Predators
"What are you doing?"
Nyx stared after the vanished cat for a moment before turning to look at the Forgotten. This wasn't all of them, of course. Even her power and her husband's had limits. She was weak from pulling this group of Forgotten into her mind and holding them here. Matril had taken advantage. But why? He was dying. There was nothing she could do to save him.
"I didn't do this." Nyx waved a slow hand at the surrounding area. "I do not know where we are."
"We are on Earth, Nyx." Her husband appeared and stepped between her and the Forgotten. "This simulation is now of Earth. But you are not in control." Nyx shook her head. "Why would he wrest control from you?" The other Tenno asked.
"You lie." The Forgotten who had spoken before snarled at them. In form, it was a female human. Sort of.
"We are not in control of the simulation anymore." Nyx said sadly. 'We wanted to show you what happened to us. To Chroma and me. We wanted to make you understand that there are ways other than the one you are taking. But..." She bowed her head. "You are bent on your own destruction. Nothing I do can change that."
"You will serve!" The female looking Chosen declared.
"No." Chroma hugged Nyx gently. "We will die. With you." At that, all of the Forgotten looked at him. "This is only going to end one way now. You taking the Tower angered every single Tenno. You doing what you did to Healer Iriana fanned the fires of rage. You have laid traps. Some will succeed, most will be destroyed. You have erected defenses. But you cannot stop something that cannot be stopped." Chroma hugged Nyx gently. "Now though? You have bigger problems."
"You lie!" The Forgotten snapped, her hand coming up with something that glistened.
Several things happened at once. Chroma threw himself and Nyx sideway as a beam of energy played out from the odd organic machine in the Forgotten's hand. They hit the ground and rolled in different directions. A loud noise sounded and the Forgotten with the device stared down at her hand. Or... where her hand had been. Now it was a bloody stump.
"Uh, uh, uh." Matril's voice came from nowhere. "Taking a slave to do your fighting for you is cheating. Not allowed. Might want to move."
Nyx scrabbled away from the group as an explosion sounded behind her and she stared as a hurricane of wood and organic debris tore through the Forgotten's ranks. Four of them went down and they were not going to get up as torn as they were.
"Matril! Stop!" Nyx begged. But there was no one there. She couldn't sense him. She could feel the Forgotten, all dozen of them that still breathed in this virtual world. She had set the parameters so they could feel, could experience everything she had. But it also left them vulnerable. She and Chroma were just as vulnerable.
"You harm us!" The female Forgotten screamed, turning her fulminating gaze on Nyx. "You lie and harm us!"
"What is it with you morons?" Matril's voice came again. "She isn't in control of the simulation anymore. I am. And since you scum think you are so hot, come on... find me. Catch me. Make me prey. If you can." His mocking laugh seemed to come from everywhere. "Nyx. Don't move. You are crawling through a minefield."
Nyx froze and stared around. She didn't... She went still as she saw tiny brown things. They were not jungle material. She wasn't sure what they were. They looked kind of like... No, they couldn't be cat droppings. No way. She was sure they had not been there a moment before. One of the Forgotten started toward her and placed a foot squarely on one of the tiny brown objects. She winced as an explosion tossed the Forgotten away. She winced harder as the human male looking form hit a tree and was impaled by an outthrust branch at a very uncomfortable spot for a male. His screech cut off abruptly.
"Five down." Matril's voice was conversational. "Eleven to go."
"Prey!" The female Forgotten snapped. "Kill!" All of the others ran from the area where Nyx and Chroma both lay still.
"Matril..." Nyx begged, but there was no response from the cat. "Chroma?"
"Don't move, Nyx." She looked, but her husband was gone. She looked around and then up. She smiled as she saw him learning down from an overhanging branch."I am going to try and get you clear. It wasn't working, but this... They don't have a chance. They are playing right into his hands." His Effigy dropped and Nyx grabbed onto the skin's arm, pulling herself up carefully. "Come on." He encouraged her. "You can do it."
"So weak." Nyx pulled herself up the skin through sheer force of will. Chroma grabbed her and pulled her up, swinging them both up onto the branch. A scream came from the jungle and Nyx shivered. But that wasn't Matril. "How is he doing this?"
"I don't know." Chroma admitted. "He can obviously hack systems quickly. These artifacts though... I don't know what they are or how he is creating them." A explosion sounded and other voices from the jungle cried out in fear and pain. "That cat is scary."
"He is a cat." Nyx protested." He is tiny."
"Size doesn't matter, Nyx." Chroma replied, hugging her tight. "Or I never would have managed to take down the beast that gave me this pelt. It was twice my size." Another scream sounded, this one long and drawn out. Nxy shivered and Chroma held her. "It won't be long."
"I don't understand." Nyx protested. "We were trying to get them to understand. We were touching them. Some."
"They are not going to understand, Nyx." Chroma was sad. Then again, he was talking about his own distant kin. "They are all that matters in their world. They are the focus. They are the strongest. Or..." He shook his head as a sound that defied easy explanation came from the left. It wasn't a scream. It wasn't a cry of anguish. It wasn't even a whimper. It seemed to be all of these and more. Something was in pain. Serious pain. "They were the strongest. Now? They have run into a better predator."
"Chroma, he is a cat." Nyx protested again. "Yes, Cats are predators, but..." She broke off as something went 'boom' not far away and a body went flying by them. It was the female Forgotten who had hurt Nyx before. Or... parts of her. The largest part landed near where Nyx had been on the ground and lay there, a soft cry of pain coming from its ruined lips. Nyx put a hand to her faceplate in sheer reflex. "Oh my god!"
"In physical form, he is a cat, Nyx." Chroma said very softly. As if afraid to speak louder. "But he isn't really one. I don't know where we are but can guess. This is where he grew up and trained on Earth, so he know the terrain." Chroma looked around and shook his head as he looked at the Forgotten. "She is not dead."
"If they die here, they get shunted back to their bodies." Nyx said weakly. "They won't be able to do much since we sped up the time while here so much. We knew it would take awhile to explain. It get the to understand. But... Chroma..." She begged. "If we don't convince them, Nikis and Hayden will kill them all."
"Nyx." Chroma hugged his wife gently. "You cannot save them. They have to save themselves and they do not want to."
"They don't understand!" Nyx pleaded. "We have to make them understand."
"Nyx..." Chroma said sadly. "You know better. We can lead them to the knowledge, but we cannot make them think. Not even you have that power."
They both went still as a long, drawn out scream sounded in the distance. It faded quickly. Then the only sound in the area was the rasping breath of the Forgotten lying on the ground beneath them. Both Nyx and Chroma went still as something happened nearby. A tiny calico form stepped out of the underbrush, his eyes on the Forgotten. Nyx stared as he... went on one of the brown clumps and it dissolved. He took another step towards the Forgotten and it turned it's ravaged face to look at him. It's arms were gone and it's legs were tattered stumps, but it still lived.
"Who is the better predator?" Matril's voice was cold and snide.
"You... cheat." The Forgotten managed to croak out.
"Well, duh." Matril went on another clump and it too dissolved. He was clearing a tiny, narrow path through the odd mines! "I fight to win."
"Why you serve them and not us?" The Forgotten sounded afraid now. Nyx didn't blame it. "You say you not exist. That your people slain. Why serve them?"
"They gave me the choice!" Matril snarled as he darted forward. The Forgotten screamed as tiny claws torn through flesh with surgical precision. But... Nyx went still as the Forgotten went limp. But... she breathed. Matril shook himself and sighed as he stared up at Nyx and Chroma. "Hi guys."
"Matril...?" Nyx asked slowly.
"It's okay, Nyx." Matril said softly as the brown objects on the ground wavered and vanished. "Safety parameters are initialized. For you two anyway." He shook his head. "None of them are dead."
"How the hell?" Nyx swallowed hard as the cat... raised a leg over the fallen Forgotten, showing his disdain for it. Then the cat stepped away from it.
"Hacking electronic is what I do, Nyx." Matril said without a trace of arrogance. "But this?" He looked around and his face was sad. "This was fun, but... this place no longer exists. The Grineer made sure of that." He sighed. "It took them five thousand clones to batter their way through our traps and defenses, but when they did, they killed everyone." He sighed again, deeper. "I know what will happen to the Forgotten, Nyx. Nikis likes Iriana and that old gunfighter could have given anyone a run for their money in sheer viciousness." He looked at the crumpled form behind him. "I know what it is to lose everything. You don't. Yet." Nyx made a noise of confusion and Matril snorted. "Paralytic toxins. Not lethal but anything organic will not enjoy them. Not that great against armor, but they were not wearing any. Were they?"
Chroma held Nyx gently as he leaped from the branch to land in front of the cat. Matril nodded to her. She knelt down in front of him, extending a hand.
"I won't bite you, Nyx." Matril said softly and she petted him gently. "Releasing control." Nyx jerked and she did have control. Fifteen Forgotten life signs around the area, all unconscious or with marks of injury. None dead. For some reason, that scared Nyx even more. Matril hadn't killed any of them! The cat nodded to her. "They didn't have a chance here. This was like tossing a baby duck into a swimming pool that has a salt water crocodile in it. But Nyx... You don't understand. They are not human. They never were and never will be. They will not act as humans."
"But..." Nyx protested. She stiffened as Chroma laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Nyx, I am different." Chroma said quietly. "I don't know if you did it, if I did it or if it was some deity's sick joke, but I am different. I am not human. I never was. I learned to act human, but I am not."
"I don't care!" Nyx said forlornly as she turned to hug her husband who returned it. She froze as Matril spoke, but not to her!
"You ask me why I serve?" Matril said softly. "That ls why I serve. Because they understand love and you do not."
"You..." The female Forgotten sounded awful. Nyx and Chroma spun to see her staring at the trio. "What is this? No understand."
"Just shut up already!" Matril stalked back towards the Forgotten. "You do not understand. You will not understand. You cannot understand. You are weak. You are slow and weak and stupid! All of you!" Nxy went still. This was wrong. Why was he acting this way? Chroma tightened his grip on her and she kept her mouth shut. It was hard.
"No understand." The Forgotten begged. She screamed as Matril leaped up on top of her and his claws dug deep. But... she writhed. Not poisoned? What? She went still as he...
"Ew, Matril!" Nyx was glad she had her helmet on. She was sure the stink was bad from the face the Forgotten made. Then Matril stuck in claw in what he had... Nyx shook her head as it glowed momentarily. The cat retracted the claw and stepped away. "Matril, that is gross."
"That is set for motion activation." Matril warned the Forgotten. "Move and you go boom. You won't die. But you will beg for it." He shook himself, jumped off her suddenly still form and walked back to where Nyx still knelt staring. "What?" He demanded, cross.
"That is where you got the explosives. Those were never part of our simulation." Chroma actually sounded impressed. Matril shrugged, but he looked smug too. "Natural ammonia nitrate. Nice."
"We have our tricks." Matril's tone was noncommittal.
"Why not kill?" The fallen Forgotten asked slowly.
"Because I am recon, not wetwork." Matril retorted. "Be glad. Grisha would have mopped the floor with you idiots out of habit and I would be picking pieces of you out of my fur for weeks."
"Alpha..." Nyx went still as the Forgotten actually bared her throat. She was...submitting?
"Shut up!" Matril shouted. He had impressive volume for a tiny creature. "You are not worth my time. You are certainly not worth Nyx's and Chroma's time. You hunt and kill, for what? To sate you hunger? No. To show dominance? No. You do it because you don't know any better and are happy with that! Stupid ignorant bunch of brainless kits couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag and you are happy with that!"
What the hell? Nyx stared as the Forgotten slumped further under Matril's tirade.
"Not... true..." The female wasn't -quite- crying.
"Just shut up!" Matril made a sound more akin to a tiger than a housecat. "Worthless. Brainless. Hopeless. Just die already! You save us all a lot of work and lot of pain if you all just go on and die! Sure, your life sucks. Sure you were made. So was I. So was Nyx So was Chroma. Do you see us moping? Whining? Trying to take over everything? You are feeble! All of you!"
"But..." The Forgotten screamed as Matril leaped onto her stomach and started to claw. "No! Please!"
"Please? But? What is with you?" Matril was on a full tear now. Nyx could only stare in awe as he started speaking rapidly and loudly. "I have never seen a more wretched group of wanna be predators in my entire life!" He jumped on her again, but Nyx jerked and stared as other forms appeared lying on the ground nearby. All of them broken, hurt in some way. But all alive. He was doing something. "You want to kill or enslave everyone who is different? Well, I am different! Didn't work out so well, did it?" He was no longer shouting, but the intensity level was through the roof. "I am not your damn Alpha. I don't have time to be your damn Alpha. I have better things to do with my time, like clean my fur!"
Nyx was shaking her head as every single one of the fifteen hurt Forgotten in the area seemed to wilt. What was Matril doing? Chroma tightened his grip on her again and she swallowed her questions and watched as Matril rounded on another Forgotten.
"And you!" The Forgotten that had Matril's attention looked as if it wanted to be anywhere but where he was. The human form was wrong, even discounting the long branch that was stuck through its pelvis. The arms were askew and the legs not quite right either. "What kind of a shapeshifter do you call yourself? Hmmm? You can't even manage fake the appearance of a hairless ape! You couldn't even catch a cold! You are pathetic!" Matril screamed the least and the Forgotten slumped. "All of you are fracking useless. None of you could catch a clue if someone held it for you! And you! Do! Not! Care!"
"No." The forgotten female who Matril had laid the excreted explosives on was not crying now. She was angry. "You not know-" She broke off as Matril turned back to her.
"I don't know?" His tone was conversational now and Nyx felt fear blossom. "Maybe I don't. I know I am not perfect. I am not omniscient or omnipotent. But here is a hint, wanna be. There are limits, you have passed them."
He strode to another Forgotten and...Nyx averted her eyes as he laid the same disgusting explosives on that one and stepped to the next. A few of the Forgotten tried to move, tried to flee. It made no difference. None could move far or fast and in short order, every one of them had a tiny brown lump on them somewhere and none dared move.
"Nyx and Chroma want to try and explain to you brainless fools." Matril said as he finished and stepped back to where Nyx stood, stunned. "Personally, I can hardly believe the lot of you have the collective brainpower to move your fracking legs. None of you are worth our time. But they want to try. So I am going to let them." Now his face split in a wide grin that was friendly in the same way a shark's was. "Step out of line. Please."
"Matril..." Nyx swallowed hard. "What the hell?"
"You got something to show us." Matril rubbed against Nyx's legs and she reached down to pick him up. He snuggled close.
"What was your rank in the Feline Corps, Matril?" Chroma asked. "Before the Grineer?"
"Sergeant." Matril replied calmly.
"And your not-combat job?" Chroma's voice was odd, but Matril just smiled. "I know the Feline Corps had more than one job for each being. No one can just do fieldwork. Not Tenno, not human, not feline." Matril shrugged.
"When I was out of the field? Drill instructor."
"Figured."