Blue eyes shot wide open.
They darted from left to right and watched as the turquoise glass covering her lift, creating steam.
Above her, the ceiling was covered with rims of ice so thick it made the metallic walls look blue. A few icicles hung stiffly around the room and some ice spikes rose to the height of the table beside her. She turned her head slowly, adjusting to the light. Ice was everywhere and although not all of them were thick, she could see snowflake prints on them.
Her mouth hung agape, realising she alone made all these happen - just like that Norwegian Queen from 250 years ago - and she didn't feel one bit spent.
Considering the it was only the second time she entered the Animus since her powers had awakened, she decided today's feat was a success as her powers did not blow the room up with a blizzard like her previous session. She vaguely recalled being woken abruptly and dragged out (or rather, carried out) disoriented and unable to comprehend the entire situation until given yet another hour long explanation.
Slowly, Elsa moved her a hand to make sure her head wasn't literally bouncing off the walls of the room like her brain was and with her left hand, she pushed herself up, noticing her own body weight felt incredibly light in the process. The thin layer of snow flakes that coated her skin white cracked from her movements, creating soft crackling sounds.
"H-h-how was it this time, Ms. Arend-d-d-delle?" A man in a thick white moustache asked. his hair was neatly combed back as usual, but he was wearing a thicker pair of gloves compared to before she entered REM sleep - black wool mittens instead of thin white gloves.
"Made any pr-pr-progress? D-do you f-f-feel confident about today?" She could hear in his voice how he was trying to exhale as much warm air as possible to warm himself up as he spoke. Clouds of smoke fogged over the man's face and Elsa made no cognitive effort to clear her vision. Before she could reply, the man made a beeline to shut down all his machines, "I'm sorry to ab-br-br-bruptly stop the f-f-f-mental training, Ms. Arendelle but it seems something unexpected has happened and we require y-y-ou to leave almost immediately."
She raised an eyebrow and dug in her brain to figure what the doctor, one who devoted his life to the assassins, could possibly be more important than training her to be an adequate one.
Elsa closed her eyes and take a deep breath, and after a moment, she let it out and the surrounding instantly warmed up to regular room temperature again. The ice though, remained in place, melting slower than she would have preferred it to. But it was faster than her first time and nobody got hurt, at least. For a brief moment she wondered if she could control water vapour as well, perhaps raising the room temperature in the process.
"I'm feeling a little better, Dr. Vay. In fact, considering how nothing is piercing into the machines, I'd like to think I have better control over this… ability now, thank you."
"Very well, now we have five minutes to test out your abilities before we depart. Shall we?" The man took off his winter coat and threw it aside. The sharp cold sent a visible shiver down his spine, but the man paid no mind and resumed his duties as per normal. He then took off his round glasses to wipe off the water droplets blurring his vision. "Although things aren't going as smoothly according to plans as I had hoped, my assistant is still going to train with you, since today's your first day he will go easy on you. We just want to test out your physical abilities for now."
Wait, what?
"Come on, now. We haven't got all day." He urged when Elsa merely remained seated, stunned, on her bed.
He walked towards a metal door, and it automatically slid open to both sides. A hissing sound erupted from the sides Elsa found herself mildly disappointed there weren't any steam when the doors opened like the Animus that encased her during her REM sleep.
She shook her head and chuckled to herself, Anna had made her watch too many movies.
The room was white, and in there stood a man in a taekwondo uniform. He wore a black belt with a red belt. A tenth dan. "Don't worry, Ms. Arendelle, he is only here to help you get stronger. After all, we can't rely solely on your ice powers, can we? We have 12 men to hunt. After one falls, the others would know more to be prepared." He said, pointing a finger into the air. "We have to be doubly-prepared!"
"I guess that makes sense." With a reluctant sigh, Elsa entered the room. The man bowed. She took it as a cue to bow as well, timidly, lowering her head, but her eyes remained focused on the man. He was big and burly. He had a big nose, and under it, a thick layer of moustache, connected to his beard and sideburns. Standing up front, the man was even more intimidating than a distance away, she couldn't for the life of herself, comprehend how was she going to fight him, let alone ever defeat him.
"We don't expect you to defeat him for starters. All we need now is to see if you've learned enough in a 5 minutes spar before we send you out."
Again with the five minutes thing without revealing a hint of what was going on outside the building to her. She nearly growled, frustrated by the man's reluctance to share even a piece of information with her, and decided that if she wanted anymore, perhaps she was going to have to literally fight the old whiskered man for it.
As the man got into position, Elsa merely brought her head up and panic took over. As the CEO of Arendelle Corp, she had zero experience in combat practice or street fights, and was at a loss of what to do.
Before she could find herself a comfortable stance, a leg swiftly appeared on her left, almost hitting her in her ribs. As if on instinct, her right hand came to block it, grabbing the man's foot by the ankle.
The blonde's eyes widened. What did she just- how did she just do that- what? Hope filled her eyes. Maybe all those dreams helped after all.
When she felt the force in the foot was let go, Elsa let go as well. Although it the brute force of it gave a really long, hard throbbing sensation she couldn't wave off her hand, the fact she was able to catch this man's movements brought out the confidence in her to face him head on. If she was able to follow his movements, she could stand a chance against beating him. She had seen enough movies and watched Anna play enough games to know how fights work. She could either wear him out or beat him to death with her feather-light punches… the latter did not sound appealing at all, however.
She looked at the man, who was just as surprised as she was.
She smirked, proud of herself.
Perhaps she could beat some answers out of Dr. Vay after all.
As swift as before, a left fist came flying in her direction, and then right hook, and a right foot. Without knowing what she was doing or how she was doing them for the matter, Elsa found herself dodging them with ease. She could tell they weren't fast, the man was holding back. Eager to test herself, she crouched down and leaped forward, raising her hand to cover the man's face. She couldn't beat him with brute force, so perhaps-
The next thing she knew, she was flat on the ground with her left arm behind her back and the man's knee on it. For the first time in her life Elsa wished she wasn't as thin as a stick insect.
"My apologies, Ms. Arendelle! Your speed exceeded my expectation so much when you lunged at me I forgot I was but fighting a beginner!" Elsa could only groan… Damn, the pain was real, at least she knew she definitely wasn't dreaming about her skills.
The blonde struggled to get up after the man got off her. She could barely feel her left hand. The man's lock was tight, as she should have expected of his rank. "It's alright, I just wanted to speed up the training by actually trying to defeat you." She hissed at every 's'. The pain in her back groaned with every inch her butt lifted off the ground and it augmented with every effort to straighten her back.
"If you are keen, we can skip this first and work on your physical abilities. You clearly lack in physical strength," He said, eyeing her body. Elsa looked down at herself, she was practically sticks and bones. And boobs, she laughed to herself. Anna would've said that. She blushed, remembering all the times she turned down Anna's invitation to hit the gym together… or simply to just go out together.
Her heart sank instantly at the thought of her lover. Anna. The look of her partner's worried face flashed in her mind. She hung her head in shame, unable to contact to reassure her partner of her safety. She wondered if Anna was sleeping or eating well, the redhead had a tendency to relapse into strictly chocolate diets to keep herself going.
"No, I'm afraid there isn't anymore time. Ms. Arendelle, I'm sure the question why I woke you up from the Animus abruptly has been nagging you since you got off the bed." Dr. Vay joined again, turning off the lights of the white room. He entered a couple of keys and a timer started counting down. "As much as I'd like to let this go, I know you will be unable to."
He quickly put on his coat and threw a light blue one with a simple white design on its back to the blonde. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, "The templars are after her."
Her?
Her...
Her, her, her, her…
She couldn't stop the gasp that choked up her throat, leaving her speechless.
No.
"I'm sorry to say it's the truth. My informants have confirmed that a pair of them are tailing her as we speak."
Elsa flipped - froze, more like.
The room temperature fell a significant degree in the blink of the eyes and rims started forming around the corners of the room and all eyes fell on her.
The chattering of teeth filled the room.
"You let her get trailed."
"I don't un-"
Elsa raised her voice. "You had all these facilities, you had informants, you had other assassins. You had all the resources you needed to find out about everything you needed about me." With every word she spoke, she felt herself grow to resemble the Queen Elsa from centuries ago. She narrowed her eyes at the man and snarled, "and yet you let my Anna fall into preys' hands."
"You don't understand, Ms. Arendelle." The man waved his hands in defense and he seemed like he wanted to really explain himself but decided against it. "We don't have time, I'll explain when we've saved your partner."
Once he turned to leave the room, the man she had just sparred with pat her on the back, reassuring her, "he's right, Ms. Arendelle. We apologise for our failure to ensure Ms. Anna's safety but I promise we'll do our best to save Anna."
Elsa put the coat on and followed after the man. It was thin and fitted to her frame perfectly - stretched when she did exaggerated movements - yet strong, like it was untearable. Upon realising underneath the jacket, she was but wearing blue track pants with two white stripes and literally just a white tank top, she finally smiled a little at how blue she was.
She was definitely making a fashion statement. Wait- "Won't I be attracting attention with this?"
Unfazed, Dr. Vay replied, "We're back in the twenty-first century, Ms. Arendelle. Bright coloured and clean clothings are a commonality so you won't stand out."
She tugged onto it firmly as they made their way out of the building with Dr. Vay and her new trainer, musing to herself what material it was.
"It's a regular leather jacket with a hoodie, coated with Parylene to withstand any possible danger that may come at you. Regardless, I would like to train you into top shape in order to defend yourself and defeat the Templars."
"I didn't think-"
"The rate at which science is developing thanks to technology is incredible these days, Ms. Arendelle. While you've spent your days curing cancer, others have spent their days creating many things that could save or destroy lives. What the Templars are after is one of the latter. I'm sorry we've possibly endangered Ms. Anders. They caught us off guard, but the lives of countless humans are at stake here."
Possibly endangered.
She held back yet another growl boiling in her chest. She didn't care about the rest of the human race - well of course she did, but without Anna, nothing else mattered to her - Anna was her one and only friend, her best friend, her family, her partner, her lover.
She was her everything.
"I understand," was her reply.
Dr. Vay nodded with little remorse in his eyes. Just in time, the lift 'ting'-ed and the doors opened. Fresh air filled her lungs and it only then hit Elsa that she hadn't left the building in three full days.
The slowly forming evening aurora in the sky just like what she saw every other day before she got thrown into a van and headbutted herself unconscious so perhaps it was a good thing to conclude she was still somewhere in Norway... but where? The streets were new to her and being home schooled until university, she didn't recognise any of the outlets around here save for the generic stores like Nike and Mac.
She didn't ponder too hard about it since at the moment it really didn't matter.
It had only been three days since her training had started and Anna was in danger.
Whoever the hell these Templars were, they were going to pay.
"Thankfully, Anna is surprisingly nearby. Just a few blocks down that street," he said pointing to his left, "turn right at the Oaken's Cafe outlet. She's with a friend in the Chinese restaurant."
Before Elsa could sprint into said direction, her trainer held back. And before she could say a word, his rough gloved hand covered her mouth to prevent her from letting out even a squeak that could warrant attention.
"I understand you're eager to save her, Ms. Arendelle. Believe me, so am I." He said calmly and began to walk in the same direction she almost dashed to. Elsa rolled her eyes at the man. "But I'd like to take this opportunity to interrogate, if not, eliminate a member or two of them. My informants say there are two in the restaurant with her. It would be unwise to cause any commotion."
She ripped the hand practically glued to her mouth, "Unwise? What's unwise was that you let Anna in danger. What's unwise is that right now, you're telling me to risk her life just so you can kill or talk to one or two of those bastards that are trying to take her life!" She struggled and almost yelled and as attention was drawing to them. Dr. Vay made a soft, rough noise, probably muttering something intelligible and quickened his pace to soothe her anger.
"They're not trying to take her life, Elsa, they can't do that. If they do, they would never get to you. The Templars know that." He whispered harshly. "And they can't take Anna in public either, especially not when she's with a friend who would notice her abrupt disappearance. I understand you're concerned-"
"Concerned, the love of my life is a couple of meters away from me, I haven't seen, heard, or been in touch with her in days, and all of a sudden her life is in danger and I'm only concerned? My heart is at my throat here, Dr. Vay!" She pointed at her neck, her heart threatening to leap out, she gasped to catch up.
Suddenly, the man raised his hand, stopping their movements. "Take deep breaths, Ms. Arendelle, calm yourself. Hide your face. It is time to see if your training has actually made progress." Before she realised it, they were already standing outside the restaurant Dr. Vay mentioned, just a meter before the glass panel. He held a hand to his ear and nodded a few times. "My informant says Anna's leaving and they're following her. They're going to try to bring her to safety while you and Mr. Bruno subdue them."
Oh, Elsa thought. So her trainer's name was called Mr. Bruno.
She glanced at her hand and rotated her wrist - it was light, unlike the Queen of Arendelle's, who had a weapon - she had nothing.
"Don't worry about your hidden blade, it's in the makings. Your assailants only have a gun, all you need to do is freeze their hands before they shoot-"
"Are you crazy?!" She whispered, desperation deep in her voice.
"A little anti-social, yes, but not crazy. I believe in you, Ms. Arendelle. Mr. Bruno has complimented your speed, and you've been keeping your ice powers in check despite having told you of your clothes' resistance to your powers. I don't know whether it has been with conscious effort or not but either way, it takes great feat to do so within just two days. I trust you can bring your partner to safety, if not I would've sent only Mr. Bruno."
What.
She shook her head to clear her mind - never mind what Dr. Vay said, what she needed to focus on was saving Anna.
She pursed her lips and watched as her lover left the restaurant with someone she deemed familiar… blonde, muscular, and tall… She squinted her eyes to catch his face - Kristoff.
The man had been Anna's classmate since they met during Anna's internship before graduating Vetinerary Science. It was a year or two after they had met, this man was the reason why they were together to begin with.
The three of them stalked soon after another two well-built men in thick brown coats. The slightly taller one wore a wool beanie and black jeans underneath while the shorter one - just an inch or two - had short curly hair and a beard.
The four turned into a back alley and with every step Elsa took closer to the left turn, her heart raced, counting down to the time she was putting her life on the line for Anna. Despite hearing all those cliche lines in the movies her significant other loved, Elsa had never thought she would one day actually do it. It was so very different from what she saw in the movies - she wasn't badass cool, courageous, stylish or trained. She wasn't entirely ready to give up her life for Anna - and yet here she was, doing just that.
When her ears picked up on Anna's confused tone towards her classmate, the urge to run to her almost took over, but she held back.
"I told you it's a dead end!" She heard a light smack and an 'ow!'. It usually made her smile, but unnerved and fearful of her life, she couldn't even find it in herself to force one out.
"Um… K? Are these your buddies…" She heard.
"No…" the man said. When Mr. Bruno entered the scene, she followed along behind, shivering in her white Nike shoes, he smirked expectantly and pointed. "But that guy is."
The two men turned around, and as Dr. Vay had predicted, they drew their guns and pointed. Before they could even pull the trigger, both pairs of gloved hands froze with the gun and their feet, rooted to the ground, froze as well.
"Y-you!" One of them said, shivering. It was only then that she remembered she was the only one who didn't experience cold. He growled as he tried to break free but couldn't. When their eyes met, his widened in surprised and then his facial expression darkened, and a smirk drew across his face. "It's you…"
The ice holding the Templars' feet spread across to the walls on each side. But the sound of ice cracking didn't stop when Elsa stopped freezing them. The shorter man who yelled earlier pounced. "We've been prepared for you!"
Elsa quickly dodged when his frozen arms swung at her. He quickly hit them against the wall, breaking himself free. But before he could strike again, a blast of wind nailed him to the wall and Elsa thickened her layer of ice around the man, freezing his limbs as fast as she could. Gently, she placed a hand on his chest and another on his neck. A light blue aura with snowflakes surrounded her hand and the man's struggled weakened and seeped into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bruno tackled the man to the ground. When the taller Templar hit him with his frozen hands, the trainer didn't budge, and headbutted him instead, knocking him unconscious. Unlike her, the battle with Mr. Bruno was over before it could even start.
"Graceful as ever, Ms. Arendelle. I expected as much from you." Dr. Vay said, finally entering the alleyway, slow clapping it out.
Elsa pouted, and when she was about to ask the man why he didn't appear with them, a huge weight bearing a familiar warmth pounced onto her back. "Elsa!" The sweet sounding voice slightly coated with panic came. Anna's legs hugged firmly around her waist and her hold around her chest was so tight Elsa almost couldn't breathe. When the Vet finally let go, she turned Elsa around, who willingly spun, their hands naturally pulled at each others' hips. "Where have you been? What happened to you? I couldn't reach you, Kai and Gerda said you were kidnapped? But they couldn't call the police? And-and-and, what happened to you?!" A hand raised to touch a bruise the corner of her forehead. She flinched at the touch, forgetting she was actually injured before even coming to save Anna.
"Oh, um… I knocked myself out struggling during the kidnap. But I'm okay now, you're safe and that's all that matters, Anna. We have to get you someplace safe. Dr. Vay?"
"What? Wait, no! Are these your kidnappers? Why're you with them?! I'm not going with you! What- why, the ice!"
It was like a piece of said object pierced into her and melted into nothingness. Sharp, cold, painful, empty, and hollow.
Busy worrying about Anna's life, it didn't occur to her that Anna could see her differently until then.
She was a woman with skin so pale it was weird enough and she couldn't get cold. Now, she had ice powers.
She was a monster.
But no, Anna was more important, Anna came first.
"Anna, calm down. I'll explain it to you. For now, I'd like you to… they're not my kidnappers, in fact, they saved my life and yours."
"For what? From who? Why was I attacked- what- Elsa?!"
Her heart chipped away with every rejection Anna gave in following her back to the building, but Elsa took a deep breathe. She understood. After all, she went through pretty much the same rollercoaster as Anna did when she woke up, day one, pounding her fists on the weird-as-heck glass casing called the Animus.
She knelt down and looked up to Anna, who was still in mid-panic state, and exhaled.
"Elsa? Are you okay?" Her heart lifted - Anna was still expressing concern without a second thought despite finding out she had magical powers. She knelt down so they were on equal levels. "Elsa, speak to me."
And then she broke into a laugh and teared.
"I think you broke her, Ms. Anders." Mr. Bruno spoke up.
"Huh?"
"Nah, probably just too happy you're safe and sound." Kristoff said.
"N-no," Elsa finally spoke up. She pulled the vet into an unexpected embrace and pressed her lips everywhere she could, stealing Anna's breath away. "It-It's just- I'm so happy. You're safe and- and, you still- I'm not a monster in your eyes."
"Wha- Why would you- Oh. Right. Well summer's going to be fun…"
A loud snap of fingers caught everyone's attention. "I hate to interrupt the moment, everyone but I'd prefer if you resumed your reunion back in the building. Ms. Anders I've inform your clinic of our plans, of sorts, so you shan't be going to work for a while. I hope you're okay with that." Dr. Vay said.
"Am I getting paid leave?"
"Unfortunately not. But your living expenses until then are taken care of. Not to worry." He said, turning to leave the alleyway. "Now hurry along, everyone. We haven't got all day."
A/N: A Marvel/DC crossover was too difficult because I'm too unfamiliar with it and my brother shot down every idea I had so fuck it, an Ubisoft, Assassins Creed crossover it is. I hope you liked it anyway.