In which a planning session is had and answers are given
Tap, tap, tap. The sound woke her, her vision foggy and full of cheery color. The thing in her calf was throbbing, but a presence had left her mind that she hadn't even realized was there. She stared blankly, looking at nothing.
Titanium blinked as her faceplate rested against a tarnished metal yellow floor. Her floor. Home. She sighed in relief, even as the Ascaris made itself comfortable in her leg.
Tap, tap, tap.
A bright red boot came into her line of sight, followed by the other, chased in veins of gold. The feet before her did by no means match her orbiter, and she blinked again for good measure to ensure that she was seeing everything correctly.
As the feet came closer, she realized something. The feet were tiny. She pushed herself up onto an elbow, a hand going to her calf as her eyes (what color were hers?) rose to examine the small, strange person. He wasn't Grineer, and something seemed familiar about his face.
He had messy brown hair, and bits of metal peeked out from under it, crowning his frown and widening red-brown eyes, one of which was surrounded by startling red and black scars.
"You're awake!" He exclaimed, recovering from where he'd paused a second ago. He began to come closer, then paused.
"Well, not really." Titanium blinked again as the boy's voice trailed off. She shook her head, glancing back at the disgusting red glowing in her calf. The boy came closer and put a minuscule hand under her arm. He tried to help her get up, but she fell after putting weight on her injured leg. She was careful not to fall on the boy. He seemed breakable with how small he was.
He backed up, glancing around. His eyes fell on something behind her.
"Help?" He asked. His voice broke a little on the word. She twisted to see what she had missed in her own orbiter. A man in a suit of armor was standing there, taller even than her, likely. His arms were crossed over his navy blue chest, and his burgundy scarf was stark against it, highlighted in white. His dark faceplate had nothing to see out of. She cocked her head to the side. How had she missed him?
The man moved towards her without speaking, kneeling on one knee before her. He held out his hands, and she took them. He lifted and braced her against him in a practiced manner.
"What did you do to the Ascaris?" She asked as the man with his impassive face helped her to a chair.
The boy, whose face still tugged on her mind like a dream she couldn't quite remember, rubbed his neck and swung his arm.
"I tried to remove it, but instead it burrowed deeper, broke the bone, and it'll explode soon."
Titanium blinked.
"What?"
The man beside her did something with his hands, and the boy nodded.
The two of them turned and looked at her. Then they looked back at each other and began gesturing furiously, finally teaching the same conclusion.
The boy sighed. "What do you remember?" He asked.
She hung her head, digging.
Bits and pieces, whispers, floated just beyond her reach, screaming for attention.
"Nothing," she replied. "Nothing."
These two were deciding things without her, knowing things, and she was about to die, and they asked about her memories?
"What about the Zariman? The Orokin? Anything?"
Was that… desperation? She raised her head and narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't know who you are," she said slowly, her voice echoing tinnily.
"I don't even know who I am."
The boy rubbed his hands together contemplatively.
"That, I can explain, even if only a little."
"Here we are!" The boy said as they approached the Grineer Galleon. He pulled up a golden holographic map of the place, sticking his finger where a red dot blinked every second or so.
"Once we get inside, we're going to need to get to the databank here," he wiggled his small, red-gloved hand at the spot.
"Next we'll go here," he pointed at another part of the hologram, "and here!"
"Why are there three vaults?" Titanium asked.
"Because when data isn't all in the same place, it's harder to get to."
"Decentralization," she said. Crimson's mouth dropped open. It felt like a bomb had been dropped in her brain, the little pocket of information filling her up. There were others too, but when she tried to reach for them, they fell through her fingers. She needed to know those things. She didn't understand what was going on and she was sick and tired of dealing with it and she had only been awake for the last week!
Sometimes she just wished everyone would stop messing with her, and every painful reminder of it burned in her skull and burrowed into her, threatening to explode and-
"Si? You okay?"
Titanium shivered like a fragile tree. "What?" She snapped.
Crimson's eyebrows were scrunched up, pulling on his scars and the metal bits in his face.
"I said, we're almost there. We need to finish our plan."
A plan. Titanium was good at those. She thought, at least. She crossed her arms.
"Well," she said slowly, not poking too hard at the stack of memories she was ignoring, but trying to use.
"There's three of us and three vaults. Simple enough."
Crimson blinked.
"The security will be tight. I thought we could go-"
"Not efficient," she interrupted, improvising, trying to lean on an invisible wall of experience that she knew was there, but couldn't see. She hoped it wouldn't dump her on her bottom.
"If we all go to the same vault, there are more chances for them to erase the data, plus it'll take longer. There's three of us and three vaults."
Crimson nodded.
"We can each take a vault then. Which one do you want?"
Titanium stared at the map. She needed an edge, something hard.
"I'll take that one," she said, pointing at the vault furthest into the ship.
A navy finger tapped her shoulder. She turned, and Umbra, who had only given his name through Crimson, put his fist into his palm and pointed at the dot rep.
"Umbra said no," Crimson interpreted. Umbra made another gesture, and Crimson spoke again.
"You're not ready. Umbra wants that vault."
Titanium nodded slowly. She still wanted it, but arguing with Umbra didn't seem like it would get them anywhere. In fact, it would probably devolve into her shouting at his increasingly stoic and impassable helmet. So, that was a no-go. She held her tongue, nodding again.
"Fine," she answered. "I'll take this one then." She pointed at the next vault, but Crimson opened his mouth to speak.
"Since you're the lowest level here, I figured you could take the easiest."
Titanium uncrossed her arms, but she could feel the energy in her arm coils, pulsing up and down with her heartbeat, pounding as the Ascaris throbbed. Crimson made to speak again, but Umbra gestured something else and his jaw shut with a click.
"You can have it," he said, looking like he was physically holding something in. Umbra nodded, then pointed outside the window at the looming galleon and turned to the airlock. Titanium glanced toward their target, then turned and followed Umbra and Crimson out of the bridge.
They walked silently to the airlock, passing another frame, where Crimson turned and melted into it. Three sets of metallic footsteps clattered along the hall, and then Umbra quietly swiveled, stepping into the deployer and clipping in smoothly. It turned once, and then again, the empty slot greeting them. Crimson went next, disappearing into the galleon, and then it was her turn.
She stepped into the deployer, let it swivel her around into the depths of the ship, and looked around the dark space. Crimson turned to her.
"It's go time."