Disclaimers: I do not own Warframe
A/N: Here is the full chapter as promised. Now I must go work on my Ranger of Westeros stories along with Wild Master and Romeo Rising.
Chapter 2
Judgment
"I really wish I had more time to prepare", Chroma thought as he hovers an inch off the interior surface of his landing craft, a red-coated Scimitar, "Then I would have had time to change my energy to one that would have been more useful for the operation."
Chroma was unique amongst the Tenno for his ability to change his energy and therefore his element. Unlike the other elemental Tenno like Volt or Frost, he could change his element to counter whatever enemy he was most likely going to encounter in the field by choosing between fire, frost, electric, and corrosive gas. One of the drawbacks of this is that it requires him to meditate for at least two hours before missions as so he could change his energy flow to the desired one. Another drawback of this was that it made his energy significantly unstable, at least compared to everyone else. The majority of his non-mission time, if he wasn't in the training room or on watch, was taken up by him performing nartas, ancient Tenno katas, or meditating, to help him focus his energy and keep it under control, hence the solitude.
His thoughts and focus were interrupted by the sound of his "partner" radioing him across the frequency.
"Hey, suga", Mesa said and Chroma turns to glare at his starboard viewing screen where a yellow-coated, blue stripes Xiphos was seen, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Before I allow you to, I strongly suggest that you stop calling me "suga", I have a codename, use it", Chroma growl, before hearing an annoyed sigh.
"Greaaat, you're one of them too", Mesa said.
"One of what?"
"One of those all-business, no-fun guys", Mesa explains, " The kind whose mind is always on the mission and nothing more, like Oberon and Excalibur. They don't like it when I address them as suga either."
"Did you ever stop to think it might be a matter of respect on why they don't like being called that?", Chroma inquires, "We call ourselves our codenames for a reason."
"We call each other the codename of our warframe and they're the name given to us by the Orokin scientists who experimented on us; a fact that most of you have seemed to have forgotten", Mesa retorted.
"I doubt anyone has forgotten about that", Chroma replied as he monitors his screens, "We are getting close to Mercury's stratosphere."
"I can see that" Mesa stated.
"Didn't you have a question for me?", Chroma suddenly remembers the main topic of their conversation before it got veer off.
"Oh yeah, that's right", Mesa said, "Why are you using your fire breath energy? Shouldn't you be using your corrosive gas, you know, something that actually works against the Grineer?"
Chroma didn't even try to stop the eye roll that followed.
Onboard the Orbiter
"Lotus, all landing craft are nearing their drop-off points", Ordis inform the leader of the Tenno from the bridge, "Operator Chroma and Mesa ETA to dropzone is exactly twenty minutes."
"Thank you, Ordis", the Lotus replies, "Now, were all the modifications to the Tenno's warframes and landing craft completed?"
"Yes, Lotus. Shields have been augmented with the program that will allow them to withstand the temperature of the surface along with enhancing the interior cooling system of the suits. But these modifications can only keep them in a habitable environment for so long before it gets overwhelmed", Ordiswarnsn, "We should once again emphasize the need for them to secure a safe location, such as the interior of the outpost or otherwise, as soon as possible."
"All team leads; including Chroma and Mesa, have been instructing in this matter. Our main problem is ensuring that Cressa Tel survives this mission. Even if, by some miracle, Vor or Kril somehow survive this, as long as we get Cressa Tel to safety, we could count that as a minor victory", Lotus stated, though deep down she knew she needed Vor and Kril to die, or the repercussions would be felt through the system. But that wasn't the only thing troubling her, "Ordis?"
"Yes, Lotus?"
"Remind me again why Vor decided to build a base on the surface of Mercury? The extreme environment would push even the toughest Grineer to their limits."
"Well, Lotus, according to intel reports, Vor has always wanted only the toughest Grineer to make up his forces and thus he has already used a process to, in his words, weed out the weakness that is poisoning the Grineer", Ordis explains, doing nothing to ease Lotus' anxiety.
"What if Volt was right about this being a trap?", Lotus thought before quickly dismissing the idea, "No, while Vor is far more intelligent than the average Grineer, him devising a trap like this that puts himself in clear mortal danger is below his intelligence.
Lotus stares out into the cold abyss of space at the planet Mercury as it came into view, its inner space dotted with refinery asteroids and Grineer's ships.
"Though he was able to reverse-engineer Orokin technology and make the Ascaris device that restrained Excalibur for quite some time", she thought.
In the skies of Mercury
"We are approaching the drop site", Ordis informed Chroma and Mesa as they entered the suffocating atmosphere of the closest planet to the sun. Even with the highly advanced onboard cooling system within the landing craft, the dragon Tenno still felt the heat from outside as it baked the outer surface.
"Do we have a visual of Cressa Tal's position?", Chroma asks mentally dreading the paint job that he was going to have to fix himself on his landing craft later on.
"Yes, a visual of the – giant clusterfuck- ensuing battle is coming up in three….two….one", Ordis replied as a screen appears in front of Chroma's face and after analyzing it for a few moments, he felt his temper and annoyance rise.
"Well, hog tied me up and sell me at the market", Mesa voiced, "This couldn't have been a bigger shitstorm for us to fly into."
And Chroma couldn't help but agree with her as he surveys the battlefield through the screen because it would seem that despite having the element of surprise, the Steel Meridian forces failed to take the main building of the outpost, instead being forced to the outskirts where they seem to have taken shelter in a series of caves that litter the landscape. Above them, rapid bursts of anti-air fire blanketed the skies.
"Judging by the firing pattern of the flak guns, it would seem that there is no distinct strategy to the anti-aircraft screen. It as though the Grineer are- shooting for the sheer fuck of it- firing off at random. Unfortunately, this seems to have been enough to keep Steel Meridian's dropships from coming to evac them", Ordis informed the two Tenno.
Chroma study the intensity of the barrage for a moment before speaking, "How long until the others land, Ordis?"
"ETA for the remaining Tenno is exactly five minutes."
"And what's the priority of the anti-aircraft guns?", Mesa interjected.
"Top priority is Captain Vor and Lieutenant Lech Kril, a secondary objective is aiding the Steel Meridian and reverse order for you two. But two of the eleven three-man teams have been assign to take out the emplacements."
"Locate Cressa Tal", Chroma ordered, and a second later a visual of the syndicate leader appear on the screen. She was in the middle of an intense firefight between her squad and a full platoon of Grineer marines and she was currently pinned down by three heavy gunners behind a boulder while Chroma notices another platoon on her left slowly advancing under fire to flank her and her squad. As the bullets from the Grineers' Gorgon began to slowly chip away the rock, Chroma spotted a figure coming up from behind them that made smoke come out of his mouth in annoyance.
Towering over everyone on the battlefield, be they Steel Meridian or not, and slowly moving toward Cressa Tal with his infamous hammer, Brokk, strapped to his back and firing away with his own personal Gorgon, was the famous war hero of the Grineer, Lieutenant Lech Kril.
"This day keeps getting better and better", Chroma muttered, seeing on his screen Mesa shaking her head in frustration, knowing that she had come to the same conclusion as well.
"We're going to have to hot-drop in", Chroma finally said, "Get ready. Ordis, I'm going to need you to sync up our drop and calculate the exact moment to release."
"Affirmative, Operator Chroma."
Hot-Dropping was the term used when a Tenno operative had to get into a drop zone, but the LZ was deemed too hot for their landing craft. Where usually the landing craft would hover over LZ and let the Tenno flip out and drop to the ground; the landing craft accelerates to extremely high speed and then proceeds to drop the Tenno operative in mid-flight and then turns sharply and leaves. This literally shoots the Tenno out like a bullet to the LZ and allows them to glide in. While this method minimizes the damage from the enemy fire to the Tenno, they are still gliding in at neck-breaking speed and usually have difficulty fully controlling their landing.
"You assist Cressa Tal while I handle Kril", Chroma states, only to see Mesa snap her neck at him.
"Please tell me that was your idea of a joke, suga!", Mesa said, "Kril fought Rhino to a draw and he fought him with his Fragor! Your sword isn't going to stand a chance against him and he's heavily shielded against ranged attacks!"
"You underestimate Tiamat's Wrath", Chroma says as he began to position himself for the drop, "I'll hold off Kril while you get Cressa Tal to safety for an evac, unless you want to take him on for as long as he's around, the Grineer's assault is only going to get worse. And by fighting Kril, I'm ensuring that we will receive aid from the other teams since he is a priority target."
"It's still a dumb plan, suga", Mesa countered.
"I'm not trying to beat him, only stall him", Chroma repeated, "Ordis, how long until we're within range?"
"Currently coming up on the launching point. Operators, please make ready", the A.I. states as Mesa moves into herself into position as well, the magnetic pull from the stasis frame sealing her into place.
"Operator Mesa, operator Chroma, commencing last diagnosis check before launch", Ordis said as Mesa felt a surge of digital energy flow through her…
Operator Mesa Status Check:
Shields: Green
Vital Signs: Green
Armor: Green
Energy: Fully Charged
Energy Siphon Mod Install
Operator Mesa's Weapons Check:
Snipertron Status: Green
Soma Status: Green
Akvasto Status: Green
"Operator Mesa, prepared for mission", Ordis concluded, "Moving on to Operator Chroma"
Operator Chroma Status Check:
Shields: Green
Vital Signs: Green
Armor: Green
Energy: Fully Charged
Energy Siphon Mod Install
Special Energy Flow: Fire
Operator Chroma's Weapons Check:
Dragon Galatine (Tiamat's Wrath) Status: Green
Daikyu Status: Green
Ferrox Status: Green
"Operator Chroma, prepared for mission", Ordis said, "Preparing for launch, accelerating landing craft to maximum speed."
It was at that moment as Mesa mentally prepares herself for the battle ahead that she heard something over the communication link.
"I am the dragon, master of all I survey. All that stands against me will fall, be it through fire, ice, lightning, or poison. I am the dragon, master of all I survey. All that stands against me will fall, be it through fire, ice, lightning, or poison."
"What the hell?", Mesa wondered before Ordis came over her comm link.
"It's the chant he says before every mission. It seems to steady his heartbeat and calm his nerves from what I have observed", he explains.
"Is that right?", Mesa asks as Ordis began the countdown.
"Preparing for rotation", he said over both of their comm links, "Rotating stasis in three….two...one."
"When all of the land is in ruin, only I will remain."
Within a heartbeat, Mesa went from staring up at the ceiling of her landing craft to glazing upon the scorched landscape of the planet. Instantly, she felt her warframe interior cooling kick up to its maximum output just as she felt her skin began to heat up from the smothering environment around her. Even with the advance Orokin technology cooling her within her suit, she still felt the heat, but at least it was bearable and survivable.
"Still hotter than a whore in church, though", Mesa muttered, though she barely heard herself over the sound of the rushing air that jetted over her body as her and Chroma's landing craft approach the battlefield. They were still well out of range of the guns, but through Mesa's HUD she was able to make out a Steel Meridian's dropship taking a direct hit and getting blown out of the skies; it's pilot and passengers falling to the ground in a tangled mess of burning corpses and mangled flesh.
Before Mesa could comment on the attack, she heard Ordis talking to her.
"Launching in three….two….one...Go!"
Mesa felt the stasis frame turn off and release her and a heartbeat later, she once again experiences first-hand what a bullet felt like when it was shot out of a gun.
"Squad Delta, focus your fire on their left flank! Bravo, cover Alpha while they get their wounded to shelter! Charlie lay down some goddamn suppression fire!", Cressa Tal barked over the Steel Meridian comm-link while she herself was laying down fire with her Karak toward the advancing Grineer squad that was being led by none other than Lech Kril himself, "This has just turn into the system's biggest clusterfuck!"
A few hours ago, Cressa Tal received intel from one of her inside sources that Tyl Regor, the foremost Grineer scientist responsible for finding a cure for the negative effects of the Grineer cloning, was at Vor's base. The reasons why were vague at best, but that didn't matter to Cressa Tal. Ever since some of her comrades were captured by Vor and handed over to Tyl Regor, she wanted his head, almost as much as she wanted Vor. Ever since Tyl Regor publicly display a holo-video showing him conducting horrible experiments on her capture fellow Steel Meridians, she wanted revenge, so much that she didn't even inform the Lotus of her sudden attack way ahead of schedule; for she knew that woman would try to talk her out of it.
"Should have at least send her a message", Cressa Tal told herself, "A few Tenno backing me up could really help me out right now."
"Cressa Tal!", one of her sergeant next to her shouts out, "Look!"
Cressa Tal follows the stretch out hand of the free Grineer and spots two objects flying toward them at a high speed from behind their position. She could vaguely make out a slim yellow figure on the right and a bulkier red figure on the left, zooming toward them.
"Well I'll be damn", Cressa Tal chuckled, "Seems like my prayers are answered."
Mesa and Chroma were rocketing toward the Steel Meridian's position at a sharp downward incline, going at speeds that almost broke the sound barrier. On their personal HUD, the altitude indicators were rapidly dropping as the pair got closer and closer to the surface.
"1600 meters", Ordis read off, "1500...1400...1300"
Mesa drew her Akvasto from her back and re-straighten herself while Chroma drew Tiamat's Wrath.
"900...800...700...operators now is the recommended distance to prepare for gliding", the A.I. advise before continuing the countdown, " 500...400..300… nearing the surface level."
Both Tenno activated their gliding mechanism and their speeds rapidly decrease, but not to the point where they could land gently. Mesa landed first, sliding along the ground, leaving a deep trench in her wake and if she thought the air of the planet was scorching, then she was lucky she had a highly advanced suit of armor between her and the ground. Without skipping a beat, she takes aim with her dual pistols and lets out short three-round burst from each gun, taking out a heavy gunner and lancer from Lech Kril's squad in the process, before finally ending up at the rock where Cressa Tal was currently taking cover.
"Took your asses long enough to get here!", the Grineer defector says.
"Says the one who launched the attack three hours early without telling anyone!",Mesa quip back as she pressed her back against the rock, "So how deep are we in right now?"
"We lost three dropships coming in due to anti-aircraft fire and were only able to less than half our force before I had to wave off the rest due to the intensity of their screech! I got less than a hundred men with me right now, getting smaller by the second, while around another one-fifty are up in space!"
"We saw one of your dropships get hit on our way here!", the gunslinger Tenno inform Cressa Tal.
"Yeah, I saw. It was carrying all of Squad Foxtrot", Cressa Tal as she sighs and shook her head, despite the carnage going on around her, "They were one of my veteran squads. They have been through a shit ton of battles and some of them have even been with me since the founding of Steel Meridian."
"I would give you my condolences, suga, but I'm afraid we don't have time for that! We got to get you out of here!", Mesa told her.
"I figure that was why you were here! Hate to break it to ya, but I'm not leaving until either all of the Grineer loyalists are dead or all of my surviving men are off the planet!", Cressa Tal states bluntly, "Sorry if that throws a wrench in your plans."
"We both know it throws a wrench in our plans-", Mesa started to say before something caught her eye from behind Cressa Tal.
"One moment", she says as she draws her snipertron, takes aim, and delivers a headshot to a Ballistas that somehow got up on the cliff flanking their current position and was lining up a headshot on one of the Steel Meridian troopers. Before the Ballistas even drops her gun and falls over the side, Mesa was back to her conversation with Cressa Tal, "And second, we both know you're not sorry."
Cressa Tal looks behind her just in time to see the Ballistas' body hit the ground and looks up at the cliff where the sniper was previously out before shouting into her radio, "Bravo, keep an eye on the cliffs, will you?!"
She then turns her attention back to Mesa, "So how are we going to get out of here with Lech Kril bearing down on us?"
Mesa pokes her head out from around the rock, "Looks like Chroma handling that right now", before noticing something about the enemies assaulting them.
"You guys are almost equal in numbers here; how come you guys are getting push back so hard?", she asks.
"That's something I would like to know as well", Cressa Tal admitted, "For some reason, these Grineer are a lot tougher than the lot that I'm used to dealing with. More coordinated, more resilient, and even faster and stronger. Hell, I had a hard time taking down a Butcher of all things when we first landed."
What Chroma was doing while all that was going on
Chroma sometimes wondered what would happen if he used his fire breath in an environment that was already super-heated. He wondered if it would increase the strength of his flames or would it simply cancel them out. This, along with countless more, were the things that kept his mind occupied whenever he would mediate.
Well, now he had one less thing to ponder over during his mediation, for he had a front-row seat to seeing just how dangerous his flames were in a super-heated environment as he glided over the squad being led by Lech Kril and let loose his Spectral Scream them. His own mouth started to heat up upon releasing his flames but only to the point of mild discomfort as the Grineer who were caught in his blast weren't so lucky as they burst into flames and the smell of burning flesh filled the dragon Tenno nostrils. But Chroma had little time to dwell as he was heading straight for Lech Kril, who at the moment was holstering his Gorgon and going straight for his infamous hammer, Brokk, and swinging it at Chroma.
CLANK!
Chroma could feel his entire warframe vibrate under the weight of the impact from the hammer as it collides with Tiamat's Wrath, sending the Tenno flying backward. He was in the air for almost two seconds before backflipping and landing on his feet. He briefly notices while looking down that small amounts of smoke were coming off of his armor and saw a warning symbol on his HUD come up indicating that his shield was being taxed to their highest limit.
"Operator Chroma, due to circumstance your shields will be quickly depleted should that take hits along with the fact that they will take longer than usual for them to recharge", Ordis inform him, "I recommend caution in your fight."
"Noted", Chroma said, "What can you tell me about Lech Kril?"
"Running analysis", was Ordis reply as Chroma ready his sword, "Analysis complete. Base on previous analysis from Operator Rhino's encounter with Lech Kril, it would seem that Lech Kril has upgraded his movement speed to a certain percentage."
"What per-", Chroma started to say before he saw Lech Kril charging toward him with speeds he didn't think was possible for a Grineer his size. Chroma barely had time to dodge a downward swing of his hammer, the metal coming within an inch of his armor, before he spun around and counter with a horizontal slash to the lieutenant's mid-section only to have the blow block by the shaft of the hammer, Lech Kril wielding the heavy hammer as graceful as it was a tree branch. The Grineer lieutenant than proceed to swing his it over his head and sideways at Chroma's head once more only to feel nothing but thin air as the dragon of the Tenno flips backward and land a couple of feet away.
"Lech Kril as upgraded his speed by at least one hundred and ten percent", Ordis finish.
"Really? I didn't notice", Chroma nearly growled as he watched Lech Kril raise Brokk high above his head.
"Grineer immortality begins with the strike of my hammer!", he screams as he brings it down on the ground, creating a mini-quake in the process as a wave of sharpen ice spikes were sent toward Chroma along the ground, "ICE WAVE!"
Chroma's first instinct was to jump back as fast as he could manage and for a brief moment, it worked…..
Until he realizes that the ice wasn't slowing down and if anything it was gaining speed. He quickly veers off to the right in hopes the attack would merely go by him but he briefly catches the movement of Lech Kril swinging his hammer to the right and the ice spikes trail move right toward Chroma, who was once more on the backfoot of trying to escape.
"Operator Chroma, it would seem that Lech Kril can control the direction of his ice attacks with his hammer and that the ice must be at an extremely freezing temperature to survive on Mercury's surface. I suggest you- break that fucking tool over his head- dislodge the weapon from his grasp.", Ordis said.
"Give me a moment", Chroma said as he noticed incoming fire was now raining down on his position from various locations by the Grineer squads. Now while Chroma's warframe was tied with Grendel for the fourth most armor while only being behind Valkyr, Nidus, and Atlas, even he could be brought down easily by multiple attacks without aid, especially since he couldn't rely on shields seeing how they were already at their limit with the heat. Add the fact, that he wasn't using his ice energy to augment his defense and you knew that he wasn't going to last long.
"Would it kill you two ladies, and I use that term loosely, to give me some cover fire while I handle the majority of the leg-work?", he all but screamed into his integrated comm link, "I can't do everything myself!"
"My, how rude he is", Mesa commented as she took out her Soma and laid down suppression fire on the Grineer squad to Chroma left up on the cliffs, while Cressa Tal and her remaining squad exchange gunfire with the squad on his right, "You think the guy could be a little nicer about it."
"I know, right", Cressa Tal agreed, "Hey, by the way, where is the rest of ya'll crew? I doubt Lotus just send the two of you here."
"The rest of them are attacking the outpost from the other side in an attempt to trap Vor while also taking out the anti-craft guns", Mesa informed Cressa Tal.
"And when did they land exactly?", Cressa Tal asks.
"Ordis?", Mesa asks the A.I.
"The remaining Tenno landed ahead of schedule and have been on the ground for exactly four minutes", Ordis answered before going quiet, "Sadly though, I seem to have lost contact with them."
Chroma lets out a fiery Spectral Scream that stops Lech Kril Ice Wave in its track and turns it into an evaporating puddle before responding to Ordis statement.
"What do you mean you lost contact with them?!", Chroma screamed, "There's over thirty of them!"
"That's just it Operator Chroma, something seems to be jamming their signals. I'm still receiving all vital signs green but they seem to be slightly panicking and Excalibur's signs show of one who is in heavy close quarters combat, his energy flow signals seems to have been blocked off as well. I'm patching you and Operator Mesa into their communication traffic now."
Mesa listens in to the traffic while Chroma continued to duel with Lech Kril, who had now close the gap between them and was unleashing a fury of blows onto the Tenno who was forced to use his giant sword as nothing more than a shield to survive.
"Excalibur….(static)…holding…..Trinity needs protection! It's coming our way!….Frost!….Slow it down! Take down, Vor!… Get out of the way!…. Inaros is down!... Prime!…. Prime!", was all she could make out through the noise.
"Prime?", Mesa thought, "What's this thing called "Prime"? Also, is that swords clashing I hear in the background? Ordis did indicate that Excalibur may be in heavy close-quarters combat, but Lech Kril is here and Vor is nowhere close to matching Excalibur in swordsmanship, therefore there is no one around who should be giving Excalibur such a hard time."
She had no time to dwell on these thoughts before her HUD starting suddenly acting up. It scrambled and darken for a few seconds before returning to normal.
"What the hell?", Mesa wondered aloud.
"Mesa! Do your HUD just start acting up?", Chroma called out to her as he ducks a hammer swing to his head.
"Yeah, yours too?", Mesa asks.
"Yep", as he parries a swing, "Ordis?"
"Something is interfering with your signals as well", Ordis explained, "I suggest arwtfdaafdsafgsdf", as his voice started to scramble and then went dead.
"Ordis?", Mesa wondered as she drew snipertron and headshot three Grineers, "Ordis, you there?".
Out of the corner of her eye on the other side of the battlefield, she sees a black blur streak by. Bringing her gun to bear she zeros in on that location only to see nothing more than five dead Grineer soldiers, their corpses all torn up and some of them were cleanly cut in half.
"Wasn't that squad just firing upon one of the Steel Meridian units?", Mesa thought before hearing Cressa Tal yelling over her comms.
"Bravo, come in! Bravo, respond! Is their anyone over there?!", Cressa she screamed before howling in frustration, "I can't reach Bravo squad! No one's responding!"
"What about everyone else?", Mesa asks as she combed the area, never relaxing her guard. Once again she barely catches a black blur streak by, but by the time she tries to get her sights on it, it once again disappear, "What the hell is going on?"
"Charlie, come in!", Cressa Tal tried, "Alpha, report! Delta, get me a sitrep! Is there anyone still out there?!"
Suddenly, screams of pain and horror came pouring into the comm link…
"Cressa Tal, get out of here! Whatever it is, it's-AHHHHH!"
"What the fuck?!", Cressa Tal cursed, "Bityio, what's going on?! Bityio!"
"Why is the sound of gunfire decreasing?", Chroma asks he brought his sword to bear down upon Lech Kril only to have it block once again by the shaft of Brokk. Now he and the famous Grineer war hero were locked in a pushing contest of strength and it was one that Chroma knew he wasn't going to win as it was taking everything he got just to keep from being flung backward.
Without warning, alarms started going off in his mind as his Effigy, Aforitos, was suddenly mentally screaming for him to get out the way and he only did that whenever he was in serious danger from an attack he couldn't see coming. Without skipping a beat, Chroma ducks down and rolls to his left just as a black streak goes flying over him into Lech Kril. When Chroma recovers a second later and looks over at Lech Kril ready for another bout, he lets out an audible gasp as his eyes widen in shock.
There, in an ever-growing pool of his own blood was the mangled body of Lech Kril. His hammer laid a good five feet from him, a deep gash in its metal. His left arm had been taken completely off, severed all the way from the shoulder and laid next to his broken left leg. Miraculously, he was somehow still alive as he was literally crawling toward Brokk with his one good arm, shouting curses at the Tenno the whole time.
"All squads! Focus your fire on the Tenno scum!", he ordered, only to realize a moment later the same thing that Chroma himself just noticed….
That only he, Chroma, Mesa, Cressa Tal, and her remaining squad, were the only ones still standing in the immediate vicinity.
"What the hell is going on?", Chroma asks aloud as he takes a defensive stance with his Tiamat's Wrath, "Ordis, come in. Ordis, are you there?", Chroma calls into his comm link while scanning the area.
"I can't raise him either", Mesa adds, "Something is jamming out Ordis. Whoever is doing this must at least have Orokin level-"
Mesa catches movement out of her left eye and turns to fire at it. Due to her rapid trigger finger, she was able to let off three rounds at the black blur coming straight at her from over twenty yards away….
And could only watch in horror as it dodges the first two and deflects the last one with a blood red object.
"Oh, shi-", was all she had time to say before the blur was upon her and she received a powerful backhand that sent her flying over the rock and landing on the other side of it on her side.
"Who the fuck are you?!", Cressa Tal screamed as she brings her gun to her hip and unleashes a full clip on the attacker, only to have every single round deflected away by the mysterious being in a flash of red.
"The flying fuck?", Cressa Tal curses as she suddenly feels a tremendously sharp pain go through her right shoulder as she realizes that the attacker in the span of less than a second had just pierced her armor as though it was paper. She lets out an agonizing scream that echoes throughout the area as she was lifted up by the weapon still in her shoulder and flung aside like a rag-doll, hitting the wall of the nearby cliff with a resounding bang.
"My fucking head is ringing", Mesa complained as she came to, "What the hell just hit me?"
"I AM YOUR RECKONING!", a voice thunders next to her, overwhelming her warframe's audio sensors, prompting Mesa to turn over on her back with her Akvasto drawn, but it was too late…
The last thing she saw was a glowing blood red two-prong sword hovering above her head and the words it announced send shivers throughout her body...
"So this is the reason Natah turned her back on me and her mission. I can't tell what's more pathetic, you or my daughter's decision."
And with that, the sword propels itself forward.
A/N: You already know who this is and as you can tell, he gives no fucks who you are. Lech Kril was never supposed to be the main opponent for Chroma, at least not this chapter.
With the whole Chroma stats, they're based off the Warframe wiki in the comparison chart. Going off max level 30, Chroma has the fourth highest ARMOR not counting primes. As I stated when Chroma first landed his shields were already being taxed so he was more worried about his armor holding up then his shields.
Also, Stalker does have War but he isn't Shadow Stalker yet.