Warframe: GHOULS, Part Five

The cover art for Warframe: GHOULS Part One, by Kevin Glint. The art depicts Little Duck shooting at unseen Grineer attackers while Mag shields them with her powers, with Mitsuki's face pictured in the background, her white eyes and golden somatics prominently featured.
Cover art – Kevin Glint

The fifth instalment of the Warframe: GHOULS comic series, produced in partnership with Top Cow Productions, was released on 30 May 2018. Below is a synopsis of the comic.


Previous issue: GHOULS Part Four


Synopsis

In the Arogya Medica chamber, Mitsuki steps forward, holding her head. Blue energy streams from the corners of her eyes, which are now a solid white, and golden somatics are implanted in her face. Little Duck tells her they tried to use the Medica to heal her, while Mitsuki takes stock. She realises that the device has healed her from the ghoul poison and tried to correct her blindness by linking her mind with the ship's information systems. Mitsuki can now utilise the ship's sensors to see, but she has been merged with the ship on a deeper level, and her human brain cannot handle the flow of information. She cries out as her mind is overwhelmed with data she is unable to process. She says that she now sees what the ship sees, and she knows what the ship knows. Little Duck, hearing the roars of the Infested as they slam against the door, asks Mitsuki to use her new-found knowledge to help them chart a course to safety. Blood begins to flow from the Ostron's nose as she tries to make sense of the data-streams in her mind. She sees the Infested, Grineer, and Corrupted battle each other in the corridors. She can tell that the Orokin defence systems are failing. She taps into the ship's computer and analyses hundreds of simulations, but can find no scenario in which they escape.

Captain Vor and his soldiers, fighting through the Infested, reach a treasure room filled with rare resource containers and Ayatan statues. Vor muses to himself that although he came seeking the Arogya Medica in order to unlock control of the warframes, what he has found in the room is instead "omnipotence" – though it's not clear what exactly it is. The Corrupted pound on the door, and Vor decides to withdraw in order to lead them away from the treasure room. His soldiers have hacked the data panel, and report to him that the Tenno and its companions are trapped in the Medica chamber. Vor commands his troops to make for the Medica, pushing the Infested back before them.

Mitsuki, seeing the treasure that Vor has discovered, tells her companions that he must be stopped. Little Duck repeats a saying from her father – "Wishes don't mean dirt if you're dead" – and tells Mitsuki that they should cut their losses and run. Mitsuki says that if Vor escapes with the haul of Orokin technology, there will be no safe haven from the Grineer army in the entire system. After a moment of hesitation, Little Duck admits that her father was brain-shelved for stealing a shipment of drain plungers, and perhaps it's best not to heed his advice.

Vor arrives at the Medica chamber with his soldiers, and they cut through the door with an energy weapon before throwing a grenade inside. Vor strides through the cloud of smoke to see Mag, holding up a giant pile of rubble and the remains of the chamber door. He barely manages to dodge out of the way as Mag hurls it towards the Grineer with magnetic force. While Mag and Little Duck engage in a firefight with the Grineer forces, Mitsuki reflects that Vor has taken everything from her, and now threatens her friends. Vor spots Mitsuki and calls out that he should have killed her along with the rest of her village, unintentionally reinforcing her line of reasoning. She realises that Mag and Little Duck have protected Mitsuki from so much harm, and now it's her turn to save them. With determination, she enters the Arogya Medica once again and uses it to tap into the full potential of the Orokin security systems. Energy crackles and Mitsuki screams as a wave of force ripples outward from the machine, sending Grineer flying.

In the stunned silence that follows, a wave of Infested, summoned by the commotion, falls upon the Grineer. Mag, Mitsuki, and Little Duck take advantage of the chaos and flee. Mitsuki shouts behind her "That was for my mother! My father!" and Little Duck cautions her about dwelling on revenge. The group fights through some Corrupted stragglers to reach the Void gate, where they find a small group of Grineer sentries, whom Little Duck swiftly dispatches. Excalibur's restraint block is also near the gate, possibly so that Vor could use the Medica to take control of the warframe. Now that they are close to the portal, communication with the Lotus is reestablished. Little Duck wants to mine for data in the ship's systems, while Mitsuki wants to use her Medica-granted abilities to disable Excalibur's Ascaris inhibitor, but there is no time to do either. The ship is preparing more Corrupted, and the Grineer are also heading for the Void gate. The Lotus instructs them to exit the portal and pull the Void key to trap the remaining Grineer on the derelict ship.

Mag, Little Duck, and Mitsuki traverse the portal and arrive back at the cave, bringing Excalibur's restraint block with them. Mag works to disable the restraints while Little Duck grumbles about the missed opportunity for Orokin data salvage, and Mitsuki presents her with a small glowing data-module that she managed to scrape in a few seconds using her connection to the ship. Grateful, Little Duck goes to pull the Void key, but a bullet shoots across the portal and hits her in the chest, knocking her back. Captain Vor emerges from the Void gate and shoots again, felling Mag. Mitsuki looks on in horror as Vor gloats, but Excalibur – whose bonds were disabled by Mag – appears behind the captain and seizes him by the throat. Mag rises and uses her magnetic powers to throw Vor back through the portal, and Little Duck removes the Void key, closing it forever.

Mag and Excalibur shake hands in thanks, and Mitsuki rushes in to hug Excalibur, her protector. The two Tenno depart in their Landing Crafts. The Lotus tells them that she wishes to reward them with rest, but they are needed elsewhere. Little Duck watches the Tenno ships fly away, and says that Mitsuki's data haul covered the repairs to her chest armour where Vor shot her as well as that month's interest, so at least she came out ahead. She also gets in her ship and departs. Mitsuki, who is once again blind following the closure of the Void portal, is greeted by a Quill in Ceno armour, who cryptically tells her that her arrival has been foreseen by "her". When Mitsuki asks for clarification, the Quill points to the distant Tower of the Unum, which Mitsuki is somehow able to see. She smiles, feeling that she has a new home, and new hope.

Deep within the bowels of a derelict Orokin ship, Captain Vor is surrounded on all sides by Infested monsters. He grips a Vulkar sniper rifle and grins.


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