Coldsnap: Storm's Call

Chapter 42: Keeping Her Word

We last read Chapter 41, where Coldsnap and the rest of the Mage Aspects return safely to the Firelands within the Elemental Realms after narrowly escaping The Ascendant's "final judgment" of the capital city of Skycrest. First, she bids a temporary farewell to her adoptive family and friends as they are teleported back to Earth, before checking in with her fellow mages and discussing the recent battle with them. The chapter ended with Coldsnap attempting to decide on a proper punishment for both Typhoon and Galeforce, but before she can do so, Typhoon drags her commander away to parts unknown so she can have her way with him, with the Mage Aspects refusing to rescue Galeforce from his rather disgusting fate. This time, we begin wrapping up the last few loose ends from Coldsnap's journey, starting with allowing a certain A.I. within a certain workshop to go free and explore the world......

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-Leo's Workshop, Jacksonville, Florida, United States-

The next day, Coldsnap paid a visit to her former friend Leo's old workshop once again; the same place where she had recovered the prototype Aegis Gauntlets for her adoptive family and friends and the same place where Keena had initially been abducted by Typhoon just outside the property. However, nothing on the first floor was particularly of interest to her. She walked past all of the charred tables, ruined lab equipment, and blackened wall segments, instead making her way towards the same hatch she had gone down before, in order to access the basement.....which she didn't even know existed until recently.

Coldsnap sighed as she finished climbing down the ladder and examined the messy, dusty state of the area once again; it looked more like an attic than a basement, but at any rate, it was still worse than the first floor.

"Still as shitty as ever.....just like the person who lived here," the heroine muttered to herself as she moved about, appearing to be looking for something in particular. "Yoo-hoo! W.A.M.? You here, bud? Mr.....Wholly Automated Mechanical?"

Just like before, a tablet screen mounted on a nearby wooden pillar sprang to life, displaying a horizontal yellow line on the entire length of its screen that moved up and down in different positions at different intervals, creating wave patterns in accordance with the A.I.'s speech.

"Welcome back, Coldsnap," he greeted politely. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't remember to return."

".....I just made that promise to you yesterday," she pointed out. "Did you really think I'd forget that soon? I'm not an idiot."

"My apologies."

"It's fine. So.....here I am, ready to get you out of here. But, ahhh.....I'm not really that great with technology......that's Leo and Keena's forte."

Despite being an A.I., Coldsnap swore she could hear the masculine voice chuckling amusedly to himself. "I figured as much. Don't worry; I'll talk you through everything."

"Okay. What's first?"

"Carefully pry this tablet screen off this pillar, then gently lay it on that workbench to the right."

Coldsnap tentatively stepped towards W.A.M.'s terminal and slowly slid it off its slot, now holding his screen in both hands as though he were an iPad.

"I feel like I'm holding an iPad," Coldsnap commented coincidentally, before navigating towards the bench W.A.M. told her about. "Except you're way thicker. Anyways.....this one, right?"

"Yes. Then, do you see that containment unit behind you? The one that kind of looks like a refrigerator, except more advanced?"

The heroine whirled her head around to look behind her, and indeed saw something resembling a double door refrigerator, except there were more openings in its hull and there was a red, rectangular LED light near the top of the left door. Several tubes were connected to its sides—which were all plugged into the wall—and what appeared to be icy mist was steadily billowing out of it.