The Buried City
*a month later*
"99…100!" Aro released the bar he was hanging from and fell several feet flat onto his back.
Crona peeked over him, smirking, "Look who finally caught up." Her tone carrying an extra hint of condescension.
"Go…to hell." Aro's bare chest heaved, still on his back. Crona opened her mouth to respond but a knock on the door silenced her. Asura poked his head through, "Guys, Daniel, Kayla and Erek are about to leave for Mars."
"What?" Crona asked, "They weren't supposed to leave for another few days." Aro remained on his back. His arms were water right now.
"Enemy activity has increased in the area. They may not get a better chance than now. They're in the Hangar if you want to see them off. Besides, we got our own missions too." he explained before leaving. After a few seconds, Aro levitated off his back and to his feet. Arms still sore, he started to follow Crona out the gym until she stopped him, shoving a towel in his face. "You're not going anywhere with me until you fix the smell."
Aro sighed, "Kain? Can you handle it?"
"I can mask it but you should probably take a bath soon."
Aro wiped his entire upper body down with a towel before putting on a shirt, another workout. By the time he did, Kain had finished working. But just to be sure, Crona leaned in and took a cautious sniff. "It'll do." She walked on and Aro followed, glaring at the back of her head.
Asura was already back at the Hangar, conversing with Kayla and Erek while Daniel talked to Ikora. Kayla waved them over.
"You guys never mentioned you'd be leaving ahead of schedule." Crona said.
"It was a bit last minute for us too." Erek replied, a bit sheepishly.
"The machine is ready?" Aro asked, placing the towel over his shoulder.
"Can't be sure until we hook it up." Kayla answered. She was holding the finished amplifier until her Ghost sent it to her ship, along with a few other pieces of equipment.
"Guys we better head out now." Daniel said, coming up behind them. Ikora had already left.
"This is goodbye then." Erek said before all three disappeared.
They stuck around to watch the ships take off before Crona said, "We better get ready for our own jobs."
(All: Auto Rifle, Solar Shotgun, Solar Rocket Launcher.)
The three ships exited warp space, rapidly slowing down as they broke the Martian atmosphere and descended towards the desert ground. The three dropped from their ships and were greeted by the sight massive sand dunes and even bigger Cabal war bases. Dust clouds flew across the sky in place of the usual rain clouds on Earth and long dead trees dotted the landscape.
"Ugh. Everything's so red. I'm gonna get a headache just being here m" Erek groaned.
"15 seconds. Already complaining. A new record." Daniel grumbled.
"Congrats. Now let's find a terminal to the Martian grid." Kayla said, "I don't plan on walking."
"There's one nearby in that suspiciously empty Cabal base." Her Ghost said.
"Then let's go." She started off across the sand and Daniel followed. Erek let out another long exaggerated groan before joining them.
The sand soon turned to black metal as they came across the base. Kayla led them to a door and released Sixx.
The Ghost began working on the door, "They're inside. Not near the door but be ready to fight our way out." The door opened and with guns raised, the trio entered. There was just enough lighting to move around but otherwise, the place was dark and ominous. Kayla led them through the base until they came across a panel. "This is it." Sixx said, "Let us out."
Sixx, Caesar and Eren simultaneously started to connect to the orbital grid. After a few seconds, Caesar spoke up, "Uhh one of us just tripped some kind of failsafe."
"What's the failsafe?" Daniel asked, looking around.
A klaxon horn suddenly started screaming, catching their attention. Erek peeked around the panel, "Umm, found the failsafe."
"What?" Daniel came out from behind the panel. He suddenly ducked as a large missile flew past his head and exploded behind them. Behind the opening doors was a Cabal Harvester ship dropping off its soldiers. Just as described, the Cabal were all well over 6 feet tall, weighing from 800lbs to half a ton and covered in hard bulky armor. The ones equipped with just their Slug rifles were Legionaries. The Phalanxes were Cabal soldiers equipped with large and extremely durable shields along with their Slug Rifles. Several Legionaries used their jetpacks to propel themselves into base. Several Phalanxes moved to the front and slammed the bottom of their shields onto the ground, forming a near impenetrable defensive line.
"Sparrows are ready but we'll need to break through!" Kayla warned.
"We can't let them know where we're going. They all need to go down!" Daniel ordered, "Erek behind me and be ready! Kayla! We need to break that line."
"Fair warning, they have a Centurion here with them." Caesar chirped.
"It goes down too." Daniel ran towards the Phalanx line with Kayla; Erek keeping close behind. Daniel suddenly leapt into the air, burst into lightning and slammed back onto the ground again. At the same time, Kayla generated the Nova Bomb in her right hand and spiked it directly at the Cabal. The twin explosions reduced the Phalanx defensive line as well as the few Legionaries behind it into nothing and threw a large plume of sand into the air.
Erek suddenly leapt from the dust cloud, a flaming pistol aimed at his enemies. Each shot of the Golden Gun took down a Cabal. The third shot went as far as to penetrate a Legionary and kill the Cabal behind it as well.
Erek was so focused on the enemies directly in front of him, he didn't see the Phalanx charging from his side until it was too late. The Cabal drew back its massive arm and struck Erek with its shield, sending him hurtling into the opposite wall. He could hear his ribs snap. Three of them, most likely.
Kayla and Daniel emerged from the cloud, guns blazing. The Cabal could not breathe in the Martian atmosphere, so simply knocking off their helmets was enough to take them down. Seeing Erek struggling to stand in the corner and a Legionary advancing on him, Kayla quickly switched to her Shotgun, ran and jumped into the air. As soon as she got close, she aimed the weapon at the Cabal's head and fired. The blast dealt damage but not enough to destroy its helmet. The Legionary reeled from the attack, giving Erek enough time to stick his knife under its helmet and slice through the restraints. Its helmet popped off and black slime flew from its armor. The Cabal dropped to its knees and fell dead.
"You alright?" Kayla asked, offering a hand. Erek took it, "Eren just finished fixing a few broken ribs so I'm fine. Where's that Centurion?"
"I'm dealing with him now!" Daniel yelled. They immediately made for the Titan's position, shooting their way through. Daniel's Shotgun was already empty and he didn't have time to reload. Kayla threw a grenade in their direction that split into two smaller bolts and started to track its two nearest targets, the solar shielded Centurion being one of them. Seeing the grenade, the Centurion left Daniel in an attempt to avoid the attack. He took the time to quickly reload and went after it with Kayla right behind him, Shotguns ready.
Letting his teammates handle the Centurion, Erek set his sights on the remaining Cabal. He took down two more Legionaries and a Phalanx before noticing something coming fast out of the corner of his eyes. Another Phalanx. Or maybe the same one. For giant beasts, they knew how to sneak up on someone.
The giant drew back its shield and threw it forward, putting its entire weight into the smash. But it hit nothing but air. Erek had Blinked upward just in time to avoid the attack and position himself over its head.
"I won't fall for that again!" Erek fired his Shotgun, turning the Cabal's hard helmet and soft head into a slimy mess.
He dropped to the ground and looked around, "I'm done here."
"So are we." Daniel said, "Get on your Sparrows and follow me before more arrive." The Titan's Sparrow appeared before him and in no time, he was off. His team right behind him. The three raced away from the base and into what looked like a partially collapsed tunnel. After a short ride through the tunnel, Daniel stopped them. "Caesar's picking up Cabal transmissions…Building Five!"
More Legionaries were out front but all three were quickly dispatched. Inside were two Phalanxes and two more Legionaries behind them. Taking cover from fire behind the pillars, Daniel threw a Flashbang in their general direction. They waited until they heard the explosion before moving in. One of the Phalanxes had been killed while the other disoriented. Kayla quickly moved behind it and filled its back with bullets. Erek quickly shot off the helmet of a Legionary and threw his knife at another, killing both.
With no time to rest, the three continued up a flight of stairs into a small hallway. Erek went through the entrance and quickly jumped back as a large missile flew towards him and exploded against the wall.
"Getting a bit tired of these things sneaking up on me." He growled. Another missile came there way as they took cover on the sides of the wall. He switched to his Rocket Launcher and sent a missile straight back. The rocket flew down the hall and smashed against the Cabal in the back of the room.
"The transmission is strongest in there! Clear them out!" Caesar said. Daniel fired his Auto Rifle to mow down any Cabal that managed to survive the blast. Quickly moving through the hallway, they were greeted by a room filled with whirring machinery and open windows. Across from the entrance was some kind of communication monitor. And in their way was another Centurion. It smashed its fist against its chest in challenge and Daniel responded with a Shotgun blast. The Cabal Centurion used its jet back to dart to the side and fired its Projection Rifle, sending another missile there way and forcing the team to split off.
Kayla released a Fusion grenade, aiming well enough for it to land on the Cabal. She willed it to explode immediately, disorienting the creature and more importantly, dropping its shield. Daniel threw his gun backwards, allowing it to magnetically attach to his back and his body erupted into lightning once again. But instead of slamming himself onto the ground, he charged forward, his normal speed boosted exponentially by the Arc Cloak that shrouded him. He delivered a punch to the still reeling Cabal, hard enough to dent its armor. He delivered another and another and another in rapid succession, each strike caving in it's chest piece and pushing it towards the open window. Daniel delivered a final strike, this time channeling the Arc energy that covered him into the punch and letting it discharge into the Centurion's body. The powerful transfer of energy combined with the punch sent the Cabal flying several feet out the window before plummeting to the ground. Whether it was dead by the time it hit the ground or not, he didn't know or care.
Kayla had already let Sixx start tapping to the Cabal feed.
"Looks like the Cabal have a recon team stationed at the top of the skyscraper across from us, Clovis Bray. That means they found something interesting." Sixx announced.
"Rasputin?" Erek asked.
"Most likely."
"Then that's where we need to plug this in." Kayla said. Daniel moved towards the window facing the skyscraper and observed it. "How far up?" He asked.
"Near the top."
"Then let's move." and with that, Daniel jumped from the 3rd story window. Kayla and Erek soon followed.
"Alright, listen up guys." Aro commanded as the trio of ships hurtled towards the Cosmodome, "We were all briefed on our missions but let's run through them again."
Asura groaned loudly.
Choosing to ignore him, Aro continued, "Crona, your target is a House of Kings Captain in the Terrestrial Complex. As usual, they're fighting the Hive but this Captain has been spending his spare time causing trouble for Guardians."
"Sounds easy enough." she responded.
"Asura, you have to head to the Refinery to-" Asura groaned again, interrupting Aro. "You should have known we'd be making another visit there sometime soon Asura." Aro said, "There's a Hive Wizard there that helps in organizing the Hive attacking the Fallen in the Rocketyard. That's your problem."
"Wait. I don't remember Cayde telling us who your target was." Crona noticed.
"He gave me a target. It's just that we have little to no information on him besides a name, House and location. Karrhis, House of Devils, located in the Breach outside the Divide. A high ranking member of the Devils but no idea what occupation." The ships began to descend and split off. "Alright. We meet back once we're done."
Aro dropped from his ship into the Divide and Asura appeared to his right. They watched Crona's ship fly towards the Forgotten Shore to let her go. As usual, Fallen Devils littered the area. Most patrolling the ground but some atop buildings. Asura summoned his Sparrow and hopped on. With a quick wave to Aro, he took off for the Refinery. Aro started moving towards the Breach entrance.
"This place looks familiar…" Aro observed as he crossed into the dark tunnel.
"It should. We crossed this way I first found you."
Not much has changed in the year and a half since Aro first crossed through. A massive fan steel man to his right spun lazily. He turned left into the dark and quietly sloshed through the ankle high river running through the Breach. Near another fan deeper inside, there was a large hole, emanating. He could hear footsteps and whirring inside.
"Fallen." His Ghost warned, "This is the place."
He placed his back against the wall as close to the hole as possible, listening for the position of the closest one. "One right next to the stairs." Kain warned. Without a second thought, Aro moved in front of the entrance, aimed his Hand Cannon and shot the Fallen Shank that had gotten too close down. A Vandal heard him before the gun, screeching commands to its team. Several began shooting back as Aro ducked for cover under the stairs leading to the Breach entrance. After a few seconds of being shot at, he leapt high into the air and dropped a Scatter grenade into the middle of the largest gathering. The small square shaped dropped onto the ground and multiplied into many parts, each one delivering a small explosion. Any Fallen that did not jump out of the way in time was decimated.
The Warlock landed on the ground, using his Energy Drain ability to disintegrate a Shank and immediately shooting the Dreg coming up behind it. He fired the gun four more times, the Fallen either ducking or jumping out of his line of fire. He clicked again. Empty.
"I forgot, this thing only holds 6 shots."
If there was one thing the Fallen were good at, it was knowing when an enemy had to reload. A Vandal equipped with dual Shock Blades started running for his position. Aro prepared to switch to his Arc Shotgun until the Vandal suddenly froze. All of the Fallen did.
"Aro. Something's coming. Something big." Kain warned.
He felt it. Something was stomping around. Inside the walls.
The bladed Vandal cautiously moved back. Only then did Aro notice the large hole in the back wall.
And the massive claw reach out of it.
"That's him. Karrhis. In the walls." Kain said.
"That sounds familiar."
A second and third claw grasped the walls and a giant Fallen dragged himself out of it. He looked exactly like…
"Kain, I thought we killed the Archon?!" he asked more than stated, quickly reloading the Hand Cannon.
"Must be the original's replacement. Wouldn't be surprised if they found a new Prime Servitor too."
Karrhis roared. His Fallen comrades responded in kind, beginning to move in on him.
"Prime and the Devil Archon. So all that work for was for nothing?"
"Yeah pretty much."
Aro groaned loudly before jumping back to avoid an attack from the Archon.
"Well let's get this over with." Aro broke into a hard sprint and threw himself into the air, hurtling straight towards the monster.