P.O.V. Excalibur Prime.

The roar of a small convoy of two large trucks and one smaller truck with a massive turret roared through the rather ominous air of what was now a destroyed city. At the front the smaller truck rolled along with me at the gun and Kurt at the wheel. Three young men sat inside with the driver.

“Are we there yet Kurt!?” I asked, annoyed.

“Ten minutes!” he replied over his shoulder.

“You said that twenty minutes ago!”

“Yeah, well…” he mumbled, “Stubborn bastard.”

“I heard that!”

This got a chuckle out of everyone in the vehicle.

Currently it had been a few months since I dawned the Warframe suit. I had been training almost day and night trying to get it to work the way i liked. Kurt helped me with tactics and parkour while a guy named Teshin taught me how to swing a sword. Thankfully I was a quick learner because of the virus that now runs in my veins. While we rode along on one of the many now destroyed roads I just thought about our latest set of orders.

“We picked up a civilian message,” Kurt said to a me and a small squad of soldiers, “We tracked the signal to a town not too far from here.”

“They’re screwed,” I replied while crossing one hand in front of my chest and placing my chin on the fist of my other, “Sentients can track radio frequencies.”

“How do you know that?” asked one of the privates in the squad.

I looked at him, “Plenty of observation.”

“And how would you know that?” he replied harshly.

“He survived out there for eight months Rich!” Kurt replied angrily, “He saw damn near everything!”

That comment shut the young private up.

“We should go though,” replied a young corporal, “If there are survivors… we need to help them!”

I sighed, “Kurt?”

He looked around the group before looking at me, “We’re going,” he looked around again, “Gather you gear, weapons and ammo and meet me at the vehicle bay in an hour.”

“We’re here,” Kurt said, knocking me out of my thoughts.

He threw the beaten rig into park and opened the door. The three other men piled out while I climbed out the turret hole and jumped to the ground. Grabbing my gun from my back and I held it while we all looked at the massive building in front of us. The two transport trucks we brought to carry the survivors parked right behind us.

“We tracked them to here,” Kurt said while looking at the building.

“Well…” I looked at him, “Let’s go.”

He nodded and raised his gun along with the rest of us. Taking the lead he kicked the door in and went in first. Splitting up into two teams we went separate ways to cover more ground. He immediately went left with three other men while I went right with the other three. We searched room after room of the massive building but soon started to find nothing but empty rooms and decaying bodies. After some time we reached the other side of the building.

“Anything?” he asked me.

“Nope… place is deserted,” I replied.

“What do you think happened to them?” one of the transport truck drivers asked.

“Well whatever the case,” replied Rich, “I gotta piss! Be back in a few.”

He walked off while we stood around and chatted idly. We honestly thought that the people we were looking for were gone entirely.

“Uh… guys!” Rich's voice was distant. We stopped talking and turned in the direction of the voice. “Might want to come and look at this!”

Kurt and I looked at each other before walking toward the voice. After rounding a few corners into a hallway -that Kurt missed- we saw Rich standing in front of a massive burned hole in the wall. He had a hand to his nose while he stared into the hole with a disgusted thousand-yard stare.

“What are you,” Kurt asked right when he turned his head to look in the hole, “Oh…” he turned away, “I’m going to be sick!”

“What?” I asked him while he walked past me to go a puke nearby. He just pointed to the massive hole.

I walked up next to Rich and looked inside, “Oh god…”

And my he have mercy on their souls.

Inside the room, the burned bodies of numerous civilians littered the charred room. People were splayed out in all directions, many weren’t even recognizable. I carefully stepped into the room and looked around. It was obvious that no one survived. I knelt down and let out a sad and defeated sight while closing my eyes and dipping my head.

“Let’s go everyone,” I stood up and walked toward the opening, “There’s nothing left here.”

I placed a hand on the wall next to the hole and took a step out. As I was making my turn to leave I heard a faint plea.

“Help.”

Immediately I stiffened up and turned back to the hole, examining the room for any signs of life. Nothing was moving while I stood in the hole.

“Please,” I looked to the left of the room while I followed the voice.

A weak and shaky arm rose from the ashes. Immediately I ran to the survivor. After a few rushed steps I knelt down next to them and grabbed the hand with my right one. With my left I slowly reached up and wiped the ash away from the face. The survivor was a young redhead, probably no older than 13 or 14.

“Kurt, get a med-kit and get your ass in here!” I screamed at the hole before looking back at the survivor. “It’s okay,” I reassured, “You’re safe.”

She nodded weakly. Immediately I let go of her hand and started to brush the ash off her body. I was shocked by what I saw. She had open burn marks on both legs and part of her upper body. She was messed up bad! A few minutes later Kurt came running in with a large box with a red cross on it.

“Good god…” he said in shock while he looked at the young girl.

“Get the burn cream and every bandage you got!”

“We have to get he out of here!”

I carefully placed one arm under her armpits and another under her legs and lifted her up. She screamed in agonizing pain while I carried her out of the destroyed room and into a clear area. Gingerly I placed her on the hard marble floor. Now that I could see better, her shirt was burned just above the belly button and she had nothing on but a beaten pair on panties.

“Someone get some water!” I demanded.

I’m going to kill them… Every. Last. One!

While Kurt and I addressed her injuries one of the young men in the squad came running in with a large five-gallon bucket of clean water. He poured in on her wounds causing her to screamed in agony at the feeling of the cold water on her exposed burns. We didn’t even bother drying her off. We applied every drop of burn cream, but even that wasn’t enough. We had to get her to the doctors back at base immediately! We first wrapped her in wet blankets, loaded her into the back of my truck and headed back to base.

On the way back we were ridding quietly until a massive explosion went off right in front of us causing Kurt to swerve to the right and around the newly formed crater. Both trucks behind us followed in suit with screeching tires. From two separate corners two beaten and rusty vehicles full of people in torn clothing and bandanas over their mouths pulled up in front of us.

“Bandits!”

The yee-hawed and cheered like maniacs. I adjusted the massive machine gun in my hand and pointed it at the right vehicle.

“Suck on this,” I said darkly before pushing down on the butterfly trigger. The gun roared while the massive .50 caliber rounds ripped through the side of the flimsy car. All five men inside were immediately killed. Drifting to the right the destroyed rig slammed into a parked car. I swiveled the gun to the left in preparation to destroy the left car. Before I even made it halfway a bullet connected with my head. I fell forward onto the gun before falling inside the truck. My head wouldn’t stop throbbing. That was literally the first time I had ever been shot in the head and survived!

Once my vision recovered I focused on the handle of a gun that was sitting in front of me. Without hesitation I grabbed it a stood up through the turret hole. I held it up to my head and pulled the charging handle and started to shouldered the gun but before I pulled the trigger I looked at it.

“What a fucking antique!”

It was an AK-47 style rifle, something that hadn’t seen the light of day in decades.

“It was a gift!”

I shouldered the gun, “Whatever Kurt!”

I unloaded every round into that car. Many impacted on in the doors while others connected with living bodies. We and when I say we I mean I, fought as hard as we could. It was like they had an army. Because two more war rigs came rushing out in front of the truck while a third roared out behind us and smashed into the carrier truck we had planned to use for the survivors. It went careening out of control and into parked car, forcing it into a violent stop. Both Kurt and I cursed our misfortune. Once I ran out of ammo for the AK I dropped it back into the turret hole before reaching back and grabbing my Skana.

Climbing out of the hole I jumped from the vehicle to an adjacent wall, following the vehicles while I ran along it. The occupants of the two rigs in front of the truck seemed to preoccupied with shooting at Kurt and the boys than me. With a powerful push of my legs I aimed for the car on the right hand side of the truck. Landing on the hood -which scared the shit out of the driver- I thrusted my blade through the windshield and into the driver’s chest. He reached for the blade and grabbed it but failed to hold it when I pulled it back out just as fast as I put it in.

I sheathed it back on my back before I drew my pistol. I shot the passenger before he could fully aim his gun at me. Immediately he went limp. I jumped off the hood as the doomed rig started to swerve. I landed on the roof of the truck with one foot before launching myself after the second car. I landed on the roof before grabbing the left edge and hanging on to it. Before the driver could even react I ripped the door off, tossing it behind me. The driver stared at me wide eyed.

“I’ll be taking this!” I said before reaching in and tearing the steering wheel off the steering column while the driver held his hands up in shock.

Without even thinking I climbed up on top of the car and jumped back to the roof of my truck. Before I could climb back into my turret hole I heard the roar of a rocket being fired. The rig jerked to the left, causing the rocket to miss us and hit the transport truck behind us. It exploded in a mass of flame and smoke before skidding off and idly crashing into a nearby pole. I shot the launcher operator in the head with my Lex when we raced past him. I holstered my pistol on my leg before jumping back into the turret hole and taking a seat.

“What a warm welcome,” I said sarcastically.

Everyone that had a gun pointed at me lowed it and rolled their eyes before looking back out the open windows. I leaned back and looked at the burned girl laying in the back on a stretcher, safely wrapped in a sterile blanket.

“You better have been worth it...”

The truck came to a screeching halt in the parking bay of the bunker. The place in itself was just a large concrete room filled with ammunition stacked in various areas, large trucks both equipped with guns or just transports sat idly. Men and women walked or ran around as they did their work. Jumping out of the truck I immediately headed for the back. Kurt opened the back door and grabbed the stretcher and started to pull it out.

We ran as fast as we could once we left the truck. Our goal? The med-bay. People that saw us coming stepped out of the way while those that were less aware were either yelled at or shoved out of the way. I don’t know why the infirmary was far into the bunker. Once we were there we practically kicked the doors in to the infirmary with how hard we entered. Immediately we placed her on an available table while doctors came running up.

“What happened?!” a female doctor asked.

“Look,” I said while grabbing both sides of my helmet before turning it to the side slightly and placing it on a nearby table.

She picked up the blanket slightly and looked at the damage underneath.

“Oh my!”

“Yeah.”

She lowered the blanket before looking at me, “How is she still alive?”

“I don’t know,” Kurt replied.

Just then the door to the infirmary opened as a familiar face walked in. The doctor looked at him.

“Jazier! What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I came to check up on…” he trailed off when he saw the young girl laying on the table. He looked at me, “What happened?”

“Guess?” I replied.

“Oh…”

I looked at the doctor, “What are you going to do?”

She looked back at the unconscious girl before sighing, “Nothing… she’s a lost cause.”

I did not take that well.

“A lost cause? A LOST CAUSE!” I screamed into her face, “I lost two trucks saving her life!” I grabbed the doctor by the collar of her white lab coat, “YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING! OR YOU’LL BE NEEDING A DOCTOR!!!”

A hand firmly grasped my shoulder before a body pulled me away and stood between the doctor and I.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Kurt interjected before the situation turned more violent then what it already was, “Let’s all calm down here?”

The doctor adjusted her lab coat while she sported an angry look. I myself was furious.

“You are going to do something!” I spat at her while pointed a finger at her past Kurt.

She tugged on the bottom of her coat, “I will not,” she let go and looked up at me, “Even if we did, her chance of surviving the initial operation is slim.”

“I’ll take slim over none any day of the week!” I shot back.

“I will not waste precious resources on a slim chance!”

I scowled at her before I noticed a familiar vile sitting on a nearby table just pas. Pushing myself past Kurt I grabbed a nearby syringe before walking up and taking the vile in my hand. Sticking the needle in the top of the lid I slowly filled the syringe. Once it was filled I walked back to the unconscious girl on the table.

“What are you doing?” the doctor asked angrily yet nervously.

“Saving her life,” I said before removing one of her arms from under the blanket.

Sticking the needle into her arm I slowly injected the serum into her bicep. Everyone in the room watched nervously as the orange liquid slowly left the needle. Once the syringe was empty I removed the needle and took a step back.

Those five seconds felt like an eternity.

Her eyes shot open as her back arched while she let out a blood curdling wail. Before she could convulse her way off the table I stepped forward and pinned her to the table by her shoulders. Her screaming continued as her body convulsed under my strength.

“Grab her legs!”

The sound of an exo-suit was heard as Kurt forced himself forward and grabbed her bare legs. Her eyes were filled panic as they shot around in all directions. After a few seconds they landed on me. I looked her right in the eyes.

I knew what to do.

“Look at me!” I screamed at her, “Everything is going to be fine! Just keep looking at me!”

In her frantic shaking I was able to pick out a slight nod before she shut her eyes tight and continued to scream in agony. Looking down at one of her many burns, I watched as it was literally healed right in front of me. The burn flesh slowly started to grow back and cover the lower layer of skin. Looking back at her, her eyes widened in shock as her body started to rapidly rebuild itself. She continued to flair around for another five minutes before she gave out one last blood curling scream. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head before she passed out, her body going limp on the table.

I backed away slowly from the table while Kurt released her legs. The female doctor ran up and started to do her thing with a stethoscope. After getting her heartbeat, breathing, checking the burns and dilating her eyes, she placed the stethoscope around her neck.

“She’s doing better,” she looked at Jazier who hadn’t done much since he walked in, “But she needs a reactor in order to survive.

He gave me the “Your call because I'm scared shit-less” look. I sighed. That’s when I knew that she was going to have to be my responsibility. .

“Do it.”

Jazier went into full on doctor mode. He started barking orders and pointing at various objects and people while many of the doctors in the room frantically ran around in preparation for surgery.

I backed away from my latest attack. I was breathing heavily. After Jazier and a team of doctors took away the mysterious girl I had time to kill. I decided to work on my sparing skills with my teacher in one of the sparing rooms used for training.

“You are doing well pupil,” the man said while sheathing his Nikana, “But remember, in times of war, knowledge is the brightest blade.”

“You and your quotes Teshin!” I said before charging him.

Lifting my blade over my head I bought it down on him. Quickly drawing his Nikana, he blocked the attack with one hand. With one fluid sweep, he dragged his blade around mine. In a single arch of his blade he disarmed me, sending mine sailing across the room. I put my hands in the air while he held his blade at my neck.

“Remember… Without intelligence, a vast enemy can be scattered.”

I smirked under my helmet before rapidly slapping both my hands together with his blade in between them. Pushing to the left I moved the blade out of the way before giving it a forceful tug and flipping it into the air and catching it. This time it was he who put his hands in the air.

“But…” I stood up straight and lowered the blade, “Awareness and calculation are the tools of warfare.”

He smiled, “You impress me, pupil. You are on your way to higher mastery.”

“Yeah well…” I said while cocking my head to the right and walking up to him. I stopped and held up his blade, “I learned from the best.”

He took it and turned it in his hand before sheathing it, “You bring fear… and honor to the conclaive.”

“Can you please kill it with the wisdom talk?” I chuckled, “It’s odd.”

“I am your master and you are my pupil, wisdom is all I know.”

I chuckled while walking over and picking up my downed blade, “Alright Teshin,” I turned to face him, “Same time tomorrow?”

“Bring your best Tenno.”

“See ya Teshin,” I said before walking through the door of the room and taking my helmet off and holding it. Entering one of the many hallways I decided to check up on the scientists and see what they were up to. A short walk from the conclaive to the lab later I walked through the two automatic doors. Many of the scientists greeted me while I greeted them back. I idly chatted with one of the many white clad scientists before a light, almost British voice greeted me.

“Hello there.”

I looked up at the ceiling and furrowed my brow in confusion before turned back to face the voice. All I saw was a small glowing, light blue cube sitting on a table. It had multiple wires hanging from the ceiling that were plugged into the base.

“Hello, my name is Ordis!” the cube said happily.

I gave the cube a curious look, “An A.I.?” I said to myself before walking over to the cube sitting on the round table. I bent down and rested my hands on my knees.

“Ah… I see you found Ordis!”

I stood up and looked at a female scientist walk up.

“Ordis?” I questioned while standing up straight.

“He is our latest series of the Cephalon series,” she replied, “I still don’t know how we are able to work this well in such a terrible situation,” she said while shaking her head lightly.

“What do you plan to do with it?”

“Him.”

“Him?” I repeated.

“Ordis is male,” she replied, “and he is smartest than most A.I.’s to date.”

“So what do you plan on doing with him?”

“Well,” she looked at the small cube, “We were planning on giving him to you.”

I looked at her, “What would I do with him? Hold him?”

She chuckled at my remark, “No, no. We would sync him with your suit. He will see and hear everything you do and will be able to aid you in your fights…” she put a hand to her chin and looked to the ceiling in thought, “Then again… he would work well with what the engineers have planned,” she looked back at me, “Anyway, we are going to keep him here and continue to run diagnostic scans until he is ready… we were hoping to use him here soon. If you’d like that is?”

I looked at the ceiling and shook my head side to side in thought, “I’d be willing to give it-him a try,” I looked her back in the eyes, “just let me know when he’s ready?”

She smiled, “Will do… see you later Excalibur,” she said before walking off.

“Wait! My names not…” I said while holding a hand out, but she just kept walking. I sighed before turning to look the small cube.

“Hello operator.”

‘Operator?’

“Uh… Ordis?”

“Yes?”

“My names Chris.”

“But you are also the operator, no?”

“Well… technically yes. But operator sounds… strange?”

“What would you prefer?” he asked.

“Well…” ‘I do like the way Excalibur sounds.’ “Call me Excalibur.”

“Of course operator.”

“…”

Baby steps.

I said my goodbye to the little cephalon and started to head for the door when the lights went out before being replaced by the blink of a red one before a loud alarm roared through the facility.

“Lock down, lock down! All necessary personnel take shelter! All available troops are needed on level twelve stat!”

Level twelve? That’s bored far into the mountain which only means… the attack is internal! Immediately I slipped my helmet over my head and ran down the halls dodging multiple personnel that were frantically running for the nearest safe area. Once I reached the elevator I slapped the button and nervously tapped my foot while I waited. Once the doors opened I stepped inside.

I nervously watched the lights as it descended.

Once I reached the twelfth level the doors opened and started searching. The sound of gun fire filled the air along with the yelling of multiple soldiers. After running towards the conflict I rounded a corner to see two men taking up behind cover against the wall next to another corner to a different hallway.

A ’bwoosh’ was heard around the corner before a screaming body came flying through the air before crashing into the wall. One of the two men ran up and grabbed the injured man by the back of his exo-suit and started dragging him to safety. Rounding the corner, I could see multiple troopers taking up cover behind anything they could in the hallway.

Pinned against a closed blast door on the far side, sat a female figure.

She was clad in dark black, brown and gold armor. Her suits energy was bright orange, she was scared beyond belief and her hands glowed bright orange. A watched as one of the men closest to her swiveled around and started to take aim. The young woman panic when she saw him and held out a hand. From it a massive fireball launched from it and hit the young man in the chest, sending him flying. He landed on the hard floor writhing in agony.

My eyes went wide, “STAND DOWN!” I started screaming before running down the hallway and holding my hands out at every soldier I passed. The young girl screamed in panic when she saw me approaching and threw another fireball at me. I promptly rolled underneath it and bounced on my feet once I reached her. Spinning 180 degrees I faced the troop filled hall.

“STAND DOWN!”

“Sir,” a young sergeant standing toward the front yelled, “She’s a serious threat!”

“She’s scared!”

“What’s going on here!?” a deep voice yelled from the far end of the hall before the voices owner rounded the corner.

“Kurt!” I yelled, “Tell them to stand down!”

He froze when he saw the terrified girl behind me. He didn’t say a fucking thing for about five seconds before he regained his composer and looked at the closest soldier to his right side.

“You heard him!” he looked to his left at them, “lower your weapons!”

I walked up to the nearest soldier to my right hand side. I grabbed him by the collar picked him up and threw him backwards when he refused to lower his weapon. After promptly telling everyone to fuck off and go back to guarding the armory I walked back to the young girl who sat on the floor in the fetal position. She was hyperventilating while she held her head in both hands.

“I need my inhaler! I need my inhaler!” she said to herself.

I knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. She gasped and looked at me. She was terrified beyond belief.

“Deep breaths.”

Kurt walked up behind me and watched while I continued to calm her down. After about a minute she had stopped her hyperventilating but continued to sit against the door and cry. I just sat there with one arm on a knee and let her cry it out. I could hear the faint sound of someone walking behind me.

Looking over my shoulder I saw Jazier walking up at a rather quick pace. He froze when he saw the young girl sitting behind me.

“Jazier,” he looked at me, “Why did you fit her with a suit?”

He swallowed hard, “I…” he ran a hand through his hair and looked at the floor before he glanced up at me and waved his hand in a ‘come here’ motion. I gave Kurt a questioning look before we both walked up to the young scientist.

“I don’t know how to explain this” Jazier whispered while holding his arms up slightly, “But it was like the suit... called to her,” I raised an eyebrow.

“How?”

“She… we were running a standard diagnostic scan on the suit when she was wheeled into a nearby room. Right then we had a massive energy spike… our charts went off the standard levels. Everything and I mean everything started to fail on a massive scale. So we attached the suit,” he looked at her, “It was like she was destined to wear the suit.”

“Didn’t the suit call to you?” Kurt asked me.

“I know I felt something when I first saw it,” I replied while giving him a glance.

“I… I don’t know,” Jazier said nervously.

I sighed, “Well… thanks for the new teammate… I’ll take care of it from here.”

“You sure?” Kurt questioned.

“Yes… now get out of here.”

We all bumped fists before Jazier and Kurt headed their own directions. I slowly walked up and sat down next to the girl who still sat with her legs to her chest. Both her arms sat onto of her knees while she rested her forehead on them and sobbed. I grabbed both sides of my helmet and removed it before placing it on the floor.

“Hey,” I said softly.

She lifted her head up and looked at me, “Hey,” she said before wiping her nose with her left sleeve.

“So… what’s your name?”

“… Lily”

“That’s a cute name,” I replied.

She sniffled, “Thanks,” we sat in silence for a second, “And yours?”

“Chris, but everyone calls me Excalibur.”

“… why?”

I gestured to myself, “The suit.”

“Ah...” she placed her chin on her arms.

Silence filled the air.

“How old are you?”

“… fourteen.”

I nodded my head slightly.

“I heard you talking about an inhaler?”

She glanced at me, “I’m asthmatic.”

“Not anymore,” She lifted her head and gave me a confused look, “That thing I injected you with is basically the cure to just about anything. It’s what healed your wounds… it saved your life.”

Her eyes slowly teared and her lower lip quivered. She lunged at me and wrapped her arms around my waist catching me by suprise. I held my arms up in shock while she yelled “Thank you!” before she started crying into my chest. I slowly lowered my arms and hugged her back while she continued to sob loudly. After a few minutes she calmed down but continued to lean against me while I held her.

“So… now what?” she asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

She adjusted herself to look me in the eye, “What happens to me now? I have nowhere to go…” she looked at the floor during the last sentence.

“You’ll stay here for now. Don’t worry, I’ll watch over you.”

She cringed and tensed up before grabbing me in a big hug again.

“The bodies…” she said quietly, “How many survivors where there?”

I felt so bad when she said that.

“You… were the only one,” she started to sob again, “I’m sorry… were your parents there?”

She sniffled, “I… I’ve been an orphan all my life.”

‘Oh way to go dumb ass!’

Then again asking the parent question was terrible too.

“I… never knew my parents. No matter how many families came… they never chose me.”

I thought about what she said for a second.

“Hey Lily?”

“… yeah?” she said before leaning back and looking me in the eyes.

I smiled lightly, “You know? I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Author's Notes:

So I have a question(s), which will also be in this blog here!
Why do you like this story?
What am I doing right/ wrong?
What caused you to like/ fav it?
I'm mainly curious. I know I'm a decent writer and always have been. But this was and always will be the first story I ever posted online. So as a noobie writer i just want to know
Also I got into thinking. "Hey i have a petty cool Warframe OC!" and i want to add her but i have no place for her here. If i started another Warframe story would anyone read it?