Hello again, dear readers. Vanilla212 has, once again, done an amazing job betaing this. I'm 99% sure she is a ninja.
Hatter was not going to break the silence first.
And that wasn't just because he was being disobliging. It was a classic bartering trick he'd learned that came in handy in all sorts of situations. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut, and eventually the other person would get uncomfortable enough to start talking. The talker would eventually give away too much, and Hatter would get what he wanted. There was always the risk of getting things he didn't want (a litter of three-eyed kittens, for example), but it was still a top-notch tactic.
Of course, the fact that it was a classic meant that other people were also familiar with it. Apparently, Jack was one of them, because he wasn't talking either.
Another very good reason to keep quiet was that every word out of Hatter's mouth was a potential liability, at least until he could get some idea of Jack's motives. Saying more about the Caterpillar was risky, but so was abruptly changing the subject. Jack was in the same position, so they both sipped their tea in silence and made occasional aggressive eye contact.
Things were getting just a bit awkward when Alice decided to interject. "What's the Caterpillar?" She spoke clearly, and Hatter was pleased to see that she had gotten most of her shock under control. Her oyster stubbornness was good for something other than frustrating him after all.
Jack answered her question. "It's an underground group that seeks to overthrow my mother. They are spread throughout the city, and some say they have strongholds in the kingdom of the old knights."
That bit of information was something Hatter hadn't heard, surprisingly enough. He filed it away for future reference. "They're not a big deal, Alice," he said. "Been around a few decades, haven't done much, yeah?"
"Oh, okay." She was watching him and Jack with keen interest – especially Jack. Wonderful.
Right, time to cut to the chase, to root out the meat of the matter – and so forth. "Are you chummy with the Caterpillar, Jack?"
Jack smirked. "And what if I am? Do you object?"
Hatter shrugged. "It's none of me business." This was not strictly true – a coup would tie the tea trade into a rather messy knot, not to mention the fact that Alice's preoccupation with Prince Charming might make her reckless enough to do something stupid, like get involved herself.
"Oh, but I think it is." Jack leaned forward and dropped his voice to a murmur. "There's a plot…to blow up the casino."
Hatter hadn't seen that one coming.
Sure, there had been plots to destroy the casino before, and he had even helped foil one in the past, but to hear it from the crown prince of Wonderland was an entirely different kettle of onions.
Jack kept talking. "The Caterpillar is very interested in you, Mad Hatter. We've been investigating inconspicuous ways to establish contact for weeks. I favored the direct approach more than my superiors did, so this conversation is an independent effort of mine. I'm sure you understand the possible consequences, should word of it get out?"
Hatter narrowed his eyes in what he hoped was a cold manner. "Yeah, and frankly I haven't a lot of sympathy." He was a little too stunned to manage more than that.
Jack nodded soberly. "That is completely understandable, but please hear me out. I did what I had to, to get you to listen."
Hatter was not entirely convinced that there hadn't been some good old-fashioned hubris in the prince's behavior. But still, in for a penny, in for a pound. He folded his arms across his chest. "Go ahead."
"The Caterpillar has two primary aims. The most obvious one is to remove my mother from the throne, and by extension my father. The second is a secret to all but our leadership. We want to completely eliminate the tea trade and remove the oysters from Wonderland."
Hatter, once again, couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. He glanced down at his teacup, half-wondering if the stuff in the Sensibility cabinet had somehow been contaminated by trade-tea, and one of the more hallucinogenic blends at that. Listening to the Prince of Hearts plot revolution in his office was nearly too bizarre to be real.
To eliminate the tea trade was to eliminate the biggest economic force in Wonderland. It would leave thousands unemployed within the city alone, not to mention the havoc it would wreak on the political and social scenes. Then there were the oysters. They couldn't very well let hundreds of oysters just waltz out of Wonderland. That was a foolproof way of revealing its existence to the Other Siders – and that was assuming that the Looking Glass could handle the traffic without collapsing in on itself. The practical task of rooting out all of the oysters would be monstrous, of course, and the tea runners weren't going to give up their source of income lightly. No doubt many of the tea-heads would get violent.
Hatter wondered if the prince had any idea how daft he sounded
Jack gave a small cough and continued. "This second goal is not popular with everyone, and there are a few splinter groups in existence. But there are a few of us who are not willing to compromise. We have very limited manpower and weaponry, and our greatest asset is our network of contacts. This is where you come in."
The part of Hatter that was intensely disliking the sound of all this quickly pointed out how stable and at least moderately pleasant his life had been over the past few years. There was the occasional thrill or chill to shake up his routine, but he had enough experience by now to manage it all. The last thing he needed was to capsize the whole apple cart by getting involved with the prince's pet conspiracy. Still, another part of him was already bursting with curiosity and plans, and he realized that it had been a long time since he'd had a good challenge.
Well, excluding Alice, but that was different.
Suddenly, the room felt very stuffy. He stood abruptly and went to the ledge on the far side of his office, the one like a balcony with no railing that overlooked the city. It was a still night; the city was filled with more lights than usual, and the heavy thud of a blasting music beat came from somewhere in the lower districts. Probably a gang affair, that. Private parties tended to be a little more subdued.
He took a deep breath of fresh air. "Keep talking, Jack."
"It's quite simple, really. You have a more extensive knowledge of the tea trade than all but a handful of people, and the work you used to do for my mother makes you uniquely qualified to assist us."
"And if you succeed it puts me out of a job."
"I've considered that as well. You would have a new role in my government, far more influential than anything you've had previously. I will need counselors, Hatter, men I can trust. Who better to find and return the oysters to their home, and to rebuild our economy, than a successful businessman such as yourself? It's a chance for you to start afresh."
Go to work for Pretty Boy? That was appealing, but then, so was throwing himself off this ledge to smack down in the middle of a canal somewhere. On the other hand, having the chance to bring some sense to Wonderland's dysfunctional trading system…well, that was a particularly tasty carrot to dangle in front of him, wasn't it?
Even if the Caterpillar managed to seize power, Hatter suspected that there were precious few who were actually in favor of abolishing the tea trade. Most likely they were supporting Jack only because he was invaluable to them at the moment. That didn't mean he wouldn't be a puppet ruler later. If Hatter played his cards right, he could ride this wave and come out on top.
"Let me chew on it, yeah? I've some business out of town. Come back in five days, if your mates don't toss you off a building for talking to me before then."
Jack nodded and stood. "Fair enough." He went to the door, then paused. "Oh, and there's one other thing you should consider in your decision-making." He looked at Alice. "She's an oyster, isn't she? I don't know what she's doing here, but she's not as safe with you as you think she is."
Hatter fixed Jack with a hard stare. "If you breathe a word about her, you'll have a new enemy."
"I know." And Jack left, closing the office door behind him.