I do not own Destiny or any of its characters.
Searching
Hunter frowned as Spark projected a hologram of Zavala, Ikora, and an Exo wearing what looked like it should be a yellow cloak, though it was hard to tell in the blue hologram, and with spiked pauldrons.
"What?" Hunter asked curtly.
"We understand that Cayde gave you his access and authorization codes," Zavala said. "You're to delete them at once. We also have something we need you to take care of, so we need you to return to the tower."
"Please," the Exo added.
"Who are you?" Hunter asked.
"This is the new Hunter Vanguard," Ikora said. "Shiro-4."
"I've told you before, I'm not the Vanguard, Cayde chose him," Shiro said. "I'm just keeping his sest warm."
"And we told you, that Cayde's choice is not an option, therefor we chose you to succeed Cayde," Zavala said.
"Yeah, nice talking with you, Zavala, Ikora," Hunter said. "You can both go fuckyourselves. Nuce meeting you, Shiro. Cayde talked about you. Glad to see he was right about your honor."
Spark ended the transmission, the hologram vanishing, and Hunter sighed, shaking his head. He hated them. They were all but pissing on Cayde's last request.
"You look mad," Petra said, walking over to him, fully dressed for the first time in days, and with Hawkmoon strapped to her thigh. "I have something that might help. Killing things."
Hunter grinned, forming his armor while reabsorbing the SIVA from his artificial flesh and fun bits. "What did you have in mind?"
"I want to go through the gateway," Petra said. "I need to check something."
"Alright, Hunter nodded, gathering his weapons. "Let's go."
Petra smiled, kissing his forehead. "Thank you."
He nodded and they headed outside before warping to his ship. Hunter flew to the Watchtower, and they warped down to a landing pad just below the final, long stretch of stairs. Inside, there were Fallen belonging to Spider battling the Taken and struggling, but Hunter took off at a sprint, not bothering with his guns as he used the narrow space of the stairway to run on the walls or use them to jump an extra time in order to evade the Taken's shots and get past the Fallen as he rapidly ascended the stairs. Petra laughed as she chased him up the stairs.
"Someone's in a good mood today," Petra said.
"Hardly," Hunter said. "I'm rested, have a new hate for Taken, and am pissed at Ikora and Zavala."
"Fair enough," Petra nodded, just as Hunter reached the chamber they'd fought the Chimera in.
Hunter drew the Ace of Spades instantly, shooting all of the Taken in the room before reloading and heading for the gateway with Petra. Petra paused at a oblong object in the middle of the room and touched it, and the gateway's glow brightened.
"It's open," Petra said.
Hunter nodded and they both walked forward before leaping into the gateway. A blinding white Light enveloped them, and when they landed, it was on a thin stone pathway through shallow water, a layer of fog hovering a few inches over the water so thick that Hunter couldn't see the water, he only knew it was there because one of his feet landed in it.
"This place is strange," Spark noted instantly. "There's Light here, but also...Darkness."
"Yes," Petra nodded. "This place exists on the border."
Hunter nodded, following Petra as she jogged along the path. They made their way up a hill, and when they crested it, Hunter stopped, seeing the Watchtower in the distance.
"Is that the Watchtower?" Hunter asked.
"It is," Petra nodded. "Or, at least, it's the Dreaming City's Watchtower. Come on. We're heading toward it."
Hunter nodded and they turned left, continuing to follow the path, which turned into broken pillars for a ways before they reached the other side of the chasm, the bottom of which was obscured by fog, and the path turned into an open area where three Techeuns were hovering, the bottoms of their robes burning with white and black flames, as were the ends of their arms.
"Are those Techeuns?" Hunter asked as he and Petra leapt toward them.
"It can't be," Petra frowned.
Then, as they landed, all three spun, swiping a hand upward. Instantly, there was a pulse of Darkness, and when it cleared, they were standing in the Ascendant Plane, Taken charging and firing already. Both swore, grabbing their guns, and began to fire back as they began to struggle to avoid the returning fire. After several minutes of struggling, they finally finished the last of the Taken, a Centurion, together. They both sighed, reloading, and looked around before frowning. They followed the path a bit, then stopped, seeing a ball of light zipping around ahead of them, at a cliff with a massive Taken Blight floating just beyond it. They walked over to the light and the ball stopped, circled Hunter, then returned to zipping around, speaking.
"You!" the light said in a male voice. "Why would you come here? There is no place less suited to the likes of you, walking in the dreamland of your enemies."
Then, it flew past them, back along the path. They followed it, and jumped to the floating chunk of stone it was on. As they reached it, it spoke again.
"And, what?" the light asked. "Am I to be your Virgil? A guide? A shepherd?" It chuckled. "No, no, no."
Then, it flew away again, its light illuminating another floating chunk of rock off to their right. They jumped to it and another swam into view past it, then another as they reached that one. The light was hovering over the next, and they headed to it again.
"There are no guides here," the light said. "It is a place of scheming queens and traps unsprung." It flew to the next chunk of stone, and they followed. "'The dreary plain, forlorn and wild, the seat of desolation, void of light.' Ha!" It flew away to the next, this one beside the Taken Blight. "You walk blind above an abyss, full of trust for a friendly voice. You're playing right into her hands." Again it flew away, and still they followed. "Leave the Dreaming City while you still can, dear squanderer."
Just as they reached it again, this time at a pair of pillars like a gate or the end of a bridge, they left the Ascendant Plane. Hunter looked over at Petra, who shrugged.
"Who was that?" Hunter wondered aloud.
"No idea," Petra said. "And what was he talking about?"
"Who knows," Hunter sighed. "I feel like it's better to just be grateful he led us out and leave it at that."
Petra nodded in agreement. "Come on. We need to keep moving."
Hunter nodded and they continued along the path at a jog. Hunter glanced back as they did, seeing that the gap and Taken Blight had been replaced by an intact bridge. They climbed a set of stairs and Taken began to appear ahead of them, just across another bridge. They killed them quickly, then climbed the next hill to a golden door in a massive white and blue tower, this door carved into the cliffs around the tower. Just as they reached the door, Hive Knights and Acolytes began to charge from their right, only for Hunter and Petra to slaughter them. They turned back to the gate, but when Petra pushed on it, it went nowhere. She swore, hitting it with her hand, then looked around.
"This way," Petra said.
Hunter nodded, following her right around the cliff, killing several more Taken and Hive along the way before reaching the path again, arriving at a a sort of courtyard with several globes of varying sizes. Several Taken appeared and promptly died, before Hunter and Petra continued. They entered a tunnel with the walls and ground covered in dark blue crystals, and Hunter took a moment to admire the beautiful scene. Beyond that tunnel, they rounded a corner and reached a landing pad with a raised, small pad in the middle, arriving just as dozens of Taken began to arrive. They both took off, firing rapidly. Taken exploded rapidly as Hunter used the Ace of Spades to kill them, others spiraling into oblivion from the Joker and Hawkmoon's shots. Another wave appeared, then another. Then, as the last of them died, a Taken Wizard appeared. Hunter holstered the Ace of Spades instantly, forming a Golden Gun and fired six shots into the Wizard and killed it.
"It's so nice being able to use Light Energy," Hunter said. "Would have made the Chimera much more manageable."
"No kidding," Petra nodded, opening the door into the Watchtower. "We're here."
"Do you mind if I ask why we're here?" Hunter asked.
Petra hesitated. "I need to know if Queen Mara is still alive. There's something here that will let me find out."
Hunter nodded. "Alright. Let's do it."
Petra nodded, walking over to a console beside a massive globe with multiple rings around it. "I know what happened to Uldren. I had a suspicion, and last night, I saw the face of the evil we face in my dreams. If my Queen is alive, I must tell her. And if not, I must find a way to deal with it."
Hunter nodded just as Petra finished with the console, the globe beginning to spin as the rings around it began to spin around it. Then, they stopped, forming a cross around the globe, as opposed to having been aligned, and were rotating slowly.
"I'm done," Petra said. "Mara Sov! My Queen! Are you there? Can you hear me?"
Nothing.
"Dammit!" Petra swore, checking the console. "Calibration looks good. Signal is strong. And the Offering...wait, the Offering is missing!"
"What do I do?" Hunter asked.
Petra smiled gratefully. "This is an Oracle. It can do nothing without an Offering, but...maybe I can override it, somehow."
"And in the mean time?" Hunter asked.
"Take a look around," Petra said. "You might find an Offering, or I might need you to access a terminal."
Hunter looked at the terminal and the solid blue inside with a lot of circles and a couple of dots of light, almost like a map of galactic rotation. "You'll have to walk me through it, but sure."
He headed for a set of stairs off to the right, and as he reached the bridge at the top, Scorn began to appear. He instantly drew his Hand Cannons and charged, opening fire as the Scorn did the same. Several Screebs appeared and Hunter shot one with the Joker, detonating them all before using the Ace of Spades' explosive upgrade to clear a group of lower Scorn. Several more appeared in small groups and he used the guns together to drop them quickly, the Ace of Spades' upgrade making short work of the Scorn. Hunter grinned. He wasn't sure when Cayde had made the upgrade, or why he'd never seen it in use, but he loved it. It was perfect. A Scorn Archon, not as big as the Barons had been, appeared and Hunter swung both guns around, firing rapidly at it, the bullets slamming into its head and chest. As the Joker ran dry, he hurled it into the air, then hurled a Proximity Mine Dagger into the Scorn's head. A moment later, its headless body crashed to the ground, dropping a purple crystal. He picked it up, frowned, then shrugged and headed back to the tower.
"Petra, we found a purple crystal that the Scorn had," Hunter called out, seeing Petra had moved to a different terminal on a balcony above him to the left.
"An Offering," Petra said. "Figures. Vengeful thieves. Bring it up here."
Hunter walked to the right, finding a set of stairs wrapping around the tower counterclockwise. He followed the stairs until he reached Petra. He passed her the crystal, and she pressed it to the terminal, the crystal dissolving into light and sinking into the terminal. The globe shone and the rings realigned themselves again.
"Petra Venj," a deep, smooth, authoritative, female voice spoke from the globe.
"Mara!" Petra gasped, kneeling. "You're...alive! I'm so...I mean..." she took a steadying breath. "My Queen."
"And I see you brought a Guardian," Mara Sov noted, Hunter also kneeling. "I don't know this one."
"He is Cayde-6's protégé and chosen successor," Petra said. "He is the most honorable man I've ever met."
"High praise," Mara Sov said. "He's important to you."
"I..." Petra trailed off. "Forgive me, Your Grace."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Mara Sov said. "I understand your reasoning, and I approve of your selection. It changes nothing."
"Thank you...Mara," Petra said, smiling in relief. "Your Grace, I have news. Prince Uldren, your brother, is-"
"Dead, I know," Mara Sov said.
"Of course," Petra bowed her head. "He...His soul was corrupted by the Taken. He suffered from delusions, which I believe were caused by-"
"Riven," Mara Sov finished.
"Yes, m'lady," Petra said. "She has also been Taken, as have Kalli, Shuro, and Sedia."
"So many loved ones turned against us," Mara Sov said.
"Tell me what to do, my lady," Petra said. "Please."
"Assemble a team, Petra," Mara Sov said. "Send them into the heart of the City. Kill that creature and extract its heart. I offer the riches of our realm as bounty. Open the gates, and let the Guardians in. I must go. The battle rages on. If you have news, send it. I will answer as I am able. Stay strong, my Wrath. I believe in you."
"You were right," Hunter said, unsure how he felt.
"Yes," Petra said, eyes watering. "Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken, my Queen, LIVES!" She smiled, joy shining from every part of her face, as she stared at the Oracle as it realigned itself again, seeming to deactivate.
"What will you do now?" Hunter asked.
"I have to coordinate the Guardians' efforts," Petra said. "And I have to make sure I only gather Guardians strong enough to face Riven. That's you, the Guardian who defeated Oryx, Crota, and Gaul, and maybe Ikora? I might be able to get her to agree to help personally, if you'd be willing to work with her. Or you could choose your third companion. Hell, take more than three, if you want."
"I'll take you up on your offer and I'll ask that Guardian myself," Hunter said. "But...what I meant was, what does this," he gestured at the Oracle, "mean for us? I won't insult you intelligence by pretending you don't know how I feel."
Petra's gaze fell to the floor for a long moment before she spoke. "I won't pretend I don't care about you. I won't insult your intelligence, either. But...my Queen...Mara...I care for you, but...I love her."
"I know," Hunter said.
Petra sighed, reaching up to Hunter's cheek, Hunter's artificial skin forming before her hand reached him, and she smiled sadly and appreciatively, then kissed him tenderly, but he knew what it meant. It meant goodbye.
"At least for now...I need time," Petra said. "I have to complete my orders, and I cannot betray Mara, knowing she is alive, approval or no. I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Hunter smiled, kissing her forehead. "Thank you for everything. For showing me that Cayde's upgrades were worth bothering with, and for caring about me, and letting me know what it feels like, for once. I promise you, I'll bring someone to help kill Riven soon."
Petra nodded, kissing him again. "Thank you, Hunter. Maybe...sometime in the future..."
"Yeah," Hunter smiled, knowing there was no chance. "Maybe."
Petra nodded, kissing him one last time, longer this time, before pulling away. "I have to go."
Hunter nodded. "Me, too."
Petra nodded and Hunter took a couple of steps back before turning away and forcing himself to walk at a normal speed without looking back.
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