Lisa walked through the dusty-red-covered-city… Her imagination ran vivid and wild with visions of a world long-passed. Ancient Golden Age gravity-shields which must've acted as a dam, keeping the endless sea of dust from encroaching upon Freehold. It all amazed her. While she loved research and thirsted for knowledge, this place held the reason she would pursue an order of combat over such wonderous things.
The Cabal had pulled a moon into low-orbit and held it there like a loaded-gun. Even before she'd come here, she'd heard, she'd seen the scouting reports. The thought of all this faded-beauty being crushed like that… It had driven her to embrace the Praxic Fire. And now, here she was among the ruins of the city that filled her dreams.
She was not here to discover secrets of the first Golden, no. She was here under orders, tasked with finding and eliminating Bracus Tha'aurn. He was said to be stationed at a Cabal command post within Freehold, only blocks away from the Dust Palace… She knew she was close. She hadn't dared to summon her sparrow during her time here, for one particular reason.
Now was the time, with her, a Guardian this close, the Bracus was sure to come for her himself. She took out her Ghost and summoned the small vehicle but didn't mount it, instead she jumped, then glided into a near-by building. She had just used the Cabal Transmat Network. Which would instantly alert them to her presence. Within a dozen seconds, jetpacks were heard and within twenty, there were at least thirty Cabal in the street.
Psions inspected her sparrow while Phalanx's set-up a perimeter, the Legionaries set about expanding said perimeter… There was no art to their movements, they were soldiers not warriors. That was their folly. Lisa threw two firebolts into the middle of their position, her Ghost triggered the explosives carefully hidden in her Sparrow. Fifteen fell from that alone, bursts from her Autorifle rang out and five more were dead within seconds. Only Legionaries remained, they didn't hide or run, Cabal to the end, they assaulted her position.
But she had the high-ground, the light and more reason and will to her actions then they'd ever have the chance to muster. In the end, the final Cabal fell with a roar, he was pushed-back by forces beyond his imagination as he burned under his own armor. The suit seemed to pop from internal pressure as his mask went skyward… His last moments in life were spent gasping alien air he'd never been meant to breathe.
This hadn't been the response she'd expected… It would seem that maybe the Cabal had bigger things to worry about than Transmat breaches. She wasted no-time extracting the comms from a Psion corpse. She didn't understand Cabal Dialects, but her ghost was able to trace the signals and determine a likely home-base. She would be burning the life out of Tha'aurn in no-time. Or so she believed. She had not gone twenty yards down the street, before her world ended, her body dropped, and her ghost appeared to revive her. Something had just gone very wrong…
_
He slid the bolt back manually. "Euphoria, baby." He put a new round in and charged the rifle. "Set the air-burst thirty feet back…" Adjusting his aim slightly off from the small orb of light. "…From my current mark." From a lavender-shelled Ghost came a cheerful and feminine voice. "Air-burst is set thirty feet from your mark, Roland. I calculate that damage to the target-Ghost will be negligible! Nice shot on Ms. Starrider by the way!" Roland took his shot, then watched through his scope as the Omolon Moon-Tracer-Explosive-Dart made its two-mile journey to the Ghost. "Thank you Kindly, Euphoria… And may I say, you are living-up to your namesake as well as always." His rough voice came low inside of the ancient corner-office-space…
_
The simple-shelled-Ghost didn't have time to worry about the small explosion that just showered it in dust that most-certainly was not of Martian origin… It was too busy pulling-in light to revive its Guardian.
Lisa was up in a flash and immediately ordered her Ghost into its subspace-pocket. She ran like hell was on her heels. It took her a few moments to register what her Ghost was saying… That the shot had come from behind her. That a second one had exploded next to it only moments later. That the Ghost couldn't tell exactly how far-away the shooter was. As she dove into a side-street, she willed herself to reason it… She was beyond the range of a Wire Rifle, beyond the range of a Line Rifle… The Cabal didn't use snipers from what she knew. There was only one possibility. It chilled her to the bone.
She'd heard of bounty-hunters… Not the kind who took Vanguard or Crucible bounties. Nothing like this could come from the Tower. She recalled the words of Prince Uldren. The night he caught her as she left the Queens chambers: "You'd better be careful who you keep as a bed fellow… You might just end-up in the sights of an assassin. And you have no-idea the kinds of monsters that lurk out here in the wilds." She called-up her sparrow, not caring if the Cabal fixed her position again. She had to break it off, she couldn't risk failing. She couldn't risk her second life.
_
Roland Jumped. The Void-jets on his Titan-class Spektar Armor were tuned for horizontal speed. And with the emerging technique he'd modified his grieves for, he was well-faster than even a guardian's sparrow. Whatever Juggernaut it was who decided to come-up with Titan Skating… Well, Roland had to admit that even He, Himself had equals. He smashed in through the glass of the next building. And skipped across the floor, pushing his armor to its limits. "Euphoria, paint me a picture… Make it pretty. Make it a City and paint my target so I have a clue what to do." Roland nearly sang the words out as he flew through some buildings and sailed clean-over others…
"Map overlaid on your HUD with forty-percent opacity! Go get her tiger!" Came the honey-filled reply of the sweet-doting Ghost.
And get her, Roland would.
_
Lisa was nearly out of Freehold when she started to hear it… The almost rhythmic beat of shattering glass. She asked her Ghost what it was. He scanned for a moment, then told her with a voice that sounded as confused as she felt. It wasn't some unholy horror from beyond. It was another Guardian. The bizarre part was that there was no-other NLS drive emanating. He was catching-up to her without a vehicle.
Within seconds she was in the open and beyond the last of the buildings. The Warlock breathed a sigh of relief as she told her Ghost to call the ship down for transmat... Then he told her he couldn't reach it. Her fear renewed as her Ghost informed her that the signal was jammed. Then, a flash of purple. And with a pop her sparrow sunk to the ground, her light felt stifled. A Suppressor Grenade. She unslung her rifle and turned to her assailant.
The figure was walking towards her, he was wearing White-ish, almost purple looking armor that was far too flamboyant for any Titan she knew. Void-jets glowed signaling the Spektar Tech construction. She sprayed her Autorifle, but this was no-duel. A single streak of purple through the air and her shield was gone. The Titan held the rifle by its front grip with his right-hand as his left moved to his hip faster than any normal person could blink. He was firing shots off as-soon as the cannon was pointed vaguely in her direction.
The cannon rang three times… By either sheer skill or luck the first hit her square in the chest, the second missed as his arm extended. But by the third hammer-strike, the sights were perfectly between his left eye, and her head. For the second-time that day, her body dropped limply to the ground.
_
Roland watched as the featureless Ghost tried in-vein to resurrect its Guardian. He thought back to the stories of Felwinter… In a time when Ghosts had minimal shielding. Over the centuries new methods were devised. Now, advanced shielding was a common upgrade for every Ghost that came to the Tower. So simply pulling out a shotgun wouldn't cut-it here. No, that's why he had the rather deceivingly hefty spike-grenade-shaped-object that he planted near Lisa Starrider's soon-to-be-permanent-corpse.
The Ghost was pulled-in towards the device as it powered-on, seemingly magnetized to it. The geometric pieces of the outer shell came together tight around the orb which was the Ghost itself and the shield broke. Roland wasted no-time taking the Ghost in his right hand, then punching his left into it…
The Ghost disintegrated completely and the overshield which enveloped Roland would come to be his saving-grace. As the body next to him exploded in Praxic Fire. A flaming palm shattered every shield he had and his armor burned in Solar Light.
_
Lisa never remembered her first death… No Guardian ever truly did. But the feeling of Darkness pulling at her soul where once there was only light, told her that her connection to that ever-full Well of Light was disconnected. Her Ghost was likely dead. She was a Praxic Warlock though, a Sunsinger. She saw that barely-there pinprick of Light… And she sang to it.
The first thing she saw when she came to her third life, was the Titan. Her Ghost was gone completely, the overshield around the Titan told her everything she needed to know. She took the shield for herself. He burned. But his arms crossed, she could see what was happening, she didn't have the speed or foresight to stop it. His arms went out to the sides and the Bubble enveloped them, she knew that she had nothing strong enough to break the Armor of Light. Then, she heard the voice of the man who had killed her. Who would kill her again.
"You don't-" He hit her with a quick right. "-Get into-" He jumped back, throwing a suppressor as he left the bubble momentarily. "-A punching-" She tried to palm, but found her energy sapped and his left hand crushed through the pitiful defense. "-Match-" His right connected with her stomach and her knees gave in. "-With-" As she fell forward his left caught her jaw in an upper-cut. "-A Titan!" Lisa was launched and elevated two feet as she sailed to lie at the other end of the Bubble.
There was nothing to heal her, she felt herself losing consciousness. A boot pressed heavy to her chest… She could see the face of the man who killed her as he removed his helmet and she remembered off handedly that a Defender Bubble was vacuum-sealed and filled with air. She heard his voice un-aided by the helmet, it was the same course, sandpaper-tone she heard before.
"It's a damn shame… Nothing personal." And she barely got the name past her lips: "Corrie…" She wanted her last words, her last thoughts to be of her. The Titan seemed to assume the words were for him. "I'll tell your girlfriend you died to the Bracus. Psions are their only anti-light weapon and he surrounds himself with them." Roland pulled his cannon one-last-time, then added as an afterthought as the hammer pulled back: "You did not go gentle into this good-night." Then a single boom, deafened by the Void where the voices weren't.
_
Uldren Sov waited, tapping his foot. Roland Mercury. The name fit the Titan well. He was like a slippery, slithering poison. He was already aboard the Wolf-ship Ketch... And had demanded to use the restroom before their meeting. The doors opened, and a Crow came to sit on his shoulder. The Titan was a couple hallways down. The Crow explained that he was taking his sweet-time swaggering to the control-center.
Finally, the doors opened, the white-purple armored Titan strolled in. He walked a tight-rope line, his shoulders back, chest up and forward. He was obviously very posture-conscious. Helmet off in some subspace pocket somewhere, a sack held by his right hand. Roland tossed it to Uldren. He expected the hard, geometric shapes of the Warlock's Ghost. This felt decidedly softer…
He opened the bag and nearly choked on his own spit as he beheld the severed-head of the Woman he knew to have been graced with bedding his sister on more than one occasion. He dropped the thing unceremoniously. The Harbingers must've hated him, because at that moment the head rolled out of the bag and dripped Awoken blood on the floor of his ship. "What the fuck!? What is this?! Why…?!"
Roland replied with boisterous laughter, barely managing to get the words out: "Your face! Oh, gods. Euphoria, please tell me you got that!" The lavender Ghost appeared to reply. "I did! Saved and added to favorites, Roland-dear!" Uldren's face became fixed in an eternal scowl… "Had your fun, did you?" Roland simply nodded while he laughed. "Fine, it seems you did your job. Crow, send for a janitor and get Mr. Mercury his payment." The Master of Crows hastily made his way around the still-jittering Titan, he almost reached the door when he heard the voice again.
"Hold-up space-cowboy. We haven't talked about payment." The Prince turned to glare… "You want more?" He assumed incredulously. Roland smiled in a manner which was more irritating than usual. "I think you'll be happy to pay just a little more, to cover overhead." The Prince's lip pulled into a snare at the idea. "You didn't even bring the Ghost back as I requested."
At this, the Titan held-up his hand and he counted the points off by thumbing the underside of each knuckle. "I used an Omolon Tracer. Had to make modifications to my boots. A Transmat-scrambler. A Void-magnet charged by a Hive Shrieker. Oh, and let's not forget, you failed to mention the most important point about the target." Roland paused to give the Prince time to own-up… It seemed he wouldn't. "She was a Sunsinger." Uldren's reply was a quick hiss through clenched-teeth: "There was no indication of that." The Titan was unconvinced. "I understand, O'Master of Crows… You were testing me. I know, no Spy-Master forgets what a Sunsinger looks like." He then narrowed his eyes to indicate that his position was final. "My payment. Now."
Euphoria sent the updated list detailing payment and Prince Uldren Sov was proven a man of his word. Roland left the ship quietly-contented. One fistful of Glimmer, one fistful of Strange Coins.
_
Author's Notes:
So, a longer chapter this time. When I said in the last chapter, that I'd have it in before the week was out, I meant: before it had been a week since posting the first chapter. But, I decided to crank it out before Monday instead. Hope you're happy! (I am.) But know from now-on, I'll likely be posting only one every week.
I didn't anticipate the amount of action I'd put into this one. I initially had two ideas for introducing Roland: #1 Was have him bounty-hunting another Guardian. #2 focused on setting-up false expectations, make you think the chapter was about another character. For the most part, I combined them in the end! I scrapped the hunt at-first, because I wanted to build-up to Roland just straight-up merc'ing somebody like that. But the second option, in-which Roland gets into a bar-fight at the Tower... Well, it just seemed vapid to me. Useless drama.
I hope Uldren came-out well. I'm always apprehensive to write a character that isn't my own. Since it's not something I think will get explained in the story(Just isn't that important to me.) The reason Uldren wanted our friendly Warlock dead is that he doesn't want anyone to have influence over his sister except for him. He seems like the possessive type, doesn't he?
Roland: I'll have more in-depth explanations of what Chars look-like... At some point. Fitting it into these last two chapters would've broken a lot of artsy formatting and I can't have that. Roland's supposed to sound a lot like Clint Eastwood from his old spaghetti westerns. Just sound though, again, looks will hopefully be handled soon.
Mars: In-game "our" Ghost & Guardian duo are treated as real trail-blazers, as-if we're the first ones to visit other planets since the Golden Age. This is dumb. It's also never answered in-game, but The Cabal are likely to have a blockade around Mars, which would prevent anyone from landing. My explanation: Rasputin is keeping them busy now that he's awake. I hope to have a better chance to mention this in the story at some point. Just know that my lazy-writing here saw's my bones. /cryasingletear
The Felwinter thing: I couldn't help but shake my head when he shoots a ghost with a Shotgun and it just works like that. So I had to explain it.
Titan Skating: Is, according to my head-cannon, a thing. I like the idea of making silly-stuff like that an actual in-universe thing. Look at what Bungie themselves have done: They've made references to Guardians dancing around, being goofballs in at least one Grimoire card and in the Owl Sector stuff.
Yes, I have made references to obscure and un-paid-off Grimoire lore already. I will endeavor to continue this trend in the Future.
Once again: R&R... Your feedback is sure to help me help you help me help us all.
