CHAPTER EIGHT

Boarded


She should have known that it would only be a matter of time before someone caught up to them. They were a couple hours into their flight when Elsa noticed an unfamiliar crimson zeppelin coming up from the rear. Anna was asleep in the back and she had to wake her.

She turned around to run to her sister when she heard a loud 'thump' coming from above. Someone was boarding their airship. Not even a second later, Elsa heard the sound of shattering glass from Anna's room.

"Anna!" she yelled, running to the back, only to have the side door of the First Lady broken open. She tossed her hand forward and blasted magic at the intruder, being sure to aim for his hands to keep him from shooting the gun. Another man came in from behind him and ran at her. She blasted magic at him, but he dodged and the ice hit his companion who was knocked to the ocean below..

His ruse caught Elsa off guard, and he struck her in the head with his fist to knock her unconscious..


I could really use a Vigor right now, Elsa thought.

The loud ringing in her ears was terrible, and a perfect, hellish match to the view of imprisoned men and women below. They all wore prison uniforms, and were being sorted onto a man-woman-man-woman line. Watching over these poor souls was another robotic old man, similar to the Fireman Elsa had first encountered. From his chubby face, his one biological eye stared up at her while the other, mechanical eye glinted the light of the setting sun into her face.

The glint brought Elsa back to reality, where she noticed she was being hung halfway out the open door of her and Anna's airship.

She gasped, nearly panicking that she could've fallen to her death just then. From inside, she could hear Anna struggling and yelling. "Anna!" Elsa cried out, finally able to hear properly again. She felt herself being pulled in, and yet it was not the kindest of gestures.

"She's awake." said the man, still with a firm grip on Elsa's bound arms, still tilting her out the open door, threatening to drop her. She looked up at him. He was pale with pink cheeks, blue tattoos, an angry guise, and large, flowing, black locks of hair.

The only head of hair that was bigger than his was the fluffy, fiery curls on the small woman before her. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and stood only to give Elsa a rude, mildly-inconvenienced look. What could Elsa have done to ruin her day, she wondered bitterly.

"So you're this 'False Queen' we've been hearin' so much about." The woman… girl's accent was thick, but Elsa could still understand her. She finally got a better look. She was shorter than Elsa by a few inches, if you didn't count the crazy mop on her head.

"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed from the corner. She was being restrained by a man four times her size, but he definitely looked frightened for his own safety. He had a fresh, shiny bruise under his eye, and she immediately knew who he must have received that from. At least Anna was free of harm. Elsa looked around and saw that her ship had become a sort of hospital. There were cots set up along the walls of the main room, and laying on them were bloodied, injured people.

Anna continued, "Elsa, these jerks hijacked our airship! Freeze their butts!"

She would love to. But scaring off the armed people was easier than getting both them and the incapacitated removed from there.

"You caused a heap load of trouble at the Raffle." the young lady continued, staring Elsa down. How dare she speak to her that way. Who was this woman?

Elsa looked her over, and compared her to the other men standing guard. They were all wearing red, like the airship that snuck up on them. The colors contrasted against all the blues the Snow Queen decorated her city with. She then recalled the radio report when Elsa caused the people to panic. They had called her...

"Are you Vox Populi?" Elsa asked.

"Merida Fitzroy." The girl nodded proudly, but crossed her arms.

"Anna and I don't mean you any harm. We just want our ship back, so we can-" she explained.

"Your ship?" Merida sneered. "I wasn't born yesterday, missy. Judging from the portrait on the outside, it looks like the Snow Queen's ship."

Great. So she thought they were with the Snow Queen. "Yes, it is her's. But we took it. We don't want to fight."

"There's already a fight." she gestured angrily at the wounded men and women behind her that were being tended to by the few nurses they appeared to have. "But the real question is, which side are you on?" She firmly pressed an accusing finger into Elsa's chest.

She was not going to answer that. If she lied and picked a side, Vox included, all she would be doing is endangering Anna. She was not with the Queen, but she would also not pretend to be an ally of the Vox - especially if it meant working under these supposedly righteous protesters.

"The Queen isn't a queen at all. She's a tyrant! A beast!" Merida continued. "She says our fate is not our own. But we know better." Elsa squinted at her. "If you believe in freedom, you join the Vox! If you believe in equal rights to all people, including people like you, join the Vox! You can fight with us to change your destiny."

It was true that she did not like how people in this city were judged. She did not agree with it. Part of her even wanted to stop it. But she wanted no role in this little war between these two groups. She wanted what was best for Anna. She also didn't want to be dropped to the ground. "I just want my ship back." Elsa growled.

"And the Vox will give it to ya." Merida said. Elsa was not convinced. "But first. You gotta help the Vox." She pulled out a business card and held it up for Elsa to see. "Down in Finkton, there's a gunsmith. He supplies weapons to our cause." She tucked the card into Elsa's shirt between her breasts and gave them a little pat. Of all the- "Get our guns back. You'll get yer gammy ship back."

The man released Elsa's arm and let her fall. The fall was only a few feet, and shorter than she was prepared for. But she was definitely grateful it wasn't a twenty foot drop. To an extent. And only for a few seconds, because they pushed Anna right on top of her, and it practically broke her ribs.

"Ow! Anna!" Elsa yelled, trying to lift some of the weight off her chest.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea to land right on top of you, okay?" she spat, rolling off the older woman.

Once they gathered themselves, the two made their way through the factory town. The entire district was dominated by tall clock towers, huge factories, and proud golden statues of Hans Fink. If one bothered to look down instead of up, they would see the reason why everything was built with such high quality: the poor, starving Finkton workers. The entire place had unacceptable living conditions for its inhabitants.

Unfortunately, Elsa could not bring herself to put Anna in jeopardy more than she already did just to help them. If Merida was as good as she said she was, then these people would get their help. But it was not something she was counting on. She counted on bringing Anna to Paris, and that's what she was going to do.

And so they made their way into the factory. Elsa gave Anna a brief recap of what they needed to do, while she got a better look at the business card. The name of the gunsmith was Ping Li.

They snuck into the factory, thanks to Anna's increasingly handy lockpicking skills, and found an elevator that would take them through Finkton. They noticed a WANTED poster with their gunsmith's name on it. Evidently he'd drawn attention to himself, and no doubt it was because of his association with the Vox. Drawing attention from the public was not a very smart move to make in this world, as Elsa had learned the hard way.

As the elevator took them down, a loudspeaker gave them a better idea of Hans Fink's company policies for their workers - and it was downright criminal. Fink put business above the safety of the employees, and forced them to use his own currency. Using honey bees as a role model for humans to follow. Elsa knew enough to know there was a reason humans couldn't function as bees - simply because they weren't bees.

Fink was a worse man than Elsa originally thought. He was more than a disgusting, flamboyant womanizer. Part of her wished she could go after him and the Queen and rid the world of them both. It would make everyone a great deal happier.

The emergency phone within the elevator car began to ring. Elsa thought to ignore it, like she did many things.

"You should pick that up." Anna suggested.

"Why?"

"Maybe it's for you."

"Why would it be for me?" Elsa asked, begrudgingly picking up the device. She listened, waiting for the person on the other end to speak first. Anna snugged up close to Elsa so she could hear too.

"Ms. Vår?" asked the disembodied voice of a woman.

"Who is this?" Elsa asked.

"Please hold for Mr. Fink."

Elsa and Anna groaned in frustration at being put on hold and being forced to listen to terrible music drone on.

"Hello," Hans Fink said through the phone, all forced enthusiasm and shark's grin.

"Yes-" Elsa began.

"And welcome to Fink Industries! We apologize for putting you on hold. Please wait a few more minutes for the next available representative."

The awful music returned, and a portion of the elevator froze as Elsa's fingers flexed in irritation.

"Hello, Ms. Vår," said Fink's all-too familiar voice, after several more minutes. "This is Hans Fink. I've-we, here at Finkton, have our eye on you. And I can tell you right now that you are our top candidate."

Anna looked at Elsa confusedly, as though to ask if Fink was out of his mind. Which, Elsa reflected, he was, whatever he was proposing.

"And I'm willing to help you with anything you need." he said, hanging up. It earned a growl from Anna. Elsa just rolled her eyes. Even he couldn't be so stupid to think she forgot that he tried to kill her at his Raffle. Either way, he knew she was there. And Elsa hoped he was afraid for his life behind that earnestness he put on.

As if to make her laugh further, a giant gold statue of Hans came into view of the elevator window.

"Overcompensating much?" Anna asked. Elsa chuckled.

The girls were taken to the lower part of the factory town, where across the plaza outside was Ping Lin's shop. Inside the building, it was loud from the screeching and banging of machinery that was making...Elsa didn't know what, exactly, but the manufacturing process was certainly loud.

A modest Buddha shrine was passed on the way up a flight of flimsy wooden stairs. Elsa was surprised that altar wasn't destroyed by someone already. Elsa doubted the Queen would like it if she found out someone was worshipping a god that wasn't her.

As they looked around calling for Ping Lin, Elsa took notice that some of the work areas was left in shambles. Chairs were knocked over, papers were scattered. And more importantly, there were absolutely no weapons for the Vox. It was like there was a brawl in the middle of this place. If that was what happened, it would explain why there was no one around tending to the workshop.

Elsa looked at Anna and shrugged.

"What are we going to do now?" Anna asked as they descended the stairs.

"I don't know. He was supposed to be here. At least the weapons were supposed to be. We can't look for Ping forever." She cut herself short upon seeing a man praying to the Buddha altar, who wasn't there before. "Excuse me, sir? I'm sorry to interrupt. But I'm looking for a Mr. Ping Lin."

The man looked up. He had been crying, Elsa could tell, but he was holding it back. He first spoke in Chinese, but then corrected himself to English. Slow spoken English, but coherent. "Ping is not here. He is gone."

"Gone?" Anna asked, slowly reaching out to the man.

"They took my husband."

"Where did they take him?" she pressed.

The man struggled to think for a moment, before it occurred to him where they took his husband. "Good Time Club. They took Ping to the Good Time Club." He started getting angry, but the tears began to fall when he turned back to Buddha. He yelled at the statue, ignoring Elsa and Anna. "Why did Merida Fitzroy not help Ping!"

They continued down the stairs to go back out to the plaza. If Elsa didn't already think Merida was no good, she certainly did now. Why wouldn't she bother saving someone who'd helped her so much? Ping was endangering himself by giving her weapons for her cause, which supposedly existed to serve the best interest of everyone who had been mistreated by the Queen.

Elsa hoped they could find this Good Time Club before it was too late. If she found Ping, she'd be able to get the Vox their weapons and get their ship back, and as an added bonus, she'd be reuniting him with his husband. At least she would be able to help someone, since she wasn't able to find Aurora like she had promised Maleficent.

Anna managed to spot the club. It looked like it was meant to be fun. But, Elsa thought, "fun" was rather subjective. And when they got closer to the club, they read a scrolling marquee: "ELSA AUDITION TODAY!"

The two women opened the doors, only to be greeted by a bloody corpse hanging from the clock in the lobby. Anna gasped and pressed her forehead into Elsa's arm, clinging to it desperately to get the sight of the body out of her mind. Hans spoke, but from behind the safety of his loudspeakers.

"Ahh, my dear Elsa. You know, the best kind of interview is one where the applicant doesn't know she's being evaluated." Evaluated? What was she being evaluated for? She ascended the staircase, cautiously looking out for an ambush, as she doubted Hans would show himself. Anna stayed close behind Elsa, clutching her hand with both of her own.

She was protecting Anna. No matter what Hans Fink threw her way, she'd fight. Anything for Anna.

"What do you want, Hans?" She demanded as she pushed the doors open to a theater-type room.

"I've watched you since the other day at the lottery." he continued, and Elsa could almost hear his grin - all teeth and no humor. "You're a real ladykiller." His voice lowered, silky-smooth, seductive and charming. "And I assure you - a man like me could use a woman like you."