Loyal disloyalty

"You shall not pass!"

The denial was not a shout. Not here, not now. Brianna Executor stood between the Royal Guard who blocked the way into the room where Eliza slept and Cathi Gata who stood, well, hovered, on her own. Everyone else had wanted to come with her, but if she had shown up with an army at her back? The Royal Guard would have fought and Brianna Executor would have likely killed everyone.

"No one else can stop it." Cathi Gata said quietly, hyperaware of the two Braton rifles, Boltor rifle and Tiberon rifle as well as the Boar shotgun and Corinth shotgun aimed at her. All were Primes as befit Royal Guard. "No one can find it. It will happen. My duty is clear. It will come for Eliza and I will do my duty. I may be cast out, lost, but I remember my duty. Eliza is in grave danger. You cannot sense it or stop it. I can."

"I won't let anything happen to her." Brianna Executor said flatly. "This is the safest place in the solar system currently. Eliza is in no danger here."

"You are wrong. It took Naomi from an extra-reality pocket the middle of the Royal Summer Palace!" Cathi Gata stepped hard on her temper. "If you think even your tower has the same level of defenses as they did, you are sadly mistaken. It was designed by some of the first Royal Family to take members of the Royal Family no matter where they ran or hid! Nothing in this system but me can hope to stop it!" She slumped a little. "Hell, even a warden failed to stop it."

"Cathi Gata, you are not making sense." Brianna Executor said softly. "You… You went on a mission, came back altered and now are saying that the Empress of all people is going to be...what? Brainwashed?"

"I know it doesn't make any sense." Cathi Gata said sadly. "Is Lilly available?" At that, Brianna Executor stilled. "Not Sara. Lilly. I will not place Sara in danger." Raw iron would have melted under the Tenno's tone. "Lilly is the only one who could possibly remember. Guiscard wasn't there. No one else has lasted this long."

"Remember what?" An angry voice sounded and all eyes turned to where Lilly's Nova Prime warframe stood, a Glaive in hand, ready to throw. At this range she couldn't miss and she had been the one to cross out Cathi Gata's Royal Guard tattoo. She was still angry and Cathi Gata did not blame her in the slightest.

Instead of responding, Cathi Gata started to sing in a child like voice. And what she sang!

'Rainbow Brite
See the shining light
Yes I'm gonna take ya to Rainbow Brite
Starlite flies
Right before your eyes
And rainbow colors will cheer you up'

Everyone stared as Lilly recoiled, and then she was singing! Her Glaive vanished and was she crying as she gave an ancient, child-like countersign?

'Once upon a dream I think I lived inside a fairy tale.
When someone great was lost, when some dark void was crossed,
And I was tossed in my sleep.

Deep within my mind, so tell what I find or what I might become,
If I could go where the dreams come from,
If I could go when the dreams would run wild,'

Cathi Gata bowed her head as Lilly stopped singing and the ancient Royal Guard was crying!The oldest of the Royal Guard and one time almost wife of the last Emperor was crying!

"It is all right, Lilly." Cathi Gata said sadly. "It is all right. I do not remember, but that is for the best." Everyone stared in shock as Lilly stepped right up to Cathi Gata, threw her arms around the hovering warframe and cried so hard that her energy wavered.

"I am sorry." Lilly bawled. "I am so, so sorry!"

"It is not your fault any more than it was mine. You were within your rights to cast me out. No one is arguing that." Cathi Gata said sadly as she wrapped her arms around Lilly. "It is all right, Lilly. Don't cry. Two of them are still alive. They serve as Tenno always have. Always will. They bring honor to their ancestors. Even me."

"They had no right to take them from you!" Lilly screamed and everybody jumped.

"Lilly, I was a slave!" Cathi Gata snapped right back. "They had lives. Me? I only had my mistress. It was for the best and you know it. If the mistress had found out about them? She would have taken them, warped them. I don't know what would have happened, but it wouldn't have been good." She gave the sobbing warframe a shake. "Lilly, calm down! Sara needs you. Lis needs you. I don't. I can handle this."

"That was Helen I saw!" Lilly said weakly. "She… Oh my god! Who else?"

"Sera." Cathi Gata said sadly. "She is hoping to talk to you. Well..." She sighed. "She will have to write things down. She took an oath of silence. Apparently both of them did."

"Well, crap." Lilly said that so fervently that everyone jerked again. "Is it the Prison?" Cathi Gata nodded. "No, not again! I hoped and prayed it would be lost with everything else!"

"You have obligations, Guardswoman." Cathi Gata said heavily. "You need to ward Sara and try to figure out what to do with Lis. I have this. I can save Eliza and I must." She gave Lilly a squeeze and released the Nova.

"I almost wish I could fight an unstoppable foe." Lilly quipped weakly as she stepped back. "It might be easier than handling Sara."

"There is that, but two problems can sometimes cancel each other out. If I succeed? Talk to Eliza. She always has a plan. You know this. This is her plan, not mine. You know who gave me the orders. You were there." Cathi Gata stepped back from Lilly and set herself into a ready stance as she faced the Royal Guards blocking her. She held no weapon. Did it matter? "Lilly? Brianna Executor? Ward the tower and its denizens. I cannot allow Eliza to come to harm but I wish no harm to the non-combatants who shelter here either." She turned to the Prime warframes barring her way. "I ask this formally only the once: My duty predates yours, Royal Guard! Stand aside or I will go through you."

She still did not draw a weapon! All of the Royal Guard weapons but Lilly's were still aimed at her. Lilly was shaking her head as she moved to stand by Brianna Executor. Cathi Gata stepped slowly to the side, deliberately placing the pair out of the line of fire.

"You can't win!" Brianna Executor warned but Lilly held up a hand and moved to keep her from blocking the way. "Lilly! Stop her!"

"Her duty predates all of ours." Lilly said very quietly. "And no. She can win. It is we who have no chance. I remember what happened the last time." Did she have a sad smile in her voice? "Stand down, Guards. My authority. I wish no blood shed here and you have no chance against her if she remembers any of it." All of the blocking force shook their heads in unison.

"They can't. They do their duty as do I. I only remember little bits and most of that second hand. My feelings, however? Those are clear. For the first time in a long, long time, there is no conflict within my soul. I will not kill Tenno." Cathi Gata's voice was mild, but readiness sang. "I will not even kill the monster that seeks to take our Empress from us. Not that I can." She admitted. "But I can stop it."

"She can't! Not alone!" Brianna was all but begging but then Lilly laughed! Brianna stared at her and growled in annoyance. "What?"

"Do you want to say it or shall I? You say it better." Lilly asked Cathi Gata. "I was there when she came out of the portal the second time, Brianna Executor. When she came back, she appeared in the middle of the Palace, we tried to restrain her and failed miserably! If she had been hostile, I would be dead. I remember now that the block the Emperor himself put in my mind is gone! I am truly sorry, Catherine!" She repeated.

"Catherine is gone." The hovering Tenno slowly held out an empty hand, but… To the side? "Cathi is gone and good riddance, but this… This one last time, I will stand as Catherine. As I was when I was brought back to our reality and decided to help Eliza in this mad scheme that may actually have a chance to end the last vestige of horror that beset the Royal Family for so long. You must remain neutral, Lilly. You must. You are Eldest. The Guard here have their orders from Jesse and Michelle. They have to try and stop me. Those are their orders and they will obey. It is what the Guard do. I swear on the Code, I will kill none of them."

"She is alone!" Brianna protested. "How can she fight them all!"

"She is not alone." Lilly said almost reverently as Cathi Gata seemed to glow with a pale blue light.

"The Force is my ally and a powerful ally it is." Cathi Gata intoned as a hilt appeared in mid-air and flew to land in her right hand! She spun it expertly up into a ready stance and a long blade made of silver energy erupted from it. Everyone stilled as the lightsaber ignited! Brown armor that covered her warframe was almost inconsequential next tot hat impossible blade. "I was wrong, though Lilly. I always thought of the Jedi, but they are not right for me. Neither are the Sith."

"No, they are not." Lilly bowed formally to Cathi Gata. "Be true to the Code, Bladeborn!"

"I will." Cathi Gata brought the saber up in a formal salute to the Royal Guard who were staring at her in shock. A circular blade appeared in her off hand. Not quite a Tenno Glaive, but close. "Both of them."

Then, she was in motion.

The Tenno were known to all as ancient masters of the even more ancient ways of Blade and Gun. Masters of the warframe bio-armor. Few today knew what the Royal Guard had been. Fewer still had any idea that any of them still existed. Tenno were ancient warriors. Most had been infected or been born infected by the Technocyte Virus and managed to retain some semblance of humanity. They were not human. They had been called soulless robots and worse by many of their detractors and there was a certain level of truth to that. After so long fighting and then sleeping in the white nothing of cryo stasis, many lost more than bit of what made them act in any way human. Then add to that the fact that few if any spoke in the field in any way that most could comprehend and it was no wonder that many who should have known better called them machines and nothing but machines. Admittedly, advanced Orokin bio technology machines, but still, machines.

Tenno were not machines no matter how some of them acted. The Royal Guard were definitely not machines. They thought. They planned. They adapted as fast as any Tenno, something that even the most advanced Orokin AI simply could not have done. Sentients adapted just as fast or faster, but could never match Tenno Void powers. Royal guard were better trained and equipped than most of the rest of the Tenno who had awoken at the Lotus' call to arms. Now, after so many of them had cycled clandestinely through the Karl's Shadow clan of Tenno for combat experience, all of them were blooded. All of them were ready to face anything that the Origin system could throw at their Empress.

Or so everyone had thought.

Brianna Executor's mouth fell open as Cathi Gata tore into the rank of Royal Guard. There was no other word that did her deadly ballet justice. She was, at heart, a dancer on the ground or in the air and she moved with a grace and skill that only the absolute best of the Tenno could hope to emulate. Seeing her like this? It was easy to see that at one time, she had been the undisputed champion in the ranks of the Royal Guard. Before her fall. Before Eliza's mother had enslaved her.

This was not just that though. Brianna stared as all of the guard fired at her and the silver blade interposed itself, bolts of energy and physical projectiles all deflecting from the blade. Oddly. They deflected well away for where Lilly stood beside the Orokin protectively. That had to be intentional. Then the one time renegade was close enough and the almost Glaive in her other hand licked out to slice a Braton rifle that fell in pieces from the hands of the Wukong Prime warframe who held it. The Guard did not retreat, indeed, he drew a Prime Skana and charged, only to meet an invisible pulse of something that threw him into the wall where he shook himself, clearly stunned.

"Kieron! Stay down!" Lilly called to the Guard who gave himself another shake before rising to unsteady feet. How hard had he been hit? "She doesn't want to kill you! Stay down!" She begged.

"They can't, Lilly. Any more than you could or I can. They have their orders and I have mine." Cathi Gata's tone was still mild as she engaged three enemies at the same time! One, she bound blade to blade with her Glaive. Another, she swept the legs out from under with hers as her silver blade lashed out and took the right leg off a Trinity Prime warframe at the hip. Everyone jerked back as the stricken Guard screamed, but Cathi Gata shook her head and a pulse of something intangible dropped that warframe where it stood. The scream cut off in mid-note. "I didn't mean to strike that deep. Help her, Lilly!"

"Stop this!" Brianna Executor summoned her power to pull the clearly unconscious Trinity to her where Lilly bent to tend her. "Lilly! Stop this!"

"I can't." Lilly said sadly. "She has her orders and they have theirs. She is alive!" She called to where Cathi Gata was clearly fighting defensively. "Catherine? Oh, Catherine. End this. Please?" She begged and Cathi Gata bowed her head.

"I will." Cathi Gata jumped clear across the hall but no one dared shoot at her now. All of the hale Royal Guard had melee weapons in hand. Her Glaive vanished and she took the hilt of her silver energy blade in both hands. Then she started to sing! This time, it was different, sad, but proud as she started to walk towards the rank of Guards who were physically blocking the door to where Eliza lay. Her blade was held ready as she set herself to charge.

'In the heart of holy see
In the home of Christianity
The seat of power is in danger...'

She started to move faster and faster even as her voice rang out stronger and stronger.

'For the grace, for the might of our lord
In the name of his glory
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Come and tell their story again'

Each step moving ever faster. In moments, she was moving faster than the fastest Volt could imagine. Every motion was perfect as she arrow-ed towards the blocking force. A silver blur. A blade honed and trained in ways that not even Tenno could imagine.

"If you won't, I will!" Brianna snarled and then gasped as Lilly stepped right up to her, the Nova warframe taking hold of her hands. She could lash out, but Lilly wasn't hostile? "No! Lilly! Let go!"

"If you stop her, Eliza dies." Lilly said very quietly as Cathi Gata crunched into the rank of guards and warframe clad bodies flew every which way. Brianna stared at her. "She won't kill any of them."

"What? How can you be so sure?" Brianna snarled as she tried to free herself from the warframe's grip, but Lilly did not let her go. She could hurt or kill the Tenno, but Lilly wasn't fighting, she was restraining the Orokin gently. If anything, Lilly was sad? "Let go!"

"That song..." Both of them spun to see Healer Iriana standing at another doorway, her daughter Mishka at her beside. Both were pale as Cathi Gata slammed Royal Guard warframe after Royal Guard warframe into unconsciousness. Mishka was shaking her head, frightened. "That… 'The Last Stand'? No! She cannot kill them!"

"She won't." Lilly declared. All there stared at her. "As for how I know she won't, Brianna Executor? She didn't kill me and ancestors, I gave her cause!" She actually chuckled, but there was little mirth in it. "This was planned for a very long time ago."

"What is she doing?" Iriana begged as Cathi Gata pounded the last warframe, an Ash Prime, to the floor without touching him. He tried to rise and she hit him across the helmet with the pommel of her saber as it deactivated. The crack of metal on metal was deafening and he slumped. "Cathi Gata! What are you doing?"

"Saving Eliza." Cathi Gata was calm as she started for the door that led to Eliza's chamber, but paused when it opened, a golden flash shone and then a white warframe stepped out of the door, his Orthos Prime in hand. The brown armored Tenno slowly shook her head. "Oh Karl. Even for you, Rachel, this is low. Or was this Nikis' idea?"

"Cathi Gata, stand down." Rachel, the leader of the First, stepped into view behind the white Nidus warframe who stood blocking the door. "Whatever is happening, stop! We can help you!"

"No, you can't." Cathi Gata shook her head as the white warframe was joined by Rachel's Saryn Prime, a Nyx Prime and a pitch black Nekros. "None of you have any idea what is going on here, do you?"

"What I see is you fighting Tenno." Rachel said very quietly, her Reaper Prime Scythe in hand. "Stand down! Tell us what is going on!"

"Cathi Gata." The leader of her clan begged. Tiana was almost in tears. "What are you doing? You vanished and now? You are attacking the Royal Guard?"

"They left me no choice." Cathi Gata said sadly as she jumped a little to one side and a badly aimed slice by a semi-conscious guard missed her. She kicked his Skana out of his hand. He collapsed and she shook her head. "They do their duty as do I. I have as little choice in this as they did. None of them are dead." She offered.

"That does not make this any better, girl." Nikis said sternly. "And you know it. I got my own arguments with Eliza, but this? No. You ain't gonna get by me. I cut you some slack cause of what you suffered, but this? This ain't right!"

"No, it isn't." Cathi Gata slowly shook her head. "I do not have time to argue with you and fighting you will likely waste just as much time that I do not have. I… I hope she planned for this." She bowed her head. "Maybe I can fight you all, maybe I can't. But even if I do win by some miracle, I probably fail my duty. I will not allow that. I have no wish to fight any of you, but I will do my duty. I will save Eliza or die trying."

Everyone went still as her silver blade flashed into life again. Nikis seemed speechless. He shook his head as he stared at the blade. No one else seemed to dare to move.

"Karl! Tiana! Rachel! Nikis! No!" Lilly was still holding onto Brianna's hands as the Orokin tried to get free. She didn't need her hands to use power, but if she cast anything, she would likely hurt Lilly. "You don't understand!"

"What the hell have you done, girl?" Nikis sounded shocked. A first in the experiences of many present. "That weapon is not from our reality! That is forbidden!"

"I know." Cathi Gata said softly as she spun her blade into a ready position. Nikis had his pistols in hand, Rachel her scythe, Tiana a Lacera, and Karl his Orthos Prime. All made ready to meet her charge.

"It isn't her fault!" Everything stopped again as the small form of the insane Eliza appeared beside Cathi Gata. She didn't look as crazy. Mainly sad. "It is mine."

The code and countersign were children's cartoon themes from the 1980s. For the other? Cathi Gata was singing 'The Last Stand' by Sabaton. There is a very good reason she chose that.