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Retribution By Gun And Blade


SurvivalOfTheStupuid
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Hello everyone! I'm Survival (at least one of many) and I come to you all with this short fan work. Like many, I am shy in terms of sharing any of my writing, as I enjoy to keep to myself and do not take criticism (the bad kind) very well. However, a friend of mine introduced me to this game and I found the world to be severely lacking in lore, but, that's the very essence of many creative minds to speculate and create their own ideas and stories. I am but a single person who shares their own image of the intricacies of the Warframe universe. Also, Its a good way for me to get the opinions of others about my writing style as strangers tend to give more blunt answers than friends. Please tell me your opinions and what I can do better in my writing.

Tl;dr- Hi. I'm Survival and I like to write fanfiction. Please tell me your opinions about my writing and suggestions to make it better.

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The Brakk hand cannon is the epitome of power in the Grineer arsenal, capable of delivering death with frightening efficiency. Unlike the Corpus machines' complex systems, its crude design fall in favor to its simple mechanics. The single barrel eject volleys of pellets with lethal results and its ability to maul its victims in a blanket of shrapnel. A powerful sidearm to any Tenno hunting big game or simply blanketing a crowd with a shower of death.

The weapon does not disappoint as the last of the Ancients fall to its roar.

I empty the magazine and replace it, taking note of the rotating chambers before continuing deeper into the Derelict ship. Twisted beyond its regal appearance, the Infested had taken hold of a once beautiful Orokin ship. Warped flesh protrude from the pristine white walls, thick as trees, as it culminates into one single root originating at the heart of the ship, undulating in response my approach. Sickening to my eyes, I pass it and enter the next chamber.

The dim lights make it hard to see in the dark, even with the light given to me by my frame. In the darkness of space, it only enforced the ominous air of a fallen ship filled by the Infested. The eerie silence is disturbed by the shriek of a limp figure. Charred black skin with little to no semblance to what it was previously, two disproportionate arms hang from its sides. I knew all to well of their capabilities.

The Infested hunt in hordes, so it wouldn't be long till those nearby will hear the call. I unholster my sidearm and level it as it clambers slowly. It rears its right arm and launches itself at me, covering a distance even the most agile Tenno would struggle to complete. I tap the trigger. The crude monster roars in response, belching out the corrosive pellets, taking a chunk of its torso into the opposite direction. It falls short in the midst of its leap, sliding to my feet, leaving a trail of ichor in its wake. The roars of the pack grows as they converge to my location in a fit of blind hunger and rage. I could only respond with the click of my pistol, ready to send their unholy souls into the far reaches of the void.

The noise reaches its crescendo as they poured from the door, just as I crossed the small bridge. I gather the energy of my frame into my hand and send it to the head of the charge, igniting the corrupt flesh in a fiery conflagration. Few stop in attempt to extinguish themselves, but many continue to approach in blind vengeance. I met theirs with my own, sending copious amounts of pellets to tear and break their bodies even further than their own plague. Flesh and bone fell to fire and metal as my Brakk continues to spew its payload and my abilities burning them asunder.

A click alerts me of an empty magazine, forcing me to retreat. Their determination to kill prove to be an amusing side effect as they blindly rush into the abandoned, yet functional traps the Orokin had laid centuries before. Bodies bisected by the concentrated beams allow me to reload, but found no use as they quickly exterminated themselves.

The Infested need to get creative. Pfft, like that'll ever happen, I muse to myself as I pass a pit. Approaching an elevator door, it slides open without much resistance, but found the lack of an actual elevator mildly irritating. I peek over the ledge and found a swarm of the creatures waiting below, red eyes glaring hatred at my existence. I move back slightly, thinking the best course of action. The Penta would be the easiest way to dispatch them, but found myself straying from the path of safety as my hands instinctively light themselves aflame.

A little fun wouldn't hurt, I chuckle before diving into the fray. Their roars and screeches grew louder as I fall faster. Shifting my body to land feet first, I slam my fist into the first sign of a solid object, which so happens to be an Ancient's skull. Flames engulf its body after crushing its skull, boiling everything internal and external of the creature until the fire exits through the legs and erupts upward to any life form in a small radius around me, claiming them in a similar fashion.

Within seconds, charred bodies surround me as the unmistakeable stench of burnt flesh settles in the air. I exit the elevator and found myself in an open chamber, filled with the same undulating flesh I came across earlier, albeit slightly more rough and wood like. They span the chamber, being the bridges to every room, much to my dislike.

An intersection, how troubling. The thickness of each 'branch' are satisfactory, making me less conscious on balance and more on awareness. The transmissions given to me by Lotus is garbled, perhaps by the void storm, but previous expeditions into these ships showed no problems, at least, until now. I wave away the screen for now and focus on finding the vault. It proved to be useful in my previous visits, so another one never hurt. The problem lies in its hard to find placement and specific key requirement. Sometimes the fates are never in my favor, other times they bless me with rare artifacts that I require. I can only hope this run is the latter.

I take the route to the right, moving up the stairs and catching a glimpse of the vault. 'Thank the heavens I found it; now to check if the key I brought is correct. The patterns always escape my memory, so here's to luck.'

The key slides in without resistance and I give a quick nod of glee as the vault doors slide open to reveal the sight I've seen dozens of times. The times of old, when us primes were in our glory days. Powerful, wise, and peaceful. Days that continue to elude me to this day aside from brief flashes of memories. The first prime, Excalibur holds the artifact I need. Energy pulses from its core as I take hold of it and brace for the incoming pain.

Seconds from removing it from the grasp of the statue, pain overtakes my body as the burden of this corrupt item buries itself into the frame until its eventual removal once I reach my Liset. My helmet retracts its parts that cover my jaw and allow me to cough out the blood and bile that swell from my throat. The Bleeding Dragon key was and is the most painful experience I'll ever have, well maybe. It will depend on the death that takes me one of these days. I retch two more times before I finally grew accustom to the pain.

The helmet returns to its original position after a quick wipe and I check my map to find the exit marked already. I silently thank The Lotus for her guidance before I continue, my consciousness slowly drifting from the effects of the key. A few more steps and I entered the extraction room, where upon I took a knee and let my body recuperate. This was much harder than I had known, considering I've only taken the burden twice. I shake myself awake one last time and latch to the Liset, letting my consciousness drift off.

The ship cephalon, Sabina, carefully tended to all the Operator's needs and was entrusted to keep her and the ship in top condition, orders of course, else she wouldn't be useful. All things considered, she was worried when her Operator, or her given name, Ana, was lying on the floor panting after a successful expedition into the Derelict ship. Her sensors noticed the item on her belt and proceeded to snatch it from her and stored it into the collection of Modules for later inspection of its effects.

"Operator, welcome back from your expedition, I trust everything went accordingly to plan?" She asked.

"Yes," Ana gasped a few more seconds, "it was a success. Anything happen while I was gone?"

"The Foundry has finished constructing your AkVasto, the order for the Daedalus set is ready to be picked up in the Black Market, and you have a message from The Lotus regarding an unnatural Void Storm appearing near the Bael Sector in Europa. Shall I read it aloud?"

"Yes."

"Tenno, the Void Storms that we've accessed a multitude of times have begun to spawn near the Sol System in erratic patterns. I fear something may be influencing this phenomena within the storms, what it is I cannot say for sure. We will have to respond to these spawn points as best we can and predict their next appearance. Tenno, be wary of any foreign powers while within the storms and their towers. Good luck in this endeavour. I will continue to update this information as my operatives continue to investigate."

'A Void Storm near Bael? The Void Storms shouldn't be anywhere near Pluto, much less Europa. This is troubling.' She pulled herself off the floor and headed down the Liset to gear up. 'With those storms getting closer each passing day, some of the Corrupted may start spilling into the Sol System. Its been allegedly seen just beyond the Cerberus territory in Pluto that Corrupted soldiers have begun to form an enclave within the Corpus territory. Rumors passed around the Black Market, but they do prove to be disturbing, especially from the mouths of the Corpus Board.'

The prospect of having the Corrupted become another front to fight when the current situation for the Tenno's three way war was becoming dire wasn't something she would be willing to fight, especially with the limited resources she had as someone who finds clans crowded and usually roams the planets alone, the best course of action was to let the clans themselves solve it.

"Sabina, did The Lotus send this message to all Tenno, including the clans?" The prime asked in the midst of modding the ammunition of her Vectis, flinching as a corrosive bullet fell on her finger. A silent curse escaped as she continued to handle the rest of the ammunition under the scope of the Module table.

"Yes. The clans have begun to mobilize and are headed for the Bael Sector, shall I set a course?"

"No. Set it to Augustus. There's someone I need to see first."

"As you wish." The cephalon's series of beeps and buzz were shadowed by the roars of the engines.

"Once we reach Augustus," Ana took a syringe and placed it into the incubator, "standby and don't let their hands touch you. Last thing I need right now is a looted ship and you broken."

"Much like my predecessor? If I may, the mere comparison of that broken thing fills me with only distaste. He was an unintelligent cephalon with a malfunctioning software and broken body compared to my own perfect mindset. Do refrain from speaking about him Operator, lest the Liset misses one resident from an... Accident." Her words betray her cheerful tone.

"I do wonder who's more mad, especially your tone against me." She replied to the cephalon.

"Oh, has the Operator forgotten? You ordered me in this state and happily introduced me to the master controls of this ship. You were all to eager to introduce yourself to me, right my naive Operator? I can only imagine what will happen if I ever go rogue. The possibilities are endless, don't you think Operator?" Her voice laced with sarcasm and killing intent under a wrap of happiness.

"I do question myself in the choices I make, but at least you have some semblance of humanity, even if its potential death.

"You spoil me with your kindness Operator. I am thankful." A short pause. "We are here."

"Good. I'll be back in a while" she turns to her kubrow and rubbed his head "keep watch Ajax. Kill anyone who enters okay?" The young kubrow barked in understanding as he watched his master leave the Liset.

"She never asks me to kill anyone who enters. What does she see in animals like you?" The cephalon sighed as she went to standby mode.

Ana approached the Corpus gates carefully, taking cautious steps before slipping her entry slip to the watchman. A quick scan and she walked in.

The Corpus Black Market. A somewhat peaceful place in the midst of an endless war where the factions meet and gossip about the latest rumors or haggle their weapons to one another, along with a few miscreants attempting to steal from seasoned veterans. With a few ever hearing of its existence and even fewer capable of entering the facility, the Market is an ever moving and ever expanding utopia for weapons and vehicles, with a few occasions of the slave trade passing by to sell some of their weakest to the highest bidder. A place Ana knew all too well due to her close relations to Darvo and her favor being repaid by Frohd Bek during an assassination attempt on his head.

It was crowded like always, but she didn't mind the tight space. Considering she crawls through vents for a living, it was business as usual. The location they chose was under the weapons manufacturing factory in Mars. It was definitely warmer than she had previously thought.

Ana weaved through the crowd to find the booth Darvo had always kept in check with the latest weaponry for every faction. The man knew his place well in the sea of weaklings, murderers, and former genocide leaders and can talk his way out of almost any situation. She, along with the rest of the Tenno, respected someone who knew their place in the universe, just as long as an assassination contract doesn't pop up with their name on it.

"... 50,000 credits and I'll throw in an extra magazine of detonating rounds. You take it or leave it, but you'll miss the chance of blowing up a Ten-" Darvo snapped his mouth shut as he took notice of the Ember Prime approaching. He forcefully grabbed the customer and threw him away from the stall with weapons in hand.

"Hello Darvo, I see business is doing well." She said. "What was that about detonation rounds? I'm kind of interested in their capabilities to blow up what exactly?"

"T-tenno, that was a business move. Appeal to the customer's interest and you'll more likely sell. Basis of any good business man or woman." He replied quickly. "Ah that reminds me" he lifted a suitcase to view "this came in today. What'd you get, rockets? Possibly a new sword? Or the new Archwing model blueprints? No doubt something lethal. Why I bet its a-"

"Darvo, you're getting on my nerves." She pressed a finger to his mouth. "As for the contents of the box, its just some armor. Nothing too special."

"Armor? Your previous purchase history says otherwise. I've seen you buy heavy weapons and prototype rollers from Grineer. You mean to tell me you just want to protect yourself instead of killing?"

"Surviving is the first step to killing. The basis for any good murderer or murderess." She said, shutting the case. "Plus, it makes me look good."

"I bet." He replied dryly. "So, looking to buy anything else. I have plenty in stock."

"Yeah. Information. Got anything about a Grineer merchant known as Shiia-mertal?"

"Him?" He raised a brow. "Why do you need info about him?"

"Indeed. Why do you need information about me Tenno?" A deep and reverberating voice asked behind the Prime. She turned to find the giant Grineer merchant standing a full head taller than she with the same mask that covered the Grineer's deteriorated face. His muscles barely contained by the excuse of armor and cybernetic enhancements he wore, having only a patch of Lancer armour on his left pectoral running to his shoulder, the cybernetic gauntlet on his right forearm, and patchwork pants and boots, as well as numerous metallic 'scars' running through his torso and neck. Despite this, he was definitely intimidating than any normal human or Corpus, hell even his Grineer brothers did not look as powerful and immovable as he. It made her wonder why his genes weren't cloned instead of the excuse of troops she had slain thousands of, or if bullets could tear through the solid muscle.

"Looks like you've saved me the trouble of finding you Shiia." Ana chuckled, examining the powerful body. "I wonder why Grineer males aren't like this, it certainly would give me a bit more challenge if they could survive a single fireball."

"You've got a large bounty on your head after killing Sgt. Nef Anyo," he completely ignored the light insult' "you shouldn't be surprised that I found you first. You'd fetch a nice price as slave or even an experiment like that one Tenno who Alad V caught. What was her name again?"

Ana bristled at the mention of the Valkyr recovery. The way they found them battered, maimed, even broken to unimaginable extent was a sickening sight to many Tenno. She still remembered her experiences from entering the lab for the first time to recover the survivors. The flashes of scalpels, limbs hung as decor, the systematic removal of parts from the frame and the screams of the victims as they endured the pain god only knows how long.

She lit her hand aflame in an obvious manner. "Choose your next words wisely merchant. Unlike Darvo here, you and I are strangers and I have no qualms in disintegrating anyone who gets on my bad side, especially Grineer. I'll reduce you to ash within the next five seconds unless you can pull something out of your arse to make me reconsider."

The merchant did not make any noticeable changes in posture, nor showed any sign of fear or hesitation. She could only look on the large clone, finding only a smile of confidence. His arms crossed, almost tempting her to obliterate him from the spot.

"Go ahead Tenno, try it. Will you risk the consequence of killing in a place of truce? What about the information regarding the storms? Perhaps something more will come from you not acting against me." His voice oozing mockery of her intelligence.

"You know what is behind these storms?" She asked, an inkling of fire still burning within her fist.

"I thought that might get your attention. Yes I know the cause of the storms plaguing the system, however, that information isn't complimentary. This is the Market. Anything and everything within has a price, isn't that correct Prime?"

The helmet retracted up to the smooth and pale red lips of the Tenno, flashing a smile. "You know my instincts well for someone you've just met Shiia. I'll bite. What's the price?"

"Come, let us move on to a place to rest before negotiations start." He turned the opposite direction and entered the crowd effortlessly, or rather he split it in half with just his existence. She could only follow in response.

They sat at a table near one of the pubs near the exits of the Market. An old ruin found while excavating the land for the new location. Quaint, but archaic and wasn't worth a damn. A Grineer slave approached them with their orders. Water for the lady and an oiled substance for the other. She looked rather frightened in the presence of the Grineer, but also had a shining hope within her eyes once she saw the Tenno.

'How naive these colonists can be sometimes.' She regarded slaves and colonists under Grineer rule as meek individuals who though Tenno were the saviors of the system. No, aside from the orders of The Lotus, Tenno were freelancers and barbarians in almost every way as far long as money and firepower was involved. Their supposed warrior ancestry and honor bound code true in skill and ceremony. Sometimes she wished she could be a hero, but when pull comes to shove, she'll take the money to feed herself and align with her fellow Tenno.

Shiia finally spoke. "One of my agents within the higher echelons of the Empire has been suspected of treason by Commander Vor himself. Considering Vor's influence in the nobility and a favorite of the Twin Queens, they were quick to condemn him for death despite not hearing a plea of innocence from any comrades he had. With him gone, it would be bad business from now on, something I'd like to avoid for the benefit of myself and for... Future clients."

"Isn't he basically a treasonous bastard? By my guess, he's providing you with the ins and outs of the Grineer politics as they evolve and change, giving you an upper hand on who to approach and who to avoid."

"Yes, thats the gist of it all. Not all Grineer are mindless as the ones you kill. You're doing us a favor, at least to an extent. Some want a Grineer only Empire, others only wish to profit from the war effort." He tossed a credit at the slave, whom had quite a trouble catching the small thing. A simple smile and bow before another customer called for her attention.

"Hence this negotiation." She finished her water.

"Correct again. You don't look as stupid as before Tenno. You may actually have a functioning brain that doesn't require me having to state the obvious."

She ignored the jest, at least for now. "So a rescue? That's it? I thought the price would have been higher with your supposed reputation around here."

"Is it unsatisfactory to your other contracts? I can surely make you do more than simply rescue him if you so wish."

"That won't be necessary. Send me the details about the execution later. I'll see what I can do about him." She left a few credits lying on the table.

"Good luck."

"Lets hope so." The mask closed shut.

"So? Got anything useful from him?" Darvo asked the prime as she sat on the stool.

"No, I have to do his chore of saving someone from execution in the Grineer Empire." Ana huffed as she watched Darvo polish the Lex pistol. "Last thing I want to hear is 'Tenno skooom' from the person I save. Information or not, I'll stuff a grenade into his mouth and throw him out into orbit of the nearest planet."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side" He said mirthfully "Ah, another one already? The Grineer sure have been getting liberal in throwing their own kind's life away, more so than usual."

"I've been behind on the news about the rest of the system." She slammed a few credits on the table. "Enlighten me on some of the events going on. And I want a nice long story Darvo, not your half baked summaries."

He flinched back slightly, surprised at the sudden request but took the money and sat down.

"Right, where to begin? I guess we'll go a few weeks after Nef Anyo's death."

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