Warframe: Relic Hunters

by UnknownEntity743

Chapter 19 Bad Luck Charm

Warframe: Relic Hunters
Chapter 19
Bad Luck Charm

*Location: Earth, +5 months since crash, Relic Hunters’ HQ*

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

That’s all that echoed inside the cold walls of the fortress as Valkyr just stared at the motionless body of Excalibur, his chest slowly rising and falling as she looked over all the injuries he had. A mummy would be an understatement for the amount that covered him.

It had been 3 days and nothing had happened, the hours went by without trouble, without death. But yet Valkyr, waited for him to say something, anything. Then the sound of the door behind her opening caught her attention.

“You know what he’ll say if you don’t get rest, you know?” Trinity said as she came into the room, a small smile on her face as Skyler followed in after

“Yea, I know, but still I feel like something will happen if I leave him again,” She admitted as memories flooded back but she shook her head

“Why are you stressing out so much? I’m worried sick about him but you’ve been… out of it,” Skyler asked as she sat down, whilst Trinity checked his condition

A long pause rung out until Valkyr pushed a lock of her hair out of the way before sighing and looking at Skyler.

“This sort of thing happened before, multiple times, but not as bad,” Valkyr started as she felt her chest tighten “But the one time I do remember was just like this, only… it was me,”

This made Trinity and Skyler’s eyes widen as they both listened for anything else as Valkyr looked to Excalibur, then back at them with a smile.

“It’s also how I met Nekros,” She began

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*Location, Jupiter Bio-mechanical Research Facility, 1 Year Ago*

She wailed in agonizing pain once more as the corpus scientists ripped and enhanced her armour, her body also. Ripples of pain surged through her body as they just ignored her fits of pain and anger as they worked.

Nothing was causing the alarms to sound, no one was cutting them all down, piece by piece, no one was coming to save her. She would die here if It weren’t for them.

She’d kill them if given the chance, murder every soul until they beg for mercy, beg for relief from the pain they caused her for so long. She wanted to be free of this pain, this suffering, this war.

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Lockdown for the night was the only piece she got, the only time she got to think on how to survive the next day in her cell, her hell. But something was different, this time a new arrival was coming, into her cell of all places. She didn’t care, or at least tried not to.

Then she saw the door open as the wardens shoved a new toy for the corpus to mess with into her cell. He was mostly black, grey dotted here and there. His body was slim, and bony. And he instantly ran back to the door as he began to bang on it in rage.

“You better let me out! I’ll kill you all for what you did! So, let me OUT!!!” He yelled before his shock collar activated, sending him to the floor for a bit

Then she crawled over to him slowly on her hands and knees, he did take notice and jolted back in surprise as she sat down in front of him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to-to scare you, I ju-just never get anyone to talk to,” She said as he relaxed against the wall

“I guess you’ve been here longer, huh?” He asked as she nodded as he sighed “Sorry, introductions slip my mind, I’m Nekros, and you are...?”

“Valkyr,” She answered as he nodded

“Well nice to meet you, I guess until we die,” Nekros said coldly as Valkyr shook her head

“No, they might use you for one of their experiments, like me,” Valkyr said as she trailed off, looking down at the floor as she brought a shaking hand to her scarred mask

“They did ‘that’ to you?” He asked in shock, his voice a little more pissed as Valkyr nodded, very muffled crying could be heard as she tried to hold it back, all the pain they caused her

Then she felt something touch her as she froze in fear, but then looked up to see Nekros holding he as he just looked towards the wall behind her. She didn’t know why, but she cried, for the first time she cried after being captured and tormented day after day. But it felt nice.

“Th-thanks, Ne-Neky,” She managed to say, not even getting his name right but he laughed slightly at it

“No problem, after all a friend once told me that to really be strong, you first must be able to be strong for others,” Nekros explained as the words sunk into her head as they just sat there in the dim light of the room

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Another day and more pain and agony greeted Valkyr as they kept working on their experiments, never stopping, never quitting. She couldn’t even think as her mind raced with pain and warnings as she yelled out for relief.

After a short while they moved her to a more multipurpose lab as she saw sections cut off my walls. Then she felt something familiar enter the room as Nekros was strapped to a table with energy chains holding him down.

“Ne-Nekros?” Valkyr managed to say as he glanced in her direction

“Hehe, fancy seeing you again, I guess you were right,” He stopped as he held his breath before breathing again “These bastards just don’t let up, huh?”

“What did they…” Valkyr trailed off as Nekros just yelped in pain his head thrashing in his bonds as his clawed hand dug into the table

“Well, on-on the bright si-side I don’t really feel all that sad, just blank,” He managed to say as Valkyr tried to understand what they did to him, what they were going to do

Then 3 Corpus came into the room, they were the ones working on her, but another followed, he was slightly taller, his suit was (Slightly Gold), his helmet had orange lines across it and he spoke English, due to a modifier.

“Sargent, she is the one that we captured for Alad V, she’s been given massive boosts to her armour, making her almost unstoppable, even her abilities make her more powerful than any Tenno that could exist,” One explained as he looked Valkyr over

“And what of the Tenno beneath? Is her mental state intact?” He asked as the Proxy nodded “Well, we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we? Remove her helmet!”

This made Valkyr’s eyes widen as they began to remove it, she felt the cold air hit her face, her long hair falling out as the tips of orange laid in a mess. Her orange eyes just glared at them, but it did nothing to phase them as the Sargent grabbed a shock baton as he activated it.

“Anything you would like to say? I’ll let you have that,” He said bitterly as she glanced to Nekros, who couldn’t look away, but he tried, then she looked back

“Need an invitation? Fucking do it already,” She hissed at him as he took her acknowledgment and proceeded

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It had been days since she’d had seen Nekros, her once friend, she was put through the same routine as they constantly tested her endurance and abilities. The Sargent just watched it all, occasionally providing ‘Assistance’.

This day however would be her last, she was to be tested in front of many as she was to be the Corpus’s next weapon against the Tenno, her friends, her brother.

She watched as they prepared the training ground for her, she couldn’t help but feel weak, useless to fight her captures, she just waited but then saw another figure walk into sight. Nekros.

His helmet was off, his black hair hung down as he walked beside The Sargent. His face was not like the caring person she met, his eyes were devoid of any emotion, a frown stuck to his face like glue as he walked. A massive Reaper on his back.

“Now then Tenno, you are to fight this one here,” He then pointed to Valkyr “And you are to lose to her, but Do. Not. Kill her, she is too valuable to us, so be careful,” He ordered as he nodded silently

But before The Sargent could continue his orders a small laugh echoed around the complex, The Sargent turned and saw Nekros holding his Reaper out, but a frown still on his face.

“Looks like they found you,” He said apathetically as the sirens began to sound and most of the Corpus left them to investigate

“What did you d-“The Sargent was then cut off as he looked down to see the Reaper sticking through his chest

“What’s that saying again? Don’t pick a fight with a man with nothing left to lose, well you just did,” Nekros said coldly as he retracted the blade, The Sargent falling to the ground in a heap

Nekros then turned to Valkyr, she just watched in fear as Nekros raised the scythe high, his face still a lifeless as ever as she tried to think of a way out, but none could be found. She would die here, just when she felt freedom coming for her, she would die to the only person that she cared about in this hell.

*SHINK-SHINK-SHINK-SHINK*

Then Valkyr felt light as she hit something hard, she then opened her eyes and saw that she was hovering above the ground, then she felt something grab her and lift her up. She saw Nekros helping her weakened body into his arms as he began to jog.

“Ne-Nekros?” She asked weakly as he just ignored her and ran for a supply closet as he quickly jumped in and laid her down beside him

Nekros did nothing but stare at the door as he waited with his Reaper gripped in his hand for someone to enter, anyone who would dare hurt them. But all that he could hear was sobbing as he turned to look at Valkyr as she buried her face in his armour (Helmet off).

“Why? Why do they do this? I never wanted any of this, I just wanted to live, but now I’m a monster, nothing but an ‘Experiment’ a ‘Freak’,” Valkyr sobbed as she just couldn’t fell anything, nothing but a mixture of pain, anger, sadness, everything

She then felt something push her head up as she saw Nekros giving her a small smile as his eyes seemed to show colour in them once more.

“Never let this stop you, if you let this or anything else stop you, then what’s the point in living? Keep fighting, keep being the nice girl I met after my world turned to shit,” Nekros said calmly as Valkyr just smiled as she kept crying

“O-ok, I will.” She said as he nodded as he heard something behind the door and his face returned to normal “I’m too weak to fight, I just about got us here without collapsing, let alone panting

Then before Valkyr could suggest Nekros flung his Reaper around but it was kicked away as a bloody hand gripped his throat as he tried to breath. Sargent then threw him against a wall as he repeatedly kicked him in the chest.

“You-you had a tracker on you! All this time you risked your own emotions for this girl!? This fucking pest!!?” He roared as Nekros grabbed his foot but could do much as another kick smashed into his face

“I’ll kill you, then that bitch, fuck Alad V, fuck profit, I just want you two de-”

*SHINK-SPLAT*

“What’s that saying? Don’t pick a fight with a man with nothing left to lose? Well guess what?” Came a new voice as it’s hand stuck through Sargent’s chest, making the scythe wound wider

“I’m your fucking Reaper,” Said the person as he threw the lifeless body away, revealing an Excalibur warframe with black energy pulsing on its armour as it slowly turned blue

“Hey, Rhino! Get in here, I found them!” He shouted as Nekros’s vison blurred but still conscious as he felt something big grab him as he glanced to see Excalibur grabbing Valkyr as she smiled weakly
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They ran as the alarms kept buzzing and the gun fire kept going. They were nearing the pickup point as the opened another door but the sound of guns clicking caused them to stop.

“Shit,” Both Rhino and Excalibur said as they carefully sat their captives down

They tried to find an escape but none could be found as they watched the corpus slowly pour in closer.

“Rhino, any ideas?” Excalibur asked as he shrugged

“Well we might survive, but the others…” Rhino trailed off

“Yea, but we can’t let them just capture them again either,” Excalibur responded as Rhino was about to speak but the sound of painful laughter filled the area

“You all made Valkyr into a monster, you turned me into a killer and caused my contractor to feel nothing but pain for weeks!” Nekros said as he walked up, his helmet attached as he dropped his Reaper

“Now, you might want to start praying to your pathetic God, but spoilers, I won’t be listening,” He finished before running forwards

Before the corpus could react Nekros plunged his clawed hand into the throats of two corpus as fluid spilled out from the wounds as they dropped. As the corpus began to fire Nekros dodged at blinding speeds as he leaped from one wall or pillar to the next as they tried to catch him.

He then backflipped as he landed on top of one, crushing them completely. Two others managed to land hits but he just slowly turned around as he raggedly ran towards them. He slid as he grabbed their legs and pulled them down, then he stood on one of their heads as he laughed like a maniac in pain.

*CRUNCH-SPLAT*

Nekros then rose to his feet as the last corpus threw a shock baton into Nekros’s face as he fell back. He then did it again as Nekros tried to fight back but was caught off at every turn. Nekros then grabbed the baton by the stick as is arm convulsed in pain but he just laughed as he swiftly connected his face into the corpus’s own.

He then drew his head back again and smashed the mask of the corpus’s over and over, dent after dent as the body went limp but he continued. Unrelenting rage and anger was screamed as he dropped the body and brought his hand down to his side.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU BLOODY WORM!!!” Nekros roared as he plunged his hand through his helmet and through his head as he began to twist and pull, much to the spectators’ displeasure

Then in the blink of an eye he wrenched a blue and silver centipede as is wriggled to break free, Nekros however gave it a look before crunching it in his hand.

He panted heavily as he just looked at the chaos and death around him, but no sadness, no anger, nothing, just an empty person stood as he looked around. Then he felt his world turn and his vison entering the void.

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Present Day…

“-And after that he woke up in the ward, same as me, after all that he’s been with us since,” Valkyr concluded as Skyler and Trinity just stared in surprise and remorse as they pieced the entire puzzle together

“So… they’re the reason he’s like this?” Trinity asked as Valkyr nodded in silence before releasing a shaky breath

“It’s all my fault, if I didn’t get myself captured, maybe…” She stopped as she held her hands together “Maybe he would still be himself,”

“It’s not your fault, he knew the stakes and decided to help anyways, it’s not your fault and I don’t think he would like you blaming yourself,” Skyler added as she put her hand on Valkyr’s

“I feel like I’m the only one who can see that,” Nekros said as they all jumped and looked at the doorway to see him with his frown still

“Pain is your friend, your ally, pain tells you your wounded, but the best part, iy tells you your alive,” Nekros spoke calmly as he slowly turned but stopped “Also, remember what I said,” Then he walked away

Valkyr then remembered the words he spoke before they departed, what stuck to her no matter what happened. ‘A friend once told me that to really be strong, you first must be able to be strong for others’. So she smiled, her guilt slowly fading as she smiled at her friends.

“I guess that bit of therapy was needed after all,” Trinity said happily as Skyler nodded before glancing to her right and her eyes widened slightly

Valkyr was about to ask Skyler what was wrong before something covered her eyes and pulled her back.

“Hey! What the hell?” She asked in annoyance as the hand pulled back and revealed one eye grinning back at her as Excalibur smiled

“You worry too much, I might just consider you worse off than me,” Excalibur joked as Valkyr quickly spun around and hugged him as he winced “Ow…...”

“Oops, sorry!” He quickly jumped back as he rubbed his neck, just above the massive set of bandages

“No worries, just tender is all,” He reassured as he glanced at Skyler as she looked at him with anger and sadness as he prepared for an onslaught of scalding

“You are the biggest idiot I’ve ever known,” She said with a smile as he just smiled sheepishly

“Pretty sure someone else already took that title,” He joked as they laughed after what felt like ages, though things were ruff, there was always something great to look forward to in the end

Some things however don’t stay forgotten. As one thing plagued Excalibur’s mind, the one thing that kept him aware through his coma.

“Just what are you up to, Stalker?” Excalibur thought as he continued to think upon this statement

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Somewhere is Relic Hunters’ HQ

“happiness is but a fairy tale,”
“sadness gives way to strength,”
“fear is what all beings run from,”
“anger is the demon of humanity,”
“surprise can only be found in times of glee,”
“and disgust is what remains to be seen,”

Nekros calmly spoke in the darkness that cloaked him, his hand slowly scraping across his Reaper as it sparked from the friction. His mind however focused on the screens that dotted in front of him. Most were blank but one zoomed into a shady area amongst the crowd as they watched the Stalker talk.

Once he was done the shade moved and disappeared. This got Nekros to stop and look his glare intensifying.

“Of all the scum to live…” he hissed as he threw his scythe into the monitor before glancing at the picture beside the screen

It was of him, Excalibur, Rhino and Valkyr. Rhino was busy joking Excalibur in a vice like grip as his face turned purple. Nekros stood with his bored eyes but Valkyr smiling from behind his shoulder as her fingers pulled his cheeks up to make him smile. It was taken just 2 weeks after they escaped the hell of a research facility, but yet not a single one of them looked disheartened about it, like it never happened at all.

This made Nekros smirk ever so slightly.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note:

Well this was the first of many backstory chapters to come, hope you enjoyed.

Also i know these aren't as amazingly detailed as other Warframe stories, but i try.

Next Chapter: Lost In The Echo