When Anger goes Cold

There was very little pain. It was more the shock of the impact than any pain that threw him down. He struggled to sit up, his Kraken pistol in hand blaring defiance, spewing bullets at the enemies that had overwhelmed his small team. The enemies that even now closed in, screaming their unintelligible battle cries.

All three of the others had fallen and would not rise. Aeron had seen Fran go down, a huge hole through the crest of her Saryn warframe. A Corpus sniper, far out of reach of her toxins, had taken advantage when a MOA had managed to drop her shields. When the others had tried to help her, since even such a terrible wound wasn't instantly fatal for a Tenno in a warframe, the Corpus had closed in.

Matt, their leader, had gone down to a shock prod despite his heavy armor. Ordinarily, a Frost would have been able to cover the team with a Snow Globe while they helped their sister, and the threat of the Corpus guns would have been laughable. But the running battle since being discovered while stealing the Orokin artifact from the holding facility it had been secured in aboard the Corpus ship had taken it's toll on all of them. None of them had a lot of power. Matt hadn't had the power to protect them. And it had cost them all when the Corpus had downed Fran.

No one had wanted to leave her to the nonexistent mercy of the religious nutcases. Joe had done his best, whirling and slicing, dashing when his Excalibur frame had recharged enough. But the enemies had been endless. When Matt went down, Joe had yelled for Aeron to run. But Aeron wasn't about to leave his brothers either. Then Joe had gone down, a steaming hole through his warframe and it had been Aeron's turn.

Aeron had tried. He was no coward and anger had burned in his veins. Now, something else did. He felt power come from somewhere and suddenly he was on his feet again, somehow. He jumped up and threw his arms wide. The Corpus goons screamed, but it was too late, and they were too close. His Overload fried every electrical device within range, including the Corpus robots. Each small explosion of electrical power fed the overload and Aeron's anger. No. This wasn't anger. This was something else. Anger was hot. This was cold. He... was cold.

"Die, you bastards!" Aeron screamed as power flared from him in unstoppable waves. Then everything went silent as the power he had been putting out stopped. He collapsed to his knees, his Volt warframe taking the impact easily. Aeron was panting as he slowly raised his head to look around.

All around the Volt, scattered in an almost perfect circle, still forms cooled. Robotic forms sizzled with residual energy and the organic one twitched. Aeron shook his head and went to his fallen kin. Fran was dead. Joe likewise. When the Volt went to his knees beside the Frost however, the battered ice using warframe twitched. Aeron scanned and found faint life!

"Matt!" Aeron said sharply. "Can you hear me?" He said urgently. He grabbed the other warframe's hand and then went still as a jolt of power surged into his own. A familiar power. Matt had put the artifact they had recovered into Aeron's warframe. "Come on, Matt." Aeron begged. "We have got to get out of here." The hand gave his a squeeze and then... fell slack. "No." Aeron said, his tone stunned. "No..." He begged. But the Frost didn't move. Indeed, the other Tenno's life signs faded.

I... I can't leave them... Aeron said to himself numbly. They are the only kin I have left...had left... His head shook from side to side and he laid a hand on the still Frost. Then he froze as the lights flickered.

Aeron, you cannot run from your past...

Any other day, those words would have chilled the Volt. Not today. The warframe rose from his kneeling position and then, bent down and laid a hand on the still warframe of his brother. Energy pulsed and the fallen Tenno vanished, the energy still contained in the Frost warframe seeping into Aeron's outstretched hand. He did the same to the torn and battered Excalibur before Stalker taunted him again.

There is no salvation for your crime against Ambulas.

Aeron ignored the taunts, moving to where the Saryn frame lay. He ignored the mess, laying his hand against the fallen Tenno's cheek, and then drew the pitiful remnants of her warframe's power into his warframe. Her body vanished as well.

"I am sorry, Fran." Aeron said, tears starting to fall inside his helmet. "I wasn't good enough. I wasn't strong enough. But I will be." He promised, the tears fading as another emotion replaced the sadness. The new one. A white hot, yet cold thing inside his heart and soul. No tears now. Nothing but white. "I will be."

You will not leave this place! Stalker declared as the black mist that heralded his arrival appeared nearby. Stalker appeared, and moved to attack, but paused as Aeron didn't move.

Aeron heard a voice. "One chance, whoever you are. Whatever you are." It seemed to be coming from him, but it wasn't his. Or... It was. But... Not. "Run away. Now." The Stalker's bow drew to full extension and Aeron felt a huge calm descend over him. "So be it." He said quietly. Stalker fired, but Aeron wasn't where he had been. Indeed, Aeron was charging at enhanced speed.

Apparent disbelief had the Stalker freezing in place as the Volt closed the distance between them in a few heartbeats. The Volt didn't throw power, no. His Amphis was in hand. It had been a gift from Fran, that staff. Before Stalker could sling his bow and ready his own melee weapon, Aeron was on him.

"You!" The Volt swung and Stalker dodged, but got caught in the electrical area of effect and his shields flared. The red armored form's red scythe went flying. "Do!" Aeron recovered from his stroke and fast as lightning, slammed the end of the staff into the apparently dazed Stalker. "Not!" Stalker trioed to roll away, but Aeron was not to be stopped. "Scare!" Aeron screamed in rage and pain as he hit the red armored form again and again. Finally the red armored form fell, the body language of the ambusher shocked. "Me!" The Volt battered the now still form, pummeling the hapless assassin every time the enemy tried to defend himself or even move. "Die!" Aeron screamed the final word as he swung the staff two handed and connected with the other's head. A wet crunch sounded and then the stalker lay still, the ghastly ruin of his head showing he would not rise again.

What... What have you done? The voice in Aeron's head was dazed.

"Just shut up and fade out already, you piece of trash!" Aeron snapped. The body vanished, but... The scythe did not. Aeron shook his head, his rage fading slightly. He slung the Amphis and stepped to where the scythe lay gleaming. He picked it up and examined it. A word was inscribed either side of the main blade. 'Hate'

"Works for me." Aeron said with a snarl as he started off for the airlock where his tiny clan's ship waited, the scythe in hand. "Come back anytime, you lousy excuse for an assassin." Aeron jeered into the stillness. Stalker would be back, killing him never worked to stop him for long. But Aeron hoped it would be soon so he could hurt the scum again. Part of Aeron recoiled. He wasn't loud. He wasn't vicious. Was he?

A shout from ahead brought Aeron's attention back to the here and now. A Corpus crewman stood at across corridor nearby, his laser rifle coming up. Then he screamed as Aeron leveled his arm and hit him with a powerful jolt of electricity. The scream lasted just long enough for Aeron to take three steps forward and swing the scythe. The brainwashed human did not even have the chance to scream again as the sharp edge of the weapon but deep, slicing through the heavy armor plated helmet as if it were made of tissue paper.

"You have cool toys, Stalker." Aeron barely recognized his voice. It was so... dead. "Feel free to come back and see me anytime."

Aeron did not draw his Braton as he walked, despite the growing numbers of Corpus that charged him. He could feel energy surging through him, from the scythe. It had some kind of energy recharge system attached. It felt...good. His right hand held the scythe. His left hand was raised, every time a Corpus troop or robot showed itself, he hit it with electricity. Sometimes that was enough to drop the target. Sometimes he stepped forward and swung, his rage finding temporary release in the blood and gore that flew from the insanely sharp blades of the scythe. Killing them felt...good.

Before he knew it, Aeron was back at the airlock. He paused at the hatch.

There are more of them on this ship... The Volt thought to himself. He felt... The white was still there. The rage was still there. It felt so good to kill the scum. To murder the Corpus who had killed his sister and brothers. To end their lousy, good for nothing, useless existences. Then he shook his head savagely.

"No..." Aeron said in a dazed voice. "No... They trusted me. Matt..." He gave a soft sob. "Matt trusted me to complete the mission." He shook himself hard and stepped to the warframe sized alcove that led to his ship.

You have done well, Tenno The voice of the Lotus came. You will be rewarded. Then it was gone.

It won't bring my kin back. Aeron said with a snap. He paused. That was wrong. Talking back to the Lotus? What was wrong with him? He shook his head as the ship took off, letting the automated systems pull him into the middle of the thing that had been his and his clan's home for a long, long time. He stepped to his usual spot and stopped short.

The ship was small, but it had been all that the four Tenno needed. They had each other and that was all, but again, they hadn't needed much more. Aeron's warframe sensors lingered over the weapons, the few trophies that they had taken over the centuries. Then they lit on the empty spaces and he...shut down. He wasn't crying. Indeed, while his warframe was shaking a little, it was not grief that caused it. It was rage.

The ship's AI queried Aeron, and he did not respond. It scanned him and froze in electronic shock. Aeron was wounded, badly. He hadn't even noticed how many times he had been shot. But he wasn't moving to the medical center! If he did not get to the medical center, the AI couldn't help him! It spoke aloud.

"Tenno Aeron, you are wounded." It said quietly. "Please move to the medical center." He ignored it.

The AI had a quandary now. It was supposed to obey the orders of Tenno, but Aeron wasn't giving any orders. The wounds were serious, if not immediately life threatening.

"Tenno." The Ai tried again. "You are wounded. Please move to the medical center to receive aid." Aeron might have been a statue for all the response he gave.

Essentially, the ship AI was a simple thing. It existed for one purpose and one purpose only. It existed to get Tenno to their targets and retrieve them after their missions were done. But it also was meant to provide support for Tenno, medical support in particular. Tenno were mortal despite their gear, as had just been demonstrated. The AI's most basic imperative was to aid it's assigned Tenno of which Aeron was the sole remaining. It tried one more time.

"Tenno Aeron, you are injured." The AI sent the message both verbally and over the neural link that Aeron had to the ship. "You require aid." Instead of responding, Aeron shut down the link.

If the AI had been human, it likely would have sighed or sworn in exasperation. As it was not human, it searched it's databanks for orders in such situations. Aeron was injured. Without medical aid, he would die. He was not responding. He was conscious, but not responding. This made his problem something psychological. Something that was well beyond the AI's ability to help. Aeron needed assistance, and the AI could not provide it, so...

The AI sent out a short very weak omni-directional pulse of energy. Any Corpus or Grineer sensors would read it as minor momentary increase in cosmic radiation. Any other human sensors likely wouldn't pick it up at all. It wasn't directed at any of them. It was a call for help.

Tenno very rarely called for help. They were self sufficient. The warfames were self contained and self sustaining. But, nothing was perfect. So Tenno had support facilities in various hidden places. A shipyard to build the tiny spacecraft that ferried Tenno from their missions. A few extremely well hidden colonies where Tenno who did not wear warframes lived, worked, loved and eventually passed on. These colonies provided many kinds of support, including medical personnel for the odd problems that the Tenno themselves or the ships' AIs could not handle. Like this.

Since Tenno distress calls were so rare, when it did happen, the responses were nearly instantaneous. Not all Tenno were selfless paragons of virtue, but all knew that their own lives someday might require such a response, so very, very few stinted. Like ancient highway drivers clearing the way for an ambulance despite their impatience and consternation at the delay. Five Tenno ships were in easy com range and replied immediately. Each of them queried their Tenno but none of them had a good solution.

Finally one of the ships approached the one Aeron was one. It matched courses and speeds. Their airlocks mated and a Tenno in a Vauban warframe entered to scrutinize Aeron. The male Tenno sighed and spoke to the AI.

"If we try to force him into the medical bay, we will hurt him further. Let me try to guide him. He does need help." The Vauban took the Volt's limp arm and gave a pull. "Aeron..." The male Tenno said gently. "Aeron, can you hear me?" There was no response. "Dang it." The newcomer Tenno swore softly. "Come on, Aeron. You need help. Come on..." He encouraged, pulling the stupefied Volt towards the medical alcove. Then he jerked back as the Volt suddenly surged with power. "Aeron!" He shouted as electricity snapped from the Volt's fingers.

The current died as the ship's AI, acting under another long disused protocol, deactivate Aeron's warframe, the simple expedient knocking him all the way out. The Vauban caught the Volt as Aeron crumpled and hefted him easily, lifting him and carrying him to the waiting medical center. Once Aeron was ensconced within, the Vauban stood back and sighed, knowing his words would go to all the now listening Tenno.

"That wasn't Aeron." The male Tenno said slowly. "There were no conscious thought patterns detected on any of his warframe systems. He is either asleep... or worse. We can't handle this. We need to get him to better psychological help. I will take him home, ride with him. Keep him from hurting himself or anyone else."

A wordless 'Thank You' came from the ship's AI and the other Tenno who had been watching anxiously.

"Least we can do for a brother who just lost his closest kin." The Vauban said sadly as he sat in one of the chairs. "I just hope the medics can help him. We don't have enough kin as it is. And now... three less..."