A Rift Between Worlds

by Cinders of War

Chapter 14: Out of Time

Home Run smashed the next Grineer in the face with his jat kittag, launching the body across the street and into an old antique shop, smashing the display glass at the front of the shop.

“Oops,” he muttered. “Sorry…”

“Home Run, no time for apologies. Watch your back!”

He turned just in time to see a butcher jump at him, trying to cut him down with its cleaver. Home Run sidestepped and butted the butcher’s head with his hammer shaft. As the butcher flinched back, Home Run threw a grenade at him, shocking him until it stopped moving. The grenade remained, zapping any other Grineer that wandered too close to it.

Home Run, Sunset, and Rainbow were on their way to school when the galleon decided to drop a few pods down, a little ahead of their location. The three decided to stay here and fight, not wanting the Grineer to run amok in the area. Only after metallic structures and the angry captain showed up did they realize the point of this small attack.

“Tenno…” the old man snarled. He stepped back and ordered the Grineer to advance. “Kill them all. Do not let them touch this gate.”

Captain Vor, along with some troops that looked like engineers hung back, assembling the gate while the bigger ones focused their fire on Home Run and Sunset. Rainbow had gone above, trying to shoot them from the skies, but they paid no attention to her.

“Well, this is wonderful,” Sunset said sarcastically, freezing a rocket out of the sky. “I guess all the big guns are here.”

“Got that right,” Home Run nodded as he bashed a bombard’s head to the ground repeatedly. “Nonetheless, we can’t let them build that gate.”

“Right.”

Sunset froze another rocket as Home Run chucked a few grenades on the street, electrifying any Grineer that got too close. Each throw was more and more of an effort, as if his energy was running out faster than usual.

“Something’s up,” he notified Sunset. “I feel… tired. Like fighting these guys is taking more out of me than before.”

Sunset waved her hand but no fireball emerged, leaving her target unharmed.

“Sunset. Based on what Home Run said, I think we may have a problem. Something’s draining our energy reserves faster than we can generate it. Possibly an eximus.”

“Ember is correct, Home Run. Energy leech eximus. I see it. Two o’clock.”

Home Run turned his head, looking at the Grineer. They generally looked the same, but one stood out over the others, glowing with an orange tinge and wielding a cleaver. “That one. The one with the orange glow.”

“I see it,” Sunset nodded.

Rainbow landed beside them, also losing her energy to the eximus. “Hey guys. Here to join you. I’m all out of juice. What do we do now?”

“It’s that one,” Home Run pointed at the eximus. “He’s draining all our energy.”

More bullets pelted the rubble around the three heroes, forcing them back behind their cover.

“They have too much firepower!” Sunset warned. “We need backup.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ember assured. “Lotus. Captain Vor is here, and so is the gate. We need reinforcements immediately.”

Celestia replied back immediately. “Affirmative, Ember. But we have a problem. It’s the Grineer. They’ve deployed their main force at the school field. The others are busy engaging them. I will try to send Excalibur over as soon as possible.”

“Well… this is a problem…” Home Run pondered. “We’re out of energy, and as long as that eximus is there, we’re not getting any back.”

They looked over again, trying to get an idea of how much time they had before the Grineer finished constructing the gate. Its base was already done, but none of them knew how high it would go, so they couldn’t judge how long it would take.

“I’ll see if I can distract them,” Home Run suggested. “See if I can get closer as well. As soon as they start firing at me, you two get to a better location.”

“That doesn’t look like a good idea,” Rainbow told him. “What happens if they all fire their rockets at you? I think there was like… three bombards out there? I got hit by one once. It hurt.”

Home Run smiled internally. “Well, I have this,” he lifted his hammer. “If I can create that wind barrier again, perhaps those rockets won’t even touch me.” He gulped. “I hope.”

“Okay. We’ll try to draw some of their attention then. Kill that eximus and try not to die.”

“Right. Vauban, you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Not really anything I can do to be more ready unless you can get that void key for us. Anyway, remember. It’s all in the swing and the timing. You can do it.”

Home Run took another big gulp before rushing out of cover, running straight for the frontlines. The bombards fired their rockets immediately, along with a bunch of gunfire from the other troops. Everything seemed to slow down for the baseball player as the rockets made their way to him. Once he felt it was time, he swung his jat kittag and activated the propulsion at the back of the hammer head. Swinging as hard and fast as he could, Home Run generated the wind aura once again, watching as the rockets harmlessly exploded against it. He continued to move his hammer, keeping the barrier up, as he headed for the eximus.

Rainbow and Sunset left their cover, heading towards the broken window of the antique shop. Their Tenno decided it would be a better place to shoot back against the Grineer. They entered the place and watched as Home Run deflected another group of rockets, slowly making his way to the group of Grineer.

“Our turn to give him some cover,” Rainbow said, reloading her akstilettos.

Sunset nodded and leaned out, firing her glaxion at the closest Grineer, just barely able to reach the first few, encasing them in ice. Rainbow fired at them, shattering a few of the ice statues while Home Run got closer.

The bombards continued to fire rockets at him, but his wind aura continued to hold up against them. Unfortunately, the spinning was also making him dizzy. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer, Vauban."

"You'll have to, Home Run. If you stop now, we're going to be nothing more than dust after the bombards are done."

Home Run passed the first bombard, breaking the aura to send him flying into the gate structure, knocking down one side of the pillar. Vor looked at him and shook his fist.

"Good one, Home Run. You're- Watch out! Barrier up!"

Home Run tried to bring his aura up again, but he wasn't fast enough this time, only managing to detonate the rockets with his hammer. The impact sent him flying back into a lamp post, knocking it down with his head.

"Home Run's hit!" Rainbow alerted. She turned to Sunset. "Cover me! I'll get him back here."

Rainbow dashed out as Sunset moved her ice beam across the Grineer ranks, icing those she could while chasing back some of the others. Rainbow leapt over a rocket as it sailed under her, barely missing her torso. She fired back at the Grineer, taking down a lancer, but the bombard's armor was too tough for her bullets to penetrate, each shot only serving to make the creature angrier. She eventually got to the fallen athlete, picking him up as she u-turned back towards the antique store. The front of his armor was blackened, but otherwise still intact. The Grineer fired back, raining bullets on her shields.

"Shields are down, Rainbow Dash," Zephyr alerted. "You need to go faster."

"I can't. That eximus is still draining my power and Home Run's heavier than I thought!"

“C’mon Rainbow!” Sunset beckoned, still firing her gun. The Grineer started to adapt to her, standing just out of range of her ice beam. “They’re getting smarter! I can’t hit them!”

The eximus saw his chance and left his cover, heading straight for the blue girl. The bombards stopped shooting, just in case they were to hit their comrade, but the smaller infantry continued firing at Rainbow’s location.

“Eximus!” Sunset shouted to Rainbow.

The Zephyr clad girl looked up to see the glowing Grineer walking slowly towards her, a sly smile on his face. She fired at him, but his glowing aura took the impact of her bullets.

“Silly Tenno…” he cackled as he continued to approach her. “No energy to use? I take all your energy.”

Rainbow braced for the worst as the eximus got closer, closing her eyes and waiting. She never felt the blade, but instead a rush of wind as something fast flew past her.

“Rainbow Dash. Help has arrived,” Zephyr informed. “Get up. Get to cover.”

She opened one eye first, seeing the grey armor of the Excalibur, standing between the eximus and her, his sword sticking out of the eximus’s chest.

“Go,” was all the Excalibur said, still looking at the eximus.

She heard Vauban speak in her head. “Hurry, Rainbow Dash. Get Home Run and yourself to safety. Excalibur can handle the eximus.”

“Right,” she nodded and continued her dash to Sunset’s location.

Excalibur watched as the eximus tried to pull the skana out of his chest, but failed at doing so. Excalibur, having wasted enough time, jumped and kicked the sword further through the eximus, the blade emerging from his back. The eximus let out one last gasp as it fell to its knees. Excalibur quickly pulled out his sword and deflected more bullets flying his way before releasing a radial blind, incapacitating the Grineer near him. He readied his skana and charged into them, doing what he did best.

Rainbow jumped through the broken window, immediately setting Home Run down on the ground.

“Is he alright?” Sunset quickly asked.

“He’s taken a blow to the head,” Vauban answered her. “My armor is slightly singed, but nothing too bad. It can easily be cleaned off later.”

“She’s not asking about your armor, she’s asking about Home Run! Is he going to be okay?” Rainbow Dash shook Vauban’s Warframe, trying to get a reaction. “Can you hear me in there?”

“We need to move,” Vauban informed them. “Even the Excalibur will not be able to hold them off forever.”

Sunset hoisted Home Run onto her back. “I’ll carry him. We need to get away from here and regroup.”

“But what about the gate?” Rainbow questioned. “We can’t just leave and let them finish building it, can we?”

“Your enthusiasm does you credit, Rainbow Dash,” Zephyr said. “But I would rather you not accessorize my Warframe with bullet holes. We need to fall back. The Excalibur can handle the fight while you find your friends.”

Rainbow didn’t like it, but said nothing more, nodding in agreement with Sunset. The set out from the ruined shop and headed down the street, watching the Excalibur take down Grineer after Grineer all on his own. The skana cleaved through flesh and armor alike, and where it couldn’t reach, the javelins would.

Rainbow and Sunset brought Home Run to a safer location behind the shop area before setting the baseballer back on the ground.

“C’mon, get up, Home Run,” Rainbow continued to shake the boy’s Warframe. “There’s still a fight to win here!”

She shook him again and the boy stirred, sitting up and holding his head. “Owww… what happened? What’s going on?”

“Are you alright?” Sunset asked.

“You know, I’m not so sure…” Home Run replied. “What happened exactly?”

“Well, the bombards managed to hit you, then you hit your head on a lamp post as you flew back. Rainbow managed to get you to safety while the Excalibur took care of the Grineer. He still is, I think. The others are on their way now. As soon as they get here, we’ll rejoin the battle.”

“Yeah, sure...” Home Run panted. “Just give me a minute… “

“Full body scan complete,” an unfamiliar voice chimed into Home Run’s ears. “Your skeleton is intact, though your ribs will be considerably bruised tomorrow. Also, you have a minor concussion.”

“Who said that?”

“Um… we did?”

“Fluttershy?” Home Run asked as he turned to see a few familiar figures behind him, keeping low to avoid any stray shots.

“That’s right…” the Trinity clad girl nodded. “I can heal you, but y-you’ll need to… attack the one I tag with my s-skill.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Home Run said, Rainbow and Sunset helping him up. “I wouldn’t want to have bruised ribs tomorrow.”

“Here,” Rainbow stuffed one of her guns into his hand. “You’ll do better with this.”

“Thanks,” Home Run accepted. “I’ll see what I can do with this.”

“Then let’s get back out there and help that Excalibur out!” Twilight cheered, leading the group back to the battlefield.

---

Captain Vor stood in the back, snarling as the Excalibur cut down soldier after soldier. Soon, he could take it no more. He pulled out the void key and his seer pistol and pushed past one of the bombards guarding the gate.

“He’s mine,” he barked to the engineers. “Finish the gate!”

He brought the pistol up and fired a single shot. The Excalibur turned and blocked the bullet with his skana, but Vor got what he wanted. The Tenno’s attention.

“Why do you persist?” Vor questioned the man in the Frame. “You will join us, one way or another.”

“Unlikely…” the Excalibur muttered before activating a slash dash.

“I see you,” the captain’s hand shot out and grabbed the Excalibur as it brought his skana swinging at his chest.

“Foolish Tenno. Do you realize your Lotus has sent you to die?”

“I might say the same about your queens! You’re awfully understaffed for an invasion force… or is this a suicide mission?”

Vor let out a maniacal laughter on hearing what the Excalibur had said. “That’s where you are wrong, Tenno. Did you really think I would send all my troops to die distracting your kind?”

“What do you mean?” Excalibur demanded, slashing his blade at the deformed clone, only to have it blocked by the captain’s own blade. A cronus.

“I have a second galleon, waiting for my signal to break your atmosphere,” Vor sneered. “Soon, the gate will be completed, and I will enter the world of your Lotus and finish her, one way or another.”

“Not if I kill you first!”

“Not this time, Tenno,” Vor rebuked, blasting a wave of energy at the skana.

The energy forced the skana out of the Excalibur’s hands as Vor brought his cronus back to the Excalibur’s body.

He managed to deplete the shields of the Warframe with his slash, but the Excalibur got a kick at Vor’s face, stumbling the captain. That was all the time the Excalibur needed. Behind him, the eight other Warframes ran in, doing what they can to limit the Grineer soldiers.

“You are still too late, Lotus!” Vor shouted over the sounds. “The gate is almost done. Even all your Warframes cannot stop me now!”

“Ready your weapons,” Lotus told her soldiers. “I read a second ship entering the atmosphere. It’s the Grineer.”

“You are out of time!” Vor smiled. He lifted the void key and released a shockwave of energy, blasting the Warframes back. He turned to walk to the gate as the engineers switched it on. He nodded to the last bombard as he passed him. “Finish them.”

The bombard nodded and fired his ogris at the Frames, sending them running for cover.

"Bring it out." Vor headed to the activated gate as the engineers brought out the torsion beam, positioning it in front of the gate. The portal swirled with energy, but at the moment, had no current destination. Vor placed the void key in the torsion beam, activating a line of energy to the gate, creating an image of Equestria.

"I am coming for you, Lotus," Vor vowed as he grabbed the key.

He placed it back on his armor as he walked through the gate, disappearing from sight. The remaining Grineer soon followed, entering the realm of Equestria to find the Lotus.

---

Rarity stood up and activated a pull, bringing the bombard’s face to the ground level. Applejack took the chance to smash it down, pummeling her fists into the back of its armor.

As the bombard lay beaten, Fluttershy approached it and casted a well of life on it. "I'm sorry mister, but I have to do this."

Home Run walked up and fired Rainbow's gun at it, feeling his injuries start to fade the more he shot at it. "Hey, I think it's working."

Soon, Home Run felt he could lift a rhino again, stepping back and nodding to Fluttershy.

The shy girl nodded in acknowledgement and canceled her magic, reverting the bombard to its weaker state. Home Run pulled out his hammer and pounded down once on the bombard, as fast as he could, finishing it with a bone shattering crunch.

"Thanks Fluttershy," he said. He returned to Rainbow and gave her the pistol back. "And you too, Rainbow. That helped for a while."

"Don't mention it," Rainbow nodded, accepting her gun back. “Maybe some of my awesomeness rubbed off on you.”

"I wish."

The Excalibur walked to his sword and picked it up, resheathing it on his back. "Good job kids, but we've no time to waste. Captain Vor will probably be in Canterlot castle by now. We cannot allow him to reach Princess Celestia."

The others proceed forward when the skies grew dark. They each looked up to see the second galleon, descending towards their location, drop pods already disengaging.

"There's more?" Rainbow fought to believe. "Perfect..."

"We can't stop here," Twilight spoke. "Princess Celestia needs our help. We'll have to go through."

"Princess Twilight is right." Everyone turned to Excalibur. "You go on through. I'll handle the army. Whatever happens, make sure you take down Vor before he finds Princess Celestia."

"What?" Twilight questioned, instinctively taking a step back. "You can't possibly take on an entire army by yourself!"

“But I can slow them down,” Excalibur explained. “If they all get through the portal, we’ll be in some serious trouble. Go! We’re losing time. You must protect Princess Celestia and defeat Vor!”

He ignored more of Twilight’s protests, drawing his sword and turning his back to them. “Ready, Ex?”

His Tenno partner agreed. “Let’s do this.”

“We have to go, Twilight,” Rarity tried to convince the lavender-skinned girl.

“Rarity’s right!” Applejack seconded. “Excalibur here’s gonna buy us some time. We gotta make good use of it to stop that maniac.”

The rest nodded in agreement, waiting for Twilight to agree with them before stepping through the gate.

“You’re right,” Twilight finally conceded. “Let’s go. We need to get to the castle as fast as we can.” She turned to the Excalibur once again. “Be careful.”

“We shall see, princess,” he said without turning. “But if I don’t make it out… it has been a pleasure to serve you all, Princess Twilight.”

“We gotta move,” Sunset motioned.

Twilight turned and went through the portal, quickly followed by the rest. This time, there wasn’t a rainbow tunnel or anything. It was just a quick pass from their world to Equestria. This time, they appeared just on the outskirts of Canterlot castle, gazing at the magnificent building as they all entered through the gate.

“You know, I think I prefer the other way in,” Rainbow said. Then she looked at the castle. “Sweet place.”

“Wait, why aren’t we ponies?” Sunset asked. “Did the princess cast another magic bubble around the Canterlot?”

“No, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember replied. “This gate is no normal portal. With the void energy, it ripped a hole between your dimensions. Magic does not apply to this form of travel. If you are human, you will enter this world as a human.”

“Wow,” she awed. “We should get this kind of technology. You guys won’t have to learn how to walk on all fours if we had it.”

“I already have,” Home Run told her. “Sort of.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow hurried. “We need to get in there. Fast.”

She took off with a tailwind, headed straight for the front doors of the castle, which looked like they were blown open. The rest followed at their own speed, climbing the staircase leading to the doors. Two Grineer troopers stood just inside the castle, turning to the team as they entered. Rainbow was already way ahead, launching a knee into one of their faces, knocking him down. The second one attempted to shoot her, but Home Run surprised him with a bat to the back, smashing him against one of the pillars. Rarity quickly finished the first one with an arrow, while the second one didn’t get up again.

“We’re too late,” Twilight mumbled. “They’re already in.”

Comments

[MixMassBasher]

I wonder... what if Excalibur held the sword Excalibur from Leap of Faith?

[MoonlightRift]

Frick.

[MoonlightRift]

Hmm.