It took us the better part of the week but I eventually got approval from the Vanguard to go on this mission, convinced Thunder to come with us and get all of our best gear ready to go. Last Saturday, a new vendor showed up. He called himself Xur, the Agent of the Nine. The gear he sold was worth finding all of those weird coins I'd come across. For 15 of them I got a new sniper rifle called Hereafter. It quickly took the place of my old Hakké rifle. I also requested the Gunsmith to make me a new scout rifle based on my Hung Jury SR4. He told me to give him a week. Well that week was up. I approached his booth.

"Hey, Banshee." I greeted.

"Guardian." he replied with a curt nod.

"So is it ready?"

He looked around then reached underneath the table. He drew out a rifle and set it on the table for me to look at. It did certainly resemble the Hung Jury a little bit. The site was a little different and the liquid was a lighter blue. It seemed to spark with Arc energy. When I took it up I felt my fire connect to it. Immediately I could tell it was Exotic like my Hereafter.

"Meet Tlaloc." Banshee said, "A little bit of Omolon innovation with some of my own to boot. Expect your rate of fire to be much higher and your aim time and reload speed to be significantly faster when your Super is charged."

"How does it do that?"

"She. Not it."

"The gun is female? How do you know?"

"Well, I built her didn't I?"

"True. Can she talk to you or something?"

"In a manner of speaking. She's an Exotic weapon. You never know how they will end up when you give them their shard."

The Ahamkara's voice growled in my ears saying something about burning Banshee to cinders. Another voice, this one definitely female, snapped at it.

"Well." I said, "She's yelling at my gauntlets right now..."

"Those Exotic too?"

"Yeah. Claws of Ahamkara."

Banshee nodded his head, "You take care of that gun, you hear?"

"I will. She and I are going to do great things."

I left the gunsmith's kiosk and headed over to the courtyard. Lord Saladin was back again hosting our monthly Iron Banner. I headed over seeing all I had been doing this week was going into and winning Iron Banner matches and checked out his rewards.

"Good day Iron Wolf." he said

"Good day Lord Saladin." I replied.

"Looking for anything in particular?"

"No sir, just browsing."

He had a few weapons I was a little interested in namely a Pulse Rifle.

"Don't think I saw that one here last month?"

The Titan looked up at it, he seemed to sigh, "Ah, Nirwen's Mercy. A fitting weapon for a powerful Iron Wolf."

"Was Nirwen a Hunter by chance?"

"A Warlock actually. She was quite the Guardian before the Battle of Twilight Gap. How I do miss her so."

"How much for the rifle?"

"For a wolf like you? 75 marks."

"75? Hmm..."

"Something wrong?"

"It's really tempting but I just got a new Scout Rifle custom made so I don't know if another Primary would suit me."

"It would suit me though." I heard a voice say.

Approaching the booth was Thunder. He had his Celestial Nighthawk hanging at his side and he was dressed in Iron Banner armor.

"Afternoon Hunter." Saladin greeted

"How ya been, Thunder?" I asked.

He set the marks on the table and Saladin awarded him the rifle.

"Much better now that I have this beast. I'm telling you, Jayden, get one while they have it, Nirwen's Mercy is one of the best pulse rifles around."

"Better than Hawksaw or Juju?"

"I would argue it. Though I suppose it's all about what you are most comfortable using."

I set my own marks down and Saladin handed over a second one. I thanked him and headed out with Thunder.

"A pleasure, Guardians."

We went back to the patio, new rifles hanging on our backs.

"So are you ready for the Raid?"

Thunder hesitated for a second, "I don't know. I don't think I'll ever be."

"I think I understand."

"I really hope your vision isn't bullshitting me though. I swore off going in there because the Vex are an unknown. Fallen? They're predictable. Hive? They're relentless. Cabal? Brutal. But the Vex? They don't make sense. Like, at all."

"Don't worry about it, Thunder. I swear on my life you'll make it out."

He smiled, "If you're right then Pluto will come back too."

"Yes. Yes he will."

I thought for a second. Would that mean I'd have to give him his MIDA back? Does he even have his weapons with him?

"Are those Claws of Ahamkara?" Thunder asked pointing to my gauntlets.

"Yep."

"Where'd you get them?"

"The mission we met on."

He looked away, "Oh..."

"Bad memories?"

"Well yeah, I threatened two Guardians because I was mad about losing my best friend to the Vault of Glass."

"It's okay. That was then and this is now."

"Thanks, Jay."

We sat on the patio overlooking the City below.

"You know something?" he commented, "Seeing the City from up here really is something."

"Yeah."

"Like, if the sun hits the skyline just right..." He trailed off and made a face akin to a character I saw in a movie once.

I nodded.

"Gods I miss him."

"Pluto?"

"Yeah. I've never been one to get my hopes up but this time though I've got a good feeling."

"Hey guys!" A third voice called out.

The two of us turned and saw Luisa walking our way. She sat down next to me sandwiching me between her and Thunder.

"Hey Luisa." Thunder greeted giving a little wave.

"So what are you two up to?"

"Just this." I told her

Thunder unslung his new rifle, "Yo, you seriously have to get one of these. I saw one during my last match and it was sick!"

I shrugged, "I bought mine on a whim. I'll see what the hype is about when we take it to the range."

"You're talking about Nirwen's Mercy right? The Iron Banner Pulse Rifle?"

"Yes ma'am."

She smiled and pulled a green rifle off of her back.

"You got one too?!" Thunder shouted.

"Yeah. I won mine from winning 5 matches in a row, three of which I went Unbroken."

"Have you used it yet?" I asked

"Yes I have and boy let me tell you. Smooth as butter. Almost no recoil, tons of damage, and holy gods is it easy to use. I could give this to a new Guardian and most would think they've been one for years."

Thunder stood, "I'm going to the range. You coming Jay?"

I stretched, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Thunder seemed giddy to have his new gun. I watched him for a minute before Luisa scooted closer to me. She took my hand and rested her head on my shoulder. I blushed bright red, and my heart started racing. My fire got a little riled up but I managed to calm it down.

"You know I don't want to go back to the Vault right?" she said

I sighed, "I know. But I have to go there and there's no one else I'd want to go there with than you Wolf and Thunder." I paused then added, "It's the only way to know for sure if Pluto really is still alive."

"Plus there's your visions. You've had more of them in two weeks than most thanatonauts have in a year."

"Might have to do with the fact that I don't off myself to try to get them."

"True."

We silently watched the sunset. Thunder was right, when the sun had set just below the Traveler off in the distance the City look gorgeous. Luisa wrapped her arms around me.

"Please promise me you'll make it out of the Vault." she said

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because nothing is for certain. I won't make a girl a promise if I know I can't keep it."

She gave my body a squeeze, "Just promise me you'll be careful."

I wrapped an arm around her, "The same goes for you."

She looked up at me, "When have I ever been reckless?"

"Iron Banner."

"Okay but aside from that."

"Trials last weekend."

"Hey I thought we said-"

"And during the Strike against Taniks. And the Strike against Sepiks Prime...and the Archon Priest."

She punched my arm.

I laughed a little.

"Shut up, Jayden..."

"Oh come on, Luisa I was just messing with you." I lay my head atop hers.

"I know..."

"You wanna go join Thunder in the range?"

She shrugged, "Not really. I kind of want to just sit here and relax."

My face burned a little bit when she leaned back pulling us both down. She rested her head on my chest and looked up as the sky turned black. The lights of the City made it hard to see them but we were able to see a few stars here and there.

"Jay, you realize your heart is beating really fast right?" she commented.

"Um..." I stammered on trying to explain why.

She giggled, "Am I making you nervous?"

"Maybe a little..."

"So two friends can't just snuggle up and watch the stars?"

"I never said that!"

The smile on her face was sly and mischievous.

"You just love teasing me, don't you?"

"Well if tomorrow is the day we Raid the Vault, this might be my last chance to do that."

I sighed, "Okay be honest with me, how dangerous is the Vault really."

She hesitated for a few seconds.

"The Vex inside are unlike anything you've ever dealt with. There's ones that curse you when you die. There aresuicide bombers and all kinds of crazy crap like that. It's insane."

"So the place is filled crazy Vex bombers and Vex Warlocks?"

"There's the Templar, too. Or at least there was the Templar."

"And that was..."

"Picture the Undying Mind we fought last week, and make it ten times as hard to fight. The thing's shield only gave way to us because we had info from the first team to go inside the Vault."

"You mean Kabr's team?"

"Yeah. The only info we had came from their Ghosts which were all but lost in the Vault. Anyways, the Mind is dead as hell, Pluto Wolf and I made sure of that. It's right after that which worries me."

"What's passed this Templar thing?"

"Gorgons."

"Gorgons? Like Medusa and the mirror thing from Greek Mythos?"

"Pretty much. We...we lost nearly lost Wolf to one. I don't want to talk about it."

"What'd you guys do? Couldn't you just kill them?"

"Unless you can shoot them without looking at them, no."

I made note of that, "Looks like I'm bringing a mirrored shield to the Vault when we go."

Luisa gave me a look, "And where the hell are you going to get one?"

"No idea."

She sighed, "You really are a piece of work, Warlock."

I smiled.

"Look, the Gorgons don't mess around. If they see you, you're at least getting incapacitated."

"Sounds fun...don't get seen by Gorgons in the Vault. After that?"

"Just a few jumps and then Atheon."

"The bastard that took Pluto?"

"That's the one."

"Sweet. We get to make him pay for taking him away. Gods know Wolf wants to get a little payback."

Luisa shrugged, "Nah, I think Wolf just hates the Vex in general."

"I wonder why. I mean, it's not like they took away a friend of his or anything."

We sat together for another half hour or so before she took her cloak and tossed it over us like a blanket.

"Is that why Cayde makes you guys where these things?" I asked, "Make-shift blankets in the wild?"

"No. Cayde said and I quote Warlocks have their brains, Titans have their bran. Hunters? We have a sick sense of fashion, so we get bad-ass capes. "

I nodded my head, "Yep. That sounds like Cayde-6..."

She smiled at me and closed her eyes, "When we come back from the Vault, we have to watch the sunset together again."

"Definitely."

It was night now. The sun had faded behind the Ural mountains off in the distance and the temperature was starting to drop.

"We should probably head inside soon." I said

"But that would mean we can't cuddle anymore!" Luisa pouted tightening her grip around me.

"Don't make me pick you up, Hunter..."

"Do it, Warlock? You won't! Do you even lift, bro?"

"I'm no Titan, so no I don't lift."

"Ha! No gains! No gains!"

"Speak for yourself,"

"Hey I don't need gains when I look this sexy."

My cheeks burned a little red, "Ain't that the truth."

She laughed. My face turned tomato red. Fuck! I said that out loud! Immediately, I started mentally kicking myself.

"I know you have a think for busty Hunters and that's fine. There's no reason to be embarrassed about it."

"You just love teasing me, don't you?"

She looked away smiling, "Maybe..."

I rolled my eyes feeling the fire in my face fading away a little bit. I sat upright and stood. Luisa stood as well and the two of us headed down below to the ranges. I went in to test my Tlaloc while Luisa just went in for...honestly I don't know. Shits and giggles maybe?

I pointed my rifle down range trying to acquire my target. I felt hands on my waist. When I saw those Sealed Ahamkara's Grasps my face burned again. I felt the Hunter moving my body very very slightly. Her hands moved from my waist to my arms.

"You feel that?" she asked me.

"Yeah."

"Remember how that feels. That's the stance I want to see you in when we're sniping from now on. Be relaxed and calm."

I found it strange that she could go from teasing me and being playful to being completely serious. It was like a lightswitch.

"Control your breathing..."

I took a few deeper breaths. My heart rate slowed and my eyes focused on my target.

"Slow steady trigger squeeze,"

My finger went as slow as I could let it. Nirwen's Mercy barked and a burst of 3 went down range. The recoil almost didn't exist and what little their was my shoulder absorbed with no problem. I caught Luisa making a face out of the corner of her eye.

"Alright, fire the rest."

I took my time and fired the rest of my magazine. I dropped out the mag and set the rifle down. Luisa pulled the string attached to the target and reeled it back towards us. She smirked.

"Not bad. Your sites are a little out of adjustment, but that's normal for a new gun."

"Yeah. OH! Speaking of new guns."

I pulled out the other rifle I had with me. She arced a brow.

"What is that?" she asked

"Banshee called her Tlaloc. It's a custom Omolon Scout Rifle."

"Oh yeah I've heard of it. I've never seen one up close before though."

She took the rifle and looked it over.

"She's beautiful."

The Hunter shouldered it, "But she's too big for my liking. Too bulky. I really hate saying that too because the Cocyltus and Hung Jury are both really really nice weapons made by Omolon."

"Wanna help me site her in?"

She smirked, "You know it."

So began our last night before the Raid. I remember going back to my room smelling like a smoking gun even after I showered. With Tlaloc and Nirwen's Mercy both sited properly I was ready for the Raid and to put an end to these damned visions.