~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~

"Here's to the crazy ones. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they push the human race forward. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." – Rob Siltanen

Arc II - Chapter 10

Manifestation

Entering the courtyard, Jane scanned the open area on pure reflex, taking in the stone architecture and potted plants that dotted the wide space. Stone pillars supported an overhang that boarded the entire courtyard, with a couple venders set up in the resulting shade.

The area was also filled with a large quantity of people, Jane quickly identifying the ones standing around as groups of Guardians, who were most likely waiting for their turn in one of the Crucible's rooms. While in contrast, those who moved around in less bulky or armoured clothing looked to be the Crucible's staff, likely ensuring the surrounding complex was running smoothly.

Deciding that she wanted to keep her distance, Jane circled around the edge of the courtyard, sticking to the shade, before coming to a stop in a less densely populated area that overlooked the Crucible's main entrance.

Leaning back against the wall behind her, Jane closed her eyes as she allowed her mind to go blank. The chatter and bustle of the courtyard before her slowly draining away, letting Jane tune them out as she cleared and focused her mind.

"Think this will finally be the day?" She muttered under her breath, opening her eyes as Fubar quietly materialised beside her.

"Hopefully, I can't imagine us doing this for much longer." He answered, also keeping his voice low.

Jane simply grunted in agreement. This was her second week of the Crucible, and day ten of fighting Jagi's Host. Apparently having been called in by Commander Zavala himself after she had kept beating the random groups of Guardians the Vanguard had been bringing in. The Host of seven Titans had quickly proven to be far more efficient at killing her than their predecessors.

Seeing as they still had some time to kill before their match, Jane found herself asking about the Crucible, specifically the simulation rooms. She had been using them for all but the first of her fights, which had taken place in a small combat field on the other side of the complex they were in.

"It's mostly recovered and repurposed Vex Tech," Fubar explained to her. "The original Crucible games took place in large combat arenas, but that limited the Crucible to only a few environments at a time. In response, Ikora's predecessor led a Fireteam that managed to recover Vex simulation technology, the Vex originally used it to predict the future."

Blinking in surprise, Jane turned to look at her Ghost. "Wait, what?! Those homicidal machines can predict the future?"

"Yep," her Ghost confirmed, "The Vex are a transtemporal hive-mind cybernetic intelligence, according to the few scout reports we have from Venus, the Vex are capable of generating simulations of real-world events with perfect fidelity and predictive ability."

Thinking that through, Jane almost immediately identified a problem. "Doesn't that mean they can predict us then?" She asked. "How do we even have scouts on Venus if they can simulate and predict our strategies?"

"They can't," Fubar assured her, "That's the thing, the Vex seem unable or unwilling to simulate the complex phenomena that is linked to a paracausal power."

"Para-what now?" Jane frowned at the strange word.

"Paracausal," Fubar explained. "I guess in layman's terms, it's a power not bound to the laws of the known universe. A person wielding paracausal power writes the laws for themselves, and writes their own destiny."

"Light." Jane realised, "Your talking about the Traveller and the Light." Looking down at her palm, Jane imagined the glow of white light that she had seen from so many other Guardian's and their protective barriers. "Huh, well that's relieving."

Thinking on that for a few moments, Jane smiled at the irony. "So we stole a bunch of their tech that they used to simulate battle conditions, and we repurposed it for our wargames." Jane smirked, "Impressive. Ikora's predecessor must have had some serious balls. From what I've heard about the Vex, they're not pushovers."

Looking back out as a particularly loud laugh sounded out, both Jane and Fubar quietened down as a large group of Guardians of various colours and classes exited the Crucible. They were laughing and jockeying amongst themselves as they moved towards the exit, completely missing the two of them, hidden in the shade above.

"He did." Looking to her Ghost, Fubar explained. "Ikora's predecessor, I mean. He was rather fascinated with the Vex in general," Fubar seemed to think for a few seconds, before continuing. "But he was later banished after it was found out he was tampering in the Forbidden Arts."

Before Jane could ask what the Forbidden Arts even were, a pickup in background noise brought Jane's attention back to the wider world, looking up to see that Jagi's Host had arrived in their usual blunt style.

The group of seven Titans were pushing their way through the crowd that had started to build up towards the middle of the courtyard, making their way towards her and the entrance for the Crucible.

Watching them move past her and elbow their way inside, Jane catalogued what weapons she could see them carrying openly, before waiting a few moments to silently slip in through their wake.

Entering the building, she watched as the seven Titians turned down a hallway and disappeared into a room on the left, the metal doors sliding shut behind them. Following their footsteps, Jane immediately peeled off to the right, walking up to the door opposite the one the Fireteam had gone into and watching as Fubar floated up to the door controls.

A quick scan to confirm their identities and the door slid aside for them, revealing a room continuing a small lounge area, with six circular rings lining the edge of the room, the light escaping from within the white portals.

Walking up to the one on the far left, Jane waited as Fubar provided her with her helmet, which she promptly put on her head.

Once the internal HUD came online and lit up as operational, Jane clasped her hands together and stretched her arms upwards, cracking her neck as she did, before lowering her arms and stepping into the portal in front of her, vanishing in a flash of light.

From the Crucible Observatory, Cayde-6 watched as the latest wargame was wrapped up, a simulated mission against the Fallen resulting in successful victory for the assaulting Guardian Fireteam.

Standing next to him, Lord Shaxx manipulated the simulation's controls, ending one game and starting another. The man was silent as he did so, and Cayde saw no reason to change that, since he was only here for one match in particular anyway.

"You're early."

The voice startled the Vanguard's Hunter somewhat, causing him to jerk his head around to face the doorway. Quickly spotting Ikora standing just inside, the Exo was quick to shrug his shoulders and effect a casual demeanour.

"Hey, it's not as if I had anything better to do with my time."

With an annoyed sigh, Ikora came to stand next to him. She was looking a little more tired than he remembered her being the last time they spoke. He guessed that she wasn't getting much sleep, but then again, none of them really were.

"Her match started yet?" Ikora asked.

"Nope, though Jagi's Host just showed up, so she can't be that far behind." The Exo replied.

They both stood there for a moment, watching the screens as Guardians fought, died and fought again. The atmosphere in the room getting darker and darker as the silence dragged on.

Finally, Cayde sighed, breaking the oppressive silence. His tone, for once, was sombre.

"When're we gonna tell her?"

"It's only been a week." Ikora rebuffed, "He's been gone longer than that before. We'll give it a bit more time, before we start jumping to any hasty conclusions."

The screens lit up, indicating a new game was about to begin, the figure that materialised in the simulation drawing the attention of all three people in the room.

"It might not have been that long," Cayde stated. "But we both know that he should have checked in over three days ago."

The moment her feet hit the floor, Jane pulled her pulse rifle from her back and scanned the immediate area. It wouldn't be the first time she was picked off within seconds of spawning in, and once was enough of a learning experience.

Her surroundings were entirely foreign to her, and they were definitely not on Earth. The broken and twisted remains of buildings sprouted from red tinted sand, and as Jane moved to find high ground, she found herself curious enough to ask. "Fubar, where exactly are we?"

Her Ghost replied over their private comms, not about to risk the possibility of getting ambushed while out in the open. "Mars, by the look of it. Eos Chasma maybe."

Completing her scan of the area, Jane was quick to spot what looked to be more modern, or maybe just less abandoned, buildings up ahead.

Running through a dozen different strategies in her head, Jane wasn't surprised when Fubar chipped in with his own opinion. Her Ghost had been quick to realise that Jane always valued a second opinion on matters.

"We could fortify ourselves in the buildings ahead, from what I can see, the designs match that of Cabal military installations. Probably a forward base of operations, it's bound to full of defendable positions."

"We could," Jane agreed. "But I have something else in mind." Looking to one of the mangled buildings in the distance, Jane smirked as Fubar picked up what she was thinking.

"I'm not sure if we're allowed over there…"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." She declared.

Looking through her Wire Rifle's scope, Jane gently adjusted her position and tweaked her scope's magnification as she waited, her eyes scanning for any interesting details or movement.

It didn't take all that long, Jane quickly spotting two figures darting in and out of cover as they advanced through the Cabal FOB. Smirking, Jane zeroed in on the one holding a massive snipe rifle. Axe-6 was Jagi's long range specialist, so once the Exo stopped to scan his immediate surroundings, Jane was sure to fire twice.

The first arc round broke his barriers, staggering him backwards slightly and putting him off balance. The second shot came a single breath later, Jane adjusting to account for the subtle movement of her target to score a perfect headshot, taking out the Exo Titan.

She didn't have time to celebrate though, the two other figures almost immediately disappearing from sight as they ducked into cover, no doubt already searching for her location.

Axe would be respawning within fifteen seconds, which gave Jane a limited window of opportunity. Already she was sweeping her rifle to the right, a small movement of shadow providing her with the location of her next target.

The moment an armoured head peeked out of cover from behind a wall, Jane fired once. Her shot connected, reflecting off her targets barriers, and they ducked back within cover before she could take a second, killing shot.

Almost immediately, the second figure emerged from cover and sprinted forwards at an incredible pace. Jerking her rifles targeting reticle after them, Jane fired twice again, dropping them before they could take cover.

As she moved to reload, Jane was forced to duck as bullets started impacting against the building above her head.

Crawling to the right, Jane moved to her second spot by a blown out wall, quickly resting the barrel of her rifle on the wall as she searched for her shooter. The muzzle flashes proving to reveal their location, as Jane spotted the shooter on her right.

A quick double tap proved effective, the figure jerking back from Jane's return fire as they collapsed behind the sand dune they had been using as cover.

It didn't matter though, as they had accomplished their goal. Fubar quickly notified her from where he had stationed himself on a higher floor that he was tracking two more figures, both looking to be moving to flank her. Which meant that with three dead, two flanking left and with one still coming at her from the front, there was still one member unaccounted for.

As Jane processed that thought, the motion tracker in the top left of her visor flared up, warning her that there was movement behind her. Considering that she had trapped both staircases that lead up to her floor, it could only mean one thing.

In one smooth movement, Jane ducked to the side and drew her handcannon, her eyes already scanning the room even as the barrel was levelled at the figure rapidly approaching her at a sprint.

Even as Jane's eyes scanned and recognised her opponent, she was moving, sprinting away from the edge of the building and firing as she went, the revolver styled gun in her hand spitting out rounds that forced her opponent to slow to dodge.

"Fubar get back down here now!"

Diving through a hole in the nearest wall, Jane absentmindedly tossed a grenade back through behind her, hopefully further slowing down her pursuer.

"Why?! What's happening?"

The wall in front of her exploded as a figure shoulder charged her way through it, Jane skidding to a stop as she swore, ducking into a room on her left as she continued to run.

"Hawk is on me!"

Turning a corner, Jane barely had time to widen her eyes before she was leaning her head backwards and dropping into a slide on her knees. The actions barely managing to save her as a fist sailed past her head, missing by inches and smashing into a wall in a cloud of dust.

With a sharp twist of her hips and shoulders, Jane spun around mid-slide and came up in a defensive stance. Arms held in front of her and hands ready but relaxed, the stance one she was starting to become used to standing in.

Across the room, Hawk pulled her fist from the drywall, the woman looking far too relaxed for Jane's liking.

"Not bad kid, though I almost had you that time."

Trying to subtly scan the room, Jane searched for her missing handcannon as she replied.

"Do you really have to call me kid? I'm pretty sure we're around the same age."

Hawk just laughed, the hand to hand expert of Jagi' Host rolling her shoulders as she moved to stand in her typical fighting stance.

"Guardian years, kid. By our standing you're barely two months old."

Giving up on finding her revolver, Jane focused her attention on her surroundings, looking for something to use to her advantage. The floor they were on looked to be an office block, which was really not the place she wanted to be if she was going to get into a close quarters brawl with Hawk.

Attempting to stall, Jane kept talking. "I've been doing those exercises you showed me, it's been interesting."

Her unofficial teacher, since Saint had gone off world on some sort of mission, visibly perked up at her admission. The woman seemed to enjoy their private sparring sessions as much as Jane did, especially since they had figured out Jane as some sort of hand to hand specialist in her old life.

"No shit? You figured out how to incorporate them into your style yet?"

Spotting what looked to be some piece of long dead tech sitting on a table to her right, Jane let a smirk flash across her face. "Yep."

Spinning in a tight circle, Jane lashed out with a foot, kicking the piece of tech off the table and across the room, forcing Hawk to dodge to the left to avoid getting hit in the head.

Taking advantage of her opponent's momentary distractedness, Jane surged forward in large strides, quickly eating up the distance and moving to strike her opponent before she could recover. The heavy punch she threw connecting solidly with Hawk's helmeted head, her barrier taking the blow but staggering the woman.

Keeping up her momentum, Jane continued to advance, darting in with jabs before sliding back to avoid her opponents retaliatory strikes. Hawk using her light to amplify her strikes and Jane knew from experience that getting hit with one of her glowing punches meant broken bones and internal haemorrhaging.

Ducking under a high kick, Jane felt her instincts scream at her to move, and fainted left before rolling right. Her decision proving correct when a sniper round punched a hole through the wall where she had been standing moments before, Hawk herself barely avoiding getting her own head blown off.

Giving the finger out the window where the round had come from, Jane turned and ran. Axe-6 was back on the field. Which meant that Jane needed to find thicker cover further inside the building if she wanted to avoid losing body parts, via the anti-tank weapon that Exo called a sniper rifle.

"Fubar, where the hell are you?"

Turning a corner, Jane ducked instinctively as another anti-tank round punched its way through the building's walls, the round narrowly avoiding her leg as she kept running.

"Right here!" Fubar exclaimed, flying in through a crack in the ceiling above her.

Ducking into an office, Jane immediately looked up, spotting several pipes and vents that crisscrossed the room.

"Good, because we're testing out our new toy."

Using a nearby table as a platform, Jane effortlessly launched herself off it and up into the air. Her arms reaching out above her head to catch one of the bigger pipes and swing herself up horizontally, she used her feet to grip another vent and keep herself there.

"Now," Jane ordered.

Coming up to float beside her, Fubar activated a piece of tech newly fixed to the back of her armour, a flickering barrier forming around them before they both vanished completely. The Fallen Cloaking technology managing to hide her from sight and sensors just in time to avoid Hawk bursting into the room through a wall.

Holding her breath, Jane watched as Hawk stalked around the room, looking extremely confused as to where she had gone.

Instead of leaving like she hoped, Avian and Question showed up, looking equally confused as Hawk did.

It was at this moment that Jane realised that they must have been setting some sort of trap for her, with Hawk pushing her in Avian and Question's direction for an ambush while Axe took pot shots at her to keep her moving.

Keeping as still as possible, Jane started to sweat as her armour started to struggle to keep cool, her cloaking system taking up a lot of power and preventing heat from escaping to trigger thermal sensors.

Just as the three Titans looked to be heading out, Jane felt her heart stop as the pipe she was holding onto with dear life gave a little. Dust crumbling out and hitting the ground, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room.

Realising that her ruse was failing, Jane let go of the pipes, letting her body drop as her cloak tried to desperately compensate for the sudden moments, revealing her as a blurry outline that had the three Titans shouting as they reached for weapons.

Unfortunately for Jane, instead of giving her comrades the time to shoot her and herself enough time to reach for a grenade, Hawk lit up blue and jumped.

The moment the woman's fists hit the ground, a wave of blue energy pulse outwards. Jane barely had enough time to brace before she felt the wind get knocked out of her, her body twisting painfully mid-air as she was sent flying.

Going through a wall, Jane barely had enough time to realise she was in the open and falling several stories, before everything went a sudden and inescapable black.

"My project, my work, my cure. My responsibility. Would have liked to run tests on the seashells."

No…

"Harbinger speaks of you. You resist, but you will fail. The cycle must continue."

Please…

"Hope sustains organics during periods of difficulty. We...admire the concept."

I'm sorry…

"You've always been shortsighted, hasty. Your destruction of the Collector Base proved that."

You're wrong…

"I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees… That was a joke."

Forgive me…

"You represent chaos, we represent order. It is inevitable. Without our intervention, organics are doomed. We are your salvation."

And I am your destruction…

With a groan of immense pain, Jane felt herself regain consciousness.

"Jane? Jane!"

Looking to her left, Jane located the source of the noise as a floating black object.

"You need to get up! They're coming!"

Looking up from where she was somehow curled up on the floor, Jane realised that someone was standing over her. The blinding sun cresting in the sky behind them was blurring their features into little more than a black bulky silhouette, even as Jane's eyesight began to clear.

The sight seemed strangely familiar, with the muted and distant sound of someone screaming in pain bringing a sense of abject terror.

With little warning, images flashed through her mind's eye, the sight of burning homes, bodies lying on the blood stained ground, and figures in strange armour with cross shaped visors standing above her, the bright sun behind them turning their figures into nightmarish visions.

That final image seemed to break something in her head lose, a tidal wave of unadulterated and burning rage washing over her mind.

With the image still burning itself into her head, Jane barely realised her vision becoming a tinted purple.

Completely ignoring the crippling pain in her chest and back, Jane launched herself to her feet with a roar of rage, one hand flying to her belt even as her other reached out and grabbed the startled woman in front of her by the collar of her armour.

With another roar of rage, Jane drew her combat knife and brought it down on the woman's neck. Distant shouting making her jerk her head up and spot more shadowy figures. Annoyingly, both she and her first victim went down in a tangle of limbs, the fatally wounded woman still struggled to grasp at the handle jutting out of her neck.

The images in her head changed, burning corpses morphing into foliage as houses turned into trees of a forest. One memory changing for another, rage and hate turning into a strange sense of peace and calm.

Some sort of wild animal stood before her in a clearing ahead, and as Jane watched, her own body moved on its own accord. Drawing back some sort of wooden stick tied with a length of string, she watched as she released it, another wooden stick-like projectile firing off at an impressive speed. The weapon was glowing a strange and all-consuming purple and black.

Authors Note:

I enjoy hurting Jane far too much. Fight scenes like these are just something I can get lost in, this chapter was meant to be around two and a half thousand words long, instead it ended up a little over four.

Expanded more on who we saw Jane fighting last chapter, and revealed some new tricks she's gotten up her sleeves. New friends and allies, though if people know their Destiny Lore, you probably know how that's gonna end up.

On a final note, some people are guessing which class Jane will be, and I gotta admit, I didn't know until last chapter either! The hints in this chapter should be enough for people to guess, but I'm still interested in what you all think!

Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review. Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, though flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.

~ JunkMail