No Retreat
"No."
The word was calm and quiet, but everyone tensed regardless. At least Tiana had removed her armor and acquiesced to a sedative. It had taken a direct command from Two, but the Tiana had done as instructed. No one had any idea what she was now. She... wasn't the same. Her body was fully human. It was her mind that everyone was worried about. Even Sister Abigail had been stumped by what had been done. But that left an option that had finally seen Two who had finally run out of patience.
"Two..." Amelia cajoled. "Please..." Two sighed from where she lay on the scanner bed.
It had been... tense. When she had brought Tiana in, everyone had freaked. Two couldn't blame them. She was still glowing. The newly redone tower was set up as a fully functional hospital now and Two hadn't even bothered to try and argue about being sent into quarantine there. Especially after Amelia had arrived. It was about as secure as any place in the Solar System outside of Avalon... Which was the current problem.
"You all saw the scans." Two said into the sudden silence that followed her declaration. "You all saw the residue. He mindscanned Tiana. She couldn't resist him. Not as she was. He knows everything she did now. We cannot send her there."
"Two..." Karl said quietly. "They have better gear than even the tower does."
"And that is what he wants." Two said, shifting herself a little on the bed. The thin gown she wore covered her for modesty purposes. Not much more. But it was mainly the scrutiny that made her uncomfortable. Like Serene, she was at home in the shadows and the whole 'glowing' thing took a bit of getting used to. Karl made an interrogative noise and Two grimaced. "I don't know how I know, but I do. He wanted Tiana there. Why? I don't know. But he does. And giving that nutcase what he wants is a bad idea."
"I agree." The quiet voice had everyone pausing and Two bowed her head in shame as Lisa nodded to her. "We agree."
Jasmina had flatly refused to come despite her injuries. It hurt Two to see someone who had once been a very good friend at odds with so many of the rest of the Tenno, but Two did understand. As soon as she had arrived with Tiana in tow, all hell had broken loose. The Grineer were launching system wide attacks. The Corpus were retaliating as best they could. Alad V had gone completely off the deep end, either Infested or soon to be, it made no difference. He was making even more of a mess than usual. It was a wonder that Will, Alicia and Ric had managed to find time to follow Karl to the Tower. But... This was kind of important. Tiana hadn't known everything, but she had been privy to a lot.
"I do not know the name." Karl said quietly. "Horus?"
"That is not his real name, Tenno Karl." Lisa said calmly as she worked on a set of monitors nearby. Amelia gave her a look, but Lisa did not pause. "As soon as Caretaker Jasmina saw him, we correlated all the data we had. Not much." She qualified. "As we suspected, he is trying to make the Great Orokin Game a reality in the real world. As he did before."
"Before." Karl's voice was stunned now and all the other Tenno in the room seemed just as stunned.
"We remember." Lisa said flatly and Two sighed. She held out her hand to the girl and Lisa smiled a bit forlornly as she stepped forward and took it. They had done so many scans on her than Two's mind was still whirling, but the girl sounded so lost as alone sometimes. Jasmina and her allies had retreated quite a bit to keep from being subverted by the scum. Lisa was the sole representative of the sane mass mind available. It was hard to remember sometimes just how young she really was. She was very smart and very capable. And now? Very pregnant. Lisa gave Two's hand a squeeze and stepped back, her biohazard suit oddly gleaming in the harsh light of the medical ward. No one was taking any chances with her.
"This... thing that he threw at Tiana..." Two glanced at her still glowing hand and sighed. "It was molded to her. Different from whatever he did to Abigail."
"You said you heard a voice?" Amelia asked quietly.
"Yes." Two agreed. "Not anyone I knew. Male." She paused. "Old or experienced. Powerful. It called me a Daughter of the Emperor. But I mean..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I am not one no matter what Tiana thinks."
"No." Karl agreed. "But another character from that game."
"Probably." Two said with a sigh. "Tiana is going to be a mess. Can we get her back?"
"Maybe." Karl matched her sigh. "I have word of a specialist in such things. She... may or may not help us. She is a bit... different."
"A specialist in the game?" Alicia asked, working another set of medical machinery. Her mate hadn't spoken, just stayed near the door, a watchful shadow. Two found Will's quiet certainty reassuring. "Which? The Great Game or the tabletop one?"
"Both." Karl said quietly. "Either. She is a historian. A very good one by most accounts. But she does not trust easily." Two went still and Karl nodded. "Serene knew her." Two froze as a memory surfaced. A horrible one.
"No!" The word exploded from Two before she could clamp her mouth shut. "You cannot drag her into this!" She was out of the bed and on her feet before anyone else could move. "She wanted to be left alone! You leave her alone!" She snapped, spearing a finger at Karl. Lisa stared at Two and then paled. She fled the room but no one looked away from Two.
"Two?" Amelia recoiled, backing against her instruments. "What the hell?" Two ignored her, all of the irate female Tenno's focus was on Karl who hadn't moved.
"She came forward, Two." Karl said quietly. "She wants to help."
"She is still hurt!" Two screamed. "She is still grieving! You cannot ask her to do that! You cannot! I won't let you!"
"Two." The soft female voice silenced everything as another warframe entered the room. This one did not have any insignia. But it was distinctive. One did not see many Mesa warframes out of the field. "Calm down."
"Jane!" Two begged, falling to her knees. "No! This is probably what he wants!"
"Two." The newcomer said, still calm. "Calm. Down."
"Go home, Jane." Two snapped. "Get out of this while you can. We can..." Her words trailed off as the Mesa warframe stepped forward and pulled her up into an embrace. "No... Jane, no..." She was crying as the other female Tenno held her. "No..."
"It wasn't Serene's fault, Two." The Tenno holding her gently said sadly. "Nor mine or anyone's but the Orokin. Serene gave me time. I took that time. Now I have to get back into the world again."
"You lost your husband because of me!" Two screamed loud enough to deafen. Amelia took a step forward, but paused as the Mesa shook her head slightly.
"Oh, Two..." Jane said into the sudden silence that followed the sobbing Tenno's words. "It wasn't Serene's fault. I knew that then. I know it now." Two just hugged her tighter, sobbing. Jane sighed and spoke to Karl. "I did some research on that particular game. It wasn't one of my focuses. But I did have some more data. I know what Two is supposed to be."
"I..." Amelia was ashen. "Two?" She pleaded. Two was incoherent.
"I have had centuries to work my way through what actually happened." Jane said sadly. "Self imposed exile gave me the time I needed. I finalized work on Nils' database." Two shook her head savagely, but Jane was having none of it. "Two. Calm down. It was my choice. The Lotus asked around our kin for help. I said I could. I want to help. I forgave you. Serene. It wasn't her fault. Your fault." Her voice was calming, soothing. "The Orokin did it, not her. She tried to help. She came when we called. Neither of us blamed her for anything."
"And he died!" Two screamed. "Torn out of his warframe screaming as they tore him to bits! I... I can't..." A horrified gasp circled the room and Jane sighed.
"Two." Jane said sternly. "I am going to set you on the bed. Your friend is going to give you something to help you sleep. You need it. I am here, Two." She said sternly as she laid the sobbing Tenno on the bed and Amelia stepped close. Two tried to hold onto the warframe but Jane evaded her grasp somehow. "I am not leaving until this is done."
"No..." Two begged as Amelia injected her, the medics face set. "No... Jane, please..." She was still pleading as the drug took her under.
Jane patted the sleeping Tenno's shoulder and rose. Amelia took up station in a chair nearby as Jane stepped towards a door. Karl, Alicia and Will followed. Ric remained. A silent sentinel. Just outside the room, Jane paused and shook her head.
"She is an exact copy of Serene." Jane said quietly. "I knew Serene blamed herself. But that?" She sighed. "I should have come sooner. I need to talk to Serene too."
"You know what she is." Karl said as he led the way into a small conference type room. None of the warframes sat. The door hissed again and Lisa stepped in, her face set. A timid form followed. Abigail looked decidedly worried.
"I do." Jane said, scrutinizing Abigail who flushed. "May I touch you, Ma'am?"
"I... guess..." Abigail remained still as Jane stepped close and touched her arm. Nothing seemed to happen and Abigail relaxed. "What?"
"A load of stress off my back." Jane said with a nod. "It's not the same. Close, but not quite. Thank the ancestors." She looked at Lisa who nodded. "Nikis brought me here. We talked a little. He will try to make Tyranids out of your people."
"We know." Lisa agreed. "One reason we retreated as fast as we did." At the puzzled sounds from the others, Lisa clarified a bit. "Alien monsters from the same game. It will be harder for Orokin science to pervert such since they are not human. The Technocyte Virus is not so easily swayed from it's course as human and Grineer flesh and minds are."
"I don't understand." Abigail said weakly. "It... They helped me."
"Abrahaim helped you, child." Jane said gently. "This... Horus character was either not involved or it is a long laid plot. Either way. You are safe for the moment. But I agree with Two. Sending you and Sister Tiana anywhere else is a bad idea. For now? You are safe here."
"So..." Karl said as Abigail slumped into a chair. "What is going on?"
"I can only surmise that someone, probably a Tenno, found a record of the Orokin who tried to make the Great Game a reality in the real world." Jane said with a shrug. "I and my husband were... encouraged to assist them. We were not Warriors, so were easy to take and hold. It... didn't work out so well for them when Serene answered our call for help against those who tried to enslave us." She shook her head. "Whoever he was... This Horus as the Lotus calls him was well known as a manipulator. He caused all kinds of problems for Orokin and the Tenno before and during the Collapse. Everyone hoped he had perished with all his 'playthings'." This last was in a sick tone.
"'Playthings'?" Abigail asked weakly.
"I am afraid so, child. It was his MO." Jane said quietly. "He stole and remade people into pieces for his games." Abigail swallowed hard and Jane nodded. "He may or may not have been involved in what happened to me and my husband, but no matter what... I want this thing ended. Nils was a gamer. He loved playing. Anything and everything from Go and chess to space combat simulations and 21st tactical wargames. Warhammer 40000 was not one of his favorites, but he had a reasonably good collection. Almost everything from the Black Library."
"So..." Karl said after a moment of thought. "What is Two now?"
"Two would be what was called a 'Living Saint'." Jane said with a sigh. "They varied from story to story. All had power against the forces of Chaos. And they all glowed golden."
"She said that the voice called her a Daughter of the Emperor and told her to bring wrath in his name." Alicia said quietly. "I thought that was the Sisters of Battle."
"In the tabletop game, yes." Jane agreed. "But not just them in the books. Thing was, the game evolved with the people who played it. People wrote stories. Some were legitimate and published by the company that made the game. Others? Not so much. There was a mass of fanfictions." She made a disgusted noise. "Most of which were poorly written. Many were best described as pornography. Even some of the legitimate stuff was pure drivel."
"I see." The Trinity shared a wince with the Mesa warframe.
"Yeah." Jane said sourly. "So... we have a Space Marine, a Sister Hospitaller and a Sister Militant..." She mused.
"And a Tau in my mind." Abigail said in a tiny voice. Jane nodded to her.
"That is... odd." Jane said slowly. "Three defenders of mankind and a defender of 'The Greater Good'..." She shook her head. "No opponents?"
"He said he would make Two an Eldar." Lisa offered. "We don't know a lot about the game, but a few of the minds that became ours were changed by the Orokin. Maybe by that Horus scum."
"Elder were capricious." Jane said slowly. "But not evil for the sake of being evil. Dark Eldar now..."S he shuddered a bit. "You said there was someone who offered her services to Abrahaim?"
"She was trying to infiltrate his operation and he knew it." Alicia shrugged that off.
"Was she?" Jane asked. "Let me talk to her."
"Okay." Alicia started and then paused as alarms started to blare. "What?"
"Tower!" Karl snapped. "Status!"
-Unauthorized portal transit- The tower replied. -Intruder alert! Guest quarters!-
"Violet!" Several people snapped.
Violet had been going stir crazy. Nothing hurt anymore. It was more an itch now than pain. But she was an active person. She had always been an active person even before joining the Corpus Special Forces. She was...
Wait a moment. Why was sly lying on her back? She had been reading. It hadn't been great reading but it had been something to do. Why was a golden glow suffusing her head now? She felt no fear. No pain. Nothing. She was falling into a golden...
"No!" A female voice screamed from nearby and something grabbed her. It hurt, but could not pierce the shell of whatever was holding her. "You will not take her!"
She is needed. As are you. Arise Inquisitor.
"No!" Several voices screamed as Violet felt herself suddenly shift. The feeling was familiar. A portal.
She was lying on something hard as energy played over her. She managed to turn her eyes to the side and she saw the red armored form of Brother Abrahaim standing squared off against a female form she did not know. It was a warframe of some kind, but... different. The female Tenno had odd looking pistols in both hands. Wait... Those looked like Abrahaim's weapons!
"Who are you?" The Space Marine demanded, his rifle at the ready.
"Adeptes Asartes..." The other said, her aim not wavering. "Blood Angels Chapter."
"That is who I am." The red armored giant snapped. "Who are you?"
"My name is Talona." The Tenno said quietly as she slowly lowered her weapons. "I am with the Ordo Hereticus." Violet could not make any sense of this at all. But the red armored form gave a grunt and his weapon lowered a bit. "Or... I was. Once." His rifle jerked back up.
"And I should trust you?" The Space Marine snapped. The female Tenno laughed sourly at that and the Space Marine actually chuckled. "Didn't think so."
"You are Brother Abrahaim of the Adepetes Asartes." The female Tenno said with a sigh. "Once... I was where you are. Obeying without question. You have been lied to, Space Marine."
"I know." The Blood Angel said sourly. "I am no mental giant, but the name Horus was a dead giveaway."
Violet could not move, could not speak as golden energy wafted over her. It... soothed her itches.
"And her?" The Tenno who called herself Talona said with a small nod at Violet.
"She was marked." Abrahaim said with a nod. "He will come for her." Violet could not move as something encased her. It was warm, but... odd. She was falling, but it felt... good. Comforting.
"And when he does?" Talona replied.
"I kill him." Abrahaim could have been discussing the weather. Violet was amazed when Talona laughed. It was heartfelt, that amusement.
"Do you really think it will be that easy, Space Marine?" The odd woman or Tenno or whatever she was asked.
"No." Abrahaim agreed. "But we have no choice. If he is Chaos..."
"He is." Talona said sourly. "Not sure which group, if any. But definitely Chaos."
"Even the most powerful of warp creatures can die if you shoot it enough." Abrahaim said quietly as he finally lowered his rifle.
"And with the right weapons." Talona agreed. "The Tenno will be coming after her too." She warned.
"I know." Abrahaim said quietly. "Which is why I took her. To pull them here. I was not expecting you. Ordo Hereticus?"
"Technically, yes." Talona agreed. "Although I worked with the Ordos Malleus and Ordos Xenos as well."
"You... were like me?" Abrahaim asked slowly. "Changed here?"
"Sort of."
"Why am I not surprised I cannot get a straight answer?" The Space Marine snarled as he slung his rifle. "Oh, wait... Inquisition. None of you ever give straight answers."
"Because you do not want to know."