//------------------------------// // Chapter 27: Hive Assault Part 4 // Story: Warframe: Equestria // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// POV: Karn / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest - Deep inside the Hive After receiving Pinkie's confirmation on her task done, I turn my attention back on the infested blocking our path to the central chamber. "Come on! I can do this all day!" Rainbow yells, firing her akstiletto into the charging infested. "Buck!" she then says as her magazines run dry. I aim my soma at them and spray the infested down, giving her time to reload her guns and resume firing. "Keep pushing forward!" I tell Rainbow before sending a quick uncharged fireball down the tunnel which explodes, setting those in the blast radius alight. Some infested jump over their screeching allies and continue their charge towards us. I aim my Soma and fire at the infested making them add their own screeches, Rainbow adding her bullets to the barrage as well. Once the flaming corpses die down, we both run forward and continue down the tunnels shooting any infested in our way. We pass by some side tunnels and even rooms that appear to have once been living quarters it seems. Moss beds and other wooden furniture are in the rooms, now mostly broken or covered with the virus. We even pass a room that looks like a nursery. Small deformed and bloated infant looking changelings squirming and screeching on the floor as they try to make their way over to us. "Oh Celestia..." Rainbow says sadly and before I can say anything, she starts shooting them in the head one by one. I just cover her by staying near the entrance and gun down any incoming infested. It only takes her a minute to put them all out of their misery before we continue on. We pass by another room where Rainbow yelps and gets knocked off her feet. "Ahhh!" she yelps as a fleshy cable like strand sticks to her back and an ancient pulls her into the room. I follow her in just to see her use her Air Burst ability to slice the ancient in half, making it release her. Once she's free and away from it, I launch another fireball at the infested, burning its still alive remains "Keep moving, Rainbow!" I tell her and head back out with her right behind me. "Coming!" she says as we continue to make our way to the centre of the hive while gunning down any infested blocking our path. We come to a cross section where the screeching of the infested echo around us before they start swarming four tunnels around us. "Rainbow, use your tornadoes!" I tell her making her quickly use her ability. Air flows around her as her energy builds and three small tornadoes form and grow until the raging winds forcefully pull in the infested, carving them up with razor air currents. "Good, now let's go! Just a bit further!" I say as I launch a fireball into each of the tornadoes, making them change into swirling pillars of flame. With the other tunnels now blocked, we run and gun down the last one towards the central chamber. After putting countless abominations down, we arrive and the chamber is massive. I could fit my orbiter in here and have room to spare. I see the remains of what appear to be homes carved into the walls and ceiling, and in the centre of the chamber is a massive pulsing growth. "Ewww, what is that?" Rainbow asks in disgust. "Must be the main cluster," I reply and re-materialise a bomb from my frame's hard-drive. "Let's blow this thing up already! I'm getting a bad feeling..." Rainbow says with a shiver. I start setting the timer when the ground rumbles where a ten metre long muscly tendril bursts out of the ground followed by a roar. "Crap..." I mutter and set the timer to go off in ten minutes. Rainbow yelps and launches an air burst at the tendril, cutting nearly half way through before it detonates, sending the tendril flailing as it slithers back underground. "Of course there's one here..." I say getting Rainbow's attention. "One what?" she asks me as the ground rumbles again. "One of the origin strains, one of the first of the infested since its initial spread. There are a few infested that are as old as I am. Lephantis is the oldest I know of. No matter how many times we destroyed its body, it always came back a few years later in another derelict," I reply as four more tendrils burst out around us. "I don't recognise this one," I say and roll to the left to avoid a swipe from one of the tendrils. Only to be grabbed by another and lifted into the air. "KARN!" Rainbow shouts and starts shooting the tendril to no effect. I growl and struggle before activating my Immolation ability. My energy flares up and ignites my warframe, covering both myself and the tendril in hot flames. A loud screech echoes throughout the hive as I'm dropped to the ground. I land hard and quickly roll onto my feet as Rainbow is swatted away by the tendril behind her. "Bucker!" she yells and slams into the cavern's wall before bouncing off. "Ooof!" she grunts and quickly gets back on her feet. I can feel my frame getting hotter by the second, giving me more resistance to damage and increasing the damage of my other abilities. I turn and blast the two closest tendrils with a fireball each, setting them on fire and making them flail wildly. "Rainbow! Cast your tornadoes so I can set them on fire!" I tell her and dodge the swing of a tendril at me. "Okay!" she replies and casts her ability.  A single tornado is formed at each tendril and I use my fire blast ability to unleash a wake of fire that spreads out away from me while also reducing the total heat my frame is now regaining. Each tornado is engulfed in flames and forces the tendrils to retreat underground. The hive shakes violently as the pulsing growth above us is hit by the blast of flame. I maintain my balance while Rainbow falls over. A large mass of flesh and teeth bursts out from under me and bites into my frame, shattering my shields and puncturing my waist as it drags me down into a larger chamber. My frame is slowly bleeding out as I unleash another fire blast into the infested's mouth, making it howl in pain and spit me out. I tumble down to the ground and quickly pull out a healing canister and jab myself in the leg. The thin needle pierces the armour of my frame and my frame slowly repairs the damage it took as my shields come back online and recharge. I check my ammo reserves and I have about half of my stock remaining. "Karn! You alright!?" Rainbow asks over the comms. "I'm fine! Head to the entrance! I'll keep this thing here so it can't get out!" I reply and duck under a swing of a tendril before diving over another and rolling back onto my feet. "You expect me to leave you down here!?" she yells angrily. "If I have to sacrifice my frame to make sure this thing dies down here then so be it! Now go! That's an order!" I tell her, making her growl and after dodging another swing she yells in frustration. "FINE!" she replies and I can faintly hear her run away as my mini-map also shows. I draw my soma and start unloading into the centre of the abomination. It has bone protrusions all over its main body with two long tendrils coming out of each side. The front has a large maw with six inch long razor sharp teeth lining both upper and lower jaws. It doesn't appear to be able to move without the use of its tendrils as it has no arms or legs on it. The ancient mass of flesh screeches as the thermal tipped rounds scorch and try to ignite the monster, but it starts secreting a liquid like substance that prevents it from catching on fire. The infested roars angrily and lunges at me using its tendrils to propel itself forward. Gathering my energy to my feet I bullet jump to the right, launching myself a good twenty feet and barely avoid it as it slams into the cavern wall, sending loose stone and infested flesh around it. I quickly recover and activate my fourth ability, Inferno. Energy flows from me to nearby rocks and engulfs them in flames before levitating off the ground and quickly soars into the back of the infested ancient. It wails in pain as the rocks tear into the softer flesh and start burning it from the inside. I run over to it and avoid its flailing tendrils before thrusting both my hands into the scorched holes and launch fireball after fireball into its insides. it struggles as it tries to dislodge itself from the wall before going still and bursting into flames. I back away, my frame's energy spent and the coating of fire around me is snuffed out. I quickly collect my Soma from the ground, holster it to my back, and look up to the hole above me. I have less than five minutes to get out of here so I bullet jump onto the still burning ancient and then leap up to the hole and grab the ledge. With a grunt, I haul myself up and make a mad dash back down the tunnels. "Everyone! I'm heading back up! Make sure no infested leaves the hive and keep an eye on the timer! Stay away from the entrance when it goes off!" I tell everyone over the comms. "Understood! Just get back here quickly!" I hear Twilight reply along with the sound of a lot of gunfire. "Ordis! Get ready to pick us up and provide covering fire for the ground teams!" I tell him. "Understood, Operator," he replies and I can hear the thrusters of the orbiter outside followed by its few turrets firing into the entrance. Four minutes. I come across a few infested along the way and draw my lex with my right hand and heat dagger with my left. I shoot six of them before impaling the last one in the head with the dagger, burning its flesh and killing it instantly. Three minutes. Once dealt with, I bolt down the tunnels again while gunning or stabbing any more in my way. Two minutes. Closer and closer I get to the entrance as the sound of gunfire gets louder ahead of me. I jump dodge and shoot my way through the tunnels as the timer is ticking down. One minute. I get tackled into the wall and headbutt the changeling infested making it stagger back before shooting it in the head. 3. I see the light from the entrance and turn the corner quickly. 2. I sprint for all I've got and see the others backing away from the entrance. 1. As soon as I get five feet from the entrance, the hive violently shakes from the bomb's detonation. I stumble slightly and reach the opening before a blast of flames and kinetic force slams into my back, shattering my shields and sending me head over heels out of the hive. I bounce off of Shining's frame, sending him to the ground heavily while I bounce off and slam into a tree which shatters with the force. I tumble and roll for a bit before coming to a stop. My systems warn me of a break in my left arm and a fracture in my frame's right leg. I stay down and look up to see the hive engulfed in flames as the whole tunnel network collapses, sending smoke and dust flying high into the air. "Karn!" I hear Rainbow and the others as they make their way over to me. "Ordis! Scan for any more infested in the area!" I order him as the others help me up onto my feet. "Scanning... There are a few lingering signs, targets have been marked," he replies and five target markers appear on all of our HUDS. "Spread out! Destroy those targets now! If they get away, the hive can recover!" I order the others, making them gasp and quickly spread out to chase them down. Rainbow is the only one still here, using her frame to support mine. "Cutting it a bit close don't ya think?" she asks me with a sigh. "Even if I didn't make it, I can just make another frame. It's better to ensure that the hive is wiped out instead of risking letting it recover again," I reply and she carefully sets me down against a tree. I watch as each target marker disappears from my hud until none are left. I then watch as Ordis launches canisters all over the forest near the hive with the disinfectant to make sure not a single cell of the technocyte remains. "Well then... hopefully this is the only hive on this planet, I will need to get the orbiter orbit worthy to perform a full planetary scan... but at least for now this hive is no longer a problem..." I say getting a relieved sigh from Rainbow. "So now all that's left to worry about is the gryphons," she says sounding tired. "We'll send cloaked probes to see what they're up to, and if need be, I can infiltrate and look for any evidence or what they're doing myself," I reply and twist my left arm, getting a crack from it but setting it back the right way. "You alright?" she asks me with concern. I slowly turn my head to look at her. "I don't feel any pain, but my frame will need some time to repair the break and fracture." "We got them all, Karn," Pinkie says over the comms. "Good job, everyone. Return and let's head back to the dojo, I think a celebration is in order for your first successful mission," I reply, getting cheers in return. The others quickly return and help me up as we head back to the dojo, Ordis is overhead providing us with cover along the way.