"What if nobody comes?" Alice stood on the very edge of the curb, fingers curled tight in Luther's grip. She craned her neck to see down the empty road, both ways, where thick green shrubs enclosed dainty gardens and high-pillared mansions. A car approached around the corner, and she held her breath in stiff and silent hope … then released it - a deep, dramatic sigh - when the sleek Rolls Royce passed on without so much as a pause.
Luther chuckled, low and warm. He dipped his head to find her eyes. "Don't worry," he insisted with a squeeze of her little hand. "They'll be here. It's not eight o'clock just yet."
Alice stared up at him, pleading, worrying her lip in her teeth. "What if they can't find the address?"
Luther cast his eyes down the quiet street - sparkling, smiling, knowing - with patient confidence that every one of Alice's invitations would be accepted. "There's no way they won't find us."
Alice squinted at him, skeptical. Carl Manfred's house was truly easy to miss - wrapped in ivy, a secret tucked behind dense trees, perfect shrubs, billows of flowers that gleamed red and yellow and violet. A chatter of birds fluttered and trilled in the branches; summer sunlight dappled the horseshoe driveway.
For a wonderful year - full of paintings and books and music and laughter, bright colors and beautiful sounds - the Manfred estate had been Alice's home. She wanted so much to share all its secrets: Alice's paintings proudly displayed - Luther's new jazz album, Kara's strange and sweeping sculptures, the giraffe, the library, and all the hidden doors and tricks and winding stairways of the curious house itself. In her head, Alice listed all the things she would tell her friends, all the weird and wonderful treasures she had seen, while she watched the spot in the distance where the street dipped over the hill.
o - o - o - o
A driverless cab appeared around the corner, a black-beetle shine at the end of the road. Alice bounced on her toes, squealed in delight: the window rolled down and Ralph leaned out with a fling of a wave and a bright laughing grin.
"ALICE!"
The moment Ralph stepped out into sunlight - a woolen green cloak rippling adventurous at his shoulders - Alice launched, took a running leap into his arms. He yelped, scrambled to catch her, and laughed while he squeezed her in an awkward embrace.
"I missed you," Alice murmured, muffled and smiling, into his shoulder.
Ralph had never grinned harder. "Ralph missed you too! I did, I really did!" He bounced and wriggled and spun her around and around with a breath of a laugh. "But we're here now, and we're going on a trip together! A better one, a good one! Oh, this is going to be great!"
Alice giggled while he let her down to her feet again - smiled up at him, warm and proud, to hear him say I - and while he squealed and danced she curled her fingers into his fluttering hand.
Another passenger emerged from the cab, dressed all in red and bright yellow, sparkling eyes and a shining smile. "Jerry!" Alice squeaked. "You're all fixed!"
Jerry - the very same whom Alice had last seen in a dusty attic, shattered and broken - gave her a broad and honest grin, showed off his new arm with a flourish. He knelt down, gestured a wide invitation. "All the better for hugging!" he laughed. "It's wonderful to see you again, Alice!"
Alice pounced into his embrace with a giggle and a tight hug of her own. "Are the other Jerrys coming?"
"Just Jerry!" Ralph chattered while he retrieved their duffel from the cab. "The rest wanted to stay, they'll take care of the puppies and Hank's big dog."
"Sumo's at your house?" Alice stared up at Jerry, and her eyes grew bigger. "With puppies?"
Jerry grinned. "We're a foster home for the city shelter. We recently picked up a whole litter of puppies! We knew Hank was coming along on your adventure, so we offered to take care of his dog, too. Sumo loves all the little ones, and they love him! You should come see them when we get back!"
*BRRRRRMMMM*
A low rumbling thunder rippled through the sleepy neighborhood. Alice leaped to the curb again, stood tall to see the motorcycle approaching over the hill. Its mysterious helmeted rider was all leather and denim, with a small passenger behind the handlebars: an orange cat, calm and untethered, wearing little goggles of its own.
With a slowing, sputtering murmur, the motorcycle stopped alongside the curb. The rider pulled off her helmet, revealed long bright blue hair, a mild grin, dark eyes that shone with secret amusement. Traci tipped her head, peered up at Luther in appraisal, then down at the shocked little girl. "So which one of you is Alice?" she joked, while the cat hopped down into the grass.
Jerry bounced sideways with a bright eager grin. He bowed, a grandiose flourish worthy of the stage. "Alice! It is my honor and privilege to introduce to you the great and wonderful Traci the Magnificent!" He presented Traci with a magician's gesture, as if she'd just appeared in a puff of smoke. "And it is my greatest delight to present the one, the only, the impossible Trace the Astounding!" Jerry dropped to one knee with a theatrical sweep of his arms; the orange cat squinted, ignored him, raised cynical green eyes to Alice instead.
While Alice watched in slack-jawed wonder, the cat opened its sharp mouth - and the voice that came out sounded just like Traci's. "What up."
o - o - o - o
A rusty red truck squeaked and rattled over the hill, bumbling along the perfect street between sprawling mansions and manicured lawns. Alice shouted brightly, sprinted to the corner, hopped and waved her arms in delight. "Rose!" she called out at the top of her lungs. "Rose! Over here! This way!" She laughed, ran alongside the truck, bounced in eager wait while Rose parked it at the curb.
She had barely opened the door before Alice was there, grasped her hand, pulled on her wrist with eager impatience. "Okay, okay!" Rose laughed. As soon as she stood on her feet, Rose caught Alice up into her arms, squeezed her in a warm, secure, swinging embrace. "Oh, I missed you so much," Rose breathed, while her heart ached with joy. She laid a firm kiss on Alice's cheek, received a giggle and a peck in return.
"I missed you, too," Alice whispered, snuggled close, laid her head down on Rose's shoulder with the happiest smile in the world.
"Heya, Squirt." A familiar voice turned Alice's head, and she sat up in Rose's arms, twisted back to see.
"Adam!" Alice squeaked with a grin, a tiny energetic wave.
Adam laughed as he approached, gave Alice a tip of his fraying ballcap, two big suitcases rolling and rumbling behind him. "Where do we put our stuff?"
"By the front door!" Alice pointed. "And then you have to come meet Ralph and Jerry and Traci and Trace! She's a cat!"
"A cat, huh?"
"Yeah!" Alice looked brightly from Adam to Rose and back again, bubbling with weeks of anticipation, the chance to introduce all her friends to one another. "But she wasn't always a cat, she used to be like Traci, but she's a cat now! And Ralph stabs people sometimes, but he's family and I trust him and he's really nice, and Jerry is all the Jerrys, but it's just one Jerry coming with us, but it's like they're all coming because they're all the same Jerry." It was as if Alice didn't really need to breathe.
Rose and Adam exchanged bewildered looks. Adam breathed a quiet laugh, took off his hat, laid it lopsided on Alice's head. "Okay. Whatever you say, Squirt."
"Heeeyy!" Alice lifted the visor while Adam rolled their suitcases up the driveway. "You don't believe me!"
o - o - o - o
While the guests gathered on Carl's doorstep - the yard filled with laughter and applause at Jerry and Traci's dramatic rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream - another black cab whirred to a stop at the curb. Alice raced down the driveway, bounded to the sidewalk, bursting with a barely contained squeal of delight. Her reflection grinned in the tinted cab window until the the door slid open.
"Mister Hank!" Alice gasped through a wide brilliant smile, flung her arms around his waist before he'd caught his balance.
"Hey, hey, whoa!" Hank chuckled, a gentle hand on her back. "I just got here and I'm being attacked already!"
Alice grinned up at him. With his loud patterned shirt, his trimmed beard and an easy smile, Hank seemed far brighter, younger, much more alive than the last time she'd seen him. "I like your hair," Alice whispered as if it were a secret, and she clasped his hand in both of hers. "I can see your face!"
Hank huffed a laugh, ambled after her while she tugged him away from the cab. "Well don't go telling people I used to look like Cousin Itt."
"Nooo, I wouldn't do that!" Alice gasped, staring up at him with big pleading eyes.
"I would!" The trunk clicked shut, the cab drove away, and Connor - neat and comfortable in collared dark blue and gray - was left in the street with a suitcase at his side and a soft smile for Alice.
"Connor!" Alice broke into a grin and a run. Connor dropped to one knee to greet her - but in sudden hesitation Alice stopped again, breathless, just short of his reach.
Alice's eyes were troubled, uncertain - as if she thought he might be an impostor, as if he seemed nothing like the Connor she knew. "... You're different," she said, quiet and dim. She wouldn't move any closer.
Connor's smile faded. He tilted his head, his brows raised in worry. "Alice, it's me."
When she didn't respond - when she would only stare at him as if she expected a cruel trick - Connor's voice softened. "You're different, too. You smile and laugh a lot more than you used to. The people who love you now know who you are." His smile returned, quiet, understanding. "A lot's happened, hasn't it?"
"Yeah." Alice - a shimmer in her eyes, a tug of a smile - nodded and took a step forward.
She reached out, touched his face where the LED had been. Her smile broadened after a moment; she released a long-held breath. "You're okay."
Connor had no time to respond before she crashed into him, her arms squeezed tight around his neck as if he might disappear if she let him go.
Connor laughed in surprise, bowed his head, and wrapped his arms gently around her. His voice was firm, a quiet promise. "We're okay."
o - o - o - o
A sleek black car approached in silence, nearly unnoticed until it paused at the curb.
Chloe stepped out into a breeze filled with laughter. A crowd had gathered at the top of the driveway, cheering and giggling at Jerry and Traci's performance. Luther began to sing over them all to a swell of whistles and applause.
"Miss Chloe!" Alice was quick to spot her, ran thumping down the driveway, grasped Chloe's hand in both of her own. "You came!" she gasped, smiling brightly.
Chloe laughed, folded down to her level, stroked a delicate hand over Alice's hair. "Thank you for inviting me! I'm so happy to see you again, Alice." She bit her lip against an eager smile; Alice's enthusiasm was catching. "I have something for you." Excitement sparked in her eyes as she reached into her purse … and drew out a small black velvet box.
Alice's eyes grew wide while Chloe placed the expensive looking box into her open hands. "For me?" Alice breathed, an awed whisper.
Chloe nodded, smiling wide. "Open it."
With a held breath, Alice grasped the box and eased it open. Her mouth slackened in awe. "It's pretty!"
Within the box, a gleaming gold-and-silver pendant lay nestled in velvet: a polished dragon - wings poised for flight, teeth bared, eyes shining - wrapped around a brilliant blue shard of sapphire.
"It's very old," Chloe explained while she lifted the pendant out of the box and draped the delicate chain behind Alice's neck. "It's handmade, from sixteenth-century Germany - but it never tarnishes. There's something special about it, just like you. I thought of you the moment I saw it."
Alice could only breathe and stare at the beautiful gift. Finally she let it drop to her chest, looked up with a wide grin, flung her arms around Chloe's neck. "Thank you, thank you! I love it! I'll wear it always!"
"You're very welcome!" Chloe hugged her back, and looked up toward the front door when a massive cheer filled the air. "Are those all your crazy friends?" she asked with a grin.
"Yeah!" Alice grasped her hand, took a step back. "Come on, you have to meet them! They're gonna love you!"
Chloe followed at a gentle run to keep up, bubbling with laughter. "I'm sure I'll love them, too."
o - o - o - o
North's bulky old van - still dented, bent and scorched from its last brush with the apocalypse - roared up the hill, hung in the air, crashed back down, raced madly down the immaculate street, tires squealing like a scene from The Fast and the Furious.
*SCREEEEEEE*
With a skid, a tailspin, and a puff of rubber-smoke, the van whipped and spun, missed a parked car by an inch, came to a perfect bouncing stop at the curb.
With a slide and a bang, the van's back door flung open, and Simon came tumbling out of it. He dropped to his knees in worship of solid ground, fell facedown in the grass, arms splayed as if hugging the earth.
Alice squatted beside him, tilted her head, poked his shoulder with a finger. "Hi Simon!"
"Alice," Simon groaned, without looking up. "I'm sorry. I'm dead. Call the coroner."
"You're not dead!" Alice giggled.
Josh stepped out next, stood gripping the edge of the door, desperate and relieved to be alive. "We just almost died," he agreed in a breath.
"Come on, that was great!" North hollered from the driver's seat. She grinned wide, bounded out and onto the grass, dragged in a deep smiling breath as if she'd just won a race. "Look at this! That was a perfect one-eighty!"
"North," sighed Markus while he dropped out of the passenger seat. A glimmer of a smile pulled at his mouth. "Warn us next time."
"You knew exactly was I was doing and you didn't stop me." North squinted at him with a knowing grin - then turned a big smile to Alice. "Hey there, big girl! That was pretty cool, huh?"
Alice stared up at her, shaken out of stunned silence - then grinned wide and bright, nodded swiftly. "Yeah!" she squealed. "That was awesome!"
"See?" North smiled, smug, at Markus over her shoulder. "I'm awesome."
Alice giggled, patted Simon's head where he still lay 'dead' at her feet - and she raised her eyes when two more passengers emerged from the hissing, overheating van.
Her eyes flung wide; Alice nearly fell backward in shock. "There are more Connors?!" she squeaked.
Wolf - a RK900 - emerged from the van one careful step at a time, while Peter clung to him for dear life - sunglasses askew, fists clenched in Wolf's black buttoned shirt, shaking in terror of high speeds and tight corners.
Simon sat up on the ground - pieces of grass stuck to his face - and leaned on his knees while Alice stared in awe. "Alice, this is Peter and Wolf," he said with an exhausted smile and a vague gesture in their direction. "Hank rescued them from CyberLife, they work with us now at Jericho."
"Mister Hank did that?" Alice took a wary step forward, watched as Wolf laid a gentle hand on Peter's head. Gradually Peter's grip relaxed - his tension eased, breathed deep and calm. He adjusted his sunglasses, looked down at Alice through them … and his jaw dropped.
"Are you the Alice?!" Peter cried in sudden enthusiasm, forgetting his fear from a moment ago.
Alice thought Peter's big grin was so strange on Connor's face. He looked and sounded exactly like Connor - only the sunglasses, the Evangelion t-shirt, jeans and sneakers suggested someone entirely new.
Alice blinked, stunned, unsure which Alice he could possibly mean. "Um …"
Peter dropped to a knee before her, grasped her hand between his, shook it wildly, laughing. "It's amazing to finally meet you! We've heard so much about you from Connor - you're a hero. You're a legend."
"I am?" Alice couldn't quite keep up, couldn't decipher Peter's expression behind the dark lenses. She gazed up at Wolf instead, hoping for an interpretation … but he only stared back at her with calm blue eyes. "Well …" Alice took a breath, smiled quietly. "It's nice to meet you, too!"
Peter excitedly shook her hand again. "We've got you to thank for the Alice Virus, too. Do you want to see? Let me show you!"
Once Peter released her, Alice took a step back, a curious smile on her face. She hadn't named the Alice Virus, but she had been its origin - Patient Zero, she'd been called. The virus had begun as an error in her code: it had grown and evolved through her own effort - then spread to her friends, then their friends, until the androids of Detroit had all been infected.
Even CyberLife, after a year of research, had so far failed to decipher the true nature of the Alice Virus. Its existence should be impossible, Kamski had claimed. And yet …
Peter pulled away his sunglasses with a flick and a flourish - and Alice saw his eyes were glazed, unfocused, as if he couldn't see her at all. He poised the folded sunglasses between his palms, as if preparing for a magic trick. "Watch close, now!"
*clap!*
His palms smacked together - and the sunglasses had vanished.
"How did you do that?" Alice breathed in awe, leaned forward, searched Peter's hands for some explanation. Peter only sat, grinning with mischief, without even a twitch in response.
"He can't hear you without them." Wolf's low, smooth voice was an unexpected sound. Alice glanced up at him, troubled by his words … then she approached Peter again and waved a hand in front of his face, availing no response at all.
"And now!" Peter announced, while Alice wiggled her fingers fruitlessly in front of his vacant eyes, "watch again!" He reached up with a fluid motion into the space between them, and he plucked the sunglasses out of the empty air. He unfolded them, slipped them back on his face, and immediately snapped to attention. "I can make anything disappear, and bring it back." He reached out, pulled a cell phone from behind Alice's ear - flipped it in the air, caught it, and it vanished again.
Alice - still a bit troubled by Peter's deaf and blind state - watched him flick and vanish a silver coin, just showing off now. "But where does it go?" she asked in a mystified breath.
"Probably the same place Josh goes when he teleports." Peter grinned, hiked a thumb over his shoulder.
Josh folded his arms, leaned back on the open van door. "Hey, don't look at me, I understand it less than anyone else does."
"Would you show us," Wolf interrupted, his cool eyes locked on Alice, "your power?"
Alice felt all their eyes on her now - Josh and Simon, North and Markus, Peter and Wolf.
A bright eager grin widened on Alice's face. "Okay! Watch this!"
Alice took a few steps back, closed her eyes, stretched out her arms into the open space in front of her. She focused on the people she loved - Kara, and Luther, and Rose, and everyone - and while her heart swelled, something shimmered in the air between her hands.
It was easy now - a part of her that felt like it had been there all along. In a moment, like a hologram become reality, a light in the empty space became solid: a golden sword, shining and intricate, brimming with power, held courageous in Alice's grip.