Aylin stretches as she listens to classical music in the background. She was totally nude and was in the living room of Anika’s place. Anika had gotten up and gone to work, after visiting her boyfriend for a few days when they got back from England.

She does a few yoga stretches to limber up her body. Lately, her joints have been bothering her. She doesn’t know why, but she has been feeling a little stiff lately. She finishes up her stretches and takes a sip of her mango juice. She heads towards the main bathroom and takes a shower.

Anika told her that she needed to start showering more. Plus, she needed to change her outfit more. That’s why Anika had several suits that were Hatter’s trademark made up. She also had several replacement top hats made for Hatter.

Aylin didn’t feel like staying around the house. So, she gets dress after her shower and makes sure the weapons and other items she carries with her, are in their hidden pockets. She tucks her house key and badge in her pocket, just in case she gets stopped.

Hatter hops on her motorcycle she brought back with her from England and head towards Central Park. She came across an article about the
Alice in Wonderland statue there and wanted to check it out. It was forty degrees outside as she rode her motorcycle to Central Park. She finds a nice close place to park her motorcycle.

Hatter shivers some from the cold air, but she doesn’t let it bother her as she takes a walk. The first place she wanted to go was where the Alice in Wonderland statue she learned about was. She does notice that a few people she passes look at her as she walks past them.

Aylin was enjoying the walk. She has never seen a park like central park before. The cold air didn’t bother her much. The suit she was wearing kept her warm. After a while, Aylin spots the statue and runs towards it. She stands in front of it and just stares at it.

Aylin closes her eyes and inhales the cold air. All the scramble memories she has of being in the mental hospital surface. The only comfort she ever had was Alice and the characters from the story were the only thing she could hold onto from totally losing herself.

Her body shakes, not because she was cold, but because of the memories of what was done to her. She falls to her knees and let the tears fall.

“Are you all right?” Shade had spotted a person dress as the Mad Hatter from the Johnny Depp movie.

The person was kneeling in front of the Alice In Wonderland statue. He knew it was stupid to be in the park in this weather, but he always enjoyed it. When his mother uses to read to him and several other kids in front of the statue.

Hatter stands up and turns around to see who was speaking to her. She wipes the tears away as she examines how the person looked. It was a skinny teenage boy that was a little taller than her. He had short messy black hair. He was dressed like the main character from Blade. Black leather pants, black shades, a black leather overcoat, black boots, and a black, long sleeve turtle neck shirt.

“What are you supposed to be, dressed all in black?” Hatter had slipped a throwing knife into her right palm.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Shade wonders why this girl, was dressed as the Mad Hatter.

“I’m fine.” Aylin wipes a tear that she had missed.

Shade just looks at the girl as she stood in front of him. She looked just like Johnny Depp did in the movie.

“So, the Mad Hatter is your favorite character from the story?”

“Yes.” Hatter wonders who this boy was.

“I think he is a little too weird for me. I prefer the White Rabbit or the Mad Hare.” Shade loved Alice in Wonderland.

Hatter tilts her head to the side as she stares at him. Her watch beeps, letting her know it was tea time.

“It’s tea time. Let’s go and get some tea.” Aylin turns around and starts heading to a vendor she passed on her way to the statue.

Shade just shrugs his shoulders and follow the Hatter. He wonders what her name is and why she goes around dressed as the Mad Hatter.

“What’s your name?” As he follows her.

“Mad Hatter Aylin.” She stops at the vender manned by a middle age Indian person.

Reyansh couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had two strange looking teenagers standing in front of his cart. One looked like the Mad Hatter and the other one looked like he should be in a Blade movie.

“What can I do for you?” Reyansh watches the two of them.

“It’s tea time.” Hatter smiles at the Indian man standing before her.

Reyansh noticed that the young teenage girl dressed as the Hatter had an English accent to her speech. He has lived in New York for years and has seen a lot of strange things during his time. But this was the first time he has seen someone dress as the Hatter.

“How many would you like?”

“Two please.” Hatter was in a good mood.

Reyansh fixes two cups of tea “That will be five dollars.”

“Okay.” Hatter pulls a twenty-dollar bill from her pocket and hands it to him.

He hands the cups of tea to Hatter and counts out the change afterward. Once he has the proper change, he hands it to Hatter.

“Thank you.”

Hatter and Shade walk off with their tea. Hatter didn’t add anything to her tea, but Shade added some sugar to his. As they were walking down one of the paths in the park. Shade looks at Hatter and wonders why she dressed the way she does.

“You never answered my question back at the statue. Why are you dressed like that Wesley Snipes person from the movie?” Hatter had seen a picture on a DVD and poster once.

“I liked his style. It suits my nick-name. Why do you dress as the Mad Hatter?” Shade was curious about that.

“Because I am crazy like the Hatter.” Hatter takes a sip of her tea.

“You don’t look crazy, except for the make-up you are wearing.”

“It’s not all make-up.” Hatter got tired of applying make-up all the time, so she had her face tattoo pure white and had permanent makeup applied.

“So, why do you say your crazy?” Shade was curious.

“Because I am.” Hatter takes another sip of her tea.

“Well, other than your makeup, you don’t act or look crazy.” Shade takes a sip of his tea.

“Are you doing anything today?”

“Why?” Hatter glances at him.

“Well, I know a place we can go to have some fun. I think you might enjoy it.” Shade figures Hatter might enjoy hanging at the alley.

“Okay, lead the way.” Hatter finishes her tea.

They walk back to her motorcycle and ride together as Shade gives her directions to the alley. He directs Hatter to the meatpacking district. He has her stop and gets off her motorcycle and knocks on a door. He comes back a few seconds later and the huge garage door they stopped in front of, starts rising.

Shade urges Hatter to pull in and once she was in, she notices other motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles parked. She parks her motorcycle and switches her helmet for her top hat.

“What is this place?” As she follows behind Shade.

“A place for people like us where we can come and enjoy ourselves.” They walk through another door and down a hallway and into a huge room with lights flashing and loud music.

Hatter walks around with Shade, as he introduces her to some of his friends. She couldn’t believe how many young people were in the place. There were teenagers, and young people in their early late twenties or later.

She spotted people weirdly dressed from animals to anime characters. She taps Shade on the shoulder “what is with dressing in costume?”

“This is where people like us, who feels comfortable dressing like we do can gather and have fun.” Shade figures after seeing Hatter dressed like she was, she would fit in at the alley.

Hatter looks around and wonders why people dress up like animals and anime characters. She turns her attention back to Shade “shouldn’t some of them be in school right now?”

“Some of the people here are homeless or runaways. Others are dropouts or work low wage jobs and need a place that isn’t too expensive to hang out. The rest are outsiders that don’t fit into society or are shunned by society.” Shade wonders if he missed judged Hatter.

“I can understand that. So, what do you have to drink and eat around here?” Hatter wonders if they had anything.

“We have the best cooks around.” Shade escorts Hatter over to the back right-hand corner of the place.

A section of the warehouse had been sectioned off to form a diner. They walk into the place and take a table. A young waitress comes over and takes their order.

Hatter was watching what was going outside the diner. There were a few places in England that were like this place. Normally, they were down near the docks or storage area.

After fifteen minutes, their waitress brings them their meal. When Hatter looks at her meal, she noticed it looked extremely good. When she bites into the food, tasted good,

“Good, isn’t it?” Shade liked eating here at the diner.

“Yes, it is.” Hatter had gotten a hamburger loaded with bacon and mushrooms.

After lunch, Hatter and Shade go out and enjoy themselves. Hatter wasn’t much of a dancer, so she watched how other girls around her moved and copied their dance steps. Occasionally, some other teenage boys or young men would try to cut in, but she brushed them off.
Hatter felt her cellphone vibrate inside her jacket pocket. She pulls it out and notices it had a text message from Anika. It read: Where are you and are you okay?

Hatter texts a response: I’m fine and I’m out visiting people.

“Who was that?” Shade was curious.

“My mother. She was wondering where I was.” Hatter has accepted Anika as her guardian.

“How old are you?” Shade was nearing eighteen and didn’t want to be arrested with having a minor around him.

“You don’t need to worry about my age.” Hatter lost track of her age when she turned twelve. Even she didn’t know how old she was. They never celebrated her birthday when she was in the mental hospital.

Shade just looks at her and didn’t worry about it. They spend a few more hours at the alley before Hatter decides to leave.

“Can I call you tomorrow?” Shade wanted to get Hatter’s number.

“Let me get yours and I’ll call you tomorrow.” Hatter didn’t like giving her number out.

“Sure, here.” Shade hands a black business card that the writing was all in silver.

Hatter accepts it and heads towards her motorcycle. She heads back to Anika’s place and notices the Jaguar Anika brought back from
England was parked in its parking space. She parks her motorcycle where her parking spot was.

When Hatter walks into the townhouse, she tosses her hat onto the coat rack Anika bought for her to hang her hat. Anika didn’t approve of her wearing her top hat in the house. As she walks into the townhouse, she could smell the scent of food floating in the air.

Hatter follows her nose to the kitchen and spot Anika fixing dinner. She liked Anika’s cooking, but Dakota’s cooking was better.

“It smells good.” Hatter walks into the kitchen.

“Thanks. So, did you have fun today?” Anika had checked where Hatter was. They had her lo-jack, just in case she got into trouble.

“I did and I met someone new as well.” Hatter steals a tidbit of what Anika had already cooked.

Anika smacks Hatter’s hand gently “wait till we sit down. What is their name?”

“Shade. That’s what he is calling himself. He dresses like that Wesley Snipes person from the vampire movie.” Hatter walks over to the refrigerator and grabs the sweet tea pitcher Anika keeps in there.

“How did you meet him?”

“I went to see the Alice in Wonderland statue and he came up behind me.” Hatter wasn’t going to tell her that she was kneeling and crying from the fragment of memories that had surfaced.

“Well, its nice you made a friend outside of the team. Are you going to spend time with him tomorrow?” Anika brings the dish she was working on.

“Yes.” She sits down at her spot.

“Alright. If you need anything, let me know, okay?” Anika sits down at the table.

“Okay.”

The Following Week:
Hatter takes a sip of water from her water bottle. She was watching and waiting as members of the parkour group she and Shade were hanging with catches up with her. She was already quick, but no one realized how agile she was as well. After meeting Shade last week, he introduced her to his friends that had a parkour group of their own.

They invited Hatter and Shade to join them. So, since that day she has been getting together with them and joining them for their outings. She had to change what she wore because she kept losing her top hat and she didn’t like that.

Hatter also learned that Shade could perform all sorts of tricks and hypnotize people. She helped him put on a street show one day. She acted as his assistant. She also performed for them as well. She recalled some of the things the street magician in England did on the last case she worked and did the same tricks.

She even performed some card tricks and knife tricks. She has been practicing with her throwing knives out on the garden deck of Anika’s townhouse. Her cards tricks, she could perform inside the house. She was using ordinary playing cards and not the thin metal playing cards Anika gave her for a Christmas present.

“You cheat.” Joey looks at Hatter as she stood nearby.

“I don’t cheat, you’re just slow.” She smiles at him.

Brandy takes a sip from her water bottle. She looks at Hatter “how did you become so damn fast?”

“I use to run a lot when I lived in London.”

“Well, I have to admit, you are fast.” Brandy brush aside a lock of her multi-color dye hair.

She had dyed her hair a rainbow color. She was taller than Hatter by at least six inches or so. Joey, on the other hand, was about Hatter’s height and was dressed like a skateboarder. The twins, Clay and Tony were dressed like one another, but in opposite colors. Both were trying to make a name for themselves as rappers.

Then there was Clair. She was transgender and dressed like an anime girl. Her parents didn’t mind her being transgender or the fact she dressed like an anime girl. She also did some acting as well. There was a theater near where she lived that she performed.

Hatter and Shade had gone to one of her performances. Hatter thought she was extremely good. The theater normally cast her to play child roles, because of Clair’s looks.

Clair and the twins finally showed up along with Shade. The twins share a bottle of water. Shade drinks his and so does Clair. All of them have gotten used to Hatter’s weird look.

Hatter looks where they were and spotted a nice mom and pop Italian restaurant nearby. She turns towards everyone “lunch is on me today.”

“Cool.” Clay was hungry. He skipped breakfast that morning.

“Where at?” Shade was curious.

“Over there.” Hatter points towards a place called Momma’s Italian Kitchen.

“Sounds good to me.” Shade liked Italian food.

The six of them walk over to the restaurant. They walk in and noticed it was a little busy. They find a nice table that all of them could sit at. The waitress that came over to take their drink order was in her mid-thirties. The name on her name tag was Maria. The six of them place their drink and food order.

Clair looks over towards the twins “hey, the director up at the theater I perform at is holding auditions for a new production, that you two might be interested in.”

Clay looks at Clair “really, what is the name of the play?”

“He hasn’t said, but I think you two might be interested in it. He asked me to tell all my friends about the audition. I think you two should try out. You too, Shade and Hatter.” Clair looks at the two of them.

“I might. How about you, Hatter?” Shade looks at Hatter.

“I don’t think that would be wise. My mother said we might be leaving for a week.” Hatter recalled something Anika said about visiting another telecommunication company, that Jack owns.

“When will you be leaving?” Shade hadn’t heard that she was going out of town.

“Wednesday of next week. We’ll be gone till Sunday.”

“Can’t you ask your mother if you could stay?” Brandy liked spending time with Hatter. She challenged her to do better.

“Unfortunately, I have to go along. My uncle requested that I go too.” Hatter has been wondering what the job was. Anika wouldn’t tell her.

“Well, have fun.” Shade was a little disappointed that Hatter was leaving for a few days.

Their lunch arrives. Hatter pays for the meal and they take the train back to where they joined up. Hatter drops Shade off as his place, and afterward she heads back to Anika’s townhouse.

When Hatter walks in, she spots Anika reading a book. Anika had the weekend off and was enjoying it. Jack asked her to go to Indianapolis, Indiana to help the CEO of the company he just bought. He wanted that company to follow the procedures his other companies use. Since Anika knew them the best, she was selected. Dora Winter’s from his Montana office will be coming in and take over for her.

“How was your day, Aylin?” Anika has stopped calling Aylin, Hatter or Mad Hatter unless they were out in the field. When they are home, Anika called Aylin by her name.

“It was fun. I treated everyone to lunch and told them I won’t be available for a few days.” Aylin flops down on the sofa and looks towards Anika.

“Well, we aren’t leaving until Wednesday. So, you can spend the next few days with your friends.” Anika was happy that Aylin made some friends her own age.

She met them last weekend when she invited all of them over for a party. She wanted to see who Aylin’s new friends were. She also liked the fact that Hatter was into parkour now. It allowed Aylin to keep her joints from becoming stiff.

Anika figures that when Aylin was in the hospital that she didn’t get a chance to exercise and the electric shocks to her body didn’t do her joints any good either. Since she has been out and putting her body through a lot of stress, it was causing her joints to become inflamed when she did stretch or use them now.

The doctor Anika took Aylin to, put her on a vitamin regiment. The doctor did discover that the experiments the other doctor did to Aylin have damaged some of her organs and areas of Aylin brain. The areas that allowed a person to become arousal and pleasure from sex has been damaged in Aylin.

She also had a high amount of stem cells in her body for a girl her age. The stem cells control her aging and her pituitary gland was all out of sorts. The hormones she needed to continue growing and developing was missing from her blood. The hormones that trigger menstruation and control her ovaries weren’t in her bloodstream either.

Her metabolic rate was high, but the area of her brain that controlled fear was damaged. Aylin wasn’t afraid of anything. The electrical shocks and fear treatments the other doctor did to her has messed that area of her brain up.

Her body resistances to drugs were so high. That it would take a kilo of cocaine to get her high. The medical report on Aylin was very revealing on what has been done to her body. As for her mind, that was a different report.

Several Days Later:
Aylin looks out the window of the plane they took from New York to Indianapolis, Indiana. Instead of taking a private flight, they took a commercial flight. They were traveling in the First-class section. Aylin ended up attacking two TSA agents that wanted to search her. The metal detector she walked through had gone off and when they requested that she emptied her pockets, she refused.

When one of the agents went to grab Hatter, she grabbed his arm and twisted it. Another TSA agent tried to help the first one and Hatter kicked him in his chest so hard. That she knocked the wind out of him. Anika had to intervene and showed her US Marshal badge and Aylin’s Special agent badge.

One of the airport security agents made a comment of, if she had attacked him like that, she would be dead. Anika just smirked thinking if Aylin had attacked him, he would be dead instead. She was showing restraint to the TSA agents.

While they were on the flight, Anika was reading a novel she started, and Aylin was meditating next to her, after looking out the window. Jack told Anika a car would be waiting for her when they landed.

True to her brother’s word a car was waiting for her. It was a silver Rolls-Royce Phantom. Jack had bought a 3-bedroom, 2 baths, condo for Anika and Aylin to use while in Indianapolis. It was only fifteen minutes from downtown Indianapolis where the main office of the new company he had acquired was located.

They go there first to settle in. Afterward Anika goes to the new business, while Aylin hangs out at there new place. She walks out onto the balcony and looks around. The condo was in a nice area of the city. She promised Anika that she’ll try to stay out of trouble while they were in Indianapolis.

Anika had handed Aylin a business card with a cab name on it. She told her that her uncle owned it. So, all she had to do was tell the driver to put the fare on her uncle’s personal account. The first day at the place, Aylin just hangs around the condo and switches into a swimsuit. The place had an indoor swimming pool.

Aylin had on a one-piece suit. She didn’t like wearing the skimpy two pieces. She grabs a towel and a puzzle book she bought to keep herself entertained. She liked puzzles and loved figuring them out. She heads down to the pool area and set her stuff up on one of the loungers around the pool.

Aylin walks down into the shallow end of the pool and wade out to the deep end. It’s been a while since she has been swimming. She takes it slow at first and speeds up after a while. She does a hundred freestyle laps and fifty backstroke laps. When Aylin stops to rest, she hears some clapping coming from the door.

She turns around to see who it was. She spots a man with a bald head with tattoos on both his arms, chest and running down his legs.

“You were doing those laps like you were a professional swimmer.” Don had come down to do some swimming himself since he was off from work. When he spotted a new person in the pool.

Aylin just examines him. He was well built and looked like he liked to work out. He was wearing a dark blue speedo and a muscle shirt.

“I like swimming.” Aylin rests against the edge of the pool.

Don walks further into the pool area and chooses a lounger a few spaces down where the girl’s stuff was located. He notices that the girl had pale white skin. Her face and neck seemed to be whiter than the rest of her exposed skin. He also noticed that her eyes and lips must be permanent make-up. He also noticed that the girl in the water was watching his every moment.

He walks over and into the water. He approaches the girl slowly.

“I’m Don Waters in condo 2D. What is your name?”

“I’m Aylin Jagger in 2E.” Aylin was given Anika’s last name.

“Nice to meet you. So, where did you originally live?” Don was curious because he heard the construction going on upstairs last month.

“I’m just visiting with my mother. My uncle owns the place.”

“What does your uncle do?” Don was curious because he hasn’t met the owner of the condo above him.

“He raises cattle and horses.” Aylin ducks underwater and comes back up.

Don just watches Aylin. He could see where some skin was missing on her body, along with a few scars. He wonders where she got them and what happened to her. He starts his laps.

Aylin moves out of Don’s way as he starts swimming. She couldn’t help it and starts swimming beside him, with a lane distance between them. She matches his stroke and speed. The two of them races back and forth in the pool, seeing who will be tired first.

After racing for a while, she beats him by a hand length. She stands up and looks at him.

“I won.” She had a big smile on her face.

“I see.” Don couldn’t believe he got beat by a teenage girl.

“Since you won, why don’t I buy you lunch?” Don walks over to the steps to get out of the pool.

“Okay.” Aylin follows him.

She dries off and gathers her things. “Where do you want to meet?”

“How about down here in twenty minutes?” Don figure that would give him time to change.

“I’ll meet you down here in twenty minutes.” Aylin heads up to the room and shower.

Afterward, she heads into her bedroom and looks at her suit and some other clothes Anika made her bring. She preferred to wear her suit, but she promised Anika she would give normal clothes a chance. She brushes her red hair out and applies some make-up that made her look semi-normal. She wears a normal dress suit with black heels.

Aylin looks at herself in the full-length mirror on the closet door. She looked a little different, but you could still see the other half of her personality peeking out. She smiles at her reflection and goes down to meet Don.

Don didn’t know what to make of Aylin when she joined him. He just looked at her and wonder why her face was like it was. He puts his thoughts aside.

“Well, you look nice. There’s a nice restaurant around the corner. I think you’ll like their food.”

“Thank you.” Aylin follows Don out of the building and heads to the restaurant.

They have a nice meal and afterward they go for a walk at a nearby park. Aylin learns that Don is a bouncer at a high end night club and retired soldier. He had a daughter almost the same age Aylin.

Aylin liked the meal and enjoyed Don’s company. He treated her like she was his daughter. Anika meets him and is charmed by him.

The next few days, while they are in Indianapolis, Aylin manages to stay out of trouble. When they go back through the airport. Anika makes sure the TSA agents there know that she is a US Marshal and that Aylin is a special agent.

The person in charge was about to ignore the fact that she was a Marshal and that Aylin was a special agent and search them. He saw the look in Anika’s eyes and the look Aylin had in hers and saw his life flash before them. Especially the look in Aylin’s eyes. He saw not only death but madness.

The madness meant he would suffer a horrible death at her hands. He also saw that she would enjoy it. He decided not to push the issue with her.

They arrive home later that night. Aylin gives Anika a hug and heads off to bed without saying anything. She enters her bedroom and starts changing out of her clothes.

Anika stands there shocked and wonders what brought that on? She just smiles and heads to her own bedroom.