A multi-part Destiny series. I'll get back to doing some RWBY stuff eventually, I promise.
Enjoy!
Reina Mhyre had always thought herself a Guardian who would rise to the challenge of any foe, regardless of the odds pitted against her. The opponent could be stronger, or swifter, even utterly ruthless - these were all potential circumstances in battle. But no perceived dominance of the enemy would ever dissuade her from standing her ground and committing to the fight - no, a true warrior could seize victory in even the most harrowing of battles.
Reina did not think any of this anymore.
Never had she felt so utterly deprived of the ability to fight back against an opponent, her energy inexplicably sapped from her. She glanced frantically to the left and to the right; her eyes scanned her surroundings, desperate to detect her assailant in the murky depths of the forest in the dead of night. To her dismay, she saw naught but the myriad of motionless trees looming over her.
The stricken Hunter had begun this night rather differently; a tranquil stroll through the meandering cobbled streets of the Last City.
In the aftermath of the Red Legion invasion and subsequent occupation, and with the malicious machinations of the Vex on Mercury thwarted, things were gradually starting to return to normal. Families had moved back into the City, shops and markets were rebuilt and re-opened - and cautious celebrations of victory had emerged. As she had walked through the City at dusk, Reina had warmly gazed upon a range of City banners and standards hoisted on flagpoles and lines hanging overhead.
The pleasant walk was not to last.
A dull thud had erupted out from somewhere further down the street, out of sight - unmistakable to the battle-hardened Hunter as the sound of some kind of grenade detonating.
Screams had rung out, echoing towards her and ending the serenity of the evening. Reina had wasted no time and took off at breakneck speed, sprinting towards the point of disturbance. The scene she arrived at perplexed her.
Three motionless bodies were strewn across the cobbles; they lay just in front of a destroyed restaurant, whose rubble was scattered all around. Above the dead hung a thick, seeping layer of some kind of smoke or gas - an unnerving mixture of jet black and magenta wisps curling slowly in the air. What remained of the living were dazed and wounded citizens, coughing and staggering in the aftermath of the explosion.
"There! Over there! What is that?!" came a civilian's shout to Reina's left. She looked to where the civilian was pointing, up at the rooftop of a building only meters away.
Some form of grim, tenebrous figure loomed above, its appearance so dark even against the night sky that it seemed as if it were an embodied silhouette. The figure consisted entirely of a levitating cloak - hooded like a Hunter's, but of exceptional length and particularly imposing. Reina could see no feet emanate from beneath the cloak to touch the ground. It was the perfect picture of a wraith or a phantom - the kind that are often the subject of nightmares and ghost stories told between children.
Though Reina could discern no eyes from its faceless hood, she could feel it staring directly at her, as if mocking her inaction.
Not a moment later, the Hunter had risen to the challenge of the murderer. The City would not suffer further terror and loss whilst Reina Mhyre still lived within its walls. She had dashed towards the attacker, leaping up balconies to reach the rooftop.
To her surprise, she found that the figure was fleeing; with her keen sight, she spotted it swooping across the tiled roofs of each street, rapidly escaping towards the City's outer limits. It was a swift adversary, but Reina was determined to deliver justice to this butcher of innocents before it could retreat from the scene in cowardice. The young Arcstrider bolted after the figure, and the chase soon descended into the streets themselves. Winding through alleyways, the pursuit soon took them out of the City limits, beyond the Wall; just as Reina had begun to close in on her prey across the open ground, the phantom had slipped away to her left = directly into the forest. She had cursed herself for such a failure, and stormed into the forest desperate to avenge the innocent citizens who had been butchered.
And thus, here she found herself.
The black and magenta smoke swirled around her, the same she had seen earlier that night. The heavy air felt as if it were weighing her down, impeding her ability to move, let alone fight. Reina's mind felt equally clouded - as if she were stuck in some kind of half-dream, where she could only witness the events occurring with no sense of control. The Arcstrider fell to her knee, gasping for breath and searching for the source of this foul, cowardly attack.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the cloaked figure emerged from the darkness between silent trees, stopping a small distance away from her.
What is it doing? pondered the Hunter.
Observing? Judging?
Playing with its food?
She ceased to wonder about this thing's purpose or behavior. It was time to end this - on her own terms.
"A-alright...you might have a talent for ambushes, and murdering the innocent," she said softly, before pausing to catch a fleeting breath of clear air. "But now you have to face me. No running."
The phantom did not react to her challenge.
Discretely, she tightened her grip on the gun at her side, gritting her teeth.
"...And you don't look too quick on the draw."
With a tremendous burst of all the strength she had left in her, she rose to her feet, swinging her trusted hand cannon up from her hip and leveled straight at the dark being before her, center mass. Not a moment's hesitation was to be found in her finely honed reflexes - she pulled the trigger within the instant.
A thunderous crack rang out, echoing through the night air. Nearby birds scattered and fled in alarm, and then all was silent.
Numerous scarlet wounds wept bloody tears from Reina's body, and the Hunter fell to the forest floor wordlessly.
A second crack.
Reina's shattered ghost dropped down beside her lifeless, lightless form.
Every esteemed leader of the Tower has a regrettable downside to their position.
For Cayde-6, it was the confinement of the Tower itself; he lamented that his role was to stay within the City walls and provide guidance to other Hunters, who ventured into the unknown and led expeditions that Cayde could only daydream about. For the Master Cryptarch of the Tower, Rahool, it was the constant unwarranted scorn he received when he meticulously decrpyted an engram, only to produce an artifact that wasn't specifically what a Guardian was searching for. And for Commander Zavala, it was the bleak task of post-occupation recovery - the heartache of counting how many Guardians had been lost, how many civilians had been mercilessly slaughtered, how many refugees were still in need of basic humanitarian aid.
But for Lord Shaxx, it was a more trivial problem.
He lamented having to oversee the Crucible matches of newly risen Guardians...who frequently dumbfounded him with their complete inability to fight tactically.
Shaxx stood with his arms crossed, staring at the live video feeds before him and shaking his head.
"You are a TITAN, Guardian! Don't fight so timidly, flank your opponents and RUIN them!" he barked, startling the Titan in question and spurring her to leave cover and make an attack. She sprinted round a corner, leaped up onto a ledge and sprayed bullets down at the two oblivious opposing Guardians ahead of her. The Titan missed most of her shots, mostly hitting the concrete wall behind her two foes.
She was swiftly killed by another enemy to her right.
Lord Shaxx threw his hands up in the air, incredulous.
"I don't believe it, Guardian! You had two targets, unaware of your presence and ripe for the taking! And yet STILL THEY LIVE! Get back in there and hit your target this time!"
Arcite 99-40, his frame assistant, watched the feeds from behind him - whilst deftly assembling a pulse rifle with his precise robotic hands.
Shaxx switched the feed to a Warlock on the opposing team. The Warlock had just secured ammunition for his rocket launcher, and looked poised to use it.
"Yes, Warlock! I love it! Rain devastation on your opponents!"
The Warlock charged up to high ground and launched a missile directly into two enemy Guardians. Both were slain in the explosive ball of blistering solar fire.
"FANTASTIC, Guardian! Keep it up!" Shaxx shouted with glee.
Descending from above in a graceful glide, the Warlock dashed forward with the rocket launcher in hand and peeked around the corner, spotting the two remaining members of the opposing team.
"Your prey is within your palm, Warlock! Finish them of-"
The Warlock pulled the trigger of his rocket launcher a moment too early. The rocket immediately hit the wall right in front of the Warlock, who was disintegrated right on the spot by his own explosive payload.
Lord Shaxx gazed wordlessly into the screen in front of him. He focused on only one task - resisting the urge to punch the desk beside him.
The Crucible handler failed to resist.
His fist broke straight through the metallic desktop, shattering it into thirds.
"Ohh splendid..." he muttered to himself. He breathed in, consolidating his anger.
"NEXT TIME YOU HAVE HEAVY AMMO, GUARDIAN, WHY NOT EQUIP A WEAPON YOU WON'T DESTROY YOURSELF WITH?!" he bellowed down the communications feed, near enough frightening the life out of the resurrected Warlock.
His temper roused by this shameful display, Shaxx berated the under-performing Guardians further.
"And you, Gunslinger, have yet to hit a single target with your Golden Gun! Cayde would have you expelled from the Tower! And-"
"Not interrupting, am I?" came a familiar, soft voice.
Lord Shaxx turned to face this distraction.
It was a pleasant one.
Ikora Rey, the only Guardian to ever surpass Shaxx himself in the Crucible. A legend equal to his own. And one of the select group of individuals who Shaxx could consider a friend.
"Not at all, Ikora. Come in."
She smiled warmly and stepped into the wide, weapon-filled room which now served as Shaxx's armoury. Casually, she glanced to her side to look at the Crucible video feed.
"The new recruits...are they really that bad?" she said, raising her eyebrows as she noticed the broken desk nearby.
Shaxx held a hand up to his helmet, shaking his head.
"They're unbelievable, Ikora. Just this afternoon, I've witnessed a total absence of tactical awareness. Guardians charging into close quarters with sniper rifles, Hunters who think they can scarper from every fight that isn't wholly in their favour, Titans who rush to punch enemies when they're still a dozen yards away...and Warlocks who commit suicide with missiles. I've half a mind to go in there and face them all at once to prove a point."
Ikora chuckled and shook her head in disbelief.
"Well, that does sound like a handful."
"You wouldn't believe it," Shaxx replied. "Come on Ikora. The Crucible misses your presence. There's only one good way they'll learn. You and I, against a team of 20 of these rookies. What do you say?"
Another grin came from Ikora.
"Tempting offer, Shaxx - but where would be the challenge in shooting 20 fish in a barrel?"
The Crucible handler gave a hearty laugh and turned away from the video feeds.
"I suppose you're right. They'll just have to learn at their own pace...however slow that may be." He sat down on a nearby bench, and returned to fine-tuning a sidearm he had been working on earlier in the day. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Ikora?"
She straightened up, tall and serious - her stance for when serious affairs were afoot.
"Emergency Vanguard meeting. Level PEARL. All senior personnel of the Tower are to attend - even the Consensus leaders."
Shaxx looked up from the sidearm with surprise. Emergency Vanguard meetings were a rare event, and PEARL level meetings were no joke - the last time one was called had been to assess the arrival of Oryx and his Taken hordes in the system and the subsequent Phobos incident. This was certainly not going to be some dull, bureaucratic dispute about faction rallies, that was for sure.
"A PEARL meeting? About what?" he questioned.
"Come along, and you'll find out. Unless you'd prefer to supervise that all evening." she said slyly, nodding towards the live Crucible feeds. Shaxx turned to look at the feed, in which a Warlock had just injured himself by blinking into a door frame. Ikora smirked and swiftly left.
Shaxx didn't hesitate. He switched off the video feed instantly.
"Not a chance. I'll come along now."
Quickly, he rose to his feet and strode after her.
We'll be lucky if we can even get everybody in the room, Commander Zavala thought to himself.
Let alone get everybody to agree to a singular plan of action.
The Commander loathed trying to get all the major figureheads of the City to come to consensus on a plan whenever a threat appeared. There was always endless disagreements, bickering and occasional slander; most notably, the faction leaders were notorious for blaming each other for inadequacy or incompetence. But one way or another, Zavala somehow always managed to rally them all and formulate a unified response.
After all, he'd had decades of experience in managing this rabble.
The room in which he stood - dubbed 'The War Room' - was rather miniature for its namesake purpose, and was indeed too cramped for a meeting of this nature. Nevertheless, he knew that needs must in the absence of the actual Tower itself; it would have to do.
Deputy Commander Sloane stepped into the room, maneuvering around the score of Tower officials who filled the room and taking her place at Zavala's side. She placed her hands behind her back and surveyed the scene before her.
"Lotta big names in here, sir."
"Indeed." Zavala mused.
"A PEARL level meeting though, sir? Is the situation really that bad?"
"Perhaps," he replied quietly. "The threat that faces us is...unknown, in almost every regard. Our intel is virtually non-existent."
Sloane stared at him for a couple of moments, concerned. She turned back to observing the collection of leaders gathered in the room.
With his deputy commander's arrival, all personnel on the roster called to the meeting were present. The Awoken Commander cleared his throat loudly, and the murmur of indistinct conversations died down as all attention focused on him.
"Ahem. Good evening all. As you know, this is a PEARL level convening, so I will waste no time on other matters. Some of you will have undoubtedly heard the rumours circulating of multiple deceased Guardians over the last dozen days."
Zavala sighed.
"These rumours are correct."
He paused for a moment. The tension was palpable, as the gravity of the situation set in among the assembled leaders.
"Several Guardians have been permanently killed - murdered, I should say - in peculiar circumstances. The nature of the weapon which killed them is not yet clear. These killings seem to adhere to a pattern. A disturbance occurs within the City walls...a cruel attack on innocent civilians, or a sudden detonation to draw attention."
He paced back and forth, all eyes on him.
"This inevitably attracts those who would step in to defend the innocent. Those with bravery and kindness in their hearts. Guardians."
The Commander stopped in front of the holo-table in the centre of the room, resting his hands on its border and leaning over it.
"The...assailant then appears to flee, luring a Guardian to give chase. The chase leads to an encounter outside the City walls, every time. And every time, a Guardian has been killed. I regret that we have no footage of how this apparition fights or destroys its opponents, but-"
"Excuse me, Commander," came the interruption from Arach Jalaal, the head of Dead Orbit. "But it sounded a lot like you said apparition."
Zavala returned an unwavering gaze towards the black-haired Awoken.
"I did."
The Arach scoffed and straightened up.
"Forgive me, Commander, but an apparition? A ghostly being, a wraith of some sort? This sounds more like a ghost story told between the children of the City."
"Riiiight. And you should know all about ghost stories, Jalaal. Anyone else ever read all that depressing Dead Orbit poetry? Yikes." chimed Cayde-6.
Commander Zavala suppressed a smirk.
"This is no joke, and certainly not a children's story, Arach." The Commander stated. "The attacker does indeed appear...spectral. Rather like a phantom, to be precise."
Lakshmi-2 emerged from the huddle to face Zavala.
"I believe what you say, Commander. But given we have no idea of what this...creature looks like, how can we expect to recognise it, or hunt it down?"
"Fortunately for us, Lakshmi, we do have limited footage of the apparition. Dim the lights please, Sloane."
The deputy commander complied, and as the lights dimmed, a video recording appeared above the holo-table.
"Last night, the apparition attacked a peaceful corner of the Core North district. Local response came from the Hunter Reina Mhyre. As you can see from the footage," - he gestured to the slow-motion replay of the chase being projected - "Reina pursued the apparition across rooftops and down into the streets. Eventually, the chase terminated outside the City perimeter, in the depths of Dewer's Forest."
"Alright, alright," Cayde piped up again. "We've gotta stop callin' it 'the apparition'. It's wayyy too lengthy. And dull. And nerdy. How about something cool? Like 'the night reaper' or 'the black spirit', or-"
"Cayde." Zavala warned in a low tone. Cayde held up his hands, apparently admitting he overstepped the mark.
"The...spectre, then. The Spectre can be clearly seen in this video still. It bears no resemblance to a Guardian, and yet...it killed not one Guardian, but several."
Ikora strolled over to stand by Zavala, scrutinising the image of the Spectre at the holo-table.
"It could be imbued with the Light. Maybe not a Guardian, but...risen, nonetheless. We all know the stories of the Warlords from the days before the City Age." She paused to speak to the entire congregation. "Not all who are gifted with the Light choose to wield it for good."
Asher Mir made an audible hmmph.
"Based on experience and a rational approach, I deduce that this so-called Spectre is yet another deluded fool of that blasted Shadows of Yor cult. Believing himself to be the next Dredgen Yor." The scientist clutched his Vex arm somewhat tentatively, as if nursing some dull pain in it.
The mighty Crucible Titan nodded and moved closer to the holo-table, with other leaders parting out of his way as he approached.
"Asher may well be right. I've seen some of these dregs running around my Crucible arenas before. Ignoring objectives in tactical scenarios, killing their opponents with too much satisfaction, wielding replica hand cannons that emulate Dredgen Yor's Thorn." Shaxx stood with his feet apart and his arms crossed, staring down at the holographic image of the Spectre.
Executor Hideo of the New Monarchy turned to face Shaxx.
"I've never understood why you fail to punish and exclude these disturbed individuals, Lord Shaxx. They are not fit to stand alongisde true Guardians."
"Oh, I do punish them, Executor," Shaxx replied confidently. "I enter the Crucible myself. And scatter them to the wind."
He punched his fist into his other hand; an old Titan gesture to signify the legendary Fist of Havoc.
"We're getting off topic," Zavala interrupted, regaining the room's attention. "We must counter these attacks and deter the Spectre. I propose we assign fireteams of three to conduct sweeping patrols of the City, particularly at night. This misguided killer will not fare so well against co-ordinated Guardian strike teams."
"Aw hell, good luck with that Zavala! No Guardian is gonna want to stroll slowly through the City all day! Just get some frames to do the patrols!" remarked Cayde.
The huddle of leaders began hurriedly talking over each other, all agreeing or disagreeing to the proposal - or suggesting their own ideas. Commander Zavala let out another deep sigh.
"I disagree, Commander!" spoke Lord Shaxx. His powerful voice seemed to hush the bickering. "If this Spectre can kill one Guardian, he may well be able to eliminate three. We can only answer this threat with a powerful threat of our own. I suggest we issue a public challenge to it. We must send forth one of our most powerful Guardians - one singular Guardian of unquestionably immense skill and strength of Light."
He looked across the Tower officials gathered before him, all focused on his words.
"There are several candidates present in this room. Ikora, Cayde, Zavala, Sloane...or me."
Deputy Commander Sloane shook her head.
"With all due respect, Lord Shaxx, this isn't the time for any of us to be seeking glory. This isn't the Crucible, this is a Guardian killer who needs to be put down. Hard and fast."
Lord Shaxx turned to face her, defiant.
"That is precisely why we should follow my proposal, Deputy Commander. A hard and fast takedown by any of us. Clearly, the Spectre intends to build a mythos of fear and terror around itself - it wants to collect the names of great Guardians and make those names become testaments of its fighting prowess. It won't be able to resist the temptation of taking one of us on in a duel. Wouldn't even have to be one of us, in fact - I'm sure Saladin's Young Wolf would be more than capable of besting this creature."
Commander Zavala was silent for a few moments, before taking a step back and addressing the PEARL council.
"I don't agree with your idea, Shaxx. But we will put it to a vote. All in favour of Lord Shaxx's proposal, please raise your hands?"
A number of officials showed their support.
"...And those in favour of regular patrols, raise your hands, please."
Hands were raised in favour.
More hands than those in support of Shaxx's proposal. The Crucible lord contained his disappointment and nodded to respect the outcome of the vote.
"Very well. As Commander of the Vanguard, I hereby institute that fireteams of Guardians will comb the streets of this great City to ensure the safety of its peoples. Meeting adjourned."
The rabble of Tower leaders began to murmur among each other again, hurriedly exiting the War Room still engaged in intense debates and disagreements over the proposed plan of action. Only a select few remained in the War Room: Sloane, Shiro-4, the three Vanguard leaders and Lord Shaxx himself.
Shaxx turned to Zavala, leaning upon the holo-table.
"Commander, you must see that this is folly. This will only lead to more Guardians slain in the streets of our City. We should draw the spectre into a battle of our choosing, against a champion of our own - one we can trust to be capable of defeating it. This is nothing but a half-measure!" Shaxx made no attempt to dampen his booming voice.
"You said it yourself, Shaxx. If it can kill one Guardian, it may be able to kill three, you said - so what use would there be in sending out one Guardian to challenge it? That in itself is a folly, surely you must-"
"One champion, Zavala! One of our greatest! We can bait the Spectre into a fight it cannot win, and then-"
"And then what, Shaxx?! Let it slay one of our greatest? For a hero of the City to be slain so recently after the Red Legion's barbaric attack would sow fear among the people, and legitimise the mythos of dread surrounding it! We cannot risk that kind of gamble. The vote has been cast, and there will be no further discussion of the matter."
Zavala finished the argument with an intense glare directly at the Crucible lord. Neither seemed to have any desire to relent.
"Y'know, I'd never usually agree with the big man..." Cayde-6 pushed himself off the wall and sauntered over to the holo-table casually. "But he's right. Bunch of fireteams walkin' slowly through the City isn't going to fix this, they're gonna be sittin' ducks for the Spectre to ambush them. And what we realllly don't need right now? Is another Guardian murdered, right where everyone can see it. People are gonna panic and flee the city if they think they ain't safe again. And Zavala, you know better than any of us that we don't need even more refugees right now."
Cayde glanced around at all the faces focused on him; Zavala in particular seemed displeased at Cayde for having taken the opposite side of the argument. The hunter threw his hands up defensively and paced backwards towards the wall.
"Hey, just my two cents. Don't mind me. Shiro agrees too, look at him. You agree, right Shiro? Right? I'm right."
Shiro, bemused, remained silent at the holo-table, his arms crossed.
A few wordless moments passed, all eyes fixed on Zavala. The commander stared down at the table, apparently deep in thought, mulling his options over. With a deep exhalation, he stood up from the table with his arms behind his back.
"The decision of the the Tower was final, and remains so. Fireteams will be vigilant in their patrols of the City, defending our citizens and keeping this bastion of humanity safe. As a concession to the opposing argument..." Zavala breathed in deeply, as if exhausted from the burden of duty. "...I will ensure that only the most accomplished Guardians of the Vanguard are assigned to these patrol teams. Every fireteam will be composed of truly valorous Guardians - those who have proven their skill and tenacity in battle time after time. In this respect, the Spectre will be greatly outmatched in a confrontation."
The War Room was eerily quiet in its lack of response to Commander Zavala's statement. He cleared his throat to break the silence.
"Meeting concluded. We will meet again in a week to assess the efficacy of our actions."
The Titan commander swiftly departed, whilst the others gradually left the room with no words exchanged about the controversial plan of action. It was not long until only Cayde-6 and Lord Shaxx remained in the room.
The wise-cracking Hunter strolled up to Shaxx and slapped a hand on the great Titan's shoulder.
"Heyyy big guy, don't look so glum! Y'can't be too riled up about that right? You actually got Zavala of all people to make a compromise. And that guy hates compromising his oh-so-magnificent plans."
Shaxx, with his arms crossed and his gaze still fixed on the door Zavala left through, simply shook his head.
"What?" Cayde asked. "What is it?"
Shaxx shrugged off the hunter's hand from his shoulder and strode out of the War Room.
"Just another half-measure." he replied solemnly.
Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far! More coming very soon. Let me know what you thought in reviews!