[Under Construction] Of Ash And Fire: Roleplaying Thread

[_Absolom_]

Nihlis used to be the Tenno of light. His Warframe, white as the Heaven, would strike fear into his enemies' hearts.

 

It was a disturbing call. A new Grineer ship has been manufactured-one that was capable of unspeakable things. It had to be eliminated.

Nihlis silently cut his way through the Grineer patrols. Knowing that he would rendezvous with the rest of his cell at the reactor core, he hurried not to be late. Using his prowess, he cloaked entire corridors in shadows to take out every soldier within seconds. 'Too easy', he thought. 

 

Minutes later he arrived in the reactor room. He stayed behind a wall, seeing the Grineer soldiers guarding the core. One of them was hastily walking to a terminal-probably to sound the alarm. 'This is bad. Really bad.', he thought. 'I can't just walk in there and kill everything...there's just too many...but if they sound the alarm, we'll have a whole ship on our necks. What to do...'

Then suddenly. the soldier at the terminal collapsed before he could even touch the console. Nihlis' skills with his bow, the Paris Prime were unmatched. This is the only thing that belonged to his ancestors-his father's bow. He loved it more than anything else. 

He looked around. In merely five seconds, every gun in the room was pointed at him. '10...20...30...56 soldiers. That's it? That's all you got, Grineer scum? Then here, let me give you a taste of my hook!' he said, while dashing forward and leaving behind nothing but bloody heaps and metal in his wake. His Reaper Prime was precise and deadly; nobodies armor was thick enough to deflect his blows.

 

In seconds, the room was empty, and Nihlis dropped his blade. He looked at his chest; it seems a soldier managed to shoot him with a Strun. He was bleeding. 'Well, this is one of the few times I need a medkit' he thought. He looked around searching for a healing kit in the room; there had to be one nearby! There! An operation chamber. He somehow managed to walk into the room, leaving a trail of blood. He was feeling dizzy. 'Just a few seconds and I'll lose consciousness...can't let it happen!' He quickly put a bandage around his wound, then absorbed a healing orb from the locker. 'Much better.' He was still a bit dizzy, and his field of view was limited. He couldn't get out on his own. 'Where the hell are you guys?!' he thought. His cell was supposed to meet five minutes ago!

 

He walked back into the chamber he came from. And there they were: his trusted comrades, looking back at him and smiling behind their Warframes.

'Took you guys long enough.' he said.

'Sorry Nihlis, the patrols were a bit thicker than we calculated.' Excalibur replied.

'Whatever, let's just get this over with, and head back home. I...can't make it out without you guys.'

Excalibur, Ash and Rhino nodded simultaneously. They raised the core and destroyed it with concentrated firepower. When the last energy tank shattered into pieces, the lights suddenly fell out. The ship was powerless. Their mission was completed.

'Well done, Tenno.' 

The Lotus. Their silent guardian and guide through these dark times. They all heard her in their heads. They all knew what to do.

With Nihlis as their guiding light, they dashed and slashed through the uncountable corridors of the ship, to their extraction point. 

 

After ten minutes of bloody horror, they finally arrived.

'But...wait...this isn't right.' he said. 'Why has the Lotus sent only three escape shuttles?'

'I...I don't know either...what's going on?' Rhino said.

 

'One more thing, Excalibur...eliminate Nihlis.'

'Wait...you can't be serious, Lotus. Why...? He hasn't done anything...!' Excalibur thought.

'His mind became corrupted. His heart strives for revenge for his parents. This revenge blinds him and makes him a threat to our further operations. End him.'

'I won't kill my trusted comrade, Lotus. Not even for you!' Excalibur replied loudly.

Everyone looked up at him. Only Nihlis didn't know what was going on. 'What...why would you...? I don't understand...!' 'What the hell is going on...what is this?!' Nihlis thought.

They heard footsteps in the corridors; Excalibur's shout led the Grineer to their extraction point.

 

'THAT'S AN ORDER, HAYDEN!' the Lotus shouted. Excalibur's head was echoing her voice. Did she really just call him by his real name...?!

'I told you not to call me like that! I refuse to kill him!' 

'As you wish...then we'll have to do this the hard way.'

Suddenly, he could feel the Lotus took control of Excalibur's Warframe. He had no more control over his actions.

'NIHLIS! WATCH OUT!' he shouted. But it was too late. His Skana was pointing out of Nihlis' chest, and his comrade was at the brink of death. 

Nihlis' helm fell off his head; the only sign of a defeated Tenno. The footsteps became louder and they could hear Grineer commanders control their soldiers.

Nihlis looked at his comrade one last time, with a face full of questions and anger. Excalibur was crying behind his mask. 

'I...I'm sorry...I...I didn't want this...forgive me, please!'

Excalibur looked into Nihlis' eyes. Once beautiful and blue, his eyes slowly turned red. His white hair, once blinding and graceful, was black as the night. His friend gave into his anger.

The Lotus, still in control of Excalibur, Ash and Rhino, moved the three into their escape pods and launched them into the deep space. To their home.

 

They saw Nihlis collapse while he was screaming the words "I'll kill you all!" at them.

How could this happen? Why them, why now? As if there were that many Tenno left!

'Lotus...I will not forget this. I will not forgive you for what you have done.'

'You sure are a troublesome one. Then I'll force you to forget. All of you. This mission never happened.'

 

The Lotus erased their memories of the past two hours, and all their memories about Nihlis. As if the mission and their comrade never existed.

 

*meanwhile in the Grineer ship, the Manticore*

 

The Grineer found him. His Warframe was lying in pieces next to him. His weapons were shattered into pieces. He was bleeding and wounded severely, and almost dead. And yet...there was a flame in his eyes. A strong will that didn't let him die. A part of him dedicated to revenge.

The Grineer soldiers brought his body and Warframe to Earth, alongside with the remains of his weapons. The Sisters offered him a chance to get his revenge.

 

'You'll be guarding our higher positioned captains and generals.'

'Rather said, avenging them. Once those Tenno scum show up and murder one of them, you get on their trail and kill them.'

'In return, we will provide you with what is our best weaponry and materials to create your own.'

 

'So you are the Sisters, huh...You look even uglier than I thought.' Nihlis said.

 

'Insolent brat! I'll show you...'

'That's enough, Marda. Calm down. This anger...this arrogance...this will be his weapon. This is our perfect hitman. Don't you see?'

'On the second thought...maybe...yes...he could be our man. What is your answer, Tenno?'

'Don't you f*cking call me a Tenno again, you ugly Grineer piece of sh*t! I'm not one of them anymore...I don't want to be...'

'What. Is. Your. Answer.'

'Tell us.'

'You give me the things I ask for, and you stay the f*ck out of my business. You stick your noses in my stuff, I f*cking kill you. Got that?'

'Excellent...'

'You are hired. From now on, you shall be known as the Stalker.'

'Now go. Bring death upon our enemies.'

'Where's the f*cking smith on this deserted sh*thole you call your home...?'

Edited August 15, 2013 by Nazgul999

[Tyranthius]

Tyranthius looked around. The Corpus ship was dark. On the floor, he saw the tell-tale mass of technocyte flesh that would hint at what this might entail. Somewhere on this ship, an Orokin artifact was being held in storage by the Corpus. Or rather, had been, for there were no more Corpus here. The darkness could mean anything, Tyranthius thought. Chewed wires, destroyed power supplies, anything. Ordinarily, he'd have no reason to be apprehensive. He was a talented operator of a LOKI30 , modified to amazing extremes. Except his Warframe was no longer a 30, and therefore it wasn't modulated very much either. He was in a LOKI5 installed with an Orokin Reactor, with the only abilities installed being Invisibility and Switch Teleport. He was on a ship whose threat level was classified as 70+. His weapons were still good, as they hadn't been polarized recently, but overall the thought that a Charger might kill him in one swipe banished all bravado and madness from him.

 

Fortunately, Infested weren't the most intelligent creatures individually, and he was evading them with no great trouble. Another mission completed without major incident. This should make the tribunal happy. He was just passing through a data room when the lights began to flicker.

 

"Tyranthius."

 

He cursed inwardly. Finally. He grew angry. A year and a half of killing officers and dignitaries, and he just had to arrive when he was good and polarized. Grimly, he drew his Kunai.

 

"You have escaped retribution. Perpetrated further villainy. But no longer."

 

He made a final systems check. Maximum energy, which was not as much as he would like but only to be expected of a LOKI5, undamaged 'Frame, all weapons at full ammunition. He had the only two of his abilities that would make a great difference in this fight. But, on the other hand, his shields and armor were at pathetic levels, he was moving much slower than usual, and it was far too dark for his liking. He was just deciding to shift the battlefield to a more well-lit area when:

 

"Now you die!"

 

The Stalker appeared behind him. He slid forward just as the scythe slashed the air where his head had been. He turned. He was not encouraged. From what his sensors could tell him, the Stalker was at a threat level quite close to the Infested on the ship. Tyranthius ran to the side, all the while throwing Kunai. Each one struck true, but this barely reduced the Stalker's shields by a fourth, and he was aiming his bow. Tyranthius rolled as the arrow struck the wall behind him. He threw more Kunai, the Stalker fired more bolts.

 

He's toying with me, he thought. And why not? A single Slash Dash, and he was dead. This thought brought forth a cold fury from within his heart. I'll show him. 

 

He moved faster, even without mods assisting his movements. He struck out with his Ethers, threw his Kunai, and dodged each attack from his nemesis flawlessly. The Stalker had begun to take damage to his 'Frame and thus, he began to grow frustrated. He threw knives of his own. Tyranthius, demonstrating a level of martial skill that transcended modifications, met the knives with his Ethers, deflecting each one. The scythe swung at him, and he parried it, not as he did the last time, but deflecting himself away from the blade. He smiled.

 

Then, as he was growing excited for the coming butchery victory, the Stalker loosed a bolt. He dodged and the bolt struck an explosive canister in the adjoining room. It detonated, and he cursed. That would bring every Infested on the ship. In his distraction, he missed a throwing knife, and it lodged in his chest.

 

He rolled aside and pulled the knife free. The knife had pierced his meager shields and his weakened armor, and the wound was serious. But the bleeding had been stopped by his nanocytes. No, he thought. I will not lose to you again.

 

He activated his Invisibility just as the Infested reached the adjoining room. He entered, and saw the Stalker taking potshots at Chargers, slashing down a stray Runner. The Stalker ran into the room, attacking Infested. His invisibility faded, and he ran back to the room where they had began. The Stalker began to dash forward.

 

And the world slowed. Time moved at a crawl, and Tyranthius could see each individual rib-spike on the Chargers behind the Stalker. He was calm. The Stalker's blade was closer now, closer. Calm.

 

The shot from his Snipetron Vandal rang out, missing the Stalker, missing the Infested, and striking the Reinforced Glass pane behind them.

 

The Stalker's scythe lodged in the door as it closed, and Tyranthius seized his chance. The scythe's shape made pulling it out of the door rather difficult, and Tyranthius used this to his advantage. He gripped the blade with all his strength. The Stalker was immensely strong, but he had geometry and a quarter of a hundred Infested on his side. He gripped, and gripped, and felt it slicing into his hands, and gripped even more. Oxygen deprivation, lessened gravity, and Infested claws were his weapons now. The Stalker wouldn't let go. In the event of such a breach, a Warframe's magnetic systems were at full power, ensuring that the 'Frame and its equipment were not sucked out. This included the magnetic force that ensured that Tenno would not drop their weapons.

 

And so he gripped, and listened to screaming Infested, until much later:

 

"This does not end!"

 

And the pull at the scythe ceased.

 

Tyranthius let go, and stood up. His 'Frame's hands were badly damaged, but he was alive. Alive and victorious. He sliced open a nearby canister, and found a nanocyte cluster, restoring some much needed health. He noticed that there were no more sounds of screaming Infested, so he deactivated the lockdown. The door would not open completely with the scythe lodged in it, so he slid under it and looked around. The Infested were gone. And the Stalker as well. He touched the scythe, and it vanished. In its place was a set of schematics. He couldn't analyze it here, but he could at least see the name. It read: Hate

 

Made this one to commemorate the Stalker's finally giving me a weapon after nine battles with him. I actually got the Dread, but I took some artistic license with this one. 

Edited August 19, 2013 by Tyranthius

[SOUP.CAN]

This does not end!

 

Stalker screamed as he was sucked into the inky blackness of space. His warframe expanded, stopping the lack of pressure from boiling his organs, while his internal heating system slipped innto overload. Even then, he would only last for about 15 minutes until he lost consciousness. His energy recharge would take around 15 minutes before he could teleport back to his ship. The only thing he could do was to wait to see one happened first...

 

Waiting...

 

                                  Quarter of the way...

                                                                                

                                                                                    Halfway... he had stopped shivering now, a sign that he didn't have much longer...

 

                                                        Three quarters... black spots swam in his his vision now, as he grappled with exhaustion... No I have to survive...

 

                          Hate and fury were the only thing stoppping him from freezing solid now...

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                   "Teleport Online"

 

 

He woke, gasping for air. He recognised the light armour of a grineer medic. He was... strapped down. "What... happened?" He asked, his voice barely audible.

"You screwed up!" His heart felt like it had just exploded in his chest. Marda, the less stable of the ruling sisterswas furious. "It looks like you need some encouragement.

 

The first time he had failed, what they inflicted on him was beyond agony. This time, it would probably be worse.

[Aigloblam]

Will It never end!?

 

Alone.

 

Cold.

 

The creature once known as the stalker, the feared hunter of Tenno, sits alone and cold. He has a grin on his face, but that would be difficult for anyone else to realize, as there are only swollen flaps of skin instead of lips, crisscrossed with cuts and tears. His hands are clasped together, with his arms around his knees. The fingers are missing Fingernails, each one had been pulled out, very slowly. He sits in the center of a dimly lit steel walled cell. He sits in the center to keep his flayed open back from touching the walls. He would weep, but his eyes are swollen shut.

 

The Grineer were very unhappy with him for his failure to kill the pitiful Loki unit. After a long line of Failures, they were happy to show their displeasure with hours upon hours of beating, screaming, and torture that would kill most any other sentient creature. Why it did not kill this wreck of a Tenno was a mystery to all the top Grineer scientists and doctors. It would have been a mystery to the Lotus too, had she known (or cared, for that matter) what happened to his broken mind, fractured soul, and battered body. But the Stalker knew, Knew very well. The only thing that has kept him alive these past weeks of torture, was the same forces that he named his weapons for. Despair that he felt after his fall from grace. Dread that he felt from his chosen prey. Hate, that was the most important, Hate of the Tenno in general. But most of all, Hate for the one he must kill. Hate, for Tyranthius.

 

He must Die, this worm of a Tenno. He must be made to suffer, He must be made to beg for his pathetic little life before being ground into paste under the Stalker's boot heel.

 

The Stalker mumbles something, fresh trickles of blood seep from the fissures in his lips, but he doesnt notice.

 

"He will crawl..."

 

At that moment the door to the cell opens. Without a word, the Stalker rises and hobbles out on his all but broken legs.

[Tyranthius]

"Don't use it like that. It's not a spear; it's a double-bladed staff. Use both ends!” Tyranthius called out to his opponent. He was in a light training suit that left his neck upward uncovered. Blunted training Ethers whirled in his hands, but he wielded them leisurely, as though he had all the time in the world. The figure that faced him was a slim, slight female clad in a training suit of her own, holding a training Orthos with some difficulty. They had been dueling for almost five minutes now.

 

"Your balance is off. If you hold it like that", Tyranthius said, referring to the improper stance, "I'm likely to do this." And with that he struck at the center of the awkwardly held Orthos and sent it flying. He sheathed his training blades. He wasn't even breathing hard.

 

"You're certainly skilled with firearms, pistols in particular. But you'll need to work on your blades", he told her.

 

"But I'll be wearing a Warframe if I'm ever in battle, and I might not even use an Orthos", she replied.

 

"You miss the point. The Orthos I gave you that you might practice your balance, if nothing else. In combat, the imbalanced stance will be the undoing of even the peerless gunman. You stand there shooting, a Charger swipes at you, and you fall. The Infested will see this, and in seconds, you're dead. A Warframe won't compensate for everything." She picked up the Orthos.

 

"Again?” Tyranthius said, drawing his blades. In answer, she whirled the Orthos in quick, sweeping arcs of pain, which Tyranthius barely managed to dodge. "There it is", he said as the blade once again sliced air where his face was previously. "You're getting it!"

 

He attacked now as well, faster than he had previously, but his strokes were turned aside by the Orthos, or else engaged in parrying the bladed staff. He struck faster still, his weapons appearing not so much as blades but a solid wall of gray in front of him. She parried, dodged, and cartwheeled aside. "Hey, we haven't started those lessons yet, when did you learn that?" 

 

He struck harder now, making her reel with each stroke, but not enough to create an opening. He spun and slashed down with both blades, and she parried. The shock of impact made her teeth clench, but Tyranthius was staggered, if only shortly. She seized this chance, whirling the Orthos in an arc that ended three inches from his face. They were still.

 

Tyranthius threw back his head and laughed. At least she was a quick learner. "Good job", he said.

 

Breathing hard, she replied, "I win."

 

He smiled in an is-that-so manner and pointed to his left hand, with the elbow braced against his thigh, holding an Ether outward. Her eyes followed the blade and saw it touching her training suit, just under her sternum. If their weapons were not blunted and she had continued her attack, she would have impaled herself before she even touched him. Cursing, she threw aside her weapon.

 

"Don't feel too bad. The number of enemies who've engaged me in a melee fight is the same number who died in the attempt, less one."

 

"Less one?"

 

"Yes. But that story is for another time. I think we'll leave it here for today", he said. "Did you get hurt anywhere?"

 

"Just a glancing blow to the face."

 

"Let me see anyway. I won't have them say I'm doing a bad job of this." He remembered that, for some reason, he had never seen her out of protective gear. She took off her helmet, and he nearly choked. An oval face, half hidden by a fringe of short raven hair, porcelain skin, elfin features, but it was her eyes. Enormous luminous orbs set with gemstones of uncompromising gray. There was a small mark on her cheek, it would probably bruise in a few hours, but he noticed no more. His mind slowed, his perceptions dulled, and the blood was draining from his face. Dimly, in a corner of his mind not currently in stupor, he counted himself fortunate that instead of coloring when warranted, his face did the exact opposite, chilling his body and paling his face.

 

"...can't be that bad can it? Master? Tyranthius?"

 

He managed only, "I - well it's not too noticeable - I mean, you look great! - Not that I mean anything by that, I just meant - what I mean is, -y-you look perfect. -Ly fine. Perfectly fine."

 

She looked confused, and he grew even paler. He was thinking of very colorful and violent ways he would beat his brain if it were a person.

 

*****

 

Just outside the room, a shadow stirred. A deep red glow emanated from within the specter, where its head might be. The glow intensified. The shadow saw. It peered into the training hall; saw the two figures in training suits, seemingly in conversation. It laughed. This would be one of his best.

 

And from behind, it was cuffed on the ear by a Tenno in an EXCALIBUR Prime.

 

"Ow! I mean, Cal! What a pleasant surprise! So nice to see you here!” the figure said.

 

"And just what are you doing?” the one called 'Cal demanded.

 

"Oh, nothing. Just, you know, walking around", said the figure in a pathetic attempt at an innocent voice.

 

"Within twenty feet of Tyranthius and his new apprentice."

 

"What? Am I not allowed to go near him now? Besides, he owes me some potatoes, so I came to collect."

 

"I see. And you just happened to be wearing your Stalker holo-projector?” said 'Cal, whose face by now would have given the Stalker pause.

 

"What, this?” the figure said as it touched a button on its shoulder. The shadowed form of the Stalker faded and revealed a LOKI with the visor up, exposing a face that could only be described as devious. "I just thought he would find it funny."

 

"Do you know you're not the first to do that? I wonder what Tyranthius thinks sometimes. Do you want to know what happened to the last one?"

 

The LOKI leaned forward, listening to EXCALIBUR's whispers.

 

"So yeah...uh-huh...and then...he did what?...with a stick...and carrots...no way...and, wait where did you say he jammed those Duel Monsters cards?...there?...how would those even fit?...Merciful Orokin."

 

"Exactly." And with that, EXCALIBUR took the LOKI by the arm and half walked-half-dragged him away.

 

*****

 

"So... when's our next session?"

 

Tyranthius could only gape, imagining the little Tenno in his head scrambling to locate the drawer where his speech function should be, and finding that it was somehow on fire.

 

"I'll just come back same time tomorrow?"

 

"Yes!” he said in the voice of a beggar who was asked if he would like another bar of gold. "I mean, yes. That would be appropriate", this time said in his smooth I'm-definitely-not-insane-or-desperate-please-don't-think-I'm-weird voice.

 

She smiled, turned, and walked away. When she had left, he looked around, found her discarded training helmet, put it to his face, and inhaled.

 

Made this for the MAG I made recently. Oh, and Frost, how did I do with your boys?

[frostycmc]

I think X was right to drag him away. even after hearing that... whatever it was, Loki still would have tried it. He doesn't really have the best sense of self preservation. :)

 

 

* You may not bring your pet platypus along on missions as your primary, secondary, or melee weapon

 

* Not allowed to scream "OH YEAH!!!" when Rhino breaks down a wall

 

* Just because we no longer have a fixed planet, you do not get to refer to the Tenno as "murder hobos" to new arrivals

 

* Not allowed to do anything I saw the Mythbusters do

 

* Stop trying to infect Excalibur with lycanthropy

[Tyranthius]

"Well, here it is, I suppose. There's not very much, I'm afraid, but feel free to look around", Tyranthius gestured to the storage room. There weren't many slots, upgrades were costly, and there were only a few weapons, but each one was colored in uniform gray and modified, and several were supercharged. All these weapons were used at some point.

 

"What's that?" Lucid asked, pointing to a rifle on a hook. Tyranthius picked it up and gave a smile of recognition.

 

"This? This is my old Vulkar. Used this in a lot of assassinations, and when those Grineer balloons went up, oh, you should have seen it."

 

"About the Informers, didn't they give you a Snipetron Vandal for your troubles?"

 

"That, and the schematics for an old-fashioned Snipetron. Can't imagine why. Why do you ask?"

 

"Why do you keep the Vulkar? The Snipetron Vandal's obviously better."

 

"It is, in every way. But I have fond memories of that Vulkar. I got my Vandal with it, I killed a whole load of targets with it, and we get to one of my proudest moments. Have I told you that story?"

 

"The time you duct-taped Aigloblam's Zorens to his horn?"

 

"He still wonders how I did it without him noticing. Before that."

 

"The time you blocked all the toilets in HQ with huge wheels of cheese?"

 

"Classic. But no, the one before that."

 

"The time you represented that LOKI friend of yours in an inter-faction sexual harassment case?"

 

"One, he's not my friend. Two, that was not a proud moment, it was litigation hell. He wouldn't deny anything, he got himself charged with contempt of court every three minutes, he tried to sneak in his platypus, and he actually tried to sexually harass the victim during proceedings! We had to have him restrained for the trial's duration, during which he made one-hundred-and-fifty-seven recorded escape attempts. In the end, I had to go with the insanity gambit. Wasn't much of a stretch anyway."

 

Lucid shrugged and said, "Then I've got nothing."

 

"It was Tyrex Fran. Has everyone forgotten about him already? But then again, you weren't around for that. Bastard tried to make Osprey/Sentinel Hybrids. I shot the more dangerous ones without even coming into range of the things."

 

Lucid was turning the rifle over in her hands. Abruptly, she said, "They're all gray. Your weapons, even your Warframe. Why is that?"

 

"Really? No question on stories, nothing on weapon recommendations?"

 

"Some of the others were actually making bets on it. X says it refers to your whole efficiency thing-"

 

"I like that answer, but no."

 

"Aigloblam says it's about an old Earth book you found. 50 Sh-"

 

"Tell him if he repeats that lie, I will replace his 'Frame's visual feed with constant porn. Besides, he was the one who found the book."

 

"Bob, or whatever that LOKI's name was, says it's because your sex life is bleak and gray."

 

"Hey, if he's making passes at Kela De Thaym, he's not one to talk. Do you really want to know?"

 

She nodded her assent.

 

"I was recoloring my Warframe, and I accidentally set it that way. I couldn't remember the old colors, and having no money for new ones, I just went with it. I colored my weapons gray too, so everyone would think there was some sort of theme behind it."

 

"So there's no special reason?" she asked with a laugh.

 

"None at all. Now don't tell anybody what I just told you."

 

*****

Outside the room, a group was  gathered around a small box.

 

"I still say we shouldn't be doing this", whispered one, a man who looked to be in his older years, but still formidable.

 

"Oh come on", replied the one working on the box. "Don't give me the upright citizen act, you want to know, just like all of us do."

 

"All the same, planting a listening device on his apprentice goes too far, don't-"

 

"Quiet. He's about to say it."

 

Voices could be heard from the box. The quality left much to be desired, but it was still clear enough to be understood.

 

"...was recoloring my Warframe, and I accidentally set it that way. I couldn't remember the old colors, and having no money for new ones, I just went with it. I colored my weapons gray too, so everyone would think there was some sort of theme behind it..."

 

Everyone looked at the youngest in the group, a girl, you really couldn't call her anything else because of her relative youth, who was recently made Tenno. The box continued.

 

"So there's no special reason?" and then "None at all".

 

The girl grinned wide in triumph and said, "Pay up."

Edited October 1, 2013 by Tyranthius

[frostycmc]

Great to have you back Ty, I was just wondering about this thread when you updated. Now, on to the list!

 

 

* Stop screaming "You have offended my honor!" before challenging people to ice cream eating contests. You always get brain freeze and end up rolling on the floor screaming your head off.

 

* Please, for all that is holy, stop writing fanfiction. Tyranthius does not approve of your 50 chapter epic romance between him and the Stalker.

 

* Or the graphic art that goes with it...

 

* Or the musical number you organized in the cafeteria.

 

* You are forbidden from all forms of artistic expression.

 

* You are not to sneak helium into the ship's oxygen supply.

 

* No sulfur hexaflouride either.

 

* Stop using basic chemistry to screw with people.

[KF5AQX]

Well. I suppose it's been too long since I posted anything. Thus, I shall offer up this.

 

 

 

"The ship was dark, unnaturally so. I awoke slowly, painfully, every nerve a bundle of fire and agony. Amazingly, I couldn't feel anything broken, despite the brutal beating and experimentation of the last two hours. Though that could just mean I was too far gone to notice...

 

It had been a long two weeks, trapped alone in a cell. The Grineer I had helped the Banshee escape from had been... Displease, to say the least. I thought I was dead. I was mistaken. They beat me to within an inch of my life, then decided to replace the test subject they had lost. I was stripped of my Warframe, thrown in a cell, and ignored except for the hourly beating. They had taken my weapons, or I would have attempted to kill myself. As it was, I had nearly bled to death slicing my wrists open on the bunk. They had restrained me after that.

 

A creak snapped me back to reality, and I slowly looked up at the cell door, expecting it to open. It didn't. But I noticed something... Strange about it. The lights on it... They were out. Confused, I glanced at the camera I knew was in the upper corner of the room. Normally a small, barely visible glow was around it's lens, showing it was powered on and recording. It was gone.

 

 

I was truly concerned now. The only reason both lights would be out was if the power was. And if the power was out to the prison of a Grineer ship, usually the only system with a dedicated back up generator... Something had happened.

 

I glanced at my wrists. So used to being unable to move, I hadn't tried. But the restraints, normally held around my wrists and tightly to the bed frame by magnetic forces, were now merely half open bracelets. I sat up, shaking my wrists to free the restraints, then turned sideways and stood up next to the bed. My head spun, my body was on fire with pain. Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward, angling for the door. I slumped against it and attempted to regain control. The spinning was receding, allowing me to focus on the pain and force it down, a technique I learned centuries ago.

 

The door had a rough surface, covered with rough plate metal. I gripped the edges and pulled. Slowly, with a sound like a dying beast, the door slide open. I pulled it wide enough to fit in the opening side ways, then pushed, using my back for leverage. It opened fully, and I stepped onto the floor of the prison cell. It was pitch black, the only light coming from a small fire flickering above, from the consoles. I stopped for a moment to stretch, something I hadn't been able to do while in the low ceiling cell, then started for the stairs nearby. As I walked, the light headedness vanished, leaving me clear and focused, ready for escape.

 

I climbed the stairs easily, the pain receding to a dull ache, easily ignored. The platform in the middle of the room was a scene from a horror film. A sprawled corpse, with a destroyed, mutilated chest, was splayed across the floor. I strode forward, gazing at it. It was the Scorpion jailer who had taken such pleasure in striking me down. She had claimed my handgun as a trophy, and it still hung from her hip. I reclaimed it, feeling the comforting weight and power it contained. The ammunition for it was kept in the locked box near her desk, normally a problem. Except she kept it loaded while carried.

 

I raised the Lex, and blew the entire front of the lock out. The ammo inside was neatly kept, stolen from my waist and not used. A full 15 clips, plus several dozen loose rounds, and the magnetic carrier I had used to hold them. Without the armor, they were useless to me, at least on the belt. I picked them up and, using strips of the tattered shirt I wore, loosely attached them to the waistband on the pants I wore. The Lex went in the hip pocket, and I felt far more prepared for what ever was out there. Turning back to the Scorpion, I kicked her lightly, rolling her over onto her face, and examined the machete mounted on her back.

 

It fit into a rough, basic sheath, consisting mostly of two parallel strips of low quality steel mounted on, of all things, a wooden backboard. Where did she even find wood anymore? Looking closely, I could see it was dark, clearly very old. Probably a family heirloom, possibly taken from a colonist on one of the cities she had doubtlessly helped raze. It mattered little to me. All I cared for was the blade, and the straps. She had forgone the rough, narrow strips of surplus fabric normally used, in favor of a heavy linen strap, wide and padded.

 

I grabbed her shoulders and hefted her up, sliding the strap off, and allowed the corpse to slump again. Ignoring the dried blood on the strap, I slung it over my own shoulder, settling it into place. Armed thus, I felt quite ready for whatever would come. I examined the rest of the room, found nothing, and started for the door I knew led to the ship bay. With luck, there would be a Grineer fighter there.

 

The door started to glow before I reached it. Cursing under my breathe, I ran for the nearest wall, knowing what it meant. I slammed into the wall, fumbling for the Lex. Only one thing could make the steel used in Grineer doors to glow like that. A Corpus laser. The door blew inward, slinging molten slag and pieces of steel everywhere. I flinched back, my ears ringing. I heard metallic foot steps, and motors whining. A MOA. I inched closer to the corner of the wall, seeing light pour in. Clearly they had killed the power, only activating it in each room they passed through.

 

I spun around the corner, already raising the Lex and aiming down the sights, something I hadn't done for ages, as Warframes had intgeral weapon sensors. A MOA stood in front of me, it's own beam cannon already swiveling towards me. I pulled the trigger. The Lex bucked, the center of the MOA's body imploded, and it crumpled backward. The Corpus crewmen behind it jerked around, shouting in their strangely robotic voice. I quickly switched targets, blowing a Corpus' arm off, then dived behind the wall as a small sphere rolled next to me.

 

One of the crewmen had been smart, and instead of trying to unsling his Dera, had simple hurled a grenade at me. I rolled, pushed up with my hands, and came up in full sprint, heading directly away from the weapon. Even out of my frame, I was still one of the fastest Tenno in my clan, and I leaped the railing in front of me, tensing my legs to roll again on impact with the ground. The grenade went off, flooding the room in heat and light, and I slammed hard, rolling forward to lessen the impact. It still hurt. The machete on my back dug into it painfully, and I shrugged it into a more comfortable position.

 

Spinning around, I caught sight of the crewman ducking behind the railing above me, two more behind him. This part of the room was still dark, the light spilling in from the doorway not nearly bright enough. I chuckled, knowing he was most likely blinded from the grenade blast and the sudden switch from light to darkness.

 

Moving nearly silently, without the metal suit I normally wore clanging noisily, I moved to the wall beneath him, in the deepest shadow of the room. He was barely four feet above me. I leaped upward, catching the edge of the floor with my hands, then slowly, painfully, hauled myself up till I was level below him. He was shouting something at the Corpus behind him when I struck. My hand grasped his helmet, hauled him over the railing, and flipped him downward. He screamed as he feel, smacking painfully with the base of his helmet. I was on him in an instant, the machete in my hand slashing downward.

 

 

It cleaved through his helmet, split his skull open, and turned his brain into mush. He died nearly instantly, barely having time to twitch. I left the machete where it was and grabbed his Dera, spinning to the railing above me. A crewman stood there, fumbling for his own rifle. He had clearly not expected to be needing it. I fired a long burst, melting his helmet into slag and boiling his brain. He slumped over the railing, then slide down until only his chest hung over. I grinned, satisfied.

 

Removing the machete from the corpse below me, I started upstairs. As I passed the corpse of the last man I shot, I noticed something odd. His armor was blue, and clearly far more advanced than the one below us. His helmet was less boxy, and more human shaped and rounded. I stopped by him, and clicked on the light mounted under the barrel of the Dera, then slowly grinned. He was a marine, the only actually battle trained units the Corpus had. I had faced them only once before, and had been impressed with how durable their armor and shields were, in addition to their battle tactics.

 

 

I pulled him backward, dropping his corpse to the floor. While his helmet, and most of his head, was a mess of molten slag, the under suit and overlying plates of the outfit were still in perfect condition. I quickly located the straps and clasps that held it onto him, and began to undo them.

 

 

Within minutes, I was clad in body hugging that fit me nearly perfectly. Corpus were human, the same as most Tenno, although larger on average. Thankfully, so was I. The armor was advanced, though not nearly so as the Warframe I normally wore. It restricted my movements slightly, but I didn't care. The shield generator on it's back hummed, putting out a field less than half an inch from my exposed skin. My head was still open, but I wasn't too worried about that.

 

What I was worried about was the magnetic plates on the armor. I could easily place the Lex on my hip, and the Dera fit easily over my shoulder on the back. As I examined myself, I noticed blades on the wrists, and a small button on the lower base of the palm. Pressing it on a whim, I was amazed as a blade of pure steel flipped out over my wrist. Nearly eighteen inches long, it was clearly a well built weapon. Pressing the button again, it flipped back, sheathing itself on the back of my wrist. I smiled, glad not to have to lug the machete around any more.

 

 

The door I was headed for was still open, so i strode through it. Various Corpus ships and fighters littered the area, but it was clear the pilots were else where. Only a single MOA, deactivated and in stand by mode, guarded them. The MOA was easily dispatched via a blade to it's operating module, and I climbed aboard a fighter.

 

The controls were foreign to me, but all I needed was the stick, the rudder, and the start button. Finding all three easily, I some what clumsily piloted it out of the open hanger, and put my foot down. It blasted away from the Grineer ship, and looking back I saw that a Corpus freighter was floating nearby.

 

 

I smiled, amazed at my luck, then blasted deeper away. I would have to stop and examine the radio later, and send out a distress call for any Tenno, but for now, I simply fled."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets assume I'm part of the same clan as your characters?

[frostycmc]

I wasn't the fact that she had never once landed a blow on him that annoyed Anya. Nor was it the fact that he administered such brutal training. But he could at least have the decency to not hum a tune as he danced around her strikes like they were nothing!

 

They stopped, her gasping for breath, and him barely breathing hard.

 

"That's enough for now. Let's take a break." He said, and she slumped gratefully to the ground. They took a few minutes to catch their breath, before Anya spoke.

 

"Teacher? How did you earn your Prime Warframe?"

 

He paused the cleaning of his sword to ponder his next words.

 

"Well now, that is quite a story. The first thing you must know, is that some Tenno put together their own Primes, while others are awarded them for exceptional skill or accomplishments. Either way, a Prime Warframe is not acquired easily. Those who earn them, as I did, are typically as far above an average Tenno as they are above an average Grineer marine." 

 

"Wow..." Anya whispered. She had known her mentor was good, but not that good.

 

Excalibur was about to continue, when the lights flickered. Both teacher and student got to their feet, as a dark voice seemed to echo from everywhere at once.

 

"Did you think no one would know?" The lights flickered again.

 

"Very funny, Uncle Loki, You can come out now." Anya laughed nervously. She stopped as Excalibur raised his sword to a ready position.

 

"T-Teacher?"

 

"Be on your guard Anya. That isn't Loki."

 

"Your sins shall not be forgiven."

 

Excalibur spun and Dashed, striking hard at what appeared to be merely a slightly darker shadow. However, all was not as it seemed, as the shade moved with unnatural speed, blocking as a wicked scythe came spinning out of the darkness. The swordsman was forced to perform a full backflip to dodge, always keeping himself between the specter and Anya,

 

The Stalker growled as he stepped into the light, his usual taunts interrupted. 

 

"Anya, go. Get the other Tenno."

 

"I can't just leave you!"

 

"You will serve me better by getting help. Now go!"

 

Anya turned and ran, fighting every impulse to aid her mentor. Three razor sharp knives were hurled at her back, quickly blocked by Excalibur's sword.

 

"You have bigger things to worry about." The Tenno Blademaster hissed. "For your fight is with me, Demon!"

[Tyranthius]

I am so getting NEKROS, and MAG PRIME. Too bad about my regular MAG though. Already potatoed.

 

Anya ran as hard as she could. The dojo was rather large, and her breathing labored from her interrupted training session. X was a vastly talented blademaster, but not even he would last long against the Stalker if he was using a blunted Orthos. She had to get someone, Anyone.

 

*****

 

Tyranthius knelt in contemplative meditation. Or at least, he called it that. He wasn't really contemplating as much as he was tuning everything out, including his thoughts. It was almost a waking sleep, and he would rise some time later relaxed and refreshed. Or, at least, he had planned to. For just then, the Hall doors slid open violently, and in staggered a girl in a training suit, holding a weighted Skana. He rose and said, "Anya, back from training so early?"

 

Her response was a series of unintelligible panted phrases, but he caught "help", "hurry", and "Stalker", none of which were very cheerful words, but when taken together, they brought a feeling of dread.

 

"Slow down, Anya. What happened? And did I hear you say 'Stalker'?"

 

She choked back her breaths and said, "You've got to hurry...dueling room...X fighting Stalker...no 'Frame or real weapons...needs help...told me to get the others."

 

His eyes grew wide. The Stalker encountered in the field was one thing. The Stalker actually invading the dojo was another matter entirely. What could make him so brazen? Tyranthius felt that he would not like the answer to that. He typed a command on a nearby console and said, "Anya, I need you to stay calm. I'm going to fight the Stalker with X. If it's not too much to ask, go get the others. I don't think we'll stand much of a chance without 'Frames. And above all, don't try to fight him. If X and I both think we need help, that should give you some idea of what the Stalker is like." And with that, he was off.

 

*****

In the dueling room, X was still facing off against the Stalker. Heavy weapon struck heavy weapon, but it was no fair contest. The Stalker was in a Warframe, stronger, faster, and deadlier than any unarmored human, and his weapons weren't blunted.  He was parrying the Stalker's strikes, when an unexpected backhand came. His eyes saw it coming, but his body could not keep up. He was struck by the handle and sent reeling.

 

"Judgement is served."

 

He raised the scythe over his head and swung down.

 

*****

Tyranthius ran as fast as his legs would take him. He hoped X was still alive. The system was still new, and it had a few bugs, but he was fairly sure it would work. He saw the dueling room ahead.

 

*****

X saw the scythe coming down, and he could do nothing to stop it. He hoped Anya managed to warn the others, and braced himself.

 

The scythe swung down, and was met by a percussive blast of sound. The Stalker was knocked backward, and more sound cannons opened fire at him. The cannons stopped abruptly, and the Stalker bellowed in rage and swung again.

 

His scythe was met by a completely identical scythe.

 

X looked up. Tyranthius stood there, holding a scythe and grinning like a lunatic. "That doesn't seem fair."

 

X stood up and Tyranthius tossed him a set of Ethers from his sheathes. "You'll need these. Much more effective than blunts."

 

X could only gaze in wonder. "Those sound cannons, they were yours?"

 

"Yeah. I figured out that that LOKI friend of yours was messing with me, so I configured them to fire on any Stalker-like figure when activated. Seem to have run out of power though." Tyranthius grew serious. "Sent Anya to get the others. We won't last long without 'Frames."

 

Then, he looked at the Stalker. "All right you bastard, you've got a set of throwing knives with my name on them."

[Ajkrumen]

"Other than you, I can't detect any other life-forms. Get to Extraction"

 

His Frost Prime battle-weary, his Latron Prime nearly empty, and his Reaper Prime severely battered, he cherished the thought of a rest at the home dojo. As he waded through the battlefield of his own making, the lights flickered.

 

He had a feeling of familiar apprehension as the smoke materialized in front of him.

 

"Ajkrumen, you can't run from your past."

 

He slid his Reaper out of its sheath as he braced for the return of his rival.

 

"I am your reckoning!"

 

He rolled out of the way as the first arrow shot out of the haze. He prepared to return fire with his Latron Prime, as the Stalker's knives cut it out of his hands and pinned it to the wall. Without sufficient time to draw his Bronco Prime, he had only one option.

 

With his Reaper held high over his head, Ajkrumen let loose a roar as he brought the weapon down upon the hunter of Tenno, only to have it reflect off of his Hate. The Stalker returned in kind by delivering a flurry of blows as quick and deadly as the fabled X. With a back handspring, Ajkrumen gained enough room to draw his Bronco Prime. Dropping to one knee, he steadied the hand-cannon and fired six successive blasts at the Stalker.

 

His shields down, health barely dented, the Stalker swung at Ajkrumen. The heavy blast from the Hate knocked him to the ground. That blow sent him into a rage.

 

"I will NOT lose to you again!"

 

With unmatched fervour, he swung his Reaper in quick succession, each blow finding purchase on the Stalker. His vengeance was not to go unfulfilled. The Stalker staggered under the might of that fabled weapon. Ajkrumen continued, seeing his foe's health deplete, until the Stalker finally gathered himself and braced his wicked scythe against the Reaper. Locked in a battle of strength, Ajkrumen was determined not to lose. With a shove, he pushed back the Stalker and swept his feet out from under him. Walking up to the downed enemy, he aimed the Bronco Prime at his head.

 

"What have you... done? This is not possible!"

 

As Ajkrumen pulled the trigger, the Stalker vanished.

 

"That bastard won't get away with his crimes." 

 

He limped towards the extraction pod and headed home.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

So guys, what do you think? :)

I posted this to establish the character I'm going to be using and since a 1v1 stalker encounter happened to me today I though I might make something of it. 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Now that I look back on it I should've made it longer.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Ajkrumen

[khimera]

Since Nova-Quinn has been such a source of amusement and I did so happen to purchase myself a Nekros (only gonna grind for keys for the new boss, not a new frame so sue me.) I present to you...Crowley.

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Interviewer: So you're one of the...ehm...ah...could you stop fiddling with your scythe please? It's disconcerting.

 

Crowley: Apologies. -sets aside a Hate colored in ice palette blues. He himself in a nekros frame similarly colored wearing a raknis helmet-

 

Int: You are one of the tenno 'shamans' yes?

 

Crowley: Shaman feels like an outdated term, though antiquated as it is it is quite accurate as far as we go. I've heard several of my fellow tenno refer to me as a 'Necromancer' however. Upon research and enlightenment I have found this is generally quite the negative term.

 

Int: In the past raising and commanding the dead was considered a heinous crime. Generally it still is today, at least within your own faction it seems.

 

Crowley: Ah, thank you for illuminating the situation further. I have caught many other tenno edging away from me when out of combat, giving me quite the large berth. I assumed my color scheme was simply too blue for their liking.

 

Int: ahem...on to the next question...-flips pages on a clipboard- It says here you go under the alias 'Crowley' for some reason. Why is that?

 

Crowley: I spoke before of my research into the term Necromancer and Crowley appeared as a historical figure fairly prominent in the field of necromancy and the occult, as well as a person that went by the name of Faust. I chose this alias because it is fitting, not out of any personal preference.

 

Int: Well...er...Crowley...there has been talk among the tenno and you don't seem well received, socially speaking.

 

Crowley: Explain.

 

Int: Your powers...ripping the souls out of enemies, instilling fear by mere presence, let alone DESECRATING the corpses of your foes and then raising them for your own amusement.

 

Crowley: I wouldn't call it amusement...unless you count the time my one companion requested I have a bunch of dead grineer do a choreographed version of Cats. She was very entertained, so much so she exploded them at the end.

 

Int: That's...

 

Crowley: Morbid, I know. However, I provide a service to all factions and that is being a servitor of the dead.

 

Int: Do you want to elaborate on that?

 

Crowley: Certainly. In the eyes of the lotus and through my own our foes are already damned. My duty is to wrench their souls from their prisons of flesh to send them to a well-deserved fate. It is fear I instill in them to scatter them, to destroy their morale and show them that the tenno are a foe not to be trifled with. As with all beings of intelligence we have ways of honoring the dead, my power to 'desecrate' corpses brings up what ammunition and supplies they may have hidden in their flesh as I burn away the rotting corpse. It is an efficient way of clearing the battlefield and supplying my fellows with what they need.

 

Int: And raising the dead?

 

Crowley: Technically it's not really raising the dead so much as creating shadowy simulacrums based on data gathered from the recently departed. Don't tell anyone that though, it sort of ruins part of the terrifying effect it has on people.

 

Int: So you WANT others to fear you?

 

Crowley: -leans in close, the energy of his body flickering from blue to red- And why shouldn't I? Among the tenno I am a master of the dead, a conveyor of the final judgment that shall not be forestalled; only quickened. -leaning back, his energy returns to blue-

 

Int: -stunned silence for several minutes- You mentioned a companion?

 

Crowley: Oh yes! She's actually quite delightful and unphased by my appearance and abilities. She says she goes by the title "Nova-Quinn" though I haven't heard that before. I assume it's some sort of high-ranking explosives expert, yes?

 

Int: I think someone needs to inform you of many things Mister Crowley.

 

Crowley: Is that a joke?

 

Int: Unintendedly...uhm...what's the scythe for again?

 

Crowley: Oh that...I need a new butler.

 

-video feed cuts to static for several minutes before an image of Crowley sitting back with the interviewer serving him a drink-

 

Crowley: Thank you jeeves, you may go assist my companion now~

[Aigloblam]

I just realized that i havent written anything story-wise in quite a while.....Gotta fix that. Just a short one, but at least its something.

****************

 

 

I.

Zel took a deep, steadying breath. She had been in the Void only twice before, and each time had left her battered to the point of uselessness. Her Warframe had just gotten a new set of thermal conductors, which were supposed to allow more focus on damage than ever before, but at the cost of a decent bit of protection. Zel had her doubts but the engineers were sure that this configuration would work better. She slowly walked down a long set of golden stairs, pausing as her reflection on a nearby wall let her finally see the finished product, A Gleaming Ember suit with a fresh paint job, exactly the right shades of purple. A smile formed under the imposing mask she wore. "Awesome" she whispered.

 

A few steps into the next room, she heard a grinding noise, and looked up to see a large white sphere start to turn. Her senses were as sharp as ever, but this newly rebuilt frame didn't quite respond like it once did. Before she could move out of the way, Zel took a laser blast to the chest. Her shields, flimsy to begin with, sputtered out in a few faint blue sparks, and her suit took the hit. She threw a Kunai at the gear mechanism of the trap, locking it in place while she inspected her shiny new frame. A line of black soot had been drawn directly across her breasts, a thin layer of metal had been melted and resolidified as silvery drips.

 

"Great.....Just Great" she muttered, wiping off her chest as best she could. "Not one single enemy yet, and im already damaged goods. I bet this never happens to the guys with Prime frames....they always seem so clean". She walked over to the laser trap, now stuck solid and boring a hole into the wall, and yanked its power supply free, then dropped it beside the trap as its laser stopped. She kept moving foward, a bit more alert now.

 

A couple rooms later, she caught sight of two corrupted Crewmen standing on either side of a gnarled white tree. "Time to test this baby out." she thought to herself as she pulled her Acrid pistol from its holster. She had recently changed it from compressed air to magnetic propulsion, in an attempt to silence it. She took aim very carefully for the back of one Crewman's head. With one squeeze of the trigger, a faint sigh was heard as the bolt passed through the air and a small *Thunk* was heard as the dart buried itself into the Head casing of the corpus grunt. Less than 2 seconds later her enemy crumbled to his knees, then fell face first onto the polished Orokin floor. His body was mostly melted in the blink it took for his patrol partner to join him on the floor. 

 

Zel reloaded her Acrid, wincing at the squishing noises. It was louder to Reload than fire now, an issue that Zel was already thinking of how to eliminate. The next few rooms were the same story of silent death. Zel had no intentions of going what she called "Full Trogdor" unless she absolutely had to. The sheer energy it took to focus her suits power into controllable flames could easily exhaust her before her frame's energy ran out. Not to mention the fact that she would have to listen to Tyranthius complain about the smell again. She trusted him with her life, no doubt, but the man was absolutely infuriatingly annoying. Aigloblam was the only one who never seemed to be angry at him anymore. She meant to ask him about that next time she could.

 

She was suddenly pulled from her thoughts by the lights. They dimmed down almost to total darkness for a moment, then came back to full power. A bolt of fear shot down her spine, as thoughts of the dreaded Stalker flashed through her mind. The fear heightened her senses, as memories of her fallen friends sprang to mind. Faces swam through her head, each of them brought the pain of loss to a new level. Then something new awoke in her. Her Fear and Grief turned to Anger. Bright seething anger that made her whole body tremble. The ivory white tree she had been standing beside suddenly burst into flame. The thought of the Stalker had once been enough to keep her awake at night, Now she wanted nothing more than to see him, to smell the stench of his burning flesh.

"You will not take me!" she screamed, dropping her Acrid into its holster. Her Zorens appeared in her hands, the huge rubedo blades glowing faint red as she spun around, looking in all directions for her prey. She screamed again, no words this time, simply a guttural challenge to the hunter of Tenno. 

 

She picked up vibrations in the floor, as four chargers galloped into the room. Without even thinking, for she was beyond thought now, she cut them down as they leaped toward her. Their slimy blood splattered onto the metal plates of her suit and soon fell off as smoking ash. Zel was snarling inside her mask.

 

More vibrations. This time a flood of Corrupted pushed into the room. Zel took two quick strides toward the oncoming hoard, dropping to one knee and shoving off the ground, hard. She slid between the legs of a Towering Corpus Tech, her Zorens slashing out in all directions as she slid. Several corrupted dropped to the ground, their legs severed at the knees. She rose up in the middle of the group and let out a blast of heat, creating a ring of fire that turned the weaker enemies into nothing but smoldering ruins. The superheated air instantly caught the rest of the group ablaze, and they stumbled around mindlessly with their bodies engulfed in tongues of fire. She dispatched each enemy with one quick chop to the back of the neck, the giant rubedo blades biting deep. When they were all dead, she turned her rage once again to the Stalker.

"Come get me you cowardly bastard!" came her roar again, her voice scratchy with strain. She never noticed the pack of 8 ancients that had crept into the room, their strides were slow and calculated. They smelled Tenno, They were a terrible combination of Angry and Hungry.

 

Zel caught movement in her peripheral vision, and with a cry of anger sprung at the vague shape. She bounced off the Toxic Ancient like it had been a brick wall. She felt the acidic cloud penetrate her shields and frame without so much as a half second delay. Her lungs started to burn, and she felt her skin start to prickle, like being jabbed by a thousand needles all at once. With a grunt of effort and pain, Zel rolled backward and threw one of her Zorens. It flew awkwardly through the air, before stabbing deep into the throat of the Toxic Ancient. It fell, letting Zel see the approaching crowd of Ancients behind their dying comrade. She counted 7 of them in the room, but a panel had opened up in the wall and there were countless more behind that. She had never seen so many at once, this was far beyond what any single Tenno could be expected to deal with.

 

Distracted by the sheer numbers of her attackers, A long tentacle shot out from behind Zel, knocking her to the ground. In an instant she was surrounded by the Ancients. Her shields were exhausted almost instantly from repeated blows. She fired her Acrid from her back and was astounded to see a Healer take a full clip to the chest and remain standing. Zel tried to crawl away, using her last two shield recharge packs, only to find herself a meager 5 feet from where she started. Her body had already taken a beating, bent pieces of her armor sticking out at odd angles.

 

The lights flashed again. The final dam holding back her fury broke. She was Valkyrne, She was A Survivor, and she would not go out like this. She kicked to her feet, her remaining Zoren falling to the floor. Every fiber of her being vibrated with uncontrollable rage. Zel called her last remaining weapon into the fight. 

 

The air around the Tenno shimmered with heat as her hands sprang out to her sides. As she bent slightly at the knees, the tips of her fingers flared white hot, then the glow flashed up her arms. The Ancients felt the consuming flames, but were hell bent on the destruction of this little girl. They never heard the whispered name of her dead teacher, they never felt the grief that burned hotter than any flame.

 

As the heat rose higher and higher, the closer ancients turned to ash, the floor started to glow white hot, and a tortured scream rose from Zel. She had never felt like this. Her suit's energy had already been exhausted, yet she continued to burn. Temperature readings of 4600*C flashed on her HUD, Warning lights blinked in front of her closed eyes, Yet she burned on. The room was now filled with white light intense enough to blind anything that dared to look inside. Superheated air blasted out of the doors and down the hallways, incinerating other corrupted before they knew something was amiss. The floors and walls started to melt, and the ceiling wasn't far behind. Drops of molten exotic metals rained down onto the floor. Then with a final soundless explosion of light, everything became silent.

 

II. 2 Hours Later

 

A ship docked to the Orokin ship, as it floated in the void. A team of four Tenno walked out in formation, clearly veterans, and clearly ready for anything. Tyranthius knelt down and ran a fingertip across the floor. He brought it up to examine and was confused to see it coated in black soot and grey ash. He turned and nodded to Crowley and Igilblix. Crowley raised his arms and Nano-Ghosts popped into being, then raced off through the ruined ship. "They'll find her" he said, trying to sound reassuring. Igilblix stomped off down a hallway, his Rhino frame casually shoving aside debris weighing several tons.

 

Aigloblam said in a low growl "If he has hurt her, im going to ki-"
 

"Eat him?" Tyranthius finished, adding "Yeah, with a side of fries. Im getting really tired of the guy"

 

Aigloblam followed Igilblix down a corridor, finding the big Tenno trying to use a badly burned control pad to open a sealed bulkhead door. Aigloblam tapped the Rhino on his shoulder "Everything is fried here man.....I think you'll have to do it Your way". Igilblix nodded and pushed the Excalibur back a few feet, then ran at the door. In a blow that could bring down an Orokin Watch Tower, the door was sheared off its hinges and sent flying open, slamming against the wall and raising a cloud of ash. As Aigloblam speared across the floor toward the center of the room, Igilblix keyed up his communicator "We....We found her". Soon, the others crowded around Zel, while Aigloblam tried to get her out of the remains of her Warframe. Zel appeared to have fallen backwards, leaving her back fused to the then molten plates of the floor. The fingertips of her frame were gone, as were large areas of armor on her legs. Her ash covered skin looked gray, dead.

 

Zel awoke to pain and confusion. She opened her remaining eye, the other having been fried in its socket, and looked up at Aigloblam.

 

"He can't have me" Her voice was creaky and barely above a whisper. Aigloblam sighed deeply with relief, nothing could regrow her eye, but the rest of her, while badly burnt, could be restored. It would be a lengthy process, and very painful, but she proved that she had the strength to handle it.  Aigloblam picked up the small tenno girl. He carried her, naked and injured, very carefully back to the ship. Flanked by her powerful Tenno friends.

 

A great distance away, Outside the void, the Stalker's ship flew through the darkness of space. Inside, its cockpit smelled of singed flesh. The Stalker found it hard to breathe, He had barely gotten out in time, not fast enough to keep the superheated wind from scorching his lungs. He would easily heal from these wounds, but he had been more wounded by something he had never felt before, Something that was triggered by the pure rage he had felt as the girl had snapped. The Stalker had been afraid.





 

[Tyranthius]

Stories of Tyranthius? I'm gratified, but this thread isn't all about me. Now, this one continues where I left off last time, and then I'll see if I can make something new.

 

"We can't get in!"

 

A whole host of Tenno had gathered outside the dueling room. Inside the arena, the three were still engaged in combat. Unfortunately for all present, there was some sort of lockdown on the doors, one non-susceptible to usual deciphering methods. They were were quite free to watch, but they could not intervene.

 

*****

Inside, scythe met scythe as Tyranthius saved X from needing vertebral replacement. X returned the favor immediately; Ethers met throwing knives as they flew to puncture Tyranthius' lungs. Neither offered any words of thanks. They would be thanking each other endlessly if they tried. They stood with Tyranthius in the lead; he had the only sharp weapon between them that could match the Stalker's, and X's borrowed Ethers were better suited to a defensive, opportunistic style of combat. They had been fighting for what was probably five minutes, though it seemed to both that the fight would not end. There was only so much skill could do against overwhelming disadvantage on the cellular level.

 

Just then, the Stalker threw a cloaking grenade and vanished. The two tensed and stood back-to-back.

 

"I hate it when he does that", said X.

 

"We can't see him, he hits harder, and he's recharging his shields. What's there to enjoy?" came Tyranthius' reply. "You know we won't hold him indefinitely." It would have been different had they had all their weapons to hand, or at least their Warframes. 

 

"Oh, I know. We don't need to. We just need to do so until they", X said with a jerk of his head to the crowd outside the arena, " come help us."

 

"What are they waiting for, 'pretty please'? I think he's locked us in."

 

"Joy."

 

And the two rolled aside as a scythe raked the floor where they had stood moments prior.

 

*****

"Again!"

 

*CRASH*

 

"Again!"

 

*CRASH*

 

"Again!"

 

"Why don't you try doing it? My head hurts and its not giving way", snapped Igilblix, who was in a RHINO.

 

"Because I'm in an EXCALIBUR. They're not famous for head-ramming, you know", Aigloblam shot back.

 

They had been working on the door through different means. While the more technologically inclined elected to attempt a bypass on the unknown Cipher, every RHINO snorted in derision and told everyone how they would do it "as a real man should". Neither were making much headway.

 

 "Why did we buy the premium on those doors again?" said Igilblix, rubbing his head through his padded helmet.

 

Just then, the doors to the dueling room slid open and a young woman rushed in.

 

"Sorry I'm late. What can I do to help?" said Lucid, apprentice to Tyranthius of all people.

 

"Well, you're in a MAG. You might try Pulling these doors open", suggested Aigloblam.

 

She tried just that. The door groaned at each attempt, but wouldn't budge. "It's no good, need a more sustained Pull."

 

"Aren't MAGs built with safety limiters to prevent operators from doing just that?"

 

"Yeah. But I know a guy from assembly who taught me to..."

 

*****

 

As they clashed blades with the Stalker, they saw more people enter the dueling room.

 

"Isn't that your apprentice?" X asked as he turned knives away for the seventh time in four seconds.

 

"Yeah. Yours is up there too. But what's Lucid doing here?"

 

The answer came in the form of groaning metal, the sound of it being pulled apart, or at least an attempt to do such.

 

"She'll never manage it. We paid premium for those doors."

 

Tyranthius looked as he saw his apprentice fiddle with some workings on he helmet. "No. No, no NO, you idiot, you'll get yourself killed!"

 

*****

Outside, after she had finished making the required alterations, Lucid put aside her Ether Reaper. It had been a gift from her mentor when he saw the envious looks she gave to his Hate. Ignoring his soundless histrionics, she felt the power tense inside her.

 

Aigloblam, who could read lips rather well, said "He says you'll drain your own reactor after you deplete your suit's. He said that while cartwheeling, the show-off."

 

Lucid knew what he meant. All Tenno digestive systems weren't digestive systems so much as they were Technocyte bio-reactors. Self-sustaining, if not terribly efficient at times. You didn't need to eat, but you could if you wanted to.

 

She felt the power beginning to grow, and suddenly, reached out magnetically for the door.

 

*****

The door groaned. Not in bursts as she had previously, but a sustained moaning that set their teeth on edge. 

 

Desperately, Tyranthius screamed, "Lucid, stop! Do you hear me? You have to stop Pulling!"

 

The door groaned in a higher octave.

 

*****

Sweat dripped down her neck as Lucid Pulled with all her strength. She felt her 'Frame's power run dry and her own energy supplementing her Pull. She was almost there. She saw Tyranthius slashed down with a scythe. Her power surged.

 

*****

The door creaked a death cry, and exploded open. At once, Tenno rushed in and joined the battle. The Stalker's shields drained as he was shot, stabbed, slashed, and Falcon Punched by hordes of angry Tenno. In seconds he was gone in black smoke. 

 

X breathed a sigh of relief. "It's over."

 

Tyranthius, however, thought otherwise as he ran towards his fallen apprentice.

 

"Lucid!"

Edited October 1, 2013 by Tyranthius

[frostycmc]

Consciousness returned to Lucid at a snail's pace. As she woke, she took stock of her body. Nothing seemed too out of place, except for a widespread ache and a constant jabbing pain in her face. Her eyes flew open and saw Loki standing over her hospital bed, holding a sharp wooden stick in one hand. Upon seeing her awake, he smiled warmly... then started poking her in the face again.

 

"Cut that out!" She swatted his hand away. "Why do you even have that thing, anyway?"

 

"Oh, this here is my poking stick. I keep them stashed around the Dojo for poking emergencies."

 

She stared, not quite sure how to respond to that.

 

Loki walked around to the other side of the bed, where Tyranthius was sleeping in a chair. Lucid's heart sank as she noted the bandages covering her mentor. Luckily, none of the wounds were too serious, and she felt a small surge of pride knowing she was the reason for that. The pride was quickly replaced by annoyance as Loki began poking him with the stick.

 

"Hey Ty! Hey! Listen! Hey! Wake up! Hey!"

 

 

 

Anyone want to add me in game? Maybe do some void runs sometime?

[KittyShark]

ho man, reading all this. I gotta get back. You guys are helping me reignite my spark. here's a bit of a teaser.

 

 

 He stood outside the med bay where he could hear Loki annoying the apprentice girl. He snorted softly, finding their antics amusing though highly inappropriate. He supposed they couldn't be serious all the time... or ever in Loki's case. His black and gold Nekros frame stood still, an eerie guardian. He cracked open the door to check on them. After assuring himself all was well nd closing the door again he pulled out his preferred weapon; the Ether Reaper, black handled with silver trim and a transparent blade glowing a sickly green, almost toxic looking. He enjoyed simply looking at it, nearly entranced by the eegant and simple beauty of the high damage melee weapon. He wondered if he should tell them his name. He was part of their group now wasn't he? though he knew few if any Tenno he worked with knew his name and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Though few also ever asked him for his name. He had traveled from group to group, a loner among a gregarious society of insane killers. Deep down, he longed to find a group to call his own, one he could trust and would reciprocate that trust. One day he hoped silently. One day...

 

will perhaps add more later depending on my mood.

Edited September 16, 2013 by KittyShark

[khimera]

I alluded to a companion-like relationship between Crowley and Nova-Quinn so I decided to try making a short story where they take part in a mission together. Feel free to add on~

 

___________________________________

 

Staring out across the vast expanse between the next door and the current entrance to the docking room. Crouched behind the frame of the door, leaving it open for his ice-palette Dethcube to survey for nearby foes, Crowley took stock of his ammunition and weaponry. This had been a stealth mission to begin with so many of his Despair kunai were gone. His Hek, of course, had full ammunition as it was there merely for the case of brute force necessity. Tapping into the ocular link he could share with his sentinal Crowley observed the room as he remained completely hidden.

 

"Oh bugger..." He mumbled under his breath as well over a dozen enemy signatures registered in the visual sight of his viciously destructive sentinal. "Well...only one thing left in my tricks sleeve for this." Crowley had already depleted much of his energy and even with his regenerative aura it would take too long to recover what was needed for his shadows of the dead ability.

 

Raising two fingers to activate his comm-link, Crowley patched into his companion's normally erratic signal. "I require a distra-" No sooner had he started requesting a distraction than a massive explosion rocked the ship accompanied by a familiar cackling across the comm. "My sincere thanks. I will be returning to clear the bodies later."

 

"Awwww, but I wanted 'em to daaaance!" Came the high-pitched complaint from the only red-and-black nova to call her explosions 'cherry-flavored.'

 

"You still owe me from the last time I did that." Crowley replied as he stepped out into the docking area, heading across toward his target area. Taking his time the nekros-framed tenno held out his shotgun to the side as a straggler grineer lancer spotted him. With impeccable aiming the Hek blew half the grineer's upper body apart while Crowley kept walking without missing a beat. "I want fair compensation for my services."

 

"Fiiine -BOOM- we'll work something out, but gimme a discount cuz we're friends okay crow-crow?" A giggle punctuated another explosion as well as several curses in grineer dialect that Crowley kept censored in his translator.

 

Returning to the task at hand, Crowley activated the panel to reveal the captured orokin artifact they'd been requisitioned to retrieve. It didn't take long to grab it, digitizing the artifact and getting the extraction blip on his navigation map. Raising his fingers again, Crowley left the containment chamber. "Artifact retrieved, get to extraction."

 

"Are you doing Lotus imitations?"

 

"Unintended, just meet me there."

 

"Aye aye captain crunch!"

 

Shaking his head with a sigh, Crowley hefted his Hek over his shoulder. Nova-Quinn was certainly a handful, but she was a wonderful distraction.

[Tyranthius]

Waiting. Tyranthius knelt on the forest floor, his armor colored a deep, shifting green, with tones of brown. He was loath to part with his accustomed gray, but of course, this new color scheme blended in with vegetation and allowed him to conserve energy by not using Invisibility so often. His Snipetron Vandal was always green, and he brought no Sentinel. Lucid was using the Dethcube and he had never thought to build a Shade. It was redundant, he had told himself. 

 

He had been kneeling in that position for the better part of a day. When he had seen the details of his assignment, he had attached a powerful scope and suppressor to his rifle and had his 'Frame reluctantly recolored. He had wanted an assignment such as this for a long, long time. Then, he had dropped off several kilometers away from his target point and a full day before the target was supposed to pass by. He would only get one chance, and he did not enjoy finding a surprise tree in between his chosen point and the target. Maps only displayed so much.

 

He checked the time display on his vision. Three minutes. He went over the check one more time. Rifle, mods, vision, air pressure, humidity, escape route. Everything was in order. He smiled. There was nothing quite so satisfying as a job well done, except perhaps a steak of the same quality, with a side of potatoes. Focus, he told himself. The target would be passing by in a convoy, riding an antiquated rover-type vehicle. The windows would be armored, so he brought armor-piercing rounds. The target would be glowing bright orange on his display. Get there, wait, shoot orange blob, vanish from visible spectrum, run. Simple.

 

He heard the convoy approaching. He wasn't as far as he would like, but the atmosphere on this planet was not ideal for long-range shots. He would need to make do with half a kilometer. He saw the first vehicle and crouched lower. He waited until he'd seen the third vehicle, then he was Invisible. He was looking for the orange mark, when he cursed internally. He'd seen the orange mark, all right. It was in a heavy-armor cruiser type vehicle. Completely internalized, with mounted cameras in place of windows. Armor thicker than a Grineer skull. No bullet of any quality would punch through it.

 

Of all the things Tyranthius hated on missions, faulty information was perhaps the worst. He had once went to assassinate a target whom they told him had advanced technological weapon systems, and yet when he arrived the target was a light-armored blademaster with a stolen Skana. He didn't know who filed paperwork for the Lotus, but he would have gladly accepted missions with them as targets for free. He would just have to improvise.

 

Still Invisible, he ran towards one of the outlying scout enclosed-motorcycle-type vehicles. Satisfied that no one had a clear view of it, he knocked on the hull. The vehicle came to a stop and opened up, and with a swift kick from an Invisible foot, the pilot was knocked from the vehicle in to the forest. Tyranthius didn't bother to check the pilot; he was likely in a coma. He climbed into the bike and closed the top just as his Invisibility faded.

 

"Everything all right, number 6?" an indistinct voice said from the comm.

 

"All clear. Just thought I saw something", Tyranthius replied in perfect Grineer. He even got the degraded throat, years of screaming voice right, and the static would mask any difference. The others might use translators, but Tyranthius had decided that learning a new language was an excellent way to build discipline. That, and it was quite the sight when a Grineer marine heard himself cussed out in his own language. He drove in scouting patterns to keep up the charade, but he wasn't really concentrating. He had no contingency plan for this, and was acting largely on the fly. He had managed to procure an excellent new vehicle, but how this would lead to his assassinating the Grineer Ensign, he had no idea just yet.

 

He checked the storage of the motorcycle. A few standard Grineer grenades. Wouldn't punch through the armor of the cruiser. A few ammo boxes. Some nerve pain suppressants. He had to think of something. Almost a full tank of fuel. He saw that they were coming up to a bridge. They would be scouting ahead. Even from far away, he saw that the bridge was wide, easily able to hold the entire convoy. Though you never knew. The bridge was old, and was probably shoddily made due to corrupt officials.

 

Corruption...

 

Seized by sudden inspiration, he opened his gear pack. Alpha, Beta, and Stable. They were still there. Chemical agents derived from Infested tissue to combat the Fomorians. Tenno had been forbidden from carrying more than one type due to the risks of having multiple types of those agents in close proximity to each other, but Tyranthius was not one to follow rules very well. This would be poetic.

 

He drove further, still in scouting patterns, with one hand. The other was engaged in the delicate task of rigging plasma grenades and Corruptors to the fuel tank. A wire here, a balance there. He looked back and saw that the Ensign's cruiser was on the bridge. The fools that called themselves his support were riding in a formation far too loose to be of any protection. He attached a comm. rig to the one on the motorcycle. Then, he turned the vehicle around.

 

He heard shouts of surprise and protest. He screamed something about a steering malfunction, still in Grineer. The support tried to close ranks, but the bike was far too agile for them to close him off. He turned Invisible, opened the hatch from the back, leaped into the river below, still screaming, "I can't brake!"

 

*BOOM*

 

He wished he could have seen it. The impact would have pulled the wire in his rig, pulling the pins off the grenades, which were set to immediate detonation. Meanwhile, the Corruptors that had been sitting in the fuel tank would accelerate the blast, and as an added bonus, would also emit poisonous fumes. He heard the bridge collapse, but he was already far away.

 

"Great job, Tenno. Now get to extraction."

Edited September 17, 2013 by Tyranthius

[Piranah1]

I feel bad about abandoning you guys... :(

I wrote most of the next section the day after, but haven't gotten back to it before now. A combination of work, DnD, Warframe and discovering MtG... Forgive me!

 

Loving some of the things that have been happening in the tread while i've been distracted by the way.

 

In any case, here's the post i nearly wrote, with some broken quotes and two more paragraphs.

 

frostycmc, on 04 Aug 2013 - 2:44 PM, said:

I live somewhere in Arizona. That's all I'm willing to give out over the internet, anyway.

...

"Someone open a window!" We're in space!" "Who cares!?"

...

Some things never change...

 

Hahaha! Also, that's all i was expecting with location, just curious about general region/timezone.

 

And oh dear... I don't want to know ... But Nyx might.

 

Tyranthius, on 05 Aug 2013 - 09:36 AM, said:

...

I hope you don't mind me doing this, guys.

 

 No problem mate, co-op threads are fun, especially with things like that thrown into the mix.

 

Anyway then, shall we continue?

 

 

 

Some things never change...

 

Nyx dropped down, stumbling and gagging in the stench. "AH! Damnit Loki! Why? And for that matter, what?" She started to stagger over to the other side of the room, continuing. "Some kind of bio-weapon that Saryn discarded because it was too potent? For that matter, how are you still breathing? AND WILL YOU STOP LAUGHING!"

 

Loki reappeared in front of her, his body shaking with his hysterical cackling. "To answer you questions," he gasped, in between shakes, "or why, I did it because I wanted to try it out. And also to see your reaction. As for what, that can wait until later. Also, as for my immunity, I have noseplugs made out of the same stuff as our warframes. Want some?"

 

"YES!" Cried Nyx. "Please!" Loki nodded. "Excellent, you should probably try to find some then," he said, his laughter finally dying down, "but for the moment, i would have thought you would want to just destroy the machine and get out of here, yes?"

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nyx returned her Orthos to her back, turning away from the destroyed mining machine and preparing to dive through the stench. "Come on already!" called Loki, standing in the middle of the corridor up ahead, nest to the corpses. "It's not like it'll kill you! Well, probably...". Nyx glared at Loki, started to hold her breath, and dived into the stench. It permeated her nostrils even so. She made it to where Loki was standing before having to gasp for air, which turned into a choke. "LOKI!" she gasped. "Yes?" he replied, in his most innocent voice. "Is there anything i can help you with?".

 

Nyx decided that she really wanted to kill Loki. However, the Lotus would not be happy. So she decided on a compromise. Still gagging from the stench, bent over next to Loki, she burned a small amount of energy and reached out with her mind in two directions - towards his skull and into her own. She quickly found what she was looking for in both brains, and flared her energy, burning up the last of her reserves from her small reactor.

 

"AHHHHH" cried Loki. "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!"

 

"I linked our nasal receptors." she said, "Anything I smell, you smell. Tenfold.". She flared her nostrils and took a deep sniff for as long as possible before breaking out in a fit of coughing. "Enjoying it?"

 

 

Nyx strikes back. :3

Edited September 17, 2013 by Piranah1

[frostycmc]

Ahahaha! I love it when people get creative in their pranks! Nice job Piranah, but of course you know, this means war. :)

 

 

The first thing Nyx noticed upon waking was that it was cold. The second was that she couldn't move. Clamping down on her panic, she opened her eyes to find her familiar room in the dojo. She frowned as she realized her sheets were tucked under her mattress, pinning her to the bed. Something else was off, but her groggy brain couldn't quite tell what.

 

A moments struggle released her from her bed... and sent her crashing to the floor. Bewildered, She glanced up to see that all her furniture had been nailed to the ceiling. Nyx groaned and decided to deal with it later, after freshening up a bit. she walked into her bathroom and saw that her mirror had been replaced with a distorted funhouse version that made her look fat.

 

She closed her eyes and counted to ten. After a hot shower, which was nice after the red food coloring in the shower head ran out, she picked up her blow dryer.

 

POOF

 

Coughing, she waved away the cloud of flour, which was quickly becoming uncomfortable on her wet skin. Her eye twitched. When she got her hands on him...

 

 

 

After another shower, she went out to the docking bay to begin the day's mission... only to stop dead when she saw her ship. It was covered, top to bottom, in toilet paper. 'Fine,' She thought to herself. 'The paper will be destroyed by space dust when I hit FTL speed anyway'

 

Nyx opened the door to her ship... and was promptly buried under a mountain of garbage.

 

 

"LOOOOKIIIIII!!!!!!!!" 

Edited September 17, 2013 by frostycmc

[frostycmc]

Excalibur turned to face the Initiates as their ship connected to the Grineer transport.

 

"This will be your first time in the field. Remember, this is a team exercise. Anya, Lucid, you two will disable the shields around the artifact while me and Ajkrumen defend it long enough for you to meet up with us. Then we all head to the extraction point together. Any questions?"

 

The girls shook their heads. They had become good friends ever since their mentors faced off against the Stalker, and they were confident in their ability to work with each other.

 

"Good. We aren't expecting anything too difficult, but if you run into any trouble, swallow your pride and contact us. Both of us will be ready to help if you need it."

 

"Docking is complete." Ajkrumen stated. "You girls run along now."

 

The Initiates shared a look of pure excitement before rushing out the door.

 

The elder Tenno waited a moment before going the opposite direction.

 

"You know," Ajkrumen spoke. "there is no way in hell those two are asking for help, right?"

 

"That is why I programmed a Shade to follow them, just in case." Excalibur replied.

[Craven287]

Just another routine mission.

 

 

He just dropped down from his snub, ready for action. Ready for his mission, an assassination.

Lotus on his comm channel. "You've got your target, ensure he dies. A routine assignment."

He responded. "Eliminate target, thin enemy forces. Simple."

"Don't be overconfident. We've lost more Tenno that way."

"Don't worry, I'll take care." He closed comms.

 

His name is Galen. The Hunter, some called him.

For when he had an assignment, he would follow the trail anywhere.

When the hunt came to an end, so did the target.

The last thing his target would see was an arrow, bullet or blade incoming at speed.

 

His equipment for this task was the usual set, his bow, Paris, a couple throwing knives and an Orthos.

After a few jumps up and down to check everything was secure, no rattling or clinking, he took his bow, nocked an arrow, and went in.

 

The first few minutes were just like always. One or two Grineer a room, patrolling in circles.

Arrow, knife or blade took care of the first few guards.

He approached a door, bow at the ready, when his radar went off. There were atleast a dozen Grineer in the next room.

Carefully, he stepped away from the door, shouldered the bow, scaled some crates and went into the ventilation, silent and still undetected.

 

Passing a hatch, he looked down, saw every Grineer in the room look up at the hatch. Like they were warned...

Assault rifles kicked into life, bullets before and behind him. Choreographed. He couldn't advance or retreat.

When a hail stopped because of an empty magazine, another let loose bullets, every new salvo coming closer to him.

He wasn't given half a second to attempt moving further. Smiling grimly, so far for a routine mission, he thought.

 

When a heavy gunner moved into side, gun raising to the hatch, he decide to act.

Kicking down the hatch, which fell on a Grineer's head, he jumped down, Orthos in hand.

The fall down, combined with the razor sharp blade, cut Grineer and hatch perfectly down the middle.

A half circle swipe took care of another two.

 

Nine left, not including the heavy gunner.

He made a jump for the nearest object which looked like cover, slid behind it, and drew a couple of throwing knives.

Should have known better, routine is always the first to die at enemy contact, he thought. Knives flew.

Three Grineer went down in as many seconds.

 

Six and the heavy. Drawing his bow again, he nocked an arrow, jumped out of cover, let go, and rolled behind some boxes the other side of the room.

Another arrow, then he shouldered the bow while drawing a knife with the other hand.

Three and the heavy still standing.

He drew the Orthos, took a breath, sprang up, and charged at them.

 

The closest got disemboweled, slashed while he ran past.

He jumped, stabbed a surprised looking Grineer in the face while in the air.

He kicked himself away, and went for an aerial decapitation.

Just the heavy gunner left.

 

Running, sliding, sliding slash to the heavy's legs, who fell down.

Intending to end this with a blade to the ribs, the blade got blocked by the heavy's gun.

A foot to the face got that obstacle out of the way, clearing a path for the Orthos.

Blade in the stomach,, taken out, half spin, the other blade entering the face.

 

That was that, blood wiped from the blades, and back on his back. The beeping radar came a little too late.

The next room held a dozen guns pointing at him, standing in the doorframe.

Suddenly, he became smoke and appeared everywhere and nowhere at once.

Grineer after Grineer fell, stabbed to death, one by one.

 

Deciding stealth was the best course of action while waiting for his energy reserves to replenish, he went into the ventilation.

After a couple minutes of crawling, not encountering anything, this didn't feel good.

Strange, he thought. A ship like this, two dozen just near where I entered, rest of the ship empty...

His waypoint updated to 30 meters, just behind a door. Good, he thought while reaching for his bow. Better take care of this and get the hell out.

 

"Where is everyone? Someone report in, NOW!"

Galen froze, arrow ready. Another Grineer, just past the door. A cloud of smoke, and he went in.

He stood behind what seemed like the last Grineer on board. Who else but the target?. Bow raised, arrow nocked, drawing back.

Mission nearly complete.

 

"Report, damn it. What happened, did he..." the sentence remained unfinished.

"Boo". The target spun around, eyes wide, looking at his face. Galen saw shock, which turned to fear upon seeing the arrow pointed for a heart.

He let fly the arrow, the target's armor pierced like wet paper.

The target looked at the arrow impaling him. Fear turned to indignation as he fell to the ground.

 

Done. Half a quiver, nearly out of knives, Orthos scratched, but done.

Shield and energy were recharging as he headed to extraction.

His comms went active. "Good work, now head to your shuttle." Did the lights flicker for a second?

"That's the plan. Though it wasn't exactly rou" his comms emitted a near deafening screech, and he closed down as fast as possible.

 

"I know your every move, Galen."

"What the,  I closed comms. What's this..."

"There is no salvation for your crimes"

"Just following orders. You don't like it, go see the judge. I'm just the executioner."

 

"I am your reckoning!"

"Reckoning? More like prey if you don't get out of here fast..."

Bow drawn back, he stepped into the next room, a cloud of smoke at the opposite door, behind which, his snub was waiting.

A figure in black stepped out of the smoke, also wielding a drawn bow. At the exact same moment, they both let loose.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Craven287

[Ajkrumen]

"Alright, let's get this over with." 

 

"Don't be so cold-hearted!"

 

"The ride here would've been easier if you didn't fill all of the ships with garbage, Loki."

 

"Ahaha!"

 

Ajkrumen begrudgingly went ahead into the huge clearing with the notorious Tenno prankster, when a platoon of Corrupted rushed out of the door.

Already having his ever-present Reaper Prime in hand, Ajkrumen began cleaving his way through the brainwashed enemies. Loki went invisible and was hurling knives into the swarm of enemies. As soon as they went through the door, they were pinned down by even more enemy fire. Ajkrumen, assuming that Loki was among the pillars above, began to wade through the horde, channeling his energy. Focusing that energy into a massive avalanche, he froze his enemies and shattered them with a wave of his hand as he caught glimpses of Loki dancing among the crowd cackling as he killed off each of the Corrupted. As soon as that room was cleared, they charged into the next room bracing for another assault. Seeing no enemies, they stopped in their tracks, weary of any traps. As Ajkrumen carefully navigated the room, Loki was strolling along activating anything he could. Ducking under a laser that nearly sheared his head off, Ajkrumen once again regretted that he took this assignment. 

 

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Alright, that's all I have for now. I'm going to continue this story later when I have more potato chips. Or when I have a couple more ways to describe our run. I have the ending all thought out, I just need to fill in the middle. Stay frosty, frosty. :3

[frostycmc]

A word of advice: Never post the first draft to a work. Write the basics down, then go back and edit to add some excitement. 

 

Example:

 

Loki shot an explosive barrel to blow up some Grineer.

 

After a few edits:

 

Loki slid to cover as he reloaded his Soma, a dozen angry Grineer breathing down his neck. The trickster chose his moment well, popping out of cover as their guns clicked empty and firing a single shot. 

 

"Ha! You missed Tenno!" A lancer taunted.

 

"Wait for it!" Loki called.

 

The lancers looked around in confusion before one spotted a barrel leaking explosive fuel. That was on fire.

 

"OH SHI-" BOOM!

 

 

 

This also gives you a chance to catch any typos. I usually have a few ideas in my head at the same time, and I always look for a way to combine them. I'll write one down, then go back two days later and add to it. Sometimes I get a good story, other times a Frankenstein's monster. But that's a risk any artist makes.

 

Off topic am I the only one who loves this song? 

Edited September 19, 2013 by frostycmc