Chapter 45: Taken

A month had passed since Oryx's arrival in the solar system, and since then, the Last City has been sent into wartime status. Immediately after returning to the Tower, Skolas sent out an emergency rally call to the other houses, telling them that Oryx had arrived. The other houses wasted no time and moved to the City to serve as defenders in case of a full scale invasion by the Hive.

In the shadows, Zander and Esta had been planning for the kidnapping of their nephew so they could hand him over to Oryx as penance for Crota's death. Unknown to them, not all of the Commandments were exactly on board with the plan, and even recalled what happened when Alex got angry.

This would be the smartest thing they had done so far…

(Meanwhile)

Mara Sov and her fleet were flying towards Oryx and his own army as they met over the rings of Saturn not far from the moon of Titan. Right now, they were engaged in a dog fight as asteroids flew past the Awoken fighter class ships and plasma blasts flew everywhere.

However, the Taken King was not in the mood for a battle with these beings. [Would you like to activate the super weapon, father?] Ir Anuk, the eldest of Oryx's twin daughters, questioned.

[Yes I would, daughter. Prepare it at once.] The Taken King ordered his child.

[Yes father.] Ir Anuk nodded. Then Ir Halak floated towards him.

[This is indeed intriguing. These Awoken are led by one of their rulers, Mara Sov.] She told her father.

[One of? There are more?] Oryx asked.

[Yes there are, father. Their own King, Vulcan Sol IX, is the other ruler.] Ir Halak replied, getting a nod from her father.

[Is he present in this assault or is he elsewhere?] He inquired.

[He is elsewhere, and according to our forces, he is responsible for the deaths of many of Crota's forces including Omnigul, and the Commandments of Truth and Faith.] Ir Halak nodded.

[What of the Commandment of Pacifism?] Oryx questioned, and was confused when he heard a groan of exasperation come from his daughter. [... Something embarrassing happened to that one, I'm assuming?] He asked dully.

[The Commandment of Pacifism was tricked into wiping itself from existence. Apparently it was a… *Groan* Vex Gorgon.] Ir Halak groaned, prompting Oryx to facepalm at that.

[Why a Vex Gorgon was even permitted to become a Commandment at all, I will never know.] He sighed. Shaking his head free of that line of thought, he turned to his daughter once more. [Is the superweapon ready to be activated?] He questioned.

[Yes Father] The Death Singer nodded. With that, the King went to decimate his foes.

(Elsewhere)

Vulcan was preparing the Awoken ground forces to assist with the efforts across the system, when he was suddenly stopped by Petra, the Queen's Wrath having a grief filled expression on her face.

"... Petra? What happened?" He asked, fearing the worst.

"Oryx's Dreadnaught… it destroyed the fleet. They're… they're all gone…." She told him, her voice shaky. Vulcan's heart sank when he heard that… And then he felt rage begin to burn in it. There would be hell to pay!

"Oryx will pay for this transgression against us!" He growled angrily, before he sank again. "Oh, poor Ana and the children are going to be deviated." He said shakily.

(Elsewhere)

Right now, Zavala, Cayde, Ikora and the Dragon and Serpent Sins were currently discussing the very same attack, with an image of the Dreadnaught appearing on the table.

"One blast from that weapon is all it took… How do we even board the damn thing if it just blasts any non-Hive ship that tries to get close?" Cortona wondered as she analyzed the hologram of the Dreadnaught critically.

"Did Mara even know how powerful that weapon was when she went in there?" Zavala questioned.

"How could she know? How could anyone?" Ikora rebuked.

"I can only imagine how devastating this must be for her family." Cortona said sadly. "Especially poor Percible, Magnus and Gwen. Barely a year old and they just lost their mom."

"And right after Ana just had Clovis II." Alex hissed. "Damn the Hive."

"Yeah, poor kids. What do we do about Oryx's weird toops, though?" Cayde asked right as a familiar glowing rock landed on the projector, shutting it off.

"They… Are Taken." Eris said as she walked in, causing everyone to turn to her.

"Eris. Get your rock, off my map." Cayde ordered, but was ignored.

"It hasn't spoken since Crota fell. It speaks now, because Oryx has arrived here to fulfill the final covenant of his son." The woman said.

"Yeah, tell us something we don't know." The voice of Lara said as she leaned against a nearby wall, Ace being with her as well. The two were now fifteen and they were also really close… And Lara was currently very mad.

"But… Why fight the Cabal?" Ikora asked in confusion.

"Not fighting… Taking. Controlling their will." Eris replied before the projector turned on, prompting her to turn and saw the Hunter Vanguard holding her orb.

"Then we attack them. Kill these Taken until he's all that's left." Zavala stated.

"Whatever you kill, Oryx will replace it." Eris retorted.

"The Dreadnaught then, can we attack it?" Ikora questioned.

"Not with that weapon active. One blast wiped out the entire Awoken fleet. We wouldn't be able to get close." Zavala declined as Cayde tossed Eris' orb back to her and looked down in thought before an idea came to him.

"I gotta go… See about a ship." He said as he turned and walked out of the hall.

"Cayde! Our discussion is not yet concluded!" Zavala called after him.

"Oh I know, that's why I'm leaving." Cayde called back. "Come on you two." He told the two teens.

"Right behind you." They replied as they walked after him.

Meanwhile with the rest of the siblings, they were all grieving. Luckily though, their friends and mentors were there for them.

"It's okay Nicky, it's okay…" Luz cooed to the boy softly as she hugged him.

"M-mom… Why…?" Nick sobbed as he clung to Luz like a lifeline.

Tristan was also trying to comfort Natasha. "I swear if I ever get my hands on Oryx, I'm gonna murder him." He told her as he held the Titan loving girl close.

"You better…" Natasha choked out.

But as the kids were all trying to comfort and grieve, a dark portal appeared behind them and two figures began stepping out of it…

(Elsewhere)

Alex landed in the Cosmodrome near where he had scrapped Sepiks back in the day and was greeted by numerous Taken roaming about.

"Um Cayde? We have a problem." Snake said as soon as they landed.

"Let me guess: Covered in chitin, smells like shit?" He guessed jokingly.

"Not Hive. Taken." Snake corrected.

"... I thought we'd have more time." Cayde said to himself, feeling disturbed by how fast the Taken were spreading.

"Apparently not…" The Exo sighed.

"Well according to Skolas, the Fallen should be trying to do crowd control with them." Cayde told them.

"Yeah, I can tell." Alex nodded, taking notice of the Fallen around the area fighting the Taken.

"Okay so I'm sending you the coordinates of my stash right now. You get it Snake Eyes?" The vanguard asked.

"Got it. What made you choose the ball at the top of the colony ship, exactly?" Said Ghost wondered as the Reaper started heading in.

"I can't even remember at the moment. I think I liked the thrill of the challenge it took to get up there." The elder Exo replied with a shrug on his end.

"What's this?" Alex asked as he picked up a playing card that he found on a catwalk. "A playing card?" He said aloud.

"Oh look! You're near one of the caches I hid there!" Cayde said exuberantly. "I had playing cards act as place holders. Spades was for Tex-Machanica. Diamonds were for Suros. Clubs for Hakke. And hearts were for… Well, this girl I knew."

"What was her name?" Snake asked curiously.

"Hey, don't you have a stealth drive to find?" The Hunter Vanguard deflected.

"Right, right." Alex said with a roll of his optics. With that, he went in and walked by where he scrapped Sepiks (with Snake reminiscing about the days where Sepiks was their biggest problem) and fought through several Taken and got on an elevator that didn't look all that stable.

"Cayde, when was the last time you rode this elevator?" Alex asked warily as it started to ascend.

"Last week with Ace, why?" The mechanical man asked.

"Did it crash to the bottom of the shaft?" The Dragon Sin asked.

"Nope. It was totally stable the whole way." Cayde replied, reassuring the duo. With that, the ride up went on in silence before Snake spoke up again.

"From this height, I can pick up Taken energy readings throughout the Cosmodrome." He said as he did some scans. "You know, I was here looking for you when the first Fallen crews came by. It was one Skiff at first, but a few months later the Cosmodrome was theirs. The Taken did this in hours." He continued.

"Yeesh." The Hunter groaned. "... You think that girl Cayde knew was Ace's mom?" He asked his Ghost.

"That would make sense, wouldn't it?" Snake mused.

"Poor Ace." Alex sighed, right before the elevator started to wobble. "Oh SCRAP!" He yelled.

Right at that moment, it reached the top and the Nightstalker didn't waste a second and jumped out of the elevator car just in time for it to fall. Alex breathed heavily as he tried to pull himself together.

"Dammit, Cayde! You said it was stable!" He cursed as he got back to his feet.

"My bad." The Exo told him. "Okay now be careful, Ace put a slew of traps on that level, and let me tell ya, when it comes to traps and pranks, that kid is an evil genius!" He said in a proud tone.

"I am going to die numerous times…" Alex groaned as he walked up to a terminal. "And the controls to this bridge are disabled. Lovely." He sighed in exasperation. Deciding to climb to the next level, they started scaling the building.

"I'm picking up some power flowing through those cables. I can track them back to the source." Snake told him.

"Lead the way." The Exo said, and Snake began leading him to the top.

"We're still waiting for details on this plan of yours, Cayde." Ikora said suddenly.

"Oh, right. Keep going, you two. I'll be right back." Cayde said before he ended the call for the moment.

"How much farther?" Alex asked his partner.

"Another floor or two." Snake replied.

And so, Alex kept on climbing the structure and soon they reached a power transformer.

"Alright, let me at that thing." Snake urged. The Dragon Sin let his partner do his thing right as Cayde came back and the bridge started moving into place.

"Alright, I'm back. Hey! Bridge's already moving. It took me days to get that thing working. It's a little unstable, so watch yourselves on that thing." Cayde said as the bridge locked into place… And then the midsection of it fell away. Alex and Snake stared at the broken bridge blankley before the Exo facepalmed.

"Cayde, you idiot…" He murmured.

"Hey, my pistons may be rusty but my hearing is as sharp as ever!" He told them.

"I know." Alex deadpanned before jumping into an open vent that landed him in front of the bridge where he then took a running start and jumped across.

"Okay, we're in." Snake reported.

"Alright, just head forward and you should reach the cache… Assuming that the Taken aren't already there." Cayde told them.

"It's as if you wanna get them killed." Ace chimed in.

"You're not helping, Ace…" Alex grumbled as he pressed on. Eventually, after fighting through a dozen taken (and nearly getting launched off by a few Phalanxes) Alex reached a grav lift placed by the Fallen. Before he entered it, he took notice of an open vent and went into it to see where it led.

"Oh, hey! You found the Cache I was talking about! Help yourself to the gear, but leave the Exotics for me. That goes double for the Gjallarhorn I stored there." Cayde told them.

"So much for replacing the one I lost." The Dragon Sin sighed in dismay. He had lost his old Gjallarhorn to an Ogre some years back, and had gained an increased hatred for them as a result.

As they entered the cache, they saw that a group of Fallen led by none other than Harlequin were busy sweeping the area. He dropped down and they all whirled around with their weapons aimed at him, but relaxed when they saw it was just him.

"Sorry about that, Alex. The Taken have us all jumpy." The Grizzly Sin apologized. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I'm here to get a stealth drive that Cayde hid at the top of the colony ship some years back, and came to this spot in particular since it's one of Cayde's caches." Alex replied.

"Really? Huh. Fancy that." Harlequin said in surprise. "... Ya know, that would explain the traps…" He deadpanned.

"That's Ace's handywork." Alex explained.

"... That kid has way too much time on his hands." The Vandal said.

"Tell me about it…" Alex sighed, recalling the pranks Ace used as trap making practice. He was still trying to get the feathers out of his chassis! "I'm still picking feathers out of my backside."

"I'm not surprised, given the size of your backside." Snake chuckled.

'OI!' Alex thought back indignantly before he shook his head. "Anyway, when you get this stuff back to the Tower, reserve some gear for me, would you?" He requested.

"Heh, you got it." The Vandal replied with a chuckle. With that, Alex left through the vent. When he got out, he went into the gravity lift and rode it to the top of the colony ship. When the lift deposited him, he was greeted by more of Harlequin's group who turned to him and beckoned him over, but before the Exo could take a step, an explosion rocked the area and killed them. In their place was a bunch of Taken appeared led by a visage of Oryx.

"Oh fuck!" The Dragon Sin groaned.

"Dragon Sin!" The visage roared as it started shooting Dark bolts at him. Alex immediately began moving and took cover behind a crate (which was somehow strong enough to take the punishment from Oryx's attacks).

"Oryx really does hate us, doesn't he?" Snake asked.

"Alex!" Cortona called.

"Sorta busy here, love! What is it?!" Alex replied as he shot a Taken Wizard in the head.

"It's Tristan and Elizabeth, Esta and Zander came here and took them, and nearly killed the other kids!" She cried. Alex immediately froze, fear for his children overtaking him… Right before rage overtook him. Without warning, he formed his scythe and quickly dispatched the visage of Oryx.

"It would seem that my so-called 'brothers' have chosen death…" Alex said darkly, already coming up with ways to punish them for kidnapping his children. Without wasting anymore time, he got the stealth drive and trasmatted back to his ship before beelining it back to the Tower.

(Elsewhere)

Tristan was led by two Hive knights to Oryx's altar and knelt before the King, his head being forced down to allow Oryx to behead him. And Elizabeth…

She was chained to a stone Hive table with runes surrounding her and the Death Singers were chanting and blasting her with dark magic, causing her to scream while her body was forcibly being changed.

"Any last words, child?" Oryx asked the boy. Tristan turned his head to glare at Oryx.

"When I come back to life as a Guardian, I'm going to make you beg for death for what you've done to me and my sister, you bastard!" He yelled furiously.

Oryx didn't reply. He simply raised his sword and brought it down, cleaving the boy in half, splattering blood everywhere. With the Death singers, Ir Halak held Elizabeth's head still while her sister altered the girl's body and mind.

[When we're finished, you will be one of the Deep's children, you pretty little whore.] The female Hive hissed in the girl's ear.

"WHEN I'M OUT OF HERE, YOU'RE ALL DEAD!" Elizabeth screamed angrily through the pain as she tried to resist the changes happening to her.

[You say that like it will happen…] Ir Halak chuckled as the process continued.

Off to the side, Monty and Juna watched with uncertain looks and felt like they'd made a terrible mistake before they looked at each other with concerned looks in their eyes.

Dragon Emperor0: This isn't gonna end well, is it?

ThermalsniperN7: Oryx just made the worst mistake in the universe: He messed with the Dragon Sin of Wrath. This can only end in merciless slaughter for the Hive, and it won't be an honorable one for them, either. Alex and Cortona are gonna be the angriest couple in the solar system when they find out what happened to Elizabeth.

Dragon Emperor0: And Tristan, don't forget about him.

ThermalsniperN7: Oh yeah. Kinda hard to. He's gonna be out for the blood of the Osmium dynasty when he gets back to life. On another note, Monty and Juna seem to be coming to their senses.

Dragon Emperor0: About time too… I shudder to think what they plan to do with Elizabeth after whatever they're doing is done.

ThermalsniperN7: Knowing how twisted the HIve are… Let's just say that the entire Dreadnaught might become a ghost ship when Alex and company are done.

Dragon Emperor0: Yeah… Well, see you guys next week!