Chapter 12: The Deep Stone Crypt, Part 2
Accessing File: The Scarred
Ha! So, the Kell of Winter seeks the aid of Taniks, the Scarred. How formal! Wasn't long ago you called me self-serving scum and spat at my banner-less armor. I might've ripped each and every one of your arms from you then. And torn off your legs for good measure.
But I sensed one day, you'd come begging for my services. Lucky I am such a vulgar mercenary after all, eh? It works in your favor now, that I hold payment above pride. Payment not just in Glimmer. In blood and battle too. No one Kell, no one house has been able to slake my thirst. No one job, either.
Though… a break-out of the Prison of Elders might come close.
But for Aksor? You ask me to pass over far-greater warriors for that impotent Archon? You think he will serve you better than Peeksis, the Disavowed? Than Pirsis, Pallas-Bane? Than Calzar, than Drekthas?
You'd choose Aksor over the Shipstealer?! Eramis, who led the charge at the Final Attempt? Who hurled herself at the wretched Gems, who moved so quickly I would've sworn she had eight arms? When your pathetic Winter-ones followed in her footsteps, they had to wade through the flood of life-force she left in her wake.
And still you wonder why I refuse my house-pledge. You could conquer the system, but you'd rather adhere to these arbitrary customs. Aksor belongs to Winter, and Eramis does not.
Twice my usual price. The fee is for my restraint. It will take what little I have to free Aksor over the fiercest of Eliksni fighters.
Close File
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Battle Report: Skies of Riis
Eliksni Revolutionary fleet is confirmed to have engaged in aerial combat with Eliksni Loyalist fleet.
Solkis, Kell of Devils and Draksis, Winter Kell have been confirmed to be leading the Loyalist fleet.
Confirmed death count of Revolutionary fleet: 7 Ketches, 75 Galliot-class fighters, 50 Skiffs. Losses are minimal
Confirmed death count of Loyalist fleet: 35 Ketches, 450 Galliot-class fighters, 250 Skiffs. Solkis and Draksis confirmed killed in action.
10 Loyalist Ketches captured, House Winter Prime Servitor Simiks Prime captured, Winter Archon KIA, Devil Prime Servitor Sepiks Prime destroyed, Devil Archon Riksis confirmed KIA. Solkis and Draksis have both been confirmed to have died in the battle.
Revolutionary Fleet has rendezvoused with more Ketches from other minor Houses and disgruntled citizens and are on approach to the planet's capital of Riis-Prime.
Odds of Revolutionary forces overthrowing the ruling Houses at 80%.
Close File
Xxx
A few Months Ago
San Fransokyo, Spicy Ramen Shop
Most people usually come to restaurants for food, but this ramen shop had an unusual visitor. One of its customers was a female looking robot that was somehow able to consume food. Many people looking at her tried to take a picture of her put couldn't get a good look of her face as the shadow of her hood blocked its features save for her glowing blue-white eyes.
"People like you are really good for business." The shop owner said to her as he gives her another bowl of his 5-star spicey ramen. "This ones on the house."
"Thanks." Future Elsie said the owner.
As the owner walked away one of his customers takes a seat next to Elsie, someone see is familiar with, after all he's the reason why she didn't just kill Billiam when she tried to prevent the Crom crisis.
"Good to see you again Ms. Bray." The man said to her.
"Likewise, Professor Paradox." Elsie said to the timewalker. "So what brings you to me this time."
"Not much, just wanted to see how you're doing." Paradox said as he looked at an active tv screen in the restaurant that showed an army of Grimm approaching Nowhere Kansas. He scowls at the screen. "A shame the 'Poison of God' had to make his move now right after the death of Patience St. Pim."
"Sammael." Elsie said as she puts down her chopsticks and conjures a Stasis Crystal in her right hand. "Hard to believe that this power is something that can be used against him and his forces."
"Ironic considering it's from a Darkness, though that Darkness seeks to reduce its own universe to it's simplest form." Paradox stated to the future Bray.
"Is their anything else I should know about universe DY-Prime?" Elsie asked Paradox. "Perhaps there is something their that can help us."
"The Light and Darkness that created that universe don't like outside variables interfering with their 'Game of Life' Ms. Bray and have done everything they could to prevent any other universe from accessing it." Paradox said in response. "It was pure dumb luck that portal rifts caused by Van Kleiss was even able to breach it and bring in a Pyramid of the Black Fleet. And doubly luckily that your grandfather was able to create a portal to it."
"Can you at least tell me more about it?" Elsie asked. "You owe me that much at least."
"Very well." Paradox said to her. "That universe lies on the far side of the omniverse far beyond your own multiverse and is home to many terrors that no other universe possesses."
"Like the Vex." Elsie said remembering all her fights with those blasted machines.
"Yes, like them." Paradox answered. "The Vex were originally patterns from the Light and Darkness' old games, always subsuming all other patterns until only they were left. But there are others far worse than them."
"Like what?" Elsie asked.
"Like the beings who follow that universe's Darkness." Paradox answered. "First are the Worm Gods, parasitic beings that enter in symbiotic relationships with other races to amass power for themselves. There was once five of them but now only three remain. Next are the race they entered into a pact with, the Hive. A race whose ancestors home planet crashed into the gas giant the Worm Gods were trapped within. The Hive were tempted with power and immortality and once they accepted it, they waged war on their universe to be the only race left. Then there's the Taken, entities from multiple races corrupted by the Darkness to serve a master."
"And like the Vex they only exist in universe DY-Prime?" Elsie asked for clarification.
"Indeed." Paradox said before sighing. "And like those terrors, the joys that universe possesses only exists within it."
"Like what?"
"Like the Traveler, an entity that radiates with Light energy." Paradox explained. "It can uplift civilizations, rearrange planetary orbits, terraform worlds that should not be able to be terraformed like Mercury, and many more things. Then theirs the Awoken, a race wavering between the Light and the Dark, some of them capable of abilities no one else can do. And finally, the Guardians, warriors raised from dead humans, Awoken, and Exos to push back against the Darkness."
"Everything you said about that universe sounds terrifying and wonderful." Elsie says to the professor.
"Indeed." Paradox said in response. "Universe DY-Prime already has enough troubles, we don't want ours spilling over into theirs or theirs spilling into ours."
"Which is why that universe is best left alone." Elsie said understanding Paradox's words.
"Correct." The Timewalker said to the future Bray.
Xxx
Present Day
The raid leaves the observation room and enter the lab with their weapons at the ready.
"Come out Taniks!" Cayde called out.
"You won't find the 'Reborn' in here." An electronic female voice called out and the group sees Atraks walk out from around the corridor.
"Atraks, the Wildcard." Eris says as she lets go of her green orb and lets it float around her as she pulls out her rifle. "Come to face us in place of the mercenary?"
"Taniks has his orders and I have mine." The Eliksni Exo says as she looks at something in her upper left hand and held a Shock Rifle in her upper right hand.
"You don't know how dangerous it is to undergo the Exo procedure." Elsie said to the young Eliksni. "Your mind will try to reject the new body if you haven't put in the proper failsafe to initiate a reboot for your mind."
"I didn't need your 'failsafe' Terran." Atraks says as she tosses the object in her upper left hand to the group.
Cayde catches the object and sees that it's a helmet covered in…flesh?
"Atraks…what did you do?!" Cayde demanded from the Baroness.
"I was experiencing early stages of your Dissociative Exomind Rejection and was instructed by my lieutenants to cut off my old face." Atraks said in response shocking the group.
"You cut off your old face?!" Ana exclaimed. "Are you insane!?"
"My old body's just an empty shell." Atraks explained. "What I did helped remind me that what I am now is different then what I was."
"Doesn't make what you did any right." Cayde said as he tossed the helmet away. "And it's six against one here."
"Correction." They heard Atraks says but it didn't come from the one before them.
They looked around to see three more Eliksni Exos that looked just like Atraks enter the lab.
"It's four against six." The four Atraks's said to the raid them.
"What the hell am I looking at?" Drifter said as he removed his rebreather to reveal his bearded face in shock.
"Atraks must've copied her mind over and over to create duplicates of herself." Elsie explained to the scoundrel before turning to Banshee. "If you were still your old self you would be studying this in further detail and see what kind of effect this would have on the subject's Aura."
"Yeah." Banshee said as he raised his sword and ignited it in fire.
"As you Terrans would say…" One Atraks said to the raid team.
"…me's a crowd." Another Atraks finished.
The Atraks duplicates then fire upon the group with their Shock Rifles forcing them to scatter in order to avoid the Arc blasts.
Cayde and Banshee flee into one of the lab's rooms and are followed by one of the duplicates. The duplicate looks around and sees Cayde running with his hand cannon at the ready and fires at her. She shrugs off the bullets and charges at the bounty hunter and fires at him. Cayde dodges as best as he can but the Atraks duplicate manages to land a hit causing him to stagger. The duplicate moves in and grabs Cayde by the neck and pins her smaller adversary to the wall. The duplicate tightens her hand around his neck making him struggle to escape.
"Did you really think your gun would be enough to damage me?" The duplicate asked condescendingly to her opponent.
"No." Cayde struggled to say. "But…my friend…is a much better fighter than me."
The duplicate looks confused but then she hears a howling sound from behind her causing her to turn her head around to see a blade slash her horizontally upward. The lights of her eyes fade and her grasp on Cayde-6's neck loosens with the human Exo getting himself free. The duplicate's torso begins to slide at an angle before finally falling off it's waist and then the waist falls onto the ground.
"Thanks for the safe buddy." Cayde said as he rubbed his throat. "Most important rule on the battlefield is to always be aware of your surroundings."
"Yeah." Banshee-44 said as he disengages the Lament's flames.
The sisters meanwhile had engaged with two of the Atraks duplicates. One duplicate had an Arc Spear and the other had what looked like an Arc Katana. The one with the Arc Katana swung it at Ana who then transformed the Polaris Lance into its glaive form to block the electrified sword attacks. Ana then struck her glaive's energy into the floor and released a purple energy into the floor under the duplicate's feet. The Atraks duplicate looks in confusion before the gravity energy releases and sends her into the air. Ana uses her gravity abilities to propel herself into the air above the duplicate and then swings her glaive down onto the duplicates neck severing her head.
Elsie was on the offensive with her opponent as she had No Time to Explain in its sword mode. The Atraks duplicate block with her Arc Spear before using her teleporter to get around the future Elsie and then tries to strike her from behind. Elsie formed a Stasis crystal in her left hand and drops it behind herself. The crystal hits the floor and ignites into a Stasis wall that catches the spear and freezes the Atraks duplicate. Elsie then leaps over the wall and slashes at the frozen duplicate, shattering it into pieces.
"Good moves sis." Ana said as she approached her sister's alternate future self.
"Thank you, Little Light." Elsie said. "It always pays to stay in practice.
Eris Morn and the Drifter had the last Atraks on the ropes. Eris provided covering fire with her scout rifle as the Drifter charged in with two swords made of Stasis ice. The Atraks duplicate fired at both of her opponents, but she couldn't multi-task in the current situation allowing the Drifter to get in close and impale her through the chest. The eyes of the Atraks duplicate fade away and falls onto the floor.
Eris and the Drifter then regroup with the others to discuss the current situation.
"Well, that was a little too easy." Drifter said as he twirled his revolver.
"Agreed, if Atraks was able to create duplicates of herself then what is to say that she did not make more?" Eris suggested to the group.
"I don't think any of them were the real Atraks." Ana suggested. "Think about it, none of them had a Splinter of Darkness with them."
"Ana's right." Banshee said in agreement. "If Atraks was going to turn herself into an Exo then why would she abandon her Stasis powers."
"Then where's the real Atraks?" Cayde asked.
"If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say she's on the Morning Star." Elsie suggested. "We can take the pods up to it, it's the only way to get on board while it's cloaked. Follow me."
The raid team follows Elsie's lead and come across a station with six pods in it.
"Everyone get in a pod and press the green button." She tells them as she enters a pod.
They follow suit and once they press the green button in theirs pods the doors on them close. They see a small bit of electricity spark on the doors of their pods and suddenly their pods are shot up into space. They barely have time to look down at Europa because it went by in only a few seconds and suddenly their pods slow down and move up into something dark. When the lights return, they see a large room in front of them with a large glass wall that gives a view of Europa. And inside the room were several Eliksni, sniper variant Shanks, Servitors, and at the other side of the room was Atraks-1, Eliksni Exo. The group enters the room and suddenly the Crypt AI turns on to deliver a message.
"Sector Assessment: Orbital platform active.
Orbital platform breached.
Status: Calamitous."
The Eliksni and their autonomous units see the raid team and begin firing at them.
"I'll take the Exo-Eliksni." Drifter says to the group. "Y'all handle her support."
"Just try not to get yourself killed rat." Eris said to the Drifter.
"Story o' my life Moondust." Drifter says in response.
Cayde tosses a grenade that sticks to the side of a Servitor as it was firing at the group. The grenade explodes destroying the machine giving the Drifter a chance to run through the crowd of Eliksni while his team deals with them.
The Drifter makes it to the other side of the room to face Atraks. And sure enough, on her upper left arm was a Splinter of Darkness. The Wildcard generates a sword made of Stasis ice that she uses to swing at the Drifter. He dodges that swings and fires at the Eliksni Exo but his bullets have little effect on her. Atraks then fires blasts of Stasis energy from her upper left arm at the Drifter. One of the attacks hits his shoulder causing it to freeze. He then moves into cover and flairs his Aura to break out of it and loses about 15% of his Aura. He holsters his revolver and generates two Stasis Kamas and moves out of cover. Atraks dissipates her sword and throws Stasis crystals at the Drifter hoping that at least one of them would freeze him. Drifter moves away from the crystals and then throws a Kama at Atraks. It hits the ground around her feet and releases a tornado of Stasis wind that starts to slowly freeze her. Drifter then throws his second Kama at the Eliksni Exo. It breaks and the Stasis shards are embedded into her by the Stasis wind.
By the time the tornado cleared Atraks was frozen solid. The Drifter then pulls out his revolver and shoots the frozen Exo shattering her into pieces. The Drifter turns around to see that the rest of his team had finished off the Eliksni in the room. The team regroups to discuss the next part of their plan but then they heard the Crypt AI speak again.
"Multiple hostile intruders detected within the orbital platform.
Orbital confinement protocol initiating.
Cloaking field: Deactivated
Status: Pathway to nuclear cores obscured.
You have no warnings left.
Nuclear descent protocol: Initiated."
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Banshee-44 says in his usual deadpan expression.
"Somehow I knew that thing was going to be turned on." Cayde said to the group before turning to Elsie. "How do we turn it off?"
"The main console in the control room will have the necessary means to shut it down." Elsie explained.
"And I'll bet Taniks is there waiting for us." Cayde said sternly as he tightened his grip on the handle of his gun.
"It'll take too long for us to make our way their from the inside of the station." Elsie explained as she made her way to another part of the room with the group following her. "We'll have to traverse the station from the outside."
"Is that safe?" Ana asked her sister's counterpart.
"Trust me it will be and the Eliksni won't see us coming." Elsie said to her sister reassuringly.
"Sounds like it might be fun." The Drifter says as he puts a device on his neck that materializes a helmet around his head. "Just remember to use your thruster packs to help yourselves get around outside."
The raid team enters an airlock and face the door leading out into space. They wait for the door behind them to close and once it's closed, they feel the room depressurize itself so once the door in front of them opens they won't be shot out into the vacuum. The door opens up in front of them and they enter outside into space with their boots magnetizing to the maintenance platforms outside.
"Artificial Intelligence activated. Enjoying yourselves, intruders?" The Crypt AI says to them.
"Clovis." Elsie sternly says to the AI.
"Hello granddaughter, it's worth knowing the cataclysmic damage you will be responsible for today." The Clovis AI says to her. "You always thought my facility was the work of some pathetic scientist. This house was built by my genius. And within it lies humanity's salvation. La fontaine de jouvence. Made possible by Clarity Control. Magnificent, wasn't it? An entity from beyond our own dimension. And the answer to humanity's eternal struggle: mortality. Were it to fall into the wrong hands, humanity, and the universe, would be utterly doomed. I have no reason to believe you are anything other than "the wrong hands." You now face godlike judgment. May it extend externally."
"And what does that make me? The right hands." Banshee says to the AI.
"Banshee! I'm so glad that you have returned." The AI says to the mind that it was based on. "Tell me old friend, have your memories returned? Do you know who you are?"
"Clovis Bray I." Banshee says as him and the raid team use their thruster packs to move from platform to platform and spotting an Eliksni Ketch in the distance.
"Good, good." The AI said in response. "When you were fifteen you were chased by a group of Nazi soldiers, your survival was unlikely and yet you escaped them. How were you able to escape with your life intact?"
Banshee puts his hand up to his head and experiences a memory of his resurfacing.
Xxx
Flashback
A young Clovis Bray is running through the woods. He stops in front of a tree and sits down panting heavily. He tenses up when he hears shouting in German. Those soldiers are still after him.
He looks around and sees an old train in front of him. He looks at it curiously as he realizes it wasn't there before.
He hears the soldiers' voices get closer and decides to enter the train hoping he can at least hide from them in it.
He doesn't realize it but when he closed the door behind him a green infinity symbol appeared on the door. The train moves and disappears from the area. While the soldiers search for their quarry in vain.
End of Flashback
Xxx
Banshee snaps out of it and gives his answer.
"The Infinity Train…the Infinity Train took me away from the danger."
"Wait, you were on the Infinity Train too?" Ana asked the Exo that was once her grandfather.
"The what?" Drifter asked.
"It's some old urban legend on Earth." Cayde explained. "Some train in another dimension that takes people who have some internal problems that they need to overcome so the train can send them back."
"It's real Cayde I was on it too." Ana explained. "After my Elsie went made it appeared in front of me and I ended up getting on it. Heck it's where I met my girlfriend Camrin Dumuzi."
"And what did you find on the train?" The AI asked.
Xxx
Flashback
Clovis wasn't sure for how long he was on the train, but he knew what he had to do. Get the number on his right hand down to zero.
When he first entered the train, he met a talking white cat by the name of Samantha. What made her strange was that she didn't look like a Mobian but looked like an ordinary house cat. She told him what the purpose of the train was, but she first wanted information on the current state of the real world before she could tell him anything.
His number was originally at 389 but he has managed to get it down to 50. And now he was in a train car full of crystals and denizens made of crystals. Samantha was currently with him as well helping him figure out the puzzles of the train.
"I don't believe that what you are doing is part of this car's puzzle." She said to him.
Clovis was currently using a crystal the size of his hand to break apart a much larger crystal.
"I'm telling you Samantha I heard something in this crystal say my name." Clovis said to her as he continued breaking the larger crystal while making a grunt with each strike.
"And I'm telling you there is no voice coming from that thing." She said to him before sighing. "Look, maybe being stuck on the train has started making you hear things that aren't there. Perhaps you need a break or-"
CRACK!
The larger crystal breaks into pieces before the two of them and then something flies out of it. It was a golden colored gem.
Clovis reached out and grabbed it with his right hand. A blinding light appears from them forcing Samantha to close her eyes and when she opens them, she sees Clovis wielding a golden hammer that was a foot taller than himself.
"Clovis…do you realize what you're holding?" She asked him with awe in her force.
"Something called…the Spiral Gem of Creation." The young Bray answered.
"Yes." Samantha answered still in awe at what she was seeing. "And it's also what created the train."
Clovis was shocked to hear this and then he looks at his right hand. The number on it was changing and when it stopped it was now zero.
End Flashback
"The Gem of Creation." Banshee answered surprising Ana and Cayde. "It tested me and found me worthy of it's power. I even used it to create the company."
"So, you're a Spiral Wielder." Ana said in surprise.
"Yep." Banshee answered as he looked at his right hand remembering the number that had once been on it. "When I created the secret colony on Europa, I became paranoid with its safety, so I decided to hide it their in the care of my AI."
"And I have kept it safe in my care ever since." The AI said in response.
The raid team comes across another airlock door. It opens and they enter it and wait for the room to pressurize.
The room is repressurized and they make their way into the space station.
"Follow me." Elsie says as she starts running.
The raid team follows suite and runs through several hallways and corridors without running into any danger. Eventually they make it to the control room and find Taniks, Reborn on a platform above them while looking out a window showing Europa and the rest of space.
"Taniks!" Cayde says to the resurrected mercenary.
Taniks turns around to face the group and takes a few steps to his left. He shows the group that he destroyed the control panel.
"That's not good." Drifter says in shock.
Suddenly the Clovis AI speaks up.
"Nuclear descent protocol: Active.
Utter destruction of Europa: Imminent."
"That's worse!" Ana exclaims.
Taniks darkly chuckles at the group as more Eliksni enter it with weapons at the ready.
"What is our plan now?" Eris asked Elsie.
"I don't know about you guys but if this is the end, I'm making sure Taniks dies first." Cayde says defiantly as he raises his hand cannon The Ace of Spades at the Eliksni mercenary with his finger on the trigger.
BANG!