Void-Crossed

by Dead Eternity

The Void was torn open in the Entity's realm, allowing both Survivors and Killers to get a glimpse at what might be their eventual end. They know little about the Void, so when the already dire situation grows worse, they have no context for how horrible it was about to get. Because two incomprehensible points from what could be called separate Voids have touched.

Special thanks to Ziel

Extraordinary circumstances often started with something as innocuous as a message in a Tenno's mailbox. Naberus was drawing to a close, and a Tenno was just returning with seasonal goods exchanged with Kaelli. In what Kaelli called "a fitting frame for the time of darkness and death," the Tenno had conducted her most recent operations as her newly acquired Dagath. Grandmother had given her a wry, amused look when she first stepped onto Deimos as the headless warframe that bore her original name. With the goods entered into the Orbiter's systems, there was nothing to carry onto her mobile base of operations. Yet it was already there, waiting to be placed. It was a soothing hobby: being a collector. Among all the death and carnage she dealt with and dealt out, it was nice to know that there was more to her than that. Perhaps it was opulent to display these goods all over her Orbiter, but they took up storage in the systems. She accessed the systems and started to add to her noggle collection when Oridis chimed in. The Tenno waved a hand, dismissing the display and focused on Ordis on the HUD.

"There is a message in your inbox, Operator. Strange. There are several data markers missing, but I can confirm that it was sent by the Lotus."

The window showing Oridis collapsed, leaving only a prompt to open up her inbox. There was only some unease that started to creep itself into her, lingering in Dagath's internal workings even as she remained perfectly still. With Transference in place, the Tenno was quite literally the warframe itself, and there was only a hole in place of a face. There were always some lingering mannerisms and echoes in certain warframes. Perhaps Dagath was one of the more poignant examples. Not as strong as Umbra, but there was enough to take notice. Perhaps it was due to those "haunted" Defixios, and the Vainthorns within, needed to rebuild Dagath.

But it felt stronger at this very moment.

She almost expected to hear tapping on the wall. The Tenno calmed herself, and looked at it with a warrior's calm. This was literally a recent phenomena that hadn't plagued Dagath yet. She was strong enough to withstand the Defixios where it drove Syndicate operatives to fleeing terror. This was just unease — the trepidation of an unknown threat stalking her. It was survival instinct that helped her survive. No warrior should be without fear. It was important to remember that the build-up was almost always worse than the actual confrontation.

But… why did this unease start with a mere inbox message?

With no other recourse, she opened it up.

There was a string of numbers in the text body:

3.2013-11.2015-9.2014-11.2018-11.2020-4.2021.

The video message showed the Lotus. Her sightless helmet greeted her, and there was a small smile underneath it. The Tenno expected the video to start playing, but the Lotus just continued to stare. And stare. The smile remained the same. It was small in its growing menace, the facial muscles not twitching. It stuttered and glitched, causing the Lotus to view off its axis. It made the unchanged smile just a little more sinister as the whole image was crooked slightly upwards.

"Ordis? There's nothing in the message —"

"Operator, the message has been playing just fine — is your lack of a face preventing you from seeing it?"

Dagath could see just fine, the warframe systems being able to perceive from more than just the eyes. Either way, the HUD wasn't visualized in a warframe's eyes, though it was certainly displayed as such. She closed and reopened the message, and that seemed to fix it.

The image had righted itself, and sound started playing.

"My child, my friend. An unusual Void storm has manifested itself near Outer Terminus and is growing at an exponential rate. Initial data suggests that it would be, but the Tenno currently stationed upon the Zariman have diligently kept vigil. The readings they have gathered so far suggest that the Void storm is unrelated to the Zariman's current position in the Void, but this may not be the case for long. Should the Void storm continue to grow unabated, it may soon dislodge the Zariman and unleash further storms upon the system. Such a scenario may approach an extinction-level event for everyone. The Holdfasts have developed a schematic to briefly quell the Void storm, utilizing materials from the Void Angels. You will need your Railjack for this operation, and these newly designed explosive charges to invert the Void's power from realspace back to Untime. It is our hope that enough force delivered by Tenno Railjacks will cause the Void storm to dissipate. A trusted source from Duviri has posited that something in the Void is causing this storm."

She knew who it was: the "witch" from Duviri. Though she, as the Operator, hadn't quite met Acrithis, it was different story for the Drifter self. The fact that Acrithis could notice this in Duviri, with all of its spirals and loops, did not bode well. The situation was bad, and it was only just becoming painfully obvious on how truly bad it was with each illuminating piece of information.

"My child, my friend, I wish it were not so, but there is no one I trust more than you. Should the situation demand it, I know you will face these impossible odds. And I will do my best to support you."

It was signed off as Margulis, of all things. That threw the Tenno off.

The Tenno knew that the Lotus had three voices within her: Natah, the Lotus, and Margulis. She herself was much the same: being both the Operator and the Drifter. The Lotus had been manipulated into different roles over her lifetime and it came to a head within, well, her head. At the end of the New War, however, she had chosen to have the Lotus.

It was perhaps the only role that could be considered truly "hers." The Sentients demanded war, Ballas tried to have her pose as his old lover, but the Tenno only ever looked to her for guidance. She had been manipulated into that role as well the first time around. But it was the Tenno who allowed her to choose. And she chose the Lotus.

The Tenno would not fail her.

She checked the message again, now seeing it as from the Lotus. Something was messing with her perception. Could it have been… that Man in the Wall? She half-expected to hear a "Hey, kiddo," or the rap-tap-tap on the wall.

There was only silence.

And that was even worse.

"Ordis?"

"Yes, Operator?"

"What do you think the numbers in the message are?"

"What numbers? The text within the message is merely a transcription of the video."

Something was wrong. She tried to put her hands on her face, but there was only an empty hole. Fingers still reached in and she grabbed the inner rim of her head, gripping and pulling in frustration. She remembered the numbers well enough.

"Ordis, can you decode a string of numbers for me?"

"Operator, if you are not feeling well, then take a break! —just take a moment."

"Ordis… please. Just humor me."

"Very well, Operator. I will inform you when the decoding is done."

These inverted charges took time to craft in the Foundry, while the Orbiter was traveling on the Solar Rails to Outer Terminus. All of this took time. All manner of ships rode on the Solar Rails, including enemy factions. So the typical travel time was nearly doubled for the Tenno to ride the Rails stealthily. And she especially didn't need to get waylaid today. The Tenno meditated, and waited. Her mind drifted toward the oddities of today. There was nothing she could do to properly explore this issue. So, she set aside the emotions, the fears, but did not cast them out. They would be ready to be picked up when it became prevalent.

"Operator. We approach the Outer Terminus. Transport tube to your Railjack has been connected. Cephalon Cy will take over from here. No, Operator… I'm not… jealous."

Dagath stood up, arsenal already loaded in the rare event that the Railjack was boarded. She loaded up the crossbow Attica, the pistol Vaykor Marelok, and the Dorrclave. Dagath's blade and whip were especially potent in their signature warframe's hands. The Tenno marched toward the platform and the adjourning tube, but a wave of sullen sadness struck her. It was absolute despair that caused her to sway. The echoes of Dagath's despair at the betrayal of her lovers ruminated in the very bones of the frame, but it should have been a fleeting thing. Dagath wasn't Umbra, yet something was forcing these emotions to surge. It ran rampant in the warframe's bio-technological systems, as code, as cells, as chemicals. Once it was circulating from within, something started to leech them away from without in no direction that existed in reality.

She wasn't the type of Tenno that overly indulged in emotions or who overdid it, casting them away in favor of cold rationality. They were her emotions. The Tenno were who they were, because of Transference. For good and for ill, they became their warframes: their power, their pain. While others used their machines to fight from afar, the Tenno were their warframes. She seized Dagath's anger and despair, denying this mysterious force her emotions. She breathed out with no mouth, no face. Her hand was pressed against the wall as she heaved with exertion.

Was the Man in the Wall escalating its unknown goals?

Or perhaps some other unknown entity was enacting its designs?

Her palm formed into a fist and she smashed it into the metal wall, denting it. The Tenno steeled herself for the battle before her. This one would be fought sooner or later, when she had more information. It would not do to dwell on distractions. She stepped onto the platform and ascended into the Railjack.

"Welcome aboard. Armaments are locked and loaded for the operation. Mediation: no battle comes without scars, but that's no excuse for weak hulls," Cy announced.

The Tenno huffed silently in amusement, knowing Cy's occasional irritation with boarders that punched through into the Railjack. An impenetrable hull sacrificed maneuverability and stealth capabilities. There was no true perfect defense or offense. Like all things, it was a balancing act when it came to apply modifications onto the ship. She passed by her Lich and Sister of Parvos she had converted to the Tenno cause, and caretakers for her Railjack when not in use.

"Can't wait to see the mess you'll get us into, Little Meat," her Lich cooed.

"Locked and loaded, darling," the Sister replied, in a folksy attempt to one up the Lich.

She had a feeling that she wasn't going to be in the Railjack for the most important bit to come. Dagath nodded at them with a faceless gaze, and they would take it however they pleased. They swooned. The Tenno resisted the urge to shudder, and some phantom sensation swirled within. It was nostalgia, of all things. The Tenno shuddered at that. Dagath settled at the pilot's controls at the helm's. The controls sprung from the floor, one providing support to her lower back. Her hands slotted into the twin levers, and pressed them forward. The Railjack cut swiftly through space, following her direction.

"Syncing with fellow Railjacks. Coordination will be key. Approaching Void Storm in two minutes. Prepare yourself."

The Tenno glanced to the left and right, seeing a small fleet of Railjacks flying beside her. A sense of comfort, camaraderie, filled her. This fight would not be fought alone.

The Void storm churned up ahead, chewing up space with light blur swirls that cascaded and cut and consumed. It crackled and cracked, slow-moving lightning that shattered space like a mirror. These cracks reached out like tendrils, as though it was a many-limbed beast that sought to ensnare life itself and break it. It did not look like a typical Void Storm, which was more like a bright and angry aurora determined to drag anything into its light. There was no true malice in that act of nature, no more than the darkness could curse the lights being turned on in an empty room.

"Analyzing Void storm's integrity in realspace. Calculating how much bombing is needed."

The Tenno had to stop this quickly, before any other faction tried anything. They would only exacerbate or try to exploit the situation for their own gain. If they couldn't stop this today, then this would become a protracted operation, the casualties growing the whole way.

"Critical points identified. Inversion charges loaded. First shot is yours, kid."

On the Void Storm, several reticles appeared on the screen in no particular pattern. She hopped off the helm and sprinted toward the Forward Artillery. She dropped down into the floor and into the gunner seat. The trigger was held, the shot charging up. Perhaps this would be a quick operation, and be little more than a blip.

"Corpus signatures detected. Do not be distracted; a contingent of Tenno have disengaged to sabotage the incoming Corpus Pillar."

She didn't know what to expect with forcing a Void storm into submission. When her fingers depressed the trigger, firing the first volley, the Tenno had expected massive turbulence. She was already exiting the Forward Artillery, ascending back up to the front of the ship when she saw the shot connect. Space folded into itself, tearing into the Void Storm. It reverberated and rippled across the main body of the phenomenon, like fireworks in the rain. But the howl that followed came from nowhere and everywhere: pure terror. Or rather, it was something that wanted to cause terror. It would have been easier if it was just a shockwave — something physical. The vileness resonated against her, infringing on the light within. She forced it out, stumbling back to the helm. Within her view, she could see other Railjacks sway side to side before righting themselves.

They returned fire against both the storm and the terror, causing further reactions within and from without. Streaks of orange started to smear across the Void patterns. It crackled and flickered like embers, but only for a moment. Those motes of light started to cluster together, blossoming into something sinister. Organic, but sickly. Bright, but putrid. Spider-like limbs, as though they were branches on a great dead tree, snaked out into realspace. They wiggled, blind, groping, but eager.

"Freaky. Prepare evasive maneuvers."

They cast long shadows, and as the Railjacks dodged the initial sweeping blows, those same shadows turned themselves solid. They stabbed backwards in the wake of their originals, striking true.

It was not enough to completely stall the Tenno, but it was enough to scatter them. Several of the Railjacks were punctured through and were nearly sucked into that gaping maw of orange and blue. Those still caught by those fanged limbs, put all their thrusting power to swing themselves into their targets. The Reliquary Drives imploded, acting very much the same as their newly crafted charges. She didn't know if her fellow Tenno could come as Drifters like she did, but that didn't matter. They sacrificed their lives as if they only had the one. Perhaps sensing this was a situation best left to the Tenno, the Corpus Pillar started to flee. It steered itself around, preparing to vanish elsewhere from this battlefield. One particular limb reached within its vortex and plucked something from inside.

Like a great spear lobbed by a primitive hunter, the object was flung with precision through space. Unlike a tried and true spear that remained straight to the point, the brunt of the body flopped onto the Corpus Pillar, crushing it underneath its massive weight. It was not a spear; it was a corpse. One that which weighed heavily on the Corpus ship, causing it to sag in space and become easy prey for the piercing jabs.

One-two-three.

And the ship was dead in the air. The way it was dragged into that impossible maw was like an insect dragging a prey back into its dark domain. There was something foul at the way the corpse was used as a weapon. It had bludgeoned the ship into submission. So shocking the sight was that it took her a moment to recognize the straddling corpse. Orowyrms weren't just relegated to Duviri; sometimes they could even traversing the Void. Whether they originated specifically from Duviri or elsewhere… it did not bode well if either was true, and one of them had to be because of the fact that this storm had easily killed one.

She shook off her disbelief, and continued her own charge. What fellow Tenno were left continued their assault in the face of the slaughter, each and every one of them ducking and weaving. She yanked hard to the left, dodging a strike as tall as an Orokin Tower. The bottom of the ship scraped against the blackened, gigantic leg as she struggled to keep the ship from being damaged. Crackles of energy danced, rippling explosions like bugs on a carcass.

"Void storm integrity at 15%. One more shot should quell the storm."

The Railjack dove under a pincer attack, flying straight toward a target.

"Keep the momentum, Cy." She hopped out and sprinted toward the back, acting as both pilot and gunner.

"If your pilot is on leave, the remaining crew should be made into adequate replacements."

She did not want to get into her disastrous attempts at providing her Lich and Sister some proper Railjack training at the moment. The Tenno dropped into Forward Artillery, already charging up the shot. By the time she barely managed to align it, the charge was already launched. That last one sucked everything in, before burping out a shockwave that spun out the Railjack. She was slammed about in the gunner seat before pulling herself up back into the ship proper.

"The storm is cracked open like an egg. Yolk everywhere."

Dagath stood by the pilot's seat, staring at the result of their work. It was all spiraling, like a black hole slurping up space and light into its center. Those legs were now curled around the center— a spiral within another spiral. In the middle was a pulsating orange vortex, belching out smoke… not smoke.

A Fog.

It started to spill into realspace, distorting and warping its surroundings.

"I cannot perceive a negative within a negative. A color out of space. Tenno, assess the situation."

She watched the vortex leech at the Void to fuel its own power. The blackened limbs swelled, whereas there was a byproduct of this symbiosis. The Void spat it out, causing the Fog to glitter and sparkle with energy. It was very like an explosive barrel leaking gas all over the place. It would be subjected to all the volatile triggers of the outside world. A powder-keg that could not be sustained. Were it to go off, the Origin System could be looking at another hole into the Void.

But there would be no Zariman to plug the hole this time.

"Fight's not over. Something inside that vortex is what started all of this." She steeled herself within Dagath. "Inform the other Railjacks that I'll be heading inside to better resolve the situation. They need to be on standby in case anything goes wrong."

"Acknowledged."

"Heading to Slingshot."

Dagath's feet marched toward the back of the ship, where the mechanism for launching herself was located. The actual cannon was atop the Railjack, and was affixed with accompanying Archwing systems. She would not be completely helpless to the whims of a vast and uncaring space, but maneuverability would ensure she wouldn't be utterly stranded.

As she loaded herself in the Slingshot, Ordis chimed in.

"Operator. I had finished decoding the numbers through various strains of ancient ciphers. The actual result is surprisingly —boring!— mundane, but perhaps it would make sense to you."

"Might as well."

"Very well, Operator."

It was another string of numbers. It took her a moment to recall the importance of the numbers: a date in time. By the time she realized this, the Tenno had already been fired out of the Slingshot. The sheer power propelled her through the stars, the Archwing around her keeping her trajectory straight. At best, she might be able to slowly nudge herself slightly in another direction, but she'd doom herself by becoming vulnerable to the vortex's limbs.

It was best to stay on course, even as she realized what the message entailed. The numbers were the date that the Lotus celebrated quietly with her every Earth cycle. It was the date when the Lotus first woke her up into this fractious system, and what she considered the start of her journey with her memory initially muddied.

It was an occasion that very few actually knew. She pretty much wiped out the Grineer that were there at her first awakening; Captain Vor was stuck in the Void; and the Lotus didn't advertise it. The fact that it was so small, yet so poignant, there was no other conclusion that it was a taunt mocking her. Someone, or something, wanted her specifically, here and now.

And it was already too late.

She smashed through the orange vortex with the Void spiraling into it. Images flashed in her mind, flickeringly fast, and she couldn't make heads or tails of it. The Tenno screamed though Dagath, who didn't even have a mouth to scream. It reverberated within the interior machinery, bordering between the biomechanical form and from which the Oro — the soul — operated in. Somewhere in the screaming, there was bastion of sanity, of clarity. And it was like fingers of a dark shadow of a god stirring inside her brain, reconfiguring into a spiral.

Through Dagath, she heard the Lotus's voice.

"Tenno, something is interfering with your power matrix. Your abilities and agility have been disabled. I have identified four roaming conduits that are the source of this distress. Should they finish transferring their energy to five generators, your warframe will be shut down and you'll be in danger. Two swift blows to these conduits should disable them temporarily. I have deployed several sappers in the area that you'll need to hook these conduits to so that they may be drained safely."

No… this isn't right!

She threw her head back, hands gripping at both sides of the hoop that made up her head. Her hands pulled as if she could split the head apart. Dagath crashed down onto a hard ground, the Archwing blowing up underneath her. Still, she roiled and thrashed on the ground, screaming never ceasing.

Her vision faltered for a few seconds before she rolled onto her stomach and saw a pair of boots. The Man in the Wall, aping her Operator form, gave her a wave. They crouched down, smiling with her own face. The Man in the Wall smiled and held her chin in the crook of her thumb and an extended index finger. It was clearly mocking the fact that she didn't have a face from which to emote with. The point, having been made, was turned into a flicked finger at the top of Dagath's head. There was a sense of emptiness that replaced the forced clarity. It felt like she could breathe again. Or rather, she could finally stop wasting her breath on screaming.

"That's another favor you owe me, kiddo." The Man in the Wall giggled. "But see this through, and I'll call this particular favor squared. But remember. You. Are. Mine."

Then they were gone.

Dagath forced herself back up, heaving with emotional exhaustion. She examined her surroundings, seeing that she was clearly in the Void, but it felt… different somewhere. If the Void she knew was a mirror in the dark with nary a light but her own, this area of the Void was a pit. It was like starvation without hunger, that half-second before death of deprivation. There was no gnawing ache; only absence.

Was this the Void?

Or a facet of the Void that she knew not?

Perhaps there was some overlap with what she knew and what was currently before her. The truth of the matter was that she could speculate from now till the end of time and get nowhere. What mattered was acting.

Priorities.

There were stone ruins with no particular features, like stones that have been eroded by a great and terrible river that knew no end. A dark statue was jutting out from the ground. It was of a veiled figure, arms outstretched and head looking up. It looked familiar, like déjà vu but it reversed. It looked like something she would know in the future. When she briefly looked away to examine the limits of the environment, the statue had changed to a dirty white and had a more downturned expression, staring at the floor. The entire area was adrift — a platform, an island on an unforgiving sea. There was only the Void. Staring upwards revealed an burning orange vortex, swirling and churning.

With her Archwing destroyed, she wouldn't be able to reach it no matter how hard she bullet-jumped. She skulked around, trying to find some clue that would allow her to navigate this situation better. There was a hook hanging from a pole from which she could sense a hunger and a bloodthirstiness from it. Even as this area of the Void sapped every emotion it could gobble its hands on, these hooks still carried a resonance of their original purpose. It did not speak well of this place and whatever intentions had imprinted onto it.

A flicker of movement caused her to snap into cover, unholstering her pistol. Peering out of cover, she spotted a shadow — a phantom of a phantom. It lingered lifelessly in the air, with dead and hollow eyes. There was no legs, only the dangling backend of a spine. The form was monstrous with spines curving from the head and back. The only bit of life was a core of Voidstuff within its chest, pulsating blue light faintly.

It looked like a small, sad thing.

And the Tenno felt pity for it.

She approached with her gun concealed behind her back. The moment she approached it, the creature's head snapped to Dagath. The Voidstuff in the chest flared in sequence, like the first heartbeats of someone resuscitated from the cusp of death. When it spoke, it was something that had once been human, but had been regressed. Its words were desperately torn from a lexicon, because it would not be able to compose a sentence otherwise.

"I… remember! I… am! Your… your light… it's so… strong! " It shuddered in ecstasy. "More than those scraps those survivors and killers give me. You need to make me real again—"

A phantasmal hand reached out for the Tenno before it was wiped away in a flood of blueish energy. It gushed from the ground like a geyser. Everything had happened so fast that she hadn't even realized that she had drawn her pistol. Once she was satisfied that there was no immediate danger, she examined it and came to the conclusion that it was a portal. With no way to reach the portal up above, she entered into the more available portal column. She stepped out into a cornfield, yellow stalks obscuring good portions of the environment. Dagath turned around and saw a rather ancient looking house, made of wood of all things. It was only two stories tall and looked even more rundown.

Sensing danger from the cornfield, she spun around and saw a blade falling towards her. She managed to grab the blade between her palms, yanked to the side, and with, great strength, snapped it in two.

A tall muscled figure draped in crude and, frankly anarchic, armor snarled. A horned, red mask with a fixed, menacing expression thrust its face at her while two huge hands brought out a studded, war-club and nearly caught her off guard. But Dagath had already deployed her Wyrd Scythes. The spinning blades had cut the hands clean off from the man and then swarmed him, shredding him to pieces. He barely had enough time to even make a sound to cry out. The pieces had been launched toward the raised fence around the boundary, the giblets bouncing bloodily across the soil.

Now on guard, she pulled out her crossbow and carefully stepped into the cornfield. Hearing someone up ahead in a clearing, she hopped out, weapon out first. A timid looking man with glasses and a tie froze up at the sight of her.

She was in the process of putting the weapon down and raising a friendly hand before he snapped out of his shocked stupor.

"Everyone, there's a new Killer!" he shouted, throwing down a flashbang and sprinted further into the cornfield. It did nothing to the beyond creating a loud flash of light. Her hand dropped and she sighed airlessly.

All in all, not the worst reaction to a Tenno, but it certainly could have been better.

A/N: Kind of a weird crossover, right? But with the Haunted by Daylight event introducing the Void as a gameplay mechanic, I got inspired. Since I was in the middle of grinding for Dagath in Warframe, I used her as well. I actually considered using Voruna, since ya know: werewolf. But maybe for something else. I was actually hoping to get this done before Halloween since the Halloween events were what prompted this fic.

The Haunt, the ghost person in the Void, being rejuvenated is in similar vein to the Holdfasts, basically Void ghosts in Warframe, where the Tenno's mere presence stabilize them. So, by the transitive property, a Tenno will do far more for the Haunts than the Survivors and Killers.

Speaking of which, I did take in consideration on how quickly the Oni got taken out. That was sorta the point, because he's a Killer as adjusted for the Trials. He's gonna be bass-boosted by the Entity for the rematch. The Entity does sorta… equalizes things that I feel like it might be easy to lowball the Killers. Like, I feel like there's an idea like where there are Killers that the Entity is "afraid" of or can't "control." I feel like that some Killers may bend the rules a little, a la Tombstone Myers, or try to fight back, like the Trapper, but at the end of the day, if a Killer is hooking Survivors, they're playing by the Entity's rules. If the Entity didn't want the Executioner in the Trials, it wouldn't be there. If the Cenobites hook them, then the Entity doesn't care that they occasionally mori them into their personal hell dimension for a bit.

I try to portray characters as having autonomy, which includes the Entity. And the Killers. Though I did playfully allude to the White Eyes theory (in which the Entity messes with the perception of certain killers to show their victims as people as they hate) when the Tenno had that vision of the Lotus, I personally don't believe in it. The Entity certainly stokes the hatred in some of them, like the Spirit, it doesn't come from nothing. It diminishes the Killers — taking away their autonomy — if they're only "righteously" punishing others, even if it's only in their head. It's like, have you ever been angry enough that you're on the precipice, it becomes a choice. And once you cross that threshold, the same choice becomes easier and easier. The Entity doesn't need to keep a Killer in a delusion; it just has to keep them dehydrated and then lead them to water. They'll be drinking on their own soon enough.