Dreaming of Presidency

The majority of the pirates were not, in fact, wearing Technoids. Just one or two. Whenever Alice caught sight of one -- which was far before either could catch sight of her, seeing as her level had far advanced theirs -- she led Ciel behind buildings to hide.

Ciel didn't know how Midnight had managed to make it out of Alice's training alive.

At the moment she was dodging bullets as she ran, something that wouldn't have been able to be accomplished if not for Ciel's plethora of experience avoiding enemies. Dodging such slow objects was nearly instinctual for her.

Even while wearing the suit, Ciel had to run as quickly as she could to catch up with Alice, pushing her ten-year-old body to its near limits. While she was struggling, Alice looked like she was taking a leisurely stroll.

Alice hit one of the bus drivers in the neck, causing him to pass out, and threw him in the back. Ciel took a seat.

It took them five minutes to reach the shuttles.

What appeared to be small white jets stood in a row. Ciel didn't have to count to know there were more than ten there, each looking to hold around eight passengers. They stood not too far from the resort, in a small clearing. People were moving out of the shuttles, walking to and from the resort, making them not too hard to find in the midst of a battle.

"Queen," someone whispered. But it was clear as day to Ciel and Alice. Alice turned right, and Ciel followed, chasing the shadow of the voice that had called her.

Around ten meters from the array of shuttles, two men and one woman conversed, everything concealed but their faces by their Technoids. They weren't surprised to see Alice and Ciel approach.

"This is Wonderland," Alice said, introducing Ciel to her team, "From left to right are Cheshire, Mad Hatter, and Rabbit."

The man introduced as Cheshire raised his eyebrows, "Who's the kid?"

Alice didn't respond.

His hair was purple, fitting with his character. Actually, all of them fit pretty well with their characters. Alice's red hair reflected that of the Red Queen as Rabbit's white hair reflected the white rabbit. That is, everybody but Mad Hatter. Alice let her Technoid reveal her face, but Ciel's stayed on.

"Prince charming eh?" Mad Hatter said, "Wants to save the world. Let's just call him Prince then, he came with the queen."

Mad Hatter's thoughts seemed to reflect that of the rest of the group so no one raised any objections.

"Queen your training methods are getting harsher and harsher," Cheshire lamented, "you were so nice to Midnight. Prince-y here looks half dead."

"He's not my student," Alice said, "Just treat him as a temporary team member, you don't have to baby him. Actually, I'd prefer if you did the opposite."

Ciel didn't respond. She knew if she wanted trust she'd have to work for it. When she revealed her killing intent to Alice this was exactly what she expected to happen, but as she looked up at Cheshire, what she saw in his eyes wasn't pity. It was respect.

Soon, Ciel fell out of focus as they began talking about plans to steal a shuttle.

-----

Klein hadn't wanted to be a pirate. When he was younger, he dreamed of running in the Galactic Federation Presidency Campaign. He'd grown up with an interest in politics, law, and business, always telling his friends that he dreamed to become a real decision-maker, and that in this bottom-feeder world he would rise to the top.

But those dreams were discontinued when Klein realized that to become a president he had to really just become a different kind of bottom-feeder, taking orders from his party. Real power wasn't real. Presidency was a civil servant's job for a reason.

After falling into despair, his friends all distanced themselves from him. He was too original for them, he knew, too anti-establishment. But as he fell into the deepest pits of depression, a savior reached out their hand to him -- Captain Burner.

He too knew the weights of being tied down. As a father of two children, he couldn't bear constantly having to support them. He had dreams too you know.

Klein resonated with his story, and together, they joined a pirate group. They had a dream: to take down the establishment and regain true independence, not being held down by any responsibility. Klein had risen to the top, with riches and power in his grasp, so he couldn't figure out for the life of him why he'd fallen to his current, sorry state.

"Take us to your shit," a woman said, "I mean your ship, my bad."

It was Rabbit. She suffered from the constant, incurable disease of being unable to come up with the right words when interrogating people. And just like the white rabbit, no one really gave a fuck. Currently, she was holding a man against one of the white shuttles decorating the field as her teammates shuffled on.

"Rabbit, I don't need him to pilot, just the directions," Cheshire reminded, but Ciel could hear the smile in his voice.

The man said some coordinates, and Rabbit smacked him across the face.

"Get it fight," she paused, "I meant right."

With Rabbit's predicament came another ability. She could tell when people were lying. This time the man managed to stammer out the correct coordinates. But Rabbit didn't release him; instead, she threw him into the back of the shuttle. No one questioned her; she didn't like to speak unless she had to. Cheshire hopped into the front of the shuttle and typed something into the console, soon enough the engines started.

"Who the fuck is starting a shuttle?" someone yelled from outside. "Where the fuck is Keith or Klein or whatever the fuck his name was? Get his ass back down here."

The innocent Klein didn't reply to the call. Not by choice, just because Mad Hatter was holding a hand over his mouth. He vaguely felt the dream to become president again. At least civil servants weren't treated this harshly. Of course, that didn't include those who worked at the Voyager Association, those people were destined to die.

As the men on the ground watched the shuttle continue to rise, they quickly realized that Klein either wasn't in control of the ship or he was trying to get away. Of course, there was also the off chance that they weren't thinking at all when they decided to shoot at their own comrade's shuttle.

"Hold him for me," Mad Hatter said, and shoved Klein over to Ciel. Then, he opened the door of the shuttle and swung out.

Grabbing onto the bar that hung off the wing of the shuttle for easy access, a gun formed in his hand. Ciel saw it clearly this time as the ripples in his suit converged and separated, creating a firearm. With only one hand keeping him from falling back to the ground, Mad Hatter started shooting those that shot at the shuttle. As soon as they reached a ceasefire, he was back inside.

"Should I just kill him?" Mad Hatter said, directing his question to Queen and gesturing to Klein. Ciel felt Klein shudder, but he didn't struggle.

"We'll need him to find our way around the ship," Rabbit said, "kill him after that."

"We're civil servants," Queen said, "just hand him to law enforcement."

The three quieted.

As they flew, Ciel noticed the atmosphere. Rabbit's silence was understandable and comforting, but in Mad Hatter's silence, there was a sense of contained anger. They didn't speak again until they reached the ship.

The spaceship of the pirates wasn't like the one Ciel had been on to get from the Community Center to Onik. It was large and lustrous, like a floating city. Rabbit took Klein from her as they flew toward the checkpoint.

"Speak right," she said, "or I'll shoot you." Then she pushed him to the window.

"You guys back already?" a guy said on the other side of a glass wall. He was currently guarding the gate of entry for the shuttles. Klein nodded in response to his question, feeling the shove of a gun on his head.

The man on the other side of the glass sighed, "Back in my day missions like these used to take twice the time of your bunch. The young's overcoming the old once more. I'm glad I can retire in peace."

The man rambled on for a while, before finally opening the gates.

"Well, you have a good one."

Klein smiled at him, "You too Rodney."

Rabbit pulled him back from the window as Cheshire pulled forward, leaving Klein once again for Ciel to shut up. For a moment Mad Hatter stood up, then, after rummaging through the back of the ship, he brought back a sock. Bunching it up, he shoved it in Klein's mouth.

"There," he said, "you can let him go now."

To Ciel's admiration and Queen's disgust, Klein had frozen from the shock. The smell kept him awake.

The shuttle room of the spaceship was empty and Cheshire pulled into a corner. The group of Antes quickly departed from the shuttle and found their way to a nearby hallway. Mad Hatter had already shot the cameras down. His gun was silent, but the breaking of glass wasn't; people dressed in D-1 Technoids similar to Ciel's came rushing to meet them.

"Klein?" one of the men said, "What's going on?"

Unfortunately, Klein was still in shock and couldn't answer their inquiries, but Cheshire, who was holding Klein, was happy to. They'd already entered the ship, and against D-1s they were basically gods. Cheshire figured he might as well have some fun with it.

"Why," the smile hid in his voice like a shadow, "we're here to take over the ship is all."