Sundance Entry Log 210
The sounds of battle greet the viewer as the feed flickers into focus. It's the Last City, there's no doubt about that given all the Red Legion ships and familiar – if a little wrecked – buildings. Up in the sky, half cut off from the frame is the captured Traveler. Out in center stage is a fight. Zavala is leading a charge, ripping a gun out of an enemy's hands and using it against them.
"You guys need to go!" Hawthorne's voice is close and the camera pans to see her, Skylar, and Cayde. Both Hunters are fully geared, though as always Cayde is helmetless and Skylar's gear seems to be getting worse by the day. Hawthorne doesn't give them much time to reply though, just throws the female Hunter a look before turning on her heels and running straight off the camera. Skylar looks at Cayde and he silently nods his head, taking the lead down an alleyway and away from the fight in front of them.
Sundance follows, watching them wined their way around the building and then look up. The bottom half of a fire escape is still intact and Cayde bends down to give his girlfriend a foothold. She steps in and he throws her as if she weighs nothing. It's the boost she needs to use her air compressors and get the last few feet up, landing on the cold metal. She piovotes, wrapping an arm around one sturdy metal part and leans over the edge and down. The Exo does the opposite of what she did, jumping up, using his air boost and then grabbing her outstretched hand. She definitely doesn't think he weighs anything, her body lurching and losing her hold on the metal for a section before she grunts and throws herself backwards for momentum. Cayde gets a foot on the ledge and rights himself letting go.
"Well, that went well," he comments, and Skylar tilts her head up, probably rolling her eyes behind her helmet.
Then they're moving again, running up the three floors of zigzagging stairs to reach the roof. There's a small pack of Psions waiting for them, and they dodge out of the way of a mental blast. Cayde blows the head off of two instantly with his hand cannon and Skylar kills the third with a knife embedding itself in the creature's respirator, blowing it up.
"There are some targets at our destination!" Cayde yells as he goes for the last few enemies, popping one in the head again and then skidding to the side of one and cutting its throat wide open on the way by.
Skylar, on the other hand, has pulled her sniper rifle out, crouching to get a better angle on the building across from them where three Gladiators are. She clicks a side button twice and the glowing portion of the Borealis prototype flashes from purple to blue and then to orange. She waits one more second and then pulls the trigger, the harsh 'bang' reverberating off the mic. After the first round, the next two come faster, and the viewer watches the orange shield around the Cabal break along with their helmets as they fall dead to the ground. Skylar lets out a breath and stands back up, turning and seeing Cayde standing there, the viewer having seen him walk up behind her. The Exo is giving her a rather interesting look, his jaw tilted slightly to the side, his hand under his chin.
"What?" Skylar asks, perplexed. The Vanguard leader just hums and tilts his head.
"Nothing. I just love watching you work," he muses and gets a small snort as a reward. He grins in the only way an Exo can. "You know this is technically our first real mission together. I'm super stoked."
He nods his head approvingly before a bullet quite suddenly slips past his head, nearly clipping his hood. He lets out a startled sound, cursing, but Skylar is already turning back around, her gun barking out again. There's a scream off-screen that tells of her hitting the mark. She looks over her shoulder at her boyfriend and even with her face hidden, her posture gives away her scowl.
"We can bask in the glory of it once we knock Gaul off his stupid ship and free the Traveler. Now let's go! I really wish you'd wear a damn helmet," she grumbles. She's not much fun on the battlefield, but maybe it's because of the stakes and the fact that Cayde's head almost got blown off. Cayde huffs, walking towards her.
"Hey, you try to find one that fits me and doesn't screw up my vision. I'm not the only Exo with a horn that doesn't wear one." It's a good argument, but her posture doesn't change, and he clears his throat. "Right. let's get going."
The time on the clock ticks by as they make their way across a wooden walkway to the building where four Red Legion now lay dead on the ground. The large flag ship is closer now, and as the feed watches Cayde sneak up on the last remaining Legionary and push him off, it becomes clear this is where they're going to stay. Cayde rubs his hands together and then waves at someone down below before turning back around and unclipping something from his back that was under his cloak. The teleporter drops to the ground with a small clatter and he winces.
"Get it set up," Skylar tells him, her sniper rifle at the ready as she looks around the area, eyeing the tops of buildings. "I'll do what I can to keep it clear." With her words, her gun snaps up to her eye and another bang echoes in the air. "I wish this thing had a silencer on it. I doubt these shots will go ignored for much longer."
"Just do what you can, Sky. This shouldn't take me too long," Cayde grunts, his hands prying at the circular object and yanking at it. "Okay, maybe a little longer than I thought. Damn stubborn thing."
Another bang of Skylar's gun half drowns out his words and she glances back before her head snaps forward again and she jogs over to the far edge of the building. The camera zooms out more and it's clear the ghost is moving to a spot more covered to protect itself.
"Damn it," Skylar snaps, detaching two tripmines that she probably got from Z and sticking them to the ground at her feet. "We have incoming!"
She backs up, taking out another mine and throwing it onto the side of the little building where an inside staircase is housed. All three mines blink with cascading red light and Skylar crouches again, placing herself a few feet in front of Cayde as he hisses at the Vex tech in annoyance.
The troop of Cabal comes up in waves of jetpack-fueled jumps. The first three don't make it past the landing as they set off the mines there, their howls lost in the explosion. The next two fall to well-aimed sniper shots before the remainder get too close and the huntress is forced to swap weapons.
Meanwhile, Cayde finally manages to yank the teleporter open, the tech unfurrowing into a larger, flatter circle with blinking buttons on it. He pauses to check on Skylar and quickly finds her getting overrun, one of the Phalanx charging her with its shield. She jumps up, landing on the bulky thing and rams her new arm guard forward, the blade at the end sinking easily into the beast's head. Cayde nods in approval before quickly jumping to the side as one of the Legionary gets too close and shoots at him. He draws his own gun and pops the head off.
This goes on for quite a while, a good five minutes passing as the two Hunters thin the onslaught of enemies, both of them doing rather well despite the lack of their Light. It's not until Cayde jumps away from a war beast that he realizes too late a Gladiator is waiting for him. He dodges – or tries to – only for one of the blades to run straight through his left leg, severing it. His scream has Skylar, who is finishing off the War Beast from before, turning.
"Cayde!" Her Fated Heart is up and aimed in an instant, firing off four rounds that break the Cabal's shield and then slice through its rebreather. It screams, fluid going everywhere and Cayde shoves his shoulder into it as he falls, knocking the dying enemy off the building entirely. Skylar glances around as she hurries over to him, picking off one last Psion as it tries to fire a mental blast her way. She skids to a stop beside him as he crouches, cursing under his breath and clutching at the sparking end of his knee. Setting her gun down, her hand flutters around his own before grasping at his shoulder.
"Are you okay? Cayde?!" Panic laces her voice. It has the camera moving from its safe spot over to Sundance's partner. The ghost hovers close to the wound, the damage nearly filling the screen with sparking lights and black fluid leaking out. A blue light flickers across the screen a few times, a Ghost's healing beam pulsing over the wound. "Cayde?" Skylar whispers, because he still hasn't said anything. After a moment he groans and lets go of the wound.
"Fine," he breaths. "I'm fine, it took a minute to get my systems to shut off the pain sensors on that leg. Shit, that hurt." The wound isn't bleeding much at all after a few more flickers of light and so the feed zooms back out to see Skylar rubbing the shoulder she's holding as Cayde straightens his back and looks around. "Are we clear?"
"For the moment-" Skylar's words are cut off by the familiar crack of a gun and then Skylar's shield crackles and snaps, breaking. "Traveler's fucking asshole," she snarls, standing up again and switching back to the Borealis. "I know you're hurt but…Can you still finish the portal set up?"
She's already aiming down the sights and then pulling the trigger as she talks. She has to put aside her worry in order to keep them both safe, but it doesn't take a genius to know that under her helmet, she's anything but calm. Cayde waits for the sound to fade before slowly nodding his head.
"Yeah, just, give me a minute." He sits down and begrudgingly starts scuttling the few feet back to the ready and waiting device. He starts clicking buttons as Skylar walks forward again, slowly moving to shadow him, the shimmer of her slowly recharging shield flickering across her body. Sundance blinks, the screen flickering as she focuses the frame in on her partner.
"It is imperative that we take care of those injuries Cayde."
He glances at the screen but quickly is back at work, another bang of Skylar's rifle going off in the background. "Then do it. I might need your help with this so make it fast."
His words are choppy, still pained from the missing limb despite what he told Skylar. With another blink, the Ghost moves in even closer before Cayde suddenly smacks the thing with a fist and then makes a sound of approval.
"Wait no – Got it!" He looks past the camera. "Skylar let's-"
There's a concussive sound of two near simultaneous bangs from rifles and it's quickly followed up by something splattering on the ground. Cayde's hand is suddenly gone, exploding into shrapnel and his surprised pained shout could be for either event. The feed suddenly cuts off in a hurry, the sound of the Exo screaming Skylar's name echoing into the darkness leaving a sense of tangible fear and emptiness that stretches across the void of space.