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-x- Chapter 8 -x-

The Hunted

Landing on Earth was easy. Flying the landing craft, ejecting through the vessel's belly, landing with a sharp impact, there were so many memories. It felt right. The hard metal platform that she landed on clanged when she hit the ground but the sound did not travel far. Not that there was anyone or anything around to hear it; the Grineer foundry was a massive structure that stretched at least a kilometer on each side from what she had seen during ingress. Possibly even further; large swaths of it had been covered by the thick forest canopy.

"I sense the Synthesis Target in your area," Simaris said, a small projection of his avatar appearing in the side of Ivara's vision, alongside other information regarding her physical status, ammunition, location, and other important details for the mission.

"Hiiiii! Testing testing testiiiing!" Amita chimed in, the red pentahedroid of Amita blinking into existence, taking the spot in her field of vision previously occupied by Simaris, "Wow! I can totally track your position through this link! This is so cool! So which way are you going?"

"Please refrain from interrupting me," Simaris said, his avatar now appearing on the opposite side from Amita, "I am instructing the Hunter."

"Whoops! Sorry!" Amita said, "I'll pop off and see what some of these subsystems do."

"I may have to divert my attention from you to your Cephalon, Hunter," Simaris continued when Amita blinked away, "If she endeavors to destroy the Orbiter, I will lose the link to you and have a harder time collecting the specimen. Until then, please equip the Synthesis Scanner."

Ivara did as ordered and her view of the world was quickly changed. A new H.U.D. took over her field of vision and certain objects of interest were highlighted in green against an orange backdrop. She looked left and right and the scanner seemed to automatically zero-in on whatever item she focused on. There was a blooming flower not too far away; some of the petals were visible to her from around the root of a tree but the rest of it would have been hidden were it not for the scanner giving her a green outline through the wood. After looking at it for a second it flashed and information regarding the flower's species appeared briefly.

"Well done." Simaris said, "Find the trail, find your target, and scan it." Simaris vanished and Ivara was left to search for clues to track the Grineer Ballista. She had limited information available as Simaris did not want to make her first hunt too easy; he gave some absolute basic information to get her started but otherwise she was on her own. She did not even quite know what a Grineer was other than Clem. From that she imagined the strange being from the relay, but with a sniper rifle.

Ivara walked over some mossy rocks and found a large cylinder of metal. It looked like a bit of an engine casing from a smaller ship, but whatever it might have been was lost to time. There was so much rust and moss over growing it that there was little, if any, chance of getting any useful identification. But it was a fortunate find as it created a gentle slope down an otherwise vertical cliff as well as provided cover from any potential eyes in the trees.

Unless she were to step on a bit of loose moss and slip, which she did. Ivara rolled down the metal incline, burping into a few rusted crates and some metal parts held to the fuselage by some weak vines and plant growth. The cumulation of her tumbling and bumping into things caused a miniature metal avalanche that she rolled with to the ground below. It did not 'hurt' in the typical sense, but Ivara knew there was some small damage done and her shields had depleted from the cascade of small impacts. They would be back in a few seconds, so she was not worried until a bullet struck her in the shoulder.

"Shit!" Ivara turned invisible and dove to the side, immediately causing the thin veil of bent light to break and expose her again to the unseen shooter. Another bullet cracked through the air nearby as Ivara rolled behind cover of a large boulder. A bullet ricocheted off of the top of the stone. She knew she was pinned down but had a way out and activated Prowl once more. This time she was patient and careful and stepped around the large tree to the side. She tried to duck under a large plant but the rifle strapped to her back caused the leaf to move and a bullet flew too close overhead for her comfort.

Retreating through a gap in the trees, Ivara backed away from the direction the shots had been coming from until she was out of energy and forced back into visibility. She turned around to try and find tracks again but saw over a dozen of what had to be Grineer. There were a few Clem looking ones, some that were bigger and greener, and some that were smaller with less bulky armor. She stood still, thinking for a moment that she had not been spotted. Then one of the ones wielding what looked like meat cleavers pointed in her direction and yelled 'Tenno Skoom!'.

There was shouting and shooting and a lot of movement. Ivara kept jumping and sliding around the outside of the camp while trying to aim her rifle. She managed to fire a shot and caught one of the bulkier ones in the midsection but before she could aim a second one but was tackled by something moving really fast. Ivara rolled head over heels a couple of times before she could stand again only to have her shields depleted by a screaming Grineer waving red-hot cleavers at her.

Ivara ducked and dodged, rolling around the mad Butcher while drawing the two daggers she had come with. Stabbing one of the Fangs into the mutant clone's back, Ivara saw the dog-like creature that had tackled her before charging again. While trying to get the knife up to stop the charging Kubrow a flurry of bullets struck her in the side. Her shields had not yet recharged so the impacts did some damage and Ivara needed to leap away from the beast and find cover. Invisibility still was not an option as she had not regained enough energy to activate it.

Thinking fast and feeling the Grineer pressing in from all sides, Ivara grabbed her bow and fired a Zipline arrow from behind the cluster of tree roots protecting her across the clearing to a higher point in the distance. She anchored the thin blue line of energy and climbed on, balancing as she fled up the makeshift incline. Bullets cut the air all around her and the sounds of near misses filled her with the exhilaration of escape. The sudden impact on the back of her leg broke that feeling as it broke her balance, sending her careening into the forest floor below. All was not lost though; now she was significantly further from the camp and no longer surrounded.

The sound of shouting and gunfire was not too far away though and Ivara had to run. She followed a path between some trees and a cliff into a gully that quickly became a dead-end. She tried to turn invisible again but was still too short on energy for that. She found an opening behind some branches while looking for a vine or a crevice to grab onto and climb. Ivara ducked into the small opening and squeezed her way along the narrow winding path, the sound of Grineer becoming more distant as she moved. The path widened after a little ways and she was able to walk, with much more care this time, into a wide sunlit clearing.

With a few towering trees holding up the canopy of the grove, Ivara was still as she tried to detect any more possible hostels. But there was something about the clearing that felt different than the rest of the forest. The soft trickling of water at the base of a large overlooking cliff caught her attention and then movement near a pile of rocks at the summit drew her gaze.

"Well met, Tenno." the woman at the stone pile said, holding her hands in front other chest as if she were holding a small, invisible ball. Ivara could not make out much of her face as the eyes and top of the head were covered by fabric that had a leaf-like pattern, matching the rest of the woman's clothing. "Are you here to anoint the shrine?"

"I am sorry," Ivara said, opting to try and navigate what she perceived as a possible trap, "But I am unfamiliar with this shrine. I'm lost, running from a squad of Grineer."

"I see," the woman said after a moment of silence, "The Grove has brought you here, guiding your movements even if you did not know it. One of your people saved it from the Grineer taint not long ago, so it has seen fit to return the favor." The woman put a vial of some sort in her pocket before walking away from the stones and down around the side of the overlook, "I will take it as a sign that you arrived as I completed my service. The Grove now needs me to take you from here to some place safe. We shall go to Cetus," she said, gesturing to Ivara to follow as she headed for a small gap in the dense trees.

"What's Cetus?" Ivara asked, cautiously following. She did not know if she could trust the woman or not, but at least she was not Grineer and was not being actively hostile.

"It is a settlement not too far from here," she said, "My ship can get us there in a few minutes; I normally do not go there personally but I have some personal guards who visit from time to time for trading purposes."

"Guards?"

"Ah, I beg pardon," the woman said, "I am Amaryn of New Loka. I lead my syndicate in the ways of returning purity to Earth and Humanity."

'New Loka' sounded familiar but she could not place it. Instead, she introduced herself to stay polite, "I am Manmi of the Tenno."

"Well met again, Manmi." Amaryn said, "So tell me, what did you think of the Silver Grove? Beautiful, was it not?"