A/N: Chapter 10 time which means the end is near! Hope you have been enjoying it so far! As always, thanks for reading! Just getting views means a lot to me. Questions, comments, suggestions, and corrections are still encouraged! Anyways, enjoy!
The location of Alad V's lab was not far from the hive they just destroyed and soon the squad was inside the Corpus ship. From where they stood, they could easily see that the ship was being guarded by infested rather than Corpus. Remembering how the infested at the hive were not very tough, they all assumed that these would be the stronger batch. Before they started the mission, the Lotus sent them a quick transmission.
"This is it, this ship is Alad V's laboratory," she explained. "The crucible of the Mutalist infested. We're going to make sure no new Infested are created here. Destroy this ship's reactor."
As the transmission ended, they started their trek towards the reactor now marked on their HUD maps. As they engaged the first infested on the ship it was clear that these infested were, in fact, stronger than the infested at the hive. Even though their weapons took them out relatively quickly, it was clear that the infested were able to take more hits and also hit harder. After a short while they were moving along through the ship but a transmission from Alad V caused them to pause.
He looked even worse than the last time he had sent one. His face was more pale, the infested masses larger than before, yet still he was alive to the surprise of everybody in the squad. Shortly after his face appeared, he began to talk.
"Tenno," he started, "do you really want to ruin the best chance this system has for peace?"
"What you want isn't peace," Spud said towards the figure who couldn't hear him as the transmission ended. "You just want to be the leader of something, even if you can only get it using a plague."
"I don't even understand how making everybody infested would result in peace," Hayden added. "It isn't like the infested have any order among them."
"Well," Lonewolf said, "I know that I'd rather have a system which fights over a system of mindless monsters."
The other three nodded their agreement and the group continued towards the reactor.
After a few more rooms of intense fighting, multiple blade storms, and plenty of healing, the squad finally got a short moment to slow down before another horde ran towards them. As if by design, Alad V appeared on their HUDs once again.
"Why don't you want this?" he asked. "My Mutalist Empire means unity. Is there nothing more... balanced than that?"
They all glanced at each other as the transmission ended by nobody said anything. They knew he was just trying to trick them. A mutalist empire wouldn't mean unity, it would mean chaos.
"Lotus," Falken said suddenly, "how much farther to the reactor?"
"Only a couple of rooms," the Lotus responded instantly. "You are close but be careful. I can't imagine that Alad V wouldn't leave the reactor protected."
The group quickly started moving towards the reactor again but noticed something strange. The infested almost seemed to be thinning. As they got closer to the reactor, the number in each room got smaller. As they reached the room next to the reactor, they noticed the room was empty.
"This is weird," Hayden said in confusion while quickly reloading her weapon. "What kind of person wouldn't defend his lab? It makes no sense."
"Could it be a trap?" Falken asked. "I mean, maybe the reactor room itself has infested in it."
"That could be possible…" Spud mused. "It probably would be good to be careful as we entered."
"I agree," Lonewolf stated simply. "Let's get to it though. The faster we destroy this, the faster we can get out of here."
"And the faster we can take down Alad V again?" Hayden asked slyly.
"Yeah," Lonewolf said, "that too."
As they opened the door to the reactor room, they all raised their weapons expecting to have to fight off a large group of infested, but the room was empty. They quickly put their weapons down and started to explore the room. Nothing about the place seemed different from any other Corpus ship. A big metal cylinder covered the actual reactor but was swiftly hacked open by Spud. The reactor was destroyed after a short moment and Alad V appeared on their HUDs again.
"Tenno, I'm not angry," he said with a growl, "I'm... disappointed. I can always build a new lab ship, but you can't keep running from your destiny forever. Let me show you... what is possible."
"What does that mean?" Spud asked his squadmates slightly worried.
"I don't know," Hayden responded, "but let's just get to extraction."
As the ran out the door, they all stopped in their tracks as a figure was in the way. It appeared to be a type of warframe, but not one the group had seen before. It appeared to be female and was mostly blue with bits of yellow, white, and black. On its head was what looked like a bandana that covered its eyes which appeared to be held with clip of some sort. Around her neck was a collar which appeared to be half metal and half infested. On its forearms sat what appeared to be pistol barrels which the group eyed carefully.
"The warframe…" Falken breathed caused the rest of them to tense up.
As if reacting to the comment, the warframe suddenly flipped up the barrels on her arms and aimed at the group, not waiting before firing multiple shots towards them. Quick on their heels, every member of the group rolled to the side and split up, just barely dodging the shots coming their way. The warframe then switched her aim towards Spud who activated his speed ability and ran, not sure whether to fight back or not.
"That's not a Tenno," the Lotus said quickly into their comms. "That's a hollow Warframe being puppeted by Infested flesh. Put it out of its misery."
Now with confirmation that fighting back was okay, they all pulled out their weapons and started to attack the warframe from all sides. It quickly adjusted to the change in the battle started dodging shots while also firing the pistols at the four warframes attacking it. As more shots were fired, the warframe seemed to be shooting the shots faster causing the four to take cover.
"This isn't working," Hayden said into the comms, "it can beat us with just bullets if we rely on guns."
"Then let's try melee distance," Lonewolf suggested to the agreement of the others.
Almost instantly, Falken rolled out from his cover and threw his glaive towards the warframe. The warframe reacted quickly, putting away the pistol barrels and pulling out a plasma sword to deflect the glaive in a shower of sparks. Spud then slid in with his Kronen. The warframe sidestepped the attack and took a swing with its weapon, just barely missing as the Volt had rolled to let Hayden get up close.
The trinity ran up quickly with her Bo staff and started taking swings. They were caught in a short duel before the warframe parried, knocking trinity backwards. Before the warframe could capitalize on the parry, Lonewolf teleported and delivered a sharp kick straight to the warframe's chest causing it to fall backwards. The warframe recovered quickly but instantly Falken was on it taking swing with his glaive that had returned to him after being deflected. The two dueled back and forth for several seconds until Falken did a swift backwards handspring placing a foot directly under its chin and then threw his glaive towards its head.
The warframe clumsily dodged the glaive but a sudden impact knocked its legs out from underneath its body. Hayden had taken the opportunity to slide into the fight with her Bo staff and take a swipe at its knees which connected cleanly. As the warframe was on the ground, both Spud and Lonewolf went in for a strike.
Spud ran forward with his Kronen and proceeded to cut a large gash into the warframe's back as he quickly jumped over the warframe to let Lonewolf have a clear attack. Lonewolf then pulled out his Dakra Prime and, during a quick flip jump over the warframe, threw the tip of the sword into the warframe's torso, pinning it to the ground.
The warframe was clearly still alive but no longer an issue for the group as they all stood up and grouped up. As they stood for a bit to catch their breath, Lonewolf put his hand out to Spud who pulled out a Lex and gave it to him. He approached the warframe which was still attempting to move and aimed the pistol at its head.
"Spud," he said quietly as he moved the barrel of the Lex away from the warframe's head, "let Helios get scans of the warframe."
After Helios had taken a few scans, Spud gave a quick nod to Lonewolf indicating that the scans had been taken.
"Good," Lonewolf said as he aimed at the warframe's head once again. "It would be a nice warframe to have on our side, but I think it is time we make it so we don't have to fight it anymore," he finished as he pulled the trigger letting the shot ring throughout the room.
"Target destroyed," the Lotus said in their comms, "proceed to the extraction point."