11541/Wonderland: Unsteady Is The Head

Wonderland: Unsteady Is The Head
Date of Scene:	12 June 2022
Location:	Wonderland: The Monarchy of Hearts
Synopsis:	The Titans can finally answer the age-old question: Whatever happened to Fae Rae?
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Kian, Michael Hannigan, Kyle Rayner, Gar Logan, Madison Evans, Victor Stone, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Harley Quinn

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Teatime, Yesterday
====================================

"See, the issue is... we can't find the Red King because he is in the Woods of No Names. So is our friend Harley." Vorpal sips his tea. He had to borrow the Cheshire from Gar for this, because The Mad Hatter and the Hare refused to recognize him otherwise. It made sense, in a way. "So we need to find a way to... go in and not lose our names, or find themand get him out... we're in a bit of a blind."

The Hatter, helping himself to a generous serving of marmalde for his watch, says "Why, Cheshire, it's the simplest thing in the world, you should seek out Quinton Uffish!"
"Gesundheit?" Vorpal interjects-
"No-no, Quinton Uffish, he works for the Queen. He makes the most /interesting/ devices, old boy. I am positive he could come up with something!" By this point he has finished smearing the marmalade over the cogs and is reaching for some breadcrumbs.
Before Vorpal can say anything, the Hare pipes up: "Theophilus, have you gone MAD? That man is the most useless inventor in the world!" Huffing, he glances at Vorpal. "He has never in his entire career made anything that worked the way it was supposed to. Don't listen to him, Cheshire!"
"Of /course/ I know that, dear Hare- but therein lies the genius of it all! You simply need to ask him to make an invention in such a way that it malfunctions the way you intend for it to work properly. Voila!"
Vorpal stares.


Today
===============================================

Despite their best efforts, this was the best lead that the team had come up with so far. So off to Wonderland it was with them, through the portal that was maintained by Raven. Off into the Monarchy of Hearts, past the dandelion fields (it's ok, the dandelions are currently touring with the circus- and in any case they are too gentlemanly to pose much of a threat) and towards the city of Passion, where the Queen's castle looms, like a red jewel set in a filigree of topiary mazes.

Fortunately for the Titans, the Cheshire Cat can get them through the maze /just like that/, since the entrance to the castle is line-of-sight still, even if far away.

Oh, and did we mention the Cheshire Cat is Garfield Logan? For reasons too convoluted to explain here, Terry O'Neil is currently in his human form, red hair and pale skin... although you wouldn't be able to tell because he is covered from head to toe in /glitter/. Green glitter.

He has not explained why this is.

There was a minor and tedious discussion at the entrance. The guards were first inclined not to let the Titans in due to 'Structural Readjustments'- whatever that meant- but eventually an out-of-breath messenger had come and told the guards that Her Majesty would see the strangers that were accompanying the Cheshire Cat after all. Terry looks over his shoulder at Gar and smirks, "I guess it is a good thing to have friends in high places, eh?"

And soon after that, they were led into the castle proper, and down countless hallways...

Entering the large meeting hall of the Queen of Hearts one can first notice the dichotomy of it all. The large, vaulted ceilings mixed with tiny furniture. Royal banners gracing the magnificent walls--

Wait, are those grinning hyenas in the banners? In quite a vivid yellow color?

"Your Grace, guests approach!" A voice heard further down the hall in a hurry. It's followed by a loud whistle which makes all the guards and sycophants in the hallway to stop and turn to receive the approaching group. A piano begins to be heard and soon enough the guards and sycophants begin to sing:

~I don't wanna wait for our lives to be ovveeerrr~
~I want to know right now what will it beeee~

Yes

Terry O'Neil has posed:
, it's 'I don't wanna wait' from Paula Cole, more famously known from the Dawnson's Creek themesong!

The song continues and eventually the group will come to see the large throne at the end of the hallway. Larger than any other piece of furniture, opulent and clearly made for a much larger woman than the woman currently sprawling across it. She is dressed in a mix of black and red, diamonds on the black, hearts on the red, face very pale, hair very blue and red. One leg is resting up on the arm of the chair while she sort of lies down on it, her arms and hands moving up and down as if she was conducting an orchestra, the crown she bears on her head jingling with the bells atop it as she moves.

Yes, Harley Quinn is sitting on the throne and is apparently the Queen of Hearts now?

The song finally comes to an end and Harley points to one of the sycophants near the throne, "ERNEST! YOU ARE STILL SINGING IT OFF-KEY! NO ICE CREAM FOR YOU ON ROLLER DERBY NIGHT!" she pointing accusingly. But the next moment her smile is back and she looks towards the arriving team with a large, wide grin. "Now, what brings you to the presence of the Queen of Hearts?"

Big, clownette wink following those words.

Kian has posed:
    Kian keeps his distance from Terry, mainly because he doesn't want glitter in his wings.  He's not completely happy that they're back in Wonderland already, but there are rescues to effect, and they're the good guys, so they need to effect them.
    That said, Wonderland is a fascinating place, and when gryphons aren't attacking it's even kind of beautiful.
    It takes him a while to focus on the throne.  When he finally does, he just stares at Harley for a moment.
    "Well.  If I had thought about it, this was inevitable, wasn't it?"

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Can we just make it a standard statement that when it comes to Mike we can assume that 'it's been a week'?

Because yes. It has. Annnd it looks like next week is going to be one as well. As for the general gameplan for why the musician's here, that's a bit up in the air as he was a bit late showing up. It seems he was having some phone issues.

Now in what has started to become THE outfit to wear for his trips over to Wonderland, Mike is currently channeling his more wild haired stage persona of Nick Drago. Which honestly, should be a good thing. The bit of separation from here and then can only be useful at the moment.

He has switched up the attire a little, the black shirt he typically wears has been switched out with a LOUD red and black combo design shirt. Likely stolen from Wade Shaw's personal designer wardrobe. Can't get into TOO much of a pattern here, now can he?

Despite being a person who makes a career in producing sound. Very little has come out of Nick during the travels. And despite the risk of catching the STD of the art world, Nick finds himself walking near the green-glittered Terry.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Still unpacking, couch left in the middle of the room, though now it's propped up sideways, leaning against the wall on the side of it's arm and Kyle is still sorting his room. Slowly.

    Though when he's called to suit up and show up for this 'Wonderland Excursion' Kyle blinks unsure of himself and the situtation because he's the new guy here now. Powerful as the ring might be. He's still playing with less than a full deck.

    Wearing a vibrant black costume with splashes of white and green that seem to always have a black border around the edge, no matter the angle, Kyle floats through the Wonderland until they get to the Queen. Landing on his feet and taking a step forwards, Kyle bends the knee, and curls his arm to his bicep and he bows. "My Gra- w-what?" He asks, stopping mid bow when someone interrupts him.

Gar Logan has posed:
There is a reason Terry looks like he dove into a vat of glitter. Ask Gar sometime. That is, ask Cheshire Gar.

There are things about being the Cheshire that Gar has been working on improving. There are things, as Terry has learned, Gar appears to be a natural with. The flexibility of the rabbit holes is not yet one of them, but he is able to get everyone where they need to go with minimal trouble. "Okay, everybody! Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times!" he exclaims, and before they know it they're arriving at the castle the Queen of Hearts is supposed to inhabit.

Gar is sure to get a few looks and stares from those expecting a different kind of Cheshire, but it's nothing compared to the sight before them once they reach the throne room: Harley Quinn, as the Queen herself. Apparently. The hyena standards should have been enough of a clue. An illusion of a bingo card forms in his left hand, and with a dauber in his right he marks a spot on the card and simply points toward her. "Yes. This should surprise me, yet it does not. Do we want to know how you ended up there?" Even his tail is mostly still, save for a slow sway of the tip. He is, as before, in the dapper black and purple noire-like attire.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Maddie's back in her green, Alice in Wonderland shirt today that shows Alice, standing in front of a figure sitting on a mushroom, smoking a hookah.
    Only the figure on the mushroom happens to be Jabba the Hutt.
    Madison has also added both of her boken to her ensemble, apparently ready if she needs to put up some sort of a fight - and while she does briefly show moments of wonder at some of the more unusual sights they encounter, her expression is on the whole unusual somber for the chipper child. It seems the events of the week continue to weigh heavily on her. A pouch also rests on her hip, and a water canteen on a strap slung across her shoulders - just in case she gets hungry.
    She regards Harley when the woman greets them with some surprise, letting out a simple, "Huh," by way of 'greeting.'

Victor Stone has posed:
    Cyborg is here for one reason and one reason only. Well. More than one reason, but mostly the fact that he's carrying the Caterpillar's Hookah like it's a precious treasure. Which, one supposes, it is.

    Seeing Harley on the throne of Wonderland is, as others have noted, not half as surprising as it really ought to be. "Guess it was bound to happen some day," he mutters. He peers at Terry. "Are you sure we're not going to find the other guy just lolling around somewhere?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    After their last trip into Wonderland, Nadia has taken some precautions. Even before this Wonderland craziness kicked off, Terry had lent her his original copy of Alice in Wonderland after being shocked that she'd never heard of it due to her deprived upbringing in a Soviet bunker. From this she knew the Queen of Hearts was likely to be no fan of Alice. Thus her current attire is reminiscent of Princess Leia infiltrating Jaba's palace as a bounty hunter, which is to say full coverage from head to toe. She is dressed in her form fitting red and black Waspette armor, and while the wings are not currently extended the helmet is very firmly /on/ currently concealing her features.

    The scene of the throne room brings Nadia up short however, this seems weird even for Wonderland. "Terry, you didn't tell me Wonderland has Roller Derby!" She says through her helmet, "Hawk would love it here! I wonder if they have Heavy Metal, too... this Queen of Hearts seems different from the one I read about though..."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry /stares/. Admittedly, as some of his team-mates have said, this shouldn't be a surprise. They had to leave Harl in the Woods of No Names in Looking-Glass Land, and in a week not only did she manage to come out, avoid the Jabberwock, and make her way across the Mountains of Division to Wonderland, The Monarchy of Hearts... oh no. She also, apparently, has taken over.

The redhead grins, suddenly, "I approve."

What? The Old Queen was a terror.

"Nadia Py Van Dyne, allow me to present you to my other dear friend. This is Doctor Harleen Quinzell, better known as Harley Quinn, Medicine Woman. And, apparently, Queen of Hearts now."

He glances at Kyle. Right, he might have forgotten to give him the low-down that Harley not only had turned a new leaf and was trying to walk the straight and narrow (okay... the squiggly and veering but no longer murderously psychotic) path, but she was a Titan ally.

A lot of stuff has been going on, okay?

He clears his throat and bows, as is proper. A cloud of green glitter flies from him as he does so, moving threateningly towards those closest to him.

"Your Highness, we came here because we were told that Quinton Uffish was in your empl- the prior Queen's employ. We're here because we're in need of his help." He glances around, "Er... he wouldn't happen to be... around here, somewhere?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
Recognizing most of the faces coming forward the 'Queen' continues grinning, eyes briefly on Kian.

"Yes." a beat, "I am inevitable." a snap of fingers (no, reality doesn't disappear). What happens is that the rest of her sycophants resume their singing of earlier, the clownette relaxing back on her chair, "Of course there's a tale to this..." a pause as she leans forward, narrowing her eyes, " ... is that you, Gar?" big grin, "Like the new look. But ANYWAY! They weah needin' a new jestah, so I took the position, and it turns out these people don't like all the beheadings so ...." a shrug, "... so, I just said I could be the Queen, since I am already a Quinn. It worked." because of course it did.

She springs up from her throne seat and starts coming down, eyebrows waggling when Kyle bends the knee. "Oooooh, a true knight! I have a vacancy for a Green Knight. But you must promise me you can keep your head!" she then letting out a laugh at her own joke before sighing. "Oh Gods, I am goin' crazy..." she leaning forward as if to whisper to the group. "You guys are heah ta rescue me, right?"

When Terry then introduces her she curtseys at Nadia, "Of course there is roller derby. This is a civilized kingdom! Every Sunday and ---" she stops, her gaze turning to stare at a couple who are singing truly horribly. "You two! Stop murderin' my ears and go get the Queen from the dungeons!" she orders. "I don't know this Uffish, and he isn't here now. But the old Queen will know. What do you need him for?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
It isn't an easy thing getting The Queen. She always was a formidable woman, and it takes about five guards to bring her in, and three more to keep her. She is a massive woman, it is rather inconceivable that she was ever born, but rather assembled somewhere. Her jet-black hair may be disheveled, but she is every much the regal personage- albeit the kind who is usually at the end of an appellation such as 'The terrible', 'the murderous', 'the incredibly ill-tempered' and, unexplainably, 'the very congested'

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" she bellows as soon as she sees the Titans. And, upon taking notice of Harley, she adds, "AND /HER/ HEAD! USURPER!"

"M-m-m-m-might I remind her not so-majestic majesty that she is no longer The Queen?" a knock-kneed chancellor, a stork, squawks.
The queen turns positively crimson with rage.

"Ma'am, we need to know what happened to Uffish, could you please tell us-" Terry tries, but he is immediately shouted down.
"SHAN'T!"

The physical presence of her shout almost makes him wonder if Black Canary is a relation. The red-hed turns to his team-mates and rubs the back of his head and gestures in for a huddle, gesturing for Harley as well to join them.

"So... who wants to try diplomacy? I have no clue what we can offer her to get her to spill the beans..."

Kian has posed:
    "If it's safe to get within arm's reach of her," Kian offers, "I can probably just pick it from her mind.  It's clearly on her mind already, so I wouldn't have to dig."
    Funny how the glitter is avoiding Kian -- static fields are a thing, fortunately.
    It may or may not be coincidence that any glitter that drifts in the birdman's direction is redirected mostly towards Garshire.
    If asked later, Kian will only shrug and say quantum uncertainty is difficult to predict.
    "But if we go that route, first, is it possible, and second, how do I get close without... complications?"

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the off key singing comes from the couple, there's grimace that forms upon the rock star's features. The expression lasts until the benevolent queen saves those in her presence by telling the terrible troubadours to tone the tortuous tunage down. Nick gives a relieved look when they obey.

The relief is only so long before the shrill cries of the angry former queen fills the area instead. Kian's suggestion about getting close without problems causes for him to consider matters. "How long would you need to keep contact?"

The musican pauses, "...Maybe we just need to bait her into wanting to tell us. I've found speaking in rhyme will sometimes help."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    The explosion of glitter causes Kyle to try to step back without moving his feet, ending up with more of a smooth criminal lean, but backwards and he frowns, blowing from his mouth at the glitter. Doing everything he can to save himself, but not trying hard enough to upset the queen he's not exactly familiar with.

    She's mentioning beheading a lot. That's bad. He thought they said she was good, or at least trying to be good.

    Now she's talking to him. Gulp. "Crapcrapcrapcrap. Ummm... I guess-" Ahem. Bold. Strong. Helpful. Kyle reminds himself. "Yes my liege. I would be honored to - be -- a --- Green..." Kyle's voice slows down as he looks at the team around him, not sure if he should finish his sentence or not... "Knight?" Did he mess up? Did the space cop just volunteer to be the diplomat? Did he even hear the call for the huddle.

    Oh, he's stepping forwards towards Harley and forgetting he's a part of a team again. Hey, it's his first day. He gets a mulligan, right?

Gar Logan has posed:
"It's a long story, one we can tell you about once this is all taken care of, Queen Harley of Hearts," Gar explains, and as he comes to lean forward slightly, a pink flamingo cane winks into existence for him to rest a bit of his weight against. His build is a bit more athletic than Terry's, which is closer to a gymnast than Gar's.

An ear twitches at the singing that starts back up, leading to him remarking, "Who's doing that caterwauling? Why, I'd throw a shoe or two if I wore any!" It's then the arrival of the deposed Queen that catches his eye, and there's a bit of something in his expression that's tough to say for sure what it means.

Any glitter is deftly avoided as Terry calls a huddle and those present begin to gather 'round. Lowering his voice, he casually and off-handedly remarks, "I have been working on my illusions. If she wants to see someone lose their head, I believe I could oblige in exchange for the whereabouts of..of.." He waves a hand and bumps Terry with a hip. "..you know, /that/ guy. Miles Standoffish? He was the most unfriendly pilgrim, I heard."

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison steps towards the angry former-Queen, lifting one hand, palm down, and slowly sweeping it through the air. "You will tell Vorpal what he wants to know," the teen commands in a calm, implaccable voice, trying to put every ounce of Force power she possesses into her words, in a compulsion.
    It's a shame that the amount of actual Force ability she possesses is zero, and that she's absolutely incapable of affecting anyone's mind - but she certainly tries.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia without really thinking it through pulls off her helmet and smiles brightly at Harley, returning her curtsey, "A pleasure to meet you, Terry has told me so much about you!" And most of it was apparently good judging by her reaction. This is a fine thing to have done on the assumption that Harley is the Queen now and she wouldn't need to worry about the old Queen. Nevermind how the other courtiers present might react, again not really thinking this through. When the former Queen is brought back in though there is some quick handed fumbling to try and get her helmet back on in time. The last thing they need is to agitate her more.

    When the huddle is called, Nadia makes her way over. "Maybe I can reason with her? Why is she so fixated on violence? Maybe she just hasn't had someone to really listen and believe in her before? Or failing that, shrinking her a bit might take some of the fight out of her."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "Ohhh, that's smart, Kian. We could help and tell her /not/ to think about it, that makes people think about things usually, right?" Cyborg peers at Kyle and then gestures at him. "C'mere, no going and swearing yourself to the--"

    There is no way to keep a handle on all the Titans. None. Not with Madison going off and trying to Jedi Mind Trick the Queen. Vic stares at her for a moment, and suddenly has the horrible feeling he knows /exactly/ how the Justice League felt back when they were telling the "kids" to keep out of trouble. Very much 'oh no child please do not--' And then she does. Of course.

    "Keep the shrinking idea on tap, Nadia," Vic mutters. "I am all for trying to reason with her, though, and Kian can yank it from her head if that doesn't work."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"See what I mean?" Harley gesturing with both hands to the former Queen when she starts demanding their heads. "Really, some people are just so crazy and obsessed!" Not Harley, of course. She is fully normal. And a Queen. "I ain't giving her the crown back though. She'd just dispose of our heads immediately.." she whispers. "But the Queen is magnanimous. I can at least offer her some days out of the dungeons though, if someone wants to offer it." she suggests.

Kyle swearing himself as a Knight has Harley smiling in a veritably cheshire manner. "It is done! You will now be the Green Knight of the Realm.. Sir ...." and she waits for him to say his name. "Chancellor, bring me my sword! I have knighting to do!"

As they begin their suggestions on how to convince the former Queen Harley mostly listens, even if she does tell Terry, "You could always offer to rub her feet, Terry. I mean, it'd work on me!" she winking at the former Cheshire. But mostly she seems to be quite the hands-off Queen for the moment, letting the others deal with the diplomacy and how to extract info from the old Queen!

Gar Logan has posed:
After the little pow-wow is over, the existing Cheshire turns back to face the former Queen, strolling around her saucily. "Your Massiveness, it has been too long and at the same time, not long enough. Have I ever mentioned how beautiful you are when you're braying for someone's head?" His tail curls past her, ready to be yanked closer in the event she makes a grab at it, but his hands come to rest at her shoulders.

At that moment, an illusion kicks in. Terry saw just how adept Gar had become at it, practically a natural. With Maddie having attempted to do the Jedi Mind Trick on the Queen, he selects her to be his 'victim.' A focused look follows, and her head simply rolls off, landing behind her. No blood. No gore. No mess. But, no head!

He must still maintain focus as long as it takes to convince the woman, in case the trick needs to be stretched out further.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
True to her sadistic nature, the Queen's eyes widen with delight upon seeing Madison being beheaded- how can she dismiss the adorable plea of an adorable rolling head? Of course, Madison cannot see the effect, as she is the subject the illusion is cast on, so it would be easily forgiveable for Maddie to take the wide eyes and delighted look for a sign that the mind trick has worked and that The Force Is Strong With This One.

"Ahaha! Yes, yes!" the old Queen of Hearts says, strangely pleasant all of a sudden, "Marvelous- I /do/ remember that oafish Uffish, oof! He could do /nothing/ right! I wanted him to create a device to make my roses superb, but instead of super, they were 'sub', and now nobody knows where they are! He was diverting for a while but eventually I dismissed him. The Church of Alice..." her eye twitches when she says that name, "Came looking for him. They wanted someone to invent a way to re-find Alice" twitchtwitchtwitch, "HAH! It serves them right, those fools! He will bungle it all up!"

Terry advances quickly and grabs Kyle by the arm, and gently begins to pull him back, "You don't really need to pledge your troth to Harls, Lantern. She doesn't roll that way, for starters, and you've got Titan duties and Lantern duties. Having any position in Wonderland is a full-time endeavor," he says, patting his shoulder.

"But, that's a start. The Church of Alice-" twitchtwitchtwitch "that's the cult we ran into when we were with Nadia and Gar. But they escaped while we fought the Jabber-" THOOOOOM "We fought /Him/. We don't know where to find them now..."

Fortunately for everybbody involved, the illusion has been dismissed by Gar as soon as the Queen sang. The Queen of Hearts stares dumbfounded, not saying anything as she suddenly realizes that if this can happen, that means she can behead the same person multiple times every day and never have to actually fetch for more people!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "The Church of Alice?" the disembodied head asks. "Oh! Ooo! Ooo!" Just for a moment, Madison pulls something out of her pocket, and lifts it up towards her empty neck - while the lips of her decapitated head begins to read, "SHE HAS RETURNED! Our Beloved Dodo Feanchurch," this is when the image fades, and Madison's head reappears atop her shoulders, "has spread the news that our beloved Alice has returned to us! She was seen in the village of Balm, and she mightily smote His servants while our beloved brothers and sisters fled! It is therefore that the Church of Alice is issuing a Congress to discuss matters and meet with several eminences in the hopes of unidying the faithful against /His/ foul agenda. We are to meet where She Wept For Her Foolishness Thursnoon under the full moon. Do not let /His/ agents see this document! Yours In Curiosity Archmeasure Ermurhurst."
    Madison looks around at the assembled people - but mostly the Titans - when abruptly the stork calls out with, "The Sea of Tears? The Sea is a day's walk from the palace."
    "Ohhhhhhh..." Madison replies. "That makes sense! Uhh... which direction?"
    ...you'd think she'd know better than to ask something like that in Wonderland.

Kian has posed:
    Well, that was easier than the birdman would have predicted.  Not that he knows where the Church of Alice is, but Terry probably does, so not his problem.
    Kian does, of course, bow formally to Queen Harley... and throws her a friendly wink.
    He stretches and re-folds his wings.  Basically, the only way he can manage Wonderland is to just let it all wash over him and pretend none of it is weird.  He has plenty of practice, from just dealing with cat brain, whether it's housed in Terry or in Gar.  "I'm not walking for a day," he says, spreading his wings again.  "I can give one non-flyer a lift."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
With the plan decided upon, Nick hangs back to watch the show. A brow raises at the mention of the Church of Alice but he doesn't offer up commentary regarding it. The hint of lengthy travel does make him consider going raven but considering the group being traveled with there's the possibility they won't simply fly or walk there. So...might as well see what the others want to do first.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Yanked back from the knighting ceremony before the sword can be removed from it's royal, forgotten place and touched to his shoulder, Kyle yelps and then recovers his decorum while still being pulled away. "Fare thee well my grace!" Maybe he did want to be a knight.

    He wasn't thinking about the cool armor he could have made for himself with his ring, or ... okay he was. "I take it you all, or at least someone, knows where this Alician Church is? I can fly us there in no time if someone can at least give me directions on the way?" Kyle says, remembering he's on a team and how to work as one.

    It's been a while.

Gar Logan has posed:
The effect of Madison speaking with her head settling upon the floor is quite effective, but Gar drops the charade once the information has been shared. The distance being a day's walk from here leaves him to say, "Well, I can't get us there. I'm not good enough with the rabbit holes yet. And if I go back to normal, Terry knows what's gonna come after him again. But if I know one thing, it's that things have a way of working themselves out. Not always in a sane way, though."

Lest he forget, for added good measure, he waggles his fingers after moving out of the former Queen's range and a shower of glitter begins to descend upon her. "Thanks for the help, Your Enormousness. May you dream of unending beheadings." Under his breath, he adds, "Including yours." Kyle's offer, joining in with Kian's solo one, leads to the Cheshire rubbing an ear in thought.

Madison Evans has posed:
    For a moment, Madison's cheer is back as she bounces towards Victor - a smile on her features. "Did you see that? It-" she waves her hand through the air, "worked!" And now we know where to go. Go team!"
    She pauses a beat. "I'd really rather not walk for a //whole day// - though."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "I was about to suggest Rabbit Holes, but if Gar can't handle them that well..." Vic frowns. "I can fly, Kian can fly, Kyle can fly, Nadia can fly... who else? But even flying, that'll take a while, if it's a day walking. Hmmm."

    He grins at Madison and winks at Gar. "It did! We got the information, so go team!" The both of them, really, Madison having given Gar the impetus for the beheading. "Alright. I don't think we want to risk the Jabberwock with Gar passing the Cheshire back to Terry even /briefly/. So, either we fly, with each flyer potentially carrying someone else, or we find another way."

Madison Evans has posed:
    As Victor says 'Jabberwock,' Madison quickly hushes him and says, "He Who Must Not be Named! ...or I guess Voldy for short."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia grimaces at the image of the beheading, even if she knows it isn't real, she can't help but be reminded of things. But luckily her face is concealed by her helmet and she shakes off the memories a moment later.

    The Church of Alice, that gets Nadia's attention, not the least because they think /she/ is Alice due to a heat of the moment decision to try and save her friends. Which, it worked, but now she has a cult. "Oh yeah, they kind of think I'm Alice... anyway no need to worry about that right now!" Nope nothing to see here. "I can fly myself, and make everyone else 'portable' if need be."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Woah, talk about bein' shallow!" Harley comments about the former Queen. She lets out a tsk. "Back to the dungeons with ye. And no foot massage..!" she gesturing for the guards to take her massiveness away. Harley then looks at Kyle, "Heya, I am -the- Grace heah! Not her! Not five minutes on the job and already betraying your liege?!" she shakes a fist at him.

"Anyway! Sea of Tears right?!" She looks around, "I am suwah it is...." she looks thoughtful until a mousy-looking small servant speaks shyly, "It's to the northeast..." to which Harley. "... the northeast! Thank you Amy! Now, I got this ..., thing ..., lets call it a pet project.., I've been workin' on." she rubs her hands together, ".. based on these plans I found .., oh, they were from that Offish guy!" you know, the inventor that has no good plans. "I gave it my twist and ...."

"Come with me Titans!" And she runs all the way out of the royal room, up the footsteps of the tower and to the top of it. It's a large, open-top tower and what's there to receive them? Some kind of infernal contraption. It's designed almost as if it was a paper airplane but actually made of metal, jagged ends piercing here and there. On the front there's a sculpted head on an hyena, and considering how large it is it most likely won't do much for the aerodynamics of the whole thing. But Harley seems sure about this. Oh, and was it mentioned that it was actually strapped to a gigantic slingshot prepared to launch? "So, I was gonna give this a test drive buuuuut...! Might as well do it live. And we can get there in lot less than a day!" she jumps up to the pilot's seat, "Just got a prob with the landing gear but ..., uh, you guys can fly so .., you can adjust the landing, right? Right?"

And as her last act as Queen? She picks up the crown and throws it to the mousey servant Amy that was accompanying them upstairs. "Amy! You are the Queen now! Make me proud and all that. Farewell!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
With the Monarchy of Hearts under the new and mild rule of Amy the Mouse, things are sure going to to get better, right? But as it regards to the Titans-

"... okay. I'm flying on that thing," Terry says. He may no longer be the Cheshire right now, but some things do die hard. "Besides, I've got to make sure my best friend arrives at the thing alive. Right, Harl?" He glances at the other Titans, "Alright, Titans Together! Those who fly can follow us with passengers, those who want to be awesome... climb aboard with us!"

The slingshot takes a little bit to get wound up, as the apparatus is calibrated in the right direction.

"This isn't going to be so ba-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa---"

That's Terry's voice, losing itself in the distance as the slingshot is released and the team is off- some in the vehicle, others following. Not a single person left on the ground envies them.

Aboard the hyena-plane, the world is a blur, and a dizzying one at that as the vehicle takes some very /adventurous/ routes. It's clear that whomever assembled this is very affronted by the laws of aerodynamics and is trying to break every single one to show they are better. It banks violently to pass between trees, it loop-de-loops, it dives, and yet despite everything, it still manages a steady and very fast trajectory-

And then, just like that, there's the ocean... or, rather, the sea of tears, seemingly endless.

And, also, there's Alice!

Wait. What?

Yes. There is Alice. And the strange thing is that you can see Alice clearly. From this height. The reason being is that she is rather enormous- at least four stories high. As the plane gets closer to her,it becomes clear that she is some sort of automaton, but who looks /very/ similar to Alice Liddell. And, of course, Nadia. She is attired in her classic yellow-and-white pinafore, which must have taken a /lot/ of work from local weavers to make, and she is currently stomping around a small settlement... Gar and Nadia might notice the buildings. They look familiar to the configuration of the settlement of Balm. There are, currently, people running around. In panic.

The enormous automaton also seems to have a woman captured in her hand.

BOOM.

The cra... landing was rough. There was indeed something wrong with the landing gear. To whit: that someone forgot to put it in. Fortunately for our team, an enormous conglomeration of giant mushrooms cushioned the landing, but left the front of the plane hoplessly embedded in the squishy forms.

"Augh!" Terry says, trying to wipe stuff off him. "... Well, this is the second craziest landing I've ever been in. But... oh, right- we need to stop that... that automated Alice, and save those people! Titans, Together!"

Kian has posed:
    Kian regards the flying contraption with... well, it's hard to say, but it's not favorably.  "I will follow along under my own power, thanks," he says dubiously.  "Really, if the Gods had meant for us to fly in machines, we'd've been created as robots."
    Before anyone can beg to differ, he adds, "Spacecraft are different."
    The launch definitely bears out the birdman's misgivings.
    The landing, even moreso.
    But Terry is moving and apparently more rattled than hurt, and there are people who need to not be stepped on by a giant automaton, so Kian gets to work, moving swiftly to evacuate the locals in ones and twos (or threes and fours if they're small enough) to positions of relative safety.
    Earth or Wonderland, this is the kind of work he understands -- and what he meant when he told Terry's mom that 'this is what we do'.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Nick looks to the questionable aircraft with a bit of a frown. Well, maybe they could just take Kyle up on hi-

Hearing Terry's declaration, Nick turns his head to look at him. At least two non-flying people are going to be in the potentially catostrophic piece of wreckage. "I'm going with them." Nick declares, nodding to Terry and Harley before climbing in as well. The sleeves may conceal it but there's likely a good chance the scar has shifted position. Just in case he had to grab the passengers and scoot out.

There's a shake of the head as Terry declares how well the flight will go by.

No. It will be that bad.

And it was.

It really was.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle looks over at the fancy rock and then to the rest of the team. "Well... Yolo?" The lantern says with a shrug and a mental statment that he might as well save some of the juice in his ring instead of wasting it on hyper sonic flight. This is going that way anyways. It's poor economics to NOT take it.

    Right?

    As the ship comes into a 'landing' the lantern tries to brace himself and throws his hands up only for his face to smash into his arm and the braces before him.

    Rattled, Kyle lumbers out of the wreck and looks around. "Okay else is everyone. Greap." And he lands on his bottom beneath a mushroom, obviously concussed and woozy.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan merely looks around like not even he understands quite what's going on now. Before he knows what he's agreed to, he's inside the ship, plane, glider, certain death machine, whatever it's called. Annnnnd they're off!

At first the launch is so impactful that it feels like his eyes are sinking into the back of his head, his lips drawn back to expose his teeth and fangs. And then, the very circuitous route the craft takes is sure to leave him doubled over for a moment or two once it's over. Maybe before that. The sight of a very large Alice below them, and signs of the village sprouting up again has him pointing. "Look!" As if anyone would miss it.

He braces for impact, rough as it is, but once The Worst Flight Ever is over he tumbles out of the cursed thing and staggers over toward others. "Any bright ideas now?" he asks.

Madison Evans has posed:
    For just a moment, Madison's expression was a conflicted mix of dubious, and excited. But as Terry jumps aboard, the decisio is practically made for her, and the teen jumps aboard as well. "TO ADVENTUUUUUUUUUURE!" the teen calls as the slingshot releases them.
    For the rest of the ride, she laughs almost hysterically. In fear? In glee? In excitement? It's hard to say.
    "Ow!" she remarks after climbing back out, once on the ground. But the ow is immediately followed by more laughter. That is - until she remembers they have a purpose.
    "Maybe I can use one of my boken to gum up the works!" she suggests, pulling one of her wood swords free, and brandishing it, as she dashes for the monsterous creation.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic is tempted to get on the contraption. He /really/ is. Wonderland does this to him, encourages all his /worst/ impulses. But for much the same reason that Nick gets /on/ the thing, Cyborg stays /off/. So he can help if the landing's bad.

    The landing is, predictably, terrible.

    "Someone grab Kyle!" Vic shouts, and stays in the air, staring at Alice. "I... uhh..." He looks down at the Hookah he's still holding and whispers, "I am Cyborg" at it. The Hookah, obligingly, starts pouring out smoke.

    Hoping this might mask those below from the giant Alice, Vic calls to the others, "I'll distract her! I hope! Nadia, help me out! The rest of you figure out how to take her down!"

    Because the only thing better than a giant Alice is /two/ giant Alices. If this was not already on Nadia's mind then Vic doesn't know his fellow SCIENCE! enthusiast.

    Then he starts flying toward the giant Alice, waving the Hookah at her very obviously.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia looks at the aircraft of questionable design, looks at Harley, looks back at the aircraft, looks at Harley again. "I'm in!" Worse comes to worse she can fly and it /does/ look like a fun thrill ride. If there is anything she has picked up from Janet other than fashion sense, it is a taste for thrill rides.

    "Weeee!" She throws up her hands as the aircraft banks violently and loop-de-loops like she is on a rollercoaster, enjoying every moment of it. Though in the back of her mind a slightly more serious internal conversation is playing out as she debates how to handle the Church of Alice, whether she should hang back and see how things go or maybe use her influence to help them get what they need. That certainly can't go wrong right? Right?!

    The internal debate is interrupted by the appearance of ...a giant Mecha-Alice stomping through a village?! Just when she thinks Wonderland can't get any weirder, this takes the cake. Her first instinct is that she has to help those people, but that voice in the back of her mind counters that doing so means revealing herself on a pretty grand scale... well, in for a penny, in for a pound, in for several thousand tons!

    Nadia stands up in the paper airplane esque vehicle and looks at the other Titans. "Get the people to safety, I got this." Her decision to then step out of the aircraft into freefall seems quite prescient moments later when said aircraft crashes into the ground.

    Nadia on the other hand tumbles through the air and for a moment seems to disappear entirely. In reality she has just become very small to change her clothes. If she's going to stand out anyway, she might as well go all in, for the penny for the pound for the several thousand tons as what reappears is a gigantic Nadia as big as the Alice, except she too is Alice! Now dressed in the same yellow dress and white pinafore!

    Massive patent leather Mary Janes slam into the Earth kicking up clouds of dirt and dust as she lands. Reaching out both hands, Giant Nadia-Alice grapples with Giant Mecha-Alice while the villagers are ushered to safety and hopefully Victor can figure out how to deactivate her opponent.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
SUNDAY
SUNDAY
SUNDAY

Come SEE- the GIANT ALICE fight, one night and one night only by the Sea Of Tears!

Terry stares as his friend becomes a gigantic Alice to... fight Alice. But his attention is quickly drawn away by Kyle. "Oh no, Kyle, buddy!" the redhead kneels next to him, "Okay, you gotta hold on here... crap! I broke our Lantern, and on his maiden voyage, too, I'm the worst leader!"

As the smoke billows out to shield the villagers, Automated Alice hesitates long enough for Nadia's appearance and appraoch to startle it. It goes on the defensive, the hand with the captured woman held behind it, to keep its treasure safe. The captive woman looks disturbingly not unlike Raven... but it can't be her. For one, her cloak is far too colorful, and for another, she has lovely butterfly wings protruding from her back.

"Do you think they'll save fairy Raven?" a small rabbit asks his mother, who simply scoops him up and runs with the crowd.

Terry seems to come to his senses then, and he says "Gar! Rabbit holes~! Get these people out!" Kian has already started doing it. He turns to his friend, "Nick., Harley.. can you help Lantern? He's concussed... I think. I have to go and-"

And then Terry stares in disbelief as Maddie goes full tilt towards the automaton. "... oh god her mother's going to kill me... Gar. Keep her in sight! Don't interfere, but if she looks like she's about to get stepped on, Rabbit Hole her!"

As Automated Alice is grappled with, Vic's usage of the Hookah also interrupts its line of sight thanks to the magical smoke, making it harder to see what Nadia might be planning next. It's also pretty hard to grapple with one arm.

Kian has posed:
    Even in Wonderland, folks have enough sense to run like hell, at least when confronted with a giant mechanical Alice, and adding a real live giant Alice should help inspire them to further scampering.
    Which helps Kian do his job, at least.
    In between rescue runs, he tries to figure out what, if anything, to do about the giant Alice -- the mechanical one, not his teammate.  It probably hasn't a power source he can drain.  Blowing it up would be... messy and virtually impossible to prevent it from causing further collateral damage.
    Keeping an eye on the ground, he swoops around in back of mecha-Alice to see if there's... well, who knows?  An opening?  A pilot?  An off switch?

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Well, they survived. And Nick didn't feel a thing! But visibly, it did seem like a bad landing. Getting up, Nick starts helping those who need it out.

A glimpse of Kyle landing on his rear puncuated by Cyclops asking someone to grab him causes for Nick open his mouth to chime up. "I GOT H-"

Then Terry's asking him too.

"-Sure."

Hopping down, Nick heads over to the Lantern to tend to the concussed man.

Gar Logan has posed:
Big mushrooms, a big Alice, and another in the form of Nadia? And Gar thought just being the Cheshire was a trip (it's a bigger trip for Kian when there's mental contact).

"Rabbit holes? You got it!" That's something Gar can do, practicing as much as anything else, and as the hookah smoke begins to spread it creates some difficulty in seeing that extends to them as well. Not the best spot to really try to take those portals a step further. Line of sight is limited, so it takes a few more openings to get the critter villagers to safer places. It also leads to him breaking into song verge again, this time a rap, with just a small alteration.

"Time for some action, just a fraction of friction
I got the clearance to run the interference
Into your satellite, shinin' a battle light
Swing out the cat, and I know that will cat ya right"

As for Maddie, he's finally able to break off to keep tabs on her, ready to act further if needed. Now, there isn't just one big pair of Mary Janes to contend with, but two.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Okay. Okay, she's got this. A look of determination is on Madison's features as she sprints for the mech - relying on sound as much as anything else given the growing smog. Once she gets close enough, though, she can see gears and cogs in the mech's ankles - that's her target. She calls on that strength within her she calls the 'Force' - to speed her movement, and strengthen her jumps, and wary of the steps of the giant beings, she draws her boken and //leaps,// intent on jamming it as deeply into the mechanical workings as she can.
    Goodbye, boken. You've been a good sword.
    Mission accomplished, she pushes off from the mecha-Alice, leaping free, and trying to sprint for safety.

Victor Stone has posed:
    The Hookah might be sort of causing more trouble than it's worth, but Vic doesn't care right now. Kian's looking for an off-switch, and so is Vic, but there's that "fairy Raven" that the mecha-Alice has hold of. So, leaving Kian to try to find the off-switch (dear God let there be and off switch), Vic goes to try to get her.

    Specifically, he flies in and starts trying to pry the mecha-Alice's fingers open. Maybe he can tickle her? He looks at the woman caught in her hand and says, "We'll get you out of there!"

    The fact that he's trailing Hookah smoke with him wherever he goes? Probably not entirely helping.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
With her friends already springing into action there is naught for a Giant Nadia-Alice to do but press her attack. Really she could probably judo throw the robot with her Red Room training, but that would put everyone below in danger and probably destroy the village ...more than they are already doing stomping around.

"You put her down!" Nadia shouts, one hand tangled with Mecha-Alice's arm that is trying to fend her off, her other hand trying to reach around Mecha-Alice and get at the person in her grip. "People are not toys! Let her go! Bad Fake Alice! Who programmed you to be this way?!" Said in the same tone someone else might utter 'who raised you?!' but then her brother is Ultron, robots and AI are nothing new in her family tree.

    Spying Maddy attack Mecha-Alice's ankle and jam something into Nadia sees an opportunity and quickly takes advantage of the opening putting her Krav-Maga skills to work on an epic scale. Once Maddy is clear a massive patent leather shoe is raised up and then slammed into the same ankle as she gives up on getting the woman clutched in Mecha-Alice's hand away from her and instead grips her should attempting to force her straight down into a kneeling position.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And it is the magic of teamwork that has Automated Alice on its knees, just in time for Kian to find the 'off' switch, which was revealed when its hair (so . much. hemp ) swayed in the momentum of its fall. The robotic fingers release the fairy right into Victor's arms, and she lets a delighted laughter, "My savior!" she says, with a voice that like silver bells ringing. She doesn't look frightened at all... in fact, she looks like she was having the time of her life!

"Well... that's ... a good thing, I guess. The town now has a massive statue in the middle of it."
A rather shaken-looking lizard with a top hat and a vest approaches the Titans and spreads his arms, "Our savior! Our real Alice! You brought her back!"
"We sure did," Terry says, eyeing Nadia, "But how on earth did you get a clockwork Alice-"
The lizard sighs. "Uffish. He must have gotten his notes mixed up. We asked for a machine to re-find alice, not re-wind her..."
"UFfish!" the redhead says, "So he is here?"
"Not... quite." The lizard clears his throat. "... do you want to see him?"
"Yes!"
"Very well. I will tell you where he is..."

Kian has posed:
    That was... unexpectedly easier than Kian thought it would be.  Well, they were due for one sooner or later.
    He spirals down to a landing just behind Terry.  "Terry /tenar'h/... are we *sure* we want to find this Uffish?  I mean, he seems crazy even by Wonderland standards," he says quietly -- no need to insult the locals.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
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STAY TUNED, true believers, for our next episode as our heroes finally meet up with Uffish:

He Winded Her With Science!

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