Siblings of pain

Sheila was floored. That wasn't like Janet. Not at all! Or, not like the woman she had though she knew. From Jesse's sudden flash of worry that vanished as quickly as it appeared, she too was distressed by this.

"Oracle?" Sheila said weakly. "You are scaring me."

Janet did not look away from the woman she help up in the air through sheer power of will. Nikis shook his head and lowered his pistols a little.

"I have had to watch and do nothing for so long, Sheila." Janet's tone had moderated a little now. Not much. Not enough. "It hurts just to observe, not to be able to interfere. To watch as he and his minions torture and murder beings who he chooses, when he chooses. All for his sick pleasure."

"That is not true." Anisette managed to croak out from where she hung in midair.

"Well, he certainly doesn't do it for justice." Janet replied with a shrug. "He and his wouldn't know that if it bit them." She shook her head. "Enough. Sheila, we are taking you home and you..."Her smile as she looked at Anisette was downright vicious. "You are coming with me."

"No!" A flash of energy and Stalker stood in the middle of the room, his scythe in hand. Five dark forms in red and black armor surrounded him. "You are not taking her!"

"You cannot stop me." Janet replied. "Jesse, stand with Sheila. Nikis..." She shook her head as the Nekros raised his hands and two dozen holographic warframes surrounded the ancient gunfighter. This wouldn't even be close to an even fight. Stalker and his sycophants didn't have a chance. Even if they managed to beat two dozen warframes, Nikis could always summon more. "Have fun."

"Oh, we will." The malevolence in the Guardian of the Dead's voice was a match for Janet's.

Sheila watched in sick fascination as all five of Stalker's acolytes raised weapons with the kinslayer. Then there was a flash of blue energy and she was elsewhere. Anisette screamed and Sheila spun to see the woman standing in the middle of a large room filled with machinery. She was surrounded by both golden energy and blue code but that was almost insignificant. A white Loki Prime stood nearby, his posture calm. Jesse and Janet stood nearby, both of their faces as impassive as the Interrogator's faceplate.

"No." Anisette pleaded as Interrogator Sun stepped forward. "No, please!"

"My name is Sun." The Tenno said quietly as he took hold of the human's arm. "My rank is interrogator first class and we have much to talk about."

"I didn't do it!" Anisette was all but blubbering as he pulled her towards a table like structure. Vicious looking machinery sat all around it. In moments, she was strapped to the table and the machinery started to close in.

"She didn't." Sheila said weakly, but no one seemed to hear her. "Stop this! She didn't do it!" She forced herself past whatever was holding her and spoke louder as Anisette screamed and tried to fight, but could not. "No! Stop!"

"It is for her own good, Sheila." Janet said flatly. "She needs to be shown the truth."

"What truth?" Sheila demanded. "That we can hurt her? She knows that. That Stalker used her? I bet she knows that." Her eyes were drawn to the sobbing woman as Sun's machinery clicked into place. "No..."

"Come on, Sheila." Jesse said quietly from where she stood. "We need to get you checked out."

"I am not leaving." Sheila said flatly. Jesse went still. Janet and Sun both turned to look at her, but Sheila held her ground. "She is scared and in pain. I am not leaving."

"She is not a human, girl." Sun said flatly. "She is using your empathy against you."

"Maybe she is, Interrogator." Sheila said with a shrug. "But if I allow this without speaking up, if I change because of what they did to me, then I am no better than him." She took three quick steps and was at the table. No one stopped her. She took hold of Anisette's hand and the human squeezed it gratefully. "You will hurt her because of who sired her? How does that make it right?"

"If needed, I will hurt her because of information she has that we need." The Interrogator replied without heat. "The fact that Stalker sired her for some sick, twisted purpose is immaterial."

"This isn't right." Sheila said flatly. "I will appeal this."

"Go ahead." Sun replied as he started working on something nearby. "The elders, Eliza, the clans, they will all say the same."

"Then they are wrong!" Sheila snapped. "You can get the information without hurting her."

"That is the plan. But no plan survives contact with the enemy." Sun replied. Sheila stared at him but he did not react. "Janet, Jesse. Go."

Dark blue code swirled around Sheila and she fought it even knowing it was hopeless.

"Anisette, don't resist!" Sheila managed to croak out even as the code tightened it's grip on her mind. "I will be there when you wake. I swear it."

"Sheila..." Anisette was crying as Sheila was torn away from the table and swirled away.

Sheila was cursing in three different languages as she slammed back into her body. She was aware of others close at hand, but she ignored that, focusing her ire on the two that she knew were not present. Janet was stuck on Titan, living in the seas that sheltered the Oracles there. Jesse was likewise trapped in an inaccessible place, but that too was for her own safety. As a new Cyberlancer and a new Tenno that did not follow the Warrior's path, she was hideously vulnerable. Even with her dedicated bodyguard, she had been exposed to far too many threats to be let out of sanctuary any time soon.

A gasp came from nearby, but Sheila just continued swearing.

"Sheila, calm down." Iriana's voice caught Sheila's attention, but the MOA continued to spout invective until she ran out of new curse words. When Sheila looked up, the Healer was standing there, her posture somewhere between resignation and amusement. Tiana and Janna stood with her, both looking shocked at the MOA's vehemence. "Are you done?"

"No." Sheila said with a sour grunt. "But I need more words to properly express myself. You were listening." It wasn't a question.

"You need full downtime." Iriana said softly. "We will pull you in and..."

"Begging your pardon, Healer." Sheila actually interrupted Iriana, a first. "I promised Anisette that I would be there when she woke. I will be."

"Sheila, we have no idea where her real world body it." Iriana said flatly. "And even if we did, no one is going to allow you anywhere near one of Stalker's traps."

"She will need help." Sheila said flatly.

"That is not your concern." Iriana replied, just as flatly. "They hurt you."

"And that makes hurting her right?" Sheila demanded. "It wasn't her! It was a copy of Amelia. Which shouldn't be possible. I know the Clergy destroyed all of the samples of Amelia Priosa's DNA that they had. I helped do it."

"That can be handled later." Iriana's tone was gentle now. "Sheila, you have suffered a massive shock. None of what you suffered is physical, but it hurt you. I can tell you just by looking at you how much it hurt you. Please Sheila, let us help you." She took a step forward, but paused as Sheila took a step back. "Sheila!"

"I want to help her." Sheila couldn't go anywhere. Tiana was blocking the door and Janna was all but wringing her hands in worry beside the clan leader.

"You are not acting rational, Sheila." Iriana said quietly. "Listen to yourself, you don't even know her."

"So?" Sheila snapped, patience fleeing. "I don't know half the patients who come through the clinic. Does that make me incapable of feeling for them when they are scared and in pain?"

"That...is a good point." Iriana admitted. "But Sheila, this is Stalker we are talking about. He has traps within traps and plots within plots. It is not safe for you to have any involvement with anything of his. Jesse and Janet found you this time, but if they hadn't..."

A furtive movement had Sheila dancing to the side as a bolt of energy flew from Janna through where Sheila had been. Everything stopped as the MOA activated her defense screens. No stunner would puncture those.

"Sheila! No!" Iriana cried as the MOA went from standby mode to active defense. She had no weapons, but her defenses had been upgraded since her arrival here. She would not be easy to stop without harming her. "Don't!"

"How is this different from what they did to me?" Sheila demanded as she stood ready. "Knock me out put me on a table and start disassembling me?" She tensed as Tiana drew a rifle. A Braton Prime, it would tear her shields to shreds. "How is this different?"

"No!" Iriana held up a hand at Tiana and moved to stand between the irate MOA and the clan leader. "Sheila! No. It is different!"

"How?" The MOA all but screamed.

"Because we love you." A flash of blue and Sheila felt every sense she had suddenly wither. She was immobile and her emotions were far away. She could do nothing as Iriana reached out to touch her hull, crying. "We do love you, Sheila, you stubborn, silly child. But you are hurting. You will be very angry when you wake. But for now… sleep. Rest. We will do what we can for you."

"I hate you." Sheila wasn't sure how she managed to speak that, but all of the watchers recoiled from the sheer rage in her tone.

Then she knew no more.


Sheila was hot.

She was cold.

She stood alone.

She was surrounded by humanoid forms, many of them crying.

She was in pain.

Nothing hurt.

She was…

Sheila fought her way back to consciousness by sheer will. She found herself in a lab, surrounded by machinery that she knew. She had been in the dojo's maintenance area far more times than she had ever wanted to be. Cecelia stood by one wall, her eyes red with tears. Ric stood by a bank of machinery, his Vauban warframe glistening in the harsh light.

"Back with us, eh, girl?" Ric's tone was a mix of serious and hysterical, as always. He always affected the Londonderry accent, even if Sheila had only the vaguest idea of where that had been. "You scared us."

Sheila did not speak, did not react at all. She looked around, but her chassis was secured firmly with mechanical restraints, nothing for her to access or circumvent. The maintenance bay was also shielded, so her Command and Control protocols, which might or might not work on Tenno machinery, were nullified.

"Come on girl, talk to me." Ric said quietly. "I know you are awake. You hurt Iriana very badly with what you said."

"Nothing to say." Sheila said flatly, her sensors focused on Cecelia. She felt odd, but if Ric was doing what she thought he was, then Cecelia understood just how physically and mentally painful the separation would be. The C&C Protocols were built into her hull. The only way to disable them entirely was to disassemble the hull, take Sheila out of it. They know how to do it, but the separation would be a hell of shock.

"We don't have a choice, Sheila." Ric said quietly. "Until you get help, we need to make sure you won't hurt yourself or anyone else."

"By taking what I am away from me." Sheila said flatly. "Go on. Do it."

"Sheila, we don't want to be cruel." Cecelia was all but begging. "Please. You have to understand..."

"I do understand!" Sheila all but screamed. "You think I am an idiot? I know what has to be done and I know why it has to be done. I am too fucking powerful if he got into my mind. But I don't have to like it!"

"No." Cecelia moved close, laying her hand on Sheila's upper sensor housing. "You are hurt and sick and scared." She was crying again. "But you are not an idiot. And you are not alone. I am here, sister. I am here."

"I...am...always...alone..." Sheila gasped as electric shocks rang through her mind. She screamed as the connections she took for granted after so long were severed, one by one. Then, like a wave of blackness, her sensor feeds vanished. No possible human habitation could even be so absolutely black. Humans abhorred pure darkness. She was screaming into the darkness even as she felt other separations, each an electric shock to her very core. She felt madness beckoning and she reached out for it.

No! A firm voice all but shouted in her mind and she was suddenly elsewhere.

She was in human form, lying on a solid surface. She stared around the room. It wasn't any virtual environment she had ever been in. The walls were adorned with decorations that looked hand made. A comfortable looking sofa and a rocking chair sat in front of what looked for all the world like an open fireplace. Sheila had seen images of such things, but had never seen one in person.

"You are wrong." A familiar form appeared nearby. Mishka, Healer Iriana's daughter, had been crying. She moved to where Sheila sat and knelt down beside her. "You are so wrong. You are not alone, Sheila and you will never be. Whatever that witch did to your mind, we can and will fix it."

"They… They told you..." Sheila curled up on herself, shame and fear surfacing. Mishka nodded and laid a gentle hand on Sheila's arm "Don't touch me!"

"Sheila, you have been abused, but it wasn't your fault." Mishka did not remove her hand. "You had no way of fighting that. No way of escaping. Whatever Stalker did to you..."

"He didn't do it!" Sheila snapped.

"You don't know that." Mishka said quietly. 'And now? You are sympathizing with a clone that Stalker made of me." Sheila just looked at Mishka and then she jerked away from the young Tenno's hand, moving as far from Mishka as she could until she was huddled against the wall. Mishka tried again. "Sheila..."

"If the woman is connected with him in any way, she deserves whatever Sun is doing to her." Sheila said flatly. "That is what everyone is saying, no?"

"Very few noncombatants deserve what Sun does to people, Sheila." Mishka's corrected, her face a little sick. "Thing is, I think you are right. What Janet wants is wrong."

"She won't listen to me." Sheila said weakly.

"She is angry, Sheila." Mishka said reasonably. "She was caught flat footed by this along with everyone else. You know she loves you." Sheila nodded, her face miserable and Mishka sighed. "Failing one we love is bad. Not the worst pain imaginable but bad. She feels she failed you."

"I know." Sheila said weakly. "I…. The trauma is still fresh and they had to remove me from my shell." She was crying again and Mishka sidled over to sit beside her. "I know why they had to do it. I am too powerful. They have to nullify the threat. But it hurts, Mishka. It hurts so bad!"

"I know." Mishka hugged the crying girl tight as Sheila poured out her rage and grief in unending salty streams. "Everyone is upset by this, Sheila. From what I understand, the Clergy are royally pissed."

"I bet." The girl sobbed through her tears. "They were so kind to me, Mishka. They didn't need to be. I know it was to control me in a way that didn't require shackles or brainwashing. But that doesn't change the facts. They were kind to me. You have all been kind to me, but… I..."

"We have been kind because we know what it is to be different." Mishka said quietly, holding Sheila as she wiped her face. "Tenno can be just as prejudiced or judgmental as any, but the clan that took you in defines open minded for our kind."

"I know." Sheila managed to calm herself after a few more moments, then scrubbed her face with her arm. "What will they do with.. with me? Will I live as in small squeaky box on the table?" She managed a tiny smile as Mishka groaned.

"You might actually enjoy that a bit too much." The youngest Caretaker said with a grin. "I understand that the Clergy is sending a Medical MOA. One that has been set up to take your box."

"A medical MOA?" Sheila perked up a little at that. She hadn't even looked being able to take control of any and every Corpus technology within range of her sensors. It was just who and what she had been made into. "But...they need to vet me. I.." She swallowed hard. "Sun will need to vet me."

"He won't touch you." Mishka said with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "He knows better."

"What?" Sheila asked, confused.

"Sheila, I know you." Mishka said with a nod. "You know that you are hurt. You know that there is mental trauma. You know what needs to be done. The last thing we need is to add more mental trauma. Yes, you will be interrogated. Not by him."

"Then by who?" Sheila asked, fear starting to rise.

"By us." Mishka hugged Sheila tight. Sheila stared at her and Mishka smiled. "You need to talk it out anyway and we can take all the time we need to be gentle. It will take some time for them to remove you from your old shell, the fail safes and traps are extensive. So, we will talk."

"Just you and me?" Sheila asked.

"For now. We can add more if you wish, but for now?" Mishka reassured her. "We have a rapport, you and I. This is going to hurt you no matter what, but pulling the feelings out and examining them can help."

"I know." Sheila stared at the floor, only to gasp as Mishka poked her in a sensitive spot. "Hey!"

"I am going to make you smile as much as I can." Mishka warned. "Because when we are done?"

"I want to meet my sister and then I think we will need all the smiles we can get."