[Third Person Pov]
“C-Chesire…” The Mad Hatter whispered weakly, still bleeding out on the ground from the devastating force of Danny’s ghostly wail.
Suddenly, a swirling vortex of eerie green energy enveloped him. All his wounds began to heal and close up in an instant — gashes sealing, bruises fading, and broken bones knitting back together as if time itself was rewinding.
Danny, Robin, and Ember froze for a moment, staring in disbelief as the Mad Hatter casually pushed himself back to his feet, looking completely unharmed.
He dramatically swept his oversized hat off his head with a flourish. “Tada!!” he shouted theatrically, revealing a small, spectral green cat lounging comfortably on top of his head like a living accessory.
The Cheshire Cat let out a mischievous snicker, its glowing eyes full of malice. In the next instant, it vanished completely, leaving behind only its wide, toothy grin floating in the air. That grin slowly faded away as well, dissolving into nothing.
The Mad Hatter placed his hat back on with a satisfied smirk and bellowed at the top of his lungs, “Capture them!! No, better yet — kill them! Don’t let them leave here alive! Off with their heads! Off with their heads!!”
The mindless drones under his control — the enthralled party guests and henchmen — all turned toward the trio at once. Their eyes were glazed over with unnatural obedience as they charged forward without hesitation.
“Ember, focus on the people being controlled!” Danny instantly took command, his voice sharp and authoritative. “Aim for the hats! Most of the people here are innocent civilians!”
He pointed decisively. “Robin, you handle the Mad Hatter. I’ll stop that damn cat from spreading any more mischief.”
All three accepted their roles without question and sprang into action. Robin charged forward with grim determination, Ember darted off to the side to intercept the crowd, and Danny launched himself into the air.
Danny scanned the chaotic fun house interior, searching intently for the spectral feline. When he couldn’t immediately locate it, he took a deep, steadying breath and slowly exhaled. His eyes shifted from glowing green to a piercing, icy blue.
His visible breath suddenly veered sharply in a different direction guided by his intent. Danny didn’t hesitate. He brought his hands together and summoned an arsenal of crystallized, ice daggers that spun rapidly around him like a deadly storm. With a sharp forward swipe of two fingers, he directed the blades to streak ahead of him at blinding speed.
A loud, startled hiss echoed through the air as the Cheshire Cat was finally forced into visibility. The spectral cat detached parts of its body in fluid, unnatural ways to dodge the incoming barrage. Once the daggers passed, it seamlessly reconnected and began rapidly growing in size, preparing to pounce.
Danny refused to let it, and tackled him out of the fun house and into the larger carnival grounds beyond.
“Meow~!!” the cat screeched, hissing viciously as it fired a powerful ghost ray directly from its glowing eyes.
The blast slammed into Danny, pushing him backward through the air. He luckily threw up a shimmering forcefield to protect himself in time. “It seems the Cat in the Hat isn’t very fond of words!” he shouted back.
The two spectral beings began circling each other in a deadly aerial dance, unleashing volley after volley of ghost rays. Danny even attempted to suck the creature into his thermos, but the Cheshire Cat simply teleported away at the last second, vanishing and reappearing elsewhere in the carnival with mocking ease.
The Tom Cat let out another mischievous chuckle. Suddenly, the reality around Danny began to warp and twist. He found himself trapped inside an endless house of mirrors. His own reflections stared back at him with malicious, distorted grins before leaping forward to attack.
Danny closed his eyes once more, isolating his senses and focusing purely on his ghostly sixth sense. The illusionary copies phased harmlessly through him as they tried to strike.
In the next instant, he shifted sharply to the side, narrowly dodging a real ghost ray from the Cheshire Cat. He continued weaving and dodging fluidly, moving side to side as he evaded multiple attacks at once with supernatural precision.
The Cheshire Cat hovered menacingly, now surrounded by multiple floating orbs of crackling ghost energy. Each orb burned violently with unstable power, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.
Danny started creating glowing green platforms around himself, using them as springboards to rapidly change his trajectory mid-air. His movements were fluid, aggressive, and precise.
“You made two mistakes,” Danny said, his eyes narrowed with cold determination.
“The first was supporting whatever monster Tetch is,” he growled. He closed the distance in a blur and delivered a devastating punch straight to the Cheshire Cat’s nose, sending the spectral feline flying backward with tremendous force.
The cat snarled in rage, flames spewing from the corners of its mouth as it took a deep breath and unleashed a roaring storm of blazing heat. Danny reacted instantly, sweeping his hands outward and creating a wide, flat panel of solid ectoplasmic energy in front of him like a shield.
The intense flames crashed against the barrier and dispersed harmlessly across its surface. Without missing a beat, Danny leaped onto the edge of the panel, slapped his hands together.
“And the second,” he continued, his voice dripping with fury, “was facing off against me when I’m clearly in a terrible mood.”
He launched off the panel at blinding speed and appeared upside down directly above the size-altering cat. Spreading his hands wide, he summoned an array of razor-sharp energy panels that spread evenly between his palms. He hurled them downward, and they grew rapidly in size as they fell, slicing cleanly through the Cheshire Cat and cutting it into even pieces.
Danny brought his hands together again, then slowly separated them. Each sliced portion of the cat was now isolated between individual panels. The panels expanded and transformed into sealed containment boxes, trapping every separated piece of the spectral creature.
The Cheshire Cat’s body parts began shrinking in size while thrashing wildly inside their individual prisons. Danny moved his hands with expert control, shrinking the boxes further and bringing them closer together. He made them spin rapidly around him as he brought the chaotic entity fully under his influence.
“Meowxxxx!!” The Cheshire Cat hissed threateningly, desperately trying to coordinate its separated body parts to reform.
Danny didn’t give it the chance. He pulled out his thermos, aimed it carefully, and began absorbing the cat piece by piece. One by one, the struggling parts vanished into the device until only an upset, floating frown remained. That too was sucked inside with a final pull.
Danny blew lightly on the now-steaming thermos and sealed it shut with a satisfied click.
---
Meanwhile, Ember had pale blue fireballs levitating around her like ethereal will-o’-the-wisps. With a sharp command, they shot off in all directions, precisely knocking the mind-control hats off the heads of Jervis Tetch’s puppets.
Professor Pyg lunged at her, but Ember simply phased right through him. She reappeared behind him, grabbed him by the collar, hoisted him into the air, seized his leg, and flung him hard into a nearby wall with a resounding crash.
“What you all need is a soothing lullaby to put you to sleep!” she exclaimed with a smirk. She twirled her guitar to the front with a flourish, adjusted the dial to the setting labeled ‘Zzz’, and summoned a pick with a wisp of ghostly fire.
She swung her arm down dramatically. A powerful wave of hypnotic sound erupted from the instrument, washing over everyone around her. The metallic tags on the remaining hats went haywire from the spectral interference and immediately began malfunctioning.
One by one, the controlled victims dropped like flies — falling to their knees, collapsing to the ground, and drifting off into soft, peaceful snores.
Ember scoffed and whipped her ponytail over her shoulder, staring disdainfully down at the unconscious Clock King lying at her feet.
Robin, meanwhile, charged straight toward the Mad Hatter, but first had to deal with the Dollmaker blocking his path. He fired a grappling hook that wrapped around the villain’s arm, slid smoothly between his legs, and yanked hard. The Dollmaker toppled forward, smashing face-first into the ground.
Tetch was starting to look nervous, now defenseless without his precious Cheshire Cat. He frantically pulled out a revolver and aimed it at Robin with a trembling hand.
“This isn’t real! This is all a nightmare! Yes, a dream!!” he shouted crazily before pulling the trigger.
Robin weaved effortlessly past the bullet and hurled an exploding disk at the Mad Hatter’s hand.
“Arghhhhh!!” Tetch screeched in pain as his gun exploded in a burst of sparks and shrapnel.
When he looked up with pure hatred in his eyes, Robin was already standing directly in front of him, staff raised and ready.
“Fuck you, Tetch,” Robin said from the bottom of his heart.
With a powerful swing, he shattered the Mad Hatter’s jaw, knocking him unconscious from the overwhelming pain and accumulated injuries. The villain crumpled to the ground in a heap, finally silent.