Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of SyFy and Nick Willing and are only used for fan related purposes.

Gumshoe

chapter five: Escape

He heard the gasp from Owl, and expected the sigh from Dodo that came next. The old librarian just shook his head in the face of Hatter's determination. "I should've known you'd be harder to kill than a cockroach," he sneered.

"Stay where you are," commanded Hatter, panting slightly as he tried his damndest to ignore the throbbing pain that started at his shoulder and radiated throughout his entire left side. It was a good thing Dodo was such a bad shot—and that he was a suspicious enough bastard to always be prepared. Any lower—any closer—and that bullet would've gone straight through his heart.

Hatter knew that a life devoted to books had made Dodo mad, but he never thought the man was so insane.

Without the gun in his hand, Dodo didn't appear half as threatening. Owl was still standing there, in shock, barely aware of the shotgun in her grasp, and Duck's mouth was flapping open and closed, wordlessly moving as he watched the scene unfold in front of his eyes. Dodo held his hands out innocently, a small, wry smile on his face. They all did what they were told.

Surprisingly.

For just a moment Hatter really thought that Dodo was going to give up, maybe let him get away without any further threats. But only for a moment because, suddenly, Dodo lunged forward, knocked the gun out of Hatter's hand with one shove, knocked Hatter over and onto the floor with another before running right out into the hall and after Alice. He moved quickly for someone who had at least twenty-five years on Hatter, vanishing out through the door before Hatter even realized what had happened.

There was no time for him to go searching through all the strewn and scattered books on the floor for his gun. Taking care not to put any pressure on his injured side, Hatter pulled himself to his feet, made enough time to at least grab the hat that had fallen when he dropped, and followed right behind Dodo at a somewhat stooped run.

Dodo hadn't had that much of a head start; that, and Hatter had bought Alice some time by turning his gun on Duck, Dodo and Owl. When he emerged out into the hall Hatter saw that Dodo wasn't so far in front of him but Alice was. She was just about at the elevator, a good stretch of the hall in front of Dodo. She could make it… if Hatter did something about Dodo first.

Jamming his hat onto his head so that both hands were free, Hatter put on a burst of speed that quickly closed the gap between him and Dodo. He vaguely recalled shouting something about making sure to hold down the up button, it was a tricky one to Alice before reaching out and grabbing Dodo by the hem of his moldy old coat. Because they'd both been running, Hatter ended up barreling into Dodo and the two men fell heavily to the floor.

His madness lent the old librarian strength. They began to wrestle then, each wanting to be the first to get back to his feet. It was a frantic fight, all shoves, dirty hits and near misses. Hatter almost lost his hat again in the melee and it was only when he used his right hand to steady the crown that Dodo seized his chance. Without Hatter's infamous right hook to stop him, Dodo made the cheapest shot he could and jammed two fingers right at the center of Hatter's shoulder hit.

Hatter gurgled and, seeing stars, fell on his back in agonizing pain; quick as a fox, Dodo was standing up again. He aimed a sharp kick to Hatter's unprotected side that lifted Hatter off of the dusty floor before he landed flat on his back again. Taking his hate and aggression for all of the Wonderland above out on Hatter, muttering taunts and landing blows before Hatter could defend himself, Dodo seemed to forget all about the girl with the Queen's ring who was trying to get away.

And then, suddenly, the taunts stopped. Miraculously—in Hatter's opinion—the hits stopped, too.

He wasn't sure when he had closed his eyes—probably when Dodo's pointed fingers were aiming for Hatter's eye sockets after they'd already found the bullet hole in his poor shirt—but he opened them wide just in time to watch as Dodo's legs went up over his head. There was a thud and a groan as he landed hard.

Hatter was just trying to figure out if what he thought he saw—Dodo flying before crashing onto his back—was really what he had seen when suddenly a hand was thrust in front of him.

"Come on!"

Alice, it appeared, wasn't on her way to the surface. She wasn't even standing at the elevator trying to get the blasted thing moving. No, like an avenging angel swooping down in his old maroon overcoat, she hovered over him, offering him her hand. Without wasting another moment in wondering how or why or just what was going on, he took it.

With a strong heft, Alice pulled Hatter to his feet, wrapping her arm carefully behind his back so that she could help him run. When Hatter paused, trying to make some sense of what was going on, she gave his sore shoulder a small squeeze. "No time for that, let's go!"

"What happened to him?" Hatter asked, his curiosity just enough to overrule his self preservation instinct. Yeah, he wanted to get as far away from Dodo as possible, but since when did he fall like that? What had Alice done?

"It was just a basic flip," she explained shortly, shouldering more of his weight in an attempt to get him to move faster, "but it won't keep him down for long so we should really get moving. Unless you like getting shot?"

Hatter's only response was to try and pretend her pressure against his throbbing shoulder didn't hurt as bad as it did. Alice started to run, and Hatter had no choice but to follow. Not that he wanted to do anything else, but maybe she didn't need to jar his injury so much. Dodo was down, Duck and Owl had chosen to stay back in Dodo's office and all of their guns were out of it. Maybe it had been a risky move, coming to Dodo for help, but he'd gotten out of this mess like the hundreds of other tight spots he'd managed to wriggle out of so far during his time in Wonderland.

Except, well, it seemed she was right about Dodo. Damn it, he should've known.

They'd only got a couple of yards away when a quick look over his shoulder revealed that Dodo was already trying to get back up. Alice's flip had left him visibly shaken but it hadn't stopped him. He slowly but determinedly pulled himself to his hands and knees, catching his breath as he struggled to stand. Hatter had to admire the man: you just couldn't keep Dodo down for long.

Hatter elbowed Alice lightly in the side. "Alice, look."

Daring a glance behind them Alice saw what Hatter had seen and cursed under her breath. She stopped abruptly—quite the opposite of the plan Hatter had in mind—and, swiveling her head back and forth, took in her surroundings again. What she was looking for, Hatter didn't have a clue, but he could tell when she found it. A satisfied expression crossed her face as she took her arm back, leaving Hatter to stand on his own.

Dodo had climbed back up, slightly bent and obviously hurting nearly as much as Hatter was. There was malice oozing off of him and murder in his eyes. Hatter got one look and started to kiss his contacts and his future with this faction of Wonderland's unique population goodbye. He would've been better off never leaving his office.

With one quick step, Alice moved in front of Hatter. "Dodo!"

Her cry got Dodo's attention. He sneered. "Are you going to give me the ring now, little oyster?"

Scoffing, Alice shook her head royally. "You wish." She knew he was watching her which was exactly what she was after. Before anyone could stop her she reared back and landed a powerful kick along the edge of the nearest bookcase.

Hatter couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew that the ruthless Queen of the Hearts banned books and learning and knowledge in Wonderland when her gang rose to power; because of that, the Great Library was moved quickly and secretly underground. Obviously some corners had to be cut somewhere and, between them, Duck, Dodo and Owl were more than one hundred and fifty years old, but to not even bother to nail the bookshelves down? He just couldn't believe it.

The first case toppled over and hit the next, then that one tottered and hit the next until the domino effect took over and it would've been impossible to stop the first row of the library from falling to the ground. Books went flying, wood splintered and crashed and, above all, Hatter heard Alice hiss one word: "Run!"

This time the detective didn't have to be told twice.

Dodo's howls of outrage followed them down the hall. He stopped where he was, watching in horror as his precious books fell all around him. Alice was smart. When it came down to choosing between chasing after her and getting the ring or tending to his library, there was no contest.

Alice reached the elevator first and started to poke the up button frantically. Hatter, adrenaline pumping and slightly out of breath from both the pain and the sprint down the hall, landed with his back up against the elevator doors. He was panting, so loud in fact that he barely heard Alice's frustrated grunts.

When the elevator didn't respond and her frustration grew louder, he managed to ask, "What's wrong?"

"It's the button," Alice spat out, annoyed, "it won't work and we have to get out of here. Ugh, I even tried the down button and nothing. And why is there a stupid down button when we've gotta be as down as we can go? I don't get it! Work already!"

Hatter was glad Alice was so focused on berating the elevator: that way she didn't see the small smirk he couldn't be bothered to hide. Down button on the bottom floor, up button on the top floor… that was Wonderland for you. Only an oyster wouldn't see the humor in something like that.

"I told you, you have to hold it down. Jiggle it a little."

"What?"

"Give it a good push and hold it. Believe me, okay? It'll work."

Alice gave another grunt, the button finally moved and the old wiring caught at last. She grinned. "It worked."

"Of course it did," he agreed. Then, waiting for the minute or two he knew it would take for the old elevator to remember it was already on the lowest floor, Hatter closed his eyes and allowed his mind to process everything that had just happened.

She'd come back for him. He'd taken on Dodo and tackled the old man so that she could get away but she'd come back for him instead. Why? And why had he risked all that for her in the first place?

A million and one thoughts were racing through Hatter's head just then but when the elevator dinged its arrival, all he had room for was relief. The doors opened and, stumbling without the metal door to keep him standing, he fell inside, back on his back again. A second later, Alice was standing over him with an intense glare that could curdle milk, the elevator door was traitorously closing behind him and he rather fancied another round with Dodo over facing Alice.

First things first, though. Squatting down so that she was nearly straddling him—okay, Hatter allowed, maybe the view wasn't so bad from his place on the elevator floor—Alice quickly reached for his shirt. One quick tug and the top buttons flew open to reveal—

"Body armor?" Alice asked incredulously.

She'd been supporting him, lifting Hatter's upper body off of the dirty floor and trying to get him comfortable, but all that changed when the bloody bullet hole she'd been expecting turned out to be the toughest shield a favor in Wonderland could buy. She let him go abruptly and he dropped back down, wincing when he hit. "You have on body armor?" she demanded.

Alice moved away from him, disgusted, and Hatter couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt that, well, couldn't possibly be warranted. What did she know? This was her first time in Wonderland, she'd said so herself. Was it his fault no one warned her how dangerous of a place it could be? Where was her Jack when Dodo had a gun pointed at her, eh?

Hatter decided it was worth a shot to try to get Alice to answer some of his questions for once. At the very least, maybe it would get his mind off of the pain in his shoulder. "I—" he began.

But Alice wasn't ready to listen. She'd already made up her mind about what had happened in the Great Library and, no surprise, it was all Hatter's fault.

Well, maybe not all Hatter's fault…

"That man was crazy," she yelled, kneeling so that she could jab him with her pointer finger. "He tried to kill me!"

Just mostly Hatter's fault.

"Not to split hairs, Alice, but he actually shot me," Hatter argued through gritted teeth, swallowing back his pants as he rubbed his shoulder gingerly. Just because the armor kept the bullet from going through him, it didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"You're fine. You have on a bulletproof vest!"

"Yes, but he didn't know that."

Hatter bit back a groan as he hoisted himself up to his elbows, trying to put more of his weight on his right side. The elevator was still continuing with its rickety ascent back to the ground level and Alice was still looking down at him as if she'd like to shoot him herself. He had to think of some way to salvage this and quick.

He settled on changing the subject. "How did you do that?" he asked, sincere curiosity finding its way back to his voice.

Alice countered with suspicion. "Do what?"

"Take out Dodo like that? I mean, he's old enough, yeah, but the way you flipped him, I saw his feet go up and that was all. How did you do that?"

She shrugged, still angry but a little more complacent now that they were almost at the top and Dodo was still at the bottom—plus, Hatter's question regarding her ability seemed to mollify her a bit. "I teach self-defense courses down at the community center."

Of course she did. Well, that made sense now. Ha, no wonder she was able to walk through Wonderland unafraid.

The snow hadn't stopped while they were inside the library. To Hatter's relief, however, it had slowed down enough that visibility had gone up enough for him to be quite sure that no one was in front of him and, for now, the only one following him was Alice. That was the good thing about the snow: footprints showed up.

The cold was another big help for Hatter. It dulled the aching throb of his newly blossoming shoulder bruise until he only remembered it hurt whenever he turned again to look behind him. Which he did often. He told himself that he was just checking to make sure Dodo hadn't retrieved his gun and come up after them—considering Dodo hadn't set foot aboveground in years, it was most unlikely—yet he couldn't deny that he was also checking up on his client.

Alice had nothing left to say once they made it back outside. The anger she displayed in the elevator kept her flushed but the bitter cold and stinging snow were more than a match for her. She shivered and pulled her borrowed coat tight around her and that was all. She didn't ask where Hatter was off to now and he didn't tell. But, against his better judgment, he kept turning to see if she was still there.

She was.

Before long Alice started to slow and Hatter found himself going slower so that he didn't lose her—or she didn't ditch him, either. She was clomping determinedly behind him, her arms folded across her chest and her boots disappearing in the few inches of snow that covered the ground. Hatter entertained the idea of striking up a conversation, maybe bring up her adventure in the Looking Glass or perhaps find out how she got her hands on the Queen's ring, but he kept quiet. His time in Wonderland gave him a sixth sense about things like that. For now, at least, it would just better if he kept his mouth shut.

It was an easier trip back. He'd gone this way a hundred times, taking the path back to his office so often he could make it with his eyes closed and never stumble. And because Hatter didn't have to worry about where he was going, he spent the much quicker return journey thinking instead about the mess he had gotten himself into by agreeing to help an unlikely oyster find her kidnapped boyfriend.

Like most trips, the journey back was over in no time at all. When they weren't more than a few blocks away, Hatter had come to a reluctant but significant decision. Job or no, promises or no, favors or no… he just couldn't work this one anymore. It had crossed the line from a simple missing person's case the instant Dodo spied the Queen's sparkler on Alice's ring finger. And then for the crazy old librarian to shoot him over it? No—Hatter was a detective, not a superhero. Alice didn't need a private eye, she needed a miracle worker!

But he wasn't heartless. He didn't plan on leaving her on her own. He'd do what he could to help her, keep her hidden in his office until he could sneak her past those suit-wearing bastards that guarded the Looking Glass, and then he could wash his hands of this whole thing. Who knows? Maybe he'd even be able to salvage his working relationship with Dodo if he played his cards right.

Hatter stopped nearly two blocks away from the familiar grungy building that housed his office. He waited until Alice caught up to him and cleared his throat. "You should get out of here while you still can," he told her, inexplicably managing to avoid the piercing glare of her blue-eyed stare. "Dodo, he'll stay in the library, I'm not too worried about him. But if the Queen knows you're here…"

He knew it hadn't worked before she opened her mouth. Then she did, and her haughty tone confirmed it.

"I'm not going anywhere without Jack."

Hatter sighed. "I can tell you mean well, Alice, but no man is worth all this. Trust me."

"You don't understand," she argued heatedly, anxiously brushing the wet snow from her face. "I like him."

"Yeah? Well I like my head. And," he added, nodding at her, "you seem to be pretty attached to yours, too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

How could he explain? Shrugging, he tried to make some sense of a senseless place to a stubborn oyster. "Look, you're not from Wonderland, you don't know the Queen. She's crazy and—oh, no."

They weren't alone anymore.

It was like a punch to the gut, the way he could see him from this far and still know exactly who he was looking at. The way he stood there like he owned the street, basically guarding the back entrance to Hatter's office while giving off the impression that it was a nice place to wait. In the snow. Without a real coat. Of course.

His hair, what used to be big and brown, bunchy and all over the place, it was slicked down, oiled back, and parted down the middle. He wore a suit that stood for everything Wonderland—and Hatter—was not: a black three-piece suit and, he couldn't believe it, a red tie. He was even wearing the Hearts tie! It was pricey get-up, one he never could've afforded in the old days, but Hatter wasn't surprised. When you sold your morals and your pride, the price was usually pretty good.

Even his presence was friendly, light and carefree, but it was also a lie. If he asked you to stand with him, or to be let in from the cold that he probably never noticed, you had to be mad to listen. Or, granted, madder than March was.

Without another word Hatter grabbed Alice by the arm and pulled her rather roughly into the safe—well, safer—alcove of a nearby alleyway. His heart already pounding, he hoped they hadn't been seen. How in the world could he explain Alice—

Alice.

Hatter gulped. The Queen knew. Why else would March have come? Somehow he didn't think a beer for old time's sake was on the menu. He didn't know how—he'd only just left Dodo and Ratty would never rat him out—but she had to know. And he should've known. The damn Queen of the Hearts knew everything about Wonderland.

His unexpected pull and subsequent yank had startled Alice but she was recovering nicely. Tugging her arm out of his too-tight grip, she prodded him on the shoulder. At least, Hatter allowed, she did choose the right one. It only sent a tiny shock of pain shooting through his side.

"What the—"

"Shh!"

"Did you shush me?"

Hatter whirled around, nearly skidding in the slippery snow that welled up at the alley's mouth. He caught himself in time, held his finger to his lips to hush her again and nodded. Then, before she could answer, he slipped noiselessly to the edge of the alleyway and peeked out. He held a warning hand toward Alice and maybe she finally caught on that he was warning her for a good reason because, amazingly, she didn't follow him out.

Good.

He almost expected to come face to face with March but if his old friend had spied them, he was certainly taking his time in coming after them. He wasn't still standing there, though; instead, his trouser legs hitched up, he was squatting down low, peering intently at the snow that covered the ground.

It took Hatter a second to work out just what March was looking at.

See, now, that was the bad thing about the snow: footprints showed up.

Author's Note: I didn't mean to take so long to update but when writer's block strikes, it's never pretty. I do have a good chunk of the next chapter done -- including some backstory -- so the wait shouldn't be nearly as long ;) I hope you enjoyed!

-- stress, 04.16.10