A colossal explosion rocked the guardians cover as the hydra moved closer, attempting to prevent the guardians from tampering with the vex gate.
"Hurry up Kara!" Yang, the de facto leader of the scouting team yelled to the warlock working on repurposing the vex gate, the vex were blocking their connections to their ships in orbit and their best bet of escape was using the gates to get off of the vex planetoid, Mercury.
"Incoming!" Yin, the hulking armory of a man roared as he deployed his Towering Barricade to block a volley from a flanking group of minotaurs. "On your left brother!"
Acknowledging the warning, Yang spun and slammed the butt of his shotgun into the minotaur that warped within their ranks. He never got the opportunity to finish it off however as a whooping call came from above, followed with the bio-core of the minotaur being eviscerated by a powerful slug round from the falling arcstrider.
The arcstrider in question dodged to the side of a blast from a hydra before, from the shadows came a grenade, exploding into black mist, concealing the hunter from view within a group of goblins which were following the now destroyed minotaur. He turned from the smoke, trusting his companion and joined his brother in the defense of their surviving warlock. Their comrade falling previously in the massive retaliation force that the vex sent for them following their arrival into the Vex sanctuary on mercury.
"It's nearly ready." the calm sound of the warlock's artificial voice called out from behind the armoured wall that was the two brothers. Her voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of metal being rent apart by the crackling lightning staff wielded by Cassidy. She caught a brief glimpse of him diving behind a minotaur, using it as a shield to protect against the incoming hydra onslaught. Said onslaught was cut short by a volley of void arrows from the silent hunter Jesse who landed beside his fellow hunter and began assisting him in dealing with the encircling vex.
"Get back! We're getting the hell out of here!" Yang called to the hunters. Jesse gave an imperceptible nod and threw two grenades, one at their feet, the other towards the defending titans. The smoke covering their escape, the void wall clearing their path to their fireteam.
In yelling to the hunters he exposed himself enough to be hit by a hobgoblin's rifle, he went down hard on the ground. His brother began to drag him to the gate. Firing his Valakadyn to cover his retreat while his brother unloaded his sidearm into the surviving vex. He swore loudly when his clip ran dry and his was forced to watch helplessly, unable to reload due to his not yet healed injury.
Cassidy flipped over the quickly collapsing cover, saw his leaders fallen minigun, Sweet Business, he looked up to see the gate reopen and Yang get pushed through, he whirled around, firing his leaders gun madly into the endless army of vex. When Jesse silently tried to pull him back he shook free. "First one in last one out my friend! Get out of here." The nightstalker nodded and ran for the gate, sliding underneath a hydra blast meant for him, it instead collided with the gate controls, now abandoned by Kara-7 who was tossed towards the gate by Yin who was holding up his shield to keep the two of them covered.
The gate shifted just as Kara impacted with it, passing through, this shift went unnoticed by all but Jesse who took it as a sign that the gate was barely holding together. He dove through right after Kara, giving a silent prayer to whoever was above that Yin and Cassidy would make it through after him.
The two guardians backed up towards the gate. Not stopping their destruction. Cassidy's shotgun barked repeatedly, each shot signalling the end of another Vex soldier. Yin's autorifle sowed destruction through their captains, the energy damage detonating shield after shield. The two companions stepped into the gate together. Their ammo reserves reaching dangerously low levels as they made it through. Cassidy throwing down a grenade at the gate before he went through in a hope to destroy it, preventing their foes from chasing them to the tower.
Yang woke abruptly, in excruciating pain, he tried to sit up but was forced back to the bed by a strong hand.
"Calm yourself soldier, you've been through hell, you were lucky to survive with how depleted your light was. Take your time to recover." Yang looked up and saw the stoic face of Commander Zavala above him. He groaned, nodded and let out a breath.
"Yes sir, how's the rest of the team?" He asked. Feeling a pang of sadness at having to leave his fallen friend's body and slain ghost on mercury.
"No other guardians came through the rift Yang, you're the only one. Right after you got dumped out into the tower it fell apart. I'm truly sorry for your loss." Yang was speechless. His brother, his friends, all dead. He left them there on mercury with no escape all because of a dumb mistake that got him shot, he couldn't recover fast enough and it spelled the end of-
Yang was pulled from his chain of self-beration by Zavala. "Don't blame yourself for what happened. If you spend time thinking about what you should have done or could have done you'll make things worse for yourself, believe me soldier. I know." Yang nodded in resignation and sat up slowly.
"When you're ready, you can come see me to report on the mission. But do take your time to process what has happened." Zavala put his hand on Yang's shoulder who nodded without a word as Zavala left him on his own.
The last thing Zavala heard from the broken man as he left was the choked back sobs as he mourned his losses. A sound which Zavala was far too familiar with from his many years of being a guardian.
"What are you?! Braindead? Dust! Fire, water lightning.. Energy!" A white haired and justifiably angry heiress questioned the young girl in front of her who was struggling to keep in a sneeze. "Are you even listening to me?" Was the last thing out of Weiss' mouth before Ruby sneezed, detonating the volatile dust in the air. Though that was not the only detonation. In the cloud of various energy explosions came a bright light that nearly blinded those who looked at it. The light then exploded within the cloud of dust, setting off a chain reaction the caused the explosion of every other vial and crystal of dust within the cloud. The resulting destruction knocked many students off their feet, those close enough to the blast were sent flying, the damage absorbed by their aura.
Though the two at the epicentre were not so lucky. As the students and nearby faculty rushed to the girls aid they found them unconscious, severely wounded and their aura drained. Though between them stood a tall figure with long flowing robes and a helmet that appeared to be a clouded dome supported by a metal frame.
Kara-7 took careful stock of her surroundings using her helmets priority target scanning. The girl in red at her feet was lighting up like a christmas tree as was several other people around the edge of the crater. Each one wielding enough weapons to cut her down in an instant should she make even the slightest move.
"I don't detect the presence of light on any of these people though they do appear to have some form of energy shield surrounding them. I cannot detect a source at this moment." Kara's ghost, Warren informed her through their link. "Someone's approaching, massive reserves of this strange energy shields."
"I see her" Kara muttered. Waiting for her opportunity to blink away to catch them off guard. What Kara wasn't expecting to see was a blond lady who looked like a pissed off college professor with a riding crop stare down at her.
"Stand down immediately or we will be forced to take drastic measures!" She yelled down to Kara who cautiously lowered her smg, The Adjudicator, to the ground. "Who are you and why have you done this?" She demanded while stepping down to approach Kara.
"I am Kara-7 of scouting team Charlie. A miscalculation in recalibration of vex technology brought me here. I had no intentions of causing this damage or harming these children"
It was clear the approaching woman had doubts regarding Kara's statement, though why these reasons were, Kara did not yet know. "You will come with me this instant, if you do not comply I will have to force you to come along."
Kara stepped away from the two girls. Allowing the approaching medical crew to assess their injuries. The blond lady, after a brief pause to check the girls, raised her crop to Kara who felt her joints lock up. She was lifted out of the crater and placed on the ground on her chest where manacles were placed on her wrists, securing her arms behind her.
"All students please continue to the auditorium and await the headmasters arrival." Glynda called out the the gathered first year students who were equal parts worried and curious of the lady in the red and black robes.
Kara was marched to an elevator where she had the pleasure of a decidedly awkward wait as the elevator rose through the tower. "If Nicolette was here I'd at least have someone to talk to." Kara winced when she remembered the death of her friend. The Gatelord came out of nowhere. Nicolette had just expended the last of her solar energy using her Daybreak and couldn't retaliate against the Gatelord. She was cut off from the rest of the squad. Kara didn't even see her die. She just heard the sickening scream and crunch before the Gatelord turned and focused on the remaining squad members. Kara had personally seen to it's destruction. She brought it and an army of Vex down using her Nova bomb Cataclysm. She was shaken from her thoughts of her last battle, ending only minutes before, by Glynda pushing her forwards to a man seated with his hands folded, his head rested on his hands.
"Kara-7, is that what you claim your name is?" Ozpin asked, inspecting the woman seated in front of him. "And that you arrived through something called 'Vex Technology'?"
"Yes that is my name." Kara replied, slightly on edge with how much of a threat her Eye of Another World was pinging the man in front of her as. "The technology I mentioned is of an alien race of machines."
"You'll understand if i find that hard to believe Ms. Kara but there has been no reports of any alien technology found on Remnant."
"That would be because it was not on Remnant that I came from" 'Warren access everything you can get your hands on, geography, history, politics I want it all' "I came from Mercury. A planet the vex transformed entirely into a machine." Ozpin's eyes squinted momentarily at this development,
"And what proof do you have of this?" Ozpin asked her flatly. "It would appear this man is headmaster Ozpin of Beacon academy, where we currently are. He is a prominent figure in the world. There are more files on him though I'm having some trouble getting access to them" Warren's voice echoed in her head making Kara raise her eyebrow plate in surprise, hearing that Warren was having trouble accessing information.
"Warren, come on out and give Ozpin here all the info he needs. No Vanguard or squad secrets though." Glynda and Ozpin looked around the office for another party but in front of Kara from a thin stream of light from her helmet formed the small shape of Warren, the ghost with the lotus shell.
"Ozpin it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Warren, Kara-7's ghost. Allow me to start from the beginning." He spoke as a hologram of the traveller shone from his eye onto the desk in front of everyone. "This is the traveller…"
"This is a lot to take in. I must apologize for our earlier treatment of you but you must understand the necessity of our actions." Ozpin stated as Kara nodded.
"I would have done the same should someone appear like that in The Last City" Kara confirmed. Reassuring Ozpin.`
"Though you will have to placed under observation while you and your companion here figure out a way back to your allies and homeworld." Ozpin looked to glynda briefly who gave him a stern look. "And while here you will be required to work for us. As a member of staff to repay your debt for the damages to students and property. It is your fault that we have to delay the school's initiation for a day to allow our students to recover"
"If that's how it has to be." Kara sighed. "I do apologize for the problems I have caused."
"Ozpin has you logged in his computer as a potential threat by the way."
'Of course he does. Do the same for him please'
"I already ha-" Warren was cut short as a sonic boom echoed through the sky and above the expansive green forest a rift opened up briefly. Dropping a humanoid figure from the rift. Kara strained her eyes to see who it could have been but the first thing she saw was two birds. Bigger than their own ships fly up from the canopy towards the falling figure.
"Friend of yours?" Ozpin asked with urgency. Kara could only nod. Speechless, believing she would lose another friend that day. "Glynda get a bullhead into the air now. We have to help them right away!"
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