Tenno Justice
"Kori! No!" A familiar voice screamed from nearby as Excalibur turned from his fallen sister. His pistol and sword came up in hand, but... The female doctor he had seen before stood in a doorway, flanked by the Corpus and Grinneer he had seen with her, all wore identical expressions. Grief. None had weapons raised and Excalibur paused. The female human collapsed to her knees, keening. "No..." She cried, tears falling.
Excalibur looked at the two beings he called 'enemy' and both remained where they were. Both had weapons in hand, but neither raised them. Both were staring at the still form at Excalibur's feet. Then the impossible happened. The Grinner marine dropped her weapon, the Corpus trooper did likewise. Both knelt on either side of the sobbing human, the female Grinneer laying an armored hand on the human's shoulder. The woman was distraught.
"You didn't have to kill her!" The human woman said through her tears. "She was no match for you hand to hand." She went stiff as Excalibur shook his head.
"Not many are." The Tenno said calmly. That was the simple truth. He wasn't invincible, but he was very good. No arrogance. Fact. He knew his strengths and limitations and he knew that there were others who were better than him.
"Are you going to kill us too?" The doc asked after a moment. "She said you only speak when you are going to kill everyone who hears you."
"She said a lot of things." Excalibur said without moving. "Some true, some not."
"Don't hurt the others." The woman begged. "They are innocent of wrongdoing. Pawns. I tried to help them."
"You have." The female Grinner said softly. "Please don't hurt her, she is nice." She begged Excalibur.
"Nika, I deserve his rage." The doc said softly. "I was there. I hurt you and Kori. I didn't know, when they hired me, what they planned. It was insane, but... Everything was insane...The war, the Plague, all of it." She said sadly. "I thought I knew what war was. I had no idea."
"Not many do." Excalibur agreed. "What did you do to me?" He asked conversationally. The human stared at him, unsure and he shrugged. "No need to be impolite, is there?"
"I..." The woman shook her head, tears still streaming. "I guess not." She slumped. "I tried to do to you what I did to them..." She nodded to the Corpus and Grinner beside her. "I put a reprogramming virus in you, but it didn't work. It worked on Kori although it took awhile. It didn't work on you. I have no idea why. All it did was hurt you."
"Why?" Excalibur asked softly. "Controlling the Infested isn't possible."
"We thought it was. A matter of scale. Take a small piece of it, isolate it and try to communicate that way. Communicate, find our what drives them and try to subvert it." The crying woman said sadly. "We were trying to communicate, or so we were told." She took a deep breath, scrubbing her eyes. "We didn't know what you were. We had heard of you, of course, but we had no idea. Then Daniel said you would make good test subjects. I argued... I tried, but everything I tried just slid off him." She slumped. "I didn't know until it was too late that Daniel had been infected already." Excalibur stiffened and the woman nodded. "He doesn't show it, but he is insane. So am I." She said sadly.
"You are not acting like Infested." Excalibur said uneasily.
"I am heavily medicated so I can function." The woman replied softly. "I am not... quite as bad as most." The Grinneer actually hugged the human now and she smiled a bit. "Nika..."
"You helped me." Nika said slowly. "Can't you help yourself?"
"Maybe." The doctor said slowly. "Daniel wouldn't let me break the bonds between us. The..." She paused and froze as the mass as Excalibur's feet moved a bit. "What the...?" Her eyes went wide as Kori moaned. "I... What? But..." She stammered staring at Excalibur. "You are a..." She broke off and Excalibur nodded.
"Killer. Yes." He said calmly. "I am." He nodded to where Kori lay still now. "What I am not however, is a murderer."
"I don't see the distinction." The female human said, her tone confused. "You are an assassin." She paused and blanched as she realized what she had just said. "I mean..." She broke off as Excalibur snorted.
"Yes, I am. I kill when I must. I do not do it wantonly." The Tenno replied. "And yes, what she has done -instructing you and your colleagues about Orokin technology- broke with the Code. It will probably mean her death. But I am not the one to judge her. I am a soldier, not a judge. I have been an executioner, but she deserves the chance to explain at the very least. I have been given orders to kill specific beings in the past. She is not one of them." The man in the warframe said calmly.
"May I...?" The woman asked, her hands rising. "I... She is my friend. I mean... I like to think she is. She hated me for a very long time and I deserved it. But I tried to be kind to her. She deserved that and so much more for what Daniel did to her." Excalibur stepped back and his sword and pistol returned to their places. But his rifle came down and waited at the ready. "What did you do?"
"You are my friend Brianna. He disabled my warframe. I can't move." Kori's slurred voice answered her. "You should have killed me, Excalibur."
"You are not my enemy, Kori." Excalibur said gently. "You are my sister."
"Am I?" Kori asked, her voice so very sad. "After all I did?"
"You will face judgment for what you did, Kori." Excalibur said gently. "But not my sword until maybe after the Elders have spoken."
"What I did demands death." Kori protested. The woman, Brianna, shuffled close to the fallen Tenno and her hands were gentle as she turned the female on her back. An oozing slash on the back of the warframe's helmet was the only mar on the armor.
"What did you do?" The woman that the fallen Tenno had called Brianna asked, confused. Excalibur didn't answer and she sighed. "Never mind. Not my business. I have to say this, to you and to Kori... I am sorry." Excalibur looked at her and Brianna swallowed. "I am not asking for forgiveness. What I did to both of you is unforgivable. I just had to apologize. Even if you kill me..." Both the Grinneer and Corpus started to protest and Brianna raised hand to quiet them. "You both understand when you are not emotional. I hurt them, and others. What I did deserves punishment." She looked up at Excalibur and nodded. "Just don't hurt them. Whatever they were before, they are my friends now."
"As I said, I am not a murderer." Excalibur said easily. "I only kill those I am ordered to or those who fight me. If you do not raise weapons against me, I will not harm you. If you do..." He trailed off and all three of the kneeling forms nodded. "What is Excalibur's Sword?" He asked and the doc stiffened.
"I..." Brianna shook herself. "It's a wide spectrum delivery system for the virus we developed. Essentially, it will allow Daniel to send the virus anywhere he wishes. It takes time to work, and is not pleasant for the recipient. I was trying to make it less painful." She bowed her head. "I just..." Her head suddenly shot up along with the Grinneer's and the Corpus. "No!" She exclaimed.
"What?" Excalibur asked, his rifle up and tracking, but not aiming at any of the kneeling beings.
"Daniel is letting the Infested loose!" Brianna said, fear oozing. "He is sending them here! To kill you!" Then she gasped. "And... me?" He voice was suddenly small. "I..."
"You are connected to all the others?" Excalibur asked slowly. Brianna nodded. "How?"
"It's a group mind. Ah!" She groaned. "They don't want to hurt me, but Daniel is whipping them into a frenzy. Stop that, you idiot!" She cried, obviously talking to someone who wasn't present. "Ow!" She said, clutching her head as she collapsed.
"Where are my other kin?" Excalibur asked, moving to stand by the door.
"The male and older female are in the cells. Sedated." Brianna said, her voice cracking. "The other is in the lab. Three hundred meters that way." She waved. "We were going to... No!" Brianna snapped. "No! Daniel, don't!" She screamed, her eyes far away.
"What?" Excalibur asked.
"He is going to infect her!" Brianna said sharply. "She isn't ready. She is too weak! It will kill her!" Excalibur stiffened and then nodded.
"I have a quandary." He said slowly. "If I leave the four of you here, alone..." He paused as the Grinneer nodded.
"Either the Infested get us or we run off with Kori and Brianna." The Grinneer, Nika, said quietly. "I don't trust you either."
"Good." Excalibur said softly. "We understand one another." The Grinneer didn't move and he smiled under his helmet. He was amazed, but he actually seemed to like this former enemy. He didn't trust her, mind you. But he was starting to like her. "Safest place is probably the cells."
"You really think so?" The Grinneer asked slowly. "If they catch us in there..."
"They are going to be busy." Excalibur said dryly. Then he turned stern. "If I have to hunt you down, it will go ill for all of you." He warned.
"Excalibur." Kori said slowly and carefully. "I give you my word, I will not flee. I... You should have killed me."
"You are still my sister, Kori." Excalibur said sadly. "If the Elders order it, I will make it quick, clean and painless. Until then, you are still my sister" The he paused. "If you four are linked to the others... They know where I am and where I am going. I won't be able to ghost in." Stealth wasn't an option now.
"Daniel has them locked down." Brianna said softly. "I can't get to them. I..." She started crying again as she knelt by Kori's still form. "They are battering against the locks he has put on their minds. Their holds on sanity are slipping. The idiot is undoing everything I did to help them!"
"Brianna..." The Corpus trooper sounded sick. "Are we going to turn on you too?" The Grinneer looked frightened as well.
"When you are this close, I can protect you." Brianna said sadly. "But... I... The others... No..." She sobbed. The Grinneer looked at Excalibur and then at the sobbing doctor before rising slowly and moving to Brianna's side.
"Do what you must, Excalibur." Nika said softly. "We will be here in one of the cells when you return." She bent down and scooped up Kori. Then, deliberately, she turned her back on him and strode to the still open door to the detention bay. The Corpus rose as well, taking Brianna's hand, pulling her to her feet and gently leading her the same way.
Excalibur pondered the oddness of the universe for just a moment. Here he was wishing a Grinneer and a Corpus troop -and a human woman how had hurt him so very badly- well. He shook his head and bent down to gather up Kori's Glaive from where it had fallen. He examined it quickly and then clipped it to his arm. He preferred his sword, but in the battle to come, he would need very advantage. He heard a howl in the distance and it was answered by others. He squared his shoulders and strode in the direction that Brianna had indicated. If she had lied to him...
He pushed the thoughts away. Idle thoughts had no place in a battle such as we was about to join. He focused his mind as he had been taught. As the first chargers rounded the corner to run at him, he ran to meet them, his sword in hand and a feral smile hidden by his helmet.
FOR THE TENNO!