Jellicles Creed - Frozen Memories ch 1

Jellicle’s Creed
Frozen Memories
Sequence 01
Memory 01: Mail Call

12 June 2050

CIA Headquarters
Langley W.V.

"How can one guy have a 100% completion rating and still be a rookie ?"
Unknown CIA agent concerning Mark Wolfe's completion of missions fort the CIA

0303 hours

All was quiet as a hooded man stepped into the building, moving through various crowds of people the man made his way, without being noticed completely, towards the postal center. A hand lead the way for him, so to speak. He looked both ways to make sure he was not seen and then ducked under the deviding wall partition and stole into the massive storeroom that housed the mail to be sorted.

He was told to look for a box the size of a large shoebox, a cooler, cold to the touch and most likely frosting things around it. He was warned the object was going to be cold. But he took no chances, easily slipping on thick brown gloves as he slipped through the vast halls looking for the object of interest. He saw a postal worker with heavy gloves on and listened in to the conversation carefully.

"Man that thing was cold!" The man complained, "felt it even through my gloves! What’s in there ?"

"Wish I knew, but we can’t go poking around inside the mail for those in the upper echelons of offices upstairs now can we" Said the second man. "Besides, if we even so much as ask what’s in the thing, for all we know we could get killed for asking."

"Good point there. Come on, lets record it, the thing has a pay on delivery notice, so, lets see who this goes to." The two men moved off. Allowing the hooded man to see his target goal, stuff around the item was frosted over with a thin layer of ice. The hooded man smiled, Elsa still had it in her. He moved closer to the item and took off his gloves, the ice faded away, leaving not a mark or wetness around it as he picked the item up, it was light, but still cool to the touch. It was time to go. He disappeared quickly as if he had never been there.

*~*~*
1000 hours

"Get me some answers people." A voice crowed out as the servy control floor went active. People typed on keyboards, phoneboards, even hologramboards. The wall lit up with information. "Postal Service Marked us with a Pay On Delivery notice. Our problem, we never got what was coming to us."

"OK" A man spoke up, "According to this, a package locked into a small cooler of some form, liquid nitrogen I can only assume, was received by internal Postal Services at three oh seven am this morning. Two seconds later it disappeared. We’ve no idea what was inside the cooler. Reported as freezing cold upon touching and anything near it was frosted with a thin layer of ice."

"And now its missing. Alright, get it on screen, bring up the time the device arrived to the time it disappeared. On screen where the device, whatever it was, had been placed within Internal Postal Services." The man said, being in charge made things slightly harder for John Morshank, the veteran CIA directive agent was a unique man about town.

Some typing and a voice were heard "I got CCTVs in the IPS on screen.... now" as the voice said now, six screens appeared showing various locations. "Located the device, whatever it is. Ambient room tempertures dropped remarkably when the device was set down on that table." One of the screens was focused on a table where the frozen over item was set.

"Would you look at that" Ice formed, in realtime, on the screen as if spreading from the device set on the table, a thin layer of frost covered up to a meter around it in crystal whiteness. Apparently none of those agents had ever seen such a thing.

"Device was on the table indicated for less then five minutes." Said a voice, The men watched as the ice spread to a full meter in circle before receeding and completely disappearing as the device completely disappeared from sight as it was picked up by something completely unseen.

"What happened there. Get me thermals, get me everything. What is going on in that room ?" Said Morshank.

"Device was picked up before disappearing, room temperture returned to ambient levels of normal averages within five minutes of the devices disappearnce. Theft was reported ten minutes later."

"I want this building searched carefully, top to bottom, leave nothing out." Morshank ordered. When he ordered something, things got into motion.

*~*~*

Assassin Brotherhood Den
Lansing Michigan USA

1200 hours

Hoodwith drawn Matt smiled, finally it had arrived, What happened Elsa, what happened to have you send it this way ? Why not cause another heavy storm ? He wondered briefly before typing in the code on the box. Activating it with a ancient Assassin code he opened it.

His heart stopped

Inside the ice coated, freezing cold box was a ice encased item.

Reaching in as the ice receeded he activated a communications panel. "Homebase this is Lansing Den come in."

"Home base here" Came a reply as several people apepared on the holographic screen on the wall. "Lansing, good to hear from you, what gives for a call at this hour ?" Apparently the woman on the other end had no idea what was going on. First thing in the morning phonecall.

"This" Matt held up the frozen item. "I picked it up this morning, Elsa’s work for certain. I do not recognise the blade within this ice however. Something must be going on." He said

The woman activated a few other screens, on the wall six others appeared, a eight screenwall conference. Snowfeather was on screen three with her twin sister Blackmane, Munkus was on Screen Zero with Taku, and there was Voalle on screen five. "Lansing, I hope this is important enough...... wait. Elsa, what now ?" The last time there was trouble at Arenedell was when Hans tried to take over in the everwinter event. They had intercepted the Weaslton ship with Hans aboard and questioned the man carefully, even the duke was questioned carefully.

"Dunno, but if Elsa sent this blade encased in ice, then we got a problem, it went to the CIA HQ down in Langley. I had to get it out of there, thankfully, those static field generators worked perfectly. I was never noticed and nothing was tripped  either. As far as the CIA know, I never was there." Matt replied.

Snowfeather looked over the blade carefully, "Lansing" She said on her screen "Activate a transport array, I think I recognise the blade type." As she spoke she flicked her rist out, two fingers cut through t he air, drawing a few lines with runes appearing in a ring around the design. Five points were then pressed upon.

Matt did the same. "Transportation array activated, item is back in its box and...... sent away" He said.

On Snowfeathers screen Matt watched as Snowfeather activated a brief heat spell and melted the ice off the blade. Everyone stared both on the screens and off them.

The blade was none other then Blackmanes lost dagger. A dagger she had lost nearly three hundred and fifty years before. When the Queen of Arenedell, Marissa, the great-great-grandmother of Elsa and Anna, her husband the King Joseph was king at the same time that Blackmane was stationed at the Assassin Den there. She had made friends with the Queen, to the point of being her personal bodyguard. As a sign of trust, Blackmane gave Marissa her dagger. Saying that if Marissa did not trust the Assassin, she was to kill the Assassin. But if she could trust the Assassin, keep the dagger until dire need to defend one self arose.

That was the last Blackmane saw the dagger. Marissa carried it on her for nearly a year, but never used it. Now it was in her grasp once more. Frozen solid. The weapon had hung over the thrones of the King and Queen at the Castle of Arendelle for countless years since Marissa had placed it there.

At seeing the weapon Blackmane stood up, "I need a moment" She told her sister, Snowfeather then turned to Matt and the others, "Everyone but Lansing, Sign off." She said sternly, a look was given to Munkus, who nodded, he was going to be seeing Blackmane that evening for certain.

As soon as Blackmane had left and everyone signed off, Snowfeather spoke, "Good work on the pick up Lansing. As of right now you are the closest den to Arendelle Den. Apparently we lost contact with that den, or something else occurred for the queen to send the package to us in this manner, you mentioned a name. Elsa, what does it mean ? Who is this, Elsa ?"

"From what I can tell, Cairo, Elsa is the new queen, you recall the news we got from CNN and other sources years ago. A ship went down, lost pretty much everyone. Two survivors, one died in the medical center, the other was committed due to insanity." In truth Michaels was safe and sound. In fact Matt knew exactly where Michaels was. "You want my thoughts Cairo, here they are: Send me. I will meet with our Den there in Arenedelle."

"No, I have a better idea, stay put, we need more recruits in your area. Lansing is strong yes, but Detroit is just starting to lose Templar Control. Munkus wants Detroit taken by the Brotherhood and kept under our control." Snowfeather said. Munkus had made it clear that Michigan was a vital trade zone. The Big Three Automakers resided in that area alone.

Matt nodded, "Yes ma’am, but still I insist I want to go back there." Snowfeather knew also where Michaels was, haunted by memories of the deaths of two wonderful people, parents to two girls in Arenedelle in Norway. "I want to see them again."

Snowfeather thought a long moment before speaking "I know that Mike. I know you want to see your friends again. But now is not the time. Now is the time to focus on the present." Snowfeather looked to the edge of her screen. Blackmane wanted her. She turned back to Matt. "Mike, do me a favor, finish the contracts in the area currently alive for pickup and running, soon as they are done, make ready to travel. Soon as your contracts are complete there in Lansing, you’re going to Arenedelle. Cairo out." The screen died.

Matt smiled, his job for the moment was done, now all he had to do was six contracts, finishing them was going to be a pain though. He wanted to go to Arenedelle. He wanted to see Elsa. His friend. He snapped his left hand fingers, producing an icicle with many spikes, memories flooded to the forefront of his mind. He was called upon, he recalled not so fondly, to help teach a certain princess control after harming her sister on complete accident. He did his best, using his own powers to aid her in keeping control of her ablities. She learned well enough, quicker then he expected for that matter.

But the only thing of all he could remember of Elsa other than her name; was her eyes, brilliant crystal clear blue.

*~*~*

Cario Egpyt
Assassin Headquarters Den

Blackmane entered her living room and for a long moment stared out the front window. Staring at nothing. Remembering the past.

A woman, Marissa, recently crowned queen, the target of a Templar plot, a plot that Blackmane had ended before it could begin. As a result, Marissa was worried of who to trust.

"Here" Blackmane said, withdrawing from her belt, a dagger with the Assassin Brotherhood design  etched deep into its hilt. "Hold onto this."

Upon taking the weapon Marissa was confused. "But Mane. Why give this to me ? This is your weapon, not mine." She said. Clearly cofused, and now more then anything, not trusting the Assassin after experiencing the way Blackmane fought off the attackers so skillfully. With a puny dagger not even Marissa could stand a chance.

"Because I trust you." Blackmane replied.

"How can I trust you" Marissa asked, pointing  the dagger, as if to stab Blackmane in the face.

Blackmane never moved, though she did step closer to the blade tip, moving so it aimed for the neck instead of her nose. "If you do not trust me, then use the dagger, slice my throat here. And then bury me in a watery grave." Blackmane said.

For a long moment, Marissa stood in her chambers, the dagger just barely cutting a thin line on Blackmanes unmarked skin. For a long moment niether of the two women spoke. Finally Marissa let go of the dagger, it dropped with a sickening THUNK into the dead templar guards body as Marissa hugged Blackmane tightly. Blackmane was at first shocked, then she hugged the queen in return.

Marissa said softly into Blackmanes ear. "I am so so sorry, for not trusting you when I shoud have. I trust you, not because you just saved my life. But because I love you as a friend. If I could have a sister. She’d be you." The two women pulled apart as the doors opened and the King rushed in with several guards.

Marissa turned towards her husband as Blackmane stepped back and bowed deeply to the King at his arrival. "Marissa!" Joseph said taking his wife into one hell of a liplock. He looked up from his wife as the two hugged and looked towards Blackmane as the guards stood around them, most of them having their weapons pointed at her ready for use. "Blackmane ? Were you ?"

Blackmane nodded, but did not look up. "Yes, your highness, I did not much like how some of the guards were acting, I stole into your chambers during the changing of the guard to see what was going on. I am now glad I did so. Had I not, you would have lost your wife just now to this man." Her foot kicked at the deceased on the floor.

"We are in your debt." Joseph said, npodding to the guards. "Leave her be, she is a honor guard just like the rest of you, part of our family. A Princess of Arenedelle. Our saviour. Our friend."

Blackmane bowed deeply, "Thank you, your highness. I am honored. But I do not think I deserve such honor among your family. I am not of royal blood. I am but a humble woman that works in the darkness to serve the light, I protect those I see from those that wish to harm and control without mercy."

"An honorable cause Blackmane, tell me, what master do you serve ?" Joseph asked.

"I serve no master, but a Mentor and teacher, none of us are masters, unless it is in death, protection, justice, honor." Blackmane replied.

"You have a creed to live by, a code of laws to honor, a good cause to be sure." Joseph replied. The older man was very understanding and once the body was removed and the dagger handed, hilt first, to Blackmane. There was silence.

For a very long moment the Assassin did not move, then the Assassin instead took the weapon and flicked it around, so now it was held, hilt first towards the king and queen. Blackmane went to one knee, holding the weapon out. "My lords." Blackmane said, her head bowed, the weapon held out. "Although you give me a great honor, I cannot accept it. Instead I request that you take this dagger and keep it. In a time of dire need, have it taken by messenger, you will know where to send it when the time comes. When it is received, I or one of my own will come, bearing this dagger as a summons to here to aid you in your time of need. Please, accept this dagger for such a use. It may not be in your time when it is needed, but soon I fear, I or one of my own will be returning here. Keep it within your family as an heirloom with a legend, a myth."

Marissa let go of her husband and stepped forwards. Taking hold of the dagger she bid Blackmane to stand. Turning to her husband she said. "I think that is what we shall do. Keep this dagger above the throne. Never to be used unless in dire need. We can tell it to our daughters, a story before sleep perhaps when they are old enough to listen."

Joseph nodded after a long moment. "Very well. Blackmane, I want to thank you personally for saving my wife. If it were not for your following your gut feelings, then I would have lost her, and my daughters their mother." He said. As he spoke he stepped forwards, taking both women into a hug. "For now, please, stay and have something to eat at the very least before your journey." Blackmane accepted the offer.

The memory faded. Back in the present Blackmane shook away the tears. She had gotten word from the Arendelle Guild that Marissa and Joseph had passed away a day apart shortly before their elder daughter became Queen when she married her husband. Blackmane put her hands to her face. Tears streaked from her eyes, leaving trails on her face.

Her looked towards the frozen dagger, using her own powers over ice she called the item to her and broke the ice seal. As she did so, a note fell from the blade. It had her name. And also that of Matt Michaels.

*~*~*

CIA Headquarters
Langley VA.

"Sir. You are going to want to get a look at this." A man at the computers said, he brought up on the main screen a series of CCTV screens. One of them playing back of five minutes before.

"What am I looking at ?" Morshank asked. His eyes flickering from one camera view to the next.

"Take a close look at these doors, that there." The screen focused.

"Jesus Christ." Morshank said, swearing loudly. "That is Matthew Michaels." He said

"Sir ?" The man replied, clearly confused.

"Matt Michaels, do a search on him, twenty something years ago a ship went down in stormy waters. Only two survivors were rescued. Of those two one lived, put on ICE. Literally and figurtively." Morshank said.

"I got it sir, Fifth June 1990, Ship went down, two survivors were rescued, one later died upon arrival to the hospital the other was paranoid and locked away, next day the man disappeared in an icestorm that had knocked out the power. He disappeared off the grid for about a month befor his passport was pinged upon returning to America, apparently without any hinderence the man was allowed to return to Lansing where he currently resides." Said an aid.

"Anything else ?" Morshank said.

"Yes, the man once more disappeared off the grid for many years, never using a credit card or even a computer until five years after his return to Lansing area. He took on the nickname Lugnut because of his strength, skills and his favorite minors team, The Lansing Lugnuts."

"Any pictures ?" Several images appeared on the wall screen. Morshank moved over to it and studied each one. Only one image he recognised, the rest he did not. Only one image had Michaels face visible, the rest were all covered with a hood of some form that allowed only his nose and mouth to be seen. that is all we need Morshank thought. "What else do we have on this guy anything recent ?"

"Just this, he purchased a plane ticket using a prepaid credit card, round trip, Flight out to DC in the evening, flight back to Detroit by dawn the next day." Came an answer.

"He’s our thief then ? Can we get thermal matchup ?"

"Static fields prevented a solid lock, but this was recorded on the entry pad. A few random numbers, seven one one eight, three Alpha Delta November nine zero one. And older code but it checked out and he was allowed entry. Apparently it was a high level code because it allowed him access to anywhere."

"Can it be locked out ?"

"No sir, that’s CIA topline code access to do that, this man is apparently well skilled or smarter then we think, also deadly. Area temperture around the keypad suggested that something cold caused it to recognise the codec without pausing or anyform of delay."

"Anything else ?"

"Sir, according to reports of the lockdown, the icestorm was caused out of the blue, the area never gets ice let alone a storm of it. They thought it was triggered by something, some sort of weather machine or some such. They never found his body, power was out for about a day. When it came back up. He was the only one missing."

"He’s not missing any more, he was given a code of some form from someone or somewhere. Don’t know who, don’t know why. All I know is, this man was here, he’s got our package." Morshank thought a moment, then called out to everyone . "Alright, everything stops, everything, stops, numbers, this half of the room, numbers, find out who gave this string of numbers to a man known as Matt Michaels." he rattled off the numbers and letters again, then he turned to the other half of the room, "This half, find out what was in the package and where it was sent from. Lets move it people."

The half of the room with the numbers got busy, rattling off a few of them, one of the number combinations was for Guam, the other a zip code in Ohio, another said it was a star designation in the norther Orion Belt of the Milky Way. Still another said it was an address for a fabric company in Spain. Morshank listed everything.

On the other half of the room the staff went nuts. One rattled off an adress note from the IPS downstairs. Another rattled off six different locations with that zip code, finally one thing rang a bell. Someone said "Arendelle" that got Morshanks attention. "What was that ?" He asked.

"Arendelle, that is the place listed that comes up on the list of addresses held by the USPS, somewhere in northern Norway."

"Bring up the sinking of a ship that had Matthew Michaels onboard. Main screen." Soon as it was on the screen Morshank went through it carefully Flicking his hand through the pages he found he setlled on what he sought. He stared at the headline that stared back at him.

"Man escapes insane asylum during snow storm, body never found.  Police search yields nothing." With it was four more. Sole survivior of shipwreck placed in protective custody escapes during ice storm, Police issue statement, second survivor rescued from shipwreck in Ukraine seaside dies in hospital IC Unit, Hunt for missing insanw paitent called off due to severe weather. Police hand over investigation to local Customs., and finally. Missing man pops up on radar upon entering America after one month of being unfound. Escsapes protective custody at Customs Officals Office at Detroit Metro Airport. Man rumored to be sole surivivor of shipwreck off Ukraine one month before.

"Alright people we got us a National Security Situation on our hands. Matt Michaels, this man, is still alive, he was here. In this building, what was in the box mailed to us, anyone ?"

"Sir, according to Xray scanners, a single item was inside the box, due to the temperture it is impossible that the item can be used if at all due to the extreme cold it was within." Said a man at computer.

"What was in the box ? Bring up the Xray imaging" Morshank ordered.

"Xray Imaging is.... online." two seconds later everyone stared at the dagger. The hiddenblade. Something none had ever seen before except in some news reports long rumored to have exsisted.

"It can’t be" Said Morshank. "Contact all local bases and locales in Norway Ukraine and similar locations. Have them on the look out for items mailed out of their country with the same xray imaging. Move it people."