Chapter Text
“Are we not monsters? Lord Ballas?” he whispered, “All of us.”
...
Lightning streaked across the stale air of the Orokin laboratory, cutting and carving deep gouges through the walls and furniture, setting fabric banners alight. Papers fluttered and burned as the whine of the machinery grew louder and louder, bellowing their anguish to the single uncaring denizen of the disintegrating chamber. Her greying hair whipped and blew about as the machine finally drew inward, it had made a positive lock!
Her ceremonial Syandana fluttered and snapped as she spun around, the doors to her laboratory were shaking and groaning, so the Archimedean council had already made their move then. A hiss blew between her gritted teeth as she unfastened the cloak, allowing it to flutter away. The Ornate strip of fabric, carved and embroidered with the symbols of the Void’s Requiem, was dragged into the narrow orange portal that was ripping itself through the dimensional fabric. The bronze clad machinery screamed and moaned as their housings were melted, their innards vaporized as the heat rose past their melting point.
The Narrow woman’s ornate white dress began to smolder and smoke as the heat enveloped the room, her skin growing red as the doors to her laboratory were finally prized open. She threw her hand forward, catching the lead Dax in the gut with a piercing beam of white light, the warrior was dead before he hit the floor. She threw herself to the side, sweat streaming from her skin as no fewer than four wicked sharp throwing knives sped from beyond the darkened threshold, seeking to pierce her neck and gut.
A dark trail of blood followed her as the tugged the one knife that met its target free, her arm falling limp as the deadening agent began to burn through her veins. So they were going to put her down with the rest of them then… Just another ivory pod in the Luan nurseries. Her hand tightened around the short handle of the blade. She wasn’t going to be turning into a pretty preening Kavat for them.
She was an Archimedean, not a lapdog.
“Archimedean Valedictorian!” A familiar voice bellowed, “spare yourself the hassle and come out without a fuss!” The Executor Ballas was here?!
Her breath blew thick and fast as her stomach lurched, one of her lower teeth chipping as the grit them too hard. The skin of her palm broke as she squeezed the knife too hard, a thin dribble of silver-hued blood falling across the ground as her resolve solidified. Her bare feet, covered still in the callouses and smoky black scarring from her years aboard that contemptible ship, slapped across the debris riddled ground.
“Archimedean,” Ballas purred, glowing eyes narrowing as a smug smile stretched across his blue lips, “I thought you were ordered to stand down these experiments.” His wicked grin grew wider as he watched her anger soar.
“You!” she roared, “you gave your blessing! You made a vow!” Her head was growing foggy as the sedative began to worm its way through the folds of her brain.
“I gave no such assurances, Archimedean,” he said dismissively as his overlarge arm unfurled from behind his back. He made a show of appraising his fingernails as the rift in the center of the room grew larger and larger, setting all the Archimedean’s notes alight, setting the air awash with the cinders of centuries of knowledge. “Have you a written contract? Have you a- AGH!” He stumbled back as the throwing knife sprouted from the center of his muscled chest. “Slay her then! Bring me her prattling Cephalon, I’ll have it shattered!” He roared.
The Executor drew back, pulled from the room by the waiting Dax as a pair of lithe forms darted from the murkiness beyond the blazing room. The orange light played across their muscular Ivory bodies, the ornate golden ornamentation that coated them from head to toe shining almost blindingly. Her hair was alight as she threw herself back, dress ablaze as those creatures, those Warframe, stalked her through the poisonous air.
The Archimedean smirked at them as she clapped her hands together, the sound echoing through the unnaturally silent room. The machinery had long died, the roar of the flames forgotten, all there was to hear was the Archimedean’s ragged breathing and the low groan of the structure around them warping with the heat that refused to burn her skin. Her dress, the ornate weave of white fabric and golden ornaments had been immolated, reduced to ash and globules of smoking molten bronze, her naked body bore to the Warframe.
She clapped her hands together once more, a wicked smile stretching across her face as the whispering silken tendrils of the Void began to creep from the rift, bringing with them the sickly smell of rotting flesh. Thick sheets of pale smoke poured from the Archimedean’s skin as she fed her own powers into the dimensional fabric the Void itself was weaving for her. She snickered as she took a deep breath.
The voice that came from her mouth was not her own airy accented timbre, it was low, unnaturally deep, guttural, as if she were gargling sand as she spoke. The glyphs she had painstakingly tattooed into her skin began to glow a furious crimson, smoking and burning, charring and blackening her skin with every word.
“RA, KAH ELU!” She howled, as the rift behind her snapped open wide, a vast semicircle of the purest black cutting through the structure she had made her roost. “KA MARA KA, NOMA, LOHK!” Her scream was lost as her voice was overtaken by the roar of the Void’s guardian answering her call.
The Warframe meant to apprehend her fled, the building around them falling to pieces beneath their feet, leaving her stood alone upon a hovering circle of debris, held aloft by the same magic that allowed those pathetic puppets of unnatural flesh and stolen souls the gift of life. She could only hope she’d nicked Ballas’ bitter heart with that knife, that it would hemorrhage and bleed, falling numb with that sedative, killing him. But she knew such things weren’t going to happen, the Void’s Guardian had already revealed to her what was to happen.
She turned about, looking into the deepest reaches of the Void, awaiting the Guardian, her mentor, her guide. The breath caught in her throat as those grey fingers swept through that impenetrable darkness, that hand lacking a pointer finger. She held out her own hand, silently begging it forward.
Then as suddenly as it all began, it ended. With the roar of cannon fire the platform the Archimedean stood upon disintegrated, her body with it. The shimmering Ivory warships in orbit of the moon all training their guns upon the single tiny space and fired.
...
“Belgh!” I let my head fall back, my neck wrapping uncomfortably over my chair. That’s the last time I ever try doing Steel Path missions, level 100’s can go suck the big one. I looked sadly as the ‘mission failed’ graphic stretched across the screen and my least favorite notification ‘updating account information’ flashed briefly. It didn’t matter all too much, it wasn’t really gonna affect my overall stats but I still hated losing missions. “And that,” I groaned as I stretched my arms out, “is why you never push yourself.”
I looked at Hildryn, my big soft killing machine, standing defiantly in that grey void of a results screen, behind an empty resources tab. I shrugged halfheartedly, I had a big enough horde of stuff, and nothing I lost would’ve changed anything. I mashed the escape key and entered the level select screen. I sighed quietly as the solar system whizzed around the screen, my Hildryn kneeling patiently in the center.
“Alright Hildy, how ‘bout we blast some fools at Telesto? Get that kill count up.” Hildryn of course said nothing, why would she, she was a load of polygons on the screen, I totally wasn't some weirdo who would make an emotional connection with a videogame character.
I yawned, it was kinda sad really. The enemies on Telesto were way too weak to pose any threat but I couldn’t deny how satisfying it was to mow through them. I smirked, just how quickly could I clear it this time? I still haven’t broken four minutes without using abilities, but if I was lucky I wouldn’t have to deal with too many high defense baddies.
I hovered my mouse over the Exterminate mission, but quickly changed my mind. I kept forgetting to switch my weapons. I had to swap my guns. I mean, playing with a sniper was fun but you can only have so much fun hip firing a sniper before it gets a bit boring. I quickly swapped the guns, hazarding a brief look at the loadout screen, as I thought though, no new mods that would boost my damage any higher than it already was. I slid up the ramp back to the level select screen.
I blinked tiredly, realizing I’d lost track of time. I Alt-Tabbed to check. “1:30?” Yeah no wonder I was tired. “Alright, one more run and imma go pass out.”
I clicked the mission and watched it count down. I felt my eyes droop slightly as my screen zoomed into the planet Saturn and my inevitable fodder run at Telesto. I scoffed slightly at the loading screen, the weird Orokin writing flickered up instead of the usual obvious advice, which was a rarity, too bad it didn’t actually do anything. I felt my eyes droop again.
“Looks like this won’t be a record breaker,” I muttered, yawning halfway through.
I had the vague feeling of falling and my vision went black.
…
I woke up lying down, which was a bit funky since I vividly remembered passing out at my keyboard. Did my housemate move me again? I thought I told her to stop doing that. I rolled over, content at least that I was in bed and not ruining my spine at my desk. I was given pause at rolling over, I knew I had broad shoulders but I felt wider than my desk, and that thing was massive. I also took the time to realize that I wasn't lying on a bed, it was much too hard for that, spiky too. I eased open my eyes, completely unprepared to see anything, I kinda didn’t want to.
Grass, dirt, trees? What the hell? Did my housemate decide to do the right thing and abandon me in a field? I tried to blink a few times but it seemed my eyelids decided to stop working, which was distressing. I scrambled into a sitting position and clapped a hand to my face. I didn’t have a face, which was very slightly more than distressing. I looked at my hand in the pale moonlight; it was massive and very clearly not mine. The skin was an unnatural shade of black with uniform ridges and bumps that made it look like fingerless gloves were growing from the skin. I did what any sane person would do, I laid back down and tried to fall back asleep, I was way too tired for this kind of lucid dreaming.
Sleep didn’t come for me though, which was bothersome since I was really tired. I waggled my head from side to side, long horns digging furrows in the soft earth, as I silently debated whether or not to humor this lucid dream or just refuse to play its game. I didn’t really get a chance to decide for myself as the ground next to me sprayed with dirt as a bullet crashed next to my head; I heard a crack as the sound from the rifle finally reached my ears.
I rolled over and broke into a shambling run, my ears filled with the crackling sounds of gunfire and the wet thwaps of bullets just barely missing me. I felt heavy, but that was understandable since I was tired and probably in denial about my current situation. My feet pounded into the tall grass propelling me faster than I’d ever run before. I felt my foot catch on a rock, but instead of breaking my toes and tripping me, the lump of stone flew from the grass and spun across the vast plains eventually ricocheting from a large stone structure.
My stomach sank even further than it already had, I recognized that thing, I watched as odd papery strands blew from the thing in the gentle wind. I looked past the stones that most certainly weren’t stones and my suspicions were confirmed, there was the pond with the geyser in the center. It was the Twin Horns, just like the game.
I began muttering to myself, “Holy shit, it’s the Plains of Eidolon. Why the hell am I dreaming this?” I resolved to take a break from the game when I woke up.
Too late did I remember that there were always enemies spawned at the Twin Horns. I heard the guttural cries of the Grineer squad meandering around the pond, oddly staying well clear of the geyser at its center, and the hail of bullets began coming from my front as well as from by back. I raised my arms to cover my face as the bullets began to thump into my stomach and chest. Oddly enough they didn’t hurt that much, it felt more like getting punched than getting shot. I tried to click my teeth together in anxiety but it seemed I didn’t actually have any, which simply worsened my anxiety.
This better not be what I think it is. I let my arms drop and I felt at my legs and sure enough, dual holsters right where I thought they’d be. I pulled my pistols from their holsters and wildly began firing at the Grineer, the little guns bucking and recoiling horribly. The Grineer scattered as I pelted them with bullets, diving for cover. I focused my shaky aim on a single Lancer who was slightly more exposed than the rest and let off a quick burst.
I was honestly amazed that I managed the land a hit on him I was on the verge of a panic attack and those bullets were really starting to hurt, I think my shield was about to run out. The Lancer fell back with a cry of pain as the bullet caught him in the shoulder. I watched, briefly astonished as he dragged himself across the ground, still firing at me. The ground around me exploded as another patrol of Grineer poured from a nearby cave mouth.
“Shit,” I mumbled as I saw the towering form of a Heavy Gunner and the slightly shorter Bombard wind up for another attack.
I aimed my pistols at the group and let off a stream of bullets. Several of the Grineer fell back, riddled with bullets but the rest reemerged from behind the two shield wielding Lancers that had eaten up my bullets. This was bad; I was surrounded with my back pinned to an indefensible position, worst of all I was completely panicking. My guns clicked hollowly as their magazines emptied.
I shoved the empty guns back into their holsters. Shit. The firing to my back picked up again as the group that was pursuing me crested the small hill behind me. Shit. I really only had one option. I wished I could take a few deep breaths to psych myself up for how stupid this was but it seemed that I didn’t have lungs. I bounced in place a few times and broke from my cover, running across the open ground and into the multiple walls of bullets waiting for me.
Shit.
It was incredible. The Grineer used tactics, an actual strategy beside standing in the open and shooting, or crouching ineffectually behind railings you could just shoot through. The Shield Lancers had actually blocked my shots and all three groups had spaced themselves so they could all fire upon me without catching each other in the crossfire. I sprinted as fast as I could straight at the pond group, their Shield Lancers rushing forward to try and block me. I steeled myself and really hoped this worked just like the game. I let my legs drop and let my momentum carry me forward. I didn’t have time to be relieved; I could slide just like in the game. I knew what I had to do next. Just as I was about to crash into the Lancers I dug my heels into the ground and coiled my legs, ready to Bullet Jump. My body swung upwards, way quicker than I thought it would, I managed to keep my cool though and push off just after the zenith of my swing.
I was airborne, looking down I was at least thirty feet in the air, soaring over the Grineer. They didn’t seem very impressed with my acrobatics as they kept firing like nothing happened. It all looked so real, which was an odd thing to start thinking about flying through the air in a hail of gunfire. I could smell the ballistics powder; I could see the foggy breath of the Grineer pouring from behind their circular face shields and I could even vaguely hear the keening alarms denoting nightfall echoing across the plains. I was snapped out of my stupor of wonderment as I began falling. I braced myself for a rough landing, I’d barely been able to keep myself stable in the air, and hit the ground in a sloppy roll. I managed to get to my feet without losing too much of my momentum and sprinted headlong at the geyser.
“Please work!” I screamed as I stepped into the boiling hot hole.
My body was enveloped in a searing hot pain and my vision turned into a frothing rage of boiling water and steam. I felt myself almost forced flat as the power of the geyser launched me into the air. As suddenly as it started the cacophony of agony and water ended and my vision was a wildly spinning view of the sky and ground interchanging places at speeds I wasn’t quite comfortable with.
“Ow,” I muttered preemptively.
‘Ow’ didn’t quite cut it. I crashed into the upper branches of a nearby tree, nearly vaporizing it. My vision went from the sky and the earth to a wild tangle of speeding branches tearing at my body as gravity forced me through a wooden sieve. I hit the ground with a hefty thud, a boulder cushioning my fall from the nice soft dirt. I allowed myself a brief moment to savor being motionless. I could hear the packs of Grineer sprinting toward me and another sound rising in volume that was quickly overwhelming their harsh cries.
I groaned and got back to my feet, all my limbs began complaining at me by sending shoots of pain to whatever the heck I called a brain. I stumbled forward a few paces and fell back to my knees; it all seemed so effortless in the game.
“Agh! This is hell!” I yelled at the sky.
The sky decided to respond with a bright beam of yellow light shining directly into whatever I used to see. I shielded my vision from the blinding beam, but that didn’t help all too much. I was nearly pinned to the ground by a sharp blast of wind coming from the source of the light. I rolled to the side, trying to get away from the obnoxious light. The large dropship’s carapace-like hull glimmered slightly in the moonlight.
“Wow, those things look way more threatening from this angle,” I grumbled.
Normally those things weren’t a problem as long as I had my… wait a minute. I reached back and grabbed the gun strapped to my back. I looked in disbelief at my Zenith, if I had a mouth it would have grinned wickedly. I couldn’t believe the devs actually released this gun, let alone gave it out for free, a fast and powerful automatic rifle with a huge magazine capacity and a secondary firing mode that turned the thing into a semi-automatic scopeless sniper rifle with infinite punch-through and built-in wall hacks.
“Infinite punch-through.” I couldn’t resist a giggle as I looked up at the unsuspecting dropship.
I quickly inspected the rifle, the searchlight continuing to blind me. There was a small switch right where the thumb rested, I flicked it and there was a small bang as the enemy radar launched from the gun. I aimed the gun upwards at the ship; even I couldn’t miss from this close, and squeezed off a few rounds. The gun was almost ripped from my hands with how powerful the kick was. I lifted it back up and pressed it firmly to my shoulder and aimed for the engines.
Before I could let off another shot the ship began juddering and veering wildly, smoke coursing from the small punctures. The beam was whisked away as the ship began spiraling toward the ground. I squeezed off a few more shots at the falling ship for good measure and broke through the woods. If this really was like the game then the gates to Cetus would be just a short ways away.
There was a massive thud and the shriek of tearing metal as the ship crashed into the ground. There was a blast of searing heat as the entire thing went up in a ball of blazing orange flame. I limped away through the small outcropping of trees. I could see the path to the gates just up ahead; it was so close I could even see the glittering gold embellishments on the doors. I jumped slightly as more bullets whizzed past my head, it looked like the Grineer force had skirted the blazing wreck and were aiming to cut me off from my escape.
I skidded to a stop and aimed at the Grineer leading the charge, a Ballista. Damn, I could never hit those things, too narrow. She saw what I was doing and stopped herself, she took aim and I could hear her sniper powering up. We both shot at the same time and we both hit our marks.
It felt like getting hit by a truck, I was nearly taken off my feet as the heavy round smashed into my stomach. The Ballista crumbled to the ground, a massive hole blown through her chest. As she fell I saw several of the Grineer behind her collapse as well.
The group didn’t falter, they trampled the bodies of their former comrades the same as if they were merely the grass covering the ground. I let off a few more potshots to try and hit as many as I could before sprinting desperately to the gates. I heard whatever ancient mechanisms that powered the thing whir and crunch as the gate slid open; I stumbled up the low stairs and threw myself across the threshold, rolling to an indignant stop as the gates crashed closed behind me.