Thanks again to my reviewers! Enjoy!

Chapter V: A Very Dangerous Thing

"Do try to keep up," he had said to her.

Alice could not help but bristle at the comment a little. She knew she should not take it personally. Hatter was not aware of her enhanced abilities. In all likelihood, the man would not even know what a Vampire Slayer was (or vampires, for that matter). Therefore, she had seen little merit in bringing the subject up. It would probably serve her better to remain, in his view, a weak, helpless female lost in a world which was, literally, out of a fairy tale (albeit a bizarre version of it) for the time being.

She still had some trouble wrapping her head around this place actually being Wonderland. But after she thought it over, taking into consideration the White Rabbit, the significance of her name, the oysters, and even Hatter himself, all the puzzle pieces did seem to fit. It was not the picture she was familiar with, but he had told her things had changed tremendously since the time of this Alice of Legend. She, Alice Hamilton, was in Wonderland following the Mad Hatter (although he did not appear to use the superlative mad) to these mysterious people who just might possibly help her rescue her boyfriend from some casino. A casino which was, according to Hatter, a very dangerous place where people from her world were drained for some purpose, though he had yet to explain to her what was being drained from them and what the purpose behind it all was. Her life had become quite surreal of late.

Who am I kidding? My life's been surreal since I was fifteen years old. At least I had six years to get used to slaying vampires and demons.

She had no idea what to make of Hatter. Her instincts were twisted in a tangle of indecision over whether or not she should trust him or even like him. He had a certain charming quality to him, she admitted. She felt a little guilty in noticing he was rather handsome, in a rough cut sort of way. As far as physical looks went, he was almost the opposite of her chiseled and clean-cut boyfriend. Hatter was shorter than Jack, hovering over Alice's diminutive stature by a few inches whereas Jack towered over her by nearly a foot. His dark brown hair spiked up and curled around the brim of his brown porkpie hat. His rounded, boyish cheeks were coated with fine brown stubble. The crimson silk shirt he wore under his brown leather jacket was covered in a flamboyant, paisley pattern. His eyes were brown, but a darker, deeper shade than her boyfriend's golden cast. Hatter's eyes reminded her of dark chocolate, one of her favorite treats. Even his accent flew counter to Jack's. Hatter spoke with an accent strangely akin to the Yorkshire parlance from her world. Jack had always spoken in the cultured, high-class English accent which most Americans tended to believe all Brits spoke like.

Why was he helping her? Ratty had been dead serious about covering up the green tattoo on her arm which marked her as an oyster. As Alice understood it, oysters were supposed to remain captive in this casino. Hatter might be risking death to help her, and, while she was grateful, she wanted to know why. She did not completely buy the explanation he had given her, and she could not suppress the inkling that he was telling it to convince himself as much as to convince her. Did he expect some sort of payment or reward from her? She hoped the wet dress remark had merely been a jest because he certainly was not getting any payment in the form of sexual favors.

Alice was extremely frustrated over this issue of trust. He had ulterior motives which he would not voice. She knew absolutely nothing about this world, not having read the book since she was a child (and, apparently, the book would be useless anyway). She despised being forced to cut deals where only a few cards were thrown onto the table. It made her feel entirely too vulnerable. But, just as she had been left with no choice but to follow Ratty, she had no choice but to put her trust in this man. If he could bring her even one step closer to finding Jack and rescuing him, then she would follow him.

The door he had opened appeared to lead to nothing more than thin air until Hatter gestured to the ladder built in to the wall, the top of which started at the bottom of the doorway. He started to climb down. Alice bit back her trepidation and forced herself onto the ladder. She idly wondered if Hatter was peaking up her dress, and then decided she did not care. Let him look, if it pleased him. She had more important things to worry about than her modesty.

When Alice stepped down to solid ground and turned around, she gulped as that familiar liquefying feeling attacked her bowels and legs. Again she found herself on a ledge only a few feet wide with a deadly drop gaping at her.

Hatter had started to move along, but stopped when he must have noticed she was not following him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Alice forced herself to breathe. "Um, I have this...uh...thing about heights. You know, a phobia." She peaked out from under her white lids to glimpse down, which had been a mistake because it made her stomach churn with painful nausea. She snapped them shut again, feeling her entire body practically meld to the wall. "Why couldn't you guys have built the city on the ground?" she whined.

If she had wanted to perfect her image as a scared, helpless little girl, she was certain her crippling fear of heights would do the trick. It may have even worked a bit too well. A minute ticked by in silence where she wondered if Hatter had decided to renege on his decision. Then she heard him say, in a reassuring voice, "Look at me, Alice."

Her instincts told her to listen, to trust. Slayers followed their instincts. So, she opened her eyes and looked at him. His eyes were dark with concern and other emotions which had not been there before. There was sympathy there, but no pity. He was extending his hand towards her. "Just take my hand and try not to look down, okay. We'll go nice and slow," he said soothingly.

Trembling, she let go of the ladder and laid her small, white hand in his larger, dusky one. She focused on his face while controlling her breathing. He led her, ever so slowly, away from the wall.

He smiled at her encouragingly. "Look, see, we're doing it. Just one step at a time."

She exhaled. "I'm sorry. I can't even remember why heights scare me. They always have."

"Ah, well, everyone's got something they're deathly afraid of, I suppose," Hatter said.

"Do you?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment before he answered. "Um, well, just losing my head really."

She laughed a little bit. While it felt strange to be laughing when her entire body was almost paralyzed with terror, it also felt oddly wonderful. "At least that's a sensible one," she noted with a brave smile.

He glanced at the ring on her finger. Alice had all but forgotten it, which was strange considering that it was one of the reasons she was in Wonderland. She wondered if she should mention the interest the white-haired man had shown in the ring. Would the information be useful to Hatter? Ultimately, she decided she would leave the conversation for another time. It was all she could do at the moment to keep her will focused on moving her legs, anyway.

Alice did not know where they were supposed to be going. She was content simply to let Hatter lead her slowly along the very narrow ledge. He gave no sign of being frustrated at the lengthy time it was taking to reach their destination. He just kept talking to her in comforting tones, trying to keep her mind off the drop-off only a few feet away. After some unknown duration of time, she noticed they had reached a row of blue doors cut into white brick. They moved past a few of them until Hatter stopped her at one particular door, which looked no different than any of the others.

"Okay, why don't you just stand against the wall and I'll get us inside," he told her.

She pressed herself against the wall while he rapped against the door. She heard that all too familiar sound of a rectangular panel being slid open, which conjured up unpleasant memories of being trapped in that box with the face of the white-haired man sneering at her.

"I'm returning a library book. It's a work of Edwin and Morcar," Hatter said to whoever was on the other side of the door.

Who the hell are Edwin and Morcar? Alice decided it was probably some kind of code.

An oily voice on the other side of the door replied, "And how does the little crocodile improve his shining tail?"

She gave up trying to understand the meaning behind the words at that point.

Hatter rolled his eyes in exasperation. "He pours water from the Nile on every golden scale."

Whatever that meant, it was apparently good enough for the man on the other side. He opened the door. Alice was baffled to find, however, that the door opened not to a room or hallway, but to what looked like the inside of a bus. Outside of the bus there was nothing but bright blue wallpaper, so she wondered where it was supposed to go.

Up or down, a little voice said inside her. It's an elevator, silly, though a very weird one. But everything else in this world is weird.

"Hurry up," the man grumbled. He appeared to be in his seventies or eighties. His height and the lack of meat upon his bones gave him the appearance of a bean pole. He wore a threadbare brown coat and a strange, old-fashioned triangular cap that Alice thought people had not worn in her world since the 1960s.

"Well, good morning to you too, Duck," Hatter greeted with sarcastic jollity.

With a sickening lurch that threw Alice off balance and into a seat, the contraption starting moving downwards. She braced her hands against the backs of the two seats surrounding her, stifling the urge to cry out.

"It's all right," Hatter assured her.

She nodded, feeling quite displeased with herself. While she did not intend to showcase her preternatural abilities unless the occasion called for it, she certainly did not want him to think she was completely pathetic and helpless. He probably thought she was afraid of her own shadow by now. Thankfully, the movement eventually stopped and Hatter held out his hand to help her up. She accepted it. Though she would have been able to stand on her own, she was starting to enjoy the feel of his hand wrapped around her own.

As soon as that thought entered her head, she blushed. Stop it, Alice! You're here to rescue Jack, remember? Your boyfriend whom you kind of snubbed and it's kind of your fault he's here anyway? Focus, girl! Focus! She hoped Hatter did not notice the flush she could feel on her cheeks.

He did not. The reason he did not notice was because he was preoccupied by the figure standing in front of the door to the bus-elevator thing, leveling a shotgun at them and glaring at them suspiciously. It took Alice a few seconds to see that it was a woman who appeared to be in her fifties, with pointy glasses, an out-dated floral pattern dress, and grayish-brown hair pulled back in a severely tight bun. She reminded the girl of the stereotypical librarian spinster. The only parts which did not fit that image (aside from the shotgun, of course) were the frumpy ears she wore atop her head. Alice could not tell if they were short rabbit ears or long mouse ears. Upon further inspection she realized they were not ears at all, but actually the ends of a huge, crooked bow.

She glanced behind her and sighed in irritation when she saw that Duck the driver had pulled out a handgun. The girl had had more guns pointed at her in the past six hours than in the past year. It was starting to annoy her. These people did not give off a hostile air, however, only a wary one. Perhaps they were following some sort of protocol. She decided to withhold her urge to fight and held her hands up as Hatter did.

They emerged from the bus at gun-point with Hatter trying to speak reasonably. "Come on, Duck, Owl. Let's put those away. You know me well enough. And she can be trusted, too. You've got my word on that."

"We have our orders," Duck snapped sternly.

"Keep that right hand where we can see it!" the woman, Owl, ordered in a squeaky voice with a thick Scottish accent which bade Alice to wonder if this world had imported its entire people from the British Isles.

"It's just flesh and blood," Hatter mumbled insincerely. Alice frowned at that. What was so frightening about Hatter's right hand? She looked over at it, not seeing anything particularly out of the ordinary about it. As her companion had attested, it did appear to be mere flesh and blood.

Owl laughed dryly. "Yeah, right. We've all seen what you can do with that sledgehammer."

Sledgehammer?

"Did you like the box of comfits I brought you last week? And the cured meats? And the cheeses?" Hatter asked mildly.

"They're all gone," Duck reported sadly.

Hatter nodded in understanding. "Well, if you don't treat me with a little respect, you won't get another crumb."

He was feeding these people? Just what was going on here? Alice had a sinking feeling that whatever was going on under the scenes, it would complicate her plans in rescuing Jack from the casino.

A guilty grimace flashed upon Owl and Duck's faces. "Sorry, Hatter. We're all a little jumpy, is all," Owl explained apologetically as she and Duck lowered their weapons.

"Yeah, everyone's always a little jumpy," Hatter muttered angrily. He laid a protective hand on Alice's shoulder and jerked his head toward Duck and Owl, who were walking towards a hallway. She supposed they were meant to follow.

"Where are we?" she whispered in awe.

The building they were in looked like a library, but it was not the sort of library she had ever had the fortune to peruse. It was an extremely grand one; much like the ones which belonged in fancy academic places such as Oxford or Cambridge. The vaulted ceiling overlooked a large central room where thousands of books littered the ground in towering piles. Glistening, crystal chandeliers provided illumination over the central room and the landing they were on that wrapped around the upper levels of the building.

"The Great Library," Hatter replied grandly. "There's five thousand years of history hidden here. Art, literature, law; rescued when the Queen of Hearts seized power. She'd like nothing more than to see this burnt to nothing."

That would be a considerable tragedy, Alice noted. She had no knowledge of this world's history. This world was a piece of literature in her world, but here it had its own literature. For any world to lose that was a grievous crime. She drifted to the railing, resting her hands on it as she looked down at the piles of books. Her eyes widened when she saw there were people down there amongst the literary towers. Some looked very ill or injured, and were resting on pallets. Others were huddled together, wearing drab clothing and munching on food rations. It was a desolate sight.

"Who are those poor people?" she asked.

Hatter came up beside her, his expression grim. "They're refugees, those who don't want to be part of the queen's world of instant gratification. We give them shelter and try to feed them the best we can, but it is dangerous. If the queen found out, they wouldn't stand a chance."

She would have asked what he meant by instant gratification, but she figured there was probably a more appropriate time for such explanations. She had seen and heard enough to know there was some kind of deep unrest among the populace of this world. From all of it, she was able to gather that the government was a tyranny. Tyrannies, she knew, tended to breed revolution.

Well, that's wonderful. You've landed smack dab in a world that's supposed to be fiction and you just happened to get here when there's all this political turmoil going on. She had no wish to become embroiled in whatever conflict was currently going on. She just wanted to rescue her boyfriend and be on her merry way. This was not her world, and, therefore, she had no place in its internal quarrels. But she could not suppress the feelings of sympathy, pity, and anger that those dejected masses conjured within her.

What about your people who are trapped in that casino like Jack having god-knows-what done to them? What about that homeless man? You have a duty to them, as well. You're a Slayer, sworn to defend and protect humanity from the forces of evil. What difference does it make if what has imprisoned them is no demon or vampire?

Alice gripped the railing as those thoughts skittered through her mind, unforeseen and unasked for. Freeing Jack sounded as if it was going to be tough enough, but freeing the rest of the people from her world on her own? That sounded downright impossible. But, could she, in good conscience, abandon them now that she knew they were here and in some kind of peril?

Goddammit. Why does everything have to be so freaking complicated?

"Why does she want to destroy all of this?" she inquired of Hatter.

He sighed regretfully. "Wisdom's the biggest threat. She controls people with a quick fix."

Alice nodded. Though she certainly disagreed with the principle, she understood its logic. She did not know what this quick fix entailed, but she felt it was connected to the oysters, who were the people from her world. Hatter had not said as much, but she could read the subtext behind his words well enough and piece everything together. Something the people from her world provided, these pearls Hatter had referred to so ambiguously, were the source of the queen's so-called quick fix. So, what was it people from her world carried inside which the Queen of Hearts coveted so much? She felt as if the answer was there in her mind, but enmeshed within a thicket of confusion and disbelief brought on by her strange situation. It was just out of her grasp. If only she could isolate herself from this chaos and clear her mind.

"Alice?" Hatter's voice startled her. "Are you okay? You look like you went off into your own world there for a moment."

Alice drew in a deep breath, shutting out the image of those destitute innocents scattered amidst the piles of books. She looked at Hatter, his gaze both curious and concerned. "I'm fine," she assured him. He looked as if he did not believe her, but would resist further comment.

"Well, come on, we're going to see Dodo," he told her, leading her down the hallway.

"Who?"

"One of the Resistance leaders."

Dodo was not a name which inspired much confidence, in Alice's opinion. She was not a zoology expert, but she knew enough to know the dodo bird was long extinct and had had a reputation for being somewhat stupid. It was definitely not a name she would imagine would suit the name of a rebel leader. But, as a petite girl who packed quite a powerful punch, she knew how appearances could so easily deceive.

She and Hatter entered a stately room with a majestic tree shadowing an oaken desk topped with books and papers. (Alice figured she should stop being so surprised to find forests growing in the buildings.) There was an elaborate portrait of a castle covering an entire wall near the front of the room where Alice had entered with Hatter and their two escorts. The hard wood floor of the room was mostly covered by a thick, plush Persian (or, well, Persian-like) carpet. Owl walked over to stand by the desk with her shotgun held tightly to her body while Duck stood guard in front of the doorway. There was a man standing in the shadows behind the desk. Alice could see his stalwart silhouette and hear his steady breathing from where she stood. She gathered that this person was Dodo.

"Who's this you've brought, Hatter? And why?" a voice spoke from the shadows. It was deep and gravelly. It was definitely not the voice of a stupid person.

Hatter stepped forward, pulling Alice up with him. If he was nervous, he did well at hiding it. For her part, she was somewhat nervous. This person could make or break her success at getting Jack out of the casino.

"Her name is Alice," Hatter announced. There were a few sharp intakes of breath after everyone heard that. "She's an oyster who's escaped from the Suits' Scarab. She's looking for her boyfriend. Some bloke named Jack Chance."

She frowned in annoyance that Hatter had said her boyfriend's name wrong. "Jack Chase," she corrected. "His name is Jack Chase."

"She needs help," Hatter implored, not seeming to care or notice he had said the man's name wrong. "I thought of you, Dodo."

"Really?" the voice in the shadows said drolly. The owner of the voice materialized as he moved into the dim illumination thrown by the guttering light of the fire and the small lamp set upon the desk. He was a tall, rotund man with short, curly brown hair streaked with gray, shrewd dark eyes, and a graying beard. He was dressed in a long black leather duster. She had no doubt there were weapons stashed on his person. He halted directly behind the desk, standing ramrod straight with his hands clasped behind his back.

"And why would I want to help your oyster when bringing her here puts us all at risk?" Dodo asked dourly.

The young Slayer bristled at being referred to as Hatter's oyster, as if the man owned her. She did not care if he had used some kind of swirly pink liquid to "purchase" her from the slicker man.

Hatter scoffed at that remark. "Oh please, I've spent years smuggling far more dangerous things than this down here."

Ha! Says you, Alice mused sardonically.

Dodo's smile lacked all amusement. He ambled around the desk to stand before the pair. "You know what rankles me the most about bloodsucking, carpetbaggers like you, Hatter?"

She felt Hatter stiffen beside her, no doubt taking some offense at those terms. Though she imagined there was a different, not-quite-so-literal connotation to the term bloodsucker in this world.

"Your gall," Dodo said scathingly. "While we risk our lives trying to bring freedom to ungrateful leeches like you, you swan about, living the good life. I haven't seen the light of day in over three years! And poor Owl here." Dodo paused to gesture to the little old woman standing comically poised with the shotgun clasped to her bosom. "She's forgotten what a vegetable tastes like."

"I remember kumquat! Is that a vegetable?" Owl piped up brightly.

Dodo grimaced and appeared to have pretended not to hear the question. Alice did not believe for a second that he really cared about Owl and her apparent amnesia where vegetables were involved. She also did not believe he had been stuck down here for over three years without seeing sunlight. His skin was not nearly pale enough to back that claim up. And she had cause to know, for she worked with people who had not seen the sun in centuries. Also, for living on meager rations as Hatter had implied they were, Dodo certainly seemed to be doing well enough, judging by his hefty appearance. When juxtaposed with Duck and Owl, who were both very thin, he may as well have been Jabba the Hut.

I'm guessing Hatter isn't the only one supplying these people with food, but I'll bet Dodo hasn't told his lackeys that.

"Stop your crowing," Hatter retorted. "You know I'm on your side!"

Dodo rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure you say that to all your enemies," he shot back caustically.

"I do what's necessary!" Hatter insisted hotly. "I kiss what arses need kissing so your machine stays oiled."

As much as she hated to interrupt the two men who clearly wanted to duke it out, Alice did not have the time for pissing contests. Jack did not have that kind of time. She could see the entreaty for Dodo's assistance was probably going to be a lost cause. Alice could feel it as the Resistance leader started walking away from them. She swallowed the hopeless lump which had risen in her throat.

"Look," she spoke up. "If you won't help me, I understand. I'll just go and find someone who will."

"Alice, don't," Hatter started to say.

"Headstrong, isn't she?" Dodo cut in with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Cut the bullshit," Alice snapped impatiently. "Can you help me get Jack out of the casino or not? The answer is a simple yes or no."

"I don't see how," Dodo replied diffidently.

"The Resistance has contacts inside the casino, right?" Hatter pointed out.

Dodo's face twitched slightly. "No comment."

Well, that was a loud yes, Alice thought to herself.

"Use them to find her guy," Hatter suggested. "She can pay you."

Alice's head snapped over to face him, eyes widening in shock. She thought the subject of payment had already been covered on Hatter's end. What was she supposed to pay this man with if her paper money was, as Hatter put it, pointless?

His next words, however, sent a cold, sharp feeling through her chest. "I want my usual cut, up front."

Alice clenched her fists and pursed her lips as the bitter feel of betrayal descended upon her. She could not disguise the hurt on her face as she looked at Hatter, who kept his gaze straight ahead. Why did she feel so betrayed? She should have known he was going to expect something in return for helping her. His motives had been suspiciously obscure. What was wrong with her? What had she expected from him?

A friend, I hope. His words had been a joke, obviously.

"Pay me?" Dodo mused cynically, stroking his beard. He walked back around the desk, his expression contorted into a skeptical frown. "Pay me with what?"

Hatter sauntered over to Alice's left side. "Show him the rock, Alice," he instructed.

Stunned, she stared at him. "What?" He clearly must have been joking.

"The ring," he stated seriously. "On your finger."

She glanced over at Dodo, who appeared to be intrigued. Looking back to Hatter, she exhaled tensely. "No, that is off-limits," she said tersely.

"It's all you have, Alice," he said in a low voice.

"No!"

Dodo, meanwhile, had marched right over to the girl and snatched up her hand before Alice could even so much as finish the word no. He held her hand up, his fingers gently caressing the ring. She saw his face ripple from bland curiosity to a full, thunderstruck expression of disbelief.

"Impossible!" he exclaimed dramatically.

She pulled her hand away from the man, glaring at him.

"Where did you get that ring?" he demanded imperiously.

She stiffened, balling her fists. "It's none of your business. It's not for sale."

"Where did you get it?" Dodo repeated, this time in a roar.

"What?" Hatter asked in confusion.

Dodo grabbed for her hand, but she artfully evaded his grasp. He huffed and narrowed his eyes at Hatter.

"Your oyster is wearing the Stone of Wonderland!" he announced accusingly.

Well, there it is. I knew it was enchanted. Stupid ring.

Hatter's eyes widened and his gaze snapped over to Alice with the same thunderstruck expression Dodo had been wearing. He shook his head slightly. "That's impossible."

"I'm never wrong," Dodo declared in a rough voice. He started edging closer to Alice. Instead of backing away from him as the man had probably expected, the girl stood her ground, however.

"Where did you get it, Alice?" Hatter asked.

She sighed. "Jack gave it to me, okay?"

"Jack who?" Dodo asked.

"Jack Chase! The guy I'm looking for!" she exclaimed.

"Well, where did he get it?" Dodo inquired suspiciously. His face was starting to achieve a mottled, puce-colored look. It was not very becoming.

"I don't know!" she cried in defense.

"Give it to me!" Dodo demanded.

Alice's eyes flashed dangerously. This intimidation stopped now, she decided. "No. And you better back off or I'm going to get real pissed off." She resisted the urge to finish the statement with and you wouldn't like me when I'm pissed off. The pop-culture reference would be lost on them, anyway.

Dodo growled wordlessly and stalked away from her. "Take her out!" he ordered. Owl shakily aimed her shotgun at her, her eyes wild with the notion that she was about to do something she clearly did not want to do. Turning her head to look behind her, she was surprised to find that Duck had not drawn his own weapon. She supposed a shotgun blast to the chest or face was considered to be adequate to kill one female oyster. But before Alice could even so much as flex a muscle, Hatter did something which shocked and amazed her, altogether causing her to reconsider her previously unfriendly thoughts about him from his earlier actions. He stepped out in front of her, effectively stationing himself in between her body and the shotgun aimed at her chest. He deliberately had put himself in the path of fire.

"Stop!" he cried, stretching his hand out toward the imposing barrel of Owl's shotgun. "Just wait."

"You're in way over your head, Hatter," Dodo growled menacingly.

"Just let me talk to her," Hatter said frantically.

Dodo pulled a handgun from a side holster hidden within his leather coat. He aimed it at Hatter with a deadly expression on his face. "It controls the Looking Glass," he stated. "You know that."

While Hatter stood, shielding her and trying to negotiate a truce, Alice had her mind on anything but diplomacy. She had seen the mad gleam of hunger in Dodo's face. He would definitely have no problem cutting off her hand if that was what it took to get the ring. And it did not take a genius to see there was a simmering pot of animosity and resentment between Hatter and Dodo. There was no doubt in her mind that if the younger man continued to stand between the Resistance leader and the thing he coveted, there would be blood. She quickly glanced around her, taking stock of things she could use to her advantage. If Hatter could convince Dodo to put down his weapon, more power to him. She did not hold out much hope for that, though.

"Come on, put the gun down. I'm sure we can all get what we want here," Hatter pleaded.

"We've been waiting for years for a break like this! And now it just falls right into our laps," Dodo sneered. "If we can return the oysters back to their world, we may be able to save ours. Just think about it! The queen reduced to mopping floors. It'll be just like the old days! With justice, reason, and the rule of law. Just think of it, Hatter!"

"I'm thinking you need to put the gun down. You're scaring everyone," Hatter said calmly.

"Hatter," Alice said warningly. She did not like how close he was getting to Dodo with the gun aimed so perilously at his chest.

"Alice, let me handle this. I'm not going to let them hurt you," Hatter assured her, looking back at her.

"Get out of the way, boy!" Dodo hissed. "I will shoot you if I have to." His eyes glinted in a way as if to beg Hatter for any excuse to pull the trigger on him.

Hatter scowled at Dodo and then made a grab for the gun. Alice lunged forward to yank him out of the way, her heart pounding at an unprecedented speed. Unfortunately, she had not been as close to Hatter as Dodo had been, and she had not been faster than his trigger finger. The shot pierced the air and echoed throughout the halls. The force of the bullet at so close a range sent Hatter soaring backwards into a small tower of books. He collapsed on the floor with several tomes littering his prone form.

"No!" Alice screamed as shock and unexpected anguish tore into her.

She saw Owl snatch her shotgun back to her body, her face twisted with horror and shock. "You shot Hatter!" she screeched.

I'm going to kill this man, Alice found herself thinking. A rage unlike anything she had ever felt ignited within her blood. She turned her gaze to Dodo, who was staring at where Hatter lay beneath what once had been a standing tower of books. A mixture of triumph and chagrin had formed on his face.

"We don't need him anymore," he declared. "The ring is our ticket out of here."

Red haze filled her vision and all thought flew from Alice save for those involving what pain she could inflict on this person. "Now, you've really pissed me off," she hissed.

Before Dodo could even lift the gun up to aim at her, she slammed her boot into his chest. The man flew through the air as if weightless, slamming into the wall at the back of the room. The wall cracked from the momentum and some portraits fell from where they hung to land on Dodo's head. Alice leapt over the desk, quickly noting the gun had fallen from his grasp and scattered across the floor. She stomped over to where he was crumpled against the wall, dazed but still conscious, and hoisted him up in the air. His eyes bulged out in terror and his jaw hung agape. No sound or breath issued forth from his mouth.

Holding him in the air, she turned and then slammed his body against the top of the large desk. Books, papers, and the lamps were sent crashing to the floor.

"Impossible," she heard him choke out. It must have been his favorite term, Alice figured.

"You shot my friend," she said flatly. "Give me one good reason why I should not crush your fucking windpipe." To emphasize how dangerously serious she was, she stretched her small hand around his meaty neck, using her thumb and index finger to apply pressure to both of his carotid arteries as well as digging her sharp little nails in for good measure. If she held it long enough, the lack of oxygenated blood going to his head through the two main arteries would cause him to lose consciousness.

"Alice!"

The voice which cried out her name was very familiar, but it could not be who it sounded like. To quote Dodo's favored term, it was impossible. Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes, wondering if maybe she was just hearing things she wanted to hear. When the voice repeated her name in a placating tone, her eyes snapped open. The girl looked up and felt all breath leave her lungs.

"Hatter?"

I could have saved Hatter from getting shot, but I figured it was a good opening to unleash the wrath of Alice, hehe.