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[Fanfiction] Motherhood


Kalenath
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Distorted Hypotheses

 

Jesse woke, her fear rising. But... she stilled. She was lying on something warm. She was covered by something warm. It took a moment for her to realize she was in the quarters she had been assigned in the Tower. It was... not quite right. She felt...wrong.

 

"Jesse?" Draco's voice came from the darkness and Jesse turned to look at her guard. Everything in the room was as it should be. But it felt...wrong.

 

"I dreamed again." Jesse said weakly. "And I don't remember it again. This is wrong, Draco." She gave a small sob. "I am sorry I have been so *@##$y but I am just so scared."

 

"It is not your fault, Jesse." Draco sounded worried. "You were hurt. You have a right to fear after everything that has happened." She was fading. Or the room was. Something pinged nearby and her guard was suddenly close enough to touch. "Jesse." He said firmly. "Stay awake!"

 

"So tired..." Jesse murmured. Her cheek suddenly stung and she snarled half heartedly as her guard drew back his hand again. "Why did you hit me?" She whined as she swung a hand to protect her face.

 

"Stay awake!" Draco commanded, grasping her hand and pinching her on the tender skin between her fingers. She cursed and struggled, but there was no way she was going to break his hold. "Healer!"

 

"I am here, Draco." Iriana's face suddenly in Jesse's field of view. "Oh my god..."

 

"Please tell me I was wrong!" Horat's voice came from somewhere.

 

"You were not." Iriana said heavily. "Jesse, this is going to feel very odd. It won't hurt, but it will make you dizzy." Something pressed against Jesse's neck. It didn't hurt, but suddenly, she was dizzy. Very dizzy. Her brain was moving in multiple directions at once. Her stomach rebelled, but it was empty. She jerked anyway and two sets of armored hands held her gently as she retched with nothing coming up. Iriana was shaking her head. "Easy, easy, Jesse."

 

"What the hell?" Jesse managed after several moments of dry heaves. Her mind was clearer. "Iriana?" She begged as the hands holding her sat her upright. "What happened?"

 

"Jesse, you are not a telepath." Iriana said with a scowl as she ran a scanner over Jesse's head. "But you were one once." Jesse went still and Iriana nodded. "We didn't see any aftereffects. We didn't think that there were any."

 

"I..." Jesse swallowed and gasped as her throat hurt. Draco held out a cup with a straw and she drank the water gratefully. "My old body was telepathic. This one is not."

 

"Yeah..." Iriana looked sheepish and turned to the Equinox warframe who was retreating a little. "Horat was sure you were experiencing more than fatigue and a reaction to your brain injury. He was right."

 

"Horat?" Jesse asked, still coming to grips with this.

 

"There was no physical cause. No aroma. No drugs. No nanobots." Horat said quietly. "We worked through your psychological reactions and none of them could have caused it. Someone once wrote 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"

 

"Sherlock Holmes." Jesse said with a slow smile. Horat stared at her and Jesse's smile became a grin. "I read a lot." Horat bit back a snicker and Jesse shrugged as Draco withdrew as well. "I do."

 

"It is possible to read too much, Jesse." Iriana said with a fake glower that was completely undone by her reassured smile. "But this kind of injury is purely in the mind. It has no physical components. If I linked to you right now I would see a trickle of energy falling from your mind. Not much, but enough. It will take time to heal  and there is not a lot I can do." Her smile faded and she slumped. "I am sorry, Jesse. I didn't see it."

 

"Healer Iriana?" Jesse said formally. Iriana looked at her. "Stuff a sock in it." Both Draco and Horat burst out laughing at Iriana's scandalized expression. The young Tenno held out a hand to the Healer. "Come here."

 

When Iriana took Jesse's hand, Jesse pulled the healer close until Iriana had to sit on the bed. She reached up and hugged Iriana tight. After a moment the Healer hugged her back. Jesse sighed deeply as she held the Healer.

 

"We both work too hard." Iriana said softly as she held Jesse. "I know it, but there is always so much to do."

 

"There will always be too much to do." Jesse groaned. "Your staff all take vacations. Why don't you?"

 

"They are less 'vacations' and more 'get the hell out of the Void', Jesse." Iriana said quietly. "You know what will happen to them if they stay. Even with the advanced shielding here... You know what will happen. Pat has her practice set up and the staff are alternating. Which is good."

 

"Healer..." Horat sounded worried. "You stay here."

 

"I am already sterile, Horat." Iriana said softly. Jesse hugged her again and Iriana returned it. "Long time ago I took a stupid risk and I paid for it. But I had my daughter already. I have no regrets. I never let the others stay long enough. Field trips, consultations, whatever, I get them out long enough for the energy to fade. The shielding here helps, but nothing can stop it."

 

"Well, you need a vacation." Jesse said quietly. "And I think... I do too." She bowed her head. "It's not... I am not good enough to keep going."

 

"Jesse!" Iriana protested as the others went still. "'Good' doesn't come into it. Tenno are far more capable than humans in some regards, but we still break if we push too hard and too far."

 

"And I have." Jesse's face flamed, remembering some of her arguments with Draco. In retrospect, they had been silly.

 

"Not quite." Iriana patted her head as she released Jesse and moved away on the bed. "With all the stress you have been under, your head trauma and now this new mental injury, no one blames you for being off." Jesse looked at Draco and he nodded agreement with the Healer. "So..." Iriana said with a deep sigh. "Both of us need time off. I know a nice little spa that had the best massage practitioners..." She said with a grin.

 

"What would I do at a spa?" Jesse demanded, but it was a joke.

 

"Relax." Iriana said with a smile. But that smile faded. "Jesse... until your mental injury heals, code can hurt you. Or worse." Jesse bit her lip and nodded. "I know you have been chafing. But you can't use code until it heals, Jesse."

 

"I didn't know what this was." Jesse frowned in thought. "Now that I do... You say it is healing?"

 

"It is." Iriana agreed. "But I do not know how long it will take. Horat? You found the records."

 

"I don't understand most of what I found, Healer." Horat complained whimsically and Iriana smiled again. "All this 'mental kinetics' and 'thermal resonance threshold' gobbledygook is a black art to me."

 

"There are no experts that I know of." Iriana frowned. "Any Tenno who did know of this kind of mental oddness perished in the Collapse. "

 

"I know some... less than social types, Healer." Horat said delicately. "With your permission and Jesse's, may I ask around? No specifics..." The Equinox clarified when Draco tensed. "But maybe some of them know something about this. Probably not a lot and most of that folklore, but it might help."

 

"It might, but it is Jesse's call." Iriana said softly.

 

"Just so I am sure on this." Jesse said after a moment. "This... new injury came about while I was here?" Iriana nodded. "And we have no idea how or why?" Iriana shook her head. "The reason that my mind is drifting when I am asleep is this injury. And this is also why I cannot remember it."

 

"Yes. I know it is scary, Jesse. After everything you went through, no one I know of would blame you for reacting as you have." Iriana's face was sad. "But we can help." Jesse nodded and relaxed back to the bed.

 

"What do I do?" The young Cyberlancer asked.

 

"Ah, about that..." Iriana grimaced. "I need you to help talk Mishka and Kori into coming with us."

 

"Mishka loves seeing new places." Jesse said after a moment. "But is that spa on the colony where she grew up?" Iriana nodded. "Oh. She... left. Did she have friends there?" Iriana nodded again and Jesse swallowed. "And... they resented her leaving." Iriana nodded yet again. "Ouch."

 

"Her friends didn't understand." Iriana said sadly. "They didn't understand why I vanished and then had Mishak come. And then, when they discovered where she was, many were jealous. It um... There were fights when she went back. And now... Mishka's father is known. People hate her for no other reason than she exists."

 

"Mishka's father?" Horat asked carefully. "I have been out of touch."

 

"Stalker is Mishka's father." Iriana said heavily. Horat froze and then nodded slowly. "I didn't know who he was. He never said. He was.. kind to me. Then he left."

 

"No one will do anything." Draco said severely.

 

"Draco." Iriana snapped half heartedly. "You know better. You saw it firsthand. Teenage girls? Angst? Drama? It s what they live for. Revenge is in their nature. They haven't learned to use their powers for good, so they do evil. It is what they do." The camouflaged warframe nodded a little and did not reply.

 

"If you go there, Healer..." Horat sounded uneasy. "You are a target."

 

"I am a target everywhere, Horat." Iriana retorted. "And that is the only spa I know."

 

"Let me think on that." Horat's voice held a thoughtful frown. After a second, the white and gold warframe nodded. "I might know of an alternative. Somewhere that they do not know you personally and somewhere easily secured."

 

"Where?" Jesse asked.

 

"The colony that was once run by Elder Grina has had some...setbacks." Horat said delicately. "She wasn't focused on her people enough and it shows."

 

Elder Grina had made some spectacular gaffs. She had lost her son to a brain injury and resulting dementia. That loss had driven her to find ways to cure mental instability. A noble goal. Her methods however had nearly started a civil war amongst Tenno on more than one occasion. And when she hadn't been able to find doctors willing to experiment with cures? She had tested them on herself. The results...

 

"She was going mad." Iriana said with a scowl. "I hate what she did, but... part of me can understand it."

 

"Their security has been overhauled and revamped." Horat replied. "They don't have an Elder yet, but they are working hard to find one who fits."

 

"And how can that be secure?" Jesse asked for Draco.

 

"Martial law." Horat replied evenly. All of the listeners stiffened at that and Horat nodded. "They have been under martial law for some time. Something needs to change." Horat nodded to the healer. "The odd thing is that the few 'incidents' that have taken place have been squashed by the citizenry. The security troops are good, but they are barely needed. I went through there on the way here."

 

"That sounds too good to be true." Jesse said after a moment. "We need Elders to arbitrate disputes."

 

"I agree." Horat nodded. "But whatever they are doing works. And I did see a spa. Gets you out of the Tower, gets you some off time... And maybe it shows the people there that not everyone blames them for Grina's madness. And if you do make it an expedition..." The armored Tenno chuckled as both Iriana and Jesse grimaced in unison.

 

"Me, Iriana and Mishka would not be an expedition." Jesse protested, but her face was wavering.

 

"Kori needs to get out too." Iriana said sadly. Jesse looked at her and the Healer nodded. "She has been pining for Amelia. She isn't a Kubrow. Not really. But she acts it."

 

The deaths of Amelia Priosa and her mate Serene were still sending shockwaves through Tenno society. Amelia's fate had been set as soon as she broke her parole, but... almost everyone who heard about why she did it agreed she couldn't have done anything else. To try and save her mate? To protect her daughter? Oh yes, they understood. The loss of her Tenno lover had also been hard on the long lived warrior people.

 

"A Bard, a Cyberlancer, a Healer and a Kubrow walk into a bar... Ow! That had to hurt!" Horat snickered as both woman glared at the Equinox. "Hey, can't blame me for trying."

 

"Yes, we can." Iriana and Jesse chorused. Horat mimed being hurt and both female Tenno laughed.

 

"So... can I get up?" Jesse asked the healer who nodded.

 

"Do you still smell the blossoms?" Iriana asked as she checked her scan readings.

 

"I do." Jesse gave a deep sigh. "It is not overpowering. It isn't even disorienting. It is just there."

 

"It must be related to your injury." Iriana said with a sigh of her own. "Okay.  A med sensor." She held out an armband to Jesse who grimaced, but took it and put it on. It glowed faintly blue for a moment and then faded to match her bio-suit. "We need to talk to Kori. Horat?" She asked as the Equinox started for the door.

 

"I will be around." The Equinox promised. "But I need to do some missions. Quick stuff likely. If you need me, send word."

 

"Horat." Jesse was out of the bed and in front of the Equinox before it was at the door. Horat paused and then froze as she took hold and hugged tight. "Thank you."

 

"My sister needed me." Horat said, not daring to move with Jesse clinging. "Let go, Jesse. I am not your type."

 

"I know." Jesse hugged the Equinox once more and then retreated. She gave a full bow. "But you did help me. I pay my debts, Horat."

 

Horat bowed back and then was gone.

 

***

 

"You call. I come."

 

No one dared to move in the large room. The Council of Avalon had been in session. Stress the words 'had been'. No one sane wanted to argue when the visitor was announced by one of the guards. Princess Michelle stood a bit to one side of the throne her mother sat in, the Mag Prime armored form of Guard Commander Petra at her side as always. The Prime Minister, the ministers of finance, resources and power all stood frozen as the almost pure white Loki Prime warframe stepped into the middle of the room and knelt.

 

"Rise!" Eliza snapped. "Tenno bow to no one! Least of all to me. Not...after what my mother did."

 

"You were not involved." The Tenno might have been discussing the weather as he rose. He tilted his head to the side. "You should not blame yourself for her deed, Your-"

 

"If you dare to call me 'Your Imperial Majesty' like you did every time last time, Sun-" Eliza was not angry. She was furious! "I will come down off this throne and beat the crap out of you. Watch me!" Everyone tensed, but the hardened and scary Tenno interrogator... laughed?

 

"You haven't changed a bit, Eliza." The Loki Prime's tone was gentle now. "It was not your fault. It was not my fault. The fault lies with others."

 

" I know." Eliza said sadly. "I didn't want this. I wanted to forget it. Her."

 

"You know better." There was no disrespect in the Tenno interrogator's words. "Our experiences mold us into who and what we are. Your early experiences were bad. But you have done well despite them."

 

"A far cry from the half drowned rat that washed up at your door, huh?" Eliza said with a small, sad smile and Sun nodded. Michelle gave a small gasp and Eliza bowed her head. "Yes, Michelle. I ran away. I was... young and stupid."

 

"Young, yes." Sun said quietly. "Stupid, no. You did what you did out of fear and pain. You were hurt, you lashed out. You were restrained, you fled. Simple physics. Every action has a reaction. Your mother's blatant manipulations caused you pain, you ran to people you knew could protect you even from the Royal Family."

 

"Straight to your door." Eliza was not faking the fondness in her voice. There was no way. "What is said in here, stays in here." This was a command and everyone nodded, even the Royal Guard. They were not stupid. "To this day, I am surprised they didn't come and take... me..." She paused, staring at the interrogator. "You didn't." Her words were half question, half statement.

 

"I have no idea what you may be talking about, Your Imperial Majesty." Sun said without the hint of a chuckle.

 

"You did." Eliza shook her head her face halfway between anger and awe. "You scared them away. Didn't you?" Sun just looked at her and she swallowed. "Why?"

 

"Tenno may not be human, Eliza." Sun said as if they were the only people in the room. "...but most of us feel as humans do. We do not show it in the same ways, generally. However, a hurt, sick, crying twelve year old girl appearing on the doorstep is not something to take lightly even when she is not being chased by someone who you told never to show their face around you again." A hint, just a hint of anger sounded in his tone and Eliza went still. That hint of anger for such as him... oh... he was madder than hell. "Yes, your mother sent hunters. She sent her best hunter. No, they did not find you. That night or ever."

 

"I... I have no words, Grandmaster Sun." Eliza sank into her throne. "I have owed you since that day you didn't toss me out on my ear or just take me to the med clinic and leave me."

 

"The debt was paid the day I introduced you to Michael, Your Imperial Majesty." Sun replied without heat. "I had no idea he would turn out as he did. Always in motion..." He paused as Eliza laughed delightedly.

 

"...the future is." The Empress of the remnants of Orokin smiled and shook her head, her delight fading. "Not even Yoda can cheer me up. Sad." Sun bowed his head. "And Oracle Janet has been silent on this. I can guess why. Too many ways for it to go bad if she interferes."

 

"It is going to be bad no matter what we do, Your Imperial Majesty." Sun said softly. "Because I have reports of a Equinox warframe that uses the name 'Horat' working with Cyberlancer Jesse in her infirmity."

 

"Jesse?" Eliza paled. "No!" She snarled and her face hardened. "Stop them." Sun bowed again.

 

"I will."

 

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I'm guessing Draco and Iriana didn't get the memo about a renegades.
 

I have to say, for someone who's called Gemina Horati.. Horat is a terrible Alias.

glad to see it's not as good a secret identity as glasses on a kryptonian. or a mustache on a Team Rocket grunt

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I'm guessing Draco and Iriana didn't get the memo about a renegades.

 

I have to say, for someone who's called Gemina Horati.. Horat is a terrible Alias.

 

No one wanted it BROADCAST that she and her fellows were around.

 

And...

 

She is HARDLY the ONLY Equinox warframe. And yes, it IS a horrible alias. She isn't really hiding. More on that tomorrow.

Edited by Kalenath
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I was thinking..

The last few paragraphs revolve around backstory and people trying to manipulate Jesse.

including a semi-hypno-induced love for one of the Renegades.

even talk of Jesse's virginity and such

and the Chapter is called Motherhood.

 

if this is going where I think it's going...

 

FFhYiH1.jpg

Edited by BaIthazar
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I was thinking..

The last few paragraphs revolve around backstory and people trying to manipulate Jesse.

including a semi-hypno-induced love for one of the Renegades.

even talk of Jesse's virginity and such

and the Chapter is called Motherhood.

 

if this is going where I think it's going...

 

 

 

Not there, no. Even Gemina has SOME scruples.

 

I would say that such a thing would be kind of like... 'Don't cross the streams. It would be Bad.'

 

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had to google scruples, but ok.

that is good to know, I really like Jesse and despite all the messed up things that have happened to her,

what would basicly amount to rape is not one of the things I would accept.

guess I'll just have to wait and see what the Title is all about..

 

P.S.

how do you write your stories?
do you write, spellcheck, and post them in the forums directly?

or do you write them in office word or something, and copy paste the result?

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had to google scruples, but ok.

that is good to know, I really like Jesse and despite all the messed up things that have happened to her,

what would basicly amount to rape is not one of the things I would accept.

guess I'll just have to wait and see what the Title is all about..

 

Yeah, Fred said the same thing. Cathi and the others are torn. They NEED Jesse. But as Cathi said, the girl has been hurt and hurt and hurt. Even as the writer, it is hard for me to write things that I KNOW will hurt Jesse further. Because it is NOT fair to her.

 

Gemina pulled back once she realized how FAR from ethical her path would take her. But was she soon enough?

 

Draco protects Jesse from physical harm. But who protects her from HERSELF?

 

There is only so far you can push even the most benevolent of souls. And Jesse is no Mother Teresa. Pushing her too far is a BAD idea.

 

Hell TRULY hath no fury.

 

P.S.

how do you write your stories?

do you write, spellcheck, and post them in the forums directly?

or do you write them in office word or something, and copy paste the result?

 

As for writing?

 

I write, read it, edit and spellcheck in Word. I tried it for a while writing directly to forums back when I started in 2008 and it didn't work well. This works FAR better.

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There is only so far you can push even the most benevolent of souls. And Jesse is no Mother Teresa. Pushing her too far is a BAD idea.

 

Hell TRULY hath no fury.

 

 

I guess that's what happens when you're related to Janet.

 

and I look forward to the final droplet in the bucket

who ever said one had to be a warrior to be scary... I'm excited now.

too bad for a long school day tomorrow -_-

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I swear you aren't supposed to use underlining in fiction?

 

Conveying emotions in the written word is never easy.

 

Conveying the fact that Jesse was trying to make Iriana laugh is next to impossible without WRITING that out which defeats the purpose.

 

Yes, by convention, underlining is very rarely used in dialogue.

 

If it is, there usually  a special meaning, more than italics, bold or quotes can convey.

Edited by Kalenath
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Perhaps that tells you something. Italics are used for thoughts and stress. Having characters speak with half their words italicised defeats the meaning a bit. Same with bold, but that's usually used to signify other things.

In any case, just be careful with underlining things, it often looks sloppy when paired with the other two 'stresses' if used in excess.

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Covers

 

Gemina Horati was a an accomplished teller of stories. Not a liar. She -and she did think of herself as she- very rarely lied. In many cases, lies were counterproductive. At absolute best, lies were hard to keep straight. If you told one person one lie and another a different one, it got confusing. Not to mention that all it took to completely ruin your day -or your mission and sometimes your life- was for those two people to compare notes.

 

Then you added the Tenno into the mix. Some of whom could almost literally smell lies and it got very hard to maintain dishonesty. Gemina Horati made it a point to keep her dishonesty to an absolute minimum. She was good, but there were limits. She was good enough that she didn't need to lie to keep her true identity secret.

 

At least, right now, she didn't have to worry about such things. She spun to the left, her Ninkondi slashing out to slam into the helmet of a clone who had tried to blindside her teammate. Grineer Butchers were not generally a threat. Their armor was fairly light for Grineer, as was shown when her full power strike made a gory mess of the Grineer's skull. Butchers were not about protection, they were all about offense. The clone went down in a heap and his cleaver went flying. She slammed it in midair with her Ninkondi and it arced away to bury itself in a Ballista's chest armor.  The second clone went down without a sound, her Vulkar falling away before she could aim at the Tenno.

 

"Show off." Her team mate said with a grin in his voice as he worked the console that was their objective. The data within was determined to have strategic significance. She didn't care. Her job was to get it. She and her team would get it. The team had been a scratch deal, selected from those available. An Oberon, herself, a Loki and a Valcyr. None of them she knew, and she worked hard to keep in character. Horat wasn't exactly anti-social, but he wasn't that friendly either.

 

"Bored." The Equinox worked to keep her voice altered. This particular mission had her in the depths of  a nasty Grineer Galleon. "Fracking clones." Another swing and another Grineer died. Killing them wasn't hard. There were just so many of them. They just kept coming.

 

"Heavies." The Loki of the team said suddenly and vanished from sight. From just the little she had seen of him, she knew he would be seeking higher ground with a decent view. He was downright eerie with that sniper rifle of his. She swore she had seen him bank shots off solid surfaces to hit clones in cover. He never said two words when one would suffice and she actually appreciated that. The other in the group more than made up for it.

 

"Hahahahaha!" The Valcyr warframe was dancing through the enemy ranks and her incessant chatter was really getting on Gemina's nerves. "And one for you! And one for you! Naughty clone, trying to sneak up on me! Splat goes the bad guy!" Gemina was hardly the only one to wince as the Valcyr tore a Bombard's armored head off and used it as a ball, tossing it into the midst of another group of clones. It bounced from one to another, the sheer force involved denting the bloody helmet and the targets' armor.  Grineer were not that bright, but even they knew that getting close to this thing was a bad idea. Problem was... she was faster than any of them. They couldn't get away from her. It was getting very messy in this control room. "Die you clone filth!"

 

"Is she...always like that?" Gemina asked the Oberon who shrugged. Then she tensed. Another hatch had opened and a new group of Grineer were pouring out. A shot rang out from nowhere and one of the heavies fell. But the Valcyr was busy holding the other two doors and the sniper would not be able to stem the tide of clones by himself. Gemina nodded. "Keep on it." She said softly as she drew her Ninkondi again and held them ready. She focused and her form shifted. The Oberon shied away from her form, but kept working as she changed to a different configuration. "I have this."

 

It hurt, even after all this time. The shift was physical and not. The docs had always said thing like 'psychosomatic' and 'neural reactive' and had tried to find ways to fix it. They hadn't and had given a long winded explanation. To her? It just meant it hurt. None of her senses were impacted by the change, but her center of balance shifted a little. The Grineer saw her and opened fire, but she was in motion.

 

This had to be most of the Grineer left on the ship. Most of them were higher rank than the waves of clones who had tried to swamp the Tenno cell and failed. Heavy Gunners, Scorpions, Seekers, Ballistas, Napalms, Bombards... the gamut of clone filth was packing the narrow hatchway that they had used to get around the Tenno defense. But that narrow hatchway was her advantage as well. She threw herself into the air, shifting from side to side as enemy fire sought her. Then she slammed down into the middle of the doorway and stood there, Ninkondi flashing.

 

"Tenno Skuuuum!"

 

The first clones to reach her died in seconds. Her nunchaku did not have the reach of a polearm, they did not hit with the power of an axe or hammer. It didn't matter. She was a blur of golden energy as power sang around her, sapping each and every Grineer as she struck, parried and turned. A Heavy slammed the ground, but Gemina had jumped a moment before and it stared stupidly up at her as her Ninkondi came down. The blow wasn't enough to break the helmet like it had the Butcher's earlier, the Heavy Gunner had far thicker armor. But it didn't matter. The discharge of energy from her blow confused the gunner and she turned on her fellows, opening fire.

 

"Done!" The Oberon called as Gemina danced back into the fray.

 

"Go!" Gemina called. "Right behind you!"

 

"Lots more Grineer!" The call came from the sniper. "Fall back!"

Where are they all coming from? Gemina had no time for more than that thought as she darted back, her Ninkondi flashing as she beat a path through the massed ranks of clones. Her heart gave a lurch as a scream came from nearby. The Loki had been seen. His armor and shields were pitiful compared to Gemina's or the Valcyr's. He was fast, he wasn't faster than the rocket that hit him.

 

"No!" Gemina shouted as she saw Grineer firing at the crumpled form.

 

She opened her power and it flared all around her. She had never quite figured out how it worked. It worked and that was usually enough for her. Every single Grineer within her area of control suddenly fell, some screaming, some still. There were more, but she was close enough. She shifted again, ignoring the pain. A wave of her hand and half of the Grineer in the area suddenly froze in place, held by shimmering strands of energy. It wouldn't hold long. Long enough. She hoped so as she held a hand over her fallen brother and green mist fell. The Loki spun to his feet with a nod of thanks and all three Tenno took off, following the trail of carnage their sister had left behind her.

 

But when the cell reached the exit, the Valcyr was standing there, staring at the hatches of the Lisets that had adhered to the wall of the galleon. And at the white armored form that stood between them and the exit. The Loki and Oberon froze in confusion. Gemina froze for another reason. Terror.

 

"Sun..." Gemina breathed. The Interrogator was unarmed except for a simple metal staff. It didn't even glow with eldritch energy. She had thought herself scared before. Now? She felt every bit of her guts turn to ice. He never went anywhere without his Bo Prime staff, a gift from one of the First Tenno. Unless... Unless he was madder than hell and ready to kill. She had only seen him that way a few times during the centuries of her training but those had been memorable. Only once had she seen it directed at herself and she had barely survived that.

 

"You three, go." The Tenno interrogator said calmly. "'Horat' and I need to work something out." The other members of her cell looked at her and Gemina waved them on. They did and she relaxed a little. Sun shook his head. "Horat... of all the names... You did that on purpose. You had a slave insert several dozen fake Tenno named 'Horat' into the files to cover your tracks. Not bad." High praise from him. "Took me some time to check each."

 

"I knew I would face you again." Gemina said sadly. "Yes, the name was meant to draw you. I need to talk. To explain."

 

"We have nothing to talk about." Gemina felt fear the likes of which she had not recently as Sun drew his staff. It... It didn't glow. Just a bar of metal. But... in his hands? It literally sliced the air as he spun it in an expert arc. She gave herself at best a 20% chance to escape. Beat him? Ha!

 

"Master, please." Gemina begged. "The Grineer are coming."

 

"What was it you said when you came hunting your leash holder's lost lamb...?" Sun could have carved from the ice in her stomach. "Ah yes... 'I have no master anymore. I have a mistress and she loves me. What does an old scary tool know of love?' Sound familiar?"

 

Gemina swallowed hard. She had said that. She had berated herself ever since for antagonizing him. He had beaten her to within a inch of her life before dragging her to the boundary of his claimed territory and dropping her to be found. No one else had dared to try to go in. They had tried lawyers instead. Hadn't worked any better. He was just as deadly in the courtroom as he was in the field. More than one lawyer and judge had been reduced to shivering wrecks by the ice cold Interrogator. The only good news was that he wasn't a vengeful sort. He didn't seek people out who he felt had wronged him. At least... not generally. But... If he encountered them in the course of his duties... well...

 

"I was wrong." Gemina said carefully. She kept her hands well away from her nunchaku. "I was a fool."

 

"And now you try to manipulate me again." Sun said softly. "It will not work this time. Once before, you managed. I let you go the last time on the promise that you and yours would disappear. You came back."

 

"We did. We went into cryo to sleep forever." Gemina protested. "We were woken by an Elder named Hans. He...said he needed us. Needed our mistress."

 

"And of course the first thing you did was enslave him." Sun replied evenly. "You will not enslave young Jesse." This was flat, final.

 

"She needs help." Gemina protested. "We hurt her. We didn't know what we were doing." Sun did not respond. Instead, he took a step forward. "Master! Please!"

 

"Once a willing slave, Gemina." Sun sounded...sad. "Always a willing slave. You will not have her."

 

"You don't understand!" Gemina had her Ninkondi in hand now. For all the good they would do her against the Tenno who had trained her.

 

"I was proud of you, Gemina. Once." Sun said softly, his steps unhurried. He matched Gemina as she retreated a step, then another. Where were the Grineer? "To join the Guard so young. To rise in the ranks so quickly." He shook his head. Just a little. "Then to fall so far. Your trap will not work."

 

"What?" Gemina gasped. "What do you... I didn't set a trap!"

 

"You knew Mavri was vulnerable to your powers. So did he. You knew he would shoot himself to keep you from enslaving him." Sun said with a shrug. "You knew Nikis would come. The old fart takes his duty very seriously. Especially to his apprentices. Which you knew Mavri had been. So... you trapped Nikis and hurt him."

 

"He hurt the mistress!" Gemina hadn't planned to scream that. "She screamed and fell. He laughed and took her from us."

 

"She was playing with the souls of the slain." Sun took another step. "What she made them do... did you see?" Gemina shuddered and he nodded. "You did." The Loki Prime spun his staff again. "Protecting them is his job. He is not sane after all this time but he does take his job seriously."

 

"He hurt her." Gemina felt a pang of remembered fear and pain.

 

"She deserved it." Sun replied. "So... spring your trap. Feel free."

 

He... wasn't talking to her. Gemina felt... odd. Then she felt fear rise as her mouth opened and spoke. It wasn't her doing it!

 

"You cannot win here, Interrogator." The voice...wasn't hers! "Even if you strike this form down, you cannot win."

 

"Oh, I am not going to kill Gemina." Sun replied as Gemina tried to make sense of this. Her hands flew, her Ninkondi flashing, but... it wasn't her doing it! Was it? "The three of us are going to have nice long chat."

 

Three? Gemina Horati didn't understand. This wasn't right. She wasn't right. A sledgehammer blow hit her mind, but she rolled away from it. It... hadn't come from Sun!

 

"Fight it, Gemina!" Sun said fiercely. "Fight it, girl!"

 

What was happening to her? She struggled, but something wafted over her. It felt... heavenly. It didn't... she wasn't...

 

She jerked back to awareness, spinning away from the feint that came whistling in. Her Ninkondi were parrying as Sun tested her defenses.

 

"What have you done?" Gemina felt odd, but her defenses held Sun away. For the moment. He was gauging her though. Testing, seeking weaknesses. His staff whistled in and her parry, while perfect, pulled her out of her center and left her vulnerable., She backpedaled, barely avoiding a strike that would have taken part of her helmet off. She knew it wouldn't have killed her. No. He wasn't that nice.

 

"I failed you, Gemina." Sun's words were in direct contrast to his strikes. Gentle tone, devastating attacks. "Perfection is the goal. It can never be achieved, but I had hopes for you. You were yourself. Not what anyone wanted you to be, but your own distinct personality. Then she got you."

 

"She freed me!" Gemina lashed out, her strike perfect, but coming nowhere near the dancing Loki. "I was a slave and she freed me!" She missed a block and the staff swept in, striking her arm, numbing it even through the warframe. "No..." She begged as she transferred her Ninkondi to her off hand. Instead of striking... Sun stepped back.

 

"Do you know who she freed you from?" Sun asked softly, his staff up to guard.

 

"What?" Gemina asked through a haze of fear and pain.

 

"Think girl!" Sun demanded. "Think! I know you can. I taught you to think. She didn't have total control. She never had total control! She doesn't now."

 

"I..." Gemina fought to focus. To remember. Sun wasn't attacking. Why? He had her! "I don't understand!"

 

"Who did your mistress free you from?" Sun asked reasonably. "Remember girl. Think back. The palace. A medical wing. She was there. Who did she free you from?"

 

Gemina had a bare moment to realize what he meant before blackness took her.

 

***

 

"She is mine."

 

Sun did not react as Gemina rose, her Ninkondi flying as her wounded arm healed. Teh warframe did that... And it's user. Who was not Gemina now.

 

"Yes she is." Sun agreed. "A masterful plan. Well laid, well prepared. Well executed. She didn't have a clue. You will not take Jesse."

 

"You cannot stop me." The Equinox warframe shifted to its 'Day' mode and Sun moved forward. He couldn't get far enough away to evade it's area effect attack, but with it so drained... he had time. If not a lot.

 

"Oh yes I can." Sun retorted evenly. "You see... you have missed a lot. Hans had no idea. I hoped they would perish in the cold, never waking to the horror you unleashed on them."

 

"They are mine. Not yours!" The voice taunted Sun as the Ninkondi flew. "I saved them!"

 

"After you enslaved them." Sun replied. The Equinox went still and Sun laughed, a dark and terrible sound. "You thought the records gone? You are a fool. Everything that is recorded is backed up somewhere."

 

"There were no records."The other said, stunned. "You lie!"

 

"Doctor's records, power expenditures, duty rosters." Sun shook his head. "First rule of information gathering. There is always a trail. I took me some time, but I had cause. Two causes actually." He shook his head. "It is rarely a good idea to give something old and powerful something to love. It makes us... unpredictable." He stepped forward, staff in sweeping in graceful arcs. "You will not have Jesse."

 

"Two?" The other retreated again. "You kept my legacy from me! You took what was mine!"

 

"She has a name!" Sun actually shouted. "Do you ever remember her name? Do you care?" He gave himself  a shake and control reasserted itself. "No. No, of course not. It was all clinical. The fact that you ordered one of your human guards to violate your twelve year old daughter -to put her in her place- is immaterial! And when he refused? You had him mindwiped. You were going to do it to her. After the beating you gave her healed. Small wonder she ran."

 

"Ah.. so Eliza lives." The other said slowly. Sun nodded. "And she... rules..." He nodded again. "She will step down. My claim is preeminent."

 

"About that." Sun held up a hand. In it, something small and golden glistened. The Equinox warframe froze in place. "You know what this is." It wasn't a question.

 

"An Imperial... death warrant..." The other said slowly. "She cannot! I am her mother!"

 

"She commands." Sun's voice was mocking now. "I obey."

 

"And how many times did she sleep with-" Whatever else the woman was going to say was cut off as Sun's staff strike threw her into the wall where she lay stunned for a moment.

 

"You know..." Sun said in a soft and dangerous voice as he stepped forward. "Not everyone is ruled by their hormones." He backed up a step as four more warframes appeared around the fallen Equinox. Excalibur. Nyx Prime. Oberon. Mirage. All with weapons ready.

 

"Well." Sun sighed philosophically. "Better late than never."

 

Then before any of them could speak, he charged.

 

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They're gonna pull some dirty trick out their ! aren't they?

 

THEY are not the only ones with dirty tricks.

 

But the focus of this story IS the title. Even if it is not going to be physical for Jesse there are some things that you DO NOT DO around the mother of a child.

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Is Janet gonna get involved..
Do the Renegades even know Jesse is the daughter of Janet?
(hohohooooo, what a S***storm that would be fo shizzle)

wouldn't be the first time they didn't do their homework

 

I can already see the headlines.

"dangerous group of Renegades surrender peacefully after discovering Tenno heritage"

Edited by BaIthazar
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