[Meanwhile, on the planet Sedna]
"WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!" a Tenno exclaimed, desperately tossing a giant flaming disk repeatedly at an oncoming swarm of Grineer. The disk would bounce off a few of their helmets before returning to his hand.
"Do you have to say that EVERY time, Nezha?!" Ash wondered, coming into view as he rapidly fired his dual Akbolto pistols at their enemies, "And use your guns already!" Slipping them back into his holsters, he grabbed his black and red skana and charged at the Grineer onslaught.
Just before reaching the enemy ranks, Ash quickly snapped his arm downward and shattered a pellet onto the concrete. Instantly, a heavy cloud of compressed smoke cloaked the entire group, leaving them confused and panicked. Suddenly, Ash appeared behind one of the Grineer and thrusted the skana into his spine, killing him instantly. Afterwards, the stealthy Tenno continued teleporting behind them all until he was the only one standing when the smoke cleared.
"Ah, damn." As muttered to himself, looking down at his energy levels. Apparently, the frequent teleporting exhausted his remaining supply.
The time was almost at hand for backup to arrive and defending the few cryopods started looking less of an easy task than before. Fortunately though, whenever a large squad of Grineer Lancers grouped together, the heaviest of the team, Rhino, would charge head on and knock them out in a single run. Without breaking a sweat, he seemed to enjoy himself while making fast work of their attackers.
After their bullets were spent, the small Tenno squad began to lose some hope. Rhino and Nezha stood back to back in front of the pods while Grineer reinforcements closed in. At the same time, Ash had decided to call it quits and began to secretly move away toward his Liset, giving up on his team and sleeping Tenno comrades.
"Huh, can't say I'm surprised," Rhino mentioned, eyeing Ash as he continued to flee.
"Still," Nezha stated with reason, "he's the team leader. If we stay here and leave him alone, we'd be abandoning. May not like it, but it's what we agreed to, Rhino."
Grunting with a nod of understanding, he reluctantly lowered his battle-ready stance and the two began to walk in the direction of their leader. Looking back, Nezha felt a large pain in his gut as he saw the Grineer open fire on the pods. With his digital HUD helmet system, he saw the life systems being damaged. Rhino took notice of this and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before continuing to walk away.
However, just before the cryopods were about to be destroyed, a heavy gust of wind nearly pushed the Grineer, as well as the fleeing Tenno to the ground. Following the sheer force of the blast came a cold chill that made even Rhino shiver, despite being within his heavily-armored suit.
Before long, a large blizzard that seemed to form a dome appeared around the cryopods and the Tenno themselves. Outside, the Grineer took a frightened step back as they felt icicles and frozen blocks pelting at them whenever they got close. Within the dome, Nezha couldn't help but but swear in awe under his breath as he looked up to see a Tenno who, until then was considered to be a loner who didn't show any signs of greatness. Either his powers came late or he just was humble. Either way, it didn't stop the team from staring at the helmet of the Tenno known only as Frost.
~(o)~
[In The Liset just a few... hundred miles from Earth]
Unfortunately, for our unlikely hero, Phil was once again staring at the angry end of a highly unsatisfied stranger...
"The only reason, I'm even THINKING of giving you my merchandise is because I kinda need the money." Darvo didn't have enough vocal strength left to fully chew Phil out, so that would have to wait.
Shrugging off his anger, he made quick to install an extra console within the team's Lisets. He explained that these were just like online shopping, except without the shipping tax, which was a big plus. Finally, the Tenno squad had weapons and Darvo had his gullible customers. Things were definitely looking up for them.
"Finally..." Excalibur breathed, holding up a brand new Ether Sword within his own Liset. "Thought I could only summon it. How'd you get this?"
"Trust me," the holographic Darvo interrupted, "You don't wanna know. Point is it's yours." He turned his head slightly down and muttered muttered, "No exchanges or refunds."
"What?" Exaclibur asked, lowering the weapon.
"Eh?" the dealer retorted innocently.
In her own Liset, Mag started shopping through Darvo's collection. Her eyes fell onto a nicely detailed Magnus pistol. She gasped at the sight of it because it's always been known for its power and accuracy, something she always looked for in sidearms. Up till that time, she's been less than eager to take on missions. However, seeing that she was a bit short on credits, Mag now had a reason to farm.
Nearly slamming her fist onto the communication console, she aired the frequency to all three ships.
"We're gonna take another mission!" She exclaimed. Before anyone had even the chance to object, she made sure they didn't, "And you WILL like it!"
All five of the men seemed frozen in fear by Mag's sudden outburst. Lotus' hologram appeared onto Phil's console.
"I like her attitude." She said with the estranged smile of hers, "She may even get to be like me someday."
The last sentence made Phil shiver a bit. One version of Lotus was enough, but the usually strong-minded Mag being the same way? That was scary even as a thought.
~(o)~
Barely able to keep his cool, Nezha ran over to their rescuer who had just lowered down next to one of the cryopods.
"Oh man, oh man," he gasped, "thank you... like, so much!"
Frost turned his head, still concentrating on the power of the snow globe. "Wait, what? Uh, no problem. Just get rid of these guys first, 'kay?"
"Right!" Nezha agreed wholeheartedly. He immediately pulled the flaming disk latched onto his back and started to throw it hard at the Grineer ahead, seeing the ring fly in and out of Frost's shielded dome.
At the same time, Ash turned around when he saw the blizzard blocking his way. Seeing how Frost could make a pretty powerful ally as well as meal ticket, he turned his charm to full blast.
"Hey... Iceman," the ninja said with a smug grin and wink, "you look like you could really hold your own. Trust me, I know what it's like to have t carry an entire team."
"Ash." Frost said unwaveringly. "Nice to see you again." He then clenched his fists both to focus on the blizzard as well as in irritation. "Weren't you just leaving?"
"Leaving?" Ash questioned amusingly, "Just had to out-flank all those Grineer. I happen to be a man of strategy and finesse. We have quite a lot in common, Frosty."
"Hmph." Under his helmet, Frost rolled his eyes. "Time to go."
Stretching one arm forward while the other clenched a fist at his side, a light blue aura surged into his outreaching hand and another heavy gust of wind swept the area. All around, the ice in the snow globe began to break apart and was now forming back together in a pointed wall facing the remaining enemies. The powerful Tenno then pushed his other arm forward to meet the first and the wall of ice slid forward. All Grineer in the path were instantly frozen solid and then shattered under the weight.
Ash's eyes widened and soon narrowed slyly as he turned to his cool comrade.
"Hey there, chummy chum, 'ol friend pal." He playfully elbowed Frost in the shoulder, causing him to lean forward a bit. "I'm offering you to join our little troupe. Generous, I know, but I think YOU have what it takes."
Frost looked back at Ash and then to his team. "I don't want a part in any troupe." He walked to the cryopods to make sure the Tenno asleep within were okay. He then started to walk away to his awaiting Liset which hovered nearby.
"Hey!" Ash barked angrily before chuckling to calm down. He strutted over to Frost and stood in front of him to block the way. "This team of ours is by invitation ONLY, ya got that? Join the winning side, Ace."
"Winning side?..." Frost wondered, starting to lose his temper. He grabbed Ash with one hand on his shoulder and slammed him into the side of one of the cryopods. "Look in the pod, who's in there?"
"Vauban." Ash grunted, trying uselessly to push against Frost's strength. "What does it matter anyway? They're safe now-"
"Because I happened to be passing by." Frost let go of Ash abruptly which caused him to stumble forward slightly. "You were ready to leave them here to die."
When he had regained his footing, Ash brushed off imaginary dust from his suit as if Frost's hands were tainted.
"Good thing you were here then," he snarled. Turning from Frost to face Rhino and Nezha, Ash started to walk back to his own Liset. "Let's go, gang. I heard Mercury has good stuff."
Shrugging, Rhino also turned to leave with his team captain. Nezha reluctantly moved along too before quickly turning back to talk to Frost.
"I just gotta say, thanks, you were great."He complimented.
Frost gave him a brotherly tap on the shoulder. "Likewise. Take care of yourself."
Nezha nodded and went back to meet up with his group.
~(o)~
[5 minutes later]
After seeing the other three Lisets leave, Frost was just about to enter his own before something dawned on him.
With a sense of urgency, he went back to where the cryopods were lying. He confirmed what he saw as only two, but the Tenno within each belonged to a group of three. One of the cryopods had gone missing. He then ran beyond to see if there were any signs of the missing pod. He only stopped when nearly kicking a large, blue and white piece of metal which resembled a small wing.
With a forced breath of anxiety and dread, he recognized the details of the piece as part of Tenno armor. Personally knowing the owner, he was thinking of different situations that could have happened. Within the other two cryopods lied Vauban and Limbo. So, taking the piece of armor with him, Frost set off to look for the missing Tenno.
"Don't worry, Valkyr," he told himself, starting the Liset's engines, "I'll find you... I promise."
