I do not own Destiny or any of its characters.
Cleaning Up
Hunter tensed as he stared at the portal. They had tracked the Mindbender, Hiraks, a Baron obsessed with the Hive and trying to create his own Throne World like Crota or Oryx, into a crashed Tombship. However, upon catching up to him, and slaughtering the few Hive he had with him, he'd retreated into this portal.
"You alright?" Petra asked. "You've been on edge since we started after this one. Are you still tired from Reksis Vahn?"
"No," Hunter said. "It's the Hive. Ever since the Pit of Heresy...I can't stand them."
"What happened?" Petra asked.
"Thirty Guardians went in," Hunter said. "I only made it out because I was lucky."
Petra's eyes widened before she nodded. "I see. That won't happen here."
"I know," Hunter nodded. "I won't let it."
Petra nodded and Hunter drew Joker and Hawkmoon, then walked forward into the portal, Petra at his side. As they passed through, Hunter's stomach clenched and he felt the distinct sensation of walking through a wet spiderweb. Then, they were through and everything was dark, barely visible, and there was another portal a ways ahead of them. They were in what looked like some sort of courtyard with a sloping ground, bits of broken metal from the Tombship, and darkness everywhere. However, Hunter couldn't see how far it went. He had also never personally experienced a Throne World before, so he wasn't sure how it compared to Crota or Oryx's. If he ever met that Guardian, he'd have to ask. Just then, the Mindbender appeared from the other portal and instantly grew to double his size.
"How did the Mindbender get a Throne World this big?" Spark asked. "Oh. Cayde."
"He wanted a throan, now he can die in it," Hunter growled, raising his pistols.
He and Petra both opened fire, their bullets slamming into the Mindbender ineffectively for several seconds before the Mindbender laughed, backing into the portal. In his place, Hive began to flood out of it, ranging from Thralls to Knights. Hunter growled irritatedly, focusing his shots and dropping the Hive creatures rapidly. Petra did the same, and between the two of them, nothing got close. However, just as they finished, a feeling like something slimy travelling up Hunter's spine made him cringe just before Hiraks' foot crashed into Petra from behind, hurling her, then crashed down on Hunter, slamming him to the ground. Hiraks began to laugh, raising his Boomer, only for Arc energy to scream along Hunter's melee knife as he drove it into Hiraks' foot. Hiraks roared in pain, yanking his foot away and breaking the blade, then kicked Hunter into Petra, both bouncing down the slope before crashing into a chunk of floor.
"Any ideas?" Petra asked.
"Yeah," Hunter growled, putting the Joker aeay, Hawkmoon already in its holster. "A bad one. Let's see how good my SIVA really is."
He stood as the SIVA on his arms shone and came alive spreading upward and outward rapidly until it had formed a black and red rocket launcher with SIVA swarming around it, the red all glowing and with red cords spread haphazardly along it, and the black arranged into diamond and triangle-shaped plates. Then, he fired the rocket launcher up at Hiraks. The rocket shone blood red, and all of the SIVA forming the rocket separated into a massive cloud and raced after it. Then, a moment later, a massive, blood red explosion erupted against Hiraks' chest and he roared in pain, staggering backward a step before the SIVA swarm reached him and divebombed his skin. His roar of pain became a shriek of agony as they shot in and out of his body, tunneling theough him like it was nothing. However, before they could kill him, more Hive flooded out of the portal and the SIVA shot down at them, burrowing into these Hive before exploding like tiny shrapnel grenades for maximum effect. As a result the swarm of Hive were slaughtered instantly, but Hiraks was able to flee through the portal and survived, reappearing at another a moment later.
"That worked better than I was expecting," Hunter said.
"Don't do that again," Petra said, standing. "We don't know if they'll remain under your control like that."
"Agreed," Hunter nodded, hurling an Incendiary Grenade at the flood of Hive pouring in around Hiraks. "Normal guns."
He drew his Galliard, beginning to fire quickly, alternating between thinning the Hive and peppering Hiraks. Petra focused on the Hive exclusively, keeping them away from them as much as she could. Just as she was reloading, however, a Knight leapt at them from the darkness behind them just as Hunter was shooting one ahead of them. Petra grabbed Hawkmoon and spun, placing three shots in the Knight's head and it exploded into flames, burning away before it could reach them. Petra finished her reload just as Hunter's Galliard ran dry. He put it away and grabbed a handful of knives as he drew the Joker, charging. Petra followed quickly, using the two pistols she had with her to cover him as he blasted anything between himself and Hiraks, risking narrow evasions of Hiraks' Boomer shots in favor of trying to end the fight. Finally he leapt into the air, Arc Energy screaming along the knives before he hurled them into the ground around Hiraks, forming a square. Then, the four knives each released a bolt of Arc Energy, all four blasting into Hiraks and lighting his body up like a lightbulb. Hunter shot the last three Hive creatures as he landed, then stood just as Petra slipped Hawkmoon into its holster again, both aiming up at Hiraks as he fell to his knees.
"Just die already!" Hunter snarled.
Both emptied their gun into his head, and finally, he collapsed, crashing to the ground hard. Instantly, wind began to scream past and lightning began to flash in the distance.
"We have to go!" Spark warned. "This place is destabilizing!"
Thwy turned, sprinting to the one portal still open and passed through it back into the Tomb Ship. as they spun back to the portal, it shook like a flag in the wind, then shrunk out of existance. Hunter sighed, reloading the Joker and Hawkmoon before putting both away.
"Maybe Cayde will rest a little easier now that that place is gone," Hunter said.
"He will," Petra nodded, glancing at him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Hunter said. "SIVA's still under my control, I burned less Light energy this time, and we're leaving the Hive Tombship. I'll be fine."
Petra nodded. "Only three more Barons."
"And then I can put a bullet in that bastard's skull," Hunter said.
"Yes," Petra said. "We can finally acenge Cayde."
Hunter nodded as they stepped back outside and he hurled a knife out to his left without looking, slipping it between the bone plates of a Knight's head and shoulder and embedding it in its neck, killing it.
"Just you wait, Uldren," Hunter snarled. "We're coming."
Pirrha, the Rifleman, the Baron thst killed Cayde's ghost, chuckled glostingly, as he had been doing since they reached the cave he was hiding in. Hunter ignored the laughter, dropping the handful of Scorn charging them from the front, allowing Petra to handle what was behind them. Pirrha had been using decoy tech to run them in circles, and it didn't help that he could deflect his shots to make it seem like the decoys' shots were real. It made knowing if they were targetting the real one difficult, though not impossible. Spark was almost done scanning the decoy tech's signiture, after which Hunter would adapt his eyes with his SIVA so that he could see the difference.
Finally, he and Petra walked into a massive cavern with several boulders rising from the sandy floor, cliffs against the far wall, and a trio of Pirrhas along the cliffs.
"I seeee you," Pirrha sang, still using their radios to keep them from pinpointing his location.
"I'm done," Spark reported, remaining hidden.
Hunters eyes shone red just as dozens of Pirrhas appeared around the room, except, in Hunter's eyes, all but one were shimmering red silhouettes.
"And now, I see you, bastard," Hunter growled, spinning and openning fire on the one non-shimmering Pirrha.
Petra followed suit instantly, and Pirrha shouted in surprise as their bullets slammed home. All of the decoys began to fire and Petra flinched instinctually, but Hunter ignored the holographic shots, instead shoving Petra adide from the one real shot, then retracting his arm before he could lose it. He continued to fire, and Pirrha vanished in a trail of Dark Ether. Hunter narrowed his eyes, looking around, then tackled Petra to the ground just as a shot grazed his back from waist to shoulder. His body and armor both regenerated instantly, but as he looked around, he could still only see decoys.
"Alright, fine," Hunter growled. "Shoot them all."
Petra nodded and they both began to run and fire, any they shot vanishing instantly. A shot punched through Hunter's left shoulder and he swapped his Galliard for the Joker as his shoulder healed before grabbinf Hawkmoon, too.
"You are different!" Pirrha noted. "You heal. You will be my prized trophy!"
Hunter spun, firing both guns rapidly, blasting over a dozen decoys before dropping just in time for a shot to take a horn off, though it regrew instantly.
"Fuck this!" Hunter growled, sprinting at a boulder. "Get out here!"
For the second time in a day, he used a combination of SIVA-generated Proximity Mine Daggers and Solar Energy to spread a dozen fans of flaming knives around a chamber, blasting every Pirrha in view. Except, they all vanished.
"Impossible," Hunter breathed. "Then where-"
"Above you!" Petra shouted.
Hunter dove forward, narrowly escaping a shot, then spun in the air, firing every bullet from the Joker as fast as he could without accuracy. Two slammed into Pirrha's chest where he'd wedged himself between two stalactites, one ricocheted off a stalactite into his knee, one hit his right shouled, and the rest hit the stone ceiling of the cavern. It qorked, however, and Pirrha fell. As he did, Hunter grabbed a knife, spinning it with the magnet system he'd added to his left hand, what felt like forever ago, when he and Cayde had gone to stop the riot at the Prison of Elders. Then, he sent the knife flashing upward into Pirrha's face. Pirrha roared in pain before crashing to the ground, and Hunter shot forward as Pirrha stood.
Hunter yanked his pair of newly remade melee daggers from the back of his waist before slashing Pirrha aceoss the shins. He shouted in pain yet again and fell, and Hunter jumped, slashing upward at his throat, only for Pirrha to vanish in a flair of Dark Ether. Hunter growled in annoyance and put the knives away, reloading his Hand Cannons just as more decoys appeared. Petra stepped up beside him, both of them instantly opening fire just as all of the decoys did the same. Hunter shut down his SIVA's overlay to let him see the difference in favor of taking out his annoyance by shooting as many Pirrhas as he could. And after a moment one shot hit home. Both guns instantly swung around emptying themselves before sailing into the air as Petra emptied hers. Then, Hunter's hand shone and formed a Golden Gun. Pirrha's eyes widened just as it fired, and a moment later the shot exploded into his upper chest, killing Pirrha instantly. Hunter let the pistol fade and caught his Hand Cannons, reloading them and holstering them.
"Mount that next to Cade's Ghost, bastard," Hunter growled.
"Well done," Pyrrha said, then hissed in pain.
Hunter spun anyway, but she only had a graze on her side.
"I'm fine," Petra said. "You hit the shoulder he used for his rifle, so his aim was a little off. Lucky me."
"I'm sorry," Hunter said.
Petra shook her head. "I got sloppy. You did amazingly, again. I doubt you even really need me here."
"I do," Hunter said at once. "You're keeping me grounded so I don't lose myself to rafe again."
Petra nodded and sighed, then stood up straight. "Let's get somehwere I can wrap this, then see who's next."
Hunter nodded and they left the cave together.
Hunter leapt out of the tank with Petra less than a second before one of the falling rockets hit it, blasting it open. They both landed at a sprint, dodging around the falling ordinence as best they could as they headed toward the Machinist, Elykris, the Fanatic's right hand and the one who'd been salvaging and stealing anything she could get her hands on. So far, the hunt for this Baron had been easy on account of them having found the tank in the first area of Elykris' domain they'd entered. However, it seemed having it to kill her with was too much to hope for.
"There you are!" Hunter growled as they made it over a relatively low wall and spotted their prey.
It was the Baron with the rocket launchers from a Fallen Walker strapped to her back, and she was standing in the center of a dead end clearing filled with debris and random junk.
"You want revenge?" Elykris asked. "I watched Cayde die! Pathetic death!"
"And yours will be no different!" Hunter snarled, opening fire with his Galliard.
She shouted in pain, staggering backward, then began to return fire with her Scorn Cannon, Hunter and Petra scattering as they both continued to rain bullets on their target. Hunter narrowed his eyes as Elykris turned her back on him, using her rocket launcher assembly to shield herself from him as she targetted Petra.
"I don't fucking think so!" Hunter snarled, hurling an Incendiary Grenade into the ground below Elykris. "Eyes on me!"
The grenade lit her on fire and she screamed in agony, staggering backward and flailing. Hunter smirked and tossed a Laser Trip Mine onto the ground behind her. A moment later, she reached the laser's beam and electricity screamed out of the mine and over her body, making her scream and writhe, unable to move as Hunter and Petra fired. Finally, the mine exploded, hurling her, and she crashed down behind a low metal wall, out of their field of view.
Almost instantly, hundreds of rockets began to fly into the air, then rain back down indiscriminately around the area. Petra and Hunter swore, beginning to sprint around and do their best to avoid the explosions. Finally, the last of the rockets fell, and Elykris pushed herself up, shrieking in rage upon seeing both still alive. She roared and Scorn began to appear in the center of the area in flashes of Dark Ether, charging Hunter and Petra as Elykris opened fire at them both with her Scorn Cannon and also with grenades launched out of the front of her rocket launcher assembly. Both dove into cover behind a pile of scrap metal, ending up next to each other, and Hunter tossed an Incendiary Grenade backward over the pile, hoping to catch the Scorn. A moment later, a blast from Elykris' Scorn Cannon slammed into the scrap metal, blasting bits of it away, and a handful of Rocket Launchers, of all types, landed around them.
"Our lucky day," Hunter grinned.
He and Petra both grabbed one and sprinted out from behind cover, only for hundreds of rockets to again sail into the air. Both swore, beginning to run again as they fell around them. Petra fired, but missed, instead blasting a pile of junk. Hunter narrowed his eyes, using his Void Intangibility dodge to escape an explosion and ready his rocket launcher. However, just as he became solid again, a rocket exploded behind him, blasting his legs off and sending him flying.
"Hunter!" Petra shrieked, then launched herself backward to escape an explosion, only for the concussion to hurl her into a cliff face.
Hunter groaned, looking over at her as the last of the rockets exploded, but he couldn't tell if she was alive or not. At the very least, no rockets had landed on her once she hit the cliff. He turned back to Elykris, just as she turned to aim at Petra. Desperation and rage flooded him, and he raised the rocket and fired without aiming, focusing before squeezing the trigger again, then again. Two more rockets fired, these two shimmering with Light Energy, and even though the first missed, the second two both found their mark, blasting Elykris into the cliff opposite Hunter. He panted as he dropped the rocket launcher. That was more draining than he had hoped. However, it had formed an opening. As Elykris began to stand, he noticed a crack in her rocket launcher assembly. He instantly grabbed a Proximity Mine Knife and hurled it. She ducked, expecting it to be aimed at her, and it drilled into the crack, then beeped once before exploding. A half-second later, whatever rockets remained in the assembly followed suit, forming a massive fireball and erasing Elykris's body.
Hunter sighed, looking down at his legs and focusing. The armor could wait. His SIVA glowed, regenerating his legs before the light faded and he pushed himself up. He sprinted to Petra's side and dropped to his knees beside her, lifting her into his arms, and she groaned, stirring, then looking up at him.
"Did we win?" Petra asked.
"Yeah," Hunter nodded, smiling. "We won."
Petra smiled and nodded, closing her eyes for a few moments before grimacing and pushing herseld up. Hunter helped her to her feet, and she wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank you," Petra smiled. "I have a feeling you protected me again."
"Well, I couldn't let you die," Hunter said. "How am I supposed to make sure my clients are satisfied if they're dead?"
Petra laughed. "True. Well, I know I said I wanted it rough, but maybe we could ease back just a little."
"Good idea," Hunter smiled, lifting her into his arms and jumping ovee the wall they'd passed over to reach Elykris before summoning Cayde's Sparrow. He set her on the seat gently, only to stop, staring at a large, round storage tank of some sort with a huge, black Spade painted on it. He frowned. "Did that bitch steal from Cayde?"
Petra frowned. "Cayde never used storage containers. His cache's were always bunkers."
Hunter blinked in surprise. "Can't be."
"I checked the list of cache coordinates," Spark said. "This is one of them."
Hunter frowned and walked over to it. Just as he reached out to it, the Joker emblem on his favorite gun began to glow blue before the container groaned and shifted to the side, revealing a bunker, a series of metal rungs forming a ladder down into it. He dropped in and flourescent lights flickered on automatically, buzzing softly as he looked around. There were a few disassembled guns, a few assembled ones, a set of shelves stocked with knives and bombs, and a computer. He walked toward the computer and a scanner at the top lit up, waves of light passing over him before the computer booted up and began to load a video. After a moment, Cayde and Sundance appeared on the screen.
"Is it working?" Cayde asked.
"We're recording," Sundance replied.
"And all the computers are linked?" Cayde asked.
"Yes, Cayde, now talk," Sundance sighed.
"Hey, I'm just making sure," Cayde said. "I know you don't want me to have to remember everything twice."
"Just say your bit," Sundance said.
"Alright, alright," Cayde said. "So, I'm making these videos as a sord of video journal in case I need to remember something, or if my most recent bet goes bad and SIVA overruns the galaxy, that way you'll all know who to blame. Anyway, I found this guy the other day on Europa. He's an Exo, but a special model. He's made using SIVA, which is where that bit about it taking over comes in. Probably shouldn't have reactivated him, not gonna lie, probably not my brightest move, but I needed an extra gun in the fight and he was the only one around. I had to convince this Ghost who lost his Guardian to make the guy one, but it seemed to work out. He's a Hunter class Guardian, and the Ghost reports that he has an unusually strong connection to all three types. Must be nice. Anyway, I'll keep an eye on him, and his dormant plague, to see if he needs to be, you know, sterilized. Cayde out!" He turned away from the monitor. "How'd I sound? Cool? I sounded pretty cool, huh?"
"You know you're still recording, right?" Sundance asked.
"Oh, shit!" Cayde said, spinning back around and reaching for the keyboard before the video ended.
Hunter laughed, sadness and longing replacing the rage that had been burning inside of him since Cayde's death.
Another video began to play.
"Hey, so, interesting wrinkle with the kid," Cayde said, once again appesring with Sundance. "He says he feels like he's missing something. I thought maybe he meant his memories, since, you know, Guardian, but he said that wasn't it. He said he feels like there should be someone else there, but there're not. Not sure if he means he senses a presence, meaning the SIVA are acting up, or if he misses someone, meaning he has phantom traces left of his memories. Oh, and Ikora and Zavala have no idea he's SIVA yet, so here's hoping they actually buy he's just some random Exo who can wield all three Light types almost at will. That's something even Ikora can't say, and she can combine them." He grinned childishly, giving the camera a double thumbs up and leaning forward. "Point for the Hunter class!" He shut off the video, and Hunter frowned.
Hunter had definitely meant he felt like someone was missing. It was that same feeling of cracing companionship thst drove him to so many repetitions of heartbreak, including Holliday. And now, if he was being honest, Petra.
"So, apparently, he did not mean the SIVA, Cayde said as the next video started. "Poor kid's looking for a companion, a girlfriend. It's definitely an echo from his past life. And judging by how badly he wants it...I don't know if he ever made it past his first reset as an Exo. Hell, I don't even know if he came online before being strung up where I found him. If an Exo's memories fade more and more every time they're reset, and the echos of their past get quieter, then if he really never reset, his echoes must be...deafening. If he was in love...It's no wonder he feels so alone now."
"Who are you talkong about?" Petra's voice asked, startling Hunter, only for Petra to appear on the recording, wearing nothing but a thin set of panties. "Are you doing a video diary?"
"It helps me keep track," Cayde defended himself. "And it's a journal."
Petra laughed, walking off screen. "What a dork. Come back to bed. I have something you can keep track up, if it doesn't fall off this time."
Cayde rolled his eyes and ended the video. Hunter stared at the screen in silence until the next video played.
"Hunter's gotten good," Cayde begsn the recording. "Oh, right, Hunter's what I named my...the kid. My protegé. Anyway, I'm so proud of him. He placed third in the Guardian Games today. Third. Granted the Titans still cheated their way to the top, but Hunter still whooped ass. Hard to think it's only been a year and he's gotten so good. He looks like a little me running around." Cayde chuckled. "No problems with his SIVA either, but he's still searching for someone. Whoever he had in his last life, they must have been amazing."
He switched the video off. Another began.
"The kid's in rough shape," Cayde said. "It's been...Fuck it's been a long week. The kid accidentally fell in love with Amanda Holliday. I don't blame him, but she eventually told him to, well, basically to leave her alone. She said something about him being an Exo and not having lips to kiss, much less a cock to suck."
"Cayde!" Petra's voice accosted from off screen.
"Well she did!" Cayde snapped back, then sighed. "Anyway, the kid took it hard and entered a slightly rougher and vastly more illegal version of Sparrow Racing to blow off steam. Some asshole Titan drove him into a stalagmite. I've got him here in stasis while his SIVA regenerates the damage. Petra's not too hapy with me.
"I'd be happier if you'd get off that damned computer and come help me get his broken arms and legs put back together enpugh for his SIVA to fix it faster," Petra said.
"Be right there," Cayde said. "I just...need a minute."
"Hey, if lips and a cock are all thst Holliday wanted him to have, why doesn't he just make some with his SIVA?" Petra asked.
Cayde's head whipped around at her, then back at the screen before he lunged to turn the camera off. Hunter blinked. He'd never thought of trying to make artificial skin. He'd considered making a dildo between his legs, specifically when he, Cade, and Petra were joking about it, but he'd never considered skin.
"I'm finally finished!" Cayde said, pulling Hunter back to the present as the last video started. "His SIVA is amazing! I scraped some off while he was sleeping and had Sundance run some tests and it can make an artificial skin almost as soft as a Human's or Awoken's. It feels a little like an eraser, according to Petra, but still, it's skin! He could literally make himself look Human, or Awoken! This is incredible! He actually won't have to be alone! He'll be so happy!" He began to type on the computer rapidly. "Sundance and I came up with some face presets for him, as well as some basic presets for" he cleared his throat, "tools. He could probably make one that actually works, too. The whole nine yards. Erections, nerve endings, semen. Can't do sperm, though. Even SIVA's not that amazing. Anyway, I'm jealous. Man, if I could make one that actually worked, my time with Petra would be spent very differently."
"That's because you'd only last ten seconds and pass out," Petra said, walking into the screen, stark naked, and leaned on his shoulder, remaining completely in view as she looked at the screen. "Number two's too short to be worth him bothering to make, and number three's too fat, it would rip any girl he tried to fuck open and they'd need stitches."
"Glad you're here," Cayde said, typing. "Class, allow me to introduce my beautiful, currently naked, assistant, Petra Venj." He typed for a few more seconds before sitting back, sighing contentedly. "Since all the computers in my caches are linked, I'm uploading these presets to them all for Hunter to choose from, and I'm going to upgrade Hunter's Hand Cannon for him. I'm going to name it the Joker, styled like my Ace of Spades, and I'm going to give it a key to my caches. If I ever die, mine's his, but, in case I can't, he'll still have that." Cayde's smile faded and his shoulders sagged, suddenly making him seem distinctly old. "I sent my revised last will and testament, along with all my cache locations, to Ikora and Zavala last night. We're heading into a place called the Pit of Heresy in the morning. Hunter doesn't know, yet. He almost died there a couple days ago. The other twenty nine Guardians we sent died. Zavala and Ikora ignored me when I said we can't go in without an army, so..." he sighed heavily. "Hunter, if you're seeing this...if you're seeing all of these...there's so much I want to say. When I found you, as you'll have seen by now, I was ready to kill you if your SIVA wasn't under control. Please don't think less of me for it. I could never do it now. You're...You're my son, Hunter. At least, as close to it as we can be, both being machines. I don't...I don't actually remember Ace, my real son, sometimes I'm not sure I really had one, but I have one now. I have you, and that's made me happier than I could ever say." He paused for a moment as Petra squeezed his shoulder affectionately, and reached up to hold her hand. "I'm choosing you as my successor, Hunter. I know the Vanguard probably won't allow it now thst they finally found out about your SIVA, but fuck them. I already uploaded all of my access codes to the computer for your Ghost to download. You may not be Vanguard in name, but you'll be able to access restricted information, and Banshee and Drifter both agreed to recognize you even if the Vanguard don't. So...even if I don't make it out of that hole, you'll be alright. And...I'm probably not going to do another one of these for a while even if we make it back. Gonna have to fight with Ikora and Zavala about your SIVA." He nodded to himself, or maybe as a goodbye, and switched off the computer.
The screen shifted first to Cade's access codes, which Spark collected instantly, and then to a list of images, the face and extra bits presets Cayde had made. However, in the reflection, Hunter could see Petra just behind him, tears running down her cheeks. She set a hand on his shoulder, but didn't try to turn him around, and he didn't, yet.
"Cayde was always so proud of you," Petra said, voice thick with emotions. "It always seemed like you could do no wrong. It was almost annoying how much he talked about you. Hunter just made this shot. Hunter finally mastered this Light ability. Hunter got first place in the Guardian Games this year. Oh, he was especially proud of that one. Placing above even the best of the winning Guardian class. He was so prpud. You meant the whole world and beyond to him. He'd be so proud of who you've become."
He wouldn't habe been if you hadn't stopped me," Hunter said, tuening to her and wiping her tears gently. "Thank you, Petra, for saving me from myself."
Petra smiled, nodding, and looked at the screen. "See anything you like? I lost a lot of half-way decent sex for those, so you'd better at least like them."
Hunter chuckled, nodding. "I like the idea of having skin more than I can describe. I've never felt right as an Exo." He turned back to the screan, tapping a couple times to turn on the camera in one box so he could see himself, then pulled up the six face presets. His SIVA glowed and began to swell on his face, shifting and rearranging until his face matched the first preset, then the second. The third. The fourth. The fifth. As he reached the sixth, he frowned, then closed his eyes, allowing the SIVA to arrange itself on instinct before reaching up to his face. The feeling of his new false skin was definitely close to an eraser's texture. However, it felt far better than a metal face that was half holes. He opened his eyes and smiled, really smiled, at what he saw for the first time. His face looked extremely average, with a slightly small, slightly upturned nose, a roughly medium sized mouth and eyes, and the face lost somewhere between full and slim. But he liked it. He wasn't thrilled with the face that he couldn't make it lighten from the same metalic black that his Exo face had been, the fact that his horns were still exposed, or the fact that his eyes and the inside of his mouth were still glowing red.
"It's not perfect," Hunter frowned.
"I think you were perfect before," Petra said. "But at least this way, I can do this."
He looked over at her just as her lips met his. His eyes went wide before closing, instinct reciprocating for him as his arms wrapped around her. As her tongue trailed across his lip, one he didn't realize he'd formed swept out to meet it. As each held the other tighter, an erection he knew for a fact he hadn't had before she kissed him began to strain against his pants, pressing into her leg. She pulled back finally, resting her forehead against his, just below his horns, as she tried to catch her breath.
"And here I was expecting you to be a little rusty," Petra smiled.
"Hah hah," Hunter said, rolling his eyes.
Petra smiled, then pulled away. "Uldren first. We still have to reclaim your father's last keepsake. Then we can finish our...conversation."
Hunter nodded in agreement, focusing and disassembling his new apendage, then his skin, too, though he left the tongue, intentionally floppoing it out one of the holes in his cheeks. Petra gave him a curious look and he smiled, disassembling the tongue as well.
"I like having skin, but if I walk around as an obvious Exo with skin who glows red and is black, eventually I'll meet Lord Saladin and he'll crush me on the spot," Hunter said.
Petra nodded, smiling. "Just for me, then. I feel special."
"You are," Hunter smiled.
Petra smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the mouth before he picked her up, grabbed a rocket launcher from the table beside him, then jumped out of the bunker. As he set her on Cayde's Sparrow again, the cache sealed itself again. Then, Hunter climbed on behind Petra, using SIVA to form a third arm to hold her with whike he drove, and looked at her expectantly.
"Back to Spider?" Hunter asked.
Petra shook her head. "I think I know where Uldren is, but we need to move quickly."
Hunter nodded and hunched forward slightly. "Just point the way."
Petra nodded and Hunter sped off, leaving the Machinist's turf behind.
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