I forgot this chapter is long too! Sorry, the next one is short :3 Let's just say the Green Arc wins for length-and-eyeball destruction lmao. You're all amazing! If I could take out eyeballs and give them massages, you'd all get one! And to the anon who threatened me with a 4-5 day update lmao, I'm a day late but is this good enough for you? (; And aww guys! Thanks for all responses to my language shout out! I have so many now, more than I thought I would need, and I'm gonna incorporate you all (: Be sure to find replies in your inbox, my lovelies! And have a good start to summer! (and long weekend to all my Canadian peeps!)
On the road, 11:43 p.m.
Aster twirled his paintbrush with his fingers before he put it between his teeth.
"Skinny bastard..."
He didn't have buckteeth. His molars were just large and if the princess appreciated that, then Jack could just go to hell.
The hacker tightened his grip on the wheel.
Aster flicked his acid, green eyes to said brunette in the passenger seat. Silent and brooding, Jack was busy looking out the window with his fist under his chin.
After being out for hours, that kid wouldn't need sleep for days.
Whatever.
Men had their issues – but now the Australian wished more than ever that Toothiana was sitting in the front, especially since the two had argued earlier about who'd drive the car. And even after a few good heated minutes, both were still fuming under their calm expressions.
Jack was hotheaded, trying to making it obvious that he was more skilled in high-performance driving...but it was Aster's baby, and an Aston Martin One-77...AND built in with freaking computers too! So there was no way, in seven rings of hell, that the blue-tipped brunette was letting the recently wounded ex-spy get behind the wheel.
And Tooth?
Playing with her right glove, she was burning holes into both their heads from the back.
She also made a point not to catch Jack's gaze when he turned his head.
So all in all, yeah, it was a pretty uncomfortable ride.
"I ain't takin' the 390 or the 86," Aster finally said gruffly so Jack could hear. "We'll follow the NY-19 and head south, alrigh'?"
Jack didn't say anything and moved his gaze out past the dashboard. He watched the light snow dance in their headlights as they drove down the dark, lonely state road. It was a good plan as he mapped the route from Buffalo in his head. The NY-19 was less traveled by people, especially tonight, and even though it would take longer it was for the best.
"How long will it take?" they both heard Tooth mumble from behind and Aster gazed at her silhouette in the rear view mirror.
The light from his computers illuminated her cheeks and her bleary eyes.
He frowned gently, pulling the paintbrush from his mouth.
"Couple more hours, maybe two or three," he answered and she nodded as she watched him bite on it again.
"Oh okay...thanks, Edmund."
Jack paused.
He then eyed Tooth behind him, calculative and on edge.
"Why don't you get some sleep?" he finally suggested but the princess sat up higher in her seat and hugged herself.
"No, I'm alright, Jack." She still felt a little uncomfortable under his heavy stare but tried to cover it up with a gentle expression.
"Besides, if I fall asleep I can't stop you two from killing each other."
"I ma' no whromises, rheila," Aster grumbled past the brush. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"You trying to gnaw down your teeth with that thing?"
"No, y'little shit. It's–"
Beep! Beep!
Aster glared down at the paintbrush and pulled it away. Embedded in the wood was a chip that started to blink.
"Finally," he huffed. "It's a beacon. I like to hide things in ordinary–"
"That's not ordinary. Who the hell carries around a paintbrush?"
"And what kind of spy uses a 6'2 stick as their weapon?"
The ex-operative didn't comment.
"Yeah I saw," Aster smirked. "So shut it."
"It's not a stick, you–"
But then Jack and Tooth eyed him curiously when he stroked the bristles on his touchscreen.
Suddenly, a completely different program lit up.
"Whoa..." Tooth leaned as close as her seatbelt would let her. She knew if she wanted to, she could've just sat in the back without one – but growing up with bodyguards who kept insisting on it, and having crazed spies with Nightmares on their asses, prevented her from being that one bit rebellious.
She raised her eyebrows.
"Just when I thought this car couldn't get any cooler!" she mumbled warmly, trying to lighten the mood and Aster smiled in the rearview. He then touched the screen with his glove and a new HTML code started to write out. But Jack was quick and as he scrunched his eyebrows, he translated the coded sequence instantly.
"You're getting a shipment of tungsten?"
Aster lifted his eyebrows, mildly impressed that Jack wasn't all bite and actually had brains. The kid could actually read encrypted HTML coding, something a nerd (like he'd slandered) needed to know. Well, what do you know?
But then again, the GUARDIAN program did only train the best of the best.
Aster glared at the screen as Jack crossed his arms, still reading it down.
"Yeah, from some ELFs. I need to re-attune the tracker rings for North."
He then ran his hand through his hair. "Pitch traced their energy signatures to Wales and apparently two of 'em got ditched. So his lot took 'em and tried to retrace the manufacturer back to me...And y'know, I told the Santa to make sure that couldn't happen..."
Jack's fingers twitched.
Tracker rings.
He looked back at Tooth.
Her wide, cerise eyes looked back at him and her mouth fell open.
Jack quickly slipped one onto her finger discreetly and shortened his long strides to match hers. She looked down at it curiously...
Tooth yanked off the promise ring, flinging it against the wall.
"It was all for show! J...J-Just like me!"
"You know how I found you?...By this. This shitty little toy."
She caught his heavy gaze and looked down but Aster didn't pick up on their silence.
"Don't worry though," he sighed, "I cut the transmission and erased the keygen from my hard drive so the bastard's only got deaders. I'll rewrite a new algorithm later after they send me th–"
Beep!
As he finished talking, a built-in printer (slim and like an air vent), printed out a sheet right in front of Jack. He scrunched his face and pulled it ou–
Aster grabbed it from him.
"Don't touch my things, pretty boy," he muttered.
Jack shot him a dirty look and all Tooth could do was huff angrily in the back.
'Seriously!? They're acting like ten-year-olds!'
She then collapsed against the back seat and scratched her head like twitchy bird.
'Argh, I swear, if I wasn't sitting here and we were all standing on solid ground I'd–'
Wait...no, kicking the guys between their legs would not solve her current problem.
'But it did help solve all of my past ones.'
Toothiana then started to count off all the guys in her head that she'd managed to hit since she'd been kidnapped...along with the shins she'd kicked... the faces she slapped...not to mention hitting Jack with a pair of sticks and knocking that Nightmare out with a helmet...
"Hey lady, how about a dance?"
She lifted his other hand and bit down on his grubby wrist with her white teeth.
"Cute little ethnic thing like her, I'd take her for a ride t–ARGH!"..."Not even if we were the last two people on earth."
Tooth grinned – it felt like her first one in hours.
'You go, Tooth! You proved that you're capable...Princesses don't need guns...except maybe on these two.'
Oh jeez.
Okay, so maybe that WAS a bit of an overkill back at the Warren. But come on! When Jack and Edmund caught ninja crazy they were harder to handle than a butt load of Nightmares and bar hoppers.
'But will I be able to pull that off again?' She frowned. 'There's no way they'd let me cook for them after that! Aw crap...'
As she bounced on her crossed knees, Aster flit his eyes back and forth from the road to the paper. When the forest they were traveling through finally came to an end, the hacker exhaled deeply. Several trees later, the forest opened up to a field flat and barren for miles – it was a good thing the moon peeked through the puffy, clouds of snow and lit up the area.
Toothiana instantly forgot about her pacifier problems and snapped her head out the window.
She cooed softly.
What a winter wonderland! This was her first time ever seeing Christmas in the States. She was absolutely awestruck.
It was the kind of things you saw in those Christmas specials back at the tvs in the palace. Yet while she lived in the snow when she came back once school started again, there was something about seeing the snow in the moment of the holidays.
She wanted to smile–
Tooth frowned. To think...last year, Jack might've woken up alone in such a beautiful, lonely place.
Edmund promised he'd drive Jack south to where he claimed he'd woken up – but it wasn't like Jack was very convincing. He said he'd never even tried to retrace his steps in the months he wandered because he couldn't remember what he'd been doing for so long. So for all Tooth and the Aussie knew, it could've been a ditch, at the foot of an abandoned facility...hell, it could've been a lake.
That really bugged and worried her.
Aster meanwhile could care less, hell-bent on driving and reading his sheet.
And Jack...
He rolled down his window.
Tooth squealed and shut her eyes.
"Jack!"
The wind blew a sharp sting of air onto her cheeks and Aster barked indignantly. He cringed away.
"Oy! It's below freezing, pull that window up!"
But Jack didn't listen to them and felt his muscles relax. The wind swirled around him like a comforting hand of fresh air and he inhaled deeply to get the smell of the endless field into his bones. It elated him, and as he weaved the north wind through his fingers, the torrent's feeling was mutual. Jack visibly piqued with energy as it danced through his skin and his gene's sensitivity.
But as it swirled stronger in and around the car, Aster gritted his teeth.
"Jack!" he finally spat his name. "Come on, what're y–"
Fwoom!
Aster's eyebrows shot up like bullets as the paper flew out the window.
"Hey! My bloody–"
He swerved a little and started to veer off the road slowly. When he entered the shoulder, Jack turned to look at him.
"Why're you–"
"Y'idiot, I need that for my work!"
When Aster finally parked the car, he squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"That gene of yours, I swear to–"
"Oh stop crying," Jack rolled his eyes. "Just request a new c–"
"I know! Why'd ya think I pulled over?! So gimme a sec. We only ever send one of everything so this may take some ti–"
Tooth huffed.
Jack turned to looked at her.
"What?"
"See all the trouble you get us into, Jack?"
A second later, she unbuckled herself and hopped out of the car.
They both reacted.
"Princess, wait!" Aster rushed out in a frenzy.
Jack paused for only a second before he opened his door, thinking of North.
"Another year off my life," he sighed angrily.
When they got out, they saw Toothiana jog away from the car to look for the sheet. When she caught it dancing in the wind, she pointed up.
She grinned.
"I see it!" she cried and she hobbled across the last bit of the road to tread onto the field. As her boots went deeper into the snow, Aster was wide-eyed and worried. His tall and lean build looked buff and bulky in his thick coat.
"Thia!" he called. "It's alrigh'! I can get another copy, get back here!"
"But it's right there!" she argued and feeling like she was ten all over again, Tooth skipped into the snow after it. "I'll just get it for you, Edmund!"
"Tooth!" Jack cried and quickly stalked after her into the snow he couldn't feel. "Come back, you crazy–"
Tooth jumped when the wind whisked it her way. But she missed and when it blew away again, she gasped. Her shivers grew.
"Come on, Mr. Wind...Stop playing around, w-we need to leave!"
Aster crossed his arms as he slowed to warm himself. He had to give her credit – she was too nice, even for her own good.
But Jack didn't seem to enjoy that at the moment as he walked faster. Tooth may be a princess with her own authority, she may now be his friend (sorta), and ugh, she may be her usual self...you know, she was being sweet–butthepointwas...she was also still in a lot of danger! The bunny rabbit said he'd print out another so she shouldn't bother freezing herself to death.
"Tooth!"
She flew past him.
He sighed. Then with a lazy lift of his hands, he made her stop as a flourish of snow blew into her face.
She squealed past her chattering teeth. And where the heck was her gum?!
"Jack! I know that's you s-so can you just..."
When she finally pushed her hair and earrings from her face, Tooth looked up.
A small thread of wind shot away from the rest of the gust and pushed the paper her way. Aster didn't see Jack's trick past the snowfall but he felt it in the air, plucking at his center. He tilted his head.
On clumsy feet, Tooth stretched up to catch it – and she did!
"Yes!"
When she turned with a small grin, Jack stood several feet away with his gloved hand in his pocket. He dropped his other to dismiss the wind instantly. She inwardly enjoyed the way his bangs and the hood of his blue sweatshirt lifted slightly in the strong wind. Not to mention how his skin seemed to reflect brightly off the snow and the moon.
When she moved through the snow again back to Jack, he reached out to steady her arm.
"Thanks," she mumbled, cheeks red from the cold and...well, you know. "H...How's your shoulder?"
"It's fine," he sighed but under his keen eyes, he caught her tiny frown at the spot where his leather jacket covered his heart. He decided to squeeze her arm.
Tooth looked up.
"Really," he urged gently. "I didn't say it before but you guys did great...Thanks. Just don't tell the Easter bunny I said that."
Tooth blinked. Was he really...did he really just say that?
'Apologies and a thank you? Next thing you know the ground is gonna open up!'
And she instantly brightened, relaxing his insides.
"I won't," she promised then the two walked back to the car.
"See?" Tooth said as she handed him the paper with a smile. "Tha-at wasn't so bad."
Aster took it, thinking the smile was for him – well, it was...partly.
"Thanks, sheila," he smiled down to the short woman watching her pink eyes get caught in the moonlight. "You're not still cold, are you?"
She rubbed her arms in response.
"W-What do you think?" she chuckled and Aster smirked. He nudged his head back at the car, shivering under his coat too.
"I'll forget the bloke's needs and put up the heat for us," and Tooth snickered at that. "Now come on, let's go."
"Yeah, yeah," Jack griped but they pretended not to hear him. Tooth and Aster then turned around and walked away as Jack shoved his hands into his jacket and moved to follow.
But suddenly he froze.
He sensed something.
As he puffed out a billowing cloud of warm air, Jack slowly roved his eyes around, his nerves on high alert. He squinted. Aside from his own breath and heartbeat, the field was silent, deathly silent...
Wasn't it?
'It's nothing...It's just a field. Jeez.'
A cold, lonely, and empty field...
...except for the flicker of blue he spotted in the corner of his eye.
"What the–"
Jack turned and–
"Gah!"
–he jumped out of his skin.
Someone, out of nowhere, they...
...they ran right through him.
Jack gasped in pain.
Watching the body phase through him and shoot forward into the snow in front of him, a deep chill entered in his heart
Jack pressed his gloved hand to his chest and panted slightly before he looked up. His wound from the Nightmare's bullet flared slightly from the cold touch. He'd never seen, never experienced anything like that. He felt physically violated! It was like someone dunked a bucket of ice onto his skin and grabbed his heart in his chest cavity!
'But wh...How?!'
Jack looked up fervently.
There just ahead of him was a ghost, a blue outline of a man running down the field with two other men trailing behind.
He squinted and leaned forward slightly to catch the faces in the moonlight.
'Who are you?!' 'Get back here!' Jack wanted to demand.
But he opened his mouth, he stopped short.
And he realised...
It wasn't just any ghost.
It...
It was him.
Jack's eyes widened as he watched the spectre of himself dash away in a dark spy tracker's outfit. But when he stepped forward, ready to follow the group, they suddenly faded away into the darkness.
Then suddenly–
–was looking down at the ground from a helicopter. It was the same field – barren, dry, and covered in snow. But a split second later, he and three other agents jumped out and dived head-first toward the–
Jack walked several feet away from Tooth and Aster.
His eyes were clear, but his head was foggy. He lifted his ungloved hand trying to see past the snow and catch what he was missi–
–were almost several feet from the dirt before he shot out his hand. "ID code AG-5019!" he yelled. And as he and his team twisted into tight rolls, the ground opened up and–
Jack paused.
...The ground opened up.
His heart raced as he acutely heard Tooth shuffle in the snow.
"Jack, what's wrong?!"
At her voice, his outstretched fingers twitched and the wind blew his way. It was too manic for him to control and he watched as the snow weaved itself around and under him. Because of it, Jack didn't hear the princess or the Australian rush forward.
But when Aster put his boot down a foot from Jack, the wind scattered away.
The hacker huffed angrily.
"Oy! You not hear us call you back there?!" he snapped. Toothiana blinked up at him.
"Edmund, i-it's fine really he–Woah, Jack! W-What're y–"
Jack spun and looked at her.
"What?" he asked worriedly, looking all around her to make sure she was okay.
But Tooth wasn't looking at him.
Her mouth fell partly open in shock.
"What is that?"
And he followed her finger. Under his snow-covered boots...there was suddenly a cracked square in the dirt.
The snow must've been blown away by the wind he subconsciously guided – but none of them were fixed on that detail.
Aster snapped his head up at the shorter brunette while Tooth nervously tied her hair up into a feathery, high ponytail.
"Mate," he muttered low and dark. "...How'd you know this was here?"
Jack blinked slowly and stared down at the steel door beneath his feet.
The color was draining from his face as he shook his head.
"I...I don't–"
"Because I've never, and I repeat, never have seen this entrance before," the Aussie continued. "I was gonna take you to another one but–"
Tooth whipped her head back up at him. Her hair smacked her cheeks.
"Wait, this is an entrance!? I-Into what?"
"It's–" but Jack paused.
When his vision flickered to the dirt again, his eyes widened. Like a cold touch, his skin started to prickle uncomfortably.
A second later, his vision spliced.
Jack pulled his head up suddenly.
He watched a blue wave wash over the field, outlining something large under the dirt. It was shaped like a network of tunnels and as it vanished, the breath between his lips passed over into the frigid air.
And somehow, he just knew.
"...We're here," he mumbled.
Tooth looked at him warily.
"What? But I thought we...we were looking for a..."
And Jack lifted his head to Tooth.
"We're here. This..." his voice dropped low. "Tooth...this is the site of the company. And I almost didn't recognise it...until now."
Tooth froze.
"But uh..." Tooth breathed shakily and looked around. The field looked like an ocean to her. "Guys, h-hello? W-We're in the middle of nowhere. There's not a building for miles!"
She blinked as a chill (similar to the effect Jack just had) started to settle in her lungs.
"That's 'cause it's not on top, sheila," Aster said, voice was low and apprehensive like Jack's. She spun to face him.
"Then where..." but she didn't need to finish as Aster tapped his boot on the frozen soil.
Toothiana looked down into the grass.
She wriggled her toes in her boots, her skin crawling beyond her control. Her entire perception of the field's simple yet picturesque landscape instantly shattered, and the image of a secret world driving several miles down into the earth plagued her mind.
"Merry Christmas, princess," Aster whispered grimly.
And her lungs shuttered under her chest.
...
12:00 a.m.
Aster hid the car in the forest and Jack erased their tracks. Then they were all back on the field crunching their boots through the beautiful, cakey snow. Jack and Tooth left their bags in the car.
"Do you see a ditch a-anywhere?" Tooth tilted up to see Jack.
He swept his wintry, blue eyes across the field and scowled.
"Do you?"
"So then are you even sure that i-it was a ditch that you woke up in? Because I mean, y-you found that square pretty easy."
"But remember," and she saw him tighten his glove anxiously. "I wouldn't have if you didn't get out of the car."
"Oh, yeah."
And Tooth nervously nibbled on the inside of her cheek. She refused to chew gum yet for Jack's brooding sake – plus, she wasn't sure how many they had left since the last eighteen hours left pandemonium on his body and on her heart.
"All I know," he continued in his low, husky breath, "is that there was a sign next to me when I woke up so that's why–"
Her eyes bugged out.
"W-Well, why aren't we looking for that?!"
"We're here already," he pointed out. Jack then ran a hand through his hair. "Besides, I didn't find that square on just pure luck...My memories are of the company, so maybe North's advice will work better since we've actually managed to find it."
It was hard to argue with that logic. And Tooth couldn't deny the uplifting lilt in Jack's tone – he was anxious and desperate, and she nodded determinedly.
"Alright, let's do this," she said seriously and after pushing up her shoulders to shield against the wind, her fire returned to her stomach.
Eventually the three found the square again but as Jack kicked at the square, Aster glared.
"I didn't know there was one like this," he mumbled. He looked around like a spy would, afraid others might be watching before he knelt down. "I only know of the decoy shacks and warehouses a couple more kilometres away...But I'm guessing you've used this before then, haven't you?"
And after a moment, Jack nodded with a serious face.
Aster then sighed and took off his glove.
"Oy," he said gruffly. "You two help me move the dirt around. Then, leave the rest to me."
...
Two minutes later...
Aster did his spies and hacker boys proud as the elevator opened with an ominous shiiizzz.
It clearly hadn't been used in a while and the sharp smell of something sterile hit their nostrils.
"Alrigh' mate, you sure you're ready?" Aster perked up and crossed his arms. He looked down into the large mouth of the elevator.
Jack looked back at Tooth and despite the tension that was there, she offered a warm smile and touched his arm briefly.
Then he sighed steadily, adrenaline building inside.
"You don't know half of it, bunnybutt."
And before Aster could get a swipe at him, Jack jumped down without another thought.
"Jack?!" Tooth panicked. "Are you n–"
"I'm fine," he called from the black hole, completely safe thanks to his stealth prowess and easy landing.
"Just hurry up, you two."
"Yeah, we gotta move in case any Nightmares show up," Aster agreed and shot Toothiana a quick look. "The beauty of comin' from an abandoned organization is that Pitch doesn't know about this place yet."
And Tooth's energy picked up.
'That's right...he's right!'
"Okay," Tooth nodded. "L-Let's do this!"
A second later, she walked to the edge and Aster helped ease her down quickly with his long arms.
"'Ey, she's coming," he grunted and almost immediately, Jack's hands came around her waist.
Tooth tensed for a moment before she let go of Aster and effectively shifted her weight to Jack. Then as he tightened his strong grip, he helped her drop gently the rest of the way.
"I've got you...You okay?" he asked in the dark and Tooth tried not to blush as his hands still gripped her sides.
"O-Oh yeah, 'cause who doesn't love tiny, d-dark and enclosed spaces?"
'Smooth, Tooth.'
He pulled away instantly but a second later, he turned on a flashlight and shined it in her face.
"Better?"
Her warm cheeks didn't escape his gaze as she nodded shakily.
"Uh yeah, thanks," she said in a sassy tone and took a step back.
They were way too close to be just friends.
Jack however picked up on her immediate discomfort and frowned.
"Tooth–"
"Really, Jack," she pestered.
His eyes widened for a moment. Then he looked down.
"You c–"
"Stop worrying...This is all for you, remember?"
And when he looked up again, she nodded encouragingly (although he'd never know about the painful pang in her heart).
"Okay," he replied and he reached for her hand. Jack then handed her the flashlight.
"Here, take it," he said and when she grasped it, Tooth shined the yellow light under her chin. She smiled nervously up at him.
"See?" she pointed. "Still smiling."
And his fingers twitched in the cold.
A second later, Aster hopped down into the hole and took out his own flashlight. He then tossed his only spare to Jack (who expertly caught it in the semi-dark) and the brunette inspected it in Tooth's light. It was a small, skinny rectangle with a powerful white, beam emitting from it.
"My LX rod," he explained as Jack eyed it dubiously. "Burns brighter, but don't ask me what LX means."
"I didn't plan to."
"Good."
Tooth rolled her eyes. At least they weren't at each other's throats.
After Aster did a sweep of the box with his white light, he exhaled gently and rolled his shoulders. It was too damn cold for his own good.
"You startin' to remember anything else, bloke?" he eyed Jack.
Jack shook his head.
"S'okay," Aster mumbled. A second later, he turned back. "But remember–"
"You two keep close."
"Everyone stay close."
"Stay close."
They all paused for a second to stare at each other.
Jack rolled his eyes but Tooth smiled a little under her breath – that was royally weird. Aster's forehead creased for a second before he eyed the elevator again.
"Uh, yeah," he mumbled and a moment later, he turned and hit a panel neither of them had seen.
Then it lit up.
"Reques-...s'sting identi-f-ficatio..."
The broken voice made them all freeze.
The computer hadn't been used in months and it was the last of the few that survived. But that didn't mean their skins didn't crawl.
Aster shook his head stiffly. He quickly answered.
"...AG-6091."
Tooth shivered at his stark tone. It was so...professional.
A second later, the voice came back.
"Sta...area co-code-e."
"Level: Proj–"
"...ing Iden–...AG-5019...ode...'e-evel: Pro–"
Jack's gloved hand tightened around the flashlight.
He glared at the panel. Was that hi–
"...Pr pr-rocee..pr–'"
And it died, instantly.
Jack and Tooth listened to the hydraulics fail in the elevator suddenly. The brunette gritted his teeth.
"Shit," he muttered but Aster sighed.
He shook his head and looked down, almost a little too calmly.
"Hang on, I got it," he mumbled and knelt on the floor. Taking out his paintbrush beacon again, Aster turned it around and drove it into a panel. When the cover opened, Tooth and Jack shined light on the spot to give him light. Aster looked down hopefully.
"Get ready, you two..." he started as he began to reconfigure wires and hit buttons. "If I remember this right..."
And after a few more seconds, the computer lit up...and so did the entire elevator.
"Yes!"Aster grinned.
But then Tooth gasped.
The ceiling closed over them immediately. All the snow and light from the moon vanished, along with the wind Jack was comfortingly playing with.
"What do we do?" she whispered and Aster mumbled back.
"We wait."
A second later–
Lights all around the elevator lit up and nearly blinded her again. She pulled up a hand to cover her eyes gently while Jack stood behind her in case she stumbled back.
"What did you do?" Jack squinted at the energy cells paneling the walls and he frowned. The elevator hummed with life, happy and almost eager to be used again.
And so did the computer's voice as it came back, louder and stronger than ever.
"Override by the TI-unit accepted.'"
Jack scrunched his eyebrows.
The voice changed...Wait, what TI-unit?
He looked at the Australian.
"Am I supposed to know that?" But Aster frowned at him.
"Naw, mate," he admitted. "That was a tech analyst code. But I'm only one left who knows that, remember?"
And they said nothing as the elevator suddenly lowered them down into the grotto of the earth.
Tooth kept her head held high but she tightened her hand into her skirt.
3
...
2
This was it.
..
1
.
"Proceed to your sector, agent...And welcome back."
And when another set of elevator doors opened behind them, they all spun and shined their flashlights.
Tooth's mouth fell open, Jack's eyebrows flew up into his bangs, and Aster only had one thing to say.
"Bloody hell..."
...
3 kilometres underground, time unknown
Somebody gasped.
But with their hearts all beating the same mile a minute it was hard to guess who.
Because it wasn't small inside.
It was huge.
It was...It was a citadel.
The company was the epitome of 'steel' and 'city' and the three shrunk under the sheer breadth of its looming floors and halls. The cold crept into their lungs and the air was cold and stale, but as much as Jack and Aster hated to admit it, the smell was also...nostalgic.
It reminded them that they belonged here, that it was home.
Yeah, home.
Home to the world's most proficient agents capable of going after the most dangerous spies and criminals – and under the echo of her boots and the chill in her bones, Tooth couldn't be more afraid.
Somehow thanks to Aster's override, some of the generators still working underground turned on for him and they watched as blue lights started to light the glass walls and high ceilings. Stationed, steel tables set for computers and paperwork were layered in dust and old fixtures that had fallen, littered the marbled and concrete parts of the floor. There were also at least three more levels up, some with grated floors and others that were solid. But for all the power it exuded and the authority it would demand, the site was abandoned.
It was still cold, empty, and alone.
Aster and Jack moved forward, blowing warm air past their lips like cigarette smoke.
"These were called grandmaster halls," the Aussie recited under a frosty breath. "It was where the company connections units worked."
Toothiana shivered and wrapped her coat tighter around her. She watched as her flashlight danced across every surface like a lighthouse, calling demons out of the dark.
This was the stronghold that housed the world's most powerful people, the GUARDIANs. And with it, it also kept all the dark secrets about defragmentation, the center gene, and the people she'd met in the last four days. It was all so disturbing, especially to see how powerful it might have once been.
"I-I don't think I should be here," Tooth whispered to herself while Jack and Aster moved slightly ahead of her in a daze.
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Do you see a "No Crazy Princess" sign anywhere?" he muttered. "Relax, you're fine."
Tooth glowered under her chattering teeth.
She wanted to kick him anxiously in the shin. She almost did it too until her heart shuttered suddenly.
'His voice.'
Tooth paused. She realised his tone had changed.
In fact, when she looked Jack and Aster, so had their entire personas.
They weren't the slow and cautious guys she knew a second ago. As they walked, they looked...she couldn't put an expression to it except...that they looked like they were back to work.
Their walks, their shoulders, the way they carried their heads suggested that the smells and air passing through the hall tossed them back into the positions they once had, the pride they once held.
Toothiana frowned.
'Wow...they really do look like spies...' she thought to herself and her gaze fell on Jack.
He reminded her of the first night they were together – he'd walked away from her in the streets with such dark and confident strides. It was like they were almost back there again.
Tooth looked away, crestfallen and felt a little alone.
"S-So did the government...did they know about this agency? A-About you guys?" she asked gently, her lips still quivering in the cold air.
"Sorta," Aster said gruffly and put on his glasses. As he pulled his flashlight higher, he scowled. The light wouldn't go past the dark, and they only seemed to intensify that cold feeling of abandonment and secrecy.
He glared when he added more.
"The entire company was privately funded," he mumbled and shivered under his coat.
"B-But how does that work? You're a spy agency, sh...shouldn't the Whitehouse and its m-military be–"
"Because we looked small to them," Aster replied. "When you're tiny, people overlook your potential so they didn't expect that we'd have such a large homebase. But see, that was the plan. And we had more outside allies than they would think. So my guess is the Russian government..." Aster began to mumble to himself. "Or a big European benefactor, definitely..."
And Tooth nodded vigorously.
She knew all about being small and being overlooked.
'And NOW look how many business partners a little island like Punjam Hy Loo has!' she thought to herself smugly. 'Not to mention how much ass I'VE kicked!'
Tooth gulped when Aster started to drift further ahead, much less nervous than the other two brunettes. Without his tall frame, he left her left side wide open to all these new creepy shadows and frigid air.
Her eyes flit everywhere, trying to soak in the magnitude of such a large, complex underground.
'To think, all these years, nobody else knew how many people worked down here!' she thought.
Tooth's eyes then still glued to a spot far away.
The receptionist's desk sat like a tombstone as if to remind visitors of who'd once been there and it freaked the hell out of her...she was sure she saw something move near one of its legs!
"H-Holy crap..."
Tooth moved closer to Jack.
Absentmindedly, she shifted her right gloved hand to Jack's left one. He sensed her and his palm opened to catch hers.
The second their fingers brushed though–
Tooth pulled away.
"Sorry," she whispered as polite as she could.
The kiss (and him, with all his shirtless apologies) came to mind – not to mention his fingers and how they helped move away her hair when she puked in the sink.
Then she turned to stare into the shadows and hide her embarrassed face...but Jack still saw it.
He furrowed his brows and tried to reach for her hand again–
"Oy, princess! Come 'ere for a sec!"
In a flutter, she glided over to Aster and leaned down. He had the flashlight between his teeth and was holding a steel tray.
"What'd you find?" she asked, still a little shaky from her near run-in with Mr. Hot Mess again. ÈWhat's with the box?"
"Just wanna show you how it used to be, before all this creepy, crawly, dungeon stuff," he joked past his teeth and Tooth shot him a small, appreciative smile.
He then lifted his glove and wiped away the dust on the logo. Jack was still in the background, eyeing the scaffolds of the place he once knew before he looked at them again.
"Lemme just...argh, y'bloody..." Aster mumbled, determined to remove the dirt, "Lemme just rub this spot away."
Jack took a couple steps forward.
"There ya go!" Aster cheered and pulled the flashlight from his mouth and shined the light down on the company name.
"Ohh wow," Tooth breathed and her eyes grew wide. Jack lifted his eyebrows and edged a little quicker.
"So ya see?" he spoke. Jack couldn't see the box past their shoulders. "It's–"
"FROST!" –another spy ran toward him on a building roof–
Jack stopped instantly and spun around.
He stared wide-eyed into the darkness.
Was that a–
A second later, something cold rushed through him again. Jack gripped his hand to his hoodie and thought he inhaled a spirit.
When he made a 180° spin, he saw the outline of himself again.
Outlined in blue with a smirk on his face, the other Jack was in another spy tracker suit, more designed for colder climates. He had brown hair and looked a few years younger and...
Jack's eyes widened.
He...the other Jack, he...looked like himself before Project GUARDIAN chose him.
'But–'
Jack watched him walk down the long marbled path, but as another ghostly agent joined him, they both faded away. He looked around, feeling a heavy thrum in his gun shot again – but the more he did, the more his heart raced.
Jack's throat suddenly went dry...
Flickers of people, outlined in ghostly blue started to suddenly appear. They looked like the receptionists, assistants, and everyone else who worked in the connections department. But he recognised a couple of field agents by their uniforms – they walked and ran around him like phantoms.
Jack's bit down on his tongue, he didn't say a word. But when he turned silently on his heel, one man in a dark suit phased through his right arm.
Jack jerked away as the cold chill passed.
They were all just projections, images replaying from a broken memory...They–
Clank!
Aster dropped the tray back onto the floor. A little more than frantic, Jack snapped his head at him and glared coldly.
"Keep it down!" he hissed, still on edge from his mental demons.
"Why?" Aster bit out. "No one else is here. No one has been here since–"
"You don't know that," Jack cut him off and looked away as the hacker stood up with Tooth.
Aster glared back at him, but didn't say anything. He knew the kid was still trying to piece his memories together. He then pointed down the marble walkway to the set of elevators at the end.
"Come on, we need to keep going," he said lowly and Tooth followed quickly after him. After a moment, she paused and turned back around. Jack was rubbing his head as he walked after them.
The ghosts were gone.
...
Ding!
Jack and Tooth lifted their eyebrows when all three elevators opened. They weren't prepared for what they saw.
Each elevator had a different light inside – red, white, and orange.
Where were they going now?
The hacker then moved forward into the red-lighted elevator.
"Quick, in here!" he motioned.
Jack and Tooth followed and the second they did, the elevator started to blink. Aster opened his mouth.
"S..." he hesitated before he gulped and tried again. "SI."
And the elevator still worked and sealed shut. It made a sound like it was air-locking itself before the entire wall shifted and swung the doors to the opposite side.
"Woah!" Tooth gasped.
It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. She still couldn't believe that she was here...that she could believe any of this – but it was all real, all there! These kinds of things actually existed and now she was on the few people in the normal world to ever see this again!
But ugh. It made her immensely proud and perturbed at the same time.
As the elevator lowered down quickly, Tooth minded her feet. But when she looked down, she paused.
"Wh-What's...Why is..." At her voice, Jack looked down too. It was still littered with papers.
Tooth raised an eyebrow. She vaguely thought back to Jack's habit of wiping away prints.
'For a company that's supposed to shutdown, aren't they supposed to erase all traces that they were here?'
"I think this was the purge."
Tooth twisted her head up to Aster in the red blinking light. He was looking down at her.
"That's what North said they called it before he fled. While the agents were rid of, the company went on an emergency shutdown right after. And all the workers had to disappear."
Tooth bit her lip while Jack listened, his heart wild and barely able to control under his willpower.
"It was to draw attention away from us in case someone found out what they were...doin' to us."
"But why?" Tooth urged softly.
In the red light, Aster's deep, green eyes were almost brown and the blue tips of his hair were purple. He ran a hand over the side where his shock of silver hair went down and he sighed.
"Because–"
"Project GUARDIAN was a secret program," Jack finished. "The rest of the company didn't know about us."
Tooth turned to look at him. That was the first time he'd spoken in a bit...but his eyes were clouded with thought.
"Th-They didn't?!" Her mouth hung open after. He was telling her this now!? Why hadn't he told her that before?
"B-But you worked with them," she tried to make sense of it all. "How was it that the rest of the people in this giant facility didn't know? So what, you were guys were like super secret level–"
"That's just how it was meant to be," Jack interrupted. "...That's just how we were chosen."
He didn't see her afterwards and stopped talking altogether.
–a floor covered in ice...he was crouching on it...his bare arms were crossed–
Jack pulled up his head and made a sharp inhale. That one was new! That–
–a postcard...he wrote 'Miss you, snowflake!'–
So was that!
But he shut his eyes and shook his head...Snowflake? What snowflake? Who...
Jack tightened his fist so hard, he was sure if his skin tone was less pale he'd see it on his knuckle.
And the projections...Was he supposed to watch all this happen, wait until they all resurfaced, and then put them together?
'But I don't have time for that! I–'
Ding!
The other two didn't hear Jack gasp under his breath again when the elevator sounded. And as the doors opened, another man walked through him!
Jack leaned forward slightly as Aster and Toothiana stepped out onto the floor. Looking at Tooth, he watched the blue outline of a regular field agent walk right through her...but she didn't gasp – hell, she didn't even see it, let alone feel it!
A split second later, the ghostly man turned his head over his shoulder and waved his gun at his side.
His eyes widened.
'Jack, show me how to hit that target next time! And hurry man, the boys downstairs need you!'
And Jack heard an echo himself laugh loudly from behind.
'Haha, yeah, yeah! I got it!'
Two blinks later, the spy faded away and Jack found himself drawing shallow breath past his lips.
He knew that guy...that voice...he'd heard it somewhere...didn't he?!
And he laughed. A real, genuine one that wasn't about inflicting pain on somebody else. Jack had laughed.
He'd...he'd almost forgotten what it sounded like.
It sent a heavy chill up his spine.
...
Jack gripped one side of his head as he stepped out of the elevator after Aster and Tooth. Neither noticed his rough look, too busy staring onto the new floor.
"W-Where are we?" she whispered. Tooth walked alongside Aster, thinking Jack was close behind on his silent feet, but her nerves prickled and her skin erupted with goosebumps. Aster frowned as something akin to misery dripped down to his core. He mumbled under his breath, letting the cold billow out past his own lips.
"We're in SI...Science and Intelligence department."
It looked more like a wasteland.
The once ostentatious and plus-shaped sector of the company was in ruins. Papers were still strewn everywhere, dead computers were knocked over, and glass from (the three didn't want to know what they were used for) littered the floors. It was just a bad feeling overall – the upstairs was powerful and confident and this was left to disaster.
As they walked further down the walkway past the massive IT division, Aster lifted his head sullenly.
There were at least five rows of computers lined up to several large monitors. Yet while he remembered where once he sat before he joined the GUARDIAN program, he was too broken up about the cracked screens and the chairs strewn everywhere. Whoever the tech analysts were after him, it looked like they had to leave in a hurry...before their lives and memories were taken.
Tooth said nothing as she watched Edmund's face grow pale and despondent. She frowned and her heart went out for him – it seemed like he really did once work here and she couldn't imagine the pain of his memories coming back to haunt him. But she had to ask...
"How do you remember this place so well, Edmund?" asked timidly. Aster lifted his gaze from the IT division and turned slowly back to her.
"Like frostbite over there, I had to come back here to recover my memories."
Tooth blinked.
"You did?"
"Yup, and the feeling's still the same," he muttered bitterly as he shivered. "I had to work backwards from the top-down, and after a while of wandering through here they just–" he snapped his fingers, "all came back. Which is why I'm hoping he'll get a clue soon."
Jack meanwhile was trying to map out the facility in his head. He was also looking for any escape routes in case things got ugly – maybe there was a hallway, albeit a little longer or vent system he could try to break into.
As he walked though, his boot hit something. Turning his flashlight, the ex-op squinted down at the floor.
Surrounding by cracked test tubes oozed of solidified, green liquid. Jack frowned, feeling drawn to one test tube that only had one crack in it. What was the chemical that had once held it?
As he lifted it though, he froze.
–a bright light. A ball filled with glitter–
Jack's grip on the tube slipped – he was luckily when someone helped him catch it.
"Thanks," Jack started to say but when he looked up...
It was someone he'd never seen before.
It was a woman.
A tall woman with a business face.
"Careful, agent."
Jack gasped, dropping the tube to the floor.
The echoing pritz! of it shattering on the tiles made him jump out of his skin.
A blink later however...
...the woman was gone.
But she hadn't been a ghostly blue outline like the others, he'd been real, he...Jack could still feel her breath on his face. She was right there!
"Argh!" Jack rubbed his head.
"J-Jack?"
He looked up and saw Tooth shining her light on him.
"You o...You okay?"
And Jack moved around the broken glass and moved to her shivering form.
"Yeah," he mumbled with a steady look. "Don't worry, let's just keep going. And keep warm, okay?"
He covered his own nervousness with concern for her but Tooth wasn't buying it. He looked like he was being haunted.
And for all his cool and cautionary saunter, she could do nothing but stare and bite her lip.
...
As they walked through deeper into the lower-ceiling labs, Tooth shone her flashlight on glass walls and eyed them fearfully.
She really wanted to link arms with Jack and stay close because the SI looked horrible. It was like something out of Resident Evil. She'd seen all the movies and watched a few of her dorm mates play freaky games like Bioshock. Next thing, a terrible zombie or a mental freak would rush at her from inside the room and she'd have to blow its brains out before it infected her.
And she paused for a second.
Jack watched her go into her coat pocket for some gum faster than she'd ever done in her life.
'Oooh, I am freakin' screwed if that happens! I'm not Alice, I'm just norma–'
"You actually still have some gum left?"
She jumped a mile in the air at Jack's voice.
"Cr-Crap, Jack!"
"Sorry," he scowled. "I just thought by now you ate it all."
"Hey!" She started to chomp anxiously. "I h-have some self-control, pal!"
'Psh, yeah but not when he's sleeping...Dammit, Tooth!'
She tried to fight down a blush when Jack extended his hand. He tried to ignore that the word 'pal' left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Can I have a piece?"
She didn't see how shaky his fingers were in the dark but at least he was still alive, here, and at least...they were okay.
Toothiana quickly gave him one, smiling under her pink cheeks then asked Aster if he wanted a stick. She handed him one too and soon, all their stress levels decreased.
When the taste of the peppermint seeped down her throat and into her stomach, Tooth's nerves instantly unwound and her heart beat relaxed. She sighed through her nose gratefully and after a quick gulp of saliva, she looked around a little more bravely.
"So why are we here in SI?" Tooth finally asked. "We aren't we touring the other thousand sectors of the company?"
"Actually there's only five sheila, including this one," Aster answered, chewing under his voice. "We're here specifically though because...because this is where the GUARDIAN program was founded."
Her pink eyes grew wide. When she didn't say anything, he continued.
"The Center gene was created in SI a long time ago. And after Project GUARDIAN was established, our unit was hidden in a subdivision underneath from the rest of the company."
"And you got away with it? From other spies?"
"That's why it was here. Scientists aren't spies. They don't snoop around like the rest of us."
As Tooth nodded, Jack moved forward. No one picked up on his washed-out expression or his twitchy fingers and his calm voice hid it well.
"But how're we gonna get to it?" he asked pointedly. "It's like a maze, remember?"
Aster's brows lifted on his head.
"'Ey, you remembered?"
The brunette nodded slightly as he looked through the glass walls of the laboratories they passed.
"Yeah a bit," he answered for Aster's sake since he couldn't see the guy in the dark. He missed Tooth's small smile as she looked up at him.
Still, Jack's skin crawled under his turtleneck. He'd never felt so out of control with his own body. He was afraid that more blue projections would show up.
Jack gritted his teeth and looked away. The shadows not hit by the flashlight or its reflection in the glass cast over his face and darkened his troubled expression.
His memories were dropping like seeds, planting more stories in his head than he cold grasp. That face, those ghosts, that postcard...
And that woman...Was seeing...Was seeing her supposed to happen?
Jack needed to ask the bunny.
He had to–
Aster hit the end of the SI unit and before they knew it, a wide platform where three new elevators were seen.
But as Tooth gulped...Jack paused.
His eyes immediately lit up.
Something inside him panged with sudden energy.
"I...I think I know this part," he mumbled and Aster nodded.
"You should, mate," he muttered back. "It's how we get to our division."
A second later, he walked up to the center one and pushed the button. He felt a shiver crept through his coat.
"This is how it was designed," he continued. When all the elevators opened, Tooth realised, they were all lit blue.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Blue represented the blokes upstairs, sheila," Aster explained. He jerked a thumb to the very high ceiling. "It meant you were going up to administration. So whenever workers saw agents go through blue doors were considered to be high ranking ops. So no one messed with us or ever questioned why we were down here."
When he stepped through the doors, Jack immediately followed while Tooth moved on wobbly feet. She felt a little unworthy being in the spot only reserved for the company's best.
"Tooth, hurry up," Jack sighed and she put a hand on the inside of the elevator.
"I'm–Oh no!"
The elevator started to blink, it was ready to close...
...and the tail of her skirt was caught on a rusty metal pipe. A split second later, the doors started to close on either side of her.
"Princ–"
"Wait, no!"
Jack didn't say a word.
He rushed out and pulled his knife from his boot. In one motion, he swooped down to cut the edge of her skirt and pivoting on his foot, he used the momentum of his spin to shove Toothiana through. Jack watched her smack into the wall. Then with a burst of wind at his heels, he surged forward.
The second the edge of his hood passed over the threshold, the doors shut swiftly – and he crashed right into Toothiana.
"Oof!"
Aster eyed them worriedly as they both panted and coughed out.
"J-Jack!" She instantly turned and clutched his arms, puffing warm air into his face. She felt like this was punishment for ignoring him earlier.
Tooth wanted to give him space so he could figure out his memories but she was also a little selfish about how her feelings still ached with him basically friendzoning her. And now look what happened – they almost got separated again!
"Y-You okay?" she gulped.
"Yeah," he grunted and gripped her back. "Are you?"
She mumbled in response. His concern washed over her like a blanket– but it was just too bad, Aster saw it differently again.
"Oy! Get off her, Frost!" he snapped. "You're crushing her!"
He realised that he and the princess were getting along pretty well, really well in fact. She kept asking him questions and sticking close to him...and then Ice Prince over there had to toss her around again like a ragdoll and now she was scared. It was no wonder she stuck close to him as they walked through the company. When Jack finally moved away, he sighed in relief.
"You're lucky you made it," he grumbled softly. "These elevators are the only way back to the main floors, mate."
Shick!
As they all regained composure, the elevator air locked again, swinging the entire steel entrance around in a 180° position.
Their eyes widened.
The elevator doors moved another 90° and were facing Jack on her right. It then expanded into one giant elevator, opening up all three for more space. The blue lights pulsed wildly and dropped faster than they were prepared for. When it came to a complete stop, Tooth caught her breath.
"H-Holy crap!"
Suddenly a panel lit up in front of them. No one said a word for a while.
Aster frowned.
"Th...This is as far as I've gone," he finally mumbled and Tooth noticed that his teeth had started to chatter together. The cold was finally getting to him.
"W-Why?"
"I remembered everything at this point...and I didn't want to go in."
"So I guess..." Jack eyed him, "for my sake, we'd all better be prepared."
"Yeah mate," Aster sighed, not at all feeling for a fight with Jack. "So be ready."
Aster took off his glove and pressed his skin flat against scanner.
Nothing happened until the monitor lit up. And spoke.
"Lomodoveen gret skrakya."
And both guys, (along with Tooth and her gift) understood.
("Release your gene.")
Aster looked between the both of them and exhaled. Slowly, he released the same energy in the gene as he did cracking an egg, but he didn't shatter the surface.
The scanner confirmed his DNA and asked for a second confirmation. Aster opened his mouth–
"...'is crime lord is going down tonig...Y–ou going with the gunne...(Луна) STATE ID COD–" Jack stepped forward, his face emotionless and all-business. He shot someone a dark look on his right before he tightened his gloves and spoke into the screen–
Jack shoved the Aussie away from the computer screen, his glare hazy and cold. There was so hesitation in his mouth when he spoke.
"Bretyam shad...5019 FROST."
And the computer confirmed.
"Aran polmeenya agent."
Toothiana gasped and Aster raised his eyebrows.
"Jack..." he started and Tooth's heart picked up speed.
"H-How did you..." she tried to finish for him but her mouth stopped working too. So she shined her light on him instead.
Tooth sucked in a breath.
He looked...well, the princess stared at him enough to recognise it...something was definitely wrong with him. At that moment, she wanted to reach out and touch his arm but suddenly a loud bong! went off.
Then all three elevator doors opened as one.
"Welcome back to the core.'"
...
The GUARDIAN's core
They gasped under their breath.
When it opened, a cold chill blew out into the hall, Aster and Jack's systems woke up. For a moment no one said anything and Tooth looked up at both of them to see what was wrong. She'd expected both or at least one of them to move. They were planted on their feet.
"You guys okay?" she asked with creased eyebrows.
"It's alright, princess," Aster huffed and looked down at Jack.
"Yeah, let's go," he muttered and running a hand through his bangs he and the Aussie crossed over the threshold with the confidence and courage they were chosen for. This was where they belonged to for years, and it was something they kept hidden from the rest of the spy agency above.
But Tooth had to wonder...How could a facility underground have so much activity and how did they all just vanish?! Surely over ten thousand people must've been actively in the company before it shutdown. It was bigger than the School of Dentistry back at FayU! If they were able to come up with a new gene like the one Jack and Edmund carried around–
The gene they carried around.
Tooth stopped.
The sounds of her boots scuffing the floor made the two pause and turn.
"Tooth? What's wrong?" Jack asked. His eyebrows were scrunched together and he took a slight step toward her.
After she blinked several times to the floor, she looked up at them.
"You said the Center Gene was created...so you...both you, all of you..."
Their foreheads creased as she finished.
"You had it...put in you?"
Aster frowned.
"Tooth..." Jack said. He ran his hand through his hair. "W–"
"Did you?"
He looked up at her directly in the face. Her worry was like painting for the world to see and he couldn't find the words. Why did she have to worry about him all the time?
He shut his mouth and she got her answer.
"H..." she was almost to ask. "How?"
But Aster shifted on his right foot.
"We promise, we'll talk about this later. But not now, not here," he said then kept moving and Jack moved with a fleeting glance at her frown.
Now he was hiding something, and Toothiana couldn't understand what...or why.
...
It was cold.
Much colder.
None of them was sure how many more kilometres they'd traveled underground to get down to where they stood.
But the sight...it was worth it.
The GUARDIAN's core was just a little bit smaller than the other sectors yet still housed a size big enough to be a football stadium. But it was designed different to the rest of the company. It smelt, even felt different as they walked in. With a more intimate air, the core was more culturally savvy. It was lined with symbols and scripts they could barely see in the light and left behind something that was more European, more Eastern, but Jack and Tooth couldn't put their finger on where or how they knew.
It just was.
Jack threw his head up as he scoured the area.
It also wasn't straight and angular, and they were surprised to see that its walls were curved in a circle. Circles meant unity, never-ending cycles...so unlike the square and box shaped sectors of the rest of the company.
Tooth's mouth fell open and her fingers twitched. She wanted to ask a million questions again, but refrained when she realised how silent Aster and Jack were.
But come on, they had good reason.
The familiar (circular) grandmaster hall brought on a feeling of depression, and Aster knew that if Jack could remember, he would be thinking the same thing. This giant room was never empty, never quiet. In their memories, much like the rest of the company, this place was alive, with people dashing everywhere with weapons going off in test facilities and vehicles screeching in faraway lots.
Seeing it as a dead zone now and forever was something hard to really stomach. And it wasn't like they ever had a formal goodbye or anything – they were never even told this would happen. Everything seemed normal as usual then...
"...you sure it's...absolutely–just a qui-ick...Wh...Wait–"
Jack's vision flickered again.
A blue wave cascaded from where he stood, out and across everything ahead him. In his silence, he watched as it briefly lit up everything across their core like it did up in the field. When he finally saw what the entire expanse looked like, Jack froze in his walk.
He remembered...he remembered–
The ex-operative heard a faint bell go off in his memory.
'...Hunter division to J9...'
He watched as the ghostly blue outlines of a few GUARDIANs rushed on his right just past a group having a team meeting.
'...Midnight division to T4...'
A second later, a larger group of GUARDIANs appeared on his left.
He turned and almost gasped.
They all went through Aster and Toothiana. He almost felt sick to his stomach as a large agent the size of a giant passed right through the tiny princess.
Then finally...
'...Gunner division to M0...'
Jack paused.
He saw, far off in the distance, the floor above was outlined in blue. He didn't need his flashlight to see it and watched as the other Jack flipped over the railing and landed on the ground thirty feet below. He used a wind that wasn't there to cushion the fall like it was nothing before he sprinted across the hall. His hair was white, his expression hard, and he produced a long weapon in his hand before he took off.
Jack wanted to follow but a few seconds later, they all started to disappear again. Then it was like nothing ever happened.
Aster finally exhaled shakily.
"We used this place once...to help people."
Tooth looked up at his shadowy head and Jack frowned up at him too. It felt like a story was coming, the same that maybe Tooth had told him in that alley all those days ago. So they walked in silence and listened when Aster continued.
"We were the best of the best from all over the world...and did the operations that many agencies would think impossible. We did the impossible..."
Tooth pursed her lips. She nodded as she caught the pale skin of Jack's fingers flexing at his side.
"You did...you guys did..." she mumbled. "So why were you shut down?"
"Hopefully something in here will tell us that," Jack said. "Maybe something that will help me remember all of this..."
Aster eyed him from the front.
"Y'still don't remember anythin'?"
When Jack shook his head, Aster frowned a bit.
Weird, it should've all come back to him already, especially now that they were actually standing inside the GUARDIAN's Core again.
But he kept his lip shut tight though, thinking of North.
"...is not my place to say...the memory must figure out by self, or risk mashup..."
So Aster stopped bugging jack and sighed again. He shined his light up ahead of him.
"Let's split up and cover more ground," he suggested but Tooth looked at him like a crazy person.
"Are you sure that's safe?"
"Princess, this place is cactus. No one's been down here since us. Since the last day for either Jack and I."
She frowned but shined her light on Jack's jacket so she wouldn't blind him.
"But what if you get another memory flash and decide to–"
"Don't worry, Tooth," he offered gently. "We have each other."
Slowly, she eased her light on his shoulder and stared the outline of his jaw and the shadow over his bangs. She frowned.
"Okay," she then exhaled and looked up where his eyes would be. "Be careful."
And they both thought of Moscow.
Jack nodded and she watched his lips move with concern.
"You too."
"Both of you holler should you find anythin' or need help," Aster called behind him, not seeing their intense exchange. Immediately after, he turned to Jack and pretended to touch the tip of his invisible hat. Then when he put a hand to his ear, the brunette nodded, understanding the CRE hand signal instantly.
Watch. and Listen.
He then watched Aster walked away.
Jack shined his light on Tooth one more time, and after she waved half-heartedly, he turned right and kept on going alone.
Tooth stood there for a brief second, watching both his and Aster's light walk away in different directions.
She sighed under her breath, feeling the cold seep in. Then she moved left and disappeared further into the darkness.
This was maybe a bad idea...but they'd find more answers apart.
...
Aster tightened the grip on his flashlight several times the farther he walked.
He couldn't believe it, he was actually back. Back in the company, back in the Core (or 'moon' as they called it in Луна). As he crossed the main walkway, he twisted his head at all the hallways lining the walls. He read the Guardian Cyrillic above each.
The more he read, the more his pride returned to him.
He was chosen to be a GUARDIAN after working the upstairs for a few years. After half his time spent on reconnaissance missions and as a tech analyst, he had a steady progress report that the boys upstairs were impressed with.
He felt he had a lot to prove as a GUARDIAN and still did. He even remembered always wanting the toughest jobs under stress to help out some of the other agents not in his division, and for that he was a senior analyst on several missions.
Aster smirked tightly under the cover of the shadows. Yeah, so he demanded respect from everyone too. But hey, considering the way he grew up and what his skills were, it was sorta expected.
Liked his job of protecting and watching over people. Even now he was still doing it and he thought it was something he'd do all his life.
Now all they needed to do was get Jack over there back on track and then maybe...he'd give some of that respect back to the brunette.
As he reached over and touched things with his glove, he vaguely heightened his senses to watch for Jack and Tooth as they both separated, making sure he was always aware of where they were.
He sighed stressfully, wishing he had two eggs – one to crack and one to paint – to distract and practice with.
"I better do that when I get back..." he mumbled tiredly.
...
Left side of the GUARDIAN's core
No matter what Tooth tried, she cringed every time her boot clunked on the floor. It echoed like a clap all around the Core and she hated herself for it.
Jack and Aster were like phantoms, doing one heck of a job of keeping their movements silent so why couldn't she?! It sounded like she was all alone.
Tooth chewed her gum delicately, trying to hear over the sound of her jaw chomping. To think Jack came here to work every day, where North came, and Aster and Phil and...
She gulped.
Shining light on one open corridor, she poked her head in and her heart was raced. She was so scared and felt every inch every nerve in her twist violently. But she refused to move back.
"A princess makes her own decisions," she recited under breath – and fear would not influence her.
The hall was large and just one of many. Inside this one was a set of smashed treadmills, a tank big enough to hold a whale, three small rooms made of bulletproof glass (she saw the cracks in it to guess), an enormous mat, and a open freezer all the way in the back that her light barely flashed on it.
What probably scared her the most though were the scorched marks that stained the concrete – that, and the craters in the walls.
Her heart dropped into her stomach.
"This is a giant test facility..." she mumbled.
In that moment, as she gazed at the destruction of the physical assessment unit and then back again into the grand hall, that she realised just how powerful GUARDIANs were.
'And Aster said there were more...Hundreds. To think they've been protecting the rest of the world as spies for years!'
Tooth then gulped and walked in further.
...
Right side of the GUARDIAN's core
Jack rubbed his eye and said nothing but it was difficult. He wanted to rage out with every fibre of his being. Under his clothes, his skin crackled and his teeth grinded in his mouth.
His gene was going off like mad.
It prickled as familiar smells and senses took over him like it knew where it was, where he was...and for all of Jack's confusion he couldn't stop it – so it threatened to consume him.
The second Aster's flashlight finally moved away from his general direction, Jack panted under his breath. His brain felt like it would split in two and he didn't want them, especially Toothiana, to see.
At least, until he could figure out some piece of it himself.
He had been searching for answers all alone for almost a year. And now, being here finally in the place where it all started, it was still the part of him that wanted to solve it on his own.
As Jack crossed a corridor threshold and walked into an abandoned room, he exhaled sharply.
He reached out to steady his suddenly shaky feet – but then he froze.
Because instead of feeling nothing...he touched something cold.
Smooth and really cold, and he didn't know what to do...
Jack pulled away instantly.
Blinking in the dark, he pulled up his flashlight, and what Jack saw was probably the most disturbing thing any of the three would come across.
His breath caught in throat.
Jack was face-to-face with giant test tubes, sleeping pods. Ten of them actually.
Five were standing upright against the wall and the other five were lying on top and hooked up to medical platforms.
"What...H-How did I..."
Jack shook his head, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He couldn't even remember! He–
Jack jumped back abruptly.
Suddenly, as real as the woman had been earlier, he saw a man was floating inside one of them, blue water suspending him in a light stasis as Jack stood in front of him!
Jack moved his flashlight flew around in a frenzy. Was he the only seeing this?!
His mouth fell open in desperation.
"I...But I...I mean, I've seen this all before, I know I have...But wh–"
He turned back slowly to the man. But Jack's heart raced, beating hard and fast like an angry drum.
The man in the tube vanished and everything was the same.
"No! Wh–"
"Hold him for six hours!"
"Gene is responsive, doctor. Would you–"
Jack clutched a handful of his hair. He backed away.
He needed to get out.
"Pull him out! Pull him OUT!"
"A-Are you sure this new procedure is safe?"
His blood pounded in his ears.
"Don't worry, Jack, it's just a follow-up. Then you c–"
"O-Oh my god."
Jack felt physically ill and gritted his teeth. He shut his eyes. Then–
"'Ey, you two!" Aster voice echoed. "Come back, let's do a review!"
Perfect timing.
Jack threw the room one more, cold look before turned on his boot's heel and walked away.
...
When they all regrouped at the centre again, Aster crossed his arms. His LX rod was on a table behind him, shining a brighter signature than before to give them enough light for comfort.
Tooth was scratching at her turtleneck in anxiety as she came up to him.
"Y-You okay?" she asked and he nodded slowly.
"Yeah," he replied shakily. Tooth said nothing back and reached over. She touched his arm and squeezed it lightly for comfort. He put his hand over hers and returned the gesture as Jack came back.
"Anythin' mate?" Aster mumbled going into bodyguard-protector mode again as the brunette's slightly washed out expression made him on edge. He didn't want them to have another violent episode like the one they'd had back at the Warren.
Jack opened his mouth to talk but Tooth reached over and rubbed his arm–
He instantly flinched, thinking it was another ghostly projection.
Tooth's eyes grew wide with worry.
"Jack, what's wrong?"
He looked around almost nervously before his eyes grew hard again.
"I think I'm seeing things," he said sounding like an idiot but Tooth frowned and Aster leaned in with more interest.
"Memories?"
"I–" Jack subconsciously reached for Tooth's hand and clutched it. "I-I'm not sure..."
Tooth stood there between them, hanging on to both men with a grim look. The large room made them feel cornered, the silence was so loud, and the cold air made their skin flare up – all the juxtaposition of it was uncanny...had the room been designed to do that to people? To test the agents?
"Should we leave?" she asked nervously but they both shook their heads.
"No, not yet," Jack said and looked down at her.
And Aster opened his mouth to say something–
...Beeeep!...Beep!
They all froze. Their blood ran cold waiting for more sounds – but nothing came after that.
Tooth's grip on Jack and Aster tightened.
"But I thought..." she breathed. "I-I thought you guys said there was nothing down here. Nothing! I th-thought this was all–"
"I know, sheila, I know," he urged gently and patted her arm before he moved ahead. Jack slipped his hand out of Tooth's and stalked behind her as they moved.
He and the Aussie used their acute hearing to remember where the echo had bounced from – and it led them to one of the farthest halls.
Aster's face immediately grew dark.
"Oy, I know that one," he muttered gruffly.
"Let's go," Jack then narrowed his eyes and they picked up speed.
There was a faint light glowing far in the distance but it was neither blue nor green – it was white and it seemed to be brightest thing in the hall.
"I-Is it safe?" she whispered.
"Dunno," Aster whispered back. "But...I used to work in there. I know what's inside."
Their steps were silent and their breaths were uneven in the frigid air as they tiptoed their way across the final metre of the main hall.
But they didn't stop.
...
The computer room was lined up in three rows, eight in each. Some were intact and others destroyed, but they were all covered in a layer of dust. Aster eyed them warily and Tooth was afraid to go near any.
Who knew that a little over twelve months earlier, they all had information on each GUARDIAN agent...their stats, their bios, their progress reports...She didn't want to bear witness to any of the horrific things that might've–
"Wait what's..." Jack faded out and Aster's curiosity piqued.
"W-What's wrong?"
"Look there," Aster whispered and pointed ahead. As Tooth squinted her eyes and tilted her head, she gasped under her breath.
All the computers, though dead and aging, were sleek and highly-advanced for their time...but off in the distance...
...there was one computer, a little older than the rest and sitting at the end of the last row. It was just as dusty and neglected as the rest, it had no purpose anymore.
But the thing was...it wasn't just old...
...it was on.
And as the bright light from its screen started to shine on Edmund, Jack, and Toothiana, the more they inched closer they realised...
...it looked like it had been on for days...weeks...
Maybe, even months.
Chapter's soundtrack: "Solid State Playmate" – Celldweller