Present: Mr. Jay's Headquarters, London
T he Cheshire Cat was going crazy.
Naked and bruised from his fight with the Pillar, he couldn't bring himself to chase his nemesis again. In a frenzy, he searched for his priest’s outfit all over the room. He couldn't find it.
The room was pretty dark at the moment. The only light came from the weary afternoon sun outside. Soon it would sink into the earth and he wouldn't be able to see clearly. But whether sunlight or darkness, the scene of mushrooms erupting everywhere outside his window was a sight to behold. He loved such chaos. Let the humans suffer.
This was the maddest thing he had encountered in his marathon of insanity all through the years.
"Take this," a dark voice grunted in the dark.
The Cheshire listened to Mr. Jay, wondering why he was still in the room. Mr. Jay had thrown what looked like a clown's costume at the Cheshire's feet. “Suits the maddening occasion," the Cheshire remarked, kneeling down.
Up close, he realized this wasn't exactly a clown's outfit. It was the Joker's mask and a matching outfit.
"How the hell do you have an outfit from a Batman movie in your office?" the Cheshire rolled his eyes while he put it on.
"I'm a Joker fan." Mr. Jay said.
"No shit," the Cheshire rolled his eyes again. "Who else would be?"
"You're going after the Pillar?
"I have to kill him. I've waited too long. I loved the cat and mouse -- I mean Pillar -- game, but with the end of the world outside this window, I have to avenge myself for what he did to me in Wonderland."
"Why not earlier? You had so much time."
The Cheshire held the Joker mask in his hand, wondering why. Why in the purry purrs hadn't I killed him before?
"Don't tell me it's his fourteen lives," Mr. Jay said. "You could have simply shot him fourteen times in one sitting."
"No, it's not that," the Cheshire said. "The Pillar is is a sneaky snake. He always made me think that I would benefit from keeping him alive. He always came at me with a new plan. A new friendship proposal. A new game. He never answers in complete sentences. Always half-truths. Always planning ahead," the Cheshire sighed. "He used my hatred for humankind and played me well."
"Like he did with Alice."
"True," the Cheshire nodded and let out an uncomfortable laugh. "Like he did to you."
"Me?" Mr. Jay's face didn't show in the dark, but the tone in his voice scared the Cheshire.
"You kept him alive as well, thinking his friendship with Alice would lead you and the deceased Queen of Hearts to the Six Keys, thus the secret to control the children of the world."
Mr. Jay said nothing. He didn't roar back, nor did he try to kill the Cheshire for offending him. Which meant he agreed with his theory.
"Can I ask you something, Mr. Jay?" the Cheshire said. "What's so important to devote your whole life in controlling children? I mean you're a mean soulless man -- I’m saying that as a compliment. Why the children? You can just use force and rule the world."
"You ever heard of Hitler?"
The Cheshire chuckled, "Met him once. He didn't like cats. Sadly he is dead or I would have avenged my kind. Why?"
"After spending too long in educating his army and molding their minds to his ideology, he resorted to a project called Hitler’s Youth where he taught children that he was God, that Nazis were the chosen race. He even fabricated fairy tales where he was the good man who saved Little Red Riding Hood from the bad wolf."
"A bit far fetched to believe."
"But it worked. You tell a child that the world rests upon an eight-legged turtle and they will believe it for life--unless they run into a traumatic experience that shatters their beliefs at an older age and then it’s a childhood’s end.”
“It’s called growing up.”
“Exactly.”
"So the children are the key to building your army, your kingdom of doom."
"Children's hearts and souls are easier to mold," Mr. Jay said. "They believe what you tell them--and it stays with them for life. Period."
"Fair enough," the Cheshire said. "Good luck with your evil endeavors. You’re hardworking man. Excuse me while I go kill the man who messed up my childhood in Wonderland."
The Cheshire turned to leave when Mr. Jay growled, indicating he wanted him to stop.
"I have a question for you, Chesh."
"Oh, me?" the Cheshire turned around, about to cover his Vatican Priest's face with the Joker's mask. What was his name again? Ah, Angelo Carleone. That was fun, but it was time to turn the page.
"Yes, you," Mr. Jay said. "What is this?" he pointed at the mushrooms outside his window.
"The end." the Cheshire shrugged his shoulders.
"You know there is no end," Mr. Jay said in perfectly pronounced syllables.
The Cheshire shook his head, considering. "That's true. Since the Looking Glass came into our lives, there is no end. But this is the end of this story--until further notice."
"What does that mean? I don't know how to deal with this kind of madness. All I want is to know how to control the children."
The Cheshire smirked, then approached Mr. Jay, as much as the dark man would allow him. He still couldn't see his face in the dark, so he talked to the blackened void in front of him. "You know there is only one way to get what you want boss, right?"
"Which is?"
"It's what Lewis Carrol predicted in his Through the Looking Glass book."
Mr. Jay said nothing.
"Do I need to remind you, boss?"
"I know the part you mean," Mr. Jay said. "But I don't want to confront Alice myself."
"It has to be done," the Cheshire said. "It's the prophecy. Lewis was reading into the future, and now you, Mr. Jay, have no choice but to…"
"Stop reminding me. I know... "
The Cheshire shuddered to his boss’s angry tone. He took a step back. He could hear movement in the dark, and he didn't want to make him madder.Like mentioned in his poem about Mr. Jay, no one wanted to piss him off.
Who dared to piss off the Jabberwocky?