Chapter 5a: Feet First into Hell

I looked around as I stepped into the Dojo, not quite as impressed as the first time I experienced it, not quite as impressed doesn't mean I wasn't impressed. Not only by the architecture, but also by how many materials must have been sacrificed to build it up. As before, Nesun had been eager to break away from the group, my Warframe blueprints in tow, Flux and York were close behind, likely gauging my reaction, the Nova, however, seemed distant, almost as if she was spacing out, as she walked past all of us.

Flux hummed as he met my pace, "Leaving so soon Nualla? Where's the fire?" he asked curiously, prompting the Nova to pause for a moment.

Nualla turned to look at us, "I wanted to go check on my friend, can you and York handle this without me?" she asked quietly, not necessarily in a timid manner, but more an oblivious one, "Sorry, I made a promise." she stated apologetically, bowing to the Limbo in question.

York grunted and waved his hand at her as if to say 'Go on', Flux then nodded as well, chuckling, "Well, it'd be no good to keep a friend waiting." he started, "Don't worry, we'll figure out what to do with our new friend."

As he finished saying this I found myself getting pulled, his arm over my shoulder. It was also at this moment i had noticed other Tenno in the docking area giving me shifty looks, probably because of how different the clothes of modern day were compared to… Space Ninja Bodysuits?

The Nova bowed to Flux and York once again, "Thank you, I promise I'll make this up to you!" she stated, her tone picking up. Before she turned to leave however, her eyes seemed to meet mine for a moment, how I could tell is anyone's guess, "And try not to get the new guy into too much trouble, Nesun will get mad I'm sure."

Flux put his free hand to his chest and leaned back, "Madam, you wound me… Do I look like the sort of person that would cause trouble like that?"

The Nova paused, "Yes…" she said with a tone of concern, but it seemed free of malice.

The two stared for a moment before Flux scratched the back of his head, "Alright, I promise I won't get the new guy into trouble." he stated, tipping his hat, "Gentleman's promise."

Though the Nova seemed unsure of whether she could trust that promise for now, she eventually nodded, "Thanks Flux, see you around." she said before turning and actually leaving this time.

Flux sighed as York passed us, stopping a few feet away, "Honestly, do I really seem that untrustworthy?" he asked as his helmet began to 'unfold', revealing the face I had been familiar with. Pale skin with organic metals creeping up his neck, pink eyes, and short, black hair.

I hummed, hummering my past, "So you guys do look like Humans under those helmets…" I asked, though admittedly not very convincingly.

The Limbo chuckled, "If you meant to sound surprised, I would have to say that you failed." he stated in a joking tone, raising his right eyebrow, "Almost like you already knew, huh?" after a brief pause he released my shoulder, strode forwards, twirling on his heel to face me in a more showman-like manner that the theatrics I recalled, "Anyway, my name is Flux, my friend over there is York. Don't be put off by him keeping his distance, he's shy."

Nodding, I smiled a bit, "Nice to meet you two." I started, quickly running through my mental detabanks to find a good alias to use, "Call me Greige, sorry if i've caused you trouble."

Pausing, Flux held his chin, "Oh, I feel like you're not the one that should be apologizing here, not after the mess of that last mission." I tilted my head, wondering if he planned on elaborating sooner, but instead he dropped his hand, "Anyway, we're going to need you to come with us, it's kind of the rules for bringing a potentially dangerous outsider into the Dojo." he stated, eyes softening as he did his best to assure that everything would probably be alright.

York nodded, seemingly ready to get out of there, not comfortable with the attention he was getting.

Simply nodding, Flux nudged his head before taking the lead, a motion to follow, and I did, not only because I was familiar with what was going on, but because being viewed as a potential enemy by several Tenno wasn't exactly the status I would like.

"So, what exactly is going on?" I asked, figuring i'd make some form of communication.

Not even looking over his shoulder, Flux raised a closed hand, throwing up his index finger, "First, we're taking you in for a meeting with the Clan Head, be on your best behavior by the way." he started, then raising a second finger, "Second, Nesun, the Excalibur, took your Warframe Designs to the Labs, where they'll be analyzed and possibly built.

Nodding, I did my best to keep close to Flux while looking around, we had seemed to be passing through some kind of wide, marketing area, "I wouldn't worry too much."

"Normally I wouldn't, but I have to keep up appearances for the ladies." he stated, looking over at, and winking, at a group of Tenno. Despite this however, for the most part all he got was blank stares, "If anything I should tell you not to worry too much, you'll likely either be offered a place to stay, at least temporarily, or even membership, but we won't know until the boss lady hands down the decree."

As we progressed through the area, climbing up stairs leading the the top floor, I noticed a familiar entrance in the center of the wall, An Excalibur Prime meditating at the left side of the door, a Nyx Prime on the right side.

As we approached, they didn't seem to react, probably because they were told in advance that we were coming, however, York stopped a few feet away and waved to Flux, signifying that he was ditching us. The Limbo in question sighed , "Ah well, looks like we're going in alone."

As we approached them the door had opened, revealing an enclosed area beyond it similar to a garden, a small structure in the center that resembled a feudal, japanese home.

Flux took a moment to brush off his suit as he stepped inside, as I followed him i couldn't help but feel a sort of disconnect, the last time I had been here Luna simply had an office, this was almost completely different.

Walking up the stone steps that led to the small yet regal structure, Flux paused before the door, crossing his arms behind his back, "Mi'lady, i've brought the boy the Grineer were experimenting on." however, there was no answer. As we waited, Flux began to scratch the back of his head, "Uh, Luna?"

"I'm sorry for the delay, come in." a mature voice came from the other side of the, what I assume was paper, wall.

Doing as she ordered, we both entered, the door opening itself for us as we got close. Surely enough, she was there, The Trinity dressed in white that I expected to see, her icy blue eyes looking up over, lingering on me longer due to my foreign nature.

Flux walked to her, stopping a few feet away from the chair or throne that she sat at, "I'm sorry if I was intruding on something."

The woman shook her head, "No, I was lost in thought, if anything your timing couldn't have been better." she stated, dismissing Flux's worries.

The two then paused, jumping a little, I realized that I should be standing next to Flux at the moment, "Sorry, I didn't want to get in the way of your conversation." although this was my statement, the truth is I had been analyzing not just the room, but Luna herself. Having gained more knowledge of the series, I now had a new perspective of Luna… Despite the scar on her eye, she actually looked more mature, almost like Winter…

Flux smirked, "There's no need to be intimidated, if Luna wanted you dead or imprisoned then you wouldn't be standing here right now." he had stated in an assuring manner, mistaking my distance with hesitance apparently.

I did as was expected of me, stepping forwards, unable to shake the comparison my mind had generated. Once in place, Luna then looked to Flux, "Alright, what is this about?" she started, "When you personally volunteered to retrieve this man you neglected to tell me why you were so eager to set up a meeting with me."

Flux smiled nervously, "Well, as you are aware, our friend here has traces of the Technocyte Virus." he stated, looking to my stomach, "I believe that it would be too dangerous to let someone like that run around on their own, wouldn't you say?"

Luna paused, "You're requesting that we take him in, are you not?" she asked patiently, "Are you certain that you've thought this through, you don't even know him."

Nodding, the Limbo hummed, "Yes, but at the same time he has helped us on the same mission where we were retrieving him, although he has no skill now, he could prove quite useful." he stated, "Plus, it'd certainly be better to keep him here than cramming him onto one of the public relays, wouldn't you agree?"

Luna was about to say something, but in that moment I decided to open my mouth, "I don't know exactly what's going on, but i'm with Flux, if you guys can help me then maybe I can help you?" I stated, trying to move the plot along.

Flux smirked as he wrapped his arm over my shoulder, "See, he's even willing to work with us, granted it's in ignorance, but still." he then paused, "Plus, I need to keep an eye on him after what happened on the ship, just to be on the safe side."

The Clan Head blinked as she looked between us, eventually standing up and walking right up to me, staring me down, but her gaze didn't seem to be intimidating, rather it was studious to a degree, "Are you certain that you want to make this choice, in joining our clan you will be accepting the responsibilities that come with it, you'll also be held to certain expectations."

Nodding, I offered a small smile, a tad nervous, "I'm willing to work for you if you're willing to accept me into the clan."

There was a moment of silence, eventually she sighed, turned around, and went back to her seat, "Very well then, Flux, he's your responsibility." she stated, causing him to jump as though he wasn't expecting it, "As for you, tell me your name."

"It's Greige, Ms. Luna." I stated, bowing to her.

The woman chuckled, "Luna will do, however, I do expect you to hold to our agreement." she stated, crossing her arms, "Normally people must prove themselves to be taken into a clan, but since Flux seems adamant about your stay here, I am making an exception for you once, but know that this means I expect much more from you."

Gulping, I nodded, "Understood ma'am…"

As the two of us left, walking past the Primes that guard the door, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, earning a chuckled from Flux, "What? You that nervous?"

I glared at him, not too harshly, "I let you get me involved in a group of killers, even though I barely know you, if i wasn't nervous then something would be wrong with my head." Sure I had a vague idea of all this stuff, but that didn't change the fact that presently I was just an Infected Human, nowhere near the levels of those around me."

Flux sighed, shrugging with arms raised as if motioning for me to look around, "Look, I can't blame you for being nervous, but i'll have you know that things tend to go smoother around here than for other Dojos." he started, "There are some that have to visit places so dangerous they barely have breathing room, thankfully ours is a fairly quiet system."

Chapter 5b:

-Typhon POV-

I balk as I watch Phorid's forces mop the floor with the Tenno. Toxic and Drain Ancients used their bodies to protect Healers, Volatile runners threw themselves in the way of gunfire to both block for their allies and set themselves off, and Chargers zipped in and out, making themselves a nuisance. All the while Crawlers came in from every direction, the hard-to-notice buggers posing attacking if they got close.

{You know, if I didn't know that literally nothing you can bring to bear can pierce my armor, I'd be worried.}

The body housing the central intelligence of this gathering of Infested shook next to me, letting out an echoing chuckle.

-Rin POV-

I scowled under my helmet as I threw my Glaive at a volatile runner, only for an ancient healer to intercept the attack.

Aaralyn used her sonar, and the infested all lit up with weak points. I smiled, and took aim at a glowing spot on a charger's head, only for it to promptly turn its body to hide the weak point from me. As did every other infested. I frowned again as Aaralyn screamed.

"This is bullshit! How the fuck are we supposed to kill these things! If it weren't for Glacius keeping the ice barrier up, we'd probably be dead!"

Flare was a bit more chipper, as she was having some success. After all, it's hard to predict, let alone block, an Ember's 'World on Fire'. The name is a bit over the top, but it fits. The massive fire pillars killed a few of the infested before they even reached the globe.

"There are too many, and they are displaying far more cooperation, strategy, and intelligence than anything we've faced before." Stated Glacius as he began to back up, "Rin, I suggest we fall back."

"Great idea Glacius, but how do we do that when the door is locked!"

Suddenly a voice came through our comms [The Frost and Ember could alternate blasting the door. The thermal shock will weaken the metal, allowing the Banshee to shatter it.]

Aaralyn paused, looking around, "Who the hell-This isn't an open comm-line, who said that?" the Banshee asked, not sure whether to be more upset about this intrusion or to keep focused on the hordes of Infested.

"That's not important right now!" Glacius shouted, "This may be our best shot out, we can worry about who that was afterwards." he then glanced at Flare, "Flare, help me out over here!"

The Ember in question grumbled as she followed his order, reluctant to stop incinerating Infested, but figuring it'd be better to live to burn more Infested rather than die fighting these, "Okay…" she replied grudgingly.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the display, I tried using what Flare and some other dubbed 'Chaos', the psychic blast meant causing hysteria in the creatures, and making them attack each other. Unfortunately, we were still in danger. I knew from experience that the effect didn't last long with Infested, due to their hivemind nature. 'You two should hurry. I don't know how long that'll keep them busy.'

Both Glacius and Flare hurried through the process, putting out more power in each of their respective blasts, causing the metal to warp under the temperatures, as the Infested started pushing them back, they decided to take what they could get, "Aaralyn!" Glacius called.

"Yeah, I got it!" the Banshee shouted, vaulting over some rubble in the way, not fond of the stress of the situation, "Make way!"

As Glacius and Flare backed up and resumed firing at the hordes of Infested, Aaralyn put her hands to the wall, growling before striking the warped metal with a blast of sound from it, causing the ground and surrounding environment to shake, and shattering the weakened metal.

With a fresh hole punched in the wall, Glacius motioned for everyone to leave, "Alright, time to go!" he stated as he backed up, still laying down fire while waiting for everyone else to go first.

Aaralyn, not arguing with this decision, was already on the other side of the wall before the order was given, I was the next to leave, firing Psychic Bolts, Flare was next, who was reluctant but understood there was little other choice, finally Glacius came through, creating an ice dome before giving us the signal to run.

As we began to run through the hallway, Aaralyn broke the silence of the group again, "Okay, it's later, so now can I ask who the hell that was?" the Banshee wailed, apparently not content with learning things later rather than sooner.

I sighed, 'Unless the voice itself tells us, I don't think we're likely to have an answer.'

-Typhon POV-

{Welp, my time has come. See ya.}

The creature nods its head, {Farewell. I'll be keeping an eye on you. This should be interesting.}

I turn and start lumbering off, {Oh, it will be.}

-Rin POV-

I sighed as I looked around, we managed to escape the Infested for the time being, 'So, what now?' I asked, not sure how to proceed.

Glacius paused, "I'm not sure, I can't get through to the Lotus, nor can I reach my Cephalon." he stated, rubbing the back of his head in frustration, "It seems like something's jamming us…"

Aaralyn growled, "Well that's just great, how the hell are we supposed get out of he-" A deep booming sound cut her off in the middle of her sentence. It was promptly followed by another. And another.

'Um...what was that?'

The others, just as in the dark as I was, looked around for the source, "I don't know, but it couldn't be an Infested, could it?" he pondered, not even so sure of that himself given the previous horde they had ran from.

The thumping continued, growing progressively closer.

Aaralyn seemed to lose her composure, "Uh, call me crazy, but I think it's heading straight for us…" she said nervously, "And whatever it is, it's probably big."

I bit my lip, looking to Glacius, 'What should we do?'

Glacius looked around, "We should probably run."

A massive armor figure walks around the corner and into view. It utterly dwarfed us, towering fifteen feet tall. Each footstep rang out, and shook the ground.

Without need for an order, everyone turned and ran, "The hell is that!?" Aaralyn screeched, growing more annoyed with this place by the second.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's friendly!" Glacius shouted back, cursing the fact he was a little slower than the rest of the group.

The sounds became more spaced out, but louder, as the ground shook harder Flare looked back for a moment before gasping, "It's getting faster guys!"

"We figured as much!" Aaralyn snapped back.

As we continued to run, we eventually came to a split hallway, or rather a turn in the hall with a door at the end of our current path, "With the way it's picking up speed and all that weight, it probably can't handle turns, right?" Glacius asked.

Catching the hint, we all continued to run, Aaralyn firing at the door's control panel with her Hek, causing it to open and give the illusion we'd try using it as our escape route, revealing a bridge that was outside the facility. Making a last minute change, we dived into the hallway and ran a bit, just in case the plan hadn't worked.

There was a shrieking of torn metal, I looked behind me just in time to see the bridge one the other side of the door give way under the machine's weight, sending it plummeting into the chasm. A few seconds later, the ground shook as it hit the bottom, and both sides of the ravine collapsed, no doubt burying our former pursuer.

We all paused for a moment, taking a second to collect ourselves, Flare having walked right to the edge of where the bridge used to be, whistling as she seemed to inspect the aftermath, "Well… I guess that solves that." she chirped, stepping away and rejoining us, "I hope."

Aaralyn groaned, "Okay...First we have to deal with smarter Infested, then some giant robot…" she started, her voice more dry than the usual shade of mad we had come to expect from her, "I'll ask once again, what the hell is wrong with this place!?"

I paused for a moment, recalling our briefing, looking back to the others, 'Do you think that was the thing we were sent to find?' I asked, causing them all to freeze, 'Because whatever it was, it made a b-line straight for us it seems…'

Aaralyn was the first to break this new silence, "So let me get this straight, we have to go find that thing, right?"

Glacius sighed, massaging his temples through his helmet, "It would seem like it, usually when you have to look for something it's the most unique thing in the area, and given what we've witnessed…"

Flare scratched the side of her head, walking back over to the group, "I mean, it fell pretty far, and a lot of shit fell down on it probably, so maybe it won't be in great shape?" she asked, an optimistic spin to her voice.

The sound of shiftinging metal and rubble echoed up, Flare's shoulders falling a little as things hadn't sounded quite has she hoped.

I sighed, trying my best to think of what to say next, 'It sounds like it's still functioning, which makes our job much harder…'

After a moment, Glacius turned and looked down the hallway, "Whatever the case, we need to destroy it, completely." he started, "If there's even a little bit left of it, the Grineer or Corpus may be able to reverse engineer it."

Aaralyn, pressing her palm to her face, let out an annoyed groan, "So in other words, we're stuck with this."

Reluctantly, we all started moving down the hallway, hoping that maybe there'd be some stairs leading to a basement level of the facility, which we assumed the machine would be in.

Typhon POV

[Note to self, don't forget inertia's a thing.] I said internally, tossing a particularly large piece of cliffside off me.

Phorid laughed, communicating with me over a private channel, "Agreed. I will admit that their ploy was clever. Use your own sheer size and speed against you, though I doubt they planned on the bridge."

[Well, at least I know that I can take a beating.], I grumbled in reply, shifting some more rubble off my shoulders.

"Indeed. I'm impressed your armor wasn't damaged in either the fall or the landslide."

[Say what you want about the Corpus and Grineer, they do good work when they don't have their heads up their asses.] I break through a wall, [Now, let's see if I can find them again…]

"Actually, they are seeking you out to destroy you, so as to keep the other two factions from being able to reverse engineer you."

I pause, [Wait, what?] I shake my head and keep walking, [Nevermind, that makes sense.]

I break through another wall, [Hopefully I'm tough enough to survive that Angstrum I saw on the Ember.]

"By the way, why didn't you state you were non-hostile?"

[Um…..]

"You accidentally turned off your external speakers, didn't you."

[Nooo?]

-Rin POV-

As we began to descend down one of the staircases that we had found, Flare hummed, "So, you think we'll actually be able to finish that thing off?" she asked, "I mean it survived a fall like that, and i didn't see any obvious weak spots when we did see a bit of it."

"We don't have a choice, if we can't find a way to destroy it with our available weapons and powers then we'll have to find another way." Glacius stated, "We can't let a single part of that thing get off world."

"Yeah, but how exactly are we gonna improvise?" Aaralyn asked, resting her Hek on her right shoulder, "If we can't break it with our powers then we'd probably have to blow up the facility and hope that works…"

I shrugged, 'We were likely going to set it to self-destruct anyway, any equipment with information on it would be troublesome, and probably containing data on the project.'

As we got to the bottom floor of the facility we were able to hear the noises of metal being forcefully displaced much more clearly, Aaralyn gulping as we all readied our weapons, preparing for the worst. Seconds later, the machine tore through a wall ahead of us, and stepped into the hallway. It's armor was still pristine, showing no signs of the fact that it had just fallen over a hundred feet and buried under several tons of metal and rock.

The first to move, unsurprisingly, was Flare, who sprung into a sprint, gouts for flames beginning to erupt from the ground as she ran, a battlecry accompanying her. As she opened with both her power and Ignis, neither phasing the machine, Aaralyn cast her Sonar, hoping to expose some weak spots for the flamethrower's wide spray, unfortunately pulse seemed to simply slide off the machine, revealing no weak points, the flames from both Flare's powers and her weapon being equally ineffective.

Flare then growled as she switched to her angstrum, pointed it at the machine, and charged it, "Plan B!" she declared, trying to aim for the machine's head before releasing the trigger and letting the rockets fly. The multiple explosions hid it from view, so we couldn't see how much damage it had done.

We all waited for something, anything to happen, from what Flare had told me, her Angstrum was modded to to its maximum capacity, her prized possession apparently, I had imagined that it must have done some kind of damage at least.

A huge hand waved away the smoke, and revealed the machine, who had been completely unscathed by Flare's attack. If I didn't know this was a robot, who's function, and likely only 'thought' process, was our extermination, I'd say it looked surprised.

Flare gaped, "Plan B failed!" she exclaimed, hopping backwards, not sure what to do. The machine began to move towards us.

The rest of us were stunned, Glacius hadn't used any of his powers, probably because like me he assumed they wouldn't work, which wouldn't be far-fetched given how Sonar just passed over it.

"So what's Plan C!?" Aaralyn asked, clearly worried.

Glacius groaned as he seemig fought between ideas in his head, "If we can't hurt it ourselves, then we have no choice…" gesturing to leave, he began to run, "We'll just have to find a panel important enough to launch the self-destruct sequence from!"

Aaralyn gasped before running after him, "So we came too it just to run away again, with it knowing where we are now!?"

Flare and I joined them, "The hell else do you expect, it shrugged off my angstrum like York shrugs off Butchers!"

As we kept running down a corridor, we skid to a halt as we were greeted by the sight of a Juggernaut Behemoth, seemingly waiting for us at the end of the hall. As the infested monster roared, Aaralyn screeched in anger, "Of course something like this would happen!"

I could hear the machine charging down the hallway behind us, and realized we were trapped. I grit my teeth as I looked between the two sides, taking aim with my Tigris, I was going to try shooting at the Juggernaut, we lacked any kind of time to jump over or around it, and it was, while durable, likely the only opponent we could actually deal with, 'We have to try and punch through before the machine closes in on us!'

As the others prepared to do the same, we could feel the floor rattling as the machine grew close, Glacius growled, "There's not enough time!" he stated as his Glaxion began to charge.

Flare, normally happy to burn infested, was quiet, "We're in trouble…" she admitted.

I saw the machine closing in, and braced myself, only for it to run past us, ignoring us completely, curl into a ball, and ram the infested through a wall, into a large room. I was about to suggest running when Glacius ran towards the room, 'Glacius, are you sure that's a good idea?' I asked incredulously.

Glacius paused and looked back at us, "Look at this place, the large, distinct rig in the back, the terminal, it looks different from the rest." he explained, "If logic holds true then the most unique room is the one we should look for, and this is distinct enough that it fits the bill."

He then turned back towards the terminal, running to it, we looked to each other, Aaralyn sighing in annoyance and shaking her head before going after him, leaving Flare and I to reluctantly follow. The room was bigger than we initially expected, a rig meant to hold a large machine was indeed hooked up to a distinct panel in the back, which Glacius was currently operating, ignoring the hole on the other side that the Juggernaut had likely been forced through, given the sounds of battle coming from it.

"And sure enough, I was right." Glacius stated, drawing our attention back to him, "Project Typhon, and everything here points to our wall-breaking friend."

Flare hummed, pointing her angstrum at the panel, "Cool, so we trash this and we just gotta deal with the robot, yeah?" she asked bluntly.

Glacius pushed the angstrum aside, likely staring at her blankly from behind his helmet, "Not until we know what we're up against." he stated blankly. Flare simply shrugged, and let go of the trigger, firing the missiles through the second hole in the wall. Sighing, Glacius returned to reading the files. After a few seconds, he tensed. "It's powered by Void Keys…"

Everyone froze for a moment, the only noise being from the fight in the background, "Are you fucking kidding me?" Aaralyn asked, her tone empty, "That thing is powered by a fucking Void Key?"

Glacius sighed, "No."

We all relaxed, slightly, and Aaralyn let out a sigh of relief, "Thank the Lo-"

"I said it's powered by Void Keys, plural. As in sixteen of them powering a central driver that uses Orokin technology to create a barrier that renders Warframe powers useless against it."

There was a pause, which was then promptly ended with Aaralyn stomping her foot, "Fucking dammit!"

Exodus2150: And now, after a LOOONG ass bout of writer's block, I've gotten it done! Chapters should be coming out faster now, since I have a beta of my own now. Come on out!

Firebirdnamedsam:Sup everyone. Sam here, helping exo finally get some chapters done. I'll be popping in from time to time, either writing some content or editing what exo decides to publish. Have fun!

Exodus2150: Also, that reminds me, I have a story over on Spacebattles. Of Shards and Souls. It's a more serious take on this story, on the RWBY side, with the Warframe half to eventually come out as Hominum Ex Machina. The first can be found with a simple google search.

Firebirdnamedsam: I'm also helping him out with those stories as well.

Exodus: *smacks Sam with the informality stick, before running off*

Firebirdnamedsam: SONOVA-! Get over here! *runs after exo with a wiffle ball bat*

Exodus2150: *Jumps out another window. From an airship* You can't caaaaatch meeeeee! Exodus2150 signing off!