11. Reunions

It was slowly getting dark in New York. The youngest children were already being tucked into their beds, listening to bedtime stories told by parents who assured them the nightmares wouldn't come that night. The bad dreams had been quite a frequent occurrence in New York especially after the Chitauri. The children were afraid, asking their parents if the things would come back again. The parents assured that everything would be fine, putting on a brave face and hoping they were right. There were heroes out there to keep them safe. Great heroes, like the Avengers.

The children believed their parents. But the nightmares still came like so many nights before. They had just got worse after the strange lights had disturbed the skies not too long ago. They were dreams of a dark figure and an army of shadows that loomed in the darkest alleyways, waiting for the right moment. Something the children's parents couldn't stop. Something the police couldn't stop. Maybe something even the Avengers couldn't stop. And tonight was the worst so far.

When lights were put out in the apartments of the people who went to sleep during the night and the more nocturnal people populated the streets, inky shapes started to creep on the roofs of the skyscrapers. Red eyes started to flare into life among the shadows. The children and even some adults curled up tightly in their beds and screwed their eyes shut when the nightmares started. The shady creatures moved on the walls and down to the streets. They entered houses through windows without anyone noticing. Because the only indication of there being something was the feeling of dread and the fact that all the good things in the world felt much more distant than a second ago. The sleeping people were the only ones so far who could see the monsters, and even for them they were just images in a dream, sometimes causing a child to cry or an adult to wake up gasping in panic before they settled back down and tried to forget it all.

But tonight there was no real forgetting. Because tonight the tallest shadow at the top of a roof was ready for the next phase in his plan. His sharp teeth gleamed in the light of the street lamps and the illuminated advertisements. The Moon was covered by a veil of night clouds. The Guardians were busy elsewhere, locked in conflict with the Avengers. And the people still remembered the alien attack and the strange lights in the sky.

Pitch Black raised his hand and watched his nightmare sand curl around his slender fingers. He wasn't quite as strong as he would have liked yet. But the Chitauri had unintentionally given him a great opportunity. So had those foolish Guardians by showing themselves to a group of paranoid agents. All they had needed was a little push here and there, and now they were in a full-blown war with each other. And Pitch was free to wreak havoc in this vulnerable city. A vulnerable yet powerful city where news travelled fast almost everywhere.

Some people were already afraid enough to actually see the shadows flitting over walls and across the skies. And when the invisible threat became more and more real to the people, it felt much harder even for children to believe in the more innocent and magical aspects of the world.


Jack stumbled, clutching his chest when the hollowness inside him became even worse. He had managed to ignore it lately while being on survival mode, but now that he was in the company of an ally it came back harsher than before. For a second he felt light-headed and he had to support himself against a wall to prevent himself from falling.

"Jokul?" Thor asked, "Are you well?"

"I... I really need some fresh air," Jack breathed, "And my staff."

Thor's heavy hand landed on his shoulder, grasping his hoodie and unceremoniously hauling him forward. Jack stumbled a bit but managed to stay walking.

"Come," Thor said, "If that is the case, we need to keep moving."

The fit passed, but the hollowness was still there. Jack wondered if it really was just the missing staff and being confined for so long. Something else was a bit off as well. Jack couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly it was. But he could worry about that after he had his staff back. He pushed it to the back of his mind for the moment and let Thor take him forward along the corridor.


Fury studied the man in front of him. Frost had indeed said one of the Guardians was called "Santa Claus". This man sure fit the title.

"Nicholas Fury," the man repeated, "I must say I am not very happy with you recent behaviour."

This man also seemed to be very unconcerned that he had just entered a closely guarded law-enforcement facility where everyone carried guns.

"Put down your weapons," was Fury's only answer to the man's odd greeting.

"I certainly would like to," the man said merrily, "If you also put down yours. You and I have some things to discuss. I am Nicholas St. North, but you can just call me North to avoid confusion. I do not like putting fancy titles on family members, but to speak your language I am what you might call leader of these Guardians you have been hunting lately."

The man named North sheathed his sabres and raised his empty hands.

"I have come to... how would you say... ah, negotiate with you."

"About what?" Fury asked.

North's face darkened suddenly, and Fury almost felt intimidated by this Santa Claus for a moment. So much for jolliness.

"You took our boy," North accused, "We want him back."

"You mean Frost," Fury stated. It was fairly obvious who the man was talking about.

"Yes," North said, "We understand you are afraid because you do not know much about us. I am here to explain what you need to know. Although it is a bit... hectic here now, I admit."

North motioned animatedly at his surroundings. At the moment things seemed calm enough indoors, but Fury knew the man was also talking about the commotion outside.

"If you really are here to talk," Fury said, "You aren't making a very good first impression. You just attacked us again."

"Again?" North questioned, "We did no such thing before. Our boy just fetched what belonged to one of us. And even now, most of this attack is not our doing."

"Then who is it?"

North sighed.

"It would be better if you did not know. But I guess it doesn't matter any longer. It's the Boogeyman."

For a second, Fury didn't know what to say. It was a very strange instance in his life. There was a moment of silence when Fury wondered if he was hallucinating it all, just because the situation was so very absurd. He was aiming a gun at a Russian man who was supposed to be Santa Claus and who claimed S.H.I.E.L.D. was under attack by the Boogeyman. Yes, it could of course be a code name again. But in that moment Fury started to think that maybe it wasn't. And then he wondered if he was going crazy.

"Normally we are the ones who fight him," North went on, "If you give us our boy back, we can help you."

"Funny," Fury said flatly, "Because 'your boy' claimed you people can't fight in our wars."

"We can't," North said, "But whenever monsters like this are involved, it is our war too."

"And you would help us just like that and not hold a grudge about this?" Fury asked, "Even if this wasn't making you look bad enough, we couldn't let Frost go before we can make sure what the hell you people are and what exactly you do."

Because they really couldn't. It was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s duty to protect people from serious threats. If they just let a group of super-beings go without thoroughly investigating the matter, without being one hundred percent sure that they wouldn't harm anyone, S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be doing their job. Fury had always been ready to take even a bit more extreme measures to do what he had to do. If sustaining global security meant holding an underage person who actually wasn't underage confined against his will for some time, Fury would do it. If he didn't, the Pentagon or some other organization would find an even more extreme way of dealing with these people.

North took a step forward and Fury clicked his gun's safety off just in case. The huge Russian man didn't seem to mind, and he stopped only a step away from Fury, a strangely compassionate look on his face. When he spoke, it was in an understanding tone Fury didn't like at all:

"You already know what we do. You just don't accept it. Some things just need to be believed in. You already believe we exist. Now you just have to believe there is good in us."

North smiled.

"You are resourceful man, Mr. Fury. You see opportunities others might not see. But is clouded by paranoia. Sometimes things you discover may not be as bad as you think they are. Sometimes you just need to look at them with a bit of wonder instead of mistrust."

Fury stared at the man. Now this Santa Claus was talking to him in fatherly tones about wonder. It was a moral straight out of a children's story, something Fury couldn't afford believing in. If he took away his mistrust, all those wondrous things around him could take advantage of it and kill everyone.

"I admit that we are very upset about this all," North said when Fury's words failed him again, "And if you have harmed our boy, there will be consequences. But I also understand you. Sometimes hard decisions must be made in order to protect people. But is not us you need to protect people from."

"From what, then?" Fury asked, "'The Boogeyman' doesn't sound good enough of an answer to me."

"Is good enough," North said, "He is powerful, corrupted person who sustains himself on fear. He commands these Nightmares and Fearlings... these shadows that are attacking you now."

Fury lowered his gun just a little at that. In that moment Thor found them. Fury could see the God of Thunder walk around a corner and halt when their eyes met. Thor raised his hand in greeting.

"Fury, don't shoot. I need to speak with you."

But before Thor could say what about or anything else for that matter, a small, skinny figure rounded the corner as well, and familiar ice blue eyes brightened at the sight of the Russian man in front of Fury.

"North!" Frost shouted, excited like a kid whose dad had just come home from a long business trip.

Frost pushed past Thor and ran to North without caring at all that he was also stepping in front of a gun. It took all of Fury's considerable self-control not to fire at the sudden movement. North's mouth curved into an unbelievably happy smile under the white beard, and in a second the man had swept Frost off his feet and into a mighty bear hug that looked like it should have crushed every bone in the kid's scrawny body. Frost didn't seem to mind too much, though, judging by the laughter and the fact the boy wrapped his arms around the Russian to return the hug.

"Jack!" the Russian boomed, "I'm so happy to see you! Are you all right?"

"Well, mostly," Frost said in a muffled voice, "North, you do know that guy is pointing a gun at you?"

North put the boy down, ruffling the mess of white hair and still smiling happily before his expression changed to that of fatherly concern.

"Yes, I am aware. Did they hurt you?"

"Not much," the kid assured, "But they do have my staff, I think."

North looked very sternly at Fury, pushing Frost back so that North could stand between Fury and the kid. Thor stepped beside Fury, indicating with his hand that Fury should put away his gun entirely. Fury wasn't quite ready to do that just yet.

"These people aren't the real enemy here," the Asgardian said, "Young Frosti may be mischievous and a troublemaker, but he is a good lad. And St. North is a great man. You should listen to them."

"Ah, thank you, Mr. Odinson," North said with a jolly spark in his eyes, "Is good to see you! How are things in Asgard?"

"As well as they can be, knowing us," Thor said.

"Good! We definitely need to chat more later. But first..." North looked at Fury again, "We had some business to take care of, no?"

"Well, you got 'your boy' back," Fury said, "But I still need to get this attack taken care of."

"That can be arranged," North smiled, "If you could get a message to your agents to not try to hunt down Bunny so that he can properly take down the Nightmares and the Fearlings outside."

"He's the kinda annoying giant rabbit with boomerangs," Frost elaborated helpfully, a very wide grin on his face. The ice kid seemed to enjoy Fury's confusion immensely and didn't even bother trying to hide it.

"Bunnymund is here too?" Thor inquired almost reverently, "Aye, he is a great warrior indeed."

As much as Fury loathed admitting it, the situation clearly wasn't in his hands any longer. Reluctantly he opened a link to agent Hill.

"Hill? Can you get across a message to as many agents as possible? Tell them to target shadow monsters and leave alone the... giant rabbit."

A bit of his professional pride died when he uttered those words.

"I... I actually think Rogers and Barton are already on it," Hill answered in a tone that indicated her professional pride had somewhat suffered during the recent events as well.


Clint looked momentarily away from his target – a screaming, twisted humanoid shadow – to see Steve Rogers returning from inside the building. Steve had taken to the battlefield only briefly before things had got complicated. Before a threat shaped like a giant rabbit had become a threat shaped like dozens of freaky shadow-monsters. Steve had chased some of the monsters that had broken into the base, but now the man was back, holding his shield at the ready and looking around for the enemy.

"Everything's okay inside?" Clint asked quickly and let his arrow fly even as he was still looking at Steve.

The arrow hit its mark, and a scream told Clint the shadow was done for. Steve threw his shield at another creature and easily jumped high enough to catch the shield back into his hand. The man landed next to Clint and nodded as an answer to Clint's question.

"Seems clear enough. I managed to inform Fury about the shadows too. I think we can drive them away."

"Well, the rabbit seems to think so," Clint said, nodding towards the huge fighter bunny.

The bunny moved almost impossibly fast, throwing boomerangs and some sort of spheres that exploded into pastel colours. The thing was even wearing war-paint and... was it occasionally doing Tai Chi moves against the monsters? At first the thing had seemed hostile. But as soon as Clint had managed to convince the few agents that were still standing that they should be shooting at shadows the rabbit had clearly been fighting on their side. Clint had decided to go with it, partly because it seemed arrows and bullets did nothing to slow the rabbit down.

Clint aimed quickly at a black demon horse and let his arrow tear through its body, which exploded into some sort of sand that didn't have time to reshape itself before the rabbit finished it off with its boomerang.

"Good goin' mate!" the rabbit shouted, "Just keep it up!"

Oh, yes. And this giant killer rabbit was also giving motivational shouts with an Australian accent. For some reason that was the most surreal part in the whole thing for Clint.

Steve actually punched a monster that sneaked a bit too close for comfort. Steve then backed closer to Clint so that they could watch each others' backs.

"Their ranks are thinning," Steve said, "But most of our agents are down too."

"Yeah," Clint shot an exploding arrow that wiped another demon horse out of existence, "Let's hope whatever's sending these things here runs out of monsters soon."

And for some reason Clint felt like he could have hope of that. Things looked a bit bad and extremely confusing, but they had got through worse. Clint would just focus on aiming at the right things like he always did. They could do it. For some reason Clint didn't lose hope even when a new wave of shadow creatures emerged from between the trees. In fact, at that moment his hopes really soared, if only because at that very moment a portal swirling in all shades of the northern lights appeared into the sky and Natasha Romanoff flew through it.

Clint Barton had never seen the Black Widow fly. Well, actually, he had seen that once, in a dream he would never, ever mention to Natasha. But now it was real. Natasha descended upon the last wave of shadows like a black-clad angel of vengeance and shot three of the shadows in the head with her gun even before she dropped onto the ground. The birdlike creature that had been carrying Natasha through the portal swooped down and tore through an entire row of shadows, viciously ripping them into shreds.

"Let me guess," Steve said to the rabbit that had just hopped next to the two Avengers, "That bird is a friend of yours?"

"Yep," the rabbit said, "She's a fairy, though. Tooth! Over here, sheila!"

The rabbit raised his paw and almost casually eliminated one of the remaining shades by swiftly tossing an exploding... egg? The monsters that remained were quickly disposed of by the three Avengers and the two strange Guardians. As soon as the last shadow withered away the birdlike fairy zipped to the rabbit's side, followed quickly by Natasha, who greeted Clint with a small smile.

"Bunny!" the fairy chirped to the rabbit, "I heard there was trouble, but it seems the plan still worked!"

"Plan?" Steve repeated, "What exactly was your plan?"

The fairy looked at Steve and beamed, flashing very white teeth.

"Oh, hello! It's kind of a messy place to be meeting in, but it is nice to meet you two, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barton! I am Toothiana. I see you met Bunny already!"

The fairy talked very fast. And in a very friendly way. Clint looked questioningly at Natasha, who had apparently decided to side with the fairy at least long enough to get a ride from her. Natasha nodded towards the fairy.

"We have an understanding," she said, "What happened here?"

"An attack," Clint said immediately, "By freaky things. And this Bunny over here."

"Hey, I was only fighting ya 'cause ya were attacking me," the rabbit, Bunny, grumbled, "You people have trouble listening, don't ya?"

"Speaking of listening," Toothiana spoke up, "Is North inside?"

"Who?" Steve asked.

"One of us," Bunny explained, "Santa."

"He should be talking to your director," Toothiana said, "The Fearlings and Nightmares didn't get inside, did they?"

"If you mean the monsters, then some did," Steve replied, "Not a whole lot. I think it's all taken care of."

"At least for now," Natasha mused. She glanced at Bunny, "So... I guess you are the Easter Bunny?"


Now that Fury had finally decided not to point guns at anyone, things had settled at the base. Fury had left Jack and North to sit in a room with a guard at the door and was now somewhere else talking to Thor. Jack didn't mind. It was nice to have a little more peaceful moment after all that had happened in the last few days. Well, the peaceful moment was a bit ruined by the fact that North had entered what could only be called the overprotective mode. The man was fussing, not leaving Jack's side and constantly asking if Jack was all right. Jack supposed he should just be grateful there was actually a friendly face in his company, someone who actually wanted to care for him. And he was grateful, of course he was. But the total independence he had got used to still had a tendency to make him feel weird when he got too much attention.

"What happened to your shirt?" North asked after running out of injuries to check and turning his attention to the tears in Jack's hoodie.

Well, at least that was a concern Jack also shared. As a person who didn't own many things, he really wanted to take care of what he did own.

"It just took a few hits," he said vaguely, tracing the edge of the tear at the front of the hoodie with his finger, "Can it be fixed? It'd be a shame to have to ste... find a new one. I've had this since the early Eighties."

"I see what I can do later," North assured, "After this is over."

"It's a deal," Jack smiled, but it turned into a frown when a thought occurred to him, "North, why exactly did Pitch attack this place? And where is he now?"

North shook his head.

"I don't know. I think Pitch was never here himself. Maybe he just wanted to do harm out of spite."

"But why here?"

"Maybe because you were here," North said, "He doesn't like you very much. Or maybe he did it to make us look worse to these people than we already did."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jack waved his hand wildly to get North slow down, "You think he knows we've had trouble with the Avengers?"

"Is very likely. He is a sneaky one. Always spying and lurking about."

Yes, it did make sense. Pitch had probably spent the last month or so watching them from the shadows and laughing his head off. That shadow-sneaking son of a...

"Jack, language!" North scolded.

Jack shot North an incredulous look.

"I didn't even say anything!"

"I could read it from your expression."

"I've heard you cuss too, "Jack said accusingly, "And you're supposed to be the nice and jolly Father Christmas."

"Is too late for me to change my ways."

"And it isn't for me?"

North chuckled and smiled under his beard.

"Is good to have you back, my boy," he said and squeezed Jack's shoulder, "We were so worried about you."

A smile tugged at Jack's lips and he leaned into the comforting touch. Yep, it was definitely nice to be cared about. It was during that actually rather heart-warming, almost father-son-like moment when Fury and Thor decided to come back. And they had some company. Jack recognized Steve and the bow-guy whose name was Clint-something. There was also a female agent with fiery red hair at the door, and next to her...

"Jack!"

For the second time that day Jack found himself tackled into a hug. He almost fell off the chair he was sitting on when Tooth clung to his neck, chattering so quickly she might as well been chirping like her mini-fairies.

"I'msogladtoseeyouareyouokayhowareyourteethdidthesepeoplehurtyoubecauseiftheydidI'llmakethempay..."

"Tooth," North said in his "leader"-tone of voice, "Give boy some space."

It was hilariously hypocritical of North. Tooth let go of Jack and quickly looked him over for injuries, pursing her lips in dismay when she saw the blood on Jack's sleeve. Over her feathery shoulder, Jack could see Bunny also hopping in and looking visibly relieved to see Jack.

"Frostbite, great to see ya," Bunny said and then turned to Fury, "Looks like ya really got nearly all of us here, Mr. Fury."

Fury didn't say anything for a while. When he did, all he said was a very clipped:

"I suppose so."


Steve quickly made a mental list of the spirits they had chased for the last few weeks and who were now sitting in a room with them. An old Russian man who moved with the ease and strength of a man in his prime. A homeless teenager with ice powers. A bird-woman who was surrounded by miniature copies of herself. A tall warrior-rabbit. And even though he couldn't see it through the video link Fury had opened to communicate with Tony and Bruce, there was apparently – according to Tony's description – "a freakin' weird golden sandman" among the Guardians as well. All apparently centuries old. And Steve had thought the Avengers formed a weird group.

"So..." Fury said gruffly, "Now that you are all here, I need to know one more thing. What does your existence mean for us?"

"Nothing," North said, "We have been doing our job for centuries without bothering you. Why should it change now?"

Fury's forehead creased into a frown.

"Because now we know about you."

"Oh, by the Moon!" Toothiana sighed, "If you need to put everyone on a side, we are on yours. Especially now that Pitch attacked you too."

"I was getting to that," Fury said, "If you spirits aren't going to be a threat, you do admit that there are some among you that are. That's also why we need to care."

"Well, now we are getting somewhere, I suppose," North said, "We would be happy to assist you with your spirit-problem... if you apologise first."

"...what?" Fury asked flatly.

North frowned.

"Nobody ever taught you manners? You held Jack against his will for days and mistreated him. And I have you know that if you weren't acting believing you were doing right thing, you would suffer much more severe consequences. But now, an apology would suffice, or what say you, Jack?"

Jack grinned, looking like he wanted to openly laugh at Fury. Steve hoped the kid wouldn't actually do it, though. The fragile peace in the room might just shatter if he did. Fury had an incredulous look on his face, and Steve didn't blame the man of that at all. Jack hopped down from where he had sat on the back of a chair, moving lightly as if gravity was something he obeyed only because he occasionally felt like it. Which was true, actually, seeing how Steve had seen the kid fly. Jack sauntered over to Fury, looking up at the man a bit smugly and extending his pale hand.

"Yeah, I think I don't want to make this any harder for you guys," Jack said, "So an apology, along with giving me my staff back is enough. As long as you don't go kidnapping spirits again."

Fury looked at Jack's hand like it could explode at any second. Then, grudgingly, he shook it.

"Fine," he said, "We apologise for this, Frost."

"Apology accepted," Jack said, "Now, I want my staff."

Fury made a quick call to someone, and in a few minutes agent Hill entered the room, holding the crooked stick in her hands. Fury took it from her.

"I'll just have to trust you won't destroy this base the second I give this to you," he said sternly, looking at Jack.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't," Jack said, "Give it back."

The boy reached for the staff, and as soon as his fingers closed around the wood, frost spread all over it. Jack held the weapon close to his chest, a relieved smile on his face. His finger traced a burnt spot on the stick and he closed his eyes. Blue light spread over the charred bit, fixing the damage like it had never been there. Jack smiled at the staff in approval and rested it over his shoulders.

"Much better," he declared, "But I should probably go outside before... oh, too late."

Something started falling from the ceiling. Steve lifted his hand to catch one of the white flakes and watched it instantly melt into a drop of water on his hand. Snow.

"Sorry," Jack said but didn't sound too apologetic, "I'll stop it in a second."

Fury wasn't amused in the slightest.

"You'd better."

The snow was still falling lazily when an insistent beeping indicated there was a call for Fury.


Author's Note: Hmm... the e-mail notifications seem to be working again. That's good. I think I might have accidentally not approved a guest review for some reason because it has refused to show up... if someone's review hasn't shown up, I apologise. It's not my intention to censor you guys.

We have just broken 20 000 views, 200 favs and 250 reviews! Not that anyone's counting except the counters on FanFiction. I just... I kinda gathered that RotG/Avengers crossovers are kinda popular after I got such a warm welcome for the first chapters already but I didn't expect people to be so excited about my take on this. I'm feeling very loved now, so thank you all again!

Now before I forget: so many people have been worried about the mini-fairies Natasha shot at. Since it was also the concern of some guest reviewers, I'll now state thatno fairies were permanently harmed in the making of this fic. To me, the mini-fairies are just as immortal as Tooth herself seeing how at least in the books they are extensions of her.

Also some were interested to know what exactly Jack did to make a bad first impression for the Asgardians. Well, I... have absolutely no idea. I think you all can imagine what you want about it :D

People have also been very mad at Fury. I kinda feel sorry for him now. So I decided to try to elaborate on what he is going through in this chapter. But I also did severely hurt his pride so there. I almost expected Samuel L. Jackson to somehow appear before me while I was out rollerblading and lay his vengeance upon me for writing the apology-scene... But he didn't, thankfully.

We are nearing the end, people... just a few more chapters to go.