I do not own Destiny or any of its characters.
A.N.: May have asked this already, but does anyone know if the emote holograms are a canon thing or just gameplay?
Scratching Out the List
Hunter scooped up a rigged engram, hurling it at the group of Scorn. As it slammed into one's chest, it exploded, blasting them all. Before finding the hideout of the Trickster, Araskes, he and Petra had found an engram rigged to explode, then had taken out a factory for them. Then, Araskes had called them and all but handed them her location. As expected, however, it was a trap and everything was rigged with a grenade, be it ammo lying around, Scorn bodies, or even the plants growing from the cave's walls. It was a nightmare and a death trap. A very effective one.
"I hate this place," Hunter growled, hurling a knife into a Scorn corpse on the ground, just as a group of Screeb were scrambling over it.
As the body rocked from the impact of the knife, the grenade under it exploded, detonation all of the Screebs. Petra nodded in agreement and they continued to make their way through the cave. After a moment, they came to a huge open area where an upper level wrapped around the back and side walls of the chamber they were in, and where Araskes was waiting on the upper level. However, as soon as Hunter aimed at her, she fled the room through the door at the back in a trail of Dark Ether. Hunter growled in annoyance as dozens of Scorn began to appear, he and Petra opening fire rapidly. Everything charged, but between the two of them, nothing that appeared in the room was alive longer than ten seconds. Finally, the last of the Scorn's head exploded from a careful shot from Hunter, and he and Petra headed for the door.
"It's sealed shut," Spark reported as soon as they'd reached it. "We'll have to blast our way through."
Hunter looked around, seeing a pile of rigged Engrams just outside the chamber and dropped off the upper level, walking to it while Petra stepped behind a large storage container where she'd be safe from the explosion. Then, he picked one up and sprinted for the door. As soon as he was close enough, he hurled it, watching it sail through the chamber and slam into the door, exploding and blasting the door open. Both of them walked over to the door and stepped through, guns raised. Inside the door, there was a short hallway ending in a round room with the floor sinking into a bowl, then a boulder jutting out of the center. Two walls reached from the sides of the room toward the boulder, ending just shy of it, and with small archways to allow passage under them. Just as they stepped into the room, Araskes appeared on the boulder.
"It wants revenge?" Araskes taunted. "Yes, we deserve it." She swung her arms up, casting dozens of boxes of heavy ammo around the room. "Here is some ammo for you."
She began to cackle, only for Petra and Hunter's gunfire to drown her voice out. She returned fire with her rifle, which fired Void-charged saw blades, but Hunter shot them out of the air, allowing Petra to focus her fire on Araskes. Finally, Araskes leapt off the boulder behind a wall, forcing them to enter the room to get a shot. As they did, Araskes hurled a rigged Engram at them. It bounced off the ground, rolling toward them and Hunter punted it back in Araskes' face, setting it off. She shrieked in pain, staggering backward and dropping the two heavy ammo boxes she'd been about to throw. As soon as she did, Hunter drew the Joker, shooting one and setting it off. The explosion triggered the other as well, and the resulting blast sent Araskes crashing into the wall. Then, as she dropped to the ground, Hunter stepped up over her, firing the Joker into her head once to finish her.
"Two down," Hunter said.
"And six to go," Petra said.
"Then it's Uldren's turn," Hunter growled.
Petra nodded and they both turned, heading back to the Spider together.
Hunter ducked around a boulder, avoiding a swipe from a Cistern, then swung the Joker up as he circled the boulder, shooting the Scorn in the back, then swung it around to hold it backward under his left arm, firing twice into another's torso as he charged him from behind. Ahead of Hunter, Petra was barely holding her own against her own swarm. They were hunting the Mad Bomber, Kaniks, and had tracked him to a cavern with only one entrance and exit, but then Kaniks' private army of Scorn, all wielding Cisterns, had appeared.
Hunter sprinted toward Petra, opening fire on the Scorn charging her just as she began to reload. However, just as he reached her, a Scorn leapt at them as the Joker ran dry and Petra wasn't finished reloading yet. Hunter shoved Petra away and the Scorn swung its Cistern around into Hunter. An explosion went off, flinging Hunter backward into the wall of the cavern, his cape smoking, his armor blasted apart and scorched, and his body glowing from the heat. He groaned, reloading quickly before swapping hands and opening fire again. As he did, he grabbed his Galliard off his back, firing it with his right hand only, his left firing the Joker, as the Hawkmoon had been hit directly by a Cistern earlier and blasted apart.
"Are you alright?" Petra asked as he reached her side, both covering each other as they fought of the flood of Scorn.
"I'll be fine," Hunter said, his SIVA slowly regenerating his injuries and armor. "Where's Kan-"
He spun, tackling Petra out of the way of one of Kaniks' bombs, only for the massive concussion to slam into them, hurling both into the swarm of Scorn. As they rolled to a stop, both opened fire on the Scorn around them as they stood. Then, Hunter leapt into the air, spinning and hurling a pair of fans of flaming knives into the Scorn's Cisterns a ways away from them, the explosions blasting those closer to them as well as clearing a larger area for them to try and hold. Then, as he landed, he again tackled Petra out of the way of a grenade, again being thrown by the blast.
"I'm getting really tired of this," Hunter growled, pushing himself to his feet. "Get Kaniks. I'll deal with the Scorn."
Petra nodded and Hunter focused before leaping into the air, forming a Void bow. Then, he began to fire, repeatedly sending Shadowshots into the swarm of Scorn all around the room, and one at Kaniks. After a dozen arrows, he ran out of Void energy and landed on the ground, putting his Galliard away before taking off sprinting, firing the Joker and hurling fans of Proximity Mine Knives formed by his SIVA in exchange for not repairing his armor or injuries. As he rapidly managed to thin the crowd between his Shadowshots' tethers draining the life force from the Scorn and him personally rapidly slaughtering anything he could, Petra was able to get to Kaniks easily. Finally, just after Hunter hurled a fan of proximity mine knives into the last group of Scorn, Petra landed a shot on one of the grenades on the belt wrapped around Kaniks' chest, detonating it and setting off the entire belt, blasting Kaniks into pieces. Hunter sighed, slumping against the wall as his SIVA glowed, beginning to slowly regenerate his body again. Petra ran over to him, looking worried.
"Are you alright?" Petra asked.
"I'll be fine," Hunter sighed as his body finished mending, his armor only slightly behind. "Are you alright?"
"Thanks to you," Petra nodded. "You saved me, repeatedly." She wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you."
Hunter hugged her back, letting out a silent breath. "I'm glad you're alright. Cayde would have crawled out of his grave to kill me if I'd let you be hurt."
Petra smiled, pulling back. "Might be worth it to get a broken leg, then."
Hunter chuckled. "Let's not risk it."
Petra nodded, kissing him on the side of the head, just above the hole where his cheek should be. "Thank you for protecting me."
Hunter nodded, smiling. "You're welcome."
Hunter glared at the Hangman, Reksis Vahn. He'd been mauling Servitors, so Spider had sent Hunter and Petra to save a few of his who'd been captured by him. They'd just found the last one when Vahn had appeared.
"Let's get this-" Hunter stopped as Vahn retreated toward the nearby slums. "Why do they always fo that?"
"I don't know," Petra said. "Why don't we go and ask."
"Let's," Hunter nodded.
They crossed to the slum quickly, blasting their way through a handful of Scorn, then started down the winding path to the slums. Just inside, yet more Scorn began to appear, including headless ones with a pair of flaming metal clubs, which took a surprising number of shots to go down. However, Hunter and Petra made equally short work of those as they did any other Scorn they met, and headed deeper into the Slum. As they fought their way through, Hunter noticed a surprising amount of flames. Spider had mentioned his forces had been attacking Vahn's, but he hadn't actually expected much. Based on the damage and flames he was seeing, they'd gotten surprisingly deep into Vahn's headquarters.
They finally reached a large open area that Spark said was the last before where he was tracking Vahn, only to step back into cover just as an Abomination began to fire lightning bolts at them.
"I hate those things," Hunter growled, forming a Shadowshot and pulling it back.
Then, just as the next lightning bolt hit the wall, he stepped out, jumping and firing into the Abomination's head. Then, he sent a second Shadowshot into the first's singularity, doubling its power and anchoring the Abomination against it. Another arrow slammed into the lead Scorn of a group charging up the ramp Hunter was on before he finally let the bow fade. Then, he hurled a fan of Proximity Mine Knives into the group on the ramp, slaughtering them, just as Petra fired a sniper rifle into where the Abomination's head should be. The shot punched through the metal plate covering it, and the Abomination collapsed on the spot.
"Let's go pay a visit to the Hangman," Hunter said, drawing his Auto Rifle.
Petra nodded and they walked down the ramp and across the open area before starting up another ramp. A handful of Scorn bearing Flame Censors, but Petra and Hunter both shot one of the Censers and the resulting explosions killed all of the Scorn.
"They never learn," Hunter said.
"Never," Petra agreed.
They headed up the ramp and entered a large, open area filled with cages and stopped as Vahn appeared in front of them, cackling.
"Just shut up!" Hunter snapped, opening fire and running left as Petra ran right, also firing.
Hunter aimed at the Flame Censor Vahn was holding, but it was much bigger and his shots only barely managed to dent it, making it pointless to fire at. With a rifle. Before he could get something with a little more kick, Vahn began to spin the Censor in a blured circle at his side and charged. Hunter dove to the side, hurling a Proximity Mine Dagger into Vahn's side, then rolled to his feet as it exploded. Vahn roared in pain, spinning after him and slamming his Censer into the ground, sending out a trail of flames. Petra tackled Hunter out of the way of the flames before opening fire at Vahn as soon as they were clear. Hunter rolled to his feet and sighted in on Vahn's head, emptying his Auto Rifle's magazine just before Vahn finally managed to rip his Censer from the ground. As he did, Hunter hurled a fan of Proximity Mine Daggers into Vahn's chest, the resulting explosion hurling him backward. As Vahn rolled to his feet, he roared, Scorn beginning to appear around the room and flood inward.
"Shit!" Petra cursed.
"Focus on Vahn!" Hunter shouted, leaping into the air and spinning, Solar Energy shining from his hands as his SIVA formed dozens of Proximity Mine Daggers to focus the energy into. A second later, several fans of flamming daggers scattered into the oncoming horde of Scorn, each knife exploding like a rocket shot and obliterating the scorn. As Hunter began to fall, he hurled his final fan at Vahn, only for him to leap backward.
"Get back here!" Hunter shouted, forming a Shadowshot and focusing.
As he fired, he experimented with something new. Cayde had once told him that Light powers could be wielded however a Guardian wanted, as long as they learned how to do it, and survived the process of refining it. Osiris was able to make clones of himself from Light. Drifter could make a lasso from Solar Energy. Cayde had demonstrated his words by creating a Golden Gun from Arc Energy that fired bolts of lightning, though due to his natural affinity to Solar Energy over Arc, it left him drained. Now, as the Shadowshot raced padt the tightly-grouped fan of knives, it left a glowing trail of Void energy that Hunter grabbed and wound around his arm before grabbing further on with his free hand. Then, when the arrow slammed into Vahn's chest, it burst into a coil of Void rope all spreading from the singularity ayainst his chest and coiling around him, binding his arms to his sides before Hunter spun and yanked the Void Rope. Vahn shouted in surprise and fear as he sailed forward to meet the knives, and a second later, they exploded with enough force to crater the floor, his feet bouncing away and his Censer exploding against the wall off to the side.
Hunter fell to his knees, panting, then sighed, grinning. "It worked."
"How did you..." Petra stared at him for a moment before smiling. "That was amazing!"
"Compared to what some other Guardians can do, that was nothing," Hunter said, standing. "Now, let's get out of here. I might actually need a breather before we go after the next one."
Petra nodded and they headed for the nearest door, Spark hacking their way through it and allowing them back up to the surface.
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