Jack felt as though his heart would freeze as he stood in front of the empty playground Saturday afternoon. This was the second day that the children had missed after promising to meet him Thursday. At first his mind had run in circles, certain that the children had told their parents about him and they had refused to let them continue playing. Maybe they had decided not to come now that the mystery of who was leaving toys was gone. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

All options were blown out of the water when a policeman had marched up to him the instant he entered the park. At first the boy had froze, ready to enact his fight or flight, more important flight, instinct before remembering that he hadn't actually done anything wrong in weeks. If the man had come to arrest him for something else Jack could just play the FBI card now or something.

"I've heard that you spend a lot of time around here, is that true?"

"I guess," the pale boy replied cautiously.

The officer nodded, and pulled a small stack of pictures out of his pocket. "Do you recognize these children?"

Jack's breath died in his throat and he let out a low gasp as he recognized Jamie, Pippa, Monty, Sophie, Cupcake, and the twins. "Y- yeah. They're here all the time. Wha- what happened? Are they ok?"

"Did you happen to see them Friday afternoon?" The man asked, ignoring the teen's questions.

"No. They weren't here when I stopped by after school, but… it was really cold. I didn't stay long. Are they ok?"

"Did you see anyone or anything suspicious while you were here?"

"No and what happened?"

The officer watched Jack for a moment, almost as if he couldn't decide if the boy was a threat or not, as though the teen could be faking his concern. "These children disappeared Friday night. They were last seen heading to this park."

A chocked gasp left Jack and the boy fell to sit at the curve, his had resting in his hands and his eyes wide and unseeing. No. Not these kids, not his kids.

"Sir." The officer called. "Sir, I need you to cooperate. You're the only one who we can find who came to the park that night because of the weather. Are you sure you didn't see anything odd."

Jack cast his memory back, but he could remember nothing. "No. I- I don't. There wasn't anyone here at all!"

The man fixed the teen a steely glare before continuing. "Did you notice anything unusual here the past few days?"

Jack frantically cast his mind out, but came up blank. "No, it's been just… normal. The weirdest thing I can think of is that we got a new almond guy, and that's just a winter thing."

The officer frowned, flipping through pages on his phone. "Almond guy?"

Jack whined in frustration. "You know, almond guy. Sells cinnamon roasted nuts? Warm and smell really good."

The officer shook his head. "I have a record here of every stand licensed to sell in this park. None of them mention cinnamon roasted nuts."

The boy choked on air and despair, a whimper leaving his throat. The cart was huge, much too big for a nut cart, definitely big enough to fit 7 unconscious kids.

"The- the nut cart. If they were unconscious he could have fit them all in. It would have been tight but… if he didn't have the motor to roast the nuts… if he'd planned this…"

The officer nodded, calling in his radio and scrabbling furiously across the phone before thrusting it at Jack. "I will need your full name and phone number in case we have extra questions or need to contact you."

"Got it." The teen replied, dutifully filling out the information before slumping back down against the curve, his breath heavy and ragged. He forced himself to move and dialed Baby Tooth.

"The kids- the kids at the park. They're gone-kidnapped! They- the police are swaring the place. IT had to have been Pitch, there's no way- no way anyone else would risk it with that many kids, in such a public place, not now. Pitch has my kids!"

"I know." The girl said softly.

"You KNOW?"

"We didn't want to tell you until we had a better plan about how to get them out."

"So you know where they are?"

"Yes."

"Well why don't you do something?"

"They're in the center of the stronghold, nowhere close to any of the exits. We wouldn't be able to get through."

"Then call in an anonymous tip to the police!"

"Jack, they don't know about the labyrinth at all, and they would come in guns blaring. The children would be killed before the police made it halfway."

"But- but- but we have to do something!"

"We're figuring it out Jack, trust me, we'll think of something. It's what the guardians do."

"Tell them I'm coming to help."

"Jack-"

"Baby Tooth."

"… We'll be waiting for you."

"I'll be quick." And the teen took off into the night, his path never deviating of curving as he followed through to his goal with a singular purpose. He had something important to do.

The workshop as for once deadly quiet as the teen entered, his face holding all of the cold fury of a harsh winter storm. It was still a beehive of activity, yetis at every table working furiously on the next project, but the joy and comradery was gone. Nobody spoke, all work done with a detected, clinical air. The teen found himself pausing slightly, his irritation diminishing somewhat as he saw the despair that surrounded the workroom. By the time he actually made it to the meeting room where the rest of the Guardians were waiting, his mind had cleared to the point that he could be helpful rather than simply ranting or complaining.

"What do we know?" He asked immediately, jumping into one of the seats at the table. He saw surprise flicker over the faces around the table as his expression remained determined and serious. Aster sent the lad a slight approving nod before speaking.

"Pitch got 'em sometime Friday 'round 3:00. From what we could gather he put some of his nightmare sand in some roasted almonds he was selling. Not sure how much, but it was enough to knock 'em all out. We saw 'em on the cameras Baby bugged, but our resources are getting limited. We got there too late. Just got there in time ta'- "

Suddenly an earsplitting shriek filled the room, followed by the sound of uproarious laughter as a child chased a small rolling toy into the room. The icy teen gaped at the small head of blond hair resting above fairy wings.

"Sophie!" He blurted and the girl looked up before abandoning her game to latch onto his legs, crying out 'Bunny Frost' as she clung. "Hey Soph," He cooed softly, allowing a soft smile to light across his face for the first time since seeing the officers in the park.

North nodded. "They panicked and left girl. We didn't want to return her to her parents in case they came to pick up loose ends. She had to sleep through nightmares, but otherwise will be fine."

Jack nodded, watching as the child left him to run back with her toys. He took a deep breath. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"We do not have enough people with enough skills to get kids out. You could get in, but could not smuggle children out easily. I could smuggle children, but not many at one time. If they see one child gone, they will hurt others."

Tooth nodded, standing to help Sophie where she was trying to grab her toy from where it rolled under a cabinet. "Luckily, we didn't get to where we are today by doing everything ourselves. We have connections."

Bunny knocked the table to get Jacks attention. "I didn't discover this life myself. Was kinda born into it. My family comes from an ancient people called the Pooka, don't got much time to explain 'em, but think of 'em as a warrior tribe. They've been preserving their way of life secretly for decades. Masters at stealth and hunting."

"So, Australian ninjas?"

Aster rolled his eyes. "Sure. Whatever ya want to call 'em, they can help. They'd be willing to, too. Problem is going to be contacting them. I sent a message saying I need their help, but they need to accept it before I can send any other details."

"So we just have to sit around and do nothing?"

"No!" North shouted. "We do not do nothing. We get information. We do what we can so that when the day comes that they arrive, we have enough information that they can get the children out immediately. We do not do nothing Jack."

The boy looked down to where his hands gripped the table, longing for the wooden staff that he had long since stopped carrying. "Ok." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "How do we contact them? And what do we do with Sophie until then?"

Tooth scooped up the girl, dropping her on Aster's lap. "Grumpy Pants here is going to take her in."

"No, seriously." The boy replied, his face falling flat.

Tooth laughed. "He's just a big softie, don't let his glare stop you."

The Easter Bunny sent the hacker a glare, though the look was ruined when Sophie pulled on his hair softly to get his attention and his face softened. Jack snorted softly and Aster's glare almost immediately returned. "Anyway. Since Pitch's got a tight eye n normal communications, they're gonna send their acceptance by ordering some chocolate baskets with a special discount code. I can deliver the eggs myself with the information stored inside and smuggle them back in my truck."

"Ok." The boy breathed. "Ok, that's good." He rose his head to look dead into North's eyes. "I'm telling Peter and Neal. They'll know that they can't do something stupid and risk the kids, but they need to know. It's why they put up with me." He attempted at humor before allowing his shoulders to fall and raising to his feet. "Do you know where in the Labrynth they are?"

"Yes, but you cannot-"

"I can get in and out to check on them without anyone noticing. It's my job. It's why you put up with me."

Jack slid silently through the corridors, more similar to a waif than a real boy, completely overlooked and unseen by the overconfident criminals drunk off the victory of pulling one over the Guardians as well as, well, alcohol. Finally he made it past the most highly guarded sections of the network, and into what looked like a hallway of cells. The teen slid up to the bars of one of the cells to see Cupcake sleeping heavily inside, her voice ragged as she shifted across the bed. Jack physically bit his lip, trying desperately to keep from calling out to child. Even if it wasn't guaranteed to give up his position, The Guardians had told him that it would be nearly impossible to wake a child who was under the effects of the nightmare sand. They were only released when the dosage had run its course.

The teen whimpered deep in the back of his throat. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come here, not when he couldn't do anything to help. Still the boy dutifully moved from cell to cell, memorizing every detail he could, taking photos with his phone, though he didn't dare turn airplane mode off in fear of revealing himself to Pitch's computer genius. Finally he stopped at the last cell, where Jamie lay. At the sight of the trembling boy Jack sighed and rested his head against the bars of the cell. He took several deep breaths before forcing himself to open his eyes to snap a picture, though he stalled when he saw a small gleam of light at the corner of the room.

The pale boy zoomed the camera on the spot for a moment, his breath catching in his throat. Just the tiniest bit of a window could be seen, a leftover from when the labyrinth had simply been a basement, before the hidden tunnel system was created and connected. Breath quickening, the boy raced back through the tunnels, still silent and unseen, until he stood once more in New York's frosty air. Immediately the teen turned, retracing his steps desperately, trying to remember every left and right, counting his steps as he moved, until finally he came to an abandoned, sunken building, the barest bit of a basement window seen peeking above the layers of concrete sidewalk that had been laid over the abandoned glass.

Jack quickly wiped down the frosted glass, barely able to see the small figure inside. Almost without thinking his hands moved to his bag, pulling out the same black insulation as he used for his art project. A pocket knife jumped out of his pocket and into his hand's, Jack's hand's moving furiously over the material. Soon a snowflake sat in his hands, ready to be applied to the window. Jack took a final deep breath, pressed the material to the glass, and with a final glance through the window, tore off into the night, pulling out his phone.

"Hey, Neal, are you at Peter's? Well then get there, fast. Bring Mozzie if you can. We have an issue."