Sue and Reed Talk to the Mad Hatter, Unaware That He’s a Villain

Sue and Reed had Jervis transported to the medical center of the Baxter Building. He was placed in quarantine just to be safe. Thanks to the sophisticated equipment there, most of Tetch’s wounds could be treated immediately. After it was revealed after multiple scans that the newcomer was free of any mutations or cosmic radiation caused by his journey through the unstable portal, or even contagious diseases, he was deemed free from the quarantine. He had been kept under the entire time, but it was finally the moment to wake him up. Sue injected a dose of a ‘wake up’ into his system, and the thin man shot up off the medical table with another loud gasp. Once more, he looked around frantically, and his eyes settled on Sue.

“Calm down. You are alright. I know this must be some kind of a shock for you,” Sue urged the man in a soft, soothing voice.

“Alice,” he hissed out.

“My name is Sue actually. And this is my husband, Reed,” Sue explained motioning to the tall man next to her, “What is your name?”

The Mad Hatter looked frantically back and forth from the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen and back to her husband. Her husband! His vile mind seethed that this woman, Alice made flesh, would have a husband. But of course she would have a husband, he thought. How would a woman so perfect stay single in this world or any other? He quickly recalled that Alice...or Sue...had asked him his name, and he felt it was important to make a good first impression.

“Tetch,” the Mad Hatter announced. He reached up to take off his hat, but found that he wasn’t wearing his trademark top hat. Anger surged through him, followed quickly by embarrassment when he heard the blonde beauty across from him laugh slightly at his mistake. Not wanting to make immediate enemies with his supposed saviors, he instead bowed his head and followed up on what he was saying, “Jervis Tetch is my name. I am WONDERfully pleased to make your acquaintance, dear lady!”

He reached out and took the back of her hand and raised it to his chapped lips, kissing it. Sue laughed again. She was clearly amused by this newcomer.

“How did you get those scars and bruises, Mr. Tetch?” Reed asked, a tad louder than he normally would have. Tetch looked over at the tall, thin man in the white lab coat and his smile faded slightly. Reed was clearly unamused by their guest’s behavior with his wife.

“Oh, it was terrible! Just terrible! I come from a world very much like this one,” Tetch spoke, looking out the window to the sunny New York skyline, “Except much, much darker. A world of cruel overlords who persecute anyone who is different than them. A world where terrifying monsters roam freely, blindly serving these overlords. It was one of these monsters that did this to me! This world cannot be like the one I left! It just can’t be!”

“Oh, you poor, poor man. We have some pretty spectacular things in this world, but nothing like that. You are safe with us. You see, we are what you would call a bit of a team. We are actually a group of super-powered individuals, if you can believe it,” Sue explained, and then her face lit up in a look of realization. She had made the connection in her mind and nodded her head, “So you were being attacked by this creature and that’s when the portal opened up close to you?”

“Yes. The rabbit hole opened and I had but to use it for escape,” the Hatter explained. He then looked at her in awed wonder, “You...you have superpowers?”

“Did the monster inject the into your veins, Mr. Tetch?” Reed asked flatly, interrupting Sue and Tetch’s conversation, “Your whole system is filled to the brim with junk.”

A sickening look came over Tetch’s face and he looked down in shame. Shaking his head, he hissed out spitefully, “You have no clue what it’s like to live there. It’s a literal hell on Earth. People need their escapes, Mr. Reed.” The newcomer shuddered inwardly and shook his head again and repeated under his breath, “You have no clue!” No clue what’s it’s like!”

“Reed, can I have a word,” Sue asked, and motioned for her husband to follow her outside of the exam lab.

Stopping in the hallway outside the lab, Sue stood with her arms folded. “Reed, I know you like to be cautious, but I really think we should give this poor man the benefit of the doubt. Can’t you see he’s been through hell?”

Her husband frowned and looked through the glass window of the door. He watched the strange figure of Jervis Tetch looking around at his surroundings. He exhaled and turned back to his loving wife, “Your compassion is one of the reasons I love you, Sue, but I just have a feeling about this one. There’s more to Tetch than meets the eye.”

Sue shook her head and said, “Maybe, but I prefer to give people a chance. But don’t worry,” Sue flashed a mischievous smile, “I think I can take him if he tries anything.”

Reed chuckled, but it was clear he was still uneasy about the entire situation. Finally he shrugged his shoulders and gave up, “You’re right. Of course. But I still have cameras monitoring the room and H.E.R.B.I.E. bots at your beck and call just in case he’s hiding anything up his poofy sleeves.”

“Can’t get anything past the ‘Smartest Man on Earth,’” Sue smiled and pulled Reed in for a kiss.

Meanwhile, inside the medical area, Jervis Tetch watched the happy couple kissing and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Yet, inside he raged. He wanted desperately to gnash his yellowed teeth together and bellow out in an animalistic tantrum that this man dare kiss his Alice!

Even after being sent hurtling down the rabbit hole to this new world, he had kept his villainous savvy. The moment he had entered the room, he had spotted the cameras monitoring everything almost instantly, and knew he had to be careful with how he was to proceed. This Sue was being kind to him, and he knew he could exploit that. He would have to play the long game….

After a short time, Reed finally broke the kiss and smiled at Sue, “You just love to call me that, don’t you?”

“I’m just talking up my genius husband,” Sue laughed.

Just then, there was a chirp inside Reed’s pocket and he took out his phone. He looked down and read the message, his face contorting in annoyance, “It’s Tony. He says it’s important. I have to call him,” he then looked long and hard at his wife, “Please be careful with him.”

“I will, darling, now go see whatever bee has gotten inside Stark’s bonnet,” Sue says, and turned back to enter the medical room.

She smiled warmly at Tetch and made her way towards him. Jervis Tetch watched her closely and adjusted his sitting position so that he was turned away from one of the cameras. Sue stood next to him, checking his health read-outs. He was pleased that she was blocking the view of the other camera slightly, so he felt comfortable to make his move. He reached inside his pocket.

“What are you doing?” Sue asked abruptly.

“What? Oh, this,” Jervis said, furrowing his brow in confusion. He produced a gold watch on a chain. He flashed a wide, innocent, toothy smile and made a show of checking the time, “This is my father’s watch that has been passed down from generation to generation. It’s very important to me.”

“Oh...Of course,” Sue laughed nervously, “I just thought…. Actually, never mind. Is it working? I’d hate for something so sentimental be damaged in your fall.”

“Well, the little hands seem to be moving and if you listen hard, you can hear it ticking, so I think we avoided disaster,” Jervis smiled over to the heroine.

“That is good to hear, Mr. Tetch,” Sue spoke and smiled back at him.

“Please, call me Jervis. You and your husband have been so good to me in such a short time. I hope I’m not too much of a bother,” Jervis continued.

“Oh, you’ve been no bother, Jervis,” Sue said. The watch caught the heroine’s blue eyes for an instant. She turned her head slightly and her eyes widened when she saw the shiny casting and ornate watch hands. The second hand was moving in time with the tick, tick, tick sound that was making her feel more and more relaxed.

“Yes, it’s a very nice watch, isn’t it, Sue? Such a reliable time piece. I always make sure to keep it safe so it keeps ticking. Can you hear it ticking?” Tetch asked, trying to sound as innocent as the crazed villain could.

“Yes,” Sue answered simply.

“You know, I would love a glass of water. Filled all the way, if you could. Falling from one dimension to another can make for quite the parched throat. Who know?” Jervis continued, “Could you please do that for me, Sue?”

“Yes, Jervis,” Sue answered again. He could see that she was in his hypnotic thrall, but didn’t want to push things too far this early. He was, however, overjoyed that his powers of persuasion had not diminished now that he was in this new world. He watched Sue walk over to the counter and pour him a glass of water all the way to the top. She then managed to walk back to him without spilling a drop.

“Now, Sue, can you spend some time with me and tell me about this brave new world I find myself in,” the Mad Hatter asked, “I am ever so curious.”

“Yes, Jervis,” Sue said and began to tell him all about his new world.

And all the while, the watch continued its tick, tick, ticking...