3098 D.L. (During Lotus)

-Class of 98-

Excalibur looked up to see the banner of his class of Tennos. He would have been smiling a lot more if somebody didn't cover the "C" and "L" in class with a black marker. He didn't let that get him down though, after all, he was the first to be accepted at Warframe U. There, you learned everything there is to know about using both gun and sword as one weapon and learned how to control the abilities each individual's warframe gave them.

Excalibur looked down at his helmet, which gleamed under the sunlight and smiled just as brightly at it. He looked forward toward the stage where each Tenno would receive his or her own Lotus insignia, an emblem branded onto the warframe that identifies that Tenno as licensed. Waiting around an hour and a half, Excalibur's smile sunk low as did his self-esteem when he saw... him.

A roar of cheering, swoons, and applause erupted as Ash suddenly appeared onstage in a cloud of smoke, his helmet resting under his arm like a football. After posing when a few female Tenno used their codex scanners to get selfies with their crush, he started to wave his helmet slowly to the side and caused the entire class to do a wave with their arms. All, that is, except Excalibur, who simply sat in his chair fuming with his face red in anger. Despite Ash being a total asshole to everyone, Excalibur couldn't help but be painfully jealous. Even with a personality like that, he still got the chicks.

When the crowd finally settled, Ash strutted toward the vice-chancellor of the university. The older woman extended her arm out with her hands open. Ash kneeled down and squinted slightly when she placed her hands on his shoulder and sparks flew whilst the emblem of Lotus became etched onto his armor.

"Congratulations, Ash." the woman said, smiling youthfully despite her age. "Lotus has been looking forward to meeting you and seeing your skill."

"Thanks, Mirage." he replied, "I still have to see your moves. I'm told you put on... quite a show." She gave a mischievous smile and winked at him, she knew what she was capable of.

"Back at you." she gave a small clap and waved him off the stage.

After getting off the stage, Ash sat back down with his overpowered friends and stretched his right arm over Nyx, smiling at her while he did so. She smiled back and looked up onstage at the next student graduating, patient for her turn to go up.

It was finally Excalibur's turn to get his emblem and he had to regain his composer after almost tripping of someone's feet. He looked down to see Nekros glaring up and heard him utter something under his breath. At the moment the third word escaped from his lips, Excalibur felt something tug at his feet and looked down in horror to see the spectral hand of a dead Grineer grasp his ankle. He unsheathed his skana, looked down and thrusted his arm up into the air. As soon as the tip of his blade reached full, outstretched height, a blinding flash of radial light made everyone nearby wince in pain and look away. The spectral Grineer released its grasp and Excalibur took the chance to flip the skana underhand and drive the sword into the Grineer's head, causing it to fade out.

"Watch it, Nekros," Excalibur warned, "That was close."

Nekros hissed a raspy snarl, "Just be thankful that was all that grabbed you."

Excalibur made his way toward the stage once more and when he got there, Mirage looked at him with an eyebrow raised and a shaking head. However, she still had a friendly smile, so he was alright.

"Way to make an entrance, Cal." she said, "still showing people why you have the name."

"Thanks." he chuckled. He kneeled and couldn't fight back a smile as he saw the flickering light of the Lotus emblem being etched into his shoulder.

Once the ceremony had been completed, the head chancellor stepped forward to the hologram transmitter and stepped onto the platform. After standing for a few seconds, a large, holographic version of herself towered above the stage, easily visible to everyone there.

"Good afternoon, Tenno." She began, "As you know, I am your high-chancellor, Saryn. I would just like to take this time to congratulate each and every one of you for surviving what would undoubtedly be the most grueling training of your lives. Vice-chancellor Mirage and I have been watching you all reach the peak of your abilities, and then further. Each of you has successfully become one with your frames. Remember, it is not the armor, but you, that holds the power, the warframe is merely a catalyst for your special talents. Do Lotus proud, and, if no one else, stay loyal to each other."

Once everyone broke regulations and tossed their helmets skyward in triumph, they quickly found out why it was not encouraged. The helmets made a quick descent onto the heads of their owners making them yelp in pain and scatter with their arms in the air, hoping to shield off the terroristic headgear. After seeking refuge under the roof of the café, Excalibur clutched tightly to his helmet as though afraid it may jump up to attack him. His concentration on his helmet became short-lived when he suddenly felt a hard slap on the back.

"Ahh, what the hell?!" he exclaimed, turning around to face his attacker. He breathed a sigh of frustrated relief when he saw it was Volt. He had joined the university a quarter into school and stepped in as his roommate after Loki, who had been acting pretty strange afterwards.

"How's it going, ol' buddy?" he asked, smiling widely as he gave another friendly, yet powerful push that nearly made his friend fall backward.

"Oh, fantastic," Excalibur replied, "considering I've just survived the shortest hailstorm in history." He gave a slight chuckle while rubbing a spot on his head that had a small bump forming. "So," he continued, "when are we going to get our squads? If they land me with Ash, I swear, Saryn has it in for me."

"I actually have read the charts already, our squad is completely douchebag free." Volt gave a sly thumbs up with a childish wink.

"We're in the same squad?!" Excalibur beamed at the notion, "I guess this won't be as bad as I thought." The two of them exchanged a fist bump which quickly died when Excalibur swung his head to the far right behind Volt. "Whoa, look at that, V."

Volt turned around to see a female Tenno reading off the squad placement charts. "Yea, looks like someone without a Y-chromosome, what's the big deal?"

"W-what's the big?-" Excalibur sputtered, caught completely off-guard. "Are you crazy?! Who is that, Volt?"

Volt gave a light shrug, "Some girl named Mag, she has a... thing for magnets, hence the name."

"She looks nice. Who's the two other squad members?"

Volt smirked his childish grin again and pointed in Mag's direction. Excalibur's mouth nearly dropped four feet to the ground.

"Y-you... you're joking, right?" he asked.

"Nope, right where you're lookin'." He laughed slightly to himself as Excalibur tried to keep himself steady.

Excalibur couldn't believe the turn of events. He felt maybe this could be a lucky streak. "Tell me Nyx is the last member, please!"

"Not... exactly." Volt shuffled on his feet uneasily, "Some guy named Phil is the fourth member."

Before Excalibur could ask who he was, Volt remained silent and solemnly pointed toward the courtyard. There, a lone Tenno kept looking around for something. Everyone around looked at him like he was insane but he kept whipping his head side to side in search of the missing item. Excalibur groaned and slapped his hand against his face in embarrassment. Volt shrugged again and the two put on their helmets to get ready for departure in their issued Lisets. In the background, Phil's search had finally stopped when his helmet landed square on his head after an unnecessarily lengthy hang time, making his body go stiff and fall backward, knocked out cold.