Ghosts of the Past

For a long moment, Serene just stood there, stunned out of speech. Who could blame her?

"You...need my... help?" Serene asked slowly and carefully, her hand not moving. "I cannot have heard that right." Her tone was dry and biting.

"You are angry." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "With cause. I earned your wrath. We did what we did to protect Mishka, the only way we could. What we did was wrong, but it was needed." Serene did not move. "I am not asking forgiveness for what we did. I am not asking you to forget it. What I asking is that you listen for a moment. Draw your weapon if you must, it will not help you here." Serene did not move and the old nun sighed. "Please, Serene, just hear me out."

"Why?" Serene snapped. Anger was rising, an old and trusted friend. "Why not just take everything you want? That is what you do! Why not have Vina or Mercedes step out to take my weapon from me? You know you want to!"

"I could." The Reverend Mother said softly. "But it would break them if I did. They do not know I am here and I would to keep it that way. It would be easier than trying to beat sense into a stubborn Tenno skull." She shook her head. "Why do you think I waited until Sara and Rocky were..."

"DO NOT SPEAK THEIR NAMES!" Serene screamed as her pistol came up and spat. The bolts... hit something a meter in front of Serene and stopped. A blue glow flared and faded. Even in her rage, Serene knew what it was. "Nullifier." She snarled.

"I came prepared." The Reverend Mother said softly. "I didn't know if you were in your warframe or not. I need your help Serene. Before this spirals out of control. Before Eliza does something that cannot be undone." Serene went still and the Reverend Mother nodded. "Yes, I know about Avalon."

"You took it from Mishka..." Serene growled.

"Just the current Empress' name." The Revered Mother admitted. "But the patterns of portal use were clear. I muddled them. The Board doesn't know. They can't know, Serene. We cannot let them know." She was pleading. "If they do... Then the last remnants of Orokin... fail." She shook her head. "Not on my watch."

"You are good." Serene said, not lowering her pistol despite its ineffectiveness. "If it were anyone but you, I might believe some of what you say. But you? Not you." Hate sang through every fiber of her being.

"I know." The Reverend Mother said softly. "So... I did not come alone. Sister?"

A young woman stepped from the shadows. She wore an outfit much like the Reverend Mother's. But she was clearly pregnant. Her face was blank. She looked at Serene and Serene shrugged.

"I don't know her." Both the Reverend Mother and the newly appeared sister froze at that.

"You... don't remember?" The newly come woman said slowly. "Oh dear..."

"Anything you say will be a lie." Serene said quietly, her pistol not wavering. "A trick, a misdirect-..." She spun and something clanged off her pistol as she dropped and rolled. A shiny ball flew away. A stunner.

"No!" The Reverend Mother screamed as more stunners flew. The other girl dropped. "Stop firing damn it! You are just making her angrier! Serene! Stop! I just want to talk!"

"Well, I want you dead!" Serene screamed right back, as she dodged shining balls that flew out of the shadows at her. Then... they stopped. She moved in a combat crouch for a door, but was not surprised to find it sealed even against her security override codes. "Nice trap." She commented as she turned back to where the Reverend Mother stood, her face pale. The blank faced woman stood slowly beside her. "I won't help you."

"Serene... don't make me do this..." The Reverend Mother said softly. "I don't want to." Was she crying?

"STOP FUCKING TALKING!" Serene screamed, firing at the Reverend Mother again. "I have nothing to say to you!" The bolts stopped again. "You are dead! For what you did to Mishka! If I don't kill you, Nikis will!"

"I am sorry, Serene." The old woman said sadly. "Code: Omega. Password: Blue Felt Ribbons." Serene jerked as... something grabbed hold of her mind. It was prying it's way in, seeping into every cranny of her mind, every pore no matter how she fought. It felt... familiar. "They couldn't take it all out, Serene. I am sorry."

"You... bitch..." Serene managed to grate out. She... she was losing to whatever was grabbing at her mind.

"Serene, I need your help!" The Reverend Mother said sharply. "If I have to compel it, I will. I have no other choices now."

"Don't do this..."The blank faced woman begged the Reverend Mother. "She...she doesn't understand. Serene, please! Please...!" She stepped closer to the infuriated Tenno. "MOM PLEASE!" Her face's blankness shattered with proximity and Serene stared...at herself. A younger version of herself. Older than Sara, but younger than the Tenno. And pregnant. Very pregnant.

"René..." The Reverend Mother said softly. "She doesn't believe. She can't. Serene... It is true... You have to believe me. I need your help! I really do!" She pleaded.

"Nice... try..." Serene grated out as she pulled her hand up, her bolto aimed... at her own head.

"MOM NO!" The younger her screamed as Serene pulled the trigger.

Flash

Across the system, for just a moment everything seemed to stop. Grineer, Corpus, Infested, Tenno... all of these and more just... stopped. For a moment. No one seemed to know why. The wave of energy was not perceptible to normal human senses. Even many Tenno might not recognize it for what it was.

But a few, so very few... did know what it was. And for them...

Flash

Janet lay in her pool, reeling. She... hadn't expected this. Something from the Clergy, yes. But not this. Not like this... All around her, the oceans of Titan sang as other Oracles keened. A keen of loss. Her attendants stared at the pool and then at the readings on their equipment which were going nuts.

"Brace yourselves..." Janet managed to gasp out. "This is gonna hurt..." She screamed a mental warning and then braced herself as best she could.

Then it was all screaming and fear as the wave of pure darkness in energy form washed over them. It...was screaming in rage. Female rage. Then it was gone, leaving nothing but the taste of regret.

Flash

Nikis reacted on instinct at Janet's warning, grabbing Rocky and curling into a ball around the boy as Serene's son started to scream. He could do nothing else as Sara fell to the floor, clutched her head and began to cry as well. He couldn't focus on anything but shielding himself and Rocky.

"Shield Sara!" Nikis called to the mass mind. "Protect Iriana and Mishka! This is gonna hurt!" They didn't understand, but they did as instructed. It was a good thing they prepared. The sheer torrent of pain, fear and rage might have destroyed the Sara's mind. Iriana and Mishka slept in their pods, never realizing what had happened. The wave of power was... so dark. So cold. So angry... So... familiar. Then it was gone.

Jasmina went to her knees beside Sara, comforting the keening girl. Her hands were careful as she eased the girl into a more comfortable position. "Nikis? What...? Oh no..." She stared from Sara to Rocky and back. "No..."

Nikis nodded. "Serene just died."

Jasmina stared at the ancient Nekros and then at the boy in his hands. Then she slowly crumpled and started to cry as well as she held Sara tight. The mass mind grieved with them.

"Stay with them. Help them. Iriana will need help when she wakes too. Mishka... won't wake for a while." Nikis...was calm but not as he rose. He laid Rocky down beside his sister. "This isn't over. Not yet." He pulled a small golden thing from a pocket and vanished.

Flash

"Mom..." Michelle gasped as the horrible feeling soaring through her link to Orokin peaked and vanished. "That was... No..."

"That was... Serene..." Eliza sank back to her throne, the Royal Guard all alert around her. The audience chamber was stilled. More than one of the attendees were clutching their heads. "But... she didn't... go to the database...? Did she?"

"No." Michelle said after a moment. "She... it wasn't... through us... it was... around? And then pulled back?" She asked, confused. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I know." Eliza said with a gasp. She forced herself upright and nodded to the crowd. "We need... time... We... just lost... a good friend and compatriot." The Royal Guard all bowed their heads.

"What was that?" Someone asked for the crowd.

"Tenno Serene dying." Petra's cold words silenced the hall. "And she will not die alone."

Flash

Karl jerked back to awareness. What was wrong? He was on a rest period. He had come in from the-

"Sensei!" Amelia's terrified voice came from the intercom. She had returned from the tower when Iriana had gone on vacation. To be close to Two and have a vacation of her own. "We need you! Medical!"

Karl did not waste time asking stupid questions, he bolted for the door. It wasn't far. But what he found...was not what he expected. Two sat in the middle of the floor. Her Chorus helmet lay on the far side of the room, the wall dented over where it lay. Had she thrown it? But then he saw her face. The... nothing on her face. The tracks of tears... the...

"Oh no..." Karl said softly. "No..."

"Not everyone felt it." Two said in a monotone. "But... I did. She was... my sister..." Her voice cracked and she was crying again. He knelt in front of her, his hands pulling her close as she wept. Amelia joined them, her own tears adding to Karl's. All making a puddle on the floor.

No one cared.

Flash

"No..." The young woman called René begged even as Serene crumpled to the ground, her head a bloody mess. "No..." She ran to the fallen Tenno and gathered her up. "No... Mom, no..."

"Medic!" The Reverend Mother called and a soldier ran up, scanners whirring. "We have to go, René. They will be coming and they will be angry."

"You said she would remember me!" René said sharply, holding Serene's still form tight. "You promised she would remember!" She screamed.

"René." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Paddington." René went still and then let the medic take the still Tenno from her. Her face was blank again. "Tell me we got her!" She demanded of the medic.

"I don't know, Ma'am." The soldier said quietly, fiddling with something that glinted oddly golden. "This tech... is nothing I have used before."

"For good reason." The voice...was wrong. The form that stepped into view...was wrong. It was a pitch black Nekros. Nikis... But... The energy that flowed around him... He was beyond angry. "You... I had hoped... to talk to you..." He ignored the soldier and René, focusing on the Reverend Mother who paled. "But this..." He shook his head. "You have transgressed most sorely this day, human. Not content to take my sister's life, were you?"

"This... is not what you think, Grandmaster Nikis..." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "She shot herself."

"And that makes it all better, doesn't it?" Nikis' voice skittered around the area as if on claws. "You get what you want either way. What did you offer her? A cloned kid?" He asked as he stepped closer. René did not move. Not that she could.

"She is not a clone, Nikis." The Reverend Mother was still quiet. "And she is not the problem. The others are."

"You lie as easily as you breathe." Nikis said absently as he stepped to where René stood silent. His armored hand came up and stroked her cheek. "Interesting. Very tight mental controls. Your work?"

"No." The Reverend Mother said softly. "Not our work. We found her. Like this. It took six months and more than few missteps to figure out the commands. We helped her. We have been trying to figure out who did it and why. We did. We needed Serene to stop it."

"And of course, as soon as you realized that..." Nikis said, to all appearances bored. "You came to do what you do. Take control." He sighed. "Morons. You can't control Serene. Maybe you think you can. But you can't. Not permanently. But you knew that. After all, you found out what happened when Serene went to Neptune, didn't you?" The soldier carrying Serene moved as if to take a step and Nikis wagged a finger at him. He froze. "Uh uh. You are not taking her."

"What we found would have horrified anyone." The Reverend Mother hadn't moved. "Nikis, look at René. She is exactly like Serene."

"Idiots..." Nikis sighed. "Cloning Tenno doesn't work."

"She isn't a clone, Nikis." The Reverend Mother repeated softly. Nikis stilled. "Yeah. The scum who had Serene did it to her. More than once. They had her for... months. We found... five empty womb pods. One held René from the residue." She nodded to René. "The other four are loose. And there is only one person they might possibly listen to. Serene."

"Well..." Nikis said softly. "Sucks to be you then. She ain't gonna be talking anytime soon I don't think. Certainly not to you."

"If you must blame me, for Mishka, for Serene, for all of it, then do so." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "But you do not understand. They don't hate the Clergy or even the Corpus. They hate humanity! All of it." Nikis shook his head. "From what we found... in that lab. They are going to try to bring back the Sentients."

"I wish them luck." Nikis said offhand. "I hope they eat you first."

"This is no joke, Nikis!" The Reverend Mother exclaimed. "They could very well do it."

"And? Who says I am joking?" Nikis asked snidely. She stared at him. "Oh, you are going to have to do better than that, Darling. You see, I remember the Sentients. Not so bad, all things considered. Bad, to be sure, but... Better than many humans now that I think about it. The Sentients at least had reasons for doing most of what they did. Humans? Reasons? They don't need no stinkin' reasons!"

"You are delaying us until other Tenno can get here." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "If they use portals, they will likely be detectable."

"And?" Nikis snapped. The Reverend Mother stared at him. "Oh, yeah. Bunch of your slaves die. Whooptyfuckingdoo." He shook his head. "Don't care about the others. You ain't taking Serene. Any of her."

"We may be able to save her!" The Reverend Mother protested. "She isn't gone! I know that. Lis wasn't!"

"You have no idea what you are playing with." Nikis said softly. "I am halfway tempted to let you try. Just so I can watch what happens. But this is my job. I am a Caretaker of the Dead. She is dead."

"But not gone!" The Reverend Mother snapped. "Nikis, we need her."

"What you need is a proctologist to get your head out of where it is." The gunfighter's hands were in motion now, slowly moving the handles of his pistols. "I can do that for you." His tone was mocking.

"I can't let you." The old nun said sadly. "There is too much at stake." A blue bubble surrounded her and René as well as the solider holding Serene's body. She froze as Nikis laughed.

"You Corpus and your techie toys..." Nikis sounded...amused? "Void energy and propelled particle nullification fields." He mused, as if curious. "I wonder how many..."

"You cannot shoot through them, Nikis." The Reverend Mother said firmly, calming.

"Well duh." Nikis said with a shrug. He dropped his hand from his pistol and suddenly a long dark scythe was in his hands. Was the blade made of glass? "Who says I gotta?" He stepped forward, the Ether Reaper Scythe ready. A bolt of energy came from the shadows and Nikis parried it, sending it flying back where it had come from! A scream came from the shadows and a form in Corpus armor fell to lie still. "One down, how many to go?" He mocked.

"Nikis..." The Reverend Mother shook her head and suddenly she was shimmering with energy. "René, go. Everyone else. Go. Now. My orders. Run!" The others turned and ran. Nikis started forward, but the old nun blocked him, her hands glowing with golden energy. "I can't let you stop what has to happen. You will kill us all."

"No, just you!" Nikis stepped forward again, scythe spinning. The old nun met him halfway, her hands and feet encased in energy.

Nearby

Vina jerked to a halt with the security team as the corridor in front of them erupted in energy. Gold and orange that looked...angry.

"Where is Serene?" She demanded. A check of the Tenno's quarters had shown she hadn't been there. Then every sensor had gone nuts and now... this...

"Vina! Down!" Horatius voice came from nowhere and she was jerked off her feet as fire swept through the team. Then it was a general melee, fire coming every which way. A hammer blow to her arm threw her to the deck, where she lay, sobbing. She was no soldier. Two more short, sharp bursts of fire came and then Horatius' voice sounded again. "Clear!"

Responses of 'Clear' came from all around. Vina looked up to see a man in Special Forces armor crouched over her, his hand on her arm. He had grabbed her and thrown her to the deck before she had known he was there.

"Did you have to be so rough?" She demanded of the Special Forces troop.

"If you had taken a hit, Boss would have had my tripes for dinner." The troop offered her a hand. "You are intact."

"My people?" Vina swallowed hard as she rose with assistance, but as she looked, she realized that all of her people were either moving or breathing. She sighed in relief. They were hers. Her responsibility. "Horatius? What the hell?"

"Hell indeed." Horatius said as he moved into the corridor, his rifle ready. "We heard about an op, troop movements. Odd. I inquired and got stonewalled. So I checked some stuff. When we realized they were coming here, we came as quick as we could."

"What is going on?" Vina demanded as Horatius moved to stand by her. "Serene is missing, I have all kind of odd stuff showing on sensor..."She shivered as she stared at the bodies at her feet. "And now...Company troops? We are blown."

"Worse than you know." Nikis strode into view, his hand holding... Oh my god! He had the Reverend Mother by the back of her neck! He threw her to the floor where she lay in a sodden, bloody heap. She lay...wrong and blood was pooling. "Serene is dead."

"Dead?" Vina felt her world suddenly start to fall to pieces. "Why?" She stared at the old nun whose face was turning up. She was alive. "Why?" She demanded. "Do you have any idea what is about to happen to us?"

"It was... needed..." The old nun said in a pain filled voice.

"Shut up." Nikis kicked her. For the very first time, Vina felt she wanted to do the same thing. That or vomit. "They took her body."

"Then we go get it back." Horatius said in a voice of promise. "We are with you."

"Yes." Vina barely recognized her own voice.

"Yes we are."