Chase
"Sara!" Lis screamed. She wasn't alone. "How the hell? Seal the room!"
"She teleported!" Guiscard was moving fast, but then he stopped at a wall. "Here! She is in the ducts!"
"Contact maintenance!" Lis snapped as she darted for where Guiscard had a vent cover off. There was simply no way a Tenno in a warframe was going to fit in there. Lis slid in like a greased eel. "Track her!" She called behind her as she slid forward. Sara was smaller than Lis was, but not by much. "Sara!" She called. "Sara, stop! We can help!"
"Leave me alone!" Came a cry from ahead and Lis poured on the speed.
She had to catch Sara before the girl got hurt accidentally or hurt herself intentionally. The ducts were not safe. Fans, sheer drops, even some traps and defenses left over from when Avalon was built all made the air vents a dangerous place. This was not a good place to be travelling. But Sara was, so Lis would. She had to.
"Sara, it is not your fault." Lis slid aside around a corner as a clang came from ahead. "Sara, stop!" Then her heart plummeted as shrill scream sounded. "Sara!" She cried, doubling she speed. She jerked to a halt as something flashed ahead of her. She stared and then slowly, ever so slowly, reached out and tapped the small flashing object. The tiny explosive device shut down and Lis breathed a sigh of relief. But... Sara hadn't come this way. Where had she gone? She shook her head. "Com!" She commanded and a hiss of static sounded in her ear. "Dammit!" Lotus! She called desperately. I lost her! She was just ahead of me and now she isn't! Tell me you have her on scan!
I have been monitoring. The Lotus' voice was calm and serene as always. But worry was there too. That area is difficult to penetrate with scanners. It is automated systems. Most have not been touched by humans hands in millennia.
She has to be here! Lis said sharply, glancing around. Then her eyes lit on something. A panel nearby that was just a little off kilter. As if someone had replaced it a little too quickly. I know she and Mishka played in the ducts until we begged them to stop, but this... She slowly and carefully pried a panel off a wall and a small passage shone beyond. If she hits a trap... I already found one explosive.
I cannot track her effectively, Tenno Lis. The Lotus said, worried. But those air vents are not endless. She will have to come out somewhere. When she does, I will vector teams to her location.
Tell them to be gentle. She is not rational. Lis said as she slid forward slowly, then stared at a long dark area that opened beneath her. A fragment of cloth shone on a protruding piece of metal and Lis went still as she saw wetness on it. Blood. She is hurt! I am following!
Tenno Lis, be careful! The Lotus commanded. I cannot scan you either. You are not in a warframe.
Sara is hurt. Lis said with a snarl as she eased her feet into the shaft below. I am not leaving her.
And if we wind up having to rescue you?The Lotus replied. Then the guide of the Tenno sighed. Go. Be careful, please?
I will. Lis promised as she let go and slid down the shaft. There was no reply and Lis tried again. Lotus? She sighed inaudibly as she heard no response. "Great... scanner and com resistant. Joy. Who the hell builds air vents to be scanner and com resistant?" She was not expecting a reply and she did not get one.
She slid down the shaft, her back against one wall, her feet moving swiftly down as she went. She was literally running down the wall with her back against the other, the pressure of her steps holding her against the other. Vertical Parkour. Her eyes were roving, looking for other passages, any sign of the girl she sought. But nothing. Then she came to an end and braced herself above the opening for a moment. Below her, she could see blackness. A dim form lay huddled on the floor. It was a long ways down, at least ten meters.
"Sara?" Lis called, but the form did not move. "Damn it... Com?" There was no response and Lis snarled. Lotus? She tried but again. No reply. "Hold on, Sara. I am coming."
Gravity was always a harsh mistress. Tenno learned very early on how to fall. Lis had learned that lesson many, many times while running and hiding in ducts as a child. Ten meters was a long way, but the area looked clear except for the still form that lay beneath her. Lis spared a quick glance around, but no visible signs showed in the darkness that was the chamber beneath her.
"Metal floor doesn't give..." Li said to herself. "I must or I will break. Be as water... flow..." She focused her mind as she had been taught and then retracted her legs and fell like a stone. She angled herself and caught on something. She jerked away so she wouldn't land on the human form below her. She landed with an oof and rolled as she had been taught, letting the energy of her fall transfer into the floor away from her. It hurt, but nothing broke so she must have done it right. She shook herself and rolled to her feet, reaching for the still form beside her. "Sara?"
Sara lay still, blood flowing from a cut on her forehead. Lis checked it quickly and shook her head. Scalp wounds bled a lot and there didn't seem to be any damage to the bone underneath. But the way Sara was lying, Lis didn't want to move her. Ten meters was long way to fall for a human, especially a weak and sick human girl. Lis shook her head and quickly pulled Sara's belt from the girl's waist. Heaven only knew what other tricks the girl had in there. Lis knew Sara had a set of throwing knives as well as other surprises hidden, but the smoke bomb had been new. And where had she learned how to teleport? That...wasn't normal. Sara wore no warframe, so... Maybe she had just managed to move quickly enough when the smoke bomb had hidden her? But no... Guiscard was an Ash. He knew the difference between a smoke bomb's invisibility and a teleport. She went still as Sara moaned.
"Easy, Sara." Lis said quietly. "Easy..."
"Lis?" Sara sounded confused. No surprise with a head wound. "No... get away..."
"I am not leaving you, you silly girl." Lis said in a mock stern voice. "So get it..." Her voice trailed off as Sara's hand moved and... "No!" Lis grabbed for the tiny device that Sara had hidden in a sleeve and they both struggled for it.
Everything stopped as a muffled report sounded. Lis... felt faint. Sara was staring at her.
"No..." Sara begged. "No, Lis no!" She screamed as the tiny one shot hideout pistol fell from her hand. Lis put a hand to her abdomen and she felt hot wetness. She had been shot. But... it wasn't going to kill her quickly from what she felt.
"Sara..." Lis said softly as she crumpled, her energy fading. "Come here." She held out her hand and pulled Sara close. "It's okay, Sara. It's okay..." She said weakly as Sara was starting to cry. "It is not your fault. It never was."
"Lis, I am sorry." Sara blubbered. "I didn't... I didn't mean to... They all talked as if I wasn't there. Dirty... unclean... half breed..."
"Not your fault." Lis said, hugging Sara tight. "Not your fault, Sara." She said fiercely. "We Tenno are supposed to be better than that, Sara." The shock was fading and the pain was setting in. But it was manageable. "Sara..." She ruffled the girl's hair affectionately, careful to avoid the matted mess of blood and hair. "This wound won't kill me fast, Sara. But you are bleeding too. We both need help. Is there a com in here anywhere?"
"I don't know." Sara stared around at the dark chamber. "I have never been in here."
"Me neither." Lis pulled Sara's belt to her and searched it until she found a small flashlight. Sara looked at the belt and Lis snarled at her. "Don't even think it. Do you have any idea what Serene would do to me if I let you suicide?" She asked with a shudder.
"I don't deserve you, Lis." Sara said weakly. But she held her hands clasped tight to her chest.
"I don't care." Lis said with a snap. "I love you and I am not going to give up on you. Clear?" She asked with snap and Sara smiled as she nodded.
"Totally clear, Miss Tyrannical Tenno Type Person." The girl said with a smile and Lis surprised herself with a laugh. Sara had called her that occasionally when Lis had been forced to take charge during Serene's disability. She hissed a little. That hurt. "Lis?" Sara asked, worried.
"Hurts." Lis said with a grimace. "But... I will live." She swept the light around the room and whistled in awe. "Wow... this place hasn't been used recently." Indeed, the dust was finger deep in places. Sara did not move but her eyes followed the light as well. Finally, Lis saw what she wanted. A control panel. "Come on, Sara. We both need medical attention and you need help. It is not your fault." She repeated as she rose slowly and painfully. Sara rose to stand with the hurt Tenno.
"I don't remember hurting you or commanding you to hurt me." Sara said uneasily. "If I did... I might do it again..."
"I am on guard now, Sara. It won't happen." Lis reassured her as she stepped up to the panel. The controls were not anything she knew. "Dang it..." She shook her head. She was forgetting things. Maybe she had hit her own head? "Com?" She called but there was no reply. "Who the hell builds a room with such protections and...why?" She demanded. Lotus? She called in her mind, but there was no reply. She tapped a control, but again, nothing happened. "Dead?"
"I don't think so." Sara said, her voice uneasy. Lis spun to see the girl staring at the floor at her feet. Floor that was starting to glow! "What is...?"
"SARA GET OFF THE PLATFORM!" Lis screamed as she threw herself at the girl, but the immobilization field hit them both and she knew no more.
"What do you mean, they are gone?" Serene begged. She stared at Eliza, but the Empress just shook her head, her face severe. "How can they be gone?"
"We tracked them to a disused portal nexus chamber." Lilly stood at attention before her Empress. Others of the Royal Guard stood at similar attention. All braced to deliver bad news. "It hasn't been used in millennia. The area was apparently used for maintenance supply when Avalon was first built and sealed off several hundred years before the Collapse. But the portal field had been activated. Accidently, from what we can determine. The controls were... a mess."
"Then we can track it." Eliza said with a nod that faltered as Lilly shook her head. "Guardswoman?" She demanded.
"There was no guide pulse sent, Empress." Lilly said softly. Serene stared from Lilly to Eliza who paled.
"What does that mean?" Serene demanded. "Is it going to scramble their molecules across space and time? What?" She snapped, fear for both her daughter and for Lis rising to a crescendo.
"No, Serene." Eliza rose from her throne and strode to where Serene and Mishka stood. "The system was designed expressly not to do that. The safety features will not allow for quantum transportation if there is any kind of danger of... signal instability." She shook her head. "They will come out the other side."
"Where?" Serene demanded.
"Without a guide pulse, Serene, there is no easy way to know." Eliza said softly. "The guide pulse is the preliminary signal. It was how the portal knew where to send the people being transported. They could have gone anywhere that the portal system went to." Serene paled and then she slowly collapsed. Eliza held her and eased the woman down. "I know."
"Anywhere?" Serene begged. "Anywhere?" Her voice broke.
At least nine tenths of the places that the ancient Orokin portal network had once connected to were... not good for humans. Outside of a warframe, Lis was nearly as vulnerable. Infested hives, Grineer strongholds, Corpus bases... The Void. Not good.
"I..." Serene swallowed as Mishka went to her knees beside the sobbing Tenno, holding her tight. "I... should have seen..."
"Not your fault." Eliza said firmly. "You need rest, Serene. Real rest. If I have to, I will order you sedated. Do I have to?"
"No." Serene said weakly. "But...Sara.. I..."
"We will find her, Serene." Lilly said in a tone that brooked no argument. "We have all hurt her." Guiscard nodded from where he stood. "And Lis. Serene..." She knelt beside the sobbing woman too. "You know Lis. She is a survivor. Do not count her out. You know she will fight to protect Sara. You know this. If it is even remotely possible for Lis to survive, she will. And even if she can't? She will find a way to protect Sara even if it isn't possible. She will find a way."
"I... I know." Serene said softly, her voice muffled as Mishka hugged her tight. "Who... who will tell Amelia...? I..."
"I will." Guiscard said softly. "I wronged both of them the worst. I will go and face her wrath." Eliza nodded to him and he bowed. To Serene! "We will find your daughter and our sister, Lady Serene. We will bring them home." No scream could have been more final than his cold, stern words. Eliza waved at him and he left the room.
A pair of medics moved forward to assist Serene and she accepted their help without argument. They bundled her into a wheelchair and set off, Mishka following, the girl's face stricken. Only after they had left did Eliza resume her throne and speak again.
"Tell me the rest." Eliza said sternly. Lilly rose and nodded. "You didn't want to tell Serene. What is it?"
"There was blood." Lilly said quietly. "Both Sara's and Lis'. Sara's blood was from a fall, we think. Lis was shot."
"Shot?" Eliza's exclamation was dumbfounded. "By who?"
"We are not sure." Lilly said quietly. "But preliminary evidence points to Sara. From what we have saw in tracks in the dust, they struggled over something and then there was a spray of blood. It looked like an accident." Eliza was shaking her head slowly and Lilly continued. "We found a small improvised single shot handgun, sized for a young woman's hand."
"Sara..." Eliza shook her head, both stunned and amazed. "That girl... First a smoke bomb and now a pistol... Did she really teleport?"
"Scans say yes." Lilly said a bit dubiously. "I didn't actually see it. But she was there one moment and at the vent the next. Empress... If she does have Tenno abilities... outside of a warframe..."
"Then we haven't seen problems yet." Eliza said quietly. "Geez, we need to find her. And Lis... The blood, was it... bad, her wound?"
"We don't think so. There wasn't that much and it wasn't arterial. " Lilly said softly. "From what we can determine, she was trying to take the weapon away from Sara when it discharged. The sensors in there were turned off a long, long time ago and the walls are resistant to coms and most sensors. I..." She paused. "Empress, word from my team."
"What word?" Eliza said with a sigh. "This day just gets better and better." She went still as Lilly gave a small cry of fear. "Lilly?"
"The team searching the portal records narrowed the field of choices, Empress..." Lilly said slowly. "One planet." Eliza went still. "Neptune."
"Oh no..." Eliza said softly. "No... Not them."
"With no guide pulse, they can't track it back..." Lilly said weakly. "But... Empress..." She was shaking her head now. "What can we do?"
"Pray they don't figure out who Sara is." Eliza said softly as tears started to fall from her as well. "And pray Lis is as good as you think she is..."
"She will need to be."
Lis was falling. But she was on her side. She was screaming. But she heard nothing. She felt pain in her side. But she felt but nothing at all. She had no idea how long she had been in this odd place, what had happened or why. She had seen the portal field start to glow under Sara and had tried to knock the girl off it, but the field had grabbed her. It felt... different from when she had used portals before. Of course, those times she had either been in a warframe or a slave to an Orokin tower, so...
She landed on her injured side and bit back a scream. She was... Sara! She had to check Sara! Lis rolled onto her uninjured side and stared. The girl lay beside her, breathing shallowly. A gentle touch had the girl murmur, so she was semiconscious...
Something jabbed Lis in the ribs and she was in motion before she even realized it was the muzzle of a rifle. She grabbed the rifle and, using it as a lever, spun herself up to her feet while tossing the idiot who had poked her aside. What she saw had her freezing in place. Five large two legged machines aimed weapons at her and Sara.
"Stand down!" A firm voice called in a language that Lis sort of understood. "Everyone be calm! Ma'am..." A male in a silver/white jumpsuit stepped forward, careful to stay out of the line of fire of the machines and the three human guards that Lis could see now. The one she had tossed shook his boxy helmeted head and rose, unsteady as he aimed at her too. "Easy..." He said slowly as Lis coiled herself. Sara's protection was her primary focus and if there were any who she feared... "You are bleeding, Ma'am. So is she. We can help." The man sounded reasonable. But she knew what he was.
Corpus...