The space between Lua and the Earth was quiet—an open corridor of cosmic silence divided by the distance and time. The Liset flew through it like a ghost, its systems humming softly as Ordis brought the ship to a slow halt. The Operator sat still at navigation, legs folded under them in a loose lotus, gaze fixed on the swelling blue planet ahead.
"We are nearing optimal observation range," Ordis chirped, voice carrying a lightness as he looked upon the blue planet, no longer feeling the eerie nervousness after some time away from the moonbase. "Earth. No Grineer Galleons polluting the sky. No Narmer. Just... the planet as it once was." A soft, wistful pause. "Their ugly ships always ruined the view before."
The Operator chuckled in agreement with his ship Cephalon. "You're right. It's almost... peaceful here."
They drifted closer and halted just outside of geostationary orbit. Earth spun slowly beneath them, its oceans calm, clouds winding in slow spirals over jagged continents. Helios hovered nearby, already humming with anticipation at the many scans it would be able to catalog.
Out of all the times the Tenno had seen earth from its orbit, this would be his favorite simply from the fact that earth looked so…free.
Free of the Grineer and their poisoning of the land, free of the ravages of the Orokin in their unending pursuit of power, free of the Technocytes taint, and free of Narmer, the annoying reminder that he had failed to stop Ballas sooner.
Sure, this Earth probably had troubles of its own given what had sent him here and the discoveries made on the moon, but a Tenno could dream.
"Begin planetary scan," the Operator ordered Ordis after a while. "I want a rough picture of the state of this world."
"Of course Operator! Initiating full-sphere scan. Running deep-surface sweeps, low-frequency communications mapping, and satellite piggybacking. This will take a moment."
The ship's displays lit up, multiple data layers unfolding as Ordis built a composite of Earth's current condition. The globe pulsed with flickering signals—hotspots of strange energy, erratic broadcasts, and concentrated human infrastructure. Dozens of photos began compiling alongside each region of data—cities, remote outposts, scarred wastelands, and pristine stretches of untouched land.
"Parsing results… and done," Ordis said after a pause. "Operator, it is as I thought, this Earth appears to be in the ancient twenty-first century. Current date, February twenty five of the year two thousand and eleven."
Information regarding the calendar of this time popped up briefly, showing it wasn't all that different from what the people of Cetus used.
"Unlike the Earth of the Origin system, this one is densely populated and highly active. Technologically, it is primitive compared to Orokin standards. Yet, there are isolated pockets of advanced technology far beyond what their baseline science should produce."
As Ordis spoke, relevant information was displayed and shuffled on the screen.
"Local breakthroughs or…gifted knowledge?" The Operator asked as Ivara Prime's head twisted and turned, taking in all the information on display. They were trying to find any link between this world and the origin system.
"Hard to be certain but Ordis does not think that is the case." The cephalon replied while skimming through more data. "Their advanced pockets of technology barely match any known Origin System designs and most advancements are the result of Parahuman technology or reverse engineering it."
"The Parahumans." The Tenno had spotted the term in a few documents and feeds on the display. "They're humans with unnatural abilities, right?"
"Correct. Over six hundred and fifty thousand known individuals exhibit anomalous traits—most gained them suddenly and under extreme duress from what Ordis can observe. Powers range widely: physical augmentation, elemental control, energy manipulation, and even time-space disruptions. A category labeled as Tinkers possesses the individuals responsible for the technology gap."
The Operator's eyes widened as he focused on the information regarding how these people gained power. The way these Parahumans gained abilities sounded faintly similar to how the children of the Zariman had gained theirs. Were these Parahumans some form of Tenno? Had someone, just like him, been desperate enough to make a deal with the Man In the Wall, and as a result, brung about the rise of Parahumans?
"Ordis, scan for Void influence."
"I already have Operator, I even checked for Tau energy. There is none. Whatever empowers them, it is not the Void or any known source of power. It's most likely an independent force native to this world."
"That's… good," the Operator said, his voice low, touched with an emotion even he couldn't quite name. There was something uncomfortable in the realization that he was the only Tenno in this universe.
That for the first time in his life, he was truly alone. A different universe, a different even if similar system. No siblings and no Lotus. Was this what the Drifter had felt, wandering the Zariman alone for years? Was this how Rell had felt, long before Red Veil took him in?
Ordis, sensing his Operator's mood taking a turn for the worse, refocused him by bringing up another section of data.
"Operator look, I've discovered that several organizations exist to either support or exploit parahumans. The most prominent is the Protectorate, a government-backed team of powered law enforcement who operate alongside another government agency called the Parahuman Response Team. Together, they act as a peacekeeping force across North America and occasionally elsewhere. There are similar groups like the Guild that cooperate with them, but not all actors are aligned. Vigilantes, rogues, criminals—many operate outside the system. It's a chaotic, unstable ecosystem."
The Operator's eyes narrowed slightly as a question popped up into his mind, which he voiced. "How is this world still standing? Its countries are divided and there are hundred of thousands of enhanced trauma survivors running around either setting fires or trying to put them out." He let out a breathy sound that would have been a whistle if the warframe had lips. "It's honestly impressive civilization hasn't collapsed yet."
There was no sarcasm in his tone, just the kind of respect only someone who'd seen and done worse could give.
"There are regions around the world that have already collapsed into lawless ruin. But yes, Operator. It is impressive—given the odds." Ordis replied in his own somewhat impressed tone.
There was a slight pause before Ordis continued speaking, slightly changing the subject to something he viewed as important. "Operator, out of all the parahumans I have glimpsed there is one individual of particularly high interest. A figure called Scion. Also referred to as, the Golden Man."
A new video flickered to life—a golden figure, radiant, descending from the sky in a blur. He intercepted a collapsing bridge, raised a sunken ship, vaporized debris with focused energy. A montage of his activity compiled itself beside his profile.
"Scion is the first recorded parahuman. Active worldwide. He responds to disasters without fail, without visible rest, without communication. His abilities include flight, gravitational manipulation, energy discharge, and matter restoration."
The Operator leaned in, brow furrowed in the transference pod as they viewed more info on the golden man. His list of abilities was impressive, even to a Tenno, and powerful enough to match one if the known feats were anything to go by. Could he be the help they need to get home?
"Any known contacts?" The operator asked. The golden man seemed to like his solitude so finding someone to indirectly contact him in case he needed to speak to him would be more respectful than chasing him down with the Liset.
"No known communication after his initial appearance. And no affiliations. He operates alone." Ordis replied, which disappointed the Tenno.
The Operator watched a freeze-frame of Scion hovering over the ocean, gold light radiating off his form in a way that sparked unpleasant half remembered memories of the Orokin. An unfair comparison but there was something off about Scion. Something that rubbed the Operator the wrong way.
"He's too…inhuman." The Operator finally said after some deliberation. "I'd even say alien if he wasn't more similar to a corpus drone than any living being I've encountered."
Scion looked human but the fact was he didnt act it. Even the Tenno, void touched as they were, acted more human than him. They had interests that went beyond their duty to the origin system. Family, friends, pets, fashion frame, FLOOFS! Yet this Scion didn't do anything but save people and didn't have anyone but himself.
"I concur, Operator. The people revere him, but he is... unnatural even among parahumans to the point I am unsure if he is even human."
A silence stretched between them as the new information was taken in. Then Ordis brought up another data stream.
"The next subject of interest are the Endbringers. Entities far beyond parahuman levels, with the exception of Scion, who they actively flee from. They do not live among the people—they emerge only to destroy around once every three months. Each being takes turns to attack, usually in the order they appeared."
Three icons blinked across the hologram, glowing red and displaying information and images on the Endbringers. As Ordis kept talking the operator went back to wondering how this world still had civilization left in it.
"Behemoth is a subterranean one-eyed radioactive humanoid monster. Currently dormant near the Earth's core. His presence disturbs tectonic fields even in rest. Leviathan is a bi-pedal lizard-like hydrokinetic monster currently located in an ocean trench, latitude and longitude mapped. Simurgh: a most elusive winged humanoid capable of mind control, mimicking parahuman technology and… precognition? Last known appearance in Canberra, Australia. Eighteen hours ago she attacked the city but was driven off. Since then it has had no sightings."
The Operator frowned. "And no indication where she went?"
"Well she is known to station herself in earth's…" Ordis paused as he immediately sent out a quick scan of earth's orbit that came back near instantly. "It's… near."
The Operator leaned forward, searching the globe for the third Endbringer indicator. "Near? Where?"
"Orbit. A geostationary position. Directly across from us. Adjusting angle." The Liset turned, drifting in a slow arc. The stars shifted and There she was.
A fifteen feet tall, waif-thin, alabaster-skinned woman with cold silver eyes and hair like trailing silk. Her form was humanlike but unnaturally flawless, too beautiful one could say. If not for the fact she was wrapped in great, asymmetrical wings that shifted like silent curtains around her nude body, one could be forgiven for thinking she was just an immaculate statue. But she was not, the Simurgh was alive and looking at them. Not directly but with an eerie exactness.
"She sees us," the Operator whispered unnecessarily due to the tense atmosphere. They weren't even conversing out loud with Ordis.
"Impossible. Cloaking is intact." Ordis replied, his voice steady and sure.
The Operator's Ivara stared back at the false angel and the Simurgh didn't move. No motion. No aggression. Just… watching. They wanted to believe Ordis but couldn't. There was nothing interesting around this sector of space until they stationed the Liset here. And unless both the Tenno and Ordis somehow missed the giant naked woman looking at them the entire time, the operator was sure the monster came here because of them.
"Move us," the Operator ordered. They were sure that in some capacity the endbringer could see them, but Ordis could also be right and that warranted testing. "Slowly. I want to see if she tracks."
Ordis obeyed. The Liset crept sideways in vacuum. A meter. Two.
That was as far as they went before a telekinetic wave slammed into the ship's side. Alarms blared. The Liset spiraled, gyroscopic stabilizers whirring wildly.
"Stabilizing!" Ordis announced as he did just that. "Apologies Operator, it appears you were right!"
The Operator stood up, inertial dampeners and artificial gravity allowing them to move easily despite the spinning. He took Burston Prime in hand out of habit from missions. "That's not important right now. Let's retreat, I don't want to fight this world's version of an Eidolon in an Ivara frame."
"Affirmative, adjusting trajectory and getting us out of here!" The ship righted itself from its spin, turning towards earth.
"No. Not toward the planet Ordis. If she follows we could be endangering innocent lives. Take us outward. Deep space."
"Understood Operator," The Liset turned once more and began flying away from Earth's silhouette, but before Ordis could accelerate to full speed and lose her easily, another invisible attack clipped one of the main rear thrusters.
"Port engine compromised!" Ordis informed in slight panic as he barely kept the ship from spinning out of control again.
"New plan then," the Operator said, gripping the gun tighter. "Stay close to Earth while we try to lose her. We might need a crash vector if things go bad."
They didn't want to bring any trouble to the inhabitants of this world, at least more trouble than necessary, but they also couldn't let the landing craft be lost to deep space if it was damaged or destroyed in this chase. If it floated too far before it could be recovered then it would be a major loss of resources the operator couldn't afford when cut off from the origin system.
As the damaged Liset flew away from their pursuer at a reduced speed, the Simurgh followed. Graceful yet relentless despite being too slow to close the distance meaningfully. That didn't stop her from sending more telekinetic blasts as the chase stretched into minutes.
Some missed completely, as if she was aiming at where she thought they'd be instead of where they actually were. Others got close enough to jolt or hit the ship but Ordis was ready for it and so always adjusted before the ship would lose control.
Then unexpectedly, Helios pinged the coms.
"Operator, Helios has used the ship's sensors to analyze her energy." Ordis informed with glee. "I can see her attacks now!"
Ordis wasn't truly seeing them, it was more like detecting them as if they were missiles on radar but the difference hardly mattered when the results were the same.
The ship cephalon began dodging more effectively, weaving through telekinetic blasts like a needle through cloth despite the Lisets damaged truster. The Simurgh kept chasing and attacking but it seemed she finally realized her attacks weren't even landing anymore, and that at this rate she would lose them.
Suddenly, pieces of nearby technology started flying apart. Derelict satellites, the remnants of Cold War technology, and modern communication arrays— all rose around her in synchrony. Pieces came apart. Frames unwound. Circuits aligned. The Simurgh was building something mid-chase, pulling parts together in a halo of debris that was rapidly assembling into something different and more advanced than the individual parts could possibly hope to achieve normally.
"She's making something Ordis," the Operator said as he tracked Helio's scans closely. "Parahuman technology I think. Helios is barely making heads or tales of whatever she's building."
"We need to stop her!" Ordis declared in a panic. "Parahuman technology is widely varied, generally destructive, and unstable. There's no telling what she could do to the Liset if she completes it."
A beat of silence passed as the Tenno thought and the Liset twisted and turned, dodging more of her attacks and satellites in their path that began floating towards the Simurgh.
After a mere moment of thinking they decided their next course of action. "Get the Archwing ready Ordis."
"Operator, if you go out there, you'll be blind to her attacks and if she hits you even once, you could lose your warframe."
He was right, the Tenno realized. The archwing was their first thought due to its familiarity in these kinds of situations but trying to fight that thing with it would be foolish, especially since his current Archwing was built recently and not modded to fight something like this.
The Operator needed a more creative solution and he had just the idea. "Lower the ramp then. I'm going to shoot from here."
Ordis obeyed without question this time, despite his misgivings about this course of action as well. The hatch hissed open as air rushed out the Liset. The Operator walked forward and stood at the edge, magnetized boots anchoring them to the floor and allowing them to ignore the vacuum beyond while the Helios used its own methods to stay by its master's side.
Facing their pursuer, who seemed to be near to completing the tinker tech device, the Tenno wasted no time, putting away their Burston Prime and summoning the Artemis Bow. The exalted weapon shimmered into existence within Ivara Prime's grasp: sleek, ornate, and lined with golden accents that did little to hide its lethal nature. A hum of power seemed to emanate from the string as warframe energy poured into it.
"Helios, keep analyzing her device. Ordis, try and hold us steady."
There were silent confirmations of their orders as the Tenno raised their bow and drew on the string. Arrows manifested, swirling with fire, cold, electricity, and toxic elemental charge as Ivara's instincts and the Operator's skills synced together to determine the most effective angle to deliver their payload.
Once loose, the arrows zipped out in blinding, colorful arcs and then multiplied. Six arrows became dozens as the multishot mod installed on the bow performed its function. The first wave of arrows slammed into the Simurgh and the machine she was constructing. Explosions bloomed like warheads, not just from the arrows but from damage to her constructs.
The Simurgh recoiled, not in pain, but from being forced back. Her expression was placid and calm despite alabaster skin from her face to her hip being almost completely gone. Even as her wings slowly disintegrated from corrosive damage and the rest of her body was either frosted over, on fire, or seeping blood like a river, she never stopped.
"Amazing Operator, you nailed her!" Ordis cheered with glee.
"Wait, I can damage her," the Operator murmured in slight surprise as he began drawing the bow again. He had expected her to be mostly immune to conventional forms of damage like the Eidolons of Cetus but it seemed that comparison was less accurate than he had thought.
More arrows were fired and this time the winged woman tried blasting the arrows with her telekinetic waves before they could reach her, some of them detonating early while others slipped past her guard. Ivara's ability to control her arrows like they were her own fingers allowed them to move in different and irregular patterns to avoid her defense and land on the parahuman technology she was attempting to build.
This song and dance continued for a short while, more explosions blooming in the sky as they raced across the planet.
In the beginning, It seemed the Simurgh didn't care about the damage to her own body, blocking only as needed to defend her work. But as the battle continued and the elemental effects kept piling on, she started taking getting hit more seriously. She grew more cautious, more deliberate. She even started dodging, altering her flight path, and sacrificing fragments of her tinker tech to shield herself and more vital parts of the construction.
All of this was a positive sign to the Tenno but his situation wasn't improving much either.
Ivara's energy reserves were dwindling fast, and soon she wouldn't have enough to power the Artemis Bow at all. Meanwhile, the Simurgh—despite being reduced to a half-melted, skeletal thing—was still attacking and building in equal measure. The damage to her, while visually devastating, had done little to hinder her mobility or her ability to construct and repair her tinkertech.
Still, the Operator had noticed that despite her endurance, her body HAD reacted to the elemental effects and she had decided it was best to avoid most of his attacks rather than let her body tank the damage. And that display of weakness gave him an idea.
Right as he was about to test it, the Simurgh reached—grabbing hold of a cluster of shattered satellites drifting ahead of the Liset.
The Operator didn't even see what she was reaching for but tried to warn Ordis regardless. "Ordis, she's—"
"I see it!" Ordis interrupted. "Brace!"
The Endbringer hurled the mass toward them.
Ordis veered hard, thrusters howling as the Liset twisted violently to avoid the oncoming wreckage. The largest chunk of twisted metal missed by meters, but smaller debris scraped along the hull with a deep, groaning rattle. The jolt was enough to throw Ivara clear of the ship and into open space.
But there was no panic. The Operator had been through too many similar and worse situations to feel such an emotion right now.
So even as the stars and earth spun around him, he acted calmly and with finesse. Ivara's bow came up, steady in zero-G, and fired a zipline arrow, golden line spooling out behind it as the arrow few and slammed into the Liset's hull just as the Warframe began to drift.
And before the line snapped tight, Ivara's gauntlet caught it cleanly. Whipping her into a hard arc as momentum dragged her back toward the ship.
Helios, who had followed the warframe out, shimmered and vanished into the warframes subspace before it could be left behind..
Now the Warframe dangled from the Liset with the line, one hand wrapped in the zipline as the Artemis Bow dissolved into energy in the other. With the second hand now free, the Warframe grabbed the line again and began pulling itself back in with full strength, all while Ordis gently swerved and twisted to dodge more incoming telekinetic waves.
"Operator?! Are you alright? Should I slow down?!"
He was already beginning to but his Tenno stopped him.
"No! Keep going! The slower you are, the easier you are to hit!"
The speed and swinging made it harder to climb, but pull in they did. Once enough slack was drawn in, the Operator hooked one boot around the zipline to stabilize themselves. Immediately, the operator realized he couldn't shoot like this. Letting go meant drifting into space or worse, into her reach, and he didn't want to find out what the Endbringer would do to his Warframe if caught.
So the Operator held tight and watched—out of the fight, but not useless yet. They considered deploying the Archwing again, but rejected the idea. Ivara had one last ability that might work before they had to risk fighting her directly.
The Simurgh, realizing there was no more immediate retaliation after her recent attacks, resumed her work with increased speed. Broken parts and scrap from the satellites—both pieces blasted away earlier by the Tenno and fresh fragments—floated to her like fish on a line. The machine reformed piece by piece. Plates locked together. Wiring wrapped in coils. Some pieces hovered beside her, waiting to be installed.
It took mere seconds of unmolested assembling for her to finish her tinkertech. A large black ring device. Barely wider than the Simurgh herself—but the design was unmistakably advanced: a smooth toroid of scorched plating, weathered solar panels, and reworked satellite hulls lashed together with invisible force rather than weld or bolt. It was an ugly thing in detail, but at a distance, there was something graceful about how it all fit.
The device wasn't stable, it sparked, clanked, and whirled in a way that didn't need an engineer to tell you that something was wrong, but it worked. A low, constant shimmer pulsed through the ring's core, the beam itself invisible until it activated.
"Ordis, Get ready…" The Operator began nervously, hoping his decision to hold off on using the archwing wasn't going to get both the Liset and his warframe destroyed.
When the device finally activated, the space inside seemed to snap inward like water rushing into a drain.The device pulsed, a wide blue beam shone from its center like a cone and covered them, significantly slowing the Liset but not stopping it completely due to its anti-gravity system.
"Operator, she caught us in an artificial gravity well. What do we do now?" Ordis queried with panic as he tried to fly the ship out the range of the device.
However, the beam was wide and the simurgh was tracking their general positions to keep them trapped. And with the Liset slowed down so much, on top of being down an engine, the Endbringer was now gaining on them. Thankfully, it had stopped sending telekinetic waves and was instead focusing on closing the distance between itself and the ship with the ring floating at her side.
Despite the situation, the Operator was not too worried, in fact, he was more relaxed than before. The tinkertech was not some destructive weapon like they had feared and the Endbringer wasn't trying to pummel the ship anymore but capture them for some reason. A mistake, and one the Tenno would capitalize on once he solved the problem of his precarious position being made even worse by the gravity well trying to rip them off the zipline.
"Don't worry Ordis, just keep flying." The operator commanded as they surged their warframes power system, temporarily supercharging it and giving Ivara the strength to resist the pull of the gravity beam and further rope her body around the zipline.
When fully secured, the operator once again summoned the exalted bow and aimed unsteadily at the winged humanoid instead of the beam. A single trick arrow materialized in the bow. He only had energy for one more shot after surging their system and they were going to make it count.
"Ordis, when I shoot, move the Liset in the opposite direction of the arrow," the Operator ordered.
"Understood," Ordis replied without hesitation. All traces of fear gone now that he knew his Operator had a plan.
Aiming far off to the side of the Simurgh, the Tenno loosed the arrow with no hesitation.
The trick arrow sailed wide, and at the same moment, the Liset pulled hard in the opposite direction. The gravity beam, still locked onto the ship, followed the Liset's movement—dragging its reach away from the arrow's flight path. What had looked like a miss suddenly curved back around as the arrow slipped free of the beam's edge and bent sharply toward its real target.
The Simurgh didn't move or react. Probably because that "precognition" Ordis mentioned wasn't as impressive as it sounded, allowing the arrow to strike right between where her eyes had been before the Operator blew her face off.
The effects were immediate and sudden, the ringed tinkertech device that was holding back there speed suddenly began sparking, the tractor beam flickering and dying as its unity began to unravel. Parts held together solely by the Simurghs' telekinesis began breaking apart and falling away.
And without the beam, the pressure lifted, allowing the Liset to surge forward once more. The zipline slacked a bit before pulling taut with a violent jerk that almost dislodged the Operator again, but they held.
Held and watched as the Simurgh began to fall.
She wasn't flying or moving anymore. Just drifting on raw momentum, spiraling slowly in the void of space like she had drowned. Practically a corpse in motion.
Ordis whooped, voice practically crackling with relief and joy. "A magnificent shot as always Operator!"
Without waiting for orders, the Cephalon snapped the Liset into a sharp turn, thrusters flaring as the ship peeled away from the Simurgh's drifting trajectory. No more weaving and dodging—this was a full-speed retreat, straight in the opposite direction.
The Operator, still clinging to the zipline with legs twisted and arms braced, let out a breathless huff. Tension bled off their frame as they stared at the now-limp Endbringer shrinking in the distance, chunks of tinkertech still peeling off the device she had so painstakingly tried to build.
He gave a sharp snort. Then, with a distinctly childish, wholly satisfied motion, the Operator let go of the bow, the exalted weapon dissolving again as they raised one hand and flipped her the bird.
"Enjoy your nap, you discount Eidolon freak," He shouted with external speakers, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
The Tenno knew the sleep arrows' effects wouldn't last long. Ordis knew it too. Whatever void-dammed madness kept the Simurgh moving would likely reawaken her soon. But by the time she did, they would be long gone.
The Operator didn't even ask to come back aboard so that Ordis wouldn't have to slow down. They just held on, wrapped tight to the zipline like a stubborn barnacle, letting Ordis haul ass across the planet and towards deep space until he gave new orders.
"Ordis, dive for the planet, we're not leaving here empty handed."
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Third chapter down! Thanks for all the support on the previous chapters my dear readers. Please tell me what you think of this one and what about it you think needs improvements. Anyways, That's all out of me for now folks! Have a good day. Author out!☮️