"You have got to be fucking kidding me…" Kai-Lyn sighed, flying after her charge as she barreled down the hallway towards the Queens room, and slid to a stop in front of the door. A panicked sigh of relief escaped Myst as she found Mara waiting calmly and patiently on the edge of her bed despite the klaxon sounding in the hall.
Nightstalker! Armor! On it! She made her way towards her Queen, and in a flash of blinding light, stepped forward wreathed in armor, and armed to boot as she glanced at her dominant hand, wreathed in purple flames as it checked the magazine on her handcannon. Mara had already equipped herself, and carried a sidearm of her own, joined by a long, slender blade in her other hand.
"Any word on what this is all about? The Coms are spotty, but it sounds like an attack of some sort." Myst asked, hustling the ruler out of the room quickly.
"Fallen." Mara said coldly, a low growl as she was ushered out the door. Taking Mara's hand in her own, a calm settled over her. She had made it, Mara was still safe. She could do this. A glance down the hallway showed no signs of activity to the left, but to the right, there was rapid footsteps. Keira and Senlin charged around the courner, and smiled briefly. A silent nod was exchanged, and they continued on their way.
"Damn, these guys are everywhere!" Cayde growled, firing a few shots from Ace of Spades down the hallway, killing a few of the advancing fallen. Petra nodded in agreement, before tossing a concussion grenade down the hall. It detonated, and they advanced. "What could they want?!" He shouted over his shoulder, a few shots ringing down the hallway.
"Revenge probably!" Petra hissed, being pulled roughly back from around the corner by Cayde, a wire rifle shot piercing the air where she had been. "Hold on Petra. Let me take lead, you tell me directions. I can come back. You cant." He explained, and rounded the corner. Shot after shot rang out down the hall, and he made steady progress. "Gods I love this gun!" He laughed, turning left at her direction.
"Duck!" Myst shouted, a triple burst of bullets ringing out down the hall with a single trigger pull. A shot rang out from further down, and she flinched, the bullet nearly grazing her shoulder. A twitch impulse brought the gun slightly to her left, and a fallen cry responded to the echo of her shots. A single glance to make sure they each survived unharmed, and she continued forward, each kill restoring her. Poking her head around the corner, she nodded, and waved them forward. As soon as they entered the throne room, a shout rang out, and a Hunter followed by a wheezing redheaded Awoken slid in the door just as it closed.
"One of those days eh?" Cayde sighed, shaking his head as his Ghost appeared, scanning over him for damage. Myst merely grunted, shouldering him aside to shift the massive steel beam used to bar the doors in war. Once in place, she pointed to the throne with her hand cannon. "Go." She hissed, and no one thought to challenge the order, even her charge. The group made a circle around Mara, unspoken, and froze as a giant treamor shook the door behind them.
"Move!" Cayde shouted, and they all sprinted forward, just dodging the debris that fell to the ground behind them, falling just in front of the walkway, making excellent cover if needed. Another tremor, and the door bulged, dented by some force that knocked dust to the ground.
"Its that damn false Kell!" Uldren hissed, emerging from behind the throne, having just locked the door behind him as well. He took stock of the situation with a look around the room, and sighed. "Surrounded on all sides…" He grumbled, and a low growl responded.
"Mara, get behind the throne, the metal should make their shots dissipate through it with no problems. Senlin, Keira, take your ranged weapons, post up on either side of her, use the arm rests as anchor points, don't shoot us. Kai-Lyn, stay next to Mara, keep an eye on their backside. Petra, you don't have armor, you watch our back with Kai-Lyn. Uldren, Keep an eye on the right passageway, that door is weaker than the primary doors. They are sure to come from there eventually. Cayde? Kill anything that isn't friendly. Go wild, bounce between me and Uldren with assistance. I have main door! If you need to reload, call it out. Sen, Keira, cover fire on those who need it!" She barked.
Another tremor. Mara caressing Myst's cheek before everyone took their positions. Another. Uldren listening for once to orders that weren't from his sister. Another. Cayde checked his ammo and his knives. Another. After one more thump, the doors burst open, and fell into the chasm. A fallen cry was heard, and all hell broke loose as the doors thundered to a stop.
The first few in the door were simple. Dregs, the lowest of the fallen ranks, came into the room with blades drawn, and simple shock pistols, easily dispatched with a few simple grenades. Soon however, Vandals joined the ranks, their rough, garbled howls and battle cries fading with the gurgling stream of ether that spouted from their heads with each trigger pull of Myst's Crimson echoing across the room like the drums of death.
"Reloading!" Cayde called, and on queue, two scout rifles swiveled and fired in quick succession as he ducked into cover. They had run out of ammo several times, causing the Hunter pair to scavenge ammo and weapons as they fought, protecting their Ghost's as they worked to transmat the gear back to relative safety. Myst growled, firing another tether just above the doorway, generating another batch of orbs for the Golden Gun wielder at her side "When will it stop!? Its been 45 minutes of this shit!" She shouted over her shoulder, yelping as her shield deflected a wire rifle shot.
"No clue! Keep it up!" Petra shouted back, firing round after round from a pair of weapons scavenged from fallen dregs.
"They are remnants of the House of Wolves!" Uldren grunted, sliding in next to Myst's cover, having had to retreat for a moment, before he jumped back to his position. Myst only proceeded to fire round after round into the enemy. Gradually, as time went on, the waves got smaller and smaller, hiding back in the halls where they could not be taken out easily.
"Shanks!" Uldren called, watching as various types rolled through the hallway. "Kai-Lyn! Arc Strider gear!" She called, glancing up as Cayde moved to cover her while she changed subclasses. Another flash, and she dodged to the side, grabbing as many orbs of Light as she could from their large pile. "Cayde, take over for me! I'm going in!" She shouted, rounding the corner as her body rippled, covered in lightning that seemed eager to devour her enemies.
Time seemed to slow for her, and she smiled viciously, watching enemy after enemy fall to her staff, the air charged with electricity leaving the hair standing on the back of her neck. Soon, she had entered the hall, and made her way round to the right entrance that Uldren had been watching.
It was only after she killed the last Captain she halted, having just cast her ability for the fourth time, so consumed in her bloody rampage that she hadn't noticed the passage of time. A quick glance told her all she needed to know. The bodies and gear of Fallen scattered in her wake, pools of gore at her feet. Mara was still safe, and everyone was okay for better or worse.
She bent over heavily as she panted, and waited out the time remaining of her miniature lightning storm that seemed to char the ground beneath her. Upon her body losing its lightning element, she bowed her head with exhaustion, staring at the ground. The others had begun celebrating, but her sense's were still going off. Something was wrong. She moved to stand when a savage howl made itself known through the room, and a large fallen, the size of a Kell, thundered into the room from where Uldren had been watching. Tossing the ashen skinned Awoken to the side with a swipe of its arm, it charged towards the throne at seeing Mara Sov, its roar shaking the ground with each massive step.
"… No… No no no… NO!" Myst howled, launching to her feet again, watching the bastard pull his large knives from their holster. Cayde was lifted up and slammed down by a spare arm, deforming his right arm. Petra kicked down the back hallway, and Mara's guards out cold from exhaustion. She was almost there. Almost there!
Mara fired round after round into its chest, but she couldn't seem to break his shield as she retreated. Myst, desperate for any means of getting there sooner, kicked vertically with a second and third mid air jump, and rocketed forward in massive steps. A quick check told her she had 2 rounds in her shotgun, and her grenade was almost recharged.
Mara flinched as the blades fell, shielding her body with her arms as she closed her eyes for the final blow on the ground where she had fallen. She expected a sudden painlessness, an end from the knives that were bigger than her own body in some parts. She whimpered, crying out Myst's name in fear, in longing. She felt her life flash before her closed eyes.
She didn't expect the sudden splashes of warmth followed by the loud crack of a grenade going off, and hesitantly opened her eyes. The sight horrified her. Her Hunter, her savior, had landed over her, supporting herself weakly over her Queen with one arm, the other weakly holding out the shotgun in her hands for Mara to use.
A sick, wet cough escaped the Hunter, followed by more warm liquid to splatter onto her upper chest. A glance down as she took the gun, instinctually taking aim, sickened her. A knife had cut directly through her middle back, missing her own leg by a fraction of an inch. The other had lodged itself in her shoulder.
With another roar, the beast towering over her ripped its knives out savagely, its shield gone, a wounded howl joining the sound from the Hunter, who faltered, and cried out as the knives landed again. This time, Mara felt one cut her stomach lightly, and saw the dim expression of determination in the eyes of the woman above her.
She pulled the trigger, expecting a kickback. Nothing. Panicking, she pulled the trigger once again, and nothing happened, the weapon jammed. Myst had collapsed on top of her, barely conscious as three shots, orange as the sun, rang out and killed the giant beast as it reared up for its final blow.
Watching it topple back as Myst collapsed heavily to the side after failing to raise herself up again, and rolled onto her back, she hissed in pain, her Ghost doing her best to heal the damage as fast as she could. Her mission had worked. She struggled to make out the sounds around her. Petra and Uldren she thought with exhaustion. Cayde too… They could take care of the stragglers. She heard, rather felt, the boots of the guard trample down the hall and into the throne room. She had succeeded. Mara was safe…