Brittany smiled as Alex explained his appeal for arson, and a way to achieve it, joining in with his enthusiasm. “F is for the fire that burns down the whole town~” She sang. 
“U is foor you betcha~” When asked about her capabilities for immolation, she tucked her hand into her coat pocket and pulled out vials from her Hammerspace. 
“N is for no surviiiivoors~” She then threw a vial at a particularly dense section of the forest, causing it to be set ablaze in an incendiary explosion, followed by more flasks of flagrant flair. The giant was stopped in his tracks by the explosive vials, of course, and shook his fists angrily while stomping in place, like a child having a tantrum, causing even more destruction.
As Alex watched more vials be thrown, he couldn’t help but hear the explosions ring out in rhythm, accompanied by the banging of a drum and a rising riff of a guitar as the fire started to spread: the enchantment over Wonderland began slowly taking effect.

[hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/72bEcUi.png[/img][/center]

Lily giggled when the sparkly rainbow unicorns were summoned, reaching out with a hand as she was taken by their cuteness with a great urge to pet. Tim then scurried around her shoulders, reminding her to stay focused on rescuing Alex.
[color=fff200]”No, must resist the adorable unicorns, Alex is waiting for me!”[/color]
She blinked as MDP agreed to go with Penny instead of her, causing her to scratch her cheek awkwardly: she did feel a bit bad for being suddenly ditched, though fortunately Gaia and Connie were still on board with their sparkly mounts. The gifted kite also helped bring a smile back to her face, and she watched as it ascended up into the sky. 
[color=fff200]”Whee! Yes, let’s go, girls!”[/color] With that, the odd cavalry headed out into the desert, the rainbow unicorns matching Lily’s motorcycle in speed thanks to being enchanted by harmonious magic.
Not long after they began their journey, the kite had successfully spotted a trail of smoke in the horizon caused by Brittany’s blazing bombs, and slightly tugged on the unicorn’s horn in the right direction, further confirming the animal’s guidance.
[color=fff200]”But wow, what a crazy turn of events this has been,”[/color] Lily blurted out as the desert started to give way to plains, seemingly finding it hard to stay silent.
[color=fff200]”I never thought Alicia would be so bold as to outright suggest blowing up a way inside that Hat guys’ place! She always seemed the more calm and rational type of girl, at least to me.”[/color]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/K2ssvzh.png[/img][/center]
The factory wreckers pressed the advantage as they destroyed the tea-spewing hat drones with ease: arrows of light shone like shooting stars as they pierced the drones, while others were sliced in twain or caved in with mighty blows, causing them to drop like a rain of junk metal. Miko’s Super Map revealed the complex to consist of various buildings ahead of them, each connected by tiny pathways. She also saw red dots which marked hostile entities. Alarmingly, not only were there a large amount, including a sizable force in front of the main building, but more inside the buildings, gathered around entrances, in stairways, all over the floorplans, really. The worst part was that the red dots were actively multiplying on the map even as she was looking at it, probably due to being built in the factories.
While the dots were mostly named “Security Robot” or “Combat Robot”, one red dot in the main building’s top floor was different, called “Mad Hatter”. There seemed to be through passages into the office based on the map: up the stairs through the front entrance, or down a chimney.

The group passed through the opened section of the once mighty wall, entering the inner complex. Justine scoffed as “Penny” brought up the idea of mind control, having been, once again, reminded of her less-than-stellar antics.
[color=bc8dbf]”I concur. Besides, I would like to crush that monocle of his and see him squirm for what he did to all that good, sippable tea,”[/color] she added. Caroline seemed confused based on her expression, but otherwise continued slicing drones as they continued on their way.
“I agree, we should save the tea for ourselves!” Nefer blurted out, and rushed in with Akhenaten smacking a drone in their way like a fly.

Inside, the group better saw the various buildings dedicated to producing different weapons and equipment, an assortment of strange machines surrounding them, the conveyer belts and pneumo tubes criss-crossing between them, as well as trucks parked at loading points for the produced weaponry. Even with the alarm blaring over the complex, the buildings continued hissing and clanking in a steady, sickening rhythm, like a nightmare of industry. The square-patterned flooring of the complex only added to the bizarre nature of the complex, further accentuated by a section being refurbished to resemble a giant chess board in front of the main building, with human-sized chess pieces resembling various characters. The Mad Hatter's voice could be heard once again: 
"You fools! We could have had such a thrilling game of chess! But no matter, for I will win in the end! Chess bots, attack!" It was most likely one of the Had Matter’s puzzles to earn entry to his private sanctum, but now it served a different purpose, as the chess pieces came to life, turning out to have been high-powered magitek security robots. 

The [url=https://i.imgur.com/u9wBPEn.png]pawns[/url] were the first ones to move, wielding swords enchanted with crystals as they hopped forward one square at a time at moderate speed. While the white pawns held swords, the red pawns held longbows, their arrows also tipped with enchanted crystals. In total, eight white pawns and eight red pawns were united in their purpose of repelling the intruders while advancing as a formation. 

The next to move were the [url=https://i.imgur.com/m6LJVgk.png]knights[/url]: clutching shining spears as they gallantly hopped over the pawns in erratic double-bounces. The red knights, instead of holding spears, held flails that they swung over their heads in spinning motions, aiming to cause widespread devastation among the ranks of the Mahou. The two white and two red knights shifted between forward and sideways movement in swift motion, seemingly capable of avoiding attacks. 

After them the [url=https://i.imgur.com/uG60uPq.png]rooks[/url] emerged from between the pawns: while slow, and possessing no weapons of their own, the two white rooks caused nearby chess pieces to develop brick-like lines of glowing yellow on their surfaces like protective barriers, while the two red rooks caused the others’ chess pieces’ weapons to be set ablaze with flames. 

[url=https://i.imgur.com/kreGDAw.png]Bishops[/url] could be seen behind the line of pawns, already beginning to cast spells at the Mahou using their staffs: one of the two white bishops launched a white orb-shaped projectile that aimed at Caroline.
[color=bc8dbf]”Dodge!”[/color] Justine shouted, and Caroline managed to perform a loop-de-loop at the last second, avoiding the projectile.
[color=bc8dbf]”Careful, Caroline!”[/color] She added, and the younger sister nodded.
The red bishops seemed more straightforward, as they lobbed great balls of electricity. Rachel created a barrier to block the attacks, protecting Mac as well. However, they exploded brightly like a flashbang, causing vision to be momentarily impaired for Rachel and Mac. 

Behind the four bishops were two [url=https://i.imgur.com/JVAPnVj.png]queens[/url]. At first, they seemed motionless, until they launched up into the air at incredible speed, and began to fly after Justine, the two elite chess pieces seemingly able to match even a powerful magical girl in both martial prowess as well as magical might, as they cast protective barriers and summoned lances respectively while attempting to club her with their mace-like wands. With the both of them performing synchronized pincer attack, the former vampire was put on the backpedal, parrying their attacks until one managed to land a downward swing at her ribs, causing her to cough blood.
[color=bc8dbf]”I’m pinned down! Damn these machines!”[/color] She grunted through clenched teeth. Luckily Caroline came in to distract the red queen, allowing Justine a moment to recover as she parried another blow with her spear.
"Hands off Big Sis," She spoke in a neutral, almost robotic voice, but with a tiny twinge of anger in there.

Finally, at the very back, stood the two [url=https://i.imgur.com/utFilGM.png]kings[/url], having grown to a larger size to direct the troops. The white king’s hand motions signals caused the white chess pieces to move logically and strategically, quickly setting their sights on Nefer, who was detected to be the weak link, or the “king” that upon capturing would result in a checkmate for the Mahou. The red king directed the red chess pieces for aggression, aiming to overcome any tactic the Mahou might have, such as rushing ranged opponents, zoning out melee opponents, or even having pawns sacrifice themselves to allow the higher-ranked chess pieces to counter-attack.

“Break through them, and capture the kings!” Rachel shouted as she launched forward like a missile, aiming straight for the back row despite still reeling from the flashbang-like spell. The four knights all quickly performed a synchronized attack in four different directions, but Rachel created a barrier that protected from them all. However, they managed to stop her momentum, which was when the four Rooks all moved to slam the barrier: with the four of them combined, they actually made a couple of cracks in the barrier, showing how strong they were up close. In response, Rachel broke the barrier explosively to stun the rooks, and smashed one of the red rooks with an overhead slam of her hammer, followed by a spinning swing that launched three white pawns out before they could strike. At that moment, she was struck by the other white bishop’s projectile, which turned out to be a slowing hex, forcing her to advance one square at a time like a pawn. “No!” She screamed, and created a new barrier as the rooks attempted to slam her again.

[hr]
[Center]

[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/200312/bd228c426d0da7459764cb788d45b1cd.png[/img]
[Sub].:⋮Eat Me⋮:.[/Sub]
[/center]

It was then that Penny, still dragging Janet, appeared out of the mirror that Mariette had created, landing in front of the front gates.
[color=9e0039]”So they went inside already,”[/color] she quickly assessed the situation based on the context clues, such as the obvious giant hole in the wall, and the distant sounds of fighting that she had become very familiar with over her stay in Penrose. She ran towards the hole in the wall, charging her gauss cannon.

[hr]

The Pea Princess’s eyes opened wide as Mariette revealed they might have been found out already. 
“Th-The…Queen…!” Already exhausted from extended insomnia, having endured a long meeting, and being shocked by the revelation, the Pea Princess’ endurance failed her, and she fainted, landing sprawled over her desk as papers scattered around the room like a kicked pile of leaves. However, that didn’t stop Mariette from proceeding with her plans: the other rebel Princesses and other relevant parties quickly took to action when they were informed by her, informing “Princess Alice” that they would continue, and thanking her for the warning. She then appeared in Wonderland, now seeing the chaos that unfolded, as a very deadly game of chess was being played, with her comrades’ (and maybe friends?) lives as the ante.