Our heroes all kind of failed hard in the last chapter, didn't they? Tsk tsk.
Alice slowly came to, laying on some thick, luxurious carpeting. She opened her eyes and they instantly snapped shut against the painful light it let it, which seemed to pierce straight through the optic nerve and into her brain. Her brain that was already a ball of agony inside her skull and trying valiantly to break its way out. She groaned, which didn't hurt as much as the light, but still was no picnic. As her jumbled thoughts coalesced into something more herself, the throbbing pain narrowed to a burning ache on the back of her head.
Instead of coming in one big rush, her last memories dribbled back into her mind in a steady stream of playback. Jack, Turtle, Caterpillar and her father. Mad March and the Suits. Hatter. Oh, no… The girl forced her eyelids apart. She was inside a spherical cage wrought of some red metal, wrapped in a kind of clear casing. The film distorted the world outside her little bird cage, but Alice could easily recognize where she was: the throne room of the Queen of Hearts's airship. Jack was handcuffed, standing where Alice had stood when she was first brought before the Queen. Beside him was Caterpillar. And no one else.
Her chest exploded in a pain a thousand times greater than the one in her skull had been. Mad March had finally gotten his hands on Hatter and Alice had been unable to save him. There was only one outcome for this too monstrous turn of events. Hatter… was dead. And it was all because of Alice. She was too sick with grief and guilt to scream, as she wanted, as her body pleaded with her to do. She could only moan pathetically as she sobbed wretchedly into the carpet. She cursed herself, Jack, whatever gods were listening. Charlie, poor cowardly Charlie had run and now drew a curse for himself along with her pity. How would he ever make his peace with the fallen Knights now? Happily ever after did not exist, not even in Wonderland.
There were others in the throne room, but that made no difference to Alice, even when they started to applaud. It was a cruel fate, this, having to live through the fall out of the villain winning the day. Mad March's words echoed in her ears and Alice could only welcome them. Death at the end of the Vorpal Blade seemed less a terrifying end than a merciful release.
"What is she doing in that thing?" The Queen of Heart's superior voice was as distorted as the view when filtering into her little bubble.
"She's a contaminant." Alice need not open her eyes to know that this was the King who answered in a quiet tone, for the Queen's ears alone.
"What?"
"Jack discovered that she's Carpenter's daughter," the King explained. "He went to fetch her so that she could turn him against you. You know, wake him up."
"So, that's why he wanted the awful creature," the Queen sneered. "Evil boy."
"We have to keep her contained or else she might jog his memory."
"If his memory could be jogged, then he is a liability I do not need," her majesty told her husband ominously. "Carpenter, come here."
Alice looked up at this. If the Queen thought her father could possibly remember her, his only child, then what would she do? With the Resistance still functioning, there would be the chance Carpenter could be reached again, could be turned against her. The woman would never allow such a risk to exist. She would kill Alice's father.
"Do you recognize this girl?"
Carpenter looked down at Alice, still half prone on the floor and shrugged. "She's an actress Jack brought here with some story about being my daughter."
"Do you have a daughter?" The Queen asked shrewdly. The man shook his head.
"Of course not." He chuckled over the outlandish notion. "But the Resistance wi-"
"The what?" The Queen of Hearts's murky green eyes had narrowed to vicious slits, a chill sweeping through the room at her displeasure. Carpenter stuttered and backpedaled quickly.
"The Underground," he corrected. Clearing his throat he finished his thought, "They'll try anything."
The Queen huffed with contempt, placated by his amendment. "Those rabble rousing malcontents." Of course, she wouldn't tolerate the term "Resistance" would she? That would imply that there was something to resist, that she, herself, was even capable of being resisted. "Still, why do you suppose Jack chose her of all people?"
"Because she is his daughter!" Jack insisted.
"Quiet, ungrateful child!" his mother barked sharply. Jack was not intimidated, but said no more. What else was there to say?
"Darling, please, I don't think this is wise," the King pleaded. He was waved away.
"Hush, Winston." The woman turned her attention back to Carpenter. "Well?"
The scientist shook his head. "I have no idea," he said, shrugging again. "Perhaps because she's a very good actress?"
"I'm going to have her executed, you know." The monarch's eyes were fixed on her subject's face, keenly watching for any tell, any little tick that might give away a recollection of his offspring. "Does that bother you at all?"
Alice's father looked down at her again and the girl met his gaze. If he remembered her, he would be killed. It would be just like cruel fate to grant her closest wish when it would mean the death of the man she loved most in the world.
"Why should it? She's just another oyster," the man finally said without inflection. Relief surged against anguish inside the girl's soul. He would live, for which she was thankful, but he didn't even care about the terrible end she would soon meet. The mix of emotion was too much and Alice fell back to the carpet limply, weeping against her forearms.
"You may go." She didn't need to see the Queen's face to see the pleased smile that would be there on her too, too red lips; she could hear it in the woman's voice. No one spoke as the doors to the throne room opened and closed, heralding the final departure of Robert Hamilton.
With the Carpenter situation dealt with, the Queen moved on to her prisoners. "Number Ten."
"Caterpillar," he corrected her. The sound of flesh striking flesh brought Alice's attention to the room once more, though the tears still flowed. She'd looked up just in time to see the tall man stagger back under the force of his ruler's blow. He recovered and stood straight and defiant once again.
"You have betrayed me," the Queen pronounced melodramatically. "Each of your lies is a dagger in my heart."
"You have no heart," he spat at her, earning himself another fierce strike to the face. This one dropped him to one knee. This seemed the ideal position as the Queen slid her sword from its place at her side. Of course, a blade that could slice through anything would have no sheath. The woman held the edge to her captive's throat and Alice held her breath, unable to look away.
"I should cut out your tongue," the monarch declared coldly, sliding the tip of the sword along Caterpillar's neck. The touch had to be impossibly light, impossibly controlled to produce only a thin line of blood instead of slicing clean through. Ruby droplets fell from the man's throat, staining the pure white of the carpet. "In the morning, you will be drawn and quartered, slowly, for all of Wonderland to view the demise of the great Caterpillar."
She replaced the Vorpal blade and Alice could finally draw breath again. Leaving the bleeding man, the Queen turned to Jack, her only child.
"My own son," she lamented.
"Blackest of all black sheep," the King proclaimed disappointedly.
"I carried you for nine painful months," her majesty espoused, playing the part of the betrayed mother to its theatrical best. "Suffered eight hours of agonizing labor; suckled you day and night, your sharp little teeth gnawing at my breast. And now, here you are, a grown man with nothing but hatred and deceit in your heart."
Jack barely batted an eyelash. Alice couldn't imagine how this woman had spawned the man she had grown to care for. At his worst, Jack was a liar and manipulator, but nothing, nothing like his evil mother.
"It's unnatural," the King shook his head in disgust.
The Queen seemed outraged by her son's lack of response. "Have you nothing to say before I pass sentence?" she demanded.
Jack's voice was soft, a sharp contrast to the volume and venom of his mother's. "Send Alice home. She doesn't deserve this."
Jack Heart's final request, his death sentence wish was for the Queen to send her home. So, he did care. It hadn't all been an act. Alice pressed a hand against the clear casing of her cell. Oh, Jack…
The Queen actually smiled. "Oh, dear boy, I have every intention of sending your little tart back to where she belongs." This came as quite a shock to everyone in the room, evidenced by the collective gasp that sounded from the courtier gallery. "She is no threat to me. A girl, an oyster. Why should I martyr her for the people? Make a tragic hero of her for the Underground? No, I shall send her through the Looking Glass to her world, unharmed."
The awful woman turned to Alice, that smile pure malice etched in flesh. "That she may live a long life, flush with the memories of all she has seen and done in Wonderland. So, she shall never forget her loss and failure. It's the least I can do."
She was a monster. If she put Alice to death or even killed the girl herself, it would only have spread the word that, once again, an oyster called Alice had challenged the Queen of Hearts. Instead, Alice Hamilton would go home to New York and, as the woman stated, live with the knowledge that her father lived and didn't care whether she was put to death; that she had failed an entire world and caused her friends to die. And there was nothing she would ever be able to do about it.
The Queen of Hearts made her way up the dais steps, seating herself regally on the throne. She turned cold, emotionless eyes on her son and pronounced his fate for all to hear. "It is with a heavy heart and a clear conscience that I, Mary Elizabeth Constance De Villiers Heart, Queen of Wonderland, do sentence you, Jack Frederick Heart, to be held in the Eye Room overnight, so that all of Wonderland may see you for who you really are - a failed usurper and pitiful wastrel. And tomorrow morning, you shall be taken to the Grand Hall with your comrade, to face the executioners ax."
Jack didn't look surprised, exactly, more shell shocked; as though he had expected this but never truly believed his mother would actually condemn him to death. He remained strong and defiant, however, truly looking like a prince for the first time since Alice had known him.
"No!" the girl cried. The man had hurt her, used her, but that didn't mean she wanted him dead. She pounded her fists on the clear encasement, knowing it was futile, knowing no one could hear here and even if they had, no one would care. Jack turned clear green eyes to her, his face awash with sorrow.
"I love you." His lips formed the words, a silent message for her alone. She screamed her denial as the Aces led him and Caterpillar from the room.
"No! No, Jack!" It was too late. He was gone. They were all gone and she was alone again.
Alice didn't move when the cage was lifted off her, didn't fight as a group of Suits picked her up from the floor and half dragged her from the throne room. She didn't speak, didn't look up from the ground passing under her feet as she was loaded onto a Scarab and sent off towards the city.
It was all over. The world had crashed down around them all and she was the only one left standing. Cruel, capricious fate. She would go home and live her life, but what life could that be with no heart and an empty soul? Alone in the little plexiglass cell once more, Alice sat on the floor and felt no difference between the cold surface beneath her body and the empty coldness that numbed it from within. The city loomed closer in the oval window and in minute the Scarab had landed and Suits were collecting her once more.
The building which housed the Looking Glass was on the edge of the city, overlooking the lake and forest. It was the most well kept building in the entire metropolis, no extra dilapidated floors, no cracked walls or chipping paint. From the rooftop landing pad, Alice was taken down a short flight of stairs, into a hall that was somehow reminiscent of Grand Central Station - a grandly done waiting area for those traveling between realms. There was an entrance to the left of the stairs, a revolving door topped by an elaborate stained glass window and a clock whose hands spun without rhyme or reason. To the right was the Looking Glass. The girl could only assume it hadn't looked like it did now when the Ancient Knights had trapped the veil between their worlds with in it. Now, it looked like some kind of machine, two control boxes stood on either side, all switches and blinking lights.
The little nervy man who had been called Nine, but was now presumably the new Ten of Clubs had accompanied Alice on her trip. He spoke to the technician, a thin man in a white suit covered by a clear plastic lab coat. He was so pale that, were it not for his dark brown hair, the girl would have thought him an albino. Even his eyes were nearly colorless.
"This one needs to go back right away," Nine/Ten told the man. The technician barely reacted at all.
"She'll have to wait," he responded, his voice as pallid as his complexion. "A raiding party is returning with fresh oysters."
Dear God, fresh oysters. With the Stone back in her possession, the Queen was free to keep stealing people as she pleased. Not only had Alice failed Wonderland, but her own world as well. The Glass hummed to life with the sound of a vast dynamo, the mirror itself shimmering like heat waves off the pavement on a hot summer day in New York, distorting the reflection.
The surface rippled as a Suit stepped through, leading an unnaturally subdued captive. The oyster, a man in his forties, had his eyes almost completely close, his head lolling slightly as he walked down the steps from the Glass. This pair was followed by another and another, the Suits lining up their catch along one wall. After depositing their oysters, each Suit filed down a hall leading from the waiting area, the sign above printed: Debriefing. The technician walked down this line of prisoners with a small spray bottle in his hands, squirting a mist into each oyster's face. The second they inhaled the spray, their heads fell forward as though they were unconscious, but the people somehow remained standing. The last Suit through brought with him something that struck Alice like a blow to the stomach; two little girls. The younger looked to be about six or seven, the older could be no more than ten or eleven.
"Oh, no," Alice whispered. It was horrible enough when she thought the Queen was only taking adults, but children she had never even considered. It was too much, too awful. Little lives stolen and snuffed out before they even had a chance. Frantic need welled up in her and she started to shake. There had to be something she could do. Anything.
Nothing. In seconds she would be forced through the Looking Glass and, even free to do as she pleased back home, she would not be able to stop the Queen of Hearts destroying more lives than anyone would ever know.
As the girls were lined up with the rest, three Aces came down the steps from the roof. They walked to the technician. "The Queen is getting impatient," the leader, who happened to be the smallest of the three, informed the pseudo-albino. "She wants the ring."
The pale man let out a huff of impatience as pale as his skin. "We'll need it back," he insisted, moving to a small box set into the contraption beside the glass. It opened, letting out a little flood of white light, and there, inside, was the Stone of Wonderland. He plucked the ring free of its perch and handed it to the Ace. "The Looking Glass will only work a short time without it."
The Ace nodded his understanding, closing the ring up inside the little case Jack had given her a lifetime ago. Alice's spine straighten, her shaking going from that of impotent need to overload of adrenaline in half a heartbeat. The ring was in play once more and just feet away from her. As the Aces left once more, she counted ten in her mind. There was only one Suit on either side of her, complacent in her docile demeanor to this point, and only three guarding the ring. Manageable.
This was what she could do. If she could get the Stone back, she could finish what Jack had started, what Hatter had tried so selflessly to make happen. She could take the ring to the Resistance and at the very least, put an end to the Queen of Hearts's kidnapping of innocents from her world. Or she could die trying. I'm sorry, Mom.
The technician turned back to the machinery, punching in settings as the Looking Glass hummed to life once more. Alice took her chance while she still had it. She tugged her right arm free of the Seven who held it, his grasp loose in his assurance of her submission. The quickest, most effective attack was a side hand strike to his adam's apple; the man was easily incapacitated for the moment. The other tried to make up for foolishly letting down his guard, but the girl was ready and tossed him over her hip to the hard tile floor. A quick (and highly illegal by competition rules) stomp to his groin and the man was put out of commission as well. Nine/Ten shrank away from the girl, eyes wide in terror as his mouth worked but no words came out. Before the Suits who had come through the Glass could be called to action, Alice darted up the stairs.
On the roof, the Aces charged with transport of the ring were just mounting their flamingos. Not allowing them the chance to escape, Alice rushed at the trio, taking them by surprise. The little one was her main target, but, unfortunately, one of the two others was closest as she approached. The much smaller girl dropped and skidded on the gravel roof, spinning and kicking out her leg as she slid, sweeping his legs out from under him. The big man went down hard, but recovered quickly. As he sat up, Alice drove her fist into his face, bending her arm quick as a flash and cracking her elbow against his jaw, knocking him out cold.
"Go," the second larger Ace ordered his smaller compatriot. "I'll take care of her."
"No!" she shouted as the short Suit climbed aboard his bird and zipped away. The big man came towards her menacingly and Alice scrambled back. He caught her by her hair and yanked her to her feet, a sick little grin plastered on his face.
"Where do you think you're going?" She struck her hand hard against the crook of his elbow, bending his arm and allowing her to step into him. Lifting her foot, she brought it down with all her strength against the side of his knee, the joint crunching sickeningly as it gave. The Ace released her with a scream of pain. His leg now useless, he struggled to stay upright. "You fucking bitch!"
He reached into his jacket for his gun, but she didn't give him the chance. She turned on her heel, lifting her right leg and smashing it into his chest, knocking him backwards and right over the side of the roof.
"No!" Christ, she hadn't meant to kill the guy! Scrambling to the edge, she looked over, forgetting her vertigo just long enough to see that the man was not dead. He'd landed on a ledge just below and was glaring up at her hatefully. "Oh, thank God."
He did not share her sentiment and was again reaching for his gun. She backed away from the edge quickly, taking away his target. Off in the distance, out over the lake, Alice could barely make out the Ace that had escaped, winging his way back towards he casino and the Royal airship. The other Suits would be up here any second. There was only one option. The girl rushed to the unconscious man, rummaging frantically in his pockets for the sunglasses she knew were there. Finding them, she shoved them on and raced for one of the waiting flamingos.
"Oh fuck," she hissed as she climbed on, her skin like ice, heart slamming away at her ribs from the rush of adrenaline, the fight, and mostly, the fear of what she was about to do. "Oh God. I can do this."
A gunshot sounded from the doorway and galvanized the terrified girl into action. Before she could think herself to death, Alice smacked her hand against the red button, shrieking like a banshee as the bird took off and raced away into the sky. She flew blindly for a few seconds, going in a straight line by sheer dumb luck alone. Her mouth was moving and she could feel the vibrations in her throat as she spoke, but had no idea what she was saying as it was involuntary and she couldn't hear it over the constant loud drone of the flamingo's engine.
She did hear the little scream that escaped her when, once again, a gunshot exploded behind her. One of the Suits had taken the remaining flamingo and given chase and now he was shooting at her. It was quite surreal when Alice found that she had actually reached the peak of terror. She could not be any more frightened than she was at this moment. Strangely, that was somehow calming. She took control of her bird, weaving left and right in an attempt to lose the pursuing Suit, but he had more flight experience than she did and kept up easily. It was only a matter of time before one of his shots hit home and she went down like a ton of bricks. At least when she crashed, he would stop chasing her.
A crazy idea sprouted in her mind at that thought and, with nothing left to lose, Alice wheeled off away from her path above the lake and over the woods. It was completely insane and she was completely fine with that. This was Wonderland, after all. Crazy was the name of the game. Pushing the control column forward, the girl dove towards the trees. Her reflexes were sharp, she knew, but she also knew it would only be luck again that kept her from crashing into a trunk and dying horribly in flames. The powers that be decided this was not the way she would meet her end and guided her flying jet ski between the trees unerringly, even as she sharply changed course to lose her tail.
She pulled back on the stick again, popping up above the canopy and looked around her. The Suit who had been following was heading off in the wrong direction. Her insane plan had worked perfectly. Hopefully the next one would do just as well. There was still a chance of catching the Ace with the ring, if she pushed the flamingo as hard as she could. The wind tore at her skin and clothing as she raced after her quarry, back over the lake and towards the casino.
Alice was gaining on him, she could tell. The small black speck growing larger and larger with each breath she took. She didn't know what to do once she caught him, but catch him she must. The Happy Hearts Casino loomed closer with every beat of her heart, but she couldn't make the bird fly any faster. He was close now, so close she could see his hair as it was whipped back by the wind. When the man pulled his flamingo upwards, zooming toward the airship landing bay, it was too late. She had pushed her bird too hard and there was no time to slow down before the casino was upon her.
"Fuck!" Alice screamed as she tried to brake, even hitting the red button to shut down the machine in desperation. She dropped sharply, the base of the bird slamming against the roof of the building and bouncing back up. The pink nightmare lived up to her first thoughts of it, spinning around and rolling, tossing her off completely. The girl hit hard, skidding along the concrete of the roof a hundred feet before slamming into the safety wall.
She lay there, in pain, but, miraculously, breathing. Something was broken, it must be. Her chest ached with each breath she took, but it had nothing to do with sadness. Several of her ribs must have cracked with the force of the impact. Sure there had to be injuries more serious than that, she ran her hands over her arms and face. Nothing. Her head. Something. Her palm came away like a white rose painted red. There was a good sized gash under her hair, freely flowing with blood, but she didn't feel particularly dizzy or sick. So if there was a concussion at all, it must be minor.
The dazed feeling was fading under the throbbing pain in her torso and Alice realized she couldn't stay where she was. If the Ace hadn't already alerted everyone to her presence, the crash of her flamingo surely had caught someone's attention. She leaned on the wall, using it to get to her feet. Her legs were horribly shaky, but usable. If not for the thick leather britches Charlie had given her, her skin would have been peeled from her bones by the scraping of the concrete. When she took a tentative step, her left leg gave under her and she almost went down again. So, cracked ribs, bleeding head wound, and a sprained ankle. Not bad for her first crash landing, all in all.
Limping, but moving as fast as she could, Alice made her way down from the roof and into the building. While impressive, the security of Happy Hearts Casino was by no means impenetrable. Jack and Caterpillar were being kept within the building somewhere, she was certain of that. If Hatter and Charlie had been able to break Alice out of this place, surely she had a chance at doing the same for the others. It wasn't much of a plan, that was for damned sure, but it was the only one she had. And, more importantly, it felt right and, so, according to Cheshire Cat, it was the only thing Alice could do.
Before you ask, yes, the next chapter will be the torture scene with Hatter. But until then, what did you guys think? I hope everything was clear, I get worried I don't explain stuff well enough. Hope you all liked it.