A/N:

Hans' theme: "Another Lesson from the Mandarin", Brian Tyler, Iron Man 3 OST.
Valhalla's theme: "Arcade", Hans Zimmer, Man of Steel OST

"Ragnarok"

Location: Twenty-four miles west of Ghost safehouse

Date: December 5th, 2073

Time: 14:10

"You are in big trouble, mister."

Anna's voice, stern emphasis on the words big and trouble, still aroused a sense of mild nervousness in Jack despite him being forty clicks away from the safehouse, and at least two clicks up in the sky. "What did I do now?" he asked, grimacing behind the mask. How was it she could make him feel like he was about to be chewed out even though he was well out of her reach? He soared on over the clouds, body flat like a javelin, limbs occasionally jostled by minor turbulence. Maybe he pranked one of the team and completely forgot about it.

"You're still hiding things from me. You know I don't like it when you hide things from me."

He racked his brain; she told him she understood why he had to keep Camp Bravo from her, but there was nothing else he could think of that was a secret. As far as he knew, there were no more secrets between them. "Streak, I'm not playing the let's-guess-why-a-woman-is-angry game. I'm a guy. We like it simple. What did I hide?"

"Oh…" she said, as though faking being lost in thought whilst the patchy carpet of white fluff passed under him, "just a small thing like, I don't know..." she paused for dramatic effect. Classic Anna, which meant Jack's ears automatically braced themselves for her subsequent squeal of, "YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

"Holy sh-!" he hissed, nearly falling out of the sky.

"Whassa matter? Did I make you jump?"

"You think?!" Jack yelped once the wind had caught and cradled him into a smooth hover. He rubbed over his chest, trying to soothe his spontaneously racing heartbeat. "Jump, fall, nearly become a frosty pancake - you know, the whole shebang!"

He could almost hear the rolling of Anna's eyes. "You're such a drama queen."

"Yeah." Jack grunted. "You ain't the one who's got nothing between you and the ground but a few clicks of sweet, sweet air. Also, doesn't that mean you forgot?"

Anna scoffed, loudly and a mite over-convincingly. "That's beside the point. It's your birthday, which means we need to talk about presents!"

Jack covered his face in his gloved hand, groaning in exasperation. "Streak, we can talk about this when I come back with the road-trip supplies."

"Nuh-uh! We are talking about your presents right now!" she said. Jack debated arguing, but thought better of it. She usually won. "So, what do you want? I was thinking…"

Jack let out an amused chuckle. She was about to ramble, even if she was excited about it. Shaking his head, he flattened his body let the wind carry him through the air once more.

"... maybe a hat? Ooh! A sandwich! Or maybe a clock? Oh, I know! How about a girlfriend?"

"Please stop."

Anna continued on, ignoring or possibly oblivious to his groaning objection. "... or what about a plant? I'm thinking a sunflower."

He wished she was there, just so she could see the unimpressed arch of his brow. "A plant? Seriously?"

"Yeah! You could freeze the moisture in the air, I melt the ice, and we can look after Mr. Sunny together!" she announced with greater brightness than the sun over his head.

"Oh my God…" he groaned. He rolled his eyes, and then spotted something at his low three o'clock that looked mighty curious. Two black dots hurtling through the air at an astounding speed. "Baby Tooth, zoom in," he murmured. The goggles obediently did so, turning the two small black shapes dipping in and out of the clouds into two unmistakeable drop ships, one following the other.

"What? It's an idea! Tell me, what does the coolest - see what I did there? I'm so funny! - best friend want for his twenty-fifth?"

"Night Fury."

Anna's reply was downright bewildered. "... you want Night Fury?"

"Yeah. As in, tell him to get his ass up here - forty clicks travelling west, two clicks high," he explained grimly, once he spied the insignia on the rear drop ship's dorsal fuselage. "Tell him to bring his signal jammer."

He could recognise that white, winged sword anywhere.

Time: 10:45

Three hours earlier..

The humming of the hover car convoy ceased as it pulled up outside the hangar bay, punctuated by the resonant and synchronised stomp of a dozen clone guards bolting to attention. His service cap peaking over the top of his vision, Hans waited until the left passenger door of the middle car opened, and yelled out, "Present arms!" as soon as his brother Henrik climbed out. Over a dozen hands instantly shot up to hover above a dozen right eyes, a salute held even as High Inquisitor Gothel elegantly slid out of the car and rose to her full height like an unfurling vampire, wearing moderately heeled leather boots, a floor-length trench coat and ruby left-breasted jacket. She was an imperious woman, though Hans had to rely on rumour rather than experience for that knowledge. With ebony hair that cascaded in curls not unlike those of Valkyrie Third Dunbroch, though to frame a more angular face than that of Merida's, skin flawless in its pale ivory tone, wry grey eyes and a slender, curvaceous figure, there was a lot to find physically attractive about her. Behind that youthful look, however, hid a sadistic, violent, manipulative sociopath who cared little for friends and allies, seeing them more as toys or tools. Gothel was world-class at looking after number one, and Hans saw a lot of himself in her... which wasn't a good thing.

Hans turned his eyes back to his brother just as he stopped in front of him, and only when Henrik returned the salute did Hans allow his hand to return to his side. Appearances, and all that. "No need to stand on ceremony, brother," Henrik said, looking down on him with a weary eye. "We both know you have no time for it."

Saying nothing, betraying nothing, Hans relaxed and held his gloved hands behind his back. "Yes, sir."

Henrik studied him a moment and then scoffed. He looked away, casting a critical eye over the hangar. Moving to the side, he gestured between Gothel and Hans, with about as much enthusiasm as a wet cloth. "High Inquisitor, this is my younger brother, Commander Hans Larsen. He runs the Staging Ground."

Gothel gave him an uncomfortably slow once-over, her grey eyes lingering a little too long whilst they traced up and down his body. Her chin was lifted, showing ill-hidden contempt, but Hans had the sneaking sense she was doing what Inquisitors do best - scrutinise. He couldn't explain the wry smirk she wore though. It was almost as she was judging his worthiness to be eaten. "So, this is the famous Hans. You didn't tell me he was so…" she paused, eyes doing the up-and-down again, "handsome."

Hans had to suppress a shudder. In a thousand years and maybe after a hover trucks worth of synthohol, he might have entertained what was on Gothel's mind - but he liked waking up in the morning with his head still attached. If praying mantises could adopt human form, Gothel would be one of them. Plus, she could always frame him for sedition just because she wanted the entertainment. He lifted his chin and met Gothel stare-for-stare with perfect indifference.

"You're right, I didn't." Henrik inclined his head toward the hangar. "Shall we?"

Gothel frowned at him, pouting. She looked almost disappointed, and her husky voice was heavy with it. "Must we? I'm sure there's a lot that your brother and I can learn about each other."

She had crossed the line as soon as she opened her mouth the first time, though out of politeness Hans had kept his mouth shut and forced a polite smile on his face. Her brazen lack of respect had to stop, however, both for the sake of his increasingly harder-to-control shudders and the fact that she was, as an Inquisitor, unparalleled. "As much as I find the idea appealing, High Inquisitor," he said with as much a courteous air as possible, "time is short. Captain Bludvist is expecting you at eighteen-hundred."

Gothel scoffed. "Ah, yes. Captain Caveman."

Hans turned, and only when his face was safely out of her sight did he allow himself a smirk. "Please, follow me," he said, and led them toward the hangar... only to groan under his breath when Gothel replied in honeyed tones, "Lead the way, Commander."

Not long now, he thought to himself as he nodded to a clone standing guard at his far right, by the huge steel doors.

Activated by the guard issuing a command to the controller inside, the double doors slid apart with a rhythmic clanking. A beam of natural light was cast into the darkened hangar, falling upon the nose of an immaculately clean Hela class. Nary a scratch or ding adorned her black hull, which absorbed more and more sunlight as the doors grew wider - she looked fresh off the line. Hans started off along her port side, casting an admiring eye over her armor plating and lingering his gaze over her name: Ragnarok. The Norse twilight of the gods.

"She looks brand new," Henrik commented from behind and to his right. Hans chuckled dryly.

"Actually," he said, "she's been around for some time. We just endeavour to take good care of her."

His elder brother threw him a verbal. jab, one that Hans would dearly have loved to retort. "You always thought higher of objects than people."

"Permission to speak freely?" he asked. Henrik indicated he could continue. "Because they are just that: objects," he answered as they walked around to the open embarkation ramp. "They are neither good nor evil, they are not ambitious, they will not betray. They do exactly what they are designed to do, with none of the usual quirks of the human condition. Sir."

He turned to face them. Gothel wore a wry smirk that appeared as though she agreed, whilst Henrik's face was clouded in wounded darkness. "I apologise for the method of travel, but rest assured my engineering corps has worked around the clock to ensure the Ragnarok is fit to carry two of our most important figures."

"I smell sycophancy," sneered Gothel. "I endure enough of that from Inquisitor Jafar. It makes my stomach turn."

Hans chuckled once - she wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer. His eyes traced over to regard his brother, and was puzzled when Henrik's eyes slowly took in the Ragnarok's aft hull, wearing an expression of resignation on his face. The same expression someone wears when they know something is unavoidable. A flicker of dread lit itself in Hans' stomach. "Is the Ragnarok not to your liking, sir?"

Henrik took a deep, long breath, and still kept his gaze on the ship. "It's unfortunate that I will not have the chance to finish my game of chess with Father."

"Who was winning, sir?" Hans asked politely.

"He was. He had me in check, with three moves to checkmate. I was completely outmanoeuvred." He looked down, eyes resting on the pilots as they completed their pre-flight checks, and sighed. "I have the same feeling now as I did then. How strange."

"What feeling is that, sir?"

Henrik's eyes came to rest upon Hans', and there was a melancholy acceptance in his emerald greens. A fatalist glimmer. Hans tilted his head slightly, feigning curiosity. "Defeat." His hand went up to rest on Hans' shoulder, and he felt it squeeze. "Goodbye, brother. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Without waiting for a reply or issuing another word, Henrik went up the embarkation ramp and picked the seat directly behind the pilot's, while Gothel chose the one opposite him after a brief and nauseating "see you around" into Hans' ear. Moving around to the pilot's side of the ship, Hans banged twice on the hull and quickly moved out of the way. The pilot gave him a thumbs up, and the hover-skis promptly kicked in with a loud humming that pushed the Ragnarok away a foot from the floor. Watching her as she was guided out of the hangar by an aircraft marshal wielding two glowing orange wands, a moment of introspection struck him. His pulse was steady, his stomach calm. His brother, who had attempted to protect him during his formative years, had just climbed into a tactically fatal situation. If his behaviour was any indication, he knew of the fact.

Yet, Hans felt nothing. He knew he should feel something, be it regret, guilt, apprehension, pleasure, something that would either slow or race his pulse. The ionic thrusters of the Ragnarok roared into life with a blue glow, the resounding volume the only thing that garnered any reaction, before she climbed purposefully into the air and disappeared into the blue sky.

Nothing but his hope that the projectors mounted on the Ragnarok's hull would switch off at the correct altitude, faith that the escorting Einherjars would abandon her at the ordered time, and the anticipation of the next step.

For that, a young Valkyrie would be needed.

Time: 11:35

Sat on the edge of her bed, impeccably made as usual, Elsa rested her elbows on her knees and wrung her hands together. Aurora's advice had been going around and around her head like a particularly resistant thought since the ordeal, and with each passing hour that was not spent attempting to sleep, the adage that 'the truth will set you free' was proving to be inescapable. As was the image of her body in the coffin, permanently burned into her memory. Staring at an invisible spot on the horrid light beige linoleum floor, she tried not to think about what would happen after. She was used to thinking ahead and planning; it was Anna that would rush in where angels feared to tread - though Elsa knew she was guilty of being impulsive on more than one occasion.

What the reactions of her team would be, however, still played on her mind. She knew exactly how the Ghosts would react, but she knew all bets were off regarding how the Valkyries would take it. Astrid, so far, thought she could be trusted, and though Rapunzel and Merida had strong opinions of their own, they looked to the taller woman for guidance. If Astrid reacted badly, then all the bonding would be for nothing. Elsa frowned, her stomach churning at the thought. Having friends after so long felt incredible, and she hated the idea of irrevocably damaging their trust.

Just tell the truth, and that's all, she thought. Worry about what comes after when it comes.

There came a light hammering from the door of someone requesting entry. Gasping in faint surprise, she bolted upright and rubbed her thighs to distract herself from the rabbit hole. "Who is it?"

"Valkyries Hofferson, Dunbroch and Corona, ma'am."

Elsa let out a small sigh of relief through her nose and nodded to herself. It was showtime. "Come in," she called.

The door slid aside with a light shht, revealing Astrid with Merida and Rapunzel stood behind her, their heads just barely peeking over her shoulders, all dressed in arctic camouflaged pants and black vests much like Elsa was, with Rapunzel electing for a t-shirt. Judging by the light sweat on Astrid's body, she had just come from the gym. "Please make yourself comfortable," Elsa offered, gesturing to the basic black sofa and the chair by her desk, "and I would like this to be as though we're off-duty."

Astrid eyed the sofa with what looked like jealousy before electing for the chair. Merida and Rapunzel had no such problem with it and quickly sat down. "You sounded nervous on the wrist-com, Elsa," said Rapunzel, "is everything okay?"

Elsa glanced at her, and immediately her hands wrung themselves again. She took a deep breath and prepared for the plunge. It could be her end, or it could not. Nobody could know until she took the first step - and the dying advice of one Sleeping Beauty was that it was a step she needed to take. "I have a confession to make - and I'm scared it will permanently damage your opinion of me. One I kept for six years, that no-one knows, and one that a dying friend said I should tell you."

Rapunzel gasped and shuffled to the edge of the sofa, her face aghast. "Oh my God, Elsa, are you okay?"

She offered the worried brunette a weak smile and waved off her concern. "I'll be okay, I just need to process some things." She took another deep breath, feeling her chest tighten and her stomach ripple. "The truth is: I am the world's biggest hypocrite. I have hunted down and captured people who... who are my kind."

"What are ye saying?" Merida asked, looking at her out of the corner of one narrowed eye.

"I'm saying," Elsa said, squeezing her hands together to stop the wringing, and forcing herself to look at her team. "I'm saying… I am an abnormal."

The reaction that followed was one she did not expect. Three blank faces as though she told a joke none of them understood. Silence so strong, the drop of a pin was a bomb blast. She looked between her team, an increasingly tight knot in her stomach.

Astrid was the first, as always, to break the silence. She blinked, and said with bemusement, "That's it?"

Elsa's eyes danced every which way, while her mouth opened and closed, stunned. "Erm... yes."

Astrid took a quick look at her team, and Elsa didn't miss the subtle nod she received from Rapunzel. The darker blonde frowned slightly, as though at war with herself, before exhaling loudly through her nose. She glanced around the room as though looking for something before noticing the empty glass Elsa had been using for water half an hour ago. She jerked a thumb at it. "You gonna miss this?"

Elsa slowly shook her head, still oblivious to that which was evidently common knowledge to her team. Astrid twisted around to pluck the glass from her desk and rested its base on her palm with her fingers vertically supporting it. "Watch this," she said. Elsa did so.

The glass emitted a high pitched humming, faint at first but growing in both volume and pitch. Elsa regarded it warily, leaning back as she considered covering her ears. She glanced up from the glass at Astrid, who somewhat curiously was watching it with a sense of impatience. The screeching reached a point where Elsa's ears yelled obscenities at her.

The glass suddenly shattered. A hundred tiny shards cascaded down between Astrid's fingers and the sides of her palm, leaving only the viciously jagged base. Sighing with exasperation, Astrid delicately moved the base back onto the desk and then turned her hand over to carefully brush off any remnants of what used to be a perfectly adequate drinking vessel. "You're not that special, snowflake."

Elsa, who until Astrid spoke had been staring in wide-eyed astonishment, asked the sixty-four thousand credit question. "Um…" she stammered, "w-what just happened?"

Astrid scoffed, and a wry smirk appeared on her lips as she continued to brush off her hand. "I can create and channel vibration waves into anything I touch. I can shatter glass, or if I'm really pissed, make a house shake. Only by touch though. Sucks."

"Don't forget the other thing," Rapunzel reminded her.

Astrid gave her an odd look which became quickly dawning understanding. "Oh, that's right. I don't know why, but after I've heard someone speak in a foreign language a few times, I can sorta understand them," she said indifferently, as though it was just another Tuesday.

Elsa blinked and slowly shook her head. "How? That seems implausible." She immediately admonished herself with a mental slap - Astrid just vibrated a glass into shattering, and she was questioning the plausibility of her language comprehension.

"Spent a lot of time thinking about it. Best I can figure is that most languages share a common base, and a lot of them go all the way back to Latin." She caught Merida's eye, the latter giving her a bemused look. Astrid rolled her eyes. "Yes, I read a book. Try not to faint."

Elsa narrowed her eyes. "Wait. On the bridge of the Hammer, you could understand the Alliance transmission. That was…"

"Yup." Astrid sighed. "Rapunzel, you ready?"

The brunette gave her a queasy look. "You're gonna do the thing, aren't you?" she groan-whimpered.

Astrid half-smirked. "I'm gonna do the thing."

Whatever illusions Elsa had to what 'the thing' was were quickly dispelled when Astrid leaned forward in the chair and pulled her combat knife out of its sheathe. The illusions were further obliterated when Astrid took the blade and sliced a long line into her open right palm, releasing a small stream of ruby blood that slid down her skin and dripped onto the floor. Wide-eyed, Elsa gasped in shock - her second-in-command's expression that a blade was cutting her hand was a complete non-issue was particularly surprising - and immediately got up to retrieve the first aid kit from her desk drawer, hissing, "Why would you do that?"

Rapunzel's voice over her shoulder froze her in step. "Because she's a masochistic idiot that thinks she's a badass, that's why. Move over."

She was budged aside with a wholly unnecessary hand. Glancing blankly between them as she returned to the edge of her bed, Elsa watched as Rapunzel knelt in front of Astrid, and enclosed the injured hand in both of hers. Almost nonchalantly, Rapunzel hummed a soft tune as what looked like a faint amber glow shone from between her hands. "A-a-a-a-and... ding! You're cooked." Rapunzel withdrew her hands, and Elsa immediately noticed what she had done when Astrid proudly held up her palm.

The cut was gone. No scarring or anything to show it was ever there, except for the remnants of blood around it. Just smooth, peachy skin.

"You…" Elsa breathed.

"Yep." Rapunzel beamed brightly as she gestured at Astrid's hand. "I just healed it. Can't do anything about the nerves though, so it's gonna sting for a while, but I can heal most injuries. Once stopped someone from dying, too."

"This is... unbelievable." Elsa swallowed, shaking her head with incredulity. "You just…" She lamely waved a hand at what used to be a deep cut. "Wow... does the, erm, humming help?"

Rapunzel gave her an odd look. "Huh? Oh! No, I just do that 'cause I like to. I did it ever since my bloom when I…"

She trailed off and looked away, an expression of wounded pain on her face, like an unhappy memory had just barged its way into her mind. "You okay, Rapunzel?" Elsa asked.

The brunette glanced at her and put on what was clearly a forced smile along with an over-convincing dismissive shrug. "Me? I'm fine. It's not a time in my life I like to visit. Don't worry about me."

Elsa opened her mouth to protest; sure, it could be construed as nosy, but for someone as bright and bubbly as Rapunzel to look so crestfallen, like the weight of the world was bringing her down, she wanted to help. Fortunately for Rapunzel, Astrid intervened. "Red, you're up. Show Elsa what you can do."

The devious smirk shared by both women was unmissable as was the way they looked with predatory eyes at Rapunzel. "I warn ye, this may shock ye."

"What?" the brunette said, a second before an expression of fear overcame her face. Wide-eyed, she shook her head and babbled, "No! No-no-no-no-no," as Merida's extended forefinger advanced on her right shoulder. She did her best to squirm away, emitting a quiet but high squeaking sound. Merida's finger leapt the last inch and connected with her shoulder, causing a soft crack in amongst the high-pitched shriek from Rapunzel as she jumped. "Ow!" she cried. "Hey!"

If there was to be any comfort for Rapunzel's ordeal, it was swiftly overwhelmed by humour - whatever Merida's finger did, caused the brunette bob to stand on end in all directions. Elsa snorted into giggles, covering her mouth with a loose fist as she rolled a little onto her back. Astrid's cackling mixed with Merida's, and Rapunzel shot the redhead a death glare. "Hate it when you do that," she pouted, still glaring at her whilst she attempted to smooth down the hairy mess. "And you just had to make a crappy pun, huh?"

"Sorry lassie, I cannae resist it," Merida sniggered.

"I assume," Elsa said once she caught her breath, "I assume yours is something to do with electricity."

Merida grinned slyly. "What, d'ye think ma hair was naturally like this?" she said as she pointed to her cascading red locks. "Every person's body generates a tiny amount of bio-electricity, but I can generate way more. I can charge up ordinary objects if they conduct it, and if I wanted ta, I can focus hard enough ta give someone a really bad hair day. Probably kill 'em, too, but I never tried it."

Elsa pointed a loose finger at her. "So your taser arrows…"

"That was all me." Her smile slowly dropped, and her eyes smoothed themselves over as mirth gave way to solemn acceptance. "I... electrocuted those people."

"Point is," Astrid butted in before an awkward silence descended, for which Elsa was quietly grateful, "you're not a special snowflake. We're all abbies - and I gotta say, it is a relief to say that out loud. Out of curiosity, though, what can you do?"

Elsa looked down and blushed with embarrassment, quirking her lips to the side. "I, uh, don't know," she said lamely.

Rapunzel looked at her like she had told the world's worst joke. "You... don't know. Okay. Makes sense... not."

"It's something to do with ice," Elsa hastily amended, holding up a hand, "but... I never fully bloomed. I was interrupted, and my pills keep it at bay."

Astrid bolted upright, an expression of victory on her face as she pointed in the vicinity of Elsa's right pocket. "I knew it! I knew those pills were funky! Didn't I tell you?" she gestured to Merida, who rolled her eyes.

"No.. it's never come up," the redhead groaned.

"I suppose the real question is," Rapunzel said in the second instance of astute observation Elsa had witnessed, "why four abnormals are together, in the same team, right smack in the middle of Unity's military. It can't be a coincidence."

Elsa shook her head. "You're right. It can't." She sighed through her nose, chewing the inside of her lip. "I hate to state the obvious, but it's clear this is no accident. There's more to this than we thought we knew."

"Valkyrie Leader Snowfield, report to Commander Larsen's office immediately. I repeat, Valkyrie Leader Snowfield to Commander Larsen's office."

The P.A. system embedded in the corner of the ceiling instantly took the attention of all four women, and more than a few nervous glances were shared as soon as Lieutenant Kowalski finished the tinny announcement. Elsa's eyes lingered upon the speaker for a few seconds and thinned her lips into a line. "That doesn't sound good," Astrid remarked. If there was a Stating-the-Obvious ball, Elsa had just passed it to her.

"No," Elsa murmured, "no it doesn't." She turned her gaze to her team. "We'll discuss this later, in secret. I don't want to risk someone finding out, clear?"

The Stating-the-Obvious ball was firmly back in her hands, it seemed, as she received three expressions of exactly the same reaction - Duh.

Time: 12:15

Resisting the urge to chew Lieutenant Kowalski out for the filthy looks she was liberally throwing at her, Elsa fixed her eyes directly ahead at the door whilst she made sure her platinum blonde bun was up to code. Commander Larsen may not be as much a stickler for protocol as his elder brother, but she believed that if you were in the military, you had to look like you were in the military. As a result - her favourite single French braid style hadn't been worn for three years.

Her mind went back to the revelation in her quarters. Confessing her secret to her team had filled her with a lightness, a sense of peace she had not felt since she could remember. Aurora was right in that she should take a chance and trust her team with her secret, and her team had rewarded her with a secret of their own - they were just like her. Abnormals, trapped, surrounded by Unity and its military. Scared to put a foot wrong in case their secret was exposed.

The sound of a throat being cleared attracted her attention. "Commander Hans will see you now," Kowalski said in what could easily be construed as an insubordinate sneer.

Elsa gave her a cold look. "Thank you, Lieutenant." She stepped forward toward the door, but turned back as a thought hit her. "I suggest you brush up on military chain of command and protocol on your next break. Particularly when addressing your superior officer."

Kowalski muttered-slash-spat a "yes ma'am" just as she pressed a button on the side of her desk. The door slid aside with a quiet shht. Casting the lieutenant another cold look through the corner of her eye, Elsa entered the office and heard the door slide closed behind her. She looked over at the desk, where Hans was distracted with what looked like a holographic image of two Hela class dropships engaged in a chase. He looked up just as the pursuing Hela opened fire on the fleeing one causing it to explode into a hundred pieces of blue-hued translucent shrapnel, and hastily waved his hand through the projection once he clocked where her gaze was resting. Obedient to the gesture, the ships dissipated into tiny sparkles, and disappeared.

Intrigued, Elsa opened her mouth to announce her name, and that she was reporting as ordered, when he held up a gloved finger to his lips. She frowned in confusion, but closed her mouth, and put herself in the standard at ease position. He quickly and somewhat haphazardly rose from his chair and scurried around his desk, past her and toward the door where he tapped his finger on a small button. The door slid aside once more, and Hans stepped back in surprise when Lieutenant Kowalski nearly fell through.

"What were you doing, Lieutenant?" he asked slowly, his back to Elsa. Kowalski glanced nervously between them before quickly stiffening to attention. The crimson flooding her cheeks was visible from New Corona.

"I was just checking the door was closed, sir."

Elsa rolled her eyes and subtly shook her head in exasperation. Hans folded his arms and asked, "And are you satisfied?"

"Yes sir," came the quick reply.

"Good. Security is an important issue, after all." Elsa could hear the smile in Hans' voice; he was obviously humouring the embarrassed lieutenant. "I noticed you've been hard at work for the entire day - how about you take an early break? I will meet you later in the usual place."

"But sir-"

"Now, Lieutenant."

Elsa tried to suppress a smirk, especially when she caught Kowalski's face in the battle between blank obedience and green jealousy. "Yes sir," she murmured, and slunk out of the room like a scolded cat.

Hans tapped the button once more, and the door promptly closed. "Sir, I-" she began, but Hans held up a silencing hand as he turned around, shaking his head as if to say 'not yet'. "Uni-Com, enter standby mode," he ordered, and the screen complied by reverting to its clear-glass state. "Secure office," he said loudly. Elsa glanced around the room, frowning in curiosity as the lighting instantly changed; the natural light pouring in through the frosted windows was exiled by the windows filling themselves with an opaque dark grey, leaving only the bright artificial light from the ceiling to illuminate the room. Hans gave his office the visual once over with scrutinising and alert eyes until he was content with its state.

"Sorry, Valkyrie Leader," he said quietly, his posture relaxing a visible margin. He swallowed, and looked directly at her. Elsa found herself surprised by the anxiety in his eyes - which was adequately explained by, "If what we are about to discuss was overheard, it could get us both court martialled and executed."

The ominous quality to his voice made her heart send a trickle of worry throughout her chest. "Yes, sir," she said, leaving the last word as a silent opening for him to elaborate.

He stepped forward and rested a hand on her right shoulder, bending down just enough so their eyes were level, and his other hand hovered loosely in the air ready to punctuate his words. "If you recall, in your report after the Purge you explicitly stated your belief the Ghosts had perished in the explosion. You said that your final sweep of the battle zone yielded no survivors. Is that true?"

Elsa's breath caught. Her mind immediately went back to the brief chase into the clouds that culminated in the Valhalla being held dead-to-rights by the Fairy and Night Fury. When Frost literally walked over the ship to threaten them with a number carved in frost on their cockpit windshield. The chase through Lower City, and the conversation she had with him. Fear and doubt filled her, causing her mind to fracture in different directions. Did Commander Hans know she lied in her report? Was he aware of the chase? If Rapunzel could keep track of them with Elsa's facial recognition and spy program, then it was possible someone else did so, too. She realized how her breathing had deepened, and so focused herself into keeping as much composure and calm as possible as she tried to work out her options.

If she lied again, and Hans had evidence to prove otherwise, she was signing her own death warrant, and those of her team. If she told the truth, the result was the same. The two choices warred with each other, a vicious and paralysing battle that only intensified the sensation of dread filling her body. She willed herself to cut through the self-imposed bull, seeking a third option.

She found one - ignorance. "The truth is, sir," she answered, forcing her voice to be as even and steady as possible, "I lied in my report. I don't know for sure if the Ghosts survived the Purge."

Hans tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. Elsa didn't miss the disappointment flashing in those emerald irises. "Why did you feel the need to fabricate an official report?"

Elsa swallowed and inhaled a breath through her nose. "Because Supreme Commander Henrik doesn't like things that are not definitive, sir. I felt he wanted to hear the Ghosts had been eliminated, so to avoid any reprimands on my team, I lied. I apologise wholeheartedly, sir, and will submit myself for disciplinary action."

There was a moment of silence. Hans thinned his lips and rose to his full height, looking down upon her. Elsa's gaze fell to rest upon the point where the lapels of his military jacket met, and prepared herself. Insubordination in the military was dealt with harshly - Astrid's solitary confinement was a testament to how dimly the brass viewed it.

Hans chuckled. Elsa, frowning, snapped her gaze up, and noticed how he was smiling. Knowingly, at that. "Oh, I completely understand," he said in a voice that appeared amused, "my brother doesn't like grey areas."

Bereft of anything to say, Elsa replied with a bemused, "Yes, sir."

Hans looked away, and there was a twinkle of something she wasn't sure she liked in his eyes. "Well that makes this easier: the reason I summoned you to my office, Valkyrie Leader, is because you - or rather, your report - is about to be proven wrong."

"Sir?"

Hans' eyes briefly went to the door, and then back to her. "Recently, we picked up an unauthorised drop ship travelling across Unity territory at an altitude of two thousand metres, headed west at half speed. Attempts to hail them have been unsuccessful, and they have not deviated from their course."

Elsa took a quiet breath. "You think it's the Fairy, sir," she stated.

Hans nodded, and his free hand came back up. "I do, and it won't be long until the powers that be come to that conclusion as well. Which means we have little time."

"Time for what, sir?" she asked, wondering if she had walked into a parallel universe where Commander Hans was actively breaking military law. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this-" he began in a soft tone. His hand squeezed her shoulder. "-because it won't be long before orders are issued for the unidentified craft to be shot down. I'm telling you this, because family is important, and I know you have a member of family on that ship."

Elsa's composure went out of the window. Her eyes widened to their limit, and her lungs sucked in an involuntary breath. He knew about Anna. He knew about Anna's occupation, her status as an abnormal. "How did you-"

He smirked knowingly. "There's only one reason you would put yourself in front of a stun rifle and then break the poor clone soldier's arm in two places. It didn't take me long to put two-and-two together."

Elsa made a heavy grimace. If it was anyone else, she would have been as blank as a statue, but something about Hans made her feel she didn't need to hide it. "I wasn't thinking when I did that, sir," she said meekly.

"You were protecting your sister, Elsa," he said, and her embarrassed guilt faded at the use of her name, "and I fully understand that." His smirk fell to a warm smile, and he tilted his head. "Why do you think we're talking?"

His eyes glanced behind her for a few seconds, and Elsa's recollection of his office reinforced by her current situation meant she knew he was looking at the clock mounted on the wall. "Hypothetically, if the Valhalla were to take off in the next ten minutes, she would intercept the Fairy in ninety minutes." He looked back at her and winked. "Hypothetically."

Elsa blinked, and her chest heaved as she breathed through parted lips. Fate was giving her a chance to find her sister, in the form of someone who was technically committing grievous insubordination and possible treason by indirectly aiding the enemy. Hans was giving her a chance to reunite her family. Words couldn't express her gratitude to him. "I needn't remind you that you are running out of time," he pressed further, "I can only delay the deployment of interceptor Einherjars for so long. Whatever you need to do, do it fast." His eyes flicked to the door in a silent hint, made redundant by, "Go."

Elsa instantly bolted to attention and saluted. "Yes, sir. At once, sir." She turned and darted to the door, but just as she reached for the button, hesitation gripped her. She turned and gave him a look of pure appreciation. "Thank you very much, sir. I won't forget this kindness."

Hans' face went stern. "You can thank me by pulling this off without a hitch, or it's both our heads on the chopping block." He pointed to the door. "You're wasting precious time. Get off my base and go find your sister."

Elsa had never left a room so fast in her life.

Time: 13:50

Though the Valhalla was hurtling at top speed through the air, skirting over the lowest cloud cover like a hand brushing over a fluffy carpet, Elsa's anxiety and impatience was at fever pitch. Her eyes scanned the perfect baby blue sky ahead, silently thankful the sun had not reached the point where it would blind her vision - though a Hela's windshield had a dimming function that prevented that - for any sign of the Fairy ahead. By all accounts and the math done in her head as they took off, the Valhalla should be right on top of her.

She took one hand off the stick to adjust her body armour and trenchcoat, feeling increasingly stifled by how it held her body. It never bothered her until the Purge, but since then it felt nothing but heavy. Whether that was due to its design, or the guilt behind the uniform she didn't know - but field operations whether by air or land dictated the team must be in full gear, so that was that. She stretched her neck to the side and adjusted her posture, trying to stave off the numbness in her butt, and tweaked the position of her headset.

At her side, Merida stood between her and Astrid, her sky-blue eyes picking apart the view ahead. Her vision, Elsa hoped, would be invaluable in spotting the Fairy well before anyone else, even if she was hidden within the cloud cover. Rapunzel was peering out of the port side porthole, watching the clouds rush under her, whilst Astrid conducted mid-flight checks of the ship's systems. There was no switch that was not flicked, no holo-interface that was not manipulated by her fingers, and no system diagnostic that was not run short of a full system purge - which would drop the Valhalla out of the sky. She never conducted such checks before, especially mid-flight, so her reasons were glaringly obvious - a distraction.

"This doesn't feel right," she muttered after completing the sixth diagnostic of the power relays. The holo-blueprint of the ship hovered over the console between them, and each of the hundred tendrils sprouting from the centre of her composite wing were coloured green, Meaning: fully operational.

A wave of her fingers had navigated her to the weapons systems, and she was about to scrutinise them when, without moving her eyes from the view ahead, Merida drawled, "Astrid, ye've done, like, too many diagnostics. Tha ship's fine."

"It's not the ship I'm talking about, Red. This whole situation doesn't feel right."

"How do you mean?" Rapunzel piped up from the passenger hold.

"Everything we know about the Ghosts tells me that this is wrong. They only moved at night, so why would they be flying in the middle of the day? I mean - this isn't how they operate," Astrid explained - and immediately resumed checking the weapons.

Elsa had to admit; Astrid had a point. The Ghosts were too clever to leave themselves so exposed, too cunning to risk being caught by travelling in daylight hours. Not to mention travel in a straight line, too; even the rookie pilots knew to alter their patrol paths every so often. She played devil's advocate, hoping to convince herself otherwise. "It wasn't how they operated, but the Purge changed everything for them. It would be naïve to think they would proceed the way they used to. Who knows - this could even be a decoy," she said.

"Decoy? Why?" Astrid asked.

Elsa shrugged - truth be told, she hadn't given the idea much thought. "I honestly don't know. Either way, Commander Hans risked his life and career informing me about this, and he could also be wrong. This could be just another drop ship with comms problems." Astrid scoffed loudly upon hearing that. "Speaking of which, I assume our comms system is working?"

"We'll find out soon," Merida said, drawing Elsa's attention with her low, purposeful tone. "I spotted her. Twelve o'clock low."

Elsa immediately snapped her gaze to the assigned direction; straight ahead, and below. For a few moments she saw nothing but wispy cloud and the occasional patch of green in the far distance - until a telltale nose appeared from inside a cloud formation. "There she is," she murmured. With the Fairy travelling at half the speed of the Valhalla, it wouldn't be long until Elsa's craft was right on top of her - and she intended to make the Ghosts fully aware of their presence before then. Her left hand instinctively went up to the headset's microphone arm and pushed it closer to her mouth. "To the pilot of the Fairy, this is the Valhalla. Come in please."

She waited for the reply. None of the other Valkyries dared speak, but the tension in the cockpit and the cabin was palpable. Even Rapunzel had squeezed in beside Merida, rapt. Silence was the only thing returning from the comms line, so she tried again. "Fairy, this is Valhalla. Come in, please."

She received nothing but silence once again. Casting a quick glance at Astrid, she hailed the Fairy a third time whilst Astrid said, "Are we sure this is the Ghost's ship?"

"Only one way ta find out," Merida said, tapping Astrid on the shoulder. "Try'n magnify."

Elsa looked over at the middle console just as Astrid pressed a button to bring up a small holo-screen, which was filled with a close-up real-time moving image of the Fairy as they advanced on her. "That's her," Merida declared with conviction, "pulse bolt scorch marks on the aft hull. Bank starboard for me?"

Elsa gently teased the stick to the right, at odds with her eagerness to find out for sure. The Valhalla responded with equal gentleness, banking to alter her flight path just enough for the Fairy's starboard side to be visible on the screen. "Aye, that's her. Registration number's the same," Merida said. Elsa let slip a quiet exhalation of relief through pursed lips and returned the Valhalla to its original bearing. "We should be in their sensor range by now," she said offhandedly, looking out through the windshield.

It was just as she glanced back at the holo-screen that she noticed the Fairy do something that aroused a further sense of anxiousness. "Looks like they figured that, too," Astrid said, when the blue jets bursting from the four engines of the Ghost's ship brightened and intensified. "She's speeding up. She knows we're following her."

Elsa wasted no time. "Fairy, this is Valkyrie Leader Snowfield, we are on your six. Please respond."

Still, there was silence. No voice belonging to Frost, or to Anna responding to her. She nibbled at her lip, her brow knitting together as her heart beat with a dull ache. She closed her eyes and swallowed, before opening the guarded gates between her heart and her mouth, letting the words flow freely. "Anna, if you're there, it's me. Your sister. I still love you, I always will, and I'm here to warn you - Unity knows you're here. They're dispatching fighters to shoot you down. Please, if you can hear me - disappear. Get out of here. You don't have much time. Maybe... maybe we'll see each other again."

Silence.

She let out a shaky breath, and disappointment rushed to take the place of hope. "Dammit," she whispered, opening her eyes to do a onceover of the cockpit for no other reason than to fill it with unsaid words of frustration. "Great time to give me the silent treatment, Anna," she hissed to herself.

Rapunzel offered something Elsa sensed was intended to be reassuring. "Their comms could be down. I mean, she's an old ship, she's been through a lot."

Elsa chewed her lip. The skeptic and the realist in her, the part of her that embraced cynicism rolled its eyes and mouthed off something about naivety, but the rest of her jumped on Rapunzel's reassurance. "Options," she addressed the team.

"Ye could send them a text-based message," Merida suggested, which was followed immediately by a sardonic scoff from Astrid.

"Elsa just poured her heart out over the wave and got sweet nada. What makes you think a message is gonna work?"

"Well, what do you suggest, Little Miss I-Like-To-Punch-Things?" Rapunzel said, wiggling her head from side to side with every word.

Even Elsa couldn't stop the amused smirk from crawling up her lips as she glanced over toward Astrid, who was glaring daggers at the brunette. "I suggest we fire a warning shot," she growled.

The reactions from Merida and Rapunzel were predictably negative. Both women clamoured over each other in their attempt to get Astrid to see the error of her ways. Elsa took one long look at the Fairy. "Let her speak," she ordered.

Rapunzel and Merida instantly fell silent. "They can't hear us but we know they can see us, otherwise they wouldn't have increased speed. Lift the Valhalla a degree or two. I'll fire a burst over their cockpit - they'll definitely see that. They'll know we're serious."

Elsa debated the option in her mind, but the realist in her reminded her that, frankly, she was out of other choices. They couldn't pull in front and communications were clearly useless. She nestled her lower lip between her teeth, inhaled a breath and then said, "Activate the cannons."

The atmosphere, if it were possible, grew more tense. Astrid quickly prodded a button to her right, waited for the resultant humming to cease its slow increase in pitch, and then gripped her control column with her right finger hovering over the red trigger. "Ready," she announced.

"On my mark," Elsa said. "Three, two, one." She pulled back on her stick. The Valhalla's nose climbed. "Mark."

There was a click as Astrid squeezed the trigger, and a second-long burst of red bolts that soared out of her cannons at astonishing speeds to zip well over the Fairy's cockpit, with not a single one even coming close to her hull.

The Fairy exploded. What once was an aging, battle-scarred drop ship became a blinding ball of golden flame. The ship disintegrated with the force of the explosion, deafening the Valkyries and catapulting chunks of metal shrapnel in all directions, and black smoke billowed out from the jagged ends of the wings as they fell to earth, useless.

Elsa didn't register it at first. She didn't register much of anything. Her mind went blank, her eyes went wide and her mouth parted in shock - and judging by the pin-drop silence in the cockpit broken only by the chunks and shrapnel bouncing off the Valhalla's hull, the same reaction was shared by her team. Her hands trembled as they instinctively covered her mouth, and she could do nothing but watch the pieces of the dead Fairy fall through the clouds whilst her body weakened. Released of her grip, the stick returned to its upright position and the Valhalla flew straight and level.

"Astrid," Rapunzel whispered breathlessly, "what did you do?"

"N-nothing!" Astrid protested in a weak, high voice. "I didn't do anything! It was a good shot!"

"Ye musta done somethin' lass, 'cause tha Fairy just blew up!"

"It was a good shot!" Astrid yelled, though out of horror rather than anger.

Rapunzel sputtered, "Yeah? Well, guess what? Your good shot just wiped out the Ghosts! Elsa's sister was-"

"Valhalla, this is Echo One. You are ordered to stop and come about where we will escort you to the Staging Ground, over."

The voice over the comm line jarred Elsa back into the world from the numb shock she was trapped in. Military protocol took over. "This is the Valhalla, please repeat dispatch?" she answered in a weak voice.

"You are ordered to stop and come about, where you will be escorted back to the Staging Ground. Any attempt to disobey or deviate will be met with deadly force, over."

Deadly force. Elsa tried to work out why the orders had those words attached. Technically the Valkyries did Unity a favour, so why were they being threatened? She glanced at the sensor map in the middle console - and felt a rush of worry when she noticed two blue dots moving parallel to the Valhalla's white dot in the centre. "Rapunzel, would you kindly check our three and nine o'clock?"

She did so, with a shuffle of feet back to the passenger hold. Elsa kept her eyes on the sensor map while she waited. "I don't see any-" she began, but then her voice instantly changed. "Wait, I see it. Einherjar concealed in the clouds at nine…" there was another shuffle as she darted to the starboard side, "... and three o'clock. We're being flanked."

"What the hell's going on?" Astrid whispered.

Elsa shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Her hands went up to the microphone arm, and announced in the most spectacular example of forced politeness, "Echo One, this is Valhalla. We are contacting the Staging Ground for confirmation. Please hold."

Astrid snorted, causing Elsa to throw a glance her way. "Did you just put a fighter jet on hold?"

"I guess I did," Elsa said with brusque nonchalance. She addressed the ship's onboard A.I. "Valhalla, establish connection with Commander Hans at the Staging Ground, please. Encryption level omega."

"Working."

"Connection established."

Where once the magnified view of nothing but empty sky existed, a blue-hued holographic screen of Commander Hans took its place from his shoulders up, the entire image no bigger than a miniature Uni-Com. Once blank, as soon as the image completed knitting itself, his eyes instantly went to Elsa, and he frowned in confusion. "Valkyrie Leader, what… hang on, confirming encryption…" A few seconds passed, and then the border of the screen glowed with a red hue. "Okay, we're secure. Go ahead."

Clutching the stick with gently trembling hands, Elsa said with far too much rapidity, "Sir, something horrible has happened."

Hans' frown relaxed, and he adopted the familiar expression of patient listening, as a teacher would a student. "Okay. Put the Valhalla into hover mode and tell me."

After pulling back on the lever to her left causing the Valhalla to slow to a complete stop, Elsa immediately launched into an explanation of the events from the moment they caught sight of the Fairy, through the communication problems and the subsequent ship confirmation, the Fairy's inexplicable destruction, all the way to the threats made by the flanking Einherjars. She left no word unsaid, no stone unturned, and when she finished relaying the events to him, Hans' expression had not changed in the slightest. He didn't even flinch when Elsa mentioned the words 'deadly force'.

Had she not been so shaken by the turn of events, it would have struck her as odd. "I see," Hans said, one translucent and gloveless hand reaching up to stroke his chin in thought. "Well, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for the behaviour of Echo One."

"What is that, sir?" Elsa asked.

"Because I sent them."

Elsa's breath caught. Her brow knitted together, and her head recoiled an inch or two backwards in surprise. "You... sent them?"

Hans smiled, and unlike all the other times, this smile was smug. "Yes. They've been shadowing you ever since you left the base, remaining just outside of sensor range."

Elsa caught Astrid's eye, and she was just as perplexed. She mouthed a 'what?!'.

"But... why would you do that, sir?"

"It's fairly simple, really. The craft you shot down was not the Fairy."

Elsa's confusion only grew, as did an increasing sense of betrayal. The strings that had grown in noticeable strength since the Purge felt downright tangible. "What do you mean: not the Fairy?"

Hans' smile fell, and his face became hard as stone. "No. The craft you destroyed was the Ragnarok, and on board, besides two pilots, was one High Inquisitor Gothel Delrada," he paused while his face softened into a victorious half-smile, "and one Supreme Commander Henrik Larsen."

Gasps mingled with breathy hisses of 'what the fuck' in the Valhalla's cockpit. Elsa glanced, wide-eyed and in shock, between her teammates. Each one returned the same expression. How could he know who was on board? How could he know the Ragnarok would be destroyed, unless… "You knew this would happen from the beginning," she murmured in dawning realisation.

Hans raised a finger. "I always knew you were smart. But I didn't just know - I orchestrated it."

Elsa was too stunned to speak. No words would come; they were crushed underneath the wave of betrayal and treachery to even get close to her throat. Hans took it as a silent cue to continue.

"There's an old saying in the military - to take down a trained abnormal, you either need ten clones," he paused, whether for dramatic emphasis or to drink in her bewilderment, "or another trained abnormal."

"Another-" Astrid began, but words failed her too. Elsa could only assume it was for the same reasons words failed her - the creeping nausea of fear that churned and twisted her gut, paling her face and thumping her heart. He knew. He knew of her abnormality, and those of her team. The questions raged like shadows in her mind; how long had he known? Had he always known? Did he orchestrate that, too?

"You see - the Ghosts, Spirits and Furies were cutting swathes through our forces, and try as we might we could never truly stop them. We needed a team of our own, one that could match them and beat them - and you performed admirably. Thanks to you, and your inherent physiological gifts, the abnormal resistance has been broken; the Ghosts, Spirits and Furies have all been wiped out - though I must praise you in particular, Elsa. To stand up to Frost, and to do so without even fully blooming? Impressive."

"But... why?"

"Why? What's the one thing humans want, Elsa? Power." His face darkened, lips peeling apart into a venomous grimace. "As the thirteenth son in a military family, and the commander of a glorified training base, there was no chance of promotion or recognition. So I created the Valkyries. The destruction of the Ghosts, Spirits and Furies was just the preview; the Purge was my opening night, so I needed someone who had a reason to fight, who would stop at nothing to take them down in revenge. I gave you that reason, Elsa, and you performed masterfully."

Elsa sucked in a shaking breath, and her world fell away in that instant. Her reason to fight - her parents. Vengeance. Retribution. A ruthless path of rage that left hundreds dead, all orchestrated by the one man she trusted the most. "You…" she whispered in a tremulous breath, "you killed my parents."

Hans smiled, a light one that barely lifted the corners of his mouth, and he tilted his head to the side. "Guilty. You see; I will stop at nothing, betray anyone, kill anyone to achieve power. You are nothing, Elsa, but a puppet. A few breadcrumbs here, a visit from my brother to a cloning facility on an unrelated errand but coincidentally timed with the request for three certain clones... and you took the bait."

"Henrik was innocent…" Rapunzel murmured.

"Correct. My brother knew nothing of your abnormalities, nor of the cloned Ghosts, but I knew he would steal the Valkyries from me at some point, so I had to arrange a little accident for him. Congratulations, Valkyries - you are responsible for the deaths of two more innocent people. I believe that's called murder - and when our Inquisitors conduct an examination of your Uni-Com, Elsa, and find evidence of a search that yielded who you thought to be the culprit behind your parents' deaths? They will come to the conclusion I want them to - that you found out Henrik was responsible and plotted to kill him. When you learned he would be travelling via drop ship to the Chimera Shipyards, alone and tactically trapped, you saw your chance and pursued him with the intent to shoot him down. When they see this," he waved into the image something offscreen. Hans' face shifted to the left, and a moving representation of one dropship shooting down another took its place. Elsa recognised it as the same image that hovered over his desk when she entered his office. The one he hurriedly wiped away.

"That conclusion will be ironclad."

Elsa couldn't look away. Her rage, grief and sense of betrayal had reached such a point where they cancelled each other out, leaving only numbness and shock. She stared into Hans' eyes, the eyes of a murderous and cunning man, trying to hold onto the shards of her life that was falling apart before her eyes. Hans was behind her parents' deaths, and manipulated events so that at first the Ghosts looked guilty, and then Supreme Commander Henrik. He turned her and three other women into deadly weapons and pointed them at the Ghosts, with full knowledge of their gifts, indifferent to the collateral loss of life they caused.

Three of the team were rendered speechless - but Astrid had no such qualms. True to her strong-willed, short-tempered nature, she was the first and only person to speak. "Hell of a villainous monologue, Hans." She slowly clapped. "Four stars, would hear again, you murderous son of a bitch."

Hans rolled his eyes and looked at her with contempt as though her daring to speak was akin to him enduring stupidity. "Oh, Astrid. You are, as ever, too myopic to see the bigger picture. There's a reason behind my little speech, as is behind everything I do."

"Oh really? What's that?" Astrid growled, just as the sensor map pipped.

Hans smiled again, a full, malevolent grin. "Well, one reason is that I wanted to see your faces when you realised the truth. I wanted to see the betrayal in your eyes in real time - and it has been rewarding. There is, however, another reason. I've been stalling."

There was another pip. Then another. Another. A dozen pips in quick succession, and another dozen so rapid it sounded like one long noise. Elsa looked down just as two more pips sounded off from the map, and felt her lungs tighten whilst simultaneously becoming jelly - at the centre was the Valhalla's white dot... surrounded by seven blue dots in equidistant spacing, and a cloud of tiny specks directly in the top segment. Slowly, reluctantly, her eyes travelled up, up along the console where the myriad dials, gauges and readouts shone their numbers back at her, and with a thumping heart that threatened to freeze…

"No…" she whispered.

Up ahead, halfway inside firing range hovered at least two dozen drones, each one staring back at her with their glowing red visual sensors. Flanking them were two Einherjars; next to them, another two. Astrid pressed the button to bring up the rear view, and when Elsa weakly returned her gaze to the centre console and rested her eyes upon the image, she easily spied a further three behind her. Seven Einherjars, two dozen drones, all pointed at the Valhalla. Her mind, with what strength it had left given the knowledge that her world had been turned upside down and ripped apart, willed her body to do something. Bank left, right, anything.

"Valkyrie Leader Elsa Snowfield, in league with the Ghosts and with the Alliance, you and your team stole the Valhalla and went rogue in Unity territory, where you assassinated High Inquisitor Gothel Delrada and Supreme Commander Henrik Larsen, forcing me to hunt you down and destroy you."

Hans' declaration, with the stern conviction and unwavering purpose in his voice, stirred her mind into action and gave her a verbal kick up the posterior. Jerked back to reality, she yelled, "Wait!"

"I'll make this quick," he said. Elsa snapped her eyes to his visual representation, noticing how his right hand was poised to his ear ready to send the kill command, and how the border of the screen was no longer red. She briefly wondered if he deactivated the encryption just before making the announcement.

"Wait, sir, wait! Please!" she cried.

"All units, lock target, prepare to fire."

Elsa glanced up just as the twin pulse-cannons of the two Einherjars deployed, protruding from the smooth front edges of the curved wings. Her eyes widened, and she hastily let her heart flow forth in an outpouring of hope.

"Sir, my team was just following me, they were following my orders. I will take full responsibility for what happened today, but they were my actions, and mine alone. I will submit myself to you, I will return to base for court martial and execution just... please, spare my team. If I give myself up, all I ask is that you let them live."

"Elsa, what are you-" Rapunzel hissed.

"Please, sir. I'll do anything you want. Just don't make them pay for my mistakes," Elsa pleaded with him.

"She's trying to save our lives," Astrid said in a voice that stood between acceptance and awe.

She watched Hans, watched his face for any microexpression, anything that would let her know he was choosing mercy. She knew if he did, then she would never see Anna again in her lifetime - but she would be damned if she let her teammates be executed for following her. She had caused enough blood to be spilled; she decided to draw the line. No more death on her account.

Hans, it seemed, had already decided. He smirked, but there was no warmth in it. "That's an astoundingly moving plea for clemency, Valkyrie Leader. Would you like to know a secret?" He cocked his head in the way a scientist would when observing an experiment. "I was never going to spare your team."

"You contemptible prick," Rapunzel spat. "You disgusting waste of-"

"On my mark, open fire."

Elsa turned and looked into the eyes of the three women staring back at her. Each face wore a mask of fear, pain and regret, of confusion and incomprehension. They were about to die, and barely even knew why. She swallowed slowly and tried to hold back the welling of tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she murmured, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry."

"Three…" Hans began the countdown. Elsa looked down at his image on the screen - if she was to die, then she would die looking into the eyes of her killer.

It was then she noticed how the image flickered and tore, and when he announced, "Two", the number was so garbled she barely caught it. Frowning, she watched as his image rapidly pulled itself apart, as though an invisible force had reached into the screen and yanked his body in opposite directions, replacing it with the words CONNECTION TERMINATED.

"Great," Astrid drawled with razor-sharp sarcasm, "it's not bad enough they're gonna kill us, they've got to jam us, too."

"Not just that," Merida murmured, gesturing lamely at the centre console, "but they've jammed our sensors, too."

"I don't think it matters in the-" Elsa began, but a sound she never thought she would hear again graced her ears from the direction of the Valhalla's nine o'clock. Her eyes widened, and her heart - which until that moment had frozen solid - raced with a thunderous beat.

She twisted round to peer through the port side of the cockpit windshield, just as Rapunzel scrambled to look out of the porthole. "Hold back on that apology, Elsa," she said with glee, "because I spy two dashing princes on our nine o'clock, coming in fast and hot."

"Is that…?" Elsa whispered, catching sight of the dashing princes Rapunzel was referring to, feeling relief wash over her like a wave. A winged creature as black as the night, and a white-haired man with a staff of blue light.

"Ayep," Rapunzel said, grinning widely.

"Are they…?"

"Ayep."

For there was only one team whose arrival was heralded by a banshee-like shriek.

A/N:

Firstly, I'd like to say a big thank you to those of you who answered my question. I feel revitalised and confident in the direction I'm taking the characters, and to know that I'm doing it right is reassuring. I would agree that Rapunzel is the one with the least development so far, but there's still so much of the story to go. Joss Whedon-vibe, yay!

Secondly: I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR FAR TOO LONG TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER. Seriously. I've been itching to get to this point, and it underwent three or four changes since its inception.

Thirdly: pink spotted turtles.

Okay, so Hans has revealed his true colours as a villain that cares nothing for his elder brother's death, and thought nothing of throwing four women - one of whom trusted him implicitly - under the bus to achieve his goals. A lot of people seem to skirt over this fact that, in the movie, he did leave one woman to die of...well...being frozen solid (and as Anna technically did die for those few seconds, he is legally guilty of first degree murder), and actively attempted the murder of a second all to gain power. I adore him as a villain, and there are those in Disney who believe Hans is someone who all the villains before him could have learned from. And because of the encrypted call, only the Valkyries know about his real intentions. I just hope his villainous reveal wasn't too...cringey.

We also now have confirmation of the entire team's abilities. An eagle-eyed reader a few updates back mentioned Merida and electricity - give yourself a cookie. Rapunzel's is sort of obvious, but Astrid's secondary abnormality will come into play some time from now.

AND THE GHOSTS ARE HERE TO SAVE THE DAY. Or something. Who knows - they might be there to take down the Valhalla, too...yeah, you're not gonna buy that, are you?

Guest mailbox! (Oh, and there's just two to reply to).

Fyrearth: Sorry for making you cry! Also, thank you very much for your kind words. The RotG cast will make an appearance, but not for a while yet. They're coming, though, don't worry.

Polar Panda: Thank you! Yeah, empathy is a useful thing to have provided you don't let it completely overwhelm you, and don't try to understand those that can't be understood - and I'm sorry to hear you were picked on because of your empathy. Also, sorry for making you get teary :(

Okay, next up: Well, the chapter is called "I Have a Plan: Attack", but if you want a music-related taster - either "Iron Man 3" from the Iron Man 3 OST, or "Battle Finale" from the same OST. Both work.

And keep your eyes peeled next chapter for what us Marvel fans call a post-credit sequence.

For the...you know how it goes.

Furiyan