The Masked Guardian
Chapter 6; Betrayal
"Any luck?" Jack asked. He and the other guardians had split up to search the vast work shop and after an hour they reconvened at the globe. The other's guardians shook their heads, which only added to Jack's worry.
"Good riddance, I say." Tooth said in a stuck up tone.
"Tooth this is serious." North said sternly.
"I just don't understand?" Jack said. "Where did he go, and why?
"You don't think that he went to Pitch? Do you?" Bunny said concerned.
"He wouldn't do that!" Jack snapped, causing the others to flinch. Realizing what he had done, Jack took a deep breath and said "Look, he might be quiet and strange but he's not bad. We have to go find him." North put his hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Jack, we will find Lantern, and when we do, we will set things right. But right now, we have urgent matters to tend to."He gestured to the globe; the lights were still going out. "We need to find Pitch. If Lantern's theory is correct, then we only have three days left to stop him."
"How are we going to do that mate?"Bunny asked. "Pitch could be anywhere?"
"He will show up sooner or later, we just need to patient." North said confidently.
In the dark depths of Pitch's lair, Primal was circling Lantern, sniffing him repeatedly.
"I don't trust him father." He said.
"Neither do I." Replied Lonesome as she floated toward their 'guest' and looked in straight in the eyes.
"Now now my children,"Pitch said calmly . "Let's not make our guest feel unwelcome."
"Perhaps my actions will speak louder then words." Lantern said. Pitch and his children looked at him.
"I have a plan that could easily turn the tide of this war." Lantern said in his usual calm monotone."
"I'm listening." Pitch said eagerly.
NEEEEEGHI! The guardians looked up and saw a single Nightmare defending though the open roof. Bunny threw a boomerang at it, but it dodged; both the throw and the return. Tooth and Sandy were about to fly up and get it, when the creature flew over them, dropping something from it's mouth before fazing through a window and flew off into the frozen wastes.
After getting over the initial shock, North walked over and examined the nightmare's delivery. It turned out to be a small scroll inside of a metal cylinder. North picked it up and opened it.
"It is from Pitch!" He said.
"We figured that mate." Bunny said matter-of-factly.
"He says that he has Lantern, and if we want him safe we must meet him in Burgess immediately."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Jack said urgently.
"Slow down mate." Bunny interrupted. "Doesn't this all just seem a little too neat.
"He's right Jack." Tooth said. "How did Pitch get to Lantern, and why is he telling us where to find him?"
"What are you saying?" Jack asked questioningly.
"Were saying that it's a bloody trap!" Bunny snapped.
"You guys just don't care about Lantern! You've never liked him, you've never trusted him, and now he's in danger and you don't even care!" Jack shouted, tears of rage building in his eyes. "But I care." With that he flew off through the open ceiling.
"Jack, wait!" North cried, but it was too late. "Jack flew as fast as he could. He didn't care what the other Guardians thought, he and Lantern were friends and he would help him, even if he had to do it himself. After a minute of flying alone Jack then heard someone call his name from behind. He looked back, and saw the others flying in North's sleigh.
"Don't try and stop me!" Jack said flatly.
"We just wanted to say if you want to get to Burgess my way is much faster." Jack looked at North who was holding one of his magic snow globes. The two smiled at each other, and Jack landed in the sleigh.
In the woods just outside of Brugess, Pitch and Lantern waited in a clearing. Lantern was bound in black sand, his Lantern in Pitch's clutches. They then heard the whooshing sound of North's snow globs portal. They looked up and saw the sleigh descending.
"This plan of yours had better work." Pitch said quietly. Lantern didn't reply as the sleigh touched down in front of them. The guardians leapt out.
"Let him go Pitch." Jack said. "I don't know how you captured Lantern, but I don't plan on letting you hurt him."
"Oh, I don't plan on hurting him." Pitch said with a smile. "The rest of you on the other hand." As if on cue, a white smoke billowed out of the trees behind Pitch. It flowed through the undergrowth like a white stream. The white smoke halted when it reached Pitch and then accumulated into the shape of a woman.
"She's all you've brought for back up Pitch. You're really underestimating us." Bunny said smugly.
"Be careful Bunny." Tooth said nervously. "If she's here, then she probably brought…"
Without warning, dozens of children marched out of the forest. Their eyes were milky white, and there was something unnerving about the way they walked. Their movements were stiff and in sync, as if they were military trained. The guardians all knew they were in trouble. Attacking Pitch and his Nightmares was no problem, but these were the very children that they were sworn to protect.
"I did consider bringing the rest of my family, but then I realized that my dear daughter was more than enough to finish you off." Pitch said proudly.
"Yes father." Lonesome said. "I can handle them by myself."
"How is this," Jack Frost gestured to the army of children surrounding them. "'By yourself?'"
"For someone named after loneliness, you sure have a lot of company." Tooth said.
"Don't be fooled." Lonesome said. "You may be surrounded by many individuals."
"But they are all me." Said every child around them, but they all spoke in Lonesome's voice.
"What… what have you done" North said sounding horrified.
"I have taken these children and turned them into me." She said, satisfaction in her voice.
"And this is just a handful of the thousands of children I have seized control of. And The five of you will be joining my collection soon." At this, Tooth flew higher in the air, stopped a few yards above the others.
"Then why don't start with me!" Lonesome accepted Tooth's challenge by flying after her. The guardian of Memory evaded Lonesome's touch, and flew toward the city. "Come and get me!" Tooth shouted as she flew off.
"You know the best things about having all these puppets is?" Before the guardians could answer, the Lonesome-children all said. "It's easy to multitask!" With that they charged.
Now, you would think being attacked by an army that you cant hurt would be bad enough, but things got worse when the children reviled that they were all armed. These kids were armed with kitchen cutlery, power tools and other such weapons.
"You'll be amazed what some patents keep within their kids reach." Lonesome said.
"This is not going to be easy mates." Bunny said.
Back in the city, Lonesome had Tooth on the ropes. The Guardian of memories didn't know how she could actually hurt this smoke woman. Unlike the Nightmares Tooth couldn't just slash her with her wings, she couldn't let Lonesome touch her. The smoke woman had chased Tooth all over Burgess but Tooth finally managed to loss her in an ally.
There has to be a way to stop her Tooth though. She then heard a faint tapping sound from behind her. She looked, and saw water dripping from a drain pipe onto a stone. As it did, Tooth noticed how the washed off the dirt where it landed. For some reason this trivial observation gave Tooth an idea, but she would need help from her fairies. Using her mental connection she had with them, Tooth contacted her helpers.
For several minutes Lonesome roamed the streets, searching for Tooth. She did have more puppets in the city, but none have Tooth. It was early morning and the sun was just starting to rise, which meant that it was only a matter of time before people started hitting the streets, which meant more targets to potential puppets to help with the search.
"Hey." Lonesome looked, and there was Tooth, hovering over a patch of grass in front of an apartment building. "Before we continue I just have to ask: why are you doing this? What is Pitch offering you and your brothers?
"It's quite simple really." Lonesome said as she slowly drifted closer to Tooth. Once our father's plan comes to fruition, my brother's and I will become the new guardians. Well have our own holidays especially in our honor; festivals, feasts, maybe even a human sacrifice or two."
As Lonesome spoke, at least two dozen of Tooth's fairies were laying in wait. Half were armed with a garden hose; the others with a toaster hooked up to a car battery (don't ask where they got them from)
"Pitch won't win, and you won't become guardians, Sorry if I'm raining on your parade." Hearing their cue, the fairies pulled on the hoses nozzle handle and sprayed Lonesome.
"What the!" Lonesome said. As the water fell on her, her smoke body was washed out of the air and onto the ground. At this time the squad with the toaster turned on the appliance and threw it on the now soaked ground.
"AHHHHHH!" Lonesome screamed as the electrical current shot through her. Within seconds the car battery caught fire and screaming stopped. Tooth knew that she had won, but her victory was short lived. No sooner had she and fairies began to cheer that she felt that her remaining fairies at the palace were in danger.
Back in the forest the other guardians were in trouble. The possessed children had managed to pin down Sandy and Jack so they couldn't fly. Meanwhile, a dozen of them had grappled North and bunny and nearly had them both pinned down. Just when it seemed the guardians were being overrun.
"AHHHHHH!" All the children screamed in agony, then fell to the ground unconscious.
"What happened?" Bunny asked.
"Tooth must have won." Jack said.
"Tooth may have won her fight, but you all have lost the battle." Pitch said with a nasty smile.
"What are you jabbering about now Pitch?" Bunny said as he opened up a giant rabbit hole that sent the unconscious children safely to his warren. "We beat you're creepy daughter and saved all of the ankle bitters she's been controlling."
"Perhaps, but I have won an even greater battle."
At this, Tooth arrived, she seemed absolutely flustered; her fairies equally so.
"Guys, I managed to beat Lonesome, but my fairies and I can sense that the Tooth palace is under attack again."
"Quite right you are." Pitch replied. "You see, while you all were having fun here, the rest of my children paid a visit to each of your homesteads; The Pole, the Warren, the Palace, there all mine now."
"No." North said.
"Yes." Pitch replied. "Of course my children and I can't take all the credit. This was Lantern's idea after all." Pitch gestured to Lantern, who stood up and easily broke out of his black sand bonds. In a burst of fire, a ring he had on his left hand turned into his lantern, the one that Pitch was holding crumbled into black sand, the candle inside fell to the ground and went out.
"You're lying Pitch. Lantern would never betray us. Would you?" He looked at Lantern hopefully, but was met with his usual blank expression.
"Pitch is telling the truth Jack." Lantern replied. The guardians were all dumbfounded. None of them knew how to process this. Finally, North managed to say,
"Why Lantern? Why would you do this?" North said.
"I overheard the conversation you were all having about me. About how you don't trust me, how you find me disturbing and 'creepy' as you put it. And that you don't understand why The Man in the Moon would choose me to be a guardian. Over the years I've learned to read between the lines, but anyone can see that I don't belong here. I'm learning that Pitch's plans are far more rewarding then being a guardian, and I await instructions on how to proceed forward."
"Enough." Jack shouted. He leapt into the air and launched an icy blast, but Lantern countered with a wall of fire. As soon as the fire died down Jack. In response, Lantern turned his lantern into staff and the two Jacks came to blows. "I trusted you!" Frost said through gritted teeth. "I thought we were friends. I stood up for you when the others doubted you, but they were right about you all along."
"Things are not always what they seem Jack Frost." Lantern said as he and Frost locked staffs. "Sometimes, friends make their own plans and keep each other in the dark. Anyway, you and the others might want to retreat. The Dark guardians will be arriving soon." Sure enough, Shock Primal and Loss arrived mere moments later, each one accompanied by an army of nightmares.
"Jack we have to retreat!" North said as he and the others fell back to the sleigh. Jack looked at the sleigh, then back to Lantern.
"This isn't over." He said, tears welling up in his eyes. He kicked Lantern in the chest, and leapt to the sleigh and they took off. The Nightmares tried to stop them, but Frost and Sandy managed to fend them off long enough for them to escape via North's snow globes.
Pitch turned to his three remaining children and ordered they give a full report.
"Mission accomplished father." Shock said. "The fairies have been captured and all the teeth are ours."
"The Warren is ours too." Primal said with a snarl.
"What of the children that the rabbit sent down there?" Pitch asked. Primal smiled menacingly. They're on the wild side now." Primal said, flexing his claws.
Finally, Pitch turned to Loss. "And what about you, my boy?"
"The Yeti's put up a fight, but I was able to take the pole." Loss said, his voice full of despair and hopelessness.
"Excellent!" Pitch said with glee. "I may have lost a daughter, but won a great battle. And it's all thanks to you my new friend." Pitch patted Lantern on the back.
"You're welcome Pitch." Lantern replied. "Now that I have proved myself, perhaps you could let me in on the full plan?"
Back on the sleigh, the guardians we all silent. The loss of their homes was not only a blow to them, but a blow to all the children of the world. The only one feeling anything other than despair was Jack. Even though his powers were of ice and snow, Jack's anger made him feel he was on fire. Though he hadn't known him long, Lantern's betrayal hit Jack like it had come from his best friend. It was then that Jack swore: the next time he saw that traitor, he would Show him just how vicious a snowstorm could be.
I'm sorry it took me so long to post this, I honestly thought I would have more time to work on this over the last several weeks, but turns out I had less; and being a procrastinator doesn't help much. Anyway, here it is, and I hope for reviews and feedback.