[Plot] The Wonderland Complex

[Alice]

"Agreed. You can kill each other once we're out of this hellhole." Alice got a bit taller, just to try and keep the sewage from creeping too far up her legs.

"And that goes for the rest of you too!" She called out, to the mob that had been pushed back by the fighting. "You wanna get revenge on Queenie? Start by surviving long enough to escape with us, and work from there." And much more quietly she looked to Knave, Hatter, and the pink one.

"You got in, and you two have been here longer than me. Do you have any leads? Any at all? And... Cheshire? Cheshire you can come out now...."

[Basil Benson]

Cheshire didn't respond. He wouldn't even if he was continued to be called out to. He was gone.

[Robin Stanton]

"I came in via Bunny? Rabbit? The portal one. Along with a friend. I haven't seen him since so he probably got out through the ducts. Hatter and me might be able to dig us a way to the surface if we're not too deep."

[Alice]

Alice looked about on the floor - the water was level, nothing displaced by an unseen form. He could be under the rubble? That didn't seem likely, but... no, there wasn't any time. If they delayed for too long the other residents might regain their nerve and turn on her group again. She could come back for him, if she didn't find him before they found a way out.

She still looked uneasy about the water pouring out from above. "Well, it's better than nothing. Just... maybe let's find another place to dig."

[Hatter]

"And what in the heck am I supposed to dig with, huh? There's not exactly any construction equipment lying around you witless clod!"

[Robin Stanton]

"Is she always this much of a binch?" Robin rolls her eyes. "We do the digging. Enter as much of the ceiling and bedrock and whatnot as we can, then make move it ourselves in sections. As long as there's not too much loose material and water it might work. I do a couple meters, you do the next and we leapfrog our way up."

[Alice]

"Improvise, Hatty. You had no problem tearing the place up as cement and rebar, you can find something. We don't even know if we're digging out yet. And if you can't, some of them might have useful talents" Alice said as she pointed toward genpop.

"No, sometimes she's mean." She answered Robin.

[Hatter]

"Let's just get outta the poop soup for now, alright?" the Hatterdog said testily, trotting down the hall.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile, Knave had collected enough of their amorphous materials to climb up Alice's torso and wrap two tendril like pseudopodia around her. Knave clung onto her like one part Ditto, one part lost pet in an attempt to garner sympathy and be carried where-ever it was they were going now.

The rest of the assembled gen pop scattered as the remaining Court members and their new friend came near them. It didn't seem like they'd be bothering them. Not at the moment anyways.

[Alice]

"Sounds good to me."

Alice let out a sigh and hooked her arms, giving something else for Knave to hold onto as the group moved forward. She had never been exactly close to them, they kinda freaked her out, but she wasn't going to leave anyone behind.

"Hey, Knave? You did good. Thanks." She didn't expect any response, but the olive branch had been extended all the same. She eyed genpop warily as the group made their way through their ranks.

"What, you guys wanna stay down here? Come on, follow us. There's strength in numbers." Forgive and forget? Maybe, though probably not so much the latter.

[Robin Stanton]

"Man, this is kind of bizarro world." Robin notes as they trudge along. "You guys got an amorphous blob, my Dad's an amorphous blob. You got someone who does my schtick but is real mean about it. You got a growing lady, we got a shrinking dude. Can I put money on Queenie being a red-head?"

[Alice]

"A shrinky dude? Oh man, that guy drew the short straw huh? That sucks." Robin managed to get a chuckle out of Alice. "I dunno about Queenie though, as far as I know none of us have ever seen her. We've only heard her in our heads."

[Robin Stanton]

"Nah, he's cool. And he got out, look where being big got you." she jokes back. This is much more her kind of rapport-building. "And I'm keeping my money on red-head. The strong telepaths always are somehow."

[Basil Benson]

Those who scattered did not return, even with Alice's prompting, leaving Robin, Alice, Hatter and Knave to their own devices.

As they left The Court Facility and passed back into one of the circular hallways, an invisible man exclaimed- "Alice!" before becoming visible in front of their.

"You're hurt..."

[Leo Eskandari]

It would be hard to miss Leo coming into view next. Basil may have taken point, but putting the strongman with keen senses second just made sense with beasties about. His extra-large X-Men suit also made him a good billboard for who the people with Basil were.

"God, what smells like actual shit?"

[Alice]

"Cheshire!" Alice called out, running ahead of the others to meet him. She stopped giving Knave a foothold long enough to hug the taller man tightly, forgetting about her passenger for a moment. "I was so worried! Things got really messy back there, I thought maybe you'd been knocked out, or worse!"

She noticed his bandaged arm. "Oh no, but so are you. Who wrapped..." her question was cut short when she got her answer, at least partially.

"... Jabberwocky."

[Leo Eskandari]

"Chimera, actually," Leo said a little hotly, eyes narrow at the perceived insult. But really he was covering for how self-conscious the comment made him feel.

[Samantha McManus]

"They've been trapped in a Lewis Carroll themed mindfuck for months, possibly years. Give them some bloody slack."

[Leo Eskandari]

"Sorry. Sore spot," he apologized awkwardly.

As an explanation for Alice, he added, "Been a supervillain's pet monster, didn't agree with me."

[Basil Benson]

"It's nothing I can't handle, Ms.Alice." Basil allowed Alice to hug him, strangely disturbed by the creature riding her like a backpack but trying not to show it.

Noticing the awkwardness between the the lion-man and Alice, he spoke again in hoping to distract the young lady.

"That one back there patched me up, I'll be alright." He stated, nodding to Vic.

[Alice]

"Ah... I'm sorry too. And here I thought I had it bad. I guess that makes you our saviors from the outside world, huh?" Alice interlaced her fingers with Cheshire's.

"Oh! Maybe he can take a look at my leg then. I might've got some, um, dirty water into the cuts...."

[Victor Freud]

"Eh? Oh yeah, I got a bottle of water, and some alcohol wipes, and...." Victor looked up from his little medical kit and came to a complete stop, his face going paler than normal.

"RONNIE WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

[Robin Stanton]

"You know what, in some weird way that makes perfect sense."

[Leo Eskandari]

"Stuff like this happens a lot in the hero game?" he asked, idly wondering how he'd react if they found his dad by sheer coincidence.

[Robin Stanton]

"Oh yeah. I mean, not all the time or anything but more often than you'd think! 'No such thing as coincidence.'" she quotes somebody from back home.

[Basil Benson]

As a reflex to the outburst Basil's posture tightened, and all 73 inches of him loomed behind Alice, looking down on the young man who just snapped at her.

"Alice... do you know this man?"

[Samantha McManus]

"...this is going to be one of those 'Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall' situations, isn't it?" Sam muses, looking between Vic and Alice.

[Alice]

Alice looked back at Cheshire for a moment and began to shake her head. "No, no I don't th..." She squinted her eyes and put her a hand to her temple as she adopted a very confused expression.

[Robin Stanton]

"Brain-whammied." she nods sagely even though that's about the extent of her expertise on anything approaching telepathy.

[Basil Benson]

Basil laid a hand on her shoulder for support, concerned whatever was going on was going to make her light headed.

"Don't force it. If it's meant to, it will come back in time."

[Hatter]

"I'm sure this is a touching and or confusing reunion but the ceiling is, in fact, falling apart. So for the love of God hurry it up," the Hatter-dog said.

[Leo Eskandari]

Leo blinked, "Did that junk pile just talk like a demented cartoon character?"

[Hatter]

"Did that lion just talk like Mark Wahlberg on sulfur hexaflouride?"

[Victor Freud]

Vic shot Basil a look at their physical closeness, more concerned about that than the brewing confrontation between the Chimera and the golem-thingy.

"I'm sorry, I know you've been through a lot, but I can't help but get a little on-edge when I see a guy who has a girlfriend holdin' hands with my little sister. A little sister who's SUPPOSED to be back in Canada. Why are you even...."

Victor's head snapped back to his sister, and seemed to stare through her, or at least past her.

"Malina! Did you put her up to this?"

[Narrator]

The gelatinous entity Vic was addressing didn't answer, andcontinued to hang loosely around Alice's neck. An air pocket rolled towards it's surface, then popped.

If this was indeed Knave's true name, it did not summon the demon.

[Basil Benson]

"Hatter is right, We can discuss this on the surface while we call in for clean up." Basil replied. "We're just leaving ourselves open to attack talking about this here. "

[Samantha McManus]

"We've got transport. We don't have this much transport, but we can call in more."

[Chase Delacroix]

"Then let's not waste any more time," Chase said, "Lest Mr. Tweedle here has a change of heart on us."

He turned in preparation to start walking when the others were ready.

[Narrator]

The Tweedle was busy picking at a pock mark on his own arm to the point he almost didn't notice he was being addressed again.

"Roight. Let's go." He replied, starting to lead the way towards the kitchen, and eventually, outdoors.

[Victor Freud]

Victor grumbled softly. "You two are getting SUCH a talkin' to when you get your memories back."