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[Fanfiction] Motherhood

Kalenath

By Kalenath,
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Kalenath

Kalenath

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On dying ground

 

"Move."

 

Samuel was in a foul mood. Indeed, all of the renegades were as they 'escorted' Jesse into the derelict Orokin facility. He gave her a shove. She ignored his shove, moving at the slowest pace she could managed and smiled at him. It wasn't hard to move slowly. They had fettered her ankles and wrists securely and had a collar around her neck attached to those fetters. And of course, a chain on the collar that Samuel held tight.

 

The others were all in warframes and fully armed. But no enemies had shown. None. Odd that. Derelicts like this were usually full of creatures of many kinds. Which was good since Jesse only wore a bodysuit with a life support pack.

 

"I do wish that had been the real Mag." Jesse said with glee as he glowered at her. "Then you would have truly known pain. My illusions can't do her justice. And you deserve every micron of agony."

 

"You don't know pain yet, brat." Samuel snapped.

 

"No?" Jesse asked innocently. "Ask Gemina if I know what pain is. She got a taste of what I got several full meals worth of." She smiled widely at Gemina who grunted and waved Samuel off.

 

"Samuel. Go scout." Gemina sounded just as sour. "Fred, move her."

 

"Ooo..." Jesse said brightly. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the Grineer torture table this morning."

 

"Jesse, please stop." Fred took hold of the chain attached to her collar. Samuel vanished into the gloom. "Antagonizing us won't help."

 

"No." Jesse agreed and then she smiled wickedly. "But it makes me feel better. I do have to thank you guys. That was cathartic. You wanted me relaxed and now I am. I feel a lot lighter having dumped some aggression on you."

 

"That was very unpleasant, Jesse." Fred chided her. "Did you have to let them do that to me? The torture and brainwashing left a seriously bad taste."

 

"Be glad you were not in a warframe, Fred." Jesse said quietly. Fred looked at her and she shrugged. "Corpus consider Tenno to be machines. When they capture one in a warframe, they tend to dismantle them and they don't care if said Tenno is conscious or not. I wouldn't do that to a Tenno." She looked at Gemina, Fred and Siri who hadn't spoken since they had arrived.  "Not even one of you."

 

"Who?" Fred asked. Jesse looked at him and he shook his head. "Who did you know that it happened to?"

 

"Raven." Jesse's face was set now. "You wondered why she was so badly scarred? Why she never had corrective surgery done? She wants to remember. She was and is a good soul. Except about the Corpus. Can't blame her."

 

"No." Fred mused. "Can't blame her." He gave himself a shake, careful not to jerk her chain. "How do you know Mag? You act as if you do."

 

"I met her." Jesse said quietly, her eyes roving. All three of the others stared at her and she shrugged. "I met several of the First. Do the records you stole show who trained me?"

 

"No." Gemina said after a moment's thought. "Just that she wore a Trinity warframe."

 

"Really?" Jesse asked. "They didn't?" Gemina shook her head. "I see. And that is why you and your leash holder put me in a Trinity Prime." She gave a tiny chuckle. "Trying to woo me even there."

 

"Jesse, you are going to serve." Gemina sounded sad now. "The only questions are how long it takes and how much it hurts. Yes, I know you understand what pain is. But I truly do not want to hurt you!"

 

"No, I am not, Gemina Horati." Jesse retorted. "You will try. You will try everything including Samuel's 'special' persuasion. You will fail."

 

"Everyone breaks, Jesse." Siri spoke up from where she was walking, her Burston Prime tracking here and there. "No one is strong enough to hold out forever."  Jesse looked at her and Siri nodded. "I know."

 

"There is a difference, Siri." Jesse fought to keep a smile on her face as bliss soared through her. The mistress trying to keep her calm. "You went after Gemina alone. You may be able to control my body, but I do have people tracking me. You will not have the time to change me."

 

"The physical changes won't take long." Siri said with a sigh. "I am curious if you truly feel better after hurting us in the dreamscape." Jesse looked at her and Siri nodded. "That is my job. To keep us mentally healthy."

 

"Even Samuel?" Jesse asked dryly. Siri nodded and Jesse let out a low whistle of awe. "Hard job."

 

"You have no idea." Siri stated. "So yes, I am curious. I will give you a full psychological profile when the changes are done. I hope you do not really enjoy such things, Jesse. One who does is enough."

 

"I don't." Jesse said quietly. Fred looked at her and Jesse shrugged. "Oh, I am not going to say I didn't enjoy what I did in the dreamscape for what you did to me, to Cathi and so many others. But no. That is not me."

 

"Good." Fred and Siri chorused. They looked at each other and Jesse bit back a laugh.

 

Samuel appeared ahead of them and beckoned. The three warframes surrounding Jesse urged her on and they came into a small plaza. Jesse fought to keep her mind and face still as she saw things she recognized. Four doors led from the plaza. Two went down stairs and two others went perpendicular to those. She swallowed as Freed urged her towards the statue in the middle of the room. It stood on a pillar and was an Orokin Emperor in full court regalia.

 

"You can do it, Jesse." Fred promised as he urged her to it. Jesse balked.

 

"I won't!" Jesse shrank back from the pillar. "This is wrong."

 

"Come on, girl!" Gemina snapped. "Enough!" She and Siri both grabbed one of Jesse's hands. The wrist fetters detached from her ankle ones. They pulled the resisting girl forward and pushed her hands against the pillar. "Siri."

 

"Right." Siri holstered her rifle and laid her free hand on Jesse's head. Code flared from Jesse as the binding that had been placed on her was removed, seeking, probing, being drawn in. She could feel...

 

"No!" Jesse fought to hold her code, but her own mind was her enemy in this case. It needed to see, needed to know. The code flowed into the pillar and it... softened. She fought to pull free, but her hands were stuck to it as Gemina, Siri and Freed withdrew a step. Samuel stood apart from the others, watching as Jesse fought her hopeless battle.

 

Ah, my children... The voice wasn't aloud. It wasn't mental. It wasn't anything Jesse had known. It was... She fought to keep her mind clear. It was hard. It has been so long.

 

"Mistress." Gemina knelt, head bowing. "We failed you."

 

"No, dear Gemina." The voice was solidifying, becoming more human. "I knew there would be a cost for doing what I did. You could not stand against Nikis. Do you have them?"

 

"Yes, Mistress." The Equinox held out something that glittered golden and Jesse quailed. That was an Orokin device meant to hold energy forms.

 

"Bring them forth." The other commanded. "Use them to help our newest sister. Free me."

 

Jesse could not move as four golden forms appeared around her. All were female Tenno in warframes. Banshee, Mag, Trinity, Ember. None wore helmets and all were furious.

 

"You stupid witch!" The Banshee snapped. "Holding us will do nothing but make our mother angrier with you. Not that your stupidity didn't make her angry enough before. Now? Oh, you are so dead."

 

"Now, now. Do not disrespect your grandmother." Gemina said with a maternal air.

 

"She is no kin of ours!" The Tenno energy form said with a snarl. "Jesse, hold on! Just... hold on."

 

"Energy to energy." The imprisoned woman said quietly. "Blood to blood. Touch the pillar, girls."

 

"No!" The Banshee screamed as she was dragged by unseen force to stand by Jesse. The others were struggling as well, just as fruitlessly. "I... will... not!"

 

"Sina." Jesse said softly. "Trust me." The Banshee looked at her with desperate eyes. "The middle sister sends her regards." Sina stared at her, confused for a moment, but the other three laid their incorporeal hands on Jesse's. Sina was visibly trembling as she did the same.

 

"This will hurt, Jesse. I am sorry." The imprisoned woman said sadly.

 

"You are always sorry!" Sina snapped. "And it is always 'for our own good'! Stop faking you *@##$! It is for you and only you! You do not care about anything-" Her rant cut off in a gurgling scream.

 

 

"You will respect your betters, girl. You will learn respect." The imprisoned woman said severely. "Jesse. Code now."

 

"No." Jesse gasped, but her code would not be denied. It swirled around her in waves, each clear and bright. Despite her wishes, her mind ordered it, matching it to the rhythms she could feel within the pillar. It was as she has suspected. A Cyberlancer had done this. Had imprisoned the woman within.

 

Her code flared around her, impossibly bright. Then golden code mixed with her own blue and it exploded in a riot of color that threw Jesse instantly into darkness.

 

***

 

She was floating. She was being held by someone.

 

"All I wanted was someone to love." The odd female voice from before cut through Jesse's mind like a knife. "I was young. I was foolish. He was dashing and brave and beautiful. I thought he loved me. All he loved was my genetics."

 

"The fact that you kept trying to steal power might have had something to do with it!" Sina. That was Sina. She was still angry. "Don't touch her!"

 

"She needs help, granddaughter." The other sighed and her voice turned tender as a hand touched Jesse's brow. "Jesse. Come on, Jesse. Wake up honey. It is time to go home."

 

Jesse did not want to obey the voice but her will was not her own. She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the ground, staring up at the pillar. It was melted. The statue was gone. She glanced around, incurious as her code flared around her. Four energy forms stood interspersed with four warframes around a golden gowned human woman who knelt beside Jesse, hand on Jesse's head.

 

"That is it, girl." The woman said with smile that seemed to light up the darkened room. "Better?"

 

"I won't help you." Jesse said calmly.

 

"Still rebellious." The woman shook her head. "Ah Jesse... It is far too late for such. My name is Helena, Jesse." Jesse gasped as alien thoughts burrowed into her mind. She fought them, solidifying her mental shields with her code. "You will serve, girl. Samuel. Did you find any facilities?"

 

"It is odd, mistress." Samuel sounded odd. Far less assured. "One medical bay has power. Only one. If I didn't know better, I would say it was a trap. I haven't found anything else out of the ordinary."

 

"That is odd." The woman still held her hand to Jesse's head. "She is very resistant. Back in your home, girls."

 

"No." Sina snapped. The other energy forms moved to flank her. "You can hurt us, compel us. But we will not submit to you." Jesse splayed out all of the fingers of her right hand. Five. None of the girls looked at her hand. Sina shook her head. "I won't help you and neither will any of us."

 

"I am the rightful ruler of Orokin." The woman who called herself Helena said savagely. "You will obey my orders." Jesse closed her thumb up into her palm. Four.

 

"You are not the rightful ruler of anything." Sina declared. "And if you haven't noticed? Orokin is gone!" Jesse folded her pinkie. Three. All eyes were on Sina. Except Jesse's! She lay there under the mental barrage and smiled faintly.

 

"Eliza rules something! I will take what is mine! You will obey!" Helena snapped. "Siri!" The Nyx Prime nodded and energy flared around Sina. She gave a small cry of pain, but did not move. Jesse folded her ring finger. Two.

 

"You are a stupid *@##$!" Sina screamed in agony. Her sisters screamed with her. Jesse folded her middle finger. One. Samuel glanced at Jesse and stared as her code...flared.

 

"Mistress!" The Oberon shouted, drawing his Tigris to aim at Jesse as she folded her index finger and clenched her fist. Zero. She smirked. Logic bombs were so much fun.

 

"Too late." The world fell away.

 

***

 

 

"I always knew you were evil." Eliza's voice as sad and sick. "But this... This even I could not have imagined."

 

Jesse focused senses through her code and saw the virtual hall was packed. Eliza stood in full regalia including her crown, surrounded by guards in full battle array. Dozens of Tenno and human all stared at the odd quintet who surrounded Jesse and the four energy forms who now stood protectively between them and Jesse. Jesse opened her eyes and smiled at the four energy beings. None of them moved.

 

"Hello Eliza." Helena said with a smile. "It is good to see you." Eliza snarled and Helena sighed. "Now, now, Eliza. Be nice. I am your mother."

 

"I am going to quote Cathi and Jesse." Eliza said in a cold, hard voice. "Go **** yourself. I have no mother." Helena went still and Eliza continued. "I am duly registered as 'father only known' in the records, in case you forgot." She said snidely. "And yes, that does officially make me the Emperor's bastard daughter. I find I don't care. Anyone else?" No one spoke and Eliza smiled. "There you have it."

 

"You will give me what is mine by right." Helena said with a scowl.

 

"It was never yours. By right or by anything." Eliza retorted. "You wanted it too badly to ever be trusted with such a burden. Your evil ends here, Helena!"

 

"Tenno, hear me!" Helena called. "I can guide you! With your help, I can recreate the world as it should have been!" Eliza shook her head and everything stopped as a form appeared beside Jesse. The Lotus was not smiling. The energy forms of Eliza's slain daughters flanked her, protecting Jesse.

 

"'As it should have been'?" The Lotus asked quietly. Helena froze, looking at her. "You are one ignorant human. I wonder... did you have anything to do with the incursions? No. No you wouldn't have. Not your concern. You wanted power here. Not there."

 

"What is that doing here?" Helena demanded scornfully.

 

"She..." Eliza emphasized the word heavily. "...seems to think that you are threatening her children. Bad idea, Helena. Very bad idea. You have the maternal instincts of a shark. She is far more wise. Far more human than you will ever be."

 

"Please, Empress..." The Lotus said with a sigh. "There is no need to be insulting. Please do not compare me to humans. I am not human. I never was. My clearest memories came from a Tenno before she was merged." The glare she leveled on Helena should have killed her instantly even with her not having eyes. "But you are threatening my children. You wish to subjugate them as your kin tried after you were imprisoned? Over my dead body."

 

"That can be arranged." Helena scowled and then froze as a white Loki Prime and a black Nekros suddenly flanked the Lotus. None of her people moved. Wise of them. "I challenge Eliza's right to rule."

 

"Denied." Eliza said offhand. "You have no honor. Using the honor of the Tenno to further your ends has been tried before. You? No. No one will follow you unless you subjugate their wills. All that would result is bloodshed and there is enough of that in this system already." Helena spoke a series of words in an ancient language and Eliza recoiled as if struck. "You stupid..."

 

"I have the authority to cry challenge to your crown. I was wronged." The crowd murmured as Eliza frowned. The Empress looked away from the woman who had borne her for a moment. "And you know it."

 

"There were wrongs done to you." Eliza admitted as she turned back and nodded, manifestly against her will. "I freely admit that. My father could have handled you better. But what you did then? Your crimes demanded punishment and this punishment was fitting. You wished to enslave all? You were forgotten. Only here does anyone remember you and when we leave? You will be forgotten again."

 

"I challenge." Helena snapped.

 

"I heard you the first time." Eliza sounded bored now. "And I know you are too cowardly to face me yourself in a fight to the death. So choose from those present to champion your evil."

 

"I choose Jesse as my champion." Helena smirked as the murmur became a roar. "Who can strike her down, hmm?"

 

"Fine." Eliza said with a vicious smile of her own. Helena's faltered. "I choose Gemina Horati!"

 

"What?" Helena screamed as energy flared around Jesse. "No!"

 

"I think that qualifies as an 'Oops'." The Lotus said with a smile as Jesse felt energy building around her.

 

"You cannot do this!" Helena was raging as Jesse flew into the golden ceiling, followed by Gemina who was struggling against the power that held her. Jesse didn't bother. She would need her energy.

 

"Watch me."

 

***

 

The trip was fast.

 

"I won't do this!" Gemina screamed at the golden ceiling. "No... I..." Her hands moved jerkily and golden constructs appeared in front of her. "Stop! I..."

 

"You don't have a choice." Jesse did not resist as her own hands started moving. Golden blocks of code arced around to shift into shapes in front of her. She had only the barest inkling what the game was. Some kind of chess? The board looked like a chessboard. The pieces were three times her height and all had menacing lines. What had to be weapons glistened in the golden light. "I don't know the game, but I do know some of the rules of such challenges. Either way, your mistress loses. Either I kill you and she loses one of her most powerful tools or you kill me and then have to strike her down for attempting to usurp powers that were never hers."

 

"If you beat me, you have to kill Eliza!" Gemina screamed.

 

"Yeah." Jesse said sadly. "I know what she would want. She will let me if it comes to it. Her daughter is ready to take over if necessary. Guess what her very first order as Empress will likely be? Kill the usurper Helena and all of her sycophants. You. Still. Lose." A scream of rage reverberated in Jesse's mind and she smiled coldly at Gemina. "Eliza is darn smart and sneaky. You all got pwned before we started, noobs."

 

"Game on!"

 

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Shadow977

Shadow977

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Oh those poor doomed sons of...... Welp popcorn's ready beers are in the fridge and i have plenty of .22 rounds to take potshots at the silly B@#Ch with. if you need a rifle the rental fee is 25 bucks a day

I bet you 1 Neural Sensor that i get more hits with my Dread.

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BaIthazar

BaIthazar

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Have no fear.

 

EITHER way the game plays out, Jesse has already won and Gemina knows it.

 

yes very well.

but as you wrote before, If Jesse Wins, Eliza dies, and even if she has a suitable succesor, I don't want Eliza to die.

tho knowing you, you'll probably find a loophole in your own game

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Kalenath

Kalenath

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Because the show must go on.

 

i know...saying this in our context of mass media makes me sick. But quick and brutal ways are anti-climatic and Kal must sell his soap opera to us.

 

You really think NIKIS of all people is going to wax eloquent when there is killing to be done?

 

But yeah. This one has been a bit over my limit for dialogue. Time to have some action.

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Kalenath

Kalenath

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Thunder

 

Jesse did not know the game. It was obviously Orokin and loosely based on a form of chess that Jesse did know. But the pieces were nothing like anything she had seen and she could not discern the rules. Add to that some pieces phased out occasionally, only to appear in other places at other times. Jesse could not feel anything in this place, her code was disabled. All of Gemina's powers and weapons would be as well. The board was perfectly balanced.

 

"Jesse!" Gemina called. "Listen to me! We can both get out of this!"

 

"Why would I want to?" Jesse asked as her hands moved without her will. But the other had no access to her mind apparently or they would know how scared she really was. She didn't want to die. But if that was what it took... She would. She was Tenno. She served.

 

"Because one of us has to die here, Jesse!" Gemina snapped as her side of the board lit up with something. Two of the pieces there vanished, but so did three of Jesse's.

 

"So?" Jesse asked calmly as her hands flew. The board had fewer pieces now. She wasn't sure, but it seemed that her handler was laying a trap. At least, that was what it would be on a chessboard. Here? She had no idea.

 

"You do not want to die." Gemina declared. "I have touched your mind, girl. I know you don't."

 

"No, I don't." Jesse replied offhand. "But I want you and your owner to win even less. If that takes my life, then so be it. I am Tenno even if you are scum. My mother loves me. Yours? She will throw you away when she tires of you or finds a better tool."

 

"You are wrong, Jesse." Gemina said sadly. "So wrong. You didn't see what they did to her. The insults The degradations. The petty and no so petty pain that they put her through when the Emperor had his final heir and set her aside to pursue his whims. You do not know her."

 

"No." Jesse admitted. "And I do not want to. I have a mother thank you very much. I love her."

 

Gemina did not reply and Jesse focused on what she could see. She could see patterns in the game piece movements now. The one running her was setting a trap and there was nothing Jesse could do about it. She felt a tingle of anticipation mixed with glee in her mind, but it was far way, the connection that had been forced on her diminished here along with everything else. The glee spiked and then Jesse jerked as Gemina screamed.

 

"No!" The Equinox cried. Jesse stared at the board as half of it vanished. Her half. Somehow, Eliza had countered Helena's cunning trap with one of her own that sprang faster! The Equinox warframe across from Jesse jerked. "No! I won't!"

 

"Yes, you will." Jesse said quietly. "For what it is worth Gemina Horati -not much- thank you for the Ninkondi lessons." She did not move as Gemina slowly raised her pistol. "I will see you in hell."

 

A flash.

 

***

 

"NO!" Helena was screaming as Gemina returned from the game zone and Jesse fell to lie still. "You cheated!"

 

"And how did I cheat, pray tell?" Eliza's voice was sad as she stared at Jesse's crumpled form. "I mean, you kept trying to get Gemina Horati to do things other than I wanted. But that wasn't cheating, was it, because it was you doing it? I laid a trap, you walked right into it. Not my fault you haven't been practicing."

 

None of the onlookers had moved. The Lotus slowly knelt beside Jesse, her visible mouth a thin line.

 

"Mistress..." Gemina begged as her arm raised, the pistol in it ready. She was obviously fighting the compulsion and losing. "No!"

 

"You cheat me as they cheated me!" Helena ranted. "No! I refuse to accept this!" A flash of gold and Helena vanished along with Gemina, Fred, Siri and Samuel. Jesse and the four shades did not move.

 

"Girls?" Eliza's voice was worried now.

 

"We are okay, Mom." Sina said as she too knelt by Jesse along with the energy forms of her sister. "But Jesse..."

 

"She ain't gone." Nikis said softly and everyone looked at her. He chuckled. "Do you have any idea what Janet would do to me?" Everyone looked at each other and then at Eliza who slowly smiled. "Not easy, but then again, who wants easy?"

 

"What do you need, Grandmaster Nikis?" Eliza asked calmly. "Her logic bomb rescued my daughters. Anything I can give."

 

"Careful saying things like that, Empress." Nikis said quietly. "Girls. Time to go to sleep." All of them nodded. They smiled at Eliza and then vanished. Then he laid a hand on Jesse and sighed. "I need some platinum."

 

Every single Tenno in the virtual room raised a hand. Nikis looked around and then at the Lotus who nodded.

 

"We are going to disagree, old man." The Lotus said with a smile as a piece of metal appeared in her hand. Nikis grunted as he took it. "You keep right on jerking me up short. I am not perfect." He ignored her and she sighed. "I will tend her until she recovers. Draco?" She asked and the shadowed warframe stepped into view. "Get her body home."

 

"It will be my pleasure." Draco said with a feral chuckle.

 

"And if you can, save Cathi's body." The Lotus asked softly. "We can help her, but the rest of her energy would be a great help as well." Draco nodded. The Lotus looked at Eliza who chuckled evilly.

 

"I feel a quote coming on." Eliza warned. Everyone looked at each other and then at her. She smirked. "'Now go do that voodoo that you do so well!'" She and her guards vanished.

 

"Oh, she did not just quote 'Blazing Saddles' at me..." Nikis said in shock. He gave himself a shake. "Right." Nikis said as he rose from Jesse. "Jesse will be fine, just wake up with a hell of a headache. Let's end this."

 

A hungry growl from many throats followed him from the virtual world. It resounded like thunder. The Lotus sat beside Jesse's still form and shook her head.

 

"Sun and Nikis together... Almost makes me pity them, Jesse." The blue and purple garbed not-human woman said with a sigh as she stroked Jesse's virtual head gently, soothing the girl's spiritual hurts with her own energy. As a mother would.

 

"Almost."

 

***

 

"Move!" The small group ran through the derelict, Helena in the middle. Fred carried Jesse's still form and the others warded the two. The Orokin woman was in fine shape after her long captivity, but the warframes did have to slow down so she could stay with them.

 

"We cannot outrun them." Gemina said with a growl from where she ran. "What do we do with Jesse? I mean... Jesse's... I..." She trailed off, looking at the still Cyberlancer.

 

"She is Tenno." Helena said firmly as she ran. "We can find a way to bring her back. It just may...take..." She trailed off as the odd quartet entered a large plaza and an odd sound was heard. Singing?

 

"He rode a blazing saddle! He wore a shining star!" All four of them came to a sudden halt as a black warframe appeared at another door. Nikis. Singing! "His job to offer battle! To bad men near and far!"

 

 

"Oh no..." Helena swallowed, casting out with her mind, but what met it was a cacophony of emotions, thoughts and other things that threw her back. "He... some kind of jamming! Telepathic!"

 

"Down!" Gemina commanded and Helena did not argue. She ducked for cover behind a the solid metal planter of a holographic shrub. Fred laid Jesse's body beside her. "We do not want to fight!" Gemina begged the Nekros as he stopped singing. "We just want to leave!"

 

Normal Tenno powers did not usually work on other Tenno. The renegade guards might able to use some, but not all of their powers. And even if they could? Nikis knew how to counter. They had faced him before and he had ignored them to take their mistress. Talk about a slap in the face!

 

"Too bad." Nikis sounded... jovial. Oh dear. His arms were crossed, not near his pistols. "You are not leaving."

 

"You are very good, Grandmaster Nikis..." Gemina said evenly as she and the other spread out. "But..." Her words choked off as the other doors of the plaza opened. All six of them. Tenno in warframes filed in through each and every door. Four -five!- from each door. "No..."

 

Four renegades. Twenty furious Tenno now aiming at them. Plus Nikis and whoever he had with him. Uh oh...

 

"Your evil ends here." Nikis declared sternly. "You in warframes, drop your weapons and live to stand trial. She stays here." He nodded to Helena who paled.

 

"No!" Helena produced a pistol and aimed it at Jesse's head. "You will not imprison me again!"

 

"No." Nikis sounded calm now. Almost serene. "I won't." He shook his head. "And... really?" He snickered. "Threatening a corpse? How low can you get, woman?" He asked snidely. "She won't feel it. She is already dead."

 

"And you can bring her back." Helena snapped.

 

"I already have." Nikis retorted. None of renegades moved as the other Tenno took up position around the plaza, all taking aim with various weapons. A bow with slicing head arrows, a Tigris, a Torid, a Vectis Prime. So many others. "She is out of your reach. All that is... is a shell. She likes that body, but we made her that one. We can make another. Your evil ends here."

 

"You have no right to judge me!" Helena snapped. "I did what I had to!"

 

"Nah." Nikis shrugged. "You did what you wanted to. The whole 'woman scorned' thing is overdone, ya know? You were not the only one treated that way. You were the only one who did what you did. And then your kin got the bright idea of doing the same to all of the Tenno." He sighed deeply. "Old saying... 'Ya reap what ya sow'. You sowed evil. Guess what? Time to reap it." His hands moved to his pistols.

 

"I will destroy this form!" Helena snapped, as if she hadn't heard him.

 

"Go right ahead." Nikis said with a growl as his hands slid to his pistols. "You are not leaving this derelict. And when we are done? I will destroy every last little bit of your energy. This time, there are no courts, no appeals, no mealy mouthed politicos to get in the way. This time? It's just you and me, ya evil *@##$." A shotgun roared and Nikis looked to where Gemina had fired her Tigris at him. He shook his head as she stared at him in shock. "Thank you for starting the dance, darlin'."

 

Nikis... vanished. In his place, a holographic Loki Prime stood! A Decoy!

 

The renegades had a bare moment to gape before the Tenno surrounding them opened fire.

 

***

 

"Nikis..." Jasmina's voice was strained. "We... we can't hold her..."

 

The Caretakers had demanded to be part of this and their shields against telepathic compulsion were the only thing keeping this battle from being a rout. If Helena took control of any of the Tenno now battling her followers... it would be bad. Nikis' ad-hoc command group was watching the battle from a balcony. None of Helena's followers had bothered to look up. And now, they were pinned in cover. But that worked two ways. Anyone trying to get close...

 

"Anyone who gets close will run the risk of her dominating them." Sun said from where he stood, a white shadow near one wall. "Or being cut to pieces. They are accurate."

 

"Then we don't get close." Nikis said with a snarl. "Aeron! Status?"

 

"No shot from this angle." The reply was calm from somewhere nearby. The Loki sniper was seriously sneaky. "She is cowering behind Jesse."

 

"Can you bank one?" Nikis asked. The others looked at him and Aeron replied very slowly.

 

"I can." The sniper sounded a little dubious. "Nikis, you know ricochets rarely act the way we want. If I hit Jesse,... She isn't armored." Such a high caliber round as Aeron fired hitting unarmored flesh did horrific things.

 

"That body is dead. We can repair it. Weapon free." Nikis said firmly. "My authority. Take the enemy out."

 

The report of Aeron's Snipetron was muted and impossible to trace. Which was the idea. A scream sounded from below and Nikis snarled in triumph as Helena fell to the side, her arm a bloody mess. The Snipetron fired again quick as thought and she collapsed in a heap as the sniper did what he did. Headshots made such a mess. But they were effective. Helena fell to lie still and Jasmina relaxed as the pressure on her mental block suddenly vanished.

 

Three screams of pure rage sounded. Nikis and the others stared down as Siri, Gemina and Samuel all charged the Tenno who had been pinning them down. Fred... did not. He crouched beside Jesse, his weapons thrown away as he tried to stem the flow of blood from a hole in her side.

 

"What the-...?" Nikis said softly.

 

"Grandmaster Nikis!" Fred shouted. "Hurry! She is trying to download into Jesse's body! Stop..." He screamed in agony and curled up in a fetal position beside Jesse.

 

"I want to talk to him." Sun said quietly. "That one alive."

 

Nikis grunted and threw himself from the balcony. Sun followed close but arced away to where Gemina was engaged in melee with another Tenno. The Vauban's Tipedo flashed as he fought Gemina's berserk attack back, then Sun was at his side and the Equinox was overmatched. Staff and bladed staff drove the Equinox away from her fellows towards where two other Tenno waited with weapons ready to join in.

 

Siri and Samuel as well were faring badly against the teamwork of the others. They gave as good as they got, or better. Royal Guard, even renegades, were no slouches. But they were heavily outnumbered and despite their berserk rage, they were being overmatched. A crimson and royal blue Excalibur Prime engaged Samuel, driving him away from Siri long enough for the Nyx to be engaged by three others. A Loki dashed in, striking deep with twin Fang Prime daggers and Siri fell, her weapon falling from her suddenly limp grasp.

 

"No..." The Nyx had time to gasp and then the Loki struck again, silencing whatever she was going to say permanently. Her killer and his allies stood wary over her, ready in case she revived. But she did not.

 

"Siri!" Samuel screamed and redoubled his efforts. Four Tenno attacked him as one, synchronizing their lunges and slices with the skill of long practice. He screamed again as a Glaive arced in to slice through the armor on his arm like it was made of paper. He was screaming epithets as his attackers closed in, blades flashing. The cursing cut off with dreadful finality and the Oberon fell to lay still, head half disconnected from his body.

 

"I will kill you all!" Gemina screamed as she fought.

 

"No, you won't." Sun replied, his voice sad. Every strike she made, he deflected. "I had such hopes for you once, girl. Pity you had to think with your lusts rather than your brain."

 

"You know nothing!" Gemina screamed as she focused her attacks on her former teacher. The other Tenno drew back a pace as Sun countered each and every attack as if they were no more than air. "I will kill you!"

 

"No." Sun said softly as he spun his staff and deftly trapped Gemina's Ninkondi. Only for a moment. Just long enough. She jerked and stared down at a small piece of metal that had sunk right through her chest armor and the hand that he was withdrawing. "It is over, Gemina. I did love you once, girl. But you decided not to love me. I was your teacher and you learned well. But I didn't teach you everything." He shook his head. "I failed you, girl. I didn't teach you well enough and that is my fault, not yours. But this ends now."

 

"I..." Gemina reached up a slow hand to touch the metal.

 

"Step back." Sun commanded the other Tenno surrounding Gemina and they did hastily as the interrogator retreated as well. "Goodbye, Gemina Horati."

 

"Master... I..." Gemina swallowed hard. "I am sorry." Then the small triangular dagger buried in her chest exploded. Gore flew everywhere. More than one of the surrounding Tenno gagged as her warframe -what was left of it- fell over in a heap.

 

"So am I." Sun replied evenly. He shook his head, turned his back on the fallen renegade and strode to where Nikis was working on Jesse's body, tending the horrific wound in her side. All of the others Tenno made way for him. The Nekros' Dark Sword -Mortis- pinned Helena's corpse to the ground and fell energies arced all around it. "Nikis?"

 

"She was trying to go into Jesse's body all right." Nikis said with a grunt. "Got her though. Deleting now."

 

"The boy?" Sun asked looking to where Fred lay still.

 

"Alive." Nikis grunted. "You gonna do what I think you are gonna do?" Sun did not reply, scrutinizing the fallen renegade. The Nekros shook his head with a groan. "I don't want to know."

 

"No, you don't." Sun agreed. "Jesse?"

 

"Would have killed her if she wasn't already dead." Nikis said with a shrug. "But had to stop her." He nodded to the fallen evil woman. "Jesse would agree."

 

"You do realize that Janet will have it out of your hide, right?" Sun asked. Nikis just grunted again and Sun bent down hefted Fred's unconscious form and carried him easily. "We done?"

 

Nikis looked at the Loki Prime and then at the fallen woman who had caused so much pain. He reached out and yanked his sword from her. Her body disintegrated. Every Tenno present would be checked for mental hitchhikers, Nikis and Sun included. But... it was finally over.

 

Draco appeared, lifting Jesse's body easily and carrying it gently. Nikis nodded.

 

"Yeah. We are done. We clean up the mess and then get the girls home."

 

"All of them."

 

Edited by Kalenath
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Kalenath

Kalenath

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....and so endeth the reign of the STUPIDEST woman in the universe.....

PS thanks for the cameo

 

Not the stupidest. That is reserved for a few I know in real life. i will name no names.

 

But it is always fun when I can include my devoted readers in my insanity. You are welcome.

Edited by Kalenath
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evafan002

evafan002

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Not the stupidest. That is reserved for a few I know in real life. i will name no names.

Fair enough.. still helena must have been fairly high on the list to have Deliberately tried to piss off Nikis....

Also... If you are insane then the rest of us must be Stark raving bonkers.....

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Kalenath

Kalenath

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Fair enough.. still helena must have been fairly high on the list to have Deliberately tried to piss off Nikis....

Also... If you are insane then the rest of us must be Stark raving bonkers.....

 

She didn't do it DELIBERATELY. She didn't THINK he would notice her 'borrowing' a few shades from the database to serve as her slaves.

 

Oops.

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