Starving Scavengers

Exiting warp… they weren't the only ship pulling out… Guardians were rallying to the site in large numbers… he dove into the airspace… some guardians were on the ground fighting alongside the city's security troops and army… B312 elected to strafe a Skiff with the laser weapons on the Phaeton and wishing he drove something more heavily armed… An iron Banner or Crucible ship came to mind… he'd love to have some missiles now… the Skiff apparently had finished dropping it's load of troops, because now it was coming after him… he reckoned he should have done his dive from the opposite direction now… The skiff was retaliating with Arc projectiles… then he realized… they weren't going to hit his ship… those guns were fitted for anti-surface bombardment. The Skiff began to chase him… but a series of explosions followed by white sparks sent it tumbling down at the city outskirts the wreckage rolling along and exploding…

He spotted 2 more Skiffs, both carrying spider tanks… and pushed the throttle, going after the one nearest to him on the left… he blew up it's guns… The Fallen Pilot dropped the walker immediately as a response to his attack before tearing off into the sky…

Ghost: We're being locked onto by…

He punched the throttle again… starting a Transmat eject as well… the ship was obliterated by the Spider tank cannon and arc missiles… skidding along the roof top of a building, he pulled out his copy of Dreadfang and stabbed it into the roof to break his momentum… craving a long gash into the cement… the combat frame and a generic soldier present gingerly stopped firing over the edge and pulled him into cover with them. The soldier handed him his sniper rifle… the firing stand had been broken off.

Soldier: I can't make the shots without the stand on those vandals pinning us opposite… you can.

B 312 took the rifle and popped out aiming down the scope… 2 wire rifles fired in response… one of the Vandals were stealthed… and he didn't get it right away, the other had it's blast thrown in the air courtesy of a shot to the head… the other narrowly missed him, the blast impacting B312's shoulder…

Pain had a different message to a Guardian though… it meant take some cover while the light within you fixes it quite rapidly… he ducked back down as his exposed Exo body underneath shimmered with some Arc energy residue and then the damage to his metal bits started to fix itself as well as the armor he wore… the soldier had seen this before, but it was sometimes an unnerving sight although they were on the same side… B312 was an Exo though, so there was circuitry, wires and servos… the sight of Awoken or Human bones, muscle and skin knitting like that however…

The Vandal died the moment B312 rose back out of cover... and he heard the sound of a Fallen stealth system failing… though the Frame that was with them had been bisected very clean… Trisected… the Stealth captain had been hit with a shotgun blast in the Frame's last act of robotic valor… must have been Arc charged shells… the Captain's shield systems were fizzling little sparks out… B312 chucked one suppressor grenade… the Captain teleported in evasive response… right into where another suppressor was waiting. B312 gave a robotic smirk under the helmet he acquired from the vangaurd… he loved the Armamentarium ever since he obtained it and couldn't recall when he had gone into any battle without it for a very long time. He looked over the ledge… the spider tank that dropped into the city trundled into plain view, cornering 2 frames, 3 soldiers… and more civilians than he had time to count… the machine started to orient itself to bring all weapons to bear on the crowd…

B312 sprinted and leapt over the edge of the roof, he gave a small burst of lift to his jump… scoped in on one of the Spider tank's front legs and sniped, hoping the machine would respond… it worked well enough, the thing looked at him… his HUD pinged that he had enough built up energy for a Super… and he triggered it, landing with his arms spread out in a purple translucent sphere… the machine defiantly unleashed it's ordinance on the Ward of Dawn… but that's what he wanted. Better all that fire power on him than the denizens of the city… he swapped out the Choleric Dragon for a copy of the Sleeper Simulant he had 3d printed from the Vanguard hall… it wasn't the original, and he had been itching for a time and chance to use it… He jumped and lifted himself out from the top of the Ward of Dawn… the machine sprayed an Arc minigun of sorts at him… he was taking some hits but refused to let his aim with the Rasputinian weapon falter… and blast the exact spot he previously sniped at with the Laser cannon.

The armor blew off the leg and the walker collapsed… he winced from his injuries inside the Ward of Dawn and hoped no stealth tech fallen was sneaking up on him… he was amplifying weapon power through Weapons of Light… there was no defense here besides the Ward of Dawn's surface… what would his next option be…

He heard the trademark electric rushing buzz that marked a fellow Titan activating their Fist of Havoc while in Striker stance… and the largest Titan he had ever seen dive punched the Spider Tank's exposed engine… typically the Spider Tank had a "death throes" before exploding when it had been pummeled enough with ballistics… this time the explosion just happened… and the Titan who was even bigger than Shaxx, Zavala or Saladin had gone…

The soldiers and frames behind him began to usher the citizens away as his ghost manifested in front of him.

Ghost: Harley's looking for you.

B 312: What you need clown princess?

Harley: These attacks are layers on layers of diversions… the tanks were the most obvious… followed by the abducted citizens I'm asking you to go after with me… and… I guess we'll have to let them keep some of the stuff they were desperately stealing and hope we don't regret the choice, sparrow up!

Indeed, the House of Devils seemed to be withdrawing… he dropped the sniper rifle he had borrowed and pulled out his own 1000 Yard Stare… a Pike Dreg dropped and he commandeered the undamaged vehicle left behind… this would fulfill the spirit of the "sparrow up" command and give him onboard weapons anyway. Homing in on a marker on his HUD denoting Harley… when he reached her, he was just in time to watch her leap off her sparrow… blink atop another Pike Dreg… do a blink strike and shove the corpse off while taking the vehicle… 3 Skiffs were splitting up in the distance…

Harley: We're on the same page eh B man?

B312: Which Skiff's got the people?

Harley: The one flying the slowest… it's always like this to make sure they get the stuff they want, they make it easy for us to get back what we want…

B312: The city's people…

Harley: The guns have been blown off this one, so we just need to not lose sight.

They both throttled their pikes after the crippled Fallen Skiff.

B312: If only we could blast it now… but there's people on that thing.

Harley: I used to think and sound like that… but… eh, story for another time.

B312: Yes… normal people don't have ghosts to fix everything that harms them…

The wall… the Skiff settled into what looked like a pseudo fortress being built around it… House Devils banners flew in very obvious and blatant spots… it was meant to be noticed… they pulled into an entrance to the wall. The sun began to set, tinting everything in orange.

Harley: We're so being sent back here on a strike…

B312: We can't risk the citizens…

Harley: I know, we're getting the babies out first…

Harley's Crimson shelled ghost popped out… B312 noticed how it still had an annoyed expression despite only having 1 eye and shell casings to emote with… perhaps it had some reserved sentiments about the Guardian it was now paired with.

H Ghost: Comms jammed… we're on our own…

Harley: The Fallen took these people because they knew we'd come after them and they'd hope they'll get away with the stuff they stole which we won't value as much… they must be desperate… ha ha…

B312: Far as I know… they probably are… spending lives to trade for supplies…

There was a sharpened metal rod staked into the ground with a slightly decayed human head on it…

B312: Nice to see some things never change.

Harley: I'm going blade dancer and all quiet like… follow as best you can, we don't want them raising the alarm, though I'd bet they know they were followed.

B312 watched as Harley knelt… and with a electric wispy noise… she was gone save for a pale distortion… she sprinted forwards, the sound one would expect from rapid footfalls on a metal grille rendered nonexistent.

Harley's trail was easy to follow… decapitated fallen corpses or neck snapped ones… maybe a stab wound in their back… they were making their way upwards to where the skiff had landed… he found a human woman hiding behind an old fire hose box… she took a swing at him with a length of rusting steel pipe screaming in fury… which he promptly caught…

Woman: Ohmygod, it's you… the other one she… I'm sorry… so sorry…

B312: Don't worry about it… is she in this room?

Woman: Yeah… she insisted you show her that you have er… "Patience and Time"… and I should stay close to you…

B312: Alright… can you use a gun?

He offered her a Havoc Pigeon he got from an engram… the Woman nodded and hesitantly took it, she seemed a bit fearful… B312 shrugged it off as nerves from the situation. He noted the bruise on her forehead as well as a lot of small cuts from rough handling and being brusquely dragged around.

B312: Who else was with you?

Woman: There were three others, me and a kid are all that's left…

B312: They took you to cover the escape of their supplies and now your usefulness to them has ended… don't worry, we'll get you and the kid home safe… I promise.

B312 pulled his ghost out…

B312: Lock this door once me and the civilian are through.

Ether had a very strong smell… industrial clutter, bleach and Ozone… those were things one would think of… Ghost started tinkering with the lock as the woman and B312 crouched behind cover…

B312: Stay hidden here, don't shoot anything unless they find you.

B312 stowed his sleeper simulant and pulled out Patience and Time… the woman was out of immediate view behind him… being a Titan however, this was one of his only means of active camouflage… he spotted Harley on a factory spotlight up above… there was a gutted fallen corpse underneath shoved into an air vent… the electric buzzing hum of Arc blade filled the air as the fallen in the room were nervously panicking…

There were no wire rifle vandals… of course not… Harley would have shredded them first, any practical guardian would… she was gone in that moment he looked around for one… there was a Vandal hung of by its legs and arms via industrial grade chain… the hook was stabbed into its neck which bled a small wispy stream of ether… it dangled from Harley's chain like some perverse piñata… and the dregs and vandals attracted by it came, they would have seen it as well… he thought he saw a transparent flicker edge its way into middle of that crowd of 4 hostiles…

Harley pulled off a showstopper… the four Fallen were sent flying while dissipating from the Arc energy in midair… the PA blared to life… Angry Fallen yelling blared over the system… as the control room began to open. Ghost spoke to B312 without forming…

Ghost: Seeing as our course of action is now an insurance policy, how about a translation… Traveler Thief, Ghoul… and wishes of starvation and desperation to sweep the city…

B312: I seriously hope the lady behind didn't hear that…

Ghost: Oops…

B312 looked at where Harley was, the shutter was open but she was now out of sight… he began to move to reposition himself, trying not to make noise and slowing down since he didn't know if stealth was still in merit or no longer.

Harley turned spotted the child… but she hesitated… she had nearly done something unforgivably horrible when she was last with a kid like this… but… when or where was that… it had been so long ago… the messy hair, the striped shirt… what was the face like…

The chattering metallic pops of a shrapnel launcher sounded… Harley broke out of being lost in thought she recognized the slow orange shots… and prepared to blink away… but to her horror… her motion tracker showed one friendly behind her… it was the messy haired kid in the striped shirt… whose face was still tear stained… she'd have to take the shrapnel burst… it tore into her flesh and cauterized… but she didn't care… she was serene… at peace with this choice… it was too little penance… her body failed and the ghost shell was left hovering there… as she slumped to her knees… arms still spread out… falling as if she had been crucified and toppled forwards…

The Reaver Captain roared and trudged forwards, electing to pull out shock blades… contemplating it's options with Harley's ghost… of course, this was tactically the same mistake Harley made… so it got domed and staggered dizzy from a sniper rifle shot… the shields sparing the worst of the damage… but it wouldn't get to recover or try to teleport… B312 hurled a suppressor a fair distance away… the kid would be unharmed… the Captain wouldn't take a lot of damage… but what he wanted was to deny teleporting… that having worked… B312 aimed his scope at the captain's head… the silhouette of a Titan aiming down a red glinting sniper scope in full Osiris Golden Bull Gear sans Armamentarium would be the last thing this enemy of humanity would see.

B312 flickered back into the opaque as he contemplated what had just transpired…

Ghost: You might want to revive Harley seeing as the Darkness is a little strong here… before angrier Fallen come in after us.

B312… Right…

Harley got back on her feet, B312 noted she didn't say anything but made to untie the child… her gait seemed unusual and oddly resembled shambling…

H ghost: She's fine, thanks…

Ghost: *whisper to B312* wow, I can't even see her face and I can tell she's not taking this well.

H Ghost: Priority now is getting the kid back safely…

B312: And the woman.

H Ghost: Give us a 30 second head start… you watch the civilians.

Harley left the room while B312 carried the child on his back to the woman…

Woman: Was that another guardian? She seemed…

The sentence was interrupted by the sound of metal being torn through, sparks and a fallen servitor blowing up…

B312: Don't worry, she's still on our side, just clearing a path…

The 30 second head start ended on the sound of an ether storage tank being torn open and ruptured, it's contents flowing and spilling out… and the electric sharp buzz of a bladedancer powering up… B312 switched to a hand cannon so he could cradle the child clad in a green and yellow striped shirt… Fallen screaming and the sound of electric slashes came from the stairwell leading up…

Ghost: Ether has always been synthetic light… looks like she bathed in it and got… serious.

B312 Made his way up the stairwell and noted the rather gory slashed corpses which didn't puff away into their particles by the arc assault…

B312: oh dear…

He shielded the pale yellow face of the child after holstering his Eyasluna… this was not something you let kids see… Indeed, part way up, he spotted an Archon seemingly begging Harley for mercy… all it's limbs had been severed… they made it up to the roof as one more Arc blade slash sounded behind them leaving a haunting echo mixed with a Fallen shriek…

Ghost: I've called for our ship…

The red imitation of New Monarchy's finest halted just enough to transmat him,the child and the woman on board… the ship then blasted off for the city… B312 oddly reminisced the time he blew across the sky in a failing Arcadia Class jump ship… shortly followed by Harley's ship.

Zavala: Fireteam… Pierott… check in.

B312: Loud and clear sir, returning to… the city with 2 of the 5 civilians… the rest didn't make it.

Zavala:… That is regrettable… but nonetheless you have prevented a more tragic outcome, the city's authorities are currently beleaguered with the aftermath, so I'm granting your ghosts one-time access to the civilian database. Find out where to drop them off… and remember… these are the ones who call you guardian.

Harley still hadn't said a word as her ship bolted to the tower while he followed the coordinates from Ghost's data sifting to a landing pad near the site of the attack… order was largely restored now, though soldiers, frames and civil response staff were present… along with the large titan, who seemed to be the only guardian around now.

Woman: Thank you, I'll be able to find my way home myself…

She returned the Havoc Pigeon to him before leaving… with a single glance back at him… B312 was thus left along with the child on his arm and shoulder… he realized he had never actually stood in the city before… He always had been at the tower. The crowd around him whispered as they saw him…

Ghost: Fear… of things they don't understand…

B312: Me?

Ghost: Not mainly you… some buy the pitch that guardians are to be treated like superheroes… others follow the Fallen's space zombie theory… though I don't know how that got into the city…

B312: There's a bit of truth to both if I think about it hard enough…

Ghost: …Are you secretly a Warlock?

The child's house didn't stand out, B312 gave the doorbell a press… as the child fidgeted from familiarity he set the kid on the ground… and a woman opened the door… she ran and embraced her child…

Mother: My baby!

Child: Mommy!

Mother: How can I ever repay… oh…

Ghost and B312 knew instantly that gratitude was being replaced with the misunderstanding they discussed earlier… but they regarded Harley's welfare as a higher priority and turned around to leave…

Mother: Wait! I'm sorry… Thanks!

B312: You're welcome madam…

Their ship rose to the tower in a slow VTOL hover… B312 felt some relief from the mix of reactions below… some cheering and enthusiastic, others fearful… why? He was a defender through and through… of humanity… Harley's ghost contacted them and interrupted his train of thought.

H Ghost: Please join us at the FWC office…

Future War Cult… where ships docked and near the Dead Orbit area as well as the Vanguard gun distribution center… that section of the tower… B312 strolled to the right. As an irate Hunter threw a tantrum and started yelling at Master Rahool… not a new sight, seeing guardians get peeved at him…

He could hear Lakshimi 2 guffawing as he climbed the stairs up to their office…

Lakshimi 2: What do I think of the New Monarchy? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… I don't. Really.

As he made his way in, several more laughs were heard… he recognized Harley on one of the sofas in the area and joined her…

Lakshimi 2: I do not mind you bringing unaffiliated guardians with you, but you should at least show your faction badge…

Harley: Eh… I lost it again, bummer right?

Lakshimi 2: 2500 glimmer please… from you or your friend.

B312: That's a bit harsh…

Lakshimi 2: So is existing, Titan…

Harley: Yeah yeah, heres some of my Osiris fight money… now let me just get to my cult locker…

Lakshimi 2: That will come in handy…

Lakshimi was left with B312 for a moment…

Lakshimi 2: Titan, would you consider joining us? You are clearly of far sounder mind than your friend…

B312: I don't know, you guys sound like you're on the logical conclusion of an existential depression…

Lakshimi 2: She's an unusual case in being a Guardian who knows her past life, her ghost stowed away with some of our Guardians to Venus… in the Ishtar academy, she was part of the teams probing the Vex research systems… when they revived her, the data was also pulled from the simulations being run around her… there was enough to put together what seems to be a perfectly accurate simulation of her past life… she agreed to have it implanted to her brain…

B312: And it changed her for sure…

Lakshimi 2: A bit of cognitive dissonance or multiple personality disorder resulted… but she remains a valuable member of the FWC, whether she flaunts her façade persona or is… just looking for things to strike down.

Harley came back at this moment…

Harley: Let's go have a drink below robo-puddin…

As they left… Lakshimi 2 called out one more time.

Lakshimi 2: Don't lose the badge again…

The area below the FWC office was somewhat between a lounge and a bar… and was quite cozy… except for the moments when Xur arrived and set himself up there instead, then it was crowded as hell by default…

Harley: Sorry I flipped out on you earlier… I kinda lost it when I saw… that… kid.

B312: Yeah what was that about?

Harley: You got time to hear me explain why I have no time to explain?

B312 Paused a moment to process when she just said and cringed a little.

B312: Yes.

Harley: Ok… it all started when we went to investigate a signal from the vault of glass… supposedly came from this old guardian called Praedyth… we found 3 ghosts… and… well, we did find his skeleton, but we went on and he just kept talking… after clearing the vault of taken… we got a ghost… with FWC colors… supposedly his.

B312: Wow… then?

Harley: Then we went after a strong Taken Minotaur… and found ourselves instructed to attack Atheon again…

B312: Whoa what? Record says that thing is dead!

Harley: Well, out here he is… but in there… he hasn't died… has died… and will die again… that's what my Warlock pal used to say… basically you could storm the place for kicks if you want and kill him again is what I know…