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[Archive] Of Ash And Fire - Original Thread

SirNerdsAlot5

By SirNerdsAlot5,
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Jeahanne

Jeahanne

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Posted (edited)

So I did a bit of backstory that ended up a bit long. I hope it's alright.

 

(P.S. I reserve the alter this later if something changes later on, so be warned. xP )

 

__________________________________________________________

 

 

Acantha walked through the stark and imposing white halls of the dojo alone, making her way toward the room she had been directed to. She’d been waiting on this day for a long time, even though she was still little more than a child, especially to the Tenno, who lived for so long. Although she looked fairly calm on the outside, her nervousness made her palms sweaty and her mouth dry. That walk down the hall, in the weird dichotomy that time seems to flow in around moments of great anxiety and stress, seemed to take an age, but at the same time, no time at all.

 

She paused apprehensively at the doorway, wiping her hands on her thighs and attempting to straighten her clothing and hair before, with great deliberateness, stepping forward to have the door open before her. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the overwhelming amount of intimidation she felt at being submerged within a world she’d so longed to join, but until this moment had never truly seen.

 

She forced herself to ignore the room itself and all of its distractions, filled as it was with exotic weaponry, armor, and tools of war of all kinds. Instead, she conscientiously forced her mind into the present, trying to push her anxiety into the back of her mind, and scanned the space for the figures she knew would be present. She found them kneeling in the middle of a cleared area that she would later come to know as designated for practicing melee combat. They were two Tenno in Excalibur warframes. One, sitting directly opposite her, was fully encased in the suit, his helmeted visage giving nothing away but the steely resolve and eerie silence that characterized all of his kind. The other was kneeling off to one side, at the other Excalibur’s right hand, his helmet off and sitting on the floor at his side. She looked at his slightly tousled dark brown hair and almost surreally green eyes, as familiar as her own face. He was smiling at her, and she felt a little bit of the knot of tension roiling in her stomach unclench. But just a little.

 

The Excalibur whose face she couldn’t see, whom she knew to be the master, compelled her attention in the way a predator demands it from prey. It wasn’t anything that could be identified as a certain characteristic in the way he held himself, or in the look in his eyes, which were hidden behind his helmet in any case. Instead, it was something demanded in his sheer presence, and so she faced him, and did her best not to tremble. She wanted to make a good impression of herself, but she, without any doubt in her mind and with knowing next to nothing about the man, feared him greatly.

 

The master stood, the motion looking as threatening and careless as a great cat rising to its feet, and motioned to her. Bracing herself, she stepped forward into the sparring arena, stopping a few paces before him and bowing respectfully.

 

“So,” his voice rang throughout the room, dry and dispassionate, “you’re the new would-be apprentice, are you?”

 

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

 

“I see,” he brushed past her, walking towards a weapon rack at the far end of the room. Selecting two bow staves, he tossed one to her and held the other himself, “In that case, defend yourself.”

 

Fumbling, she caught the staff, her nervousness making her clumsy, and gripped it in her hands. She’d always been small for her age, and the master easily outweighed her by at least two times or more. She was outclassed in height, weight, reach, strength and experience. Furthermore, the bow staff was nearly as long as she was tall, making it by far an unsuitable weapon for her. On top of all that, he was outfitted with a warframe and she was not, causing an even greater disparity between them. She knew all this, but put it out of her mind. He wanted her to show him what she could do, and she wasn’t going to let any disadvantage, great as it may be, get in her way.

 

She widened her stance, bracing herself, as the master came at her. The staff whirled in his hand, spinning faster than her eye could follow. Time and time again, she ineffectually raised her weapon in defense of herself, but it was all in vain. She couldn’t keep up with the speed and strength of his blows, and was sent to the floor over and over again. She couldn’t even raise her staff in time to block the attacks. Every time she fell she forced herself to her feet, hoisting herself up using the bow staff as a support if she had to, but the beating was taking its toll. She knew she stood no chance against this man, and he wasn’t holding anything back in showing her that she was right.

 

“Enough.”

 

Hearing him speak after the silence filled only by the sounds of her panting and their fighting startled her, and she looked up at the Excalibur in surprise.

 

“Matteus,” she saw the other Excalibur’s green eyes snap up from looking down at her in concern to looking up at his master attentively, “I have no idea why you suggested this one, she is just a liability as she is. She can’t even hold her weapon properly. See what you can do with her, I’ve had enough of this.”

 

“Yes master,” he responded. Acantha could see him working hard to hide a grin behind a mask of seriousness.

 

“And Matteus, don’t go easy on her just because she’s your sister,” he said dismissively, almost as an afterthought.

 

The master took the bow staff out of her weary hands, not roughly but not with care either, and placed both his and hers back onto the weapon rack before stalking out of the room, still as lithe and dangerous looking as a panther.

 

Looking up at her older brother, she saw him grinning at her.

 

“Well done little sister,” he said fondly, ruffling her hair like he knew she hated.

 

She tiredly knocked his hand away, looking down at the floor dejectedly. “Well done? I couldn’t do anything. You heard what he said, I’m just a liability.”

 

Matteus grinned at her, crouching so he could look her in the eyes. He’d always been tall, which was something she’d envied. “You misunderstand. Master might be a tough bastard, and he might never actually outright say anything good about anyone, but he sent most of his last apprentices out without so much as looking at them. The few he did see he sent home nearly in pieces.”

 

“Except you,” she said, sticking her bottom lip out mulishly.

 

He laughed, “Yeah, except me. Me he just beat to a pulp first. I swear, he only took me on because I refused to leave unless he killed me. My obstinance must have worn him down.” Standing up, he looked down at her tired and disappointed face, “Trust me, you did well. Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying. Maybe I’ll even get you something later to celebrate your acceptance at being an apprentice.”

 

 

 

Looking down into the dregs of the vodka left in her glass, still leaning up against a counter covered in lost Orokin technology in the Foundry at Aequitas Dojo, Acantha grinned as the memory came back to her. After that initial meeting with their master, Matteus had taken her to go get something sweet to eat as celebration of her survival of the interview. He’d ended up with a beverage like this one, and when she’d taken a sip of it that he offered her she’d choked on it the same way she had on this stuff, and sworn never to try anything alcoholic again. She wondered how the cryosleep could have ever made her forget something like that.

 

She had a rather far-away look in her eyes as she set the glass down on the cluttered countertop, looking up at the group of people she suddenly realized was smaller than it had been before she’d gotten lost yet again in her own mind. She looked up at the Foundry Master who had a similar look on his face as he sorted through the plethora of priceless artifacts surrounding him.

 

“Foundry Master,” she said a little distractedly, “I think I should be going. Thank you for taking care of my weapons, and for your hospitality.”

 

Unsure he heard her she spoke up again, “I’ll be going now. Perhaps we can talk later about what I owe you for repairing my weapons?”

 

Quinn nodded distractedly, and Acantha made her way out the door. She wasn’t sure where she was going yet, but she would figure that out as she went along.

Edited by Jeahanne
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Tyranthius

Tyranthius

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'm going to skip ahead some hours, because something good came out of my Foundry. I'll still write on how Ty got the Artifact.

 

"You wanted to see me?"

 

Tyranthius nodded at his apprentice. He still called her that, though she was a Tenno in her own right. Some things never change, he thought.

 

"You'll have to forgive me. I meant to do this at a different time. After the war though, and all the lives it took-"

 

"Meant to do what? And where have you been all this time?"

 

"I was in the Void, Mother", he said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. "I didn't get hurt, and I found a new toy. Anyway, I meant to give you a gift."

 

"That's what all this was about?" Lucid smiled. "You took me out of my training session to give me a gift?"

 

"It's not what it sounds like", Tyranthius said almost defensively. "Besides, it was Ajkrumen's gift, initially, but he can't actually give them to you now."

 

"Oh", she said, more soberly. She hadn't known the FROST Prime that much, but she knew that he was a hero, and that was enough. She did wonder, though, why he would give her a gift. "So what did he have in mind?"

 

"The gift actually comes in two parts. The second part is his gift. It's an extension of the first gift. The first gift is mine, but he helped me get it."

 

"So what is it?"

 

"Come with me to the Foundry."

 

*****

 

Tyranthius led Lucid to the Foundry. When they arrived at the main work-space, he drew out a hidden panel from the wall and entered a long and complicated code into it. Before she could ask, a previously solid panel of floor melted away to reveal a staircase. "I didn't know the Foundry had secret rooms."

 

"Quinn has more spare time than he likes to say."

 

They descended, and she found herself in unfamiliar territory. The secret rooms appeared to have been built to deter any trespassers, with trick entrances, false walls and halls, and laser traps, but Tyranthius moved through it without trouble. They passed several more passages that required codes, or else palm and eye-scans, and once, a body fluid sample, which he provided from a vial hidden in his pocket.

 

"Why all the secrecy?"

 

"It's not exactly ethical, see, to do what I'm doing. Quinn may know, but he won't tell, I'm sure. Nothing to worry about, almost there."

 

They reached a Vault with an ornate door. He took out a Void Key and inserted it into the slot, and immediately the door resolved into a portal into the Void, which he beckoned her into.

 

She looked around and took note of the design, the colors, and the Orokin construction. "We're in a Tower. In the Void. Why here, and why such trouble to reach it?"

 

"We're in a room inside a low-priority Tower. All doors to it have been sealed. It's in the Void, and the only way to access it is from a secret vault in the dojo, using that Key you saw."

 

"So, uh, where is it?"

 

Instead of answering, Tyranthius gestured to a cryo-pod she had not noticed. She approached slowly, feeling nervous. She went to the pod's controls, and pressed the button. And inside...

 

The sleek lines of gold, the immaculate white, and the strange helmet could only mean one thing. "This... this is a MAG Prime."

 

"It is."

 

"But - but, I don't dese-"

 

He chuckled. "I'm a Councilor, and your former mentor. I decide what you do and don't deserve."

 

"Some people take years to qualify, even to make one."

 

"You have years. Three. Besides", he said, cutting off her protests, "I actually thought this through. You're not getting rid of your old MAG. I put this in a cryo-pod for good reason. You're going to be assuming the identity of a non-existent MAG Prime. The cryo-purge will have damaged you greatly, and your lack of Prime-level skill will be explained. There are voice and elocution modifiers built into the helmet, so you won't sound like Lucid. You will be assigned to Aequitas to help regain your 'old skills', at which point you will leave. You aren't the type to socialize, and you spend most of your time in training, or studying in your room. You will lead two lives, with one smaller than the other. The Prime will leave, and I will make great show of testing you to see if you deserve one yourself."

 

"But how am I supposed to become so skilled?"

 

"You have years."

 

"Don't you understand? I can't do it. Not if I had a hundred years. Have you seen what  Ajkrumen did, what X, and even you do?"

 

"I don't even own a Prime."

 

"But only because a LOKI Prime hasn't been re-engineered yet. Otherwise, you're all on the same class. You do things on a regular basis that most Tenno would be proud to have done once in their lives. And you don't even try!"

 

"Lucid. Listen to me: All that we can do, we weren't always able to do that. We might have been uncommonly talented beginners once, but beginners we were. I guarantee you, there was a time when X might have used an Orthos like a spear, or when Aj parried when he should have dodged, or when I nearly killed myself running on the face of a cliff. We were all beginners once, with dreams of becoming great, and perhaps enough talent and perseverance to make that happen. I see the talent in you, Lucid. In time, you could be as great as any of us. But do you have the perseverance?"

 

She nodded. "I think-"

 

"Don't think. Know."

 

Her jaw set. "I do. I will do it. But tell me, why now? Why not later, when I am that great?"

 

"Some people come into their greatness naturally. For others, it must be thrust upon them. But I can tell you, anyone who wears the white and gold cannot be anything but great."

 

"Even Sandals?"

 

Here Tyranthius laughed outright. "Yes, even Sandals - though he isn't white and gold anymore. And more importantly, even you. Which leads us to Ajkrumen's gift."

 

Edit: Seriously? I meant strange, not homo. reeuQ.

Edited by Tyranthius
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KittyShark

KittyShark

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Posted

Ghost blinked as she saw a new frame in the training room. She had never seen it's like before in her life though it looked masculine to be sure. She extended her mind to say hello but was shocked when instead of a normal mind what she 'saw' was just oceans upon oceans of information. 'W-what? what is this? this is no normal mind!' She thought, eyes wide as she withdrew her psychic presence. Instead she decided to do it the old fashioned way by manually creating a text message and sending the file at the unknown initiate. Since she had her eyes on him it was easy to make sure the message went to him. She could tell he was curiously surprised to see it though and he turned to look at her. She waved and beckoned him over, before sending a second message, explaining her muteness and inability to communicate with him telepathically though she hear just fine so verbal answers would be appreciated. Ein nodded and introduced myself "Hi! I'm Ein, what's your name?" Her response seemed to surprise him a little 'Not so much a name as a moniker. I am Ghost in the Machine but Ghost is fine. I do not know my name thus I have taken the moniker I earned as my name. What is that strange frame you use? I have not seen it's like before?' Her reply was lengthy but she was a bit of a rambler when communicating. Though Ein looked surprised when he saw her name. "Ghost? as in THE Ghost who silently infiltrated a corpus base alone, using her psychic field to keep from being seen by the cameras and Moas to destroy their reactor completely undetected and with no shots fired? You were used as an example of how to truly use your warframes abilities for stealth even if they don't directly work that way in our training class. Oh my, sorry I forgot to answer your question. It's a prototype warframe, it doesn't have a name yet" He gushed slightly before sounding quite sheepish at the end. Ghost blinked in surprise, rather speechless that she was used as an example like that. It never seemed very extraordinary to her anyway. She quickly sent another message 'Would you like to spar then? I find myself quite bored and in a bit of a rut. I think that a good match against an unknown opponent could help me unwind and maybe even improve. After the spar I will even offer advice if you would like on where you could improve'. Ein nodded exuberantly "That would be great! I just gained access to my first ability so this would be a good chance to test it if you don't mind?' She did not mind and sent him a message saying so, she would also unlock her abilities for this match, though only to be used if she really needed to.' She walked to one side of the ring and knelt down as Ein followed suit on the other side.
(MWAHAHAHA a bit on inspiration. I can't write for Ein in this fight as i do not know how his ability would play and such but here's little help with Ghost's style. She plays keep-a-away, using her speed and dexterity to avoid damage and slowly tire her opponents as strength is certainly not her strong point. She is highly cunning and intelligent and will use strange methods to achieve her goals if she finds them necessary)

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FatViking

FatViking

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Posted

Med-bay? med-bay.

________________

The Snub locked in place as Kris jumped out of it and ran towards the Med-bay. His eye didn't hurt anymore as he ran, but he was worried seeing as no healing had taken place on the flight over, as if the Stalker had managed to damage the healing systems of a warframe. ''No that can't be it.'' He thought as he neared the Med-bay, already retracting the helm again.

 

It was her first day alone in the near empty Med-bay. The only ones there besides herself were two foolish initiates who had somehow pissed Khimera off and had gotten fried for that. She was just finishing re-bandaging the Ember when he walked through the door. He was red haired, tall, overall normal in appearance. He walked towards her and into more light, revealing the shadowed side of his face. His left eye was clearly bandaged, yet it had still bled through the bandage as a large red area was clearly visible through the final layer of the bandages. ''A little help here? I think it might be bleeding again.'' The Excalibur said, face straight and showing no signs of pain.

 

''Oh, yes, come over here.'' She beckoned as she lead him to a surgical bed, already understanding that he would probably need to have surgery. The Excalibur simply followed, still as straight faced as before, as he was instructed to lay down on the bed. Removing the bandages was the easy part as the blood was still liquid and not nearly as bad a problem as dried blood in bandages was. After removing the bandages, she examined the eye. It was damaged beyond all belief, as it was torn apart. Grabbing surgical tools, she immediatly started working on removing the eye. ''How did this happen?'' She asked as she worked.

 

''Met Stalker, fought him, sent him home with his tail between his legs.'' The Excalibur replied in a very calm voice, as if he didn't care that she was removing his eye without anesthesia.

 

''Stalker? But isn't he dead?'' She asked out of curiosity.

 

''You would think there is only one? If there is only one Stalker darling, tell me how he has attacked several Tenno thousands of miles away at the same time.'' The Excalibur answered, his voice still as calm as ever.

 

''I...uh...don't know actually.'' She sheepishly said as she continued working, separating the eye from the  last muscles holding it in place.

 

''I mean, you would think there is a small force of them out there, seeing as he can do that.'' The Excalibur continued. ''It is merely logical to think that there are several, if not hundreds of Stalkers out there, seeing as they attack in several locations at once.''

 

''Yeah, uhm, I have finished removing the eye. I am going to get the replacement s if you could just wait a moment.'' She informed him.

 

''No thanks, I have no need for a new eye. just stitch the eyelids together and give me an eye-patch and i will be out of your hair in seconds.'' The Excalibur said, a serious expression on his face.

 

''But..you.''

 

''No buts, that was my blind eye you just removed. It has been blind since before the cryo-sleep. I don't need a new eye. After all, it would only disorient me for a long time before my brain could finally understand the signals it would be sent.''

 

''Fine.'' Was all she could muster, as she sensed that there would be no arguing with this man. she stitched his eyelid together and then handed him an eye-patch. ''Before you leave though, I would like to ask you something. How did you beat the stalker?''

 

''Easy. i kicked the ever living sh*t out of him.'' The Excalibur said before simply leaving the med-bay.

__________________________________________________________________________________

 

Yes, Kris is now truly...a cyclops.

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khimera

khimera

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Posted

So Ghost likes to play keepaway...this should be entertaining.

 

_________________________

 

Ein knelt across from Ghost, his excitement fading into calm, but even so just below the surface he could feel a pulse, his 'heart' beating rapidly like the drums of war upon a battlefield. The flow of energy through Einherjar's body was small, a trickle compared to the potential he could sense within himself. "Even the mighty rapids were once a single drop of water." He spoke, the four lights that seemed like eyes on his helmet becoming small lines as if to symbolize the closing of his eyes. The rings around the kneeling Tenno vanished and a small mechanical noise sounded; the match had begun.

 

Springing back, Ein snapped his head up to where he'd known Ghost to be originally, finding her gone. Lines from the sides of the smooth part of Ein's helmet flashed briefly, connecting with his eye-lights making him appear more ferocious than he normally would. Such a small change to someone's appearance to make such an intense feeling would normally go unnoticed. "Scan." The unique Tenno spoke to himself, moving quickly to where Ghost had been kneeling, his systems searching for wave interference in the area. The entire Dueling Room was under psychic interference now, there would be no mitigating that. Feeling an impact on his back Ein jumped to one of the four pillars, using the claws on his hands and feet to keep position as he saw two psychic bolts bursting where he'd been not a moment later. Setting his sights on their origin, Ein seemed to project a grin as he saw a flicker of the Nyx as she fell back into her field of camouflage.

 

Attempting a jump to the next pillar over Ein miscalculated his leg thrust and landed on all fours sliding up to the pillar instead. "Ah crap." Straightening up as quickly as he could Einherjar threw his arms out, his eye-lights glowing bright white. "Summus Partum!" Leave it to Quinn to give his abilities Latin names. The palms of the 'Warframe' pulsed with energy as cubes of light formed floating by them seemingly made of light itself. "Let's see...orbit?" The cubes tesselated, breaking apart into myriad smaller versions that began to orbit in a cylindrical fashion around their creator. "Fascinating." Hard-Light creations, perhaps? It was the most plausible solution, since pure energy creations would consume too much power, and there were other Warframes that possessed control of different forms of energy. Every Warframe was unique, so Ein's was no different in that regard.

 

_____________

 

(I'd rather allow Kittyshark to fight as Ghost, since Ein's fighting style is easier to get a hold of. I haven't played a Nyx so I know little of them)

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065tdsa

065tdsa

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Posted (edited)

A little background coming up, while i figure out what should happen in the present.

---

That was a simple mission. Very simple, but then again, back in those days, he didn't get assigned anything overly complicated. Clean up in a low security Corpus facility, head count esteemed to be around the 200, including Moas and support proxies. A fellow operator to assist.

 

Not his fellow of choice, that was for sure. Around that time the rumors of a Stalker, a killer of Tenno, were up in the air, and so was an odd trend to imitate the red and black style which this killer was reported to use. A big way to get idiots to spend money on recolors, Akinos thought, and the perspective of the red and black Banshee that had been assigned as his companion for the mission being such an idiot wasn't something he'd like. The fact that this Banshee sported the whole matching set of weapons didn't ease his concerns.

 

The mission went well, however. He himself was more than capable of holding the majority of the corpus forces back with his energized Glaive, while the Banshee had proven to be competent with the bow, the Dread as it was called.The sheer incompetence of the corpus when it came to combat at close range (aside from the annoying shock waves, which he had easily been able to avoid, if with a bit of help of his Teleport skill) had pretty much closed the deal. Their assigned section of the facility was wiped clean, from proxies, crewmen, turrets and cameras. It was simple, but somewhat frantic, and with little to no time left to speak, aside from an occasional word exchange through the HUD system.

 

They moved towards extraction, taking their time to check diverse containers and lockers for valuables, since the place was likely scheduled to be destroyed by another group. They had stopped at one such room right next to an elevator door. Akinos had gone ahead to call it while the Banshee tried to unlock some lockers. Then, the lights flickered, and a word appeared in his HUD, sent by the Banshee.

 

Stalker.

 

Akinos was scarcely concerned. He'd heard all of those stories about flickering light, and they were nothing but fun for him. Most likely caused by other groups of Tenno around the same facility or ship. He himself had been forced to abort a mission at one occasion due to an overly enthusiast saboteur destroying the reactors too early. And yet, the lights flickered again, and he got another message from her.

 

He's going to kill me. He says i tried to copy him, and that he's going to kill me for it.

 

At this point, he was concerned, but rather about the mental health of his fellow Tenno. However, as he turned around to look at the Banshee, he saw a cloud of black smoke appearing behind her, the figure of an unknown frame surging from within it, colored red and black.

 

He ran towards the Banshee, and pushed her aside, as this frame took the familiar position to begin a Slash Dash. However, he was a bit too slow to get her away, and and they were both cut by the slash, the Banshee having received almost lethal damage, as the strength of the dash threw her inside the elevator, it's door having just opened.

 

Akinos thought quickly, as the Stalker drew his throwing knifes, and drew his Glaive with one hand to block them while he pushed the elevator's panel with the other one, sending it upwards. His Glaive spun in his left hand, some projectiles bouncing off while the rest were caught by it's shape filled with holes and such for the very purpose of catching the enemy's blades.

 

The Stalker threw knifes quickly and accurately towards Akinos, but that didn't work so well against such a defense, and he soon had to draw more, while Akinos was untouched and had his Glaive already at hand.

 

As he threw it, he was also throwing seven Despair knifes, that separated from the Glaive in the air and flew in different directions. The Stalker ducked, avoiding them all, and so had to do Akinos, as few of the knifes had gone his way as well.

 

As Akinos drew his primary weapon, a Braton and aimed at where the Stalker just had been, he saw nothing but a cloud of black smoke fading away. In his HUD appeared a new message, from an unknown source:

 

Ah, The Throwing Blade Throws Throwing Blades. It's good to see you haven't changed, Akinos. We'll meet again, and i'll tell you what i can about what you forgot. Until then.

 

Akinos was most shocked. Not so much about the Stalker knowing his name, as about the name of his Glaive technique. It was, being honest, stupid and dangerous, and even if his enemies used throwing knifes he wouldn't have used it often. As things were, he'd never used it since he got out of cryo. It was one of the things that he remembered along with the  essentials of weapons and warframe usage. And there weren't all that many of those things...

 

Before he could try and search his memory for answers that weren't going to be there, he was interrupted by the sounds of the elevator having come back down, with the Banshee still laying inside it. She was badly injured, but she'd live, according to the reads his frame received.

 

-Think i scared our "friend" away-Akinos said as he helped her stand up-Now let's get you to extraction.

 

-I am ditching this weapons, and the damn colors-he heard her response barely through the helmet, her voice comms apparently damaged-No more red and black.

 

Akinos never had a chance to check on that Banshee afterwards. Not that he was concerned."What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" or so went an old saying. And, if that was correct, then she'd surely turn much stronger after that day. or at least, more level headed and wiser when it came to spending her money.

---

Edited by 065tdsa
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