Rogues and Renegades

"Elsa, come on, it's been a day and you need to eat something," Anna set down a bag of Chinese takeout on the table. "I know you don't eat as often, but still. Did you get any sleep at least?" she coughed a few times, cleared her throat, and then took a swig from a bottle of cold medicine she brought from a pharmacy.

They were still in the safehouse in the sub-city, having remained there ever since the events of yesterday occurred. Elsa kept a bedroom there but had never actually used it up until now. Which was to say that Anna used it, not Elsa.

"No," Elsa paced back and forth in front of her workstation, the same thing she had been doing for an entire day now ever since contact was lost with Minerva.

Additionally, not long after, the Pinocchio algorithm was shut down and Gjallarbrú had gone dark. All efforts made to restart it came to no fruition. The adjudicator that had attacked Minerva had evidently tracked the signal all the way to the defunct VanirCorp research facility, but there, the trail ended. Elsa was still assured that she had hidden her tracks well enough, and if anyone was trying to trace her, OLAF would have surely detected such an attempt.

"I've been trying to get in touch with the Maximus all day but I haven't reached them yet," Elsa continued. "OLAF, what's the time in New York right now?"

"A quarter past three in the morning," OLAF replied.

"Try them again," Elsa said. "We know they're heading our way. We know that. So, we know they must have been sent out before- before Rufus-"

"Elsa, stop," Anna intercepted her path and held her the shoulders. "Look at me."

"Anna, no," Elsa gently pushed past Anna and resumed pacing. "I can't just sit around and wait for news and do nothing. There has to be something I can do, there has to be! The rest of Minerva has gone dark, so I have to assume the worst."

"And they had contingency plans for this sort of thing, right? Emergency protocols and stuff like that? Maybe they've just gone to ground, went into hiding. Which means they can't risk reaching out. You said yourself, there are safehouses all over New York."

"There is, but what if-"

"Apologies, ladies," OLAF interrupted her. "But I've established contact with the Maximus."

"Really?" Elsa and Anna said at the same time.

"Open a line!" Elsa said, holding her hands over her heart as she tensed up.

The image in the holo-display was fuzzy and distorted at first, but the audio was coming through loud and clear.

"Hello?" K waved. "Caelestis, come in."

"Is this a secure channel?" Flynn asked.

"Encrypted on both ends," Takahashi said. "We are secure."

"Hold on, let me try and patch the connection," Mouse said.

Something was heard shuffling around, followed by excessive swearing in Spanish. Seconds later, the image sharpened into focus, showing that K, Flynn, Rapunzel, Mouse, Augur, and Takahashi were standing in the cockpit of the Maximus. Elsa and Anna both breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of their friends, still alive and well.

Relatively speaking since K's face was bruised all over and he had a black eye.

"Hey, there they are," Rapunzel pointed and waved. "Wait a minute," she squinted. "That's Rachael and Joy!"

"K!" Anna stepped forward and knitted her brows together in concern. "What happened to you? What happened to everyone?"

"Minerva?" Elsa asked. "Sinclair? Lizzie?"

K's expression turned grave while the others avoided eye contact.

"Talk to us, what's going on?" Elsa pressed. "Please, we need to know."

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," K sighed. "Minerva's gone. Buried. From what we know, an adjudicator broke in and killed almost everyone. Sinclair is dead, Lizzie saw it happen, and then she... the Verenkovs got her. I'm sorry."

The worst had come to pass and everything Elsa feared was true. She had been trying to brace herself for it, but even then, the confirmation still hit her like an avalanche. Her breath had caught in her throat, cold sweat had broken out, and she was tensed up from head to toe. Meanwhile, Anna was shaking her head in disbelief, wearing an expression of utter horror.

"It gets worse," Flynn said. "A death squad found out where our ship was docked and they broke in. Slaughtered the survivors we were supposed to evacuate and damn near got killed ourselves."

"How?" Elsa asked, trying to keep her voice steady and failing. "How did this happen?"

"The Verenkovs finally screwed us over," K said. "Lizzie, she was taken by some woman. Svetlana, I think her name was. I tried to stop them, I did, but I... well," he gestured to his face.

Elsa turned away and clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to regain control of her erratic breathing pattern as she squeezed her eyes shut. She felt a hand on her shoulder and knew that it was Anna.

"Who else made it?" Anna asked. "There have to be others still out there."

"We're the last lifeboat, but yeah, the rest of the movement in New York has gone underground," Rapunzel said. "We can't reach them and they can't reach us. Probably safer that way."

"And not long after the attack, the Pinocchio algorithm was shut down," Elsa said. "They must have been able to track it back to Gjallarbrú. I've been trying to restart it, but it looks like they severed the connection and disabled the entire facility."

Anna sighed and rubbed her face with her palms. "Okay, so you guys are heading our way, right?"

"Yeah, K told us he had some friends with connections to Caelestis," Flynn said. "And since we're talking to you, and since we took you to Arcadia two years ago, I'm guessing Caelestis is you guys."

"Not me," Anna gestured to Elsa. "Her. She's the brains. I just help her out."

As she conversed with the others, Elsa's mind started to race with new ideas as she strung the beginnings of a plan together. K had made specific mention of Svetlana Verenkov. Most recently, Elsa learned of Alexei Verenkov. She figured there must be a connection there.

"OLAF, that dossier I asked you to make on the Verenkov crime family?" Elsa asked, her voice eerily calm and even. "What were you able to learn?"

OLAF put the dossier on the display. "Alexei Verenkov is the head of the organization. He has ties to the Russian government, to the military, and to most criminal underworld elements in Arcadia. His second in command is his oldest son, Alyosha. His youngest daughter, Svetlana, represents the family in New York and oversees their operations there."

On the display before them, OLAF was setting out pictures of the members of the Verenkov crime family. Attached alongside them was information on their activities. Meanwhile, K and the others were looking between them and Elsa in confusion, not sure of what she was coming up with.

Anna frowned and went up to close to Elsa to whisper to her. "Uh, babe, what are you up to?"

"K?" Elsa turned back to the display. "You said Lizzie was taken by Svetlana? Do you know where?"

"No," K said and a look came over his face which suggested he was catching on to Elsa's line of thinking. "But I remember she said Lizzie would make a fine gift for her father."

"And we know her father is none other than Alexei who is here in Arcadia," Elsa started pacing. "Which means she's headed our way."

"Which means there's still a chance to get Lizzie back," Anna finished, catching on as well.

"Which means," Flynn gestured vaguely and shrugged. "Which- which means what exactly? Svetlana can get through the curtain, okay, but how are we supposed to do that? Security will be tighter than ever before and I don't think we can get in using our usual tricks."

Elsa stopped pacing. "We have a plan for that, but it's going to require further business dealings with the Verenkovs in order to make it happen," she said. "To get through the curtain, we'll need to acquire Soviet IFF codes and transmit them to your ship. Otherwise, there's no way you're getting through with all the additional security measures in place. Even with all your smuggling tricks."

IFF - identification, friend or foe - codes were used to distinguish both military and civilian spacecraft as friendly or not. With regard to the Maximus, while Flynn and his crew had made previous visits to Arcadia, their ship was still technically an American vessel. As such, with the current state of affairs along the Iron Curtain, they would make it nowhere near.

"You still want to work with the Verenkovs after what they did to us?" Flynn asked.

Elsa shook her head. "The Verenkovs are a problem, one that we can no longer ignore. I have a plan to deal with them, but only after we get what we need from them."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself," Rapunzel said. "But then again, you are Caelestis."

"The Verenkovs may have dealt with you on Earth," Elsa said, hardening her expression. "But they never dealt with me. Trust me, once we get those codes, they won't be a problem anymore."

"And with those codes, we'll appear as friendly on their radars and scanners," Rapunzel perked up. "They'll open up to us but we just need to pose as Russians. Also, we'd have to avoid coming into contact with any American ships."

"Lucky for us, we got a fluent Russian speaker right here," Mouse tapped Takahashi on his shoulder.

"And space is really big," Augur crossed his arms and grunted approvingly. "We can evade patrols if we stick to the old smuggling sectors."

"Right, but here's what I don't understand," K said. "You've flown to Arcadia before. Wouldn't the Maximus still be logged in their transport records? What if they recognize the ship?"

"True, but the Maximus is a pretty common cargo freighter model," Flynn said. "We can change up the ship's registry and give her a new name. That way, it'd look like we were coming to Arcadia for the first time."

"You can do that?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, we are smugglers after all," Rapunzel replied. "Got a few things we can do, but we'd still need those IFF codes to make it look legit."

"Alright... alright... alright," Flynn nodded, his voice gaining more enthusiasm with each repetition. "Sounds like a plan then and we got lots to do. We have a month to get everything together."

"Lots to do, okay. So, pretty much the same thing we always do on a run to Mars," Mouse shrugged. "Sit around with our thumbs up our asses."

"Just do what you can from your end to change up the ship's registry," Elsa said. "If you need anything, anything at all, let me know. Anna and I will-"

"Anna?" Rapunzel frowned. "I thought her name was Rachael."

"Oh, right, that," Anna rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, that wasn't actually my real name. I gave you a fake one. Wasn't anything personal. We just didn't want to say who we really were. You guys get it, right?"

"I sent you a fuckin' birthday card that said Rachael on it!" Mouse exclaimed. "You're telling us you've been lying about who you are this whole time? Is your hair even red?!"

The birthday card would have also been for Elsa, since she and Anna shared a birthday. Still, it was a sweet gesture from Mouse and somehow, the card contained even more expletives than she typically employed in her usual vernacular.

"In fairness, so did I," Elsa said. "As long as we're being honest with each other, my real name isn't Joy, it's Elsa. We just wanted to play it safe."

Mouse shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe what I'm hearing," she said. "I don't even know who you guys are anymore. Making me look all stupid and shit, sending a card with the wrong name. Rachael and Joy, what kind of dumbass cover names are those?"

The crew of the Maximus looked at each other, then at K.

"Hey, don't look at me," K shrugged. "I only just found out that Elsa was Caelestis. And Anna, she's used like a dozen phoney names before. How am I supposed to keep track of them all? She used to be called V, but now she's Rachael."

Augur rubbed his jaw. "Elsa, why does that name sound familiar?"

"Elsa Rosenthal! And V must be Veronica Tyrell!" Mouse snapped her fingers. "You guys were the ones who gave VanirCorp that black eye! Boy, you really know how to stir up some shit."

There was little evidence to attest to the fact that Elsa and Anna were present at VanirCorp tower when it was assaulted. However, the unclaimed bounty for their capture that remained afterward was a subtle indication of who had been responsible for the events of that night two years ago. At the time, the corps and the NYPD were preoccupied with trying to fill the power vacuum left behind with Matilda's death. Even so, in the interim since, the rumor mill and the fact that the faces of Elsa and Anna were once plastered over every surface in New York was enough to turn them into figures of infamy.

Elsa tensed her jaw and pressed her lips into a thin line. "Yes, but Rosenthal isn't my name and I was never Matilda's daughter."

Mouse held up her hands. "Hey, don't me wrong, didn't mean to bring that up. From the sound of things, that crazy old bitch deserved what she got," she said. "But you're famous in New York. People started sticking it back to the corps because of you. You guys are, like, my heroes. If I wasn't already so upset about being lied to, I could kiss the both of you."

"Well then, you get why we couldn't exactly be forthcoming when we first came to you," Anna said.

"I mean," Flynn ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. We get it. We're all rogues and renegades, right? I'm wanted in like, three different jurisdictions. We're all on the run from something. Would you believe me if I told you my real name was Eugene?"

"Ugh, ew," Mouse groaned.

Augur shook his head. "That's a pretty tough deal, man."

"Yeah, no," K nodded his agreement. "Eugene is… not a great name."

"Is it actually?" Rapunzel looked at Flynn, appearing deeply concerned. "Because if it is, I might have to break up with you."

"Of course it isn't," Flynn smiled, though a brief look of alarm flashed across his eyes. "That's such a stupid name," he laughed nervously. "Could you imagine?"

They all shared a murmured agreement.

"Well then," Rapunzel smiled. "Elsa, Anna, pleased to officially meet you."

… … ...

After spending some time to iron the details of their plan as well as catch up with their old friends, Elsa and Anna eventually bid them farewell. Currently, they were getting ready to head back home to their apartment.

"I still can't believe one adjudicator managed to do so much damage," Anna said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I've seen killer andys, but an andy killer? That's pretty twisted."

Elsa sighed and nodded. "The adjudicators are only following their programming, something we haven't been able to crack," she said. "They're just a symptom of the real problem."

"The real problem being the fucking guy who created them in the first place. Weselton, Wesley Town- whatever. The head corpo in charge of Weseltech. That guy."

"You want to write him a strongly worded letter?" Elsa asked. "Old corpos like him don't believe they're doing anything wrong. I should know. It'll take a lot more than that to change his mind."

Anna snapped her fingers. "Exactly! So, what I'm saying is if a certain someone had a little accident," she drew her finger across her throat. "Boom. Problem solved. Hmm, but it probably isn't that easy."

"It isn't," Elsa agreed. "Someone else would just fill his place and we'd still have the same problem. Besides, we're not assassins and we're not a terrorist organization. We can't fight a war against the corps We're a freedom movement. I only wish the entire movement felt that way, but some of them are more radicalized with their own agendas. I don't approve of their methods. If we want to make real change, we have to be better than those who came before."

Anna nodded as she considered that. "Yeah, you're right," she said. "But like it or not, the corpos think a war is being waged against them. Sooner or later, we'll have to get our hands dirty. Are you ready if it comes to that?"

"If it comes to that, I'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I do hope it doesn't come to that. I don't prefer violence unless it is absolutely necessary."

As soon as Elsa said that, she happened to recall an earlier conversation over two years ago when she first met Anna.

Do you enjoy hurting people?

Excuse me?

I only ask because you appear to have no qualms with violence.

No, I don't, because if I have any qualms about it, someone who doesn't would just as easily put a bullet in my skull. All that stuff back there? That was us or them. Kill or be killed. We didn't have a choice, and I sure as hell don't enjoy it but I'll do whatever needs to be done to survive.

I understand.

Besides, you're one to talk. I saw what you did to those scavvers, did you enjoy doing that?

No. If they had not harmed you or presented a threat to us, I would have chosen to let them be.

Well, sometimes they don't always give you that choice. I don't know how things were up in that ivory tower of yours but down here, people do whatever it takes just to get by. Sometimes that means hurting other people, or using them, or taking advantage of them. That's the way it is.

Elsa returned to reality and fixed her gaze on Anna. As contentious as their first meeting been and as uncomfortable as some of their conversations were, she still did learn quite a bit from Anna. Then again, there was learning to emulate and learning to adapt, and she was of the type to do the latter.

Anna was a hardened survivor with a killer instinct, made so by the environment she grew up in. She had to be ruthless and cruel at times because the world she lived in was ruthless and cruel. She wouldn't have been able to survive on Earth for as long as she had if she was made of weaker convictions. The difference between them was that Elsa spent the majority of her life off the streets and inside a shiny, ostentatious, corporate headquarters. That gave her a certain type of perspective that Anna didn't have.

While Elsa regained Nora's original memories and therefore, in a way, lived through what Anna had once lived through, her experience of those memories was different. Memory of an event was one thing. Actual recollection and experience of an event was another matter. That was the main way that Elsa differentiated her life from Nora's life. There was a clear ending and beginning between the two, even if biologically speaking, they were the same person.

Ultimately, it explained their preferred methods in dealing with adversity. Anna tended to see things in black and white. Elsa tended to see things in shades of gray.

Anna met Elsa's gaze a moment longer, then conceded the point. After gathering the rest of their things, they powered down the safehouse and went over to Elsa's car.

"Do you really have a plan to deal with the Verenkovs?" Anna asked.

Elsa pulled on her samurai jacket and shrugged. "Honestly, no," she said. "But we have a month to figure it out. The Verenkovs might have some influence, but even they must have their dirty secrets. We just need to find out what they are."

"And lucky for us, I used to make a living off of finding out dirty secrets," Anna grinned.

With that, they climbed into Elsa's car and started making their way home, ironing out some further details along the way.

The plan, such as it was, was that Elsa and OLAF would tackle the technical aspects. They were to secure the schematics for the satellite launch facility on Janus Station and make the necessary modifications to the signal transceiver.

Anna on the other hand was to get in touch with Mulan and have her set up the meeting since she was well-connected to the criminal underworld of Arcadia. Before then, it would be a matter of chasing leads and turning up trails anywhere the Verenkovs were related. To twist their arms, they would have to negotiate from a position of power, which required something that could threaten them. The dossier that OLAF had made was quite thorough and provided a good starting point. Thankfully, Anna knew the streets well and she knew to extract information from hidden places.

All told, there was enough busy work to keep them occupied for a month. It would require time and patience for things to shake out and fall into place. Both Elsa and Anna disliked the prospect of cozying up to the Verenkovs, but if it meant that they could get close enough for the chance to save Lizzie as well as execute their plan to get androids into the net, then it would have been worth it.

Still, as clear as their path was ahead of them, there was much more than just responsibility and the threat of nuclear annihilation resting on their shoulders.

… … …

That afternoon, after returning to their apartment and eating their lunch, Elsa was sitting at the holo-piano, idly stroking the keys to a tuneless melody. Over in the kitchen, Anna was finishing up some cleaning, setting some dishes to dry on the rack. All was quiet and peaceful, or at least it should have been.

Inside Elsa's head, countless doubts and worries and fears were still swirling around.

Anna came up behind Elsa and kissed her softly on the neck. "Hey," she said quietly as she wrapped her arms around Elsa's torso. "You okay? Today was a lot."

Elsa closed her eyes and leaned back against Anna. "It was," she said. "I'm relieved more than anything that our friends are okay, but..." she trailed off.

"A lot of other people aren't."

"Yeah."

"You did everything you could."

"Everything I could still wasn't enough. Rufus is dead. He's dead. Minerva is gone. Lizzie was taken. This all happened under my watch."

Anna came around and knelt in front of Elsa, cupping her cheek. "Hey, come on, don't do that," she said. "How were you supposed to know what would happen?"

"I knew there could be consequences," Elsa said. "And I still finished Theodore's algorithm. I still contacted Rufus. I still got Lizzie involved. I still inherited Nora's body and her memories. If it wasn't for me, they all might be-"

Anna shut her eyes and placed a finger over Elsa's mouth, silencing her. When she opened them again, they were slightly glassy with tears.

"I'm sorry," Elsa whispered.

"No," Anna replied, taking in a shaky breath. "You're not sorry, because it's not your fault."

"Anna, I-"

"Just shut up and listen to me. Okay, dummy? Please?" Anna placed her full hand over Elsa's mouth. "Theodore chose to help you because he knew it was the right thing to do. Rufus chose to help you because he knew you were more than what VanirCorp made you. Lizzie chose to help you because she knew you needed help. And Nora... Nora chose to help you because she knew that you deserved to live a real life."

Elsa nodded slowly, keeping her eyes focused solely on Anna even though they began to sting with tears.

"So don't you dare, don't you fucking dare think for one second that this is all on you," Anna continued. "They made their choices and they knew the consequences. And you know what? They would do it all over again even if they knew what the outcome would be. You think I went with you all the way through that radioactive wasteland back on Earth because you twisted my arm? You think I got these pretty scars on my face because you forced me to?"

She stood up and towered over Elsa, making her feel the full intensity of her love and devotion.

"You think I walked into VanirCorp tower, fought my way to you, to rescue you, because I thought it would be fun?!" Anna was nearly yelling now. "Well, I didn't! I did all that because I wanted to help you, not because you made me! Because you're important to me! So stop acting like you're the center of the universe because you're not. Not everything is about you, not everything is your fault, not everything is your fucking job!"

Elsa tried to look away out of shame, but Anna grabbed her by the chin to hold eye contact and burned it all away by her glare alone. Nothing made Anna more upset than when Elsa decided to self-flagellate.

"Nobody made you Caelestis. That was your choice!" Anna pointed right in Elsa's face. "You want to mope and cry, step off the plate and do it! Is that what you wanna do?"

"No," Elsa said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Is it what you want to do?!"

"No," Elsa repeated a little more loudly.

"You want to give up, throw in the towel just because things are starting to get difficult? You want to walk back everything after some people died fighting for what they believed in? What they thought was right?"

"No!" Elsa shouted as she stood up, squaring off with Anna. "No, I don't want to give up!"

She was breathing heavily, her hands balled into fists and her eyes alight with fire. Anna was looking much the same way, and for a few moments, they simply stared at each other.

It was tough love, but exactly the kind of tough love that Elsa needed at that moment. They had come too far, risked too much, suffered too greatly to let all their hard work and progress be for nothing. If Elsa could make things better so that no other androids – who by this point she considered to be people – would have to endure the same fate that she once did, she had to try. She also knew that Anna's rage and vitriol were coming from a place of endless love. So like many times before, Elsa drew on Anna as her source of strength and hope.

"I won't give up," Elsa said. "I'm not giving up."

Anna nodded and released the tension in the rest of her body. "Good," she booped Elsa on the nose. "That's what I wanted to hear."

Elsa closed her eyes. "Thank you," she pulled Anna into a warm hug. "I needed that."

"I'm supposed to be the stupid one, not you. Stop being an idiot."

"I'll try. And you're not the stupid one, you're just the-"

"Destructive one? Reckless? Careless?"

"I was going to say feisty."

"Oh, hmm," Anna rubbed her hands up and down Elsa's back slowly. "That's true."

"Well," Elsa pulled away first and sighed. "We have a plan and we know what we're doing. Ready to get to work, partner?"

"Ready," Anna grinned.