"I don't want to spend days down here." Morgan peered over the railing and down into the space below.
The corridors had passed various offices and conference rooms, server clusters and workshops, but then had opened up into a multi-floor sort of atrium. There were many more corridors leading off of this, and there had been greenery in planters lining the railings and stationed at various balconies. Sunlamps still shone around the place, and it reminded him of the arcologies on the moon Titan. The greenery had overgrown, flourishing under the facility's automated climate control. Not helping the comparison to the arcologies was the Hive growth everywhere. There was a stench underneath the florid scents in the air, one which the air scrubbers couldn't quite get rid of. More screens flickered and popped beneath the vines, creepers, and root structures and annelid filth that covered every surface.
Rega-7 had climbed up atop a flickering light pole and perched there, sweeping her sniper rifle along the sight-lines. "Suck it up, Morgan. I don't want to hear about you and your nightmares again-"
"I'm not talking about nightmares," he cut her off. "But this complex is a lot bigger than we thought it was. Between the chain-witch, a lost Guardian, and a forgotten Bray lab, that's more than one fireteam should be responsible for. We should report this to the Vanguard."
"Uh-huh. Because the last two times that we sent more than six Guardians into Hive spaces, it worked out so well."
Morgan harrumphed, but conceded the point. "Then we should probably prioritize taking out the Hive witch. Come back for the labs later."
Rega glanced down at him. "I don't want to leave a Guardian alone in the company of the Hive. After seeing what that did to Eris Morn, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"Eh, from what Wahei read off those tablets, I think he's probably sealed away by some Hive spell or something." He shrugged. "He'll probably keep." The silence that came from the Hunter drew out a sigh, and he added, "But if we come across him while we're hunting the witch, then we'll get him out, deal?"
"Deal." She thought for a moment. "Speaking of our Warlock, what's happening with those computers, Wahei?"
The Awoken lifted her head from the console she and her Ghost had found. "It took a while to get through all the corruption from the damage that's been done to the systems here over the centuries. The AI that ran the facility wasn't anything like as advanced as the Warmind, and being left operational for all that time while the decay and rot and overgrowth set in hasn't been good for it. Honestly, we're kind of lucky the poor thing hasn't gone rampant after all of this. I can't tell you the number of times I've come across old Golden Age complexes whose attendant AI systems have all gone loopy and crazy-"
Rega interrupted her with a throat-clearing sound. "Not the time, Wahei."
She shrugged. "Well, the AI here isn't crazy, but it's not that smart either. Can't tell if that's by design or by damage, but it's been hard trying to get data out of it. Vizier managed to get a map of the UAC Project facility downloaded, which should give us something to work with."
The Hunter glanced up from her rifle scope. "Hmm. No chance of some real-time motion tracker data or anything like that?"
Vizier swiveled back and forth in the air, the Ghost equivalent of a shake of the head. "Sorry, but no. We were lucky to get the map as it is." The green-shelled Ghost turned to the other two Ghosts in their party. "Chaukeedar, Eyeball, let's synch up, try doing a scan to track any Hive signatures." The three floated out into the open space of the atrium to do so.
As they did, Wahei came back over to Morgan, flipping through her Warlock journal as she did. "I've been trying to make sense of those tablets and the archival runes that I found. Vizier says she hasn't found anything in the World's Grave records about this 'Slayer' Guardian that was supposedly sealed away down here."
He shrugged. "Are you really surprised that anything from his disowned son's brood would be missing from Oryx's records? The Taken King was not a guy to do things by halves."
"That's just it," she tapped her stylus against her journal. "I'm not sure that Kateäk and the Hive here are from Nokris' Xol cult. For one thing, all of the Hive we've seen down here have lacked the ice crystals growing out of them that the ones nearer to the Braytech Futurescape have." Wahei frowned. "But the Queen of Chains is still an obscure enough figure in the World's Grave that I'm not even sure which Hive god she serves. And I'm still wondering why the Slayer wouldn't have been mentioned at all if he had done so much damage. Crota kept records of every civilization he slaughtered in his father's name, and Oryx catalogued every being that he encountered and every place he ever saw. And while I haven't had a chance to delve deep into what Hive records we have of them, which still isn't much, Xivu Arath keeps a tally of every enemy soldier her knights kill, and Savathûn would boast about her cunning and trickery, even if she was lying about it-"
"Not the time, Wahei." Rega-7 gestured with her sniper rifle. "Chaukeedar says there's an upsurge in Hive energies over in that direction. With the power levels he's seeing, it's gotta be the chain-witch."
Eyeball flew over to Morgan, adding, "That happens to be in the direction of the Applied Research labs. If Bray did weaponize anything the project here found, it'll probably be in there."
Move. Stalk. Search. Seek. Hunt.
There was an Enemy near. There had been Enemies blocking the way. Pistol had been useful. But barely adequate. Acolytes raised their shredders. Pistol sounded, bullets chewed through armor. First went down, chitin clattering amid death ash. A shot took the second's head apart. Screamed in green flames as it died. Purple plasma splashed off armor. Charged through the smoke to grab third acolyte. Knife tore into its throat, ripping a hole open. Fist plunged down through it. Grabbed its worm, crushed it. Acolyte collapsed into death ash.
Scent. Stench. Ozone. Chanting. Witch.
Lunged around a corner. Caught another acolyte by the throat. Knife plunged into abdomen, thorax, neck, skull. More started firing. Filling air with violet fire. Weaved through it. Shoulder checked one over a table. Flipped table on end. Kicked it into another. Saw the witch. The Witch. Same gnarled headdress. Same robes. Same chains. Same frigid fury. Heard her chant.
Memory. Ambush. Coffin. Chains. Revenge.
Raised pistol. Squeezed trigger. A growl of aggravation. Saw the green flash of shields. Heard the shriek of thrall. Fell under their weight as they pounced. Felt fangs close over fingers. Ripped the jaw off of one. Tore another's limb off. Arm. Leg. Didn't matter. Flung the limb at charging knight. Rolled away from descending cleaver. Rose with an uppercut. Knight staggered. Pistol. Knight thrust the sword. Sidestepped and caught arm. Knife jabbed into wrist, elbow, armpit, neck. Knight bellowed. Hurled aside.
Stronger. Resilient. Challenge. Satisfaction. Adrenaline.
Took stock. Knife gone. Pistol not enough. Knight drew strength. Somewhere The Witch chanted louder. Saw portal forming. Something big coming. Must stop ritual. Must stop Witch. Must stop Enemy. Another locker nearby. Door ripped free. Flung at knight. Tore through filth. Found something.
Handle. Trigger. Barrels. Hammers. Shotgun.
Knight was charging. Dodged past swing. Thumbed hammers. Click click. Boom boom. Knight staggered. Chitin jagged. Flesh missing. Spotted knife still in neck. Grabbed it. Ripped through throat. Tore head off shoulders. More thrall coming. Click click. Boom boom. Stench of death ash and cordite.
Scream. Crescendo.Ritual. Witch. Champion.
Rushed back toward The Witch. Grabbed robes. Ripped free as she glided back. Heard her curse. Saw her tear hole in world. Portal was active. Thumping of massive feet. Scarred and blackened armor. Abyssal Champion. Hateful scowl and missing horn. The Demon of the Deep. Rage Unrelenting.
Memory. Ambush. Battle. Stalemate. Vengeance.
The Demon slammed a fist into the ground. Shockwave. Slammed into wall. The Witch floated out of reach. Began resuming her chant. Demon raised a boomer. A deafening blast. Disoriented. A bellow of challenge. More Enemies charged from portal. Spun away from another boomer charge. Thrall descended. Click click. Boom boom. Must keep moving.
Stop the Demon. Stop the Witch. Stop the Enemy.
They heard the battle before they saw it. The roars of a Hive Knight and the shrieks of thrall. Rega-7 dropped back and raised her sniper rifle as Morgan charged ahead. The Exo had to give him that much; for all that Morgan complained of going into Hive spaces and spoke of his nightmares, when the time came, he embodied the Titan spirit and rushed into the thick of it. Wahei was right beside him, but they both drew to a halt when they saw the barrier shimmer into being ahead of them. It was as if the air had turned into solidified smoke and fog, laced with spectral chains.
Morgan didn't bother to hide his curse as he looked at this. "Looks like the chain-witch doesn't want us interfering. Can you get the barrier down, Wahei?"
The Warlock nodded as she ran her eye along the runes that glowed on the links within the smoke-wall. "It'll take Vizier and I a minute or two." She turned and pointed. "Keep the Hive off me until then?"
"On it." Turning back around, Morgan saw that Rega had already dropped into a crouch to start picking off the approaching Hive forces. He walked up to her, then took a knee before willing a barricade into position. Hoisting up his chaingun, he bared his teeth behind his helmet. "Let's get down to Business, shall we?"
Rega just groaned at the pun.
Kateäk spared only a glance when she saw the Slayer land on the ledge to her left. She did not slow her chanting as she felt the blast of his shotgun strike her shield. She did not falter in the mustering of her will and power as Baalgar fired a charge at him, scorching away annelids and spoor. She wove her chains into the fabric of reality in front of her, pulling the threads apart to allow the portal to reach into the Ascendant Plane again.
In ages past, she had been able to summon as many abyssal champions as she needed. She had worked her magics against all those foolish enough to stand against the Hive. Binding away their power, imprisoning even the most powerful of opposition in oubliettes and tombs, that they might be bled slowly to feed their worms and fuel her power. Even binding away the tortured, monstrous abominations that the pits birthed, their titanic fury helpless against her chains.
And then the Slayer had come. Much had changed since then.
She could feel the Force Unyielding pacing on the other side of the portal. He was eager to join the battle, to drive his axe into the Slayer's heart. Only a few moments more. She formed the last few syllables and was able to speak them when the Slayer landed beside one of the crystals that bracketed the portal. She saw his helmet turn and look at it, then at the portal, then at her.
When he grabbed the crystal, she hissed with fury, and with a swipe of her hands, cut the spell's weaving short. The sickly green light of the portal dimmed, and she heard Yaad Matu's furious roar echo from the Ascendant Plane. Kateäk drew her power in, smelting a piece of chain with a spell, then sent it hurtling toward the Slayer, who was attempting to wrench the crystal from the intangible chains that held it in place.
At the same moment the spell reached the Slayer, Baalgar fired at him again. The combination of rotting star-matter and smoldering necrotic chain triggered an explosion. It launched the Slayer into the air, and took the crystal with him. He clutched it in one hand as he soared across the chamber. Baalgar tracked him and leveled his boomer again, but as the Rage Unrelenting fired again, the Slayer hurled the crystal into the blast. Kateäk's eyes widened.
"NO!"
A knight staggered back as the knife stuck in an eye, then crumpled as Rega's submachine gun chewed through the rest of its skull. She slipped under a thrall's flying tackle, catching its ankle and flipping it on top of an acolyte as she leapt back behind the barricade to reload. Beside her, Morgan's chaingun screamed as its barrels spun and its bullets mowed down the unending tide of thrall scrabbling toward them. "What's happening with the barrier, Wahei?" she called out as she hurled a grenade into the throng.
"It's not something as simple as the wards we've seen under Olympus Descent or on the Titan arcologies," the Warlock responded. "This is a ward put together by a Hive royal, and one who specializes in this sort of thing! This isn't like picking a lock with a rake and hook or with a multi-tool. This is like trying to pick a lock, when pieces of the tumbler are in another dimension, but not necessarily one that's adjacent to this one, when the pins reconfigure themselves when you're not looking and sometimes even when you are, and the cylinder is rotating even when you're not trying to turn it, and even this metaphor isn't accurate because it's not actually like a lock at all-"
"Not the time, Wahei!"
She huffed with annoyance. "I'm working on it! It's not like we can brute force this thing."
The entire facility shook as the explosion went off. They could hear the thunderous cracks of stone and permacrete breaking under the blast. The floor under their feet rocked and shifted, but finally held and did not drop from underneath them. Both Dark-servants and Lightbearers turned toward the eldritch barrier, which flickered. The spectral chains shattered and faded, and took the solidified fog and shadow with it. The Hive roared in fury, but Rega-7 took advantage of the momentary lull to leap into the air, pulling the Solar fire around herself, flinging out a barrage of flaming knives that scythed through the majority of their forces.
The few surviving knights and acolytes growled, but withdrew before fading back out of the mortal realm. Morgan slapped a fresh drum of ammunition into his chaingun as he turned back toward Wahei. She stood back as the last of the barrier faded from sight, then got her auto rifle ready. Eyeball glanced at Morgan. "I'm picking up a big Hive signature in there, but it's not the same as Kateäk's."
They advanced, and Rega swore as she saw the enormous Hive knight. Its size and the blackened armor alone told her enough. Abyssal Champions were some of the toughest Hive they'd ever encountered. It frequently took a full fireteam at least to defeat just one of them. And this was one of the largest she'd ever seen, the boomer on its arm was as tall as she was, and its roars and bellows spoke of a rage she'd not seen out of anything in all her many lives. Beside her, she heard Morgan's dismayed intake of breath, and Wahei's awed curse. The only saving grace was that they had its blind side.
The Abyssal stumbled as they watched, however, and turned slowly around. Void energies steamed off of the cracked armor, one eye had been gouged out of its skull, and one horn had been broken off of its crest. Rega saw the knight's remaining eyes focus on them, saw its broken fangs snarl, and it started to raise its boomer. As one, all three Guardians drew their heavy weapons and started to raise them.
Then the blur lunged off of a ledge within the room and slammed into the back of the Abyssal's neck. The colossal knight roared as it dropped to a knee, stopping its fall with its free hand. The boomer lifted backward, firing blindly, shaking the room as the blasts detonated off of the shattered Hive portal that dominated one wall. A figure climbed up into view as it grabbed the Abyssal's remaining horn and wrenched its head to one side. The knight tried to swing its weapon toward the attacker, who kicked out to deflect it away, then drew out a weapon of its own. The attacker thrust this against the back of the knight's head and pulled the trigger.
The blast from the double-barreled shotgun in the attacker's hand blew off a chunk of the Abyssal's jaw. The monster's body spasmed once before it began to go limp. Its limbs went boneless as it slumped onto its belly, The attacker released his grip on the knight's horn as he reloaded his shotgun, then drew the hammers back as he pushed the knight's head back with one boot, thrust the gun under its jaw and pulled the trigger again. Meaty chunks of the knight's face came away and it finally went still.
The man now turned to regard them. Even underneath the heavy green plate armor, his figure was packed with muscle, and he was probably the largest man they'd ever seen. Rega-7 could hear the wooden handle of the shotgun creak from the pressure of his grip. The visor of his helmet obscured his features, only suggesting the barest hint of his features behind it. She could see the furrow his brow, however, and combined with the subtle but unmistakable tension around him, it did not take a mind reader to pick up on the fury in his soul.
Looking a bit closer, she saw the strange red marking on the brow of the helmet, just above his visor. It almost looked like a stylized sword, thrust downward, with another line slashed diagonally across it, and another line notched in beside the 'sword,' near where the 'slash' crossed it. Sparing a glance toward her partners, Rega could see Wahei looking at it, then meeting her gaze before giving her a slow, single nod.
The Slayer stood before them.
Afterword: I'm trying to pace myself with this one, so as not to get too ahead of myself, though I do have an ending plotted out. Also trying to find the right balance between the segments of each chapter, between Guardians, Slayer, and the Hive. I appreciate all the feedback and follows I've gotten so far, and hope you all enjoy this as it continues.