Hare and Hatter

This finishes off part one, but part two should be coming along close behind. We're about to make the ten year jump of Oz's time in the Abyss, though this chapter takes place about six years into it.

Thanks reviewers! It's great to hear what you think.

Part One

Chapter Ten

Six years later Liam ended up on the field again, as the head of the support staff for a large group that ventured out to subdue a chain that had a history of being particularly vicious and had already helped its contractor slaughter fifty people before it and he fled into the countryside. Among the party were a few familiar faces, agents he knew quite well or had worked with before, Break and Lady Sharon had apparently been pulled off of whatever mysterious project they had been working on to help deal with the crisis, and even Raven --who Liam had had little contact with as he was often away with Break and Lady Sharon though he had heard much of the scandal the boy's abandonment of the Nightray house once he made a contract with the Raven chain-- had been put in the field, in spite of the fact that his power was so destructive and difficult to control that he could just as easily kill them as the enemy.

There were a good many new faces too, the newer agents that Pandora had recruited, some with only a few weeks, or a few months, or experience under their belts. Many of them would be dead by the end of the mission.

It was three weeks of hell before they finally killed the illegal contractor and his chain, three weeks of camping in freezing rains out in the unforgiving countryside with rations that were waterlogged and moldy and mud everywhere and dampness that seemed to seep into their very bones.

Liam hated having to recopy reports, but it was near impossible to keep anything dry in the weather they had, --someone in supplies was going to get a very stern lecture from him about buying cheap, badly waterproofed tents when he got back to Pandora-- and eventually he gave up, renting space in the inn of the nearest town, some twenty miles away from their campsite, for the secretaries. While this made them difficult to access should the need for information arise, at least they and the documents were out of the worst of the weather and also very safely out of the line of fire.

That last part became very important when the illegal contractor started night attacks on their camp, slinking in to kill a few people before vanishing into the night again. Reports still had to be delivered and copied and sent back to headquarters, so Liam took the reports himself from the agents returning from the skirmishes with the contractor and, securing that papers in the only waterproof case anyone could find, delivered them to the secretaries in town personally so as to make sure nothing befell them.

As the attacks and small skirmishes increased, the chain was very good at stealthy attacks and quick retreats so they were having trouble pinning them, the number of reports required increased and Liam made at least four trips to the town on horseback a day. He spent the entirety of the daylight hours splattered with mud and when night fell and the roads were too unsafe to ride he just stayed wherever he had been stranded, in town or at the camp.

Because he was on the road so much and alone on the road at that, it was probably inevitable that the lurking contractor would take the opportunity to take out another member of Pandora.

Liam had to draw up quickly to avoid running Break down when the man stepped out onto the road in front of him.

"Break, what are you doing this far from camp?" he demanded, as his horse pranced, annoyed at being drawn up short.

"I could say the same for you." Break tipped the wide-brimmed hat he wore to shed ever present rain back so he could grin up at him. "You're awfully far from camp and its getting dark. The Baby," the chain that they had been trying to eliminate, "might try to attack when you're alone."

About to reply, Liam was distracted as his horse tried to rear. Quickly Break reached out and grabbed the horse's bridle and yanked its head down so it never managed it. The horse tried frantically to pull away from Break and Liam had to clutch at the pommel to keep his seat.

"He's been steady this entire time!" Liam almost lost his grip on the reigns as the horse thrashed to try to loose it's head. "I don't know what's gotten into him all of the sudden!"

"No idea." Break muttered; somehow he was still holding the horse's bridle even though had Liam been in his place he would have long been thrown aside. "Stop that you stupid beast."

"Liam!" a voice shouted from farther down the road. "Quick, get away from it!"

When Liam looked up there was another Xerxes Break. This one was running toward him, unsheathing the sword from his walking stick, with a furious expression on his face.

The Break that was holding the bridle looked up at him and grinned, the grin stretching across his face unnaturally far as his skin bulged and twisted away from its previous form. "Whoops." he said, in a voice that no longer resembled Break's. "Looks like I made a boo-boo."

The Baby, the illegal contractor's chain, tricked its prey into a false sense of security by assuming the form of someone they knew. That was why they were having so much trouble catching it and how it had managed to kill so many of their people.

"Liam, get off the horse, and back to camp!" though he was still far from them Break threw his arm back and hurled his sword through the air, roughly aiming for where the impostor stood.

Still half in its assumed form and half out the Baby let go of the bridle and ran for the trees as Break's sword fell short. The horse now reared fully, throwing Liam off and into the mud of the road. His head connected with something hard, he distinctly felt his glasses leave his face and the world went fuzzy, then completely black.

At this point Liam had been knocked out many a time and was very used to the blurry, half awake way the eyes saw things as they waited for the brain to catch up with them after they opened again. He was not used to seeing the Mad Hatter chain looming over him, large eye not inches from his own, so close some of the ribbons steaming from his massive hat were tickling his nose.

"I know you." the chain murmured.

His glasses were off the the rest of the world was only a colored blur but Mad Hatter was crystal clear because chains were never blurred to his eyes. Had he thought to take his glasses off when the Baby had first approached him he would have spotted the thing in a moment.

"How do I know you?" Mad Hatter demanded. "How can a human be so familiar?"

"Hatter, I don't need you anymore. Go away." Break's voice seemed a bit strained, but hearing it made the chain give what almost sounded like a sigh and it vanished.

The rain that the chain had been blocking pattered down onto Liam's face as he debated the likelihood of passing out again. It had seemed like it would look right though him, as if it was looking for something.

"You know, for a man who is next to blind without these things you manage to loose them quite often." Break's voice was almost normal again, just a slight thickness to it.

Liam lifted his head from the mud and saw Hatter inside Break and, more importantly, that Break was fingering his glasses as he watched him thoughtfully.

"Give me those," Liam said automatically, prying himself from the mud enough to sit up and holding an arm out to him. "What happened? Where's the other chain?"

"Gone back to the Abyss with the contractor." Break said as he dropped the glasses into Liam's hand. "Or rather I kept him busy with Hatter and he ran out time. The Abyss swallowed him and his chain before I managed to kill either. Rather a shame that."

"Only you would say that." said Liam as he put his glasses back on just in time to see that Break was rather hastily scrubbing his chin with the back of his sleeve for some reason. "Anyone else would simply be thankful that the mission is finally over but you, Xerxes Break have to have--"

"Need a hand?" Break asked teasingly as Liam broke off to try to pry himself from the mud.

"Yes." Liam admitted with irritation, reaching out to accept Break's offered hand.

A moment before he could take the hand Break's eye went wide and he abruptly used the hand to cover his mouth. He said something that sounded like, "Damn… not again." The following coughs were wet and painful sounding.

Liam pried his way from the mud fully and frowned at the coughing man. Now that he was looking for it he could see blood stains on Break's sleeve where he'd scrubbed it against his chin previously. Though Break tried to close his hand Liam quickly grabbed his fingers and forced them open to see the splatter of red on his palm.

"Are you sick?" Liam said. Then he shook his head. "No. No, that isn't it is it? You've done this before, only not as bad. I remember it was after… oh." the logical conclusion was like lead weight in his gut. "Wielding Hatter is this much of a strain on you?"

Pulling his sleeve down over his hand Break wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Sometimes one could wish for you to be a little less perceptive, Liam." he said, his voice again containing the thickness Liam had noticed before. "We should get back to camp, with the contractor gone we can finally go back to headquarters." Break turned away and began to walk back along the road. "It might take some time on foot."

"How long has this been going on?" Liam demanded, not following.

Break glanced back over his shoulder and smiled.

The sound of hooves in mud announced the arrival of a group of agents sent to find out why Break had yet to return from his scouting venture. Among them was both Lady Sharon --she hadn't let them leave without her, seeing as it was her Xarks-nii that was missing-- and Raven.

It didn't take long explain the chain's attack and the contractor's banishment to the Abyss to them and they soon were riding back to camp, Liam and Break on the spare mounts the group had brought in case one of their horses twisted a leg on the treacherous road.

Both Lady Sharon and Break had their heads close together as they rode, conversing in low voices, no doubt already talking about whatever it was they had been plotting before this mission. Though after watching them for some minutes Liam concluded that it looked more as if Lady Sharon was scolding Break for something.

A gesture toward Break's stained sleeve to make Liam sure. "She knows." he murmured to himself. "She's knows what's happening to him."

"What?" said Raven, who was riding nearby.

Liam shook his head, "Nothing." he urged his horse to a slight fast pace to catch up to another agent he knew and began a conversation with him.

Raven watched him carefully, his golden eyes suspicious. The idiot Break had been right, Liam noticed far more than he should.

Then he shrugged to himself. They would be retrieving his master form the Abyss soon. Only a few more years of work.

What did it matter if Liam kept an even more watchful eye on them? He would never guess what they were attempting. He was hardly a threat.

Master Oz would be back soon.

Nothing else mattered more than that to him.

"Xerxes Break is plotting something."

"Yes, with Lady Sharon."

"But what about--"

"Yes, has he…?"

"No, Xerxes Break has shown no sign of trying to involve Liam."

"We must prevent that."

"Yes, we must."

"Yes. Indeed."

"Because otherwise,"

"Yes, otherwise,"

"He will get the boy--"

"Liam."

"What?"

"He is only a few years shy of thirty. 'Boy' seems inappropriate."

"Fine then. Otherwise he will get Liam into more danger than he is already in."

Sharon placed her teacup back onto the saucer with a small click. She turned to Break, a thoughtful look in her eyes, "You know, considering how close the time is for… things to get interesting we should really think about including Liam as we did Raven."

"No." said Break, so fast that Sharon raised an eyebrow. Break quickly took a cake, bit into it, chewed, swallowed, and repeated much more calmly, "No."

"It's surprising hearing that from you. Liam could be quite useful to us. He has the trust of Pandora and access to much classified information."

"No." said Break for a third time. "He's too close to Barma."

"I don't think he would willingly give us away to his master. Especially considering the kind of master Rufus Barma is."

"That isn't what I meant." Break said. He smiled at Sharon in the overly cheerful manner that told her he had absolutely no intention of continuing this line of conversation and would be very, very silly to divert her if she tired.

Years of partnership meant that Sharon could read all that as clear as day. She sighed and picked up her teacup again,

Break let the smile fall from his face and looked down at his own teacup, watching his reflection in the murky liquid quiver as he tapped the porcelain with his finger. He was afraid. Deep in his gut, one Xerxes Break, master of the Mad Hatter chain was utterly and completely terrified of one thing.

If he involved Liam in what he was planning, he was afraid what Barma would do to him.

He was afraid of getting his friend killed.

Quietly the Mad Hatter murmured to himself,

"So familiar… so very familiar…"

TBC

End of Part One