No Greater Love
Serene was floating. She was calm. Nothing hurt anymore. She looked down and saw. The scanning machine was still functioning. It was still playing energy across the table where Sara lay, still strapped down. But all of the energy of the machine was pouring into the back of the still woman who lay covering Sara. Her. Sara was crying, Jasmina was trying to get the female tech to release Sara, and the tech that Serene had hit was still on the floor, clutching his throat.
"I hope Two and Amelia can survive this." Serene said softly. "Wasn't thinking..."
Tenno
Serene froze, which shouldn't have been possible. She wasn't in her body. Her body was busy...dying. She had thrown herself between Sara and the energy that was hurting Sara without any protection at all. Sara wore a special garment that allowed the scanner to read her without damaging her. It did nothing for the pain however. Serene's body wore nothing but some wires. She was dead, but it would take a few minutes for the energy to cause nerve damage and then decay and death. At least it would be gentle, the pain had rendered her unconscious. But... Who was talking to her?
Why did you do that, Tenno? The voice was calm, and cool. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. She is not one of your kin.
"Yes, she is. She is my daughter." Serene said slowly. "I didn't bear her, but they made her from me."
That is...clear. Now. The voice said slowly. The genetics are unique. She is unique. She may not survive, Tenno. And even if she does, she will be sterile, unable to reproduce.
"I don't care." Serene said sadly. "She is a child. My child."
Ah The voice turned solemn. You sacrificed yourself for her? You love her?
"I barely know her." Serene said softly. "But... yes. I love her. She is a good kid." Serene felt herself start to cry. "Ah, Sara... I am sorry... I wanted to get to know you, let you heal. But I brought you to my kin and they hurt you. This is my fault."
No Tenno. The voice said gently. It is not. Change is rarely easy, even for such as you who have to adapt every time you wake from your long slumbers. Some will always cling to their mistrust. Easy to understand, with their trust being violated so many times. And you, you Tenno go on. You Tenno have our eternal admiration, do you know that, Serene?
"I..." Serene paused. "Who are you?"
We cannot say, Tenno, but know this. We are not your enemies. And... The voice turned wry. Since we know better than to get between a mother and her hurt child...
Serene was suddenly falling towards where her body lay. She didn't even have time to scream.
Serene slammed awake, aware of Jasmina cursing. Of the female tech speaking quietly, of the male tech groaning. But all that paled as she looked at the girl who lay underneath her. Sara was staring at Serene with wide eyes that were full of tears.
"Serene?" Sara asked, her face brightening as she saw Serene looking at her. "They... They said you were dead!"
"I..." Serene shifted a little and winced. "Part of me wishes I was. Ow..." She groaned and everything stopped in the room.
"Serene!" Jasmina moved up into her field of view. "What? How?" A gentle gauntleted hand touched her shoulder. "How do you feel?"
"Like I got run over by a mag train." Serene said slowly with a grimace. She did not move from covering Sara. "Is the machine still going? It doesn't hurt now."
"It...stopped." The tech that Serene had spoken to before sounded incredulous from where she was fiddling with things. The male was still on the floor, clutching his throat. But he was alive. He should count himself lucky. "I... I don't understand. It can't just stop... It has to finish the cycle then power down. But nothing seems to be wrong. It just...stopped." She sounded utterly confused. "And... the scans are done? This makes no sense." She declared. "Scans take twenty minutes, no more, no less. This is... I would say it's impossible. But it happened."
"Don't move, Serene." Jasmina said softly as Serene raised her head. "Medics are coming."
"If that doc comes anywhere near Sara again..." Serene snapped and then grimaced as her body protested. "I want him kept away from her."
"Serene..." Jasmina said softly, but in warning. She was removing the restraints that held Sara to the table.
"He had no right!" Serene said sharply. "She is not an enemy!" She froze as Sara reached up and hugged her as soon as Jasmina undid the arm bindings.
"I wanna go home, Serene." Sara said as she pillowed her head against Serene's shoulder. "They told me it was gonna hurt, but..." The little girl started crying again. Jasmina finished undoing the restraints and stepped back, obviously till cursing under her breath.
"It's okay, Sara." Serene said gently, holding herself so she wasn't crushing Sara. "It's okay, honey... it's all right... It will be all right." She levered herself up, despite Jasmina's warning hiss and eased Sara up to sit on her lap. Sara was crying hard as Serene held her. "I am sorry I wasn't here, Sara." She said, hugging the sobbing girl tight. "I am sorry." She slumped a bit and looked up to see Jasmina scrutinizing her. "I guess I am in worse trouble now. That...wasn't rational." She snorted a laugh. "Even for me."
"Ya think?" Jasmina asked sourly. "But no one will have any question as to why you did what you did. A mother whose child is in pain rarely acts rationally."
"I..." Sara stiffened and looked up at Serene, her eyes still streaming. "What?"
"The Corpus created you Sara." Serene said gently. "To hurt your mom." Sara nodded. "They created you from me." Sara's eyes went wide at that and Serene smiled gently. "It will be okay, Sara. I will make it okay."
"But I am not Tenno." Sara said softly, disbelieving. "We look a bit alike, but..." She shook her head. "I am not Tenno." She repeated.
"Yes, you are." All eyes turned to where the female tech was stepping away from her equipment, a sick look on her face."Sara, I apologize."
"You were nice. You said there was risk but you were going to keep it from killing me. You said it was going to hurt. You did all those things to make it hurt less." Sara said softly. "But I had no idea..." She buried her face in Serene's shoulder again, tears falling harder. Serene crooned softly to her.
"There was no way you could have, Sara." Jasmina said sadly. "I thought they were going to wait until Serene was functional again, to sit with you. If not, I would have been here. I had no idea they had pushed the time up."
"What have you done?" A harsh voice demanded form the doorway. Serene looked up to see the doctor from before standing there with two security troops. Both had weapons out but lowered them as Jasmina moved to block their view of Serene and Sara. Serene sighed and spoke evenly.
"Jasmina." The Ember did not move and Serene continued. "If he sets a foot in this room, I am going to kill him. He had no right to do that to a Tenno child. No right at all to do it without her parents' consent or presence."
"She is not a Tenno child..." The doctor protested and started to come into the room, only to pause as both Jasmina and the female tech strode to block his way. "Move! She is a danger! She will be placed in restraint again! And that 'thing' will be examined completely."
"This says otherwise, doctor." The tech held out a datapad and the doctor snatched it from her. "You ordered an extremely traumatizing procedure on a Tenno minor without the parent's consent. She is Tenno." Both security guards suddenly looked very wary. "If she were my child, I would see you up on charges at the very least." Jasmina growled in conjunction with the tech's hostility. She did a very good growl.
"She is a Corpus experiment!" The doctor protested. "This proves nothing! That thing that looks like a human girl has less than fifty percent of Serene's DNA." Serene went cold at that, but then her blood boiled. Jasmina moved subtly between her and the doctor and Sara whimpered a little, so Serene subsided.
"And we count how much DNA a being has as to whether they are of us or not?" The tech asked coldly. "That is funny, doctor. I thought the Code said that if they followed our ways, then they were us. If not, then Excalibur is not one of us, is he? He has none of our DNA. We haven't given her a chance yet, just done things to her." Her snarl was almost as good as Jasmina's. Everything went still.
Serene smiled at that. Excalibur was a Tenno who had started as human. ((See Duty Endures s/9183005/1/Duty-endures)) He had called himself Excalibur for a very long time because he had lost parts of his memory. He had trained, fought and worked hard to be Tenno and now was admired as much for his determination and dedication to his duty as for his fighting ability. No one cared where he had come from.
"Serene...?" Sara's soft voice broke the silence.
"Yes, Sara?" Serene asked, holding Sara gently. "What is it, honey?"
"I need the bathroom." Sara said sheepishly. Serene looked at her and then chuckled.
"Well, we can't have you having an accident, now can we?" Serene said with a smile, then looked at the female tech. "Tech...um... I didn't get your name." Serene said with a grimace. Things had been a little intense.
"My name is Iriana, Serene." The tech replied with a smile. "I will lead you to the bathroom. And I can help with the suit." She smiled at Sara who smiled hesitantly back. "My little girl is only a little older than you, Sara. I am sorry." She repeated sadly as Serene rose, holding Sara close. "Everything checked out. Everything was as ordered."
"Not your fault." Sara said, snuggling close to Serene. "Um... Serene...? Why are you not wearing anything?" The girl asked, unsure.
"I was in a hurry." Serene said with a grin that faded as the doctor blocked the door. Before she could speak, Jasmina was there, moving into his personal space. Nothing said 'Move' quite like an angry Tenno in an Ember warframe. He wasn't totally insane. He moved aside and Serene followed Iriana from the room.
"This isn't over." The doctor growled at Serene as she passed. Sara shivered in Serene's arms but Serene just smiled at him. It was not a nice smile.
"I know." She replied evenly. "But if you touch Sara again without my consent or Amelia's, I will kill you." Sara shivered in Serene's arms and then relaxed. She followed the tech who did not look back. She felt Jasmina following and the stares of the security guys on her, but she ignored them. Her daughter needed her. Nothing else mattered.
Iriana led Serene to a small bathroom and came in to help Sara get out of the suit. The girl didn't have a clue how to unfasten the hold tights. While Sara did her business, Iriana left for a moment, coming back with two patient gowns. Serene put the large one on gratefully and passed the other to Sara. The two women stood quietly until Sara came out.
"All done?" Serene asked with a smile.
"Serene?" Sara asked as she stepped out, smoothing the gown. "Where is...um... My other mom?"
"Ah... I don't actually know. Iriana?" Serene asked slowly. "I am out of the loop."
"Sara." Iriana knelt down to look Sara in the eye. "Your mom is asleep and has been for a while. We don't know why."
"Actually..." Serene said slowly. "I do." Iriana stiffened and looked at her. "And um... I need your help." She nodded to both Iriana and Sara. "Both of you."
"Me?" Sara asked, incredulous. "What can I do?"
"Be yourself." Serene said with a smile as she pulled Sara into a hug. Sara froze for a moment and then hugged her back.
"You are pretty." Sara said slowly after a moment. "I never saw you outside of your armor." She smoothed Serene's close cropped dark hair with a slow hand. "Are you... really...?" She shook her head, confused.
"Yeah." Serene said with a smile a she ruffled Sara's dark hair. "The Corpus used my DNA to make you. To hurt your mom, to try and make her tell them something she got from me. So technically, I am responsible for everything bad that has happened to you." Serene said sadly. Sara stared at her and then hugged her again.
"No, you are not." Sara said softly. "You are nice, no matter what you say. What do you need me to do?" She asked calmly.
"Iriana?" Serene asked softly. "Are you trained in cross mind linking?" The tech stared at her and then nodded slowly. "Amelia is in my mind... And there is a massive cognitive dissonance. One that was created by Amelia, and took on a life of her own."
"Cognitive...?" Iriana paused and then gasped. "You mean?"
"Yeah." Serene said with a sigh. Sara stared at her, confused and Serene shook her head. "I need your help Sara, but it is going to be a little...weird."
"Please tell me it isn't going to hurt." Sara begged with a whimper, hugging Serene again.
"It won't." Serene said with a smile, hugging the girl back. "Especially with help..." She looked at Iriana and the other woman nodded, a smile on her face. "Come on, it's past time Sara saw her mom again..."
Serene led the way from the bathroom, hand in hand with a small girl.
