"That shriek, that wicked laugh. If you listen closely, you can hear power in its song." - Grimoire of Omnigul, Will of Crota


Harley let out a breath as he was transmatted into the Cosmodrome. It's been so long since I've been here… The last time had been when he'd fought that Fallen Walker and met the Stranger. I was so clueless back then. I hadn't even known about the Black Garden. He heard two faint zaps as Jade and Fyr appeared next to him.

"You ready fam?" asked Fyr.

"I guess so... I mean, I've never seen the Hive before so that'll be an experience."

"Well they're real ugly and they scream a lot."

Harley nodded. "So...Omnigul then. I get that she's bad news, but how bad are we talking?"

"Omnigul is the last of Crota's generals," said Eris over the comms, "She is the architect of her master's wakening. As long as she lives, the threat of his return will haunt this world. Track her down, and exterminate every Hive that stands in your way."

"Ookay so she's pretty bad then... Guess we'd better get going."

They summoned their Sparrows and sped off towards the Skywatch where Omnigul was apparently spawning a new Hive army. In almost no time at all, they had made it to the Terrestrial Complex. Harley shivered as they dismounted. "This place gives me the creeps."

"You're telling me," said Fyr, "Heebie with a side of the jeebies."

They climbed up the stairs into a higher level. "Omnigul is wicked and desperate," said Eris, "Keep your Light safe."

"Great," said Harley, "Any pointers on how we do that?" Eris did not reply. "Fantastic."

They entered a large room and were met almost immediately with gunfire. "Fallen?" Jade sounded confused. "Where are the Hive?"

"Who cares," said Fyr.

Harley pulled his hand cannon and began shooting them down. His companions joined in and before he knew it, the room was clear. So this is what having backup feels like. However, barely thirty seconds later, a swarm of weird...creatures came pouring out of the far doorway. "What the hell?!"

"Yup!" said Fyr, "Those are Thrall!"

Their hand cannons made quick work of most of the Thrall. Those they missed were incinerated by Jade. Suddenly, a towering spiky figure came stomping toward them. "Knight!" yelled Jade in warning.

Harley turned, drew his knife, and hurled it into the Knight's skull, where it was joined almost instantly by a second one. As the Knight crumpled to the floor, Harley heard Fyr laugh. "Do they have a jinx for simultaneous knife-throwing?"

Harley walked forward, retrieving both blades. "That was you?"

"Yup."

He inspected the knives before handing Fyr's over. The other Hunter's knife was shorter and denser than his own, something he found interesting. "What ability do you have?"

Fyr sheathed his knife. "Gunslinger. How 'bout you?"

"Bladedancer." "Oh cool! I've never seen one before!"

"Guys, can we do this later?" said Jade. She pointed at another doorway. "The path is clear."

Harley nodded. "Let's keep going."

They headed down the corridor. "Eris, do you know why the Fallen were here?" asked Jade.

"The Hive have stirred the scavengers... Omnigul's clever. Using the Fallen against you."

"I guess it'd be too much to hope that she'd be stupid," said Fyr, "Darn."

They headed up a couple more flights of stairs and into another room with a large open doorway leading outside. When they came to it, Harley saw a Fallen Captain as well as the telltale shimmering of invisibility shields. "Wonderful." He grabbed his grenade and chucked it into the Fallen's midst. In a blast of arc energy, Fallen Vandals were sent every which way. He watched as Jade vaporized the Captain with her fusion rifle.

"Nice!" said Fyr. But before he could celebrate too much, more Fallen came charging towards them. It took them several minutes to kill them all.

"Wow. I can't remember the last time I had this much trouble with the Fallen," said Harley, "I've been after the Vex for so long, I almost forgot what it was like to fight other races."

"That's like us with the Hive," said Jade, "...And we're not even finished yet."

They headed around the outside into another structure, which was largely abandoned. It led down into the Skywatch, from which they exited into the rocky, icy terrain of the Cosmodrome. A few feet away was a Hive Seeder, spiky and menacing. "Don't tell me…" said Harley, "We're gonna have to go in there aren't we?"

"Righto," said Fyr.

They hopped down the small ledge, making their way toward the Seeder. "Omnigul's only purpose is to usher in Crota's return," said Eris, "If she lives, our fight against Crota's armies may never end."

"Good to hear," said Harley. He turned to Fyr. "Have all of your missions been like this?"

"Yup."

"That sucks, man." They headed through the Seeder into a subterranean tunnel system that twisted and turned until they came to a metal sliding door. "Knock knock," said Harley dryly.

Fyr cleared his throat and proceeded to speak in a falsetto. "Excuse me! Would you take a minute to hear about our lord and savior the Traveler?"

"Shh!" hissed Jade, sounding annoyed.

Prism appeared in front of Harley to unlock the door. The space beyond was much larger with much higher ceilings. "The Jovian Complex," said Prism, "This is a Darkness Zone, so watch out."

They pressed forward. After rounding a few corners, they came to a wide corridor. A Wizard was floating at the end. Upon seeing them, she let loose a horrible wail. Eris' voice sounded over the comms. "Omnigul! Destroy her!"

"She's yelling at us!" said Fyr as he shot at her with his hand cannon. A horde of Thrall came sprinting toward them.

"Holy-!" Harley stepped back, firing and reloading as fast as he could. A Knight charged through holding a sword. Fyr took it out with his grenade and Harley hit the next one with his own. As they moved around the corner, they were faced with another Knight and a Wizard as well as more Thrall, both cursed and not. "Right," said Harley, "Fyr, you get those Thrall. Jade, take out that Knight… I'll get the Wizard."

As he shot at the Wizard, he registered the sounds of battle. He heard the explosions of the Knight's rockets and the bigger explosions of Thrall dying. Soon, the Wizard was dead and he turned to help Jade finish off the Knight when something else entered the room. This Hive was huger than almost anything Harley had seen, its size comparable to that of a Vex Gate Lord. It didn't seem to have any eyes, just a bulging mass of a head that emitted a purple beam. "Ogre!" said Jade.

"Rocket launcher!" said Harley. As soon as he had it, he knelt, aiming at the Ogre's forehead. The rocket left the barrel with a hiss and impacted the Ogre with one of the loudest blasts so far. The Ogre crashed to the floor, the ground shaking as its body impacted the earth. Harley stored his rocket launcher and was reaching for his hand cannon, when something suddenly sliced down his arm, ripping through his armor and burning like a line of fire. "Ow! Damnit!" He stabbed the Thrall that had clawed him and turned to yell at Fyr for not doing his job. But his voice died in his throat when he was met with the sight of Fyr locked in a battle with another Knight holding a sword.

He was about to run to help him, but Jade stopped him. "He's fine Harley! We need to take out the Thrall!"

Harley glanced around. She was right. The place was still swarming with them. He holstered his gun and took a deep breath. He could feel the Light inside him, filling him with its strength and power. He reached for that power now, drawing it from within and letting it gather and build until it was released in a burst of Arc energy. Harley didn't remember grabbing his knife, or even moving at all. All he was aware of was the pulse and crackle of the lightning and the sharp scent of ozone. When he came to his senses, the sight of the smoking bodies of Thrall and Knights greeted him, as well as the awestruck faces of his companions.

"Holy. Freakin'. Shit dude!" said Fyr, "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

Jade's mouth opened and closed. She was seemingly having trouble finding her words. "That… W-was that…?"

"It's called Arc Blade," said Harley, "All Bladedancers can do it." Fyr and Jade stared at him. He coughed. "We should get moving now. ...If we wanna kill Omnigul, that is."

Jade shook her head as though she was snapping herself out of a trance herself. "Right. Let's keep moving."

They entered a short corridor that led to another room. The darkness inside was oppressive, interrupted only by the greenish glow of crystals and the eyes of the Hive. Omnigul floated above a raised platform, shrieking and shooting beams of energy at them. Knights were scattered about the room and Harley could see the electric blue blasts of their rockets as they shot at the Guardians. "I'm gonna get to the platform and stick by the right wall!" he said, "It looks like stairs lead up to it on either side. I'm gonna need you guys on each side, keeping the Thrall away. I'll help you take out the Knights, then we'll focus fire on Omnigul."

Fyr nodded. "Sounds good! Let's roll!"

The Guardians split off, each going to their respective place. For a while, it seemed like they were doing a good job of keeping the Hive under control. Then all of a sudden, the room was flooded with a new wave of Thrall, Knights, and Wizards. Jade and Fyr were getting swamped. Harley knew they would have to change the plan. "Guys! Forget the plan! Come up here with me and cover the stairs!"

They did as he asked and it seemed to help. Then Jade called out from the left. "It's no good! They won't stop coming!"

"Crap! Any ideas!"

"I'll use my Radiance to stem them with grenades! You two get Omnigul!"

"Good idea!" Harley retrieved his rocket launcher. "Fyr! You said you were a Gunslinger right?"

"Yep!"

"Ok! On Jade's signal, shoot at Omnigul! I'll back you up with my rockets!"

"Alright! ...What's the signal?"

A bright glow filled the room as Jade accessed her Radiance, hurling grenades into the Hive swarm below. "That's it! Shoot!"

Fyr raised his hand to the sky and lit up with Solar energy. In his hand was a golden hand cannon, blazing with fire. Harley watched him send three shots into Omnigul before he shot his rocket at her head. Boom! Omnigul gave one last screech of rage and pain before she was vaporized into ash. He let his rocket launcher drop with a clang and began trying to slow down his heart rate. Fyr and Jade walked over to stand next to him, both breathing heavily.

"We done did it!" said Fyr excitedly, "Hell to the yes!"

"I can't believe it," said Jade, "We actually did it."

"Yes," said Eris with satisfaction, "The agents of Crota's Will have been defeated... The Hive will not take this transgression lightly. But I believe you three have given them something new to fear."


"Please tell me we're done with this Crota dude," said Fyr. The three Guardians and their Ghosts were making their way across the plaza to the Hall of Guardians.

"Only the Vanguard will know for sure," said Spark.

"You mean Eris," said Jade.

Harley shrugged. "Either way, we're about to find out..."

They entered the Vanguard's room. Zavala looked surprised. "Hayden. ...And Allerton. And...Wrythal." He sighed. "I dread to know what this will bring."

"Relax, Zav, I'm sure it's nothin'," said Cayde. He turned to look at Harley. "Please tell me it's nothing?"

Harley cleared his throat. "Uh, well, actually… We came to give our report on the Omnigul strike."

Cayde groaned. "You're killin' me here, kid."

"You went on a strike?" Zavala demanded. "After you were told to remain in the Tower?"

"...Yes."

Zavala passed a hand across his eyes with another sigh before he turned to Eris. "And you didn't think to inform us that Hayden was on the strike?"

"How was I to know you had forbidden him?"

"Uhhh how 'bout 'cause you were in the room when it happened?" said Cayde, "This one ain't gonna be pinned on me."

Eris shot the Hunter a glare. "I may have been present, however, I was also in the middle of preventing Crota from waking."

Cayde looked like he was about to retort, but Ikora cut him off. "Regardless of whether or not he should have been there, Harley was still there. And as Omnigul has been eliminated, I see no reason for pointless arguing." Zavala didn't look happy, but he didn't say anything.

"...Right," said Harley, "So now that we've cleared that up, the three of us have a question."

"Yes?" said Zavala.

"Does Omnigul's death mean that the Crota case is closed?"

There was a moment of silence in which all three Vanguards turned to look at Eris. She sighed. "You have successfully prevented Crota from coming to our world. However, the threat of his return, while distant, still exists."

"How is that possible?" asked Jade.

"Yeah, we shattered the guy's soul crystal thing," said Fyr. "I have learned much from Toland regarding the Hive... Crota may be banished from our realm, but do not mistake him for dead. He will wait in his Throneworld until he gathers enough strength to try again."

"What's a Throneworld?" asked Harley.

"In simplest terms, it is another dimension. Killing him within its confines is the only way to make his death...permanent."

"But after that happens, we'll be done right?" asked Fyr.

"With Crota, yes."

"Ok, so how do we get to his Throneworld then?" asked Harley.

"The entrance to Crota's Throneworld lies within the Hellmouth."

"What?" Fyr demanded, "It's been right under our noses this whole time?!"

"Yes. But entering it and defeating Crota will require a strength even three Guardians together do not possess... It is in his Throneworld that he is strongest."

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Cayde holding up his hands, "So we're talkin' about sendin' a team of Guardians into the Hellmouth to fight a Hive god? ...No offense, but the last trip didn't exactly...go well."

Eris glared at Cayde again. "It is the only way to ensure Crota will not return. If he did, many more would be at risk."

"We can do it," said Harley.

"Excuse me?" said Fyr.

Harley ignored him. "We can go into the Hellmouth and kill Crota."

"Three Guardians is too few," said Ikora, "I don't think Eris is wrong in that."

"Neither do I. That's why we'll have more than three Guardians."

"And how do you propose to accomplish this?" asked Zavala.

Harley gave a knowing grin. "Don't worry, I have a few people in mind..."


A/N: Sorry for the late chapter everybody. I got too absorbed in other things yesterday and it completely slipped my mind. Aside from that, I've made more progress on story 3 and decided who will be staying. I won't reveal anything before it's published though.

ConnorPerson: Yeah, I'm thinking I won't be shipping them. Most of the conflict will revolve around Jade. I've already begun writing for the other idea but it's not likely to come out until after the third story.

I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in 29!

- TheWolfParadox