"Lower your weapons." The voice blared again.
"Stand your ground, brothers." Fenrir whispered with an inexplicable calmness over the voice-link.
Small patches of light illuminated the green barrels of three Gorgons pointed at the four of them. Ash looked round to see the black silhouette of a rocket launcher-wielding Bombard blocking the entrance. Lancers appeared from all sides, Grakata barrels pointed straight at them.
"What do you mean, stand your ground? We're surrounded, and even the Rhino can't withstand all of this firepower." Palatinus replied, more irritated than confused.
"He's right. Even if I could activate my Iron Skin armor, it would still be destroyed under this much damage. I used all of my suit's auxiliary energy in the battle, anyway, so I only my shields are still up." Taurus added.
"It's the same with me. This Nova technology isn't the most energy efficient, so I've only got enough to renew your warframe's regeneration systems, but that's it." Palatinus finished.
"Do not worry, my friends. You should know me enough to know that I always have a plan."
Ash could just imagine that hyena-like smile on Fenrir's smug face. "Now, gents, please stand aside."
"Go ahead. We won't be collecting what's left of you afterwards." Ash muttered.
Fenrir just laughed and took a step forward. The marines instantly reacted, one of them producing an audible chk-chk from his shotgun.
He opened his helmet and raised his hands, palms open.
"OK." He announced. "You found us. You can take us back to whatever hell hole you came from and we'll be locked up forever and ever. Here, handcuff me." He stuck his hands out and turned his head away.
The marine in front of him looked from side to side at his fellow soldiers, who simply shrugged. The speaker had stayed silent for a while, but now suddenly growled a low "Don't take a single step. Now, Tenno, this is your last chance. Drop your weapons and you will not be harmed."
Fenrir still advanced as the voice said this. He stopped in front of a huge barrel of a Gorgon pointed straight at his face, which somehow betrayed no sign of fear. The slow whirring sound of the gun spooling began to rumble from the chamber of the gun, the clicking of bullets being loaded echoing off the walls. Fenrir stood his ground, only raising his eyebrow in response.
"Fenrir, don't try to be brave. Get back here." Ash ordered.
"Don't worry, Ash. I have this under control. He wouldn't shoot me, right?" Fenrir answered with no concern in his voice whatsoever.
As soon as he finished his sentence, a gunshot cracked through the air. Ash winced as a bullet pattered onto the ground next to his foot and looked up. To his surprise, the Loki was somehow behind the marine, a mad grin stretched across his pale face. Ash swore he saw a glint in the his eyes, but he had no time to think before a sickly orange-yellow light grew in Fenrir's palm. He then spun round briefly and extended his palm out in a wide arc as the light grew blindingly white for a few moments. The light faded and fizzed out as Fenrir stood up, leaving him surrounded by gun barrels.
"Oh, dear. Doesn't look like that worked." He sighed with a voice that sounded more like an apology.
A laugh sounded from one of the marines' radios, before the sound of a gloved finger pulling a trigger was heard. Then another. More clicking started to fill the air as soldier fiddled and racked their guns in confusion. Then Ash realized what the Loki had done. They were all jammed.
"Hmm. Looks like it did." Fenrir almost giggled as he drew his Kamas. Ash picked up on this and grabbed his sword from its sheath, crouching and ready to spring. Taurus spooled up his Soma and roared with laughter as the left side of the marines dropped like flies in front of him. Palatinus drew his Vasto revolver and aimed a perfect shot at the gunner in the middle. When he fired, small fins unfurled from the bullet, making it scream towards its target and savagely rip apart flesh and armor. He fired off the other two rounds and pocketed the revolver as the marines' limp bodies flopped onto the ground.
A grenade went off somewhere, sending searing mot bearings slicing into his armour. Blood spurted profusely from his left leg, making him stagger, but with a cleave across the torso and a killing blow striking into its metallic heart, the blood ran like a river along his Nikana, feeding him with raw, untapped power. They fell like toy soldiers, lying in their cold lifeblood.
The remaining marines had drawn small stun sticks, but they were poorly trained in close-quarters combat and swung clumsily and slowly at Fenrir. He merely laughed and sunk his two scythes into the heads of the first two soldiers and kicked another in the gut, making it double over. He drove both Kamas into the marine's head at once, twisted and drew them out, leaving a blood-spattered helmet attached to a spinal cord dangling and dripping gore on the blades.
After tossing away the head, his expression softened to a pleasant smile when he turned round to see the bloodbath he had created. Bodies were piled on each other, deformed and showing huge lacerations across the face and torso. He shivered slightly at the fresh smell of spilt blood, but snapped out of his trance and beckoned the others to follow.
Rather disturbed, they continued through the mountain, all the while trying not to step in the piles of bodies that littered the chasm.
Even the most heartless felt something pleasant sometimes. Whether it was a tiny spark of happiness, or an overwhelming feeling of elation, there was something. Ash came to this realization when he ran out of the collapsed gorge to a ledge overlooking the compound about half a kilometer below. The view was breathtaking when he opened up his helmet
The Himalayas stretched out to the horizon, the peaks of the mountains poking out from under fluffy tufts of white clouds and scraping the still, blue sky. The wind had subsided for now, leaving only a breeze that caressed his hair with gentle fingers. Small snowflakes whipped round and danced in the air, skipping along to the enchanting tune of the breeze whistling round the snow-brushed mountains. The sun kissed his cheeks and filled his worn body with warm, untainted calm.
He smiled at the feeling, and breathed out a slow, calm breath. He looked out across the endless blue sky and immersed himself in his thoughts as the rest caught up to him. The beauty of the Old Earth still amazed him whenever he came, but only these small sanctuaries remained. The rest had been destroyed or corrupted by the Grineer.
The Grineer.
Brief happiness dissipated to burning anger.
"They'll pay. If it kills me, they'll pay." He muttered a promise to himself from the corner of his mouth.
"Ash, stop daydreaming. We must press on. The main compound is down there." He pointed with his finger at a scattered array of grey buildings.
Taurus thundered to a halt next to them, with Fenrir crawling up a rock on a sharp incline, much like an eagle's perch. The drop was steep; enough to make Ash jump back slightly in surprise. Fenrir barely suppressed a laugh.
"And here he comes, the man of the evening." Fenrir declared with an upward nod of his head.
Ash peered back over the edge to see a small yellow speck slowly moving out of a hangar gate. His helmet zoom magnified the image, showing Hek's Terra battlesuit thundering across the pavilion to several ranks of soldiers, who stood tall with their abnormally large torsos puffed out. He turned to speak with his generals, all the while waving his hand over the masses of soldiers.
"Excellent. A strike from above will definitely allow us the element of surprise." Taurus remarked.
"True, but how will we get down there?" Ash asked, somewhat dreading the answer.
"The Pegasus Landing System." The Lotus intruded on their conversation, appearing on their displays.
"Care to explain?"
"It was implanted into each of your warframes before this mission, were you not told?" She inquired.
"Were we supposed to?" Ash retorted.
"Unimportant. When a rapidly decreasing altitude and increasing speeds are detected, your warframe will measure the time and distance before you hit the ground and ready the Pegasus. From about one hundred meters, it will automatically deploy small thrusters on your arms and back, slowing your descent. However, this is meant as more of an emergency precaution, Tenno, so please brace before you land."
Ash swallowed in an effort to add moisture to his dry throat, but fear gripped at it tightly with unrelenting strength. He scanned the mountaintops for any other alternative, but he found none. With a sigh, he turned to the others, who shrugged.
"Alright, we go down as a group, understood?" Palatinus broke the tense silence.
"No turning back, then." Fenrir answered with that same, strange calmness."
"I guess there are no further questions?" Palatinus turned to the rest of them. No one answered.
"I'll take that as a yes. Let's go." Palatinus said with a strange quietness as he stepped up to the edge of the cliff. He raised his palms outward, and fell forward.
Ash was the last to go. He almost felt regret at leaving a view like this, but he looked back down towards his falling comrades, remembering his mission. He spread out his arms, palms towards the sky, almost praying. He let the sunlight kiss his pale skin for a few more blissful moments before he leaned forward and fell.
He forgot the mission. He forgot himself. He was without weight or entity. The wind rushing past him raked relentlessly against his entire body with cold arms, pushing the air out of his lungs and making a slight feeling of nausea rise from his stomach. His body was a pure entity of adrenalin, arms spread out as if to fly. His thoughts were clear of the oppressive blackness that had weighed him down so long; the chains had been broken from his body. His mind was a clean, white slate, uninterrupted by anything. Apart from, maybe, the repeating high-pitched beeping that seemed to…
"WARNING: LANDING IMMINENT."
I'm ready.
He felt himself instantly kick upward with a great heave from the system's hissing thrusters. He floated, weightless. He drew his sword once more and came crashing down onto a Grineer Scorpion, slicing her in two. Two grey chunks of meet slid to the ground while the sword eagerly drank the ruby reward that followed. Two more marines broke their cover and sprinted, hurling plasma grenades and garbled insults at him as they ran. They fell like the rest, razor-edged Kunai drilling through their helmets and out the other side with showers of brain tissue and shredded metal.
Incredible.
Something smashed into his spine and sent Ash tumbling through a window and into what appeared to be a control hub; he was moving too fast to see. The back of his head caved in a glass monitor as he skidded across the metal grating. Glass rained down onto his head and cracked underfoot as he stood up. A Prosecutor smashed through the wall, throwing up dust and shaking Ash off balance. This one strode on tall mechanical legs, and carried an Amphis in both hands; a truly savage weapon. Any part that was not welded or singed together looked diseased and infected, with loose flaking of skin hanging from its face and a vile chunk of decomposed flesh dangling from a freshly opened wound on its cheek.
It spat something at him with slurred, mutilated words. Ash braced as it threw itself at him, and rolling just out of the way as it smashed into the wall. It turned and swung the Amphis in a wide arc, breaking several monitors and cabinets, and nearly cleaving Ash's head clean off his body. He deftly dodged several more swings, before parrying the next and somersaulting over the staff itself, ending up face to repulsive face with the Prosecutor. It snarled, lips curling back and revealing a set of unnaturally shiny iron teeth. Ash returned the expression and drove his sword deep into its armour, slicing through its armour like mere fabric. The Prosecutor didn't take its eyes off him, little black beads that smoldered with pure hatred. His mouth trembled, but Ash felt his strength already slipping from him. A last rotten whisper left it as the servo limbs gave and the body fell to the ground, still. Ash took a glance at it; its quiet afforded him the peace of the moment.
He climbed back through the broken window, cautiously avoiding the shards of glass lining the pane. He found satisfaction upon seeing that his brothers were already making short work of the marines surrounding them, cutting, breaking and evaporating through them with unmatched expertise.
This is too easy.
He sighed as he went to join his brothers once again. Shuriken shrieked from his fingertips into the throats of three marines, downing them instantly. Another two fell to a quick slash to the legs, and yet another to several rapid stabs to the chest. The Nikana sailed through them like a fierce wind through leaves, sweeping them aside with sharp, precise cuts and slashes. The incandescent flame burned inside him, but it wasn't quite yet lit, he felt.
The others were whittling the platoons down to their last numbers, and the Prosecutors lay among them, burned, hacked apart or missing a ribcage. Fenrir yanked his Kama from the face of a dead clone and spat on the body, looking for a next target, but finding nothing. Taurus rammed another clip home, feeding the beast in his hands, but there was no prey to feed it. Palatinus took the moment's peace to wipe clean the Orthos of tainted blood messily splattered across its pure white blade. He brought it back down into the neck of a marine beside him, silencing it forever.
Hek's yellow battlesuit soared from the overhang above, swooping down upon them like a hawk to its prey. Indeed, Ash felt like a mouse in comparison, scampering away behind the slabs of stone jutting out of the onyx rock and the blood-stained ground. Snow was swept up by the landing thrusters, swirling around them as if they were models in a miniature snowglobe. Small cracks appeared in the ground where he treaded, and the air seemed to shimmer around him as he walked, as if the very power he embodied bled through into reality.
From his shoulders rose two platforms, each bristling with their individual payload, ready to rain fire at a mere thought. Hek brought round his shotgun, leaving Ash staring right into four hollow barrels, each one as black as Hek's teeth.
"Now, how about we even the odds a little?" He enquired, his shark grin revealing itself across his face.
They all moved at once. Ash vanished and darted out of the way, only just being clipped by a stray sliver of shrapnel. Palatinus threw himself up to a ledge nearby, and took up aim with his Penta. As the grenades flew, spinning before exploding into a wild display of blue plasma, Taurus thundered out from behind cover, his Furax charged and braced. Fenrir sprinted round the outside, becoming one with the shadows of the volcanic rock that peered over the cave's mouth.
Ash studied Hek's movements from behind the wispy veil of his smoke screen, analyzing how he thought, how he worked. One of his most valued teachings was, indeed, that a good strategy would win the battle before it had begun. Here, less so, but it was no matter. Hek moved clumsily, swinging wildly like an enraged den mother, but hitting nothing. His shots, as a result of his terrible fury, went wide, and even the Rhino found no trouble in dodging the huge caliber shells that pattered uselessly against the snow and rocks.
Amidst all this chaos, Ash found an underlying pattern. With every fleeting shot, every missed swing, there was a sequence. One shot here, one foot there; Ash could read him like a book. A consideration passed him, followed by a smirk.
How exactly are you a General, Vay Hek?
It was this thought that brought a tinge of doubt with it. He frowned. His eyes narrowed to slits, and his sword fell into his uneasy hands. He waited in cold anticipation, just for the right moment.
There, when he swung once more at the Loki, who laughed and vanished once more. There was a small joint, one that clicked irregularly with the rest of his body. His sword was out, and his fingers tensed around the blade. His legs carried him with unrivalled speed across the clearing, where, amongst the raging battle around him, there was a brief moment of stillness, a clear path to his target.
He leapt in a second. A swift motion upwards and a great cleave down in another. Ash's eyes widened in shock when he did not feel his feet touch the ground. Electricity coursed through his veins, locking him in his warframe, unable to move. Hek slowly turned his head, and gave a small chuckle. A huge swipe from his robotic fist, and Ash was flying, soaring into the mouth of the cave before the blackness of the shadows took him in.
Ash always hated the feeling of unconsciousness. He knew that his body was asleep, but a side effect of Umbra's mental therapy was the curse of having a mind that was always awake, that never slept. When he had gotten to sleep, however rare, it was a warm feeling. Lying in his own cocoon, he was safe. Being knocked out was worse. He was cold, and imprisoned within the dark confines of his own mind.
What was he doing here, anyway? He didn't… remember. They were on Earth. They… that's right. His kin fought alongside him. They were on Everest. Falling. He remembered freedom, soaring through the air, thoughts clear of the blackness. Then… nothing. He was here. Or…
A tremor sent a wave of pain through his head, but he couldn't feel the origin. Slowly, the cracks of gunfire began to intrude upon his hazy vision, which only showed blurred, gray shapes. He was waking up. He felt blood rush through his ears and a new pain start to pound at the back of his head. His fingers twitched momentarily, closing on a large metal pole that seemed to protrude from somewhere. As colors began to trickle back into his vision, he made out the shapes of his comrades firing upon some yellow machine in the middle of the clearing and a strange, thick dark red liquid that... blood. It started to become more noticeable when he blinked. It was on his hands, across his torso and around the floor around him. But where...?
The sword. He looked up to see what looked like a javelin sticking out of his abdomen. The blade had gone straight through, leaving only the handle to protrude out of his body and pin him to the ground. He tugged with trembling, numb fingers to try and pull it out, but it was no use. He was helpless.
He looked out to the clearing to see Palatinus throwing down his Penta and drawing his revolver in a futile effort to harm the huge machine. Hek laughed and swung his shotgun from one of his four arms and aimed it down towards Palatinus, who desperately tried to fix a jam by breaking and cocking the gun several times over, with no success. The shotgun fired, and the white-hot pellets struck the Oberon armor straight in the torso, which only barely managed to deflect them with now-depleted shields.
Taurus ran past him, his Soma slung across his shoulder, engaging his gauntlets and powering up his exoskeleton. His armor began to glow slightly along the trims, and his augmented legs started to slowly thud into a sprint. The gauntlets whined with energy waiting to be released while he added with a deafening roar. Charging at full speed, he leaped off a ledge with all his strength, bracing his fists for what looked to be a killing blow.
He was the first to fall. It had come as somewhat of a shock to Ash, he'd expected the Rhino, of all of them, to be the survivor.
At least Hek had afforded Taurus the mercy of a quick death; the cannon on his right arm had vaporized the Rhino completely. No ashes to take back home, assuming they even survived. Nothing to remember him by, apart from the memory of a zeal that matched no other.
When Taurus had been killed, the Oberon stared, rooted to the spot, at the space where he had been not a second ago, only to see the tiny fragments of the suit's Orokin reactor clattering on the ground. He then stared at the mechanical abomination in horror, who was already priming the cannon for another deadly beam. Palatinus raised his palm, trembling with rage, right towards Hek's mask. The same blue light started to glow from his fist, quickly becoming a sphere with the brightness of a small sun. Ash squinted to see him raise his hand above his head, making a small shimmer dance over Hek's frame. Palatinus then brought his palm down, slamming it into the ground and creating a wave of energy that flew across the snow towards Hek.
It connected with brutal force, making his hexagonal shield flicker and die. The Oberon took his chance and fired his revolver, sending a screaming bullet straight at the machine-man's face. It connected with a spray of black blood that stained the pure white ground, making Hek howl in agony. He stared at Palatinus with those vile, yellow, unblinking eyes and a small snarl forming on his lips.
Hek leaped into the air and slammed down in front of Palatinus with a sudden, tremendous, earth-shattering crash. Palatinus flew several feet backward and landed flat on his stomach with a pained groan. Ash grimaced as Hek brought his enormous foot down on Palatinus' back and twisted, making the suit pulsate with barely maintaining shields. He twisted and turned with desperate yet futile effort as Hek drew his shotgun and pressed it against Palatinus' head. He stopped squirming and looked round at the huge figure that seemed to block out the sun. Through a final, ragged breath, he managed to make out the words,
"Lotus, forgive u-. " His final words, almost a prayer, were cut off by the crack of a shotgun through the dead, silent air.
He was the second.
Ash had rarely felt grief or sorrow, for the black fog of death shrouded him for every waking hour of his life, whether it be physical or psychological; it was just a matter of getting used to it. But now, for a reason he could only think if as shock, the air was punched out of his lungs and fresh waves of pain flooded his body, emanating from the gaping wound in his stomach.
Ash opened his eyes again to see Hek raising his head and stepping off the gored head of Palatinus, as if he was trying to feel for movement in the air. His artificial eyes flitted back and forth around the cavern, his fingers twitching and feeling some unknown force.
With a sudden flash, the grey and black warframe of Fenrir appeared on Hek's left shoulder, head cocked to one side with a slight down turned curl on both sides of his mouth.
"You shouldn't have done that." Loki said with what sounded like a surprisingly light tinge of anger. He drew his Kamas and jumped on to Hek's back, the blades rushing towards his neck. Hek threw two of his arms up and blocked the attack, sending Fenrir reeling. Hek spun round and swiped a mechanical fist towards Fenrir, but he was already on the other shoulder. Whenever Hek tried to get a grip on him, he had appeared somewhere else before Hek even had time to swing. All the while, Fenrir's slight frown turned into a wide grin, eventually cocking his head back in laughter.
Hek roared in rage and fired his cannon at Fenrir, who was stood smugly in front of him. Fenrir looked up just in time and quickly teleported away onto a nearby ledge. Hek looked up, but his rage had disappeared as quickly as it had come and been replaced with a sudden look of... cunning. He kept his weapons trained on the Loki, making a feeling of dread sink through Ash. Fenrir raised his Kamas and disappeared, only to reappear flailing in Hek's outstretched arm.
"Do not toy with me, fool. I am smarter than you think." Hek growled with a voice that rasped against Ash's ears like sandpaper.
"Of course, why should I expect anything better from one of the Tenno?" His voice lightened, but lost none of its murderous edge.
"Where is your precious Lotus now? Well?" He looked round, pretending to be genuinely searching for her for some kind if comic effect.
"Nevertheless, Grineer foreign policy states that I must deal with incompetence by force." He cackled as he said this, gripping tighter around Fenrir's neck. A long, silver blade extended out of a limb further down his body, slithering out like a black, deadly serpent. He aimed this blade at Fenrir's stomach and eased the blade slowly through the armour. The blade had now extended fully, revealing nasty gutting hooks on the top of the blade and small serrations on the bottom.
Hek thruster it forward, making Fenrir cry out in sheer agony and showers of blood pour forth. He raked the blade though Fenrir again and again, each time causing hot blood to splutter out of the Loki's mouth and spray onto the snow,
After what seemed like a horrible eternity, Fenrir, his face white and paler than Ash had ever seen it, hacked up one final chunk of organ before he turned to look at Ash. His eyes had lost their usual mischievous glint, and the smirk that he seemed to constantly wear had now turned to a sullen frown. He didn't seem to be in pain, Ash noticed; his face showed no sign of discomfort. Instead, it was replaced by something that looked like... sadness. Not something that was easy to see, but the more observant eye could see that Fenrir was somewhat disappointed. As the blade was withdrawn from his abdomen,
Ash swore that he heard the Loki say the words, "I...am.." Ash strained to hear the last word, a meek whisper over the voice-link.
"Free."
He was the third. Ash sank back onto his small corner of the overhang, not quite accepting what his eyes had just shown him. First Taurus, then Palatinus, and now Fenrir. The last had shocked him he most, for he knew Fenrir well enough to know that he would never die this easily.
But here, to think that he had just seen one of few friends slaughtered without a thought... he felt empty. He almost laughed. He was grieving.
For Fenrir. Part of him pulled towards the hopeless thought that Fenrir had planted a decoy, that he had turned invisible and teleported away at the last moment. But Ash knew such impossible thoughts would only bring more hurt, so he swatted them away and looked out to the clearing, where Hek had by now withdrawn his blade and turned round, making his way into the overhang.
The ground shuddered with each gargantuan step Hek took, sending pain shooting through Ash's every nerve and synapse and out to his fingertips. When Hek stooped under the overhang, only his piercing yellow eyes could be seen through the darkness and only his raspy, corrupted breath could be heard over the whistling wind outside.
Ash exhaled sharply when Hek came to stop with a loud thud and a final, painful shock through his body. The Councilor stared through Ash as he moved his deformed face closer, stopping at only mere inches. It was only at this distance that Ash could fully drink in the true horror of what this sub-human had done to himself. Warts and boils covered his neck, his skin shone with vile grease and his breath stank of gunpowder, metal and rot. Everything about this… thing was repulsive and bled an aura of plague and corruption.
"I have slaughtered countless of your kind, you pests are no different. But I, being the kind old man I am, ", he said with a grin that showed nothing kind, "I will let you live. You didn't even put up a fight. You aren't worth killing. Run back to your precious little flower and tell everyone that Uncle Hek is going to pay them a visit." He laughed at his final remark, twisting the Nikana, slicing Ash's flesh to make new wounds and reopening old ones. The warframe sizzled with electricity around the blade, desperately trying to repair the skin and stem the bleeding, but to no avail. The corners of his vision went red with blood and all the colors of his world washed out to white and grey. His head spun and he tried to lift his hands, but they seemed to have completely lost any connection with him. He was powerless.
Hek stood back up and began to thunder towards the exit, but not before turning his head and laughing maniacally for one last time before the world went white.