You all make good guesses (hehe) but nope it's not Bunny, so try again! I still have yet to reply to many reviews and PMs (thanx as always especially since many of u all have exams and also life to deal with – even to u anons!). As of Sunday, I'm an official adult now so virtual alcohol is on me as u read and de-stress. Lol now I hope u're all ready for more! I already have two sequels I want to write after this story is finished so if u're good then I'll – oh what am I saying? I'm gonna post them anyway haha. ;) But for now, let's just keep up with dear Toothie and her 'sensitive' bodyguard.
(Heinous first beta-read replaced...Yeah thanks girlie lol :p)
Alleyway, Khamovniki, Moscow, 11:03 pm
Jack twisted down when the first black shadow rushed at him.
He hand-sprung himself into a butterfly kick, and nicked Pitch's minion in the jaw, before sprinting right to avoid the whip that was cracked a second later when the man recovered. The Nightmares were silent and terribly unsettling in their gas masks, but the ghostly yellow glow they cast as they moved made it easy to spot them. With his heartbeat controlled and his mind blank, Jack moved on the balls of his agile feet. He thought of nothing but the wind he guided around him and the crack of his baton on the dark shadows that kept coming at him – whenever one of the Russian man's team members blurred his vision, he dodged their fights and spun away. They weren't his targets – at least not until the first wave of strangers were overcome.
Jack suddenly flit his eyes to the left.
One of the taller, more heavily built assassins was staring him down from across the fight.
The two rushed at each other.
The hitman leapt like a fiend with a jumping round kick aimed precisely at Jack's skull but the brunette felt the shift in the air at the last clock and dodged right. When the former landed and tried to snap his foot up, Jack smacked it down and moved in with a tight side kick. The hitmen parried it with his own and tried to sneak a karate chop at Jack's head but he threw both hands up in an 'X' and pushed it away with a snarl. The hitman said nothing and began to take on a more heavy offence.
He went off with a set of balanced front kicks and Jack pushed down each with a tight palm. The boots were hard as steel but Jack didn't feel the bone-crushing impact and matched them perfectly for force. Then when the hitman tore through with a front crescent kick, Jack snapped his spine down and let it fly right over his head before he backflipped away.
Meanwhile, his mysterious allies were dodging and jumping just as hard.
Pitch's men fought with grounded hits and brute strength and the five men recruiters were fairing well but their leader, the Russian in the aviator jacket, was also pleasantly surprised to see that the mysterious brunette in the leather jacket was more agile than his men.
The man watched out of the corner of his clear blue eyes every time the shorter man flipped and twisted out of combo strikes that his own men had a hard to time recovering from. He even watched in astonishment as the agile boy caught a combo punch and drop kicked one of the shadows. Then he used the latter's gas mask as a vault to front flip over!
Those moves...The Russian head had seen them used by many people before and it brought a happy flutter to his chest.
'What luck!' he praised and he couldn't hold his giddiness. His large belly guffawed as he watched the silent hero sweep across the hitmen with his slim baton and aid his men without trouble.
"Keep at it, men!" he shouted in a thick-accented English and laughed as he blocked a set of right hooks from a hitman with his two wreath-designed blades. He didn't have the gun he set off earlier. It was with another of his men...he only carried around one with his team and it was better that the Nightmares didn't know who had it.
"Nyet!" he suddenly cried.
The Slavic leader rushed past a few of his men and leapt into the air behind Jack, landing a knee strike on a Nightmare that was about to attack the spy on his right. When Jack caught the movement out of the corner of his eyes, he threw a quick right hook at the hitman he was fighting in front of him, then twisted around.
The bearded Russian watched in mild shock when Jack grabbed the hitman from the front. Then wrapping his left arm around the latter's shoulder and pulling out the right, Jack kicked himself into a powerful backflip. When he landed, he had the hitman in a tight, reverse headlock under him.
Jack then twisted the man's right arm.
The Slav stood there for a moment, glaring at Jack's dark expression until the latter snapped his head up at him and gritted his teeth.
"We gonna do this or not?!" Jack bit out and the Russian nodded, somehow finding the comment vaguely familiar.
The large man instantly moved forward and drove his blade into Jack's victim through the back. When he slumped dead on the concrete, the two pulled up instantly and stood back-to-back. They were wary of each other and kept their muscles tightened, but Jack and the bearded man couldn't deny it.
They both felt an energy sync between them and decided to use it to their advantage.
Then, they sprung into action.
...
Tooth and the bushy-browed man (who never spoke except for his grunting and urging some men around him in short barks) watched the two – no one had watched them yet.
Jack and the bearded middle-aged man were like the perfect tag team! They covered each other's back and twisted around each other with such unpredictable timing, the three Nightmares who decided to gang up on them couldn't pin either one down. The Slav was big but his blocks were like steel and his punches were stronger than human; and Jack was a bullet, zipping around the man and landing precise strikes before vanishing again with a powerful gust of wind.
When the former landed a powerful blow to one of the underlings and threw him back against the wall, Jack swooped in on his left. He smirked. He waved hello into one of the men's goggles before delivering a violent punch combo and an unexpected spin hook that twisted the assassin's neck around.
And when the final hitman tried to rush at them with a secret blade, Jack and the Slav simultaneously reacted...trusting each other's instincts. The Russian threw out his hand and Jack grabbed it with his glove without a thought. He then twisted Jack around and propelled him at the hitman.
Jack landed a split second before the knife flashed and he dug his boot into the ground (behind the other's leg) before kicking it out under him. When the Nightmare flew into the air, the Russian moved in and followed him to the concrete with a powerful elbow strike to his ribcage. When the two fell,the hitman's heart exploded under his chest under the larger's brawny elbow.
Tooth pumped a fist in the air and she heard her silent, hairy bodyguard give a gruff sound of approval.
She knew it was wrong to be loving this sort of violence but come on! Jack and his new buddies were winning!
When the Russian pulled up quickly and stared down at Jack, the two gave each other a weird stare off – that double team attack felt natural, almost practiced...but they couldn't ponder on it and bolted away in opposite directions.
The team continued to fight down Nightmares, weaving in and out surprisingly well and kicking butts with speed and accuracy. While there were a few hits and misses landed on them, they couldn't deny the possible outcome - with Jack's help, they were going to win and it looked apparent as the remainder of Pitch's men were dwindling. Only four were left and without guns, they were sooner done for.
So the Nightmares tried a different strategy: divide and conquer.
They split up like rats caught in the light and tore after the Slavic's team one-on-one.
...
"No!" Tooth cried as she watched Jack and other six grow frazzled and try to break apart.
"Harumpfh!"
Tooth spun when she heard a deep grunt before her.
One of the Nightmares had landed out of nowhere and was advancing on the bushy-haired giant. The two got into a heavy brawl and she squealed when they almost ran her over. The hairy man heard and twisted their sudden sumo fight to the right, flinging himself and his rival away from the princess.
Moving away from the both of them, Tooth wrapped her arms around herself and bounced on each foot and trying to hide behind each shadow alone. She didn't dare go by a garbage dumpster or large piece of debris in case one of them got thrown against and crushed her in between.
All her earlier excitement drained away instantly. She forgot she was still a part of the fight, not just a bystander. She was still the target. This was a world she liked to pretend that existed through movie and television, a kind of unrealistic life that she'd joked about with friends and family.
"But it's real," she whispered guiltily and ashamed with herself. "It's all real."
Suddenly, she turned and a Nightmare was reaching out to grab her–
The crack of a bullet went off behind the two of them and Tooth screamed. But it missed its target!
Pitch's hitman had knocked the gun away from one of the Russian's team members and they took a hold of each other. The mysterious ally had tried to shoot the Nightmare in the head when he saw the latter advancing on the girl...but he was just a second too slow!
(Russian) "Idti!" the hero cried and Tooth understood. She backed away again but at the man rushed to fight Pitch's hitman, the shadow had vanished!
"Vher'd he go?" the man growled–
Beep...
Tooth froze. Jack lifted his head from where he was using his baton on a black assassin and flipped away. He went into a defensive stance and eyed all the men around him.
Beep. Beep.
His eyes widened.
Beep.
Each of the Nightmares suddenly had strange, silver detonators in their left palms.
Beep. Beep.
They were also standing perfectly still, locking in all their gas masks.
Beep.
Something was...
Beep. Beep.
...about to go off.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Jack had never seen the devices before and instantly panicked when the big Russian man who'd just saved his ass suddenly spun on his men and yelled out.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Men, move! IDTI!" But it was too late. It was Pitch's newest creation.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Beeeep.
When a flat-line screeched out, they all pressed the yellow buttons at the same time.
...
Like some sort of nightmarish daze, a thick black cloud of smoke instantly spilled from their waist belts and coated the snowy concrete like a plume of ash.
"Back, back!" the Russian kept crying. "Stay on feet, men! Eyes open!"
"What's happening?!" Tooth cried as she watched the ground get swallowed by the dark clouds.
Suddenly a huge gust of wind suddenly weaved onto the street.
Jack's head was pounding.
His heart beat wildly in his chest and his eyes were wide with fright. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he watched the wind work against him and swirl up the black smoke into the air. When it created a big wave too thick for Jack to see past his boot, he heard more than felt the Nightmares spring into action.
They dashed through the black soot, like ghosts and horses, floating through the darkened mist...straight for the other team.
"NYET!" he cried out to the men and raised his hand hopelessly. They didn't see it coming.
Pitch's men moved through the smoke, disappearing and reappearing against the haunting back-splash of dark smoke until they were mingled amongst the Russian's team members.
The leader looked around worriedly, hearing his comrades grunt and cry in pain. Several of them got hit in the back of the head while others were beating stabbed with their own knives. BUt so far, none of them had died yet. Even his partner, the big, furry giant, got a nasty blow to the torso and fell down into the smoke.
It was a nightmare!
Jack was on his toes, frantic and enraged. He tightened his fist on his baton and listened - he didn't know the bearded man was doing the same with his two swords. Then the two suddenly moved around each other. They used their weapons as an extension of their arms in the dark and managed to get each other's potential killer.
The Russian grunted angrily and blocked Jack's assassin with a sword parry until he vanished into the cloud cover again.
When he turned to the brunette, the young man's baton was in heated fight with a blurred shadow until SNAP!
The Nightmare twisted into the darkness again as Jack yelled out angrily. Pitch's man had snapped his baton in two.
As Jack tossed it away furiously, he rubbed his eye with frustration.
"No!" he growled loudly. "Not NOW!"
"You have 14 seconds–"
The memories flashed painfully behind his eyelids and he couldn't control it.
As he tried to pull up, Jack turned to Tooth through the smoke. He squinted at her silhouette which partially visible against the smoke as it continued to encase the entire street.
He needed to get to her!
He didn't know what this smoke was and if it was poisonous or a sleep toxin, he'd lose her–
"Transport him ou–"
"Argh, no!" He gritted his teeth. He tried to move to the princess.
But then he froze. Her pink eyes caught his from the distance and she stared at him, fearful and alone. The princess had her hands clasped under her chin afraid to move in the cloud, but silently calling to him across the blurred battlefield.
That's when a shadow appeared behind her.
"You son o– ...ed to me this entire t–BACK! Stay BACK!"
Jack's eyes widened.
Like moving through water, he watched the black around her swirl and distort until it revealed a disturbed gas-mask just above her head. Then a pair of hands appeared on either side of head.
"J-Jack?! T-This isn't–that tooth is-s kept under lock-k an–"
Tooth saw his change in expression and she paled. She didn't have time to react as Pitch's hitman shoved his glove against her mouth and grabbed her from behind.
His vision spliced into two.
"–u should always ta–I'm with damn cat-mouse–"
"Wait you don't underr–Who ARE you? JA–Who am I?"
Tooth screamed, shooting her hands out to him as she was being pulled away.
"Jfmmm!"
"JACK!–o are you!?"
Jack's heart went into overdrive.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
And his vision turned red, and he screamed.
"NOOO!"
Suddenly the Northern wind cracked direction and surged toward him.
Like a vortex, Jack sucked all the smoke toward him with an invisible vacuum. He gripped his fists tightly and breathed in the frigid air. Then when he couldn't take it anymore, he snapped his hands out.
The wind obeyed.
The current exploded into a thousand air pockets and with a powerful yell, Jack pushed all the wind away with the strength of a hurricane. It knocked everyone off their feet.
The air created an immense shockwave, shattering glass everywhere along the street and sending the parked car alarms several miles away into a frenzy. The snow flew up like bats of out hell into the atmosphere until the entire street around him was virtually wiped clean of ice, and dirt and the pressure from the force was mind-blowing, deafening...it threatened to suck all the air out of everyone's lungs – well everyone who didn't have a gas mask.
The Nightmares were flung like ragdolls against the wall and the Russian had to dig his sword into the ground to keep earthbound. Several of his men caught each other and grappled onto beams at the last second and Tooth, who had Pitch's hitman with his arms around her, ended up using him as a cushion as they slammed into a brick wall several feet away. The hitman cracked his skull from the impact and a scream wretched itself from Tooth's lips as they both slumped forward.
Jack was completely unaware, his hair blowing violently in the torrents around him and his eyes blurred from the intensity. He was grinding his teeth, his hands were shaking, and the fire in his chest consumed him. He felt almost infinite...invincible...like no one or nothing could touch him and he could split himself into a million atoms.
Then just as quickly as it had come...it all stopped. The North wind tossed itself high into the stratosphere and what remained was a feeling of emptiness. The street had gone cold, and the air was stark and bitter.
When the wind vanished, everyone who was still conscious got up shakily, suddenly afraid of the brunette. There were only three Nightmares still alive and four of the Russian's men left standing (not including himself and his furry partner).
Jack meanwhile was panting, for the first time in a long time, heaving deep breaths as he leaned heavily on his knees.
He had never done that before.
Never.
He didn't know he could!
He thought that all that was strange about him was just the tiny guidance he had over the breeze. But then he saw Toothiana, and the smoke and the shadow, and he...
Jack snapped his head at the princess.
She was scrambling out of the dead man's hold and was getting up on unsteady feet, using a nearby telephone post as her crutch. When she felt his eyes on her, she lifted her head to him.
...
Tooth wiped her eyes, wet from the wind.
Her body ached with stiffness because it had stiffened before the impact. Now it was trying to break her into pieces but as the snow that flew up into air started to fall back down heavily again, all she did was stare at Jack.
He looked like he was standing in the middle of a crater with the way the dust and snow was painting the concrete at his feet.
She couldn't believe what she'd just seen.
...
As the two continued to silently read each other, neither noticed how the Russian man in the aviator jacket stared at Jack, completely shocked and...something else.
"...Could it be?"
He turned his head and looked his partner in the big, fur coat across from the girl for confirmation. They both gave each other astonished looks...but the fight wasn't over.
"Nyet!" he suddenly cried and Jack lifted his head. His heart was still pounding like steam hammer but as he coughed out and gasped for air, he knew why the bearded man had yelled.
The final three Nightmares had recovered instantly and dashed away, cloaking themselves in the shadows of the street.
The Russian gritted his teeth.
"Find them, men!" the Russian bellowed and his men brandished their short, silver blades with the beautiful wreath designs. "Find the–"
"GAH!"
They spun. One of the man's own was nicked in the throat by a sharp blade and bleeding profusely through his throat. When he dropped dead, another teammate had his eye taken out by a second blade.
The two Nightmares were improvising! They had stolen a knife from each of their dead comrades and were raining them down on Jack and the Russian's troop!
That's when Jack sensed something coming on his left and when he dropped to the ground, a blade made zing over his head.
A Nightmare had decided to go after him.
The bearded man and his team watched partially in case the brunette needed backup but were otherwise on their own toes looking out for the other two.
...
Toothiana was trembling. A cold, unbearable sweat was now running down her back.
She couldn't believe how the tables might have turned. Jack was in the middle of a fight with one of the last Nightmares and the other two were invisible to the rest – and they were killing them off one by one! She looked around frantically – maybe she could help! Maybe she could spot one and–
Something hit her foot and she looked down.
The gun that went off earlier... it was at her feet!
Tooth reached down shakily. It was like ice in her fingers but still the cold, steel weapon it was designed to be.
"How-how did Jack take off the safety again?" she mumbled to herself and remembered instantly. With a shaky breath, she grasped the back end and pulled on the decocker the release the bullet cap.
When the CLICH sounded, Tooth's lip quivered.
She raised her head and slowly lifted the pistol in both hands, careful not to aim it near her feet–
She twisted her head to the right.
A Nightmare suddenly dropped from overhead, completely oblivious to the Slav and his team who were facing the other end of the street. The hitman didn't waste time and tried rushing forward at her but Tooth choked loudly and instantly reacted.
She raised the gun and with a pool of guilt washing over her, she pulled the trigger.
Two times.
The crack of the bullets made her cry out slightly when he dropped like a fly and everyone, (except Jack and his sparring partner) turned on her. But Tooth was too busy breathing heavily to notice their stares.
She had shot him in the leg and in the torso...but he was still alive.
Her chest was hurting and she wasn't sure if she could do that again but she knew she had to.
There were still two more assassins desperate to kidnap her, and she was only one with the quickest weapon, but with her fingers shaking so bad, she could barely hold the gun! All she could think was that she almost killed a person, another human being. Someone who was a son or brother to someone else.
She bit back another choke and scrunched her eyebrows together fervently.
'How does he do it!?' she thought.
How did Jack kill people? She stared down at the hitman screaming in pain, blood sprayed across the snow and cement like a horrific paintjob. What did she need to do in order to focus, in order to protect everyone?
Toothiana gripped the pistol tightly. She pictured Jack's face back at the warehouse, in Hue's den, and across the street...
'Block it out, Tooth,' she thought. 'God, just block it all out and shoot!'
That's what Jack did! He was emotionless. Blank.
Jack washed it all away and just...pointed.
So Tooth shut her eyes and tried.
She tried to block out everything but her breath, her heartbeat, and Jack's boots hitting the ice.
But it didn't work.
Instead, she ended up picturing her sisters, her palace, her loving, hard-working people...and everyone else who cared about her – and it was the light from those emotions that fueled her.
Tooth snapped her eyes open and lifted the gun. She leveled the glock at his face.
Everything that was happening in her life was thanks to the men like him, the blackhearted men who worked for Pitch. A terrorist. They were to blame and she didn't want to kick out in the balls for it.
Tooth stared down at him without emotion then she shook her head slowly – he deserved much worse, and so would their boss.
"Go to hell," she whispered and a tear slipped out of her eye, but she did not blink.
Princesses do not cry.
She shot – Tooth got him right through the gas mask.
And when she spotted the second-last Nightmare behind one of the Russian's team members, Tooth gritted her teeth and exhaled calmly through her nose.
She raised the gun shot the last two bullets twice with thinking – it ended up hitting Pitch's man in the jugular vein at the base of his throat. When he sputtered and fell, she choked loudly.
Now there was only one left...the one fighting Jack.
...
Jack looked like he was at the end of his rage.
He was matching the Nightmare punch for punch with deflects. With a yell, Jack caught an opening in the man's hits and grabbed onto both forearms and leaped. Timing it precisely, he propelled the assassin's arms into the air with him and tucked in his legs. When Jack was fully airborne, he snapped out his boots and let go. The force to his chest sent the Nightmare flying.
When he landed in a heap ahead of the bearded Russian man, Jack immediately pushed himself about the ground.
He was about to rush in and end it–
Someone pulled him back.
With an angry snarl, Jack spun around and tried to deliver a reverse elbow strike to the man's torso, but the Russian leader caught it quickly and gripped him.
"Nyet!" he barked. "Stand down!"
Jack narrowed his eyes dangerously and gritted his teeth but the Russian had already let go of him and gently ushered him to one side.
"It is my turn," the large man muttered before he stepped toward the remaining Nightmare, alive and on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Jack seethed and the Russian sent him a look before he focused back on the last surviving Nightmare.
"I am ending this," he said deeply then shut his eyes and took a breath, puffing out warm air between his lips.
When the air grew still, the older man opened his eyes.
Suddenly, a sharp siiiing moved across the street in front of him.
Jack didn't hear it with his custom-built earplugs that he shoved on before the plane took off to Moscow, and the Russian's tem members didn't react either because they were positioned behind him – but Tooth didn't have earplugs and was in line with the Russian's man trajectory.
A light went off in her mind and a high-pitched wail floated past her ears.
Tooth tried to clamp her hands down on them and shut her eyes but it didn't help. She felt like someone had tossed a skill saw beside her face and the screech was unbearable!
Then she heard someone.
Someone was whispering to her in the deepest part of her heart.
"What do you wish for?"
Tooth froze.
...
Jack and other men were heavily focused Pitch's final man.
He suddenly slouched and clambered onto his feet.
The brunette glared suspiciously.
The mask-covered underling slumped forward in a daze as he stared at the older man in the aviator jacket. Something about the assassin's movements disturbed Jack. He didn't even seem like he was awake. Instead, he looked like someone had told him to stand and he was aimlessly doing it.
Like a slave. And that's what the Russian wanted.
As the hitman remained motionless, the Slav entered into his conscious. He twisted deep into his private thoughts and asked him 'what he wanted'.
"What do you wish for?"
Pitch's man mentally answered: The tooth.
"Why?"
The fear of failure. Pitch Black needs the report of success.
The Russian leader heard the wish but instead of accepting, he rejected it.
"Nyet. You cannot have the tooth," he mentally whispered, "Report the tooth as still missing...Tell Pitch that failure was the result of ambush. Tell Pitch none of whom you have seen. Erase the tooth from your mind, and keep your head."
Before Jack could grasp what was happening, the assassin suddenly began to walk away. He clambered up a wall and without a word, the man and his broken gas mask vanished out of sight.
Jack tried to pedal after him but the bearded man grabbed his hand and shook his head.
"Nyet," he said in his deep, broken English. "He will not return."
And Jack violently shrugged out of his touch and took a step forward. He looked up at the roof again – Pitch's Nightmare was gone.
Jack heaved deeply trying to bring down his elevated heartbeat while flexing his fingers. They were still twitching while his energy was on edge. He then stared suspiciously at the bearded Russian.
(Russian) "What did you do?" Jack demanded.
The Slav glared at the shorter man sternly.
"I will them to go," he finally spoke softly. "Amplified their most deepest desires and used it against him. It was only way or more would show up."
Jack's forehead creased, not really understanding.
This seemed all wrong, this was–
Something suddenly rushed at him from his vision and Jack reacted, snapping his hand to catch it by the throat.
"BOY, NO!"
Jack froze instantly.
When he turned, his glove was around Tooth's neck.
But she didn't scream or cry like he thought she would – the princess didn't even react at all.
Her eyes were clouded, the magenta a blurry storm of purple and dilated pupils. Her mouth was also hung open slightly and she looked hypnotized.
Her movements were also sluggish and lethargic like Pitch's man, but–
When she felt his cold grip on her skin, her glazed eyes instantly cleared away.
Tooth blinked, waking up from a dream like a mermaid out of water.
She gasped.
The bearded man raised his hands in concern and took a step forward, almost fearful of what the brunette might've done.
"My amplification was too strong, I pushed her deepest desire along with Pitch's. I did not mean to!" he called out but neither the princess or the ex-spy looked at him.
Tooth trembled as Jack looked at her wildly – her hands, which were open at his sides, instantly dropped.
'What happened?!' she cried in her head. She thought back to the last thing she remembered–
"What do you wish for?...What do you want?"
She had answered: I want to...I want to hug Jack.
"Why?"
To...to make him feel better.
And he had answered: "Da. You are good, child. Go then," and amplified it without her consent.
She was about to hug him...but she didn't really mean to.
She turned to the Russian head.
"M-My deepest...but I didn't...I mean I..."
It was just a thought a while back as she watched him fight. Or no, Toothiana had been thinking about what it would be like to give Jack a hug all day...but that was his fault really! He just kept sulking all the time, and he was always giving her things, and she really felt like he needed comfort, especially after what he just did...
"Jack? I..." she whispered and stared up at him, feeling his glove still around her neck starting to scare her.
Jack wretched his hand away from her like it had burned him and stared at her.
'He...amplified their most deepest desires and used it against them?' he thought.
But the princess was about to hug him! Her biggest desire...was to...
For him?
Jack took a step away from her. He said nothing and looked away.
Tooth wrung her wrists together instantly embarrassed by his accusatory look. She looked down as something heavy settled into the pit of her stomach, washing away all the adrenaline and emotion she had.
Everything was a mess...and even still, so were they.
...
That's when Jack heard loud, clomping boots against the snow.
When he turned, the Russian man in the aviator jacket was already walking angrily toward him.
(Unknown language) "Domo gret skrakya!" the older hissed and pointed at Jack directly in the chest. "Domo meenya gret skrakya tet kujryano?"
Jack blinked.
His what?
"Jeen skrakya?" Jack immediately replied and took a step back.
Yet somehow, he understood.
"Young man...What is your center?"
"My...what center?" Jack mumbled back in Russian.
The man's eyebrows rose up high on his head.
'He knows...He knows the language!'
The Russian took another step forward, his blue eyes hopeful and almost angry – he almost risked everything by even speaking in the secret dialect but the Slav couldn't believe it!
"Your center, boy! The gene!" the Slav demanded more urgently. "What is...What is your Center gene?"
Jack tensed and the bearded man caught it under his wide-eyed gaze.
"You do not know? But the wind..." the Slavic leader asked. The boy had responded without even realizing what he was capable of knowing. He had to know!
After what he had just witnessed – this boy, this young man...what he just did, all those moves, that lethal strength...the control over the... Only a special group of people could do what he just did – the same people from the company. And it had been a while since he'd seen another survivor.
Yet Jack kept shaking his head and took another suspicious step back from the man's anxious form.
"W-What's a Center gene?" Jack said under his breath. He'd never heard such a...and yet the word on his lips. It sent a tingle down his spine.
He did. He had heard the word before – all the words in fact.
The words the man kept saying...It wasn't Russian and yet...wasn't it? But the words were different, and somehow Jack had responded almost immediately.
'H-How did I–'
Jack's eyes widened.
Луна...that was Луна!
The man's furry partner, his second-in-command, suddenly came up beside the Russian and leaned to his ear.
(Russian) "I fear he may be another," he whispered in his boss' ear. The latter paused for a second to give Jack an once over before he pursed his lips delicately.
"He does not seem to know," the Russian replied under his breath, "...but that wind was not a trick."
"Then I will trust your judgement," he replied and when he pulled away, the bearded man frowned – his partner was right.
As he looked at Jack's concern etched onto his face, threatening to crack and reveal the scared man underneath, he took pity on him.
When the company shut down and everyone disbanded, only himself and two other agents were the only ones who escaped Defragmentation.
But the rest...well, the brunette standing before him was a prime example of that result.
"Trust who? Us?"
The Russian and his partner turned at the new voice.
Toothiana just walked up to them with nervous glare and was holding the broken pieces of Jack's baton. Tooth instantly closed her mouth as she approached – from their raised eyebrows, they probably didn't think they were being listened to, let alone by her.
Jack quickly moved to her side and asked her if she was okay, but the older man still had his eyes on her. As the two mumbled under their breaths and the brunette took his broken weapon from her to place in his police belt, the man furrowed his thick brows. That girl's face, those eyes...
His blue eyes finally widened.
He couldn't believe it.
"Come," he said loudly in English and everyone snapped their heads at him. Jack and Tooth turned up at him to find him beckoning a hand out to Tooth. His accent on his tongue was heavy like iron. "Quickly, we must get her to safety."
Tooth's eyes grew big with fear as all the eyes were suddenly on her. Jack narrowed his and stepped in front of her.
"Who a– "
"There is no time. COME both of you! Warehouse is not far, or more Nightmares in area will return!"
"We're not going with you!" Tooth bravely bit out and stepped beside (rather than behind) Jack to show her equal defiance – no more enemies, no more running, she wanted to stand up. She stared him down, mistrusting, like her bodyguard.
"Girl, you must trust me!" the man pleaded.
"Why?!"
"Because I am friend of your protector!"
"No, you're not," Jack growled and took a step forward.
"Not you, boy!" the older man snapped and returned his gaze to Toothiana. "I talk of Sanderson!"
And Tooth stopped, a dry lump caught in her throat.
"M...Mr. Sanderson?" she didn't want to ask but did. She was afraid that any of her personal life that she said aloud would be used against her, but he shook his head encouragingly.
"Da. Yes, child. I am friend of his. Dear, old friend!"
"Princess," Jack warned and shook his head slowly, trying to push her back around him but Tooth caught his arm and looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Wait! He knows my private tutor," she whispered urgently.
"But we don't even know if we can trust his s–"
"Mr. Sanderson took care of me as a child after my father died. I trust him with my life!" and she looked back the mighty leader and his party standing together tensely. Jack clenched his jaw and stared down the team of fighters. With three of theirs dead, only the Slav, his partner and the two others remained.
"You must believe me. I know you," the Russian tried once again, this time more calmly so as to not spook the two. "In many letters, Sanderson writes of you. And I too know you since birth."
Tooth's muscles stiffened but not with fear – with anxiety.
"You...you have?" she breathed hopelessly and Jack finally turned to look at her.
"Yes, so come. You need protection, Princess," he confirmed her title. He then threw a hand behind him and turned – his party moved out quickly.
"To my warehouse! NOW!"
"Wait!"
The Russian turned and Tooth raised a hand.
"W-What's your name?"
It took a moment, but the bearded man glared softly at the two.
"Nicolas..." he said. "St. North."
And when they didn't say anything, he nudged his head then dashed after his men.
Tooth's mouth was dry and sweat trickled down her neck.
Her anxiety skyrocketed and she wanted to collapse but she couldn't, she wouldn't – not after what had just happened. And this man...this bearded man and his band of angels had just saved her and Jack! She rushed forward after them–
Jack grabbed her hand.
"Are you insane?!" he seethed down at her and tried to yank her back. "We can't trust anyone. Not right now with the police on my ass and Russian Interpol looking for me!"
"But Jack!" she tried to reason. "He knows me! And he knew my nanny! No one did!"
And when she tried to pull away again, he grabbed her other wrist too and held her tightly. Jack pinned her down with a gaze so intense that at any other time, Tooth would've adored the attention.
"You need to stick with me," he muttered, his hot breath puffing against her cold skin and warming her insides. "I can't protect you like this and we don't know anything about him."
"But he is going to protect us!" she argued back and her lip quivered as she heard Nicolas' boots and his teams' clomp farther away. "Jack! Come on, they're giving us shelter and he knew something...about both of us! We need to go!"
And Jack tried to argue again but his mouth snapped shut.
For once, he couldn't come up with another strategy. Toothiana was right. They needed to hide and the mysterious men seemed to be just as good as him at playing the stealth card.
Besides, he was just as curious about the Russian as Tooth was.
And the things he said...it was jarring and loud in his head.
His Center gene...
His insides begging to know, Jack gritted his teeth.
"Okay...Okay!" he finally said and Tooth hurriedly pulled out of his grip.
Jack watched her run ahead to catch up with the others, memorizing the sound of her footfalls.
Then he followed, leaving behind the remnants of destruction he'd painted all across the street.
As he ran, his fingers twitched and the North wind dissipated.
Chapter's soundtrack: "Death Hammer" – Blue Stahli