Anger
"How is that?"
The gentle female voice was concerned, and Janet fought to keep her innate sarcasm buried. She was still restrained and the thing obscuring her eyes hadn't been removed. Or so she thought. She wasn't totally sure. She had slept a bit. The one called Alicia understood. Understood completely. But unfortunately, the Tenno wasn't stupid either and wasn't taking any chances. Janet bit back on her first couple of responses and spoke slowly and carefully.
"I am in no position to argue." The former Corpus agent said quietly. "I understand your concerns... Heck I share them." She would have shaken her head, but it was strapped down. "Can we just get on with this? I have a mission." She had to find the Elena Greensky. Soon. If the traitor ship managed to get hold of someone in the Corpus who wasn't clandestinely affiliated with the Lotus, things would get very bad, very quickly.
"Janet." Alicia's voice was gently chiding. "You know better than that." A hand touched her restrained one and gave it a squeeze. It still felt...wrong, but the comfort was appreciated. "Everyone here has the highest security rating, Janet. All we are waiting for is... Ah, good."
"Alicia." A deep and commanding voice spoke from nearby and Janet fought to keep from shivering. Another Tenno. It had to be. And this one was likely in charge. They had been waiting for the leader to return from wherever he had gone. "What is going on?"
"Karl, I need some... odd things." Alicia said quietly. "And I need your silence. You, Brianna and Jimmy. This is... delicate."
"Alicia..." A wealth of disapproval sounded in the other voice. "Don't involve us in your spy games."
"This isn't a game!" Janet snapped as Alicia said the exact same thing. "Uh..." The bound human swallowed hard. "Sorry." She said, a little abject. "Alicia, is he cleared?"
"Everyone who is here is, Janet." Alicia said softly. "Go ahead." The hand holding hers gave a squeeze and then released her. Janet took a deep breath and then spoke.
"My name is Janet." The former Corpus said quietly. "I serve the Lotus. But until recently, I served the Corpus Clergy." Two inhalations of shock sounded and Janet continued. "I don't expect you to believe anything I say. Corroborate it however you must. But the Elena Greensky contacted the Clergy. It must be stopped from whatever it is doing. I..." She trailed off, suddenly afraid.
"It's all right Janet." Alicia said gently. "It's all right."
"No it is not!" Janet snapped. "I believed. I trusted. Everything I learned. Everything I thought I knew... all lies. I was born in a colony on Neptune. I was raised to serve the Corpus as a spy and assassin. It was what I did and I was good at it. But no one is invulnerable. Not even your kind."
"No, we are not." Alicia agreed. "You fought Tenno, yes?"
"Yes." Janet said sadly. "My mentor and I were on a mission. We didn't know what was happening, just that the Grineer were suddenly swarming everywhere. A team of Tenno had struck the facility, hunting Tyl Regor. We had been tasked to destroy his research and we did, but when we tried to egress, we ran into the Tenno team as they exfiltrated. The battle...was short." She felt her eyes burn. "I did as I was trained, I shot and I think I hit one of them. But then, the Tenno left. Both of us were hurt and the Grineer were coming. I didn't want to leave him behind. I didn't!" She said sadly. "He was a good man."
"What happened, Janet?" Alicia prompted.
"I had been hit, bad." Janet said softly, her voice full of remembered pain. "But Zacharias was worse. He couldn't move. He told me to leave. To get away. I didn't want to. I didn't want to leave him to the Grineer!" She screamed.
"Easy, easy..." Alicia said gently. "Janet, it's okay... Easy..." The hand was holding hers again and she squeezed down. It was all she could do.
"I have done so many horrible things, hurt so many people..." Janet said sadly. "Whatever you Tenno could do to me cannot compare to what I do to myself. The Reverend Mother was kind and gentle. She took me off field work. She helped me." She slumped in her bonds. "I don't know what else to say. She told me I would be alone, but it hurts. It really and truly hurts."
"Are you?" Alicia asked quietly. "She could be controlling you right now for all we know. Trying to play our emotions."
"I..." Janet swallowed hard and relaxed. Lotus what I do? What do I say? She begged in her mind. I don't blame them for not trusting me. But... I need to stop the Elena Greensky!
Good girl. The Lotus said in approval as the hand holding hers gave another squeeze. Janet went still as the things holding her went click and released. This is not the end of your interrogations, Janet. But you just passed the most important test.
"Yep." Alicia's hand was gentle as it pulled Janet up into a sitting position. Other hands were supporting her, helping her sit as she shuddered. "You didn't call on profit, or on the Reverend Mother." Janet didn't move as a hand came up and touched her face. Something fell away and she could see.
"I..." Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as a small form jumped into her lap. "Holy..."
"Oh, don't start that." The black furred kitten said sharply in a female voice. "You know what I am." The cat said, calming.
"Feline Corps." Janet swallowed. Orokin Intelligence special operations soldiers who happened to be cats. Talking cats. "Like the one who helped Mitchell and NightNova escape with Anne. How... many...?"
"Five." The tiny intelligence agent said as she curled up on Janet's lap.
"Five?" Janet felt her world rock. "I... No..." She didn't move. "You can't trust me!" She recoiled a little. "And I am allergic!"
"It is handled." The dry voice came from a human woman in a medical tunic. This had to be Brianna. She nodded to Janet. "There is a patch on your right arm." Janet looked and yes, a drug patch showed. "You are on a regime of antihistamines. You are not the only one who has that problem." Janet stared at the doctor and then at the small black form in her lap.
"I..." Janet shook her head. "This is nothing I was trained for."
"I know." Alicia's voice pulled Janet's eyes away from the now purring form in her lap to where a pair of warframes stood. One was Alicia, the other a huge white bulk she didn't know. "This is Karl, clan leader." Janet bowed from the neck, unwilling to disturb the cat.
"This feels... wrong. Off." Janet said weakly. "Am I drugged?"
"Just the antihistamines." Alicia repeated with a shrug. "But we need you. Your talents." She clarified when Janet looked at her oddly.
"I am still broken." Janet said weakly. "What good would I do?"
"You can go places we can't." Alicia said quietly. "Your skill set is hunting, yes?"
"It was what I did, yes." Janet said with a gulp. "But you Tenno are better than I will ever be."
"Most of us are soldiers, not hunters." Alicia said calmly. Karl nodded, not speaking. Janet found his silence to be very unnerving. "We need to find the Elena Greensky. We think it will access a powerful source of energy. One powerful enough to destroy the entire Solar system if let loose." Janet felt the blood leave her face and Alicia nodded. "We need a specialist. We have a specialized hunter out now, but we need more. People who know how to get into places quietly and get information without hurting people. You can."
"I did... humint work... I have done it." Janet said weakly. "But you can't trust me!" She protested.
"No offense, Janet." Alicia said softly. "I don't trust anyone."
"So..." Janet calmed, a little. "A tracker? Some kind of implanted explosive?" She asked.
"No." Alicia said with a sigh. "Those can be detected fairly easily. And if detected are an immediate giveaway. No, what we will do to you won't be detectable."
"Do it." Janet said as she laid back, holding the cat carefully as the tiny furred form protested the moment. Her hands were caressing gently, petting and the cat started purring again. "What is your name?" She asked the cat. "I don't want to be rude."
"I am Grisha." The cat said through her purrs. "And you will be okay." Janet smiled at the calm words, but then nodded to Alicia who looked at the medic. Brianna looked torn.
"You are asking me to enslave her, Alicia." The medic said slowly. "I... I can't do that. Not again. Not after what I did to Kori and Will. What I would have done to you." Alicia sighed, but Janet was the one who spoke.
"Doc, I can't be trusted right now. Until and unless my bona fides can be checked out completely, I am a security risk. A massive one. I do not know where I am and am glad of it." Brianna was staring at the supine agent now, her jaw dropping. "Will it hurt?"
"No..." Brianna said slowly. "But..."
"Doc?" Janet begged. "Please? I want to do my job. The job my former mistress and the Lotus chose me for. What will it do?"
"It is a derivative of a toxin called curare." Brianna said softly, glancing to the side where a hypo lay on a table. "A muscle relaxant. It builds up over time. You will need a palliative every 24 hours until it is neutralized. Or every muscle in your body will relax. Including your heart." She said with a grimace.
"So every day, I get another shot?" Janet asked. "I can work with that. At least it doesn't sound painful." She held out an arm to the doc who sighed and picked up the hypo.
"Right now, the only people who are cleared to know who and what you were are in this room." Alicia said softly. "We will alter your appearance, change your looks a bit. We can alter your voice a bit too. But if the Corpus catch you..." Brianna stepped close and Janet looked down that the purring form on her stomach as the doc took her arm in a gentle grip.
"They will do a DNA scan and it will come up red flagged." Janet said with a gulp as the hypo hissed. It didn't hurt and she didn't feel any different. "Then they will kill me slowly. So..." She smiled grimly. "I don't get caught. Rules of Engagement?" The white armored Tenno shook his head and left the room. "Tenno? Ah..."
"Try to keep civilian casualties down and collateral damage down." Alicia said softly. "Other than that? None."
"Alicia!" Janet snapped. "You can't be serious! None?"
"There is one more thing we have to do, Janet." Alicia looked at Brianna who looked sick, but nodded and turned to a bank of machinery. "We have to do a full scan of all recruits. It is procedure because it works."
"Procedure?" Janet said softly. "Wait... Recruits?" She asked, stunned.
"Yes." Alicia said softly. "Stretch out so you can be restrained again." Janet did as instructed, her mind whirling. "Grisha, move."
"She will need me." Grisha said quietly, but firmly.
"Stubborn cat." Alicia said with such force that Janet barked a laugh that faded as her arms and legs were restrained again. She laid her head back and it too was held. "I should know better by now than to give you orders. You argue with every single one."
"No, I don't." Grisha replied primly. "I am not Mitral." Then she sobered. "But she will need help." Janet swallowed hard as a bit of machinery lowered itself from the ceiling to hover over her head. "Don't resist, Janet." She warned.
"I will try not to." Janet said weakly. "But... recruits?" She asked, confused.
"Yeah." Alicia said sadly. "Welcome to Intelligence, Janet."
Then golden energy played from the machine and all Janet could do was scream.
A short time later
"Bunch of bloody butchers..." The irate voice brought Janet back to consciousness. Nothing hurt and she wasn't nauseated. Memories of both came, but she felt... good and she was glad. "Back with us?"
"Wh-?" Janet opened her eyes and froze. She was lying on a bed in a sumptuous apartment. It was far, far grander than anything she had ever had for her own use. Far larger for one thing, and the decor... Whites and golds predominated. Why did that send alarm bells ringing in her mind? She was lying on a huge bed. A table with two chairs and a desk with another chair were also in evidence. jerked away from the human looking female who sat nearby. "Who are you?"
"My name is Iriana." The woman replied. "I am a Healer. They brought you here after your surgeries. They wanted to see if I could repair...the previous damage."
"You can't." Janet said flatly. "Too long."
"Maybe not." Iriana replied easily. "But we are looking into options. You don't have to be sterile."
"Healer..." Janet said slowly, aware of an odd robotic shape hovering nearby now. Had to be some kind of defense drone. "I was hit in the gut by an exploding round. The damage was done. I am alive, if not totally whole. I serve."
"Janet..." Iriana looked sick. "I have done a series of scans. I wanted to tell you myself. It was repairable, with Corpus tech." Janet went still and the Healer nodded. "How soon were you treated after your injury?"
"About forty minutes." Janet said slowly. "But... they said..."
"They lied." Iriana's face looked like it smiled a lot, but now? She looked scary. "Most of the damage I can see was done by ham handed Corpus docs. The removal of your reproductive organs was not needed."
"That is not..." Janet paused, remembering. The first time she had seen the Reverend Mother. The ancient Clergywoman had stormed into the recovery ward. She had been furious. Angrier than Janet had seen her before losing Lilly. She had actually ordered two of the doctors disciplined."They neutered me?" She begged.
"So it would seem." Iriana said sadly. "But as to why... I don't know."
"Could have been a manipulation." Janet didn't want to think that, but the Reverend Mother was very capable of doing just such things. And far worse. "So... prognosis?" She asked.
"All the surgeries that our people did have healed with no impairment." Iriana said quietly. "You will be released as soon as you feel able to walk. Should not be long." She paused. "If... If you want, I can look into possibilities. We have some very good reconstructive techniques now."
"I have a mission, Healer." Janet said quietly. "But thank you." Iriana nodded and looked at the door. "You have other patients? I am okay."
"No, you are not." Iriana retorted. "But you are coping very well. We will look into options." She rose and moved to the door, the odd hovering machine going with her. "And... Whatever you do? Good luck." Then she was gone.
"Oh Healer... I am not to going to need luck." Janet said softly. Lotus?
I am here, Janet. The voice of her new mistress was calm, but underneath lay something else. Something worrying. She didn't know. Not until it was too late. They did it without her authorization. And Corpus tech couldn't undo what they did. It took me three hours to calm her down when she found out.
I wasn't going to ask. Janet said weakly. But thank you. She was kind to me. She didn't have to be.
Gentleness can work as a control mechanism just the same as pain and fear, Janet. The Lotus said calmly. She is old and pragmatic. But she is also a woman and there are some things you just don't do around her. That is why she took you as her aide. To help you. To protect you.
Well, now... I need to protect everything. Janet said with a sigh. No Rules of Engagement? She asked, concerned.
If you need to do something, do it. The Lotus said quietly. I have to trust my operatives. I will contact you every day with a secure location that will have the palliative. We have lost all of our traces. But... one thing... The Reverend Mother thinks that while she was being spoken to, the Elena Greensky hacked the Clergy database.
Oh that won't go over well at all. Janet said with a wince. Hell truly had no fury like the Clergy Matriarch sometimes.
No it won't. The Lotus agreed. A Tenno will be leaving the facility you are in shortly. They will give you a lift to a human settlement near a solar power accumulator that our projections place as a high possibility of the Elena Greensky tampering with. Check it.
And if I do find it? Her? Janet said quietly. I can kill humans or Grineer. Infested... maybe. Tenno, not so much. But a spacecraft? A sentient one?
If you see her, or even suspect she is nearby, call. The Lotus said firmly then she was gone. Janet sighed and nodded. Then she focused on getting up and ready. As she was finishing her ablutions, the door hissed open and a black armored Tenno stood there, scrutinizing her.
"Janet?" The Tenno asked quietly.
"Ready." Janet said with a nod. "Blindfold?"
"Would it do any good?" The Tenno asked snidely and Janet had to laugh. She knew where she was. An Orokin tower.
"I will not betray the Lotus, Tenno." Janet's soft words were an oath. "I serve."
"As do we all." The Banshee replied. "I am Two. You want a weapon?" Janet shook her head. "Why not?"
"The only weapon that matters is in here." Janet tapped the side of her head. "And it is time I started using it again."