There was gunfire. Volt had just landed on the ground and there was already gunfire. That was unusual, since this was a minor Grineer ship, and Volt was only there to destroy some mining equipment. There shouldn’t have been shooting, and since this was a Grineer ship orbiting the Grineer-controled planet of Mars, there shouldn’t have been any shooting or gunfire of any sort.
Peering round the very first corner, Volt realised he wasn’t alone. Grineer were running off towards his objective. There were two mining vehicles that needed to be demolished, and strangely, one of them had already been destroyed, according to Ordis’s sensors.
Clearly, there was another Tenno here.
Volt pushed onwards, knocking any Grineer out of the way. Some of the Grineer tried to shoot back, but Volt’s shields deflected most of their bullets. He dodged and weaved his way to where the first set of mining equipment was. Some sort of large vehicle, improvised with drilling equipment strapped to the top. The problem wasn’t so much that it had drills attached to it, the problem was that it was obviously a tank and a soldier carrier, capable of carrying a whole regiment of Grineer. Volt had seen it before, how a Grineer militia would charge into a mining colony, destroy everything and take it all for themselves.
More gunfire erupted down a long corridor. That was where the other set of mining equipment was. Volt picked up his pace, shooting down a Heavy Gunner as he did so. Even among these newly hatched clones, Heavy Gunners were still somewhat dangerous.
Leaping over a railing and heading down a second corridor, Volt found the source of the gunfire. A lone Excalibur was trying to take on several Heavy Gunners and a Nox, and was pinned in a corner. Wanting to look cool, Volt skidded down the hallway, deployed an electric shield and pulled the Excalibur around a corner, giving them both some breathing space.
“You alright?”
The Excalibur nodded. Strangely, the Excalibur’s colour scheme was the opposite of Volt’s. Yellow on blue rather than blue on yellow. His colours were more muted though. It was obvious that this Excalibur had only recently woken up.
“You sure?” Volt peered around the corner. Not wanting to look too cool, he drew his Sonicor and fired it down the hallway, causing the Heavy Gunners to scatter and the Nox to explode in a puff of toxic gases. “You don’t look alright…”
There was a large wound on the Excalibur’s side.
“I have some health pads…” Volt tried to be perky. The Excalibur would probably be fine, but it was better for him to get patched up here rather than getting downed on their way to extraction. A single large health pad was enough to stop the bleeding and get the Excalibur back on his feet.
Volt patted the Excalibur on the shoulder. Having once been in the same place as the Excalibur, confused and utterly lost, Volt always wanted to make sure that other Tenno didn’t end up like he did. “There we go. We’ll just destroy that last set of-”
“I know you.” The Excalibur suddenly interrupted.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Volt tipped his head to one side. “How so?”
The Excalibur looked around, checking whether they could go or not. “I woke up briefly. Then went to sleep again. You accidentally woke me up.”
Volt wasn’t sure what to say. “Well, uh… Stay here a moment. Let the health pad soak in. I’ll be back in a bit.” He placed down some electric shields to give the Excalibur some cover, then raced off.
The other set of mining equipment wasn’t too far away. Just around a few more corners, past the railway lines. There must have been about thirty Grineer guarding the room, since they all knew where the Tenno were going. Volt decided to clear the room of Grineer before breaking their toys, and a quick Discharge would do the job nice and fast.
Except for the fact that the equipment was already on fire and starting to burn. Volt fired a Sonicor shot to finish it off and turned to the Excalibur behind him.
“I thought I suggested that you heal up?”
“I was lonely. I’m not now.”
Volt sighed, then held out his hand. “I call myself Volt, but my name’s Retvik.”
The Excalibur stared at Volt, then took his hand, clasping it firmly. “I still call myself Excal, even though I know I have a name too. I am called Phovos. Thank you for waking me up and saving me. I owe you.”
“Ah, no, you don’t owe me anything!” Volt beamed. “If you stick with me, chances are you’ll end up saving my life one day anyway! You want to come to my clan’s dojo? I can hook you up with some good mods or something.”
“That would be lovely…” Excal smiled as the two Tenno headed to extraction.