Author's Note:

This is a bit unusual. This particular story, I plan on updating once every two months. This month is a special case, mostly because I ended on a sort of cliffhanger last month. I say sort of because of the narration style. Hard to ratchet up tension when the narrator breaks off to chat with the main character(s) once in a while.

For the few who've actually enjoyed this, I'm soon going to start something new. Each update of this story is planned to fit into one of the video game updates. For example, this chapter would be Update 13. Not for any particular reason, just because it seems like a good idea. The issue is that some updates have quite a few options, and I know which ones I liked, but not which ones are popular with the fans. So, anybody who likes, please tell me which events you think need some attention.

Last thing: anyone with tips on writing, please, feel free to leave a critique. I see fanfiction as writing with training wheels, and I'm hoping to learn a lot before I get deep into another fic I'm working on.

It was not perfect, Doan thought as she helped throw Secret into his cell. It was bad, as bad as that time she'd thought Secret was dead, before she knew his name.

The Tenno didn't look as Queenly as he used to. Parts of his armour were scorched black and, now that he was back in his cell, slightly dirty. They'd clean him the next time they brought him out, but he still looked sad, there in his cell.

Actually, he looked angry, like he might attack if it weren't for the barrer sliding closed between them, even with the bolt through his wrist.

Through the clear yellow door - transparent sepia, for those with class - Secret turned deliberately away from his captors and sat down on the metal floor. There wasn't anything else in the room; the leaders worried Secret might use anything else to go on a killing spree.

Smart, especially for Grineer. I once saw a Tenno commit an assassination with a paper airplane.

-What do you mean, what's a paper airplane?-

-Orokin preserve me, you're serious. Very well. A paper airplane is an atmosphere-bound gliding device built of a sheet of processed arboreal matter.-

-I am not making it up! Look, I've updated your alerts, you can- oh, end recording.

Where were we? Secret was locked up, Doan Tana was feeling guilty, no apparent resources for an escape. Secret had been locked up for a week now, and people wouldn't stop talking to Doan about it. One person, in particular.

"Tenno scum," Ind Cusd said cheerfully. "Locked up good. Doan did good… Want to eat?"

Ind, as one might have guessed, was not smarter than the average copy-of-a-copy, soup-for-brains Grineer. She'd latched on to Doan like a parasite after Secret's capture and Doan was kind enough to indulge her. The only mercy was how aptly the adage, "only wise men worry," applied to Ind. On the other hand, this also meant she had no idea how annoying her constant chattering was.

So. Annoying. Doan must just be very good at hiding her irritation.

By the time they reached the mess hall, Ind had exhausted her three-sentence depth of knowledge on several subjects and had moved on to things she somehow knew even less about.

"Space big. Windows small," Ind said sadly. Then she brightened. "Space pretty."

Doan nodded magnanimously and scooped some Grineer slop onto her tray, then scooped more onto Ind's.

"Doan, thanks"

Doan led them to a bench and an empty table, a luxury in a Grineer facility. Most often, Grineer ate from capsule tubes on ships without tables anywhere except bunk areas. Doan was having trouble focusing on the novelty, though. She pulled off her faceplate and slowly started to eat.

"Doan quiet. Sad?"

The brighter gunner looked up to see Ind had slowed down her eating. Not stopped, obviously - she liked food too much for that - but she was scooping slop into her mouth rather than shoveling it.

And the dunce had stumbled upon something.

"Yes," Doan said, even though she wasn't sure what she was sad about.

Ind… hold on, let me check my notes… This can't be… one moment.

I'm going to need to have a talk with Doan about exaggerating.

Ind stopped eating, this says, and she inched a bit closer to Doan and waited.

Doan sat there, face bare and a tray in her lap, as her friend watched her intently and other Grineer walked by or sat and yelled amongst themselves. The image kept coming into her mind, of the Tenno staring through a cell portal, shoulders set and hands ready to draw weapons that weren't there.

"The Tenno is sad," said the gunner.

"Yes," Ind bubbled. "Tenno sad, grineer happy." Then she paused. "Tenno sad, grineer happy… Doan sad?"

The simpleton had no idea how perfectly she had encapsulated the problem. Doan Tana reached out and put a hand on Ind's leg with a soft clank. If Doan was feeling whatever she was feeling about the Tenno and not about the Grineer, what did that make her? Why did she care so much? Why did she care at all? Because it was Secret? Did that matter? Yes, it did… but why? Secret was like all the other Tenno - he would kill the Queens if given the chance.

The thought sent a flash of rage through Doan, but it faded quickly and left her feeling more confused than before. Secret and the other Tenno had killed hundreds of Grineer, and that was only the ones Doan had been around for. It was just that those Grineer didn't matter.

Even if they did, with the scorch marks and how tired Secret always looked, Doan could only imagine what Dr. Tengus was doing to him.

Slowly, Doan started eating again. Ind kept watching for a few bites, then returned to her food with her usual gusto, keeping up a constant chatter all the while.

At least Grineer decor meant that it was hard to tell where she spilled her food.

The next-

-Will you stop throwing that thing around? I'm trying to concentrate.-

-Put it away before I fly us into Jupiter.-

So, skipping over a day of Doan wandering past Secret's cell and brooding, with her pet following cheerfully behind-

-I said stop throwing it!-

-Fine, not pet. Minion.-

-That's my sensor! That's my sensor! Ow, ow- yes, I can hurt! What do you mean, dramatic? Look, just- fine, fine! Friend. Doan's friend, Ind.-

Doan and her friend, Ind, helped bring Secret out of his cell the next day. Doan always did, and Secret always struggled, twisting and squirming and finding new ways to break free even with the strength limiter of the Grustrag Bolt. At least, he did that when they took him from his cell. On the way, back, he never seemed to have the energy.

Secret twisted, ducked, and seemed to slip from Doan's grasp like water. In the time it took to blink, he'd swung around Ind's body, kicked and launched himself from her back, and made it into the next room.

Ind stumbled, off balance from having two-hundred-fifty kilograms of metal use her as a jungle gym, and cried, "oh, bad!" She spun around to look for Secret, like he'd be standing right behind her.

Doan, however, ran to the panic button on the wall and activated the lockdown. Doors slammed closed all across the facility and alarms blared loud overhead. Calmly, she activated her radio, contacted the security center, and said, "deactivate all terminals in sector Te-3, just outside the doctor's lab. Now."

Luckily, this had happened several times before, and the security center knew what to do. In moments, the terminals were locked down just as the doors were, and Secret had nowhere to go.

For those wondering why Doan Tana was entrusted with escorting Secret in spite of frequently losing him within the facility, the answer should be obvious: they tried to replace her with Grineer.

The first replacement ran after him, screaming, until somebody thought to hit the alarms, then somebody else had to figure out it was time for a lockdown. Obviously, Secret deactivated the lockdown five seconds later.

You can imagine how long that went on for.

After Doan - and, surprisingly, Ind - helped recapture Secret, they were assigned to escort him on a more permanent basis.

This time, it took less than five minutes to recapture Secret, with Doan calling for unlocked terminals as she moved, then locking them behind her. When they caught up to him, he didn't even try to get past them. Instead, he just stared through the observation window opposite, the one that showed Dr. Tengus' lab.

The lab was brightly lit and full of metal, with a table covered in binds strong enough to hold-

-Secret? Are you alright?-

-No. No, you're not. Hold up your hand. It's shaking.-

-We're taking a break, and you should call a friend over. Belyri's operator, maybe? She's… tolerable, and she's in this story.-

-No, it's not that. I'm just tired of storytelling for now. Besides, we have enough material for plenty more airplanes. You should show them to her.-

-Good. I'll be busy for a few minutes, but say something if you need attention, alright, brat?-

-Heh.-

We're not actually taking a break. I think, however, I'll record the next part in silent mode.

Tengus was in the lab, with his chest armour life support system and oversized phallic helmet, all in black and beige with an honest-to-Orokin monocle on his left eye. Secret and he stood there, staring at each other through the transparent panel. The items - the torture implements - Tengus had planned for that day's session were laid on worktables surrounding the center of the room. Along the walls were cache cabinets, electronic readouts, and security turrets numerous enough to put down even a Rhino before it crossed the room.

Obviously, they couldn't take the Tenno apart. No Grineer knew how to do that without triggering self-destruct failsafes. Nobody wanted that, a fact that Doan used to console herself when she left Secret to the cruel scientist.

Today, Secret didn't struggle as they grabbed him again. He just walked with them as Doan called off the lockdown.

"Hr hr hr," chuckled the voice on the other side of the radio. "How far did it get this time?"

Doan Tana looked up at the door access panel they were passing, did some quick math, and - yes, math. Some Grineer can do that - and said, "room Te-3-81."

There was a moment of silence, then, "Queens save us. That's right outside the security center."

It was, Doan realized, but that couldn't be intentional. With the bolt, Secret wouldn't be able to overpower the males within. There was no point heading to the security center, because there was nothing he could do there.

"Fun to find stuff," Ind said cheerfully.

Doan nodded, not paying much attention as the door to Tengus' lab opened.

The doctor strode up to them. His smile was wide enough to split his face and he leered at Secret like a particularly shiny gun.

"Gunner Tanna," he said, gesturing to his table. "Welcome."

Doan smiled back and dragged Secret to the table. He struggled, even tried to get out the same way he'd done before, but the gunner was learning fast and managed to slam Secret into the table. Ind recovered from being knocked away and dove forward to close the bonds on Secret, with Doan holding down each limb long enough for Ind to do the job. Without any way to escape besides direct force, the Tenno was overpowered and bound in seconds.

It wasn't the part Doan liked, but she couldn't quite take her eyes off Secret as she turned to face Dr. Tengus. Ind started walking out. Doan stayed, though.

"Tana," the so-called man said, picking up one of his instruments, "I don't have time for more questions at the moment. Certain parties have become impatient." He glowered. "Myself included."

Doan glanced at Secret to see his reaction to those words, then back at the doctor. Ind was waiting patiently at the door.

"No, doctor," Doan Tana said. "I would just like to stay and watch."

Dr. Tengus let out a short chuckle and nodded. "Very well. You may stay, but keep your distance. I trust you understand."

The tone in his voice made very clear his thoughts on disobedience in his lab. Doan nodded and started walking towards Ind and the the door. Ind greeted her like an enthusiastic puppy, but stopped when Doan shook her head.

"Ind go? Doan stay?"

Doan nodded, which Ind returned with ten times the enthusiasm.

"Have fun, Doan, have fun!" With that, she waved and walked out the door.

Doan turned back before the door closed and watched Dr. Tengus start his work.

I cannot describe what followed. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, that neither Secret nor Doan Tana have ever spoken of what happened, so I don't actually know the specifics. Secondly, if I were to make a well-informed guess at the specifics and Secret were to listen to these recordings… I would rather avoid that. I suppose, as the third reason, I'd also like to avoid thinking about the whole thing, myself.

That established, let us just say that the day was starkly eye-opening for Daon Tana. When Dr. Tengus placed the last tool back in its place and said, "gunner Tana, that will be all," it took several seconds before Doan realized what it meant and called Ind.

The time until Ind arrived passed in an instant. Doan's mind just kept looping the day over and over until suddenly-

"Doan thirsty?"

Doan jumped and spun, stopping only when she saw Ind standing there in great distress, fumbling with three bottles of water that had seen better days. Each one had a variety of dents and one had a crushed spout. As Ind scrambled to save the one she wasn't holding in her hands, she started to slip and let go of one bottle to grab the falling one.

Doan grabbed both, but Ind still dropped the third one.

The lab went quiet, then Ind picked up the bottle that had hit the ground.

"Thank you," Doan said, and managed a flicker of a smile. She really was thirsty, and hadn't even realized. Before she started to drink, though, she turned and walked up to Dr. Tengus and offered the second bottle.

The doctor accepted gratefully, if with a little surprise, but Doan didn't have time to say anything before a clanking noise made her turn around.

"Finding out stuff, thirsty?"

Ind stood over the table, offering the last bottle to Secret.

Who was tied down.

And the enemy.

And didn't eat or drink, anyway.

Ind's brains are made of particularly low-quality soup. Probably tomato-based.

"What are you doing?"

Ind looked up at Dr. Tengus, then back at the bottle of water. She took a long look at the bottle before gesturing at Doan, then at Dr. Tengus. "Doan thirsty. Finding out stuff, thirsty." Then she pointed at Secret. "Finding out stuff… thirsty?"

Then, in the tone of somebody imparting hidden knowledge, she finished, "fun, but thirsty."

Something clicked for Doan. What Ind had said earlier, about finding stuff being fun… it hadn't meant anything at the time, but what if Ind had meant that Secret was exploring? Doan had been certain all the escape attempts had been, well, attempts to escape. But what if they hadn't been? What if Secret was looking for something, or exploring and mapping the facility?

The wasn't anything in this facility but Dr. Tengus' lab and Dr. Tengus himself. Those, Secret had "found" over a week ago. So, why was he exploring?

Oh, Dr. Tengus was yelling at Ind.

"That is a Tenno, you mutant sludge-head!"

Sludge might be going a little far. Depending on one's opinion on tomatoes.

Ind nodded, realization dawning. Then she looked down at Secret and said in a tone that was almost aggressive, "Tenno scum thirsty?"

I take it back.

Before the doctor could do anything rash, Doan stepped in and took hold of one of Secret's hands. "Ind," she said, "we're taking the Tenno back to its cell."

Ind nodded, grabbed the metal band across Secret's wrist, and paused. After a few seconds, she put her water bottle in Secret's hand so she had both of hers free to undo the bond. Doan, realizing she also had a hand full, simply put her bottle down on the table, put one hand on Secret's chest, and undid the bonds on his left side with the other hand.

Secret was looking between Ind and the water bottle in his hand, but lacking a face made it easy for him to hide what he was thinking.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can reveal that he was confused.

I know. Riveting mystery. Shut up. Moving on.

Seconds later, the trio was on their way out of hte lab. Doan had probably ruined one of the clasps on her armour, but it was now successfully jury-rigged to carry her water. Secret was still carrying Ind's water. Other than that, the procession looked the same as before.

-Oh! Prepare for docking.-

-No, Captain Vor's knocking. Of course it's her!-

-Sh, concentrating. Concentrating… there! Nice job, Cephalon Belyri. She sure can pilot a liset.-

-Wel- ah. Still dressing yourself, I see. That's alright, Secret damaged my sensors earlier. My condolences to Belyri, though.-

-I can, too! Look!-

-Yes, but it's a different shade of green.-

-Quiet. Talk with Secret for a minute. I'm figure out my notes for another archive. We'll start in a bit.-

-The G3 incident.-

-I… suppose. Why? She gets the full archives the moment I upload them, anyway.-

-...theme song. Your name is...-

-I wish I could sigh. Can I sigh? Sigh. No. Damn. Fine, I'll call her over.-

For those organics curious, what followed was a rapid series of nonverbal communications that boil down to an invitation, an assurance that I would take care of the second coupled liset, and Cephalon Belyri coming as close to transmitting her complete consciousness as most of our kind ever come. I decided to explain this because the alternative would be a rather jarring unannounced shift in the situation under which the archiving was taking place.

We now return to the actual point of all this - the story.

Doan didn't take her eyes off Secret on the way back. After that day, she saw him in a different way. Worse, he stood straighter than usual, walked a little faster than most days. What Doan Tana had seen might have been less than Secret usually experienced. It made her shiver to think about.

Secret had to get out of here. Doan might have to-

It actually hurt to think about that. Doan almost let go of Secret and marched herself to the processing center to report the thought. Instead, she just abandoned the line of thought. It was safer that way. But when Secret was back in his cell, dirty and angry as ever, Doan finished her water and gave the bottle to Ind, then went back to see Dr. Tengus.

It was a quick walk back to the lab, much faster than when she was dealing with Secret and Ind.

The doctor was not happy. There were tools all over the floor when Doan arrived and he was breathing heavily. As the door opened, Tengus whirled to face her, screaming, "what?!"

A part of Doan thought that, if he hadn't wanted to be interrupted, there was a lock on the door.

Come to think of it, this might have been Doan's first real inkling of the intelligence quotient of the Grineer. I'm so proud of her.

Doan picked her way across the lab and, though it was rather a long way down, she knelt to pick up some tools and put them away.

"Leave them, leave them," Dr. Tengus snapped. "It's not as if they matter now, anyway."

That got Doan's curiosity.

"Why not, doctor? Didn't you learn a lot today?"

"No. Yes. No. Not enough!" He scowled at Doan. "Progress. Has been slow. I have been ordered to use more invasive methods.

Doan started. "But that could kill h- it!"

The smaller Grineer slammed his hand down on his work counter. "Exactly! We don't have the technology to prevent a self-destruct! It's a miracle we haven't lost this one already. But it's either this or turn our prize over to that blunt, Vor."

No. That couldn't happen. Captain Vor was a powerful Grineer, Doan was literally programmed to admire him, but she'd been told everything about his Ascaris device in one of Tengus' rants. The other option, though, was Secret's death. That meant…

The pain hit Doan again, cutting off the thought. She shook her head. It meant this was bad. That was all it meant.

"What are you going to do?"

Dr. Tengus' hand clenched to a fist. "That is none of your business, gunner."

Doan blinked and went back over what had just happened in her mind. She'd asked a question and been refused an answer. Not because the other person was distracted by a loud noise or somebody doing something stupid, but because…

Because he was keeping a secret.

Keep in mind that Doan was young at the time and not used to meeting the sort of Grineer who could do that. They are usually politicians, after all.

Doan Tana was, however, an intuitive sort, and she one-upped Dr. Tengus on the spot.

She lied.

Well, more of a fib, and I'm not ruling out beginner's luck its success, but she was learning.

Doan Tana said, "I captured it. I want to keep my prize."

The doctor glared up at her, uncaring, until she continued, "if I were you, I would study as much as I could before the Council made me break it."

Which would also give Doan the time to figure out-

Ow.

Something. Something about something.

Dr. Tengus waved Doan off, dismissing her to go wherever she wanted.

She went straight to Secret's cell. The guards challenged her until they realized who she was, and then she was able to send them away. After that, she walked up to Secret's cell and stood in front of the transparent partition.

Secret folded his arms. So did Doan. Minutes ticked past quietly while Doan figured out what to say, or whether she could say anything.

Oh, right.

-We're ready to start.-

-The part in the cell.-

-Well, it is important.-

-Exactly. Be quiet, brat. Listen.-

"They're going to kill you," Doan said. "You need…" she looked away, unable to finish the sentence. Her eyes caught on something and she changed the subject. "You kept the water bottle."

There it was, attached to his hip without any sort of clamp, just a fist-sized metal cylinder. Ind must have forgotten it.

Secret waved at her, which she thought was odd, since she'd arrived minutes ago. Then he put a finger to his neck height. Dr. Tengus was about that height, so maybe he was talking about him.

"Dr. Tengus?"

Secret nodded, then raised his hands beside his shoulders like he was carrying something. He finished by gesturing to Doan, then to himself.

He wanted her to bring Dr. Tengus to him?

"Why?"

He nodded and raised his hands as if to aim a gun at someone, and fired.

"I'm not doing that!" She couldn't even imagine offering Dr. Tengus up for… that. That was insubordination.

Secret tilted his head, then shrugged.

"I won't," she repeated.

Secret made a series of complicated gestures that Doan couldn't begin to interpret. She didn't even try. This conversation, whatever it was about, wasn't going the way she'd been hoping.

"I want to…" she trailed off. She couldn't say the words she wanted to, couldn't even think them properly without it hurting.

Secret crossed his forearms in front of his chest, then made a reaching and caging motion with his fingers.

Well, she'd only really tried to capture him the last time they crossed paths. He was making it seem like she did it every time. And besides…

"You let me," she said, a little defensively.

He gestured angrily to the bolt through his wrist. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She certainly couldn't have taken him prisoner without it. And Secret really had almost let her capture him. Now that he was captured, he was stuck. So was she.

"I can't take it off," she said. She couldn't even consider it, because she was smart enough to know he'd escape without it.

Secret shook his head and raised five fingers, lowering one each second, counting down the time passing. Maybe he meant to wait? Did he think she'd be able to help the next day, the next time he was brought to Dr. Tengus?

The next time he was brought to Dr. Tengus. A shiver ran down her half-metal spine.

"I can't bring you, tomorrow," Doan tried to explain. Maybe she could figure out something later, but before something horrible happened. Maybe-

Secret stepped away from her and turned away. The conversation, whatever it had been, was over.

Doan tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. She'd captured Secret, made him helpless with the Grustrag Bolt, and taken him to Dr. Tengus each day.

Doan Tana turned and left the cell.

-Well, that's Miss Tana's version.-

-You were a silent, faceless machine waving his arms around. What about your time with Grineer made you think she'd understand that?-

-The ones with all their limbs, obviously.-

-Well, it all worked out. You can still think of it as your first team-up if you want.-

-Look, if it bothers you so much, you can talk to her about it.-

-That's what I'm here for: good ideas. Now, can I get back to the story?-

-Yes, we'll get to your part. Unless you throw that. Belyri, could you keep an eye on ehr.-

-Thank you. It's nice to have another level head on board for once.-

-Oh, right. Can I skip the next bit? It's just Doan brooding a lot while that Ind clone babbles obliviously.-

-Please? ...we'll practically be skipping to your part.-

-Perfect.-

So easy.

-Nothing.-

The alarms went off around breakfast time the next day.

"Loud," Ind said, barely audible over the noise. "Rest."

Doan didn't know what the second word was about, but the alarms were another story. Secret had escaped again.

Doan agonized over what to do. In her case, that was literal. The headache grew to a level where she had to lean against the wall to stay standing. It pounded, cutting off her thoughts every time she tried to refuse the call to action.

The problem was that she knew Secret could escape if she didn't do something, and she'd had orders to keep him prisoner.

There were downsides to being smart enough to understand that her actions had consequences.

There was a clanking sound that distracted Doan out of her mental loop, and she blinked to see Ind knocking on her helmet.

"Help Doan," said the clone, still knocking. Doan nodded until Ind stopped, but then the alarms reminded Doan of what was going on, and the headache came back with a vengeance.

"Doan!" Ind yelled, and started pulling on Doan's hand. Doan stumbled forward, but she couldn't see clearly until Ind put her hand on the door's locking mechanism.

"Help," Ind finished.

Right, Doan thought. She had to open the doors, or Ind would be locked in one room. She couldn't do it on her own.

Doan's fingers flicked across the controls, and she had the lock undone in seconds, with a little help from her identification.

Ind danced through the doorway, pulling Doan along again, and didn't stop until they reached the next door.

They went that way for a while, and every time Doan started to get distracted, Ind would do something to grab her attention. Whether it was the loudest humming Doan had ever heard or trying to take Doan's gun, it always worked, and they made steady pace through the facility, even if Ind was leading the way and Doan had no idea where they were going.

Then, "sh," Ind said.

And it was. Quiet, that was. Silent, even, in the eerie way of an abandoned ship.

"Sh bad," Ind said, and Doan hoped she wasn't right.

There wasn't anything to be done about it, though. All that Doan could do was open the next door.

"Sh. Doc-"

And then the sound was gone. Just gone.

Complete silence.

Just like before, Doan stumbled. Without sound, it was like she couldn't see straight, couldn't balance.

In front of her, Ind clapped her hands together, head tilted sideways in confusion. She tried again a few more times, clearly wondering if something was wrong.

Yes, Doan wanted to tell her, something is wrong.

She managed to look up and, when Ind noticed her, the other grineer helped Doan get to her feet. Ahead of them was a door. Another door. There were four in this room, but that one… it was familiar.

Then the one beside them opened.

-Do you want it now?-

-Reveal? What reveal?-

-I… you realize I'm going to have to go back over the archive and edit everything if you want that.-

-Fine. Theme song at the dramatic reveal.-

Brat.

Please be better than her fashion sense.

Ind waved. Doan raised her Gorgon. How on target it was was anybody's guess.

Two Tenno stood in the doorframe. One was blue with gold and white trim, it had a head that looked like a fan. The other one, practically leaning on the first, was Secret. They didn't notice Doan and Ind at first, they were pointed at the other door, the one that led to Dr. Tengus' lab.

Doan fired and missed badly, her Gorgon kicking and punching scattered line into the wall and door the two Tenno were headed towards. One Tenno, the one with the fan-shaped head and shoulder piece, looked at the wall. Secret followed the path back to Doan.

Without even looking, the other one waved its - her - hand and the air rippled and slammed into Doan and Ind hard enough to throw them backwards. There was a second where Doan was upside down, then she was on her stomach, then Ind was on top of her. Their guns were nowhere in reach.

The blue Tenno was already in mid-air, leaping at them, a nasty pair of curved daggers in her hands.

Then, for some reason, she stopped dead and hit the ground hard. In another second, she was back up, but Doan was untangling herself from Ind and working her way to her feet, too. More importantly, she worked out what happened from the grip Secret had on the other Tenno's ankle.

The female one put her hands to her hips and just sort of left her knives there, then reached out to hit Secret, gesturing at the lab's door before turning away to finish off Doan and Ind.

The gunners' guns were still on the ground on the spot they'd been knocked away from. They were on the other side of the door, though. If Doan could lock the door, maybe they could run fast enough?

Secret grabbed the other Tenno's shoulder. The little shoulder. She whirled, and what followed, as far as Doan could tell, was exactly like two Grineer yelling at each other, except in complete silence.

Then one of them hit the other. I'm not saying which. I do not need any "he started it, she started it," on this ship. The point is, a fight broke out. Doan stood with a hand on the door mechanism, ready to lock it but unable to. Two Tenno were fighting right in front of her. She spent precious seconds watching them trade blows at blinding speed, flowing from move to move in a way she hadn't realized was possible. The few times she'd seen Tenno before, they'd been fighting Grineer. Those fights, it was always a strike or two, then moving on to the next target. This time…

This time, it quickly devolved into the two of them flailing their arms at each other like children. Not that Doan knew what children were, but she was thinking something along those lines.

Ind stepped forward to join in, arms already windmilling in a similar way, before the sound returned with a rush.

The sound, and the noise.

The alarms were blaring, and they should have been deafening after the moments of utter silence. They weren't. Not compared to the two Tenno. Their arms crashed against each other with a sound like weapons crates hitting each other.

It occurred to Doan that the Grustrag Bolt limited Secret's strength against Grineer, and that those two Tenno were probably hitting each other with enough force to dent starships.

She grabbed Ind's shoulder, calmly pulled her back - Ind still flailing her arms to mimic the Tenno - and locked the door.

Almost automatically, Doan reached for her radio. "This is gunner Doan Tana," she said, though she didn't know who was still there to hear. "There are two Tenno in the facility. Get Dr. Tengus out. Evacuate Dr. Tengus."

"Two?!" Dr. Tengus himself spoke across the radio. "How did this happen?"

Doan would have thought that was obvious, but she never was the sarcastic sort, so she said, "the prisoner probably-"

The clanging on the other side of the door stopped.

"Bad bad," Ind said helpfully.

Doan grabbed Ind's hand.

Then the door opened again, with two Tenno standing on the other side.

"Tenno scum," Ind said, waving happily with her free hand.

Secret raised his hand in a hesitant return wave.

Doan tried to drag Ind behind her, but the other Grineer wouldn't move.

"Ind," Doan said, as calmly as she could. "Run."

"Sh," Ind said back, not moving a centimeter.

The female Tenno's hand came forward in a flash and suddenly Doan had a blade at her throat.

Doan let go of Ind's hand and didn't move. She wasn't sure why she wasn't dead yet, but it was actually kind of nice. Not being dead, that was. She'd never really appreciated that before.

Ind looked between the Tenno and Doan, then brought her arms down on the Tenno's arm, windmill-style, just like she'd been trying before. This time, though, it hit. It didn't do much. Mostly, there were several clanging hits and the Tenno's arm fell a few centimeters each time, before it looked at Ind and withdrew its arm. Even without a face, Doan could swear it was looking at Ind with the same expression Doan sometimes had when the food dispenser acted up and gave her half-rations by accident.

"Bad Tenno scum," Ind scolded the Tenno.

It just shrugged and sheathed its daggers, then slapped Secret on the back, urging him forward.

"You're too late," Doan said, almost automatically. "Dr. Tengus is already gone."

Or, at least, he should be, by now. He'd better be.

Now Secret was definitely glaring at the other one. He had his hands on his hips, leaning forward at her, and just… glaring. The other just waved at him - which was, again, really weird, because they'd definitely met before - and gestured between him and Doan.

Secret stepped forward, gave what would have been an exaggerated sigh if Tenno breathed, and put a finger to his lips.

Doan blinked and, slowly, copied the gesture.

"Secret," she said.

Secret nodded, raising his other hand to point at himself. Then he dropped one hand and pointed at Doan.

Doan copied the gesture, pointing at herself. "Doan Tana," she said.

The second Tenno nodded quickly, then shoved herself forward, pointing at herself.

What was that supposed to mean?

"Sh," Ind said.

Ignoring the weirdness of having a conversation with two Tenno, Doan admitted, "I don't understand."

The Tenno lifted her shoulders up and dropped them, shaking her head, the same way Secret had when he'd "sighed". Then she put one finger to her "lips" and pointed at Secret. Then she pointed at Doan. Then, with a roll of her head that ended with her looking at Ind, she pointed at the second Grineer.

Catching on, Doan said, "Ind Cusd."

The Tenno nodded once, slowly, then pointed to herself.

But that wasn't fair. There weren't any clues. At least Secret had his little gesture. Doan didn't know anything about this new one.

"Tenno sh," Ind said. Doan looked over at her. The "sh" sound carried on, slowly getting quieter and quieter…

"Silence," Doan said. She looked back at the two Tenno. "Your name is Silence."

-Cue theme song?-

The Tenno female, Silence, smacked one hand into the other with a loud clang, and she and Secret nodded to each other several times and turned to leave.

-Well, you should have thought of that before starting your theme song at the end of the- look, sh. I'll embellish a bit and we'll let it run.-

So the two drama qu- I mean Tenno- strode over to the lab and started inputting commands into its door terminal. After a few seconds, they had it open and they stepped through with an air of triumph. Silence gave a little bow and handed Secret an Ignis.

Doan almost said something to that, but it was still two Tenno, and now one was holding an Ignis. Also, the other one had had a knife to Doan's throat less than a minute ago. It was probably best to leave them undisturbed.

For once, this time it helped to be pretty clever. No matter what Doan did, these two were going to escape. Therefore she couldn't be betraying the Grineer by not attacking them. If all went well, it looked like she'd live through this.

-Fine, I'll focus on you.-

Secret was holding the Ignis Silence had given him, almost unwilling to take it. Silence just patted him on the shoulder and flourished a hand out to the lab. Considering what she'd done to that Fomorian core all those months ago, there was no way she needed the weapon to destroy everything, but Secret was another matter.

As for what happened next, it didn't take much convincing. Silence stepped back and Secret blasted the lab with flames. In seconds, the entire room was on fire, leaving both Tenno lit by flickering orange light. Their armour glinted, shiny blue and silver metal standing out against the Grineer colours and etching themselves into Doan's mind.

For good measure, Silence threw in an extra ammunition pack, which exploded as the fire ate at it and built the fire up even higher.

Satisfied, both Tenno stepped back, gave one last wave - which Ind returned, though she also picked up her rifle and aimed it at them - and ran. Like the security protocols weren't even there, the two headed straight out of the facility, job complete.

-Well, no, because you came up with the plan practically alone.-

-I know. I'm sorry. You'll get him eventually. He's not Alad V. At least this one will stay dead when you kill him.-

-Yes, we'll do that one next time. Now, get some sleep or whatever you brats do. I'm going to talk with Belyri.-

-You don't even know what that means.-

-Brats.-