.
CHAPTER 36
.
Alice woke up to find out she was locked in the back room of one of the attractions of the amusement park, the faceless that tricked her into going to speak with Blood had taken her behind the stage and had put a piece of fabric over her nose and mouth that had made her lose consciousness. She didn´t know how long she had been there but it probably wasn´t long since she could hear the music of the concert in the distance. She looked around but there was no way out. The attraction was functioning and that prevented her from getting out until suddenly it stopped along all lights and noises from the park attractions. She tried again and now she could get out. She tough it was strange that there was no one keeping an eye on her, that is until she spotted the blood splats that indicated that whomever was guarding her had been engulfed and killed by the machines.
.
Alice heard gunshots nearby; her thoughts were concentrated on getting back to the concert area and meet with Blood or maybe other roleholders. She was about to get out by the back door when the main door opened and a bunch of 6 or 7 armed faceless entered, with them there was a kid carrying a cat. When they saw her a man took out a black box and spoke to it.
.
-Transmit! - Song 3 in sector B! We found a man named Rolf, a kid and Bunsen! (By now everyone in the lullaby knew she adored that kitten to the point off threatening everyone with painful deaths if something ever happened to it and everyone knew that she had gotten the kitten a tattoo on its hind leg ) We found the Foreigner Alice too! We request orders! Cambio.
-Pentagram Key here! Keep everyone there and let me speak with Rolf! Cambio
.
The faceless woman apparently was the leader of the group. She passed the object to a big man and told him to press a button to speak and say the word "cambio" every time he ended his message. She told him that the person at the other side was to be called "Primal Key".
.
-Mhh… It´s me, Rolf! .. cambio?
-What´s the name of the first test subject of the special ink? Cambio.
-Bunsen… cambio.
-Ok, Rolf. What the heck happened?!
.
Rolf more or less told the person (apparently a woman) that he had been on his way when Bunsen dragged a kid that wanted to speak with her. He took them with him and had just come into the amusement park when then attractions turned on against some unknown enemy faction and he made contact with one of her units, then suddenly everything turned off and they found Alice inside one attraction. He had seen MANY enemy groups.
.
-Listen Song 3! I want you to go to the basement of the mirror house in sector G, take Alice with you and take care.. specially of Bunsen! Try not to be noticed and I´ll meet you there. Alice, I know you are listening, go with them or we won´t play truth and dare ever again. Song 3, Rolf! No more mentions of the pentagram key. Cambio y fuera.
.
Alice understood that it was Aria thanks to the cue about the truth and dare game. After the slumber party Aria leaved the castle (Peter told her that upon her request of being friendly with the rogue, he had shown her the rose garden and Aria apparently appreciated gardening, after that she leaved to who knows where to prepare for the event). Without fuss Alice followed the group who didn´t spoke to her. However she couldn´t stop looking at the kid with a ragged jester outfit that was carrying the kitten, it unnerved her that he might be from the circus, she remembered a kid like this one almost using her for knife target practice. The kitten also had something strange beyond the mark on his hind leg, something slightly odd she couldn´t place, and it decided that he didn´t like her and hissed at her, after which the kid kept a few more steps of distance towards her.
.
.
.
.
Aria was crawling out of a vent and entering the underground service passages of the amusement park (just like Disneyland).
When the trap door opened bellow her. She was caught completely by surprise and lost her synch connection BADLY. She knew how risky it was using the main synch mode, she hadn´t even took into account how the tattoo would affect it; it shouldn´t have but it sure did. She had lost herself to the systems, she was the system and part of the system at the same time, all the lights and switches and cables, all the music and electricity. For a few seconds she didn´t knew where or what she was, If the electric systems were hers or if she had a biological interface, if the motors moving machinery were connected to the beating of her heart and the breathing of her lungs. Had it not been for the music performance and how focused she was at her plans, she would have lost herself there. It had almost been an aneurism and a heart attack. There was one time that had almost happened to her, but back then Andrick had been there to fend off their foes and slap her back to her senses (and hug her tightly afterwards). But now she was all alone, thankfully a hit on her back when she fell in the trap door made her regain some sense.
She felt to a spiral slide and after the first hit, her suit shocked her to made her move herself and slow down her fall by clinging to the side walls. She almost broke a leg trying to make a stop in her way down but she managed it by keeping her legs extended and back pressed against the slide.
That definitely hasn´t been on her plans. She took a few moments to breathe and try to regain her complete motion coordination, sort out her identity as a semi cyborg and focus on her current problems.
Getting all the way up to the stage again would be near impossible,getting down to a trap was not a good idea either.
Looking around she found that the tunnel with the slide had vents, so she decided that getting out trough one would be the best option. She knew about the service tunnels occupying various underground floors. Gowland had showed them to her and they more or less resembled the streets and attractions above; as she recorded the place just like any other she had visited she had a sort of map. The bad news about the underground route was that she wouldn´t have signal until she reached a control point and she would be very exposed with no side places to run to.
She was kicking to cover of the nearest vent when she received a transmission.
.
-Transmit! - Song 3 in sector B! We found a man named Rolf, a kid and Bunsen! We found the Foreigner Alice too! We request orders! Cambio.
.
Probably the only reason she had signal was because she was still directly below the stage. She could hardly form abstract thoughts but she was good enough to understand that the situation was getting out of control (and that "Bunsen" meant something to her). She got a hold of herself and answered.
.
-Pentagram Key here! Keep everyone there and let me speak with Rolf! Cambio
.
She needed to know that it was indeed Rolf. After Rolf responded her question and explained the situation (she barely noticed the mention of a kid with them) she decided that the best course of action was to reach her objective bellow the mirror´s house where her main team was waiting with the rest of her suit and for the good of her plans and of wonderland, getting Alice there was the safest bet too. She let Alice know that she was involved so that the other foreigner would follow the team.
She entered the vent and lost all signals, as soon as she could reach the service corridors the way would be closed but the road would be straight, yet she´d had to be very careful of foes in her way.
.
.
.
.
Back at the auditorium things got confusing when all energy and attractions in the park went crazy for a minute before shutting down.
.
-No surprising given how crappy is this place – Blood commented in the roleholders plate.
.
Gowland ordered the systems to be restarted and paused for the second round of the contest before going to the plate where the important "guests" were.
.
-Blood you piece of scum! Trying to sabotage my event!- Gowland arrived quite raging
-I don´t need to sabotage anything Mary. This event is as terribly boring and bad organized as the lousy park is itself. No doubt because you are the one organizing it M-A-R-Y. – Blood said calmly and smugly, clearly taunting the marquees.
-Now, now, you surely don´t want to break any rules, do you? – Joker said just as tauntingly, his polite smile betrayed by the glint in his eye. Then he passed on the grades for the contestants and motioned the rest of the jury to do the same.
.
The winners for the first round were announced and a pause was called for the second round of the contest.
.
-Oh man! Looks like I lost! – Ace looked happy for having being eliminated from the contest.
-Of you course you lost! The only reason you entered was because you killed the other participants. If my dear Alice had participated she would have won over all the talentless fools like yourself easily – Peter said.
-Oh? Don´t be so sure Sir Peter. Aria may be somewhat weird but she is very good – Ace grinned, he had been informed by the guards of the opera incident that left Peter sourer than usual, besides, it was always funny to make the bunny angry. – Didn´t you liked her lyrics?
.
The bunny in return got red, not only by anger but because he remembered how "good" she was. He remembered the opera fiasco… and then what came afterwards.
.
-It surprised us a bit that Alice didn´t participate or that she is not here - Vivaldi said and looked at Blood. After the slumber party Aria had left her and Alice to prepare too, to attend herself the event. Alice had prompted Aria to attend with them but the second foreigner refused saying she had other stuff to do too. Then during the beginning of the event Alice had left to go and see if she could find Aria among the contestants (and probably ponder if she was ready to sort things with Blood).
.
Before the hatter could retaliate the door opened and Boris came from behind the stage accompanied by the twins. They looked around looking for something.
.
-She´s not here either…
-Her turn will come and sis will miss it!- One twin whined
-No fair. I want to hear sis´s next song! – The other twin complained
.
As if on cue the intercom in the plate made some static noises. Gowland had set up the intercom in the VIP section to be connected to all the others in the park in case he needed to direct something from was no surprising; the sounds of bodies hitting the floor, groans of fighting, crashes and gunshots wouldn´t have been surprising either had it not been during an event were attacks were against the rules and Joker was clearly there. More surprising was the words and the voice that came next.
.
- After you tried to kill me… You want ME to risk MY life running to find out where you hid Alice and try to rescue her? FOR FREE?
-Excuse me!? She´s going to get killed! We have people observing the roleholders right now. If they move we´ll kill her!
-And I should care because…? What? You though I would simply run to find her out of the mercy of my heart? HA! Sorry to inform you that the only "mercy" in me is in the word "mercenary". If you want to hire me for that, it will cost you.
-But you are a foreigner too!
-So?
.
.
.
.
Just so you know Disneyland does have underground service tunnels.
Things will get rough. It is not surprising that faceless are very feed up with how things are, and since they are replaceable they have nothing to lose. Worse yet, roleholders don´t know about it and Alice´s issue will take their attention, too bad for Aria that they just so happened to listen how little she cares. But are those her true colors or is she planning something? Maybe both. So what would the roleholders do? So far what they know is that Alice is hostage somewhere and that they are being observed, if they move Alice gets killed. They don´t know the situation Aria is in.