Chapter 5: Conflicts
It wasn't long after the mall fiasco (about a week) and already Tor was going over what he saw when the issue was initially resolved—that being the glimpses of the Warframes and Lilith's supposed rifle blaze.
He knew Ash's Bladestorm ability all too well, and the fact that one of his clanmates was close by was a shock. He found himself contemplating the probability that he had been in their sights for some time, even when he thought he was alone in this world– Otoha and her killer notwithstanding.
Then there was Lilith's Blaze. While impressive compared to other Blazes given how she could take someone out with a well placed headshot, it wasn't enough to sway Tor into giving up being Julie's Duo partner due to the relationship he already had with her.
He wasn't boastful, but the hidden Tenno felt far more superior to Lilith. He blamed his more boastful clanmates for him having such thoughts.
"A rifle blaze? You sure you weren't just seeing things?" Tomoe questioned.
"Warframes? You mean those armors you use? There's more of them?" Miyabi gulped, her fidgeting and tone seemingly like that of a frightened mouse.
"I know exactly what kind of Blaze I saw Lilith use." Tor nodded. "And yeah, there's more. If the one from the mall is affiliated with whom I think, then we shouldn't have anything to worry about." He added.
"What's that mean?" Tomoe questioned with a confused frown.
"I'll tell you and Miyabi later when we're alone. You're bound to find out sooner or later, anyway." The Tenno told them.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Tor?" Julie whispered to her partner. She knew how sensitive her boyfriend's secret was, and didn't want any potential chatterboxes to blab about it.
"Don't worry. I got it." Tor whispered back to her.
(Later)
Meanwhile, a little later on, Jason could be seen whistling a tune from a song he knew called "I'm the Creed", he did this as he was waiting for someone outside the school in the courtyard.
The sound of heels clacking got his attention soon after.
"Right on time." The hooded teen mused as he looked at the silver Shamrock embossed chained pocket watch he kept in his left pocket.
"And what does that mean?" Lilith questioned as she entered his view fully. "Were you waiting on me?" She questioned.
"Pretty much, yeah." Jason shrugged. "Now… Let's talk a bit, why don't we?" He beckoned.
"And just what would we talk about?" The English native questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"From my standpoint, there's a fair bit to talk about." The hidden blade user responded. "Like how you seemed extremely intent on making Tor your Duo partner." He pointed out.
"He's an irregular, I'm an exception. We're practically made of each other." The blonde stated as they sat down under the canopy while Lilith's attendant made tea.
"Hate to break it to you, sweetie." The teen said, conjuring his own Hidden Blade Blaze and deploying the blade with a flick of his wrist. "But he's not exactly the only irregular around here." He added.
"I know, I know. I just deemed Tor to be a higher quality young man because of what he fights with." Lilith told him.
"... I mean… You're not wrong." Jason had to admit, recalling what he saw during the last Nuvgladius. "All those suits– some of them looking like women, even– and he has guns and melee weapons to go with them. I'm not sure if 'irregular' even sums him up correctly." He added.
"I heard." Lilith nodded as she sipped some tea. "... Wait, what was that about some of those suits looking like women?" She asked with a blink when that tidbit registered.
"I don't even understand it, myself." Jason shrugged. "All I know is that none of the 'Blazes' he has feels like Blazes. To me, they feel like something different, but I can't figure out what." He added.
"The fact that there seems to be a multitude of them who aren't Lukifer users—any of that setting off alarm bells?" The girl asked.
"More like an alarm bell wrapped in a red flag." The assassin replied.
A moment of silence passed before either spoke again.
"Listen." The boy said, dispelling his Blaze in an attempt at diplomacy. "I know I'm probably not your first choice as a Duo partner—." He said before Lilith cut him off.
"You mean because you're brash, sarcastic, blunt and have the same amount of tact as a hammer?" She questioned.
"Will you let me finish?" The boy questioned, a pointed glare directed at her. "... Anyway, despite all that, I'm… Willing to give the idea of us being a Duo a shot." He finished.
"... So am I, oddly enough." Lilith admitted after a beat passed. "Despite your flaws, there's a charm about you I find… endearing." She added with a look of minor interest.
"Well, nice to know I'm appealing to someone of your station." Jason couldn't help but joke.
"Well I'm planning on going to a spot I've been meaning to visit. Care to join me?" The blonde questioned.
"Ya know what? Sure. Show me where we're heading." The assassin themed boy nodded as the two got up.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back with the others, the class was now swimming during PE and it seemed that those who advanced to Level two were doing surprisingly well in comparison to their level one counterparts.
Tor had advanced to Level Two, but he was already leagues above everyone, so he didn't really see much of a change. It was like he didn't even need that injection.
'Then again, the Void will always be better than an injection, for obvious reasons.' The Tenno mused as he watched the class go about their swim time.
As he watched, he noticed Miyabi ahead of the others as she reached the finish first, so he went to congratulate her.
"Hey, nice job. You're in the lead." He told the brunette.
"Am I?" Miyabi blinked before looking back and seeing that she was. "Wow. That's never happened before." She noted.
"Ja, you did great, Miyabi." Julie nodded with a beaming smile, ever adorable.
"Yeah, you should be proud of yourself." Tomoe nodded as she joined them.
"That's not the only reason the boys are staring at you." Tsukimi chimed in, appearing from… Somewhere. "They're ogling what's on your chest, isn't that right Tor~?" The gremlin bunny woman teased while Tomoe and Miyabi covered themselves in embarrassment.
"Sounds like someone wants a live action replay of their Nuvgladius beatdown." Tor threatened calmly as he equipped Soma Prime, a tick mark on his forehead. He did not appreciate his teacher's teasing.
"N-No need for that!" Tsukimi backpedaled as she sweated nervously, hiding behind Miyabi as she shook.
"W-Wasn't that a bit excessive?" Tomoe asked, restraining the urge to call Tor a pervert.
Especially when she recalled that Tor and Julie were an item.
"Not to me." The hidden Tenno shrugged as he dismissed the high capacity auto rifle.
Julie, meanwhile, looked at Tor as her cowlick wiggled a bit as he saw him get annoyed at Tsukimi trying to make him feel like a horny teen to the other girls, and his refusal to play along meant that he was likely thinking of her and their relationship very seriously, which pleased her.
'He's so committed.' She thought, feeling touched by Tor's dedication.
After a few moments, she decided to try her hand at swimming and went to a podium to jump from. This got the attention of the rest of the class, including Tor.
Then she dove into the water with grace… But when she didn't come back to the surface, everyone got concerned, especially Tor himself.
"Julie!" He exclaimed in alarm as he dove into the water and saw her trying to swim despite being at the bottom of the pool.
Acting fast, he grabbed her and swam to the side of the pool with purpose in his movements. When they were back on dry land, Julie coughed as she took several breaths of air.
"Julie, what happened? You sank like a rock there." Tomoe asked in concern.
"Took the words out of my mouth." Tor nodded.
"I'm sorry for the worry." The whitette apologized. "Back in Scandinavia, we don't swim much due to how cold the water is. That makes us poor swimmers when we find warmer waters." She explained.
"Wow, imagine that, Julie is actually bad at something." Tora noted.
"As they say, there's a first time for everything." Tomoe sighed.
"Don't worry. I won't hold it against you." Tor told his girlfriend. It was at that moment he noticed something. "Wait… Where's Jason?" He blinked, realizing that the Assassin wasn't present.
"Ja, I haven't seen him around all day today." Julie nodded, not seeing their classmate around.
"I'll be sure to punish him for skipping out like this." Tsukimi said in a tone that held calm anger.
"Would he even care about that?" The Tenno questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"... I see your point, but, well, professional obligation." The bunny woman admitted with a shrug after she thought about it.
"Fair enough." Tor shrugged.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile at a theme park known as Deathly Land, Jason's eye seemed to twitch slightly at the look of it, especially since it went against his own sensibilities.
'What the fuck is this macabre Disney spoof?!' He thought, feeling a spot of irritation in his head.
"Hmmm? What's wrong? Are theme parks not your thing?" The blonde questioned, noticing the visible displeasure of the boy's face.
"Not really, especially given the macabre theme it has." Jason replied with a grunt as he looked at the questionably themed park.
"Aren't you meant to be an assassin? Don't they like the macabre?" Lilith questioned, leaning in to try and gauge his reaction.
"Not to this extent…" He muttered.
"Oh?" The English native hummed.
"We prefer quick and clean as opposed to… Well, this." Jason explained, gesturing to the park. "Seriously, who's bright idea was it to go with something like this for a theme park?!" He groaned in exasperation.
"Look, it's only a theme park, so there's no harm." Lilith told him gently. "Come on. Let's see if the attractions can have an effect on your tune." She added, pulling him along ever so slightly.
"... I hope I don't regret this." Jason sighed as they went into the theme park.
(Elsewhere)
Back at the Academy, Tor and Julie were roaming the campus a bit during some free time. Their roaming took them to the garden where Lilith liked to enjoy some private time.
"You know, it's actually good that this academy has a garden. The atmosphere it provides is nice." The Tenno commented with a smile of appreciation.
"You enjoy time in gardens?" Julie asked.
"Yeah. My clan's Founding Warlord built one, and it turned out great. Lots of places to relax." Tor nodded in reply. "It also helped with life support, so there's that, too." He added.
"Life support?" The girl blinked.
Before Tor could answer, a new voice spoke up.
"It's because our dojo is a space station." A female voice spoke up from their right, causing them to snap their heads and see nothing… Before a figure became visible.
The speaker was the Warframe Voruna, she-wolf incarnadine.
She was colored a mixture of blacks, blues, oranges and reds. She was carrying a pair of fang daggers, the paragale sniper rifle and a pair of furis smgs.
"Nice to see that you haven't died after what happened in the Origin System." Voruna said with an audible grin as she walked up to Tor and hugged him.
"It's nice to see someone from the clan at all." Tor sighed as he returned the embrace. He did miss the feeling of the embrace of his clanmates. "How many others made it?" He asked.
"Somehow, against all odds, the whole clan is alive and well. We also had a room built so the Lotus could guide us from there since it was the only safe place we have left now." The she-wolf Warframe replied before looking at Julie. "And who's this?" She hummed, kneeling down to the whitette's level.
"My girlfriend and partner at this academy, Julie." Tor replied.
"Shut up, you found a cute girlfriend?!" Voruna gasped before she pulled him into a hug. "You grew up!" She cooed before pausing and looking around. "Wait… Where's Otoha?" She questioned with a frown, causing her clanmate to look down.
"Dead. Killed by one of our own when he went mad after the collapse event." The young Tenno replied sadly.
"Was it Infernus?" The Warframe asked, getting a nod in return that made her growl like an actual wolf. "That little bastard! He just signed his death warrant!" She swore.
"Easy, let's wait for that." The boy told her. "Are you and the others nearby? It may get a bit awkward talking to just your Warframes… Plus I'd like to see you guys again." He added.
"Yeah. Even the Founding Warlord is watching this new Earth." Voruna nodded. "Don't worry about resources. One of the Chief's first orders was to scan for some and set up some automated mines and refineries." She added, informing her clanmate of the clan's current status.
"Okay, good." Tor nodded.
"Excuse me, is your clan recruiting?" Julie couldn't help but ask, causing the two to look at her in surprise.
"Whoa, you wanna join?" Voruna asked, her surprise more audible.
"Ja. I'm not scared of going into danger to protect Tor, and I'm more than willing to join up if it means I can keep doing that for his sake." The whitette nodded, and despite her tone, the resolution in it was very much present.
"... Heh. I like you. You have more than enough spunk to join The Wrathborn." The she-wolf Warframe chuckled in appreciation. "I'll let the Chief know of this." She added.
"Thanks." Tor nodded, glad that this was at least happening. "It's really good to see you again, Orchid." He told her.
"Right back at you, Tor." Voruna–or Orchid, rather– replied. "By the way, what happened to your arsenal?" She questioned.
"Some void-based fuckery fused everything to me, so I can use all of them at will." The boy replied.
"What the–?! Oh come on, that's bullshit!" Orchid whined indignantly, getting a snicker from her clanmate.
"You mad, sis?" Tor trolled, laughing when she punched his shoulder in response.
"Ass." Orchid huffed good naturedly. "Anyway, I should get going before a third party sees me. Any of your tech still functional?" She asked.
"No. The traversal destroyed pretty much all of it, including Ordis." The Tenno sighed in reply.
"Hey, you know how durable our tech is. There's a chance they still work, but don't have any power." Voruna told him. "Give me the location and I'll get some of the gang sent there to look at everything." She added.
Tor took out a notepad and wrote down the coordinates of his Orbiter's crash site before tearing it out and handed it to his clanmate, who nodded before she wordlessly vanished and left.
"So that was one of your clanmates?" Julie asked.
"Yep. We're basically family, so it's normal to be casual with each other." Tor nodded in reply.
Julie just looked at him, her cowlick swaying rapidly as if to indicate that she was thinking about something.
"Hey, don't look at me like that." The boy said as he picked her up. "You know I love you only, right?" He told her.
"I just wonder if you were with anyone else before me. Your clan has to have a fair amount of girls, right?" Julie questioned.
"Yeah, but none of them clicked." Her boyfriend shrugged in reply.
Julie was silent before she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"You really are a good boyfriend." She sighed in contentment.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, Jason looked like he was about to puke, lose consciousness or all of the above as he wobbled out of yet another one of the rides that Lilith dragged him onto.
Needless to say, he was seriously starting to regret his decision.
"Come on! Let's–" Lilith started to say before noticing his expression. "Oh dear, did I overdo the excitement?" She asked in concern.
"Y-Yeah… You did…" The Assassin groaned as he sat down in a chair. "Oh god, I think I'm gonna taste my lunch again…" He muttered, trying not to heave.
"I think a break is definitely in order, for your sake." The blonde nodded as she sat next to him. "Sorry about this. I've been very excited to come here ever since I arrived in this country." She told him apologetically.
"I can tell." Jason groaned. "Why be excited to come here at all? I feel like a place like this shouldn't be that favorable to most due to the macabre stuff going on." He wondered.
From his standpoint, most weak-willed people would avoid a place like this. Seriously, there was even a mascot with its entrails hanging out of it! How was that even considered kid friendly?!
"It's done in a way that's tastefully macabre but manages to be relatively kid friendly." The girl stated as she got them a couple drinks. "Like a kids Halloween movie, for example." She pointed out.
"... Okay, that actually helps elaborate on this park's theme of choice." Jason nodded as he accepted his drink. "Anyway, can the next ride not be a rollercoaster?" He almost begged, causing Lilith to giggle in amusement.
(Later)
Jason and Lilith now rode in a cart while they used some laser guns to shoot the monsters of a ride-and-gun attraction. This was more to Jason's hopes since he could actually have some fun while his stomach and body recovered from the stress it went through earlier.
"Boom, headshot!" Jason exclaimed with a laugh as he shot a skeleton in the head.
"Good shooting, but I'm better!" Lilith jeered with a laugh of her own as she nailed a ghost right in the eye socket.
"Show off…" The assassin boy said, eyes rolling as he nonchalantly yawned, his eyes closed—before nailing a bullseye and winning the main prize.
After that, they went to the prize counter and learned that they were the highest scoring duo in the whole game now, which got them an extra prize, much to Lilith's joy.
Said prize was a stuffed donkey which Jason let Lilith have.
(Later)
After a long day of fun, Jason and Lilith had more than enough and began to leave the park.
"You know, at first, you came off as a precise brute to me." Lilith began. "Now? Now I see that you are actually fun to be around." She chuckled.
"You started out as a rich snob in my eyes." Jason picked up. "But now I can see that you're actually okay." He hummed. "At least when you're not acting too big for your skirt." He mused idly.
"Ha ha." The blonde mock laughed as they continued to leave.
There was a moment of silence before Lilith spoke again.
"Jason… Are you still considering being my Duo partner?" The girl asked.
"I don't know, are you?" He fired back.
"Very funny… But yes." The blonde huffed before admitting it in the end. "What is your answer?" She questioned.
"... Yeah. I am." Jason admitted.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back with Julie and Tor, they were headed back to the dorms—with the Tenno carrying his girlfriend in his arms—but he soon had to back peddle to avoid getting pinned when a humanoid shape suddenly lunged out of the dorm and towards them.
Tor thought it was one of his clanmates trying to be funny, but the second he saw the helmet's face, his heart was dangerously close to exploding from pure fright.
It had a sort of swept back crest, a rigid formation on its face and a lone optic… That glowed blood red like the rest of the lights on his body.
Tor hadn't anticipated it, but the Stalker found him
"Tenno…" The Tenno Hunter rasped as he looked at his target, his voice causing Tor's blood to go cold.
"Y-You! What are you doing here?!" Tor demanded, Julie hopping out of his arms as he summoned Excalibur Prime and Nikana Prime on reflex.
"Tor, who is this?" The short whitette questioned.
"The natural predator of the Tenno, that's who!" The boy replied quickly. That was all Julie needed to hear as she activated her Blaze.
Drawing Dread, Stalker notched an arrow and let it fly only for Tor to deflect it. Then he threw a smoke bomb at his feet that made him invisible, and this actually made him much harder to spot compared to Tor's. As the two tried to locate him, the Tenno grunted as he was knocked down to his knees suddenly, and his assailant became visible again with his Hate scythe around his neck.
Acting fast, Julie kicked him in the face while he was distracted, only for Stalker to swat her aside without looking and send her flying into the wall.
"Julie!" The boy gasped. "What the hell do you want from me, you bastard?!" He demanded as he quickly used Radial Flash, blinding the Tenno Hunter long enough to get free and brandish his Exalted Blade.
"Your penance." Stalker responded upon recovering from the momentary blindness as he dashed forward and struck, putting Tor on the defensive.
The Tenno gritted his teeth as he struggled to fight but Stalker was a master assassin for a reason. He wasn't leaving any openings, and any that were present didn't last long enough for him to capitalize on.
Julie, in a bid to make an opening, attacked from what she hoped was Stalker's blindspot. Luckily for her, it was, and she struck him in the back, causing the assassin to stagger.
With a grunt, Tor struck the Tenno Hunter in the torso, forcing him back.
"Hey, what's– The fuck?!" A security guard started to ask before shouting upon seeing Stalker, who threw a Despair kuni into his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain. "This is guard five; intruder on the campus! Repeat, intruder on the campus!" He exclaimed into his walkie talkie.
Immediately, alarms started blaring, alerting the whole campus. Tor felt slightly better, but Stalker had endured such odds before, and the faculty weren't Tenno, so the assassin attacking him could take them on.
"What'll it be? Stay and take a gamble, or withdraw?" He challenged.
"... Next time…" Stalker rasped before, with a flicker of the lights and a hiss, he vanished.
Tor dispelled his Warframe and weapon before letting himself collapse to the ground. He hadn't shown it thanks to his training, but the assault of the Tenno Hunter had worn him out. He felt lucky to last as long as he had.
"Are you okay, Tor?" Julie asked as she rushed to his side.
"I'll live. Go check on that guard." Tor replied, getting a nod from his girlfriend as she rushed to the guard's aid while more security rushed to the area.
(Timeskip)
The following day was filled with concern. When the alarms went off, every student flipped out when it was revealed that an intruder had gotten onto the campus. The guard that happened across the Stalker hadn't gotten a good look at him, but it was enough to verify that it wasn't Tor, sparing the boy in question from suspicion.
The fact he clarified that he saw Tor fighting the intruder helped.
Now everyone was on edge, but none more so than Tor himself given his position at the time.
To try and ease the tension, Tsukimi decided to announce the advancements coming up, but Tor wasn't really concerned about that at the moment.
'Damn it, I thought it would be just my clan that got warped here! If Stalker's here, then I need to brace for his Acolytes and maybe even the other Assassins!' He thought worriedly. He needed to let his clan know about this development, and quickly.
If the Zanuka Hunter was her along with the Grustrag Three or– Void forbid– The Wolf of Saturn Six, then they were in for a nightmare.
"Tor? Are you alright?" Julie asked in worry.
"No… No I'm not. You know why." The Tenno told her in response.
"I do." The whitette nodded as she held his hand, worrying for his safety.
(Later)
Every first year was now seated in the campus colosseum, where they saw some second and third years fighting. While the distraction was welcome to some since it took off a fair bit of mental strain, it did little for the resident hidden Tenno among them.
"Still on edge, Tor?" Tomoe asked from a seat above them.
"Can you blame me? I was targeted." The boy sighed in response.
"Well, take some comfort in knowing that you've got people to back you up." Miyabi told him in an attempt of comfort.
"... Thanks." The boy sighed, willing to take any comfort he could find right now in this worrying situation.
"Yeah, the headmistress is doing a serious security check to try and figure out what happened." Tsukimi chimed in."And let me tell you, she wasn't happy when she found out what happened." She added with a shiver.
The headmistress rarely showed her anger, but the times she did were frightening.
"That's good to hear. The fucker was literally waiting in mine Julie's dorm when he struck, so I'm concerned about how he got that far." Tor nodded.
"I'll let that language slide since– not gonna lie– you kinda have the right to it." The bunny woman told him flatly.
"Thanks." The Tenno said just as flatly. "Anyway, these are the second and third years?" He asked, changing the topic.
"Yep. This is how strong you'll get, and you'll be fighting them all." Tsukimi nodded, catching on. "And this time, you won't be fighting Duos. You'll all be fighting as a class." She added, revealing the twist.
"That sounds interesting." Julie commented.
It was at that point that Jason and Lilith suddenly walked onto the field. Before anyone could say anything, the two suddenly used their guns to take out everyone on the field, much to everyone's shock.
"Alright, now that we have everyone's attention, we have a special announcement." Jason began.
"We challenge the entire first year class to a Survival challenge at the mall tonight." Lilith revealed.
"Okay, that's pretty audacious." Tomoe remarked.
"Challenge accepted." Tor smirked, looking forward to it.
One thing was for sure, tonight was gonna be fun.
ThermalsniperN7: Sorry that it took several months for us to get another chapter out. When you have several dozen other stories to worry about, it becomes difficult to manage.
Dragon Emperor0: Several dozen? Bro stop exaggerating. But that's beside the point. Point is we're at least getting halfway through this story so far, given that the anime is only 12 episodes long. So more than likely, after we conclude that, this story will be done until either a second season or sequel comes out.
ThermalsniperN7: Not sure if either will happen, depending on when this season was made. But at any rate, Tor was replaced by Jason for the whole theme park thing… Not gonna lie, Deathly Land (or whatever the proper name is) has nothing on Naberus. Oh, and one of Tor's clanmates revealed themselves, and Julie wants to join said clan. That should prove interesting.
Dragon Emperor0: One issue—fucking Stalker's back. Which means that now everyone in this universe Tenno or otherwise is going to likely shit themselves in fear—meaning that Tor will probably need to bring out Excalibur Umbra to fight him, since I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that can stop man.
ThermalsniperN7: It'll only get worse if Stalker's Acolytes, the Zanuka Hunter, the Grustrag Three and the Wolf of Saturn Six turn up. Those guys are just as scary… If the academy security detail somehow gets bypassed by an 8 foot tall madman wielding a boomerang sledge hammer, that's gonna be a massive skill issue for them, honestly.
Dragon Emperor: … I'm not even gonna ask. Anyway, see you guys next time.