Loki's team doggedly pushed forwards through the darkened corridors of the arena, sounds of chains rattling behind them, like an ill omen, a side effect of Khora's presence. Glowing energy, slipping from their Warframes, refracted off of the gritty surfaces around them and seemed to create a minor haze that made many of the team flinch at a possible foe, only to find their worries were a trick of the light.
These small details exacerbated the Electrical vibrations that dully thudded behind torn circuitry. Tangled wires and cables mixed with the circuitry in a scratched and gouged mess... A veritable graveyard of complex technology disrupting many dilapidated corridors along their path.
The team itself had settled into a tense silence, the Khora and Dagath watching Loki as he faded in and out of invisibility. There were no signs of enemies yet and they were still in the dark as to the whereabouts of the opposing team... The team was on edge. All of them except Loki that was. Loki was confident in his ability to survive without the inferiority of his team.
Though none of them would expect the fight coming...
...
(Loki's Perspective)
'This place is interesting... It feels like the Bifrost but, not...' My thoughts balanced on a knife's edge, awareness sharpened to a fine point.
The gravity felt oddly off, the texture of the air stagnant but active. It reminded me of mine and Thor's ventures to Vanaheim when their spore-crops would gestate and break free into the wind-cycle. Frowning at that subconscious thought I paused, every sense narrowing down onto the corridor to my right..
Something was there, hidden in the deep recesses of darkness. Clenching my fists, my suit went completely invisible. The twin daggers inside my palms twirled silently as they phased from visible to invisible. The foolish mortals clung to each other behind me whilst I stalked forwards, like a ghost. Silence was a veil no mortal could understand, and I was the master of it… And so was this, whatever it was. The grin came unbidden. Finally, the prey would reveal itself to the true predator.
"Loki! What is going on!?" I almost hissed at the sheer stupidity of the mortal. In the time it would have taken for me to hiss, the creature would have impaled Khora with its long, lashing whip-like tail. Fortunately, my daggers buried themselves into the dense, gooey under-flesh of the tail, a sepulchral screech nearly deafening me.
"Wha-!" The traitorous mortal made a further fool of himself as I stepped into the retreating creature, plunging my daggers in quick succession. Blood of red and purple hue splattered with each vindictive dive of my blades. The screeches and cries of pain vanished into a malaise of gurgling gargles.
Staying low to the ground, hunched onto my knees, I waited for any sign of the creature's allies. Seconds dripped by until I was fairly certain no other enemies remained… While this would normally be fortunate for anyone on my team, it only allowed me to fully focus my wrath upon the fool who had broken my surprise.
"You utter imbecile! Does Odin's one eye, blind you to reason!? Couldn't you have merely accepted that I stopped you all for a good reason!?" My shouts echoed through the metallic halls, probably not a good thing but I was occupied.
"Look you pompous asshole! You aren't communicating with us! How are we supposed to know you found something!?" I huffed at the mortal's arrogance. As if I'd degrade myself to chatter with apes and monkeys…
"Even your insults are worthy of naught but the most base species. Are you even human? From my perspective it would seem that you weren't." The Dagath laughed deeply as the nitwit before me, his words fading into a bass growl, glared at me with his Warframe's orange, glowing, eyes.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
An all encompassing explosive shockwave blasted through our corridor from the ventilation system, a din of screeching and hissing following in its wake as I turned to regard the long hallway behind me. Rolling my eyes at the typicality of this scenario I hissed my frustrations away and sped forwards, my invisibility merging me with my environment.
A few moments passed before I could hear the familiar thumps of my team's boots upon the grated flooring. They were imbeciles and mortals, the lot of them, but they would at the very least serve as cannon fodder for my attack.
I made it to the end of the hallway in under a minute. A hefty bulkhead door stood between me and the origin of the explosion. Examining the doorway as my 'allies' finally caught up I found a locking mechanism which I hurriedly explored. It was a small puzzle with varying straight lines and nodes. You needed to connect the free lines with the central node in the right pattern or the unlocking would fail; I learnt this after failing within the first second.
Grating beeps resounded as I failed a few times, the locking mechanism shifting patterns every time I failed. I was never good with puzzles, give me some magical ritual or spells to dissect any day... Puzzles were my bane though. It was typical that Thor was good at puzzles like this.
'Curses!'
*Bowm Bowm...*
"You absolutely worthless, piece of-"
"Here let me, hotshot." The Nekros stepped in, the voice feminine despite having a male appearance. Knocking me aside the woman quickly set to the task, my ego slightly bruised at the fact that it took a mortal to assist me in a basic puzzle like this. She was just lucky that she was capable of being useful to me... Yes, that healed the wound a touch.
*Bip-bip*
"Done. Let's go."
Scowling at the locking mechanism I followed after the woman, her head swivelling left and right as I observed the ceiling above us. The rest of the team were almost hopeless, their movements so amateur that even Freya would cry.
The chamber was enormous and housed varying levels of walkways. Large ramps connected the three or four elevations, broken only by pipe systems that wheezed and hissed. Fluids or gasses passed through them at a rather fast pace and volume if I were to hazard a guess. At the lowest level there were several large screens that had a strange blocky language depicted upon them, followed by some form of mathematical evaluation in the form of differing coloured blocks and circles.
"Looks like some sort of control room?" The youngest mortal commented as he sauntered forwards, he was the Wukong. 'That's what it is called! Hold on, where have I heard that name?'
My thoughts were interrupted as the little brat started to descend down a level. "Careful mortal child, this space has many places where enemies can ambush us." The child flinched backwards wisely, waiting for us to catch up to him before following along behind us. The remainder of our group simply stayed silent as we took charge. It was good that they were finally accepting their place and that the child listened to his elder.
"Loki. Scout." The Nekros intoned the command but I ignored it, my position remaining constant as I observed many vents through the room wheeze out some green toxins; those gasses fading into the air.
"..." The Nekros turned towards me and simply stared at me. I denied her the satisfaction of a reaction, my posture simply remaining the same as I searched the room for details these mortals would obviously miss.
"Loki. Scout. We need you to ensure our success." Panning my view down from an interesting fire-supressing system I rose my head in a mock scoffing motion. A mortal was telling me what to do... Who do they think they are?
"Why don't you scout then?" The glowing eyes of the Nekros narrowed ever so slightly before the Wukong stepped in, the young Midgardian smirking in happiness.
Nekros's eyes widened once more as she turned, the Wukong morphing into nothingness before his entire form transmuted into a cloud-like substance that whipped backwards and forwards in place for a few moments. That cloud then darted off into the distance, shifting through the air faster than I could move within my invisibility. I couldn't help but find myself indignant at that fact that the Nekros didn't even attempt to placate me.
'Stupid mortals.' I followed after the young Midgardian as the Nekros scanned the entire chamber. The Wukong's form morphed back and forth a few times as he went along, eventually returning to the group, his voice excited, as it always was.
"It is clear of enemies!" I scoffed at his stupidity. Nekros's head turning towards me whilst the Khora glowered at me silently, a far better action for him to take than to annoy me any further.
"Just because the room does not have a physical threat does not mean there is no environmental danger..." The entire team turned towards him in worry.
"What do ya mean Loki?" The young Midgardian had an obnoxiously infectious personality that made me hate him, I was the only one supposed to be charismatic here.
"Did none of you notice the green gasses that have been venting into this room for the last minute; as you searched for 'dangers' for your information." I'd assumed the Nekros would ask, an accurate calculation seeing as how her Warframe grimaced somewhat; as much as a made-up suit could follow emotion.
"Let's escape then!" The Khora mortal whined in a disgusting way. I was close to just ending his time in this game, he was an annoying gnat.
*Booom*
A smaller set of explosions rocked the room, the air whipping into a vile green concoction before settling back into a perfectly clear transparency. The Nekros was looking around worriedly as the Dagath chuckled, her shoulders rolling as her glowing red light billowed onto the reflective metal of the flooring.
"The other team is coming. This'll be where we cage 'em. We just need to plan some ambush angles. Loki? You good for that?" I nodded begrudgingly, her tone rather soothing to me as she sounded similar to mother.
"Great! Now, I'm going to meet 'em head on. Nekros, imma need you to seal as many of the vents as you can whilst you kiddo, go mist mode and attack 'em when they spread out." The Nekros nodded whilst the Wukong child jumped up and down excitedly. Khora simply shifted nervously in his teeny tiny little mortal boots as he watched his betters make the plans.
The Dagath and Nekros worked together for a little, cutting off many of the vents whilst the Midgardian child sat around looking bored. The Khora twat was standing there like a tree, his use equivalent to a garden gnome at this current moment.
"Khora, you got chains?" He nodded.
"Good! Go chain up every entrance to this chamber bar the one we entered through." The gnat took off and did his work whilst I stood there watching them all.
The Dagath mortal was good at tactics. No where near as expert as he was or as suave as he was in his deceptions, but it would do for the inept attack from other mortals. Now I was left to decide how I would get my vengeance on the nitwit whilst ensuring I singularly kill all of the enemies. If I didn't accomplish that than my name would be besmirched across the entire galaxy, until the end of time.
...
The ambush was set, the traps had been laid and now all that stood between the two contesting groups were the few minor creatures in-between them.
The other group, the professionals, so to speak, were fairing much better in the communication department. All of them had sign language for their movements and knew their abilities back to front. With a dynamic team consisting of: Banshee, Ember, Excalibur, Trinity and Nezha, they were capable of some real damage. As it was they had already proven themselves to the crowd after having dealt with two Extremus units and over two hundred infected creatures.
With proper main weapons and side-arms that amount would have meant nothing... But seeing as how the match only had melees and abilities on, it was a feat; for this early in the game.
Now though, they were quickly emerging from a hallway. The five of them were using the enhanced physicality and acrobatics of their Warframes t latch onto walls and propel themselves forwards. Bullet jumps and rolls were a common sight as they sped through puzzles and doorways as if they were merely detritus in their way.
The entire stadium was abuzz, scratch that, the entire galaxy was abuzz with expectations for this next fight. Many of the abilities were receiving exclamations and interest from various species and people. Nekros was especially shocking to many throughout the more prosperous worlds as the very idea of defying death like this was anathema to them; the details of each Warframe appearing on the screens as they were observed. The VIP room was no different either as many of the rich and powerful considered the powers that could come to the world due to this game emerging, a prospect they were slowly coming to dread.
Bruce, Tony, Doom, Odin, Freya, Thor, Damian, Harry, Grindelwald, Peter, Luna Snow, Emma, Kara, Koriand'r, Hel, Susan, Yuna, Artoria and Freya all watched on with various conflicting sentiments and emotions, the only thing common amongst them all being the intrigue that this next period of time would supply.
"Go beat them Brother!!!" Thor's voice signalled the start of the combat, though they could not hear him...
...
(Loki's Perspective)
Five figures rushed into the room and immediately started fanning out. The young Midgardian, Wukong, turned into mist and clung to the pipes above me as the Dagath nodded from a directly opposite hidey-hole.
Nekros was on the lowest level, hunched behind a control panel with her scythe in her hands. Khora, the annoying bastard, had failed in his one job during this time. He had failed to erect his chains around all of the doors and had fled at the sound of the enemy coming, his position now currently stalked from several different angles; he was in the middle of the god's forsaken room, for father's sakes!
The enemy team didn't hesitate to lunge at the vulnerable link of their team, each Warframe hefting varying melee weapons. Fortunately for Khora we'd planned to have at least one member out in the open and our positions were chosen for the most effect.
"Now!" I activated my invisibility whilst throwing out an illusory double, my daggers twirling once more at the prospect of the kill.
Dagath rose into the air as spectral horses in a large line centred upon her formed. All the air in the environment turned ephemeral whilst the spectral horses neighed. Electricity crackled within the floor as the energy collected by the Warframe was expunged outwards towards all five enemies.
At the same time the child dropped from the ceiling in his mist form, appearing behind them with his large quarterstaff spraying orange light off of it ends. Nekros emerged from her cover and sprinted up the first set of ramps, her timing coinciding with my own movements towards the Wukong's current ambush location. We would spring one ambush after another in quick succession whilst the Khora served as bait for our plan; though it was supposed to be the Dagath at first.
"Hahaha, have this fuckers!" The young human split into three different copies and launched a massive swing towards the Warframes.
The horses slammed into each enemy Warframe, their exterior energy shields shattering like glass after an explosion as they were tossed backwards into the swing of the Wukong. Momentum carrying them, they had no way of dodging the blow and they were instantly brought into dangerous territory. One enemy activated a linking ability, their conditions slowly returning to normal... But this was when my attack occurred...
A knife in the back is far more lethal than the blow to one's jaw...
"Now, now, none of that." My daggers bit into the skull of their healer, Trinity, and perforated through the eye sockets of the Warframe. All the while the remainder of their team members recovered from his team's attack. I ducked away into invisibility as Nekros ran through the smoke that Wukong had become, her scythe spinning in an arc... The edge piercing downwards abruptly as the Ember raised her hand and emitted a cone of fire.
This was the first attack to fail on our side of things, the scythe of the Nekros being deflected by the force. Unfortunately for the Ember the Nekros was not entirely lacking abilities as she quickly unleashed a wave of horror-filled fear that hit each of their Warframes.
Screams of terror were unleashed as I snuck up behind the Banshee, my daggers slipping into the Warframe's back as a torrential sonic scream blasted apart the wave of fear, sundering the hearing of any of our team. She died, but not before stunning Nekros long enough for the Excalibur to stab her through the chest with his vibrating katana. Her body slumped to the floor lifelessly as the Excalibur waved his weapon off to the side, as if cleaning the blade of blood. He was trained.
Before I could attack anyone else a discus of bright blue hurled itself towards me, my instincts barely saving me from a decapitation. I summersaulted backwards into invisibility as daggers of deep red light swirled in the air and screeched through the air. The Excalibur attempted deflection of these daggers but failed nine times out of ten. He was all but pinned to the floor by the end of it as Dagath took out two gauntlets and proceeded to punch the life out of the Warframe.
The last Warframe was a tricky one however as he used that finishing moment to harpoon her from behind, his spear piercing through her throat. She slid down the shaft of the spear whilst the smoke coalesced into Wukong, his staff whizzing through air to slam down onto the spear, shattering it. The young boy was a flurry of movement as he swung his staff back and forth, his lack of experience being made up for by his youthful exuberance. Unfortunately for the young child he was far too inexperienced and slipped on Excalibur's dead body, his opponent using that time to pluck his discus from the air and plunge it into his chest.
A few final gasps of sound left Wukong before the body stilled. Then, there was only Khora and I left, Khora already having suffered some damage from the original attack.
"I can see that you are all far more competent than I thought." The enemy Warframe spoke out as it pulled the discus out of the boy's chest.
"Hmmm, no words?" The enemy waved their hands in front of the Khora Warframe, receiving no reaction.
"Oh. He left." I resisted the urge to grind my currently non-existent teeth. That little fucking coward had left the entire fight to me... A smart decision but also cowardly beyond measure.
There was a pause as the Warframe looked around the room.
"Where's the fifth?"
I smirked as I slowly crept up behind him, the man's head directed away from my vector of approach. Carefully I got into position behind him.
"Did he leave...? Maybe? Hey! Is there still an en-"
My right dagger stabbed into the very bottom vertebrae of where a normal human's spine would be as my left plunged into where the heart would be. A deep laughter escaped my lungs as I yanked down on both daggers and dragged them through numerous dangerous locations. No scream resounded, no blood curdled... There was only silence as the entire room turned solid white...
'I won!'
...
Immediately my senses were blown away as the resounding cries of excitement and glory shattered the very calm in the stadium. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of people, were all standing and rejoicing for me. It hit me like father's spear used to when we trained with each other.
"There we have it folks!!! The audience has won!!!" Shouts of joy and exclamations of enjoyment were prolific. He'd finally shown his greatness... And people were welcoming it with wonderous applause!
'I-i've managed it... People see me!' I waved to my new fans, my actions met with the loudening of shouts and the screams of numerous women.
'YES! THIS IS IT! Warframe! I can be known for it, and people will know me for it!'
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