Fear Lives Again
"Master, thy task has been completed," a voice spoke in the darkness corner of the shuttle. His body was covered in black metallic armor and a foul helm covered his face. Lying before his kneeling body was a box. It was encased in lead and bonded together by metal sheets. It appeared at that moment that he was about to open it, but the one he was referring to "Master" spoke otherwise.
"Good," he replied with no emotion at all, "Send it to me immediately."
The man frowned, "What is the purpose of this chest? Shall I open it now and then send it to thee?"
"No," the Master snapped, "I want it here…unspoiled."
"Unspoiled?" he repeated nonchalantly, "What could this be that it can…spoil?"
"That is NONE of your business, Hirako," the Master said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. The man flinched for he had never heard anyone call him that in a long time- it was…curious that his master knew his servant's given name other than what his new name was. Hirako never told him nor suggested a hint to what it was.
In the silence that the assassin had given into thought, his master asked, "Did you happen to know that the artifact was also in the eyes of the Tenno?"
"It was?" the assassin asked suddenly snapped him back into the conference that started a few minutes ago.
"It is," the Master answered, "The Tenno are still looking for it. But seeing as though their agents were captured by the Grineer, where do you think they would go first?"
"Ah, it is great to give someone false information to throw them at your enemies," the man smiled then he frowned asking, "But…what if the Grineer realize the agents were NOT the ones who killed Hek?"
"It doesn't matter," the Master said dismissively, "Whether they did or not, the Grineer wouldn't care less- it is but a matter of ridding your foes. In addition the cyborgs in the Grineer ranks are as brainless as the automatons created by the Corpus; they only have one purpose in their insignificantly short lives and that is to serve- neither to question nor to argue to what is given to them."
"I see."
"Plus, giving them this information and them successfully capturing Tenno agents will grant us their trust," the Master continued with a sneer, "This will help in our plan."
"So this was your intention from the very beginning," Hirako chuckled, "Very clever of you."
"Report back to me as soon as the package is secured into my possession- and I mean it. It better be literally in my hand," the Master said ignoring his compliment.
"Understood, Master."
When the uplink had shut off, Hirako pulled up an image before him. It was a photograph of the Judicator. Hirako sneered at it and sliced through the hologram with his scythe at blinding speed.
"I hope you like the little present I left you…Howard," He snarled.
Back at the Tenno Camp…
"Browning still hasn't been found yet?" Conlin asked Madeline.
"No," She shook her head anxiously, "God, if he's seriously injured…"
"We'll find him," Hwang said reassuringly and firmly, "How hard can it be?"
"You said that two hours ago, mate," Sarah sighed with frustration to Hwang's repetitiveness, "Saying it again doesn't really help or encourage much of anything if we've already been searching without end, and-"
Conlin gave her a stare to shut her up and waved his hands to leave. Sarah huffed audibly and left stomping her feet out the door of the barracks. Hwang looked at Conlin with a confused look and shrugged.
"Go with her," Conlin said, "It'd be best if we go in groups of two again."
"What ever you say, Conlin," Hwang answered, "I hope we find him soon."
"Me too," Conlin said aloud even though Hwang was already leaving and could not hear him. With Hwang gone, it was just him and Madeline…great- just great. They may be "friends" but they didn't really like each other that much. Not only was this but their views towards Browning different. Conlin absolutely loathed him from the day he came to the camp a year ago. Madeline on the other hand, tolerated him enough to even be near him- heck, she even complimented him.
Now that Conlin was looking at her when Browning no longer stood by her side for the first time, he was thinking that there was more between them than meets the eye. Then again, what does he know about them? Conlin needed to stay focused. He turned on a map of the camp in the corner of his visor and scanned it for recognition of Browning's warframe. After two seconds, he had a hit. Conlin blinked in surprise and scanned again to be sure. Judging by the position of the green dot that represented Browning's current location, he was…
Everest trail
"Well, well, well," sighed Donavan who was shaking his head sadly towards the hanging body in front of him, "This isn't good."
Conlin gaped in horror to see Browning's warframe on the ground below his cut-up body above hanging by a rope tied to the tree branch. From the looks of it, Browning looked barely alive- not dead but almost. His face was brutally cut and bruised, and he wore a look of intense pain. Conlin looked towards Donavan for an explanation.
"I just came across this, lad," the Vauban shrugged, "'Bout three minutes before you did."
"Is that one of your traps?" Conlin asked.
"No," the hunter answered, "I only hang my prey…I don't mutilate the body. Look- there are slash marks all over-"
Conlin shushed him and pointed towards Madeline who was kneeling before Browning's destroyed armor crying. The hunter grunted, "From the looks of those wounds, he couldn't have been here for long- meaning that he can still be saved."
"Sarah is too pissed to help," Conlin grumbled recalling his conversation with their sassy medic, "We need an elder."
"Better send for one then," Donavan said nodding his head. He began talking to someone on his comm-link and moved away from the two Tenno for privacy. During that time, Conlin cut the rope that was tied to Browning's leg and eased his teammate's body to the ground.
Madeline quickly checked for a pulse on his neck and said worriedly, "He's fading fast."
Madeline glared at the Vauban and snapped, "Where's the elder?"
Donavan held up a finger because he was still in deep conversation with whoever was on the other side. Madeline growled in frustration and started to kick some stones around with her feet. Conlin noted her behavior and decided to not get in her way. Instead, he began to inspect Browning's wounds for himself.
There were no holes- bullet holes at least- which was a relief. There was a large red bump on his forehead which suggested that Browning was smacked by either a blunt weapon or someone's body. Conlin erased the thought of there being a fight because there were no signs of defensive wounds- he was unconscious.
The slash marks on Browning's torso were unlike anything Conlin made seen before. There were consistent and were all horizontally placed. He touched one of the cuts carefully and realized that they were all clean cuts. This worried him a little; he was thinking that the wounds could be deeper than he thought. Then Donavan put his hand on Browning's chest and inspected him as well.
"This is by no means the work of a sword," He murmured," More like a halberd. Perhaps an Orthos is responsible?"
"This can't be from another Tenno," Conlin insisted, "As far as I know; no one has ever had the motive to kill Browning."
"I pray you're right," Donavan said with concern laced within his words. Then he whispered harshly into his earpiece, "The elder isn't coming for about an hour- he's still teaching Unit 1 in the obstacle course."
Conlin's heart sank immediately and started to assess their options. If they stay, Browning would die. So their only option now, considering the elder that could not come, was to bring him back to camp. Conlin turned his head towards Donavan and asked, "Do we have something to put him in?"
"What?" Donavan stared at him blankly.
"A transport, a wheelbarrow, or anything like that," Conlin snapped irritably. Donavan shook his head before he even finished his sentence. Conlin swore quietly and tried to lift Browning up from underneath with his arms. If Donavan didn't know what he was planning to do, Conlin would have dropped Browning due to the sheer size and weight of him.
Together they held him by the waist and by his legs, and they began to carry him down the Everest Trail towards the camp. Madeline didn't trail far behind from them and they could hear her praying- praying that they would make it back in time. Conlin couldn't blame her for doing so nor did he want to. Browning groaned aloud within his slumber and that gave him a little hope.
"Hang in there," He said to his unconscious comrade," Hang in there."
…
The three Tenno were immediately met by the Judicator and a woman in a Nyx warframe by the entrance of the gate. Although they could not see their old officer's face, they could see him being in shock. The Nyx, on the other hand, had a straight face. Her hair sat naturally on her shoulders and her brown eyes piercing as they were concerned.
Their officer almost instantly ran towards them and barked, "What in the hell happened to him?"
He was gesturing his hand towards Browning who had now grown silent which increased Conlin's worry for his life. Conlin had no time to explain so he simply shouted, "We need a doctor now!"
It took more than five minutes to actually find one who wasn't in the mess room, and when they came back, the doctor's face twisted into a face of horror. He ran towards the wounded Tenno and rummaged through his medical kit furiously for something. Conlin could see that the wounds were worse than they looked and so did everyone else.
The whole entrance was soon crowded by Tenno trainees to look at the commotion which was focused upon the doctor and the grievously wounded Browning. The Judicator stood next to Conlin in silence, but the young Excalibur knew what he was thinking. So he spoke for him.
"There is only a small chance he'll live…isn't there?" Conlin asked quietly but loud enough to be heard. Madeline swiveled on her heel and looked at him with a face full of despair.
"N-no…he's going to make it…he's going to make it…you'll see," Madeline stammered while stifling a sob back down her throat. Unfortunately, this did not stop her eyes from dripping tears down her cheeks. Conlin should have stopped there, but he didn't.
"Don't torture yourself with false reassurance, Madeline," Conlin continued with a tone that surprised everyone including the Judicator, "Words cannot mend the dying or the grievously wounded- if it is his time…"
"NO!" She shrieked as she ran up to him grabbing Conlin by his throat. He made no attempt to stop her and instead gave her a disapproving frown. Madeline balled her fists and punched his helmet with full force which made his vision blur with a dull pain that was suddenly growing sharper.
"You're just saying that because you always hated him," She ranted wildly and threw another blow, "You're just saying that because you want him to die. It was probably you who attacked him- it must have been you!"
With that note, Ivy slapped her across the face. Stunned, Madeline fell on her rear without grace and stared at the Saryn with confusion. Conlin himself was a little shaken up by what Ivy had just done. Her words also added to his shock.
"Wake up!" Ivy snapped, "Can't you see that blaming Conlin does nothing for Browning? Conlin was with you the entire time you went to search for him! But no, your fear has taken hold of you, and you fear, even now, that Browning will die. So in your blindness, you hopelessly look for the culprit- even amongst your friends!"
Madeline didn't answer. She laid her head unto her knees and sobbed curling up in a ball. She rocked back in forth and Conlin just looked at her with pity. The Elder stood up slowly and looked uneasily towards the old officer of theirs. He said sadly, "I've done what I've could, Judicator. The rest is up to the Tenno and his will to live."
"Who would do such a thing anyway?" Hwang asked, "Grineer are rough but they are not this gruesome."
All the trainees looked towards the old man with expectancy of an answer, and he gave them one.
"It is as Ivy has said," He began, "The culprit has done this terrible crime to aspire fear amongst our ranks. He is unfortunately more familiar to us than you may think."
To add to the suspense, the officer had paused and now finally continued saying, "The criminal is a Tenno indeed…one who has been banished from our people for three years."
Conlin looked at the Judicator with a baffled expression, and he knew everyone else was feeling similarly.
"What is most unfortunate is that he was a friend of mine," the Judicator sighed, "He was also more than just a friend…he was my student, my brother-in-arms, and to be my successor. Last I had seen of him was on Neptune- I should have made sure that I had killed the bastard then." He looked at Madeline. "If there is one to blame, it is me; for my softness and past with the Tenno before his corruption. But now that I know that he's alive…"
There was an almost sinister tone in his voice that Conlin didn't like. He took a quick look at Madeline who was still crying on the ground muttering Browning's name and then he stared at the wounds his fellow Tenno had sustained. He felt a fire burning in him…what was it called again? It was not fear, but anger.
(Okay… I bet you guys are wondering just who this a**hole is, right? Well, that will be revealed in the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this new chapter and please review or comment suggestions below.)
