The Kelpie - Chapter 14 - 8Cyborg, TheWriterValkyrie (2024)

Chapter Text

Much to Saryn’s chagrin, Kelpie’s next mission was not a failure. Or the one after that. After her disastrous first outing, things leveled out and she averaged some decent performances to wild successes, and it eased the yucky feeling she got whenever she thought about the sound of the cryopod breaking.

She mulled over all these things and more as she sat beside one of the various ponds in the relay, admiring the red lotus flowers that bloomed cheerfully in the clear water. She thought about all the new frames she’d met. She’d been so worried, but she already had friends, and for that she was grateful. She was also very aware that not everybody liked her, but she expected it.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and looked up to see Umbra walking up to her. She hadn’t met him yet, not personally. Alad had told her about him, briefly, and Kelpie noticed he seemed to dislike him to an extent, although he didn’t elaborate.

“Hello Kelpie. How are you?” Umbra asked her.

“I, uh...I’m fine? Shouldn’t you be yelling at Excalibur?” she blurted.

“Excalibur is currently nowhere to be found, and I assume that it’s for that very reason.”

"I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry." She said quickly, bowing her head. "It's just...Dad says you yell at him a lot and I kind of...had that picture in my head."

“Well, that’s fair. I do yell at him a lot. How are you enjoying your missions?”

"They're going better than my first one, that's for sure. I still can’t get the broken cryopod out of my head, though. I know it was my fault, and I’m pretty sure the others know it, too. I just feel horrible about it. Dad was trying to cheer me up for days after, and he was so happy when I came back from my second mission and told him it went well.”

Umbra took a seat next to her. “The thing to remember, is that failure is inevitable. It’s going to happen, whether you like it or not. What matters isn’t that you failed, it’s how you respond to, and learn from, that failure.” He took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. “I remember my first big failure. I was supposed to retrieve a high-ranking Corpus official, and bring him back for questioning. I found him, but instead of knocking him out, I lost control and killed him. In doing so, I single-handedly caused the failure of three future missions because of the lack of information. Information that we would have had, if I hadn’t lost my temper.”

Kelpie shuddered. "I hope I never do that. Poor guy."

Umbra shook himself out of his reverie. “Anyways, the moral of the story is to learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of others, if possible.”

"I will try, yes. I have a question for you, by the way."

Umbra turned, looking at her. “Okay, what is it?”

"Do you ever have trouble killing certain enemies?"

Umbra took a moment to consider. “Did you have certain ones in mind? Or do you just mean in general?”

"I don't really like killing the flesh-and-blood Corpus. They just...make me think of Dad. Is that weird? I think it's weird."

“I see.” Umbra took a deep breath. “Think of it this way. Would you rather they kill you? Because, given the chance, they will.”

"They'd have to try pretty hard." she said, flexing her webbed fingers.

“They won’t hesitate to try. After all, they don’t care who your father is. Are you willing to give them that chance? Or would you rather not give them the opportunity?”

"I would rather not...I still feel bad though."

“Good. That shows you have empathy. I suppose an honest answer to your question is in order.” Umbra looked at the floor of the relay. “When I first arrived here, as a new Warframe, I was very angry for what had been done to me at the hands of Ballas. I took it out on every enemy I met, every chance I got. I got so good at it, that it became a habit. Killing enemies was my business, and I did it well. I never stopped to consider the fact that they have their own lives, their own friends and families. I only thought about the mission. There was only the mission. But it didn’t help. I was still just as angry, just as deadly, and just as unsatisfied with myself. I couldn’t see a way through this problem. That is, until we discovered Excalibur.”

“...What then? Why was that important?”

“Excalibur needed someone to train him, and I volunteered. I guess it was because I could teach someone everything I wished I knew starting off here, but it turned into more than that. I could help someone to not make the same mistakes that I made, and that was important to me. I can safely say that I wouldn’t have asked Garuda on a date if I hadn’t been working with Excalibur first. It gave me a different sort of confidence in myself.” Umbra looked back over at Kelpie. “I’m sorry, that was more of a story than you bargained for.”

"It's fine, but now I want to know why you're so mean to him. He can rant for hours about you. Why do you act like you hate him?"

Umbra paused, surprised. “I don’t hate him. Why would I?”

"I didn't say you did, just that he says that's how he feels you feel towards him. He feels like you hate him. He says he hates how he can't do anything right in your opinion, and that he has almost no time for his friends, or Wisp, because he's always with you."

“I…” Umbra didn’t know how to respond. Excalibur thinks I hate him? He looked down, lost in thought. “I...I’ll give this some thought.” He stood up, turning to Kelpie. “If you see him, tell him he has the week off. I need time.”

"A-alright. I don't think you're so bad, personally." She pat him on the shoulder.

Umbra wasn’t sure how to respond. After a pause, he nodded at her, patted her shoulder in return, but something occurred to him before he left.

“Hey, Kelpie?” Umbra turned back to her.

“Yeah?”

“Oberon and I have been planning a sabotage mission on Uranus, in Tyl Regor’s territory. It’s early days yet, but I was wondering if you wanted to come with us when it’s time to move?”

“Seriously? You want me to come? It’s a bit more difficult, isn’t it? Uranus is crawling with his Manics. I hear others ranting about how much of a pain they are to dispatch all the time.”

“That’s correct, but you won’t be alone. Just think it over, and let Oberon or myself know if you want to come. Alright?”

“I’m honored you’d even consider me.” she jumped up and hugged him. “Thank you for having faith in me!”

Umbra laughed awkwardly. “You’re welcome. And, by the way, I think you’re better at this than you believe. You just need time.”

“E-eh, you do? I will keep trying to get better, then. I don’t want to let anyone down…”

“Don’t worry about letting others down, or you’ll never do anything. Just focus on improving yourself, and you’ll be fine.” Umbra turned to leave. “I’ll see you later, yes?”

“Yeah, sure! I like your scarf, by the way.” She added brightly.

“Shoulder cape,” Umbra said quietly. Then he stopped, unsure of what he had heard.

“...What?”

Umbra finally processed what Kelpie said, and was halfway lost for words.

“Sorry, force of habit. Thank you.”

“It’s like how Dad will look for something when he’s been holding it the whole time.” she giggled. “I guess even we can do that too.”

Umbra gave her a strange glance as he left. “Until next time, Kelpie.”

“Bye Umbra!” Kelpie was floored that Umbra and Oberon would consider a beginner for this high-level mission. She decided to bring it up to Alad, and see what he thought.

“Gala, no!” Alad said, grabbing her and placing her on the floor again. The cinnamon colored kitten mewed haughtily, swished her tails and leapt back up. Alad sighed, and Kelpie laughed so hard she nearly choked.

“She’s not being a very good kitty, is she?” she asked when she had calmed down.

“She is not. She’s a pain in the ass and proud of it, aren’t you?” he asked Galatea. She purred and nuzzled his chest. “Yes, you are. Anyway, how are you?”

“Umbra invited me on a high level mission!” She said excitedly, almost prancing in place.

Alad stopped what he was doing, saying, “He what?”

“He invited me to come along on a high level mission with him and Oberon in a few days.”

Alad walked slowly over to her. “So, what do you think, then?”

“I’m really, really flattered they’d even consider me. I’m going!”

“Are you sure you can handle it? Not only does Uranus have much stronger soldiers, it also has Tyl Regor. I don’t want to think what would happen if he got his hands on you, the big blue bastard.” Alad said sourly.

“You seem to have a massive bone to pick with him.”

“I do. He threatened you when you were just a baby, and I will not take that from a blighty potato like him!” he said, banging his fist on the table.

“Well...when are we going to give him his tube back, then?” Kelpie looked curiously at Alad.

“Never!” he said, clapping his hands. “We stole it fair and square, I’m not giving it back to that peg-legged fool. Maybe if he hadn’t threatened you I’d give it back, but now he’s made me angry, so he can rot.”

“Um, okay then.” Kelpie decided to stop before she accidentally sent Alad on a rant about the Grineer scientist. She worried that she was already too late.

“So, about this mission...you absolutely sure you can take it? The chances of you running into him are 50/50, but still, I’d rather you two never meet, because if he ever caught you, he’d do what I did to Valkyr, but probably worse. You are the most valuable thing in my life, and if I ever lost you…” he trailed off. “I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll be fine. Umbra and Oberon will be there too, remember?” Kelpie breathed a sigh of relief that Alad hadn’t started ranting about Tyl.

“Yes, I trust Oberon to be there for you, and I trust Umbra to be a massive pain in the ass, but at least make sure you don’t die.”

A thought occurred to Kelpie. “Can I ask you a question, Dad?”

“Sure.”

“Um...is there anyone you would trust to keep me alive more than those two?”

“Odd question. Can I ask why?”

Kelpie shuffled her feet. “Well...you said they would make sure that I don’t die. I...I just don’t want you to be wondering if I’ll make it back.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, but...I can’t help but worry after that. I’m fully aware that you’re quite a bit stronger than most of the things you’ve gone up against, but I can’t get rid of the little nagging voice in the back of my head that starts imagining everything that could go wrong as soon as you leave.”

Kelpie looked up at him. “I know you care about me, Dad, but this is a big chance to really prove what I can do! I’m sure the others will be watching out for me.”

Alad took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if I come off as overbearing, I know this hasn’t been easy for you. Just be careful, for my sake, at least.”

She hugged Alad around his neck. “I’ll be careful, Dad. Thank you.”

He hugged her back, tightly, and she was surprised by how strong he actually felt.

“I love you Kelpie, never forget that. You're the first thing I ever truly loved, and you’re the best thing I ever made.”

Kelpie started to tear up. “I’ll remember, Dad, I promise.”

“And don’t do anything stupid, you hear?” he said, untangling an arm and shaking a finger at her.

“I promise, Dad.”

Alad released her. “That’s my girl.”

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Their mission was going well so far. It turned out to be a combination of spy and sabotage, which while making things interesting, didn’t lend itself to being all that difficult. Oberon, Umbra, and Kelpie had little trouble dispatching the Drekar and the few Manic they encountered, Ivara pulled off her hacks flawlessly, and there was no sign of Tyl Regor. Everything was going very well.

Or it would be if she wasn’t feeling so starved.

Kelpie still hadn’t told Alad about her little problem yet. Stupid, she knew, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it, to worry her father with still another problem. She didn’t like worrying him, and she didn’t want him feeling like he’d given her a weakness. It wasn’t so bad, really. She usually just ran off on her own for a bit to kill and eat something (although never flesh-and-blood Corpus), and she was fine. The problem came when she didn’t take care of it for longer than three days. That’s when the cravings came. The sharp desire to rip into something fleshy and watch it twitch and bleed while she crushed it’s still beating heart, to feel gore and flesh ooze between her teeth, and to shred and tear innards. What the kelpie in her made her lust after.

That’s what she wanted. The hunger clawed at her insides, whispering to her to go mad and tear something limb from limb, and if she didn’t take care of it soon...she didn’t want to think what would happen if she attacked one of her teammates.

“Hey, guys, I’m going to be awhile with this vault.” Ivara’s voice shook Kelpie from her thoughts.

“That’s okay, we have time,” said Oberon, sitting with his back to a wall. “I’m surprised they even put a vault on the top floor to begin with."

“Well, is there anything I can do?” Kelpie spoke up, hoping to have an excuse to get away.

“There was that room on the way here, right Umbra?” Ivara spoke up.

“Right, there was. Kelpie, go back and see what you can find,” Umbra told her. “And let us know if you run into trouble, we’ll be right there.”

“Okay!” Kelpie practically ran down the hallway, eager to sate her hunger.

She poked around for a bit, trying to get as much distance between her and them as possible before finding a body to rip into. They didn’t need to overhear it. She crept further through the maze of corridors, coming to an odd room full of cloning tubes, and a Manic guarding them. A Manic...living, fresh that she could kill herself, which was her prefered feeding method. Her stomach clenched with hunger again, stronger.

The Manic hadn’t noticed her watching him, being engrossed by the surrounding tubes, and what they contained. Such easy prey. Slowly, she crept up, breathing and stepping silently. When she was close enough to hear him breathing, she stood up, and kicked his legs out. Sprawled out on the floor, the last thing that the Manic saw and felt, was the choking after Kelpie opened her maw, revealing a too-long mouth ringed with long, sharp teeth and ugly, pale skin stretched at the corners, like a snake’s, bit down on his neck, crunching through the armor, and ripping out his throat.

She tore open the rest of his armor and began the process of slowly dismantling this once living thing. She bit down into his chest, rapidly devouring the flesh and breaking open his ribs to get at the lungs but discarding the heart. Helmet and skull were cracked open, arms and legs were stripped down to bone, even the cartilage connecting them eaten, the torso cleaved open, intestines pulled violently out and sucked down, liver discarded, splattering the walls, floor, and tubing with blood. Blood ran from her open jaws, staining her neck and chest as she joyfully slashed open more of the Manic to get every scrap..

Under her helmet, Kelpie's eyes rolled back in pleasure as she ravenously dismembered the Grineer, which might have just been the best thing she'd eaten in her short life. He had more meat on him than she expected, far more muscle as well. Most of the Grineer had thin, shoddy bodies that sated but never completely satisfied in one meal, but this...this was so much better. The flesh was firmer, didn't fall apart in her mouth, it was something she could really sink her teeth into and tear. It, and the blood it was soaked in even tasted better than the regular lancers or marines. Soon nothing was left but a pile of crushed armor, bones split and emptied of their marrow, and the heart and liver which she never liked.

After Kelpie was done, she realized that she had better find the room that her companions had talked about, or they might get suspicious. Before she left, though, she hid the pile of discarded bones in an empty tube. Making sure that no one was around, she left, and quickly managed to get lost. She was a lost Warframe covered in blood wandering around one of Tyl Regor's labs. This could not get any worse.

On the other hand, things could not be better for Tyl Regor. Looking around his labs, gazing at all the tubes, he felt a stab of pride in his chest. He had managed to do what the Queens had told him was impossible: to have bioengineered the Grineer genome to decrease, and basically stop altogether, the degeneration of cloned Grineer bodies. He was on top of the world, the best of the best.

And, he had no one to share his accomplishment with. Although he was surrounded by his army, he had no partner. This did taint the feeling of satisfaction, just a bit, because while he was usually just fine with being solo...sometimes the isolation crept up. He decided to take a walk around his base, to clear his head.

As he was walking along, he started to notice blood on the floor, in an unfamiliar footprint. Bloody hoofprints...the only one of those damn lizards that had hooves was the one with the staff, Oberon, and these were singular, not split. A new one then, and it looked like they were alone. An easy target, if he could catch them by surprise. He begane following them, cold, steel hands clenched in barely repressed anger.

The sound of rushing water greeted him as he followed the hoofprints into a partially flooded room. The wall had been broken open exposing it to the wild seas outside, and it hadn’t gotten around to being repaired yet. At the edge of a sheet of metal flooring that hung over the water, was a Warframe he’d never seen before, splashing herself. Strange, while most Warframes hated the water, this one looked like she was made for it.

“Most Warframes try to avoid water, you know.” Tyl walked into the room. “Not sure if you picked up on that yet.”

The frame shouted and fell backwards. Scrambling to get her feet under her, Kelpie stood up too fast, falling into the water. Standing back up, she got out of the water, to see Tyl Regor standing in the doorway, laughing.

“A...are you Tyl Regor?” she said, finally, looking up at him.

“I haven’t laughed so hard in ages,” Tyl said. “Yes, I am he. And you are?” He asked, waiting expectantly.

“K-kelpie.”

“Kelpie. Has a nice ring to it. May I ask why you’re named that?”

“T-that’s just what D-dad called me. I n-never asked him why.”

“Your father, hm? I wasn’t aware that Warframes have parents.”

“W-well, I do. I think t-that I’m the only one, so far.”

“Who is your father?”

Kelpie remained silent, unsure of how to answer. If there’s one thing she was sure telling Regor would do, it was put Alad in danger, and that’s the last thing she wanted. She wiped some excess blood from the corner of her tightly shut and hidden maw, and said nothing.

“Silent treatment, eh? Not a very nice way to treat someone who you’ve just met, now is it?”

Kelpie gave a small squeak and stared at the floor. “I can’t tell you that.”

Tyl co*cked his head to one side. “Oh, really? Now why is that?”

“I can’t tell you that either, it’ll give too much away.”

“Okay, fair enough. Going off of what you’ve told me, including what you haven’t , it’s safe to assume that your father is fairly high-profile. I did get one of my cloning tubes stolen by Alad, who also did happen to rebuild one of your frames. Being I know that he still has that tube, it’s possible that he could have used it. And if he used it, someone had to come out of it.” Tyl stopped to consider. “The damn jellyfish.”

“He’s not a jellyfish! He’s smart and kind and he loves me, and he’s a better person than you could ever wish to be!” Kelpie protested, before stopping suddenly, realizing what she had said.

Tyl turned to Kelpie, his gaze piercing hers. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

She clammed up again, staring a hole into the floor.

Tyl walked up to her, lifting her chin with a finger. “It’s polite to look at someone when they’re talking to you.”

“I-I don’t know who you’re talking about.” she said quietly.

“Denial, is it? Or lying? Be careful of which side of that line you tread,” Tyl told her, moving his face closer to hers.

“Y-you don’t need to know any of it!” she protested, trying to pull herself away, but his grip was too strong.

“I rather think that I do need to know, seeing as how it was my tube that was stolen. If I wasn’t so generous, I would claim you as my property, seeing as how you were made in my tube.” Tyl’s head was now mere inches from Kelpie’s.

“I’m not yours, I’ll never be yours, you tube-loving dobber!”

“And what makes you think that I couldn’t just take you now and find a way to put you under my command? Vor nearly did it with one of your friends, and it would have worked if he hadn’t been such a co*cky fool.”

“Excalibur…” she said, remembering the story he’d told her of his dealings with Captain Vor and the Ascaris device.

“What’s more, I could simply take you with me right now, and there would be nothing you could do to stop me.” he said, running his thumb over her short muzzle.

“I-if you even think about doing something so vile, Dad’ll have every Warframe in the system on your ass. Or at the very least, Umbra. But I know Umbra could kill you all by himself.”

“Don’t go overestimating the abilities of others, it only makes you look a fool when you turn out to be wrong. Besides, you seem to be alone here. I could have you strapped down to a table long before anyone got here.”

Kelpie stared into his eyes, frozen.

“I haven’t yet had the opportunity to tear into a living frame yet, but I think you’ll be a fine specimen.” Tyl turned, trying to lead her out of the room. “Then we’ll see how much Alad really loves you.”

“If you lay a finger on him, I’ll gut you and eat your insides!” she said coldly, rage overcoming her fear.

“I’d like to see you try. You know what, maybe after I’m done with you, I’ll have my tubemen bring Alad in, too, so I can have a matching set.”

“ Never! ” Kelpie shrieked, her voice echoing through the metal sanctuary. She wrenched her head out of Tyl Regor’s grip, baring her too-long, gaping maw, still stained with the blood of the Manic and biting down on his hand, pulverizing the metal fingers.