Chapter Seven - …And Hell-Bound
My headed clouded with the fog of what had just transpired. Flashes of it, what I could remember as it faded, played through my motion in slow motion, but still nearly too fast to make sense of. I was drowning in the typhoon of emotion swirling throughout my brain; overtaken by feelings something like me, a mechanical being, shouldn't be able to feel. And I was stuck in it.
Slowly, forcefully, spots of color and light came into existence near the center of my vision, revealing a small, L-shaped apartment, the kind allotted to the more affluent guardians, allowing them a more private residence. Still though, it was nearly as barren as the barracks I had spent my "first" night back in the Tower in. The only spots of color showing could be seen in the various screens near the front door used to manage the various setting inside, a small peek of a cloak floating in through a crack in the sliding closet door, and an Awoken hunter sitting cross-legged in a seat across from the bed I was lying in. She was tapping away on a tablet, intently focused, until she saw I was awake, when she hurried over to me.
"How do you feel?" a small voice asked, like she was a caring mother.
A sudden flash of pain drove a spike through my head, and I may have lashed out as I winced.
"Why do you give a shit?"
"Why do you Exo insist on injecting whatever happens to be the closest foreign liquid you can in hopes of becoming inebriated? Alcohol isn't a coolant."
"The fuck gave me straight alcohol? Goddamn."
"Yeah, well, next time, don't be an idiot about these sorts of things. You could have died."
"Well, as a matter of fact…never mind."
"How about you do me a favor and lay off the inebriants for a while? I'd hate to see you make another attempt at unassisted skydiving from the balcony."
"You seem awfully invested in my wellbeing."
"When you've spent a couple days attempting to heal a fellow guardian, you don't want to see your work go to waste."
"Wait…a couple days? Lord…oh god…Cayde will be furious."
"Oh, yeah, they've had frames out looking for you. No one knows you're here."
"I'd better go; you know what they say about keeping him waiting."
"I'm sorry Wyatt, I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
"You…You know my name? Never mind. I promise not to shoot myself. Can I go now?"
"No."
"Well…I guess that's just too damn bad," I said, swinging my legs to rise. Though my head might have been swimming, my body seemed to work just fine, apparently thanks to my new captor. Unfortunately for me, however, she too seemed to be faster than I gave her credit for, and she was on top of me before I was even completely on my feet, a knife to my neck. I reached for mine, only to realize that it was gone, having apparently found a new home in her hands.
"Nuh-uh," she spoke, her breath suddenly very hot on my face as her deep blues darted from my eyes to my lips and back. She shifted to an apparently more comfortable position straddling me as she pushed me back down onto the bed and her breathing slowed.
"Now," she almost lisped, "you're going to stay right here…" she moved closer to my face, "until I say you can leave." She leaned next to my ear. "Or else."
Never before had a woman so intimidated me, but still, Cayde's wrath was more so.
"Sorry, Miss, but I think I get what you're going at. I ride solo," I spoke as I tried again to rise.
"That's too bad," she whispered, still next to my ear. She leaned in closer, almost touching me. "Because now I'm riding with you."
I felt a subtle pressure in the opposite side of my neck, and I realized too late: she was injecting something into my coolant system.
I tensed instinctively and tried for a final time to push her off. I could only get a few words out before I blacked out: "You…little…b…"
I awoke again on the plateau, this time sitting on the edge, my head clear as the sky. The moon shone almost blindingly amongst the stars around in. Another breeze flew across the plain, and as I turned my head to meet it. I caught sight of her. Her brown hair swayed gently with the wind as she looked at me. Her hand rose to caress my cheek.
"Wyatt…"
When I came to in the apartment, it was dark outside and in, visible through the small window looking out over the wilderness. My head was still pounding, though this time it was clear that it was only due to an Exo inebriant. However, what was most surprising was the Awoken curled up against me on the bed, my arm under her. I was more than a little perplexed, as I didn't recall this being the ending of our last encounter.
"What?" I spoke a little too loudly.
The hunter rolled over from her side onto her back, on top of my left arm, to reveal that she was still clutching my knife. She blinked several times and yawned in her same soft voice, then whispered: "What is it, sweetie?"
"Yeah, I'm not having any of this." This time, I was ready. My right arm on top of her chest to grab my knife, I slid my left out from under her and placed it against her neck. She seemed to relinquish the weapon easily, as if she wanted it to happen. I pushed her out onto the ground and slid to my feet, my knife now held outward at her to keep her away.
"Where's my armor?"
Fallen onto the ground on her side, she looked up at me with sad eyes and pointed at the closet, a hurt look visible.
As I backed toward the closet to don my armor, she spoke as she rose.
"Listen, sweetheart, can't we talk this out?" She moved lankily towards me with another look in her eye.
I lunged with my knife, not to injure her, only to intimidate her, but she seemed to move into the blade. I cut along her shoulder, small, but still enough to bleed her.
"Alright, I get it," she spoke, and settled back against the wall next to the bed. The whole time I was armoring up, she stared at me, head tilted downward. Once my cloak was attached, I backed towards the door, and even through my exit, she said not a thing.
I stepped into the hallway and as the door shut behind me, another door opened some distance deeper into the apartment facility. A warlock stepped out, and as she turned to me I realized it was Ikora Rey. She looked at me, recognized me, and nodded. We had done some work together in the past. However, when she realized the door I had exited from, noticed the hour, and put two and two together, she smiled at me, winked and slunk back into her room.
"Women…" I thought to myself as I moved down the hall as fast and silently as I could.
Cayde answered his door in his armor, as he would when called upon during the day. Either someone warned him or he had been expecting me.
"What do you need, Wyatt? Here, come in. Take a seat."
I stepped into his apartment, and he took a seat at a desk. He motioned for me to do the same with a chair on the other side of the table.
"I'll keep this short, Cayde. You've gotta let me back out there."
"What's wrong, Wyatt? Does the Tower lifestyle not suit you? Think about how I feel," he laughed.
"I'd prefer not to go into details, Cayde. Please. Let me out of here. I'm an outside robot."
"Hunters tend to be. Still though, I don't understand. As I've been informed, you've been a part of some extraordinary events recently, and even made a new friend."
"You…You know about her?"
"It's the Tower, Wyatt. Information spreads. It doesn't help you that I've ensured that the Vanguard has a…wide…cone of vision here. Anyway, you'd think an opportunity like that'd help to relax you even further. She's been the talk of the Tower ever since she arrived. She's one of the most talented hunters we've ever had, and she's only been here for a few weeks. I've heard she's even been the cause of several tavern brawls-both the beginning and end. Many of the male guardians around here would be jealous. Even a few of the females," Cayde spoke with a certain spark in his eye.
"Cayde…you didn't…"
"She was even more eager to prove herself to the Vanguard. When I told her about you, she was ecstatic to start working with someone more…experienced."
"I've already learned a lot from him, Cayde. He was keen teacher once I got him to…open up," she spoke from behind me. The hunter had slunk in and was now leaning against the wall near the door.
"Glad to hear it," Cayde responded. "However, I hear Wyatt's shore duty isn't faring well with him."
"Just give me another day or so, Cayde," she said as she moved up behind me and her hand flowed over my shoulders. "I'm sure I can get past that metal exterior."
"That's not necessary. I know him, he's stubborn. Locking him up here will only culminate in someone getting hurt. I've got a job for you. The two of you."
"Cayde, I need to talk to you about something, privately."
"Anything you can tell me, you can tell the newest member of your fire team."
"Don't bullshit me like that Cayde, I'm serious."
"Fine." He motioned for her to leave. She huffed and stepped out. "Do you have a concern about this you haven't already made vocal?" he said as he turned back to me.
"You know what happened the last time you paired me with another guardian. You know what happened to her. Don't do this to me again."
The comment clearly struck him somewhere he didn't expect it to. Cayde visible shuddered in his seat.
"This…is different, Wyatt. This'll be good for you. I just…I know it. Just do this. Do it for me, do it for yourself, do it for them. Both of them. If you have anything else to say, I don't want to hear it, just go. And for the love of god, play along with her. You might lighten up a little. Now go. Your ship's been allowed to fly again. Get up to orbit. I'll brief you once you're there."
"For the both of us Cayde, I hope you know what you're doing."
I stepped out of Cayde's apartment, and the hunter was waiting for me. She stepped up next to me, and tried to slip her hand into mine. I shook her away. As we walked to the hangar, we passed a fire team, apparently led by the titan. When I walked by him, he clapped me on the back.
"You're one lucky sonuvabitch, man."
"In more than one way," I thought. "Less so in others, though."
Author's Note: I hope that by the end of this chapter you don't feel as disappointed as I was worried that some people might feel as they read the beginning. I just...I hope you don't think this chapter is shit. Honestly, I feel like you readers are better judges of a piece's quality than I am as its writer. That's why, as always, I am open to feedback. My traffic graph says you people exist. I would love to hear from you.
