Back from the dead
Note, I do not own Warframe or anything in relation, also, I did branch away from the game quite a little, I know. I did not mean this to be pure canon. On that note, please enjoy
Prologue
After centuries spent away in cryosleep, the Tenno have finally awoken. They have awoken to a nightmare, as the Lotus tried to awaken all the Tenno she could. While the Tenno mostly followed orders blindly, many of them spent some time meditating in an attempt to recall their past memories. But to no avail. As the Grineer and Corpus expand further, and with more aggression, so do the Infested, giving the Tenno no time to waste meditating. The Tenno have given up on recovering their past memories and have adopted a four digit code name for identification.
While there remained a few who attempted to make time to ponder on the past, they were the Tenno. They were the warriors that acted as the people's shield. The foundation of their race had been loyalty, chivalry, spirituality, and war. As for me, well, I prefer to take things into my own hands rather than let Fate play it out.
Chapter one
"You snooze you lose. Sorry, double one. You just have some really shitty luck." Whooped Rhino-312 as he leaned over the table, his large arms sweeping the table by my side as he swooped all the credits I had on the table. I looked at his cards that he had played just after I had, then looked at him. He wore the common buzz cut and had deep brown eyes, with pronounced facial muscles. He easily towered above most normal people, but just barely stood above me. I thought I had it, a straight flush. But as it were, there was no beating Rhino-312 at Poker.
"Loki-11, what does it feel to, for once, be the person who the tricks are being played on?" Asked Mag-192, her voice dripping with sarcasm as I shot daggers at her with my eyes as Rhino-312 chuckled to himself. She was Rhino's partner, and all four of us had come here to relax a little while we still could, but it still felt weird seeing her without her Warframe on. She had blonde hair, grown down to the small of her back and piercing blue eyes, which were rather rare for Tenno who normally had brown eyes. As were all Tenno, she was very slim, with minimum to no fat on her body, her entire body mass coming mainly from muscles, water, and bone.
Of course, I wasn't actually mad. Well, maybe a little, but that's not the point. For once the four of us, Rhino-312, Mag-192 his partner, myself, and my partner, had actually been given enough time off that we could actually enjoy a game of poker. On the other hand, 312 just wouldn't ever lose. Even when I thought I had it, he bested me. If I didn't know the guy any better, I'd have called him out for cheating. But knowing 312, he'd not have had pulled any underhanded tricks. He's not like me, I thought to myself, chuckling silently to myself.
As I chuckled, I noticed my partner staring at me, one of her eyebrows raised, as she said, accusingly, "Still trying to play it off are we, double one? At least be gracious in your defeat." I whirled quickly towards her as I inspected her.
"Easy there, Nova-424, we both know just how badly you take losing a game. After all, who was it who threw my King in chess after she lost?" I said, hoping to taunt her into an argument. She wouldn't have it.
Tossing her brown, silky hair across her shoulder, 424 responded, "At least I don't gloat after winning." I looked into her caramel eyes as she played her cards and reeled in all the credits 312 had thrown in as well as all the credits he had gotten off me as he groaned.
With a deep sigh, 312 threw his hands up in surrender and said, "You win. I'm out. Come on, 11, let's go to the dojo and practice some hand-to-hand combat. Bet I'll kick your ass." punching me on the shoulder playfully as 192 and 424 laughed between each other and went back to the cards.
"Yes, you two meat heads go on ahead, we'll be right with you." said 424 and 192 in unison.
As 312 and I headed down the halls toward the dojo, we stopped by our respective rooms to get our Warframes assembled. As I entered the room 424 and I shared, I walked to my part of the room and entered my Armory. As it closed behind me, everything went dark. I took a breath then said the password to activate the assembly of my Warframe, "Assemble." simple, yes, but efficient. After all, if anyone wanted to get into my armory, they'd have to get through all the security on this base which had enough room to house the 5,000 and growing Tenno. They had settled the base on one of Saturn's moons, Titan. Of course, the Grineer had arrived in search of resources on this moon, but after pulling some strings, the Lotus had changed the environment on the moon such that the temperature on the surface became insanely hot, reaching up to boiling point heat. As the Grineer left their ship and landed on the surface, they disintegrated. Ever since, they have not tried a landing on the moon again. However, to keep the moon which contained our base safe, we had to keep the surface temperature at boiling point 24/7. The Tennos' Warframes helped bear with the heat, but it still remained uncomfortably hot and extended exposure to the heat was not advised to any of the Tenno save Ember, who managed fine. All these thoughts came to my mind as the machine buzzed, placing the part of my Loki Prime Warframe onto me and fused it. I kept my color scheme to white tinted with black, and gold.
Finally, after my Warframe was tightly strapped on, I left my room and headed towards the dojo. I looked around the hall as I walked, appreciating the effort and skill that had gone into architecting this base. It was built solidly and safe, but elegant and beautiful nonetheless. As I reached the dojo, I noticed 312 waiting at one of the large mats. His Rhino Prime's color scheme was the same old black tinted with gold. Although I couldn't see his face, I knew after all the years together that he was grinning wickedly, and activated Iron Skin, causing his Warframe to harden. "Are you ready to get your assed handed to you?" asked 312.
Flashing my own wicked grin as I took my own position, I said, "Don't keep your hopes too high, 312. You know by experience how well I am in hand to hand combat." as many of the Tenno in the room flocked to watch our spar. We were amongst the few Tenno who were given the original and single Prime version of the Warframes that are commonly used. The Prime variants were stronger in different aspects and, in some cases, added some extra features. A spar between two Prime Warframes was one to watch, and no one in the room wanted to miss it. As we took our battle stances, I quickly used my Invisibility skill, allowing me to turn invisible. One of the variants of the Loki Prime to the normal Loki Warframe was the increased Energy duration. As the timer timed down to 1, 312 stood at alert, his head flicking around trying to pinpoint my location. On one hand, he couldn't see me. On the other, I couldn't quite take him down easily with that Iron Skin. Even without the Iron Skin, Rhinos were known for being sturdy and tough. If I attacked and he caught me, I would be done in for. However, I did have a lot more agility than he did, so I planned to try a hit and run policy, as I normally do on the battlefield.
I dashed in, threw a jab at his knee from behind, and quickly side stepped to the side – just in time to avoid the huge arm that swung in the direction where I had just been a moment ago as 312 grunted and righted his leg. He stood up straight again, and resumed his fighting position. Quickly, I dashed in, and threw two quick, strong punches to his chest. As I continued this hit and run policy, it soon became evident that I was wearing him out. While the heavier Warframes such as Rhino had more physical strength, the lighter Warframes such as my Loki had the acrobatic edge along with more agility. Plus, the heavier weight from their Warframes meant they tired faster than we did. As I continued to dash in, deal a hit and dash out, I realized I had finally gotten through his Iron Skin. Grinning, I jumped up onto his head, locked his head between my legs in a headlock, tackling him to the ground as I held his arm back towards me, removed my Invisibility and asked, "Do you yield?" the gloat evident in my voice.
312 spat next to him and tried to struggle but he quickly tapped the floor as I stressed on his arm, crying, "Yield!" I let go of his arm and went to stand, while Rhino-312 stood up and massaged his joints. "Well, damn. I was hoping I could take you, but you're one slippery bastard." he said to me.
I scratched the back of my head, not knowing whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, but decided on the latter as I reached out with my hand for a handshake. "I may be slippery, but you're the one who's made of steel." I told him, only half-joking. He laughed as he accepted my hand and shook it.
As we left the Dojo to head back to our rooms, I checked the time. It was already midnight. I changed my brisk walking pace to a full sprint, leaving 312 far behind me as I sped towards my room, opened the door and braced myself for… nothing?
I looked around the room. 424 didn't seem to be there. Strange, I would have had thought she'd be here, ready to tease me about gloating over my victory. I shrugged, who cared? Gives me more privacy. I hurried over to my Arsenal and said, "Disassemble" the code word. The machine buzzed as it detached the Warframe from my body. I stepped into the bathroom, tossed my under garments into the chute which sends all the laundry in the base to its respective place, changed the water temperature to a cool 20 degrees Celsius and stepped into the shower, savoring the cold water as I washed off the sweat from the spar. Finishing the shower, I turned off the water, wrapped a towel around my waist and I stepped out to dry myself off. As I took out my clothes and fresh boxers, I noticed 424 sprawled on her bed through the window that seperated our two sides of our room in her side of the room. I quickly got dressed, hung my towel, and walked through the door between our sides to her side of the room.
Looming over her, I noticed she must have had passed out before making it to the bed. Smiling to myself, I gently carried her, placed her safely into her bed, tucked her in, and covered her with her sheets. After I turned off the lights, I headed to my own bed and as soon as I closed my eyes, I was already asleep.
I felt someone or something shaking me violently. I groaned, tossed my arm and turned. I heard a slightly exasperated huff as the shaking began again, renewed in purpose. I moaned, and turned again. The shaking continued. Finally, I jumped up quickly, grabbed the arm that was shaking me, turned it, sending the person's body onto my bed and pinned.. 424? As soon as I realized who it was, I jumped back up and put my hands up, "I didn't mean it, I swear!" I said in mock fear.
She punched me in the chest and said, "Oh shut up, you pervert. Start cooking breakfast." Her voice a little flustered. Huh, quite unlike her. Oh well, who am I to judge? I moved to our shared kitchen, took out some ingredients for an omelet and made two omelets, one for her, one for me. As I set the table, I noticed her fidgeting. Finally, she looked at me and said, "Thanks for covering me. Last night." She spoke as if the words were like liquid magma pouring from her mouth. I smirked.
"No problem. Should've taken a picture beforehand though. In fact, maybe I have." I said mockingly as I rushed to grab my comm device, as did she. Of course, I didn't have any pictures, but she didn't know that. She tackled me, well, tried to tackle me, but I easily side stepped out of the way. As she continue to struggle, I heard a knock at our door. I rushed to the door and opened it, wondering who it might be so early in the morning.
"Good morning, Major," I heard a rich voice say as I continued to open the door wide to see a man with a Radial Javelin tattoo on his neck, "I hope you slept well?" and before I had the chance to respond, continued, "Good. My name is Excalibur-44. I am here to tell you and your partner that you have been requested for a mission along with agents Rhino-312 and Mag-192. You will be briefed in the briefing room. Right now, the time is 0730 hours. The briefing will take place at 0900 hours. As of 0855 you are late. Am I understood?" I noticed the stripes on his shoulders, marking him as a Colonel. Outranking me by one rank. I nodded and saluted as he walked away.
Sighing, I turned around. I relayed the conversation to 424 as we both ate our meals. After we finished, I headed to my armory to equip my Warframe. After I had finished, 424 stared at me, waiting. I nodded, and thought, Visual effects, causing my Warframe's head visor turn completely black, so as to give 424 her privacy while changing. I gave her the thumbs up, signaling that I couldn't see. After I heard her call out the all clear, I returned my visor to normal and went back to my armory to pick out my weapons. The first thing I picked up was my Braton Prime. I checked it's modifications, making sure it had everything I needed on it before grabbing my Lex Prime secondary and my Dragon Nikana as my melee weapon of choice. I didn't bother waiting for 424 as I briskly jogged to the briefing room. I arrived there ten minutes early, but decided to walk in anyway. As I walked in, I noticed 312 and 192 sitting in the chairs. This time, there were no pleasantries as we saw each other, just a brisk, polite nod in each other's way. As I went to take a seat, I noticed 424 entering the room and waved to her. Just as she sat down, the lights in the room went off and a holographic image of the Lotus appeared.
"Hello, Tenno. I am glad to see you all made it in time. As you may have heard, we have a mission for the four of you. This mission will be a normal Exterminate," I heard 312 crack his knuckles as he heard that, and 192 take a sharp breath while 424 merely shifted in her chair before the Lotus continued, "Infested have taken over a Grineer battleship, and we need to take it out before it does anymore damage. Careful though, there are signs that a Phorid has developed there. Be safe, Tenno." And with that, her image disappeared. I noticed everyone tensed at the mention of Phorid. Phorid was what was referred to as the heaping monstrosity of Infested after enough time. Now we realized why we had been sent, rather than a more junior team. I stood up, grimacing as I noticed our Letis' just arriving and said, "Lock N' load boys and girls. We got our work cut out for us." As I stepped into my Letis, quickly followed by the rest.