Omega [REDUX]

Chapter 2

Anna hadn't forgotten what the General had said to her the day Elsa had arrived: "With any luck, your new… recruit, should be able to provide you lessons in various other ways, despite your position as squadron leader."

Right now she leaned back in the cushioned seats of the lecture theatre, the lights dimmed all around her as the holographic projection in the middle of the room began to activate. More tactical lessons. They were by far, her least liked subject, given that she hadn't found it useful in her simulation. She wasn't sure if it was her ineffectiveness with them, or that she couldn't aim well enough to put the plans into action. Either way, the lectures bored her.

As squadron leader, it had become her responsibility for her to take care of their "new arrival". Their team, designated Omega-V, sat at the back end of the room. It worked to avoid any potential paper balls that would fly the way of the teams sitting in front. By far, it was proving a good tactical decision, the wisest one Anna had probably made. The more contentious decision was to volunteer to sit next to their latest member. Elsa was potentially much too quiet for her liking; she was quite worried how they'd get along.

Already Merida, Belle and Rapunzel hadn't continued their interaction with Elsa, and she wasn't sure that it was the right move to take up the initiative. She sighed inwardly; Anna didn't know why she'd been designated squad leader, when one of her other teammates could probably do a better job. It was half the reason Ursula was picking on her.

Anna drew up the tablet and began to doodle, half ignoring the lecture going on before her, strangely paying more attention to the paper balls being thrown around.

She saw the platinum blonde next to her tilt her head ever so slightly. She recognized the motion; the signature sign of someone who wanted to see what was on her screen. Inwardly she sighed. Evidently her new recruit was adhering to the strict standards of the academy, even though she, who was much more dependent on it, was not. Anna prepared herself for the tirade of reprisals that were sure to come the moment she saw the blonde make a more obvious movement to speak.

"What is that you draw?"

For a moment she was caught off-guard. She clearly was not expecting that response, and had to recollect her scattered thoughts to respond awkwardly, "Err… I don't quite know." In truth she'd began to draw the outlines of a human face, but hadn't quite decided what features she should put in. Now that she was looking at Elsa though…

"Pardon me," Elsa cut into her thoughts with her voice, "I did not mean to intrude. I was curious."

"It's okay," Anna replied, trying to play it cool, but failed to suppress a bout of nervous laughter. "People keep asking me about these anyways."

"Do you do these often?"

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, now feeling even more embarrassment and guilt. "You mean the drawing itself? Or drawing in class?"

"…both, I guess," was the reply.

"Errr…"

She felt Elsa's finger give her forearm a quick flick, in indication of the lecturer's odd gaze to locate the various sources of sound that emanated across the room, and shut up instantly, staring down intently at her desk to avoid attracting attention. Anna raised both her eyebrows as she looked downwards at where Elsa had struck her, suddenly realizing how quick the motion had been, given the original position of Elsa's hand.

"Thanks," she whispered, when the lecturer turned herself back towards the projection. Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Do you do that often?"

"What do you mean?" Elsa said, with a small smile on her face. "You mean the flicking itself? Or flicking people in class?"

"Both, I guess." Anna grinned. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad to have her around after all.

Weapons class appeared more interesting for her new red-haired companion, or at least, the non-frizzy red-haired companion. It was probably the most distinct feature about her, it was that made her stand out from the rest of her teammates. Elsa watched Anna lift the ASR1, custom spray painted with streaks of red, and take a potshot at the target. The round missed.

She raised an eyebrow as she watched her teammates practice shooting with their weapons of choice, inwardly making assessments of their combat proficiency. By far the best of them was Merida, the "archer" per se, being the most accurate with the bow in her hand. The rest of her teammates seemed to be gifted in missing their shots most of the time.

Stop being judgemental, she told herself. It's not their fault they're not some bio-engineered superweapon. They even have normal lives, unlike yourself.

Their designated firing area in the simulation only had four lanes and targets, forcing them to take turns with firing their weapons. Elsa sat on the glowing simulated bench, fiddling with her simulated tablet, making a detailed analysis of her teammates. Goddamn these things. I wish I'd messed around with these things more before I got here.

She watched her team continue their practice. Rapunzel was their medic, as she'd noted down, apparently into the field of temporarily altering one's perception of pain, for the sake of continuing combat. Belle was their strategist. Elsa had drawn up replays of their previous rounds and analyzed their execution and decisions, and had concluded Belle had much to learn. For Anna…

I'm being mean here.

No you're not, another voice in her head told her. She isn't proficient. Not yet, at least.

Another loud discharge reached her ears as she saw the bullet leave the barrel of Anna's rifle and sail over the target. Her super-enhanced vision caught every quiver in Anna's arms. Poor recoil control. Unable to gauge bullet drop, doesn't know when it matters, moderate reflexes. Most importantly, something is holding her back, but I can't tell what.

She swore Anna deliberately put her rifle down with more force. "I'm done," she said, giving Elsa a hand motion, "you want a go?"

Wordlessly Elsa nodded and rose, strolling over to the firing range. She put a hand forward as she stepped into the lane and the simulation responded, bringing up a weapons screen, allowing her to "retrieve" her T2 pistol, pure white in colour. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Anna raising a single eyebrow.

"Fancy," Anna said.

"Thank you," Elsa replied as she raised only her hand holding the pistol, her eyes squinting ever so slightly to aim. Then she pulled the trigger, feeling the handle kick into her palm with every shot she pulled off, the casings clattering to the simulated glass floor.

Every shot scored a bulls-eye.

Anna's jaw had already dropped by the time Elsa took a deep breath, putting her hand down as she drew a fresh clip to reload. "How the—" she heard Anna begin.

"Long story," Elsa replied, with a straight face, desperately trying conceal any slip ups on her part. "Very long story."

Anna was intrigued by Elsa.

Even after the first few hours she still couldn't shake the feeling that she really liked her. In some way or another, at the very least. Especially after the incident in the mess hall.

Their team was Valkyrie, a Delta Division team, potentially the worst amongst all the other teams. Their War Games standings had continuously proven to be one of the worst in the entire academy, and Merida's feisty attitude didn't really help that out either. It wasn't that they were terrible (okay, maybe she was cutting herself too much slack), but their execution of strategies was problematic, and often clumsy, in part due to Anna's own clumsiness.

So it was no wonder that the rest of the teams started to mock them a lot. Especially Ursula, captain of the best Beta Division team, Harbinger, once a member of Valkyrie herself. She was pretty good, Anna would give her that, but she was also a massive bitch, figuratively and literally. Merida had gotten into fights with her in her own attempt to protect Anna, but had been easily beaten down, and sent to the infirmary with a broken nose and a black eye. Ursula was muscular enough to take on all of them at once, so she always got her way.

Worse enough, the teachers considered it a "natural order" for such "politics" to take place in the academy; they argued that if the recruits couldn't settle their differences here, they wouldn't survive in the war.

That day had been no different. Ursula had decided it was a good idea to knock the food out of Anna's tray just as she was walking back to her table during dinner. Her plates clattered loudly to the ground, bringing about a silence across the mess hall, only enforced by Anna's own cry of "GodDAMMIT Ursula!"

"What?" she taunted. "Little clumsy princess can't stand a little joke?"

"It isn't a joke when you keep doing it." Anna turned towards her, eyes blazing with rage. "For fuck's sake—"

"Or else what?" Ursula stepped forward, rising to her full height, towering over Anna's much smaller frame. "What you gonna do about it?" Anna could feel all the eyes in the mess hall locked onto the little scene they were making, her own fists clenching in response, even as her own form hunched back a little bit. "You think you can take me on?" Ursula went on.

No one was going to help her. Everyone was scared of Ursula; even some of the Alpha Division people didn't dare go near her, so if she was going to get into a fight only she could defend herself. With any luck, her teammates would find an opportunity to step in without getting too badly hurt, but even that was unlikely. But Ursula was already stepping towards her, so she braced for the assault.

Anna didn't even see the punch. But then again, it didn't connect. The next thing she knew she was vaguely aware of a minor scuffle, and then Elsa was standing in front of her, Ursula lying on her back a few feet away.

What in the—?

"Pick on someone your own size, bitch," she heard Elsa spit out, assuming a fighting stance. "If you want a fight, come at me. I can do this all day."

"And who the hell do you think you are?" Ursula roared as she pushed herself to her feet. This is suicide, Anna thought, watching Elsa approach the biggest bully in the academy. She's going to get herself killed! Helplessly she shot a glance towards Rapunzel, but all she got a restraining hand from Merida and a warning glance from Rapunzel.

"Don't even think about it," Merida whispered into her ear.

"But we can't just let her—"

"We can't help her," Belle chimed in. "She got into this shit. We won't be able to help her onto her broken feet if our own feet are broken too." Anna cursed under her breath, turning back to watch the scene ahead of her.

Elsa planted her feet onto the tray Anna had dropped, flipping it upwards, catching it with one palm. "It's not too late to step out," she said.

"Will you look at that?" Ursula declared to the watching eyes that looked in from all sides. "This newb here thinks she's the bomb around here."

"Keep talking like that, and the next thing you know that bomb will shove this tray so far up your ass they'll have to cut your mouth open to get it out." That drew a laugh from the onlooking crowd, but that was hardly a good thing. Anna watched the rage spread over Ursula's face, her own fear for Elsa clutching at her heart. Please don't get yourself killed. I don't want you getting hurt because of me.

Ursula bellowed a war cry, thoroughly humiliated. "You think you're so big, newb? Fight me in the War Games, and then we'll see who's bigger."

"Why wait for the War Games when you can start now?" Elsa taunted, idly twirling the metal tray in her fingers with ease. "What, scared I'll whoop your ass that can't respawn in real life? Must be a defective ass." More laughter, more rage. Ursula had had enough; Anna could see the restraint in her eyes snap, replaced by a manifestation of pure rage and anger.

"Aren't the teachers going to do anything about this?" she heard Rapunzel whisper.

"They never do until it's too late," Merida said. "They think this helps us to learn. Only thing it'll do is get someone killed."

With a bellow Ursula charged towards Elsa's slim frame, her fist raised in a position to strike downwards. It didn't get to release; Elsa swung the tray, catching Ursula's face with the flat face of the tray, knocking her back. A twist, Elsa swung her leg in the opposite direction of her original swing, sweeping Ursula off her legs and onto her back with a loud slam as she hit the ground. She dropped to her knees, swinging her own clenched fist in the same motion, bringing it down on Ursula's face with a loud crack that echoed throughout the mess hall. Ursula bellowed in pain, attempting to get up, but Elsa lashed out with her leg, connecting with Ursula's forehead and knocking her out.

Then for a brief moment there was silence. All was still, save for Elsa's body taking on a ragged breathing pattern, her chest heaving from the effort. She dropped the tray with a loud clatter. Then she recovered, pushing her hair back with bloodied hands as she stood up. Below, the pool of Ursula's own blood began to spread around her head.

"Someone get a teacher in here," Anna heard someone call out as the mess hall slowly resumed its activity, watching as Elsa walked over to an empty table and sit down, her own brain attempting to comprehend the scene that had just unfolded in front of her. The chatter gradually resumed after some people ran off, albeit a tad bit more nervously and fervent.

Anna turned. Rapunzel was paralyzed in shock, and Merida's jaw was wide open. "What the hell just happened?"

Belle was the first to recover. "She – she just – she—"

Anna was too, at a loss for words, simply moving over to the table Elsa was sitting at and sat down beside her. Her friend's head was down, eyes never leaving the cold surface of the table, her hair drooping with her head's position. She was affected, alright, and from what Anna could tell she hadn't enjoyed what she had just done.

So Anna put her hand on Elsa's shoulder, and whispered, "Thanks."

"Least I could do," came the reply.

"Do you mind if I ask what's wrong?"

The background noise continued as Anna waited for an answer, but got none after a while. Oh no, did I go too far? I only wanted to help… maybe I should go. "I'm sorry, I'll just—" Anna turned away to leave, but she felt a cool hand clasp hers. Mildly alarmed, she looked down at Elsa's hand clasping onto her wrist, Elsa's own eyes gazing into hers. Was that sorrow? Fear?

"It's not your fault. Please – don't go."

Anna sat back down, the coolness of Elsa's touch lingering on her skin even when Elsa removed her hand, leaving a curiosity lingering in her mind. "I – I promise I won't—"

"It's fine, Anna. You couldn't have known. I can't blame you for asking."

General Hans called her up in the midst of a class. She saw her teammates send a worried glance her way just before she closed the door behind her. She didn't say a word as Hans looked at her disapprovingly.

"We've talked about something like this happening," he said calmly.

"What was I supposed to do?" she retorted.

"Defuse the situation?"

"There isn't reasoning with these people."

"Yes there is. Violence should only be your last resort in all circumstances. And even if you are counting on your last resort…" the general said, pausing in the middle to glance at the datapad in his hand, "you should probably not hit that hard."

"It's the only way she'll stop doing this to her."

"To who?"

"Anna. My squad leader. She's being bullied. Constantly."

"She'll have to deal with that."

"How? She's barely combat proficient, and she doesn't have much of the guts to stand up for herself out there. The others ridicule her."

She watched a small smile play out upon the general's face. "I'm glad you're saying all this. About a year ago we weren't sure you'd reach this stage."

The agitation in her eyes dissipated, replaced by a tinge of sorrow. General Hans continued, "If you really do want to help her, there are of course, other ways."

"Like what?"

"Help her train, for one. She is on the blacklist for poor performance recently; you'd be able to help her."

Her heart thudded in her chest. "M…me? Help her?"

"Is there a problem?" Hans looked genuinely surprised for once.

"No, it's just I— I'm scared."

"You'll do fine. I'm sure Anna will understand whatever you plan for her."

Elsa diverted her eyes to the corridor floor as she pondered the information over.

The rest of the day, through the various classes and training sessions were spent in silence. Pretty much no one dared to talk to Elsa, even her own teammates. Anna herself was pretty scared as much as she was impressed. This had been an entirely new development

Only when they were dismissed from academic activities entirely did Merida finally gain enough courage to say, "How the fuck did you do that?"

"Do what?" Elsa cocked an eyebrow at her as their team walked back towards their bunks.

"Beat the crap out of the worst bully in the entire academy."

Elsa didn't really respond, just gave a small, somewhat sad smile and left.