In the blackest part of night, several figures crept towards Caterpillar's Plot.
The Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Gryphon, the Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, Mock Turtle, and several other rebels were already there, and all were holding a council. It was oddly subdued, especially for in Wonderland, although some of the oddities of the residents naturally showed through. Rabbit would yell, "We're late! We're all too late!" at several impromptu times, and got quite fidgety and snappish afterwards, especially if anyone asked what he meant. The Cheshire Cat, wearing his eternal grin, spoke in riddles and nonsense several times. Caterpillar kept calm, but only through his hookah. Hatter fiddled around with the gears of a watch. Gryphon paced silently in the background. At the moment, they were all talking like mad. Which they were.
"Order! Order!! ORDER!!!" Gryphon shouted. Everyone settled down, worried, tense. He stalked to the centre of the room, looking both pensive and annoyed. "I have been working hard, gathering information. I have almost lost my life several times. So for all my difficulties, hear what I have to say!"
"I'm late! No time..."
"TIME!?" Hatter started. He scrutinized his watch. "It's not teatime," he said gloomily.
"We don't have time for tea," Gryphon snapped. Hatter sighed, downcast. "Now, as I was saying before I was so kindly interrupted," at this he gave Rabbit an icy look. Rabbit gulped and tried to make himself shrink into his chair. "I ask you to listen to what I have to say. The thing we dread most has happened. A traitor has been discovered."
"Impossible!" was only one of the phrases uttered.
Gryphon held up a claw for silence, and got it. "As I said, I have looked Death in the face numerous times, and have discovered that an enemy lies among us. It can be one of only two of us... but I cannot say who they are now. There are too many of us here."
There was panic. If there was an enemy among them... no wonder everything they had planned had gone wrong. Their first attempt at breaking free; they had lost four important rebels. The second, six. The third was only three, but that was still too much.
"Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow. Mary lost her little lamb, yet the Queen she still did overthrow," said the Cheshire Cat. He received several odd looks, but Gryphon looked up.
"He is right, somehow. Mary lost her lamb, her friend, but even without it, she overthrew the Queen," he said, looking over at Cat, who grinned wider than ever.
"Aah, someone solved the little riddle behind the rhyme," he purred. "Though we will have to do without that lamb until the butcher comes to town."
This time, even Gryphon gave the Cheshire Cat an odd look. "Yet another riddle of yours to solve. I will worry about it later. But as I said before, I have found a traitor in our midst. I do not know who it is. What do you think, Caterpillar?"
"I think that it is someone we trust greatly."
"Why?"
"If it was not, our plans would not have been foiled, for not everyone in this group knows all of the vast intricacies to them but those who we trust."
Gryphon frowned. It was true, he realised. He turned to the next creature. "What do you think, Hatter?"
"I think," Hatter said slowly. "That it is time for tea."
With that, the lights went out. "Everyone stay calm!" Gryphon shouted midst the pandemonium. He then roared. A gryphon's roar is a terrible thing to hear, even under the best of circumstances. It is something between a lion's roar and an eagle's screech. Now, in the complete blackness, mixed in with the present circumstances, it was almost unbearable, and the noise stopped instantly. When the lights then came back on, Hatter was gone. But so was Gryphon.
The Cheshire Cat had searched and searched the surrounding areas, but he found nothing. Gryphon was nowhere to be found; nor was Hatter. He came up to Caterpillar. "Have you discovered anything?" Cat asked.
"Gryphon was innocent," Caterpillar said simply, "but Hatter was a traitor."
"Then teatime must have been some kind of an attack signal for whatever his plan was."
Caterpillar nodded grimly. The Cheshire Cat shook his head disgustedly.
"Where is Rabbit?"
"He is undoubtedly still looking, like many of the others."
"I suppose they hope to find something," Cat said, and turned away.
He walked over to a cliff and sat there, waiting for the dawn. Come dawn he would be able to see the inside of the castle, and mayhap look more closely at the strange protrusions that had been sprouting out of the roof lately; they seemed to be sprouting out at that moment as well. But when the drapes were drawn, perhaps he could see what Hatter was up to there.
While dawn was not long in coming, to the terrified rebels it took forever. Yet the Cheshire Cat still sat quietly on the edge of the cliff. Finally he saw the curtains move, and when he was able to see what was drawing them, he fell off of his perch and tumbled down.
However, he was up again in only a few moments, still staring at the windows. Had his eyes been playing tricks? No - machines were drawing the curtains!
Looking closer, he also saw that the castle was unrecognisable from the night before. Not only were there those strange protrusions (that now looked like wicked spires and twisted towers), but there were also multitudes of skulls, and Cat had a nagging suspicion as to whom they belonged to.
Moments later, he saw Hatter walking along a hallway, with a strange, pale figure beside him.
So the Cheshire Cat became a spy against his old friend, trying to find where Gryphon was, what Hatter was up to, and who that figure he had seen that morning was. He slipped into the Mad Hatter's castle periodically, reporting what little he was able to find. After several months he grew worried that everything was too well hidden, but still, he stubbornly kept to his task and told no one of his difficulties. Finally, he made some significant progress: he found the tearoom. He slid through a crack in the door, fully expecting to be found and turned in by the March Hare or the Dormouse, who had been conspicuously absent at the meeting. But no one was in there.
The tea was acidic, he realised after smelling it a few times. It'd keep enemies away... perhaps, he thought with a chuckle, picturing a rebel walking in for a casual tea, then himself at present. He continued down the table, and found three that weren't poisoned. Then it struck him that Hatter was in league with - wait, a noise. He dived into an abandoned mouse hole, unsettling the dust that was everywhere, aggravating the sneezes that were just around the corner.
Cat peered into the room through the opening, and what he saw made his fur stand on end. Hatter was there, as he had expected, but there was also a red dress and... tentacles and a red base too, and with that, he knew that his worst nightmare was no longer just a nightmare. He was trapped in the same room with the King and Queen of Hearts and a traitor. He doubted that there would be any peace talks there, especially compromises regarding the rebels. Then she started speaking in a raspy and cold voice that grated the soul.
"Hatter. What is your progress with the rebels?" She asked sharply. Cat didn't want to even try imagining her face as she said this.
"The bloody Gryphon exposed me," he growled, and proceeded to tell most of that night's events. The Queen's eyes narrowed in anger, and Cat recoiled in fear at the anger that plainly emanated from what little of her he could see.
"And..?" She asked dangerously.
"And I have a surprise for you," he replied smoothly. "Come with me."
He led the way through his castle into a long hall that was covered with mirrors, down to the thick red carpet, and Cat followed them, always at the Red King's heels, and always shielded from view by his bulk. Hatter led the way down, and explained to the royals that he would be getting rid of this particular hall when they were through with it, making much harder for intruders or spies to get in. It was rather ironic, Cat thought, that he was telling them this, not only when one of the intruders was there, but also, when that intruder was right underneath his overlong nose.
Cat amused himself by mimicking their walks, from the King's heavy THUMP-THUMP to Hatter's THUMP-scrape-thump of his cane, then his bad leg, then good. He decided to compensate for not mimicking the Queen's levitation by making his feet vanish. That led to a whole new bout of fun, and he amused himself further by making all but his smile or tail vanish. Eventually he went completely invisible, though he didn't walk around freely even then, because it was rumoured that the Queen could see invisible people... that probably included invisible cats, too. So he followed them, always silently, though never too seriously.
Eventually, Hatter brought them to a lab of sorts. There were rows of beds there, all occupied, and two of them contained the Dormouse and the March Hare. Cat's eyes widened and he backtracked to where he had started: behind the beds; and from there he could see them better without being seen. Cat had never; not in his wildest dreams; his wildest nightmares even, seen anything like this. The March Hare was almost half machine by then, and when he tried to speak, the pitch of his voice continually dropped, as though it were a record in a faulty player. The Dormouse was practically inside out and covered in bits of machinery, especially his head and tail. Numerous mechanical arms constantly poked at both of them, ever lifting away skin or tissue and replacing it slowly with strangely shaped bits of metal- probably gears and springs.
In the many other beds were the Mad Children. They all had nametags - no, it was a serial number- pinned at random places, and it didn't matter if that random place was cloth or skin. They all looked ghastly. One had nails poking out of his head, and the littlest one had the top of his head sawn off, exposing the brain. At present, all of them were in a deep sleep; though there wasn't anything remotely restful about it. There were syringes in their arms, and those led to a large vat that stood at the corner of the grimy room. Hatter was explaining about them now.
"These children," he began, "are my experiments. The serum that I've concocted keeps them asleep and quiet until I have use for them."
"What do you use them for?" The King asked suspiciously. He did not approve of anything in his kingdom going on without his knowledge. Hatter grinned evilly.
"For this," he said suavely, drawing back a deep red curtain. Automatons stood there, hundreds of them. Hatter chuckled at the pair's awed expressions. "The automatons will do whatever I want them to. They are completely under my command, unless, of course, I change their mind setting, which I can do quite easily. I'll be happy to sell you some, if that's what you want."
"What about those two? They don't look like Mad Children. What are they used for?" the Queen asked, almost lazily, gesturing to Hatter's former companions.
"Oh, them," Hatter sneered contemptuously. "They were traitors. That meeting, the one that I was exposed at; the two were all for telling them who I am. They tried to sneak out. They were going to double-cross me, and they had seen everything. EVERYTHING! Everything that I have done, everything that I have planned, that I have created, it all would have been RUINED BECAUSE OF THEM!!" And in his fit of rage, he ripped out the Dormouse's lifeline: the syringe that connected to a second vat between the two friends. The machinery stopped poking at him. A small alarm beeped above his head. The Dormouse was dead within seconds.
"I must admit, this was not the surprise that I had in mind for you, though," Hatter continued easily, as though nothing had happened. "The surprise that I have for you is much better."
The four of them walked through a hidden alcove that led down yet another hall. They made short work of it, however, and within minutes were into a large chamber. The floor was weathered and splintery, promising pain to all that laid a bare patch of skin on it. The walls were rough stone and covered with a slimy green mucous that looked and smelled toxic. In the middle of this chamber, Gryphon was there, chained tightly to the floor, helpless. But very much alive, thank goodness.
The Red Queen crowed with delight, and walked forward a few steps. Gryphon snapped at her and she jumped back and spat at his face. She turned to Hatter. "What are you going to do with him?" she asked gleefully.
"More than likely I'll either kill him or do a few experiments," was the flat reply.
"Why not torture him for information?" she pressed. Gryphon growled softly. Ignoring him, the Queen crossed the room and began conferring with Hatter.
The King, meanwhile, was looking around. He felt as though there was another, more unwelcome, presence there. Spying. Yet when he turned around, there was nothing.
Cat was keeping up with every move that the King made, which was easy because he was so bulky and slow. He jumped away and came face-to-face with Gryphon.
"What happened?" Cat whispered to him.
Hatter's voice sounded. "Oh, come in here, my dear. It is much easier to talk." With an irritated (though secret) glance in the King's direction, Hatter and the Queen exited into a small room. The King turned to see the door closing.
"Wait for me!" he yelled, and plodded in as quickly as he could, yelping at the splinters that he was accumulating. He was truly a ridiculous sight to behold.
"When the lights went out, the automatons came out from wherever they were hiding - they grabbed me. I don't know what else there is to say, besides that we were completely unprepared for it."
"Alice knows that we were," Cat hissed at no one in particular. "It was the last thing that we suspected, especially from Hatter, of all people."
"Have you been able to contact her yet?" Gryphon asked suddenly. He was hopeful, and Cat felt very guilty about what he had to say next.
"Yes, several times. That was to be announced at the meeting; thank Alice it wasn't. But anyway, I have contacted her, several times, and she's been unwilling each time. It's ridiculous, how much these humans can refuse," he said wearily.
"Unwilling to save Wonderland?" Gryphon asked incredulously. The hope continued melting away, but quite rapidly now.
"More than just unwilling," Cat sneered. "Afraid."
Gryphon hung his head (as much as he was able) in disgust and hopelessness. "Fill me in on everything that you have seen," he bade Cat.
It was a long story, but Cat told most of what he knew, from his spying, to the first plea to Faith that he'd made to last night's plea.
"How do you know it's her?" he asked Cat, praying that Cat had, for once, made a mistake.
"I've contacted her," Cat said simply. "She's responded. Isn't that enough? And there's a scar."
"How did the house burn so quickly? What about fireproofing and the like?"
"I think that it was the Red Queen's handiwork, or at least part of it. Most of the structure was wood, very old wood at that. But I think that she fed the flames."
"Yes, but... If Faith were killed, then wouldn't Wonderland cease to exist?" asked Gryphon, who was still much younger than Cat.
"No, it would merely pass on to someone else, most likely the brother, had he survived. Whether he would choose to side with the Queen or us would be entirely up to him; we would have no say in it whatsoever," Cat replied flatly. Gryphon sighed.
"If only I could get free... I would make that visit myself. But I doubt it; my time will come, and with it, the answer to your second riddle, Cat," he said, almost sadly. Cat consoled him the best he could.
"Gryphon, although your kind is wise, you cannot see the future," he said gently. "The future will happen in its own time, and for its own sake. Whether you die, or I die, or even Rabbit dies cannot be determined just yet. Our times have not come yet, and until then, we must not give up hope! Hope is all that we have left, don't you see? If you lose sight of that, you will be blind."
Gryphon tried to look up and smile, but it was made difficult by the bonds holding him to the floor. "Follow them," he said simply, gesturing with his beak at the retreating enemies. Cat nodded and left without a noise.
There was another laboratory. In it was a single grass plot. All of the instruments from the table were cleared away. The Queen was still discussing Gryphon, and asked again, more impatiently, "Why do you not torture him for information?"
"That, my dear," (this, by the way, provoked a start of jealousy from the King) "is my next surprise. But, for once, this is not a machine."
He drew himself up, and looking tall and tough, called out. "Mantis! Mantis!" All of a sudden, something shot up from the grass plot, and Cat cowered behind the King. It was, as Hatter had said, a mantis, and it was not, as he had acknowledged, a machine. It was also very, very large. It looked as mean as it was big. Hatter walked up to it.
"Whom do you serve, Mantis?" he boomed. Cat felt a wave of disgust at Hatter's theatrics wash over him.
"The Red Queen," the Mantis replied. It saw a glint in the King's eye and bent to meet his eyes. "And no one but the Red Queen."
His voice was rough and cruel, his expression . His plates were made out of a hard shell that was flexible, for maximum movement capabilities. He was armed to the teeth, and Cat knew that he would make a terrible opponent. But Cat saw that when he reared up, there were several soft spots on his underbelly, all exposed by chinks in the armour. But the Queen did not notice.
"As you can see, he is completely loyal and will stop at nothing to expose and exterminate those pests in the woods. He will, hopefully, also be able to raise up a bug army."
"Hopefully?" the Queen asked coldly.
"The insects that choose to listen. I'd imagine that you would have definite takers with the spiders, the ants... maybe the bees..."
"Good," the Queen said. Then, "I must confess, Hatter, that you have exceeded my wildest expectations. In fact," she continued, "I am so pleased with you that I am raising you rank. You are, henceforth, a Duke. Though... if you would prefer the continuing name of 'Hatter,' I will not object."
"Your Majesty is too kind, really," Hatter said, kissing her hand. "But yes, I will accept the title and the appointment. I will also stay here, with my labs, to develop more projects... more goodies for you," he said, giving an impish grin. Cat thought that it was the scariest thing that he'd ever seen.
Hatter led the way back to the front door, the way that they had come. A perfect end to a perfect day. He had got so much done. Then the Queen had come by, and though it was always a little nerve-wracking, he had got a promotion and risen in her favour. Not only that, but the rebels had not made a peep that whole day; at least not during the visit, he remembered darkly. Beforehand they had been as loud as ever, but they always managed to hide from his automatons somehow. They would pop into holes that were no bigger than a thimble and come out of a tree stump next to it. That was one part of Wonderland's magic that he had never got the hang of. Something always got stuck.
He had an eerie feeling, so he hurried back the way that he had come and checked all of his security measures. To his horror, a reflection in one of his mirrors showed not three figures, but four. "Who was the fourth?" he asked himself wildly. He adjusted a hidden knob in the mirror and watched again. A wide, catlike grin, then a gradual appearance of fur and a tail. The Cheshire Cat had been inside his house! He cursed savagely and hurried back down to Gryphon.
He was livid, Gryphon knew immediately, and he also knew why. "Stop, Hatter," he bade, feigning weariness. "Just say your latest grievance against me and be done with it."
But Hatter raved for hours, which was what Gryphon had counted on. Through this, he learned that Hatter had somehow revived the Jabberwock, and that he was living in the Land of Fire and Brimstone, secretly, under a mountain. Gryphon kept a blank face and stayed silent. He had heard a great deal of the creature that had killed his father. But he was determined not to move.