12. A Night in New York
It was a few minutes past midnight in New York City when the panic really started. People on the streets had felt the creeping distress all night, but then street lights started popping like spark-filled balloons and entire blocks became pitch black in an instant. The screams started. People didn't know what to do. Sparks rained down on them in the dark and something moved among them, brushing past them and sometimes dragging someone into the shadows accompanied by a horrible scream. Some people ran blindly into any kind of shelter, some just huddled together and some didn't move at all in their fear of being crushed or dragged away. The police officers present tried their best controlling the chaos, but even they didn't quite know where these people could go if they wanted to get to safety. Distressed phone calls were made all over the place, but no one could exactly tell what should be taken care of.
Probably the only ones who had even the faintest idea of what was out there were the S.H.I.E.L.D. -agents that were still patrolling the area and still had their special scanners for locating the Guardians. It was an agent named Brooks who was the first to actually think of using them after a moment of confusion. Through the scanner's filter Manhattan's airspace was filled with strange colours and otherwise invisible blobs of energy. When Brooks put the scanner down, she could see shadows filling the sky even with the naked eye. Judging by some of the people's reactions they saw the shadows as well. They just didn't know what it was they saw. Well, not that Brooks had that much of an idea herself, but at least she knew who would have.
She signalled her partner to keep an eye on the situation while she herself rounded a corner of a brick building to get into better cover while making her call. She had to jump over a body of a most likely homeless person who had probably been trampled in the confusion. She crouched next to the body and quickly checked it for signs of life. There were none. The face under the mass of dark brown dreadlocks was pale and the eyes were open in shock. Brooks bit her lip out of sympathy for the poor soul and then she was back in professional mode. She needed to call Fury.
While Fury was out of the room answering his call, the Guardians held a quick meeting right where they were. They knew they were still being watched, but that couldn't be helped. Especially since the only way to keep Sandy in the conversation at the moment was through Stark's video link. It wasn't a good way, seeing how cameras hadn't spontaneously started to see or hear them. Which sadly meant that Stark had to act as the messenger for Sandy and as the interpreter of Sandy's speech at the same time. The man didn't do a very good job at it. Not to mention being under surveillance during a Guardian meeting wasn't comfortable. As if Jack wasn't feeling enough discomfort as it was. Even after getting his staff back, he could feel something was wrong. Something still made the air feel thick in his throat, occasionally closing off his lungs for a few panic-inducing seconds at a time. He gripped his staff a bit tighter, curling his legs around it and trying to focus on the comfort that being whole again brought him.
"What do we do now?" Tooth asked quietly, "Pitch is still out there somewhere."
"We need to find 'im," Bunny announced, "We can't just let that shadow-lurker go after all this."
"Indeed," North said, "We... Jack? Are you feeling all right?"
Jack realized that North was looking at him worriedly.
"I don't know," he admitted, "It's a bit hard to breathe. It's like someone stepped through me and just stayed there."
The others looked at each other in concern. Tooth rubbed her arms as if she was cold, and Jack worried for a moment that he had carelessly dropped the temperature in the room too much. But then he realized the fairy was just maybe feeling a bit under the weather in general as well.
"I don't think you are the only one who's feeling off, Jack," she said, "Are we... losing belief?"
When Tooth actually said those words out loud it made a horrible amount of sense. The Guardians sat in stunned silence, and only Sandy dared to voice his opinion. It was just a silent nod. Jack ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath and feeling light-headed.
"It does make sense," North finally said, "Jack would no doubt feel it the strongest."
Of course Jack would. He didn't have that many believers to begin with. North seemed reluctant to say it, but Jack knew they were all thinking it. North's forehead creased in worry.
"If is happening so fast, there has to be something unusual behind it."
"Something like Pitch," Bunny said darkly.
"He sure has had the chance to do anything he wants lately," North said, "I am sure he knew we would be going here. He sent a small army to make sure we were busy..."
"While he struck somewhere else," Bunny finished, "Somewhere not far from here. Where people are still shaken after an unknown attack."
"Hold on," Steve's voice interrupted Bunny's chain off deduction, "Let me guess. He's in New York?"
Yes. It made sense.
"Most likely," North agreed.
"Wait," said Stark through his video feed, "What are you guys talking about? We're only getting the scraps of this conversation."
"The Boogeyman is in New York," said Steve.
Stark sighed.
"Aw, great... we just got it almost fixed..."
Jack jumped to his feet, ignoring the dark spots that briefly skipped through his field of vision.
"Then we can't stay here," he said, "Pitch is probably already there."
"I agree," Tooth said, "Fury must understand that..."
As if on cue, said Fury burst into the room, shouting orders into a microphone. He stopped on his tracks when he got in and looked at the Guardians very sternly. He barked a few more words at whoever was in the other end and then turned the connection off.
"Hey, Fury," Stark said from the screen, "Trouble in New York?"
Fury masked his surprise very well.
"So you know. People are in panic there."
"We just figured as much," Jack said, "It's the Boogeyman. We're going there."
"Now hold on!" Fury snapped, "Do you remember what happened last time you decided to fight over there? You caused the light-show that started all of this!"
"Oh, no, mate," Bunny growled, "Ya're not starting this again. We-"
"Bunny, he has a point," North interrupted, "There are adults there too. If recent events have proved anything, is that adults either don't see us, or then they fear us. Especially if we go in there now and just start fighting. We need to find a better way."
"We could somehow steer him away from the city and be sneaky about it," Tooth suggested, "Not sure how, though..."
"Or," Jack looked up at the others, "We could just go in with proper fireworks."
The others stared at him. Bunny huffed.
"Weren't ya listening, ya gumby? We just said..."
"I know what you just said," Jack said impatiently, "But there are bound to still be plenty of kids there who can see us. As for the adults, we just need someone they can relate to better. Someone they can count on protecting them."
The stares were still on him. But now they were less doubting and he could even see a few smiles. Steve supplied his suggestion to the others on the other side of the video screen.
"I take it Frosty is talking about all of us working together," Stark said.
"That is not a bad idea," North admitted, "If these people are all right with it, that is."
"Oh, I don't think Fury minds, at least," Jack said and glanced at the man in question, "Didn't you want us to work together if just so you'd know we're on your side? Now you'd get your wish."
Fury pressed his mouth into a tight line, frowning as though Jack saying something that made sense was the greatest insult imaginable.
"Well, I'm in," Steve said lightly, "We're going to have to be there anyway. We can't just leave people in trouble."
"I'm in too," Stark said and looked to the side, at Sandy, who wasn't visible through the screen, "Even Goldilocks here agrees."
Fury sighed irritably.
"I don't need any more convincing. I've had enough of that to last for a week. Just... go before things get even more out of hand."
Jack could see a sort of weird, cheerless beginning of a smile on Fury's face.
They assembled into three teams. The first team consisted of Tony, the Sandman, and Bruce, seeing how they would have to take another route to Manhattan anyway. The second team would be travelling on ground level, and it was formed by the Easter Bunny, Clint, and Natasha. The third team would be travelling through the air, and North had promised to give them a ride to Manhattan. Steve wasn't quite sure what to expect at first. After Bunny called up some sort of a magic tunnel that swallowed the rabbit up along with both Clint and Natasha, Steve figured the Guardians' understanding of "ride" could mean anything. Steve was left standing on the front yard of the S.H.I.E.L.D.-base along with Thor, Toothiana, and Jack while North disappeared through the swirly wormhole he carried in his pocket.
"Why can't we just use those?" Steve asked, pointing at the fading portal.
"Oh, we will," Jack said cheerfully, "North'll just get something that helps you more grounded people actually stay airborne once we get there."
"Good thinking," Thor pointed out, "Especially since we were supposed to survey the situation from above first."
"And," Jack added, "The sleigh is too awesome to not be used!"
"Sleigh?" Steve repeated just when the portal opened again and a long line of fearsome reindeer galloped wildly through it, dragging behind them a polished, red sleigh. It was streamlined and fast, a sports-car of sleighs. It swooped down in a tight curve and landed on the grass, the runners sliding through it as smoothly as they would slide through snow.
Jack jumped up and down and looked again just like an overexcited teenager.
"I call the right side!" he shouted and wasted no time jumping on the railing on the right side of the sleigh.
"Huh," Steve could only say, "I have a feeling I should have been expecting a sleigh."
"Indeed," said North, waving his hand from the driver's seat, "Get in, everyone! We have one Boogeyman who needs to be taught a lesson!"
Steve climbed into the back seat, and Toothiana landed next to him. The feathery woman arranged her wings neatly behind her back and straightened herself into a very royal posture. Thor sat in front of Steve, and Steve suddenly found the sight of the God of Thunder riding in Santa's sleigh extremely funny. He didn't really laugh at it out loud, because just then the reindeer were spurred into full gallop, and soon they were treading air. Steve gripped the side of the sleigh just in case when the ride became far less smooth than it had been a moment ago. North's booming laughter mixed with the howling of the wind. Jack spread his arms and closed his eyes, looking like the air currents ripping at his hair and clothes was the greatest thing in the world. The swirling wormhole was opened again, and Steve braced himself for travelling hundreds of kilometres in a split-second.
It was a funny feeling. Not very unpleasant, but strange. Steve couldn't really begin to describe it, and now there wasn't time for it either. For as soon as they saw the skyline of Manhattan open before them, tattered shadows tumbled through the air and swooped down at the sleigh. The shadows' malformed mouths twisted into a battle screech, but they didn't get close to the sleigh before a blue, almost melodiously crackling beam of light froze them solid. Another volley of shadows took their place immediately.
"Try to land this thing, fast!" Toothiana shouted to North, her winds starting their rapid fluttering.
The fairy drew a pair of slim, elegantly curved swords from her belt. A group of miniature fairies took a formation behind her. Toothiana rose above the sleigh, still keeping up with its speed.
"Jack," the fairy said in a commanding tone, "We can back North up when he lands."
The boy nodded.
"Right!"
Jack jumped, the invisible force – which Steve deduced to be the wind – catching him and sending him almost chaotically at the wave of monsters. Toothiana followed the boy, spinning her swords quickly and slashing a shadow into pieces on her way.
North steered the sleigh rather recklessly towards the nearest flat roof of a building. The reindeer dove towards it as if they were just galloping down a steep slope. Steve gripped the side tightly and kept his body balanced against the turbulence.
"If you want to get into fray quickly, get ready to jump!" North shouted over the cacophony of screams and wind.
North tugged the reins sharply and the sleigh turned so quickly it almost tipped over. Steve would have never imagined it was humanly possible to perform a bootlegger turn with a flying, reindeer-drawn sleigh, but somehow North pulled it off. The sleigh scraped the roof of the building and Steve could see a few sparks right before he jumped high, landing on the roof of the building next to North's landing space. Thor was right behind Steve. The man lifted his hammer up towards the sky. Lightning struck, splitting the darkness and illuminating the mass of shadows that crawled on the walls and floated in the night sky.
"Looks like we have our work cut out for us," Steve stated, "You ready?"
Thor nodded.
"Oh, yes."
"Remember," said North, who had just scrambled out of the now parked sleigh and drew his sabres, "Pitch can't ultimately be killed. Our best bet is to give the people down there a peace of mind. Make them stop being afraid."
"Understood," Steve said, easily slipping back to his more soldier-like persona.
They had been briefed on this Boogeyman's powers. He was a shadow-man who drew his power from fear. The people down in the streets might not see the man, but they sure saw the damage he and his minions caused. That was more than enough.
Steve readied his shield and steeled himself against the wave of demon horses that had apparently sniffed out him, Thor and North and were charging at them in full gallop. They didn't get very close before Steve tossed his shield, cleaving one of the black horses in half.
Tony almost felt nauseous when his energy filters suddenly went haywire when they got to New York. He had to switch some of the screens off just to avoid a migraine. Not that he needed the screens anyway. He could see the shadows in the sky perfectly well with his own eyes. Against all logic he had to guess he wouldn't have seen them if he hadn't believed them to be there. Tony flew as close to the central Manhattan as he could without being an instant target for the flying shadows just yet. He looked to his side, where the Sandman was sitting in the cockpit of a retro biplane made of sand. Bruce sat at the back of it. A shirtless guy in a sparkly plane driven by what looked like an equally sparkly cherub. This years' Pride-parade poster was complete.
"Okay, Sparkles," Tony said, "What exactly is the best way of dealing with these things?"
The Sandman lifted his hand enthusiastically and quickly cracked his sand-whip at an approaching demon horse. The horse shattered into black sand that turned golden at the Sandman's touch.
"O... kay," Tony rolled his eyes at the Sandman's expectant smile, "And the best way for us who aren't made of magic sand?"
The Sandman punched his fist into his palm.
"That sounds good to me," Bruce commented, "Can you drop me off on that roof? I can take it from there."
The golden head nodded vigorously and the little man steered the plane towards the building Bruce had pointed at. Shadows flew after them, and Tony was quick to fire at the group of silhouettes, breaking it up and giving the Sandman and Bruce some space as the plane landed. He saw the golden plane dissipating as it reached the roof, and Bruce walked a few steps on the concrete before growling and turning green. It was definitely on now.
The Sandman rose up on a small cloud of gold, and mimed with quick gestures something that Tony couldn't really make much sense of. The man was pointing at the houses where people cowered under tables in fear of the unknown attack. But what he meant to say about them, Tony didn't know.
"What?" Tony shouted.
The Sandman face-palmed and then wrote a short sentence in his golden cursive over his head:
I need to calm down the people indoors.
"Oh, okay," Tony said and fired a beam at the nearest shadow that got too close for comfort, "You do that. Bruce and I can take care of the fighting in this part of town."
The Sandman's only response was a rather panicked pointing of a finger over Tony's shoulder. Tony spun around in the air as quickly as his suit allowed and brought his hand in front of him for protection just before a surprisingly solid sand-horse ran into him. Tony planted his palm against a sandy flank and fired. The horse exploded into black particles, which the Sandman quickly transformed back into happy sparkles.
"Thanks for the heads-up," Tony mumbled before speeding into battle against a cluster of some sort of twisted shadow-men.
The shadow creatures were fairly easy to dispose of as soon as one got in a couple of good hits. They seemed to be really made of some sort of elastic shadow-substance. Their claws were sharp and they were fast, but most of them were also small and fragile. They also didn't seem to like intense light. It meant Tony's arsenal was pretty much ideal for killing them.
He advanced fast through the shadow swarms. He saw lightning split the sky in half somewhere near the Chrysler Building. So Thor was in that area. Good to know. Tony manoeuvred himself quickly through the urban maze, occasionally glancing down to see people swarming the streets like disturbed ants. He blew up a sand-horse and rocketed towards the largest shadow group he could see. He shot around five repulsor blasts that all hit their marks before he was in the middle of the group.
"JARVIS, get ready to speed up," Tony said almost casually and spun around in the air, firing blasts at the monsters that tried their best to gang up on him. He did probably make a very good target. Red and gold in the mass of darkness. Just before the shadows closed in around and above him, he shot straight up, letting loose a couple of small missiles that disappeared into the shadow mass before they exploded, scattering the shadows into oblivion.
"Nice one!"
Tony looked at the direction of the youthful voice and saw Jack Frost sitting cross-legged in the air like a frozen, underfed Buddha-statue. His staff was clutched in his hands and Tony could see some strands of frosted darkness raining down, an indication the teen had also been busy dealing with the monsters.
"Of course," Tony replied to the compliment, "Glad to see you all made it here. And just to make sure... no hard feelings for the mess before?"
Jack shrugged.
"Not much. But don't be too surprised if you wake up one day to find your house frozen."
"Thanks for telling me in advance, Peter Pan," Tony said sarcastically, "I'll need to check if my insurance covers that."
Jack chuckled but became serious again when another volley of shadows charged at them. The kid backflipped over a sand-horse, straightening from his lotus position and kicking a smaller shadow that followed the horse. Tony raised his hand to blast at the horse that was now coming at him, but someone else beat him to it. A shield cut the air and sand and returned to the hand of Steve Rogers, who stood on a rooftop nearby.
"Tony!" Steve shouted, "Keep your guard up, I think I saw a really big shadow somewhere around here!"
"It could be Pitch," Jack said, turning to look at Steve, "You know, the Boogeyman."
"Okay, what exactly does he look like?" Tony asked.
"Tall, dark, and creepy."
"That's really helpful," Tony deadpanned.
"Fine... how about..." Jack's eyes widened, "Just like that guy over there! Steve! Look out!"
He pointed at a tall man who emerged from the shadows right next to Steve. Captain America spun to face the shadow-man and quickly took some distance, bringing his shield up in defence. Tony landed next to Steve and heard the soft tap of bare feet that told him that Jack had also landed somewhere out of his field of vision.
The Boogeyman's lips curled into a hateful sneer, exposing razor-sharp teeth. His face was straight out of uncanny valley, with wide, amber eyes and slightly off bone structure. He seemed to be wearing darkness.
"Hello," the Boogeyman said in a deceptively silky voice, "This is certainly a surprise. I would have thought you would be fighting each other until morning, at least."
He also had an accent. Tony looked at Jack questioningly.
"The Boogeyman is British?"
"Nah," Jack said with a shrug, "It's just the accent. I think he's actually from space."
Then the kid's eyes became chilling like a night in Siberia and he aimed his staff at the Boogeyman.
"Jack," the Boogeyman greeted with the kind of fake friendliness that one might use to express absolute hate, "Fancy seeing you here too. Are you still as insecure as before?"
"You can spare all of us from that crap, Pitch," Jack hissed in response, "Just get the hell out of here!"
"Language, Jack," Pitch chastised mockingly, "What would little Jamie think if he heard his hero using words like that?"
Tony could almost hear the snap when the kid's patience ran out. With a growl, Jack fired a blast of ice that froze the tips of the Boogeyman's hair when the man dodged. The man landed on his knee and raised a hand. Tony barely had time to jump out of the way before a wave of black sand nearly knocked him and his two companions down from the roof. Steve jumped backwards and rolled out of the way and Jack hopped into the air and stayed there. The Boogeyman used the distraction to retreat back into a shadow and didn't come back out. Not until something crashed at Tony's back and pushed him off the roof. His suit's functions died down for no apparent reason and he realized with alarm that he couldn't fly at the moment.
"JARVIS?" he shouted, "JARVIS? You still there?"
There was no response. Tony plummeted through the air and towards the street at least ten stories below.
Bunnymund dug his way up through concrete and asphalt and arrived into the middle of some kind of mass hysteria. He quickly reached into the tunnel to pull the two agents up with him. Some people nearby seemed very startled after seeing two armed people just appearing into their midst, but their attention was too focused on the much more threatening things that were happening to really give the agents a second thought. Threatening things such as the light show in the sky and the explosions. Bunnymund growled wordlessly at the sight. Pitch had gone too far this time. Well, that man's mere existence mostly consisted of just moments of going too far, but this was probably the flashiest way to cross the line in a long time.
"C'mon," Bunnymund said to the two agents, "Let the people know ya're here to protect them. And try not to get squashed."
Because it really was a possibility. Bunnymund held his breath as he manoeuvred through the throng and coughed out a curse whenever a person ran through him or just frantically waved their arms too close to him. Bunnymund steeled himself and hopped forward. He really had his work cut out for him. These people needed hope.
Bunnymund could see streaks of gold among the dark. Good. That meant Sandy was already doing his job. The two agents were also doing their part. They ran among the people, sometimes shouting orders to them, telling them to seek better cover and to calm down. A police officer looked visibly relieved to see the two. That was a start. Bunnymund readied his boomerang just in case, but his main objective now was to raise the morale of the people. Usually just by being in his presence people could have a spark of hope; they could feel that things weren't really quite as terrible as they might seem at first. He hopped along the street, destroying any Fearlings that got into his way and made sure the ankle biters watching through the windows would see him. He saw some of the small faces brightening a bit when he looked up. Someone might have called out to him. He quickly turned around a corner to another street and faced another group of people who suddenly felt just a little more at ease in the confusion. It wasn't nearly enough, but it was a start.
The police officers seemed to be very much motivated by the appearance of Barton and Romanoff at least, and with help from the two agents they managed to get the people under control enough to empty a few streets in the centre. Bunnymund hopped to one of the now deserted streets and looked up. Black, blue, and golden light mixed together and it was all spiced by lightning. It sure did look flashy from the streets. Flashy and threatening. The Guardians should really rethink their fighting strategies in urban environments, especially when the human technology surprisingly enough almost reached North-levels nowadays.
"Okay, things are getting a bit calmer down here on the street level," said Romanoff, coming to stand beside Bunnymund, "I think we're needed more up there."
She nodded towards the chaos in the sky. Barton peered up into the shadows and suddenly lifted his bow and shot an arrow that dove into the darkness and judging by the scream impaled a Fearling.
"Show pony..." Bunnymund muttered under his breath, "But yeah. Ya should get a ride from any of the flying people around here."
Bunnymund looked around as he spoke, looking for the said flying people. Sandy seemed to be the closest, emerging from an apartment complex that was probably now full of sleeping people and sweet dreams.
"Sandy!" Bunnymund shouted, waving his paw, "Ya ready up there?"
Sandy nodded quickly and pointed towards the sky.
"Exactly!" Bunnymund shouted, "These two agents want to get into the action too!"
Sandy lowered himself to the ground, looking amiably at Romanoff and Barton. The two agents exchanged a bit uncertain looks when Sandy quickly formed his dreamsand cloud, but they got onto the platform of gold surprisingly quickly. Bunnymund supposed the time for suspicions really was over. Now they all had a common enemy. That was something that brought people together regrettably well.
"I'll find my own way up, thank you," Bunnymund said when Sandy looked at him questioningly, "I'll make a few more rounds before catching up. Leave some for me too, will ya?"
Bunnymund turned away from the cloud of sand that was lifted up like an elevator at Sandy's command. He turned his attention back at the shadows still skulking in the alleyways, out of reach of the still functional street lights. Bunnymund approached them steadily, almost calmly, and then let them all be shattered with an accurately thrown boomerang. He almost had time to smirk at his victory before a metal man fell from the sky, crashing harshly against the pavement. Bunnymund was startled, and he almost attacked the man out of instinct before he caught himself and realized that the man was Stark. And he didn't seem to be faring so well.
"Bloody hell!" Bunnymund breathed, glad there weren't any ankle biters around to hear him curse like that. He hopped over to Stark, who was struggling to get into a sitting position. There was a small crater where the man had landed. Stark put a hand to his helmeted head and breathed out a long sigh that sounded metallic in the suit.
"Ouch," Stark said, "I think I found the big guy. Packs quite a punch."
"Ya found Pitch?" Bunnymund asked, "Where was he... no, wait, never mind. The bloody ratbag could be anywhere by now. Are ya okay?"
"Yeah," Stark sighed again, "The suit went dead for a moment, but it's back up. I need to do some maintenance once this is over, but for now, I'm good. And don't worry about the shadow-guy; I think I saw Steve and Frost going after him."
Stark rose back to his feet, brushing some dirt off of his armour and said some commands to what Bunnymund assumed was the artificial intelligence doing most of the work in keeping the suit functioning. After a moment of listening to the A.I give a status report Stark nodded.
"Okay. I'll go back up now."
"Hey, wait..." Bunnymund started, but Stark had already propelled himself upwards and was about ten stories high already. Bunnymund huffed. Why did he have to deal with these kind of people? Just... people? He sprang against the wall of a building, grabbing a windowsill and starting to climb and jump with the ease born from centuries of practise and, well, just from being a bunny in general.
Author's Note: ...I had to write ahead a quite a lot to get my thoughts together. Also, school and exams and a bit of a writer's block slowed me down. But hey, have some more fighting! And a random creator cameo... sort of. I based the description of the dead homeless person on myself. I'm not actually homeless, though. I just like wearing second-hand clothing. :)
This is the second time Tony called Jack Peter Pan so I might as well mention now (since I forgot the first time around) that it's a reference to the fact that Peter Pan apparently was a big part of William Joyce's inspiration for Jackson Overland Frost.
Thank you all again for your support!