Warframe - Chapter 8 - The New Lotus

Warframe - Chapter 8 - The New Lotus

Prologue

The young Tenno at Alad V’s feet simply made a nod. He had been dismissed and was to remain on standby while training with his Tenno master. Alad V motioned him dismissed and gives his regard to his son’s Master.

After hearing that He has now awoken, Alad V goes to bed, his mind was filled with excitement as he plots plans after plans. He simply states to himself that he will not be denied after sacrificing too much.

He remembers his family, his parents, his grandfather, and his love. He remembered Agni. He knew that her mother Lotus would kill him on sight for what he had done to her children. But still, even now as he holds Vadjura in control, he still yearns to correct his mistake. He will have revenge, only this time, on the correct people. He had set out to get revenge on Mikado and his bloodline, only to be met with the truth.

He remembers Rasputin’s last words and gift to him. While he clutched the last dying clone of the man who literally shaped the Empire on his arms, the man told him to watch his back and gave him a small datamass. Rasputin’s motive still a question on his mind; he initially settled for thinking that Rasputing wanted to poison his mind in spite. But now, as he had read, memorized and destroyed the contents of the datamass, he was now sure Rasputin had something else in mind.

Now he knows who to punish, and now his eyes are fixed on one seat; the seat of the Chairman of Board. He had contributed exponentially to the Corpus wealth throughout the centuries of his service, but he never understood why he was never even considered to be finally become part of the Board. But now he has realized the reason, and now he knows the truth. The Board is his true enemy.

As he lay in bed, he signals the windows to close and dim the room lights. In the darkness, he ponders about his revelations. In an ironical twist, since the Corpus has had its roots in patriarchal Middle East, the Board itself is comprised of women. It is comprised only of women. And at the head of the table, is none other than the bearer of the Arondight system, Nadia Sudek.

Alad V does not know how she has come to survive Hayden Tenno’s assault. He knows only that the Technocyte virus had revived her, cocooned her, and that Mikado’s decision to blow up the Lasrian Mountains to defeat Baphomet eventually led to her release.

Having been present herself at the assault of Outer Terminus, she merely escorted her former lover and partner, the crown prince of the Empire. The Empire Royal Family had always dreamed of only two things, hegemony and immortality. Rasputin was still loyal to the Empire to the end, but his research results have started to yield less and less results over the millennia.

Nadia Sudek, having infiltrated Trade Union society discriminately, marrying a majority stockholder and arranging his murder, have become a superpower and has now claimed the seat of Chairwoman of the Board. The Chairwoman made the ultimate deal with the empire, in exchange for Hayden Tenno. She gave the Empire’s Royal Family immortality, and she gave it directly to its crown prince.

The Arondight system, much like its sister system the Caliburn, embeds itself into its wearer and it’s DNA. Much like the Tenno predisposition to have twins as offspring, Nadia Sudek gave birth to twins and gave them to the Empire. Now they are called the “Twin Queens”.

Alad V now understands Rasputin’s motives. He was still loyal to the empire to the end, even in death. He gave the datamass to Alad V to have him protect the Twin Queens from their mother. Rasputin knows that Alad V will switch sides when he knew the truth; the truth that the Board would stop at nothing to gain wealth, or cut costs.

Alad V had been mistaken all this time. The Dubai tragedy was not Tenno Mikado’s fault, the Board had placed gravity wells near Dubai so that the Helios Ark would fall on it. The Board wanted to get rid of its largest non-profit human settlement, Dubai itself. These are the kind of people that he worked for, and these are the kind of people Rasputin wanted to protect his beloved Empire from.

With his plans taking shape, although none of this was Nadia Sudek’s fault at the time, she will now have to be collateral damage when Alad V takes over the Corpus, and retake what is left of his family.

Section 1

Agni, now referred to as Lotus, broods over herself as she sits alone in her darkened Zen garden. She had not expected herself to return to the Tenno, much less become a part of the Council again. But here she is, a lead Tenno, sending off various four man cells to various missions, not only to protect the balance of power and the weaker factions, but ultimately to revive the Tenno as a whole. They have yet to reclaim all of the unaccounted cryopods and the void towers, and their only help came in the form of a Corpus merchant who is under the supervision of the very man she hates.

She though it was perchance the penance that she rightly deserves after all the she did. She still regretted hardly how she had accidentally stabbed her own mother. This memory jolted her from her meditation.

When the suit integration process in Darvo’s ship finally finished, Agni stood up and realized she was wearing a frame. Darvo merely corrected her, telling her it was a new system that was created by Lotus specifically for her. Though it emulated a frame nonetheless, the minute nanomachines interfaced with her Central Nervous System were basically different from the Technocyte Virus as they were purely metallic. Darvo retells how the Neurode Technology was reverse engineered while melded with the nanotechnology of Project Vivian.

Darvo rolled his eyes as he manned the small ship as Agni inquired what Project Vivian was. Darvo had forgotten that Project Vivian was only known to the first Tenno Council and to the eldest male members of their bloodline. He reached out and touched Agni’s head, only to find out and remember that she had the mask on now. He then asked to borrow one of her “roots”.

Agni, still not briefed about her new suit and still dazed from the events that had just happened, surprized herself when she moved one of the tendrils from her back and handed it to Darvo. Darvo then gave her additional memories through the conduit and she learned about the processes of the Arondight, Caliburn and Galatine systems.

Darvo then communicates via the tendril conduit that since Lotus has most likely perished in the explosion of the Fomorian, the Tenno now needs a leader to herd them. Before Darvo could proceed, Agni then blurts out that she did not know that Vadjura could communicate by touch. Darvo merely corrects her again to call him by his Corpus name and that it was not his ability to communicate by touch, it was the frames ability to communicate with anything it touches.

Darvo lets go of the tendril and speaks instead, telling Agni that the frame was designed to be a support frame for all Tennos in that it can interface with frames via remote contact though she needs additional equipment to cover more ground. The frame itself is also combat-viable and the fireflies around her are actually remote controlled high explosives. Agni sits down in the cargo area of the small ship and absorbs everything Darvo had just said.

She then notices she can move her tendrils consciously and tested it by plugging into the ship. Darvo then shouted at her and told her not to mess with the controls as he was flying under cover. Agni laughs as she remembers the old Vadjura scolding her. She then cries again upon remembering her mother and sobs out loud.

After a moment, Darvo notices that Agni has calmed down again and resumes what he was pointing out earlier. The Tenno needed a leader and he thinks that Agni should pose as Lotus from now on. Agni then gives Darvo a wide-eyed look.

Section 2

Upon re-entry into Tenno space, Darvo was allowed to enter the tower since he was known to be their patron merchant. Upon docking though, guards immediately stormed the ship demanding for Lotus.

Darvo merely exited the small craft with raised hands and a smile. He then motioned them to look at the cargo bay for their leader. As they carefully opened the cargo bay from behind, a lone figure came out and introduced itself. Agni tried to pronounce her full Tenno name, Lotus Agni, but she was unable to finish as the guards suddenly bowed down as soon as she mentioned her Family Name of Lotus first. He then heard Darvo laughing from afar since apparently; the Tennos have already mistaken her for her mother because of her mask.

Sighing and relenting to the fact that the Tenno do need a leader instead of grief at a time like this, she acted just as her mother would and issued orders to the guards, though via remote communicator to change her voice. The guards, though a little confused, acknowledged her orders and set everything into the right place. Darvo then approached her with clapping hands.

It had been two weeks since she had assumed her role as the Tenno lead, but things have been going smoothly as Darvo regularly supplied her with goods and information, just as he did for her mother. She had also come to understand, that Vadjura is now lost since Darvo has a very different set of values and ideals as opposed to his former attitude. Although Darvo attests this is due to the Corpus Indoctrination Program, Agni shakes her head that it is something deeper that has changed her brother.

The sentiment is merely shrugged off by Darvo as he checks off the last of his delivery schedule.

He then informs finally that through his information network, he found out that though Agni has stabbed her mother, last minute security camera footage recovered from the black box of the Fomorian shows that it was Baphomet that ended Lotus.

Agni almost detonates her fireflies at the information, and Darvo scrambles for cover. Able to contain herself, Agni demands any additional information on Baphomet as she intends to finally put him down. Coming out of his hiding place, Darvo relents but tells her that he will tell her about Baphoment in due time. He then bows as he leaves and whistles a tune while walking away.

Darvo knew full well, that some of his “business secrets” will enter the light of day soon, but worries not as he flies his delivery ship out of the Tenno Dojo. In his itinerary, he still had one more stop before actually getting some rest from stressful cycle. He sighs as he knows that he has to stop by Baphomet’s newly infested ship in Palus, Pluto.

He rubs his face, knowing that he will need to have Agni, no, Lotus face Baphomet soon and that he just needed some more time to prepare for the two to not kill each other as soon as they meet. Darvo engages the stealth mechanisms on his ships as he engages flight inside the Solar Rails.

Three weeks later, Darvo contacted Lotus for information about Baphomet’s whereabouts. He had contacted her remotely now that he was now part of the communications network that Lotus had set up. Initially hesitant that Darvo wanted her to go unattended, but she finally relents to the request of the Corpus merchant and gives instructions to wait for her at the site.

Darvo’s small ship hovered some few miles west of the Pacific Grinner base on Earth, and Darvo has been waiting for Lotus to finally show up. Seeing her ship signal on the monitors, he signals her back and tries establishing communications with her. Lotus merely popped up in the Heads-Up-Display of his helmet and startled him. Darvo rubs his face at the childishness of the Tenno leader and tells her to follow his lead into a small island.

As the two ships landed on the beach of the island, Darvo and Lotus got off their respective ships and Lotus remarked that somehow the place was familiar. Darvo then stated that the place should be familiar to her since it was once the Lasrian Mountains of old. The polar icecaps on Earth have melted, resulting in the rise of the water level on it. Darvo reminds Lotus that the Earth has been subject to more than three thousand years of human abuse, and now it is just reclaiming itself.

Lotus nods and turns to see several large vault doors from afar.  She looks at Darvo and he merely nods. They were basically at the same spot where everything had started, the Dark Sector. Although seeing no Infested around, Lotus though already fused with her frame, was only using its human appendages and mask so she quickly fully activated it revealing the additional armor and tendrils from her back and hiding away her dress.

Darvo merely shakes his head and opens the cargo doors of his ship. He orders the robotic lifts to carry out his cargo and they comply. Upon completion, the robotic lifts return to the cargo bay to store themselves, but Lotus notices a singular metallic box left inside the still open cargo bay. Lotus is then distracted by Darvo’s shouting into the direction of the vault, shouting that his delivery is now present.

Section 3

Lotus whips Darvo to the side thinking that she had been sold out again by a corpus merchant. Darvo merely flys unto a seaside tree and loses consciousness. Lotus ignores the weak merchant for now and readies for the worst. She seethes with anger at the apparent betrayal and vows not be taken alive ever again.

She releases all of her fireflies as soon as she can, but no Infested came out of the vault. Instead, a lone infested Tenno came walking slowly out of the darkness. The Infested Tenno had an enlarged left arm and bore a great sword, and Lotus immediately identified him as Baphomet.

Still walking slowly, Lotus watched as Baphomet turn back and order his mount to go back in. At that moment, Lotus immediately ran to attack Baphomet with all her speed and might. Unfortunately, the surprise did not work as the Rhino like infested frame immediately jumped away, apparently mocking her by sticking his sword to the ground.

Lotus gritted her teeth and lunched waves upon waves of fireflies unto Baphomet. Baphomet merely charged through the swarm without igniting the high explosives. Baphomet was again turning towards Lotus, but then he realizes that one of the tendrils have caught on his right foot. The large waves of fireflies were basically a diversion and Lotus wanted to catch him unaware. He was suddenly lifted into the air and Lotus pounded her into the ground several times. Though unable to create a telepathic connection through the tendril due to Baphomet’s infested nature, Lotus knew that she had slammed the man enough to damage him.

Lotus merely withdrew her tendrils after several minutes of pounding Baphomet into anything she can think off. As the dust begins to settle, she positions herself at the ready again, knowing the tenacity of the man. The dust finally settles and a large figure suddenly walks slowly out into view. Lotus was surprised to see Baphomet merely stretch out his arms while donning an Iron Skin. The man had taken no damage whatsoever and was just stretching himself as if nothing happened.

Angered to the limit, Lotus summons all of her energy reserves and her tendrils point upwards. Baphomet merely looks up to see that the sky over the Island had been overshadowed by the sheer number of fireflies glowing with energy. He laughs at the massive swarm of explosive insects about to decimate his island.

He merely rubs his chin nonchalantly as he eyes Lotus’ movements. Lotus, further angered by the man’s apathy, holds her hand right hand up and brings it down to signal the descent of the fireflies. The fireflies flicker and start igniting themselves as they begin their descent. Lotus looks with a smile at the doomed Baphomet, but is impressed that the man is merely standing still with arms crossed.

Suddenly, midway the descent of the fireflies, Baphomet stands at attention, focuses energy on his right foot, and lifts it up readying to stomp the ground. Lotus’ eyes widen as he recognizes the move, but is too late to stop Baphomet himself. Baphomet executes a Rhino Stomp that literally shakes the whole island and all the fireflies above are decimated. The explosion above the island creates a dazzling flash that blots out the sunlight, but Lotus was busy curling her tendrils into a defensive ball to protect herself.

As the explosion and the light recede, flickering nanomachine dust comes flowing down from above them. Lotus was unable to believe that this is the man that her father defeated. Baphomet then talks in ragged voice, telling Lotus that it was obvious what she was thinking. He merely stated that he knew Lotus was wondering if he was the man that Tenno Mikado, Lotus Agni’s father, had defeated.

Lotus was surprised but not shaken by the sentiment. She readies herself again for battle and checks how much energy she has left. Baphomet then states that he knows that she is not Lotus herself, but is Agni in a mask. He knows too well how Lotus fights and further states that Agni always left her right backside open. Upon hearing the specific weakness of her style of hand to hand combat, the man in front of her suddenly disappears and she feels a sharp kick from behind.

She is sent flying into a tree but is not turned unconscious by the attack. She tries to stand up but then the man teleports again in front of her. Astounded by the ability of the man, Lotus is surprised by the support Baphomet gives her in standing up. Still confused, Baphomet dusts her off and sets her tendrils straight.

He then pushes a button behind Lotus’ left ear and her mechanical pseudo-frame rescinds, including her mask. While still cleaning her face up, Baphomet carefully narrates that Mikado himself would have trashed him easily as Mikado’s Rhino Stomp could actually level mountains. He comments on how Lotus, or Agni, has apparently neglected her kata training and is ill tempered in fights.

Agni, now unmasked and being cleaned by Baphomet, merely provides a blank stare and blinks. Baphomet then laughs heartily, and states he should haven not come out with his new frame on. Although Agni was blind, she sensed that Baphomet took a few small steps back. Though still wary of the man, she no longer took a defensive stance. Defeated by curiosity, she merely put on her mask for her to engage her visual receptors.

Baphomet, standing in place, merely rescinded his frame. Agni was surprised and became teary eyed at seeing her younger brother Dahaka.

Section 4

Dahaka joked at her bigger sister’s embrace, asking her if she was now trying to kill him by asphyxiation. Though Agni was the bigger sister, she was dwarfed by the big structure of Dahaka’s body. This fact did not prevent her though from smothering the sibling.

After calming down, Dahaka put down his sister and asked where Darvo was. Agni’s eyes suddenly widened and she smilingly explained what happened to their eldest brother. Dahaka rubs his face and remarks that with Agni around, he had always felt that he was the older brother. Dahaka and Agni find Darvo unconscious but well, slumped underneath a tree. Dahaka carried the man and placed him on a bench in his Darvo’s own cargo bay.

He then motions to Agni for her to come with him. Agni was about to comply, when suddenly several Infested come out of the vault and start walking towards them. Agni was about to activate her frame again when Dahaka motions for her to stop. Dahaka walks toward the few Infested and pats their heads. The infested seem to purr, and then makes a bowing gesture towards Agni. They then proceed to haul the cargo that Darvo had delivered back into the Vault.

Agni, again sporting a blank stare, asks Dahaka what had just happened. Dahaka sighs heavily in the manner reminiscent of their father, and again motions for Agni to follow her. Agni complies this time and follows her brother reluctantly inside the Vault.

At first reeling in fear and disgust, Agni notices that any and all Infested that they come upon makes way for them and makes a bowing gesture. She had found it odd that the Infested would not attack, much less bow politely. The insides of the vault also, though dark and musty, are actually cleaner than one would expect of an Infested hive.

Dahaka then asks sarcastically if Agni was surprised. Agni pouts and admits she is actually confused at the moment. Dahaka teases her bigger sister and jokes that she was always confused at these types of things. As Agni was about to hit Dahaka, they came upon a large clearing where plant life had invaded upon. Within the clearing were several circular patterns that looked like training grounds, and in the middle were what seemed like two swords stuck to the ground. Dahaka stops near the swords, and points out that these were the two Dakra Primes that their father Mikado once used.

Agni comes closer and admires the two swords that have been partially melted down. Knowing that Darvo most likely have briefed Dahaka of what had happened to Agni, Agni in turn asks now what had happened to Dahaka. Knowing it was inevitable to avoid the particular question, Dahaka sits on a stone jutting from the ground and looks down to start his story.

After decades of torture and vivisection by the Trade Union, Dahaka was still vehemently fighting his captors. He still resisted being led around, and never cooperated on any of the tests done to him.

His captors, now called the Commercio Unione Corpus, getting tired of keeping up with his attitude and having no results from experiments on him, finally got the approval to terminate him. He had overheard that his elder brother was still alive and that experiments on him have yielded the technology of making Fieldron, so his captors were hard-pressed on making results themselves.

As he was wheeled in and strapped in the operating room where he was terminated, he finally had the insane idea to teleport his hand, centimetre by centimetre through the metal bonds the held it firmly. His right arm had several apparatus attached to it so he had to make use of his left arm. Using what little left of his residual Tenno energy reserves, he teleported his left arm little by little through his bonds while the Corpus crewmen were busy with their preparations.

Enduring agonizing pain as he teleported his own flesh into metal repeatedly, ultimately destroying his left arm, he succeeds and in setting his left arm free. He immediately goes berserk as he frees himself from the operating table. Still capable of advanced hand to hand combat, he slaughtered anyone who got near him as he ran through the laboratory halls. Finally stumbling into a shipment of Orokin cells, he recovers some energy though his original Rhino frame has been torn from him.

Remembering Psyche’s words to him that he had the natural affinity to be a Tenno Prime, and knowing he had double the normal energy reserves, he mentally focused himself to at least create a makeshift frame for himself. Surely enough, though somehow with disfigured features, he manifests a dark colored Excalibur like frame and he feels his energies flowing again, but in reverse order.

He felt nauseated and felt his Tenno energies come from some other place from within him. But he ignored the coarse feeling and regained his senses. He then heard the alarms blare, and curiously enough, he felt himself smile. As if suddenly taken by madness, Dahaka went on to slaughter everyone on the station. It was as if a voice was stuck in his head, telling him to kill everyone. After finally settling down with blood trickling down his face, Dahaka faces a security camera and utters a warning.

He then walks towards the docking bay and commandeers one of the smaller ships. Finding himself in open space and finally safe, he rescinds his makeshift frame. But to his horror, the voice in his mind does not subside, instead it beckons Dahaka to find it, the source of the voice, and meet with it. Dahaka, left with no other allies or choice, relents to the wishes the voice in his head, thinking only that he may have gone mad.

Section 5

Dahaka finds himself on the orbit of Earth, the origin planet of the humans, and a desolate wasteland after the humans have completely plundered it. He looks at the grotesquely green hue of the planet and remembers that it was once their home too.

Though already bandaged and given initial medical aid, his left arm had been throbbing with pain. He tried to endure the agonizing throbs since he knows that painkillers will dull his capability to pilot the craft.

Once he entered the Earth’s atmosphere and began re-entry, his head suddenly felt groggy and he became nauseous again. Knowing that the effects on him were influenced now by the incessant voice in his head, he held through knowing that any mistakes in his atmospheric re-entry would mean death.

After pulling through and now gliding through open air, he merely followed the voice while skimming the dirty waters of the planet to avoid detection by the Grineer. He finally sees a large clearing on a large island ahead of him and senses that this is the place he was looking for.

He lands on a spacious beach that has a clearing that leads into a forest. He follows the clearing while stumbling due to massive blood loss. Still, he persevered to uncover the identity of the voice that had been ringing in his head, until he finds something quite familiar in front of him.

It was the vault doors of the Dark Sector, and the doors have had several scratches and dents from the inside. Not wanting to believe what he assumes to be the worst, he continues on to the insides of the vault knowing he has nowhere else to go and that he is losing blood quickly.

Astounded by the thriving Infested hive inside the vault, he alerts the Infested with the smell of his blood dripping on the floor. The Infested suddenly swarm him, but as he was to activate his makeshift frame with his remaining strength, they stopped short of him and formed alone that seemed to lead him further deeper into the vault.

Now grown weakened, he comes upon the central clearing and finds a large quadruped lying in the middle. Upon sensing his presence, the quadruped rises and roars to face him, but is suddenly stopped by a ragged voice. The quadruped, called Merihem by the ragged voice that sounded much like the one in Dahaka’s head, growled and went on its way to the sides, revealing only a large jutting rock that was obscured by the shadows. The voice then beckoned him to come closer.

Upon dragging himself closer and his eyes adjusting to the light, he then sees that there is a figure embedded on the rock, with root-like growths anchoring him. The person was only a mere upper torso, consisting of a head, its right shoulder, right chest and right arm. Though the man’s face was disfigured and featureless, Dahaka immediately figured that it was Cain, his father.

The figure merely laughed telepathically as it no longer had a mouth. He expresses his happiness at seeing his son and wants him to be by his side. Dahaka, though already falling to his knees due to his blood loss, vehemently denies that Cain is his father. Cain merely laughs again and corrects Dahaka that his name was Baphomet now, and that technically, Baphomet was only half his father. Baphomet shortly explains that Mikado himself revealed to Baphomet that Dahaka was a chimaera like his mother Lotus, and that the left side of his body actually burned Mikado himself.

Dahaka screams at the man but falls to the ground due to his wounds. Baphomet then laughs as he tells Dahaka that he has waited all this time underground for him to be resurrected. After Mikado blew him up almost a thousand years ago, he had survived only as a portion of his head, and had spent centuries trying to regenerate himself slowly. And now that Dahaka was here, Baphomet can fully regenerate using Dahaka’s own body.

Dahaka groans in anger as he sees the grotesque figure pull himself from the rock with his roots and suddenly start to crawl up to him. Dahaka tries to activate his makeshift frame, but he fails as he is dying. He horridly waits as the disgusting remains of Cain makes it way towards him.

As Baphomet was finally scrambling above his figure, Baphomet’s mouth widen as if to eat him whole. Baphomet suddenly lunged himself at Dahaka, but the younger Tenno suddenly had the idea to stop the crazed man with his still intact right hand. He had stopped Baphomet with his right hand by holding him by the face, and suddenly, just as before, Baphomet ran ablaze with electricity and fire.

Dahaka was correct in his assumption that if his left side burned his father, then as a chimaera, his right side would burn Baphomet. He kept on gripping the wailing creature with his right hand while it tried to wriggle itself free. But no matter pain Dahaka suffered from the whipping actions that the creature made, he did not let go up until Baphomet was once again reduced to nothing but a head. Knowing no alternative to survive as he was beginning to lose sight, and that the corner of his peripheral sight he saw the Infested swarming, Dahaka in turn bites the remaining flesh he held in his right hand and ate.

Section 6

Dahaka finishes his story telling that the beach has slowly come inland throughout the centuries as the water levels rose. This has led to the gradual sinking of the island and having parts of the vault submerged in water. Still, Dahaka notes that he had made his own adjustments to the lair and that the island’s eventual sinking would be helpful in keeping it hidden from the Grineer.

Agni, still trying to absorb the tale she heard, then asks what had happened to him after he ate Baphomet’s remains. Dahaka merely raises his left arm and shows that although it is formed correctly like a human’s, it was now completely metallic from the fingers up to the elbows. Dahaka notes that devouring Baphomet turned him into the new Infested patriarch and mended his broken body. He was now able to materialize a proper frame though it looked similar to Baphomet’s own Infested frame.

Agni nods in acknowledgement, but then remembers about the Infested attack on the Fomorian ship. She stands up from her kneeling position when she was listening to her tale, and then demanded to know if Dahaka was responsible for the attack on the Fomorian. Dahaka merely nods, and then leans his head to the right to evade as one of Agni’s metallic tendrils suddenly attacked him.

Dahaka shakes his head, knowing that Agni was really ill-tempered. Agni then screams at Dahaka for killing their mother. She saw the security records of Baphomet himself running his sword at Lotus chest. Dahaka stands up with a sad face, and then looks at Agni angrily. He then shouts that Agni herself killed Lotus, and that when he came to Lotus’ side, she was already beyond saving. All he could manage to do was reveal to her that her youngest child was still alive, and alleviate her of her prolonged dying pains.

Agni was about ignore the sentiment and attack again, but was stopped to see Dahaka crying blood and looking at her sincerely. She rescinds her frame and her mask, falls to her knees and cries aloud, realizing and accepting the truth finally. Dahaka manages to walk towards her and embraces her as they weep together for their lost mother.

Moments later, Darvo had finally woken up after being knocked unconscious by Lotus’ attack from his behind. He stretches himself and dusts off his robes from being unconscious for too long. He finds himself on a bench in his cargo bay and deduces that Dahaka and Agni must have fought, judging from the destruction around the beach.

He stands up and readies himself to walk inlands towards the vault. He avoids several craters on his way to the vault doors and enters the darkness while shaking his head at the apparent childishness of Agni. Having been inside the vault several times, he had grown accustomed to the odd bowing of the Infested inside. 

In the central clearing, he finds the two siblings wiping tears and concludes that they have reunited finally. He makes his presence known, and Agni rushes to him asking for forgiveness. Darvo merely raises an eyebrow and sighs while telling he has gotten used to Agni’s temper ever since he was still Vadjura. The three siblings then sit down and have a talk.

Darvo breaks the silence by asking the two about their future plans. The question confuses Dahaka as he has grown accustomed to following Vadjuras plans. Even now, it was Darvo himself who coined the idea of rescuing Agni from the Fomorian.

At this sentiment, Darvo merely says that his role is now over. His part as Vadjura, their elder brother is now complete and the two must now decide for themselves. Agni berates his older brother for being so detached. Darvo merely comments that unlike Agni, Darvo can no longer join the Tenno, and unlike Dahaka, he has no army to command.

All Darvo can do for now is support the two leaders in whatever directions they want to take. Agni argues that just like her, the secondary and tertiary armors that their mother Lotus could perhaps return them to their Tenno forms.

The youngest sibling, Dahaka, is first to decline. He states that he is needed here. Dahaka mentally orders his Infested to line up and bow in unison. Dahaka then mentions that with the loss of Baphomet, the Infested can now roam uncontrolled in the Origin system. Baphomet once had complete dominion over all the Infested in the system, but as he was defeated initially by Mikado, his hold has loosened and several powerful Infested have made their own factions.

Dahaka further points out that he now needs to pose as Baphomet, not only to keep face, but also to keep the balance within the warring factions of the Infested itself. As of now, he tells of Lephantis’ army within the meteor belt assisted by a J3-golem, Phorid’s chargers in Eris who was descended from the original Merihem, and the leviathan Tartarus that orbits the sun beyond Mercury.

The youngest sadly tells his siblings that giving up his Infested patriarch position would make the other Infested fight over the system and add to the conflict brewing already. The resulting incursions of Infested that has grown over the millennia will undoubtedly wipe the innocent humans on the sidelines.

Agni then turns to Darvo, and Darvo just shakes his head as he smiles at her. Darvo says he has already resigned to his fate, and that the frame that Lotus was working on for him had been left unfinished by Lotus herself. Now that there are no known Siege Perilous units left, information about Project Vivian is lost and cannot be put to use. Lotus was the last person, aside from the First and their father Mikado, who knew of Project Vivian and its nanotechnology. Agni merely bites her lips and cries.

Section 7

After Agni has calmed down, she is surprised to notice that a small Infested approached her with a drink on a tray. She turns to look at Dahaka, and the younger sibling merely smiles and nods. Reluctant at first, she takes the drink and slowly reaches out to pat the Infested on the head. The Infested seems to like it and growls in a low voice, before shyly going away back into its fold.

Agni giggles at the cuteness of the Infested, but then Darvo looks at her with a stupefied face. Darvo rubs his face and resumes talking. He points out to Agni that without any powers or an army, he can better assist the two by simply giving them supplies. He points out that the water she is drinking is actually from the delivery he just brought with him. Agni raises her eyebrows and looks at Dahaka, and Dahaka merely nods. Satisfied with the answer, Agni gulps down the rest of the water and nods at her siblings.

After a moment, she then explains that she plans to restore the Tenno as a nation and recover their brethren from the other factions. She plans to finally balance out and live peacefully with the other factions, just as her mother wanted. At this sentiment, Dahaka suddenly stands up and walks away from the group.

He speaks out loud that the other factions have done nothing but destroy each other and reminded what the Grineer and the Corpus have put them siblings through. He vehemently disagrees at living peacefully with the other factions and instead proposes that they re-establish the superiority of their race. Even though infested himself, Dahaka wants to reclaim Outer Terminus and locate their father again. He feels that all the Primes should return and that they should put down all of those who have brought harm to the Tenno.

Agni stands up again, and says that there is another Prime still remaining in the system. The First was still in stasis and the she plans to have him restore the balance in the Origin System. The two argue continuously while Darvo watches them, still sitting on his rock.

After a heated argument, the two engage in battle again, and Darvo merely watches the two fight it out while now hiding behind his rock. All the domesticated Infested have withdrawn away from the central chamber and the three of them were the only ones left inside. Darvo thought he should finally call upon and use that equipment he brought and left in his cargo bay, but before he could activate the switch on his communicator, the two leaders agree to a ceasefire.

Dahaka looks afar as he telepathically senses that some of his Infested on Pluto were terminated. Lotus in turn tells that her network reads an access to the void near Pluto also. They turn to Dahaka, who proceeds to tell that through his information channels, Captain Vor is en route to a location near Pluto as the Grineer have sighted a void chamber materialize nearby one of their scout ships. They all conclude that it is Him, and that He has returned. They all hurry to exit the vaults, with Agni and Dahaka still bickering along the way.

Lotus activates her frame and connects to her Tenno ship to issue orders. Darvo enters his ship, closes his cargo bay and checks his information channels for further information. Dahaka stays behind to calm his Infested down and make sure the two ships were fine. Darvo then hurriedly communicates that he will be back with his regular delivery to Dahaka and Lotus, and then the two ships depart.

Final Section

As soon as his siblings departed, Dahaka then speaks aloud to the shadows behind him, while still keeping an eye on the departing Tenno and Corpus ships. He asks the shadow why it had not chosen to show itself to its mother.

Orzhov merely states that she does not want to burden his mother further by being concerned with a son. Orzhov remarks that Lotus Agni is already burdened by being in conflict with her brother, and as a son, he merely wants his mother to not worry about being in conflict with her son.

Orzhov also sarcastically inquires how he could explain to Agni, that her chimaera child with her hated Alad V was sent back by Rasputin as a fetus, since the honourable Rasputin only paid for a womb and not a child. Dahaka merely laughs at his nephew’s ideals and then turns back into the vault to resume training his protégé.

But Orzhov merely declines, saying that his father has a job for him. He disappears into the shadows and a third fast stealth ship is seen by Dahaka leaving. Dahaka shakes his head at the similarities between mother and son.

Lotus signals Darvo’s ship farewell as she herself races to the nearest Tenno dojo. She knows she was too far to personally go and rescue Tenno from his cryopod assault, but at least she knows that she can send dependable people in her stead.

She docks at the nearest hidden dojo and demands to be lead to the control room. The Tennos, shocked at seeing Lotus in the flesh, hurriedly complies. After being escorted into the control room, the lead Warlord of the Dojo offers her a seat but she brushes the gesture aside. She then extends all of her tendrils and interfaces with the whole dojo.

Darvo, driving a cargo ship, spots a small ship zoom past him and smiles as he knows who it is. He jokes to himself that Alad V may be helping them out this time. He then remembers to breathe a sigh of relief as he did not have to use the equipment that he brought with him. He would have lost one or both of his customers if he had been forced to use it.

As for now, Darvo smiles at the new development brewing between the two siblings of his. Though he has plans of his own, he concludes that it does not coincide with the ideals and plans of the two siblings, or even of the Grineer and the Corpus itself. He has his own agenda, and now he is pleased as everything is now falling into place.

The lotus flower blooms beautifully upon silent or turbulent waters. But when it is time for the flower to make way for its seeds, it sheds all of its beautiful petals. And the seeds disperse afterwards after the last petal falls. And thus, the three siblings part, each to its own faction. One sibling, Vadjura, goes home to the Commercio Unione Corpus. His twin sibling, Agni, once a Grineer Empire soldier, is now a Tenno leader. And Dahaka, their youngest, following in the footsteps of his two fathers, is taming his Infested and training his successor. The Brother’s War has ended, only to be replaced by the Sibling’s Cold War.

Epilogue

Darvo enters the observation room and spots Lotus sporting a worried look while leaning through the one way glass. The young Tenno on the other side of the glass was now fully awake and is now in a kneeling position while donning a blackened Excalibur frame. Although personally looking much younger and no longer having any metallic appendages in his human form, the Tenno was still undoubtedly the man they were looking for.

He approaches Lotus to tell her that Captain Vor has set up base in Mercury to hunt down this particular Tenno. Lotus, undeterred by his words, keeps looking vigilantly at the kneeling Tenno. She then utters words of distress at being at a loss on what to do with Him. She knows that even though depowered for the moment, He is still the hope of the Tenno to win this war. But she is concerned on how to guide him properly while hiding him from the eyes of the Corpus and the Grineer.

Darvo merely shrugs off the sentiment and tells Lotus of an old Corpus saying. “Better to hide a seedling in tall grass, than a great tree in a forest.” Lotus nods in understanding, and connects herself to a control panel. She then starts up the tutorial program for Him. He then bows and stands up asking for His name.