A/N: Hey guys and gals, sorry its been a while since my last upload. A severe case of writer's block combined with a busy work and music schedule made it hard to get things done. I've also started writing a Sunset Overdrive story, so keep an eye out for that sometime in the future (I'm also having trouble finding my muse for it.). So, I hope the length of this makes up for it. Also, sorry if the ending kind of peters out. I just wanted to get the damn thing done and get it online. Anyway, lots of perspective shifts and some fun Crucible action await. Read and enjoy. -Doinstuff
9: Rumble
The six Guardians dropped out of FTL, and established orbit over Mars. Kahlee's heart raced as Bill's voice filled her comm channel.
"Okay gang, Shaxx has given us the all-clear for a six-man Rumble over at Blind Watch. Transmat zone locked in. All Ghosts, confirm coordinates."
The Ghosts confirmed their orders, and Kahlee was pulled from her ship and onto the planet's surface. She stood now in the middle of a rusty complex of buildings, years of red sand finding its way into any crevice that would accept it. More dust billowed in the dry wind. One by one, her companions dropped down to the surface alongside her. Cayde held a worn revolver in his hand, and carried a shotgun on his back. Even with his robotic face, Kahlee could tell that he was beyond ecstatic to be here. Xeres checked over a fancy-looking auto rifle, the word "Omolon" printed on the side.
"Just got the final check-in from Shaxx, our match will begin scoring in a few minutes. Ghosts, set auto-revive parameters for five seconds. Authorization Phi Beta Three."
"Wait a minute, are we sure this is safe?" Kahlee protested.
"Absolutely, newbie. Otherwise they wouldn't let us do it. Watch! Lemme see that!" Wresting Kahlee's hand cannon away from her, she extended the gun to her right, and without looking, fired a round into her sister's head. Everyone flinched at the shot, and Kahlee screamed in horror as Xanthe crumpled to the ground.
"What in the hell are you doing?! You really are crazy!" Kahlee yelled.
"…three one-thousand, four one thousand…" Xeres counted. As she hit five, the Xanthe's Ghost, which had been hovering over her Guardian's body, flashed and whirred for a moment, and Xanthe rematerialized in front of them, unharmed, but very angry. Xeres handed Kahlee's weapon back to her.
"You are a constant pain in the ass." Xanthe said. Her sister only shrugged.
"Enough, all of you! Let's light this puppy!" Cayde stepped in the middle of the circle. "Standard Rumble rules, every Guardian for themselves, first to 25 wins." He held out his hand, and his Ghost summoned him a helmet, battered and scarred, a faded Ace of Spades painted on it. As she watched him put the helmet on, Kahlee heard Shaxx's voice in her ear.
"Alright Guardians, your starting waypoints have been uploaded to your Ghosts. Proceed to your starting point, and we'll get this underway." Kahlee's visor pinged a location not too far from here, and as she turned to leave, Bill offered her a handshake and a nod as if to say "good luck." Xanthe pushed her sister out of the way and double-jumped up to a doorway to get to her marker. Xeres approached Kahlee, and leaned in close. Through the comlink, the Hunter whispered to her.
"Just for calling me crazy… I'm gonna kill you extra hard." She pulled away from Kahlee and walked off to find her marker. Kahlee's heartbeat sped up again as she approached her start point in an old building. Mars' red sand billowed in through a bombed-out wall. As the timer in the corner of her visor counted down, the blue dots on her motion tracker disappeared, replaced by red wedges indicating the general direction of her enemies. Her mouth instantly became dry. The timer ticked down to zero, and she heard Shaxx once more.
"Time to fight, Guardians! Best of luck!" A score card appeared in the bottom right of her display. Kahlee began to move through the building, coming back out the door she originally entered. Passing by a rotating wall surrounding a giant column and going through another door into a large room. Two platforms attached to two sets of pipes adorned the left side of the room, with a bottomless cavern beneath them. A small staircase led to a narrow walkway. Kahlee stood by the top of the stairs, surveying the area.
"Val, give me hand here? Call out targets."
"Sorry, I can't help, Kahlee. In the spirit of competitive fairness, and to further test the abilities of Guardians-" Val was cut off by a stream of blue bolts cutting down the hallway. Xeres had found her, and was set on fulfilling her threat. A round cut clean through Kahlee's shoulder, and she shouted in pain as she dropped behind the wall into cover. The rain of gunfire continued, with rounds ricocheting off of walls and the ceiling.
"RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!" Xeres voice filled the comm channel, mimicking her rifle's continuous report.
"You were saying?" Kahlee grimaced as she pressed her hand to the wound on her shoulder.
"Authorization Phi Beta Three prevents Ghosts from interfering in Crucible matches. I can only revive you. Otherwise, you're on your own."
Kahlee swore to herself, then with her one good arm, began charging one of her Solar flares. Not actually grenades, these charges sent out a wave of light that damaged and blinded enemies. Kahlee waited for the gunfire to stop, indicating Xeres was reloading, and she stood up and launched the flare. As it detonated, she drew her handgun and fired a couple of shots to attempt to get the Hunter to retreat. However, it only had part of the desired effect, forcing Xeres into cover while she reloaded. In a matter of seconds, the rain of bullets resumed, forcing Kahlee back down. As she fumbled with a reload, two loud shots rang out, and Kahlee looked up to see Xanthe standing over her, a smoking sniper rifle in hand. Kahlee peered around the corner and saw Xeres' Ghost floating over her body.
"I am so glad you showed up." Kahlee said as she began to rise to her feet. Xanthe pressed the barrel of the rifle to the top of Kahlee's helmet.
"You shouldn't be." She said before firing.
/
Bill slid into cover around the next corner as he heard the third shot, coming a short time after the first two. His motion tracker had shown three targets in the room. There was now only one at the top of the stairs directly to his left. Xeres hadn't seen him approach and he had been lining up a shot when she went down. He saw Xeres' Ghost disappear, a sign the Hunter had been successfully revived.
He peered around the corner to see the glint of Xanthe's rifle scope just before she fired at him. He managed to get his head back behind cover before the angry Gunslinger took it off his shoulders. Knowing her rifle only held four rounds per magazine, Bill leapt out from his cover and began to fire from the hip, forcing Xanthe behind cover. A flash to her left from Kahlee's Ghost marked another revive, and Bill started to walk up the stairs, firing from the hip. As his magazine ran dry, he pulled a grenade off his chestplate and tossed in the direction of his adversary. The grenade's magnetic properties zeroed in on Xanthe and latched onto her chestplate. He threw a two-fingered salute at her as he turned away.
"Oh, you son of a bi-" was all Xanthe could get out before the trademark double detonation of the grenade silenced her. Bill reloaded his rifle and continued up the stairs and out the door into the midday sun. The wind had picked up since their arrival, and visibility was reduced because of the sand. Bill jumped and lifted himself into the giant rotating cylinder, and paused for a moment to scan the area from down his rifle sights. As he panned from left to right, he saw another glint of a rifle scope, and then everything went black.
/
Dak squeezed the trigger.
He watched as Bill fell to the ground, flung backwards by the bullet that struck him. Dak dropped the empty magazine from his sniper rifle, having wasted three shots trying to take down Cayde a few moments earlier.
Dropping down from his perch, he slung his rifle onto his back and drew the revolver given to him years ago by Banshee-44. Hugging the wall, he quietly jogged to the ledge of the building he was on. His original target, his mentor, was passing underneath him. Dak stayed very still, not wanting to trigger Cayde's motion tracker. He waited until Cayde had passed completely, and lined up a shot. Before he could fire, however, Cayde whipped around and snapped off a shot from the hip with his own hand cannon. Dak took the shot in the upper chest, and reeled back from the impact. Cayde jumped up to meet him, but Dak was already rolling backwards to get on his feet. Standing himself upright, he fired two quick shots. One of them skipped off the concrete, but the second found its mark, striking Cayde in the head. The microexplosive inside the round detonated on contact, and his body slumped to the ground. Hearing the cocking of a rifle behind him, Dak turned to see Bill aiming at him, having revived close by.
"Payback's a bitch, huh, buddy?" Bill said.
"I guess so." Dak replied.
Bill squeezed the trigger.
/
"Oh, I am so gonna kill you this time!" Kahlee heard behind her as she ran. Xeres was closing fast, knife in hand. Kahlee was running out of hallway rapidly.
"My sister isn't gonna be able to save you now! Just you and me, little Warlock!" The crazed Hunter reached back and hurled the knife. It struck Kahlee in the left arm, and the impact threw her balance off enough to force her to stumble and fall. She screamed in pain again, and pulled the blade from her arm. She threw it back in a desperation move, but Xeres swatted it away with her armored gauntlet. Shouldering her strange auto rifle, she took aim as she walked slowly towards the injured Warlock.
Kahlee rolled across the ground to her left, and as she sat up, she swung her shotgun off her back and fired a shot without aiming. Some of the buckshot hit Xeres in the hip, and she howled as she dropped her weapon. Kahlee drew her hand cannon, and took aim at her former pursuer. She fired a shot and killed Xeres quickly. In the corner of her eye, her scorecard ticked to "1." Xanthe was still on top of the leaderboard, her scorecard changing to four kills as Kahlee watched it. Cayde now had three, Dak and Bill both had two, she had now had one, and Xeres was still at zero. Kahlee figured Xeres had no concern for the score, and was just hunting her specifically.
As Kahlee loaded a replacement shell into her shotgun, Xere's voice rocked the comm channel as she was resurrected elsewhere on the battlefield.
"I'M BACK, BITCH! And I'm comin' for your floofy-jumpin' ass!" This threat was followed closely by a shotgun blast.
"Yeah, not if I can help it." Cayde's voice now took over the channel. Several seconds later, Xeres revived.
"I don't care if you are my boss, you're still a giant dickhead!" Xeres fumed.
"Tell it to the scoreboard, little Light! Wait, what the shi-" Cayde mocked in return. Cayde's feed went to static as Kahlee heard what sounded like electricity just around the next corner. As she rounded the bend, she saw Xanthe engulfed in lightning, her long knife piercing Cayde's chest cavity. The elder Hunter exploded in a ball of electricity, and Xanthe turned her attention to Kahlee. Within seconds, Xanthe had closed the five meter gap between the two, and a searing shock punched through her chest.
/
After Kahlee's body had disintegrated, Xanthe used her remaining Arc energy to zip up the stairs nearby, back where Bill had killed her earlier. Entering out into the midday sun, her energy depleted, and she sheathed her Arc Blade until it charged again. Her motion tracker pinged a hostile in the room fifteen meters ahead. She prepped a Skip Grenade and used her expert agility to close the distance quicker, keeping one eye out for the glint of Dak's sniper rifle. The door ahead opened for motion, so as she approached it, Xanthe threw the grenade with a flick of her wrist. The grenade, true to its name, skipped off the ground and split into 5 child projectiles that passed through the doorway and detonated. Hearing the shout of someone in pain, she moved through the door in one fluid motion. Bill was her target, sliding across the floor, trying to avoid her. She leapt forward, trying to get within knife range. As she closed the distance, Bill rose to his full height, meeting her blade with his bracer. He brought his other fist into her gut, knocking the wind from her.
Struggling to regain her composure, she slashed blindly with her knife, catching the Titan between the plates on his chest. She heard Bill suck in air as he backpedaled. With a swift kick, Xanthe knocked Bill out the door and into the open air. As he hit the ground, Bill popped back to his feet, favoring his left leg. His gun was almost a meter behind him, and Xanthe had her weapon trained on him. Bill frowned beneath his visor, giving Xanthe a nod, signifying defeat.
Before the trigger could be pulled, however, Bill caught the outline of several approaching ships in the distance behind Xanthe. They were moving exceptionally fast, and as they got closer, Bill began to take a step back toward his rifle.
"Xanthe, behind you. Three bogeys closing fast. On your six."
"Nice try, Titan. I'm not falling for it." Xanthe aimed down her sights. Bill was finally able to make out the ship types.
"I'm serious. Three Cabal Harvesters, and they're heading right for us."
"Oh, bull- SHIT!" She turned and immediately had to roll to her left to avoid the first salvo of missiles launched from the lead craft. Bill jumped backwards, falling on top of his rifle. He groaned in pain as he scooped up his weapon and rolled through the dust and sprang upright.
"What the hell was that?!" Cayde said, through the distinct report of a shotgun.
"Cabal dropships! Must be a patrol that picked up our weapons fire on their sensors." Xanthe grabbed her side as she rose to her feet.
"Game's on hold, people! Let's deal with these assholes! What's your position, Bill?"
"Xanthe and I are on the North end of the complex. Those Harvesters are gonna be right on top of us in a minute."
/
Kahlee reappeared, ready to get some payback on Cayde, who had just ended her a few moments ago. She started to think she was getting a better handle on Crucible fighting. But to her surprise, her motion tracker showed more than five hostiles. Explosions echoed in the distance.
"Val, what's going on here?" She asked.
"I don't know. Phi Beta Three is still in effect. I think it's safe to say something is wrong, though."
Kahlee switched her comm channel to the shared frequency used by everyone. "What the hell is going on right now?" She asked as she entered the large main room where Xanthe had first killed her at the start of the match. Someone responded on the comms, but she didn't hear the reply, since her attention was immediately shifted to the massive creature standing on the first set of stairs ahead of her. It turned to face her, readying the strange weapon in its hand. Kahlee guessed she wouldn't have been able to wield such a gun with two hands, but the creature effortlessly held it in one giant, meaty hand.
The alien bellowed at her and opened fire. Ducking behind a pillar, Kahlee blind-fired her revolver several times, to no effect. The giant alien shouted in its indiscernible tongue once again. As she peered around the corner, the alien was lowering its shoulder, getting ready to charge. Kahlee took a deep breath and slid around the pillar, shotgun at the ready. With one more battle cry, the giant monster broke into a run. As the gargantuan neared her, Kahlee's heart raced. When the creature was almost upon her, she pulled the trigger.
The alien was flung backwards, its momentum stopped completely by the force of the blast. As she heard the beast hit the floor, Kahlee realized her eyes were closed. As she opened them, she saw the body lying motionless and breathed a sigh of relief. She then realized that Dak's voice was in her ear.
"Kahlee, hang on! I'm almost there!" He said in a rush.
"It's alright, I'm okay. What the hell is this thing?" She asked. Hearing the sound of a door opening to her left, she whipped around, bringing the muzzle of her weapon across Dak's path. Raising his hands, she lowered the gun.
"They're called the Cabal. Val probably mentioned them at least once. I'm guessing they don't like us trespassing on their planet. Whoa, head down!" He said as he drew his revolver. Kahlee ducked, and he fired two shots into a smaller creature running down the stairs towards them. The creature yelped in pain as it clutched the railing. Dak put one more shot into its head, and the microexplosive inside the round detonated.
"Freakin' Psions. They look small, but they suck almost as much as the big ones." He kicked the body of the larger alien for emphasis.
"So," Dak continued, "how many shots to drop this big tub of bastard, anyway? Two? Three?"
"Just one."
"One? No kidding. Takes a lot of punch to drop one of these, especially when they bull rush you."
"I guess I'm something of a matador." Kahlee joked.
"Heh, there's your Matador." Dak said, tapping the barrel of the shotgun with his revolver. She looked down at the gun in her hands, thinking that it would only be fitting to give it that name.
Bill' voice crackled on the comm. "Dak, you find her?"
"Yep. She's okay. Where are you guys?"
"Xanthe and I are on the North end of the facility."
"I'm on my way to you two now. Heeerrre, Piggy Piggy Piggies!" Xeres popped onto the frequency, laughing maniacally over the sound of her rifle.
Dak shook his head. "Cayde, what about you?"
"Behind you guys now! Coming in hot!" Dak and Kahlee turned as the door behind them opened, and Cayde dove through, a hail of gunfire not far behind. Kahlee took one of the rounds in the leg. Unable to shift her weight in time, she dropped to one knee. Dak helped her out of the line of fire, then rose to his full height.
"How many?" he asked his mentor.
"Three. Two Phalanx and a Legionnaire." Cayde readjusted his hood.
"Perfect. Vera, give me Golden gun."
"Copy that." Within seconds, Dak's entire right arm was wreathed in flame, and a pistol made of pure energy appeared in his hand. Pivoting out into the doorway, Kahlee saw three bolts of light leave the barrel in quick succession. Kahlee craned her neck and managed to look past the Hunter long enough to see the Cabal soldiers disintegrate. Two massive shields, as enormous as the creatures wielding them, hit the ground with two thuds. Both shields had molten holes burned into them from the shots. The pistol in Dak's hand faded from existence.
Cayde helped Kahlee to her feet, examining the wound on her thigh. "Kahlee, get your Ghost out here."
She held out her palm, and Val appeared.
"Val, override Crucible protocols, authorization Cayde Omega Seven. Kahlee needs help."
"Override accepted. Beginning dermal regeneration." Val ran a sweeping wave of light over her leg, and soon the pain at the site subsided.
"There, you should be able to stand."
Kahlee confirmed the Ghost's statement, and picked up her shotgun. "How are the others doing?"
Bill answered. "Not great, we've still got more of these bastards outside. A little help would be appreciated!"
"Copy that. We're inbound. Let's go get 'em, kid." Cayde slapped Kahlee on the shoulder, and jogged up the stairs. Kahlee looked to Dak, who offered her a subtle nod before following his mentor. She took a deep breath and headed back into the fight.
/
Bill emptied another magazine into the wall of enemies bearing down on him. Xanthe zipped back and forth, cutting through the Cabal ranks with her blade. Bill marveled at how fast she moved, almost allowing himself to be distracted by her grace. However, Xere's constant battle cries kept him focused. Before loading another magazine into his rifle, he prepped another grenade and tossed it towards a Phalanx. The grenade stuck to its shield and exploded twice, sending the Phalanx flying backwards, and killing two more soldiers at its flank. As he ducked back behind the wall he was using for cover, Cayde, Dak and Kahlee joined the battle raging around them.
The Cabal ships had backed off a bit, keeping out of weapons range since Bill and Xeres combined their heavy weapons fire to take down one of them. The ground troops, however, were unrelenting. The gigantic aliens kept attempting to either force the trio back or try to flank them. Now that their numbers had doubled, the Guardians began to rally. The Cabal were losing ground for the first time in the engagement.
"Kahlee, remember how Ikora taught you to use Radiance? Now might be a good time to try it out. Could give us the extra power we need to push these big uglies off for good." Bill shouted over the gunfire.
She nodded and ducked behind cover. Experienced Guardians were able to call upon their powers, colloquially referred to as "Supers" without much effort. Kahlee, however, needed a bit more time and concentration to summon her ability. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind and reached out to call upon the Solar energy building inside her. With a brilliant flash, her body was wreathed in flame. Standing up, she turned and began launching Solar grenades at an accelerated rate. The flurry of ordnance indeed was enough to drive the Cabal back, and they began a hasty retreat. The two remaining Cabal ships recalled the surviving warriors, and made for orbit. Kahlee's five companions cheered as the Light inside her faded.
"I knew you had it in you. You'll make a fine Guardian yet." Cayde holstered his pistol.
"I think that might be enough fun for one day." Xanthe brushed red dust off of her cloak as she and her sister made their way over to the group.
"Agreed. I think we've had our fill of good old-fashioned violence." Bill placed his rifle onto his back. "Shaxx, I think we're gonna call this one a draw."
"What?! No fair! That's worse than losing!" Xeres protested, drawing a chuckle from her sister.
Dak counted up his remaining throwing knives, and looked up. "I'm gonna have to agree with the sociopath, we really should get to finish this match."
Xeres' head turned slowly to face Dak. "What… did you call me?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Dak avoided eye contact.
"Uh-huh… that's what I thought. Which reminds me…" Xeres turned her attention to Kahlee. "I still owe you a brutal killing! Fun!" Drawing her knife, Xeres attempted to lunge forward, but Xanthe grabbed the edge of her cloak, keeping Kahlee just out of the crazed Hunter's reach.
"Awe, c'mon sis! Just. Let. Me. Have. One. Cut!" She pleaded between swipes.
"Maybe some other time. Come on, we must get back home." Xanthe tugged her sister back.
"Fine! Whatever…" Xeres huffed as the two disappeared into thin air. She came back on the radio one last time. "We'll settle the score some other time, pretty face! Can't wait to cut it!"
Bill motioned to the sky. "We should probably bail out now. Something tells me the Sand Eaters might come back with more reinforcements."
"Agreed. Good game, Guardians, but its back to work for me." Cayde pulled his Ghost, and was transmatted away.
Bill shook hands with Dak, who soon vanished as well. "Kahlee, it's been fun. Tomorrow, Dak and I are running more recon against the Daggers. We'd like to have you round out the team. Interested?"
Kahlee hesitated. "Um, of course. If you don't mind."
"Of course not. See you back at the Tower." Bill transmatted away, and Kahlee brought up Val.
"Care to bring the ship around?"
"With pleasure."
The ride home was boring compared to her adventure on Mars. After a short flight to the Tower, Kahlee made the short walk to her quarters, and had barely stripped off her armor before she fell on the bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.