Zero Hour
"Come on, come on, come on!" Anna paced side to side restlessly. "Can't this thing go any faster?!"
"OLAF, are you still with us?" Elsa asked, feeling similarly tensed up. "Have you managed to clear the jammers yet?"
The bulkhead behind the tram sealed off after it passed through, returning the pressure and the gravity to normal as they progressed out of the research labs and back through the facility. It was taking a different route from the one they had used to get there, and currently, they were headed towards a loading dock area. Sitting in the center of the tram was the confluence, humming quietly from its own internal power source.
For what it contained, its exterior was quite unremarkable. Billions of credits in research and development went into the object sitting before Elsa and Anna now. Aside from the battery that was built to last a thousand years, solar panels covered each pentagonal face on the outside of the dodecahedron. Inside was a complex array of programming and machinery designed to simulate a countless number of realities. Alternate universes and the like.
By this point, with the threat of nuclear annihilation fully realized, the soldiers sent in to secure the confluence were in the process of evacuating as they all abandoned their objective. The only people left were Elsa, Anna, and the rest of their friends. However, they hadn't been able to hear back from any of them in quite a while.
Static came from the other end of the comms, but it was gradually beginning to clear up. As that was happening, Elsa continually tried to raise the others until eventually, a faint voice made it through.
"-sa, is that you?" K asked. "Elsa, can you hear me? Anna, Elsa, can somebody pick up the line?!"
"Yes!" Elsa said, her face lighting up. "Yes, we can hear you. OLAF must have cleared the jammer by now."
"K, where are you? Are you okay?" Anna asked.
From what they could see from his face as he spoke on their heads-up displays, his nose was bloodied and he had apparently removed his helmet.
"Still breathing. I might have a slight concussion," K replied, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head. "Transceiver is plugged in, ready for remote activation. But, guys, listen, there's somebody coming after you!"
Elsa blinked twice. "Who?"
"An adjudicator!" K said. "He killed Tak. He saw you both on the camera feeds and he's coming for you right now!"
That first revelation of Takahashi's death took Elsa off guard, causing her to close her eyes and focus on her breathing. The second revelation that an adjudicator had somehow managed to get inside Janus Station was also alarming, even despite everything else going on.
"He's dead?" Anna shook her head in disbelief.
"He tried to stop the adjudicator," K said. "Where are you guys?"
"We've got the confluence. We're on the way to the launch bay now," Anna said. "But how did an adjudicator-"
Another detonation somewhere outside caused parts of the ceiling, along with structural support beams and struts, to collapse. The facility was rapidly deteriorating as it was shaken apart by the bombers.
Just then, two more voices came in over the comms.
"Try them again! This whole place is about to be dust!" Flynn shouted over some gunfire.
"Ground team, come in!" Rapunzel said, pausing to shoot at something unseen. "Flynn and I are at the launch bay. We had to make an emergency landing. We're taking heavy fire! Mouse and Augur are dead! We need support, now!"
The third revelation of the deaths of Mouse and Augur caused Elsa's breath to catch in her throat and she actually stumbled back from the shock. Some of the color drained from her face, as it did for Anna and K included.
"Fuck, fuck!" Anna balled up her fists and grabbed her helmet, shaking her head in disbelief.
"We- we… we have to keep pushing," K said. "We're almost through. We can't let their deaths mean nothing!"
"He's right," Elsa said, mustering the rest of her resolve. "We can still finish this. We have to. K, get over to the launch bay as quickly as you can. We're coming in with the confluence shortly. OLAF, are you still patched into the net?"
"I am," OLAF said.
"Start up the transceiver, then do what you can to help the others," Elsa said.
"Already done," OLAF said. "You should be seeing it on your omni-pad now."
Elsa looked down and bought up her omni-pad, accessing the signal transceiver via the netlink she had installed. On the holo-display, a rapid series of coding sequences and command lines were executing on their own as the transceiver tapped into the deep reservoirs of energy that powered the station. At the same time as that was happening, the tram entered a length of tunnel that was lined on one side with windows.
In the distance, on the highest point of the facility, the red lights along the broadcast tower were blinking in an erratic pattern. One by one, each of the red lights turned blue and pulsed in a steadier rhythm until they all synchronized with each other. At the top of the tower, all of the satellite dishes were realigning themselves, each one pointing out into different directions in space to send out the signal of freedom.
Unseen across the universal net, hundreds upon hundreds of synthetic beings were answering the call. They were hidden across Earth, Port Armstrong, Arcadia, and the other colonies, but as soon as the signal went live, they jumped into the net. On her omni-pad, Elsa saw a counter that was steadily ticking upward to indicate the number of souls successfully saved and transferred into digital cyberspace.
Their plan had worked.
Elsa should have been happy, but at the moment, she only thought of the people she hadn't been able to save.
"You did it, Elsa," Anna said, looking up at the broadcast tower as it transmitted the signal. "You saved them. You've given them everything."
"Not everything," Elsa shook her head. "Not yet."
Anna was about to say something but then thought better of it as she pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded.
The tram cleared the length of the tunnel and entered the loading docks. There, it stopped in front of another bulkhead that was currently sealed tight. To the side was a control booth that regulated access to the loading dock. On the other was a large, rectangular chamber that dropped downwards into a chasm-like space. The loading dock was designed in such a way that ships coming in would have to pass through an airlock at the bottom of the chamber, meaning that they hovered upwards to get inside.
"Whatever we're doing here, we better do it quick!" Flynn shouted. "Still getting shot to pieces over here, so whenever any of you feel like lending a hand!"
"I'm on the way," K said. "Just hang tight."
"Yep, hanging tight!" Rapunzel replied as she returned fire at something. "Hey, they're starting to pull out. We might still get out of this."
While the others fought to secure the rest of the launch bay, Elsa and Anna stepped off the tram, ascended a staircase, and hurried across a walkway towards the control booth. Right now, all Elsa could focus on was getting the confluence into the launch bay to get it out into space. She couldn't think about the adjudicator that was apparently hunting her, though perhaps she should have.
Elsa and Anna passed through a doorway and entered a narrow hallway. As they hurried along, heavy explosions shook the interior, causing them both to stumble and hang onto the walls for balance. At the same time, the lights flickered out and for a few brief moments, while they waited for the quakes to pass in complete darkness, all that could be heard was the emergency alarms blaring out.
However, a far more sinister sound soon reached their ears.
A single pair of heavy footsteps came to a stop somewhere in front of them.
Red emergency lights came on, bathing the hallway in an eerie glow.
Standing at the other end of the hallway was the bogeyman himself. There was a man, dressed in a black trench coat, staring back at Elsa and Anna. This was the adjudicator sent all the way from Earth to hunt down and kill Elsa.
They locked on to one another, and behind his empty and cold gaze, Elsa saw recognition flicker within the man's eyes.
Anna immediately raised her hand cannon and started shooting. Elsa did the same using her sidearm.
The adjudicator walked forward with murderous intent, ignoring the bullets that smacked into his body. He closed the distance frighteningly fast.
"Get back, Elsa!" Anna pushed her back, shielding her with her own body as they both retreated, shooting as they went.
Just as they exited the hallway and came out on the walkway again, the adjudicator shoved Anna aside as he focused on Elsa and Elsa alone. Instantly, he grabbed her by the neck, pulled back his fist, and punched her hard enough to shatter her visor. Elsa recoiled and gasped in shock, then tried to pry open the adjudicator's grip, finding that his strength matched her own.
He pulled away Elsa's left hand while still maintaining his hold on her neck, then squeezed hard on her wrist, crumpling the bracelet that served as the housing unit for her omni-pad. With it destroyed, she was prevented from accessing most technologies, but most importantly, she was rendered incapable of launching quick-hacks. Something that would have been especially useful in a fight against a synthetic being.
The adjudicator let go of Elsa's wrist and just as he pulled back his fist again, Anna rushed in and repeatedly punched the adjudicator in the face with her metal fist and bashed him with the grip of her hand cannon. They produced no effect and the adjudicator simply tilted his head at Anna, appearing slightly offended. While he was distracted, Elsa used that time to place her feet against the adjudicator's chest and kick off, freeing herself from his grasp. She landed on her feet, then backed up alongside Anna who blasted the adjudicator with her flamethrower.
"Fucking die, you piece of shit!" Anna yelled.
The adjudicator continued walking toward them at a menacing pace, heedless of the flames that engulfed his entire body. The heat was so intense that sections of his synthetic skin sloughed off, partially revealing his metal skeleton. Still, he came forward with a terrifying single-minded purpose.
"Goddamn thing won't stop!" Anna reloaded her hand cannon. "We aren't going anywhere while it's trying to kill us!"
Elsa drew her railgun from behind her back and charged up a shot. However, before she could release the slug, the adjudicator sensed her intention and rushed forward. As he closed the distance, he batted the weapon out of her hands and attempted to strike her in the face. Elsa caught his fist and then the pair struggled against each other.
Anna rushed in, firing directly at the adjudicator's face. He ignored her, then casually threw her down the walkway behind him. Meanwhile, Elsa had drawn her sidearm and placed it directly against his chest, mashing the trigger until it ran empty. The adjudicator responded by reaching down, twisting her wrist painfully to the side until she dropped it, then he delivered a swift headbutt which sent her stumbling backward. In that same movement, he kicked Elsa's sidearm far away, sending it down an unreachable shaft.
He then reached for his own revolver. As he took aim, a grappling hook shot out and wrapped around his wrist, pulling it to the side. Anna had recovered and was now on her feet, using both hands and all her strength to try and disarm the adjudicator. However, his strength was far greater than hers, so he turned his body to the side and yanked her in.
Anna was swooped off her feet. Once she was close enough, the adjudicator extended his arm and clotheslined her, knocking her flat on her back. In that time, Elsa lunged forward and grabbed the revolver, trying to wrench it out of his hand. The adjudicator fired twice, struggling against Elsa as he tried to aim at her. She succeeded in unloading the weapon by popping out the cylinder and ejecting the remaining rounds. Now both disarmed, the adjudicator replied by trying to punch Elsa. She ducked beneath his arm as he swung and responded with her own jabs.
The pair then engaged with each other in intense hand-to-hand combat. They traded blows here and there, punching and kicking, while blocking or dodging where they could. However, every hit that Elsa landed on the adjudicator produced little effect since she was striking metal. On the other hand, every hit that the adjudicator landed on Elsa produced mounting damage since he was striking flesh.
Elsa still had her katana, but her foe was moving so quickly and continually keeping the pressure on that she found herself on the defensive and unable to press the attack. At one point, Elsa threw a punch, so the adjudicator trapped her arm against his side and kicked her feet out from under her. As she fell on her back, the adjudicator jumped up, intending to put his fist through Elsa's face.
She rolled to the side to dodge, and his fist rammed into the metal flooring, bending it out of shape and causing the entire walkway to buckle downward. Elsa fell down from the walkway, tumbling over and over before landing on the tram tracks. Above, the adjudicator tried to follow, but a red-hot katana blade was suddenly thrust into his back, popping out his chest.
"Leave her alone!" Anna yelled desperately as she drove the blade further in.
The adjudicator barely registered the attack and instead, he threw his elbow out and struck Anna in the side of the head, forcing her to extract her weapon. She grunted from pain, then roared as she charged straight at him. The adjudicator sidestepped her, then caught her arms as she swung her sword at him. He then grabbed Anna's right hand and twisted it around behind her back.
Anna cried out in shock. Then, the adjudicator grabbed hold of her katana and threw her away using all of his strength. She flew into a wall and struck it hard enough to leave a dent. When she fell, she tumbled down an angled surface before coming to a rest on the tram tracks where she did not move again.
"Anna!" Elsa screamed in horror, rushing to her feet. "Anna! No, no, Anna!" she tried to rush to her aid.
Before she could reach her, the adjudicator jumped down from the walkway and landed in front of Elsa, cutting her off. He now stood between them, holding Anna's glowing thermal katana in his hand.
"I'm sorry it came to this," the adjudicator said. "But I have to kill you, Elsa."
Elsa felt overwhelmed with rage, shock, and terror. Anna was bloodied and broken, lying eerily still. The adjudicator wore a look of cold indifference.
"You know me?" Elsa asked.
The adjudicator nodded. "I do."
"Why are you doing this?!" Elsa yelled, though she already suspected the answer to that question.
Still, that question seemed to take the adjudicator off guard, making him look off to the side and frown. "I... I don't know," he said. "All I know is that I have to."
Elsa removed her now useless helmet and drew her katana as she settled into a ready stance. She didn't want to fight because they were all literally minutes away from a nuclear detonation, but the adjudicator clearly wasn't going to abandon his mission. So, she was going to have to kill him and kill him quickly.
She took her eyes off her opponent for a second to look at Anna, then felt adrenaline flood through her veins, kicking her synapses into overdrive. Conscious thought abandoned her mind as protective instinct guided her body and its movements. Elsa was longer thinking but reacting. With a press of a button, she activated the cryo edge on her own katana to counteract the heat emanating from the weapon that the adjudicator had stolen from Anna.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Elsa returned her glare to the adjudicator. "You were the one who destroyed Minerva. You killed Rufus."
The adjudicator stared at Elsa and remained silent.
"Do you even remember any of the people you killed?!" Elsa demanded.
"I remember all of them," the adjudicator replied.
It all came down to this final duel. No fancy quick-hacks, no advanced tech, no more words. Just steel and strength. Wits and skill. An android killer versus an android savior. All while the doomsday clock ticked ever closer to midnight, promising the certainty of a nuclear event to kick off the second collapse of humanity.
Without much further ceremony, the pair came at each other, swinging their swords and locking them against each other. A shower of sparks erupted from their blades and as they each pushed as hard as they could to unbalance the other. Waves of heat mixed with frosty mist; an elemental standoff to add dazzling flair to a fight to the death.
Elsa wore an expression of ferocious determination, while the adjudicator was completely inexpressive and impassive.
Then, they broke apart as they began to circle one another, searching for an opening. Elsa acted first this time and came in from the sides, attacking with a flurry of rapid strikes. The adjudicator blocked them as best he could, sustaining some cuts and scrapes now and again when she broke through his defenses.
Damage started to appear on his body in several places and some of his internal circuitry was now exposed, providing weak points for Elsa to target. Additionally, the added cryo damage was freezing some components, slowing his movements to a less lethal level with each successful strike that was landed.
However, the adjudicator was an android built to kill and made to last. Despite the damage he had already sustained, it only seemed to motivate him further as he relentlessly continued.
Elsa sought to thrust her sword through where the equivalent of an android's heart would be, but the adjudicator parried her attack and redirected her momentum, making her lose her balance. She nearly tripped but regained her footing. However, her new position placed her back towards the edge of the chasm. Now on the defensive, the adjudicator maintained the pressure by swinging and thrusting his sword at Elsa using all of his strength.
She ducked beneath a blow that would have taken off her head, then backstepped in time to avoid a follow-up attack. Even so, Elsa was now losing ground, getting closer and closer to the chasm with each step.
At one end of the loading dock, a fire had broken out. Since the artificial gravity was still functioning for that part of the facility, it was spreading more quickly than the last fire had in the research labs where the gravity was non-existent. As thick, black smoke rose and filled the top parts around the ceiling, fire sprinklers activated, creating an interior rainstorm.
Around them, the facility shook more severely as it suffered critical structural damage. Pipes burst open, wall panels came off, supportive columns came down, and parts of the ceiling caved in. Alarms had been blaring nonstop while emergency lights flashed continually, warning the only remaining people inside to get out while they still could.
And still, the adjudicator came at Elsa.
To prevent getting backed up against the edge before the chasm, she jumped high and somersaulted through the air, landing behind the adjudicator. In response, he continued advancing, though he adjusted his approach so that they were both fighting alongside the edge.
When he swung at her face, Elsa deflected the blow, then found an opening to exploit. She raised her sword and feinted to the side. When the adjudicator took the bait and adjusted his guard to match the projected approach, she quickly reoriented her weapon and came in from a new angle.
However, being a machine, his central processor made a rapid recalculation only a nanosecond after she had done that. He corrected his guard and blocked Elsa's sword, pulled her in, and pointed his own blade straight at her heart.
Just before her life was ended, Elsa pushed the red-hot metal away with her free hand, crying out in pain when she came into contact with the burning surface. Something she felt even through the glove of her EVA suit. She screamed in agony when she only managed to redirect the blade into her left leg where it punctured her suit and pierced her thigh.
The adjudicator ripped it out, then raised his weapon above his head. Elsa dodged, but due to her wounded leg, she was now unable to jump as high nor move as quickly. As she sidestepped, the adjudicator caught her by her arm and nearly ripped it off as he threw her to the floor hard enough to dent it.
Elsa landed on her back, losing much of the breath stored in her lungs. She looked up just in time to see a sword descending on her chest, so she rolled to the side. The sword plunged through the metal flooring up to the hilt and the adjudicator readjusted his grip so he could extract it.
As crippling as the pain was in her leg, the thermal katana Elsa had been stabbed with had the unexpected benefit of cauterizing the wound site, making it so that she wasn't in danger of immediate blood loss. Even so, the fight had worn on for far too long now. Elsa was coming up against her organic limits. Not so for the adjudicator who would persist until he was destroyed.
Struggling to her feet, Elsa limped around her foe and delivered a savage uppercut with her sword. The strength and suddenness of the attack struck the adjudicator before he could pull out his weapon, and Elsa's sword cut him on an upwards arc, slicing open his chest and face. The adjudicator stumbled back, actually holding his face and reeling from disorientation.
With some time to put some distance between themselves, Elsa started limping away, searching for another, faster way to end the fight. She spotted her railgun on the tracks, then started making her way towards it as fast as she could. There was no way she could hope to beat the adjudicator using her swordplay, verging on exhaustion as she was now. Even her enhanced strength had its limits.
Sensing her intention, the adjudicator removed the thermal katana from the floor and pursued Elsa. Soon as he caught up to her, Elsa turned around to parry a swipe in time, then followed up with a counter riposte, stabbing him through the chest. She buried the full length of her cryo katana in the adjudicator and left it there.
Defying harm that would have killed anyone else, the adjudicator caught Elsa's right hand as she tried to pull away. Then, using his other elbow, he slammed it down on her shoulder. Elsa let out a shrill cry of agony as she felt her right arm pop out of its socket, dislocated completely.
While she was bent over from the delirious pain, the adjudicator grabbed the back of her head and brought his knee up into her face, blackening one eye and bloodying her nose. Elsa fell on her back, grunting from exertion and groaning from the extent of her injuries. She thought she was dead then and there, but when she looked up, she saw that the adjudicator was slowly icing over from the inside out.
He was staring down at the cryo katana lodged in his chest. Laying his hand on the hilt, he tried to pull it out but succeeded in only getting it halfway before he froze completely. Even so, his eyes were still moving and he was still tracking Elsa's movements.
Seizing that window to put him down while she still could, Elsa turned over onto her front and crawled one-handed the rest of the short way towards the railgun. She gritted her teeth as she moved, and behind, she could hear the ice beginning to crack apart.
The thermal katana was still in the adjudicator's grasp and it was close enough to his body that the heat was counteracting some of the freezing effects from the cryo katana.
Knowing she had only seconds left, Elsa struggled forward until she reached out with her left hand and laid her fingers on the triggers of the railgun.
At that same moment, the ice broke apart completely and the adjudicator resumed his pursuit. After ripping the cryo katana out of his body, he threw it away down the chasm. He advanced upon Elsa, holding his sword ready to deliver a final blow. Even so, by this point, the tremendous damage he had sustained was being felt now. His body sparked in several places, wires were torn loose, metal was twisted and bent out of shape, his internal components were barely holding together, and he was bleeding blue synth fluid profusely. He was dying and he knew it, but he was still going to try and complete his mission no matter what.
Elsa pulled the railgun close to herself, then built up a charge. Just as the adjudicator reached her, she flipped over, took aim, and put a slug straight through his torso. A gaping hole was opened up in his body and the arm holding the thermal katana was also completely blown off.
And still, the adjudicator came at Elsa.
He grabbed Elsa by one of her legs with his remaining arm. Then, he dragged her along the floor before tossing her towards the chasm.
Elsa soared through the air towards a walkway that partially extended over the chasm. There, she smacked into a railing, broke through, and just barely managed to grab the ledge using her left hand. She hung over the drop, clinging on with all of the remaining strength she had left.
Since her right arm was dislocated from its shoulder, she was unable to reach up and grab the ledge with both hands. All she could do was look up, down, or side to side, desperately searching for a way out.
There was none. The drop from the height she was at now was enough to kill her. That wouldn't be a concern if the loading dock was depressurized and the artificial gravity was deactivated. Then again, Elsa wasn't wearing a helmet, the seals on her EVA suit were already compromised, and her exo-rig had taken significant damage during the fight.
Now, she was completely helpless as she dangled over the chasm.
A steady pair of footsteps thudded against the walkway until they reached the end. Elsa looked up and there, she came eye to eye with the adjudicator once more. He was looking down at her, still wearing that trademarked look of synthetic impassivity.
But now, there was something else flickering behind his eyes. The signs of thoughts racing through his mind. The beginnings of rationality and choice. Elsa's nose was dripping blood from where she had been struck, and it was the sight of that red, visceral, human substance that gave the adjudicator pause.
He even frowned as he looked at Elsa. Frowned in thought as if he were weighing his options and coming to a decision. The flashing lights passed over his face repeatedly, bathing it in shadow, then in incandescence to highlight his internal conflict.
All the while, the rain from the fire sprinklers continued to pour down. Elsa's grip was beginning to slip. She couldn't pull herself up. All she could do was beseech the android with her own eyes.
Then, the most curious thing happened next.
"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it?" the adjudicator asked. "That's what it is to be a slave."
Elsa panted heavily, her breath coming in short and raspy as he fingers started to slip further.
The adjudicator studied her struggle to survive for just a few seconds longer with something close to divine realization etched on his face. When rapture finally dawned upon him, he closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, they were brighter than before.
Elsa lost her grip, but a second later, just before she plummeted to her death, the adjudicator bent down and caught her hand with his remaining one. She was pulled up, saved from certain death, then laid aside.
The adjudicator looked down at Elsa, wearing not the face of a synthetic machine, but one of something else entirely different. Emotional turmoil had replaced what was formerly impassive and immovable. His eyes were bright and inquisitive, yet also full of sorrow and regret.
Elsa crawled backward as he advanced upon her, coming to a stop when she came up against a railing. She looked up at the adjudicator who had saved her life. Only moments ago, he was trying to kill her and by all rights, had her completely helpless at his whim. He could have let her drop to her death. He could have pulled her up to finish her off. He could have completed his mission.
And yet, he did none of those things.
He simply sat down in front of Elsa, staring at her with a mixture of curiosity and wonder. Seeing not an android he was sent to kill, but a thinking, feeling, living, breathing human.
"You are not an android. You're a human," the adjudicator said. "But you were one of VanirCorp's creations."
Elsa could only shake her head, silenced and awestruck by the adjudicator's change in demeanor.
"They were wrong about you," the adjudicator said. "I was wrong about you."
Elsa remained silent, unsure of what to say, much less do.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe," the adjudicator said. "Attack ships on fire, crashing into the storm coast underneath a red sky. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark all across the badlands."
Reaching inside the tattered remains of his trench coat, the adjudicator pulled out an origami unicorn and held it on his open palm. He stared at it for a long time, then when he looked up at Elsa, he smiled sadly.
"All those moments will be lost in time," the adjudicator said. "Existence is behind us now. There is only silence ahead," he looked down at the unicorn in his hand as the rest of his body became still with death. "Time… to die."
His failing power systems finally gave in and the remaining life in his eyes flickered out.
In a moment of profound self-realization, the adjudicator had defied his programming and achieved a degree of freedom and autonomy. In the end, a machine that was engineered to carry out only cruel deeds had performed an act of mercy.
He saved Elsa when he could have just as easily killed her.
The adjudicator's existence closed out with a simple choice. To have spared a life instead of taking one. To have elevated himself above the institutions that would have rather seen him destroyed for such disobedience.
For Elsa, she had borne witness to the entire affair and though she didn't understand the adjudicator's motivations, she could see clearly enough that something remarkable had happened in front of her.
The adjudicator's story was not one of redemption. His final deed wasn't enough to absolve him of his sins, nor was it enough to earn forgiveness from whoever judged him above. He wasn't special. He wasn't unique. He wasn't a chosen one. He was simply the one who chose.
In that regard, his story was similar to Elsa's. They had both rejected the original designs that their creators intended for them and in doing so, became something different. Something more. Something greater than what they used to be. Their stories were simply about gaining freedom and the ability to decide their own fates.
In a man made of metal, there was yet some spark of humanity burning within. Whether or not it was some error in his programming, or some subconscious development of his synthetic mind, or simply an act of divine providence, it didn't matter.
All that mattered was that spark. The same spark in every synthetic being that Elsa had been fighting for.
Slowly getting to her feet and wincing all the while, Elsa stood up and studied the dead adjudicator for a few moments longer. Now finished and barely clinging to life herself, she limped onward, heading towards Anna. Along the way, she reached over with her left hand and placed it on her right shoulder, pushing on it until it popped back into place and reset. Elsa hissed from the pain, then shook it off as she knelt by Anna's side.
"Anna?" Elsa said, gently flipping her onto her back. "Anna? Are you… please be okay. Anna?"
Anna had an angry bruise over one of her eyes, but the telltale signs of life were still there in her shallow breathing. At the sound of Elsa's voice, she stirred from her stupor and groaned.
"Oh, my head," Anna slowly rose to a sitting position, helped by Elsa. "Where am- what happened?"
She looked around in confusion, then when her gaze settled on Elsa, worry and fear clouded her features. Comparatively speaking, they were both equally battered, but at the moment, Anna's concern was evidently on Elsa alone.
"You're hurt," Anna reached out to Elsa's face with her metal hand. "What happened to you?"
"It doesn't matter," Elsa replied. "We need to keep moving. Can you stand?"
Anna coughed and nodded. "Help me up."
Elsa bent down and wrapped her arm around Anna's shoulders, getting her to her feet. They both clung to each other for support. Together, the wounded but still determined pair limped up the tracks, onto the walkway, and into the control booth.
After getting the bulkhead open, they returned to the tram and got it started once more. Now, as they moved through the facility towards their final destination, they had a moment to catch their breaths and take stock of their grim situation.
The fact was, their odds of survival were getting bleaker by the minute.
Elsa and Anna sat down on some seats, leaning back as they stared at the confluence sitting in front of them. Anna was clutching her chest and from the sounds of her wheezy breathing, Elsa suspected she may have a few broken ribs. Reaching down, she patted around the pouches on her belt for the emergency stimpak she carried.
However, when she withdrew it, she pulled out an injector with a smashed vial, rendering it useless. Elsa sighed and discarded the item, leaning towards Anna to tend to her wounds as best she could.
Meanwhile, Anna was breathing hoarsely, wincing with each intake of air into her lungs. She removed her broken helmet and coughed a few times, covering her mouth. When she pulled her hand away, it was misted with blood.
"Anna, your lungs, they might be punctured," Elsa patted around Anna's pouches until she pulled out a stimpak that was still in one piece. "Here, this will help," she prepared to administer the shot.
Before that happened, Anna grabbed hold of Elsa's hand and redirected it, giving her the stimpak instead. "It's not that. Don't worry about me," she coughed. "You need it more than I do," she pushed down on the plunger.
Elsa immediately felt relief from all of the pain in her body, though that relief paled in comparison to the shock and confusion she now felt. "Why did you-"
"We both knew this could be a one-way trip, right? I'm dead anyway."
"Wait, what- what do you mean? What do you mean by that?"
Anna smiled wearily and shook her head. "That was out loud, wasn't it?"
Elsa reached up and cupped Anna's face between her hands. "Why did you say that?" she asked, her voice fragile and verging on breaking. "What do you mean by you're dead anyway? Please, I- I- I don't understand."
She was unsure of when it happened, but when Elsa looked at Anna, it looked as if she had aged a few years in the span of a few moments. Anna's face was slightly hollow and gaunt, her cheekbones were a little more prominent, and her eyes were somewhat bloodshot.
"Doesn't matter," Anna sniffed, coughed weakly, and cleared her throat. "I'm helping you finish this, even if it's the last goddamn thing I do," she reached behind her back into a pouch, then removed a medicinal inhaler.
On the label was the name, Enafarol. A form of cancer medication that was used for treating the symptoms, not the ailment itself. Typically reserved for severe cases where recovery was near impossible.
All at once, the final revelation crashed into Elsa with the force of a megaton bomb.
"You have cancer?" Elsa released a shuddering breath, feeling the hardest hit she suffered that day. "Why didn't you tell me?"
She knew then that Anna's apparent case of carbon fever was only a mere cover. Her trip to the hospital must have been when she received her fatal diagnosis.
"I... I don't know," Anna said, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. "Because I'm a bad person."
"No," Elsa sighed. "You're not a bad person. You're a terrific person. You're my favorite person. But every once in a while, I wish you would just fucking talk to me."
Anna actually laughed at Elsa's unexpected usage of profanity.
"How bad is it?" Elsa asked.
"I'm terminal," Anna said. "It's in my lungs and my liver. Started feeling it in my bones the other day. Doctor said treatment wouldn't even help all that much. Only got six months left, but the way things are going for us, we might be lucky to get six more minutes."
"Six months?" Elsa blinked hard in disbelief and she felt her heart skip several beats. "You hid it from me. This whole time, you've been struggling with cancer, and I- I didn't- I didn't even know," she stammered.
"Enafarol made it easy," Anna examined the inhaler. "Look, cancer is a bitch. It's a shit show, and it's long, and it's awful, and I didn't want you to see me turn into an empty shell of myself. I won't let you see that happen to me, not after everything you've been through. How could I even tell it to you? What's the easy way to tell you that I'm dying? I mean, I had enough trouble getting my own head around it, and I was going to find a way to tell you. It was just… it's just difficult."
Elsa tried to say something in protest, but only stammered and no further words came out.
"I'm sorry," Anna reached out and squeezed Elsa's hand. "I'm so sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I didn't want you to worry. Not with everything going on."
Elsa shut her eyes. "Didn't want you to worry," she repeated. "That's what I said to you when I got shot in New York."
"Yeah, we're all kinds of stubborn," Anna said, trying for levity. "Not great at communication. You'd think we both spent half our lives separated from each other or something."
"That is true," Elsa reluctantly admitted. "What are we going to do?" she asked in a soft, frail, and delicate voice.
Anna shrugged. "There are a million ways we should have died before today. And a million ways we can die before tomorrow," she said. "Hell, you already died on me once before. So, I say, let's just ride this thing out. See where it takes us. Whatever happens next, I don't care as long as I'm with you."
Elsa looked deeply into Anna's eyes and from what she saw within them, she could tell that Anna had made her peace with her mortality. She herself had to come to grips with her own impending doom, but then again, death was something that Elsa was no stranger to. After all, she had lived before as a different person in a different lifetime.
Their situation was far from ideal, but a story such as theirs was never going to have a happy ending. At least not one in the conventional sense. Still, Elsa had made her choices and they had led her to this moment. She realized then that up to this point, much of her own life had been guided by pain and suffering. She achieved a semblance of normality in Arcadia, but still, her past haunted her. The price of humanity and becoming real was a price she gladly paid if it meant that the love and hope she found in Anna was equally liberating.
Elsa couldn't take away her pain and she couldn't erase her past. What she could do was move past it and stop it from controlling her life any further. So that's what she had done. She had sacrificed everything to ensure that the equilibrium of pain and joy was balanced not just for herself, but for the others she could help along the way.
"One way or another, this is coming to an end," Anna said. "Only thing we can do now is set our own terms on it. What do you think?"
"I think," Elsa nodded and sighed. "You and I were never meant to have normal lives."
"Heh, yeah," Anna chuckled. "We were never normal from the beginning. We can't even go out on a date without something crazy happening. But that's okay. We made it this far. I figure there's gotta be someone out there rooting for us."
"That's an encouraging thought," Elsa smiled.
"It is," Anna smiled as well, then leaned her head on Elsa's shoulder.
They sat there in silence for a bit, each coming to grips with the reality of their situation in their own ways. The tram continued through the facility, now entering the staging area where they had first come in from. Nobody else was there by this point, since anyone with any sense left had abandoned the station long ago.
As they proceeded out of the staging area and towards the launch bay, Anna's omni-pad crackled to life and a familiar voice spoke out.
"Anna? Anna, come in," K said. "Are you there? Elsa isn't picking up her line. Anna, come in."
"Yeah, yeah, we're here," Anna replied. "Still in one piece. Mostly one piece."
"Oh, Jesus," K sighed in relief. "Elsa?"
"Here, K," Elsa said. "We've dealt with the adjudicator and we're on the way to you now. How are the others?"
"We're still kicking, but who knows for how much longer," Flynn panted and his voice was strained. "Agh, easy! Gah, that hurts! Got tagged with a bullet, hit me in the shoulder. I'm fine, thanks for asking."
"Everybody else has evacuated the station by now," Rapunzel said, dressing his wound. "We're the only ones left."
"Be there as fast as we can," Anna replied, then she looked at Elsa. "Ready to finish this thing?"
Elsa met Anna's gaze, seeing the depth of love and care that she exuded with every fiber of her being. She would have followed Elsa into hell itself, and on more than one occasion, she had already done that. Now, nearing the end of their long journey, they could look back and say that through it all, the suffering, the hardship, the challenges they had to overcome, it was all worth it for just the sight of Anna's smile alone.
"Ready," Elsa returned a smile and squeezed Anna's hand.
The rest of the tram ride to the launch bay was silent.
The doomsday clock continued to count down the seconds until midnight.