Jellicle's Creed

Frozen Memories

Seqeunce 4

Memory 3: Winter Goddess vs CIA Spooks Part 1

21 May 2051

Oslo Norway

Oslo CIA Branch HQ

Midnight

"Holy shit" Barnabas Greely mumbled seeing the carnage in the front lobby of the Oslo CIA branch. The place was ashambles, the lights were pulled, a dozen very good agents were slain, and all their information on their targets was gone.

"They got all the info we had; check the sec cams" Marcus ordered "But be careful, who ever did this is smart, they most likely left traps" Knowing Snowfeather traps were to be had everywhere! Hell if whoeever did this did not come through the front door, Marcus knew exactly what to look for.

"Right chief, On it" Barnabas said in reply, moving to the security room, the door glowed a strange outline of white marks. Cautiously the man shot the lock out, the door exploded outwards as he ducked for cover. Peeking in Barnabas swore "Shits blastd apart!" He said

"There's more then one cam control room. Head for the servalian floor" Marcus said, Barnabas left as Marcus went to the still alive agents, one of whom was holding his neck, unable to move thanks to Snowfeathers paraliser dart she struck him with. "Jackson, what happened here ?" He asked

"Two women came in, ruined the place. They got everything and took off, never saw them before either." Came the reply. "One of them hit me with something, man was the bitch strong too! Felt like I was fighting with a freight train!" The man said, Marcus snickered; yeah that was Snowfeather for sure!

"Hey chief, got what we seek!" Came Barnabas over the radio "Two women, looks like them same two bitches on the RV, they walkd in, started a fight, then on took off, raided your temp office, then took off from the area, outside cams show the two disappearing into some nightlife crowds due west, back towards that town"

"Shit" Marcus swore. "Where were they headed ? That town we got the girl from ? Or that mountain cabin with those sword users ?" people still used swords, it made Marcus snicker

iYeah, chief, back the way we came, we coulda passed them and never noticed, they got everything too, all the files are gone" Barnabas replied

"Alright check the motor pool, and get a team ready in a van; we know where they came from; we're going after them" Marcus replied grimly. He went over the injured, most of the agents in the front lobby were slain, barely alive, or asleep

"Right chief" came the reply as the radios died, Marcus wasn't taking any chances now. They took their only source of information. He wanted that woman back, he was after two men now, he dialed his phone and spoke to a coworker in Langley, he had a new assignment, one that he hoped to not botch up. Ehen he got off the phone he turned to the fellow recently on the RV with them who just walked in "Stevens! Meet up with Barnabas down in the motor pool, you're driving. We're taking a van, RV is too slow and too... obvious" Marcus said, the RV was a standard E350 superduty ford van; a small RV of sorts, Stevens just rolled his eyes and waved off Marcus before heading to the motor pool.

Ten minutes later and a teem was assembled, this time they'd need tazers for themselves. Marcus had a prize he was after. Of course they had a minor delay as the armory had been raided and certain items had been stolen. Marcus' mind started thinking up worse case scenarios concerning the stolen poison darts, and the stolen ropedarts

22 May 2051

Arendelle Castle

Elsa's bedroom

Dawn

Breakfast in bed was not something Elsa was expecting; she was barely able to sleep the night before with what Blackmane called 'pins and needles' feeling all over her body, Icicles did it hurt too! So that morning, the feeling was gone around three am, which then allowed for Elsa to sleep for about four maybe five hours at best, getting up at seven was normally her daily rutine; but not today, no, she wanted to sleep in. But no she had to wake up because she was used to waking up at that time anyhow. She wasn't expecting to wake up in her own bed; like the day before, waking up in that... RV Matthew had called it. So waking up in her own bed was much more preferable. Best of all she was nice and dry, and clean, and safe. Because there was a ihuge/i bird standing by the door keeping careful watch over the room and its lone sleeping resident.

What Elsa was not expecting was a magenta transport array to open on her wall and Georgina and Snowfeather to fall through it. Did they have to make that much noise ? With a soft moan Elsa jerked awake, her hands to her head as she slowly sat up "Do you have to make that much noise ?" She grumbled softly, man was she tired!

"Sorry we figured talk to you first before going to Matthew" Georgina had conferred carefully with Snowfeather on what to do, and Snowfeather said to talk to Elsa first before talking to Matthew, After all, Elsa was the queen and therefore their first priority to keep safe at all costs as almnost all of the pictures in the files Georgina had pilfered were of Elsa to begin with.

"Talk to me before talking to Matthew ? Georgina I feel as if I'd been run down by a muledeer, why wake me up with this much noise ? Where were you two yesterday anyhow I wanted to talk to you before I went to sleep last night." Elsa complained, rubbing sleep from her eyes she stumbled from her bed and went to the wardrobe to change behind the screen as Georgina explained their eventful night at the CIA in Oslo. She noticed how Ulnaus was so quiet until the name of Matthew being said before he went to the window and started knocking on it, which confused Snowfeather by his actions.

Pointing at the massive Eagle she asked, "Uh... why is Ulnaus in here ? I hope he didn't spot anything" Of course that would earn her a targetmark for sure. Georgina stepped two paces to her left, out of reach of both whatever Ulnaus was about to do, and also the door if Snowfeather took a break for it.

Another few knocks on the window and a loud screech was all it took to hear some fumbling downstairs, along with a crash and a shout before a muffled groan was heard. Mark had woken up...and was covered in books. "Damn books...never go where I want them..." He muttered as he dug himself from the pile while Ulnaus kept knocking on the window. With a groan Mark used his Bronze transport array to flop into Elsa's room, nearly slamming into Snowfeather as he did so.

He then straightened up a bit and clicked his tongue, and Ulnaus stopped immediately, screeching lightly while looking to Mark as if expecting something. A few more clicks of Mark's tongue later and Ulnaus had managed to iopen/i the window, and fly out after a few seconds. The window was unharmed too! Mark grumbled to himself, wearing only his usual coat at the moment, and no armor; save for his boots.

With a sigh he closed the window and fixed his messy hair, turning to face the females in the room. "Well...goodmorning everyone." He said groggily, his dark brown eyes scanning the two in plain sight, and briefly taking note of the one changing behind the screen before returning to either the wall or ceiling. Mark hated mornings; loved sleeping, but here he was, mostly.

He then pouted as his hair fell into his face. "Snowfeather...a question, if I may." He started, not waiting for a reply before continuing. "Why the hell haven't I gotten a haircut yet?"

Georgina raised an eyebrow, her own hood removed, her long light brown hair was in a loose braid, "Good morning sunshine" She said, not saying a word of his lack of armor. Didn't he always wear a gauntlet on his left hand ?

Thankfully it was Elsa who spoke up "I can answer that, you can blame Kristoff later; Anna made him get a haircut last night. Oddly he wanted one too" Elsa stepped out from behind the changing screen in a light red ice dress, still blue but slightly red tinted, Georgina smiled, well, now Elsa was getting the hang of her magic she could change the colors, only so far at least! In other news, Anna had shown up before Elsa had tried to go to bed and told her the happy news. Kristoff had proposed! On top of that, he'd even made the rings for himself and Anna too; that news alone made Elsa try to sleep with a smile on her face Her feet were still void of any shoes, not even socks

She was braiding her hair as she continued speaking as she stepped up to her dresser and mirror. "Kristoff proposed to Anna last night. She told me herself, even showed me the ring he used to propose to her as well, it was quite beautiful too" A few shards of pale blue ice were conjured out of the air and slid perfectly into her braid as she tied it off with here ice blue ribbon. She turned to Mark and the others, "Now, can you two explain to me why you woke us up at this hour ? I was just getting some sleep without that weird pins poking me feeling"

The two women traded looks and Georgina took out the file, Setting it on a table she said; "I raided the office of that guy that was in your dream, Marcus was his name, Marcus Gray. He had these" Countless pictures of Elsa were in the folder, along with a few of Mark, and only two of Matthew, but dozens of Elsa; like they had been tracking her every move. Taking one of the pictures, the picture of her, Snowfeather, and Anna going to the Rougwater Inn and her killing off that one Templar soldier behind the shed before they went inside, Another she found of her first meeting Mark in the marketplace district.

"What am I looking at aside from me ?" Elsa asked, why did the CIA, whatever that group was, want her ? Sure she had those men in her dream, but she also had Mark and Matthew in her dream too! Why did those men want her ?

Mark had to suppress the urge to whistle in admiration as Elsa stepped from the screen, and instead stood up, looking to the file that Georgina procured. Mark glanced at the picture and laughed. "Man, this dude's a creeper." He smirked, frowning as he saw the pictures of himself. "They didn't even get my good side...bastards." he muttered, sorting through them quickly.

As Elsa asked her question, Mark could only shrug; he didn't know. He didn't care; his job was to make sure they didn't get their hands on Elsa, so that's all he wanted to do. Not that he had any complaints anyway; one must never trust a government organization with a beautiful woman with Ice powers! It's quite the volitile combo! At least, that's what Mark supposed.

As he leaned to look at the pictures, he huffed in defeat. "Okay...I'm about to cut my hair myself..." he grumbled, roughly brushing it back out of his face again. He then felt around his body as if looking for a knife, and growled in defeat as he didn't find one. He glanced to Snowfeather for a second then shook his head. No...last time she cut his hair was about 15 or 18 years ago when he was still a boy. At least...that's what he remembered, anyway. He figured that if he asked her now, she'd more than likely try and cut his throat as some sort of test or sick joke.

'Not gonna get my neck...not today...' he thought defiantly, nodding to himself.

As Mark spoke, and swore, Elsa looked from the picture of her and him, in a sparring session as Snowfeather called it, "Good side ? Look at this one" There were a few bystanders in the area of that fun they had, Mark had pretty much sent that guy ducking for cover! She showed him the picture, it was Mark diving for a strike and she had remembered ducking out of his path at the very last second. "I think that this is your good side, I like that smile too" Elsa said softly, mostly in Nordic, only Georgina understood that part of it though and that made the young woman smile.

But when Mark swore Elsa looked up at him with a startled look, that was a first; "I think I'm going to slap you one of these days for langauge like that" She said; Already thinking of how she'd be able to slap him. Mark was too fast for her to just reach over and deck for swearing in front of her. She smiled then at the complaint of his hair, "I dont know, I like it; I think it suits you" She said, in truth, he actually looked really nice with his hair long. "But, maybe if you had one of these ?" She conjured out of thin air another ice ribbon, ice blue like her own, "Maybe it could help ?" She held it out to him

Mark looked at the picture and laughed softly, shaking his head. "Far from it, my dear Queen." He said. He was now trying to figure out what the hell he was smiling about at the time that picture was taken, but it wasn't working. He then blinked and raised his eyebrows at her remark of slapping him. "Slap me? I do wish you luck, my dear, you'll need it. Slug me in the stomach? No problem. Slap me? Major problem...so I'd like to see you try." He smirked. Not even Snowfeather- an expert and hitting the fool of an Assassin- could slap him. He'd always find a way to weasle his way away from her hand.

He then looked to the ribbon in her hand that she conjured, and shook his head. "Nah, I prefer my hair short. Less to worry about, less shampoo to buy!" He smirked before letting out a massive yawn, stretching out his entire body with it as well, stumbling backwards a few steps as he did so before shaking his head and breathing hard. "Damn...gotta quit sleeping in the library. Not comfy..." he muttered to himself.

Elsa gave him a confused look, he'd like to see her try to slap him ? "Alright, deal!" She said, She smiled then, he called her 'dear'! And there was no denying that now either, he had two witnesses! of course Snowfeather was starting to smile something akin to a 'good luck' kind of look too towards Mark when he declined the ribbon. No doubt Elsa was going to tie it right then and there!

She still held it out, never lowering her hand; "Mark..., no buts, take it and use it before I tie your hair with it myself" She could too! Sometimes she just snapped her fingers and bam, the ribbon was in her hair tying off her braid perfectly without any notice or fanfare or worry of tying it tight enough. Of course she meant it in a silly way, not exactly serious, but truthful too

Finally she said "Is anyone else hungry ?" At that exact second there was a loud THUD outside the window as Ulnaus returned, but hit the windowsil

"Watch it ya crazy Ford Probe of a Bird!" came a rather annoyed voice of Blackmane from downstairs on the library balconey, Ulnaus barely missed slamming into her

Elsa kept a straight face as she spoke. "Sounds like Blackmane is up"

Mark blinked. Oh good god she took him literally! He glanced over to Snowfeather as if to say "do something!" but knew it was useless as he saw her smile, frowning and furrowing his eyebrows. He then hesitantly reached over and took the ribbon from Elsa's hand as a cautious squirrel would take a nut from another squirrel's home, quickly snatching it and quickly tying his hair back expertly, and with a rather annoyed look on his face.

"I'm still cutting this ha- Oh hey Ulnaus is back." He said as he heard the slam against the window, and Blackmane's shouting. "And she's awake. Double goodie~!" He said, joking of course.

He perked up at the mention of food. "Food? Where? Of course I'm hungry!" He said, pounding on his chest almost pridefully. At the moment his guard was up almost to the extreme...he wasn't sure how quickly Elsa moved yet, and he was certainly inot/i going to get smacked today, or ever!

Elsa gave Mark a look, if he cut his hair so help her she'd go to Pabbie for a potion to regrow it! She liked him like that for some reason, it made him look more... well less like Hans and more like someone she could trust with her life really, it was weird to be honest. Not bad weird, but ... strange weird. Mark looked nice with his lair long, and with it tied neatly it actually made him look more... well more like an Assassin Elsa could trust. Not that she did not trust Matthew, then again Matthew had a beard...

That and Mark helped her eat the night before. It was three hours later when she could move on her own. "Yes food. Breakfast, in ... my bedroom ? Wait, Kai what are you doing here and why is Marei bringing food into my bedroom ?"

"Healers orders your highness" Kai replied

"Dont tell me I need to stay in here until after breakfast!" Elsa complained, first complaint of the day, heck first complaint since getting home! Ok now she wished she was back in her ice palace just waking up with Mark and everyone there for the week, but nooo stupid cia

"You need to stay here until after breakfast so the healer can check things over to ensure you're alright" Kai replied

Elsa gave him a sour look "I asked you not to tell me that" Georgina stifled a giggle as Snowfeather raised an eyebrow slightly amused At least they had breakfast, Marei had enough cooked for them all too! It was as if Marei was expecting Mark, Snowfeather and Georgina to be in with Elsa that morning, what was she some kind of seer ?

Mark watched with a raised eyebrow as breakfast was brought into the room, blinking a few times. "Am I magic? Did I just summon that? Hmm... "Kittens!" He said, frowning as nothing happened, and visibly flinching as Snowfeather gave him a very dirty look, holding up his hands as if to say "hey, calm down...I'm innocent." without speaking. He then sighed as her wrath was set aside for food for a moment.

Mark perused the selection of food, and shrugged, taking what he wanted, plopping it on a plate, grabbing some utensils, sitting by the window, and munching away calmly. He didn't really speak too much at the moment...too busy stuffing his face with food. "Y-y'know...If you want to see if Elsa's better, why not set up a sparring match against someone? If she can't move all that much, we'll know within seconds just by watching her!" He offered after swallowing a bite of his breakfast, crossing one leg over this other while he leaned back.

Elsa went back to her bed and sat down as Marei brought in the food; there was six kinds of meat, four kinds of cheese, some fruits and nuts, it was pretty much the typical Arendelle breakfast in the castle really. Heck some days there was even chocolate in with breakfast. but normally that was hot cocoa and that was just as good anyway.

Marei brought her a plate and she speared a few pieces of horsemeat, and some swisspepper cheese and started eating. Some hot cocoa was poured for her as well; ahh, breakfast in bed! What a way to begin her first day home!... well sort of.

Elsa stopped eating while holding a drumstick of a sort, more like a prime ribe by the size of the thing actually, Pointing her breakfast at mark she said after swallowing "Someway, somehow, I'm going to hurt you" She had a smile in her tone, but she meant it. Somehow she was going to slap him, and he knew it too! After all he dared her and she took that dare! However his idea of seeing if she was indeed healthy again did seem to hold merit enough for Kai to think it over.

"I will speak with the Healer" Kai said leaving the room with Marei, and not locking the door behind him

As she ate her breakfast she got to thinking, maybe she should start a list of how not to annoy her before breakfast ? No that was too harsh. When Marei brought in a pair of sandals Elsa looked confused "What are these for ? I can make my own shoes, why are there sandals for me ?"

"Ask Matthew" Came the soft reply, Marei rarely spoke since her mother, Gerda, had passed away the year before. Following in her mothers footsteps, Marei had become the headmaid of the castle.

Well if that was the case Elsa nodded "Alright, I'll ask him, thank you Marei" marei smiled and nodded, Elsa pointed out some more meats, this time fox meat, and some more swisspepper cheese, once her plate was refilled an everyone by then had their fill, Marei took the remaining food, which nearly weighed down the cart itself, back to the dining room. As far as Elsa was concerned there was food on that table at all times to begin with

Mark smirked at Elsa's declaration that she'd hurt him soon and chuckled. "Again, I wish you luck." He said, still eating calmly. "In fact...I almost look forward to it." He added calmly, finishing his last bite of breakfast before standing, walking over and placing his plate on the tray now that he was done. He then stretched out his body and yawn one last time.

It then occured to him that if allowed to choose her sparring partner, Elsa would choose him. He didn't particularly feel like sparring today...or doing anything for that matter. "If the healer agrees, I should think that it would be in our best interest for her to pick Elsa's opponent for the sparring match, don't you think?" He asked, turning towards the others in the room, waiting for some sort of responce.

Snowfeather could tell Mark wanted nothing more then to take a day off, after all, Ulnaus woke him up, after they woke up Elsa by their arrival. she smirked. standing up she spoke "Georgina and I will find Matthew and inform him of our findings; we'll see you in the courtyard before lunch ?" Elsa nodded, still looking to Mark, ah yes, her sparring partner, Kaedrian knew that anyone else that sparred with Elsa, even one of the soldiers, were always left in the Healers room; and every single time it was on accident too! That left Mark, Georgina, Snowfeather, Blackmane and sometimes Anna.

Twenty minutes later and Kaedrian had spoken to Matthew, and also Blackmane, both of which agreed, Elsa was to spar with Mark until lunch or until she was unable to stand any longer after getting her strength back.

Kingdom of Arendelle

Marketplace District

At that same moment

Anna wandered the Marketplace rather giddy from the night before. Olaf was with her, oddly calm wherein Anna as hyper, possibly too hyper; which made Olaf quite confused as they walked along. Anna seemed her cheery self, maybe even moreso then normal. "Anna" Olaf said after a long moment of watching, and following Anna around the Marketplace district, Anna was happy, and humming to herself over what was going on. Over the night before. Over the ring on her finger. "You are much more happier then I have seen you since Elsa came back and brought back summer." Olaf could never get that out of his head. He loved summer!

"Well, Olaf, you know Kristoff right ?" Anna said as the two wandered the district, giving plesant hellos to Anna and Olaf as they wandered the maraketplace.

"You mean the funky looking donkey and Sven ? Yeah I know them, why ?" Olaf replied confused

"Well, you know how Kristoff proposed to me ?" Anna said

"Yeah, why ?" Olaf asked, clearly oblivious to what Anna meant, what did propose mean ?

Anna could see he didn't have a single clue so she explained "Kristoff proposed to me last night, he asked me to marry him."

"Oh! You mean when he got on one knee he wasn't trying to clean your shoes ?" Olaf asked, causing Anna to giggle crazily, still in a daze over what Kristoff had done, he had made the rings himself with help. It explained why Anna had not seen him the last few days actually. He was always busy, but now Anna knew why he was so busy, and what was more, Elsa blessed their wedding proposal too!

Well, more like approved of it actually now that Anna thought of it. Even though at the time Elsa was limper then a wet rag, she was in fact very happy for Anna that Kristoff had proposed to her the night before, making the rings and all. Which in itself was rather interesting to see. Nevertheless, Elsa approved the marriage proposal before going to sleep.

So now all Anna had to do was plan the wedding. Which was a hard task unto itself, but still. Anna, with Olaf, wandered the Roughwater District, she liked this area, it was nice, and massive, and ever since Elsa had burnt the gallows to cinders, it was more homely too!

Niether Anna or Olaf saw the group of men following them. Taking seat at a outdoor cafe, Marcus Gray observed the young woman. "She was with that other woman, the one we had, in the dreamshare. Remember ?" He said to his coimpatroits

Barnabas nodded, "I thought she looked familiar" He said, "What's the plan chief ?"

"We grab her; and the snowman, and take them back to the van. Got the darts." Marcus asked

"I got a few, you think it'll work on the snowman ?" Barnabas said, he was unsure of hitting the snowman, which was quite sentient at that, with a sleeper dart.

"Maybe, lure them to where we're parked then use them on the girl, once she's out, grab the... snowman ? The fuck ? How does a snowman walk around ?" Marcus replied, Barnabas nodded, without a word he and two others left the cafe table. Marcus was confused however at the presence of a talking sentient snowman.

Thankfully Anna was headed for a side alley to get back to the main market on the otherside, much larger and more open set uip worked wonders in most cases. None of them were expecting when Olaf ambled into view chasing a butterfly. As anna started down the alley she never expected the CIA man behind her to shoot her with a silenced gun.

As Anna sank to the alley paving stones Olaf ambled around the corner and was prompted dicapacitated, his head landing with a sudden "Ow" as his head plopped onto the stonework. "Woha! Headrush!"

"Dah hell ? The snowman can talk!" Baranbas said confused, and somewhat spooked.

"Yup!" Olaf replied. His butt started walking past Barnabas "Oh hey! Do me a favor and grab my butt, he's getting away!" Barnabas, already freaked out at the sign of the sentient snowman simply did so. Grabbing Olaf by the hair, basically, Olaf's head swung around "Hey whoa, wait, dont drop me! WHOA!" His voice quickly became muffled when he faceplanted next to Anna inside something "this just got a whole lot more painful" His butt and stomach landed next to him as the door closed behind him.

The van started off. Only one person saw it occur, Matthew had snowflakes everywhere.

Twenty minutes later

Arendelle Castle Icerink Courtyard

Just after breakfast

Wooden swords, red oak mostly those were what they used in sparring sessions. Elsa was on her feet longer then normal that day. She had slept four days straight she wanted out of her bedroom! Heck, her original plan to stay a week at her Ice Palace at the North Mountain was moved back to the end of the month, and in three days was her seventh anniversary of being Queen. So the entire town was getting ready for it. Elsa went to the weapons rack and withdrew a sword or two and tested their wieght, even though they were of wood she couldn't help it. Hopefully Georgina told Mark who she wanted to train with.

It was not that Elsa's magic was strong or she herself was strong, too strong for her own soldiers, but when she got into training, her own soldiers ended up in Kaedrians ward more often then herself or Anna; She took up a long redoak sword, she liked the feel of it, and picked up another just like it. Perfect. Now all she had to do was wait for Mark... And also figure out when and how to slap him; after all, she said she'd slap him that day to begin with.

Even if it were just a sparring session, Mark wanted all of his armor on; he new that most people who sparred with Elsa were injured, himself included and didn't want to take any chances with her, even if she just got out of bed for the first time in four days. As they waited in the Courtyard, Mark stumbled out, adjusting one of his pauldrons on his shoulder while stumbling through the door, mumbling something about having a plan for new armor in the works.

He grabbed a single redoak short-sword in his right hand and walked to stop opposite of Elsa. He still couldn't believe that the Healer; who was allowed to choose Elsa's opponent, still chose him. Now she'd have a damn chance to smack him... this wasn't going to be a good day. He stopped opposite of Elsa on the courtyard and sighed, opening and closing his left hand a few times before quickly flicking out his arm, the iduradaeden/i Gauntlet appearing in very much the same way it had disappeared the day before on his arm, hand, and fingers. With a flick of his wrist the Hidden Blade was tested, and he smiled.

He then Turned towards Elsa, taking his trademark stance: Left hand out, and right hand holding the sword horizontally over his head with the tip pointing towards his opponent. Because of this stance, he was known as the Scorpion by most of the Templars that witnessed him in person and didn't have their eyes pecked out by birds.

"Come then, my Queen! Fulfill your promise of slapping me in a trial by combat!" He smirked again, raising his hood quickly before resuming his stance.

When Mark arrived Elsa raised an eyebrow at first confused, all that armor ? When she was just in her dress and ice cape ? OK this could work, She stared at his left hand as the gauntlet seemed to just grow out of nothing, covering his hand. So that was how it worked. She watched him settle, or so it seemed, into a stance of some form. Well, this was going to be fun. She was going to experiment today for sure! She stood there, relaxed, the swords held loosely in her hands. No stance what so ever.

Was she remembering something Matthew had taughter her ?

In a way yes, she was. That first time she and Matthew had sparred, he had stood relaxed, waiting for her to come to him. No stance, just relaxed, and she still was beaten by her teacher at the time, but since then she had gotten better, to the point where only it was her and Anna able to spar with each other; until Mark came. And Blackmane, and Snowfeather, and recruiting Georgina.

For a long moment she just stood there, relaxed, calm.

But it was Marks words to her that got her attention. Without a word, with no warning whatsoever ever Elsa made it snow on the ice rink, within seconds it was nice and thickly snowing around her as she darted forwards barefoot without a sound, Left sword blocking while her right span just off her fingers, controlled by her snow, After all, she wanted to slap him. He dared her to. And so, she was going to. She held her right hand however as if she was holding her right sword, which danced just off her hand; allowing her aim for Marks left cheekbone for a light slap. She did not want to knock him out. No, she could worry about that later

Mark stayed absolutely still until the last possible second, moving lightning quick and with precision. His left elbow raised up, and his shoulder turned, letting Elsa instead slap his shoulder while the rest of her arm slammed into his iduradaeden/i gauntlet while his right hand moved to strike at Elsa's left arm with the redoak sword he held. His stance was one of the most balanced many had seen thanks to his reflexes and gauntlet, which acted as his claws while his sword arm acted as his stinger, must like a Scorpion.

However that was simply the start. After his strike to her left arm, Mark would duck down and turn quickly, aiming to sweep her legs quickly. Once the turn was complete, and almost a split second after wards, he'd raise his leg up for a devastating axe-kick that he would, of course, stop in time to just lightly tap her head or chest, wherever his foot landed. Of course, leave it to him to simulate going for kill shots immediately.

Drat he was expecting it. Elsa thought, her open palm slapping lightly against his shoulder and upper arm as her own arm slammed into his gauntlet. The good steel felt weird to her skin, but she gave it no second thought. She thought then to intensify the snowfall around them but thought better of it for the time being. She used her snow to continue working with the right sword and grabbed the left in both hands, backtracking quickly to keep out of reach, he nearly tripped her up as she felt wind on her exposed right leg as she stepped quickly backwards. Snow swirled around their feet as he made the sweep; She almost charged back in

Almost

But instead she kept her distance, and let her right sword do the fighting for a second longer before diving back into the sparring; quickly snapping up the right redoak sword and catching Marks own on her left under her arm. She stopped the snowfall, letting it the snow that had fallen to swirl around them in a lazy dance as she let go of Marks sword and backtracked quickly before snapping forwards again, this time with her left sword just off her hand with her snow controlling it as her palm was once more wide open, this time going for his right cheekbone fast as a snake.

Mark gritted his teeth as she caught his own sword under her arm, and hopped back, himself as she let go, flicking out his sword quickly before also stepping forward again.

He was expecting her to go for his right cheek this time, but not at this speed, and as a result a resounding smack was heard, and he turned his head, blinking a few times before looking at her, a devious smirk on his face. "Oh, you're done now, my dear." He said, a look of extremely playful, yet deadly determination in his eyes.

With that he charged in again, using his gauntlet-covered left arm to fend off any attacks from that side of his body while using his sword to strike at any angle he could, and to block her attacks as well. He'd occasionally throw a kick as well to keep her off balance and guessing as to what he'd do.

Every now and then he'd throw a wide hook punch or ridge-hand with his left arm towards her shoulder or head to keep her on her toes and moving quickly. His breathing was slow, and even, but sweat already was beading on his forehead, ready to fall into his face. His footsteps looked slow, methodical, almost dance-like as he moved forwards, backwards, sideways, and even around elsa in a sort of trance of battle, a look of firey determination in those brown eyes of his.

"Not by a long shot" Elsa replied softly, her own eyes having a sense of playfulness in them as they sparkled as she blocked his firrst strike and ducked out of the way of his arm. Already thinking on how she could use it against him as she danced out of his path, blocking and occasionaly striking back with one or the other of her swords wooden blades cracked with each strike. And yet they never broke. Something of those Troll Grown trees the swords were carved from, or so the legends said.

Moving quickly, and almost as if in a dance of her own she struck with her right blade with blocking with her left, and at the very last second she changed tactics and both blades went at Mark in a flurry of motion. For long moments the two danced on the ice of the courtyard ice rink. Without a care seemingly as they did so.

Watching them spar were Snowfeather, Matthew, and Georgina. And also Kai and some of the others. Blackmane stepped through the front gate of the castle, recently returned from the Greensky District, recently liberated at that. She was confused however seeing Mark and Elsa sparring in the courtyard on the ice. "What is going on ?"

"Sparring session, Healers orders" Matthew replied calmly

"I can see it is a sparring session, Lansing, but why would the Healer give such an order ? Did Elsa request Kaedrian to do such thing ?" Blackmane asked watching as the two traded strikes and blocks. Elsa using two blades so skillfully, Mark only just one, just as skilled if not better.

"If only you had come moments ago" Matthew said softly to Blackmane as he never took his gaze from the two sparring on the ice so skillfully; "You could have heard it, a brief slapping noise of a sort"

"Someone has finally made a mark on him ? And it was her ?" Blackmane asked. She gave Matthew a hard look as the older man nodded, "What was that of liberating Whitehall District today ?" Snowfeather snickered as Georgina remained quiet, watching every move Mark made, taking it all in. This was one of the ways of learning how to take on experience in contracts; observing their elders.

"I want Elsa and Mark to do it. Why ?" Matthew asked

"Whitehall is overridden with Templars, both captains and soldiers alike, their main base is there. Are you sure it is wise to send them both ?" Blackmane said, "How long has Elsa been out of bed ?"

"About an hour; maybe two, possibly three" Came the calm reply from Snowfeather

"And she has been sparring all that time ?" Blackmane asked

"No actually, we had breakfast and then had to wait twenty minutes for Kaedrian to wake up" Georgina replied with a smirk, "That was about ninety minutes ago I think"

"Whatever, ninety minutes or one twenty, who cares, Elsa has just woken up, and it never snowed last night, well it did but not as bad as everyone to panic of what was going on like it happened seven years ago" Blackmane replied, "They're to liberate Whitehall District, the Blacksmith district, but it is also very thick with Templars everywhere, I dont want them tired when they do it"

"So who calls it ?" Matthew asked, his face had something of a goofy expression, his eyes half glazed as he watched Mark and Elsa spar so skillfully. It was almost like a dance between these two

"Maybe they will." Snowfeather replied watching the two go at each other, Elsa barely dodging a kick before delivering her own and then the two of them both getting tangled up on the ground in a heap and soft laughter, snow piled thickly under them to keep them unharmed on the ice rink

While the sparring session and discussions on the side took place, Ulnaus landed silently on the fountain, watching everything calmly while also preening his feathers.

As the two fell onto the ground, both of them struggled for the dominant position while sparring, swords and arms flailing around and clashing. Mark's gauntlet causing a crack in the ice as Elsa flung him off of her and he slammed into the ground, sliding and digging the claws into the ice to stop himself as well, getting up while holding his sword tightly in his other hand, looking up he charged and aimed a diagonal slash meant to go across Elsa's torso, as if to simulate a finishing move.

Just as it was about to land he stopped, covering his ears as Ulnaus let out the most massive screech any of them had heard. Mark then hopped back out of range of Elsa's swords as a swarm of small sparrows all started to attack Ulnaus at Mark's wild gesture, almost as punishment for screeching like that. With a grunt Mark stood straight, pointing the tip of his blade at Elsa with a smirk.

"Now then, where were we?" he asked.

As she flung Mark off her she rolled back to her feet; All of a sudden quite thankful for her ice and snow magic, if she did not possess it, she'd have never gotten him, with all his armor, off of herself in one go. When Ulnaus screeched loudly that gave her enough time to bring up here swords to stop Marks strike, she snapped out her blades to try and make a mark quickly but Mark was one step ahead of her dancing out of her reach as she darted after him. Quickly coming to a fast halt before his blade could touch her

She stared then as the swarm of sparrows came out of nowhere and swarmed Ulnaus, O...K... that was different. iHey look!/i She seemed to be thinking as she watched the sparrows swarm the massive Eagle, ia distraction!/i As he spoke she snapped out of it, she struck quickily with both her swords and dove at Mark to tackle him, snow swirling underfoot into large drifts, she was aiming to either trip him into one or tackle him into one of the snowdrifts. Where were they ?

In a snowdrift

Mark saw the tackle coming, but was still too stunned from Ulnaus' annoying screech to try and move out of the way, and with a resounding "Oof!" was dropped into a snowdrift with Elsa on top of him, his sword rolling out of his hand, and to Snowfeather's feet, clattering on the ground while Mark's gauntleted hand was inches away from Elsa's throat, a look of half fear half surprise in his eyes, and also the look of being very impressed, yet also an arrogant look of victory based soly on where his claws were.

The sparrows all fluttered away and vanished, leaving Ulnaus a ruffled mess, and looking very pissed off.

Mark's breath was heavy and quick, tired even as he then let his head drop into the snowdrift and his arm fall to his side. "Okay, Princess...you win..." He said jokingly, grunting as he scooted his way to his feet and stood up, lowering his hood with one hand, panting hard still, but with a smirk on his face that said. "You know I won in some way there." without having to say it.

A pale silver eyebrow raised slightly at that word, princess... it had been a long time since she heard anyone call her that! She smiled and started laughing getting to her feet, handing off the wooden swords as Snowfeather picked up; Elsa gave Mark a sidelong glance. "Yes, in a way you may have won..." She meant about the princess comment, woooo she was going to have to think on a practical joke to get back at him for sure for that comment! She was a queen not a princess.

But, if she could be a princess again, she'd glady take it, being queen was too much work!

She smirked then, a hint of playfulness in her tone "But you hit the ground first!" Oooo she was going to get back at him for that princess comment... somehow

"Stuff it you two" Snowfeather called out flicking her foot and tossing the wooden sword to the nearby weaponkeeper; "Are you two up for a libereation mission of a sort ?"

Mark was still breathing ahrd when Snowfeather came over, looking to her with a weary expression on his face. "Sure I'm up for it...just not at this very moment..." He said calmly, still sweating and breathing hard. "Gimme about ten minutes to rest up." He asked softly, respectfully as he blinked slowly and wiped some sweat from his brow.

Elsa was barely breaking a sweat herself, yet she was breathing just as hard. Yet she felt refreshed after all that sleep. Though she did want to spend that week at her ice palace, Hans screwed up the plan. but when Snowfeather mentioned the liberation mission Elsa raised a pale eyebrow confused. "Liberation mission ? You mean the lighting of the signal tower ?" She and Matthew had liberated five total districts so far. Out of all of the districts in the kingdom.

"Yes that exactly. though your destination is Whitehall District." Blackmane said; Whitehall district. Elsa barely went there even as a child. Almost constantly in the marketplace if anything else. What made her see that Blackmane didn't want her and Mark to do it was something rather important. "Something tells me that the Templars I froze here last year have offspring..."

"That is one way of putting it. There are three dens in Whitehall District, splitting the massive district into three parts. Georgina will go with you. try to hit the signal towers at the same time." Snowfeather said

"Whitehall District is also a Blacksmith district. dozens of them across the district itself. Soon as even so much as one signal tower is lit, some of those shops can be reopened" And thus make Arendelle some more gold Elsa thought as Matthew explained the area. "But the district is overrun with Templar loyal soldiers, use your ice sword, or your hidden ice blades if you must. but try not to let them gang up on you." Matthew said, it was bad enough that Elsa got hit by a sleeper dart as it was. "They wont be expecting you; the changing of the guard is the best time to do it. Which is not long from now."

Mark looked to each of them as they spoke to one another, catching his breath the whole time while Ulnaus took off immediately, heading towards the Whitewall district. "I'm going to have birds mark where blindspots in the Guard's view are for you two. They'll squawk if they see trouble, and if they do, either keep still or get the hell out of there. I'll also have some... inconspicuous birds follow the captain around for you." He added, raising his hood as the Weaponkeeper brought him his sword, strapping it around his body so he could use it later. He also strapped at least a dozen throwing knives around his thighs and belt.

Finally he turned to Elsa. "When you're ready to ascend the tower, be careful. They've begun to lace them with Firerope and grease. If you would like, I can have Ulnaus carry you up there, or you can create some stairs or something, I'm sure. If you want Ulnaus, give a signal; I'll know it when I see it, and send the big fool over for you." he smiled.

He looked to Snowfeather and his smile diminished as he became serious. "Which tower am I going for?" He asked.

Elsas eyes went wide; firerope ? Oh no... that stuff ihurt like hell! "...Firerope... the Templars know of it ? Use it ?" OK, yeah, she'd want shoes for this. With that thought snow swirled underfoot and within seconds she had a pair of what appeared to be soft white leather shoes on her feet; if she absolutely had to, she could climb the tower and not use her magic to do it. But lately she used her magic on a very daily basis; to the point where it was completely on a whim without any other thoughts

"When you get there you three can pick that out. They're evenly spaced apart within the district. equal devisions. The closest Den we have to it is Roughwater District" Snowfeather replied, Elsa smiled, ah yes, Roughwater Inn, she remembered that visit. How could she not ? "So reenforcements wont exactly be possible until at least one of those towers are lit" That meant clearing the ground before going up. Made sense

"Firerope is reactive to my magic, somehow. I can't really explain it, but; if I make a ladder or even a rope or stairs, the firerope will activate, and break apart my magic" Elsa said thoughtfully, "We take on one tower at a time." Elsa was already thinking on how to even identify if a tower had firerope on it. Since they weren't expected; they might be able to pull it off. Besides, Whitehall, as Blackmane had said, was a major blacksmith location; liberate that and they got more Blacksmiths to their cause!

"One at a time? That'll make it difficult once we get one done, my Queen. Once one goes up, the defense on the other two will tighten more than you can imagine. We have to hit them at the same time, or at least cause chaos in the other two while we assault one." he advised calmly, sighing as he took a few steps back and forth, pacing. "We'll figure it out when we get to the den in Roughwater..." With that he flicked out his wrist, his Bronze Transport Array appearing. "Shall we?" He asked, stepping into it and vanishing from sight.

Elsa smiled, almost saying "the birds..." but Mark had activated the transport array and disappeared. Elsa watched, facinated as the bronze design appeared on the ground, iOK, how did he do that ?/i She wondered, never seeing his hand movements to make it; She saw Georgina smile and step onto the mark on the ground, quickly disappearing just like Mark did; here went nothing Elsa thtought stepping onto the mark and just as quickly nearly rammed headlong into Georgina who at the same time tried not to ram into Mark from behind.

Kingdom of Arendelle

Roughwater District Assassin Den

Noon

This was originally Georgina's home. Taken as 'tax seizure' two years before, and recently taken back by Elsa herself to use as an Assassin Den. Georgina however was allowed to live there as she always had; One room was never unlocked, it was more then just Georgina's bedroom, it held an item, a burial urn containing her sons ashes in a small shrine. the rest of the massive manor house of two floors however held everything an Assassin Den required. Elsa had only been there once.

There was a large kitchen table nearby, on it was a full map of the Kingdom of Arendelle; it marked both Assassin Dens, as well as Templar Dens and Templar patrols in the area. Latly the Templars had been leeching from Whitehall into Roughwater. Which meant that clearing Whitehall could be easy. They wanted Roughwater back because it was the best locale, and the only district at that, which had a gallows. Which Elsa of course had burned into naught but ash nearly a month before when she liberated Roughwater.

Mark immediately went for the table with the map, picking up a pencil in his hand as he circled each Whitehall Den. "Alright...here they are. The patrols are rather standard; easy to avoid, easy to take out, but only if you catch them at the right time." He said calmly. He looked up to Elsa and Georgina and explained a few different ways of attacking the dens.

They could each take on one at a time, with minimal risk of missing one or alerting the others and making it more difficult, or they could split up, take on two, and then pincer the last one, or they could all three go at one, then decide what to do from there, whether it be stay together and take another, or split up to take the other two. As he explained this, he lightly drew arrows to depict where they'd be moving and what they'd be doing.

After that, he looked at them again, a look of seriousness on his face that Elsa may not be familiar with. "Now the question remains...which are we doing?" He asked calmly, yet with a sting to his voice that seemed ready to judge if a difficult choice was made.

Elsa looked over the map, she counted each templar signal tower entries. the one in the center portion of Whitehall had fourteen entrances "We split up and take this one first. it has fourteen entries, they can't cover them all." She said pointing out all fourteen ways to get into the place. the compound was huge, high walled, and best of all, filled with countless windows, some of them wide open

"Fourteen entries... that's code for 'idon't walk in through the front door./i'" Georgina said in answer to Elsas unasked question, the Queen merely nodded and continued speaking

"Once this signal tower is lit, we split up again and take on both of these two towers at the same time. Use a flare or something once the templar den commander is slain"

Only a small chuckle was heard from Mark was the two ladies bantered a little bit before he looked at them. "Alright then, which ones are you guys taking? I'll go right down the damn middle; keep 'em busy." he said. He liked going through the front door, always went better for him. He placed an M where he was going to infiltrate the den, then looked up at Georgina and Elsa, waiting for their answers. Once chosen, he'd put their respective initials at their desired entrances and then he'd stand up.

"My birds are already tracking the patrols around the entire district, to pay attention to them. If you see doves, there's a hay-cart for you to jump in to just below to hide in. Ulnaus is circling the district out of sight of just about everyone; and of course we have the regular eagles that roost on top of the towers." Mark explained calmly his eyes flashing bronze as he flicked out his wrist, his Transport array.

"Think of where you want to go, flick out your wrist pointing it to the ground, and step through. If you come out in one piece, you did it right." He said, mostly to Elsa, as a quick tutorial on how to create a Transport Array. Waiting for her to try it. "Try small; across the table; then go for your entrance to the Den." He added; giving her a smaller tutorial step would help, even if she was already adept at magic to begin with.

Elsa looked thoughtful as Georgina nodded, "you plan on the front door dont you ?" was all the younger woman said. Elsa tried not to smile at those words. "Fourteen ways in, why do you want to go in through the front gate ?" She was going to say more, but Elsa spoke up.

"We split up, this one in the middle is the largest of the three dens, we take it together, there may be more then one templar control or overeseer in this den as it is. We split up, find whatever captains of the Templars we can, hit them from afar or without getting noticed... and then met up at the tower base." She said it mostly as a thought, after all, a compound that big, there had to be more then one templar captain there!

Her eyes went wide as Mark activated a transport array, Georgina smiled, she knew how to make it, Snowfeather had taught her, briefly, though it was fun, Georgina actually didn't really like that method of travel. But if it was the only method of travel of long distences, she'd take it. But to Elsa, seeing Mark make such a mark on the ground made the young Queen stare in confusion, then change over to pure curiocity; when Mark showed her how to create it she mimiked his movement and a silvery white ring similar to Mark's bronze appeared on the den floor, hopping into it Elsa disappeared, and seconds later the same mark appeared a few meters from where she was originally standing as she seemingly appeared from thin air. "Like that ?" She asked. Hoping she had done it correctly

Georgina's question was only met with a laugh from Mark. "But of course! Someone's gotta be crazy enough to do it." he added, laughing again, silencing himself as Elsa spoke up.

He nodded at her words. He watched her create her own transport array, smiling as he saw it. When she asked if she did it right. "Step through and find out." He said. The best way to test it out was to just do it.

Elsa did just that, activating and stepping through the transport array was actually easier then initally thought. She had seen Snowfeather make one, or rather, arrived when one was made on both ends when they rescued Blackmane rom Weselton; but making one herself, that was new to learn. Finally she smiled and nodded, alright that was all set. Now to bring some pain to the Templars. "Shall we ?" The plan as far as it looked on the map, was to spilt up and take the center den at once. with fourteen ways in; and a hundred twenty three Templar soldiers inside the area. That just made it more fun.

Georgina smiled, and went over to the nearby weapons racks and went through her gear, a few poison darts, a few berzerk darts, and her new favorite, camera bombs. Which allowed thanks through Snowfeathers technology reach, a full six dozen tiny cameras to make a full three dimensinal hologram of the inside of a room. That and the CIA had a few, so she snaged the latest bunch from the Oslo building. Elsa was confused however of the darts, a few of them were attached to ropes. but she looked quite ill at the more deadlier darts. Georgina turned to the others and nodded, it was time to begin

Mark only smiled when Elsa's transport array worked, and nodded, knowing what he needed to do as he checked over his own gear. His trademark Gauntlet with included Hidden-Blade also made of Duradaeden, his usual armor, sword, and at least two dozen throwing knives in places such as his shoulder, hips, thigh, ankles, and even his free wrist. He then noticed something different: Rope Darts...He hadn't used them in a while...but boy were they fun! He grabbed a couple, making sure that they'd be easilly accessable.

"Alright. Once you're in position, you'll know what to do." He said, his eyes glowing a bright bronze as his Transport Array activated, flashing brightly as he stepped through it, vanishing instantly.

Elsa activated her own transport array and she and Georgina disappeared from the Roughwater Den as well. Appearing seconds later on the street in the area they wanted to be on the map. Elsa got a very good look at the huge building. It was four floors tall, countless windows, and shaped like a upside down E. On the outside she counted fifty three templar soldiers, all of them wearing the Arendelle Guard uniform. As much as she hated to do kill such soldiers, wearing her own colors. She nodded to Georgina, who turned towards the west, back towards the castle, With Mark going for the center of the building, she headed East, towards the place she had been nearly taken to the day before by the CIA.

She scampered from group to group, not many in this district recognised her in her now reddish blue ice dress but a few had and pointed fingers. She went right for an open window on the second floor. After taking in the building she saw the signal tower, and what looked like recently painted as well, every tower had a different view. Once inside however she heard some voices from outside; Elsa took a moment to listen to the voices pointing in her direction. "Was that the Queen ?" One person asked

"Doubt it, she dont wear red" Said another

"I'm pretty sure I saw the queen! Dress was right an' everything" the first voice persisted.

"Yeah ? Since when did the Queen wear her ice dress in red ?" Insisted the second voice

"Well since you put it that way..." Elsa smiled not hearing the rest of it as she padded, barefoot, from the window deeper into the building. Her ice worked in three ways, beauty, weapons and clothing. So at that moment she stood against a door and peeked out, stairs going up and down, focusing her vision she looked again, and counted two men directly on the other side of a strangely glowing door, and two people seated on a nearby bench. And a third enemy on a patrol route she could map out. Elsa waited a few seconds and then darted with the templars vision turned and took a seat on the bench. As if to take a rest.

Once she was seated, Elsa quickly cast a dove of ice; almost completely invisible, she let it fly out the window, as it flew it sped past the front door that was wide open with four large columns towering the foor floors to support the roof and the three floors above it. This building was pretty much a small palace! The signal was simple, 'I'm in, see you at the signal tower base'