Slay Red Kween was emblazoned across the sky. Alice rolled her eyes as her hoverboard zipped past a line of skyscrapers. Her ex’s face flickered into view in front of her helmet. Incoming call from Iracebeth. Incoming call from Iracebeth. “Ignore,” Alice said firmly, taking a sharp turn down a cramped alley.
“Thank you to my loyal followers for making me the youngest and most popular Head Advisor of the Artax board.” That was Iracebeth’s voice. Alice took off her helmet and shook out her short blonde hair. She could see Iracebeth’s projection in the sky, right above where the words had been moments ago. Iracebeth’s black bob framed her angular face, she was wearing a red dress with a high collar that went so far up her neck it brushed the edges of her jawline. Silver stars, sent by followers to show their approval, collected around the hologram. “Today we decide the fate of two of Artax’s most notorious criminals, the Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser. The hearing is available to stream directly into your cerebfeeds. Live streaming the sentencing and punishment is mandatory. Synch up later cyphers!” Iracebeth blew her signature air kisses and the holo winked out, tossing up images of heart-covered playing cards across the sky. She heard people in the street cheering.
She pushed her way through the familiar grime-stained door and into the arcade. She hit the power switch a few times before the electro kicked in. The games whirred to life around her. The flashing lights and synthetic beeps soothed her. She stashed her backpack and hoverboard behind the counter and grabbed a rag to clean the game stations before the regulars started to trickle in. The games were vintage. Nothing that streamed directly into the cerebellum chip that sat snugly on the inside of everyone’s brain stems. These games were hard plastic, steel, and glass. Something you could rub your fingers over. Iracebeth. Alice remembered rubbing her fingers all over her. She tried to banish the memory. She had always known Iracebeth would go on to accomplish great things, but sitting at the head of the city’s governing body was a surprise to her. In retrospect, she should have seen it coming. But she had been willfully blind. She saw Iracebeth’s cerebfeed getting more popular. At first, it was month by month, then week by week then day by day...then an explosion of interest. Millions of streamers using their precious brain stems to fill their days with the play-by-play of Iracebeth’s.
“Say hello, Alice.” Iracebeth would chirp. “Hello, Alice.” She would scowl. Iracebeth always laughed it off. “She’s such a pos null.” As far as Alice was concerned, Iracebeth’s followers fell into two categories, the ones who loved her because Iracebeth loved her and the ones who wanted her dead because they loved Iracebeth. Viewers would react in real-time to Alice’s reactions. “She’s a pos null but she’s your pos null!” Sent with a burst of hearts. “Send that surly bitch to the incinerator.” Said another, along with a holo of a blackened skeleton crumbling to dust. Iracebeth laughed her silvery bell of a laugh. Iracebeth kept pushing Alice’s boundaries. “I don’t want everything I do to be broadcast into strangers' brains.” Alice said one night after Iracebeth had streamed their ‘date night’ to over six million people.
“They aren’t strangers!” Iracebeth insisted, rolling over in bed and draping herself over Alice “They’re my loyal subjects, they love me.”
“And half of them want to kill me. And I’m sure some of them would kill you.”
“Never, darling. If anyone tried to harm even your little pinky nail I would have their head.” Iracebeth cooed and ran her fingertips lightly over Alice’s chest. That night, Iracebeth turned off the lights but left her feed on. Six million viewers and nothing left to the imagination. When Alice found out the next morning, she left Iracebeth. In her nightmares, she could still hear Iracebeth’s howls, a horrific blend of rage and despair that brought Alice to her knees.
Alice finished wiping down the machines and got back behind the counter with a cup of black coffee to wait for customers. The twins, Dormouse and Duchess, always arrived first, breathlessly banging in through the alley door. They ran over as soon as school was out and beat the older kids to the best games by at least an hour.
“Alice!” Duchess cried out, “Are they really going to execute Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser?” Dormouse burst into tears.
“Execute? Who told you that?”
“Chesire did.” Dormouse stammered through tears.
Alice wouldn’t put it past Iracebeth to execute their former friends. Maybe friends was the wrong word, for what they all had been to each other. A gang of petty thieves, stealing and laughing and keeping each other alive. Her and Iracebeth grew up, went legit. Even Cheshire wanted to stop stealing and scamming just to eat. But Hatta and Hare never wanted to stop and they had lost touch.
Either way, Cheshire shouldn’t have told the kids.
“Token machine is broken.” Alice said, “Free games today.”
“Really?” Dormouse brightened.
“Yeah! Go see for yourself. It’s all on the house.”
The twins ran off, squealing excitedly. Honestly, all the machines were broken. The tokens were exactly that - token. Alice was dreading the day someone would figure out her secret.
Alice shot off a message to Cheshire from her cerebchip. Shut your big, fat socket will you?
“My socket is always open, Alice.” Alice jumped, and Cheshire materialized out of nowhere. Their shit-eating grin appeared first. “I curse whoever who sold you that invisisuit.”
“It comes in handy.”
“What are you scaring the kids for?” Alice crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m not scaring them. I’m preparing them. And you? Are you prepared?”
Alice considered. “I don’t think it will make a difference.”
“She’s cold and clear. A winter’s delight. She turns to a puddle in the warmth of daylight. In a drink, she clinks, making it a treat.”
“I hate your riddles so much, dude.”
“She’s ice. Ice-cold Alice. Leaving her friends to die.” The twins cheered and one of the games spewed out a victory song.
“She might not kill them.”
Cheshire grinned. “A lover of ice would never think thrice. The queen of mean, doing a hit job on her own team.” Alice threw her coffee mug but Cheshire was already gone and the mug hit the dull green carpet with a thud. Alice heard delighted squeals, Cheshire had rematerialized next to the twins and was juggling tokens. More and more materialized in their hands and fell over the twins like rain. Alice had no idea when they had stolen them. She settled back down behind the counter and brought up articles on her cerebfeed. Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser Taken Down read the latest from the Artax Advocate. Alice skimmed the article. The pair were accused of bioterrorism. They were allegedly caught dispensing a new nanovirus into the Bellificent reservoir. Luckily, the paper reported, the change to the water quality was caught before anyone got sick. The downside was that everyone in Artax was going to have to give up two water credits a week for the foreseeable future. ‘Until the reservoir is properly cleaned,’ said a government official who asked to remain anonymous. ‘Curiouser and curiouser.’ Alice mumbled to herself.
“The math ain’t mathin’” Said Cheshire, right into her ear. Alice jumped. “Stop sneaking up on me,” She swatted at them. “Do you want to know what I think, Alice?”
“No, but that’s never stopped you before.”
Cheshire smiled. “I think the council sold the water. Or they are keeping it for themselves. Or, there’s simply no water left.”
“And they’re making Mad and Hare take the fall?”
“Precisely. So, what are we going to do about it?”
“We? Didn’t you just call me an ice cube or something 10 minutes ago?”
Gryph, Turtle, and Catapilla barged in. “Did you hear about Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser?” asked Gryph. “We have to help them, it’s not fair.” Said Turtle. “We know they wouldn’t do that,” Catapilla added. Alice groaned. “I don’t want to do this.”
“A chore that’s met with a frown, when you’d rather be anywhere else in town.” Cheshire mocked.
“C’mon, Alice, it won’t be that bad.” Said Gryph, “you have all of us to help.” Dormouse and Duchess had wandered over, “and us,” they added. “I don’t know how much help youse two will be,” said Turtle.
“Hmph!” Duchess snorted.
‘You really think it’s a good idea to get the kids involved in all this?’ Alice messaged Chesire. ‘My dear, you are a bigger fool than I thought if you think they aren’t already involved. Besides. I know someone who has a plan. He’s the color of snow and in possession of a pocketwatch.’
****
White Rabbit had aged since Alice had last seen him. One of his eyes was replaced with a glowing red mod and the other was covered with an eyepatch. His hair had completely whitened and wrinkles warred with scars for ownership of his face. His new lair was at the ass-end of a sewer tunnel directly under the Advisory Council’s offices. Keep your enemies close, Alice thought, but she couldn’t decide if it was brilliant or madness.
“Ew, it stinks down here.” Turtle declared.
“No doy genius it’s a sewer.” Gryph retorted.
“Both of you shut up.” Alice gave them both light smacks to the back of the head. She grimaced at Cheshire in a look that she hoped conveyed both ‘I told you so’ and ‘it was a mistake to bring them.’ She had at least convinced Dormouse and Duchess to stay behind, with their cerebfeeds linked to theirs so they could monitor and send help if need be. Although, Alice wasn’t sure who was left to help.
White Rabbit ignored the bickering, “You tellin’ me you can’t just message Iracebeth and ask her what she’s planning? Youse two were pretty close, from what I remember.”
“We’ve considered that already. It would tip her off. Besides, she doesn’t listen to me or care about what I want. Cheshire said you had a plan.”
White Rabbit cut his metal eye at Chesire. “You did, did ya? I guess you could say I have a few ideas.” White Rabbit laid out his plan. Alice would confront Iracebeth and the council members in the Cheshire and Cattapilla were tasked with breaking into the jail and freeing Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser. He sent Alice a map of the sewer tunnels and the council building that she downloaded directly into her cerebchip. He had marked the room where the council sat when they oversaw criminal sentencings. He assumed Iracebeth and the council would be there.
“What about us?” Turtle said.
“Turtle and Gryph, you come with me to the control room, we’re gonna make sure they don’t cut out the SkyCast when Alice interrupts the party. We need to make sure the cameras stay online.”
Turtle and Gryph looked crestfallen. “Listen, this might be the most important part of the mission and I don’t have the technical know-how you kids do. But we need to make sure that the public can see what really goes down in that boardroom so they can make an informed decision on how they wanna cast their vote next election.”
The kids nodded at each other, “We’re in.”
White Rabbit pressed two vials into Alice’s palm. “You might need this kid.” He set off down the tunnel, Turtle and Gryph close on his heels. Cheshire wrapped his arms around Cattapilla and they disappeared from view. Alice was alone. She looked down at the vials, one was marked ‘Drink me: Bravery’ the other one just read, ‘Drink me.’ She steeled herself, downed the bravery vial and set off running through the tunnels.
****
Alice burst into the boardroom and was met with the unexpected. Two armed guards were slumped on the ground by the door. The council members were each tied into their chairs at their wrists and ankles with rope, around each delicate throat glinted a steel gray wire, they were all gagged with red handkerchiefs. What the hell is she planning? Alice thought. White Rabbit had not taken into account the fact that Iracebeth might turn on the other council members. Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser sat at the head of the table in electric chairs, with the added indignity of hoods over their heads. This was not part of the plan. They were supposed to be at the jail, in the executioner room. Alice messaged Cheshire, change in plans. I need you here. She has Hatta and Hare in the council room. And I think she’s planning on killing the other council members. She’s more unhinged than we thought. I need backup. Alice sent Cheshire the council building map.
Though I’m expected I’m seldom on time. Cheshire messaged back. Alice assumed that meant they were on the way.
Bring something that can cut through wire.
The corners of the room were outfitted with cameras to skycast the executions, just where White Rabbit had said they would be. She had expected to give the people of Artax a front-row seat to scheming politicians making a pair of petty criminals take the fall for a water hoarding scandal. But it looked as if they were going to be along for a much worse ride.
“What are you doing here?” Iracebeth screeched.
“I could ask the same thing.” Alice snapped, “I thought you were just going to use our friends as scapegoats but it looks like you’re staging an entire coup.”
Iracebeth laughed, “It’s so hard for us to keep secrets from each other.”
“You’re mad”
“My darling, we’re all mad here. Especially those two,” Iracebeth gestured towards Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser. “I saw an opportunity for power and I seized it. That’s not mad, that’s opportunistic. Now the WAY they are going to die, that’s creative. And mad.” She smiled. Alice took a step towards her.
“Uh uh. Reconsider that darling.” Iracebeth pressed the top of the slim remote she held in her hand. The piano wire sliced through the throat of the councilman on the end of the table. His head fell to the floor with a thud and rolled. He hadn’t even had time to scream. The woman next to him struggled to get as far away from the body as possible. Muffled groans of horror filled the room. Alice tried not to vomit. She had never been so up close and personal with death before.
“Off with his head.” Iracebeth laughed. “Seriously every step you take will be another death. So I suggest you stay where you are.” Alice put her hands up, the universal sign of supplication and compliance. “I won’t move.” There was another thud and more frightened moans. “Hey, I didn’t move!” Alice shouted.
“Oh yeah, I just wanted to do it again.” Iracebeth giggled. “It’s funny and fun.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I was bored! Plus, I can run this city better than anyone ever has. The people already love me. I’ve lived here all my life, I know exactly what this city needs. And it was so tedious, these people telling me I have to ‘follow the rules’ and my proposals have to be ‘put to a vote.’ Now that these fucksticks are out of my way, I can do whatever I want! And the people of Artax will love me for it.”
Alice started to sweat. Iracebeth was always erratic, but she had never seen her like this before. What was holding up Cheshire?
“And how do you know they will love you for it?” Alice asked, trying to buy time.
“The people thirst for blood. Do you know how many people were in my cerebfeed to watch the executions?”
“You made it mandatory. They had no choice.”
Iracebeth shrugged, “They could have watched the SkyCast. It’s me they want. It’s me they love.” Iracebeth took a few steps towards her.
“If you really think that then why did you turn off your feed? Don’t want them to know what you’re really doing here?”
Iracebeth flushed, “You said you wanted to keep things between us private. Darling, I’m only thinking of you.” Alice saw a grin materialize behind Iracebeth’s shoulder.
“What are you looking at?” Iracebeth demanded, right before Cheshire shoved her into Alice. Keep her busy, we’re going to get them out of those electric chairs. Cheshire messaged.
Alice tried to wrestle Iracebeth into submission. The women struggled, but Alice managed to pin Iracebeth’s waist between her thighs. She squeezed to keep her in place. Alice shoved the contents of the vial into Iracebeth’s mouth, “drink this.” Iracebeth struggled but Alice kept her hand clamped over her mouth and stroked her throat with her other hand to get it down. Iracebeth’s eye’s widened and rolled around in her head, like a frightened horse’s. Then, she started to shrink. She got smaller and smaller. Alice jumped off her so she wouldn’t squash her like a bug. She scooped mini-Iracebeth into her palm. She was the size of a mouse. “Listen, this isn’t permanent, but if you don’t stop being evil and crazy, it will be.” Iracebeth said something, but her voice was too high and squeaky for Alice to understand. Alice dropped Iracebeth into her pocket and zipped her up. Tiny fists beat at her hip. Cheshire was untying the council members who were still alive. Cattapilla was helping them to their feet.
“Thanks for saving us,” Said Mad Hatta. “What are you going to do with,” he gestured at her pocket.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Those guys might want to press charges though,” she said, tilting her head towards the councilors.
“Where will you go next?”
“Somewhere far from here. Somewhere through the looking glass.”
Alice had never understood half the things Mad Hatta said, and she wasn’t going to pretend to start now. She held out her hand, “Well, best of luck to you both.” Mad Hatta and Hare Raiser pulled her in for a tight hug. Get out of here, Alice messaged them, before these guys can send you back to prison. With a hop, skip and a jump, Hatta and Hare disappeared out the door.
“So, what do we get for saving your lives? Riches? Glory? You can deposit the credits directly into our cerebchips” Cheshire asked the council. They looked at each other, most of them rubbing at their tender necks. Alice crossed her arms, “I’m sure they’ll figure something out.”
****
“Whoa, Alice! What did you do to this place?” Catapilla asked, eyes wide. The teens and twins ran through the refurbished arcade, touching the new games and rolling on the new plush carpet. “It’s certainly an upgrade, Alice. Maybe you’ll even get some customers.” Cheshire said. “Did you see my favorite part?” Alice pointed to the wall, where she had installed a large, clear mouse house. In it was Iracebeth, running furiously on a tiny wheel. “She loves the wheel. I think it helps her get out her aggression. Now, who wants pizza?”