"So this is where you have been living, kid," Indy said, as he opened the door, letting in the natural light.
Bugs were scurrying around, trying to hide from the light. The gang entered the house, with Indy and Jack studying the contents of what seems to be the family room. The room looked like any other normal room that a human will have live in. Walking towards one of the walls, Indy took note of what seemed to be wanted posters. The person that was wanted seemed to be an older lady of some kind with a fang protruding out of her mouth and her hair all messed up. In the other wanted poster was a small, dog-like creature. The creature looked adorable to Indy as it reminded him of the dog him and his father used to own. On the third wanted poster was Luz's face, as Indy was not as surprised as he thought he would, seeing how she is an outlaw in a realm controlled by Belos.
"I miss them," Luz said, breaking Indy out of his thoughts, "We were a family. The four of us. It was me, King, Eda, and Hooty. Even though we might have our differences, we still love and care for each other. If it wasn't for Eda, I wouldn't know how to do magic."
"Don't worry kid, we will rescue them, I promise," Indy said, his voice dropping as he felt very emotional, seeing the kid hurt.
Jack opened up a cabinet to see that there was nothing. Only bugs and what seems to be rodents scurrying around. Looking through the cabinets and even the pantry, there was no ounce of food. Walking back to the living room, the American musician grabbed himself a stool and sat himself down. Thinking through everything that has happened to him, Jack realized that no one would ever believe him or Indy about what they have seen. But this, the demon realm, is something that he, Jack Shannon, never realized could exist. Magic is real, demons and witches are real, and he and Indy got to experience this.
Leaning back on the stool, Jack saw Gus and Willow entering the house. They looked worried, as if something was bothering them. "What happened?" Jack asked.
"Nothing, it's just Hunter has been very tense ever since Belos took over his body," Willow said.
"I don't blame him, kid. Belos did a number on him and in a way, Hunter wants to make sure that never happens again," Jack said.
"I know, I am just worried about him," Willow said, looking down on the ground.
Jack sensed something was off with Willow as he asked her, "What about you two? How are you guys holding up?"
"I…I am doing alright," Willow lied.
"You know, you do not have to lie to me kid, I see something is bothering you," Jack pressed on.
"I just…ever since we arrived in the human realm, I have been feeling homesick. That's all," Willow said.
"You miss your parents?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, I do," Willow said, softly, "I feel like everyone is looking up to me for guidance. For comfort. I just miss my papas!"
"I miss my papas too," Gus said.
The two kids broke down crying as Jack got up from his seat. He allowed the two young witches into his arms, comforting them as they cried. Jack started to hum a jazz tune he knew as a way to calm the witches. It was a nice jazz ballad about life and the uphill battle that people deal with. The tune helped calm the witches down as they wiped their tears.
"Feeling better?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Willow said, smiling, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," Jack said.
As he looked up, he saw Indy standing in the doorway smiling. Indy signaled him to another room. Jack obliged as he left the two witches to their device. Following Indy into the kitchen, they both sat on a stool.
"How are they holding up?" Indy asked.
"It's rough. How about Luz?" Jack asked.
"Same. Whatever happened here, it wasn't good," Indy said.
"Do you have an idea on how we can locate Belos or Phoenix?" Jack asked.
"Kind of. My guess is that they are going to try to get to the Collector. Our option is to get to the floating fortress before they do," Indy said.
"Do you have a plan on how we can do that?" Jack asked.
"Unfortunately no, the best bet is to ask the kids," Indy said, "Though, seeing what happened here, I also believe the best option is to give them some space for a bit."
"Indy, I have a bad feeling about this. If what we have been told about this Collector kid is true, then what are the chances of us defeating him," Jack said, "If this kid was able to conjure a fortress in the sky, then we are way in over our head if we are planning to kill him."
"I understand, Jack. I have the same doubts too. But these kids are relying on us to save their world from a terrible fate. We need to at least prevent Belos and the Nazis from reaching that fortress. That is our first goal. The Collector will have to wait," Indy said.
Indy walked up to a stool and sat down. Taking out his revolver, Indy proceeds to reload his weapon with the ammo he received from the dead bodies. As he examined his revolver, Indy was thinking to himself. He himself never was one for superstition. Indy has seen things that he still questions about. He has seen a living Triceratops, survived the wrath of God a few times, saw a knight, a vampire, he even experienced magic in many different forms. But something like this. This is a new one for him. Never had Indy thought he would be visiting a world where magic is alive and is based on a corpse of some god. Never had Indy thought he and Jack would be responsible for rescuing a world from certain doom. Even now, cleaning his gun, Indy even realized how all this will end up with him facing a being that can easily squash him like a bug.
No matter what, it will lead to a confrontation with a being twice as powerful with the mind of a child. That is what it's going to all lead to. As Indy placed his weapon back into its holster, Jack and him heard some shouting coming from the outside.
Running out of the house, Indy saw Hunter watching the sky as a star was flying past it. "What happened, kid?" Indy asked.
"I saw King," Hunter answered.
Luz and the rest of the kids ran out of the house, catching up to Indy, Jack, and Hunter. "You sure, kid?" Indy asked.
"Yeah, he was riding on that star with the Collector," Hunter said.
Indy nodded as he ran towards one of the trucks and got in. He looked around for keys and saw that the keys were nowhere to be found. Searching through the truck, Indy couldn't find the keys anywhere. He tears the panel off the bottom of the wheel and starts to connect the wires together. The engine was starting, but it kept on failing itself.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Indy said as the engine failed for the third time. The truck continued not to start, as Indy punched the wheel hard in frustration.
Indy got out of the truck to see the witches standing there, with what their staffs out. Indy looked confused, as he approached them.
"We can fly to where the Collector is heading by using our staffs," Luz said.
"Are those safe for us to ride on?" Jack asked.
"Sure they are," Luz said.
"Kid, tell me you at least pass some kind of class to fly one of these things," Indy said, worried.
"Um, yeah, I did, with flying colors," Luz said, chuckling to herself.
"Ahhh, you told me you pass your class with flying colors!" Indy shouted over the air.
"I did, on my fourth attempt," Luz said laughing.
Luz and the rest of the witches were flying their staffs as fast as they could, as they were trying to catch up to the star. As the group of witches flew, the Americans felt their stomachs turning inside out as they never experience something as fast as flying on a staff.
"We have eyes on the Collector, hold on," Amity said, as she dove down on her staff.
The rest of the witches followed as Indy, Jack, and Tina held on to the staffs tightly. Indy and Jack felt their dinners coming up as they both fought to not throw up. As the group landed onto the town, the gang got off their staff, with Indy and Jack trying to get their bearings. Indy knelt down, trying to get all of the vomit he had out, but couldn't. He sat down on a large mound, not noticing what it was. The large mound started to make some noise, which caught Indy and Jack by surprise.
"What the hell?" Indy shouted, in both confusion and fright.
Getting up, Indy saw that the mound was a living being of some sort. More like an instinct, Indy just tipped his hat as a sign of respect. The being just grunted in response, in a way to show respect to the human. Indy just forced an uncomfortable smile as he walked back to the group.
"That is something you don't see everyday," Jack remarked.
"Yup," Indy said.
The group entered the desolate town, as Indy and Jack had their weapons drawn out, just in case it was needed. Walking through the town, the group had a terrible knot in their stomach. The group passed through buildings, many of which were torn down, in ruins, or even had some graffiti on it. Whatever happened in this town, it looked like a warzone.
"Indy, I have a very bad feeling about this," Jack said, as they passed through another set of buildings.
"Yeah, me too." Indy said.
"This feels like a ghost town," Jack said, "Whatever happened here, it must have been one helluva fight."
"You got that right, Jack," Indy said.
The group continued walking through the town, climbing over gates and looking through the windows. As the group got closer to the town square, Hunter walked in front of the group, investigating an alleyway. The group followed Hunter as he was looking at an end of the alleyway.
"You found anything, kid?" Indy asked.
"I see, sparkles?" Hunter answered in confusion.
Hunter's face then went into pure shock as he started running out of the alleyway, passing the group. Indy saw what Hunter was afraid of as a wave of colors and rainbows came crashing through the alleyway. The group ran, catching up to Hunter. They turned to another alleyway, as the group saw the town being swallowed by the wave of colors and rainbows.
The town became something like straight out of a dream of some sort. It was like a paradise of some sort. Indy and Jack stared in shock as the once desolate town became one of colors and sunshine. Then creatures started to appear. Well, they were more like puppets as Indy was able to puppets jolted to life as they started to run around, freaking out, as if something was coming. Indy had a huge knot in his stomach, as he felt like none of this was right.
"Papa!" Willow shouted, catching Indy off guard. She was about to run out, but Indy grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Something is not right, kid!" Indy shouted.
"But…" Willow said.
But before Willow was able to finish her sentence, the group heard an explosion coming from one of the buildings. There they saw what seems to be a beast of some kind, rampaging through the town. Indy aimed his revolver at the beast, although he did not pull the trigger. Something was stopping him. It was as if his body stood frozen.
Indy heard a young child's voice say, "Do not fear, I have come to rescue you."
Looking up in the sky, the group saw a star landing and on that star was a young child and a dog-like creature. Looking at the child, Indy was fascinated by the designs of his robes as he never saw any design like it. It was a mix of stars and moons, with a gray to dark blue mixture. The kid had yellow eyes that glow and even yellow skin to match. His companion was a dog-like creature. It had yellow eyes and pointy ears. It also wore a skull on his head, which Indy thought was cute. The creature wore a similar outfit as the boy. If Indy did not know better, the creature and the kid looks like any ordinary boy and his dog.
The boy casted a light spell, blinding everything in its vicinity. The creature stopped rampaging, and out came an older lady, who looked like she was another witch. What confused Indy and the rest of the group the most was how the beast looks like a costume made for a drama show. Not a dangerous beast.
"What?" Luz whispered in confusion.
The kid, as if in a game of sorts, froze the puppets in their place. Indy watched as the older witch was complaining and cracking her back. She then decided to make fun of the kid and the creature, poking at the kid. Indy saw the kid slowly getting mad. As the older witch turned her back, she then started how she just needs to play this game with this kid in order not to turn into a puppet.
Indy and Jack did not know what she meant by this and hoped they didn't have to know the hard way. But they will soon find out what she meant as the kid, who was quietly enraged, conjured a crescent moon and threw it onto the lady's forehead.
In a flash, the lady's skin became wooden, her face looked like it was painted on, and the hair looked like it was carved from wood. The group stared in pure shock and horror as they watched the lifeless body of the older witch standing still, in place. The only thing Indy could do, staring at what he just saw, was gulp in fear. Sure, Indy saw some freaky stuff. Voodoo, the holy grail, people becoming one with mosaics, demons tearing a human soul apart. But nothing had prepared him or Jack in what they just saw.
"So that's the Collector," Indy whispered.
"Yup," Luz answered, not taking her eyes off the kid and dog-like creature.
"And that creature is King, if I am not mistaken," Indy whispered, pointing at the dog like creature.
"Yeah," Luz answered back, smiling.
"He kinda reminds me of my dog," Indy whispered, "He is very handsome."
As the group continued watching, King was comforting the Collector, trying to talk some sense into him.
"Collector, c'mon, we talked about this," King said, "You cannot go around and turn people into puppets."
"But it is not like I am killing them," Collector said.
Before King could say anything, Indy heard a gunshot coming from his left side. Looking towards the direction he saw a Nazi officer, firing his Luger pistol at the Collector. The Collector put his hand up and forced the bullet to stop. Looking around the bullet, the Collector was quite curious as he had never seen something like it before. He then looked at the officer as the officer stared in horror as he was frozen with fear.
"You look fun, do you want to play the Owl House with us?" the Collector asked, as he conjured another one of those crescent moons and turned the officer into a puppet.
"This is what I mean, you cannot do things like that," King said.
"But he is perfectly fine," the Collector said. He sat on top of the star and stretched his arms. "Anyways, I am tired, let's go back to the archive house."
King followed the Collector, getting on top of the took off towards the archive house as Indy and the rest of the group watched on. Luz shouted out King's name in vain as tears fell down her cheek.
"Indy, I think we have bigger problems than Belos and the Nazis," Jack said.
"Shooting the Collector does not seem like a good idea," Indy said, "And plus I do not want to shoot a kid."
"Is it me, or does the Collector seem lonely?" Tina asked.
"Lonely?" Indy asked, trying to understand what Tina said.
"The Collector seems like he does not understand the concept of life and death. To him, this is one huge game. A mess up game for sure, but a game nonetheless. All he wants are friends and it seems this King guy is his only friend," Tina explained.
"In a weird, messed up way, Tina is right. I feel like if we could talk to the Collector, he might help us," Jack said.
"If we can talk to him that is. Listen, this is good and all, but if we do that, that is going to sound more like suicide if anything else," Indy said.
"Says the guy who wanted to do a suicide charge," Jack countered.
"Fine, but we need to find a way to go to this Archive house," Indy said.
"I am afraid you are not able to do that," a young voice called out.
The group turned to see a trio of young teenagers standing on top of a rock. The man who said it looked pretty young with little facial hair. Next to him was a female with silver hair and next to her was a dog.
"And why the hell not, kid?" Indy asked.
"Because you guys are losers," the kid said.
A/N: So there are references to Indy's past adventures. The ones I added are from the novels Indiana Jones and the Dinosaurs Eggs, Indiana Jones and the White Witch, Indiana Jones and the White Witch, Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead, Indiana Jones and the Hollow World, the series Young Indiana Jones, more specifically the episode Masks of Evil, the game Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, and from the movies.