Indomitable
(A/N: Before, when I started the last chapter, this story had 1500 views. Now, starting this one, there's over 2100. 600 views between chapters, excuse me?! I've gotten some second opinions, since the reviews here have been ambiguous, and I realize this has distanced a bit from what you may have expected. Because of previous practice (Twin Humanities) and the feedback I received (albeit in the form of hate-pages), I am showing absolutely everything I know about Morik. This chapter will end the Vanguard arc of the story, and its effects on him will become apparent later. Lastly, fair warning: other chapters were not above 4200 words. This one well exceeds 6000)
Six Torch Hammer shots burned purple trails through the air, exploding on the uneven chunks five Guardians hid behind.
"This is impossible! How can we fight them if they don't die?!" said Blytz.
"Interval timing has changed completely," said Kaara. "They are no longer reverting to just one second before, where they would need that same second to recharge. The Heart itself is reverting them, in the same location, to the state they were in when revived. I'm assuming they also have their own individual ability to revert, just like the others we fought. Two reversals on one Praetorian."
"We would need to use all our light just to kill one group twice in the same instant, then what would we do about the next group, or the one after?!" said Azariah.
"Physical method will be best, then," said Morik, sitting on the floor to be low enough to take cover. Even still, the swept back horns of his helmet poked out above cover.
"And how do you expect to get close enough before they vaporize you?" said Azariah. "If you go down, we lose Enki too. And it would take two of us to revive you two, who would get killed in the process, which would take two more of us to revive. It would be one big chain reaction that would end with us dead like everyone else who came here."
"Juggernaut shields can absorb lethal damage, but only while in motion," said Morik. "Break shields as I approach, break again when Praetorians revert, break again, kill again."
"... If you fail," said Azariah, trailing off.
"Kell must be strong. Kell of Light must be stronger," said Morik. His tone gave the impression of any human accepting death and trying to reassure those who cared.
Azariah hung her head for a moment, shook it, and looked over at him.
"I'm ready when you are."
"I've got some rockets from destroying that hallway of Goblins," said Blytz. "Two Truth shots should break the shields of all six, if I space the shots right. They'll fly right past you, though."
"Do what works," said Morik. He checked his shrapnel launcher, making sure he was reloaded and had spare ammo.
"What about the next group?" said Soren.
"I've got three shots in the launcher, and three in reserve. Unless I can get close to the Praetorians when we down them, that'll be all I have. One rocket is good to break the shields of three of them if they're close enough together. That's why I need the two, because those ones are spread out a bit."
"Prepare," said Morik, shifting to his knees and readying his shrapnel launcher.
Blytz stored his pulse rifle and manifested Truth, waiting for Morik to make the first move.
"I go!" said Morik, spinning, jumping over the metal chunk, and breaking into a sprint. The Juggernaut shield, a Striker ability, snapped into place in front of him. The circular shield glowed blue and crackled with Arc light, protecting Morik only from attacks originating in front of him. His sudden movement disrupted the Praetorians' aiming, only two shots of the next volley hitting his Juggernaut shield. The shield purpled, but that moment, two rockets flew past Morik on either side, directly striking two Praetorians. The next volley was only four shots, but they all struck the shield, breaking it. It remained in place long enough to disperse the shots before Morik took any direct hits. Morik's shields flared in the radiation, while the Praetorians were without shields. He dropped into a slide, his armor and Enki's boots scraping over the flat construct floor, and fired his shrapnel launcher.
"Second volley!" he called out, firing. It took all ten shots to down the Praetorians. Morik looked back, saw two more rockets heading right at him and turned back to the Praetorians as they reformed. His body filled with Arc light and he raised his hands. The Arc light overcharged his shields and galvanized his armor for an instant - the instant Blytz' Truth rockets exploded and broke the shields of the Praetorians again. Morik slammed his fists down, his shields gone, and vaporized the Praetorians. They reformed as he reloaded and he spun, firing at each, breaking their shields one last time. The Aftermath of Fist of Havoc, a lingering field of Arc light left behind by the attack, pulsed, staggering the vulnerable Praetorians, allowing Morik to reload and down them. Their pieces hit the construct floor, and Morik stood alone in his Aftermath field as it pulsed. He was out of breath, his shields were broken, and his shrapnel launcher was, for the moment, empty. His light still channeling through him from Aftermath, Morik clenched up, raised his gun and roared in victory. His fellow Vanguards were speechless.
"My current scans of the Heart show decreased activity," reported Morik's Ghost. "A reaction similar to ether transfer occurs each time it reverts Praetorians. It looks like we don't need to kill them permanently to hurt it, but without them it is becoming more unstable."
"Will it die if we just find a group and fight only three?" asked Soren.
"Hard to say. It's drawing power from elsewhere, but the influx of power is much slower than it's been spending it. My guess is that if we tried to do that, it would just abandon that one group. Without expending your Super Abilities we can't down them all three times in succession fast enough anyway. The only methods that work aside from expending Light is physical methods or close range automatic shotguns. The latter is only in theory, however, since no one here has one of those."
"Morik has a shrapnel launcher," said Blytz.
"It's not powerful enough to punch through the shields of and kill three Praetorians twice in one clip. The only reason it worked before was because it was used in tandem with Truth rockets and Fist of Havoc. By itself, the firing rate is too slow unless only used on one Praetorian at a time. That would require the other two to be distracted, or they would kill Morik before he could kill the Praetorian a second time."
"If Enki were up, he has an Invisible Hand model shotgun that's full auto," said Soren.
"But with him down and his Ghost unresponsive, I can't access it," said Morik's Ghost.
"So, like in The Black Garden, we'd just need to take them all down. There's no other way."
"Not that I can tell, for right now. This section of floor is clear, with seven groups remaining. There should be nine groups on each wall, eight on the ceiling, if visuals are correct."
"We don't get enough ammo back from each of them to kill that many, and we've already burned through a ton of synthesis to get here," said Azariah. "We'd run out of ammo before we got through them all. Morik can't kill them all physically, either. None of us besides Enki would be strong enough to back him up. Burning them won't help, knives are too slow, and Energy Drains from Blytz wouldn't even crack their shielding. Enki's Disintegrate, on the other hand, stays charged until whatever he's hitting dies. Do we even know what's wrong with him?"
"My guess," said Morik's Ghost, "is that proximity to the Heart has allowed it to interface with him directly. His Ghost isn't responding, his lights are a steady white, and his body is limp. Unless I miss my mark, he's as close to dead as an Exo gets without being ripped apart and having their Ghost stolen or corrupted."
"And there's nothing we can do to help him?"
"Short of tearing of the plating on his head and directly interfacing with him, no. If I, or any Ghost, did that, we might become corrupted as well."
"So that's just a- Kaara, don't say a word - That's a no, then?"
Kaara looked taken aback, having been on the verge of volunteering her Ghost.
"That's a no..."
"What about severing the connection?" said Blytz.
"How would we do that?" said Soren. "We're already trying to kill the Heart, and of course that would work. You have a faster idea?"
"Morik could repolarize to Defender. He'd get Disintegrate, and when his light recharged, Ward of Dawn. Ward of Dawn basically creates a pocket dimension. It doesn't affect us, because our communication is through Ghosts who are already one with the light, but in theory it could cut off the Heart's connection with Enki for its duration."
"The Ward can also charge our weapons with light," said Soren. "Enki's done it before. I'm sure Morik could make it work, but we'd be spending time we don't have waiting for him to recover. What if the Heart calls in back-up during that time? Or the Praetorians start converging on us? Without his abilities, he'd be expending ether to blink more, and he'd have to rely on his weapons even more. We're all low on ammo as it is, too. We can't risk all our lives on a theory, as much as I'd like to see it work."
"Use my light, then," said Kaara.
"You mean charge him with your light after he repolarizes?" said Soren. "That could work. You'd still be able to cloak, and your abilities aren't much help here anyway."
"It is a good idea," said Morik. "I am willing."
"Well, we can try it once," said Azariah. "If it doesn't work, or we can't revive Enki, we need to just forget about it. His body is still important - who knows what kind of information on the Vex he's holding now - but we shouldn't risk our lives over it either."
"Repolarizing…" said Morik's Ghost. "Done."
Kaara approached and focused her light, similar to reviving a dead Guardian. Morik felt it strengthen him, and his Ghost's display reflected that as his Super Ability charging.
"Ward of Dawn is ready," said Morik. He knelt. "Remove him, please."
Kaara and Soren undid the straps and laid Enki down on the floor, still unmoving. They removed his helmet manually, setting it beside him. Morik mimicked Enki, crossing his arms over his chest then throwing them out to the sides. His upper arms angled up a bit, his lower arms angled down, and a barrier of Void light shimmered into place, twice the size of Enki's. Enki's lights remained white, but his body went rigid. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Suddenly, Enki shot up to a sitting position and started screaming, his voice distorted with Vex vocalizations.
"Oryx! Oryx! So much light! Dead guardians! The light! Osiris! Nightstalker, Nightstalker!"
"Enki! Calm down! Hey!" said Soren, grabbing his shoulders and kneeling close.
"Th-th-th-th-the Hammer! Unlimited power!" he continued. His voice lowered and he looked around, his eyes shifting left and right, never focusing. "The secrets. Secrets. So lonely. Closed loop, closed loop, closed loop. I-i-i-i-i-i-i-intruder-der-der-ders!"
Enki's back hit the floor, his feet pulled up, and he flipped to a standing position from the floor, drawing his Hard Light.
"Oh, shit!" said Blytz, diving aside as Enki fired at him. Hard Light's bullets bounced all over the inside of the Ward, colliding with the Guardians' shields. Enki emptied the clip without breaking anyone's shields and proceeded to attempt physical attacks. Kaara was on him in an instant, locking up his limbs in a complex grab and pinning him back on the floor, facedown. She twisted his arms, sitting on his back, and wrenched his head casing open. The insides were laced with Vex energy, and Vex construct metal was wormed into it in odd straight lines and sharp angles.
"What the-" said Soren, cutting off when Enki struggled violently against Kaara. Her grip held, and he didn't escape, but he flopped like a wild animal.
"Nightstalker, Nightstalker-er-er-er-er-er!" yelled Enki, sounding furious. He continued in Vex noises, dark coolant fluid leaking from his mouthpiece.
"Could we remove the Vex metal?" said Blytz, kneeling beside Enki.
"That wouldn't require a direct interface, but it could kill him for all we know," said Kaara.
"It's either that or we have to kill him anyway. And we need to do it before this Ward dissipates. Who knows what'll happen if the Heart gets in contact with him again. Now or never!" said Blytz.
Kaara's head dropped a barely noticeable degree.
"Do it," she said, monotone.
Blytz manifested his Ghost which immediately began transmatting the Vex metal out of Enki's head. Enki struggled as hard as he could, kicking his legs until Morik held them to the floor, trying to roll Kaara off, shaking his arms, all the while drooling coolant. The tubes on his neck bulged with the stuff, his pump system working to max capacity to keep him from burning out every piece of hardware he had. Enki's head started smoking, but Blytz just kept focused, holding his Ghost steady and watching closely.
"Vex metal removed. The energy is fading, but so is processor activity. His power system is messed up," reported Blytz's Ghost.
"I can fix that," said Kaara. She used her free hand to manifest her Ghost.
"Power reconnected. Memory drive corrupted, but recoverable. Coolant tubes punctured, fixing…" said Kaara's Ghost. "Light absent, but Ghost is recovering. He will need revival. No guarantees, but he may function."
"I'll do it," said Azariah, waiting for Enki's Ghost to float up and open. She focused her light and the Ghost flashed brilliantly, remerging with Enki. His lights flickered on, orange as usual, but he stayed still.
"Enki?" said Kaara, letting go of his hands. Morik let go of his feet and stepped back. The Ward of Dawn wavered and vanished a second later. Enki didn't react at all. He still hadn't even focused.
"Processor active. Memory active," said Kaara's Ghost. "System is locked due to overheat, but cooling. Manual fans have come online. Coolant system has air trapped in it, inhibiting performance."
"So, he'll be ok?" said Blytz.
"Contents of memory are currently corrupted, but will begin recovering when temperatures reach acceptable levels. Until then, it is uncertain."
Morik manifested his Ghost. "Motion shows Praetorians aren't moving. Mapping, however, may explain," it reported.
"The Praetorians here didn't seem to be guarding anything that we can see. But the others, with visuals, appear to be near pits. It's the center group of each wall, and the center and middle right group of the floor just attacked us together. If we head for the exact center of the floor, and find that pit, we may be able to find some sort of weakness or shortcut. Killing all of these Praetorians, three times each, would be the equivalent of killing 477 of them. Minus the ones we just killed, counted as 18, by risking four shots of Truth, thirty shrapnel launcher shots, and Morik's Fist of Havoc, there are 459 left."
The fireteam was quiet.
"It's not all bad news. We can assume that these pits are important somehow. And there are only Praetorians, and only in groups of three. Kaara can avoid their detection reliably. The rest of us, Morik carrying Enki, should head for the nearest wall and test the gravity distortion. I will mark the safe path, as one of the border squads had to leave their section to aid the central squad. The others are moving in as well, probably to defend the center. The time to split is now, before all these squads get in firing range!"
Kaara crouched, her stealth field shimmering over her. The rest of the team broke, running for the marked wall. Morik had Enki slung over his shoulder, held down by his upper arms. His lower arms held his shrapnel launcher, and he was out in front, his Juggernaut shield in place.
"Comms ok?" said Kaara.
"We hear you," said Soren.
"I found the pit. It's very narrow, and deeper than it looks. There's a chamber below, and I'm propped up on chunks of the construct just before the opening. There's a smaller Heart in there. No guards, no other motion. I think these are where the bigger one is getting its power. If we destroy them, I bet the Heart will die."
"The main Heart itself, just like in The Black Garden, is impervious to our attacks, though," said Soren.
"This ain't one of those times you can just say 'shoot it more' or 'use a bigger boom,'" said Blytz.
"There must be guards in there. Why would they only guard the outside?" said Azariah.
"Cloaking has recovered. I'm going to drop in," said Kaara.
Kaara brought her heels together, off her footholds, and fell into the room. It was only about five cubic meters wide in the inside, with the heart taking up the central cubic meter.
"Still no motion. No interface here either."
No response. No one heard her.
"I'll try shooting it," said Kaara. She drew Patience And Time, aiming and keeping an eye on her radar. She squeezed off a shot. The bullet struck, making the Heart pulse white once and grow slightly. It no longer became fully black as its color shifted.
"It worked. These ones aren't protected. A few more shots and it should die."
"Kaara… Are you sure you should be doing that?" said Blytz. Neither heard the other.
She fired again, pulled the trigger a second time, and a third. The Heart repeated its reactions, slowing down. Kaara started firing her remaining shots.
Blytz saw and tried to talk to her again. "But what if -"
She pulled the trigger a third time and moved to reload. As her hand left her rifle to accept the transmatted magazine from her Ghost, the Heart exploded violently, and Vex energy erupted from the center of the construct floor where she'd entered the chamber.
"Kaara?!" said Azariah.
Silence. No IFF.
"Kaara?!"
Still nothing.
"Just calm down. Her Ghost should be intact and waiting for one of us to revive her. We just need to head back," said Soren.
"We head back," said Morik, "We meet other Praetorians."
"We can handle a group of them," said Blytz.
"How about five groups?" said Soren, pointing.
Sure enough, fifteen Praetorians had gathered around the pit and were investigating.
"We can go back for her after. As long as they don't go in and find her Ghost, which we still have the signal of, she'll be ok. We need to keep moving, focus on hitting those pits. If we can destroy all the Hearts, and kill the main one, it'll be easy to go get her."
No one said anything, and their helmeted faces looking consistently at him betrayed their unease.
"Relax. We've been through things like this before, her, me, and Enki. We'll be fine. Let's focus on getting to the next pit and destroying the Heart from the outside. We can use Azariah's trip mines to deal the final blow from a safe distance outside each pit."
"Continuing to marked location," said Morik. "Prepare to combat Praetorian group ahead."
Azariah fired down into the pit with Icebreaker, aiming at the Heart inside. Her shot stopped at the mouth of the tunnel, never reaching the Heart.
"Guys… There's something blocking my shots. I think we need to be inside the chamber to damage the Heart."
"So, we'd need to get inside, damage it nearly to death, set a trip mine, and jump fifteen feet back to the tunnel, climb the tunnel, and get away before the trip mine goes off?" said Blytz.
"We? I'm the only one with trip mines here," said Azariah.
"Seems that way," said Soren.
"Should we go in with you?" said Blytz.
"No, I'll go in and do it. Four shots with Icebreaker and a trip mine should kill it, if six shots from Patience did. I've got Triple Jump too, so I'll make it out ok. It'll be faster than a Warlock with Glide or a Titan with Lift. Besides, Morik can't even fit into these tunnels and Enki's down for the count."
With that, Azariah jumped down the tunnel and pulsed her jump ability before she hit the ground. She fired four shots with Icebreaker, making the Heart a pale gray, and set her trip mine. She jumped once, twice, and a third time and made a grab for a chunk of construct to haul herself up… Only to have her hand strike an invisible wall, hurting her fingers.
"Ow!..." she said absentmindedly, hitting the ground. She looked up and it hit her. "OH, SH-"
She was cut off as the trip mine exploded and killed the Heart, forcing it to explode just like the one that killed Kaara.
"Stay out here!" said Soren. "I'm going in there to revive her!"
Without waiting for a reply, he jumped in. His feet landed on nothing, Vex energy lighting up on the bottoms of his feet like someone's hand on the glass of a toy plasma lamp. He didn't even have enough room to bend over and look inside.
"Soren? You ok?" said Blytz, looking down.
"No! I can't get in, damn it! How am I ok?!"
He shifted around a bit.
"I can see her Ghost! I was right, she's still ok in there. If we can just get inside!"
He jumped, Gliding out of the tunnel, and threw a Fusion grenade into the hole. It landed at the bottom, stopped from entering the chamber, and exploded. Smoke jetted from the pit and Soren jumped back in. He again landed on the invisible wall.
"You have got to be kidding," came his voice from the pit.
"Come on out. You know what this means, after all," said Blytz.
"No, actually, I don't," said Soren, sarcastically. "Please, do tell."
"We've been operating under the assumption that if we kill the main Heart, this place's special properties will cease to function. We can only hope that these barriers are the same and move on."
"You wanna blow yourself up for a hope?! What if we're wrong, you stupid-"
"Then we die!... Don't we?!" yelled Blytz. "You forget we were dead once already. For real. If you want to stand down there and whine, be my guest. But if you want to save our Hunters, you'll get out here, shut your damn mouth, and help us reach the next Heart. It'll take all of us to reach each one because of the Praetorians. Not all of us will go down. Morik can't fit into the tunnels, after all, and he has to carry Enki. As long as our Ghosts are left alone, anyone can come by and revive us. Worst case scenario, Morik goes home alone, gets help, and comes back for us. Just a minute ago, you were the one saying how this was no big deal. Quit freaking out."
Soren jumped out of the pit. "Whatever."
He had his Ghost mark the next pit on the wall. "Just move."
The team of three had to plan their engagements thoroughly, and had to expend most of their remaining ammo, but they reached the next pit. Soren jumped in, his Light charged, and killed the Heart. After the explosion, his Ghost flared with orange light and he was yanked into the air like a puppet on strings. His body exploded with Solar light and after the flash he could be seen standing inside the chamber.
"Ah ha! Fireborn works!" he said over comms. "I'm gonna try to come out!"
He jumped up, finding his way blocked by an invisible wall.
"Guys? I'm stuck in here. Guys?"
No response, but he could see Blytz and Morik looking down at him from outside the pit.
"No comms get through? That explains a lot." He waved. Blytz waved back, waving his hand to show Solar light stream from his arm for show. He got the message.
"Cool. He'll use Fireborn now too. Then Morik just has to wait for Enki to get up and have him destroy the last one! I WAS worried for nothing. We've got this…"
"Last Praetorian!" said Blytz, firing his pulse rifle to keep its shields down.
Morik aimed with his scorch cannon, four shots left, and fired. The round landed, stuck, and began overcharging.
As it charged, Morik felt Enki stirring on his back.
"... Morik?" said Enki.
"We are here."
"Where're Kaara and Soren? And Azariah?"
"Stayed behind. We have our objective."
"Blytz?"
Blytz' response was drowned out by the scorch round detonating. He started again.
"That big Heart is tethered to smaller ones. They're in chambers sealed by one-way barriers. One person goes in, kills the Heart, Heart explodes, everyone else gets to keep going. We're working on the assumption that when the big Heart dies, the barriers, the closed loop, the time reversal, all of it stops. It's all we've got to work with. Morik can't fit into the chambers, and we're nearing the second to last one. If you can move, and fight, you'll need to help Morik reach the last one, and then you'll need to be the one to destroy it."
"Let me down…"
Morik leaned over, letting Enki slide off his shoulder. He rolled his shoulder and two arms, numbed from holding Enki for so long.
Enki checked over his gear, moving like someone woken up in the middle of the night to an emergency. His movements were sudden, he was moving his head to look around instead of his eyes, making his head jerk constantly, and he seemed displaced.
"Path clear," said Morik. "More Praetorians have taken notice. They will approach soon. Time is now, yes?"
"Going in, then. Good luck out here," said Blytz. He ran forward and jumped in, using Glide to avoid bumping into the Heart. He took out a shotgun, got close, and fired five times. He reloaded all five shots and fired once more, killing the Heart. After the usual violent explosion, Blytz used Fireborn Radiance and revived himself. Morik looked into the pit to make sure Blytz was alive, then motioned for Enki to follow him.
"We must hurry. I am Defender. We must reach final chamber. Your shotgun would be very helpful."
"Shotgun?"
"'Invisible Hand?'"
"Oh, that one. Sure, one sec." Enki switched his special weapon over.
"Path is marked. We go."
"So, I just have to jump in and kill it?"
"It appears so."
"And this is the last one?"
Morik nodded.
"What if after you need to kill the big one?"
"Then we all die. I only have shrapnel launcher ammo left. It will not reach or damage the Heart."
"Well, then. Cross every finger you have," said Enki, stepping forward.
Morik looked at his hands, gauntleted, with only two fingers and a thumb.
"Cross fingers?"
"Relax. It's just a phrase. You cross your fingers for luck, but it's just a placebo."
Morik crossed his fingers. Enki jumped in, aimed his shotgun, and fired five shots. He reloaded and placed his Ward of Dawn. He stepped out of it, threw a magnetic grenade at the Heart, and stepped back into the Ward. The grenade and Heart exploded, and immediately things began to change. All six openings to the main chamber began to shift and widen, the main Heart began to beat erratically, and four large Vex Gates emerged in four corners. Gate Lords stepped out, each a different model from a different faction. The remaining Praetorians began to gather by each Gate Lord. Enki was able to jump out of his pit, and Soren and Blytz appeared as well.
"It worked!" cheered Blytz over comms.
"We need to revive the Hunters and get out of here!" said Soren, already running for Kaara's Ghost inside the bottom pit. A Gate Lord and its Praetorians were moving in the same direction, presumably for the same purpose.
"Blyts, we meet at Azariah's pit. Last pit was opposite hers. We are far."
"You two head for the exit, then. Keep things clear for us, so we can get out too," said Blytz.
Morik hesitated to respond.
"We're on it," said Enki, looking at Morik. Off comms, he said to Morik, "He's right. If we try to meet with them with this many powerful Vex in the area, we could all get cut off. There's too much here to report back. Someone has to make it out."
Morik stayed silent, drawing his shrapnel launcher. The two Titans took off running, heading for the crease between the wall and ceiling. Soren was approaching Kaara's pit when he was cut off by Praetorians teleporting toward it. Several faced him, leveling their weapons while several others aimed down into the pit, investigating. Soren jumped into the air and activated Radiance.
"Move or I move you!" he said, a threat falling on deaf ears. He began throwing Solar grenades, one after another as fast as his Light would allow. Heart of The Praxic Fire overcharged his Light, allowing him to generate grenades faster than he could throw them. He hit the ground amidst his own fire, unharmed. The flashes of light and Solar energy moved the Praetorians aside, their shields flaring. Soren ran right past them, sliding into the pit. He revived Kaara and they jumped out, using chunks on the uneven walls as platforms. Soren was able to throw a few more grenades to secure a way out before Radiance ran out. The resonance with his Radiance charged Kaara's Light. She charged her knife with Arc Light, entering the blade trance. She spun around and slashed from her knee over her head, sending shockwaves of Arc Light over the construct and bowling over several pursuing Praetorians.
At about the same time, Blytz reached Azariah's Light, unopposed, and revived her. They jumped out of the pit, and the construct's final defense system activated.
"Targeting signals detected from Vex Gate Lords," reported Enki's even-toned Ghost. "Recommend caution. Vex energy signatures rising. Possible mass teleportation imminent."
"Mass teleportation?!" said Azariah.
"Two Gate Lords releasing infrared targeting signals. Marked targets are Blytz and Azariah."
Azariah charged her hand cannon with Solar light. "Which ones?! Mark them!"
Two markers appeared over the two Gate Lords and Azariah took aim. She fired once at each, right at their visual receptors. She missed the first shot and had to fire again, but she was dead on with the second one.
"Infrared targeting disrupted. Mass teleportation commencing. Use caution."
The air in the chamber cleared of any smoke or hanging particles from previous fighting or explosions. Vex energy danced in the air everywhere and Goblins, Hobgoblins, Harpies, Hydras, and more Minotaurs appeared, from many factions. Their fire began to fill the air as Kaara and Soren made it to the exit.
"Gate Lords have switched to chest mounted optics, but do not have infrared capability. Undama-"
The comm signal was drowned out by all the Vex vocalizing at once, ceasing fire, and raising their guns in the air.
"UndamagedGateLordsassumingfiringcontrol!" said Enki's Ghost extremely fast.
"Wait, what?! Blytz! We're not gonna make it!"
"Oh, yes we are! Come here!"
Blytz grabbed Azariah around the waist with one hand, and they floated off the ground. Void light glowed from Blytz and he spun, still moving up the wall toward the ceiling. Toward the exit. He fired his Nova Bomb, a Lance, down and at an angle, opposite the exit, and blew himself and Azariah through the air toward the exit with the opposite reaction.
"Haha!"
"You're insane!"
They rocketed toward the exit, passing the threshold of the gravity distortion. The switch in gravity, in midair, made them dizzy, and they didn't see the Vex' guns tracking them through the air. As Soren, Kaara, Enki, and Morik watched, the Vex all fired in tandem. As if the chamber was imploding on them, Azariah and Blytz were swallowed by Slap Rifle, Line Rifle, and Torch Hammer bullets. Two Ghosts appeared in the air, open and waiting for light infusion to revive their Guardians. They floated gently down, ignored by most of the Vex who turned their weapons to the exit, aiming at the surviving Guardians. A Gate Lord stood near where Azariah and Blytz' Ghosts landed, one of those that had its main eye blinded by Azariah. Emotionlessly, it raised a foot and crushed the Ghosts into the construct floor. Those surviving could only run…
"As suspected, the closed loop has been broken. Reach a conflux, get me into the system, and I can set up a portal out!" said Morik's Ghost. The veteran Vanguards, Enki, Soren, and Kaara, struggled to keep up with Morik's long strides. Several times Vex appeared, but without their ability to reverse time and recover from lethal damage, Morik charged right through them.
"Conflux marked!"
None of the Guardians acknowledged the announcements, but adjusted their route accordingly. After turning a few corners and passing a few chambers, ordinarily guarded by Vex but empty, the conflux came into view. Morik immediately manifested his Ghost and it flew ahead of them, accessing the conflux. The other Guardians reached the room and quickly set up, guarding the entrances.
"Their portals are all active, but if I can just get the timing right…"
"Time is short," said Morik, watching his radar and aiming down a hallway.
"I got it. I had to use a portal on the surface. The ones inside are teleporting Vex in as fast as possible. They're not exactly happy about what we did. The Gate Lords know we've escaped and are combing the surface. There's a chance we'll run into one on our way to the gate I've set up. If I've worked it out correctly, we should emerge near Tharsis Junction, on the surface. The second we have a signal, I'll start transmitting a report."
The four Guardians proceeded down the correct hallway and continued onward.
"Gate Lord within five hundred meters of target. It's not looking this way," said Kaara.
"Let's move while we can," said Soren.
Morik ran up the ramp, passing where Kaara was crouched and scoped in on Patience And Time. He scanned for targets, only his shrapnel launcher left.
"Squad of Goblins is near. Radar is reacting," said Morik. The others caught up.
"We should make our way to the target carefully. Killing some of the lesser Vex will help our ammo stores in case we need to fight or disrupt that Gate Lord to escape," said Enki.
"Agreed. Armored Hobgoblin spotted," said Kaara.
"Wait for us to get close. We'll coordinate attacks."
"Yessir." Kaara ran over to a chunk taller than Morik and jumped on top. She crouched and aimed, cloaking again.
Morik, Soren, and Enki approached the enemy group, rounding a chunk suddenly and opening fire. Kaara took a shot at the Hobgoblin, which froze up temporarily. By the time its stasis wore off, its comrades were dead and Kaara took the second shot.
"Move up!" said Enki.
They started forward. More than a few times, Enki stumbled while running. Finally, Soren questioned.
"You ok, Enki?"
"My memories are returning, the important ones I kept. I know a lot was corrupted at least, and I have memories without audio or video, or just other residual data, but there's nothing I can do to recover them. A lot of systems are failing. Without my coolant working, I'm burning out my legs and core balance fast…"
No one had a response, and they ran in silence for a few minutes.
"Portal in sight!" said Morik.
"The Gate Lord has moved closer," said Kaara, "but still hasn't seen us. I think it's the same one from earlier. The head casing is cracked."
"Just a few Goblins and a Minotaur in front of the portal, it looks like," said Enki.
Morik sped up, sprinting. He lobbed a Pulse grenade, staggering several of the Goblins. With a Shoulder Charge, he shattered one Goblin and started firing at the others. Kaara dropped two with well placed shots and Enki and Soren used their melee abilities to down the last few.
"Everybody in," said Enki, waiting for Kaara to catch up.
Morik stood beside the portal, looking around in case anything tried to surprise them. Kaara, Enki, and Soren went through in a rush. Morik turned to follow, and hesitated. He looked over his shoulder at the Gate Lord, not fifty meters away. His helmet's two glowing eyes could have melted a Cabal Phalanx, shield and all. No mistaking this close, it was the same one from inside the chamber. Alone, Morik spoke in his own language.
"On my Light, my honor, and my name as Kell, if any should survive of your kind… It will not be you!"
He spun, and started sprinting over the construct, roaring. He slung his shrapnel launcher, vaulting over a larger chunk, covering the distance faster than any human. With all his weight, and his body charged with Arc light, Morik slammed into the Gate Lord, nearly bowling it over. He blinked behind it and stomped the ground, expending ether to create a shockwave. The opposing forces pushed the Gate Lord back on balance for a moment, but it was too shaken to react. Morik drew his shrapnel launcher and emptied the clip, slinging it over his shoulder again. The Gate Lord's armored shell ripped away in chunks, but it was still more than capable to fight back. It reached out with its left hand, fingers flayed out, and grabbed Morik's helmet. It yanked him close and slammed its Torch Hammer into his stomach, lifting his feet off the ground with the force of the blow. Morik grabbed both its arms with his upper arms, launching two powerful Stormfists simultaneously into its mind core. The casing cracked, white fluid leaking, and the Gate Lord cried out, stumbling. Morik hopped back, jumped up, and drop-kicked the Gate Lord, both boots straight to its chest. He hit the floor and popped up, the Gate Lord struggling to do the same. Morik stomped on its chest with his left foot, drew his shrapnel launcher, reloaded calmly despite his pulse pounding, and aimed. With two close range shots he blew off the Gate Lord's right arm, another two and he blew off its left arm. He slung the shrapnel launcher over his shoulder. He spoke, first in English, then his own language.
"For your Mind to understand, listen well, 'Gate Lord.' I am Morik, once Devil Baron, now Kell of Light. You have harmed those important to me. Members of my House, yes? The first under my watch… To die… You will be my example."
"For your collective Mind to understand, heed my words, 'Gate Lord.' I am Morik, once Devil Baron, now Kell of Light. You have harmed those important to me. I considered them members of my House, you understand? They were the first under my watch to die. Here and now, I will make you an example to your kind. You will die for your offense to my House!"
Morik raised his fists, Arc light lancing through his body, crackling from every plate of his armor, making him a beacon of electric blue light. With a roar, in vengeance and mourning, Morik slammed down with Fist of Havoc, crushing the body of the Gate Lord beneath him. The only pieces not completely vaporized were the Gate Lord's legs, from half of its shins and down. Other Vex were already teleporting in close. Morik snarled loudly and ran for the portal…
Cypher Control coming soon...
Credits for arc one:
Indomitable Souls (album) by Alex Roe
Grimoire cards on the following: Fallen arsenal, Skolas, several on Variks, Exotic weapon cards to verify mass production (no one-of-a-kind items here, unless you count my original one, which would probably be OP if added to the source game), the two Gate Lords we face Qodron and… The other one.
aLIEz (off vocal) by Mizuki
Heavenly Blue by Kalafina
Morik's appearance as of arc one is based on Devil House armor, like the one depicted in the cover.
Azariah and Soren based on AzureInstant
Enki based on depicted Exo Male Guardian of Destiny
Kaara based on ADA of Zone of The Enders
Blytz based on JakHollow
Cover provided with permission by BrokenNoah of deviantArt.