Rogue Elf on the Run

Dubai, a city that Sabrina had visited once or twice when she moonlighted as a DJ, she had fond memories of this place, memories of a happier time in her life. This particular trip provided no pleasure as it once used to. Sabrina sat tucked away in the back of a small restaurant that was located on the corner of a busy intersection. She was attempting to be as incognito as possible, as she pulled the hood to her sweater down over her head. The wasn’t any particular reason why Sabrina would have journeyed to this corner of the world other than a concert but due to recent events, she had a much more different objective.

While under the control of the Program, Sabrina learned about the two clones of her father that were made, and how they had last been spotted in the Middle East. Sabrina hoped to use this information as a way to atone for the atrocities she was forced to commit. She hoped that she could track down the clones before the Program could, and warn them of the impending danger they faced. Sabrina was forced to put her plans on hold as a more urgent matter had arisen. Using her underground connections that she had formed while with the Program, Sabrina learned of a contract that was taken out some mysterious person, there wasn’t much to go on other than a description of the target.

Sabrina’s icy blue eyes continued to watch the street as she listened to the police coms, through one earphone. It had been a while since she had set up, and she was beginning to grow tired of waiting, that was until she heard what she had been waiting for. Several officers reported in about a chase in progress, the target was a blonde woman riding on the back of a large wolf. Most people including the dispatcher found this sort of thing unbelievable or out of the ordinary, but not Sabrina. Upon hearing the police chatter, Sabrina rose from her seat and began to approach the door to the café. Once she reached the street her gaze shifted from side to side until she saw the woman and the large wolf heading in her direction; sirens and flashing lights not too far behind them.

If the police were on the woman’s trail then there was no doubt that whoever accepted the contract on her was also not too far off. Sabrina needed a way to isolate the woman and her overgrown mount, in order to better protect them or warn them. As the two drew closer, Sabrina forced a pair of giant walls of ice to form in their path, hopefully detouring them into the alleyway behind the café. Sabrina would also construct another massive Ice wall behind the woman and her wolf, in order to cut off the police pursuit. Once Sabrina was sure the two were in the alleyway, she would approach them.

Much to Sabrina’s surprise, her plan in directing the woman and her wolf companion into the alleyway behind the café had worked flawlessly. It was both satisfying and horrifying to her at the same time. *Just what kind of monster did they turn me into?* she thought for only a moment, before she headed down the alley. Sabrina was doing her best to appear as nonthreatening as possible, yet each action she made was contradictory to her intentions, from the wall of ice she used to seal off the alleyway from the street, to the menacing echo of her boots as she took slow and cautious steps further into the alley, and drew closer to the bounties target.

The fact that she had both her hands suspiciously tucked in the pockets of her sweater and the hood concealing her face did not help her cause either. It wasn’t till the woman’s wolf companion positioned itself in between the two that Sabrina realized just how menacing she appeared. She heard the woman say something but it was a language she had never heard before. This prompted Sabrina to raise a brow in confusion as she tried to pin point just what dialect she had just heard. The language barrier was something she was going to have to overcome, but for now she had to make sure that the woman and her animal friend knew that she didn’t pose a threat to them.

Sabrina slowly knelt down so that she was eye level with the wolf, and slowly removed her hands from her cozy sweater pockets. Every action Sabrina took hopefully translated to being as nonthreatening as possible, even going so far as to remove her hood, and show her pale face and icy blue eyes to the two scared and panicked individuals before her. “Easy there big guy. I don’t mean you or your friend any harm. Quite the opposite in fact.” She looked past the wolf to see the startled woman. “I’m here to help you.” Sabrina wasn’t entirely sure if the fugitive understood her or not, so she silently awaited any sort of response. Once Sabrina was certain that the two accepted her explanation she would try to lead them to a safer location. After all, the police were the least of their worries.

A strong gust of wind swept through the alleyway, prompting Sabrina to look skyward. She didn’t need to look at what she already knew was there, but she turned around nonetheless to look at the Helicopter, shielding her eyes from the harsh sunlight to get a better view of the eye in the sky. The young mercenary knew it was only a matter of time before the locals figured out a way around her makeshift blockades, but that wasn’t going to deter her from aiding this woman and her rather large wolf companion.

Sabrina looked back to the woman, who had stepped forward to calm down her overgrown wolf in a rather odd fashion. *Sticking ones arm in an angry beasts mouth is the last way I’d think you’d be able to pacify it.* she thought to herself. The woman spoke once more to Sabrina, this time in English albeit broken English, but it was good enough for Sabrina to understand what she was saying.

“Yes. I’m here to help you. Someone else besides the police is after you. I don't know who, but I wont let anything bad happen to you, I promise.” she shouted over the roaring sound of the helicopter overhead.

The elegant woman leapt back on top of her animal friend before offering her outstretched hand to Sabrina. Though hopping onto the back of the wolf would have been faster for most folks, Sabrina declined the offer. She couldn’t fully trust herself or her powers around other people, even with all the precautions taken, Sabrina could chance her accidently freezing the woman or her wolf solid. Instead she gave a slight kick off the ground and a small patch of ice formed underneath and just in front of her feet, allowing her to slide around as though she were surfing or riding a skate board. She made a few swift and intricate maneuvers to showcase her abilities before stopping just in front of the woman and her wolf. “I’ve got my own ride.” she said with a smile.

Sabrina then approached the side of the wolf so she could better communicate with Miri. “As soon as I drop that wall, be ready to ride like the wind. I’ll be right behind you.”

Sabrina could only hope that the woman understood what she had just said. She assumed she did considering the broken English that she had just heard, but there was still a chance that the language barrier still existed. Regardless of whether or not Sabrina’s instructions were clear, she snapped her fingers and the wall blocking off the alleyway dissipated. Once the woman and her wolf started moving, Sabrina would follow closely behind them.

The massive wolf launched itself and his passenger out of the alleyway with impressive speed. The short rest the two fugitive had gained by meeting Sabrina had given them newfound vigor. Sabrina found herself slacking she realized she had been standing around in awe, like an idiot, and now had some ground to cover.

With her own forceful kick off the ground, Sabrina rocketed out of the alley and used the trail of smashed in rooves, trunks and windshields to track down the duo. Just up ahead, Sabrina could see the large wolf hang a sharp left and head down another busy street. Following suit, Sabrina used her impressive photographic reflexes to emulate both a surfer and skateboarder’s maneuverability when heading down the crowded street.

Upon turning down the street, Sabrina’s icy blue eyes shifted from the road, up to the sky, watching the chopper peal back, Sabrina deduced that something big had to becoming. The helicopter hadn’t been in the air long enough for a refueling and both the Woman and her wolf companion were once again back out in the open. With her gaze toward the sky Sabrina was also able to spot another detail that made her tense up a bit. Off in the distance, high up in one of the buildings was a distinct glistening that the young mercenary knew all too well. “So You’ve finally decided to show yourselves huh?” she said to herself.

With all the distractions Sabrina almost forgot the reason she was even skating around on a block of ice in the middle of Dubai for. She turned her sights down the road just in time to catch the two rush into an abandoned construction site. Sabrina followed suit and arrived shortly after they did, wonder why they decided to stop. “You guys need to rest again?” she asked as she slowly approached the woman and her companion.

Knowing that they might be here a while and that they had eyes on them, Sabrina erected several walls of Ice around them before turning to address the duo again. “You know those people I said were after you? Well we won’t have to wait much longer for them to play their hand, they know where we are.” Sabrina tightened her fist out of frustration, she wasn’t about to let anyone get the better of her and she wouldn’t let any harm come to these two.

The woman wanted Sabrina to bond with the giant wolf. She swiftly snatched Sabrina by the arm and led her over to her large fury companion. The pale mercenary didn’t even have a chance to protest. As soon as her hand was within reach the giant wolf lifted his snout into her gloved palm. Sabrina flinched, despite wearing her gloves, the last this she wanted to do was lay a hand on anyone. Ever since that fateful day, Sabrina had been afraid to have any contact with another being, be it human or something else.

But to her relief she didn’t turn the giant canine into a giant popsicle. Instead she heard a low grumbling voice invade her mind. Her crystal blue eyes locked with Ryzo’s as he spoke to her. This was definitely a new experience, though even with its innocent intent, Sabrina was having a mini panic attack. Hearing someone else’s voice in her head was enough to make her harken back to her time under the Program’s captivity and the horrible things they had done to her. For that reason, the second Ryzo was finished speaking she quickly withdrew her hand and back away from the woman and her friend.

Sabrina turned away from the two and approached one her ice walls. She stared deeply at her reflection for several moments, attempting to gain her composure. Finally, she turned around to address Mirshann and Ryzo. “Ok. Wow. That was different and certainly a lot to take in. Look, we definitely need to keep moving, but moving through a sandstorm is a bad idea.” She said as she slowly approached the two. Her boots scuffed up some dirt as she moved, which caught her attention. Her eyes glanced down for about a second before shooting back up. “Look if I lower these walls, the men after you have a clean shot to take you out. They know we’re here. I have an idea though.” She said turning to address the massive yellow eyed wolf. “You think you could tunnel us out of here?”

If the wolf could indeed provide them with a means of escape, Sabrina could take care of the rest. Her ice walls provided the perfect cover as the sheer cold they let off, prevented the mercenaries from peaking in and tracking the trio’s movements and with the sandstorm fast approaching, their visibility was about to be at an all-time low.[/color]

Sabrina gave the massive wolf a look that simply conveyed that she didn’t care whether or not the canine was above pawing around in the dirt or not. What mattered right now was if they could use the storm to their advantage and slip past the group of mercenaries and police unseen. Her cold blue eyes shot off to the side, taking note of how Mirshann had grabbed a shovel and began heling her fury companion dig through the tough dirt.

Sabrina felt slightly compelled to help them, but her body language and outward attitude said otherwise as she propped herself up against one of her ice walls while she watched the two dig. She thought about the woman’s question, as to why people were out to kill her. Sabrina hadn’t really bothered to ask her connection for any further information about the bounty, but after hearing Ryzo’s explanation of the gauntlet around Mirshann’s hand, it wasn’t too far of a stretch to think that maybe a mob boss or some big figure head sought revenge.

The pale woman kicked off the ice wall and approached the duo. She reached out and took the shovel from the woman and proceeded to help with the excavation. “My best guess is you probably made a lot of people angry if what your fuzzy friend here says is true. More than likely you caught the attention of a very pissed of individual.”

Sabrina’s digging came to an abrupt stop as her assassin’s intuition kicked in. She could help but feel like things were too calm. It could have just been paranoia, but experience had always told her that if things seemed off, they most likely were. The men after Miri and Ryzo were professionals, Sabrina found it highly unlikely that they wouldn’t just sit and wait out the storm, they had to have several plans already laid out for situations like this. The ice walls and the sandstorm were buying them time, but just how much did they have left before the mercenaries resorted to other means in order to reach their targets.

On the opposite side of the ice wall Sabrina had propped herself up against earlier, was a small group of rugged looking individuals dressed in all black combat gear. They began to assemble a large drill. These mercenaries would not ride out the storm, they would force their way into the construction yard to get to their targets. The drill was simply a means to an end. They planned to drill several holes in the large ice wall and fill them in with explosives.

They drill was put together in a short time and placed up against the wall. The initial pull of the trigger caused one of the men to shout out in frustration. “did you seriously try to use a regular drill bit? Didn’t I specifically tell you to use the diamond head one?”

“sorry sir. Switching out bits now.” The mercenary operating the drill said, as he removed the shattered bit and replaced it with another, before getting back on track.

Sabrina paced back and forth, she could hear the drill on the other side of her ice wall and could definitely feel the displeasure emanating off of Ryzo. Miri didn’t seem to found of the screeching of the drill bit against the slick icy surface. She tossed her shovel aside and places her hand against the ice wall that the mercenaries were currently trying to fill with holes. The pale woman began to calm her breathing, bringing it down to a slow crawl.

It was times like these that Sabrina partially wished she was still programmed to be a cold blooded assassin, at least thinking was a lot simpler then. She shook the thought from her mind, most notably being visibly angry with herself for think of such a thing. It was just the spark she needed however, and she channeled that aggression through her wall. The thick ice seemed to vibrate and respond to Sabrina’s touch as its surface on the side where the mercenaries were, erupted in spikes of ice. The sudden burst came as an unexpected surprise to the would be pursuers as one spike tore clean through the drill and another pierced the leg of their commander, cause him to collapse to the floor and curse at the top of his lungs.

Proud with herself, Sabrina turned to see how Ryzo’s digging was going, finding that he had reached a stalemate. A few feet beneath the construction site was a sewer tunnel, the thick concrete seemed to prove too tough for the massive wolf to break through. Mirshann stood off to the side pointing to the concrete tube expecting or hoping that Sabrina had a way through, and in deed she did. Sabrina approached the hole and jumped down so that she was standing on top of the sewer pipe. She placed her palm to the structure and the temperature surrounding the construction site began to drop. Then suddenly, the top of the tube froze over completely. Sabrina pulled herself free from the hole and reached down to her belt and produced a grenade.

“I’d cover my ears if I were you.” she said before removing the pin from the grenade and lobbing it into the hole. The blast was enough to cause the steel beams and scaffolding of the construction site to let out an ominous creaking.

“sir did you hear that?”
“of course I heard it you idiot. Hurry up and get through this wall, their trying to blast their way out.” The wounded commander shouted before turning to one of the other mercenaries. “Get me a map of the city’s sewer system.”

When the smoke finally cleared from the explosion, Sabrina approached the hole to see that the grenade had not fully broken through, but it had taken a small chunk out, and the rest of the ice sheet was cracked. She tossed in one more grenade for safe measure, and returned to the hole once the smoke had cleared from the second blast. The second grenade had done its just and there was now a nice gaping hole in the sewer for them to go through. Sabrina turned around to the woman and her wolf and motioned towards the hole. “Let’s go you two, we don’t have much time.”