Three weeks later

Excalibur walked through the small Tenno colony with only a trace of misgiving. He nodded to the guards who had been posted outside the medical facility and they nodded back. Both wore warframes, even here. Excalibur did not. The door opened and he stepped inside, only to pause as an irate voice sounded.

"...and I tell you I feel fine!" Alicia was speaking in a slow voice as if to a dimwitted child. "You cleaned the muck out of me, you cannot find any trace of the crap. So why am I still here?"

"Alicia." Excalibur said mildly as he entered the room she had been assigned. The other Tenno warrior wore a set of light robes. She sat on the bed, a nurse standing nearby with an stubborn look on his face. "Are you being a pain? Again?" He asked with a smile. She looked at Excalibur and her face fell. The nurse rolled his eyes and left the room.

"X... Uh, I mean Will... Uh... Whatever..." She sighed. She slumped in place. "I feel good. Jean and Li have both been released. What is wrong? Why won't they release me?"

"Alicia, you can call me whatever you want. I have been Excalibur so long that Will feels... wrong." Excalibur said gently, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. "And, well... Li and Jean were not infected with the Technocyte virus. You were. There hasn't been a documented case of a Tenno being infected like this since the Great War. It was bad then and we lost so much knowledge..." Excalibur sighed. "Do you blame them for being cautious?"

"No." Alicia said with a shiver. "I still dream about the table. About the needle." She hugged herself tight. "I feel..." Excalibur waited and Alicia sighed. "Physically I feel fine, but mentally? Emotionally? This medical facility gives me the creeps, and I know it's not like the other."

"You are not going to bounce back from this, Alicia." Excalibur said gently. "It took me years before I could fight again after my injuries. You know this. It won't be that long for you, but they want to be absolutely sure."

"I do." Alicia's voice was tiny. "I am just..." She broke off and shook her head. "Fighting is all I know."

"Me too." Excalibur said gently. "But you are not alone. Walk with me?" He asked as he stood. She rose and smoothed her robe.

"Have the Elders decided on what to do about Kori?" Alicia asked as they walked deeper into the facility. "I mean, it wasn't her choice."

"No." Excalibur said heavily. "The Code is clear, but as you say, there are mitigating circumstances. And..." He sighed as Alicia looked at him. "Are there enough of us left for us to just execute her?"

"Are we getting to the point where females will be barred from field work? Forced to stay home and have babies?" Alicia asked, concerned. "I think about half the active warframes are females." She said with a frown.

"Probably a bit more than half." Excalibur said uneasily. "We don't want to start cloning, that is for sure. But the various factions extermination agendas have bit deep into our ranks." Alicia shared a shiver with him. Cloning was the route the Grinneer had taken. Speaking of... "How is Nika doing?"

"The backlash hit her hard." Alicia said quietly. "She is recovering. Want to talk to her?" Excalibur looked at her and she smiled. "I think she is in the exercise room. She wanted to work out."

"She didn't have enough muscles to begin with?" Excalibur asked, incredulous, only to flinch as Alicia swatted at him. "Hey!"

"She is nice." Alicia said with a solemn look as she started off. "I never thought I would say that about a Grinneer, but it is true. She and Jos and Brianna have been open, cooperative and very understanding. None of them have offered as much as a hint of violence."

"From what I understand..." Excalibur said softly as he paced her. "Brianna was trying to find a way to dampen the aggressiveness while keeping the core personalities intact." Alicia nodded. "How is Brianna doing?"

"Not well." Alicia said sadly. "She was kind to me. She and Nika and Jos were all kind to me. The others..." Alicia shook her head. "They knew what was going to happen to me. To some I was a POW, to others I was meat. I never saw Kori until you brought me back to the cells and we called for extraction."

"Yeah." Excalibur said with a sigh. They came to another doorway and paused as it opened. The exercise room had several occupants. The huge form of the female Grinneer was ensconced in one set of weight machines, pumping easily her own mass. She was focused on her workout though. The other three were on treadmills and nodded to Excalibur and Alicia. All four of them wore jumpsuits and all four wore small bracelets that served as medical monitors, tracking devices and if necessary, stunners.

"Alicia!" Kori smiled as she ran. "Excalibur, good to see you!"

"Kori." Alicia said with a smile as she stepped in. She waved as the other Tenno motioned to her treadmill and it slowed. "No, don't let us interrupt." She protested.

"I am done." Kori said with a smile as she stepped off the now slow treadmill and walked in circles for a moment to cool down. "Good to see you both. Any word?" Excalibur shook his head and Kori sighed. "The waiting is the worst."

"Yeah." Excalibur agreed. "Never liked it myself. How you doing?" He asked kindly.

"My dreams are strange." Kori said softly, her gaze going distant. "I don't know if it was the virus or my time away or what. But my head is a mess."

"I don't doubt it." Excalibur nodded. "I felt the same way and my own dreams were troubled for some time after I was healed." Kori bowed her head and Excalibur laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. Alicia laid a hand on her other shoulder. "Kori, it's okay. You are not alone." She smiled and covered their hands with her own before giving them a squeeze. He retracted his hand and Alicia did as well. "Are you still connected to Brianna, Jos and Nika?" He asked, curious.

"Not...really..." Kori said with a frown. "I still get...some things but... It's more emotions now than actual thoughts. And Brianna says that will fade in time. Daniel was the linchpin and with him gone..." Kori shrugged.

"With him gone, the bindings have gone as well." Brianna said as she finished her own run and stepped off the treadmill to walk to where Excalibur stood with Alicia and Kori. "I never thanked you." She said with a nod to Excalibur.

"For?" Excalibur asked, curious.

"For not killing me." Brianna said with a smile. "I had no chance against you. Heck, none of us did. You could have killed all of us without breaking a sweat."

"You were and are not my enemy, Brianna." Excalibur said with quiet conviction. "You confused the heck out of me, but I am not in the habit of killing people who do that." He said seriously. "How are you?"

"I...really don't know." Brianna said with a shiver. "I have good days and bad ones. The healers say I may be over the worst. I hope so. I really, really don't want to go nuts." Fear shone in her eyes, but then she shook her head. "The herbals they have me on help a great deal. Cleansing the virus from my system did as well. I don't know how many of my problems came from Daniel and how many were my own. It may take a while, but the healers here will help me find out." She smiled a bit forlornly. "Good news is that Nika and Jos won't regress any further than they have. They will be okay."

"I am glad." Excalibur said with a smile. Brianna looked at him and he shrugged. "I don't like killing people. It's my job and I am good at it, but I don't like it."

"Of all the things I might have expected to hear from a Tenno..." A soft, incredulous voice came from behind them and the turned to see Nika had paused her workout to listen. "That was not on the list." The Grinneer said, her face a mask of shock.

"Nika..." Excalibur said kindly. "You knew people who enjoyed killing." It wasn't a question. The former Grinneer nodded soberly. "We are taught, early on, that taking lives is necessary in our line of work. We are trained how to kill. With weapons, with our bare hands... We are trained when to kill. And when not to." The male Tenno said calmly. Nika nodded, looking a bit confused. Excalibur paused. "You talked with Kori, yes?" Kori shook her head as Excalibur looked at her.

"I wasn't the most sociable of beings." Kori said with a grimace. "Matter of fact, besides the mental link I avoided contact with everyone I could. Unless I was called for something, like when your team landed... I stayed in the vents for the most part. Alone." Excalibur put his hand back on Kori's shoulder and she leaned into his touch gratefully. "I felt so dirty... I felt so wrong."

"It's all right, Kori." Alicia said gently. "It's over."

"Yeah." Kori smiled a bit forlornly but then nodded to Nika. "Anyway, Nika... Tenno have to be in control at all times, Nika. We are trained how to kill, how to use anything and everything at our disposal to destroy our enemies. But we are also taught that killing is, at heart, a very bad thing. Every life we cut short lessens us."

"Could you..." Brianna started to ask, then broke off. "No, no I don't want to know." Excalibur looked at her and she swallowed heavily. "You seem less dangerous without your warframes. But you are not, are you?" Excalibur shook his head.

"A warframe is a tool." Excalibur said quietly. "A sword is a tool. A pistol is a tool. The only real weapon..." He pointed to his head. "...is the one that resides here."

"I see." Nika said in the silence that fell. Then she grimaced a little. "You are still scary."

"You have nothing to fear from me, Nika." Excalibur said kindly. "As I say, you are not my enemy. Have you thought on what to do now?"

"We want to stay with Brianna." Jos said as he finished his run. Outside of his space suit and boxy Corpus helmet, he was a tanned and fit young man with blonde hair and hazel eyes. "We were her lab assistants and we enjoyed it." Nika nodded agreement and Brianna blushed a bit.

"Well..." Alicia nodded soberly. "I know of a few labs that could use more hands, especially trained ones."

"Tenno have labs?" Brianna asked, incredulous. Alicia looked at her and did not respond. Brianna winced and then nodded. "Never mind, you can't tell me. I understand the secrecy but it does get to be a bit much sometimes."

"It is what we are, Brianna." Excalibur replied, his tone polite, but distant. Kori and Alicia nodded agreement. "I do have one question, Kori."

"Go ahead." Kori said quietly as she lay down and started doing crunchs. Alicia knelt down to hold her sister's feet and Kori smiled at her.

"Where did you find the glaive?" Excalibur had an odd catch to his voice. Kori paused in mid sit-up and looked at him. "I didn't use it in the battle and actually forgot all about it until I got back and was debriefed. The Elders were startled by it."

"Startled?" Kori asked, incredulous. "It's a glaive! Tenno have used them for centuries." She started her crunches again.

"That one is very old, Kori." Excalibur said with a shrug. "And no glaive I have ever seen had initials carved on it." Everyone was staring at him now and he shrugged again. "The Elders are curious. So am I."

"I found it." Nika said slowly. Excalibur looked at her and she sighed. "It was just after I woke up. After Brianna 'adjusted' me, made me sane." She smiled at Brianna. "I ran off to try and clear my head. I was...very confused."

"I bet." Excalibur said kindly. "Where did you find it?"

"It was lying on an odd pedestal of sorts." Nika said, her brow furrowing in thought as she pulled back memories. "It was deployed, the blades out." The former Grinneer said slowly. "But it was just lying there. I knew it was a Tenno weapon, so I was very careful when I picked it up. But the moment I did, it retracted. I dropped it." She said with a wince. "Didn't seem to hurt it. I gave it to Kori, I wanted to be her friend." She paused as he bracelet beeped. "Lunchtime? Already?"

"Keeping to a schedule will help the healers determine your mental state, Nika." Brianna said with a smile as the huge Grinneer rose from her seat. "They want to be sure." She and Jos started off. "Coming?" She asked Kori who nodded.

"In a sec." Kori said slowly. "Excalibur?" She asked. "Why the fuss?" She said with a shrug. "It's a glaive. Not my preferred weapon."

"I didn't want to say in front of them..." Excalibur said with a sigh. Alicia and Kori both stared at him and he shrugged. "The initials on the glaive were 'H T'." Alicia's eyes went wide and that and Kori suddenly looked pale. "Yeah."

"Excalibur..." Kori said, her voice taut. "Are you saying that was Haydon Tenno's glaive...?"

"We don't know." Excalibur said calmly. "But... he did use a glaive. According to the legend, it disappeared when he did."

"Oh boy." Kori said with a wince. Then she froze in place. Excalibur and Alicia both looked at her and she paled, then a slow tear trickled down from one eye. "I... I am sorry..." Excalibur and Alicia both stiffened at her tone. "The Elders have decided. The Lotus has decreed my death..."

"Lotus, she had no choice!" Excalibur said firmly. "It wasn't her fault or her responsibility. She wasn't in control of her actions."

She betrayed us. The female voice was clear and cold. The elders have decided. Do your duty.

"No! She didn't have a choice!" Alicia protested, but was drawing away. "Oh, Kori... I am sorry."

"My duty." Excalibur said slowly. "You really want me to do this?" He asked, seeking clarification.

Do your duty, Tenno. The Lotus pressed.

"Very well." Excalibur said with a calm he suddenly didn't feel. "I challenge the ruling of this court." Alicia and Kori spun to stare at him. "I was taught, by the Tenno, that I had a duty to the truth. A duty to uphold the honor of the Tenno. This is not honorable, so I challenge this ruling. You would punish my sister for being taken against her will and forced to do horrible things. That is wrong." He said with a snarl.

"Excalibur..." Kori said, face white. "No..."

You challenge. The Lotus sounded...disturbed. Name your challenge.

"Parkour." Excalibur said with a nod. "I will not kill my kin. Kori is still kin." He bowed formally to Kori who stood petrified.

"I... I can't let you do this, Excalibur." Kori said with a wince. "If you fail, your life is forfeit. We... They need you. Lotus, you can't let him do this!" But the Lotus did not respond.

"Kori." Excalibur said softly. "There is a clear miscarriage of justice here. I will not fail. Lotus, your answer?"

Accepted. The female voice that guided the Tenno replied coldly. Prepare yourself, your challenge will be laid out within the hour.

Excalibur nodded. He bowed low to Kori and then strode from the room before either female could speak. He had to prepare himself. He heard Kori start to cry behind him, but he ignored it. He had to do his duty and in this case, his duty was to his kin.