Chapter 20
The Tower Plaza tended to be both a busy and empty place at the same time. Guardians would come to speak to their faction leaders, purchase guns and armor, pick up packages, and get their encrypted engrams decoded into usable items by the simultaneously respected and hated Master Rahool, then leave to do more patrols and strikes. This also made the open space quiet, the only loud noises coming from ships entering the hangar and the speakers blaring messages every once in a while.
This time, the din came from a third source.
"I'm telling you, you owe us!" a rather annoyed Dexter Grif yelled.
"The only person who owes you is Voxfis, and that's if he ever gets back up," Dmitri retorted.
Gulch and Dragon—mostly Dmitri—had been fighting since they left the Dreadnought. Dragon and three Twilight Guardians had ran into the Right Hand and got their butts kicked pretty good. The only casualty was an Eliksni Warlock named Voxfis, who had yet to be revived. Much of his Ghost's Light had been absorbed before the Taken General dropped it in sudden pain. His Ward of Darkness promptly fell and the six remaining Guardians reopened fire. To their ire, the enemy warped back to whatever dimension the Taken inhabited before he could be put down. After evacuating Voxfis, they learned that Gulch had managed to take out an Echo. Dmitri had been in a foul mood since.
"We saved your asses. Tha-"
"Don't forget we saved your own outside the Cabal ship. We. Are. Even."
By now, a large crowd—by Tower standards—had surrounded the two bickering individuals, eager to see the end results.
"The least you can do is call off the Crucible match."
The crowd lit up upon hearing 'Crucible'. Almost immediately, Guardians were placing bets.
Dmitri's nerves were already shot, and the increased noise did nothing to help. "Everyone, SHUT UP!"
All the voices were silenced, no one dared to even whisper. Dmitri's temper rarely overcame him, but when it did...
"The Crucible match is still on, Grif. In fact, I'll make it easier on you. Home advantage, anything you have, and another match against Valhalla right after."
The other Guardians who had not left voiced their surprise. Several of them knew about Fireteam Valhalla, who often swapped members with Gulch. While it wasn't as bad as its brother fireteam, it wasn't as good as some of the others out there.
"Done," Sarge said, pushing his way past the orange Titan.
"But Sarge..."
"Shut up, Grif. You're a horrible negotiator." Gulch's leader turned back to Dmitri. "When is the match?"
"Whenever Hiccup and Toothless get back. Now, if you'll excuse me," the white-and-red Titan signaled for his team to group up and follow him to the Hall of Guardians, leaving the crowd behind.
"Glad to be out of that mess," Krayt commented.
"Quiet. Dmi, you good?" Hurricane asked, planting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
The leader took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm good."
"Great. Cause we don't need you going psycho."
They entered the Vanguard's room and stood at attention. Eris Morn was with the head Guardians instead of tending to her shop. "Welcome back, Dragon. At ease." The group relaxed as soon as Zavala gave them the order. "I trust your excursion with Twilight went well?"
Dmitri stepped forward. "Firewing's retaliation strike was successful. But we ran into a few complications. While pulling back to the surface, my team found the Chamber of Darkness open. One of my recruits, Toothless, led us to Crota's Soul-chamber, and it was there that we heard an Ahamkara."
"An Ahamkara?" Ikora asked in shock. "They're supposed to have been wiped out."
"As far as we know, ma'am, they still are. No, we only heard its voice, but I'm guessing only Toothless could hear it outside the chamber. When we heard it talk, it revered Hiccup and Toothless, calling them 'master' and 'saviors'. The voice said that his power was set free once Crota was killed, then he used it to do something. I don't know what, but we all felt it."
Before any of the Vanguard could ask, Hurricane's Ghost projected the moment onto the table. Everyone in the room heard the Ahamkara's words, one in particular shivering upon hearing the voice. When it was over, Sam returned to his owner.
"Wow. Way to be ominous," Cayde spoke first.
"'Saved and led, and will save and lead again.' Obviously, this voice gained knowledge of those two's pasts," Ikora determined.
"And whatever it did, it must have been powerful." Zavala paused in contemplation, then returned to the moment at hand. "Where are your two recruits?"
20 answered. "We... don't know, sir. They left after we, Sparta, and Death aided Nero Bianco against the Hive and Skyburners.
"Most likely has something to do with that deal they made on the Moon," 'Cane said.
"Hmm. What is the situation regarding Nero Bianco? Spectre's teammates reported in that he'd been kidnapped."
"He was, Commander, and is most likely still held hostage. We reentered the Dreadnought to track down Lightning with Gakskosis, Jessica, and another Twilight Warlock named Voxfis." Dmitri decided to leave the part with Gulch out. "We moved into the Hall of Souls and recovered information regarding the Court of Oryx. It was there that we were ambushed."
"Ambushed? By whom?" Zavala asked.
The fireteam leader looked to his comrades, and they nodded. "The Right Hand of Oryx. The Taken General."
"So," Morn said, speaking for the first time in the debriefing, "he has been reborn. Triton feared this would happen and so he broke away to form the Twilights."
"You knew about this?" the Exo Vanguard questioned the former Guardian.
"The Psychological Mind brought people's fears to life. There's no way to come out of that unscathed." Krayt's voice held none of the cheery, snarky tone his voice usually carried.
Dmitri continued. "This isn't anything like the Taken we face now. Sirs, this... is a Guardian. A Titan—the wall that the Darkness breaks on, the fist that crushes it."
"A Guardian? I don't think Dredgen Yor or Toland the Shattered would have even considered surrendering to Oryx," Ikora replied.
"They were living when they confessed their betrayal," Morn pointed out. "This one was already dead."
"I will say this: he wore the Helm of Inmost Light. Or at least a Taken version of it. He had his own specialized troops and moved fast. He possessed both Striker and Defender abilities, and could use them interchangeably. A Fist of Havoc one second, a Ward of Dawn half a minute later. We almost lost Voxfis, and Twilight could still lose him."
Krayt took over. "His powers definitely aren't anything we've seen before. He can draw in Taken energy and Light, apparently. Voxfis hasn't been able to be revived yet, and his Ghost was almost drained."
"This is very unsettling news-"
"Yeah," Cayde interrupted, ignoring Zavala's glare. "It's not everyday you learn the Darkness has resurrected its own Guardian."
"Did your team find any weaknesses this General has?" The head Warlock asked again.
"We did seem to beat him down quickly. If anything, he relies on his support units to do the fight for him."
20 chose to speak again. "I want to point out that removing his troops makes him stronger. That first Wizard we took out transferred its power into him. He redirected the energy into his Phalanxes, who proceeded to turn Krayt into a bloody paste."
"I don't want to hear it," the flustered Titan responded, earning a chuckle from Cayde.
"Given the... reports I received from Fireteam Gulch, this General seems to be tied to these Echoes that Oryx spawns. The time-frame when the Echo they faced was destroyed is the same as when the Right Hand disappeared." The Titan Commander paused again. "If there isn't anything else, you are dismissed."
"Yes, sir!"
"Not you, Hurricane," Cayde called out. "I need to talk to you about something."
The next day, Hiccup's project was complete, much to his surprise. Then again, Fireball was all too happy to help, eager to see his Guardian's idea. He was thankful that Hookfang and Barf and Belch decided to help him by giving the necessary dragon components, and doubly so that he knew what mistakes he had made the first few times ages ago. He did make some mistakes, but their number was minimal compared to when the sword was first built. And these were due to circumstances entirely out of his control.
He held the hilt in his hands, testing its weight. Sure enough, the Gronckle Iron—courtesy of Meatlug—had been formed from the perfect combination of different rocks and minerals. He tossed it into the air and expertly snatched the leather-wrapped handle as it came down, not even noticing the light weight.
"Here we go," he said to himself confidently. He pressed a button near the top of the hilt and the triple-tiered blade shot out. A flick of his thumb set a spark loose, and a barrier of fire came to life, traveling up the metal to end at the pointed tip. At least the blade works, he thought.
He swung from left to right slowly, then proceeded to test out both Inferno and his own swordsmanship. Hiccup stabbed, parried, and blocked the air in front of him repeatedly. He was just about to stop when a knife pressed against his swing. Like a shadow, Firewing seemed to materialize in front of the young Guardian, his knife not budging.
Seemingly ignoring the locked blades, he studied Inferno, eyes traveling down from the tip. "Very nice craftsmanship," Fire said, nodding in appreciation. "Another relic from your previous life?"
"Yeah."
"Know how to use it?"
Hiccup pulled away and smirked. "Why don't you come and find out?"
The Twilight's face grinned. "A Solar Bladedancer—a Bladeslinger." He briefly examined the hilt. "Instead of using the lighter, use your Solar energy to ignite the blade."
"Alright." Hiccup dissolved the flames, leaving behind the unaffected blade. With a bit of concentration, he felt the desired energy and directed it through his left hand and into Inferno. The fire returned with a roar, the length covered in orange holding a slight tinge of blue. "Whoa..."
Firewing was astonished. "That is one of the hottest flames I've ever seen a Guardian ignite. Now... defend yourself."
Hiccup barely got Inferno up in time to block the knife. He pushed it back to gain some distance, then decided to try something. Sheathing Inferno, he pulled a small canister off his belt, he threw the thing on the ground. Interestingly, the container blew apart, releasing Zippleback gas into the area in such a high concentration that it hid the Hunters from each others' views. To compensate, Fireball materialize Night's Visage onto Hiccup's head.
Meanwhile, Firewing had ducked away from the unknown dark green gas and waited for Hiccup to show himself. He caught two small items landing behind him. Years of experience taught him to take cover from grenades, and so he dashed to the side. Unfortunately, they detonated, rapidly generating gas to smother him. The smell almost caused him to gag, and he coughed several times before Sundial put his helmet on.
He heard a metallic click and the gas-field exploded, throwing him to the ground. He recovered in time to stop Inferno's orange-blue blade from touching his body. A second knife was put into the elder's hand, and he stabbed forward.
Hiccup twisted Inferno around to counter the attack, but moved back when Firewing sidestepped to his left, the first knife gearing toward his side. He swung to the left to slash across his opponent's chest, only to hit air as the target moved back. He brought Inferno back to towards his chest as though to prepare for another swing, but instead let loose a high-pressure stream of gas into Firewing's direction.
The elder Hunter was blinded by the unexpected move for a second before the gas detonated in his face. When his senses cleared, he was on his back with Hiccup pointing his sword at his chest. Firewing conceded by removing his helmet, laughing. "You have me convinced, Hiccup. Haha!"
"If you knew anything about my history," Hiccup replied, pulling the other Guardian onto his feet, "then you'd know I've worked with swords my whole life—minus my childhood years, of course."
"I'm only wondering what the heck that gas was. Oh my god, that stuff stank."
Hiccup laughed at this. "Zippleback gas, happily donated by Barf and Belch." When said dragon came by, he chuckled and rubbed their heads. "Yeah, it smells bad, but you get used to it. I've had to smell Toothless' breath more than once on occasion."
"You liked it anyway," the Night Fury chortled as he trotted up to the Hunters, Uni beside him.
"Oh, quiet you."
"I think my time here was well spent," Firewing stated. "I had a feeling you would become a Bladeslinger like me."
Hiccup smiled and was about to express his thanks when Fireball appeared. "Sorry to ruin the moment, but Hiccup, Dmitri is looking for you and Toothless."
"Why?"
"He wants you and Toothless to be in the Crucible match with him." Firewing grinned while Hiccup and Toothless looked in puzzlement.
"What's the Crucible?"
"I can explain it on the way."
"Alright." Hiccup turned towards Firewing, who was scratching Shock. "Fire, could you do me a favor?"
"Depends on what it is."
"Before you leave, explain to Shock and Forge why you have to leave them behind. The world out there is a very dangerous place for them, especially with the Guardians."
Firewing looked down in contemplation. "Good point," he finally said. "I'll tell them. But what about Uni?"
Hiccup glanced at the Ahamkara hatchling. "...I don't know." He knelt down Uni and rubbed his fingers over the dragon's head. "What do you think, little guy?"
He had returned to his captive's cell, deep within the Hanging Crypts. The body of one of the Traveler's strongest Titans hung before him, suspended by chains in midair. He checked Spectre's vitals and found the faintest hint of breath and a pulsing heart.
The Right Hand growled. He needed to build his power back up. When he was pulled back into the Taken plane, he had grabbed a piece of a destroyed Echo. As he absorbed the residual energy, he became furious. To see that his kill was removed from his reach by a group of incompetent idiots drove him to sever his connection with Oryx's Echoes.
And so he did.
He stretched his right hand towards the unconscious Titan, a membrane growing and growling in his palm. The General had regained much of his power from the Echo Shard, but not all of it. Now, before him, was a source waiting to be taken. With one act, he could end the life of his Liege's most hated enemy; he could strike fear into the Guardians' hearts; he could-
His thoughts were broken upon the cocking of a rifle's bolt, and he stayed his hand. He turned around and smiled beneath his helmet, then thrust a hand forward.
AN - Well, Hiccup and Toothless will be getting their first tastes of the Crucible over the next few chapters, and now the Vanguard knows about the Right Hand. And yes, we will be seeing some of our favorites on the field. And yes, there is a reason I gave Inferno back to Hiccup. Anyway, reviews:
Link234521 - While they didn't save the Dragons and the Twilights, Lightning and the others have certainly saved Spectre... some time.
If you have any moments you want to see in the Crucible, feel free to put it in your review. I'll see if I can put it in. 'Til next time...