Back to Alice as we escape the casino. I kind of... hated Alice's speech at the end. The whole thing struck me as a bit dumb and WAY to easy. So, I changed it. Hope you like it.
Alice, Hatter, and her father struggled to move quickly out of the building. There appeared to be some blockage in their path, however, as all the oysters and diamonds who had escaped the casino room were crowded together in the hallway ahead. Several of them were shouting or screaming in panic.
"What's wrong?" she asked, raising her voice to a yell to be heard over the din. The rather handicapped trio pushed their way to the front of the crowd and stopped short. "Holy!"
A line of skeletal knights stood between the escapees and the staircase leading down to the main lobby. Upon seeing Alice, several of them stepped forward. The terrified oysters at her back scrambled backward, their shouts of fear redoubling.
"Stop!" the girl commanded. She had been talking to the people freaking out behind her, but the paladin's halted in their tracks. Okay, that was interesting. They didn't have time to just wait here having a Mexican standoff. She asked quickly, "You're fighting for the White Knight?"
The foremost soldier nodded. Of course, being skeletons, they wouldn't be able to speak, would they? Awesome. So yes or no questions only.
"Are you here to help?" Again he/she nodded, then lifted a hand to point one bony finger right at her. That's just fucking disturbing. "We need to get out of here. Now."
The knight nodded, stepping forward again to take the burden of her father from herself and Hatter. "Be careful with him," she insisted, turning back to the horrified crowd. "Everyone stop yelling! Listen, these knights are on our side! They're going to get us out of the casino! Let's go!"
She motioned them forward, but no one moved. Fuck! She looked to Hatter who had no answers. "We don't have time to freak out right now, okay? Freak out once we're outside! Now, move, dammit!" A few of the people started forward, edging their way passed the knights. Then more, and finally everyone was running. One of the paladins scooped up the little seven year old girl Alice had seen come through the Looking Glass, another grabbing up her sister. Good. The kids were safe.
The lead soldier, wearing armor that shone gold in the florescent lighting of the casino, stepped forward, taking Alice's hand, obviously intent on taking some of the weight off her sprained ankle. Hatter stepped in, pulling her away and slinging her arm around his shoulders.
"My job, mate," he insisted. The knight didn't protest, just turned and led the way out of the quaking structure. Though she knew he must be beat up something terrible, his face all the proof she needed that there were other injuries she couldn't see, Hatter felt strong as ever as he all but carried her from the building. The undead army guided the escapees - oyster and Wonderlander alike - away from the casino and into the trees beyond the hilly property.
A horrible shrieking rent the air, not a human sound, not an animal sound, something that made her hair stand on end. Everyone stopped to look back as the Royal airship swung around the building like a ball on a tether. More of the suspension cables snapped, dropping the hull down at a ungainly angle. With a final groan of surrender, the enormous crimson balloon gave out, the envelope shredding. The ship slammed into the casino, the hull nearly perpendicular to the line of the roof, slicing into it like a blade. The air shook as the foundation finally crumbled under the immense strain. A gasp went up from the crowd as the building started to topple. The ship was already bursting in a series of explosions, the collapsing edifice taking the dirigible down with it.
A huge cloud of dust billowed and debris launched into the air, the ground shuddered under their feet as the Happy Hearts Casino fell, leaving nothing but rubble and flame to advocate the Queen of Hearts's monument of control.
"Dad!" Alice called, letting Hatter support her as she searched the stunned gathering for her father. "Dad!"
"Alice!" he finally called back. She pulled from her friend's hold and rushed to her fallen parent, who was being watched over by a small contingent of undead troops.
"God, Daddy," she said, kneeling over him. The grass under his back was already red with blood. She looked up, to the crowd of people, desperately calling, "Is anyone a doctor? I need a doctor!"
Miracle of miracles, a man in a diamond jacket stepped forward somewhat hesitantly. "I'm a doctor."
She didn't care at that moment whether he was Suit, oyster, or Jabberwock, so long as he could help her father. The girl waved him over urgently. "He's been shot. Please, help him."
The diamond doctor nodded. The man carefully rolled her father to his side, to get a look at his back. He accepted a dagger from one of the knights, though it was obvious that it kind of weirded him out as much as anyone else that the skeletons were up and moving around., and used it to cut away the vinyl lab coat. Alice held her father's hand as Hamilton hissed and grunted in pain. Hatter hovered anxiously behind her, pacing back and forth in the same four foot stretch like a lion in a cage. The doctor finally looked up, a small, small reassuring smile gracing his features.
"It looks like it's just a flesh wound," he proclaimed. Alice was too tightly wound to be relieved.
"Are you sure?" He nodded. When the man pointed at the injury, the girl leaned over her father to look.
"The bullet entered here, in the back of his shoulder. He's breathing fine, so it doesn't appear to have hit his lung. It might be embedded in his scapula, but the wound doesn't strike me as life threatening," he explained. "We still need to get him medical attention, but I think your father will be just fine."
The air left her in a whoosh and she slumped forward on her knees, shaking with relief. "Oh, thank God." Hatter dropped to the ground beside her, putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her gently upright again, as if afraid she would pass out. She looked up at him, eyes glittering with tears of relief.
"Alice!" a familiar voice called through the commotion around them. "Alice, where are you?"
"Jack!" she cried in return, leaning on the man beside her to get to her feet. "We're here, Jack!"
The crowd parted revealing not only the Prince of Hearts, but the Duchess and, inconceivably, Caterpillar as well. It took Alice a moment to recognize the former Ten of Clubs, who looked quite a bit worse for wear. His robes had been taken and the only clothing he wore was a pair of dull gray pants. He too, sported a black eye and several large bruises to his torso. If it weren't so short, his hair would no doubt have been a tangled, sweaty mess. Jack rushed forward, pulling her into his arms. Alice winced and pushed at his chest, her ribs screaming in protest.
"You're hurt," he exclaimed, his face shifting from joy into a mask of worry as his touch instantly gentled to the point he was barely touching her at all.
"Not overly," she lied. She thought it was a lie, anyway. You couldn't hurt as badly as she did and not have something wrong with you. She was more worried about Hatter and her father at the moment than herself, however. "My father's been shot, Jack. We need to get him to a hospital."
He nodded, turning to Caterpillar. "We need a transport, send some Suits to find something. There must be a few that were far enough from the building to have survived."
The tall man nodded, turning to the Ace beside him and issuing the order. The Suit rushed off and the girl wondered just what the deal was. Was it because the Suits were so used to Jack and Caterpillar being in command that they followed their orders without question? Or did the Resistance have more sympathizers among the Queen's forces than she'd guessed? She realized she didn't care, so long as they had people on their side and her father would get the help he needed.
"You have interesting allies," Caterpillar remarked, looking at the undead knights milling about her. Yeah, she did have at that.
"Did they get you out, too?" she asked. The man shook his head.
"I know all the holes in the Queen's security measures," he replied with a cocky little grin. "Having put most of them there myself."
That caterpillar. He's an alright guy. Speaking of her less than breathing rescuers…
"Where's Charlie?" the girl demanded of the closest knight. He shook his head, shrugging to say without words that he did not know. "Find him," she ordered the group of paladins. They all saluted and half of them clanked away to carry out her command. That was a bit surreal.
Alice turned to Hatter now, intent on demanding he come clean about his injuries so she could get him medical attention as well. The man was smiling at her almost teasingly, which waylaid her tongue for just a moment.
"I don't suppose I could get that hug now, huh?" he asked, chocolate eyes sparking with good humor. She didn't know if she was about to kiss him or smack him, but it would definitely be one or the other. Maybe both.
"There!" Unfortunately, she never got the chance to find out. "She's there."
A chill swept through the little oyster like death, every good feeling she had been enjoying washed away in a torrent of ice water. She turned to see the Queen of Hearts herself, unharmed and flanked by a small army of Aces, stalking towards her.
"Take her," the monarch commanded. The Suits advanced menacingly. Suddenly, Alice found herself not only behind the ever protective form of Hatter, but a line of oysters as well.
"Touch the lady and I'll shuffle your deck," the black police officer from the casino room warned, using his cop voice. The girl was both stunned and incredibly touched by the display. She was also frightened for the people's safety. The Queen would have no qualms about putting them all down to get to her. The knights at her back surged forward, swords raised, pushing the Aces back.
The little oyster was struck by the scene then. Two Queens on a field of battle, each with her own army ready to defend her. But Alice was no queen, she wasn't even a leader. And she was shaking in her borrowed boots. The Queen of Hearts, a true royal ruler, sneered at the risen warriors of the Red King.
"I challenge you, Alice of Legend, to single combat!" she announced. The Knights lowered their weapons. What the Hell?
"What?!" Alice squeaked out. Single combat? She didn't even have a sword! Not that it mattered, the Vorpal Blade would slice right through it and her both. The paladins, bound by their code of honor, pushed the oysters back, making a path between the terrified girl and the cruel Queen. So this was how the evil woman was able to regain control over Wonderland. A hundred a fifty years ago, there had been no guns in the realm, of course. A sword that sliced through anything would have been the ultimate weapon. And now, it was being turned on Alice herself.
The Queen approached and the girl stepped back, bumping into a line of knights she hadn't known had circled behind her. The oysters shouted against this unfair fight, calling for her to run. There was nowhere to run. The Wonderlanders remained silent, watching in anxious anticipation of the battle. They knew the rules as Alice's people did not. This was Wonderland, not Earth. She had been challenged, she had no choice. The Knights, her greatest allies, had now become nothing more than a grisly audience to her death.
"Alice!" Hatter raged, restrained by no less than four sets of bony hands.
"Mother, don't do this!" Jack shouted, fighting against the warriors who held him back.
"Silence, blackguard!" Her royal eyes did not even flicker from her prey. She smiled at Alice, the smile of a thousand murders, a thousand cruel deaths. "And now, my dear, I shall be rid of you once and for all."
"Don't," was all the girl could manage. There were no lies to tell, no deals to be struck. The Queen of Hearts drew her sword, the blade glinting in the sun as she raised it high to strike. Alice was lamed and exhausted. She would not be able to put up much of a fight, but she'd be damned if she was going to put up no fight at all. She shifted into a fighting stance as the blade came down. Barely managing to dodge away, she dropped down, swinging out her leg at the Queen. But she was slowed by her injuries and the woman seemed to be expecting her move.
The Queen of Hearts brought her own foot down at just the right moment, pinning Alice's sprained ankle to the unyielding ground below. The girl cried out in anguish as the monarch ground her heel into the damaged joint.
"Alice!" Hatter's impotent, furious shouts were the only sound in the forest other than her own pounding heart.
The Queen of Hearts lifted her weapon once more. The people were held by fear, the Knights by their vows. Hatter was only held by skeletal sentinels. Easily broken. His captors were left in piles, topped by useless armor and shattered skulls. He broke free of the retraining line. He wasn't a knight, but he was her champion.
As the Vorpal Blade swung down, the man's right fist shot out to intercept it. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? The world shatters.
Or in this case, the sword shattered and so did Hatter's arm. With a shout of agony, the man fell, clutching the destroyed limb to his chest. The Queen stumbled back, the hilt of the ruined blade all that remained in her hand. Alice got her feet under her and launched herself at the woman, taking her down hard with a primal scream of wrath. The ruler of Wonderland grunted and struggled, but was no match for the fury fueled girl.
Alice forced the Queen onto her stomach, planting a knee hard in the small of her back. The older woman flailed, trying to free herself, but to no avail. A good sized shard of the blade lay in the grass nearby and the girl snatched it up, not caring when the sharp edges sliced into her palm and fingers. She grabbed a handful of the Queens candy-apple red locks, yanking her head back sharply. The bit of metal went to her throat, nicking the skin and drawing blood.
Alice bent close and hissed to the helpless tyrant. "I'd kill you right now," she said, her words hard and icy as the Queens had been sentencing her son to death. "But I don't deserve the pleasure. You've got a lot of people to answer to."
Quick as a flash, the little oyster pulled the shard away from the royal neck and brought it down hard on the Queen's left hand, easily cutting through the third digit. Her majesty shrieked in pain and Alice let her go, watching as she rolled to the side, clutching her bleeding hand and screeching in horror.
The girl picked up the severed finger and pulled the ring from it. It was something she never would have dreamed of herself in her old life, back when the most important thing she needed worry about was finding a job, the greatest threat to her safety the chance of getting mugged or falling down the stairs, the biggest responsibility paying her cell phone bill on time. Now, she stood, a proud warrior, battered and painted with the blood of her enemy, and raised the Stone of Wonderland high above her head in victory.
A great cheer went up amongst the crowd, Wonderlanders and oysters alike - though the latter certainly had no idea what they were really cheering for. The proud Knights of the realm clanged their swords against their armor, unable to shout their exaltations. And in the center of it all, stood the Alice of Legend, fated to liberate Wonderland and bring an end to the tyranny of the Queen of Hearts. Funny how things work out.
But her victory wasn't what she was worried about. As Jack, finally freed, rushed forward, she shoved the ring into his hands and dropped to her knees beside Hatter. Tossing the shard of the Vorpal Blade aside, she reached for him, heedless of the way her blood smeared on his leather jacket.
"Hatter!" He struggled to sit up and she struggled to keep him down. "Don't move. I'm gonna get you some help." Alice looked to Jack beseechingly and the Prince called for aid.
"You did it," her fallen friend said, managing to smile proudly up at her through the pain. "You took out the Queen."
"We did it," she insisted, the corners of her lips lifting despite the fact that smiling was the last thing she felt like doing.
Hatter pursed his lips contemplatively, then conceded. "I helped a little."
God, he was such an ass. He was lucky she liked him so well.
She was lucky he'd come into her life.
Wonderland was lucky in general, today at least.