Hey, peeps! I ish back with the next installment of this fanfic. This chapter is a little longer than the previous ones have been, which I hope you enjoy. It just made the most sense to cut this chapter at the point I did, which I'm sure you'll understand when you get there. It's a doozy. ;)
Anyway, I guess I'll get on with the chapter without babbling too much for once since I can't think of much to babble about. (I'm apologizing for not babbling? Okay, I'm even weirder than I thought I was. Never mind me.) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Still don't own Rise of the Guardians or the Guardians of Childhood books. And I so wish I still had my witty disclaimer skills from my FMA days, but nobody in this fandom seems to understand the joke of making fun of disclaimers anyway. :P
One thing was clear now: those people were right about him not being able to get away without help. Even with his staff, he couldn't fly back to Earth from the moon. It was too far. And the gravity was bound to work against him out in the expanse of space. And that was supposing he could go without breathing for that long. Even with his powers, he doubted he could do that.
Well, panic or no panic, he knew he couldn't sit there. Those strange people were still scouring the place, looking for him. It was only a matter of time before they came this way. Jack reached out a hand and grasped the wall, then used it to pull himself back up. He still couldn't stand well, but he was going to have to make the best of it. There was no chance that he was going to stick around and wait for the people who wanted him dead to find him.
The Earth through the window loomed at him, and he held back a gulp. How he was going to get back there was a mystery, but he was going to have to try and figure it out. The people who worked here had a way of traveling to and from the earth. He could figure it out too if he could avoid getting caught. He also needed to find his staff. It would be hard to continue being free without it, even if he made it to the earth somehow.
Jack was weak in the knees, but he continued to creep along as fast as his body would allow, using the wall as his support. Now where should he be trying to get himself to? Could he send out a call for help to someone?
Those people in the lunchroom had mentioned that he might try and contact the Guardians. Did that mean it was possible? They might be able to find some way to save him if they only knew where he was.
A little strength returned to his legs, and he continued walking down the hallway. He turned whenever he felt it would be a good time to make a turn and he crept past any open doors. One never knew if anyone would be in one of those rooms.
As luck would have it, Jack spotted a sign off in the distance. It had an arrow on it, which would give directions to somewhere, though he wasn't yet sure where it was directing to. He would have to get closer to read the lettering. But if everything continued to go as it had been, he was sure he could get close enough within a couple minutes.
This part of the operation was harder to progress through since there were people in some of these rooms. He always had to make sure no one was looking before sneaking past. Jack was pretty sure he'd heard his name mentioned a couple times. He didn't bother to stay and listen, as sticking around in an area like this was almost certain to get him caught.
He got close enough to where he'd be able to read the sign if he squinted. After glancing both ways and ducking behind a trash receptacle, he turned and looked at the sign.
"Something Industries Control Room," he mouthed under his breath. The first word was in a different font from the rest and would need him to get closer to read it. But it seemed like the least important word of the bunch. The important thing was that he now knew which direction to go if he wanted to get at the bottom of this whole affair. This was progress.
As soon as he was sure no one was watching, he darted the rest of the way to the sign. Then he turned to follow the arrow down the next hall. Before he passed the sign, he caught the word he'd missed before: MIM. This place was MIM Industries. Why did that raise a red flag in him?
Aside from having to dodge if anyone who came out of their office, finding his way around was getting easier. There were a lot more signs in this part of... wherever this place was. He was getting to the heart of things, but that also meant that there were many more people to watch out for.
At last he saw a sign that said "Control Room". He had to restrain himself from squealing with delight, since would likely get him caught. After once again checking that no one was watching, he darted over to the door, pried it open a crack, and peered in.
No one seemed to be home. That was strange, but he wasn't about to complain about his good fortune. He slithered into the room before anyone could stumble upon him. Then he closed the door as quietly as he knew how.
Now to figure out how these controls worked. Jack scanned the room to see if there was anything about contacting the Guardians. Or at least contacting Earth. He wasn't too picky at present, but it didn't seem that things were marked well in this room.
He sighed and made his way over to what he assumed was the control panel. It was a large machine full of levers and switches that covered about two walls. A third wall contained several screens, each tuned to display a different scene. Some screens displayed locations within the building itself. Jack couldn't help but wonder how they hadn't caught him yet if they had surveillance technology like this. Were they stupid enough to not have anyone manning the cameras while they chased him?
No matter. He knew his window of time to do something was limited, so he turned his attention back to the control panel. The sheer number of levers and switches was overwhelming. He swallowed his overwhelm for the time being and picked a switch at random. The large screen on the other wall changed to display a view of the earth.
This was good, but Jack didn't know how to get any further than this. Placing his hand on his chin, he walked up to the screen and inspected it. If he could get it to zoom in, he could find his friends, but he didn't know which button to push to do that. He sighed and traced the outline of the earth with his finger, wondering if he would ever get back there.
To his surprise, the image of the earth moved with his finger. This screen was touch sensitive? He wiggled his finger, and the earth shook on the screen in answer to his question. This was an interesting way to control the information on the screen. Jack placed both his hands on the screen and drew them apart from each other. As he did so, the image of the earth grew larger on the screen. Success! Now to zoom in enough to find out where his friends were.
It took him a few tries since the physics of the touch screen were not something Jack was used to. But he managed to zoom in enough to see the workshop at the north pole. He couldn't figure out how to see whether the Guardians were in there, and that was a problem.
Jack sighed. "I wish I could see through the walls so I could see if they're there."
The screen blipped in response. The walls of the workshop faded until they were transparent. Jack looked on in shock. So this thing was voice activated too?
After searching through the image for a minute, he found some movement by the fireplace. He zoomed in to get a better look. Sure enough, there were the Guardians, and they looked troubled. Had they had noticed he was gone? That would trouble them, right?
Regardless of what they were reacting to, he now had to figure out how to get a message through. Jack looked up at the big screen and said, "Um, can you tell me how to talk to them?" The screen didn't reply. The darn screen. What good was making smart technology if it was only smart some of the time?
Jack turned and looked back at the control panel. There had to be some clue about what he could do to get their attention. If only he knew how this place worked, this wouldn't be so difficult.
His eyes fell on a label that said "moonbeam". If that sent a beam of light to the place where the screen was focused, it would be hard for the Guardians not to notice. He pulled the lever and turned back to watch the screen.
Sure enough, the Guardians noticed. They sprang into action and faced Jack's camera view while speaking and gesturing. Jack puzzled over this for a moment before he smacked his forehead. Duh, they were trying to speak to him, but he didn't have any way of knowing what they were saying.
He cleared his voice. "Is there some way to make their words audible?"
"Audio on," said the screen, and the Guardians' words floated up to him.
"...know anything about Jack?" said Tooth while wringing her hands. "He didn't show up for our meeting."
"I still say he's off goofing around somewhere," said Bunny, but Jack could tell the guy sounded kind of worried.
North then stepped forward into full view and said, "Manny, tell us what you know."
That comment made Jack trip over his own heels as he staggered backward. North thought he was Manny? What a laugh. How could he possibly mistake him for... well, he had sent out a moonbeam to get their attention. He guessed it did look a lot like the Man in the Moon was trying to contact them.
Something then pinged in Jack's head. Man in Moon. MIM. His eyes went wide as the implications of that set in, and he brought up his hands to his mouth to stifle a gasp. Was he with the Man in the Moon? Was this place where the guy worked?
He began to hyperventilate. He pressed his hands over his temples to attempt to keep his head from exploding from the pressure. No, that couldn't be. No no no... Wasn't the Man in the Moon a good guy? Granted, Jack had never been sure of that, but he had called Jack to become a Guardian, hadn't he? Why would the Man in the Moon have kidnapped him and brought him here?
He shook his head and took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down. Whatever was going on, he still needed to tell the Guardians where he was somehow. He glanced around, but couldn't locate a microphone or anything similar. Why did all these controls have to be so complicated?
What he did spot was a lever that looked like a miniature version of the crystal he knew so well back at the workshop. If he pulled that lever, that crystal would pop up in the room the Guardians were in. He might be able to figure out how to talk through it. A pang of guilt swept through him since they would think a new Guardian was being selected. But what other choice did he have?
He pulled the lever before he could talk himself out of it. The Guardians had varied reactions of shock and anxiety as the crystal popped up. North then turned to look up again and said, "Manny, why we need new Guardian? Where is Jack?"
Jack sighed. He wished he knew how to answer them on this matter, but he had no idea how. He wasn't even sure how to send messages, but he was starting to guess how this technology worked.
"Give me something to draw on," Jack said to the screen. The screen then trilled as a bluish window appeared over the scene of the Guardians. He took a deep breath and let it out. He hoped this worked.
Jack traced his finger over the bluish space in the window as he drew out the form of a snowflake. Then he waited a moment as the snowflake faded from the screen and reappeared in front of the Guardians. Yes! It was working.
Jack then drew a simple crescent moon and let that image travel to the Guardians as well. After a moment of puzzling over the symbols, Tooth looked up and said, "Jack and the moon? I don't understand."
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. This was harder than he thought. There had to be some way to communicate better than this. Could he draw exact words? He might as well try.
Jack began to write the words, "Jack is on the moon." But the first words began to fade before he finished writing the sentence. The Guardians seemed to be more confused as they asked each other what the garbled symbols meant.
Okay, so writing didn't send well through this method. No wonder the Man in the Moon didn't use that trick. Jack thought a moment more, then snapped his fingers. He knew what he could do.
He sketched out another snowflake design. Before it could fade, he drew a crescent moon shape right underneath it. The snowflake now rested on the moon. If they didn't understand that, then he didn't know what to do.
After a moment, the Guardians looked up again in bewilderment, but it wasn't the same look they had shown before. It seemed to be something more akin to surprise.
"Frostbite's with you?" said Bunny.
"Yes!" said Jack, only to remember that Bunny would not be able to hear that response. He would have to draw it out, but how did one draw out a yes?
He snapped his fingers again as an idea came to him, and he scratched out a check mark and sent it to the Guardians. A look of awe combined with shock came over their faces, and it took them a while to come up with anything more to say.
Finally, Tooth looked up toward him again and said, "Well, can you... can you at least tell us if Jack's okay?"
His hands were poised over the screen to send a response message, but he couldn't make his fingers budge. He wasn't sure if he was okay. How does one respond to a question like that without making one's friends worry more? He supposed he could draw a question mark as an accurate response, but that was bound to cause a fit of anxiety.
A chuckle from elsewhere in the room caught Jack's attention. He forgot all about his trouble with translating his thoughts into symbols. He jerked his head toward the sound as he saw a little man come into view.
"Having fun, Jack?"
Jack was not about to give this person the opportunity to capture him, and he spun around and ran for the door. The other person ran for the control panel and pushed a button, and the door clicked shut. Jack grabbed the door handle and tried to wrench the door open, but the door remained fast. The man had locked it.
Jack spun around, his back pressed up against the door as he watched the strange man approach him. "What do you want with me?" he said.
The man chuckled again and shook his head. "You're always so funny whenever you come here, Jack." That didn't do anything to assuage Jack's fears. It only reaffirmed that he had been in this strange place times before that he couldn't remember. And for what purpose?
"You seem to think we mean you harm, Jack. We've only ever tried to help you."
"That's not what everyone here thinks," said Jack. "I overheard one person saying that I should be shot."
The man sighed, but continued approaching Jack. "Some of my team has forgotten why we do this. I'll have a talk with them."
Even with the assurance that the members of the team would be spoken to, Jack didn't feel reassured. There was still a lot that he wasn't being told, and he didn't like it. He licked his lips and looked down at the floor. "Why do you do this?"
Another chuckle. "Jack, do you not know who I am?" Jack had to admit that he didn't. The guy laughed harder as though he thought Jack was the cutest thing in existence. He then stretched his arms out wide as he said, "I'm the Man in the Moon."
Dun dun dunnnnnn...! Finally some answers... or one, anyway. Jack's going to have a lot of questions over this, haha.
Again, feel free to let me know what you think. I love hearing from you guys, enough that I try to respond to all my signed reviews, which is a big deal for me to prioritize something like that since I'm kind of spacey. (If you've left a signed review and I haven't responded, I apologize. Like I said, I'm spacey. It's honestly a miracle that I'm hitting most of them.)
Thanks again for reading. I love how amused you guys are with this story thus far. :) See you all again next time!