[Fanfiction]The Secret War

[W4RH3AD]

EDIT: (21stDec)

Formerly titled 'Gradivus Dilemma-Clans' (Just realised I could change the title, w00t.)

Hi, this is a FANFICTION I am currently writing. Originally, it was about the Gradivus Dilemma, but now that that's all done, and there's even a new trailer for it, I realised, the original plot I had in my mind wouldn't fit, and thus, I changed plot halfway through.  Feedback is welcome.


SYNOPSIS: When the Gradivus Dilemma was ongoing, the Tenno were given the choice to choose their factions. Whether it was for morals, or greed, the Tenno all had different reasons for joining their respective factions. Though, unknown to most, while this conflict was ongoing, another more deadly conflict was about to begin. It was amongst Tenno. Knowing how low their numbers are, can they really afford to lose their own brethren?

---------------
Chapter 1: Disconnect.

"No..I won't let them die.. I won't."

He chanted in his head as his limbs automatically work, slashing here and there, running into cover to reload his guns, before unloading them into another wave of incoming Corpus. And then reloading them again. He had gone on ahead of the Grineer forces, destroying all Corpus that stood in his way. There was no mercy. No hesitation. Whatever was on his way was turned into gore, bloody pieces of meat or scrap metal. It all became a blur. One moment there would be Corpus forces arrogantly standing around in a room, trying to make a last stand, the next moment, a room utterly destroyed with corpses of crewmen and destroyed MOAs littering the floor.

"How long have I been doing this?"

After a few short minutes, the whole Corpus ship was purge of life. He collapsed to the ground, laying beside pieces of what seemed like Corpus crewmen. He was breathing hard. He tried to think of how many times he had done this. 50 Corpus ships fully exterminated of all life? 100? He lost count. It didn't matter. He needed to go on to the next ship. He stood up slowly and painfully, heading towards extraction. As he decided where to go next, there was a small pop-up that appeared in the corner of his HUD, a message from one of his clanmates.

"Head to the Dojo now. Clan Leader Michael is calling for all Clan members to gather in the Grand Hall."

Despite knowing that the gathering meant ill for him and maybe some of his other clanmates, he smiled to himself.


Soon, the whole Grand Hall was filled with Tenno with all sorts of color schemes on their Warframes that it made the gathering look like it was some sort of carnival. Except it was deathly silent There was a big space in the middle of the Grand Hall where all the Tenno's attention where. In the middle were 3 warframes; A Saryn, an Ash and a Frost. The 3 were the founders and leaders of the Clan.

"Tell me, brothers and sisters, which side are we taking in this conflict?" The voice of the Frost in the middle, Clan Leader Michael, boomed throughout the Grand Hall.

"Did we not decide to aid the Corpus and crush the Grineer Empire for the sake of the Mars Colonies?"

Michael stopped and surveyed the room, looking at each and every single Tenno in the Grand Hall. He stopped after his gaze met those of a Excalibur, painted green and white.

"But somehow, there are a few of you, who had fallen to greed, and decided for youselves to aid the Grineer after being offered better rewards!"

The whole Grand Hall remained silent as Michael continued to survey the Grand Hall again, stopping every once in a while.

"I am utterly disappointed. We, the Tenno, honourable people, can be divided by mere rewards! What is more disappointing, is we have blind loyalist dogs of the Grineer even in our midst! Here! In the clan itself!"

Some Tenno in the Grand Hall were shifting uncomfortably by now, and looking around at each other, to possibly find out who could be potential betrayers.

"HAVE. YOU. NO. SHAME?!" Michael's voice echoed, and soon he was pointing at individual Tennos before saying out their names.

By now, the Tennos in question have gathered in the middle, infront of Michael. There was about 15 of them. About a quarter of the whole clan.

"Have you anything to say to your fellow clanmates whom effort has been countered by your actions of greed?" Michael asked, gesturing towards the gathered Tenno.

The Excalibur painted green and white, a veteran of the Clan took a step forward. His movement indicated he has gone through extensive combat and has yet to regain sufficient rest to get rid of the fatigue.

"I did what I did, not for the rewards but for my fellow Tenno. My fellow Tenno who are fated to die in the hands of Corpus and who have yet awoken from cyrosleep and taken arms."

Michael was taken aback. He was not used to people talking back to him.

"Have we not argued enough about this, Venra? We are Tenno, we took up arms, knowing full well what awaits us at the end. Have you not embraced the inevitable embrace of death in battle that all Tenno longs for after countless battles? If they are true Tenno, they would understand. They would lay down their lives if it means saving the lives of many!"

"Do you think providing the Corpus live specimens for their research would benefit us? What if they develop technology advance enough to counter us? Have you not think of the bigger picture? We can lose the war to the Corpus!" Venra, raised his voice even higher.

"Having the Grineer gain more power would also give them the chance to destroy us!"

"Tell us Michael, is it because of the Mars Colonies you fight the Grineer, or is it because of your personal hatred you have developed after failing to protect one of your squadmates? Bitter anger and revenge has made you daft. Don't tell me you have forgotten about how she was gunned down right infront of you by the Grine-"

"ENOUGH!" Michael cut in, clearly shaken and provoked, "I told you never to mention this again! My own hatred has nothing to do with this!" His fists were shaking in anger.

"This has gone on long enough." The Saryn, Clan Leader Talia finally spoke out. She took a few steps infront of Venra before punching him in the face. He stumbled a while before regaining his balance.

"You have no place here, Grineer lapdog. From now on, you are not to be associated with this clan. Before I kill you all myself, leave."

The 19 Tenno then started walking out of the Grand Hall, walking in shame as their fellow ex-clanmates watch ever so silently.

As Venra was about to leave the Grand Hall, he took one last look at the interior of the whole Grand Hall, the place where he had found sanctuary for so long, the place where had pooled all his hard-earned resources with his fellow clanmates he had become friends with. He then looked at the Frost in the middle, Clan Leader Michael. With a voice full of confidence and conviction, he announced

"The Grineer will win. I will not let fellow Tenno die. I WILL NOT LET THEM DIE."

Edited December 21, 2013 by W4RH3AD

[Nantlais]

Here, have an upvote

[ArtanKatana]

Nice, I wouldn't mind more of this.

[RegularGamer]

Please keep doing what you're doing.

[W4RH3AD]

I appreciate that you guys like it! Though, after thinking about it, I could have written a better title....

 

I'm trying to keep this fanfic as close to the event and existing lore as possible, without making it seem like it's a whole new different 'Warframe universe'. Considering how much lore we have, it's quite difficult trying to think of a solid story. I really applaud all the fanfic writers in Fan Zone. After writing this, I think I can understand how much thought was put into all their awesome fanfics.

 

Nevertheless, I'll continue writing what I had in mind..

[W4RH3AD]

Chapter 2: Tradition

 

"Long time no see!" a Rhino, who had just entered the room, boomed. Every Tenno in the room, cringed while some looked around, confused, trying to find where the source of that loud voice was. The Trinity, who was kneeling at a far corner of the room, patiently waiting for her companion was unfazed. Knowing him for a long time, she toned down the audio in her helmet. She glanced at the approaching Rhino who was now briskly striding towards her, with his right hand waving in the air furiously.

 

"How have ya been? What have ya been up to??" As the Rhino walked from one end of the room to the next, the stares of the fellow Tenno followed him. Tenno rarely talk, and right infront of them was a talkative Rhino who did not specify his comm to whoever he was directing his speech to. Not only that, the way he greeted his fellow Tenno could be deemed disrespectful. Traditionally, a simple nod as a form of greeting would suffice. If the Tenno who was offended ever so choose, it could lead to a duel. And Tenno duels always had a high chance of one of the duelist's death. Tenno were always particular about respect.

 

Setting her comms to private, directed to the Rhino, she quietly said, "Your comms. Their set in general. Everyone in the room can hear you."

 

"Really? Hah. My bad, my bad. Sorry everyone!" the Rhino apologized, spinning in a circle with his arms wide open before continuing his stride towards the Trinity.

 

"Typical. Loud Konrad." The Trinity thought to herself as she sighed. "Always attracting unnecessary attention."

 

"Did you say anything?" Konrad boomed through the comms, finally setting his comms to private.

 

"Oh nothing."

 

Konrad finally reached the other end of the room where the Trinity was and he went to a kneeling position beside her. The rest of the Tenno who was watching the Rhino had finally started moving and gone of to whatever they were doing. They could have challenged him to a duel for disrespecting their peace and disrupting the silence, but none of them did. They were all Tenno. And every Tenno were trained and disciplined to be able to gauge a person's threat level just by looking at them. They were not to be fooled by the Rhino's clumsy and unnecessary movement and friendly nature. Despite these, they all knew he was an extraordinary force to reckon with. One glance, and one could see he was equipped with supercharged weapons that could have been responsible for deaths countless of thousands of enemies of the Lotus. Even his melee weapon, a massive Scindo, still had bloodstains, that seems both dried and recent. Actually, one does not need the training of a Tenno to know that Konrad, a legendary veteran of their clan, was a dangerous and formidable Tenno.

 

"Sorry, I'm late, I felt like I needed to crush some Infested scum and earn me some creds."

 

"It's good to see you too, Konrad."

 

"What's with the formalities, Yan? Are you sick or something? Please, don't tell me you're going to die because you inhaled too much infested spores..... I've heard of Tenno going insane because of the huge amounts of spores they collected...."

 

The Trinity chuckled quietly. She could sense the worry in the Rhino's voice. He hasn't changed at all.

 

"I'm sure you are aware of the ongoing war right now, and about how the Lotus has actually given us the free will to decide which side to choose.."

 

"Ah, yes.. I've already done a few missions for the Grineer."

 

Yan nodded, she expected him to take the Grineer's side.

 

"I'm supporting the Corpus."

 

Konrad nodded. Their clan was taking the "Balance" decision, meaning the Clan Leader has given the clan members the freedom to choose their side without consequence. He felt like persuading her, but as an old friend, he respected her decision.

 

"Well.. anyway, because of this, the tensions between Tenno have been high. Tenno were not bounded by contract or anything. No one remembers what has happened before we all went to cryosleep. Only that the Lotus has been our one, guiding and uniting light. Now that she has given has a bit of independence, it seems like some Tenno went overboard."

 

"What are you trying to say..?" Konrad asked, his curiosity peaked.

 

"Rumours of Tenno being killed by Tenno hands, Konrad." Yan said it slowly, like it pained her to just say it.

 

"Nonsense..! Rumours, paid by the enemy to further weaken our resolve and increase tensions." Konrad blurted out, he could not accept that his fellow Tenno were killing each other out in the field. He has met different kinds of Tenno, the worst one he has encountered was a fellow Loki who switched teleported him out of the elevator, leaving him to fend for himself against a horde of Infested. It was a hard and ugly fight, but he survived.

 

"I'm sure you have heard of the rumours as well. Also, there has been a huge increase of wandering Tenno exiled out of their clans. Just yesterday, 19 Tenno from the Dawn Fighters Clan has been exiled, among the 19 was even one of their oldest members. They were exiled because they chose to support a different faction from what they were supposed to. That was approximately one quarter of their clan."

 

"Bah, just because they get kicked out of their clan doesn't mean they'll resort to killing Tenno. What would they gain?"

 

"Don't say it like it's not a big deal. When a Tenno is exiled from his clan, he not only loses all the privileges of that clan, but is also banned from communicating with the existing members. Not only that, he is also unable to join another clan unless he is very lucky. Clan Leaders do not like to recruit ex-members of other clans, in case of clan security being breached or cases of even challenging them the Clan Leaders themselves for the complete control of the Clan. As for gains, I don't know. I can't imagine what kind of rewards people are given so they fight their own kind."

 

Konrad gave out a sigh. He knew being exiled out of a clan to a Tenno was a big deal. He just couldn't get over the fact of being attacked by another Tenno and be rewarded for it.

 

"This.. is all just baseless rumours.. like how there is a 'Stalker' who is said to hunt other Tenno to avenge or something." he was muttering now. The seed of doubt has been planted. He could not persuade even himself. He knew the prospect of rewards must have caused even his kin to fall to greed. Not all Tenno were deemed 'honourable' and 'virtuous'.

 

"Lotus help us. I've pinpointed places of interests.. We need to find answers, Konr-"

 

She was interrupted as the whole Dojo shook all of a sudden, accompanied by a ear-splitting boom that came deep within the structure itself.

 

Some Tenno lost their footing and fell clumsily to the ground, while the more experienced were able to stand, and unsheathe their weapons.

 

When the shaking stopped, Yan and Konrad were standing back to back, with their weapons ready. A siren was blaring. It was the first time most of the Tenno in the Dojo actually heard it. The normal lights were flickering, and there were red emergency lights on.

 

"An attack?" Konrad whispered, suddenly serious, concentrating hard.

 

"Probably." Yan replied.

 

Suddenly, a Mag, emerged from the only door in the room, she was breathing hard, tired from running so fast.

 

"Is there a Trinity here? We have a Vauban in critical condition at the Docking Bay! He crashed landed! He's really hurt bad!" The Mag shouted, unable to see properly into the gloom that was illuminated red by the red emergency lights.

 

"I'm a Trinity" Yan called out.

 

"Follow me to the Docking Bay, fast!" relieved, but still in a rush, the Mag ran off.

 

"I was in the Docking Bay when I saw his ship approaching the Docking Bay, I realise he was going too fast, I knew he was going to crash, I tried to soften his landing by putting more shields up around his ship."

 

The Trinity nodded her head, she knew that because of this Mag's quick thinking, she could have potentially contributed to the Vauban's chances of survival from that crash landing.

 

As the Mag, Yan and Konrad were running across the hallways, Yan had many questions in her mind.

One of them were answered by the Mag. Though, more questions emerged.

 

"As I pulled him out of his wrecked ship, he was about to lose consciousness, but before he did, he told me- he was attacked by a squad of Tenno. He must have hit his head real hard, no?"

Edited November 3, 2013 by W4RH3AD

[W4RH3AD]

Chapter 3: Escaping Death.

 

Hours before a Tenno ship crash landed into the Blood Spectres Clan Dojo........

 

 

A lone Vauban was leading the charge to a Corpus ship, with the Grineer forces struggling to catch up behind him. He smiled to himself as he wiped out another room full of Corpus in less than a few seconds. How pitiful. As he entered another room full of Corpus, he threw a Vortex right in the middle of the mob, sucking in almost everyone. Using his Soma, he unloaded clip after clip into the Vortex that was now holding nothing but bloodied corpses. He was enjoying himself. It was only just right, after all, he had done this more times than he could count. It was just a matter of time. The Grineer forces might as well just sit around in their ship and wait for him to finish wiping out the Corpus. Soon, there was only one Corpus left. The Vauban, tired of the same endless missions he was running, decided to have some extra fun. Stalking the hallways for the last Corpus, he finally spotted him. A Corpus Crewman, lonely and with low morale was taking cover behind a pillar. Using his Shade's invisibility, he casually walked behind him. The oblivous Crewman was still regularly peeking out of his cover, looking at the door which he presumed the Tenno would emerged out of.

 

Aiming his Bolto, he shot the Crewman's  knees. It cleanly penetrated through the Crewman's suit, and with a loud and confused grunt, the Crewman collapsed to the ground, a bolt coming out of both his kneecaps. When the Crewman saw this, he started whimpering, confused and frightened, he shot his Dera in an arc around him. But the Vauban was not done yet. Still invisible thanks to his Shade, he aimed for the hand. He fired a shot. His bolt met the desired target, the Crewman screamed in pain and fright, unable to use his other hand, the Crewman dropped his Dera. He was now defenseless. Smiling, the Vauban finally deactivated his Shade's cloak infront of the scared and dying Crewman. The moment he saw the Vauban, he gave out a squeal, and using his only unaffected limb, his right hand, started crawling away from him. Blood trailed out of the Crewman. Stifling a chuckle, the Vauban followed him, purposely taking small steps. By now, the Crewman was at the peak of his hysteria. Fueled by andrenaline, and hope that he could still survive propelled him forward. He continued whimpering. Unfortunately, the Vauban grew tired of him. With his left hand, he forcefully grabbed the Crewman's box helmet and held him close to his face. He looked through the visor, and could vaguely see the eyes, the expression of the Crewman, who was about to die. Using his right hand, he grabbed his Ceramic Dagger, and with a swift motion, stabbed the Crewman's helmet. The whole body went limp. But the Vauban continued to stab for a few more times, before letting the mangled corpse finally drop to the floor.

 

With a single flick of his wrist, the blood from the Ceramic Dagger transferred to the floor. Time to go. He was satisfied. More Corpus blood needed to be spilled.Running through the hallways of the Corpus ship, he headed straight for extraction. He was too occupied with the torture of the Crewman, he could not hear the dying cries of Grineer in the rooms behind him.

 

His sprint gradually became a casual walk before it came to a halt. Infront of him was a Frost. The Vauban could not recognize this Tenno. It was a person he has never met before. He was clearly waiting for him. He was standing infront of a door, the direction to which the extraction was. It was as if he was blocking it.

 

"Ah, hello there, brother, since when did you arrive here?" the Vauban asked, clearly confused. He knew he was the only Tenno in this mission, he was also the one responsible for the deaths of all 109 Corpus Forces. He knew, because he counted.

 

The Frost remained silent.

 

"Upset I took all the kills?" the Vauban joked, feeling uneasy. He felt a presence behind him. They were not alone.

 

"So, uh, lets get to extraction, shall we?" the Vauban suggested. The feeling behind him felt familiar.. but also ominous.

 

Walking forward, the Vauban suddenly dived to his left, just in time to dodge something, he could feel the cold wind from where he stood. With his Bolto in his hand, he fired off shots, to where he presumed the invisible presence was. The bolts could be then seen floating in the air, there was definitely someone there.

 

The Frost, seeing this acted immediately, he raised his Gorgon. Except, he was not aiming for invisible being that had bolts floating around him indicating its presence, instead, for the Vauban.

 

The Vauban, sensing this took cover behind a crate, right before the Frost opened fire, his Gorgon spitting fire. He was pinned behind the crate, he tried to blind fire with his Soma, but the Frost took cover, dodging all his bullets. The Vauban looked to his left, to where the invisible being was last seen. The bolts that were floating were now on the floor, along with some blood. He must have pulled it out, he thought to himself. Being cautious, he continued blind firing his Soma towards the Frost who continued laying down suppressive fire with his Gorgon. He was looking out for the invisible being.

 

There! the Vauban saw the flicker of moment. Rolling out of the cover of the crate, he fired his Soma, trying to find shoot whatever there was. None of his bullets hit. There was a loud thud, and the crate which he took cover on suddenly dented. If he stayed a second longer, it would be his skull that would be dented. Or even crushed. The invisible being was quick, it suddenly ran off, out of the Vauban's sight. The incessant stream of bullets coming out of the Gorgon suddenly stopped. The Frost was reloading. Now was his chance, The Vauban sprinted towards the open door, now not blocked by the Frost.

 

As he sprinted, a Loki, with a Fragor in his hands was in a midway swing, suddenly de-cloaked infront of him. The Vauban had little time to react, he  tried to lift both his hands to shield his body from the inevitable impact with the Fragor.

 

There was a loud thud, and and a crunch. The Fragor connected with the left arm of the Vauban, taking all the impact, crushing bones.The Vauban was flung to the wall to the right behind another crate, and he cursed, as he coughed out blood. His shields did nothing to soften the impact.Disorientated, crippled and outnumbered, the Vauban knew fighting both the Frost and Loki was suicide. Nothing was making sense to him now. Why were Tenno attacking him? He knew he made a few Tenno angry before by using his Bounce to launch them off places they didn't want to. But that doesn't give them the excuse to attack him, does it?

 

There is no time to think. Run! His inner voice was telling him. He knew his inner voice was right, he survived, following his inner voice, his instincts. Shakily standing up to both legs, he started to run-limp out of the room, throwing a Bounce pad behind him. As predicted, the Loki, with a Lato in his hands, went to where he flew off to finish him off. Except, there was only a Bounce pad waiting for him, launching him in the air. The Frost, saw this and scanned the room, he saw the Vauban limping out of the room, aiming his Gorgon, he fired off a stream of fire. The Vauban, slow and fatigued was unable to dodge the stream of bullets. A few were deflected by his shields, but there were more that embedded themselves in the Vauban. Grunting and cursing, the Vauban continued limping out of the room, heading straight to extraction. Just before he left the room, he fired his Bolto, aiming for the windows. The Loki was about to run straight towards him, but the door closed too fast, locking the room for lockdown.

 

The Vauban was breathing hard, he glanced at his left arm, which he was just dragging alongside him, bloody. He felt numb, he could not feel his entire left arm at all. He cursed even more when he saw that blood was dripping out of his stomach, leaving a trail behind him. Using his right hand, he clasped his bleeding stomach, where the Gorgon bullets had hit. "Today isn't my good day.. " he thought to himself. The prospect of actually dying to his Tenno brother and sisters did not go well with him. He never expected himself to be so frightened by his own Tenno brethren.

 

His vision was starting to blur. He felt his right hand's grip weakening. "This is bad..I'm going to lose consciousness.."  he muttered negatively. Quickly! Get to extraction now, or you won't make it! he heard his inner voice saying. "That's what I said." he replied, talking to himself. He quickened his pace.

 

Whizz..!

 

Hearing that, he instinctively ducked, and rolled to his right where there was cover. There was a bright green arrow at the place where he was standing earlier.

 

Whizz, whizz, whizz.

 

3 arrows embedded themselves on his cover. The archer was fast. Risking a peek, the Vauban saw a Banshee, with a Paris standing infront of the door to the next room, she was blocking his way to extraction. Cursing, the Vauban grabbed his Bolto. He stood up and fired his Bolto while he ran to the next cover. The Banshee repeatedly followed suit with arrows, an arrow penetrated deep into the Vauban's left shoulder. "I'm not going to last any longer," he grunted to himself. He was now bleeding all over his body, he was losing too much blood. His strength was seeping out of him. He needed to make a move before he became too weak.

 

Boom! One of the arrows exploded next to him. Disrupting his shields. More arrows were whizzing past. Some of them were exploding. She was trying to kill him with the explosion, and not the arrow itself. The Vauban knew this, and he needed to act fast. Reloading his Bolto, he got ready. Another arrow exploded beside him. Using the smoke from the explosion, the Vauban ran towards the Banshee, firing his Bolto at the same time with his right hand. The Banshee was too busy blocking and dodging the bolts that she could not fire back. When the Bolto clip was empty, the Vauban threw the pistol itself towards her. Tenno rarely throw away their guns, thus, she was quite surprise by this, and it hit her straight in the face, staggering her. She knew the Vauban was getting to close, she used Sound Wave to try and knock him down, but the Vauban threw a Bounce pad and was launched up into the air, dodging the wave. The Banshee instinctively tried to use her Bronco Prime, that was attached to her hip now that he was close, but it was already too late. The Vauban descended unto her, with his Ceramic Dagger, penetrating deep into her torso. She staggered a few steps away from the Vauban, and with the last of her strength tried to raise her Bronco Prime and kill the Vauban.

 

But the Vauban was not done yet. Holding onto a Tesla ball with his right hand, he did a palm strike, slamming the Tesla ball into the Banshee. Tesla balls had electrical energy that was released every few seconds, but when the ball was slammed into the Banshee, all the electrical energy was unleashed at once. The Banshee convulsed, and despite Vauban suits naturally being electrical insulators, he could feel a tinge of the voltage coursing through him as well. A few seconds later, the Banshee stopped convulsing and collapsed to the ground.

 

The smell of burnt flesh was in the air. Kneeling down, the Vauban checked the Banshee's pulse. It was faint, but she was still alive. The Vauban gave out a relieved sigh. All she needed was a good Trinity and all her wounds should be healed. Standing up painfully, the Vauban continued to limp towards extraction which was almost there. Behind him, a Nova wormhole could be seen from the distance, the Frost, Loki, and Nova were sprinting after him. They were not giving up yet. Using all his remaining stamina, he sprinted towards the extraction while the trio were quickly catching up. The Nova, equipped with a Lanka, went to a crouch position and aimed her weapon. Her accuracy was amazing. The Vauban screamed in pain, as he felt something hit his leg. For the last few metres, he crawled. He crawled so painfully slow toward his ship. Throwing a Vortex behind, causing anymore shots or bullets from them to be inaccurate due to the pull of his Vortex. The Loki was the first to arrive, but he was too late. Furious, he shot the escaping ship with his Lato, but all the shots were just deflected. The Vauban had made it out alive.

 

But he was still far from safe. He keyed in the coordinates of his Clan Dojo. They needed to know about this, he was attacked by fellow Tenno.. and there might be a Trinity there that could help him. Flying his ship with one hand and when everything looked so blurry was difficult. By now, there was a pool of blood around his chair. He was going to lose consciousness so very soon.

 

His Dojo never felt so welcoming before as he finally saw it. Alarms were blaring in his ship. He did not understand what was going on, he was losing comprehension, collision course? What's that.. I'm suppose to do something aren't I? he thought to himself, forgetting how to use the landing gear and slowing down. His neck felt weak, his head was going to one side, he felt so sleepy. So sleepy.

 

Thud. His whole ship was shaking, he tried to understand what was going on as he tried to shake away his sleep. There was an awful screeching sound. That's when he understood, infront of him was the Dojo Docking Bay, he crash landed. Using his right hand, he tried to pilot and slow down his ship. He was crashing into other ships that were arranged neatly in the Docking Bay. He looked at his shields, they were still holding out. He was fortunate the ship had good shields, if not, the damage sustained from such a landing would cause his ship to go critical and explode. Using all his expertise in flying his ship, he successfully stopped before he damage anymore other ships. He looked at the condition of his ship. It was going to cost him a fortune for repairing.

 

"I need to tell everyone about this." he told himself, painfully standing up and heading out of the cockpit. Before he could move a step forward, he fell on the ground and on the pool of blood on the floor. His legs were numbed, he could not move them, he was losing consciousness too, it was becoming so blurry again. Crawling out of the cockpit was hard. By now, he was too exhausted to move any part of his body. Suddenly, the cockpit doors were pulled open. He felt himself being pulled out by small but strong arms. He looked around, he could vaguely see what seems to be like a Mag. He did not recognize her. She must be a new clan member...

 

"Are you okay? What happened?" she questioned him.

 

"Tenno... They attacked me." he replied, surprised by how soft and hoarse his voice has become.

 

"What?! Are you sure? Wait, don't sleep. Stay awake, okay? I'll call a Trinity!" the Mag said, worry in her voice.

 

The Vauban could not hear what the Mag was saying. It felt like a buzzing sound was coming out of his comms. She was walking away from him, leaving him in his ship to die. He did not care anymore.

 

"I'm not afraid to die," he quietly said to himself. It was a lie.

 

But he felt amused as he realised he was wearing the same expression as the Crewman he killed earlier.

Slowly, he let himself lose consciousness.

Edited November 11, 2013 by W4RH3AD

[Nantlais]

Wow... Karma's a *@##$...

[W4RH3AD]

Chapter 4: The Recruit

"He'll make it, Trinity Yan has successfully stabilized his condition," Konrad reported, as he entered the Grandest Hall, which was being used as a conference hall by all the gathered veterans of the clan.

"Hah, Thaddeus is too stubborn to die!" replied a Vauban, who was kneeling on the floor along with everyone gathered there. There were two rows of kneeling Tenno, facing each other, with a gap between them. At the end of the two rows, inbetween, was their Clan Leader, Ahra, a Banshee, kneeling down quietly. She nodded at Konrad's presence. Konrad returned her nod with a bow, before taking his place, and kneeling down at one of the open spaces.

"The meeting has already started. They are still having trouble accepting that a group of Tenno attacked another Tenno.." the Mag beside him whispered quietly. Konrad nodded, and glanced at her. She was the same Mag from earlier. She was fidgeting uncomfortably and was quiet while everyone in the meeting was loudly discussing how absurd and crazy it was to have Tenno attacking each other.

"I see.. But more importantly, why do you look so troubled?" Konrad asked her.

"Troubled? Oh, no, I'm not troubled at all," she tried to hide it, shaking her head and looking down. She was clearly flustered.

"Oh really?" Konrad smiled, amused by how... expressive this Mag was, "No use hiding it. How long have you been awake from cyrosleep?" he asked her, knowing the answer. Tenno who are still 'fresh' and not experienced the toll of forever fighting the unending war against Lotus's enemies as well as losses tend to be more expressive in the way they speak, and move. They can be swayed by their emotions easier.

"Is it that obvious?" She looked up, before giving out a sigh.

"It's just that," she paused, looking around, "everyone here are veterans, people I look up to. All gathered in one place. It's just.. overwhelming."

"Ahhh.. I get it," Konrad said, remembering when he was still a 'Fresh' Tenno who just woke up. He remembering looking up to his veterans as well. Now he didn't know where they were or if they were still alive. He shook his head, to try to remove such brooding thoughts.

"Just over there, is Bel," the Mag continued, gesturing towards a Volt, he was looking around, as if uninterested in the discussion, "one of the fastest Tenno alive. He holds the record for wiping out an entire Grineer ship in less than two minutes,"

Konrad, nodded, he fought alongside Bel before and he knew such a feat was not false. He was indeed very fast, even in Tenno standards.

"And over there, Reigur," she was now gesturing towards a Frost, who was loudly trying to say that going to war amongst Tenno was not the answer, "even though the rest of his squad left the cyropod and went to extraction after realizing that the Corpus they were facing were elite and they were outgunned. He stayed and protected the pod. Alone, he fought off wave after wave. And he was successful. Not only that, he wiped out the entire ship. Alone."

"There, right there," her voice was now full of excitement, as if she became excited just by saying out these stories, "Anna, a Mag, like me. When her squad was surrounded and were about to be overwhelmed by the Infested, she pulled everything towards her, even the Toxic Ancients, saving her squad. She then fought her way through the horde, with no ammo, she used her Dual Ethers, cutting through everything and finally reaching the extraction."

The Mag continued, telling Konrad of every notable feat she had heard of. She was saying it so enthusiastically, full of awe. Konrad smiled to himself, as pictures from her story-telling were painted in his mind.

"You sure know a lot," Konrad interrupted, if she told him every story of every single person in the room, it would take at least a year. Every Tenno in the room were veterans, with countless of feats. They were the elite of the clan, after all.

"Sure. I even know about yours," the Mag said, "Konrad the Rhino."

"You were doing a Survival mission, you survived at least 3 hours already. That itself was a feat. But, that's not it. When you finally run out oxygen, you were able to fight through a huge horde of Grineer waiting at extraction. But one of your squadmates was not so lucky. With no energy, and very limited ammo, you went back, going berserk, you cleaved, stabbed, slice and even punched and kicked Grineer after Grineer to reach your squadmate. By then, the Trinity was already unconscious, but you carried her to extraction in your arms, protecting her from Grineer fire with your own body, even when your Iron Skin was already gone. Finally, you made it to extraction, and that Trinity still lives, thanks to you coming back for her."

"It's a very nice story, it shows the close bond between Tenno, of never leaving another Tenno behind" the Mag said, awed, as she looked at Konrad.

Konrad half-listened, half-remembered. He could still feel his Orthos being entirely covered in Grineer blood. He could remember the smell of Grineer breath. He could even remember the faint heartbeat of Yan, in his hands when he carried her. The adrenaline pumping through his veins, as he shoved his way through, using his bare hands. The pain. The sorrow. The grief. It all came rushing back to him.

"Did the story mention.. my other two squadmates?" he asked, emotionless.

"N-no." The Mag said flatly, bothered by the sudden change of the Rhino. He was rigid, and tensed. Not like a few moments before.

"You and that Trinity made it alive, that was the end-" the Mag was interrupted by an Ember, who was very into the discussion.

"You, Mag, is it really true? Did Thaddeus really say he was attacked by Tenno?" the Ember asked.

"Y-yes, he said it before he lost consciousness. There was a Paris arrow protruding out of his shoulder."

Everyone who was in the discussion remained silent for a while, before going back to their loud bickering.

"Who could do such a thing? What could they gain?!"

"What is going on with the world? Has the Lotus commented on this, what are her orders?"

"What do we do? The Lotus has left us to choose our own side!"

And the discussion continued on.

The Clan Leader, Ahra, has been silent the whole time. She just continued kneeling patiently, and silently, listening to the discussion.

A Rhino spoke up and everyone became silent.

"What are we doing? Since we have confirmed the rumours that Tenno are indeed attacking each other, we should tell the others about this, and at least hope they could make themselves prepared. There is no knowing how many of our brethren have already fallen to the blades of these traitors! I propose we tell the rest of the Tenno about the traitors."

People were nodding their heads in agreement.

"It seems like the most intelligent course of action.."

"Agreed,we need to prepare the others.."

The Mag saw these, and she spoke up, loud enough for everyone to hear. "No, this is what the enemy would want. We should think of alternatives."

The Rhino, hearing these, looked at her, annoyed, "What do you propose we do then?" Everyone looked at her, waiting for her response.

The Mag didn't know what they should do. She looked to her left, where Konrad was seating. He was still. And silent. She had nothing, she looked down, unable to say anything.

"She is right." Clan Leader Ahra finally said something, "Tensions between Tenno are already strained. If we make it general knowledge that Tenno are attacking each other, it could erupt into a war. The Grineer and Corpus would then take advantage of this."

Looking up, the Mag was relieved.

"What do we do then? We can't just don't do anything.. We don't even know anything about the traitors!" the Ember pointed out.

"Actually," a Nova, was saying, "there are reports of missing Tenno. Presumably, attacked by fellow Tenno. And if one thoroughly reads through these reports, they all have something in common."

"Which is?"

"They were all supporting the Grineer," the Nova announced.

The whole assembly of Tenno was quiet, letting that information sink in. It made sense. Ever since the Gradivus Dillema began, the Grineer were winning. The Corpus supporters could have become desperate.. or even the Corpus themselves. It would make sense if Alad V would reward Tenno for killing their own brethren.

"Outrageous! Are you trying to say we, the Corpus supporters are traitors?" a Frost, who was supporting the Corpus blurted out, "It is true, we are losing, but we will not stoop so low as to kill our own kind!"

"Not everyone shares your mentality," a Loki said.

The Frost grumbled in response.

"The Tenno are already severely outnumbered. A full-on war will be too costly." one of the Tenno said.

"Killing all the traitors is out of the question then."

"Punishing the traitors will just have wait after we destroy both the Corpus and Grineer, and win this war."

Ahra blocked out the discussion and thought to herself silently, they needed to do something.. but what.. She thought to herself.. analyzing all the facts. She included all the factors, all the possible conclusions.. she was the Clan Leader, she needed to lead. She thought to herself. And soon, it became clear what they had to do.

"Then we destroy the root of the problem!" Ahra raised her voice and stood up, "we destroy the very reason why they betrayed the Tenno cause."

Everyone became silent and stared at her.

"We shall kill Alad V.."

"Huh? But we don't even know where he is!"

"Why don't we ask the Tenno traitors then?"

"Ask a Tenno traitor..? but how would we even..."

That's when it became clear to the rest of them.. their Clan Leader intended that they capture one of their own. Alive.

Edited November 11, 2013 by W4RH3AD

[Nantlais]

Dun... Dun... DUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH

[W4RH3AD]

Dun... Dun... DUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH

 

lol. I guess that is very fitting to how I ended that last chapter..

Oh, and with the new trailer about Alad V and doge being released, I know I have to write something that will link that trailer, to this story

 

And oooh.. so far my story has an Excalibur, Rhino.. Mag, Trinity, and Volt as its characters.. Just like the trailer.. Haaah.

[W4RH3AD]

So sorry for taking so long to write the next chapter..! I'm overthinking a lot of the original plot I had in mind. Well, I intend to finish this story, thus the upcoming chapters shall be dished out faster. Hopefully.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

This chapter would be about Venra, who after writing so much about the other characters that it seemed like I forgot him.

The exiled, Excalibur from the Dawn Fighters Clan in Chapter 1, Venra.

-----

Chapter 5: Connections.

He felt like he was falling. He didn't know where he was. But he could feel the sensation of falling. He tried to reach out in the darkness, reaching for anything to orientate himself. Thinking to himself, he could not recall what had happened to him earlier that could have left him fumbling in the dark, falling to an unknown abyss, unable to even tell up from down. Before he could go deeper into his thoughts, he felt a cold gust of wind. Suddenly, the falling sensation vanished and he could feel his legs standing on solid ground. There was a dim light in front of him. Slowly, he felt himself open his eyes. He blinked repeatedly, and slowly, his vision returned. It was bright. Was his eyes closed the whole time? Looking around, he quickly recognized where he was. It was a Clan Dojo. It was the Dawn Fighters' Clan Dojo to be exact. His former Dojo.

"What... the.." he thought to himself, confused at how he ended up there. He was exiled, he shouldn't be here. Did he subconsciously head back? This is bad. If anyone spotted him, he might as well be dea-

"We finally have all the Labs done, now that's really something!" a cheerful voice from behind him announced.

Recognizing that voice, Venra quickly turned. He knew it was impossible, it couldn't be who he thought it was. There is just no way it could be. Despite everything, standing before him was an Ember, Dawn. And she was alive, and walking around. But how? Impossible.

Venra's muscles tensed. He felt his throat go dry. He felt like his whole world went upside down. How could this be? How? He felt his head bursting with so much absurd ideas.

"Well, we're running low on some resources, so we will be off for some runs. You should rest, and leave the rest of the construction of the Dojo to us, alright? You did most of everything, makes me feel like I'm a slacker, y'know?" Dawn said casually, walking past him and patting him on the shoulder, heading to the other end of the room, out of the lab.

She was the Dawn he knew, there was no doubt. Her manner, the way she walked and talked. It was definitely her. Right infront of his very eyes was Dawn. But he knew that Dawn was dead. He had no explanation as to how she could be walking and talking to him right now.

He needed to ask.. to tell her so many things. But when he tried to speak, no words could come out. Reaching out his hand, he took small, hesitant steps towards her. As she left the room, the door automatically closed behind her. He quickened his pace.

Approaching the door, it automatically opened He could not see what was in the next room; it was too bright.. Shading his face with his hands, he entered the next room.

Without warning, he was slammed to the floor hard. Sparks were flying from the sudden impact of the metallic object with his Excalibur armor. Standing before him was a Grineer Shield Lancer, with a scornful expression on his decaying face. Aiming down, the Grineer fired his pistol on the dazed Excalibur. He cursed. Without a second to spare, he executed a roll and jumped back to his feet. Instinctively, he grabbed behind his back for his melee weapon which was a Plasma Sword. Like the one he used to use a long time ago, before changing to more effective weapons.The first few rounds were thankfully deflected off by his shields, staying any longer on the ground, and the rounds that had embedded themselves into the floor, would have went through his torso instead. Using the forward momentum, he tightly grabbed onto his Plasma Sword, and he slashed forward, towards the Grineer Shield Lancer. It was a clean cut. The Grineer's head rolled on the floor, with the same scornful expression. He didn't even have time to react. The body slumped down, the metal shield clattering on the ground as it dropped adding more to the cacophony of Grineer guttural cries and rapid footsteps that was heard from a distance.

Venra took on a defensive stance, and was making sense of where he was and what was happening. Looking around, he realised he was in a Grineer Galleon. Considering how many Grineer were advancing towards him, with weapons ready, he knew they were in high alert. He also noticed that his gear has changed. Instead of his Akbolto and Sobek, he now wielded the Sicarus and a Braton. Like how his old loadout used to be. Sprinting to cover, he aimed and fired his Braton, killing a Grineer Trooper who was the first one to actually reach him. The rest of the Grineer Trooper's squadmates went into cover and started shooting back. As he stuck to his cover, a Grineer Sawman from behind suddenly appeared. Parrying his strike, he crouched down, and took out his Sicarus, aiming for the head. At point blank range, he unleashed a torrent of bullets from his Sicarus, turning the entire head into a bloody stump. Before the body could stagger back and finally fall, Venra was already running off to new cover.

Cursing silently. He realised he was in a dire situation. He was boxed in, with Grineer forces actually surrounding him slowly. Worse still, he had no energy left. His shields were also weaker than they used to be. Sounds of his Braton firing was accompanied by the dying cries of Grineer. Yet, for every Grineer he killed, there seemed to be two more behind him, ready to take his place. It was like throwing a small pebble into the sea. The horde of Grineer were unrelenting. Soon, he was completely surrounded. Gunfire was coming from every direction, he had to weave to and fro cover. He was breathing heavily, his weapons felt heavy. As his shields depleted, he was given no time to recharge.

Suddenly, he felt the tug of a Scorpion grappling hook from behind. Time seemed to have slowed down. He knew this was it. The moment he gets dragged onto the ground, the Grineer would pour all their fire down, and he would be butchered. The surrounding Grineer also saw this, in slow motion, they stood up from their cover, waiting for their chance to unload clip after clip into this Tenno.

Is this how I would die..? Venra asked himself, looking around at all the Grineer, glaring at him, their eyes filled with the burning inferno of hate. Slowly, he felt himself leave the ground, and was slowly flying in space, being dragged towards the Grineer Scorpion. As he turned his head towards her, he could see a malicious smile on her ugly face, a black line hooking him from behind, to her arm, while her Machete was by her side. She was ready to execute the killing blow. From the corner of his eye, above the Grineer scorpion, very slowly, he could see what seemed like a Fragor, with a Frost wielding it, crashing down from above. Very slowly, he saw the Fragor come into contact with the Grineer Scorpion's face. Very slowly, little by little, the face was being destroyed. Blood, bones and brain-matter started to scatter, while the Fragor continued its descend. Venra watched in fascination, as the face turned into gore. He saw her eyeball, shoot itself out the skull, while, fragments of the skull along with the blood scatter itself onto the floor and into the air. He watched, slowly, as blood continued to float in the air, and very slowly, move towards him. As the blood splatter finally came into contact with his Excalibur helmet, timed seemed to have went back to normal.

With a loud metallic thud, Venra dropped down onto the ground, knocking the air out of his lungs, the Frost with the Fragor also dropped, making the metallic floor ripple, like liquid, knocking some of the Grineer down as well. With no hesitation, the Frost started to cast Avalanche, and in an impossibly large radius around them, the surrounding Grineer were being frozen. Venra watched, as a blue, cold aura was swirling around the Frost. Despite this, the Frost also emitted some kind of warmness, and familiarity, making him feel relaxed around him. The sound of ice breaking around them signaled the deaths of over 20+ Grineer in one room. As the Frost turned around, Venra instantly recognized him.

"Did I not interrupt something of importance? It seemed like you were enjoying the company of this Grineer woman," the Frost joked, gesturing towards the bloody mess that was the Grineer Scorpion clearly amused by the fact that he saw Venra being dragged to the ground.

Jumping back to his feet, he felt himself say, "I did not need your help, Michael. I had it under control."

"Hah, you jest, comrade. I can see your pride will be your downfall one day," Michael retorted.

As they were engaged in conversation, a squad of Grineer emerged out of one of the doors. As Venra quickly raised his Braton to shoot,there was no need. Within seconds upon emerging, all of them fell silently, some being pinned to the walls. There was metal glinting from them. Taking a closer look, he quickly recognized the glinting steel as the Kunai.

"Are you done with your little chat? We still have Grineer to kill, for your information," a de-cloaked Saryn, with the Kunai on her hands, and a Shade floating beside her, emerged.

"That is impressive, Talia!" Michael praised her, "Though, you should be informed as well, we have Dawn with us on this mission. Underestimating her ability to destroy a handful of Grineer is just daft."

"Hmph." Talia said in response.

Dawn? What? Venra quickly turned to look at Michael. They were acting weird. Did they suddenly forget about the fact he was exiled? And 'comrade'? When was the last time Michael called him 'comrade'..? They were too friendly, as if they forgotten..

"Venra, it's not that we appreciate your assistance in this mission. But why'd you even come? Weren't you told to stay in the Dojo and relax. Don't take this the wrong way but personally, I think you should just relax. The amount of resources you have contributed to the Dojo is tremendous. Even if Michael here was to give every resource he had, it would not even come near to total up to yours." Talia asked, genuinely concerned.

"Why, you wound me, I am positive my contributions could total up to Venra, if not for his his excessive workaholic nature!" Michael said, patting Venra on the back.

Venra was completely confused. Talia.. sounded concerned? And when was the last time Michael has been this friendly? He was confused.

Without even thinking of doing it, he felt himself ask, "Where is Dawn now?"

Before they could answer, Grineer troops on fire emerged from the doors, panicking, they ran aimlessly around the room, before being consumed by the hot fiery flames that has stuck onto them. Soon, more screaming, dying Grineer on fire emerged, and went running into the room. In the middle of all the hysteric Grineer was an Ember, totally calm, fires on both her palms. It was a serene scene. Burning, dying Grineer running around in fright, while a calm, completely at ease by all the suffering and dying, was in the middle of the burning horde, as if she was leading a legion right out the very gates of hell. She walked calmly and slowly towards the three Tenno, who stood mesmerized by the whole scene. Every step she took, left a mark on the ground, turning the metal into liquid. By the time she reached them, the screaming Grineer have all finally succumbed to the inevitable. All that could be heard now was the crackling of the still-hungry flames that continued to stick to the corpses of the Grineer. There was a strong scent of burning flesh in the air. Flicking both her wrists, the small fires on her palm were extinguished.

..Dawn! How.. how can this be.. you're supposed to be dea-

Venra was elbowed on the stomach, before an uppercut hit him from below. Staggering but still standing, he looked at the Ember before him, her palms still smoking. Standing on one leg, with her hands on her hips. It was her, it was really her.

"Venra. Didn't I tell you to stay in the Dojo? No wonder when I asked Alexis to come for this mission, he didn't want to come.. Y'know what stupid excuse he gave me? He had to feed the Koi fish! And y'know what, we don't even have a Koi pond yet! He really sucks at lying, that Alexis.. He didn't come so you could still join halfway in the mission, right?" Dawn, shaking her head, still clearly angry.

"Look, just because we're all friends and all, doesn't mean you can just disobey the Clan Leader when she tells you to relax, okay. I mean, you all voted me as a Clan Leader.. even if I didn't want to, and I haven't been practising my authority and all, but doesn't mean you can just disobey me like this! What if we eventually have new members, they'll start judging and stuff. "Oh my, look at that, Venra, one of the founders of the Clan are disobeying Clan Leader Dawn, we can too!". They'll all have a wrong mindset!" Dawn said, explaining to them.

Venra had nothing to say. How can she be casually talking to him like nothing happened? Besides, he remembered her giving her a very similar talk, a very long time ago.. He had so many questions and things she wanted to tell him..

Suddenly, he felt himself say something again, "I was concerned for your safety."

Dawn looked at him, before giving out a sigh and then shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm safe. alright.." Dawn assured him, "Besides, Talia and Michael are here with me, I know I can trust you guys to have my back,"

"Yes, comrade, we are by her side, your concern is appreciated, but unneeded. Our presence here is also to provide adequate protection. Besides, have our battles not teach you anything? Do you still see me as unreliable?" Michael said.

Again, he felt himself say something without him actually thinking or wanting to say it, as if he was possessed, and a ghost was using his body to talk back, "It's not like that, Michael, it's not that I trust in all your abilities.."

"Please," Talia interjected, " we all know you have a thing for Dawn, but hey, have some faith. We might not be as close as you are with her, but she is still family. In fact, we are all family."

"She's right. Venra, you have to learn to trust others more. We are also currently starting up a clan you know, before you know it, we would be having all kinds of new members," Dawn said.

"Even before I met you all, I have been the vanguard of many Tenno expeditions. Not one. I repeat, not one has fallen to the mercy of the enemy. I have been successful in being the protector for countless of missions. I am not interested in failing now and letting anyone die." Michael reassured, full of determination and pride.

Venra stood there. This conversation.. it was so familiar. What the hell is going on..... He still doesn't know why Dawn is right here infront of him. What are they even talking about?

As he thought to himself, the entire background slowly faded to darkness. Michael, then Talia faded to darkness as well. All that remained was Dawn. She was still looking at him, immobile. The walls, the floor, the sky. It was all darkness. Everything was darkness. She was the only thing in that room of nothingness with him.

"Hey, Venra.." Dawn finally said, "when I'm gone, you'll be there to protect Michael, Talia, and Alexis right?"

He didn't answer. He didn't want to.

Then, again, the whole scene changed. This time he knew. He knew where he was. When it was. He knew fully well what was going on.

The darkness became the interior of the clan Dojo.

He sprinted through all the rooms. He sprinted as fast as he could. He knew what would await him, but he wanted it to change. He wanted some miracle to actually change what he knew would be impossible.

He finally reached the room where the infirmary would be. He felt a lump in his throat as the scene was the same it was. There, Talia, Alexis, Michael, and a Trinity were gathered beside a Tenno's bedside. Alexis, was kneeling, holding the Tenno's hand, and his whole body was shaking. He was sobbing. Despite Tenno being trained and disciplined enough to not let emotions sway them, Alexis, the youngest and most inexperienced of them all was overwhelmed by grief and sorrow.

 

Talia on the other hand was busy talking with the Trinity. The Trinity was from another clan, and was her personal friend.

 

"I'm so sorry. There was just too much blood loss.. I couldn't save her.." the Trinity apologized, her hands still reeks of fresh blood.

 

"You did everything you could, Yan. Thank you. Out of all the Trinity's I tried to contact, only you came on such a short notice." Talia said, standing tall and proud, though her voice gave it away. It was full of emotion. It was as if she was ready to collapse and cry.

 

She bowed her head, before leaving, bumping into Venra on the way out. She bowed again, before leaving the Dojo, without another word.

 

"Venra!" Only Talia finally realised he was there, standing, taking it all in. Michael was still staring at the dead Tenno. He was as stiff as the corpse. While Alexis was still sobbing uncontrollably.

 

"..How?" Venra felt himself mutter as he took slow hesitant steps towards the Tenno on the bed.

 

"We.. were overwhelmed.. The Grineer forces we faced were veterans, they didn't even flinch when they were being poisoned by me, nor did when they were burning with Dawn's flames. Dawn was overwhelmed, even when she collapsed onto the ground, they continued to shoot her.. we couldn't run to her on time.." Talia explained as best as she could.

 

Venra finally caught sight of Dawn, lying motionlessly on the bed. She was in such an awful state. Blood was splashed around her. There were even parts of her Ember frame that was scraped entirely off, revealing the bloodied flesh underneath. Tubes and wires were connected to her all over here body. The life support system beside her showed a single line. Venra slowly touched her hand, still unable to believe what happened to her. She was cold. So unbelievably cold. The aura of warmth she radiated was gone.

 

"How..?" Venra finally said again, after a long moment of pause. The numbness and shock were slowly disappearing. Replacing it was, rage.. sadness, anger.. grief.

 

"..How..? I told you alread-" Talia was interrupted,

 

"HOW?!" Venra finally exploded, raising his voice.

 

Talia was taken aback, Alexis finally took notice of him, and even Michael flinched at the suddenness of Venra.

 

"How.. how could you let this happen to her?" Venra asked, the rage he felt and grief was too much. "She trusted you all to have her back!"

 

"I.. I.." Talia stammered, unable to give an answer.

 

The other two remained quiet.

 

"I didn't go for this mission, because I thought you all had it under your control, it was suppose to be a simple resource run!"

 

"You.. talk.. as if we did not protect her to the best of our ability!" Michael finally said something

 

"Get out.."

 

They all stared at him.

 

"GET OUT!" Venra repeated himself.

 

Slowly, one by one, they left the room.

 

Alone, Venra stayed. In silence, he simply stared. Unable to take the sight, he left the room. Outside, Talia and Michael were in a heated conversation.

 

"...Stop! Michael, do you think mindless slaughter will do anything? Venra, tell him to stop. His going to go off killing Grineer forces, and his injuries aren't even treated yet!" Talia begged.

 

"Let him. If killing a bunch of Grineer is enough to ease his guilty spirit, then let him be." Venra replied coldly.

 

Michael stopped halfway, and he turned around slowly, his fists clenched, "'Ease his guilty spirit'? Guilty? I will not deny I am responsible for the demise of Dawn, and I do indeed feel grief. But I had done my very best to prevent it, I do not need to feel 'guilty'."

 

"Your best wasn't enough!"

 

"You were not there!"

 

"If I was there, this wouldn't have happened!"

 

The two glared at each other. All sense of friendship gone.

 

"Stop this.. Dawn wouldn't want you two to fight like this.." Talia who had been standing there, tried to cool everyone down.

 

"Well, she isn't here anymore, because you all failed to protect her!" Venra's retort pierced everyone's heart.

 

Talia remained speechless. Before she walked off, in silence.

 

"You were not the only one who treasured her.." that was the last thing Michael said before leaving for the Hangar Bay, and heading out with his shuttle where he began his renowned campaign of slaughter of Grineer forces throughout the Solar System.

 

As Venra stood in the middle of the empty Clan Hall, filled with rage and grief, he could not help but hate himself for saying what he had said to them. That was the first time the Clan Hall began to feel empty and cold to him.

 

Within the time it takes to blink, the whole scene changed. This time, it was entirely new location Venra had never seen before. Though, he had no memories of actually seeing one before, he knew what the strange, green organic things around him were called. Trees. Everywhere around him, there were tall trees, with leaves gently swaying to the wind. Aimlessly, he wandered forward, the sound of leaves being crunched on was heard. Other than that, it was completely silent.

 

After aimlessly moving forward, he finally reached what seems like a clearing, infront of him was the vast blue of the sea, and the warm orange of the sun, peeking from the horizon. There were mountains in the surrounding, as if acting as a fence, to secure this peaceful sanctuary. There was also a small primitive shelter, made of wood, and a small wooden platform from the coast to the sea, in the direction of the rising sun.

 

Standing on the wooden platform was an Ember warframe. Dawn.

 

Venra felt his chest tighten. She was alive, again? How?

 

"You didn't have to shout at them y'know. They feel the same grief and rage as you do." Ember spoke up, looking at Venra, who was slowly walking towards her, on the wooden platform.

 

"You.. you left us too soon." Venra answered, finally reaching her, and embracing her as hard as he could.

 

"Are you actually crying?" she chuckled, "oh, don't embarrass yourself more."

 

"..I'm sorry. I should have been there. I trusted them. I thought I could depend on them to keep you safe, but they failed.. I should have been there, so even if they failed... It's all my fault.." he told her, still in an embrace.

 

"No, they didn't fail. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't their fault. No one was to blame." she told him, reassuringly.

 

"But you got killed.."

 

"Even so, we are Tenno, Venra. Death is part of the Warrior's path. Parting with comrades is a part of us."

 

"No.."

 

"What? After the war, did you imagine raising a family and leaving a peaceful live?" Dawn asked with a chuckle.

 

Though he knew that sounded ridiculous, he really didn't think about what happens after the war. All he knew was how to kill. He couldn't imagine himself living a peaceful life and retiring at all.

 

They stood together, without saying anymore words. Just standing in each other's embrace as the rising sun illuminated the sky.

 

"It's almost time, Venra. You have to apologize to them. Though they might not like to say it, to the three of them, they look up to you as a Leader. They need you."

 

"Need me? I was exiled.."

 

"I know. Still, you are a part of that clan. You were one of the founding members."

 

"..."

 

"Well, I'll have to go soon, Venra... this might be the last time we'll see each other in a while.. You have to let go."

 

"No.." Venra still had a lot to say.. "Take me with you.."

 

"I can't do that. Besides, how are you suppose to fulfill your promise that you would look after them and the entire clan if you went with me?"

 

Venra couldn't remember such a promise. By now, the sun had almost entirely emerged out of the horizon.

 

"Remember, you have to apologize to them okay? Oh, and don't die, alright?"

 

"No, Dawn, don't leave..!"

 

"Everything happens for a reason, Venra." and with that, the sun flared brightly, even with his helmet on, he needed to shade his face with his arms. Dawn was then able to miraculously walk on water, towards the rising sun.

 

Venra didn't want to let go. With an arm shading his face from the brightness, he used his other arm to reach out blindly, trying to find Dawn, while shouting her name.

 

Squinting, he looked directly at the rising sun, where Dawn was standing right infront of. Slowly, she took of her helmet. Though he could not see her face. He could feel that she was smiling at him.

 

That is when Venra finally awoken from his sleep. He was breathing hard, looking around. He was seated on his chair, in his shuttle, his Excalibur helmet on his lap. It wall just a dream? Infront of him, was the shuttle controls and a window that showed cold, deep space. There was a light blinking, and he pressed the button underneath it. It was suppose to indicate he reached his destination. But there was nothing but space. He wiped his face. Cursing, he couldn't understand why his shuttle would send him here. He stared lazily out into his window. That's when he saw it. Almost invisible, it was camouflaged with the surrounding darkness and light of the stars and space. The Dojo of the secretive clan known as Oracle was infront of him.

 

The sight of that Dojo made him feel relaxed. His journey wasn't a waste after all.

 

Though, he did not harbor anymore hatred for the Grineer after a year have passed since Dawn's passing, he still remained cold and disconnected, straining the relationship between him and other Tenno.

 

Muttering to himself, "'Everything happens for a reason' huh..? Then, was there a reason for your death, Dawn?" he asked.

Gazing into deep space, he wiped the tears that he didn't even realise streaked down his cheeks and put on his Excalibur helmet.

Edited December 21, 2013 by W4RH3AD

[W4RH3AD]

Chapter 6: One shot. One kill.

There was a smile hidden beneath her faceplate. She was content. The Mag Prime confidently walked down the halls of a Corpus ship, passing by Corpus units who were clearly weary and bothered by her presence. Despite being surrounded by so much Corpus, she knew she could wipe the whole ship by herself. That was how confident she was. But, she was not here for that. She was here for business. Besides, the Corpus units were ordered to be on standby, and to hold their fire. They were here to just make sure nothing would interfere. Though, even if something like a Tenno would choose to 'interfere', there was little they could do. Her grin became bigger as she sensed how frightened and tensed they were.

 

There were more than Corpus units in this ship though. After walking through the halls of the Hangar Bay, where the Corpus tend to gather, she went deeper into the Corpus ship. The deeper she went, the less Corpus units there were. Instead, there were Tenno that all came from different clans and had all different colour schemes. walking around, to the same destination she was, or were walking the opposite direction.. Recognizing some of them, she waved, before proceeding on.  They were what the rest of their own race call as 'traitors'. All these Tenno were experienced veterans who's blades had tasted Tenno blood. All for the rewards. She was counted amongst them. And she was proud of it. Instead of feeling guilty and anger for the title of 'Traitor', she treasured that title and wore it with pride. To her, and probably to the rest of the Tenno there, all that mattered was the rewards. She never understood 'honour'.

 

 

She finally reached the middle of the Corpus ship, which had the most number of Tenno, and no Corpus units at all. It was the main gathering place for all the Tenno 'traitors'. There was approximately at least more than a hundred Tenno gathered. It was where a Tenno 'traitor' could be in the company of other Tenno, without being shot at. They were all traitors, thus, the need for hostility was gone. This gathering place also lead to Alad V's briefing room, where all the Tenno 'traitors' were given their assassination contracts, or where their payment were given to them after finishing such contract.

 

She felt at home, being surrounded by her kin. While some of the Tenno were going about their business, completely silent, probably just given their latest rewards, or even signed their new contracts, there were groups of Tenno that were talking loudly, bragging about their kills. She would have loved to stop and brag about her kills as well, but she needed her payment for her latest kill.

 

Entering the large automatic door at the far end of the large gathering room, she finally reached Alad V's briefing room. Inside, there was another long hallway, with a small automatic door at the end. On the right side of the wall was a red light. Only one Tenno at a time could be briefed, thus, she felt lucky when there was no queue outside the smaller automatic door, after entering. An Ash was on his way out, and the light attached to the wall turned to green from red, indicating it was vacant. Upon leaving, he stared at her, before continuing on his way. She never saw this Tenno before, she thought to herself. Quickly dismissing how the Ash stared at her, she entered Alad V's briefing room. Inside, was darkness. After walking a few more steps into the room, the automatic door closed, and the whole room was shrouded in darkness. She then raised her right hand and waited. There was a light from the wall, that scanned her hand, before it disappeared, and the whole room became pitch black again. Then, a humming sound of a machine could be heard, and after a few seconds,there were lights on the wall that were quickly gathering in the middle of the room, slowly. The lines of light were neatly arranging themselves, and a picture could be formed. Standing infront of the Mag Prime was a holographic life-size version of Alad V.

 

"Ah, Tenno. How did your little mission go?" Alad V asked. There were what seemed like sound systems surrounding the entire room.

 

"It was successful. As always." she told him, smugly. This was already her eleventh victim. She had already killed a handful of Tenno, and she was proud of her achievement. She had been able to kill thousands of Corpus, Grineer and Infested. But this eleven Tenno kills was what she felt, were her trophies. Her true achievement that she knew only a rare few, or actually only her was able to complete. How many beings in this entire Solar System can say the statement, "I've killed 11 armed and dangerous Tenno." seriously, without lying?

 

"I see. How about the body.?" Alad V asked, a smile on his face.

 

"I've already delivered the corpse, your lackeys should be sending it to where ever your hiding," she said, remembering the Rhino she had just killed, and carried to her shuttle, before stuffing his corpse into a container that she had just unloaded earlier.

 

"Why, how nice of you! Your reward of 5 Orokin Catalyst and a Orokin Reactor should have been deposited by now. Always a pleasure doing business with you and your other kind. Although..." Alad V said, turning serious, "the Grineer are still pushing us back, albeit slower, and my Corpus troops are still suffering heavy casualties."

 

She was shocked. "FIVE Orokin Catalyst and A reactor? If I remembered correctly, you said I would get twice of the number of catalysts, and TWO Orokin Reactors if I was able to retrieve the body of the Rhino as well" She completely ignored the rest of what Alad V said. She didn't care if the Corpus lost or not. She just wanted the rewards.

 

"I clearly said five, and an Orokin Reactor, Tenno." Alad V said, horrified at how greedy the Tenno infront of him was.

 

"Look, Alad. I'll give you advice. If you want more Tenno to actually go to your side, you have give them better rewards, and not the crap you are throwing out. As a Corpus, with all your ideas of 'profit numbing the pain', you suck as a businessman. Sargas Ruk is giving out better crap and its no wonder your losing. Now, you better give me the correct rewards that I have killed for. Or I'll leave this place and never come back, and I'll start killing Corpus, and trust me when I say I can kill more Corpus than Grineer I have killed for you in one day. Oh, and good luck finding a Tenno who would be successful in stopping my rampage." she threatened.

 

She knew that the whole idea that Alad V set this entire 'hunting Tenno down' business was that he was losing against the Grineer forces too fast, and he needed to slow it down. And since the majority of the Tenno were siding with the Grineer, he needed to change strategy. That was when he thought of a rather smart plan, where he personally sent invitations to hardcore, pro-Corpus Tenno who had done more than a thousand missions for him, and had wiped out at least a thousand Grineer Galleons. The Tenno that were invited were then personally asked by Alad V himself(in holographic form, of course) if they would assassinate another Tenno if they were given amazing rewards for it. Though, some Tenno simply left upon hearing the offer, killing some Corpus units on the way out, majority of the personal invitation by Alad V were answered favorably, and since then, a rather large community of 'Traitor' Tenno were then running missions for him, killing Grineer-supporting Tenno. The Grineer forces' progress were then significantly slowed, but it was not enough for a major counterattack.

 

The holographic Alad V stayed silent, pondering. The Mag Prime had a smile on her face. She knew it was only a matter of ti-

 

"Fine, fine. You get your 10 Orokin Catalysts, and 2 Orokin Reactors. I must have forgotten the deal. I'm too old for this..." Alad V muttered, rubbing his wrinkled forehead.

 

"No need to be so glum, Alad. You still have the corpse of that dead Rhino I sent you, mostly intact, since all I needed was one shot to the head.. Think of all the experiments you can perform. The profit you can gain. 'Profit numbs the pain', right? she said mockingly. She was able to earn more than what was offered for that Rhino.

 

"Yes, yes.." Alad V was annoying waving his hands. "Is that all you want? I am a very busy person, Tenno."

 

Still smiling from her apparent victory of cheating Alad V of more profit for herself, she said, "Give me a new assassination contract."

 

"Tsk." Alad V frowned. Her services were getting more costly each time, he thought to himself. "I have a few Tenno in my list that were reported to have entirely wiped out more than 200 Corpus ships.."

 

Infront of her, between the space of her and the holographic Alad V, more holographic lights started to light up, and soon, a holographic console appeared infront of her. There was a picture of a Loki, and additional information like his alias, the number of Corpus ships he had destroyed, what clan he belonged to, his gear, threat level, and most important of all, the reward for his death. She wasn't interested in hunting down a Loki, the rewards of 10 000 Salvage also wasn't what she wanted, and so, she pressed a button on the holographic console, and a picture of a Rhino then appeared, Without reading the additional information, she pressed the button for the next target. She knew how much of a pain it was to carry a dead Rhino back to her shuttle. She was not interested in suffering that much again. After pressing the button countless of times, that showed all different Tenno, she finally stopped and pressed accept.

 

The picture showed an Excalibur, painted blood red, with a white trim.

Alias: Jonah

Corpus ships destroyed: 295

Clan: Blood Spectres

Gear: Braton, Lex, Kama

Threat level: Very high. Recommended to be in a killteam.

Reward: 1 000 000 Credits + 15 Orokin Cells

---

 

The holographic Alad V who was impatiently waiting for her choice shouted, "Finally!" when she chose her target. He then read through the additional information and asked, "Are you sure about this? It says 'recommended to be in a killteam', and the last I was aware of, you always worked alone, Tenno, and have yet to form or join a killteam. As much as I want you dead, it'd be a shame if you died."

 

A 'traitor' Tenno who forms a group with other 'Traitors' would be called a Killteam. The killteam would then be named after the squad leader, for example, if she was to form her own killteam and be the squad leader, the killteam would be called 'Lucy Killteam'. Not only that, to form a sort of identity for the Killteam, the members of the same killteam should have a similar colour scheme. The reward for a contract that the squad leader have accepted would then have to be split equally amongst the killteam members. Thus, the amount of Tenno in a killteam can be as much as the squad leader wants, but the reward for each person in the killteam per contract would be lesser with more people, thus, killteams usually have only 4.

 

And that is why she didn't want to be part of any killteam. She wanted her reward for herself. Also, she has always been a 'solo' person. She worked better alone, than in a group. It also felt more.. exciting for her, with only herself and her prey.

 

"Yes, I accept. And, I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon, so keep pumping out those Orokin cells." she said confidently.

 

"So, you say, Tenno.The rewards will be deposited upon completion of the contract. And coordinates of your target have been sent to your shuttle." Alad V said, before finally disappearing, along with the holographic console. The whole room was shrouded in darkness again. Suddenly, the automatic door opened behind her, light pouring into the dark room.

 

 

She was smiling as her shuttle had finally reached her destination. Infront of her shuttle, was a Corpus and Grineer ship, engaged in combat. There was a tunnel connecting the two ships together, in the middle. She stared at the sight of the two ships burning, as she fidgeted with her Vectis, slowly cleaning the inside and checking for anything that could sabotage her mission.

 

"It seems like my target is an impatient person.." she muttered to herself as she realised this must have been his 296th Corpus ship to clear. She reloaded and unloaded her Vectis a few more times, before observing it again. Her Vectis was her favourite weapon, she was so used to using it, that she could carry it effortlessly, despite weighing a few kilograms, and the recoil on her Vectis for her was small, or even non-existent. She looked through the scope, it was clean. Her Vectis was the most powerful weapon in her arsenal. An Orokin catalyst was already attached to it, it has also undergone Forma a few times already, and was modded to the maximum. The killing potential for her Vectis was completely overkill. For every Tenno target she was sent to, she only needed to use a single bullet to kill them. Even her latest kill, the Rhino, who had Iron Skin on, with shields that were maxed, her Vectis was able to penetrate through all that shields and armour, with just one shot, killing the Rhino instantly. The bullet going through his brain and out. She equipped her Orthos Prime, though she doubted she would even have to use it, and she also equipped the Hikou for her secondary.

 

By now, her shuttle has landed inside the Corpus ship. Before she left, she looked at the wall of her shuttle, that had small marks carved onto it. There was a total of 11 marks there. She always marked it after killing the target, with the body of her victim, shoved into a container she kept in cargo. She decided, she couldn't wait, and using her Hikou, she started to carve the 12 mark. The moment I set my foot into this Corpus ship, he's as good as dead, that thought made her smile. She looked at the wall that now had 12 mark, and she felt even more content with her achievement. She then finally stepped out of her shuttle and sprinted off, deeper into the Corpus ship that was being attacked by a Grineer force, with a Tenno in the frontline, spearheading the entire assault.

 

She positioned herself carefully, above her target. He was an Excalibur painted red, with a white trim, and was equipped with a Braton. He was expertly shooting his Braton at all the Corpus in the room, taking cover when needed, and using his Kama to slice off Corpus Crewmen in two when they got to close to him. He had run off ahead of the Grineer forces, and was taking all the Corpus on.

 

The Mag Prime smiled to herself, as she silently observed the lone Tenno, destroying all incoming Corpus forces on his way. She was being rewarded for the assassination of the Excalibur, not for saving the Corpus units that were mercilessly getting gunned, and sliced. Thus, she decided she was letting the Excalibur kill all the Corpus on board, before she carried out his execution. 'Let him have some fun killing of his last few targets,' she whispered to herself. He was indeed skilled and dangerous. His use of his warframe abilities, along with his expert use of his weapons made him unstoppable, the Corpus unable to do anything at all. He was also good with his Kama, especially, she observed. She watched him as he sprinted pass a Corpus Crewman, who was trying to shoot him. Without stopping in his sprint, the Crewman was sliced in half, from the waist, and he was dead before he even hit the ground. The Excalibur just continued sprinting, as more Crewman were sliced around him as he passed them. She was grinning, watching the bloody spectacle below her, wall running to the next platform, not letting her target leave her sight.

 

It was a slaughter. She enjoyed watching the Corpus get completely massacred. But now, she needed to kill him. She took position, above, overlooking the room just before extraction. The Excalibur had finished his mission. And now, she needed to finish hers. Putting a bullet into her Vectis, she finally looked through the scope, and aimed for the Excalibur. She slowed her breathing, and was carefully placing the crosshair on the Excalibur's head. He was still sprinting, infront of him was extraction. He did not even know, a Mag Prime, sent to kill him for a million credits and some Orokin Cells was aiming her Vectis behind him. With the crosshair aligned with the Excalibur's head, she temporarily stopped her breathing.

 

The Excalibur did not even suspect anything. He was still heading towards extraction.

Beneath her faceplate, she was still smiling. How tragic it must be for him, to die, after completing his mission, with the extraction right infront of him. How completely dramatic, and tragic.

 

Still, a contract needed to complete. With a bullet loaded into her Vectis, she slowly squeezed her trigger. All she needed was one bullet. For all the targets she was sent after, all she needed to take a Tenno down was a single bullet. She never missed. She was not going to start missing now. All she needed was a single shot. One shot. One kill.

 

Slowly, she squeezed the trigger further. She remembered the wall on her shuttle. 12 marks. He was her twelfth mark.

 

BANG.

There was a loud bang, that reverberated throughout the entire Corpus ship.

[W4RH3AD]

Chapter 7: Fate?

 

(A few hours earlier before Chapter 6.)

 

Oracle. A clan that comprises of only the most powerful Nyx-wielding Tenno. They are also said to be outside of the Lotus's influence, given the freedom to do whatever they want. Though, despite their autonomy, they have little exposure with the Grineer or Corpus, or even their fellow Tenno.

 

To most, they are unknown, non-existent. Only a few have ever heard of them.

Even fewer actually knew where there fabled Dojo was.

And only a very minute few have ever went into their Dojo.

 

None know their real purpose or the extent of their formidable power. But every Tenno who knew about them knows that they have to be on their guard at all times when dealing with a member of the Oracle.

 

After finally successfully finding the entrance to the Hangar Bay of the Oracle's Dojo which was almost invisible as its external was camouflaged with the stars and dark open space, Venra grumbled in frustration as he smoothly piloted his small shuttle inside.

 

It was dark. That was the first expression Venra had of the place. It had not changed since the last time he was there. Compared to the other typical Clan Dojos, the Oracle's Dojo was shrouded in darkness. The only lights that helped to illuminate the Dojo was a row of low intensity lights that was neatly arranged on the ground, leading to darkness. Even though there were lights, the walls and the ceilings were all still in the inky darkness, giving the Dojo an immeasurable depth, making it look like it was bigger than it actually was.

 

Venra examined whatever he could of his surroundings, noticing movement and even hearing faint unrecognizable sounds. Instinctively, he was in high alert, something was lurking the darkness, watching him, and he knew it would strike if he strays too far from the lights that lined the ground. With no choice, he followed the lights, leading him to dark hallways of the Oracle's Dojo.

 

As he was walked hallway after hallway, the ominous presence in the darkness that was following him continued to make him uneasy. It was as if the shadows themselves were moving. There was a nagging pain in his head, and he did not know how many more doors he had to enter, the lights on the ground continued on and on. As he continued, he could not help but feel that he had already been in the same hallway now, as if he had walked a full circle. Frustration and uneasiness was slowly creeping steadily into his mind. The hallways just continued on and on! He suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to shoot himself.. How many hours has he been walking in this unending dark halls?! And the beast hiding in the shadows.. the darkness. They were all crowding themselves, surrounding him.. he was surrounded! Why was his head feeling like it was going to explode.. "Why was I even following the lights.. Quick! My gun.. I need my.." Venra was thinking to himself, walking away from the lights, going out into the darkness.

 

"Venra," a voice whispered, prompting him to take out his Lex and aim behind him. Out of the darkness, a familiar figure appeared. A Nyx painted yellow and gray, strode towards him calmly, ignoring the fact he still had his gun aimed at her.

 

"Nano..?" he recognized her, all uneasiness, frustration and suicidal thoughts suddenly subsided, and with the Nyx approaching him, he suddenly felt more relaxed. He holstered his Lex and followed the Nyx named Nano who was following the lights like he did. The headache he was experiencing also disappeared.

 

"Sorry about that, my sisters were just trying to probe your mind, and test your will and all that.." Nano said cheerfully.

 

"I'm sure they enjoyed playing with my mind.." grumbled Venra

 

"Can't say they didn't..." With that, both Venra and Nano continued in silence. The lights were considerably dimmer as they went deeper into the Dojo. Venra observed the Nyx he was walking beside, she had changed.. he thought. I can only imagine what kind of ordeals she was put through..

 

The Nyx beside him giggled and said, "Oh, it wasn't that hard.."

 

Alarmed, Venra asked, "Y-You just read.. my mind?"

 

Nano cocked her to one side as she looked at Venra, "Of course.. reading the mind of someone who doesn't have any mental protection is easy, especially for a member of the Oracle!" pride in her voice.

 

"...I see, you're a member now.." Venra muttered, as he tried to set up defenses in his mind. Though, he could still feel the presence of something creeping about in his mind.

 

"Yeah.." Nano nodded her head before saying, "Ssshh.. Keep quiet, and stay close.." She grabbed Venra's hand and went into the darkness, away from the dim lights on the ground. They were sprinting now, hand in hand. The lights became a tiny speck in the distance, before they were finally enveloped by the darkness. Sounds could be heard near and far, but Nano continued to sprint left and right, as if she was dodging something. Venra, despite being augmented, could not see anything at all in the darkness, he could not believe she could even know where they were going. Just as he thought this to himself, they slowed down to a jog, as there was another series of lights that were lined up on the ground.

 

"We're here!" she announced, opening up her arms infront of a door where the lights were heading to. On the sides of the door were two figures, standing guard. As they neared, Venra finally saw what they actually were. Grabbing his Lex, he shouted, "Grineer!"

 

"Woah, woah!" Nano said in surprise, standing infront of his Lex and the Grineer standing guard.

 

"What are you doing, you're in the way!"

 

"Venra, wait, just stop!"

 

"Get out of the-"

 

"Stop!" Nano screamed at him and a large green mist exploded from her body, the Lex that Venra was holding suddenly became hot, causing him to drop it on the ground.

 

"Wha-" Venra, was confused, until he caught a glimpse on the expression of the Grineer troopers that continued to stand still, and open mouthed, despite the scene before them. The Grineer before him looked different.

 

Curious, but cautious, Venra took a closer look and examined the Grineer trooper's face. His eyes were glassy, a faint green light dancing inside of his eyes. There was no hate. Looking deep into the eyes, he couldn't feel the glaring hate that the Grineer always had when he faced them. Indeed, there was nothing there. The Grineer trooper before him was as good as dead. Staring at him, open mouthed and with glassy eyes, the Grineer trooper did not pay any attention to them.

 

"His name is Phil." Nano finally said, picking up his Lex and giving it to him.

 

"Phil?" Venra asked, incredulous. "You named a Grineer trooper?!"

 

"Yep," Nano said cheerfully, " I have him under mind control."

 

"Mind control? But what is he doing in your Dojo?!" confused, Venra asked.

 

"Standing guard of course." Nano replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

"What?!" unable to understand what the Nyx was telling him.

 

"I think you underestimate the powers of an Oracle member," Nano shook her head side to side, "with our psychic ability, we can basically mind control a simple-minded Grineer trooper like Phil over here, for as long as we want. Only way he can break free if he has gained some sudden willpower that my power cannot override, which is very unlikely, or if I let go of control of him"

 

Trying to comprehend her explanation, Venra asked, "So, you basically have full control of him until you die?"

 

Nano chuckled to herself before she patted him on the head and said, "Yep, you're quite a slow aren't you, Venra?"

 

They finally entered the door and into the room. Inside, it somehow resembled the Oracle room in typical Dojos, except it was bigger, and in the middle was a bright light. In a circle, there were Nyx painted with different colour schemes kneeling before the bright light. None of them looked up from their apparent meditation. It was deathly silent. The huge pillars inside the room were decorated with banners that had a simple eye inside an inverted triangle with tribal marking on top. Noticing this, Nano spoke up, "That is the symbol of the Oracle."

 

He nodded his head.

 

"This way," she said, leading him to the part of the circle that was open with two slots. Both of them went into a kneeling position.

 

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps reverberated throughout the Dojo, breaking the silence. A door at the opposite direction they went into automatically opened, and a Nyx that was painted all white, with a Usu Syandana went into the room. She surveyed the scene before her, before his eyes fell on Venra where she simply stared for a few seconds before settling herself down at another open spot in the circle of kneeling Tenno.

 

"I welcome you to our home again, Venra, friend of Nano." There was warmth in her voice. "What brings you back here?"

 

As she finished her question, all of the Nyx in the room, in complete synchronization, turned their heads up and looked at him.

 

He was disturbed by how synchronized they were, so he stayed silent for a while before finally saying, "I seek counsel about the progress of this.. dilemma between the Grineer and Corpus, and about my Tenno who have betrayed their code of honour."

 

"Ah, I see." the Nyx with the Usu Syandana nodded her head slowly before casting her head downwards.

 

She said that. Again, in complete synchronization, all of the Nyx in the room went from looking at him, to looking at the ground. After a while, a green mist was slowly creeping out of all the Nyx, gathering and swirling together in the middle, and after a while, it became a clear picture made of out millions and millions of green pixels formed by the the green mist that continued to swirl around in the room.

 

The image in the middle formed a Grineer trooper and a Corpus Crewman engaged in close combat, trying to kill each other, struggling.

 

"At the start of this Dilemma, the Grineer had the upper hand," the pure white Nyx said, as if she was telling a fairy tale.

 

The image in the middle changed to the Grineer throwing his Grakata at the Crewman, and using both of his hands to choke the life out the squirming Crewman who continued to struggle until he stopped moving. The Grineer on top of him continued choke his foe, before brutally taking of the Crewman's head and celebrating his victory.

 

"But... because of the treacherous Tenno that have fallen to greed, and trade the lives of their brethren to Alad V and do his dirty work, the Corpus will eventually win."

 

The celebrating Grineer with the bloodied head of the Grineer Crewman in his hands, was then surrounded by MOAs, where chunks of his body was blown off by the unrelenting onslaught of the MOAs fire.

 

The image then changed to a Volt that shot a Banshee in the head, behind her back. Then it changed to a Rhino swinging his Scindo, cutting an invisible Ash in half while a Nova with a Lanka finished him off with her Lato. Then it changed to a Mag being brutally Slash Dash'd by a trio of Excaliburs. The image continued to change, showing different Tenno killing another Tenno. Venra tried to count, but he finally gave up when he realised the image would continue to change, again and again. He clenched his fist, as he watched the image change again and again.

 

"As you can see.. the Grineer supporters are slowly all getting hunted down. All because of the greed that has penetrated the hearts of the once honourable and disciplined Tenno."

 

The image in the middle changed to a Mag Prime talking to a holographic Alad V, they were doing business. Alad V was clearly smiling.

 

Venra saw that image, his blood boiling, "Where? Where are they gathered? Where are all this Tenno traitors gathered? Where is Alad V? Where are they doing their.. business?! Where!? Tell me, so I can destroy them!" he couldn't contain his rage anymore.

 

The white Nyx simply stared back at him and said, "Where, indeed?"

 

"Where?" another Nyx in the circle asked.

 

"Where?" then, another Nyx asked the same question.

 

Soon, one by one, the Nyx started asking 'where?' Though, Nano remained silent beside him.

 

"Don't play with me! You know where, just tell me!" Venra was not in a good mood.

 

"Tell me.." the Nyx all echoed.. becoming a cacophony of voices.

 

"You...!!" he was ready to take up his arms and give him the answer he wants through other means. As he tried to stand, he realised, he could not move his body. It was as if a heavy force was stopping his legs and hands from moving. No matter how hard he tried, they would not move.

 

"Relax yourself, Venra.." Nano beside him whispered, "do you think you can take down all 50+ supercharged Nyx that are more powerful than your typical Nyx by yourself?"

 

He knew that every Nyx in the room had psychic abilities that were completely in the different level from a normal Nyx. But he didn't care. The longer he wasted time here, the more Tenno were getting killed. He needed to kill Alad V. He needed to kill the traitors who would kill their own brethren just because Alad V offered them very big rewards. He needed to kill them all.

 

"You are a very amusing Tenno, Venra." the pure white Nyx with the Syandana flowing behind her majestically along with the swirling misty current spoke out. The rest of the Nyx went back to their silence.

 

"What do you think you are doing, holding that information, do you not care about the Tenno that are being killed?"

 

She simply shook her head.

 

"We are Oracle. We have droned out the voice of the Lotus. We have the power to turn vast armies of both Corpus and Grineer and be our own private army if we so ever choose. We can see the past and to the future. If we wanted it so, the entire Solar System could be ours."

 

"Then, why not use that power for the benefit of Tenno?!" he understood the power of the Oracle very well. But he could not understand why they would not help.

 

"Balance." she simply told him.

 

Venra was speechless.

 

"Oracle is essentially Balance. We have the power to change the entire fate of the whole Solar System." she explained, "But we are also Tenno. Thus, despite our power, we will uphold to our original objectives as a Tenno. And that is to keep Balance."

 

She continued, "The Lotus is not doing a very good job in keeping Balance. In actual fact, she is not even keeping that Balance all Tenno thinks they are fighting for. But, I will keep that knowledge a secret. You Tenno can continue to follow her as you please, but while you continue to run your missions with her, we, the Oracle the all-knowing, will be keeping the fragile Balance."

 

"Do you understand what I am telling you, Venra? You are not gifted with our psychic abilities, and you shall never, so you will find this hard to understand. But what we do is for the best of the entire Solar System. I only hope you could be enlightened like us, in the near future. We only keep watch at the thread of Fate, keep vigil watch that the fragile thread would continue. We are not meant to be weavers of Fate."

 

"Fate..?" Venra asked, wavering.

 

"So, you're saying that letting Alad V bribe Tenno to kill another Tenno is Fate and will keep Balance?! Letting Tenno get dissected and experimented on by the Corpus will keep Balance?!"

 

"Yes." She answered without hesitation. "The Corpus would win, the Tenno would suffer heavy losses. But in the end, the losses will not be so heavy that it would cripple the entire Tenno fighting force. There will be other events in the future that would continue to change the advantage that the Corpus have earned from winning this. Grineer, Corpus and Tenno would continue their struggle into the far future, and Balance will remain.

 

"No.." Venra, was horrified. How could all the Tenno in the room let such a tragedy continue?

 

"Thus, we are unable to give you information that would hinder this future, different. It is too risky, and the outcome from any major difference might be disastrous."

 

"You.. will seriously just let so many Tenno die?!"

 

"An estimated of at least a thousand Tenno will die, in this future." she said, so factual. "A lot. But not enough to sway the Balance."

 

"I'm going to kill yo-" Venra was raising his voice.

 

"What if we could continue to preserve the Balance and stop all the unnecessary losses?" Nano spoke up.

 

The other Nyx looked up confused.

 

"Yes, I know it would be risky! But we can save the lives of other Tenno!"

 

She was silent but she turned her head to face the other Nyx as she remained quiet. It became apparent to Venra that they were talking to each other telepathically.

 

Unable to bear the silence, "If letting Tenno die unnecessarily would not affect the Balance, then saving these Tenno should not affect it as well!" Venra shouted.

 

It was a while before the pure white Nyx finally said, "Both of you are very stubborn," she said looking at both Venra and Nano.

 

"I can see what you are saying.. but as a Clan that is solely dedicated to Balance, I cannot give you information that could shift the entire war to the Grineer or Tenno favour." she said, a tone of finality in her words.

 

"But. If you would end up in a place that could get you that vital information.. then, it's not like we were to blame.." the pure white Nyx said, sighing.

 

Nano turned to look at Venra, before giving him a thumbs-up. He nodded his head at her in gratitude, and then at the pure white Nyx.

 

"It would be up to you, to make do of this."

 

With those last words still ringing in his head, he suddenly ended up in the Hangar Bay, infront of the lights that lined the ground. He was again surrounded in darkness. Numbed and confused, he wondered whether it was a hallucination or dream. He climbed onto his shuttle, and looked at the time, confusing him even more. Less than ten minutes had passed since he left his shuttle. Sitting on the chair, he was thinking hard. What just happened?

 

But as he sat there on his chair, inside his shuttle wondering if he should leave or go out and find the Oracle again, he felt the urge to press the buttons in his shuttle. And before he knew it, his hands automatically pressed the coordinates to some place, and in auto-pilot mode, the shuttle started its ascend out of the the Hangar Bay. Even more confused now, he did not know why he would press those coordinates and go out there. He was about to press the 'Cancel' button, but the voice of that pure white Nyx echoed in his head, "It would be up to you, to make do of this."

 

Understanding her meaning, he let the shuttle take him to where ever it was going. He knew whatever awaited him will bring him closer to his goal. To kill Alad V.

[W4RH3AD]

---------

Chapter 7: How very.. timely.

BANG!

He was shoved hard into the ground before he even heard it.

The place where he had been heading straight to had a huge, smoking crater on the ground.

That crater would have been on his skull instead if he wasn't shoved downwards

"We are not alone," his cloaked ally, a Loki named Kise, whispered to him silently.

That couldn't be true. He checked his Kill count; all the Corpus had been exterminated. The Grineer he was helping would not be dumb enough to betray him as well. Why would they? Besides, the amount of skill and accuracy for their assailant was too great to be a mere Grineer trooper. They were being hunted down. The very thought felt completely surreal to him. Who would be crazy enough to hunt down two fully armed Tenno?

"It came from above," Kise, ever observant, noted.

Peeking over his cover, he looked up to where he's comrade was talking about.

BANG!

If his reflexes were slower, is head would have surely turned into nothing but a stump. Some of his cover was also chipped off by the shot. Their assailant was no doubt, highly skilled. But he had to do better than that.

 

"It sounds like a Vectis rifle.." Kise said, keeping cover beside, "It will take time to reload. Enough time."

 

Jonah nodded his head and prepared himself. He knew that Kise was planning to charge the unknown sniper.

 

There was a nagging voice in his mind; "What if these were fellow Tenno?" His throat had a lump, and his whole body tensed, he did not believe the rumours that Tenno actually hunted other Tenno but now that this is happening to him.. it was very likely their opponent was another Tenno.

 

Using his ability, Kise planted a Decoy in the open. The Decoy decoy was shot just a second later and it died instantly.

 

"Go!"  turning his invisibility on, the Loki sprinted off.

 

Another shot was heard, and for a second a loud "Oompf.." could be heard in the comms coming from Kise.

 

There was no more time for hesitation, following after his comrade, Jonah came out of cover and used Slash Dash, and performed a wallrun maneuver, rocketing him to his destination. He landed on the elevated platform of their presumed assailant was and in one swift motion, took out his rifle. Scanning the grounds with his Latron, it was dark and huge space with gigantic pillars that enveloped the whole space in shadows. There were Vectis bullet casings that were left on the ground that overlooked the extraction area.

 

"Over there." the Loki, Kise, de-cloaked beside him, aiming his Kunai straight at a dark area, where one of the huge pillars were standing.

 

Taking a closer look, very slight movement could be seen.

 

"Are you okay?" Jonah asked,hearing the ragged breathing from the comms.

 

"Lucky shot." he simply said, before advancing slowly, his breathing still laboured.

 

The two of them approached cautiously, with their weapons drawn, aiming straight.

 

Suddenly, a Mag Prime with both hands out appeared from the darkness.

 

"Don't shoot!" she shouted, slowly surrendering her weapons, slowly putting down her Dera and Orthos Prime on the ground.

 

Jonah swiftly brought his Latron down. It's a fellow Tenno. Kise was less convinced.

 

"What were you doing here? When did you join the mission?" Kise asked, Kunai still aimed at her.

 

"I joined a few minutes ago.. you guys were blazing through the whole level, and I was lagging behind.. there was also this Corpus Crewman here shooting away a Vectis rifle at you two,, but you shouldn't worry about him now. I took care of it."

 

"Impossible. Since when did Corpus Crewman used Vectis rifles?" Kise further asked.

 

"It must be his own scavenged treasure. You know how Corpus likes all their treasures, and how greedy they can get.. In desperation, he might have attempted to use it to put you two down. And he almost did, seemed like he knew how to use that rifle if he was able to shoot a moving Tenno in the shoulder.."

 

"She's just those slow Tenno that you didn't know were there at that mission, Kise. Let's get back to the Do-" Jonah was interrupted.

 

"How.. did you know I was shot in the shoulder?" the Loki asked, his tone slowly changing.

 

The Mag Prime stood transfixed, unable to come out of a reply.

 

True enough, there was no indication that he was shot in the shoulder. Jonah only knew he was shot somewhere. Even he, who could see his comrade clearer, since he was closer to him, would not have been able to identify that his shoulder was shot.

 

There was eerie silence between the three Tenno who were enveloped in shadows.

In what seemed like very slow motion, the Mag Prime's arms silently and slowly tried to her weapons that were still strapped in her hips; Hikou.

 

Upon seeing this, Kise with Kunai in his arms threw his Kunai. At the same time, the Mag Prime was also able to grabbed her flying stars and throw it as well. But it was too late. The Kunai would reach and kill her first.

 

Or so that was what Jonah thought.

 

A loud squelching, wet sound could be heard, and it took him a second longer to realise his comrade Kise was grabbing his neck, where a fountain of blood was flowing out. Loud spluttering and grunting could be heard coming out of the comms.

 

Distracted by the sight of his comrade dying infront of him, the Mag Prime, uninjured as she used the magnetic properties of repel to repel the Kunai away from her, was able to retake her weapons. Jonah then suddenly felt a strong crushing force that drove the air from his lungs away. Collapsing on the ground, shield-less and disorientated, he shot his Latron around. The Mag Prime expertly dodged, before pulling him towards her.

 

With nothing to hold on, Jonah flew in space towards the Mag Prime who was holding her Orthos Prime, waiting for him to get impaled. Still disorientated, Jonah twisted in space, and with not a second to spare, took out his Kama, to parry away the Orthos Prime before landing flat on his back infront of her. Flipping himself up, he used Radial Blind that gave him enough time to get his senses back together. Behind him, his ally, Kise was still choking in his own blood, on the floor. Infront of him, the Mag Prime who was recovering from the Radial Blind stopped slicing the air with her Orthos Prime. He needed to kill her. Taking aim, he took out his Viper sidearm. Before he could even shoot, he felt a weird tingly sensation, and only when he shot his Viper, and the bullets redirected itself back to him, getting rid of his shields, did he understand the Mag Prime applied Bullet Attractor to him. The Mag Prime was crouched down with the Vectis in her hands, about to shoot. Using Slash Dash, he charged towards the Mag Prime, stopping short just infront of her.

 

Ignoring the unbearable pain where her bullet landed on his Torso, he used his entire body weight just to pierce her armour with his Kama, he dragged her along with him to the edge of the elevated platform where they both plummeted down.

 

"Just dieeeeeeeeeeee....!!" the Mag Prime shouted as they both fell, both struggling, who will be ontop of each other when they fell.

 

Landing hard, Jonah lost the fight on the air and thus landed on his back, taking most of the impact. The Mag Prime was able to stand back up first and with the Orthos Prime on her hands, was going to land the killing blow.

 

"You are.. too.. troublesome.." clearly breathless, she struggled to raise the Orthos Prime.

 

As she raised it, an unknown forced knocked it away from her hands.

 

Looking behind her, Jonah saw Kise with a hand still clasped tightly around his neck, weakly collapsed to the ground. He used Radial Disarm to save him despite his state.

 

Seeing this, Jonah flipped himself up, and did a palm strike that knocked the Mag Prime away from him, he then ran to the nearest weapon that was scattered because of Kise's Radial Disarm. He grabbed the Vectis on the ground and took aim. The Mag Prime was still in a daze and unarmed, but she was coherent enough to know that her very own Vectis was on the arms of his target and was aiming it at her. She looked at her energy reserves. There was none. She looked around her, there was no cover nearby, and no weapons. She was completely vulnerable. She could also feel her consciousness seeping away. That palm strike at her head was devastating. Her body felt heavy.

 

She looked at the Excalibur who was crouched down, with her Vectis in his arms, looking into the scope, aiming at her. Like how she did earlier. She would have laughed at such an ironic twist. Unable to keep herself awake, she lost consciousness.

 

Jonah, only had one shot. The Vectis only had one bullet in the chamber. But his hand won't stop shaking, he needed to stabilise the crosshair at the Mag Prime's head who seemingly lost consciousness. He has to kill her and then quickly get back to the Dojo to get help from a Trinity. The pool of blood around Kise was getting bigger.

 

All of a sudden, he felt himself get kicked onto the ground. Then the Vectis being kicked away from his hands. He looked up and saw another Excalibur painted green and white towering above him. There was a Ceramic Dagger in his hand. He must be her ally.. he thought to himself as he was knocked out unconscious by the handle of the Ceramic Dagger knocking onto his temple.

 

Venra looked around him, confused. There was an unconscious Mag Prime, a bleeding out Loki, and a Excalibur who he just knocked unconscious taking aim with a Vectis at the Mag Prime.

 

Frustrated, and confused, the only thing he could think of now was to save the Loki that was not going to make it if he continued laying on the ground. He did not know which ones were the traitor, so he could not let any of them die. Throwing the dying Loki onto his shoulder, and using both his arms to drag the other unconscious Tenno, he headed straight to his Shuttle.

 

The thought of saving a possible traitor disgusted Venra.

 

 

In another shuttle just outside, the Grineer and Corpus ships that were locked in fighting, a Volt named Bel was watching the two ships fight without any interest. He sat on his chair and aimlessly looking at the stars that surrounded him. He did not think the Clan Leader's choice of asking the Veterans to look after traitors for interrogation by looking after their members was efficient. Somehow, it seemed, other than the Vauban Thaddeus, no one else in the clan has been attacked. Suspiciously, it might mean that there were traitors in their Veteran ranks that are now keeping a low profile now that everyone is looking for them. Or maybe he was just such a cynic.

 

Stifling a yawn he continued watching the stars until he caught sight of a Tenno shuttle leaving both the ships.

This shuttle was not one of Kise or Jonah's, the two members he was suppose to look after.

 

It was already an hour since they entered. He was considered a very fast Tenno. When people in the clan said the name 'Bel', the word to describe him was 'fast'. Thus, watching over members who needed an hour to clear out an entire ship baffled him when for him, it only took less than two minutes. Or maybe..

 

He watched the shuttle that continued to become smaller as the distance between them became longer. No other Tenno entered the mission, thus no one should have left halfway. Besides, everytime after a mission, all the Tenno leave together, they wait for each other before leaving, so it can't be..

 

Jolting himself awake, he decided to follow the shuttle.

 

"This better be worth my time.." he whispers to himself as he place his arms behind his head and became comfortable as the auto pilot followed the shuttle from a safe distance, away from detection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[battlehotdog]

thank you man, tomorrow wont be that boring, now i have sth to read^^