No Defense

She was not afraid. Fear was as alien to her now as any other emotion. She had them. She knew she did. They were noted on the readouts that scrolled across her vision even when she had downtime. But they did not affect her in any other way. She was... beyond them. Unable to feel.

That occasionally bothered her. But only for short periods before her controls dampened her feelings. She didn't mind. Not really. She had purpose. Not everyone could say that. She had made serious mistakes in the past and she would pay for them for the remainder of her existence. But in the end, what mattered wasn't her. She had sworn an oath to another. To aid Serene while Serene came to grips with her changed status. It didn't hurt that they both shared something. Serene loved the one that she had. The love had never been returned in either case, but Serene at least had a concrete...

A soft cry pulled Lis out of her downtime and she was on her feet instantly. She was bending over the crib that had been set up but... It wasn't Rocky crying. He didn't cry much. He was Tenno. Infant, but still Tenno. Born infected with the Technocyte Virus, he was blessed or cursed with the longevity, enhanced strength, speed and other advantages of Tenno. This was both a blessing and a curse. He learned so fast, and he never made any mistake twice. No one ever had to punish him as Lis dimly remembered her own parents punishing her for infractions as a child. But he was sound asleep.

At less than a year old, he was growing like a weed. There were times when Serene commented that she looked away from him for a second and he grew a centimeter. That was an exaggeration, but not that much of one. And the way the boy was learning... Part of Lis was frightened by the way the boy was inhaling knowledge. She wanted him protected, but children had to able to act as children. She was...

The sound came again and Lis stiffened. She walked to where Sara lay in the tiny bed she had assumed when she and Mishka had arrived at this tiny outpost of humanity. Sara was writhing in her sleep, her face contorted with pain, fear or both. A quick glance at Mishka showed the other girl sleeping fitfully, probably picking up on Sara's distress. Their beds were close to one another. There was not a lot of space here.

"Sara." Lis kept her voice calm and gentle. She had learned how to cope with Sara's nightmares. If she woke the girl too fast or too harshly, bad things tended to happen. Especially if Serene woke thinking her kids were in danger. The former banshee still slept with weapons close at hand despite the peacekeepers literally begging her to stop. "Sara... Come on girl. Wake up."

Sara jerked in place and bit back a cry of some kind. A scream of rage or fear. For a moment, Lis quailed as the girl's face seemed as flat and unemotional as Lis' herself. But then Sara jerked and her hands flew to her midsection.

"No..." Sara said weakly as she felt below her abdomen. "Not again..." It was the third time this week she had wet the bed.

"Sara?" Lis said gently. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." She eased her hands underneath Sara and was stunned as the girl simply let her lift. Sara was a fighter. She wasn't a warrior by any stretch of the imagination, but she was not a quitter. For her to be so... docile... Something was wrong. "Sara?" She asked as she carried Sara to the small cleaning room set up for the apartment. She sat Sara down and moved the girl so she could clean up the mess. "What is wrong?" Then she went still. That wasn't urine! That was blood! She keyed an emergency call to the medics and shifted Sara as the girl cried in her arms. "Sara." She said gently as she carried the girl to the door. The medics would be quick. "It's okay."

"What is happening to me, Lis?" Sara begged as the door hissed and a pair of medics appeared, faces worried. "Nightmares every night. And now... I..." She stared down at herself and went still. "No..." She begged. "Lis! Help!" She pleaded.

"We will, Sara." Lis promised. "Let them take you, Sara. I have to stay with Serene, Rocky and Mishka. But I will be by when I can. Serene will be by as soon as the sedative I gave her wears off." Serene had needed the aid to sleep. She wasn't getting enough. But with a newborn? Especially a Tenno newborn, things were... intense.

The girl reached up and kissed Lis' face, then she went limp as Lis transferred her to the medic's arms. The medics nodded to her, scanners whirring as they darted off. Lis reached up and touched her cheek where Sara had kissed her. Why did that feel so... final? Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. Lis shook her head slowly and keyed her comlink.

"Medical bay. This is Lis." She didn't really need to ID herself, they would know who she was and where she was from the transmission. But courtesy was all that kept people sane in such tight quarters. "Sara had another nightmare. The on call team is bringing her in. She has some kind of bleeding."

"Bleeding?" The charge nurse asked, worried. "We will be ready for her. Anything else?"

"She is acting... odd." Lis said slowly. "I cannot define what is wrong. But something is." She shook her head. "I will tend Serene. I gave her the sedative the doctor prescribed. She will come to Medical as soon as she wakes." She warned the nurse who sighed.

"Thank you for the warning." The nurse said sourly. But then she paused. "Are you all right? You sound... off."

"I do not know." Lis said with a small frown that faded as the controls dampened her emotions again. She ran a quick self diagnostic and stiff need. Something was not right, but she could find no faults with her systems. "I will need diagnostic checks. Something is wrong. With me or with Sara. Or both of us."

"We will be ready." The nurse promised her.

"Thank you." Lis said as she entered the room only to pause as she saw Mishka awake and staring at her. "Mishka?"

"Lis..." Mishka said slowly. "Your skin..." She pointed to Lis' face and Lis touched her face where Sara had kissed her. She stared as gold flaked off in her fingers. Then... Skin and bone and... Blood was falling freely. Lots of blood. She was...

Lis jerked awake. She stared at where Sara slept. The girl was writhing in a nightmare, but she wasn't bleeding and there was no wetness when Lis checked. Rocky was asleep. Serene and Mishka likewise. Lis shook her head slowly. This wasn't right. Her emotional dampener should have been enough to keep her from having nightmares. This was... not good. If she was having difficulty. She shook her head again, procedure was clear. She strode to the door and keyed her com.

"Alert duty Tenno, please respond." She said quietly as the door shut. "This is Lis."

"Lis." The calm voice of a Tenno replied instantly. There was always a Royal Guard Tenno on duty on that channel at all hours. "Situation?"

"I am...experiencing technical difficulties." Lis said with more than a trace of worry. "My emotional dampener did not stop a nightmare. I request a guard and a full diagnostic. I must not endanger Serene... I..." Why was the floor suddenly coming up to meet her? "Help!" She begged as she felt darkness closing in around her.

Without sense of transition, Lis was standing on a golden plain. But not alone. Sara was there, but... the girl was writhing as tendrils of something dark and evil coiled around her. Familiar dark and evil. Lis didn't know where she knew them from, but she did.

"Sara!" Lis cried and... She stared down at herself. She wore a Saryn warframe as she had for so long, but... she wasn't allowed this. She felt her forehead, but no hoops, no control mechanism. This...wasn't right. But then Sara screamed, a long drawn out wail of agony as the coils solidified into Corpus mechs and Crewmen, sinister tools gleaming as they approached Sara who curled upon the ground, sobbing. "No." Lis said sharply. "I will not allow this!" She moved to stand over Sara, her hands suddenly holding a lato and skana. "Leave her alone!"

"Lis!" Sara begged. "No... Don't..."

"Sara...?" Lis asked and then her world shifted. She was standing over Sara's bed, her hands around Sara's... around the girl's throat. The girl's face was turning blue! "No!" Lis screamed as she released Sara's hands and recoiled. Serene woke up, her hands sliding to her weapons. Mishka jerked up as well, sliding away from Serene with the sensibility of knowing that Serene was damned scary when provoked. Rocky woke with a cry, but... his eyes lit on Lis and went wide. "What have I done?" Lis begged. "Sara... Sara, talk to me...!"

"Lis..." Sara said weakly, blood coming from somewhere to stain the bed. "Not... your..." Her eyes rolled up and she fell over.

"NO!" Lis screamed loud enough to deafen.

"Lis!" Serene was out of her bed in an instant, at Sara's side as Lis recoiled, slamming into the wall. "Medical emergency! My quarters!" She screamed at the com. "Sara is hurt!" An acknowledgement came as she examined Sara quickly. Mishka moved to comfort Rocky who was starting to cry, unnerved by all of this.

"What have I done?" Lis begged as she slumped to the floor. "Is she...?"

"She is alive." Serene said, breathing a bit easier. "Lis... What happened?"

"I don't know." Lis said softly. Then she reached up and tapped her control mechanism. "It's not working. My emotions... I... Serene..." She begged. "Tell me I didn't just hurt Sara!"

She loved Sara. As much as the dampener would let her anyway. She was sworn to Serene, but she loved Serene's girls and she adored Rocky. It wasn't...right. But she didn't mind. She was a slave, but a willing one. She had done wrong, led evil renegade Tenno to where they could hurt innocents including Sara and Serene. This was her punishment. She had accepted it both for her sake, Serene's sake and Karl's sake. She still loved him even though she knew it was hopeless. She slid as far away from Sara as she could, which wasn't far. The door hissed open and an Ash Prime stood there, a rifle in hand aimed at her.

"Do not move." The Ash commanded and Lis did not. She knew the Royal Guard barely tolerated her presence. A renegade Tenno was not something any real Tenno took lightly.

"Medics?" Lis begged, not moving. She gave a small sigh of relief as a pair of white garbed forms bustled in and took control, easing Serene away from Sara so they could work. "What have I done?" Lis asked nobody. "I..."

"Lis..." Sara croaked despite the medics commanding her not to move. "Not you... Not... you... Ask... First..." She went still and limp.

"Sara?" Lis begged as the medics snatched her up and ran out the door with her. Serene, after a quick glance at Mishka, followed at a run. Mishka stayed with Rocky, holding the tiny boy and rocking him comfortingly. Lis wailed softly. "What have I done?"

"She said it wasn't you." The Ash said slowly. But the aim point of his Latron Prime did not waver from her midsection.

"My... emotion dampener is offline... or something." Lis said quietly as she bowed her head. "Make it quick." There could be only one penalty for violating her sworn word. For hurting Sara.

"No." A new voice sounded and Lis jerked as Eliza, Empress of Orokin stepped into the room, her face stern. "Lis, until we know what happened and why, you are not allowed to suicide and we will not take your life. What happened?"

"Yes, Empress. I... obey." Lis said, scared. "I don't know what happened... I thought... I was on a golden plain. Maybe... a virtual world? I was in my old warframe." The Ash jerked and she nodded. "It was destroyed. So... Whatever I saw had to be a dream, or a nightmare. I had one before. Sara, bleeding. Medics coming to take her. Then I was bleeding. But..." She shook her head. "It made no sense."

"Nightmares rarely do." Eliza said with a sigh. "You called the duty Tenno, said your dampener was malfunctioning. Then you called for help. What do you remember?"

"A golden plain. Sara was screaming." Lis said in a monotone. "She was surrounded by... something. It seemed almost familiar. A dark and sinister mist. But I can't quite place it. Then the mists became Corpus who were closing in on her, surgical robots and medics." Lis snarled softly. "To do to her what they did to her sister Sierra. Or..." She paused. "Why do I think that? I don't..." She shook her head. "I don't get this. My dampener isn't working. You shouldn't be this close." She said to Eliza who was sitting on Sara's bed now, holding out her hands to take Rocky who cooed as she took him from Mishka. She looked at Lis but shook her head.

"Lis." It wasn't the Empress who spoke now, it was the Ash. "You have acted with honor in all ways, despite many people's blind bigotry. You made a mistake and you strove to fix it. Many of us... have treated you badly."

"I deserve it." Lis hadn't intended her tone to be quite that sharp. "What I did was wrong."

"Do you deserve it?" The Empress asked quietly. "Do you really?"

"Empress Eliza." Lis said quietly. "I made a series of mistakes. I led Nicholas and his renegades to the tower. I poisoned Karl." She was crying now. "I just wanted to make it right. I wanted to save Karl and make what I did right."

"You did." Eliza said with a smile as she tickled Rocky who cooed at her. She sighed as Lis made a noise of grief. "Lis, calm down."

"I am scared, Empress." It hurt admitting that. But Lis was no stranger to painful subjects. "If I can hurt Sara, I can hurt anybody. The dampener is supposed to stop things like that. I need... diagnostics at the very least." She went still as Eliza and the Ash shared a look. "What?"

"Lis..." Eliza's voice was very gentle now. "Your emotion dampener has not been live since you arrived on Avalon." Lis went stock still at that.

"That... isn't possible."Lis said slowly. "I... have been controlled. I needed the control. I am a danger..."

"We let you believe it was live. Your own discipline did the rest. You are a victim." Eliza said sternly. "Yes, you followed Nicholas. Yes, you probably should have gone to the Elders or Karl, but that is the past, Lis." She said as the gold skinned woman started to sob. "In the present, you are a good woman. A good Tenno."

"But I am not." Lis wailed. Eliza shook her head and rose, the baby in her hands. She strode to Lis and gently laid Rocky down in the shuddering woman's arms. "No.. Don't..." Rocky stared up at Lis and his hand came up to touch her face, his own face sad.

"Your punishment is done." The Ash said as he holstered his rifle. He stepped close and Lis went still as his hand touched her forehead and the control hoops fell off! "Well met, sister."

"My punishment was eternal." Lis protested, not daring to move. The baby cooed again and snuggled closer to her.

"No it wasn't." Eliza said with a smile. "Even Orokin Towers have a sense of justice, Lis. Eternal torment for something that wasn't your fault wasn't justice. You and Luc have served your punishment. It is time to come home. You go to Chirurgeon in the morning to have your skin worked on."

"But..." Lis was shaking. In grief, fear or shock, she couldn't have said. But Rocky looked at her, sighed and fell asleep in her arms. "I..."

"Lis, we need you now." Eliza said softly so as not to disturb the baby. "I checked surveillance logs as I was coming down here. You did not strangle Sara." Lis went still. "You kept her from strangling herself."

"A person cannot strangle his or her self..." Lis protested softly. "They pass out."

"She had leverage on the right angle, Lis. She would have strangled." Eliza said softly. "And she was bleeding, but... not from what you did. For her mouth. I think she bit her tongue."

"A seizure?" Lis asked, worry rising again. Mishka looked from one to the other, but remained silent.

"Maybe." Eliza said with a nod. "We need you, Lis. Serene needs you. Sara needs you. Mishka and Rocky need you. We will find out what happened and why. But... we need you. We all do, Tenno Lis."

Lis stared at the Empress for a long moment and then at the Ash who nodded.

"Brother to sister, Tenno Lis..." The Ash said formally. "Yours in life and death."

"I... I am sworn to Serene..." Lis said weakly. She was stunned when the door opened and Serene stepped in, her face grave. But then, Serene turned and lowered the shoulder of her sleeping robe. Lis' eyes went huge as she saw a familiar mark on the female Tenno's shoulder. The tattoo of a Royal Guardswoman!

"I swore to Eliza." Serene said quietly as she stepped up to take Rocky from the stunned golden Tenno. "I may not be a Warrior now, but I can still serve. You did not hurt Sara. You saved her life."

"Serene?" Lis begged. "I..."

"Sister to sister." Serene said softly, holding out her hands for Lis to take. The Ash laid his own hands on Serene's. "Yours in life and death."

"I... I can't..." Lis said with a gulp. "I... do not deserve..."

"We will not push you." Serene said formally. "But our oath stands, sister. You have been my rock in rough time, Lis. Now? We need you. Sister Lis. Tenno."

"I need to know what happened." Lis said with a nod. "I need to know what is happening to me and why. But... I honor you for the thought even if I think you all have flipped."

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet..." The Ash said with a snort.

"Wait until you see your new warframe..."