Welcome back!
Sorry for the minor delay, yesterday was...busy to say the least.
Thanks for the update reminder The true Hero of Skill! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
MCPO M-061
Chapter 7
The next day found them in the Sherriff's station again, trying out a way to restrain Ingrid.
"Belle found a spell that may be able to work against Ingrid," Emma said and produced a candle and a scroll from the box.
"You know that will only neutralize her powers for a limited time, right?" Fox pointed out.
"Well, yeah," Emma shrugged, "We'll have to move fast."
"Can you read this?" Elsa asked as she looked over the scroll.
"Elvish? No," Emma replied, "Belle translated it. It tells us how to enact the spell."
"With both hands, hold the candle and then use your magic to light it. Blow on it to trap your target," Elsa read.
"That sounds simple," Fox frowned, "How exactly does it restrain her from using her magic?"
"I don't know," Emma shrugged.
"Maybe without her powers we can talk to her. We can find out what happened in Arendelle and find out how she got here," Elsa sighed, "And if Anna is ok."
"Well, the sooner we figure out how to work this spell, the sooner we can trap her," Emma said, and Elsa stood a few feet away from her.
"Give it a go," she said, and Emma started the spell.
Fox watched with interest and worry as the flame licked outwards toward Elsa. Stormer whined by Fox's side as they watched.
"Its ok girl," Fox said quietly, "It's ok."
The flame suddenly stopped and disappeared. Emma and Elsa sighed disappointedly, and Emma set down the candle.
"Should we try again?" Elsa asked.
"Later," Emma grumbled, "I need to meet Mom. I'm supposed to babysit Neal tonight."
"Ok," Elsa smiled, "Later it is then."
Emma gave her an apologetic smile and left the three in the Sherriff's station.
"Hey," Fox said as Elsa hugged him with a sad sigh, "We're going to get Ingrid and find out everything we need to know. Then we're going to stop her and get home."
"I know, babe, I know," Elsa sighed, "I'm just homesick."
"Me too, love," Fox said, and she cracked a smile and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you," she whispered as she reset her head to his chest, "You're the best."
"Come on," Fox smiled, "Let's get out of this station. Milkshakes on me."
Elsa smiled and took his arm as they walked out. As they received their order, Fox's cell rang, and Emma's name appeared on the screen.
"Yes, Emma?" Fox sighed.
"Ingrid's in the clocktower," Emma said, "I'm headed back to the station to get you guys."
"Don't bother, we'll meet you at the tower," Fox groaned and hung up, "Ingrid is at the clock tower and Emma is on her way there."
Elsa sighed and set down her milkshake.
"If you want to sit it out, I can handle Ingrid?" Fox offered, and Elsa debated for a second.
"Thanks, love," she smiled, "I don't think I can face her just yet."
Fox kissed her and smiled.
"Keep your mum safe girl," he said to Stormer as he petted her.
The husky whined and yipped in agreement.
"Be safe," Elsa called after Fox.
"Will do babe," he smiled back and detached his MDR from the bag.
He arrived at the clock tower to find Emma waiting by the elevator.
"Where's Elsa?" she asked as he racked the charging handle.
"Sitting out," Fox replied, "She's not ready to face Ingrid just yet."
Emma nodded and readied the candle in hand as they stepped onto the elevator. Fox took up a position in the doorway and the second they opened again, he surged out with his weapon high. Emma followed him up the last flight of stairs and they came off to find Ingrid staring at a mirror.
"Hey!" Emma shouted, and Ingrid turned with her hands raised to fire off blasts of magic.
Fox reacted quicker and put two thunderous rounds into her mirror. Ingrid jumped and fell on her behind at the gunshots and she started quivering.
"No…" she whimpered, "Please…not again…"
One of her hands went to her stomach as she tried crawling away.
"Eh?" Fox frowned, "Again? The hell are you on about?"
Emma enacted the spell before Ingrid could reply and Fox stowed the rifle as chains appeared on Ingrid's wrists. Ingrid relaxed once the rifle was gone and shakily stood as Emma pulled her up.
"I…I guess you got me," she said, still shaken from almost getting shot again.
Emma frowned at Fox as she frogmarched Ingrid away. He shrugged and followed them out. Elsa met them at the bottom and marched angrily up to Ingrid.
"Elsa," Ingrid started, "Fox tried to…"
A sharp crack interrupted her as Elsa's hand connected with Ingrid's cheek in a backhand that had Fox's eyes go wide.
"Save your half-truths," she hissed, "I am tired of your crap. I don't want to play your game anymore. I just want to go home, get married and live my life with the man that I love. Is that too much to ask?"
Ingrid remained silent and Elsa scoffed.
"Forget it," she grumbled, "It's a waste of time trying to get anything into your stubborn, evil mind. Take her away please babe."
"Yes ma'am," Fox nodded and took over marching Ingrid away.
Elsa huffed as she watched Fox put Ingrid in Emma's cruiser.
"Hey, are you ok?" Emma asked her.
"Yes, Emma, I am completely fine," Elsa snapped.
Emma blinked, taken aback by Elsa's fierceness. Stormer whined and bumped Elsa's hand with her nose as Fox arrived back.
"That was quite the display of anger," Fox said, worried about his fiancée.
Elsa gave a huff and petted Stormer's head.
"I just want to go home," she said in a small voice, "I'm tired of this."
"I know," Fox sighed and wrapped an arm around her, "But once we get Ingrid talking, we'll know what happened in Arendelle. Then we can find a way home."
Elsa sighed and rested her head on him.
"If there's a home to go back to," Elsa whispered.
# # #
Emma and Fox took Ingrid back to the station and locked her in an interrogation room.
"Let me at her first," Fox said to Emma while they watched her from behind the two-way glass.
"She won't talk to you," Emma argued, "But she seems to want to talk to me."
"That's what I'm worried about," Fox grumbled, "That mirror in the tower isn't filled with any level of dark magic."
"You think she's just trying to get to me?" Emma asked.
"Entirely possible," Fox shrugged, "Also I want answers about Arendelle. She won't give that information to you."
Emma sighed and stepped aside, allowing Fox into the room.
"You're not Emma," Ingrid noted.
"No, she's sitting this one out," Fox replied as he took his seat, "Ingrid."
Ingrid looked mildly surprised at the use of her name.
"Yep, we found out your name and your relation to the royal family of Arendelle," Fox said, "I also know that you had two younger sisters, the youngest of which became queen."
Ingrid squirmed at the mention of her sisters.
"So, what happened to your middle sister, Helga?" Fox asked, "Did she run away? Get married off and forgotten about?"
"I killed her," Ingrid spat, "And then Iduna put me in that urn. It was an accident, I never wanted to hurt Helga."
"I believe that," Fox shrugged, "As someone who was forced to kill his own mother, I can relate."
Ingrid looked surprised again.
"What I can't figure out is why you would try and split Elsa and Anna," Fox frowned, "I get that you believe that Elsa and Emma are going to become your 'magical sisters' but does it not occur to you that trying to split them from their loved ones will make them hate you rather than love you?"
"It would have worked If you hadn't interfered in Arendelle," Ingrid replied coldly, "And if Elsa had actually frozen Anna when she had the chance."
"Spell of Shattered Sight yes?" Fox said, "Such a pity that didn't work out."
"If Elsa hadn't been so fearful, I wouldn't have had to freeze all Arendelle," Ingrid snapped, "And you wouldn't have tried to kill me."
"Let me guess, I shot you in the stomach," Fox deadpanned, and Ingrid winced, "Anyway. Lovely chat, thanks for telling me everything I needed to know from you. We should do this again sometime."
Ingrid blinked in surprise.
"What?" she said.
"Yeah, that's why I was here," Fox shrugged, "To get you to tell me about what happened in Arendelle. Thanks, by the way, it was much easier than I thought it was going to be."
Ingrid just watched in shock as Fox made for the door.
"It doesn't matter," she said eventually, and her chains started failing, "I have what I want. My spell will leave this town desolate except for Emma and Elsa, and they will learn to love me because they will have no one else to love."
Fox's magical sense alerted him a half second too late. A massive blast of Emma's magic ripped through the room and caught Fox like a rugby tackle. His shield flared gold and his exoskeleton's helmet barely had enough time to engage before the blast sent him through the opposite wall and into the parking lot. His exo sent up sparks on impact and he skidded into the side of a cruiser with a flash of gold from his shield.
He barely made out Ingrid getting away and Emma coming out after him. For some reason, she stopped, and Fox's vision began to fade. The last thing that he could register was the patter of feet as Elsa ran over to him.
# # #
Fox groaned and forced his eyes open. Everything seemed to hurt, and he groaned as sunlight lashed out at his retinas.
"Bloody hell," he groaned and tried sitting up, "I feel like I got hit by a truck."
"Technically, you hit a car," Elsa said as she rounded a corner with an ice pack, a worried smile on her face.
Stormer trotted in next to her and climbed up onto the bed to lick Fox's cheek.
"Where are we?" Fox asked as Elsa set the ice pack to his head.
"The Charming's loft," she replied, "We were about to head out to try and find Emma."
"I'd offer to join, but my head says otherwise," Fox groaned, "Still, could be worse."
"How could getting blasted through a wall go any worse?" Elsa asked snappily, "You're bruised, and heaven knows what happened to your head."
"Well, I could have hit the wall without my shield," Fox shrugged, "Then I'd be dead instead of injured."
Elsa huffed and changed the placement of her ice.
"You're still injured," she said softly, "Too injured for my liking."
"Fair point," Fox sighed.
They fell silent for a few minutes.
"Ingrid spilt the beans on what happened in Arendelle," Fox said.
"What did she say?" Elsa asked hesitantly.
"After Anna put you in the urn under the Spell of Shattered Sight, Ingrid lost her temper and sort of…froze Arendelle…" Fox winced as she touched a particularly sensitive spot on his head, "Apparently Stormer and I were unaffected, and I tried to kill Ingrid with a shot to the gut. Seems that didn't go as planned."
"Arendelle is…frozen?" Elsa asked in a small voice.
"Yeah," Fox sighed and turned to her, "I'm sorry it's not better news."
"It's…not as bad as it could be, I guess," Elsa said tentatively, "Anna could have been left to rule for thirty years and we would have gotten back to an entirely new family."
"True," Fox sighed, "I should probably have asked Ingrid if it was reversible."
Before Elsa could reply, Mary Margret walked in to check on them.
"We're about to head out," she said, "How are you feeling Fox?"
"Better than I was a few minutes ago," Fox replied, "But still pretty sore, I don't think I'm going to manage a search right now. I'll join the search in a few hours."
She nodded and left them. Elsa bit her lip and put the ice back against Fox's head.
"If you want to go help them search for Emma, I don't mind," Fox said softly to her, "You'll probably be more helpful to her than me."
Elsa didn't respond.
"Will you be ok on your own?" she asked.
"I will be fine," he replied, and she handed him the block of ice.
She left with the others and Fox lay back down Stormer shifted next to him and rested her head on his belly.
"Well," he sighed and stroked Stormer's head, "Anna's in for a surprise when she finds dried blood on the ground."
Stormer gave a sleepy warble and huffed in reply.
