Sorry for the really long delay. I lost my job, I am losing the sight in my one good eye and I fear I am losing my mind. Not in a good way. Frustration feeds depression and I am fed up. I do not know how long I can keep this up, but I will try to at least finish this story.


Criminals?

"So…That happened."

Magda wasn't sure where she was. It sort of resembled the interior of her landing craft, but sort of didn't. Every color was right, but just a little off. Or maybe her perceptions were? Everything 'felt' right as odd as that sounded, but this room was not right. She had seen Zarimon transference chairs before and even seen a few room where they were ensconced in the Void, but had never actually had cause to be in one. Then there was the pod! Instead of a chair, she had stepped out of an energy filled pod to stand in front of the other two beings here besides Falcon. One she knew, one she did not. So why was he so familiar?

Magda felt a bit better now that she was out of the odd mental framework, but now, she had to face the future. Ollie and what looked for all the world like a Zarimon child stared at her, awe and fear coming from both. Then again… Falcon hadn't warned them before she had pulled Magda out and both had been worried that Magda was turning back into Narmer! At least she was only clad in a meat shell, not a warframe, but still. The clothing on her meat shell felt odd to Magda's senses, but not nearly as wrong as some of her had. After all this? Magda just rolled with it.

"Falcon… Apologize to these two, please."

"Guys? I am sorry." Falcon said quickly. "I just wanted to help Magda."

"I get that." Magda said quickly before Ollie could do more than make an outraged noise. "That said? This whole situation is insane. Ollie? I was halfway to not trusting you. I should have known better." Magda heaved a sigh as she straightened the cloth on her arms. "I owe you an apology too. You have been put in an utterly untenable position by this mess and I have been pushing."

"It is what you do." Ollie reassured her as the shade swept up to her shoulder and pulsed energy to soothe her as he had quite a bit recently. "We were very worried when Falcon started singing Narmer slave choruses." That was sour at Falcon who pulsed embarrassment. Odd that a Sentient could show such, but Falcon was no ordinary Sentient, now was she? "But if you are back…"

Worry mixed with hope in his tone and the Shade trailed off as his senses swept over Magda again. She was not concerned by that. Many others things, yes. Her companion's worry? No. She would never worry about such.

"I have no frames of reference for how I feel but nothing feels too wrong." Magda said with a nod to the others. The Zarimon child looked a bit less worried, but still wary. As well he should be. Magda smiled at him and he stared at her. "Good cover, by the way. I never suspected you were not a Cephalon." He opened his mouth and she beat him to speech. "Do not apologize." She said sternly. "I know all about things that are wrong, but needed. I have straddled the line for so long." She heaved a sigh and then shook her head. "Please tell me there are contingency plans in case… I…" She broke off, unable to continue.

"There are and none of us know them all." The Zarimon child reassured her. What was he wearing? The garments were not anything she had seen Zarimon children wearing before and the colors were the ones commonly used by Narmer, but subtly different. She had dealt with Zarimon children a couple of times and it hadn't ended badly any of those times. It was still a bit nervous-making to stand next to such raw power. "My name is Owl. I had another, once, but I lost it in the madness after the accident. The Lotus re-named me Owl and that is how I have been known ever since."

"Owl." Magda nodded to the young looking being in front of her and he nodded back. "Well met." She took a deep breath and then gave herself a shake. "So, what now? We have a crime and lots of complications added to it. The other Tenno?" She asked everyone.

"Everyone but Sun has backed off." Falcon said firmly. "And Sun… well… As you saw, he has proven difficult." Magda and Owl both winced and Ollie made a noise of consternation. "Many people are upset with his actions and he refuses to cooperate."

"Owl tried to stop him and he would not." Magda was not questioning, more stating. "You called Inaros?" Magda was more than bit incredulous when she spoke to Owl. The Zarimon child made a face and nodded slightly.

"He wasn't my first choice, but probably one of the best for such." Owl made a soft, disgusted noise as Magda slowly shook her head. "Inaros knows more about manipulating minds than any organic being in the system currently." Owl was flat and factual, but distaste sang deep in his tone anyway. Magda could relate. Once upon a time, the 'supposedly' not-quite-a-renegade Inaros had brainwashed people to serve his colony. According to many now, he didn't do such anymore, but the stigma remained. The justified fear remained, especially after Narmer had done the same thing on a system wide scale. "I can not and do not speak for him, but he was very upset when we told him about this mess. Stands to reason, actually." He admitted. "Nikis trained him as a Guardian of the Dead and what Narmer did to Tenno energy every time they stole it infuriated every single Guardian. And then, you. So many came together from so many places when you were recovered, to try and help. We were and are constrained by many things, but we all do want to help you, Officer."

"And?" Magda pressed when Owl stopped. "Do not tell me that you three are doing this alone. Do not even try." She warned. "The three of you have power, no question, but having Inaros of all people and that other…" She paused as Owl shook his head in warning. "What?"

"You do not want to know who that was, Officer." Owl said flatly. "You do not. Hell, 'I' did not expect him to show up." Was that fear that flitted across his face? It was! What could scare a child of the Zarimon? Did Magda want to know? "If the situation hadn't been so dire, if you hadn't been so badly hurt that I was afraid to move you, I would have just grabbed you and run as soon as he appeared. When he gets involved, bad things happen. I do not know who he is working for but-" Now, he broke off as Falcon made a noise. An odd noise, not quite despair, but close. "Falcon?" He inquired.

"He is working for Oracle Janet." Falcon was very quiet, but a pin dropping in the sudden silence that fell might have sounded like a non-suppressed gunshot. "He is a powerful weapon. We can only hope that she can keep him aimed at the right targets. He bothers you, Owl. Heck, he bothers everyone. My family cannot stand him." The Sentient admitted.

"Not many can." Owl agreed with a wince. "That said? For some threats, there is no overkill and Sun is one of those threats."

"Do I need to know who it was?" Magda asked, slow and careful. "From your words, that one is not a good being at all." At that, Falcon seemed to shift in mid-air even as Owl shook his head firmly. Was the Sentient agreeing with the Zarimon child? Again, Magda just rolled with it.

"No." Owl was grim now. "Desperate times call for desperate actions and I was desperate when Sun took you and Ollie down. I can make no other excuse for what I did, calling for help from Oracle the way I did. When I talked to her before, trying to set some of this up, she said she had backup on standby but that kind of force was a bit much even for most Tenno to accept. He is powerful, no question. But he is not bound as we are." Now, he sighed. "I don't think that is a good thing, but frankly? Right now?" He winced as everyone else did. "If it is even remotely possible to save your fellow officers, Inaros and the other will do so."

"But we need to stay far away from that fight." Magda said flatly and everyone made noises of agreement. "So…" She gave herself a shake. 'What now?"

"That is entirely up to you." Falcon was calm, but firm now. Magda spun to stare at the Sentient who dipped in mid-air. "You are the victim of a horrific crime. You have earned time to recover at the very least." Magda just looked ta her as Ollie scoffed. "Hey!" The Sentient proclaimed, sounded almost hurt. "I have to offer!"

"Thank you for that, but no." Magda was quiet, but firm and everyone relaxed. "Even broken, torn apart and then reassembled sort of properly, I am still an officer of the law. I know my duty and it has not changed. These deaths are continuing. The latest one wore a Narmer veil and we all know they will not react well to such." Magda could not restrain a shudder at that and Ollie comforted her energy again. "Who else is involved in this? Thinking back, from how they reacted? I know Rachel and Tiana know about some of it."

"No one but maybe the Elders know all of it, Officer." Owl said flatly. "But like I said, I asked Oracle for aid and she promised me what she could." Something about his tone rang false to Magda who eyed him. Was the incredibly powerful boy about to bolt?

"What have you done?" Magda asked very quietly as Ollie pulsed at her again, but this time, she ignored his attempt to calm her.

"It wasn't him." Falcon spoke up, drawing all attention back to the hovering Sentient form. "It was me."

"Look!" Magda was rapidly losing patience with this meandering, but she did fight for calm. Getting emotional would not help matters. "Whatever happened, it was bad. I get that. I am going to be very upset. I get that." Ollie tried too soothe her again and Magda reached up to pat the Shade who pulsed with worry. "Ollie, stop. It is all right. Whatever happened, I am going to get mad about but I have my duty and I focus on that first as always."

Yes. You do.

Magda had thought herself prepared for almost anything, but she was not prepared for the form that suddenly appeared against one wall of the ship! Wherever they were, it was not in the Void like a normal Tenno Orbiter hid! It hadn't actually dawned on her that Falcon should not have been able to be in said Tenno Orbiter due to the Void having really bad effects on Sentient energy. She wasn't in an Orbiter! That was abundantly clear as the humanoid male form that wasn't one nodded its many tendril-ed head to her. Magda knew that voice, but from where? Even when it was clearly trying not to, the form radiated energy on wavelengths that felt plain wrong to Magda. But it was odd. Except for being male, the form was almost like the Lotus' normal appearance, but the wavelengths were all wrong. The visible color spectrum were…

Red and black! Not the Lotus, but related to her and not in a good way! Magda had read the reports of what the Grineer had uncovered on Uranus and in the stupidity, had re-energized. The being who had led the Sentient invasion of the Origin system sparking the conflict known as The Old War. A destroyer of worlds who had been defeated at the end of that conflict, but not 'quite' destroyed. From what Magda had learned and what little she remembered of that time? Hunhow couldn't be destroyed. Stopped, sure. Drained of energy and left to rot? Of course. Destroyed? Not a chance.

Magda did nothing. She simply waited. The others looked at her and then at one another.

I told you she could handle knowing about me without going mad. Was the Sentient in humanoid form chiding the others? She is stronger of will than any of you gave her credit for, it comes with such a horrible job. For a human or Tenno, that would have been personal experience talking! From a Sentient? Officer Magda? The form inquired politely. You have a question for me?

"I wondered how Sentients were involved in this." Magda eyed Falcon who made a noise almost like a gulp. "I assume Narmer is almost as kind and gentle with your kind as they were with mine."

Just so, Officer. Hunhow almost seemed bemused by Magda. Ballas played everyone for fools. My own arguments with my kin ignored, they are still my kin. Being torn asunder so many times by Ballas and his slaves has rendered me clearer of thought than normal. It will not last, but while it does, I can be who I was if only for a short time. Rage warred with sadness in the ancient monster's tone.

"I am sorry." Magda said softly and everyone stared at her. "I have seen madness so many times. Even my kind can die, fade away, but you? You will adapt and come back. You will find no solace in oblivion as I will eventually. You have my sympathy."

Thank you. Hunhow replied with equal gravity. I do not know how long I can remain lucid, but eventually I will become the monster you know and loathe again. For now? I can aid you and you can aid me. My family has been broken. The being I became only cares about destruction for its own sake, but as I am now? I still care for my family. Even with them hating me, I wish them well and one of them has disappeared. The timing matches the first of the recorded deaths. Six day, night cycles of the planet Earth after your energy was pulled from the Deacon you were made into.

"I was a Deacon." Magda felt faint suddenly but Ollie pulsed again and this time, she let him calm her. She nodded thanks to him, but focused on officer took a slow, deep breath and then let it out. "You… Um, do you think your, uh, kin is involved in the deaths?"

I cannot say. Hunhow almost had a frown in its voice. Almost. Falcon did 'human' so much better than Hunhow did, but the smaller Sentient was silent. Almost as if it did not want to draw Hunhow's attention? Magda understood that all too well. Pity. I have no information, but as humans and your kind say, my 'feeling' is that she would not have done such. Like almost all my kind,..." Was that a wince from him? Magda wasn't about to inquire! "...my daughter is entirely capable of violence when needed, but she is far more restrained at such than most of us. She is sneaky. If Kanaah had killed these, she would not have left bodies and certainly not in that condition simply for the sake of causing fear. She had much better methods.

Other methods… NOPE! Magda did not want to know!

"What if Narmer did something to her like was done to me?" Magda said very quietly. "Made her into something worse?"

That is my fear. Hunhow admitted. As I say, I have no information to postulate probabilities. All I have is hope and that is fleeting as you know all too well, Officer. Magda nodded, manifestly unhappy to be agreeing with the Lotus' father of all beings, but unwilling to be dishonest. What I can say is that none of my people can find her. Despite our frictions, we are family and we have searched everywhere we are capable of going. We have found no traces.

"There is only one place your people cannot go." Magda was getting a feel for this and she was not happy about it. Form Owl's expression, Falcon's sudden tension and Ollie's murmur? None of them were either. Sentients could adapt to anything. Any environment no matter how hostile. Any hazard. Any hostility. There was only one place that Sentients could not go and that why long gone Orokin had built their sanctuaries there. The madness and chaos of the alternate reality was inimical to Sentient energy. Intentionally so as the first Sentient forms had been designed by the Orokin. "The Void."

Almost certainly. Hunhow agreed. And if so, we have only a limited time until she fades as I apparently intended her to so long ago. Magda looked at the red and black humanoid who heaved an almost human sigh. Again, not quite right. I earned her ire, Mother's and Adiinah's. I hope someday to reconcile, but I know that hope is in vain because even now, I feel my sanity, my sense of self, eroding. I must not stay and if I come again? Do not trust me! Owl? Help her! That was a command and as the echo faded, Hunhow vanished!

For a long moment, there was utter silence in the odd room and then Magda heaved a sigh of her own.

"Anyone else?" The officer asked, more than bit snide! She was not expecting an answer, but she got one anyway. Magda all but gibbered as a golden hologram formed near the door to the room, almost as if the form had walked in. That was Tenno energy that Magda could sense from it. A technological remnant of a fallen Tenno. Not quiet a ghost, but far too close for comfort.

"Hello, Magda." What had to be an ancient Tenno shade said with a smile that fell. "You do not know me, but I am sure you have heard of me and my recent many mistakes. My name is Lynn."

"Lynn..." Magda was very slow and careful to speak now. "As in, the Lynn who was one of the first disciples of a man named Hayden?" One of the first beings to wear a warframe. The first Tenno Healer and Cyberlancer. Formerly called 'Trinity' after her frame's name, but then took her original human name after a huge mess that had involved mind control, procreation and succession of leadership. Just the reports Magda had read had been a painful to peruse, but in the deepest, darkest corner of her mind, Magda so wished she had been there to see Hayden Tenno kicked in the balls for what he had done!

"Yes." Lynn smiled but there was no humor in said expression. "Not that I call him much more than deadbeat or shithead these days after what he did to the kids." Lynn agreed. "My kids, not his. I made a lot of mistakes and I have a lot of regrets. Thinking I could keep Taliana and her brood from making a mess is high on that list. Right now? I am bound to aid you. I helped soothe your energy after it was reconstituted." Something in her words bothered the officer.

"And… you think this Sentient Kanaah is responsible for what happened to me?" Magda asked to incredulous noises all around her.

"No, I don't." Lynn was quick to reassure the much younger Tenno. "But she is involved somehow. The timing is too precise to be coincidence."

"So… The Void?" Magda asked and Lynn nodded. "How do we find a Sentient in the Void?" Far from cowed, Lynn smiled. An oddly tender expression.

"We get help."