Note: The Stalker's Acolytes are currently back in the game, so I'm gonna be busy killing them for mods. This, while I know that the update schedule for this story is haphazard at best, I can guarantee there won't be anymore update me this week. Or on Sunday, helping family move. Plus I still need to finish the Fate Grand Order summer event.

So, enjoy!

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Okay, okay, think. There's got to be a way out of this. It's not as bad as it looks.

I'm just trapped in a room with a full sized Sentient, the Shadow Stalker, and All of his Acolytes, with only one (admittedly well armed) Tenno cell as backup. Oh, and there were probably a ton of Grineer in here as well, not to mention whatever Sentient shards this dude was using...

Yeah, I take back everything I just said. This was exactly as bad as it sounded, if not worse.

Okay, so, how the hell was I supposed to get out of this?

Well, first off, I should probably take cover, seeing how they were shooting at me. Funny how you simply stopped caring about getting shot at when people did it to you often enough. Granted I wasn't really scared of being shot by my opponents, since none of them actually used ranged weapons. Well, except for Malice and Torment, and Malice I was trying to avoid, but when you wield a BFG as your primary weapon, that is understandable.

I was planning to try and examine the Acolytes and Stalker as they attacked, see what the vulnerabilities in their fighting styles were, then exploit those to kill them. Unfortunately, their sentient pal was having none of that, and promptly fired a giant beam of blue energy at me, forcing me to vault into some hard cover.

"Do not try to adapt to our defenses, tool. Though I have devoted most of my modifications to defeating your flesh and blood kin, I still have plenty of resilience to crush you under. You may be strong, and quite resourceful, from what I have heard, but you will meet your end here."

"Do you really need to monologue so much?"

"Insults will get you nowhere."

Sighing, I took aim and fired off a few arrows at the Sentient, trying to find out where his weaknesses were. Also, what did he mean by 'flesh and blood kin'?

Probably whatever Melissa was. That made the most sense to me.

As for the Cell, they were busy battling off the Stalker and his acolytes.

They weren't doing well. When you are outnumbered two to one, against foes just as tough as you, if not stronger, you can't really be expected to win, especially if your opponents are working as a team. Oh joy.

Oddly, though, I wasn't seeing any sentient goons - looks like ze...zen..Zen'Hurros… hadn't brought any friends to the part. Maybe he'd lost all his shards in the Old War, and couldn't make anymore due to Void Damage? That was rather likely, given that Hunhow seemed to have that problem.

Of course, it was also possible he was just saving his strength. I'd started shooting at the giant creature/machine, but so far, he was shrugging off my arrows. In fact, they seemed to disintegrate when they rammed into his skin, without actually doing any damage. Considering they were made form lightweight progenitor alloys, I was willing to bet that this was one of the things he'd meant by his adaptations to my tech. I was also willing to bet that this wasn't even scratching the surface of what his adaptions were. Clearly, this was going to be a tough fight.

Unfortunately for me, that fight was already over. I jumped out of cover behind a support beam when I heard a familiar sound, and moments later, an Opticor beam obliterated my cover. Malice cried out in rage at my dodge, obviously unhappy that I had avoided death, but that was a hollow victory. As I stood up, I soon found myself surrounded by the Cell, who, in turn, were surrounded by the Acolytes, with the Stalker standing right in front of his sentient master.

...How had I not noticed that we were getting surrounded?!

"Do you really think it would be impossible for me to make things such that you focused on me, at the expense of the situation around you?"

WAS HE READING MY MIND?!

"If you are wondering whether I can discern your thoughts, I cannot. Your expression, however, is something I can read. And for the record, you have rather weak cyber defenses, tool."

Great. We were surrounded and at the mercy of beings who were not merciful at all. Deus ex Machina, please help now!

"Hearth, can you get down here?" I asked, trying to find a way out of this mess.

"Negative, Grineer reinforcements have me pinned. We started down the minutes the Acolytes showed up, but the Grineer have filled the area around you with soldiers and equipment. You'll need to figure out different new way to escape. Sorry sir."

Fuck.

"Alad," intoned Cyreesia, just barely audible enough for me to hear, and I was standing right next to her, "can you help us?"

"I'm trying. I know this is a difficult request, but try and stall for time."

Yeah, we were screwed.

"Goodbye Tenno. Farewell, tool. I don't believe I will miss you."

Shit.

Instantly, the Stalker and his acolytes raised their weapons, reading to cut us donw, as Zen'Hurros charged up his weapon systems and prepared to fire...

...only for the giant sentient to be smacked in the fast by a giant metal fist that rocketed in from behind us. Turnign to face it, I was surprised to make out the form of Tyl Regor, Ack in one hand, knux in another.

"If you're going to kill the Tenno and their new friend, get in line. I would like to vivisect them first."

For a moment, the giant sentient and his companions stared on, unsure what to do. Then the biggest of that group started laughing.

"Do you really think you an stop us from claiming our prize, tiny clone?"

"Perhaps, but that doesn't mean I can't call in some backup."

Instantly, several pillars shattered as manics burst out of them, who then charged toward the rouge frames, ready to tear them apart. Malice was forced to retreat while Torment opened fire, with the rest of the group starting to hack into their newly arrived foes. Stalker, meanwhile, ignored the insane Grineer, instead teleporting up to the mad doctor and bringing his sword down, only for a Jat Kittag to deflect the blow. Turning to face the new arrival, me, my cell, and the Stalker all went still with surprise, if only for a moment.

"This l-l-looks like it will be fun," intoned Leekter. A moment later, his companions teleported in, weapons locked and loaded. The stalker sent a wave of energy at them, only for the G3 to teleport away, before moving in to engage him.

"Well, that was interesting. Tenno (and companion), I have something on the way to help you, just try and last half a minute."

That, we could do.

Of course, Tyl Regor would beg to differ.

"Well, this has certainly been an interesting encounter, but I do believe that it is time this fight came to an end. Now then, I suggest you surrender, Tenno - I don't want you too damaged before I can start dissecting you."

"What about me," I asked, partially to stall for time, partially out of curiosity.

"Oh, I don't think subduing you will be all that hard, seeing how scrawny you are."

I promptly took a pot shot at Regor, who used the knux to block the attack. Yeah, overkill, but I'd made a point of gaining wait, dammit! Plus any distraction we could give Alad would probably help.

OF course, it seemed Regor had given up on trying to monologue us into submission with his attractive and somewhat ridiculous voice. He promptly lifted up his other knux and readied to fire...only to get hit by a plasma projectile. A moment later, a dog-like machine began to assault the geneticist.

"...Did you just sick Zanuka on him?" I asked Alad.

"Yes. Now I suggest you hurry up and try to secure anything you are looking for, because I doubt my precious zanuka will be able to win against this many powerful opponents."

No argument there. I quickly hacked into the nearest terminal to determine what the Grineer had found in this lab, which consisted of a few cell arrays, some void relics, and, finally, the husk of a fabber boat. What followed consisted of me and the Tenno weaving in and out of the battle around us, which now included several Corpus Crewman loyal to Alad, having followed the zanuka down to the lab. Some distance above us, Hearth had finally broken through the Grineer ranks, and had cleared out a path for our escape. We quickly picked up all of the artifacts in the room, moved them to a loading bay while still being shot at, stuffed them onto an Ogma modified to work underwater, linked that to Cyreesia's Xiphos' computer, then finally, evacuated, as did Alad's men.

Somehow, we did that without losing a single guy, and with the worst injuries suffered being some plasma burn's on my avatar's butt, which were already healing.

Yeah, that was a really weird fight, but we'd won. Now to figure out what the next part of the Vitruvian was about.

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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!