Believing in Justice

Because I am no such witch, nor am I any other kinds! Witches aren’t in Wonderland. Witches are in Oz!”

Hatter dips the spoon again, then blows more bubbles.

Hatter grins wider.

“Not one person I’ve spoken with here possessed a semblance of sanity in their selves! Everyone is positively batty! It’s marvelous!”

“I don’t consider myself human. I don’t consider myself human because I was created in a lab by Doctor Gerald Robotnik, and filled with the blood of an alien named Black Doom. I am not human. I am the ultimate lifeform.”

He smirks at the girl’s second statement.

“Fair enough, and I applaud you for responding so quickly. Good to know at least someone would be up and ready to fight off a threat in a matter of seconds.

Official or otherwise.”

He rubs his wrists where they were wrapped earlier.

“It was chaos control. With this particular technique, I was able to slow time to move at extreme speeds. Coupled with my natural speed and my light shoes, I am the fastest lifeform around.”

Sonic doesn’t count in this particular group. He’s not here. And besides, Shadow could beat that faker any day.

Mami can't help but smile at Shadow's praise.  Before coming to Tancho she never received anything of the sort regarding her combat abilities.  "Yes, well...  Considering my previous 'work' had me dealing with monsters - to put it simply - I've become somewhat conditioned to show no hesitation."  She leans further on her musket and casts her eyes to the side.  "Probably not the best way to go about things here to be honest..."  She wasn't facing relentless monsters anymore, but people - and that would require a little more mercy on her behalf.

"Not only the ultimate, but fastest lifeform too?"  She says, giving an incredulous raise of her eyebrow.  "Liar or not, you should really sort that ego out."  But what Mami knew for certain to be true was this chaos control - she had seen it in action firsthand of course, and it intrigued her very much.

"Now that is an incredibly handy power.  Just don't go abusing it around here, alright?"  She pauses.  "But that can't be the only thing you can do, surely?"

And it was probably this train of thought that stopped her from noticing the presence outside her door until they knocked.

She placed the small newspaper in her sidetable, not bothering to properly close the draw. Her arms felt stiff as she stretched them, looking around the room. “… Huh.” She quietly commented as she stood up and walked to the door.

Mami's expression became somewhat sheepish, it was hard to remember the more painful parts of that experience (which was probably for the best) but the one memory that stuck out was something that never failed to embarrass her.  She averted her eyes and tried to suppress the rising blush in her cheeks.  "So if it's not a bother, then... may I come in?"  The possibility that Mizore might refuse her company was something Mami had already considered, and she would be absolutely fine with that.  Maybe.  Not really.

Initially, she had but watched the troubled girl sleep from a distance: not continually, certainly, though even in the odd glances over towards her she stole, it didn’t take her long to cotton onto the fact that her nap wasn’t the most peaceful. It couldn’t have been the volume around her that prompted her restlessness - there were only a handful of students up there, idling in the remnants of August’s warm weather; even amongst them, the atmosphere seemed subdued, lethargic, even. Bad dreams, then?, she had mused in passing.

Whatever the reason, she hadn’t, at that time, given much thought to the matter. She hadn’t considered the scene beyond that, beyond a polite, momentary concern, until she caught something out of the corner of her eye. A fall. Near immediately did she approach the other blond: a quick glance about the immediate area to see if anybody else had witnessed the accident before she pushed herself up from her own seat and gingerly approached her. For some moments, she only stood and stared, mouth open slightly as if she were about to say something, but couldn’t yet find the words; within due time, she lowered herself to one knee as to speak eye-to-eye, subsequently offering a hand with which to help her up. Tentatively, but, still, the sentiment was undoubtedly there.

“Are you all right…?”

"Sort of," she replied breathlessly.  "Just a bad dream, that's all..."  Mami reached up and realised she was still clutching hold of her soul gem, she stuffed it into her blazer pocket and with the same shaking hand, she took the stranger's own outstretched palm and thanked her.  She sat up - a little too quickly than she had intended as a bout of lightheadness overcame her mind, she steadied herself with her other hand and uttered a quiet groan.

“The firsthand Wonderland is the Wonderland, of course! It shouldn’t be difficult to guess!

How could it cause you trouble?”

His shocked expression melts away into a grin again.

gettingaheadofherself started following you

Avenging eyes dawned over the stranger and her displeasing attire. Unworldly spiralled locks hung from fastens either side of the apparent high maintenance head of golden tresses.. Loathing silently and curling the corner of his mouth; Sasuke snarled before he turned his back on the stranger and lowered his eyelids, gracefully arrogant was the only way to describe his actions.. That was until he opened his mouth.

“Don’t even think about wasting my time.”

“No no. If I wanted to kill you, I would have. If I had any intention on killing you, I wouldn’t have simply cocked the gun threateningly.

You’d have a bullet through your brain and I’d have blood on my hands.”

He shakes his head.

“But you’re a human, and Maria wouldn’t like me harming humans. I may not remember everything, but I remember that.”

Despite her promise to release him eventually, Shadow still felt the need to push against the ribbons. He doesn’t like being restrained.

“One: the experiment was to see the response time in emergency situations. As a member of the Disciplinary Committee and an agent of GUN, I would feel more comfortable knowing that a timely response would result from the sound of a gunshot in the school.

Obviously the response never came — except for you, but that’s because you were nearly hit.

I’ll have to step up my defense, I guess, if the security at this school is that terrible.”

He huffs. It’s annoying how terrible the response was.

“Two: it isn’t magic. It’s a technique I was given since I was created. I am able to use the power of the chaos emerald to warp the fabrics of time and space to my benefit. Even with just one of the emeralds, I hold immense power in my hands.

"From the way you phrased that it sounded as if you don't consider yourself human."  She shoots him a wary look, this guy seemed far too unhinged for formal education.  He also didn't come across as the type who would appreciate personal questions, so Mami decided it would be best to leave the subject of this 'Maria' well alone.  She wasn't in the mood for asking potentially dangerous questions.

The name GUN means nothing to her but she meets Shadow's claim to be an agent with raised eyebrows.  An agent, huh?  That would explain the gun.  "And as a someone of the Young Justice League I would prefer it if you didn't create unnecessary disturbances.  I technically serve as a member of security so consider this your 'timely response'."  She coughs lightly into her fist. 

"Warping the fabric of space and..."  Mami tries put this in a way that makes sense to her as Shadow explains his power.  That emerald must be the source of his abilities, much like Mami's soul gem.  "From what I saw, that was either teleportation or some form of time manipulation magic... or technique as you put it," she corrects herself.  "Interesting...  I assumed you to be a Puella Magi like myself but I guess that isn't the case from your explanation."  She holds her chin in thought, could you even get male Puella Magis...?  

Mami frowns.  "Wait, what do you mean by being created?"  She looks up to Shadow with incredulous eyes as he continues his explanation of chaos emeralds and unstoppable power, leaving her face blank with disbelief.

“What do you think you’re doing unloading in the middle of the hallway?

Just how stupid are you?”

“No one was in the halls. It was suspiciously quiet. I was doing an experiment.”

He grunts against the ribbons again, then continues.

“I didn’t want to hit anyone. You were so damn quiet, I wasn’t aware anyone was near. I’m sorry, I guess.”

God. He hadn’t felt this hopeless since he battled Silver for the first time. His psychic powers were definitely a setback, but speed was the way to get around that obstacle. He’ll have to use that against her as well.

“How did you know I’m in the marksmen team?”

"And I saw you at the meeting recently, it's hard to forget someone with hair like that.  Not to mention your name, Shadow."  She had seen him a few times down at the shooting range too, and she had to admit - he was a good shot.  Mami thought of reporting him but the academy seemed to be bafflingly lax on gun control, so Shadow was actually doing nothing wrong in owning a gun.  Unless he had injured someone; Mami had no reason to report him.

He quickly reaches into his pocket and grabs the emerald.

“Chaos Control!”

He runs quickly behind the barrage of bullets, now hardly moving due to the technique, and steps behind the girl. He stops chaos control, then cocks his gun again.

This secondhandish Wonderland, I understand, is rather grand, and though one hardly cares to stand the unplanned wonders of this land, every girl and man must band together hand in hand — whether from Dixie or Deutschland — must stand and face the Sands of Time to wait for what is planned.”

Hatter grins and bows theatrically.

Misha sat under the tree, a pink-checked blanket laid out underneath her. She figured that if Mami was bringing food, she might as well contribute something to the picnic herself! And besides, this way they didn’t get their uniforms too dirty. Of course, she didn’t remember specifying which tree the two would meet at… but she was sure Mami would be able to figure she meant this one. She seemed intuitive like that. So, she sat against the tree, and waited. 

It did seem like Mami was taking awhile to get there, though. But maybe she was only exaggerating time… Or, maybe she was just taking her time walking there- understandable, it was lovely out.

The sun, now a big orange tipping towards the end of the sky began to tint everything a yellow mask, and the sky started to change its colors, the blue of the afternoon sky being cast off like a girl changing into her night clothes. Though, the more Misha thought of it that way, wouldn’t that make the yellows and pinks of the sunset closer to the sky’s underwear? And the blue of the daytime sky is her day clothes, and the black of night is her pajamas…? Then again, who had decided the sky was a girl too?

Misha soon concluded this thought train was frivolous, especially since she spied a familiar head of blonde hair approaching. Flashing her widest smile, she waved frantically, as if Mami would lose sight of her if she failed to continue waving.

The sun was almost setting by the time Mami had left the dorms, the soul gem adorned upon her head shimmered as the sun's rays bounced off of it.  She hurried through the grounds, carrying a picnic basket weaved from her neck ribbon.  She had to admit she did a better job than expected, although it did take her some time.  "I hope Misha won't be too surprised," she said to herself as she entered the gardens.  Her short journey there didn't get her as many stares as she initially thought which was quite relieving, she supposed the people in this school had seen stranger things.  Mami spied the bundle of pink curls before she heard her, she gave an energetic wave back.

Or, he would if anyone were around to make his presence known to. The halls are eerily empty from the look of it. Compared to the hustle and bustle of them just hours ago, he was incredibly surprised.

“Something is definitely suspicious about this school. No doubt about that.”

Shadow continues down the halls, trying to find someone to maybe lift the suspicion. Is there a curfew? Are all students and teachers required to be in their dorms by a certain hour?

That’s the most suspicious part. Not even teachers are around. It’s like a ghost town.

You know that chill you get when you enter a school after hours, when all the classrooms’ lights are off? This is that to the tenth power.

He grabs his gun and loads a round, switches off the safety, cocks it, then fires it down the halls. The resulting bang and clanging of the bullet ricocheting off the lockers creates a deafening echo.