.The chapter was getting too long, so I divided it in two.

CHAPTER 10

.

.

The castle of hearts was impressive and bigger than had she estimated from the info recorded on her last "visit".

.

-Pretty cool place, right? – The tall knight said while they advanced through a bunch of corridors towards where Ace though was the library. Guards saluted when they passed by them and followed their figures with their nonexistent eyes in a well known way that promised that gossips would spread like gunpowder soon afterwards.

.

-Why do they salute you?

-Because I´m the knave of hearts. I´m their general. Part of my role is to train and command the troops.

-Really? That's..!

-Where you´ve been you stupid Knight!

.

From the end of the corridor a man with white bunny ears came fuming.

.

-Where you´ve been you moron! The queen is looking for you.

-Then I should go and see what she wants, it would be un-knightly to let the queen waiting - The smile Ace flashed was murderous. – But so would it be to let another lady to roam alone. So Mr. prime minister, would you kindly show her to the library?

.

The prime minister looked at the girl with disgust.

.

-What is your role? – The bunny minister asked with annoyance.

-She´s the new foreigner –Ace said with an unfriendly smile while putting his hand on her shoulder.

-Impossible! My dear Alice is the only foreigner. This one is a fake! – He said angrily.

-I assure you I´m VERY real. I´m just here to check the library… could you take me there please. – The "please" was more an insult than anything, she didn´t like him, in fact the only things she wanted with this bunny was to vivisect him.

-Very well. But only because Alice would not appreciate me killing another foreigner. - Then he added turning to look at the girl- Follow me Vermin.

-She you later! – Ace waved goodbye and left.

.

The prime minister led her to the library and the little trip was without words from either (which by the way was in a completely different direction from where she and Ace had been heading to ), the dislike was apparently mutual. Once inside he finally spoke.

.

-How did you come into wonderland, who brought you?

-No one brought me, I came by myself.

-Do you intent to take Alice´s place?

-I don´t even know, nor care about this Alice girl.

.

The Prime minister took out his gun and pointed it at her.

.

-Then she won´t miss someone she doesn´t know or care about either.

-STOP IT! – From behind the bookcases the king came out.

-hm. – The bunny man grunted but took his gun away and turned to leave. – Don´t expect much luck next time.

.

The king came to her side, she recognized him immediately (He´s the one who send the guards after me!) , but she faked confusion.

.

-Are you alright? Sorry about Peter White, he is quite touchy when it comes to Alice. You are the new foreigner, are you not? Its almost unheard of 2 foreigners at the same time miss… How may I address the young lady?

-I´m fine, thank you. Please call me Discanto. You´ll have to forgive my uncouth modals, but I am an ignorant regarding protocol in this world.

-What an interesting name. I am the king of hearts. – The king presented himself.

.

Yet the king could tell that she obviously knew about protocol in her world by the way she expressed, her words and the way she acted. She explained to him that the knight of hearts have brought her to see the library.

On her part, she analyzed the king and deemed him unimposing and un-impressive, but he didn´t recognized her from the fiasco the night of the ballroom dance and allowed her to look around, and even helped her get the books she had originally tried to steal. The king ordered a servant to provide her with a notebook and pen in case she wanted to take notes, which she thanked and he remained to provide company and to relieve his own curiosity which only increased with every moment he saw her devour the worlds in the books.

.

.

Time changed and she was still reading at a pace the king had never seen, she had put some sort of ear plugs and connected them to a small device the size of a cigarettes box (Author´s notes: she put on her headphones and connected them to her cellphone), then she had skipped fast though the books only stopping to take notes, she probably have seen a few dozens of books, the king observed that she only looked out for whatever she wanted and skipped the rest of the pages, and if she deemed that a book might come in handy later she noted the book´s title in a paper with a little description of what it contained. She was definitely used to research and to read fast, really fast.

.

-Where is the new visitor that has been rude enough to not visit us yet!

.

The doors opened and the queen Vivaldi came in followed by her court. It took the focused foreigner a moment to realize that someone had interrupted her reading an another one to asset the situation, she then elegantly took of her headphones and put aside the book of history of the castle of hearts she was reading, got up with grace and made a slight bow never taking her eyes of the queen´s. The girl was addressing the queen as an equal, her slight bow had been of courtesy, not of earned respect.

.

-Pardon me my lady, but I didn´t knew you were interested in meeting me. I was invited by the knight of hearts to revise this wonderful library in order to know more about this world so I could avoid misunderstandings and embarrassing situations like the one I´m unfortunately seem to be caught in right now. I deeply apologize for past misdeed and offer another apology in advance if I were to accidentally cause another and I assure you it´s not my intention but perhaps a mishap out of mere cultural shock.

.

Vivaldi was a bit surprised at how this new foreigner behaved, despite her appearance and clothes she could very well be a diplomat or a noble (Not like that marquis who couldn´t behave like his title deemed) also noticed the big pile of books by her side and the one she had been reading was an old history tome (She is more cultured and proper than her appearance suggest).

Vivaldi had been curious from the start. She had felt the new foreigner just as the other role holders had, and somehow she intermediately knew the foreigner was a girl, just like she had felt it with Alice. At times she had wondered why rarely ever in the history of wonderland the foreigner was a male, and at some point in her younger years she had been very frustrated and had trow a tantrum; she had been really angry at all the other role holders being male (save for the queen of diamond whom she didn´t even knew) and she having not a real single friend, then she had wished for a foreigner to arrived and would not have minded if the foreigner was female because then she could perhaps have a friend, that had made her think that perhaps foreigners were in the same situation when they came to wonderland, alone and surrounded by dangerous and (mostly)mentally unstable males who would fall in love with them and in need of another girl to talk to. So she decided that if she had the luck of ever meeting a foreigner she would at least try to be friends.

.

-We pardon you and demand that you accompany us for a tea party at the garden right now.

-That should be an honor and my pleasure, fair lady.

.

The tea party was organized with haste. There Vivaldi and Discanto talked mildly about many topics, they got along quite well and the queen explained more about wonderland to her, nothing that the girl hadn´t find out already but did so in a clearer way. Later on they were joined by the prime minister.

.

-Why is that vermin still here your majesty? What if she brought some disease that Alice may catch! – The bunny asked while he took a seat.

-Be polite to our guest White! And where is the knave of hearts!? – The queen ordered. – Please ignore our prime minister, he is quite the germophobic.

-The knight must be lost again I doubt we´ll see him in days.- The bunny said and they left it there.

-The caution of the prime minister is well grounded; pandemics can spread if precautions are not taken. Fortunately I´m very cautions, My antivius is up to date and when I arrived in this world I took care to stay in a germ free state as I was the one in risk of catching a sickness from this world. As for the Alice… I haven´t met her at all, but I have her been mentioned continuously.

.

The queen raised an eyebrow and the prime minister was taken aback a bit that the girl that looked like a brute to him but could understand the risks of sicknesses.

.

-Alice is our dear friend too, she arrived at wonderland and has decided to stay here, at the hatter´s mansion… - The last part was added with clear scorn.

-The hatter´s… as I understanding there are territories at conflict with each other, right?

-Yes, we are at war with the hatter´s and the amusement park. The other territories are neutral. But we don´t care about those territories anyways. Have you visited them already?

-Most of them but not all. Is the circus/prison at war or neutral?

.

Sudden silence filled the place.

.

-You´ve been there? We are concerned.- The queen said breaking the silence, but the prime minister spoke.

-The knight said that you wanted to see the library, you already did, so you can leave – The prime minister said, clearly annoyed at having to be there. The queen scowled at him and then turned to the girl but agreed with the change of subject.

-As I said, ignore the prime minister, he is rude to everyone except Alice, he´s still quite attached to her. However we must ask you if found our library satisfying?

-Yes I did, unfortunately there´s still much for me to read about. I would like to request permission to come over again and read more.

-We gladly accept your request, we allow you to come whenever you want and check all the books you require. We also offer you a room for tonight or for the duration of your stay in wonderland. And we request that you call us by our name.

-Thank you! Que… Vivaldi, I accept tonight's offer, but I´m still not sure about a longer stay… – She noticed the slight displeasure in the queens face at her refusal- Perhaps I can stay a few days to check the books, there are many in your wonderful library after all.

-That pleases us.

.

The queen stated and did so in time for the next time change that marked the end of the party.

.

After the party Discanto was taken to a guest room, she rested a little and took a bath, but very soon she decided to return to the library to read more… and she stayed there reading and researching for various time periods until she collapsed from tiredness.

.

.

DISCANTO´S POV

.

.

After I collapsed I decided I needed a small break, not because I needed to rest (maybe I do need to rest) but because I needed to relocate and examine the info so far in my brain regarding this world, I could deal with information overload without problems, but eventually cognitive overflow could happen If I didn´t "rest", I had to attend some of the business with the guys and I wanted to check my hidden gear anyways, so I headed to clover.

.

-The boss is back!

-Boss everything´s fine thanks to yo!

-Welcome back boss!

.

I took care to not be followed and reached a safe point where I had hid some cover clothes, another long coat and a mask, it was not convenient to me that the new foreigner was related to "Berceuse"the independent contrator.

I went to the "office" which was the upper part of an establishment almost identical to the one where I had met being a small group they actually had quite good financial actives.

I was saluted upon my arrival.

.

-Boss Berceuse! You´re back! – Wedge, the self-proclaimed 3° in command, exclaimed happily when I entered the office.

-How many times must I tell you that I´m not your boss! Im your independent executive consultant.-I massaged my temple, no matter how many times I told them I was not their boss, they acted as though if I was and I was just trying to keep a low profile.

-Boss we missed ´ya!- Exclaimed Biggs who was according to him my representative (he didn´t want to be boss either, or rather he didn´t knew how to) and 2° in command.

-I´m not your boss….

-If you say so boss we won't tell that you are our boss!

.

FLASHBACK

.

When I was led to this place the first time I realized that these guys were mere henchmen with no real idea about how to lead a business, they didn´t have much will and were deadly afraid of taking the reins (later on I learned that they were afraid to be punished for braking a rule or something), they said that it was their roles and that was what they were but I also learned that the more important a role was the more set it get. Faceless could change their jobs if they wanted, but if their jobs were of some renown it was harder, on the other hand role holders were completely stuck with the power and duties of their roles, although they could do side jobs or even take multiple roles as long as they fulfilled their role duties.

These guys were a minor mafia, they were more into "entertainment establishments", like bars, clubs, table dances, small casinos and trafficking, their specialty was exactly that last one, trafficking, they proudly claimed to be able to get anything. They didn´t called themselves anything yet, but they were always doing anything and everything for something until they got bigger and gained a name (i didn´t understand that ), and while trying to do that, their last boss had gotten involved into some weird stuff regarding the "lost" country of wonderland "Spades", but they didn´t say anything besides that, maybe because they didn´t knew.

When I entered the office the night Biggs found me I was met with cheers and joy, Wedge even threw himself to hug my knees and I almost feel down before I actually pried him off me with a kick, they were VERY relieved to have a boss (I told them I wasn´t a boss, damn it!) , without ceremony but with utter respect Biggs put on the suitcase that their last boss had passed me over the desk and Wedge opened it for me. Then they all stood firm but left me room to check what it hid and think about it.

.

The contents included a list of all the places they owned and all the legal papers and properties of all the official businesses, it also contained the list of the illegal deals, some account books and a few paper notes of the countries of Diamond and Spades (I haven´t even heard of those, I thought that hearts and clover were the only ones…).

There was also a mirror shard as big as my hand, something that to me looked like a cellphone charm in the shape of the spades symbol of a deck of cards, a cute pair of earrings that had the shape of small white masks with a smiling face but with left eye crossed by a vertical slit (I think I´ve seen something like this somewhere… I´ll check my mental files later. At the very least I got nice jewelry), a key and an old book that had no real pages but was made to hide something inside, there I found an old paper with a weird poem that was written in a way that only could be read by looking at it in a mirror its tittle was "Jabberwocky".

.

This was becoming to much for me and I wasn´t thinking of only about the job I was about to accept. (I guess I haven´t got time to actually think about everything)

.

For a moment I envisioned all that had fascinated me about this world, all the amazing things I wanted to know about and all the interesting things that I still didn´t knew about. True, it had its conflicts, but so far nothing were as bad as my own world, I probably had been safer than in many years. Although my life is at stake as always I don´t feel the constant despair of the were many mysteries that needed research, practically everything was so to me (This world presented me with so many fascinating things, so many of them held so much potential…. I wanted to know, I NEEDED to know how things worked). And I got a sensation that these objects are a key to unravel something interesting.
.

I concentrated on the documents and the account books, after reading them I took a whimsical but still rational decision, I took out my vial to check it, it had just a few more drops, I had to calculate how fast and how much it filled with every encounter or interaction. The vial was a mystery by itself, how does it actually fills? does it condensates something? for what I new roleholders may as well transpire some substance that the vial absorbs wand condenses while near them (and that hypothesis´s a little gross I guess) or they could generate some sort of energy that makes the vial work, whatever... and what would happen if I were to drink it before it is filled? what if someone else from this world drink´s it? (I really want to analyze the liquid in a lab) they mentioned a game or something, could it be related?

So few drops... It was obvious that I would stay here for quite a while, so I better take notes and then find correlations and equations. There is much to find out. I will help them with this businesses to see how far and how much I can get in this amount of time, and to ensure I have resources on my own to further my research, it should also be a good practice for when I go back.

.

I thought about some of what happened to me the past few years.

.

Before the war finally was declared officially I had already been stranded in that damned country, and I had already become a good villain (I had been such a geek and freaky when I was young, and then…All I was supposed to be… all I could have help with…and I ended up so far away, so unable to act…) I hadn´t been sitting with my arms crossed, during that time the civil war started and I took upon "the enemy of my enemy is my friend (or at least something I can use against my enemy)" approach, I had died a hero and a villain various times,or rather people have been very eager to declare the dead of such characters. However this freedom fighters were few (at least initially) and had little resources, they were the revolutionaries, the partisans…they would eventually fall because they haven´t consider many things, so I helped them as a white neck mercenary, I helped them raise their business and their family´s, to amass resources, to be self-sufficient and sustainable with green technologies, to survive against the monstrous corporations, I thought them techniques and implemented technology and communications… all while I hit their enemies right where it hurt, in the money. That worked for a while and I also learned a lot more and got good first hand experience…. Until war was upon the world again.

.

-(There is still so much I can do and so much wont ever be able to...)

.

But this world presented me with so many opportunities that I could use to make a turn in the tides of and for my world, that If I managed to get back before things got worse there. I was sure things were getting bad by the minute, and everything could end horribly in matter of months, big power blocks wanted to end things in a quick and decisive way, to demonstrate their power and subjuate their adversaries, wars weren´t between countries anymore, they were between interestest and blocks, corporations moving the strings of governments, big countries dragging small ones into the grotesque waltz by forced military and or economic deals and treaties... And the only way to do so , to end things fast was by using tactical weapons +, so things would be dragged a lot, maybe even a few more years before anyone was desperate or crazy enough to use such weapons, or maybe not... As I said the wars are of interests, everything else is irrelevant.

.

-(All my life I´ve gathered knowledge, a life worth two doing just doing that, all my studies and my titles. And then it simply went to hell before I could use it for what I was supposed to… ) I´ll see how far I can go, how good I can get, how much I can learn… (because I´ll need it for when I go back) . Very well guys. There is much I can learn from this world and I have an objective.

.

I looked at the men and women who had gathered around the place and in the corridors, the rumors that the boss was back probably spread fast and all the members were here waiting to see if I really would help them, or rather if I would lead them.

.

-Biggs! Wedge! Everyone! – I looked at them and smoothly added, (This is a moment for some words I think , good thing that I studied rhetoric and dialectic and that I already know enough about wonderland to improvise something)

.

"I have an objective, I have a plan and I have a strategy. I´ll help you with "professional executive consulting". Believe me, I who am speaking to you, I, who had been chosen by you, I, who is going to bring purpose and a name to you. I have nothing to offer but knowledge and experience. We have before us an ordeal but with me you have the ways to surpass it.

.

Before us we have many time changes of struggle, but every difficulty will become an opportunity and we will take every opportunity and transform it into an advantage and a victory.

.

What is our policy? I say our policy is to wage a revolution. Knowledge and information shall be our main objective, and money our main weapon. This WILL be done in ways wonderland have never seen, with all our might and with all our strength, you may not understand it, you may not understand but I'll prepared for you for it, we´ll change the lamentable catalogue of lack of information regarding this world and we´ll use it in our favor.

.

I now tell you that nothing will be lost for us, I´ll help you get your name on. Prepare for some changes around here, we´ll hit were others haven´t hit in ways that no one in this world have though."

.

I addressed Biggs and Wedge who were at my sides while, Biggs had tears rolling from his nonexistent eyes (I need to research that, hoe can he cry without lacrimals?).

.

-Biggs! Wedge! I want data, if you don´t have it get it. I want to know statistics; population, economy, conflicts, history, EVERYTHING. I want to know the flow of supply changes for all basic products and activities in all countries. Controlling the key processes, places and products is our main objective for now. We´ll also make our entertainment business more attractive, bring me data regarding the business. Also I want a report on the kind of music in the clubs and the sort of activities done in them, and I want the girls to tell me what kind of performances they do. Gather any info regarding the lost countries and how things changes for Clover and hearts with the lost.

-Yes mam!

- Also get me also all the info you have about current and past roleholders, I don´t care about their personal shit, I want info about their official activities regarding their roles and anything that may be relevant.

-Yes mam!

.

This was getting interesting, my second and main university tittle was in informatics sciences, and I was going to work with information. I took out the papers and started to plan business strategies. I still would not get too involved, and I would not interfere in this world with the vices of mine nor was I gonna give too much to these guys, I was only their "executive business consultant", I would ditch them If I needed too.

I knew what I wanted, I would decipher the secrets of this world and take them back with me to use on my own world. The potential of this world was humongous, if I decipher the afterimages I can create an army that would obey without problems that could scare the crap out of people and was not subjected to many physical problems, if I deciphered the clock hearts I could save many people or maybe even create a bunch of golems, if I discovered how the time worked and changed I could improve or destroy agriculture and life circles, if I understood how people had animal traits, or how they could teleport from one place to other or how one person can be two at the same time. If or rather WHEN I learn such things, how can someone project himself in dreams or his method of reading minds... WHEN I learned how this world works... Hell, even if I can´t apply it in my world it will be very good, and the basic research will serve in the future, to science!

.

-This truly is such a wonderful world. ^w^

.

.

END FLASKBACK

.

.

I was done checking up with them… (ok, maybe I needed to think a name for my merry band of misfits) and I was at a safe point hiding my stuff again, Berceuse the "non boss the executive consultant" needed to remain unrelated to me.

.

The place was an old and ruined clinic, not much remained of it but It was a good place to hide stuff as no one got near it. I could even use it as a safe place to rest and sleep a bit.

I had just hid my coat and mask when my sensors detected activity nearing from the upper floor, various spots were in my radar and nearing, (Damn! I already changed. I need to get out fast before anyone sees me! ) my best bet is to run , they´re too many for me too handle, I´ve never been a direct fighter. I turned around and ran, I was going turn in a corner but a new lecture appeared in front of me so fast that it hadn´t been there a second ago.

.

BAM!

.

-FU** DAMMIT!

-(Wait…I know that voice…) Black… I think we should stop meeting this way.

.

I had crashed with the warden again.

.

.

.

+Tactical weapons+ : depending on where you look for, tactical weapons are those that cause massive damage instead of controlled strategic weapons whose collateral damage can be controlled and minimized, in massive scale she is referring to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Oh,oh… What will Wonderland do with a foreigner like this? As I said in the summary, she isn´t nice and seem to only be on her own side, right? And She is not exactly playing the game of hearts, or is she? What do you think? I think she´s somewhat in denial.

.