When is it enough?

Magda could not stop crying even with Kanaah's kindness wrapped around her. It was too much, everything that had just happened. She was broken now. She was lost. Her mind was all falling apart and she was-

No. Not like this.

That wasn't Kanaah! Something wrapped around Magda and she was flying. No, she was floating. No, she was inside something and she was warm, dry and clean. She was in a meat shell again and she was-

It was-

Good. Magda felt good for the first time in a while. She felt calm. She wasn't scared, hungry or hurting. She felt loved. Where was she? Did it matter? A voice intruded on Magda's comfort and it was one she had just heard. Archon Nira, but… Magda should have felt fear, anger, something. She felt nothing.

"I warned you what I would do if you hurt her." The Archon's voice was odd. Cold, but not. Angry, but not. Worried for Magda?

"I have not hurt her. She is in no pain. She is awake, but not entirely. She can hear, but not react right now. I am trying not to hurt her. I am trying to do what you asked." A new voice. Male. Strong. Wait… Did Magda know that voice too? It sounded like Owl. Sort of. Not entirely. Older, harder, but still almost the same. "What Ballas did is not so easily undone. What the Tenno have done is not helping, well… Some of them." He qualified. "Some of them are trying to help her just as you and I are. Just as Hunhow did."

"What?" That was pure shock from Archon Nira.

"I know." The not-quite-Owl said with feeling. "It makes no sense for some of them to be trying to kill her and others to be helping her, but there it is. I hoped to hide her, but I hoped in vain."

"I… If she stays, I cannot keep Pazuul away from her." Was Nira crying? "If he takes her… He will make her what Ballas wanted. A monster to take free will from others, just like me. Can you take her back to Duviri?"

"No." The other was just as sad. "Kanaah is very upset with me. Almost as as upset as I am with myself. I truly thought I could help them and then Thrax had to interfere and they all perished. I tried, Nira."

"And you cannot kill him because he is part of the Paradox." Was Nira sighing now? This made no sense! "Magda and her peers did not deserve this. Enemies we may be, but she did not deserve this! If she sees me, she will fight. I… I know it is all wrong. I know I am not really her mother, but every instinct says I am. That I have to protect her, nurture her and I cannot. She is going to fall apart now and there is nothing I can do about it. I will go back to being Pazuul's devoted minion and she… I…"

"If she is anything like the Tenno woman she was, she would prefer death to such." Nira hissed, but the other was not done. "You know I speak the truth."

"I know she is not really my child, but I do feel for her. It is implanted, just like all the other commands Narmer put in, but it is there and strong." Nira snapped, but her ire was not directed at the other voice. Odd. "Is there nothing we can do?" She all but begged. A Narmer Archon, begging?

"Nothing she will accept." The other was just as sad. "I… I will do it. Blame me as you must. I have failed. You asked me for aid and I tried to give it, but I cannot."

"What Ballas did cannot be undone." The Archon said heavily. "The good being she was is lost. I-" Something touched Magda and she tried to tense, but nothing worked. She tried to fight, but she could not move. "No. There is one thing I can do."

"Nira…" The other warned. "Don't."

"It does not matter whether she is my child or not!" The Archon snapped, but the tone was sad, not angry. "I feel that she is. As she is, she is in danger. I can help her and I must. One last time."

"NIRA! NO!" The other screamed, but then, agony tore though Magda as something was slammed into her chest. Something that felt both ice cold and insanely hot at the same time. She tried to scream as whatever had hit her bored deeper and deeper, but she could not.

Then Magda was falling again.

Somewhere

Magda landed on her feet on a metal floor. She was in her Nyx warframe, but had no weapons on her person. She felt the same, but a quick inspection showed something very different. A red thing extended out of her chest right at where the sternum would be on a human. A crystal of some kind? Sharp on the end. Whatever it was radiated energy, but a careful touch showed it was not hot or cold. A fast sweep of a hand showed something similar feeling extending out her back as well. Exactly at the same spot as on the front. Something had impaled her all the way through! She grabbed it, trying to pull it out, but it didn't move.

"Don't do that." Magda spun in place and went utterly still as at least two dozen Sentient forms rose from the area to hover around her! That paled, however as a being she knew stepped into her sight. Oracle Janet was shaking her head. The human looked good, if a bit bemused. Clad in a Tenno style robe with no veil for once. She had worn a face concealing veil all the other times Magda had seen her, but Magda had seen pictures of Janet's face without it. The human's face was emotive, not blank. The Oracle was not enthralled. And… Wait a minute! Why were the Sentients hovering around her almost protectively? The Oracle shook her head and when she spoke, it was bemused. "I didn't see this. Am I too close or is it outside of the probabilities?"

"You of all people know that 'probabilities' go awry when mothers and children are involved, Janet. Let alone laws that impact such." Magda stilled further when a large green Sentient form appeared behind the others and hovered to the Oracle's side. Magda had been briefed a little on the utter insanity that had erupted on Mars and at a certain hidden ancient tower there. Like every Tenno, Magda had heard about Grandmaster Nikis' passing and the madness that had erupted from that as well. If this was Oracle Janet, then the being beside her had to be Natah's Mother. Which made no sense. Then again… Did any of this whole escapade make sense? "Even as powerful as you are, Oracle, you only see what could be. Omniscience is not a skill you possess, my friend."

"True." Janet heaved a sigh as she looked at Magda. "Another fine mess, eh, Officer?"

"So it seems." Magda slowly relaxed. Clearly Janet was not hostile. None of these seemed hostile either. Wary yes, hostile no. "Do I want to know?"

That was wary and totally true. 'Oracle' had been a term used by some Orokin for the very rare humans with the supposed 'gift' of seeing the future. Being Tenno and inhabiting a Nyx warframe, Magda knew far more about the downsides to psionic abilities than most could fathom in their worst nightmares. The cops had dealt with Oracle Janet a couple of times, not that she could or would talk about that. It was easier for Magda dealing with the Lotus, even knowing that the guide of the Tenno had come from a Sentient form than dealing with such power in a human. A minor quibble in Magda's mind, but a known one. The cop respected Janet's power and the scope of her duty to humanity as a whole but trust from either side was very unlikely. Especially if Janet was working with Sentients!

"From what I understand, you have learned most of the facts of the case that you were investigating." Janet said slowly, feeling her words with care as if being surrounded by Sentient fighters and conversing with a lost Tenno cop was normal. Maybe for her it was? Then the Oracle paused and made a face. "Oh! Officer Ollie is okay." She was quick to continue as Magda hissed. "He is angry and no one blames him, but Sun did not harm him."

"Thank you for that." Magda inclined her head to the Oracle who returned it. "I know very little about all of what just happened, but I do know that Kanaah is alive and at least somewhat free to act."

"She is?" Came from the green Sentient who spun to face Janet who made a face as she stared at Magda. Was that shock, awe, fear, or confusion that flitted across the Oracle's face? Maybe all of the above at once. "Janet?"

"I can't see her." Janet admitted. "Where is she, Officer?"

"Somewhere called Duviri." Magda was not expecting both of the mismatched forms to exclaim in almost the same tone. Was that horror or awe? "I do not know where that is, but she was fine when I last saw her."

"Duviri?" Janet jerked and then she looked thoughtful. "That… That actually makes a bit of sense. Not that any of this does." She complained and Magda totally understood that. The Oracle's tone was musing and everyone was staring at her now. She raised a hand in a half warding, half helpless gesture. "That place is a mess. Yes, it is in the Void." She said and Mother seemed to tense, but Janet was not done."But time does not work the same way there that it does everywhere else I have seen." Now, her face was totally sour. "At least, everywhere else in this reality time seems to work the same way, if constrained in odd ways occasionally."

"I don't want to know!" Magda muttered in an undertone. Wait! Had the green Sentient said the same?

"Smart. Ignorance is truly bliss in such cases." Janet took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. Not quite a sigh, but close. "That whole place is one big temporal paradox and no one sane pokes into it without reason. Add to that, scanning it is hard at the best of times, which these are not. From your words, Kanaah could leave?"

"Apparently, someone named Thrax and someone else named Drifter are competing there and there are innocents caught in the crossfire. From what I was told, Thrax apparently took Kanaah there to try and warp her into a weapon like the Orokin did to Adiinah and she resisted, of course." Magda stilled as Mother made a noise of rage. "Kanaah is okay. She helped me when 'I' wound up there against my will."

"She cannot survive in the Void alone." Mother was very worried but rage was still singing deep in the large Sentient's tone.

"She is not alone!" Magda hurried to explain and everyone spun to stare at her. "I… I don't know what I can say." She said weakly as Janet stared at her, eyes going huge. "Oracle?"

"No way." Was the insanely powerful psi staring at the officer in awe? "Don't tell me they are involved?" Was she begging to be told or not to be? Hard to say.

"All kinds of people are involved." Magda snapped, not really angry with Janet but with this whole mess. "Humans, Sentients, Tenno, the Queen of Cats, wardens, Bladeborn and ancestors only know who else!" She touched the thing that had impaled her with a careful finger, but nothing happened. "And now? An Archon did this to me and how the hell did I wind up here?" She asked, somewhat petulant.

"I don't know." Janet shook her head and stepped forward. The Sentients stayed where they were as Janet moved to stand right in front of Magda. "There are a lot of players in this and if Thrax is involved, then all hell will break loose. His conflicts with the Drifter are causing shocks across our reality."

"And time is messed up there." Magda all but intoned that. Janet nodded as Magda blew out a deep breath. Odd that she felt to like a meat shell in her warframe. She stared down at the odd thing that impaled her and shook her head. "This was not here before I was in Duviri and now it is here. Did Thrax or this Drifter person do this to me?"

"I cannot tell. That is a shard of an Archon. The last remnant of one of their lives." Mother was very quiet and Magda went still as the other Sentients seemed to eye her. "Archons were products of our war with the Orokin. I can make no excuse for what we did."

"It was war." Magda was just as quiet. "And it is over." She said with force. Janet smiled at her and Mother seemed to relax. "But I did not do this."

"No." Janet reached out with a slow hand to touch Magda's metal hand. "As it is, it is the last remnant of whatever Archon it came from. It feels like Narmer to me, so it is recent."

"Don't take any chances!" Magda recoiled from Janet's touch. Not for fear of the psi, but for fear of whatever Magda might do to the Oracle! "Narmer is evil!"

"That they are." Mother agreed and then paused. "Well… Your investigation is done then, Officer. The bodies have been identified. What now?"

"Now?" Magda slumped a bit. "If my case is done, then since Narmer did what they did to me, I am a threat to my family and far too many others to count. I will not be a threat to my family." Calm, but firm.

At that, everything stopped. Janet was a statue and all of the Sentients were still, hovering where they had been. No one seemed to dare move.

"I am the last person to deny anyone any kind of choice after all of my own messes." Janet said after a moment. "I am always so tempted to meddle. To try and make things better but every time I try, things get worse instead. I do not like the thought, but it is your choice, not mine."

"Can you tell me if Laney survived? Our ship?" Magda asked as she slowly bent down into seiza stance. Kneeling but not subservient. Ready.

"I can check. Give me a moment.' Janet looked away, her gaze going distant and then she jerked. "Uh… What?" She stammered, not to anyone present.

"Oracle?" Magda asked when no one else prompted Janet. For her part, Janet's gaze was far away. "Is it something I did?"

"No." Janet was almost musing, but not quite. "It is something my people did." At that, everyone jerked and seemed to stare at the Oracle who flushed. Was she stammering now? No, but she was clearly not comfortable with something. "Uh, I do not know what you know about my recent history?" She inquired of Magda very carefully.

"As long as no one files charges, it is none of my business, Donna Pangolin." Magda had to snicker at Janet's expression. It was not every day that one saw an Oracle look poleaxed! "The statue of limitations ran out on any charges that might have been filed against your family a long time ago." The cop barked a small laugh. "None of us were dumb enough to cross Nikis anyway."

"You... know…" Janet mused, almost dumbfounded. "How do you…" She broke off and hissed. "No! No! He didn't!"

"Oracle Janet." Magda worked hard to keep her tone calm, not to laugh out loud at Janet's stunned expression. "Who else would he have involved? Atlas was busy and Anatoly… well…" Magda slumped and Janet nodded. "No one knew what Anatoly was really up to, but he was never really the law abiding kind. Nikis had secrets within secrets, you know that. Even with him gone, I am not going to betray his secrets. I am sure he left means of hurting anyone who did that did not require him to be present."

"He did." Now, Janet's tone was pure sour. "I thought it kind of funny when I first realized how law abiding the Pangolin family really was and then I realized how many strictures he and the others had set up. Atlas' punishments in particular were vicious."

"All three knew about the seedy side of human nature." Magda shrugged a little. "Atlas created the Royal Guard, Nikis the Guardians of the Dead and Anatoly, the Family."

"The Mafia." Janet corrected Magda a bit absently. "It may have started as a bootlegging operation, but it became a real family, an actual Mafia based on the original from Italy and no one sane crossed their founders. The Family and later offshoots took inspiration from a number of sources, but aside from selling booze, they were and are incredibly law abiding."

"Oracle, you know it was always about business." Magda said with a small smile that was hidden by her closed face plate. "Rampant lawlessness and anarchy gets in the way of business. Even in the worst of times in human history, you did not indulge in random acts of violence around Mafia, yakuza, Bravda or whatever territory if you wanted to stay alive. Even littering was punished very harshly. Open, flagrant violations of the law drew the attention of the authorities and that was never good for business. The successful Families of whatever ancestry knew this. Random violence was counterproductive. Much of what was done was illegal, true, but they had limits. Even the worst had limits."

"And with Nikis in charge, no one in his family dared to push those limits." Mother interjected.

"No." Magda nodded to the Sentient. "I do not like a lot of what happens when humans get drunk, but trying to impose arbitrary restrictions on such never worked well. Legislating morals never works."

"Yeah, Prohibition worked almost as well as making abortion illegal did. With no education or other limits, all it did was kill a lot of mothers and babies." Janet shuddered hard at that and Magda shared it. "Crazy humans never learn." At that, all the Sentients spun to stare at Janet even as Magda did the same and Janet flushed again. "I am not… I am more Tenno than human now. I was human. I am not any more and I can say that poking my nose into personal matters like that is nuts. I do not like the thought of abortions, having grown up in the Clergy, but what right do I have to demand others think the way I do?"

"That is neither here nor there, Oracle." Magda fought to get back on track. Such discussions always got complicated and emotional. "Laney?"

"Your ship intelligence found a new home and is on her way here with a passenger." Janet made a face. "Along with your partner Ollie."

"Oh?" Magda inquired, suddenly wary.

"Yeah." Janet was just as wary now, but not of Magda. "It seems another mummified body has been found, this time on a Granum ship and he wants answers too. So, he is sending an ambassador to talk to me who is not Tenno. She asked for specific escorts."

"Do I want to know?" Magda asked, very wary now.

"No." Janet swallowed hard and then heaved a sigh. "But I better go tell Brianna we are having guests before Elenia and her clan arrive. The last thing we need is for any of Jac's former clan to stumble into her by accident in one of the halls. It gets so… sad."

"Oh."

"Yeah."