Traps

"Ma'am."

Horatius hadn't stinted. As soon as the report had come through, three full teams of Special Forces had immediately been dispatched to the outpost in question. Two had been sent out again immediately to divert Grineer attention away from the sudden increase in activity. There was no way to hide it. But they could delay the inevitable clone response. Long enough? No one knew.

The problem was... they could not get at the girl in the duct. She was wedged in tight. They had managed to get an Osprey around behind her, but all they had seen was a leg. A quick scan had shown that indeed, the genetics matched the girl on file.

"Commander Horatius." The Reverend Mother looked tired. Small wonder, she was being given a crash course in any number of essential subjects. Sleep was optional right now. But as soon as she had heard, she had come. "Any change?"

"The girl's leg is dying, Reverend Mother." The Commander maintained his professional calm despite the horrific situation. "She is either bleeding internally, or it is some kind of poison."

"This is not... What they did at any of the other attacks." The Reverend Mother said, looking around. The medical team that had come with her were carefully blank. They knew the odds of saving the girl were slim. "You think it is a trap?"

"My head says 'Yes'." Horatius said with a frown. "My gut says 'No'. She is wedged in tight. And she has leverage. I don't think even as strong as these things have proven to be, that they could have pulled the body of her father out with her in there hauling. We have had MOAs try, Ma'am. No luck."

"And that made her more upset. And that is when you called us." The Reverend Mother said quietly. Horatius nodded. "We do not have a lot of time. The Grineer will notice sooner rather than later. And you cannot get around behind her." This wasn't a question.

"Too small even for Ospreys to reach her, Ma'am. Scans? Sure. But we cannot get at her with a sedative. She is in a corner." Horatius said with a grimace. "Reverend Mother... even if we can get her out... She is likely to lose the leg that we have scanned and we do not know the shape of her other leg."

"A lost limb or two can be fixed, Commander." The Reverend Mother replied without heat. "A lost life? Not so easily. Lead on."

"I do want this officially noted that I protest." Horatius said firmly as he started off, the tired Clergywoman right behind him. "This is almost certainly a trap of some kind. But we have not detected anything we can identify. No explosives. No toxins. No springs. No nothing. Just a girl wedged in a duct too small for her."

"So if it is a trap, something exotic." The Reverend Mother said sourly. "Figures. They really hate the Company. Hard to blame them for that. But this...?" She did not look to either side as they passed the still forms, now in body bags and laid out in orderly rows. "This is wrong, Commander. We need to stop it."

"No argument." The Commander replied as he led the way into the sole elevator of the tiny outpost.

"So... the tool your people found?" The Reverend Mother asked. "I read the report in transit. Not human blood."

"And not a match for the other samples." Horatius acknowledged. "So we have DNA evidence for two of them. But this is not going to come to trial." His words were calm. His emotions? Anything but.

"I agree."The Reverend Mother said firmly. "If we can track the ship, we blow it out of space." Horatius looked at her and she grimaced. "The innocents aboard are either dead or praying for it, Commander. We would be doing them a service."

"If we could be sure that vacuum exposure would kill these things." Horatius said grimly and the Reverend Mother nodded. "Then again... high energy plasma is a wonderful cleaning tool. A few salvos from a ship's secondary gun batteries and I don't care how tough they are. They are vapor."

"First we need to find them." The Reverend Mother replied and the Commander grunted in acknowledgement. The door opened and a voice was heard.

"Mary L-65... Mary L-65, I know you can hear me. It's okay. We are here to help." Special Forces Operative Violet sounded like hell. Then again, she wasn't really recovered from her ordeals. But as soon as she had heard, there was no stopping her. Horatius hadn't even bothered to try. She looked at the new arrivals, her face bleak under her open helmet.

"Let me try." The Reverend Mother said quietly.

"You look like hell, Ma'am." Violet said with a sigh as she moved away from the duct where the body was still wedged. She smiled as the Reverend Mother made a face, but the clergy woman was concentrating. No one spoke as the Reverend Mother cast out with her mind.

"Terror." The Clergywoman said softly. "Anger and terror. She... was hiding. Something..." She shook her head. "She had done something that she knew she would be punished for, made a mess. She was hiding. Her father found her, and was trying to coax her out when the attack came. He yelled at her to be quiet and turned...then she heard him scream and he fell into the duct. She tried to pull him and things tried to pull him out." She shook her head. "It isn't a trap."

"Even with that..." Horatius said firmly. "You do not know that."

"Yes I do." The Reverend Mother laid a hand on the dead man and spoke evenly. "Mary L-65? I am here to help. I am the Reverend Mother of the Clergy. Please. Let me help."

"You can't help." The girl's voice was hoarse from pain and fear. "Dad is dead. They are all dead!"

"They are."The Reverend Mother said sadly. "But you are not. Let me help you? Please?" She begged. "Mary L-65, we cannot leave you here. The Grineer will come. If they find you, they will kill you."

"They wanted... me..." Mary was crying now. "I couldn't... Dad told me not to move! I... I can't..."

"What did they tell you, Mary L-65?" The Reverend Mother asked gently. "The monsters?" The girl gave a gasp. "They are nasty, but they are not immortal. Your dad hurt one. We can find them. We can stop them. What did they tell you?"

"They said when I came out, they would catch me and eat me." Mary L-65 screamed the last. "They said dad tasted...good." Both Horatius and Violet grimaced, but remained silent.

"They are not here, girl." The Reverend Mother put a gentle suggestion into her words. "We are. Me, a team of Special Forces and a medical team. We want to help you."

"But... But the monsters..." Mary L-65 said, her voice quavering.

"if they show up, we will kill them, girl." The Reverend Mother promised. "They have made us... very angry. Very, very angry. Your dad was very brave to shield you the way he did. We are not going to let you die here, Mary L-65."

"I... I can't..." Mary L-65 said sadly. "I can't..."

Instead of answering, the Reverend Mother started to sing. It was ancient, that song. A lullaby. In moments, Mary's sobs quieted. The Reverend Mother motioned to Horatius who nodded and laid a hand on the corpse. Two other Special Forces grabbed as well as the Reverend Mother continued to sing. They pulled gently but steadily and this time, there was no resistance. It took effort, but they got the body out of the vent. What met their eyes was horrifying. The girl was twisted all wrong. The duct had been too small for her, but she was crammed in anyway. The Reverend Mother reached in, continuing to sing. Her hand cupped the girl's still cheek and brushed tears from it.

"If we pull her out..." Horatius said softly as he stared into the duct. "She will die in seconds. The duct wall is all that is keeping her from bleeding to death. They... shoved her in. Shoved her father's body in on top of her and pinned her there. They... left her like this. They couldn't get her out so they forced her further in." The Reverend Mother finished the lullaby but Mary L-65 slept on.

"Not a physical trap." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "A psychological one. Evil... Evil..." She bowed her head. "I..."

"Ma'am, we cannot save her." Horatius said quietly. "Let me end her pain."

"No, Commander." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Start cleaning up. I want us all gone in thirty minutes." Horatius slumped, but nodded and turned away. Violet paled as she stared into the duct. "Violet..." The Reverend Mother said softly. "Stay." The female Special forces soldier nodded. Only after Horatius had left did the Reverend Mother speak again and when she did, it was hard. "You lousy scum have made a serious mistake." She...wasn't talking to Violet.

"You are Company and weak." Violet paled as the girl's mouth worked as a male voice came from it. An evil voice. "You will feed us."

"Wrong on all counts." The Reverend Mother said firmly. "Which are you? Pieter? Jacques? Henry? Georges?"

"So... you managed to find records." The voice said with a smug laugh. "They will do you no good."

"No, we did not." The Reverend Mother gently stroked the sleeping girl's cheek. "You are going to leave her. Now."

"Or what?" The other demanded.

"Or this is really going to fucking hurt." The Reverend Mother said calmly as a part of the wall seemed to come alive. Violet stared as the blue and white Trinity warframe stepped forward, her hand outstretched. "I do understand your anger with the company. I share it. But if I had you in my hands right now? I would turn you over my knee. You and your brothers have been very bad. Attacking the Company is one thing. But this? No. A mother's love may know no bounds, but you are not my son. You never were." She snapped. The voice gasped. "Begone!" She commanded and hit the sleeping girl's mind with enough power to keep her unconscious for some time. The other presence fled.

She nodded to the Trinity and stepped back. The girl did not stir at all as she was digitized. The Reverend Mother nodded to the Trinity who ignored her, turning and going down a hall that the Reverend Mother knew led to an auxiliary airlock. Only when the Tenno was gone did Violet manage speech.

"How...?" The operative pleaded.

"As far as anyone from the Company is concerned... she is dead, Violet. I killed her." The Reverend Mother said heavily. "Come on. You look like I feel." She took the operative's unresisting hand in her own and started for the elevator.

"You are not going to say?" Violet asked, still stunned.

"To tell the truth? I am not sure. I was going to kill her when I heard a voice in my head saying 'Wait'. Hadn't heard her in my head since I was changed, but I do remember the Lotus' voice." The Reverend Mother admitted sadly. "Wasn't expecting that, mind you, but it makes sense. They will keep tabs on me. They are not stupid, Violet. Stupid Tenno did not survive the War."

"And they can help her." Violet smiled. "Good."

"They can." The Reverend Mother's smile was eerie now. "But I have better news." Violet looked at her and the Reverend Mother's smile turned vicious. "That boy is strong, but not experienced."

"So while you were berating him..." Violet's smile was a thing to behold as well.

"I know where they are going." The Reverend Mother said with a snarl. "And... I just told some... others. Who will tell other people."

"Are we going to get a chance at them?" Violet demanded as they entered the elevator.

"Knowing said others?" The Reverend Mother said with sigh. "Probably not."

"Drat." Violet said with feeling. "Who will they send?"

"I am not totally sure. If it were me, I would send everybody." The Reverend Mother said with a shrug. "But probably? Their other mother."

"Oh..." Violet swallowed. "And she...?"

"Don't ask."

Another Corpus outpost

Again, it was simplicity. There were only a few Company guards out and about when the transport landed. The human ones in the landing bay died without even realizing that two forms had left the ship. Invisibility had its uses after all. The robotic guards were given an override command and went back to their charging stations to shut down. The human remains were hauled into the ship. Waste not, want not.

Only then did the four shadows slip into a convenient duct and head into the facility. Behind them, the transport sealed. This facility was far larger than any of the others they had attacked, but it also had distinct shifts. Only a third of the personnel were awake and on duty. That third were scattered and reliant on their automated systems for help. Automated systems that had been subverted. One of the salvage crew had been a gifted hacker. His terminal had contained all kinds of things, most illegal. Getting into the terminal had not been easy, but they had managed. Especially after he had been... persuaded to give up his passwords. They had been... most diligent. He had no appreciated the care they had taken to keep him alive as long as they had. Only after they were done scooping out his terminal did they finish him off. Said terminal gave them all kinds of access, most of it hardwired so changing codes did not help.

They did not know -or care- that the hacker had been the one in a million capable of accessing hardwired Clergy command codes. They couldn't use them all, but they had an assortment. Which was how every single MOA in the facility shut itself down as soon as they found an unguarded terminal.

Well... Now unguarded.

"Georges!" Pieter snapped as the other took a bite from the cheek of the still form at his feet. "Work now. Eat later. She isn't going anywhere."

"And who put you in charge?" Georges replied, but shook his head, patting the woman who would never move again. "Until later darling."

"You did, remember?" Pieter replied as Jacques worked the terminal. Their brother had learned everything the hacker could teach. Admittedly, near the end, the hacker's words had been... difficult to decipher. But Jacques was good, and electronics were his thing. He could control many with a simple touch. The hacker had added polish. "This... is too easy..."

"You worry too much." Georges replied, slinking to the door. "That witch scared you."

"You did not hear her." Pieter replied, his ire rising. It was never far from the surface. "She was powerful. And she knew things. She knew us."

"Yes, yes..." Georges said with a mocking lilt. "And she scared you. So what? One old human woman?" He shrugged. "Not even good eating."

"Got it." Jacques said quietly before Pieter could retort. "We are in... but..." He paused, staring the console. "This is odd."

"What is?" Pieter demanded, snarling at Georges.

"Security systems are already deactivated." Jacques said, his tone quiet as usual. "That does not make any sense. Life readings... all over. Many in the dormitories. Guards patrolling. MOAs are deactivated."

"Not by you?" Pieter asked, a funny feeling starting to surface. Not one he was used to. Not anger. Not sadness. Not fear. Not anything he had known before. Was this worry?

"No." Jacques said, his own unease flaring. "I do not like this."

"Oh, grow a pair!" Georges snapped. "There are meals to be had. Let's get them and get what we came for. How many females?" He demanded. He had acquired a taste for certain kinds. He preferred them alive and screaming.

"Twenty two." Jacques looked at Pieter who shrugged.

"Henry?" Pieter asked quietly. The other shook his head. He did not talk much. "Continue?" The other nodded. "All right. Jacques? Any other oddities?'

"I am... whoa!" The boy recoiled from the terminal. "Two of the guards just died!"

"Died?" The other three chorused.

"Terminal life signs!" Jacques said with a gulp. "Both of them. No sign of what killed them on the monit-" He paused. "Something just broke a camera. Another." He shook his head. "This... I can't get a reading."

"Ah..." Georges was actually shocked out of his feral hunger for a moment. "Could it be a Tenno?"

"Too widely spaced to be one being." Jacques said with a swallow. Then he froze. "The doors to the landing bay just sealed!" He said sharply. "I can't open them! I..." He trailed off. "Ummm... guys..." His voice was strained. All turned to look at the terminal. On it, words shone.

'Don't keep her waiting. She is mad enough as it is.'

"Ah..." Pieter swallowed as the door to the room opened and doors opened along the hall they could see through the now open way. The screen changed.

'You have ten seconds. Then the room seals and vents it's atmosphere. Nine. Eight...'

"Move!" Pieter snapped and the other three followed, stunned by this sudden change. The door slammed shut just as they exited with the sound of hissing. This was wrong! They were the predators. They always had been. But not now... Ahead of them, doors opened and stayed open.

"What the hell?" Georges demanded.

"Oh dear..." Pieter swallowed hard but started off. The others followed.

"Should we just... do what they say?" Georges asked with a snarl as he followed. "Whoever the hell they are?"

"I can guess who they are." Pieter said with a wince as they passed other doors that were sealed tight. Every door. Every vent. Every hatch. They were being herded. "The question is why Tenno are helping the Corpus."

"We are not." The female voice came from an open door ahead. The area where the com room was supposed to be. She sounded... calm. But... not. "Get in here. Now. I won't say nicely it again."

The four boys entered the large room and went still as the door shut behind them. Jacques spun with an oath, but a long metal shaft hit the wall next to him and he froze. A arrow!

"Do not try, boy." The voice seemed to come from everywhere. "I am not in the mood."

"Who are you?" Georges demanded angrily. "We are the stronge-" A sudden sound had him flying backwards to hit the wall where he lay stunned for a moment before snarling and rising.

"No, you are insane." The voice said as a piece of shadow came alive.

The female form was humanoid, but not human. Her head was elongated and flattened in back. The flat part looked sort of like some alien version of hair. Her left shoulder was also elongated, coming to a point. The warframe, for that was what it had to be, was black. She had an oddly shaped bow in hand. Pieter went still and she nodded to him.

"I knew it the first time I saw you." The Tenno said calmly. "My name is Serene."

"Oh shit..." Pieter breathed in horror as all four boys looked at their mother. The Banshee just sighed.

"And I am very disappointed in all of you."