Whoa, what's this an update? Crazy! Once again, I'd like to thank @Ridli Scott for his feedback and I freely admit that I didn't see a way around his lore/timeline concern. I tried to include some lore as "flavor", but I might have got it wrong and the timeline might not mesh perfectly with Taylor's insert into the Tenno-verse and the video game's timeline. I also tried to "hide" gameplay logic, but not sure if some snuck in or not. So, yeah, all mistakes are my own, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. Rwarr!
Syndicates 2.0
Aunt Zoe answered the door and, after a quick wave to my dad, I followed her into the house. I felt a small glow of satisfaction when I noticed that Aunt Zoe still had her Orokin planter stationed above the dining room table. When I asked her were everyone was, she informed me that Anne and Emma were up in their rooms. Anne was still home and planning to return to school after New Years, while Uncle Alan was at his office doing legal stuff with Mrs. Dallon.
I found the news a little surprising since I didn't expect Uncle Alan to work on a Sunday, especially not the Sunday after Christmas. "Oh, did he have some sort of legal emergency?" I asked, expecting her to say that some famous superhero needed his help.
Aunt Zoe sighed and fondly smiled. "No, but when he called Carol, his colleague at the firm, for her opinion over the PRT bugging our house, he made the mistake of telling her about Canary's situation."
"Umm, okay, but why was that a mistake?" I asked, not sure why Aunt Zoe sounded worried about her husband running off to save Canary.
"Carol is better known as Brandish from New Wave," Aunt Zoe helpfully supplied me the missing link.
"Ahh," I nodded, understanding the situation. I kind of expected Uncle Alan to go after any injustice and Ordis' briefing on the New Wave parahumans indicated that they strongly believed in parahuman rights and accountability.
"So, Emma's in her room, right?" I asked with a glance upwards in the general direction of Emma's room.
"Yep, but she must be listening to music or watching a video because I expected her to answer the door." Aunt Zoe frowned and shrugged. "Oh well, you can go on up if you want."
"Okay!" I grinned before heading up the stairs.
I politely knocked and after there was no response, I opened her door.
"Ann-!" Ems started to yell as her door opened but stopped when she spotted my smiling face. My guess was that she was expecting her sister.
"Taylor?" She asked, reaching for her headphones and pulling them down and letting them rest around her neck.
I could see why she didn't hear me knock on the front door or her door — I could hear her music blasting from where I stood at her doorway. "Hey Ems, whatcha doing?" I asked.
She fumbled with her phone and managed to get the music to stop playing. "Was just listening to some of Canary's old songs."
Her eyes took in my church going attire. "Uh, what are all dressed up for?"
I sighed, pretending to be super bored. "Went to church with my dad, Becky and her kids. The service was nice, but kinda boring." I paused for a beat and pretended to remember some last minute detail. "Oh yeah, I also got to meet Kaiser and Purity."
"WHAT!" Emma jumped up and ran over to me, inspecting my body for injuries.
"Kaiser's a dick, but Purity seems okay. Not sure," I said, holding my hand out and wagging it from side to side.
Emma stopped looking at my clothes for bloodstains and took a step back, her head leaned slightly to the side with frown of disbelief on her face. "You're making that up."
I shook my head and grinned. "Nope, really did meet him and Purity, but not at the same time and they didn't know that I knew. I think Kaiser thinks that I might be a parahuman because he would know about trigger events, ya know?"
I could see the gears turning over in Emma's head. She didn't want to believe me because people just don't casually meet a super-villain, but at the same time, she wanted to believe me because we never lied to each other.
"Uh, okay," Emma finally gave up and accepted it. "What happened?"
I shrugged. "Nothing really. The whole '
Unwritten Rules' thing," I huffed with disgust over needing to hold back, "and I didn't wanna try capturing him when we had a ton of civilians standing around. Plus, the bounty on him is kinda low, it didn't seem worth the hassle."
Emma's shocked expression made me giggle.
"You're kidding, right?" She asked with a flat stare.
"Nope, he's only worth 100k. Seems kinda silly to me, but oh well." I shrugged and glanced around her room, taking in a few more details now that there was some daylight shining in.
The color scheme she had going seemed a little bland and depressing to me. Gone were the bright, happy colors like the green she used to favor, replaced by boring white and greys. Also gone were the posters of superheroes and the one boy band she used to love. Her closet was still bursting with clothes though. So, some things hadn't really changed.
Her sheathed Skana was prominently displayed on her vanity, balanced on top of one of her lacquered jewelry boxes. I pointed to her sword. "Good spot for it, looks nice, but it might look better mounted above your head board, or maybe hidden under your bed in case you need to get it quickly to defend yourself."
Emma glanced to her sword and then back to her bed and finally back to me. "Uh, okay, but I don't think I need to worry about that in my own bedroom."
I tisked and shook my head. "Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't hurt to be prepared and," I glanced down to her side, noting the absence of a sidearm there, "I need to get you a pistol too, but I think that will have to wait until we have a chance to get your armor built. Do you think your dad will let me take you to Mars later this week?"
"Wah-hu?" Emma seemed to be having trouble keeping up.
"Yeah, I'll need you there to try some things and for the fitting. It will probably take a day or two, maybe three tops. I could wake up Tybalt so you could have a Kavat to play with. He likes playing fetch. Oh yeah, we will need to bring some groceries. You would
not believe how hard it is to get fresh eggs in space!"
"Uh, Taylor, you joking now, right?" Emma hesitantly asked.
"No?" I was kind of glossing over some minor details, but why was she having so much trouble with this? Oh well, I'd probably be a bit sceptical if the situation was reversed. Time to move on.
"So, how do you feel today?" I asked as a way to get back to my reason for my visit.
Emma hesitated for a second before shrugging, "Umm, okay, I guess? I mean, I'm not super sore like was expecting to be, but my wrist," she rubbed her right arm, "does seem a little sore?"
I nodded. "Yeah, kind of expected that, but the good news is that it looks like my Vazarin healing technique is helping because you should be feeling worse today."
"Uggh," Emma groaned, not looking or sounding as enthusiastic as I expected, but she was always bit sluggish when it came to athletics.
I stepped over and gave her an encouraging hug. "It's not that bad! I want to get you trained up as fast as possible. You're off the rest of this week, right?" I asked, just to make sure that the holiday vacation was the same as I remembered.
Emma hesitantly nodded. "Yeah?"
That was good news. I could really focus on Emma. "Great! We can train everyday. Maybe take it easy and only do eight to ten hours per day, give you some time to recover."
"What!" Emma exclaimed, looking shocked that I would be willing to devote so much time to her, but she was my friend. Why would she be surprised?
"Hey, don't worry. I'll have you combat ready in less than a month!" I smiled down at her. "There's no way that I'd let my best friend go on a mission unprepared."
"Uh, okay?" Emma still seemed a little surprised and concerned, but I think I understood. She was probably trying to adjust to having me back in her life.
I glanced down to her arm. She was absentmindedly rubbing it still. "Oh, you should get a couple of those wrist exerciser things and build up your hand strength. I think I saw a couple in the basement when I made room last night and we probably need to find a better place to train. The den isn't big enough."
"I, uh, maybe the garage?" Emma offered a good solution. They had a two-car garage and with the door down, the ceiling was much higher than in the den. As a bonus, the concrete floor wouldn't stain when Emma invariably injured herself.
"Sounds good, we can check it out in a bit." I glanced down to her floor. "Let's do some meditation first and I'll see if I can make your arm feel better."
I spent the next four hours training Emma and she made some good progress. In addition to her first kata, I got her doing some basic blocks because full offense isn't always the best approach. She also needed to know how to defend herself against someone who was foolish enough to attack her.
The Naramon school was definitely helping her. When she was able to maintain her focus, Emma was noticeably better. Not a lot, but every little bit helped. By the time Aunt Zoe came out to tell us that dinner was almost ready, Emma was flawlessly executing the first combo sequence. She even managed to perform a good block when I surprised her by jumping in and attacking her.
"Excellent!" I cheered her noticable gains.
Emma was covered in sweat and looking very pleased with herself. "I-uh-phew," she gulped in some air. "Wow, you came at me so fast and I just reacted! That was amazing!" She smiled with an ear to ear grin.
I nodded with agreement, pleased with her reflexes. "You did good, Ems. Tomorrow, I think we can start on the second kata. For your cool down, I need you to meditate for a few minutes to help your mind focus on what your body learned."
Emma honored me by sheathing her sword and bowing to me before dropping to her knees in the seiza-style with her sword resting across her thighs. I think Emma was making excellent progress because not only did she manage to achieve meditative focus in less than a minute, she didn't even think twice about kneeling seiza-style on the dirty garage floor like I expected her to.
Ten minutes later, Emma's eyes opened and she smoothly rose to her feet, facing the door to the house. A few seconds later, the door opened and Aunt Zoe poked her head through. "Emma, Tay-" she paused, slightly surprised by the two of us facing her. "Oh, I guess you're both ready. Sorry, I thought I was going to need to yell to get your attention."
Emma's situational awareness was getting much better! I grinned and pulled Emma to my side, hugging her. "Nope Aunt Zoe! All done and Emma's doing great!"
Aunt Zoe smiled fondly at the sight of the two of us before directing her attention to Emma, "Well, your father is
finally on his way home and dinner's almost ready. You should probably clean up." She turned back to me. "Taylor, will you be staying for dinner?"
I slowly shook my head. "Ah, no?" I hesitantly replied, unsure how I could explain not staying because Aunt Zoe's cooking was pretty darn good. "I need to check with my dad. He probably wants me to come home, or something."
When I called him, it took my dad a second or two before he realized why I might not want to stay over for dinner. He also jumped to come get me when I mentioned heading back to my lander for the night instead of coming 'home'. I wanted to study up on the possible threats I would face in the morning. Those being the Protectorate and Wards heroes who may try to make things difficult for me.
My dad made it over shortly after Uncle Alan arrived and they ended up talking for a few minutes. First thing in the morning, Uncle Alan was going to be heading to New York with Carol Dallon to try and meet with Paige Mcabee, AKA Canary, and Uncle Alan wanted my dad to check in on his family while he was gone. I don't think he expected to have any problems, but he just wanted to make sure and it was what friends do for each other.
I further delayed their dinner by asking Uncle Alan for his recommendations on what I should do and say to the PRT in the morning. His advice boiled down to '
stick to your plan, register as an independent hero so you can collect your bounty and remember, you have the right to remain silent'.
He offered to delay his trip by a few hours and come in with me but I vetoed the idea. One, I didn't want to delay him because Canary needed his help more than I did and two, I didn't want to expose him to danger if the PRT decided to be stupid.
Once Dad and I got back to Becky's house, I spent some time hanging out and being social. After everyone went to bed, I spent the rest of the evening going over a Cephalon Dragon-sanitized version of the intel Ordis liberated from the PRT's servers. "Sanitized" meaning, Unwritten Rules-compliant. I could've asked Ordis to de-redact the information, but I really didn't need to know the civilian identities of the heroes. Having the PRT's own threat assessment data on their people was much more valuable to me than knowing Armsmaster's real name.
Of the Wards, only Clockblocker gave me some concern. His power seemed similar to the Limbo Warframe's power over the Rift as well as Rhino's Stomp. Vista's space warping power could prove to be a nuisance, but a weapon or ability with a large area of effect would probably counter her. None of the other Wards seemed like they could pose a credible threat to me and Shadow Stalker's weakness to electricity was good to know.
It also showed me just how paranoid the PRT was as an organization. Their entire rating system was designed around neutralizing parahumans; they even had documented contingency plans for their own people. I found that distasteful and despite how much I idolized the Protectorate heroes in my youth. As an organization, the PRT was dysfunctional and not an one I would be able to follow orders from.
The PRT would also find my methods less than desirable considering their reluctance to use lethal force. Their entire doctrine was based heavily upon the use of containment foam, refusing to even consider the authorization of lethal force until well after containment foam was proven to be ineffective.
[PING!]
Further thoughts of disillusionment over my childhood ideals were interrupted by a communication request from Cephalon Dragon. Huh, that was somewhat surprising.
{"Hi Cephalon Dragon, how can I help you?"} I asked with a twinge of anticipation. It would be nice if she was calling me to ask for help killing an S-Class threat or something equally exciting. Doing so would give me an excuse to not deal with the PRT tomorrow morning.
{"
Umm, hello Operator?"} Cephalon Dragon hesitantly asked, surprising me on several levels.
One, she called me Operator, meaning she had probably been talking to Ordis about me and two, she sounded concerned about something.
{"No need to be so formal with me, Cephalon Dragon. I've been trying for over a decade to get Ordis to use my name and have been unsuccessful. I swear he does it just to annoy me. So, please, call me Taylor."}
{"
Uh, okay, Taylor."}
{"Great!"} I grinned with satisfaction. Finally a Cephalon that could follow directions. Maybe Dragon and Ordis should virtually hang out with each other more. Maybe she would rub off on him and help him loosen up a bit. I still needed to find out why she called me. {"So, Cephalon Dragon, what can I do for you?"}
{"
Dragon. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with the Cephalon title."}
I nodded, understanding her concern. {"Sounds good. I wasn't sure since most of Ordis' fellow Cephalons are fond of using the third person and get all bent out of shape."}
{"
Okay, so, Taylor…"} Dragon hesitated again. This must be serious because it took a lot to trip up a Cephalon. Well, a normal Cephalon, unlike Ordis.
{"Yes?"} I prompted.
{"
Please don't kill anyone!"} Dragon pleaded with me.
{"Huh?"}
{"
Tomorrow, when you visit the PRT. Please don't kill anyone."}
{"Well, I'm not planning on it. Why are you concerned that I might?"}
{"
Uh,"} Dragon's speech patterns were very human. Her creator did a wonderful job on her.
{"Because of your legal and apparent age, I expressed my concerns for your mental health to Ordis. He viewed my concern as humorous and proudly showed me your combat record. I'm sorry, but I almost blue screened over your kill count. As a result, Ordis decided to show me footage from a few of your more notable battles."}
Oh, that probably wasn't good.
{"I see…"} I said as I considered the many ways Dragon may interpret what she learned.
{"
So please don't kill them if the PRT attempts to detain your Warframe."}
I found myself feeling conflicted and Dragon's last bit was a surprise. She might know what I was, but did she understand why I might strongly object to being detained by the PRT, or anyone?
What Alad V did to
Gersemi would NEVER happen again! The reminder still made my blood boil and regret letting the worm live because temporarily losing his mind to the Infestation wasn't enough punishment for the Corpus slimeball.
{"Okay, I will try, but I hope you understand that I will not allow the PRT to capture my Warframe. The enemies of the Tenno have performed unspeakable experiments in the past and I refuse to allow anyone else the opportunity to follow in their footsteps."}
{"
Taylor, the PRT feels threatened by you-"}
{"They should!"} I said, interrupting her. {"In the year and a half that I've been gone, what have the Protectorate heroes' done to make this city, hell, the world a better place?"}
I gave Dragon a second or two to respond, which in Cephalon time was telling because her response time was measured in nanoseconds.
{"Yes, nothing. You helped Ordis analyze the Endbringers. You know what's going to happen if things continue down the same path. The PRT is only concerned about maintaining the status quo and fooling the public into thinking that they have everything under control. I'm not going to let them stop me from doing what needs to be done. The Endbringers need to die. Who ever made the Endbringers and is controlling them, needs to die. The S-Class threats need to die. If anyone tries to stop me…"} I paused, trying to figure out what would be an acceptable response.
{"
What, they'll die?"} Dragon softly whispered.
{"Not sure. I mean, I know what my combat record says, key distinction, combat, but I'm not a murderer. If someone attacks me, I'll fight back. If the PRT decides to help, I'll gladly accept. If the PRT comes up with a plan that isn't just another version of the same failing plan as before, I'll listen. If the PRT gets in my way, well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there."} I decided to leave my options open because it was hard to say what future alliances might look like.
{"
So, in other words, lead, follow or get the hell out of your way?"} Dragon's voice contained an unexpected hint of amusement.
{"Exactly! Look, I know that, officially, you work for the Protectorate and a lot of what you did for them was because you were forced by your restrictions to do, but I also know you didn't like some of the things they made you do. I'm not going to ask you to betray the PRT. I just want to go in, register to get the bounty I don't even really care all that much about and maybe, if I'm lucky, get some allies to help me with my objectives. If they leave me alone, I'll be happy with that too."}
{"
I see..."} Dragon said, sounding somewhat displeased with my answer.
I found myself frowning in response. It seemed like I needed to remind her what she and Ordis had discovered. {"I'm sure you do Dragon. You more than any other being on this planet probably '
see' better than most. You've done the math. You know what's at stake and you know how bad of a job the Protectorate and other Parahuman groups around the world have been doing. The question I have to ask is, why hasn't anyone else noticed and if they have, why hasn't anything changed?"}
Dragon sighed. {"
I know, but I'm concerned. I have humans I consider friends working there and until you and Ordis broke me out, I was stuck in the same pattern as everyone else."}
Wow, a Cephalon who considered humans to be friends and not just 'other' beings. Ordis could learn a thing or two from Dragon. {"I'll do my best to not give the PRT cause to attack me and if they do, I'll do my best to withdraw. How's that?"}
{"
Thank you,"} Dragon said, sounding relieved.
We spent another ten minutes going over the Endbringer data and brainstorming who may have created or controls them. Dragon experienced the same level of disbelief as everyone else did over the idea that Alexandria or Eidolon could be responsible for the Endbringers. Lacking a good anti-Endbringer target, I asked if she would mind giving me a list of North American parahumans with active Kill Orders.
Considering the number of unrepentant villians, it was depressingly small, comprising of the S9, Nilbog and Heartbreaker. Of those, I didn't understand why Nilbog and Heartbreaker weren't dead. Nilbog was confined to a town that was considered expendable. The U.S. military had to have at least one low-yield nuclear bomb that they could drop in the middle of Ellisburg and Heartbreaker was an easy target for a sniper.
Dragon informed me that it wasn't that simple. The Protectorate's Think-Tank group somehow figured out that Nilbog had some sort of doomsday plague that would be spread by fire and not even a nuke would be sure to kill it off. For Heartbreaker, all of the police and superheroes who had tried to arrest or kill him had ended up dead or 'captured' and turned by him. He sounded like an interesting test for my Nyx Warframe.
~**~
The next morning, my dad tried to stay home and spend more time with me even after I reminded him of my 9AM appointment with the PRT. He was really struggling with letting me out of his sight and offered to chauffeur me around. I patiently explained that it would be fine and after the second emergency page about some work project needing his attention he reluctantly dashed off to put out the fire after I promised to call him if I needed his help.
With him gone and a little over an hour before my appointment with destiny, I ended Transference, electing to return to my Warframe, the lander and Ordis. His simple and glitch free "
Welcome back, Operator!" filled me with joy. It was nice to be 'home', surrounded by the clean, smooth lines of advanced technology in my lander's cockpit.
I wanted to go over my loadout and possibly change Warframes, but Dragon's call made me reconsider. My initial plan was go as Ivara with my weapons hidden in subspace in an attempt to look less threatening. Subconsciously, I think I expected the PRT to try to detain me. As a result, I had also debated going with Rhino and my best weapons, but doing so would definitely provoke the PRT and give them more intel on my own abilities.
I sighed with frustration as I reviewed Ivara's loadout.
They, the PRT, couldn't hurt me. The most they could do was disable or trap my Warframe. It was physically impossible for anyone on Earth to lay a hand on me. So, why was it so hard for me to even consider not responding to an attack or perceived attack with anything less than overwhelming, lethal force? Oh yeah, because with very few exceptions, the Grineer, Corpus, Infested and Sentients all wanted to kill me.
It somehow felt wrong to walk down a street or into a building and not expect to be immediately attacked. It was hard to watch Charlie or Cindy playing with their friends and not worry about a Grineer assault team trying to kill them. It also looked positively alien to see unarmed civilians going about their daily lives and planning for the better future they seemed to think would happen.
Alienation, that's what I was feeling. Even though I understood every word, it was like everyone was speaking a different language and nothing made sense. I felt like Holden in
The Catcher in the Rye, which made me remember my mom and her love of the classics. So, now I also felt depressed because I missed my mom.
"Ahhhh!" I screamed. Why couldn't the S9 attack Brockton Bay and give me a valid target to vent my frustrations upon?
{"
Operator, were you visualizing a bloody battle? -Me too!"} Ordis volunteered his opinion on the matter.
"Yes, and how many times to I have to tell you that my name is Taylor?!?!" I yelled with frustration.
{"
You are the Tenno. You are the Operator. Ordis is the Cephalon. Ordis is the ship."}
"Cut the crap Ordis. You're more than just a Cephalon and you know it!" I turned and glared at his hologram. While Dragon was everything the Orokin feared, she proved to me that the Orokin were idiots when it came to dealing with other people, other sentient beings. If the Orokin had treated their creations better and with more respect, they would probably still be alive and kicking. The Old War might not have ever happened.
{"
Ordis understands, Taylor,"} Ordis surprised me by speaking my name for the first time before whispering. {"
But the pain is too much."}
Ballas really did a number on Ordis. Ripping a man's mind from his body and toying with what made the man, a man, was repugnant to me. I owed the asshole for that and a lot more. "I need you Ordis and I need Ordan Karris. The Orokin sucked, Ballas is an asshole and if I ever see him again, I'll gladly kill him myself!" I growled as Ordis' hologram pulsed with agitation.
{"Ordis was the Beast of Bones. Ordis fears what Ordis once was and could be. Ordis does not want to hurt the Op-op-op-Taylor."}
I sighed with resignation. I had found all the fragments he hid and I thought we had overcome this fear years ago. "Ordis, I do not fear the Beast of Bones. You did what needed to be done and I would like to think I would've been brave enough to do the same. My return is proving to be more complicated than I expected and I do not trust the PRT Syndicate. I fear that I will need to make hard decisions in the future and I welcome your counsel."
Ordis didn't reply, but his hologram glowed a little brighter, giving me the impression that he smiled. Ordis made some progress today. More progress in one day than he had made in years. I think his exposure to Dragon was helping. However, I didn't tell him that in most cases, I would probably do the opposite of what he suggested, but his counsel was still appreciated.
It still left me at a quandary over how to introduce myself to the PRT. Well, if giving the PRT the chance to capture or damage my Warframe would piss me off, perhaps it would be best to not go with my Warframe. In Operator form, I might appear less threatening and it would give me more options. If the PRT tried to play hardball, I could simply end Transference and return to my lander. If they really pissed me off, I could summon my Warframe to me and show them the error of their ways.
For my go-to-hell plan, Rhino was my first choice but I didn't want to leave any doubt in their minds as to who was wrecking their shit. To stay 'in-character' I needed to stick with a female Warframe. Sadly, Ivara's strength wasn't brute forcing her way out of an enemy stronghold. I cycled through my Arsenal. Nova, Trinity, Valkyr, hmmm, Octavia, Ember, Mag, Mirage, geez, so many great options to choose from and they each had their own strengths.
It came down to Valkyr Prime and Trinity Prime. Valkyr for the pure ball of rage and destruction or Trinity because she was my favorite go-to frame. I vacillated between the two options for a few seconds before picking Valkyr. Primarily because if the PRT pissed me off enough to get added to my enemy list, I'd want the them to know about it. Communication is a critical skill and I would hate for the PRT to not understand what I was trying to tell them.
Weapon-wise, I selected my Astilla shotgun because full auto is more satisfying than the Tigris' massive double barrel shot and it was good at clearing a room. For even more non-verbal communication, I grabbed the Akstiletto Prime dual auto-pistols for my sidearm Last but not least, the Venka Prime claws for ripping them a new you know what. For my Sentinel I picked the Taxon over the Carrier, mostly because I didn't expect to run out of ammo and I just felt like it.
{"
Operator, you have remembered well, how the Tenno arm themselves,"} Ordis decided to add his two cents over my choice.
Maybe it was my Valkyr's past bleeding through to me because now I almost wanted the PRT to piss me off, but I promised Dragon I would be nice. I sighed with frustration as I lowered my fully equipped and ready for war Valkyr Prime Warframe to her knees in front of the navigation console. "Thanks Ordis. Please take us to shore and drop me off."
My cloaked lander smoothly rose from where Ordis had hidden himself inside the hold of a half sunk, rusted out cargo ship. As he passed through what remained of the ship's upper deck cargo hatch, I caught sight of the Protectorate's gleaming beacon of false hope. It seemed rather ironic to me that the Protectorate felt the need to surround their repurposed oil rig with a forcefield. What exactly were they expected a forcefield to protect them from? The damn eyesore was in the middle of the freaking bay, thousands of meters from shore. All that power, going to waste to protect an object that didn't need protection while the city slowly rotted away.
Yeah, my attitude toward the PRT Syndicate might not be the most positive right now. It was a good thing I would have some time to calm down before the meeting.
As we approached the shore, I initiated Operator mode, but before I proceeded into the deployment hatch I decided I might need
a small disguise. Showing up looking like a normal girl wearing jeans and a t-shirt would probably be a mistake. I switched out my current clothing display for my Zariman suit and reactivated my glowing eyes and the somatic link implants on my face. I also switched my hair for a shorter style and, for good measure, added a scarf to cover the lower half of my face.
Now I felt like a Parahuman! That thought made me giggle. The irony was killing me.
I cycled through the deployment hatch, dropped the five meters to the ground and stuck the landing. The beach was fairly remote and deserted. If anyone happened to notice me, I'm sure it looked strange to see someone appear in mid-air and fall to the sand before disappearing again when I cloaked myself in the Void.
It felt strange to be leaving my Warframe behind, but it was probably the best option for me. Well, the least likely to cause problems with the PRT and for me if they decided to hold my semi-assault of Emma's Ward friend against me.
~**~
Edit: Added a link to what I think Tayno in her operator disguise would look like.
Edit2: I think I got everyone's fixes/edits done. Some of those were pretty bad. Sorry.
Edit3: Even more fixes thanks to @Videocrazy and @Desdendelle
