"There he is! That's the captain!" Bronze called out, pointing to the old Captain. They stood in an open field on the shore, behind a crashed Hive Tombship.

"Hold on, there's something wrong. Why is he just standing there?" Zahir questioned, staring down Noxis. The Eliksni ran his upper arm through the necklace of Ghosts around his neck. Zahir felt sick to the core once again. Noxis' torso was nearly completely covered by a large, brown cloak. His four eyes narrowed mischievously.

"Doesn't matter, we gotta catch him!" Bronze began to sprint toward Noxis, pelting him with shots from her rifle. He swiftly retreated behind a rock, his shields beginning to falter.

"We've got him pinned, that idiot." Bronze scoffed, marching toward the rock. Before she could get close enough to blast it into pieces, Noxis shot away from his cover aboard a pike, speeding off into the distant, dusty fields.

"Let's go!" Zahir yelled, summoning his sparrow. Bronze followed, and the two went off in pursuit of the pike. As they slowly inched closer, Zahir saw large objects approach from the corners of his eyes. Four more pike riders, two on each side, began to flank the captain.

Noxis smiled under his helmet. These guardians were dead. He held his hand up, prompting the pike riders to fall back and behind the sparrows.

"Jump!" Zahir yelled, and the titans leapt off of their sparrows. Bronze landed on the backseat of the pike behind her, and knocked the rider off with ease. The vandal roared as it tumbled into the dust behind them. Zahir, however, was not as lucky, barely catching the back of a pike. He hung off of the side, nearly avoiding the flames of its exhausts. The vandal driving the pike grunted in annoyance, drawing a shock pistol with its free arm. Multiple arc rounds struck Zahir's armor before he reached forward and grabbed the vandal by its cloak. After being relieved of its driver, the pike rapidly began to lose speed. Zahir yelled as he and the pike tumbled onto the ground.

"Zahir!" Bronze reached behind her.

"No! Keep after that captain! I'll catch up to you! And take care of the other pikes!" Zahir urged as he began flipping the sparrow over.

Bronze looked over at her sides. The two remaining pikes began to fall back, ready to shoot her down. She smiled. Those Fallen had no idea what they were in for. She let go of the pike's handlebars, raising her fists, and brought her arc energy down onto the pike. A flurry of shrapnel and electricity struck the pike riders, leaving only three twisted heaps of metal in its wake. Zahir caught up on his stolen Fallen craft as Bronze summoned her sparrow, and they continued their chase.

The titans stood at the edge of a large, shoddy metal dome. Their vehicles rested behind them.

"It's definitely a trap." Zahir concluded, looking over the building.

"We have no other choice but to go in, though. That captain's in there." Bronze decided, stepping forward. As soon as she passed the entrance to the building, several explosive projectiles bombarded her, killing her instantly. Her ghost rose out of the smoky crater that remained.

"Bronze! Zahir yelled, rushing toward her ghost. He took the mechanical orb into his arms, bracing himself against more explosive shells. Ghosts were durable, but he wasn't taking any chances. He breathed heavily as Bronze rematerialized. His back was riddled with dents. A pulsing sensation began to cloud his head. Once more, just as the day before, a haze began to envelop his senses.

Zahir launched into a full sprint. Bronze followed close behind, confused. Zahir sped past the shells launched at him and skidded to a stop. Several platform lined the inside of the building, and directly in front of him stood the captain, his cloak spread open to reveal three of his arms wielding Cabal projection rifles. Zahir raised his pulse rifle to the captain, but Bronze held his shoulder back.

"What are you-" Zahir turned around to address Bronze, but was met with her finger pointing up beyond him. Zahir looked back. The orange glows of a dozen or so projection rifles revealed more Fallen surrounding the captain.

"They lured is in here to bombard us!" Zahir began to backpedal, but several explosions behind him sent the message that there was no escape.

"Remember my one request: Do not throw away lives." Tivik reminded Noxis, who signalled the Vandals to his sides. On his cue, a loud bang preceded the slow rolling of a black fume into the sphere.

Zahir grabbed Bronze's arm, leading her to take cover under a platform as he shot a vandal down. He heard the Fallen begin to clamber down from their perches above. He sighed, calming himself, and produced a sphere of void light around himself and Bronze. Moments after his ward of dawn went up, projection rifles began to bombard their cover.

"I don't use void light often, so this bubble isn't going to last long at all, and," Zahir looked over at the floor. A sickly black and green gas began to roll over the floor, "I was right, they're weaponizing Hive poison." He turned to Bronze.

"Bronze! That gas has to be coming from somewhere. I need you to look around and find the source. This sphere isn't too big, and it'll take another half minute at most for the gas to reach head level. I'll distract the Fallen."

"But what about you?" Bronze asked, looking over her shoulder as she began to exit the ward.

"I trust you, Bronze. You can do this." He said to the young titan, pushing her out. Zahir lifted himself onto the platform above him. He swept his leg out and sent a buckshot into the Vandal he had taken down, lifting again before he could be bombarded. He looked around. Several Vandals lined the platforms and the edges of the building, clinging to the walls. Beyond the web of Cabal ordinances being launched at him, he saw the old Captain. He attempted to aim at the Captain with his pulse rifle, but he was out of range. He resolved to eliminating three more Vandals nearby before he fell to the floor. As soon as he landed, though, he was struck by multiple explosions before he could commence another lift.

"The skiffs are in position outside. Our victory is ensured! Reload, quick!" Noxis yelled to his remaining crew.

"Master Noxis, what of the other-" a Vandal started, but was stopped by the sight of a titan in front of him. Bronze began to slam her fists together, crackling with arc energy.

"Right here." She declared.

Zahir looked up at his student preparing to eliminate the rest of the Fallen. His body and armor were riddled with holes, and he struggled to stay on his knees as Crucius frantically worked to regenerate him. "Well done, Bronze. You found the source of the gas. Now get rid of those Fallen. I shot the ones on the edges of their formation so you could kill them all with one fist of havoc."

"Whoo!" Bronze yelled, leaping up into the air and bringing her fists down on the metal platform. In an instant, the Vandals that had survived Zahir's scheme disintegrated into arc energy. The webs of blue that were their remains became one with the air around them.

Noxis, who had begun to retreat from the blast zone, lay crashed against a wall. A portion of his frontal armor was charred black, and ether leaked out of a single broken tube on his helmet. He shakily raised an arm to his helmet. His voice was rough and scratchy.

"Do it."

The deafening whine of a Fallen skiff filled the ears of Zahir and Bronze, who had begun to make their way toward the injured captain. They looked to the direction of the noise.

The metal of the spherical building began to bulge.

Then, a Fallen skiff, painted orange, burst through the thin metal, rocketing toward the titans at a high speed.