Chapter 1: The Warlock
Winter landed at the Frontier with two other Guardians at her side. She was unbelievably nervous, standing with her team as they waited for the Redjack to give the starting signal.
You've got this, Winnie. She pumped herself up in her thoughts. I'm going to win. I'm going to-
The siren blared and her heart skipped a beat.
Win!
"So," the hulking Titan walked into the bar behind his Hunter companion, "why'd you want me to come with you?"
They sat at a booth where they had a good view of the Crucible match about to start on the screen. "Because, Lias, I just found someone we definitely need to kill Telleth'uul." The Hunter watched eagerly as the fight was about to begin.
"Who is it?"
The Hunter smirked and pointed at the Warlock on screen. "Her."
The Titan saw a petite girl with brown skin and dark brown hair cut just above her shoulders. She wore a short blue robe with a thin belt under her breasts, spreading that underpart of the coat outwards slightly. The bond on her arm had a holographic butterfly glowing. Her helmet was cupped under her left arm and she held an SMG in her right hand. The Warlock had a worried expression on her face.
The camera angle changed from her team to the other. The Titan then turned to his friend. "What's so amazing about her?"
The Hunter looked confident with what he was about to say. "Winter has focused her Light on her Sol abilities. She's able to heal and protect us with barriers or pools of Light. She can even resurrect herself without her Ghost's help. Also, she's got amazing hips."
"Winter…" Lias said her name quietly then came to realize who she was. "I knew she looked familiar. I heard she doesn't have much experience fighting."
"She's only been alive for two years there isn't much experience, yes," the Hunter explained, "but she has amazing healing capabilities and we need that!"
"Eralis can heal too, Kyer." He raised an eyebrow at his Hunter friend.
"Yes, but Eralis isn't as good as she is." Kyer fixed his gaze on the match. He watched as Winter moved gracefully through the field. She would create healing orbs for her team. The Warlock put her hand against her Titan teammates back, strengthening him with her Sol magic. He mowed the enemy down on their first round with his assault rifle.
The second round, she decided to try and get a kill herself. She let her team engage the other three combatants and went for a flank, but she moved too slow. Her team went down quickly without her aid and before she knew it, the zone in the middle turned on and the enemy had captured it.
Each round, until match point, ended with either Winter's team wiping out the enemy or the enemy leaving Winter last and capturing the point.
"She has yet to be killed." Lias muttered.
"Isn't she amazing?" Kyer slammed both his fists on the table.
Lias watched the screen. "That doesn't mean she's good. The enemy knows who the strongest are. They take out her teammates first then wait for the objective to open and cap' it. They've already assessed her skills."
"Don't count her out yet, Lias." Kyer gave his friend a cocky smile. "Something big is gonna happen this last round, I know it."
"This is it you two." The Titan on Winter's team spoke up. "We cannot lose this."
"Let's try to gather them together and unleash my nova bomb on 'em." The other Warlock on her team said. "One launch from across the field should do the trick if you two are able to group them up."
Winter stayed quiet as her team discussed.
When the time came, the trio were off to complete their plan. It seemed simple: Winter attacked left, the Titan right, and the other Warlock down the middle. What happened next left Winter as the only remaining member on her team.
The enemy Hunter had unleashed his burning golden gun, firing all three shots at the Titan. He went down quick. The other had tried to rush and help revive him, but was sniped by their Titan.
Winter hid for a short time, listening to the footsteps of the enemy Guardians as they passed by her. Her heart raced, when the Titan stopped in front of the small cave she hid in. He stepped close to it and readied his weapon to fire.
I have to do something! Now! She shouted internally.
With that, Winter charged the Titan. SMG in one hand and an orange orb of fire in the other. He was caught off guard as the spray from her gun hit him. The Titan had barely enough time to react when the Warlock got close enough to slam the burning orb into his side. The orb exploded on him, killing him instantaneously.
His Warlock teammate came up behind Winter. She fired at him, but the effort was futile as he ran for cover. Winter did the same. She waited a short while, then when a loud -FWOOM- could be heard she peaked from cover. What she saw almost made her piss herself. Three nova bombs all coming towards her.
I can't freeze up now!
Winter took this chance to run under the bombs, but they managed to turn over and continue their chase. The Warlock who threw them stood in the open with his arm extended and three fingers pointed at her, he was controlling where they went, so Winter used this to her advantage and ran towards him. He brought his arm across his body to change their course. Instead of firing, Winter just continued running at him. She could hear gunfire from her left and noticed that his Hunter teammate was shooting at her.
She ignored it and pushed on. Just as she reached the Warlock, she grabbed his arm and kept the bombs going in her direction, then grabbed his other hand to keep him from attacking her.
"What are you doing?" He panicked.
"Making sure you take yourself out!" Winter shouted.
The bombs approached, his teammates stopped firing to watch the incredible display of a kamikaze. When the bombs had gotten close enough, Winter pushed the Warlock and ran off. She jumped and distorted the gravity around her body causing her to fly through the air. As the bombs hit the enemy, the shockwave flung her against the building in front of her.
From the building, Winter fell on her back, breaking her spine. "I-I can't-" She gasped for air in a panic.
The enemy Hunter walked over and pressed his boot against her stomach. "You sure are hard to kill." He pressed his shotgun to her helmet and fired leaving a mess of blood and gore all around where her face used to be. The Hunter turned and began walking away. He began counting the timer before the match officially ended. "One, two-"
-FWISH-
He turned to see the Warlock, burning gold and bright. The Hunter leveled his shotgun, but was too late. Winter kicked the gun out of his hand, twirled to keep her momentum, then slammed a flaming bomb against his face. He screamed in agony as his face melted and he slowly died.
Just as he died, Winter's Sol fire went out. She staggered while breathing heavily. When the sirens blared again she dropped to her hands and knees.
"Congratulations Winter!" the motherly voice of her Ghost came up in her helmet. "You were amazing!"
Winter brought one hand up in a lazily trying to cheer for herself. The Hunter was brought back to life, laying on his back and staring at the sky.
The Warlock stood and walked over to him. "Sorry." She extended her hand down to help him up.
He took it without any complaint. "You should have fought like that all throughout the match."
Winter giggled softly. "I would rather surprise the enemy then give them an idea of who they're up against." Her Ghost appeared in her hand, just then. "Let's go collect our loot Baris."
"I'll call the ship."
Winter landed at the Tower, tired and constantly touching her face to make sure she still had it. She walked down to Shaxx, who was sitting on his couch reading a book. On what, she was unsure, but it must have been good because he didn't seem to notice the Warlock standing in front of him. When he finally looked up, he had his Ghost summon a weapon for her, a dull red pulse rifle. Then he shouted something about Winter hiding her fighting spirit behind a wall of quietness.
Just as she was about to retire to her apartment someone called her name.
"Winter!"
She turned to see two Guardians in regular attire. One was lanky, the other muscular.
"Looks like you've got fans." Baris joked.
"Yes?" she gave them an awkward smile.
The tall, lanky Guardian came over to her with his hand out. "Have you ever heard of Telleth'uul?"
The name made Winter's eyes widen and light up with excitement. "Of course I have!"