In a dark, deep, underground cavern, far beneath the surface of Venus, a huge machine turned on, motors whirring, lights blinking and powerful Arc surges sprouting off of the huge generator. Large cords, the size of buses, lit up, sending energy from the machine to a large, circular disk. The outer rim of the disk started to emit light, the shining light growing brighter and brighter. A large figure approached the Gate, it's one red eye casting a glow over the numerous Vex soldiers awaiting orders from it. Arlox the Gate King loomed over his subjects, readying for war.
Red alarm lights flashed and sirens rang throughout the Tower, Guardians bustling about.
In the Hall of Vanguards, Cayde, Zavala and Ikora stared at a holographic display in the middle of the table, a map of Venus showing a red mark in the middle of the Ishtar Sink.
Lord Shaxx ran in.
"What on Earth is that?" He asked, staring at the red spot.
"That" Ikora said gravely. "Is our doom."
A red spot lied right in between the eyes of an unsuspecting Dreg. Crack.
The Dreg collapsed to the ground, a new hole right in the middle of the helmet.
Hadar lowered the scope from his face and trudged over to his new victim, steam pouring from the blast mark. He knelt down and picked through the Dreg's pockets, finding only Ether Seeds and a wrench. The wind that usually flowed through the Cosmodrome rustled his cloak.
He rose again and started to walk towards his sparrow, hidden between two rusting road transports. As he carefully pulled the sparrow out from between the two, he heard a booming sound far above him and looked towards the sky, the glare of the sun causing him to raise his hand to block the flare of light. He vaguely spotted a Fallen drop ship spiraling down towards him, a pulse torpedo rocketing towards him. He took off running towards the rusting buildings, his sparrow exploding in a ball of fire. He jumped over a scrap heap and slid underneath a leaning door. He found himself in a large room, the ceiling three stories up and made of glass. He looked up, helpless to see the drop ship hovering over the building. Fallen Dregs emerged out of the hatches and started to descend on zip cords. The glass ceiling shattered as Fallen soldiers quickly descended towards the floor, firing their Scout Rifles towards him.
Hadar fired a few shots towards them and ran towards the far wall where a hallway lead away from the main room. He entered the hallway as the Fallen soldiers touched down.
Hadar fired his Pulse rifle down the hallway towards the Dregs as he turned a corner. He stuck a sticky grenade on the already crumbling ceiling and kept running. At the end of the hallway was a door, locked with chains around the two door handles. Hadar unsheathed his knife and threw it at the chains from halfway down the hall. The knife hit the chains and they snapped. As he ran through the doors, he heard his grenade go off behind him and the yells and cries of Fallen Dregs. He heard the rising hum of a Wire Rifle and lunged into the room, a Arc Bullet slicing the air above his head and embedding in the far wall. He rolled over onto his back and fired three repeater shots down the hallway. Only silence came. He stood up, eyeing the dead Fallen goons at the end of the hallway. But something wasn't right. He peered towards the Fallen soldiers and saw a glint of light. His eyes widened.
He ducked as an invisible blade cut through the air where his neck just was. He bear-hugged the waist of his unseen assassin and charged towards a wall. A section of wall was bent and the corner was pointing towards Hadar's head. Hadar rushed towards the wall. He nearly collided with the iron spike before he heard a sickening slick and his pursuer turned visible. A Fallen Vandal stood there, frozen. Hadar stood up, and finding his knife back in his belt, stuck it in the Vandal's stomach and backed away. The Vandal fell to the ground, blue blood pouring over the Fallen pirate's armor.
Suddenly, the roof exploded, hurling Hadar against the ground, his Pulse Rifle flying out of his hands. He was crushed against the floor underneath a chunk of metal. A large figure landed on the floor in front of him. He craned his neck up to see a Fallen Captain staring down at him.
The Captain said something in… whatever the language the Fallen used and aimed his gun at him.
So this is how I die He thought to himself. Fallen pirates are my murderers.
Suddenly, the Captain's face, chest, shoulders and stomach were pierced with shotgun fire. The Captain stumbled back and was meleed in the face by a mysterious Guardian. The Captain fell to the ground, defeated.
"What?" Hadar growned. "I had him."
"Sure." The Guardian said, turning around. "That's why you're trapped underneath a pile of ceiling."
Hadar was surprised by her feminine voice.
"I usually don't meet lady Guardians that often." He said as he struggled to lift the ceiling off his back.
The Warlock bent down to help him.
"That must mean I'm special." She said as she lifted the piece of metal off him. "My name is Alecia."
She took of her helmet to reveal pink hair, yellow eyes and light blue skin. She raised her hand. Hadar took it and she hauled him up.
"Hadar." He introduced himself. "I'm sorry to say but I've never met an Awoken face to face before." Hadar said.
Alecia laughed.
"Good thing you aren't meeting one of the men. They can be very competitive."
"So I've heard." Hadar chuckled.
A booming sound came from above them. They both looked towards the sky to see two small skycraft.
"Fallen?" Alecia asked.
"Nah, that's my ship." Hadar said. "I did the paint job myself, modified it even. But there's another one alongside it."
Alecia raised her scout rifle scope towards the two ships which were now hurtling towards them.
"The other one's mine." She said. "I wonder-"
Hadar's Ghost interrupted the chat.
"Emergency alert from the Tower; urgent." The Ghost informed. "Zavala asked for you two specifically. Huh, I wonder what potential he sees in you, Hadar."
Hadar turned and stared his Ghost right in the eye. The Ghost shrunk back.
"Joking, joking."
And with that, Alecia and Hadar evaporated into thin air.
Thexus stood in the middle of a dust red clearing between two tall, red mountains. Firebase Torcus loomed a few yards away. The sound of explosions and gunfire came from inside the building. Taking a deep breath, he charged.
The sliding door opened for him and he ran into a large chamber, another door on the other side of the room and a statue in the middle. He heard the doors opening on the other side and high jumped over the marble bust. He, in mid air, raised his hand cannon and fired at the unsuspecting enemy's head. The goon fell with a thud.
He ran into the hallway, hopping over the dead body as it disappeared in white light. He neared the end of the hallway as two other assailants marched through the far door. Thexus ran towards them but was brutally cut down by gunfire, bullets piercing his suit and penetrating his iron skin, one bullet cracking his helmet and entering his electronic intelligence matrix. He fell to the ground, defeated, blue liquid trickling out of the suit and staining his Titan's mark. He closed his eyes as he was enveloped in white light. He opened his eyes to find himself in the same clearing in front of Firebase Torcus. Sighing, he jogged back in the Firebase.
"You're falling behind." Lord Shaxx's voice rang over his team's comm channel.
Thexus kept running, building up speed. He entered the same hallway to see the same two enemies, opposing Guardians on Alpha team, not suspecting an attack. Thexus hurled himself at the first, meleeing him in the face with devastating strength. The Guardian flew back and slammed through the door, rolling in the red dust to a stop.
Thexus grabbed the second's shotgun and, using the gun as a lever, swung the Guardian around into a wall. The Guardian staggered back and Thexus brought both fists on the man's helmet. The Guardian crumpled to the floor.
"You're in the lead." Lord Shaxx's voice thankfully sounded the team's success. "One minute remaining."
Thexus walked out of the hallway into the main courtyard. A large spire was in the middle of the yard, doors on each side of it leading into the base. He heard a door open and a whistling sound flew through the air. He held up his left and, without looking, caught a throwing knife. He turned to the door on his far left to see a Hunter, not moving, staring at his failed assassination. Thexus reared up and threw the knife back. Just as the knife neared the Hunter's face, the enemy disappeared.
"Emergency situation!" Lord Shaxx said urgently through the comms. "I'm calling this match! The City is danger!"
Thexus teleported to his ship. He took of his helmet and stared at a computer monitor with his blue, electronic eyes. Shaxx came up on live video feed from his desk at the Tower.
"Everyone, remain calm. Set your headings to the Reef, Asteroid Vesta, Jupiter Station and Cheyenne Mountain Complex immediately!"
His ship went into Slipstream Drive.
"Apparently, from the Emergency Vanguard Reports, there's a cosmic distortion underneath the surface of Venus." His Ghost said. "I wonder what the trouble with that is."
"Hmm." Thexus murmured.
His ship jumped out of Slipstream flight with a multitude of other ships, all descending towards the former North American territory known as Colorado. Thexus' ship veered off from the main group and flew towards Russia.
"What?" Thexus asked. "Cheyenne Complex is that way."
"Yeah, I know." His Ghost explained. "But we are summoned before the Vanguard for a special mission."
"Crap." He muttered underneath his breath as his ship spiraled down towards the Tower.
"Shut up!" Llya hissed at her two partners.
"Jeez, Llya." Hemix snickered. He turned to his other friend. "Lady Titans. Always so bossy."
"You only know one lady Titan." Arnix pointed out. "And that's her."
"We've been hunting Paskin for weeks now." Llya stated. "Let's get this over with and then make fun of each other's class, okay?"
The Earth's radiance shown over the rocky, gray plateau of the Moon. Three small hovercraft sped across the field towards the strike team's hiding spot. Llya readied her rocket launcher.
"Remember the plan. I take out the first vehicle and you, Arnix, sparrow over to the second car and plant the mine. Then Hemix, you finish off the Baron."
"We know." Arnix said, readjusting his Warlock bond.
"We aren't dumb." Hemix said.
"You are." Llya explained. "Arnix and I are not."
And with that, Arnix crept over to his spot and spawned his Sparrow, signaling Llya. Aiming her Gjallarhorn, she fired. The rocket sped toward the first hovercraft. A fireball engulfed the convoy but the two heavily armored vehicles burst through the fire cloud. Arnix took of on his speeder and pulled up alongside the second hovercraft. Planting a sticky grenade on the front left power lifter, he pulled away as an electric charge crippled the vehicle and it veered to the left, dragging its left side into the dirt until it slid to a halt.
Hemix summoned his Golden Gun and fired a shot into the door, blasting it off. He looked inside the hovercraft to find nothing. He backed up and fired a shot through the window, killing the Vandal pilot.
"He isn't in there." He called to Arnix and Llya.
"But it was confirmed he was in the convoy!" Llya exclaimed.
"I wonder why the third hovercraft isn't returning to assist its fallen carrier." Arnix asked, staring after the third hovercraft, now speeding away.
The two looked at each other and Llya yelled at Hemix.
"Hemix! Shoot the third one!"
"Crap, too far." Hemix lamented as he aimed his Golden Gun at the far away speeder and fired.
The bullet shot through the air and punctured the back left power lifter. It exploded, causing the hovercraft to careen towards a huge canyon, miles deep. From there position, Hemix could see a figure in tan armor leap out of the vehicle as it fell of the edge.
The three called in there Sparrows and the charged towards the Baron as they were a few yards away, Llya's Ghost informed the trio through the Fireteam's comms "Emergency alert. Report to the Tower."
"No! Don't you dar-" Llya yelled at her Ghost as they disappeared, leaving Paskin alone on the edge of a cliff.
Hadar and Alecia walked out of the hangar, dodging bustling work droids and Guardians, making there way to the Hall of Vanguards.
"Gosh, this place is a mess." Alecia marveled.
"Is this place always like this?" Hadar asked.
"When was the last time you were here?" She asked.
"I don't really like coming here." Hadar confessed. "I refer to remain more free. I feel more alive when I have to do more things by myself."
The two walked past the Cryptarch and descended the steps.
"What if you have engrams to decode?" Alecia questioned.
"I have my ways." Hadar said slyly as they descended the steps passing Eris Morn.
Alecia stopped Hadar in front of Lord Shaxx's desk.
"You're a scavenger Guardian, aren't you." She deduced. "A Guardian who acts independant and on his own terms. You're like the Exo Stranger in those old Ghost stories. A fighter who doesn't act for the good of the Vanguard."
Hadar walked around her.
"So what? Whatever quest those blowhards in the Hall want, I probably won't accept anyway." Alecia got in front of him again.
"I feel like you want to help, but don't want to get involved with the Traveler. You just want to live in an old, rusty house in the Cosmodrome, don't you." Alecia smiled, as if interrogating a man to death was her favorite pastime.
Hadar shrugged. "It's not that rusty."
Just then, a commotion erupted behind Eris' stand and a Warlock rolled down the left staircase.
Clutching the back of his head, he took of his helmet, revealing his chalk white skin and yellow hair, and scratched the top of his head.
"If I wasn't in armor, I'd have a concussion, you idiot!" He called up the stairs.
"I don't care!" Another man called down.
A Hunter slid down the railing and put the Warlock in a headlock.
"Take it back!" The Hunter ordered, his brown goatee glistening with sweat.
"But I'm right!" The Warlock gasped. "In a fight, a Warlock could beat a Hunter."
"No." The Hunter said. "Just...no."
A Titan jumped down the stairs and push the Hunter away.
"What are you doing?!" She cried.
"Arnix said Warlocks are better than Hunters!" The Hunter said.
"Everything would be better than Hunters if they all acted like you!" She snarled.
The Titan helped the Awoken Warlock to his feet and the two started walked towards Hadar and Alecia when the Hunter grabbed a green orb from Eris' empty desk and threw it at the Titan when, out of nowhere, a Titan leaped off the stairs and caught the orb mid flight.
All of them stared at the new arrival who was able to catch a moving object.
The new Titan turned to the Hunter.
"We wouldn't be trying to use an instrument in stopping the Hive as a weapon against our own comrades, now would we?" He asked.
The Hunter gulped and shook his head.
"Good." The new Titan tossed the ball to him. "Now kindly put that back where it belongs."
The Hunter scrambled to the stand and placed it very delicately back in the spot where he took it from and shuffled to his other two companions.
Everyone eyed each other awkwardly. The first Titan took off her helmet to reveal long, brown hair and hazel brown eyes.
"While I'm not one for introductions," she said. "I'm Llya."
"I'm Hemix." The Hunter said.
"Arnix." The Warlock raised his hand.
The other Titan took off his helmet and placed it on Lord Shaxx's desk to show his iron-plated face, blue eyes and multiple battle scars leaking orange light.
"I am Thexus."
"I'm Alecia." Alecia gave a tiny wave.
Silence followed.
Aleica sighed.
"This is Hadar. He hasn't seen many Guardians before. He may seem hardcore on the outside but underneath the helmet, he's a really cool guy!" She explained.
"We've known each other for an hour." He said non emotionally.
Hemix snickered.
"Ah, Guardians." Cayde-6 walked up to them. "C'mon in. You're probably wondering why you're here."
They follow Cayde in, other high ranking members of the Vanguard filing out. At the table were Zavala, Ikora Rey, and others like Amanda Holliday and an Awoken scientist.
"Guardians, it's a pleasure meeting you all again." Zavala greeted them then turned to Hadar. "I don't believe I've seen you before."
"No, we haven't." Hadar said and left it at that.
Ikora pressed a button on the table and the holographic map of Venus popped up, a red dot on the edge of the Ishtar Sink.
"A large Vex Gate is activating underneath the Ishtar Sink." Ikora explained. "Make that a huge one."
"Big enough to teleport a 7-story building." Cayde chimed in.
"So let me guess." Arnix interrupted. "You're sending us to the Gate to shut it down."
"There's a catch." Ikora said. "Normal Vex Gates are only five stories and the Gate Lord controlling it is two stories smaller than the Gate."
"So the Gate Lord, whatever that is, guarding this thing is five stories high." Hadar deduced.
"Exactly. But that's not the end of it." Zavala continued. "A few hours ago, the Reef detected a massive Vex object traveling towards Earth. If these two incidents are connected, we could be facing a Vex invasion."
Silence followed but was soon broken by Alecia.
"But why us?"
"Simple." Cayde said. "You, Alecia have received much praise from my friend Ikora over here." He pointed to Ikora who nodded in agreement. "You too, Arnix, since you've mastered the ways of storm-summoning."
"Stormcalling." Both Arnix and Ikora said at once.
"Thexus, you've shown much skill in hand to hand combat." Zavala complemented. "Llya, Hemix and Arnix, you were chosen for your ability to work amazing together, hence your 98% success rate."
"99 if we were still on the moon." Llya muttered.
"And Hadar for your ability to adapt to different situations and bravely taking on the wild frontier of the Cosmodrome."
"You will be transported to the drop point by this." Holliday explained, projecting an image of a Fallen skiff. "We captured this skiff and started outfitting it with special Vanguard weaponry and better engines. You'll be dropped of half a mile away from the entrance. Better you arrive in one ship than in six, less chance of them seeing you that way."
"The Gate's signal goes through a generator to boost the distance." Zavala stated. "Your mission is to take out the Gate before any Vex get through. We'll have a force on this side incase any Vex get through."
"The portal is a one way trip so we can't go in to help you from the other side." Cayde informed.
"Going with you is Doctor Savenge." Ikora said and the Awoken scientist waved. "He's an expert on Vex technology, he'll advise you on how to shutdown the Gate."
"Pleasure meeting you all." The doctor said.
"Take off is in two hours." Zavala informed. "May the Traveler's light go with you on your mission."
"In other words," Cayde said. "good luck."