A moment
"You need to take a break."
Jesse ignored the words. She focused on her work, her scans of the area. The voice behind her sighed. When it spoke again, it was resigned.
"Can you even hear me?" The voice demanded. "Jesse!"
Jesse jerked at the half shout and spun in pace, her hand diving automatically to where her nunchaku sat at her waist. She froze on seeing Raven standing at the door, a tray on hand. The Elder was tapping her foot, obviously annoyed.
"Ah... Raven?" Jesse was confused. Wasn't Raven supposed to be asleep?
"Jesse." The Elder stepped into the room and set the tray down on a convenient flat surface before turning to scrutinize the younger Tenno. "Care to tell me why I was asked to bring you your supper?"
"Supper?" Jesse asked, her mind whirling. She had worked since she had woken. There was so much to scan. To check. Even with the ultra high tech scanners and security systems that the Citadel boasted, there was still a lot of ground to cover. To sweep for nanites. Her code made it far, far quicker than anyone else could have been, but still... lots of ground to cover.
"Yes, Jesse." Raven crossed her arms, her expression thunderous. "Supper. As in the final meal of the day. Which you missed." She glanced at a wall chrono and sighed deeply. "By about six hours."
"Ah, Raven." Jesse sighed. "I need..." She broke off as Raven stepped forward, her face going stern and her hands going to her hips. The younger Tenno swallowed hard. She knew that look. She was in for it.
"I went to sleep seven hours ago." Raven said quietly. "You were supposed to eat and then go to sleep yourself. You didn't." She reached out and took Jesse's arm in a grip that while gentle, wasn't going to break. "Come eat. Now."
"Raven, I need to do this." Jesse did not resist. First, it would have been foolish. Raven was stronger and better trained than Jesse was. Second, Raven was right. Jesse did know better. She simply hadn't noticed how the time had flown.
"You cannot do it all, Jesse." Raven thawed a little but her grip was still firm as she pulled Jesse from the machinery the younger woman had been examining. "You know better. You may be Tenno now, but you body still needs nourishment and rest. Have you found anything?"
"No." Jesse admitted as the Elder led her to a chair nearby and urged her to sit. She did. She wasn't stupid. "The Citadel has excellent defenses and they had incentive to prevent another nanite incursion."
Her face fell. The pain that had echoed in Rachel's voice when the leader of the Tenno of the Citadel had spoken of the nanobot attack that had cost the First Rhino and forced their split from the Orokin Empire had been heartfelt. Rachel still missed Richard and Bellina, that was clear to anyone with ears.
"I know you are worried, Jesse." Raven said kindly as she slid the tray in front of Jesse. The girl looked at her but did not argue. She started to eat. "About us, about your mom, about everything. But driving yourself crazy won't help."
"It is my duty." Jesse did not bother to try excuses. They didn't work with the Elder.
"Yes it is." Raven nodded. "But Jesse, there has to be a balance between duty and sense. This is one of the safest places in the Solar System. They haven't had as much exposure to everything as other places have. They have had far fewer people coming through. Less chance for a nanite to slip in."
"That is not the same as no chance." Jesse argued quietly as she finished the meal. She pushed the tray away and looked at Raven who nodded. "Raven, I need to finish."
"Jesse." Raven's voice turned soft now. "You need to sleep. You do not have a warframe and outside of one, your body creates toxic byproducts the longer you stay awake. Come on, girl. You know better." Raven took Jesse's arm as the girl's face fell. "Now march."
"Yes, Raven." Jesse resigned herself to being led. She rose and started off as Raven urged her.
"We have a surprise for you, Jesse." Raven said quietly. "But you need to be asleep for it." Jesse stiffened and turned to look, but Raven's face was remote. It betrayed nothing. "No matter what, your body needs time to recuperate."
Jesse bowed her head. She knew better. It had just been so much, so fast. Trinity's marker, her mom being hurt, a new and deadly threat. It all saturated her. She wasn't good at multi-tasking yet, although she was learning.
Raven led her to a small room on the same floor. It was a standard guest room, nothing fancy or out of place. Raven let go of her arm and Jesse sighed as she sat down on the bed. She started to take her boots off. The bodysuit retracted into a sleep configuration and Raven nodded. The Elder stepped out of the room and the door closed. Jesse stared at the door and sighed. She did know better.
The girl lay down on the bed and started her sleep cycle. It wouldn't take long for her body to relax and fall into its rest ryth- What the? Jesse jerked as she... She wasn't alone!
"Hello Jesse." Trinity's voice came from nearby as the shade of her teacher appeared sitting on the bed beside her. She was not wearing her warframe. "Go to sleep."
"Trinity." Jesse begged, but the Tenno ghost just laid a hand on her brow and Jesse was falling. But she wasn't alone.
It wasn't a virtual world. She knew those. She was lying on something that gave underneath her. It was very comfortable. She cracked her eyes and she was on a bed. An ancient looking bed, but it felt so comfortable she didn't want to move.
"Hey." A soft voice from nearby had her try to jerk, but she couldn't. She knew the voice! "Don't struggle, Jesse. This is a dream. Not a nightmare. But you are safe."
"Of course I am, Draco." Jesse murmured as warm arms wrapped around her. "You are here."
Her bodyguard chuckled a little at that, but it was melancholy. Jesse did not move. They were not alone. Stood to reason. Draco was still in a machine that Jesse prayed could help him recover from a horrific ordeal that he had gone through as a child. He coped very well, but he had needed more help to recover.
"It is going to be a little while before I get out of the machine, Jesse." Draco said as someone rubbed her hair gently. "But it has helped."
"I am glad." Jesse said softly. "Scared me."
"I am sorry, Jesse." Draco sighed. "It was who and what I was. Mom and Dad were good to me, but I broke myself hard. And it was entirely my own fault."
"No, it wasn't." Jesse protested sleepily. "You lost your mom. How together could you be?" Draco made a soft noise and Jesse sighed as she relaxed further. "Am I... in Medicine Man?"
She wasn't sure how she felt about the former Sentient healer. On one hand, it had saved her life and was a font of information on Tenno ailments of all kinds. It had been designed to be medical support for Tenno during the war with the Sentients after Nikis had stolen it from the Sentients. On another, it was a horrific blending of human and technology. The host of Medicine Man was a human who was a slave in everything but name. Even the fact that the hosts volunteered for the role didn't really help much.
"No." Draco said gently. "You needed ease and it creeps you out. Heck, it creeps me out." Jesse snorted at that and whoever was rubbing her brow did so again. "You are family, Jesse. We help family."
"I don't understand." Jesse said softly, losing herself in the comfort.
"I know." Draco's words were still so gentle. "But you will. I don't love you, Jesse. I am not going to. But I do care for you, sister. Even beyond my duty and the debt I owe you. Rest now. Dream of peace and light."
Jesse sighed and did as instructed.
"I am glad not to have to sing a lullaby. My singing voice would drive her nuts."
Draco sighed as he turned to the others in the room. It wasn't packed. Only three other forms were in the dreamscape. None of the beings here wore warframes. Not a virtual world, but close enough for people to come if invited.
"You do yourself a disservice, Draco." Trinity sat beside Jesse, her hand still stroking the girl's short hair gently, soothing, calming. "Medicine Man has helped."
"Some." Draco sighed. "I am not going to be perfect. But I won't be going berserk at the drop of a hat either." The other two shades relaxed a little and Draco smiled at them. "Mom, dad?"
"Jesse is really good at thinking outside the box." The First Nyx said with a smile of her own. "All I wanted her to do was calm you down and now look at you." Her smiled turned fond. "You could do far worse than Jesse, Draco."
"Now, now, Nyx." Draco's father interjected before Draco could even bristle. "Don't start. He gave his word to protect her. He will. From anything, including himself." He nodded to Draco who nodded back. "Are you well, Draco?"
It was jarring. For so long, Draco had hated his father for attempting to push Draco into a path he really wasn't suited for and didn't want to do. Then his father had pursued him when Draco had fled, berating him and trying to get him to come back. Draco had refused and it had gone downhill from there. The reconciliation was new and still felt fragile. But the fact that his father of all people called him 'Draco' instead if his birth name helped. Which was likely the point.
"I don't know." Draco admitted. "I am not as angry. The deep rooted triggers in my psyche are being eased. They promise me that I won't even need drugs. The swords say my rhythms are calmer, and that is good. But we will just have to see. I do feel a bit helpless, ensconced in the machine while Jesse is roaming."
"You know they won't let her leave the Citadel without you, Draco." His father said calmly. "She is a new -vulnerable- sister and she needs time to come to grips with everything. Hence the surveillance."
"But they also need to let her come to grips with everything which is why they didn't interfere when she pushed herself too far." Nyx agreed. "They will not let her come to harm. But she does need to know her limits."
"And the only way to learn that is by experience. Yes, Ma'am." Draco smiled at his mother and she smiled back. But then his smile fell as he looked at his father. "Dad, I..."
"Draco, what will be, will be." The First Chroma said quietly. "They are on the right track. I had hoped that the others would retreat. Would learn to live in peace. But they can't. it is not in their nature." Draco slumped a bit and his father laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Not your fault or mine. I found a better way. Admittedly by someone knocking me for a loop with a burst of mental energy so she could capture and study me." His tone was wicked and Nyx actually blushed. Draco shook his head, but he was smiling as Nyx slid up to his father and... He looked away.
"I had no idea." Nyx said with a sigh. "You were a surprise to all of us. And then... you joined us." Her tone became a purr.
"And the rest as they say, is history." Choma agreed. Draco dared a glance at his parents and looked away, his face starting to turn red. There were some things that even Tenno parents should not do in front of their son.
"You two, I swear..." Trinity scowled from the bed where Jesse slumbered. "Get a room." Her glare had all three of the others freezing. "If you wake Jesse, I will hurt you." No threat that. A promise.
"How is she, Trinity?" Draco focused on the shade and Jesse.
"Exhausted, but whole." Trinity said with a frown. "She has had too many shocks. Even Tenno can be driven past the point of no return. We will need to keep an eye on her. Raven does her best, but since Elenia had to leave, Jesse runs rings around the Elder. Not 'quite' a space hamster on stims like Mari, but close."
"Right." Draco sighed deeply and then knelt by the bed. "Mom? Dad? I need to stay with her."
"And we need to talk to some people." Nyx agreed. "Draco... if this goes badly..."
"I treasure what I had. What I have." Draco said softly. "I never doubted your love for me. My anger made it hard for me to see things. But I never doubted."
"Be well, Draco." Nyx said as she bowed and vanished.
"I regret many things, Draco." Chroma said softly. "So many. But driving you away was the worst. I hope you feel better. I hope you find a new and better way."
"I hope to see you both again." Draco said sadly. "But we know our duty."
"Yes we do." Chroma's reply was just as sad. "You make me proud, Draco."
"To you? My name is Edwin." Draco said softly. Chroma jerked but then bowed and vanished as well.
"That was kind, Draco." Trinity said softly from where she sat, still working to keep Jesse calm.
"He is my dad." Draco fought the huskiness that entered his voice. "I don't always like him. But he is my dad. Who cares where he came from?"
"Others will." Trinity warned.
"True." Draco sighed again. "Humans always did know how to hate. Tenno learned that from them."
"And Chroma's kind learned it from us." Trinity agreed. "Now all we can do is wait."
"Yeah." Draco bowed his head.
"And hope."
The captured tower
The tower bustled with activity. The shapeshifting forms were busy preparing for the inevitable Tenno response. Some of them were erecting defenses. Others were marshalling newly converted humans into positions where they would either serve as meat shields or early warning systems. The fates of their slaves were meaningless. They were only human after all.
Still others were trying to gain access to the Tower systems.
"This doesn't make sense!" One of the shapeshifters complained as it worked. It's form was almost a human female. But not quite. "We accessed the main system nexus. That allowed us to shut down everything even though it fought. So how can it not be online now?"
"It should be." This one's form was an Excalibur warframe. But again, not quite. "We have life support and gravity. The rectors did not destabilize. So... There had to be something in control. The tower systems have to be in control."
"Do they?" The first speaker asked, pausing in its work. The other looked at it and the first speaker shook it's not quite human head. "Work with me here. There has to be something in control of the tower or it's vital parts fail spectacularly. Probably causing a cross dimensional implosion that will kill us all." The other nodded. "So something is in control. But the Tower systems that we have control of are not. So something else must..." It went still as the lights in the room suddenly went out. "What?"
"Well reasoned." The voice was melodious. Female. Calm. But...
"Who are you?" The first speaker demanded as it hit controls to no avail. The other tried to use a com unit but it just lay there inert. Disabled. "What are you doing?"
"What I have to." The female voice was sad but then the room filled with screams as electrical energy arced from each and every terminal into the fleshy forms seated in front of them. The screams did not last long.
By the time other shapeshifters forced the doors to the room open, neither of the two who had been working on the systems were revivable and the whole room stank.
"What is going on?" Several of the shapeshifters demanded. But there was no answer. None of them noticed a tiny calico furred form watching from a duct set high on one wall.
They will start using slaves to do that soon.
Matril felt sick as he stared down at the carnage. He was well trained and experienced at recon work. But this was not war. This was horror on the level of the Ancient Enemy, if not -quite- as bad.
I know. When they do, it is only a matter of time before they find the access that Mei used to create me. Sadness rang in the female mental voice. You need to find a way to flee.
And leave you and the others to them? Matril demanded. Not going to happen. I have some explosives. I can make a mess.
Matril. The female voice was flat now. There are dozens of these things. If they get the machinery online, they will make more of themselves. Hundreds, thousands. You cannot win.
So? The cat demanded. I can take a lot of these evil things with me.
Don't throw your life away, Matril. The new Tower systems said firmly. We need you.
You have seen what they are doing! Matril snapped. We can't just...
Everything came to a stop as two golden forms appeared in the middle of the room where the two shapeshifters had just died. A Nyx Prime warframe and a Choma Prime warframe. But... shades.
What the hell?