A/N: Hi everyone, thank you for everything (reviews, favs, alerts etc.) it's really apprieciated. I honestly can't thank you all enough.

I owe a lot of this chapter to Dr. LaLa who helped edit this chapter so I give tons of credit to him. Thank you!

Sledgehammer

A Syfy Mini-Series Alice Fanfic

Chapter Five- Waking Up

Hatter jumped awake, startled, at the sound of a heavy pound at his door from an unidentified fist. The noise echoed through his tea shop with an eerie ring. Slowly and as quietly as possible he slid out of bed, taking care not to disturb Elle or Charlie as they peacefully slept. As he did, one of Elle's eyelids fluttered open a bit as she silently stirred to consciousness, completely unnoticed by Hatter. She quietly watched him exit the room before silently getting up and peering out of the office door's keyhole over to where Hatter now stood. "Don't get your tea cups all chipped", Hatter hoarsely mumbled to subdue the knocking, as he fumbled around for the right combination of keys. The very second the right combination was found, and the fifth lock clicked unlocked, the door flung open; causing Hatter to be thrown downward, and his hat in the opposite direction. Four burley intruders filled the doorway. He instinctively swung his closed fist at the closest, resulting in a sickening crack from his victim's jaw. Two more intruders (and the strongest, as Hatter would emphasize years later), managed to pin him down. His eyes tried to focus on who his captors were. "You know, you could have called first, Duchess," he said to a darkly-hooded creature who was standing out of the way. The next thing he knew, he saw the butt of a gun coming towards his temporal lobe, and then everything quickly faded to black.

Elle crouched in the doorway and watching the entire scene unfold. She was scared stiff and even though she wanted to cry out and her mind screamed "Help him!", her body and her mouth were frozen still. She wordlessly watched as they dragged Hatter's now-limp body from the shop and out of view. The instant the door slammed shut, she quickly darted over to where Charlie lay sleeping and jabbed him in the rib. He awoke with a grunt, and was about to unleash a stream of knightly curses, but the look on Elle's face stopped him. "What's the matter?", he asked in a still slightly sleepy tone.

"Hatter's been kidnapped!"

Charlie responsively jumped to his feet and raced towards the door. Elle, following close behind, swept up Hatter's hat as she passed it. Charlie threw open the front door and with the morning sun pouring in, revealed that there was no trace of Hatter or his captors to be found. Elle's eyes swelled with tears, try it as she might hide them from Charlie. Charlie placed a hand gently on her shoulder, "Don't worry Miss Elle, we will get him back."

Charlie ran out the door and headed for the tool shed to grab his armor before they set out to find Hatter. Alone, Elle put on Hatter's hat along with his jacket that she had found abandoned on his egg chair. On hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around expecting to see Charlie returning from the backroom, but was surprised that this wasn't the case.

"Where's Hatter?" asked a plump woman with a mustache as a very ragged looking man behind her drew his knife. "And why are you wearing his hat?"