*Cynder POV*
"Remember, line up your shots carefully," Huntress said as we arrived on the edge of town, "we don't want any unwanted casualties"
"Got it," I said, "avoid shooting anything colorful then"
"Pretty much" Shift chuckled.
Soon we were at our destination, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Houses were ablaze, corpses lined the streets and the sound of Grineer barking orders could be heard over everything else.
We looked at each other and nodded, splitting up was the best thing to do.
I ran down the street directly ahead while Shift and Huntress ran down the ones to the side. I weaved through backstreets until I ran right into a squad of grineer.
"Tenno," a heavy gunner cried out, "Khuss hut!"
'Can't understand them,' I thrust my hand forward palm outwards, 'then again, why do I care?'
A ball of pure fire launched from my outstretched hand, upon collision with the heavy gunner it exploded. The explosion didn't kill the heavy unit, but it did leave it in quite a lot of pain as it burned to death.
"Rhue gar tenno," a bombard unit cried out, directing the other troops attention at me, "taakhe rrhum kut!"
The squad opened fire, rockets, bullets, and fire all flew straight at me. I leaped to the side, ducking behind the corner of a house taking out my akzani auto-pistols mid roll. I waited behind my cover for a few seconds before leaping back into the open, and letting my pistols spell out my hatred for the Grineer.
The akzani did not disappoint, the twin rapid-fire sidearms flashed as they each sent a deadly volley of bullets at the squad. Not only did they chew through the troops, but they devoured their clips too, and soon I stood in front of what used to be a whole squad of soldiers, one clip of ammunition spent.
"Koss hut," I heard from the next street over, "hut rrhuss serve us rress"
"D-don't hurt m-me!"
I knew that voice.
"Fluttershy," I cried out running through the alleyway that connected to the next street over, "don't you dare hurt her!"
I holstered my pistols and drew out my latron wraith, a semi-auto rifle which I had modded for even higher damage and accuracy.
The grineer troops turned and raised their weapons, but a good amount of them fell to my shots before they opened fire. A squad of 10 grineer had been reduced to just 3 in the blink of an eye.
I ducked behind cover as the two heavies in the group opened fire, their gorgons winding up quickly to maximum fire rate. I waited for a few seconds before the thunder that was the gorgons stopped. My patience was rewarded with the recognizable sound of empty magazines clicking, before I returned fire with my rifle.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Three shots, plus three grineer, equaled zero grineer.
I rushed over to the yellow and pink blob, cowering behind some barrels.
"It's okay Fluttershy, I'm here and they're gone" I said quietly, petting her like I would my kubrow.
"Y-y-you killed t-them," she said, there was no mistaking fear in her voice now, "s-s-so much blood"
"They would've killed you had I not disposed of them," I said quietly, "I'm sorry Fluttershy, but it wa-"
"Gar aagre reaar tenno" a cold voice came from behind me.
I turned around to face the barrel of a garakta assault rifle aimed squarely at my face.
'Oh shit' I thought, watching as the lancer's expression changed to a twisted grin.
Then he was on the ground flailing madly as he was suddenly dragged down by a grey mass of fur which had not been there a second before. The grey kubrow then bit sharply into the lancer's leg preventing the surprised grineer from rising again.
I wasted no time, snapping my rifle to the ready and firing one shot into the lancer's head. His features went limp as his head exploded from blast damage.
"Good boy Omega!" I cried, petting the large canine happily, "you've earned yourself a treat when we get back home"
The huras barked happily at me, wagging his tail.
I heard a small whimper and turned to find Fluttershy peeking from her hiding spot behind the stack of barrels.
"It's okay Fluttershy," I said calmly, "he wont hurt you, he only kills if I'm in trouble or when we are fighting the Corpus or Grineer"
"A-are you s-sure?" she stuttered, "he seems l-like one of the m-monsters in the E-Everfree Forest"
I would've responded, but the sound of gunfire nearby cut me off.
"I'll let you get to know him better later," I said looking in the direction of the sound,"for now get to safety"
"B-But I have to make sure the animals in town are all okay," the pegasus said worryingly, "I hope none of them are hurt"
I sighed and thought it over.
'If she goes alone and runs into a squad she'll die quicker than I could blink, if I did blink that is' I thought, 'I need to rid this place of grineer, but if she's really so intent on staying...'
I turned to face the yellow and pink pegasus.
"Fluttershy I'll protect you while you look for any animals needing help" I said, reloading my rifle.
"R-really?" she asked hopefully.
"You're my friend, are you not?" I chuckled.
"Thank you Cynder," she said, "B-but do you have to use that big, noisy...thing?"
I looked at my rifle and sighed, placing it on my back and drawing out my akzani once more.
"These still are used for killing," I told her, "but they'll be a lot quieter than my rifle, is that okay?"
"O-Okay," she said, some fear still in her gaze as she eyed the pistols, "if it's really necessary"
"Trust me," I chuckled, "once The Grineer start an operation peace and negotiations are out of the question"
With that said, I followed her quietly. Keeping an eye out for anyone who dared to try and harm her.
***
*Shift POV*
Crack. Snap. Squish.
The screams of the grineer reverberated around the town as I crushed them. I used my powers to fold their bodies into balls of snapped bones and contorted flesh.
After a few seconds, all the grineer that had been in the squad I had confronted were dead.
"Quick and satisfying," I mumbled, "though I have to admit, mowing them down with my gun is more fun"
I heard the screams of an innocent, and ran.
When I got to the spot where the scream had come from I found a blue pony with curly pink hair, alongside a yellow pony with short, spiky orange hair. And behind them I spotted two young ponies, from the looks of it they couldn't have been more than a year old.
And surrounding the ponies was a squad of grineer lancers. I couldn't shoot, my boltor's bolts would go right through the lancers and into the ponies. My lex prime had a similar problem, I had put a metal auger mod on the powerful sidearm which gave it a punch through boost.
'My sword then' I thought as I drew the ancient orokin weapon, the gold along its blade giving off a quick flash.
The flash caught the pink and blue pony's attention, and she looked right at me. I brought my free hand up to my helmet, and made a hushing motion. The pony nodded in understanding, looking back to the grineer troops about to end her life.
"Gar'gre maakhuig garr--GRAHHHH"
The lancer never finished his insult as my blade cut him in half.
"Khuss hut!" a lancer commanded.
Bullets flew at me as the grineer opened fire, my shields flashed and my HUD showed them drop with every hit. It wasn't enough to stop me though as I cut through lancer after lancer. My sword became a blur of gold, white, and red as I brought it down on the last grineer, splitting him in half right down the center of his body.
I breathed heavily, stowed my sword, and looked around. Corpses lay everywhere and the ground was soaked in crimson blood. Some corpses were missing limbs, others were twisted beyond recognition.
I heard a whimper from behind me, and remembered why I had killed these lancers in the first place. I turned around to face the ponies who were now huddled closely, trembling in fear of what they had just seen me do.
"Go," I said quietly, "get to safety"
"How do we know we can trust you to not kill us when our backs are turned?" asked the yellow pony, glaring at me.
"Have I done anything to try and harm you yet," I asked, "I only killed to protect you, I'm not a murderer, I'm a warrior"
The yellow pony still glared at me, but I caught a flicker of understanding in his eyes.
"Thank you" He said after a long pause. He and the other three ponies stood up and ran.
I turned and ran in the opposite direction, listening to the sounds of war all around me.
I blasted any grineer in sight as I ran, my boltor and lex prime taking out targets in the open, and my dakra cutting through when needed. In my wake I left a trail of crimson death, the blood of enemies fallen.
I realized that I was killing not only because of my hatred towards the grineer for everything they had done to try and end the ways of the tenno, but also because I cared about the ones who lived on this planet. Normally I never felt any sort of care for a planet's inhabitants, intelligent or not, but now was different, now was my chance to show I was more than a cold blooded killer.
'I'll take that chance'
The true reason for me being so vicious was because of my isolation, there were no other primes in our small clan, as far as I was aware. I felt alone and ignored most of the time, no other members would fight me in the dojo's dueling room, and the observatory cleared out every time I entered.
I had felt horrible, I slowly became more and more distant from the other members of the clan. I rarely did missions with other tenno, and started to become more focused on how to make my enemies suffer. I found painful ways of executing anything that got in my way, and became something of a master in prolonging the suffering of my enemies.
When new tenno had joined the clan they asked me if I could help them crack open some relics or assist them in assassinations of VIPs.
I responded to all of them with the same uncaring attitude and brutal insults, accompanied by physical fights with the weaker tenno who asked me to help them. When more recruits joined they all feared me, but as long as they didn't interact with me I didn't hurt them
I had become an animal, I could no longer be called a tenno. That title fit what I was but not who I was.
That had all changed when I had met Huntress.
"Hey there kitty," I remembered the Rhino saying, "What, you don't like me calling you kitty, what are you gonna do about it, scream in my face?"
I remembered him shoving the Valkyr to the ground, laughing as he did so.
"You female frames are all the same," he had sneered, "all looks and no powe-"
That's when I had thrown him using my powers. I smashed him into a wall repeatedly, then I dropped him from ceiling height before finishing by throwing him into the lily pond.
Then I moved over to where he lay, and growled.
"Girls don't pack a punch, huh," I had asked coldly, "I'd say your theory could use some refining. So why don't you go and refine it before I decide to test it out on whatever remains of you?"
He had made straight for the nearest liset dock after that.
Later that day while I was meditating in the, once again, empty observatory, I had heard the doors slide open and quiet footsteps approach. I had expected it to be the Excalibur, one of the only tenno who I could call a freind at the time. To my surprise, however, the one who had come and had sat beside me in that quiet room was the Valkyr I had defended earlier.
We sat in silence for a long time, watching as the void of space stretched out in front of us, its stillness and peace was always soothing to me.
She was the first to speak.
"I didn't mean to disturb you," she had said politely, her gaze still focused the void, "I have heard a lot about you from the other clan members"
I had looked at her, puzzled by that statement.
"Then you surely know that I'm not the nicest tenno in the clan," I had said, "so why did you come here?"
"To thank you for defending me from that Rhino" she had answered quietly.
I had scoffed at that.
"I was planning to kick him out anyways," I said, "you just happened to be in the way, I wasn't defending you"
Much to my surprise she had laughed at that, a bright and cheerful laugh.
"Not believing that for a second," she'd chuckled, "some say that you are nothing but a heartless mercenary, and that you fight because you are bloodthirsty"
"And I am," I sighed, "no one in this clan like's me anyways, so why should I care about that?"
At that moment she had stood up, stretched and looked at me before she spoke.
"Fight me" she said.
I had stared at her, wondering if I had just imagined the words, but she reassured me that they were not in my head.
"Fight me"
We headed to the dueling room, along the way other tenno stared as we walked past, most followed us eager to see what was happening.
I sat down on one side of the dueling area, as the shields that separated fighters from the crowd flickered on.
The countdown started and the numbers flashed on my HUD.
'3...2...1...GO'
I had just drawn my sword when she threw her ripline out at me. It caught my leg and pulled me off my feet. She had advanced, her kronen flashing as she drew them out and swung at me. I raised my dakra and the clang of steel on steel reverberated throughout the dojo as i blocked her blow.
I kicked with my back legs shoving her away, and getting to my feet. I charged her this time, my dakra flashed as I swung it.
Left, right, up, spin, slam, thrust. Every single one of my attempted combo attacks were blocked by the large bladed tonfa that the Valkyr wielded with such ease.
Right, left-down, up, right-down, spin, block, block, low-sweep, up-slash. This time my final attack landed, throwing the tenno off-balance. I moved in and slammed the hilt of the dakra prime onto her head.
She crumpled to the floor, and my HUD displayed the words 'Victory' across it. I ignored that though and stared at my opponent, who wasn't moving at all.
I knelt by her and checked for a pulse, it was faint. Her breathing was very shallow. I didn't know why I cared, I was an cold-hearted mercenary, wasn't I?
Slowly I raised a hand over her, and allowed my energy to flow into her warframe's systems. The lights on the warframe flickered on as she stood up.
"I'm sorry," I said without thinking, suddenly caring for the tenno I had nearly ended, "I'm so, so sorry"
I heard her chuckle quietly, the chuckle became a giggle, which became a laugh. Everyone looked at the valkyr as she got up and faced me.
"Well, I guess you are a mercenary" she said quietly, "But you sure ain't heartless"
'[iI guess I'm not' I I agreed helping up the brave Valkyr.
That had all been a while ago and after that event some tenno started asking me to help them with missions again. I accepted invitations frequently ranging from simple resource gathering to cracking open high-quality relics.
I was happy, and even reflecting on these memories for that one instant in the middle of Ponyville I now felt even more determined to protect the ponies from the grineer.
'You won't be taking this planet any time soon' I thought as I raced through the streets towards an approaching transport.