The Ace of Hearts walked hurriedly down the corridor in the Casino. He had called a meeting of the Aces to discuss something that had happened and no one wanted to be the one to tell the queen. The Aces were the heads of each type of suit and dealt primarily with matters of the royal court. The rest of the policing force consisted of each type of suit: Clubs, Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds. Within each group of suits where command leaders One through Ten and each of those command leaders had a force of lesser suit members that basically just bullied and spied on those in the city.
Ace of Hearts entered the Aces Headquarters and signaled for his peers to sit. He grabbed a remote and pushed the button to open the wall screen and reveal an all too familiar face. The Mad March. He used to be a minor pest to the Queen over the years but in a heist of oyster teas, he managed to kill two people. The Red Queen was impressed with his skills, saying that he was quick as a hare, and wanted to make a deal with him to keep his head. Naturally he accepted and was now her favored assassin. She loved how close he kept getting to the Resistance, though Dodo and the rumored Caterpillar kept seeming to escape him. But the Aces never fully trusted him. How could they when they were the very ones that arrested his parents and brought them to their fates before the Red Queen.
It wasn't long before the Aces' suspicion of him was proven right. Mad March had gotten into a tussle with Two of Diamonds and killed him. This might be something the Queen would overlook since it was Mad March; however, Two of Diamonds happened to be the brother of the Duchess, the fiance of the Queen's son, Jack Heart. The Duchess was the Queen's way of keeping tabs on her rebellious son so this murder of her brother would be a major set back. She may want to help Jack rebel if she wanted to seek revenge.
"Okay," Ace of Hearts began. "Last night, Mad March had a little too much superiority tea and got into a fight with Two of Diamonds, Duchess's brother. We are not entirely certain what the fight was about but witnesses say they heard them saying something about the Duchess and Jack and the Caterpillar." The other three Aces sat and listened, carefully taking in what Ace of Hearts was saying. "Mad March never returned to his apartment last night or this morning. I've had Ten of Hearts watching the entire time." Then he turned to Ace of Clubs. "I know your Ten has worked with Mad March on rare occasion before working as the Queen's right hand with your Nine." Ace of Clubs nodded. "Find out from them if they might know of any place he might be hiding. We need to find him fast!"
Ace of Clubs nodded and left the meeting. Ace of Hearts finished up with the other Aces by agreeing that the three of them would tell the King. Then they would do whatever the King asked of them as far as telling the Queen. They hoped he would do it for them... They had already suffered enormous turnover lately and didn't want to literally loose their heads.
Ace of Clubs approached the throne room and knelt before the queen.
"What is it, Ace?" the Red Queen asked bluntly.
"My Queen, I simply need Ten and Nine for a meeting of the Clubs," he said continuing to bow.
"Very well," she said signaling for them to leave with their Ace. Mr. White of the White Rabbit organization stood in Ten's spot as the Queen always needed someone next to her for her to bark orders at. White Rabbit mostly was involved in retrieving oysters from the other side of the looking glass but did occasional dirty work and spying for the Queen.
Ace, Ten and Nine of Clubs left the throne room and went to the lobby of the Casino. "We have a serious problem. I need to find Mad March and fast. Do either of you know about any place he may try to hide?"
"What's he done now?" asked Ten pointedly.
"I don't think I want to know," Nine said in a mousy voice.
Ace sighed. "Maybe it's best you don't know. You don't have to tell the Queen what you don't know." They nodded, though Ten's was reluctant while Nine's was eager. "I just need to find him and he's not in his usual spots."
Ten nodded. "I think he and Hatter had a place to hide out in right before the Spades brought him in for the last time. I'll show you where." They headed off to the map room to look at a map of the city.
In the meantime, the other Aces were able to quietly get word to the King that they needed to see him immediately and he met them at their headquarters. The troubling news of the previous night's events were indeed heavy. The King let them off the hook and told them to try and keep it quiet until they could locate Mad March. "So," he said as he walked out the door. "You better find him quickly because the only thing worse than delivering bad news to the Queen is delivering bad news to the Queen when she's the last to know!"
