And you thought the Banshee was angry...

"What the hell?" The words came from both the white warframe and the black as the woman in the cell seemed to jerk. Sun bent to check her as Nikis checked his readouts.

"She is convulsing." Nikis said with a grunt. "No internal cause. Vitals?"

"Strong." Sun said with a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh. "But..." He shook his head. "She is going to fade. Soon. Whatever just hit her tore a hole through her. We... What the-?"

Without warning, both men were standing in a virtual environment. The woman they had been trying to interrogate -without much success- was stood up against one wall, her feet off the floor, her throat held in an ironclad grip. And when they saw who held her!

"Janet!" Nikis exclaimed as the Oracle snarled at the old woman she held effortlessly off the ground. There was no weakness in this woman, despite the burn dressing that covered her.

"Stay back, you two!" The furious Oracle snapped. "I needed witnesses! You bitch. You two timing, double dealing, lying Machiavellian bitch!" Janet screamed. "You had no right to do that to her! None!"

"Oracle..." The Reverend Mother gasped, clawing at the hand that held her. "It... was needed..."

"I won't let you do it." Janet snapped. "Not to her. You had no right!" Her free hand was slapping the old woman now. "She might have chosen. She might not have. You had no right to take the choice from her!" Again and again her hand flew. It was easy to forget just how well trained in hurting people Janet had been. She wasn't a Tenno, but she wasn't a slouch either. "You had no right!"

"I didn't... There is no time." The old woman said weakly. "No time. I was..."

"Shut up!" Janet threw the woman to the floor where she kicked the Reverend Mother once, and then again. A door appeared on one wall and Janet waved a hand at it. It vanished. "Oh no... You don't die until I let you." Her voice... sounded like Nikis. Sun looked from her to Nikis whose posture was worried. "I can hold you here indefinitely between life and death, Jennifer H-10." At that, both Nikis and Sun went still. A name? The Reverend Mother had no name. "No easy out for you."

"Janet." Nikis said softly. "What are you doing?" She ignored him, kicking the woman at her feet again. "Janet..."

"You will talk to the interrogator, Jennifer H-10." Janet's voice might have frozen liquid helium. "You will tell him everything he asks. You will not dissemble. You will not prevaricate. You will not lie. He will know if you do and he will hurt you. You cannot die here without my okay. Which I will not give. But you can hurt. And you deserve it." Her soft, almost whispered voice was worse than any scream.

"I do..." The old woman said sadly. "Janet...I..."

"My name is Oracle!" Janet screamed as she kicked the woman hard enough to push her into one wall where she lay still. Bones audibly snapped. "And don't you forget it, you bitch!" She spat at the woman and then turned and walked back to where Nikis and Sun stood amazed. "If she gives you any trouble at all, Interrogator, call me. I will happy to help."

"Why do you call her 'Jennifer H-10'?" Sun asked.

"Because that was her name before she took up the mantle of Reverend Mother." Janet said quietly. Sun and Nikis stared at her and then at the bloodied woman. "There can be only one. She isn't anymore." Nikis froze and Janet nodded. "Yeah. That is why she wanted Serene. A replacement."

"You gotta be shitting me..." Nikis breathed, horrified.

"I wish." Janet said softly, her rage fading, replaced by sorrow. "I really and truly wish. Interrogator." She nodded to Sun and moved to the side. Nikis followed her.

"This... That won't work." Nikis said slowly. "Serene died."

"They had an Orokin soul catcher." Janet said with a snarl. "They knew she would go berserk. They had a plan for something else, but they figured if it failed, she would go berserk. They... wanted to be sure they got her. They did." She was shuddering now as Nikis held her carefully. "They did..." She was crying now. "Oh god... they did."

"Oh geez..." Nikis blew out a deep breath. "This is ain't going to go over so well... With anyone."

"No." Janet agreed sadly. "I managed to get through, but only for a moment. I promised her... I said I would talk to Two when she got out of the Citadel. I will try to help. And if I can get through... whatever was done to her... I will."

"What... will they do?" Nikis asked softly.

"It has been four hundred years since the last Reverend Mother was replaced." Janet said with a shudder. "The procedures are set, but... frankly? Your guess is as good as mine. The visions are all messed up. Some turn out good, some turn out bad. Some..." She shuddered again and Nikis held her. "I am sorry, Nikis... I failed. I should have..."

"Hush." Nikis said as he held the woman he loved. "You are not a goddess, Janet. You have powers and abilities others do not. That does not make you a goddess. You are not omniscient." He shrugged. "Neither am I. All we can do is go on. Can you tell me anything at all? People... will want... something." He said a bit lamely.

"All I could tell is that the ship she is on is small, probably a transport." She shook her head. "I am not that good at seeing things besides exactly what I am looking for. I would need help. I... bet Nyx can't." Nikis shook his head and Janet sighed. "Figured. I am sorry, Nikis." She said as she hugged the Nekros tight. "I am sorry."

"What will they do with her?" Nikis asked. "I never... focused much on the Corpus."

"Until they test her, they will wrap her in wool. Tend her injuries carefully and keep her asleep." Janet said softly. "Said tests will be grueling, brutal. Until she passes those, she is not the Reverend Mother. They will call her 'Honored Sister' instead. It is a temporary honorific. If... if she does not survive the tests... she will be buried under that title. There are dozens of graves with that title, Nikis."

"Don't count Serene out, Janet." Nikis said, giving her a squeeze.

"That is just it, Nikis..." Janet said sadly. "She won't be Serene anymore. The... programming, the augmentation, the... enhancements... I..." She started to cry again. "All I could do was watch as they did it to her. What they are doing right now... All I could -can- do... is watch!"

"Where will they take her?" Nikis asked softly.

"Neptune." Janet's voice was low and hushed now. "To a... place that is rarely used because it hard to get to and very well defended. She will wake once while they make sure she is healed, then she will sleep and wake there. And there she will be tested."

"Where, Janet?" He pressed.

"They call it 'The Convent'."

The Tower

"They did WHAT?"

For a moment, after the incredulous shout had gone around the room at the Tower, there was utter silence. Then a little boy's wail pierced the silence like a knife. All eyes turned to where Sara stood with Rocky in her arms. She was soothing him and he settled. Her face... was remote. Blank. Alicia and Karen stood beside her, more a guard of honor than actual guards. If anyone offered Sara or Rocky harm they would be torn apart almost instantly. Some might say small children had no place in such a gathering. No one here would dare.

Karl and most of his clan stood motionless, all armed and ready. Horatius stood with Mercedes and Vina, all pale. Sheila stood beside them, but close to Sara. Her posture was protective of Sara and Rocky. Jasmina stood close to Sara.

"We need more information." Nikis said into the silence. "Horatius? Vina? Mercedes?"

"I looked up what little I had on the precedents..." Mercedes said in the silence, obviously unnerved by all this. Horatius laid a hand on her shoulder and she relaxed a little. "All the available records are... well... Slim to say the least. Sheila?"

"My databanks are all medical." The MOA replied. "There is some information on... Results of 'Honored Sister' testing protocols that do not make a lot of sense to me. Some I can fathom, some I can't. Psionic thresholds are not my area of expertise."

"Psionic thresholds?" Karl asked for everyone. Vina nodded slowly and he looked at her.

"I don't know a lot of history..." Vina began. "But the Reverend Mother has always... had gifts. Powerful gifts. No one knows if they were mental powers, some kind of high technology or something else. It could be any of those."

"Or all of the above." Horatius said quietly. But he was tense. "You always thought your skull was made of glass around her. She knew what you were thinking. And it wasn't just careful observation."

"Telepathy wasn't common, but it was known." Nikis said quietly. "Far more common than Oracles, that is for sure." The others looked at him and he shrugged. "I learned to defend myself against it. Took a while." Horatius looked interested and Nikis shook his head. "Three hundred years."

"Ah, drat." The soldier said in such a disappointed tone that many of the people surrounding the area chuckled a little. Then he sobered. "You want us to go get information? We can."

"Horatius..." Vina sounded worried. "You start stealing information from the Clergy..."

"Vina..." Horatius patted her arm with the hand that was not holding Mercedes'. "Recon is what we do."

"No." This from Karen. Her voice was calm, matter of fact. "The records will be buried deep, far too deep for a smash and grab. And if you do manage to get in and out? They will do checks. They will discover the theft. You will be burned and branded traitors at the very least. Which is what Bek wants."

"Sitting on our hands is not the best use for us." Horatius said mildly, but he nodded, manifestly against his will. "Points taken though." But he was obviously thinking. "What is the deal with these... kids? Do we know?"

"What little we know is fragmentary." Nikis said with a shrug. "Janet says they were made from Serene, but..." He shrugged. "She wasn't focused on that before. Now she is. The only one we have information on is the girl. We really only have her name. René."

"And the fact that Two of all people thought they were all insane." Jasmina said softly. "We have to respond, but to do what?"

"You can't help Ma." Sara's voice had all of them turning to look at her. She called Amelia 'Mom' and Serene 'Ma'. Most of the time. Sometimes she got them reversed when she was excited. "Either she lives or she dies." She held her infant brother close and the boy cooed as she rocked him. "Trying for a rescue will put anyone who goes after her into the line of fire of the entire Clergy, automated and not. You know what she would say."

"Sara..." Karl protested softly to keep from disturbing the baby.

"You know what she would say, Karl." Sara pressed, trying with all her might to keep her voice from breaking. "I hate it, but I do too. She would say not to. Not to risk an entire clan for one... Tenno..." She was trying to hold back tears now. Jasmina sighed and took Rocky from her as Alicia knelt and folded Sara up in an embrace. The girl spoke through her tears. "You know I am right. You do."

Karl bowed his head. "I hate it too, Sara. But you are right." He slumped and then shook himself. "What can we do?"

"We watch, we wait." Sara said softly.

"We will do more than that." Horatius said as he stepped forward. "They cannot know we hit the team as they tried to flee. There were no survivors from the ones who ran our way. We were blacked out, they had no coms as soon as we engaged. We are going back."

"Horatius..." Mercedes protested. "If they read Serene... They will know. About us, about the Tenno, about everything!"

"The job isn't safe, Mercedes." Horatius said softly, patting her arm. "But I think Serene could use some backup close at hand that she could trust implicitly. No matter what happens, I will get word to you." He nodded to Nikis. "By your leave?"

"What are you asking me for?" Nikis demanded. "I ain't in charge." All of the other Tenno looked at him and he snarled. "I ain't!"

"Whatever you say, Nikis." Karl was obviously working very hard not to laugh. It wouldn't end well. Horatius cracked a smile and nodded to Karl who nodded back. "Be careful." Karl warned him. "If Serene is... turned... She is sneaky. You won't know you are in trouble until the jaws of the trap close on you."

"If it were easy, anyone could do it." Horatius pulled Mercedes into a hug and kissed her. Then he did the same for Vina. Then, he turned and left, leaving both women red faced.

"We... better get back." Vina said sadly. "Please let us know?" Sheila moved to stand with the two women.

"We will." Karl promised. "Olim, Mori, take them home. Make sure the area is secured. The last thing we need is some kind of trap left there."

"Right, Karl." The cyberlancer and his bodyguard moved to stand with the two human woman and the MOA. "This way, ladies." He nodded to a door and they followed him out of it.

"Sara..." Karl said gently. "Eliza wants to see you. You and Rocky." Sara jerked and Karl continued. "They felt it too."

"I didn't even think about them." Sara said sadly. "Too distracted..." She paused as Jasmina tapped her foot. "Jasmina?"

"I am going with you." The Ember Prime Caretaker's word brooked no argument but Karl just nodded. "I promised Serene I would look after them."

"Figured." Karl said with a snort. "Next portal is in five hours. Be there." Jasmina nodded. "The rest of us will keep doing what we do. But we will remain wary. This... is not good. Not at all."

"No." Sara agreed as she rose, smiling at Alicia as the Trinity stepped back. "No it is not. But Ma is a survivor. If it can be survived, she will."

"I know Sara." The huge Rhino laid a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "And if we find a way, we will act."

"Make it hurt." Sara said with a fierceness more akin to her Ma than her usual sunny disposition.

"Oh we will." Karl promised. "We will."

A virtual prison

"Make me understand." The Loki Prime hadn't moved in the virtual simulation. "What were you thinking? This is lunacy. Serene is Tenno. She is not human. She cannot, not will not, but cannot become your Clergy's Reverend Mother."

"You do not know that." The woman who had been the Reverend Mother said weakly as she lay on the floor. She hadn't moved from where Janet had kicked her. Truth be told, she didn't think she could. The infuriated Oracle had not pulled any of her strikes and several ribs felt broken. Ordinarily, she could fix such in seconds in virtual settings. But not here. Not now. "Tenno... are different, yes. But they...are not... so different."

"Your Board disagrees." Sun said mildly.

"The Board are a bunch of fools." The old woman snarled. "All they care about is their profits. Most of them anyway..." She said with a sigh. "They look at a warframe and they see a machine. To them... it is no different from a MOA. Older tech but still just tech. I know better."

"Do you?" Sun was still mild.

"Even before I saw the data that we recovered from the Neptune facility..." The old woman groaned, but the Loki did not react. "...saw Serene's body... scanned, violated, tormented... I knew that Tenno were not just machines. Maybe organic machines inside the armor, but not just tech." She looked up at the interrogator. "You are going to hurt me."

"Yes." The Loki Prime replied.

"You are going to break me despite my resistance and my implants and conditioning." She said with a grimace.

"Yes." Sun repeated, still mild.

"Might as well get on with it then." The old woman said with another sigh. "I am not getting any younger."

"And you are hoping that when I am done, I convince Janet to let you die." Sun said with a shrug. "I wouldn't bet on it. You really made her mad."

"Yeah." The former Reverend Mother said sadly. "Yeah, I did. It... it was needed though. Serene was needed."

"Why?" Sun asked quietly. "Why Serene and why now?"

"Two reasons." The old woman said as she tried to turn away from the pain in her chest and bit back a scream as she failed. "First... we need her. We need a new Reverend Mother. My life was forfeit to Tenno justice as soon as Mishka was harmed in my care. One of you was going to kill me for what happened." Sun did not move and she continued. "Serene was so strong. Stronger even than Janet, who was my chosen successor previously. I only talked to Serene once, but it was like hitting a wall. You get out of her way or you get hurt. My own mentor said the same about me. She said there is a feel to someone who would be a good one. She was right. Janet had that feel, but then she was lost to us. Serene has that feel."

"And her wishes are meaningless." Sun said, his tone still that maddening mildness.

"No. She will be given a chance to back out. Several." The old woman said softly. Sun stared at her and then old woman laughed without mirth. "It is not a burden to shoulder unwillingly. No one who has been forced to take up the mantle has lasted more than a year. She will be prepared for the Test. No more. She can deny it. Walk away. But she will not."

"What makes you say that?" Sun asked as the reality around them warped and she was suddenly lying on a hard surface. Restraints clicked closed around her.

"Because I saw her in Mishka's mind." The old woman did not resist. What would be the point? "Only glimpses, but it was enough. She is not one to leave kids to suffer. Hers or anyone else's. And that is the second point." She swallowed hard. "The boys... prefer... young flesh."

"Okay." Sun said calmly. "Let's get the introductions out of the way. Your name is Jennifer H-10. My name is Sun." She could not resist a shiver as the warframe picked up a long bladed...thing that glittered it the harsh light of the virtual world.

"My rank is Interrogator First Class and we have a lot to talk about."