly thought that he would soon have two new thralls in his power, but then his eyes cleared.

What he saw before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had blonde hair and her eyes looked as blue as the ocean itself. In addition, she wore a powder blue uniform and his mind instantly made the instant connection.

“Alice!” the prone man blurted out. His trembling hands rose up to his top hat, and he took it off and politely bowed his beaten body as much as he could in his sprawled out state. His bruised, grotesque features lit up in a beaming smile, “I have finally found you! The rabbit hole! It took me straight to you!”

This all seemed to be too much for this stranger in a strange land. Reed and Sue both watched as the man reached toward them, then paused. His hand was trembling. His already bulging eyes grew even wider, then his pupils rolled back, showing only the bloodshot whites. He uttered a cry, as they he was feeling intense pain. Then he clutched his head and slumped forward, immediately losing consciousness once more. The top hat that he held in his other hand dropped to the ground and rolled towards Sue.

Sue gasped out in surprise, while Reed began pressing the buttons on the advanced electronic tablet. A H.E.R.B.I.E. robot came flying towards the man and quickly scanned him. It then told the married couple that the man was still alive, was indeed human, and needed immediate medical attention due to a concussion, as well as, multiple minor injuries. In addition, he had multiple mind-bending in his system, many that did exist in this reality. He would need to detox.

After Sue knew the man would live, she turned to Reed and cocked an eyebrow, and smiled, “So, did we catch a leprechaun?”

“Sue, please,” Reed said, and looked down at the bizarre man quizzically, “The top hat, this talk of rabbit holes and he even called you Alice. He isn’t a leprechaun, Sue. He’s the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.”

Sue tried her best but couldn’t stifle a laugh, “Or some junkie that got beaten up on his way back from a costume party.”

“Well, not literally the Mad Hatter from the story, but assuredly some obsessive with the works of Lewis Carrol,” Reed shrugged, and smiled back at his wife. He then looked down at the readout he was receiving from the H.E.R.B.I.E. bots. He looked up and declared in a slightly excited tone, “His quantum signature differs from our own.”

Sue looked from Reed, and then over to the Jervis Tetch, “So he is from an alternate universe? Whoever he is, wherever he came from, let’s get him to the infirmary immediately. He’s going to need a lot of help.”