Chapter Eight – Long Arm of the Law
Holliday seemed hardly surprised when I showed up with the hunter on my arm, though it was rare that anything could shake the wizened woman. She rolled out from under her latest project, stood up, and smudged a spot of grease off the corner of her cheek before looking the two of us up and down.
"What do you need, Wyatt?"
"I'm told I've been ungrounded and Cayde needs me in orbit."
"Well, yeah, that's true. There's only one complication." A small grin came over her as she glanced to the Awoken at my side. "Will you two be sharing?"
It took until we had successfully achieved orbit that I realized I had never asked the hunter's name. I opened a comm channel once she had pulled along my port side in her own ship.
"Since we're stuck together, there's one thing I should ask of you."
"Anything, handsome," she giggled.
It took all of my willpower to prevent from making a certain insulting statement. I still needed answers from her and silencing her that way wouldn't help.
"What's your name?" I somehow managed to say without the malice I wanted to.
"So you sleep with a gal and don't even have the nerve to ask her name first? So you're that kinda guy…I like it. Annabelle."
It turns out that my willpower seemed to have deteriorated during my time in the ground.
"I lied. I have two things to ask of you. The second: drop the goddamn temptress act. If you aren't observant enough to have noticed by now that I'm not interested, you aren't skilled enough to be a hunter. You're lucky that Cayde doesn't know you drugged me."
"He gave it to me, you know. How the hell would I know what an Exo inebriant looked like? He told me to use it if you got…physical. Luckily, I like physical."
A few switch flips on the console cut the comm line, and she didn't try to reopen it. I leaned back in my seat, exasperated. She was as clingy as a child, and took the word "No." about as well as one.
"Are you feeling the heartache, Wyatt?" my Ghost piped up, appearing over my shoulder from out of nowhere.
"Why do you keep doing that?"
"The life of a Ghost is not entirely interesting. However, this incarnation of you seems to be engaged in one of the most interesting relationships yet. I can't wait to see how it turns out. If you want my advice…"
"I don't."
"Too bad. Anyway, keep her distant, but remember: you're her mentor. Teach her."
Our conversation was interrupted by a comm request from the Tower. I opened it, and Cayde's voice broke the silence.
"She tells me you haven't been playing nice. Consider it an order to do so. I'm bringing her into this channel."
"You know Cayde, I think these Fallen are starting to recognize my cloak. Maybe it's time to fake my death again, you know, start over. Forget all acquaintances."
"Nice try."
Another crackle from the speaker indicated that she had keyed into our frequency.
"I'm here, Cayde," she spoke.
"Good, now listen. This assignment is…volatile. We need to keep it clandestine and quiet. Don't expect any Tower support. You'll be touching down some distance from the target area and moving forward from there. In fact, you'll be travelling around surface-side wherever we need you. Consider it more of an operation than a mission."
"Then you need to be straight with us about the details, Cayde. Come on, talk to us."
"Well, here's the thing about your targets. They're…people."
"What? You can't be serious."
"Let me finish. With your recent…preoccupation…you probably haven't heard of it. There was a large exodus of the City's people, almost a quarter of the total population, overnight. We don't know how they got out, but they did. Some of our scouts think it was the Trinity Star."
"The cult?"
"They think the cult has been practicing in secret, recruiting in the dark pits of the City. You know that we don't have much presence down there. Other than the occasional display of might and the frame patrols, we're blind. They've likely convinced the population of the "evils" of the Traveller. We're worried they're planning on using old pre-Collapse armaments to attack the City. We need you to infiltrate one such base where they've been spotted. It's far from Fallen activity, so you shouldn't have to worry about any outside interference. However, we need to prevent this from backfiring on us. We can't mobilize just after a mass exodus. So we've got small teams operating all over Old Russia."
"Cayde, you've got to understand that this is a lot to take on all at once. These are citizens of the City. Isn't there any way to solve this without violence?"
"Not when the Trinity Star is involved. I've sent you the coordinates to your target. It's an old missile base. It's mostly topside, but we think the brunt of their leadership is below ground. I want you flying low the whole way, they didn't put this many armaments down in a blind facility. Don't get any closer than twenty miles in your ships."
"Are you sure about this? Really sure?"
"It seems sketchy to me too," Annabelle spoke from her ship, having been silent up until this point.
"I know how it sounds. But sometimes drastic things need to be done. I'm relying on you to do this. Trust me, there'll be a much larger shitstorm if we don't, and it'll come down on all of us."
We were silent the whole flight there. I suppose the weight of our mission was too large to allow words. Annabelle only spoke once we had landed and sent the ships back to the Tower. She spoke hesitantly, as if she expected each word to bring another bout of my rage. She walked more sullenly as well, her head dipped slightly.
"That's a…large rifle," she wisped. Her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn't implying an innuendo.
"Golden Age, restored with some modern parts. It's loud. I probably won't be able to use it without setting off some sort of an alarm, but we might need the stopping power."
"That's alright. I've got one too, suppressed. I suppose I could run overwatch for you. If you trust me." Still, her voice wavered on every syllable, like a frightened child, though she seemed strangely proud of the weapon.
Her eyes lifted to me, but as I met them, she looked away quickly.
"Yeah, we can do that," I said, and as I turned forward to start walking again, I swore she had stolen another glance at me, and might have even smiled, just a bit.
It was at least a couple of hours of walking before we caught sight of the facility. Situated on a ridge dividing the valley we were walking, it sported high, reinforced walls, and this coupled with the few buildings that were visible at our angle, gave the illusion of a castle. A quick zoom courtesy of my helm even granted a short glimpse of someone walking the parapet, drawn against the fading evening light.
"We'll rest here for now. When darkness falls, we'll move. We'll get you set up in that tower, and there you should be able to get a clear view of the whole facility. When it's cleared out, we can move below," I said, indicating what appeared to be some sort of watchtower set up a short distance from the base's wall. "Depending on what we can see when we get up there, we might have to move into the structures topside and ensure they're cleared out."
"Yes…sir?" she said meekly.
I sighed. "Listen, Annabelle, I'm your mentor, not your superior. I don't own you. That said, our "relationship" is a strictly professional one. So, if I bed down for a few hours while the sun sets, I need your assurance that when I wake up you won't be lying next to me. Got it?"
"Okay…Wyatt."
"Good."
And so I settled down and lay there, alone with my thoughts for some time, at least. Over the last few days, so much drama had taken place I wasn't sure whether I was a soldier or a politician. I sure as hell wasn't interested in any long term bonding with Annabelle, at least as anything more than members of the same fireteam. It's something you have to learn in the field, something that defies basic human nature. You have to learn to attach to someone you can let go of. I was never good at that. I never got the grasp of a grey area. Not until I learned the hard way.
Though my previous rests had been plagued by intrusions of the unsettling variety, when I lay down on the prairie grass, I was left untouched by my demons. It probably had something to do with the lack of foreign materials in my system, as I was no closer to coming to terms with my demons than I was before my most recent ascension. Perhaps even farther.
True to her word, when I awoke and pulled my cloak back from over my eyes, Annabelle was a few yards away, prone near the crest of the small hill we had put between us and the facility, keenly observing through the scope of her rifle. I stared at her, with a sudden realization. I knew nothing about her. Her backstory, who she really was. I didn't like that. You don't deploy without information. In fact, she seemed to guard it.
She jumped when I appeared next to her on the hill crest, a sign of either nervousness or a lack of experience. She'd learn. I'd teach her.
"What do you see?"
"They've got very regular patrols around the ramparts, and they're all armed. Strange. Cayde did say that there was no Fallen activity around here, right?"
"Yeah, he did. Maybe they're expecting us. It's too dark for them to get much sight on us now, we can move in."
We stalked across the plains crouched low, Annabelle walking close behind me, like a shadow. Twice, we ducked into the high grasses to avoid spooking a sentry. As we got closer, it became clear that some of the lights that could be seen in the distance were not, in fact, small fixtures to assist in pathfinding in the dark, but rather searchlights to keep the area surrounding the facility brightly lit. As we came to the bottom of the ridge, I turned to Annabelle.
"Do you have climbing gear?"
"No, I've never needed it before."
A small sigh escaped my lips before I caught myself, and I hoped that my helms microphone hadn't picked it up. Her change in posture indicated that yes, it had.
"It's…It's alright. I've got it. Stand still."
Given the nature of my armor as being basically a harness in itself, my gear was mostly useless to me. "This might be awkward," I thought to myself as I withdrew the straps, rope, and anchors.
The shoulder straps were easy enough. Over and hooked in with her belt, tightened. However, when I bent down to do the thigh straps, she stiffened.
"Is that really necessary?" she asked hurriedly.
"In a word: yes. Stay still."
I slung the strap around her thigh and reached between her legs to catch it and bring it around, tightened it just enough to keep it there, and moved to the other leg, without a hitch. All throughout, she was stiff as a deer in headlights. Even more so when I tightened the straps.
"Tell me when it starts to get uncomfortable," I said as I started to tighten her harness.
"Now."
"Tell me when the STRAPS get uncomfortable."
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, she was climb-ready. I walked her through the steps.
"Essentially, it's a counterweight. The rope will run between us and through an anchor. If one of us falls, the weight of the other should slow us. Got it?"
"I suppose."
I started up the wall, my high-friction gauntlets finding easy purchase on the jagged stone. Annabelle, on the other hand, seemed to be having a bit more difficulty. Given, being a hunter, she was still keeping up, but it was clear that she was not enjoying the affair. It almost brought a smile to my face. "How does it feel being so uncomfortable?" I thought.
Then, she fell.
I had just set another anchor into the rock face, backed down a few feet, and given her the go ahead. She got up a few meters or so, still several meters below me, when a rock slipped and took her with. As the dynamic rope reached the end of its stretch, I jutted upward from where I had set my feet and slammed my side into the anchor, though given my armor; I didn't feel the impact nearly as badly as it could have been.
I looked down to see Annabelle sprawled limply, supported by only the harness and the anchor. Either the fall had broken something or the rock had hit her on the way down. To my dismay, the anchor was visibly straining with the full weight of two fully-equipped guardians. I made a risky decision, but it was really the only one I had.
I set my boots as solidly as I could into the rock surface, drew and plunged my knife into a crack in the rocks, and unclipped from the anchor. Suddenly the full force of Annabelle's (admittedly light compared to some of the other guardians I had seen) body was put onto my body. My arm thrust into a crack in the rocks as I lifted my knife arm to once again make an anchor, my boots' every position seeming more tenuous every second. I climbed.
Though we had started climbing not more than a few minutes ago, it seemed to take more than a day to reach the precipice. As I pulled myself up onto the edge of the cliff, I almost felt my boot slip, something that would have taken Annabelle to an early grave, though I might recover. "Not today," I muttered. Boots set firmly into the dirt, I started the arduous task of pulling Annabelle up after me. As she appeared over the edge of the ridge, I grabbed her harness and yanked her up after me. She lay against the grasses, strangely shorter up here than below in the valley, as limp as she was against the cliff.
"Ghost, can you run a diagnostic?"
"I'll see what there is to see," he said as he appeared over my shoulder and zoomed in close to her face, then moved down to her torso. "It seems the rock struck her in the chest. I'll keep looking."
I stole a glance over at the facility. It seems that no one had taken notice of our escapade, and the normal patrols still continued around the palisade, unaware of us no more than 200 feet away. The searchlights, however, flooded the area immediately around the facility up to about forty feet away. Still though, I had an idea.
"How's she doing, Ghost?"
"Not good. The rock hit her hard. She's having trouble breathing and needs CPR."
"Really?"
"Nah, I'm just fucking with you. She'll be fine. She's just unconscious. I'll have her up in a second." Ghost seemed to…charge…for a second, then delivered her an electric shock. She lay there, unmoving.
"Was that supposed to work?"
"I don't know, I'm not a doctor."
Annabelle shot up. "What happened?"
"I dragged you up the cliff. If you were a titan, we'd both be dead. Well, maybe not. The Exo are pretty tough. So are titans, I suppose."
"Well. Uh, thanks. I guess," she muttered, somewhat confused.
"Anyway, facility. Missiles. Threat to the City."
"Yeah…"
We moved in closer to the exterior of the facility, though we were still about a hundred feet from the exterior wall. The sentries were still patrolling just as they had when we were observing a few hours ago.
"I can get inside. When I do, I'll shut down those floodlights. Then, I need you to move up into that tower," I said, indicating the exterior watchtower halfway between us and the facility, "and start firing."
"How do you plan to get inside without one of those sentries noticing you?"
"This suit was…custom made. Like my rifle, its largely Golden-Age components. Most interestingly of which…" I said. I switched on the emitters, and they flickered and warped as light itself gave way to my form. "…is a module perfected by an engineer named Chekhov."
"That's not fair."
"Perks of the job."
"Just, go."
I chuckled under my breath as I moved towards the wall, crouched low. Even though light gave way to my presence, the imperfections in images caused be this were very clear at close range or under heavy inspection. Still though, I reached the base of the wall unimpeded and unnoticed. I commed to Annabelle, "Signal me when it's clear."
She turned her attention to the edge of the facility and held up her arm, signaling me to hold. Then, her hand changed to a thumbs-up as she whispered, "Go."
The movement boost from my boots, muffled by the Golden-Age tech, still was loud enough to me that I worried discovery, but even as I maneuvered over the top of the barrier, no one turned to me. It was then that I realized: There were very few people in the facility, no more than three sentries and five people on the ground.
As I told Annabelle of the situation, I added: "There's probably more underground."
"Agreed," she wisped.
I followed the wires with my eyes, and hopped the inner palisade rail to fall next to a building that seemed to house the power for the floodlights. As soon as no one was looking, I slipped in through the door. The barracks-like buildings had no windows, only a single door. With the others all grouped around a fire in a clearing to the east side of the encampment, more of these barracks-like buildings and the main complex lay to the west. South of me, Anna was waiting for the lights to be cut.
I slipped off a panel and cut the wires leading outside to the lights, and replaced it. This was immediately followed by a cry from outside.
"Hey, Ryan! The searchlights are out again. Can you take a look?"
"Fine."
Quickly, I slipped over to the wall next to the door and stood there, still invisible. Soon, a man walked in and moved over to the power source whose wires I had cut. A quick inspection would reveal the vandalism, and raise an alarm. But could I really kill him?
He removed the panel and began to inspect the wiring. "That's funny…" he spoke to himself. "Oh, oh my god. H-…" My hand cut off any attempt to raise an alarm. Without thinking, my knife slid across his throat, as easily as any Fallen's. I stood there, still, for a few seconds, as blood dripped down his shirt. When I released him, he sloughed to the floor, weakly coughing up blood. I…I stopped thinking, and bent down to wipe the blood off on his shirt. Just as I had with the blood of the Fallen mech suit on the Captain's cloak. Annabelle commed in.
"Wyatt…I…I don't know that I can do it. I'm in the tower like you asked, it's just…these are people, here."
"I know, Annabelle, I know. But this is our job. Doing this, we're saving everyone left in the City. It's them or us. These few, or our many. I know it's hard, but it has to be done."
She said nothing. Then, I heard a quiet sight. Then, gunshots. Running feet stampeding, toward me. I ducked again into the corner, reactivating the light-bending module. Three people burst into the room, all breathing heavily. I slowly readied my sidearm.
"We've…we've got to warn the guys underground."
"Didn't you see what happened? Joe ran for the building. He didn't make it. None of us will."
"Why…why are they doing this?"
"Wait," one of them turned and raised a finger at me. "What's that?"
Before any one of them could raise a weapon of their own, I started firing. Six shots rang out. Then, I stood alone in that room, surrounded by bodies. I stood there, stunned. Then, I walked to the door. It was opened for me. I raised my weapon and fired, but I was too slow. Whoever it was tackled me. I guess I was still dazed from what I had just done.
"Wyatt…Wyatt!" Annabelle cried.
"What…what?"
"When I heard more shots…are you alright?" she spoke hurriedly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I think."
"It's just, you're covered in blood."
It was there, in the reflection of her visor, that I finally saw. Splattered across my torso, covering my shins, with specks marked on the fringes of my cloak, and a droplet slowly, carefully, moving down my visor, I saw what I had become.
Author's Note: I know, I know, I missed a day. I hope I didn't trigger anyone. I just didn't feel satisfied with the amount of content I managed to fit in this chapter yesterday, and decided to continue it today. For the record, I do all of this writing from around 23:00 to 1-2:00 the next day. So yes, most of my writing takes place across two days, technically, and sometimes I have to cut things short to accomplish sleeping.
Also, I understand that it may be difficult to visualize exactly how certain things are laid out or what an object looks like, so I'd be more than happen to draw a simple map or provide my inspiration, for say, Wyatt's hybrid chestplate/harness. And as ever, please tell what you think of the story so far. I do know exactly how things are going to play out from now onward, and how I want this plot to finish, but that doesn't change that some things could occur in between those two points…
