Author's Note
The Song of Machines is a project that had taken me three months to complete, with a total of twenty chapters, including an epilogue. It was one of the most difficult writing endeavours I have endured, though the time I put into it was beyond worth it. There were countless nights spent awake as I tried to find ways to improve the story as best as I could. The chapters titled are all named after the song that sparked inspiration for every one. This story wouldn't have been possible without the dark ambient tracks that influenced me during writing, ultimately creating something different yet stable. There were several points during writing where I got completely lost in my mind, hence the bizarre things that will bloom as you read. I will release chapters after revision (honestly will only take a day with my schedule). Until then, I appreciate you giving this monstrosity a read.
First Contact - watch?v=Y0zJnymZT-I
The Divide,
Old Russia, Earth
Snow.
It was all around me, covering the once barely green Cosmodrome, filled with abandoned rusted warehouses, dilapidated through years of discord. The amidst dying trees bore red veins with tiny particles coursing through them; and not even this spirit was of sadness; instead, there was a hint of sinister laughter, but a one more terrible than any sadness. It was called SIVA, the blood of the harrowing abominations the Fallen had released upon this world, slowly becoming tainted and corrupted. Through the blowing snow, towers of red forged in a combustion of reactions, debris dispersing and twisting and transforming to tiny dots burning in a phosphorescence glow. The nanites responded to their own will and nature, determined by their directives. A swarm of red beads flew around the node, albeit aimlessly. But there was that power. Forever burned in the lungs and infected the lands.
The Iron Lords had supposedly sealed this power away by sacrificing themselves to save humanity from an unstoppable crisis, after realising the power was too complex to understand without losing oneself. Lord Saladin was the very last one to survive the raid. The outcome hadn't been what they were expecting because their plan was to obtain SIVA and use it with a purpose, a reason that could provide a level of security to the fragments of humanity, clinging onto dear life; but they were consumed and destroyed by the tech, who had its own purpose and fate as it willed itself to retaliate back.
Tempered and consumed by the ruby flames of SIVA, nothing could seem to tame its incredible power despite the indomitable spirit the Lords possessed; Rasputin was their nightmares vitalised to life, but still, they all fought valiantly, swinging their scorching red iron battle axes to tear the SIVA constructs and machines, appearing as a squid with many eyes and several tentacles, that were forged. The darkness of the replication chamber was distantly illuminated by a red tint, exuded by the songs that thrummed through the complex as the battle grew in a great rage. And as the Iron Lords, standing under an iron-hot blaze, they withdrew their powers and unleashed the fury of Light; a maelstrom of the Elements stormed and shattered the fabric of reality as several disks washed over the expanse, but still, their combined power wasn't enough. The nanites countered back with an equal vendetta and struck back, red tendrils flailing and weakening the Lords. The machines became faster and more complex, further discouraging the outclassed. And yet, the Iron Lords remained resilient and fought back twice as hard.
And in their last hopes of victory, they endured their final stand by initiating a self destruct sequence to destroy the dark power. Standing with valiance and determination, the Lords began the last fight and pulled their orange-hot axes out, one last time. They slammed the ground, fissures and cracks spanning over the area, and magma erupted melting and forging a new path of dreams. And as victory seemed inevitable, most of the Iron Lords sacrificed themselves to eradicate the last of the machines forged under the haunting laws of the domain.
And now the pesky, insolent Fallen had found that ancient power and warped themselves into machines to worship SIVA. Their once destroyed god, Sepkis Prime, had been revived as a result of SIVA exposure, and the Fallen had been going haywire and absolutely mad. Their insanity was the turning point of the reports scouted by other Guardians, who were the first ones to respond to Saladin's transmission over our encrypted frequency. They had dispatched a fireteam and confronted the Iron Temple's observatory, deep within the mountains of Felwinter's Peak, where their revived Sepiks was trying to raid the temple for manuscripts of the nanotech. In retrospect, the Fallen were often scandalous, piratical, and mischievous, always getting into trouble and being a pure, utter annoyance. The only reason we waged war against them was because they detest us for being chosen by the Great Machine; the whirlwind was the Fallen's greatest loss; and yet, the beasts were more than capable of forming a legion with us Guardians, but they always want to fight to show their will and endurance. And now they had tempered with something dark and consuming, something that was obviously uncontrollable.
And now all Guardians were defending the City from the terrible infectious plague. My fireteam, Sabled Sun, were scattered, doing our own tasks set by Saladin. My brother, Paledon, was in the Rocketyard looking for the wall breach, leading to the Plaguelands. And as I continued to push through the open fields of the Divide, nothing but white filled my eyes and senses. The brisk winds and blowing air made me shiver; with a trembling form, it was considerably difficult to hold onto my Boomer, collected from the days of the Taken War.
A crippled, throbbing arm shot memories of the Hive Knight who blasted me with this ruinous siege, physical anguish tearing through me. Images of a splotch of mismatched, perpetually brunt armour and flesh reminded me of the terrible darkness that lurked deep within the burrows of the Dreadnaught. The Knight forced me to falter under its influence, but I, rising from the ashes, displaced the beast with the Void, a spawn of purple flushing over the Hull Breach and consuming everything for a mere four seconds; and at that moment, the enchanted damage I inflicted on the ancient Knight was great enough to perish it from the universe and claim its weapon. The Knight of Doom had taken many lives during the Taken War, and I saw to its end.
Glancing at the blue celestial shard glowing with potential, I said, "Any luck on picking up SIVA signatures?"
"Not yet," Ro, my Ghost, said, "but I am picking up heat signatures up ahead, past the destroyed tank."
In the distance augmented Vandals and Shanks were on patrol, though they appeared different and eldritch—their forms distorted and strange. They were armed with modified Shock Rifles with a red cloud surrounding them. The assailants appeared unlike any normal Fallen as they had a more robust appearance. They didn't see me as I was naturally cloaked in the midst of the snow. Being a Hunter had many perks this way. "Well, that's new," Ro said above my left shoulder. "Should we engage?"
"Yes. They are threats. It looks like SIVA has really done something to them. And to their weapons," I said, composing myself for battle.
For a moment, everything was silent; so silent I couldn't hear my own breathing or the winds that unknowingly picked up as the enemy advanced, claiming sight of me, then engaged with blasts of the dark. A barrage of projectiles flew their way to me and impacted me, putting a moderate dent in my shield. I turned my attention to the three augmented Shanks chasing after me from a few metres away. Out in the open with no adequate cover in the immediate vicinity, I opted to face the threat with a vendetta and a charged weapon.
I went invisible with a readily available smoke bomb and slid in the opposite direction of my enemy, so my body skidded through the frozen earth. I turned around and unleashed my Boomer, being careful not to misdirect any shots. Each shot sounded that of thunderous roar that rocked the battlefield. And even though the Shanks fought valiantly with determination to take me out, they dropped like the snow that precipitated from the sky. I silently prided myself as all of them were dispatched, creating negligible explosions upon impacting the ground. Their shields were formidable, but were like paper, despite the wrong element being used to eliminate them.
For a moment, the environment was still and silent, giving me enough time to compose myself, but to no avail, Vandals were advancing on my position. They were heading toward me, so I vaulted over the destroyed tank and sought cover behind it, and in doing so might have saved me from dying. The weapons they were using were unlike anything I had seen. An augmented Shock Rifle with explosive tracking projectiles was mighty-impressive yet something that I didn't want to confront head-on. The projectiles flew above my head and exploded a little way from me, spawning harmless disks of red.
Another salvo flew above my head, leaving me unscathed for now; but as I sat in the cold snow, the more I was going to lose ground. And in that exact moment, nodes of SIVA, rising from the snow, surrounded me and begun to chew away at my armour. There were strange whispers that found their way into my head; the voices echoed and bounced from ear to ear, but they couldn't be suppressed, no matter what I did. Their influence was strong on the mind, which tried desperately to be freed from its grasp but wasn't successful. I didn't have time to deal with psychosis again, especially now of all times.
Closing my eyes, while ignoring the reinforcements being dropped off by the Skiffs and the nodes, I focused and calmed the mind from intruders. The whispers sounded akin to a weeping child lost in the City. Harrowing and consuming they were, unable to control their ownself. They slowly dwindled as I mediated, focusing on purging the dark whispers of the nanotech. And instantly, the mind clear, everything around me made sense and that's when I vaulted out of cover and confronted my opponents.
A Vandal charged at me, striking me with his melee attack, causing me to drop my weapon. I was stunned, unable to move briefly, but after a moment of recovery, I got my wits together, though they were shattered when the Vandal kicked my weapon away. I smiled in my helmet and then gave a half-suppressed laugh before shotting the thing down with my suppressed sidearm and throwing a knife at its head. Retrieving my weapon was easy, but then the other Vandals struck me down with serene grace of their augmented weapons, explosions shattering my senses and leaving me in the dust. With blowing snow and debris covering the battleground, I countered by firing lobes of rotting Arc at the enemy, who staggered heavily. And when my senses came back, I heard my screams for battle as I ran headstrong, throwing several knives st their head, releasing a tracking red orb that detonated in the air.
My body still, my mind clear and free of all senses, I fearlessly stared into the Void. My mind steered once more through the empty space of nothingness and snatched a handful of the Void. My consciousness was lost, leaving me vulnerable to attack, but only for a split second before my consciousness was reclaimed, charging me with an influx of power, despite the little dark energy, I had grasped in comparison to the infinite of dark energy in the insurmountable vacuum of space. The purple raging flames danced around me and infused its raw power into my very essence. A Void bow sought to the merciless end of the group that seemed to burn with a fiery breath for battle.
The other Vandals brandished their weapons and opened fired at me, but it was only in vain, for I, tempered by the Void, absorbed their attacks and discharged the energy back at them. A massive explosion thundered through the battlefield, knocking me down, then sliding across the gelid snow. Dust and debris flew everywhere and struck numerous groups of reinforcements that we dropped off by a Skiff. But still, in my best efforts to forge victory with the Light, the Fallen recovered and convoked a larger group of allies. Shanks and Dregs and Vandals were emerging from distant warehouses and ruined buildings filled with riches and caches. They, too, were augmented and exuded red signatures.
Their weapon ablaze, a barrage of projectiles jetted my way, but I leapt high in the air, evading it all together, then landed, before bolting to the nearest piece of cover, the destroyed tank. A Fallen Captain, empowered by SIVA, was standing right in front of my eyes—its form completely warped. Surrounded by an aura of Void, the towering Captain, its hierarchic stature still the same as an ordinary Captain, appeared distorted and consumed, as if its thoughts were not its own. There were curved horns affixed on the head, and red tubes were entwined all over his body. Its fire-blasting Shrapnel Launcher was ready to open fire.
The Captain's many eyes stared at me in disbelief, and peals of muffled laughter escaped from its mouth. He didn't respond with words, but rather the pull of his trigger, sending hurtful, burning shots in my direction. With no longer intact shields, I could feel the shrapnel burrowing inside my armour. It sent searing pains that extended from the central point of impact to my lower extremities, causing me to falter to the ground. The most I could do in such a weakened state was shadestep to the left and get behind a rusty truck.
I focused my mind into the Void and conjured up two Vortex Grenades and tossed them at the Captain, hoping it would be enough to wipe out his shield, but it barely did a quarter of what I was hoping. And as I fought through the terrifying Fallen, their eyes and features dark and unearthly, savage-minded and desperate for blood, the tides of the battle shifted when a Skiff tore through the air, right above the Captain, dropping more Vandals and Shanks, whereupon the ship had vanished into the sky. The reinforcements assailed their way to me, focus-firing on my position. I ran through the open, a cloud of purple smoke trailing behind me, then dispersed into nothingness as I vanished. Cloaked amongst the shadows, I stealthily moved through the vicious predators; the cold snow and wind made it difficult to contest, but I fought through the gelid wickedness, appearing before the group. A puff of dark-purple smoke blinded everything caught in the vortex, and I was merely their end.
The sinister laughs these Fallen practised put me at unease and I countered with burning blasts of Lord of Wolves, a prized possession of mine. Fiery bursts of shrapnel tore through the tough augmented armour; the fragments disjointed the wires that were coiled around them, and the group instantly exploded under their own faulty will. The Captains and Vandals, however, still stood, as I only broke through their first line. They sent me reeling, unleashing blasts from their twisted weapons. I recovered, then countered with several blasts from my Boomer, sending rumbling thunder through the blizzard.
But in the distance, I could hear a constant rumble noise, as if it were some automobile being used, a Sparrow to be more accurate. As the Captain, Vandals, and Shanks kept a steady lock on me while they fired their weapons, I reappeared and rolled on the ground, then discharged some brutal shots at the group, ultimately staggering a few—although not all. The ones who stood, unscathed, countered me harder. The Vandals were picking something from their side and it appeared to be a ball of SIVA energy. The trio threw them at me, and it sent me sliding through the snow.
As I tried to get up, I collapsed to the cold ground, feeling the pain as strong as one hundred knives sinking into my stomach. Groaning and yelping with anguish, I writhed in the snow, clutching my body. My eyes began to water with the sheer pain and my breathing emulated in sharp, shallow rasps. Sweat rilled down the side of my face and my hearing slowly became distorted; it was as if my body was shutting down. I was writhing on the ground helplessly. Ahead of me were Fallen, powered by SIVA, and they all cheered in victory for defeating me. The Captain stepped up to me and knelt before me as if I was some deity or Prime Servitor.
The Captain raised his weapon to my head, his finger steady on the trigger.
I kicked the Captain in the head, and jammed a knife through its arm, though it hurt me more than it did him, it bought me enough time to rise up and fire my Boomer. With the little energy I had left, I dodged my assailant's attacks, and that's when my attention snapped to a violent sharp clang of something.
Paledon!
The brute Suncharged his way through the crowd of Fallen; most notably the Shanks fell first, then the Vandals, though there were a few left unscathed. Paledon charged his way to the Captain, and when I saw what he was doing I shouted, "Be careful! Don't underestimate the strength of that thing!"
Paledon struck the Captain with a force just as great of a train. The Captain flinched tremendously, and Paledon went in for a second swipe to finish him for good, but he made a teleported away, red streaking in the air, making Paledon miss. After that, Paledon collapsed to the ground from exhaustion but got up after a moment of recovery. The Captain opened fired on him, but he seemed to have taken the shots better than I have. He popped a few rounds from his shotgun, stupefying his target with slug rounds. His opponent reeled back, defenceless, but made a comeback and returned fire. The beast of a thousand arms and master of the herd, countered by summoning red tendrils that ejected from the ground and damaged Paledon to great lengths. But as Paledon tried to get up, the Captain knocked him down and tormented the Titan with laughs.
Tempered by the fires of my iron will, I remained steadfast despite all the pain and stood up. Aimed my Boomer at my prize. I shot rapidly, not caring about how barbarous my nature was. The Captain staggered away, suffocating from the burning lobes of electricity. A massive static charge grew immensely and discharged several mini-bolts of lightning, ultimately disintegrating the beast into a cloud of blue.
The last thing I remember was the world fading from white to black.
Light.
There was some light.
And something cold and strange.
As my consciousness swam back into reality, I found myself laying on an old mouldy mattress, with raggy blankets tucked around me, feeling oddly warm and cold. The place smelt of faint mildew and dampness undoubtedly from the decaying warehouse, overtaken by years of entropy. Emptied supply crates barricaded the slightly ajar doors in front of me, a small gust of wind finding its way in. There were Fallen on the other side, I could hear them muttering things in Eliksni. I looked around and saw Paledon meditating by an ablaze oil drum. Smoke was coaxing the place, but the ventilation system diffused it to the outside. "Why are you hogging all the warmth? That's not classy you know."
Paledon turned around, surprised by my awakening. "You're finally awake!" he said, followed by a snicker.
"How long was I out?"
"Only two hours and counting," he replied, standing up. "You got knocked out pretty hard. That Captain…I have never seen the Fallen so resilient."
I got off the mouldy bed. "It's what happens when you mess with SIVA I guess." Naturally, I went to the fire barrel for warmth. I put my hands over the flames, the crisp blaze carrying heat through my near chilled form. "So what'd we got?"
"There is a massive spike of SIVA happening in the Rocketyard," Paledon said, browsing through some metal shelf with possibly useful items. "The Splicers are trying to control the flow of remaining Hive there."
"That can't be good."
"You're right. Intel from Shiro-4 says that there's a Captain overseeing the assault. We take him out, and we might just get our ticket to getting into the Plaguelands."
"The what now?" I asked, picking up my Boomer.
"The lands were SIVA was sealed by the Iron Lords centuries ago."
"I see."
"So, c'mon, we don't want to deal with SIVA-infused Hive."
I nodded. "Let me lead."
Lightly and elegantly, I leapt over the crates and landed with grace. Light from the outside world seeped through the ajar doors, stimulating my senses. With my suppressed sidearm on hand, I peeked through the door and noticed a Vandal and Dreg patrolling near a rusted truck. Pushing the door open let a quiet screech of metal rubbing on metal, but I squeezed through, then ran, charging at the duo. As I caught them off guard, I shot the Vandal in the chest three times, then jumped on the Dreg, taking him down before stabbing him in the throat.
Paledon followed suit and we both nodded without a word.
We summoned our Sparrows, all-terrain thrust bikes with one purpose: Moving from objective to objective with unmatched speed. Revving the engine, a resounding roar tore through the skies as I accelerated, then made a sharp U-turn and blazed through a snowy field, filled with Splicers. I out-manoeuvred them by driving in unpredictable patterns, moving right then left. Eventually, we were out of their range and they resumed doing what they were doing before the disruption. We tore through a roadway, sandwiched by two massive factories, whose entryways and stairwells were blocked by a chain-link fence. SIVA-infused trees consumed the brickwork, losing its structure. Soon these building would collapse under the influence of SIVA.
We turned a corner and found ourselves in the Rocketyard, an abandoned train yard with derailed trains and cargo littering the grounds. More abandoned warehouses towered over the grounds and between the railways, where a battle between Hive and Splicers broke out. Crates and sheet metal were flying through the air, and a Captain even flipped a ruined traincart to provide cover for this minions; their augmented weapons were no match for the dark powers of the Hive.
Paledon and I hopped off our bikes and hid behind a warehouse wall. I peeked over the battleground and saw a Wizard get taken out along with her spawn of Thrall. "I thought the Splicers were trying to capture the Hive, not kill them," I said, keeping my weapon close, and looking down at Paledon.
"Change in developments," Paledon said. "The Splicers must be evolving exponentially with SIVA."
"So that means we need to intervene?"
"We must regain control of this area. If we don't, we're going to have a difficult time controlling the flow of SIVA. We cannot let it spread any more than it already has."
I nodded. "Let me engage first." Slipping past the flash mob of enemies was easy, it was getting into a good position that proved to be challenging. My invisibility was beginning the fade, my sixth sense was telling me. I remained behind a concrete brick, unnoticed. When my invisibility faded, I vaulted out of cover and engaged.
A trio of Vandals opened fire on me with their tracking rifles, putting a severe dent in my shields, but I recovered swiftly and countered them with a few taps of my Boomer, disrupting their ability to react. Numerous Dregs charged forward, ignoring the Hive's retaliation, and tried to slice me with daggers, but I leapt onto a train cart. I unleashed countless shots from my Boomer onto the group of Splicers, who were staggering violently, unable to form a means of retaliation. The burning pain in my arm from the severe recoil took its toll and I had to stop firing. "Strike now, Paledon!"
The Titan charged in, using his lift to gain an in-air advantage. With a rocket mounted on his shoulders, two rockets, crisscrossing each other in flight, blared from the barrel, tracking onto the group. A massive explosion rocked the grounds, sending dust, snow, and debris flying everywhere. A heap of smoke hazed the entire area. And as he landed, I joined in, our backs touching as we knuckled up for a battle. The smoke cleared, revealing the unscathed group of Splicers who roared for battle and opened fire on our position. Instantly, Paledon deployed a Ward of Dawn, protecting us from all harm. "This will hold for now," he said. "Strike with everything you have, brother!"
I nodded and saw to it that the Splicers would endure a punishment greater than the span of life itself. I charged to the group, explosive shots being drilled into those who opposed me. The thunderous clash of shots echoed in my head, deafening me to a point, a ringing plaguing my hearing, but I kept waging the battle. A group of Vandals closed in on me with Shock Blades, but I disarmed one of them with a kick, retrieving a blade, whereupon we all exchanged quick parries and feints. I rolled to the side dodging a swing, before being shot by the Captain. The burning shrapnel burrowed deep in my armour, but I prevailed through the pain and focused on killing these Vandals.
I swung violently. Our blades cling and clanged, Arc sparks flying everywhere. Grunts elicited from me as I tried to overcome their strength and endurance, but it was a useless endeavour. I did this while eluding shots from the newly engaging sniper Shanks and Vandals, posted on distant catwalks around the surrounding facilities. "Paledon. Focus on those snipers!" I said, my breathing cut short. I ducked, saving my head from being severed, then, when the trio let their guard down, stabbed one in the chest, then threw two knives at their heads. I whipped around and was met with the fury swipes of the Captain, who sent me reeling back. Its haunting red eyes, entirely consumed by SIVA, glared at me, paralysed me for a brief movement, until my senses gathered back together and I refocused.
Soon more Splicers flooded the area, overtaking the Hive's ground, leaving only us in the equation.
Paledon was currently incinerating a few Dregs with his steel fists, which sent them to oblivion, whereupon he ducked then kicked a charging blade-wielding Vandal, before turning around and blasting another with a shotgun shell, sending it crashing into a wall. The force of impact was enough to leave chunks of concrete flying. Then, with absolute focus and precision, he scoped through his scout rifle and destroyed the distant Shanks wrecking havoc, giving me the opening I needed.
I vaulted out of cover, then slid in the snow, before equipping my Lord of Wolves; carrying the momentum forward, I unleashed burning shots into the mob of Splicers, who were largely unaffected by the damage. I leapt high in the air, ultimately circumventing the barrage of tracking projectiles, and found comfort by staring in the Void. The enraged sea of purple stormed in the mind as it consumed me with its holy grace; an aura of purple surrounded me, becoming brighter the longer I stole the Void's tithe until it rejected my hunger. I aimed up and a horde of arrows soared, curving down to the flash mob. A labyrinth of tethers disrupted the Splicer's aggravated assault—most of them flinched and were slowed by the tainted magic of the Void.
Paledon followed it up with a few rockets, forcing the ultimate destruction of the horde. Terrible cries screeched through the haunted grounds of the Rocketyard as Vandals and Dregs fell to their death, leaving pockets of SIVA in their wake; but the Captain remained resolute, enraged by the loss of his brethren. He brandished his weapon and convoked more reinforcements. A few Servitors showed up to the battleground, and they would surely be enough to aid their greater in battle. The beast of a thousand arms roared and laughed manically, teleporting above us and casting a barrier of red, protecting him from all damage sources. The Captain began summoning SIVA nodes, granting his reinforcements overshields.
"I'll take em all out, you kill the Servitors!" Paledon said, plucking the pins of his grenades and tossing them in the air before running headstrong and destroying the twining towers of SIVA.
"I'm on it!" I said, jumping in the air, then landing with a graceful somersault. "Vandals incoming!"
A trio of Vandals, armed with Scorch Cannons, ripped me a new reality as explosive bombs lobed their way to me. I was sent flying back on impact, my back hitting a rusted train. I recovered as quickly as possible, then ran toward them, rapidly dodging left and right, before stabbing one through the chest, then retrieving its cannon. I ran into a giant concrete sewer pipe to seek cover, but only for a second, whereupon I leapt back into the fray. I double-jumped up to a catwalk and opened fire while running, but I was caught off guard by an invisible Vandal posted at the end of the walkway; he pushed me off, but I slowed my fall by stabbing my knife into the brick wall. Focusing, I closed in my aim and stuck the other Scorch Vandals, instantly evaporating into a cloud of orange.
I retraced my steps and took down the Servitors with ease. They dropped numerous charges, bombs to be exact, and I picked one of them up. Weighed it under influence. The voices within the red jewel spoke to me, I could hear them. Eerie dark whispers of this nanotech injected itself into my mind. It was as real as I could possibly get.
Then, not wanting the voices to stop, Paledon tried to snap me out of confusion as he combated a group Exploder Shanks that sped their way in. Explosions roaring through the snowy battleground, littered with Fallen bodies and sheet metal, shook me back to life. I was holding n unstable charge now, its mass severely widened and about to explode in my grasp. I tossed it at the Captain's barrier, which shattered, casting a disk of SIVA to wash over the area.
The Captain fell to the ground and retaliated back in his last stand. A spiral of nanites appeared with a wave of his hand and was absorbed—forewarning the enhanced nature of an enraged barbarian. Chilling laughs roared through our forms as the Captain gained an overshield of SIVA—resulting in full immunity. He opened concentrated blasts of shrapnel, forcing the both of us to seek cover. "The charges," I shouted, popping in and out to try and take out a group of sword-bearing Vandals advancing toward us. They flinched by the sheer volumes of fire, then were sent flying by Paledon's grenades. Splicers were running out of a wall-breach a little ways away, behind the sewer pipes. "I'll go, you cover me!"
Paledon was reloading his machine gun, the bandoleer being placed on the weapon's mantle. "Go, I got you!"
Effortlessly, I vaulted out of cover and used some Void Light to project a barrier of Light to nullified the onslaught of explosive grenades being hauled at me. The implosion unleashed a harmless wave of energy that further saturated the area with SIVA: Tendrils jetted from the ground, flailing violently, and they tried to grab my ankles and suppress me; I destroyed them with a vortex grenade, continuing to run like hell, using my lightning speed to dodge everything being thrown at me. Jumping over debris and the dead bodies, I rolled forward then disrupted the flood of Splicers once again.
The charges were becoming greatly unstable the longer they were exposed by the frozen earth. The jewels were expanding recklessly, abiding by the aimless directives they were given.
I slid in the snow, kicking up dust and debris to blind a Vandal, then quickly stood before punching it in the face, whereupon I immediately turned around and threw a knife at a Dreg's head before he had the chance to slice me. I whipped out my sidearm, killing the Vandal with a few rapid taps, then equipped my Boomer to disrupt the masses. The group of Splicers staggered under my wild siege and they eventually fell to Paledon's excellent coverage.
I hurled myself toward, grabbing a charge, then weighed it in my grasp; but before I had the chance to chuck it, a Vandal disarmed me of my prize and thwacked me with its rifle. I was sent flying back, sliding across the snowy ground. The unrelenting force was unlike anything I had felt before as searing pain burned me, like magma, both inside and out; it felt like the cold was negated by the fiery agony. My back struck a train cart and the pain grew tenfold. Nothing but ringing filled my head as the Splicers slowly approached, weapons pointed at me and ready to fire. I, too feeble to get back up or react accordingly, brushed a hand through the snow; all I could do was watch as the enemy was ready to take me out.
Then a fury of a thousand suns engulfed the scene, molten embers shattering into tracking pieces that incinerated the entire mob of Vandals and Shanks, towering over me, into a cloud of Solar; the flaming Titan then threw a fervent barrage of hammers at the Captain, but even his wrath was surpassed by the Light. The shield was taken out and Paledon's fiery form dwindled back to normal as he landed. Paledon and the Captain ran headstrong toward each other and engaged in a gruesome fight. The Fallen commander tried to strike the Titan down with a swift pummel, but he ducked and kicked the Captain with such power it sent him crashing right beside me. The Captain recovered like the blow was nothing and teleported to him, before unleashing burning shrapnel from his launcher; though despite the valiant efforts, all of it was negated by Paledon's safeguard of Void coating his form.
The Captain roared in frustration, as he continued to fire because that's all he could do. Devoid of reinforcements, he was beginning to feel cornered. He tried to convoke his followers but no help came.
Paledon's stride across the bloody battleground was steadfast as his shield absorbed all that negative energy. He quickly picked up speed, his armour rustling over the blazing blasts of Solar, and leapt high in the air and, with absolute precision, crashed into the ground—leaving a crater in his wake. Atop the commander, he pummelled him with his steel fists, then lifted the Captain over his shoulders before slamming him into the ground. "Rusted junk," he said to himself as the Captain was left in despair. Sparks flew from his destroyed tech. "You Fallen never learn."
The Captain was doing his best to take a last stand, but Paledon finished the job with a tap of his sidearm. The Titan scurried to me, then extended an arm for me to grab. "You good? Took quite the hit," he said.
With indomitable strength, I pulled myself up, doing my best not to collapse. "Yeah, I should be good," I said, holding my head. "The ringing, it won't stop. Fuck."
"Tough sons of bitches, huh?" Paledon said, and moved over to the Captain's corpse to find something useful. "Never seen anything like this. Taken is one thing, but this…" Paledon looked at me. "This is something else altogether."
The pain was still burning the blaze of a star within, but I pushed through it. "The Fallen must have a line of commanders to dispatch attacks of this scale. Mingling with the Hive…now that's asking for trouble."
Paledon pulled ether tanks, its contents filled with SIVA, from the Captain's suit. "We were lucky to stop in on time. Hunter, look at this."
I crouched and took a look.
"They're stripping their need for ether."
"Which means the Splicers are trying to make themselves immortal. They're trying to become machines."
"I think they've already achieved that," Paledon replied, holding a tank in his hand.
"So now what?" I asked.
"Not sure," he said. "But I do know this. We gotta fight like hell if we want any chance at winning this war." He tossed the ether tank away and stood. "Let's look around and see what we can find. There has to be something the Fallen left behind to tell us more on what they're planning."
I nodded. "Good idea. Let's split up and cover more ground."
"Page me if you find anything, brother."
"Same to you."
He nodded and trailed back the way we came.
I brought Ro out of her dimension. "You good?"
"Yes, I'm just fine," Ro said, her voice softer than usual. "The question is are you fine?"
"Sore, but I'll live. Could you do a wide scan of the area for anything useful?"
"On it."
As I waited, freezing rain began to fall.
This was going to be a long, dreaded search.
