A Cruel Tenno's Thesis
The warframe's advance halted and Val Kek felt an uncomfortable dampness in his crewman coveralls that he was certain had not been there a moment before. That wasn't right, was it? Tenno did not just stop. Tenno never stopped. He had witnessed recordings, recordings that the investors would never support getting out into wide circulation. When Tenno attacked installations, they did not stop until they were finally done. It was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time that you didn't cross paths with the Tenno at their most efficient times.
This Tenno just stood there. It's head stared at him, cocked to one side. Like a bird might. Like an Moa tilted it's turret in that cute way that had been programmed in to replicate those very same birds when it did not understand an executable command.
Val Kek had never claimed to be a brave man, had no such pretenses in fact. And amongst the Corpus his only real ambition was to not die a crewman. He wanted to go somewhere, work his way up into being a merchant of his own. Maybe buy and trade shield projector parts, or Moa. There was always a demand for Moa, and he knew a few factories that sold them on the cheap.
Yet here he was. His dreams of being a merchant cut to ribbons and scattered like… well… like Jel Kot over there at the hall entrance. Jel and his six Moa. Whom Jel had doted on as if they were children.
The Tenno's gaze, well he assumed it's gaze as there were no visible eyes in it's head, traced down his coveralls. They locked on something and Kek followed the line of sight with a desperate urge to find out what had interested it. The Cestra was still there, strapped to it's holster on his utility belt. He hadn't so much as drawn it in his defense, how could he have? He had barely actually handled a weapon before. There weren't supposed to be Tenno here.
Maybe the Tenno just wanted his gun? Maybe that's all it was. It did not want to kill him, it just really wanted this… model seventeen cestra which was one of the second most common sidearms amongst the megacorps vast array of sidearms.
Still, it was worth a shot. And Kek slowly lifted a hand off the bulkhead and reached for the pistol.
He was struck against the bulkhead so hard, Kek was certain his skull had cracked. He hadn't even had the time beforehand to put on his helmet. The rectangular hunks of reinforced metal made it so hard to breath and-
The dampness grew worse as the warframe's head was there before his own. These slanted golden ovals of color looked at eyes, and they glowed with a fierce white hotness that might seem like eyes. Like gaseous hate leaking from beneath the armour. However he did know it was staring at him.
The warframe lifted the Cestra into his vision. Held in one small slim hand it looked gigantic. Like a huge piece of machinery in a small and delicate-
Red mechanical fingers snapped the Cestra barrels as if they were so many sticks. A tensing of fingers, and palm, and thumb and there was a loud crack. A brief flurry of sparks as the weapon's battery pack discharged ineffectual across the hand and the warframe dropped the two chunks of weapon without concern to the bulkhead below.
Kek wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He stared at the hand that had shattered the pistol, even as another held his throat and pinned him to the wall. His mind was finding it more and more difficult to process as his brain became deprived of oxygen.
He was aware of a sudden, desperate, demand to breath and Kek struggled against the iron Tenno grip. Mechanical fingers so like flesh, yet unyielding as a mountain side. However something did change. Something in the warframe's chest… shifted.
There was a face peering at him from the red sheathed chest cavity of the warframe. A pair of eyes that shone like twin stars in a youthful face. The light however came from within the red iris, and the youthful face was a twisted thing. With a great scar along it's jaw, a concave burn that bit into the cheek and left the face sallow and haggard.
The face was just… there. It sprouted from the warframe as if pushing through a thin film of light. And the face of a young woman stared at Kek.
And it smiled.
The Corpus died so suddenly, Kana was almost disappointed. As she smiled at him, her semi-corporeal shape pushing through the void to project itself in front of her Valkyr, he just up and expired. That smile turned into a rictus snarl and the fist of Valkyr that had held the Corpus tightened substantially as Kana retreated.
There was a popping sound that Kana ignored, and she was one with the warframe she had never even actually left again. Holding the corpse of a Corpus, that was conveniently absent a head.
She tossed it aside and impossibly powerful limbs sprang her warframe forward. The space of the hallway was crossed, and the door opened in a woosh just narrowly ahead of her. Her foot found bulkhead and she sprang up a level on the exterior of the Corpus facility. Gliding through the air as effortlessly as if she had been built for this. And she forgot her disappointment as she crested the next balcony in a smooth flip.
Kana landed on the guardrail to find a pair of Moa and another crewman on the balcony just in front of her. Stationed to guard the exterior of the research facility, but Lotus only knew why.
The Corpus had time to be surprised before Kana exacted her vengeance on him and his Moa instead of the dead one so far below.
"This is the Sixteenth Corpus facility this week." Calvo Vek said in no small amount of distress as he submitted his spoke report. Perrin Sequence senior executive Vada Quin however did not seem to share in his distress.
"We are aware of these losses, Vek. There is no need to bring them up again. We are handling it." She said, her voice a simmering string of patience on the edge of being snapped.
"The Sequence is not handling it fast enough!" Calvo insisted. "These are not safe targets, some of these facilities are not even linked with Corpus megacorp weapon manufacturing. The facility on Pluto two days ago was a nutritional supplement facility. The one on Jupiter? It was a dwelling prefabrication factory and-" Quin interrupted him there, her patience at an end.
"Do you have anything constructive to add to this conversation, Vek? We are aware of the situation with this particular Tenno." Quin intoned, annoyance creeping into her usually flat and emotionless voice.
"What is the Lotus doing about this? What about the Tenno Councilors?" Vek tried one more time. Quin's image contorted into an exasperated scowl. She sighed and then answered his question however.
"The Lotus will do nothing, and the Council has other matters. More important matters. Such as the Grineer Fomarions. Or even more importantly, these Sentients we keep hearing whispers about."
"They are going to just let this Tenno keep-" Vek started, but again Quin interrupted him.
"For the last time, Vek. This situation is being handled. You worry about humanitarian aide to the Corpus that are sympathetic to the Sequence. Leave the rest, to other departments." She snapped, and the communication feed closed.
For several long seconds Vek stared at the empty feed. As if he had only just seen it for the first time.
Then he cursed and lashed out, his foot struck his desk with a metallic thump that sent a dull throb of pain up his leg as he held his head and let out a shaky sigh.
"That is the problem, Quin." He breathed at nothing, despair heavy in his voice.
"This Tenno is killing them just as eagerly as any other Corpus."
Vek sighed heavily and leaned back in his office chair. The office was small and cramped, perfect for an associate that had yet to really prove their value to the sequence. It kept him out of sight, and out of mind.
Why was this lone Tenno going so far out of their way to lash out? Every ounce of data that Vek could gather told him increasingly insane reports of this Tenno all across Corpus territory. And not just Corpus territory, but Grineer territory as well. And there were even the long range reports that detected a Liset coming from the void that matched that signature. That Liset would head straight to a Corpus facility, and then move on. As if the thing was on a tour of the entire system!
What made this Tenno do that? Oh sure most Tenno were indecipherable. Their aims and goals a mystery to everyone in the system, and they were given absolute freedom to do as they felt they needed to. Yet… did the Lotus not guide them? Was she not what kept them in check? If so why was this Tenno acting so… so… insane? Attacking non-military facilities as well as military ones.
There had been reports of this Tenno attacking a Grineer colony. Not it's defense force. Not a munitions depot or some kind of obscure research lab, but a colony. With incomplete Grineer workers who were still being conditioned to function. The closest things to civilians the Grineer had.
Profit preserve if this Tenno ever took a fancy to a Corpus colony.