The Hunter springs his trap on Lili.

With a burst of fabric and a whizzing of springs, manacles erupted from the chair where Lili sat. Her shapely legs were encircled above the ankles, crushing the bows on her boots; another manacle encircled her neck, wide enough to avoid any discomfort but narrow enough to make it clear she wouldn't be slipping out. There were similar shackles for her arms, but her senses were at least sharp enough to raise them out of the way. She heard them clamp together below her raised wrists, barely avoiding a nasty pinch. "You bastard! Did you not hear my warning?"

"Oh, haha, yes ma'am, why yes ma'am I did, my Alice..."

An unfamiliar voice came from the clearing behind the chair. So locked in place, Lili wasn't able to turn her head to see who it was. Instead, she was **** to imagine until the figure circled around to the front.

The man was dressed in gauche, patchwork-patterned formalwear with an oversized dinner jacket, colored in purples and blues. He had a top hat upon his scruffy, unkempt brown hair, and he doffed his hat in a mocking bow towards her as he leaned on a cheap-looking cane. Around his eyes was a dark, masking bandana, which feel short of covering his bright teeth, the only feature of his that Lili saw as above average; otherwise, this man was a poor actor in a finer man's costume. "I'm sorry, you go by Emilie De Rochefort, yes? Or Lili, perhaps? For now, that is?"

"'Emilie De Rochefort' is fine from you," the woman declared, attempting to spit in his direction before finding her mouth was too dry to do so. "As I've warned you, you've made a mistake most terrible, cad."

"Ah yes!" The man laughed and, for a moment, looked mad as a hatter, throwing his head back. "Ohoho yes! Will it be one of your trademark slaps, with all the **** you can get waving those little arms around from your comfy chair? No, I think I'll be all right, my Alice. Say, Alice... How was the food? Did you like the tea?"

"I'm not here for your food or your insane prattle. I'm here to plant my heel in your derriere and make quick time out of here." In spite of her situation, she smirked at the man. "I heard the rules of your 'Hunt' allow the captive twenty-four hours to escape, as some sort of twisted token of fairness? I intend to set a speed record."

This really made the man laugh, so hard that he actually tumbled back onto the table, ruining with the seat of his pants a cake that must have taken someone hours in the kitchen. "Ohoho! Aaahahaha! So you know the rules of the Hunt, do you? That's good, that's very funny, Alice!! So..." The man hopped up and slinked behind Alice's chair, returning immediately holding an enormous watch on a golden chain, one Lili definitely didn't remember seeing before. The chain was pulled taut, still fastened to whatever was behind the chair. "Alice, if you're so in control of yourself, tell me: how long do you think it's been since the start? How many hours do you think you have left?" He pointed to the clock face, as though time had any meaning to Lili in her current situation.

Lili thought she heard someone shift behind her chair, and she tried to crane her head up to see them. No luck: whoever it was was staying out of sight. "I am not beholden to the rules of your demented game. If I were relying on the mercy of your rules, however, I would estimate I have no less than twenty hours-"

The man doubled over in laughter now, ruining another spread of pastries and sending some silverware sailing into the grass. "Ahahahaha, okay, okay, Alice! Time is funny down here in the rabbit hole, but okay, Alice! Tell you what, I'm a fair sort. I'm a generous host! I'll let you free from here if you choose from one of the following: Either eat my food and drink my drink like a good little curious Alice, or... Face a challenger." The man grinned very wide now as he saw Lili's well-kept eyebrows perk up. "Oh? That caught your interest? You're a very rough and tumble sort of Alice, aren't you? Love a good fight, don't you?"

Lili never doubted her strength as a fighter. She now had a certainty that whoever was behind her chair was the challenger the Hunter was referring to. Although she had no idea who, even if it was Heihachi Mishima himself, she had confidence she could defeat him in a tournament bout.

Then again, this was no tournament bout. Earlier, she'd been so exhausted just from running and shouting that she'd been **** to sit down... Did she trust she could win a fight in her condition?