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Chapter XXIII: Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
The Slayer ran. The trail led out of the city, heading towards the border of the Tulgey Wood. The casino, with its daunting, seemingly precarious height, looked like a needle in the distance. She tried her best to ignore the aches and pains which plagued her battered body. Her injuries slowed her down nonetheless. If she had been at full strength, perhaps she could have caught up with the posse of Suits which had taken Hatter before they reached the casino.
Fear for this man who had quickly become more than just a friend gnawed at her relentlessly. She only hoped the queen would not kill him outright. Thought it felt horrible to think such things, she hoped his position as a double agent would warrant some interrogation. While it meant cruel mental torture, it also meant he would stay alive long enough for her to find him.
Odd, how her priorities had shifted so drastically. When she first arrived in Wonderland, she had thought of nothing but finding Jack. Then, after his treachery had been unveiled, her focus had shifted to her father. But her father was, ironically enough, safer than anyone else. To mention nothing of his amnesia where she and everything about their life back home was concerned, he was apparently an important asset to the queen. He would be fine. It was Hatter who needed her now.
He better not do anything stupid to get himself killed or I'll…kill him again…
There was a slate gray stone wall encircling the narrow base of the towering casino. Again Alice marveled at how that thing defied the laws of physics. Such a building would not stand in her world. She at least hoped there was a backdoor entrance which was more terrestrial than the entrance she had used the previous time she had been here. She did not fancy the notion of trying to climb the walls of the fortress seeking a way in. But she would do it, if that was what it would take.
Luckily, scaling the walls did not seem to be necessary. There was a door right at the very bottom of the towering structure. Even better, there were no guards in sight. She thought there would at least have been some men manning the gate, but it just swung open with the prod of a finger.
"Wow, either someone's real full of herself or she's not as smart as I thought she was," Alice commented dryly.
She strode up to the dark gray door. It was reinforced steel, which meant it was very unlikely brute strength—even her own considerable strength—could knock it down. She glanced upwards with a despairing glower before reaching forward and knocking.
Her sharp ears identified the sounds of movement, sounds she would not otherwise have picked up behind that thick door had she not been gifted with enhanced hearing. The door scraped open by the slimmest of cracks. A crack was enough.
Before the Suit on the other side could even string a sentence together, Alice planted her boot on the door and pushed. There was a strangled yelp as the man was thrown backward followed by the crashing sound of the door hitting the wall. The Slayer stood in the doorway, blinking her eyes at the contrast of the darkness of the interior and the brightness from outside.
"What the hell!" blurted another Suit. He rose from his seat at a small table where cards and chips were spread on the surface. It looked as if Alice had interrupted a poker game.
"Oh, sorry, were you winning?" she asked innocently.
The man scowled at her, reaching for his gun. Thinking quickly, Alice flung Hatter's hat at the man. It spun in mid-air and the Suit instinctively ducked, covering his face as if the hat were a deadly projectile. The diversion gave the girl enough time to waltz up to the man and backhand him across the face. He dropped to the floor, down for the count. "Dummy," she muttered, picking up the hat and dusting it off.
The room was small and sparsely furnished. There were a few chairs, a glossy black phone, cabinets lining the walls, and the table where the poker cards and chip still lay as if in waiting for the players to return. She wondered if serving as the ground entrance to the casino was its only purpose. It certainly did not offer much in the way of tools or supplies which could help her move about the casino under the radar. There did not even appear to be a store of weapons, though she suspected if there had been, it would have been the sort of weapons Slayers did not make use of.
Hurry. She knew she needed to move fast, but she also knew that she could only move but so fast. Infiltrating the casino with no weapons or backup as well as being injured and weakened was risky enough. She had to tread carefully. Hatter's life was hanging in the balance. Her nerves were strung taut, frayed, and threatening to unravel under the weight of her desperate worry for him. She refused to think it could possibly be too late already. The queen would have to see that he harbored useful information. Of course the idea of him being at the mercy of the Tweedles was terrifying, but the alternative was too horrible to imagine.
Don't think about that. Thinking about that will only make you lose control. You can't afford that…Hatter can't afford that.
But the fear, the dread, the horrible sinking feeling of doubt which wormed its way into her gut and chipped away at her resolve was powerful. Alice took a deep breath, willing the thoughts of doom out of her mind. She could do this. She merely had to tether those fears, bring them under the control and discipline which she had honed for six years as a Slayer and even longer as a martial arts student.
There was a narrow, spiral stairway at the back of the room, no doubt leading up to the casino. But, before she could take that route, she needed to tie up the loose ends. And by loose ends that meant two Suits, one of whom was not even unconscious.
The first Suit lay in a pile of debris which may have once been wooden shelves. He moaned in pain, lifting his hand to his forehead. Alice stood over him, her hands on her hips, her dark hair sliding forward to obscure her features.
"I'm going to keep this short and sweet," she said sternly, placing one of her booted feet on his chest. The man's breathing hitched. The Slayer part of her practically smelled the fear emanating from him and nearly relished it. "One of my friends has been taken by a bunch of your friends. I don't like this. I want him back."
His eyes rolled in their sockets, swiveling around desperately. But his partner was unconscious and Alice assumed this room was quite isolated from the rest of the casino. There was no one coming to help him.
His eyes flicked over in the direction of the phone. Without even looking, Alice reached out and ripped it off the wall, letting it plummet to the ground.
"Please, I have a family," the man pleaded.
It was difficult not to feel the flare of guilt at the naked fear in his watery gray eyes. Slayers did not kill humans as a general rule. In her tenure as a Slayer based on a hellmouth, there had been a few humans who had stepped over into the jurisdiction of the Slayers by invoking supernatural forces or summoning some kind of a hellion as part of some diabolical plan. But, even then, killing said human or humans had been a last resort. So, no, she would not kill this man.
But he did not have to know that.
"Um, yes, the team sent out to retrieve…you…I guess…returned with two prisoners: the prince and one other man. But I-I just gave them clearance to get through. I don't know what's happening with them now," he informed her. A sheen of sweat glistened on his pale features. The man was young, late twenties or early thirties at the most. If the remark about the family was true, any children he had were probably young.
"How long ago was that?"
The man whimpered. "Um, I don't know. Less than an hour ago." He sounded uncertain, but, in any case, it could not have been that long ago.
She removed her foot and the man let out a choked exhale of relief. Her eyes flitted to the stairs, back to the Suit, and then over to the other Suit with a thoughtful expression. She knew that was the way up to the various levels of the casino. The question was how she would walk through those levels during her search for Hatter without drawing attention to herself. There had to be tons of Suits patrolling the halls. She knew she could take them, even several of them, but it would take up time she would much rather be vested in searching for Hatter. Also, there was Mad March to consider, for he had already trounced her all too easily once when she had been in considerably better shape.
"I have one more question for you." She paused, cocking her head to the side as a thought came to her. "Two, actually."
The man stared at her with a strange, nearly comical mixture of incredulity and trepidation. He propped himself up on his hands, but did not make any movements to rise further.
With her eyes on the winding staircase, she laid out her questions. Her voice was distant as if it with it were jumping along with her thoughts to the unknown future. "One: what weapons do you and your buddy have that I could borrow? Two: do you have any handcuffs?"
Every few seconds someone would walk by the archway where Alice watched from against the wall, shrouded in shadows. Mostly they were Diamonds, the spangled accents of their dresses winking bright red in the light. The heels of their knee high red boots clicked against the smooth stone floor in a perfect rhythm. Suits also passed by occasionally, their strides longer, but their steps much quieter. A grave, eerie silence pervaded the place. Save for the sounds of footsteps, the corridor was silent in spite of the endless array of human beings traversing it from both directions. Even those who walked in pairs or groups did not chat amongst themselves. No smiles or casual bantering abounded whatsoever. All were quiet and stern-faced, walking with a sense of grim purpose.
Minutes were ticking by, and Alice still had not figured out how she would slip amongst them to search for her companion. If she had any sort of talent for witchcraft, she probably could have performed an invisibility spell or glamour. There were Slayers who practiced the Wiccan arts. But she had no innate ability for magic, and she had no way of knowing if that sort of magic would even work in this world.
Think, Alice, think…
Inspiration struck like an arrow and Alice had to cover her mouth to suppress a gasp. The solution was so tragically simple she wondered why it had taken her so long to see it. It might be tricky to pull off, but it would definitely make it easy for her to traipse around the casino virtually unnoticed.
Feeling slightly giddy now that she had a plan in mind, the girl slid closer to the edge of the wall. She would have to move fast if this were to work, as well as hope that these people were as unobservant as most people tended to be. Her preternatural speed was a definite advantage to be exploited.
Her eyes locked on a target and she acted. The Diamond girl walking by did not even have time to let out a shriek as Alice reached out and snatched her out of the corridor. She slapped a hand against the girl's mouth to muffle the scream which boiled up her throat. With the other hand, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the butterfly knife she had "borrowed" from one of the Suits.
The Diamond's brown eyes grew wide as Alice flipped open the blade. No words were exchanged. None were needed, for the Diamond seemed to get the message. Once it was clear she was understood, Alice took the girl towards the door which led to the ground entrance of the casino. This was the distasteful part of the plan, but it was necessary. As she had done with the Suit down below, she needed to make this girl think she would kill her. She quashed the momentary flurries of guilt and doubt which arose when the Diamond whimpered underneath her palm. The girl was shaking with terror.
Once she had the girl downstairs she pulled her hand away from the girl's mouth and pushed her into one of the chairs. The girl let out a sob of fright and drew her arms protectively around herself. She glanced around at her surroundings, her sobs worsening when she saw the two Suits handcuffed to the pipes; one of them slumped against the wall, unconscious.
"What-what do you want? Please don't kill me," the girl begged. Tears streamed down her face, turning her painted features into a blotchy mess. She appeared to be even younger than that Suit, closer to Alice's own age. She was also close to Alice's size, which was the important thing.
"I won't if you listen to me very carefully and do everything I say," Alice assured her, keeping her voice firm, but reasonable. It would not do to terrorize and intimidate the girl into hysterics.
The young Diamond stared at her, hiccupping in between her sniffling sobs. Then she nodded.
"Take off your clothes," Alice instructed. She flipped the butterfly knife closed and set it down on the table.
Confusion drew a line between the girl's brows. "Wh-what?" Alice saw her gaze flit to the knife for the briefest of instances.
"Take off your clothes," Alice repeated as she shrugged off the velvet jacket. "You can leave on any underclothes. What I want is the dress, the boots, and the hat…thing. Oh, and I saw that, but don't even think about trying to go for the knife or running away. Trust me. I am much, much faster than you."
She pulled down the zipper of her own dress with a warning glare to the Suit who sat watching them, his mouth taped shut. He averted his gaze as the two women exchanged outfits. Alice's raspberry tights were ripped and stained beyond repair so she completely discarded them.
The Diamond had been slightly taller than Alice, which came as no huge surprise. The red boots were a little too large, but they would serve well enough. She tugged them up over her calves and flexed her feet experimentally. The dress fit well enough, if a little bit longer on her than on the Diamond. There were no pockets, however, which forced the girl to rethink where she would hide the butterfly knife. She may have been planning to put on an act as a casino Diamond, but there was no way she would be going up there without a weapon on her. Finally, she opted on shoving the knife into the leg of her right boot, though it chafed up against her skin.
The hard part was trying to shove her thick mass of dark hair underneath that red sparkly dome hat. The Diamond girl had had an array of pins holding her light brown hair under the hat, which she promptly handed over to Alice. There was no time for perfection, so once she had her hair pinned up, if somewhat sloppily, she shoved the hat on her head.
"Okay, how do I look?" Alice spun around, her arms stretched out.
"Um…nice," the Diamond replied hesitantly. She was now wearing Alice's blue dress, the purple velvet jacket, and the purple leather boots. Her golden brown hair was unbound, fluttering past her shoulders in gentle waves. Even with her make-up slightly marred by tears, the girl was quite comely.
She looked traumatized enough as it was, and Alice hated to cause her further distress. She worked for the enemy, but knowing what she knew of the Queen of Hearts, the young Slayer imagined the queen controlled her servants with a glittering iron fist. This Diamond was more or less innocent, bound by fear to do her job of evoking emotions from oysters so they could be collected and bottled up for distribution. She probably had not even been given a choice. No doubt she was terrified that just by being captured and becoming an unwilling accomplice in Alice's plans, she would lose her head.
"I'm sorry to do this to you," Alice prefaced, while grabbing the girl's arm and steering her over to where the Suits sat cuffed to the pipes which protruded from the wall. "But I can't really take the chance that you won't run upstairs and alert the troops." Alas, the Suits had carried only one pair of handcuffs each, so she had to use the tape she had found while perusing through the room to bind the girl's wrists together after threading one hand behind the pipe. She then placed some tape over the girl's mouth, steeling herself against the terror and confusion in her doe brown eyes.
Once she was satisfied the Diamond girl was well and truly restrained alongside the Suits, Alice stood and turned away. She strode over to the staircase, her heart pounding with each step. The first phase of her plan was done, and it had gone better than she could have hoped. She prayed her luck would hold. But it was becoming more strenuous keeping her gut-wrenching doubts and fears for Hatter at bay. She quashed those pessimistic thoughts and feelings, shoving them to the back of her thoughts where they belonged for the time being.
She had climbed about halfway up the spiral stairs before she remembered something very important. "Oh, shit, whoops." Slapping her forehead, Alice sighed and turned around, quickly running down the stairs and over to the Diamond, who sat huddled on the floor by the wall. Her face paled at Alice's encroaching form. The girl tried to scream, though what came out was a thin, stifled wail. Alice reached into the pocket of the velvet jacket and pulled out the Stone of Wonderland. Though it was probably dangerous to bring the ring up into territory where she was risking capture and/or death, the girl found she did not feel comfortable leaving it behind.
"Almost forgot this," she muttered as she looked down at her dress, the lack of pockets once again proving to be a problem. She ended up pulling the neckline of the dress out and dropping the ring in, allowing it to nestle uncomfortably between her breasts.
The Diamond and the Suit stared at her, completely stunned and silent. Whether or not they recognized the ring as the Stone of Wonderland was a mystery. Alice just shrugged at them before turning around and heading back to the stairs.
Hehe...so...what do you think?
Happy Halloween!