Breaking rules

Elizabeth, Empress of Orokin, was reeling as the Wisp warframe that contained the soul of her one time nemesis and now almost friend vaporized. The small form of the being who had appeared as a young and very insane version of herself also vanished, with a huge dark brown egg shaped thing taking that being's place as Catherine stopped her and died doing it. Nia Korr bowed her head and vanished, but not before the Empress saw tears start to fall. Bladeborn were many things, they were not heartless. The music stopped and the Horsemen all vanished as well.

"She-" One of the beings who surrounded the Empress stammered. Several had been needed to keep her from rushing to Catherine's aid. This one who looked almost normal except for the small stick she held in hand aimed at the egg. A wand? She looked almost like Eliza had as a teenager, all bumbly curves and gangly edges that she clearly wasn't sure where they lay. She sounded and her face looked like all the others who had human form. Like the Empress. Only the wide and almost wicked looking hat on her head was clearly not of Empress Eliza's universe. Nor was the emblem on her school uniform. The Empress was sure she should know what 'Hogwarts' was, but right now? She couldn't have cared less. The girl with her face sounded stunned. "What did she do?"

"As always when she was not a slave, Catherine Gata did her duty as Royal Guard." The Empress said in a low, dangerous voice as she spun to the pair of beings who had caused this. "You!" She snarled at the pair of dragons. "YOU DID THIS!"

Her voice was low, but rumbled the whole room. It was not a scream. It was worse! Everyone staggered but her and she acted. Her rifle came to her hand as always, the Vectis Prime humming as she chambered a round and primed it to full power. Everyone moved away from the pair of dragons as she took aim at the female dragon's human shaped skull. Both of them froze. At this range, she didn't need a scope. Everyone stilled as the Empress and her rifle both started to glow with fell power. Dangerous power. Even such powerful beings as the wardens of reality stepped carefully around her for good reason. She had been trained to kill extra-reality intruders during her time with the Tenno after she had recovered. Sun had worked hard to find her a role she was suited for and when her powers had manifested? He had helped her as only a master Tenno could. She had repaid the favors he had given her many times over and they respected each other greatly even now. Sera moved to her side, but did not block her shot. From her own warframe's quivers, she was just as furious, but she was obeying her mother's last command. She was warding the Empress, her mother's Glaive-like sword in hand.

"Give me a reason to pull this trigger, you lying pile of fewmets!" The Empress' voice was calmer, but only just. "If I kill you here, you are not coming back."

This place was outside of time and space. Far outside. It was really the only place that the Empress knew of in any reality that the wardens could not easily reach. The fact that it had never been left undefended had also kept them from prying too far into it. The Empress had done a stint of defending it herself once, long ago.

"Another lie from a liar." Helen snapped from where she stood, surrounded by angry forms but the Empress did not shift her aim. She did not look away from her enemies.

"What did you just say, Helen? What? Oh no! No one move!" A firm female voice sounded and the Lotus appeared nearby in her armored human form but without her helmet, her visible face pale with worry. "Eliza?" She stared around and then frowned. "Um… My Eliza, that is?" She asked weakly when everyone looked at her.

"Get out of here, Rebekah." The Empress snarled as she took up slack on the trigger with her middle finger as always. The rifle's action was a hair trigger and the action would break with the slightest twitch. "You are not supposed to be here."

"And you are?" The Lotus asked as she stepped towards the furious Empress. She shook her head. "Eliza, Empress Elizabeth… Where is-? Oh no." She gasped as she looked around and horrified realization dawned as she did not see Cathi Gata. "Oh no. No! She didn't!"

"She did her duty, Rebekah!" The Empress' vision was blurring, but she sternly ordered her body to obey and her vision cleared as her implants stopped the flow from her tear ducts. "She stopped the mad one. The one these scum made." She glared at the dragons, neither of whom had moved at all.

"Empress..." The Lotus slumped, but then gave herself a shake. "You are needed."

"Go away, Rebekah!" The Empress snapped. "They will try to take me and I am done being nice to them! I will kill them and I will finish it this time!"

"Kill?" A soft, scared voice sounded and a very small humanoid form stepped into view. It too had Eliza's face, but it was half her size and wore no boots. She had hairy feet. The female Hobbit shook her head. "They are wardens. You cannot kill them." She paused as the Lotus winced. "Can she?" The small being asked carefully.

"I wouldn't bet on it. She very nearly killed me." The Lotus said quietly. "She has hurt them before. I bet she can. She was trained to kill all manner of beings by the absolute best."

"There is a lot you didn't tell us, Empress." A small striped cat stepped into view. She too had Eliza's voice.

"There is a lot she has to keep secret." The Lotus said for the Empress who did not look away from the dragons. "Empress Eliza, Falcon is dying."

"What?" The Empress jerked and very nearly pulled the trigger by accident. She shifted her finger away from it slightly but she did not look away from the dragons who still did not move.

"I do not know what happened. Mother thinks it was something the Prison did somehow. Delayed." The Lotus said sadly. "If… I hoped Cathi Gata could help her, but if she is gone, then all we can do is mourn." The blue armored woman bowed her head. "I am sorry. She was a good soul, Cathi Gata was."

"Most of the time." Empress Eliza said slowly. "I..." She took a long, slow breath and slowly retracted her finger from the trigger of her rifle. She laid her finger against the trigger guard, still ready to fire. When she spoke, it was calm, clear and matter of fact. Also terrifying. Her power faded, but no one relaxed. "If I see either of you again, I will shoot. I will not ask questions. I will not make demands. I will simply shoot. You have hurt my family and friends for the last time!" Her gaze spun to Helen who did not flinch under the Empress' glare. Either fear or stupidity. "And as for you? You are going with them. I am sure they have a use for a backstabbing little witch like you. If I ever see you or sense your energy in my domains again, Catherine's daughter or no, family or no, I will find you and I will make your end memorable."

"You don't scare me!" Helen snarled, only to have everyone facepalm in unison, even the dragons! "What?"

"We all know you are a fool now, Helen." The Lotus said with a heartfelt groan. "You do not need to keep proving it. The last time she said that to a Tenno? He took a year to die. Admittedly, he earned that." She looked at Eliza. "I do not want to know where you got that nasty energy parasite. The one that paralyzed him and then slowly destroyed his energy bit by bit."

"No, you don't." Eliza agreed. She did not banish her rifle but she did lower it. "Take her and go, wardens. You are not welcome here and neither is she. In memory of Catherine, I will let you leave, but when next we meet? One of us dies."

"We do not want to be enemies, Liza." The male dragon tried, but the Empress was having none of it.

"Tough shit. We are." The Empress replied and more than one person winced as she turned her back on him to stride to where the Lotus stood, clearly worried. Sera stayed between her and the dragons, blade still up and ready. "Falcon?"

"Fading." The Lotus said sadly. "Tanah has her, but she hasn't got long. Mother did what she could, but it wasn't enough."

"Liza! We can help!" Will tried again, but she ignored him and he slumped. "I am truly sorry, Liza. I liked Catherine. Come along, girl."

"I am not going-" Helen broke off with a short, sharp scream as she vanished along with the female dragon in a flash of dark green energy.

"You won't see her again." Will promised. "I… I heard what Catherine said. We will look for her boys, Liza. I swear that on my name and honor."

"The one you just took is not family." The Empress kept her back to him! "Touch my family again and I will hunt and kill any of you I can anywhere I sense you."

"You are so much better than me, Liza." The dragon said sadly. "In your place? I would have pulled the trigger." Then he was gone.

"How many times?" The Lotus asked and the Empress looked at her. "I bet they know."

"We keep her secrets." A tall, thin tree said sternly in Eliza's voice as it/she stepped forward. "We heard. We will seek her children, Empress." Every one of the assorted beings who were and were not Eliza nodded at that. "Do what you must."

"Thank you." Eliza sighed as a familiar palomino horse pushed forward and to her side. He nuzzled her and she smiled a bit sadly. "I never want to leave, but I always have to. This place feels more like home that home does. It always has. It always will." She turned to the egg. "I um… I don't know what will hatch. Keep me informed?" She begged and all of the others nodded.

"We will." The white horse from before appeared and moved to stand by the Lotus. "Do you need a ride?" She asked kindly.

"It would be appreciated." The Lotus said softly. "Getting here was extremely unpleasant. Did you have to build this place in a black hole?" She complained as she mounted and Empress Eliza did as well. Somehow, Sera was on the palomino with the Empress, but not.

"Yes, we did." The Empress shrugged. "It was meant as a home and/or prison for the insane one, but it couldn't hold her. Nothing could until Catherine." Grief welled up and she forced it back with the skill of long practice. "We use it as a meeting ground. One the wardens cannot touch."

"But, they have been here." The Lotus said slowly as the horses started off and were almost instantly running on a familiar rainbow. Sera was with them. She was sort of flying and sort of riding and sort of doing something that was hard to define. She was with them.

"They have before and every time they appear, we move the rainbow. They won't be able to get back in unless brought." The female horse underneath her said sternly and the Lotus nodded.

"I guess that makes as much sense as any of this does." The non-human female said with a sigh. "Empress? How bad?"

"I can cope." The Empress replied. "I am angry. I am sad, but I can cope."

"That is not what I asked, Empress Elizabeth." The Lotus replied, clearly working for calm and nearly succeeding. She loved the Tenno, all of them, and losing any of them hurt. She also loved Eliza, as exaperating as the human proved on occasion. "How bad?"

"Bad." The Empress sighed. "I am functional, but just barely. Catherine is gone. I wanted…" She shook her head. "Something? She and I talked. Nothing more. Jesse expected that we would do more, but the girl has the common sense of a gnat at times."

"Jesse? Common sense? Empress, that is an insult to gnats!" The Lotus said primly and everyone laughed. The Empress' laugh was more than bit bitter, but it was a laugh. "She may have meant well, but she did not think it through."

"No. I hated Catherine for too long and she was Guard." The Empress said sadly as they rapidly approached a dot that swelled into a red planet. Mars. "After she was freed? She always had to be ready to stop me. Any relationship we formed would have been strictly professional. She would not have allowed it become anything more."

"Don't tell me you were not tempted." The Lotus said as the horses carried them into Mars' atmosphere and towards a huge extinct volcano. "Even without being changed back to what she had once been, she was beautiful."

"She would not have taken it well after what my mother did to her." The Empress sighed as the odd group flew through huge white walls into Brianna's Tower. "Yes, I was tempted. No, I did not give in. I am glad I did not. I do not wish to sully my knight's memory with lusts."

"We will remember her." The white horse promised and the Empress nodded her thanks as they slowed and stopped in a familiar virtual room. The one the Empress and Cathi had talked in. "She did what we could not. Ended the mad one's suffering. If we can aid, you have but to ask."

"Thank you." The Empress dismounted into the virtual room and the Lotus did as well. An alarm started blaring and both horses vanished as Eliza spoke to thin air. "Jesse! Can it! You will await my displeasure."

A startled gasp game from nowhere, but Eliza took hold of the Lotus' hand and suddenly, they were in an Orokin room that seemed filled to bursting with Royal Guard warframes, some of which looked very worse for wear. Eliza sat up on the bed she had been sleeping on and looked around. The Lotus stood beside her, holding her hand and Sera appeared nearby, her posture wary as several Royal Guard warframes took aim at her. She held Catherine's sword and did not move as they motioned her away from the Empress.

"Stand down." Eliza said as she rose from the bed to stand by Sera who did not move, ready to defend herself. "She is not a threat, Guards. This is Catherine's daughter, Sera. My niece. Stand down." The Empress' growl was pure menace and every guard stared at her wary. Lilly stepped forward, her posture worried. "I am myself, Lilly, but I am very angry." Eliza said in a very quiet voice.

"Cathi Gata… She vanished from where she lay. Her weapon vanished when you picked it up and then so did she!" Lilly said weakly. "She..."

"There is much that must remain secret, but I can say that there was an insane version of me." Eliza bowed her head as Lilly gasped. "Catherine Gata saw that and did her duty. Outcast or no, she did her duty as a Guard. As does her daughter. Stand! DOWN!" The quiet growl now shook the very walls as Eliza reached back and drew her rife out of its storage place in subspace. "Now."

The sheer threat in Eliza's tone had almost everyone taking a step back, but Sera and the Lotus moved back to the Empress' side before anyone else did.

"Empress." Lilly shook her head and then sighed. When she spoke it was to Sera. "You don't talk, do you?" Sera shook her head and the Guard Nova sighed again. "I see. We will need to discuss this somehow, but that can wait. We need to try and keep the Empress calm. No one likes her when she gets angry."

"At least I don't turn green." Eliza said as Sera nodded. More than one of the Guards scoffed at that as Brianna Executor swept into the room and froze on seeing the tableau. Eliza nodded to her. "Brianna Executor."

"Empress?" The Orokin female asked slowly. "What happened? Where is Cathi Gata?"

"That is a long story and her clan deserve to hear it first." Eliza bowed her head and her rifle vanished back to its storage area. "But right now, I need to see if I can help Falcon."

"I can't." Brianna was nearly in tears and Eliza stepped to her side, pulling the disconsolate Orokin into a hug. "I tried."

"I have options you don't." Eliza reassured her. "Maybe I cannot help her either, but I have to try."

"She is… She is in the next room." Brianna did not move as Sera moved to pace the Empress and Lilly did as well. The Lotus stepped to join the group and shook her head as Brianna eyed the pair of Nova warframes. "She is sad, but she is so resigned now. She has never been violent that I have seen."

"Never by choice, no." The Lotus said very quietly. "Falcon knows only too well the consequences of violence. She would fight if needed to protect her loved ones, but she was never violent for its own sake like Hunhow is."

"Another innocent soul that my family has tried to destroy." Eliza shook her head.. "No. I will not allow this." Everyone shied away from the sheer emotion in her voice as she started for the door. Rage. Pain. Grief. Hopelessness. Terror. Sadness. Loss. All these and so much more.

"Eliza!" The Lotus begged as she and the others followed the Empress. "Don't! She will never forgive me if I let you come to harm!"

Eliza ignored her as she strode into the next room. She saw Falcon's Revenant warframe laid out on a table with a familiar blue Sentient hovering nearby. Tanah was pulsing in grief as the energy from the warframe faded. His energy core spun to face her and he seemed to freeze in mid-air.

"No." Eliza said very softly as she strode towards the table. "I will not allow this! Falcon! Wake up!"

That was not a suggestion as the Empress walked up to the table and Tanah slid away from her a little, wary. The Revenant warframe jerked but no sound came from it as its head turned a little to look at the Empress, but then lay back.

Empress? Tanah inquired carefully as Lilly and Sera both moved to flank her.

Empress Eliza laid her hand on the warframe and she could feel Falcon's sadness, the sort of Sentient being's resignation. Acceptance of hwr fate. Eliza refused to accept it.

"Hold tight, girl. I know what caused this. I cannot help you, but I know someone who can." The Empress turned to Tanah who seemed to freeze in mid-air. "You. Will. Say. Nothing."

I… Empress... Tanah jerked as Eliza growled at him.

"You are her next of kin, Rebekah. You need to come with me. Sera won't leave my side and I bet Lilly won't either." Eliza laid both hands of the Revenant now and her power answered her. "No one else."

"Empress..." The Lotus groaned. "Don't make a mess. She won't forgive us if we make a mess for her sake!"

"I won't." Eliza promised as power wafted from her to settle on the stricken Revenant. She nodded to the three she had named and each stepped forward to touch her arms and take each others' hands.

What do I tell Brianna Executor? Tanah begged as his boss stepped into the room, her face ashen at the power that Eliza was showing now. Was it shading to yellow? It was!

"I am saving Falcon." Eliza said into the utter silence that greeted her power altering. "We will be right back."

Then she cast herself and her companions into the rifts between reality, crying out with her mind as she did.

LADY! Help!