White Rabbit defeats Batman.

He wasn’t there.

No, that wasn’t right. He was there, but not now. Like he had been there before, like he was thinking about his being there while not actually being there.

The wheel inside of her tail stopped spinning, as did his vision. Confusion stemming from faulty vision gave way to confusion stemming from his loss of… how could he possibly describe it?

It was like he was remembering his present rather than living through it, like he was caught in a memory. Batman remembered the way her cheek melded around his incursion, giving half of his face a cushion that somehow felt like it had been sculpted just for this purpose. He remembered how she shuddered in place, wiggling her rear over him without interrupting his eye contact with her tail. He remembered feeling disgusted, ashamed that he’d allowed himself to be distracted and defeated like this. He remembered wanting to fight back and reclaim some semblance of dignity by showing her the consequences of doing this to him.

He remembered all these things and not doing a damn thing about it.

“There you go,” White Rabbit cooed, letting go of his ear in favor of patting him on the head.

“Sir!” he remembered hearing, recognizing the concerned voice of Alfred through his ear. Even knowing it was in his ear, however, did not make the voice sound anywhere close to him. “Sir, are you all right?”

Batman recalled feeling a stab of alarm. The only way Alfred would have known to cut in was if he had been watching this battle unfold through his cowl’s camera. He remembered wanting- above all else- to warn Alfred not to watch, **** to spare him from joining him in his fate in the event that the hypno-wheel could work remotely.

But he had continued to do nothing. He’d remained still, utterly transfixed by the wheel that had already stopped spinning. A thought later entered his mind that perhaps only his perception of the wheel had changed now that he was caught by it, and that it was likely still spinning.

“Ooh, Batman,” White Rabbit moaned, wiggling her bottom against his face once again. “You feeling better now?”

Her voice, technically further away than Alfred’s, somehow sounded ten times closer. It cut through the past, clear across his mind in a way that could have been described as an echo in every way except for the fact that he heard it just once. But it was more than just a memory. It was truth.

And he remembered hating it.

The tail had moved a slight pace away, putting some separation between his face and her bottom. Her giggling carried through just as clear as her voice, though it was her jiggling that had captured his attention as his eyes still trained on her tail.

“I’m glad I let you catch me.” She jiggled her bottom again. “Are you ready to follow me?”

He remembered wanting to tell her that the only place he’d be following her was to GCPD to make sure she had her own cell. He remembered wanting to get up, grab her from behind and wrestle her down onto her front where he would finally be able to subdue her.

Instead of those things, though, he only remembered replying in the meekest of mumbles. “Follow you.”

White Rabbit jiggled a third time, giggling even louder as her victory was spoken aloud. She bent over a little further, giving him a full view up her bottom. The pink underwear carrying the hypnotic tail wasn’t exactly sheer, but with all of the sweat worked up during their previous battle, it was fairly easy to see the outline of what lay beneath.

“Are you ready to obey me?” she asked, drawing out the moment for her own amusement.

His response- as much as he remembered hating it- was just a formality. “Obey you.”

Her giggling slowly stopped, but her excitement remained.

“Obey you,” he remembered hearing a voice say. Not his. And not hers.

Batman remembered wanting to close his eyes in dread, recognizing that Alfred had in fact been caught by the same trap. White Rabbit had unwittingly ensnared both him and his butler from afar, and with no way for her to hear him, she could blindly give Batman commands and have them be reciprocated from the Batcave by a man who had nothing to do with it.

He remembered wanting to shout for Alfred to look away. He remembered wanting to tell her to let the butler go and just take him. He remembered wanting desperately to simply avert his gaze and hope that it would cure Alfred by extension, even though he knew it would not.

He remembered simply remaining still as White Rabbit spun in place, actually taking care of his last desire anyway as if it were some small act of mercy that she hid the instrument of his defeat from view. He did not experience any change, of course; none of the men she had lured here had been cured simply by looking away from her tail. Frustratingly, his eyes still remained at level while on his knees, making him stare directly at her exposed midriff before him rather than look directly up at her face in a defiance he could only imagine showing.

“Good boy,” White Rabbit complimented, taking a half-step forward. She reached out with delicate fingers to tilt his chin up, letting him see her openly predatory gaze. “I think we’re going to have a great time tonight. Don’t you?”

He remembered not being able to respond. The actual choice to give her an answer was not available to him anyway, but he remembered realizing that he didn’t automatically respond to everything she asked him. He remembered wracking his out-of-sync mind, trying to determine if there was a way he could use that information to his advantage.

“Come with me, Batman,” she grunted, using the hand below his chin to help guide him to his feet. “Let’s go somewhere more… private.”