Hey, guys. Sorry it's been so long. I've had a lot of tests a few weeks ago, and I didn't have time to update. But here I am now, and I'm sure you guys are going to be in for a treat this chapter as we finally find out just why Friitawa is targeting Becky in the first place.

Friitawa slammed a fist on her lab table, furious as she watched the video feed from inside Scarecrow's lair. She couldn't believe he had fallen for that little rat's tricks.

She slammed her fist down again, her red eyes flashing with anger. How dare that girl get what she could not? How dare that girl keep her from achieving greatness alongside the man she had perfected her fearful technique. She knew she had more to offer than anything that Albright girl could ever dream of offering him. She was stronger than her, smarter than her, and more capable of bringing enemies to their knees than her.

"Honestly, what can that little rat offer you, Jonathan, that you would fall for her and not me?" she growled, glaring at the monitor. Oh, she had seen how he looked at that girl, how he was kind to her, patient with her, gentle with her, and it absolutely sickened her.

This was not the Jonathan that she knew. The Jonathan she knew would have left her to rot or, if he did keep her, at least experiment on her fears. But no, he didn't even gas her.

And when she saw them kiss, she tore the monitor off the wall and threw it at the back wall, the monitor shattering and buzzing in the rubble.

"Fang! Needles! Report to my chamber now!" she yelled, her grip on her radio threatening to crush it.

Immediately, the two thugs scurried into her chamber, their hands shaking. They knew that when the Mistress was angry, she tended to take it out on her minions in the most gruesome ways possible. But they also knew that, if they didn't come immediately, she would hunt them down and feed them to Croc, which was something that they didn't even want to contemplate.

"Yes, Mistress," they both said at the same time.

"Bring the Hatter to me. It's about time we had a talk," she growled, her black leather coat swishing behind her as she turned.

The two thugs immediately nodded and scurried out of the room.

In a few minutes, they had dragged the Hatter into the room, holding his arms to prevent his escape.

She smiled sinisterly, gesturing for her minions to leave, before walking towards him slowly, her high heeled boots silently tapping the ground, like a panther stalking her prey.

Jervis gulped, a cold shiver running up his spine. While the outfit she was wearing was seductive, showing off ample amounts of cleavage in a red bodysuit-like vest, he knew that such things only belied her savage nature. "W-What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing much, my dear Hatter," she purred, her fingers lightly tapping across his shoulders, like a spider walking up his arm. "Only…why haven't you completed my mind-controller yet?"

"I-It's coming along! I-I-I just n-need a little more time," the Hatter whimpered, his hands twitching and his heartbeat racing.

"Really? Because as I recall, I gave you three weeks to get my project completed," she replied, her tone even and cold. "And yet, you still haven't completed it. Why would that be, dear Hatter?"

"I-It just needs a few modifications. That's all. I-I've never really had to control something that large," he stuttered, starting to back away slowly.

"A few modifications, you say? Then why is it, then, that most of the time I caught you trying to sneak into Alice's cell, hmm?"

The Hatter gulped.

She picked him up by his throat, lifting him high off the ground as he struggled to be let go. "Let me make this very clear, Tetch. If you don't make me the mind control card and controller, then Alice will die and you'll be nothing more than a slave to me. Do I make myself clear?"

He nodded, tears filling his eyes in fright and his entire body shaking.

Seeing that she made her point, she threw him towards the back door, not even bothering to turn. "I'm giving you twelve hours to complete my project, Hatter. If you are not done by that time, Alice Pleasance is dead."

He nodded, running as fast as he could back to the safety of his lab.

He felt trapped here, unable to leave his lab for anything other than an occasional restroom break. Ideas, he knew, couldn't be rushed, especially on the timetable he was on. And knowing that any second wasted could be the death of his dear Alice made his stress all the more heavy.

He could feel his mind start to wander back to Wonderland, and it made him feel frightened. He loved his favorite book and loved to dream about it in his mind, but recently his dreams had become much more sinister.

The characters kept whispering to him, telling him what he should do. The March Hare said that he needed to finish his project, while the sleepy Dormouse kept mumbling about rescuing Alice from the Queen's and the Jabberwocky's card soldiers.

"But how?" he asked them, his voice desperate and thin. He didn't want to betray his best friend, but if he didn't, then Alice would be the one to pay.

"Simple, old chap," the March Hare replied, giggling a bit, before sipping his tea from one of the hundreds of cups on the table. "Make that Jabberwocky think she's won, then while she is distracted, cut all of her card soldiers down and rescue Alice."

"Yeah, that could work. But Alice is a very gentle person. I don't think she would want me to hurt the card soldiers, if I could help it. She's very particular about that," he said, frowning. He knew cutting down the cards would be a death sentence for them, as they would cease to be if they were hacked apart.

"Well, then, just give a slight tap on the head. I'm sure that might just awaken their senses. After all, a good clonk on the head helps me regain my senses," he replied, hiccupping and giggling. "Or lose them. Either way, they'd probably have a lot to think about."

"I-I don't know…" he muttered. As much as he loved Wonderland, he didn't know why the March hare had become so violent. If only he had Alice here with him, she would know what to do. She could help balance this madness out. Or, at least, into a more rational madness.

"Oh, come on, Hatter. They're just cards. There are hundreds of them in her arsenal. It's not like they're actually going to get hurt by you pounding on them. Just a little…flattened."

"Yeah, you're right. You're always right," Jervis replied, the blur between fiction and reality started to fade as he found he wanted to accept this fiction more than his reality. Here, he needn't have to worry about deadlines or threats or anything like that. Here, he could be himself. Here, he could be free.

"Aren't we always?" the two animals replied, grinning madly.

The same grin soon spread to Tetch's face, as his eyes started to glaze over, like he was in a trance. "Yes. Yes, you certainly are!"

He gestured to the empty room. "Come along, my friends. I'm going to need your help if I'm going to finish it in time."