Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice or Doctor Who. They are owned by Electronic Arts and the BBC respectively.
Chapter 11: Only The Savage...
Within her hands lay the complete Jabberwock's Eye Staff.
"How long has it been..." she mused to herself as she turned over the twisted, glittering wooden weapon in her hand, while the mounted eye glowed a dim yellow in response.
With this in her hand during her teenage years, she ripped through the Red Queen's playing card armies like wind through a dandelion patch, and flayed the flesh from their vile monarch's bones. She even turned the weapon against its progenitor, in revenge for the death of the great Gryphon. With this in her hand, she was unstoppable.
"This will definitely help with fighting the Mara." she said with confidence...but she knew better than to let confidence run unchecked by caution. "Anything I should be wary of before using this?"
The Jabberwock responded, while trying to staunch the bleeding from its eye socket. "This weapon and the Mara draw power from the same source. Although it can help you fight, any pain it causes will be temporary. Relying on this weapon will get you nowhere."
Alice took in the warning and nodded in understanding, but gripped the staff even tighter. "Any resistance is better than none."
"True. But resistance alone is not enough to overcome this overwhelming force. For that, only one tool will suffice."
"The Vorpal Blade." said Alice. "I don't suppose you'd know where I could find it?"
All three creatures shook their heads, causing Alice to laugh slightly. "Of course. It was your Mara-controlled impostors that stole it, after all. But do you know who does know where it is?"
"Only those the Mara holds in captivity know where it is." said the Bandersnatch.
"You may find them, however, inside the belly of the largest serpent. It's feeding off the Heart of the Queen as we speak." added the JubJub Bird.
"Then that's where I'll go." replied Alice with determination, as she turned and walked away. "Thank you for all your help."
"We're not done yet." bellowed the Jabberwock, before Alice could take another step.
Before Alice could ask what he meant, the Bandersnatch and JubJub Bird stepped forward, and leaned over Alice...
…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...
Where is Alice?
The Queen of Hearts regarded the giant snake with a venom even more potent than that within its own fangs. Her throne arose on a bed of tentacles, attempting to enable her to look down on the snake – but as tall as she could grow, the snake could grow even taller.
It infuriated her to no end.
"She's lost and helpless within me, serpent." she growled. "She came seeking the power to resist you, but instead found only the strength that empowers you."
Lies and half-truths. I know she plans to turn my strength against me. She said so herself!
"How can she? She rejected me, and I reject her. She does not rule Wonderland. Not anymore."
Well then, show her to me.
The Red Queen smirked, and opened her mouth wide. The giant serpent gazed inside...
...and, quite suddenly, a bolt of searing purple energy shot up from inside her throat, and pushed the snake back.
When the snake recovered, Alice was before it...but not the weak, helpless woman it was promised.
She floated in the air, held aloft by the gold and red metal wings of the JubJub Bird, haphazardly attached to her back. A clockwork engine sat between the wings, spewing propulsive fire from the Hollow Yves skull ornament on her bow, which now resembled the Jabberwock's face.
The JubJub Bird's claws dangled from Alice's feet, cleaner and sharper than they'd ever looked before.
Alice wore a new dress made from the animate fur of the Bandersnatch, continuously rearranging itself in a dazzling display of black and blue thread, with a touch of glowing golden thread for the symbols of Virgo and Pisces. Some furs on the bottom shook off what remained of the Red Queen's saliva.
A long coil of black rope dangled from her side, tipped with all ten of the Bandersnatch's harpoon-like claws.
The Jabberwock's Eye Staff smouldered in her hand, the eyeball twitching like a thing possessed.
In short, one look at her told the Mara it was, in fact, going to take a lot more effort to subdue Alice.
…...
…...
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Richard! It's happening!" yelled Jenny from the lower floor.
Instead of replying, Richard ran to a room with a boarded-up window, and saw for himself.
More than a hundred people were climbing over the wrought-iron fence surrounding the Hargreaves estate; men, women, and children alike. They trampled plants, and each other, with equal disregard. And every single one of them had similarly glowing eyes.
"By God..." Richard swore to himself. "That's a lot more than I expected." As soon as those words left his mouth, however, he chastised himself for expecting anything less.
He also checked himself in the hand mirror Vastra gave him, and found no discomfort or distortions. Another look at the crowd outside, however, made him wonder how long it would last.
…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...
Jenny's shouted warning was also heard by the policemen, and they all tensed up and got into position.
The first group pressed their weight against the door. The second group waited at the top of the stairs, holding a table sideways as a makeshift barricade. A third group waited with another barricade, made of even more furniture, around the hallway corner leading to the other rooms. Others waited around various windows on each floor, to ensure the boards (and the bars outside) held up.
Vastra and Jenny ran along all of these emplacements, checking the fortifications...and once Vastra saw the horde they faced, she issued an order that was quickly obeyed:
"Forget the ground floor. Fall back."
Some were grateful to be taken out of the most dangerous area, but others were concerned that they had underestimated the danger in their plans.
All of the policemen started shivering as soon as the crowd outside started banging on the door, and cracking the glass of the ground floor windows. Every instinct they had told them to abandon this mad quest – undertaken at the request of a disfigured woman at that – but their sense of duty kept them in place.
At last, the door gave way, and the mad horde scrambled over themselves to reach the stairs.
The policemen at the top of the stairs grabbed the overturned table, and held it up like a shield. The possessed people crashed against them like a barbarian horde, scratching and clawing at whatever exposed body parts they could find.
Through clenched teeth, one of them yelled "PUSH!" and they threw all of their might against the wave of people. It took two tries, but on the second they threw some of the assailants down the stairs, knocking half a dozen people off their feet.
They were quickly trampled by their companions, who had no instinct of group preservation (or self-preservation, for that matter, as evidenced by the shards of broken glass sticking out of some of them).
This time, the assailants grabbed at the table; and the next time the policemen pushed, it was sent hurtling down the stairs as well.
This time, their fear got the better of them, and they ran for the next barricade. On the way, however, one of them tripped. His companions only noticed when they got behind the barricade, and believed they were going to watch him die before their eyes...
...when Madame Vastra leapt into action.
The prone policeman found a whirling display of chops, throws, and kicks standing between him and the possessed horde. Fortunately he didn't allow himself a moment to be awestruck; instead, he scrambled to join his companions behind the barricade.
Vastra stayed in the front of the horde for half a minute, until she was sure the policeman was safe. Then, with a single graceful leap, she was behind the barricade as well.
Before the grateful policeman could thank her, however, she said: "Bad news. They don't feel pain, or they're very good at ignoring it."
"So we can't stop them?"
"I don't know how," she said with a steely expression, "but somehow we must."
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
…...
…...
Alice hovered before the massive snake, never once breaking eye contact. The snake bared its fangs, but Alice's gaze never faltered. If anything, her grip on the Jabberwock's Eye Staff tightened.
"Crush it!" shouted the Red Queen from below; "Flay it alive! Make it regret ever stealing authority from me! Prolong its suffering! And then, when it lies on the ground bleeding and begging for mercy...OFF WITH ITS HEAD!"
Alice glanced back at the raving monarch with an amused grin; "I think we finally understand each other."
She regained her serious expression, and looked at the snake once again. "As for you...I'm half inclined to let you make the first move."
The snake took the invitation. It opened its mouth, and out shot multiple two-pronged tongues, ready to lash and restrain Alice...
...but she was ready. She twisted her body, and slashed at the tongues with the JubJub Bird's wings on her back.
The snake recoiled in pain, and Alice took advantage of its distraction; she flapped her wings hard, causing more fire to spew from her 'engine', and propel her towards the center of Queensland, with the giant snake in pursuit.
She shook her staff and focused her energy into it, causing purple energy to coalesce at a point before the eye's pupil. A dozen new snakes appeared out of the snakeskin-covered sky in front of Alice, and lunged at her, but not fast enough; at that exact moment the staff finished charging, and she unleashed a beam of white hot purple light.
The beam slammed into the snakes face first, peeling off scales and searing flesh, and leaving glowing purple trails that continued to burn ever deeper into the affected monsters. Engulfed in pain, they turned away and let Alice pass by unmolested.
The giant snake head, however, started to close the distance. Alice could feel its hot breath through her boots. So, she turned around and ended the channeling of energy through the staff – forcing the remnant out the end as a fireball, which flew right into the snake's open mouth. It exploded as soon as it contacted something solid, and the onrushing snake halted its progress at once, to cough the blood and smoke out of its throat.
Alice had won a moment of respite, but only a moment; a quick glance behind her revealed that the once-serious wounds that afflicted the pursuing snakes were healing at a visibly fast rate. Soon, all of the snakes she had passed were rearing for a strike. With seconds to spare, she folded the JubJub Bird wings into her sides, and dropped out of the sky as a means of dodging them.
She pulled out of the dive as soon as it served its purpose, and not a second too soon: once again, snakes started popping out of the ground.
She lowered her feet and raked the snakes with her talons as she passed, ripping off chunks of flesh.
Before she could savor any victory, however, a massive snake appeared in front of her, and she was only barely able to soar back into the sky, preventing it from swallowing her by mere seconds.
This is your plan? To use my strength against me? I thrive on pain and suffering!
Alice didn't bother responding to the Mara's taunts at first. She was too busy looking out for the next attack, so she could dodge or counter it.
You'd have more luck using my strength against others. Turn the never-ending cycle of suffering with me, and share in the spoils! With all of Earth dreaming me into existence, I shall manifest on a scale never before heard of. Neighboring civilizations will fall under my sway in seconds. My reign shall eclipse the Sumaran Empire in scope and in duration – no one will be immune to my powers this time. And with you as a part of me, you shall know joy of the kind your mortal perception cannot begin to comprehend.
Since there were no attacks coming, however, Alice responded: "You keep trying to convince me that you and I are the same...but if that's the case, you should know by now that feeding off the suffering of others is the last thing I want!"
It won't be anyone you care about. Those, you will pull into the dream that fuels my manifestation. They will be part of us as well, as will our most loyal servants. There will be no effort to resist us, but all will scramble over each other to earn our favor.
"To take advantage of how broken we made the world?"
The world was already broken long before I was given sentience on Manussa. I was born from the misery of the universe. As long as life exists, so shall I. They only need to acknowledge my rule to accept the truth of the world: there will always be suffering, and fulfillment can only come from embracing it.
Alice grimaced in response. "Throughout my life I have learned that those who take whatever they want, and hurt whoever they please, are evil. And it is the duty of moral beings to avoid being evil at all costs."
I'm familiar with that message. Here's an interesting bit of trivia: all too often that message is preached by evil people who don't want competition. The only difference between them and me is that I thrive on competition.
"It still doesn't change the point that you are everything I have been taught to hate. You once had a chance, before I knew what you really were. But now that I know your true nature, Mara, why do you still think you can convince me to join you? Or even make me believe I want it?"
A dull throbbing coursed through the atmosphere, bearing with it a series of low rumblings that resembled some perverse form of laughter.
So you think resistance is good? How can it, when it has brought death to the doorstep of your closest friends?
"I know what you're trying to do, Mara." said Alice, her flight pattern faltering imperceptibly. "You're saying your earthly victims will come to break the circle of mirrors, and hold my friends hostage until I give in. We all knew that was a possibility when we started this plan, but we went through with it anyway. Explain that."
You are overconfident. You think you stand a chance against a living force of nature. Face facts, Alice: While you're trapped in here with me, fighting with weapons that cannot hurt me, your friends will die in agony.
"No they won't. They'll survive, long enough for me to figure out your weaknesses. You will not triumph."
Listen how casually you dismiss the impossible odds you face! You might as well try to hold back a hurricane. What makes you believe that victory is even possible?
"That's easy," said Alice, "I hold on to the belief that everything will work out in the end."
That's overconfidence.
"That's faith. Something you can't understand because you can't feed off it."
Where do you get it from?
Once again, Alice smiled. "That's a good question, actually. I've been fighting you for some time...and yet, I have seen no trace of the Pigeon. Considering he represents the part of my mind that resists you, he should have shown up by now."
How do you know he's not dead?
"Because I haven't surrendered yet."
Again, the dull laughter echoed throughout Queensland.
You're trying to get me to show you where I've hidden them, so you can find the Vorpal Blade.
As the Mara spoke, Alice felt herself becoming worried. She squashed that worry as best she could.
The Blade is beyond your reach; even if you knew where it is, you wouldn't be able to obtain it.
"Well, could you at least show me my friends? It's bound to get boring, talking and fighting you nonstop."
I could make things more interesting for you.
"Really? How could you possibly hold my interest?" she asked...and then, with a laugh, she asked another question: "Are you going to try and hypnotize me with your glowing snake eyes?"
Now what good will that do? I know your history with hypnosis – you'd reject it. As fun as it would be to dig up your trauma from Bumby's care, it wouldn't serve my purpose. So instead, I shall...
The Mara's echoing speech trailed off, as it noticed Alice had turned her attention away from the conversation. Instead, she was scanning the horizon, looking through the haze surrounding the Red Queen's enormous castle...
...and finally her gaze rested on a dull orange glow, coming from the middle of a distant hedge maze. Without a second to spare, she flapped her wings and zipped towards the glow.
What are you doing?
Alice didn't answer. Instead, she shook the Jabberwock's Eye Staff and charged its beam attack, aiming it at the glowing spot hanging in the middle of the sky.
The beam stopped just before the glowing spot, but instead started burning a visible mark on the side of a massive snake – one who's scales were colored to look like its surroundings. It's eyes appeared, and its slightly loosened its mouths grip on a massive mound of red flesh, which Alice quickly recognized as part of the Red Queen's body/castle.
"Clever. You knew I was looking for the Heart of the Queen, so you hid the snake feeding on it. But I seem to be just as clever."
With that, Alice intensified the beam assaulting the giant snake. The burn mark expanded, as the invisible snake's flesh carbonized under the heat. Alice ended the beam and a fireball shortly followed, tearing a hole in the side of the snake, as if it was solid rock blown apart by a stick of dynamite.
Before Alice could move closer, however, several dozen snake heads appeared all at once – out of the ground and sky at the same time.
You will not move an inch!
Alice held the staff straight upwards, and charged it with all her energy. Small motes of energy shot up to the sky...
...but before anything else happened, all of the snake's eyes focused their glowing energy on Alice's own, to the effect of dominating her field of vision. Burning away every thought in her head until only thoughts of the glow remained.
Alice couldn't see the hole she had made in the giant snake. Alice couldn't see the snakes around her. Alice couldn't see the brilliance of Queensland. Alice couldn't see herself.
There were no snakes. There was no Mara. There was no Alice.
There was no past, present, or future.
There was only the glow.
Drop the staff.
Alice's grip on the Jabberwock's Eye Staff relaxed, and it fell to the ground. Alice didn't even notice.
So I guess I was wrong; I did find a way to use it to my advantage. You really shouldn't have given me the idea to hypnotize you. Now I'll...
Suddenly, purple bolts rained from the sky and struck all the snakes at once. They flinched as one and turned away from Alice, who quickly snapped out of her trance.
"Urgh!" she groaned, and she sized up the situation. The snake heads were smouldering from the delayed meteor attack she'd summoned earlier. The Jabberwock's Eye Staff, which she quickly realized she dropped, was nestled in some bushes far below her; and the bloody red hole she carved in the snake was rapidly closing. She didn't have time to address both at once...
...At least, that's how it seemed at first. But then, Alice pulled the coil of rope off her side, and cast it down at the dropped staff.
The instant it looped around it, she pulled it up, and with the same movement zoomed towards the closing hole.
"You fell right into my trap, Mara!" Alice taunted as she flew at top speed. "I gave you that idea so you'd gain a power I would know how to counter! If you want to convince me I'm overconfident, you'll have to try something else!"
Not giving the Mara a chance to respond, she pulled her wings close to her body so she slipped right through the hole, the rope and staff trailing behind her, seconds before it healed itself shut.
…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...
The inside of the snake's body was dark, but the fire spewing from the engine on her back provided enough light to navigate as long as she flew slowly.
Alice was used to innards, owing to her history of navigating the Red Queen's castle. But the inside of this manifestation of the Mara's control over Wonderland somehow managed to unnerve her still.
The bones that lined the roof and the walls were there, but they seemed to be conspicuously empty voids, blacker than night, rather than normal white bones. The flesh was dry and cracked, like a lakebed starved of water, and yet it still moved and throbbed as if it had life. A river of digestive fluids flowed beneath her, pulling air towards it rather than radiating, but it still gave Alice all the memories of her sickest days. Even more unnerving, smaller snakes seemed to be growing from all over, attempting to pull themselves off the walls and attack Alice.
It was a reversal of everything she knew, and it was disorienting at first. After a little while, however, Alice was able to ignore it. Thus, she refocused her attention on the light at the end of the tunnel, which she floated towards.
Shortly, she found herself in a vast cavern, illuminated by hundreds upon hundreds of glowing eyes, attached to hundreds upon hundreds of snake heads. And floating before each head, frozen and entranced, were the people she had been searching for: The Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Butterfly, the Mad Hatter, the White Queen, and all the others. She even saw the White Knight and the Pigeon, the only ones with even the slightest amount of visible motion, as they struggled in vain to break the serpent's gaze.
Without a second to spare, Alice went to work. She focused on the Jabberwock's Eye Staff, and drew power into it...from the snake heads! The yellow glow of their eyes was pulled away from their Wonderland victims, and coalesced into a purple orb that hovered just before Alice. Shocked and confused, the heads turned towards Alice...
….who then sent the orb at them, where it bounced from head to head, burning their scales and pushing them back into the walls! Their eyes' light faded until all that remained were pinpricks protruding from the walls. It was just enough to see, but the hypnotic power the glow contained was sealed away.
As the heads disappeared, Alice turned towards her not-so-imaginary friends, as they regained their motion and awareness of their surroundings. Relief washed over her...and then shock, as gravity suddenly regained its hold over them, and pulled them towards the digestive pool below.
Thinking quickly, Alice threw the coil of Bandersnatch rope below them, and focused her power into it. It obeyed her will, and wove itself into a massive net, attaching itself to the edges of the cavern with the harpoon claws. Everyone landed on it completely unharmed, and Alice was once again relieved.
She landed on the net beside them, folded up her metallic wings, and collapsed in exhaustion. Using the Jabberwock's Eye Staff always took a toll on her energy, and it seemed to be the case even when she was channeling the Mara's own power.
Her friends rushed to her side, and the White Rabbit, White Queen, and White Knight helped her to a seated position. The Knight then gave her some Meta-Essence, the last of his supply.
Alice breathed deeply, got her heartbeat under control, and then said "Thank you."
"We should be thanking you!" said the White Queen. "You saved us from the Mara!"
"We're not safe yet." Alice replied. "It knows we're in here. It could strike at any moment."
"So what will we do?" called a concerned voice from the crowd, though Alice could tell it was the Mock Turtle speaking.
Alice gathered her thoughts. It didn't take her long to remember Vastra's words about the 'still point.'
"Rabbit," she asked, "Do you know where the center of Wonderland is?"
"The origin? Of course. All of Wonderland orbits around that point! It's the one constant in this chaotic world!"
"Perfect. The Mara hates constancy. We'll be safe there." And with that, Alice spread her wings, and prepared to take flight...
...but then the White Queen interrupted. "But without the Vorpal Blade, we won't be able to make it in."
Alice folded her wings, and sighed in disappointment. "Then...does anyone know where the Vorpal Blade is?"
All of the denizens of Wonderland shook their heads, or whatever counted for such.
"Really? The JubJub Bird said you'd know where it is!"
"I know where it was," said the Hatter, "But Marous forces stole it just as I was captured!"
"What?" Alice exclaimed. "But that's...how can it even touch it?"
At that point, the Cheshire Cat materialized in front of her, looking emaciated once more.
"Wonderland changes as you change. The Mara was the most significant change to ever happen to this world; and it, in turn, made some changes of its own. Small things, at first, designed to make you believe you were losing control of your mind."
"It increased my laziness, so I wouldn't even bother to give you helpful advice. It put the Dodo in charge of decisions regarding your next course of action, making you think your thoughts are unreliable. It strengthened your indecision by prolonging the contest of the Lion and the Unicorn. It listed Bumby as a 'helpful person', in an attempt to rewrite your definition of friend and foe. And it called you into Wonderland at the most inconvenient times."
"Once your self-confidence was shattered, it made its most significant changes: creating clones of the Jabberwock, the JubJub Bird, and the Bandersnatch, out of the same emotional energy that spawned the originals...and like newborns, they had no memories of you growing up with those emotions and making them a part of you. No memories of how the Vorpal Blade can go snicker-snack."
"...Is that how..?" Alice asked.
"In part." said the Cat as he crawled closer. "But the real catalyst was that you lost faith in the Blade's power as well. You lost faith in yourself."
"...You're right." said Alice. "I may not have the Blade, but I do have faith. Confidence. I can and will defeat the Mara. I will save this world, and all my friends."
"That's the spirit, Alice!" cheered the White Knight.
"Besides, half the Serpent's power lies in surprise anyway." chimed in the Pigeon. "Now that we know the enemy we face, we can overcome it."
"No matter what pain it may throw at us!" added the Hatter.
The Cheshire Cat purred. "Only the savage regard the endurance of pain as a measure of worth...but when pain is unavoidable, the heroic judge themselves by what they accomplish in spite of their pain."
"You can do it Alice!" shouted a chorus of happy, hopeful voices, echoing throughout the chamber and washing all over Alice.
"Thank you."
For what? For poisoning your head with lies?
Alice tensed up upon hearing the Mara's voice. The denizens of Wonderland huddled behind her.
"You're the one who doesn't comprehend the notion of honesty! You feed on dishonesty, for Queen's sake!"
I am also the one who feeds off of regret, malice, and fear. The only tools you have to fight me. I know you know my weaknesses, but still you don't use them.
"Well then, come out and give me an opportunity to prove you wrong!" yelled Alice as she brandished the Jabberwock's Eye Staff.
That will be unexpected. All you've proven to me so far...is how to turn your opponent's power against them.
The skin of the cavern contorted into one giant snake...one that moved slowly to the rope surface, and softly lay down on it.
Alice braced for an attack...
...but all the serpent did was open its mouth.
Inside was a humanoid figure, initially cloaked in shadow. But as it stepped out of the snake's mouth and into the dim light of the cavern, the shock finally made Alice drop her guard.
"What...who are you?" she asked incredulously.
"I am you, Alice."
Join us next month when Alice takes on her most challenging foe ever: herself!
Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!