A/N: Now when was it I posted Part 2? Last August? *shakes head sadly* So sorry, guys! Here follows Part 3, in which Anna goes on the offensive in the impromptu Nerf war with Elsa. (There will be at least one more Part, to conclude this story.)

A/N added 9/24/18: Edited to fix a continuity error.


"Lock and Key (Part 3)"

Elsa ducked back behind the stairs, then when Anna came into view again, she squeezed off another shot. The foam dart hit her sister in the backside, making her yelp.

"Elsa, stoppit!" she heard Anna yell.

"I'll stop when you tell me where the key is!"

"No way!"

"Now, be reasonable, Anna," she said as she loaded another dart, "you're hopelessly outmatched. I have more than enough of these."

"You'll run out eventually, if I keep picking them up."

Not before I pelt you into submission, she thought. "Nonsense. Besides, you'll make yourself a target if you do that."

"Then I'll just have to fight back, won't I?"

Elsa laughed, and fired. "With what, Anna?"

"Ack! I'll . . . I'll think of something!"

She couldn't imagine what Anna had in mind; the only supply of foam dart weapons in the house was the chest in her bedroom. So the only way she could get one would be if she got past her up the stairs, or if she had help.

Checking to make sure her backup weapon was secure, she remained crouched beside the stairs, and loaded another dart. Just then, she heard a brief jingle, like that of a small bell. One of the cats? No, wait, our cats don't have bells on their collars . . .!

"Lucyyyy!" she heard Anna call. Something bounced toward her, making a jingle each time it hit the floor. The little plastic cat toy bounced off her foot, and that was all the warning she had before a streak of black and gray flew right at her.

"Eeyah!" she cried as Lucifer bowled right into her, darting between her legs and knocking her off balance in his pursuit of the ball. She picked herself up, then realized that, in the confusion, she had dropped her dart gun. It was only a few feet away from her, but she couldn't get to it before her sister raced into the room and snatched it off the floor.

"See? All I needed was a distraction," Anna said, smirking and leveling the dart gun down at her.

Never one to be defeated so easily, Elsa stuck her foot out and swept Anna's legs out from under her. It failed to make her sister drop the dart gun, but she did land in a heap on the floor.

"Owww." Rubbing her bottom, Anna threw her a withering glare. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Elsa pulled out her backup dart gun and got to her feet. "What, you don't think basic martial arts was part of my Org training?"

"You, a martial artist? Ha!" Anna picked herself up, and did not appear to be the least bit surprised that Elsa had recovered already.

"There you go, accusing me of being clumsy again," she remarked. "I wouldn't be able to do my job half as well if I wasn't able to maintain some grace under pressure."

"If you say so."

Suddenly, Elsa felt something hit her ankle. It didn't hurt (she'd had much worse on the job), but it did make her look down. The second she did, Anna rushed right at her, pushing her out of the way and running up the stairs.

"Hey!" she shouted, picking up and stuffing the offending foam dart in her pocket before darting upstairs after her sister. Apparently, Anna had already accumulated a stock of darts from downstairs, for another one came sailing down at her. It missed her by a few inches, and Elsa briefly wondered if she should teach Anna to improve her aim.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she saw that her bedroom door was open. Anna had made a beeline for the foam weapons cache, blast her! Sure enough, the moment she poked her head in the door, a stupidly large foam missile came flying at her. Ducking out of the way, Elsa hid out of sight, muttering to herself. Anna is enjoying this way too much . . .

There was a clattering of plastic—Anna pulling out more weapons, no doubt—then silence. A loud THUD!, some inventive cursing from Anna, some more, fainter clattering and thumping, then silence again.

When no further sounds came from the room, Elsa decided to risk poking her head in again. What she discovered made her groan in frustration: Anna had taken a sizable number of weapons from the chest, opened the window, and jumped out onto the roof with her plunder. That explains the cursing, she thought. Anna had a ways to go to match Elsa's skills at roof parkour and climbing in and out of windows.

She was a bit worried about Anna's safety; the only safe way down from the roof was the fence, and even that jump was difficult, especially when you happen to be carrying things. Going over to the window, she looked out, and was baffled when she saw no sign of Anna. She then noticed the Arendal Police squad car parked on the street nearby, and remembered Anna saying that she'd brought backup.

Anna thought this out pretty well, she thought, admiring her sister's foresight. Not actually carrying the key, using the cats as distraction, having friendly backup if she needs it . . . Maybe I should train her . . . Taking stock of the foam weapons that were left, Elsa prepared to go back downstairs.


"Thanks for the save," Anna said, sitting down on the front porch steps, grateful for a moment to rest.

"Not a problem." Kristoff shook his head. "Though if I'd known you were going to be roof-hopping, it might have been better if I had gotten a ladder . . ."

"Relax, it was a trust exercise." Anna looked him in the eyes then. "And I trust you."

Kristoff blushed a little, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I should probably get back out of sight. I don't want to spook your sister."

"Don't bother," Anna replied. "I already told her that you guys are here."

"Yeah, and besides, I'm pretty sure she's already seen us," came Tadashi's voice from his radio, making him visibly jump before yanking it off his belt.

"Hamada, what did I tell you—wait, what?" He looked around, as if they were being watched.

"I saw her poke her head out of the upstairs window," Tadashi explained, "and she looked right at me. She stayed inside, though."

"I doubt she wants to give us any trouble," Kristoff replied. "We can handle her if she gets out. Until then, continue radio silence." He turned back to Anna. "We can handle it, right?"

"Of course." She hopped up, and studied her hoard of plastic weaponry. "As long as she sticks with foam weapons, and not ice powers, or worse, we should be fine."

"You are taking a risk, though," Kristoff said, "telling her that we're here—"

"Relax," Anna said soothingly, waving a hand. "She has no reason to suspect you're in on this."

"And if she does, and escapes . . .?"

Anna shrugged, remembering Kristoff telling her of his encounter with Elsa while on patrol. "Then you'll probably be doing time as a Kris-sicle again."

"Thanks, Anna, that's really comforting," Kristoff said, heading back for the squad car. "Good luck!"

"Thanks!" Anna selected what she hoped was a semi-automatic foam rifle, and opened the front door to face her sister.