[Fanfiction] The Lone Sword (Completed)

[FiveHours]

Hello, everyone. In this topic I will be writing my story set in the Warframe universe called The Lone Sword.

This story follows an Ash with a lost past, confronted with an unknown adversary on a mission that leads him to uncover mysteries much more deep and painful than he could have ever bargained for.

I will be constantly updating my story on this thread around the constructive criticisms that you guys give me, so please stay tuned! I will update the story in the reply section, not on this post.

So, without further ado, I present to you, The Lone Sword.


PROLOGUE

He hated this place. The lights were dusty and dim and the table he sat at stank with the rank, metallic smell of a medical ward. Even the air was repulsive, dank with the stench of rotten wood and smoke from the cigars that still glowed from shallow puffs of displeasure blow from between the lips of the men in front of him.

Ten pairs of eyes swept across the room, each one leering at another with equally cold, soulless glares. Then, one by one, they lazily shifted their gaze onto him, boring into him, sizing him down. Well, they tried. Even without his suit, he towered above the table at which they hunched over, unmoving.

He kept still as they raked across him, searching tirelessly and incessantly for any lapses in his composure, any cracks that could be widened to expose a possible weakness. These men did not accept weakness.
A single bead of sweat formed on his scalp and trickled down the side of his metallic skull, dripping into his clasped robotic hands. He took a reassuring breath, and spoke
firmly.

“I have a request.”

“What makes you think you have the right to return here?”

As was, indeed the thought on everyone’s mind.

“Nothing,” he replied, unblinking. “However, I may be able to sway your somewhat… distrusting opinion of me.”

They all shared a reluctant sideward glance, before the one that sat at the right edge droned in the same voice as the rest. Callous. Dead.
“You wish to bargain with the Council? I see that the years have taken your sense away with them, General."

This one wore a crooked smile, one that glowed under the sickly light. A stray fly buzzed overhead, weaving and ducking in and out of the tenebrific gloom that coiled around it.

He gritted his blackened teeth and swallowed the insult forming in his throat. A mere slip of the tongue would mean the end of him. Processed, scanned, and destroyed. And then, he would disappear; like ashes, cast away into the wind.

“I believe we should show our hands before we rush to conclusions, no?”

A grunt and a few sighs sounded from the group. He found himself containing a grin.

“Very well. Speak.”

“I have a plan.” His tone was constant, despite the gravity of his words. “One that will find us the Dojos.”

One of them roared back in laughter, joined by the grainy chuckles of his associates.

"You think that YOU, of all people, can find them? Do not take us for fools, General, we have tried many times ourselves and failed, and we have armies that dwarf the size of your miserable scrap of half-breeds.” The laugh that followed was without life, and his miserable features were etched into his skull, which already were pressing against the blue veins that criss-crossed across his face. The man’s augmentations whirred as he pushed himself up from the table with a dissatisfied grunt.

“This is a waste of time.”

“Wait.”

Regret made itself known, balling in his sore throat, but he had to take risks; his options were running out.

“You dare to give orders to the Council?!” the Councilor’s humorous mood vanished as his face flushed a furious red.

“I apologize, sir, but I am serious.” They stared down, like sharks circling a sinking ship. Waiting hungrily for the first drop of blood in the water.

“Fine, how would you go about this farce of yours?” A much older one asked from the centre, with a voice as cold as the ice in his blue eyes. The High Councilor.

“You cannot be serious, how do you even consider-“ the man next to him turned in his chair, shocked.

“Quiet, Gras. We shall hear what he has to say.”

“Hmm.” Gras sat back in his creaking chair, arms crossed.

The General felt an insignificant sense of triumph spark from his chest.

“Continue.” The High Councilor beckoned, with thin lips.

***

Five minutes had past, and not a word had been spoken after he had finished. He could even count the muted ticks of the clock, chipping away at the time. Silence was shared by all, but all for different reasons. The Council in disbelief, he in victory. He held the cars now. He nearly let himself laugh, how nervous had he been not ten minutes before, under their stare. But now he had them, by the scruffs of their repulsive necks.

“So, have we reached an agreement?” asked General Vay Hek, with a glint across his yellow eyes.

***

Darkness kept him. A single, small pinprick of light shone a brilliant white down through the center of the dome, illuminating just enough for the naked eye to see. He had long learned to live with the near-darkness of his resting chambers. Not a whisper was heard from the huge, domed walls. One of the few things that brought him comfort was, indeed, the silence in his resting chamber, as it afforded him the peace to heal his wounds, both physical and mental.

How long had he trained here, under the bleak light of the White Sun? Days? Months? The wielder of the Nikana could be no ordinary swordsman, after all. The ancient blade was forged from ornate Tenno steel, its fighting prowess never tiring and the blade cleaving through flesh and bone as finely and precisely as it had done centuries ago. Its origin evaded him when he tried to chase it after it had been found with him upon his inoculation, and any Tenno beyond his rank whom he tried to ask shooed him away with the flick of a gloved hand.
He no longer thought of the Nikana as a weapon; it was an extension of him, a perfectly crafted weapon of war that knew nothing but bloodshed. Many would call him a killer, an outcast, a sociopath. He admitted to all of them without hesitation, he may have gone as far as to embrace it. He knew his brothers and sisters may have detested him for his heartless glee in the field of battle, but it was his inhuman grace and finesse in combat and assassination that had kept him and his comrades alive.

A sound. He was up within a moment, his Nikana poised in front of him. He lowered his weapon when he recognized the alluring face of Saryn. She scanned the room with narrowed eyes, trying to pick apart any movement from in the black shroud that hugged the walls, hiding anything inside it. Her devilish eyes rested upon Ash, who had kneeled back down again, only his head moving slightly downward in what appeared to be acknowledgement.

She took another step into his cold chamber, the clacking of her stilettos echoing off the walls. The beam that shone through the roof crept its way along her pearly white skin. Ash admired her beauty, which was never rare to appreciate. Flawless, wavy blond hair cascaded onto slender shoulders, which complimented her thin waist and perfectly sculpted hips. Her suit finished off her striking image with tall, willowy legs on pointed stilettos.

Ash hid a smile; the nature behind her allure was nothing sweet. Saryn often released aphrodisiacs and lustful pheromones into the air on the battlefield to distract and lure in oncoming enemies with a lascivious aura of pleasure before stabbing them in the throat with her Fang stiletto knives. She had often compared her deceitful tactics to those of a Venus Flytrap, one of the Old Earth's carnivorous plants. Ash had always admired her for this approach; it brought a certain aspect of sophisticated class to their work.
The corners of her lips curled up into an impish smile as she spoke.

“Hello , Ash.”

Not this again.

“What do you want?”

“Just to chat. We haven’t had a good conversation in a while.”

“We have, just none of them were good. And most seemed to rather be one-sided, to say the least.”

She giggled rather childishly, before looking back up at him. Her eyes shone like sapphires in the light as she smiled.
“I didn’t think you had it in you for humor.”

“Neither did I.”

She giggled again. Saryn definitely knew how to be adorable when she wanted to.

“What do you want, Saryn?”

She hesitated, lips parted, before answering with another smile.

“I just worry about you sometimes; all alone in here, no one to talk to.”

Liar.

“Perhaps the silence of the chambers is just what I need.” He remarked, fresh mists of cold breath billowing out from his helmet.

She raised a disapproving eyebrow.

“Get over yourself, Ash. I know that something is bothering you; normally you would at least be in the baths, or someplace remotely hospitable.” She said with a slight shiver in her breath.

Silence, again.

“Well?”

“What makes you think that I would tell you, of all people?” Ash replied snidely.

Her smile was gone, but only for an instant. She started to pad slowly towards him, perhaps purposely making the swing of her hips too obvious, but Ash was mesmerized nonetheless. A muted click came from the back of the warframe’s collar as her fingers swept her golden hair back behind an delicate ear. Ash began to notice a small shimmer appear round her upper body, and he could have sworn that he picked up a slight smell of…

Rose.

His hand went straight to the kunai on his hip, drawing it and standing up within a heartbeat. It moved on the next, straightening outwards and releasing the kunai before snapping his hand back for another throw. It whistled through the air, landing just within a hair-length where Saryn was about to place a graceful foot.

“You’ll have to try harder than that.” He smirked.

She remained motionless, before stepping back, but not too far. Just enough so the light could let him see her face.

“I honestly wonder when you’ll learn to live with us, because right now it feels like you’re just... passing through.” She gazed forlornly at him with something that resembled sympathy, maybe more of a pathetic type of pity.

She said nothing as she arrived at the entrance to the chamber. Light poured in through the partition between the doors, casting a long shadow that stretched all the way to Ash’s perch. Once the doors opened, she stood, looking straight at the ground. He listened.

“Ash, I…” She stopped mid-sentence, shaking her head. She breathed another breath of cold air in, and shivering as she exhaled it out.

“You know what? Forget it.”
She turned round to him, giving him that same, horrible look.

“I’ll be in the Oracle, if you decide to join us. Goodbye, Ash.”

The doors shut, blocking out the precious light, and leaving him in blackness once more.

Chapter 1

"Close your eyes. Steady your breathing."

The words of the Banshee filled his mind once again. Only her words, though, for her face was one even he shivered to think of. It had nothing peculiar or outlandish about it; an elegant nose, slim lips and the slightest of crinkles near the corners of her mouth, a pair of ears that pointed slightly at the top and an empathetic, almost maternal nature. But it was her eyes, or what remained of them, that shook him upon the faintest, most momentary of recollections.

They held no colour of their own, apart from the ghastly colour of clouded grey that seemed to move and shimmer, as if there was a coiling, deathly mist that swirled beneath the surface of her expressionless, empty irises. He had been there when she lost her sight. He wished still that he hadn’t.

The mission had called for the extermination of one particular proxy of the feared J3 Golem, this particular strain adapted on constant and indeed incredibly rapid evolution to new threats. The battle had been a long and bloody one; their Ember had been rendered useless without her firestorms and accelerants after the Golem had leeched her physically of all energy, and had nearly destroyed her body in the process.
The Rhino was forced to seek cover as his robotic shoulder had been blown to pieces by biological spines, living and hungry for flesh, which burrowed beneath his armour and hardened, locking his servo joints into place and breaking it apart. Ash himself had avoided a horrible demise through his agility and elusiveness, but was running dangerously low on energy and, even with his stamina, was feeling the effects of tiredness slowing his footfalls.

It was the Banshee, assigned to lead the squad, who was next. She had eyes sharper than any blade, and a hair-splitting aim, able to shoot a bullet through the miniscule visor of a Crewman’s helmet from across an icy canyon on Venus, which was only boosted by her Sonar, able to find weaknesses in even the most resilient of armors. But, with time, the Golem adapted. The bullets from her Vectis now pattered harmlessly off newly created armour plates on its shoulders. Masses of muscular tissue formed over its spindly legs in seconds. It made an immense, soaring leap across the dark, rocky chamber in which they fought, landing right on top of the Banshee with a crash, knocking her onto the floor and right in between its rotten mandibles. She tried to roll out of the way and scramble for her weapon, but the beast’s tentacles batted it away and grabbed her by the arms and throat, refusing any type of struggle. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next.

Light-blue fluorescent light poured from its ugly mouth as it let out a hellish screech, its face practically touching hers. Its grip tightened around her throat, forcing the helmet to open. Its saliva, dripping down into a pool on her chest, now glowed with the same light-blue colour as the Golem made a sick hyuk-hyuk sound, as if was trying to laugh. It smiled at her, with too many decayed, disarranged teeth. She let out a scream of her own, perhaps to disorient it, but it didn’t matter. The Golem cut her futile retaliation short as it spat a glob of saliva down on her face. She only whimpered at first, like a wolf pup without its mother’s milk, but her whimper rose to an agonized howl as the saliva took its full effect.

It fizzed and spat, eating through her fragile white skin and into the angry red flesh underneath. The acid leaked into her tear ducts, spreading across her eyes in a matter of moments and shredding apart her lenses before dissolving into her retinas. She saw nothing, but the pain was all but invisible.

The Trinity had managed to restore the ruptured skin cells across her face, but nothing could fix her eyesight. She was changed. But, even though her eyes had been taken from her, her spirit was left unbroken, perhaps more resilient, and even stronger than before.
Her words, monotonous and lifeless, had stayed with him since she had taken over his inoculation.

"This technique will allow you to see more than what you had ever seen before. Your eyes merely show you what happens. There is no deeper meaning or sense to what you see. However, with my sight gone, I may now see what will happen, not what is. Every footstep, every tiny movement. My mind's eye is now open, and I will help you open yours. Now, focus."

Ash's footsteps across the marble floor of the main dojo set off tiny sounds that slowly rippled across the silent air of the main hall and reverberated back at him. These sounds collided with the doors, the marble pillars, the carpeted staircases; he felt all of these within a moment.
If I can feel all of this now, the Banshee must be something extrordinary.

He tried again, this time walking briskly towards the entrance to the Oracle. He felt the still air move gently round him as he kept his pace. The sounds of his peers seeped through the miniscule spaces under the doorway and drifted through the air, caressing Ash's ears with a gentle sense of affinity and comradeship. A warm feeling spread across his chest, something he had longed for to understand. Was this what true family sounded like?
He dismissed these pleasant thoughts and opened his eyes.

This was nothing like what he had "seen" with his other senses; he felt constrained and somewhat primitive upon seeing the sliding door open in front of him. With his sight absent he felt weightless, in his own little dimension, so very alone, but so very… safe.

With his sight returned, he stepped into the Oracle. The three factions known in the system - the Grineer, the Corpus and the Infestation - glowed on holographic displays, staring blindly at the display in the middle. The room was filled with commotion; navigators, servants and engineers tapped robotically at holographic keyboards, staring at endless scrolling walls of text that displayed nothing of interest, just status reports and messages from other parts of the station.

The Frost and Rhino were talking on the other side of the room; Frost most likely spoke of future plans with icy breaths while Rhino acknowledged with small, rapid nods. Saryn wound and unwound a small lock of hair with one hand and tossed and caught a Fang over and over again with the other. He made special care to avoid inciting her gaze; the smoke from their meeting had not yet risen, and he did not wish to let it dissipate. He sought peace with her, at least for the while.

He let his gaze pass over a few others before he spotted a silhouette hidden beneath above the canopy of the Orracle. The hammerhead helmet and the pale gray Loki suit were recognizable to Ash anywhere; the two of them held a fraternal bond like no other.

He fondly remembered working together with him on a contract calling for the assassination of a Corpus High Council member. Nash Kekh, that was her name. Fighting her elite had not been a difficult task; Loki outwitted them and Ash killed them before they even realized he was there. It was the assassination that had proven difficult, for she had augmented her eyes to spot movements and act upon them with lightning speed, before they even happened. The Loki were often considered tricksters, rather than murderers. This one, however, was somewhat of an exception.
Indeed, he had deployed a holographic clone behind her, and when Kekh swung her sword, he teleported away and brought the clone in his place. Kekh stumbled, brought off-balance by swinging into thin air, and was finished off by a quick stab through the neck and out of her mouth, leaving her death mask one that struck terror into the remaining crew after she was found crucified in the civilian quarters. The Loki had often boasted of that victory, but he was often regarded as a liar, and with good reason.

Ash disengaged his cloak; reappearing out of nothingness, save for a small cloud of smoke. The Loki glanced at the approaching visitor, finding a tall figure, skin ivory white and hair ashen grey. He hinted at this recognition with a nod, before turning back to the centre display.

"It is good to see you again, brother. Where have you been? Stealing from the rich? Feeding the poor?" The Loki asked with a wry smile.

"I see your sense of humor hasn't dulled yet, Fenrir."

Ears pricked up all round the room, for a mention of a Tenno's name instead of their suit was a rare occasion and usually reserved for family, and hearing Ash speak was even rarer. His voice rasped like rock against sandpaper, and his breaths always seemed shallow and hoarse.

"Anyway, weren't you stationed on Phobos recently? Word has it that you killed the mighty Lech Kril." Ash tuned out for Fenrir's answer, for only a fool would believe a word that came out of his lying mouth.

He snorted at this thought and was about to reply before the holographic display dawned into life, where a model of the Lotus appeared. No one had yet seen her truly, only manifestations of her through the dojos and stations.
On the display she wore a purple, flowing robe that made her look somewhat frail. Small metal plates overlapped on her slim neck and fastened halfway round like a collar. Her most distinguishable feature was most definitely the helmet. It covered the top half of her face, with wires protruding out the back, giving her a constant feed of data from all parts of the ship. Ash thought to himself how she would have looked like if she hadn't donned the helmet. Maybe she could have trained to become a Nyx, or something of the sort.

In any case, what he saw of her betrayed a beauty that could have, perhaps, been appreciated before she became... this.

"Tenno, one of our whistleblowers has informed us of the location of a Corpus captive holding valuable intel on the location of a Grineer Councilor. The ship is due to fly from Venus into the Sagittarius asteroid belt of Saturn, where the captive will be interrogated and executed. It is our job to make sure that this does not happen." She said in her deceivingly human voice.

"Who will take on this mission?" The Rhino boomed from across the Oracle.
He stood tall, with golden-brown plates of lightweight steel overlapping to create a living tank. His dark-brown hair was shaved short, which showed two metal studs drilled into the side of his head that secured the metal plates replacing the bone that had been shot out by a Corpus sniper. Those who donned the Rhino were not known to die easily.

"The General of the Steel Fury wing has decided that the squad members shall be: The Banshee," She began, a few heads turning towards the now leaving Banshee, the rest trained on the Lotus.

"Volt,"

Volt's thin figure stepped from behind the huge bulk of Rhino and followed Banshee out of the door.

"Saryn,"

Ash stole a glance at Saryn, who had now put her stiletto away and looked at the Lotus with that same, devilish grin.

"and Ash."

Many of his comrades turned to either of the pair and grinned, some even stole a few hushed laughs. He and Saryn had gained a false reputation for being an item, even though the idea was far-fetched and was by far the most terrible combination for a couple anyone could think of.

However, unexpectedly, she had stuck to him since the first day of his assignment to the wing and had grown to be nothing but a thorn in his side.

"Just a thorn in my side..." Ash muttered solemnly to himself.

He adjusted the blade by his hip and vanished from sight for a split second, before reappearing behind Saryn. He carefully stepped round her and avoided eye contact; he was in no state to even give her a moment of his attention. He rounded the next corner and entered the elevator, slamming the button labeled 'S', quietly hoping that the doors would just hiss shut and leave him in peace for a few moments.

But the universe never liked to afford him such luxuries. Ash turned his head to see the gloved hand of a Saryn warframe barring the doors from closing.

“Not this time, Ash. “

The doors shut and the lift began its descent. She leaned against the wall opposite him, sighing.

“Now, you’re going to tell me what’s been going on.”

“This, again?” Ash looked bothered. The Saryn tutted.

"Yes. We’re going to be spending a lot more time on missions ever since my promotion. I know that you might not like it, but now even Umbra is getting worried about your recent behavior. It’s not like you, as hard as that may be to believe.”

“It’s nothing, I’ve told you.”

She slammed her fist on the control panel, making the lift jolt rather ungracefully to a stop. Ash jumped awake, looking up to the Saryn, whose eyes kindled with irritation.

This is new.

"You have to start trusting people, Ash. Soon you are going to find yourself without us, and no one will be there to help you. Not even me.”

He answered with his silence, merely studying her face, at any little imperfections. He gazed at her with newfound interest. It was as if her face had been crafted under the careful, precise hand of a doll-maker, created out of the purest white porcelain, and every little detail etched in with the closest accuracy. She had a small dimple, almost unnoticeable, on her right cheek.

A slip of the maker’s hands, perhaps?

She glared at him now, seething under her skin. He glared back.

Silence, once again.

She looked to the control panel, and pressed the release.

The doors opened.

He left.
***
The starmap still fascinated him whenever he saw it. The room was nothing spectacular on its own, but with the holographic displays on it became something wholly different. A million little lights exploded outwards as soon as Frost placed his finger in the center of the room.

They glittered and shimmered brilliantly before fading out to the edges. The planets of the Solar System drifted lazily out to their orbits round the golden sun in the middle, with their names and statistics listed by them. Frost walked over to a sandy, shrouded planet and enlarged the image with swift back and forth movements of his fingers.

Ash rarely saw the Clan General, and took this opportunity to see how he had changed since the last time they had fought on the field.
He was dressed in a heavy yet extravagant robe of armour that clutched and overlapped across his chest and down his side, closing off any openings . Air condensed in white clouds when he and the warframe breathed. His features showed that he was young, but he had more experience than any of the four in the room put together. He bore scars of many wars, most covered by his dazzlingly pure silver-white hair. His eyes formed slits, leaving only his icy blue irises to be seen. He was a born leader, and he most certainly looked the part.

"Brothers, sisters, I believe you understand the mission at hand here, correct?" He asked sternly. Silence answered him. Satisfied, he continued.

"The captive held on this ship is due to reach the Sagittarius asteroid belt within a week, but we must act now if we wish to evade any reinforcements coming from the stations on the belt itself. The plan is simple, and if executed correctly," He looked up momentarily at the group, "we will have our information before the day ends."

Silence replied once again.

"We will start by entering through the engine room. There the noise of the Grineer engines will smother any sound we make coming in. Next, we must take the intelligence room. Here there will be all of the ships communications equipment, both local and interplanetary. We can stop them from making distress calls and we can then initiate the second part of the plan. Ash, you will make sure no one leaves that room alive, understood?"

He nodded curtly, keeping his attention to the Clan General and trying to ignore Saryn's venomous gaze.

"Now, this is where you will come in, Banshee, Volt." He acknowledged them both with two quick glances before training his eyes on the small model of the Grineer cruiser in front of him.

"Banshee, I want you to tap into the intercom system and destroy their hearing. Make their ears bleed. Shatter their will."

Banshee nodded politely and stepped away.

"Volt, the main control panel for the ship's lighting and electricity is in a small room right next to the intelligence room. Fry their systems. Short circuit any backup generators you find down there, as they will hinder our advance.”

The Volt immediately jumped from the wall and bolted inhumanly fast down towards the elevator, shoving the Banshee out the way and receiving an irritated grunt in return.

"After they've gone blind and deaf, make your way through the vents that circle the ship and get to the helm. Her there will be a vent that drops down into the room where the captive is being held. Kill any guards and bring the captive back. His room will be separated, so the noise and the power outage shouldn't affect them. I expect this to take about twenty minutes. I need information, and I must have something to report to the Warlord at the end of today. Let's get to work, Tenno."

Edited June 9, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[Siege__]

I had to stop reading so I could bump this

 

+9001

 

Bump get

[FiveHours]

I had to stop reading so I could bump this

 

+9001

 

Bump get

Thank you, it helps a lot :)

[FiveHours]

Here's the second chapter, where the four begin their mission. Thank you to everyone who have read this, I will continue with the updates!

Chapter 2

The waiting was the worst part. The four Tenno were suspended in body-shaped rigs that locked at the hands and legs. Ash could hear the frantic chatter and the rushing footsteps of the crew above, who were most likely making hasty preparations for deployment.

The Tenno were not given a time for when the deployment began, they had to just wait there, bodies sagging in the electromagnetic cufflinks, with only their nervous breaths and the hum of machinery from behind them to keep them company. The sounds from upstairs now stopped, with only one of the crew members talking to everyone else. The voice stopped after a few moments, and was followed by the slow but loud whining and droning of the engines. Ash steadied his breathing, ushering an ancient mantra of his people with low words.

"Dominus noster, venator animarum nos protegat. Educ nos una, quia cadamus quando nos separati sunt." He closed his eyes in prayer, ignoring the piercing cry of the engines.

The drop ship detached immediately and fell, pulled by Venus' unrelenting gravity. Ash felt the air being kicked out of his lungs by the sudden drop. Like a bird shot from the air, the ship took a steep dive into the planet’s atmosphere, thick clusters of dust, sand and heated rock scraping against the hull of the ship and fierce winds flattening the Tenno against their holding capsules.

"Fly, damn you!” Ash managed to wheeze out angrily.

As if to obey his wishes, the engines flared into life, tongues of blue flame spitting and roaring, fighting desperately against the g-forces that pulled the ship under like an anchor. Ash closed his eyes and willed for the noise-cancellation systems in his warframe to switch on. The suit obeyed him, and his ears were coated with a velvety curtain of blissful ultrasound. He closed his eyes and allowed his muscles to relax.

"Dominus noster, venator animarum nos protegat. Educ nos una, quia..."

***

The metal grate clattered onto the suspended platform above the engine room. Four huge, spherical generators rumbled and droned, spewing black smoke through metal pipes going through the ceiling and diverting some kind of luminescent yellow sludge through transparent tubing into the wall. Fire flared through the metal protectors, wild beasts of flame licking their tongues through the slits in-between.

"Such crude machinery," Volt could barely be heard over the cacophony, "I wonder how this pile of scrap can even fly. I'm glad we didn't bring the Vauban here, he wouldn't sleep for days."

"I don't think anyone can sleep with this noise," replied the Banshee, "let's move on. And stay quiet."

"Tenno, there are no bio-signatures in this room. I detect three in the next room, however. Ash, clear the way to the intelligence room."

Ash complied, willing the suit to release small smoke clouds that reflected any light back out in random directions, reducing any visibility of his body to small distortions and shimmers. It was the Vauban of the Silent Swords wing, one that specialized in the art of stealth and was home to many of Ash’s kin, who had implanted this system into his warframe. The man truly was a genius, and Ash had yet to thank him properly.

He drew his Nikana, the blade whispering coldly as it drew power from the warframe. The edge shimmered with electrical energy and small bolts danced across its silvery surface. Ash gazed longingly at this beautiful creation, only to be interrupted by a sudden clang that came from one of the engines. He sighed and ran down the metal scaffolding, threw himself over the railing and landed flawlessly with a roll onto the ground floor.

He rounded a corner and spotted the three marines that the Lotus had mentioned earlier. Their bodies were grossly out of proportion; their machine powered legs were spindly and frail as compared to their huge shoulder pads and torsos. They walked painfully slowly and they often spoke in garbled, ugly dialects that Ash couldn't understand. Ash strained to hear anything important, any names that might be useful.

"Na scre bal sa sektor."

"Gusch lagh, mer tamnad gornekh!"

The three of them chuckled for a few seconds before coughing and muttering among themselves again. Ash couldn't bear to listen to any more of their rabble. He disengaged his cloak, jumped onto a wall and on top of a stack of crates before leaping right over the marines' heads. He attached his Nikana to one of the locks in his foot and tucked his arms in to quicken his descent.

The katana drove straight through the middle marine's head and out through his pelvis, letting the dead body slide down and split in two. Ash disengaged the lock on his foot and used his momentum to stab the marine to his right through the gut. The soldier grabbed the Nikana desperately to free himself, but Ash answered this with a swift thrust upside the head and through the brain. The last marine left standing raised his Grakata-pattern machine gun in a last, futile defense. Ash let a dry laugh escape his throat and threw a Kunai from his belt into the marine's throat. The gun clattered onto the ground while the Grineer marine grasped at the knife to try and stop his airways from filling with blood. He collapsed onto the floor, twitching and gurgling wet groans. He spat and coughed a slimy black mass onto the floor before exhaling one more ragged breath and letting the life leave his body. Ash looked away from this horrific display and wrenched his sword from the wall, cleaning off the blood with his gauntlet.

Ash continued on, jumping three flights of stairs effortlessly and rounding several more corners before arriving at a door with a rusted sign saying 'INTEL'. Ash engaged his cloak once more and slowly opened the door. Several monitors lit a dim, pale light across the room, where workers sat lazily in their chairs and spoke into radios every so often. The room had a general, sluggish atmosphere, and Ash wondered if he should have even bothered to waste his time on these louts. Nevertheless, he had a mission to do.

His Nikana cleaved through the crew members in seconds, Ash might as well have had his eyes closed. The last engineer got to his feet and ran, stumbling several times out of pure fear. He tripped over a cable before he reached the door and wept. Ash was there in a second, and rolled over the crawling, shivering creature. His face was a ghastly, corpse-like white, covered in cold beads of sweat. He stank of terror, Ash could taste it coming from his desperate, shallow breaths.

"P-p-please..." He mumbled in absolute terror.

"I can't hear you." Ash growled.

"P-please d-don't-" His last words were cut off by a quick twist of a wrist-blade through his skull. The man slumped back lifelessly in Ash's hand, who withdrew the wrist blade and checked the room for any more survivors. There were none.

Ash rose. The only sounds he heard now were the low hum of computers and the slowly dripping of blood from his Nikana. He embraced this moment of perfect solitude for a second, breathed out and voiced,

"The room is clear. You can come in."

"Got it. We'll be with you in a minute, Ash." He heard Volt's voice crackle over the voice-link in reply.

***

The door slid open as the Banshee and Saryn stepped through. Small flashes of blue light could be seen through the slits of the air vent coming from the other room, where the Volt was most likely creating havoc with the ship's electronics. The Banshee immediately began to glide her fingertips along the desks until she found the microphone. She wired an audio link into her helmet, where split wires fused with the warframe's nanofibers.

"I've connected my warframe's microphones and amplifiers to the cable. I’m ready. Volt?” Her voice gave away the slightest impatience. Ash didn’t blame her, the stench of blood was already starting to fill his helmet.

"Just a second over here. Things are a tiny bit complicated on my end." Volt apologized.

"What's wrong?" The Banshee sighed.

"The backup generators have been short-circuited, but the electronics themselves are a bit trickier to handle. I'll tell you when I'm finished."

"Take your time." The Banshee spoke softly, but Volt knew her enough to not keep her waiting.

Volt gave a low grunt in reply, and the voice-link ran silent again.

"Ash." Saryn's voice filled his helmet. He let out an exasperated sigh and terminated the link.

"Ash." She repeated.

He closed his eyes and replied, defeated, "What?"

"I understand that you don't want to talk to me, and I'm not going to follow you around and try to be friends, but-"

"By my understanding, that's what you've been doing this entire time, is it not?"

Much to his satisfaction, he heard a harsh insult being caged in through clenched teeth. Her voice softened, and Ash imagined her doing her puppy-eyes routine as she spoke.

"All I want to say is that we may not be friends, but we are a team, and I am not your enemy. They are." She said as she shoved a finger towards the surveillance displays.

"Leave me alone, Saryn." Ash said, annoyance lining his voice.

He heard a stifled insult, bitten back out of formality. She cut the voice-link.

"How are we doing on the power grid, Volt?" The Banshee broke the silence.

"I'm all done on this end. I wasn't able to shut it off completely, but it should be enough."

"How long?"

"Enough." He repeated.

"We’ll see. Cover your ears, Tenno."

Her scream could shatter mountains.

Edited February 24, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[FiveHours]

Holy S#&$, two chapters in one day. Had too stay up a bit for this one. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Fear was a weapon. Ash realized this as the Banshee let out her shrill cry. He didn't just hear it; he felt it, shaking the walls and rattling the metalwork.

There was no blade, no weapon that could possibly match to the touch of fear. The very air shook slightly as the Banshee screamed, making the glass holographic monitors shatter onto the floor and the lights explode in a shower of sparks, cascading the room into darkness. Even with the noise cancellation of the warframe's helmet, the cry still sent an unwelcome shiver down Ash's spine.

He felt a small pang of pity for the crew ease into his conscience. A Banshee’s cry was a terrible weapon, powerful enough to still the hearts of lesser beings and destroy the senses of anything unfortunate to survive.

The screaming ended as abruptly as it had begun. Ash's ears still whined a little afterward, and shook his head rapidly to try and ease the annoying sound. The air still shook slightly, disturbed.

"Do you think that did it?" The Volt asked.

"We'll see." The Banshee answered flatly, "Kill the power, Volt."

"The lights go out in three...two...one."

The light seeping from under the doorway flashed violently and a crack shot through the air, plunging the room into darkness.

"Volt, how exactly did you disable the power?"

"Not exactly the most orthodox way, I’m sure.”

“What in the name of the Old Earth is that supposed to mean?”

“I can’t exactly read Grineer, Banshee. However, overloading the system with enough energy to melt ferrite seems to do the trick.”

Ash smirked at that last remark.

"Very clever, Volt. Kill the power, and also anyone standing near a power source." He said with a chuckle.

"Thought of it myself. Didn't expect the thanks to come out of you though, Ash."

“Hmm.” Was that an insult?

"Tenno, visibility among the Grineer has been reduced to almost nil. Use the main decks for your advance, you will encounter next to no resistance." The Lotus' robotic voice interrupted their conversation unexpectedly, snapping Ash out of his talkative mood.

"The captive's room and the engine room have backup generators, but there is minimal security around these areas. However, due to the failure of the artificial oxygen generator, the ship will make not planetfall before the oxygen runs out."

"The oxygen! Volt, you bastard, how could you be so stupid?!" Saryn exclaimed angrily over the voice-link. “The prisoner will die! This will all have been for nothing!”

“Keep your temper, Prelate. Time is not a luxury anymore, Tenno. We move, quickly and without hesitation. Volt, take the lead.”

He complied, his warframe surging with electricity as he ran. The others followed soon, all too eagerly deserting him and leaving Ash with only bodies to talk to.

***

Ash didn’t waste time catching up. What he saw on the main decks was something out of a twisted nightmare. His built-in heat lenses made the stumbling bodies in front of him look like deformed monsters. Weeping and desperate sobbing filled his ears, sending chills across his body. He sprinted along the scaffolding and beams across the top of the pitch-black hangars, wanting to be as far away from the chaos that was taking place on the ground level. He marveled at the sight.

A company of Grineer soldiers was stationed here, but it only took a few minutes to bring them down to nothing more than deaf, blind and weeping masses.

He ran along the last beam before jumping down onto a wavy path of bronze pipes. He spotted his brother and sisters ahead of him, appearing a moment later next to them in a small cloud of smoke. They stopped at a room with chemical lights strewn across the cold metal floor. These lights dimly lit up two Marines sat propped up against the wall, whispering in hushed breaths. Upon closer inspection, Ash realized the full horror of why the soldiers had been weeping. Their helmets had been painted with a terrible display of blood streaming down the front. The glass had shattered from the Banshee's scream, sending glass shards from the helmet lenses into their eyes and shredding the optical nerves inside. Last breaths rasped from their deformed throats, as if their very souls were trying to claw their way out of their mortal bodies that caused them so much pain.

Ash felt that same feeling of pity creep up inside him again. He drew his Nikana and slowly walked past his fellow Tenno who stood, frozen.

"Ash, what are you-" The Saryn began to protest as he advanced, but…

Ash had already answered for her, making two quick, clean thrusts into the skulls of the marines. Their deaths were instant. Silence hung over the four Tenno, like the very presence of death that covered the ship in its midnight shroud.

The Nikana was returned to its sheath, locking in place with a small click. Ash stole a glance at the Tenno behind him. They gave nothing in return.

Typical.

Ash jumped up and pushed himself into the air passage, leaving a shaken squad behind him. He peered over the sharp vertical bend, finding nothing but blackness. He turned on his warframe's flashlight, which barely managed to penetrate the blackness. He turned up the brightness to its maximum, giving him a slight glimmer of metal at the bottom of the drop.

"It looks like a pretty steep drop to me, so we'll go down one at a time. Allow me a few seconds to move out of the way, alright?"

"Understood." The voice of the Volt had lost its usual sparky nature.

Ash sighed once again and dropped down. He extended his wrist blades into the steel plating of the tunnel to slow his descent, wincing as the metal screeched into his ears. His feet touched down delicately on the metallic bottom, like those of a cat’s, making no sound. He quickly moved along the pipe to allow the rest of the group to

join him. He barely heard Saryn and the Banshee, but the Volt came down with a rather ungraceful thud. Shaking his head, he turned round and covered his eyes with his hand to ease the piercing white light shining through. After the flash suppressants in his helmet kicked in, Ash turned off his night vision and walked towards the holding chamber.

The room itself was suspended on thick cables which stretched out to the sides of the room. Four floodlights, one in each corner, shone harsh, white light on the center of the nano-fibre glass cell. Inside were two bodyguards in thick armor that coated their entire bodies. In their hands they held huge Gorgon-pattern light machineguns. Ash was particularly nervous when it came to fighting against such weapons; they were rumored to shred apart Warframe adamite scales in seconds. In between the two giants was a frail human in comparison. His Corpus helmet and uniform had been stripped and replaced with a thin bodysuit that offered no protection whatsoever.

The Banshee behind him had obviously seen this as well; a nervous breath exhaled in the voice link.

"Saryn, your poisonous attacks can eat through their armor. We will breach through the top, you will weaken them while Volt and I will try and cut them open once you’re done. Ash, it is your job to grab him and get him somewhere safe."

The rest of the squad nodded in acknowledgement.

"Let's go." She ordered.

The Banshee spun up the three-bladed disk in her hand. It's black, sinewy limbs extended out and spun rapidly, making a small saw in the Banshee's hand. She jumped down and landed with a soft thud onto the top of the glass. She spun the Glaive faster, until the limbs became a blur of deadly blades. She cut through the grate on top of the cell, letting it clatter in front of the guards. They reacted instantly, spooling up their roaring Gorgons. The Volt jumped down after her and let loose a bolt of lightning from his fingertips. It struck the first guard with ungodly force, striking a huge, white-hot hole in his armour before leaping to the guard next to him and the unfortunate hostage in between them. The captive spasmed uncontrollably on the floor, teeth clenched and sweat dripping down his bald head. Saryn dropped in next, spewing acidic darts from her customized Tysis at the guards.

It was truly a horrific weapon. The darts themselves were living, and burrowed into armor like little worms. They then pierced the skin of the enemy and injected their poison, or they could be wired to detonate. Either way was a terrible fate to die by, one just less conspicuous. She had wired the darts to inject the botulinium toxin, the most powerful neurotoxin known to the people of the Old Earth. A teaspoonful could kill over a million people, and this dart had just injected two. The guard’s pained screams were cut short as his body gave way to violent spasms and his eyes began to fill with blood.

"Clear?" The Banshee asked flatly. The screams of the dying was something they were expected to ignore, but none ever got used to it.

The guard banged his head against the steel floor, as if trying to stop the wracking pain that tore through his body. Blood trickled from his mouth, mixing with his dribble in a pool on the floor.

"I said, are we clear?" She repeated, straining to reach her voice over the agonised cries of the Grineer on the floor. The Banshee looked at the rest of her squad. No one answered.

BANG!

The silence that followed was almost as deafening as the gunshot itself.

"We’re clear." Volt barely spoke the words.

Ash had already taken the unconscious captive and dragged him down to the door of the cell. Ash shook the captive's head with his hand before smacking him across the cheek. The captive’s eyes fluttered open to see Ash's Locust-pattern helmet staring him in the face. He whimpered and reached his hand for the alarm by the door. His attempt to call for help was immediately hindered by a Kunai that imbedded his hand into the wall. The captive screamed in pain and looked round to face his captor with wide, round eyes stricken with terror.

"Who ar-... Wait. I know who you are. Y-You're the Tenno, aren't you?" The captive raised his remaining hand to point at Ash's face.

"Yes." He batted the hand away. "And I know who you are. You are not important. Who you do know, however, is important."

"Who are you talking about?"

This question was met with a fist to the face.

"Don't play around with me. Tell me the name and location of the Grineer general who you found."

"I don't know anything; I've told you this already!"

Ash’s fist was up in a moment, but stopped by delicate fingers that closed round his wrist with a soft grip.

"Let me handle this." Saryn said impatiently.

Strange.

“Very well.” He replied blankly.

He stood up and walked over to the two bodies, where Volt was searching around for spare ammunition and the odd transmitter. Saryn took his place, sitting down with her legs spread open on the captive's lap, leaning forward. She disengaged the helmet locks, allowing air to hiss out of the helmet and her wavy blonde hair to fall loose. She shook her hair out as a pale yellow gas escape from her collar. Ash made sure to engage the gas filters on his helmet to prevent any of the new horrors Saryn had created to go anywhere near him.

"Now..." she smiled deviously, "Where were we? Ah, yes, the Grineer general. See, I'm not a bad guy like that scary man over there." She nodded with a soppy, patronizing voice at Ash, who turned his head away with gritted teeth.

"I'm going to ask nicely, and if you tell me, I won’t put a knife through your skull.” She said with a playful smile and a wink. Ash huffed.

You freak.

"Now," she asked warmly, like the softest silk. "Who is this General?"

"His name is Councilor Vay Hek. He is due to be at a troop inspection at Everest in two days.”

“Any other things we should know about?”

“Atlas-class defense turrets are stationed there, as well as eight Prosecutors. Otherwise, standard Grineer deployment.”

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" She stole a quick, angry glance at Ash again. "Now, I'm going to put you to sleep."

His neck snapped like a twig.

Edited April 27, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[fishworshipper]

What happened to the people from Banshee's scream.

That was...

 

That was.

 

Hmpf..

 

I can't even.....

 

Sentences.

[FiveHours]

What happened to the people from Banshee's scream.

That was...

 

That was.

 

Hmpf..

 

I can't even.....

 

Sentences.

Messed up, right?

[FiveHours]

Chapter 4 is all written up. Cracks begin to show, and old wounds are opened. Next chapter will be out in a week or so. Thanks for reading, Tenno!

Chapter 4

The passenger section of the extraction vessel was silent on the journey back to the dojo. Not one word was spoken and breaths were taken in quiet, low drags. Scenes of bleeding eyes and weeping faces flashed through their minds over and over again. Panicked screams and desperate whimpers seemed to ring off the walls, making any breaths tremble with frightened recollection.

The magnetic locks holding the Tenno in place disengaged with no prior warning, leaving Ash sprawled on the floor. He got up with an annoyed grunt and rolled his bruised shoulder.

"Biological signatures from external environment detected. Allegiance: Tenno. Bacterial contamination detected. Decontamination sequence initiated." An automated voice stated flatly on the speakers.

An alarm blared from above their heads, joined by swiveling red lights. Small nozzles slid out of the walls and began to spin rapidly. The unnaturally clean alkaline smell of disinfectant filled Ash's nostrils, making him snort repeatedly. When the decontamination process had ended, air quickly blew away the liquid off their suits and the hangar exit swung open.

"Welcome back, Tenno." The voice said with an unnerving friendliness as the four stepped into the silent tranquility of their home.

***

Apart from his chamber, the baths were the only other place he could find peace in the dojo. He had stripped from his warframe and given it to the Vauban for repairs and augmentations and made his way down here to clear his mind. It was appropriate, he thought, that anyone who saw what he'd just seen would need time to unburden such awful memories. He stared at his pale, white skin in a mirror. When he had begun his training, his skin had looked somewhat healthy. Now it was ghostly white, and the only thing that told him apart from a cadaver in the Trinity’s morgue were the muscles that rippled underneath his skin.. Rage and anger had fuelled his ruthless re-training routine; the Lotus expected no less. A long, faded scar ran down his left side; touching it brought painful memories of his first experience with the Firstborn, the Hunter. The Stalker.

He preyed upon the Tenno, and used cruel, custom made weapons that were specifically designed to breach Warframe armor. One of these weapons was his scythe, the Hate, which had tiny microscopic barbs on its mono-filament edge that tore through the armor with ease. The real damage was done to the skin, however. The barbs pulled and ripped apart the sinews holding the muscles together, leading to irreversible and horrific internal bleeding.

One such ally of Ash's had faced the Hate's full fury. His leg had been torn off in chunks and sliced apart, and he now served in the Mechanicus with the Vauban, unable to run to the speed of his comrades. The Tenno lived in fear of the Stalker's watchful eye, and it was his predatory presence that kept the Tenno alive and together.

Ash remembered the searing agony as he ran his fingers over the scar. Casting away such unpleasant thoughts, he turned towards the small pool of faded-green water, steam wafting lazily over its surface.

Perfect.

He dipped his feet slowly into the inviting pool, making a warm sensation swim up through his body. Ash slowly sank in, letting the hot water wash away the dark burdens that weighed him down like hooks in his shoulders. He breathed out and allowed himself to be absorbed by this moment of perfect peace and qui-

"Ash." A female voice was speaking to him. Not from one discernible location, but from everywhere at once.

He groaned and leaned his head back, closing his eyes to try and block out the voice.

"Do not try and stop me from getting into your head, Ash. Your psychic barriers are weaker than a desert skate's." The voice said patronizingly, with what sounded like slight irritation.

"What do you want, Umbra?" Ash replied.

"Meet me in my chamber. I must speak with you."

"Why not talk like this?"

"I cannot sustain psychic communication without my psynapse link. You know this." The annoyance grew in her voice.

"No." Ash replied, in a teasing manner.

"Do not test my patience, Ash."

"Or what?"

Her reply was a slight pinch at the base of his spine that crawled slowly, very slowly, up and up to his head. His muscles locked in place, and once the psychic energy had reached his brain, the torment began. His vision turned the sick colour of rotting flesh, with wide, yellowed eyes staring at him from the walls. Inhuman shrieks seemed to emanate from the walls themselves, driving into his ears like frenzied maggots.

A deformed creature, one only from the most hellish of his forgotten nightmares, erupted from the water, knocking Ash down onto the side. Its eyes messily gouged from their sockets and skin, ruptured and gored, it swiped madly at him, broken nails coming within inches of his face only stopped only by Ash’s withering strength. The water, before a faded green, darkened into a thick, black sludge. Ash kicked the creature into the pool where it thrashed about violently, barely managing to scream as water entered its windpipe.

"Fine!" Ash screamed as he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was on his knees on the stone floor, arms barely holding him up off the floor. The welcome warmth of the bathhouse returned, but he still shivered. The water became steamy and pleasant once more, and the walls stopped watching him. He got up and walked back to his locker, where he got changed back into his robe.

"I'll go. Just don't ever show me the twisted S#&$ that you have in your mind again." He said with a pained breath.

"I'm glad we understand each other." She replied, sounding pleased with herself.

***

Ash readjusted his belt and stepped into the Nyx's chamber. Green-blue light brightened and faded slowly on the walls, draping the room in a slow, peaceful atmosphere. A clear pool reflected burning candles, flames skipping across the surface. A thin trail of smoke leisurely wafted from a glowing stick of incense, filling the air with the smell of pleasant lavender.

In the middle of the room was a seated figure, legs crossed onto opposite knees and arms resting on the legs with fingers making perfect circles. Her eyes were closed, her fair hair tied in a bun yet letting a thin strand escape and hang loose. As the door gave a serpentine hiss and shut, she let slip the slightest of smirks on the corner of her lips.

"I didn't think you would actually come." she finally said after a long period of silence.

"I didn't plan to, before you stuck those visions into my head." Ash replied with small pricks of annoyance stabbing at his voice.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Chaos at the click of my fingers."

"Yes, but it takes a special kind of cruelty to know something that awful." Ash remarked.

"You talk as if you have a heart of gold. Get over yourself, Ash." she bit back, turning back to the wall

“Point taken.” He took another step along the wet stone path. Cool water lapped at his feet, making the hairs on his legs rise.

"Anyway, Umbra, what do you need from me?"

"We need to talk." She said as she rose from her meditation.

Her feet gracefully stepped across the water, levitating slightly above the surface but never touching it, like daring birds swooping low to the lake, but never meeting its embrace.

“It appears everyone needs to talk to me these days. Has the Saryn finally lost the courage to speak to me herself?”

“As much as I would like to scold you for your attitude towards your fellow clan members, there are more pressing matters that need to be discussed.”

“I beg to differ.”

“That’s irrelevant. There is something that’s been plaguing me for a while, and you are somehow involved.”

“That somehow doesn’t surprise me.”

She ignored him. “Do you remember when you came here? When we first cracked out you of the capsule?”

Cold, so very cold.

“Not much. Why?”

“I’ve been looking through your memories – well, what’s left of them – and there seems to be a complete cutoff from before you were woken up. No trace of any memory cells, just… blank space.”

“You’ve been…?”

“Don’t act surprised, Ash. Like I said, your mental barriers are not exactly hard to break.”

He huffed, and leaned against a nearby moss-covered rock.

“Anyway, what intrigues you so much? I’m sure I’m not the first amnesiac you’ve screened.”

“True, but they at least have some memory of pre-birth response, or some sort of language development. Yours is like a blank slate, completely wiped.” She explained as she reached onto a shelf on the tips of her delicate toes, coming down with a crystalline bottle in hand.

A clear liquid with a slight emerald tinge sloshed about inside. A gathering sense of curiosity began to overcome his unease, willing him to take another few steps into the chamber.

“What’s your point?” He began to circle round the chamber, looking round at the domed ceiling and the lights that ebbed and flowed so softly across its surface.

“I think it might have been done on purpose.”

He stopped at the edge of the pool, leaving only a slight ripple where his foot had gone in a fraction. He turned to her. Her face was one of almost terrifying gravity, hard and immovable as stone.

“You truly think so?”

“Yes.”

“Is there any reason for such suspicions? Besides, who do you think is responsible?” Ash replied, still looking unconvinced.

“I can’t say anything yet. I think this,” holding up the bottle in one hand and two small glasses in the other, “will help.”

“Somehow, I don’t trust you.”

“I think it would be better for both of us if you did.” A voice sounded from all around, but her lips stayed drawn.

She sat down, cross-legged, levitating slightly off the ground. She set the two glasses down in front of her, filling them and carefully putting the crystal ball back onto the neck before it floated back up to the shelf.

“Come, join me.” She spoke much more softly, almost alluringly. Her fox-like smile erased the last of his doubts.

He sighed, and sat down in equal fashion across from her. He picked up one of the glasses, as did Umbra, and waited.

“Drink it quickly, it will take effect sooner.”

“Very well. To good health?” He raised the glass.

“Why not?” She smiled. She drank it down and meticulously set the glass down again, Ash with slightly less grace, for it had already taken its effect.

Stars trailed across the top of his vision, and he felt his hands lose feeling. His head sank forward, caught by gentle hands. She grasped the side of his head, and focused. He felt energies, otherworldly, indescribably eerie in their nature, running through his mind like the first waters of spring through a mountain stream. He was sinking, dissolving into her fingers and running through the spaces in-between. He didn’t feel particularly human, either, as if he was on some other abstract plane of existence, floating between dimensions. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on; he felt something that he couldn’t feel. He was… elsewhere.

Slowly, so very slowly, did he begin to see something. Formless shapes floated around aimlessly, spreading random colors across the screen of his vision, some coagulating and creating entirely formations and patterns, extending all the way to the furthest corners of this new world he was in. He now realized he was standing, standing on solid ground. The sky was turning to some dark shade of grey, and tall, towering objects rose all around him, grinding like stone against stone and covered with overgrown, aged, graying moss. The space around him appeared to distort slightly, human-shaped, but not quite. These shadows walked around, never touching him, or each other. Ash reached out to them, but they passed through his fingers like desert sand on a light wind. Everything seemed very ordered in this world. These shadows behaved very calmly, drifting, with no particular hurry, to their next insignificant task.

Within an instant, everything changed. Livid, high fires blazed forth, igniting the structures around him in their hellish embrace. The shadows fled immediately, scurrying away towards the welcome darkness. Another blurred explosion of light destroyed the structure next to him, yet he didn’t feel a thing. Further down the ash-covered road did he see tall machines striding on three, stilt-like legs that crushed the tiny huts they stepped on, all the while spraying death from the cannons protruding from their bodies. The shadows began to soak up colour, revealing them to be people, people that were screaming, people that were running. People that were dying. Ash looked on, lost in the malefic scene before him.

A walker strode over a building, ripping apart the wooden frames and turning the brickwork into dust. Its leg, pointed into a fearsome spike at the end, pinned a woman into the ground and twisted, making her let loose a last, wrangled scream. She spluttered and coughed up the blood filling her throat, before her head rested on the ground. Ash could not see her face, masked by her flaming red hair, which was fierce as the flames that burned around her. A name was breathed from her lips before she passed.

Orion.

The name resonated out to him, but was quickly stolen away by the wind. It seemed to ring in his mind for a moment. He wasn’t sure why. He looked out to the machines, which were already passing onto the other side of the hill. He could already hear the distant rattles of their guns.

Bodies, cut apart by the bullets, lay scattered across the dry earth in front of him, soaking it anew with the blood that flowed from flagrant wounds torn into ghost-white flesh. He turned his head to down the hill, where, out of the rising plumes of smoke, he saw a small group of soldiers running up towards him, following the machines. Behind them was a black figure, still partly obscured by the smoke. Ash squinted, but the man did not seem to be moving. In fact, everything seemed to slow down. Ash began to run, ignoring the cacophony of dying screams that played endlessly into his ears. But, no matter how fast he ran, the figure only went further away.

Ash took his next step, but could not take his next. He was frozen. The fires were gone. So were the screams. The heat cooled on his cheeks. He felt again. He felt Umbra’s hands withdraw from his head, and he sat up drowsily to face her.

It seemed like any life underneath those forest-green eyes had been drained from her. She looked dead to the world, and only barely managed to keep her head straight at him as she uttered her words.

“Ash…I need you to go. Don’t tell anyone what you saw.”

“What did I see, exactly?”

Her look turned sour.

“Did you not hear me?” She would have sounded annoyed if her voice showed any sign of emotion.

“Yes. And I want answers.” He stood up, offering his hand to Umbra, who took it with some hesitation.

“I know you do. But right now, I need to study what I saw. Hell, maybe my sister may be of some use for once.” She joked, but no smile came to her face.

“I see.” was all he said. He blew a floating strand of hair from his face before turning to the door on the ball of his foot, stumbling somewhat awkwardly.

“Goodbye, Ash. Vulcan requested your presence down at the Mechanicus. He’s getting impatient.”

“Vulcan?” He said, ignoring the last part.

“The Vauban. Now go. I need rest. Looking into your mind can take its toll on mine.” She shivered slightly with those words.

“You have no idea.” He whispered as the door whistled shut.

***

Ash stared blankly at the floor as the elevator descended. What had he seen? The visions had definitely been his, he knew not even Umbra could dream up something like that. But he remembered none of them. Unease began to crawl through him, making him shiver as he remembered. The walkers. The woman. Him.

The figure sparked something. Something familiar. Ash knew this man. But, however much he wracked his brain for answers, they did not come. Determination overcame his unease. The fire was lit.

If it costs me my life, I will find him.

The elevator stopped and its doors slid open. Ash swallowed and stepped into the narrow hallways of the Mechanicus. The walls muffled the droning sound of machinery that pounded into Ash's ears. Momentary blue flashes sparked from under the door at the end of the hallway. Cracks filled the air as Ash stepped in front of the door. It slid open, exposing the full reaches of the Mechanicum Primaris. The room was lit with only a few white lights that rose out of the wall. The walls themselves were black, and glowed with electrical energy every few seconds.

Wires were scattered all over small desks and tables which looked more akin to operating tables. Servo-arms jolted and twitched in no particular pattern, welding and repairing old machinery and damaged warframe armor. A hunched figure clothed with only a brown robe draped over his skinny shoulders slowly placed silvery scales onto what seemed to be a prototype warframe. The head was pointed and streamlined with what looked like a bent beak sticking out the front of it. The torso was streamlined in the same fashion, with wings rising from the shoulders and ending fully unfurled at the wrists.

Ash walked carefully and slowly over to the figure, which seemed almost as robotic as the servo-arm that worked opposite him. He cautiously stepped round the crooked man, who didn't even lift his head from his work. The warframe in front of him actually levitated slightly, he noticed. The fibers linking the armor together were tied down by nearly invisible threads, which seemed to be straining against some unknown force.

"A marvel, isn't it?" A gruff yet friendly voice sounded behind him.

Ash spun round in surprise to see who had managed to speak normally over the cacophony of the workshop. A figure clad in navy blue armor stood before him. Eight black spheres glowed a light-blue light from both sides of his torso. A thick metal strip sat on level with his chin with the facial part of the helmet raised to expose a hearty, gleaming grin. He had crinkles round his eyelids and on the corners of his lips and a thick faded gray moustache, with an aged blue eye that showed little life but gleamed with wisdom. His other artificial eye shone a distinct red. Rings on the short barrel of the eye spun and stopped momentarily, focusing, scanning and examining their environment. The Vauban had already begun to betray signs of age, but his knowledge of technology was unparalleled, which he was prepared to even modify his own body to expand.

"This is the new Warframe we got commissioned only a few days ago. The Zephyr, they call it. Lighter than air. Can't imagine anyone crazy enough to want to wear it.

"I can name a few." Ash replied with a rare grin.

The Vauban chuckled to himself. He walked to a room with a holding area similar to the ones on the extraction dropship, Ash following behind. Ash's warframe hung on it, with his Nikana suspended by magnetic forces on a glowing desk in front of it. Small cables were connected into the warframe at the back of the head, making it pulsate with energy every now and then.

"Well, here's your new warframe, all good as new. I've added on modifications to the suit, your blade and the throwing knives. I think you'll like it." He said with a wide grin.

Ash answered with a grin of his own, perhaps slightly more uneasy than the Vauban's.

"Well, let me show you what I've done. Firstly, your Kunai. I've had them fitted with small motors on each blade. When they are drawn from their holsters, they vibrate at incredibly high frequencies. So high, in fact, that when they hit something, they start to go through it. You know, with molecular displacement and all that."

Ash merely nodded and listened.

"Next, we have your warframe. I've done some polishing on the armor, tweaked the suit's energy usage and efficiency and reinforced some vulnerable areas. But most of all, I've upgraded the AI. Normally, warframe suits use small computers that are linked into your brain, and these transmit nervous signals into the suit almost instantly. Very efficient." He paused, and pointed at the arms of the suit. These had faint lines that glimmered weakly every few seconds running down the sides.

"This, my friend, is the REAL improvement. You see these lines here? They are small uplinks to an improved AI in the warframe suit. When an enemy fires a bullet at you, the suit will automatically calculate the trajectory of the bullet and see if you are in danger of being hit or not. If you are, your suit will raise your blade and deflect or even slice through the bullet. Very useful, no?" He asked proudly.

"I commend you for your efforts, Vauban. Please, continue." Ash replied respectfully.

"Now, I've added some modifications to your sword. Firstly, something minor; I've added a magnetic link between your gauntlets and the hilt of the Nikana, so you can quickly recover it if you manage to be disarmed." Vulcan's eye lit up at his next sentence. "Now, here's the star of the show. Normally, your blade is controlled by you, but the AI in your suit now responds to combat in a very different way." His eye gleamed as he approached the holding apparatus.

"This is what I call the Lone Sword. Your Nikana links into your brain via your neural ports that connect you to the warframe, pretty much fusing you two together nervously. The suit now does three things when you have your sword drawn. Firstly, it releases combat stimulants and adrenalin into your blood, allowing for faster strikes and movement. Secondly, your warframe AI can detect weak points in enemy armor, which the blade will pick up and guide towards when you swing. And thirdly,"

He paused to clear his hoarse throat. "is something I like to call the Life Strike. If you have suffered some sort of injury in battle, striking an enemy with your blade will trigger absorption of red and white blood cells and platelets, making your hyper-regeneration accelerators will kick in. Essentially, you will heal faster if you land strikes on enemy flesh. The blade itself has been fitted with a single-cell silver filament that can break incredibly tight bonds on a molecular level. Sounds good?"

Ash gazed in wonder this modified katana, which now seemed to shimmer with unearthly power, waiting to be released.

"The Clan thanks you, my friend. I look forward to testing your creation in the field, and I’m sure you will not be disappointed to hear of its performance.”

"Please, do tell; I need know how my modifications will fare in battle if I am to make any I am to make further progress."

"You've done enough already. Thank you, Vauban. Now, please, let me be alone so I may try this new warframe on."

"Of course." Vulcan replied humbly. And with that, Ash was left alone.

He slowly traced his pale fingers down the dark grey body of his new weapon of war. They tingled and twitched eagerly, hungry for new, unlocked power. He quickly pressed a few buttons on the console, allowing the small pod to close over and zoom upward into his chamber. Ash turned round and looked at the magnificent blade suspended on the desk.

The air around it seemed to shimmer with violent energy that broiled in the hate and anger that seethed within its owner for so many years, only to be amplified with the new modifications that Vulcan had put in places. Ash released the blade from its magnetic bonds with anxious, excited fingers, balancing it a few times to get accustomed to the lighter design. He drew a long breath, and let it out. He imagined the figure behind him, the one from his visions, who eluded him just barely, running to the farthest, darkest parts of his memories, refusing to make himself known.

I’ll find you. And, when I do….

A head rolled onto the floor. Ash smirked. He opened his eyes to see the damage the blade had done. No longer did the blade leave cuts and gashes in metal; now the sword went through without as much as a whisper. A corner of the desk clattered onto the floor, the inside edges still yellow from the heat. Ash glanced at the desk, then the Nikana, then the desk again.

I’ll kill you.

Edited February 24, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[fishworshipper]

Messed up, right?

Horrifying.

[(PSN)korm-2_0]

That was.. Amazing to read. 

 

Good job OP :D 

[(PSN)korm-2_0]

Bump

[FiveHours]

That was.. Amazing to read. 

 

Good job OP :D 

Thank you very much!

[FiveHours]

Sorry for the hold up, everybody, I haven't time to write because of my journey back home from Russia and some other stuff. Chapter 5 will be out tomorrow or the day after, sorry for the delay!

[(PSN)korm-2_0]

Sorry for the hold up, everybody, I haven't time to write because of my journey back home from Russia and some other stuff. Chapter 5 will be out tomorrow or the day after, sorry for the delay!

How was Russia?

[FiveHours]

How was Russia?

It was great, apart from the connection, which was partly the reason I actually started writing this thing.

Edited April 22, 2014 by TheDeathofThem

[(PSN)korm-2_0]

It was great, apart from the connection, which was partly the reason I actually started writing this thing.

Lol

[FiveHours]

Chapter 5 taking a bit longer than expected, about 4000 words in :/ Trying to get this wrapped up today, sorry for the delay, my hordes of fans. 

 

*Laughs nervously then cries*

 

PS I've added the beginning of Chapter 5 to Chapter 4 to even out the length, so I'll be able to cut things off nicely on Chapter 5 without dragging it out.

Edited April 23, 2014 by TheDeathofThem

[FiveHours]

Ay, Chapter 5 up! This was a $#*(@ to write, but I got through after travelling, school etc. So please give it a read!

EDIT: fixed some inconsistencies and mistakes, should be OK now. Oh, and Fenrir gets his ! beat.

Chapter 5

The Oracle was a lot quieter now than before the previous contract, Ash noticed. The room that used to teem with stories of past contracts and missions now fell hushed with uneasy anticipation. Eyes were more or less fixed on the centre display, waiting for mission details to be brought forward. The

The holographic face of the Lotus appeared on the display, making the few who were murmuring amongst themselves fall silent immediately.

"Tenno, we have tracked down the location of the Councilor Vay Hek. He will be, according to our intel, due to be carrying out troop inspections on Everest, Earth. He is currently hunted by several Grineer governments and officials, but his Grustrag Three and several platoons of elite Prosecutors have defended him thus far. However, many of the Prosecutors have been diverted to the Ceres shipyards and the Saturn asteroid belts to lead assaults on Corpus outposts. Only 4 of his elite remain, which gives us an incredibly rare opportunity to wipe him out. As well as his incredibly bounty as a reward, the Tenno who lands the killing blow will be strongly considered for promotion to an Exarch or higher."

Ash lifted his eyebrows in surprise. An Exarch was on par with Ash's rank, which had taken him through untold hardships to acquire.

Vay Hek must be quite a challenge, then. No wonder he's not been stabbed in the back by one of his generals yet.

The Lotus let the silence hang for a moment, before continuing in her indifferent, robotic voice. "The Tenno participating in this mission will be: the Oberon," The slender, young face of the Palatinus gleamed with pride as he stepped forward. He was the living embodiment of the equality of the Tenno; the knowledge of justice and injustice, morality and immorality, loyalty and treachery. He nodded his head in respect and stepped into the elevator behind him.

"the Rhino," The towering monster of Taurus let a shark grin spread across his chiseled face. The floor shook slightly under the weight of his armor as he left.

"the Ash," Ash looked up and uncrossed his arms. He pushed himself off the ledge over the canopy and looked up at the display. Readjusting his katana rather unnecessarily, he looked towards the exit and walked out into the elevator.

“and the Loki.”

Ash felt his heart sink.

You must be joking.

He turned to see Fenrir looking at the Lotus with the same astonishment that Ash wore on his face before nodding curtly and smirking as he approached the elevator. He turned round to see the envious faces of his comrades, making his smirk turn into a grin akin to a hyena. Rather unnerved, Ash looked forward into the Oracle as the doors closed.

“Just like old times, eh?” Loki leaned over.

“Meaning?” Ash asked with fake obliviousness.

“Us two, hunting down some rich aristocrat who is obsessed with augmentations? Sounds like the same situation to me.”

“Hmm. Let’s see if you are as cocky this time as you were then.” Ash replied, as if to challenge him.

“Let’s see if you can live up to your reputation, Orion.” Loki acknowledged his challenge with a voice that seemed to not comprehend what he had just said.

You…

Ash turned his head this time to look Fenrir straight in the eyes.

“How do you know that name?” He said barely containing the strange anger that now shouldered in his heart.

“Calm down, Ash, I just happened to hear it as I was passing by. What’s the big deal?”

The corner of his mouth began to lift into a snarl.

“Fenrir, we maybe are what some call friends, but you know that I do not go by that name. Call me what you wish, but call me that once more and I will not hesitate to commit grievous harm to your frail, pathetic morsel of a body.”

“Bite me. Stop getting so bothered about nothing. I was just joking, right?” He smiled, although Ash knew Fenrir had no intention of stopping. He sighed, and uncurled his fist, letting blood flow back into his fingers.

What happened?

“Whatever. Just keep it to yourself.”

Fenrir might have been cocky, but he wasn’t a fool. His smirk straightened out and he looked forward at the now open door. He stepped forward and stuck a welcome arm out into the room, turning his head at Ash.

“Well, then, shall we?” Fenrir’s avid grin lit up again.

***

The virtual sun of the Solar System lit up the stern expression on Umbra’s face. Her gaze swept over the four’s faces, probing their expressions and thoughts for any signs of doubt. A cold air of gravity pressed down on the four Tenno before her, making even Fenrir suppress his annoying smirk that he constantly wore.

“Tenno.” She began “I want you to forget anything you know about assassination on high-priority targets. Vay Hek is something else. He has completely refitted his body into a living machine, which has been dubbed the ‘Terra’ battle suit. It has incredibly fast perception, possibly inhuman reflexes and has been the end for many of our kin in the past.”

“Then why are we doing it?” Fenrir blurted, receiving a cold look from Umbra.

“The Clan General and the Council of Warlords has seen remarkable success rates from the Steel Fury wing, the highest being you four. Given the fact that you have all progressed to a minimum rank of a Prelate, you have been cleared for this mission.” She retorted, purposely not meeting Fenrir’s mischievous eyes.

“Now, the mission plan. Seeing as his elite Eximi guardsmen have been diverted, we now have our chance. There are only eight of them now, his most trusted elite, who will defend him to the death. Do not doubt their loyalty, brothers. Getting into the compound should be easy. We have successfully infected the Atlas orbital cannons in the base, which will allow our dropship to pass through unnoticed. Seeing as a direct approach into the entrance of the compound is out of the question, we will then trigger a remote sequence that overrides the cannons, letting us lay waste to the blocked-in gorge that blocks a shortcut into the main compound.”

Taurus grinned his shark grin at the last sentence; he knew nothing but destruction since birth. Destruction of skulls, bones, lives, homes; it was second nature to him.

“Once the path has been cleared, you must act quickly. You won’t have time to murder everyone in the communications room,” She stole a scornful glare at Ash, who swallowed his silent anger and crossed his arms to listen further. “so he must be assassinated without any delays, before the Grineer can call in reinforcements.”

“Can’t we shoot them down with the Atlas cannons?” Palatinus interjected.

“As stupid as the Grineer may seem, they would probably resort to wiping the system and restoring it to the last uninfected state if they have to. This means that we’ll have about a minute to secure the landing point before the systems come back under their control and shoot down our extraction.”

Palatinus nodded in acknowledgement.

“Once you have breached the inner compound, dispose of his elite, then Hek. I don’t care how you do it, just get the job done.”

“Shouldn’t we have a plan before we throw ourselves at Vay Hek’s feet?” Ash insisted.

Umbra looked over to him with raised eyebrows, then back at the map again.

“The fact of the matter is, looking over our past records of fighting him, he changes his tactics every battle; we have no way of knowing how to fight him.” She said with a sigh, defeated.

“Isn’t there a way to disable his electronics?” Palatinus asked.

“We’ve tried,” Umbra shrugged as she brought up a camera footage playback with a small flick of her finger. “but to no avail.”

The video played, showing the Councilor in a bright yellow metal suit with two slender legs and a huge cannon mounted on a short mechanical arm. The four-barreled shotgun that paid tribute to his unending hatred for anything but himself was mounted on his other arm. The face, however, was a sight that slightly unnerved Ash, even though it should have terrified him. His head was the only part that was left slightly human, and it had long gone past anything that looked it. Lifeless, gray skin sagged onto his metallic faceplate. His lips were a putrid black, and his teeth were blackened from age.

But even his face was not spared from augmentations. His unblinking, mechanical yellow eyes glared with hatred at the Excalibur in front of him as he yelled something obscene, no doubt. The Tenno bravely readied a fleshy Synapse bio-electrical rifle at his face, and fired. Lightning shot forth as the lips of the creature withdrew. The electricity struck him full on in the face, seeming to coarse through every tiny blood vessel and through every nerve. Then, he started to laugh. Not one of comedy, enjoyment or happiness, but one that relished on the pain of others and only seemed to belong to the most sadistic and twisted of beings. The Excalibur recoiled in shock, stopping the stream of electricity at once. Small hexagons in front of his face, unnoticeable before, glowed a lively blue before fading back into the air. The Excalibur fired his Synapse again, but his last efforts were futile. Hek grabbed the warframe with one of his legs, turned him round towards the barrels of his shotgun, and fired. Umbra stopped the footage as the gunshot sounded.

“Tenno, let me remind you that you have no obligation to do this. It would not be cowardly to leave, if you so wish.”

No one moved. They all knew that they were free to leave, but each of them had things to settle with Hek, and an opportunity for a promotion may never have come again in a long while.

“Very well. Find his weakness, and destroy him. Good luck, Tenno.” She finished with something that sounded like regret.

***

Even though the warframe insulated heat and constantly regulated the temperature, Ash still shivered sometimes. Not from nerves, or the freezing temperatures on the high peaks of Mount Everest, but from anticipation of things to come. They weren’t shivers of fear; they were shivers of excitement. Air cooled in billowing white clouds in front of him as he steadied his breathing. He willed for his helmet to close up again, and stood up from his hiding place from behind the crates. Four Grineer marines patrolled around the perimeter of the small clearing, murmuring in their garbled tongue.

“They haven’t learned of our presence, yet. Activate the override, Lotus.” The Oberon ordered.

“Affirmative. Override sequence engaged.” The Lotus replied blankly.

A low hum, then a whine resonated from behind Ash. The huge, triple barreled ion cannon lowered down and turned to face the rock wall. It began to drone louder now, small rectangular lights glowing from the sides. The barrels themselves started to redden on the inside. The glow inside them grew brighter until the small ball of energy in the priming chamber radiated a burning white, screaming for release. The Grineer marines below paid no attention to the noise, much to the relief of the Tenno.

“Atlas cannon primed. Fire when ready, Tenno.”

Palatinus turned his head from his hiding place behind a storage container to look at his comrades, who all nodded in acknowledgment.

“We’re all ready. Let’s do this, brothers.”

The Lotus answered with a mere tap along the voice-link. The gigantic cannon behind them belched a blindingly bright ball that shrieked, unstoppable, towards the rock wall. The heat and energy equivalent to that of a small sun exploded as it made contact, throwing up heavy blankets of snow and small shards of rock as the shockwave hit the Tenno. Ash winced at the small blow, but quickly shook it off and got out from behind the boxes to join his brothers, who were already fighting off the initial wave of Grineer.

Bullets whizzed by Ash’s head as he ran. More Grineer poured out of the doors, raising their weapons as they took cover. Palatinus’ Penta grenade launcher spat tiny adhesive charges at the enemy, making huge explosions that licked at his feet when he sprinted past. He observed his attackers, who relentlessly spewed bullets downfield, a few coming close but none hitting him. He drew his blade from its sheath and leveled it at the incoming shower of lead.

Within a moment his sword was here, and then it was there. It moved so fast that even he, with his advanced helmet-assisted vision, couldn’t keep track of it. He was a whirling maelstrom of deadly steel, allowing nothing past. He was invincible. Ash let loose a laugh as he charged and leaped.

Adrenalin flowing and muscles pounding with newfound energy, he landed on the first marine with frightful ease, stabbing at his throat multiple times before looking up to find his next kill. A bullet hit him in the right shoulder; knocking the air out of his lungs and making him double over, panting. Blood, his blood, sprayed across the ground, like the crimson works of a mad painter. He turned round to see his assailant. A white and grey camouflaged soldier stood rigid on a small platform, his gun quivering in nervous fingers.

Ash smiled and jumped up onto the metal grating, facing the soldier eye-to-eye. His Nikana was at the marine’s throat within a second. He opened his helmet, exposing his face to the cold winter air and the fresh smell of carnage.

“Bad move, my friend.” Ash snarled.

He drew the blade across its throat before driving it through the marine’s gut, twisting it and cleaving it upward, leaving its amputated arm on the ground and the rest of its body crawling away from Ash.

Pitiful.

His Nikana separated the marine’s head from his neck with no difficulty, cleanly letting it roll off onto the gorge below. The blood that remained splattered on the metal tiling, however, began to crawl towards the tip of the sword. It seemed to soak into the metal, making it shimmer a misty red. The pain in his shoulder eased almost immediately, and revealed no wound when Ash touched it tentatively.

The Life Strike. How interesting. Your usefulness knows no bounds, Vulcan.

He turned to see the rest of his brothers quickly dispatching the masses of marines below. Fenrir was busy chopping and cleaving his way through four Grineer Lancer marines on a circular platform above Ash, stabbing and disemboweling two of them with his serrated Kamas, while kicking one onto a sharp rock below and stabbing the other through the skull with mad glee.

He looked down to the clearing, where Taurus made quick work of two Butchers and a flamethrower-wielding Napalm with his Furax gauntlets. The gauntlets were somewhat of a marvel; designed by one of the first wearers and devotees to the Vauban warframe, it used a kinetic amplifier in each of its five fingers to transmit nearly ten times the force of the punch. With the already immense strength of Taurus’ muscles and the mechanical exoskeleton drilled onto his body, the marines were being hit with a force of a small meteor. At least their deaths were quick.

Palatinus, on the other hand, was more graceful with his attacks. A Scorpion fired a harpoon at him, seeking to latch on and deliver a blow with her machete. He dodged it with frightful ease and pounced forward. His Orthos pinned her to the ground through the chest, imbedding her into the rusted metal. He vaulted over a rail with some considerable height, coming down on two soldiers and landing a killing blow to the chest on another.

An Eviscerater spun up his Miter sawblade launcher in a futile attempt to hurt the Oberon, which resulted in a quick flash from within his armor. Ash smiled as he saw the molecular manipulation integrated into Palatinus’ warframe work its magic on the Eviscerater. First, the armour began to slowly burn up on the edges of the armour into the wind, before only the mechanics and the few remnants of flesh were shown. The marine then exploded in a powerful burst of green light, any remaining pieces of him disintegrated and were blown away into the wind.

A quick survey of clearing showed no remaining foes. The Oberon commanded them to follow with a simple wave of his hand.

Ash jumped down from the platform to join him and Taurus, who had by now destroyed a wall and created several imprints of bodies on a storage container. The titan rose and ran down to the pair, creating small thuds as he went. Ash stifled a laugh as the beast came to a halt, shaking the ground as he slowed his momentum.

“Taurus, how much does that damn suit weigh?” A rather patronizing voice escaped his mouth, along with a small chuckle.

“How would I know? The exoskeleton does most of the work, so it’s like I’m walking on air.” Taurus replied, seemingly oblivious to Ash’s mockery.

“To you, it does.” Ash snorted.

Before Taurus could reply, Ash’s body disappeared and reappeared at the highest platform of the base, looking round in shock. Ash could see the gray and black suit of Fenrir looking back at him. Laughing

Ash curled up a fist, face burning with embarrassment as Taurus joined in heartily. He raised his fist, tensed his muscles and dissipated. He reappeared next to Fenrir, and swung.

The fist connected with what appeared to be his cheekbone, which sent him sprawling. Ash knew that this was enough, for the damage to the helmet was minimal but the force that went through to Fenrir’s head was still substantial.

“You’re hilarious, Fenrir.” Ash growled with no sign of humor.

“You pack a mean punch. Didn’t expect something like that.” Fenrir replied, massaging his neck in pain.

“You’re a fool.”

“Enough with your childish folly, you two. We are on a mission, under the eyes of the Lotus, and you behave like infants.” The Oberon barked from behind them, shoving Fenrir out of the way. The tails of his warframe floated on the wind that swept through, not daring to touch his ankles as his strode past.

Neither of them replied as they crossed the clearing.

The group resumed their journey, the shadows of the immense rock walls swallowing up their figures whole, which were tiny ants in comparison. The rocks around them were cracked and demolished in some places, but the black scorch marks of the Atlas cannon streaked across the formations everywhere. Small slithers of light slipped through the cracks at the top, which reminded him of his resting chamber. Oh, how he wished to be there now, instead of being stuck with Fenrir for the rest of this mission.

Palatinus, who had been eyeing the shadows cautiously at the head of the group, raised a clenched fist.

“I sense movement. Weapons up, Tenno.” He ordered over the voice-link, hushed, but calm.

He put his Orthos staff away into a sheath on his back and drew his Penta. Taurus disengaged his gauntlets and drew a Soma-pattern machine gun, which could hose bullets down at a target at about 1500 rounds per minute. He never really was a stickler for accuracy.

Ash put his hand over the hilt of his Nikana, surveying the darkness for any movement with his infrared sensors. Nothing.

“Oberon, what are you talking abou-“

“Tenno.” A voice growled from all around them.“Do not try to run. We have you surrounded.”

***

Edited April 27, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[(PSN)korm-2_0]

O: ! 

 

Really good chapter.

 

You should make an account on Wattpad and upload this ^^ . 

 

http://www.wattpad.com 

[FiveHours]

O: ! 

 

Really good chapter.

 

You should make an account on Wattpad and upload this ^^ . 

 

http://www.wattpad.com 

Thanks a lot, you bumping this thread bought me some more time to write, with school and all :/

Chapter 6 will be up the day after tomorrow at the latest, so look out for that! I'll make the account, thanks :)

[(PSN)korm-2_0]

Thanks a lot, you bumping this thread bought me some more time to write, with school and all :/

Chapter 6 will be up the day after tomorrow at the latest, so look out for that! I'll make the account, thanks :)

School is a pain ^^' .

 

And tell me your name on Wattpad. I'll follow you :D ! 

[FiveHours]

Damn, this took a lot longer than it should have. Big thanks to everyone who's been commenting and reading this, I'll be off to Croyde in 3 days where there will be plenty of time to write :) This is chapter 6, one which important things occur, so do read. Apart from that, I will see you guys at the next chapter!

Chapter 6

 

“Lower your weapons.” The voice blared again.

 

“Stand your ground, brothers.” Fenrir whispered with an inexplicable calmness over the voice-link.

 

Small patches of light illuminated the green barrels of three Gorgons pointed at the four of them. Ash looked round to see the black silhouette of a rocket launcher-wielding Bombard blocking the entrance. Lancers appeared from all sides, Grakata barrels pointed straight at them.

 

“What do you mean, stand your ground? We’re surrounded, and even the Rhino can’t withstand all of this firepower.”  Palatinus replied, more irritated than confused.

 

“He’s right. Even if I could activate my Iron Skin armor, it would still be destroyed under this much damage. I used all of my suit’s auxiliary energy in the battle, anyway, so I only my shields are still up.” Taurus added.

 

“It’s the same with me. This Nova technology isn’t the most energy efficient, so I’ve only got enough to renew your warframe’s regeneration systems, but that’s it.” Palatinus finished.

 

“Do not worry, my friends. You should know me enough to know that I always have a plan.”

Ash could just imagine that hyena-like smile on Fenrir’s smug face. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, please stand aside.”

 

“Go ahead. We won’t be collecting what’s left of you afterwards.” Ash muttered.

 

Fenrir just laughed and took a step forward. The marines instantly reacted, one of them producing an audible chk-chk from his shotgun.

He opened his helmet and raised his hands, palms open.

 

“OK.” He announced. “You found us. You can take us back to whatever hell hole you came from and we’ll be locked up forever and ever. Here, handcuff me.” He stuck his hands out and turned his head away.

 

The marine in front of him looked from side to side at his fellow soldiers, who simply shrugged. The speaker had stayed silent for a while, but now suddenly growled a low “Don’t take a single step. Now, Tenno, this is your last chance. Drop your weapons and you will not be harmed.”

 

Fenrir still advanced as the voice said this. He stopped in front of a huge barrel of a Gorgon pointed straight at his face, which somehow betrayed no sign of fear. The slow whirring sound of the gun spooling began to rumble from the chamber of the gun, the clicking of bullets being loaded echoing off the walls. Fenrir stood his ground, only raising his eyebrow in response.

“Fenrir, don’t try to be brave. Get back here.” Ash ordered.

 

“Don’t worry, Ash. I have this under control. He wouldn’t shoot me, right?” Fenrir answered with no concern in his voice whatsoever.

 

As soon as he finished his sentence, a gunshot cracked through the air. Ash winced as a bullet pattered onto the ground next to his foot and looked up. To his surprise, the Loki was somehow behind the marine, a mad grin stretched across his pale face. Ash swore he saw a glint in the his eyes, but he had no time to think before a sickly orange-yellow light grew in Fenrir’s palm. He then spun round briefly and extended his palm out in a wide arc as the light grew blindingly white for a few moments. The light faded and fizzed out as Fenrir stood up, leaving him surrounded by gun barrels.

 

“Oh, dear. Doesn’t look like that worked.” He sighed with a voice that sounded more like an apology.

 

A laugh sounded from one of the marines’ radios, before the sound of a gloved finger pulling a trigger was heard. Then another. More clicking started to fill the air as soldier fiddled and racked their guns in confusion. Then Ash realized what the Loki had done. They were all jammed.

 

“Hmm. Looks like it did.” Fenrir almost giggled as he drew his Kamas. Ash picked up on this and grabbed his sword from its sheath, crouching and ready to spring. Taurus spooled up his Soma and roared with laughter as the left side of the marines dropped like flies in front of him. Palatinus drew his Vasto revolver and aimed a perfect shot at the gunner in the middle. When he fired, small fins unfurled from the bullet, making it scream towards its target and savagely rip apart flesh and armor. He fired off the other two rounds and pocketed the revolver as the marines’ limp bodies flopped onto the ground.

 

A grenade went off somewhere, sending searing mot bearings slicing into his armour. Blood spurted profusely from his left leg, making him stagger, but with a cleave across the torso and a killing blow striking into its metallic heart, the blood ran like a river along his Nikana, feeding him with raw, untapped power. They fell like toy soldiers, lying in their cold lifeblood.

 

The remaining marines had drawn small stun sticks, but they were poorly trained in close-quarters combat and swung clumsily and slowly at Fenrir. He merely laughed and sunk his two scythes into the heads of the first two soldiers and kicked another in the gut, making it double over. He drove both Kamas into the marine’s head at once, twisted and drew them out, leaving a blood-spattered helmet attached to a spinal cord dangling and dripping gore on the blades.

 

After tossing away the head, his expression softened to a pleasant smile when he turned round to see the bloodbath he had created. Bodies were piled on each other, deformed and showing huge lacerations across the face and torso. He shivered slightly at the fresh smell of spilt blood, but snapped out of his trance and beckoned the others to follow.

 

 Rather disturbed, they continued through the mountain, all the while trying not to step in the piles of bodies that littered the chasm.

 

***

 

Even the most heartless felt something pleasant sometimes. Whether it was a tiny spark of happiness, or an overwhelming feeling of elation, there was something. Ash came to this realization when he ran out of the collapsed gorge to a ledge overlooking the compound about half a kilometer below. The view was breathtaking when he opened up his helmet

 

The Himalayas stretched out to the horizon, the peaks of the mountains poking out from under fluffy tufts of white clouds and scraping the still, blue sky. The wind had subsided for now, leaving only a breeze that caressed his hair with gentle fingers. Small snowflakes whipped round and danced in the air, skipping along to the enchanting tune of the breeze whistling round the snow-brushed mountains. The sun kissed his cheeks and filled his worn body with warm, untainted calm.

 

He smiled at the feeling, and breathed out a slow, calm breath. He looked out across the endless blue sky and immersed himself in his thoughts as the rest caught up to him. The beauty of the Old Earth still amazed him whenever he came, but only these small sanctuaries remained. The rest had been destroyed or corrupted by the Grineer.

 

The Grineer.

 

Brief happiness dissipated to burning anger.

 

“They’ll pay. If it kills me, they’ll pay.” He muttered a promise to himself from the corner of his mouth.

 

“Ash, stop daydreaming. We must press on. The main compound is down there.” He pointed with his finger at a scattered array of grey buildings.

 

Taurus thundered to a halt next to them, with Fenrir crawling up a rock on a sharp incline, much like an eagle’s perch. The drop was steep; enough to make Ash jump back slightly in surprise. Fenrir barely suppressed a laugh.

 

“And here he comes, the man of the evening.” Fenrir declared with an upward nod of his head.

 

Ash peered back over the edge to see a small yellow speck slowly moving out of a hangar gate. His helmet zoom magnified the image, showing Hek’s Terra battlesuit thundering across the pavilion to several ranks of soldiers, who stood tall with their abnormally large torsos puffed out. He turned to speak with his generals, all the while waving his hand over the masses of soldiers.

 

“Excellent. A strike from above will definitely allow us the element of surprise.” Taurus remarked.

 

“True, but how will we get down there?” Ash asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

 

“The Pegasus Landing System.” The Lotus intruded on their conversation, appearing on their displays.

 

“Care to explain?”

 

“It was implanted into each of your warframes before this mission, were you not told?” She inquired.

 

“Were we supposed to?” Ash retorted.

 

“Unimportant. When a rapidly decreasing altitude and increasing speeds are detected, your warframe will measure the time and distance before you hit the ground and ready the Pegasus. From about one hundred meters, it will automatically deploy small thrusters on your arms and back, slowing your descent. However, this is meant as more of an emergency precaution, Tenno, so please brace before you land.”

 

Ash swallowed in an effort to add moisture to his dry throat, but fear gripped at it tightly with unrelenting strength. He scanned the mountaintops for any other alternative, but he found none. With a sigh, he turned to the others, who shrugged.

 

“Alright, we go down as a group, understood?” Palatinus broke the tense silence.

 

“I guess there’s no other option. No turning back now, anyway.” Fenrir answered with that same, strange calmness.”

 

“I guess there are no further questions?” Palatinus turned to the rest of them. No one answered.

 

“I’ll take that as a yes. Let’s go.” Palatinus said with a strange quietness as he stepped up to the edge of the cliff. He raised his palms outward, and fell forward.

 

***

 

Ash was the last to go. He almost felt regret at leaving a view like this, but he looked back down towards his falling comrades, remembering his mission. He spread out his arms, palms towards the sky, almost praying. He let the sunlight kiss his pale skin for a few more blissful moments before he leaned forward and fell.

 

He forgot the mission. He forgot himself. He was without weight or entity. The wind rushing past him raked relentlessly against his entire body with cold arms, pushing the air out of his lungs and making a slight feeling of nausea rise from his stomach. His body was a pure entity of adrenalin, arms spread out as if to fly. His thoughts were clear of the oppressive blackness that had weighed him down so long; the chains had been broken from his body. His mind was a clean, white slate, uninterrupted by anything. Apart from, maybe, the repeating high-pitched beeping that seemed to…

 

“WARNING: LANDING IMMINENT.”

 

I’m ready.

 

He felt himself instantly kick upward with a great heave from the system's hissing thrusters. He floated, weightless. He drew his sword once more and came crashing down onto a Grineer Scorpion, slicing her in two. Two grey chunks of meet slid to the ground, while the sword eagerly drank the ruby reward that followed. Two more marines broke their cover and sprinted, hurling plasma grenades and garbled insults at him as they ran. They fell like the rest, razor-edged Kunai drilling through their helmets and out the other side with showers of brain tissue and shredded metal.

 

Incredible.

 

Something smashed into his spine, sending Ash tumbling through a window and into what appeared to be a control hub; he was moving too fast to see. The back of his head caved in a glass monitor as he skidded across the metal grating. Glass rained down onto his head and cracked underfoot as he stood up. A Prosecutor smashed through the wall, throwing up dust and shaking Ash off balance. This one strode on tall mechanical legs, and carried an Amphis in both hands; a truly savage weapon. Any part that was not welded or singed together looked diseased and infected, with loose flaking of skin hanging from its face and a vile chunk of decomposed flesh dangling from a freshly opened wound on the side of its face. 

 

It spat something at him with slurred, mutilated words. Ash braced as it threw itself at him, and rolling just out of the way as it smashed into the wall. It turned and swung the Amphis in a wide arc, breaking several monitors and cabinets, and nearly cleaving Ashís head clean off his body. He deftly dodged several more swings, before parrying the next and somersaulting over the staff itself, ending up face to repulsive face with the Prosecutor. It snarled, lips curling back and revealing a set of unnaturally shiny iron teeth. Ash returned the expression and drove his sword deep into its armour, slicing through its armour like mere fabric. The Prosecutor didn't take its eyes off him, little black beads that smouldered with pure hatred. His mouth trembled, but Ash felt his strength already slipping from him. A last rotten whisper left it as the servo limbs gave and the body fell to the ground, still. Ash took a glance at it, and closed his eyes for the moment.

 

I send you beyond.

 

He climbed back through the broken window, cautiously avoiding the shards of glass lining the pane. He found satisfaction upon seeing that his brothers were already making short work of the marines surrounding them, cutting, breaking and evaporating through them with unmatched expertise.

 

This is too easy.

 

He sighed as he went to join his brothers once again. Shuriken shrieked from his fingertips into the throats of three marines, downing them instantly. Another two fell to a quick slash to the legs, and yet another to several rapid stabs to the chest. The Nikana sailed through them like a fierce wind through leaves, sweeping them aside with sharp, precise cuts and slashes. The

incandescent flame burned inside him, but it wasn’t quite yet lit, he felt.

The others were whittling the platoons down to their last numbers, and the Prosecutors lay among them, burned, hacked apart or missing a ribcage. Fenrir yanked his Kama from the face of a dead clone and spat on the body, looking for a next target, but finding nothing. Taurus rammed another clip home, feeding the beast in his hands, but there was no prey to feed it. Palatinus took the moment’s peace to wipe clean the Orthos of tainted blood messily splattered across its pure white blade. He brought it back down into the neck of a marine beside him, silencing it forever.

 

The huge yellow battlesuit soared from the overhang above, swooping down upon them like a hawk to its prey. Indeed, Ash felt like a mouse in comparison, scampering away behind the slabs of stone jutting out of the onyx rock and the blood-stained ground. Snow was swept up by the landing thrusters, swirling around them as if they were models in a miniature snowglobe.

Small cracks appeared in the ground where he treaded, and the air seemed to shimmer around him as he walked, as if the very power he embodied bled through into reality.

From his shoulders rose two platforms, each bristling with their individual payload, ready to rain fire at a mere thought.  Hek brought round his shotgun, leaving Ash staring right into four hollow barrels, each one as black as Hek’s teeth.

“Now, how about we even the odds a little?” He enquired, his shark grin revealing itself across his face.

 

They all moved at once. Ash vanished, and darted out of the way, only just being clipped by a stray sliver of shrapnel. Palatinus threw himself up to a ledge nearby, and took up aim with his Penta. As the grenades flew, spinning before exploding into a wild display of blue plasma, Taurus thundered out from behind cover, his Furax charged and braced. Fenrir sprinted round the outside, becoming one with the shadows of the volcanic rock that peered over the cave’s mouth.

 

Ash studied Hek’s movements from behind the wispy veil of his smoke screen, analysing how he thought, how he worked. One of his most valued teachings was, indeed, that a good strategy would win the battle before it had begun. Here, less so, but it was no matter. Hek moved clumsily, swinging wildly like an enraged den mother, but hitting nothing. His shots, as a result of his terrible fury, went wide, and even the Rhino found no trouble in dodging the huge caliber shells that pattered uselessly against the snow and rocks.

 

Amidst all this chaos, Ash found an underlying pattern. With every fleeting shot, every missed swing, there was a sequence. One shot here, one foot there; Ash could read him like a book. A consideration passed him, followed by a smirk.

 

How exactly are you a General, Vay Hek?

 

It was this thought that brought a tinge of doubt with it. He frowned. His eyes narrowed to slits, and his sword fell into his uneasy hands. He waited in cold anticipation, just for the right moment.

There, when he swung once more at the Loki, who laughed and vanished once more. There was a small joint, one that clicked irregularly with the rest of his body. His sword was out, and his fingers tensed around the blade. His legs carried him with unrivalled speed across the clearing, where, amongst the raging battle around him, there was a brief moment of stillness, a clear path to his target.

 

He leapt. A swift motion upwards and a great cleave down. Ash’s eyes widened in shock when he did not feel his feet touch the ground. Electricity coursed through his veins, locking him in his warframe, unable to move. Hek slowly turned his head, and gave a small chuckle. A huge swipe from his robotic fist, and he was flying, soaring into the mouth of the cave, before the blackness of the shadows took him.

Chapter 7 

“I won’t let him die.”

“Unimportant. Heartbeat has dropped below fifty beats per minute. Large lacerations on abdomen. Punctured left lung. Fourth spinal lumber damaged beyond repair. Severe blood sepsis. Internal bleeding and haemorrhaging. Irr-“

“Stop. I know was has happened, but we cannot give up on him that easily.”

“Query. We have been operating on Subject 23-b for over four hours. How has this been “easy”, Eir?”

“Never mind that. We have to make sure that doesn’t come out of the Medicanum in a bodybag, understood?”

“Disagreement. I do not see why we cannot let him die. His mental state is beyond repair, and so is his body. Do not assume that I do not care about his injuries. He is beyond saving. It will be the most… merciful option.”

“Don’t do this, Thanatos. There must be something we can do.”

“Declined. I shall prepare the void burial capsule.”

“Don’t let this bastard take me, Trinity.” Ash suddenly rasped with a pained expression on his deathly white face when he grabbed her wrist. The Nekros warframe by his right, with a single, piercing amber eye from the pure blackness of his helmet, lifted a finger and placed it lightly on Ash’s forehead, sending him cascading back into the grasping black claws of unconsciousness.

***
"Resume operation. Opening laceration wound at fourth spinal lumbar. Eir, expose bone fractures."

"There we go. Hold on, this part is quite delicate."

"Affirmative. Eir, use hyper regeneration inhibitor systems on your warframe to repair this muscle tissue and bone structure."

"Okay, I've got the muscle tissue to repair, but something is stopping the bone from regrowing."

"STOP."

"What is it?"

"Anomaly detected. Metallic spherical object detected above third lumbar. Warframe sensors incapable of detecting this, jamming signals in operation."

"Should I extract it?"

"Negative. Anomaly identified. Grineer tracker identified. Eir, do not remove that object."

"What?! A tracker?!"

"Affirmative. Further inspection indicates that this tracker has been implanted into Ash's body and has been wired with C2 explosive."

"So, if we remove it..."

"Ash will die. This tracker will most likely lead Grineer ships to our location. Either we remove it, or we remove him."

"And by removing him, you mean th-"

"Affirmative. Cast him to the Void. Unfortunately, he can not be euthanised, as this will also cause the tracker to explode."

"Oh no..."
A pause.
"I'm so sorry, Ash. It's for the best. Please understand."

"Query. Why do you apologise? He is asleep, he can not hear you."

"Yes, he can. And I know that he will never forgive us."

"That is acceptable."

"What do you mean?"

"Disregard."

Edited March 8, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[FiveHours]

School is a pain ^^' .

 

And tell me your name on Wattpad. I'll follow you :D ! 

Name is dr_antidote

[Crothetis]

Where's the new chapter?

[Crothetis]

When*