With Shaxx on their side, the fireteam made short work of the Hive guarding the entrance into the nest. The Guardians gawked at the Titan leading them. The man was like a beast. His sword burned with the fury of the sun and any creature that didn't fall to his blade instead went down in a blaze of arc energy from his fists. It was memorizing.
"Damn," Psyho commented next to Dex. "I should be taking notes."
They stopped in a room just beyond the front gate to regroup. Shaxx planted a foot on the back of an Acolyte and pulled his Raze-lighter free from its corpse.
"Ghost," he called. The red-shelled Ghost drifted out from his armor as the other Guardians came over to surround them. "What did you find during your scans?"
The bot twisted and projected a beam of light onto the wall nearby. A hazy diagram flickered to life on the stone. The room went quiet as they studied the map.
"Only ten rooms, this nest must be relativity new. They haven't dug very far down yet." Kannon was the first to break the silence.
"Yeah, but the hallways are like a maze." Timus added.
Shaxx ran his hand over the rock, tracing his fingertips along the unending network of corridors. A feeling of dread washed over him. Frea was done here alone, most likely lost. It will take them hours to locate her.
"But why would they build such a complicated structure?" Kannon asked.
"To keep everyone out." Frea's Ghost spoke up, grabbing the Guardians' attention. "From my readings these are banished Hive, lead by a Prince. Seems they were exiled from the main nest."
"So...you're telling me whatever these guy are doing down here, the Hive didn't want any part of it?" Dex sounded doubtful.
"With Crota and Oryx gone, the Hive are only a fraction of the force they once were." Shaxx crossed his arms. "They've been staying low for awhile now. Perhaps they were afraid that this group's actions would grab the attention of the Tower."
"Which it has," the Warlock snapped.
He shot a look over at Dex. "Whatever the case, these Hive are extremists with nothing to lose. We need to be careful."
"There's more. I saw..." The Ghost faltered, finding difficultly in completing the thought. Whatever monstrosity it witnessed down there had clearly frightened it.
Kannon stepped forward. "Whatever information you have will be a great help," she reassured. "For us and for Frea."
The Ghost slowly blinked at her and then looked toward the ground. "They were collecting something," it whispered.
"Collecting what?" Shaxx asked, he didn't like where this was going.
Ghosts?!
Frea bit her lip to keep herself from making a noise, the metallic taste of blood seeped into her mouth. She made it into the coffin without attracting the attention of the Knight pulling it, but she was not prepared for what was inside. It was filled with countless dead Ghosts, more than she's ever seen in one place. Some of them looked ancient, decorated with unfamiliar shells and covered in rust. While some gleamed like they were brand new. She picked up one and inspected it. The lights were snuffed out but a hint of the Traveler's warmth still remained, so they could be revived. However, she was too weak to do anything. Without her own Ghost to amplify her light, she had no chance of waking any of these without killing herself in the process.
The coffin came to a sudden stop and she sucked in a breath, preparing herself for whatever was about to happen. She felt the stone case move and lift off the ground, then it was flipped over and she spilled out along with the collection of Ghosts. The little bots all landed on top of her, nearly crushing her small frame. The Knight holding the coffin twitched and sniffed at the air. Frea dared not to move, hoping the Ghosts would be enough conceal her. After a few tense seconds the Knight turned and walked away to join its fellow Hive, unaware of the Guardian it left behind.
Once she was alone, the huntress poked her head out. She murmured a silent apology to the Ghosts she knocked loose, their hollow metal bodies echoed as they fell to the dusty ground. In the dim light of the cavern she could see other Ghosts haphazardly thrown into piles, there were hundreds. Her gaze moved toward the center of the room where a large podium sat. Something oddly familiar hovered over it, a serrated shard, it was small and could have easily been mistaken for just a hunk of iron. But the markings covering it glowed with a unearthly light that Frea knew all too well. It was a piece of the Traveler.
She recalled seeing this scene before, back in her first days as a Guardian. Her and Dex stopped a Hive ritual involving them tainting a shard of the Traveler. This seemed different. There was no black mist surrounding the shard. Instead it was glowing brighter, as if being charged with light.
A clamor caught the huntress's attention and she turned to see a massive hive Knight walking into the room.
No.
The huntress tilted her head as she tried to get a better view, the creature was too large to be just a Knight. The Hive at its feet were worshippers, there to tend to its every need. It was a Prince.
A shiver crept up Frea's body, her every instinct telling her to run. She hadn't seen a Prince since facing Crota, this time she was not prepared for the ordeal.
The Prince approached the shard and hovered his hands over it, feeling its power. He commanded something to the other Hive and they went to work, gathering dead Ghosts off the ground. A Wizard handed him one and he took it into his claws. He touched the eye of the Ghost to the shard and it flashed a light so bright Frea had to look away to avoid being blinded. When she turned back she saw the bot disintegrate into dust, its light completely gone. Her stomach dropped. They were destroying the Ghosts and trapping their remaining power into the shard, making them unable to find another Guardian or return to the Traveler. One less Ghost means one less soul to fight against the forces of darkness.
In her distress Frea shifted, making more Ghost bodies clatter to the floor. The Prince snapped around in her direction and she froze. But it was too late, she couldn't get up in time to avoid his reach. The Prince grabbed her broken arm and pulled her out of the hiding place. She screamed in agony and dropped her sword, the blade buried itself deep into the rock. The Hive Prince stood with the height of three men so Frea dangled in his grip, her feet far from the ground. He brought her close enough that she could touch his three eyes if she wanted. His fangs laid bare in a snarl.
"Intruder," he hissed. "How did you get in here?"
She coughed, her lungs burned like fire. "I just...stumbled in."
The Prince's face twisted. His slit of a nose twitched, tasting the air around her. "Where's your Ghost, tiny Guardian?"
"Must've...misplaced it," she groaned.
He hissed again, spitting saliva over her helmet. She somehow refrained from shuddering in disgust.
"Look for others!" He yelled at his minions.
The Hive scattered and ran for the exits, but they were stopped just at the doorways. An ear splitting screech resonated throughout the entire nest, the sound of dying spawn.
"Wha-" The Prince whipped around just as a giant purple orb erupted against his back, searing his scarred flesh. A Nova Bomb. He roared in pain and threw Frea from his grasp.
She flew through the air and collided into the back wall. Her bones crunched as she crumpled to the ground, nearly blacking out from the pain. Forcing herself to stay awake, the huntress lifted her head up. The first thing to come into focus was her sword, shining like a golden beacon in the dark cavern. Her gaze moved beyond the weapon to see six Guardians fighting against the waves of Hive, her fireteam had made it.
A glimpse of white and orange armor caught her attention. Frea couldn't believe her eyes.
"Shaxx?" She breathed, her voice barely audible over the noise of gunfire.
The Titan was across the room but he turned as if he heard her call for him.
"Frea!" He shouted.
Shaxx's heart soared to see her alive. The way she was laying on the ground, he could tell she was in bad shape. He started to push through the Hive to get to her, gunning down everything in his way.
"Lord Shaxx, wait!" Sain warned behind him.
The Titan looked up just in time to see the Prince bring his sword down upon him. He rolled, narrowly dodging the blade.
"Guardians!" The Prince screeched, widely swinging his weapon. They had to duck and run to avoid losing their heads.
Frea watched her friends struggle. The Hive completely ignored her, not even remotely considering the injured huntress to be a threat. With a cry of frustration, she slammed her unbroken fist against the ground. She wanted to help so badly.
A warm light touched her shoulder and she glanced up. It was her Ghost.
"I found you," it said.
Tears formed in Frea's eyes and she laughed, causing her ribs to shake with pain. "Yes...yes you did, my friend. Good job." The huntress reached out and petted the bot. It disappeared with a beep and she could feel the Traveler's light surge through her body. It wasn't enough to heal her wounds, but it was what she needed.
Gritting her teeth, she stood and clutched the hilt of her sword. Her broken arm swung lifelessly at her side, yet somehow she managed to pull the blade out of the stone. She inched forward, slow at first, then picked up speed until she was running. Leaping high behind the Prince, she spun, swinging the sword into a wide arc. A roar of pain echoed off the walls as the blade sank deep into the soft underside of his knees. Sickly blood splattered across Frea's armor when she yanked the sword free from his flesh. The Prince stumbled, the muscles in his legs now severed, and he collapsed to his knees. The jolt of the fall knocked the huntress away, sending her tumbling into the pedestal and shard.
Unable to move, the Prince lost all will to fight. His minions went down quickly without his support and soon it was just him that remained. The Guardians surrounded him, guns at the ready to ensure he wouldn't attempt anything else.
Dex turned away from the group when he noticed Shaxx was gone. He spotted the Titan kneeling by the mysterious podium and started to approach. Kannon caught him by the arm, the Warlock looked back to question her but she just slowly shook her head.
That's when the realization dawned on him. He recalled Shaxx yelling for Frea amongst all the chaos. Dex never saw her but he did remember her Ghost's red shell glinting in the darkness, heading for the back wall. He glanced back toward the center of the room and watched Shaxx's shaking shoulders, his pulse beating wildly in his throat.