A/N
Hey everybody. Welcome to the latest chapter of this story. Thank you so much for being here. Fair bit of warning, this chapter is going to be long. Probably the longest I've written thus far so I'm going to keep this author note short and explain everything else at the end. The only thing that I will mention here is that my updates will be even more hectic because somehow I made it into college. Wish me luck. Onto the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: Destiny belongs to Bungie and its respective developers. All I own is the plot of this story and some of the characters.
Now onto the story.
The Tower, The Last City, Earth
Almost two days had passed since Echo had assisted the Guardian secure the transmat zone on the Dreadnought and Echo felt like he had seen enough of the place to last a lifetime. Almost immediately after reporting to the Vanguard, Echo was sent back out to the Dreadnought with several other Vanguard scouts to map out more the ship while the Guardian he assisted earlier place down patrol beacons. The process off scouting out a completely new area, especially when the ship had that many passageways and disappearing platforms, was always long, dangerous, and tiresome. By the time he and the other scouts had finished, a full day had passed. He did consider himself lucky that Mystic was preoccupied when he landed again with the only one who noticed him come and go being Atlas, which only furthered the Titan's annoyance of the Hunter as he saw Echo run into the section of the Dreadnought that had been deemed off-limits to the Titan. Needless to say, with Echo still being connected to their comms, he was gonna have to watch his step around the Titan.
With a tired sigh, Echo made his way up the stairs from the Hall of the Vanguard to do what he normally did when he was too lazy to walk all the way back to his room, take a nap in a tree. Climbing the tree in front of the Gunsmith, Echo got the top and laid down, pulling his hood over his eyes to stop the small bit of sunlight that got through the leaves from entering his eyes as he hope to catch a few hours of rest. It was relatively peaceful at the Tower. It was around midday so most Guardians were off doing missions or fighting in the Crucible to hone their skills and Light. Those that did stay at the Tower were Guardians that had the day off or quiet ones that preferred to do their duty for the City here in the Tower or in the City itself rather than on the field or in the wilds. Just as he was getting comfortable listening to the birds he startled return to the tree after his intrusion, a mechanical voice quickly broke the peace.
"Ah, Echo, just the Hunter I was looking for!" The voice from below said all too happy, which was a normally a sign that that person wanted something. Echo groaned as he turned to look down at the Exo below, startling the birds away once more with his movements.
"What do you want, Cayde?"
"I have a job for you."
"I swear on the Traveler if you send me back to the Dreadnought after I just got back again, I'm leaving and taking my chances on one of Jupiter's moons." Echo said.
"No, nothing like that. Not this time, at least." Cayde said. "Let me ask you something. Have you noticed anything new during the pass couple of the weeks here at the Tower?"
"The sudden distinctive designs choices the major gun foundries adopted?" Echo guessed.
"Not that, although that was pretty interesting to see. I'm liking Tex Mechanica's new Hand Cannons." Cayde said before realizing he was getting off track. "That's not important. What I'm talking about is sudden influx of new Guardians."
"I fail to see what a bunch of kinderGuardians have to do with me." Echo said.
"Well with all the new Guardians around, someone needs to show them the ropes and give them an example to look up to." Cayde began before getting to the point of the matter. "Also some of them are getting a bit too cocky for their own good in Crucible so I need someone needs to knock them down a few pegs. Show them that they're not as good as they think."
"Cayde, I am probably one of the worse Guardians to go to for anything involving the Crucible. Seriously, I'm on a 7-match losing streak."
"True but you haven't died once in any of those matches and you're kill count is no joke either, especially with how you operate, but most importantly, you bring a rare perspective of how to act as a Guardian. You play very defensively where as most Guardians are aggressive and when you do get aggressive, your tactics can be pretty unconventional, even for a Hunter, which is saying something. Those Guardians out there can learn a lot from just fighting you." Cayde said, hoping his honeyed words would convince his scout. In no way was what he said false but he knew he would have to be extra charismatic to get Echo to agree to something in the Crucible. He knew he got his wish when Echo groaned.
"Fuck, fine, I'll do it." Echo said as he sat up. "When's the first match and what is it?"
"Tomorrow and they're Elimination, first two are best two out of three and the last match is best out of five. And to make things interesting and for extra insult to injury, you'll be facing off against them alone. You've made it clear you're a lone wolf operator so we're curious to see how well you do. Gonna have to put in extra work to keep your 'Undying' title." In truth, it was an idea the Vanguard had come up solely for him as they felt that Echo's 'fear' of death was holding him back in someway from becoming a truly great Guardian. This was more or less a way to get him more comfortable with dying and how often Guardian do die. It also gave Cayde an excuse to place bets on Echo's matches to see how long he kept his unofficial title and possibly get someone to owe him a favor. Two bird in one stone, as they say.
"This is horrible idea." Echo rubbed his eye before hoping down.
"Don't worry, you're not the only Guardian we've roped into this." Cayde said cheekily. "Go talk to Shaxx when you're ready to start. I'll have finished setting up the three matches for you to complete before the end of the day."
"Ugh, fine." Echo groaned. All he wanted to do was get some sleep. "Oh, and Cayde, I want half of the Glimmer you make on each of the matches." Echo said as he walked away. He could hear Cayde grumbling something he didn't quite catch but decided to he kept walking instead of continuing the conversation. Heading back down to the Hall of the Vanguard, Echo walked past Eris and respectfully nodded toward her, who in turn just gave him an odd look and turned away to look at her rock. Finding himself in front of Lord Shaxx a minute later, the Crucible Handler knew exactly why the Hunter was before him.
"Of all the Guardians Cayde has manage to convince to participate in these ridiculous matches of his, I never expected you to be one of them." Lord Shaxx said.
"Yeah, well he knew I couldn't pass up the offer of putting some new hotshot Guardians in their place." Echo said jokingly before get serious again. "If anything this will teach them not to underestimate their opponent even when they have the advantage."
"Leave it to you to turn a Crucible match into a lesson." Lord Shaxx chuckled. "Alright, the details of your matches will be sent to your Ghost. I wish you the best of luck, Guardian." Echo nodded and waved goodbye to the Crucible Handler before heading straight for his room to get a head start on sleeping. He had a feeling tomorrow was going to be eventful exhausting.
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The next day came slowly for the Hunter due to his insomnia and general restlessness but managed to get a few hours of sleep in the end. Having spent most of the morning going over his gear, Echo took the time to sit back and ready himself as he listened to Epsilon go over the details of the matches he had to complete. All three matches were at Bannerfall and he as going to be on Alpha team each time. Lastly, heavy weapons ammo was not going to be provide due to how one sided the match seemed. No complaints there. It was a nice way of balancing out the situation in Echo's opinion as it let him focus on eliminating them one by one without the one of them getting trigger happy with a rocket launcher and end up killing them both. Besides that, it was all standard Elimination rules.
"I'm all set. How about you?" Epsilon said, floating around him. Epsilon wasn't particularly excited about the odds but he was just along for the ride so might as well in enjoy the show.
"Yeah, let's get this over with." Echo said as he put Vestian Dynasty on his left thigh while Huntress sat comfortably on his right. The purpose of having both sidearms readily available isn't because he was in anyway proficient at dual wielding but more for accessibility during a close quarters fight as he preferred to wield his knife in his right hand, which made drawing Huntress for a quick shot a challenge. Maybe he'll try dual wielding for shits and giggles but it just seem a bit impractical to him due to general inexperience. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Slipping on his helmet and flipping up hood, Echo walked out of the room to visit Lord Shaxx one more time before the matches started, using the down time of the walk to formulate a very basic strategy. Finally entering the hallway, Echo went up to the Crucible Handler.
"Lord Shaxx, I have a couple of questions for the matches."
"And what may those be, Guardian?" Shaxx said turning to him.
"Do the other teams know that I'm going to be alone?"
"Not to my knowledge. Would you like me to inform them?"
"Nah. I think it'll make for a very interesting surprise for them. It'll be a hell of a blow to their pride when they find out." Lord Shaxx let out a laugh at the reasoning.
"Alright, we'll play it your way. What else did you wish to ask me?"
"Are there any Hawks heading toward Bannerfall that I can hitch a ride on? I'd rather not go through the process of getting my jumpship out of the hanger just to take it to the other side of the City. I'd much rather have it waiting for me in orbit until I need it."
"I'm sure I can have one bring you and and the first team you're up against there. However, you'll be giving up the element of surprise on the first match."
"That's fine. I'll find a way to get it back somehow." Echo said and thanked the man as he set up the ride and notified the team he was going up against.
"The next Hawk to stop by the courtyard is your ride to Bannerfall. Best get a move on. I'm looking forward to your matches."
"That makes one of us." Echo mumbled to himself before saying farewell to the larger man. Waiting to the courtyard, he leaned against the railing, waiting for the Hawk to show up. It didn't take long he heard the twin engines approaching. It slowed long enough for Echo and three other Guardians to transmat on board before changing its heading for Bannerfall.
In the passenger bay, Echo sat in silence across from the three other Guardians he would soon face. Two Titans, a human male and an Exo and an Awoken Warlock. They were all staring at him as if he had grown an extra limb.
"Oi, Hunter. You're suppose to be the one of the Guardians to face us, right?" The human Titans asked. "So where's the rest of your team?"
"I'm it." Echo responded simply.
"You're it?" The Titan's laughter filled the compartment. "You must be pretty cocky if you think you can take us on. We've been fighting in the Crucible for the past couple of weeks and haven't lost a match."
"Good for you." Echo replied, not caring in the slightest as he looked over one of his sidearms, which annoyed the Titan. Echo seem to have knack for pissing off Titans.
"Do you really think you can beat us on your own? A Hunter like you is no match for me."
"Neat." Echo said. The Titan was just about ready to punch the Hunter when the other Titan stop him.
"Let's not do anything too hasty now. Save it for the match." The Exo said before turning to Echo. "You must be pretty good if you're gonna be talking on a fireteam on your own."
"Not really. I've lost the past 7 matches in Crucible. Then again, they were all Control."
"Oh? So what makes you so special?"
"Nothing. The 'official' reason is that I'm a Guardian with different perspective and that you can learn from." Echo said.
"And the unofficial reason?" The Warlock asked.
"Don't know. All I know is that Cayde making bets with someone and I would much rather be doing anything else."
"We're coming up on Bannerfall now. Get ready, Guardians." The pilot called out.
"That's us." Echo said, standing up and holding up his hand for Epsilon to appear over. "Epsilon, transmat when ready." The three Guardians looked between each other, one of them mouth the word 'Epsilon' questioningly to the others.
"Got it." With that, Echo transmatted out without saying another word to them.
"Traveler, that's why I hate Hunters. They can be such unfeeling assholes." The human Titan said.
"Come on, this'll be easy. Let's show this guy who's boss." The Exo said with a laugh. The rest agreed and soon, they too transmatted out, landing in the courtyard as well. Looking around, they noticed the Hunter was nowhere in sight. Shrugging it off, they headed over to their starting position.
Echo stood waiting at the Alpha team spawn, flag in hand and leaning against it. Hearing Lord Shaxx announce the match and the first round, Echo slammed the flagpole in the ground, its banners materializing into existence. Feeling the flag pole starting to dematerialize, Echo let go and took out his sniper rifle.
"Show them no mercy." Shaxx announced and with that, Echo took off. Jumping to the highest platform, he quickly slid into a crouch and peered down his scope. Like many others, they had the same thought process. Unfortunately for them, Echo was quicker. With a squeeze of the trigger, the first shot of the round was headshot on one of the Titans, killing him instantly. Not wasting anytime, he rolled to the side and off the platform to avoid their return fire, a shout of frustration notifying him that the Titan had been revived. Getting down, he sat still for a few seconds and let himself turn invisible. Now began the game of cat and mouse. Sneaking around, he watched as the group split up to find him. From what he could tell, the other team expected him to take them head on. A ludicrous idea in Echo's opinion but it made sense for Guardians who mainly spent their time in Control and Clash matches. Keeping a low profile, he picked his first target, the Exo Titan. Keeping track of the Titan, Echo waited until he was the Titan was out of sight of the others before making his move.
Following the Titan into the room near Alpha's spawn, Echo watched from the platform above while the Titan swept the room with his Auto Rifle. Jumping down, Echo's first move was a Blink Strike that closed the distance and wounded the Titan, who let out a shout of pain. As he landed the hit, his cloak reengaged and quickly backed away as the Titan swung around with his rifle, scanning the area to see where Echo went but with nothing in sight, let out a curse. However, a few moments later, a knee impacted the Exo's helmet causing the Titan stumble the back a few feet as he recoiled from the hit. When he looked back up at his attacker, he saw the Hunter standing there with Huntress leveled at his head, who, without a second thought, put a round through the Titan's head, killing him instantly.
As the Titan fell over dead, Echo knew that the others were notified of the death of their comrade and quickly moved. Heading outside to the edge of the old Tower, Echo hid out of sight for a second as he heard someone running toward him. As the person reach where he was, Echo knocked their rifle out of the way and pistol whipped the man in the head hard, briefly dazing the Guardian, which turned out to be the other Titan. Grabbing the back of the man's armor and pushing him, Echo caused him to stumble toward the railing. As the Titan leaned against the railing and shook off the effects of the previous blow, Echo kicked in back of his knee to throw him off balance and slammed the Titan's helmet into the railing hard enough that it cracked the Titan's visor before grabbing the back of his armor and his belt and flipping him over the railing and off the side of the Bannerfall.
"Was that necessary to throw him off the side of the Tower?" Epsilon said as they watched the Titan plummet.
"Not in the slight." Echo smiled. "But it's going to piss him off and that's what we want. The angrier he is, the better. It'll make him sloppy."
"Good to know." Now all the Hunter had to do was deal with the Warlock. Backtracking to the room to make sure the Exo's Ghost was still there, Echo quickly set out to find the last enemy Guardian. It wasn't hard to find the Warlock as once he lost his two teammates, most of his confidence left him and he backed himself against the wall so that Echo could only approach from the front. Toying with the idea of just sticking him with a grenade, Echo decided against it and decided to show off a little bit. After all, he was still a Hunter.
Cloaking, he kept to the sides and watched as the Warlock snapped his Hand Cannon from shadow to shadow at anything that looked like movement. A few of those times, it had been Echo he pointed at but quickly turned to look at a completely different shadow, allowing Echo to keep moving forward. Getting close enough and knowing his cloak was about to end, he ran at the Warlock, who responded with trying to pop off a couple of shots at him. The first two rounds impacted his shield but Echo was able to get close enough to grab the Warlock's arm with one hand and his Hand Cannon with the other before flipping Warlock over his shoulder. Keeping a hold of his arm, Echo relieved the Guardian of his weapon with a quick twist and took it before firing the rest of the cylinder off into its owner's chest. Feeling the Warlock go limp, he knew the Warlock was dead and tossed the empty weapon to the side and headed back to his starting position as Shaxx called the end of the first round.
As he waited for the second round to start, he started thinking of ways that approached this situation. The Exo and the Warlock would play it smarted than the last round and, having learned from their mistakes, will opt to stick together and approach him as a group. The wild card in the situation would be the human Titan. There was a chance that he would be blinded by rage after that humiliating death and just rush forward without a plan but there was also the chance he would be more level headed about it and work with his team. Upon hearing the roar of rage on their revival, Echo's question was immediately answered.
With the second match starting, Echo immediately ran for the door and took cover behind it. Hearing the thumping footfalls of a Titan's heavy boots hitting the concrete, he went invisible just in time for the Titan to run through the doors with his Auto Rifle leveled and his eyes scanning the surrounds. For a second, Echo thought he had been spotted as he look a second longer on his position but he ended up turning away. Getting up, Echo gently attached a grenade to the man's back and ran like hell. As the Titan turned and started shoot at Echo, the grenade went off, killing the Titan instantly while the bullets pinged off while the walls and floor around Echo as he made his escape to the courtyard. What he wasn't expecting was the other two Guardians to be there also and judging from their reaction, they weren't expecting him as well. While both Guardians took a moment to register his appearance, Echo's instincts as a Vanguard scout kicked in and he moved immediately.
Blink Striking forward, Echo's knife embedded itself into the Titan. Kicking off the Titan, Echo rolled out of the way and made a beeline for the Warlock. Drawing his Vestian Dynasty, he slide right pass the Warlock before springing back to his feet. Grabbing the Warlock in a headlock, he opened fire on the Titan, the small caliber rounds impacting the Titan's thick armor before the Exo returned fire out of annoyance and habit, temporarily forgetting about his teammate being held hostage.
"Wait, no, no, no, no!" The Warlock shouted as Echo used him as a bullet sponge. The Warlock's shield didn't the hold up long under the barrage of bullets and quickly broke before the Titan stopped the firing. Using this as his opportunity, Echo quickly put a bullet through the Titan's helmet once more. "NOO!" The Warlock yelled, elbowing the Hunter in the stomach and breaking free from his grasp. Turning around quickly, he hit the Hunter with a Scorch Melee to the chest, sending him flying back and causing him to land on his back and skid back a few more feet, Vestian Dynasty clattering away. Wincing in pain at the burning sensation in his chest, Echo looked up at the Warlock and saw him aiming his Hand Cannon at his head only for the first round to somehow miss his head. Taking a gamble, Echo drew one of the knives he had gotten from Petra and threw it. While he couldn't throw a knife as smoothly or as precisely as a Gunslinger, he was still a Hunter and that had to count for something...right? He got his answer when the knife made impact hilt first. Thankfully, their second shot still went wild when the knife hit.
"Ow." The Warlock held his forehead in pain and looked at the downed Hunter "What the actual fu-!" The Warlock didn't get to finish his sentence as a pistol round from Huntress tore through his head and helmet. As he fell over dead, Echo let out a sigh of relief as collapsed fully on his back as the Ghost hovering ahead of him disappeared.
"All according to plan." Echo said with a chuckle. Hearing Lord Shaxx announce the end of the match, Echo reluctantly got off the floor head back to the Alpha team starting point to wait for the his injuries to fully heal and the match to start. His injuries healed quickly thanks to his Light and as he waited for the next match, he ended up messing around with the flagpole, twirling it and doing some acrobatics while acting as if it were a spear or staff as he struck his imaginary targets. "Hey, Epsilon."
"Yes, Echo?" Epsilon responded, appearing next to him.
"What do you think if Arc Blade had a spear or staff instead of a knife?" Echo asked.
"That's an idea. Who knows, maybe your Light will grow strong enough that it'll change Arc Blade into something else entirely." Epsilon responded.
"Yeah, maybe one day." Echo said with a hint of a smile.
"Only one way to find out. Now get ready. The other team is here." Epsilon informed him, causing Echo to walk back to his original position and slammed the flag down.
"Let's not waste any time on this one." Echo let the flag go and ran forward. Like the first match, his opponents were green and chose to split up to fight him and his 'team'. Seeing the first Guardian, a female Warlock, he simply tossed a grenade at her and fired a few shots at her, which stuck to her chest as she turned and she let out a surprised scream before it went off and killed her. Heading outside, he quickly ran into the other next Guardian, an female Hunter. When she did notice him in her peripheral vision, she quickly turned and threw a knife at him but Echo was already too close and he blinked pass the knife with Blink Strike. As he pulled his knife free from the Hunter, he went invisible. In that moment of uncertainty of where Echo could have gone, the Hunter lowered her Auto Rifle only for Echo to grab the rifle and use it as leverage to flip her over his shoulder like he did with the Warlock before. As he did so, she let go of the weapon as her back impacted the floor hard. Without a second thought, Echo flipped the rifle and fired a burst into the downed Hunter's chest, killing her.
"Behind you!" Epsilon yelled. Echo swung around to face outside once more and dropped to a knee as he quickly took aim with his commandeered rifle and unloaded the rest of the clip into the last enemy Guardian, a male Hunter. The other Hunter had also gotten a good number of shots in, taking down Echo's shield and wounding him but in the end Echo came out on top.
"Thanks, Epsilon." Echo said, sucking in a sharp breath when he moved his arm and pain flared up from where he was hit.
"Of course, Echo." Epsilon said. "You weren't joking about not wasting time."
"No, I wasn't." Echo chuckled as the Gunslinger's Ghost came over and her Auto Rifle disappeared from his hands. Turning around, he watched as the Gunslinger's Ghost then revive the Guardian, who had awoken with a gasp. "Here, let me help you up." Echo walked over and held out his hand for the other Hunter to take, which the Hunter did. However, once the Gunslinger was up and had steadied herself on her feet again, she looked to Echo and once she recognized him, tightened her grip on Echo's hand before punching him in the face with her free hand, causing the Bladedancer to recoil back and cover his face with his hands and shout. "Why?!"
"Because you shot me with my own rifle and fuck you, that's why." The Gunslinger said angrily as she marched pass the other Hunter, who shrugged at Echo and walked away. "You're ass is mine next round." HE heard her shout back at him followed by the snicker from the other Guardian with her before he was scolded by the Gunslinger.
"Yeah, okay, sure, why not?" Echo said, not viewing that as valid reason but holding his tongue to avoid further problems before running his hand down his helmet. Seeing that he was alone again, he headed back to the Alpha team starting position. "Epsilon, is Arc Blade ready?"
"Yes, it is."
"If they adapt as predictably as the last team, which they probably will if they're smart, we're just gonna to do that next round." Echo said as he arrived back at the Alpha spawn.
"Alright then." Upon hearing the start of the next round a minute later, Echo ran straight for the enemy team. As they appeared around the edge of the turn, he looked over and saw them traveling as as group, just like he thought. In no way was it a bad thing that they adjusted in such a way as Echo prove to them that traveling alone was bad idea but it's also that kind of predictability that Echo like to use to his advantage. With a smirk, he took cover and got down until his invisibility kicked in. Not moving, he watched as they got closer and closer as they investigated the blip on their radar until they were basically right on top of him. Activating his Arc Blade, he came back into view with a burst of Arc energy. The Guardians didn't get a chance to react as Echo began cutting his way through them, the last one to be disintegrated by the discharge of arc energy being the female Hunter. As the last sparks of arc energy dissipated out of the air in his body, Echo let out a deep breath and smiled at the three Ghosts that hovered around him.
With the match over, he quickly turned to leave once he heard the three other Guardians started coming back to life. As he stepped onto where Capture Zone B would be, he felt someone tap his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the Gunslinger and her team standing there, each without their helmets.
"Umm, hi?" Echo said, half expecting to get punched in the face again.
"Hi." The Gunslinger looked to her teammates for a moment, who seemed to motion for her to continue. "We...I..." She sighed and looked back her teammate one last time before looking back at Echo. "Look, they wanted me apologize for punching you in the face earlier."
"No, we didn't." The Warlock said from behind her.
"It was actually her idea but she wasn't sure how you would take it." The other Hunter said with grin. "Also, she was sorta hoping you could help train us but her pride won't let her ask that because then she would have to admit that you're better than us." Echo nodded in understanding. Of all the Guardians, Gunslingers tended to be the most prideful so a loss like that could be quite the blow to one's pride.
"Shut up, Lance!" The Gunslinger snapped at him, an embarrassed blush spreading across her face, causing Echo to chuckle a bit while Lance wrapped an arm around the Gunslinger's neck with a wide grin and laughed. They kind of reminded him of Mystic, well the times when the members of Mystic would actually get along and be at each other's throats.
"Apology accepted. Thank you." Echo said with a smile after taking off his helmet. It was only fair that he talk to them face to face since they weren't wearing their helmets and if they were taking the time to apologize then who was he to hold a grudge. "I don't mind helping you guys out. I'm heading to Venus later so feel free to join me if you don't have anything else to do, just don't punch me in the face again. It's not as fun as it looks." Echo said getting a laugh from the Warlock and Lance while the Gunslinger looked more embarrassed for let her pride get the better of her. "Now, as much as I want to continue this conversation, you three should probably clear out before the next match starts unless you want to be mistaken as my teammates."
"Speaking of teammates, where is your team? I haven't seen them all match." Lance asked realizing that the other Guardians that were suppose to be part of Echo's team were nowhere in sight.
"You're looking at it." Echo said as Epsilon appeared next to him.
"Wait, it's just you?!" Lance asked in disbelief.
"Yup. Vanguard orders."
"The Vanguard wanted to you to fight on your own?" Lance in disbelief.
"It was Cayde's idea." A nod of understanding came from each of them. "Also I'm a Vanguard scout so I'm use to fighting against the odds."
"No wonder why you kicked our ass. A little unfair setting us up against a Vanguard scout." Lance said quietly.
"Heads up, Echo, we got another fireteam transmatting in." Epsilon warned him.
"Got it." Echo said as his helmet materialized on him once again and he flipped up his hood. "Find me after this match and we can talk more then. The name's Echo by the way." The three Guardians nodded and brought out their Ghosts to transmat out. "They're a bit early. How about we scout out the competition before we start." Echo said with a smile as he jumped up to the opening over the door. Getting down, he let his invisibility kick in before moving closer. Using his double jump, he peered through his sniper scope over the bridge on the far side of the area. What he saw surprised him. Three Guardians, one of each class and two of which were veteran Crucible fighters. "Cayde, you lying bastard, I swear I will..." Echo trailed off.
"Message from Cayde-6. It says, 'Don't even think about forfeiting. You're completing that match. Vanguard orders. Also, I have a lot of Glimmer riding on this. Don't let me down, Echo.'" Epsilon relayed. "Guess we have to do this."
"Dammit." Echo gritted his teeth as he rushed back to his starting position. He really didn't want to this but he didn't have a choice anymore. "Change of plans, we need to take them out in rapid succession if we're going to win. Swap to Arc Bolt."
"Done. What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking I might need both pistols for this round." Echo said as he came up with a rough idea of what to he needed to do. He was only going to get one shot at this. Taking the flagpole in his hands, Echo waited for the a match to start and when it did, slammed it down and rushed into edge of the tower and up the stairs to the second level. Once he was on the platform in the courtyard, he laid down in the corner and waited. He waited for a few minutes until the enemy fireteam showed in the courtyard below.
"Something's not right." Echo heard one of them say. "We should have been engaged them by now."
"He's right. We haven't seen any signs of the other team. Usually teams engage each other immediately in this type of match. They're planning something."
"Or they could just all be Hunters." suggested the person who spoke first. "Hiding in the shadows and that bullshit like a bunch of cowards, too scared to take us in a straight fight." Echo gritted his teeth as he listened above. He just had to wait a little longer and than he could hit them. Hard.
"So what are we going to doing? Split up and search for clues?" The voices were getting closer as they approached the lower level of the building. Just a few moments.
"No, that'll just make us easy targets, especially for Hunters." As they got closer, Echo slowly crawled to where they were going to pass under him and readied into his grenade. As soon as they approached he tossed the grenade behind them. Turning around at the sound of the grenade scanning the area, a bolt of lightning shot out, slamming into a Titan. As the Arc bolt jumped from Guardian to Guardian, Echo silently dropped down behind them. Drawing Huntress in one hand and Vestian Dynasty in the other, his leveled both weapons at the Hunter and the Warlock and with two quick trigger squeezes with each weapons, put two bullets into the back of each of their heads before pointing the weapons forward and unloading the rest of both magazines into the Titan, who had turned around at the sound of the gunshots, letting the recoil walk his aim up from his chest to his head. Finally, with nothing but smoke leaving the pistols' barrels, the Titan fell over dead, his armor and body riddled with holes. Dropping the empty magazines from both sidearms, Echo let out a sigh of relief before chuckling as he let his arms drop.
"I can't believe that work." He said as he looked over the dead forms of Thalia, Atlas, and Hecate on the ground before him. He was glad he did have look Thalia or Hecate in the face when he shot them. If he did, he might have hesitated.
"You weren't expecting it to work?" Epsilon asked from inside his helmet.
"Are you kidding me? I can count the number of times I've had to fire my sidearm with my off-hand with one hand so I wasn't sure I could manage the recoil of Vestian Dynasty with one hand since it has a bit more kick than Huntress."
"Were you?"
"Not at first but I adjusted as much as I could while firing." Echo said walking away from the bodies of Fireteam Mystic, sending a departing wave to their Ghosts, who just blinked at him in return a their shells spun around them. In truth, at least a third of the shots fired at Atlas with Vestian Dynasty off target. The recoil had surprised him a fair amount when he shot Hecate. "Also my trigger finger isn't as quick with my left hand so that's something I'm going to have to work on."
"Planning on becoming ambidextrous with sidearms?"
"Why not? Could be useful." Echo said, a smile coming across his face. "Maybe I'll try it with Handcannons too. Sounds like a interesting way to dislocate my wrists."
"Well, we can try it while we're on Venus later. For now, the next round is starting." Epsilon informed him. "How do you want to handle this?" Epsilon asked, causing Echo to sigh.
"We're going to have to fight this round. They're not stupid enough to fall for what we've been doing for the past couple of matches." Echo said as Tamar-D materialized on his back.
"But you know that we can't take them in a head on fight."
"Probably not which is why we need to get them into an unfavorable position." Echo replied taking his sniper rifle off his back and took off running as the next round started, quickly making it to the top platform. Sliding, he leveled his sniper rifle to where he thought they would be and sure enough, one of them appeared. Across from him was Thalia and as quickly as she showed up, she was gone, jumping off to the side as Echo fired, the bullet breaking her shield. Echo didn't stay to find out how they would react. Heading down into the hallway, he dropped to one knee looked through the scope on the door way on the other side. Soon enough, after what he assumed was time for Thalia's shields to recharge, Fireteam Mystic walked out through the door just as Echo's invisibility kicked in. Taking aim, he steadied his breathing and squeezed, sending the arc round into Atlas's head. The other two quickly jumped into cover. Moments later, Thalia ran out of her cover to charge him while Hecate ran for Atlas. However, Echo was able to get lucky with one of his shots and able to hit Hecate in the back of her head a moments before she could get Atlas back into the fight. With only Thalia left, Echo ducked into cover to let his shield recharge from the shots Thalia took while rushing him and to reload. However, before his shields could recharge fully, Thalia slide passed him firing her weapon. Cursing, Echo used his blink strike to close the distance and wound Thalia before diving out of the side as his invisibility kicked in.
"Goddammit. Where did you go, you slippery little bastard?" Thalia said as she quickly scanned around her. Hearing a bang, she spun around and spotted him as he popped back into view. She took a step toward him as pain flared up in her abdomen causing her to stumble and fall. Scrambling to his feet, Echo just barely caught Thalia before she hit the ground and cradled her body as she let out one final breath while trying to reach for him.
"I got you, Thalia." Echo said with a sigh. Killing your friends or seeing them die was never easy, even if come back to life moments later, at least it never did for Echo. Wincing as pain spread through his body, he brought a hand over to his side to feel a large wet spot. Looking down, he saw his gloved hand covered in blood. With a chuckle, Echo looked back at Thalia. "Looks like you got me good, Thals." Echo said as the adrenaline left his system, his vision starting to lose focus. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he let his Light run it course to heal him before he passed out from blood loss. It won't take him too long to heal, especially with how close they were to the Traveler but still, he didn't want to push it. "You got me really good." Hearing Atlas's and Hecate's Ghost disappear as the two came back to life, he waited for Thalia to disappear from his arms but as seconds turned to minutes, Thalia's body just stayed right where it was. Looking down at her with concern, it took him a minute to notice the subtle rise and fall of her chest. "Thalia, I know you're alive again."
"Shhh, just a little longer." Thalia whispered in reply, making herself more comfortable in his arms now that she knew she was caught.
"I'm gonna drop you now."
"Please don't."
"Come on, Thalia. We have to get back to killing each other."
"But we can do that whenever we want. When was the last time we sat down and just cuddled?"
"Four months before I left Mystic when you managed to get piss fucking drunk and I was forced to take care of you and you won't let go of me." Echo answered simply. "Now up. Cayde's got glimmer riding on this."
"Ugh, don't remind me. I owe Cayde a favor now since he set up this match for me." Thalia said as she got up. Echo frowned upon hearing this. "Guess we better get back to it then." Thalia said as she stretched. "You're ass is mine, by the way." She said a bit too cheerfully.
"Not the first time I've heard that today."
"Come on, Echo. Against the three of us, you know you don't have a chance especially now that we know you're coming."
"Uh huh. And the last two rounds were just to let me build up a false sense of confidence?"
"Of course." Thalia said, getting a laugh out of Echo.
"Alright then let me give you some Hunter wisdom, Thals. If you don't have the numbers, you go for the knife in the back."
"I've been a Hunter longer than you have, Echo. I know that." Thalia said punching him in shoulder. "By the way, if we make a comeback and win, you have to bring me back to your room tonight."
"Tempting but I think I'll pass." Echo said before calling out to her as she walked away. "Since we're betting, if I win, you have to give me your MIDA." Echo let out another laugh as she flipped him off before disappearing around the corner. Heading back, he reached the Alpha spawn and waited for the start of the round. When Shaxx started the round, he said the one thing going through everyone's mind.
"Crush them." With that Echo took off running. With Huntress in one hand and his knife in the other, Echo knew exactly what to expect. If Thalia picked up on his little hint that he was alone, she would no doubt rush out to fight him one-on-one. Atlas would take any opportunity he can to put a bullet in Echo and Hecate would probably care less about this and might actually agree to just him just take the point once it appeared. If she didn't, then they would still be grouped up and he was going to have a lot less fun with this.
As he rounded the corner, he got his answer as when he ducked underneath Thalia's lunge and flipped her over his shoulder and kept running. Not stopping, he ignored the downed Hunter in favor of going after the other two, specifically Altas. It didn't take long for Echo to find the Titan and Warlock of team Mystic as the two were trying to catch up with Thalia. Sliding under the first shotgun blast from Atlas, Echo began unloaded his pistol into Atlas's shield. Jumping up to his feet, Echo then proceeded to shoulder bash Atlas with as much force as he could muster, which only caused the Titan to stagger back a few feet. Holstering his sidearm quickly, Echo grabbed his sniper rifle by the stock and swung it around, using the barrel to knock Atlas's shotgun out of the way as he shot, causing the next shotgun blast to wound Hecate. Keep the sniper rifle's momentum going, he brought it around his head and back for another swing, this time nailing Atlas in the head with it, knocking the Titan unconscious and cracking his visor. Looking at Hecate, he saw she was cradling her wound arm and doing her best not to bleed out from her injuries to her arm and side. Hecate, catching his glances, just shook her head at him and leaned against the wall before sliding down it to sit on the floor.
Before Echo could do anything else, a slow clap came from behind him followed by a sharp pain as Thalia used her Blink Strike to plunge her knife into his side before he could finish turning around. Withdrawing the knife, Thalia took a couple of steps back.
"What was that you said? 'If you don't have the number, you go for the knife in the back.' You're not following your own advice, Echo." She taunted him as Echo clutched his side with left hand and drew his knife with his right.
"Thought I could even the odds before you caught up." Echo said with a hidden grin. The injury wasn't serious. Thankfully, he's shield absorbed most of it, leaving a very shallow wound that was already healing. Deciding to repay the favor, Echo used his Blink Strike against Thalia. As his knife broke through her shield, Thalia grabbed his arm and tried to hold him to get a stab in herself, only to get headbutted by the male Hunter, causing her to recoil back and loss her grip on him. Hearing movement behind him, he expected Hecate to join in the fight but instead was greeted with the sight of Atlas getting to his feet and charge at him. Jumping out of the way at the last moment, Atlas, still in his semi-dazed state, went charging straight into Thalia. As the two struggled and shouted at each other, Echo turned his attention to Hecate, who just sighed and shrugged at him, ready to fight the Warlock.
"Don't look at me. They both called dibs on fighting you. I just want to get this over and done with." Hecate said from her spot against the wall as she waited for her injuries to heal. Deciding to trust her, Echo quickly ran off toward their spawn and quickly made a sharp turn for the doorway that lead into the courtyard, making a beeline for the tree. As he took cover behind it, he examined his sniper to make sure he didn't damage it when he smacked Atlas' hard head with it. It didn't seem all that damaged but the end of the barrel and the muzzle was bent a little so he didn't want to risk a malfunction by firing it. Hearing thudding footsteps, he knew at least one of them were getting close. Returning the weapon to it's place on his back and letting it disappear to be replaced with his scout rifle, Echo drew his sidearm and loaded his last mag. He was only going to get one shot at this.
Waiting a few more moments, he popped out of cover and those his Flux grenade at Atlas, the Titan quickly jumping to the side to get out of the way. Already off to a bad start, Echo quickly started firing off shots with this sidearm, most missing while those that did hit were absorbed by his shield. With no ammo and no choice, Echo was forced to resort to close quarters. Without much thought, Echo threw Huntress at Atlas, hitting him in the head with the improvised throwing weapon. With Atlas momentarily distracted, Echo was quickly about to close the gap and grab a hold of the shotgun with one hand and plunge his knife into Atlas' forearm and twisting with the other, causing Atlas to lose his grip on the shotgun. Ripping the shotgun out of his grasp, Atlas's rage flared up and punched the Hunter with an Arc charged fist. Thankfully for Echo, he was able to move the shotgun in front of him to block the blow and he's shield was still up to protect him from whatever the shotgun couldn't. Unfortunately for Echo, the shotgun apparently provided little protection against a pissed off Titian and broke with under the force of the punch along with his shield, sending the Hunter flying back. Hitting the ground and rolling backward on to his feet, Echo watched as Atlas pulled the knife out of his arm and throw it to the side in anger.
"Is that all you got?!" Atlas yelled as he charged again. "I'm ready! How about you?!" Jumping toward the Hunter, Atlas slammed his hand into the concrete floor where Echo use to be, the floor cracking under the force of his punch. Under his helmet, Echo gritted his teeth. While Echo had speed and agility on his side, Atlas only need to get lucky once to beat him. Seeing a flash in his peripheral vision, Echo was forced to dodge to the side just as a sniper shot cut through the air where his head use to be. Quickly swapping to Angel's Advocate, Echo put a little more distance between him and Atlas before he spun around, dropping to a crouch and raising his scout rifle in one quick motion, and started firing at Thalia. He got a good couple of shots in before he was force to turn around and reengage Atlas. However, he underestimated his distance from the Titan and Atlas was able to get close to him and kicked the rifle out his hands before taking a swing at him with his right hand. Ducking underneath it, Echo spun around the Titan and got behind him. Wrapping his arm around his neck, Echo tried to stab Atlas with his knife only for the still regenerating shield to take the damage and shatter, giving Atlas the moment he need to grab Echo and toss him over his shoulder and into the ground.
With the Hunter on the ground, Atlas raised his arc charged fist and once more tired to punch Echo while he was down, only for him to roll away and to his feet before it could make contact. As Atlas looked up at Echo, Echo lunged forward and used his Blink Strike to plunge his knife into the Titan's throat. Clutching his throat with one hand, Atlas raised the other in an attempt to deliver one last punch while in his kneeling position but Echo pulled his knife free, causing Atlas to fall a bit forward, before kneeing him in the face to knock him to the ground onto his back. As he stood there panting and watching Atlas' Ghost hover over him, his eyes widen in realization as he remembered Thalia was still alive and kicking and probably trying to take his head off with a sniper rifle. Thankfully, since he landed his Blink Strike, his invisibility kicked in. Quickly turning, he quickly scanned the surrounding area for Thalia when the capture point appeared around him. In that moment, Thalia came out and stepped on the point to contest it.
"Come on out, Echo." Thalia called out as she drew her knife. "It's just me and you." Echo stood there as he caught his breath until his invisibility wore off. Once he was visible, he could feel Thalia gaze on him and her smile. "There you are." Without any other warning, she closed the distance with Blink Strike and broke his shield. Reacting, Echo grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, using his foot to trip and knock her off balance before pushing her past him. As she recovered from the trip, Echo was already on the move. Knives in hand, Echo attacks were quick and precise, finding small openings in her defenses and chipping away at Thalia's shield until it finally broke. From there, the two continued to trade blow, never letting the other regain their shield.
Gritting her teeth in frustration at the thought of losing the 'younger' Hunter, Thalia forced herself on the offense. As their blades sparked upon contact with each other again, Thalia grabbed Echo's arm and tried to kneed him in the stomach only for him to kick her leg away before cutting her wrist to free himself from her grasp. As he took a few steps back, Thalia was quick to follow and continued to press her offensive. Defecting and dodging her strikes, Echo let his instincts take over, wincing as Thalia landed another cut on him. The two continued their dance until their until Echo jumped back once again in hopes of the catching his breath. Not letting him have his moment of rest, Thalia charged him again and tried to slash him across the chest which Echo blocked by the raising his knife, the knives glancing off each other with a shower of sparks. Bringing her arm back around, Echo used the two knives strapped to right forearm as a guard to block the knife once more before using his left hand to grab her wrist and force her arm down before kneeing her in the stomach. As she was hunched over, Echo plunged his knife into her back with enough force to drop her to floor. Breathing heavily, Echo stood up on tired legs as Thalia's Ghost appeared over her. After a few moments passed, the flag changed to the Alpha team flag and Shaxx announced his victory.
With a smile and tired laugh, Echo sat down and waited until Epsilon transmatted him out. Now all he had to do was help some kinderGuardians, something he kinda looking forward seeing as he's never mentored anyone before. Feeling himself dematerialize, Echo let himself disappear before anyone could say otherwise, his smile not once going away.
A/N
And that's a wrap. Wow, this was a long chapter. I probably should have separated this into multiple chapters but I said last chapter that Fireteam Mystic was gonna be involved in this chapter and I wanted to keep my word for this. So thank you so much for waiting and putting up with my probably odd attempt to write a Crucible match. That being said, there are few things I want to address so let's get on to that.
First things first, when Echo uses Arc Blade, he has it ready from the previous rounds because he never went to orbit. That's basically it in terms of the game. You end up losing whatever super charge you have when you go to orbit and it doesn't charge when you're dead.
Second thing, I know Echo seems to be a bit OP here but I'm all honesty, I feel that since he's been working near non stop for the entire time he's been a Guardian, especially on his own, he gotten quite good at what he does. But don't worry, he won't seem this way much longer. I got something interesting planned for him in the next chapter.
Lastly, I don't know how many of you caught when you were reading but I made a small reference to Hand cannons' ghost bullets in the first match when the Warlock tried to shoot Echo while he was on the ground. Wondering how many of you caught that.
But all that aside, what did you think of this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Let me know with a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style.
Anyway, thank you so much for being here and as always, have a great day.