Chapter 21: Time's Tomb, Part II
On top of a canyon pass, somewhere in the Veil of the Hezen Conflux…..
Having rounded up everyone in the Fireteam 'by chance' after describing them to Aurash, the matter of finding Midas' 'really, really big gun' to kill Karkinos was a much trickier matter. Trying every concept imaginable, from railguns to high-payload missiles, still-functional orbital death lasers, and even a two-legged ICBM-launching weapons platform with a name analogous to a dinosaur, no grandiose death-weapon concept the group tried describing to Aurash was manifesting anything more than thin air and broken dreams. Figuring there must've been a limit to what Aurash could make 'magically' appear just out of sight, their Plan B was immensely daring and idiotic, but just about the only still-valid plan they had left.
"So…..how do we know where to hit this thing? I know he's big, but I'm not holdin' my breath for an 'Invaders Enter Here' hatch right on his back." Merikh pointed out, using his sniper rifle to watch as Karkinos slowly trotted in their direction. Faintly hearing the rumbling of the Vex unit's massive feet slamming into the ground, this snow-coated canyon pass had been selected in a pure blind-toss prediction of Karkinos' path in hopes of enacting Plan B: leaping on Karkinos' back and killing him from the inside.
"I don't exactly have Karkinos' schematics, but if the Hezen Vex are anything like I remember, they'd want a fast-access way to remedy any internal damages Karkinos might suffer. With how big he is, I'd say a man-usable hatch for Goblins or Minotaurs to get down inside will be our best ticket in…..the first problem, however, is figuring out where it is. When we get on, just start tugging on any handles or hitting any buttons you might find on his carapace." Midas informed, thankfully being spared a 'tugging on handles' joke from Merikh due to the importance of the situation.
Split up seven and seven on either side of the snow-coated canyon, nobody dared get too close to the edge before the big jump lest part of the 'edge' actually be nothing more than some flimsy ice. The 'canyon' itself being more like a giant rock-tunnel with a rectangular cutout over the middle of its roof, it was easily a fifty or one-hundred-foot drop to land where Karkinos would be going, which the Fireteam could only pray would be made harmless by the fact that this 'world' technically wasn't real. Banking on Vex Logic instead of Real World Logic to save their shins from pure annihilation, the barebones plan of 'Get inside, fuck shit up' had already been gone over too many times to leave much else for discussion until Karkinos got closer.
Sitting in idle silence as they waited for the gigantic Vex to get closer, especially due to the otherwise-talkative Merikh thinking Aurash was a 'freaky little gremlin', the thunderous footsteps were almost like drums, beating to the tune of Komodo's oncoming victory or demise. Not sure which it would be, the team nonetheless waited for Caldwell's 'go', with Aurash and Xi Ro comically hanging off Midas' back while Sathona held close around Riksis' neck for the drop. Leaping for it, the Fireteam was fortunate to have plenty of Vex back to land on, hitting Karkinos' white and gold chassis with no shattered shins.
"Thank you game logic!" Merikh quipped as he drew his Ace of Spades, likening the Veil to some kind of Vex video game. Not getting a response from the rest of the team, priorities were quickly shifted elsewhere as the aircraft carrier-worthy back of Karkinos opened up in various places, enabling Precursor Vex of various shapes and sizes to come out. The Goblins and Minotaurs crawling out with their free hand while the Harpies simply flew up from their little hatches, it at least partially confirmed Midas' theory about maintenance hatches. Thankfully not any kind of freaky 'Super Goblins' or anything, the slightly-better-looking Precursors still went down like chumps as their blown-apart torsos and legs slid and skidded off the sides of Karkinos' back.
Big-bodied members like Riksis taking advantage of the edge to just kick off any Vex they didn't feel like shooting, Karkinos itself oddly lacked any external defenses like sentry turrets, tripwires, mines, or any other personal tools one might expect on such a huge Vex unit. People like Merikh, Kyra, Sathona and Aurash being chiefly in charge of finding an access hatch, an accidental press from Aurash simply resting her hand on the 'floor' of Karkinos' back revealed one-such hatch. Only looking big enough for a normal-sized person to fit, the proto-Hive girl alerted Caldwell to its existence before running off to try and find a bigger one for somebody like Riksis.
Lacking any weaponry except her personal dagger, the red-faced little creature kept her head down as Slap Rifle bolts flew overhead, Goblins walking left and right in their attempts to engage the scattered Fireteam. One-such Goblin crawling out of its maintenance hatch close to her, her brutish sister Xi Ro had it covered. Charging in with her improvised Vex-shield in one hand and similarly-improvised pickaxe in the other, the Goblin went down out of sheer confusion, not expecting a sharp-tipped pickaxe-puncture to the MindCore from a 5' runt.
Continuing to be bludgeoned and assaulted by Xi Ro even after it fell over, the Goblin was a non-issue as Aurash carried on towards the back end of Karkinos' topside. Finding what looked to be a pair of rectangular bay doors, Aurash innocently hit the switch, not anticipating the problem she'd unleash. The bay doors retracting, out came a roughly 10' tall Vex unit, looking like some kind of Hydra offshoot. Possessing a pair of streamlined, albeit thick bell-bottomed shins that largely concealed its feet, the pair of legs mounted what looked like a modified version of a Hydra's top-most segment.
Similarly streamlined, almost as if it was intended for aquatic use, the Hydra offshoot's top piece bore a strong resemblance to a Descendant Hydra, albeit with an optical system more reminiscent of Sekrion's model. That front system actually sliding upwards and over the top of the 'chassis', inside was a more traditional, pointed-chin Goblin face, which slid forward a tiny bit like some variation between Combat and Non-Combat modes. Not already on alert due to not being awoken by Karkinos directly, the machine nonetheless assessed its situation, the Goblin head sliding back inside before the 'faceplate' resembling Sekrion's optics slid back into place.
"A Cetus?! Of all our designs that they choose to keep, they keep these things?!" Midas noticably complained, stretching his emotion-legs to voice how greatly the sight of this supposed antique bothered him. Not seeming very deadly at first, the Cetus disproved that thought when a pair of rectangular bay-covers on the underside of its 'wings' slid back, letting a trio of long, slatted tube-arms extend from either side. Only having a dinky little three-finger manipulator on the end of each tube, the roughly 12' long cable-arms were heavily bent at a supposed 'elbow' to point in the Fireteam's direction, after which a volley of Slap Rifle-like fire was let loose.
The left and right arms on either side going for full-auto fire while the middle ones shot more powerful, but not quite Line Rifle-worthy semi-auto shots, the tanky Cetus made up for its bulk with pure suppressing fire. Aurash having thankfully run far away from the machine to join her teammates again, the only saving grace here was that Kyra's random button-searching had triggered some heat-sinks to rise on Karkinos' back. Serving as improv cover from the Cetus' barrage, Riksis still had no way down without getting stuck, and now they had this thing pressuring them. Unfortunately, it seemed like Riksis had come to terms with their one option.
"All of you, get inside! Maybe once you start causing damage, these little Vex will leave me and the Cetus alone!" Riksis directed, essentially telling the team to leave him up here solo with the Cetus. Tempted to argue it, Kyra had heard enough tales of 'that one character' in movies from Alvara that screwed people over by getting fussy and trying to argue, and decided to apply that logic here as well. Relenting without a word, the Vandal was the first one down as the group split up across a couple different hatches. Waiting for some of her allies to drop in, the ones she was stuck with in particular were Merikh, Barrett, Midas, Sathona and Aurash. Still somewhat heated regardless, Kyra made quite sure to sneak up behind Aurash.
"If you hadn't figured it out yet, Riksis means quite a bit to me…it would be in your best interests to make sure he survives the fight up top. I don't care how much Niro might want you, if Riksis gets killed by that machine that you released, that precious brain of yours isn't gonna see the outside world. Understand?" Kyra whispered in Aurash's ear, having gotten behind the proto-Oryx and pulled her back-first against the Vandal's chest before raising her Shock Dagger up to Aurash's neck. Giving the statements at tense from-behind knife-point, Kyra had no intentions of holding up the objective at hand with her care for Riksis, but still wanted to drive it home for Aurash that Riksis' life was like a pendulum over the proto-Hive's head.
Letting the little 5' not-Oryx go without a further word, Kyra simply put her dagger away and shot a glare at Aurash when the proto-Hive turned to face her, but otherwise let the disagreement slide under the rest of the team's radar. Taking a better look at their surroundings as the hatch above them closed up, it almost resembled some kind of man-operated siege engine. Having unimpressive metal flooring set into tunnels of sensor-fiber bundled like muscle, almost like a catwalk built around some ancient archaeological find, the distinctly maintenance corridor-looking design showed Karkinos was designed to have a pit-crew wandering around inside of it.
"Alright, is anyone readin' me? If this fat bastard isn't jammin' our comms, look for anything valuable you can find and break it. Even if you don't find somethin' labeled Power Source or Kill Switch, just…..I dunno, break stuff! Make like Efrideet and chuck somebody into somethin' if it makes a difference!" Barrett ordered over comms, getting a bit of a high position on this particular operation due to how naturally he fit a job about breaking things.
"Merikh would probably make a good Saladin in that case….." Carwyn chuckled back over comms, confirming that Karkinos' dense chassis wasn't jamming their signal. Knowing the 'Walker Story' the two Titans were talking about, Merikh felt a need to defend himself given how conveniently he fit the role of a human javelin.
"We're not throwing me into Karkinos' sensitive bits…..besides, we've got knives, swords and shotguns. Wouldn't that work just a bit better?" Merikh pointed out, afraid Barrett might seriously consider a re-enactment of Efrideet's Walker takedown.
"You mean your head's not as sharp as your wit?" Kyra pointed out, not knowing the tale in question, but nonetheless inferring the basic idea of tossing Merikh head-first into something like a javelin. Getting an unseen, but certainly felt shoulder-sagging glare from Merikh at the unfightable burn, the Hunter led the way down one of the sensor-fiber-laden hallways. Said sensor-fiber bundles being a bright white color and extending both ways, there were no signs to direct the non-Vex around, but thankfully, anything in here was probably a target.
Finding a left turn in their otherwise straight hallway-trek, it was a fortunate yet unfortunate find as they seemed to come across Karkinos' massive MindCore. Easily a good 10' long and 6' wide, the embedded MindCore was transparent, giving view to the Radiolarian fluid inside. Visibly shielded with a blue hue enveloping it, no amount of barbaric battery would probably do the shield in, but thankfully, that wouldn't be necessary. Karkinos' entire body shifting and shaking for a moment like a mini-earthquake, coupled with an almost depressing howl of pain coming from Karkinos itself, the shield noticably lost some of its glow.
"Hey, did any of you just break somethin'?! We found Kark's MindCore, and the shield around it just got a bit dimmer." Barrett asked across the entire team's comms, suspecting somebody in one of the other sub-groups might've just found their ticket by complete accident.
"We just broke some blue-glowing node thingy we came across, probably a generator for that shield…..I'm giving a ping with my Ghost, can you track it and figure out where we are?" Alvara spoke up, Merikh's Ghost picking up the ping off Alvara's Ghost soon after.
"Well, if we're at the center, then it seems like Alvara's in the back left corner…since the Vex love symmetry, there's probably at least four of these nodes, one in each corner of Karkinos' body. Maybe let's take the tunnels left and right and see if we find any?" Merikh's Ghost suggested, more using general logic about the Vex and common sense rather than some detailed blueprints of Cerberus-type Vex, which the little light sadly lacked. Seeming like a valid enough plan, Merikh nonetheless took a safety precaution.
"Before we go splitting up, I wanna make sure the freaky little gremlin-sisters that might be watching my back can actually do that…..errgh, what do I even have in here?" Merikh stopped, posing the end question aloud to himself as he checked his transmat inventory. Not visible from the outside due to said inventory being displayed inside his helmet, all that could be witnessed was the end-result as two guns materialized, one into each of his hands. In the right hand was a Häkke Rience-D Hand Cannon, and in the left, a Häkke Rustam-D Sidearm. "This is all I've got for extra guns, broke down most of it for spare parts before we came out here…which one of you wants which gun?"
Effectively posing an open-handed offer as he extended his arms to the two Proto-Hive, their minds were oddly in unison as, without any argument or debate, Aurash took the Sidearm while Sathona took the Hand Cannon. Looking at the odd little tools, Merikh was swiftly regretting his idea as he saw Aurash accidentally eject an unspent round by pulling her Sidearm's slide back, as well as Sathona seeming way too intrigued by operating the cylinder release on her new Hand Cannon over and over. Not wanting to waste more time with a subsequent take-back and explanation as to why the sisters' lack of firearms discipline scared the daylights out of him, Merikh instead prayed they at least knew what end to point at the big scary robots.
"Right…just in-case there's six of these node things, why not Midas and Kyra check some more around the middle here. You take Sathona to the back end while me and Aurash hit the front, and if the rest of the team does the same on the other side, we should be able to slam Karkinos right in the brain and get outta here." Barrett suggested, not getting a single complaint out of Merikh since Aurash had more rounds she could fire before reloading, making for more potential 'accidents' in the Hunter's back if he went with her instead. Splitting up without further comment, the fact that Sathona floated around prompted Merikh to gently pull her around by her left wrist as they went to the back end.
Mostly a back-watching habit of liking to know when his rear guard is still behind him, the lack of footsteps on Sathona's part is what warranted the gesture, but it was soon dropped as they reached a T-shaped junction, with a left-bound hallway merging into their straight-forward one. A Vex Precursor Goblin coming out fast and unarmed, its fingers were locked out straight, enabling it to swing a borderline horizontal karate-chop aimed for Merikh's neck. The Hunter ducking under it while Sathona was too far back to get hit, Merikh let go of his teammate's wrist to address the threat with an Ace of Spades round to the MindCore. Going down with a leaking abdomen and a whiney string of beeps, the immobile Vex posed a small oddity.
"They're probably worried about collateral damage in here…if we can't bust the node itself, just….you know, start ripping out this muscle-looking stuff that's all over the place. Maybe we'll pull a power cable." Merikh figured as he thought on the Goblin being unarmed, presuming a desire to avoid harming Karkinos with stray gunfire to be the only reason this Goblin wouldn't have at least a Slap Rifle, if not worse. Carrying on a straight-back path, the faint trace of blue in the white muscle-fiber on the walls was like their little guide to find one of the nodes. Encountering oddly little resistance as they rushed to the back end of Karkinos' chassis, it was only once they made it to the node that the Vex resistance inside kicked up a notch.
"Merikh, more of the machines are coming!" Sathona called out as she glanced behind them, spotting a trio of Goblins, and quite potentially more further back, all authoritatively marching towards them. Admittedly liking that she got his name right instead of calling him Melik like Kyra did once, the Hunter nonetheless needed to buy some time while he figured out how to bust this node. Sticking out of the wall just around the corner, it was a big, boxy, white-plated piece of machinery with a deep blue glow in the heart of it. Looking to have a central point in the middle, the Hunter's lack of foresight stripped him of a valuable tool he could've used in taking it down.
"You know how to shoot that thing, right?! Pull on the little lever in front of where you hold it and point it at whatever you want dead!" Merikh quickly explained, yelling it so he knew he'd be heard over the increasingly-louder sound of Vex servos closing in. Chucking an Incendiary Grenade down the hallway, it did everything Merikh set out to do and more. Blowing up the Vex closest to their position, the grenade's incendiary effects also ripped into the muscle-fiber that dominated their current environment, outright burning plenty of it into ash around the point of detonation. "Uh….might wanna hold onto something."
Suggesting it to the Proto-Hive woman due to the creaks and whines that Karkinos' metal body gave off, the muscle fiber seemed to be holding Karkinos together much more than anybody gave it credit, as a few more passing seconds brought on the screams of grinding metal. Some snow blustering in from the 'outside wall' side of Karkinos' body, it was implied from where Merikh stood that he literally just melted a chunk of Karkinos' body into falling right off. Taking note of it for when they need to make an escape, the aforementioned self-sabotage Merikh committed was the fact that, by hurling his grenade at the incoming Vex, he had no grenade to jam into this node for a few minutes. Not particularly wanting to twiddle his thumbs and wait for another to generate, a quick-draw Hand Cannon shot on the node simply pinged off, leaving his options quite slim.
"Dammit…..Alvara could probably stab right into this thing, but that little Tesla Coil ain't over here…..and if I stab into it and get a shock in return, those Omolon-made bits in my back could very well short out and leave me paralyzed from head to toe, if not braindead….." Merikh thought aloud to himself as he tried to figure out how he'd break this thing. Not intent on waving the 'magical thoughts' card any more by asking Sathona to imagine the node breaking, the Hunter simply muttered 'Thank fuck for Ghost revives' before drawing his knife and plunging it into the center of the node. Cutting power to it, the Hunter's blade seemed to be long enough to destroy whatever inner-workings were present, giving Karkinos another harmful shake-up. Removing the blade with no permanent harm to himself, both the Hunter and Proto-Hive fell in a heap as Karkinos' heavy, pained body-shifts jostled them off their feet.
More Vex coming down the hallway, Sathona had been fending them off with amateurish shots while Merikh's Ghost fed her more ammo, but now, it was on Merikh to make a big impression. Seeing a beautiful multi-kill opportunity, the Gunslinger silently praised his Celestial Nighthawk as he conjured up his Golden Gun. Standing up while using his left hand to make sure Sathona stayed down, Merikh took aim down the hallway, making slight adjustments as he tried to line up as many Goblins as possible. Wasting his opportunity with that little strive for perfection, the Gunslinger was unexpectedly thrown onto his back by another node being destroyed, right before he pulled the trigger.
Causing the Golden Gun to point at the ceiling instead as he accidentally fired it off, the searing bolt of Light melted a hole right through what was technically Karkinos' topside. Actually able to see the outside world if he squinted a bit, Merikh's shot instead had the perk of being right where the Cetus was at. Seeing the Cetus' left-side center arm was completely gone, all that was left was a searing hole through its wing, but alas, that only made it angry. Unaware of Merikh's position, Riksis was the target instead as the Cetus locked down in a half-squat. Hearing some panels shift position, Merikh's guilt for Riksis rose a bit as the Hunter saw a volley of red, glowing micro-munitions sail from the Cetus' topside, almost like a Slap Micro-Missile barrage. Unable to see Riksis directly, the Hunter could only pray the giant Eliksni made it out in the end.
Going back to the problem at hand, Sathona wasn't an instant crack-shot, but at least doing better in pinging the oncoming Goblins in their MindCores compared to before. The duo being able to stave them off once both of their Hand Cannons were pointing downrange, a Minotaur sped in from a side-linking hallway, but as it turned out, the Minotaur had its own problems. Being piggy-backed by an angry little 'gremlin' as Merikh had come to nickname them, Xi Ro had her abdomen-limbs dug behind the Minotaur's torso-plating for stability while her right hand bludgeoned it with her custom-made axe. Not actually able to hit it with the 'blade' end due to close proximity, she was instead forced to thrust the weapon straight up and down, using the somewhat pointed bottom of the shaft like a dagger to stab into the Minotaur's inner workings.
Not quite sure what to do considering the fear of capping Xi Ro in the process, the two watched on, Merikh with confusion and Sathona with pride as Xi Ro eventually pried the Minotaur's head off. Ending it with a kill-shot stab right into the neck stump, the 5' Proto-Hive jumped clear of the falling Minotaur as another, presumably final shield-node was destroyed. Merikh rushing in to nab Xi Ro before she might fall clear out of the hole his Incendiary Grenade burned earlier, the Hunter was just as quickly caught himself by Sathona, who got a much more firm grip by wrapping one main arm and all her abdomen-limbs around him while the other held onto the catwalk-framework they had been running on. Admittedly a tad bit weirded out by all the spider-like limbs holding onto him, Merikh reserved commentary for later as he pulled the surprisingly lightweight Xi Ro back inside of Karkinos' body.
"Hey, Barrett, is that all of 'em?! I feel like the longer we stay in here, the more Vex that Karkinos is gonna drown us with!" Merikh called out over comms, pointing out how the slew of Goblins was not stopping. Admittedly slowing down nonetheless, Karkinos was probably losing its equivalent of stamina to manage all the mini-Transfer Gates it was using to summon Vex inside of itself. Survival against this onslaught being made even easier as the crack of chain-lightning could be heard, a few of the Goblins coming down one of the maze-like linked hallways were careened off their feet and vaporized in a glow of blue light, leaving only the Zhalo Supercell-wielding Alvara behind them. Barrett and Aurash being close behind, the rest of the team was approaching on Merikh/Xi Ro/Sathona's left, marking one giant reunion near the huge MindCore for everyone sans Riksis.
"Looks like the shield's down…so, how are we gonna break it? Me and Niro should save our grenades so we can get out, so uh…Xi Ro, wanna give it a whack or two?" Merikh suggested, taking note of the fiber-burning his grenade did earlier and planning to burn their escape route out. Everyone no doubt worried about bullet ricochets just like Merikh was, Xi Ro cocked back for the first swing, but was soon joined in by Alvara's crackling Arc Blade, Barrett and Carwyn's fists, and Midas' foot as the group started to effectively mob the MindCore from both sides. Stomping and stabbing it like a mafia crew dealing with a snitch, the massive translucent casing soon gave way, starting small with faint spider-cracks before trails of Radiolarian fluid started to leak out. Eventually full-on bursting, the MindCore's destruction was followed by a low hum, which Alvara was thankfully quick to pick up on.
"Wait a minute….remember the last time we fought a Cerberus, way back in Poland? You know, way way back? Didn't those ones…explode when we killed them? Like a meltdown explosion?" Alvara pointed out, chilling spines and sinking hearts when everyone realized they were standing inside a time-bomb, and they just lit the fuse for it. Going right into the escape plan, Merikh was immensely glad he'd discovered this earlier.
"Right, uh…Niro, chuck your grenade at one of the exterior walls. I don't give a shit where, just throw it, and I'll throw mine at the same spot. It'll burn Karkinos' body right off and we just jump." Merikh explained, his tone having a decent amount of 'Just trust me, alright?!' desperation given they didn't have time for him to explain how he knew this. "Hey, Riksis, you alive up there?! If you can hear me, jump! I don't care off what end, just get off Kark's body, now!"
Merikh giving the word to Riksis while Niro half-confusedly went with the 'pick a spot and throw' directions, the Sunsinger chucked one of his Fusion Grenades at an indistinct section of the hallway, far enough that it wouldn't harm anyone. Merikh pitching in as promised, the two grenades collectively seared the sensor-fiber that made up a sizable chunk of hallway into nothing but ash and dust. The question of whether it was a safe jump already being skewed by this Vex realm's weird logic, the three Proto-Hive hitched a ride on Midas' back for the jump as everyone leapt clear of Karkinos' body.
Bits and pieces of Karkinos starting to drop off and scatter in the snow, Karkinos itself was still sprinting along as it melted down. Going in a deranged full-speed gallop, the Proto-Hive made one last unintentional save as Karkinos happened to hit a weak field of ice. The ground giving way under Karkinos' feet as it stomped along, the gigantic Vex was safely dumped into an unseen chasm as it finally met its true end. The subsequent detonation still being greatly heard and felt by the Fireteam, they were thankfully not scalded into skeletons due to the in-chasm detonation.
The next order of business being finding Riksis, the 15' Fallen had made it off of Karkinos' body as hoped, but alas, so did the Cetus. Right back at fighting each other, the battle-damaged and no doubt tired Riksis had given up on more refined tactics, and instead took a dislodged piston from Karkinos' body in hand. Closing in on the damaged, half-snow-buried Cetus, the more physically imposing Archon went right into a two-handed stab with the severed piston. Aiming right for the Cetus' visor, that stab plus a few more overhead slams was enough to credibly damage it. Forcing the Cetus to retract the visor in order to see, that was just the opening Riksis wanted, enabling the Archon to plunge his severed piston right through the Cetus' embedded head.
Ceasing what little motion its half-buried body was still capable of, the Cetus was no doubt scrambled and confused by Karkinos' death, most likely trying to re-organize a command structure on the fly in Karkinos' absence. Not mattering to the Fireteam, with everyone alive, their only concern was finding a Transfer Gate to get back outside.
Meanwhile, outside the Veil's entrance…
Still dug in tight, the joint Cabal/Eliksni forces fending off the Vex weren't able to push them back, but definitely able to keep them from spreading as their heavy armor and entrenched soldiers eliminated the oncoming machines. Ghaniks and Killian in particular doing a great job at locking down the front line, the 10' broad-backed Fallen hardly minded the Slap Rifle fire as he minced Goblins with his double-barrel shotgun. A break in the enemy finally coming along, the giant phantom Gate Lord in the middle of the battlefield stepped forward like it had taken a sharp blow in the back. Whining and crying mechanically, the see-through Gate Lord finally gave in, splitting in half at the hips and dissipating into thin air as the Transfer Gates dotting the Veil's architecture shut down one by one.
Giving a moment of silence as the Vex ceased fire, the confused machines turned back towards their assortment of Transfer Gates like even they didn't know what was going on. The Transfer Gates re-engaging after a few more moments of silence, now the Transfer Gates were being flooded by scores of Wolves. The blue-clad Fallen storming out en-masse amidst cheers and other yelling in the Eliksni tongue, some fast-approaching Wolf Ketches and Skiffs made it seem like the Wolves knew this would happen.
"Ghaniks…..what did Taniks tell you about that Karkinos thing, exactly?" Killian wondered, not understanding how it seemed like they had won, yet now Wolves were coming out. Unfortunately, Ghaniks wasn't a traitor.
"All I know is the same thing you heard: Kill Karkinos, stop the Wolves….think Skolas got there first?" Ghaniks wondered as too many Wolves scattered for them to cohesively attack any single group of them. As if to cement the emerging theory, out came Fireteam Komodo.
"All forces, this is Caldwell! We killed Karkinos, but Wolves have started flooding out through every end of the Transfer Gate network! Midas got to examine the network now that Karkinos is gone, and we have reason to believe Karkinos wasn't controlling the Transfer Gates, he had them locked down! Sha'oen, have all your men ignore the Vex unless forced to engage, and smash any Transfer Gates you find." Caldwell called over comms, wanting to make sure he was heard loud and clear. Both Killian and Ghaniks looking at each other, both had the same realization:
Taniks was so forthcoming during the attack on the House of Earth because he was playing us
The next day, in Alvara's personal apartment, deep in the City…..
He was pretty smug…wonder how he'd feel with an electrified blade up to his neck Alvara's brain thought to itself, deeply asleep after the tiring stress and fuss of figuring out which way was up during the attack on the Veil of the Hezen Conflux. Thinking in particular on a diner-clerk she dealt with late last night upon returning to the City, the Hunter always had a bit of a mean-streak towards those who wronged her, but given the already-present frustrations of giving Skolas exactly what he wanted by accident, that diner-clerk was steadily coming closer to being on the Bladedancer's hit-list. Her brain already thinking on how she'd break in to kill him, that train of thought was jumbled as her place was broken into.
Thankfully fully dressed given she simply wandered in last night and dropped into bed in full gear, even the helmet, the crash-sleeping Hunter borderline jumped a few inches off the bed when Lord Shaxx of all people broke her door in. Equally dressed in full gear (As if anyone ever saw him otherwise), the Titan Crucible Handler didn't seem to be here on personal, illegal terms, and instead seemed to have the backing of the City due to the Police-branded, Auto-Rifle-carrying Frames behind him. Shaxx himself being exceptionally less friendly, as evidenced by his boot-meet-door entry, the Titan just as aggressively closed on Alvara's bed, snatching the Hunter off of it in a chokehold grip.
Slamming her back-first into the wall without letting go, Shaxx had the confused and half-asleep redhead Awoken pinned, and given the Police backup, she wasn't keen on trying to stab his forearm to get away.
"What's the matter? The Redjacks were scouting out some places in Poland for Vex activity after that Veil mess late last night….and they saw you. You know…conversing with your friends you have hidden out there?" Shaxx interrogated, effectively saying that the City had discovered Kyra, Midas, and all the others hiding out in Poland. Remembering that she did hang around the Poland settlement for a bit last night before heading off to the City for the night, the Hunter was completely oblivious of any Redjack presence that might've been around at the time. Really wanting to stab Shaxx once the thought of Kyra being taken out by a Redjack crossed her mind, the Hunter didn't have the chance as she was tossed into the waiting Frames, who were quick to cuff and apprehend her in a more civil manner.
A few hours later, in the Tower penitentiary…
Less designed to properly restrain Guardians given their destructive powers, the Tower Penitentiary was more designed with the intention to hold trial-awaiting Guardians in one spot with the hope that they'd be civil and not try to topple the Tower itself in getting out. Alvara being the newest arrival, she was escorted into a cell where her fellow Hunter Merikh was waiting. Sitting on a basic, rectangular bench with all his armor intact, but lacking any of his weapons, the Hunter had his arms resting on his shins and his head hanging forward, no doubt just as depressed by this revelation as Alvara was.
"You heard about Poland? Shaxx and his fuckin' Redjacks found it…..I didn't hear if they killed anybody, but if they're not there, I dunno where they're gonna be." Merikh asked once Alvara had been escorted into the gunmetal grey, sterile cell alongside him and Barrett. Not a single word of acknowledgment coming from Barrett, Alvara figured the Titan was a borderline nuclear bomb waiting to go off, and as such it would be better not to bother him. Taking a seat on the floor not far away from Merikh, Alvara had different concerns for the moment.
"What about Cayde and Ikora? They knew what was going on. Where are they in all this?" Alvara wondered, almost feeling betrayed by how two thirds of the Vanguard seemed to not be involved. As it turns out, they very much were involved.
"I hate to say it, but when you're dealing with a Titan who's practically married to the book and one who'll try to lodge the book on my horn, it's kinda difficult to get quick results." Cayde's distinctive voice explained, strolling in from out of sight to stop by outside their cell. The cell door itself thankfully just being vertical bars, the Guardians could have a civil conversation at normal speaking volume. "Zavala wants to work this out 'in due process' even with all you guys have done, and Shaxx'll try to force-feed me my horn if I defend you guys without an entire commune there to watch, so things are going slow…..the Speaker seems to be on your side, but Shaxx is holding things up. I dunno where the City factions stand on this yet, but as long as Shaxx is throwing a fit over you guys being 'traitors', I dunno how fast we can get you out."
"Well, at least you're trying….so this is all because of Shaxx? How long can he even hold things up?" Alvara wondered, admittedly having never been fond of the Crucible Handler before.
"I don't think he can pull this for a year if that's what you're thinking, or even half that, but probably a month or two if your sister and the rest of Fireteam Nanteos don't turn up….they're not in the City, and we can't find 'em on official channels either. Shaxx hasn't gone to calling a Sibuna on 'em yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tries it…..Look: There were no reported casualties in Poland, so they're out there somewhere. And if they're as close to you guys as you say they are, I doubt they're gonna just shrug this off and go back to their Vex and Fallen buddies like the past couple months never happened. When we get you guys outta this, I say we bring 'em into the City and try to prove they aren't a threat. Hell, they helped take down Karkinos….even if that didn't go according to plan." Cayde pointed out, regretting the thought of mentioning Karkinos given that operation was technically a loss, ala the whole 'Taniks playing us like a damn fiddle' thing.
"I'm no political expert, but maybe you can use this whole Skolas thing to help a bit? We set the Wolves free, so why not put us to use finally shutting Skolas up? Seems a bit ridiculous to make us just sit here while Skolas gathers all his dead buddies for a reunion, even for somebody like Shaxx." Merikh pointed out, admittedly wishing he could give the Crucible Handler a few well-placed gutting stabs for the rough shape Alvara arrived in. Fortunately for him, he just had a few Police Frames knock on his door, minus the angry Titan manhandling him awake. No doubt, Alvara got the Handler's Special due to her being directly spotted at the Poland settlement, placing a proverbial set of crosshairs on her back by comparison to the rest of the team.
"You know, I didn't think about that….I'll see about it when the next-" Cayde started to compliment on the idea, cutting himself off when an alarm began to sound. Some of the monitor screens being overridden by a City-wide alert, footage was being fed from the Wall itself, depicting an oddly moving sea of black and white. Once zoomed and enhanced, the sea of black turned out to be Taken. By the thousands. Some human staff coming by, the clever Cayde seized the opportunity to grab hold of the man in charge of the Penitentiary, who was no doubt running by in a hurry to hear from the Vanguard on any Guardians being held here. "Hey, that's a whole lotta creepy, shambling Blight coming our way. We're gonna need every Guardian we can get on the Wall, right? Let these three and the Warlock and Titan in the other cell out, and I promise you'll be heralded as a hero for it. Alright?"
Seeming hesitant, the non-Guardian chief obliged nonetheless, letting Merikh, Alvara and Barrett out before heading off to release Caldwell and Carwyn. Barrett simply walking off to see about gun reclamation, it was Merikh who stopped to say something.
"Thanks, Cayde…seriously. I know I didn't manage to get Taniks for you, but still, I think Brask would be proud of what you're doing….." Merikh thanked in a serious tone, free from any lighthearted joking. Of course, in true Hunter fashion, the off-hand comment just had to come in afterwards. "But seriously, heralded as a hero? You're gonna live up to that?"
"What, for the chief? Pfff, no, I just needed him to get you guys out without any back-and-forth complaining in the way. We can argue with Zavala about why it was a good idea later. Come on, you've got Taken to shoot. A whole lotta them…..and I get to go back up to the Hall of the Vanguard. Oh joy…" Cayde mumbled on the end, no doubt bummed that he could just feel it, even this early into the assault, that he wouldn't be allowed to take a rifle and stand on the Wall directly due to Vanguard obligations. Parting ways with a mutual back-pat, the two gambling Hunters had no idea what was gonna dig them out of this fight.
Author's Note
And with that, we finally make it to a part of the story that's been planned for a long long time. Like, I had this idea from back before the game was released, it was that long ago. I just didn't throw it in sooner because I needed a good place to put it, I didn't wanna just 'Oh hey, giant City assault bordering on Second Battle of the Twilight Gap, outta nowhere!' and this felt like a good place to put it. I actually have a small draft of the fight itself and what ends up happening already written, but in that version it was a Vex assault (Since, well, we didn't know about the Taken when I wrote it) so there's definitely been some tweaks and additions since I first thought of it. I didn't even know at first that I wanted it to come after dealing with Karkinos, it was just a puzzle piece sorta floating up in the sky that, after I plotted out the Karkinos bit, it felt like a good place to yank that piece down and slot it in next.
As for what I'm sure is probably the big question I'll get: I justify Shaxx's behavior because he so heavily stresses the next generation of Guardians (Which Alvara falls into, and even if she didn't, she's still a Guardian all the same) needing to be 'ready' and 'prepared' to fend off the Darkness, so to see one casually talking to a Fallen and a Vex I'd imagine would blow his lid like a faulty steam-valve. As such, he's not doing this because he's jealous of Komodo, or because he hates them overall, he just hates them now since he sees them as colluders with the enemy, not because of something petty like Barrett's gauntlets are too shiny or Merikh's gun is too fancy. Besides, he didn't do anything shockingly scandalous like sexual assault, he just rough-housed her the same way he'd take on Merikh or Barrett because frankly, after things like his push-back charge during the Twilight Gap, he strikes me as a bit of an impulsive individual who would be very quick to make a violent split-second decision if he thinks it's the right one. Which, when dealing with what he views as a traitor, Alvara arguably got off easy.
On to less controversial things, as some might've been able to tell, the up-end 'Oh shit, we helped Skolas!' thing was planned since the House of Earth chapter, and Taniks' weirdly bad dialogue just spilling everything wasn't me briefly failing at writing dialogue (Though I do feel I've had moments like that in the past), it was him being his clever self and getting the last laugh. It was very tempting to try and save myself from the weird looks I'm sure I got by saying something along the lines of 'And Taniks told them what to do…or did he?' or some other tease, but I knew the second I say anything like that, everyone's gonna figure out the reality is an exact 180 of what Taniks claimed, and the surprise would be utterly ruined. Especially considering the promise I made to knock it off with spoilers, I took my chances with looking like I had a brief dumb moment with his lines.
Finally, about the Cetus, that's another thing that had been floating around for a while. I initially planned for it to debut back during the Chios, Greece section as part of an attack on the Servo Flayers ship (Since the Cetus, as its name implies, is a water-centric Vex) where it would literally leap out of the water MGR Ray-style as a mini-boss-type encounter, but since I couldn't find any good place to put it, I just knocked it back into that abyss in the sky where all my not-nailed-down ideas float until I decide where to put them. In terms of inspiration, fittingly for its end purpose (Aquatic assault) the primary inspirations were the AMX-109 Capule and MSM-03C Hygogg Mobile Suits, which is most easily visible with the long, bendable arms and thick shins. (Which, speaking of, a UC Gundam story is something that's interested me for a while, but alas wouldn't happen unless something changes on my end since, as it stands, things are slow enough already with three stories, bordering on four. Tempted to nix the Warframe story and just focus on this LOTP/WM/AM trio). No real music inspirations for it, and the cited inspirations shouldn't be taken too literally, as it's more of just a vague 'This is what set off the tick in my head' sorta thing rather than 'It looks like this!'.