When innocence was clear, when there were no worries to be spoken, and yet no boundaries to be broken...
"We should see if Variks knows anything about the disease first. If the Fallen have been using it as a weapon, then he might know something about it." Uldren said as they made their way around the docking streets of the Royal City. At least, he tried to say; Silverhawk just kept walking along, doing her own thing, looking at the occasional vendor and their goods, or looking around at the city itself. She kept wandering, spinning to take it all in, and changing directions.
If it weren't for her dumb hat, he might have lost her in the crowd a long time ago, because her every movement had an odd, fluid speed similar to that of Cayde's; most likely a result of her training as a Hunter, no doubt. Which was extremely annoying, because he had too keep rushing forwards just to keep up with her.
And here I was, hoping to make our partnership as discreet as possible. Now the whole reef will know I'm with this foolish girl. He was so going to kill her when this was all over. The fact that he had to walk around with Cayde's dumb sack on his back didn't help either. It weighed a ton or something, and it felt like is was made of metal or something. He didn't have time to open it up and look, so there was no telling what could be in there.
His suggestion to go to Variks had been repeated about three times now. But Silverhawk was either deaf, or didn't care, because she just kept on looking at vendors-and, for some reason, their customers. Perhaps she was looking for this "Martin" that Cayde had mentioned?
Or perhaps she was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. That seemed to be the more likely option of the two.
He opened his mouth to demand her attention, but noticed that they were slowly making their way over to Variks' tent. I swear, if we don't stop here, I am going to shoot this girl, ally or not.
To his immense relief, they did stop by Variks' tent, and he was about to call the Fallen out and catch his attention when Silverhawk suddenly yelled at his side.
"Oi! Martin!" she shouted over the throng of people bustling about on their daily business. She started pushing her way through the crowd, towards Variks' tent, and for the first time, Uldren noticed that the Fallen was with somebody.
He shoved a man out of his way and went after Silverhawk, who was weaving through the lessening crowd with-he admitted begrudgingly-impressive precision. At least there's one thing about her that might be useful.
As they finally made it to the tent, he got a better look at who Variks was with-and who Silverhawk had been calling out to. As he pushed one last citizen out of his way, he arrived just in time to see Silverhawk slam her hands into the shoulders of a man bent down behind a table. He yelped, jumping and hitting his head on the table with a violent bang and a loud yelp.
Variks let out a sigh as the man looked up, rubbing his head, at Silverhawk, whose was grinning broadly again with her hands held behind her back, rocking back and forth on her feet innocently.
"Guardians; some so much like children, yes?" he commented in his rattling voice, while giving Uldren a respectful nod before continuing his observation of the two humans. Uldren slid the sack off his shoulder gratefully, letting the bag fall to the ground with a thump, rolling his shoulders and hoping his back wouldn't complain too much about it later.
"Well, if you get a bunch of dead guys together away from the judgments of their previous society, where you get special benefits because you save the world 'bout twice a day...yeah." Silverhawk shrugged. Her grin faltered as she noticed that Variks was Fallen, and for a fraction of a second, her right arm twitched, and he caught a flash of her hand reaching for the side of her leg before she brought it back behind herself. Though she kept smiling, he wondered what her eyes were saying behind her sunglasses as her partner revealed himself.
The man who had hit his head stood up completely, revealing a very young face, a head full of unruly sandy-brown hair, and a pair of large, bespecled green eyes. His round glasses were of a flimsy wire frame, and the bridge was held together with some kind of tape. He wore no armor that Uldren could see; just a loose russet-brown tunic with a dark navy blue vest, a pair of loose-fitting dark brown pants, whose legs were tucked into a pair of well-worn boots.
All of that was topped off with a long-sleeved russet robe that went down to his ankles, seeming to be a bit big for him around the sleeves, and his belt had several book-sized pouches on it, some of which seemed to be full. His bond was plain gray and completely un-extraordinary-looking just like the rest of him. There was what appeared to be a knife sheathed in his belt along with the journal on the left side of his waist, and he thought, for a moment, that he caught sight of the hunter crest on the scabbard as the Warlock's robes shifted. His eyes narrowed. What's a Warlock doing with a Hunter's knife?
"I really wish you'd stop doing that." he said, glaring at Silverhawk. Uldren narrowed his eyes. Did this man hate Silverhawk as much as he did? Did he have an ally in his misery?
"Sorry, but like the Fallen said; Guardians are like children, and the number one rule of childhood is to never waste an opportunity to be a troll. It's just bad manners." she told him playfully. There was constant undertone of sarcasm in her voice whenever she spoke, and he was starting to get sick of it.
"Pft. Yeah, like I would want to insult someone by not punching them in the shoulder blades when they have their back turned." the man said dryly, rolling his eyes. There was a glint in them when he looked at Silverhawk that clearly said they were friends, and Uldren let out an internal groan.
I hope this one isn't as much of an idiot as the first. If we fail because of their incompetence...
He shoved his hand into his pocket, where the recording device as prepped and ready. As a Prince, he was a prime target(as they had learned the hard way when he was seven), and it was under Mara's constant insistence that he keep a bug on him at all times in case he was captured, whether it was on a mission or by traitors at home. Well, this time, he would actually use it...
To keep a record of his partner's failures. If they didn't find a cure, he didn't want to be known as the Prince who failed his people; he wanted to be known as the prince who was dragged down by incompetent team members, thus resulting in the failure of the mission. If the Royal Family was to die, then he would die rubbing their failure in Cayde-6's face for choosing the wrong Guardians for the mission.
"And this, as you can see, is when I started recording. Which turned out to be a pretty good idea."
"Who's that?" the sandy-haired man asked as Uldren adjusted the bug in his pocket. Hopefully it wouldn't fall down into it; he was pretty sure he had secured the clip well enough.
"Oh, that's Uldren. He's coming with us to find a cure for that disease thing that's been going around." Silverhawk told him airily, as if having a Prince in their midst was no big deal. "Uldren, this is Martin Anton, my usual partner...who probably knows your whole ancestory by heart, by the way. Not to freak you out or anything, but he probably knows more about you than you do."
The bespecled man was gawking, speechless, at Uldren, which seemed to be a major support for Silverhawk's claim.
No, not creepy at all. the thought that this young man knew anything about him was, at the very least, disconcerting. He felt a small shiver slip down his spine. Maybe I can arrest him for being a stalker after the mission is over?
Yes, that sounds about right; shoot the annoying one, arrest the stalker.
Simple.
"Yeah, turns out; not so much. Sorry, me."
"I-it's an honor to meet you, sir." The man stuttered, glancing at the ground, as if suddenly realizing that he had been staring. "It is true; I read up on a lot of awoken history before we got here. You know, just for basic knowledge."
"As you can already tell, he's my nerd." Silverhawk introduced, leaning against Martin's shoulder classily. Martin frowned down at her.
"I really wish you would stop calling me that. I am not a 'nerd'; I am a Warlock. Lots of Warlocks can fight; we aren't all about books." he stated vehemently, pushing her arm off of his shoulder and leaning way from her.
"Oh really? Names of the awoken royal family, fourth dinesty." Silverhawk demanded slyly, smirking.
"Ellis, Faron, Nayrine, Callon. Queen, King, Princess, Prince, respectively." his eyebrows shot up, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly." Wow, okay, maybe you're right; I did go a little overboard."
"I'll say." Uldren muttered under his breath. He was now choosing to ignore the fact that Martin hadn't bowed or showed any sign of respect for him other than his greeting.
Meanwhile, Variks seemed to have finished analyzing his new visitor, appearing skeptical about her size. Silverhawk, seeming to be trying to be friendly, perhaps shaking off her unease at being this close to a Fallen, beamed stupidly up at him and Uldren. Uldren allowed himself a small smirk. This will certainly be interesting.
"Sup? How's the weather?" she said with a small wave.
"There is no weather here." Variks answered, confused and glaceing outside his tent.
"I meant, 'how's your day?'"
"There is no day or night here."
"Metaphorically speaking, since the moment you woke up, how have you been?"
"His people are completely literal, Silverhawk. Metaphors are just gonna go over his head." Martin interjected from where he stood rolling his eyes.
"Nothing goes over my head!" Variks challenged, stamping his staff down and standing a little straighter. "My reflexes are enhanced; I would catch it. Unless, of course, I was not meant to catch it."
"See." The Warlock said pointedly. "I've used at least fifteen metaphors in the past ten minutes; he hasn't gotten a single one."
"Note taken." Silverhawk said, nodding.
"What note?" Uldren was honestly struggling with himself right now. Watching Variks' trials with metaphors was both humorous and annoying.
"Metaphor, Variks. That was a metaphor. It means she'll be sure to remember that especially, in future conversations with you." Martin told him helpfully. Uldren allowed himself a little while to inspect the Warlock a little further. While Silverhawk seemed to be withholding her unease, Martin, who looked to be the more "at-home-Guardian" type than a Warlock who was confident in combat, seemed to be more curios than afraid of the House of Judgement eliksni.
"I see you are acquainted with my new friend here. Acquainted very well, indeed." the Fallen said.
"Oh. Yeah. We grew up together. Well, kind of." she told him. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other a few times, as if unsure of what else to say."Oh, I'm Silverhawk by the way. Hope Martin wasn't too much trouble; he can get a bit carried away when he's around this much weird stuff."
She waved her hands around to indicate all the odd contraptions that Variks had scattered throughout his tent, and she cast her friend a playful grin. Martin rolled his eyes, and bent back down underneath the table. For the first time, Uldren noticed the Ghost that was hovering just behind the man, and it dove out of sight to it's Guardian when Uldren looked at it.
"No, no." Variks rattled. "He has been some help to me. Has solved my problem with new experiment. But has dropped key component." the Fallen finished with a hiss, looking over at the table Martin had disappeared behind.
Silverhawk opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a triumphant "Ah-HA!" from behind the table Martin was under. He popped up from behind it, a small, round, metal device held up in one hand.
"Found it!" he announced victoriously. He set the object down on the table.
"Good, very good." Variks rasped. He looked down at Uldren.
"Do you require my services?" he inquired, head tipped to the side.
"What do you know about a disease introduced to the Last City by the Fallen?" he asked bluntly. They didn't have time for anymore chit-chat.
"Ohhhhhh!" Variks hissed, shaking himself angrily. "House Wolves boasting much about new super weapon on communications. Say that Last City will soon be ripe for taking, that Reef will as well. Yes, they boasted many weeks ago, yet no activity since then. Told Petra at City; suspects large plan, very bad plan. We told her Majesty many days ago, said to keep close watch on House Wolves activity."
"Do you know where they might have gotten the disease, or how?" Martin asked. His Ghost zoomed up to his elbow, hiding partially behind him and eyeing Variks nervously.
"We already know where the disease was introduced." Uldren told him, glaring. The Ghost retreated farther behind him.
"It was at a Certech facility; surprise surprise. They're probably the ones who made the virus in the first place." Silverhawk added wryly. Martin looked at her worriedly, brow creased.
"Certech? Are you sure we should be on this mission?" he asked her, concern lit up in his gaze. Uldren narrowed his eyes at Silverhawk. So, it's more than just 'what a lot of Guardians have'. She has a personal connection to Certech; a deep one. How much of a problem could this be?
"Don't worry, dude; I'll be fine. Anyway, do you know where the House of Wolves might be storing the rest of the disease? There's got to be more of it somewhere." she added, waving off Martin's question. The Warlock's frown didn't go away, and he let out a worried sigh.
"No." Variks shook his head slowly. "House Wolves' ketch would be most likely place. Ketch would be hard to find, very hard indeed. Rumors of Wolf ketch on Venus, best chance. Also is small word about Wolf base on Mars. One can move, other can not; find ketch first, then look for base."
"Ooooorrr," Silverhawk said slowly and dramatically, "we could pretend to attack their base, draw their ketch out, and then attack that. I mean, if they've got a deadly disease as a weapon, won't they want to get that to their big, bad boss as soon as possible so he can use it again? I mean, logically, if you attack on base, the mobile one will come running to assist and recover the important stuff, right?"
They all looked at her, Uldren only a little bit surprised. So there's a brain in that empty head after all?
"Just say'n." she shrugged as if it were no big deal.
"Sounds like a plan." Martin agreed, nodding.
"And it is not the plan that was laid out for us. We were given instructions beforehand, we will not deviate from them." Uldren said before they could start refining Silverhawk's new idea.
"Hey, Cayde only said to get the cure by any means necessary, and destroy any of the stuff that the Fallen still have. He never told us how we were supposed to do that." Silverhawk pointed out, shrugging. The sarcastic undertone of her voice became more pronounced somehow. "And he never said anything about not going to Mars."
"If there's even the slightest possibility that the House of Wolves has the disease on Mars, we need to eliminate that possibility." Martin agreed." And if we can somehow draw out the House of Wolves' ketch, then we can knock that off the list while we're at it."
"May I remind you both, you idiots, that we are on a time limit? If you can't get it done in five days, then any imbecilic plan you come up with will not work. We cannot search under every rock on Venus and attack an entire Fallen base on Mars at the same time." He sneered. I have just about reached my limit when it comes to this woman.
He couldn't wait to kill her.
"Whoa, whoa; five days!? Are you kidding me? Why the heck do we only have five days! We can't save known civilization in five days!" Martin suddenly went off, practically screaming, grabbing Silverhawk by the shoulders and shaking her before gripping his hair with his hands, as if he were considering pulling it out. "It's impossible! Literally impossible! We're all going to die horribly painful deaths because this is impossible! What the heck was Cayde thinking? What the heck are we thinking? Why are we here!? What's with the universe!? WHAT IS LIFE!?"
Silverhawk grabbed him by the shoulders turning him to face her, as Variks and Uldren stared at him. To their surprise, she slapped him across the face.
"Wha-!?" he gawked like a fish out of water, staring at her.
*cue Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves main theme*
"Dude, cool it!" she said as she slapped him. As he gawked at her, she spoke again, fiercely. "Are you Guardian or not?"
"What?" he said stupidly. She slapped him again.
"Are you a Guardian or not?" she asked again.
"Y-yes!" Martin stuttered. She slapped him again.
"What!? What the heck was that fo-" she slapped him again.
"Are you a nerd, Guardian?! Are you a mad-man mad scientist?" she demanded.
"What? No!" she slapped him again.
"Say it!" she demanded, shaking him.
"Say what?" she slapped him again.
"Say it! 'I'm a mad-man with a Ghost. I'm a mad-man and I'm proud.'"
"I'm a mad-man with a Ghost…?" she slapped him again.
"WITH CONVICTION! 'I'M A MAD-MAN AND I'M PROUD!'"
"I'm a mad-man and I'm proud." she slapped him again.
"I'M A MAD-MAN AND I'M PROUD! " he yelled.
"That's it!" Silverhawk shook him again as the Warlock became more vehement.
"I'MA MAD-MAN AND I'M PROUD! I'M A MAD-MAN AND I'M PROUD!" he continued to chant, as Silverhawk cheered him on and began chanting on her own.
"CRAZY PEOPLE RULE! CRAZY PEOPLE RULE! CRAZY PEOPLE RULE! CRAZY PEOPLE RULE!" she screeched. The two Guardians were now jumping around each other, screaming in each other's faces, and cheering more and more loudly as Martin began to join in Silverhawk's "crazy people'' cheer.
Uldren simply stared, as Variks began to edge out of the room awkwardly. He cast the Prince a glance that could have meant "I pity you, you've met with a terrible fate, haven't you? " But Uldren was so shocked that he didn't notice. He was still gawking at the two Guardians' display. Their Ghosts were doing nothing to stop it, only hovering out of the line of fire of their Guardians' limbs.
They're idiots. They're complete and total idiots. I can't believe this!
"YES!' Silverhawk finally ended their cheer. "Now let's get out there, and KICK. SOME. BUTT!"
"YEEAAAAAAAAAAH!" Martin screeched. The two Guardians spun on their heels towards the entrance, where Uldren was standing. Casting each other a glance, they both raised their right arms as if they were wielding swords, and charged. Uldren jumped out of the way as they screeched;
"TOOO DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!"
He stared after them as they disappeared into the rapidly dispersing crowd, running in the direction of the docking ports, their Ghosts zooming after them.
We…are all going to die.
"So, as you can see, everything was-and is- pretty much hopeless with these two. You can imagine, everything looked worse and worse as time got on."
In his ship, Uldren sat, gripping the control sticks so hard, he was glad he was wearing gloves, lest the force he was gripping with would have made his nails draw blood in the palms of his hands. The intercom was somehow stuck open, so he could hear everything that the two guardians were talking to each other about through their own comms.
It was much less talking than it was making the most extremely annoying sounds in the universe. His comm beeped to let him know one of the Guardians was trying to contact him.
"Hey, Uldren; wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?" Silverhawk's voice came, wobbly from barely-contained laughter.
"No!" he snapped. "I've been listening to it for the past half hour."
A guttural grinding noise sounded from his comm, and then another beep signaled that contact had been broken.
If only.
His speakers rang with the sound of the two Guardian's hysterical laughter.
"No, no, no; listen to this, it's this new technique I've got…"Martin's voice said, sniggering. Uldren knew what was coming, but he still gave a tiny jump.
A loud, long farting sound filled the cockpit.
Silverhawk and Martin erupted into more laughing, Silverhawk trying-and failing- to speak, so heavy were her hysterics.
"Tha-th-that w-was better tha-than the arm one you did last week!" she finally managed to choke out, before exploding into new hysterics as Martin did another fake fart.
Uldren banged his head hard on the controls. He was considering shooting himself, in the head or the foot, anything to get him away from here. He glanced at his hand cannon.
Another fart.
Someone just end it, please…
Both Guardians(and their Ghosts this time, it sounded like as well) farted in unison, and Uldren lost it. He slammed his head against the controls several times, the horn blaring with each hit. He screamed and threw his coffee off the console violently, before pounding his fists down on the console one last time. Eyeing the comm system evilly, he took out his hand cannon and emptied the whole mag into the system.
"Of course, I kept my attitude very well during this time. I can't say that I every really lost my head."
They had landed on Venus, finally. It was the middle of the Venusian night; it had taken them about a day and a half, earth-time, to get here, as Venus, from the Reef, was clear on the other side of the sun at this time of year.
Uldren glared at the two humans as they ran up to him, after seeming to have had a somewhat heated exchange beforehand. They came up to him, Silverhawk looking sheepish. She was now sporting a Bazooka strapped to her back, and there was a blade the length of her forearm strapped to a sheath on each of her upper legs. She was now wearing some kind of belt as well, which not only went around her waist, but had a strap going along her torso as well.
On either side of her waist, there was a holster, one empty, one sporting a hand cannon.
Martin was basically dressed the same, except he now had the large sack that Cayde had given Uldren slung over his back, and he was gripping a blue and gray shotgun as if it were a lifeline. He'd taken the sack from Uldren shortly before takeoff, and had declined to share any knowledge about what was within it.
"Hey, there, atomic glare." She greeted cheerily.
He gave her and Martin the fiercest, most furious look he had ever worn, and Martin's Ghost hid behind his back again.
"Now, look, don't be angry, buuuuuuuut…" Silverhawk continued. "I left my best gun at the Tower. I completely forgot it was there, I was on a bit of a vacation when they called me in. Soooooo…I'ma go ahead and get it back from there."
"Her request was completely ridiculous, so naturally I denied her."
Silverhawk had been gone for three hours now, leaving Uldren alone with Martin, who was some distance away, practicing with some sort of Void energy, occasionally consulting one of the books strapped to his waist, which he had laid out on a nearby rock. His ghost, whom he now knew to be Wheatly, hovered over the book, occasionally correcting his Guardian when need be.
The Prince sat huddled on a boulder, back hunched, brooding and fuming and glaring at the fire he'd started. He'd scouted the area out a little, and managed to find a bird's nest; aka, breakfast for the next morning. The eggs were small, but he wasn't going to complain; so long as he didn't have to eat Guardian field rations. The small camp was set up in a tiny boulder field, with a small cave cutting into one of the larger rocks. Martin had proved to be useless t setting up the camp, so Uldren had done it all himself while the Warlock practiced with whatever space magic he was paying with.
He'd taken a tarp, and spread it out from the top of the cave entrance, to the tops of several surrounding boulders, creating a makeshift tent of sorts to keep out whatever rain Venus might bring while they were sleeping. Why were they getting ready to sleep? Because, it would be at least a ten hour trip to earth and back, and they might as well spend the remaining eight catching up on sleep while they could.
He hadn't given Silverhawk permission to return to Earth! She'd just took off and left them here!
"I can honestly say, Venus as a whole was a very calm and easy experience."
Uldren yelled and threw the head-sized boulder off the cliff, before tearing up any and all plant life he could get his hands on. He screamed again as he threw a large branch over the edge as well. He kicked another boulder, hoping to see it fall as well, but there was a loud crack, and he gripped his foot, practically screeching every curse word he could think of.
About mile away, Martin continued practicing, under the assumption that his new partner had gone off to get firewood.
"Actually, you know what? I think I hated Venus more than anywhere else we went to."
Okay, so I laughed my gut out writing half this chapter. I almost didn't finish it. And kudos to those of you who recognized the Legend of Zelda reference that I put in here.
Review Challenge(Good 'ol Sayings): A catchy catch phrase. Anything will do; it doesn't even have to be yours. Just nothing TOO cliché, if you can contain yourselves.
What do you think of Silverhawk so far? Do you want Uldren to throw anything in particular off a cliff? Do you want me to blow up something specific in the coming chapters?
Yes, you heard me; I'ma going to blow something up soon. I can't wait! ^^
Next time: First blood is drawn, Uldren begins to loose it(some more), and Silverhawk has some road rage.
Cheers! ^^