Sorry this one's a little short and disjointed, but next one will hopefully make up for it. I've got plans, big plans, that I just can't wait to share!
"That took a lot more out of me than I expected it to," Alisa staggered, the Warlock magic failing, as all the snow that had piled up atop the shield fell at once onto them. Sarah had to dig her way out of it, finding Alisa on the surface instead. Her face still tear-stained, Sarah lifted the Warlock up and dragged her back to the jumpship, the snowstorm still pounding down on them.
"Violet!" Sarah shouted over the cacophonous winds, "Open the hatch!"
The doorway opened to reveal its dark interior, Sarah climbing through and pulling Alisa with her. She crept to Alisa's quarters as Violet shut the door behind them. She laid Alisa down on her cot and collapsed on the metal next to her, struggling for air, as the lights shot on from above.
"Violet," she gasped, "Heat. Please." Violet flew out from Alisa's figure and slid over to the console under the room's singular viewport.
"Yes, yes, I know," the Ghost muttered, "We need to get out of this storm or the engines will freeze. Can you fly?"
"I've got a little bit of experience," she spoke, barely able to get to her feet, "But I feel like I just took a Taken Captain's onslaught right now. That storm and these… feelings. I don't know if I can."
As the air began to warm around them, Violet paused for a moment before proceeding, "It's fine, it's fine, I should be able to get this thing working. Get your Ghost our here, I'm going to need help."
Sarah nodded, reaching her hand out to let Lethal fly out from phase. "Will Alisa be okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, she'll be fine, she just needs rest. If she'd actually asked me beforehand I would've told her it was too much for her, but here we are," Violet replied as she floated about the cockpit, frantically trying to keep the ship together, "It's going to get a lot colder if we don't get out of this soon."
"Ya know we're gonna have to go clear out Campus-9 eventually, right?" Clara whispered, shifting slightly in the foliage. The Hunters and Fallen were advancing on the Vault of Glass trying to gather intelligence. Rather than land at Campus-9 like they'd originally planned, Josh had assured them that the Citadel was a much safer drop zone, and so they deployed there instead.
"No, we don't, someone else can do it," Mia replied.
"Mia!" Clara squealed, "You have the gunship! They'd need that kind of firepower!"
The German scoffed, pressing on through the brush. Makis advised them to remain vigilant, as there could easily be Taken sentries along the treeline. Mia drew a pair of binoculars and checked the treeline. From what she could see, luckily, they were clear.
"You don't think they'd use Minotaurs, do you?" Clara speculated.
"Minotaurs aren't snipers so I don't think so, but you raise a valid point. Their camouflage would be incredibly efficient," Mia replied, "Just stay hidden and we'll be fine. I imagine the only one that'll be difficult is the Servitor back there," she concluded, motioning to he Fallen machine hovering in the rear, completely exposed, emitting its notable and consistent hum.
"Although," Mia whispered, "If we're lucky, they'll think the Servitor is just a Fallen straggler and we can sneak by." Just as they were coming around to face the Vault, they heard gunfire from its entrance. Clara peered around the stone and saw Solar blasts coming from –
"Yarika!" Mia exclaimed. This certainly caught Makis' attention, as he snuck out from behind and peered through his wire scope to confirm the truth. Mia groaned, "I don't have a good angle. I need to move back east." She stepped away from the stone and ran for the cliffs, binoculars in hand. Clara motioned for the Fallen to move with her along the rock wall to get up to the pathway to the Vault, rather than sprint straight across open ground. Oddly enough, there weren't any Taken out in the field. They couldn't see any Taken, actually, which, after the way this operation had been going, was both relieving and terrifying.
"Uhh… Clara?" Mia spoke over comms.
"Yeah?" she answered in turn.
"You know how I was talking about bombing our way into the Vault?"
"…Yeah?"
"I don't think that's going to be necessary."
"What do you mean?" Clara wondered.
"The Taken appear to have torn the door open, and now Thrall are pouring out of it. Yarika is cutting them down, quite brutally, which I guess is reasonable," she informed. It seemed that the lack of Taken was short-lived.
Clara thought it over. Stealth really wasn't necessary now, she assumed. "Alright!" she called, "Let's move!"
As Clara was sprinting up to the Vault, Hyper alerted her to an incoming transmission.
"Persephone?" she mumbled.
"We found Eta!" Persephone screamed with joy upon the opening of the call.
"Ow, shit. Don't scream in my ear like that. And… what?"
"Yeah, yeah, Anchor called us, but we know that Eta happens to be incredibly close to you. Right about the to clear the Ishtar Cliffs now, actually. Figured you might be able to do something with that."
"Interesting," Clara thoughtfully replied.
Eta kept up the speed, pushing his Sparrow to its limit as he rounded the bend into the Waking Ruins. He glanced off the eastern cliffs. He was distant, and he knew his Ghost was worried about him. A storm was brewing, and it'd reach the Sink soon. When his gaze returned to face ahead, he was greeted by the tip of his Sparrow slamming into the ground as a figure pounced on it. He proceeded to fly off at lightning speed, only stopping to meet the dirt. Everything was mildly blurry after that point. As he picked himself up off the ground, Anchor flying around applying Glimmer to his wounds, he was met only with –
"Hey there, Exo," Mia said, "Heard you were floating around."
Eta was fuming, as was customary since Cobra had arrived, and he lashed out, throwing a wild punch in her direction. She sidestepped, narrowly avoiding a facial injury.
She scoffed, "That's no way to treat a lady!"
"You broke my Sparrow and…" he paused, rubbing his exposed shoulder as Anchor hovered above it in examination, "My shoulder."
She shrugged, "You'll be fine," as she spun on her heels and redrew her binoculars. "You see that big Vault door?" she asked, pointing ahead to the engagement, "There's your infernal Baroness. There also happens to be our primary objective, so get up there and reinforce Clara and the Fallen."
The Exo grumbled something, his eyes still flared, but he conceded and stormed up the hill, hand cannon at the ready.
"Glad you finally snapped out of that," Anchor commented, noticeably relieved. Eta, however, remained silent. Again. "By the Traveler… not this again," Anchor complained, "Eta, you've gotta talk to me eventually."
"No, I don't," the Exo replied, snapping his barrel to the Thrall ahead and repeatedly squeezing the trigger. Clara was ahead spaying the mass with her pulse rifle, and Makis was above them unloading wire rifle projectiles into the horde. The Servitor, even, sat providing artillery support, while Mia sat far off in the distance with her linear fusion rifle and binoculars to mark targets.
"Wha… you just did!" Anchor whined, annoyed, as the mass of Thrall continued to pile out of the Vault.
"Are they ever gonna stop coming?" Clara shouted over the gunfire.
Eta flicked his revolver, slamming a fresh cylindrical magazine into place, before fan-firing on the crowd and repeating his actions.
Clara ducked behind a smoldering pile of Vex debris and summoned her Ghost, "It'd be awesome if we had a Titan right about now!" she shouted. Hyper nodded, getting the message, and drifted back into phase. Clara glanced back over the debris and took a few bursts at the Taken, yet they just continued to spill out of the Vault until…
"No fucking way," Eta spat. A massive Taken Ogre slowly shambled its way into the sunlight, immediately locking sight with the Exo. A Champion of Savathûn. The Ogre let loose a volley of eye blasts at the Exo, forcing him to retreat behind cover, and he saw Clara dig herself into the dirt to avoid getting singed.
While Eta was behind cover, he heard some loud whirring and then the sound of a massive detonation. He stole a glance out to see the Ogre missing its left arm, leaving in its place only a smoldering, burning stump. The arm that had been previously attached lay scorched on the ground below. The Taken behemoth screamed and set its aim to the sky, furious. Eta stepped out to see what it was the Ogre was looking at and it was –
"Josh!" Clara called, "That was fast!"
"Wait for it," Persephone laughed maniacally over comms, "This thing is fun to fly, by the way, Mia!" Persephone continued evasive maneuvers as she strafe ran the behemoth and the Thrall underfoot.
"Wait, if PC's flying my ship, then where's Josh?" Mia barely managed to squeak out before a bolt of lighting shot from the gunship's rear, magnificently twirling and twinkling through the sky, like a majestic light show. Eventually, though, gravity got the better of it, it seemed, as the bolt shot back down at incredible speed, colliding into the Ogre with unbelievable force, Arc energy erupting all around it. In its wake Josh stood, machine gun already in hand, as he tore apart what was left of the Champion as if it were paper and mowed down a number of Thrall.
"That's our cue!" Mia shouted as she, in the blink of an eye, was suddenly on the frontline with her own machine gun expending round upon round into the Thrall. Clara nodded and tossed her pulse rifle aside and somersaulted, a sword materializing in her grasp, slamming down on the Thrall. Their cries echoed throughout the valley as Eta watched the three Guardians tear them apart, mow them down, silence their screams. But they just kept coming.
Eta figured it'd be wise to draw his own blade, as he ran at the swelling mass of Taken. He slashed, and he cut. He bled (in the sink). They kept coming. Persephone still stayed above letting loose the heavy machine guns on the gunship on the Thrall. Eta thought back to something Eris had mentioned once. "Don't underestimate the Thrall as Tarlowe did," she'd told him, which had actually been referring to Hive Thrall back aboard the Dreadnaught, echoed throughout his head. Something seemed to click, like his aggression and desire to find the Baroness suddenly vanished and clarity rushed back to him. He was outside the Vault of Glass. In front of him stood friends and allies weapons ablaze. In front of him also stood an endless sea of Thrall, all pouring out of the Vault. They didn't really even fight, they just shambled about, constantly being cut down only for another to take its place. Dire.
In an instant, the clarity was gone again. He began to focus on the Vault door. It... called to him. No, that wasn't right. He was definitely called to by something, something... within the Vault. He lifted his sword over his shoulder, barely having even been used, and sheathed it.
"Eta?" he vaguely heard someone shout. He couldn't tell who it was, and it mattered little at that moment. Everything began to blur, except for the door. He crept forward, completely unphased by the Thrall, and them him. They parted for him. The gunfire stopped, and so did the Thrall's squirming. They continued to twitch, though. He pressed on, the sea of Thrall continuing to part for his passage.
His vision, however, started to blur, and his hearing with it. It was like he was being enveloped in a silent void. The last thing he heard was someone's faint voice. It sounded like they'd said, "Should we follow him?" but he couldn't tell. Everything was silent. Everything was dark. He felt a void creeping up on him, like he was… empty. Alone.