Stuttgart sat with legs crossed in one corner of the room, lower hands oiling shock-blade he had taken from Devil Captain, upper hands checking shock-pistol taken from Devil dreg, now his only weapons. He stared at the Guardians, wary. Confused, distrustful. The Guardians viewed him with same feelings, with level gazes, appraising. The Earth-beast cloaked Guardian sat near him, mask off. A robotic being, was the Guardian. Female, with piercing blue eyes, like Winter sigil. The Little Light flitted around Stuttgart, humming to itself, as if checking him. Checking for what? Sickness? Wounds? Would not find any, no no no. Stuttgart felt strong, strong as he had before Winter's fall, never since.
Other Guardians, sat around a fire, eating. Earth-creature meat smelled good, Stuttgart had devoured what was given him by Earth-beast-cloak Guardian. Starving, no longer was he. Warmth of fire filled the room, made Stuttgart feel safe, sleepy. But could not sleep, no no no. Guardians had long been foes of Winter, could not let down his guard. Was strange, though. Guardians looked at him with apprehension, yet… acceptance. Why? Stuttgart looked at them, and felt… Kinship, as he would with others of Winter-now-Wolves. Why? It was confusing, very confusing for Stuttgart.
"You know, you're safe here." the Earth-beast-cloak Guardian said. "You can sleep if you want."
Stuttgart started. He had heard the words, knew the Guardian had spoken, in Human tongue. But what was said? He could not understand. Read it and understand, yes. Hear it? No.
"She said you can sleep if you need to, Guardian." Little Light said. That, Stuttgart understood.
"Cannot," Stuttgart said to the Little Light. "Guardians, have long been foes of Winter. What if harm comes?"
The Little Light hummed, exasperated. That had been difficult word to learn, reading books on Venus.
"It won't," Little Light said. "You're a Guardian like them. They won't hurt you."
Stuttgart wanted to argue, but… there was truth in Little Light's words. Somehow.
"You will watch," Stuttgart said, leaning back against the wall, crumbling and old. "Protect, yes?"
The Little Light made a confused noise, but bounced in a nod.
Stuttgart sighed, and shifted, trying to make himself comfortable. Wasn't easy, near impossible. Wall was hard, like bumpy rocks. Cradling his shock-blade, Stuttgart breathed deep of the Ether Little Light had helped him find, and slept.
"Ren, what're we gonna do about this guy?" one of the Hunters asked.
Ren-8 shook her head and checked Ace of Spade's action, glancing at the sleeping Fallen, curled into a heap.
"I dunno, Will," she said. "We're gonna have to head back to the Tower now, since we've technically completed the job."
"Yeah," the leaf-covered Hunter snorted. "Find a new Guardian, bring 'em back. I don't think 'ol Blue Giant was expecting that though."
Ren snorted a laugh with the Hunter, her eyelights bright with mirth. No, Zavala definitely wasn't gonna expect a Fallen.
"Yeah, well he's just gonna have to deal. He said 'Guardian,' we found one." Ren said, crossing her arms.
"Cayde's gonna bust a circuit when we get back, I can tell ya that." an Awoken hunter bearing the Stripe interjected, a wide grin splitting her normally somber features.. "Whether it's from Exo apoplexy or laughter, I dunno."
The Hunter pack shared in laughter again, guffawing so hard and loud that the Fallen uncurled itself like lightning, on it's feet and looking around in seconds. The Hunters stared at it, and it stared at them, until the Fallen's Ghost floated over to it and said something in the Fallen language. With a look in it's eyes that could only be described as 'unapproving,' the Fallen curled back up and was snoring again inside a minute.
Ren poked the fire with a stick, and rolled her shoulders, her expression a tad more somber, but hardly 'all business.'
"Y'know, we're gonna have to teach that fella English if we want him to last more than ten seconds in the Tower." she stated.
"Can't the thing's Ghost do it?" the leafy Hunter complained.
"Nope. I asked, and it said it's never seen a case like this, therefore it was unprepared."
"Unprepared? C'mon, it was looking for it's Guardian."
"Yeah, and it thought it's Guardian would be like us. Not prepared. Either that, or it doesn't want to."
"Dammit."
Ren shrugged, getting to her feet.
"Deal with it, guys. Now, we all better get some rest. Long way back to the ships tomorrow."
The Hunters gave a chorus of assenting grumbles, or cheers, and set to prepping their gear or getting some much needed sleep. Ren couldn't, even going into low-power mode for some rest seemed beyond her. How would the Tower take their new Guardian? Would it be welcomed? Or would it be lost to the Light before it even began?
Sun high in sky felt good, shining through treetops. Stuttgart stretched all four arms, nearly smacking Guardian behind him in the face. Guardian said something that made Little Light squeak in exasperation, but did nothing else. Odd, how they treated him. Like a brother they did, like they were Vandals in Winter. But they were not, oh no no no. Most odd. Earth-Beast-Cloak Guardian had given him a 'datapad,' was having him read it as they walked. Back the way Stuttgart had come, mostly. Odd. Why that way? The 'datapad' was written all in Human, and the words moved up and down when his fingers touched the 'screen'. Most interesting! Guardians had laughed for many minutes when he had found that out, but it was not teasing laughter. Just amused. The 'datapad' was useful, as Little Light had explained that it would teach him to speak Human! Stuttgart had been very disappointed when it did not teach him, but Little Light had said he needed to read it. So he was. And practicing.
"Do-og?" he said unsteadily. Human words felt odd to him. Hard to say.
"Right." Little Light said. "You're doing better than you were an hour ago."
Stuttgart nodded, and grinned.
"Tow… Tow…" Stuttgart tried to say, remembering a word he had heard one Guardian say during the night.
"Tower?" Little Light guessed.
The Vandal nodded, frustrated he could not say the word.
"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it, Guardian." Little Light said.
Stuttgart raised one hand to make a gesture, when the Earth-Beast-Cloak Guardian raised an hand, closed into fist. Other Guardians stopped, dropped to knees. Stuttgart stood, head cocked to the side. Why? Little Light hovered over, looked at him.
"It'd probably be wise to crouch, Guardian," it said.
"Why?" Stuttgart asked.
"Devils." Little Light answered.
Stuttgart growled, and upper hands shot to weapons. Devils.
Guardian nearest him hissed in warning, pointed at the ground. Stuttgart nodded warily, and crouched. A hum in the distance. A hum that grew steadily, as if approaching. Stuttgart knew the sound. Pikes. On foot, very bad. Very, very bad.
"Do?" he asked one of the Guardians.
"What?" they replied.
"He's asking what we should do." Little Light said, ever helpful.
"We'll have to make a run for it." the Earth-Beast-Cloak Guardian said, and Little Light translated. "I see a full Pike crew, probably looking for some payback after yesterday."
Other Guardians sniggered. Stuttgart didn't know why. Pike crew, not funny. Not at all. Dangerous, very dangerous. Devil crew only made it worse.
"What'll we do, then?" Other Guardian, the leafy one, asked.
"We'll run for it. We can't fight a full pike crew on foot with good odds, so we'll give 'em a chase."
Stuttgart was very confused now. They had no pikes of their own, so how? How could Guardians give Devils a chase if they could not outrun them? He very quickly had an answer.
Other Guardian's Little Lights came from the air, and produced vehicles! Low, sleek, fast. Stuttgart had seen these before, ridden by Guardians on Venus! But this was how Guardians got them? Small wonder Winter had never gotten one.
The Guardians mounted their vehicles, and suddenly Stuttgart was left crouching on his own, with no vehicle and feeling stupid, stupid, stupid. Earth-beast-cloak Guardian spoke to his Little Light for a moment or two in Human, and sighed. She said something to poor, embarrassed Stuttgart, and Little Light translated.
"She says to get on with her, Guardian."
"Why?"
"Because I made the mistake of not linking you into the transmat grid while I had the chance. You'll have to ride with someone until we can get you your own Sparrow."
"Sparrow? What is that?"
Little Light pointed itself towards the Guardian's not-Pikes.
"One of those."
"Ohhh. And Stuttgart does not have one?"
"No, not yet."
Stuttgart nodded in understanding, and climbed onto the not-Pike behind the Earth-beast-cloak Guardian. The not-Pike dipped slightly, but still it felt sleek and fast. Stuttgart could see now how they could outrun Devils, ohhhh yeeeeeessss.
The Earth-beast-cloak Guardian muttered something, and Little Light turned to look him in the eye.
"She says that she'll need you to defend the two of you until we get to safety."
Stuttgart nodded, and clamped onto not-Pike's frame with lower arms, drawing his weapons with upper.
"Stuttgart is ready!" he barked, and the Guardians shot forward!
Not even two seconds passed before first Devil shock-shot burned by so close Stuttgart could smell it. Not a pleasant scent like food or Ether, oh no. With a screeched battle cry the houseless Vandal returned fire, and the chase was on!