For Whom The Bell Tolls

Anna held her gun in her right hand while holding her katana in her left with a reverse grip. She blasted apart the two ripper gangers in front of her, blowing a hole clean through their heads. Far ahead, sprinting down the length of the corridor in a hurry was her bounty. Just as the two rippers fell to the floor in a heap, a third came charging at Anna from around a corner, swinging a crowbar at her head.

"Take this!" the ripper yelled.

Before she was struck, she ducked beneath the attack, followed up by stabbing the ripper up through the bottom of his chin, poking the blade out the top of his skull. As he died and fell to his knees, Anna tilted his head back with the katana and ripped it free, flicking the blood off with an easy movement of her wrist.

"Looks like that's all of them," Anna said as she glanced around at the score of dead bodies she had left in her wake. "Now, where did that guy run off to?"

She walked down the length of the corridor, eventually reaching a thick metal door that was sealed shut. Above, poking out from the wall, was a single camera that was observing her.

"Oh, so gross," Anna pushed aside a corpse that was slumped against the door and started banging on it. "Really? A panic room?" she looked up to the camera and waved, glancing at the time on her omni-pad as she did. "Can you come out? I really need to go. I have a date!"

"Fuck you, bitch," the man inside spoke to her through the intercom. "Just you wait, more of my men will be coming in here soon, and then you'll be dead!"

"I don't have time to wait around. Can we wrap this up now?"

"You deaf? There's no way I'm coming out of here, so you might as well get lost while you still can."

"Unbelievable," Anna put away her weapons and rubbed her face as she groaned in frustration. "Fine, you wanna play this the hard way, we'll play it the hard way."

She stormed away from the door in a huff and searched around the run-down building for anything she could use to compel her bounty to leave the panic room. She passed through a refrigeration area where multiple unknown bodies were laid out on slabs and carved open for their parts. Some were missing their eyes, some were missing their limbs, and some were missing several of their organs.

Anna would have been lying if she said she didn't take a small amount of pleasure in putting down a gang of vicious body harvesters. As luck would have it, there was a storage room where she found some fuel cylinders, highly flammable and susceptible to explosions.

"This ought to work," Anna picked up two of them and started making her way back to the panic room.

Along the way, she loosened one of their valves and left a trail of black, sticky fuel towards the door. There, she set down both of the canisters then looked up to the camera as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" the man asked. "Don't- don't do that. I mean it!"

"Sorry, you're gonna have to speak up," Anna pointed to her ears. "Tinnitus. All the constant gunfire and explosions really fucks with your hearing."

"Don't loosen those- don't step away from those- don't do that!"

"I'm walking away now. I can't hear you."

"Are you crazy?!" the man yelled. "That's fifty gallons of high-test fuel! You'll bring this whole place down around our ears!"

Anna turned a corner and took cover behind the sturdy wall. Then, she leaned out from cover, extended her cybernetic arm, and released a short puff of flame which ignited the trail of fuel. Immediately, she dipped back behind cover and plugged her ears.

Meanwhile, the burning line raced towards the canisters by the door. A second later, a large explosion rocked the interior of the corridor and shook the rest of the building as a cloud of fire and smoke rushed past Anna's position.

Once it had quieted down, Anna poked her head out from around the corner. "Wow, that worked a treat," she unsheathed her katana and made her way through the now open panic room. "Hello, anyone home?"

"Get out of here!" the man shouted from within the washroom. "Just get out! What do you want, credits? Fizz? Whatever it is, I can make it happen! We can cut a deal!"

Anna said nothing and waved the smoke away from her face, coughing a few times when she inhaled some as she approached the flimsy door to the washroom.

"Oh god, oh man, oh fuck," the man whimpered. "Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, just- just... just- can't we just talk about- aaah!"

He was interrupted when Anna activated the thermal edge of her katana and started hacking away at the door. Inside, the man continued to scream and cower while Anna chopped open a gap in the door wide enough to poke her face through.

"Here's Johnny!" Anna grinned with mad glee as she pulled back her cybernetic arm and punched through the rest of the door, ripping it aside.

The man shrieked in fright and bolted past Anna, shoving her aside as he raced through the remains of his panic room.

"Oh, you gotta be fucking-" Anna quickly recovered and took off running after him. "Hey! Get back here!"

"You ain't bringing me in!" the man shouted back as he turned a corner.

"You're really pissing me off, you know that? Don't make me run. I hate chasing people!"

"Kiss my ass!"

"I said-" Anna caught up to the man, raising her cybernetic arm and shooting out her grappling hook, ensnaring his legs and bringing him crashing to the floor. "Don't make me run!"

"Alright, you got me, just listen," the man strained as he tried to free himself. "Whoever is paying you, I'll double it! Triple it! Just let me go!"

"You're wasting your breath," Anna tied up his legs, then tied up his hands behind his back. "There are some folks in the ACPD who want to talk to you," she started dragging him out by his feet.

"You know what the police will do to me? I'm not gonna last the week!"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you became a ripper, you organ harvesting, body snatching bastard."

After Anna finished dragging her bounty out of the building, she came upon a police squad car that was already waiting for her.

"You got him," a police officer said as he approached and tilted the man's head to the side. "That was quite the ruckus inside. The others give up as easily as this one?"

Anna jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. "Why don't you head on in, maybe you can question some of them," she said. "One or two of them are still alive. Probably."

"It'd be a waste of time," another police officer replied as she transferred Anna her credits. "This is for the bounty. We can take care of the rest. You can get the hell out of here."

"Yeah, don't let me get in the way of doing your jobs now after all the hard work's been done. God forbid you do any actual policing for once," Anna walked past them and got on her motorcycle, put on her helmet, and sped off in short order.

As she drove out of the sub-city and entered the freeway, heading for the surface, Anna called Mulan to report the success of another gig.

"Rachael, we happy?" Mulan asked as soon as she appeared on the display.

"We happy," Anna replied. "Cleaned out the ripper hideout and handed the bounty target over to the police. He's their problem now."

"And we're both a little richer, good work. Still feeling loose? I got another job lined up for you."

"Another one so soon? M, you're spoiling me."

"A client of mine needs you to klep some hardware for them. A hardened signal transceiver from a KGB storage warehouse. I've already done some scouting and the security on the place is pretty standard. A few robots, a few cameras, a netrunner on site. Should be easy for someone like you."

"I'm not too thrilled at the idea of picking a fight with the Russian government," Anna asked as she adjusted gears and sped past a truck, easily overtaking it. "Are the credits good?"

"The credits are good, trust me. My client is paying well for a clean job. In and out, no alarms, no fuss, so there won't be a fight. Need to be a ghost on this one."

"Hmm. I'm guessing this client of yours didn't say why they need this transceiver?"

"Of course not," Mulan flicked her hair to the side. "And I know better than to ask. Are you game?"

"Yeah, I'm game," Anna replied as she exited the sub-city and entered the surface level once more. "I'll get around to it when I can, I'm a little busy. I have a date tonight."

"Right. I'll send you the location," Mulan transferred over the relevant intel. "This one's time-sensitive, so don't take too long, got it?"

"Got it. I'll get it done, don't worry."

"When you've got it, drop it off at the marked location. Out."

Finished with the call, Anna glanced at the time once more and shifted the gears as she accelerated, racing down the freeway all the way home.

… … …

"I'm home, I'm here, I'm totally not late!" Anna rushed in through the door and shrugged off her long coat, making sure to hang it up instead of usually tossing it anywhere. "We still have a bit of time, let me just take a quick shower and I'll get ready," she went into the office to deposit her weapons.

Elsa poked her head out of the bedroom and leaned against the door frame, running one hand up her raised thigh invitingly. "Finally. I was beginning to worry that you had forgotten about little ol' me," she bit her finger and smirked.

"Oh, Elsa, you nut," Anna sighed as she emerged from the office, not looking where she was going. "Of course I could never forget, you're always so- oh," she finally looked up and nearly bumped into Elsa.

"So... what?" Elsa arched an eyebrow.

"Uh, um, so, I mean, like," Anna stammered as she shook her head in disbelief. "So- so, fuck, you know what I mean," she groaned and bit her lip as she ran her hands up Elsa's sides, feeling her curves.

"Hmm. I thought you would like it," Elsa purred as she did the same with Anna.

"Like it? I fucking love it," Anna pulled Elsa in for a hungry kiss. "You wanna jump in the shower with me? We can have a quickie before we head out."

Elsa returned the kiss then pushed Anna away by the face. "I just spent an hour doing my makeup, I'm not letting you ruin it," she shooed her off with a slap on the rear. "Go, go, go. I'll pick out something for you to wear. Go. You smell like an oil refinery."

The off-hand comment took Anna unaware, but she managed to hide the subtle change in her expression as she went into the washroom. "Yeah, well, I was driving on the freeway," she shut the door and started stripping out of her clothing. "Shit, that was close. I need to be more careful," she whispered to herself as she took a whiff of her gunpowder-scented garments. "You know how it is when you're on a motorcycle, catching all those fumes from other cars and trucks," she called out nonchalantly to Elsa.

"I know," Elsa replied from within the closet as she started digging out an outfit for Anna. "What are you thinking for tonight? Something flashy or something elegant?"

"Uh, elegantly flashy?" Anna turned on the shower and stepped in. "Flashily elegant? You decide."

"Ooh, okay. This one will be perfect for you then."

After thoroughly rinsing off her body and washing her hair to ensure that no detectable scents remained that could indicate to the day that Anna had, she shut off the water, stepped out of the shower, and toweled herself dry. When she stepped out back into the bedroom, she saw that her clothing had been laid out on the bed, but Elsa was nowhere to be seen.

"Babe?" Anna went over to her clothing and held it up to examine it. "Where'd you run off to?"

"In the office!" Elsa replied. "Just checking on our reservation, but I also wanted to see you come out wearing that. Now stop talking and put in on already!"

"Yes, ma'am," Anna smiled and went over to the mirror.

The outfit that Elsa had picked out for Anna was a short-sleeved, low-cut yakuta dress, ending at her thighs. It was made of fine silk, tied with a decorative sash around the waist. The color was a deep shade of burgundy, perfectly complementing the outfit that Elsa was already wearing. When she was done that, she went out of the bedroom and into the office, leaning against the frame in the same seductive manner that Elsa had.

"Here I am, what do you think?" Anna asked.

Elsa looked up from her terminal, eyes widening and her breath hitching in her throat. "It's- it's fine," she cleared her throat and nodded. "You look nice," she said as evenly as she could.

"Ha!" Anna pointed and laughed before going back inside the bedroom. "Doesn't feel good when you're on the other end of the teasing, does it? I'm not even gussied up yet. Get your sweet candy ass in here, I need your hands to help me get ready."

Elsa powered down her terminal and rushed out of the office, eager to get on with the evening. For the next little while, they spent the time getting Anna's makeup done and her hair styled. When they were finished with that and they both looked ready for a red carpet rollout, they promptly departed from their apartment, went down to the parking garage, climbed into Elsa's car, and drove off into the city.

"Whew, man," Anna leaned back in the passenger seat and gazed out the window, studying the array of neon lights hovering all around. "This is so nice. We hardly ever get dressed up and do normal stuff like this."

"We do normal stuff," Elsa replied from the driver's seat. "We do normal stuff all the time."

Again, Anna was slightly discomforted by Elsa's comments, but she kept it hidden. "I mean, like, when do we ever get to relax?" she nervously tapped the hilt of her katana and her hand cannon to ensure she was carrying them. "Between work, you and I almost never have time to just go on dates like this. It's always on the weekends, but yeah, I guess that's what normal people do."

"It's a long way from the daily gunfights in New York, but we made it. Do you miss it?"

"What, my old life? Spying on people so I can make some rich corpo asshat even richer? Dig up dirt so somebody can blackmail somebody else, flatline somebody else? Fighting and killing just to survive? No, I don't miss it."

But it makes the most sense to me, Anna thought. It's all I know how to do. It's what I'm good at.

"I know things aren't as exciting as they used to be," Elsa said, turning down a street. "We've come a long way though, and I'm happy. I feel like I might have found a real sense of purpose here."

Anna glanced over and noticed how cryptically wistful Elsa's expression had become, almost as if she had her own secret. Still, Anna said nothing of it and buried the discomfort she felt.

What the hell is wrong with me? Anna thought. After everything we fought for to make it here, and I still can't let some things go. I'm still risking everything for some cheap thrills. I don't need to do mercenary work, but I want to. I want to and I don't know why.

"I guess I just haven't found that yet," Anna said, frowning. "Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy too, I have you and it's perfect. It's just-" she sighed and started bouncing her foot up and down. "I don't know. Maybe I should look into finding another job. I haven't really been satisfied working at ACN."

"Well, you know I'd support you in whatever you want to do," Elsa reached down and grabbed Anna's hand, smiling as she looked over.

Again, Anna had to hide her discomfort so she squeezed Elsa's hand in return with a smile of her own. "So, Hattori's huh?" she changed the subject. "Sushi. Can't say I ever had real sushi before. All the stuff in New York was always fake, synthetic fish. Probably made of mashed-up seashells and plastic bags or something," she chuckled.

"Uh-huh," Elsa nodded and turned her attention back to the road. "From the reviews, it's the best sushi in all of Arcadia. We were lucky we could get reservations. Usually, the clientele is corporate executives, celebrities, and the uber wealthy."

Anna grinned in anticipation. "And just for tonight, we get to pretend like we're one of the highfalutin, bourgeoisie, upper class, snooty rich folk," she laughed. "You wanna make up a cover story for ourselves? Like we're some nobles from Norway or someplace?"

"I like that idea. We could be princesses from the European Republic, spending our holiday on sunny Mars."

"Princesses, yeah. I wouldn't mind calling you my queen, though."

"Hmm, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna," Elsa smiled and sighed. "Sounds like something out of a fairy tale."

"Yeah, and speaking of fairy tales, get a load of this," Anna pointed out the windows towards the city around them, glowing bright with iridescent signs and holograms.

Two gigantic koi fish made of light were swimming through the air above them, one electric blue and the other phosphorescent orange. Elsewhere around them, the streets were lined with pedestrians, hanging around outside of bars and clubs, or gathered at food stands. Little Japan was wired with activity and all sorts of sights, sounds, and scents. There was boisterous laughter and flowing conversation, pulsing 80s retro synthwave beats and pop tunes, rumbling of engines and honking of horns.

A man and woman, both glowing with cyberware on their bodies and faces, crossed the street hand-in-hand. A bouncer, fully decked with strength implants, stood outside of a nightclub, admitting guests one by one. A group of teenagers hung around the mouth of an alley, playing a game of dice. A talking vending machine was giving out free samples of the latest energy drink, spiked with alcohol and high fructose corn syrup. A chef was dicing up a side of synth meat before tossing it into a wok over a roaring flame.

"Something else, isn't it?" Anna said as the lights reflected in her eyes.

Elsa looked over with only Anna reflected in her eyes. "Yeah. Something else."

After a short drive through the thriving, vibrant nightlife scene of Arcadia, they arrived at the restaurant of Hattori's, which was situated inside of a quiet, walled garden that overlooked a large pond lined with fountains. They passed through the security checkpoint, where a robot confirmed their reservation and directed them towards a parking spot. From there on, it was a short walk along a trail lit by lanterns towards the restaurant.

Anna and Elsa walked hand-in-hand at a leisurely pace, taking in everything there was to see and experience on such a rare outing. As they arrived at the entrance to the restaurant, they found a decent line had already formed for non-reservation diners, while those who had the foresight to book in advance went straight on in.

"Wow," Anna looked around and giggled as she clung to Elsa's arm with both hands. "You really do know how to take a girl on a date."

"Of course," Elsa smirked as they walked past the lineup and into the foyer of the restaurant. "Only the best for my gal."

"Oh my god," Anna blushed and looked away. "Shut up. You're such a dork."

"I searched up some affectionate terms of endearment, only because there are so many and I'm so unfamiliar with most of them. My gal, my boo, my sweet thang."

"Don't talk like that. You never talk like that."

"My sugar plum, my love muffin, my spicy mama jama."

"Yeah, don't know about those last ones. Let's just stick to calling each other dirty things in bed."

"Oh, Anna, please," Elsa whispered and nudged her playfully as they approached the receptionist. "Get a hold of yourself."

The receptionist and the rest of the waitstaff were dressed in black and white uniforms with their hair neatly styled. It perfectly complemented their skin, which was literally plated in shiny chrome and gold accents, making them stand out quite dazzlingly.

"Hello, and welcome to Hattori's," the receptionist smiled and bowed. "Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, we do," Elsa replied. "It's under-"

Suddenly, she was cut off when an irate man burst in through the doors and walked straight up to the receptionist, brushing right past them. In response, Anna instinctively held out one hand to gently push Elsa behind her, while with her other, she reached for her katana.

"What the fuck is going on here? Where is your supervisor?!" the irate man demanded. "I just had your bot out front give me shit about not having a valid reservation when I booked this in advance over a month ago! Now I'm being told it isn't valid!"

"Sir, please calm down," the receptionist plastered on a fake smile. "If you have an issue with your reservation, I suggest you contact-"

"I don't have the issue, it's you who has the issue!" the man pointed right in her face.

Meanwhile, once Anna was assured that the man didn't have any qualms with her or Elsa, she relaxed somewhat. When she saw that a pair of security guards were coming over, she backed away with Elsa accordingly to give them their space to work. Behind them, the people in the line were looking on with idle curiosity.

"Do you have any idea who I am?!" the man continued his tirade. "Do you know who I was supposed to meet for dinner tonight? Alexei Verenkov! That name mean anything to you? Do you want to be the one who tells him you fucked up his dinner plans?"

Verenkov? Anna frowned in thought. As in the Russian crime family, those Verenkovs? Thought they were only in New York, but they must be here in Arcadia too.

Next to her, Elsa tensed up at the mention of the name Verenkov. However, unbeknownst to Anna, it was for different reasons.

"Sir," the receptionist tilted her head to the side and squinted as she smiled wider. "You need to calm down. If you don't have a valid reservation, you'll have to wait in line like everyone-"

"Oh, you dumb plastic bitch!" the man slammed his fist on the counter. "You aren't listening to me. I already have a-"

At that moment, two autoturrets poked down from the ceiling and chirped in alarm as they focused their yellow lights on the man. They audibly clicked and whirred as non-lethal shock rounds were loaded.

"Hey!" one of the security guards grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. "You don't talk to her that way and we're sick of hearing your voice now. You wanna walk out on your own, or do we need to throw you out?" he pointed out the door.

The other security guard cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck, his synthetic muscles flexing beneath his suit.

The man glanced between the two security guards and then over to the receptionist. "Get your fucking hands off me," he shrugged off the guard's hand and stormed off. "I can walk out on my own."

"Smart choice," the guard said as he and the other fell in step behind him, escorting him from the premises.

Above, the autoturrets deactivated and retracted into the ceiling.

When it was all said and done, the receptionist turned towards Anna and Elsa and acknowledged them with another polite bow. "I'm sorry about that, please accept our humble apologies."

"It's no problem," Elsa swallowed a lump in her throat and waved away her concern.

Anna was still looking at the man as he left the restaurant before turning around. "Would have liked to see him get put in his place, but oh well," she sighed. "Can't bag and tag every pissed off corpo suit that walks in the door."

"Before we were interrupted, your reservation?" the receptionist asked.

"Table for two, under Joy Wallace," Elsa replied.

The receptionist nodded and swiped through the holo-display in front of her. "Wallace, let's see... ah, here we are. Table for two in the ivory lounge," she smiled. "Excellent seating on the balcony. If you don't mind, I'll take your weapons and I can give you a ticket which you'll use to retrieve them from weapons check later on."

Anna glanced up at the receptionist. "You don't let guests sit with them?"

"House policy, I'm afraid," the receptionist said. "Not to worry. Our security here is quite capable, as you've just seen."

"Alright," Anna shrugged as she handed over her hand cannon and katana.

Elsa did the same with her own weapons, and once the receptionist handed them off to another waitstaff member, she provided them with their ticket. Following that, she led the pair through the restaurant, passing by some aquariums filled with exotic fish, then through the interior ebony lounge before exiting out onto the balcony where the exterior ivory lounge was situated.

Their table was right by the railing, overlooking the lush candlelit gardens and pond below. Across the way, beyond the walls was the rest of Arcadia, sprawling ahead before them in a blurry, pulsating mass of lights and color. Once Anna and Elsa were seated and squared away, the receptionist provided them with their menus on a datapad and left their company to return to her post.

"That was tense," Elsa chuckled. "He was really angry."

"Eh, rich corpo douche throws a hissy fit when he doesn't get what he wants," Anna snorted and made a dismissive gesture. "If he stayed a little longer, we could have gotten dinner and a show. Anyway, sushi time," she rubbed her hands together and started looking through the menu. "Oh, boy, they have a butt load of options."

"Do you know who Alexei Verenkov is?" Elsa asked, perusing her own menu. "The way that man mentioned his name makes it sound like someone who should be well known."

"First I've heard of him, but not the first I've heard of the Verenkovs. They're a big deal in New York with some old connections to the Russian mafia before they went underground, but I guess they must have set up shop here in Arcadia too."

Elsa looked out across the gardens towards the city, setting her menu down and drumming her fingers as her brow was slightly furrowed in thought. "Hmm. That isn't surprising, I suppose," she said. "Arcadia is part of the NSU."

"New Soviet Union on Mars, New United States on the moon, they're all the same thing they were on Earth, just with a different coat of paint."

"True. What looks good to you?"

Anna tapped her chin and scrunched up her face as she struggled to settle upon a menu item. "There's just so much to choose from," she reached the end of the menu and came to the alcoholic beverages section, which she quickly lost interest in and returned to the top. "Why don't we just go with the tasting menu?"

"Tasting menu?" Elsa pursed her lips and considered that proposal. "An exquisite culinary journey, offering an authentic experience of Japan's regional flavors, personally curated by Chef Hattori himself," she read the description. "Twenty-two individual courses prepared using only the freshest ingredients, along with a decadent-" she licked up lips and shivered. "Real chocolate cheesecake for dessert."

Anna shut her eyes and shivered as well. "Ooh, just hearing you say that turns me on," she bit her lip and nodded eagerly. "We're doing the tasting menu. The description was worth the price alone."

"Agreed," Elsa nodded just as eagerly and looked over just in time to see their chrome-skinned waiter approaching them.

"Good evening, Miss Wallace, Miss Deckard," the waiter gave them a polite bow and presented to them a bottle of alcohol. "On behalf of the staff and kitchen, please accept this bottle of our special plum sake as apologies for the earlier altercation."

Anna and Elsa glanced at each other, then back to the waiter as they smiled graciously.

"Thank you, really," Anna said. "But neither of us drink. Sorry."

"Ah, not a problem," the waiter nodded. "A bottle of our glacier water then. Ordinarily, it retails for one hundred and seventy-five credits, but for your patience, we will provide it courtesy of the house."

"A hundred and seventy-five credits for water?" Elsa asked. "Is it from the Martian glaciers?"

The waiter shook his head. "No, it would be from our exclusive 2019 reserve, bottled from the ice caps of Greenland before they melted. They were imported all the way from Earth. I guarantee you'll never taste fresher water."

"Then we'll take it," Anna said, smiling.

"Excellent choice, ma'am," the waiter clapped his hands together. "Now, are you both ready to order, or do you need more time?"

"Yes, actually. We've decided on the twenty-two-course tasting menu," Elsa said.

Anna set her menu down and pushed it to the edge of the table. "With the real chocolate cheesecake for dessert. We're splurging tonight, so make it extra chocolatey and extra sweet, please."

The waiter laughed in good nature as he collected their menus. "A very wise strategy, indeed. Will that be all, or is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Your seafood," Elsa raised her finger. "Is it lab-grown or cloned?"

"Oh, neither," the waiter grinned. "We source from a local hatchery where they raise all-natural aquaculture. They use growth accelerating hormones, of course, but you won't be able to find real, authentic seafood anywhere else in Arcadia."

"My god, this place has it all," Anna chuckled.

"Mmm, I can't wait," Elsa tapped her feet in excitement. "Thank you, that should be everything."

"You're very welcome. I'll be back soon with your water," the waiter said as he turned and around promptly left.

The next few minutes were spent in comfortable silence as Anna and Elsa basked in the pleasant atmosphere and ambiance of the restaurant. Out in the city, lights continued to flash while outside of the biodome, the thin atmosphere of Mars provided a breathtaking view of the cosmos above. Two moons were visible; Phobos and Deimos. Stars hung around them like millions of night lights shining in the darkness. A few others were shooting across the tapestry of space, streaking off into the vast and unknown corners of the universe.

Anna looked at the stars for a long time until eventually, she settled her gaze upon Elsa, watching the starlight reflected in her eyes. Before long, the same old feeling of unease came up, which she tried to push down and ignore.

It's over, we made it, Anna thought. We got out of New York, we started new lives, we're happy. So why don't I feel happy? Why am I picking fights, risking my life? Nora moved on. Elsa moved on. Why can't I?

Her thoughts were mercifully interrupted when the waiter returned with their bottle service. The glacier water came in a glass bottle that was ostentatious in design, shaped in the figure of a swan. After the waiter poured out the crystal clear chilled liquid into two serving glasses, he departed their company once more after informing them the food would be on the way shortly.

"So," Elsa picked up her glass and swished the liquid around, sniffing the bouquet as one would with a glass of wine. "What should we toast to?"

"To us is boring and we've done that a thousand times," Anna laughed as she picked up her own glass and held it to the light. "Why don't we toast to... real glaciers, real fish, and real chocolate in a world where literally everything can be faked and mass-produced?"

"That doesn't really roll off the tongue well, but I'll drink to that. Here's to real glaciers, real fish, and real chocolate."

"Cheers."

They clinked their glasses together and took a sip of their waters, sighing in satisfaction as they savored the clear, crisp, clean taste of water from a green world that no longer existed.

… … …

Dinner was a quiet, but delicious affair. Anna and Elsa dined on exquisitely handcrafted pieces of salmon, tuna, halibut, yellowtail, squid, shrimp, abalone, and more. Practically all of those species were extinct on Earth from the amount of pollution floating in the oceans, so they took their time and savored each course as it was presented.

"Here we are," the waiter placed down two small plates in front of Anna and Elsa. "Sea urchin nigiri. Enjoy," he gathered their dirty plates and departed.

Elsa deftly maneuvered her chopsticks around in her hand, a skill taught to her by Anna during their first meeting two years ago. "What's been your favorite so far?"

"Probably the tempura shrimp roll," Anna dipped her nigiri into a small bowl of soy sauce and wasabi and turned it over to examine it. "Just love the crispy crunchiness. That, or the one with the spicy mayo. Yours?" she tossed it into her mouth and started chewing.

"Mmm. The beluga caviar," Elsa cleaned her plate and dabbed her mouth with a napkin.

"Ooh, that one was really good too," Anna nodded and swallowed. "It sucks we can't eat like this all the time. I'd totally-" she started to cough. "Totally pig out on- oh, fuck me," she patted her chest and strained to clear her throat.

"Are you okay?" Elsa straightened up, her eyes widening as she reached over the table. "Are you choking?"

Anna shook her head and continued coughing. "No, no," she made a fist and drummed it over her chest until she finally cleared her throat and stopped coughing. "Too much wasabi on that last one," she wheezed and took a sip of water which alleviated the burn.

Elsa eased off and loosened up in relief. "Oh, good," she laughed. "Drink some more water, you're making a scene."

Anna raised the glass to her lips again, shooting Elsa an irritated glance as she held up one finger on her other hand. "I'm so glad to know I can count on you to remind me not to make a scene if I ever do choke to death," she grumbled after she set down her water. "This glacier water is no joke. It's like I'm sucking on an icy titty. I love it."

Elsa had been mid-sip when Anna said that, so she snorted in laughter and coughed a few times herself. Anna started to laugh, so in response, Elsa kicked her lightly underneath the table. Not to be outdone, Anna kicked her right back and the pair carried on over the next little while playing footsies with one another.

After their last dish was cleared away, Anna and Elsa chewed on some slices of red ginger to cleanse their palate before the dessert was brought over. When they spotted their waiter carrying over two plates of chocolate cheesecake, they both snapped to attention and wiggled in their seats in excitement.

"And now, the moment you've both been waiting for," the waiter set the plates in front of them and bowed with an extra flourish. "Your dessert. Triple chocolate cheesecake, made extra chocolatey and extra sweet, as per your request."

"Oh my god," Anna salivated in her mouth and picked up her fork. "Thank you for this. You should probably go because this isn't going to be pretty."

"I recommend staying, actually," Elsa started tucking into her own. "She literally unhinges her jaw like a python and inhales anything made of chocolate. It's quite impressive."

The waiter laughed in good nature as he cleared the rest of the table and departed once more.

By the time Elsa was a quarter way through her cheesecake, Anna had already managed to finish her entire slice and was now currently licking her plate clean, uncaring of how she appeared to the other diners. Once she was done, she leaned back in her chair and stretched languidly, humming in contentment.

"Before you ask, the answer is no," Elsa said as she took a dainty bite of her cheesecake.

Anna frowned. "But you always offer me the last bit," she leaned forward and licked her lips as she fixed her gaze on the remaining piece. "You don't eat as much as me, we both know that. Come on, you know you want to. Pretty please?"

"Ordinarily, yes. Not for chocolate though," Elsa scooped up a line of sauce in an excruciatingly slow manner before licking it off in a manner just as infuriating. "It's worth its weight in gold these days, so I want to savor... each... bite."

"Have I ever told you I really hate it when you get like this?"

"Get like what?"

"Uh-huh. Keep it up. You know I'm gonna fuck your brains out when we get home."

Elsa said nothing as she finished the last of her desert, leaving her plate spotless. Afterward, she set her fork down and placed her chin in her upturned palm, blinking slowly at Anna as she drew her tongue across her lips.

Anna was just about to reach across the table and do something inappropriate in public when their waiter returned.

"How was dessert?" the waiter asked as he gathered up the rest of their plates.

"It was-" Elsa started.

"Orgasmic," Anna finished, still looking at Elsa.

"Um, yes," Elsa blushed. "I think we're both ready for a nightcap now, so we'll just take the bill."

With that, they paid for their dinner from their joint account and also transferred a decent tip to the waiter for his service. Afterward, Anna and Elsa retrieved their belongings from weapons check, then departed the restaurant. Their bellies were full, their hearts were content, and their minds were satisfied, so much so, that Anna was able to forget some of her earlier gloom.

They were strolling through the gardens, each humming pleasantly as they soaked in the quiet serenity of the peaceful scenery around them. The night city outside was still clamoring with activity, for it was still early and midnight was only two hours away. A few other couples were in the gardens as well, but to Anna and Elsa, it felt as if they were the only ones in the universe.

The moment did not last forever, and unfortunately, reality had the cruelest sense of dramatic timing. As they completed their second lap of the gardens and came by the parking lot once more, they heard a focused hush of worried whispering and quarrelsome questioning. Every single one of the neon signs and billboards that were awash with color before were now flashing with a single symbol.

Clocks were chiming all at once, a foreboding sound that echoed across Arcadia. A heavy silence now reigned in between the chimes, each round more intense than the last.

"What's going on?" Elsa asked as they stepped out of the parking lot and into a public square nearby Hattori's.

Anna furrowed her brows as she stared up at the clocks, feeling a sense of existential dread chill her bones. "Nothing good," she pointed up to the nearest clock. "The doomsday clock, it just jumped ahead."

As if on cue, automated speakers across the entire colony spoke out with a robotic voice that announced the time.

It is now seven minutes to midnight.

The doomsday clock was created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists following the end of the Second World War. Though it didn't reflect the real passage of time itself, it served as an indication of how close humanity was to an extinction event. Midnight marked the start of such a catastrophe, and only once in the entire history of man did the clock ever strike midnight.

The collapse and the nuclear war that preceded the dark future. Now, it was nearing that time again.

Anna and Elsa shared a long look as they squeezed each other's hands for comfort. Around them, people were already speculating on what had transpired.

"What time was it at before?"

"Seventeen minutes away. It just jumped up by ten minutes. Ten minutes."

"What could that mean? The clock hasn't updated since the collapse."

"Do the math, genius. Timer's about to go off a second time."

"I need to call my wife. I need to get to my kids."

Anna had become stiff as a board, while Elsa was worriedly chewing her lip and scanning the crowds. Eventually, she started leading Anna back towards their car.

"Come on, let's go home," Elsa said, keeping her voice as steady as possible. "Before any more bad news finds us."

Anna kept her gaze focused on the numerous clocks, heralding the end times. "Yeah," she shook her head and turned away. "Guess no hanky panky tonight then, huh?"