Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the elements taken from Frozen are obvious, and while this version of Zorro is taken mainly from Mask and Legend, I've incorporated elements of his history from other adaptations. Even the original idea for this fic was inspired by the artwork of shishyoukai on DeviantArt, although I have created my own narrative for it; the artwork only inspired the idea of a certain sister becoming Zorro.

Feedback: Always appreciated

The Frozen Fox

Anna wondered what it said about human civilisation that people like King Runeard found it so easy to default to terror tactics when attempting to establish their authority over others. She had never pictured the king as a good man from the moment that she learnt about his association with the Knights of Aragorn, but even the idea that he was capable of something like this…

It was a relatively small assault in the grand scheme of things, and Kristoff had stressed that he wasn't even sure if the reports were actually accurate, but looking at the bridge under construction in the woods, Anna could see how it would fit their wider agenda. The bridge was an important project in terms of helping people travel around the country, allowing them to easily cross a gorge, but Arendelle could still operate well enough without it if it was lost or construction delayed. If Kristoff's sources were right, Anna could certainly picture Runeard staging an attack on something this relatively minor and using it as an excuse to increase his soldiers' presence in Arendelle while claiming that it was all in the name of 'protecting the people'. There had apparently been a few similar events over the last few months, but the buildings had always collapsed in a manner where it could have just as easily been a simple construction error even in the aftermath. What made this different was that Kristoff and his associates had not only received advanced notice, but had heard that the king was going to take steps to make this look like a more deliberate attack.

The only question now is when he's going to actually do this… Anna mused to herself. Based on what Kristoff had told her and her mentor's experience of men like Runeard, if the king wanted to make this bridge look like it had been attacked by his enemies there had to be an actual attack, rather than it just collapsing because of poor workmanship. She had been keeping an eye on this bridge for the last few days, each time from a different position in the surrounding woods, but if there was no sign of any activity by the end of the week she would have to assume this lead was a dead end. The bridge was still reasonably lit by a few gas lamps on the edges, allowing the night guards to more easily keep an eye on things, but Anna didn't feel comfortable leaving them to be responsible for stopping this raid. Even if they turned out to just be men doing their jobs, who was to say the king wouldn't pay them to look the other way?

Still, at least this was another good reason for her to maintain her more discreet methods at the moment. While she had no problem with making dramatic impressions as required, for the moment it was best to work on establishing Zorro's presence as an opponent to Runeard and a champion of the people before she went public. Alejandro and Elena's tales had made it clear how Don Diego had to work hard to establish Zorro as a servant of the people rather than a rebel lashing out at what he didn't like early on, and right now Anna was basically starting from scratch establishing herself in Arendelle. She had to give herself time to do things properly, and it wasn't as though she wanted to force the people to accept her, but if Runeard didn't do something that she could stop-

Her eyes fell on a small group of people moving through the outskirts of the forest, dressed in ragged clothing and carrying large bags in a manner that would have always raised Anna's suspicions even if she wasn't already looking out for attackers. The woman in black waited and watched in silence at first, giving them an opportunity to do something other than what she had been told they were going to do, but when they moved towards the bridge she knew that Zorro had to act.

"Let's go," she whispered to her horse. Trained to respond to even vague orders, the horse moved swiftly but carefully out of the forest and down the hill, even as Anna remained in the shadow of the trees until she was closer to the bridge. By the time she was close to the structure, the group of saboteurs had already reached the bridge and were starting to take off their bags, placing them at different points around the bridge. Anna was slightly gratified to see that the night guards were walking away, heading for the small hut a short distance from the bridge that had been set up for the workers to eat and rest in during the day. Whether the guards were accepting bribes or just been told to take a break, either way it meant she wouldn't have as many to deal with.

Taking a final count of the remaining men on the bridge, Anna identified around five people, three of them carrying large bags that she guessed held the explosives that would destroy the bridge and two carrying a longer package that she couldn't immediately identify. So far the dark of the night had hidden her and her horse from view, but once she got close enough to the bridge…

Mind made up, she paused her approach a short distance from the bridge and leapt off her horse, placing her hand firmly on her steed's face for a moment. Like with the de la Vegas' horses, her mount had been trained to wait and only come when she gave a particular whistle, but now was a good time to confirm that the horse would do that in a 'combat situation'. Satisfied that her horse would be hidden there for a while, Anna carefully made her way towards the bridge, allowing her dark cape to further hide her in the shadows until she was right up at the bridge.

Confirming that the men were still on the bridge and had already left at least one explosive behind, Anna examined the discarded bag and found a large collection of dynamic sticks, the fuse sticking out the top but still clearly unlit. Hoping that she wasn't making a mistake, Anna picked up the bag and tossed it over the side, waiting for a moment to confirm that the impact hadn't set the explosive off.

Satisfied that the explosive had been dealt with, she advanced further along the bridge, her hands hovering over her weapons under her cloak until she saw the men leaving the other bags of explosive around the middle of the bridge. She still didn't know what that large bag was all about, but right now the goal was to save the bridge; she could work out that particular detail later. She took a moment to confirm that they still showed no sign that they knew she was there before she made her move. Taking out her whip, she took a moment to assess the situation before she lashed out with Zorro's most trademark weapon, striking one man on the arm and making him drop his end of that large package. The five men all turned to look at her, but she had already dived into the fray, lashing out with a spinning kick that knocked two other men down even as she landed in the middle of the group.

Just as Alejandro and Joachim had instructed her, when faced with superior numbers Anna's goal was to hit as hard and fast as possible, allowing her to stay ahead of any potential counter-attack. The cape helped make herself look bigger to make it hard for her opponents to hit her in turn, and in the dark of the night with minimal illumination she created a more shadowy impression. The de la Vegas' training had given her a fair idea of how much force was needed to knock her opponents down, and by keeping on the move she was able to stay ahead of them long enough to stop anyone getting off a good shot at her even if they had time to draw their weapons. In these close quarters, she only had to use her sword to occasionally knock weapons out of her opponents' hands, striking them with the edge of her blade without inflicting any serious wounds.

Frankly, Anna was almost disappointed at how underwhelming these people were as opponents, even if she reminded herself that they had just been sent here to plant bombs rather than actually fight anyone. The actual fight took a little while as she had to make sure each opponent she knocked down would stay down once they had been dealt with, even if she didn't want to actually kill anyone, but none of these people were particularly challenging fighters. Once all five of them were down for the count, she took a moment to assess the situation and then disposed of the other two bags of explosives like she had the first one, leaving the men lying in various states of unconsciousness as she went to examine the final large bag now lying in the middle of the bridge. She was careful cutting it open in case it turned out to contain some other kind of explosive, but she was surprised to find that the contents weren't another set of explosives.

A body? she mused, staring in surprise at the figure in some kind of grey woollen outfit. The body was clearly dead, but from what Anna could see, this person hadn't died any kind of violent death, with no sign of physical wounds or any other obvious injuries on his body. Anna wasn't a trained investigator, but the de la Vegas had taught her the importance of thinking things through beyond just diving into battle. Based on what Anna knew of things so far, she guessed that the body would have been left behind in a manner where it would be discovered after the explosion. If everything had gone to plan, Runeard and his people would have used the body as further evidence that the bridge collapse had been a deliberate attack by someone else, likely arguing that this attacker just hadn't been able to get away in time…

It was a twisted scheme, but Anna could see how it would work. She wasn't sure about the clothing this body was wearing, but she could easily work that out at her leisure once she took the body away with her. The sound of a groan from behind her prompted Anna to turn around to see one of the men stirring into consciousness again, but she quickly walked over and placed her foot on the man's chest before he could do more.

"Tell your masters that their reign will end," she said, lowering and deepening her voice as the man looked up at her in a daze. "Tell them that Zorro has come."

With that statement made, she stepped off the man's chest and delivered a swift kick to the side of his head, leaving him unconscious once again. It was always possible that the man wouldn't remember to deliver that particular message, but Anna felt that the symbolism of the gesture was more important than whether the other party would go through with it at this time.

Either way, the king would be aware that someone was actively acting against him now, which would make a pleasant change from Runeard sitting on his throne in complete confidence that he was the undisputed master of his kingdom. Even if he didn't know his enemy, nothing undermined a confident ruler like someone introducing an unexpected element to his schemes.