Authors note: As you might've realized, this whole story is set in an AU. Here are some of the things that are different: The Orokin were good. The Tenno don't know how to harness the Void. And the Warframes are just literal walking suits of bio-armor. No Operators.
Chapter 7: Margulis
Amid the ambient creaking and hissing of the crude Grineer machinery, a figure slipped into the control room of the ship. The Formorian was travelling to Saturn, with its engines on full throttle. Strangely, the ship was devoid of all life. The crew of a thousand was dead. Dead bodies lay on the gantries and the corridors of the ship. The figure picked up the head of a decapitated Grineer. It was the ship's captain. The head was severed in a clean cut, no blood dripped from it, akin to a Japanese sashimi. The figure bent down, and her fingers brushed against the flesh.
"Fresh."
She quickly stood up and scanned the room. It was dark, and mostly silent. She quickly rolled to the side and cocked her pistols as an arrow zipped past her helmet. Her hat was punctured by the arrow, pinned to the wall. Her twin Vasto pistols quickly found their target: the hooded figure leaning on the doorway. It held a bow, coloured emerald with a white arrow of energy nocked.
"That hat was from Cetus. Authentic Ostron leather, you piece of shit." She spat on the ground, keeping her eyes on the person at the doorway. "Y'all stickslingers won't understand."
The figure in the hood chuckled. "There's no need to fear, ." The hood was removed, revealing a Ivara helmet. "I've come here to make a proposition." Another figure appeared behind her. An Ash, tinted purple with eyes of emerald. "You. Me. Him. Together. We take him down. We split the 10000 evenly."
"Who's that?" she pointed at the Ash.
"Glenn. He's edgy. And has a thing for double daggers. That's all I know about him." He nodded acknowledgingly.
"So we each get 3333 plat. But what about the extra 1 plat?" The Ash asked, his eyes narrowed. "We can't divide it equally like that."
"You people can have it. I don't care." The gunslinger looked disinterested.
"Alright, good." The Ivara looked at the Ash. "We'll have it fair and square. Rock Paper Scissors. On the count of three." The Ivara glanced at the bystander. "You count." Glenn looked sceptical.
The gunslinger was bored. "Ugh." she sighed. "Three."
There was a quick shift of hands, and a shout of defeat from the Ivara.
"Guess that settles it." she pouted.
"So what's the plan?" asked Glenn.
"We need more intel." She looked at the gunslinger. "What do you know about him?"
"He obviously has Void manipulation. From what I've seen, he can enhance all his attacks and weapons with Void Energy, intensifying his attacks and further bolstering his own defenses and armour. His warframe abilities are also enhanced. He's a Frost, and therefore can manipulate ice and technically ice only. However, I hear he can create intense storms of ice and lightning. I've never seen them but it is said that the storm resembles a large air vortex with millions of razor-sharp ice shards charged with deadly electricity that allow it to penetrate shields and armour. This shows he probably has the ability to manipulate air and electricity to some extent as well. "
"Any weakness for the Void powers he got?" Glenn asked.
"It seems that he has to wield an Orokin artifact to harness the powers of the Void. Looks like a staff. There are 3 of these staffs and 7 medallions. All these items are able to harness Void energy. It might be worth considering hunting down these items before taking him out."
"Yes, that would be more advisable." The Ivara nodded. Her eyes were narrowed, deep in thought.
"It's also worth noting he is extremely proficient in combat. I once saw him take down 5 Tenno alone with relative ease in one of our training matches. His reflexes are quick. Quick enough to dodge my guns. Additionally, he was also extremely observant. Nearly nothing slipped under his sight, as his vision was so sharp. One of his most prominent assets would be his sheer strategic and tactical skills. I've seen him commanding his forces during the Old Sentient War. Missions are completed with maximum efficiency and speed. Perfect formations that were constantly shifting and were extremely unpredictable. Be cautious though. He may seem to be level-headed but when pushed past the limits, he can be impulsive and reckless."
"Well, isn't that supposed to be a good thing?" Glenn seemed confused.
"Not really. You see, I think he was probably programmed by the Orokin with his most primal instincts for war and aggression. When he snaps, he does shit like this. You know, things like killing every single person on an entire Formorian and using it to take down an entire Grineer fleet. But, judging from these corpses, he hasn't snapped yet." She picked up the decapitated head of the Grineer captain.
"No blood. This shows he's still in the right mind. He attempts to kill quick and painlessly to the best of his ability. But in another scenario where his brain's gone fried, I really don't wanna know what he might do." She dropped the head on the ground.
"You know him?" Glenn asked, scratching his chin.
"Yes." she sighed. "We knew each other during the Old War. I was assigned to work under his team for quite a while."
"You think we bit off more than we could chew?" Glenn looked at Helen.
"Nah. Go on, anything else about him? She looked backed at the gunslinger.
She thought for a while. "Remember what I said his sharp vision? He only has one eye. The Orokin made a technical error when constructing him and It resulted with his left eye being unusable and dead." She stopped for a while.
"Quick question, Helen." The Ivara looked up. She hadn't heard anyone call her by her name in a long time. "How many eyes do you have?"
"Eight." She grumbled. They're all in the stupid 'eye' in front that makes everyone think I only have one eye. How'd you think I make headshots look so easy?"
"Back to the topic, that means he has a larger blind spot on his left." Glenn looked at Helen."Got that?" The Ivara nodded. She was still visibly grumpy. "So do you know of the whereabouts of these artifacts?" Glenn continued.
"The Orokin had them hidden away in their vaults in the Void. Ava probably has hers. I'm not sure about the others."
"I think I know where one should be." The Ivara had been searching for something intently on her hologram computer as they spoke. "Here. There's an abnormally large amount of energy readings near Phobos. The vault might be hidden behind a space pocket." The group looked at the hologram. The source of the readings was located on the northern pole of Phobos.
"Well, I guess it's time to pack our coats kids. Phobos it is."
Ava had just disembarked from her landing craft. Her comms began blaring with the sound of chatter.
"Wake up you sleepyhead!" the sound of the Valkyr slapping the sleeping Frost was audible over the comms.
"Martin, you better wake up now or we're leaving you in here!"
Ava turned and briskly walked to Martin's landing craft. Once, she entered, the Valkyr stopped slapping him.
"Something's wrong." Ava placed her hand on the Frost's helmet. "He's been hit with a memory wipe. What happened?"
Rita was confused. "He looked just fine while we were at their dojo. Perfectly healthy, quiet and stoic and bored just like any other Fro-" she stopped. "Wait, what?"
Ava facepalmed. "You do realize he's not that kind of Frost right? Shouldn't you have noticed that his big mouth wasn't chattering away about how he can make the best ice-cream in the dojo?"
They both looked at Martin who was still sound asleep, muttering something about pedigree cows and how grass contained chlorophyll.
"It's okay Rita. I already expected something just like this. I could already tell something was off with Amp and Bridget. Their neural frequencies were off. They were lying. Borealis must've disguised himself as Martin. Explains why I could sense the strong Void Energy while we were there." She sighed. "But, that kind of mind wipe could've only been done by a Nyx with extreme proficiency in mind manipulation."
"Now we know that Amp and Bridget aren't working with us. Probably their whole clan too. We'll have to keep that in mind." Ava looked worried over something. "Rita, we need to be cautious. I've sensed some Sentient energy recently, as did some of the probes around Uranus. Let the others know as well. I don't have a good feeling about this."
The hums of chanting in Latin reverberated in the atmosphere as the Frost Prime meditated near a window in his room on his Orokin dreadnought. He was floating in mid-air seated cross-legged.
"The Orokin. They hailed us as Saviours. Why would the Tenno do that?" He thought. "Now what should we do? What should I do? The scales of balance in the system have been tipped. It's my fault. If I was there after the battle, Ava and I could've taken the Lotus down."
He cried. He felt helpless. It felt ironic how he used to be the one helping people, but now he wanted help. How he was the one to be there when they were lonely, but now he was alone in the Void, hoping to seek guidance from someone. He felt so much more alone than he'd like to admit.
He was a loner for the most of his life. Back then when they were the only 3 warframes in existence, Percival and Ava were together most of the time, and they left him out. He'd spent his time talking to the Archimedians, to Margulis herself, learning their culture and language. He spent time meditating on the mysteries of the Void with Margulis. She taught him how celestial objects worked and how the Void was unlike any of it. He learnt the workings of many Orokin inventions and also their history. There were mistakes made. But the Orokin sought to correct them. Margulis became a mother-like figure to him when he was young. To the three of them. He was probably Margulis' favourite. He was happy back then. He didn't need friends. He had Margulis as his family, and that was all he could've asked for. He remembered the day when Margulis told him about his ability to create ice storms.
Margulis was thinking about something for a while. "Oh, since you're here, I need your help." She pointed at a flask she had on her top shelf. "Could you help me get that? I'm too lazy to get my step stool. Also, crystallize it for me please, if you don't mind."
He reached for the flask. It was stoppered and contained a colourless liquid. He absentmindedly absorbed all he moisture from the flask while he held it to see what Margulis was up to. She was gathering her instruments for another experiment. She took the flask from him and placed it on top of a burner. The stopper was replaced with a delivery tube connected to a glass jar about half a metre tall. Inside it was a golden sphere propped up by a stand. The sphere was one of Margulis' own inventions. It could trap and release energy when required, albeit similar to a capacitor.
"Alright. These crystals are Astanerium crystals obtained from the Void. Burning them under heat will cause them to sublime, producing a vapour of Void energy. Now what I want you to do is to charge up the capacitor with your energy, then I'll start the burner"
Borealis was already used to her antics during her experiments. It was better not to ask what she was planning to do. He concentrated on the sphere, and it lit up with blue markings that glowed.
Margulis flicked some switches on her console and the burner began to heat up the crystals. The vapour that was produced glowed a golden colour. Once the vapour entered the glass jar and made contact with the capacitor, something unexpected had happened. Crackles of electricity were heard and the air in the jar began moving in a vortex, small shards of ice began forming on the edges of the glass jar.
"Very interesting." she started typing on her holographic console. "You see, Borealis, this shows that the Void can also enhance your warframe abilities, not only your weapons. So, you'll probably have the ability to manipulate electricity and air to some extent. With the Void's help of course."
"Huh."
"Keep that in mind. I feel you may need it soon." she said, flicking the switch for the burner off. The reaction slowed down until there was nothing.
"Why are you talking like that?"
"Oh, it's nothing much. Just figured out I should let you know. "she brushed it off.
He was suddenly brought back to the time when Margulis summoned the three to warn them about the Lotus. Only he heeded her call, and went to her lab. She warmly received him, mentioning that he hadn't visited her in a long time. He apologized as they embraced each other. He explained that the War had been tough, and he was required to be in battle a lot more often.
"There's no need to worry my dear." She smiled.
She told him the Void had given her a vision. Margulis herself had a deep innate connection to the Void. He remembered her saying, "The Void is alive. It is a mystery to science. We have not found an explanation for it. It's just like that. How can nothing be alive? How can nothing emit these wisps of energy and radiant light? It transcends all known laws of matter and physics."
The vision she showed him depicted the first confrontation with the Lotus in Larunda. He was shocked. It was as if he was living in his vision, when it happened in the present. It was after that vision did he develop a certain fear of Bridget. During that time, he was already working together in a squad with Amp, Bridget and Calla. They had already been working together for a long time by then, and he'd loosened up to them. However, he could never look at Bridget the same way again after that. Bridget was quick to notice and tried asking him about it. Their confrontation ended in a blast of anger from both sides. He decided he'd never tell anyone about Bridget being in the vision, and probably wouldn't do so either in the near future. Not even Bridget herself.
Margulis told him, "It's up to you now my child. Veto her orders if you think something isn't right during the Council Assemblies. I know you can do it. Believe in the Void. Let it guide you." He nodded sadly. "Be careful. If the Lotus finds out that you know her ploy, she'll have you eliminated."
"But what about you?"
"Don't worry about me. I can handle myself just fine. You are far more important. You three have already been blessed by the Void to be its instruments. Don't let your temper get to you, Borealis."
He flashed a look of annoyance at her.
"Don't give me that look. I've known you since you were a child."
She patted him on the head. His face grew even more annoyed.
"I'm grown up now if you haven't realized." he grumbled.
She chuckled. "Keep yourself calm and relaxed. If you feel something bothering you, do not use the power of the Void. Like I said, it will corrupt you. Let the Void manifest itself in your actions. Remember what I taught you about keeping yourself on the lighter edge of the Void. Meditate and strengthen your mind, and the Void will be able to guide you."
"I'll try my best." He nodded sadly.
He walked out of the lab after they said their goodbyes. He was nearly just walking away from the corridor to the lab when he heard the crackling of electricity again from the lab.
"Heh. She's probably testing it again." He thought.
He stopped. He felt something different. Sentient energy. He quickly ran back to the lab, but before he reached it, he heard a few claps of thunder and the sound of strong winds blowing.
He rushed into the lab. "What h-"
The lab was destroyed, but Margulis was gone.
A tear streamed down his cheek. He did not like reliving that part of his life. He let his thoughts ponder for a while before remembering something.
He had sensed traces of Sentient Energy near Uranus, and also in the Plains of Eidolon. The Sentients would be returning soon. The only two people capable of stopping the Sentients were Ava and him. He didn't know if Ava even could be trusted. Even if she was, she'd have to escape from the Lotus, right under her very nose. And other than the two of them, he'd probably killed the only other person who was capable take the Sentients down.
He killed him. He wasn't in his right mind. Neither of them were. The Void had corrupted him. Corrupted them both. His mind wasn't prepared enough to withstand the power of the Void.
"I'm not ready to do this." he thought.
The last battle was already close. He had nearly died. He felt his helmet. He only had one functional eye, (or optical sensor) the other eye was absolutely useless, and below the two optical sensors was a third "eye". He never noticed it before. He tried pulling it, and it popped out. It was a sphere made of gold and glass. Inside the glass was a moving white wisp of blue and white energy. As he touched it, he felt a strong pulse radiate from the sphere. The Orokin had implanted the Void Chrysalis in his own body, the heart of the sceptre he carried. It was said to be a rare artifact from the Void. It helped its user to manipulate the Void itself.
He looked over to the displayed helmet on his left. It was his Frost Prime helmet. He rarely wore it. Only during formal occasions during the Orokin era. He preferred to wear his current helmet now. It got him less attention, and he liked it that way. The Zastruga helmet he wore provided good protection, however it limited his visibility. It was how he trained his single eye to pick up all the details when it scanned an area. He had to make do with one eye. He remembered when they first constructed him, he had to struggle with hand-eye coordination because of the eye. However it was this weakness that pushed him to train even harder. So much did he train, that he eventually matched the skill of his other two contemporaries who were gifted with perfectly able Warframes. Some said he had already surpassed the skill of Percival. He doubted that.
He looked back at the Void. It looked back at him, the cold reality it brought snapped him back the present. "Please help me." He felt like an idiot talking to the Void. It wasn't even alive. He was talking to nothing.
The wisp glowed a little brighter.
He looked it curiously. He wiped away the tears from his eyes.
"Thanks?"
He decided he had enough sulking for a day. If he was to defeat the Sentients, he knew he had to somehow enhance his ability to manipulate the Void, to connect with it more deeply. He remembered a place. A void temple.
"Perhaps the monks there would know what to do."
The temple looked exactly as it did back in the day. The Orokin architecture was perfectly preserved. Borealis decided to wear a hooded cloak in case there was anyone that could've recognized him. Stepping into it, he noticed the many rows of benches facing the sanctuary located at the other end of the building. The structure was high-ceilinged, with echoes of chanting heard from the higher levels. The entire temple was empty, except for the one monk at the sanctuary. He walked to the first bench, just in front of the altar where a golden stand displayed a glass sphere that contained a replica of a Void Chrysalis, just like the one Borealis had, except on a larger scale.
He observed the monk as he continued his vigil. Borealis recognized the robes the Oberon wore. He was a junior monk. The monk stood up and held a thurible to incense the Chrysalis. However, he seemed to be in difficulty as the thurible swung around uncontrollably as he was trying to put in some incense. The Frost stood up, and offered him a helping hand. The Oberon was startled; he did not see the Frost coming.
"Are you new here brother?" he asked the monk.
"Yes. I just joined the Order last week. Sorry, but I'm still learning how to do this." He chuckled.
"I see." Borealis replied, handing back the thurible to the monk.
The monk bowed at him, and headed to the altar. He swung the thurible clumsily as he walked around the altar once, the thurible smashing against the altar a few times. Borealis cringed. He knew the procedure all too well, and this was going badly.
He stepped up to the monk. "Here, let me show you." He reached out for the thurible.
The monk looked cautious.
"Trust me."
He handed to thurible to the Frost, who took it relatively confidently. He made one round around the altar and bowed at the Chrysalis, swinging the thurible three times as the ringing of the bells against the chains of the thurible could be heard echoing across the entire temple. He bowed again at the Chrysalis and then returned the thurible to the Oberon.
"How'd you learn to do that? That was perfect technique." He looked at the cloaked Frost. He still could not see the Frost under the hood.
"That doesn't matter. I want to speak with your superiors."
As if on cue, the door on the right opened. A Harrow wearing robes of pure white stood there.
"Who are you? Where'd you learn that technique? The last I saw that being used was millennia ago, during the Orokin Era." He eyed the hooded Frost closely.
Borealis lifted his hood.
"Vincent?"
The Harrow gasped in surprise. And fainted.
Chapter End
Sorry for the inconsistent updates. I need a lot of time to figure out plot, and I've been quite busy recently too. I'll probably be able to work on it more after my finals are finished next week. Other than that, let me know what you think of things so far! I'd appreciate some input, whether be it your comments or a suggestion on how you want to see the story move on from here.