Author's note: Hello, I'm sure you people are glad that this story is not dead after all, sorry it took so long but I had said previously that I would not be doing any update during the winter because I was going to be busy with all the insane amount of games that were released in that dates. But is all done now, I played and finished them all, took my sweet time while at it and now there is nothing to distract me from working on my stories. Now that vacation time is over, is time to keep going on with the show.
Now, before you start reading this chapter, it would be best that you re-read the last one. As I had said earlier, it was incomplete and I was to update it to its full length. And that's exactly what I did, so you better read it and tell me if you like it.
Disclaimer: As usual I don't own synch, all belongs to some other people I won't bother mentioning. No that's not true all belongs to EA alone… I think.
Chapter 3: Falling out of the looking glass
"This is it, Jack is right here" Said Miranda glancing around the control panel and into the containment pods located on the other side of the Plexiglass. After some briefs engagements the Normandy's ground team had finally reached the control room from which to release subject zero from its imprisonment; Commander Shepard wasted no second to access the lock controls of the whole station.
"If we hack that access point, every door in the cell block will open" warned Garrus worried about the implications of letting the inmates running free through the station.
"It's the only way to get Jack out of there" replied Miranda.
Shepard took a few seconds to think about options, coming out with no other choice he decides to release the locks.
"I'm doing it! Be ready" he told his teammates.
"I just hope you know what you're doing" said Garrus having a bad felling about what was going to happen.
"We have no choice" Answered Shepard back with certainty "Prepare to disengage the lock"
Shepard pushed a button and the entire mechanism came to life and while Jack's containment unit was being prepared for opening, reanimation procedures were being initiated inside the pod to awaken Jack from her frozen state.
At the same time in wonderland, the odd group of travelers had finally managed to exit the woods and reach of what was the beginning of a large and imposing mountain range tickly covered in mist.
"Finally! We're out of those fucking damn woods" exclaimed Jack raising her arms over her head as if praising to the heavens.
"Yes we are, although I wouldn't have phrased my relief in such way" said Alice, again getting annoyed by Jack's language.
"Who cares!" retorted Jack "Where to next?" she demanded.
"Over there my esteemed Jack" Cheshire helped and pointed at the mountains "Caterpillar is waiting at the other side of this small hill, be careful not to slip"
Jack was less than pleased when she saw the mountains; she of course expressed her discomfort in her unique way "WAAAGH! Fuck no, I ain't going to climb no mountain, hell no, you can't make me"
"What's the matter Jack? Why you are so whimsy all of a sudden" Asked Alice in a teasing voice with a mischief glint in her eye "I thought you had said that you didn't had anything better to do, if I recall"
"That was before I knew that we were going to be only prancing around like idiots. That's certainly not my definition for fun" grumbled back the tattooed woman.
Alice seemed to be enjoying the whimpering of the older woman, if her cheeky grin was any indication "Well, I'm not going to force you to accompany in this endeavor if it is something you don't fancy. You can always turn back and return to the forest once more, all by yourself if you like" she said with no small hint of smugness in her voice.
Mumbling under her breath, Jack knew that the younger woman had her by the balls, so to speak. My, my, who would have thought that Alice could be so wickedly devious? Just thinking about it made her feel migraines; actually it seemed that whatever was that Jack was starting to feel, it was something not quite like a migraine. She started to feel, like waking up?
"Wow! I feel weird" She said in a meek voice "I think something is wrong with me" and that was somewhat true because she could not overcome the sudden sensation of misplacement that struck her.
"Jack, please! Pecker up a little, it's not so bad. You have us, me and Cheshire to keep you company, I know our current task is not exactly the height of glamour, but I'm sure if we work together we will reach the other side in a jiffy." said Alice unaware of Jack's affliction.
"Nooooo!" Replied Jack with aggression, catching his companions of guard "I'm telling you, something is happening to me" she slowly approached Alice and tried to support herself on the younger woman's frame, she missed a step and ended up falling on top of the maiden's lap.
Long mechanical arms descend upon Jack's containment unit, clutching it between cold, hard fingers and moving the platform down in the center of the room, proceeding then to release its cargo leaving Jack's slumbered form visible to all. The tattooed woman was restrained in a metal bed, unconscious, but not for long.
"Damn it what is happening to me?" Jack asked while she looked at her hands. She was starting to disappear; her body becoming transparent, leaving nothing but a silhouette. She wailed her arms frantically in desperation, her breathing increased and turned heavy. Alice tried her best to appease her.
"Jack! Calm down! Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I think you're just starting to wake up. I can tell the signs, I have been trough the same ordeal several times myself; you're…." whatever was that Alice was going to say was cut off by Jack yanking her from her chain, clutching Lizzie's room key tightly in her hand. That was the last thing she saw before being blinded by light.
"Is that Jack?" Garrus asked in disbelief, the ground team had certainly not expected that Jack would be a woman.
Jack opened her eyes in a heap, thrashing wildly with her restraints. Her mind was numb for the moment, she was moving solely by instincts and said instincts told her to break away. Struggling against her restraints until they were broken, she fell to the ground in a daze.
Quickly overcoming her disorientation and taking notice of her surroundings. Subject Zero finally managed to remember where she was. Panting a little, she asked herself what kind of strange dream did she just had? She felt something cold in her hand, so she opened her fist to reveal the key that Alice was wearing over her neck, uncertainty started to plague her. She started to think that maybe it was more than a dream after all.
Such thoughts would had to be left for later, because she was abruptly pulled out of her reverie by the sound of the heavy footsteps of 2 Ymir mechs lumbering at her position with weapons at the ready. Feeling the familiar tingling of her biotics in her spine; Subject Zero released an animalistic roar and pounced at the heavy mechs with fist raised. The most dangerous bitch in the entire universe was free and there would be hell to pay.
The Ymir's despite their size and weight, far superior to any organic where no match for jack's biotic charge connecting head on and were dragged into the wall, exploding into a thousand pieces.
"We have to get down there!" said Miranda with urgency.
"Damn it! C'mon people, on the double!" Beseeched the commander, he and his teammates headed downstairs at once; they missed the sight of two individuals coming from behind the platform where Jack's cell was dropped, heading in the direction of Jack's path of destruction.
A couple of minutes before.
Alice head was spinning, overwhelmed by sudden disorientation. The last thing she remembered was tending Jack, when suddenly she grabbed her chain and she felt this intense pulling. Looking at her side, she found Cheshire struggling to get back on his feet while mumbling something under his breath. It seemed that the displacement hat taken its toll in him too.
"Ches! Are you alright?"
"Hmph" grumped back the cat while swaying his head "Yes Alice, I'm fine; though I must say I wasn't expecting this sudden development in our situation"
"Where's Jack?" she asked. Her answer was delivered by the sudden sound of a "RAAAAARRGHHH!" savage scream coming somewhere from behind her. The girl and her cat turned around in surprise at the direction of the scream. Their vision was blocked by a bulky contraption that looked like a big slab of metal. They quickly peered from a side and saw Jack enveloped in a thick purple aura, running and screaming madly towards a couple of gigantic mechanical automatons. These ones were nothing like the ones she had seen before in hatter's domain. Unlike Hatter's rickety, bulky and complex constructs; these ones were smooth and had a simple and minimalistic look all over. They looked strong and well built, not even the primmest inventions of the mad hatter could compare with the level of sophistication that these machines conveyed.
Sadly, she wasn't able to admire much more of these technological marvels because Jack was busy tearing them apart with her bare hands. They witnessed how Jack used these automatons to blow a hole in the wall.
SCREEEEECH!
KABOOOOM!
"Oh my! You know Alice, I always knew that our friend Jack had a penchant towards violence, but I never could have imagined that she would be this extreme. My admiration for her seems growing by the minute" commented the cat in joy, his smile ever present.
Alice could only blink at her current situation, her mind trying to comprehend what was going on. But whatever questions she may have would have to wait for later, for now she had to catch up on Jack.
"It doesn't matter right now, cat, we need to catch up on her. I have the feeling that it would be a bad idea to let her rampaging through the entire place unopposed" said the girl in a hurry.
The feline didn't require musing a lot in the matter before agreeing with her "Yes; I can see your point, with the way she's tearing everything apart, is more than likely that she would make this entire place collapse on top of our heads. That would be inconvenient… Very well Alice, let us go and find our oddly looking friend"
It was not hard for Alice and Cheshire to follow on jack's footsteps; they just had to follow the trail of destruction that she leaved behind. It made their task so very easy.
Alice had to say that she was a tad bit miffed by their new surroundings. Far long tunnels and semicircular hallways made of metal and glass. All of them either covered in darkness or bathed in an eerie crimson light that made the entire atmosphere look blood red. She was used to blood but not in this level of saturation, she grew tired of it real fast and the loud noise that deafened her ears was not helping at all.
Alarms were blaring loudly everywhere, she could not hear anything else but the awful noise; Cheshire too was feeling discomforted by them. Surprisingly for her, there were speakers becoming alive from time to time that managed to make their message clearly audible despite the chaotic cacophony of noise that permeated the place.
"All guards! Restore order, lethal force authorized, but don't kill Jack!" said one of them.
"Well it seems that the bollocks in charge of this place are finally mustering a response; they really know how to take their precious time with it I must say. Is a good thing to know that our friend Jack would be spared from their full wrath; can't say it is a good thing for us though." Shouted Cheshire as loud as he could in order to make himself heard over the noise, but one could be able to discern that he was less than impressed with the way things were handled in here. Another message blared right after his statement.
"Sectors seven, nine and eleven have lost life support. No survivors."
"Or anyone else for that matter." Quipped Alice back.
The duo arrived inside a large room with walkways at its sides and a suspended bridge connecting them in the middle. The sound of the alarms was diminished inside the room compared at how it was in the tunnels; it was a relief for them both. Because of it the 2 companions were able to hear a rather strong march of footsteps rapidly approaching at their direction.
Not being one to stay idle, Alice quickly hid herself behind some hedges, one of the many that were strewn around the room. Cheshire followed her lead a few seconds later. (1) Peeking inconspicuously from the sides in order to spy at whoever was about to come.
A moment later a door slid open at the end of the room, pouring a rather sizable amount of armed individuals inside the chamber. Alice didn't recognize them, they were wearing strange armor; it was rather smooth and seemed to enclose their forms well, fitting perfectly without complications, it didn't look as if it was cumbersome even though they were wearing a full set of body armor. Said armor was painted in an odd selection of color, blue and white being predominant. Their helmets were rather discomforting to see. They were entirely white in the front with two large lenses tinted in blue were the eyes should be. They were practically bare, with no distinguishing marks; they look more like a mouthless skull than a helmet.
These people had strange weapons too. Like many other things in this place, the weapons were smooth to the sight, but sleek and elegant in design. Even though the weapons had an alien look to her, Alice could tell that these people were wielding pistols and firearms, their shapes were evident enough. Oddly though; was the fact that not all these individuals had the same body structure? Some of them were taller, possessing long thin limbs and armor that was bulkier around the collar and chest area; their helmets were different too. They seemed to be made of pure glass at the front, were the face should be and at the back the helmet ended in a pointy tip.
But the strangest of all was the being that was barking orders –probably the leader- who wore no helmet. He looked human enough, at least in body form and size, but his face. His face was completely alien; his skin was gray-ashen in color, he had bulbous protrusions and bulges in his head and brow, and he had 4 eyes, 4 eyes instead of 2. It was obvious to Alice that she was nowhere near London, if she hadn't realized it already.
This 4-eyed being had a luminous armor floating on top of the one he was wearing, which was the same as his peers –or subordinates in this case- This second armor glowed in a luminescent blue and look as if it was somewhat transparent. For some reason these people were not giving her the best of vibes. Alice didn't particularly like what they were doing or saying.
"Move on you worthless maggots. I want this entire place secured before Shepard comes this way, I want a warm welcome ready by the time he arrives and could somebody tell me; what the hell is taking so damn long with the Ymir? Move that useless bucket of bolts over here; now! It should make for a special surprise. That bastard would never know what hit him, by the time this is over we shall all be swimming in credits"
The armed men moved at their superior orders; they spread themselves through the room, entrenching themselves and setting weapons emplacements on elevated positions. Whoever this Shepard is, it would seem that these people had no love for him.
"Tell me Ches, Who do you think this Shepard person is?" Asked Alice to his feline companion.
"I ignore it" answered Chesire "But if he is a threat to these fellows whom Jack is trying to escape from, I believe then that it may be beneficial to our efforts if we somehow manage to find him and convince him to lend us a hand. After all the enemy of my enemy is my friend –or so they say- Not always is that statement true, but it might be in this particular case. But that should not be a concern at this moment, since it appears that we are going to have more pressing matters soon enough" he said motioning Alice to look behind her.
"FREZEE! Come out slowly and don't try any shit" Alice was caught off guard when she found one of these men aiming his strange weapon straight at her head; behind him there were other 2 doing the same, one of them being one of those with the bulky collar and long limbs. It seemed their little hiding place was not so effective after all. Without much choice she stepped out of her cover with her hands raised.
"The hell this little bitch is doing here?" asked one of the blue armored men "Doesn't look like one of the inmates to me. We have no female prisoners except for Jack"
"You think is one of Shepard's crew?" asked another, the alien one "And what the hell is that beast behind her?"
"Looks like a cat to me, that's an animal from earth. Though this one is sure a big ugly-ass son of a bitch" at this Cheshire growled his irritation showing how much he despised the comments of these individuals. Alice may have believed Cheshire's indignation to be funny, if their situation was not so serious.
"Oh? I think the kitty didn't like your comment" said the third one of their assailants.
The four eyed being that was in command had somehow overhead their conversation and started to bark his opinions to the group (2) "I couldn't care less if the little female has a Thresher Maw as pet, neither from what planet does it came from… mmph?" he grunted "the girl doesn't look like one of Shepard's crew; there were only other 2 of them. Must be an intruder and we don't like those around here. GRAB HER! And her little pet too" he ordered "for an intruder she's sure the little pretty thing. We could fetch a nice price for her, maybe I'll let you boys play a little with her once we deal with Shepard"
Alice didn't liked one bit the sound of that. Having lived for a great deal of her life in the marginalized side of society had given her a good look at the dangers and perversions of London's underworld. She could recognize people traders and slavers when she saw one and these people definitely fitted the bill of being ones.
Cheshire was of the same mentality; so the moment that one of the armored figures approached him with the intention of capturing him, he pulled out his claws. A spray of blood and a scream later and the blue armored thug was left lying on the floor with his throat slit and a pool of his blood forming around him.
The reaction of the rest of armored beings was immediate. They leveled their guns and started shooting at the 2 companions. Alice didn't waste any time and turned into butterflies, while in that form she closed the distance towards her aggressors. That leaved many astonished who had expected to make short work of the young woman with their guns. Said guns now proved to be useless as their bullets would simply pass along the butterflies without causing harm.
Alice rematerialized herself in front of one of the skull helmeted figures and delivered a series of attacks with her vorpal blade, flashes and trails of red with black edges sparkling with each swing. Despite his armor, the poor sod could not withstand the might of the mystical blade and soon enough he was sent sprawling to the ground. Deep indentations and lacerations carved on his flesh. Alice didn't spend a look to appreciate her handiwork and transported herself towards the next enemy.
She kept herself constantly in motion, swirling around in her butterflies form. Surrounding her enemies or moving between their lines; only attacking those she managed to isolate or were out in the open. Her actions proved effective into sowing confusion and made her attackers to waste their ammo by shooting at a target that was not tangible. This allowed Cheshire to move unseen, creping and phasing quietly and stealthily behind the enemies lines making good use of his claws.
"Enough of this!" Barked the four-eyed, gray-ashen skin alien who was apparently in charge "All of you idiots. Regroup on my position"
Alice immediately set her sights on him and trailed at his direction. The four-eyed opened fire at her in an effort to keep her at arm's length. He even used some amazing new type of bullets that she had never seen before. Ones that tended to set the area that they hit on fire, but despite this –and the use of some other handheld explosive devices- he didn't even managed to scratch her. That is, because the lack of mass of his objective made all his efforts futile.
When she got in close range Alice gave him a taste of her vorpal blade. She didn't expect that his glowing armor proved to be so effective in countering her attacks; flashing in conjunction with her slashes making them do little more than stagger her opponent.
The gray-skin chuckled "what's the matter girl? That puny knife of yours not enough to pass my shields?" he mocked.
Frowning lightly at her lack of results, Alice suddenly remembered that she might have a weapon that could tore through those shields. The thought made her smile wickedly, something that was not lost to her opponent. He suddenly started to have a bad felling about his current predicament.
"Well, if the first time doesn't work. Then maybe a change of approach is in order." she said before pulling out her hobby horse (3rd level mind you) and bated the ugly being to the other side of the room.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!" He screamed before landing not to softly on a bunch of crates.
The gray-skin rose back on his with discomfort. Pulled a strange looking orange glowing device, that seemed to fizzle out of nowhere on his wrist and started to yell at it after letting out an expletive that is. "Damn it! C'mon you idiots, where is that fucking Ymir? I want it right here, right NOW!"
Suddenly great steps that made the floor tremble were heard. Alice and Cheshire almost missed a step due to such sudden development. Another door slid open and one of the big metal behemoths -that jack was fighting against- was revealed. It started to lumber slowly and heavily towards them. This monster of technology was not something they were keenly willing to fight.
Seeing their expressions the four eyes taunted "We were reserving this fellow as a surprise for Shepard and his team, but since you and your pet had proved such a nuisance, I've decided to use it before schedule. Pray to whatever good you believe in for the few minutes you have left before you die."
"Error. Target Acquisition Not Possible. Error" chimed the white colossus in a distorted voice
"WHAT?"
Alice didn't know exactly what happened but it was really amusing seeing the Four-eyed alien ranting over his faulty automaton. "Seems your little toy is in disagreement. Oh well! We will have to settle this in the old fashioned way then" she said.
The grey-skin didn't pay her attention. Instead he was screaming as mad and punching several buttons in his glowing device "C'mon you piece of crap! What's wrong with you? Oh I think I got it!"
"Safety protocols disengaged. Tracking and Eradication of any anomaly detected by system in progress. ALERT! Anomaly has been detected. Launching Missile"
And that's what the behemoth did. He shoots a missile at great speeds going straight to Alice. Almost as an afterthought the girl pulled out her umbrella to shield herself from damage. The would-be slavers laughed at her for believing that such accessory would parry a missile. They would be forcibly stunned when they saw her rebuking the projectile; granted, she was left spinning in a daze and almost did she lost her grip on her umbrella due to the strength behind the missile. But the fact remained; she had managed to deflect the attack. The missile was diverted and ended exploding in the face of a couple of unlucky bastards; that had forgotten to take cover for being staring.
All the while the behemoth seemed without notice of Alice's little stunt. He probably didn't care either way. He simply switched his weaponry and aimed at Alice once more.
Seeing she would get no respite; the young woman transformed into butterflies once more and dashed quickly behind a pile of crates that were at the end of the room for cover. She was unsure at how to proceed, the hobby horse seemed the best option to hurt that thing, but she suspected that it would probably take her a while to bring down the automaton. At her side, Cheshire materialized himself, so she addressed him.
"Hello Cat, Do you think we are going to be late for tea?" she asked
Cheshire at first said nothing, bracing himself from an explosion that impacted close to their location. That matter concluded he said "as much of an outrageous notion the idea that you would not have your tea is. I think it is best that we grit our teeth; for it seems this little scuffle is going to last a while"
"The hull has been breached in sectors 12, 14 and 30. No survivors"
"C'mon people, keep moving" ordered the commander among the clamor of claxons and alarms. The grounded was still on its way, fighting through all purgatory in search of Jack. It had become a messy business with all the guards, prisoners and mechs that were fighting and dying all around. The sounds of battle mingling with the already deafening cacophony of noises that's being going on since the riot started. Despite this impediments, the group had managed to move on ever forward.
They reached another chamber. One that was wide with walkways on the sides that connected on a suspended bridge in the middle of the room, leaving those in the ground floor precariously exposed. Not that Shepard and his team were able to see all this at first glance, since they had entered through a side entrance in the bottom of the room. Their vision blocked by a wall.
So, they had to go around that wall. Just when they were doing it, they saw a blue sun flying right into an opposite wall on the side.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!" Was the mercenary scream, before he crashed with his head first and broke his neck.
"Damn! I guess we finally catch up with Jack" Said Garrus, voicing his thoughts.
"Seems like it. Ok team let's give her some assistance" said Shepard motioning his team to go forward with a hand sign.
When they finally rounded that wall none of them where ready for the sight that awaited them.
"Please guys, tell me you 2 are seeing what I'm seeing" asked Shepard incredulous.
"If you are seeing a young human female on a blue dress with an apron, fighting the blue suns and a Ymir with what looks like a giant hammer in the shape of a flaming beast and a huge animal –that I believe is a cat from the photos you've shown me of earth" with an abnormally big head and he's cutting people apart while teleporting around. Then yes Shepard, we are seeing the same as you" Garrus deadpanned on a dry tone.
"Ok. Glad I'm not hallucinating, now! Can somebody please explain me what the hell is going on? Miranda? Can you?" He glanced to the Raven haired beauty at his side. She offered no answer at first that was not blinking a couple of times.
"I can't really think of anything commander. I still don't believe that what I'm seeing is real and we just saw it happen in front of our own eyes" she said while swaying her dumbfounded head.
"Same here Shepard. Though I must say that for such a petite thing; that girl can pack quite the mean punch" Garrus statement was reinforced by another blue sun that was sent flying by a swing of the girl's flaming horse.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" this prompted Garrus to say.
"Commander, I know we came here for Jack but… Maybe this girl will be a useful acquisition for the team too, I mean, is quite obvious that she has a knack for this kind of thing" There was the sound of another loud impact and the screams of several blue suns.
"You can't be serious, do you?" Questioned Miranda who was clearly against that idea "Commander, I don't think it is a smart thing to do to be recruiting random people that we just met and of which we know nothing about. How do we know that she would not be a liability to the mission? How do we know that we can trust in her? Whoever she is and how did she got here in the first place? Because I don't think her to be a prisoner of purgatory. She doesn't look like one, so it strikes me as odd that she can deal with all these mercenaries with such ease. Makes me wonder what else can she do and if it will be a danger for the crew?"
"Easy Miranda" Said the commander trying to dissuade her suspicions "Whoever she is, she doesn't seems to hold any love for the blue suns, which makes her not an immediate threat to us. As for whom she is or how she got here? There will be plenty of time to ask questions later. We still have a mission to do and right now, I think she could be of great help to us into finding Jack. So I say we should lend her a hand; I can see she's having trouble in dealing with that Ymir".
Miranda sighed but complied "Very well, as you order commander"
"Alright team move out. Garrus, start picking targets. Miranda, use your overload on the Ymir Shields".
Well I'm gonna cut it in here, not exactly where I had it intended but it really want to update this story now, I mean it's been 4 months since last chapter. It should not have taken me that long. But whatever, next chapter Alice vs Ymir they're really in such a stalemate this two. Alice can't be hurt easily by the Ymir, but she doesn't have the strength to topple such a potent machine.
Anyway, I hope to close the purgatory segment in the next chapter, after that I'm going to include a small chapter of her dabbling around the Normandy and its crew before sending her back to London (remember she's asleep). Oh yeah this story is going to span several timelines and dimensions at the same time. At least in the beginning before I stuck Alice for good with Shepard. She doesn't mind, says she likes better be in the far exiting future than in dull and boring London.
That said, make sure to review you ingrates. I know you people are reading this, I have no reviews then I got no reason to be writing this. No feedback.
(1) You know all those conveniently placed covers that are thrown about everywhere in ME2.
(2) Remember the build in communications that are integrated in the armor. Also I'm really going out of a limb in here and assume that all this morons had build in translators too.