"Come on Artemis, we'll be fine with just this. Let's just go!"

"No! We need to get enough for the others! Keep pushing forwards!"

The bullets flew by like bugs outside a car, nipping and slicing at our flesh. They'd locked the doors everywhere, the metal compound impervious to any and all of our shots…but we needed what was in there. Desperately.

"Keep moving into better positions! We're getting out of here by daybreak!"

"Drinks are on me tonight boys! Don't fall behind!"

Running. If there's one thing everyone remembered about those ops it was the running. The horrible necessity of speed and wit mixed with the desire to survive. That raid had been luckier than most, only 5 dead so far. The key phrase there was 'so far'. That night seemed darker than usual, even inside the military compound, the concrete walls blocking out any surety the squadron of ragtag rebels and outlaws that now tore so feverishly through their embrace.

I don't remember much, but at some point our leader, a sharpshooter with an attitude as sharp as her knife broke off into a separate room, facing off against some buff dude you'd expect to see in a bodybuilder magazine. I wished Artemis the best of luck. If there's one thing I remember about the bastard, it'd be his hair, cut short and dyed purple. Odd for a marine, but hey, I wasn't going to ask, especially with bullets flying at my-

I remember nothing else.

XXX

I was going to intervene. Really, I was, but watching him fight made me smile. He kind of reminded me of…well, I'm not exactly sure. My vision got all fuzzy every time I tried to remember. He was a Titan by the looks of his armor and the way he fought…or maybe it was the massive ground pound that sent a squadron of Vex shattering into oblivion.

"Come on! Is that all you've got?! Is that all?! What happened to Venus being a challenge?!" His shrieks made Ghost shudder violently, and I already knew that confidence of his was going to get him killed… I saw it out of the corner of my eye, the lone Goblin staggering up without its head, sparking and stumbling. A purple vortex birthed at the heel of its palm in an instant, and instinct dictated my next action. My feet slammed into the dusty ground, cloak billowing out behind me from the swiftness of my body, two shots rang out through the sky, and the Renegade hardly needed the second one to finish the job.

I'd expected some sort of recognition or thanks, instead of a shotgun at my face.

"Who the hell are you?!" he just about screamed at my face, spit hitting the back of his visor.

"Someone who's gonna slit your throat if you don't lower that gun." I snarled my hand already on the blade by my thigh. Adrenaline from that Vex Goblin already coursed through my veins, the heat seeming to seep into the Renegade with horrible force.

"Oh, a Hunter!" he exclaimed, hastily putting his shotgun away, "You're all I seem to run into these days! You…and John…and…" he thought for a moment, "Hmmm… I forgot the others, shows how long I've been on Venus eh?"

I was silent, my body was screaming at me, but I wasn't sure what it wanted me to do. As if he were trying to eliminate my distrust, he removed his helmet, and for a fleeting moment I thought his head might explode. Then I remembered the powers of the Traveler. The atmospheres that had been spontaneously generated with its arrival. My heart almost stopped that hair and those god damned eyes… Since I had been revived, my memory could only recover the faces of those who had wronged me, those who had hurt me… Though I could not pin any face to any specific acts, I trusted my gut and almost always ended up right. Part of me was grateful; at least I'd know who to kill if they ever showed their faces in the Last City. The other part despised that I couldn't recall a single happy memory from my life. My REAL life. I wasn't a Titan, but either way I let my fist do the talking.

"You bitch!" he spat, blood dripping from his lips and his cheek already beginning to bruise with shades of purple and blue.

"I should have let that Goblin kill you…" I growled, hardly able to keep myself from planting a bullet in that ridiculous hair. He swung down with his fist, and I darted to the side, the hit grazed my shoulder and sent excruciating pain up the length of my neck and collarbone. Anger, rather than rationality fueled my movements, and I lashed out with a kick towards his only (albeit tiny) pride, if you know what I mean. His hands clamped like iron around my leg I was thrown through the air. The wind whistled through my helmet, which was slowly coming off, and I barely summoned the Light within me to break my fall in time.

"What is your problem?!" he shrieked stalking over to meet me.

"You know damn well James! Or maybe I should just call you Hulk? That's what your fucking puppets back at Rhanway called you isn't it?! Out of all the humans! All of them! It's gotta be you!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?!"

"I'm-"

"AAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!"

"Artemis!" Ghost's frantic buzzing shook me from my response, and I stared out across the ruins of what had once been the Ishtar Academy in terror. That scream…. "It's John, we need to go, now! I'm picking up his life signal, but I don't know-"

"Where?"

"Two clicks from our position, just past the Endless Steps…"

The old legends from that crazy Hunter and his Fireteam came rushing back, and slowly realization dawned on my face, "The Vault… He's outside the Vault…" Casting one last look at the bastard of a Titan, I summoned my Sparrow in a flurry of white pixels.

If I never saw him again it'd be too soon…