Chapter IV: Thoughts of a Knave
"Heads rolling...chop-chop-chop...ripping through the little fibers...blood all over...loveliness...off, I say! OFF WITH THEM, OFF!"
The King of Hearts sighed, a hand to his temple.
"Darling, we implore you, don't over-exert yourself: we dare say, there will be no 'offing' today."
The Queen in the cell beside him responded with a wordless, beastial snarl, but said nothing.
The King rolled his eyes, and then turned toward the cell across from him. He smiled cockily at the specimen before him.
The Knave of Hearts was slumped on the bench with his back to the left wall of his cell. His eyes were hidden by the cowl of his cloak. He looked almost like a child, huddled with his legs drawn up, head bowed, and his arms wrapped around himself.
"Well," the King smugly began, speaking loud enough for the Knave to hear, "If ANYONE is losing their heads, we think it ought to be that hideous little imp over there. All in favor?"
No one answered, though the Queen was heard softly singing to herself something about "tarts, all on a summer's day..."
"...Ahem...anyway, why so glum, Knave? It's our opinion that you got exactly what you asked for. You wanted trouble, you got it. Does that not amuse you, treacherous fiend?"
The Knave said nothing. The King smirked.
"What is the matter, dear Knave? Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
...No.
I have nothing to say to him, nor to anyone.
His eyes travelled to where the Doctor paced around his cell. He sneered.
Some even less than others...
Oh, I remember when I was brought here, and why. To say it was yesterday would be a gross lie: indeed, it seems so long ago, but I remember it clear as day...
The Peacekeepers, as we called ourselves, stood outside my cell as they debated over what was to be my ultimate fate. The reason they had called themselves the Peacekeepers was because they had renounced war altogether for over four millennia. This made us fragile and decadent. We had no armies, and our guards carried no arms.
In short, we were just begging to be invaded.
It finally happened: after countless centuries of peace, our planet found itself at war. The war decimated over a billion of our kind, including the King of Tranquility, and our world needed a strong leader, a leader who was willing to do what was necessary.
That was when I took command, the only enlightened soul amongst our imbecilic race. Under my command, we converted the solar stations into missile silos, power plants into nuclear weapons, and the metal from our humble abodes into the casings for our heavy artillery. We won the war by totally obliterating our foe. But I knew that true peace could only be achieved by eliminating all potential threats. Indeed, we would maintain our precious peace, but few saw my perspective as we launched the first strike against the neighboring world of Darminius.
They said this action was unprovoked, and that it was against the will of the people, but this was no democracy and they knew the Darminians had been working on planet destructors for the last decade. Oh, there were claims that the destructors were not all they seemed...indeed, some claimed, they were meant to be something completely different, and that the "peaceful" Darminians were our friends. After all, they had helped us in the war. But I knew the truth: you couldn't trust anyone.
I should have remembered that...for it is when I forget my own standards that I find myself...like this...defeated.
They turned against me...every single one. They imprisoned me, despite everything I had done for our race and the salvation of these worthless souls. They were ingrates, and worse yet they were cowards, leaving me to rot in a cell rather than ending it all together. Since no Peacekeeper dared to violate the domestic and interplanetary peace our world had maintained for so long, there were literally no laws against what I had done. But I had done no wrong, I had saved our race, and yet I was condemned rather than praised.
I could not take it: I finally escaped, and amassed an army of followers—oh, how glad I was to have even a few!—but they were no warriors. They were cowards themselves, no different from the rest. We were defeated before the new war could even begin.
Ultimately, I was sent to Gallifrey, and those blithering, ignorant Time Lords—another decadent race whose self-righteousness reflects off their very name—sent me to the Madhouse. But, I am not mad; I am enlightened. There are hundreds of other races and beings out there who see the universe as I do, and yet I, alone, am imprisoned in this place where Time stands still.
But I showed them all: I worked my way up. I only served as a lowly knave so that I could take command of what was rightfully mine. If I couldn't have my true world, I would take this one...and then another...and then another...
...But now I have been betrayed.
Again.
I'll not stand for it, though. Soon the Hatter will know the meaning of peace, eternal, after I break out of here...and kill him.
The King raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing, Knave? Not a word?"
No response.
The King chuckled.
"It is of no concern...we take comfort in the thought that you shall soon share our fate...whatever that is..."
The Knave laughed darkly, the sound sending shivers up the King's spine.
I shan't, he thought. First, Your Former Majesty, I shall kill the Mad Hatter...then you, and your wife...then Time...and then anybody else who dares to interfere in my rule.
Nothing stands in my way.
Nothing...and no one...
The King shuddered, not knowing the Knave's thoughts, but unnerved all the same by his silence. The King then scooted on his bench, closer to Ace and the Doctor's cell.
"Ahem...Time, m'lord?"
"Eh?"
"We must ask: any notion as to how we shall escape our imprisonment?"
The Doctor shook his head, frowning. His hands were folded behind his back and his umbrella was hooked in his upper right pocket.
"Not yet, no."
"You'd think in a place like this, the cells would just fall over like playing cards," mumbled Ace, who then glanced up at the King.
"No offense."
The King shrugged.
The Doctor sighed, and got down on his hands and knees, checking the bottoms of the bars.
"Urgh, if only I had as much experience here as with getting out of chains and straitjackets...there must be something, some small detail I'm rrruning past and missing. It's like I always tell you, Ace: rrrushing gets you nowhere; you just miss all the important-"
Literally in the blink of an eye, the Doctor vanished.
Ace knew this because she blinked.
She gaped. The King jumped.
"...Professor? Doctor?"
No answer.
"The Card Guards," the King muttered in realization.
"DOCTOR!"
Ace ran up and grabbed the bars, shaking them as hard as she could.
"HEY! HEY, YOU TIN-HEADS! BRING HIM BACK HERE, YOU UNDERSTAND?! I'LL TURN YOU INTO SCRAP METAL! YOU HEAR ME?!"
"Um...we don't think they can hear you, little miss."
"...Between yourself and me..." the Queen sang under her breath.
The Knave's cruel laugh filled the dungeon chambers.
Ace glared at each one of them, then turned away.
"Who cares for you all?" she grumbled. "You're nothing but a pack of cards..."