A/N: To all my readers Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you all just have a wonderful holiday in general.

I won't be uploading again until January, so I hope you enjoy this chapter. Chapter lengths will return to normal then. See you in the New Year.

EDIT 25/04/18

Fused this with the next chapter for better flow.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fanfiction. Destiny and Destiny 2 are both owned by Bungie, Activision, High Moon Studios and Vicarious Visions. I only own Kayla and other OCs. Please support the official release.

Saga 01: Guardian Rising

Arc: 04: Fruit of the Garden

Chapter 026: The Dust Palace

"The Dust Palace used to be the headquarters of Clovis Bray, the Golden Age's leading technology company," came Cayde's voice over the comms. "The Cabal have had a hold on it since they arrive and I'm sure they would have mined it dry by now if they didn't have their hands full with the Vex. However, since Rasputin attacked the Cabal have let the Psion Flayers out of their cages, to dig around the central AI's cortex. Rasputin, like the mad machine he is, hasn't taken too kindly to that for obvious reasons."

"Normally Zavala'd just leave Rasputin to deal with it, however the Flayers are still trying to get past him. Which means they really want what's buried in there. If Rasputin's protecting it, it's valuable. You need to flush those Flayers out."

"Sounds like this'll be fun," Delta chuckled as the trio flew over the Exclusion Zone. "So you're a Sunbreaker, huh? Don't see many of them around the City."

Kayla cringed as the silence over the comms deafened her.

"So…you have anyone special back on Earth?" Delta asked innocently.

"You're a Defender, right?" Athena snapped.

"Yes?"

"Then stick to defending and stop running your mouth! Bastardo."

"Jeez…" Delta groaned over a private channel. "Kayla, she's even grumpier than Adam! I think I might strangle someone..."

"Preferably not me," Kayla laughed. "Listen, Athena's not that bad when you get to know her. She's been through a lot, I'll talk to her."

"Best of luck."

Kayla sighed and rubbed her temples before switching over to Athena's channel. "Hey," Kayla said calmly.

"What?" Athena growled.

"Look, don't be so harsh on Delta, he didn't know."

"Well, maybe if he read the mission briefing, he would!"

"Did you?"

"…No."

"Exactly," Kayla said, sighing afterwards. "Athena, I'm going to say this once and you probably won't like it, but I'm saying this as your friend."

Athena was silent and Kayla could feel her glaring daggers from her ship. Kayla swore a little then spoke. "I know you're still torn up over losing Artemis, and I remember what we said the other night, but you can't just lash out at everyone because you're angry. It won't win you any favours with the Vanguard and it certainly won't win you any favours with me."

"Who said I'm trying to win any favours, Kayla?!" Athena shouted, deafening Kayla.

"Now you're just being childish!" Kayla shouted back. "Getting angry at me won't make you feel better, and neither will yelling at Delta who didn't know anything!"

"Don't tell me how to fucking grieve!"

From the middle ship of the group Delta watched from his cockpit as the two girls yelled and swore at each other over the comms. Sal stared at Athena, trying to catch some of what she was saying. Suddenly Sal let out a small, quiet gasp.

"I don't like Miss Athena…" Sal said looking down. "She scares me…"

"Why, what did she say?" Delta asked.

Sal turned to Delta, stammering. "S-She called Kayla a…a…" Sal flew up to Delta, whispering in his ear. "The 'C' word."

Delta shook his head. "My god, what have I got myself in to," he said with a wry chuckle.

"M-Maybe we should leave…" Sal said sadly.

"Nah, it'll be fine," Delta said, looking over at Kayla's ship, watching the girl rant. "Kayla says Athena's ok and I trust her with that." Delta thought a moment. "I think she's probably lost someone close to her and I fudged up by asking her, so don't worry about it ok?"

Sal's eye lit up as Delta gave her a reassuring pet. She quickly nodded then went back to navigating. Finally Athena came over Delta's comms.

"Look…you didn't know and I'm sorry," Athena said begrudgingly.

"It's alright, I sort of figured it out anyway," Delta said calmly. "Any friend of Kayla's is a friend of mine so you're forgiven."

"Don't push your luck, we ain't friends yet," Athena said. Delta looked over to her ship, seeing her smirk from the cockpit. "Bury the hatchet and we'll see after the mission, 'kay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Delta laughed.

In her own ship Kayla gave a sigh of relief. "Crisis averted," she said with a chuckle.

"We'll make a leader out of you yet," Ghost laughed before speaking over the comms. "We're going to land outside the building. Cayde's reports say the Flayers already at the top of the Dust Palace so we need to move."

"Gotcha," Delta said.

"Noted," Athena replied.

The trio touched down in the sandy dunes of Freehold. Before them was a giant tower that seem to touch the hazy sky. From below Kayla could see a Cabal ship hovering in place around the tip of the tower.

"Come on guys," Kayla said, dashing off to the entrance to the building with the two Titans in tow.

The group came up against a small contingent of Cabal at the reception area of the building. The aliens opened fire on Kayla's team, the Psions quickly sliding behind cover. The Centurion leading the group gave a rallying cry pumping the Cabal into a ferocious vigour.

Delta led the charge, firing on the Legionaries with his fusion rifle. The Legionnaires ducked behind cover as the raw energy lanced them, burning through their armour. Phalanxes moved forward to block the attack but Kayla leaped over them, hitting them in the back with her shotgun. Meanwhile Athena charged the Centurion, jumping up and flooring it with one punch. The Centurion growled, kicking Athena in the stomach, winding her. Delta noticed, firing a lance from his fusion rifle at the Centurion and causing it to stumble.

"Thanks!" Athena said, pulling out her pistol and firing at the Centurion.

The Centurion collapsed on the ground but Athena was soon forced back by a Psion's psychic blast. Kayla vaulted over the balcony in front of them, striking one with an Energy Drain melee and firing her Matador at another. The last Psion kept to cover, peeking its gun out and firing on Kayla. The Warlock grunted as one of the slug rounds struck her left shoulder, the force of the explosion knocking her back.

"'Nade out!" Athena shouted as she threw a fusion grenade at the Psion.

The glowing orb of energy struck the Psion's arm, sticking to it before exploding. The Psion flew across the room, its arm a smouldering mess. Delta looked at the girls then walked over to it, nudging it with his foot. It was dead.

"Not quite the welcome I wanted," he said.

"You were expecting something different?" Kayla asked with a laugh.

"From the esteemed Clovis Bray, yeah."

"Can we just focus on what's at hand?" Athena said as she headed down the broken lift shaft. "We're on a time limit, remember?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Delta said with a roll of his eyes.

The two followed Athena down the sand filled shaft, taking care not fall. Eventually they came to a large room that seemed to be some kind of basement. It was filled with forklifts and unopened storage boxes that were marked with an emblem similar to that of the Warminds. Kayla instantly recognised it as the mark of Clovis Bray's nanomachine experiments, something the company had tried to utilise to further the Exodus Project, mankind's attempts at going beyond the Solar System. As far as she was aware the project was a failure. So why did they have so many storage containers for it? Kayla shook her head. It didn't matter now, that was for certain.

"Cazzo!" Athena shouted from a nearby door. "They've locked us out!"

Delta turned to Kayla. "Seems they knew we were coming."

"Probably didn't want any trouble after we killed Sha'aul and Ta'aurc," Kayla said.

"I can unlock the door for you all," Owl said. "But, if the Cabal have any sense, they will have wired this up to an alarm."

As soon as Owl began hacking the door the alarms sounded. The three Guardians entered cover as Cabal burst through the doors. They weren't a tough unit, only a handful of Legionnaires and Psions and Kayla the group easily took them by surprise from atop the balcony.

"Don't let them get through!" one of the Legionnaires shouted. "Flank them!"

"Nine o'clock, Athena!" Delta shouted, firing on the Legionnaires below him.

"Got it!" Athena yelled back, running over to where Owl was and firing on the Legionnaires flanking them with her Jabberhäcke, punching some of the for good measure.

"Do you want me to go help her?" Delta asked Kayla.

"Trust me, Athena knows what she's doing," Kayla replied, rolling out of the way of a Psion's blast.

"Flashbang out!" Delta said, through out a grenade into the crowd of Psions.

Kayla looked away as the grenade went off blinding the Psions and causing them to stagger, allowing Kayla to pick them off. With the Psions defeated the Warlock glanced at Athena. The Sunbreaker was busy pummelling the Cabal, swinging with deadly precision and throwing the 800lb masses like they were ragdolls.

"Heh, heh, reminder not to spit in her drink," Delta chuckled, firing on a Cabal that had grabbed her from behind.

The Cabal dropped Athena, her promptly roundhouse kicked the Legionnaire across the face sending him tumbling off the balcony before ripping the slug rifle off another one and hitting him with it, firing into his chest for good measure.

"All finished," Owl said, flying back to Athena.

Delta looked around, inspecting the dead Cabal. "Oh, now it opens," he said sarcastically.

"Is everyone alright?" Kayla asked.

"Fine here," Delta replied.

"Nothing I can't handle," Athena said with a smirk.

Kayla nodded and peered through the door. Beyond them was a dimly lit staircase that led up the tower. She turned to the others and shrugged before cautiously entering the stairwell. As the team ascended Kayla took note of where she was. From the exposed piping and lack of fancy, if decaying, décor she figured there where in a stairwell used by the maintenance staff. Old mop buckets seemed to clarify this and Kayla wondered if they would be able to sneak past the Cabal. That being said Kayla didn't want to risk getting trapped between floors, and between them.

"How tall do you think this is?" Delta asked.

"Don't tell me you're tired already?" Athena joked.

"Clovis Bray Tower was the tallest building in Freehold," Kayla said. "Taller than Burj Khalifa at least."

"Burj…Khalifa?" Athena asked.

"It was a hotel in Dubai," Kayla said, turning to see their blank faces. "Out in the deserts, pre-Golden Age. The pinnacle of human engineering. That is until Freehold came along, and Clovis Bray I wanted to show off what his company could do. So, he had a 182 -floor tower built." Kayla thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, I think half of it is buried below us."

The others stared at each other then back at Kayla in disbelief.

"What?" she asked with a shrug. "The guy had an ego the size of Jupiter."

"Sounds like he was compensating," Delta said dryly.

"I still don't understand why anyone would build a hotel in the desert," Athena said.

"Things were different back then," Kayla said sadly. "Anyway, we need to get moving."

The three Guardians took off at a run, coming out at a large semi-circular lobby with an equally large window covered in multiple, shattered panes. Near the window was a staircase, partially smashed, that led to the upper balcony of the lobby. The place was also littered with Cabal, led by a large Colossus. Ghost snuck out, flying up to the door above them.

"Bad news," Ghost sighed over the comms. "The door's locked. I can hack it, but you'd need to…y'know."

Kayla groaned. "I'm starting to sense a pattern here."

Athena opened fire first prompting the Cabal to head to cover. Sticking to the entrance cove the three Guardians shot at the Cabal, dropping some of them. Delta kept on eye on the Colossus as it lumbered up the staircase for a good shot.

"Both of you, on me!" Delta ordered as the Colossus unleashed a volley of missiles.

The girls huddled around Delta as threw up a bubble shield. The missiles collided with the shield, exploding violently against the Void Light. Athena smirked before leaping out and summoning her Hammer of Sol and charging into the Cabal. She jumped on to one, smashing its face with the hammer before throwing the hammer at a small squad of Cabal. The hammer made impact with one, causing a fiery explosion that sent nearby Cabal flying.

Delta and Kayla hung at the back, covering Athena and dispatching most of the Cabal she missed. Kayla threw out a Vortex Grenade at a huddle of Legionaries. As the Void burned their skin the Cabal struggle to get out of its grasp. Delta chuckled and threw a flashbang grenade, firing on them as they stumbled around in vain as the vortex killed them off one by one.

Meanwhile the Colossus backed up a little, aiming its gatling gun on Athena as she raced around the lobby. Kayla focused her shots on the Colossus head, but the giant Cabal launched a massive volley at Athena, forcing her to hide behind a pillar.

"Super's gone!" Athena shouted over the comms. "I'm pinned!"

"Just stay behind cover, we'll handle it!" Kayla replied, turning to Delta. "D, focus on it's hand."

"Gotcha!" Delta said with a wicked grin, aiming at the Colossus right hand.

The pair fired in tandem, eventually able to land the hits. The bullets pierced through the Colossus' gloved hand, causing it to drop is gun. The Cabal clenched its fist in pain, backing up slightly, allowing Athena to fire on the Colossus with her machine gun. After a brief moment the Colossus collapsed, falling down the stairs and landing on the ground with a large thud.

Athena breathed a sigh of relief as Kayla and Delta joined her. "Thanks," Athena said. "For that."

"Don't worry about it," Kayla said with a wave of her hand.

"Door's open," Ghost said as he flew back to Kayla. "We can get going."

The trio of Guardians headed up the dilapidated staircase, moving swiftly through the lobby. Kayla knew they couldn't afford anymore setbacks, but the one thing that was bugging her the most was Rasputin's motives. Clovis Bray were the leading scientific development corporation of the Golden Age, but she couldn't place what the Dust Palace would have that would benefit the old Warmind. The more Kayla thought about it the more mysterious Rasputin's intentions seemed. The AI had no intention of helping the City, that much was clear to Kayla. What ever Clovis Bray was hiding it benefit Rasputin and only Rasputin.

The three Guardians eventually came another large room the seemed to house the building's computers. There were no Cabal here, something Kayla was thankful for, but as the team came to the next door they found it locked.

"Sal, you're up," Delta said, holding his ghost to the door.

"R-right," Sal said, scanning the door.

While they waited Kayla looked around the dimly light room. Before them was a large supercomputer with a thin glowing, flickering core. Kayla hesitantly stepped forward for a closer look, only to be accosted in Russian.

"Nice to know we've got a friend here!" Delta chuckled, reloading his guns.

"I'm just looking," Kayla said, voice echoing. "We're here to help, but we need to know what you're protecting."

There was silence for a few seconds before the room suddenly went dark, the two Titans raising their weapons. After a tense few seconds the lights around the core came on and Rasputin spoke again.

"I…I think he said 'come see the secret of Clovis Bray'," Ghost said hesitantly. "The word 'brother' came up several times as well."

Kayla walked up to the core, finding a dusty name plate beneath the CPU. Slowly she wiped the dust away, finding one name: Charlemagne. Suddenly everything made sense.

"Of course!" Kayla said, smacking her forehead. "God, I'm so thick!"

"What?" Athena asked. "What is it?"

"It's Charlemagne," Kayla said, gently touching the glowing core. "Rasputin's brother, Charlemagne."

"The Martian Warmind?" Delta asked.

"Yeah," Kayla replied. "The secret to all the military information on Mars: that's what the Flayers are after."

"But why is Rasputin here?" Athena asked.

Rasputin suddenly lit up the room, angrily shouting at them. Kayla picked up a mournful tone in his voice and stroked Charlemagne's core once more. "Charlemagne's dying…" Kayla said sadly. "Rasputin's come to make sure his brother has a peaceful death."

"That's awful!" Sal said as the door opened. "W-We need to help Rasputin!"

"What do you say big guy?" Delta asked. "Help us force the Flayers out and we'll make sure they never bother your brother again."

The was a pause before Rasputin spoke again, his voice filled with fury. "Give. Them. Hell."

Kayla nodded and led the Guardians up the stairwell. The team came out on the to the roof of the Dust Palace, overlooking the vast crumbling city below them. Cabal ships flew silently over Freehold and Kayla could even see the Iron Line from where they were. In three separate places around the area were three Psions meditating.

"Charlemagne's cortex is just up ahead," Ghost said.

The Guardians moved up to a large computer at the back of the roof, their ghosts flying ahead of them. Before the Guardians had a chance to do anything the ghosts began to scan the cortex, talking amongst themselves.

"I'd brace yourselves," Athena said quietly as one of the Flayers shook a little. "This could get messy."

"Ohhh that's clever of him," Ghost chuckled.

"Interesting…" Owl said. "Latching on to the psionic energy, looping it, then forcing it backwards to short out the link."

"Let's show these meanies what for!" Sal shouted.

Suddenly the computer sparked, the Flayers screaming at the same time. Everyone raised their guns as the Flayers wearily stood up. The red one was the first to speak, his tone one of disgust and annoyance.

"You've given us a headache, Witch!"

Delta looked at Kayla. "Is he talking to you?"

"Yeah," Kayla replied before raising her voice at the Flayer. "What's your name?"

The red Flayer and the purple Flayer looked taken aback by the personal question, but the blue one seemed to reassure them before taking over. "Reports speak of you always showing mercy to your opponents," the Flayer, a female, said. "Why?"

"What can I say?" Kayla asked with a shrug. "I'm kind."

"Slaughtering our soldiers is kindness?!" the purple one asked angrily.

"We're the ones asking the questions!" Athena snapped.

"Of course, where are our manners?" the blue one said, feigning an apology. "I am Kolar, this is Vatch…" she motioned to the red one. "And Numoc." Kolar motioned to the purple flayer.

"Good, good," Kayla said. "Now that we're all acquainted please leave and never trouble Charlemagne again."

The three Flayers looked at each in disbelief. "…You're serious?" Kolar asked.

"One hundred percent."

"That machine is vital to the Empire," Numoc growled.

"And we have our orders," Vatch said darkly.

Kayla sighed, holding her head in her hand. "Oh, somewhere, someday that will work…"

(Fight and Away- KH 1.5 OST)

"Enough fooling around," Vatch replied, holding up a glowing hand.

"What are you…?" Kayla asked, eyes widening in horror as she heard Delta shout.

"Hey! Put me down!" Delta shouted as Kayla watched him levitate over to Vatch.

Athena raised her gun but Numoc teleported towards her, kicking her in the face and knocking her over the rail of the balcony to the lower platform. Kayla ran over to Athena, only to be thrown away by Numoc's Psionic Blast. She landed in front of Kolar, pain shooting through her body on impact. Kolar stood on her gun, leaning down towards the pissed off Warlock.

"Tell me…do you three have what it takes to beat a mind such as ours?" Kolar asked with a sadistic chuckle.

KOLAR, VATCH & NUMOC

THE PSION FLAYERS

Kayla glared at the Flayer, throwing up a Vortex Grenade at her. Kolar yelled in pain, the brief stun allowing Kayla to grab her gun and back up a little, firing on the Flayer. Kolar dodged the bullets and fired off a Psionic Blast that knocked Kayla further backwards. The Warlock quickly got up to her feet as Kolar fired at Kayla with her slug rifle, gliding away from the rounds before firing on Kolar again this time strike her in the shoulder.

"You ok over there?" Athena asked as she ducked under Numoc's psionically charged punches.

"You do your job, I'll do mine!" Kayla replied as she moved in to strike Kolar.

Athena nodded, switching to her pistol and firing on Numoc. Numoc simply waved his finger, deflecting the bullets away from him before moving to punch again. Athena blocked with her forearm before punching the Flayer in the gut, winding him. Thinking quickly she grabbed Numoc's skull and headbutted him in the face. The Psion growled, throwing out his hands and forced Athena back with a wave of Psionic energy.

"Delta, how are you holding up?" Athena grunted as she stood, readying her PRX.

"Fine!" Delta shouted back as he ducked under a crate Vatch had thrown.

"Stand still and let me hit you!" Vatch hissed, firing at Delta with his slug rifle.

Delta rolled, ducking behind a barrier and shooting Vatch with his pulse rifle. Vatch stumbled slightly, vaguely irritated by the attack, before firing back at the Titan. The rounds struck Delta, denting his armour with every explosion, but the Titan didn't let up. Throwing a flashbang for good measure Delta charged Vatch, blindsiding the Flayer with the butt of his gun before lancing Vatch with his fusion rifle. Vatch let out a powerful scream, sending out an equally strong psionic blast that knocked Delta back into the wall. Delta coughed up blood as he felt something smash on impact, slumping on the floor.

"Delta!" Kayla shouted as Kolar knocked her back again.

"Focus, Guardian!" Kolar demanded, firing on the Warlock with her slug rifle. "I'm your opponent!"

Kayla glared at the Psion Flayer before speaking into her comms unit. "Sal, get Delta!"

"O-oh! Ok!" Sal said quickly.

Kolar chuckled and charged Kayla, striking her in the chest with a psionic palm strike. Kayla shuddered as she felt her a painful shock ripple over her very soul, stumbling to her knees as she clutched her chest. Kolar paced around her, a smug grin on her face.

"This is the best the Guardians of Earth have?" she gloated. "I've seen better in the slums of Torobatl!"

"I'm going to pretend I know what that is…" Kayla muttered under her breath, keeping an eye on Kolar's position. "I wouldn't gloat just yet," Kayla said, her voice hoarse from the psionic shock.

"Oh? And why…oof!" Kolar grunted as Kayla spun round and smashed the side of the Flayer's face with the butt of her gun, using it like a club before spinning the weapon around and firing at the stunned Kolar.

Kolar backed up, grunting as the bullets pierced her armour and embedded themselves in her flesh. She clenched her fist, growling in rage as the pair charged each other once again.

"Delta!" Sal cried as Vatch threw him about like a rag doll.

"I'm ok!" Delta shouted as he hit the hard concrete again.

"Get off him!" Sal screamed, flying around Vatch's head.

"Shoo! Damn drone!" Vatch grumbled, trying to swat her like a fly.

"Ooo!" Sal growled, shocking him with a burst of electricity.

Vatch lurched forward, dropping Delta. Slowly he turned, glaring daggers at her as he seethed in fury. "That hurt, drone," he said with a low growl.

Vatch raised a glowing hand, freezing Sal in place. The ghosts eye looked around in fear as the Flayer strode up to her. "Let's see how brave you are when the Empire disassemble you," Vatch chuckled with sadistic glee.

Sal shook in fear as Vatch reached out a clawed hand to her, closing her eye as she braced herself.

"Hands off!" Delta roared, grabbing Vatch by the shoulders and violently suplexing the Flayer. Vatch grunted in shock, pain ripping its way through his body. The Flayer caught to his hands and knees only to be kicked in the gut, Vatch stumbling to the ground again. Delta grabbed his fusion rifle, firing on the downed Flayer.

"Don't you dare touch my ghost!" he boomed.

"Nice moves, Delta!" Athena laughed as she threw another punch at Numoc, laughing as the Flayer stumbled backwards. Numoc steadied himself, throwing his arms out as he sent out a psionic blast. Athena skidded backwards, laughing again before she fired on Numoc with her PRX.

"I wonder…" Numoc mused, pulling out his slug rifle and firing back.

Athena dodged, throwing a fusion grenade at the Flayer. The sticky bomb latched on to Numoc's knee, exploding violently and shattering Numoc's kneecap. The Flayer stumbled on to the ground, sending a Psionic blast in Athena's direction. She dodged and fired on Numoc again.

Kolar noticed and booted Kayla in the chest, rushing over to help her injured brother. Vatch did the same, sending out a Psionic shockwave to stun Delta, firing on Athena. The Titan shrugged it off, laughing as she summoned her hammer.

"Athena, don't get carried away!" Kayla cried, Athena's reactions worrying her.

Vatch was the first to lunge at Athena, charging the Sunbreaker with the help of a Psionic burst. Athena smirked, smacking Vatch with the hammer of sol. The red Flayer huffed as the hammer struck, angling himself to kick Athena as he fell. Athena's ignored the pain, grabbing Vatch's leg and spinning him round. With sufficient speed she let go sending him flying into a wall, the force of the impact creating a massive crater.

"Geez, Athena, simmer down!" Delta shouted as Athena turned her attention on Kolar.

Kolar braced herself as the Hammer of Sol was lobbed at her, smacking her across the rooftop. Kolar landed with a loud thud but used the force of the impact to bounce herself upwards and onto her feet. With a burst of Psionic energy she flew towards Athena, grappling her as the force pushed them both to the ground. Athena grabbed the Flayer with a free hand, headbutting her before smacking the Flayer away with the Hammer of Sol.

"Maybe you should fight smarter, not harder, Guardian," Kolar chuckled.

It was then the injured Numoc struck, grabbing her arm and sending a Psionic pulse throughout her body. Athena grabbed her head, screaming in agony as memories of Artemis flooded her mind as her brain tried to claw its way out of her skull. Athena pulled her arm away as she saw Artemis get crushed over and over, stumbling on to the ground as she curled up, weeping softly.

(Pause Fight and Away)

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry my love…" Athena sobbed.

Delta aimed his gun at Numoc. "What the hell did you do?!" he shouted angrily.

"I simply forced her to relive her most traumatic memory," Numoc said like it was nothing.

"That's sick," Kayla said bitterly, a hatred for these Psions burning deep in her chest.

"That's war," Numoc said hoarsely, clutching his injured leg, wincing occasionally as the pain rippled through it.

"That's one down," Vatch said as he climbed out of his hole, his voice oozing sadism. "Two more to go."

Kayla glanced down and the hysterical Athena. "How do you stop it?" she asked.

"Ah," Numoc said, standing up unsteadily. "I think you know the answer to that."

Kayla huffed once then looked at Delta, motioning to the cortex. The Defender nodded then spoke. "So why do the Cabal want Charlemagne so badly?"

"The old human empire that we have discovered had many technological advances," Kolar replied. "We simple want to…acquire its knowledge for our own purposes."

While the Flayers were distracted Kayla whispered into her comms unit. "How's it going, Ghost?"

"Nearly done," Ghost replied. "They'll need to be weakened though."

"Oh, don't worry," Kayla said, giving Athena a sad look. "I plan on it."

"Miss Kayla?" Owl chimed in.

"Yes?"

"Make them pay for harming Athena, will you?" he said nonchalantly.

"What was that about fighting smarter?" Kayla asked, summoning a volatile orb of Void energy in her palm.

Kolar looked at Delta, confused by his smirk, before turning to Kayla, her eye widening in shock as she saw the Nova Bomb forming in her palm.

"PSIONIC SHIELD, NOW!" she ordered.

All three Flayers held up their arms, throwing up a shield of psychic energy as Kayla lobbed the Nova Bomb at them. The Bomb collided with the shield, sparks of Void Light flying into the air as the Nova Bomb's energy cut away at the shield like a saw blade.

"DON'T LET UP!" Kolar shrieked, watching in horror as the shield began to buckle, cracking the air like glass. "DON'T LET UP!"

However, the Nova Bomb kept up speed, shattering the psionic shield and colliding with the Psions in a majestic explosion. As the air crackled with lingering Void energy Kayla ran up to Athena, cradling the Titan as she came too. Slowly she looked at Kayla.

"Where the fuck is that purple bastardo?" she growled.

"Don't worry about that, are you alright?" Kayla asked.

"…Yeah," Athena lied, looking away. "I'm fine."

Kayla sighed and glanced at the Flayers. Vatch was the first stand, shaken as though he had just stared into a void of nothingness. "What the hell was that?!" Vatch shouted.

"What's the matter?" Delta laughed. "Gettin' tired?"

"I'm not tired!" Vatch protested, pointing at Delta in annoyance. "You're tired!"

"Ready," Ghost whispered through Kayla's comms unit.

"When I give the signal," Kayla whispered back.

"I could do this all day," Delta said with smirk.

"Me too!" Vatch snapped childishly.

"That was the plan," Kayla said as she helped Athena to her feet.

The Flayers looked at each in confusion. Kayla smirked. "Let me elaborate," she said. "We're not trying to beat you. We just had to waste your time."

"What are you…?" Kolar asked, her gaze drifting to the Charlemagne's cortex. "No!"

"Now!" Kayla ordered.

Suddenly the cortex whirred into life, a pulse of energy blasting out from Charlemagne's core. The force of the blast knocked the Flayers back as the gripped their heads in pain from the feedback of the pulse.

As the pulse subsided Kolar looked up at the three Guardians in a daze, her clawed hand leaving scratches in the ground. She was brought out of it by Numoc's sudden scream. Kolar turned, watching in shock as Numoc was sent careening off the side of the Dust Palace. From a distance she could see Athena pick up the stunned Vatch by the neck and throw him off the side as well. Then the Sunbreaker's gaze fell on Kolar.

"No…!" Kolar gasped, trying to get to her feet as Athena stormed over to her.

Athena floored the blue Flayer with one punch, leering over her. "Just so you know," Athena growled. "I totally planned on beating you."

Then Athena grabbed the Flayer by the neck, dropping her off the side of the building like the others. Kayla was stunned by Athena's sudden brutality. Delta was the first to go to her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he shouted. "We're Guardians, not monsters!"

"We killed the targets didn't we?" Athena growled.

"You dropped them off a building!" Delta said.

"And your point?"

"They were defenceless!"

"Oh, and I suppose putting a bullet in their heads when they're downed is a better option, huh?!"

Delta faltered for a moment, before turning to Kayla who shrugged.

"Whatever, I'm going," Athena said. "I'm leaving the report to you Kayla."

Then Athena was gone, her ship flying off in the distance. Delta took off his helmet and furrowed his brow. "She's going to take some getting used to," he sighed.

"Yeah…" Kayla said.

"But I trust you," Delta continued, smiling. "I'll help you with the report. There's a Starbucks I'm fond of in downtown."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Kayla laughed.

"No!" Delta asked quickly. "I-I was just…"

"Relax," Kayla grinned. "I'm just pulling ya leg. I could do with a coffee after this."

Next time: Things come to a head as Kayla takes one final trip to Mars in Chapter 1-26: The Black Garden