Oh, of course! What better way to confuse the Tenno, than to make the one who could show them the truth without fear, appear as if an enemy? The one being in the whole system who could fearlessly confront a Tenno about their actions, and the Lotus ordered us to kill him. Why did we ever listen to her? It's hardly his fault that he couldn't get through to us, not for lack of trying, its simply that we refused to listen - believing his words to be tainted by hate and irrationality.

Chapter 9: The Follower

It wasn't going away, the feeling of being watched was still present. In the books and records I had been reading authors had used the term 'the sixth sense' to describe it. Being watched in and of itself did not bother me, it was the circumstances. I was a Tenno, my body had sensors within sensors built into it by the Orokin, I could sense even the tiniest changes in temperature or humidity, it was almost impossible to sneak up on a Tenno. Although, the Red Veil agents who had originally rescued me after the cascade bomb incident had managed it somehow… Regardless, I had only been out on two missions since I had acquired the Vectis Prime; having spent most of my time in my Liset. The Liset was an impenetrable fortress for anyone who wasn't a Tenno, it was completely invisible to any type of sensor – having been built to ferry Tenno assassins deep into Orokin fortresses – and allegedly could even become invisible itself. Nothing could find it to begin with, and even if it could nothing could get in. And yet… I still felt like I was being watched. I had already searched the interior of the Liset several times, and nothing had seemed out of place…

Perhaps whoever or whatever it is is invisible?

I don't think anything can stay invisible for that long without energy restores…

What about an Ivara?

Not even an Ivara could stay cloaked for the four hours we've been in deep space!

True… Are you sure you're actually being watched though? I don't feel anything other than your feeling of being watched…

I don't know, but if there is something else on this ship, something so well hidden that neither Ordis nor us can find it, then meditating would be very risky…

Why?

Because it would allow whatever or whoever it is to do more or less anything to either us or the ship before we regain consciousness.

True. But what else can we do? There aren't any more Red Veil to rescue for the time being, and the Lotus has us on hold ready for any other missions that should come up… All we can do is wait.

Are we not allowed to do our own missions?

No, we are. It's just the Lotus has specifically asked us to be ready to move on to a specific target as soon as she locates it. So at this particular point in time we need to be ready more than we need to be active.

Any idea what we're waiting for?

Nope, none at all…

Any idea how long we'll be waiting for?

Nope, no-

"Tenno Alpha?" The Lotus' voice immediately alleviates the feeling of being watched.

"Yes Lotus?" In the first few days I had tried to be formal with the Guide of the Tenno, but for the most part she seemed to prefer to be relaxed. There was no need to be formal, since there was no-one around to tell us off for it, it was just our two minds joining to hers. I was almost comforting to have our consciousness's joined, it meant that I could feel her emotions. To me, emotions seemed odd; they were chemical signals that actually affected how the mind worked. They could, despite being chemical, somehow filter into the psyche and be transmitted over telepathic connections. I had none of my own, but the ones I could feel emanating from the Lotus' mind were caring and tender… almost motherly…

"I have found you a target; you are to move to the Io sector on Jupiter as soon as possible – I'm sure one of the others can give you the nav coordinates. The Corpus have just discovered another Tenno in cryo-stasis. The Corpus will be moving in troops to clear the way for a 'specialist team' who will be moving in within the hour."

"Understood. May I ask what sort of 'specialist team' we should be expecting?"

"You may, but I'm afraid I don't know… All I have been able to find out from hacking the Corpus Databases is that the team are coming from Jupiter and are assigned to something called the 'Zanuka Project'. I cannot find any details on troop numbers, armament or rank."

"Understood, will our extraction team arrive before theirs?"

"It should do, but none of the extraction teams are currently mobile. Both have taken heavy fire recently on missions. You will most likely need to hold off the Corpus for half an hour or more. Be careful Tenno."

With that the presence vanished, leaving me alone with Beta, and the feeling of being watched…

One, two, pop a few. Ninety-nine, one hundred!

Beta?

Yes?

Stop singing in my head.

Aww...

I pull the trigger again, ending the life of another Crewman. From my position on top of the colossal defense cannon I can see almost every part of the platform on which we are positioned. The cryopod far below is defended by Isaac and Antonio, both of whom are slashing and shooting their way through the oncoming hordes of soldiers and robotics. Loki is somewhere on the city, causing havoc with technical things. It's because of him that the cannon I'm lying on is firing at the neighboring gas city, shattering its shields and shaking my aim… I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that since the cryopod is the primary objective, and since I am using a sniper rifle, its rather irritating that my combat efficiency is being hindered because he had to make every single cannon fire at the other facility. Not that it is having a massive effect. I have several hundred kills at this stage, and my only real concern is running out of ammunition.

The Tenno extraction team has just left the relay, and will soon be here. There was a minor technical problem. Which is why we are now at the fifty-five minute mark. If they don't get here soon then that 'special team' is likely going to show up. If they come on foot then there won't be any problem, they will probably barely be noticed in the bloodbath below. Unfortunately, there is just about enough space on the platform for a corpus transport to fit in between the roof and the cryopod on the floor… I doubt the corpus would actually be mad enough to try it, but if they do… we have no heavy armaments, and Loki has left the turret control room in pieces so it will be impossible to re-target them. He says he's gone off after some data vault or something. Which would explain the radio silence.

There's only one other thing that's wrong… I still feel like I'm being watched. And at this stage it is really getting to me… It's not that the crewmen are aware of me, they've fired a few rounds at my position before giving up (or dying brutally). The crewmen don't bother me, its something else... something that seems to follow me wherever I go... something that is biding it's time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike... That's when I see it.

The entity is running along the outside of the city towards our balcony, and it appears to be some form of quadruped. I scope in on it with my Vectis Prime, and realize not only is it a quadruped it is also definitely a proxy of some sort. It has what looks like some sort of shoulder mounted – yep, its shoulder mounted missiles alright. I can tell because now there are missiles streaming from its back, obscuring it in smoke. I quickly warn Isaac and Antonio, giving them just enough time to take cover as the shower of explosives decimates everything around them.

Smoke hangs in the air around the cryopod, I can see it has sustained some damage too, but I can't see anything down there. Isaac and Antonio's signals are still strong though, so they're definitely alive. OK, one problem at a time. I turn my rifle towards the still running quadruped and quickly fire off a shot. I hit the proxy's leg and it flies off in a shower of sparks, the proxy itself nearly falling off the wall. Somehow it is still gripping onto the wall, now hobbling at right angles to the ground – and almost at the platform we are on. I shoot it again, this time I hit its head and while the damage is barely superficial, the impact is enough to stagger the proxy. Fortunately, it hasn't quite reached our platform yet, so when the impact knocks it off the wall it falls straight down. I follow it with my scope, feeling triumphant as it plummets into the depths, hurtling towards the surface of Jupiter many miles below.

I'm about to turn my attention to my team-mates when I feel a colossal impact and both I and whatever hit me, tumble the distance down to the platform. As soon as we land I roll away, kicking out at whatever it is. My foot connects with something and I look over to see what it is; it's another of those quadrupedal proxies, also equipped with dual missile launchers. Great! I take a swing at it with my heat sword but it launches itself backwards, evading the blow. It rears up and is about to fire some kind of weapon at me, when a large protrusion appears in the side of its 'head'. I step closer so that I can see more clearly through the fog and realize that it is in fact quite a large protrusion, a roughly Galatine sized, and shaped, protrusion. Heck, I didn't think it possible to accurately throw such a large weapon... but somehow the Rhino has managed it. Probably saving my life in the process...

I'm about to thank him, when another one lands. Another follows in rapid succession, and another. And then comes a mocking voice;

"Tenno? Can you hear me? You've all been naughty little betrayers, haven't you? Did you really think you could steal from the Corpus?"

Isaac and I exchange glances through the fog as we hear another set of impacts, signaling the arrival of yet more of the proxies. They must have come around from the other side of the platform while the one I shot acted as a diversion. Bloody good diversion too, we still can't see down here due to all of the smoke, and I have no idea how the proxies can see because the heat trails are wreaking havoc with infra-red visuals as well.

Then an arc of electricity from the strange weapon Antonio uses cuts through the fog, enveloping one of the proxies in sparks and yet more smoke. That's when all hell breaks loose, the proxies lock onto the nearest target and open fire. Instinctively I dive off the upper part of the platform, evading the worst of it. Then I quickly launch myself to the side as a volley of missiles shrieks through the fog, effectively removing the piece of platform I had just handed on and revealing a second layer below. I tumble into it as the ground shudders under the impact of yet more missiles. There's no way we can fight these things. One or two shouldn't be a problem, but in a group they're invincible.

Whipping out my codex scanner I point it upwards through the floor of the platform we were on, and to my despair I see that a few of the proxies have gathered around the one Isaac impaled and seem to be reviving it. I see Isaac's icon on my HUD indicate that he has gone down, but when I look for him with the scanner I cannot see him anywhere. How can you hide a Rhino warframe?! Then Antonio goes down, I search for him with the scanner and spot him at my level, still firing defiantly with some form of pistol. A Lex, perhaps? It's hard to tell with the scanner, but it doesn't matter. I rush through the door to the room I'm in and out into the corridor, take one turn and then dive to the side to get to Antonio. There is one proxy still harassing him, but with each shot another important-looking component flies off, staggering the robot.

I quickly approach and raise my hand, activating the emergency revive nanites built into my hand. After a few seconds he's up again, and he fires one last shot at the mutilated proxy before scooping up his primary weapon and beckoning for me to follow. We step out of the corridor into absolute mayhem, torrents of plasma sweep the platform, leaving only the cryopod unharmed. Isaac has managed to get himself back up and is firing from cover somewhere on the higher platform. Missiles are flying all over the place, apparently targeting the regular Corpus forces as well. They seem to be putting up a fight, but not with much success...

I raise my scanner to my face and through it I see even more of the missile bearing robots leaping onto the platform, now coming from both sides and above. The Corpus forces are being pushed back and hunted down, and the quadrupeds are surrounding the cryopod! I bullet jump up onto the higher part of the platform and de-leg the first proxy that I can clearly see with my Vectis. It screeches an electronic warning and to its compatriots as the second shot blows off its other front leg. Then some sort of electrical wave travels over the ground from behind me, and I realize Antonio has activated his 4th ability. It seems to stun the gathered proxies, but barely damages them. So I amend that with a few quick shots, 1 shot, 1 leg. Soon less than half of the proxies are intact and I'm beginning to feel victorious, when Isaac goes down again. Then the air fills with the shrieks of missiles and the ground begins to shake. I look up, and see a swarm of missiles heading for us, but they are also spreading out, there isn't going to be any way to dodge those! Antonio tries to shoot down a few with his electric rifle, and succeeds, but to no avail. I simply stare as several hundred missiles rush towards us. We're doomed.

Get up!

I open my eyes, and look around; the ground is littered with pieces of robotics and spot fires, the odd crater decorating the ground sporadically.

I look around, and then attempt to rise, but to both Beta's and my own disappointment, my body collapses back into a pile of circuitry. I look at it for a second, realizing that the scrap in this pile seems to have been cut, not ripped off by a bullet...

In fact, the whole pile of pieces seems to have been surgically removed from the rest of whatever proxy it was attached to... Whatever weapon it was that did this, it was far sharper than even Isaac's Galatine... I see a strange looking throwing knife protruding from one of the robot's sensors. Arrows pin corpses and proxies to the ground, and all is still.

Alpha! Get up, now. Or I swear I'm going to... wait, what...?

We barely have time to admire the destruction before, I see him; the dark red and black figure approaches through the fog, a scythe held loosely at his side and throwing knives holstered on his hips... Who on Earth is that?

The mysterious figure stops and looks down at me, and then placing his scythe on the ground he raises his hand, the mist that comes from it is a dark brown color though, not the usual green of healing nanobots. And then the world goes black as I pass out. Again. I briefly wonder why someone had massacred the proxies just to knock me out, but then my conscious fades into a dreamless sleep as the gas takes effect...

End of Part 9

Author's note:

Sorry I took so long over getting this chapter out, education kinda hit me like a truck and I forgot about this completely. I will try and release chapters on a regular basis, but there may be some delays due to excessive coursework or field trips. On account of being quite new to this whole writing thing, any and all reviews are appreciated, especially if they contain suggested improvements.