Finale for Another Time - Phantom Rising

[AR 1/5/4] CLOSED RP @Max | Dominus @Chegar @Isa Tekchen @Muro @Sharratmurī - Deep Sea Lab Surface, Uranus Disruptis: Disruptis leaned on the glass viewport of the damaged granular sub as it emerged from the watery depths with a mighty eruption of seawater. The warm light of sunrise washed off the impermeable darkness that clung to the inhabitants of the ship. Disruptis knew this feeling well. He had felt it dozens of times before. The feeling of emerging from a thick fog of war like he just come to life for the second time. The sub attached itself to the surface docked. The pressurized door opened, blasting all the Tenno inside with sharp, fresh air. Disruptis stepped out onto the platform that marked the start of the journey he had now completed. He took a deep breath, savoring the feeling of accomplishment. After a few moments, he checked the screen of his gammacor. He frowned. "The signal noise pollution that Singularitis gave off hasn't died down enough for us to talk with our orbiters yet. It's getting there, but it might be a couple of hours before we can," he explained to the rest of the group. He scanned the environment, taking note of the wreckage strewn about as well as a small makeshift radio tower that hadn't been there before. "Oh, right. Muro, you said that Lupin was up here earlier trying to boost his signal, right? I guess it worked if he's no longer here. I'm just going to steal his homework for us." The black and yellow Limbo went to work configuring the tower to their data frequencies.

CHEGAR The sound of Ligaments and tendons popping filled the air inside the sub. Each twisting joint, each stretch, Each step the Vauban took was punctuated with an audible crack. “I never thought I’d see the day that even my warframe felt stiff…” Chegar stated as he emerged from the vessel. He watched as Disruptis walked over to the improvised radio, and checked over his own comm system, listening in to the noise pollution that permitted the channels. “Might not be much we can do just yet, but perhaps if this noise has enough repeating elements, we might have a chance to get a stable loop of it: give our orbiters enough of a pattern so we can filter this out in the future.” He mused, keeping and ear open for suggestions. “Once we get back, of course.”

Sharratmuri: A Yareli climbed out of the submarine and onto the platform, and took a few steps, limping, out of the way of whoever would come out next. She surveyed the platform, and the wreckage on it, impassively. This place had taken a beating. Crates broken and strewn, lights broken, walls and floor scarred by bullets, and oddly, pitted in some places by some sort of corrosion. Perhaps someone had used some sort of ion discharge weapon, or thrown some dissolving material around. There was a structure, perhaps once the entrance to the underwater facility, clogged by wreckage of... Yes, those were definitely engines at the nearer end of it. A spacecraft had crashed here, one of a design unfamiliar to her. On the next platform over sat another craft, apparently of the same sort. It had not crashed, but had been damaged as it sat, its windows broken and skin dented by gunfire and pocked with premature corrosion. Corpses were strewn everywhere, Grineer corpses. Some had obviously been killed in the crash of the ship, thrown from it or crushed by it. Others, indeed, most of them, bore the injuries of combat: bullet wounds, slices of a blade that could only be Tenno or Dax, and some of them seemed to have been partly dissolved. ((1/3))

"The hell happened here?" she said. It almost wasn't a question, an acknowledgement that this place probably had resembled a tiny piece of hell for a time. But what exactly had happened? Tenno had fought Grineer, and from what she'd heard that was normal now. This was a Grineer facility, they'd been trying to experiment on the sleeping Sentient below. Perhaps they had refused entry to the Tenno — a foolish thing to do, if that's what had happened. If they'd let the experts in Sentient-killing work with them, they might have survived, but no. Or perhaps the Tenno had occupied the facility, and the Grineer had attempted to regain access, and mounted an assault. That crashed ship, had someone tried to gain entry by ramming through the entrance, or plug the entrance using the ship? Valiant but futile, if it was the latter. Her thoughts turned inward, spiraling in on themselves. If either of those hypotheses were correct, if Tenno or Grineer had refused entry to the other... Either way it was stupid, but plausible. Perhaps the Grineer thought they could handle a great monster of legend by themselves. Or perhaps they thought to guard whatever research they were conducting from outside eyes. Stupid, stupid. Pride and greed made people stupid. If these Grineer had survived, she would've given them a serious lecture about such things, relief and concern cloaked in anger and sternness... She'd given Paz a lecture like that, after she found out what he'd done to get glassed... And she'd gotten one from her grandfather, after she'd gotten caught skateboarding somewhere she shouldn't have. She'd learned what "Yuvan" meant that day... ((2/3))

She jolted back to the present. She was standing on the landing pad of a wrecked Grineer research facility on Uranus, in a damaged but repairable Warframe, surrounded by a small squad of Tenno, some of who she knew and some of whom she didn't, after they'd all tried to kill a Sentient but found it instead endoparasitized by some eldritch Void-thing which claimed to be Disruptis's brother. And she'd just woken up after an unknown amount of time in cryosleep, potentially a few decades or a few millennia, potentially lost her ship to Infestation, and probably lost all her earthly possessions aside from her warframe. Right. Second-weirdest day ever. The weirdest was the day of the void-jump, almost by definition. But this was a close second. She needed a shower. ((3/3)) (edited)

Isa: The next from the sub after the Yareli was none other than Isa in her Saryn, its golden skin reflecting the lights around it like a beacon. She slung her zarr over her shoulder and looked over at the carnage appraisingly. She looked to the questioning Yareli and provided a simple answer for her: "Us." With the answer satisfied, she made her way over to Disruptis by the radio tower, quietly looking over his shoulder. There wasn't exactly much room for her to bend over and help with it. Seeing he was making good enough progress though, she turned to look about at the rest of their surroundings, but remained by his side should he need anything. Quiet and practical as always.

Disruptis: After so many abnormalities made him feel like a fish stranded 300 miles inland, Disruptis felt like a wizard with how fast he tapped into the antenna. He analyzed its electronic structure with a scan of his gammacor and introduced new lines of phantom wiring that rewrote the device down to its transistors, taking it over without a single line of code. The thing was a hack job. His work was entirely and utterly unnecessary, but very satisfying. He connected everyone's frequencies and for the first time in a little under a full day they could communicate with the outside world. Disruptis threw the private communication line to his temporary cephalon open wide and exclaimed, "forget about the research, I sorted it all out! This case's dusted for now." But he could have never expected what he received back. Active: "Mr. Disruptis!!!!! What is your status?! Are you alright?!?! I've been trying to ping you for 12 hours, 35 minutes, 50 seconds, 3 miliseconds, and 14 nanoseconds now!!!! The situation has spiraled out of control. The Tenno known as Lupin suggested we send extraction vessels, but we couldn't control them with the interference down there," the cephalon with an x-shaped fractal frantically replied. Disruptis: Disruptis let out a very deep sigh. Truly, he was reminded for the 57th time that there is no rest for him on this side of the Void. Not ever since he discovered that special meaning of life. It drew a weary grin to his face. (edited)

"What's up?" He replied calmly. Active: "It's… Oh, here comes the broadcast." ~Just then a message came in to all Tenno through the Tenno Emergency Broadcast Frequency. A female Tenno with a flawlessly pale-skinned face and elegant features suited in a regal combination of Saita and Templar Prime apparel brushed a lock of beautiful black hair from her face and spoke.~ Mako: "Attention all Tenno. I am Mako–call sign 'The Eternal Dark'–a member of the Tenno High Council. If you are not already aware, the system is under full assault from Natah and her Sentient forces. I plead for every Tenno with a heart or a cause for protecting the system to join us in a united defense. In a system full of fractured factions fighting for their pieces of control over it, we need to show them that this is serious. We must all ally if we are to survive the coming days. Respond on this broadcast frequency for deployment details." Disruptis: A chill ran down the Tenno's spine. The kind of chill that came from a sinking realization that yet again, everything he regarded as usual would never be the same. With tensions ramping to full load in this chaotic system, this felt like an inflection point. He knew this was very likely coming, but so soon? Where was their main force hiding? What would have happened if the Orokin Remnant succeeded? Despite its executional failures or practical improbability, its mission was never wrong. And now, one of the very things the OR tried to prepare for had come, and no one was ready. His mind settled back into battle mode as he scanned his fellow Tenno for their reactions and the Council member transmitted her final lines: Mako: "Look up, the New War has begun." (edited)

No sooner did Mako's transmission end, then another one crackle indiscriminately over the airwaves. SVYTOJ "WHOOOOOO!" the cephalon's voice threatened to burst any speaker unfortunate enough to be transmitting his message. And he sounded excited. "IT'S F*CKING WAR, BABY! YEAH!" CHEGAR "Svytoj!" Chegar hissed "Narrow band and quarter volume, PLEASE!" SVYTOJ "Ah." the intrusive signal quickly vanished from all but Chegar's COMM link "Right. My Bad. How'd it go? any word on that anomaly y'all were chasin'?" CHEGAR "It took off before we could contain it. The real anomaly was the friends we made along the way, and that's not an exaggeration." SVYTOJ "No shit?" the cephalon mused. "Normally we bring home equal or less: Go figure. eh, we'll figure that all out later: You good redeployment?" CHEGAR "Just need a patch-job, some energy, and some ammo: all the normal stuff." The Vauban replied, looking around to his comrades. "maybe run taxi for anyone that needs it: Stand by." Chegar turned his attention to the folks around him, hoping no one had burst an eardrum from SVYTOJ's interruption. "Sounds like I've got a ride waiting in orbit with spare seats for anyone who needs them. Any takers?"

Muro: As the broadcast subsided, Muro sighed in exasperation. He had only the barest idea of who this "high council" was, some post-Orokin measure to organize the Tenno as far as he knew, but a threat like that was too serious to dismiss. "Aurelia." He called over his comm channel. "I need pickup-" Aurelia: "MURO!" an exasperated voice roared in Muro's ear. "Where have you been? Its been absolute bedlam out here!" Muro: "I know, I heard." Muro groaned. "Look, can you send the Liset to my location? This place is clear, but things got complicated." Muro paused, unsure how to phrase what he had found out. Aurelia: "Complicated? How so?" Muro: "Disruptis and Isa are alive, Aurelia. they're alive, and if Disruptis is right, Vuko is too." Aurelia was taken aback. Aurelia: "That's... That's marvellous news Muro. I've dispatched the Liset to you now. ETA two minutes." Aurelia's tone was measured, careful. 'This couldn't have come at a worse time' she thought internally. Muro: "Thanks. Talk to you soon." Muro closed the comm channel, turning to the assembled group. "Don't need it. Got my own ride coming."

DOMINUS The clear skies finally gave way to proper communications, and the rest of the Tenno around the Excalibur ringed into their Cephalons. Max hesitated for a few moments, expecting Intellectus to immediately scream in his ear and give him hell for worrying him, but the scream never came. Tapping at the side of his head, as if he had a headset on, the Excalibur rang his own Orbiter instead. "Intellectus? I'm clear. Do you read me?" Intellectus: "Welcome back, Master Maximillian. And well done." The answer would surprise him heavily. The response was measured, even calm, when he was so used to the Cephalon's wild shifts between subservience, parental smothering, and panic. Before the Tenno could respond, his partner spoke once again. "Running a diagnostic of your suit now...Heavy damage sustained. But you're alive, and it seems as if you've managed the impossible. I'll save the lecture for later, sir. Did you hear the broadcast, down there?" Max: "I did. Looks like I'm not getting as much of a break as I wanted. But if there's a war to be fought, they'll need Tenno. Send my Xiphos?" Intellectus: "Landing craft on the way, Master. And I don't think they'll just need Tenno, sir. They'll need everyone. Wars aren't won off of the back of a single soul. You'll want to work closely with the friends you've made today, and any others you can hold onto." Max: "That's the plan. I've run out of excuses to be a loner, by this point...Say, Intellectus. You called me differently, just now. What was that name you said?" Intellectus: "While you were offline, I busied myself with trying to root through my databanks. When I heard your voice again, something clicked into place." The Cephalon's voice took on a warm tone. Far more kind than Max had ever heard from him. "It's your name, Master. Your full first name is Maximillian." Dominus: And with that in mind, the Excalibur turned back to the others. An unreadable blank slate of a face, but deep within, joy. For the first time in his new, strange life, he had an answer. And more importantly, a lead to tug on. But first there was a war to win. "My bird's on the way too. I suppose I'll see you all again either in the field, or after the fighting." (edited)

Sharratmuri: So. It wasn’t over, then. The Sentient War had not ended with the defeat of the Sentients, only paused. It seemed that they wouldn’t be content to have the Tau system to themselves, watching from a distance as the Orokin empire turned inward and tore itself apart. Or perhaps this was a separate faction from the Sentients of Tau, trying its luck in the Origin system. Ah, whatever. She’d been awake for such a short time, gotten such a small taste of freedom, but there was a war on, and Sharratmuri was, when push came to shove, a soldier, and one specialized in dealing with Sentients. It was true that she knew little of the factions at war in this changed future world, but she’d been among those who sought unity for the Tenno. Perhaps this Tenno High Council was what remained of the post-Orokin government that she and others had dreamed of setting up. Perhaps. She could judge later, once she had spent more time awake, learned more of what had happened in her absence. But first, fighting Sentients. She knew how to do that. With Ikazu (or Singularitis?) no longer disrupting communications, she contacted her Orbiter. Not to call the landing craft, just to request a status report. And she received… Gibberish. ((1/2))

No… It wasn’t gibberish, not quite. It just wasn’t the usual format. Instead of orbital parameters, only images of stars and sun and moons and planets, a view from a high orbit. No data on shipboard systems, that really was gibberish. Instead of a condensed or summarized report of received communications, just a backlog of recorded material, regurgitated into the communications channel in an endless flow. She closed the channel. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected to get, really. That there was something on her ship, something that at least knew what a status report was and was lucid enough to respond to communications, was small comfort. And she responded to Mako, falling into the familiar procedure of a formal response to such a call. She added additional statements, that the status of her own orbiter was unknown but likely inoperable, that her previous mission had been to guard the tomb of Ikazu lest he awaken, that this mission had been rendered moot my his mysterious death, and that a report on the matter would be forthcoming. “Chegar,” she said, “I think I will take you up on your offer.” ((2/2))

CHEGAR The Vauban Gave Sharratmuri a firm nod, hailing his ship once more. "Looks like we have one for taxi. prep accordingly" SVYTOJ "Roger that: standing by for more party-goers."

Isa Isa's head tilted a bit to one side as she listened to the broadcast. "Ah... good." She said as the message concluded. She contacted her own cephalon now. Corpus: "Ziton, I am ready for pickup. The archwing prototype needs repairs. It seems we will have a new set of trials for it shortly." Ziton Corpus: "Understood. Landing craft inbound for recovery. Do you require anything else?" Isa Corpus: "Perform readiness checks on all proxies and ensure all their software is up to date."

~Another message came in, but with a different face this time. A girl rocking a fluffy, hot pink Mohawk with a choice of teal lipstick. She spoke in a relaxed tone that starkly contrasted the gravity of the situation.~ Councilor Haruka Lorne: "Hey everyone, it's Councilor Haruka, callsign Fluffy, here with your battle report. Good news. We just got word that Hayden Tenno broke ground in the Sentient mothership that prolly has Natah inside. Guy's keeping it real for us like he always does, shout out to my fav Tenno. Now, if only these Sentient fathermuckers can finally STAY OUT OF OUR SYSTEM FOR ONCE, MAYBE WE COULD ALL FIND SOME VOIDDAMN PEACE!!!" She erupted out of nowhere. Her teeth clenched as she slammed a fist into what was presumably the desk she sat at. She took a deep breath, and continued in a carefully restrained tone. "Everyone who is out there fighting, we are asking you to put the pedal to the metal. Hold back the forces from rejoining the mothership. Divert their attention, whatever it takes! Help us buy Hayden time." (edited)

Disruptis: Good to see you're still kicking, Haruka, Disruptis thought. If there ever was a Tenno to rival Isa's unbridled fascination with field testing weapons, it was her. He considered his options. "Active, swipe my head cam footage and splice a missions log for me. Let Yellow know that I'm charging right into the fray, and if he's got anything to say about it he is probably too late. And don't file this SED as a subset of the weaver, this was just SED-009 encountered in this era for the first time. Also tell Yellow I want him to brief me on XerAI's status when I get back." Active: "Will d–." Disruptis: Not wasting another breath, he waved to Chegar. "You're officially off-duty and the nature of your employment temporarily suspended until we win System War II. I'm gonna sneak around, but if I feel inspired I'll join you in blasting through the front door. Take care of Sharratmuri. Speaking of her, sorry for the terrible welcoming party Li– Sharra. I promise I'm going to show you some places in this system you deserve to see for your service all these years." "Isa!" He called out, fiddling with his gammacor, "I sent the order to pay you the plat I promised. I would tell you I appreciated your help, but I don't think you care if I did. Keep in touch!" He stared listlessly at Muro. A wave of conflicting emotions, both bitter and sweet, ran across his hidden face. "Muro, I'll be waiting for you. Let me know." He tore his gaze from the sight of his old friend and gave a final mock-salute to one of his new ones. "Dominus, we totally gotta talk more sometime. Maybe–"

Disruptis froze mid sentence. He doubled over, his true operator-form forcefully ejected from the confines of its transference. The Tenno Clad in a Black and Yellow Zariman-Koppra Suit choked on blood pooling in his throat. Shivering from shock, his hands reached out and grasped a massive blade implanted through his chest. A Paracesis. His mind pulled itself together into a single, burning thought. BAL–...LAS!!!! In the blink of an eye, all other Tenno on the platform were pulled out of their warframes in the same position, each one with a copy of this deadly sentient slayer blade through their chest. Each one was drained of their strength as their bodies lost their material stability. But for Disruptis, this quickly looked very different. Flakes of the operator's skin and clothes peeled away like leaves in the autumn wind, unmasking a writhing mess of black energy beneath. He let out a blood-curdling howl, a mix between a viscous gurgle and a bestial roar. In a matter of seconds, nothing about his appearance remained. He had transformed into a humanoid monster comprised of black fluid with searing yellow eyes, desperately trying to dislodge the object in his chest. It didn't budge. All the while, the heavily modified synoid gammacor attached to the hip of his unpiloted warframe screamed bloody red light into the misty air. It snapped, dropping its control module as if the mark etched into its face tore at its chains with an insatiable appetite for the abnormal. (edited)

Isa: The Saryn nodded, but made no response, despite the fact that she did rather enjoy this job. She was somewhat idle as they awaited pickup from her landing craft only to find her suddenly impaled through the stomach by a Paracesis. Unlike the otthers though, her form seemed not to destabilize or begin to return to the void. She fell to one knee as she put her hands to the blade, flames beginning to wreath them as she did so, rapidly heating it until one could hear the sound of her flesh sizzling as she cauterized the wound. She released the blade and held up her hands. Her face was covered, but it was clear she was watching Disruptis, waiting to see his next move, analyzing if he was a threat to her.

CHEGAR He scarcely had a second to register the blade jutting through Disruptis’ chest before he was unceremoniously ejected from his Warframe. The Paracesis had ripped though Chegars chest; it’s grotesque, gilded blade just barely keeping him from falling onto his face. It took the last of his strength to prop himself up on his now inert Vauban, only to throw himself towards the ground once more. With a shimmering clang and a fleshy squelch, the Paracesis made contact with the platform, and Chegar crumpled to the floor, ejecting the blade out through the wound in his back. His form began flickering in and out, sparks of void energy flicking around him as he tried to patch the wound. But whatever Ballas had done had taken its toll: despite his attempts to regenerate, the wound refused to close, and he could feel himself slipping gradually into the void. He turned his head, watching Disruptis’ anomalous transformation transpire with what little consciousness he had left; trying to commit the details to memory even as his attempts to resist losing corporeality began to wain.

Muro: Muro's expression darkened a bit behind his frame's implacable face. He had been given a lot to process in all this, war notwithstanding. "Take care, Dis." He said quietly. It was then Muro was ejected from his frame, the same as the others, a grisly chunk of steel lodged in his torso. He fell to his knees, gritting his teeth. It hurt, badly, but the physical wound was itself trivial for Muro. Keeping focus, he managed to mend his own flesh around the weapon, attempting to stem the bleeding and hopefully negate some of the pain. However, it became clear to him that he had bigger problems than mere physical wounds. He was starting to fade out, and quickly. Something was wrong. He looked around the platform desperately, seeing Disruptis' horrific deconstruction. He was at a loss for words.

Sharratmuri: A salute and a tired smile. There would be so much to do, so much to say. So much… But today, today was war. Again. She blinked. She didn't really feel the pain, at first. Just a dull knowledge that she'd been stabbed. She looked down and saw the blade sprouting from her chest like a cordyceps-fruit. She looked over, sluggishly, thoughts foggy with Transference static, and saw the identical blade sprouting from each Tenno's chest. Huh. She blinked. Pain spread through her, tendrils of pain growing out from the sword. It started in her sternum and she felt it strike her spine, shooting upward to her brain and eyes and down to her stomach. A headache split her skull and tears burned on her face as she tried to retch, her vision blurring and her stomach spiraling into a nauseous void. She felt the tendrils spread under her skin, burning cold like falling into frigid water. She wanted to shrink away from the inside of her own skin, but the tendrils of Void suffused her, and all those twisting roads of caustic fire led back to the ethereal sword, the conidium that had pierced the exoskeleton of her soul. She blinked.

Disruptis noticed everyone staring at him and recoiled, attempting in vain to avert his face and obscure his transformation with hands which now sported twisted, wickedly sharp digits. The quick gesture unbalanced him, making him stumble to the ground. Breathing heavy, warped breaths, he dug his fingers into the cold, hard metal and pulled himself towards his warframe. A drop from the sky heralded a sudden storm cloud, thrown by Uranus's turbulent weather. It was as if the very world themselves were trying to drown the Tennos’ grave. Rain fell in blanketed sheets upon them. Disruptis crawled past his malfunctioning Gammacor a meter away. He hissed as the intense crimson light seared his side, shaving bits of abnormal fluid off the side of his torso from its mere presence. With the last of his strength, he threw himself on to the back of his Salix Syandana and plunged his good arm into its pocket. His twisted fingers wrapped around it. The cylindrical object he was wrestling with this entire mission. The button. Except now instead of using it to give up, he needed it to keep fighting. With a satisfying yet utterly simple click, Disruptis gave up the last of the strength in his strange body and fell to the ground with a horrifying grin. Then with a flash and a fizzle, the Tenno were gone. Rain hurled down onto an empty platform with lifeless bio-mechanical puppets. A sight that became a common one in the origin system that day. Or perhaps that's what it should have been. Isa stared listlessly into the sky, as she found herself alone on the platform. The paracesis was absent from her chest. For one reason or another, she found herself left behind… … and many sentients would rue the day they made that mistake.

"In luminous space, blackened stars, they gaze, accuse, deny Roiling, moaning this realm of ours in madness, lost shall die Carrion hordes trill their profane accord with eldritch plans To cosmic forms from tangent planes, we end as we began." - [LOHK]

[END RP]

Bonus-scene: Yellow was a visionary. From the eccentric coattails of his merigold 15-piece suit, to the countless scars blanketing his digits wrenched from a life of inconceivable danger, to the slick smile that never faulted gracing his lips, he was an unforgettable figure to encounter. A Corpus man pulled from a life fallen to ruin on account of his insatiable pride and countless mistakes. A somebody who became the perfect nobody for a Tenno with plans that transcend reason. His role happened to be the most intimate with their founder out of the executives at the Response to the Unknown Corporation, a particular scheme surrounded by much intrigue when one considered how similar his own individuality was to their Founder. What was his job? Well, the first part of it was finding ways to lead this corporation into unseen frontiers. And sometimes that meant negotiating with the most sordid of sorts. Dim light flooding into his small office from the outside hallway barely illuminated the balding scalp of a crazed scientist whose mechanical feet occupied the far end of Yellow's own desk. Once a doctor of special note now with a reputation that precedes himself within the Corporation. “So hold on Art,” Yellow paused, “after SED-003 Captured codename Stick aboard Madam Burgoar's Carnival, what happened to him?” Dr. Deco erupted into a mischievous smile. “Well, after I revived in the garbage incinerator with a hangover the size of Jupiter I came to the realization they jacked my ship. In the COE, they trained us to cut losses. That even if you find yourself in the scrappiest of scrap holes, you grab a few handfuls of gravel and keep shoveling to get that mission done. Typical Corpus mantra. Me, though? I'm just a researcher. I'm not gonna pick a fight with The Weaver or some scrap…"

He trailed off and stared at his hands. "Stick though, he didn't deserve any scrap she had in mind for him. Since I happened to have SED-188 on hand, I decided to ring up some old contractors I was acquainted with by the name of Halcyon and…" "Pause again," Yellow interrupted, "Who authorized you to just be holding SED-188 on the field? Why was it necessary." "Well, if Blue was going to make me pull Stick out of vacation early, I sure as Muck wasn't gonna do that without it." "Again, even if that was going to be done A: well really it would be pretty much impossible, but at the very least B: it should have been done out of an absolute necessity. This isn't just a kilogram of confetti we have lying in the supply closet anymore." The callback got a grin out of the doctor. "Look, what were you even going to do with the saxophone anyways? 'Scrap was rotting away in containment, begging to be used. I created an army of geese–" BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Three heart electric beeps struck the small office silent. Both men's gazes fixed to a small indicator that flashes red to a steady rhythm on the side of Yellow's desk. A moment of stillness passed.

"Sorry, you got a call there? I can step out," Deco offered, raising an eyebrow. Yellow knew he spoke more than mere pleasantry. "Nah, it's not that important." He silenced it. "So you were saying?" The doctor curled his lips. "So to distract a spider long enough to rescue my colleague, I thought of something fowl..." The doctor regaled Yellow of his tale for the next hour and twenty minutes. Yellow wore his usual temperance like a mask as he went into detail about gathering up a crew, a ship, and flying it into an infested asteroid somewhere among the rings of Saturn with a tidal wave of headless geese. Some close calls almost ended the entire mission, but with the power of highly competent team values (which Yellow noted was basically just friendship) he returned with a partially mutated Stick on the floor of his trash hauling space dingy. Nevertheless, Yellow submitted an order to ARI-1010 for a cephalon operative to review the headcam footage and confirm these details. "Onto other business then. It is clear that your involvement with the coalition has given you experience atypical to most of our researchers. To me, your record of lab work has been… innovative, even if some of your peers may protest it as "Mergo-scrap insane". Others in the corporation want you on a tighter leash, but I want the knowledge you've gained."

The doctor casually examined his fingernails with a frown. "Have you read my employment contract?" He asked flatly. Yellow held up his hands, "I know, I know. You came here to push papers under the premise that you wouldn't have to violate your NDAs. Other than your experience in terminating SEDs, I have no idea what secrets you could be holding onto or why exactly you still care about it, but I will respect the measures our founder has put in place. It's my job," he added with a finger gun. "Which is why I'm not going to force you to tell me. I'm going to task you to use it instead." Yellow pulled out a manila envelope, unbuttoned it, and slid a few highly classified papers across the desk. "We are pulling together a new ARI squad. Traditionally, they've all been humanoids and simple bots, but the last experiment with a squad of Cephalons has left us all very pleased. I had an even more… innovative idea. And I thought that, as a man with the same mindset as mine, it might pique your interest too." "WHAT?!" Deco exclaimed, hunched over the papers with full attention. "SED-048? 150-F??? 069????? Are you father muckers out of your mind?!? Will you even be able to control these things?!" "That's a question… for you," Yellow shot him another finger gun. Dr. Deco fell silent for a while. Yellow waited, patiently folding his hands.

Then the doctor began to laugh. The laugh went from amused, to bewildered, to maniacal, then back around to amused. "You know me leading this is a fate richer than Frohd mucking Bek." "But after all that time killing them, can the emotionally washed out hero of our story learn to lead them instead?" Yellow mused with a thin smile, waving his arms theatrically. Dr Deco put a finger up. "Can I remove 072?" Yellow tilted his head and frowned. The doctor kept his back to him, Keeping his expression unreadable. "She's been through enough." Yellow shrugged. "Your squad. Let me know what you want, and we'll talk about it." Deco gathered the documents in the envelope. His mouth twisted into a mischievous smile. "Never liked filling paper anyways." He walked out the door, paper in hand. Yellow put a hand to his chest, feeling the anxiety raising his resting heartbeat. Not because the crack job of a doctor made him nervous, but because he couldn't let him on to the truth. Not about the mission, no. A new era for the corporation had begun, and it all started with that blasted beeping red light. Yellow clicked it in, opening a secret compartment on the wall behind his desk that he never even knew was there. Many questioned his role in the corporation, and while his job of inspiration and familiarity with the founder were very important. He had yet another role-defining task.

Things is, he didn't even know what it was. He did understand what that indicator meant, though. It was a very important signal. A signal that whatever the founder is up to, he is certain that he is no longer with us. In one way, or another. It was not an automated signal. It came from the founder willfully and lucidly pressing his button. A thought which somehow was even more terrifying than the alternative. It was time. The founder wanted Yellow to take his role in full. That included finally understanding the purpose of the entire corporation, a secret no one fully knew. But what was there to hide in that regard? /RU's goals were clear as day. An ancient envelope lay in a sheet of dust within the secret compartment. Fingers ever so slightly trembling from the adrenaline, Yellow snatched it. Unsheathing the very first page, everything clicked with a finality that felt equal parts satisfying and dreadful. At the top in big letters read: # SED-001: Disruptis Containment Protocols…

Note from Disruptis: And that, my good and treasured friends, is the end of this story. There are many futures for these characters, many places for them to be and things for them to experience within the bounds of warframe story as it develops. But as for our writing, that ends today (mostly). I have no doubt that Dominus has a trepidatous past to bravely rediscover. That Chegar has a place to be and a brother to fight on side. That Sharratmuri has a peace to finally secure. That Muro has a monster of self-conflict to come to terms with. That Disruptis has a family to lose and a family to find. That Lupin has a people to lead and a future to overcome. That Narakis has an old friend to reacquaint herself with. That Kapak has a terrifying truth to uncover. That Vuko has a place to find where he can finally belong. That Cev has money to make and floofs to save. That Lekalis has a cosmos of consciousness to unravel, master, resolve, and rescue. That Ella has a course spanning to oblivion to run. That Elo has a system to dominate, Sonera a whimsy to whorl to, Elizabeth a knowledge to seek, Inari a wisdom to meditate, Leveret a hero to be, Kamos an army to slay, Karsk a government to upheave, and Garhul a very good boy to be. And finally, that Isa has a mucking reality to burn down. But while we will run those stories in our minds, we have no more thread to close outside of the occasional whimsy we may feel to write. It has truly been an honor to create such exciting stories with you guys. I am at a loss for words. I am truly going to treasure this. And if you all want to stick around and reminisce about this in a couple of years, I would love for nothing more.

@everyone (edited)