Warframe: Relic Hunters
Chapter 31
Flesh Is The Flaw
*Present Day*
No one dared to speak, not a single soul cried out as the news sunk in, it hurt, more than any bullet or bite. To think, all this time, and someone planned their end, their slavery. And all fingers pointed to ‘them’.
Ember roared out in anger as they watched her body ignite, her rage boiling to the point that the wall she went over to hit, had already begun to smoulder.
“THOSE BASTARDS!!!” she roared as Frost and Atlas grabbed her and helped her calm down, many just stared at the floor, then back at Excalibur
“You knew this? All along, and you never told anyone?” Mag asked quietly as Excalibur sighed
“I made a promise, and I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” Excalibur spoke sadly, his head hung in shame
“Screw this! I’m getting some air!” Ember spat as she stormed out
“One carries joy, for all nature to bear, and one carries the thorns, the darkness and despair,” Ash rhymed as the others could understand
“Operator, shall I continue?” Ordis asked in concern as Excalibur nodded. “Please be advised, this next clip is… disturbing,”
Excalibur sat frozen for a moment, his heart beating faster as he knew the memory, he drew a shaky breath as his mind flashed with images. So much death. His armour then tinted into a near black as he felt his blood boil.
Then Skyler grabbed his hands as he looked back up and into her innocent eyes, his armour slowly fading back to blue.
“You don’t need to do this, we won’t force you,” Skyler spoke calmly as Excalibur smiled but shook his head
“No, its fine, I rather let everyone understand just what they did to us,” Excalibur explained as he frowned. “Play it!”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Location: Orokin Derelict*
*Operation: Retrieve Bio-Research Data*
*Tenno: 8*
As the ship docked, the 8 Tenno marched out and quickly took point, 2 in gold, black and white armour (Excalibur and Nekros Prime) took charge as they divided their men.
The others stared at the ruined hub, its lights flickered and sparked as wires hung from the ceiling, chairs and wall tiles scattered the place, revealing more internal wiring. The place looked like the start of a zombie outbreak.
“Ok, so you take your men and search the ship for any survivors, and if you find anything, contact me,” EP ordered as NP nodded
“If anything, that is hostile moves, I’ll take em down, right?” NP, a female asked as EP nodded. “Ok then, let’s move out, Tenno!”
After they left, EP looked at his Tenno, it was him, Excalibur, Ivara and a Vauban.
“Ok, our mission is to locate the Bio-Labs and find the research that was lost, same rule applies, no going solo, and contact me if you find anything, got it?” EP asked as they all nodded. “Then let’s move out!”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a good 30 minutes, Excalibur Prime’s squad found the lab, but just like the rest of the ship, it was empty, not a single soul was present. As the entered they searched all the data banks for any source of the Data.
Many plants and biological equipment littered the area, test tubes were smashed on the floor, some even burning the floor with a hiss, releasing a putrid smell. They couldn’t see into the other rooms, due to the lockdown shutters, making things more complicated.
“Hey, Cal, give me hand, will ya?” Ivara asked as Excalibur walked over. “This door won’t budge!”
“Here,” He began as he put his fingers between the doors, as Ivara did also. “On three.”
“One…”
“Two…”
“Three!”
With a mighty pull, the doors were slowly pried open, their hinges hissing in protest, once open they froze in surprise. Blood… lots of blood. It painted the white walls a sickening red, as chunks of flesh was dotted around the room.
“Oh, my god…” Ivara gasped as Excalibur shakily turned
“EP! Get over here!” Excalibur yelled, but then they both heard the sound of something sloppy smacking the ground
They turned slowly, their weapons held shakily in their arms as their hearts stopped beating for an instant. They… they couldn’t comprehend it… it looked human, but not anymore, it was twisted and broke, its arms were fused into it hide like a sick carcase.
It then growled a sickening tone as it slowly approached them, its arms twitching in protest. But then Excalibur pulled his gun up, his sighting on the creature.
“You are one ugly mother fuck!” Excalibur spoke as he didn’t give the creature time to react as his Braton chewed in its hide, its body thumping to the floor in a massive heap
“Excalibur? What’s-… what the fuck?” EP asked as he saw the mangled corpse on the floor
“We… we don’t know what it is, sir,” Ivara choked out as she turned away
*CLICK*
She watched as EP pulled Excalibur back, his gun trained on the room, more moans echoed out, more warped, gnarled ‘Things’ approached them, some were even down on all fours.
“Run, RUN!!!” Excalibur yelled as EP and Ivara follow, this sent the creatures off as they growled and ran after them. “Shit, their following!”
The three shot out of the room as Vauban came running towards them, but before he could react, he saw the abominations following the group and made a 180 and ran. But then something wrapped around his leg as he called out.
“Hey! Help! Somethings’ got me!” Vauban yelled as Excalibur stopped and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him back
But something must have hit Excalibur because he flew back and watched in horror as Vauban was dragged into the horde, and soon, only screams of agony rang out as he watched the blood leak from the pack, the sound of bones cracking and flesh being torn stained his mind.
“-alibur! Excalibur!” Ivara screamed as he came back to his senses and saw EP and Ivara dragging him to his feet. “Come on! Run!”
He complied and ran, not daring to look back as the screams died out. EP then tried his communicator, the sound of gunshots ringing out.
“Nekros, are you there!? Come in!” EP called, but only heard gunfire and screams of the creatures, then a ragged voice came on
“Excalibur?” NP asked in a worried tone. “Oh, thank god! What the hell are these things!?”
“We-we don’t know, all that we know is that something must have broken loose and killed the men on board,” EP explained as Excalibur and Ivara fired back down the hall at the creatures
“Look, we need to evac! I’ll meet you at the ship, get back alive, you hear!?” NP warned as more gunshots blocked out the sound
“Shit…” EP muttered as he laid down his own cover fire. “Ok, get back to the ship, we’re leaving!”
Excalibur turned his head and saw the vast mob approaching, his eyes widening in fear as the chased them down like dogs. They couldn’t ask what they were, as they could only focus on leaving, and blowing the ship to hell.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After rounding another corner, they were greeted by Nekros Prime and one other Nekros firing towards the horde, their bodies slowly piling up as they kept swarming. As they approached, Ivara brought out her Artemis Bow and reduced the creatures to corpses as she ran towards the ship.
EP ran up to NP, and saw her blood stained armour. He glanced at the other Nekros and saw him cleaning his Either Reaper of the blood, his armour stained red.
“They’re gone… I… eased their pain…” She slowly spoke as he nodded and the door to the ship opened
“Let’s go,” EP spoke sadly as they all quickly entered the ship, the last to enter were Ivara and Excalibur
“Look out!” Excalibur yelled as he shoved Ivara aside, as a creature latched onto his arm and began to make quick work of his arm as he screamed in agony, the pain rocketing to his core as his cries turned to anger
“GET OFF ME YOU INFECTED RAT!!!” He screeched as he ripped the creature off his arm and pinned it to the ground
Then his working arm shot a pair of Venka forth, his arm impaling the creatures neck as he repeatedly lacerated its body, blood staining his armour as he tore it to shreds.
Before he could continue to turn the hollow creature into paste, two arms pulled him off as he felt his rage boil, he needed to kill it, he wanted to make it suffer, they wanted it to burn like all the rest.
“Excalibur! Snap out of it!” Ivara screamed as she pulled Excalibur through the door, it quickly shutting behind them with a hiss
Excalibur was then thrown to the floor as he slowly came back, the pain flooding his nerves as he looked at his left arm. It was torn and broken, the creature had stripped his armour down to scrap as his arm was covered with gashes and blood.
Then Excalibur’s world slowly spun, his stomach feeling queasy as he looked up at the remaining Tenno, who rushed to help him.
“Dammit…” Was all he got to say as his body shut down and his head hit the floor, his vision fading away
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Ugh…” Excalibur groaned as he felt his vision slowly escape the grasp of the void, his head rushed with a new sense of pain as he held it in his grasp
He then looked around, he still wore his armour, but it was fixed, judging by the left arm not having a single scratch. Then he saw the massive white room he sat in, alone.
“What the… hey! Hello!” Excalibur called out but felt the headache return and clenched his fist in rage. “Dammit!”
He then saw the windows, or lack of vison they provided. He saw the black glass and the black smudges behind them, indicating at people looking at him. So, he got up and walked over to them.
Just as he approached the glass, he heard the sound of a speaker system tuning as a feminine voice came through. And if ice had a voice, her’s would be it.
“So… our little ‘Hero’ is awake? You slept for 3 days like a Deadman, and now you decide to wake!” The woman laughed as Excalibur looked up at the camera
“Where-where am I?” Excalibur asked as she gave a huff in response
“Your new home… for now, you aren’t permitted to leave, and for the remainder of your time will be spent through mental stability and other ‘interesting’ experiments,” She announced as Excalibur glared from under helmet
“What the fuck!? Like hell you wi-” Excalibur began but felt his head jolt with the force of a thousand volts as he yelped, falling to his knees in pain
“You ‘will’ obey my commands! You are under ‘my’ control! And as such, I expect you to behave!” She snapped as the volts stopped
“Go… fuck… yourself,” Excalibur wheezed out, then another voltage stuck his brain like a freight train
“Hahahaha! Keep that up! I want to see just how much of a fighter you really are, Excalibur… maybe if you bore me… your sister might be a better suited subject, or how about that bitch of an archer!?” The female taunted as Excalibur looked up at her with pure hatred
“I always do like to hear the sound of screams…” She sighed in glee, this caused Excalibur to yell back
“I’LL KILL YOU!!! I’LL GUT YOU!!! YOU HEAR ME!!!” Excalibur roared as the pain intensified and she laughed
“Then come and get me!” She dared and the lights in the room turned off, enclosing Excalibur in the dark, alone and in agony. “Until then, goodbye,”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Present Day*
Everyone just stared at Excalibur with shock and sadness, they now realized how much he had suffered and knew it could only get worse from there. Had they only known…
“Excalibur…” Skyler started as he held his helmet in his grasp, not looking at any of them
“What… what were those th-things…?” Fluttershy asked, still hiding behind the group, then she heard what sounded like a growl as they looked up and yelped
Nidus dropped from the ceiling as he faced the group, the mane 7 terrified of his presence. Then they saw Titania walk up to him as he looked down at her.
“What is that thing!?” Dash gasped as they heard Nidus snarl in response and Titania shook her head
“His name is Nidus, and to answer your question, they came from him, and the name of those ‘Creatures’ is the Infestation,” Titania answered as they looked at Nidus in bafflement, then he made a series of grunts
“He also said he would show you why, but he feared he already scared you enough,” Titania said hesitantly as Nidus looked at his arm and shrugged and walked away
“You-you can understand It-” Twilight began but a roar cut her off as she saw Nidus smash the door at the mention of 'It'
"Stupid-quadruple-flying-nerd!" Nidus spat as he walked away, even if only one of them could understand him
“Nidus.” Excalibur spoke, making them all turn to face him, then he looked at them with an angered expression. “His name is, Nidus,”
“Excalibur, are you alright?” Sunset asked as he shook his head
“No. I’m not, not even close,” He answered as he quickly continued. “The fact I’m even still sane is beyond me, if I were still human… I… would have ended my life long ago,”
“Don’t say that! You’ve saved a lot of lives, sure it wasn’t pretty, but you did!” Nox snapped back as her brother joined in
“She’s right! Not only did you save people here, but you saved all of us!” Lumos added as the rest nodded and a small smile appeared on his face, but it faded quickly
“Even so… once you see my biggest mistake, you’ll understand why…” Excalibur retorted as he set the helmet down. “Let’s get this party started…”
To Be Continued…
A single word can have a wave of events, a single action can have a world of blood.