The morning sky over the Cosmodrome was just beginning to fill with light. Navy and purple shadows stretched over the rusted, frozen husks of countless cars and twisted bits of metal. Stretches of snow glittered in the cresting sunlight and frigid air without worry of melting. Crunching noises filled the silence as a lone figure trudged up a hill to get a better view of the surrounding area. Even in his armor's regulated internal environment, James couldn't suppress the shiver that overtook him. Unfazed, he lowered to one knee next to a scraggly tree and took his sniper rifle off his back.
"I don't know why the Fallen don't leave someone on watch for us. You'd think that they would have learned by now," a voice whispered from the air next to him.
"Even Devils have to sleep sometime, little light," James murmured, scanning the rusted tundra before them for any signs of movement. "Besides, they do have eyes on us. There are two Vandals in that rocket just ahead."
Though he couldn't see the Ghost, James knew that it had swiveled to look where he'd directed, gears and lenses shifting to get a better scan.
"Hmph. You could've shared that before, you know," said the Ghost. James said nothing and smiled to himself.
The flash of metal in the sunlight caught his eye as it streaked through the wreckage below their perch. Immediately, James began tracking the movement through his rifle's scope.
"One of ours?" His question left no room for interpretation.
The Ghost calculated where his Guardian was looking and quickly scanned the area, spotting another of its kind zipping through the cars. "Yes. A Ghost that hasn't taken a Guardian yet. Maybe it's looking for one here?"
James didn't reply, wondering if there were even any hints of light left in the ruins of old Earth. True, there were constantly new Guardians finding their way to the Tower, but the waves of them had severely thinned out over the last few months to barely a trickle of one every few weeks. Still, he supposed it wasn't impossible. He glanced back at the Fallen snipers' hiding spot. The pair hadn't noticed the Ghost yet, but James wanted to be sure.
"Keep eyes on that Ghost," he whispered, pretending to continue an unguided scan of the area. When his repeating path took his scope over the first Vandal's head, James finger tightened and the rifle bucked in his hands. The round tore through the air, entering the Fallen Devil's skull and exiting in a spray of leaking ether and blood. Not a second later, the special coating on the round ignited the gas, exploding in a fireball that pushed the second Vandal from cover. It landed on its feet, hunched over with one pair of arms holding its wounded stomach. James racked a second round that snapped through the air and entered through the top of the Devil's helmet, leaving what he was sure to be a trail of carnage as it ripped through the body. Another explosion the color of the sunrise blasted the corpse back into a snowdrift, where it hissed and grew cold.
"There," his Ghost sent a notice to James' HUD that marked their quarry. The new Ghost had stopped over a clearing in the twisted wreckage, and a flash of light filled James' visor. His breath caught in his throat. The Ghost in his sights bobbed in the air, portions of its shell rotating and rearranging around itself. James' reticle twitched to a new source of movement in the nest of cars. A human's hand grasped for a hold, gripping onto the body of the car. The shoulder went taut and the human pulled itself into an upright sitting position, freeing itself from the snow. Another shiver, this one sympathetic, traveled through James as he watched the freshly anointed Guardian do the same.
"Come on," James said. He put his rifle away on his back and leapt from their vantage point, unfazed by the thirty-foot drop. Controlling his light and the jets in his armor, he broke his fall a few feet from the ground and effortlessly absorbed the remaining impact into his armored legs. He broke into a jog towards the ghost, keeping his head on a swivel to watch for more Fallen movement.
"Keep an eye out for us, little light," James asked of his Ghost. He popped the seals on his helmet, and took it off as he neared the Guardian pulling himself to his feet. The Guardian's head snapped up at James' approach. James noted that, even just revived, the Guardian's gaze scrutinized him, lingering on the rifle on his back.
A natural fighter. Excellent. James put his helmet under his arm and stood before the human.
"Who…what are you?" the Guardian asked James. "Where are we?"
The Titan chuckled darkly. "That's a lot of questions for someone who was just brought back to life. Most people take the time to get used to breathing again first."
The human's eyes were wide, his head cocked to the side. James sighed. He'd never been a new Guardian's first contact before and wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. He was best at solving problems with his fists and high caliber rounds, not with words.
"My name is James, and I'm a Guardian. One of the many protectors of Earth's Last City."
The human glanced over to his Ghost. "Guardian. You called me that too."
"Indeed. Because you are one. Well, now you are anyway. And I'm your Ghost," it explained, seeming to stumble over its own words as it bobbed in the air. "I just brought you back."
"From. Being. Dead." The human's tone was laced with disbelief.
"If it helps, you do get used to the sensation," James offered. "But the first time is still rather jarring."
"Movement on the ridge. Almost a kilometer out. I don't know what it is, but it's not one of us," James' Ghost whispered to him. The Titan held out his hand towards the Guardian, placing it on his shoulder and guiding him slowly but forcefully behind one of the large, overturned trucks. It wasn't perfect, but it should hide them for long enough.
"I know you must be buzzing with questions right now. It's perfectly normal, but this is not the time nor the place." James pulled his sidearm from its place in the small of his back and held it out towards the human; a small reward from Zavala for his service to the Vanguard. "Take this. I'll be back for it, but you need something to protect you for now, just in case."
The human eyed the gun warily, but accepted the gift. James observed him aim down the sights almost instinctively. His Ghost has chosen well.
"There's an area not far from here where I can send my ship to take you out of here," James said, pointing over the sea of snowy scrap metal where he'd come from. "It will take you to the Tower. There will be someone waiting to show you around, and they can answer any questions you have."
The human nodded lightly. "Are you sure? Won't you be stranded out here?"
James' rumbling laugh came from deep in his chest. "No, we'll be fine out here. Besides." He placed his helmet back on and waited for the seals to hiss shut. "I still work to do. But first, we need to get you out of here."
James took his rifle from his back and leaned out from around the side of the truck. He knelt once more and looked through the scope. His Ghost was right; there was movement there. A trio of Fallen Vandals with a Captain overseeing them prowled along the ridge, presumably scanning for any signs of life in their territory. James growled under his breath. They were too far away for him to make an accurate shot and they needed to start moving. Plenty of time for that once he's gone.
Holding the rifle in one hand, James waved the Guardian over and pointed at their path. "There, do you see that tree on the hill? There's an area on the other side of it that's large enough for the ship to come down. I would transmat you into it, but it's only coded to do that for me right now. You'll have to wait for it to land and get inside manually."
"Transmat?" The Guardian asked.
James glanced and saw that, even with the natural prowess he'd already seen, the human's eyes were wild with wonder and confusion.
"Just hold onto your questions. Soon, I promise," the Titan bit out. The Guardian only nodded.
James began loping through the orange-brown metal husks and switched to his Ghost's private channel. He heard the Guardian followed closely behind.
"Call in the ship. Give it the landing coordinates and lift security measures inside the cockpit. Contact the Tower and-" James' words were cut off as an arc round punched through the roof of the car beside him. "Shit!"
Snow and frozen dirt were crushed together as James' experience kicked in and he slid to a stop on one leg. His arm snatched out and grabbed the Guardian, hauling the human down beside him. More bolts of blue energy cracked through the air and punched through the metal around them.
"Who the hell's shooting at us?" the Guardian cried out. James chose to ignore the question and found a hole in the metal large enough for his purpose, but that still provided cover. He murmured something under his breath that the Guardian couldn't make out, then swiveled to look through the gap in the metal. The human didn't have time to cover his ears before the rifle's report shattered the brisk air around them. James racked the bolt and moved his sights, cursing that there was no plume of fire. He hated being unable to confirm his kills. Two more violent cracks filled the Guardian's world, still brutally loud even with his hands clasped over his ears. The sidearm lay useless in the snow at his feet.
"Go, now!" James' voice boomed from inside his helmet, as he grabbed a handful of the Guardian's ragged shirt and threw him to his feet and shoved the sidearm back into his hands. "You won't have long. Run!"
The human scrambled in the snow, until his boots found grip and he broke into a sprint. A shadow passed over him, and he looked up to see a ship screaming through the sky, before it banked sharply and came to a stop in the air on the other side of the hill James had pointed him to. The angular body of the ship was a brash red with four royal blue wings that jutted out in all directions. The cockpit looked just large enough for one person in armor like his rescuer's.
As the ship lowered to the ground, the Guardian's run came to a halt. Where there had only been clouds, the sky was filled with massive ships that resembled dragonflies without wings. He watched one, two, three of the ships wink into the sky, seemingly appearing from nowhere in a flash of pale blue lightning. He nearly sank to his knees when the final ship arrived. A ship that seemed the size of a mountain, with a long, pronounced bow that pierced the clouds, blotted out the sun overhead. A sound reached the human's ears that he couldn't seem to understand, it was so out of place. It sounded like…laughter.
The Guardian turned to see that James had lowered his gun and appeared to be looking at the colossal ship, his laugh once again booming from deep in his chest.
"Finally!" the Titan cried out, then his helmet turned to face him. "What are you still doing here? Go! The ship won't be safe for much longer!"
Without waiting for a response, James rushed past the stunned Guardian and launched himself off the top of the cars in his path. While he soared through the air, his body seemed to shimmer as if it were radiating intense heat. The Guardian's world was shaken by the sound of a hammer striking an anvil and James was enveloped in a wreath of orange fire. When he fell from the sky, his gun was nowhere to be seen and instead, he clutched a flaming hammer and charged toward the newly arrived fleet.
The Guardian reacted on instinct now, his mind too overwhelmed by the past few minutes to process anything. He clambered up the ridge, using the tree's hanging roots to haul himself up the last few vertical feet. Crossing the top of the ridge, he saw that there was a drop on the other side to where the ship was nestled. Deep explosions and flashes of light came from behind the Guardian, but he paid them no mind.
"Jump," his Ghost said hurriedly. "Trust me, you'll be ok."
In his daze, the Guardian nodded and leapt down. His legs jarred with the impact, but he stood up unharmed and glanced back. The ridge looked to be at least fifteen feet up from where he landed. He stumbled the last few feet to the ship and hoisted himself up onto the main body, unsure of how to get inside.
"Hang on," his Ghost said. A conical beam of shimmering blue light danced over the cockpit, seeming to scan for something. The seals around the canopy hissed and the glass raised up. "Got it. Get inside, quick!"
The Guardian laid the sidearm on the ship's body and awkwardly climbed inside, falling into the pilot's chair with a thud. He snatched up the gun before the canopy slid back into place, hissed shut, and the ship raised itself into the air. The human felt as if a giant's hand was forcing him into the seat as the ship raced through the crowded sky. The onboard computer nimbly dodged around the dragonfly ships. It banked sharply once it faced the colossal flagship, faced away from the needle-like bow, and screamed away into the distance.
After a moment that seemed to stretch on into minutes, James' ship settled down into a cruising speed that allowed the Guardian to look out at his surroundings as they flew by. Towering walls overlooked more fields of rusted metal, rundown buildings, and snowy hills. Occasionally, what looked like some sort of trees or greenery would poke out from the snow. Once he felt he'd seen enough, the Guardian settled back into the pilot's chair and looked down at the sidearm. He focused on it, trying to find any sort of calm in the storm he was going through in his head. Eventually, he gave up and wearily let his hands fall to his lap, careful to keep his finger from the trigger. He still had little to no idea where he was going. Only a name. The Tower, Earth's Last City.
All he could do was wonder what he would find when they arrived, and pray that James had been telling him the truth.