Author's notes
Yeah I got nothing. Sorry it took a while…enjoy. XD!
Chapter 14: New meeting old friends
Standing impossibly still, Jack couldn't help but stare at the hummingbird-like creature in front of him. Desperately his mind tried to explain what he was seeing. With tiny little fingers waving franticly around his face, he couldn't help but feel that he should know this little creature.
"Hey there little one, can I help you?" Jack asked gently.
Hearing his voice, the fairy paused in her lecture to regard him carefully. Moving forward she placed a miniscule hand on his nose and stared deep into his eyes. When his hand didn't reach to comfort her like it always did, she started to tear up.
"Whoa, hey I'm sorry!" Jack panicked at seeing her tears. "What's wrong, did I say something bad?" The little fairy closed her eyes and shook her head no, but Jack only felt his concern for her grow. He really didn't like seeing anyone sad in his presence; it just felt wrong somehow.
As the little fairy opened her mismatched eyes, she noticed the winter spirit becoming just as distressed as she was and in an instant her tears instantly vanished; the last thing she wanted to do was cause Jack any undue stress. However, rather than helping to calm him, the action only succeeded in confusing him more.
Slapping her forehead (in fond exasperation, the delicate fair) zoomed up to his cheek and nuzzled it affectionately with her own, a small caring chirp fluttering past her lips.
"What…" he muttered in disbelief, and then suddenly his mouth blurted out something neither of them was prepared for."…Baby Tooth?"
Silence engulfed the room; the sole occupants frozen in shock at the new development. Jack couldn't figure out why he said what he said, but obviously the name meant something to little fairy.
Upon hearing the name Jack had given her, Baby Tooth collided with his face in a loving embrace. Tiny happy tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but her joy was short lived.
"That's your name isn't it?" Jack asked slowly both in relief at remembering and hesitation in case he was wrong.
Baby pulled back and nodded, but his wording still confused her greatly. How could he say her name but not know it belonged to her? Was this some new form of a joke?
"Oh great," Jack groaned. "I've managed to upset yet another person who knows me."
Now completely lost on his words, Baby Tooth placed her hands upon her hips. If she was a full size fairy like Tooth she could have been easily mistaken as her twin. Narrowing her multicolored eyes, Baby waited impatiently for him to explain himself.
"Sorry," Jack muttered sheepishly. "I'm having a bit of a memory issue at the moment."
Unable to believe what she was hearing, Baby shook her head vigorously back and forth. Jack couldn't remember her? That was impossible, this wasn't right at all! Completely flustered, she took off round the room in various spastic patterns chirping rapidly.
Jack quickly held up his pale hands in a soothing gesture as she went to dart past his head for the third time, "Hey there, calm down. Please?"
Baby paused when she heard his pleading voice and turned to give him an indignant huff.
"Look on the bright side at least I remembered your name. That's better than I've been doing so far." Jack tried reasoning, his blue eyes wide as he tried to placate the upset fairy.
Looking into his worried eyes and seeing that same charming smile he always had, Baby Tooth couldn't help but feel foolish at her sudden outburst. After all, he was the one having the problem and she was the one throwing a tantrum.
"Well then Baby Tooth, now that you've calmed down and we are uh, reacquainted." Jack chuckled. "What brings you here to my neck of the woods? Did Fury send you here to keep an eye on me?"
Though it took a moment for her to fight past her earlier embarrassment, Baby's mind finally processed what he had asked. Backing up a bit to give herself some space, she let her eyes roam over the room they were currently occupying. She had been so focused on searching for Jack that it hadn't occurred to her where she was.
The first thing Baby thought was that Jack should not be within a human airship thousands of miles away from Germany. The second thought demanded to know who exactly this Fury person is and why is he keeping an eye on Jack? Her third thought though, was more of a wary feeling –it was as though this whole ship radiated with an unknown edge to it and she didn't like it at all. In Baby's mind, this ship wasn't the type of place Jack would normally go to willingly.
These facts brought on yet another odd observation to Baby Tooth's attention. Now that she was really looking at him, it seemed that Jack was not only missing his memory but his normal wardrobe as well. Now he wore something more regal and fancy- nothing like the comfy blue sweater and worn pants she was used to seeing. Curious she grabbed a hold of his cloak and rubbed the fabric between her fingers carefully. Though it looked nice and the texture was soft, it just didn't seem right on him.
"Oh, I'm just borrowing these clothes while mine are being cleaned." Jack blurted out of nowhere. He nervously shifted his weight and his brow furrowed the slightest bit, he didn't know why he had felt the sudden need to justify himself.
Nodding absentmindedly, Baby Tooth continued inspecting his person before taking note of his vacant hands. Gasping, she covered her mouth and looked at him with growing concern.
"Huh?" Looking to his hands Jack gave them a once over before it clicked on what she was freaking out about. "That's right, my staff!" Jack exclaimed.
Baby Tooth looked around the room trying to see if she could spot it lying around someplace.
"I have no idea where it is!" Jack grumbled in frustration. "Fury's taken and hidden it somewhere; I've been searching for it!"
Baby couldn't stop the fierce scowl that crossed her face at hearing this. Coming to a quick decision, she gave him a strong nod and flew up to the still open vent. Taking in a deep breath she let out a loud chirp before zipping back to his side.
Jack faltered when out of the same vent three new guests arrived. One was clearly a small elf, another was some sort of sand golem, and the last looked to be nothing more than an egg with legs.
"Well that wasn't what I was expecting." Jack chuckled, "Friends of yours?"
Baby Tooth gave a sharp nod before chirping out orders to the creatures in front of them. Each one gave an affirmative gesture before scampering about the room searching for something.
"Are they looking for my staff?" Jack asked in wonder as he watched them move around.
Baby Tooth nodded.
Pumping his arms into the air, Jack let out a laugh that almost had Baby fainting in joy. In his excitement Jack rushed over to the door and opened it for them all, "I've already checked this room, but come on there are still a lot more rooms left to look through."
Each creature ran out the door and when Jack jumped through himself, they took off down the hallway. The elf and sand golem took one room, while the egg and Baby took another. Jack decided to take his own room in order to triple the search efforts.
"With all of us searching, we should find it in no time!" Jack hollered out from his own room.
A soft chirp and a bell jingled in agreement to his proclamation, much to his enjoyment. Jack was sure that with all of them searching, someone was bound to find a lead.
`````````````````````````````````````one hour later``````````````````````````````````````
"This is getting old." Jack grumbled floating out of yet another empty room. "You guys find anything yet?"
Elf - as Jack chose to call him due to the lack of an actual name- shook his head vigorously, the bell on his cap jingling uncontrollably. Golem-again an unoriginal name but effective- disintegrated into a pile of miserable looking sand, defeated. Baby gave a sad chirp no, while the unimaginatively named Egg decided to run repeatedly into the wall.
Rolling her eyes at her fellow team mates antics, Baby asked Jack what other locations were left for them to check. Much to her surprise, he answered her.
"Well other than the bridge and Fury's office, we've checked everywhere else." Then Jack sighed. "But I can't get on the bridge or his office without being seen."
Seen? That was a new concept for Baby to hear. Who on earth could see Jack that wasn't a mythos or a child?
"I guess I could go in and just freeze the few people who can see me, but I really don't feel like getting lectured by anyone else today." Jack rambled on.
Suddenly, Elf jumped up in down in excitement catching everyone's attention. Baby and Elf were suddenly absorbed in a quick and jumbled conversation that Jack couldn't make heads or tails of. In the end all four of the little creatures scurried off in the direction of the bridge and Jack's eyes widened at suddenly being left behind, "H-Hey, wait for me!" he shouted, clumsily shooting off after them.
Chirping over her shoulder Baby motioned for him to follow, but didn't slow her pace in the slightest. Flying, running and floating through unsuspecting crew members the group came to a screeching halt just outside of the bridge doors.
With a few quick hand signals, Baby went flying into the vents with Golem-in the shape of a small plane- hot on her heels. Elf and Egg merely bounded up and down in front of the door until some unsuspecting crew member opened it from the inside.
Thankfully this individual wasn't someone who could see them, allowing Jack and the other two to slip in unnoticed. As they slipped past the agent, Jack couldn't help but think that this was the strangest situation he'd found himself in a while.
Now on the other side of the door, Jack spotted Agent Hill striding towards them. Quick as he could, Jack flew up to the ceiling out of sight from Agent Hill who was making her way back up from the front of the ship.
Scanning the room quickly, Jack noticed Baby Tooth flying out of a vent near the front of the room. He watched her cautiously make her way down to the various stations just as Golem shot out of a different vent to do a similar process.
Looking to where he had entered the room, Jack spotted Egg 'looking' into various nooks and crannies around the back of the room - no doubt staying out of the way of being stepped on by unsuspecting people. Elf on the other hand merely started running around the center of the room with a goofy smile on his face. Jack wasn't sure if he should laughed or just pull at his hair.
Jack was sure they would all be caught as Hill, once again, made her way up the steps to where Elf was playing. At least that was until she walked right through the little guy and over to a random computer terminal.
Muffling his snickers behind his hand at the sight of Elf pouting, Jack couldn't help but give a silent cheer for the group's ability to check all the places that he couldn't. If he even tried it was almost guaranteed that Fury or Hill would have caught him.
It didn't take too long before Golem and Baby returned to his side with defeated looks on their faces and if the sluggish pace of Egg down below was anything to go by, he hadn't found anything either.
"Well, good news is that it's not here." Jack whispered. "Bad news, Fury must have it in his office."
Baby turned around fully intending on finding this Fury and his office, when Jack suddenly snatched her up. "Oh, no you don't," Jack chastised.
Baby gave him a flat look clearly asking what his malfunction was.
"Look, even if you got into that guys office and found my staff, how are you planning on getting it out?" Jack questioned sternly.
Golem pumped sand into one of his tiny arms to make it look very muscular.
"I see." Jack smirked. "And you really think that's going to be enough to lift it without being noticed?"
Golem shrugged. 'Well at least he's being honest,' Jack thought to himself.
"Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'm going to have to play this one a little different." Jack hummed.
"Play what differently?" A female voice questioned from below.
Startled, Jack looked down sharply and noticed Agent Hill staring up at him with a suspicious glare.
"Did I say that out loud?" Jack asked looking up sheepishly to see Baby and Golem face palming.
"Who are you talking to?" Agent Hill questioned, though her voice held more of a demanding edge to it.
"Why to the wind of course." Jack quickly lied. "Didn't you know the wind and I are great friends?"
Agent Hill's eyes squinted, "This ship has a regulated air system. The only 'wind' in here is artificially generated."
'Why, oh why does she have to ask so many questions?' Jack shrugged, "Wind is wind artificial or not."
Agent Hill crossed her arms but said nothing to his explanation; obviously she didn't believe a word he said.
Jack rolled his eyes and floated a bit closer to the agent, much to Baby Tooth's displeasure. "Look, I'm not doing anything mischievous to the ship or the crew, so relax."
"So long as you are floating above everyone on the bridge, I'm not going to relax." Agent Hill replied. "Now stop dancing around the question, who were you talking to."
"My inner child," Jack countered, his eyes twinkling with playfulness.
"Jack, if you have snuck someone else on board, I can assure you that Director Fury will not take kindly to it." Agent Hill explained. Though she sounded stern, Jack could hear a little bit of motherly concern intermixed in her words.
"Aw Agent Hill, is that concern I hear?" Jack teased as he floated around her in a playful way. "I didn't know you cared."
Closing her eyes briefly Agent Hill gave a deep sigh, "My concern is for every member of this crew. Until Fury says otherwise, that also includes you."
"Well that's a comforting thought." Jack chuckled as he looked up to the ceiling for a brief moment to gage Baby Tooth's reaction.
Baby Tooth seemed to be even less pleased about hearing this information than Jack had expected. It's not that he could blame her, she's obviously concerned about his well-being, and he's a bit out of touch with the world.
"Look I can assure you that I didn't bring anyone on to the carrier." Jack said, sure there were four new additions on board, but technically he himself didn't bring them on.
Agent Hill looked to the roof and gave it a good hard look. After a tense moment she finally looked back to Jack, "Fine, but just so you know-"
Agent Hill didn't have the chance to finish her sentence as the ship suddenly took a rather large dip forward, Jack had only barley caught Agent Hill before she hit the floor. Alarms began to blare over the PA system, and people everywhere were struggling to get a handle on the ship.
"What's going on?!" Jack hollered out over the noise.
Quickly regaining her balance, Agent Hill pushed herself up and off of Jack. Reaching out she gripped onto the railing just behind the terminals as the ship took another dip forward. "Report!" she belted out.
"Something's hitting us ma'am! Sensors indicate a strong force centralized at the lower rear end of the ship!" a young man at the closest terminal to her replied.
Not a moment later Fury rushed into the room, a look of determination plastered on his face. "Can we identify our attacker?" he questioned without pause.
"Not yet sir!" came a reply from another gentlemen from a further terminal.
"Well find out now!" Fury barked.
"Target locked, sir I have a reading of our attacker," came a young man's voice from the front of the ship. "I'm putting it up on the screen now."
Within seconds the large screen at the front of the ship came to life, on it there was a picture of nothing more than empty sky.
"What is this, I thought you had a target?" Fury demanded as he stared at the screen.
"One moment sir." The crewman typed a few buttons and the display changed, if only slightly. Now instead of an empty sky, there was a signature reading and a large black cloud of sorts shifting just outside the ship.
"Sir," Agent Hill whispered, she didn't really need to ask. She knew what Fury was going to say.
"It would seem that our unwelcomed guest has come to us sooner than expected." Fury replied. "Contact the Avengers and tell them to get here immediately."
"Wait what?" Jack called from behind.
Agent Hill ignored Jacks exclamation and quickly gets on the radio to contact the team. Fury on the other hand looked back to see Jack floating right behind his left shoulder. "I'm sorry Jack, but this situation takes more precedence than finding out about your memory."
Jack looked at the display screen and frowned, "The Avengers are miles away right now, even if you contacted them now there's no way they'll get here fast enough." Jack explained.
"So what pray tell to do think we should do?" Fury turned to regard Jack closely.
Jack looked Fury straight in the eye, "Let me help."
Hey y'all. Thanks for waiting on me. Between school, new house, family troubles, work, and overall stress. I think I about lost my mind there for a bit. My stories will go on, though they may trickle in a little slower until I can get settled. Anyway, thanks everyone I hope you enjoyed this.