I think this chapter will be interesting. I think so. You think so. I think so. So, I do not own Destiny or its characters, ideas, ect. Special thanks to Raptor010 for providing three out of six of the fireteam members in this story. And this story will be a long one trust me. I'm just waiting for this to be extremely long. So, read on.
God bless, JPLegends
ACT I: Fallen
Chapter Seven: The Devil's Lair
Amanda Holliday managed to put in the drive for the ship overnight, right before the strike on the Lair. And Alec got all sorts of amazing gear. A new assault rifle that is budget but has pretty good recoil and magazine size, new black armor that is light on the joints rather than a jumpsuit, a vanguard cloak that goes down to the waist, new grenades and sharper knives. With little explanation, the team got in their jumpships and went under way. Alec was rather impressed with the ships. Chloe had a phaeton, which had a sleek grey color and an arrow head-like design. Titus-6's ship was an orange regulus, which had large engines on the wings and a spear headed cockpit. The ship looked old, but large and intimidating. "Alright, Alec," Chloe says through the radio. "Speed is key with these types of missions. We get in, complete our objective and get out before any real trouble comes our way."
"I know that feeling," Alec replies. "Can you say, archon?"
"I swear, being your ghost is going to get me killed." Hades says in a complete dead pan tone.
"We're approaching the mission area," Titus says. "Stay close, stay low and move quickly."
"I can handle myself, guys." Alec says, rolling his eyes.
"Can it," Chloe snarls for the first time. "We're more experienced than you. You follow our directions and stay out of trouble." The team descends from the clouds and drop down near the roof of a rocket yard with tons of rusted buildings and warehouses. The team is teleported to the nearest rooftop and they get low to the ground, looking over the area. Titus-6 is wearing a large chest plate with stomach armor, helmet with crest and open glass plate, leg armor, arm armor and gauntlets, all silver. His mark is hanging off his utility belt and is holding a pulse rifle and a shotgun is on his back. Chloe is wearing the same attire except with a belt on her waist and a red helmet on with a square glass and a spike from the forehead plate. She is holding scout rifle and has a shotgun on her waist. Besides the affinity for shotguns, Alec liked the gear on the team.
"Onyx, put in the co-ordinates," Titus says. "The Lair is past the refinery. They're sure to have strong defenses starting there. Save your light until you get to the refinery. Only use it when I say so. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir." Alec and Chloe say in chorus. The team drops down from the roof and charge past multiple buildings. As they charge past, Alec's motion sensor turns deep red behind him and fallen roars can be heard behind them. Alec swallows, nervous. Last time he heard stuff like that, he nearly died. Twice.
"Um, Titus?" Alec asks, his voice shaking. Behind him and Chloe the roars get closer and closer.
"Wait." Titus says simply. They continue to run until they reach a tight two way gap with a large device in the center and two bridging buildings in the center. Alec and Chloe run past the device as Titus turns, does a little jump, reaches out with both hands and raises a transparent bubble, flowing with purple void energy. Ward of Dawn. Titus looks back and yells "Get into cover! Now!" Chloe ducks behind the device a few feet away from Titus and Alec slams against a corner of the building away from Titus, who is taking all kinds of fire from a horde of Fallen Devils. "Grenades out!" Titus yells. Chloe throws an object and the front of the horde is faced with a massive explosion, and the pure yellow rays circle around each other, disintegrating any nearby fallen. Alec lets loose his grenade and on contact, a ton of orange diamonds burst out of the grenade and start homing in on any fallen that survived Chloe's monster of a grenade. Alec looks at the effects and says to himself, I really like this gear.
But what really took the cake was Titus' grenade: he leaped vertically out of the bubble, chucked the object and a bit away, about five explosions took place within distance of each other, creating a pop-corn effect of death in the large vicinity. Titus runs back behind the device and scatters for cover next to Alec. "Chloe, let it loose!" Titus yells. Chloe in response tucks her arms around her stomach and explodes in a light so bright Alec had to look away. When he looked back, she was slinging fire at the enemies nearby. Within seconds, everyone is dead and Chloe stands over them, triumphant. "Alright," Titus says, nodding in impression. "Let's move before they come back. This is what you're in for, Alec. Welcome to the big leagues." The team runs forward and Alec, still in awe, follows. They head inside a building with rusted rafters, dirt on the floor and bones scattered everywhere. The refinery. They approach a hall way which seems to be the only way out. Unfortunately, there is a large array of lasers blocking the path. Alec finds there to be a terminal in the middle of the floor, with encrypted code running through the screen. Fallen tech, as there are rounded corners and painted the color red.
"Now, we're in trouble," Titus says, looking around the room. "Devils are looking everywhere for us and the second we try to get past those lasers, they'll come running. Here's the plan: we all put our ghosts to work and they'll get the lasers out of the way. The very second the ghosts start decryption, we need to be in position. Alec, you're up top in that rafter," he points to a cat walk above them. "You snipe at anybody and everybody that comes through that door. Chloe, you're with me up front. We meet them head on and keep them from the terminal. We clear?" Alec and Chloe nods. Titus pulls out a ghost in a black shell and Chloe one in a red shell. Alec pulls out Hades. The three shove their ghosts forward and they shoot blue lasers at the terminal at different areas. Alec immediately jumps up to the rafter with his double jump using his light and Titus and Chloe take point up front.
"Everything is connected through a crazy firewall," Hades says through the radio. "And the firewall is encrypted."
"I'm tracing the data back to the source," Titus' ghost, Onyx says. "Found it. I placed a back door. Come on through."
"The Devils detected that," Chloe's ghost, Tiber says. "They're on their way in. Oh great, more encrypted code. This'll take a minute." At that, a ton of fallen flood through and Titus and Chloe charge forward shotguns blazing. Every time one of them was open, Alec would shoot at the fallen about to attack at their weak spot. And this would always happen in a process of seconds. Weak spot-fallen-shoot. Weak spot-fallen-shoot. Alec was pretty good at sniping, and was able to get tons of shots off.
"You're a great sniper, Alec!" Chloe says, spotting Alec shooting at a fallen in her blind spot.
"I'm blushing," Alec dead pans, shooting at a fallen on Titus's back. "Titus, watch your ten. Hades, what's happening?"
"We're all tracing separate lines of code back to the sources," Hades says. "There are several red herrings though. They're all connected to a-" an alarm goes off, deep and buzzing.
"What was that?" Titus says, turning back at the ghosts. A fallen tries to stab at him and Alec shoots at him.
"I tripped an alarm," Tiber says. "Another platoon of fallen are on their way."
"This horde is big enough," Chloe grunts, reloading her weapon as Alec shoots at a fallen on her twelve. "How long until that mesh is down?"
"It's half decrypted," Onyx says. "We need at least a few more minutes. Just hold on." Immediately after he says this another platoon of fallen enter the room. And through the scope, Alec sees a fallen with a spiked headpiece, a solar cannon, red armor and a red fur cloak. About the size of a captain, but with blood stains on the armor and skulls adorned. Alec read about this in the Grimoire. A fallen disguised as a captain, but has great combat capabilities. And very high above the rank of captain. A Devil Baron by the name of Naksis, the Deceiving.
"Guys," Alec says, staring through the scope. "Baron on site!" Alec snipes at Naksis' head and the shield disappears. Chloe appears behind the baron and fires the shotgun twice, killing the baron. Well, that was easy.
"Shields down," Hades yells. "You have a ten second period! Go!" Alec leaps down from the rafter and runs down the hall when he gets to the other side, he turns around and sees Titus right behind him and Chloe half way down the hall. She's not going to make it, Alec thinks to himself. Titus skids at the end of the hall and Chloe is three-fourths of the way there. Two seconds left. Alec reaches out and grabs Chloe's arm, pulling her forward a second before the laser mesh could get her. Chloe pats Alec on the shoulder and the team looks back, the horde of fallen on the other side, yelling and screaming.
"They won't make it through?" Alec asks as Hades pops into existence next to him.
"Nope," Hades says, sounding prideful. "We replaced it with our own code and reinforced it with nine layers of encryption. They're not getting through any time soon." Titus nods in approval.
"The Devil's Lair is beyond here," Titus says. "Let's get moving." The team runs up a set of stairs and through a dark room before they emerge into a large courtyard covered in wreckage and at the other side is a large building with a red flag, holing the insignia of a dagger and rifles next to said dagger. The Devil's Lair. On the concrete platform, a ketch arrives and drops a machine on the platform. A spider-like tank, completely mechanical with six legs, a large head, torso and back with a red front and black back on the head and five orange "eyes" for lights. Also, it has a large turret on its torso with a large main cannon, a rocket cannon on the barrel and a chain gun below the head. "A Devil Walker." Titus says squinting as the spider tank turns toward the group.
"They really don't want us in there, do they?" Alec says looking at the massive tank. The tank aims for the group and a red laser aims for the center of the group with a deep buzz. Titus yells something, probably "move," but Alec couldn't hear it over the buzzing sound. Alec dives out of the way as do Chloe and Titus. And then there is a loud chamber roll, a bang and a massive explosion a few inches away from Alec's face, dropping his shields and delivering a grating burn to his chest plate. Alec gets up and looks at the tank and then the group. And then, a large platoon of Devils walks out the blast, with a majority of them heading into the center and some of them headed to the flanks.
"Alec, get up on that building and snipe from there," Titus says. "Chloe stay out in the center and keep its attention. Everyone aim for the legs and change when the shelling breaks away, change to another leg. A main battery will open from the neck, and when that explodes, so will the walker. Move!" Alec didn't need to be told twice. He ran forward toward a small building on a hill. Decrepit, rusted, but small enough to jump up on. He makes it up on the roof with ventilation ducts here and there and as Alec sees a position to snipe from, he sees two vandals and a captain crawling up the building in a spider-like fashion. Alec draws his assault rifle and sprays bullets into the vandal's faces. They die and fall to the floor, but the gun only drops the captain's shield. The rifle clicks and Alec takes the magazine out reaching for another on his belt. Right as he puts it in, the captain makes it on the roof and swings its swords horizontally. Alec instinctively petals back and trips over a duct. He falls on his back and sees the captain over him, ready to stab at him. Right in time, the hunter rolls to the side and evades the blades by an inch. Getting up, there is too little space to point the rifle. Only option is the knife. Alec pulls a combat knife, taking a fighting stance as the captain does something similar to a laugh.
"Aba dook tatta, reish anaba fo lyia!" The captain yells, coming forward with the blades. Alec dodges a swing by the captain and gets low to the floor, seeing an opportunity. He swipes at a joint in the leg, making the captain stumble for a bit. Alec then grabs the upper arm of the fallen, pushing it back so the insectoid would be off balance. And with a slight leap, Alec moves forward and stabs at the captain, killing it. He didn't even think doing it, it was all muscle memory. A kill blow. Alec takes position back at the edge of the building. Chloe is running around in the middle, moving from fallen to fallen, rocking the shotgun while the tank fires rockets at her, missing all the while. Meanwhile, Titus was deathly close to the tank, firing at the leg and dodging all chain gun fire with alarming speed. Alec takes point, aiming his rifle at the walker's legs. One out of the six legs with all ready striped from armor and smoking.
"Sorry I'm late," Alec says, firing two rounds into the second leg. "Pirate captain tried to steal my ship." Another six rounds and the leg disappears. Strong armor. Titus takes out another leg and Alec aims for another when he hears a deadly sound to him. Click! Out of bullets. He reached for his belt and found he had no sniper rifle magazines left. He cannot use his sniper rifle anymore. And when things could not get worse, the walker realizes where the sniper shots were coming from and a red laser aims right at Alec's feet. Alec swears and dives forward off the building. Click! Bang! Ka-Kraash! Searing fire scorches against Alec's back as he dives out of the way. He rolls to the ground and collects himself.
"Alec," Chloe yells. "Are you okay?" Alec looked over his shoulder to see his favorite red scarf was gone, burned to a crisp.
"They burned my scarf," Alec says, getting up. "They burned my scarf! Okay, this tank is going to die. Chloe, I'm coming to help!" It all seemed so random and while Chloe was yelling at his stupidity, Alec thought this out through his head. The legends of Saint-14 seemed to cover killing the walker by targeting the legs. But an automatic glitch when taking too much damage occurs when a walker drops its head for maintenance, would detect enemies in the area and would continue overworking the engine. Keep attacking the legs, everything is chill. But Alec saw an alternative to Saint-14 and Titus' method: when the engine is down, that's when they need to hit hardest. Alec shoots down a dreg on Chloe's back and looks at her asking, "When can you use Radiance?" Alec throws a grenade past her head as Chloe fires a few shots past Alec's.
"In a few minutes," Chloe says. "Why?"
"I have a plan," Alec says. "When I say now, aim for the neck!" Alec cuts off her interjection by jumping over her and knifing a fallen in the face. Too much to handle out here, Titus has to hurry. Finally, steam emerges from and area outside of the head and the head drops, showing an alien engine, orange and steaming. Practically on fire. "NOW!" Alec yells. Chloe explodes in fire and leaps above the immobile walker. In mid-air, she throws multiple fire balls at the engine and said engine explodes. The head separates, the legs blast away and the body is engulfed in flames. The fallen happen to get scared and without a word, run off. No captain left to command them, and no one left to defend them. Alec grinned at their victory and Chloe and Titus walk toward him.
"Alec, you idiot," Chloe yells. "That plan was stupid and reckless! We were lucky that it worked! Do you know what would have happened if we failed! We should have just stuck to Titus' orders and stuck to the legs. Why don't you follow orders like you're s-"
"Good work." Titus says, staring at Chloe. Chloe shuts up and Titus calmly walks inside the lair. Without a word, the two follow him in. Inside, the place was dark and damp, accustomed with red flags and bones everywhere.
"So, this is the Devil's Lair." Hades says.
"Pretty spooky." Tiber says.
"You guys obviously haven't seen what happened with Crota." Onyx dead pans. The response warranted a dry laugh from Alec, who had a chill run down him spine. He laughed when he was nervous and Crota was a reason to be nervous. Lord of the Hive, Crota was the main enemy on the campaign on the Moon. The war turned into slaughter and thousands of guardians died by the blade of Crota alone. Eventually, the Moon was declared a lost cause after the death toll reached twenty thousand and the disastrous attempt on Crota's life led by ex-guardian Eris Morn. After, Crota and his disciples were hidden on the Moon. Silent, watching. A giant omen of death in the sky. Titus pushed a grand door open and inside was an outdoors area, with a pool of water a bit away and a colony ship towering above everyone. There were two platforms on each side and in the center was six dregs on their knees, receiving purple energy from a massive servitor that has spikes protruding from the body and an eye in the center, with a giant circular disk acting as the pupil and the purple light as the iris. Sepiks Prime, the Prime Servitor for the Fallen House of Devils.
The team killed the dregs quickly and reloaded. Sepiks hovered a bit in the air and ingested the purple ether. It then looked down at the little team of guardians, staring at them. Then a purple fire ball blasted out of its eye, causing the team to be blasted to the floor the second the team aimed guns, Sepiks was engulfed in purple energy and vanished. Alec got up quick and looked to his right, seeing Sepiks hovering above him. Short-range teleportation. Alec dives into cover as Sepiks fires another eye blast, which knocks out a third of his shields. Alec aims at the "eye" and Sepiks flinches, silently floating back a bit. He throws a grenade, but Sepiks teleports again. On the far side of the area, a skiff dropped off a platoon of fallen and they were ready to fight. And Titus and Chloe were trying their best to fend them off. Eventually, the fallen pegged them all into a corner and Sepiks was firing constant eye blasts at the group, daring them to peak their heads out.
Alec looked at the situation. It looked bad, but light was flowing through his veins. He was ready to do something drastic. On his thigh was a hand cannon. Three shots for the golden gun to use. Alec then pulls out his hand cannon and looks at both of them. "I can stagger them with the golden gun," Alec says. "Get a plan moving ASAP. We can't be here forever!" Titus immediately nods and Alec leaps out from cover. Channeling his light, he puts it all in his revolver and the gun explodes in flaming glory. Alec points the weapon at the platoon of fallen and shoots twice, killing the entire platoon in a massive explosion. He then points his gun up and at Sepiks. He fires and Sepiks flinches back, its shell cracked with purple energy flowing out and the eye on fire. Immediately, Titus runs onto the left platform and fires at Sepiks, getting its attention. Sepiks turns and fires, only to be met with Titus' Ward of Dawn. While Sepiks fires at him in confusion, Alec and Chloe shoot at Sepiks, throwing everything they have at him.
Eventually, Sepiks turns to meet with Alec and Chloe and at this point, it is a miracle that it is still alive. It turns its full attention toward the pair, and Titus takes the opportunity. He leaps and throws his fist straight at Sepiks' back. And immediately after, Sepiks completely explodes, bringing its flaming corpse down with it.
Seriously, I love you. All of you. I'll explain why I say this in Mass Effect Chapter 23.
God bless, JPLegends
