Bombshells
"You SON OF A KUBROW!"
It was a very good thing that Cass was unarmed as he surged up in his chair. If he had held a weapon? He would have fired it. Marlena moved to stand beside him, but no one else moved or spoke as the sergeant braced the First Tenno who stood under his rage.
"What the fuck gives you the right to hurt her?" Cass demanded. "Me? I am a soldier. I knew the risks and I know I have no chance against an oh so special person like you, but her?" He jerked his head at Lissandra. "What is she to you?"
Hayden Tenno did not move, did not so much as flinch as the sergeant's ire landed on him. When he spoke, it was slow and careful.
"She is both a miracle and a horror." Hayden said quietly. "You will not believe me, but I was trying to help. Her and you."
"Bullshit!" Nikis snapped.
"You took them!" The Reverend Mother snarled from her holo. Janet moved to stand beside her and the Oracle was just as furious. "None of Anyo's people could have gotten in and out so quietly. It had to have been you."
"It was me and Alicia, yes." Hayden replied. "Just us. No one else was involved." He went to his knees very slowly beside the still Trinity warframe and shook his head. "Just her and me."
"You admit it?" Ali asked when no one else spoke.
"Alicia discovered that Anyo was going to launch an assault on the Corpus breeding facility where Lissandra was housed to take her. She had no time to take it through channels with the Lotus gone." Hayden said with a sigh. The Reverend Mother inhaled and he nodded to her. "And what would you have done?"
"Responded." The Clergywoman had ice in her tone now.
"Yes. Likely triggering a civil war within the Corpus. You and your allies versus him and everyone with grudges against the Clergy or anyone else. A general melee. A godawful mess." Hayden agreed. He turned to Janet. "What have you seen?"
"I saw you destroy Galina." Janet's tone wasn't much warmer than the Reverend Mother's. "She was going to join Lynn. Then she heard about this… this travesty. Working with Anyo? You are as crazy as he is!"
"Maybe. We infiltrated his operation as human mercenaries with better gear than normal. Alicia found out about the plan and she came to me, because Intelligence hasn't decided on a successor for Sun yet." Hayden said very softly as he laid a hand on Alicia's helmet. She did not stir. "No one wants the job. Not too surprising. Hell, they offered it to me and I told them to go fly a kite." He looked at Ali whose posture was still. Danger lurked close at hand, but no anger. Odd. "You won't believe me, but I didn't mean that to happen! I was trying to send her back to the database! No more!"
"You lie as often as Oris did." Ali said very quietly. "Why should we believe anything you say?"
"You won't." Hayden rose to his feet. "But anywhere that Lissandra goes, she will be in danger. Even here, when people find out about her. You know." That was not a question.
"We know." Nikis had not relaxed at all, his aim point still on Hayden's skull.
"Damn." Hayden slumped a bit and then straightened. "Humans have been looking for something like that since the dawn of their recorded history. Entire wars have been fought over the simple possibility of such. God help the girl… She can do it."
"What? So, you make her serve you?" Cass demanded.
"No. She doesn't deserve this! I almost killed her when I realized." Hayden said slowly. "When you tried to escape the third time and Anyo's goons hurt you, very nearly killed you. She healed you. You took a direct hit to the spine that took out your liver. You were dying. She got to you before anyone else did and she healed you." Hayden shook his head. "Alicia and I were both stunned. Anyo was jubilant. It was his test for her, you see. He knew you would escape again. He made it hard, but he knew you would. He wanted you to get wounded in the attempt, so he could let her loose. Maybe not quite that badly, since he did want you for other reasons, but he wanted her tested. He wanted to push her to showing her full ability. He did. She saved you and doomed herself."
"And you were not involved?" Cass snarled tightly.
"I didn't say that." Hayden shrugged. "I was. I was part of the response team that was called when you hacked the entire network." He smiled a little sadly. "Say what you will about me, but you are nuts. Between fighting the proxies, keeping the reactor from overloading and trying to clean the viruses off most of the other systems including life support, he had no one else to spare in that entire facility." Everyone looked at Cass who shrugged. "Alicia and I were there. We were trying to figure out how to get you out when you were hit by a Lanka bolt and went down hard. Then Lissandra came flying out of her cage and grabbed you before any of us could react. Alicia was right there when Lissandra did what she does and she got scans of it. What she saw hit her hard. Very hard." He looked at Janet. "You can see if I am telling the truth about that."
"I can see what physically happened." Janet replied, still icy. "I cannot say what is going on inside your head then any more than I can now. Tenno minds are closed to my powers. Not that I want to muck about in there."
"Smart." Hayden actually smiled at her. He turned back to Cass. "I did nothing besides sedating you both, grabbing you both and running like hell. That is all I did. That is all Alicia did. We didn't have time to do anything more. Then Anyo was going to 'downsize' us since we saw too much and we both had to think and talk fast."
"How long was I gone?" Cass asked anyone.
"Less than a week." The Reverend Mother said slowly. "You both disappeared three days ago." Cass nodded slowly.
"Lissandra was meddled with using Tenno techniques." Nikis snapped. "If you didn't do it-"
"I did." Hayden slumped. "Anyo was going to try and kill both Alicia and myself. That would have blown our covers and at best gotten both of the hostages killed when he realized two armed Tenno were inside the building with him. We had to do something!" He sighed again. "I am not proud that I messed with her head or yours, sergeant, but it kept you alive. That is something. We had no chance to snatch you two and run, but we hoped for such an opportunity. Then the Sentient showed up and Anyo freaked."
"'The Sentient' has a name." Marlena said with a growl of her own. "So did the ones you destroyed." Hayden looked at her and did not comment. "Why should we believe any of this?"
"You won't." Hayden shrugged as he stepped away from Alicia. "Anyo has full biometrics on both of them now. You know they cannot hide from such anywhere that the Corpus can reach. I do not know if he can track them to here. The Orokin could. If he can? Then he will follow them, even here."
"Let him come!" Rachel was just as angry as everyone else.
"I will not see any more of my people die over this." Hayden said quietly. "I will not."
"So what?" Cass snarled. "Kill her?"
"No. You and her are coming with me." Hayden replied. "Sergeant? Code 'Crack the egg'."
Cass screamed as agony poured through him. His mind was.. He was… Bright blue energy in the form of computer code was sloughing off of him in waves. He couldn't think. Everything hurt and- Somehow, he was still coherent enough to comprehend when everyone started talking at once. He could see everything, hear everything even through the pain. It was very odd.
"STOP!" Ali shouted. "NO ONE MOVE! Hayden! No!"
"You have maybe a minute before he reaches critical mass." Hayden said with a shrug. "Kill me and him, or let us go. Your choice."
"We choose a third option.." A new voice sounded as darker blue energy computer code swirled around Cass and the energy that had been killing him faded a bit. Not all the way, just a bit. Enough for him to gawk. He stared as two warframes, an Ash and a Frost Prime, and a young looking girl in a golden gown appeared standing between him and Hayden who recoiled. All were furious! The girl spoke again. "You better pray Liriel doesn't catch you. It will make Lynn kicking you in the balls seem like a tickle."
"Jesse! No!" Hayden started forward, but both of the warframes stepped forward, red and golden code swirling around them and he stepped back. Everyone made way for them. Neither drew weapons. Neither needed them!
"Lynn warned you a long time ago about the consequences of such. This ability is too powerful to have idiots playing with it, trying to duplicate it. She never taught you how to make Cyberlancers for good reason. She knew you would!" Jesse snapped. "Whatever your reasoning, there are limits for a reason. Ali's mentor learned that lesson the hard way. You are about to."
"You will kill him!" Hayden all but begged.
"Yeah, better you do it?" Jesse's tone was more feral Kavat than young girl. "There are things even you do not do. This is one of them. Tenno! Observe the results of hubris."
Every Tenno in the area jerked as Hayden was suddenly surrounded by golden code, red code and two colors of blue code! Cass stared at his hands and they were glowing. Jesse stepped forward and took his hands in her own. Her own code surrounded his, suffusing it. His pain faded and he saw and felt her code easing him, solidifying his own connections to it.
"You are not going to die today, sergeant." Jesse's tone moderated. She was kind as she gave his hands a squeeze. "This I swear."
"I… I can't..." Cass said weakly.
"It is okay." Jesse smiled at him a bit sadly as Hayden summoned his Glaive to slice at the code that flowed around him. That seemed to be congealing around him. It had no effect and when he tried to throw it, it did not leave his hand! "Let us do the heavy lifting, sergeant. Just relax. I have never done this, but I was briefed. We can help you."
"Please?" Cass asked as the code flaring from his hands intensified. Jesse's code flared as well, pulling it back, easing it and him.
"Sergeant, stop fighting it." Jesse said quietly. "The code is part of you and it is reacting to your emotions. Calm yourself. Deep breaths. You don't want to hurt Lissandra, do you?" She asked, her face sad. "The girl likes you a great deal."
"She is… She is a good kid." Cass took a shuddering breath and then another. He slowed his breathing through sheer force of will and Jesse nodded approval as his code diminished until it was a barely visible glow around his hands. "I… I can't do this!" He begged. "I have duties!"
"Sergeant, the one absolute in life is change." Jesse said softly. "Know this: You are not alone. We stand with you. The Corpus know about us, what we can do. We terrify them." The Reverend Mother nodded, silent. "We do not focus on them, but when they face us, they have no chance against us and they know it. Helplessness is a very bad feeling, especially in the rich and powerful. They get desperate and desperate people do dumb things." She squeezed his hands again. "They have been trying to duplicate our abilities for some time and Anyo finally succeeded with Hayden's help."
"That doesn't make sense!" Cass protested weakly but Jesse just chuckled.
"And what part of any of our lives makes any sense at all?" Jesse asked with a smirk as Cass groaned. His code faded entirely and when it did, the other code surrounding Hayden collapsed into a small spot that flared and vanished.
"Where did you send him?" Ali broke the sudden silence carefully.
"Where do you think?" Came from the Frost Prime.
"Not the rainbows singing 'Kumbaya'!" Ali actually groaned as Jesse's smile turned evil. "That is vicious!"
"So was this!" Jesse gave Cass' hands another squeeze. "We felt the sergeant's awakening. We knew it was only a matter of time before the Corpus managed it and we had laid plans, but none of us expected this. I am glad we got here in time. We cannot stay, but you are not alone, sergeant. Not now, not ever. Hold to that."
"What… What would have happened?" Cass asked weakly. Jesse looked at him and he slumped. "I... I think I need to know."
"Critical mass." Ali said very softly and all three Tenno Cyberlancers nodded to him. "When Salia did it… She forced the change on a volunteer. Then more than one."
"By some definitions of the word 'volunteer'." Jesse's tone was flat and Ali nodded. "Then again, to almost all sending them, all suicide bombers are volunteers."
"What she did was wrong." Ali offered. "I know that now. Long talks with Ny- Galina..." He corrected himself with a sigh. "Galina and I talked great deal and she showed me the truth that I had denied. Salia and I were both driven and fanatic. I thought it was right what we did. It was not. By any stretch of the imagination."
"After what you did, no one will trust you." Jesse warned. Ali nodded.
"I do not ask for such." Ali agreed. "I do not even ask for a chance at redemption, because there can be no forgiveness. For what it worth though? Thank you. I am glad you could stop him."
"It will happen again." Jesse warned and Cass stilled. She smiled at him, but it was melancholy "You are not trained. You do not know how to control it. If you want, we can teach you but that is a full time, for-life commitment. It is not something to jump into. You need time to think, to heal. I can dampen it, but not stop it. I do not know what Hayden was thinking. Maybe to use you as a bomb? That makes little sense, but..." She shrugged. "Like I said, sense is not what our lives are about."
"Boom? How big?" Cass did not quite beg that. "Grenade? Artillery?"
"Nuke." Jesse said with a growl and Cass swallowed hard. "Small, but the word 'small' when talking about critical mass code is relative. Tiny, nearly undetectable weapons of mass destruction. Which is exactly what Ali's mentor used her 'volunteers' as." Cass stared from her to Ali who slumped. "Three times before Lynn and Ariana caught up with her."
"He would have let the sergeant explode..." The Reverend Mother looked as if she was about to faint. "Inside the Citadel!?"
"Probably not. He was probably bluffing." Jesse replied as she gave Cass' hands a final squeeze and released him. "We could not take the chance."
"Thank you." Rachel said and then paused. "Although I do want to know how you got in here through the defenses." Jesse looked at the Frost who shook his head. Both warframes vanished and Jesse shrugged. "Jesse!" Rachel pleaded.
"I am not going to cross my Grandmaster, Rachel." Jesse replied. "For what it is worth? You know how hard it is to keep him out of anywhere." Rachel groaned but then nodded. Jesse bowed to her and then vanished as well in a pop of blue computer code.
All of the people in the area looked at one another and then Cass felt faint. A hand grabbed him before he could fall out of his chair and he stared up at Marlena's worried face. He smiled at her, but she was fading. Or he was.
She was singing to him silently in computer language as he fell asleep. It was so beautiful. So alien and yet, so human, it was…
Some time later
When Cass woke, he felt odd but good. He stared around and the room was not quite Orokin decor. He had been in several Orokin towers both as a combatant and as a visitor more recently and had always come away both awed and terrified by the sheer technological power of the long gone past.
The bed he was in was clearly a medical design, with monitors and other equipment all around him. Only a long tunic like garment covered him but he was not cold. It had to be medical in a nature, but whatever was built into it, the machinery was unobtrusive even to his new senses and nothing hurt when he tried... He froze and stared down at his legs. His whole and completely intact legs!
"How long was I asleep?" He asked. He had to be under observation.
"Eight hours." A voice he knew sounded as the door opened. Healer Iriana had been crying but she smiled when she saw him looking at her. "We do our best work under pressure, we Tenno do."
"Yes." Cass patted his right leg and it felt as it always had before he had woken in that cell. "You always do good work, Healer. You… You have been briefed?" He asked as she moved to his bedside and sat.
"Yes." Iriana bowed her head, sadness pouring off her in waves. "That poor girl. That poor, poor girl."
"Can you do anything?" Cass all but begged. Iriana shook her head and he slumped. "I had hoped, but… I knew. Somehow I knew."
"You will learn to develop the senses." Iriana said softly as she reached for his hand. He let her take it and hold it, checking his vitals in some odd Tenno way. "If you choose to. As bad as what was done to the girl was… This is just as bad in its own way." Her eyes flashed. Not a good sign. "You are not the problem. You are a Cyberlancer, a danger, but mainly to yourself as you are. As soon as anyone else realizes what the girl can do, she will be demanded. Rachel will tell them to go away and probably far less politely, but they will keep doing it. The sad thing is, Lissandra can help so many and from what I was told about her? She will want to. I know her kind very well. I am that way myself."
"And if she starts, it won't ever end." Cass said quietly and Iriana nodded. "How… How is she?"
"She needed some surgery to correct some of what Anyo did to her just as you did, but she came through fine." Iriana reassured him. "She should wake up in an hour or so. Some people want to talk to you, but I made them wait."
"I bet all kinds of people want to talk to me." Cass groaned and then sighed. "No time like the present?" Iriana smiled at him and then nodded.
"I will stay with you until Lissandra wakes, then I will go stay with her. Don't push yourself too hard." She cautioned as he sat up. "I know Special Forces are all about pushing boundaries, but there are limits."
"I know." For once, Cass was not ironic or sarcastic. "I need to report."
"Your boss and his boss are waiting to talk to you." Iriana smiled at Cass' sudden non-expression. "And no, you are not in trouble for this. Not yet anyway." She smirked as he slumped a bit.
"The day is young."