A/N: Thanks to everyone for managing to bear with me on this one. I had a bit of semi writer's block, all day work sessions exhausting me and a lack of confidence in this chapter in general. And a proper beta reading to top it all off (thanks, Vesfarhloc). Please do leave a review if you like what you read, it makes it way easier for me to put pedal to the metal.

Also, just take note that this fic will take what seems to be a bit of a strange turn next chapter. The truly heavy stuff isn't for a while yet. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Chasing Echoes

Red paced the room for what felt like the fifty-first billionth time. What was the hold up? So maybe the alarms went off a little early than they perhaps should have. Did that really matter at this point? They had all the jewels. All that was left now was to make the deal and they'd all be laughing over bottles of champagne.

Okay, maybe not champagne.

She hadn't even mentioned the little close encounter. If it weren't for the fact they would soon be parting ways, Rex would never let her hear the end of it. Even if it was sort of his fault. Wasn't the button supposed to knock all the guards out?

That was part of the reason she just wouldn't stop moving. If she did, she would only think about that standoff all over again. It had been nothing like she had imagined. No witty one-liners. No chase between cop and robber. Nothing like movies she remembered. Just an icy woman determined to see her behind bars and find out who she was working for. There seemed to be a lot of focus on that last point.

Did it really matter? Whoever she was, her lapse of judgement had allowed Red to get the best of her. She would never see that woman again. If she had managed to have her way, Red would be at the start of a very long stay in jail. Red looked around her.

Not much of an improvement so far. If not for her additions, it would be nothing but grey, grey, grey. There wasn't even a window to look out of. Just six hard surfaces and a steel door. Not much of an improvement at all.

What was so great about that woman, anyway? The way she was talking, that woman was far more interested in who she was working for that Red herself. She was something of an underground legend. A phantom that seeps through cracks and faults to collect her prize. A shadow that was never there. An echo that can never be fully recalled.

Yet last night, she was there: caught red-handed by this women. With a gun pointed at her no less! The first person to have finally caught in the act...hardly cared about her at all. Only her employers. She would never be able to tell anyone else, both a blessing and a curse.

How is that supposed to work?

She went back to pacing. Living a lie was certainly better than living at the bottom of the barrel.

Despite Elsa mind trying to regained conscious, her body screamed at her that to do so wasn't exactly the best idea for her condition. Pain lanced at her from every angle, attempting to strangle her back into unconscious. As if that wasn't bad enough, the reason for her condition had somehow become an amalgamous blur for her now.

Urgh...where am I?

As Elsa started to regain her bearings, her senses began to explore her surroundings. She appeared to be laying in some kind of bed. Not at home, though. There was far too much background noise coming from the AC. Slowly but surely, she eventually gathered enough willpower to force her eyes open.

I'm in a hospital. Excellent…

Elsa clutched her head, a mix of soreness and disbelief hitting her. At this point a night of binge-drinking wasn't outside the realm of possibility. No, that wasn't her at all. Elsa closed her eyes, trying to remember what exactly happened last night. Scraps and pieces appeared every now and then to her, but Elsa was unable to make out any fine details. The only thing that was clear in her mind was anger. Anger at a lot of work and planning that had amount to naught but her lying in a hospital with a brain that felt as though it had just come out of a headbutting contest with a sledgehammer and a body sixty years its senior.

A round of pain relief and half an hour later, Elsa's confused mind was beginning to reassemble the memories of what had transpired the night before. She had staked out the exhibit. Then things became serious. There was a bright light. Anything more slipped through the fingers of her mind, and trying to force the issue only brought the pain back.

"Oh, Elsa! Thank goodness you're alright." The chief had entered the room while she was trying to meditate on her thoughts. Was it visiting hours? She had lost all sense of time.

Elsa clutched her head. "Sir, I'm so sorry. Something happened last night." Was it last night? It could have happened a year ago. "I can barely even remember anything that transpired."

"That's hardly surprising. The doctor told me you were hit with a powerful narcotic. She said that you probably won't suffer any permanent damage, but your short-term memories at the time would be extremely adversely affected." He looked out the window, and sighed. "Elsa, we failed. I failed. The Scarlet Star is gone. If the perpetrators had intended any more serious harm to you, we wouldn't be having the conversation. The same goes for the rest of my men."

Elsa blinked. Something was coming back to her. The men were all knocked out, somehow at exactly the same time. From the chief's tone she gather that none of them had expired either, but something about what happened didn't seem right. "I think you should just take me through what happened if you can."

"I think this can explain better than I ever could." He handed her an electronic tablet. There were recordings from the cameras. By all accounts, it seemed that none of their electronics had been compromised. But something was missing.

"So what exactly am I supposed to be looking at, here?" Elsa asked. "There's nothing of note here. Unless, there's something that should be there."

"Precisely. Despite the Star clearly being gone and the security being completely intact, there's neither head nor tail of any kind of perpetrator. Here's the strangest part, though." He flicked through the feeds until the camera overseeing the Scarlet Star's display showed. Just before the video hit the midnight timestamp, the video seemed to crackle a bit. Elsa saw herself, and the lights in the room coming to life. Then, half the video seemed to shimmer and distort uncontrollably. "We're fairly certain that you had tried to confront the thief at this point; it was hardly likely you would point your gun and threaten the wall."

In some ways, what she observed was rather similar to her memory. There was definitely someone there that night, but it was as though her mind had retracted any more details when she probed for them. "So, whatever this shimmer or distortion is was our crook's way of avoiding detection from the cameras."

"That's what the others are going with." Roe sighed heavily. "We took all those steps to avoid them compromising our security and they just pull another trick out of their hat. It's the same with my men. Same exact sedative that was used on the museum guards. But that really shouldn't be possible. We triple checked all of our food rations. They shouldn't have been able to contaminate it at all."

And yet, they had. Despite the objections popping up in her mind, it felt as though their enemy had danced circles around them so thoroughly they couldn't even tell which way was up any more. Especially in her case.

Elsa continuously scrubbed the footage back and forth, mulling over the particular section where her supposed attempted confrontation took place. If she were to assume that such an event took place, then it would spell out one simple clue: that these supposedly perfect criminals had made a mistake. A big one, no less. It was something that they had failed to factor in. Even in her slightly addled state, Elsa immediately knew the answer: her.

They knew about the police, but not her. She'd have fallen with them otherwise. Narcotics. Somehow administered, but when? Couldn't have been after the plan, no endgame for the chief to do so. Must have been administered before. Slow acting drug? No - nothing known would act that slowly. Not to mention that it would leave far too much possible variables. Had to take effect with perfect synchronisation. As though under their control...wait a second...control?

"Chief, I thought of something. Do you think you could run blood tests all of your officers? I have a tentative idea on how they managed to knock out our security again."

"I hope you're right about this. I don't think I have much time left as it is." Elsa paused. Of course there would be the fallout for all this. The government would lose millions over the cost of the stolen Gems, and their reputation would be tarnished for years to come, no matter how well they explained how the events unfolded. There was little they could do against Elsa herself, who lacked any official involvement. The chief, however, would bear the brunt of the fallout. Elsa wasn't going to let that happen. Seizing her body, Elsa willed herself up into action and after a couple of seconds of coordination, it accomplished the task of rousing itself from drowsiness.

The chief followed her. "Elsa, you can't seriously be thinking about leaving. There's still concerns about your health. At least let the doctor-"

"That will take time, sir. Something we both know is a luxury we cannot afford. Maybe the culprits are still within the city. Maybe they aren't. But whatever window of opportunity we may have is shrinking the longer we wait. We both know this goes far beyond just you and me."

Roe gave her a look. One she remembered all too well from the time two years ago. "I don't want you getting hurt. Is it really worth it?"

Elsa respected him far too much to tell him what an absurd question that was. "Twenty-four hours. That's all I'm asking for. If I fail to find any pertinent leads in that time-"

Roe let out a defeated sigh. "There's no way I'm going to talk you out of this, is there?" Elsa shook her head. "Fine. I'll give you access to whatever you might need. But I'm holding you to your word. Are we clear?"

Elsa finally managed a smile through all the lingering discomfort. "Crystal, sir." She had a chance. For now, that would have to suffice.

With one slightly reluctant conditional discharge behind her, Elsa is now up against a battle of two fronts to fight, although in its own way they were one and the same. In spite of all the medication she had been prescribed, a tornado of dull pain continued to bounce around her head,blurring everything it could. Including the precious memories of the night before.

Leaning back towards her seat as the Arendelle Metro Train sped off above the streets, Elsa pushed into the depths of her mind, but her brain was having none of it. Even the things she could remember needed to be gripped tightly, lest they also slip back into the fog. She was starting to gain the upper hand, but unearthing any more memories about what she had done the night before was proving impossible.

While it pained her to admit it, she needed a trigger. Something that would light her synapses on fire and jog her memory. What an embarrassment it was for her to not even trust her own head! She pulled out her phone. Was there anyone? She hadn't told anyone in the force, there could still have been a traitor in their line. Even if that wasn't the case, someone could have tapped their means of communication. That didn't leave many options.

Desperate times call for desperate measures…

"Hey there, boss. So, how did the stakeout go?"

Elsa had to bite her tongue in order to prevent her from explaining how his chipper voice was doing her head no favors. "I'll explain later. Adam, do you perhaps remember what steps I took to secure the exhibit?"

"Are you seriously suggesting that you managed to forget?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "For the sake of argument, say that I did. Was there anything in particular that I said I should or might do to prepare?" She tensed up. Hopefully this would be worth all the times he would bring this up.

"Alright, alright. Okay, let's see here. Well, we didn't actually speak that much since you got to work, but I recall you being worried about how the security guards were all knocked out." While technically true, that was just retreading old ground. "What else was there. You also mentioned something about shoe prints."

Shoe prints, of course. That was something she had brought up after the last break-in. Maybe there was something she had done. "Was there anything else?"

"Well, most of the time you were concerned about the electronic security being compromised. You said something about layering the security more and setting up additional networks, but you wouldn't go into any detail. Sorry I couldn't be of more help."

Elsa gave the slightest smile. "No, you were more helpful than you think. If anything, it's my fault for not keeping any records of this." The train slowed down. Two stops to go. "Anyway, I'm headed for the police station. I might have a couple of leads now. Can you hold down the office until at least tomorrow?"

"Sure thing. We got another call actually, but I'm sure they can wait."

Elsa sat in front of a dusty desk in the office area of the building, trying to collect herself. There were still no new breakthroughs from her mind, although upon reflection perhaps the hints she had been given weren't sufficient on their own. It was when she had viewed the events that had unfolded, albeit slightly altered, that things had started to return. Perhaps she was fighting a losing battle. At least, as far as remembering was concerned.

The next viable option was to retrace her steps. Instead of trying to remember what she had done, she next turned to trying to figure out what she would have done. First of all, the shoeprint question. There would likely be far too many prints on the scene to single out the culprit's on their own, even if they cleaned the floor regularly. No, there had to be something to distinguish their steps in particular.

There had to have been somewhere only the intruder would tread. Of course, the area around the display. The room holding the Scarlet Star had no way to enter or exit besides the archway. Elsa had seen to that. Even so, it was possible for them to snag the Star from a distance. If only she could remember what had leaves her to the last piece of the puzzle: the security cameras.

The security cameras. It was a long shot for sure, considering what had happened. She gritted her teeth. Hours of thought, effort and worry had all been moot by whatever strange device this thief had used. Just what exactly was it they had used? She logged into the computer in front of her, and repeated the footage of her pointing a gun at what was ostensibly nothing. If only she had done something. She muttered to herself as the image of herself was struck with the dart the interception team found protruding from her chest. Then, something caught her eye. The distortion moved towards the exit. No doubt the thief making their escape. What was curious was that for a few frames, Elsa herself was missing from the footage.

Whatever it was that had obscured the intruder, it had almost entirely blocked the view of Elsa as well. This single fact was could change everything. Whatever they had used, it had created an area of distortion that cloaked an area around itself, rather than wrapping itself around the intended user. If that were the case, it was entirely possible that Elsa was inside the bubble of distortion for a split-second. Now she just had to make that mean something.

Elsa sat there, perfectly silent. her mind refused to budge. She got up and paced the length of the room. Nothing. She even took a jolt of coffee, abhorrent as she normally found the concoction. Even the buzz of caffeine failed to dredge anything up. Finally, she threw her first down on the desk. Why did she have to pick now to be so unproductive?

"You!" Elsa snapped out of her reverie. A man in uniform had noticed her quiet frustration. It took her a moment, but she soon realised who it was. He was one of the officers assigned to guarding the star the night before. The one she had spoken to last. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here like this."

Elsa glared at him. Couldn't he rant some other time? "Look, I really don't have time for this."

"And why is that? It's not like you've got to cover your ass, unlike a certain police chief." He slammed his fist on the wall, startling Elsa. "You have any idea how much he's pulled us through?"

Elsa sighed. She had a distinct feeling she knew far better than he ever would. "That's why I'm here. Because it's not too late yet. Now is not the time to be losing heart, much less our integrity."

"What do you know about integrity? You didn't even think twice about spying on us to achieve your goals."

Elsa blinked. She was determined to catch the culprits for sure, but that seemed far below the level she considered herself out. This man had to be exaggerating just a little bit. "I'm certain I don't know what you mean." She braced herself.

The man pulled something out his pocket and forced it into Elsa's hand. "This. Did you really think none of us would find it just a little bit strange that our uniforms would suddenly require processing? Or how different our button suddenly looks?" The man squeezed his forehead, but the gears in Elsa's head had just kicked into overdrive, and she didn't even notice. "Look, I know we needed to take drastic steps to catch the perp. Hell, what you did wasn't going far enough. But would it kill you to keep us in the loop? We're supposed to be on the same side here."

Elsa steadied herself. This was it! This was the break she was looking for. "Could you hold that thought for a moment? I need to check something."

"What? I'm not done yet."

Elsa ignored him, stepping past. "If you care about the chief as much as you say-" she didn't wait for a response. Her mind had already skipped into overdrive, drifting far away from this man's superfluous complaining. Her only thoughts were for two things: and observation, and a possibility.

She had recognised the man almost as soon as she ran into him, despite having no reason to have encountered, much less spoken with him before the failed trap. That could only mean she had not only seen him on that night, but now she could remember that fact. All from a few viewing his face.

The entire thing hinged on the second factor: the possibility. Looking through the footage she might have acquired from the officers almost certainly turn up nothing of value; mostly only static images once the men were drugged. It all hinged on the logical extrapolation of this discovery.

It was seconds before Elsa confirmed her hypothesis. There in the where the highest button of her trenchcoat used to be there was a tiny electronic eye. For the entire day to this moment, a potentially crucial piece of evidence was right there with her, Elsa being none the wiser. Curiously, her hands didn't tremble even a little as her chance finally came into view, which was just as well as the camera required a fair amount of dexterity to remove the small memory card contained within.

Like hand in glove, the card fit into the computer, revealing its contents. Around twenty hours of footage. There was only a few split seconds that would matter. With the surveillance video, Elsa could cut down on the waiting. She moved the stream forward to the same time stamp, and watched. Frame. By. Frame. At first it appeared the camera had gone haywire, but that was simply the result of the interference being so close.

And there it was. For maybe two or three of the frames, a figure appeared almost magically, before slipping back into the aether. Her face was there almost completely clearly, although at a slight angle in all three frames. It was more than enough. As Elsa pulled her phone back out, another surge of adrenaline hit her, which she tempered with caution. They had a recorded face, but the slight blur from the motion meant that it nothing clear was coming back to her. She quietly groaned. Why did her memories have to give out on her now?

"Elsa." The chief was finally on the other end. "Any new leads?"

"Chief, I have the face of our intruder from the night. It isn't a hundred percent clear, but there's still a chance we can stop them leaving the city, if they haven't already."

There was nothing from the other end at first. "Seriously? That's a lot better than we started off, that's for sure. I'm guessing the database didn't come up with anything, though."

Elsa pondered. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"You know, the data- oh, that's right. You weren't around. Well, after the you-know-what, I petitioned for some hardware and software upgrades. Now we can use photographic facial recognition to help discover a person's ID and where they've been based on their appearance. I think now of all times it was worth the investment."

With a bit of searching and overcoming her moral inhibitions, Elsa found the program. "Doesn't this seem a bit intrusive?"

"Elsa, you of all people know what criminals these days are capable of. They have no morals, no honor, and they will take every inch they can get. This is the securest city in the world to trade and visit in, and people are willing to make a few sacrifices to keep it that way."

As the program ran for the first recorded frame, Elsa pondered. The answer she sought so desperately could be right here at her fingertips. So why did it not quite feel right? Perhaps it felt like she was stooping to their level. People being afraid of those who wished them ill was one thing, but Elsa swore that would never be the people sworn to protect them.

Only those who rightly fear their power deserve to wield it. Then again, can that same saying not only apply to those with dubious intentions as well? This technology could be used for either common good or personal benefit. The line would be thin, but Elsa would have to remain ever vigilant. She checked the screen. No matches. "It looks like the first frame is a no-go. I'm moving to the second."

"Don't lose heart if this doesn't work out, Elsa. The technology is still relatively new. Besides, you've already done more that I could have hoped for at this point." Elsa always wanted to take his words to heart, but failure was not an option. To be stymied at this point would almost certainly prove fatal. This frame had the person slightly closer to the camera, albeit at the same angle. Finally, the tantalising wait was over.

Seven Matches. Elsa groaned. They had gone from one extreme to another.

"Currently we're down to seven possible matches, sir. I suppose that's the best I could hope for given the quality of the image."

"That's certainly a lot better than having millions of possible suspects. I guess we'll have to work our way-" The chief continued to postulate, but Elsa had completely zoned out. When she saw the fifth possibility, her brain received the kick start it had needed. Synapses fired, and her memory resurfaced clear as day. The young woman she had confronted last night was staring right back in front of her on the computer monitor. Her chest stung as the memory of being shot resurged. Underneath her profile pic read one name:

"Red Weathers. The suspect we're looking for." So read the name next to the photo. "Before you ask; yes, I am certain. It's all come back to me."

"Really? That's great news. I'll send out word to all possible exit points to the city to keep a look out. Let's just hope we're not too late. Listen, I need to deliver my report to the mayor. There are some more search options you can use to help find where this "Red" might be. Let me know later if you turn anything else up, alright?"

"Will do, sir." Elsa looked at the program. There was plenty to be getting on with.

"And, Elsa? Please, don't do anything rash." The conversation ended. Elsa sat there, aghast at what she had just heard. Did he really need to say that? Of course he did. This was personal. It had been for a very long time. The White Hand would pay. In spite of her feelings, Elsa knew that she could ensure they did so the correct way.

She had a name and a face. Now she just needed a location. Would it have appeared anywhere else? Possibly. The White Hand could cover their tracks though. Would they have jammed all possible recordings? Possibly, thought they might lack contingency for a situation such as this. The White Hand wasn't the one she needed to find. This girl named Red was.

If luck is on my side, perhaps Red is less thorough in covering her tracks…

Elsa cross referenced the photo provided against all the available surveillance data in the city. Forty agonizing minutes later, the results were in: 23 matches. All of them from four days ago. From the trails they paint, there appear to be two separate routes with one point in common:the warehouse district.

Please, don't do anything rash.

The chief's words rang clearly through Elsa's head.

"Come on, guys. This isn't funny any more!" Red yelled as she banged on the door again. They couldn't have just left her there. Could they? No, they wouldn't have left her with the all the bits and piece she had been given while they had worked together. Perhaps they were busy with their client, negotiating price ranges. Or maybe they were trying to keep the heat off. Even if they hadn't been told about the encounter, there was no way they could have missed the alarm that had went off.

They had a deal, damnit. She had given them everything they had asked for. Sure, she may not have wrapped a bow around it, but she had gotten the job done. And her only mistake was on the last heist. Couldn't they all just lay low again? Maybe they didn't want her to interfere again. That had to be it.

Red lay down on her bed. That was about all she could do. Not that she could sleep at a time like this. It wasn't fair. Couldn't she at least talk to them about this?

The metal bar on the other side of the door started to groan. Red jumped up.

Maybe they could finally discuss this-

SMACK!

Red had approached the door, expecting to be greeted by Rex, or someone whom he had chosen to send for her. Maybe even the boss boss himself. What she certainly didn't expect was the butt of a gun to clock her on the side of her head