didn't think it'd end up that long, or that convoluted for that matter. either way, think I still like the way it turned out; I'll try to make future chapters less messy

Omega [REDUX]

Chapter 42

Reaper-class assets Kukri and Scythe closed in on their target. Their armoured patrol cars cruised down the dusty path, suspension systems compensating for the little bumps to allow its members to finish up last minute preparations. Behind black visors their operators focused intently on their gear, adding the finishing touches to their weapons and removing safeties off equipment.

"K-Leader to S-Leader, what's your status?"

"K-Leader, this is S-Leader. We're all prepped and ready to rumble. All weapons set to maximum damage output."

"Roger that, S-Leader. We're finishing up armor prep. Confirm modus operandi is melee focused?"

"Confirmed, K-Leader. Going radio silent for final approach."

Both Scythe and Kukri had been the first wave of assets designed as a failsafe after the first major public incident involving Ascendants, having deemed the original response teams as ineffective. The brass had made a huge deal about the fact that the soldiers deployed to the convention center could not have handled the situation without what they termed as "external intervention".

The case for the assets' formation was bolstered by the presence of the original Ascendant within UIF ranks, and the addition of another not long after. It was soon agreed that a task force had to be established to protect against this group of extremely powerful individuals, should they ever turn against the force. Nonetheless, such a move was inevitably harmful to morale, given the awe-inspiring reputation of the UIF-based Ascendants that the UIF had itself attempted to propagate by making their presence known to all military personnel. The result was to classify all Reaper assets under "black" operations.

Comprising two squadrons of 4 soldiers each, Scythe and Kukri were made up of specially trained operators drawn from the various UIF divisions to execute operations on a wide scale of various anti-Ascendant objectives. For now, that objective was close-quarter takedown. Get in, execute the targets quickly or wear them down with attrition, and get out with the objective. And so their loadout had adjusted accordingly; newly developed anti-Ascendant powered armour, lethally adjusted stock batons and standard issue ASR3-X battle rifles.

The armour made the soldiers taller and arguably bulkier than usual, but its design continued to allow for movement, coupled with hydraulic mechanisms to enhance strength and speed. So the squads had no trouble doing pre-operation checks while in full combat gear. Watching his squadmates check each other up and down to verify armor integrity, K-Leader switched on his COM unit one more time to contact the Hummingbird dropship pilot. "K-Leader to Vulture, what's your status?"

"Vulture copies, K-leader. En route to target, arsenal is prepped and ready for CAS coordination."

"Roger that, Vulture. Maintain radio silence until we engage the targets."

"Sir." K-Leader turned back to his squadmates. "Armor is prepped for combat. We're good to go."

"Copy that," he replied, turning his COM to local frequencies to address the rest of the soldiers. "Remember, this is exactly what we've trained for. We've studied their capabilities and strategies. Let's keep it clean and simple. Overwhelm them with superior numbers and armor and this should be a piece of cake."

You're at war, Elsa. Get into your head into the right gear. Run everything down in your head and mark it off bit by bit.

"Base defenses concealed?" Conceal, don't feel. Don't let her know how worried you are. She needs your strength, your assuredness, if we're going to get out alive. Don't burden her with your fears.

She noticed Anna's eyes on her as she re-entered the room with her package. "Signal is up and running," Anna said as she checked her own ASR1 up and down. "All systems are set to minimum and I have the jamming encryption increased to twice our normal security levels. They won't spot a thing."

"Radio jamming operational?"

"Also ready," Anna replied. "Once they enter the zone they won't be getting anything out."

Great. "Then we have to coordinate defenses quickly when they attack," Elsa said, opening her package. "Once they've entered the zone, activate our anti-air defenses and shoot down the Hummingbird. Seal the entrances behind the soldiers once they enter." Either way, someone isn't leaving here alive.

Her lover was confused. "Entrances? Aren't they going in by breach and clear?"

"Our systems are down, remember?" Elsa responded as she fleshed out her personally designed nano-weave and began to don it. "They'll want to be stealthy if they can. So they'll check the hidden entrance before deciding if they should use charges."

Anna had helped her design the armor piece. The weave fit well along her bodice and retained its flexibility, giving her a decent amount of protection. More importantly, the weave could track her movement even when she was in mist form, and would dissolve along with her. Elsa moved her limbs experimentally, then reformed the icy layer upon her skin into her skin-tight combat outfit.

Anna frowned even as she checked Elsa's suit up and down. "So you want us to leave the door openable?" Elsa slid a combat knife into a holster and stood straight for Anna to continue scanning. "We're unlikely to justify that to HQ if we survive their attack."

"We'll say it was a system glitch. We'll explain it's why we sent Cradle Alpha's systems into maintenance in the first place." And pray that covers the political dynamite that's going to blow up in our faces.

Anna nodded as she finished the scan, giving Elsa a thumbs up. "And how are we justifying killing black ops soldiers?"

"Our response was merely an act of self-defense." Elsa felt her icy magic swirl within her palms as she flexed, feeling the weave respond positively to her movements. "They'll never be able to deny the fundamental fact that they attacked us. So the gloves come off. Don't hold back."

Because they certainly won't.

Elsa retrieved her ASR2-M from the table and slid it over her shoulder, feeling the rifle lock with the magnetic grip. "I'm going to hole up near the courtyard. I'll try to split them up from there." She slid the T2 sidearm she received from Hans into her weave's other holster. "I can keep an eye on their movements without being found and you can distract them with base mechanisms if necessary."

"What should I do?" Anna asked as she turned to leave. "You know they'll go look for me anyway."

Elsa's face pained visibly at that. "Try to stay hidden. Find a place where you can interface with the systems without being caught off guard too easily. If you're found, bring the fight back to me."

"I can handle myself too, you know." She watched Anna smile as she moved forward to caress Elsa's cheek, even though they both knew the expression was forced. "You're cute when you're worried too."

"Just like you." Elsa pulled her closer, resting her forehead against her lover's and exhaling deeply. She heard Anna whimper softly as she ran her hand through Anna's hair, trying to soothe her, trying to soothe herself. "We're gonna get through this."

"Will we?"

"We will. I promise."

The two APCs pulled up to Cradle Alpha. So far, so good. Readings indicated no base activity thus far, which corresponded directly with the report that the base systems were taken down for maintenance. The APCs automated turrets continued scanning for targets even as the soldiers deployed. "Hold position," K-Leader signaled to the rest of the men, as they waited for any discernable response to their presence. There was none.

Scythe and Kukri approached their entry point. Their point man deployed a shield each as they reached the primary entrance: a sliding piece of rock built into the cliff face that the castle was built upon, designed to have been hidden from the public eye. Another member began scanning the door's mechanism as the rest scanned the area for movement, rifles at the ready.

"Sir." S-Leader turned to his squadmate, S-3. "Door mechanism firewall is weak, possibly due to system glitches. We can enter via the door instead of breaching."

"Damn," S-2, the designated explosives specialist, cursed. "Was looking forward to using those charges."

"Do it," S-Leader replied. "It'd do well to remain undetected if we can." He switched frequencies to operation-wide channels. "All units, we are entering by the door. Once we're inside, split up and find our targets. Our priority is the cyborg Ascendant, so if you can't kill the other one, just keep her busy until we can extract."

A series of affirmative status pings satisfied him.

S-3 broke the firewall and triggered the door. The hidden entrance on the side of the cliff slid downward slowly and silently.

"They're here," Anna's voice came to her through the COM earpiece. "Accessing scanners and transmitting equipment rundown to your HUD."

"Switch to night-vision."

The soldiers toggled their HUD sight modes behind their helmets' black visors as they ascended the stairs from the entrance, deeper into the heart of Cradle Alpha. No one suspected anything as the door closed behind them and the light of the night faded from the interior of the stairwell. The light of the point man's shields illuminated the area in an eerie blue glow, and their HUDs attempted to compensate.

Elsa received the equipment breakdown just as the soldiers emerged from the hidden entrance. The marble flooring had sunk and slid away to reveal one fully armoured soldier, who ascended and took point, holding up his energy-based shield as he was followed by seven more men. Her contact lenses synced her vision with the data she had just received, and her HUD began analyzing their armour and comparing it with the new information.

"I've got them on base cameras," Anna said. "It isn't looking very good for us."

Advanced energy shielding, reinforced titanium alloy plating, heat venting and shock gloves. Elsa knew exactly how the soldiers intended to take them down, but something didn't add up. "They know we're not going to engage them in hand to hand," Elsa spoke, "but their gear suggests they want to engage us in a melee. Their rifles are almost an add-on. This doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe they expected to take us by surprise because they think our systems are under maintenance. They won't expect us to put up much of a fight."

That still didn't seem likely to Elsa. Something was nagging at her, in the back of her head. Something she had missed in the planning of her defense. Something that should have been obvious yet was simultaneously unexpected. "I'll keep an eye on them and see what they do. In the meantime, take out their Hummingbird support if you can. Can't risk an uncoordinated airstrike."

"Copy that. I'm also patching us into their comm systems. See if we can discern anything from their chatter."

"Roger. Stay safe."

Kukri covered Scythe's emergence from the concealed entrance as they assessed the area. The moonlight shone down upon the courtyard they were situated in. K-Leader ran a small scan on the open sky, confirming that the shield supposedly covering the castle was down. It was.

"Stay alert, people. K-3, call in CAS from Vulture. I want this whole place on lockdown even if we have to sweep through all of it to find them."

"Copy that," his squadmate responded as he adjusted his radio frequencies. "K-3 to Vulture, we need CAS surrounding the AO, do you copy?"

K-Leader scanned the area as he aimed down his ASR3's holographic sight before he realized the radio had gone a little quieter than it should have. "K-3 to Vulture," his teammate repeated, "do you read? We need CAS surrounding the AO, over?"

Silence persisted on the COM. He felt his heart slowly descend into despair.

Vulture's pilot hovered a good distance from Cradle Alpha. His instructions were to maintain distance until CAS was called in, presumably after Scythe and Reaper had engaged their two targets. Otherwise, hovering near the area of operations would likely give away the entire plan. He checked his course again as he leaned back in the seat, ensuring he was still within a close range to respond instantly to any threat.

The onboard computer detected movement at Cradle Alpha. He selected the camera feed and enhanced, watching the bricks slide away. Good. They must have neutralized the threat and taken the site. Awfully quick and efficient.

Satisfied that their work here was complete, he radioed in for confirmation as per protocol. "Vulture to K-Leader, request permission to break off patrol?"

He received no response. The feed showed anti-aircraft guns protrude from the side of the base. "Vulture to K-Leader, confirm operational objectives are accomplished?"

He only realized what was happening when he caught the split second burst of fire from the protruding barrels, and suddenly his world turned black and fiery and the same time.

"Something's not right," K-3 radioed. "Vulture isn't responding—"

The soldiers heard the signature fire of the anti-aircraft guns. The sound of an explosion was heard a few seconds later. K-Leader's radio went ablaze too. "Shit!" "What the fuck was that?" "Our air support is down!"

"Shut up, shut up!" he yelled into his mic even as he gripped his mic tighter. "Keep it together. K-2, deploy Ambrosia. I am not having either of them get the drop on us."

"They know we're awake," Elsa responded. "But good takedown regardless."

"Worry about that later," came Anna's response. "They just triggered something our scanners didn't register just now." Elsa could almost hear Anna's consternation over the radio. "I… can't tell what that is."

Elsa risked a peek to glimpse whatever they were deploying.

Her eyes widened as she caught the orange glow.

Anna could hear Elsa's attempt to muffle her scream. To her credit, she did it really well, but after so long Anna knew exactly when her lover was in pain. "Elsa?" her voice quivering a little as she said it, praying that everything was alright. "Elsa, talk to me!"

000

First she heard the high pitched whine that turned into a buzz.

Then she could feel the draining, the paralyzing breathlessness, the all-consuming fear that clung to her heart and threatened to swallow her whole. The power that gave her an identity, that gave her comfort and safety, sucked away from her. The strength that sustained her sapped, the courage that drove her on dispelled.

What the hell—

She tried to conjure a snowflake. It didn't work.

No. No no no. Impossible.

She tried to fire a bolt. Still didn't work. She tried to dissolve and reform. Also didn't work.

No no no no no—

"Elsa?" Anna's faint voice could be heart just barely over the pounding of her heart. "Elsa, talk to me!"

Concealdon'tfeelconcealdon'T FEEL—

She balled her hands into fists and tried to push herself into a sitting position behind the low walls she hid behind. "Anna—" She suppressed a sharp intake of air as she tried to regain her strength but found herself strangely paralyzed. "Anna, their…. Their signal—"

EMPYREAN!

Her hands went to her head, clutching at her hair, pressing against her ears to try to shut out that GOD FORSAKEN BUZZING—

"Slow down, Elsa. Stay with me. What signal—?"

EMPYREAN!

I'm panicking I'm panicking I'm panicking I'm fucking panicking—

"Elsa, stay with me," Anna tried to soothe her. "I'm going to be here for you. No matter what's happening." A deep breath. "I promise you I'm never going to leave you."

Elsa tried to conjure ice again. It didn't work. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe. I can't I can't I can't—!

"But I need you to tell me what exactly is going on," said her lover. "What signal are they broadcasting? What do you know about it?"

"Spread out and head indoors." Through the buzz she could hear the soldiers moving, shuffling as they prepared to begin their assault. "Maintain a crossfire. I don't want anything out of our line of sight."

Come on Elsa, keep it together, keep it—

EMPYREAN!

"It's… it's a power suppressing signal," she managed between almost hysterical breaths, her ears still ringing. "It's… it's sapping… I can't use my ice-based abilities. They want to keep us… keep us defenseless to... I can't do… can't do…"

"Checking for external signals in your area." A pause. "Completing preliminary analysis—"

EMPYREAN!

She could see her memories flash before her eyes again. The beatings she would receive. Weselton screaming at her. The pain coursing through her as she was electrocuted, the sting of the irons burning her snowflake scar onto her back because she was weak and powerless and couldn't do anything in the face of EMPYREAN!

"Stay with me, Elsa," the angel from faraway seemed to whisper. "I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere without you, okay?"

EMPYREA—NO. She could hear herself think again. She could finally hear herself think again. NONE OF THIS.

EMPYR—GET. OUT. OF. MY. HEAD.

"This doesn't make any sense," came Anna's voice. Anna's sweet, sweet voice. "The signal should be engulfing Cradle Alpha." Another pause. "Shit, I can't morph my body into anything whatsoever. But, I can somehow access base systems and maintain a constant interface."

Elsa attempted to reign her hysterical state in. "Could be…" The soldiers were moving away from her and toward the more obvious entrances to the interior of the castle. "Could… could be… close proximity to the control mechanism. You are currently… the furthest away… from the signal." Elsa felt for her pistol to derive any semblance of surety that she could gather. "Anything… else?"

"Cross-referencing to the Empyrean files we just unlocked."

EMPYR—YOU CANNOT!

Elsa made sure she was out of sight of the soldiers before mustering the strength to roll to new cover, positioning herself closer to the squadrons. "Anna?"

"Yeah?"

EMP—CONTROL ME!

She swallowed before she spoke. "I'm fucking terrified."

"I know."

Elsa exhaled deeply, still trying to make sure she couldn't be heard in any way. "You do?"

"I felt the exact same way in that convention center."

"How did you overcome your fear?"

A pause. "Because of you, Elsa. It was because you were there to face it with me. And right now, I'm right here to face all of this with you."

EM—GET OUT!

"Found something on the signal," Anna went on. "The files indicate it's meant to block our powers, but because our bodies were physiologically altered our enhanced physical abilities should remain unhindered. Apparently this is new; they only came up with this a few weeks after I was captured. That explains why it hadn't been deployed against us before."

That's a relief. The buzzing was still there, but she gradually tuned it out. She tuned her panic out. She drew the rifle from her back and checked to ensure it was full. "Give me… give me a waypoint on our armoury so I can have a bearing." She could feel her strength returning, her fear receding, her courage filling her once more. "Might have to resupply at some point, or procure better armour, or hole up against them."

"Copy that. Uploading to your HUD."

She had no idea how calming it could be to realise she could finally hold her rifle without her hands shaking. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm on the move to the belfry," Anna replied. "Don't want to be caught off guard. For now, I'm going to see if I can snipe them from long range. Give you some cover as well."

Elsa took another breath and felt better. She was back into gear. She still couldn't access her powers, but her mind and body were nimble once more. "Dig up the files and see if we can find a way to counteract the signal. Otherwise we'll have to settle for taking out the source." She couldn't feel herself conjuring anything, but she could feel every sinew and every tendon respond to her command. She was still in control.

"The blueprints suggest all of them have a signal emitter on them."

"Copy that. Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

"What are you going to do?"

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Elsa found it in her to smile briefly as she gripped her rifle. "I'm going to fight. With you." For you.

"That's my girl," came Anna's reply.

S-Leader was grateful for the black polarized faceplate his helmet had. He didn't want to show his squadmates how spooked he was. They had prepared for missions like this before, but every ounce of training could not override the overwhelming reputation that had preceded their targets.

And now, those same targets knew that they were coming.

But surely, he reasoned, they could not withstand the Ambrosia signals. After all, the signal mechanism had been provided by Empyrean themselves, and even then their suits had been designed to deal with a spectrum of Ascendant abilities.

That seemed to calm his nerves a tad. He gripped his rifle tighter and aimed down the sights as their squadrons approached the main staircase.

"Damn. Path splits into two wings of the building," K-Leader radioed, his voice surprisingly calm. "Split up and flank, but keep it tight. You all know exactly what they can do."

Scythe took the right staircase; S-Leader kept his gun trained on the corner of the corridor as his squadron advanced, his squadmates taking it slow as they reached the corner before the point man swiftly moved to cover the corridor whilst S-4 followed up. "Clear," he reported.

They hadn't even cleared the main hall and already they were losing their nerves. None of them noticed the open archways near the ceiling that left them a lot more exposed than they had expected.

They finally noticed when the first round snagged S-2's shoulder, grazing the armor but smashing the Ambrosia generator on his back. "Sniper!" someone yelled. "Get to cover!"

Anna peeked through her scope as she lay in the belfry. She'd missed her shot, but her scanners indicated one of the signal generators was destroyed. "I missed a shot. But I did snag one of their generators."

"Yeah, I noticed," came the reply. "They're holing up right now. You've got them really spooked." There was a lull as Anna synced the soldiers' suit signatures to her vision, enabling her to see their outlines through the castle walls. "Strange," Elsa remarked. "I can feel some of my power returning. The buzzing has lessened somewhat because of that shot too. The signal probably increases in effectiveness whenever deployed form multiple sources."

"Well, if you're thinking of simply taking out those generators, remember that we're a little outnumbered over here. And they're hunkering down really well," Anna remarked, trying to get a proper angle. "Can't get another shot on their bodies, let alone on their backs."

"Those files come up with anything yet?"

"Yeah I'm scanning that in the background—" Counter-signal to avoid enemy weakening. "Found something."

"What is it?"

Anna fired off a warning shot, prompting all her targets to duck simultaneously as she brought up the files. "Some kind of neutralizing signal they made as a failsafe to the one they're currently broadcasting. It's got all the strategic value of a game of rock paper scissors."

"Can you replicate that signal?"

"It's going to take a while, but—"

"No," Elsa cut in, "I need you to focus on replicating that signal and broadcasting it to counter theirs. If you're compromised enough to a point where you cannot synthesize it, we are dead. Because it doesn't look like we're going to be shooting through that armour easily."

"But—" she began to protest.

"I can take care of myself," came the reply she knew was coming. "But this is critical. I'll keep them distracted. Get that signal up and running ASAP."

Her heart in her mouth, she barely managed to respond an affirmative as she pulled back from the belfry and located the furthest point in the castle away from the soldiers. She was going to have to move fast.

Elsa's life, and possibly her own, depended on it.

"Is she gone? Did she pull back?"

From behind a wall, Elsa watched the soldiers worry about Anna's sniping even after she'd pulled back. The men hugged the walls, crouching behind them, shielding themselves from any possible angle.

Every angle, in fact, except the back.

Elsa brought her rifle to bear, managing to squeeze off three precise shots before she got a response. Three bullets collided with three signal generators mounted on the soldiers' backs, shattering them and dulling their eerie orange glow. Shouts of surprise echoed off the walls of the castle as Elsa disappeared before they could return fire.

"We're being flanked!"

"Where the hell is she?"

"Get back into formation before she picks us off!"

Cowering behind a shield, huh? A semblance of her smugness had returned, and she dashed to the other side of the wall, her HUD quickly identifying the two point men. With quick flicks of her arms she scoped and fired, twice, before ducking back into cover, not waiting to see the effect.

"Shit! She just took out my frontal shield!"

"Mine's gone too! Get to cover!"

"Keep her suppressed! Don't let up!"

She didn't wait for their return fire before she lunged from her current position, deciding now was as good a time as any to act; Elsa strafed to the right, taking aim through her scope and squeezing off shot after shot, each and every one connecting with a point man's helmet.

She was horrified to discover that he did not fall; she'd barely managed to break through the energy shielding and dent the helmet. Shit. Return fire came flying her way and she ducked to the side to reload. Barrage after barrage began to chip away at the low wall she hid behind, forcing her out of cover with superhuman speed, barely managing to squeeze off a few rounds in retaliation.

Her smugness all but dissipated, Elsa slid behind a small wall and began to run down the corridor, knowing her adversaries were in hot pursuit. "Minor complication," she radioed.

"How'd you figure?" came her lover's reply.

"Well—" She heard the soldier round the corner, preemptively ducking as she reached the end of the corridor, the barrage of rounds sailing over her head just before she exited his field of vision. "My rounds can't break through their helmets."

"Have you tried simply shooting them again? They aren't a bunch of regulars, you know."

"Not funny—!" she managed as the soldiers exited the corridor, forcing her to bob and weave between furniture. Wood turned to splinters as lead rounds shredded right through them. "I need a weakness to shoot at!"

"Their energy shielding only seems to be weak near the back, where the signal generators are."

Well shit. "Then I need that signal up and running before I can do anything. They've got me outnumbered and outmatched."

"Don't die on me now, Elsa."

She found her powers returning somewhat, feeling the familiar tingle through her veins. "I don't intend to."

She'd drawn the soldiers into the main dining hall, where cover was plenty but weak to bullets. Elsa ducked behind a table, scrambling on her hands and knees toward other furniture just as the very same table was shredded with lead rounds. "I lost her!" one of the soldiers repeated. "Switching to thermal."

With enough effort she'd scrambled behind another pile of furniture without revealing her location, quickly dropping her body temperature to match her surroundings. She held her breath as the soldiers methodically scanned the room, their flashlights sweeping across large swaths of darkness.

"What the hell? I've got nothing on thermal."

"Split up," another one commanded. "We can't risk this biting us in the ass. Sweep this entire room. K-2 and K-3, cover both the exits."

There's my window.

"How long till that signal, Anna?" she whispered as she shifted position, gingerly crouch-walking her way toward the exits, where a lone soldier guarded the walkway, his rifle pointed outwards as he watched for external threats.

"I'm at 50% now," came the reply in her ear, "so…" Elsa placed one hand on the ground, tensing her legs, ready to pounce. "About 2 more minutes."

"Good enough for me." She lunged, her rifle butt catching the soldier square in the head. He grunted, losing his balance and spun from the impact, exposing his back to her. Elsa brought her rifle up to bear and emptied the remainder of the clip into the signal generator, piercing the shielding and the armor.

Before he could scream for help Elsa's ice blade had found his heart. He let out a gurgle into his COM. "K-2?" came the response. "K-2 is down!"

"I can do basic morphing again," she spoke into her own COM as she retracted the blade, darting to the side as retaliatory rounds sailed past, forcing her to sprint into the ball room. "5 signal generators down."

"1 minute and 30 seconds to go."

The ballroom was far too exposed, but she had no other way to go. The moment the soldiers had line of sight they lit her up, but she countered with an icy ward. It was weaker than usual, and she had to conjure another one to avoid being torn to shreds, but she was able to back away and out of the room without being flanked. "She can use her powers again!" a soldier yelled. "Get in close and take her down! Fast!"

Elsa slammed the ballroom doors behind her, only managing to make it a few metres before they were smashed open, two soldiers charging straight towards her, fists raised. Engaging now would be a death sentence for her; she had to buy time for Anna's signal. She slid the rifle over her shoulder, both hands outstretched to cover the floor in a layer of slippery frost. It worked; the momentum carried the soldiers forward and into a tumble, crashing in a heap.

She didn't wait around to engage, but she couldn't bring the fight to Anna either. So she drew them away from the rooms that Anna was hiding in and back toward the courtyard. It didn't go unnoticed. "Elsa, the courtyard is dangerously open."

"I can handle—"

"I know you can handle it," came the frustrated reply. "I just—"

"I know," Elsa said, dodging bullets and ducking behind stone walls. "Believe me, I know."

A sigh on the other end. "30 seconds."

Elsa leapt over low parapets and benches as she reached the courtyard, still maintaining her access to basic, simple conjuration but having difficulty accessing more advanced methods. She raised another shield as she drew her rifle, opening fire on the soldier closest to her. Five rounds to the head didn't cut it; the soldier knocked away the ward and her rifle within the same movement, but left him dangerously open. Making sure her skin-barrier was maintained, Elsa moved forward, striking him across the cheek with her left elbow and using her right hand to counter his blind swing. She lashed out with her leg, foot connecting squarely in his chest and knocking him backward.

More lead barrages. Elsa drew another ward as she let out a rebounding ice blast that formed on the floor and lashed back at the soldier she was engaging, blasting apart his signal generator. His resulting cry of pain indicated she'd hit something else as well. She could feel her powers returning bit by bit; her ward grew in strength, bullets decreasing in effectiveness.

The soldier dashed at her again. Elsa was too slow to dodge, so she caught his grab with both arms, straining against his mechanically enhanced strength even as her mind struggled to maintain the ward simultaneously. She could hear the soldier grunting with increasing frustration, even as she stared straight into the black visor with defiance.

"Signal synthesized. Broadcasting over Cradle Alpha speakers."

She heard the low pitched hum and smirked straight at the black visor.

And then she was gone. Dissolved. Wrapping back around as the soldier fell forward to pull him back by the hand, and plunge a massive ice blade straight through his back. For good measure, she used his body as a meat shield as she drew fire from the other soldiers.

"Ouch," Anna said. "Better let me have some of the fun."

"Paladin protocol!" Elsa heard another soldier yell. "Mission is scrubbed – forget the data and kill them now!"

Irises flaring blue, Elsa lashed out with an expanding cold of icy air, immobilizing three soldiers as she lunged toward the others. She dissolved into wave form, engaging the soldiers just as she saw heat vents open on their suits.

She couldn't reform quickly enough, so she forced herself to endure the burning agony as she flowed over the suit surface. When she finally did regain her physical form, she collapsed, momentum carrying her across the marble floor.

Fucking burns. It wasn't exactly healthy for each and every particle of her to be exposed to extreme heat. "She's down! Open fire!"

A gleaming silver figure lunged in front of her, energy shields raised, multiple barrels ablaze and returning fire. She took the reprieve, struggling to push herself back up. "I owe you one," she managed.

"We can settle scores if we get out of this," Anna replied, concentrating fire on the soldiers. Her plasma bolts connected with the soldiers' shields, prompting them to bob and weave. Elsa watched her lover gun down another soldiers before the remaining four sent their shields into overcharge, their armor now literally glowing wispy white, in addition to the steam venting from their suits.

"Looks like we're settling this the old fashioned way," Elsa noted.

"Little outnumbered, don't you think?" came the reply.

Elsa smirked. "I think I can fix that."

Anna had seen Elsa pull off all sorts of crazy, nearly unbelievable feats. Even if some of them were in a simulation. Either way, her lover was incredible in every way.

She was still taken aback when Elsa split herself into two.

She would rewind that moment from her data banks for days to come; where Elsa had lunged at the nearest soldier, delivering a solid uppercut, yet simultaneously sending new ice particles behind the poor victim, forming quite literally, another Elsa. And the other body and lashed out with its own arm, completely in sync with the other, up until another strike produced yet another clone.

They were not quite new entities in and of themselves, more like extensions of Elsa's consciousness. It shouldn't have been more than another trick up her sleeve. It shouldn't have been more than another impressive trick. But try as Anna might, she couldn't help feel the same sense of awe she'd felt when she'd first seen Elsa take down Ursula as they once again faced down what seemed to be insurmountable odds. Seeing her lover almost single-handedly push back soldiers designed to kill them and make them suffer in every way gave her relief. It gave her comfort.

It gave her hope.

Anna watched with awe as clones of Elsa set up their own battles, turning unfavourable conditions against their opponents. She watched as the first would deliver a devastating strike, the next would knock the victim upwards with incredible force, and the last leap into the air only to slam the victim down with extreme prejudice. She watched as body after body swarmed one particular soldier, bits of metal and bits of flesh alike thrown out of the melee.

Every copy seemed to work in accordance to Elsa's will. Where Anna was overwhelmed by the static she received from trading blows with shock-gloved opponents, two copies of Elsa would drag her back while three more would take her place, delivering pain toward her aggressors with extreme prejudice. Where Anna could keep her foes at bay, the Elsas would swarm the remaining soldiers, duplicating and duplicating with every swing, every step, every strike. The courtyard was a blur of blue, full of Elsa's clones, all punching, kicking, dealing out punishment to the soldiers that had tried to take their lives.

And she did her part. She'd repelled each and every attack with precision and force. Where the clones lacked in sheer damage she followed up, delivering powerful shotgun blasts in vulnerable areas. Where the soldier could hold back a multitude of grabbing clones she lunged towards him, disabling him and leaving him open to attack. Where the soldiers made a grab for her, she held her ground until the clones could pull them back, and end their miserable lives for what they were worth.

And under such immense pressure and coordinated attacks, the battle was over in mere moments. Before long, battered corpses and broken bones were all that were left.

Save the one soldier they had chosen to keep alive.

"K… Leader… to HQ…"

Elsa knelt over the soldier and yanked his helmet off. Every one of her clones drew their arm back, poised to strike.

"Who sent you here?" she asked in unison, her voice an echo of the same words rippling across the square. "I want answers!"

She watched the soldier struggle to move away. Her clones moved forward to pin his suit down. "Start talking. Now."

"You'll… never get anything… out of me…"

She caught the movement even before he did it. Three blasts from three separate hands pierced his remaining good arms and shoulder, ignoring the cries emanating from his bloodied lips as she reached down to where his hand was going. She drew the small little pill from the suit compartment. She watched his eyes widen.

"Clearly," she uttered, her clones' eyes all flaring blue simultaneously, "pain isn't an incentive anymore. The removal of pain is. So—" Her prime clone knelt upon his body, applying pressure to the wound on his torso, watching his agonized reaction. "Once you tell me what I want to know, you get to die."

They found out the hit had been ordered by encoded handlers through maximum security UIF networks. The soldier knew nothing more. Even through his pain, Anna's bioscans could tell he wasn't lying.

He was too hurt by then. And for Elsa's long term plan to work, she couldn't leave him alive. But the least she could do was to give him a dignified death. She disposed of the cyanide. She let Anna fire a plasma bolt through his head. It was about as painless as she could have done for him.

They spent the next few hours cleaning up the bodies, sorting out the damage and disposing the rest of the trashed furniture. By the time they were done she could see the small rays of the sun begin to lap at the horizon. She was as exhausted as she could have been.

So she spent a while on the roof of the castle, leaning back against the battlements, eyes somewhat heavy-lidded, fingers intertwined with her lover's as they watched the sun rise. Cliché, she realized, but at the point she really couldn't care.

It was perfect.

She didn't care that Anna's hair felt just a tad bloody even as her lover leaned on her shoulder, hands tightening as she did.

"Remember when we used to go up to the academy garden?" she whispered to Anna. "When we were tired or frustrated or simply looking to spend time with each other?"

The last one got a chuckle out of Anna. "God, I miss those times as awkward as they were. I loved just watching you at the time."

"Well, now you have all of me," Elsa smiled.

Anna smiled back, but it faded somewhat. "Do I really?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Anna fell silent, her gaze growing distant, her fingers tightening around Elsa's as she let out a small whimper. "I… used to think we'd have… time together. That we'd be able to spend the remainder of our careers, our service, our… lives… together. And now…" Her gaze fell to the floor. "I don't know anymore."

Elsa reached up and turned Anna's face towards her, resting their foreheads together, ruffling her fingers through her hair like how she'd done so many times before. Exhausted as they were she found the strength to adjust her position to kiss her lover on the lips, moaning into it as her lover shifted too to prevent breaking it.

"You know," Anna managed as they finally broke apart, "for someone who managed to fight off two death squads you kiss really well."

Elsa grinned, but quickly turned serious again. "I know what you mean. I know how worried you are. And to some degree, you do too."

"I don't follow."

"Remember when we liked each other but couldn't admit it to each other?"

Anna laughed out loud now, embarrassed, as she shifted to sit on her lap. Elsa watched the sun's rays cascade over her lover's bodice and streamed between the red strands of hair, and she could feel her heart thumping again. "It's just like that all over again," she went on.

"Why?"

"Well for one thing, you're still really beautiful."

Anna laughed. The sweet, sweet sound of her laughter rang in her ears. "And?"

"And, well, we're still worried that we can't spend our lives together. Just that this time the stakes are a little higher."

"That's not exactly comforting, is it?" Anna responded, burying her face in the crook of Elsa's neck. "What do we do now?"

Elsa kissed her on the cheek. "What we've done before, Anna. We fight for our love. Only this time we're fighting for other things too. The last time we fought to get each other's attention, as awkward as that was. Now we fight for our lives."

She felt Anna's lips on her neck. "But there's so much up against us. Death squads aside."

"Well, we've changed too, haven't we? We've grown stronger, both physically and mentally. We've learned how to overcome our fears, somewhat." Her voice began to trail off at the last bit, but she kept her cool. For Anna. "We've risen to face all this too. And we can do this."

"I hope you're right."

Elsa smirked. "I've hardly been wrong, have I?"

"I will remind you that you didn't think you'd ever end up with me," Anna said, as she leaned in for a kiss.

Touché, Elsa thought as their lips touched, touché.

They gazed out into the sunrise, Elsa's heart filling with hope a little. Just a little, but it was just enough.