Shifting slightly on the ground to try and get the blade further away from her neck, Levina took a deep breath, before replying.
"A Cautus codenamed Frostnova?"
"Ah, so you have seen her!" The man seemed strangely happy. Then again, he wasn't the one with a machete to his throat. "Where is she?"
"She escaped two days ago and took a member of my team with her."
The man let out a sigh at that. "If she's gone, it's for good reason. Was she looking for a crystal?"
"Yes. She took it with her."
The man mumbled something under his breath, before standing up to leave.
On an impulse, Levina called out to him. "Wait!"
"We can help." The researcher spoke from behind him.
Petrova turned to face the researcher again. "Why?"
"She's taken a member of our team with her." Right. Petrova chastised himself for not connecting the dots earlier.
"And how can you help?"
"Equipment, sensors…" Well, that wasn't particularly useful. "… and supplies."
Petrova's eyes lit up at that, though he did his best to hide it. "How much?"
"Enough for four people, for three weeks." Petrova did a quick calculation; for the Yetis left and these researchers, that would be… about a week's worth. Not bad.
"And how do we guarantee you don't kill us?" Now to deal with the basic assurances.
"We will relinquish our weapons, and you can guard us." The researcher seemed to be regaining confidence as she spoke; her words returning to a neutral, diplomatic tone.
"Well then." Walking over to the researcher, he motioned for the Yeti beside her to sheath their sword, before helping her up. "Let's start with the introductions."
The researcher unclasped the sheath of her dagger, placing it on the ground beside her. A Yeti quickly picked it up, beginning a cursory inspection. "I'm Levina."
"Petrova." He responded in turn.
"Now, where are those supplies you spoke of?"
To Petrova's credit, his people hadn't just stolen the supplies and left them for dead. That meant circumstances were better than their trip to Sargon, at least.
"So," the man began as he surveyed the various metal boxes laying around in the early morning light, "are you ready to depart?"
"Yes." Levina hesitated a split second, before continuing. "We… were planning to pursue them beginning today anyway."
"Call your people together, then. Let's go." And then Petrova just… left.
"He sounds like he was packing his bags for a holiday trip with family, rather than a manhunt with a stranger he had just met…" Levina commented as she watched the man flip up his hood and walk towards where his troops were already assembled.
The sound of footsteps approached her, and she silently turned towards them, hand grazing the handle of her dagger.
Only to watch Ben and Anne soon burst out from behind a tent, quickly rushing over to where Levina stood.
"You're unharmed?" Levina asked, discreetly shifting her hands back to her sides.
A movement which Ben noticed. "You seem tense."
"They held a knife up to my throat and asked me where Frostnova was."
Ben shifted uneasily. "Well, you're not the only one. This is to do with that girl?"
"Mhm."
"And Fredrich, too… what's the plan?" Anne asked.
"We follow then in order to catch Fredrich and Frostnova."
"After they threatened each and every one of us?" Ben questioned.
"Yes."
He sighed. "You're serious, aren't you."
"Yes…"
Frostnova slowly got up from the hard floor of the tent, standing up and smoothing over the wrinkles in her clothes. Picking up her pack, she slipped it over her shoulders before walking out the tent.
As she took one last check of the tent's insides, Andrey spoke. "You should write a message to the Yetis."
"Mm?" With a snap of her fingers, Frostnova collapsed the ice holding up the tent, before starting the slow process of rolling up the fabric.
"I mean, Petrova and the Yetis are bound to get concerned."
"Good idea. If we have the time, I'll write a message to them." Frostnova absentmindedly replied, attaching the rolled-up fabric to her bag.
"Alright, I'll remind you tonight…. Wait, the Yetis can read?"
Frostnova huffed. "Petrova can, I can, and much of the Yetis also can. We're not all uncivilized savages."
"Huh." He sounded awfully surprised.
Before he could ask another ignorant question, Frostnova continued. "If you're asking where we learned it, we had plenty of time at night in the mines."
"I see."
Walking over to Fredrich's tent, Frostnova peeked in. The researcher was still asleep, face still and neutral as he slumbered.
"Fredrich, wake up."
"A moment, please…"
Had it been Petrova, maybe she would have showed some mercy. But this was a stranger, and a particularly annoying one at that.
Activating her Arts, Frostnova aimed an ice bolt towards one of the support struts. "I'm collapsing your tent. On top of you."
Fredrich obviously heard the crackling of her Arts, as he shot up immediately, jumping up and out of the tent.
"You two really don't get along, do you?" Andrey laughed.
"No, we don't."
"Well, do as you will. Fredrich tried to kill me before he knew my identity, so I'm partial to tormenting him myself."
"He tried to kill you?" Frostnova clenched her fists. She was having a good talk with Fredrich later…
"Relax. You also tried to get rid of me when we first met, remember?"
Frostnova stopped speaking, watching as Fredrich slowly packed up his tent. He sure was taking a long time…
"You look like you're going to kill him."
"I might."
Fortunately for the three of them, Frostnova did not make good on that statement. Fredrich finished packing up, and soon they were on their way again.
As per usual, Andrey scanned the tundra around them with his Arts. No danger.
A sudden surge of weakness passed through him, and his view of the world flickered and died.
"Oh, not again…" He sent out another pulse of Arts, hoping to reestablish the connection.
And, as if played on reverse, the world returned to him.
Well, Fredrich wasn't wrong. There was some problem with the crystal he was contained in. And no doubt Fredrich had detected that episode too, given his near-constant monitoring.
"Sir?" Indeed, Fredrich's soon contacted him.
"Yes, the crystal fluctuated somewhat. Keep your pace; Frostnova is ahead of you." Andrey watched in satisfaction as Fredrich broke into a quick jog in order to catch up. Oh, the joys of not needing to walk… he would miss them once he got a body.
Though he supposed it would all be worth it.
Switching back to Frostnova, Andrey watched as she slowly jogged forward, eyes taking in the tundra around her.
"Enjoying the scenery?"
"A little. I'm mostly looking for dangers."
"Fair enough."
Andrey decided to stop bothering the two of them, and simply retreat back to the crystal.
Summoning a luxury bed out of thin air within his cave, he collapsed onto the soft covers…
And then they gave out under him. Andrey fell down onto the ground, bouncing off with a fortunately-painless bump before rolling over onto his back.
"Oops."
"You're finally ready?" Petrova turned to the three researchers as they approached him, their supplies in tow. They were slow, but not intolerably so. He did just threaten the three of them at knifepoint, after all.
Or at least that'd be how they would see it. He preferred to see it as for everyone's safety. Sparing a quick glance to where they had kept the researchers' weapons, he made sure that they were far, far away from the researchers themselves.
Never hurt to be careful. He grinned and approached the team, unfurling a map in front of them. "We've got a route."
The three began intently studying the map, before Levina finally spoke. "You think they'll go to the town?"
"They have to. Not enough supplies to go anywhere else, after all. We can intercept them…" Petrova's finger shifted over to a spot he had marked on the map – "here."
"A day before they reach the town." One of the other researchers commented.
"Roughly, yes. You are?"
The researcher who had just spoke replied. "Ben."
"Got it. And you?" Petrova turned towards the other researcher – the Cautus.
"Anne."
"Alright. Are we ready?"
"Yes." Levina spoke for her group.
"Let's go then." Petrova turned towards the rest of the Yetis. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he called out to them. "We're going!"
The remaining Yetis quickly formed up, merging with the researchers and Petrova as they began another long trek.
Levina felt a curiosity begin to gnaw at her as she walked alongside Petrova. He was a… cheery enough man, still humming some Ursus tune as he marched in step with the other Yetis. His… troops marched with a military precision, yet seemed about as well-armed as your average rioter.
"May I ask something, Petrova?"
"Shoot."
"What is the nature of this group you lead?"
"That's a very open question. Also, Si-Frostnova leads the Yetis, not me. I just do all the people stuff; she's the fighter."
Frostnova? That belligerent girl was the combat commander of this group? Recalling their first meeting, it did make sense. The ability to freeze even her solid within seconds…
"You seem surprised." Petrova observed.
"If she is a leader, then why would she leave the Yetis behind?"
"I'm sure she has her reasons. The crystal you had seemed quite important to her… and it's not the first time she's pulled something like this."
It seemed that Petrova led the group most of the time; Frostnova was just their combat leader. The group was undisputably a militia, if they emphasized battle prowess so much. "So, what about the Yetis? Who are you fighting?"
Petrova was silent for a long while.
Just as she thought the Yeti had ignored her, he turned to her and replied. "We're an Infected guerilla group. We fight against the Empire, to save the Infected."
Petrova watched Levina closely, gauging her reaction. So far, she had shown no sign of the usual revulsion associated with the Infected, but perhaps she was merely slow to react.
"That makes sense." Her response was short, clipped, and Petrova almost though she was done, before she continued. "Then we need to part once we retrieve our respective members. Our research group cannot be seen associating with enemies of the Ursus Empire; it would cause irreparable damage to our company's interests, and probably get me fired."
"So you can help us, but you don't want to be seen doing it?" Petrova concluded.
"Yes."
"Fine with me. Better than trying to kill us because we're Infected."
"That still occurs?" Levina asked, only to receive a nod from Petrova.
"Views are different than Rim Billiton, I suppose. While discrimination remains, you won't die for it."
"Sounds like a good place to live." Petrova replied.
"It's less so universal rights, and more so universal lack of rights. If you lose the ability to work, you're out of a job. Simple, but merciless."
"Still better than dying because of bad luck."
"Of course."
The two continued on their walk, Petrova soon turning around to notice that they had left the rest of the group far behind.
"Let's stop for a while." At his call, Levina turned around and spotted the others.
"Sure." The two sat down onto the snowy hillside. Craning his neck to look, Petrova spotted a faint shimmer of ice in the distance.
He gestured towards it with his gloved hand. "We're almost there. Ever travelled over ice?"
AN: The researchers are from Rim Billiton; that has been revealed. Really, any mining company could work, but may as well use one that actually exists in lore rather than trying to invent one from thin air.
Speaking of which, should Frostnova be addressed as Yelena now from Andrey's perspective? It feels like it could get pretty confusing, with all the name switches. Either way, in discussions between the two, Andrey's calling Frostnova Yelena now. At least, if I remember.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter!