Heroes
Jesse was warm and comfortable. She felt...good. Nothing hurt. She had expected...
Her thoughts slithered to a halt as memory came crashing in. She had moved the shade of the Nekros out of the way of Draco's blades, interposing herself. She had assumed he would stop or deflect his strikes. He hadn't. She remembered the cold. It hadn't hurt. But then... She was here. Wherever here was. She opened her eyes and froze.
She was lying on a mat of some kind, her head on a pillow. She was inside a small building that seemed to have six walls. The walls looked flimsy, as if they were made of paper. The frames of the walls seemed to be made of wood. She did not recognize the architecture. Odd things hung from the ceiling over her. They had light inside them that flickered. Some looked like some kind of fish. Others like things she couldn't quite identify. She stared down at herself and she was wearing some kind of robe, but it too wasn't anything she could identify. It was white and looked archaic, but it was comfortable.
She jerked as one wall slid aside and a dark haired young woman appeared. The woman's face was solemn, but her eyes were kind as she looked at Jesse. She wore an ankle length red robe that was both practical and beautiful. She bowed.
Good morning, Cyberlancer Jesse. Jesse started, she knew the voice. That was the voice of one of the swords Draco carried! The woman smiled at her. Yes. I am Duty.
"I... um..." Jesse swallowed. "I meant no offense."
None was taken, Cyberlancer Jesse. The woman said with a smile. What you did was very brave. Our wielder is very good at what he does, but to defend you, he had to unleash parts of himself that he cannot easily control. She shook her head. Which is why he reclaimed us.
"I do not understand." Jesse said weakly. The other stepped into the building and knelt beside her. "No... I..."
Be at ease, Cyberlancer Jesse. Duty said with a small, sad smile. We were made for one purpose and one purpose only. To aid our wielder in controlling himself.
"What?" Jesse felt even more confusion rise. "That doesn't make sense."
Perhaps not. Duty replied evenly. But we can explain. Can you rise? Jesse looked at her and then sat up slowly. Her head swam for a moment and then she nodded. There is another who wishes to speak with you.
"What is happening?" Jesse asked, aware that she was not where she had been. This... wasn't her mind. It was too alien, even if everything felt familiar and right, it wasn't. "I do not know this place."
No. Duty stood as well, she led the way out the door and Jesse hurried to keep up. You do not. You are no longer in your own mind. Jesse came to a sudden stop but Duty smiled as she turned back. You are in mine.
"I... what?" Jesse demanded. She was inside the mind of a sentient weapon?
Come. Duty inclined her head to the side and started off again. Jesse gawked for a moment and the followed. The area almost seemed like a Zen garden, if far larger than any Zen garden Jesse had ever seen. She saw rock and sand, bridge and water. Small things moved in the water, but she ignored that.
This made no sense. In a virtual world, she couldn't be killed by a simple sword cut, even swords as powerful as Honor and Duty. That was why she had pulled the shade of Nikis away from Draco. She had hoped to calm Draco down a bit, get him to...
Her thoughts took an abrupt left turn again as Duty led her into another small building and the other occupants nodded to her. Another ageless woman who looked almost exactly like Duty knelt beside a warframe. And not just any warframe.
"Hello Jesse." The Tenno's faceplate was retracted, her face solemn. "Has anyone told you recently that you are crazy?" The First Nyx asked in a tone that was just a hair too sharp to be respectful.
"Yeah." Jesse said with a sigh. "That was not well thought out."
"No." Nyx sighed and her face relaxed into a sad smile that mirrored Duty's. "No, it wasn't. You are not dead. Not for lack of trying. Come. Sit with us." She indicated a pace beside her. Jesse nodded to Duty and knelt. "You have met Duty. This is Honor." The other woman nodded to Jesse who returned it. Duty turned and pulled a tray from somewhere. On it, a tea set lay ready. Duty set it down and started working, brewing tea.
"Draco is going to go nuts." Jesse said into the silence. Nyx nodded. "I didn't know."
"How could you have?" Nyx asked quietly. "My son keeps secrets like no one else I have met. Besides Nikis that is." She qualified sourly. "I swear... that boy... Both of them." Duty handed her a steaming cup and she accepted it with a smile.
"Nikis made Medicine Man to provide medical care for the Tenno outside the Citadel." Jesse accepted a cup of her own and took a sip. It was very good, no surprise. Nyx nodded and Jesse continued. "He linked to it. He didn't mean to, but it took part of his inner energy to contain the evil."
"Nikis was always a planner." Nyx said with a sigh as Duty sat beside Honor. "Ever since the very first moment I met him, he was planning things. From the time he was seven years old." The ancient Tenno shade slumped a bit. "His burdens would crush anyone less strong. But even he has limits."
"And he has passed them." Jesse's quiet words were not a question. "He captured the Sentient thrall who served them as a Healer and used Ona and her friends to rebuild him. To program him." Nyx nodded again. "I wasn't there. I shouldn't judge."
"Jesse..." Nyx said quietly. "He agrees that what he did was wrong. He has been looking for a way out of it. But the Tenno needed medical support. They got it. Your plan might work. It's closer than anything else we have come up with." Jesse stared at her and then a slow smile crossed the Cyberlancer's lips. Nyx returned it. "Yes, we have been trying to help him. We are limited though."
"The Balance." Jesse said quietly. Nyx, Honor and Duty all nodded. For a moment, all four women sipped their tea. Lost in thought.
"The Balance." Nyx agreed. "The original idea for the database was not a bad one. It was intended to give grieving people a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones. It was never intended to be permanent. But then... Many of the shades didn't move on. They had no call to, or had business they thought they needed to fulfill. Some had duties that kept them from happiness. Others just wanted to meddle. No matter the reason, we couldn't allow to go back. And it grew."
"I see." Jesse sipped her tea again. "So now?"
"Now Nikis and the other Guardians of the Dead are busy as all get out." Nyx said sadly. "The rest of us who remain have sworn to aid them. To keep the Orokin shades from excess. We cannot destroy them, that is Nikis and the Guardians' role, not ours. We can scare into compliance and if they stray too far, we can summon Nikis or his peers. Which is why they heed us."
"I would too." Jesse said dryly. Honor and Duty both smiled at her. Nyx chuckled and nodded. "So, if we can reprogram the code, let it work for us instead of against us..." She paused. "Why a human? And why so often?"
"Medicine Man is not an AI, Jesse." Nyx said quietly. "It is an artificial consciousness. But it lives inside a mortal shell." Jesse froze, her cup halfway to her lips again. Nyx nodded. "It's body was dying."
"And I gave them a location for a new one." Jesse paled.
"No, Jesse." Nyx said gently, reaching out to pat the young Cyberlancer's leg. "We did."
"What?" Jesse demanded. "But... The Balance!" Instead of answering, Nyx looked to the side. Jesse followed her gaze and then went still as a human form appeared in the near distance. She knew this man.
"Mi'ladies." The human that Jesse had only seen unconscious nodded to all four of them.
"Come, John." Nyx waved and Duty rose to prepare another cup. "Join us."
"I..." Jesse swallowed hard and stifled every question that threatened to bubble out. She sat quietly as Duty made the man called John a cup and handed it to him. He took it and sipped it gratefully.
"You have questions." The man -he was not Tenno- said with a nod. "I have few answers. But what I have, I will share if you so wish." Jesse stilled at his tone. He wasn't confused. He wasn't scared. He was... She stared from him to Nyx.
"He volunteered, didn't he?" The young Cyberlancer asked softly.
"You always were quick, Jesse." Nyx smiled wider. "What was done to him was a horror, no question. But the criteria that Nikis developed with our help demand that any potential candidates be vetted, be tested and asked whether or not they can do it. They do not remember it consciously, but we do ask. If they say 'no', then we find another." She nodded to the man. "John?"
"It was not what I had hoped to do with my life." John agreed. "But I have no family. Few prospects. I hoped to be a medic, but there are many who also seek that. It gets us out of the mines." Jesse stared at him and John shrugged. "The work is not hard. But it is boring. I answered a job application." He chuckled a bit ruefully. "It was bit more thorough than I had assumed it would be."
"Then... you don't need my help." Jesse said weakly. Nyx and John looked at each other. Nyx frowned and then spoke.
"Your idea may actually work, Jesse." Nyx took a sip of her tea and Jesse did the same. "John volunteered to be the next host for Medicine Man. He wouldn't be gone. He would be the three hundred and seventh host of the consciousness. All of the people who were selected were trained as medical professionals. If they were not before selection, then we guided them into extra studies. Adding to the knowledge pool. But your idea was brilliant!" Nyx shook her head. "We have tried altering the code before, but none of us dare to get too close." Stood to reason, the shades were computer code. Hard to defend against something designed to subvert code if you were made of it.
"And Nikis could not trust any programmers." Jesse sipped her tea again. "There is danger." She said to Nyx and John who both nodded.
"More than you know." Nyx said sadly. "You are good for Draco. Very good for him. He is...not stable and that is entirely my fault." Jesse froze, her cup halfway to her lips and Nyx nodded. "I failed him."
No, you did not. This was from Honor. The tone was almost exactly like Duty. Stood to reason. They were alike in so many ways.
"Is this my business?" Jesse asked softly.
"He is dedicated to you." Nyx nodded to Jesse. "He doesn't love you, not really. He doesn't know quite what that means when not applied to family." Jesse stared at her and Nyx sighed. "How old did Draco look when he first appeared in your mind?"
"He is Tenno." Jesse said flatly. "Appearance doesn't matter. He can appear any age. The Volt Warframe was a personification of his rage and-" She broke off as Nyx laid a hand on her knee again. "What?"
"Draco wears a Volt Prime warframe." Nyx 's voice was serious now. "And he took it up when he was six." Jesse went still but Nyx wasn't done. "The day I died." Jesse froze, her cup somehow finding the ground beside her as her eyes started to burn. "No one expected him to do it. He was too young. But he was determined." Nyx bowed her head and she was crying now. "He was so angry. So ready to fight and kill. William tried to help, but no one could have stopped Draco from getting what he wanted. A chance to avenge me. He got it."
"That is impossible!" Jesse declared. "A six year old? He wouldn't have been able to get into the warframe!"
"Never underestimate the power of rage, Jesse." Nyx said sadly, wiping her eyes. "He shocked everyone. But then, he had the warframe and no one could -or would- pry him out of it. Our kin helped him as they could, but he was so angry. All the time. I asked for a special dispensation and was granted it. He needed help so I made a way for him to get help." Jesse stared at Nyx and then at the mirror image woman who sat quietly beside her. "Yes, Jesse. Honor and Duty. Legend has garbled the truth of the blades. But they will never forget."
We live to serve. Honor spoke.
We serve to live. Duty replied.
"Controls." Jesse swallowed even harder. "When they said that they enslaved him..."
"In a way, that is the truth." Nyx said sadly. "He needs the help. He simply cannot control what he is without help. If he is pushed too far, too fast, he loses it." She bowed her head. "You saw it."
"What can I do?" Jesse begged. "He cut me."
"Jesse." Nyx said gently. "The swords cannot kill you. You are not his enemy. If anything, you are an innocent. Use that. Stop him. Save my son. Please!"
Jesse bowed her head.
"I will."
Reality
The cuts did not hurt. Jesse was in motion even as Riana screamed, the Cyberlancer's nunchaku coming up, batting the swords' edges away from her. She couldn't match Draco strength to strength or skill to skill. She didn't bother to try. She rolled away from the recoiling Volt.
"No." The voice from the Volt was Draco, but it wasn't. It was tiny, that voice. Horrified.
"Draco." Jesse said softly as she swept to her feet. "Look at me." The Volt did not move and Jesse snarled at him "Draco! Look at me! At me!"
"Jesse." Riana's voice was stunned, awed even.
"Stay where you are, Riana." Jesse did not take her eyes from the Volt ahead of her. "Nikis' shade?"
"Alive. Hurt." Riana's voice was shocked. "Jesse, how the hell...?"
"What happens here, remains here." Jesse retorted. Then she did something she had never thought to do. "Draco." She commanded. "Look at me!"
"I...hurt... you..." The voice wasn't the angry man. It wasn't the stern and stoic bodyguard. This voice was young. Scared.
"No." Jesse replied. "I hurt myself. I assumed you could stop your strike. Stupid of me." She said with a sigh. "I am not a Warrior. I am never going to be one." She did not move. "Riana. Keep Olim away. And you see nothing." She sheathed her nunchaku and stepped forward, her hands at her sides.
"Jesse!" Riana protested.
"Do nothing." Jesse wasn't sure where this commanding aura was coming from. She had a pretty good guess though. "Draco. Please? Look at me." She raised a hand slightly and code swirled from it to surround Draco.
"No." The voice was Draco's but not. Behind her, Jesse heard Riana hiss as the Volt warframe ahead of her vanished in haze of energy and a small boy was standing, staring at her. "Don't!"
"You don't need to be afraid." Jesse said sadly. "My own dumb fault I was hurt. Not yours. I never should have asked for your help." She sighed. "You should have said something. Anything. I would have kept your secrets." She tapped her side where warm wetness was flowing. It still didn't hurt. "I will keep your secrets. By Blood and by Steel, by the First and by the Code, you are Draco. No more. No less. My rock and protector. My shield against the storm. My hero." She took a step forward and knelt. The boy stared frozen as she slowly reached out and embraced him. "I am so stupid. Forgive me, Draco. Please!" She hugged him tight, pulling him close and holding him.
"Jesse." The voice was less small. More Draco. "Oh Jesse." Small arms surrounded her. "You spoke to my mom."
"She loves you." Jesse acknowledged. "I didn't understand. Now I do. Your secrets are safe with me." She glanced at Riana and steel rang in her voice. "And you will not speak of this. To anyone."
"I can keep no secrets from Olim." Riana was pale. "Even if I wanted to, I can't. Jesse, please, get away from him."
"He is not a danger!" Jesse snapped. "He is in danger. As he has been all of his life. Not from any outside force. From himself." She held Draco as the boy started to shudder. "I thought I knew what anger was. I had no idea."
"Jesse?" Olim's voice preceded the Frost Prime Cyberlancer appearing. "What the-?" In a single, sinuous movement, Jesse stood between the still crying boy and the other two minds. Her nunchaku were in hand and dark blue code swirled around her. "Jesse? What is going on?"
"I can't say." Jesse said in an implacable voice. "I gave my word." She glared at Riana who nodded slowly.
"So did I." Olim retorted, not moving. He knelt beside the fallen Nekros and nodded. "The scripts are running. Now all we can do is see how they work and then debug them."
"Fun, fun." Jesse said, still not moving. A tap on her leg had her freezing in place.
"Your concern touches me in a way I cannot truly comprehend." The not-quite-Draco voice from behind her said quietly. "But if we cannot trust your master to keep his word, who can we trust?"
"Draco?" Olim stammered, shocked.
"Sort of." A rush of power came from behind Jesse and then a familiar Volt Prime stepped to her side. "Things got... complicated. But as always, when darkness rises, heroes rise to meet it." He bowed formally to Jesse. "You are still crazy, Jesse."
"Pot meet kettle."