Russell felt calm, peaceful, balanced. His inner-self was refreshed and ready to take on anything the day had to fling at him.
He blinked a few times as he found himself sitting at the ramen shop located in Tower's bazaar. His eyes shut and opened rapidly as he concentrated on the bowl of ramen in front of him, steaming hot as it was just prepared. The chef gave Russell an expectant look.
"Well?" She asked, whilst tending to her other duties as a cook.
"Looks good, thanks." Russell replied, giving a small smile as he took the bowl with some plastic utensils and headed out to look for a seat. Upon finding one he made himself comfortable on the metal chair and placed the plastic bowl on the holed table.
Then he dug in after tearing off the wrapping of his spoon. It was rich, meaty and everything a Hunter could want from a cheap ramen joint, definitely excelled the glimmer he had to pay for it. He was too busy enjoying his food that he didn't realize Cassandra had taken a seat across from him.
Russell slurped up the last of his food and looked to his girlfriend, who had a soft smile on her face as she watched him, arms crossed.
"Enjoying your food, I see?" Cassandra coyly said as her smile turned to a devious smirk. Russell blinked a few times as he thought of the implication. "We've been assigned to a Nightfall operation, report to Zavala as soon as you can."
Russell nodded as Cassandra then stood up, walking to the ramen joint.
"Man…I feel unusually good for some reason." Russell said to his Ghost.
"Yeah, definitely." The voice that replied was not of Jingles. It was feminine. "Get to the edge."
Russell obeyed the voice, as he walked up to the edge of the bazaar, looking down at the Last City in its glorious, state-contracted construction that had been going on for a bit too long now.
Especially when that fireteam that conducted a raid at the Botza district tore up the place, resetting what little progress was made. Russell chuckled to himself.
"Jump." The voice ordered.
"What?" Russell quietly replied as he looked around himself to check if no one was listening. "Are you crazy!?" He whispered.
"Just trust me. Jump." The voice sounded more imposing. "Do it. Besides, what would the consequences be? Guardians do this all the time, don't they?"
Russell bit his cheek. "Well…kind of, but everyone'll think I'm crazy!"
"So?" The female voice said. "Just fucking jump, please."
"Russell? What are you doing there?" Cassandra innocently asked as she walked up behind Russell, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come, we have to report to Zavala." She turned the Hunter around, giving a soft smile as her diamond blue eyes looked into his.
Russell glanced back to the ledge, Cassandra's hand guided it back to looking at her face.
"I just need some air…some time to think." Russell said, giving the edge a side-eye.
"You could think on the way." Cassandra's smile grew as she wrapped an arm around Russell's torso.
"Yeah, just give me a-" He was interrupted as her lips crashed into his. They only separated cause of a lack of air on both sides.
"Don't worry about the ledge so much, come with me." Cassandra peppily said as she pulled on his arm.
Why was she trying to keep him away from the edge at all cost?
"This is your last chance, JUMP YOU BRAIN DEAD IDIOT!" Russell winced as the voice started screaming.
He took a deep breath as he pushed Cassandra off and rushed to the ledge.
"No!" She screamed after him as he leapt into the air.
Reality seemed to crumble and warp into itself as he fell.
Darkness crept over him, and eventually overtook him as he plummeted lower into the City.
Then a flash of light as he was suddenly jerked up sitting. It was practically impossible to see, there was an oppressive wind blowing from the side and explosive wind chimes were sounding everywhere.
The Ascendant Plane.
Russell frantically tried moving his hands, only to find them bound by some kind of tether made of dark magic. He tried moving his legs, only to find them also constricted.
"What the fuck, where am I?" He pondered aloud as he attempted to break free of the shackles.
A Ghost materialized in front of him. It was Jingles! Except it actually wasn't. He didn't have a white-hot fire trailing him and certainly did not look as Taken as he was right now.
"Jingles?" Russell's brows furrowed as he looked at the construct, silently doubting whether it was actually his Ghost. "Jingles, is that you?"
"It's Mint you dummy, I'm breaking you free." Mint then zapped the shackles with beams of light, setting Russell free. He rubbed his wrists as his feet met the floor.
"I couldn't save all your guns, so you'll have to make do with this…" The Ace of Spades dropped into his lap. "This, and this." Then the Wishbringer, and a massive Hammerhead machine gun that knocked the breath out of him as it landed. A Celestial Nighthawk helmet materialized onto his head.
"Get moving, before she notices." Mint disappeared, and Russell stashed all of his weapons in their rightful place. Ace twirled in his hand as his fingers wrapped around its familiar grip.
"I've marked a few points on your map, I'm trying to open a few portals of Light so you could stand a chance against the Abyssal Champions…" There was a horrid screech and stomping in Russell's direction. "Speak of the devil…Move. Get to a point quick."
There was a whoosh of air as a massive axe narrowly missed Russell's head, but the impact sent him flying. He caught himself and bolted to one of the white diamonds on his HUD, doing his best to evade and side-step the Abyssal Champions that spawned out of nowhere in the middle of his path.
His feet caught themselves on some kind of branch growing out of the ground and he tripped. By the sound of their stomping, the Champions were approaching with their colossal axes that would no doubt either crush him to pieces. He backpedaled, trying to scramble himself to his feet but failing miserably.
"SHOOT THE GROUND UNDERNEATH YOU!" Mint screamed, making Russell instinctively start shooting dirt with the Ace of Spades, cracking a few holes. A golden flood started coming out of the ground, rejuvenating Russell as he felt his Super ability charge up.
He reached into the air and a Golden Gun appeared. He took his time to aim as he only had one shot, and his sights were trained on the head of that giant Abyssal Knight that was lumbering its way towards him.
Russell pulled the trigger and it looked like the Hive monster was disintegrated. He stood there in astonishment as he watched the figure turn into flaming dust.
In his awestruck moment, he was swung at by another Abyssal Champion that had somehow snuck up behind him. Practically crushed, Russell turned on his back and raised another Golden Gun, haphazardly shooting in the general direction of the monster.
His shot landed on its chest, which only enraged it as what looked like its bone helmet fell off, revealing an ugly monster underneath. It screeched and quickened its pace. Russell continued backpedaling as he waited for another Golden Gun to appear, swearing as he realized that he wasn't in the geyser of Light before pulling out the Wishbringer to finish off the massive enemy about to turn him into a red paste.
Russell rolled to the side as it smashed down, shooting the massive axe with his shotgun before stumbling his way standing. He grit his teeth as he pressed into the attack after hearing the Abyssal Champion's weapon snap and crumble away into the wind. A few more slugs from the automatic-fire shotgun put it down.
"Just hold on for a little while longer! I'm trying to open a portal out of here!" That same horrid sound made its way to Russell's ears as he saw three more Abyssal Champions spawn in on top of green Hive runes in the ground. The Hunter kept his ground on the pool of Light as he let out hyper-powered shots of the Golden Gun as quickly as it could regenerate, taking down several in a span of a few seconds.
More of them appeared.
Russell readied himself for a longer fight.
Then a pulsation shook the ground as a opaque portal opened up in front of him. The Champions stopped moving and kneeled.
A certain Warlock emerged from the portal.
"So it's true…" Russell muttered to himself as he pulled out another Golden Gun.
Cassandra sighed. "I'm sorry you had to discover it under such circumstances." Her voice was different, omnipotent. As quickly as Russell had took out his Super ability, she had knocked it out of his hand with a single shot of her own pistol.
His eyes widened as the flaming gun fell from his hand, and all of a sudden he felt a lot more vulnerable facing his new enemy.
Cassandra slowly walked towards Russell, a smirk on her face and Darkness embedded in her eyes, turning the diamond-blue it usual shone into something much more sinister.
Russell drew the Ace of Spades and began shooting at her, but in the back of his mind he knew his resistance wouldn't do anything to her.
"I got something for you!" A portal opened from above and threw up a floating transparent orb. "Take that and maybe you'll stand a chance!" Russell picked up the orb, the edges of his vision obscured and he was now holding some sort of crystal gun that shot explosive blobs of…something.
"I know this might sound crazy, but run into her and explode!"
"Are you crazy!? And how do I explode!?"
"You can just wish it!"
"That doesn't even make any-"
Too late to run into her, as Cassandra had closed the gap between them and cupped his face into her hands, pulling him uncomfortably close to her.
"I'm sorry…" Cassandra whispered to him as she pulled him into a hug. "Everything will be okay…don't be scared." She cooed, then an arm traced itself to his neck and her nails dug into it.
Russell's fists balled up as he wished to purify this demon.
His entire being felt like it burned as he quite literally exploded and some sort of Taken repellant material was thrown onto Cassandra.
She hissed as she backed away, her eyes scanning him head to toe as he expanded the distance between the two.
"I should have known." Russell said as he exhaled. "I should have known you would do this again."
"It was all for you…please, just stay!" Cassandra pleaded.
"I would rather you stay gone than see you like this. Again." The Warlock looked hurt at the statement. Genuine anguish, then her face twisted into anger.
"Fine." Cassandra said through gritted teeth, and a towering shadow of herself appeared behind her. "If you're not going willingly, then I'll make you." There was a giggle. She looked to be charging something in her hand. Russell reacted quickly and used another Golden Gun to shoot it, staggering her.
The sounds of a portal opening up behind him was music to his ears.
"Got something for you!" Mint said as Russell fell backwards into the portal.
And right into the middle of an open court yard with heavily armed guards at practically every other inch. Men in orange jumpsuits backed away from the Hunter as he landed with a thud on the concrete floor.
"Where did I end up in?" He heard several footsteps and once his dizziness cleared up, saw several barrels pointed straight at his beautiful, beautiful face. "I surrender." He lazily raised his ends while lying down.
"Good choice." One of the guards said as Russell was forcefully stood up and handcuffed with these high-tech hard light handcuffs that were certainly a good testament to the unnecessary replacement of something that already works.
There was a lion's roar as several Taken beings pursued him.
"Ah shit, everyone get back to their cells!" Another guard screamed as gunfire erupted across the entire courtyard as the multitude of guards fended off the rather small Taken threat. The people in the orange jumpsuits bolted in every direction possible.
"Is this a prison!?" Russell asked a guard who was currently occupied with a Taken Phalanx about to send the poor man to the Architects.
The man shot a burst of his assault rifle, staggering the beast before finishing it with another crack of his weapon. "Yeah! You picked a pretty good spot to bring these fucks!" He screamed in reply, whether he was being sarcastic or not was lost in the gunfire.
"This looks like a super-max prison! Prison of Elders type shit!" Russell screamed back, ducking as a guard was sent flying over his head and fed to the Architects, the bone snap sounding a lot louder than it actually was. "Why the fuck are there so many armed guards!?" He side-stepped a smack from a Taken Goblin, then kicked the beast in its leg before tackling it to the ground. There was a struggle but Russell managed to make it out alive as one of the guards pulled him off and shot the Goblin dead.
"Yeah, a couple decades ago that would've been true!" The same guard replied, his assault rifle barking in between words. "What's the Prison of Elders!?
"You're telling me this is not a super-max prison!?" Russell backed away as a Taken Knight spewed its burning substance all over the floor, burning a poor guard to death. "Has the world gone that bad!?"
"Unfortunately! Show me your handcuffs, I'll cut you outta them!" The guard said, turning to Russell who showed his handcuffs. A few shots of the guard's assault rifle took the high-tech contraptions out of commission, freeing Russell's hands.
He pulled out the Ace of Spades and had it sing its clanky song as he put down several Taken beasts right out the bat, making some explode as he hit those poor ones in the head.
"You're that gunslinger guy!" The two of them were pressed back to back as the situation got a bit direr.
Russell took off the Celestial Nighthawk, and reached out for his Golden Gun.
Six shots, which were all quickly depleted as six enemies went down. He threw a Swarm grenade afterwards, watching in satisfaction as all the little pellets tracked enemies and put them down or at least heavily damaged them.
A knife was thrown, taking down a Taken Vandal. Russell slid underneath a Taken Minotaur and unloaded a few rounds into its crotch and then kicked off a Goblin to climb onto the same Minotaur, stabbing it a few times in the head.
Bodies faded away as the fighting grew to a close, the noise level went down as less gunfire erupted, and it seemed like the humans were the victors as the Taken were pulling back.
"Nice shots, you're still sharp." Mint commented.
"Thanks."
"Now unfortunately, despite your assistance, which we're grateful for, I'm gonna have to put you back in cuffs. Don, you're on the hook for destroying that pair." Russell turned around to face a towering heavily armored man looking down on him. "Your hands, please."
Russell rolled his eyes as he put out his arms, showing his palms. Those same high-tech handcuffs were slapped on his wrists and seemed to choke out the blood flow in his hands. He sighed, but didn't resist. It was most likely best to not make more enemies than he already had. He'll have to figure something out later.
. . .
Russell groaned as he waited the third hour for someone to come represent him but nobody came. He was sitting in a brightly lit room that held a foldable table in the middle and two foldable chairs across. He was sitting in one of the two chairs. There was a guard in one corner and a security camera in the other.
A man in a black suit and a suitcase walked into the interrogation room. The man had a blank face and a clean cut of blonde hair that was pulled back and seemed to be held together by gel. He sat down, putting the suitcase flat on the table.
"Watch what you say, there's an entire room looking at everything you're doing right now."
"Hello." The man started, giving his best impression of a serial killer. "My name is Jim Alan. UN representative."
The newly introduced Jim Alan unlocked the suitcase and turned the open side to Russell. Inside there was a vial of a black substance that looked like it was flowing despite there being no room to move in.
"Is that a Taken Blight?" Russell asked as he looked at the glass vial closer. "How'd you get this?"
"We found this in Colorado." The man looked at Russell blankly, seemingly expecting him to say something. "Would you know of the…infection there?"
"No." Russell shook his head.
Remember your training, what Cayde told you! He thought, blinking afterwards.
The man looked unimpressed.
"Would you know of what the…Taken are?"
"A threat. A big, bad one. One I've been keeping tabs on for a while now." Russell said coolly, crossing his arms as he maintained eye contact with his interrogator.
"And you are unaware of the spread of the…Taken?" Jim prodded.
"Goes where the Queen wants them to go, or whoever is in charge. I don't even think anyone's in charge of where to occupy, they just do."
Jim's hand rubbed his chin as it looked like he was thinking.
"Who is the queen?"
Russell sighed. "She's a…dangerous one, to say the least."
Jim huffed, and stood up, placing his palms flat against the table. "Okay, let's cut the shit. I've had an encounter with your so-called queen and she damn near killed me."
Russell blinked a few times. A sudden urge came to him.
Laughter.
He laughed his lungs out, to the point where he was nearly blue.
Catching his breath, he slapped his knee and exhaled. "You're telling me that you, in your righteous businessman suit and case, made it out alive versus Cassandra? And you expect me to believe that?"
"That's her name? I expected…"
"Anyways, how did you manage to survive?" Russell's serious face came up again, as his emotions went flat, and he stared into the now interrogee.
"…Fortunate circumstances and three people, who have supernatural abilities such as yours."
"Was one of them named Xiao?"
Jim nodded.
"Yep, that's them."
"You are acquainted with them?"
"Yeah, you could say so."
Jim's lips lifted into a wide smile. "I have a proposition for you, mister Dulk."
"I never told you my name."
"We've been keeping tabs on your every action."
"Makes sense. Shoot your proposition, oh amazing businessman."
"How do you feel of the potential reformation of Overwatch?" The proposal caught the Hunter's attention. He looked at Jim, who sported a wide grin. "Think about it, there's a new threat on the block, the world is on the brink of collapse…"
"You believed in Overwatch?"
"I looked up to you, when I was a kid."
If Russell had a drink in his mouth, it would've been on the floor by now.
"What?" He looked shocked. "I only went public for one mission!"
"That was all it took to convince me. So, what do you say, Gunslinger?"
The title did warm his heart a bit. Jim offered his hand.
"Deal." Russell grasped it firmly and shook it.
An armed guard barged into the interrogation room.
"A woman by the name of Xiao Zhen wishes to speak with Mister Dulk, sir."
"She can wait." Jim waved the guard off.
"Bad idea." Russell warned. "You don't keep Hunter Mama waiting."
"Bring her in then, and all of her companions. We have some discussing to do."
I swear this game does not want to give me Cursebreaker or 1K Voices.