AN: 'M not dead. Right here, being lazy as all hell. In any case, there are a couple of points to address (thank you, kind commenter).

Point 1: Disciplined and skilled Tenno.

In my headcannon this is propoganda. A fearmongering tactic to give mystery to what basically equates to 'kids with snazzy murdersuits'. It's a bit of a stretch, but compare the image of Tenno in lore/text, and the usual run on a high level mission (before the massive powercreep made any and all missions a cakewalk). It's never a clean, effiecient, or heck - even organised business.

The Tenno are powerful, yes, but not a regimented military. I've failed to see any indication of that being true, throughout the lore. It's an image given, but not lived up to.

Point 2: Shera's inability to resist the mind control.

I give you Exhibit A: Ascaris.

It was crude grineer/orokin tech mashup, but it was implied to either render the warframe inert, or give control of it to the owner of the Ascaris, and it was "burrowing" directly into the warframe.

Now. What do we know about grineer? They're loud, crude and their tech is servicable, and in most cases sufficient.

I give you Exhibit B: Necrons.

Necrons live and breathe hyper-advanced tech, by the time they awake in the 41st millenium. It's not a stretch to assume they would have measures capable of taking over someone's body/mind.

And finally Exhibit C: Mindshackle scarabs

These little buggers burrow directly into the body of the victim, and latch on to the cerebral cortex. Granted, the exact way a warframe is built is unclear, but it should still posess some nerve-like conduit to exert command over it.

With that done, enjoy the chapter. I'll refrain from making any solid promises about the next one, but it is being worked on.

Accursed Ascention

Divide

Dala noticed that there was no visible portal to where they had come from. Just the opening in the wall, about to close. She reached for her Ignis, as the Phaeron took a step towards her, but before she could do anything else, a hand grabbed her shoulder.

Vaan channeled his energy, enhancing his strength, and flung the Ember between the slabs, mere seconds before it closed, and turned around just in time to intercept the scythe blade coming down hard.

Dala was dumbstruck. She ran up to the smooth monolithic sphere and in desperation sought a gap or a crevice to try and pry open, but found no such thing.

"Void take you! What are you doing!?" she screamed over the comms, but was met with absolute silence.

"You bastard! Don't you dare go and die on me. I'll be back!" she continued, looking over the structure. The Tenno surmised that breaking back in alone would be too difficult, and she'd be better at trying to locate a portal. That means she needed Shera and Zeifer to hack it, and bring some firepower.

With heavy footsteps becoming audible behind her, the Ember aptly assumed that she no longer was a welcome guest. Turning around she saw a line of the skeletal constructs advancing. They slowly raised their weapons and took rough aim.

The first volley of continuous shearing lightning beams wasn't accurate enough to pin her down, but the two beams that connected with her suit tore through her shields at an alarming rate. However it endured the precious few seconds needed, for Dala to make a sideflip behind one of the decorative obelisks. The pyromancer angled herself so that no direct shot could be made, and waited for her shield to replenish, listening to the footsteps approaching.

Dala brandished her Ignis, took a deep breath, and ran up the obelisk. With a leap forward from the top of it, she blasted the constructs with corrosive flame, but to her chagrin they seemed unaffected by the damage to their carapace. However the slight window it took for the constructs to readjust their aim was enough for Dala to break into a run, and outpace them.

Accompanied by a few, now rather accurate, beams, the Ember darted around a corner, and sped forward, keeping herself close to the sides of various structures. No doubt other such squads were now on patrol and converging on her location. She just had to hope that she would encounter them in small numbers.

"Shera. Zeifer. Make your way back to the marker. We're-..."

But before she could finish, her shields took a severe hit, forcing the Tenno to redirect her attention to any possible assailants. There had been no crackling discharge, as from the strange rifles these soldiers used, and even then, she had seen no rank and file constructs. Seeing no openings in her immediate surroundings, to dive for cover, she pulled out a small globe, and threw it on the ground.

A second later a perfect copy of Dala stood on the spot. The Cosmic Specter drew her Ignis and nodded. Both of the Embers then dove sideways, before starting a zig-zag sprint through the pathway, interchanging wall hops, slide-leaps and other maneuvers to try and throw off the aim, of the mysterious shooter. It didn't work as intended, as a second shot followed suit, and this time it ripped straight through Dala's remaining shielding, and the warframe carapace was struck by the weakened energy beam.

The result wasn't as devastating as it should be, but it still functionally crippled Dala's right side, as a searing wave of destruction shredded the frame's neural links for the most of her upper left torso. Thankfully, the sprint had carried her to a corner, so the wounded Tenno ducked into the open alleyway.

Taking a short breather, she noticed the odd structures around her. It was as if someone had simply built solid walls, in an attempt to form a maze, or some similar structure. Running through the ruts would be a massive waste of time, but skipping over the upper edges would expose her to the mysterious shooter, and anyone else, that would be in an elevated position. Besides, her left side was impaired for the foreseeable future. The pyromancer dared not risk an overload and reset, opting to let the internal structure of the warframe slowly repair the damage. It would take a couple minutes before the complex technocyte structure would reform and let her move the left arm, and at least a couple hours before it would return to the fully functional state.

"Where did my specter go…?" Dala pondered, before hearing the distinct sound of the arc rifles, as well as the *FWOOSH* of the Ignis. It sounded like it was coming from around the corner that she left. The specter clearly had reverted to it's original purpose, upon Dala being struck. Divert attention, and cause noise, with as many casualties as possible.

Casualties probably weren't on the list today, but at least the noise part was fulfilled. Trying to force her arm to move, Dala noticed a faint noise straight above her. Using her own Ignis was out of the question, so she drew her Seer pistol, and took a deep breath before wall-running up the structure.

Her maneuver carried her straight into one of the constructs, and she kicked off the edge of the structure, and somersaulted over it. As she turned around to face it, the Tenno aimed her pistol straight where the back of the head of the construct would be.

To her surprise, she found herself staring into a singular crystalline globe, in the middle of the construct's face. She forced herself out of the shock, and just in time as well, as the machine was about to perforate her with it's rifle.

Dala let off a shot, straight into the orb, and quickly holstered her Seer pistol, to try and wrench the rifle from the construct's arms, adding a kick for good measure.

To the pyromancer's surprise, it worked, and she held onto the rifle, as her opponent fell over the edge, accompanied with what was probably speech, though the sounds were so alien, that it took Dala a good moment to realise what she'd heard. Without wasting time, Dala broke off into a mad sprint, over the "rooftops", towards the waypoint left by Shera.

It was much further than the fiery Tenno anticipated.

"Here. I'll let your friend demonstrate."

Zeifer blinked. Shera raised her thumb. The Regulator went off, grazing one of Loki's horns, as he dove out of the way, and turned invisible.

The infiltrator unholstered one of his Vasto revolvers, and took a shot at the Cryptek, who, judging by the sound, was laughing.

Although the shot was supposed to hit the construct's neck, he moved his staff, so that the decorative crystalline head of it blocked the bullet. The speed and accuracy of the motion was seemingly improbable. The Cryptek moved the staff almost as if having some form of precognition.

At the same time, the Loki noticed that Shera was moving her aim towards him, though her movements were stilted, as if she was fighting the Mindshackle Scarab within her.

Not knowing what else to do, the Loki made a sweeping motion, letting an energy pulse out, that forcefully disarmed everyone in a large radius. Weapons were torn out of their owner's hands, and in the ensuing confusion Zeifer made his escape, vowing to himself, to return after Shera, with Dala and Vaan in tow.

The infiltrator ran back up the ramp, and headed for the exit, but, just as his invisibility ran out, he was slammed backwards with what seemed like a slab of metal. Then the shield of the Lychguard formed in his spinning vision, and the monotone voice of the crypt soldier rang out.

Zeifer had a hard time processing the words he heard. They sounded alien to him, and there were more pressing matters to worry about. With a roll backwards, he sprang up to his feet and reapplied invisibility to himself. The Lychguard stood in front of him, and was obviously trying to figure out where the Loki will move next.

"Invisible, not inaudible…" Zeifer lamented, as surely the Lychguard had figured out the same. In such close quarters, the construct had an advantage over him. The Loki wasn't a frame built for direct confrontation, but, as the pre-Orokin deity of the same name, was adept at trickery and misdirection.

Any faulty movement could result in death, or worse. But time was running out. The warframe backflipped, and not a second later, with a mechanical growl, the Lychguard slashed at the spot where the Loki had been.

The shimmering cleaver missed by pure luck, but Loki had gambled on it, and it paid off. Luck was his to wield, proven on countless missions.

Before his feet reached the ground, he switch teleported with his assailant, and broke off into a mad dash. The Lychguard had not expected the sudden relocation, and although fast to reorient himself, and go for a second slash, was not fast enough to catch the fleeing figure. Zeifer lost his invisibility as he crossed the egress, and turned his on gut feeling, just at the right time for the blade to embed itself in his shoulder.

With a muffled grunt of pain, the Loki dove sideways, and forced himself to keep going forward, hiding behind corners and outcrops. The trickster dislodged the blade from the frame, with a solid pull on it's upper edge, with a bit of effort. He took the weapon in his right arm, testing the weight and balance of it. To Zeifer's surprise the blade was emitting a barely audible buzz, that he had associated with the energy lines running through the blade, but with closer inspection, he discovered that the blade was, for lack of a better term, vibrating.

Having slowed his pace now, the Loki took a glance around. He was back on the crags, they had been on beforehand. It was an open space, and by now, surely there were others hunting him. The wound in his shoulder was a nuisance, but it was not as bad, as the impact would lead to believe. Once again warframe construction proved to be remarkably resilient.

However, the more he mulled it over, the more confused the Loki got. His shields had not been depleted, and the blade had been strangely embedded, seemingly bypassing the shielding.

"Seems like it is a common feature for their weapons to bypass defenses. Now, one has to wonder if the blade will bite the owner." Zeifer said to himself, trying a few more swings with the weapon. It was well balanced, but hefty. To Zeifer it felt like swinging a Gram, albeit maybe half it's size. That would take some getting used to, as one of such swings sent the Loki off balance, and he was forced to go into a roll, to avoid sprawling out on the rocks.

His tumble was rather loud, and had drawn attention of a hitherto unseen enemy. The floating spider-like construct hovered into view, it's motions slow, but the sensor array on it's head clearly focused on the Loki.

"Should've left Phobos when we had the chance…" Zeifer lamented, raising the hefty blade and brandishing one of his Fang daggers, while taking on a defensive stance.