Dagger was bound for the Dreadnaught for one last Strike level mission. I had my arms crossed as we flew in towards the ship think that the next time we would come here would be to go through the Court of Oryx and kill him and that in and of itself was considered a Raid level mission. The Vault of Glass was a Raid. Killing Crota was a Raid. Fighting Oryx at home? That was a suicide mission. Unfortunately Dagger had drawn the short straw, so it was on us to make it happen. Eris had been helping where she could, plus I had Toland's words to go off of as well. I shook my head. I was thinking too far ahead. It was time focus on the mission at hand.
"All Dagger comns," I called, "Radio check."
One by one the others sounded off.
"Dagger 1: Little Children." Luisa said
"Dagger 2: Lima Charlie." Wolf answered.
"Dagger 3: Lucky Charms." that was Pluto...
"Dagger 4: Lickin Clit!"
I facepalmed, of course Thunder would say something dumb.
"Dagger 5," I quickly added, "That Luisa Chick."
"Radio discipline..." Eris called to us, quickly becoming a kill joy as usual.
"Alright Eris, give us a run down. What are we dealing with?"
"Some creatures of the Hive strain against the will of Oryx," She began dramatically, "Alak-Hul, the Dark Blade is one such. Long ago, he fomented rebellion against the King, and attempted to take his mantle. Alak-Hul failed, and now awaits the "mercy" of the Hive. Given the chance, the Dark Blade will step in to take Oryx's crown. We must not allow another prince to rise."
"Okay," Thunder said, "Big scary Hive traitor that'll take over if able. Got it. What kind of resistance can we expect?"
"You must be ready for anything." Eris replied, "Be it Hive or even the Taken. Whatever the case, the journey to Alak-Hul will not be easy."
"Noted."
Pluto chimed in, "Not to bring up a bad memory, Eris. But is it true that this guy was there all those years ago?"
"Yes, Alak-Hul was there when we went down into the Pit. He showed us no mercy and will do the same for you."
"Adjusting heading, transmat in five." I reported, "See you down there."
I grabbed Tlaloc Spindle and Raze, my usual weapons of choice and transmatted to the Dreadnaught. The rest of Dagger met up quick.
"Eris," I called, "We're on the ground. Where's Alak-Hul?"
"The Dark Blade is being kept in the depths of a Hive prison. I am feeding an energy marker to your Ghost, it will lead you to his cell."
A mark appeared on my HUD and we started that way, making our way through a very familiar looking hallway. We picked our way through the halls of the Dreadnaught, following the energy marker.
"So aside from the fact that he was on the moon when Eris went there," Wolf commented, "What else do we know about Alak-Hul."
"He carries a large ax and his head is wide. He is powerful, do not underestimate the power of the Dark Blade."
"Anything else?"
"The Hive will not allow you to interfere with their justice system so casually."
"Fair enough. We'll expect the cell to be guarded."
Something yelled at us. My eyes snapped up, standing, er rather floating, in front of us was a coven of three Taken Wizards each with a bunch of Shadow Thrall. They all seemed to be waiting for us. The wizards waved their clawed hands and the black creatures charged. Dagger jerked weapons up and gunned them down. After fighting our way through them, which really wasn't saying much, the five of us found ourselves face to face with our worst enemy: Hive doors.
"Anybody got a tomb husk lying around?" I asked jokingly.
Wolf approached the door, "I got your tomb husk right here."
He reared back and slammed a fist into the door with much more focus than I had seen from him before. The door ahead of us shattered apart, flying off of its hinges or whatever the Hive used to secure doors to stuff and crashing deep into the room beyond. I was surprised, the doors were easily a few feet thick and mad of Hadium, the same stuff our swords were made of. Beyond it was a hallway that looked awfully familiar. I made a face.
"Am I the only one getting the strangest sense of Deja Vu?" I asked.
"Nope." Thunder replied, "We came through here before."
I didn't press the matter further, I could sense his emotions just from his tone. There was anger and sorrow tainting his words, and it became clear where we were going. This was the same hallway that led us to Oryx. Once again, Dagger traversed the darkness heading towards Oryx's throne room. The door on the far side however was now sealed. Last time Oryx opened it, but we didn't have him to invite us inside this time. I guess we were going to have to break in like a certain Hunter had done to Luisa and I yesterday…
"Anybody got any ideas?" Wolf asked, "That punch I did took a hefty bit of Light to use so I won't be doing it again any time soon."
The bunch of us looked around.
"You feel that, Pluto?" I asked feeling a concentrated flow of darkness.
"Yes." he said, "I sense a powerful incantation."
We spread out using nothing but our feeling to guide us. We ended up on opposite sides of the room.
"There." I said marking the tower across from me. Pluto did the same for himself.
"Those runes are holding the door shut."
"A nice little lock, eh?" Luisa commented, I could sense her glaring at Thunder
"How was I supposed to know you two were about to… you know… do that..." Thunder stammered
I'd get him back somehow.
I heard Wolf laughing, and he sounded an awful lot like a vampire character I knew from a show I watched once.
"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW, WOLF?!"
"They're a couple, you idiot! Of course they do that every now and then..."
I made a face under my helmet, trying not to look awkward about it.
"Shall we disable these runes now?" I asked.
Pluto was busy fangirling when the mention of Luisa and I as a couple came up…
"Let the fan boys do their thing..." Luisa said. She rushed over, jumping across a chasm towards one of the tower. I noticed a shrieker open up as soon as she started scanning the tower's power source. Black Spindle made short work of it. However, I failed to remember the death bolts. When I realized my error I got a devious idea. I moved, running towards Thunder, who was busy dispatching a group of Acolytes with Last Word. I slid behind him, grabbed him by his shoulder and dragged him between myself and the bolts.
"PROTECT ME THUNDER?!"
He didn't register what happened until the bolts hit and detonated. The force threw me onto my back. Thunder was alive too but laying flat on his ass, he groaned.
"That's for breaking into my apartment..." I told him dragging him to his feet.
"Heads up!" Luisa yelled
I guess in my running she had managed to get over and destroy the other shrieker. And she did the same thing I did to Thunder. Great minds really did think alike. The bolts blasted both of them backwards. Thunder lay there staring at the ceiling groaning softly.
"Whyyyyyyyyyy..."
"Oh walk it off, ya Mary Sue!" Pluto chided.
This was normal, believe it or not. Since my joining this team and our last serious fight being Oryx, it was nice to do a mission that we didn't have to take so seriously. When the room was cleared of Hive and the batteries bypassed, the door opened. We stepped inside.
The Taken met us there and all hell broke loose. We shot them, stabbed them, and blasted them with god-like energy. When they had been dispatched the door opened in the back of the room. Clearly we weren't going through the rupture, which was fine by me. However the door back behind the rupture wasn't the only one that opened up. More opened on either side and the room filled with Hive. Wolf rushed the Ogre. I turned my attention to the contingent of Hive that had come from our left, rushing them with Luisa at my side. Pluto and Thunder lit up the right side with gun fire and a few throwing knives. I drew Raze Lighter and Luisa drew Bolt Caster, launching disks of lightning at them. I slew anything that didn't die from the disks with Raze and Phoenix Uppercut. I heard a roaring from behind us. When I turned I quickly figured out it wasn't a roar of anger but a cry of terror. I tracked the Ogre that was now flying through the air as it slammed into the far wall. Wolf Twilight Garrisoned toward the poor beast, stomped on its chest hard enough to crack bones before putting the barrel of his shotgun, Immobius, to it's head and squeezing the trigger. I thought Ikora's Invective fired fast. Immobius matched that speed shot for shot. There wasn't much left of whatever brains Ogre's head if any when Wolf was done.
"Shall we move on?" he asked.
Dagger gathered up after Thunder and Pluto stopped tormenting an Acolyte. From what I could tell they were literally playing hacky sack with it. I made a face, thinking they needed to respect the enemy.
"Do we have to?" Thunder said, kicking the poor creature back to Pluto who kicked it straight up to give it some hang time.
"Yes." Luisa said, clearly not amused.
"Fine..."
Pluto blinked up and kicked the Acolyte to the ground. The poor thing was still alive and slowly got up shaking its head. Thunder, without looking, put Last Word to it's head and squeezed the trigger. The five of us got moving.
"Looks like we're on the right track." Thunder said, "Alak-Hul's energy marker is getting stronger."
"Find the Dark Blade," Eris ordered, "Finish this."
The room around the corner was filled with Shriekers and Taken. I made a face.
"Please no more Shrieker blast!" Thunder said diving back around the corner.
I rolled my eyes, "I promise not to use you as a human shield..."
Before we could even really do much, Pluto Blink himself and Wolf into the fray. I picked off enemies with Tlaloc here and there but those two did a lot of the work here, wiping out the Taken in seconds with a shatter Nova bomb and a Fist of Havoc. The Shriekers? They didn't take too kindly to that. Thunder unloaded Stillpiercer on them as did I with Black Spindle. After killing all of them and dodging their death blasts we pushed up ahead, moving into another hallway and then to a bridge overlooking an endless pit. I didn't want to know what was down there, not that any of us would survive the fall. We picked our way down the bridge until we heard Thrall screaming.
"Oh look at that!" Thunder commented drawing Stillpiercer, "They lined up for me."
He fired one round and the entire line of Thrall dropped. A second line appeared from the doorway at the other end of the bridge. Thunder fired once again killing all of them.
"C'mon!" he complained, "That was too easy!"
With all opposition destroyed we crossed the bridge and ended up overlooking a ledge into a pit of darkness. I could just barely make out the ground below.
"I guess this is the cell..." Thunder said.
"Alak-Hul's energy marker?" Wolf asked
"It's maxed out. So either his trail ends here...or he's directly below us..."
"Your fate awaits you." Eris chimed in from the comns, "Good luck."
I made a face, "Cryptic as ever, eh Eris?"
The ex hunter didn't reply.
Pluto and Thunder stepped up first. They looked over the edge before they jumped down. Luisa and I followed them. Wolf came last. When our boots hit the ground we could just barely make out anything in this cell. Though for a prison cell this place was fairly expansive. Then again it was probably cramped as hell for Alak-Hul. We looked around. I heard a breathing sound.
"Alak-Hul..." Eris breathed, "I sense him..."
The ground shook under boot. I saw a shadow approaching, and it a huge ax in hand.
"Contact!" I yelled and started shooting.
The others turned and opened fire. The shadow seemed to just eat the bullets as he got in range. He swung at us. We moved dodging out of the way. When the five of us got to our feet again we opened fire. The Shadow roared and vanished.
"Was that him?" I muttered looking around.
"Unless there's another giant hive monster with an ax pumping out darkness and smothering us with this fog, yeah, I'm pretty sure this guy is our target."
"Perfect." Luisa commented rolling her eyes.
Something morphed out of the darkness and Alak-Hul appeared, towering over Luisa.
"LUISA!" I yelled.
She turned in time to shadestep just out of range of being turned into pulp. The force of the strike threw her into the darkness. I lost track of her.
"Lu! You alright?" I called over comns.
I heard her groaning, "Y-yeah, I'm good. That was close though."
Another noise filled the room. Thrall. Lots of Thrall. I figured now was as good a time as ever to bust out Stormtrance, which I did. I launched my storm forward, ripping through anything stupid enough to get close to me. There were Cursed Thrall too which I avoided like the plague. When my trance ended, I spun around looking back at the destruction I'd caused, smirking for all of a second. When I turned back I ran headlong into about a twelve foot tall monster with a really big ax. That was Alak-Hul! His ax swung down. I smirked blinking away from him. The ax buried itself in the ground kicking up dust and chiton on impact. I opened fire after stepping out of the Void. Alak-Hul didn't take kindly to that but he still walked with that deliberate slowness about him. It was almost like he didn't even care if we killed him. I guessed he knew he was dead one way or another. If we didn't kill him, Oryx would have him tortured and executed eventually. Hell, this was more a mercy killing if anything. He was Hive though, so just throwing his life away wasn't his style, clearly he was still trying to kill us back.
"HEADS UP!" I heard Wolf yell.
Before I could really register what was happening, I saw a Cursed Thrall come screaming through the air towards Alak-Hul. On impact, the little Hive exploded like a grenade, staggering the beast. I Blinked away and ended up behind Wolf.
"Did you just throw a Thrall at me?!" I snapped.
It just now occurred to me he had another one already in hand. He threw it like a dart and smacked the Hive prisoner square in the head.
"Maybe..."
I heard someone make a noise, as if they'd had the wind knocked out of them. Thunder flew passed the two of us, smashing into the wall behind us. He slumped to the ground and just kinda sat there.
"Why do the Hive love throwing me into walls..." he groaned.
A moment later, his friend joined us, having been swatted out of the air by Alak-Hul's ax. Pluto slapped the ground and skid along the dirt towards us. I helped him up.
"You good?" I asked.
Pluto dusted himself off, "I'm fine… he's tougher than I thought he'd be though."
"Shall we kick things up a notch?" Thunder asked standing back up.
"Not yet… if Luisa ends up over here then we will."
"What do you..."
I glanced over and in the dark I could just barely make out Luisa's shape, she sliced through a bunch of Thrall with Bolt Caster before the boss appeared a few feet from her, his ax raised to strike. Luisa raised her blade and actually blocked the strike.
"PLUTO, JAYDEN!" she yelled, "SWORDS NOW!"
I didn't hesitate. The two of us Blinked and rammed our swords through Alak-Hul. He roared dropping his ax. Luisa slide her blade so that the weapon slipped passed her, then she jumped up, ran along the ax's handle before kneeing Alak-Hul in the face hard enough to tear his helmet off. As he stumbled back, Luisa shadestepped, grabbing both, Raze and Dark Drinker. She used Raze Lighter first, taking herself and the blades up in the air. She spun in mid-air spinning with Dark Drinker's Super Massive Black hole. She ripped through Alak-Hul but not enough to kill him sadly. The monster teleported, leaving his ax behind. Wolf Titan skated over towards us and Thunder join us a moment later. Wolf grabbed the ax, and surprisingly enough was able to lift it. He held it for a moment and the second Alak-Hul appeared again, the Dark Blade was met with a swipe from Wolf. He appeared in front of me. Wolf was behind me.
"Down!" he yelled.
We dropped and he spun, swinging the ax over our heads. He caught Alak-Hul in the side, dragged him through with the strike and threw him into the wall across from him.
"FINISH HIM OFF!" Luisa ordered.
We unleashed everything. Thunder entered Gunslinger's Trance, I threw a Nova Bomb and followed that up with Radiance. Pluto did the same but instead of Radiance he used Stormtrance. Luisa tethered him, before blasting him with Golden gun as many times as she could and Wolf popped Hammer of Sol and threw more hammers than I would like to have counted. Even with all of that, the Dark Blade still stood before us. He took three steps towards us before he collapse. I walked over and shot him point blank in his exposed head with Tlaloc just to be sure.
"Eris." Luisa called, "Target has been neutralized."
"YES!" Eris praised, "May his dark soul go screaming into the pit between stars!"
We sat down finally.
"What you have done today, Dagger," she went on, "You have done in their names. Toland. Sai Mota. Omar. Eriana-3. Vell Tarlowe..."
I sat back trying to catch my breath.
"He took everything we had and was still able to walk afterwords..." Pluto commented.
"Is it me, or are we losing our edge?" I asked.
The others remained silent.
"You know, the first step to solving a problem is recognizing that there is one."
Luisa shook her head, "Jayden's right. Dagger's dull. Guys, we need to sharpen ourselves."
"How?" Thunder asked, "I don't know if you've noticed, Lu, but neither Pluto or I were even taking this seriously."
She looked at him, "How far?"
"I was at...maybe fifteen..."
She looked to Pluto.
"Fifteen as well..."
She sighed, "Guys, you need to be at least twenty when we do strikes. The enemy has gotten much stronger recently. Please, let's not have another strike go as bad as this one did..."
I honestly didn't know what she was talking about. Now granted, Oryx had fucked us majorly but Alak-Hul didn't even manage to down one of us. Oh well. Those were the bosses orders.
Pluto and Thunder nodded.
"We underestimated Alak-Hul." Pluto said, "We will not make the same mistake again."
Thunder only grunted agreeing.
"Alright then." Luisa said and summoned her ghost, I felt her playfully wink like always, "Meet you guys back at the bar..."
