Honor

As Karl ran, he contemplated. He was good at that. Most of the time, he preferred to be slow, to be deliberate in his actions. Once he had read a book that had spelled his philosophy out very well in small anecdotes that really hadn't seemed to make much sense when taken together. But when taken separately, there was much wisdom for any who followed a warrior's path. The name of the book had meant 'Hidden Leaves' in an ancient language. In it, the code of a group of warriors from an Old Earth region called Japan called samurai had been reflected upon.

Now, he was no samurai. He knew this. But the code that they had followed was very similar in many respects to the code he followed. Justice, Bravery, Benevolence, Politeness, Veracity, Loyalty and Honor. These core precepts were no different for him than they had been for the warriors of ancient Japan. Historically, not all samurai had been paragons of virtue and he was hardly that himself, but to strive to be something more than oneself? That he could understand and admire. He tried very hard to adhere to the code even when many of his kin did not. It did not matter what others did. To him, the only thing that mattered was what he did.

He slowed his run as he neared the area where his target had been last seen. Grineer Lieutenant Lech Kril was a piece of work. A war hero well known for his devastating attacks, the Grineer leader was a threat to every Tenno colony out there. The Lieutenant made little distinction between armed combatants and unarmed civilians. To him apparently, every non-Grineer was a combatant even if they were a newborn. That was beside the Grineer's extermination campaign against the Tenno. The Lotus had ordered the Grineer leader be stopped. So he would be stopped. Was it possible to stop a clone from being cloned again? Karl didn't know, but he did know this clone's days were numbered.

Karl slowed even further as a set of shadows detached from a wall nearby and became other Tenno. No one commented as he came up. He was the slowest of the group, but no one really cared. When facing someone like Kril, the sheer amount of armor a Rhino warframe carried was a deciding factor. He nodded to the others, an Ember, a Loki and a Mag. They nodded back silently as he took his place and checked his rifle. He loved this ancient relic that he had found and meticulously pieced back into working order. In form it was very similar to the Latron rifles that many of the Tenno used. In practice? It was demonstrateably far superior. The artisans of the Tenno had tried to reproduce it, but had failed. The technology needed for such a piece were lost with the Orokin age. Perhaps some bits and pieces survived in hidden places in the void, but for now, his Latron Prime was the only one. He didn't mind. It hit hard and accurately. He loved it.

He checked his other weapons in passing. The throwing blades he carried as a backup weapon were fast and quiet. Then the sword. Many who wore Rhino warframes preferred an axe or hammer for the sheer destructive ability. He had always preferred the sword. Oh, he could use an axe or hammer with equal ease, but there was something about the Gram that called to him, that bid him to wield it in battle. With the proper modifications, it became a whirling death machine. He nodded to his kin who were also checking their weapons. The Loki who was their designated scout for this mission had moved to the edge of a cliff nearby, still in cover and now held up a hand.

'Target in sight.' The gestures read. But then. 'Unknown situation.' All four Tenno tensed and moved slowly to see what had the Loki stiffening in place.

Karl peered carefully out of cover, seeing a mass of Grineer standing around on a platform. They seemed to be in some kind of formation. Not that Karl could fathom their intricate combat maneuvers. For him, 'Combat Formation Bravo' was 'Move around like madmen and get slaughtered piecemeal'. But this was obviously a group and all were looking at... He paused. Lech Kril was easy to pick out, the distinctive set of armor was standing in front of the others. But another form in Grineer armor knelt at his feet. A female Grineer, one of their Ballista if he was not mistaken. There was something...off about her, but Karl wasn't sure what it was. His eyes widened as the Lieutenant's hammer came up and then down. The female Grineer flew away from Kril, her broken form landing in a heap on the far side of the platform.

"I know you are there, Tenno." Kril called from his spot. The squad with him immediately spun and started to take up firing positions. "I am Lieutenant Lech Kril, my hammer awaits your skull."

Karl looked at the others and they all nodded. They had been briefed on this Grineer and his arsenal. His hammer was his main weapon. Even Karl would have difficulty staving off attacks from the monstrosity that the Grineer was flourishing now. But that was his job, to hold the enemy's attention. He ran ponderously to the edge of the precipice and threw himself off. He flew through the air, not as gracefully as some of his kin might have managed, but when he landed in the midst of the squad of Grineer, no one cared. Part of that was the fact that he landed sword first and the resulting explosion of energy when elementally charged blade met gravitically charged floor... Well... That squad of Grineer wasn't going to be bothering him -or anyone- ever again. He spun to face Kril who was lookign at him.

"Well, well, well..." The Grineer said softly for one of his kind. "An honorable Tenno. Not skulking for once. You dare face me in open combat, Tenno?"

In answer, Karl raised his blade into a ready position. Normal people would have difficulty holding a two handed sword with the hilt at their shoulder and the blade horizontal to the ground pointed at the enemy. Karl was NOT an ordinary person. He was not ordinary even for Tenno.

"Noble." The Grineer said, musing. "Stupid, but noble." He raised his hand and a wave of white spun from it, slamming into Karl who was frozen in place. The ice held the Tenno fast as the Grinner soldier approached, hammer high. "Pity, I was hoping for a fight."

Karl struggled and felt the ice weaken, but the hammer was coming around... Then Kril gave a cry as a blur hit him from behind and slammed two small things into the backpack he wore. The Loki warframe withdrew his Fang daggers and darted away avoiding the ponderous sweep that the enraged Grineer did to swat the annoyance that had stung him. Karl watched as the giant Grineer's backpack started to spark and smoke. Whatever the Loki had hit was important.

"I will kill you all!" Kril declared as he turned back to Karl. The Rhino braced himself and sure enough, a wave of ice slammed past him, but the Tenno had been prepared this time and the ice did not freeze him further.

As Karl flexed his muscles, the ice surrounding him cracked and gave way, but... His warframe was still white. Or.. covered in something. Kril snarled something vile and charged. Karl met him halfway.

There was no subtlety in this fight. There were precious few tricks. Kril tried a few, throwing out waves of fire that Karl ignored while his Iron Skin was active and avoided with ponderous grace when the iron sloughed off. The Grineer tried slamming the ground with his hammer and knocking Karl away, but the Rhino sprang back to his feet and reskinned himself, ignoring the red stress warning his warframe was showing on his HUD and charged back in.

Titan fought titan, two gods of war locked in an epic struggle. Kril was fast and heavily armored. His hammer strikes had immense power but were ponderous and Karl avoided most. Karl's sword was much faster, but he found he had difficulty hurting Kril. Even with mods, his sword turned on armor half the time. Maybe he should have brought a hammer. Kril connected with something and the Tenno found himself flat on his back. He spun to his feet, but Kril was swinging impotently at a hologram that stood there, firing an illusionary Lato at him. Karl smirked a little as he caught his breath. He loved working with Lokis.

Karl took a step forward, his sword up vertical as the Tenno took a deep breath and then expelled it as he sliced down and at an angle. His grunt warned Kril, who spun, but that put the knee of the giant Grineer more directly in line with the edge of Karl's Gram. As Karl connected and felt his sword go home into flesh, he saw fire blossom around the huge form. The Ember had joined the party. She and the Mag had been tasked to handle Grineer reinforcements. Kril screamed in agony as his leg buckled under the flames and sword stroke. His armor, like a warframe, would heal even that massive wound in time, but Karl gave him no chance to recover.

Kril raised his hammer to try and ward off the dancing two handed sword, but again and again it licked past, chopping bits of armor and bits of Grineer. Finally, Karl managed a solid strike to the vitals and Kril fell to his knees with a grunt. His hammer fall from nerveless fingers and the Grineer stared up at Karl, his face still hidden by his visor, but his posture dumbstruck.

"Well... fought... Tenno..." The Grineer said softly, holding his guts in with both hands. "You... bested me with honor. Let... me keep... my honor?" He asked. Karl nodded and the Grineer bowed his head, exposing a weak spot. Karl's sword fell like a thunderbolt and the Grineer giant slumped without a sound, his head rolling away.

Karl stepped away from the corpse, shaking his Gram to clean the mess off it as the Loki ran up, scanning the fallen giant's armor to seek any useable technology. Often, Grineer leaders had blueprints and other neat techie toys hidden about their person. Karl had no idea why. He took stock. His armor was a mess, he was bleeding internally in two places, but his warframe was already healing the damage. A red lit section of text screamed to seek repairs and he sighed as he computed the cost this time. A touch on his arm had him pausing. He looked up into the faceplate of the Mag. His sister's posture was worried, but eased when he nodded and made a hand gesture for 'Nominal. She replied with one for 'Tough'. She waved to the body and he shook his head, he wanted nothing to do with looting an honorable enemy.

The Mag shrugged and went over to where the Ember had joined the Loki, all three scanning the armor, finding things and pulling them off. He didn't...blame them. Not really. This was a war, and there were precious few rules in war. But it felt...wrong. He recited the code under his breath as he walked to he side, but paused as a sound intruded on his contemplation of his honor. His sword was in hand as he looked for the source. Again, he heard it. A groan. The other three Tenno were busy so he walked to the side and found the female Grineer that the lieutenant had slammed before the fight with the Tenno had begun. Something was off about her though and he couldn't figure out what. Then he realized. She didn't have cybernetics in place of her legs like all the other Grineer he had ever seen! His eyes went wide under his Thrak Helmet as he stared at the two human looking legs encased in Grineer armor.

What the...? Karl shook his head and did a fast scan of the female Grineer. She was badly injured, but her armor had saved her life and was healing her to the best of it's ability. Which wasn't saying much. Grineer went for quantity over quality most of the time and it showed. She had a concussion among other injuries and she was semiconscious.

A soft noise pulled his attention to where the others had finished their scans. He shook his head and pointed at the female Grineer. The Loki paused and drew his daggers, stepping forward. Both females looked to be readying their powers, but everything paused as Karl raised a hand and did something he very, very rarely did.

Lotus. He asked the voice inside his head. We have found an abnormal Grineer female. She was injured by our target for some unknown reason. She has legs instead of prosthesis. Kill her?

No. The response was immediate unequivocal. Bring her.

Karl nodded and held a hand over the fallen female Grineer. She woke and screamed in agony as the energy washed over her, but then it tapered away into nothing as he stored her data in his warframe's buffer. The others were obviously staring at him and Karl shrugged as he started off. They would reach the exit long before him, but would clear the way a bit as well as sowing confusion. They didn't mind him being slow. Not when it kept them alive.