Author's note: Just getting this out of the way now. The reason I didn't wrap up the Venus arc with a strike like it's usually done is because there are three strikes on that planet, so me and Dragon Emperor0 decided that three consecutive strikes would be bad for the story.
Chapter 17: The Exclusion Zone
A week after Alex suddenly stepped up his game and warned the Reef of Saphirix's breakout plan for Skolas (and filling them in on the Hive-Fallen hybrids), the Sin duo was just at the bar downing shots right now after a rather irritating Mayhem Rumble session that escalated into them teaming up to trash the enemy team.
"Ugh, I cannot believe that actually happened." The Exo grumbled as he towned another shot.
"I know, and they even had the nerve to taunt us! US! Were they rookies or just arrogant?!" Vulcan growled as he downed his own shot.
"This coming from the actual Sin of Pride?" Alex asked as he continued to drink. "There's the pot calling the kettle black."
Vulcan made the wise decision to remain silent at that.
"But yeah, I can't believe they taunted us like that either. They were lucky I didn't go into assault mode." He added before he chuckled. "Though seeing them running from my scythe is always a treat." He said with an amused tone.
"Assault mode?" The Titan asked.
"Remember how I killed Quadron back on Venus?" The Hunter asked, getting a nod in return. "Well, after a bit of thinking, I decided to call it assault mode. When you think about it, it kinda fits." He mused.
"Ah." Vulcan nodded. "Well our next stop should probably be Mars, though I'm a little concerned about one thing."
"Which is…?" Alex asked with a raised eye-plate.
"The Cabal Exclusion Zone. Word is that it's nearly impossible to get past. Not that I'm scared of it or anything, but it still seems like a daunting obstacle." The man said. "Though it'll be an interesting way to test myself."
"True… I may need to get some new gear, though." The Dragon Sin muttered as he looked down at his current armor. "I don't think this set is the best choice for going to Mars." He added.
"Well we'll need to go soon. No telling what the Vex may be doing right now." The Lion Sin nodded.
"We'll leave in the morning. Like I said, I need some new gear." The Exo stated.
-Warpspace, the next day-
Alex and Vulcan were now on their way to Mars. The Exo hadn't been able to get any new gear like he had hoped to, so he was forced to make do with what he had for the time being.
"The Cabal control Mars with an iron fist and set up an exclusion zone when they arrived. No one gets in or out without them knowing." Snake briefed as they traveled.
"And according to recent video chatter, they're engaged in a war against the Vex." Sentry added.
"So we should be able to take advantage of the chaos to carry out our mission." Vulcan added.
"And once we do that, we can charge the Gate Lord's eye." Alex nodded as they exited warpspace and dove down to a landing zone, arriving on the desert sands of Mars, Vulcan's landing causing the sand beneath his feet to turn to molten glass as he released his seal.
"We can't summon our Sparrows. There's a jammer nearby, though. Highlighting it now." Snake said as he set up a waypoint.
"Okay, let's move." The Exo said as he and Vulcan made their way to their target.
As soon as they got there, they were relieved that there was no sign of the Cabal. "Alright Snake, Sentry. Time to get to work." The two told their Ghosts.
The two drone's went to work on the Cabal systems and accidentally tripped an alarm, causing the two to look around in alarm. Before they could say anything, the door suddenly opened, revealing a Cabal squad waiting on the other side.
"I think we just activated a failsafe." Sentry said as she retreated to Vulcan's inventory.
"What are those things?!" Alex yelled as they ducked behind a wall.
"Cabal Legionaries and Phalanxes! We'll need to get creative with our grenades for the latter!" Vulcan replied as he threw a grenade at the feet of a pair of Phalanxes, which exploded and killed them a moment later.
"These guys blow up planets and moons for getting in their way, just so you know what we're dealing with." Snake added as Alex fired a Gjallahorn rocket at the aliens.
"How fascinating." Alex deadpanned sarcastically. The rocket blew up and killed most of them, but they were soon replaced by even bigger ones. "... Vulcan?" He beckoned.
"On it." He replied as the Titan took out his ax and charged at the now surprised aliens. With his giant ax he started slicing and hacking away with his giant weapon and even grabbing one Legionary by the head and melting it's helmet before causing it to explode.
"Looks like they're on the run!" Alex called as a Centurion bellowed an order for its forces to retreat. Once they were gone, they suddenly received a notification on their huds.
"Okay, Sparrows linked. Let's ride." Snake said as the two Sins of the Last City summoned their Sparrows and darted off towards their destination.
"There's a spire." Vulcan said as a large stone pillar came into view, and it was right in the middle of a Vex vs Cabal warzone.
"... Let 'em kill each other. Not our problem." Alex shrugged as he darted for the spire. As they approached the Spire, the two saw it was being guarded by a pair of smaller aliens called Psions, and a massive Cabal wielding a machine gun called a Colossus.
Alex looked at the 'guard detail' before chuckling. "I got this." He said as he whipped out Gjallarhorn and fired a single rocket at the trio of aliens, killing them instantly.
Going up to the spire, both Snake and Sentry got to work, but realized they needed an access key code, luckily though, the Colossus Alex killed had just that. As soon as they had the key, both Ghosts continued unimpeded, right until a massive ship appeared and the biggest Cabal they had seen yet appeared right in front of them. It was the Dust Eater's Primus, Val Ka'Hul.
"You wanna take him, or should I?" Alex asked like this wasn't that big of a deal.
"By all means." The Titan gestured to the Cabal.
"Very well, then." The Exo shrugged. He then conjured his scythe in dual mode and charged at his quarry. The giant alien tried to shoot at him with his concussion rifle, but the shots weren't fast enough to hit the charging Guardian. Once he was in reach, Alex delivered a vicious slash to the Primus' leg, causing him to drop to one knee in pain.
A second later, the creature stood and then stomped on him, sending him flying back. Alex dug his scythes into the ground to slow his slide before glaring at the Cabal in front of him. He then switched his scythe to single mode and threw it at the Cabal commander, surprising him. That surprise was what kept Val Ka'Hul from dodging and, as such, was decapitated, his blood spilling onto the ground of Mars.
"And downfalls the Primus of the Dust Eaters." Alex said. "How's everything going, guys?" He called to the Ghosts.
"Just finished, the eye is fully charged." Sentry said.
"And I have no idea what's about to happen." Snake added.
The two watched as the spire started to get to work, the first of many next steps was just taken, and now it was time to follow them through to the end, wherever that may be.
-The Tower, later that day-
"Wait, you guys think you have a way to get into the Black Garden?" Cayde asked after the Sin duo finished their explanation.
"Yeah. We have a Gate Lord's eye that we finished charging, but we don't know where the gateway to the Black Garden itself is." Alex replied as he held up the Vex eye in question.
"But are you certain that you'll be able to fight your way through and destroy the Darkness at its core?" Ikora asked. "Many have tried and just as many have not succeeded."
"You do realize who you're talking to, right?" The Dragon Sin asked the Warlock Vanguard with a raised eye-plate.
"If at first you don't succeed, you're not us." The Lion Sin boasted with his signature pride showing.
The Vanguard stared at them for a moment before they let out a few chuckles. They should've seen that coming, but they didn't. If they were being honest, confidence like this was something that was very much needed for the times ahead.
"Okay, that aside, I need you to come with me so I can get you kitted up for this, Al. Can't lose one of the best Hunters second only to yours truly now, can we?" Cayde said with a smile, causing his fellow Exo to chuckle.
"No we can't. Let's see what you got." Alex replied as the two Exos left.
"And as for you, Vulcan, I want a full report of all that happened in your many visits to the reef on my desk by day's end. Understood?" Zavala told the man, who was currently three times his size.
"I do not see the point, Commander, but alright." The fellow Titan nodded as he left.
-Later, Alex-7's room, night time-
After getting some new gear, Alex sat in his room as he looked out of his window while he sat in a chair with Nyx on his lap, the lavender-white worm having grown a bit recently (not much, only by 1 inch) in response to the light he's been feeding her. He knew that Hive worms would grow in size and get hungrier as a result, and he was really hoping that he wouldn't have to get rid of Nyx or, even worse, kill her. The thought alone made him scared for her well being.
'Please don't let it come to that…' He thought fearfully. Like any pet owner, he had grown attached to his pet and wished to enjoy as much time with her as he could before anything happened.
As Nyx laid on his lap, Alex then pulled out the ring he and Vulcan found on Venus, rolling it in his hand he then looked at Snake Eyes. "Hey, Snake, call Cayde real quick." The Exo told his Ghost.
As the Ghost called their mentor, the older Exo answered. "Yello? Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard here." The voice of the Vanguard's laziest member responded.
"Cayde, does the name Ana Bray ring any bells with you?" The younger Exo asked. He got silence in return, most likely due to the unexpected question.
".,. Yeah I know her, we fought together at the battles of Six Fronts, Twilight Gap and were on the same hunting squad during the Great Hunt. Why?" Replied the older hunter.
"Me and Vulcan found a ring that belongs to her and an old camp site she was using on Venus, and judging from the evidence, she was probably there in the past month or so." Alex told him. "I was wondering if you'd like for me to try and find her."
"I'll see what I can do. Once I find her, I'll send word to ya." The horned Exo told his subordinate.
"Got it. Thanks. Bye." Alex replied.
"Buh bye." Was the last response before the call ended.
Alex then laid back and looked up at the ceiling while he stroked Nyx. "I wonder what I'll find if I go poking around Clovis Bray's facilities?" He wondered aloud.
(Elsewhere)
-Hellas Basin, Mars-
A Ghost that had a Alchemical Sunrise shell on was floating around the Clovis Bray facility in the Hellas Basin when it found the corpse of an Exo woman half buried in the ice.
The Ghost scanned the corpse a few times and got a positive reading each time. "Well, looks like things have changed." The small drone said in a female tone. She then proceeded to bring her new Guardian to life.
The woman took in a deep breath as she returned to life and looked at herself, now in Warlock garb. Turning to the reflective surface of a sheet of ice, she was able to see her face. Her face looked like it was streamlined and smooth, as expected for a female Exo and was almost in the shape of a narrowed skull. She also had a pair of what looked like antennae for audio sensors.
Looking down at her body she found that under her white Warlock robes she had a very alluring figure. She was around 5'9" with an hourglass figure which consisted of a perky D-cup rack, heart shaped rear, a slim waist and perfectly wide hips that were supported by a pair of smooth and sexy looking thighs and legs. Her color scheme was simple: White outer plating with black under color, orange eyes and a golden mouth light.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Guardian." The Ghost said, getting the Exo woman's attention. "I'm Hawk. Do you know who you are?" The now introduced Hawk asked her Guardian.
The woman was silent for a minute before her brain's systems informed her of her designated name. "C-Cortona, my name is Cortona-54." She told her Ghost.
"Well then Cortona, it's nice to meet you. We better get you home to the Last City, this is no place for a lady like you to be sitting in." Hawk told her as the wind howled around them, indicating a blizzard was brewing.
"Alright…" The new Warlock nodded as she got up. Though she kept having small flashes every so often, memories of another Exo, a male one, one with the number 7 painted on his forehead…
Author's note: Alright, meet Cortona-54, the new Warlock of the story. Also, in regards to new Sins in the story: In order to increase the variety of options, they don't have to be all Guardians. Some could be Fallen, if desired.
Dragon Emperor0: Though the good news is, Cortona here will be playing the role of the Serpent Sin of Envy. Also, fun fact: She's also a reference to three characters, Diane from Seven Deadly Sins, Elizabeth from Seven Deadly Sins, and Cortana from Halo.
ThermalsniperN7: Yep. More of her story will be revealed in the future, so stay tuned for it.