I do not own Destiny or any of its characters.
Final Hunt
Hunter narrowed his eyes as he heard a complete set of shots from the Ace of Spades ring out. He and Petra crawled faster, reaching the edge of the cliff just as Uldren reached into a massive rock formation that was obviously important but which Hunter didn't care about, and pulled out a shining white crystal. Petra sighted in through her sniper, but just as she pulled the trigger, Uldren jerked to the side.
"Damn!" Petra swore, then caught Hunter's arm as he reached for his new rocket launcher. "Run. We'll get him later, I know where he's going!"
Hunter nodded and they sprinted back down the mountain to where they'd left the Sparrow. Hunter got on first, Petra jumping on behind him, and he sped away, heading for Spider's hideout, on Petra's urging. Once they were there, Petra sighed.
"Spider, Uldren's heading for the Watchtower," Petra said. "We'll need help getting in."
"I see," Spider nodded. "I've always wondered what treasure and secrets you Awoken have hidden away inside that ersatz spire. But my friendship with Queen Mara, while she lived, stayed my hand. Well, that and a locked door."
"And now my aim will stay your hand," Hunter said. "We need help reaching the tower. Inside is none of your concern."
Spider narrowed his eyes before nodding. "I cannot wait to see how this ends."
"It ends with Uldren's brain outside his body," Hunter said. "When will your troops be ready?"
"How soon do you want them?" Spider asked.
"Three days ago," Hunter said. "Before the prison riot started."
Spider chuckled. "That would make our partnership pointless."
"It's not a partnership," Hunter growled. "I told you before, it's a hostage situation. You help, or I kill you and do things the hard way. I may fail to save the Reef, but I'll still kill Uldren."
Spider narrowed his eyes. "You should take care not to make unnecessary enemies, Guardian."
"Do I look like I care right now?" Hunter asked. "I want Uldren Sov dead. Once he is, my business with you is complete and there will not be any further business."
Spider nodded. "Very well." He picked up a communicator. "All forces, head for the Watchtower. Clear our Guardian friend a path." He set it back down. "Satisfied?"
"Almost," Hunter said. "Let's go."
Petra shook her head. "If we go in from one direction, they'll be able to mount a defense and stall us again. I'll take some forces in from the air and divide their defense."
"Alright," Hunter nodded. "I'll meet you at the top. Don't pop the balloon without me."
Petra smirked. "No promises, but I'll try. I'll probably leave you the Fanatic, though."
"Good," Hunter said. "I have a few things to give him."
Petra nodded, and they left Spider's hideout, splitting up outside. Hunter warped back to his ship and flew as close to the Watchtower as he could get before warping to the ground and beginning to sprint. Spark reported that they were on the way and Petra reported the same before both went silent. The path leading forward was a series of broken chunks of land, almost all of them packed with Scorn. However, between Hunter's Galliard, the dozens of Spider's Fallen around him, and the multiple Fallen Walkers Spider had sent, Hunter didn't have to slow down below a fast jog once as he leapt from land chunk to land chunk. After a few minutes, he reached a massive land chunk just as dozens of Scorn with round shields appeared ahead of them, a small stone arch as the only cover and a Scorn Chieftain standing atop it. However, as Hunter landed on the chunk of ground, he hurled a Proximity Mine Dagger into the ground below the chieftain, blasting it into the air where every Fallen following Hunter blasted it, killing it. Then, Hunter sprinted directly through the arch, emerging in the center of the Scorn, who had been going around it. He hurled an Incendiary Grenade to one side and a fan of Proximity Mine Daggers to the other, blasting almost half of the Scorn and scattering the rest, allowing the Fallen to swarm them and easily slaughter them. He passed through a tunnel that curved right, and a group of Scorn Ravagers charged at him from the other end, only for Hunter to draw Joker and shoot a handful of their Flame Censers, the explosions killing them all. Another Chieftain stepped into view on a low cliff just outside of the tunnel, but Hunter emptied the Joker into its chest, killing it, then reloaded is and swapped back to his Galliard. As he turned left just past the cliff, he found himself at the Watchtower.
"I'm at the tower," Hunter reported.
"You enjoyed killing them?" the Fanatic's voice asked from all around him as Hunter passed a pair of Dark Ether puddles, only to stop as the Fanatic appeared in front of him in a flair of Dark Ether.
The Fanatic appeared a few feet into the air, dropping to the ground and slamming the base of his staff to the ground, sending out a pulse of Ether, throwing Hunter backward, though Hunter landed on his feet.
"Fikrul's here," Hunter growled.
"Understood," Petra said. "He's the most dangerous, and will have the most help. Be careful."
"I will," Hunter said. "See you at the top."
"You enjoyed putting them in dirt, where you belong?" Fikrul asked as Hunter began to fire at him and circle him, a cloak of energy deflecting the shots.
The energy faded and Hunter's shots began to drill into Fikrul. Fikrul roared, slamming his staff down again, and Arc Energy began to crash into the ground, forcing Hunter to his knees. Hunter shouted in effort and launched himself to the side, barely escaping before he hit the ground and rolled back to his feet. He raised his rifle again, only for Scorn to begin to appear around them. Hunter sighed, putting his Galliard away and drawing the Joker instead, partially wishing he hadn't given Hawkmoon to Petra to replace the sidearm she'd lost when the Machinist blasted her. He could use the extra firepower, but he'd make due. He was always better with knives than Cayde, even though Cayde had him with everything else.
Several Scorn charged from his left and he hurled a fan of knives, killing them all as he fired at Fikrul rapidly, placing shot after shot in his head carefully. Fikrul slammed his staff into the ground again and Hunter turned sprinting away, using his intangibility dodge to escape just as the electricity blasted the ground, not affecting the Scorn chasing Hunter. He dropped a Proximity Mine Dagger as he continued to run, the explosion catching most of the Scorn. He spun, firing the last two shots in the Joker into the last two, then reloaded just in time to leap into the air, a bolt of Arc Energy flashing under him from the tip of Fikrul's staff. As he landed, he ducked, forcing himself into a dead sprint again as another flashed over him, then just behind him. He fired several shots into Fikrul's chest, throwing his aim off slightly before hurling a knife into the Flame Censer of a Scorn Ravager as it was passing Fikrul, the explosion sending Fikrul staggering to the side, flames covering his side for a few seconds.
"Kaniks," Fikrul rasped as he began to fire lightning bolts at Hunter again, more Scorn appearing around the courtyard. "Reksis Vahn. Yaviks. Pirrha. Araskes. Hiraks. Tell me that killing my friends made you feel good." Arc Energy began to flash from his body, sending bolts of electricity in every direction. "TELL ME!"
"You forgot Elykris," Hunter said, his SIVA forming a fan of Proximity Mine Daggers, which he instantly charged with his Solar Energy. "And yes, it felt amazing to kill every one of them!" He hurled the daggers, all of them stabbing into Fikrul's chest before exploding like a barrage of rocket shots, hurling Fikrul backward.
As Fikrul hit the ground, he vanished in a flash of Dark Ether, even more Scorn appearing around the Courtyard, all charging at Hunter again. He leapt into the air, forming knives from Arc Energy as he spun, hurling the fans outward indiscriminately. Not all of them hit a Scorn, but once they hit something, they instantly blasted any Scorn around where they stuck with Arc Energy, killing all of the Scorn.
"Fikrul got away, but I made it hurt," Hunter said. "I'm on my way in."
"Understood," Petra responded.
Suddenly, Hunter stumbled, his sight growing white and shaking. Then, it flared white, and when his mind had finished doing a hard reset, he was being held in the air inside the Watchtower by Fikrul's Arc Energy. A barrier of it was around Fikrul, but it was thin, pulsating weakly, and dark blood and burns covered Fikrul's torso.
"I would pay...any price...to be there when you die!" Fikrul seethed, sounding like he couldn't catch his breath.
Hunter grabbed his rocket launcher just as he began to streak toward Fikrul, who pulled his staff back. Then, Hunter fired, bracing himself, and a moment later, the explosion hurled both away from each other, Fikrul's barrier vanishing as he used his staff to stand, countless Scorn appearing around the room as Hunter reloaded the rocket launcher. Fikrul slammed his staff into the ground again and Hunter began to sprint, his SIVA forming knives rapidly, which he hurled rapidly, barely managing to keep the Scorn from overwhelming him. Lightning bolts began to flash past, blasting through Scorn as Fikrul struggled to kill Hunter. Finally, Hunter leapt into the air, using a second burst to get over a lightning bolt, landing on the side of one of the four pillars around the room. Fikrul aimed up at him, but before he could fire, Hunter leapt off of the pillar again, then sighted in and fired. The rocket shot exploded into Fikrul's chest, blasting through completely this time and hurling him backward. He instantly released the rocket launcher and drew his melee knives, tapping into his Void energy and cloaking himself as he fell. He slashed an arc through three Scorn as he landed before taking off at a sprint, slashing anything that came into range and alternating between slashing them immediately or passing through them while intangible them slashing them after to confuse the Scorn, as his cloaking could only hold for a few second at a time without more practice. However, after a few seconds of nothing more than a couple of grazing wounds, he was finally finished and put the daggers away, sighing as he retrieved the rocket launcher, reloading it before putting it away.
"This...is not...the end," Fikrul managed to croak from where he was sprawled across the ground. "The Scorn...are...forever." He fell limp and Hunter picked up his staff, then drove it down through his head and into the ground, ensuring he was dead.
"Fikrul's dead," Hunter said. "Now I'm on my way up."
"We did it," Spark said. "Only one name left."
"Uldren Sov," Hunter growled, sprinting into the tower, Joker in his hand.
"It's time to end this," Petra said. "For Cayde. Hunter, no one has stood where you are since the Queen closed these doors."
Hunter glanced around as he reached the top of a short flight of stairs into a long room with plants around him and what looked like a glowing globe on the far end of the room, in front of a stained glass window.
"It's beautiful," Hunter said.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Petra said.
"I don't know," Hunter said. "Cayde's video diary was pretty revealing, and that was beautiful, too."
"Hopefully it's better in person," Petra said.
"Haven't even seen it in person yet, and I can guarantee it is," Hunter said.
As they passed the globe, Spark scanned it briefly before catching up.
"That's a communication device," Spark said. "But the coordinates it's broadcasting to...shouldn't exist."
As he sprinted up more stairs, these ones wrapping around in a box, he frowned as he saw the same reflective black pools as Cayde had described wherever he'd dealt with Taken.
"Taken pools," Hunter warned Petra.
"I know," Petra said. "Keep moving. I'll meet up with you when I can."
Hunter skidded to a stop in a room that looked like it was entirely a Taken pool and with some form of white fluid forming a wall before him. "Um...Petra? White fluid wall? Maybe mist?"
"It's a portal to the Ascendant Plane," Petra said. "Go through. You'll have to take multiple to reach the top."
"Understood," Hunter nodded, stepping into the portal.
His mind did a reset before he was standing in a room where shattered pieces of the Watchtower were floating around, reminding him of a slightly more illuminated version of the Mindbender's Throne World. He hated it.
"Open the door, brother," a female voice Hunter didn't know ordered. "OPEN THE DOOR!"
"I can't," Uldren's voice echoed, both voices coming from all around them. "No."
Hunter continued to sprint, leaping over the huge gap using floating chunks of floor, then up another set of stairs. a round, more obvious, portal appeared in front of him like a round, rough rip in space, and he leapt through it, his brain again resetting before his feet hit the ground and he was sprinting through the normal version of the Watchtower again, heading for a flight of stairs straight ahead of him. The hallway turned right up more stairs before coming to what looked like an altar. Behind the altar was something that reminded Hunter of the inside of an old church, with pillars along the sides, then half walls stretching from the pillar outward to the walls. As soon as Hunter stepped into the room, Darkness swirled on the opposite end before black creatures with flashes of white over their bodies, like silhouettes of Hive, Fallen, and Cabal, appeared from them, along with a silhouette of an Ogre. The one thing that he noticed about all of the Taken was the glowing white light where their heads were.
"Shit!" Hunter swore. "Taken!"
He fired several times, hitting several in the head, only for them to spiral into the point of impact and vanish. He frowned, stepping behind a pillar just ahead of several shots of darkness, which chipped away at the pillar, just before a stream of much bigger blasts began to explode into it, breaking off much larger pieces.
"Fucking Ogres," Hunter growled, hurling an Incendiary Grenade toward the Taken.
As it exploded and the blasts stopped for a moment, he grabbed a handful of knives at random and stepped out, hurling them. Of the dozen Taken besides the Ogre that had been there, the knives killed the four still alive before two Proximity Mine Daggers he'd thrown without realizing it to explode. One was beside the Ogre and knocked it to the side a step, throwing its shots off before Hunter empties the Joker into its face, the last shot killing it. Just as it vanished, a Taken Colossus appeared and fired a slow moving orb of darkness with a white aura shining around it. Hunter reloaded and shot the sphere and it exploded. Then, the Colossus began to fire blasts of darkness that exploded like grenades. Hunter was infinitely glad he dodged them on instinct, then grabbed his rocket launcher, firing and blasting the Taken Colossus in the torso, killing it. He put the Rocket Launcher away and drew the Joker again.
He turned a corner and up the next set of stairs. He ignored Spark noticing that a giant crystal didn't match anything on record in the Reef. Up the next set of stairs, he continued to slowly wrap around to the right until more Taken, looking like they might have been Cabal Psions, appeared in front of him. He opened fire rapidly, but every time he thought he killed one, it seemed to split into two, instead. Finally, he hurled a fan of Proximity Mine Daggers, blasting them all at once, except one. However, this time, it died without duplicating. He continued to run, passing a tree that Petra said was from just after the Collapse, to celebrate the arrival of the Awoken, then into another portal to the Ancestral Plane.
Within seconds, there were Taken appearing, and Hunter shot them as quickly as he could without slowing down. He was outside, so to speak, this time, and it was darker with wind and dust screaming through, and the only path was by leaping from one piece of debris to the next.
"FREE ME, O brother mine," the female voice Hunter assumed belonged to Mara Sov echoed from all around him again.
"No," Uldren almost moaned. "No, no, no, no. Something's wrong."
"Keep fighting Uldren," Hunter growled. "Keep buying me time to kill you."
He fought his way through another group of Taken, including a Centurion, then followed a trail of debris through a giant, shattered, stained glass window. Just as he lanced on a round, almost arena-like chunk of floor, a Taken Vex Minotaur appeared. He didn't bother with the Joker, instead forming his Golden Gun and firing six shots into it, killing it. As the gun faded, he sighed, breathing heavily. He was seriously overdoing it on the Light powers. He needed to let them rest. A portal appeared in the center of the room, and he ran through it instantly. A set of stairs led up directly in front of him, and he sprinted up them, feeling his trigger finger tingle. He was getting close. At the top of the stairs, there was a sphere of darkness partially formed from the wall, the quarter sphere that was visible being about the size of a Fallen Walker. He leapt over it, continuing up the stairs and under a second. Then, finally, he could see the doors to what he could tell by the long, straight staircase was the last room, the equivalent of the Throne Room. However, Uldren wasn't alone behind the door. He could sense something inside that was filling him with fear.
He took a steadying breath and kicked the door open, only to freeze. Across the room, there was a Servitor with the front and core missing, replaced by some kind of brown flesh with a mouth where the Servitor's eye should be. The mouth was filled with countless needle-like teeth, glowing violet light deep inside, and transparent tentacles extending off of the Servitor everywhere. Just as he opened the door, Uldren screamed, being held by those tentacles, and was hurled into the worm's mouth and swallowed.
"He's mine to kill!" Hunter snarled. Spit him out!"
He charged into the room, firing Joker rapidly into the thing, but got no visible reaction, save for spurts of dark blood, that each lasted only an instant, when he hit the flesh around the mouth or just inside of it. Any shots into the back of the mouth seemed to vanish. He continued to fire rapidly, but as he did, the Servitor's mouth began to spit out massive blasts of Void Energy the size of Hunter's torso, which exploded whenever they hit the ground or wall, as Hunter hadn't slowed down from a sprint since the first one was fired. Three tentacles lashed outward, firing the same explosive darkness spheres as the Colossus had earlier, except that these were each as tall as Hunter. He shot one, detonating all three, then reloaded before continuing to fire at the Servitor. He hurled a Proximity Mine Dagger into the Servitor, but even as that exploded, he got not definitive reaction. He pulled his Rocket Launcher around and fired into the mouth, the explosion shooting back out of its mouth, but as with everything else, the Servitor showed no sign of being injured. Unless he counted the Taken suddenly appearing all around him. He swore, holstering the Joker before beginning to rapidly form and hurl fans of knives, spinning, flipping, and rolling as he did to avoid all of the different types of explosives the Servitor was still spitting at him. He hurled the knives as fast as he could, mowing down Taken rapidly, but they still began to push closer. He narrowed his eyes, hurling a fan of Proximity Mine Daggers at the Servitor before stopping, spinning himself as fast as he could before jumping, beginning to hurl fans of Proximity Mine Daggers like water from a sprinkler, his body spinning in a blur. As he began to descend, he used a pulse of Light Energy to speed his spin back up while jumping again, then another just as his feet got a couple feet from the ground. Finally, he landed on his feet, hurling one last fan forward to clear himself to start running again before sprinting forward, grabbing his Rocket Launcher again and firing another shot into the Servitor. Just as it exploded, his vision stretched, flared white, went black, and then returned, leaving him in the Ascendant plane. The floor was gone, save for broken stone pathways leading around the edges of where the room used to be and up the middle. As he landed at one of the intersections, Taken flooded toward him along all three pathways, dozens of them, and each line with a taken Phalanx in the front, their massive, black shields in front, each shield having a spiraling vortex of darkness in the center of it.
"Fuck me," Hunter growled, firing a rocket shot into the Phalanx in front of him, only for the explosion to do nothing to the Phalanx or any of the Taken behind him. "Shit."
He put the rocket launcher away and charged, forming a fan of Proximity Mine Daggers before leaping into the air over the Phalanx. Just as he did, a pulse of darkness exploded out of the shield, the tailwind pulling him backward. He swore heavily, hurling the fan of knives, and the explosion killed several Taken and threw the Phalanx off balance, allowing Hunter to hurl a knife into his head, killing him, before drawing his Galliard. He began to spray as he charged forward, slaughtering the Taken ahead of him rapidly. However, just as he did, shots began to slam into him from behind. He jumped, getting over the shots, then spun, spraying the lines of Taken as he cleared the last of the group in the center path. As he landed, he drew the Joker in his left hand and began to use both guns to slaughter the Taken on the side paths as well as the center one. They began to shoot back and he grit his teeth, forcing his SIVA to regenerate the damage as fast as it could. He couldn't avoid the shots, and there was no cover. He had to survive it. Finally, the last Taken died and he sighed, just as his vision distorted and faded again before leaving him back in the Watchtower's main room with the Servitor, just in time for a blast of Void Energy to explode against the ground in front of him, hurling him backward to the ground. He groaned, struggling to stand, only to collapse again.
"Get up!" Spark pleaded. "GET UP!"
The Servitor's tentacles reached down, wrapping around him, and lifted him into the air. Hunter groaned, reaching for a knife, but just as he managed to get it loose, a gunshot rang out, two of the tentacles exploding between him and the Servitor. He slashed upward, severing the last one holding him and fell back to the floor. Instantly, Petra was at his side, yanking him up before diving out of the way of a blast of Void Energy with him. Then, she dragged him up again and began to run.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm running on empty," Hunter groaned.
"I'll take over," Petra said.
She dropped him behind a huge crystal with floating black stone spheres around it for cover before taking off, shooting at the Servitor rapidly to get its attention, and it turned, beginning to fire at her. Hunter groaned, grimacing and looking down at his body. His armor had been blown off entirely in the last blast, and his SIVA had only just finished regenerating his body. It was slowing down. Spark appeared, staying low and close to Hunter, and began to shine a beam of Light Energy on him, his SIVA speeding up slightly as some of his energy began to regenerate, but only slowly.
"You need to get up!" Spark said urgently. "Petra can't hold out for long!"
Hunter groaned, picking the Joker up off the ground, but lacked the strength to stand. His head fell to the side, and he stopped, staring. The Ace of Spades was lying a few feet to his right. His eyes widened slowly before determination, or possibly just pure, instinctive defiance of death, flooded him. He grunted, shoving himself to his feet as Spark winked out of sight, then scooped the Ace of Spades off the floor. Then, he took a long breath before stepping out where he could see the Servitor and opened fire with both pistols. The Servitor turned as Petra dove behind a pillar, and Hunter narrowed his eyes, beginning to run as shot after shot slammed into the Servitor's flesh, or flew into its mouth. The Joker ran dry and he spun it, ejecting the empty cylinder before swiping it upward past his belt to catch a fresh one. When the Ace of Spades ran dry, he used his left hand's upgrades to hover and spin up while freeing his hand to grab a reload for it. And then, Petra was firing again at well. Taken began to appear and Hunter shot one in the head with the Ace of Spades, the Taken immediately exploding into a fireball, killing a group around it. He yelped, then grinned, swapping the guns between his hands before beginning to use the Ace of Spades to clear the area around himself of Taken, as well as around Petra, while using the Joker to fire at the Servitor or help clear as needed. The Ace of Spades ran dry and he hurled it into the air, grabbing a reload as her emptied the Joker into the Taken around himself, then reloaded the Ace of Spades as he caught it before using his left hand's upgrades to reload the Joker. Just as he began to fire again, his SIVA finished regenerating his pants, now complete with a holster on either side of him with the same illegal modifications as Cayde's Lucky pants had. He continued to fire, rapidly clearing the Taken around himself as he fired the Joker at the Servitor. After a few minutes, a Taken Acolyte landed behind Hunter, only for Petra to kill it with her knife before stepping up behind Hunter, reloading Hawkmoon before beginning to focus on the Taken for him, allowing him to focus his fire on the Servitor.
"I can't even tell if we're doing anything," Petra said.
"Me neither," Hunter said. "Do you see my Galliard or Rocket Launcher anywhere?"
"Galliard's to the right, Rocket Launcher's to the left," Petra said.
"I'll go for the Rocket Launcher, you take the Galliard," Hunter said. "It'll be more helpful at crowd control than your Hand Cannon."
Petra nodded. "Behind the pillar."
Hunter nodded and turned, sprinting to his left, Petra heading the other way. Hunter spotted the Rocket Launcher, amid a swarm of Taken, and fired quickly, the Ace of Spades causing several Taken to explode and cleared the group, allowing him to store both Hand Cannons and grab his Rocket Launcher. He immediately fired a blast into the Servitor's mouth, and this time, it shuddered. However, just as it did, pitch black fluid with spots of white light dancing across its surface and pure white lightning flashing and sparking across it suddenly appeared in several spots, flooding outward quickly to cover almost half the floor, leaving only certain spots for him and Petra to stand. he reloaded the Rocket Launcher and stored it, drawing his Hand Cannons again and began to fire at the Taken around Petra, helping clear her some room to breathe and reload the Auto Rifle she was now holding. They headed for each other, both racing back into cover behind the crystal where she'd left Hunter to rest, and Hunter sighed, nodding just as his chestplate finished regenerating, his SIVA prioritizing his sleeves next.
"Take the Rocket Launcher," Hunter said. "Focus on that thing while I work crowd control."
Petra nodded, taking the Rocket Launcher, then stepped out, immediately firing up at it. As she did, Hunter rapidly fired at the Taken closing in on them from both sides. However, just as he did, his vision began to distort again. A moment later, they were in the Ascendant Plane, standing on a chunk of ground with stairs to a small raised platform behind them, the dark fluid still covering the floor, and a few scattered paths winding around and through the room. Taken began to appear instantly, but between the two of them, they cleared them all easily, unlike when Hunter was alone. As they returned to the normal version of the room, there were several floating balls of Darkness around the room, all of them shining a beam of Energy at the Servitor, which was glowing the same pale green as the energy. As Hunter shot it experimentally, his shot deflected off of the energy. Hunter huffed and he and Petra split up, dividing their attention between the Taken swarming them and the floating balls of energy. Then, just as the last sphere faded, Petra fired a rocket into the Servitor and a deep, smooth, female voice screamed in rage and pain, the Taken swarming even faster.
"Your Arc Energy is ready, but only for one attack!" Spark said suddenly.
"Finally!" Hunter growled. "Now if only I had a moment to concentrate!"
A rocket exploded into the Taken ahead of Hunter, which he was struggling to beat back, just as both of his Hand Cannons ran dry. Then, Petra stepped up beside him with his Galliard, beginning to fire.
"Rockets are out!" Petra warned him.
"That's fine!" Hunter said, finishing his reload quickly before putting both Hand Cannons away. "I've got just enough of a charge!" He focused and a spear of Arc Energy appeared in his hands.
"The first thing you hit will be the only thing!" Spark reminded him.
Hunter leapt into the air, then again with a pulse of Light Energy until he had a clear line of sight at the Servitor, which looked up at him. Then, he hurled the spear. It shot forward, driving itself into the Servitor's mouth, then exploded, several arcs of electricity shooting out of its mouth as electricity screamed over its entire body. The female voice screamed again as the Servitor drifted backward, tentacles flailing. The Servitor's plates began to fall off before the thing began to contort and spiral. Then, it was sucked into a white vortex, which spiraled for another moment before vanishing with a resounding "boom!"
Hunter looked around as the remaining Taken all vanished and the black fluid covering the ground faded, then sighed, landing on his feet and immediately crashing to the ground.
"Hunter!" Petra gasped, running over and helping him stand.
"I'm alright," Hunter said, accepting his Galliard and Rocket Launcher back. "Thank you for saving me."
"I owed you a few," Petra smiled.
"Let's just call it even," Hunter smiled.
"Not just yet," Petra said, her smile fading as she looked to the side.
Hunter frowned in confusion, following her gaze, before stopping as he saw Uldren lying on the floor below where the Servitor disappeared, struggling to either stand or crawl. Hunter's eyes narrowed and he nodded, drawing the Ace of Spades and walking over to Uldren and aiming at him. Uldren chuckled, rolling over to look at him as Petra joined him.
"Congratulations," Uldren said. "You have my undivided attention. Now where's my sister?"
"Not here," Hunter said. "That's not important right now."
"Even if she was here, this would be a whole lot easier," Petra said, also aiming at him.
"So, this is to be a reckoning," Uldren said.
"Yes, it is," Hunter said. "For Cayde."
"Wait!" Spark said. "Not like this. Look at him. He's finished. Even with everything he's done, we can't just-"
"You have no idea what he's done!" Petra shouted, gripping Hawkmoon tightly with both hands and taking a step closer to Uldren, but restraining herself from firing right then and there.
"So, tell me, then," Uldren said. "What would the notorious Cayde-6 do? You have his gun. Seems you get the last word." He pushed himself up slightly, glaring at Petra. "Everything I did, I did for her!" He fell back, chuckling tiredly. "Funny. The line between Light and Dark is so very thin. Do you know which side you're on?" He glared at Hunter.
"Yes, I do," Hunter said, squeezing the trigger.
Uldren slumped back to the ground and Hunter holstered the Ace of Spades.
"It's over," Hunter said. "Finally."
"Yes, finally," Petra nodded, turning and wrapping her arms around him. "Finally."
Hunter focused, forming his artificial skin and pulled back slightly. Petra smiled and instantly met him in a kiss, both holding each other tightly. After a few seconds, Petra pulled away, letting out a shuddering breath, wiping her eyes.
"Thank you," Petra smiled. "For everything."
Hunter smiled. "You stole my line."
Petra smiled, then looked around. "We should go make sure Spider knows we're finished, and that your partnership is at an end."
Hunter nodded.
"Are you going back to the tower?" Petra asked.
"Not yet," Hunter said. "At least for now, I don't want to see Zavala or Ikora. I might go back some other time, but not right now."
Petra nodded. "Well, I'm sure there's somewhere you can stay for a little while, if you want."
"Sounds perfect," Hunter smiled. "Now, I believe we agreed to get the fuck out of here."
Petra nodded and they turned, leaving the tower together quickly, taking Hunter's ship back to Spider's hideout to give him the good news.
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