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[Fanfiction] Syndication

Kalenath

By Kalenath,
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Kalenath

Kalenath

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I'll just set up the ticket booth over here.

 

*A dark voice sounds from the shadows*

 

'Don't forget my percentage of the proceeds.'

 

A dark and sinister female voice sounds.

 

'Mine too.'

 

A pitch black Nekros strides into view. He looks around and then at the shadows. Two loud gulps sound and Nikis leaves without a word. Both other voices chorus.

 

'HE CAN HAVE IT ALL!'

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Kalenath

Kalenath

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Since everyone has been so good about this, AND it is the holidays AND I need some good cheer atm...

 

I got ahead of myself. Enjoy.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Reunions

 

Mishka wasn't fully asleep, but she wasn't fully awake either. She was... confused. Confused and scared. Her mind...wasn't working right. She had known that there was no way out for her except to do as the Reverend Mother had asked. To let the Corpus program her. It... didn't hurt. Nothing did now. But there was the underlying.... sense.

 

You serve the Company.

 

She shook her head savagely. That wasn't right. She wasn't...

 

"Easy." Mishka went still. She didn't know the voice. She cracked her eyes and a man was sitting by her bed. No, a Tenno. He wore no warframe but the feeling was Tenno. It wasn't any Tenno she knew. He smiled a little as he saw her eyeing him. "You are a mess, girl. But your mom will put you right."

 

Mishka stared at the man and then around. She was in an ICU, hooked up to many machines. She couldn't feel anything below her neck. It was odd, the man was... unremarkable. Nothing about him pulled the attention. His hair was dark, cut short in a traditional Tenno style. His face... Something plucked her memory, but she couldn't keep the fragment of memory in her forebrain and it vanished. She didn't think she knew him.

 

"Where am I?" Mishka asked slowly, confused. Did she know this man? He wasn't familiar. Was he?

 

"You are in the medical center of a refurbished Orokin communications relay." The man said with a nod. "You are very well trained. Not that I would have expected any less from your mom." He smiled. "You are scared and confused but you don't show it. Good girl." He patted her hand. She didn't feel it.

 

"Who are you?" Mishka asked.

 

"It's best you don't know too much, Mishka." The man said softly. "You mom and I have... disagreements." He said in a tone of profound understatement. "She is true Tenno, that is to say, stubborn as a plate of bedrock." There was... no insult in his voice. More... admiration?

 

"You know my mom?" Mishka said. "I... No... They did something to me... I... I can't..." She squeezed her eyes shut as the feeling inside her rose to a crescendo again. Music was swelling, it was beautiful, but she had to fight it. She had to. Then...something pushed it back. It seemed to come from her hand. The hand the strange man held in his now. She couldn't feel his fingers on hers. She should have been afraid of him. But she wasn't. Odd. "I... I can't stop it..."

 

"I know." The man said sadly. "They may have meant well, they may not have. I gave up trying to figure humans out a long, long time ago." He sighed. "I think I can help, Mishka. But it will take your mom. And the moment she sees me, she will hit the roof. I Have deserved it for almost as long as you have been alive.." Mishka stared at him and then her eyes went big as realization struck. There was only one male Tenno who could possibly have her mother so angry for so long... All of Mishka's life... "Yeah." He said softly.

 

"You..." Mishka felt her eyes start to burn. "You are..."

 

"Yes. I am your dad. But... I gave up any claim I might have had when I left, Mishka." The man said quietly. "Iriana and I...had a fight. I left. I left and I didn't look back. The time I spent with her was... marvelous. The best time I have had in a long, long time. But I had something I had to do and she didn't want to come with me. She wanted you. Looking back? She made the right choice." He patted her hand again. She could see him do it, but not feel it. "You are special. Not for your genetics, not for your parentage, or for anything that can be quantified by science. For who you are."

 

"I don't understand. Mishka said softly. "I... My brain is hurt. Is that why I don't understand?" She asked.

 

"No." The man said with a small smile. "You won't see it, Mishka. You are too close. But anyone else who sees you will. Can you call your mom? I warn you... She will be very upset."

 

"She... doesn't talk about you." Mishka said softly.

 

"Figured. I hurt her very badly when I left." The man said with a sigh. "I deserve her anger, but... I had something I had to do. A quest I have to finish." He held up the hand that was not holding Mishka's. "As soon as she enters, the door will lock and the soundproofing will activate."

 

"Will you hurt her?" Mishka begged. "Please don't."

 

"I won't." He grimaced. "She is far more likely to hurt me. And I deserve it. But I can help. The music will not go away on its own. The Clergy do not just let people go. That old witch covers all the angles."

 

"She...seemed nice." Mishka said softly. "Was that a lie?"

 

"I don't know, Mishka." The man said quietly. "The thing about spies..." He shook his head. "Lying is their job. How do you know when a spy is lying? You can't. It is what they do. Maybe it was the truth. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know. You are alive and that is a good thing. But they put controls inside your mind. That is a bad thing. I think I can help your mom get rid of them. Which is also a good thing. But she will be very angry with me. Call her? Please." He asked. "I swear to you, by Blood and by Steel, I will not harm her."

 

"I don't know why..." Mishka said softly. "But I believe you." She turned her head a bit and hit a switch with her chin. "Mom?"

 

"Mishka?" Iriana's voice from the intercom was concerned. "You are awake?"

 

"Yeah." Mishka said softly. "The music is... overpowering. I can't sleep."

 

"I will be there in a moment." Iriana promised. Mishka looked at the man sitting beside her and he smiled sadly as his free hand came up over her...and a green mist fell from it. Her eyes were huge as she fell asleep.

 

"I won't hurt her. And you don't want to hear this..." The man said softly as he laid Mishka's hand back down. He turned to the door as it opened and Iriana hustled in her face worried.

 

"Mish-?" She asked, then her gaze landed on the man. She froze. "You..."

 

"Hello Iriana." The man said as he rose from the chair. Iriana recoiled, slamming into the door that had closed behind her. "The door is locked and the soundproofing is activated."

 

"Of all the... lousy.. good for nothing..." Iriana snarled, then hit her com. "Security alert!" She screamed. There was no response. She stared at her com and then at the bed. "What have you done, Kat?"

 

"I wanted to make sure we were not interrupted. She is asleep, no more." The man said calmly. "I wronged you, all those years ago. I should have gone back, said something. But I didn't. I wronged you. I wronged her." He sighed. "I can't undo what I did. But I can help now."

 

"Why now?" Iriana demanded. "Now of all times?"

 

"I heard she was hurt. Programmed." Her one time mate said softly. "I have some... very odd contacts. One of them gave me a code that they swore was the command protocols for Mishka's programming." Iriana went still and the man nodded. "As soon as  I got it, I knew I had to come."

 

"And what do I have to pay for it?" Iriana snapped. "My life? My heart? My soul? You took all of those when you walked, Kat."

 

"If it is the right code, you can help her and that is all I want." The man nodded at her dumbfounded expression. "Iriana, I was never a healer. You are. You helped me, you made me better. But you couldn't save me. I couldn't stay with you when you kept the kid. I couldn't."

 

"Why?" Iriana screamed. "You never said why!"

 

"And I can't. I am sworn." The other replied. "Iriana, please... see if the code works. If it does, I walk away and you never see me again. I just... if I can help, for once in my life, I want to do the right thing, knowing it is the right thing. She is your daughter, not mine. But... I don't want you hurt any more than you have been. Losing her to the Clergy will hurt you. And you are losing her!" The entreaty in his voice was palpable.

 

"I..." Iriana shook her head. "Do you swear not to seek her out?"

 

"I swear it, Iriana." The other replied. "By Blood and by Steel, by the First and by the Code, I swear never to seek your daughter. I came to help. No more. She is your daughter, not mine. I gave up any claim when I left. When I forced you to choose between her and me." His face split in a rueful grin. "You made the right choice."

 

"Give me the code." Iriana said fiercely. He held out a small piece of plastic with alphanumeric characters inscribed on it. She glanced at it, most of her focus on the male Tenno who remained still. "This... looks right. How did you get this?"

 

"You do not want to know." The Tenno she called Kat replied. "No one will come after you though. If anything... they will come after me." He snorted in sour humor. "And if they do? I wish them luck."

 

"They will need it." Iriana said slowly. "I... looked for you...after."

 

"I know." Kat replied. "Iriana, you have a life, a family and people who love you. I... am not who you needed. What I did was wrong. But you are stronger for it. Help your daughter."

 

They both jumped as the door suddenly cracked inward, the head of a massive hammer showing as someone slammed the Fragor through the door.

 

"IRIANA!" Karl screamed as he hit the door again.

 

"Ah hell... I did love you, Iriana." The male Tenno said as he knelt. "Part of me always will." Iriana's eyes went huge as his form was suddenly encased in red and black armor and Stalker... vanished in a puff of black smoke.

 

The door gave way under the infuriated Rhino's smashing and he ran into the room, Nikis and others of his clan hot on his heels. He stared around and then darted to where Iriana stood, staring at where Stalker had just been.

 

"Iriana!" Karl snapped as Alicia moved to check Mishka. "Are you okay?"

 

"No." Iriana said, her eyes streaming tears now. "No, I am not..."

 

"How did he get in here?" Nikis snapped. "What did he do?"

 

"He gave me this..." Iriana clutched the plastic. "He... said it was the code to Mishka's programming."

 

"He what?" The incredulous chorus went around the room.

 

"He said... His name was... Katsler..." Iriana said, her mouth hanging open. "I called him Kat... He... I..."

 

"Iriana..." Nikis said slowly. "You knew him." It wasn't a question. He pulled her into a gentle embrace as Alicia moved to scan her.

 

"Yeah..." Iriana swallowed hard and then she was sobbing as Nikis held her. "He is Mishka's dad."

 

"Oh... S#&$..." Another chorus.

 

Titan

 

Janet lay in her pool and sighed. This was not going to be fun. She focused hard and pushed her mind elsewhere. She wasn't as practiced making virtual environments as a Tenno would be, but it was functional, if not pretty. Then she wasn't alone.

 

'...and you didn't bother to tell us?" Serene was not -quite- screaming. Nikis was swearing up a storm as Karl and Alicia both stood, glaring at Iriana who stood in the middle of the group, sobbing. "What the-...?" The female Tenno said as she realized that she and the others had been yanked into a virtual world.

 

"Shut up, Serene." Janet said fiercely as she strode to where Iriana was crying. Here, she had no physical limitations. It was all in the mind and her mind was powerful. She pulled the healer into a hug and held her as Iriana sobbed. "She didn't know. Neither did I. Not until just now. He hides from my sight almost as cleanly as he hides from yours." All of the other Tenno froze at that. "Iriana... Hey..." She rubbed the sobbing Healer's healer gently. "It's okay. It's okay, Healer."

 

"He... Mishka's dad... is Stalker..." Iriana sobbed into Janet's shoulder. "It is not okay! Hurting me... was one thing! But...that?" Serene stared from Janet to Iriana and back, her face a study of shock. Then it changed to compassion.

 

"You have had a hell of a shock, Iriana." Janet said quietly. "Seeing your mate again after so long was bad enough. But that..." She hugged the sobbing Healer tight.

 

"He... He left..." Iriana could not stop crying. "I looked for him. He was... so hurt. I helped, but..."

 

"What happened, Iriana?" Nikis sounded... No, not calm. No, he sounded genuinely worried. For her.

 

"It was..." Irina was calming under Janet's soft touch. "Twenty years ago. He told us to call him 'Kat'. We found him, at the colony. Obviously a Warrior. Hurt. Bad. It took him years to recover from his injuries. There was an investigation, but no one could figure out where he came from. He said he was sworn not to say. I was... a student. Not even an intern. We met... we talked. He was nice..." She bowed her head "...and he is Stalker!" She screamed. No one else spoke as Janet soothed her again. "He... I..."

 

"You talked." Nikis said softly. "And it went further." Iriana did not reply, just buried her face in Janet's shoulder, screaming out her rage and frustration. Janet just held her. "Then Mishka came and the deadbeat left." He sighed. "And I thought I hated him before."

 

"I didn't know..." Iriana sobbed.

 

"How could you?" Serene asked softly as she stepped closer, her hand moving to Iriana's arm, stroking it gently. "I am sorry, Iriana. I was afraid for you. Then... So angry."

 

"Not as angry as I am!" Iriana snapped. "That... That lying cheating piece of crap! I... He just leaves and then bam he is back! I..." She shook herself savagely. "Janet... I..."

 

"The code is legit." Janet said quietly. Her words silenced the room. "It will allow access to the programming in Mishka's mind. All of it. It will take time to remove the programming, but you will be able to."

 

"How did he get it?" Karl asked slowly.

 

"He ambushed the Reverend Mother and he wasn't gentle." Janet said dryly. Everyone stared at her and she snorted. "Yeah. I can't tell if she meant well or if it was a plot. With her? It could have been either. Or both. My own feelings are messed up about her. But only a fool trusts her. Even her agents know that. She is pragmatism personified."

 

"She pulled information from Mishka, didn't she?" Iriana said into the silence that fell. Janet nodded. "I... I am sorry..."

 

"For what?" Nikis demanded. "That you didn't put an anti-interrogation protocol inside your kid? Iriana, what happened to Mishka is not your fault. We will deal with this." He patted her arm a bit awkwardly.

 

"How?" Iriana swallowed hard. "I mean... if she knows about Avalon..."

 

"Knowing about it and getting to it are two completely different things." Karl said as he relaxed. "Right now, focus on Mishka, Iriana. We will handle the rest as it happens. Tend your daughter. Your daughter. Not his."

 

"He said the same." Iriana said weakly. "I... part of me wanted him back. Still does... I... But... he..." She was crying again. "We can't keep this quiet, can we?"

 

"No." Nikis said sadly. "It will get out sooner or later. And when it does... Mishka will be vulnerable."

 

"No, she won't." Janet said fiercely. "Nikis... Jasmina and Elenia have offered. Even Stalker steps carefully around those two. And you." She said with a smile. He snorted agreement. "So take them up on it. Mishka is Tenno, she can ward her mind. Not be subsumed. They can keep her from being infected while she heals. She will need help coming to terms with this... sudden revelation. So will you, Iriana." Iriana just bowed her head. "You need a vacation anyway. Spend it with your daughter." The others looked at her and she flushed. "This is not the Oracle speaking. This is a woman who was a mother. Please, Iriana, don't give in. We need you. We all do."

 

"Janet..." Iriana buried her face in Janet's shoulder again, sobbing.

 

"Go on, Iriana." Janet said kindly. "Go tend your daughter. But know this, you are not alone anymore. You are not a single mom struggling to make ends meet and raise your daughter right anymore. You have friends and family."

 

She hugged Iriana again and then let the healer go. Serene and Nikis took her. Both nodded to Janet and then they vanished. Karl and Alicia bowed to the Oracle and then they too vanished.

 

Only after they were gone, did Janet speak again.

 

"A father's love can be no less strong than a mother's, if often expressed differently." Her words were calm, but her eyes were flashing. "Show yourself." She did not react as a part of the wall came alive.

 

"You knew I was here the whole time." Stalker said calmly. "You left it open. Why?"

 

"Because you needed to hear that. I am only going to say this once." Janet might have been carved from stone. "You will leave them alone. Iriana and Mishka have suffered. And now they will suffer because of you." Stalker nodded. Janet scoffed. "I trust you as far as I trust the Reverend Mother. Not at all. She is a Machiavellian witch and you? You are on a one way trip to hell. Your 'vengeance' will only -can only- end one way." Stalker nodded again.

 

"I know." Stalker replied, still calm. "But... It wasn't meant to be that way. I had simply planned on looking. I wondered if any of my quarry were in that colony. None were. I never planned... on being hurt so badly. On finding her. Or any of the rest of this. But Mishka needed help." He sighed. "You have my word, Oracle. By Blood and by Steel. Iriana and Mishka will never see me again by my own actions. They are not my targets. They never were."

 

"Good." Janet retorted. "Because if they do see you again? It would take effort, but I can find you no matter how well you hide. And when I do? I will tell Sun and Nikis where." No threat this. A solemn promise.

 

"Understood. For what it is worth? Thank you, Oracle." Stalker bowed to her, formally. Then he vanished.

 

Janet sighed as she returned to her body. "Wasn't that fun...?" She stretched what she could and then threw her mind across time and space.

 

Lotus, I need to talk to Eliza. We have a problem...

 

Elsewhere

 

"Master, are you well?" The young acolyte was worried, but she controlled herself well. Stood to reason. Novices without control did not survive long. Not here, not now.

 

"I am well." The Tenno in robes said as he rose from his meditation. "We have... some difficulties ahead of us. Did they arrive?"

 

"Yes, Master." The acolyte said with a gulp. "They are... changing... Some things shouldn't happen. Not even to Red Veil scum." And what they were changing into...

 

"I warned the Council that angering the Caretakers was a bad idea, but no... they had to find out on their own... Pushing the Red Veil to attack the Clergy was a mistake." The robed Tenno sighed and patted her arm. "Go on, get back to class." She bowed and darted off. He shook his head. She was so like Mishka in some ways, but... not. Mishka was not... would not follow the girl's path. He was glad.

 

He stretched a little as he walked, the odd helmet on his head was off putting as always. The... flanges were... He had never liked the two huge flanges on either side of the helmet. Decorative, to be sure, but useless for anything else. In a fight, they would be dangerous, pulling enemy blows towards vulnerable areas instead of deflecting them away. He nodded to the others as he strode into the main hall.

 

"My personal business is done." He said formally. "I request to rejoin the Council."

 

"Take your place, Arbiter Kat." The High Arbiter said formally. "Welcome back. We have much to discuss. Much justice to dispense."

 

Oh, you have no idea... Stalker smiled inwardly as he knelt in his assigned place in the Arbiters of Hexis HQ. As a member of their High Council.

 

No idea at all...

 

Edited by Kalenath
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Kalenath

Kalenath

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You gave Stalker a LOT of development in this one...gave him a name, a daughter, a past relationship with Iriana.

 

Stalker is part of the arbiters.

 

 

And now i like him.

 

Katsler was an anagram of Stalker, but there was NO way for Iriana to know that.

 

She called him 'Kat' because Katsler was the name he gave when the docs at the colony had to call him SOMETHING. She was young, he wasn't. But they did like each other and then more. Alas, it didn't last.

 

But that DOES explain why Stalker showed up to help Mishka, doesn't it?

 

He can't now. Even without the oath he swore to Janet, Nikis and Sun will be watching. But Mishka will be safe with the Caretakers. She has a lot of healing to do.

 

And a lot to talk to her mom about.

Edited by Kalenath
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S3EK3R

S3EK3R

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That was an awesome ending and shed light on something I REALLY wanted to hear. I knew they "interrogated" Mishka and that she knew about Avalon. The "Revered Mother" knows. We need to get rid of her, or delete her memory concerning that and remove all evidence.

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ThePandarine

ThePandarine

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I don't think I will ever be able to walk into the Arbiters room on a relay normally ever again. Well done Kal, well done.

 

On a side note, would be interesting to see what the Clergy might do to try and access Avalon. And who would find out first if they are. My bets are Stalker going to have a talk with the Reverend Mother, followed by Sun and a squad of Tenno Intelligence, maybe Janet and for the coup de'grace Nikis with Karl and his clan in tow.

 

Oh, and throw in the Royal Guard and the Caretakers. Maybe the syndicates too :P

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Vahlak

Vahlak

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I don't think I will ever be able to walk into the Arbiters room on a relay normally ever again. Well done Kal, well done.

 

On a side note, would be interesting to see what the Clergy might do to try and access Avalon. And who would find out first if they are. My bets are Stalker going to have a talk with the Reverend Mother, followed by Sun and a squad of Tenno Intelligence, maybe Janet and for the coup de'grace Nikis with Karl and his clan in tow.

 

Oh, and throw in the Royal Guard and the Caretakers. Maybe the syndicates too :P

I don't think Stalker would care if they tried to go to Avalon... on that note, does Stalker even KNOW about Avalon?

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Shadow977

Shadow977

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Katsler was an anagram of Stalker, but there was NO way for Iriana to know that.

 

She called him 'Kat' because Katsler was the name he gave when the docs at the colony had to call him SOMETHING. She was young, he wasn't. But they did like each other and then more. Alas, it didn't last.

 

But that DOES explain why Stalker showed up to help Mishka, doesn't it?

 

He can't now. Even without the oath he swore to Janet, Nikis and Sun will be watching. But Mishka will be safe with the Caretakers. She has a lot of healing to do.

 

And a lot to talk to her mom about.

I first thought that calling Stalker "Kat" was a reference to Katakuna who wrote the "Stalker's Struggle" stories.(awesome stories btw)

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