WARNING

This Fic is NOT an accurate portrayal of the game Warframe. In fact, I'm pretty sure I demolished it's whole lore. Whoops! xD I don't claim any copyright or anything on Warframe (even though I play it :D). This Fic is for personal enjoyment only. Enjoy.

snap - this means a sound

well - this is thinking

"Shut-up!" - this is whispering

/ /- stuff in between these is the amount of time that has passed or reversed

Have fun! :D

File XC8-M has been downloaded. Would you like to open it?

Yes.

Opening file XC8-M... displaying.

FILE XC8-M
Encryption: BLACK
From: Director
To: Agent 1
Subject: Mirage

Greetings Agent 1. I am contacting you with high hopes. A recent development has allowed us to acquire a... MIA Warframe. It's Mirage. She is on her way to you as I write this. Find her a worthy Operator.

The Director

This file will self-terminate in 5 seconds...4...3...2...1... deleting file... file destroyed.

Close MAIL.

Closing MAIL... MAIL closed. Reverting to normal vision.

Agent 1 sat up and swung his legs over the side of his cot. He folded his hands and rested his chin on them.

"Mirage then?" he said out loud, to no one in particular. "Well, no point in waiting here. I'll hit the shower then go to the Shipyards and wait."

He stood up and pressed a button on his right wrist. His Warframe disintegrated around him, leaving only a band of titanium around his wrist. He walked over to his shower and pulled open the curtain, revealing a small shower head and a tub in which to catch water. He stepped in and turned on the water, sighing as he enjoyed the feel of the hot water cascading down his body. He leaned against the wall.

"Mirage..."

/About an hour before/

What the hell is taking Colin so long? Crystal wondered as she checked the street for the hundreth time. She tapped her earwire.

"Colin, come in." Fshttttttttt. Nothing but static. She sighed and readjusted her rifle. Maybe he got picked up by a squad of Roamers? If so, good riddance. She smiled to herself and shook her head. No matter how much she hated the guy, he was her teammate and and a medic so she kinda needed to protect him. Still, what would a missing arm do... snap. Crystal tensed. What was that?

She slowly lifted her head to the windowsill and peeked over. Nothing. Then a hand touched her shoulder. She reacted on instinct, letting go of her rifle with her left hand and grabbing the hand on her shoulder, while pulling her knife from its sheath on her left shoulder and swinging it around and stabbing down into the hand. A scream and it pulled away. She whipped around and raised her rifle, automatically aiming for the head and... stopping. She was looking into the much agitated and in pain face of, and would you know it, Colin. She sighed and lowered her rifle. If only I had cut the hand off instead of just stabbing it.

"DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL CRYSTAL?!" Colin yelled, clutching his right hand. Crystal jumped on him and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shut-up ya big baby! Do you want all the Infected in 20 miles to hear you?!" She said as she took her hands off.

"Honestly, I would be enjoying this if it wasn't for the fact that my hand was stabbed BY YOU!"

"What? You've never had a woman straddle you before? Gosh, and here I was thinking you weren't a virgin!"

"I'm not, asshole. Now get off me, or do you want all the Infected in 20 miles to hear you?"

She rolled off of him. "Dick."

"Indeed. Want a taste?"

"Pervert."

"True too. Taste?"

Crystal just rolled her eyes as she grabbed her rifle, slung it over her shoulder, and sat down. Colin reached into the backpack he was carrying and took out a roll of bandages, wrapping his hand with the stuff until it looked like a marshmallow.

"So where have you been the past hour?" Crystal asked when Colin's hand was sufficiently wrapped. Colin stopped wrapping and looked up at her.

"Would you kill me if I said getting laid?"

"Yes."

"OK, I was talking with Colonel Schwartz over at High Command."

Crystal raised one of her eyebrows. "What did he have to say?"

"He said that a squad of TOs were coming our way, and to give them respect."

This time, both of Crystal's eyebrows went up. "TOs? Are you sure?"

Colin nodded. "That's what he said."

Crystal bit her lip and looked down. This might be my chance!

"Oh yeah, he also said that you aren't allowed to ask for a spot."

"WHAT?!" Crystal yelped, before clamping a hand over her mouth. Colin chuckled and used his knife to cut the bandages off of the roll, placing the rest back in his backpack.

"I mean, WHAT?! Why did he say that?"

"I don't know," Colin said, innocently toying with his knife. "Maybe it's because, the last time you asked, the Colonel got demoted."

"That wasn't my fault!" Crystal said, jumping up. "He got himself demoted because of that... fling with the Secretary!"

"Hey, don't get mad at me!" Colin said, putting his hands up defensively. "I'm just passing along the message."

Crystal began to pace. Colin watched her with mild amusement, waiting for her to start. After a bit, she did.

"He knows I'm good enough. He's seen me." She said, still pacing. Colin nodded.

"He does."

"He also knows it's been my dream since... forever!"

"He does."

"He also knows that my mother, brother, and sister all agree with me joining."

"He does."

"So why the hell doesn't he let me go?!" Crystal yelled, turning to face Colin.

"I have no idea."

Crystal sighed and sat down again. "You never have any ideas."

"Of course I do!"

"OK, tell me one."

"Well there was that time with Sheryll and the toothpaste, that time I placed the beehive inside the change room, when we went to Chillerz and got la-"

Crystal cut him off. "I'm talking about ideas that don't involve pranks or getting laid, asshole."

"Oh, well," Colin said, laughing. "I really don't have any then!"

Crystal sighed and rolled her eyes, again. She really hated this guy. Just then there was a scratching sound from outside the door to the room they were in. They both tensed and grabbed their rifles. Colin got on one knee and aimed at the door as Crystal slowly approached it and reached for the handle. She needn't have, however, as the door burst of its hinges, slamming her across the room. Colin started firing as a charger ran through the now empty doorway, nearly reaching his prone form before dropping from his relentless torrent of bullets.

Crystal quickly leapt to her feet and grabbed her knife. Her rifle was lying smashed beneath the door. She quickly switched to a rear-grip as another charger came flying through the doorway towards her. She waited until the last possible second and spun to her left, avoiding the charger's path while putting her in a position to stab into its brain. And this she did, dispatching it with efficiency rivaling a Tenno. She glanced up at Colin, who was struggling with an Infested and tossed her knife in the air, grabbed it by its blade, and threw it into the Infested's head, killing it and saving Colin from a messy death. He nodded at her and turned to face the other Infected that were sure to pour through the door. When none came, the two humans glanced at each other. Colin picked up his handgun and motioned for Crystal to check the hallway outside the doorway. She inched over to it and, saying a silent prayer, stepped out into it.

What she saw amazed her. There were tons and tons of Infected in the hallway, however none of them were alive. All of them were dead and lying strewn about, some with arms or legs lopped off, others with holes in their heads. It looked like a hurricane had gone through the hallway and cut, smashed, and shot everything in its path. Crystal slowly stepped through the remains. It was a gory scene, blood and guts splattered on the walls and floor, ruining whatever this old hotel had for wallpaper and carpets.

"Crystal!" Colin stage-whispered from inside the doorway. "What's happening?"

"It's all right Colin," she said back, still moving towards the end of the hall. "Everything is dead."

"What do you mean everything is dea—oh." Colin stopped just outside the door. He made a face and turned away. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Crystal sighed. He was such a wuss. She turned around to look at him. "You never did have much of a stomach, did you?"

"Ever since that time you stuffed that frog down Joseph's throat after he ate a slice of ice-cream cake, I haven't!"

Crystal smiled at that memory. Her lieutenant Joseph Schwartz (No relation to the high and mighty Colonel Schwartz) had, in the fog of alcohol, told her to do something stupid. So, she did that. It was very messy.

"Alright, I admit, I may have gone overboard with that, since he did throw up the frog and it went hopping all over the bar, throwing bits of half-melted cake and other tasty stuff all over everybody. And then Scarlet-"

"ENOUGH!" Colin yelled at her, turning back into the room he had come out of and throwing up himself. Crystal just smiled and shook her head. She turned back to the end of the hall and froze. There, casually standing amidst the bodies of the Infected, wiping his sword with a cloth and humming to himself, was Dax, Crystal's brother-turned-Warframe.