Ways
"Karl?" The voice pulled Karl from his meditations.
He looked up to see Iriana standing in the doorway to the room, her face worried, scared almost. It was a small hospital room, but the walls were decorated in fine paintings and the floor was opulently carpeted. Just like Karl remembered from when he had trained in a Tower. Before the War. Karl eased his posture, relaxing slowly from his kneeling position in the middle of the bed. He hadn't wanted to alarm anyone by taking off the monitors so he had gingerly eased himself into a kneeling position on the bed. At least he was still wearing his body suit and not a patient gown. Karl nodded to the healer but his eyes did not miss the cast on her arm that rested in a sling, the bandages on her face and neck or the scared look in her eyes. She wore a slightly dirty set of scrubs.
"You have nothing to fear from me, healer." Karl said quietly. "I apologize for not notifying anyone as soon as I woke. But I needed time to think." Iriana did not relax and Karl sighed. "Healer, be easy. I mean you no harm." It was an oath, those quiet words.
"Ah..." Iriana swallowed. "No one will deny you the chance to...to do whatever you wish... But..."
"I am denied an honorable end, healer." Karl said quietly. "The Lotus may say she guides, but it is a command nonetheless." Iriana's eyes went wide and then softened in sympathy. "I am lost, but will do no harm to you or yours, Healer Iriana." Karl declared. "Serene?" He asked.
"I got her to sleep." Iriana said uncertainly. "I can wake her..." She broke off as Karl shook his head.
"No, don't. She is... very hurt still." Karl said with a sigh. "I could hear you and her talking as if from a great distance. I did not mean to eavesdrop. She blames herself." Iriana nodded. "It is not her fault."
"Nor yours." Iriana said with a shrug that turned into a wince.
"I do not agree." Karl said with a shrug of his own. "But I will not argue. I do need to see Lis and Luc, know their fates." Iriana tensed again and Karl shook his head again. "I do not need their deaths, healer. They are the last of the rogues. By the letter of my oath, I just need to see them stopped. I have killed too many of my kin already." He said with a grimace.
"The tower will take them." Iriana said with a wince. "They go in for implantation in the morning. I wanted to be sure they were hale first. It will be traumatizing. The tower sentry wants them awake when it takes control of their minds as punishment for what happened. Lis leading them here and Luc helping to attack."
"I need to see it done, healer." Karl said with a nod. "I give you my word, I will not interfere."
"The girl... Lis..." Iriana said softly. "She loves you." Karl nodded. "You never returned it."
"No." Karl said with a sigh. "She was..never quite right for me. If I had encountered her...before..." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Nicholas tried to trap me with a former love of mine once. It cost him three of his clan." Iriana winced again. "I probably would have slain her out of hand without giving her a chance to explain."
"I see." Iriana said sadly. "I have no real understanding of what you have endured, what you have had to do. The Way of the Warrior is hard." Karl nodded.
"Most Ways are." Karl said quietly. Iriana looked at him oddly and Karl shrugged. "Don't tell me you haven't had to make hard choices." His eyes traveled down her person and lingered on her cast. "You fought. With no training or equipment, you tried to fight."
"Got trounced." Iriana said sadly. "There is more to it than point and click." She said with a self deprecating grin. "But he came in and gloated when he found Serene unable to fight. When he saw Sara. I had to do something."
"Are you well?" Karl asked, concerned. "Now bad were your injuries?"
"No pain now." Iriana replied. "Broken arm, concussion, frostbite. The nanobots are repairing the damage as we speak."
"You are staying." Karl said with a nod. She stared at him and he shrugged. "I couldn't...quite wake. But I did hear you."
"I am." Iriana said simply. "They need me. Sara and my biological daughter wish to stay with me."
"Are you sure this is a good place for children, doctor?" Karl asked cautiously. "The dangers are real."
"Is anywhere safe these days?" Iriana asked softly as she finally stepped closer. She looked at the monitors, then at Karl before nodding. "The tower systems have reported that they have files on child care. The residents have pledged their support. They haven't had a kid here in a while, but they do wish to help. Sara already has a minder drone staying close to her."
"Healer..." Karl said softly. "Are you sure? The Grineer will not stop looking for this place. There are several entrances and all cannot be sealed or this place with wither and die like so many other towers."
"No." Iriana said sadly. "I am not sure. But they need me, and..." She shrugged, this time without a wince. "Serene may find something to do here as well."
"She needs purpose." Karl mused. "Same as me. My crusade against my former clan was all that I was for so long... Now?" He blew out a breath. "I don't know."
"I tired." Iriana said sadly. "We all tried. But even with Orokin tech, the radiation damage is simply too bad. Her nerves won't accept prosthesis command signals. Maybe if she had come here immediately, instead of coming to the colony..." Iriana broke off as Karl raised a hand and slowly laid it on her unhurt arm.
"Healer." The male Tenno's voice was soft and sincere. "You did everything you could."
"She cries in her sleep, despite the sedatives I give her." Iriana said, wilting. "When she is awake, she tries to be upbeat, cheerful. But asleep...? Her real feelings come out and she falls apart. Sara and I do what we can..." She broke off and bowed her head. "Even now, I fear for her."
"She has taken a grievous injury." Karl said quietly. "And you... You give, and give..." He looked at Iriana. "Who has given to you recently?" He guided her to sit on the bed beside him, her back to him. She did as instructed.
"Sara has opened her heart to me." Iriana said softly. "And Serene, when she is coherent, she is..." The healer gave a squeak as Karl's massive hands moved quickly to her shoulders and then she stiffened as he started to massage them. "I... No, this is not your... Ah..." She groaned, half in pleasure, half in apprehension.
"Every strength has limits, healer." Karl said sadly as he continued the massage. "Be at ease, you need to relax. Your life will change significantly in the near future. Sara's and Serene's as well."
"I..." Iriana gasped as Karl's fingers worked on knots of muscles, to find and soothe the tautness in her shoulders away. "Oh, that's nice..." She just about purred.
"You are still hurt, healer." Karl said gently. "You need rest too."
"I need to tend..." Iriana gasped louder as Karl pressed in with his fingers, finding a particularly tight clump of muscles and working on it. "I... I need..."
"You need sleep." Karl said with fond exasperation. "Just like so many other healers I have known, you push yourself too hard." Iriana almost turned to putty in his hands and he continued his massage. "Easy... Easy..." Karl said kindly.
"I..." Iriana said softly, her eyes drooping. "I need to..."
"Rest healer." Karl said as Iriana fell asleep in his hands. He laid her gently on the bed, careful of her hurt arm. He deactivated the monitoring equipment attached to him and started to undo the monitor feeds. The door hissed open and Sara stood there, gaping. He put a finger to his lips and she nodded, stepping back so the door shut. He rose from the bed and covered the slumbering healer with a sheet. Then he strode to the door. Sara waited just outside, an Orokin drone hovering protectively nearby. She girl wore a Skana and a pistol. The pistol looked far too large on her hip. "She is asleep."
"She was about to come apart." Sara said softly, worried. "With everything that happened, she was..." The girl was holding together commendably, but Karl knelt and held out his arms. Sara swarmed into them tears starting to fall. "Look at me, all weepy..." She hugged him tight and he held her gently.
"When did you sleep last, Sara?" Karl asked softly.
"They drugged me." Sara said, her tone hard. "They had me restrained. They were going to take me back and..." She swallowed. "They... They looked at me and I was just a thing. Meat. They were scanning my abdomen when they drugged me." Karl bowed his head and gave her a gentle squeeze. "Then I got dragged to the virtual world and we talked. Jasmina woke me up, after. But then Serene ran off and the others followed her. I... I am sorry..." Sara said, scrubbing her face harshly.
"For what?" Karl asked quietly. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You were abused, Sara. What they planned to do to you was horror on the scale of what the Corpus did. Maybe they would have been kinder. I doubt it. I knew my brother."
"Shouldn't be crying." Sara said with a snarl. "Tenno don't cry."
"That is a lie." Karl said with a snort. "Who the heck told you that?" He demanded.
"You... you don't..." Sara said, uncertain. Karl sighed and shook his head. "You do?" She asked, confused.
"Sara..." Karl said gently. "Tenno came from humans. We are more, and less. We have more training, more skills, more of many things. Some bred into us, some learned. We have the same emotions our ancestors did. We think, we feel, we grieve. We control ourselves, because if we cannot control ourselves, how can we control anything else?" Sara stared at him and he shook his head. "Sara... You need sleep too." He paused as she hugged him tighter. "Sara?" He asked.
"I am afraid." Sara said as she burrowed her face into his shoulder. "I am afraid this is a dream. I am afraid I am going to wake up on a table again. Corpus or Tenno..." She broke down and wept as she hugged him. He let her cry. "I thought I was safe here and they... They..."
"I know, Sara." Karl said sadly. "I know. I do thank you for what you did, stopping me."
"Jasmina meant well." Sara said uneasily. "But she didn't understand."
"Yes, she did." Karl demurred, holding Sara as she cried herself out. "She knew exactly what she was doing." Sara looked at him and he shrugged. "Sara, people have tried to use my honor against me for a long, long time. Some have succeeded, some have not. What she did changes nothing. I didn't trust her from the beginning. Serene's clan lives sneakiness. I do not."
"I...see..." Sara said quietly. "I was looking for something. Anything that could make you stay. Make you..." She broke off as Karl laid a finger on her lips.
"The Lotus contacted me just before I woke, Sara." Karl said with a sigh. "She commanded me not to seek death." Sara's eyes went wide and then outrage poured from them. Karl shook his head. "Sara..." He said sternly. "I am a weapon. No more, no less. Without directions..." He sighed. "I need to find a new way that fits my own."
"I think Jasmina will ask you to join her clan again." Sara said uneasily. "I can guess what your response will be." Karl nodded. "I... I don't know what to say, what to do..." Sara stammered.
"For now Sara, you need to rest, heal and recover." Karl said quietly. "I need to talk to Serene, but later. For now..." He rose and Sara gave a squeak as she was lifted easily in his arms. Her grip tightened a little, but she did not recoil. "Where are your quarters?"
"I...uh..." Sara gulped. "I don't know. They said they gave me a room, but I never went there. Things were... nuts..." Karl nodded and looked at the drone which dipped in midair and started off. He followed it. Sara relaxed a little. "Karl?" Sara asked.
"Yes, Sara?" Karl asked as the drone ahead stopped by a doorway that flashed from a red outline to a green one , showing it had unlocked. He walked forward and it opened to show a small, pristine compartment. Bed, chair, desk with terminal. Nothing else. He walked towards the bed and lay the shuddering girl down on it.
"Do you still love Serene?" Sara asked carefully as he covered her with a sheet that lay nearby. "I mean, it's none of my business, but she is my mom and all..."
"I don't know, Sara." Karl said with a sigh. "Things have changed. I am not who I was. She is not who she was." He stepped back, looking at the girl who looked back at him. "You can sleep now."
"I am scared to." Sara said softly. Karl nodded and her eyes went wide as he knelt in the middle of the floor. Then her eyes went even wider as he started to sing softly. The ancient lullaby had Sara slowly easing. By the third verse, her eyes were closed and she was lying back, a soft smile on her face as she fell asleep. Karl ended the lullaby and rose.
"Sleep, little one." Karl said in a whisper quiet voice. He looked at the drone that hovered nearby. "If she becomes distressed, contact me. Do not wake Iriana or Serene until both have rested." The soft words were a command and the drone dipped in midair again. He walked out the door and another drone hovered there. It weaved towards him and away. "You want me to follow?" It dipped and he sighed. "Very well."
The drone led him to another, nearby door. This one changed from red to green as well as the drone approached. It hissed open and Karl stepped to it, only to freeze as he saw what lay within. Serene sat upon her bed, her eyes intent as she looked at him. She wore a patient gown that did nothing to disguise the stumps of her legs. It also left very little to the imagination.
"Hello, Karl." Serene said evenly. "We need to talk."