Fenris
Far after the events of Royals of the Tempest, Nicole and Hally are investigating a lead on one of the scientists responsible for the Tempest incident, before being interrupted by a young woman in the garb of a maid and wielding an Aura. She introduces herself as Fenris, and claims to be a murderer, before making an attempt to fight the pair. Hally is subdued immediately, but Nicole is able to drive the girl to retreat. The following night, she's left to ponder the occurence in Ms. Thew's estate.
So, Fenris. That makes a second other person affected by the Tempest. Nicole stared out the window from her bed, the St. Sofia skyline glowing from a distance. She sighed, not able to fall asleep with that fact in mind. She says she's killed people before. Why did we never hear about that? Why would she tell us that? Nothing makes sense... She sighed, and tried to close her eyes again. She only knocked out Hally, so her goal wasn't to kill her, at least. Was she trying to kill me, then?.
No, that's wrong too. We saw how fast she is, and how fast her lasers are. If she wanted to kill us, she could've done it without hesitation. She wanted to be seen, and by me specifically. But that still doesn't explain anything.
Fenris, just who are you? What am I to you?
...
Some time later, Nicole felt a weight shift on her, and her eyes slowly shuttered open, locking with another pair in vibrant mint. She didn't scream, just stared back at the girl sitting on top of her.
"You... Uh... Hi." Nicole couldn't come up with a coherent opener. The other girl's gaze was captivating, to say the least. She giggled.
"Hello there, Ms. Greenester." The girl replied. The soft, airiness of her tone confirmed it to be the same girl that Nicole and Hally encountered that day. Fenris was still dressed as a maid, her cuffs brushing up against Nicole's wrists.
"So, uh, have you come to try again and finish the job?"
"Yes, Ms. Greenester. You stopped me from killing Dr. Reno, so I wanna kill you instead!"
"Oh." Also an obvious bluff. "Well... Could I ask you something?"
"Mhmmmm?" Fenris smiled earnestly.
"Why haven't you done it yet? Kill me, I mean."
"Because, you seem special! And cute!"
"Is that so?" Receiving compliments from strangers was nothing new, but there was something less superficial to the way Fenris stated her words. "You still want to do something here with me, don't you?"
"Yes! I wanna play a game!" Her face shifted further towards Nicole. "Can we?"
"Hmmmm..." Nicole smiled and inched herself forward in kind "How about no?" Fenris's grip tightened.
"Awww, why not?!" Nicole expected a more aggressive reply, rather than an immature one. I guess I won't try to press her about Hally, then...
"Snrk, I'm kidding. What exactly do you want to play, Fenris? I have videogames, and uhhh Ms. Thew probably has some board games around."
"What about any sports?"
"Hmm... Well we don't have any sports balls around here. Hally and I are out of school, of course. What, did you have anything specific in mind?"
"What's that one thing you do with the villain man and the bombs? I wanna do that!"
Torry and I, huh... She means the Flash-bang Rally. "Oh, so you've seen some of my stage work. Well, Fenris, I don't own the bombs, but if you have some alternative, I'm willing to oblige."
"Ooh, ooh, I have these!" She waved her arms out, and fired a volley of aura lasers from her hands, and out Nicole's bedroom window. The two watched them fly for a few seconds. "So can we, Ms. Greenester?"
Hmmm... So that does confirm she was holding back. Hally can't throw her Chakrams that quickly, and my ranged techniques would take too long. But if she just wants to "play", that's fine by me. So strange...
Also, apparently we might need more secure windows.
"Sure, Fenris. But first..." Nicole focused herself, and bursted her aura. The shock knocked Fenris off the bed from on top of her. "Sorry, but you can't seriously expect me to do this while I'm still in my pajamas, right?"
"Well, you look cute in them."
"Not the point! So, if you could please wait outside, or get to the courtyard so I can prepare, that would be nice."
"Okay!" Fenris, quickly vaulted out the bedroom window, leaving the performer alone in her room.
Fenris
Ms. Thew's estate is the most unusual property to anyone rich enough to call their place of residence an "estate", but the reality is that an abandoned mall makes for the perfect living arrangement with enough investment. The former storefronts can become bedrooms. A food court is large space for cooking and dining, and the courtyard... well is still a courtyard.
As Nicole walked down the stairs to the courtyard, she could see Fenris sitting at the center fountain, smiling. Her legs were crossed, her right boot made a subtle and rhythmic tink on the tile with each tap. Nicole slid down the last railing, slapping it to get the maid-adjacent's attention.
"Ooh, that outfit's also pretty!" Nicole glanced at her sport ensemble, a pleated skirt and tank in the inverse scheme of her stage outfit, before cracking a large yawn.
"Why didn't you tell me it was like 4:30 AM when you got in here? I don't like being up early."
"Oh, well that's because the girl with the dark sword was up all night walking around the place!"
"Well, you did do a lot last night. Ronia isn't going to like you're being here after you knocked out our friend."
"I'll just say I'm sorry!" Uhh, That's not so simple. "Anyways, I wanna play now! When can we start?"
"Well, can I stretch and lay out some ground rules first?" Fenris nodded, and Nicole started by cracking her knuckles and arms. "So firstly, no purposeful headshots. It took a long time for to grow this afro, and I'd hate to get it singed. I'm sure you don't want me ruining that two-half style you have either."
"Mhm." Fenris stood up while Nicole outstretched her legs.
"Secondly, just call a timeout if you need it. This is just a game, after all."
"Okay!" Fenris started pacing to the other end of the courtyard, and Nicole began a back stretch.
"La-Lastly, try your best, and I will too. That's how Ms. Thew runs things around here, and how we try to run our shows."
"Okie-dokie!" Fenris stanced herself across the courtyard, and Nicole followed suit.
"Alright, ready when you are. Let's do this."
Fenris takes the first move, running counter-clockwise as a flurry of purple fires from her left arm. Nicole followed the same path, using her polehammer to deflect the more accurate shots. This went on for several seconds, only being interrupted by Nicole straining to block a more focused spray. Fenris changed her strategy, dashing in various directions while shooting bursts of lasers. In turn, Nicole rolled and slid past each. All the while, both are smiling.
"Alright, this is pretty fun!" Nicole said. I just can't get this sort of practice anywhere else!
"Hey, aren't we still playing?!" Fenris exclaimed back. "Aren't you supposed to hit these back?"
"Good point. Give me more shots!" Nicole held out her hammer in front of her to block hits, and focused on the maid-adjacent's trajectory.
Fenris moves around just slightly out of range for me to reflect accurately. Let's try closing the distance. As Fenris threw another volley of lasers across, Nicole scooped the projectiles with her hammerhead in an overhead motion. Fenris had little time to react, jumping to grab a nearby pillar in order to dodge. In her attempt to keep moving, she flung a few more lasers away. Nicole saw an opening, and freewheeled her polehammer into them. One of the reflected lasers hit its mark, and Fenris tripped and slid onto the tile.
"Oop, looks like I gotcha." The performer said. She approached with her hammer outstretched for Fenris to grab. "If Simone were here, she'd probably say that I 'parried the Ferry', snrk."
"Ooh, I like that!" Fenris responded, seemingly oblivious to getting hit with her own attack. She grasped the hammerhead as she rose back on her feet. "Call me 'Ferry'!"
"Sure thing, Ferry. So, did you enjoy all that?"
"I absolutely did! My family never let me play with them. Oh, but our maid... uh... did..." Fenris's voice trailed off.
"Uh-huh. Are you okay, Ferry?"
No response. Nicole noticed that Fenris's arms were shaking slightly, and she gripped at her cuffs tightly. She didn't know what to do from here, though.
"Good morning, Ms. Greenester" came a voice booming from the second floor, belonging to none other than Ms. Thew herself. She was still dressed in her nightgown, strutting nonchalantly to the stairs with some sort of stick in hand. "What sort of skirmish have you gotten yourself in-"
Fenris's bloodcurdling screaming cut her off. The maid-adjacent rushed at thew, aura laser in right hand.
"Woah, what the... hell?" In the span of Nicole's interjection, Fenris had swung the length of the flight of stairs, but her attack was caught by Ms. Thew's stick. As she held both ends of it up, Nicole realized that her boss was, in fact, walking around with The Viceroy the entire time, its stained glass ax-head gleaming through the dim cracks of sunrise.
"Peace, madam." Ms. Thew commanded. "I am not your enemy."
"I-... y-... wh-..." Fenris failed to say anything intelligible, but quickly dropped her aura laser. She quickly ran away from the courtyard, in the direction of the still open window in Nicole's room.
What just happened? She just... shut down when she mentioned her family's maid. And then, Ms. Thew showed up, and-
"Should I presume that was the girl you and Ms. Aneluto had encountered last night?" Ms. Thew asked.
"Oh, uh, yes. Fenris is her name. I'm very sorry, Ms. Thew! I had no idea she was going to do that!"
"It's quite alright. What were you doing with her?"
"Well, she got into my room and wanted to play a game, so I obliged. I wanted to see if I could get anything on why she showed up Dr. Reno's rendezvous too. Um, anyways, I don't know what set her off, but she went at you."
"Hmm... Well, I don't recognize her either, but I've met many a person throughout my career, and of all sorts. Maybe she recognizes me from then."
"Yeah, but she's like my age. Nowhere near as seasoned as you, y'know. Besides, you're retired from acting, right?"
"Correct."
Nicole pondered on this for a moment. Wait, she didn't react negatively when I said Ms. Thew's name earlier. So, it must be her image or voice that triggered her. Not to mention, if she had a maid, her family must've been rich as hell. "Wait, so that means she must've been at one of your last performances, then."
"That is a possibility, but again I do not recognize her, even if she was a child. That being said, a lot of my final operettas and stageplays were done at private venues, usually by oligarchs and some of yesteryear's tech executives. The ones that understand the least of the stuff they claim to enjoy to impress friends."
"Mhm... But any names?"
"I'll have to ask Riley. You know, they used to do a lot of my bookkeeping back then." Nicole nodded. "Shouldn't you check your room, though? If this Fenris is still there, you could ask her instead."
"Uh, right. And sorry again, Ms. Thew."
"Think nothing of it, Nicole. I'll wait here in case she hasn't left." Nicole sprinted to her room, through the otherwise quiet halls of the estate. She opened back up her door and found... nothing. The window was still open, but no sign of the girl she had just played with minutes ago. She sighed, sliding down the windowsill and locking its hatches. Nicole replayed the chain of events in her head, trying to understand the confusion of the moment.
"I still don't get it," she thought aloud, "Ferry says she's killed before, and yet she wanted to play games with me. Nothing about this has anything to do with Dr. Reno, and yet she's scared of something involving Ms. Thew's former clientele."
She thought about Fenris's smile in their faux sparring session again, and frowned. "Ugh, I wish I knew what you wanted out of all that!"
"Who wanted what out of who, Nicole?" Said a familiar, monotone voice through the doorframe.
"...Hi, Hally."
"You look like you've been exercising all morning. Did something happen, because I woke up to a lot of running earlier."
"Well, I'd think you'd rather hear it all over breakfast. I played a very interesting game of laser dodgeball with last night's assailant."