Li Jie stood in the middle of the park as laughter surged and ebbed around him like the tide. He stared at the little girl poking the caterpillar for a full ten seconds, until her parent turned sideways warily and blocked his view.
"All right." He muttered under his breath, turned toward the edge of the park, and pulled his phone from his pocket.
Ring-ring-ring-
The call connected halfway through the fifth ring.
"Jay."
Nygma's voice sounded a little tired. A faint breeze and the occasional toll of a bell came through in the background.
"Where are you?" Li Jie asked.
"St. Mark's Square, Venice," Nygma replied. "Anna wanted to see the Bridge of Sighs. We just got here and haven't even dropped off our luggage yet. If you tell me something's happened in the East End, I'll be very disappointed, but I'll book a flight right away..."
"Nothing's happened," Li Jie interrupted. "At least, not yet."
He explained the situation at Robinson Park. Alice. The Mad Hatter. Over a hundred perfectly normal participants. A chill still lingered down his spine.
There were a few seconds of silence on the other end.
"Jay," Nygma said, his voice turning serious, "how do you want me to analyze this?"
"The way you always do," Li Jie said. "Tell me whether I'm being paranoid or there really is something wrong."
"All right."
Li Jie heard someone calling "Ed." Nygma quietly replied, "It's a call from Jay," and the voice urging him along fell silent. Then came soft footsteps, as though he had entered a quiet room.
"First possibility: this isn't the Mad Hatter, just a coincidence. Someone dressed up as Alice for Halloween, someone organized a park festival. Even Gotham's citizens feel like doing something normal once in a while. If that's the