Tech

A day and a half later

Cass sat quietly and watched Lissandra sleep. He didn't dare do anything else. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew he was being watched. The medical gear connected to her was unobtrusive, but extensive. The medics were taking no chances with her dying now. Lilly lay on the bed at Lissandra's feet, the Kubrow's face sad as she tried to comfort her mistress as best she could. Cass hoped the Kubrow's love made it through whatever was going on inside Lissandra's head. He hoped his own presence had some benefit.

There had to be some good to come of this horror.

So many people were angry at what had happened. The Clergy, the Tenno, the Sentients, others. Even the Corpus Board was furious with Nef Anyo for trying to spread his faith in such a horrific manner. Profit was all to them, but they valued their lives too. Lives that Lissandra had saved. He looked at Lilly whose eyes were hopeless as she looked back.

She won't wake up. The Kubrow said weakly. Why won't she wake up? She begged.

"I don't know, Lilly." Cass admitted. He held out a hand to her that she nuzzled, but then the canid laid her head back on Lissandra's feet. "There is a lot that no one knows about her physical conditions even barring her injuries. The docs are all as confused as we are. Everyone else woke up. She didn't. I won't leave you or her." He promised.

Thank you. Lilly replied, a soft whine of grief sounding with her inaudible speech. I feel so helpless.

"So do I." Cass admitted. "I am a soldier. I break things. Fixing them is usually beyond me if it is not computer related."

But it was! Lilly protested. It was all in a computer, wasn't it?

"Part of it was, part of it wasn't." Cass shrugged helplessly when the Kubrow stared at him in confusion. "I don't understand all of what I was told and that wasn't all of what happened. I neither need nor want to know all of it." He made a face. "What I do know will give me nightmares for a long time."

I just want Mistress to wake up. Lilly said sadly.

"You and me both, Lilly." Cass said sadly. "You and me both."

"Sergeant?" A familiar voice had Cass jerked awake. He had dozed off! A glance at Lilly reassured him. The Kubrow was lying as she had been, so he hadn't been asleep long. The Corpus soldier turned to see Healer Iriana standing in the doorway. She looked awful. She had clearly been crying and now? She was out on her feet.

"Healer? When did you sleep last?" Cass asked before the Healer could speak again, Iriana stared at him and then scoffed.

"Sleep?" Iriana made a funny face. "What is this 'sleep' thing you speak of? Everyone knows Healers don't sleep." She joked with a groan. Cass smiled and rose from his chair. He offered it to her but she shook her head. "If I sit? I am going to fall asleep. I have been up for twenty two hours." Cass stared at her and then he slumped. She nodded. "I wish I had better news for you and Lilly. I do have some good news for you, sergeant." Iriana said softly. "You are clean. Every scan is negative."

"I am not a Cyberlancer now." Cass said with a nod. "Lynn did something. I am not sure what and I refused to ask."

"Smart man. There is so much that I wish I never had asked." Iriana sighed as she leaned against the closest wall. Lilly looked at her with beseeching eyes and the Healer shook her head. "Lilly, none of us can find anything wrong with Lissandra. Physically, she is fine. Emotionally? Spiritually? She faced her past with all of its horror and it tore her to pieces. You saved her from being subsumed by the game and that is a good thing, but she ended the program, knowing that doing so had utterly destroyed the last being who had done such. We told her that before she and Cass set out to Venus." Iriana shook her head. "Your mistress did not hesitate and no matter what? She will be remembered for that. My clan counts her a member of our small family. You as well." Lilly looked at the Healer and then turned back to Lissandra. Kubrow couldn't cry, but it seemed she wanted to.

"I count her family as well." Cass said into the silence that fell. Iriana looked at him and he shook his head. "I do not presume to take anything of hers, respect or offers or whatever. But I do care for her." He slowly shook his head. "More than anyone else I have ever met."

"She needs you now more than ever." Iriana had a soft, sad look on her face as she scrutinized Lissandra. "There is nothing physically wrong with her. Whatever is happening is inside her mind and none of us can reach her."

Can I help her? Lilly begged.

"I don't know, Lilly." Iriana moved to the bed and held out a hand to the Kubrow who nuzzled it. "I do know that love can break boundaries that almost every science says are impassable. Lissandra's love is what saved her. Her love for humanity and her love for those she is closest to."

Can… Lilly paused and then continued. Can you do anything for her mother? The Kubrow stiffened when Iriana bowed her head and shook it. Those evil scum!

"Yes." Iriana laid her hand on the Kubrow's head and Lilly relaxed a little. "What they did was evil and will have repercussions for some time. The kids alone will be a handful." She made a face that Cass shared.

The kids who had been found inside the game program were not in the best of shape. They had been playing, training for so long in that game that none were capable of handling reality. When they had come out of the game and had resumed their real bodies, most of them had broken down. None of the warframes that Nef Anyo had constructed for his guardians worked right. The one that had been intended for Lissandra was a particular mess. It was sort of a cross between a Trinity warframe and a Mesa warframe and worked like neither of them. Every specialist who had been called in had said that all of them were good for scrap material and little else.

The kids hadn't taken that well and no one was optimistic for their sanity after so long in that virtual world where they had been the next best thing to gods or Tenno. Two of them had already managed suicide despite everything that the healers could do and no one was hopeful for the rest. To have such power and discover it was mere illusion? Cass understood. Oh, did he ever! He wasn't sure he was going to stay sane even though he was desperately glad that he was no longer a Cyberlancer.

"There has to be something we can do." Cass protested. "Lissandra was functioning! She was talking to me!"

"Whatever your ally did to get you out of there..." The Healer's voice was utterly neutral now, but Cass knew she did not approve of any Sentient, not even mostly friendly ones. "...it is not something we can quantify or describe. They say that there should not have been any ill effects and Tanah has checked Lissandra thoroughly. He cannot find anything wrong. He says that it is nothing they did and he would know. He has done every test he can think of and cannot find anything wrong."

"But something is." Cass slumped and Iriana nodded.

"Yes. The only people who have faced this kind of thing and survived are not available now." Iriana said heavily. "Ali went back to his hideaway and Lynn..." She made a face as she trailed off.

"She won't talk to Tenno." Cass' words were not a question.

"No." Iriana sighed heavily. "I know about being betrayed by people I trust, but that? No. She won't talk to me."

"She might talk to you." Cass corrected her softly and Iriana stiffened. "She interrogated me gently, but very thoroughly when she and hers rescued me and Lilly. I do not know all of what happened, just that it was bad." Iriana nodded, her face grave. "She is angry. I think she earned that." Iriana nodded again. "Bur she is not mindlessly raging. She is a Healer, like you. She understands you and you will understand her. I bet, that if you can open communication, just you… I think she will talk to you. Carefully. Discretely. But I bet she will."

"She is not here." Iriana slumped and then leaned against the wall. "Ali said he couldn't find anything wrong with her. None of us can, so, I have to believe that. He did like her."

"Most do." Cass stroked Lissandra's hair gently. She did not react. "I… I am not going back." He said firmly. Iriana looked at him and he shook his head. "I have seen far too much fighting, Company on Company, to have any illusions about the Clergy beating Anyo. He doesn't have a chance even without the Special Forces on the Clergy's side."

"He is getting his butt kicked. He is suing for peace already." Iriana growled and Cass snorted.

"They won't accept it the first three times or so." Cass shrugged. "He did not actually attack them, so it was never going to be war to the knife, with no quarter asked or given as has happened in a couple of other cases of Holy War. That said… He did hire people to assault them and he did hurt Lissandra and me. Me? I am soldier. Pain is my life. Lissandra is not a soldier. For what he did to us? They will make him bleed Profit for a while."

"My heart bleeds." Iriana shook her head. "I have ordered a bed for you and one for Lilly to be fabricated in here." Cass and Lilly both looked at her and Iriana smiled wanly. "Neither of you will leave and trying to move you will likely get you or someone else hurt. None of us want that. You are her family. My clan stands with her, but you? You are her kin now. If you need anything within reason, let us know."

"May I know where we are?" Cass asked.

"This is a hidden Tenno dojo." Iriana replied and Cass nodded, not really surprised. "Security is tight here and the Cyberlancers call it home so, word of advice? Don't try to hack anything."

"Not that stupid, Healer." Cass laid his head down on the bed beside Lilly and the Kubrow shifted a bit to warm him as well as Lissandra.

"The beds will be ready in a few minutes." Iriana heaved a half sigh, half moan. "And mine is calling me. If I hear anything, I will let you know. If she wakes at all? Any time? Call me."

"I will." Cass promised.

Iriana laid a hand on his arm, gave Lilly a final pet and then left the room. Cass looked at Lilly who nodded just a little.

She just turned the monitors off. Nothing but the medical monitors are still active. The Kubrow's mental voice was very soft. If there is other monitoring, it is not something I can detect.

Right. Cass replied the same way! When he spoke again, it was calm. Lissandra? We are ready for you. Call the others.

"Done. I still think you have all lost your minds." Lissandra said in a muzzy voice as she opened her eyes. "I am not Gee. I am not that crazy girl who liked to soar and hurt people."

"That is good." Cass hugged her gently as she snuggled close. "Iriana will be ecstatic when you wake in the morning, but before then, we need to get this done. Have you thought about it?" She looked away and he hugged her again. "I am not leaving you, Lissandra. The Special Forces are not slavers. I will have a bunch of hoops to jump through, fines to pay and such, but I can leave. You will need me and you can do the job."

"But this is so wrong!" Lissandra said weakly. "I am not a soldier! I am not a spy! I am just me!"

"You have been both soldier and spy." Cass replied as two spectral forms appeared in the room. Hayden Tenno and a woman in a golden gown! The crown on the woman's head started to glow as Cass nodded to her. "We are clear for the moment, but we better keep this short, Empress. Lissandra is very weak still."

"I have to apologize! To both of you." Hayden said quickly. "Yes, we had to stop the program and you both decided to help, but I had no idea what was going to happen!"

"No one did." Lissandra said as she sat up. "It had to be stopped." She shook her head. "Nyx suspects. We will need to bring her in before she pries too far and possibly blows my cover. We should also bring Tiana in when we get Alicia and Mag in on this."

"The fewer people who know about this, the better." Eliza said with a small frown. "If Anyo had managed to get that Transference tech working, bad doesn't begin to cover that."

"I know." Lissandra said sadly. "The kids understand and none will talk. I don't like this, but it is needed. They swore to me and while I do not want them to die, they accept it." Her face fell. "I wish I could. I explained and they were just as horrified as we were and are. They chose to perish rather than chance the secret getting out."

"What my esteemed relatives did to make the copies of Tenno was horrific in the extreme." Eliza said quietly. "Until the Zarimon children, none of the tech that Ballas tried worked. All of the drones went insane. Turned on their commanders and each other." She shook her head. "Hard to blame them. No one realized the truth. No one."

"They saw warframes as simple biological robots." A new voice heralded a spectral Mag warframe appearing nearby. No. Mag! The First. "Idiots."

"Shortsighted." A hologram of a Trinity warframe appeared nearby and then a pair of Nyx Prime warframes joined her. "Lissandra… I..."

"Stop." Lissandra said firmly and Alicia cut off. "What happened was bad. We all agree that. I had no idea what to expect when you brought me and Cass into that virtual world. To explain what was happening and why after you abducted us. Does anyone suspect?" That was to Nyx who shook her head.

"I didn't." Nyx had a smile in her voice. "You are good, girl. I had no idea you had subdivided your mind and his." Lissandra looked innocent, but Nyx shook her head. "We need that sneakiness now. If the Lotus is an enemy now..."

"She is not." A familiar voice heralded Marlena into view, but the small female human with silver skin wasn't anyone Lissandra or Cass knew. "Or at least, she does not want to be."

Before anyone else could move, Lissandra spoke to the other Nyx Prime warframe.

"Warlord Tiana, I apologize, but this has to stay secret." The human sat up with a soft groan. Cass helped her sit up and held her until she was stable. Lilly moved to sit in her lap and Lissandra started to pet the Kubrow.

"You… were working with them." Tiana looked at Hayden and Alicia who nodded.

"Yes." Lissandra replied. "After they stole us from the Clergy and Special Forces, they were trying to figure out why Anyo would take such an insane risk. Risk Holy War with the Clergy of all people. They did." She shook her head. "If he had managed to make and control warframes of his own? Bad didn't begin to cover that. When they explained their findings, we both volunteered to help stop him. We both have cause to hate him." Se and Cass shared a grim nod. "But the threat was far greater than any of us could have imagined."

"And you didn't remember this..." Tiana paused and then gasped. "Because someone tampered with your minds using Tenno techniques."

"Yes." Lissandra sighed. "The reintegration of my mind was not pleasant. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me because there isn't. Now. I remember it all." Her face turned sick. "I wish the kids could take up the warframes even as broken as they are, but they can't and they will not live long outside of them."

"Love..." Cass hugged her and she returned it. "You have time."

"Our enemies will not wait." Lissandra said with a sigh. "Neither of us remembered the plan. Cass called Marlena when he realized he was trapped, thinking she would kill him. Deny Anyo the tool."

"I might have, once. But I grew up." Marlena nodded to the others. "If you do take the job, Lissandra count us as allies. Wary ones but allies. You saved my life." The small silver female beside her nodded. "Others will count you an ally as well and that will be good. We will need all the help we can get."

"I thought you would kill or enslave her and we needed her to stop the game." Hayden said with a bow to the Sentient. "For what is is worth? I apologize. To both you and Nyx. I had no time to explain. I hurt you both and for that? I am truly sorry."

"Trust is unlikely to happen, Hayden Tenno." Marlena said with a shrug. "But stranger things have happened recently. Nyx?" She inquired of the first wearer of the Nyx warframe who was eyeing Lissandra.

"You would do this?" Nyx asked Lissandra who nodded. "Of your own free will? The job sucks!"

"No one wants the job." Lissandra agreed. "But you all think I am capable." It was half statement, half question ans everyone nodded. "Then… Am I bound to it forever?" She asked Mag who shook her head but remained silent.

"You will do very well, Lissandra." Eliza said with a small smile. "Healers make the best leaders. They do not like to cause harm, but can be pragmatic about hurting some to heal far more. The needs of the many..." She bowed her head as Lissandra rose for the bed to face the others, Cass rising to her side.

"...outweigh the needs of the one." Lissandra agreed. "There are many forms of technology that cannot be allowed out. Warframe tech is only one of those. We all agree on that. I am not sure I can do the job, but I do know that I have to try. Humanity and others need someone doing the job. Add to that? No one will suspect me." Everyone nodded. "Then… I accept."

Lissandra knelt in front of Eliza whose crown flashed for a moment. When the Empress spoke again, it was formal.

"Rise Director Lissandra. Take up your role as head of Tenno Intelligence."