Epilogue

(Mars)

"What do I call you?"

Iriana's voice all but broke as she entered the room, trying without success to stem her tears. Lady Shadow understood. Did she ever. Right now? She so envied humans. She wished she would weep.

"You may call me whatever you wish, Healer Iriana." The Sentient form hovering in the middle of the room was not by any stretch of imagination, a normal one. Instead fo the usual bright glowing colors of energy, this form was wreathed in red and black. "Most of what I would call me if our positions were reversed would be quite rude." Iriana managed a smile at that, but the other was not done. "I have to-"

She broke off as Iriana raised a hand.

"Do not apologize again for saving her life." Iriana said firmly, even as tears continued to fall. "What your Acolyte did saved her."

"And damned her in the eyes of all of her fellows." The being once known as Falcon said sadly. "I never wanted this. I never wanted this, Iriana!" Iriana nodded. "I just wanted to make my mother proud of me and now? She won't be. Not at all."

"Of this? No." Iriana allowed. "But the rest? You took a horrible thing and made it good. Or..." She qualified a bit. "As good as you can. I know what you have to do." At that, the Sentient stilled in mid-air, but Iriana waved. "And no. I agree. There are far too many with far too much power. Our clan and others do what they can, but far too many Tenno see power as the be all and end all. That their power gives them the right to do as they wish. They mouth the Code, ape the law and then do as they wish. I have seen what happens when arrogant Tenno go to far, seen the consequences first hand." She broke off as the Sentient made a sad noise. "I will call you 'Shadow'. You are nothing like him."

"In his own way, he did love you." The Sentient said sadly. "When I broke him loose from Hunhow, his only demand was that I try to help you. That I try to protect you and Mishka if the Tenno could not. I swore I would and now? I have failed, broken that oath."

"She is alive." Iriana said softly as they turned to a wall that fuzzed before turning into a viewscreen. On the screen, Mishka sat in a room filled with musical instruments. She laid a Shawzin aside to pick up a flute and start to finger notes as she sang softly. Her skin was a pale shade of gold and her eyes were the same red and orange energy as they had been since she had woken here in Brianna's care. They could not hear the music she was making, but both knew it would be beautiful. The Orokin had never had a use for ugly things and the device that had been sued to save Mishka had turned her into a devoted servant of an Orokin. "I wonder if he knew."

"I doubt he would have cared." Shadow said softly, but rage sang underneath it. "If anyone can undo it, you and Brianna can find a way. I will stay away."

"You can't." Iriana said flatly enough that the Sentient spun to stare at her. "If you do, she will pine away as she was when you tried to get her to come here and she refused."

That had not been fun. Mishka had flatly refused care when Shadow had returned to her side. A shouting match had erupted and when Shadow had stayed away for two days, Mishka had not left her room or even moved, let alone eat or drank anything! It had taken a direct order to get Mishka to come see the two pre-emiment mind healers in the solar system and even now after several sessions, she was no better. What was worse? She had started making music for the group. The Acolytes all adored her. Then again, she was their previous master's daughter and he had been quite fervent at times to get her to work with him, so it was possible that he had planned this, planned to turn Mishka into a parody of herself. Shadow knew how dark and twisted the road could get, but the man she had freed and then exiled from this reality wouldn't have done such a thing. Hunhow might have. Speaking of…

"No trace of Sentient brainwashing?" Shadow asked carefully. Iriana shook her head. "Crud. If so, Tanah and Mother could undo it. It would take time and care, but she could. The Orokin though… They had it down for their servants, didn't they?"

"Their human servants, yes." Iriana agreed. "Brianna and others have said that this resembles many ancient records. I don't know if it can be undone. Some of what the Orokin did persisted until the death of the servant or after in some horrific cases." Shadow heaved an all too human sigh and Iriana turned to look at her. "You are acting far more human than many Tenno I know. Is that why your Mother did not take you in?"

"She would have. I have become far less Sentient than I was, far more human. I worry her, but I have to do this." Shadow was very quiet now. "I am needed here. We debated. Her, me, Tanah, others... We talked long and hard about what has to be done and why. I did not understand the repercussions when I found that not-quite-a-warframe and broke it loose from Hunhow. I just wanted to see if I could do it. Then he started screaming and I had to take him to Mother. I..." Shadow seemed to slump in mid-air. "I had no idea." She finished little lamely.

"Part of me wishes you had killed him." Iriana said in a monotone. "Part of me is glad you did not."

"He was a mess, his mind splintered and torn by what Hunhow did, by his oaths and by what he did in service to those oaths." Shadow made a soft noise. "He could not stay here."

"Just as well." Iriana chuckled, but there was little mirth in it as the mismatched pair watched Mishka lay down her flute and start writing out music on a holographic pad. "He would never have stopped. You? If you can, you will."

"Expediency is a slippery slope, Healer." Shadow warned but her heart wasn't in it. "And the Caretakers?"

"Mad." Iriana winced. "Putting it very mildly. Everyone loves Mishka. Rebekah." She corrected herself grimly.

"Her name is Mishka." Shadow corrected the Healer just as grimly and the Healer spun to stare at the Sentient. "And while I have no use for Tenno blood oaths, I do swear to you that if I can find a way to free her from this, I will. If I can find a way to help her, I will. I hated the Orokin before but now? I hate them even more."

"Shadow..." Iriana warned, not moving. It was not a good idea to say such in an Orokin tower, even a friendly Orokin's tower.

"My hatred is ancient and not all mine. Don't ask." She warned as Iriana opened her mouth only to shut it with a click. "Brianna Executor and Eliza's people barely qualify as such. They all have working consciences or at least a shred of empathy. That is more than any of Ballas' peers could claim." Shadow said slowly. "I have my own quarrels with Eliza, but they have nothing to do with the Orokin. Or, barely anything to do with them." She qualified. She made a soft noise of worry as Iriana looked curious. "You do not want to know."

"All I want to know is this: Is Cathi Gata coming back?" Iriana asked.

"Not in the foreseeable future." Shadow said sadly. "I wanted her to come instead of me, but she said it was my mess, I had to clean it up. She could stay until I was healed, but after? She had to go. She has lots of mess to clean up herself."

"'Rule 2' type messes?" Iriana asked and Shadow made a noise of affirmation. "I see. No, don't explain! I sleep better not knowing."

'Rule 2' was a warden thing about leaving their family members alone. Anyone sane stayed far away from that rule. It got loud.

"For what it is worth, you are still Mishka's mother and anyone who dares offer either of you any insult will answer to me." Shadow said firmly and Iriana jerked. "I am held to a higher standard now, but I do know dishonor when I see it and the way people have treated you and your daughter for who Mishka's father was is abominable."

"Shadow..." Iriana protested.

"No." Shadow snapped harshly enough that Iriana jerked back. "You are not to blame. You have never been to blame! Either of you!" She calmed a bit. "Your clan will protect you and I will protect Mishka until or unless we can undo what was done. Even if we cannot undo it, you are still her mother."

"I..." Iriana stammered, undone by the sheer compassion in the Sentient's rock hard voice.

"You are kindness and gentleness personified." Shadow had calmed bit. "You do not have to be, you choose to be. Anyone, anyone who offers you the slightest disrespect in the future is going to regret it."

"Well said."

Both of the mismatched beings spun as the door behind them opened and Nikis walked in, followed by Marco and Luigi! All three male Tenno seemed relaxed. Neither of the female beings were as Nikis eyed them.

"What now?" Iriana demanded of the Nekros. Marco's Gauss warframe stood as if horrified, but was Luigi amused? Both other warframes stood by the door as Nikis stepped closer. Shadow moved closer to Iriana, who stood up tall.

"Fixing something." Nikis said quietly as he stopped just out of Iriana's reach. "Sorry it took so long, Iriana. There are protocols in place, but we haven't had to use them for a long, long time."

"Nikis, now is not a good time." Iriana nodded to the wall screen.

"Never is a good time for such things." Nikis hawked and spat. "Lousy Orokin mind controlling scum." He looked at Shadow. "You step out of line and I will spank you."

"Would you enjoy it?"

Who had…? Everyone stared at Shadow as she quailed. She had spoken! And so insolent! To Nikis! Both of the other warframes stood as if frozen in ice.

Iriana sighed and moved a hair closer to the Sentient, glaring at Nikis who started to chuckle.

"He would." Iriana snapped as Nikis' chuckled started to turn to laughs. "Nikis, please! Stop scaring people for twenty seconds. Twenty seconds! Is that too much to ask?"

"Yeah." Nikis replied. "Gotta keep the rep up or lots of people start getting ideas." Iriana folded her arms and her glare turned pointed. Nikis held up warding hands. "Hey, no need to trot out the big guns, cousin."

"'Cousin'?" Shadow asked when Iriana was clearly not going to speak.

"Yeah." Nikis looked at the floor. "The Collapse was a mess and no mistake. For many years, centuries, people were too busy surviving to keep accurate records. Lots of stuff got lost in the shuffle, but this… This way overdue, Iriana." He held out something to her. A scrap of paper? No, plastic so flimsy it looked like paper. "You were found as an infant in a Tenno life pod. There were six Tenno children who survived in pods when their families' ship suffered a catastrophic failure of life support. It was investigated and turned out to be an accident. Micro-meteor tore through the wrong piece of tech. They took you to the hospital and started adoption proceedings..." He broke of as Iriana gasped.

"There was a fire." Iriana spoke very softly, not moving. "I looked."

"Yeah." Nikis sighed. "Another accident. Lab tech dropped the wrong chemical. It mixed with the wrong antagonist and 'Boom', instant conflagration."

"The whole facility… A hundred and three people died." Iriana was barely audible, still not moving. "I... I was one of three survivors from the hospital. I was adopted and moved to Mavri's colony. All I really knew was my first name because it was stitched to my patient gown."

"Your birth name was Iriana Adriane Pangolin. Your parents names were Cassandra and Alexios Pangolin. This is hard copy of your birth certificate." Nikis had a smile in his voice now. "That makes you family. I know it came as a shock when you learned and how, but there are people even today with grudges against our family. Humans, Tenno, other. We made lots of enemies and not all of them died in the Collapse." He shook his head as Iriana did not react. "None of them will touch you."

"No, they won't." Shadow promised and Nikis looked at her. "My family stands with yours on that even if we agree on nothing else."

"Good." Nikis extended the paper to Iriana who took in in very careful hands. "These got something to say to ya. I got places to go. People to shoot. Be well, cousin."

Just like that, he was gone!

Iriana did not move, did not look away from the scrap of plastic she held in her hand. Shadow eased closer to the frozen healer. "Iriana?" She asked carefully.

"All this time..." Iriana said weakly. "I looked. For so long, I looked and there was nothing. All the records were lost! Hard copy, data backups, all fried by the fire. No one knew who I was. Where I came from." She started to cry and Shadow sighed. Then both warframes tensed as Shadow's form morphed into a human looking woman with red metal skin. The Sentient did not waste words, she just pulled Iriana close and let her cry. "How could even Nikis…?"

"He had help." Shadow said sadly as she held the crying healer.

"Oracle could not have seen that!" Iriana protested through her tears. "Her visions cloud when she is too close to people and I know she cares for me." She stilled as Shadow gave her a squeeze and retreated. "Shadow?" She asked, dashing her tears away with the sleeve of her bio-garment.

"I have accessed a lot of records. Stalker wanted to know who you were." Shadow was still sad. Iriana's mouth fell open and Shadow raised a hand. "He didn't know when he met you! He didn't have any idea until her started looking. He wanted to pull you in. To make you and whatever child you bore part of his quest, but then… he realized that to do so would destroy that which he loved. He didn't know it all, just that you had been orphaned and lost. Taken in and raised into a good, kind woman. A true Healer. He thought someone had done it, someone had attacked you or your family, so he started prying. You know how deep he could pry. But no." She shook her head. "Accidents. Not even 'deniable 'ones. Real, honest to horror accidents."

"I..." Iriana started to sob again and Shadow pulled her close again. "You…?"

"No." Shadow sighed. "My predecessor sent the data to the Pangolin via a series of cut-outs. It took some time for it to get to them and for them to verify it. But you have a family. If you can accept them after so long. And even if you cannot? You are part of our Family." She looked at the pair of warframes who nodded to her. "We do not forsake our own." The Gauss and Grendel nodded again. "If you have need, call and we will come with fire and great fury."

"Shadow..." Iriana begged as Shadow released her and backed up a step.

"I say this now not as an avenger of wrongs, but as a daughter who has seen war and death far too much." Shadow said quietly as she morphed back into her alien form. "Any who attack you or yours ever again will answer to me."

"To us." Luigi said quietly and Shadow turned to scrutinize him. "Donna sends her regards and yes, she accepts this duty as well."

"Wait, what? Duty?" Iriana said weakly as Shadow and Luigi eyed one another. "What is going on?" The warframes looked at Shadow and shrugged. Iriana spun to glare at Shadow. "What is going on?"

"You may have preferred being anonymous." Shadow said after a moment's thought. "But that is the past. We cannot change that, no matter how much we might wish to. Consigliere Luigi and Associate Marco will be here to assist you." Both nodded. "As I say, you have to but to ask and we shall do what we can, Dear Iriana. We wish no conflict with the Pangolin family."

"What is going on?" Iriana all but screamed that.

"Your life will change, Healer." Shadow hovered back away from her a bit as Iriana glared at her. "But hopefully for the better. No one will touch Mishka again. No one will touch you again. Your clan will protect you, but so will our Families." She put an odd emphasis on that last word and Iriana stared at her. Why did that word bother the Healer so much?

"What are you saying?" Iriana was all but crying again and everything stopped as the door opened and Mary hustled in, her face radiant and worried in equal measure. She stopped short, but Shadow spoke up.

"I want no conflict between our Families, Mary." Shadow said as a pair of Tenno she did not know stopped at the door. A male, a female, both clearly older and wary. Shadow sighed. "I better go. You all need to talk. But we will be watching."

"Wait!" Marty said sternly and Shadow paused. "We bear word! Change?" The girl asked. Shadow morphed back to her human seeming and waited as Mary looked at the door. Both unknown Tenno nodded and Mary took a step to the Sentient before hugging her. Mary whispered into Shadow's ear. "I quote: 'We hear and we accept. You are Family. Not ours, but Family. We can do business.'"

"Oh, Mary." Shadow relaxed and gently hugged the girl back and then sighed deeply. "I have to go. I have lots of work to do."

"I know. We know." Mary's eyes were far older than her years. And… Were they pulsing with green energy? No. A trick of the light. "We will be watching too." Shadow inclined her head to Mary and then to the two unknown who nodded back. Then she was gone.

"What just happened?" Iriana demanded as Mary moved to embrace her.

"You rejoined our Family, Iriana." The male Tenno said with a smile. "My name is Ricco Pangolin and this is Ami." The woman smiled as Mary hugged Iriana tight. "I run things but the Donna here is in charge. It took far too long, but we found you. You are orphan no longer." Why were such kind words so troubling?

"But… I..." Iriana sighed. "What will your family think of me and my history with Stalker?" She paused as everyone chorused.

"What Stalker?"