Well, I'm glad to see that everyone enjoyed the wrath of Alice, hehe! Thanks for the reviews and the support!

Chapter VI: Cutting Some Losses

Hatter never thought Dodo would actually shoot him. Though the dislike the Resistance leader held toward him was completely mutual, there had always been an understanding between the two. Dodo knew what role Hatter played; deceptive as it was, it had been vital to the Resistance. Certainly Dodo and other members of the Resistance had resented Hatter and the lifestyle he had access to simply by parading around as a loyal subject of the Queen of Hearts. Few of them understood the keen line of peril Hatter had always walked. He literally straddled the boundary between two dangerous and opposing sides with the promise of retribution from either one should he fail in his endeavors. He had at least figured that would have garnered a little appreciation.

He did not even know why he had grabbed the gun, or why he had put himself in the path of fire in the first place. All Hatter could think about was that they were going to shoot Alice. Logical thought had not played a role in his actions. An emotion he had never felt so strongly in his life had overcome him. At first, he thought it was one of the emotions he was experiencing vicariously through Alice. He was wrong, though. This emotion originated completely from him. It had set his heart to racing at a wild rate and his veins to feel as if ice water had replaced the warm blood which had previously flown through them. This emotion had instigated his legs to move in front of her, shielding her from the gun with his own body.

This was absolutely insane. His own actions flabbergasted him; mostly because they directly contradicted what had heretofore been his primary concern: self-preservation. He had only met the girl that day, and only a few hours before, at most. It gave him cause to wonder if he had accidentally slipped some crazy emotion cocktail into his morning tea rather than the usual dollop of honey.

Whatever the cause of his actions, Hatter had reaped the consequences. When the gun went off, all he could recall were the extremely loud sound and the sharp pain exploding in his left upper pectoral muscle. He had not even realized he had been thrown back into a pile of books at first. The force of the shot had compressed all the air from his lungs. It took a few moments, after he had been sent hurdling backwards, to remember how to breathe properly. It took a few moments more to realize the bullet had not penetrated his flesh. The body armor Hatter wore under his shirt had stopped the path of the bullet, though it did nothing to protect his body from the brute momentum. He would definitely have an angry bruise there by later in the day. Nevertheless, an angry bruise was far better than an angry, gaping hole. Never had a purchase been more wisely made, he thought to himself dryly.

He vaguely heard the voices of the other occupants of the room. His brain was currently too addled at the moment to comprehend what they were saying, but he hoped it had something to do with Alice being gone from the room. If the girl had any sense in that lovely head of hers, she would have run once she saw Dodo shoot him. Of course, the burly Resistance leader would likely have pursued her had she run. So, if Dodo was still here, then Alice probably was still here.

Alice, run! He wanted to scream. But he knew if he spoke or gave any indication of being alive, Dodo might be possessed to put a bullet in his head. So, carefully, the young man reached inside his jacket where he had his own handgun holstered. He stifled the grunt of pain which yearned to spew forth. The pain from the bullet's momentum was radiating throughout his entire body.

A loud thump followed by a strange sound of something cracking made Hatter forget his physical pain. He latched onto the gun and lunged to his feet, emerging from the pile of books, his face panicked. His jaw dropped in pure bewilderment when he saw what had caused those strange sounds. Dodo (who was, by no means, a little man) was crumpled against the wall on the far side of the room. The wall behind him had dented and cracked as if the man had been slammed against it with great force. Hatter had only seconds to wonder how that had happened when he saw Alice, completely unharmed, nimbly leap over the large desk. He watched with wide, disbelieving eyes as the small young woman yanked on the front of Dodo's jacket and effortlessly lifted him above her own head.

Hatter was at a complete loss for words, so incredulous and astonished was he.

Alice half-tossed and half-slammed Dodo against the desk, which sent a flurry of papers and books crashing to the floor. The lamp on the desk rolled off of it and crashed to the floor, its light flickering out. She did not even see him standing there, but he could see her very well. He could feel her fury blazing from her more than he could feel the heat from the fireplace. Curiously, in addition to rage, he also felt an undercurrent of grief. It was the fuel which fed her wrath. Its presence puzzled him. Surely the grief could not be for him, could it?

"Impossible," he heard Dodo cry out in a choked voice.

When Alice spoke, her voice was so utterly different from her normal speaking voice. He had heard mere echoes of this tone before in his office. Now that he heard it in its full capacity, he shuddered. It was a tone to inspire a quaking fear within the bravest of men. Oh, how he had vastly underestimated this girl.

"You shot my friend," she had said to Dodo in that terrible tone. (Hatter could not help but feel a flower of warmth in his chest when he heard himself referred to as a friend.) "Give me one good reason why I should not crush your fucking windpipe," she added, her voice brooking no misinterpretation of the threat as a bluff.

When he heard her say that, Hatter knew he would have to intervene. Though he certainly had no love for Dodo, he did not want Alice to outright murder the man in vengeance. Something told him she would deeply regret such an action later once the heat of her emotions passed.

"Alice!" he cried desperately.

The girl paused with a great deal of heavy breathing, but she did not look up. Hatter shouted her name again, this time stepping forward. She was persuaded to look up then. Her jaw dropped when she saw him, her wide blue eyes losing their enraged gleam and sliding into confusion and shock. It was obvious Alice had believed him to be dead or, at least, close to it. Hatter could not blame her for that. She was not aware of the extra addition to his wardrobe underneath his shirt and jacket.

"Hatter?" she stammered in disbelief.

He nodded weakly. "Come on, let him go. We should get out of here."

She looked down at the man which she held down on the desk with only one hand as if it were the first time she had seen him there. Her rage was receding and a strange, giddy relief mixed with bafflement was taking its place. She took her hand away from Dodo's neck, and the man wheezed in his own sense of relief at not having his throat crushed. Alice stepped back from the desk, her expression dazed. She looked up at Hatter again with an almost beseeching look in her eyes.

He held his hand out to her. "Come on, Alice. Let's go."

A great deal of coughing emanated from Dodo as the girl walked around the desk to stand by Hatter. The portly Resistance leader sat up, his hand caressing his red and soon-to-be bruised neck. He glared at the pair. "Smuggled more dangerous things, ha!" he rasped ironically.

Dodo's gimlet stare bore into the two as he issued a threat of his own. "You let her leave with that ring and I'll have every member of the Resistance hunt you down like a dog."

Hatter knew that was no idle threat. He was not sure how far up in the ranks Dodo had managed to climb, but he knew it was high enough to wield dangerous influence. Even so, he held up his gun with a steady, determined look on his face. "Do not even think about following us. Or, I swear, I'll finish what she started with a bullet in your head," he promised.

The two slowly backed out of the room, neither of them apparently trusting Dodo to not shoot them in the backs as they took their leave. The large man stayed where he was, clutching his bruised neck atop the desk. No one, it seemed, wanted to try to run after them. Hatter could not blame them after seeing what this little oyster was capable of.

Once they reached the elevator, Hatter slammed the door shut, holstered his gun, and immediately engaged the controls, sending them lurching upwards. The loud groans from the machinery made him cringe. This contraption had needed replaced for a while.

Taking a deep breath, he slid down to the floor, resting his head up against a leather seat and closing his eyes. Extreme fatigue assailed him then.

"You're not bleeding. How?" he vaguely heard Alice ask.

"Oh...I...uh," he stammered.

Before he could even fashion an explanation, the girl had taken the liberty of finding out for herself. She waltzed over to him and brazenly pulled his shirt open to expose the black body armor vest he wore underneath. The bullet, now distorted from its original shape into what amounted to an amorphous metal blob, had lodged in the narrow upper right portion. A little further to the left and the slug would have penetrated his flesh. He had not realized before how close it had been.

Wow, was I lucky.

"A Kevlar vest? Why are you wearing a Kevlar vest?" Alice asked.

She sighed and let go of the lapels of his jacket. Standing up and grabbing a handrail she pulled herself down to sit in the driver's seat. She massaged the bridge of her nose wearily. "Never mind. Why wouldn't you be wearing a Kevlar vest with the people you deal with?" the girl muttered.

Hatter had no idea what a Kevlar vest was, but he was astute enough to guess it was probably the equivalent of body armor in her world. When he looked up at her, he started when he saw her staring at him, her blue eyes narrowed dangerously. Her gaze was filled with hard anger; anger which was directed at him. He gulped nervously. After seeing what she was capable of, he was now certain that he definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of her ire.

"You lied to me," Alice said coldly.

"I was trying to help you!" he retorted defensively.

"By selling the ring...without even consulting me beforehand?" she sputtered. "I thought you said you were taking me to people who liked helping my kind? Well, it seemed to me like they didn't much like helping anyone."

Hatter groaned in pain as he tried to pull himself up. His left pectoral muscle protested painfully at the attempt, sending him sliding back to the floor.

"I didn't know that ring was the Stone of Wonderland. I've never actually seen the bloody thing," he admitted. His eyes were squeezed shut as he grasped the area where he had been shot.

"Well, you could have asked or...told me what you were planning," Alice caustically pointed out.

He gritted his teeth. "Firstly, I didn't really think up that part until after we were moving along. Secondly, would you have come if I told you anyway?"

"I don't know. That's not the point," she replied churlishly. "What is the Stone of Wonderland? And tell me the truth."

Hatter grimaced through the throbbing pain. "It's like Dodo said. It controls the Looking Glass. It powers it. It was mined by the ancient Knights a long time ago."

"Knights? What Knights?" Alice asked.

He waved his hand dismissively. "They were wiped out years ago by the queen. She took the Looking Glass and the Stone from them."

She was shaking her head, as if she did not understand what he was telling her. Holding up her hand to study the stone, a strange gleam came into her eyes. "I knew this thing was enchanted! Uh, I knew it!" she declared in a mixture of triumph and despair. She slapped her hands down upon her lap, curling her fingers. He sensed a great deal of frustration from her.

"Well, are you going to explain to me what that was back there?" he asked sharply. He had not forgotten about how she had so easily lifted Dodo above her head and practically threw him on the desk. He also had a strong suspicion she was responsible for the huge dent and crack in the wall at the back of the room. As little as he knew of oysters, he knew none of them (especially the females) were supposed to be so strong. He doubted they would be so easily attainable if that were the case. She had concealed her strength from the beginning. While she had never seemed completely helpless, Hatter had assumed she would be as weak and vulnerable as any girl, and he had felt protective of her because of it. When she had cowered in fear against the ladder after seeing the drop-off, he had been softened by sympathy for the girl. She had had him completely fooled!

"What was what?" She asked, her brow furrowing into a frown of confusion. She honestly appeared, for all intents and purposes, as if she was unaware of what he was talking about.

He shook his head as thoughts turned, unbidden, into angry words. "What was what?" he sputtered in disbelief. "What do you think? How the hell did you lift up a man who was about three times your size? That's what! And I suppose that fear of heights thing was put on for my benefit, too!" As soon as he said the last words, however, he regretted them. The fear in her eyes had been far too genuine for it to be an act. Hatter was quite adept in judging truth, which was partly why he was so skilled at twisting and concealing it. It was very difficult to lie to him.

Comprehension dawned upon Alice. "Oh, I am afraid of heights, I assure you," she said quietly. "But, as to...that...well, I didn't really mean to, um, get carried away like that. I just got really angry. I thought the bastard had killed you." She looked away from him then, pink tingeing her pale cheeks.

He felt his heart thump giddily at those last words, but he had no wish to investigate the reasons as to why her admittance made him feel that way. He also forced himself to stop picturing himself in her position, thinking her dead by Dodo's hand and how he would have reacted. Such thinking led to a place of peril, he felt. It was emotional territory a Wonderlander like him had never ventured. He steered his thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"So, were you ever planning on telling me how strong you were?" he inquired mildly.

She bit on her bottom lip, an act which Hatter found all too enticing for some odd reason. He had to look away from her before his thoughts ran away with the reins again.

"Um, well, it's...ah...complicated. It's not something you just lay on the table when you first meet a person. It tends to freak most people out," she explained apologetically.

Hatter could only concede that point to her, as he, of course, had never mentioned his Sledgehammer right arm. His right arm was enhanced with a great deal of strength; enough to crack a pillar and severely dent a wall, if not punch through it (provided the material was not solid stone or brick). His right hooks were notorious for knocking people clear off their feet. But that was the only part of his body that had such immense strength. There was no way he could have lifted Dodo clear into the air without some serious effort. In fact, he was not at all confident he could lift a man of Dodo's size into the air. Throwing someone across a room with enough force to dent and crack a wall was definitely far beyond his abilities.

The elevator heaved to a stop, which meant they had reached the level where they had first entered the building. While it could not have been more than an hour ago, it seemed like it had been ages since they had first stepped upon this contraption. He caught Alice's gaze. The girl looked a little contrite, but he did understand now why she would have concealed her surprising physical strength. He supposed he was angrier at being completely taken off guard by it, rather than the imagined deception. It did not appear she had willfully deceived him, but was merely holding onto information until a more opportune moment. Certainly he had committed a similar offense against her with trying to sell off her ring and take a cut of the money. In retrospect, that was probably worse, considering her unimaginable strength had little relevance to the situation.

"Any other super powers you might be hiding under that dress?" he asked laconically.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He held his hands up. "Hey, we're stuck with each other for a while and I think it might do us some good to be honest with each other from now on. I acted a little selfishly up there, I admit. I apologize about that. I swear I had no idea Dodo would, well, try to kill you for the ring, which, I remind you, I did not know was the Stone of Wonderland."

Alice was silent for a long moment before slowly nodding her head in acquiescence. "Okay, I'll explain it to you later. I warn you, though. It's a long and complicated story and I think it's better told when we're not dodging bullets and such." She paused, a humorless smile tipping up the corners of her soft, pink lips. "You probably won't understand it anyway."

Hatter cocked an eyebrow in intrigue. "Oh, I think you'd be surprised, dear Alice."

She quirked a weak smile and looked down at her feet. "Thanks," she murmured.

Hatter frowned. "For what?"

Alice snorted sardonically, meeting his gaze. "For taking a bullet for me. What else? Even though I guess you knew it probably wouldn't kill you I still appreciate the gesture all the same."

The unexpected gratitude washed over him, dulling the pain in his chest and shoulder by a modicum. "You're welcome," he replied hesitantly. He found it odd the girl was thanking him for defending her when, apparently, she had no problems defending herself.

The girl stood and offered her hand to Hatter, which he accepted gratefully. She helped pull him to his feet, mindful of his minor injury, though the incessant throbbing had finally reduced itself to a dull ache. With time, the ache would become intermittent twinges of pain. He could not say he was looking forward to the inevitable purple-black mark, but he was grateful that was all he took away from the gunshot. It could have been much worse. The gun could have been aimed a little bit further to the left or higher and then where would he be? Most likely he would be dead and Alice would have been left alone in this foreign world.

They made their way to the entrance. Alice opened the door to the purplish gray-cast skies of Wonderland and judiciously stepped outside. Hatter stepped out behind her, blinking his eyes repeatedly. He looked to his companion, wondering if she would succumb to her strange, deep-seated fear of heights.

"Crap. I forgot you people built your city a mile above the ground," she muttered.

Hatter grabbed her hand and gently pulled her around to face him, seeing the terror she sought to smother in her face. He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently. "Look at me, Alice. It's just like we did last time. We'll try to take it nice and slow. We're going to go back to the shop," he told her calmly.

She nodded, sucking in a tremulous breath of air. Her blue eyes regarded him with trust, which made his heart swell unfathomably. When she looked at him like that, it was easy to forget the reasons she was here, seeking out his help. It was easy to forget she was claimed by another man, this Jack Chase whom she sought to rescue from the Happy Hearts Casino. It was easy to forget just about anything save for those wondrous cobalt eyes, the perfect white skin, those soft, inviting lips...

Oh no, stop it, Hatter. You're just letting your libido do the thinking. Blimey, you'd think you'd done a line of Lust and Desire tea or something.

He loosed a fake cough and forced himself to look beyond her. There was a peculiar flighty sensation swirling around in his gut. It only started to subside when he made himself remember who she was, who he was, and why she was there. It also helped for him to remember he was likely now an enemy in the eyes of at least those of the Resistance who were under Dodo's control.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He emitted a nervous chuckle. "Oh, yeah, I'm just thinking about the best route to take, you know. Maybe one that won't involve walking so close to the ledge."

That was an outright lie and he felt bad for speaking it, but he did not know what else to say. Surely she would laugh at him and spurn him were he to tell her the true thoughts of his mind. He was not even sure he knew his own mind anymore. He had taken a bullet for her down in the Great Library. The Hatter from yesterday would never have imagined such a thing. In fact, he would have spewed out the tea he had been drinking whilst laughing at the absurdity of such a notion.

Oh, he could really use a nice cuppa about now.

They started walking back to the Tea House. Alice eventually let go of Hatter's hand to follow behind. She seemed more confident in her steps, definitely more so than when they had been journeying to the Great Library. Still, she kept at least one hand in physical contact with the building, and she was careful to keep her eyes ahead. She would not allow them to trail to the side.

"The Looking Glass is the only way to get you back home," Hatter informed her. "It's in the city, but it's heavily guarded round the clock."

He ignored the unpleasant feelings which arose when he thought about her returning to her home world. Really, this oyster stirred up more emotions within him than he had ever felt in the whole of his existence. While at first it had been rather enjoyable to experience untainted, undiluted emotions from their original source, now, after he realized how it was affecting him, it was beginning to vex him enormously.

"Okay, but what about Jack? I need to find him first," Alice reminded him.

Hatter groaned. The way he saw it, they had lost their only conceivable chance of infiltrating the casino and rescuing her boyfriend. Hatter had formed a new plan regarding Alice. Wonderland was far too perilous of a place at the moment for an oyster outside the control of the Suits. Now that he knew she carried the Stone of Wonderland on her finger, he figured they should make an attempt to get to the Looking Glass. At the very least, he could return her to the safety of her own world. As much as he enjoyed the sensations from her emotions, the girl was stimulating some disturbing new feelings within him. Her presence made him say, think, and do crazy things. If Hatter ever wanted things to return to a semblance of normalcy, she would have to leave this world.

You lie to everyone including yourself, a small voice within him taunted. You don't want her to leave and you know it. You like...

Shut it! Hatter commanded silently.

"There's no way we're going to get into the casino now. It's too dangerous," Hatter said, halting and turning to face her.

Alice sighed regretfully. "Look, I don't know how he got mixed up in all this. But I know he's not a thief. He honestly did not seem to know it was enchanted when he gave it to me." Her gaze trailed downward to the ring in question, sparkling on her finger.

Hatter frowned. "How did you know it was enchanted, anyway?" He had never thought of the Stone of Wonderland as having enchanted properties. But he supposed it would have to be imbued with some kind of magical powers to fuel the Looking Glass.

Alice pursed her lips. "I could sense it," she said softly.

"You could sense it?" Hatter returned skeptically. Clearly, there was a lot about this girl he had yet to learn.

Alice rolled her eyes. "As I said before, I'll explain later. Besides, that's not important." She sighed. "Jack was trying to surprise me or sweep me off my feet or something. Somehow he got a hold of this ring, and then it came into my possession, and now he's in a whole heap of trouble. I have to get him out of it."

She glanced away from Hatter, but since her gaze fell on the drop-off which so terrified her, she looked back at him.

"It's because of me that he's here. If I hadn't freaked out over the ring and kicked him out of my house, he would be home safe," she admitted remorsefully. The girl swallowed, her eyes glistening with guilt.

Hatter was shamelessly interested to know the story behind that admittance, but he figured it was not all that relevant to the matter at hand. What was important to know was how her boyfriend, an oyster, had managed to come into possession of the fabled Stone of Wonderland. The Resistance had been attempting to wrest it from the queen's grasp for an exceedingly long time. It was simply impossible to think Alice's oyster boyfriend had stolen the ring. Oysters were ignorant of the ring's existence. There was something missing here, some vital detail which was hidden amidst this tangled web of events.

"How did Jack get a hold of it anyway?" he inquired. He knew Dodo had posed the same question to her. She had answered that she did not know. Perhaps she would provide a different answer to Hatter.

The girl's lips tightened and she glanced away from Hatter as she mumbled hesitantly, "I don't know."

The telltale signs of a lie or an evasion. Hatter was intimately familiar with those. He would have pressed the matter had she not loped around him and started walking ahead of him quickly. He could do nothing but follow.

"The point is, I'm the only one who can get him out of this mess," Alice said curtly.

Hatter huffed. "And how did you figure that one?" he asked sardonically.

"Well, I have the ring," she replied matter-of-factly. "I can use it to negotiate his release."

Hatter's eyes widened. He sincerely hoped the girl was not serious on that account. To even attempt such a thing was nothing short of madness.

Suicidal.

"No, no, no!" he protested, quickening his pace to catch up to Alice.

The girl had stopped at his protests and whirled around to face him, a quizzical expression on her face. Hatter grabbed her arm, desperation and fear fueling his words. "You can't negotiate with the queen! She's crazy. She'll...you just need to cut your losses and get out of here while you still can." He fervently hoped the girl would see reason. He would gladly throw her through the Looking Glass himself, never to see her again, if she would abandon such a hopeless mission. The thought of her going before the queen with all her loyal, gun-toting Suits in attendance made that cold, icy feeling return to his veins.

"I can't just abandon him," Alice said, her eyes wide. "Don't you get it? He's in this mess because of me! I would never be able to live with myself if I just left him here." She then added, almost as an afterthought, "Besides, I like him."

Hatter rolled his eyes at the last statement, though it hurt him more than he would ever allow her to see. "Oh, you like him?" he repeated cynically.

"Yes, I do. A lot." She tipped her chin up, as if daring him to defy her.

Hatter walked away from her, trying his best to ignore the familiar tight sensation in his chest. He thought he was beginning to understand what that feeling was even though it was not something he had ever really felt before. He had never cared enough about another person for such a feeling to exist.

Uh oh.

"Look," he stated, turning back to face her. "I know a thing or two about liking people. And, in time, after much chocolate and crème cake, like turns into 'what was his name again?'." He was not speaking strictly from personal experience, but he had seen it enough among his own circle of friends and acquaintances. Whatever romantic liaisons Hatter had indulged himself with in the past had not progressed past the point of the casual need to satiate the carnal desires of men and women. He had never really cared too deeply for the women he had been involved with. Working with the Resistance while fooling the violent monarchy into believing he was their loyal tool left little room for true romance. Hatter was just desperately grasping at straws in this matter. If he could perhaps make her doubt her own feelings for this man, she might be persuaded to give up her ill-fated mission of rescuing him.

Alice raised an eyebrow at him, apparently unmoved by his words. "Not in my world. Well, I suppose after a lot of booze, but, anyway, I have kind of bad luck with men."

"There's a shock," Hatter muttered dryly, rolling his eyes.

If she heard the comment, she had brushed it off and continued speaking without missing a beat. "And this is one of the first ones who has actually ever meant anything to me. So, whether you like it or not, and whether I have your help or not, I'm not going to give up on him." She crossed her arms over her chest, her chin jutting out defiantly and her eyes sparkling with determination. "And, I feel I should remind you, I'm not a normal girl."

As if Hatter needed reminding of that fact. But he could not suppress his fear of the casino and the queen's absolute power over her subjects within. Alice was only one girl. She may be a very strong, formidable girl, but she was only one girl just the same. Even immense strength could be brought down by sheer numbers.

Hatter sighed in resignation, deciding to give up the argument for now. He turned back to continue walking towards his shop, but stopped when he heard screams and the sounds of glass smashing. He held a hand up in front of Alice. "Stay close," he said.

The two of them crept up to the red telephone booth which stood before the grassy bridge leading up to the front porch of the Tea House. He heard Alice suppress a gasp of horror when they saw a contingent of Suits standing on the porch and just in front of the steps. There was one figure in particular, however, which caused Hatter a great deal of dread. This Suit stood out from the rest, not only because he currently had one of the Tea House patrons in his grasp and was proceeding to interrogate him violently, but because he did not have the head of a man.

Sitting atop this Suit's neck was a glossy, white, ceramic rabbit-shaped head.

"What the hell is that thing?" he heard Alice ask in a whisper.

"I don't know," Hatter said, shaking his head in mesmerized revulsion. "I think it was a person at one point." There was something niggling in his mind, though. Something was extremely familiar about the rabbit-head Suit.

"Wait, it can't be..." he murmured, more to himself than to Alice. Is that Mad March? He's supposed to be dead.

Meanwhile, those men were completely destroying Hatter's shop. He did not even need to be inside to know they were probably tearing linens to pieces, overturning his furniture, smashing all his possessions. He felt the sharp prick of anger flare up, causing him to grip the sides of the red telephone booth so tight his knuckles turned white. He stayed where he was though. There was simply no point in trying to fight all those men. There were over half a dozen standing outside, and he knew there were likely to be even more inside. It was a lost cause. It would be far better for him and Alice to remain out of sight.

How did they know she came here? Hatter wondered to himself. He surveyed the distressing scene and frowned when he saw that dratted rat-catcher conversing with a man with a sharp, triangular beard dressed in a black suit with a high collared cloak flowing down past his torso and a black bowler hat sitting atop his head. There was no mistaking the large silver medallion hanging from the man's neck. It was shaped in the form of the club emblem, marking the man as none other than the Minister of Clubs, one of the queen's most powerful and trusted lackeys.

He was justifiably disgusted with Ratty for betraying him, but he was not totally surprised. "You work with rats long enough, you finally become one," he mumbled darkly.

"Tell me where the oyster girl is!" the tinny, mechanical voice of the rabbit-head Suit demanded of the poor, senseless Tea House patron. The voice, though distorted by whatever machinery was inside that ceramic head, was unmistakable. It was the infamous Mad March, one of the queen's favored assassins; until he had lost his head, that was.

Oh shit. If that's him, then we're in real trouble.

The poor man being questioned was shaking his head. The answer did not appear to please Mad March, who abruptly responded by tossing the man over the walkway. The poor fellow's screams echoed all the way down. They did not even hear when he hit the bottom, so high up they were. Hatter heard Alice gasp, and he looked to her, seeing that she had cupped her hand over her mouth. Guilt and horror shone ominously in her blue eyes.

"They're looking for me," she whispered with dread. "Oh god...all those people...your shop."

She swallowed and told Hatter in a quiet, flat voice, "Stay here."

"Alice, no!" he protested, pulling on her hand when the girl started to move forward. "There's nothing to be done."

She looked at him, eyes blazing. "I can fight them. I can stop them."

Hatter grasped her shoulders, his voice becoming desperate. "Listen, I know you've got some kind of super powers, but does one of them include being bullet-proof?"

Alice looked down, her breath coming in heavy gasps. She shook her head wordlessly.

"I didn't think so. Well, there are probably about two-dozen Suits or more altogether. They're all armed and well-trained. Maybe you could clear the bridge, but don't you think it's possible that just one of them might get in a lucky shot once you reached the house? And what if you should lose your balance in the fight. You could fall," he said heatedly. "Trust me. This is one of those times when we need to cut our losses and get the hell out of here."

The girl clenched her fists and glanced across the bridge with an agonized glower. He could sense the frustration, anger, and guilt roiling within her. He briefly wondered what he would do if she did decide to try to take on the entire posse of Suits which was destroying his home. While he had not yet seen her skills in battle (he decided he could not count tossing Dodo around like a ragdoll even if it was a truly amusing and incredible feat), he figured they were probably more advanced than his own. Nevertheless, he was not eager to see such skills demonstrated when the enemy had far greater numbers and superior weapons. He knew he would not be able to physically prevent her from bolting across the walkway. His only card to play was to appeal to whatever senses she might still have. Besides, if she ran, he knew he would run after her. His actions in the Great Library testified to his willingness to protect her even at the cost of his own life. It mattered little that Hatter was not able to ascertain the origins of such strong and dangerous inclinations; he simply knew they existed and that he was incapable of denying them.

Relief saturated him when he heard the sigh of resignation.

"I'm sorry," she murmured in sorrow. Her shoulders sagged in defeat. "This is all my fault."

Hatter felt the inexplicable urge to hug her just then. While it was undeniable the Suits were ransacking his shop in the search for her (as he highly doubted there were two escaped female oysters running around), the urge to blame or resent her had never once crossed his mind. She had not asked for any of this. If anyone was at fault, it was the queen and her detestable Suits, for it was their actions which had caused Alice's unintentional trip to Wonderland in the first place.

"No, it's not," he assured her, briefly caressing her cheek with his hand and then snatching it back awkwardly. He coughed and looked away from her, suddenly unable to bear gazing into her blue eyes.

"We have to go," he said softly. Hatter took her hand and they started running back in the direction they had come.

Unfortunately, they must have been spotted because once they reached the first building past the red telephone booth they heard a multitude of excited shouts. "There she is! Follow them!"

"Run!" Hatter yelled. He did not even have to turn his head to know that Mad March would be at the head of the pursuit.

Surprisingly, no gunshots rang out. These people must have wanted Alice alive, which meant they probably knew she carried the Stone of Wonderland or knew of its location. To Hatter, that was even more reason to evade capture. He would very likely be killed on the spot or executed later at the queen's convenience as it was. The only problem was, he could not think of where to seek asylum now that he had antagonized a major branch of the Resistance. Where could he take her so she would be safe (or, at least, safer)? With a sinking realization, Hatter thought of the one place where neither the Resistance nor the queen had a foothold. It was the forest known as the Tulgey Wood, which was located directly across the lake from the city.

The problem with using that place for sanctuary was that, even excluding the queen and the Resistance, the forest offered its own particular perils. There were bound to be things in that ancient woodland which were far more dangerous than the Suits or even Mad March. The only difference was that none of the inhabitants of the Tulgey Wood would be looking for them. The gigantic trees and thick shrubbery would provide ideal shelter from their pursuers. Their chances of evading capture, and surviving, would be higher in those woods than here in the city. Hatter only hoped he could remember enough from his boyhood lessons about the Tulgey Wood to traverse it as unobtrusively as possible, especially with an oyster in tow.

Hmmm...so option one is stay here and almost definitely get captured and killed. Option two is go into those barmy woods and possibly get eaten by something.

Neither of those two options was particularly alluring. One just happened to afford them a slightly better chance of survival than the other. With the decision made, Hatter changed his course toward a small pier where he knew a smuggling boat was usually tied up. He only hoped it would actually be there. It would be just their luck they would choose the one day when someone was actually using the little boat or left it tied up elsewhere. He did not fancy swimming the entire way across the lake. However, if it came to that, at least he would have a chance to see Alice in a drenched blue dress again.

Always have to look on the bright side, he thought to himself dryly.

Alice did not inquire as to their intended destination, which Hatter was exceedingly grateful for. He was not certain how she would react to the news that he was planning on taking her to a place where dangers told and untold roamed unchecked. Even more importantly, as far as he was concerned, was that her lack of queries meant something to him. It meant she trusted him, or, at least, trusted him a great deal more than she had earlier. The feeling it engendered within him nearly made him forget they were currently running for their lives.

If there had been any breath to spare, he would have breathed a huge sigh of relief to see that rickety, old motor boat drifting up against the little wooden dock. It was the brightest thing in this gray world, in Hatter's eyes.

"Get in! Get in!" he ordered Alice, snatching up the rope which secured it to the dock and unwinding it.

He hopped into the boat with a resounding thud followed by an alarming lurch which had Hatter worried the boat would capsize. The little boat righted itself quickly, however, and he wasted no time pulling the cord to activate the motor. The motor groaned and wheezed as if it were being rudely awaken from a midday nap, but it did not start. He cursed and, implementing more force, yanked on the cord again. The second attempt yielded no success either.

"Shit, we're going to have to swim, aren't we?" he heard Alice remark dolefully behind him.

Hatter gritted his teeth, seeking some way to reassure her. "Hold on. There's a knack to this." He was bluffing. He had only operated the boat on his own once before, which had been over five years ago. He remembered one of the chaps he knew who frequently used the boat telling him something about a trick in getting it to run. He jiggled the cord around before pulling it, dreadfully aware they were burning up precious seconds. Alas, the motor refused to do more than gurgle horribly and die.

"Apparently I don't remember the knack," he mumbled hopelessly.

"Here," Alice interjected, pushing Hatter aside and grabbing the cord. She twisted the cord around her wrist and heaved it back. Hatter almost feared that, with such strength as he knew her now to possess, she would yank the motor completely off the boat. Not only did the motor stay affixed to the bow, the motor came to life with an almost victorious roar.

"How did you do that?" he asked in awe.

She shook her head and shrugged. "No idea. I don't fiddle with boats much," she admitted.

Before Hatter could respond, both of them were alerted to the presence of their pursuers. The ceramic white ears of Mad March appeared over the grassy crest of the hill overlooking the little pier. A split second later, the dark-clad Suits spilled over the hill in the assassin's wake.

"Time to go!" Hatter exclaimed.

Sorry for the no sledgehammer bit, but I figured Dodo would probably want to keep his distance from Alice. I promise you, the sledgehammer will have its moment! I know some of you may be wondering why Alice ran when she could have probably taken on the group coming after them. Remember that she is trying to keep her focus on rescuing Jack and she's starting to trust Hatter more than she realizes. She's a lot more brain than she is brawn; perhaps a little too much brain haha. That said, this was somewhat of a difficult scene to write and it could have gone several ways, but, ultimately I decided that it was best to stay with the outline. I hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews make my day!