Re-orienting
"And... yet another."
Jesse fixed another bug in the code with a deep and heartfelt sigh. Luckily, both she and Olim had spent extra time checking the scripts that they had created to do as they wished. To alter the Medicine Man's code. Just a little. The actual programming that comprised the being was far, far beyond Jesse's capabilities to understand, but then again, she was better with computers. Not living minds. The good news was that whoever had done the initial changes had been good.
The bad news? If she messed this up, the Medicine Man would be erased from existence. He wouldn't die. He wasn't alive. But still... She focused on the code again.
"How is it coming?" Draco asked from where he stood.
It was odd. She had thought to so all of this in a virtual environment. But none of the others wanted to stay. Olim, Riana, Draco. None of them had wanted to stay in the virtual world. She had no idea why. So, she was back in the real world, sitting on the portal platform with Ona, Suno, Maric and the others sitting as far away from them as they enclosure allowed. The tiny warframes were chatting very quietly with the two medical techs. Olim sat just on the other side of the enclosure with Draco just behind him.
"Nothing is ever as perfect as we might want it to be, Draco." Olim's tone held just a touch of wariness. Not that Jesse blamed him. What she had seen in the virtual world had shaken her. Draco was in many ways younger than she was. Just the thought of a six year old going through what he had gave her goosebumps. But Olim was minding his words just as Jesse was. What happened in Jesse's mind, stayed there. Whether it was because he has sworn his word or because he didn't want Draco angry with him, it didn't matter. "Any program will have unintended and unforeseen interactions with anything it touches. That is the nature of computer code. No matter how good we make it, how long we work on it, it will have bugs. Jesse is good." Olim had a smile in his voice now as Jesse blushed a little. "But no one is perfect when it comes to code. Even Riana isn't." He paused and spoke a bit more sharply. "And you know it so stop pouting!" Jesse bit back a grin as he spoke to his partner.
"Riana is good too." Jesse was diffident as she worked. "Her code and yours are things of beauty."
"You will get there, Jesse." Olim sounded kind now. "It just takes practice. You have the- What the?"
Olim and Jesse both went still as the door to the portal room opened and six armed Tenno moved in. Karl led the procession, his Hek shotgun in hand. Jesse stared at him, then at Will, Alicia, Ric, Aeron, Serene and Mori. All had weapons ready. All of them were aimed at Draco! The shrouded Volt Prime did not move. Everything else stopped as the other occupants of the quarantine enclosure all realized what was happening as well.
"Karl?" Olim asked carefully, not moving despite his code flying quicker and quicker. Jesse did not dare to move.
"Iriana was monitoring." Karl replied evenly. Jesse hissed, her code falling to nothing and the Rhino shook his head. "Jesse..."
"She said she wouldn't. She lied." Jesse said slowly. The hurt in her tone had everyone looking at her. "The Healer... lied."
"She has her job." Karl's tone was sad and sick. "She was worried about what might happen with him. Not even Nikis could have scared so many people so quickly."
Jesse... A voice in her mind almost made her flinch. Almost. Don't react! He is doing as he must. He is doing the right thing.
It's not! Jesse retorted angrily, but none of that showed on her face. Draco is not like that! He is in control!
Is he? I can't know that. The voice -Jasmina?- was sour now. You may know that. We cannot. Karl is doing what he must. The Elders debated and then they ordered Karl to be gentle if he can. Frankly? Draco is not stable. You know this. They won't harm Draco. They want to- Jesse! Don't!
Everything stopped as Jesse rose to her feet.
"Just be sure..." Jesse's voice was conversational now but Olim jerked a bit as her code flared. Into a defensive shell. "You want to take Draco."
"Jesse." Karl said quietly. "Jasmina is right. He went berserk and all of his readings say he will do so again."
"Yes, he did. To protect me and Olim from a shade of Nikis' making while we worked. But, you know? We promised him to guard his secrets." Jesse said softly. "I promised him." She turned her head to where the Volt Prime was standing and smiled a bit sadly. "I promised his mom." At that, everything seemed to stop. The two warframes that had been edging slowly towards the silent Draco stiffened. "I thought she asked me to protect him from himself and maybe it was. But nothing in my promise said anything about letting you take him, Karl Sensei." Her voice was respectful. But, there was edge to it now. An edge of hurt. Of betrayal. She looked at Olim and the master Cyberlancer would not meet her gaze. Jesse shook her head slowly. "Your clan is loyal."
"We are sharply divided by this, Jesse." Karl replied carefully. "Draco is an excellent guard, maybe the best I have ever seen. But he is a danger to everyone around him."
"That is not true!" Jesse snapped. She paused as Draco spoke for the first time since they had returned to their bodies.
"Yes it is, Jesse." Draco's words were calm and focused. "And you know it." His shroud faded and the silver Volt Prime nodded to Karl who returned it.
"So, what?" The youngest Cyberlancer demanded. "Lock you up? Forever? Like Dust?" The vehemence in her words shook the room. The voice in her mind gasped, but did not speak again.
"Jesse." Draco's tone was gentle now. "You do me honor, sister. Your willingness to defend someone like me... touches me in a way that I cannot truly comprehend. I feel sad, sister." All eyes were on him now and he nodded. "I cannot understand emotions. I can feel them. I can act on them. But I cannot understand them. That is beyond me." He bowed his head. "I will not fight Tenno."
"Brother." Karl's voice was gentle now. "We can help."
"No, you can't." Draco replied softly. "Decades, Karl Sensei. Decades worth of the best psychologists in Orokin. Tenno and human alike. My father pushed me into a path that would keep me occupied, keep me focused. My mother made these swords for the same reason." He nodded to his waist, his hands folded in front of him. "You cannot help me. No one can."
"Draco!" Jesse protested, but he continued as if she hadn't spoken.
"What I did, so young, broke me." Draco said with a shrug. "I will never be as I should have been. I avenged my mother. I chose my path and I accept the consequences." He slowly knelt and Jesse inhaled as he slowly drew the shorter of the two blades. Duty. All of the other Tenno aimed, but he did move, simply examined the blade. "Will you deny me my path?" He asked Karl who stared at him.
"No!" Jesse screamed and lunged forward. The quarantine enclosure flexed under her assault, but then several sets of small hands were holding her. "Let go!" She grabbed for her nunchaku and everyone retreated as she spun in place, her sticks whirring.
"Jesse." Draco's voice was flat as he reversed the sword. "Be calm. This is my choice."
"And it is wrong!" Jesse screamed as she lashed out with her nunchaku. The enclosure tore and she stepped through. "You are not beyond redemption! Beyond saving!" Something inside her broke as two of the Tenno -Will and Alicia- aimed weapons at her.
"Will! Alicia!" Karl commanded and both lowered their weapons. The Rhino stepped forward, his shotgun going to his back. "Jesse..." Karl said sadly. "We don't want to do this. Iriana..."
"If I see her, I will hit her." Jesse's growled words actually interrupted the Rhino. "She had no right. He is my responsibility! Not hers! Not yours!"
"Jesse." Karl said gently. "She is protecting her patients. Saving lives. It is what she does. No!" One of the techs had sidled up to Jesse a with a hypo in hand. Jesse lashed out once without even looking and the human fell. He groaned, but lay still. "Jesse!" Karl protested.
"Honor is all well and good when dealing with people who understand it." Jesse said softly. "I. Gave. Nyx. My. Word." Each word was an epithet. Both Will and Karl stiffened at that.
"And if you die trying to keep it?" Draco's words were soft. "What then? Maybe they can bring you back. But it changes you, sister. It always does." Jesse stared at him and then... she smiled. But instead of being relieved, Draco went even more still. "Jesse. No!"
"I am not as honor bound as some." Jesse admitted as her nunchaku spun in her hands. "But if there is one thing I do understand, it is rules." Before anyone could move, her nunchaku hung in her hands at an odd angle as the energy chain extended under her mental command and wrapped around her own neck. "Maybe you can bring me back from this..." Jesse declared as everyone froze in horror. "But maybe not. And while taking hostages is cowardly, there is a hostage I can take legally." Herself. All of the newly come Tenno stepped back.
"Jesse." Draco didn't move from where he knelt. "This is not wise."
"No, it isn't." Jesse admitted. "You can outlast me in a warframe. I am sure that at least one of Karl's minions..." She made the word an epithet. "...has a stun weapon that will work on me and not let me twist. All they have to do is shoot me. An unarmed, unarmored sister who is not hostile to them." Her grin was vicious as the members of Karl's clan looked at one another. "Or even better. Have Ric freeze me in a Bastille. Then you can do anything you want. All you have to do is use power on someone who cannot fight back!" The bite in her tone had all of the Tenno flinching.
The only Tenno that hadn't move at all, Jesse realized, was Olim. Even the tiny warframes in the enclosure had flinched back, but he hadn't. He was coding, she realized. Coding so fast and furiously that she couldn't follow it without focusing on it. A bad idea at the moment. A single moment of distraction and bad things would happen.
"That is underhanded, Jesse." Karl complained. "Draco needs help."
"And you cannot help him!" Jesse retorted. "None of the psyche techs of his time could. But of course, the ones now are better." The irony in her words had fangs.
"I don't know." Karl admitted. "After what happened to Dust and Serene, there were some changes. My clan has been on the forefront in trying to get things to work better. I am no psychetech myself but the docs -Amelia and Brianna- seem pleased with the changes. It is not perfect, but it is better than it was. Jesse. Please." He begged her. "Stand down."
"You cannot help him." Jesse stated. "You will drive him crazy with you trying."
"Jesse." Draco's words held just a hint of dark humor. "I am already crazy."
"But you cope." Jesse replied. "You cope so well." She bowed her head careful of the chain of energy that surrounded her neck. "Locking you up is not a good choice."
"And if it is the only choice?" Draco replied reasonably.
"There are always choices." Suno's voice came from behind Jesse and she turned a little. But the tiny Trinity did not move to her. Indeed, she moved towards Draco. Slowly, steadily. "There are always alternatives, brother."
"Move!" Another voice shouted from the door and Jesse went still as Raven barreled her way into the room. She snarled, taking in the scene. Then she spun to Karl, her face furious. "Having Iriana dose my drink was a bad idea, Karl." The Elder said savagely. "People who try to drug me tend to make me angry."
"I..." For his part, Karl was one step from stammering. "I didn't." Raven looked at him and then grunted.
"Maybe you didn't." The Elder retorted. "But you waited until I as semi-conscious to arrive. Or Iriana did." She shook her head. "Jesse." Her eyes were flat as she looked at her ward.
"Elder Raven... I..." Jesse stammered, feeling like an errant schoolgirl. Raven often had that effect on her.
"Be calm, Jesse." Raven relaxed a bit. "We have a quarrel among kin here. Three sides as I see it."
"Two." Draco interjected smoothly. Raven glared at him and he shrugged. "I am unstable. I know it."
"Draco, if you were simply unstable, none of us would have survived the first time any of us made you angry." Raven retorted. Her eyes were flashing, daring him to interrupt her again. He declined. She looked at Jesse who still had the nunchaku's chain wrapped around her neck. Her tone turned rueful. "Ah, Jesse..."
"Elder." Jesse begged. "Draco needs help and I do not know how to do it. But locking him up won't help at all."
"No it won't." Raven agreed quietly. "Being caged is not a good thing for any, let alone Tenno." Jesse froze, her eyes moving to trace the still visible scars on Raven's face. Raven nodded to acknowledge the silent point. She understood about being in a cage and being experimented on. "Draco, Jesse. Stand down. This problem is mine to adjudicate."
"Raven." Karl's tone was flat. "You are involved and wait a minute..." He stiffened. "They said you abstained!"
"What they decided was stupid." Raven retorted. "They cannot help Draco. But I know someone who can." Jesse felt a surge of hope, but then Raven paused. "Who might be able to anyway."
"Who?" The incredulous question came from several throats.
Instead of answering, Raven moved to Jesse's side and slowly, ever so slowly, reached up to unwind the energy chain from her neck. She clucked a bit and touched Jesse's neck. Jesse hissed as pain came, but Raven shook her head and Jesse remained silent as the Elder gently lowered the girl's hands to her sides. She left the nunchaku there and moved to where Draco knelt. The Volt Prime nodded to her and Duty vanished back into its saya. Raven beckoned and moved to stand by Jesse.
"It may not work." Raven said softly to Jesse who bowed her head.
"Better to try and fail than not to try at all." Jesse replied, quoting from part of the Tenno Code. Raven and Draco both nodded.
"Raven..." Karl said slowly. "Can you help him?"
"I don't know." Raven replied. "But we have to try, Karl. We owe him that at the very least."
"Yes we do." Karl agreed. He nodded to the other warframes and then turned and left. All but Olim and Mori who looked at him. "We have to stay close. Orders, you understand. And not stupid ones." Jesse stiffened in instant rebellion, but Draco reached out to touch her arm.
"Jesse." He admonished her and she slumped a bit. Then she nodded. It made sense. They did not want a mentally unstable Tenno walking around loose. Then he reached up and touched her neck. She hissed and pain traced around her neck. "You need a medic."
"Suno." Jesse's tone was cool. "No one else."
"Jesse." The tiny Trinity stepped to her and sighed as Jesse knelt, still keeping her eyes on Karl. "Silly girl. Energy on bare flesh is bad!" She started working. "You are not going to do what I think you are going to do, are you Elder?" She asked Raven.
"Think about it." Raven replied. "What is the single largest font of medical information available on Tenno? What was built to aid Tenno in any medical way imaginable?"
"Elder." Draco actually swallowed. "You want me to submit myself... to Nikis' creation?" To put himself in the power of a half Sentient thing?
"Not alone." Raven replied. "And not just that. We have a number of problems here. Ona, Suno and their people have transgressed. You are a mess. And Jesse is being silly."
"Hey!" Jesse protested, but subsided when Suno patted her arm. The Trinity was still working. "Raven, we are not done debugging."
"Then we better get to it." Olim said as he stood. Jesse glanced at him and he gave her a tiny nod. He wasn't going to say anything. "Riana and I will focus on that. You focus on this." Jesse nodded and the Master Cyberlancer seemed to stiffen. Or his attention was far, far away.
"I..." Jesse swallowed hard as Suno nodded to her and rose. "I don't think this is such a good idea."
"You have a better one?" Raven asked, her tone not accusatory or snide. She was actually curious.
"No." Jesse replied uneasily as Suno started to retreat only to freeze as Jesse grabbed her hand. "Suno. Stay. Please."
"Jesse, Iriana did as she thought right." Suno replied. "She was protecting her patients. Of which you are one. She will do anything if she thinks it will save lives."
"I am still not going to trust her again." Jesse said flatly. Then she jerked. Why was Suno suddenly weaving. Or... why was she?
"Never trust a healer not to do everything he or she can to save lives." Suno said gently as she caught and held Jesse's right arm. Darkness was crowding onto Jesse's vision, but she wasn't afraid as Draco took hold of her other arm. She knew he wouldn't let her hurt.
"It is what we do."