(The evening before…)
Hatter left his shop and made his way to the docks, using every shortcut he knew to get downcity as quickly as possible. He'd decided to start his search with the last place he'd seen Chez's boat, in the hopes that Alice was there.
The Suits had been tailing him since he left his shop. Although he was dismayed by this, it did not surprise him. Jack had warned him that the shop was being watched by the Resistance, and he concluded once he got a look at his tail that the Hearts up at the Casino had seen fit to watch him too. He most likely had Jack to thank for that.
He eventually managed to lose his tail by sneaking onto a boat moored near a rotting dock piling. The boat was an oddity – covered in rainbow paint with walls coated in glitter. Glitter. Why he did not know, but he spent two hours hiding in its cabin, wondering how his tea shop would look with glitter on the walls. It would probably be an improvement, he eventually concluded. But as that would mean glitter getting into everything in the shop, including his hat collection, he discarded the idea.
It was already dark outside by the time he emerged from the glitter boat and ensured that the men following him were not around. Then he continued with the search for Chez. He knew the cat would not have moved his boat unless it was an absolute necessity. But the boat was not here. Hatter guessed based on this that Alice had found the cat and was possibly being helped by him. After another hour of searching turned up nothing, he decided to cross the city to different set of piers.
He wondered if the Resistance had followed her when she left the shop. It was difficult to say for sure. A lone woman – and a terribly upset woman at that – might have been interesting enough for them to notice. Thanks to Dormie, the Resistance knew that Hatter was keeping an oyster in his shop who had at least some of her marbles intact. Perhaps they had followed her and she was not with Chez, but rather was squirreled away somewhere in the Dodo's headquarters.
He hesitated when the thought crossed his mind. He didn't want to deal with that particular kettle of onions. The Resistance's headquarters was nestled quite nicely in the middle of gang territory, which to Hatter's thinking was why they had survived for so long without being infiltrated by the Suits. The Hearts knew better than to get the gangs riled up unless they had a very good reason. He could probably make his way in under some pretext, but it would not be easy to get out once he did. Better to rule out Chez first.
He spent the night examining jetty after jetty. He'd had the foresight to permanently borrow a (glitter-covered) flashlight from the rainbow boat, and it made the search go faster.
But it was not until dawn the next day when he finally came across Chez. The cat was sitting forlornly in front of a rope, which was tied to a post on one end, and trailing off the dock and into the lake on the other.
"Well, well, well, what happened here?" Hatter, exhausted from bumping around the docks all night, stood beside the cat and joined him in staring sadly at the water. "Watching for fish are we Chez?"
The cat gave Hatter a baleful look. "I don't suppose you're here to get my boat out of the water Hatter. It's the least you could do, since your oyster sank it." He hissed venomously.
"My oyster sank your boat, eh?" Hatter kept his voice carefully neutral, even as he felt a rush of excitement. Finally found her. Except, she was not there. Where was she?
"With everything on board, including my sardines. You know, since she's your oyster everything she does is your responsibility. When will you be getting my boat off the bottom of the lake? I will send you an itemized list of everything that was on board so that you can replace it."
"No can do, sorry. I'm a bit busy at the moment. But my, aren't we looking handsome as a ham today?" Hatter offered innocently. He threw in the compliment because he knew the cat was decidedly not in the mood for a forced grin. It was his civic duty to bring Chez down a peg or two when the opportunity presented itself.
Chez turned to face him, his mouth stretching into a wide grin, revealing pearlescent teeth that were stained red. Alarmed, Hatter noticed that the soft fur of the cat's chin and chest were covered in what appeared to be blood.
Who's blood? He felt a pit in his stomach.
"Well, whatever will you do now? Plan on diving in yourself for it?" He said with forced nonchalance.
"No, certainly not. I've already had one hapless idiot try."
Hatter looked around. "I don't see any hapless idiots."
Chez's grin stretched wider. "Try looking in a mirror, Hatter. But the idiot I am referring to has already met his untimely demise. Alas, it could not be helped. I expect the Resistance will be sending more of them presently. I have something they need that they forgot about when they dragged your oyster off a little while ago." Chez gave him a sly sidelong glance.
The Resistance had her. Well wasn't that just peachy. He wondered how Alice was coping with captivity. His oyster was fiery when she was crossed, but she was no match for the Dodo with the weight of his goons behind him.
"How long ago did they leave, Chez?"
The cat looked at him. "Oh, not very long ago. Perhaps twenty minutes. But you know it won't do you any good going after her – she's quite upset with you."
"Did she tell you that?"
"My dear Hatter, anyone with an ounce of Perception, whether it came to them naturally or aided by tea, could see that she was frightened for her life when she came to me. I was helping her, before she took it upon herself to sink my boat."
"Why did she sink your boat?"
The cat extended both of his front paws and stretched languidly. "Ask her yourself. She wouldn't tell me, and I can't imagine what her motives were. Oysters are funny creatures."
To Hatter's mind, the cat's tone of voice sounded a little too casual.
He made his way across the city toward the Resistance's headquarters. He had his guess about the route they were taking – upcity, using the Syndicate's ziplines. It was too risky to follow them, so instead he stuck to the lower levels.
Not surprisingly, he'd been accosted by two formidable armed women shortly after stepping into Syndicate territory. He didn't bother hiding his purpose: he was here on business, to see the Dodo. It took some convincing, but he had enough of a reputation in the tea trade for them to believe it. They led him to the Resistance headquarters and turned him over. The goons at the door tried to stop him, of course, but this was before he demanded to know why they were interfering with his planned meeting with their boss, and potentially ruining the tea deal of the year. They had escorted him inside, but not, regrettably, before taking his glitter-covered flashlight.
On the way in, he came across three men beating a hasty retreat from the Dodo's conference room.
"Where's this lot headed?" Hatter asked. They looked like they were in a hurry.
His escorts didn't answer.
And then he was in the conference room. And my, wasn't he in good company.
There was Alice.
There were some tough-looking cronies.
And there were some shrewd-looking characters sitting at the table over there.
And there was a man with deplorable hygiene, who, if Hatter was not mistaken, was being very unpleasant to Alice. This must be the Dodo.
He immediately decided that grabbing Alice and fighting his way out – an option he'd considered – was not going to happen.
"Evening Dodo, everyone. Hello Alice." He looked at her more closely. How was she holding up? Well enough if a bit spooked. Her back was straight and her jaw set. She was staring at Hatter with a look he could not quite place.
He wondered what the Dodo had been telling her.
"Having a party are we? When were you going to invite me?" He addressed this to the Dodo.
The Dodo smirked. "I knew you wouldn't need an invitation Hatter, since by all accounts, you always show up just when you're not needed."
"I see you're talking with my oyster. This seems like a situation where I'm needed." Hatter said.
He noticed that Alice shifted a little as he talked. He looked away from the Dodo to give her a reassuring glance – a look which she did not return.
"Yes, well, your oyster has been causing trouble. I was just about to deal with her."
"So I keep hearing. Say, Dodo, what did your men forget down at the docks? Chez was saying they'd be returning for it shortly."
Hatter hoped his patronizing tone would bait the Dodo into revealing more. He knew this man only by reputation. But Hatter's cold-reading skills were sharp, and they told him that this was someone who could be goaded into giving away valuable information when his ego was pricked.
"Wouldn't you like to know," the Dodo sneered.
"It was the Stone of Wonderland." Alice shifted away from the Dodo as she spoke, no doubt prepared to step out of striking range should he unleash his temper on her. A wise move. The man's face purpled with anger.
Hatter was between them before the Dodo could act on it. "Hey now, your business is with me. I'm her owner."
He heard Alice give an indignant scoff at the word owner. Well, like it or not, that was how things worked around here. As an oyster, she wasn't free and never would be, unless the very laws of Wonderland were changed. He wondered is she knew how much damage he was doing to his reputation by defending her.
But he had bigger fish to fry than Alice's silly hang-ups – all right, fine. This was a perfectly justifiable hang-up, but he still did not have time to worry about it. The Stone of Wonderland had been down at the docks, no doubt squirreled away somewhere by Chez. Shouldn't the Stone of Wonderland be hidden somewhere in the Hearts Casino instead?
And what was Alice's role in all of this?
"The Stone, eh? No kidding!"
"Yes. Thanks to your oyster it's at the bottom of the lake, on the Cheshire Cat's boat." The Dodo spat the words out.
"So why have you detained my oyster? I'm not clear on that part yet." Hatter blinked innocently.
"We were just about to sort that out when you showed up. She had the Stone, before the cat took it, but my men thought she still had it. Does that clear things up for you Hatter?"
"A little bit, yeah. Well, since you don't actually need Alice for anything I'll just take her and we'll go." Oh, if only. But the Dodo was not going to allow himself to lose face so easily.
"Oh no, she stays here, at least until we can find a buyer for her. Consider it collateral damage for meddling in our affairs."
Hatter took a step closer to the man, deliberately intruding upon his personal space. "No can do, mate. She comes with me," he stated flatly.
"Or you'll what?" The Dodo sneered.
"Are you familiar with what I used to do for a living?" Hatter asked, inserting a noted of deadly calm into his voice.
"Ah, let me see if I remember. You were up at the Casino. Weren't you a Suit?"
"Not just any Suit. I was the Suit. The Queen's own chief enforcer. Let me spare you some pain – the oyster comes with me, and we all part ways peacefully. If she doesn't come with me, I'll make you wish she had."
It was not easy to make threats this deliberate with a straight face, especially since he was not sure if he could follow through on this one. But Hatter was a very practiced bluffer. He could see the other man struggling to control his temper, while his own composure became cool and relaxed. He did not drop his gaze.
The Dodo maintained eye contact like a champ. No doubt he was trying to determine whether or not he was being played. Even with all the guards in the room, and the Dodo's cronies, Hatter knew he could do some damage before they overwhelmed him. He couldn't actually fight his way out of this, of course, but he could make a dent in this unsavory posse.
What's it going to be, you smelly bastard?
The room fell into silence. No one moved or breathed as the two men stared at each other.
Then there was a quiet swish as the room's double doors swung open.
All the eyes in the room turned to look, but there was no one in the open doorway, and the hallway beyond was empty.
The Dodo narrowed his eyes, and nodded at his guards. They drew their guns and walked quietly over to the entrance.
No one else moved.
Then a quiet hum filled the room, and two small orbs floated in. They were coated in garish gold filigree and stamped with the classic symbol of the Hearts – a playing card with a plain red heart in the center, and a twisting black border or roses and thorns.
The two orbs floated in front of the guards. Then slowly each one extended a long telescope, the ends of which floated mere inches from the guard's faces.
A third orb followed the first two and took up position in the center of the room. It, too, extended a telescope, and trained this on the Dodo.
Quick, light footsteps sounded in the hall.
Then a tall man rounded the corner and stood in the doorway. He was polished, his dark three-piece suit impeccably tailored.
He had an animatronic head that unmistakably resembled an expressionless white rabbit.
He moved deliberately into the room. One of the guards brandished his gun, but the man raised a hand. His voice had a slight robotic distortion. "I wouldn't. You're on camera."
The guard stepped back.
"Well, fuck." Hatter muttered under his breath.
The rabbit-head turned slowly to face him and emitted a robotic chuckle. "Having a party are you? When were you going to invite me?"
Hatter narrowed his eyes. "I already said that."
The suited man strode across the room in a few quick steps, stopping in front of Hatter. "I know. Introduce me to your friends, Hatter."
Hatter glared at him.
The man did not move.
Hatter sighed. "Fine." He turned to the others. "Dodo, everyone, meet Mad March, Chief Criminal Investigator for the House of Cards, and my former colleague."
The Dodo's eyes widened slightly but nobody else moved. The tension in the room was thick enough to slice.
Hatter noticed Alice staring at the newcomer, working something out in her mind. Suddenly, she broke the silence. "Are you from the Other Side?"
Really, Alice? Hatter groaned inwardly. Sometimes she had the worst timing.
"He sounds like an Othersider," she protested. "I would know."
"Would you honey?" Mad March appraised her with a brief glance. "You don't even remember the Other Side, Alice. And if you did it wouldn't mean shit. You know nothing. Now let the grownups talk."
For a moment Hatter was afraid she would lose her temper, but she was uncharacteristically calm in the face of this attack.
Good. Defying the Dodo had been bad enough, but Mad March was definitely not someone Alice should be mouthing off to - she had no idea how dangerous this man was.
The Dodo was looking at Mad March with a hint of mockery. "I know who you are," he said. "My predecessor threw you off a building, didn't he? That was years ago. How are you still alive?"
"The key to staying alive after death is to stay nearly-dead. Your predecessor fell off that building with me, but where is he? Let's just say I haven't seen him resurrect yet. Guess I have to deal with you instead." Mad March's complete lack of facial expressions was uncanny. Hatter suppressed a shudder.
"How did you get in here?" The Dodo snarled.
"Getting in here was easy. What? Did you really think we didn't know all about your little clubhouse? I could take you down any time." He paused to regard the Dodo, tilting his head slightly. "In fact, I'm tempted to start today."
The Dodo was clearly thrown off-balance by this turn of events and beginning to feel frightened. "Not if you want to make it out of here alive."
"Yeah, about that." Mad March turned to the guards at the door and gave a slight nod. They immediately trained their guns on the rest of the room. "Turns out your revolutionaries aren't very loyal to you. Can't say I blame them."
Footsteps echoed in the hallway, and more men in suits filed in with weapons drawn.
"Now," Mad March said. "One of you is going to tell me how an oyster came to be in possession of the Stone of Wonderland." He looked at Alice. "Let's start with you, toots."
Hatter watched Alice closely. She was doing an admirable job of containing her fear. She stared back at March's blank face. "You're asking the wrong person."
Mad March waited.
Alice also waited. Well done, thought Hatter.
"Who gave you the Stone?" March said.
She dropped her gaze for a moment as if trying to remember something, then looked back at him. "I – I don't know. One of the tea-heads at the shop must have done it. I finished work one day and it was in my coat pocket."
Alice heard the Dodo snort derisively, and a few of the guards tittered. To Hatter, it was painfully obvious that she was lying. And if it was obvious to him, it would also be obvious to Mad March.
"You're telling me a tea-head put the Stone of Wonderland in your pocket?" Mad March was not amused.
Alice shrugged. "Have you seen how you people are on tea? You'd throw your mother off a building for another drink when you're taking it, any one of you."
Hatter found himself agreeing with her logic. He had saved a few mothers from being thrown out the wrong side of his office in his time.
Mad March, as if hearing Hatter's thoughts, turned to him. "What do you know about this?"
"About tea-heads? Well she isn't wrong is she?"
March gave a small grunt that might have been agreement. "The Ring, Hatter."
"Mate, if I'd had any knowledge about her having the Stone of Wonderland, I wouldn't be here right now. I've no wish to get mixed up in this mess."
Mad March looked from Hatter to Alice, then waved a gloved hand at the guards. "Take all of them. We're going to see what the Queen has to say about this. Like it or not, you're in deep Hatter."