Odd feelings
Violet felt... odd. Nothing hurt. She wasn't able to move, but that didn't bother her. The metal cocoon she was in was warm and dry and clean. She was held in place by some kind of golden energy. But it wasn't uncomfortable. Far from it. She was very comfortable, more than she had been in a long, long time.
On one level, she was screaming that this was wrong. That she had to get up, get out, get moving. Do something. But whatever was holding her was far too powerful for the human to break free of. And... It felt good.
Violet.
The word was soft, but clear. And it wasn't coming from outside. She hadn't heard anything since the odd Space Marine and his compatriot had gone somewhere else. To plot? To plan? To set the trap that she was apparently bait for? It didn't matter to her. Nothing did.
Violet.
The voice wasn't anyone she knew. Female. It sounded about her own age. Worried. Violet tried to muster the energy to respond, but she couldn't. Whatever was sapping her will was far too...
Without send of transition, Violet was lying on a bed in a room she knew. She stared around wildly, then froze. She could move! She sat up slowly, aware of her clothing. It was decades out of date. She was aware of the stuffed animals around her bed. The picture on the wall. One archaic looking door, thankfully shut. She knew this place. She... It was hers. But she hadn't been here in fifty years! It had been sold, renovated... It was gone! She had tried to go back once, but the whole area had been turned into a factory. All that was left of her childhood was a memory.
"The image is from your mind." The soft female voice said as a robed form appeared nearby. "I am sorry if this distresses you."
"I..." Violet shook her head and slowly reached down to pick up a tiny stuffed fish. She had loved that small bit of comfort when she had lived with her parents. "It doesn't. This... This is one of my few good memories. I had nearly forgotten it..." She said, hugging the fish tight. "Thank you."
"A fish?" The other woman asked, curious.
"Mrs. Fish." Violet said with a smile that turned into a grin as the other woman tried not to gape at her. "She was my special friend when I was little. Someone to talk to who wouldn't judge me. I uh... was a bit of a handful."
"Somehow that does not surprise me." The other said with a gentle smile. "May I sit?" She indicated the bed. "We need to talk."
"This is... a memory." Violet sad slowly. "Mine. But... You are..." She shook her head, confused.
"My name is Shepherd and I am here to help." The other woman said quietly. "You are having a crisis of faith. The one who stole you will use that. If he does... It will get bad. Very bad."
"I don't understand." Violet admitted. "This is... I was healing. Then I was somewhere else."
"While you were healing, you met a red armored giant." Shepherd said softly. "He was hurt and you helped when he woke." Violet nodded, unsure. "His absolute faith touched something in you. Something you hadn't felt for a long time."
"Mom was..." Violet swallowed as the door slammed open, but Shepherd shook her head and it shut again. "What?"
"You are not ready to face your past yet, Violet." Shepherd said quietly. "I am here to help. I am a spiritual guide. No more, no less."
"She never hurt me." Violet protested. "She just made me pray with her. Nothing more."
"You of all people know how emotions can hurt, Violet." Shepherd said quietly. "You saw it every day in your job. Whenever you couldn't pray or didn't want to, she made you." Violet jerked and Shepherd nodded. "Imposed faith is still imposed, Violet. No less than what the Corpus did to you when you were older."
"They never lied about what would happen." Violet said slowly. "I knew going in what would happen. I was part of the machine... until I broke..." The image around her wavered and she cringed as rock walls took the place of her childhood bedroom. A mine? "What? No!" She screamed and recoiled.
"Violet. Be calm." The other woman said as the area around her that had started to resound with screams and whimpers of fear vanished. Violet was sitting on her bed again, clutching her stuffed fish in a death grip. "You can overcome this. You are strong, child."
"What is happening?" Violet asked.
"We are not entirely sure what all is happening." Shepherd said with a sigh. "But we know who is behind it. A mad Tenno from before the Collapse managed to survive it and all this time. He has started his madness again."
"A Tenno?" Violet asked, wilting. "Then I am doomed."
"You have allies in this struggle, girl." Shepherd said with a small shake of her head. "They may not be enough to save you. But they -we- are certainly going to try." The calm certainty in the other woman's words was a balm to Violet's turbulent thoughts and she focused herself. "Better."
"What is happening to me?" Violet asked slowly.
"Right now? Nothing." Shepherd said with a sigh. "The Space Marine and the... other..." She said dubiously. "...Are setting a trap. But we -those of us who are trying to help you- fear it will not work."
"And if this madman..." Violet paused and corrected herself. "This mad Tenno takes me... What then?"
"We fear you will be used in an assassination." Shepherd said quietly. Violet froze and the other woman nodded. "You have done such." It was not a question.
"I have." Violet agreed. "Oh god no... I can't... I can't do that again! I can't!" She hugged the fish so tight her fingers hurt.
"Violet." Shepherd said quietly. "We can help. Will you let us?"
"Stop me!" Violet snapped. "Kill me now! That is the best way."
"Violet, if we kill you now, he will find another pawn to use." Shepherd was still quiet, but her face was solemn. "You know this. We can save you."
"Truly?" Violet asked. "I mean... He made a Grineer into that Space Marine. He made a Tenno into another of those figures from that game."
"A dying Tenno." Shepherd said with a frown. "We cannot guarantee this will work. But we all want to try."
"If I do nothing, he wins." Violet winced as Shepherd nodded. "If I do...something... What do I do?" She stared as Shepherd held out her hand. "What?"
"You want to believe." Shepherd said with a fond smile. "I can help you determine what you want to believe. That is my job."
Violet thought for a moment and then took the other's hand. It felt...
She was...
Somewhere
"How the hell?" Talona had to shout over the screams and gunfire. "How did he do this?"
Another wave charged the pair of mismatched combatants and Talona picked her targets with care. The hulking forms saw her through the clouds of smoke and fire and gave voice to their battlecry again.
Waaaaaaaaagh!
They had been prepared for an incursion. Not an assault by a horde. Each shot either of them fired dropped an Ork, but there were so many of them. She had lost count of how many she had killed after three hundred.
"These are not real Orks!" Talona snapped to the red armored giant at her side. "They cannot be."
Luckily, the Space Marine had been better prepared that Talona herself. A moment to switch weapons and his Heavy Bolter chewed through the ranks of greenskins.
"At least they are not Necrons." Abrahaim replied. "We wouldn't have a chance."
"Which is why he is doing it this way." Talona snarled and dropped an Ork 'Ard Boy with a headshot. His armor was good, but not good enough to even slow a .75 caliber rocket slamming into his eye. A few of the greenskins around him paused as his head exploded in green mist, but not enough of them. "He wants a struggle. He wants us to hurt and see him win. He needs the gratification."
"Well, he can kiss my butt." Abrahaim replied and then started the Litanies of Battle again. Talona nodded grimly, picking her targets with precision. They had a lot of ammunition, but it wasn't infinite. The Space Marine's weapons were a match for any Ork armor and each of Talona's pistols was an equal of his rifle, if not quite as long ranged. "Two o'clock! A group going for the pod!"
The pair had been steadily pushed back from the pod that Violet lay in. The ambush they had laid in the portal chamber and the surrounding corridors had claimed hundreds of Orks, but now... The tide had turned as the horde saw them out in the open. Talona reloaded and fired automatically. Each shot lethal, but absorbed by the mass of green. Despite the Heavy Bolter's insane firepower, the Orks were pushing forward. Any moment and now and...
"They have the pod!" Talona snapped, keying a code she had prayed she wouldn't have to as a mob of greenskins ran off with the pod held above their heads. They had trapped the pod to prevent Violet's capture. A merciful fate, to die asleep without knowing how badly one would be twisted and torn to suit the whims of a madman. It had seemed an absurd precaution at the time with the level of complexity of the defenses that the Space Marine had built.. But now... "What the-?" She demanded as nothing happened. "It didn't go off!"
"Nothing we can do!" Abrahaim snapped as Talona fired, killing a Nob. "We hold here." His Heavy Bolter fell silent and he dropped it, drawing his pistol and his claw extending from his gauntlet. "For the Emperor!"
"Nothing else to do today." Talona said with a smile as the Orks closed in. She met their charge with her own. "For the Emperor!"
Somewhere virtual
The cathedral -a virtual copy of something that had once been called Notre Dame in a place called France- stood almost entirely empty now. Shepherd knelt in a pew near the front of the huge building and tried not to cry.
"Shepherd?" Janet's voice was scared and Shepherd nodded. "Did you get her?"
"She wouldn't come." Shepherd said sadly. "She chose her path." Janet hissed in fear and Shepherd nodded. "I tried to get her to reconsider. She refused. She took in all I had to teach her and then she just smiled and nodded. Then she left. I..."
"Not your fault." Janet said as she materialized beside Shepherd, kneeling as well. "I need to talk to you too. I feel... so wrong now."
"I am here to help, Janet." Shepherd said with a smile as she rose and held out her hand. "What happens next is in Violet's court now. What do you want to talk about?"
"Religion and politics." Janet replied with a grimace. Shepherd matched it, but Janet just shrugged. "Seems I am stuck with a crummy job. People think I am an Earth Mother or something." Shepherd winced at that and Janet nodded. "I sure don't."
"Well..." Shepherd sighed as she and Janet whisked away from the cathedral where she had spoken to Violet and into a smaller, more comfortable virtual world. "The Great Nurturer has always been a central figure in many religions..."
All she could do to help Violet now as to pray, so she did as she worked to help Janet. The girl would need all the help she could get.
Somewhere else
The mob of odd greenskined aliens that had been carrying Violet's pod vanished as the golden energy of a portal faded around her. Now, she was surrounded by Orokin drones. Some kind of holograms?
"It plays out well." The figure that appeared in Violet's vision was odd. Was that a hat of some kind? "Well met, Lady Violet. I am Horus."
"I will not serve you." Violet said quietly.
"I am afraid you have no choice in that regard my dear." The other said with a shrug. The drones that were carrying her pod laid it on a table and the metal cocoon unwrapped from around her. "What?" He asked. "No witty repartee?"
"I would like to know why." Violet asked as energy started to play over her. It hurt. "Why all this? Why now?" Her body was altering. Changing under her skin. It felt awful. She was... it was... "Will you rule? Or just kill everyone?"
"Rule?" The Tenno actually jerked back from Violet at that. "Ah... No." He said sadly. "Tenno are not suited to rule. War makes for strange bedfellows and stranger situations, but what the Orokin did demands vengeance. They enslaved us all. They will pay."
"This is..." Violet bit out the words past a throat that was closing up on screams of agony. "This is revenge?"
"Yes." Horus replied. "Once it is done, I will fade away. The Tenno will survive and the humans will find a better way that following the benighted Orokin trash to their doom again." He actually sighed. "I regret what I am doing to you, Lady Violet. But it is needed. The Orokin must fall. All of them."
"But they are all dead!" Violet screamed as the pain tore through her.
"Not yet."
Then there was nothing but Violet's screams as she was remade.
Not very much later
The guard drone at the Mercury tower was stumped. This human woman had all the proper codes for the transit. But she wasn't on the schedule so several defense systems powered up to aim at her.
"I need to talk to the Healer." The woman said quietly. She was not in the datafiles. She did have Tenno codes, was polite and was scanned as unarmed... so...
"Identification please." The drone asked.
"I am Eevy." The woman replied. "I need to speak to Healer Iriana. It is very important."
"The Healer is available." The drone replied. "Follow the guide please."
The woman followed a pulsing drone into a small office. There she waited. But not idle. The surveillance systems were advanced, but not proof from subtle hacking. Especially with an Orokin style bot to subvert the code and show in moments that no one had actually arrived.
"Yes?" The voice was a match for the one the woman Eevy had heard in recordings as a harried looking woman stepped into the room. Healer Iriana. "Can I help you?"
"Indeed you can." Eevy replied as something flew from her hand to strike the healer on her bare arm. Iriana stared down at the tiny dart and was obviously trying to speak as she fell. Eevy caught her. "I am sorry, Healer. But this must be. The Emperor demands it."
Iriana's eyes went huge as the form in front of her suddenly shifted. The woman's body morphed until it was an exact duplicate of her! She willed the living garment around her to morph and protect her, but it was sluggish as the woman produced a spray hypo and measured it carefully. She injected Iriana and the healer felt... odd. She was not -quite- asleep when she heard her voice speak. It wasn't her speaking!
"The woman just had some kind of seizure." The fake Iriana said calmly. "I am not sure what kind. She will need to be kept under observation for a time. But I have an appointment. I need to get going. Keep her safe and secure until I get back."
No! Iriana screamed into the silence in her head. No! It's not me!
But the paramedic drones did not hear her mental screams as they removed her from the deck and carried her to an ICU room. She could do nothing as machinery hooked up. Then a familiar form appeared in her vision. Her face.
"You will not die." The other her said quietly. "You will sleep for several hours until this is over one way or another. When the Polymorphine wears off, your body will revert back to its normal appearance and you will have a headache, but no more. You will not remember me. Rest now." Iriana did not even have time to scream as darkness pulled her under.
The woman who had entered the tower as Eevy and now appeared a Healer Iriana strode to the command console for the room and checked it. The healer was asleep and seemed to be having no ill effects. That had been a worrisome possibility. If the Healer had been allergic, she would have been forced to slay the woman and Iriana was not the target. Not to mention, one set of life signs simply vanishing in the tower would have set off all kinds of alarms. So now... this. 'Eevy' was asleep until 'Healer Iriana' could return to tend her. Not a perfect disguise. That would have required eliminating the Healer outright after a complete mindscan, one that would have left the Healer a drooling wreck. Killing her and disposing of the body would have been far easier. But the Callidus assassin once known as Violet wasn't a random murderer. She was a weapon and she had her target.
She checked Iriana's schedule and nodded. There was a block of time free. She had an hour to get to the portal chamber and get to Avalon before anyone would become suspicious. Once there? She would do her job.
She picked up a datapad and pretended to peruse it as she strode towards the portal chamber. The human guard there nodded to her.
"Healer?" He asked. "Is there a problem?"
"I am not sure." The fake Iriana said in tone of worry. "Can you check the last entry. That woman had a seizure. She just went down. I need to see if there were any abnormalities in the portal records."
"Sure thing." The guard said, stepping away from the portal. The fake Iriana went still. That wasn't right. Was it? "Boss... I know better than to get on the bad side of anyone who knows Nikis." The guard said with a swallow.
"Right." 'Iriana' smiled as she worked the controls. Yes! She had a window. But only a few minutes. She turned to the guard and nodded. "Nothing I can find. Keep an eye out, will you?"
"Sure."A s the guard passed, 'Iriana' struck. The same tranquilizer that had knocked the Healer out did for the guard and the fake Iriana hit controls, setting the portal and scrambling the few communication links to Avalon. With any luck, she would be in and out before anyone noticed. She jumped to the platform and was gone.
Off to kill an Empress...