For those who may be confused, this portion of the story takes place right after the Orokin Empire fell. The Tenno destroyed Orokin for reasons that have never been made entirely clear in game. In my own story world, the Lotus rebelled against the Sentients who spawned her, taking the Zarimon children and then the mass produced copies of the First Tenno as her own children. (The actual First Tenno were gone, having cut themselves off during a mess orchestrated by another ancient enemy. [See Warframe: Schisms]). This portion of this story takes place many years before the events of Warframe the game. Some of what is going on will be made clear in this chapter. Some.
Tricks
"Gah!" The Lotus snapped as Kate finished her breakfast and looked up in time for another blue flash. "These idiots are annoying!"
The room was filled with people eating but none were close to Kate except the Lotus. None of the others trusted Kate yet and she didn't blame them at all. Everyone with visible faces looked worried, but Kate finished her bite before speaking.
"Another trace? You need to throw them off the scent. Give them another target to hunt." Kate said flatly. "As long as they think they can track you, they will." She paused and then she smiled. More than one person shuddered at her cold smile. "Or do you really want them to stop?"
The Lotus stared at Kate and then at the rest of her people. It was clear that none of them knew what the Lotus really was. Most of them thought she was an Orokin in disguise like the Tenno clearly did. The youngest might or might not see thought he disguise, but he was semiconscious.
"They are immortal in warframes, Kate." The Lotus shrugged. "Even if I destroy the frames, they will build more and come back."
"Violence is not always the solution, Ma'am." Butter might not have melted in Kate's mouth as everyone stared at her. "I have hunted and been hunted. What you need is to throw them off the scent."
"Ah, if only it were that easy. Tenno define the word 'stubborn' and they have my scent, Kate." The Lotus said with a growl of annoyance. "There are many places I can put the entrance that they cannot easily get to, but then these can never leave." Everyone looked fearful at the thought of leaving their safe haven and the Lotus was quick to continue. "No, I am not throwing anyone out who holds to my rules, but even this madness must end sometime. Even Tenno cannot keep this killing up forever. You will all want lives outside of these walls."
"But we are safe here." The boy who had gotten water for Kate was very quiet.
"Yes, Number Three, you are safe here." The Lotus reassured him. "But you cannot stay here forever. Nothing is forever. Not Orokin greed. Not Sentient destruction. Not slaughter by Tenno steel. Nothing lasts forever. I will keep you safe, but eventually, this safe place will turn into a cage and you will chafe at the bars. I don't want that. You all deserve to live free."
"You don't want our service." Number Three said slowly. "We have all offered."
"Service to such as me is not a life, merely a death prolonged." The Lotus cautioned. "I am not a good being, Number Three. I try, but I am not. I act in ways that hurt others. I did horrific things. Orokin is gone. Good riddance." A mutter of agreement came form the others. "But now? We have to look to the future and if they find you with me, you will have no future. You will die and I do not want that."
"They don't have to find you at all." Kate said into the silence that fell and again, everyone looked at her. "You don't need to kill them to drive them away. There are better ways."
"Oh?" The Lotus asked slowly. "Elaborate please?"
"What we need to do is what several of my friends call 'thinking outside the box'." Kate said after a moment's thought. "I once saw one of the most powerful and evil beings I could ever imagine run away from a horde of small, furry rodents." Even the Lotus was gawping at her and she continued. "He had lasers, blasters, missiles, armor, robots, a massive battleship, all that. He killed dozens, maybe hundreds of the rodents but they kept coming and his armor was breached, his weapons trashed, not by high tech weapons or otherworldly powers, but by teeth. He ran when he realized he was on the verge of being defeated by squirrels."
Was that a growl of annoyance that suddenly sounded in Kate's mind and just as suddenly cut off? If so, it was irrelevant and she forgot it as soon as it happened.
"'Squirrels'?" Came from several people. Kate looked at the Lotus who nodded and a screen lit up one wall, showing a common grey squirrel. It looked fairly imposing until the Lotus superimposed a human silhouette beside it and people saw how small a 'squirrel' actually was. All of the other humans stared at that and then at Kate. It was clear from the looks she got that no one believed her.
"I didn't believe it either, but according to every record, she did it. Somehow." Kate shrugged at the accumulated disbelief. "No one has any idea how. And she has done wilder things. Simply put, she thinks outside the box. She looks for things that will work that are not accepted practice. Tell me, Lotus, do these Tenno have email?"
"You wouldn't." Was the Lotus suddenly pale? "Would you?"
"Are you set up to record?" Kate smirked evilly as the Lotus nodded. Then she stilled her expression and spoke as if reciting but not 'quite' in the proper speech. "Hello. This is Darianna from Dealer Services. We have been attempting to contact you regarding your car's extended wa-ran-ty. Please call this num-ber to speak to our cu-sto-mer service department to extend you car's wa-ran-ty." She smiled and her face relaxed. "Add some gibberish is you want or some esoteric code that will translate 'You are rude'."
"Do I want to know?" The one called Number Three asked, more than a bit disturbed by this.
"What she just did is a parody of something called 'telemarketing'." The Lotus explained, still worried. "And it was highly illegal under Orokin. Punishable by death."
"Death is better than some things I saw done to telemarketers who would not stop pestering people. Better than internet scammers though." Kate actually shuddered and everyone looked curious. "Do not ask. Just… if you ever get an email from a supposed exiled prince of a place called Wakanda, delete it immediately. T'Challa has no sense of humor about that! None! And the Dora Milaje are worse! You will pray for death if they catch you!"
"You are scaring us, Kate." The Lotus warned as everyone shifted a little away from Kate.
"Good." Kate took a slow, shuddering breath. "I mean, the King of Wakanda is a good man. One of the best I have met. They are good people. Honest, forthright and willing to do what it takes to do the right thing. But, oh my god, he scared the hell out of me when he caught that guy! He scared us all! Even Stark stepped carefully around the Panther for a while after that." She shivered hard. "No one with any brains will try that again. Even the worst of the bad guys know better than that."
"Not dead?" The Lotus asked carefully.
"No." Kate swallowed hard and shook her head. "That guy swindled a lot of people, took their life savings and promised them all sorts of stuff he was never going to give them. What was worse? He did it in the name of Wakanda. They took offense at that. He never planned on being found and certainly not by the King of Wakanda himself. Killing him would have been faster and in many ways, more merciful. The King was not feeling merciful at that time. Please don't ask. I wish I didn't know."
"Some of the Orokin ideas of vengeance turned the stomach but left their targets alive." Number Three said very quietly and several people nodded, the Lotus included. "I think we all can understand such. But… You want to send that message to the Tenno?" He inquired.
"No." Kate's smile was feral again. "If they send any kind of contact information, I want the lady in blue here to spam their inbox with few thousand versions of that. And I know others." She warned when everyone looked bit green.
"They have been trying to send information through the portal and I have been scrambling it as a matter of course." The Lotus smiled and it was too was not a nice smile. "I am tracking that and I can send few… interesting things back." Kate opened he3r mouth, but the Lotus waved at her. "And nothing about anywhere named Wakanda."
"Good." Kate relaxed fully and took a sip of her water.
"That is rude." A young girl said a bit meekly. "Won't that make them mad?"
"Yes." Kate and the Lotus chorused. They eyed one another and the Lotus continued. "But if I send it out into the fragments of the network, it will disperse. Spread it enough and it will be seem to come from everywhere. 'Outside the box' indeed, Kate Bishop."
"Counter their search with enough noise and they will have to get lucky or sneaky to find you." Kate replied. "It could still happen, but such will make it far harder."
"Thank you." The Lotus smiled as she focused back on the group. "Sent. And now, hopefully, we get some time to relax and recover."
"I need to focus on my own predicament and I don't think anyone can help me with that." Kate shook her head. "Back to the books, I guess. If you have textbooks on quantum physics."
"A few." The Lotus allowed. "I can set you up with limited access to that. Everyone else has access to the sealed intranet."
"The invaders didn't get access to that, did they?" Kate went still when the Lotus did.
"I don't think so. I will check." The Lotus vanished from her seat. Kate stared after her and then shook herself.
"That takes some getting used to." Kate shrugged as she took another sip of her water.
"You seem remarkably relaxed for having been dropped in here, literally." Number Three said slowly. Kate shrugged and he continued. "Aren't you worried?"
"A bit." Kate allowed. "I have seen a lot of strange stuff in my life. Odd, wrong or just weird. After a while, you…" She made a face. "...well, you learn to deal with it if you want to stay sane. This isn't nearly as bad as trying to deal with the X-Men on occasion."
"'X-Men'?" Came from everyone.
"Uh…" Kate groaned. "I… I really shouldn't say. I don't know how I got here or why I came here. I don't know if it will cause problems or if I will mess stuff up by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time."
"That is unlikely, Kate Bishop." The Lotus returned, this time through the door. "From what I can tell, your problems are quantum, not temporal." Everyone but Kate looked confused and the Lotus shook her head. "I don't see you being able to influence anything but our moods here and now. And if you do have stories, we could use some entertainment. Can you share such?" She asked.
"Stories?" Kate said very slowly. Then her face lit up. "Oh, do I ever have stories!" She shook her head. "You won't believe half of them, but hey, that is good thing, right? Willfull suspension fo disbelief is part of good entertainment."
"As long as they entertain and not cause fear, I don't think it is a problem." The Lotus sat again. "And, no, the intranet was not touched."
"Okay." Kate pursed her lips and looked around. "What would you like to hear about? I know two the best. Star-Lord, the boy who was taken by aliens because his dad was a king of an alien planet. An outcast who became a pirate and sort of hero? Or would you prefer to hear about Throg, the Frog of Thunder?"
"The Frog… of Thunder?" The Lotus looked almost poleaxed. Everyone stared at her and she smiled. "I think I need to hear that one!" All of the other people nodded, even the little boy who had been dozing off. He too looked rapt.
"That is a pretty cool story. Many people think it was insult to Thor or a reference to a time when he was transformed into a frog by his mischievous brother Loki, but it isn't. Well, not entirely. He was turned into a frog once and it did set all set those events into motion, so… Here goes." Kate sat back and took up a haughty pose. "Excelsior! Harken to my tale, true believers! Let me tell you the story of humble Puddlegulp and the magical sliver of the mighty Mjolnir that turned him into the hero that we all know as Throg, the Frog of Thunder!" No one interrupted as Kate spun her tale.
"It was a dark and stormy day in the deep wilds of Central Park as the noble frog Puddlegulp made his way through the underbrush to find the hero who had come to save the frogs from the vile rat hordes. The rats had fled and the frogs had rejoiced and all was good for a time. But now, portents and omens spoke of the rats' return and the hero was nowhere to be found! Hither and yon, the noble frog searched, but to no avail, the frog hero was gone, leaving the poor frogs of Central Park defenseless against the evil horde of rats that now descended upon them. All hope seemed lost until Puddlegulp found a sliver of odd metal upon the ground and, daring to lift it, struck it upon the ground. In a flash of lightning, Puddlegulp the Frog was granted all the powers of Thor, God of Thunder. The modest and unassuming Puddlegulp became Throg, Frog of Thunder!"
"You are making this up as you go." The Lotus accused with a laugh as everyone else was rapt still.
"Not hardly. You should hear Thor tell it." Kate slipped out of character for a moment with a grin. "He tells it much better than I do. Then again, he has far more practice in such. Now… Where was I? Ah yes, the peaceful frog kingdom was beset on all sides! Rats and all manner of other foul, diseased denizens had swept out of dark places to descend on the peace loving frogs. The slaughter seemed about to begin when- Boom!" Kate exclaimed and everyone jumped. "Throg, Frog of Thunder descended from the very heavens into the midst of the unholy swarm to give battle in the name of all that was right and good! Laying about himself with his mighty hammer-"
One thing was for sure. No one forget this night!
Several hours later
Kate laid the sleeping boy down on his blankets and spread the cover over him. He smiled in his sleep. Everyone had enjoyed her story so much that that had asked, begged her for more. A lot of what she had seen wasn't pretty or fun, but some of the lighthearted romps that she remembered being told of had stuck. Throg had been a big hit. She had met Throg once and he had been okay, for a frog sized Thor. She had no idea what had happened to him after A-Day. Then again, no one had seen Thor for five years either, so… Who knew?
Kate lay down on her own blankets, amazed that such felt as comfortable as the best bed she had ever slept in. Then again, if the Lotus' tales of Orokin tech was to be believed, 'magic' might well be the best descriptor for such things. Sleep eluded her though as she focused on her predicament. Quantum physics buzzed in her head and-
"You have no idea, do you?" Kate went utterly still as her world turned golden and a form straight out of nightmare strode into her view. Kate was still lying down, but somehow, she was on her feet? The old woman was unbent, unbowed and raw golden power sang all around her. Kate didn't know her, but she did. Somehow! "What you did? Why you are here?"
"You can end me with a thought, Elizabeth." Kate bowed her head. "All I ask is that you not harm the others around me."
"Always for others. Even at your worst, you were always trying to help people." Elizabeth, the last Empress of Orokin, was confused. Angry, insane, all of that. But sadness predominated. She wasn't attacking, so that was good. Wasn't it? "Do you know what you are, child?"
Somehow, Kate did and it didn't bother her!
"In this reality? I am a character from a story. From a video game, no less." Kate said with a sigh. "I don't know why I am here. I don't know if we are enemies. I hope not, but I don't know."
"This is not what was supposed to happen." Eliza didn't seem to hear Kate. "The Royal Guard were supposed to talk to her. Invite her to Avalon. To safety. Not attack her, and certainly not attack anyone else. We were curious, not hostile. Yes, they entered without permission. Yes, they shot at the one with the bow and… I… I didn't mean to! I swear! I would never hurt Rebekah!" That was pure horror at what had happened.
"It is not your fault, Elizabeth." Where had this overpowering calm come from? Why was Kate so sure of herself suddenly? "No one blames you. 'I' certainly don't blame you. You were manipulated, brainwashed. You are not thinking clearly. No one blames you!" Kate tried again.
"You should!" Eliza snapped. "I probably did that, pulled you out! I… I made such a mess! Hurt so many who trusted me!"
"It was not your fault!" Kate didn't move, didn't dare breathe hard as Eliza's mad gaze settled on her. "Maybe I can't help you, but I want to try."
"You cannot." Eliza said softly. "Only Ric can stop me and it cannot come too soon. I hoped… For so many… I just... I wanted… I have to stop Lorinos and then be stopped! Soon!"
"I know." Kate said quietly as the gold around her flashed with gray and then a form she sort of remembered appeared beside her. The Vauban warframe did not speak, he threw something onto the ground at Eliza's feet that flashed golden, but then, Eliza was gone. The warframe was gone, the gold was gone and Kate was falling-
Kate jerked awake on her blanket with a cry that she suppressed. A nightmare? Whatever it was faded from her mind and she lay back down with a sigh. Tomorrow would come soon enough and with it, likely more problems, but for now, she could rest.
Why was she crying as if in grief as she drifted off? She had no idea and the thought vanished with her tears and her consciousness.