Close Encounters of the Fictional Kind
Chapter 22: Graduation
"This is it," Elise said bending down to pick up the last of the boxes.
"Don't get all emotional on me," Marie said. "I will smack you."
Elise chuckled and made to kick Marie, but missed. "Alright, we need to get going. I'll take this box down to the car and then we need to head over for line-up."
Twenty minutes later, they were standing side by side in the line-up for graduation. Their hats were pinned to their hair, Marie's was set at a jaunty angle, and the robes were straightened and ready to go. The gentle May breeze was moving their tassels and both felt a certain sense of self-accomplishment. It had been four and a half years of hard work and study, but they were finally graduating! Eventually, the line started to move and the processional into the gymnasium took place. Once seated, they took out their programs. "Wanna take bets on how long the ceremony is going to last?" Marie whispered.
"Two and a half hours," Elise whispered back.
"Two hours and fifty three minutes."
"Deal," the two girls shook hands then checked their cell phones for the time.
One hour and eighteen minutes later, the speeches were done and over with and the distribution of diplomas had begun. Being that both girls were in the J's, they were in the middle of the ceremony. Their row had just gotten up to walk across stage when everyone froze. Quite literally… the entire gymnasium was frozen in time. Elise turned to Marie with a confused expression. "What… just happened?" she asked looking around at the people frozen in mid acceptance of diploma, the man just about to sound a blow horn, the girl leaning to the left in mid-wave of a sign reading 'Congratulations Kaley!'.
"I don't know!" Marie said in a high pitch voice, a panicked look on her face.
"Why aren't they frozen?" a man's voice from the back of the room asked.
"I don't know, Sir. They entire room was supposed to freeze," a woman replied to him as Elise and Marie turned sharply to see a tall dark skinned man with an eye patch and a trench coat enter. A brunette woman in a navy blue outfit that looked befitting of someone in the air force followed him.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
"Um… Elise."
"Marie," the younger girl waved.
"That's nice, now who are you?" he asked again the irritation evident in his voice.
"What do you mean?" Elise asked.
"I mean, who are you that you aren't affected by our devices?" he was stalking towards the girls now.
"Well how are we supposed to know why your stuff doesn't work?" Marie asked crossing her arms over her chest. "And just who are you anyway?"
The tall man came to a stop in front of the girls, his assistant close behind him. He seemed to straighten a little more as though this would impress upon them his importance. "Director Fury," he replied shortly.
"No way!" Marie nearly shouted. "That's so awesome! Are the rest of the Avengers here?"
"How…?" he started to ask, but was cut off by another voice behind him.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you, Director. The story is long and complicated and probably shatters the fourth wall."
Everyone who wasn't frozen turned to see a dark haired man leaning against the doorway. He looked average, if a bit muscular, except for the glowing blue circle under his Black Sabbath t-shirt. "What the hell are you talking about, Stark?" Director Fury asked, his fists clenching.
"I'm talking about the fact that the world bends around these girls in unexpected ways and we shouldn't underestimate them especially considering the amount of Fae dust covering them… especially that one," he finished pointing at Elise.
"Me?"
"I hate repeating myself," he replied sauntering into the gymnasium towards them.
Director Fury took a deep breath before asking, "What is Fae dust?"
"The left-over magic particles that Fae and other mythical creatures leave behind after doing magic."
"There's no such thing as magic," Agent Hill said.
Tony Stark came to a halt in front of them, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. His sunglasses hid his eyes, but his eyebrows betrayed his expression of amusement along with the slight quirk of his lips. "Normally I'd agree," he started to say, but was interrupted when another man, this one tall muscular and blond, burst into the gymnasium.
"Stark!" he shouted while marching toward the group.
"Ah, Captain Rogers, I see you finally caught up," Tony smirked.
"Next time, a little warning before you go would be nice," Steve Rogers replied, reigning in his temper at the sight of so many other people. "What's going on here?" he said now ignoring Stark and speaking to Director Fury.
"We received intell that there was an alien presence on this campus. We've frozen everyone here while we search," Director Fury replied looking harassed and exasperated.
"What about them?" Rogers asked nodding in the direction of Elise and Marie who had been watching the proceedings with amazement.
"We don't know why they didn't freeze, but I'll be taking steps to make sure that they don't remember any of this."
"WHOA!"
"HEY!"
The two girls shouted at once in protest, but were silenced by the look on Director Fury's face when he turned to glare at them.
"Sir," yet another man interrupted the group.
Director Fury turned towards the new addition and Marie did a poor job of holding back a squeal of delight. Agent Phil Coulson stood before them with his hands clasped behind him. "Yes, Agent Coulson?"
"Sir, the alien presence has been identified, and you're not going to like it." Director Fury gave Agent Coulson a look that clearly said, 'speak'. Coulson took a deep breath before continuing. "It's the Doctor, sir. His TARDIS is parked under the clock in the middle of campus. We have yet to locate him though."
Director Fury groaned and ran a hand over his bald head. "Tell everyone to pack up, we're leaving."
"Excuse me, sir?"
"You heard me, agent! The Doctor is not our enemy."
"Yes, sir." Agent Coulson nodded and left.
Director Fury turned back towards Elise and Marie. "As for you two…"
"Hang on just a minute there," Marie interrupted. "What's to say that whatever you use to make us forget will actually work? I mean your freeze thingy didn't."
Director Fury glared at her. "Stark!" he barked. "You said something about Fae dust interfering with the freeze? Will it affect the memory wipe?"
Stark shifted thoughtfully. "I don't believe so," he finally replied.
"You can't! Come on, we promise not to tell anyone!" Elise pleaded, Marie nodding along with every word.
Director Fury ignored them though as he pulled out a cylindrical black item about seven inches in length and with a flashlight looking thing on the end. He faced it towards the girls, but at that instant, a poof of glitter sprang into existence as Jareth the Goblin King appeared in front of Marie and Elise. "These mortals are under the protection of the Goblin Kingdom," he growled. "You will not wipe their memories."
"Who are you?" Director Fury asked.
"The Goblin King."
"Knew it," Stark chuckled.
The tension in the room was growing and was almost palpable. Director Fury looked about ready to just erase everyone's memories. Tony Stark looked like he wanted to study Jareth a bit closer. Steve Rogers looked confused, but ready to jump into action. It was then that yet another person entered the scene. He was dressed in a tweed suit and a bowtie. Marie and Elise knew him instantly and prayed that whatever he said wouldn't escalate things. "Hello there!" he cheerfully exclaimed. Everyone who wasn't already facing the door whipped around. "Now, judging by that memory wiping mechanism in your hand, I'd say that you're also the one's responsible for the temporary time freeze here?"
Director Fury looked ready to burst. It was obvious that things were not going according to plan. "I really must insist that you stop freezing time, Director," the Doctor addressed him.
"Doctor," Director Fury replied, his voice calm. "May I enquire as to the reason for your presence here? Because we all know what follows in your wake is almost never good."
The Doctor looked a bit disgruntled at the Director's comment but he regained his composure before saying, "You're time freeze, obviously. You?"
"We detected an alien presence… you."
"Hang on," Steve Rogers said, confusion evident in every contour of his face. He stepped forward to be in the middle of the group. "You," he pointed at the Doctor, "came here because you detected a freeze in the flow in time."
"Correct," the Doctor nodded, smiling as though he was an indulgent professor.
"And you," he pointed at Director Fury, "are here because you detected him… How is that even possible?"
"Time isn't a straight line," the Doctor replied. "It's a bit like a big ball of wibbly wobbly…. stuff." Captain Rogers' confusion didn't lessen. "And you're out of place," he continued a rare confused look on his face.
"So…" Marie drawled. "Can we get back to our graduation? I'm kind of excited about getting out of school."
Director Fury looked about at everyone, and then up into the rafters. He turned to look at Agent Hill and nodded. She turned and started to walk away, putting two of her fingers to her earpiece and talking to the Agents outside.
"Captain, Stark, out. Romanov and Hawkeye, your services will not be needed."
At this, a black rope fell from the rafters and two lithe figures slid down before calmly exiting the gymnasium without a word. Marie was mutely pointing and nearly jumping up and down. Elise nodded smiling and placed a hand on Marie's arm. "I know," she whispered.
Slowly, the Avengers team left until all that was left was the Doctor and Jareth. "Well, that went well," the Doctor said bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hands folded behind his back.
"Yeah, just great," Elise replied. "Now if you two don't mind, we'd like to get back to our graduation ceremony."
"Of course! Of course!" the Doctor said adjusting his jacket and making ready to leave.
"And you, your Majesty?" Elise asked turning toward Jareth.
"A thank you would be nice," he replied frowning.
Elise let out a sigh. "Thank you for saving our memories from being wiped," she deadpanned.
Jareth didn't look like he believed her, but accepted the thanks anyway. Without another word, he disappeared in a glittery haze of smoke. "Ta ta, then! See you soon!"
"What? Are you visiting soon?" Marie asked.
The Doctor merely smirked and replied, "Spoilers…" before walking out the door.
Marie sighed. "He's been hanging out with River too much."
At that moment, time unfroze and the graduation ceremony continued. Nobody noticed that Elise and Marie were now covered in a fine layer of glitter that hadn't been there before. That's what was so nice about humans… their ability to be completely oblivious. Unfortunately, Elise and Marie didn't have this ability and as a result, they had no doubt that this was the last they would see of the Avengers, the Doctor, or the Goblin King.
CEFK-CEFK-CEFK-CEFK-CEFK-CEFK
A/N: Hey everyone! QueenoftheSlayers and I had a TON of fun writing this one and we hope you enjoyed it. *Looks nervously at Jackilyn Trades who threatened us with a frying pan*
Ehem… anyway… Elise and Marie now have Twitter accounts! Search for Elise_from_CEFK and/or Marie_from_CEFK and you'll probably find them!
The Doctor (c) BBC
The Avengers (c) Marvel
Jareth (c) Henson & Co.