Now that school is over for a bit, I can focus on my stories again.
Read and Review!
The Trickster
You have fallen far from grace in the Empire. Once, you were a promising officer with a unit at your beck and call. Your forces maintained a mission success rate above the norm, and you had word that your unit might receive the honor of being inducted into the Kuva Guard force.
Then THAT thing appeared. A Tenno. Sweeping aside your men with casual ease, it made mincemeat of your proud unit, and caused you to fail a critical mission. The queens were not pleased.
Now, you make your way in the Penal Battalions, with a permanent brand of failure marked on your forehead. Your face, behind your mask, is locked in a perpetual snarl of rage at the unfairness of the universe. How much has been stolen away from you by that damned Tenno?
You have not lost your aptitude for command, but your methods have changed. Your men do not follow you out of respect or loyalty. They themselves are failures, criminals or batch rejects, with little left to lose. They once eyed you with contempt. Now they do so with fear. Your wrath has become legendary in your unit, whispered about out of your earshot, lest they bring it upon themselves.
The Penal Battalions are the last chance of redemption for the Grineer Empire. The final opportunity to use up the dregs before disposing of the refuse. Your unit has been sent out on many a suicidal mission with one objective: eliminate the Infestation.
That ancient plague weapon, unleashed by the Orokin against the Sentients, themselves another weapon of Orokin creation. It festered in the Origin System and must be pushed back, regardless of the cost.
And you have been sent out to do it, or die trying.
It is a testament to your tactical prowess that your unit has only lost three men to the plague today. Though they may despise and fear you, they know well that only your orders separate them from being consumed and mutated into the monstrosities you fight.
You order your squad Ballista to target a capacitor while using your Ignis cannon to create a fire barrier. The capacitor exploding creates a shower of arcing energy that splits off another portion of the damned infested monstrosities. It buys you a precious reprieve as your bombard lieutenant and heavy gunner sergeant safely shred the enemy at range.
The primal fear of fire is ingrained in most living beings, and it has served you well over the years. The heat from the self-igniting material scours and burns almost everything it comes into contact with. Your choice armament is even more effective against the plague, preventing regeneration and disabling even those most ancient of horrors.
Still, there is something odd today. The infested are more driven than usual, clumsy and frantic. Desperate even. Something in the distance is driving them out. A nagging feeling rises up the back of your neck.
The others in the squad are looking at you questioningly. Normally, you'd have ordered them forward, to press on and eliminate all trace of the Infestation. But you have yet to order them up.
Another group of enemies moves into your crosshairs, and your team sets up once again.
But this time, your gunfire goes right through them.
What?!
You are startled. It takes a moment for the reason to sink in. You have seen this phenomenon before. Enemies who appear solid, but whose appearance is disrupted by gunfire.
It is like that time when your original unit was wiped out.
You turn to give a warning to your Ballista only to freeze at the sight of your most hated enemy.
The Tenno has the same horns, curving outwards and down before angling back inward. From the shape of the helmet down to the coloration, there can be no doubt. This is the same Tenno that was responsible for your fall from grace.
In the distance behind you, you hear the shriek of the Ballista being beset upon by the monstrosities. You ignore it as your Ignis cannon spews forth fire and fury against the Tenno scum.
But it merely passes through harmlessly. The Tenno does not move, though it appears to shimmer in response.
You release the trigger while stopping the heavy gunner from spooling up her weapon. It is a fake. A holographic clone, born from their void sorcery. The real Tenno is elsewhere.
The Bombard gasps and wheezes before collapsing to the ground behind you. You whirl back around, but there is nothing in sight. No sign of the Tenno.
A sudden pulse of energy washes over your squad. Your vision turns white. When it returns, you discover that you are no longer holding your weapon. Instinctively, you draw your Sheev backup blade. All around you are multiple copies of the Tenno. Your squadmates seem to have vanished. With a snarl, you lash out at one of the Tenno clones, and it flickers out of existence as your blade passes through its throat. Another clone slashes you from behind, and you fall to the ground.
You roll out of the way and scramble up before throwing yourself at that clone, tackling it to the ground and stabbing it in the eye.
Then suddenly, it seems like your awareness pops. Before you is not a Tenno clone, but one of your own men in his death throes. You scramble backward and look around. The rest of your unit is dead, dying, or stunned with what they have done. Realization sprouts in your mind. The Tenno did something to make your weapons disappear and also messed with your perception to force the unit to attack one another.
You spin around, eyes passing over the holographic Tenno decoy standing in the center of it all. Then the decoy moves.
Before you know it, a hand snakes over your mouth while a knife traces a straight line between your carotid arteries. Blood fountains from your neck as the Tenno pushes you down. There seems to be a sound reminiscent of laughter in the distance. And it grows louder as your vision dims.
A fitting reception in hell for the joke that was your career.
Volt is next after this, then some newer frames.
