"Not every ally shares our goals. Rasputin may have survived the Collapse, but at what cost to the rest of us?" - Eris Morn

"Delta, could you bring up a map of the Ishtar Sink for me please?"

"Certainly."

The map popped up on the monitor in front of Jade, who enlarged it. "Ok… There's the drop zone." She indicated a point on the map where a transmat icon was marked. "I think we can eliminate the Cinders. Anything else will require some digging, though…"

Delta spoke up. "What are you looking for, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jade frowned, not hearing the Ghost. "Pull up all records with information pertaining to the Vault of Glass."

"The Vault of Glass?" said Delta in alarm, "Why in the name of the Traveler are you looking for the Vault of Glass?"

"Could you just pull up the records?" Delta sighed but did as she was asked. Jade felt bad for being snippy. "...Sorry Delta."

"It's quite alright. I trust you have a good reason for wanting to see these records."

Jade nodded absentmindedly, scanning the documents. "There isn't much here, but I think we can cross the Endless Steps off our list as well…" She pointed to an area on the map, tracing her finger along it. "It looks like we'll want to stick to the Shattered Coast." She sighed. "It's going to take me ages to get through all of these by myself..." Suddenly, she got an idea. "Delta, could you scan these records for locations on Venus?"

"Absolutely! Would you like me to close the non-relevant ones?"

"Yes please."

Delta was silent for a few seconds and Jade saw several windows disappear. "Ok," said the Ghost, "The remaining records all contain mention of locations in the Ishtar Sink region."

"Do any of them say directly where the Vault is?"

Delta was silent for a few more seconds. "One of the more promising ones hints that it's located near the Waking Ruins and one other has it somewhere East of the Academy."

"Hmm. Well, I think we have a fairly good chance of finding it based off of that... The problem is, we don't have enough time to search for the entrance with all these Hive missions going on."

Delta seemed to consider the problem. "The Vanguard might give you more free time after the next mission," she said, "It shouldn't be too hard to persuade them... How long do you think we'll need?"

"I'm not sure. It shouldn't be more than a day, though. My main concern at this point is the Vanguard won't let us go to Venus. They can't afford to lose any more Guardians and Zavala himself told me to 'put it out of my mind.' ...There's no way they'll let us just leave."

"If you're right, then there's only one way," said Delta, "You'll have to ask Amanda to keep this under wraps."

Jade frowned. She didn't want to have to directly disobey the Vanguard, especially if it meant involving Amanda in her deception... However, if it came down to a choice between breaking the rules and finding the missing Guardians, there would be no contest. "Would there be any point in asking the Vanguard? I feel like I'd just be putting them on their guard. Warning them that I'm about to go to Venus."

"A sound analysis." There was a short pause. "...I do hope you aren't planning to go to Venus on your own?"

Jade shook her head. "I'm planning to ask Fyr to join me."

"Good idea! ...What about Bazzle and the others?"

Jade gave this a moment of thought. "I don't think I'm going to tell them. Sneaking two Guardians off to Venus will be difficult enough. But five? I might as well send a note telling the Vanguard where we're going."

"I suppose you're right… Well, we'd better be heading off to the dining hall... You'll want plenty of rest for tomorrow's mission."

The next morning, Fyr and Jade entered the Hall of Guardians for their mission briefing. "Good," said Ikora, "You two are right on time."

Zavala cleared his throat. "Seeing as the details of this mission were disclosed to you yesterday, this briefing is going to be, well...brief." Cayde cackled off to the side, but Zavala ignored him. "This mission will have a different procedure than usual… Eris will be in constant communication with you over your comms." Jade raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"For real?" said Fyr, "Nice!"

"Indeed… I suggest you get moving, Guardians. The Warmind Rasputin is an asset we cannot afford to lose."

Jade and Fyr nodded before exiting and making their way to the Hangar. Amanda already had their ships prepped, and she hailed them from the control station. "You're all clear!"

Fyr waved back, then they both put their helmets on. Jade crossed to her ship and looked back at him. "I'll see you in the Cosmodrome."

"You got it!"

With that, both Guardians were transmatted into their respective ships. Barely a minute later, Jade was zooming low over the Russian landscape. The trip was very short, and it seemed as though no time had passed until she was being transmatted down into the Mothyards. She waited for Fyr to join her before retrieving her Sparrow. Just before they started moving, Jade heard the whispery voice of Eris Morn over the comms.

"Guardians. I trust you have arrived in the Cosmodrome? … There's a secret entrance to the Warmind's bunker beneath the Forgotten Shore. Stop the Hive from reaching Rasputin."

Fyr rubbed the side of his helmet. "I'm not the only one hearing a creepy voice right?"

"I heard that, Guardian."

Jade sighed at him. "Come on," she said, "We have to get to Rasputin before the Hive do." She gunned her Sparrow toward the Forgotten Shore. Within a few minutes, they had reached a narrow canyon.

Eris spoke again. "Rasputin remains silent, but still fights to protect us. We cannot let Crota's army find a way around the Warmind's defenses, or Crota's disciples will flood the Earth."

"'Cuz I'm sure they won't do that anyway," Fyr muttered.

"What was that, Guardian?"

"Oh, uh, nothing."

They pulled up to a broken down structure atop a small hill. Jade squinted. "There's Fallen up ahead."

Fyr pulled his grenade. "Leave it to me." He hurled the grenade into the midst of the Fallen, most of whom went down. Jade drew her fusion rifle and took out those that remained. As they neared the building, Fyr spoke up. "This is where Rasputin lives? Looks like a rusty old shack."

"He doesn't live here, Fyr," said Jade, "His bunker is underground."

"Well, I hope it's nicer looking than this place."

They entered the structure and made their way down several flights of stairs before coming out into a larger room. At the opposite end was a pair of doors resembling an upside-down diamond. "This must be it," said Jade. All of a sudden, loud orchestral music began to play, echoing throughout the room.

"What the- Not to knock this dude's music choice, but this would make a great funeral playlist," said Fyr.

"You fool," said Eris, "If Rasputin is playing music, it means he's in trouble!" As if to prove her point, the set of doors hissed and lifted open, vapor pouring out.

Fyr drew his hand cannon. "I'm getting some serious 'haunted house' vibes here…"

They moved forward. "I've never known him to welcome visitors," said Eris, "Find the control room."

"What are the odds we're alone down here?" asked Fyr, "'Cause I don't think they're looking so good."

"Fyr. Shut up," said Jade.

They moved down another set of stairs, before turning a couple corners and descending even further until they saw another diamond-shaped doorway in front of them. The doorway let out into a large chamber with high ceilings. Metal railings lined the sides of the walkway, and large crates of some sort were scattered across the platforms. Screeches echoed from further down, bouncing off the walls of the chamber.

"Let me guess…" said Jade.

"The Hive!" said Eris in alarm, "They've found a way inside. Don't let them reach Rasputin!"

Jade stepped forward, blasting the first Knight with her fusion rifle while Fyr shot down the second one with his hand cannon. Thrall came racing toward them from further down the corridor. Jade barely had enough time to kill them before another Knight fired at them from the next section over. She motioned to Fyr. "Come on!" He followed her up the steps onto the platform and crouched behind a crate. "I'll kill the Knight, you get rid of those Acolytes."

Fyr nodded. "Can do."

They leaned out and shot at their respective targets. Soon, they were all down. Jade took the opportunity to reload, seeing Fyr do the same. Then they got up and kept moving, taking out the next few Acolytes that came running out of a doorway nearby. As they reached the stairs that led to the doorway, another wave of Thrall came racing down, shrieking. But they proved fairly easy to handle, especially with Jade's fusion rifle. Fyr took out the Knight that was guarding the entrance, and then they pressed forward, coming to a large window that showed the control room beyond.

Fyr cupped his hands around his face, looking in. "Looks pretty empty… My trap senses are tingling."

Jade sighed, but she knew he was probably right. The Hive wouldn't go to all the trouble of getting in here only to just leave afterward. She walked through the doorway to the right of the window, Fyr behind her. As they stepped into the large circular chamber, Eris spoke again.

"Find the controls. Make sure the Hive haven't destroyed Rasputin."

"They can do that?!" hissed Fyr.

"Let's hope they didn't," said Jade. She spotted the controls at the other end of the room. "There." She stepped up to the console and saw images flash across the monitors, but she was unable to make sense of them. Suddenly, they all flashed red and there was a clanging sound as the doors closed.

"Something's wrong!" said Eris.

"Called it!" said Fyr.

Loud orchestral music began to play as it had done earlier. A Wizard flashed into existence in front of them, her shrieks echoing around the chamber.

Jade backed up. "Uh oh."

"What the hell is that?!"

"Omnigul!" said Eris over the comms, "Silence her screams!"

Jade took aim at the Wizard, but before she could shoot, they were engulfed by a wave of Thrall. By the time they'd killed them all, Omnigul had vanished.

"Where'd she go?!" shouted Fyr.

Jade looked around and caught sight of her outside of the control room. "Damnit! She's out there. We can't get to her!" Then a group of Hive spawned on the chamber floor. A Wizard, two Knights, and several Thrall. "Here we go again…"

A/N: Looks like Jade has some sort of rescue operation in mind. What do you think the odds are that she'll be able to find Rae and Harley? Unfortunately, her plans won't be put into action until after they complete their mission. Anyway, the majority of feedback so far indicates that you guys are interested in seeing more of Fyr in the next story. Looks like I'll be getting back to drafting soon. If any of you have any more suggestions, feel free to let me know.

ConnorPerson: XD Nice of you to say so. I'm sure others would debate that.

Cf96: Thank you :)

I'm pretty sure you guys know when the next chapter will be coming. See you then!

- TheWolfParadox