Alert
Michelle was reading in one of the common rooms when she saw it. Something that didn't...fit. The warframe wasn't out of place, but... it was. The Frost Prime was only visible for a moment in a narrow window on one wall, and then it was gone. But... She shook herself and turned to the other occupant of the room.
"Um... Cora?" Michelle asked, a bit timid. The other female was seriously intimidating. Cora had muscles on her muscles. Even sitting, pretending to read as she was, she was coiled and ready to move. She was also armed.
"Yes, Michelle?" Cora said, not looking up from her book. Michelle did not miss the quick eyes that tracked over her before returning to fake her reading. Cora was a guard, not a fellow reader.
"I didn't know you had Frost Prime warframes. How many do you have?" Michelle asked slowly. "They are rare."
"Original model of the Frost or so Sensei tells me. We have one full set and some spares." Cora grunted. "Hard to repair, but tough. Why?" She asked.
"No reason, just saw one." Michelle said offhanded, but went still as Cora did. "What?"
"Where?" Cora demanded, her entire being changing from fake lassitude to ready in a heartbeat. Her book reader fell and her Braton rifle came down to a ready position as she rose.
"At the window." Michelle waved at the narrow strip of plexi that served as a window of sorts to the corridor. "Why?"
"None of our clan wear Frost Prime warframes at the moment." Cora said with a snarl. "Are you sure?" She asked when Michelle went stiff.
"Good hoops on the head. Water vapor coming from the upper arm emitters." Michelle said, not daring to move. "It was a Frost Prime."
"Are you sure?" Cora pressed, going to the window and looking out, but nothing was in sight now. She turned back a bit as Michelle snarled.
"No!" Michelle just about threw the book reader away. "No, I am not sure about anything! Everything I know or think I knew has all gone to hell. My body is not my own. My mind is falling apart! Yes! I could have been seeing things..."
"Calm down." Cora's words cut through Michelle's started rant and Michelle shut her mouth with a click. "I don't doubt you, but..." She paused and cursed vilely in what sounded like Grineer. "Security systems are not responding! We have a breach!" Michelle started to rise and Cora shook her head. "You. Stay down." She commanded, her mannerisms suddenly much more like a Grineer. She moved to the door and the com panel there. "Dead." She snapped. "Whoever it was wants us isolated."
"I... uh..." Michelle shook a bit. "What?"
"Sensei was worried about Grina trying something stupid." Cora replied. "Hence why I am here instead of Jac. We need to get to Medical. It's not far." She cursed again. "Internal security systems are not responding. Come on." She commanded as she moved to the door sinuously. "This room is not secure-able."
"Ok." Michelle said, rising quickly and moving to where Cora indicated for here to stand. "What do I do?"
"Neither of us are in warframes, so if I tell you to run, you run, okay?" Cora said with a nod. Michelle bit her lip but nodded. "They are probably after you. Catch or kill it makes no difference. If they do, Karl will go to war." Michelle went white at that and Cora nodded. "Yeah."
"With other Tenno...?" Michelle asked weakly. "He can't... He can't do that."
"No, with Grina." Cora replied absently, as she slid into the hallway, her rifle tracking with her eyes. "And we would not be alone. Takeshi Circle and other Warrior clans would stand with us. Grina is playing a very dangerous game and he has no clue of the consequences." She waved to Michelle to follow.
"I always thought Grina was a woman." Michelle said softly as she did as instructed. "But...the voice I heard was male."
"Don't know. Don't care." Cora said with a snap. "Clear to the next junction. Slow and careful."
"How far to Medical?" Michelle asked. "I was... not paying enough attention."
"Two hundred meters." Cora replied calmly. "You are out of sorts. One reason Karl Sensei sent me, in case you lost it." Michelle nodded soberly. If she did, Cora would stop her, permanently.
It was a slow and nerve wracking journey, but nothing happened. They made it to Medical and Cora slid in, her rifle seeking targets but not finding any. She beckoned Michelle in as a voice sounded.
"What the-?" Alicia's voice was sharp. "Cora! What is going on?" Michelle saw the Tenno healer nearby and nearly cried in relief when she realized that Alicia was in her waframe.
"I can't access the security systems." Cora said quietly, her rifle still tracking. "Can you?"
"I..." Alicia stiffened and then her posture became worried. "No. What is going on? System failure?"
"I don't think so." Cora replied uneasily. "Michelle saw a Frost Prime."
"Oh no..." Alicia gulped. "He didn't..."
"We don't know what is going on." Cora replied calmly. "Until we do, we should fort up and get word to Sensei. Where is Jac?"
"Her ultrasound is almost done." Alicia replied, stepping to the side and palming open a locker. Michelle was unsurprised to see weapons inside. This was a Tenno facility after all. She pulled out a Bolto pistol and shut the locker. "I'll go." Alicia said, moving towards the door.
"Alicia..." Cora growled softly. She was acting more and more like a Grineer now, Michelle noted.
"I am in a warframe, you are not." Alicia's calm tone ended the argument before it really began. "Room seven is the bunker. Get Jac, Michelle and Amelia in there and keep them there!" Cora nodded to empty air as Alicia ran out at full speed.
"Alicia?" Amelia's voice preceded the other healer into the main bay. She stepped into sight with Jac and both females froze on seeing Cora with her rifle drawn. "Cora? What is going on?"
"Security has been breached. Systems are not responding." Cora said quietly. Both females paled at that and Cora nodded. "Alicia is off to find Sensei. We need to fort up." Amelia and Jac moved to the locker and drew Lato pistols of their own. Michelle did not ask for one. There was no way they would let her handle a firearm even in a security alert. Jac moved to stand beside Michelle as Amelia moved to a control panel nearby.
"Ah... just to be sure..." Amelia said slowly as she tapped a panel then grimaced. "Com is out. Security systems are not responding. Intruder?"
"Michelle saw a Frost Prime." Cora said quietly. Jac and Amelia hissed at that and both nodded. "No idea who."
"Room seven is the bunker. Reinforced walls. One door." Amelia said, calming. "We have backup coms as well as food and ammunition."
"You have been busy." Cora said, not taking her eyes -or her rifle muzzle- off the entrance.
"With Grina's silliness, Alicia thought it best to be prepared." Amelia said with a grimace. "I played along. Didn't think we would need it."
"Better to have it and not need it." Michelle said softly as Jac reached out to touch her.
"You okay?" Jac asked, worried, her eyes flicking here and there, her pistol down and to the side.
"Scared." Michelle said softly. "If it is Grina... Won't he start a civil war by attacking your clan?"
"Only if he leaves survivors." Cora replied with a snarl. "Probably figures on killing us all and blaming the Grineer." Michelle felt her guts clench.
"Cora." Jac said mildly, taking Michelle's human hand in her free one. Cora subsided but did not relax her vigilance. "I'll check room seven." She gave Michelle's hand a squeeze then moved off, Amelia's cry of protest ignored.
"Crazy girl..." Amelia said in fond exasperation. "Michelle? How you doing?"
"Scared out of my mind, but whole." Michelle replied as she moved to one side, out of the line of sight of the door. "If it comes down to it, give me to him."
"Like hell." Cora snapped. "I don't know what he wants you for but whatever it is won't be good, for you or any Tenno."
"Did Iriana get clear?" Michelle asked after a moment. Amelia nodded and Michelle relaxed a bit. "Good."
"She let an hour ago via key." Amelia said with a grimace. "I am never going to get used to seeing people disappear into thin air."
"You say that now..." Jac said with a laugh as she came into sight. "Clear." Her pistol was up and tracking, but careful not to aim at anyone.
"Go on." Cora said, not moving. "I will hold the door."
"Cora..." Amelia said with a scowl.
"You three are non-combatants." Cora said with a snarl that brooked no hesitation. "Go. Now."
Michelle did not delay. She started for where Jac was standing, careful not to block the armed Tenno's line of fire. Amelia followed quickly. They made it to room seven without incident and went in. The room was piled high with supplies of various kinds but easily had space for the three off them. Amelia sighed as Jac shut the door and stood beside it, pistol ready. Jac shook her head.
"I may not be on the combat roster, doc." Jac said quietly. "But I am still a better shot than you."
"It goes against the grain." Amelia said with a grunt as she moved two boxes of supplies to have someplace to sit. "Michelle? How you doing?"
"Scared." Michelle repeated. "I just... I saw that Frost Prime and didn't think anything of it. If I hadn't said anything..."
"They likely would have taken Cora by surprise." Jac said softly. "It would have cost them more than they can guess, but they would have taken her. She is good, but she is not Tenno."
"Is she Grineer?" Michelle asked after a moment of thought. Jac nodded. "How did that happen?" Michelle demanded incredulous.
"Let's just say that Karl has a habit of finding recruits in odd places." Amelia said with a laugh. Michelle transferred her incredulous gaze to the doc who shrugged. "Yeah, me too. I was...a guest of the Tenno and well...still am..." She opened the neck of her bodysuit and Michelle inhaled sharply as she saw a restraint collar blinking on the doc's neck. Amelia nodded ad closed her collar. "Not that I will ever betray Karl or our clan. But he had to talk fast to get me out of lockup."
"You were a prisoner?" Michelle asked, dazed by all this.
"I am a prisoner." Amelia corrected her gently. "The Corpus used me to break into Serene's mind. What I learned cannot be unlearned and must never fall back into Corpus hands. Serene actually captured me, way back when. Brought me to the Tenno who...well... They were not happy."
"I heard...some of that." Michelle admitted. "Wasn't she shot?"
"Among other things." Amelia said sadly. "Good Tenno. A crazy woman mind you, but a good Tenno." She smiled at Jac. "Kind of like others I might name."
"I have no idea who you might be talking about." Jac said primly. Michele had to smile as Amelia made a face, which Jac ignored. "Try the com?"
"Oh, yeah." Amelia turned to the pile of gear and started rummaging as Michelle sank into seiza on the floor. Amelia pulled a com set out of the pile and switched it on. "Here we go... Medical reporting. Any other sections on this channel?"
"Amelia." Karl's voice came through immediately. "Who is with you?" Both she and Jac stiffened.
"I have three with me." Amelia said softly. "Protocol Six?" She asked.
"Who is with you?" Karl's voice pressed and Amelia shut the com down, staring at it.
"That wasn't Karl was it?" Michelle asked, terror starting to build.
"No." Amelia said sharply. "They have hacked our coms, whoever they are. Have to be Tenno to get in without being detected." She shook her head. "Jac, lock the door and scramble the cipher." Jac looked at her and nodded.
"All this...for me?" Michelle said, stunned. "Grina is insane."
"We know that." Amelia said with a sigh. "Ever since he said that he wanted to dissect a fellow Tenno's brain to discover why the man couldn't get angry, we have known that." She shook her head. "This isn't just about you, Michelle. We stuck Grina good. He will want payback."
"One thing..." Michelle said with a frown. "I thought Elder Grina was a woman." Neither Jac nor Amelia responded. "But the voice I heard was male." She paused when neither replied. "I don't want to know, do I?"
"No, you don't." Amelia said with a shudder. "I wish I didn't. I wish I knew of some kind of brain cleaner than didn't wipe it entirely."
"That...falls under the heading 'Too Much Information'... doesn't it?" Michelle asked fearfully. Amelia nodded. "Then don't tell me." She begged.
"You have had enough emotional shocks this week." Amelia said kindly. "I wouldn't-" She broke off as the sound of gunfire came through the walls. All three paled. They knew the sound. A Braton. Cora. It fired in short, sharp bursts and then... it stopped with dreadful finality.
"Cora..." Michelle breathed. "No..."
"We don't know what is happening." Amelia said with a growl. "But just in case." She pulled a box from a pile and opened it, pulling air masks from it. She tossed one to Jac who caught it one handed and slipped it on. Michelle fumbled the one Amelia tossed her and, face red, pulled it on as Amelia followed suit. "Anything really nasty will work on skin contact, but these will protect against common knockout agents."
"What do we do?" Michelle asked softly.
"We don't let them take you." Amelia replied, her pistol up and aimed at the door. Jac's pistol was aimed there as well. Everything went still as a whine sounded. A drill? A 'chunk' noise came and Jac laughed sourly.
"Good armor, doc." The Tenno said quietly, her aim point not shifting. "if they have a laser..." A whine sounded now and she sighed. "I'll just shut up now before I tempt Murphy anymore."
"It's ablative." Amelia said softly. "Meant to shed explosions. It won't hold long against a Spectra or Flux Rifle."
"Well..." Jac said slowly. "Got any grenades in that pile?" Amelia shook her head. "Pity."
"Give me to them." Michelle begged. "You can give me to them!"
"Michelle..." Jac said gently. "Even if we do, which we wont... If they leave live witnesses, they are screwed. Period. The other clans will obliterate them." She jerked as a glowing dot appeared on the door, molten metal falling from a neatly cut hole.
Then, everything stopped as a form simply appeared in the middle of the room. The Frost Prime shook his head.
"There is no need for this, girls." The Frost said calmly. "No one is dead. Yet. Give us the Infested and we will leave."
"This is not possible." Jac said, her face ashen. "You are dead."
"Am I?" The Frost replied. "Well, maybe. But you are trespassing in my home. Give us the Infested. Now."
"This isn't real!" Jac snapped as both Amelia and Michelle stared. "It's a Nekros shadow! It's not really Nicholas!"
Nicholas. At that name, Michelle felt very single corpuscle of her blood suddenly still into immobility. Renegade. Murderer. Traitor. Leader of traitors. But then, the other part of what Jac had said sank in and Michelle's lethargy vanished as she felt rage boil up.
"Leave them alone, father!" Michelle screamed. "Your quarrel is with me!" The door fell in with a clang and several warframes were visible, but the one in the front was distinctive. The Nekros known as Michael was shaking his head.
"Oh, my dear. We have no quarrel." He said gently. "It's time to come home." The Acrid in his hand spat.