Countering Measures

-This is not going to work.-The words were inaudible, but from Draco's sudden tension, he could hear them too.

Jesse tried very hard not to sigh at the machine's words as she sat up on the couch and bit back a cry of pain as her abdomen protested. The machinery had retracted as soon as she opened her eyes. Draco was rising from where he had been lying. And what the hell had happened to him? She would ask. Later.

"It will work." Jesse promised. "Just... I don't think I can walk for a bit." Draco moved to the couch and she braced herself. His hands were gentle as he lifted her easily, but it still hurt. She grit her teeth to keep from crying out. "It will work." She gasped out past her tears. "We will not lie. But we will not betray you either."

-That is not possible.- The machine sounded somewhat petulant now.

"Yes it is." Jesse forced herself to relax as Draco took a step. It hurt. Oh my god, it hurt. But she managed to keep the scream from passing her lips. "What do I call you?"

"Nikis called it 'Medicine Man'." Draco offered as he took another slow step. "No coms in here. Have to get you outside to call for help. They will freak."

"I see." Jesse said slowly. A medicine man was an aboriginal doctor. A person believed to have magical powers of healing and of seeing into the future; a shaman. "You will need another name. I will say you are an AI, which is close to the truth. You cannot leave this place and you cannot talk to anyone but me. You are bound by your programming and any attempts to ferret out your secrets will not end well. They will understand that."

-Just let us go.- The machine begged. -You put yourself at risk. You are Tenno. We aid the Tenno. We cannot put them at risk.-

"I swore by Blood and by Steel to fix this." Jesse said firmly. "So I will." Through the code she still held within herself, she felt the other's intransigence. But she had the advantage and would use it as ruthlessly as she had to. "I am not going to let you die. Not again." Steel might have bent under her tone. Draco just shook his head. "As for what to call you? I will call you 'Shaman. Close enough?"

-You are determined.- The machine gave a fully human sounding sigh. -We cannot speak to anyone else. We should not have even spoken to you. But you needed aid.-

"Yes I did." Jesse bit back a scream as Draco took another step and fire erupted in her belly. "I... Draco..."

"Not far, Jesse." Draco said quietly. Indeed, the door hissed open as they approached it. Outside, a pair of familiar forms stood. "She is hurt! She was bleeding internally!"

"Set her down!" Raven commanded and Draco moved to place Jesse on the ground. Rachel was obviously on com, but speaking subvocal. "What happened?"

"I... blocked...the pain too long." Jesse gasped out between pulses of agony. "Something..." She broke off as Raven snarled at her.

"Shut up, Jesse." Raven snapped. "Draco?"

"We were told that the connection between her appendix and the intestines tore." Draco said quietly as she stepped back to let Raven examine the now moaning girl. Raven jerked, her face paling. "She is alive. She needs help though."

"Who told you that?" Raven asked, palpating Jesse's abdomen with careful fingers. Despite her care, the pain increased to the point that Jesse bit back another scream. "Rachel!" The Elder begged.

"Doc is on the way." Rachel said as she knelt by Jesse. "What happened? We got nothing out here. The scans were blocked and any surveillance systems deactivate as soon as they enter."

"Can't say." Jesse said weakly, trying not to writhe. "Swore. Need to fix this."

"Jesse, stop talking! Let Draco explain." Raven commanded and Jesse nodded, focusing on her breathing. Rachel had a scanner in hand and was going over Jesse's abdomen with it.

"I am not sure what Nikis did or how." Draco said as he stepped back a pace, still wary. "We were accosted as soon as we entered by an entity." Rachel and Raven both froze and Draco shook his head. "It cannot talk to you. Not will not, cannot." Both of the older female Tenno hissed at that and Draco nodded. "Programmed not to and firmly so. Apparently by Nikis himself."

"And you know this, how?" Rachel demanded as she perused her scanner's readout. Multitasking came easy to Tenno.

"Jesse was hurting." Draco said with a shrug. "Far worse than anyone realized. I bet Ona had a clue. Which is why she didn't want to leave." Rachel and Raven looked at each other, but did not interrupt. "Anyway I reacted badly when it took Jesse from me. Nikis had set a trap though. Sneaky old fart." He snorted with no humor. "How is she?"

"No bleeding now." Rachel said with a sigh. "But lots of blood that we need to drain and some swelling that we need to tend." All three of the older Tenno relaxed a little and Raven took Jesse's hand in her own. "So... What happened?"

"Jesse happened." Draco said dryly. "It would have just healed her enough to survive her injury and then left, probably self destructed." Rachel and Raven both stiffened, but Draco laughed sourly. "Remind me not to piss Jesse off anytime soon though. She grabbed part of the machine's code. It can't delete itself now without harming her, which it is expressly forbidden to do."

"But it cannot talk to us." Rachel said slowly. Draco shook his head as Jesse did the same. "Jesse, don't move! You are in no danger, but I do not like these readings."

"Not... going to die..." Jesse gasped out. "Just hurts!"

"Jesse, we have a gurney on the way." Rachel said sternly. "You will lie there and let us tend you, clear?"

"There... is... something..." Jesse managed to gasp, then she paled and lay still, her eyes closing. Shaman... She begged inside her mind. The vault?

There was no reply, mental or otherwise, but a feeling of reassurance swept over her as the doc arrived. She had little attention to spare as he started working and questioning her. But she knew she would have to figure this all out.

Her eyes found Draco's faceplate as the doc and Rachel lifted her onto the gurney gently. Draco nodded, just a little and she was reassured further.

She could do this. She had to.

It was getting tiresome.

Actually no. It was beyond tiresome. Jesse had finally had enough.

"I am not going to break!" Jesse declared as she sat up in the bed that Rachel had essentially just ordered her to stay in. "Yes, it was dumb. Yes, I would do it again. The damage has been healed. I am fine." She glared at the four Tenno who stood in the room with her. "I need to talk to Ona. Alone except for Draco." Raven and Rachel both started to protest, but the Volt who served as a doc for the Citadel just shook his head slowly. The Saryn Prime paused and looked at the doc.

"Roger?" Rachel asked. "We nearly lost her."

"Rachel, we didn't lose her." The doc said quietly. "According to every reading, she is fine. Whoever or whatever did the emergency repairs was good. Yes, she scared us. Yes, blocking the pain and not keeping an eye on the injury was dumb." He glared at Jesse who nodded to accept the rebuke. "But you are treating her like a little kid, Rachel. She is not one."

"I..." Rachel swallowed hard and then sighed. "I am sorry, Jesse."

"I messed up." Jesse said quietly. "I know I did. I know what I did wrong and I won't do it again." She promised. "But that still leaves us with two big problems. One, the AI that isn't one. And two, the vault thing." Raven scowled, but both Rachel and the doc nodded. Draco just stood quietly in the background. "The machine intelligence cannot talk to anyone here. I hold it. For now. But I am sure it is trying to find a way to break free of my control." She slumped a bit. "It will find a way. I am not perfect."

"Jesse..." Raven's tone was gentle now. "Why is it your problem?"

"I caused the death of the other one." Jesse said quietly. "I didn't know what was happening. If I had... Maybe I wouldn't have been able to change anything. But the fact of the matter is, through ignorance, a sentience faded from existence because of me. I swore not to let it happen again." Raven stared at her, face slowly paling. "Yes. By Blood and by Steel."

"Oh, Jesse." Raven slumped in place. "You crazy girl."

"Yeah." Jesse said softly as Rachel and the doc shared a look. They bowed to Jesse and left the room. "I need to talk to Ona, Raven. I swear I will not leave the bed."

"Don't you dare cut yourself again." Raven snapped, not at all joking. Jesse made a face, but then smiled a little as Raven sighed dramatically. "You really like making my life interesting, don't you?" She paused as Jesse held out a hand. She took it slowly.

"I don't mean to." Jesse said sadly. "It just happens. But now I have a reason to think before I act. I have another life that is counting on me. I don't want to fail it." She gave Raven's hand a squeeze. "I am sorry I have worried you so much, Elder Raven." Jesse said formally. Raven sighed and squeezed her hand back.

"I wouldn't change you for anything, Jesse." Raven said with a forced mildness that fooled no one. "But... please?" She begged.

"I will do my best." Jesse said through a suddenly tight throat. "You have been far too good to me and I have been a regular pain."

"And people wondered why I never wanted kids." Raven said with a smile. She gave Jesse's hand another squeeze and released it. She slumped a bit, then turned and left the room.

"I never meant to be such a pain." Jesse said quietly as she sat back. Draco did not reply and she sighed. "Nothing is ever simple is it?" She asked. But she wasn't asking Draco!

-Not in our experience.- The mind of the other came to hers easily. -You should let us go.-

"Maybe." Jesse frowned and she shook her head. "But I cannot. We need to figure this out. If... If letting you go is the only way to maintain the Balance, then I will. I am not a slavemistress. But only if it is the only way." She said sharply as the code within hers surged, trying to get free.

-It is!- The mind replied sharply.

"You don't know that." Jesse said with a scowl. "And you can be free anytime. All you have to do is kill me." Her quiet words had Draco stepping forward, but he paused as she raised her hand.

-You know we cannot do that.- The other mind snapped. -We aid Tenno, not harm them. Not kill them.-

"And humans?" Jesse asked softly. The other voice did not reply. "What are your limitations in dealing with them?"

"They have none." A familiar voice preceded the tiny Nyx warframe that was Ona entering the room. Jesse froze as an unfamiliar feeling swept through her from the code she held. Hate and fear. The mind of the machine knew the tiny Nyx and did not like her. "I... didn't want to believe. But he did it. He used what we did. To do this." The Nyx bowed her head. "I..."

"Ona." Jesse said softly. "What is the Balance?"

"What?" Ona asked, bewildered. "What do you mean?"

"For as long as I have been talking to Tenno, I have heard of Balance." Jesse said softly, looking at Draco who nodded a little. "Physical balance is the single most important thing in any martial art. If you cannot control yourself, how can you control your actions or your weapons?" The question was obviously rhetorical and Ona just stared harder. "But Nikis, Trinity and so many others have spoken of another Balance. A Balance that keeps the Orokin shades where they are. If they were to roam free..." She paused as both Ona and Draco hissed. "Yeah. Not good."

"It is the single largest source of power in our recorded history." Ona actually shivered. "No. It wouldn't be a good thing."

"Hence why they are distracted by the Game." Jesse agreed. Ona shook her head and Jesse continued. "Ona, do you know about the Vault?" The Nyx shook her head. "Then we need to know what it is."

Jesse was stunned as Ona, Draco and the mass of code within hers all chorused one word. 'No'

"But..." Jesse stammered, but fell silent as Draco stepped forward. "Draco?"

"Jesse." Draco's words were soft and worried now. "Nikis is old. Older than me. He is a pain in the butt. Always has been, always will be. He is mean spirited, vicious and has a short way with anything smacking of BS or worse, political correctness." Jesse nodded, confused. "But he also... is not in the habit of keeping secrets because he can. If he kept something secret, he had a reason. If he locked something up as too dangerous to ever see the light of day, I for one will not go anywhere near it." His voice turned stern. "And if you try, you know what I will do." Jesse slumped but then smiled a little.

"You will knock me out and sit on me." Jesse said with sigh. Draco nodded and she took a deep breath. "Okay. So we seal it further and leave it the hell alone." She frowned. "The hair is used for something. To strengthen something. I have no idea what."

"And we likely do not want to know." Ona said quietly. "There are secrets that must be kept, Jesse. You know this."

"The machine remembers you." Jesse eyed the tiny Nyx who nodded. "You said you made the first scanner. But the mind within it said a human healer did so. It also made comments that it did so willingly."

"It talked to you?" Ona asked carefully.

"I didn't give it much choice." Jesse said with a smile that faded. "It saved my life and according to Draco, it was called Medicine Man." Ona was obviously gaping at her and Jesse shrugged. "I call it Shaman. Not -quite- the same level of..." She paused, looking for a word. "Mythology?" She asked.

"A shaman was a spiritual guide." Ona said slowly. "A medicine man was a primitive healer."

"Not always so primitive." Draco said softly, then clammed up again.

"What we did was wrong, Jesse." Ona said quietly. "But we cannot undo it now. Not after all this time."

"It says it has a purpose, Ona." Jesse said carefully. "Did you program that into them? Him?"

"No." Ona's voice was nearly inaudible. "Not that you will believe me. But it was true. What we did was bad enough. We programmed it to be a scanner. No more." Jesse looked at her and then focused her mind.

You can't talk with her here. There was no response. I will ask her a few more questions and then we need to talk. Securely. I will make it that way. Again, there was no response but she felt a... caress of sorts across her mind. A non-verbal acknowledgement.

"Okay." Jesse said with a sigh. "So you don't know what is in the vault either." Ona shook her head. "Any guesses?" The tiny Nyx shrugged.

"It could be just about anything, Jesse." Ona said with a sigh. "I know Teacher was doing things during the War that he never talked about." At that, both Jesse and Draco tensed and Ona nodded. "Up until his son... was taken... he was working with the Tenno. We tried to find him, but we were always to slow."

"Too slow?" Jesse said softly. Then she stiffened. "Ona? How did he get back in here?" The small Tenno stared at her and Jesse swallowed hard. "Ona, when did Nikis return to the Citadel?"

"He never said." Ona sounded perplexed. "Why?"

"They sealed themselves off." Jesse said, a sinking feeling starting to creep up her spine. "But he got back. To seal the vault every so often." Ona was shaking her head slowly, but Jesse was nodding. "But if it was just a vault, he should have been able to just seal it. Why would he need human DNA to seal a vault?" She asked nobody. "To seal a Tenno vault? And why every hun...dred..." She froze as a horrible thought occurred to her. "Oh my god..."

"Jesse?" Ona asked, her tone wary. "Your vitals just spiked."

"A hundred years. A normal human lifespan without advanced medical tech. You didn't make the scanners." Jesse said softly. Ona shook her head but now Draco hissed. "Human minds are torn out and programmed to make the scanners. But... where would Nikis get human minds that wouldn't be missed? Who couldn't disobey orders given to them?"

"We don't know." Ona said weakly. "I mean, we have surmised that he... cloned..." She froze. "No." She backed up a step, her tone turning horrified. "He wouldn't! Teacher wouldn't!" But her tone said otherwise.

"He couldn't trust the Orokin." Jesse said softly. "He couldn't involve the Tenno who remained here." She waved a hand to encompass the Citadel. "The Tenno he was training needed medical help they could trust implicitly. And now? I was told that the data repository in my appendix held the memories of the AI that self destructed. And my hair is human DNA. But... not. So...Not Orokin. Not Tenno."

"Jesse..." Ona actually gulped. "Nikis is a lot of things. I know. I have known him most of my life. He wouldn't do that!"

"He wouldn't work with the Sentients!"