Caution: Story contains possible spoilers for "The Second Dream" quest of Warframe. Read at your own risk.
Honestly surprised that things like this haven't been done all that much. Just seems like a natural combination to me. *Shrugs* (Edit: HOW AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT'S DONE A CROSSOVER BETWEEN THESE TWO?! I CAN'T BE THE ONLY ONE WHO MADE THE CONNECTION!) Either way, this was a really fun story for me to write. Kinda came up with it on a whim, but it's only recently that I've managed to finish this thing. I won't spoil what's going on here, but for anyone familiar with the Metal Gear Rising series, a quick look at the title should make it obvious what and why. Any and all constructive feedback is appreciated. ^^ As always, I hope you all enjoy.
Warframe – Rules of Nature
Raven sighed as she walked through the landscape. Her destination still wasn't in sight, but she wasn't in any hurry to get to it. She had been contracted to defend a payload and ensure a safe transport. This on its own wouldn't have been as unappealing to the Tenno had the transport not belonged to the Grineer. She hated these kinds of contracts, almost as much as she hated the Grineer themselves. But this was important, as the transport would benefit both them and the non-warring colonies. This was a rare instance where the Grineer's actions weren't purely war-related. Of course, it was meant to fuel the war, as they were still Grineer.
Either way, it was important enough to do, but not important to do immediately. This much was proven as Raven took her time to take in the scenery of Earth's vegetation. For a brief moment, she wondered what this planet had been like before the old war, and before the invasions began.
"Tenno," came Lotus' voice, cutting her off from her thoughts, "You're stalling, aren't you?" Raven didn't answer her, only continuing to walk at a casual pace. "Tenno," she went on, "I know you don't like going on these types of missions, but this is important. You know that."
Raven swished her tail behind her. "They're not going to be moving until I get there," she replied, "so I might as well take my time."
"Raven," Lotus said in a terse tone, "You know better than to be acting this way. You are my child, but you are not a child. So don't be acting like one." Again, Raven didn't answer her. Instead, she continued to take one careful step after the other, occasionally snapping a twig, but never making any other sound beyond her own footsteps. "…Raven," Lotus went on, "I hope you realize how disappointing this is to see. Not only is this disrespectful to me, but it is disrespectful to your fellow Tenno." This made Raven stop in her tracks. "You know just as well as I do that your fellow Tenno wouldn't be acting in such a way. When they accept a contract, they make sure to accomplish the goals set in that contract to the best of their ability. It's a contract of honor, Tenno. Do you really want to be disgracing such honor with petty disagreements?"
Raven sighed; she was right. A contract was a contract. Had it involved any other faction, she probably would've been sprinting to her destination by now. She still hated the fact that she was helping the Grineer, but that didn't mean that she was blind to her own immature actions. "I'm…sorry Lotus," she said to her, coiling her tail around her thigh, "I'll…hurry up now."
"…Thank you, Raven," Lotus replied, "Good luck, and be safe." At that, Raven took off running and rushed through the landscape.
Captain Vor grunted as he stepped off of the cargo tram. It had been over half an hour, and the Tenno still hadn't shown up. He scrunched his nose and sniffed the air before turning to several of his troopers and barking orders at them. It wasn't outside of the realm of possibility that the Tenno had merely decided to drop the contract and leave them to their own devices. After all, this specific Tenno had it out for them, and it was likewise for them with her. Even from a personal standpoint, the two of them were at odds. But regardless, the Tenno had always boasted about their honor, so he thought at the very least this one would keep her word.
After all, she didn't know that he would be here.
He stopped and squinted his eyes as he caught something in the distance. A smile spread across his face, for a familiar silhouette had revealed itself to him. It was the Tenno. The captain had encountered the Tenno in a variety of shapes and sizes, but he had grown familiar with this particular body. Both her tail and her light blue "skin" were dead giveaways. This was her, without a doubt.
As Raven stepped over the hill, she looked across to her destination. She scoffed in disgust as she took notice of the Grineer captain standing at the head of the cargo. "Ahhh, Tenno," Vor greeted her with widespread arms, "I was beginning to think that you would not come." Raven didn't reply as she approached the cargo, making an effort in actively staying away from Vor. This went out the window, however, as the captain approached her and heavily planted his hand on her back. "What's wrong, Tenno? Are you not happy to see me?"
Raven scoffed. "Not particularly…" The captain laughed and patted her back heavily, making her stagger a slight amount. He continued to laugh as he walked back over to the tram and hoisted himself back onto it.
"Believe me, Tenno," he said to her, "I'm not too fond of this contract either, but a contract is a contract. So it has to be done." He looked to his troopers and barked more orders at them, prompting them to hurry and rush off to their posts. He smacked his lips before returning his gaze to Raven. "Don't mess this up for us, Tenno. This is an important job. Those Corpus bastards are expected to try and stop us, so make sure that that doesn't happen."
Raven sighed to herself and leapt right up to the top of the tram, kneeling down and unholstering her rifle. "Let's just get going then…"
Vor huffed with a smirk before turning away and shouting to the head of the train. A few seconds passed before the train began to move, gradually picking up pace as it trailed down the tracks. As they moved, Raven kept a watchful eye over the landscape, looking for any signs of suspicious activity. Seeing that she seemed to have a handle on things, Vor got moving and entered the other tram and left her be. Left to herself now, she was free to explore her own thoughts. Over the past few months, they had noticed increased Corpus activity on this planet, which was strange seeing how this planet was more or less dominated by the Grineer. What was even more troubling was the fact that she had already come across multiple Corpus bases in previous missions here. It was clear that they were planning something, but she didn't know what. Lotus suspected that there was some sort of project, but outside of that, she knew nothing.
This was especially troubling to the Tenno, as normally, Lotus was on top of things like this. Her and her intel had repeatedly intercepted the development of multiple projects, such as the Jackal and the Raptor. The fact that nothing was known about this possible new project was enough to make Raven worry. Perhaps the Corpus had learned of how they got their intel, and merely figured out how to prevent it from happening again. Either way, they were in the dark and at least at the moment, they couldn't do anything about it.
Several uneventful minutes passed, with the only real activity being that of a pack of Kubrow trying to give chase to the tram. With the speed it was going at, though, it wasn't really a problem. So Raven spent most of her time scanning the hillsides and tops, trying to spot any sort of un-natural shine that would give away Corpus metal. As time went on, she grew less and less lenient in her search, and she eventually went from her prowling crouch to just sitting on the end of the cargo with her legs dangling off of the side.
"Lotus?" Raven said in a bored tone, "How much longer until we reach our destination?"
"A good hour or so at least, Tenno," she answered her. Raven groaned and laid her back down on the cargo, resting her rifle atop her stomach. "Eyes up, Tenno. The Corpus could be lurking around this area." Raven clicked her tongue and sat up.
"But there hasn't been any sign of them," she replied, "My radar has been empty for this entire ride, and the land is completely barren of life here!"
"So you'd risk missing the ones that could be there simply because you believe there won't be any coming?" retorted Lotus. Raven was about to respond, only to realize that she had no rebuttal. So she sighed in defeat and got back up to her initial crouch, mumbling to herself as she took proper hold of her rifle. As she did, a small ping caught her attention. She checked on her radar and saw an indicator for an approaching hostile. She rolled her neck before taking aim with her rifle, though she had a feeling it was probably another Kubrow. She lined her reticle up with where the object would be coming up, not really bothering to leave her finger on the trigger and waited for it to come. But even as she waited, she failed to see the suspected Kubrow pop up. The tram suddenly shook and Raven nearly lost her balance. She quickly caught it and readjusted her crouch before taking aim once more. But again, she didn't see the furred creature run over the hill. Another shake, and Raven nearly fell off again. She took hold of the edge of the cargo with one hand and switched her rifle out for her pistol. She briefly checked her radar again, noticing that the red dot hadn't gotten any closer. It was still at the edge of her map, indicating that it was still a fair distance away. Another shake, and this time Raven kept a grip on the cargo. She briefly glanced behind her; how bumpy was this track anyhow? She returned her gaze to her front and held her pistol up once more. The hostile, whatever it was, was still too far on her radar, but she knew that by the time she saw the red dot move, the hostile would already be in her sights.
Another shake, and this time she felt the tram sway from side to side. She immediately gripped the cargo with both hands as she waited for the tram to stop swaying. Once it felt back on track, she carefully stood up and turned around. Was there debris scattered over the tracks? But as she looked ahead, she failed to see anything of the sort. In fact, the only things in the way that weren't just railroad tracks were merely small ferns and plants, nothing that would cause the train to shake in such a way.
Another shake, and Raven nearly fell off of the tram. She quickly let her knees give out so that she could immediately grab onto the side and regain her balance. She holstered her pistol and gripped both sides of the cargo before returning her gaze towards where the red indicator was. Still nothing.
Another shake, and again, the tram swayed. What was causing this? There was nothing in the way of the train as far as she could tell, and though she didn't know much about train tracks, she knew that the tram shouldn't be shaking this much with how straight and aligned they were.
"Tenno!" came Vor's voice behind her. She propped herself on her elbows before looking back at the Grineer captain. "What's going on here?! Are you doing something to shake the train?!"
"No! Why would I—" Another shake, this one far more violent than the previous ones. Both her and Vor had to act fast in grabbing onto something to prevent themselves from being thrown off of the train. Vor snarled and pulled himself back upright.
"Stay there and don't move!" he shouted at her, pointing a finger at her before disappearing back into his tram. With him gone, Raven returned her attention to the back of the train. For whatever reason, she felt herself growing concerned over what the heck was approaching them. It still hadn't come up, and was still at the edge of her map. Another shake, and the tram swayed violently once again.
"Lotus!" she shouted desperately, "What's going on?!"
"I don't know!" she answered, "Just be prepared for whatever comes over that hill! I have a feeling that it has something to do with this!" Raven grunted and hoisted herself back onto her feet, focusing her energy to latch her feet magnetically onto the cargo. With her feet now firmly secured, she stood herself up and exchanged her pistol back out for her rifle. She had the sneaking suspicion that she'd need more than her pistol to deal with whatever was going to come over that hill. Another shake, and the entire train shook violently. But Raven stayed firm. She had a feeling that, whatever this thing was, was going to come over the hill very soon. She properly braced her weapon against her shoulder and took aim, aligning her sight with the red dot on her reticle. Suddenly, she began to see something begin to rise from the other side. She lined her sights up with it and held her finger just over the trigger.
Not yet, she thought, not until I can see it in its entirety. Another shake, and more of this thing was revealed. It was clearly mechanical, as its black armor covered all she could see of it. No, not enough. She would wait more. Another shake, and more began to rise. More mechanical parts, and more black armor. Another shake, even more. Raven's heart dropped, and she lowered her weapon. Another shake, and EVEN more. Suddenly, the sounds of jet engines filled the skies, and this…monstrous machine rose up into the air, allowing the Tenno to see it in its entirety. It was a huge, bipedal mechanical monstrosity, complete with its own head and tail. It had no arms, and instead had a pair of "wings." It was unlike anything Raven had ever encountered before. She had encountered large machines before, but they dwarfed in comparison to this…thing.
The giant mecha landed heavily on the ground, unleashing a tremor onto the land and nearly throwing the train off of its tracks. Its head rose, and it uttered an earth-trembling screech strong enough to stagger Raven from where she stood. The Tenno merely stared back at it in pure shock. THIS was what the Corpus had been working on?!
The door of the tram next to hers flew open, and the Grineer captain scrambled out of it. "WHAT WAS—" He stopped himself as his eyes laid upon the giant. "By the queens… WHAT IS THAT?!" The monster's "mouth" opened and it screeched again. Both Vor and Raven clamped their hands over their ears until it ended. But when it did, the machine began to stomp towards them, catching up to them quickly in a mere three steps. "What are you waiting for?!" Vor shouted at Raven, "DESTROY IT! HOLD IT BACK!" The captain didn't wait for a response and quickly went back into his tram, leaving her alone to deal with the towering giant.
It screeched as it began to close in on the cargo tram, and Raven hastily fired at it with her rifle. However, the bullets merely peppered the machine's strong metal hide and did no perceivable damage to it. Raven's heart began to race as it got closer and closer. "L-Lotus?!" she exclaimed unintelligibly as its head came uncomfortably close. It opened its mouth again, and components inside began to glow brightly. She tried shooting at those, but again, it produced no effect. It began to glow brighter, and at that point she knew she had to act NOW. Left with only her gut instincts, she drew her sword and hacked recklessly at its head, channeling as much power as she could into it. The monster screeched as the strength of one of her swings knocked its head off to the side. As it stumbled, a searing beam of plasma shot out of its mouth and blew one of the nearby hills completely apart. Raven's heart throbbed as she realized that she had almost been at the forefront of that attack.
"I…I don't know what to say…" Lotus said with pure fear in her tone of voice, "I've never seen anything like this before… The Corpus have created many machines before…but…this is unreal…"
"N-not helping Lotus!" Raven shouted with unease, "Just give me ideas on how to fight this thing!" Suddenly, a group of panels opened on one of the monster's "wings." Before Raven had any time to question, a cloud of missiles came rocketing out of it, all of them arcing around to aim directly at the tram. Raven's heart leapt and she grabbed her rifle again. She held her trigger down and unloaded as many bullets as she could at the incoming barrage. The missiles exploded as soon as her bullets made contact, causing a chain reaction to occur and blow several other missiles apart as well. However, this didn't last, as her clip eventually ran empty. And in the time it took her to notice this, the rest of the missiles came into view. Hastily, Raven drew her pistol and fired at the center of the cluster. That missile blew up and pushed the other following missiles wildly off course. As a result, they landed and blew up in random directions, many exploding just in front of the cargo tram and shaking it.
"WATCH OUT!" Lotus suddenly shouted. Raven looked up from the smoke in time to see the monster's head loom into view, its mouth once again open. Raven drew her sword again and slashed at the side of its jaw, once again knocking its head away from the tram. The monster screeched again as it stumbled, once again firing its deadly lazer out in the other direction. As it recovered, turrets on its "shoulders" and "thighs" began to fire at Raven. She growled as she hastily flailed her blade around, repelling a good portion of the assault.
"I CAN'T just keep doing this!" Raven shouted, "Lotus, I need some kind of plan!"
"I-I'm working on it!" she shouted back, "Just…keep holding it off for now! There's bound to be something you can do!" The monster screeched and hastened its pace, rapidly closing in on the speeding train. The panels on its wings opened up again, and more missiles poured out of it. Raven hastily reloaded her rifle and opened fire again, taking out as many missiles as she could. But her focus quickly moved back to the monster as she noticed its head getting closer and closer to her. She grunted as its turrets began to pepper her with more bullets, splitting her focus and making her falter. Her heart throbbed hard as she missed one of the incoming missiles, allowing it to rapidly close in on the tram. She uttered a roar as she launched herself upwards, jumping over the missile and hurling a ripline at the side of it. As she descended down towards the machine, she twisted her body and hurled the missile down at one of the turrets. The monster threw its head upwards and screeched in pain as the missile obliterated the turret. This allowed Raven to land safely on its "snout," and she leapt off of it to land safely back on the cargo tram.
"That's it!" exclaimed Lotus, "Until we can figure out its weak points, use its weapons against itself!" Raven clenched her teeth as she stood back straight, her shoulders heaving as she panted.
"G-got it," she replied, not wanting to waste energy on arguing. The monster screeched again as it regained its composure and resumed in stomping towards the train. The remaining turrets opened fire on her again, prompting her to deflect the bullets with her blade once more. More missiles came soaring at the tram, forcing her to endure the turrets' heavy fire to try and shoot the missiles out of the air. She grunted as her shields gave out and staggered her, giving the remaining missiles enough time to close in and batter her and the cargo tram. She cried out in pain as they nearly blew her off of the tram, its shields also taking a hit from the barrage. She growled as she regained her composure and continued to deflect the turrets' bullets.
As she struggled to defend herself, she brought up her UI and selected her shield restore. The device inside of her triggered, and it popped outwards. The device burst, and a wave of restorative energy washed over her and the cargo, fully recharging their shields. "More missiles incoming!" Lotus warned her. Raven growled in frustration, as she was still defending herself against the turrets. Her mind raced as the missiles closed in. She wanted to deal with them, she HAD to deal with them, but the stupid turrets were keeping her from—She snarled as she felt several bullets pelt her shoulder. She couldn't focus! She couldn't CONCENTRATE! And the missiles were getting CLOSER!
"SCREW IT!" she screamed out before crouching down and launching herself into the air towards the incoming missiles. She didn't bother to look down as she landed on one of them. Not even this fact mattered to her, as she immediately leapt off of that one as soon as her feet made contact with it. And with the force of her leap, she shoved the missile off course and sent it flying directly into the ground below. This put a chain reaction into effect as Raven kept leaping off of the other missiles, with each produced explosion knocking the nearby missiles off course. This didn't matter to her. If anything, it was an afterthought, as her mind was focused solely on the giant machine in front of her.
The one she was closing in on.
Letting out a war cry, she leapt into the air and tossed her arms out to the side. Riplines shot out of her hands and latched onto missiles before she curled up into a ball and rapidly spun in the air. The giant machine screeched out as she began to descend towards it, and began charging its devastating lazer. But she didn't care; she didn't have TIME to care. She quickly uncurled from her ball and slammed the riplined missiles into the "shoulder" of the machine, obliterating the armor protecting the segment between its body and its missile wing.
Right where she was headed.
She landed right on the machine's shoulder and immediately began to hack away. Each strike she landed left massive gashes in the monster's machinery, which only encouraged Raven to keep going. She channeled her energy into her blade as she went faster and faster, leaving deeper and wider gashes in the machine. And with a final roar, she reeled back and swung as hard as she could, prompting a screech of pain from the monster as its missile wing was severed from its body. As it toppled over from the sudden loss of weight, Raven sprinted down to its head and leapt off of it, launching a ripline at the cargo tram. The ripline latched on, and she zipped away from the giant machine as it fell to the ground and shook the land itself.
Raven grunted as she leapt back onto the cargo, panting heavily and gripping the sides of the cargo tightly. She swung her gaze back towards the monster, which was growing further and further away as the train sped down the tracks. A wave of relief washed over her as she slowly stood back up, turning away from the machine to face the leading car as its door slid open.
"Did you get it?" Vor demanded. Raven sighed and nodded.
"Yes I got it, no thanks to you by the way," she muttered the last part to herself. The Grineer captain scoffed through his nose as he looked past her and towards the increasingly distant metal behemoth.
"Resourceful bastards, I'll give them that," he huffed, taking on a more relaxed posture, "Good work, Tenno. You definitely earned what we promised you." Raven didn't reply, instead plopping down on her back and letting her legs dangle off of the side of the cargo again as she tried to relax and let her heart rate slow. A smirk crept up the side of Vor's mouth as he turned away from the Tenno, letting the door slide closed behind him. He started down the hall of the car, only to stop and grab onto the nearest seat as the train jerked and swayed. When the swaying came to a stop, Vor swung his gaze back towards the door. No, it couldn't be…
He rushed back outside and scanned the area. He looked up, and Raven was back up on her feet with her blade at the ready. "Tenno?!" he barked, "What is the meaning of this?! I thought you dealt with it!"
"Not NOW Vor!" she snarled back. The captain shot his gaze forward and watched as the mechanical giant from before stomp its way towards the train once more. With a scowl, Vor reached up to his chest and pried off a golden emblem from his chest. He stepped forward and thrust the emblem out, causing a focused line of light to strike at the beast. The light seared against its "mouth" and forced its gaze slightly to the side. However, this did little to slow its approach. If anything, it only served to aggravate it to charge at an even faster rate. Raven snarled and fired at the beast with her rifle, aiming for any opening in its armor that she could find. As the beast drew closer, Vor's lazer proved to be more and more effective, as the beast's head was forced farther off to the side with each tremoring step. It screeched loudly, assaulting the two defenders' ears with a wall of sound, but still they resisted. Raven looked to its side and noticed its remaining "wing" begin to open up. Her heart leapt at the thought of missiles barraging them from such a close proximity. However, as the wing's panels began to slide away, she quickly realized that it wasn't missiles that they were going to be dealing with.
Emerging from the wing was a massive metal blade. Raven flinched as she felt heat begin to emanate from it. Looking at the blade again, she noticed that it was now glowing a bright shade of red. It was then that she realized that the beast was carrying a massive heat blade within its wing. With a screech, the beast lurched its entire body forward and swung its massive blade at Raven. The Tenno acted quickly and leapt up in the air, soaring just out of reach of harm's way as the blade swept past her. Raven slammed against the side of the beast's torso and bullet jumped off of it to land right back on the tram. She grunted as she felt herself being pelted with bullets from the beast's turrets. She whirled around and flailed her blade around once more to defend herself. Her heart thudded as the beast lurched its body back to make another terrifying swing at her with its massive blade. This time, as she leapt upwards, the blade scraped against the top of the tram, causing the entire train to shake and sway. Raven quickly flung a ripline at the tram before she could slam against the mechanical giant's torso and landed safely back on the cargo.
"Raven," came Lotus' voice, "something's off about the attack pattern."
"How off are we talking?" Raven panted, her heart pounding as she watched the beast right itself.
"You were contracted to protect the tram from harm against the Corpus," Lotus began, "but almost all of the attacks that it's made haven't appeared to target the cargo. In fact, it would have easily taken out the cargo with a swing from its heat blade."
"Lotus, get to the point," Raven replied with urgency, eager to get through the conversation as the beast began to catch up with the tram.
"It's as though it's not targeting the tram," Lotus explained, "as if it's targeting…" Raven's heart skipped a beat.
"…Me…" she gasped. She jerked as she heard something stomp on the cargo behind her. She turned back to see Vor standing directly behind her. "Vor, what—" She didn't manage to get through her question as she was suddenly shoved off of the tram. She grunted as she hit the ground rolling, bouncing off of the tracks before finally coming to a stop. She groaned as she picked herself up and craned her neck upwards, watching the train grow further and further away. "VOOOORRRRRRRRR!" she screamed in anger, slamming her fist against the ground. She snapped her gaze downwards as a bright red dot shined on the ground just in front of her. She then looked around and realized that a large shadow had been cast over the area. She looked up and yelped before scrambling to all fours and flinging herself away to the side, just barely avoiding the beast's giant foot as it came crashing down on the ground. Raven screeched to a halt and rose back up to her feet, hear heart pounding as the beast stood back up to its full height. It turned its gaze towards her before opening its jaws and letting out another earth-tremoring screech. Raven snarled as its turrets once again assaulted her. She grabbed onto her blade again as she took off running, circling around the beast.
"ORDIS!" Raven screamed, "GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
"R-right away oper—"
"No!" Lotus cut Ordis off.
"NO?!" Raven exclaimed hysterically, "WHY NOT?!"
"There's no way that the Lisset will be able to pick you up without the both of you getting obliterated in the process," Lotus explained, "On top of that, if we let this monstrosity continue to rampage, there's no telling what the Corpus would be able to accomplish."
"Lotus, you CAN'T expect me to take this thing down without some sort of plan!" Raven exclaimed, narrowly averting a tremoring stomp from the metal giant.
"You've already proven that its defenses aren't impenetrable," Lotus went on, "Find a way to open up its defenses."
"Got it," Raven replied with reluctance. She hissed as she frantically scanned the beast. Her heart leapt as the beast leapt into the air. A red dot shined down at the ground beneath Raven. The Tenno cried out and flipped out of the way as its foot came crashing down on where she had just been. Raven snarled as she tried to regain the space she had just lost, drawing out her blade again to deflect the bullets being shot at her.
"Wait," said Lotus, "The feet. They appear to be less heavily armored than the rest of its body. Strike there first."
"On it!" Raven shouted, breaking into another mad run as she circled the beast again. She swapped her blade out for her rifle and opened fire on the nearest foot. However, her bullets uselessly peppered against the armor covering the foot, producing little to no visible damage. Raven's heart sank as she realized that her guns were practically useless in this situation. If she was planning on dealing any damage to this thing, she would have to do it up close and personal. The beast let out a screech as it once again raised its foot up in the air. Raven glanced down and noticed the red dot of light racing just in front of her. Even as she took an abrupt turn in the other direction, the red dot kept pace and remained on her. Raven threw her gaze upwards as the foot began to speed towards her. With a snarl, she hurled a ripline into the ground in front of her and flung herself away in time to avoid being crushed like an insect. She quickly let go of the ripline to seize her chance at an attack. She rushed over to where the giant had planted its foot and let out a war cry. Grabbing her sword in both hands, she channeled her energy into the blade as she slashed at the foot with reckless abandon. Her blade tore through the foot's armor, and pieces of it came flying off to expose the mechanics hidden underneath. Raven whirled herself around before delivering one final slash, smashing away the remaining bits of armor and completely exposing the beast's foot. It screeched out and stumbled back, staggering several giant steps backwards.
"Excellent!" said Lotus, "Keep it up."
Raven panted heavily as she took a moment to recollect herself. However, as the beast opened its mouth and charged its plasma cannon, she forced herself back into action. She broke into a run as the beast aimed its sights on her. Her heart raced in anticipation as she waited for the beast to fire its devastating cannon. With a bright flash, the beast fired off its cannon. The produced beam ripped through the ground and raced towards Raven's general direction. The Tenno hastily threw another ripline to the side and zipped away with only the tip of her foot getting singed. She let go of the ripline as she raced towards the other foot. Again, she channeled her energy into her blade and let out another war cry. But just before she could close the space between her and the foot, the beast screeched out and whirled around, lashing its tail and knocking her away. She huffed out with each time she bounced off of the ground, only coming to a stop after managing to dig her claws into the dirt to slow herself.
Okay…she thought, need a new plan… She felt her gut sink as the beast screeched out and flung itself into the air. Raven broke into a mad dash as the red dot of light shined upon her once again. Frantically, she brought up her UI and triggered as many devices as she could. Once the commands were registered, her body produced several golden spheres. She tossed them around wildly, and with each one that hit the ground, figures of various shapes and sizes emerged. Some were Grineer, some were Corpus, some were Infested, all of which were under her command. However, the only command she needed to give them was to distract the mechanical giant, as that was probably the only thing they could do at this point. The ground shook violently as the beast landed on the ground, squashing one of the specters Raven had summoned. She glanced back to see that her plan had worked, as the beast's turrets were now targeting her many specters.
Easily distracted, she noted, and armor that's not totally invincible. Come on, think! Then, in that instant, a crazy idea came to her. There was no guarantee that it would work, but at this point, the Tenno was willing to try anything. With nothing left to lose, Raven called to her Cephalon. "Ordis! I need you to fly in and drop off Excalibur!"
"Excalibur?!" Ordis exclaimed, "B-but Operator, you're already operating Valkyr! There's no way—Y-YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR M-MIND!" Ordis took a moment to recompose himself. "Can't we just send out an SOS or—"
"NO TIME!" Raven cut him off, "Just send Excalibur in! I'll take things from there!" Ordis didn't respond for a moment.
"Ordis, just follow her orders," said Lotus, "Fly in carefully. Be wary of the giant's cannon."
"…Y-yes Lotus," Ordis responded, "Sending the Lisset now."
As the familiar sounds of her ship filled Raven's ears, she thought to herself, Let's hope this works… She hissed as she suddenly felt bullets pelt her body. She looked back to see that the beast had made quick work of her specters and was once again homed in on her. But looking just behind it, Raven could make out the outlines of the Lisset as it sped towards them. Okay Raven, she thought, it's go time. Clenching her hands tightly on her blade, she began to focus her mind, willing it towards the rapidly approaching spacecraft. She felt her consciousness begin to shift from one place to another.
"Preparing Excalibur for drop-off," she heard Ordis declare. She quickly dismissed the voice as she struggled to maintain her link with Valkyr in this process. Already, she could feel her consciousness begin to meld with the Frame onboard the Lisset and with the Frame still running across the ground. Raven cringed as she struggled to discern to the two states from one another, with her vision becoming a hazy mish-mash of both Frames' points of view. She felt a violent tremor, and her consciousness was thrown back fully into Valkyr. Her heart leapt as she looked up and saw the beast with its raised foot looming over her. She threw another ripline and flung herself away in time to avoid being crushed. She snarled and tried once again, doubling her concentration. This time, she could clearly see it, the insides of the Lisset. It was working. The distinction was becoming clearer.
"Flipping the hatch now," Ordis announced, "Excalibur will now be deployed. Good luck, Operator." Raven looked back with Valkyr, seeing the spacecraft closing in on the area. However, she wasn't the only once that took notice of it. The beast took its gaze away from Valkyr and turned to face the Lisset. Raven's heart dropped as she saw it open its jaw to charge another devastating blast. "GO! OPERATOR GO!" shouted Ordis. With no time left to spare, Raven seized control of Excalibur and flung him out of the ship, free-falling towards the ground as the beast's plasma cannon tore through the sky. The Lisset veered hard to the side to narrowly avoid the blast, screeching through the air as it took back to the skies. Excalibur landed heavily on the ground in a crouch, slowly standing up to lay eyes on the giant beast.
No turning back now, Raven thought, It's now or never… As the beast locked its sights on Excalibur, he broke into a mad dash and drew out his blade. Meanwhile, Valkyr ran beneath the beast and slashed across its exposed foot, staggering the beast and making it screech in pain. As she flung herself away with a ripline, Excalibur's Exalted Blade sparked to life. Excalibur gripped the blade in both hands as he slashed around wildly, hurling razor sharp energy waves towards the beast's armored foot. The waves cut through the armor like a hot knife through butter, and in a matter of seconds the foot's inner workings was exposed. Again, the beast staggered and screeched in pain. It aligned its turrets with Excalibur and opened fire, forcing him to flail his blade around to deflect the oncoming bullets. However, Valkyr swooped back in to slash heavily at the newly exposed foot. The beast screeched again and stumbled forwards, unable to maintain its focus on Excalibur.
"Transference still holding…somehow," Raven announced, struggling to maintain this double-link. She already knew that there was no way she'd be able to maintain it for long, lest her mind get torn apart in the process. She needed to bring this thing down soon, and thankfully she had a plan to do so. With Excalibur constantly hurling wave after wave at the beast, Raven guided the two Frames towards the beast's rear. Within moments, Excalibur reached the beast's tail. He leapt onto it and ran up the beast's spine, continuing to slash his Exalted Blade at the beast in the process. As he ran up the beast, he left behind a trail of torn apart armor. Once he reached the beast's head, he bullet-jumped high into the air. As he fell back down, the beast locked its sights on him and opened its jaw, charging its cannon to terminate the threat.
But with it so focused on Excalibur, it was unable to notice Valkyr as she raced towards the two of them. Just before it unleashed its attack, Valkyr hurled a ripline at Excalibur himself. The ripline latched onto him and pulled him away just in time to avoid being obliterated. And as he raced back down towards the ground, Valkyr raced up towards the air. As the beast's cannon subsided, Valkyr slingshot herself into the air and let out a guttural war cry. As she hung in the air, she hurled another ripline and latched it onto the "nose" of the beast. The beast kept its jaws open as it readied another shot from its cannon, but Raven didn't care.
It was as good as dead now.
The ripline flung her towards the beast at a furious pace, and Valkyr channeled as much power as she could into her blade. Uttering out a primal roar, she closed the space between her and the beast and impaled her blade into the exposed metal left behind by Excalibur. Maintaining the blinding speed of her fall, Raven rushed down the beast's back and tore her fully embedded blade through its body. Hot sparks danced across her feet as she tore apart the beast from its very spine. And with a final push, she tore her blade through the rest of its tail and flung herself back onto solid land. She screeched to a grinding halt with her blade digging through the ground to bring her to a stop. Standing in place, she sheathed her sword as an explosion ripped through the air, the shrapnel flying past her in a brilliant display.
"YES! Y-YES! YOU SPLIT IT WIDE OPEN!" Ordis exclaimed in a blood-thirsty roar.
"Excellent work, Tenno," said Lotus, "With this thing taken down, it will be a long time before the Corpus try anything again. Now let's head home." Raven panted heavily and turned back around, admiring her handiwork. She had lost focus with Excalibur sometime during the chaos. It was going to be a pain to try and find him amongst the rubble, but at the very least, she had succeeded.
"Yes, Lotus," she sighed in satisfaction, "let's…"