No Good Deed

Being wanted fugitives with a bounty of six million credits on their heads, Elsa and Anna were left with little choice but to proceed to their destination on foot. All air traffic in and out of the city was being monitored by an increased security presence within the city, notably more so than was usual. In less than 24 hours since Anna's rescue of Elsa, practically every advertising surface featured their faces and the bounty offered for their capture. Before, Anna decidedly kept a low profile as a means to protect herself, but now, she had been branded as public enemy number one alongside Elsa whose existence had once been a very closely guarded secret.

Elsa couldn't help but feel responsible for this turn of events given that Anna had been the one who risked everything just to help her. While she was certainly grateful to Anna, she felt an equal degree of shame and regret for essentially ruining the red-haired woman's life. Elsa couldn't foresee the future but she could anticipate what came next and no matter what, it just seemed impossible that either of them could stay in New York for much longer.

More pressing still was the possibility of their shared past. Elsa knew Anna, that much she was sure of but that knowledge alone invariably raised more questions. Questions that she wasn't yet equipped to answer.

There will be answers at Gjallarbru, I'm sure of it, Elsa thought. There has to be something there. Records, reports, anything. The backup files Theodore gave me were incomplete, so there must be more to find there.

Reaching Gjallarbru was sure to be a daunting task, but Elsa had Anna's assurances of her assistance and now, she had no reason to doubt her. So sure and faithful was Elsa's trust in the red-haired woman that for the first time in her life, she felt the small beginnings of hope in her heart. Whatever came next, they would decide and face together.

Since air travel wasn't a viable option and traversing the city streets was a sure way to be apprehended, they were forced underground. Luckily, New York's expansive subway and sewer systems would allow them to make their way out undetected. It wasn't particularly their shortest or cleanest route, but it was certainly the safest since they were hidden from sight from the world above.

Anna peeked out from behind a squeaky door that served as a one way exit from her apartment building at the ground floor. The lower half of her face was concealed by the high collar of her long-coat, similar to Elsa's own face which was obscured by her scarf.

"Coast is clear," Anna whispered as she stepped out into the early morning light. "Come on, entrance to the subway isn't far."

Elsa nodded and followed along after Anna as the pair crept their way across the central park apartment blocks towards the 5th avenue subway station. There weren't too many people up and about at this time of day and those that were, were mostly homeless vagrants and street urchins that kept to their own business. At one end of the street was a group of four rough looking individuals who glanced over in their direction for only a moment before returning to their conversation.

"Calm down," Anna whispered. "Just play it cool."

"I am calm," Elsa replied.

"I was talking to myself."

"Oh."

Since eyes and ears were everywhere in New York, Elsa and Anna quickened their pace while trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Before long, they made it to the subway entrance where they descended into the dark below.

The tunnels and subway services were decommissioned shortly after the mag-rail trains were implemented and with no further use for them, they were abandoned. Miles and miles of underground passages lay beneath the city, though most were flooded to varying degrees. Those that remained dry lay sequestered away in complete darkness, offering safe refuge to the lowliest denizens of the city.

Once they got off the streets and descended into the entrance to the subway tunnels, they came across a rusted metal grate that barred their path. Elsa ripped it open easily enough, then together she and Anna pressed deeper into the old tunnels. The light from above became more and more faint until it disappeared from existence completely, surrounding them in darkness. To see, they both lit up the flashlights on their omni-pads to illuminate their way, revealing nothing but dust and detritus everywhere they looked.

As they crossed through a turnstile, Anna fussed with her omni-pad until she pulled up an old map of the subway system she had procured from the net. She then manipulated it as she turned it into a 3D hologram that lay at her feet.

"Looks like we can follow the tunnel here until it links up with the Lexington Avenue express line and follow that until it takes us out of Manhattan," Anna said.

Elsa frowned as she gauged the distance. "Will the tunnels be clear all the way there?" she asked.

"No way to tell," Anna shrugged. "It'll be a long walk and… I hope you aren't afraid of the dark because we'll be down there a while."

"And you're certain this is the safest way to get out of the city?" Elsa asked as she looked up from the map at Anna.

"I can't guarantee safe, but it's still better than taking our chances up top," Anna said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I've never actually been down here before so… if I'm being honest I have no idea what we'll see along the way. Could be some mutated rats or… gigantic turtles or something."

"Really?"

"Maybe, who knows?"

"That would be frightening."

"Don't worry, I'll hold your hand if you get scared."

Elsa perked up and smiled. "You will?" she asked eagerly.

"Shit, that was out loud?" Anna looked away as her face reddened. "I mean… uh, yes, that… that is, i- if you want to."

"I'd like that," Elsa smiled more widely, excited and comforted by the prospect of touching Anna's skin again.

"Whew! It's hot down here isn't it," Anna chuckled nervously as she loosened her collar and fanned her face which suddenly became flustered. "I'm hot, are you hot? I mean, I know that you're hot," she snapped up as a look of horror crossed her face. "Hot in… in the sense that you're warm, heh. I definitely wasn't saying that you're… you know, hot hot… not that you aren't, because you really really are! I was just… it got lost in translation. How did we- what were we talking about?"

Elsa glanced down at herself then shrugged at Anna. "I don't feel warm, are you feeling feverish Anna?" she asked politely.

"N- no! No," Anna said hurriedly. "I was only asking that- I didn't mean it like- I was just saying… that… I… think it's warm down here."

"Perhaps it shall get colder the further down we go," Elsa said. "Shall we?"

"Yes!" Anna perked up as she suddenly recalled their reason for being underground.

Down beneath the earth, the air grew noticeably more chilly and still, having been undisturbed for decades. Pressing deeper into the tunnels, they descended a rickety old escalator which groaned loudly and echoed through the dark. From there, they rounded another bend then found themselves standing on a subway platform.

"Which way do we go?" Elsa asked, frowning as she peered down long tunnels on either side of the platform they were standing on.

"Hmm," Anna scrunched her face up in thought then walked towards the edge of the platform and dropped down onto the tracks below. "It's this way. Come on," she said as she pointed down a tunnel.

"You're sure?" Elsa asked as she dropped to the tracks next to Anna.

"Positive," Anna gave a quick smile before she headed off down the tunnel, walking along the tracks.

Elsa followed along and together, they walked side by side as they proceeded further into the bowels beneath New York. In the dark and silence of the narrow tunnels, every sound they made was amplified, causing long echoes to ring out and potentially alert anyone or anything they might have the misfortune of encountering. To avoid announcing their presence, Elsa and Anna talked softly and walked quietly, always minding where they stepped to mitigate the noise they created.

"These tunnels are similar to the ones at Minerva," Elsa observed as she shone her flashlight at her surroundings. "Less clean and maintained of course."

"Right, Minerva," Anna nodded. "What was that place like anyways? I don't think I ever asked you."

"It was… remarkable. I met a man there, Doctor Sinclair, who had once worked on Project SNOW for VanirCorp. He agreed to help me and that was shortly before I met you."

"What was he doing hiding out with a bunch of andys?"

"He was the one who started Minerva. He wanted to provide a safe haven for androids and other artificial intelligences who had been… enslaved. I suppose that's the right word for it."

"Uh huh," Anna nodded her head slowly. "And what did he have to do with Project SNOW? With you?"

"He was the original head of the project when it was started by Andreas Rosenthal, the previous CEO of VanirCorp before Matilda and also her father," Elsa replied. "Project SNOW's initial aim was to develop a cure to Alzheimer's disease, which afflicted the Rosenthal family."

Anna made a face as she stepped over a puddle of some unknown substance, then looked up back to Elsa and waited for her to continue.

"Andreas died of in 2077 which was the same year that Matilda had a daughter, who also died shortly after childbirth," Elsa explained as her voice dipped to a somber register. "She assumed control of the company and then… she became obsessed with Project SNOW. Matilda wanted to create a new lifeform, superior to human beings while serving as a testbed for memory treatment and experimentation to find a means to slow the advance of the disease. Doctor Sinclair tried his best to steer her on the right path, but she began to turn to unethical methods."

"That doesn't surprise me," Anna snorted. "Corpos will do anything it takes to get what they want."

"She turned to kidnapping and murder to find suitable candidates for the project. They needed as many tissue, organ, blood, and DNA samples as they could acquire," Elsa said quietly. "Even harvested children, so I'm told."

Anna turned a shade paler as she looked over to Elsa. "Okay… now that… does surprise me. Jesus, that's horrible."

Elsa swallowed a lump in her throat. "Yes, it was. When Doctor Sinclair found out what she was doing, he left the project. Matilda then tried to have him killed to prevent him from leaking knowledge of their illegal research. He disappeared, went into hiding, and that's when he started Minerva."

"So I guess it makes sense now why she thinks of you as her daughter. She made you as a way to replace her own, right?"

"It's the same reason why I have white hair, just as she does. When I was still at VanirCorp, she would occasionally call by her name. Eleanor."

"Eleanor," Anna repeated softly. "Hmph. So I take it she's getting sick too, same as her father?"

"Yes," Elsa nodded. "She's dying."

"Ah, well it couldn't have happened to a nicer person. She might be dying and sure she lost her daughter, that's shitty, but that doesn't make kidnapping children and cutting them up for science right," Anna grumbled. "It doesn't make what she did to you right either."

Elsa understood Matilda's reasons better than anyone else and there had once even been a time when she might have sympathized with her. But not now, not after she had endured years and years of torture, of having her mind torn apart until she forgot who she was, of endless suffering and manipulation that was disguised as benign intervention.

"No… it doesn't," Elsa agreed. "I don't know what I'd do if I ever-"

A sudden clang echoed from the down the tunnel far behind them, causing Elsa and Anna to freeze in place as they turned around.

"Uh… what the hell was that?" Anna asked nervously. "That sounded close."

Elsa peered into the darkness behind them and focused her hearing until eventually, she could hear out distant voices and footsteps that were trailing them.

"Do you hear that?" Elsa asked. "I can hear voices, people speaking."

"I can't hear anything," Anna shook her head. "But I doubt they're just down here for a stroll, whoever they are."

"I agree," Elsa said.

Anna then grabbed Elsa's hand as she quickly led them over to an alcove that was set into the side of the tunnel. "Well let's not stand here waiting around to find out what they want. Let's hide and get the drop on them," she whispered.

Normally, Elsa would have been delighted at the contact of her skin against Anna's were it not for the situation they now found themselves in. They both shut off their flashlights and crouched down, pushing themselves as far back from the main tunnel as they possibly could, shrouding themselves in darkness.

There, they waited until the distant voices grew louder as they approached their position. It sounded as if there were four of them, walking heavily and talking loudly.

"You're sure you saw them coming down here?"

"I'm fuckin sure. Two women, one with red hair and one with white, both with their faces hidden. I saw them head down to the subway entrance with my own two eyes.

"And how are we supposed to fucking find them down here, Jack? These tunnels are a goddamn maze!"

"Will you guys shut the hell up! How are we supposed to get the drop on 'em if you keep jawing on like this?"

"We have to find them first to get the drop on them."

"We'll find them! Alright? Just think of that cool 6 million credits we'll earn if we do."

"Shit, I don't know man. 6 mil doesn't split 4 ways easy."

"You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking."

"And just how in the fuck am I supposed to know what you're thinking?"

"Guys! Shut the fuck up! They could be anywhere in these tunnels and you fucknuts will scare them off if they hear us coming."

In the darkness of their hiding place, Elsa felt Anna move next to her as she brandished her hand cannon. Realizing that these men were bounty hunters looking for them, Elsa did the same and withdrew her sidearm as she and Anna lay in wait.

Soon, four beams of lights crossed their line of vision, stretching on down the tunnel as the bounty hunters neared their position. None of them were paying much attention to their surroundings and before long, they were practically right on top of Elsa and Anna as they passed by them, unaware of their presence.

"Maybe we should split up?"

"What, and get lost? Nah, fuck that."

"Well maybe we should? I don't want to be down in this shit all day."

"So you can run off and grab the bounty then leave the rest of us down here? I don't think so."

Once they passed a safe distance beyond them, Anna reached around in the darkness until she felt Elsa's arm then patted it twice.

"Come on," Anna whispered. "Follow my lead, we got the drop on these idiots."

"Right behind you," Elsa replied.

Together, they both crept out from the alcove and followed along after the four loud bounty hunters, tracking them by the flashlights they used. Ahead of the group lay a section of tunnel that split off down two other tracks, where the bounty hunters were currently debating on which way to go.

"Which way Jack?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? You're the one who had us follow them down here."

"I mean, I don't fucking know!"

"This is just great, now what do we do?"

"Maybe we can-"

"Hello, boys!" Anna called out as she pointed her flashlight directly in their faces and took aim with her hand cannon. "You look a bit lost."

Elsa did the same and raised her sidearm, keeping it levelled towards the four bounty hunters who had turned around. They were dressed in ragged clothing and armed with worn and beaten looking firearms, gazing at Elsa and Anna with shock and recognition.

"Not lost," one of them stepped forward and spat on the ground. "Looking for you two actually."

"I know," Anna rolled her eyes. "We could hear you the whole time. You're very loud."

One of the bounty hunters slapped the leading one's shoulder. "Told you we should have been quiet, Jack!"

Jack sighed and turned around. "Right now? Really, you wanna do this right now?"

"Enough of this, let's just blast them," another bounty hunter said as he reached for his weapon.

"Ah ah ah," Anna said as she aimed it towards him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Besides, you can't collect the bounty if we're dead."

"And why is that?" one of the bounty hunters sneered.

"Because," Jack sighed and turned to his other companion. "We're supposed to turn them in alive, you idiot. The bounty says so. Can't you fucking read?"

"Okay so we just clobber them!"

"Counter offer," Anna said. "You walk away, and forget you ever saw us."

"It would be in your best interest to leave," Elsa cut in. "No amount of credits is worth your lives."

Jack scoffed. "Here's a… counter… counter offer, there's four of us and only two of you. How about you lay down your guns and come with us. You do that and we'll treat you real well. Show you a bit of fun before we hand you over. You know, I like red-heads. Gator over here, he likes them blondes too."

Elsa furrowed her brows in anger as she was overcome by protective instinct. Jack's crude remarks aimed at Anna didn't sit well with her at all.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a hard pass," Anna said.

Elsa stepped forward. "Walk away," she said firmly.

"Is that a threat?" Jack asked.

"No, that was a suggestion," Anna said as she aimed her cannon back at Jack. "Get the fuck out of here, now. Or, we'll spill your tiny brains all over these tunnels and leave you to the rats," she stepped forward alongside Elsa. "Now that was a threat. See the difference?"

One of the bounty hunters raised his weapon. "Fuck these bitches man, let's just-"

Elsa didn't let him finish as she placed a single burst of her sidearm between his eyes. The rounds slammed into his skull and popped out the back, spraying the three remaining bounty hunters with blood and gore.

The gunshot rang out loudly, amplified by the echoes as it shocked his companions who stumbled backward or attempted to reach for their weapons. Before they could, Elsa fired again and placed a burst right into Jack's stomach, dropping him to the ground. Meanwhile, Anna joined in with her hand cannon as she quickly double tapped the remaining bounty hunters.

"Agh, fuck!" Jack whimpered as he clutched his gunshot wound. "No, no wait!"

Elsa approached him and kicked away the gun near his hands then stepped on his gut.

Jack squealed in pain, then held up his hands in surrender. "Don't shoot me… just let me g-"

He didn't get the chance to finish when two bullets found their way home inside of his head. With that, the tunnels returned to silence once more and Elsa exhaled heavily.

"Whew," Anna sighed as she put away her cannon. "Nice shooting," she said to Elsa as she walked over to a dead bounty hunter and nudged him with her boot.

"Thank you," Elsa said as she returned to a ready stance before putting away her sidearm. "Are you alright?"

"Feeling fine now that these schmucks are taken care of. You?" Anna said as she knelt down and began patting around a dead bounty hunter's pockets.

"Better. They weren't very subtle."

And rude, Elsa thought, which had been the reason why she decided to kill them as soon as she heard them insult Anna.

"Ha! No they weren't," Anna chuckled. "Well, let's see if they had anything useful on them."

Elsa knelt down and busied herself with searching another one of the corpses for anything useful as Anna had suggested. She patted around his pockets and came up with a few extra magazines for a pistol, but tossed it aside when it was the wrong caliber for her sidearm. Meanwhile, Anna acquired two extra filters that would fit their respirators and rose to turn to Elsa.

"Here, catch," Anna said as she tossed one over. "At least they were good for something."

Elsa caught the filter in her hand easily then tucked it into her bag. "Indeed," she agreed. "Though, this is troubling. If they could find us down here, then surely others can as well. We should keep moving."

"No argument from me," Anna adjusted her bag on her shoulders then brought up her map once more. "There, that way," she said as she started down the tunnel to their left.

Elsa fell in step alongside her and together, the two pressed deeper beneath the city through the darkness.

… … …

They walked for some time, encountering nothing else besides the occasional rat and random piles of junk. At regular intervals, they would pass through empty stations and platforms that were trapped in limbo, awaiting trains that would never arrive. Once they reached a certain point, the air grew noticeably thicker and harder to breathe, which forced Elsa and Anna to don their full face respirators so they could continue forwards.

Elsa stepped into some wet muck, where she stopped, frowned and lifted her boot to examine what she had just stepped in. It was a foul mixture of flood waters and garbage that they were now walking through, and were it not for their masks, they might have passed out from the stench alone.

"Gross," Anna muttered as she came to a stop next to Elsa. "Tunnels must be flooded ahead."

Elsa looked to the sides and spotted a raised path that ran alongside the length of the tunnel. "We could walk up there to get above the waterline," she said as she pointed her flashlight towards it.

"Good idea," Anna said as she looked around until she spotted a ladder they could use to get up. "After you," she said as she stood aside and gestured to Elsa.

Ascending the ladder, Elsa turned around once she reached the top and held out her hand to assist Anna as she climbed up.

"Oh, thanks," Anna said as she accepted Elsa's hand and pulled herself up so that they were standing next to each other.

Elsa smiled and let her hand remain in Anna's for a little longer than was necessary as they looked sheepishly at one another. After another moment, Anna let go first then proceeded down the walkway with Elsa following behind. It was the second time that their hands had touched since entering the tunnels, but she delighted in every single time that they did. However, it was hardly the appropriate time or setting to become giddy over it, so Elsa reigned in her enthusiasm as they carried along.

Anna had been correct that the tunnels had become flooded, for as they walked along the raised path, the tracks below them disappeared beneath murky flood waters that rose a meter high. They walked along the raised path, staying dry and out of the soupy, toxic water until they reached another empty platform. This one was different from the others they had encountered as an old subway train lay abandoned where it had stopped at its final destination.

"How far have we come?" Elsa asked as the path they walked on widened out onto the tail end of the subway platform, allowing them to stand side by side.

"Hmm," Anna pulled up her map and examined it closely. "Looks like we're almost out of Manhattan. We're right by the Harlem River, which would explain why this station is flooded."

"And this tunnel will take us beneath it?"

"Yep. So let's hope we won't have to swim because this water does not look inviting."

On the platform ahead of them, the stairway leading to the surface had collapsed due to a partial cave in. All around them were signs that pointed to the dubious structural integrity of this particular station as large cracks had formed on the walls. Meanwhile, rivulets of water ran down and joined in wider streams, pooling in the subway tracks. The only way forward was to progress further down the tunnels, which were currently blocked by the subway train that lay parked, forcing Elsa and Anna to walk through it.

Upon entering the subway train, they found a grisly sight. Still sitting in the seats or lying across the aisles were a multitude of human skeletons. They greeted Elsa and Anna with haunting visages of death, while rats and cockroaches alike fled from their lights. Most of the ancient corpses were dried, mummified husks, with thin leathery skin that was stretched over their bones and pulled taut over their skulls. Others which had been more exposed to moisture over their entombment had become mottled and slimy green, with waxy paste of rot clinging to their parchment skin.

Elsa froze, arrested by the macabre train of death as she stared ahead and took in their surroundings. Her gaze eventually settled upon a seat just off to the side, where the skeleton of a child clutched the remains of their parent, forever trapped in the moment of their demise for all eternity. Next to Elsa's side, Anna gulped deeply and blindly reached out with her hand until her fingers found Elsa's and they clasped around each other for comfort.

"Well… t- this… this is just the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life," Anna muttered.

"What happened here?" Elsa murmured.

"I don't know… but this place gives me the creeps. Let's go, I don't want to stick around here any longer than we have to."

Elsa said nothing, but nodded understandingly and squeezed Anna's hand reassuringly. They both carefully picked their way through the subway train, stepping over and around corpses where they lay so as not to wake the dead from their sleep.

From one end to the other, the entire train served as a tomb for a countless amount of corpses. How they perished was a mystery, but if one had to guess, it had likely happened at some point during the collapse when much of America was burning, rioting, and falling apart. In the time since then, it was clear that nothing had distrubed the final resting place of the train's occupants. Once they reached the end of the death train, they came upon a door that was partially jammed open, allowing them to step up onto a similar raised pathway like the one from before. They climbed up and out, then went a short distance away where Anna let go of Elsa's hand and shivered head to toe.

"Ugh, so creepy," Anna said as she shook herself off. "Glad to be out of that place."

Missing the contact already, Elsa clasped her hands together and stared back at the death train in thought. "It's sad, isn't it?" she asked, feeling remorse for the staggering amount of life that was lost in some horrific and unknown tragedy.

"Lots of people died like that during the collapse. Scared, forgotten about," Anna murmured. "Lots of people still die like that these days. I try not to think about it too much."

Elsa looked back and saw the distant and pensive look that had settled over Anna's face. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the look disappeared when Anna noticed that Elsa was staring at her.

"Come on," Anna said as she resumed walking down the tunnel. "We're almost out of here."

Glancing one last time back at the train behind them, Elsa suppressed a shiver that crept down her spine, then followed along after Anna, eager to return to the realm of light and the living.