A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have had an enjoyable holiday season, and I hope the year ahead will be good for you.
Just in case anyone's wondering, this is set sometime mid season 4, before the '47 Seconds' arc. On to the story! :)
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Darkness covers me. Fear precedes me. Death follows me. What have I become? Black thoughts enter my mind as I follow the zombie hound I summoned. It is on the scent of my newest prey, an easier target. A man wrapped in some sort of bedroll, almost a hundred feet away. I think of a simple yet effective spell to kill the planeswalker. I cast it and watch as the man's body seizes up and goes limp again. "You can have him." The zombie runs forward, and begins gorging on the dead body. Halfway through though, the dog stops, looks around, and growls at a person staring at us, his hand at his ear, holding something. As soon as he sees us look at him, he runs. With no reason to pursue the man, I continue to watch the dog's side become more and more bloated as it strips the flesh off the carcass.
"You there! NYPD! Put your hands in the air." I looked at the man pointing something at me.
"Kill him." The hound burst forward, charging the man, who fired off the thing, but he could not stop the undead. It landed on him, tearing out his throat, when many others wearing a similar uniform arrived. "Kill as many as you can." With the mental command, the beast began attacking the men, and I used the distraction to slip away into the shadows.
XXXXXX
Had anyone been paying attention, they might have seen something strange happening in the middle of Washington Market Park. A small bright white hole appearing out of nowhere, hanging in the air. If they continued to watch, they would have seen the hole enlarge and a young man step out. More people emerged from the shining portal – a woman with hair that looked like fire, not just red, but truly aflame. Another man, older than the first, with long hair and green eyes. A second woman, with dark hair and long pointed ears. If SuperNovaCon had been going on, this woman would have won an award for best cosplay hands down. And a third woman, a brunette with hazel eyes, was the last before the portal disappeared.
Kate stepped down from the opening, watching what she was doing this time so she wouldn't fall on her ass again. No sooner had she got her bearings in the park, her phone went crazy.
Texts, missed calls and emails all sent up a cacophony of chirps, beeps and chimes.
"What is that awful sound?" asked Nissa, looking at the device in Kate's hand with disgust.
"I've got a bunch of notifications," Kate muttered, distracted by the text from Esposito. Ignoring the other messages for the moment, she dialed the detective.
"Esposito."
"Espo, it's Beckett…" Kate began.
"Beckett? Where the hell have you been? There's some serious shit going down."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" Kate tried again.
"Yeah, well you better come up with a good story before you get here. Gates is pissed."
"What's going on?"
Esposito paused so long Kate thought she'd lost the call.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just get here."
The call ended.
Putting the phone back in her pocket Kate turned to the others.
"I have to go."
"But the nature area," said Chandra. "You need to put your training to use."
Kate glared at the woman. She was back in her city, on her turf, and her confidence was back.
"Something's happened that's a hell of a lot bigger than this park. Fix it yourself, the city – and I – will thank you. But I help protect it all. And I have to go."
She strode away.
"Kate!" Jace called out.
She stopped and turned to him.
"Contact us if any of this has to do with Garruk. You haven't had enough training to defeat him on your own. We can help."
Kate nodded, and turned away.
"As for us," Jace continued to the others, "We can get started with the park, and reach out to see if we can find Garruk ourselves."
They acknowledged the statement, then began gathering mana for repairing – and fighting.
XXXXXX
Kate arrived at the precinct to find it in chaos.
"Beckett!"
She whirled to find Esposito striding toward her.
"Javi, what's going on? And don't tell me I won't believe it, because I've seen some weird stuff today."
"Ryan, let's go!" Esposito called to his partner as he grabbed his car keys. He turned back to Beckett. "You remember those two weird dudes? Believed magic was real?"
"Jace and Gideon, yeah," Kate had to jog to keep up as the two men rushed to their car. "That's where…"
"As much as it pains me to say it, they may be on to something," he interrupted. Before she could agree or even express shock that he believed it, he continued. "Go to Central Park and you'll see why. Precincts from all the boroughs are on their way."
And with that, he joined Ryan in the cruiser and drove off, leaving Kate standing open mouthed after them.
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After a quick check-in with Captain Gates, who told her in no uncertain terms that they would be discussing where the hell she had been for the last day and a half, Kate turned to head back out to the park.
"Under no circumstances are you to call Mr. Castle for this, Detective," Gates called to her.
"Sir?" Kate asked, stepping back into the Captain's office.
Gates narrowed her eyes at Kate.
"You really have been off grid, haven't you? Detective Beckett, I've made no secret that I don't care for Mr. Castle, but this is an extremely dangerous situation, and I'd rather he not die while he's following you."
"Sir, he's…" Kate began.
Gates held her hand up. "I've read the reports," she said. "In certain situations, he's acquitted himself well."
Her face softened, much to Beckett's surprise.
"But not this time, Kate. Let him watch it on the news. You'll understand when you get there. Dismissed."
"Yes, Sir," Kate replied and left the office, heading to the elevator.
XXXXXX
Kate parked on the side of the 65th St. Transverse road in Central Park and ran toward the Sheep Meadow, to see the police forming a wall with riot shields against a single dog.
"What the hell is going on?"
She watched as two men fired, hitting the thing, but not affecting it in any way. As she got closer she could guess what the dog really was. A zombie, like the ones Gideon had told her about. Not like the ones in the movies, but an undying monster that could not be killed until the magic holding it together was destroyed. To do something like that, they would need explosives, not guns. But she knew something better.
Although what training Jace and the others had given her concentrated on blue and white mana, Chandra had insisted that Kate gather red and green mana as well. She sent a mental image of her surroundings to Jace in the hopes that he and the others would abandon the other park for awhile, then raised her arms as she had seen Chandra do. Kate knew she probably should wait for the others to arrive, but from the look of things around her, too many had fallen to the monster already.
The magic flowed through her body and a sheet of flame erupted from her fingers. It was good that she hadn't gathered much of the red mana, because as soon as the flames burst out, she knew she couldn't control it. She was able to direct the jet of fire at the dog, but most of it dissipated without doing much damage. She lowered her hands.
Ryan and Esposito jogged over to her. They were dressed in flak jackets and helmets.
"How the hell did you do that?" asked Ryan, looking at her in disbelief.
"And can you do it again?" asked Esposito.
"I can't explain how, Ryan," she answered. "And even if I could, there's no time. Espo, magic is the best way to stop this, but there's no way the commanders are going to believe that."
Esposito nodded. "True."
"They're going to want to do it their way first. That means we're going to need explosives, and I think they need to be military grade. Can you get on that?"
"National Guard's already been called in," he replied. He looked at his feet, not wanting to look at her when he asked his next question. "What you did looked like something out of a fantasy video game. If that's real, that means Jace and Gideon were telling the truth. If so, we need them. Can you contact them? Using magic?"
Kate nodded.
"I already did – if I did it right. I'm pretty new at this."
She jumped at the sound of her name behind her.
"Kate! What's wrong? Oh. I see."
Kate turned to see Jace, her other three mentors a few feet away, thankfully responding instantly to her call.
"I can stop that thing," said Gideon. "But if I want to destroy it, it'll probably cause more of a commotion than we want right now. We need to draw Garruk out, but all these people will need to leave. For now, I'll just keep it down." Gideon took a step forward, pointed a now glowing hand at the ground below the zombie, and glowing chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around the dog impossibly tight, pinning it instantly.
"What?" Even after seeing the fire coming out of Kate's fingers, Espo looked amazed. "Who – what are you guys?"
"Yeah, like we said. Magic is real." Jace had a weird look on his face, halfway between 'duh, I told you so,' and 'you've got to be kidding me.' "Espo, this is Nissa, and this is Chandra."
The detective nodded to the women.
"So, anyway, what now? Did anyone else see you do that? Captain Gates is not going to believe this. Hell, I don't believe it and I saw it with my own eyes."
The officers who had formed the wall around the dog looked around, relieved and amazed at the sudden end of the creature's onslaught.
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Garruk watched the pandemonium from atop a building set back from the Sheep Meadow. He wasn't pleased to see Jace and the others. "Hmm… there are those planeswalkers again." What am I going to do with the ones that cursed me? I know… more. But not only that, something else. Something… big.
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The National Guard had just arrived, the men responding as a well-coordinated unit. The captain of the Central Park precinct walked up to the unit commander and spoke.
"Colonel, I'm Captain Lewis Bonham. I appreciate you coming out."
"Colonel Lloyd Edwards, Captain," he shook the man's hand and looked around at the chaos. "I hope we can help."
Kate walked up to the two men.
"Sirs. Detective Kate Beckett from the 12th precinct."
"Yes, Detective?" acknowledged Bonham. He noticed the group of planeswalkers speaking with Esposito inside the cordoned off area. "Why are those civilians there? Arrest those people!" he called.
"No, Sir," Kate began. "They're here to help."
Bonham looked closely at Beckett.
"You're the one with the fire. How did you do that?"
"Those 'civilians' can explain better than I can, Sir. The man with the long hair is the one who chained the…thing."
The colonel spoke up then.
"Was there something that you needed from us, Detective?"
"Yes, Sir. Do you believe in magic?"
"What kind of a fool question is that?" asked Captain Bonham, annoyed.
"I'm serious, Sir. Those four use magic. So do I, to an extent – which is what you saw with the fire."
"Are you saying that the five of you can take care of this dog?" broke in Edwards. "After that phalanx of men couldn't?"
"Yes, Sir."
The two men looked at each other, coming to a mutual decision.
"I can't deny I saw what you did with the fire," said Bonham. "But I'd prefer to trust something that's not 'magic'," the airquotes were apparent in his voice.
Edwards nodded in agreement.
"Then we need explosives," Kate replied. "That thing can't be killed without them."
XXXXXX
Castle was worried sick.
Beckett was missing.
He'd received calls from Esposito and Ryan asking him if he knew where she was. Gates had even called him, though she was more irritated than concerned. He had phoned her more than once as well, the call dumping to voicemail each time.
Alexis rushed into the office. "Dad, you've got to come see this! Oh, my God, it's awful!"
He followed her into the living room, where the TV was on. A news reporter was trying to explain a horrifying scenario from Central Park.
"That's right, Bill, it looks like a rabid dog or something. And look at the size of that thing! Nothing the police are throwing at it seems to be having any effect."
Castle looked at his daughter in horror.
"Police from the five boroughs are coming in and the governor has called in the National Guard. Wait… Something's happening."
What was happening was Kate, arms in the air, flame rushing from her fingertips.
"Dad! How did she…?"
"I'm going down there."
"Dad, you can't!"
"Pumpkin, I…"
"No, Dad," Alexis interrupted. "Please, for me. Stay this time. Just watch it with me."
Castle looked from his daughter to the television screen, and nodded. There was nothing he could do to help anyway, and Alexis needed him.
"All right, Pumpkin. I'll stay."
XXXXXX
The NG unit's munitions officer and a member of the NYPD bomb squad coordinated with Gideon and Chandra, with Kate and Esposito acting as liaisons – translating to a certain extent what the non-magic vs. magic people were saying. A consensus was reached regarding what was needed and the groups parted to begin the setup.
Before the charges could be set, however, a scream was heard, and then cut short, replaced by the unnerving cry of a pack of wolves. Out of Runner's Grove no less than twenty wolves came pouring into the clearing.
"Are you kidding me?"
"More?"
Several police officers turned tail and ran, and it looked like several soldiers wanted to join them.
The ground shook.
"Oh crud."
Out from the grove, following the undead wolves was a gigantic beast, one Kate had seen on Zendikar. A Terra Stomper. She turned to Jace.
"Okay, what are we supposed to do against that?"
The Stomper Kate had seen on the other plane had been a mile away, and the distance had made it seem a lot smaller than what was coming toward them now.
"I have a spell, one on my mind for a while, but it should serve us well now. It should give us all the time in the world." Jace closed his eyes, concentrating.
"What is he doing? I don't think that is gonna work!" Espo didn't know what to look at, the pack of undead wolves, the charging beast, or Jace, who was surprisingly calm in the middle of the chaos.
"Any oaf can produce an army. It takes true power to conquer time."
As he finished speaking, everyone noticed it was eerily quiet. They looked around, and saw that everything was motionless. Kate could even see a gun in the middle of firing, the bullet just barely leaving the barrel, suspended in the air.
"All right, the spell works like this; if you touch an object, it gets excluded from the time freeze, so don't touch any of the monsters unless it's a killing blow. Got it?" After several affirmative replies, Jace continued. "We have two minutes before time flows as normal."
The five planeswalkers spread out, each careful to not touch anything or anyone. Using their own magic, they killed the undead one by one until only the beast remained, the more experienced mages keeping an eye on Kate until they were sure she knew what she was doing.
Suddenly the Terra Stomper barreled forward, and everyone realized time had resumed.
"Run!"
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A/N 2: Things are really ramping up! What did you think?