A pair of Titans stood tall at the edge of the Hellmouth, peering into the depths below. The one to the left wore all black, armor completely smooth with a slit on the helmet to see through. The one on the right was their polar opposite; spikes all over their armor, and a bright shade of pink. The one on the right nudged a pebble over the edge.
"Who do you think Zavala is pairing us with?" Shockingly, it was a male Titan, the one on the left's feminine voice faintly responding. "Another Titan obviously. He knows we don't work with any others." They weren't but a few years old, this trip the second one to the Moon for them. More trips had been planned, but the Vanguard, or specifically Zavala, announced that until they got over their 'disdain' for other Classes, they'd be grounded to Earth.
That was a few months ago. A matter of hours ago, Zavala came through with the announcement; they'd be going to the Moon, into the Hellmouth no less, with a third member. From what they had heard, it had to be one of the famous Titans. After all, he'd specifically stated they were old enough to be a survivor from Twilight Gap's original fight, one of the ones on the front line near the end. It screamed 'Titan'. "All I know is, Zavalla told us to mind our manners. How often do we hear respect in his voice?"
"What are you two doing here?" A figure rose from over the ridgeline. To them, the lanky Hunter, Odin, looked frail. "Waiting for a friend. Buzz off Hunter." Odin's head tilted to the side. "Right. A friend. Not a third Fireteam member, by order of Zavala?" The way the Titans stiffened, he knew he was right. "You? You're our third member? Bullshit!" The pink Titan crossed his arms, spitting out his words like venom.
Odin mimicked the pose. "You must be Yadra, the Striker. Quick to lash out, like Arc. That makes you," he motioned to the other Titan, "Uier, the Defender. Pleasure to meet you both." Both scoffed. Obviously there was no respect for him. "Try to keep up, Hunter." They marched off, descending into the pit without looking back to see if he was following. "Of course. Thanks Zavala."
Catching up wasn't a problem for him, the current issue was they stomped loud enough to draw out Hive in every room they entered. Both used Solar shotguns, the light almost blinding them with how often they exploded their enemies, Thralls and Acolytes alike. As the Fireteam came out on a lower level of the rings that made up the Hellmouth, Odin spoke up. "Is there a goal in all of this, or are you two simply patrolling?" When he received no answer, Odin tapped the side of his helmet. "If Zavala was asking me of all people to come with you, that implies he wants you tested." In the silence left behind, he continued. "If that's the case, it can only be one of two things. A combat test, which I hiiiighly doubt is the case, or a social test. I'm leaning towards the latter for very obvious reasons. So tell me, what happened? Get treated poorly by other people? Discrimination for being a certain race? No, that can't be right. You interact fine with other races, but only the Titans. Implying that you have an issue with Warlocks and Hunters."
"Quit your fucking babbling, Hunter, and focus on fighting." The venom was still strong in Yadra's voice. "Hard to do when you've blasted all of the enemies. I can't even count the amount of shells I've stepped over in the past five rooms alone." Uier's head barely moved, but he recognized the side-to-side motion; she was less hateful, but still viewed him as useless.
"Look, if the two of you want to kill everything, that's fine by me, but if I'm not going to be fighting, then I'm going to be doing my job as a Hunter and observing my surroundings. Which includes you two. Save enemies for me, or start talking." Uier cut in ahead of Yadra's potential response. "You stay out of our business, and just stand back Hunter. Just because you're a survivor of the Gap, doesn't mean you get to butt into our lives like-"
"Plus the counterattack."
Uier stared at him, the air surrounding her telling him she found his comment redundant. At least until he kept talking.
"And the Great Disaster before that, Burning Lakes before that, and the Six Fronts before that. Factions Wars, and the time before the founding of Guardians, included." "Yarda snorted. "Bullshit. There's no way someone like you survived all of-" "All of it, and then some. Being a Hunter, does not mean I'm weak. Just like being a Titan doesn't make you stupid, does it?"
That struck a nerve, if the fist coming towards his face said anything. Odin brushed it to the side with the back of his hand, using Yadra's momentum to throw him against the wall. "I've been reading up on you two while you were waist deep in Hive ash. The countless altercations you two started over petty shit, I'm not surprised Zavala called me out here. I understand that it was because you were discriminated against by other Classes for being Titans, that they saw you as 'animals' that were too stupid to do anything other than fight, but that was a handful of people, and you have years ahead of you to realize that not everyone is like that, so stop being hypocrites."
Yadra sputtered. "Hypocrites?! How dare yo-" Odin crouched down in front of him, wary of Uier, who had raised her shotgun at him but kept her finger off the trigger. "The first words out of your mouth when I showed up, were 'buzz off, Hunter'. Followed by disbelief that I would dare tell you I was your third Fireteam member. Every sentence that followed was filled with hate, and mention of my Class. You didn't even bother asking for my name before you threw me into the same category as the Hunters and Warlocks that ridiculed you."
His train of thought broke as a roar echoed through the ring, followed by an even louder one. Odin's head twisted almost unnaturally far. "They shouldn't be this close to the surface. Not here." Yanking Yadra to his feet, he made a circular motion with his finger. "Tighten up. If I'm right, we're not getting back out without a fight." Uier pumped her shotgun and lifted it to her shoulder. "We aren't leaving so soon, we haven't amassed enough kills to earn a proper reward."
"Don't care. You heard those roars, didn't you? The big guns are awake, and I'm not letting you two get into a fight with-" The roar shook the walls around them. Across the ring, they saw the large figure of an Ogre appear, followed by a larger than average Knight. The Titans had fought an Ogre the last time they came to the Moon, so they thought nothing of it, or the Knight, as they charged forward. "Yadra, Uier, get back!" The Ogre unleashed a torrent of energy from its eye, but Uier slammed down a Ward of Dawn that negated it, giving Yadra the chance to leap from the Ward, above the beam, and punch it.
A sickening crack! Sent the Ogre reeling. A follow-up strike from Uier let them fire both shotguns into its chest, watching it disintegrate. The Knight was to be next, but the pellets bounced off its shields. What happened next chilled Odin to the bone. A cannon wasn't raised, but a sword, one that absorbed the surrounding Light and sent both Titans flying; it had smashed the flat of its blade into them.
"Get back, it's a Swordbearer!" Uier was the first to stand between them, and caught the sight of the Swordbearer rushing at them.
With Yadra still down, the sight of it stumbling back under a sudden volley of gunfire shocked her, until she remembered Odin's presence. Five thundering shots from his sniper rifle, Arc damage crackling over the Knight to break its shields, followed by countless rounds from his hand cannon. Too stunned to do anything, Uier could only watch the sword drop as its fingers turned to ash. Odin rushed forward to catch it, and pierced it clean through the Knight's throat.
It gave one last gurgle before it fell to its knees, and collapsed. "You two alright?" Yadra's voice came from behind her. "What the hell was that thing? I've never seen a Knight with a sword that strong."
"Because you're used to normal Knights, or the heavily armored ones. That was a Swordbearer, Crota's Elite. There used to be a lot of them back in the day, but the Great Disaster cut some of their numbers. Now they don't tend to come this far up out of the pit. Yet this one was accompanied by an Ogre….Strange. Come on, let's get you two back to the surface, we'll cut it short here. I have to report this to the Vanguard." Odin ushered them back towards the stairs, guarding their six to ensure their safe return to the surface. Even when they made it, he kept an eye out until the two of them were aboard their respective ships and on their way to the Tower before he did the same.