"Hive gods begin to stir, trying to bleed into our world...that pit...Crota..light him like a torch guardians."
"So, how does it feel to be back in this fight?" Everyone's favorite awkward robot, Krytek spoke with a chuckle to his Titan friend, me, Drake.
"Got to say, better than being in a bed all damn day." I say with a chuckle of my own, the sound of our sparrows boosting through the cosmodrome being picked up on our comms. I had gotten a new recorder. Not only has my last one been through hell and back, but well, my dad listened to it. He said it was a book on its own, and laughed. Most of it, I'll keep it for personal use...sometimes it's good to listen to the past.
"You said it!" My awoken friend, Jarvis yelled as his sparrow pulled along side ours. He had been recovering from his injuries from the Vault of Glass a couple days back. Me and him have been stuck in the infirmary together for most of that time, being our constant visitor for one another, thank the Traveler we heal quickly.
"Anyway, it's time to get back into the groove of things ladies!" Kry yelled out as he took a turn out of the building we were speeding through. Me and Jarvis chuckled to one another as we sped after him, coming to an open area, where Fallen and Hive seemed locked in a constant firefight.
"Welcome to Skywatch." Kry said, leaping off his sparrow triumphantly. The two of us leaped off to walk up to our Exo friend.
"You act like you discovered it." Jarvis said with a chuckle under his helmet.
"Trying to act cool?" I ask with a chuckle of my own. Kry chuckles himself, laying weak punches on our arms.
"Oh shut up you two." He said before walking ahead. "Now just have fun, this is our playground for the day!"
"Playground? What kind of playground is fucking falling apart from the inside? Treat this seriously for once." "Also stay safe." Myata spoke quickly, even adding that last part, most likely to not sound demanding. The three girls were back at the tower, Raylin, Zula, and Myata. Our other half of our team. Me and Jarvis simply chuckled as Kry laughed a bit.
"Seriously? You know that's not me sweetie." He spoke in the comms. "Besides, this is our warm up area."
"Anything but serious is going to get you sleeping outside the tower tonight. I don't want Drake nor Jarvis getting hurt because you want to be reckless." Kry simply turned to us with a small shrug.
"Have fun." He simply said with a soft chuckle, and the three of us charged forward, shooting any enemy we came across.
"Sorry Myata, but you know we can handle ourselves now. Thanks for worrying though." Jarvis said into the comm just as he took on a small wave of fallen.
Myata's sigh was heard through the comms, before it went silent again.
"We won't get hurt, for Kry's sake." I say with a laugh, leaping towards my next hive acolyte. Kry simply chuckled into the comms as we opened fire on our targets.
"Yea right, you didn't tell me they were heading out now!" Raylin said into the comms with a hint of annoyance.
"What? Did you want to come with?" I ask with a small chuckle.
"No, I just find it rude Myata gets to listen in on you guys alone like a stalker." She spoke with a laugh of her own.
"It's not stalking! It's monitoring!" Myata's spoke up yet again before clearing her robotic throat. "Plus I was hoping to hear what boys gossip about. I rather listen to them than listen to you and Zula talk about 'Drake's Dreamy Eyes' again"
"Spoken like a true stalker." Zula's voice broke silence over the comms, seemingly acting like she came to the conversation at the right time.
"Yeah, and you two are TOTALLY not here just to watch Drake flex a few muscles. How about you two go back to the photos I know you hide in your rooms" Myata's spoke with sarcasm in her voice.
I couldn't help but feel the heat under my helmet from their conversation. I always felt this way...but it scratches at my brain as to how to voice it. However...I've been able to not get flustered that easily...since I came back.
The vault of glass...Atheon's death...I was ripped through time after killing that machine..and it was not pleasant. I saw things, pre-golden age wars...civil wars...famine..death. Other things were blurry...two humans at the beginning of the Golden age...looked..like a couple. Thing is...that entire experience felt like it was a few weeks...but I returned only three days later. Now that I've caught up to now...anyone that would be listening to this, hope this isn't my decent. Thanks dad, got me thinking like a writer or some shit.
"...You say this, but we both know you wanted to do this because you want to watch your robo boyfriend show off to you." Zula said with a chuckle, Raylin chuckling as well.
"Well..it's not that….I just have..concerns...I...nevermind. I just do enjoy watching my boyfriend show off. He knows I like it." Myata's was quick to rid of her serious tone, transitioning to a playful tone, followed by a giggle. I quickly looked to Kry, seeing how he was handling this conversation, but he just simply looked like he achieved a status of high regard, pumping his fist before heading off for his next target.
"Quite the radio station." Jarvis said with a awkward chuckle. Yea, I'd expect that from the guy, the odd six wheel. I couldn't help but chuckle as me and him grouped up on some hive coming out of a cave.
We were all having a good laugh...but suddenly, things seemed off...the Hive didn't appear for a while after...the fallen Devils seemed to retreat as well.
"Guys….we may have something here…." I say into the comms, looking around with confusion.
"What? What do you mean?" Kry asked as him and Jarvis ran over to me.
"The sudden retreat of the enemy?" I say, trying to point out the lack of killable enemies. I could see the confused posture take its reign on my friends.
"Interesting…." Jarvis spoke with a curious tone, examining the area. We began to be a little on edge, before a sound confirmed our unease. The sound of a Hive tombship suddenly appearing echoed through the area, as not just one, but two of them coming to a halt above the ground of the area below us.
"What the hell?!" Kry yelled out as we each took cover before any Axion Darts locked on.
"What's going on down there?" Raylin asked with urgency.
"Hive...lots of them….we may need backup.." Jarvis said before letting a small, uneasy chuckle out.
"What did I say?" Myata asked with a sarcastic tone, as if trying to say she told us so.
"Not the best time babe." Kry said as he was fumbling to load his shotgun. I could feel the presence of the amount of Hive in the area...then the worst came….
"Guardians...destroy Urzok, The Hated!" Another female voice, ominous and darkened spoke to our comms, obtaining a quick jump of surprise from us three.
"Who in the hell was that?!" Zula asks quickly, possibly frightened by the voice's sudden appearance.
"Oh no.." Myata groaned in almost a harsh whisper. "I...have my suspicions.."
"It doesn't matter…" I say as I turn the corner, just in time to see a larger, yellow colored knight fall to the ground as it roared out into the air, sword in hand. "We need backup, now!"
"Already on the way!" Raylin said into the comms just as the three of us began to hold back the Hive.
"I'm coming too!" Zula said quickly as well.
We made quick work of most of the minions, putting gunfire into them and downing them quickly. We didn't even realize the fallen had joined the fight, servitors in tow. However...Kry had fired an arc rocket at the knight I saw….its shield had gone down...but within a moment...its shield was already back up.
"The big guy isn't going down so easily…"Jarvis yelled out, blasting another minion away.
"Clearly...we need more guns…" Kry said as he reloaded the rocket launcher. And as if our prayers have been answered, three ships flew down, dropping off our other three allies. Gunfire bursted from them, killing off a wave of minions.
"Need help?" Raylin asked with a chuckle, reloading Last Word.
"I guess we need it." I say with a chuckle of my own. We all slowly then turned towards the enlarging group of enemies. "We need to clear enough of them before focusing on the big knight."
"Give me just another minute, and I'll be able to handle the extras" Myata spoke while mowing down enemies with her Monte Carlo. The rest of us nodded to her as we went into the fight, guns ablazing. Servitors blew up, Hive and Fallen alike were headshotted, we were back to being a well oiled machine...it went on for a few more moments before Myata spoke up again.
"Give me the word and I'll slice my way through. If I can get a bit of back up to clear ones I miss, the rest can go after the Knight!" Kry was quick to answer her call.
"I got you, you four, kill that thing!" Kry yelled to us before turning to cover Myata, who has already begun her massacre on the minions.
The four of us nodded before unloading everything we had, rockets, machine guns, even Jarvis getting close to unload his fusion rifle into it...its shields were down quickly, the health also dropping quite fast...but there was a moment that we all were caught in a reload...I could even see its shield beginning to form over it, when three, well placed sniper shots hit its head at the same time.
"Who the…?" I said quietly before returning to the gunfire...which, in time, the knight fell with a mighty roar of its death.
"Stay dead you lump of chiton!" Jarvis yelled as the knight fell. I swear, if we didn't have helmets, he would spit on so many corpses.
"Who fired those shots?" Raylin asked suspiciously, it was clear by her tone she knew she didn't imagine it. I knew that someone had to fire those shots...and maybe they were still here.
"I'll take a look...if I'm not back in twenty seconds, bring the cavalry." I say to everyone as I rush up the hill. I expected rogue guardians, or maybe even rogue fallen….but instead, three guardians, loading their snipers stepped towards me. The middle Titan, clearly female, stepped ahead of them as I spoke.
"Who are you?" I asked, my gun at the ready if needed.
"Hello, Drake. It's been a while. A short while, but yeah!" She spoke almost peppy, but in a way that seemed familiar. My surprise was how she knew my name...but I only knew few people that were titans.
"Uh….where have we….?" I began as suddenly, my memory kicked up, bringing a literal spark to mind. "Penny?! From the party?" I asked in almost disbelief.
"Yeah! I know I changed a lot. But I kinda...used that light you gave me! Woke up like this, and now I'm on small missions. Mainly just figuring things out!" She seemed happy, that was for sure.
"I can feel your light now, it's amazing." I said with a soft laugh. I then took a look around, I guess it wouldn't be bad with no enemies around. I took off my helmet, showing my slightly scarred face, a bright smile on my face. "I'm glad to see you took my advice."
"I'm glad I took your advice. It's changed my life so much in so little time!" She said happily, removing her own helmet. It was a bit hard to believe this was the same girl from the send off party...she looked a lot more mature than back then...and well, quite dazzling to say the least.
"I can tell." I say with a smile of my own. Then, from behind her, the warlock stepped forward, looking at Penny.
"I have come to believe that this is the Hero you told us about, as to how you became a Guardian?" The female warlock spoke, gesturing to me.
"Yep! Sure is! This is Drake! Drake, this is Lyra!" Penny began to gesture to each of us. The Warlock slowly took off her helmet, revealing a pink haired Awoken.
"Pleasure to meet you." Lyra spoke in a monotone voice, gesturing her hand to me. I nodded back, quickly giving her hand a handshake.
"Nice to meet you too." I say with a smile to lighten the mood. "If you don't mind me asking, who's the other Titan?" I say, gesturing to their third friend.
"My name, is Chloe, I can feel positive vibes emitting from you dear Drake and Penelope. Today is truly a joyful day." The other Titan spoke in a whimsical and overly relaxed tone. I wasn't able to even understand her tone when my team members rushed up behind me.
"Drake, what are you doing over here….?" Jarvis began to scold me, till his voice fell away as his gaze fell upon my new friends. I could tell everyone else was eyeing them strangely, so I decided to speak up before any hostility could muster.
"Guys, I'd like you to meet Penny, Lyra, and Chloe." I say, gesturing to the three.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all, I hope to become allies with you all soon enough." Lyra spoke with a bow, her monotone voice all the same. Jarvis seemed uneasy, or something of the matter.
"I guess you all are good enough if my buddy here hasn't punched you down." Kry spoke with a chuckle, removing his helmet. He then, when seeing Penny, elbowed me a bit.
"I agree, my name is…" Zula began to speak.
"We already know who you and Raylin are, you are quite the big deal around Drake." Lyra said monotone, gesturing to the two.
"Yes, All is fair in Love and War, as people say. The fame surrounding you three is quite...interesting. May the traveler bring you to the right path Drake." Spoke Chloe with a gleaming look to her, but it did not help me sigh under my breath. I've heard that in so many different ways so far. I then turned to Jarvis, expecting a slightly witty remark...but he seemed unable to even speak, let alone take off his helmet.
"Are you...ok Jarvis?" Myata asked Jarvis, approaching him and patting his shoulder to get his attention. Jarvis almost jumped out of his skin.
"Yes! Yes I'm fine…" He spoke quickly, pulling his helmet off in a quick movement. He took a breath before bowing to the three, shaking a bit. "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you….I'm…"
"Jarvis, the warlock that took a shot for his friend, and boosted his friend's power to defeat the Vault. I've heard of you at least." Lyra spoke quickly, catching my friend off guard. He seemed to become wordless.
"What about me?" Kry asks with a grin.
"You do too much Iron Banner." She said plainly. He frowned at that topic.
"Alright...why are you three here anyway?" I asked the girls, deciding to change the subject quickly.
"Penny, didn't you get a transmission that told us to get here quickly?" Lyra asked as she looked towards her teammate.
"Oh! Uh..Yeah!" She spoke as if spaced out, earning a sigh from Lyra.
"I swear, you'd lose your head if I didn't keep track of it." She groaned, showing one of the absent feelings she had, annoyance.
"We should head to the tower...get to a much safer area to discuss these things…I'd rather not have another Hive army appear around us." I say quickly, remembering our fight against them. Kry nodded, elbowing Jarvis to get a nod from his as well. "You girls think so too?"
"Yes! I think that is a wonderful idea!" Penny spoke out, still seeming a bit spaced out. I nodded slightly, ready to speak again, before feeling a hand on my shoulder.
"Yea...let's get back guys..come on Drake." Zula said, slightly pulling on me. Her tone was rather...strange, even unlike her angry tones...something was bothering her maybe?
From there, it wasn't long for us to get in our ships, off back to the tower. And as we got closer and closer….I could tell something wasn't exactly right….
