There were wires coming in and out of him. Metallic rods tore through his flesh, artificial pathways delivered fluids to and from containers. He was restrained standing in a cylinder surrounded by glass. The worst part of it was that he was awake the whole time. He witnessed and he felt how he was cut and drugged. And he wasn’t leaving his prison any time soon.

The white rabbit with hands crimson from blood didn’t seem to give the slightest damn. He was entitled to what he said and there was no stopping him.

Rocket put a lot of effort in trying to lift his head up but only resulted in a slight twitch. He still wasn’t at his wit’s end. Even in his miserable state, he didn’t dare to lose himself. “Y-you still don’t get that you don’t have anything you could use to program…” Rocket chuckled weakly, “You really are stupid.”

Mctwisp hopped from one corner of the lab to the other, retrieving materials looking painfully sharp.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Mctwisp pulled a crate from under a messy table. “I’ve found junk in the castle.”

Rocket forced himself to look up just to have a glimpse before his head limped out of control. It was the tech he got from Knowhere. “T-that’s mine…” Rocket exhaled, “H-how did you…”

“It was in the red queen’s castle,” Mctwisp opened the crate and dug through the items, “And anybody from here knows that you could just about waltz your way stealing from the castle during night.”

Rocket coughed blood and tried wiping away the traces of it but found that he couldn’t. He wasn’t in control of his arms. “If it’s that easy why don’t you all just escape at night?”

“Pardon?” Mctwisp turned to Rocket, carrying junk from the crate.

“In the spaceport… at night… why don’t you all just leave?”

Mctwisp hopped back to the crate. “There is a spaceport but there are no spaceships,” he said, “There was one where I got this crate but when I tried activating it, it failed.”

The white rabbit went to one of the machines attached to Rocket. He turned something from it and Rocket felt a surge inside his system, dulling his nerves even more. He completely lost control of whatever parts he had control left. And his consciousness was failing as well.

The last he heard as his vision blurred was the chime of a loud bell.

***

In the never-ending teatime past the Tulgey woods, Nivens Mctwisp hopped along with a face so smug his grin appeared larger than that of Cheshire himself. He brought good news with him and thought that his friends deserved to know that freedom will soon be theirs.

Along the shifting path he made his way as fast as he could until he could hear the cacophony of whistling kettles. A few distances more, he could smell the aroma of brewing tea. It was the time of the day where he had to play his role as the white rabbit that hops along landmarks across Wonderland. And it just so happened that the first landmark was the mad T party.

“Friends!” he made a grand entrance, throwing his hands in the air as he bore the news.

The March hare threw him a teacup, yelling, “You’re late for tea!” before melting down to laughter.

Mctwisp evaded nonchalantly as he was already used to the March hare’s impulses. “I see you’re already mad, Thackery,” Mctwisp remarked and pulled out an old chair across the mad Hatter.

“Mctwisp…” the hatter wasn’t very delighted in seeing him. “Of course,” he added after a few seconds and pulled out an old pocket watch, “It’s the time of the day, my bad. How could I have not heard the loud chime? It’s just that I never get used to you coming here every day.” There was sarcasm in the hatter’s voice though he managed to make it sound like he was glad to see the white rabbit.

“I sense that you don’t like my presence,” Mctwisp pointed out, fiddling his fingers. The hatter didn’t reply and Mctwisp didn’t know how to bring the news in so instead he asked the whereabouts of the dormouse. “Is Mallymkun around?”

“At this time of the day, where would Mally be?” the hatter uttered with pure sarcasm.

Then a faint lilting voice echoed from inside a teapot just at Mctwisp’s hand’s reach. “Don’t drink the tea in here,” Mallymkun said and exited from the snout of the teapot. “It’ll taste salty.”

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“Hello, Mally,” Mctwisp waved and smiled but like the hatter, Mallymkun wasn’t very delighted to see him.

None of the trio seemed to have entertained the white rabbit’s presence with two being upset by a previous doing and one simply unable to be spoken to.

“I bear good news,” Mctwisp began, “I finally have something that could rival Alice’s—”

“Stop right there,” the hatter interjected, standing up from his seat. His eyes were covered by the rim of his hat as he faced low on the table. “Nothing here could rival Alice’s defenses. Not even if you steal the whole town, dismantle and reassemble it.”

“You’re not still upset about that, are you?” Mctwisp fiddled his fingers.

Hatter looked up, revealing his face half metallic. “You’ve no honor, Mctwisp. You’re a liar.”

“It was necessary,” Mctwisp raised his voice. “If I hadn’t lied, there will be no rebellion.”

Mallymkun pointed a dot of laser to Mctwisp’s eye, just to get his attention. “There is no rebellion, Mctwisp. And there will never be.”

Mctwisp angled his face out of the focused light, “You’re both wrong,” he looked at Mallymkun, “For years I’ve been creating weapons with what’s available. I steal, so what? That’s a small sacrifice for our freedom!”

“You, stealing, are not the issue here,” Mallymkun whispered and looked to Thackery’s direction. He tried as much as he can to keep the March hare unaware of their conversation. “It’s what you did when you got caught.”

Mctwisp got silenced for a moment and looked at the oblivious hare just by the side of the table. Thackery’s constant shivering, his impulse at throwing things and his barely communicable attitude—he wasn’t going mad. He already was.

“What do you want me to say?” Mctwisp sighed, “That I should have turned myself in? If I did, then the rebellion that’s about to come will not be possible.”

“You have an enhanced cerebral cortex,” the hatter poured himself a cup of tea, “So does Mally here, Thackery and Chess.” He took a sip before sitting back on his chair comfortably, “So could you please tell me why you can’t understand that from the very beginning, Alice sealed every possible route of escape?”

Mctwisp looked down then back to the hatter, opening his mouth to reply but to his failure, no voice came out. His chest was hurting from the guilt that’s catching up.

The hatter continued, “Alice thought leagues ahead of us. She stripped us of the technology we know and made sure the materials that circulate this planet is completely useless. Even if we build a thousand weapons from scrap, or make defenses with layers of bronze and copper, she’ll wipe us all out with just one of hers.”

“If we’re lucky, heh-heh-heh-,” Thackery interjected while looking at his reflection in the cup of tea, “Alice told me that ‘erself when sh’strapped me in da’ lab! That sh’won’t kill us.” As quickly as he was reminded of his retribution, Thackery returned to his old, mad self, asking for some sugar.

“I suggest you stop whatever you are doing, Nivens,” the hatter placed the cup of tea back on the table. “Our freedom will come.”

“Are you suggesting that we wait Alice’s natural death?” Mctwisp slammed his hands on the table, standing up, “With her lifestyle, she will outlive all of us! We will all die as prisoners before that happen.”

“No…” the hatter sounded down, “Cheshire will free us.”

Mctwisp flinched at the sound of the cat’s name. “What’s that coward gonna do?” Mctwisp folded his arms and looked away. “Countless times I’ve asked him. With his skill, he could just sneak up on Alice and assassinate her but did he do it?”

“He took into account the possibility that Alice would detect and capture him. Which is very possible,” Mallymkun defended, “As she had been able to contain the original bearer of that power.”

“If I was given that power, I would have long assassinated Alice,” Mctwisp boasted, “All the cat has ever done were disappear in the face of danger, disobey the law just because he could escape easily and…” he paused, blushing underneath his fur, failing to continue. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t trust him.”

“The cat’s a bloody bomb for heaven’s sake!” the hatter bursts, “I tinkered with his radiators myself and added magnetic enhancers to increase the range of the explosion.”

“You. Did. What?” Mctwisp gritted his teeth and pointed his gauntlet at the mad hatter, “How could you do that to him?” sparks flickered by the palm of the gauntlet. Mctwisp was about to shoot and the hatter said nothing to stop him. Instead, he just stood there like an idle target.

Mallymkun dove in, climbing in front of the white rabbit’s face to divert his attention. “It was Chess’s decision.”

The white rabbit was even more surprised but he contained his awe and dropped his hand to the side of his waist. “He… asked for it?”

Mallymkun nodded, releasing a breath of relief before jumping back on the table.

“Yes,” Mallymkun said shortly after.

“But why would he do something like that?” Mctwisp looked at his gauntlet. He relaxed by the backrest of the chair and guessed every reason why the cat would give up his life. He was worried—so worried that just by thinking Cheshire’s name, he became very anxious.

“Perhaps he was tired of living like this and longed for something more than freedom,” the hatter adjusted his top.

Thackery exploded into laughter, throwing spoons in the air, “Or t’lil kitty’s in love! Heh-heh-heh.”

Both Mallymkun and the hatter looked at Thackery and then back to Mctwisp.

“He did say that he got the idea because of a fellow from Halfworld,” Mallymkun said, “I wish I could have met the fellow though.”

The Hatter added, “He’ll detonate after he gets Rocket out the planet.”

Nivens Mctwisp got up from the table, stretching out the creases of his tunic. “He won’t,” he turned around and walked away, muttering under his breath, “Because that raccoon isn’t going anywhere.”