quitestrange | Out of madness and time

“How strange.”

The door to her new cell had been open for — Be precise. If you don’t keep time, it will keep you. — four minutes and thirty-two seconds if this device Hatter only wished he could create told the time truthfully.

“Are you coming out, miss?” inquired a guard, one rather more polite than others of his species, it had to be said. After all, she had only just killed a man—unless she had been sedated for quite a long while—and he had cause to be uncivil.

“If I’m to be subjected to trepanning or bloodletting, I should think not,” she decided to reply. If he ran toward red and coppery, it would be best to know before he marked it in her skin.

“Neither of those practices are used on this station, miss. It’s quite safe to come out.”

“Am I still at Moorgate, then?” Curious. She wouldn’t have thought it to have holding cells. A worse thought struck her, provoking a chill of dread. Had Bumby survived? “I’d rather be a gaolbird than a prostitute, thank you very much.”

The man outside sighed and stepped into the light in front of the door.

“You’re no orderly!” Alice cried, quite distraught, to see a man dressed all in black, fitted far too close to his skin. Several gold rings glinted from the cartilage of his ear. “Stay back, brute! I’ll not be booty for the likes of you.”

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"Sweetheart, we're all nefarious some way or another. Don't worry about it." He totally had nefarious intent, he wouldn't be Leonard Snart if he wasn't. It was just his own intent, not anyone elses.

He frowned as he looked at her. "Vials? Viands with instructions to imbibe? Not exactly common where I'm from," he pointed out. "It's a station, not surrounding Earth." Assuming she came from Earth, that was. Who knows, maybe she was one of the aliens he'd heard so much about.

"I may have gaps in my memory but I should think I'd recall if we were sweethearts," she replied tartly, although not so tartly as she might have. He'd been speaking to her nearly five minutes without assuming anything about her sexual availability, and he didn't reek of alcohol, filth, or cologne.

All in all, it was enough to induce her out of the cell into the open. Her hair, which had been dirty and shaggy, now gleamed in the light despite the ragged cut and the dark circles of malnutrition under her eyes had already begun to recede from whatever they'd done to her in quarantine. Nevertheless she still bore bruises on her exposed upper arms with the clear shape of fingerprints and she was still appallingly thin.

She blinked in the bright lights of the strange place, but stood her ground, and elected to answer him since he'd so far done her a good turn. "Vials, small bottles of liquids. Viands, food. In a world I once knew, such things were common for shrinking or growing. If one was to become a dimension of a different number, that would be how it was done. But how can we be in a place not surrounding Earth? Professor Verne only just wrote From the Earth to the Moon, unless I've been comatose again...oh dear."

No terms of endearment. Gotcha. Len was nothing if not adaptable, and he could tell when someone was highly skittish, and that the smallest thing could set her off.

A wave of anger washed over him as he took in her appearance. Not at her, but at whatever son of a bitch did that to her. The bruises like that on his arms? He and Lisa both bore them more often that not during their childhood, until Len got big enough to be able to fight back and expect to win. The people in this station had better not have done that to her, or there would be a reckoning.

"Space travel is a thing," he said with a shrug, everything about him screaming 'relaxed'. It was a forced posture, but he could maintain it for a long time. "So are different times. Guess we skipped somewhere into the future." Especially if she was talking about Verne. Was that Jules Verne? He might be the one who didn't finish high school, but he was smart enough. The name rang huge bells.

He spoke strangely but his tone remained level and kind in spite of the furious flash of anger in his face. It made an uncertain impression on an already uncertain girl. She frowned and wished again for her Vorpal Blade.

She did not see how what he said could be true, but likewise she did not see any other explanation. If this was Wonderland, some version of Wonderland, it had changed so much she didn't know it.

Her shoulders lowered and her head tipped down. "I don't suppose it matters when we are. Or where. Even if this is a prison, I'm hardly worse off than I was and the others will be safe now."

The anger wasn't at her. At least, not her directly, but what had been done to her. He quickly schooled his face back to normal.

"Oh, I've been in prisons before. This one ain't so bad. At least you can move about." Better than being in a six by eight foot cell at least. Though it looked like there was the same jockeying for position here. Still, that was a game Len knew well. "Why were you in prison?" Because the thought of someone like Lisa being in prison... yeah, that made his blood boil.

So he was some sort of scoundrel, was he? Well, he seemed kind enough at least and hadn't tried anything yet. Besides, she herself was a murderess now.

Still, there were certain proprieties to be observed. "I should think we ought to exchange names, at least, before I divulge my darkest secrets." Although she didn't intend it and would be perfectly mortified if she knew, there was, nevertheless, something almost coy about her eyes and her mouth when she said it. "I'm Alice. And you?"

Well, if he were being honest, he was a lot of a scoundrel. Though less so than he used to be, with the crew of the Waverider. He had his moments, but he also had his moments of protecting his crew, those closest to him.

"Leonard," he said in return, catching the look. He'd seen it a lot in his life. He had used it a lot, too. He'd never been one to shy away from using any advantage he could get, and he knew his looks worked in his favor. "Nice to meet you, Alice."

"I daresay it might have been nicer had there been someone to introduce us properly." Alice sounded a trifle peevish, she knew, but it had been rather an unpleasant night and she had every reason to be. "But you did intervene when you had no cause to and for that I am grateful."

She let out a slow breath, gaze narrowing in consternation and then widening again. "Why? Why did you stop him? It was no concern of yours."

"I've only been here a day or so, and I know that's something you've just gotta do yourself. Looks like the welcoming committee is somewhat lacking."

He shrugged. "I don't like people who think it's okay to abuse those in their charge. He was getting a little violent, I objected."

"Ah." That provoked a true smile, half-feral and all teeth. "That, I quite understand." After all, had she not done the same in pushing Bumby in front the train? "For if you had turned a blind eye, it would have made you complicit," she repeated what she had been told about her own failings. "Or perhaps you simply choose to protect those who are vulnerable. Either way, I find it very admirable, Leonard."

Yes, her impression of him was quite favorable indeed.

"I got my reasons." It was sullen when he said it. He didn't like having to explain himself to anyone, especially some dumb punk kid. Never mind that he was protective of her a few moments ago. "I ain't an admirable guy."

"Indeed. We all have our reasons, if not our reason," although she'd been regaining hers. Even if this new place seemed quite as mad as her Wonderland in some respects, in others it seemed quite...ordinary. If cleaner than she was used to. "You needn't be offended, you know. I only mean I admire being willing to stand up to abusers. I've only just learned to do it myself."

"You learned." That was always the most important thing. Too many kids just accepted the abuse as normal. He'd always had Lisa to protect, but if you were on your own, it could be hard, he knew. "That isn't easy."

"It wasn't," Alice agreed and then said quietly, not quite to herself, "I had to defeat the Dollmaker to do it, and clear him and his infernal train out of Wonderland to do it." A frown came over her features then and she walked closer in small, cautious steps with her finger crooked to beckon him closer so she could ask a question. "I don't know you to trust you hardly at all but I must trust someone and better you than the guards. May I ask you something, where it cannot be overheard?"

Out of madness and time

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