CW: graphic descriptions of Medical experimentation, blood and gore, Orokin abusing/experimenting on children, civilian death by fire.
Hey, remember that news segment at the beginning of Chapter 2 that seemed irrelevant? Well, it's not now! We get to see (some) of the remaining survivors. None of them will be taken into custody, I can only do so many "They don't understand X language" before it gets old.
==== Devil Slicer Report ====
Six of the most unruly devils of the Zariman were selected to partake in experiments to discover the limits of their power of regeneration after numerous guards reported the cursed children healing from their deserved beatings.
Trial One:
Subject #1 was a young male with purple hair. Average levels of Void energy. He was used as the control group. Several incisions were made along the body which sealed themselves quickly. Consciousness does not affect the speed of tissue regeneration. The subject was returned to the general population after testing was completed.
Trial Two:
Subject #2 was a young female with a missing eye. The eye was lost before Incident Zariman Ten-Zero. It seems injuries obtained before their profane transformation persist. Performed unsedated enucleation on the remaining eye, which regrew after twelve standard earth hours. The Void devils seem able to regenerate faster depending on the level of Void energy. The limits of this far surpass the capabilities of our Lorists and don't have to wait for cloned organ transplants. We will be performing more intensive tests on the stronger subjects.
Trail Three:
Subjects #3 and #4 were a male and female pair. The purpose of their test was to see how many organs could be removed without subject expiration. Both were sedated for surgeon safety. Thyroid gland, liver, and uterus were removed from the female, while the stomach and left lung were removed from the male. Brain activity and speed of regeneration increased when vital organs were removed.
Subject #3 awoke when surgeons attempted to remove the heart, Lorist Sorio was incinerated by Void energy produced by the devil's hands. Purge protocol was initiated in the suite, and the accursed child was incinerated at near-solar temperatures. The monitor noticed increased brain activity on contact with the heart. The current hypothesis is that the devil's healing is tied to either the brain or the heart. Subject #4 will be used in the next test as well.
Trial Four:
Subjects #4 from the previous test and #5, another male will be tested to discover the limits of the devil's regeneration. Subject #6 will be subjected to the results of these trials due to having the strongest Void energy signature.
Results of tests on Subject #4:
- Limbs amputated, grew back after two days. Lorist healing was able to accelerate the process.
- Dax guard was ordered to fire an unmodified Tigris shotgun at the subject's chest. Despite extreme damage to the heart and lungs, the subject was able to survive.
- Incisions made with a blade soaked in Void energy were able to create scars that would not heal on surface tissue. This did not have any significant effect on internal organs but was able to delay the healing. Recommended procedure for disposal of the devils is Void-powered weaponry. Otherwise, complete incineration seems to work.
- Severed spinal column between L3 and L4. Paralyzed from L4 Downward until it regenerated.
Finally, Subject #4's brain was removed, wherein the devil's body immediately reacted despite sedatives. The body attempted to re-insert the brain for a few moments after removal before dying. Curiously, the brain was able to survive outside the body for twelve Earth hours before it expired.
The devil's brains and other organs appear normal on scans when removed. Despite the hellish power that flows through their bodies, once they die they appear as normal humans.
Results of tests on Subject #5:
Following what we learned from #4 we tried several different methods to terminate #5.
- Removal of heart, destruction of heart, failures.
- Exsanguination, the body continued to function despite massive loss of blood.
- We used a sample of our deadliest poisons, and despite most of the devil's organs failing multiple times he was able to recover.
- Technocyte plague administered to no effect. The Void devils appear to be immune to the infestation?!
Subject was terminated via decapitation via Void infused blade. The body did not attempt to recover the severed head.
All records of the project were sealed by order of his grace Executor Ballas.
Subjects #1, 2, & 6 were terminated by his decree.
Archemdeans Sorio and Clovia were executed after suggesting that the children be used as Yuvan due to their power of regeneration. All personnel involved were also executed.
[Mt. Fuji, April 25, 2242]
Lt. Lech Kril awoke to the beautiful sound of birds chirping… and angry screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Where are my beautiful… cybernetics!" He heard a familiar voice shout, wheezing out every word.
Lech pushed himself out of the foliage he found himself in, armor creaking. He grabbed his trusty Brokk hammer to lean on as he checked his gear. The coolant pack on his back was shot, most of the wires had either disappeared or fused into the metal rendering it unusable. His body felt different. There was no consistent pain from the cybernetics keeping his organs functioning, and he could feel his hands and feet. He reached for his Gorgon only to find the machine gun was warped and battered. The barrel was bent and fused shut, so he tossed the useless weapon to the side. All he needed was his fists and his hammer.
Nearby, General Sargas Ruk had awoken to the same conclusion that his comrade had, albeit a bit earlier. Once he realized he realized that his cybernetics were gone he'd flown into a rage. Pieces of his broken armor littered the clearing he was in.
"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The orange-armored Grineer roared, punching down a large tree in his anger. He whirled around upon hearing Kril's heavy footsteps and the cracking of branches.
"Kril. You survived. Where are. Your. Troops?" Sargas wheezed. He'd removed most of the bulky equipment, leaving only his monocular visor and heavy armor. It wasn't like his equipment was in any shape to produce his flames. As of now, they were just bulky weights.
Lech leaned his hammer against the tree, face unreadable beneath his eggplant-shaped helmet. "No idea. You are the first brother I have seen since I woke up. Is this Earth?" He squinted through the viewport of his helmet, seeing an early morning sky.
Sargas looked up to see the snowy slope of a mountain. He hadn't been to Earth's surface in decades, so he wasn't sure. If he recalled correctly, the trees on the planet were supposed to be much bigger than this. He also didn't have any trouble breathing the supposedly toxic air. "I don't know." He turned to his comrade. "Report. What happened. To your forces?" He huffed.
"Sentient bugs hit hard. Lost most of my fleet around Mars, the rest was captured and Veiled." Lech leaned in, noticing that Sargas's face seemed a lot smoother than normal. "I heard Kela was slaughtered by her own gladiators when they were veiled." He said with a chuckle.
"Hmmpf. That. Is what. She gets for. Letting others fight. Battles for her." Sargas coughed. Lech could've sworn he saw black smoke exit his mouth.
"Ruk. Do you feel… different? My arms and legs are back." Lech asked.
"Yes. My cybernetics. Are. GONE!" Sargas responded in his gravelly voice. "I. Assume. It is the. Same. For you?"
Lech nodded. "I also feel much healthier. The pain of the rot is gone."
If that was one thing that Sargas could take solace in, it was the fact that the chronic pain from the disease that plagued all Grineer had faded. He felt renewed but angered at the loss of his augments. The flesh was a weakness that disgusted him. It would rot, age, and die. There was also a hard limit on what pure training and stimulants could accomplish. But technology? It could be easily replaced when damaged, and advancements were continually being made.
His train of thought was interrupted by a shout.
"GRINEER BROTHERS!" An average-looking Grineer in what looked like a nobleman's attire approached them.
Kril stood at attention. How dare what appeared to be a low-ranking Grineer noble address him as such. "Who the fuck are you?" He growled.
"BROTHERS, DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE YOUR GLORIOUS COUNCILOR? IT IS I! VAY HEK!" He said. Hek had no 'inside voice'. This was about as quiet as he could get.
Sargas and Lech turned their heads toward each other before they both let out a heavy laugh.
"YOU DARE?" He screeched in anger with a vein popping out of his head.
"You. Look. Pathetic." Sargas wheezed as he tried to stop laughing. If he recalled correctly, this is what Hek looked like before Dr. Tengus "improved" him. Sargas was all for cybernetic enhancement but he would struggle to call what Tengus did to the councilor as an upgrade. All it did was make an already unstable man even more unhinged.
"I could break you in two," Lech said, leaning down to Hek's height.
Hek's eye twitched he could feel his rage bubbling to the surface but he pushed it down for the time being, which was easier said than done. "ENOUGH! WE MUST FIND MORE OF OUR BROTHERS TO RE-ESTABLISH POWER. FOR THE QUEENS!"
All he got back was a blank response. Normally Lech and Sargas would be mostly willing to put up arms for their Queens, despite how much they hated Vay Hek's questionable leadership. But now? They felt no pull to do so.
"Why. Should. We. Follow. A coward. Like. You?" Sargus poked Vay Hek in the chest with every word. The councilor's eye twitched in barely contained rage.
If there was one thing that Sargus and Kril hated, it was a coward. In their eyes, Vay Hek was one of the biggest they knew. He'd been nearly assassinated by dozens of Tenno hit squads and fled every single time things got dicey. The only positive thing that Sargus could say about the man was that he was a miracle worker for morale. He could whip almost any Grineer into a frenzy directed toward their enemies, no matter the losses. Frankly, that was the most likely reason the Queens hadn't disposed of him. He was too useful for troop morale and had amassed too much power for him to be eliminated without creating a vacuum. A side effect of his enemies on the council mysteriously 'disappearing'. Either that or he amused the Queens despite his numerous failures.
But there weren't any Queens watching now, and both men didn't feel the pull of obedience. They could kill Vay Hek with no repercussions. He had no power now, and he was stuck in an unaugmented body. Everything special about him came from Tengus's experiments. Without his Terra-Frame he would be easy to kill. But that could wait until they had a little fun poking his fragile ego.
"Look at little Hek. What are you going to do? Cry?" Lech guffawed.
"YOU INSECTS! YOU DARE QUESTION MY AUTHORITY? I AM A COUNCILOR! I REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE QUEENS! THEY WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS!" Vay Hek screeched like a little parrot. Like most Grineer, Hek was loyal to the Twin Queens by the forced genetic programming. But unlike his fellow clones, he had taken it further. He was fanatically loyal to them out of a desperate need for approval. A loyalty that bordered on obsession. Whatever had happened to transport them here had cured them of their clone rot and erased any genetically encoded loyalty, but Vay Hek's went deeper than that.
"I. No. Longer. Care. For. The Queens." Ruk wheezed. "And. We. No. Longer. Need. To. Listen. To. You." He shoved the trembling man to the ground. "I. Will. Enjoy. Every. Second. Of. This."
"Don't go too hard on him Sargas. I want a turn as well." Lech smirked under his helmet as he picked up his hammer.
Sargas's fist slammed into Hek's armor, knocking and cracking it. "NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Something in Vay Hek snapped, the rage of betrayal flowing through him. His skin turned a bright red and his muscles began to expand rapidly, tearing through everything but his flight suit under the armor.
Sargas and Lech stepped back. "What!"
Councilor Vay Hek! Quirk: Rage!
The angrier he gets, the larger and more powerful he becomes! The downside to this massive power-up is that he falls into a berserk state. His blood pressure rises as well the angrier he gets.
For someone whose entire personality was anger, Rage was the perfect quirk for Vay Hek. Unfortunately, it came with the drawback of turning him into a drooling beast, lashing out at everything around him.
Sargas caught a massive fist to the chest, sending him flying down the mountainside. He punched through tree after tree before slamming into a boulder along a hiking path, cracking it in half. The General was surprised he was still alive. His armor was strong, sure, but it shouldn't be able to take that hit and live. Said armor had a massive hand indent on it. He was lucky his ribs weren't broken. Bruised, but not broken.
Groaning and pulling himself to his feet, he was distracted by the multiple voices. He turned to the trail to see a group of people wearing hiking clothes and backpacks with faces of shock. Some of them pointed devices at him that made clicking noises. One of them turned to the person at the front of the pack. "Are wa dare? Kare wa eiyūdesu ka?"
The hikers were startled by a roar that shook the mountain. Flocks of birds scattered as a large blurred shape flew toward Ruk's location. It was Vay Hek, bigger than before and pummeling Lech as they approached.
Instinctively, Sargas raised his right arm where his flame cannon used to reside. The air began to heat up around him rapidly. "KURN ADHUVE!" Sargas screamed as a massive aura of fire surrounded him, instantly setting the entire area ablaze and burning the surrounding hikers to a crisp.
At the base of the mountain, the peaceful morning was rocked by a massive explosion that erupted near the edge of the forest near far up Mt. Fuji. The blast launched showers of burning trees further down the mountainside causing even more fires to break out.
Sargas coughed as black sludge exited his mouth, a mixture of saliva and smoke. The blast of flames he unleashed took a lot out of him and what was worse, it barely phased the raging Vay Hek. He'd only been stunned, allowing Lech, who was also somehow still alive to escape his grasp. That was probably due to the Lieutenant's armor being designed to insulate against extreme heat and cold.
He was so distracted he nearly missed the blur of a red fist approaching his head. Lech reacted before him with unnatural speed, his armor glowing red from the heat.
General Sargas Ruk! Quirk: Eruption!
He can unleash bursts of extreme heat that can melt nearly anything! It basically turns his body into a volcano! Whenever he unleashes an attack, ash builds up in his body that he needs to expel. Due to the nature of his quirk, his attacks come out in violent bursts!
Lieutenant Lech Kril! Quirk: Thermal Dynamo!
The higher his temperature gets, the stronger and faster his body becomes! He can raise or lower his body temperature at will. When his temperature drops below freezing, he becomes an invincible, slow-moving juggernaut!
Vay Hek turned toward the two, his expression one of pure rage, the drool leaving his mouth evaporating from the heat produced by Sargas's new power.
"Fight till the end?" Lech asked. Sargas nodded in agreement. They didn't know if they would win, but they wouldn't give up.
Witnesses to the fire said they heard two sonic booms later on. JSDF radar picked up two objects leaving the mountain, one heading east, the other southwest.
[Jaku City, April 25, 2242]
Damn that Veebo, or whatever the hell his name was. That blasted crewman had cost him everything! He gave that tech such a simple task. All he had to do was give him fucking fire control for the fleet for Void's sake!
But nooooooo. He had to go play the hero and override his control over the fleet. The shot on the Murex didn't even scratch it, and the blast it released in retaliation destroyed the Obelisk Ship almost instantly. The only reason Alad survived was because of the emergency escape pod he had installed. He wasn't foolish enough to reside on the bridge to rely on that module like that old coot Frohd. This was one time his paranoia paid off.
And now he was here, creditless and scrounging for food in an unknown city like a desperate rodent. The conditions here were even worse than the temporary base he'd set himself up in after he fled.
Then…
Alad set down the plasma splicer. His latest masterpiece was finished. A new Zanuka model scrounged from the corpse of a fallen Khora and her summoned Kavat. The Zanuka series was always a good fallback for him. Much more reliable and controllable than those horrid Sentient Amalgams.
Well, the Amalgams were impressive pieces of technology. The fact he had been forced to construct those hybrids was what really irked him. Would he have eventually made them himself? Probably. The Sentient's technology was truly impressive, on par with that of the Warframe. That was why he was so eager to work with Regus when he proposed the joint venture. The fact that the old man had agreed to such a laughably one-sided contract that Alad had drafted honestly should have been a huge red flag. He'd been greedy and desperate for funding after his numerous failures, but the board wouldn't overlook him collaborating with the enemy. Had he known that Regus was a disguised Sentient he would've never signed the contract.
The moment he signed that tablet he'd doomed himself to a gilded cage of his own creation. Sure, he had near limitless resources thanks to his new "partners" but no way out. He'd tried to back out of course, but she sent the Ropalolyst to decimate his cities. Even if he did manage to find a way out, if the board found out what he did he'd be executed at best. He wasn't exactly popular after Gradivus and especially after he'd tried to create a "Mutalist Empire" by weaponizing the infested.
That hadn't been his best moment, but to be fair he wasn't exactly thinking for himself at the time. The knowledge he'd gleaned from touching the infested hive-mind was worth it in his opinion. He'd escaped from the situation with help from the Betrayers of all people, stealing that Grineer's research to free his mind of the infestation just enough to make a deal with the Lotus for a full cure later on.
Anyways, enough reminiscing on that. The important thing is that he hated not being in control. It was bad enough he had to fuse Sentient tech to a human host while somehow keeping the whole thing alive (if you could call that living). Did they not understand how difficult that was? Sentients might as well be another species with how complex their inner workings were. At least with the Infestation, you could guide it to bond with organic tissue, but he couldn't even use that to fuse the two since the invaders from Tau were immune to the plague! He'd much rather figure out how to attach Zanuka's head to a human… not a bad idea. He'd mark that one down for later.
Even when he did figure out how to hybridize Sentient and humans (after fusing them to some Moas and Turrets first) he had to make them weaker than they should've been because he knew that he wouldn't be in control of them. It was an insult to his genius to purposely sabotage his creations to be sub-par. Alad prided himself on delivering quality, if expensive products. His Zanuka line would've been the next generation of proxy if he'd ever got the funding. However, a Tenno assassination squad and a lesson in defenestration had put a halt to his plans of mass-producing them.
Zanuka-84 activated, stretching herself out like the animal she was based on. He'd established a direct mental link with this model. The Sentient had subverted all his other networked proxies. He wouldn't have that happen to his new creation.
"Who's a loyal little girl, you are, yes you are!" He rubbed his creation's feline head. She would follow his mental commands to the letter, unlike some people. Damn that Venmo, he couldn't even experiment on the man as punishment. Maybe he had a sibling or parent that could take it in his stead?
Bah! It didn't matter in the long run. Despite how petty he was it would be a waste of valuable time to track down one of them for revenge. Time was credits after all!
He was glad that he hadn't been captured by the Sentient, or Narmer Empire as they were apparently called for the past few months. The only thing Beebo had accomplished with his little stunt was costing Alad a chance to negotiate with his new overlords, nothing more. That traitorous tech didn't save Alad from being veiled, not at all! He would've been able to prove his usefulness to the new God-Emperor… probably.
The last few months of the new Empire's rule had been boring. He'd hidden away in an old mining rig around Jupiter. Any unlucky souls who happened to come aboard? Well, he happily freed them of their supplies with Zanuka's help. The new model was working out nicely, especially when he attached the chainsaw for it to carve up their enemies.
It wasn't ideal, but he was surviving.
Beep beep beep!
Odd, a full-range transmission. It looked like it was going out to everyone in the system. Another one of Narmer's propaganda broadcasts? Those were usually targeted. This one was unencrypted and being sent to every open comm channel. What the hell did he want.
Alad walked over and activated the display to reveal Ballas, the leader of Narmer. He'd arrived a bit late so the man was partway through his speech already.
"-at will become of you, my people, my flock? You will join me there, of course... but by another path. The path of sacrifice. The path of oblivion. Cleansed of all doubt, for you will peer into the pitch of day and find the SUN is gone. Its heart rendered, beating in my hand... the cost of my passage!"The emperor proclaimed.
What the fuck. Alad rewound the broadcast and his eyes widened. 'Is he a fucking idiot?' Void travel wasn't exactly Alad's primary field, his focus instead being cybernetics and bioengineering. Still, even he knew that Void travel was dangerous. There was a reason he stayed out of that hell and relied on the solar rails.
That absolute troglodyte of an Orokin was going to blow up the fucking sun to travel to Tau? There were a million reasons why that was an incredibly stupid and inefficient way to do that. The Void was unstable already, constantly leaking its corrupting storms into reality. The energy that would be unleashed would be catastrophic!
He was too far away to stop it now, so Alad prepared to do what he does best: Run away and live to profit another day. It was time to get as far away from this doomed system as possible and hope that someone stopped that madman before it was too late. With the supplies he had he could survive…
He began loading his ship to take off from the station. By the time he heard the Void proximity alarms it was too late. The station began to creak and arcs of Void lightning bounced off the electronics of the ship. A portal opened up and something came out of it, a hollow-faced abomination that screeched an ear-splitting sound that ruptured his eardrums.
"Zanuka!" He screamed, falling to his knees. The proxy rushed toward him, using it's prehensile tail to carry him away from the thing.
He screamed even louder when a blinding white light engulfed the both of them, his flesh melting and fusing with his creation before he blacked out.
That was the last thing he remembered before he woke up here, at the edge of a forest. The ground was wet from a storm that had long passed, and the sun was rising. That was hours ago though. Now, he was wandering through the back alleys of a foreign city. He'd discarded his clothes after seeing how much he stood out, and traded them to some homeless man in an alley. The clothes smelled awful but it helped him blend in. To think he'd been reduced to such a state. Penniless and in a strange new world. It had to be, he'd seen Earth's moon as it set, unfractured.
Alad looked at his reflection in the bottle of what he assumed was some sort of alcohol. His face was unblemished by the scarring his infestation had left behind. It was like his past mistakes were erased.
Well, at least something good came out of all this.
[Sapporo, Japan, April 26, 2242]
The thugs in the warehouse were all dead. But the Stalker had no mercy for a bunch of murderers and thieves. But would their lives be enough to quench the voices in his head?
It didn't matter. They were a means to an end. Ever since he arrived in this world yesterday, he'd stuck to the familiar darkness. He didn't have time to cope with his mostly restored mind. He just needed to blend in for now and find his master.
He flicked the blood off his scythe and it disappeared. It wasn't Hate or War, but his new Exalted Scythe power was useful. His flesh twisted and he groaned in pain while the rest of his transformation was undone, leaving a black-haired, red-eyed man in his late fifties to clothe his naked body.
Good thing he'd only snapped the neck of the thug whose clothes were his size. Blood was such a pain to wash out.
This isn't all the characters that were transported here, more will be revealed later on. This story isn't solely Warframe focused, so next chapter will be more MHA characters.
Sargas and Lech aren't dead, flameboi will return and Lech got punched so hard he got sent to the side story that I plan to write.
Why is Alad in Jaku? Hehehehehe. You probably already know why I had him arrive there. I kinda teased his quirk(?). Its pretty powerful but it doesn't really affect him. And yes, Alad did make his Zanuka Blade Wolf.