A Rift Between Worlds

by Cinders of War

Chapter 44: A Siren's Call

Sonata Dusk held on tightly to her poofy haired sister, her eyes shut and her teeth clenched as gunfire was heard in the hallway just outside the classroom they had taken refuge in.

Normally, Adagio Dazzle would’ve simply shoved her sister off, but because of their current circumstances, she decided to allow it. In the end, it was better if Sonata was quiet than screaming in fear.

“What do you think they want?” Aria Blaze had her back against one of the classroom’s desks. “Human annihilation?”

“I don’t want to go out there to find out,” Adagio replied. “Not unless we had one of those suits the Rainbooms have.”

“I could really use one right now…” Aria sighed and put a hand against her forehead. “Anything to get out of this room. We’ve been here for hours.”

“Now, why would you even want to help the Rainbooms take these aliens out?” Adagio hissed. “We should’ve just snuck out and found a way back home. She must be worried sick.”

“We wouldn’t make it ten feet,” Aria scoffed and looked away. “Besides, don’t you think if they succeed here, there’s no reason for us to go back? If these aliens win, we all lose.”

“When have you ever cared about that? Actually, when have you cared about anything?”

Aria flicked her purple and green fringe to the side. “Hey, I do care, when it’s important. This is important.”

“Well, what do you expect us to do?” Adagio swept a hand across the classroom. “We don’t have one of those special suits! At least, not anymore. There’s nothing we can do, Aria.”

“Can’t we find one?” she asked almost uninterestedly. “We just need to ask one of the others if they still have them.”

“Can’t we just stay here?” Sonata looked up at Adagio. “There’s so much gunfire out there.”

“I agree with Sonata,” Adagio patted her sister on the shoulder in hopes of calming her. She was shaking like an alarm clock when it was time to get up. “It’s too dangerous to go out there.”

“Whatever. Guess we’ll just wait here till it’s all-”

Then something flew through the wall, tearing down plaster and bricks, and throwing a few desks and chairs into the air, landing against the other side, crushing a cabinet.

Sonata screamed out as Adagio grabbed her and scrambled for the corner of the classroom. Aria followed, but she remained composed enough to pick up a large piece of debris, just in case.

“Wh-what was that?” the blue-skinned siren looked at the shape in the ruined cabinet.

It was one of the attacking aliens, a mask and black armor over its lifeless remains.

“Come on,” Aria beckoned her sisters. “If there’s a dead one here, one of the Rainbooms or something must be close by. Let’s find them and ask to help.”

Adagio Dazzle looked between the hole in the wall and the dead alien. She didn’t think it was a good idea to go looking around, but with the room now like this, they didn’t really have a choice.

“She’s right, Sonata. We can’t stay here now. Too obvious. Let’s go.”

“O-okay…” Sonata answered shakily.

Together, the sirens exited the ruined classroom through the hole in the wall, first peeking their heads out to see if there were signs of anyone else. Fortunately, one of the suited people was at the end of the hall, firing a gun at a crowd of aliens. She had long purple hair with highlights in it.

“There, found one. Let’s go,” Aria waved a hand towards the person.

Just as they stepped over the rubble, the body of the alien behind them began to stir, first lifting its arms up, then its head. Perhaps it wasn’t as lifeless as Adagio had thought it was.

“Run!” Adagio screamed to her sisters and pushed Sonata ahead of herself. “To the suit person! Go!”

“What?” Aria turned to face her sister, but saw what was behind her and ran on, following behind Adagio and Sonata.

The armored person ahead saw them coming, including the alien, immediately scattering a cluster of energy shots, hitting the rest of the aliens she was fighting and ran over, her gun already pointed towards them.

“Get down!” she ordered.

The sirens quickly did as they were told, dropping to their bellies as the alien behind them was pelted with bullets, flinching left, then right, before falling back on the floor with a thud.

“You three, what are you doing out here?” the suit ran over, lowering her helmet. Adagio quickly recognized Twilight Sparkle. “It’s not safe.”

“Give us some suits,” Aria cut to the point. “We want to help. We live here too. We’re not letting them destroy it.”

“You’re just in luck,” Twilight gave them a smile. “I brought a bunch of Warframes with me. I’ll set them to search mode. Nyx, go for it.”

The three sirens spent a few seconds looking around the hallway, afraid more aliens were going to show up. Instead, three suits turned a corner and ran full speed for them.

Adagio let out a startled yelp as one didn’t stop, running full force into her, opening at the last second and enveloping her in solid metal.

At first, everything was black, but then the panels around her face began to turn transparent, allowing her to see out once more, with a round circular object at the top left of her view, a red and blue bar with numbers on the top right, and a bunch of icons and numbers at her bottom right.

“What’s all this?” she lifted her hands, which were now covered in armor as well.

It was different from when they had used them when they had been manipulated by someone else, but it was definitely the same suit. Adagio remembered the brown coloured hands.

“Arrr, you are to be my pirate, eh? Pilot. I meant pilot,” a voice said in her head.

Adagio looked around, trying to determine where the speaker was, but she could only see her sisters, who were also covered in the same armor they had back then.

“I’m in your head, you scallywag!” the voice came again. “I’m your Tenno, Hydroid. We’ll work together and send these Grineer packing for Davy Jones’ Locker!”

“What?” Adagio looked at her hands again. “So how does this work?”

“You move as you do, then you fight, like this!” Adagio suddenly felt her arms move, like they had a mind of their own, pulling a set of cutlasses from her lower back. Then her legs took over and sent her dashing down the hall, easily finding a group of aliens.

“Wait, wait!” she yelled, but her body moved on its own.

Spinning, she watched her blades cut down numerous aliens, all in a single slash, like she was dancing. Then she lifted an arm and clenched a fist, watching as an aura of water burst around it.

More of the grotesque aliens ran in from a hole in the wall, but out of nowhere, water began dropping from the ceiling like bullets, cutting down the aliens easily enough.

“Like this,” her suit spoke. “Now, we fight together. Are you ready, kid?”

Adagio swung her cutlasses in the air a few times, trying to get the hang of it. She watched as her sisters tried to do the same. Aria had a sort of organic plant looking suit with a whip-like weapon that matched her look. Sonata had a grey suit with a hammerhead-like head and a three bladed disc in her hand.

“Neat,” Aria said, her face appearing on Adagio’s visor. “This works.”

“Yay!” Sonata appeared next. “Loki and I are gonna go help out!”

With that said, Sonata sped down the hall, looking for aliens to take out. Adagio and Aria watched her go before looking at each other.

“Well, this is what you wanted, Aria. To help out?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Aria waved her hand. “Let’s go.”

Adagio ran after her sisters as Twilight Sparkle began down the hallway. Whether they wanted to or not, this school was now their job. They would have to protect it. If they failed or if they ran, there wasn’t going to be a place to go back to.

“Left, you scurvy dog!”

Hydroid took over and twisted Adagio over an alien’s cleaver, kicking it in the head before slashing its face in half, splattering blood against the wall and her suit’s face.

“Gross…” Adagio stuck out her tongue.

“Be thankful I’m around and you’re within my Warframe, lass.”

Adagio huffed and faced a troop of aliens, standing outside the school’s doors. The sight of blood wasn’t new to her, nor was the brutality. Gripping firmly to the cutlasses in her hands, Adagio ran to them, disappearing into a ball of water as she jetted past them, dragging them all down in an undertow.

“Excellent work. Let me take over here.”

Hydroid swung his arms, or really Adagio’s arms, back and forth, slashing and cutting through the alien armor and flesh like they were plastic sheets, leaving on death in their watery trail.

Aria and Sonata joined her, the former spreading out a cloud of poisonous gas, and the latter spinning around in the air, tossing her disc at aliens, cutting them down.

“This is soooo gross!” Sonata squealed and caught her weapon after a backflip.

“Hey, you wanted to help out,” Adagio told her. “You asked for this.”

"Yeah, so quit it, Sonata." Aria chastised.

“True… Oh well!”

From nowhere, a cluster of pods dropped from the sky, sending up dirt around the sirens as their doors opened, releasing a new platoon of ugly alien soldiers.

“Seriously?” Aria groaned and readied her poison again.

“The Grineer will stop at nothing until your world is taken,” Hydroid said in Adagio’s head. “Time to see what they’ve packed!”

Raising a hand, Hydroid brought up a few watery tentacles from under the Grineer, watching as they lifted their enemies, tossing them around the air.

As they fought, taking down alien after alien, Twilight Sparkle returned, along with another group of Warframes, each one sporting a different look and weapon, helping out against the Grineer hordes.

We can win this. These aliens don’t stand a chance!

---

In one specific Grineer galleon, everything had gone silent. The engines and thrusters had ceased their sounds and not a single voice was heard through the entire vessel.

The latest death, a Grineer lancer, lay dead at the culprit’s single foot, the other a simple stump with a blade protruding from it.

Shadows poured around the Stalker as he sheathed his scythe, looking out the windows of the galleon’s bridge. After a week of searching for the Grineer’s queens, he had finally located them, back at the planet which he had lost his leg.

This time, he knew the truth. It was the queens who caused the downfall of the Orokin in the ancient times. They had used the slaves of his masters to lead a revolt. He knew he should’ve seen it sooner, but hate had clouded his judgment for so long.

But not anymore. He had held the Lotus accountable for everything he had gone through, but she had been right. She wasn’t around when the Orokin were destroyed. The Queens were, and so were the Grineer.

“Your reckoning is coming,” the Stalker said.

His time to avenge the Orokin was almost at hand. All he had to do now was find his master’s killers, wherever they were hiding. He had heard more fighting in the galleon, somewhere below his position, but everything had quieted, just like the room he was in.

It must’ve been the rest of the humans, fighting to save their world from the Grineer. Swapping out for his bow, the Stalker looked to the other galleons through the windows. Wherever the Grineer Queens were, he wanted to find them before they did. The Queens were his to kill, no one else’s.

Author's Note:

Hey again, y'all! Just putting a note here, just in case y'all don't know, because technically I haven't said it: Rift's third act will be it's last act, so yes, the story does end. We need to make way for future stories and all that of course, so Rift will have to end at some point. The timeline has all been planned out, so don't worry, we mostly know what we're doing!

That's it from me. Cheers! I hope the rest continues to be interesting enough!

Comments

[JMP]

So the Sirens get Hydroid, Saryn, and Loki, huh? Rather nice timing on Hydroid's part, since Hydroid Prime was just released yesterday, along with the Nami Skyla Prime. And the Stalker being somewhat on the humans' side is pretty interesting. I quite like this continuity. Though the Grinner Queens are themselves Orokin, so I wonder why they'd engineer their Empire's fall.

[HB_DS2013]

I'm not surprised that Hydroid would sound like a pirate.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

“ I’m in your head, you scallywag! ” the voice came again. “ I’m your Tenno, Hydroid. We’ll work together and send these Grineer packing for Davy Jones’ Locker! ”

Say hi to Jack for me.

[MoonlightRift]

All I hear when Hydroid speaks is that pirate from Spongebob.

Cool to see The Stalker switch sides, one of the few things I remembered.

[MoonlightRift]

The return of The Stalker, nice to see him finally flip sides.