[ Play Alice Madness Returns OST Hatter ]
Izuku: [groans]
Izuku slowly regains consciousness, coughing up a storm as the dust around him settles.
Alice: Izuku, would mind?
As the clouds start to clear up. Izuku sees that Alice is quite close to his face and his arms wrapped around her.
Izuku: Sorry!
Quickly letting go of Alice, Izuku gets up blushing furiously, and offers a hand to his companion, Who then takes it and gets up as well.
Alice: It's alright. You were only looking out for me. I suppose I must be grateful nothing's broken.
Exiting what was left of the cable car, the pair walked toward the light coming from the hole in the wall and Izuku sees that there is something different about Alice.
Izuku: Alice! Your clothes! They're different!
Looking at herself, Alice sees that her apparel has indeed changed. Similar to what she had before but the materials mostly consisted of leather and frills. Completed with an array of buckles.
Alice: So I have and it seems the same applies to you too, Izuku.
Indeed, Izuku is now wearing a similar steampunk-inspired outfit to Alice.
[ tokujensen/art/Izuku-Wonderland-Outfit-Steampunch-927209026]
Izuku: How?! We were just in a crash!
Alice: I wouldn't think much of it. Now come along.
Heeding Alice's words, Izuku reluctantly stop trying to figure out what happened and followed Alice outside.
Together they see a series of floating platforms and gears in the green sky. Looking down they see that they are above a blanket of greenish clouds. Everywhere they look it is as if everything is polluted.
Izuku: What happened to this place?
Alice: It seems like whoever is running this factory has little consideration for the environment.
Looking around Alice spots something on the side of the floating factory.
Alice: Izuku! Above us!
The two spot an opening not made by a crashing cable car but a doorway with a platform sticking out.
Izuku: Okay, since that seems to be the only entrance around here. If you let me carry you, I can jump us all the way up there.
Alice: Very well.
Izuku: Huh!
Alice casually falls into Izuku's arms. While Izuku was able to react quickly, he was not prepared mentally and thus starts to furiously blush.
Izuku: Alice!
Alice: Oh come now! This is your idea.
Izuku: But- You could've- [sighs] fine…
Letting the matter go, Izuku powers up Full Cowling, and makes the leap up to the platform. Afterward, he set Alice down and together the two enter the floating building more gracefully this time.
Izuku: Now we need to be caref-
Suddenly, Izuku stood rigid and unmoving with shocked eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hanging on hooks, swings the carcasses of dead dodo birds de-feathered and mutilated with huge screws inserted into their eyes. Although the sight was similar to that of a butcher's shop. In Wonderland, it is much more horrifying.
Alice: Huh? This is… unexpected. Oh well, nothing we can do for them now. Come Izuku.
Izuku: Alice!
Surprised by Alice's apathy at the sight, Izuku snapped his head towards his friend with a shocked expression on his face.
Alice: It's nothing I didn't see the last time I was here. Honestly, at least they're not alive to suffer having huge screws in their heads.
Izuku: Nothing, you haven't seen! Alice! This is gruesome!
Alice: Well it's true. Look, Izuku the faster we go the faster we can stop whoever is doing this. Okay, Dear?
With that Alice walked past the hanging corpses while Izuku took a moment to process what she said before reluctantly following her.
Izuku: I remember Alice not being all that caring for the residents of Wonderland when we visited her as children but to dismiss this so easily…
Although Izuku didn't exactly feel comfortable, he reluctantly followed Alice and the pair went up the blood-stained levels of the factory. It got even worse as they came across dodo birds being roasted over an open fire. While it horrified Izuku further, Alice remained indifferent and simply walked along.
Izuku: Wait! Alice, do you hear that?
Alice: Yes I do.
Peeking from the corner they see two green men wearing nothing but clocks as pants, teacups as hats, and white hats. These Madcaps make their patrol as they brandish their weapons of forks, spoons, and tea lids.
Izuku: They must be the guards of this place.
Alice: It does seem that way.
Alice then pulls out her knife and was about to charge before Izuku intercepted her. Bringing her back around the corner before the madcap guards could be alerted.
Alice: What are you doing?
Izuku: We can't just charge in! They will alert others and we will be overwhelmed. Besides, I don't think we should even fight them. They look like they're just doing their jobs and probably won't continue if we defeat whoever is ordering them. We should instead sneak around them.
Alice: And how do you suppose we do that? There aren't any blind spots we could easily exploit.
Izuku: [hums]
[Oink Oink]
Izuku: huh?
Looking above them, the pair sees one of the winged snouts. Remembering what happened when they came across the other one, Alice equips her Pepper Grinder and waited for Izuku to signal her. Izuku peek around the corner to see when the patrolling madcaps was out of sight. After making sure they were at a good distance, Izuku made a hand gesture and Alice fired the snout.
The snouts flew away and a doorframe appeared on the wall. Revealing the outside along with platforms leading up to another door frame. Quickly the duo jump up this new path before the madcaps could check what made the noise.
The two find themselves at a ledge leading to a huge room with large teapots streaming hot tea into the boiling pool below. It would be impossible to travel this room if it weren't for the floating circular stages.
The two proceed to jump on one of them but stopped as they start to hear something mechanical but not the sounds of moving gears and pistons. Looking up they spot golden teapots, each with a red eye and three mechanical limbs climbing down the chains of chandeliers. The Eyepots then jump down to confront the intruders.
The pair once again prepare for battle however it wasn't as easy as the last few bouts. Each blow by Izuku's fist became null and Alice's blade bounces off the exoskeleton of the Eyepot. Soon more and more Eyepots arrive to swarm the duo.
Izuku: Alice! We're getting overwhelmed! I think we need to retreat.
Izuku shouts as he grapples with the limbs of the golden machine as Alice dodges the blob of hot tea that was shot at her.
Alice: I agree!
Throwing the Eyepot off him, Izuku and Alice jump from stage to stage as the Eyeots followed.
Alice: Look!
Izuku looks at what Alice is pointing at and sees a big trash chute door on the wall. He quickly jumped over and using a lot of strength pulled the door open.
Izuku: Alice, now!
Alice then proceeds to make the dive into the chute. Alice gracefully slid down and Izuku joined her afterward. The door shutting behind them and stopping the Eyepots in their tracks.
Izuku: Woah! Hmph!
Yelling his way down the trash chute Izuku stopped as he lands on a very wet floor. After getting up he sees that they manage to escape their pursuing enemies.
Izuku: We seem to have escaped. Are you okay, Alice?
Alice: [hums]
Izuku: Alice?
Looking over to where his companion is, Izuku sees that she is holding a white rabbit doll holding a clock. Both the clock's face and Rabbit's eyes flashing red.
Izuku: What you have there?
Alice: I don't know but I think it can help us.
Izuku: If you say so…
As much as Izuku would want to press on how, he learned a long time ago to stop rationally thinking when it came to how things worked in Wonderland. Looking around them, Izuku spots a hole in the wall that was blocked off by pieces of rusted grates.
Izuku: Look over here! I can rip these pieces of metal and we can-
Izuku never got to finish that sentence as Alice threw the White Rabbit doll at the makeshift wall. It starts to beep and flash quicker before it…
[BOOM!]
Explodes!
Izuku: That was a bomb!
Alice: What do you think the flashing light meant?
Izuku: I thought it was low on batteries!
Alice: Oh, Izuku dear.
Alice then pinches Izuku's cheek and walked past him as he stood dumbfounded. In all honesty, the explosive doll was probably one of the most normal things he came across in Wonderland. After shaking his head, Izuku followed Alice into an area covered by trash. Pieces of scrap metal litter the floor, piles of screws form little hills and gears stick out of the walls.
However, there doesn't seem to be a way out besides the chute.
Izuku: I don't know how we're going back to the factory. Maybe we can check to see if those Machines went back to patrolling but that seems unlikely. The ceiling seems very high, I could maybe try jumping on those gears for another trash chute…[mumbling]
As Izuku continues to think of plans to get out of the factory dump, something caught Alice's eye, and it made her freeze.
Izuku: I don't know, what do you think, Alice?
Alice said nothing as she slowly walked towards one of the hallways of scrap.
Izuku: Alice?
Following where Alice is walking, Izuku sees that they are approaching a door, but not any door. It was a white fancy door with flames behind the glass panes.
Alice: This door… It will lead us to where we need to be. I can tell but I… I…
Izuku: Alice, it's okay. We can find another way and-
Alice: No! This is where we need to go. I just need to…
Alice slowly grabs the knob but her body refuses to open the door. Then another hand is placed upon hers and Alice sees that Izuku is right next to her. Giving her a reassuring smile.
Izuku: Don't worry, Alice. This time I'll be with you.
Alice:... Thank you, Izuku.
With a newfound will, Alice opens the door and soon the two are engulfed in a burst of flames. Alice holds on to Izuku for dear life as the flames swirl around them. Feeling no heat nor getting burned from them.
Scene Change
As they clear, Izuku and Alice see that they are in a place neither had been in since they were children, The Liddel Family Library. Izuku recognizes some of the items in the room such as the antique camera that belong to Alice's father, and the clown doll that used to belong to Alice's older sister, Lizzie.
Suddenly flames spew from the fireplace and once again the two are consumed by the raging fire.
Scene Change
The fancy white door is flung open as Alice and Izuku are thrown from the flames. Landing with a thud.
Izuku: The library! It's been so long since I saw any of that stuff.
Alice: If you ask me, best left forgotten.
Izuku: Alice!
Izuku was again surprised by Alice's words as he remember how excited she was when she first brought him here with Lizzie.
Alice: Our lovely library was a fire trap. A conflagration, waiting to happen!
Alice exclaims as she got up from the floor.
Alice: Nevermind, let's just go.
As Alice moves into their new location, she was stopped as her hand was still being held by Izuku.
Izuku: No one could have predicted that a fire would have broken out that night. There wasn't anything you could have done.
Alice: … Let's get a move on. I hear someone over there.
Alice ripped her hand away from Izuku and walked to the other side of the room. There laying on a pile of scrap, sits a disembodied head mumbling incoherently. Alice picks up the head.
Alice: Hatter, I recall leaving you in a decrepit condition, but not in pieces.
Hatter: What, what…? Oh… It's you. Oh! And you, Izuku! It's been so long.
Alice: What happened here? You lost your hat, and some… parts are missing.
Izuku: Was he always an automaton? Or was this a change that occurred in the asylum?
Hatter: Missing indeed. Though, things being what they are… I barely miss their missing. As to what happened, you should know better than I. Better than Izuku. It's your place, after all. I know my place.
Walking towards the limbless torso, Alice connects the head while Izuku is concerned that the top on the torso piece bears a resemblance to an asylum jacket.
Alice: When did you ever know your place or how to keep it? Now, what's going on?
Izuku: Yeah! Why are there dodos hanging on hooks? Why are you wearing a straight jacket? What-
Suddenly the factory shakes as a hellish noise of the train is heard.
Hatter: Ahhhh. That's going on. And around, and up and down, in my ears, through my eyes, and up my nostrils, down my gullet, and winding my guts…
Izuku: A train?
Alice: Papa was exceedingly fond of trains. I don't like them much.
Hatter: You won't like this one at all. Nothing like when Mock Turtle was in charge of the Looking Glass Line. This railroad's a bloody shambles. The stink is ferocious; the light, blinding; the noise, hellacious; the…
Alice: Ah, quite, Hatter. I get the idea; a bad train.
Soon a mechanical hand lowers down and grabs the Hatter by the half gear attached to his back. To which the Hatter is lifted up.
Hatter: The world is upside down, Alice, Izuku. Inmates run the asylum - no offense. And, worst of all. I'm left tea-less.
Alice: Tragic. If I do help, will you help me in return?
Hatter: Cross my heart, If I had one. Find my limbs and toss them into the chute. Machines will do the rest. Be on your way, now. Those are good children. Best way out is through the clock face.
Alice: Fine. Izuku. Over here! I think I saw some sort of lift.
Feeling like he had nothing else to ask of the Hatter or that the Hatter wouldn't give him a straight answer anyway, Izuku joined Alice. Standing beside her on the circular platform as they are lifted high to the roof.
Getting off the lift, the pair now walk upon the clock-face glass roof. They looked around as see what seems to be various departments of the factory. A messy teapot-like structure labeled "Smelling and Regurgitating", another much nicer teapot-like structure labeled as "Assemblage (or Destruction)", and finally a box-like structure with giant moving pistons sticking out labeled "Cranking Up and Pressing Down".
Izuku: So we're going to look for the Hatter's limbs. I guess since he is now mechanical, whoever now runs this factory may have repurposed them. I guess we should check these buildings.
Alice: It's too much effort for a man like him. If you ask me. After what he did.
Izuku: Which is something I would like to ask you. What exactly did he do? Last I saw of him, he was enjoying tea with March Hare and Dormouse.
Alice: [sighs] He went mad, Izuku! Like everyone else here he went mad! He became obsessed with turning everyone into automatons. So I had to stop him for the sake of my sanity.
Izuku: Alice… Look I may not know what you did the last time you were here but you don't have to fear judgment from me. You had to stop him but if that was the case. Then is repairing him a good move?
Alice: Well it seems he lost his obsession. I think we trust that his interests align with ours for now.
Izuku: Okay… If you say so. Hey! Is that an umbrella?
Standing in the middle of the clock face floats a parasol made from light blue Battenburg lace. Alice grabs the black handle, inspecting it before closing it and attaching it to a clip on her back.
Then Alice brought out her knife and Izuku got into a fighting stance as they hear a familiar bubbling liquid noise.
Black sludge starts to take shape but this time in a large mass. Standing on three legs before them, this Menacing Ruin stares at them with its three broken porcelain doll faces. Its train pipes burst out flames as it prepares for battle.
Oh, sweet Izuku, he has no idea what's coming in the next chapter and that is where will end this part. I hope you all enjoy it and have a fine day. Feel free to voice your thoughts in the comments.