Blizzard

Chapter 7

3 hours.

3 long, agonizing hours of doing nothing, while the lives of hundreds of innocent students hung in the hands of a group of 30 armed men, all of them lacking the remorse and moral duty to refrain from killing people.

Kristoff was getting restless. What the hell is going on? 3 full hours and not even a single SWAT team or a mobile command center shows up at this place? The fuck is HQ doing? People are going to die!

Amidst the empty streets and the howling wind only the original, meagre response team of ordinary police officers, the arms drawn guarded the place. There was no traffic; a barricade had been set up around the university in a 1 kilometer radius, preventing any traffic from moving in. That was redundant, since the purpose of the barricade was to ensure police operations went smoothly.

There were no police operations going on.

Kristoff slammed his fist on the table. He had watched the small skirmish. He had watched as four men converged on Blizzard, weapons blazing, to the point where she had almost been overrun until she threw herself out a window and latched on to the roof with what appeared to be a grappling device. Then there had been silence, and while no gunmen were visible to the police outside HQ forbade them from even sending a small force in the hopes of taking down whoever was still left within the building.

He had watched Blizzard almost get overrun.

He couldn't just rely on her to get the job done.

"HQ, any updates on the situation?"

"Negative, Dispatch 2-3."

"What the hell are we supposed to do? Just sit back and wait?"

"Your orders are to secure the site, Dispatch 2-3. Do not override those orders."

Frustration overtook Kristoff once again by the lack of conclusive action. This wasn't like anything that had ever happened before; the standard procedure was to assault the captured building and get rid of the gunmen. Something was going on, something very strange, but he couldn't put his finger on it.


Petersburg's phone rang. "Yes boss?"

"There is a certain police officer asking too many questions."

"Where is he?"

"He's securing the site on the east end of the campus. I provided you with one sniper rifle when you deployed; take him out. His patrol car is serial number AX334."

"Copy that. Consider it done." East end… "Where the hell is the sniper rifle?"


"Can you walk?" What am I doing?

"We're gonna need a lot more than walking if we're going to pull through this."

Anna helped Elsa stabilize herself. Her balance was still very questionable; she still needed the wall for support. It wasn't just her physical capability that she was questioning; Anna didn't really know whether they were dealing with this issue correctly, and she certainly didn't want this to damage their relationship. But there was something about the way Elsa carried herself, the way she swung her glaive to make sure her arm could work, that caused whatever negative emotions she had to suppress a little.

"I know I don't have the right to ask you this," Elsa began, "but I'm going to need your help."

Help? Help with what? Why am I even doing this? "Shoot."

"How good are you with a handheld melee weapon?"

"I'm a fencer, remember? I train for this."

Elsa pulled out a gun from her belt. "Keep this, and only use it if absolutely necessary. I don't want people dying unnecessarily here." Anna clasped the handle of the pistol, the cold metal scaring her a little bit. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"You need my help, don't you?"

"I don't want you getting hurt." A wave of emotion washed through Anna the moment those words were uttered. "Honest. If I have to take all the fire then so be it—"

Anna placed a finger over her lips, signaling that she was ready. This is crazy. Too, fucking, crazy. "What do we have to do?"

"I have a plan."


"AX334…"

Petersburg hefted the rifle as he climbed the stairs of the auditorium, the heavy weapon weighing down his hands. He wasn't about to let that stop him; with the vigilante gone, he was going to have a lot of fun today. He pushed open the door to the roof, crouching immediately to avoid being spotted by any police officers who happened to be looking at the roof. Calmly, he slid a new ammunition clip into the chamber of the rifle, and deployed the stand, crawling towards the edge of the building.

"Found him." He sighted the police officer standing next to his car, his pistol still drawn. He would snipe the man, and then fall back immediately; his sniper fire would be sure to draw return fire, if shooting at people had taught him anything. Through the scope, he increased the magnification, making sure his aiming corresponded with the strong winds blowing from his left.

His finger tightened on the trigger.

Something slammed the rifle out of his grip, and he felt a sharp edge pound on the back of his head, and he blacked out.


Elsa had noticed the man with the sniper rifle ascend the stairs of the building. It wasn't a good sign. She heaved a sigh of relief as she made sure the man was out cold; by prodding him with the end of his rifle.

Now for the hard part.

Grappling onto the edge of the building, she descended to a certain height, before leaping over the border of the campus—

—and straight into plain sight of all the police officers.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it!" one of them yelled as they all drew their weapons, their firearms brought up to bear, intimidating barrels pointed straight at Elsa's head. Had her mask not been on, they were sure to have seen the look of pure fear splayed across Elsa's face. But she maintained her cool; she had to, or this would never work.

"Don't shoot! I'm not the one behind this."

"Dispatch, we have eyes of target Blizzard. Orders?"

"Neutralize her. Apprehend her at all costs."

"Goddammit, listen to me for once!" Elsa yelled, her rage already beginning to boil. She refused, just downright refused to leave without getting those people out of there. "I can't get these people out alone. I need your help."

"Surrender immediately!" Elsa recognized him; the cop she had met two days ago while fighting off the gang of armed robbers. She turned to him, her intense blue eyes staring him down.

"I can't do this without your help."

"If you go back in there, those people will kill everyone in there!"

"Use your heads! You're all cops!" Elsa went on. "Why the hell are a bunch of crooks assaulting a university of all places? Why the hell are a bunch of armed men blowing up a bank without stealing anything?" Already some of the officers had begun to look at each other uncertainly, but the officer she recognized continued to point the deadly firearm at her.

"It doesn't matter what they want; our priority is to make sure the hostages are safe—"

"They won't kill the hostages, you fools!" Elsa slammed the glaive on the road, her hands clenching as she walked towards the cops. "They're here for some other reason, but they don't have any advantage nor prerogative to kill them! I just need a force, a small force, to give me fire support in there!"

"The only thing you're getting is a pair of handcuffs."

"Please! If you want to take care of their safety, you have to help me!"

She watched the officer's expression change ever so slightly, as did the other officers. The radio crackled. "Dispatch, status report! Do you or do you not have Blizzard?"

The wind picked up speed, seemingly matching the tension of the situation. Elsa felt a single, solitary bead of cold sweat drip down the side of her head.

"Target was lost."

The officer ripped the radio from his uniform and shut it off. He looked straight at Blizzard. "What do you need?"


Anna slammed the pole into the back of the guard's head, watching the body crumple before her. She raided his corpse of magazines and ammunition, and kept going.

So far she had taken down three armed gunmen. But she had been extremely lucky, and she was fully aware that it could run out at any time.

The vigilante swung towards her, landed perfectly on the elevated walkway between the humanities and sciences block. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Few gunmen gone."

"How many exactly?"

"I've taken out 4." Something was different about Elsa. Was that… was that fear in her voice?

"That means we've taken out a collective total of 10 people. There's still 20 more gunmen not dealt with."

"Any ideas?"

"I've got some backup." Backup?

"Who are they?"

"Policemen." Kristoff?

"Was there one with a patrol car number plate AX334?"

"…yes."

Her heart sank. Kristoff's here?! Oh god, please don't get hurt, please don't get hurt…

"You ready for this?" Elsa looked at her. She had this way of just staring at Anna, almost as if she could see into her own soul, evaluating, judging. It scared Anna sometimes, but now it wasn't the time to be scared. "Frankly," Elsa went on, "I don't know if I'm ready for this either."

"You can do it." Anna tried to hide the trembling in her voice. "Listen, in case we don't make it—"

"We've got to." Her resolve had come back, Anna realized. The spark in those blue eyes was back.

And they were counting on that spark.


Petersburg awoke.

His head hurt. Badly. His vision clouded with blurs and dizziness enwrapped his mental state; he was unfit for combat.

He clenched his eyes shut, and opened them again.

Click. Metal bonds clamped shut around his hands, which he handed realized were already behind his back. The sound snapped Petersburg out of his reverie. His first reaction was to struggle, jingling the chain that held his hands fast to their handcuffs.

"Well now," someone said. "Looks like someone did our work for us. You've got a lot of explaining to do."

"You won't get anything out of me," Petersburg spat out. "I have powerful friends. Your interrogation won't yield anything—"

"Who said we were using the interrogation?"

Petersburg looked up at the officers surrounding him, standing atop the roof, their faces grim and determined. "Why the hell are you guys even storming this place?! Don't you guys have your orders—"

"They weren't worth it."

The turn of events knocked out some working function within Petersburg's brain; he didn't know how to react. This – this wasn't supposed to happen. When did this – when – what?


Kristoff sighted the grand hall from his position on the ground floor, as well as the gunmen standing outside, who hadn't seen them yet. He held up two fingers and signaled his fellow officers to move up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the masked vigilante vaulting across the rooftops. She would go in first; their job was to take out whoever had been distracted by her, get into the hall and get the students out.

"I don't want them killed," she had said.

"We're officers. Our protocol is to kill them. There's no other way to neutralize such a threat."

"Fine, do what you must. But I'm not doing the killing."

He saw the shield fly, and the gunfire started. That was their cue. "Go!" he yelled, moving up to the nearest pillar, taking aim at the nearest gunman. He pulled the trigger, the pistol kicking back into his palm as he fired, and he watched the gunman wordlessly go down. The firing increased; sparks clattered off the floor near him as he ducked behind the pillar, and his fellow officers moved in to reinforce him. Something clattered to the ground near him.

"GRENADE!" someone yelled as he lunged from the pillar, the explosion flinging him a short distance away. He crashed into the floor, but forced himself up, ignoring the pain as he dodged the deadly hail of lead that threatened to rip him to shreds.

"Keep firing!" He emerged from his cover and fired wildly, the gunmen beginning to duck behind their own cover. Good, they were distracted. He watched as Blizzard descended upon them, slamming into them with her deadly glaive and wreaking havoc at close range. Guns were fired at her, but either by some pure luck and sheer skill she kept going. "Move up!" he yelled again, firing at another gunman as he approached the door of the great hall.

Bullets from a rooftop ripped through one of the officers as they rushed towards the entrance. "Shit! Get behind cover, we're being suppressed here!"

The zing of bullets maintained its high rate of fire as they hid behind pillars, flinching as bullets came a little too close for comfort. Then it stopped. Whoever that was firing on them was evidently reloading. "Find the bastard and take him out!"


Elsa slammed one more gunman aside, his attempt to sneak up on her thwarted. The sound of bullets hitting the ground near her forced her to take cover.

That firing rate is fast. Must be an LMG. She peeked from behind her cover the moment the bullets stopped firing in her direction. On the roof. It was indeed someone with a light machine gun, still firing at her allies suppressed behind some nearby pillars. "Find the bastard and take him out!" she heard Kristoff yell the moment the firing stopped. She deployed her grapple, firing it to latch onto the rooftop, flinging her towards the roof. Just before her body crashed into the side of the building she yanked down on the grapple for extra momentum, disengaging it the same movement to allow her to fly straight into the gunman, slamming into him with the edge of her glaive. She kicked the LMG off the roof and slammed his head back onto the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Then one, two bullets struck her in the back.

She cried out in pain, the red hot sensations slicing through her back as she collapsed to the ground. She planted her hands down as she attempted to get up, but already her vision was clouding with redness, and that red would soon turn to black if she didn't get up soon.

But it hurt oh, so bad.

Exhaustion entangled her limbs, dragging them down in its alluring grasp, as if someone had just begun to whisper in Elsa's ear, "Rest now, my child. You are safe now. There is no more to worry for…"

A flash of an image of Anna cut through her head. NO! her mind screamed, as her head pulsated with pain. Her fist clenched into a tight ball as her muscles tensed, forcing herself back up into a standing position. Not now—

She staggered to her feet, swinging her arm, wincing as the wounds on her back stretched and contracted around the tiny pieces of lead embedded within. Her eyes clenched and opened again, her vision blurring as she attempted to blink it back. Then her outstretched arm fired the grapple, and then she stepped off the ledge of the roof.

The rope tightened, and became taught.

Elsa swung straight into a window of the grand hall's second floor, crashing through the glass knees first and slamming into the parapet. More nausea hit her, but the screaming was more evident.

Wait. Screaming?

Rifles cocked. "Stand down, you bitch," she heard from her left. "Or we're gonna shoot through the entire crowd below."

Her greatest fear. The only thing that could probably stop her. The worst dilemma possible. Because she knew that either way, someone was going to end up dead.

But her eyes remained wide open. Those intense blue irises dashed from left to right, scanning the area, mentally noting that there were only two gunmen on her left, and that they were near the window in which she had smashed into, and that unless there was someone standing directly below her there was no one on the opposite side to open fire on the students and teachers. But it was entirely likely; the students had already begun screaming.

She needed an opening.

And when she realized, Elsa smiled.


The door burst open loudly.

Anna yelled as she swung the pole, succeeding in deliberately attracting all the gunmen's attention. Her weapon slammed down hard onto the nearest gunman's skull, and she thought she heard a crack as she ducked behind a pillar and the others frantically scrambled to ready their rifles.

They didn't get to. The door burst open from the other side to the sound of Kristoff yelling "Everyone duck!" Screams were uttered as the policemen, now unobstructed, opened fire on the gunmen that had their backs turned to them.

The two gunmen on top turned, temporarily distracted. Elsa flung the glaive, catching one in the stomach as she leapt, her fist sent swinging as she punched the first gunmen out cold, and retrieved the glaive to knock the next one out the window. It had been an accident, but by now she was way too desperate to bother about his fate. She leapt over the parapet, landing heavily on her too feet, launching her grapple in the same time to latch onto the nearest gunman, yanking him over towards her and swinging her glaive in the same motion, causing him to flip backwards as his face connected with the edge of the glaive. She felt a barrel press into the side of her head, but was gone as soon as it came; Anna slammed her weapon into the gunman's hand and thwacked his face with the other end, knocking him back. Elsa spun, swinging her leg in the same motion, her foot connecting with his head and sending him flying before he crashed to the floor.

Gunfire erupted; someone else with an LMG had entered the hall. The officers opened fire, but their screams were mixed with that of the students as they fell to the deadly hail. Enraged, Elsa dashed towards the gunman, launching her glaive towards him, but missed, and the gunman reflexively raised the gun. The bullet hail was directed upwards, smashing through the glass paneling on the ceiling, the shards falling upon the terrified students below, screaming as the deadly glass pierced them. Elsa roared in rage, slamming her fist against the gunman's cheek, cracking the jaw and smashing his teeth, but not before her other fist slammed into him from the opposite direction. She bestowed upon him a hail of her own, that of infuriated, anger fueled punches, until his whole face was covered in blood. Only then did Elsa grant him the favour of knocking him out.

She breathed deeply, not realizing her breathing had become that fast, and she hadn't noticed the state of her exertion in her fury. Then she turned.

To the sight of dead officers, groaning students, and a dead tired Anna with a bruise on her cheek.

The scene of death lay sprawled out before her.


The sound of EM crews only came fifteen minutes later. Kristoff knelt beside one of his fellow officers. "You're gonna be okay, man."

"Don't lie, Kristoff. I know… I'm a dead… dead… man…"

He watched as his colleague passed away right in front of his eyes. His own eyes closed, not in death, but in guilt.

"Kristoff."

Another officer came up behind him just as the EM crews deployed, racing into the campus to treat the injured. "HQ wants a word with us. All of us left."

His eyes narrowed. He had contemplated this part: the aftermath of his actions. But he didn't regret them. He had turned what could have been a long, prolonged and protracted hostage situation into a conflict with minimal lives lost. His orders were orders indeed, but, his conscience was another thing entirely.

And he sure as hell was glad he followed the latter.

"Where's our target?"

"I don't know. I assume she's gone."

"Oh well, one more thing for HQ to hammer us on."

"At this rate, you can expect nothing less than a dishonorable discharge," Kristoff remarked.

"Ah well," his colleague replied. "Better than letting those people die inside, huh?"

"Yeah."

He made the right choice. They might have the worst consequences, but he certainly didn't regret it.


Petersburg was lying against the wall, his head bleeding from various wounds. But that wasn't the only part of his body that had been injured.

The police had found him in a warehouse, lying in a pool of his own blood. He was alive alright, but the worst part was that he was conscious, and still in great, intense pain.

The report later stated that when he was discovered by a crew of SWAT forces in a routine sweep of the campus, he was delirious, spouting random gibberish and incoherent words. The only thing that medical personnel were later able to make out from his speech was something about a "snowstorm's might", but failed to elicit more coherent responses from him.


"You're joking."

"No… sir. I'm not."

"They lasted a mere three and a half hours?"

"To be fair sir, there was a group of policemen that decided to interfere, including the one Petersburg was told to assassinate."

"I want them gone."

"Yes sir."

"Make sure this time, it doesn't fail."


"So you're an artist, a fencer AND a doctor?"

"I was drawing and fencing since young. The medical classes came later."

"I'm starting to believe you're some kind of fictional character simply made up for some kind of book," Elsa grinned, but that smile immediately turned into a wince as Anna's pliers dug into her back. Her suit's layering had been able to take most of the impact, so while the bullets had implanted into her back, they didn't go very deep into her flesh. The two bullets clattered upon a tray Anna had placed on the coffee table.

"You're good. I'll get a bandage."

"I can bandage myself."

"It's okay," Anna replied, "Just… lie down." Truth be told, Anna wouldn't mind Elsa bandaging herself, just that she wouldn't know how she would react if she saw Elsa topless. The platinum blonde was lying face down on the sofa, her hands lying beside her as she scrunched up her face from the pain.

That day that Elsa had saved her the first time, she had bought bandages back. Now she brought them up, and began bandaging Elsa from the back, who was now sitting up.

"Anna?" Her voice was trembling. "What is it?" she replied.

"I'm sorry."

"Like I said, it isn't your fault—"

"I could have gotten you killed. I did get people killed today."

"But you saved the rest—"

"I could have saved them too!"

"Elsa…" Anna clasped her hand over Elsa's cheek and turned her face to meet hers, seeing fresh hot tears rolling down Elsa's face. "You can't save everybody. The police can't save everybody. Don't… don't blame yourself for something you couldn't have done."

"I just put a death sentence on your head."

"Elsa." Anna's face turned serious as she tightened the bandage. "To know you as a vigilante will never be a curse. It is an honor. An honor to know someone as noble, as courageous, as selfless as you are. I will never find anyone else like you."

Her breathing considerably smoothened, but Anna could tell it wasn't over. She sighed.

And then she embraced Elsa.

It wasn't a tight hug, but it wasn't a very gentle one either. It was just a hug that said I'm so glad that you're fine and you're not dead.

And Elsa turned around and returned that hug to Anna, burying her face into her shoulder as the sobs just started again. A serene look crossed Anna's face as she wrapped her hands around Elsa's bare, cool back. As long as they were together, everything was going to be fine.

"Elsa?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why you chose this path."

Her eyes closed and her lips trembled visibly. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Elsa, just – just forget I said that, I—"

A hand enveloped hers, and she looked up. Those intense blue eyes were open again. "I – I'll tell you tomorrow. It's getting dark, and I'm kinda tired."

"Oh. Okay." Elsa got up to leave.

"Actually…" Anna looked up. "Do you mind if I sleep with you in your bed? I – don't get me wrong, I just – I'm afraid of the nightmares."

"I – okay? I guess."

"Thanks."

"Elsa?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for trusting me. With, you know, this whole vigilante thing and whatnot."

A smile crossed her roommate's face. And then she disappeared into her room, and Anna followed.

No, I may have changed the rating, but there won't be a lemon in the next chapter, because that would disobey the rating and I'm not sure what happens if I do that, and I don't intend to find out.