I raised my hands up in surrender, albeit shakily. My teeth clattered together as I shivered.

The woman, dressed in black and white with bright amber eyes, looked me over once, then lowered her weapon. She tilted her head to the side slightly as if I looked familiar.

"Who are you, and why do you look like my partner's sister?"

A name! How could I have forgotten!? Everyone has a name, but I couldn't remember mine. Lotus always called me-

"T-Tenno. M-My name i-is Tenno." I stammered through shivering breaths. That was my alias now. Better get used to it.

"Hey Blake! Who was watching us?" The other woman's voice called from behind me. I heard her footsteps, then she gasped. "Ruby? What happened to your-" She halted her questions when she grabbed my shaking arm and spun me around violently. Her hand was incredibly warm, almost hot.

Shining yellow hair was the first thing I noticed about her. The next was this wave of heat she seemed to, no, definitely radiated from her body. That must be why she showed so much skin, to bleed off excess heat. I welcomed it, seeing as I was slowly descending through hypothermia.

My shaking limbs and chattering teeth must have given her the impression that I was scared of her, which wasn't entirely false. Better for them to pity me than to see me as a threat. Did I mention that these women were much taller than me? I barely reached five feet in height, if even that. The shortest of the two had at least eight more inches on me.

"Whoa, girl, we're not going to hurt you." The blond woman backed up slightly, "My name is Yang. Yang Xiao Long. What's yours?"

I grew angry at her obnoxiously sweet voice, and before I could reign in my emotions, I yelled "I'm not a child!"

Yang's light purple eyes widened and blinked at my outburst, but she regained her composure quickly. "Okay, I'm sorry. You just remind me of my little sister. That's all. So, did you find a partner yet?"

"Her name is Tenno, Yang." The woman behind me, Blake, said, "And I don't think I saw her at Beacon last night. She might not be part of Initiation."

"Look!" I interrupted them, "S-stop! C-can't you s-see I'm f-f-freezing to d-death r-right now!?"

It took Yang a moment to process what I just said, but in response, she moved to my side and wrapped her arm around my shoulders before I could react. I was about to push her away, but I stopped once her insane amount of body heat washed away the cold. "Don't you worry, kid. I'm a walking, talking, butt-kicking space heater. You'll get warmed up in no time!"

"I told you! I'm not a child!" I retorted.

"I don't think that is going to stop her." Blake responded as she walked to my open side. Her steps were nearly silent. It was then that I noticed a rather large bow sitting atop her head. "Come on. The temple is this way."

At least these individuals were friendly, but what unnerved me was Yang's display of power against those black monsters. Her prowess looked disturbingly similar to the capabilities of a Warframe. I looked at the gauntlet adorning her arm, taking note of what looked like exhaust ports and an ammunition belt.

I would be lying if I didn't feel a twinge of jealousy. Shotgun gauntlets would be incredibly fun to use, but the closest analogue I've ever used was the Staticore secondary. I couldn't punch anything with those things, making them somewhat disappointing in the end but still useful.

With Yang invading my personal space and Blake leading the way, we walked through the forest toward their destination.

Corpus plasma and Grineer bullets lanced through the halls of the Orokin Moon, joined occasionally by the energy blasts of Sentient fighters. The three factions battled each other into a stalemate, reinforcements replacing lost troops in a vicious cycle of death. Amidst this chaos, a visual distortion weaved in and out of the troops, drawing as little attention to itself as possible.

"Cloaking module down to twenty-eight percent capacity." Ordis' hushed voice informed the shimmering figure. "Extraction point is two hundred meters away from your current location." A brief pause. "You must move more quickly – GOTTA GO FAST – else you risk exposure. That cloaking module was never intended to be used long term, let alone for two."

Heeding the Cephalon's warning, the shimmering figure moved through a large doorway that was currently funneling more Corpus robotics into the hallway. The extraction waypoint appeared on their heads up display as the figure obtained line of sight. Carefully moving along the walls as to not be spotted, the shimmer hauled its charge toward the extraction point, placing one foot in front of the other.

"Fifty meters to extraction. Eight percent remaining on the cloaking module. – STAY ON TARGET – You're almost there. I'm bringing the Liset around-" A puff of dark smoke consumed the shimmering figure, "Alert! Cloaking module offline at four percent! You've been spotted!"

The Stalker charged through the Corpus robotics and Elite Crewmen, coating War with blood and lubricant. Its hateful gaze landed on the smoke cloud, watching for movement.

A bright purple flash erupted from the smoke, launching a ball of plasma toward the Stalker. He easily deflected the attack with War, sending it careening into one of the many cliff faces on the Moon. The Stalker flicked away some residual energy and charged toward the revealed figure, rapidly closing distance.

"Natah, your compassion for this Tenno is confusing." Hunhow mocked through War, "They leave you nothing but messes you dutifully clean up. Why?" The Stalker lunged at the Lotus, who was carrying the Excalibur Warframe on her back, "Children should clean their own filth, or have you grown sympathetic?" Lotus dodged back, but did not anticipate a wave of energy from War. The attack impacted her, launching herself and the Warframe back several meters further. "Your creations are mistakes, failures. Like all failures, they must be corrected." The Stalker advanced on the prone Lotus, raising War into a fatal slash.

A transmission hologram appeared between the two, "NOBODY HARMS THE LOTUS AND LIVES!"

With engines running at full output with afterburner, the Liset appeared below the extraction platform and looped above it, casting a shadow over the three individuals. In a maneuver that surprised and dumbfounded everyone involved, the Liset performed a very fast flip, sending the large antennae dangerously close to the ground, but close enough to make contact with the Stalker.

While the maneuver failed to kill the Stalker outright, it did launch him and Hunhow along the broken lunar surface at hundreds of meters per second.

"TAKE THAT YOU LITTLE COCKROACH!" Ordis yelled into Lotus' transmission link. "Lotus! Are you unharmed!? Please respond!"

"I am… I am unharmed, Ordis. Thank you for your... concern." Lotus responded, mostly out of reflex. She slowly stood up and made her way to the Excalibur Warframe. With her charge secured, the Lotus began to wonder what happened to her Tenno, and where they may be.