"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle. Lets start to where it all began." Alice tells Peter who gets ready to hear the truth after years of lies.
17 YEARS AGO
It began on any normal day after Beth and Kate's 'Bat Mints-Vah'.
When they were getting ready to leave, Beth was holding her one year old baby brother who was falling asleep in her arms.
"You're so cute, little one." Beth says and pecks his head which caused Peter to smile.
"I'm starting to think he likes you more than me." Kate said as she looked down at her brother.
"You know that Peter loves you both." Gabi says while Jacob is loading up the truck with their presents. "You got it, honey?"
"I got it." Jacob says as he places the last of them in the trunk. "Uh-oh. Looks like there's no room for you girls. Well, I guess I'll just have to give a few of these presents away to make room in the back."
"Very funny, daddy." Beth replies.
Kate laughs and nods towards Gabi. "We can go with mom."
"Oh, I see." Jacob says as he closes the trunk. "Now that you're officially young women, you're making your own decisions. Understood. Then I'll see you all at home." He gives both his daughters a peck on the head and cupped Peter's cheek before turning to Gabi. "Great party, honey."
"I love you." Gabi says and they quickly kiss.
"You want me to take Peter with me?" Jacob wonders.
"No. Definitely not in that truck. I can handle them. See you at home." Gabi says as he walks off and turns to her kids before taking Peter from Beth. "Looks like he's all tuckered out. So, there was one gift that couldn't fit in his car." She tells the two and pulls out two necklace cases and hands one to each of them.
Beth and Kate opened them to see necklaces with a red stone.
"Awesome!" Kate says.
"It's our birthstone." Beth could tell.
"Red is a very symbolic color. It's the color of love, but also the color of passion, courage, and war. At one point or another, you're going to have to wrestle with all of these emotions, and what defines your character is how you balance them." Gabi says as she helps her daughters place them on whilst they were holding Peter for her. "So keep me close to your heart because I'll be thinking of you when I wear mine." She shows that she has hers on as earrings.
The three hugged and then got ready to leave.
PRESENT DAY
"Okay, hold on." Peter interrupts her storytelling. "Not that I'm loving the whole my story isn't for the faint of heart thing you're doing, but where did this whole Little One come from?"
Alice is still hanging around while she was telling the story. "When you were a baby, you were smaller than all the other children your age. So, I started calling you the littlest one. The nickname later grew into Little One."
"And I favorited you over everyone else?" Peter asks.
"You wanted the truth, didn't you?" Alice reminds him with a shrug. "When you were young, I'd sing you a few lullaby's that put you right to sleep. You would drift off to wonderland." She says as she swings her head around and spins in place. "Resting your weary head in my arms."
Peter would almost find that sweet if the same girl who she's speaking of wasn't the same crazy woman in front of him. Before she could continue her story, Peter's phone went off and looks to see it's Kate.
"You going to answer that?" Alice asks and tilts her head in curiousness.
Peter knows if he doesn't, Kate will track him so he takes a few steps away from Alice, never taking his eyes off her.
"Yeah?" Peter answers the phone.
"Pete, where are you? Dad's been looking for you, and I don't know where you left to. Listen, I know we lied, but I was going to tell you. Please; let's talk." Kate pleads, wanting to make things right.
"How will I know what you tell me is the truth?" Peter asks, once believing that Kate would never lie to him.
Now, he doesn't know what to believe from her; and he has someone who is willing to tell him the whole truth right in front of him.
"Not yet, Kate. I can't right now." Peter tells her.
"Peter, where are you?" Kate asks feeling there's something he's not saying.
"She's going to start tracking your phone!" Alice shouts in a singsong voice.
"Was that Alice?" Kate asks, now getting afraid for Peter. "Peter, did she abduct you?"
"Actually, it was the other way around this time." Peter mumbled before hanging up and taking apart his phone while removing the batteries. "Okay, we've got a few minutes before they find us. Looks like we gotta make a run for it."
"My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place." Alice says and Peter can tell he's going to be hearing a lot more Alice in Wonderland quotes before the end of the day.
Kate was able to track the call to an warehouse just outside the city and finds evidence that someone was here. But Peter was far gone by the time she got there.
"Luke, anything?" Kate asks.
"No, Peter knows everything about the tracking software. I mean, he helped put it together. He knows how to avoid it if he wants to." Luke told her, meaning they have no way of finding either Peter or Alice.
"If we're going to find them, we need help." Kate sighed and wishes she was with her brother right now. He was hurt, wanted answers and knew the only person who was willing to answer every one of his questions would be Alice. "I about to do the one thing I never thought I'd do."
"What's that?" Luke asks.
"Tell on my brother." Kate answers. "Dad, it's me. I found Peter...well, almost. Just, don't freak out..."
Peter is driving a Crows van he used to sneak Alice to the warehouse the first time while Alice is handcuffed and webbed at the hands next to him and a web slowly dissolving on her back, keeping her stuck to the seat.
"Where did you learn how to drive?" Alice asks.
"What, you've been watching me for years but don't know how I learned to drive?" Peter asks as he drives them away from the city.
He learned how to drive from Bruce whilst he was training him to be the new protector of Gotham. He was supposed to learn how to drive the Batmobile, but Bruce may and or may not have crashed it into the ocean after Riddler oiled up the streets one time.
"I kept tabs on you, I wasn't some stalker." Alice defended her creepy stalker actions, even though she kidnapped him.
"Just...get back to the story. I don't know how long it'll take for Kate to catch up with us." Peter tells her.
"Right! Where was I?" Alice asks as she starts to recall everything.
"Just skip to after the crash, I have an idea on what happened." Peter replies.
"Okay, fine. Whiney." Alice comments on her brother's behavior.
Peter raised a brow in confusion. "Crazy."
"Jerk." Alice replies.
"Psycho."
"Grouchy."
"Weapy."
"Dopey."
"Sneezy."
"Wheezey."
"Grumpy."
"Insect."
"Arachnid." Peter corrects her. "Now move along."
"Fine. I suppose it started, tsk, tsk, tsk, 14 months before Catherine Hamilton faked my death." Alice supposes, causing Peter to look confused.
"What do you mean? How did she fake your death?" Peter asks.
Alice looks surprised, but then not so surprised that they didn't tell him that part of the story either. "Why am I not surprised they didn't even tell you that part? That is so them. Yet again, if they did tell you everything, we wouldn't be here, would we?"
"Just...explain." Peter says, wanting to focus on the driving.
"The bone fragments they found, they claimed that were mine, they belonged to a deer." Alice explains to him.
"A deer?" Peter asks, not seeing any possible way that anyone could mistake deer bones for human bones. "They should have equipment that could easily say that they were deer and not human, let alone a little girl."
"You would think that, wouldn't you?" Alice agrees with him, seeing he's getting the same thoughts as she did when she learned the news. "Our stepmother faked my DNA results, and our dear sister and father have yet to learn they had a funeral for Bambi." She says and makes a pouty face, something like what you'd give a child. "I wonder if they have a prenup."
Peter just keeps his focus on the road, but it's as if Alice can see right through his training.
"You don't seem that surprised. Maybe it's because deep down, you always knew that something wasn't right in the family." Alice states and Peter had to admit, he felt something off for years, but it wasn't until he got his powers that he realized it was bigger than something with his paranoia. "But it was something you couldn't place. Something clawing at you for years."
"Am I supposed to be turning somewhere?" Peter asks, changing the subject.
"You're not asking the right questions, Little One." Alice replied.
"You're here to answer my questions, because I can't trust what the rest of the family tells me." Peter reminds her.
"Yes, you tracked me down, trapped me, ingeniously by the way hats off to you." Alice says and gives a small clap. "And yet you're not asking the real big question; Why am I doing this? Why am I like this?"
Peter sighs and sees he's going to have to play along in order to get his answers.
"Okay, why?" Peter asks.
"Oh, you don't want to know." Alice informed him, causing Peter to slam his face against the wheel in frustration.
"I have been lied to for fifteen years. Everyone told me I never had any other sister other than Kate and Mary, and my mother was Catherine. Then you showed up, told me my real mother was dead, I had another sister, and I wasn't born with asthma, I got it from a near death experience. I. Want. The. Truth." Peter demands from Alice.
Alice looks surprised by his demand and even a little scared. "Well then, it all began with an unfortunate event which I remember vividly, and if given the chance again, it would take it in a heartbeat. It was a simple, effortless thing that I had done so many times before. I woke up."
