I ended up sharing with Mary as I expected, and I relayed Billy's idea to her. She accepted and we sometimes just talked, getting to know each other. It turned out that Mary had a memory for people and had confirmed that Alice was in fact Rachel's adopted child. Alice had been abandoned by her parents for her powers and Rachel, sensing an understanding could be forged, adopted her.
It was a bittersweet story and certainly explained their relationship, and why neither of them were here.
After two days no one had found Pitch, which meant that he'd somehow freed himself. I tried not to let it bug me, but it still managed to.
Between training, eating and sleeping, Penelope and I found the time to properly talk.
I'll admit we didn't have much in common, and Penelope wasn't exactly talkative, we actually spent a lot of time comparing powers.
Penelope relayed titbits such as how many Descendants of Pitch it takes to form a Nightmare, while I told her some things I'd accidentally with my powers. These times were the first time I'd heard her laugh, and I had a feeling that she hadn't laughed in a long time.
On the morning of the third day Mary and I were woken by a messenger.
"Miss Davies, apologies for disturbing you." Said the messenger with an Australian accent as she struggling to keep still. This made it obvious that she was a Descendant of Bunnymund.
"No need to apologise." I yawned, "What's the message?"
"Your armour is ready. Nigel and Marcus will be waiting for you in the measuring room for you to try it on."
"Thank you for the message." I said, feeling slightly more awake.
She nodded her head and bounded away.
I didn't bring any clothes with me in my desire to get away from Burgess. A messenger had gone to my parents when the police were no longer around and explained the situation to them, while taking a grilling from my parents. Finally they agreed for him to bring me some basic stuff, changes of clothes, pyjamas and toiletries.
I got dressed and headed straight for the measuring room, having to ask the way a couple of times, since I'd been led by Nigel the first time.
When I entered I saw that a lot of the space was taken up by a table covered by a set of armour.
"Morning Jackie!" said Nigel with a broad grin on his face. "Happy Birthday!" He joked.
"Morning." I said, a little distracted by the armour in front of me.
The measurer, who I assume was Marcus, said, "Go ahead, pick it up, it's yours now."
I walked over to the table and got a good look.
The whole set ice blue and barely seemed to have a temperature, which told me that it was the same temperature as my body.
I picked up the chest plate and marvelled at how light and supple it was. It seemed to be like leather, only its texture told me that it was made of metal. On the chest plate were two symbols, an eight sided snowflake on the right, and a boar against a new moon on the left.
Nigel helped get the set on, with the adjustable straps on each piece.
There was a chest plate connected to a back plate via strips of leather and interlocking bits of metal. A helmet with a see through visor, there were in fact two visors that were both in the helmet and interchangeable, just in case I lost my glasses in battle. The visor covered all of my face, only stopping at the chin, where there were small holes in the metal for breathing.
There was a set of shoulder plates that were linked to forearm guards and gloves by straps. The elbow wasn't really protected, but there were groves in the armour so I could get my blades out without an issue. The gloves covered my wrists, but I quickly located the slits for my wrist blades.
Next were essentially metal shorts to protect down there, which in turn linked to leg guards and boots. The boots went halfway up my lower leg and didn't move like metal as I pulled them on, but they were still clearly metal. They had buckles at the back, I assume for adjusting, but right now they didn't need it.
Underneath the boots was a narrow slit to allow blades to come from there to skate with. The whole set weighed little and my movement didn't seem to be hampered. The whole thing fit like a glove and I could easily send out ice blades from any of the slits.
Once I was done trying it on Marcus began to explain the drawbacks.
"This armour isn't as sturdy as regular armour, since your style is to keep moving, going in for swift strikes. It has been designed to keep your movements as free as possible, but it can't take too much direct punishment.
It has also been tempered in such a way that it matches and regulates your body heat. For example it matches your heat now, but if that should change then the metal will stay that original temperature. This is a normal part of armour, but for the Descendants of Jack Frost it has been altered, given your unique body temperature and temperature tolerance."
I thanked Marcus, who waved it away, and Nigel and I took the armour to the ice training room, to see if I could practice in it.
I moved the dummies into their positions in the centre of the room, and began zipping around and slashing with my blades. To my delight I barely noticed the armour, even when it turned to sparring with Nigel I only noticed it when he landed a hit, which was often since he was better at that sort of thing than me.
I spent another week in the base, with most of days either talking with my branch of HOG, Penelope or in the training cavern.
At the end of that week I got woken up again by the same messenger.
"Miss Davies, Mrs Frederickson, the Heads have requested that you meet them in Council Chamber at two o'clock today."
Mary and I looked at each other as the messenger disappeared and a small amount of dread went through my stomach, there's no way this could be good.
After spending most of the day in the training cavern Mary led me to the Council Chamber. It had a pair of dark wood double doors that stood taller than North, unlike the rest of the base. The rest of the base had holes in the wall covered with a cloth instead of doors. Inside the Council Chamber was quite simple, with a long earth table and chairs along it. The walls had the same green moss on them and were undecorated.
At the far end sat the Heads and from there were Nigel, Billy, Sally, Tina, Penelope, Stephen, Chris and a couple other Descendants of Sandman.
Tina had saved me a seat, so I sat between her and Penelope while Mary sat on the other side with the other Descendants of Jack Frost.
At the far end of the table on the left side Jason stood up. "Now that we are all here, it's time to explain our latest plan."
Alexander waved his hand and the table's surface changed, showing a bird's eye view of a cave.
"Given recent events we've decided that our next port of call is the base near Burgess, Pennsylvania, which according to records is Pitch's main base. The number of Pitch Descendants is unknown, but we have come up with a strategy.
The Descendants of Jack Frost and Sandman will lead the attack. Penelope and the other members of the Burgess branch will provide backup, as they know the area they can also be the recovery force if things go sour."
"We are aware of the potential for contamination." Added the Head of the Descendants of Sandman, "That is why we have asked some of the most powerful Descendants of Sandman to help lead the attack."
"So far we have decimated their forces." Continued Jason, "but the exact number remaining is unknown. It may be unsavoury for me to ask this of you, but don't hold back. To cripple their forces their numbers have to go down."
Jason was dancing around the subject, but his meaning wasn't lost on anyone and my face wasn't the only one that went pale.
"You will depart in a two days time." Said the Toothiana Head. "Get everything you need before then and meet in the Departure Cavern at eight in the evening in two days time. Does everyone understand?"
Everyone nodded, some definitely looking a little pale and shaky.
"Dismissed!" called Jason and we all filed out of the room.
I felt sick to the stomach and sat down on the moss heavily once we reached the Main Cavern. I was being asked to kill people, on purpose this time. It didn't sit well with me at all, however I couldn't really complain. I'd come back on my own and basically signed myself up by not going back to Burgess when I had the chance, this was war after all.
"You alright?" asked Sally, sitting down next to me.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just give a minute."
"I know what we're being asked to do isn't exactly great, but it is essential to stop them."
"Is there another way? Can't we just talk with them?"
"Any opportunity of that disappeared when the attacked the HOG meeting."
"You can't blame me for trying."
"True. Anyway, we'd better get our armour and head to the Training Cavern."
I nodded and went back to the Sleeping quarters to fetch my armour. We met up outside and walked to the Training Cavern together and I got the chance to compare our armour.
Sally's was pale yellow and almost seemed to pulse in her hands as she carried it. It seemed to be more robust than mine and didn't have as many straps and buckles. The overall design was the same and it had a little symbol of a five pointed star on the right side of the chest plate, where the snowflake was on mine.
We donned our armour in the Training Hall and I got a good look at the others armour.
Mine was easily one of the lightest, second only to Stephen's and Tina's, whose armour must have been designed with aerial combat in mind.
Everyone else's armour was as robust as Sally's and the only real difference was the colour and the symbol on the right hand side. Nigel's was dark red with a sword, Billy's was dark green with an egg, Tina's was pale purple with a tooth and Penelope's was a pale grey with no symbol.
We sparred in the main training area and disappeared into our own training hall for our powers.
It was interesting to see the different weapons the others used. Mary used ice to form a rapier of sorts while Stephen used the air in ways I've never seen, changing its density to block and attack. Both Sally and Penelope used their sand to form weapons, Penelope preferring throwing knives and Sally a more Roman like sword.
Both Nigel and Tina used actual swords, which were attached to their armour via weapon belts. Nigel had his extending swords and Tina had what appeared to be a slightly larger version of a rapier.
Billy didn't even use a sword, instead he had boomerangs. Some were used for throwing, knocking out several enemies at once, while others were sharpened and used at close range. This was apparently normal for Descendants of Bunnymund, as many of them hailed from Australia.
This pattern continued over the next couple of days, until it was time to go.
At five to eight I was sitting in the Departure Cavern in my armour, trying not to let my nerves take over. But for the first time in ages my control was losing its grip and frost spread from my clenched fists. The moss quickly became covered in white fern like patterns, but thankfully it didn't go too far.
I looked up as I heard Mary walk in and hoped that she wouldn't notice the frost, however she took one look at the rock I was sitting on and sat next to me.
"Nervous?"
I nodded, "I don't like the idea of doing this."
"You wouldn't have been asked if they didn't think that you couldn't handle it."
"They know me as 'the most powerful Descendant of Jack Frost' not as a teenager."
"You are both, and from what I've heard, you're capable enough to take them on."
"Yeah, take them on, not kill them."
"Then leave that to those of us who are adults."
"Can you guys handle it?"
"We're not keen on it, but we'll do it."
Our conversation stopped there as the others walked in, quickly followed by Alexander.
"Is everybody ready?" He asked, walking over to a crack which would open the hole to Burgess.
We all nodded, and I tried to get rid of the frost on the rock as I stood up, with one of the Descendants of Sandman giving me an odd look.
"Alright then!" He opened up the Tunnel, "Good luck!"
To explain the weapons. Tina uses a small sword, and Sally uses a gladius. Just thought I'd clear that up.