Disclaimer: As you know, I do not own this franchise. I only own some of the OCs and others go to their respective owners.

So, let's get started…

Chapter VI: Treading the Line…

"I am sorry, Renton, but we must decline your accusation until a further date where we can analyse it more thoroughly." The Vanguard official declared, avoiding the gaze of the infuriated Warlock and instead taking notice of the war-tables holographic display. "Now, if you don't mind, we are in the middle of a meeting."

The Warlock's teeth grit and grinded against one another, his temper reaching boiling point. "With all due respect, Vanguard Ikora, you cannot be serious!" His gauntleted hand slammed against the table with a solid clang, gaining the full attention of the five members of the meeting. "With all the evidence presented to you by myself and my fellow Guardians, how can you blatantly ignore the threat posed by that menace and his malfunctioning Ghost!"

"With all due respect,Renton, you have no place to talk in such a manner to myself or the other members of the Vanguard." Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the insubordinate Guardian. "You are delving into matters that a far above your level of knowledge and are strictly on a need-to-know basis."

The furthest of the representatives from the group, Cayde-6, sighed in discontent as he leaned against the table. "Sorry, pal." He remarked with disregarding flick of his wrist. "You're one of those who don't need to know."

Sparks hovered by his master's side, his armoured plates declining in synthetic rage. "How can you all preach to the other Guardians that everything you do is in our best interests but completely decline this vey blatant and obvious knowledge?!" The Ghost barked with a sharp edge in his metallic tone. "How can you be so incompetent and stubborn that you would blatantly ignore this!?"

"Calm down, both of you." Felix interjected with a frustrated sigh.

Renton nearly recoiled at his presence, almost forgetting that he had been lingering within the room for the duration of the conversation. "How can you side with them, Felix!?" His rage latched onto the Hunter with a surprising vigour. Felix tried his best to not humour the situation. "You were there! You saw everything!"

"Enough!" The Titan Vanguard snapped with a heavy gauntlet slamming into the war-table, silencing the entire room. "I have listened to you both for long enough." Renton tensed slightly, eyes large with fear. "I will not have you speak such insubordination within my War-Room about a fellow Guardian whom is far more experienced and valuable in the field than you currently are!" Diomedes and his Ghost flinched at his harsh tone, backing away slightly. "I want to hear no more of this, Understood?"

Renton scowled, though still slightly on edge. "But, Sir, I think tha-"

"Is that understood!?"

His head declined. "Yes…" He sighed as he began to voluntarily dismiss himself from the War-Chamber. "Yes, Sir."

Waiting for the doors to seal, Cayde whistled at the display his fellow Vanguard had shown himself and their fellow Guardians. "You know, you didn't need to be so harsh on the kid, Zavala." He remarked with a hand placed against the war-table, the other loosely spinning a Data-Pad as to amuse himself. "He isn't the first to report his actions, as of late…"

Zavala snarled slightly at the Hunter. "And what would you propose we do instead?" He asked mockingly, though it appeared difficult to tell through the condescending tone. "Just tell them that we have been disregarding this information for as long as we already have?" He tilted his head away, shame evident. "You know that there would be an uproar…"

Cayde snickered to himself, finding the situation slightly humorous. "Okay, good point." He glanced at the fifth member of their meeting. "So, Galva, have you got any ancient wisdom to impart on us ignorant servants of the light?" He asked with a smirk, watching the unique hybrid glance towards him with her modified human eyes.

"Well," She began with a glance towards the war-table, the Hunter taking notice of the soft mechanical clicks coming from her supposed eyes. "with a tone as ridiculously snarky as that, I am not sure why you are surprised I called you such a thing." Her thin lips danced with a faint smile. "Still, I believe that Zavala is correct in his decision to hide our mutual associates actions from the rest of the tower." She drew a faint line with her index digit across the faintly glowing circuitry lines trailing across the flesh of her cheek, finding the action slightly comforting. "When you have existed as long as myself, you begin to see a familiar pattern in collective human behaviour when they are met with deceit."

The Warlock Vanguard scoffed. "But we cannot be sure how long this secret can be kept." She massaged her temple slightly, soothing her growing temper. "It is only a matter of time before someone reveals too much and too many Guardians begin to listen!"

"Ikora, losing our temper will not amount to anything, now will it?" Felix explained mockingly with a hand placed below his armoured chin, a faint smirk evident on his lips. "You, along with the rest of our small council, know that if we just asked the Future War Cult for assistance they could easily discern any prying eyes from our little secret."

Cayde rolled his eyes at his fellow Hunter. "Here we go..." He raised a hand pointed a single digit at the fifth member of their meeting. "You know, as well as myself, that if we ask them for help, we will owe them and none of us want that."

Felix defensively raised both of his armoured hands. "It was merely a suggestion, Cayde." His helmeted brown eyes flickered with a hidden gleam. "Nothing more. Nothing less."

The room fell silent for a moment, the five Guardians all attempting to say something to quell the awkwardness of the situation but they all amounted to nothing. It was all on their minds. The source of their anguish. The memory that had left them all in such turmoil. The one decision they had agreed upon that only brought them misery. It haunted them and none of them were willing to crack first, each one waiting for the other to submit. Finally, Cayde decided that he should state what the entire group had been thinking. "I miss having him at these meetings…"

Ikora nodded in agreement. "We all do, Cayde." She replied with a heavy sigh, her eyes downcast towards her table-side.

"We cannot change the past." Galva declared.

"Galva, that's not what we are talking about." Felix explained. "We just… It's just natural for humans to wish that we could have changed actions and choices we regret." His masked eyes glanced away. "If we had never sent him on that blasted mission all those decades ago, maybe he… maybe he would…"

Zavala stood tall, his large frame standing to its peek as he gained the attention of the council. "That does not matter anymore, Felix." His eyes remained stern. "I agree that, of our many decisions within this council, it is appropriate to assume that the choice to send Warden-19…" He coughed awkwardly, noticing the many other Guardians glance downward. "The choice to send Warden-217 to the Vault of Glass was a mistake we can never retake and it has only given us grief at the loss of a very valued friend and colleague." His gauntleted digits clicked against the interface of the War-Table, altering the holographic interface to the image of their original topic: The Fallen. "However, all of this still does not tell us what we should do regarding our new allies."

"What do you mean?" Cayde inquired, a synthetically confused expression etched upon his metallic features. "I don't really see much of problem with them." The other council members turned their gaze towards him expectantly, waiting for the Exo to explain himself. "While we have the kid here, we haven't got anything to worry about, right?"

Felix scoffed. "Are you kidding me, right now, Cayde?" He pointed towards the House of Exile's sigil holographically displaying upon the war-table. "These aliens, whom have been opposing us for over a century, are a complete wild card that we have almost absolutely no jurisdiction over and, now, we also have far too many variables with this recently recovered Guardian whom is not only an inexperienced soldier but also has near-zero to no qualifications that make him a reliable ambassador."

"But you cannot be so cynical about this!" Cayde argued. "If he is the only person whom they will listen to, then we cannot just ignore that!"

Galva coughed, interrupting the two bickering officials and drawing their attention towards her. "You are both ignoring the obvious solution to your conundrum." The Hybrid stated simply, closing her eyes and letting an image of pure serenity consume her angelic features. "You cannot fully assess a situation without enough information to work from and this has only one logical conclusion."

Zavala narrowed his brow in thought. Was she suggesting what he thought she was? "Are you suggesting that we enlist another Guardian to become Gabriel's new observer?" He asked with a single gauntleted hand placed on his chin, letting the speculated idea roam within his mind. "If so, whom would you have in mind?"

Galva indicated towards Felix and Ikora, her lips forming a small smile. "I believe that both Felix and Ikora have the perfect candidate in mind." The two glanced at one-another and almost felt shock at the Hybrids quick mind and remarkable perception. "Am I not correct?"

Felix raised his hand to his chin once more, contemplating her words. "If you are referring to whom I believe you are, then I do agree that you may actually have a point." He explained. "Our candidate to replace Gabriel Locker's previous observer must fit into the qualification of both having his trust and being able to operate without suspicion; our agent must also be completely dedicated to our cause and motives."

Ikora nodded. "And there is only one Guardian whom fits into said category."

Cayde's optics widened as the identity of their new informant dawned upon him. "No! I won't allow it!" He snapped, shocking the two out from their conversation. "I will not let you use him like he is some damned puppet!"

Zavala furrowed his brow at the Hunter's statement. "Whether we choose to follow this course of action or not, you should remember that he is not under your jurisdiction, Cayde." Cayde flinched at his stern tone, finding his defiance deflate slightly.

"Bullshit!" He retorted, watching Zavala furrow his brow further into a harsh glare. "I'm the only reason he is still a Guardian! When he was in trouble, after the incident, you wanted nothing to do with him!" His hand raised and pointed accusingly at the Titan. "And, now that he has become useful to you, you want him to follow your orders like some fucking dog!"

"Cayde." Felix interrupted. "What you do not realise about our candidate is that he is not only under Ikora's jurisdiction for being a Warlock but he is also under my own authority." He explained with a faint smirk beneath his mask. "As dedicated as he is to the Tower and his allies, he is also a firm believer and dedicated member in the Future War Cult and its beliefs." He gestured towards himself as to punctuate his point. "And, as you may have noticed, I am not only a member, but a member of a fairly high standing." He chuckled slightly at Cayde's snarl. "With the order from me, and enough persuasion, I believe that I could easily convince him."

Zavala gazed towards Cayde, noticing his concerned expression. "Are we sure we do not have any other possible candidates?" He inquired.

Felix tapped his finger against his chin. "Well," he hummed, "I guess we could ask Spectre-42 to d-"

"No!" Cayde snapped. "Not. Him."

Zavala nodded. "Then it is settled." The Vanguard concurred, ignoring Cayde's disagreeing grunt. "Once their mission is complete, we will bring Alex here for a meeting regarding Gabriel and his temporary enrolment in Fireteam Spirit but, be aware, we cannot inform him of our plan to use his own team member as our Agent to watch over Gabriel." He felt Cayde's optics burn into him but chose to ignore it. "We will, instead, tell him that we are enlisting Gabriel to watch over his team and our new informant; this will hopefully solidify our new observer's trustworthiness and also give us some insight on both Fireteam Spirit and Gabriel."

"Two birds with one stone." Felix remarked.

Ikora bristled slightly. "What about that Fallen that seems to accompany him everywhere he goes?" She inquired. "Will she be joining him while he is stationed with Fireteam Spirit?"

Zavala nodded once more. "Yes, Ikora, this Fallen will be accompanying them." He explained, wondering if this truly was a sound idea.

Gabriel, alone, was a factor that they knew that the team would be able to handle without much issue but the Fallen was a whole other story. He knew Alex would be trustworthy enough around the Fallen Baroness and would most probably keep the peace between her and the others. Cyrus and Fiona would most likely fall in line. They knew when to follow orders. Red would be hesitant but would eventually accept it, most likely not wanting to have a disagreement with his commanding Officer. Nevertheless, there was still one person they had not considered: Spectre-42.

"But what about Spectre?" Cayde questioned aggressively, finding this whole situation certainly not positive in the slightest. "We already know that he is a notorious zealot whom despises anything that is not Human, Awoken or Exo! Even then, he is incredibly vicious and has no problem eliminating any threats that are in his way!" Felix rolled his eyes at the Hunter's uninteresting rant. "How do we know he will be trustworthy?"

Felix chuckled at the Hunters ignorance. "Of course he won't be trustworthy, Cayde." He declared, watching the Vanguard's fury rise. "That is what I am expecting of him." He knew Cayde would react like this, it was almost entirely predictable. A reaction to this type of situation always did seem to trail towards a large consistency of brash words. "That is why the reason I will not inform him of any further developments and continue to refuse his requests to become Gabriel's new observer. As diligent and competent as he may be, Gabriel will not appreciate such an… opinionated individual as his watcher."

"But how do you know he will follow your orders and not take matters into his own hands?" He asked with a scolding glare. "He is far to brash and unstable to be trusted!"

Felix sighed as he gave a disheartened smile. "Well, you would know, Cayde." Cayde's optics narrowed slightly at his obvious implication, ignoring the rest of the council and focusing all his fury towards the obnoxious Hunter. "You were the one made him a Guardian when he first emerged from his time in the Faction Wars." His words hit Cayde like a brick wall, slamming all of his aggression into dust and instead replacing it with shock. "You were the one who taught him how to be a Hunter."

"Felix, I think that is enough." Ikora interjected, hoping to remedy the crumbling discussion the council needed to desperately conclude. "We need to reach a decision on the current matter."

"Agreed." Felix conceded.

"All in favour of appointing Guardian Kitori as Guardian Locker's new observer, say 'Aye'!"

"Aye!" They replied in sync, the majority refusing to acknowledge the lack of enthusiasm in Cayde's own agreeing chant.

Zavala bowed his head as he began to type away at the war-table and shut the piece of equipment down for later usage. "Excellent." He remarked as he indicated towards the exit. "This meeting is adjourned. We will review the results of our decision at our next meeting."

"Yes, Sir!"

– Scene Change –

This was most probably the worst day of his entire life. His house had just begun to recover from the exile of one of their captains – a tragic stain upon their honour and pride – and now it only went further downhill with the unexpected attack from those wretched thieves. Them. Those scum. They had already stolen the Great Machine from them and, now that they had it, they wanted to finish their bloody work and eliminate them all.

This was truly a dark day.

The Devil's multiple arms strained as he attempted to pull himself over the small ridge, his muscles straining under the immense pressure of physical exhaustion. He pulled himself upwards with what little strength he possessed and lifted his body to the hills highest point, sighing in relief. The captain stood to a deformed hunch of his usually towering stature and took the small opportunity to glance behind him for his pursuers, hoping that he had escaped them and their murderous intentions.

He had counted their numbers, ever since they had began their merciless attack on his battalion; there had been one. A single thief had done this to them but the Captain was sure there would be more. There were always more lurking in the shadows and waiting to strike. He had known this from experience. Some were more open about their numbers, choosing to attack head on in a brutal and aggressive attack that would leave their targets reeling and disorganised. The majority, however, used the tactics of the shadow; hiding and waiting for the most opportune moment to strike and slaughter all in who stood their path. Not that the captain could blame them; he knew it was what they had been made for.

His multiple eyes scoured the lands, finding nothing in his wide vision but the remains of his men and their ship. He gave a deep and rumbling sigh as he saw their bodies strewn across the ground in such an undignified way. It was almost sickening to watch. Many of them were missing their limbs – most probably from the blast. Others had been executed by their enemy in their moment of vulnerability, their craniums blasted open and left bare to the earth below. The captain could still see some of their Ether seeping from their bodies.

'Ether…' He repeated as he glanced down to his chest and the large gash that had been created by a flying piece of shrapnel; he also took note at the amount of Ether leaking from the wound. Too much was leaking away and it made him feel weak. He was beginning to become drowsy, barely able to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds at a time. His senses were slipping and his awareness was becoming dull. This pain was not worth what they had done, whom they had protected and traded with. Those defectors were not worth this many troops. They were not worth this much pain.

Bringing up his still stable arm to the side of his helmet, he called through his comm for any other survivors to respond; he hoped someone else had made it. Silence. Just static. Was there truly no one else? Was he the only survivor of his battalion? It certainly looked that way. With no more troops to assist him and no medical equipment in sight, he surely seemed doomed; restricted to shortwave communications. He called once more and sighed as he was rewarded with the same infuriating silence as before.

"Defectors… Not worth so many…"He declared coldly in the defectors native tongue, venom dripping through his gravely tone. He felt so ashamed to have let it go this far and to lose so many of those he had once considered comrades in arms.

An unknown voice, speaking in the defectors native tongue, interrupted the Captain's grief. "Oh, I don't know…" The Captain turned, raising his Shrapnel Launcher with a trembling free arm, and caught sight of the intruder. "I thought I made a good show out of it!" It was one of them; he was a Thief.

"You!" The Captain boomed as the armoured frills upon his head stood on end and his large jaw clenched. "Wiped out my battalion. Disgraced me." His cannon faltered slightly as he felt his strength slowly drain from his form but he did not back down. He could not show weakness now. "Where are others!? Where are allies?!"

The Exo tilted his head slightly and gave a slight chuckle. "My allies?" He asked. "What, in Crota's despicable name, are you talking about, Xeno?"

The Captain growled at what he assumed was mockery from the thief. How dare he do this to him! First he assists in the elimination of his people, then he refuses to acknowledge any questions he asks and feigns ignorance. This truly was a dishonour that must be rectified. "Do not lie!" He barked ferociously, gesturing aggressively with a thrust of his gun towards the thief. "If they are not cowards, they will face me! Not hide!" He reared towards the Guardian with a sharp narrow of his piercing glowing eyes. "You all attacked my battalion! WHERE. ARE. THEY!?"

"I don't know what to tell you, buddy." He reiterated to the towering Captain in a mocking tone, proceeding to laugh as he hoped off his perch. At this point, he didn't really seem to care what the Fallen thought of him or the others. He would not be alive long enough to continue anyway. "I came here alone to just have some fun, ride my Sparrow… Spill some blood." He raised both his arms with an innocent shrug. "I am sorry about that, I really am, but you should already have guessed that this was not the actions of multiple Guardians."

The xeno growled. "You lie!"

The Exo chuckled once again as he strolled past the Captain, taking a moment to examine the scenery. Earth certainly was nice this time of night. "Why would I lie to you now, Fallen?" He asked, giving the simplest indication towards the view. "It's too nice out." The Fallen followed his gesture and also gazed upon the land ahead, finding the smallest comfort in this serenity and silence. It would not last but the Fallen could still enjoy it for what short time he had left. "Anyway, I am not supposed to kill you."

"What are you saying, machine?" The Fallen tilted its head slightly, taking a short and expectant glance towards the thief. "Why were you not supposed to kill me?"

The Captain narrowed his eyes as he gazed further into the distance, noticing a bright glinting object begging for his undivided attention. He wondered what it could be, pondered it. Was it a piece of debris from his ship? No, a majority of his ship's debris had landed behind them and it was very unlikely for it to travel such a distance after the crash; not impossible but simply improbable. Was it a distress flare? Not possible. Also, idiotic. A flare emits torrents of coloured smoke to attract the attention of any lifeform nearby; this glinting light did not fit such an opposing description. A signal A beacon, maybe? Also, unlikely. This flickering light, though attention grabbing like a beacon, flickered continuously instead of periodically – along also lacking any identifiable colour. It truly was a mystery.

He wondered why he was so attracted to it. It was nothing more than a glinting little light in the distance that had no relevance to his current situation. It was menial, a distraction for the simple-minded and yet… he was inexplicably drawn to it. The machine had also been silent this entire time. He was probably drawn in by the same luminous anomaly as the Captain. It was not really a surprise. This particular thief did not seem very intellige-

CRACK!

The Fallen screamed as he felt a sudden impact tear through his lower torso, sending his body downward. He grunted as he collided with the earth below and nearly gasped as the pain in his side flared to unbearable levels. He attempted to use his upper right arm to reach the wound and cover it, hopefully slowing the bleeding pace of his precious Ether. He felt the joint twitch slightly, reassuring him that – even though they had become numb – he could still operate his arms; he hoped the struggle to operate it would not increase his suffering.

He felt something clumsily thud against his armour, a few centimetres short of his wound, and wondered – with a rising fear – what it could possibly be. Opening his weary eyes, the Captain searched for the offending object thumping against his chest plate. Glancing downward, he recoiled slightly as he saw the stump that was once his upper right arm; almost roaring in objection of the gruesome sight. Looking further down his already battered torso, the Captain examined the further damage caused by the unknown attack. A large majority of his lower right torso was missing, the lower arm torn away entirely and left strewn limply at his side. In a moment of weakness, the Devil Captain unleashed a hellish scream of agony.

The Exo sighed as listened to the agonized wailing coming from the wounded xeno. "Yeah, really should have seen that coming." He remarked, listening to the powerful roars coming from the two approaching Sparrows with a confident smirk. "Took you two long enough!"

The first of the two leapt from his vehicle and gave a hearty chuckle, raising his hands in a carefree manner. "Sorry about that, Ragnar." He jutted a thumb towards their other companion. "Nyx was having one of his many inconvenient 'visions' and held us all up."

The corrupted Exo glared towards his accuser. "Keep it to yourself, Spectre." He snapped. "My visions are not an inconvenience! They prophesise the fut-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" The Cult representative waved dismissively, silencing the Exo. "I lost interest a while ago, Nyx." He wandered towards the screaming creature squirming along the dusty earth below and watched it with a slight smirk, a slight chuckle emitting from his metallic throat. "So, how much did you let slip this time, Ragnar?"

"Nothing important." Deflecting the accusation with a shake of his head, his optics flickered an ominous green once again. "Beautiful shot, by the way." He remarked as he lowered himself to his knees as to examine the bleeding wound more thoroughly, bouncing slightly on his metallic heels with some sense of giddiness. "So much collateral damage to subjects the body seems like a very evident indication of your own despicable work, Spectre…"

"You can thank Nyx for that, Ragnar." the Cult Exo declared with a dismissive wave, his attention primarily centred on the screaming xeno before him. "If I had taken the shot," his smirk fell to a distinct snarl as he raised his boot and stamped against the creature's faceplate, seemingly fulling all his hate into the antagonistic action. "he would be in far more pain!"

Nyx glared fiercely at the Exo. "The shot was meant to simply incapacitate the Eliksni, not send it into shock!"

Spectre tilted his head towards his fellow Hunter, silencing Nyx from continuing his retort. "Again, Nyx, do I care?" The Hunter turned his attention towards the monster squirming feebly beneath his boot, the pressure from his agonizing action increasing with every second. With every scream, Spectre felt his synthetic emotions heighten to a point of near giddiness and felt an even more desirable urge to continue the torture for a few more hours. It would not be difficult. He could just dismiss these two followers and let them leave him to his fun but felt that this needed to come to an end. He had a mission and this miserable piece of filth had the information he needed. "We need to focus on him."

"Do what you will, filthy machine!" The xeno wheezed as he attempted to speak, his arms clamping weakly to the Exo's leg. "I have nothing to tell!"

The Exo growled at the Fallen's declaration, removing his boot from the creature's faceplate. "Since when did I give you permission to talk!" He leaned down and slammed a solid punch into the creature's helmet, slamming the Captain's head into the earth and cracking the helmet slightly. "You don't get to talk!" Another fist connected, cracking the helmets respirator. "You filthy xeno!" The next flung the lower half of the respirator away from them and let the three Guardian's bear witness to the creatures horrifically razor like teeth; Nyx began to become slightly uncomfortable watching the brutality but held his tongue, metaphorically. "I hope you feel this, you fucking parasite!" He halted his assault and turned his attention towards the large gaping wound upon the Fallen's lower torso but he paused. "Now that you know your place, maybe you will answer some of our questions and you better tell the truth…"

The Captain tried his best to remain silent, failing as his ragged breathing wheezed aggressively and his eyes streamed with uncontrollable tears, but refused to budge. He could not crack now. "I'll go first!" Ragnar remarked gleefully as he sat himself upon a nearby rock formation, pulling his knees to his chest like a child. "Where are those traitorous Guardians you and your House has been assisting?" The Captain felt unnerved by the Exo's tone, finding it far to innocent to be trustworthy. "We know they were here, so, just make it easier on yourself and tell us!"

The Captain remained silent, turning his face away from them to show his dismissal. Spectre snarled once again, raising himself up and taking the opportunity to stamp his boot against the undamaged portion of his face. "Speak." He stamped once again. "When." Another stomp crumpled the lower section of the Captain's jaw. "Spoken." Nyx flinched away as he heard the gruesome crunch that came from the following plunge of Spectre's boot. "To!"

As the Exo halted his assault, the Fallen Captain proceeded to spit a few dislodged teeth from his mouth and sighed as he noticed the small composition of Eliksni blood and teeth splayed in the small splat that he had created. "I will ne-never answer to you, machine!" The creature bared his teeth with an animalistic snarl. "I would ra-ra-rather die!"

"Wrong answer." Spectre remarked as he reached his metallic hand into the creatures wound and latched a hold onto it with enough pressure to get the creature screaming even louder. The creature wailed as the pressure on his wound increased to unbearable levels, limbs flailing in an attempt to injure or impede his attack but found that his attacks were doing absolutely nothing to the Exo. Spectre tilted his head, finding the creatures animalistic wailing to be more of a bore than he had previously anticipated.

"Spectre!" Nyx interjected, receiving a slight head-tilt in response. "Stop this needless torture at once!"

Ragnar's optics blinked questionably. "Did your visions tell you that?" He mocked, slapping his knee as he began to giggle to himself uncontrollably.

Before Nyx could respond, they both flinched as the sudden crack of a gunshot resounding at their feet and attracting their attention towards the hated Zealot. His weapon had been primed, aimed with a single arm towards the ground below them and the barrel streaming with smoke from the recent departure of a bullet. They looked towards the triggerman, noting the vicious snarl that had now been directed towards them. "Be Quiet, or the next shot puts you both down!"

Glancing back at the tortured alien, Spectre had decided that he had enough of this pointless endeavour. It was nowhere near as fun as he had intended. "Thank you for your cooperation, filth." He primed the weapon and aimed it towards the creature's temple, itching… waiting… wanting to pull the trigger and watch this freak of nature become a lifeless husk. "Any last words?"

The xeno howled in a chocked laughter. "You… You will never fin-"

Crack!

Nyx shook his head as a sudden shot departure from Spectre's weapon and silenced the alien prematurely. For a while, he truly thought he knew how to read the Hunter but, with every new action, he just became even more disgusted with the Cult Zealot. Maybe he would never understand him.

"Man, I hate it when they talk to much." Spectre commented as he gave the body a slight poke with his rifle. "They are always so fucking pretentious."

"Well," Ragnar began, "What do we do now?"

Nyx pulled out his rifle and began to stroll away from the group, his optics scanning the local vicinity for any signs of life or movement. "We patrol the area and continue our search." He turned a fierce glare towards Spectre, whom was still examining the Fallen corpse. "Not much else we can do."

Spectre ignored him as he turned his own attention the to the large wasteland ahead of their current position and began to examine the wreckage that had been left bare by Ragnar's rampage. It did not truly concern him, just reminded him to note down Ragnar for observation. He could either be a useful resource or a deadly threat, either which way, Spectre would be the one to deal with it. He turned to the other Hunter and watched him carefully, almost smirking at the stubbornness of the vision-suffering Exo. He was also a target. Resource or threat, he would deal with him, if need be.

Turning his attention upwards, Spectre had noticed something glimmering in the distance. However, unlike the lifeless husk resting at his feet, Spectre knew exactly what it was. The shimmer was indistinguishable as he had made sure that so many Guardian's had also seen it before their own demise at his own hands. The light did not move. It did not flicker. It was no beacon. Nor was it a signal flare.

He smiled slightly, dropping his weapon to the ground and staring directly at the shimmer in the distance. "You sneaky, little fool." He remarked, gaining the confused attention of both Nyx and Ragnar. "You had better hope you shut me down for good, Dael…"

"Spectre?" He asked, noticing his weapon slam against the earth below. "Who are you talking to?

Crack!

Spectre felt his body begin to crumple under its own weight before the impact against his metallic cranium, the pain being almost non-existent as his vision faded from the natural world and the desperate voices of his teammates calling for him also vanished. Maybe this was the end. It could be. He hoped it might be; he at least hoped for a memory wipe…

'Guess my hunt is postponed for now.' the Hunter mused to himself as began to feel his consciousness slither away and he almost felt like smiling, if he could. 'I just hope Dael knows the implications of his actions…'

For now, Spectre's body had been thrown into a premature shut-down and he knew he would have to get ready soon – as soon as he was connected to his consciousness again, anyway. In the immaterial world, no one waited for you to rest.

Survival was your only option.

Spectre knew this more than anyone. He knew how to win. He knew how to conquer. He knew that the Black Tower waits for no one…

Either way, however, Spectre cared not. His actions were sinful beyond comprehension and he knew he deserved his fate but would accept any eventuality.

Picture the sight of a tarnished land, no colour or texture. Its earth was a solid grey, the visible reality of this world clouded in distorted waves of black and white. There were shimmering shapes glitching and fading occasionally, but always stagnant in their movements and patrols. They never faltered. Knew not of fear. No one, whom had bared witness to them, knew of their origins or species. Shapes were formed and visible, but not comprehensible.

Now, above all of this chaos, picture a large tower silhouetted by the shadows of its own entropy. It stood proud above the lands, shrouding all below it with its incomprehensible reach. It watched all. It could have been considered omnipotent. Godlike in nature.

Spectre-42…

No…

Spectre-43 knew better…

This was not some God, like many had perceived it to be…

But, even if it was…

No God would be able to stop his wrath…