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Hya wanted nothing more than to take control over Gara from Cynth. From within the passenger seat of their primed frame, she was gritting her teeth and clawing at the walls of Transference linking them together.
"For Sol's sake, Cynth! Let me help him!"
For the first time in forever, she was panicked, her pleads filled with urgency and desperation. She was begging her younger self to give up the steering wheel in the front seat of the Unum's Glass Warrior.
"You're not in the right head-space for this!" She shouted back. Cynth was just as panicked as her older but she was doing a much better job at keeping herself together. The young Tenno was locked in on the mission as she remained right behind the target they were in hot pursuit of.
All over Mars, the two Tenno were chasing down Arthur. It was originally supposed to be an easy operation. Lotus had alerted Cynth about yet another resurgence of Archon Amar, the bastard wolf being resurrected by Pazuul once again. Narmer was still a significant force within the Origin System, their presence remaining strong despite Ballas' defeat long ago, but their forces were nothing more than a nuisance to Cynth at this point. She had cut down countless amounts of Veil-clad, brainwashed soldiers and had ripped the shards out of each of the three Archons again and again. They were little more than child's play and when Hya had learned that Amar was back from the dead, she was not only eager to accompany her sister-bestie, but also to bring her man from the past to partake in his first battle in the future, if only to just show him around; let him feel the grounds of another planet for the first time.
But that ended up being a foolish decision. In a single instant, Hya's excitement quickly turned into despair when her man fell into the hands of Pazuul, those damned Deacons of his managing to subdue him and don one of those cursed Veils on his face.
Arthur was now within Narmer's grasp, and their mission immediately went from collecting another shiny crimson shard to throw on to the vast pile they had back with Helminth, to saving the Protoframe before it was too late. Hya knew that the Archons themselves were using the empty husks of slain, ancient Warframes as their own bodies, so she knew that if one of them wanted to take the form of an Excalibur..
...
..she wouldn't dare think about it.
Cynth was doing everything she could to keep Arthur within her sights. The man was running and vaulting and bullet-jumping all over the place, moving swiftly yet gracefully like a skilled Tenno would across the Red Planet. Dozens of Narmer troops tried to stop Cynth and her Gara in her tracks but they were all cut down effortlessly with her Hate, its void-wail from its Incarnon form echoing the screams of their deaths. Despite showing no mercy to those unfortunate Grineer and Corpus, she held back against the Protoframe. Arthur was a tough cookie himself, the Techrot and Helminth mutations only making him tougher, but it was obvious that if Cynth really wanted him dead, he would be.
The chase led them deep within a canyon before Arthur slid to a halt and turned around. His Exalted Blade was unsheathed out instantly and he swiped at them. An energy wave came hurling from the glowing sword towards the Gara darting towards him and Cynth knocked it away with a swing of her Hate. She used the next split-second opportunity to quick-draw the Furis on her hip, and fired at him. Its rounds hit his hand and knocked his Skana away, and while staggering back, the man was thrown over the Glass Warrior's shoulder and on to the ground.
With his back in the dirt, Hya immediately jumped out of Gara and slid over to him.
"Arthur!" She exclaimed, reaching down to yank the veil off of him. Cynth extended an arm out, trying to stop her.
"HYA!"
Arthur kicked her away, using the brief moment Cynth was distracted to shoot back up. He grabbed his Skana and thrust it up to the sky, causing a bright flash of white light to emit from the blade. It was enough to make the two Tenno recoil and cover their eyes. Radial blind.
Hya herself was now down on the ground, and Arthur went to lunge at her, the veil on his face making him act so incredibly bloodthirsty. It prevented him from seeing that he was trying to kill the love of his life.
But almost instinctively, Cynth was quick to punch the ground below her, sending a circular wall of protective glass around them both. Even while blinded, she reacted with impressive reflexes to save her other. When Hya regained her vision, she saw her man on the other side, snarling at her like a damned feral Kubrow as he punched and hit the glass separating them.
"ARTHUR!" She cried, desperately trying to reach him. "STOP! PLEASE!"
Tears began flowing from her face as she stepped back once she noticed the glass starting to crack. Arthur's relentless, almost animalistic assault on the barrier was doing a number on the wall and it was only a matter of time before he got in. It scared her. It absolutely fucking scared her.
Cynth grabbed her arm rather aggressively. "HYA! GET BACK IN HERE NOW!"
Hya was too stressed to even move before Cynth sensed another presence closing in: a stronger, more wrathful one. The area around them shook, and from the rocky walls of the canyon, emerged Archon Amar himself. Rocks and debris shot into the air, and Cynth was forced to lift Hya up and jump away before the wolf crashed straight through the glass, shattering it with no effort at all.
Cynth did her best to land as gently as possible so as to not injure her other, having carried her in her arms to safety.
"HYA!" She shook her, repeating her command for the last time. "Back in here, NOW."
Through shaky breaths, Hya finally obeyed and transferred herself back into the safety of Gara. Cynth readied herself as Amar and Arthur lumbered over to them, Nepheri in the hand of the former, and Skana and Vesper in the hands of the latter.
"Look," she addressed. "I know how you're feeling, I really do, but you need to let me handle this!"
"But Cynth- Please, I-"
Hya tried to protest, but Cynth was quick to shut her down.
"NO! You need to listen to me, Hya! You're not thinking straight, and if we're going to save Arthur, then we need to be calm, and levelheaded about this, you hear me?!"
Hya didn't say a word, but Cynth was able to just feel the short breaths she was exhaling, like she was getting antsy just at the thought of that.
Their opponents loomed ever closer as Amar summoned his clones and Arthur made his blade glow again.
"All.." The Protoframe muttered. "..."
"..."
"..All as one."
Cynth gritted her teeth. "Trust me on this, okay? I'm gonna do everything I can for him. Alright?"
No word.
"Hya?"
It took a moment, but Hya did eventually answer with one last request.
"..just get that fucking thing off of him."
And Cynth had a short, simple answer for that.
"I promise."
Taking one last deep breath, Cynth surrounded their Gara in shattered bits of glass, before lunging their frame at them. Hate clashed with Skana and Nepheri, as Cynth worked to carry out that promise like her life depended on it.