Descendants: The rise of red

Welcome to Wonderland

Auradon has dismantled the barrier, yet still forgotten the daughter of a villain, and Uma cannot allow this oversight to stand. The letter soars towards the White Rabbit's burrow, long sealed off with wooden beams and festooned with signs proclaiming "NO ENTRY" and "TURN BACK." The letter slips through the beams as if passing through a portal, arriving beneath the surface, into Wonderland.
This is a dark realm, filled with mystery and magic, ruled by the notoriously ruthless Queen of Hearts. "Subjects of Wonderland, you have one minute to observe Her Majesty's curfew, or else," booms a voice from loudspeakers scattered throughout the kingdom. The ominous "or else" implies a fate involving the loss of one's head.
The kingdom's inhabitants, like toy soldiers, rush to their respective homes, locking themselves inside. All except one: the queen's own daughter, Princess Red, who dares to defy her mother's orders. Red moves swiftly under Wonderland's night sky, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, masked with a heart-shaped cutout and wearing a studded hood.
Carefully, she evades her mother's guards—playing poker cards —ensuring everything is under control. She makes her way to the castle's entrance, where she and the queen reside, and begins snipping the heads off the white roses that the cards have painted red, a favorite of her mother. Then, she takes a red balloon and releases it, splattering an enormous portrait of the Queen of Hearts with red paint as it bursts.
Next, Red retrieves a mallet hidden in a heart-shaped bush in the royal garden and starts smashing all the black vases emblazoned with the queen's initials. One of the guards, tasked with aerial surveillance, spots her and alerts the others, who march in unison towards the Ace of Hearts. "Soldiers, are you ready?" the Ace shouts.
"Yes, sir!" the cards respond.
"The queen is not friendly," the Ace bellows. Meanwhile, Red blends in with the cards, marching alongside them, pretending to be one of them, before tossing bombs that explode into hearts and pink glitter. The soldiers look around but find no one. Red reveals herself from atop the castle. "Capture her!" orders the Ace. Red flees, losing her mask in the process, leaping from one high point of the castle to another, until her red hood falls away, revealing her long, red hair.
"We'll stand watch all night if we have to," the Ace shouts as the soldiers search high and low. "Never question orders, or pay the price, because if they aren't beheaded..." the sentence trails off, but the cards complete it, "we will be."
Red leaps and clambers up the very portrait she had defaced moments earlier. The depiction of her mother tears under her weight, splitting in two. With no escape in sight, Red grabs a torch from beside the castle entrance, but it's too late; the cards have her surrounded. Suddenly, a mechanical hand descends from a castle window, grabbing Red by the jacket, lifting her, and dropping her into a trapdoor that leads to a room inside the castle.
Red lands on a couch and bursts into laughter. "Those cards would have thrown you in the dungeon, Red!" says the Mad Hatter, whom Red affectionately calls Maddox, a name born from childhood mispronunciations. "What were you thinking?" he asks.
"The portrait of my mother needed a little retouching," Red replies, getting up from the couch.
"I'm seriously worried about you, Red," the Mad Hatter says, bending down to pick up his top hat from the floor.
"I hope she likes it," the princess tries to change the subject.
"If you keep this up, I won't always be able to save you. You understand that, right?" the Mad Hatter says, donning his coat from a nearby chair.
"Hatter Maddox, you know you can't save me," Red says resignedly. "I'm a prisoner of Wonderland, a lost cause," she adds, crossing her legs as she sits down in an armchair.
"You're not a lost cause. As your guardian, it's my duty to prepare you for your future. As a friend, I want you to have one," the Hatter says, taking a seat in the chair next to hers.
"What future, Maddox? You know I have one of the most authoritarian mothers in the world. She'll never let me leave here."
"It hasn't been easy growing up in the shadow of a mother who is so..." the Hatter searches for the right word, "distinctive. But she wasn't always like this," Red looks skeptical. "It's true!" he exclaims, "We are products of our pasts, and your mother's was unfortunate."
Red moves closer to her guardian, "She wants to mold me into her malevolent heir, but I don't want to be queen. I just want to decide my own life, but she doesn't care about what I want."
"Oh, Red..." They lock eyes. "I didn't plan to show you this for a few more years, but it's finished." The Hatter stands, motioning her to follow. He retrieves a key hidden in his red cravat and opens a desk drawer. "My time machine," he says, revealing a pocket watch.
Red stares in disbelief. "The White Rabbit gave it to me long ago; it reminded him too much of Alice," he recalls nostalgically. "Anyway, I've made some modifications; now it can take you to the moment that gives you what you desire most. If you truly want a different life, Red, I want you to make that choice. But beware," he warns, locking eyes with Red, "altering the fabric of time can lead to unpredictable consequences."
Red examines the watch intently. "I'll take my chances," she says with a shrug, but the Hatter stops her from grabbing it. "It could change everything, you might lose your mother entirely," he says, clutching the watch to his chest, backing away from Red, who stands still. "When you're more mature," he places the watch in the pocket of his dark green coat. "I know you're frustrated, Red, but I'm trying to look out for you. You matter to me, I care about you."
Red approaches the Mad Hatter and embraces him warmly, stealthily slipping her hand into his pocket and extracting the watch. "Thanks, Maddox, someone still cares for me."
They break the hug. "If the queen finds out I'm harboring a fugitive, I'll be in serious trouble."
"I dare you to stop me!" Red takes a few steps back with a challenging grin.
"As you wish, princess," the Hatter presses one of the yellow cufflinks on his jacket, and suddenly a large tube descends from the ceiling, stopping above Red's head. "What did I say about calling me princess?" The tube sucks Red up as she screams, depositing her into her bedroom, landing on her bed.
Red looks at the ceiling and begins to laugh triumphantly. She unzips her black-and-red leather jacket and pulls out the stolen watch. As she examines it, the Mad Hatter's words echo in her mind, "It could change everything, you might lose your mother entirely."