The Heroes sat in silence as the blue lights of warp-space wrap around them. Ash looked ahead to the viewport, her face blank as she remained in her pilot's chair. Aria's eyes were pointed downward, watching her own hands fidget with one another, constantly locking fingers and unlocking.
Matt was situated next to Ash as usual, in the co-pilot's chair; though he usually didn't have anything to do. It was more or less just a pattern that they had fallen into.
On this particular trip however, he was watching Ash carefully. He knew that she had provided good points for Scorch and her argument to hunting Omnigul; but that didn't mean that she was suddenly okay with going to the Hellmouth. Every time they came to the moon, Ash would always get stonily silent, and became very short with everyone. He knew that she would push through it though, and try to show everyone exactly how tough she was. It wasn't necessary, but that was just a part of her Titan mindset; whatever bothers you, smash it to bits. And if that doesn't work, smash it some more.
He reached his hand over to hers, and held it in his grasp. She didn't look over at him, but did jump slightly at the touch before realizing it was Matt. He rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand affectionately. He could see a small upward tug at the corner of her mouth, the ghost of a smirk. Her hand squeezed his to let him know she acknowledged his act, the only direct sign he was gonna get that she appreciated the gesture.
"Ten seconds to Luna. I'll be the Ghost with you guys for this mission." Whip's synthetic voice jolted Matt back into reality, and he ceased to zone-out. Ash looked at him curiously. "You alright?" He nodded, and gave her a smile. "As good as I'll ever be."
In an instant, the warp-space around them transitioned back to normal space, and ahead of them was the moon, its pearly white surface reflecting the light of the sun. Ash moved her hands to the controls, and began to plot a course downward to land.
-X-
Scorch sat in the tree near the gunsmith in the courtyard, twirling the Last Word around her finger in a bored manner. She was awaiting word on Omnigul's whereabouts. The wizard was sure to come around at some point, looking for Eris Morn's strange orb. It was just a matter of time before some scout spotted her, and the Seekers would jump into action.
"I didn't realize that the fearless hunter of Hive generals spent her spare time hanging around in trees." The sarcastic tone of Eager's voice below broke Scorch out of her day-dream like state, and she smirked.
She leaned over the edge to look at where he stood, nearly directly below her. "What does it matter to you?"
Eager shrugged his shoulders. "I just want to talk. Is that a crime?"
Sighing, she swung her legs over the particular branch she was perched upon, and let herself fall to the ground. "Alright, you've got my attention."
Eager's hand reached around to the nape of his neck, and he held it there in the universal gesture for 'awkward'. "Look, about last night-"
Scorch interrupted him. "I know, I know. I went too far, I understand that. Seraph came and lectured me already."
But Eager was shaking his head. "No, I don't- I mean, you DID go too far, but- I didn't come here to chastise you." Scorch cocked her head to one side, awaiting his explanation.
"See, when we first became a team- I did the same thing. I wasn't sure you could handle it, and I wasn't too thrilled, if you remember, to be placed in the care of a new Guardian, especially one who didn't even seem all that keen to be one." He held his hand up before she could cut him off out of indignation. "But I was wrong. You may have been new, but I should have had more faith in you when we first became a team. Which is why I'm saying now… I support you."
Her mouth opened slightly. "What?"
He shrugged. "I support you. Of course, you do need to cool it a bit with Matt, I can't imagine he was too excited about how you fought with him- but I do support your argument, and I'm here to back you up if it comes up again. People need to start having more faith in you if you're going to reach your full potential."
He smiled, his synthetic green eyes glowing with sincerity. She smiled back, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Eager. I needed that."
As she released his shoulder, Dawn came jogging up to them. "Hey, we've got some news. Vanguards want to see us." Scorch grinned in anticipation. This was the news she'd been waiting for.
They walked into the Hall of Guardians to see the Vanguards discussing with three Guardians while Eris listened intently. Cayde turned at the sound of their footsteps approaching.
"Ah, there you are. We were just talking with these three about a possible scuffle they had with Omnigul." Scorch snapped her attention to the leader, a Titan.
"Are you sure?"
The Titan reached her hand up, and scratched at a bit of dirt on her visor. "Well, ugly wizard with horns like the devil himself, surrounded by a squad of Hive at all times, and screeches like nails on a chalkboard? Yeah, I'd say we're pretty sure."
Scorch smirked at the sarcasm. "Alright, where did you see her?"
One of the three, a Warlock cradling an injured arm he'd likely sustained from their skirmish, piped up, "Over at the communications tower, near the Warmind's vault."
At this, Scorch raised an eyebrow curiously. "The Warmind? I think I remember Eager and Spectre talking about it back when we were in the Ishtar Archive; but I still don't know what it is."
Zavala cleared his throat. "I forgot that not everyone knows of the Warmind; it's a rare secret we keep amongst the Guardians of the tower." Scorch faced him, her wonder getting the best of her.
"A long time ago during the Golden Age, massive AI constructs were built to defend us. They were called Warminds, programmed with algorithms beyond our comprehension, all for the purpose of our survival. During the collapse, all were destroyed but one; Rasputin."
"Rasputin," repeated Scorch, testing the word out in her mouth. Zavala nodded.
"He has access to all of the old weapons stations on various planets, going so far as Mars. At this point, he's practically our first line of defense if we were to come under attack."
"Why would you keep this from the city?" asked Scorch.
Cayde gave a small ahem uncomfortably. "Well, the Warmind has a tendency to be… hostile towards people he doesn't know, including Guardians. We may all be human, but as far as he's concerned, we're just kids he's looking out for; not the original people who built him, and he's more than willing to fight for his independence."
"Just one troublesome AI?" snorted Dawn.
Ikora gave her a stern look. "One troublesome AI with the firepower of more than 3 planets, and the capability to blow us all up before you could say 'Traveler'".
Dawn shut up.
"All of this talk, and yet no progress has been made." Eris's signature drawl drew everyone's attention to her. "All of you, ask yourselves… why would she be near the Warmind's sanctuary in the first place?
A few seconds passed by before Cayde face-palmed, muttering, "Ah, crap."
"What's wrong?" asked Eager.
Cayde pointed out the door emphatically. "Go! If she attacks the Warmind, that takes out our best defense against an attack like the one Crota would try! You can't let her get to him!"
Without another word, the Seekers turned and sprinted out the door. They now had an addition to their objective; keep Omnigul from getting to the Warmind. Cayde was right; the results would be disastrous if the AI was put out of commission.
The Seekers had been gone for nearly a minute before the Warlock spoke again, "Hey, uh, can I head to the infirmary or something?"
-X-
Aria stepped over the body of an Acolyte that lay dead upon the floor. The Heroes stood in the Temple of Crota, making sure that they'd cleared the room of all hostiles.
"You know," commented Matt, "last time we were in this temple, we were trying to get out, not in."
Aria called over to him without turning, her eyes looking down the sights of her rifle; "I'm not too keen on the reversal of our direction myself."
Ash walked over to a hole in the floor that led deeper into the Hive's fortress, and let herself drop over the edge. Matt and Aria followed suit a moment later.
Now on point, the Titan held out her hand for Whip to materialize. "Whip, can you mark a path for that crystal?"
The Ghost vibrated slightly, processing the information that he had gathered from the World's Grave years ago. "There is an area which appears to be one of sacred origin; but it's deep into their tunnels. I'm not sure that it'll be safe for any of us-"
Aria waved at Whip to grab his attention. "Not sure that you've noticed in the years you've been Ash's Guardian; but almost nothing we do is safe, I doubt that this is gonna be too far from our normal routine." Though Ash still looked visibly uncomfortable, she had to admit that the Awoken girl had a point. Whip said nothing, obviously choosing to concede as well.
"It's uh… it's this way." He illuminated a shadowy path to their left, and they began to trek deeper into the Hellmouth once more. Instantly, all light disappeared. Nobody said anything, but every one of them knew how unsettling their situation was.
Their path seemed to take hours; constantly on edge in the dark, and attempting to check every corner of the subterranean pathway for monsters caused them to lose their sense of time. Several times, Aria had to fight the urge to ask the Ghost if he knew where he was going; the passage they seemed to be following was filled with a dank, nauseating smell, though all Hive tended to give off that scent. There was no light to go off of, save for the one given by Whip. Thankfully, she kept her silence, because the passage began to brighten up as they reached an end to it.
"Where are we?" Matt asked, all three of them looking around at their new surroundings. Small lanterns were fixed to the rocky walls, filled with green fire. They gave off a ghastly appearance, but fortunately illuminated the rest of their path. Ahead of them was some sort of entrance to a shrine, built with architectural precision. Before them were piles of bones, victims that had fallen prey to the hive. They belonged to several species, but upon noticing a prominent human skull, Aria looked away with a hard swallow.
"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Night. This is the most prominent shrine to Crota in the upper layer of the Hellmouth. It's only logical assume that Eris's so-called 'soul crystal' of Crota would be here." Whip flew forward a bit more, suddenly intrigued. "I can sense… disturbances. In the natural balance of Light and Dark. I mean, the Hellmouth is already pretty Dark, but… this is a whole new level. Whatever Eris was talking about, it's definitely in there."
"Well then," said Ash with a burst of courage that she didn't really feel, "what are we waiting for?" She unslung her rifle, and began to walk forward. Aria held her hand out and stopped her from moving ahead, earning a provoked look from the Exo.
"What are you stopping me for? I can handle this!" she told the Awoken girl indignantly. Aria said nothing, but pointed to Ash's rifle. The Titan looked down at where she was gesturing.
"You left the safety on." Aria began to move ahead as Ash had done while Ash quickly corrected her mistake. Apparently, her mind was more addled from fear than she realized.
Matt waved his hand in front of her to get her attention. "You alright?"
She nodded, not willing to say anything and let her voice betray her true feelings. She had no doubt that Matt wasn't fooled for a moment, but he didn't stop her regardless. With him covering their exit, she followed after Aria.
The entire entryway was filled with platforms, and complex gem-like structures that split the rooms into two passages for no particular reason. Chains hung from the ceiling, with meathooks adorning the ends of each one. Ash kept her eyes away from them, unwilling to let her imagination wander to the images that it began conjuring up- notably of Matt and Aria strewn in grotesque positions upon said meathooks.
A final set of stairs signified the end of the entrance to the shrine; but what lay inside couldn't be more different than what she had expected. The massive room was dim, lit only by a ghostly green glow in the center of the room. Before she inspected that, she noticed that all of the walls were rock, making this more of a cave than a shrine. A single primitive bridge had been constructed to the center of the room, while a small pond of murky water was situated on the left. On the right was what looked to be an area that had fallen victim to a rock-slide.
She gasped in awe when she realized that a massive skeleton of some serpentine fashion stretched from the right of the room, up to the left and into the wall, hiding the rest of the bones. It truly would have had to have been enormous to leave behind such a remnant.
In the center of the room was a collection of large boulders that formed a circle; within that circle were four Wizards, each of which had an emblem underneath them. The emblems were the source of the green light, burning with the signature green-fire of the Hive. They seemed to be circular in shape, and were criss-crossed with Hive runes and writing. Ash supposed that the Wizards were drawing their power from them to infuse it into-
That's when Aria hit her on the shoulder, and pointed to the center of the Wizards. "Look." There stood an enormous crystal, half embedded in the lunar ground. It was hard to detect, but there was a spark of green light that emanated from within the crystal itself, pulsating like a grotesque heartbeat.
"I think that the Wizards are keeping the crystal alive, if you can call it that- at least until Omnigul gets what she wants to help them," remarked Aria. Ash concurred with her observation, and immediately began formulating a plan to destroy it quick and fast.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans. The sound of gunshots behind the two women forced them to turn around. Matt was walking backwards, firing round after round into his attackers. "Guys, we have trouble!" A swarm of Knights had decided to intervene, likely alerted to their presence by the bodies of those in the Temple they'd killed earlier. As Ash looked back towards the crystal, she saw that the Wizards had seen them finally, and began to screech in aggression.
"Well, you wanted the more dangerous mission Matt?" yelled Aria, shooting a particularly close Knight in the head multiple times before its armored plating broke and allowed entry of the bullets into its skull, "It looks like you got it!"
Ash groaned loudly. This was gonna suck.