**Jack Frost**

Jack let out a sigh of defeat as he slumped down against the furry arms of the yetis parading him through North's workshop. This had to be the tenth time he'd been called there this week, and it was what, Friday It's not like he was busy, though. It was mid June, and as you might imagine, the winter spirit didn't have to do too much. There was the Southern hemisphere, but he didn't hit as many places there, and didn't have any believers down there yet, so he never stayed long. He couldn't go visit Jamie, he was on vacation in some deathly hot place for most of the summer. Besides, Jamie was getting older, and he'd already gone through a few phases of not-believing. But in no way did his open shcedual make it okay for North to call him here as often as he did.

The big guy had better have a good explanation for this, Jack thought with a huff as he landed unceremoniously before the door of the Guardians HQ of sorts. He had just enough time to straighten himself out before the doors were opened, and he strode in. Surprisingly, the guardians didn't acknowledge his presence in the slightest, too busy staring at the large globe serving as the centerpiece of the room.

Jack's shoulder's slumped as he stared at the four, sending them a bitter glare. They dragged him out of his home-er, lake, carried him all the way back to the North Pole in, you guessed it, a giant drawstring bag, only to ignore him when he showed up. He'd seen the signal, North didn't have to send Phil after him. Jack straightened again and noticed that they were still glued to the screen.

Glancing at them skeptically, Jack stepped forward to fall in like with the others, weaving between them to get a look.

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What the hell is that?

Taking up the screen was what appeared to be a camp, full of kids of various ages. At first his eyes spotted out the normal things, an archery range, some stables (he ignored the horses, well, pegasi, at first), arts and crafts, a dining pavilion a rock wall, a patchwork of cabins that looked nothing alike (hence, the patchwork), and a large lake glittering in the evening light. But that's where the normal ended. That rock climbing wall he mentioned? yeah, there's lava pouring down it. Like fresh out of a volcano lava. Then there were the horses. They looked normal enough until one decided to ruffle it's gigantic freaking wings, and that was when Jack noticed the wings on the rest of them. Next, the campers. All of them wore bright orange T-shirts, and were in the process of putting on full Greek battle armor, and selecting from an arsenal of deadly gathered at that marble dining pavilion he mentioned before. Oh yeah, the thing was marble. Solid black marble with a big, sealed up crack and at least a dozen picnic tables They leaned against the tables and chatted away casually as they adjusted their bronze armor. And then, there was the centaur.

Jack involuntarily took a step back, his eyes wide and unblinking. He'd seen a lot of weird things, but this was a first. Strolling-er, trotting through the crowd of teens, campers, was the torso of a middle aged man with a scruffy salt-and-pepper beard, connected to the body of a white stallion. Alright, Jack admitted, maybe North did have a good reason for calling him there.

The horse-man, centaur, stopped just outside the crowd, in a clearing stretching out against the treeline of a massive forest. He began talking to the campers, occasionally shifting on his hooves or swishing his tail. As the campers paused in their work to listen, Jack decided to speak up.

"So what am I looking at, exactly?"

The others seemed to jump a bit, as if they hadn't realized he ever arrived. Oh yeah, Jack remembered, his brow falling in annoyance, because they didn't notice when i showed up. Sandy sent a friendly wave, which Jack returned half-heartedly as Bunnymund took a step towards him, casting the immortal teen a look. "That, is what we're trying to figure out."

Jack stared back blankly, then turned to face the others. He vaguely recalled the day before, when he was sitting around North's office, bored out of his mind. They'd been searching for some weird disturbance in New York lately. Apparently it'd shown up once or twice before, but never like this. It seemed to come from some place along the Long Island Sound, but apparently none of the guardians had ever been there, which is especially strange considering the large number of children. Most of them were teenagers, but there were some younger ones mixed in. In all of his 300 years, he'd never delivered snow there. He visits New York a few times a winter, and this was just out of the city, so it didn't really make sense. It was like the place didn't exist. Seeing it now, Jack was beginning to think it didn't.

"Is that the place? The one in New York?" Jack questioned, stepping closer to the image. He leaned onto his staff, letting it support his weight as he inspected the scene in front of him. If he ignored the surroundings and the magical creatures, it was almost normal, key word almost. The teens were now speaking with more vigor, adjusting armor, polishing their weapons, and now sporting bronze helmets with brightly colored plumes, almost half had red, the rest had blue. Jack assumed that meant they were splitting into teams.

Tooth fluttered nervously, keeping an eye on the campers as if she were afraid they'd knock a tooth out on their deadly weapons. Way to get your priorities straight, Tooth. North was now grinning down at the winter spirit. "Jack! You made it! Good, good! See what we found! It's weird, no?" Jack glanced back at the kids, they'd now raised two flags, splitting off into their teams and cheering like they'd gotten the world best pep-talk. Then back to North. "Yeah.. but, uh, what are the doing?"

"Don't know. We've been watching them for most of the day. They're a weird bunch, let me tell you- Crikey I think they're playing capture the flag!" Bunnymund, the Easter kangaroo, exclaimed, staring shell-shocked at the screen. Jack turned to look. The campers were running through the forest, hiding their flags on opposite sides of a small stream.

Jack eyed the weapons once more. They were probably bronze, but they gave off a weird, unnatural glow and looked sharp enough to cut his head clean off. He rubbed at his neck absently at the thought.

What kind of camp was this?

As the campers spread out, the screen focused on a small group of teens with blue plumed helmets. Sandy flashed a bunch of images over his head that appeared to mean something along the lines of "could we get sound?" Jack assumed he meant for the video. North stood thinking for a moment scratching at the top of his beard a little before leaning forward and tapping in a slew of commands. The screen grew larger, and the room was filled with the sound of the forest.