Ok guys, here comes another slice of PG pie! Lawd, you've had too many slices :D Lol thanks as always for your kind feedback guys, now hang on. This is a bromance chapter! (: #testosterone
"I just gotta get you out the cage. I'm a young lover's rage. Gonna need a spark to ignite."
and
"I am just a man. Not superhuman. I'm not superhuman. Someone save me from the hate."
Manhattan ELF Workshop, 3:34 p.m.
In the darkening afternoon, a sleek and silver BMW 4 pulled up just in front of an unmarked steel door. It was big enough to drive a truck through.
At its arrival from the private air strip, a loud buzzer went off over the entrance and when a light turned green, the door sounded like an enormous lock was being unlatched. Moments later, the coupé's doors opened and three men got out. Someone would valet the awesome car to the nearest underground parking zone for them.
They moved swift and silent, briskly kicking up heavy snow from New York's recent blizzard and bending low against the high winds. But the invisible current was a bit unfriendly that night and decided to hurl violent flurries into their eyes.
Of the three, the one leading the group, was Jack.
They headed for the secret entrance. It was one of many used to gain access to the warm warehouse, so when it was pulled open by an ELF agent, Jack and his two red-clad 'buddies' quickly walked in to avoid the winter blast outside. As their boots made clanking noises on the steel grated floor underneath them, the 24-year-old looked down.
"Jack! Come on, Jack! Dammit man, just take the blan–"
"I don't need it!" he snarled and threw a hand back to push the cloth away. "I keep you telling I'm fine. I just need North."
That was probably the fortieth time he'd said that since the two ELFs picked him up from New Brunswick, but could he really blame them for their distress? When they found him, he'd been soaking wet and shaking in -30°C snow – something that would've killed a normal person! He should've died from hypothermia, or least gotten a frostbite hideous enough to amputate on; but it was like they were trying to explain a rainbow to a blind person. He couldn't explain that he didn't feel any different from the cold, and that his tremors weren't shivers. His shaking was from his emotions and his gene becoming overwhelmed.
When one ELF tried to move close to him again, Jack stretched his stride frustratingly.
They would never get it.
As they moved quickly to the central control area where North said he'd be, Jack looked all around the facility, taking in all the chaos.
The Manhattan ELF base was whole lot different from Moscow. It was grander, more complex, and probably had about seven open floors from what he could count between the different balconies.
He felt his anxiety skyrocket before he tried to level it out again. It didn't help, considering how emotionally screwed he felt during whole the trip down here.
Jack shook his hair, which was still damp from his agonizing plunge into the Atlantic Ocean.
He watched as what looked like hundreds of ELFs zipped above and beneath him to complete their missions. They were all taken off sleeper mode and now had assignments to work around the clock. Many of them looked in distress too, mumbling to themselves or shouting answers to each other.
And as Jack and his two ELFs climbed the steel stairs that lead them up to the seventh platform, he heard North's booming voice too, echoing from the final floor up. Even though he was no longer in his Moscow homebase, he still took command of his Manhattan sector like a born leader.
"...you checked axis? Is rotation balanced?!...I TRY reaching Sandseron, I try!...'et him know but have not reached...Nyet! We must kee..."
Then Jack suddenly caught heat of a conversation down below.
"...er one's is dead," one ELF said urgently. "...she's gone..."
His eyes grew wide.
He slowed his climb a fraction to try to hear the rest but they had already dashed away. When he got to the top of the stairs, he spun around and tried looking for the ELFs. But his lips turned down in a deep frown, arctic blue eyes flitting back and forth across North's army of red.
He couldn't find them.
"We found him, sir!" one of his ELFs suddenly spoke in his light, Texan accent. Jack spun back around on his heel and took in the epic sights of the seventh floor.
It was a platform worthy of command control center and as voices filtered up through the grated floors, North, Phil, another hairy officer, and two other high ranking ELFs in deep-red uniforms, all turned. They were standing in front of a set of state-of-the-art computers, going over an operation that was about to place. Fingers were flying on the giant touchscreens and mini tablets the ELFs carried, while folders and coffee cups littered the center executive table.
At the announcement though, North turned his head almost immediately. He was wearing his thick aviator jacket again, the one with the Russian patches over his uniform, and his two swords with the beautiful wreath-designed hilts were in scabbards on his waistbelt. His short beard fell slack with his jaw in awe.
"Jack!"
His electric blue eyes shone bright as they grew to the size of saucers.
Jack looked horrible. He was soaked head to foot and his leather jacket had a rip in it – several rips actually, and his pants were dirty. He also looked like he'd seen a ghost, but from the state of his gaunt expression, he'd probably seen ten...and had to fight them too. His face was raging with turbulence.
Nicolas quickly pulled himself away from his group and rushed to Jack worriedly, but the other men followed anyway.
"You have come! What happened with bleeding effect?! Did you remember who you are?! Have y–"
When the burly Cossack got within three meters of Jack however, he slowed to a halt.
His eyebrows furrowed together when he got a clearer view. His voice was low and in disbelief.
"S...So it is true...Just you?"
Jack's mouth flew open – until he abruptly stopped himself. Suddenly it was like all the anger he'd been building, the rage he'd wanted to use to tear down the entire world until even Pitch gave himself up to make him stop...it was like, it all vanished.
His face drained of colour.
He then felt his own eyebrows start to furrow too and his heart jolt with irregular beat that he couldn't immediately control.
North sensed it though – they all did.
The ELFs behind Jack stepped around him with grim expressions under their red hoods.
"Yes, sir," the other answered for him. "He was the only one on site."
No one didn't immediately say anything.
It was just silence. Cold, hard, uncomfortable silence.
For a princess lost. For the man responsible.
And as it prolonged, Jack felt his insides coil and his fingers still drumming nervously against his pants – he balled his hands into fist to stop them instantly.
Seeing the gesture, North blinked.
Feelings awakened, he felt like every ELF in the workshop could hear them, judge them...judge Jack – and he didn't want that.
Because what was worse than seeing a man rise for good reason, fall so hard?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He transformed his worried gaze into a serious one as he looked back at the two rescue ELFs.
"Da, spasibo (thank you)," he said curtly. "Good job, men. Y-You can return to your posts."
With a quick nod, they both left Jack's side and dispersed back into the red sea below.
North then gestured to the only door at the end of the platform.
"Jack...follow me."
...
The Globe Room, 3:47 p.m.
Jack didn't want to think about anything but the time they were losing to track Pitch and his Nightmares, he really didn't. But upon sight and smell of the secondary control room North ushered him into, his overclocked mind momentarily paused.
The room was incredible and majestic, and smelled like steel and synthetic fibres. Its high-ceiling loomed dramatically overhead and when Jack looked forward, he realised there was a circular banister running around the center of the room – with oddly enough, seven pedestals with mini computer screens stationed at each point.
But why all the fuss? Jack tilted his head up in shock to see.
The rail was guarding a giant sphere about twelve feet high. On its surface, he noticed the projection of the holographic image of the globe, every continent and every ocean and sea in the world. Several times, the projection would blow up square windows of a particular country or city and read out logistics and certain key things – but that wasn't why Jack was so gobsmacked.
It was mostly because he realised that, for every twinkling light it projected, an ELF was somewhere been tracked on a mission, or a base was running its activity stats.
He frowned at the sight until it added too much weight to his already heavy load and he looked away. North frowned at the reaction.
"Better we talk in here," the chief said gently. "Less noise, easier to get to 'brass of tacks'."
Jack wanted to say that the expression was actually brass tax, but he didn't dwell on it when he pulled his head up as they walked around the globe.
His eyebrows lifted slightly.
Sitting a little away from where Jack, North and his group was arriving, was Aster.
He was wearing his silver frames, furiously typing away on two sets of keyboards and overlooking four computer screens at once. Far away at the end of the room, his small team of elite Technical Intelligence (TI) ELFs were at their own stations on bluetooths, shouting and sliding around in their rolling chairs. The ex-GUARDIAN didn't know that about ten minutes before he showed up, Aster was beating them all with a newspaper trying to get them to move faster than was already humanly possible. They were good, almost as skilled as him, but they let him beat them around since it was him they were talking about; and they knew the Aussie didn't mean anything by it when he called them 'lazy gumbies'. He was just stressed out.
Despite himself, Jack felt his muscles ease a little at the sight of the green-eyed hacker with blue frosted tips in his dark hair. He'd hoped the Australian pain-in-his-ass had gotten to North safely and it seemed like he did.
But unfortunately for Jack, the older brunette didn't seem to acknowledge anyone at the moment – and he had his reasons.
When he reunited with North, Aster was beyond pissed. He'd done alot of thinking in the car driving from Burgess to Manhattan and he realised that when North knew how to help him regain his old memories, it meant he knew about the Purge and Project GUARDIAN in the first place – he'd known more than he let on, and North admitted it too. So in the twenty-four hours since the three of them separated, Aster and the Cossack got into a huge argument with a lot of shouting. Aster tried to forget about him after his huge tantrum by immersing himself back into his programs, trying to find Tooth's sisters again. So the Australian thought they were just a bunch of strangers making white noise in the background. He tried to drown them out.
But as North looked between him and the sodden brunette, his forehead creased.
"Jack," he started slow and soft. "What happened?"
The second he said Jack's name, Aster perked up, and the computer chair he was sitting in, spun around abruptly as he looked up.
"Who?"
Jack's blue eyes flicked sideways.
The cool breeze in the Globe Room started to pick up suddenly, rustling the few papers on the tables – but the words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"I d–"
Jack choked.
When he pulled back angrily, the Russian watched as Jack's face split. Then it was like all his emotions were visible for everyone to see on his face.
Jack's eyebrows scrunched together and his frown deepened. "I didn't mean...Ch–I'm sorry!"
"But what happened?"
As Jack started to explain, he heard boots stomping their way toward him hurriedly. But he couldn't stop the words falling from his lips.
"No, I...I didn't mean for this to happen. I mean I...a-and then we were...next thing I kno–" his breathing kept cutting itself short.
But just as Jack finished bulldozing through his confession, another set of eyes finally appeared.
They were acid green.
Jack's blood ran cold.
"Don't put her into any more dangerous situations or I'll go straight jackrabbit on your ass. I'm trustin' you not to screw up."
Aster broke through the group to stand in the front. After he looked around frantically for a second, he confirmed it to be true.
"She's not here..." he murmured to himself. Jack looked up at him.
"I–"
"You lost her?!" Aster bit out. "A-And the little ankle biter?!"
"No, I was fighting! And I was moving, and she was suddenly there! And I couldn't–"
"Chief!" an ELF threw open the door to the Globe Room and shouted at North. "It's been confirmed now, the last two clones are missing! Repeat: Missing!"
"What?!"
Everyone's heart stopped.
"And they keep mentioning the princess, the last one! Di...Did she get kidnapped too?! Because o-our operation! What's going to–"
When North whipped his eyes at Jack, the shorter man's face was splashed with terror and self-realization.
"Oh no..." North murmured. "Jack, the mission–"
"No, I...I–" Jack started.
Suddenly all the eyes in the room were on him – even the eyes of Aster's TI ELFs who paused in their mad typing when they heard the news.
And Jack, not under his normal circumstances, felt exposed – and he panicked.
"I didn't mean it! They were everywhere and we–"
"But you have gene! Why did you not plan tactical escape?! Is what we always resort to!"
"Retreat is a tactic so don't ever think you need to stay in a fight just because you get into one...Got it."
Jack looked between the two of them and North's three other trusted allies.
Then–
"I-I wasn't thinking!" he finally spat.
North pulled back slightly with a slightly horrified look.
"Wasn't thinking?"
Jack ran both hands through his hair.
"You know I never had full use of my gene until today!" he bit out. "A-And then when it all came back, I...I-I just got overconfident. I thought I could beat them all!"
"Jack!"
"–then she was there...and then I was so stupid! I lost her–I knocked her right into a Nightmare and they...they–"
"What did I say?" Aster blurted out.
Jack whipped his head at the older man, his face disheartened. "Wh–"
"WHAT DID I SAY, JACK?!"
And he was on Jack in a flash.
He gripped the short brunette by his collar, making Jack's hair stand on end.
"We should NEVER HAVE TRUSTED YOU!"
Then he shoved Jack back so hard, Jack almost fell down. When he threw a step behind him to catch himself, Jack looked up with wide, blue eyes. His pupils shrunk and his mouth was moving slowly, but the Australian was unforgiving.
"You were supposed to protect her! Isn't that what you promised us? What y'promised me?!"
No one said a word. Aster's chest was so full of pent up stress and emotions that they knew they couldn't defuse his temper.
"I should've never left her with you! NEVER! NOW LOOK!"
Jack's breathing grew shallow.
"SHE WAS OUR HOPE! AND NOW SHE'S GONE, SHE'S...she's...YOU PRACTICALLY GAVE HER TO...T-"
His fists tightened in his fingerless gloves.
Then he took a step forward, his eyes were slits and set to kill the brunette.
"You promised...and even though I was careless before, you, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE FOR HER BECAUSE SHE–"
Aster suddenly stopped.
A second passed before he realised just how loud he'd been shouting.
His head was pounding and his throat was raw. But as he listened to his voice still echoing off the high concrete ceiling, he paused – he got a real look at Jack since the first moment he'd arrived.
Everyone knew Aster's fist was ready to wind up for a punch, even he knew it! But when he looked at Jack, he realised...
Jack was wet, Jack was bruised and torn up...
...but he also wasn't fighting back.
For all of his wiry spirit and cold conviction...Jack didn't. Fight. Back.
Aster tried to glare, grit his teeth, he even tried to channel his shame and anger so he could. But...But it wasn't working.
"Jack, y'bloody–...I...I-I..."
But he faded out anyway.
Because something finally clicked, finally made him notice.
Because even though Jack looked bad, Jack felt a hundred times worse than he made it seem. His eyes were glassy, his jaw was slack, and his expression was lost – and in its depths, was more pain and guilt than he thought was necessary for one mistake...for someone who only saw Tooth as his 'partner'.
And Aster knew why.
"'Ey! Leave 'er alone!" Aster butt in.
But Jack wasn't looking at him. He was narrowing his eyes gently at Tooth.
"...What did he do?" he breathed coldly.
Aster's ears perked up threateningly.
"Ey?"
Jack immediately glared at him.
"What did you do to her?!"
And before either could react, Jack rushed forward. He shot his fingers out and grabbed Aster by the collar of his shirt again.
...
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.
"Y-You okay?" she gulped.
"Yeah," he grunted and gripped her back. "Are you?"
...
Jack looked down at her and Tooth's jewel-toned eyes took in his face – the fire behind her lit up his smooth, clammy features. Jack frowned as she stood against him with her dark skin shadowed and irises glistening. He then turned her so the two of them could see the fire.
They said nothing and imagined the company, Project GUARDIAN, and everything miles beneath their feet disappear forever.
The hacker's lifted his hands, slowly and apologetic.
"S...Jack, I didn't..." the tech analyst mumbled and took a step back himself. His mouth was flabbergasting. "Y'know I get heated easy...'specially when ...when things go wrong, but I–"
"You think I don't know that?"
Aster stopped.
He looked up (along with everyone else) when Jack's voice, so deep and so low, started speaking.
"You think I don't know that I screwed up?" the brunette spat painfully. "I KNOW I did!"
Jack looked all around them to avoid their gazes as he mentally started to butcher himself. In his silence, North and Aster saw Jack's pain increase tenfold.
Along with the wind and the cold sweeping throughout the room.
"Pitch probably does have her now, h...he probably has all of them, okay?! He's tipped balance...and all because I-I lost her, because I..."
He looked like everything was weighing down (like he felt suddenly exhausted) even though they knew a wild card like him had more than enough stamina to keep going – but it was the emotional pain. Even Jack knew he had all his energy still, but he almost felt like he couldn't...didn't want to use it. He looked and felt more like all he wanted to do was lie down forever and shut his eyes until his heart stopped beating so wildly...until it stopped aching.
Jack ran a hand through his hair stressfully and dropped it like a limp fish. His face was down but his eyes were still searching – searching like Tooth was still there if he just looked hard enough.
It didn't take long before cold water vapour and frost started to sporadically form in his palms and spread around his feet.
"Whoa!"
The others looked on in shock but all Jack felt was numb...and Aster knew whatever he said wouldn't matter anymore.
"Sorry, mate," he murmured.
"I know..." Jack responded with a weak turn of his head. "And sorry I...I made fun of your ears and your teeth with...with for all the bunny jokes...and the...kangaroo one."
"It's the accent, s'okay but...but buck up now, oi?"
Jack's eyes shut gently.
"If it wasn't for me, she would've never..."
Suddenly his hands tightened into fists again, North felt the shift in Jack's tone from grief to detachment.
"But Jack," the Slav interjected. "Toothiana–"
"She'd still be here if I wasn't trying to play hero. I knew better than that, this isn't a game!" and he gritted his teeth. "But for a moment, I thought...I thought it was. Why did I even...I can't believe I almost considered that I–"
"What are you saying?" North tried to stop him gently – even Aster's mouth fell slightly open.
"Are you outta your mind, y'gumbie?"
"I'm sorry, okay? I don't know how many more times I can say that...But I'll keep her away from me from now on. I-I promise."
The Russian eyebrows knitted on his face as he looked at the brunette. He took a few steps forward.
"But Jack," he said softly. "...she's your match."
Jack stopped.
Despite himself, he tilted his head up at North, eyes slightly wide in slight fear...but the man saw it anyway. It was obvious how much Tooth had left her mark on him, as obvious as the day since he'd first met the two face-to-face and watched them eat, argue, and move together.
Before anyone could do or say anything though, Jack clenched his jaw tightly and he looked away.
He couldn't say how much he was deeply affected by Tooth's disappearance without giving his entire heart away. He couldn't say how much he ached to hear the sound of her voice, or how much he yearned for her touch. He even longed for the smell of her, of peppermint and summer flowers, the softness of her thick hair, her bubbly smile, and the burning memory of her lips even though they hadn't talk about it because they both still felt awkward.
He even missed the awkward because with Tooth, everything was awkward...and it was perfect.
But nobody knew that but him.
Jack shut his eyes...
The silence that followed was almost unbearable it made his eyes burn hot, his chest tight–
Something suddenly landed on his head.
Jack didn't jump back or flinch under all his burnt out energy and felt that whatever... punishment it might have been, was well-deserved. But a second later, the soft cloth started rubbing back and forth.
He squinted his eyes open in hard bemusement. His hair and his bangs kept sliding back and forth.
Someone was trying to...trying to dry him.
Instantly, the color red came into focus and a large belly was taking up his personal space. And as the towel traveled down the back of his head to the back of his neck to pull the moisture from his neck, Jack looked up. For the first time in a long time, he felt small.
He felt he was the one who needed protection; like he was wanted all over again.
North said nothing as finished drying Jack's head. No one said a word, either too stunned to fathom it or used to the gentle gesture that the Santa Claus was capable of.
The air around Jack grew warmer, the cold diminishing at his fingertips.
He blinked several times and tried to say something but...
Well, what could he say?
He dropped his head.
North stopped he saw Jack's face fall into deeper disparity. When he dropped his hands and the towel, he put one on the shorter man's shoulder.
"We will get her back."
Jack didn't bother to look back up and instead turned out of the touch to walk away.
"But how, chief?" one of the ELFs finally butt in, trying to join the conversation. "How? We've tried for months, you've tried for years figuring out where Pitch has been hiding all this time! Without the princess, how can he attempt the biological trace like we wanted?"
North looked back at his grim-looking group with a forlorn expression, but Aster stepped up to support him. The green-eyed man motioned his hands back to where his precious computers were.
"I can keep trying to track the Nightmare movements," he offered. "I've got about fifty algorithms running eight different servers on the bases your ELFs managed to find. If I can just keep chasing those numbers one of 'em's bound to–"
One of Phil's officers gave a disgruntled sigh.
"Warba blarghgha!" Translation: WE DON'T HAVE TIME.
Aster whirled on him, not at all intimdated by the thick fur coats and even thicker moustaches.
"Well, what other choice do we have, mate?!" he snapped. "Pitch has all eight clones, plus the princess, which means Operation: Nightmare is about to go down any hour from now!"
Jack visibly flinched – only North noticed with his sharp eyes.
As he continued to stare, Aster balled his fingerless glove into a fist. He glared at the computers.
"We can still turn this around!"
North continued to watch Jack but he didn't seem to sense he was there – he didn't seem to sense that anyone was there anymore.
"Even if we don't have the resources," Aster continued, "w-we can make our own!"
After a pregnant pause, the Slav frowned to the floor.
"Nyet."
Aster stopped in his weak pep talk and turned back around. So did the rest of the group.
"No? Whadya mean 'no'?" the hacker said nervous and wary all at once.
The ELF chief shut his eyes.
"Bunny...You do not to make resources because we do. We do have one last option available."
"W-We do? Well, what is it?!"
And when he lifted his head and finished his words, Jack was looking up at him too.
North exhaled.
"We have...Naughty Or Nice."
A long pause followed.
North looked at Jack then turned back to the group behind him. Jack narrowed his eyes.
"Naughty or Nice? You want to find Pitch with what? Your tattoos?"
But North was already crossing his arms as he braced himself for his own explanation. He started to visibly pale as everyone stared at the two words inked on his forearms.
Then he explained.
"Is operation I come up with Sandy. I am not proud of it. I never will be, but...but I use my gene to forcibly control ELFs in past."
Everyone's eyebrows shot up.
"W-What?!" one ELF agent gasped.
"GRUAGH BREUGHA?" Phil garbled, but North suddenly lifted a finger to quickly defend himself.
"But not for own pleasure, nyet!" he barked. "I twist what they want so they choose to join terrorist groups...instead of joining me. They are my moles, and I can switch them back when we need their help from inside."
"But that's..." the second high-ranking ELF scowled slightly. "That's brainwash, North."
North nodded shamefully.
Aster shook his head with a deep glower. His earlier fight with the man came up like bile in his throat.
"What else have you been keepin' us in the dark about?" he grumbled bitterly and took a step back as North rubbed a hand over his face stressfully.
He could feel the displeasure and betrayal washing off his comrades and it was what he always feared. He hoped he wouldn't lose anyone after this as he tried to explain succinctly, but he had to keep going, for all their sakes.
"I had not switched any back but only in emergencies like this. I risk their lives as well as all this," he gestured to the warehouse and all his life's work, "if they are found out."
When he looked at Jack for confirmation, he wasn't surprised to see the disturbed look washing across the brunette's pale features. Jack eventually glared at him.
"How could you do that to your own men?" he said in a low tone, bristling as the thought of trust came bubbling up to the surface. North understood the lack of sympathy – how could it not sound as bad as he made it sound? Jack had every right to be scornful, not to mention all the men standing behind him. How could they know if they were really working for him of their free will? What if he worked his gene on them to make them think they wanted to be spies?
"How are you even capable of doing something like that?" Jack hissed.
North frowned grimly.
"Just as you are capable of creating hurricane that shatters glass ten miles away," he simply said. "Just as Bunny is capable of creating sinkhole big enough to swallow entire building. Because this is the height of my gene. At strongest, I can twist your desires and make you want it...forever and ever."
He then abruptly turned and faced Aster and the other boys too. Jack's jaw clenched down again.
"But that is not what I wanted. Too much pain caused by one gene, too much consequence. You know this, gentleman," and he looked at both Jack and Aster, "the gene is blessing, da. But is also curse."
And they didn't have to be told twice – not when Aster remembered (despite having enough power to level a city) how hard it was to even hold an egg without it cracking under his fingertips; and not when Jack (who had more than enough command over the wind to create tornado if he wanted) could blow anything...or anyone away with the sweep of an unfocused hand or violent emotion.
Aster rubbed the back of his neck.
"So...your men," he started unsteadily as he took a step forward again, biting down on his earlier awkwardness with his large teeth. "Do they know what you did?"
"Benefit of gene," North nodded his head, "Da."
Jack and the men's eyes grew wide.
As the tension in the group visibly dissipated, North continued. "Is a Desire gene, remember? It was their choice to go. I merely amplify the want into action."
"But th-they wanted to go?" Jack asked. "To join terrorist organizations? Willingly?"
"Da, Jack," North answered, glad to know Jack wasn't completely lost from the conversation. "They knew cost, but they wanted to change from good to bad. For the sake of us, for this agency, in case we ever needed help from the inside."
"W-Well, why didn't you say anythin', before!?" Aster nearly shouted as his blood pressure started to rise. "W-We could've been tracking your man inside Pitch's lair since bloody day one had you–"
"Because Pitch is too smart!" North roared back. "You think I like wait, Bunny?! I wanted to find Pitch just as a badly but we were not prepared. His men always watch each other, he would've known...but...but not tonight! Tonight, he will be distracted, all the Nightmares will be distracted on the Operation, so we must act quickly. This is only chance of exposing my ELF and finding where he is."
When Phil garbled a question, North nodded his head instantly.
"Yes, old friend, he should be in his main hideout. Is what he desired when he told me his plan: to one day work for Pitch in his headquarters. At least I hope he is...I cannot know where any N.O.N. ELF goes after they leave or if they ever make it until they raise signal."
He then turned to his two ranking ELFs for a serious gaze.
"Would you not say that is worth the sacrifice?"
After a moment, the two of them pulled up to their full height, and they nodded.
"It is," one answered. "And it's why our men are the best."
So without a second thought, Aster turned and rushed back to the computers.
A sudden fire exploded in his heart.
"Bunny."
The green-eyed hacker paused mid-step and looked over his shoulder.
North looked at him with a sad, worn out look.
"Izvinite."
But Aster walked back to the burly older man in his late fifties. After he pushed up his sleeves to showcase his own tattoos, he gave the Russian a light punch in the arm.
"Naw, mate. No more sorry's," he cast his eyes over the Jack for a brief second. "From any of you...This was always bigger than all of us."
Aster then moved back to his supercomputers, barking out orders to the TIs before he switched his glasses for his E-lens and stared at the globe – it gave him a 3D projection beyond the holographics on the sphere.
He needed to kill some RAM in order to start a new tracking algorithm and make a new tunnel for when North switched his ELF off Nightmare-mode. They needed to be ready to get some kind of irregular signal sent out to them – and it would be so covert, so as to not alert the Nightmares, that the rest of the group moved about their stations too. Phil and his officers called ahead to other ELF workshops across Europe to look out for a beacon, and the two senior ELFs started planning an assembly of all the other agents.
As they moved away, Jack still found his feet planted to one spot. North looked at him, still feeling the residue of mistrust and befuddlement that swam around the pale man – he wasn't sure though if it was entirely for him.
When he walked back close to the ex-GUARDIAN, Jack bent his head down and glared softly at the floor.
"What good ever comes from corrupting others?"
A part of him pictured Tooth holding her gun as he heard Damon's old voice in his head as he said it – and little bit of Aster's too.
He looked up, his bitter frown still on his face.
"And how do you keep from falling apart when you know you're capable of something so destructive?"
North's face softened and he bent slightly to level with Jack's height. Instantly, Jack was reminded of a kind older, father figure and he looked away to avoid feeling what he was feeling. But North didn't back down and confidently rested his large hand on Jack's shoulder.
Without even realising it, Jack shifted his gaze back up to the Russian chief. He found two blue, expressive eyes looking back at him firmly.
"Jack...I apologize for what I did, but not for why I did it. As did what my ELFs say."
His thick accent blew what smelled like cinnamon into Jack's nostrils – and the voice was so assured, so righteous.
North continued.
"Because having faith and believing in the causes we fight for, is one of the strongest virtues we as humans have. And if we sacrifice ourselves to the darkest of evils for the protection and love of others, then we are not monsters..."
Jack looked up suddenly – and North fixed him with a firm look.
"...but true guardians in disguise."
And the brunette's eyes widened worriedly.
It was like North just went inside his head and pulled out every image, every emotion, every memory Jack had since losing himself, since losing Emma, since losing Tooth, and laid it back out in front of his eyes for him to see.
He had no words after.
The Russian GUARDIAN had such wisdom...and it made his entire body and all his muscles, loosen with ease.
And when North felt Jack's shoulder slacken under his touch, he nodded his head firmly. He lifted a finger.
"Remember our oath," he whispered gently.
Jack didn't say or do anything – but his face was a canvas of emotion and it was enough for the Russian.
North then turned to Aster and his team.
"Bunny!" he called, much to the hacker's chagrin. "Are we ready?"
No response was given as Aster finished typing the last of his programs. Then with one last press ENTER, he slid his chair away from the computer and cracked his knuckles.
"Ready when you are, mate!"
North then exhaled through his lips and sauntered over. As he did, the enormous room fell silent in dark curiosity. No one had known the GUARDIAN was capable of such a dark ability, but they were stretched for time and needed know just where Pitch was hiding. As North walked over to the giant globe lit with all the ELF workshops and activity across the continents, Jack and the others stood in anticipation. The man then stopped just short a few feet of the sphere to look at it.
For a moment, all he did was stare, his big eyes drinking in every piece of information before him. Nearly all the tiny lights were either green or golden – it meant that many of the ELF agents were off sleeper mode and were doing their timely assignments just as he needed. The ones in red signified an alert or crisis (some blinked steadily for help, while others were solid as a precaution), but Aster and his other teams of TI ELFs were no doubt looking after them anyway.
North shut his eyes suddenly.
"Naughty to Nice Operation," he said gruffly. "I will start."
They all waited.
At first, North was so still, like a tree or a mountain unyielding to everything and everyone around him. Even the muscles in his face started to relax and it almost looked like he went to asleep.
Then...
...Sss...
...sssssiiii...
...SSSIIIINNNG–
Everyone covered their ears – because even with earplugs, the high-pitched ringing still penetrated through their ear canals.
The resonance was so distinct, so rich, it was like a steel tong hitting a table and it seemed to go on forever until North lifted a hand... and clenched his jaw. Then he heard it.
North immediately found himself hearing the whispers and wishes of all the people he'd ever connected with – agents, GUARDIANs before him, friends, and enemies still alive. Like a blind person lost in the Grand Central Station, North's attention fell into a dizzying state as he listened and passed every desire he'd ever heard or asked of someone.
What do you wish for?
...report of success...shipment of tungsten...my family...
...I want Tara back...to uncover C-4...to work undercover...my old staff...
It would've been hard for anyone to step into thousands of minds and memories like that. The weight of everyone else's emotional stress and mental turmoil could have made his head go insane, it should have – but North wasn't anyone.
He clutched one hilt of his scimitar for support. The others peeked through their eyes when they realised the high-pitched whining was slowly dying away. As they lifted their heads again, they watched the Russian work.
North's bushy eyebrows scrunched together. He pursed his lips slightly in thought. The more wishes he heard people asking him for, the more strained his gene became. It wore him down quickly and he was almost afraid he wouldn't be able to filter through the desires of his ELFs fast enough to find the ones who wanted to leave and join the dark side. There were thousands of ELFs he'd met and recruited in his career, and even thousands more wishes they had.
Then–
...Pitch...
North stopped.
There were a lot of wishes that involved Pitch – of course, all of them involved wanting him dead, but the point was...maybe North didn't have to search too long to find the one ELF that wished differently of Pitch.
...Pitch...Pitch dead...Pitch's warehouse...
...Pitch and his neurotoxins...a new Pitch invention...Pitch and his Nightmare's six feet under...
And suddenly, like a dying whisper amongst the shouting...a man's familiar dark and husky voice floated into his ears.
...join Pitch...to join Pitch...
And North's eyes flew open as he recognised the wish, remembering the selfless act that was committed that day.
...I want to leave you, North. I want to join Pitch, become one of his best...I want to join Pitch...
Da, go then. Let this be on the only thing you ever wanted, unless I say so.
It is...until you say so. Pitch needs me. Not you.
Grasping onto that desire stronger than any of the others or anything else around him, North tightened his hand on his sword's hilt and grit his teeth.
He sent a sharp ssiiiinng! into his own head to strength their desire bond, still listening to the man's voice, still alive and still rotten as it was brave.
...I want to join Pitch...
...I want to join Pitch...
Nyet. Not anymore.
"Nyet. Not anymore..."
"Now," North continued. "We need you."
He then closed his fingers into a fist and with a powerful swing, he threw his fell whole arm down.
His muscles bucked slightly in his biceps and nothing but a sharp fwoop from his jacket was heard to the men around him, but in his head...North heard something like glass shattering.
CRASH!
It was like a building have been collapsed in his mind and the link between him and the ELF severed indefinitely. A foreboding feeling came over him afterwards, like sensing someone you were close to died without you knowing it. He stood there stricken and pale for a long while.
No one knew what to make of his actions and his behaviour.
But Jack tried to.
"Nic," he started slowly as he took several steps toward the Russian. "Come on, talk to us."
North didn't say anything at first. He was deeply petrified by this act every time he performed on it on an ELF – the switch to make their desire to leave him was always like a burn at his gene's core. However, this switch back...to return back was like...having a thousand knives drive themselves into his belly. It was a very painful experience playing puppeteer like he was.
And he hated it, especially how it made him nauseous.
Phil even thought so as he suddenly appeared on North's right with a cloth.
"Spasibo, old friend," North murmured breathily as he took the small sheet and wiped a light sheen of sweat on his wrinkled forehead. When the man turned, all pairs of eyes (both mutated and non-mutated) stared at him anxiously.
North exhaled.
"I found him. H...Ha, I-I found him!"
It nearly brought a joy to the older man's heart.
"Comrade is alive, my friends!" he said breathlessly to his ELFs as they looked in relived awe. "He is–"
Then a voice drifted into North's ear.
...I want my ELF uniform back.
And all at once, North couldn't help laughing with a booming gasp of relief.
"Haha! Now that's what I want to hear!" he exclaimed as he walked forward a little.
"What? Hear what?" Jack asked.
North turned to face him (and everyone) anyway. He pointed at the globe and swept a hand out to all the computers.
"Bunny, be ready," he stated. "Tell other TIs too! Be on lookout for any irregularity in ELF patterns! If all is well, he will send signal." He then gestured to Phil and the other yeti-lookalikes.
"Boys, ship shape. As soon as impossible!"
They scratched their heads in confusion, still wondering what North was getting so cocksure about but a beat later, they started grunting in low tones again to go over what weapons, vehicles, and air-traffic controls they had at the ready.
"And Dingle!"
One of the two ranking ELFs lifted his head from where they were quietly planning. The taller one pulled up to his full height when North fixed him with his electric blue eyes. They were the only two ELFs that knew about his gene outside his inner circle – they'd worked loyally under the ELF who died in Belarus, so he trusted them with his secret.
"Make preparations! We are going to have company."
"Company?" Aster snapped his head at North for a millisecond before he glued his eyes to the screens again. "Hold on, hold on, I thought you said you weren't sure whether your ELF could get out alive or not!"
"Well, ah not exactly..."
"Not exactly? Can you believe this guy?" the Aussy grumbled, shooting Jack a look – to which the brunette shrugged.
"I do," he defended before he shot North a miffed look. "Just wish that the effect was instantaneous, that's all."
When North stared down at him, he tried to reassure Jack with a firm nod. "He will call, Jack. Just keep believing. In all of this."
The Cossack then lifted his gaze away from the Jack to look at Aster at the computer. Sensing it, Aster turned around in his chair. The two had a weird stareoff until Aster's hard expression softened slightly. He then spun back around to face the computer – but not before he lifted his left hand and shot North a small thumbs up.
"Ho ho ho."
And he heard North laugh.
Even though the tech analyst was still pissed about the whole truth thing, he wasn't just computer savvy; Aster did have people smarts. He knew there were more important things above his own feelings (like finding Toothiana, stopping Pitch, and saving his friendship with the Russian) that had to be prioritised.
North gave a small smile.
And not a second later, something caught one of Phil's officer's attention.
"Gawfherba!"
As he pointed up at the globe of ELF lights, one light had suddenly started to flicker red at an alarming rate.
It was in Europe...in the country always mistaken for a boot.
...
Globe Room, Platform 7, 5:33 p.m.
With raging hearts and minds working overtime, North, Aster, and Jack planned a scout mission to commence. And with North's resources, Aster's tactics, and Jack's experience with stealth and Nightmares, the three came up with a plan worthy of the company they once worked for. The hardcore approach incorporated all their skills and knowledge of Italy towards busting out Tooth and hopefully, stopping Pitch.
"Too bad we haven't got all your ELFs, mate," Aster grumbled. His team was hard at work on their intelligence gathering and manning his communications as he made plans with their Chief and the mysterious (but complex) brunette. It was a strategy built on each other's strengths: North would supervise all the ELF movements, Aster would pilot the devices and communication/info tunnels, and Jack would infiltrate with the supports team at their signal. Soon, the three were well past logistics and ended up at fine-tuning the mission for errors.
But something suddenly struck the tech analyst as he stopped pacing in his large boots and turned to the Russian.
"What the hell are your ELFs goin' off on missions for anyway?" he finally asked.
Jack turned his head, perplexed too. He'd never bothered to ask North what all his agents were doing off sleeper mode anyway; he'd just assumed that they were all on different missions.
The Chief stroked his white beard though.
"They were ready to stop Pitch," he admitted. "A mass attack on his multiple known bases."
Jack and Aster's eyebrows shot up.
"When were you gonna tell us that?" the shorter brunette remarked and North fixed them with a look.
"Just now, before Bunny say," he then turned back to the giant globe behind where they were sitting at their planning table – well, it was more just North sitting since Aster decided just to lean against it and Jack opted to perch himself with one leg folded on the counter near the wall.
"My men and I have been waiting for this chance," he continued. "Everything has been riding up to this year because we know we have finally beaten out his company. His industry makes warfare but mine, gentleman, has been tracking and countering his inventions for years. ELFs believe we can take him down, and I have faith in my men, like I have faith in my belly...I feel it."
Jack and Aster didn't say anything for a moment. Just seeing that wonder in North's eyes as he looked at the lights dotting the globe, and feeling that energy in the air, made their respect for him settle into them like cement – resolute and supporting.
"Well, GUARDIAN or not, I feel something too," Aster said offhandedly while his eyes held that ever-present shine of hope in them. He pushed himself away from the table and flexed his stiff fingers from the constant typing. "But it ain't my belly."
"Ah, but you are GUARDIAN, Bunny," North interjected – before he looked over at Jack too. "And so are you, if you are ready now to accept."
Jack paused in his walk off the counter and back to the table. He had his hands shoved into his leather jacket, still wet and barely comfortable.
He looked at the ex-SANTA...and for once, Jack didn't argue.
Aster saw it as a sign and North pushed himself up from his chair. Phil and the others in the room stopped talking to look on in silence as the chief walked up to the brunette.
When North was standing right in front of Jack and looking down at him, he spoke again.
"We rest and prepare, but at first clearance, we head out to get girls and stop Pitch. But will you join us?"
Jack didn't miss a beat. He looked up with a determined expression – he'd take a light power nap but it'd be hard now that all energy seemed to surge through him.
"You know I will."
North put his large hand on the thin man's shoulder again. He nodded with encouragement.
"Princess, friend, or not, you know this," he mumbled gently. "She is still a person, they are still people, and they are all that we have...all that we are...and all that we will ever be."
Jack nodded back, his fist tightening gently in his pocket.
"And I'll never stop protecting them."
"So see? You are a GUARDIAN. Still in disguise, but I see you."
Something like warm molasses suddenly churned inside Jack. That trail of warmth Tooth left behind in him, the same one that almost vanished again after the Nightmares appeared, started to show itself again at North's words.
And for the first time since he arrived, the corners of Jack's mouth lifted tiredly and he gave a small smile.
"I see you too, Nic."
North returned it boastfully, while Aster crossed his arms again and nodded his head. He smiled slightly too.
"Good on ya," he said gentle enough so that only Jack could hear him. "Now let's do 'em proud and get ready to light a fire under this Boogeyman's ass."
North threw Aster a knowing smile.
"Not dressed like this we won't."
And the ELFs smirked, while one of Phil's officers pumped his fist against his big furry coat. "Guraw!"
...
Male ELFs' Locker room, 6:14 p.m.
"This is it, men!"
CLINCH! The sound of a new bullet cartridge being shoved into an assault rifle bounced off the tiles of the empty room. North's voice echoed through the clear intercom across the entire warehouse – and most likely all the others across the world.
"The night we have preparing for months."
A dark bodysuit, reminiscent of the powerful combat and symbolism that was once the GUARDIANs' uniform, was laying on a nearby bench ready to adorn his lithe body. Padding, flexible black fabric, and a showcase of design that set the wearer apart from any regular known spy was visible from a mile away – even from where he leaned over the sink for the last time.
"We deploy in 48 minutes!"
Jack splashed warm water onto his face one more time before he shut the tap.
"48 minutes!"
He lifted his head, gazing at the now empty bottle of hair dye remover on the pedestal. And when he stared back into the mirror, he exhaled deeply.
Wow.
There staring back at him was the real Jack, the one he'd been hiding for so long under the dark cover of his muddled identity.
Bright, arctic blue eyes were clear and focused ready for the fight.
Pale, white skin was itching with energy underneath.
And tousled bright, snowy white hair was dripping with warm water, waiting to shock and leave a mark on the Nightmares he'd end tonight.
White hair...It might even shine silver in some harsh lights thanks to the mutation from his Center gene. But it made him who he was, and he didn't want to hide it anymore.
Jack clenched his jaw as the water droplets dripped off his bangs.
No more hiding, no more keeping to the dark. He was ready to jump out and take back everything that was his. And as he picked up his towel and rubbed his hair dry and clean of anymore dye, he didn't feel anymore conviction than he felt in that one moment. This was it.
Jack then looked sideways onto his weapons belt.
It was laying on an adjacent counter with his leather jacket. This was the last time he'd use it, since North said a whole new slew of gear would be waiting for him down in Platform 2. But as he reached over for one of its long holders, he wasn't thinking about the weapons. Instead, when Jack opened it...he pulled out a long, orange feather.
You're my hero, Jack...
The same orange feather that Tooth had in her hair the first time they met.
As he held it, he frowned deeply. It got damaged from the water when he fell into the ocean and the soft fringe was clumped and bristly. A part of it was also bent, reminding him of a broken wing and Jack gritted his teeth.
He gently closed his fist around it.
"Hang in there, T," he murmured. "You're not disappearing on me again."
He'd make sure of it.
Chapter's soundtracks: "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up)" – Fall Out Boy (suggested by rotgfanartblog and RandomNerdyGirl!) and I also really like "Hero" (Legion of Doom Remix) – Skillet It's actually my official track for Jack. Haha but since I couldn't decide, here's two epic songs with two ways of looking at badassery. Enjoy and big thanks guys!
Don't know what else to say except...hell yeah and finally. Jack's back. ;)