Susan and
Reed looked at the wounded person in front of them and carried her to the
medical center of the building. Thanks to the sophisticated equipment there,
most wounds could be treated immediately and bone fractures would hardly take
long to heal.
"What
happened to Reed? Did we catch a... leprechaun?" Susan laughed when the
worst was over.
"No
Susan. All scans show that he is a normal person. No supernatural powers, no
mutations, no cosmic radiation."
"You
had better Days Reed! That doesn't sound like your usual chaos! A simple
teleportation" she asked teasingly but Reed shook his head.
"His
quantum signature differs from our own which means he comes from a parallel
universe. An alternative timeline, if you will."
"One
of your usual experiments after all. What did he get so up to?"
"According
to my scans he must have been in combat. I'd say 10 or 15 people who hit him. I
suppose he saw the portal and it seemed better to him to jump in there than to
be beaten to death." Nodded Reed determinedly and Susan looked at the man on
the bed. Somehow he seemed familiar to her in a crazy way.
"I
take care of him and you look for a way how we can bring him back into his
universe yes?
"I do.
By the way, I think our stories must have been very similar in his world and
ours."
"What
makes you think so?" she asked confusedly and when Reed left the room he
laughed.
"Because
he looks like the mad hatter!"
That' s why
Susan knew him! Of course! The Hatter! The tea party! Alice in Wonderland! Now
that he had pronounced it she could recognize it immediately. That she hadn't
noticed it before. Of course it was the hatter... well someone who had dressed
up as a hatter, because the real hatter didn't exist of course. Unfortunately.
She had loved the fairy tale as a child and even today she still loved it
beyond all measure. If you look at it closely, it was almost like her own life.
Little girl
is drawn into a completely different world and experiences all kinds of crazy
adventures. Just like the Fantastic Four did.
She went to
the hospital bed and looked at the scanners when the man suddenly opened his
eyes and panicked.
"Quite
calmly! You are safe" she smiled as gently as she could and tried to calm
him down. It took a while but then he seemed to notice that he was no longer in
danger and looked around. It didn't take long for Jervis to realize that he was
in little pain. He palpated his body and noticed that hardly anything really
hurt him. And that he had been connected.
"The
rabbit hole" he stammered suddenly as he remembered what had happened. He
had been put into the mangle by Batman... then there had been the rabbit hole. His
own rabbit hole! He was finally home.
Then he
heard an amused and happy laugh and realized only now that he was not alone in
the room. He turned to the side and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever
seen. She had blond hair and her eyes looked as blue as the ocean itself. Her
lips were as red as sin itself and his eyes almost fell out of his head.
"ALICE!
I HAVE FOUND YOU" he beamed as he tried to embrace her.
For some
reason Susan let the man hug her. Usually she didn't like it at all and he
wasn't her type either but she was flattered by the thought that he thought she
was Alice. She gave him a few seconds before gently pressing him back onto the
bed.
"I am
not Alice. But thank you very much for the nice compliment. I also love the
fairy tale very much. But my name is Susan Storm-Richards. My husband
accidentally brought her from her universe. Although it is better in your
condition that you are here now. They've been pretty badly beaten up."
"The
Mad Hatter stammered in horror. Someone had married HIS Alice. If he caught
this stupid villain. "Wait a minute. Another universe? That's...
I'm..."
"I'm a
member of a superhero team called The Fantastic Four. My husband is the
smartest man in the world and well... he likes to research all kinds of crazy
things. One of his latest inventions has created a gateway into their universe.
Would you please tell me what happened?"
"Other
universe... Interesting... Uh what happened... Yes... so I was uh..." he
thought strained. Moment she had said that they were superheroes. "I was
attacked! Yes exactly!
"My
husband thought so. He said they were lucky that the portal appeared near them.
It must have been quite a pack."
"Yes
... no ... it was only one" he finally admitted! "A rather bad guy...
Runs around like a bat! Is there such a one here also?"
"Bat?
No. We do not have such a madman here. Anyway, none that I know."
Relieved he
breathed out and looked up at her.
"So...
am I not in Wonderland?" he sighed sadly.
"Believe
me. I really wish it were like that. But unfortunately you are not the Crazy
Hatter and I am not your Alice. She said gently and took his hand. "I'm
really sorry."
He smiled
and looked into her beautiful blue eyes. A woman who adored the story as much
as he did? A woman who was so beautiful? And especially a woman who had no idea
what he was capable of.