14. Family Ties

Sandy felt it. The pain that came from someone close to him dying. It shocked him so much that he almost lost his grip on the Radioactive Man. He barely held on, and he knew that he had wasted too much time. And as the huge form of the Asgardian soldier barrelled through the barren woods, shouting that it was time to re-enter the real battle, Sandy agreed. He lashed out, grief making him perhaps a bit more callous than usually. He wasn't sure who had died, but he knew it had to be someone from their little mismatched family.

The Asgardian warrior tried to fight free of the dreamsand Sandy had wrapped him in, but Sandy was having none of it. He created a plane with a cage hanging from it, and sped off with two prisoners.

I'm coming to help you, he thought and wished – believed – that the others would hear him, Just hold on.


Jack couldn't comprehend it. It just shouldn't happen, but it had. It was like Sandy's death all over again. Their family was broken.

She had to be alright. Or at least able to come back, right? They were the Guardians. They could get better from anything with enough belief.

Right?

Jack felt a nudge when Bunny withdrew his paw, but he didn't move until North stood up.

"We have to go on," North said in a broken voice, "We all know that. We can't leave Avengers alone out there."

"Yeah," said Bunny, very quietly and sounding nothing like Bunny, "That bloody bastard'll pay for what he did."

"We need strategy. Someone needs to take care of Baron."

Jack nodded against North's shoulder and then let go, sliding down from North's arms and landing on his feet. He formed more ice around Baby Tooth's body, encasing her in a clear cube that he then tucked in his pocket. She rested there against his tooth box. Jack gripped his staff tighter.

"I'll take care of the Baron. I can block his attacks with ice. You can focus on taking down the others."

"Are ya sure, Jackie?" Bunny asked, "Can ya-"

"I know what we have to do!" Jack said forcefully. Power tingled in his hands. They glowed blue, "I can focus on blocking! But that leaves me out of the offensive. You guys are gonna be okay, right?"

"Of course," said North. His expression softened again, "We have to keep going. For Tooth."

"We will," Bunny said. He tapped his foot, and a tunnel opened up, "Now that we've all calmed down, let's go and finish this."

They weren't really calm, and they all knew it. But they would definitely finish this.

The sounds of battle were still around them. Jack realised that Bunny hadn't taken them very far after all. He looked around and saw the city and what was left of the bunker. He saw the storm that was brewing above the battlefield. It was already fierce, but it was about to get worse. He'd make sure of it.

He jumped on the wind and let it take him back to the fight.

The Baron was still behind the Enchantress's force field, launching his awful disintegrating projectiles at everything he could. Most of the remaining fighters had already learned to stay out of the gun's way, at least, but it would be just a matter of time before they ran out of cover. Well, that was easy to fix. Or at least Jack hoped it was. First he needed to take care of that force field. He charged up some of the power he had already gathered in his rage and unleashed it in a barrage of blue light. It was almost too easy, really. He could still feel power tingling in his arms even after breaking through the field. The Enchantress was thrown back with a surprised grunt, and before she could put her shield back up, Emily Jane was attacking her again.

"Great timing, Emmy," Jack said under his breath, and focused on the Baron. Giant icicles shot from the ground around the hooded man, creating a prison that he disintegrated in a few shots. But before he could get back into the fight, Jack recreated the prison. The Baron broke through again, but Jack was there to raise more ice each time the man shot at something around him.

"Give up, you bastard!" Jack yelled out, "I can keep doing this all day!"

He considered making things even harder for the man by making the walls spiky, but before he could really think about it further, the Enchantress's voice rang out:

"Thor! Take care of Frosti!"

Jack created five layers of ice around the Baron and then turned his head. Old Man Thor was indeed coming at him, eyes still blank.

"Oh, come on! Snap out of it already!"

It didn't seem to work. Jack sighed. This really wasn't the time.


Nicholas St. North felt like a failure. He was the closest thing the Guardians had to a leader who also worked on the field. He could only imagine the distress the Man in the Moon must have been feeling, looking at them from his perch in the sky, seeing yet another one of his Guardians fall. It hadn't happened many times, of course, but it was always a tragedy.

No. They couldn't give up yet.

Tooth was dead now, yes, but the Guardians had never been very good at staying dead.

He sliced through a Fearling and advanced on the battlefield towards the bigger threats. At the moment, Pitch was the only one who wasn't actively fighting someone. Good. As much as North wanted to focus on destroying the man who had killed Tooth, he knew that he still had a job to do. A purpose.

He was a Guardian. He charged at Pitch and saw Bunny following him in his peripheral vision. Pitch sighed and melted into the shadows before lashing out from the darkness.

They fought through the swarms of shadows and dodged Pitch's swinging scythe. They passed by Romanoff and Barton, who were apparently focused on killing enemy soldiers. North kind of hoped they weren't actually killing, but he had a feeling their code of honour didn't forbid it. Around them, soldiers fell to sniper bullets. There was a little bit more rage in the shots now. Not enough to make them unprofessional or anything but deadly and precise, but enough that North could almost feel the anger behind them. He lashed out at Pitch, and was rewarded with a hiss of pain when his sabre slashed a dark wound on Pitch's shoulder. It was there for a moment before it faded.

"Shouldn't you cut your losses already?" Pitch hissed, "Unlike these other guys, you don't have an expendable army to take the hits for you. You already lost your fairy friend. For all of our immortality and power, all it took was just one shot from a strange gun."

A boomerang hit him in the face for that.

"Ya don't have the right to talk about Tooth!" Bunny growled.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" Pitch laughed mockingly, "If you insist on staying, then perhaps I should make sure you regret every second of it."

With that, he was gone again. North and Bunny were left scanning the battlefield. Around them, the battle was still raging. So loudly that the noise of a distant helicopter was almost drowned out. North and Bunny paid the sound no heed, and instead split up to search for their enemy.

A few moments later, Steve Rogers and the Hulk dropped onto the battlefield. Some soldiers shouted several panicked swearwords at the sight of the giant green man.


Steve breathed in the heavy, hectic air of the battlefield. He smelled destruction and blood. There was a mix of chaos and organised, professional moves all around him. There were flashes and shouts and the sounds of gunfire. He was alert at once, his soldier mind scanning the battlefield for friends and foes. He quickly identified them, and from the radioed messages the helicopter had got throughout its journey, he also knew where the worst of the threats were. He raised his shield and threw it through five shadow creatures and let it hit an enemy soldier who was about to fire at the back of a S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent. Behind him, the Hulk immediately tore into his foes like a huge, enraged green jackhammer.

Steve caught his shield and let the Hulk smash his way through the enemies. He himself focused on clearing a path to the other big threats. He breathed in and let his senses take in the battlefield again.

He was home.


The Radioactive Man clawed at his sand prison, but nothing seemed to get through it. At least not for long. It was just not possible. His powers should have been more than a match for some measly sand, but this was… something he had never seen before. Next to him, the muscular Asgardian tried to punch his way through. Their prison occasionally lurched in the air from their efforts, but it stayed on its course.

Eventually Chen Lu gave up. He let his green, glowing hands rest against the ever-shifting walls of the sand bubble around them. His mind worked furiously. In a way, this was a good thing, of course. Getting close to the battlefield and their allies was just beneficial. There they had a better chance of overpowering the golden man and the possible allies he had there.

"It's no use," he said when the Executioner didn't stop trying to break through, "I'm sure we'll get free more easily if we wait for the man to land."

The Executioner punched a hole in the wall. It closed off immediately and small tendrils of sand tried to restrain his fist. He angrily shook it free.

"We have to keep trying! I am not going to be flown to Amora in a cage!"

"I'd say you have no choice. This is the best way for us to actually find our way there."

Chen Lu leaned back against the wall.

"We are both strangers in an unfamiliar terrain."

The Executioner scowled, but slowly lowered his fist. An uncomfortable silence fell between them, but Chen Lu didn't care. He closed his eyes and started working out better theories and scenarios about how they could turn this into their advantage. He let radiation gather around his hands. When the golden man's attention would falter, he would strike.

Finally they touched down, and the sand bubble dissipated. Chen Lu prepared to fire, but the golden man was faster. A ball of sand struck Chen Lu in the face, making him dizzy and sleepy. Before he had time to shake it off, the golden man had whistled to someone Chen Lu couldn't see. A moment later a green man who towered even above Chen Lu charged right at him. And this time it was clear that he wasn't going to go down with some radiation.

Chen Lu cursed in his mind. At some point all their plans had gone wrong. He really shouldn't have taken this job.


Jack somersaulted in the air to get out of the way when Thor attacked him again. The massive hammer barely passed his head, and Jack stopped only to send the Asgardian an annoyed, upside-down glare before he aimed a solid hit of the staff at Old Man's head. It didn't quite hit, but the kick Jack followed it with did. Thor's head snapped to the side, but otherwise he didn't seem to be bothered by it. He charged again.

Jack dodged and dared to cast a look at the Baron's ice prison. He had to keep an eye on it if he wanted to keep the Baron out of the fight. He created yet another wall. It was uneven and not very elegant, but it was there to slow the man down, so it did the job. Jack turned back towards Thor just in time to see a thunder-powered strike of the hammer coming his way.

"Oh, cr-"

He moved to the side, but not quickly enough. He managed to get an arm between the hammer and his face, but he was sent flying through the air, his vision blacking out for a few breathless and agonising seconds before he hit the ground. Pain like glass shards exploded in his lungs and arm. For a moment he couldn't move, and when it passed and he was blinking rapidly at the descending form of Thor Odinson. He raised his good hand, which was still reflexively clutched around his staff, and Thor was flung to the nearest building by an aggressive blast of frost-light. Jack struggled up into a sitting position and saw that the Baron's prison was again almost gone. He stood up gingerly and hissed through gritted teeth when he caught a glimpse of his arm. It wasn't supposed to bend that way. Or from that spot.

"Ouch," he said, "Oh, screw niceness. Heads up, you bastard!"

The Baron didn't even have time to smile under his hood in the moment between his prison shattering and a chunk of ice hitting him in the head so hard that he went down. He was hopefully unconscious. Jack had to check that once he got Thor off his back.

Speaking of Thor…

Jack turned to look for him again while doing his best to set his broken arm. Having to break it again later because of badly aligned bones would definitely suck. He narrowed his eyes when he felt the bones popping back to place and then freeze back together. There was no sign of Thor anymore. But he was still after Jack, right? He wouldn't just… oh, wait, there he was. Coming at him like a meteorite.

"This is really getting old."

Jack sidestepped the charge, and flipped out of the way to get more distance. He swung his staff, and a bunch of icicles nailed Thor in the wall. For about half a second. Thor stomped towards him again, and Jack bent his knees, ready to keep going.

When he saw a flash of gold over Thor's shoulder, he grinned.

"Oh, it's about time," he said under his breath.

Thor raised his hammer, but a ball of dreamsand hit him in the head. Then a bunch of sandy tendrils wrapped around his arms and brought him down. Sandy hovered in the air, looking a bit smugly at the downed thunder god.

"Man, I'm so glad to see you, Sandy!" Jack said as cheerfully as the situation allowed him, "What do you say we help Old Man Thunder sleep off the spell that Asgardian lady put on him?"

Forming another ball of sand in his hand, The Sandman nodded eagerly.


Amora really didn't like where this was going. Thor should have taken care of Frosti easily enough, but now he had been joined by the Guardian of Dreams. She had heard of the Sandman, and of his power. She could only hope the man's control over dreams and other lies of the mind didn't make it possible for him to overwrite her spell on Thor. The God of Thunder was already fighting it, and it took quite a lot out of Amora just to keep it up. But she wouldn't give up now. Not when she finally had the man she wanted under her thrall.

But she also had other things to worry about. Like Mother Nature, who clearly wasn't going to give up until she had banished Amora back to Asgard. It was frankly getting very irksome. Especially since it seemed that for all her inexperience in combat, Mother Nature quite frequently had the advantage. She was old and powerful, and she had the whole planet on her side. However… Amora glanced at the Baron, who was trying to get up after taking a chunk of ice to the head. The man was laughably out of his element, but he certainly had proven that the weapon he had created was a fearsome one. All it took was one shot…

Amora spun around and fought her way through the wild winds Mother Nature kept throwing at her. She sensed rather than saw Mother Nature following her as she teleported around the field in a seemingly random pattern. At one point she took note of Skurge, who was trying to make his way towards her through the throng of soldiers. Skurge met her eyes, and seemed to expect her to welcome him with open arms. Amora turned away. She had more important things to do now. Besides, now that she had Thor, Skurge was mostly just a nuisance.

She appeared next to the Baron, pulling him to his feet. Before Frosti had time to retaliate by imprisoning the man again, Thor attacked the boy with enough ferocity to make him forget about his duties as a prison guard for just enough time. Amora smiled at the Baron's frustrated expression and focused. In the blink of an eye, she had transported the Baron farther away from Frosti and the Sandman.

"Stay focused," she said, "And ready your weapon. I am about to give you a good target."

And then she was gone from the Baron's side, appearing in front of Mother Nature and engaging in fierce combat.

Just one shot. Just one moment of weakness was all she would need.

She glanced at the Baron, and then groaned internally out of frustration when she saw the Captain in ridiculous stars and stripes attacking the man. That would complicate things.


Steve finally reached the Baron. The briefings that had started flooding his ear as soon as the attack had started had prepared him to be extra wary of the Baron's gun. He rushed at the man, striking with his shield hand. The Baron barely had time to dodge, and even as he tried to get out of the way, Steve followed up with a punch that sent the man to the ground. Steve spun and downed a couple of soldiers with a thrown shield, and quickly glanced around the battlefield to make sure things were still under control. The enemy soldiers were quickly being subdued. It was a bit too early to tell for sure, but Steve was fairly confident that they could win this. The enemy was far less united than they were, and their attacks were getting more and more chaotic, frustrated and desperate. In the background, the Hulk was mowing down enemies faster than they could regroup, mostly while he chased down the other green man, and the Sandman alone could probably take on an entire army without breaking a sweat as well. Now the little man had piled a group of sleeping soldiers into a cage of sand, and was focused on obliterating the remaining shadow creatures with the help of his fellow Guardians.

Steve turned back to the Baron, who was cursing in German and struggling to get up.

"It's you, isn't it?" Steve said, "Heinrich Zemo. How are you still alive?"

The Baron huffed angrily. He raised his gun, but Steve was quicker, and knocked the man's hand aside.

"You weren't the only one who was a result of old experiments," The Baron spat, his hood creasing in a way that suggested he was frowning underneath it, "Though my experiments were very different in nature. And you weren't the only one who was discarded after a little failure."

Steve frowned back at the man. Was he talking about his time in ice? Probably. And what did he mean he had been discarded too?

"So what, you were one of HYDRA's projects?" he asked. The Baron growled as if mentioning HYDRA was poison to him.

"No! I was a scientist for them! A genius! But they left me to die and erased all my work after they had no more use to me! And now it's my time to finally get my revenge, after all this time."

Okay, that maybe explained things. But it still didn't make a whole lot of sense. Steve's frown deepened.

"By attacking S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

The Baron laughed sombrely, but didn't have time to say anything more before Steve saw a flash of magic coming his way. He jumped aside and saw the Enchantress standing near him, her green dress and blonde curls floating around her, making her look like a very dangerous queen. But behind her stood another queen, this one perhaps even more dangerous. Mother Nature charged at the Enchantress, but the woman turned suddenly, unleashing a vicious blast of energy that hit Mother Nature right in the chest and sent her to the ground. She grunted softly upon impact, and the Enchantress hit her in the back with yet another blast. Steve threw his shield, but the Enchantress threw up her hand and a shimmering force field surrounded her. The shield was knocked aside. Steve reached out with his hand to catch his weapon, and just as his fingers closed around the familiar edge, something hit him in the side with enough force to knock him down.

"There!" The Enchantress shouted, "Fire!"

Steve managed to get his head up despite his burning ribs and saw The Baron raising his hand. The Baron aimed his gun right at Mother Nature, who was struggling to get up from the ground. Steve opened his mouth to shout out a warning, but he didn't have time to actually make a sound. The Baron steadied his aim, and his finger settled on the trigger.

But before The Baron could actually shoot, he cried out, sounding oddly strangled. Steve blinked, and it took him a while to realize that the man was indeed being strangled. A strand of oily darkness had wrapped around the Baron's neck, and the man clawed at it with growing distress.

"What the-?"

The Baron's fortunately unfinished, choked up question was answered by a pair of furious yellow eyes in the shadows. The Baron was jerked backwards, away from Mother Nature and thrown against a wall so hard that he probably broke something. Many somethings. The crash resounded in the battlefield.

The Boogeyman stepped into the scene, deliberately slowly. The shadowy rope in his hand morphed into a large scythe.

"No," he said, his voice smooth and dangerous like silk doused in nitro-glycerine, "You will not touch her!"

The man's grey face was almost emotionless, which was odd. When Steve had last seen Pitch Black, the man had been all Cheshire Cat grins and evil gloating. Now all the emotion had gone into his eyes, and Steve had to admit that the look in them was something he would never want directed at himself. If looks could kill, everyone around the Boogeyman would be dead by now.

Mother Nature got up with slightly unsteady legs and sent a chilling glare at the Boogeyman. But then, after a moment of contemplation, she sighed and stood next to him on the battlefield. Wind combined with shadows, lashing out and sending the Enchantress, the Baron, and almost Steve as well, into opposite directions.

Steve had no idea what had just happened, but he figured he should just play along until the situation had settled. He faced the remaining soldiers, whose morale seemed to have been drastically lowered now when the shadows themselves had turned against them.


Thor Odinson was in a haze. He was floating, and the eyes of his dear Amora looked at him in his mind. Loving, supporting, and only asking for his support and love in return. And Thor had no reason not to give those to her. She was perfect, after all. He would gladly take care of those who dared to try to lay a hand on her or stand in her way. Because…

Wait, what was he doing?

The thought passed through his mind quickly, usually followed by a flash of a woman's face. It wasn't Amora, so why should Thor care about that? He shook his head and focused again on Jokul Frosti and the Sandman, who tried to subdue him. He frowned. Jokul had always been a troublemaker, he knew. Everyone in Asgard knew it. But now he was going too far, and he would make sure Frosti would pay for it.

No, that wasn't right… was it?

A ball of sand hit Thor in the face, and Thor swung his hammer angrily to shake off the dizziness that threatened to invade his mind. They were fighting with dirty tricks, and he wouldn't stand for it. He was a prince of Asgard, after all.

"You should really snap out of it!" Frosti yelled, right before a chunk of ice was shot at Thor, "She's got you under a spell. Don't you get it already?"

The Sandman motioned towards young Frosti and formed a couple of images above his head. Perfect. Now he had an opening. Thor struck, and Frosti crashed against a nearby wall. Another strike was directed at the Sandman, who flew out of sight, holding his head. Thor turned towards Frosti, who was floating in the air, holding his side with his free hand.

"Okay, I got this…" he muttered, "Hey, Old Man! Sandy wanted to ask you something before you oh so nicely interrupted."

"I don't care," Thor said, "I do not have to listen to people who wish to harm Amora."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know that already, but really, what about your real girlfriend?"

Thor narrowed his eyes. The woman faded in and out of his mind. Who was she?

"You know, Jane? That's her name, right?"

"No…" Thor said slowly, "Amora is… don't try to distract me with such cheap tricks!"

"Jane. Jane Foster," Frosti said, "You know, that's a nice name. Sure that doesn't ring any bells?"

Thor roared and raised his hammer. Before he could do anything with it, however, golden sand exploded in front of his face and rained down on him. It was followed by a snowball that made him smile.

His vision blackened for a moment, and in the middle of the blackness, the face came to view again. Brown hair, brilliant smile, and such warm eyes.

And this time, Thor remembered.

"Jane?" he whispered.

His vision returned, and he saw Jokul and the Sandman floating in front of him, watching him warily. Thor blinked. There was a battlefield around him. But when had that happened? Thor shook his head, trying to remember.

"So… what exactly happened here?" he asked uncertainly.

"You feeling okay?" Jokul asked, "No need to rant about any Amoras?"

Thor blinked.

"What? Who? Wait… Wasn't I supposed to… bring her to Asgard? What has happened here?"

The Sandman scrutinised him with a frown, but then turned to Jokul and gave a thumbs-up. Jokul hit the air with his fist.

"Aaw, yeah, we got him!"

"You got me? Why?" Thor asked.

Jokul sobered quickly when something exploded nearby.

"Look, there's no time to explain. Let's just take care of the bad guys now. You think you can tell a friend from a foe again?"

Thor still wasn't sure what had happened, but he knew a battle when he saw it. He hefted his hammer.

"I can manage," he said. Then he let out a battle cry and descended upon the enemy soldiers.


Chen Lu knew that they were losing. He may not have been a military strategist, but he could easily tell what was going on. And when he saw Thor Odinson snapping out of the spell the Enchantress had put him under, he knew that things were pretty much hopeless. And then there was the matter of the Hulk, who kept attacking him with such strength and ferocity that even he had a hard time keeping up. His powers didn't seem to work on the green rage monster, which was really no surprise. As far as Chen Lu knew, the Hulk was also a product of some type of radiation, after all.

Their forces were becoming too disorganised. They scattered all around the battlefield, and most of them lay among the debris, dead or otherwise out of the fight. Chen Lu barely dodged the Hulk's next punch and backed away. This had been a bad idea. The plan should have been better, but the Baron had been so preoccupied by his childish, uncoordinated revenge that he had underestimated the enemy. And now they were losing. Badly.

Chen Lu wasn't about to go down with these clowns.

He charged up his radiation and prepared for an explosion. He'd wipe out everyone, and be on his way towards a better employment.


Tony Stark almost felt the radiation levels rising before his suit's computers started screeching about it. Numbers rushed across his vision, and he spun around in the air. He saw the Hulk fighting the other green man, who had started glowing in a very threatening way. It didn't take even a second for Tony to assess the situation as Not Good.

"Shit," he whispered, "That's a nuke, isn't it?"

"It is soon about to be," said JARVIS, "It seems he's gathering up enough energy to destroy the whole city."

Tony cursed again and directed more power to building up speed. He had really hoped he wouldn't have needed to start flying things out into hazardous places again. This time there weren't even any wormholes he could toss the man in.

He zeroed in on the glowing man, who evaded the Hulk's punches and kept glowing brighter. Now Tony started to fear what would happen if the man didn't dodge the Hulk's next punch. Would that be the thing that set off the bomb?

As he flew, he was joined by something golden and something freezing. He didn't need to look to know who they were.

"Hey, Sandman. Frost. A little backup?" he asked and hoped even Jack would realise now wasn't time for jokes or fun.

The answer came right away:

"What's the plan?"

No jokes. Good.

"We have to contain that guy. Any ideas?"

There were words written in sand in the air, but Tony didn't have time to read them. Jack was there to translate, however:

"Sandy can help. He used to be a star wrangler."

"Really? Awesome."

"I'll do my best to help too. We all will."

Tony narrowed his eyes when he saw the Hulk preparing another punch. This time The Radioactive Man had spread his arms, and he was glowing so brightly it almost blinded Tony.

"Take care of it," Tony said, "I'll make sure the Hulk doesn't blow that guy up."

He pressed his mouth into a thin line and braced for impact.

He hit the Hulk's side at top speed, and hoped he'd had had time to properly finish his Hulkbuster armour. Now it would have been so welcome. At least the impact drew the Hulk's attention to him and knocked him about a foot away from the glowing man.

"Sorry, buddy" Tony said through gritted teeth, "No time to explain."

The Hulk roared, and Tony was swept aside easily like an empty beer can. Before he could hit any walls, he was caught by a pair of fuzzy arms. The red-clad form of Santa Claus sprinted past him and lashed out at the Hulk with his sabre before the green man could get at Tony.

"Good work," said the Easter Bunny, helping Tony back up, "Sandy'll take care of it."

Tony watched as the Sandman wrapped the glowing man into tendrils of gold and started dragging him into the sky.

"Are you sure that's gonna be enough?" he asked.

The Easter Bunny crossed his arms. Behind him, Tony saw to his astonishment the Boogeyman fighting side by side with Rogers and Mother Nature. Together they brought down the Enchantress, who crashed to the ground in the tangle of winds and darkness.

"We have to hope so," the Easter Bunny said, "But hey, you see that stranger things have already happened."

Tony had to agree with that.


The star was too angry. Trying to destroy everything. About to explode. Sandy encased the star into a prison of dreamsand and flew up, up, up, until he was far above the buildings, and even above some of the layers in the atmosphere. The air became thinner, but the star didn't seem to even notice. It fought against the sand, some of its burning light tearing holes into the prison for a moment before Sandy could patch them up again. Sandy surrounded the star with more and more sand. He wasn't sure how much would be enough. This wasn't like an ordinary star.

Sandy felt the belief of others strengthen him. The star glowed even brighter, and it started to burn even Sandy. This was bad. There were too many people around. He needed to contain it all.

The burning intensified, but then, all of a sudden, it cooled down again. Sandy dared to look up for a second to see Jack's smiling face near him. The boy was glowing blue, his staff was raised, and he extended his free hand towards Sandy.

"Need some help?" he asked.

Sandy smiled and grabbed Jack's hand just when the star exploded.

The explosion shook the battlefield. The remaining people took cover the best they could. There was a lot of things to hide behind when most of the battlefield was now just a collection of craters and levelled buildings, but nothing to really shield anyone from a nuke. They could only hope that the light show that had now illuminated the sky with gold, white and blue would stay in the sky.

It started to rain golden sparks.

Even the Hulk was distracted, or then he was finally calmed down by the dreamsand that was raining down from the sky. It sure worked on North, at least. He shielded his eyes and scrambled through the battlefield to find Bunny. He saw Bunny standing near Mr. Stark, staring at the sky despite their suddenly sleepy eyes.

"Bunny?" he shouted, "Is that light what I think it is?"

Bunny glanced at him, his ears pressed against his head. His green eyes were dark with worry.

"If ya were thinking that's Sandy an' Jackie, then yeah."

The ball of light expanded and threatened to break apart, but there was a sphere of sand and frost-light around it, and it held together. Just barely. North put his hand on Bunny's shoulder.

"They will be alright," he said and sounded more convinced than he really was.

He couldn't doubt them. They needed all the belief they could get right now.

Bunny just nodded, keeping his eyes on the light. They would make it. Their family was too strong to break like this anymore.

The light flashed, for a moment too bright to look at. Then all became too silent for a few, eerie seconds.


Sandy was burning. A blast of overly focused nuclear radiation wasn't a pleasant experience even to an immortal spirit being. For a while, he actually blacked out. Then he was falling, and Jack and the Radioactive Man were falling too. With sleep threatening to overcome him, Sandy spread his arms and formed yet another sand prison around the now hopefully unconscious Radioactive Man. It would cushion the man's fall and keep his radiation in check. It seemed, however, that the man had used all of his power reserves for that one explosion, at least for a while.

Good.

Sandy's eyes threatened to slide shut, but he fought to stay awake and slow his own fall. He hit the ground with a solid thud and lay there, burning until something icy soothed the pain again. Sandy blinked and saw the rather charred face of Jack Frost above him. Sandy smiled and sat up. Jack's exhausted smile mirrored his. Somewhere in the background, North and Bunnymund were calling out and running towards them.

"We sure showed him, huh?" Jack said in a quiet, hoarse voice.

We sure did, Sandy mimed.

Jack grinned even wider and let out a small laugh before he passed out.


And with that, it was over. The remaining enemy soldiers were rounded up and imprisoned. The Asgardians were given to Thor and a small army of agents, who would guard them until Thor could properly take them to Asgard. The Radioactive Man was kept in his sand cell until S.H.I.E.L.D. could prepare a proper, special cell for him. The Hulk blinked the calm and sleep from his eyes and saw Natasha Romanoff standing in front of him. She reached out with her hand, and when it brushed the Hulk's palm, the last of his rage seemed to evaporate.

There was a small moment of triumph, but no one could really enjoy it. Everyone was too battered and too exhausted. The Guardians had gathered into a small tangle of hugs, and were trying to patch each other up. Their little family looked far too small, even though it was only short one member. The remaining agents tried to make sense of who was still alive and who wasn't. The Avengers tried their best to help and to keep up the morale despite their own exhaustion.

And there, in the middle of the exhaustion and quiet mourning of those who had been lost, the Avengers witnessed one more bizarre display of family ties.

Not that they knew what exactly they were looking at.

It was Tony Stark who noticed it first. The sight of Mother Nature and the Boogeyman standing at the side, invisible to most of the remaining people, and with almost visible awkward tension between them. Tony didn't know what to make of it.

Mother Nature wiped some invisible dust from her robes and looked at the spot where the Enchantress and the Baron had stood before their fight. Her eyes were stormy. Literally. Tony had to shut up his mind that had suddenly started making bad puns about the eye of the storm. Maybe the hits he had taken in the fight had damaged his standards.

"Well, it should all be over now," she said quietly, "You all… did well."

Pitch Black looked at Mother Nature with what Tony could almost describe as 'worry'. There was something seriously wrong with this situation.

"It seems like it," he said, "Are you okay?"

Mother Nature looked at the Boogeyman very coldly.

"I don't require your concern or your help."

"Of course not. I wasn't planning on sticking around anyway," Pitch glanced at Tony and Steve, who now stood as a guard near the subdued Baron, "Not when this place is full of people who probably have a cell ready for me. Not to mention the Guardians."

He smiled. His smiles were never friendly.

"Besides, right now the best thing I can do is just wait and see what happens."

"Then why did you get involved in the first place?" Tony couldn't help asking, "And now you just decided to help us? What's your angle?"

Pitch snorted.

"Does it matter? You could be a little more grateful."

"After what happened in New York? No."

"I thought so," Pitch sighed theatrically, "Perhaps I should be grateful to you then. Your post-traumatic stress is very nourishing. Well, have fun sorting this all out, then."

Tony stepped forward when Pitch made a move to melt back into the shadows.

"You think you can just go back into hiding?"

Pitch stopped and spun around, casting a very dangerous look at Tony.

"What? Are you going to stop me, Stark?"

As much as Tony hated to admit it, Pitch was right in sounding condescending. Right now, Tony had no means of catching the man should he hide into the darkness. Pitch could become one with shadows, which meant he was simply lack of light. Try imprisoning that. Besides, Pitch had just helped them, even though his reasons for it completely escaped Tony. Pitch smirked when Tony's silence was enough of an answer for him and turned away again.

"Take care, Emily Jane."

Mother Nature didn't answer. Her hands were clenched into fists and Tony could feel the temperature fluctuating around her. Indecisive, just like she apparently was. Pitch disappeared, and the heavy, foreboding atmosphere was lifted just like that. Tony cleared his throat.

"Okay, I'm not pretending to understand what the hell is going on, but shouldn't we get back to helping the others? There's plenty of stuff to clean up."

Mother Nature sighed.

"You will help them. I... I did not wish a fight in the first place. I let my temper get the best of me. I don't want to get further involved if I can help it. I got my message across and I sent those two to Mr. Odinson. He promised to take them away."

Before Tony could protest, Mother Nature rose into the air and, with a blast of a fierce wind, was gone.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"These guys are weird."

He was perfectly aware of the hypocrisy of that statement.


Nick Fury looked at the Baron with both fascination and distaste. This man had really just wanted to attack them, and had even caused quite a lot of damage in the process. And why? That was the big question. There had to be a motive. Very few people would work so hard and create such a convoluted plan simply for kicks. Fury crossed his arms.

"So," he said, "Baron Heinrich Zemo."

The Baron tried to sit up better with his hands bound. He actually tried to look intimidating, but it didn't really work when he had been disarmed and so thoroughly defeated. Without waiting for any pointless taunts from the Baron, Fury went on:

"You caused a hell of a lot of damage. Want to tell me why?"

The Baron glared at him defiantly through his hood.

"Why should I?" he hissed, "You were simply in the way of my revenge… you were my revenge."

That still didn't make any sense. Fury frowned.

"Care to elaborate?"

The Baron laughed quietly. His laughter died, however, when a bang resounded through the air. Fury spun around, a gun in hand, and next to him, Rogers and Stark tensed. The shot had come from afar, and it had hit the Baron right in the head. The man was dead before he hit the ground.


Author's Note: THIS TOOK LONGER THAN I THOUGHT! Sorry! I admit, my motivation for this hasn't been the best lately. This chapter just felt more like a chore than anything, because there was SO MANY things to keep track of and to give screentime to. And after killing Tooth, there wasn't much I could do to top that. And yeah, that was sort of supposed to be the most poignant moment anyway, but still, the fight had to go on a bit longer.

I'm also not very up to date with the Marvel films, so if some of these villains have now shown up in the films, then that sucks for me, because my attempt to stay in canon as much as possible is now ruined. But hey, it was bound to happen someday, and it's fanfiction so whatever, I guess.

Anyway, there's only one or two chapters left, depending on how long I want to make sorting out the battle, I guess.

Thank you so much for sticking with me!

REVIEW RESPONSES:

SilverSkies1524: Yay, I'm glad I managed to take you by surprise and make an impression! Thanks for reading!

Fumus000: I'm glad you found this! And I'm glad you like my writing! :)

Guest: I thought I mentioned his mask? I could remember wrong. Still, it is a really cool mask.