A familiar voice echoes out in the darkness; professional to the point of detachment. The sound is nerve wracking and soothing all at the same time. "Hello, Space Trauma," says the Lotus, through Banshee. "It''s good that all of you are alive." There''s no pause to her words, no shift in body language, but I can feel her attention on me. Her gaze from the void, passing through Orokin engineering to pierce through layers of tech infused polymers, through skin and muscle and electrical signals to some ineffable essence that represents my truest self. "Your ship was being monitored as it passed through the blockade; once we were unable to ping your transceiver, the closest warframe was dispatched to your location."
The voice continues speaking, but there''s a change in some hard to pinpoint quality of the sound. "I was able to use my Sonar to locate you, although there were a lot more Grineer here than I expected. They were dug in like ticks. If I''d known, I''d''ve brought something a little heavier," says whom I''m assuming is the operator, via Lotus, via Banshee. Her words cause me to look around at the devastation surrounding us; the pockmarked ground, the corpses dismembered, eviscerated. Then, back towards the Banshee, who''s stood in front of us gracefully, casually, spotless. Not a single scratch or speck of blood resides on the frame, as though the entire event was merely a casual stroll in the park for her.
Effortless.
A silver, rectangular weapon dangles in one hand, and I can feel my brain whirring on a different thread to try to identify the familiar weapon. A glance at the black spots on the floors and walls helps me join the puzzle pieces together. "A Penta. A grenade launcher," I think, with more than a little apprehension. "Still doesn''t explain why we never heard it being fired." Caz steps up towards the frame, and the Banshee gives him what I can only imagine is a confused glance. Or maybe bemused. Or hungry. "Or I''m just reading into expressions where there are none," I think. "Uhm, miss warframe? ...Lotus?" starts Caz, in a subservient tone I don''t think I''ve ever heard him use before. His body language is subdued, and I watch as he struggles to say something to the warframe. "I''m Caz-V, Squad Leader for Space Trauma. The... uhm, the Field Officer..."
"Come on kid, speak up," says the killing machine, and I fight to avoid reacting at their words. The idea of it being my operator - a four foot, black and yellow haired teen - calling Caz - a mid twenty something - a "kid" is inordinately funny, although I can''t help but wonder if maybe I''m just starting to lose it a little with all the stress of the day''s events. "Starting to?" prompts my mind. I ignore it. Caz takes an unsteady breath, and closes his eyes for a moment. When he reopens them, it''s like a mask has dropped over his face; his expression ice, detached.
"Sargent Letmin is dead," Caz explains, his tone clinical. "Upon entering base camp, he took command of the squad, and ordered us to fall back towards extract. During this, we encountered a trip wire linked to explosives. During the process of disarming the trap, we made contact with the enemy. Sargent Letmin was injured during the initial conflict, and succumbed to his wounds at some point during the retreat. His body is located near base camp, behind the collapsed tunnel connected to the restroom. We were unable to bring his body with us, as we had no way to preserve the corpse, however, we have his ocular display as a token." The Banshee just looks at him, or mimics looking at him, but is entirely still. Unbreathing.
"Let''s get the five of you out of here," says the Banshee, after a few moments of silence. I can fee a minor weight lift off my shoulders. A single straw off the proverbial camel. I know we''re not safe, not until we''re out of the tunnels and back under amberglow sky, but having a warframe leading us feels like a sharp increase in our odds of survival. The Banshee moves past us to take point, and sets a brisk pace as we continue our trek towards the exit. I, and everyone else, have our guns at the ready like before, but the Banshee is moving fast. Too fast for us to check every patch of shadow or person sized crack in the wall. I take the time to ruthlessly squash the impulse every time it flares up. "If there was an enemy nearby, the warframe with built in Sonar will probably notice them," I tell myself.
Logically, I trust that they''ll do their job, but I can''t help but be apprehensive about placing my life in the hands of a faceless kid, no matter how good at murder they might be. A memory flashes in my brain in response; every in-game rescue mission I had ever played. Barring the first few, the process had stopped being "carefully lead the Tenno towards the exit, killing any and all enemies along the way", and had morphed into "bullet jump to the end as quickly as physically possible, then let the game auto teleport the rescuee to the exit".
"Still, as sketchy as it''d be for Banshee to fly off without us, I''d absolutely take it, if it meant a free teleport to safety," I think with a slight smile. My semi idle musing is interrupted by a ping in my headset; a group message specifically, one started by Caz.
CV: The Lotus sent a warframe after you?
I cringe. I''m not entirely sure how to answer the question in a way that won''t just invite more. I take a few seconds to think of a response as we half jog down the tunnel.
AN: To be fair, she sent a warframe after all of us.
Another ping, the clear tone causing me to flinch slightly.
ET: No, she didn''t. Standard operating procedure says to send an investigative squad first, not to escalate straight to a warframe. Plus, she said that our ship was being monitored, and I''m pretty sure she didn''t mean in the regular sense. It''s obvious that you are downplaying your importance, just please don''t treat us like idiots.
Her words cut straight through me. I open the prompt to begin a new message, then close it, unsure of what to say. "Fuck, I hate this," I think. My gaze flicks towards the warframe in front, who''s every step is elegant, flowing. There''s no reaction, no hitch in her step, nothing to indicate that the Lotus is monitoring our messages. "Just like how she wasn''t monitoring our conversations with Ko-lee in the Unum. Or like how she wasn''t monitoring our conversation with the squad during lunch. Be realistic," my mind reprimands.
I glance over towards Ko-lee, catching her eye, and she shoots me the slightest eyebrow raise, along with a shrug. My head is spinning from exhaustion, and I can''t even begin to fathom what the microexpression is meant to convey. Ultimately, it''s irrelevant; I know that I''m sick of having to dance around the squad with what I know. I''m clearly important enough for the Lotus to have a warframe on standby, and I feel confident that I can make a case here, now. I know I''m being impulsive, but I''m too off-kilter to care. "I want to tell-" is all I manage to voice, before the Banshee shouts.
It''s not her voice, but it''s a voice. It''s the sound of the corporeal under stress as a wave of force shoots off down the hall. The fabric of reality itself warping and wobbling, space tinged an invalid blue as air rushes in to fill the displacement. There''s not exactly... light, but an emissive glow; some noneuclidean touch of void located in some undefinable direction from the effect, pushing everything along. Then, sparks. Actual, real particle effects; flashes of light where the air is hyper compressed, sparking in tiny dots that feel like static in my eyes.
And then I''m on the ground, around the corner, my body moving faster than I can even really think, as the Banshee fires down the hall, towards enemies that hadn''t even finished rounding the corner. I scramble to find a more advantageous position, to try and draw a bead on the enemy from cover, to help in the fight, but the lack of gunfire towards any target other than the warframe makes it clear how little of a threat we pose compared to the six and a half foot tall weapons platform. I watch as the grenade launcher in Banshee''s hands spit out three grenades in quick succession, but there''s no expected thump accompanying the shots.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The Grineer fire back, and their''s don''t seem to have the same issue; the weapons spitting and shouting in clear opposition to the warframe''s. A background thread that had been running in my mind from the moment of meeting the Banshee sends me an alert. "Banshee passive. Silent weapons," I think, watching her direct violence like a conductor. "The first thing was Shout. She mentioned Sonar. And her four..." I watch, frozen in a heady mixture of awe and fear as the Banshee places her hands on the floor.
The tunnel roars to life. It tries it''s best to shake itself apart; rock dust falling to the ground, cracks forming as the warframe channels eldritch energies straight into the ground beneath out feet. I feel like I''m standing on a fault line, barely able to keep upright, even with the support of the rough stone wall to my left. But for all the difficulty I seem to be facing, it appears to be a thousand times worse for the Grineer. I watch as the remaining few still standing after her initial assault seem to... fall to pieces, in a very gruesome, literal way.
The sound of the Grineer''s bones popping and cracking like wet fireworks is a nightmare, but the entire battle - if it could even be called that - is over in less than twenty seconds. As the last corpse slumps and stills, the Banshee rises, slowly, steadily to her feet. The motion is slow, elegant, full of intent. Her head turns slightly, and that self same presence I''d felt when encountering the Ember all those months ago comes crashing to the forefront. The absolute devastation that I knew that they could cause, now actualized; on full display for the five of us to see. Even though I know logically that they''re on our side, the sight of the power at their literal fingertips causes my body to fill with fear, the breath in my throat catching. "Ready to go?" asks the Lotus/Banshee/Operator, their voice unperturbed. Not clinical, or cold exactly, but truly, genuinely unbothered. The same sort of tone you''d use to let your friend know that the crosswalk sign was green. We couldn''t have crossed before; we''d be hurt. Now we can.
It''s safe.
We walk past the fresh corpses; some ripped apart by the initial Shout, some by grenades, and some internally shattered by the Quake. "Fuck me. Which one these poor bastards got off the easiest?" I can''t help but wonder, as we step past the Bashee''s handiwork. "What did you do to them?" asks Ella, her voice barely a whisper. From the direction of her gaze, it''s clear which ones she''s referring to. "I can channel my energy into the ground, causing it to shake. That, in turn, creates elemental stresses on the body, which in turn rips them apart from the inside out. Minor explosive fractures, veins popping, organs rupturing, that sort of thing," the Banshee explains, their voice matter of fact.
"But... how are we okay?" asks Caz, voicing the question I didn''t realize I had. "Because I didn''t want to hurt you," responds the Banshee. From the tone, the words are clearly meant to reassure. "Why would the Banshee want to hurt us? We''re all Tenno! We''re all on the same side," the words seemed to say. But somehow, that just makes it all the more unsettling. That the only difference between unsteady footing and vibrating to death is the Banshee''s perception of us. "Can a warframe go rogue?" I wonder. "You mean like the Stalker?" My mind helpfully replies. I try to force the voice out of my head, to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, to avoid spiraling on the thought.
Instead, I get a follow up. "Dead is dead is dead. A single bullet while we''re unshielded can kill us. Banshee isn''t any worse just because she''s more creative about it. Also, there''s no point in worrying about Banshee turning on us. I mean, Ko-lee could slit our throat while we sleep. Rease could turn his Braton on us. But they won''t, and it''s not something we worry about, because it''s a stupid thought. Don''t think stupid thoughts." It''s comforting... in a weird, derisive sort of way, and helps pull me back from the edge. "Probably not healthy, but, eh," I think humorlessly. I shift the weight of my gun in my hands, and turn my focus back towards the hike.
<hr>
We continue walking for another few hours, and only encounter the Grineer a single other time. Just like before, they''re dealt with quickly and effectively... and messily. "Still, dead is dead," I think, doing my best to avoid staring at the mutilated corpses. On more than one occasion, Banshee had cast an ability which shrouded us in Silence. Not only did it fill in the missing ability I had been wondering about, but it allowed us to cross certain area''s without needing to get into more firefights. "Although, that''s really more of a bonus for them," I think, my eyes flicking back and forth between the map and the path in front of me. "I doubt they''d say thank you though."
The roughly hour and a half it''d taken for us to get to where we are now had given the five of us time to grow a little more comfortable with the human shaped WMD. "I was going a few rounds back and forth through the tunnels cleaning up," the Banshee explains to Ella, in response to why she''d been behind us when we encountered her. "I was going to try to locate you via Sonar, after I was confident the tunnels were empty, but the Grineer were like an infestation. Every time I killed five, ten more would show up out of nowhere. And then you just... showed up out of nowhere!"
The voice is still the Lotus'', and so it has that same cool, slightly synthesized tone to it, but I can almost imagine the operator behind the words themselves. "Oh, yeah, it was the worm," Rease helpfully fails to explain. "The... worm?" questions the Banshee, her head turned slightly as though trying to hear him better. "I wonder if that''s an affectation, or if there really is some sort of audio in where her ears are supposed to be," I think. I''m so caught up in the idea of warframe physiology that it takes me a second to realize we''re coming up on the exit. Tendrils of sunlight are just about able to reach in, hinting at an end to the endless winding tunnels. I''m simultaneously wound up and tired, but the sight opens the floodgates on my emotions a little.
My vision grows a touch blurry, and I blink a few times to clear the moisture collecting, fighting the smile that keeps trying to form on my face. "Don''t start celebrating too quickly," my thoughts remind me. I know we still have the flight back, and the debrief, and everything else, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in more ways than one. "A lakotay, they''re called. They''re very, very neat!" responds Ella, excitedly. "I think it was attracted to the sound of your shockwaves. It probably thought that you were another of it''s kind, and it was moving towards you because it wanted to... uhm. Mate." The Banshee laughs; an odd sound coming from the Lotus'' lips. The five of us step into the sunlight; first the Banshee, her attention on Ella directly next to her. Then me, Rease, Caz, and Ko-lee. I hear a sigh of relief or two as the sun warms us; spiritually, if not physically. "I wasn''t aware of the creature," says the Banshee. "I''m not deployed to Mars often, so-"
There''s a loud crack from somewhere above us, behind us. Rease and Caz dive to the left. Ella''s diving forward, a step ahead of the rest of us, but not really towards anything, just forwards. I try to dive to the right, with Ko-lee, but there''s a sound, a sound in my ear, a high pitched keening. My eyes are locked on Ella for some reason, on her prone form, making it hard for me find cover. She can''t be there, in the open, but I know it doesn''t matter for some reason, and I don''t
I don''t know why it doesn''t matter, but
Why doesn''t it matter? Why would it matter? Why? Why?? Why??? WHY???? <strong style="font-size: 1.4rem">WHY??? <strong style="font-size: 1.5rem">WHY!? <strong style="font-size: 1.6rem; text-shadow: -1px 2px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4), 1px -3px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), 3px -4px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), -4px -3px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2), -6px 7px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 7px -5px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2), -19px -13px 1px rgba(0, 8, 50, 0.18), 21px 14px 1px rgba(205, 213, 255, 0.18), 14px -11px 1px rgba(0, 13, 80, 0.13), -15px 10px 1px rgba(175, 176, 255, 0.13), -10px 12px 1px rgba(0, 20, 130, 0.1), 11px -8px 1px rgba(141, 125, 255, 0.1)">WHY!? <strong style="font-size: 1.6rem; text-shadow: -1px 2px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5), 1px -3px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5), 3px -4px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3), -4px -3px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3), -6px 7px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3), 7px -5px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3), -19px -13px 1px rgba(0, 8, 50, 0.28), 21px 14px 1px rgba(205, 213, 255, 0.28), 14px -11px 1px rgba(0, 13, 80, 0.23), -15px 10px 1px rgba(175, 176, 255, 0.23), -10px 12px 1px rgba(0, 20, 130, 0.2), 11px -8px 1px rgba(141, 125, 255, 0.2)">WHY!? <strong style="font-size: 1.6rem; text-shadow: -1px 2px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7), 1px -3px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7), 3px -4px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4), -4px -3px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), -6px 7px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4), 7px -5px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), -19px -13px 1px rgba(0, 8, 50, 0.38), 21px 14px 1px rgba(205, 213, 255, 0.38), 14px -11px 1px rgba(0, 13, 80, 0.33), -15px 10px 1px rgba(175, 176, 255, 0.33), -10px 12px 1px rgba(0, 20, 130, 0.3), 11px -8px 1px rgba(141, 125, 255, 0.3)">WHY!?
I break, and then, so does everything else.