A/N: To the Guest Reviewer on the last chapter, that is a concern I've had too. However, I've been consistently and constantly reminded that Juno is unlike anything the Foundation has dealt with before and that they haven't sent in any specialists who might actually be suited to combat her specifically, Nu-7 being just the general 'Point and Shoot' style MTF for the Foundation. To the reviewer Raven, it's a curious aspect, but not one I could find any solid information on. Regardless, if she's got her shield all the time, there's no challenge to this, even if it might be a bit outside the norm.

Log 7777-05.

Juno woke up when her head slammed into a steel plate, her arms bound behind her, slumped over in the back of what was probably the same van she'd been fighting around earlier. She winced slightly as her head rattled for a moment, regulating her breathing to hopefully give the appearance she was still unconscious. Cracking one eye open slightly, she could just see several pairs of combat boots on the floor beside her, and she could plainly hear the Foundation Operators speaking to each other. They didn't sound particularly happy with her.

Now, these Foundation types weren't the first time she'd fought other Humans, or even Guardians, for that matter. As a Praxic, she'd fought Raiders, Slavers, and even a few Dredgens. Typically though, they went straight for the kill, and this experience of being taken prisoner was quite novel. Juno was fairly confident that she could break out most any time she wanted, with a quick application of a scaled-down Vortex Grenade or Fusion Grenade, but she was in part curious to see where they'd take her and what would happen when she got there.

A quick mental prod reassured her that Surf was still present, and hidden. Despite her situation, she couldn't help but let a feeling of slight satisfaction roll over her. While things weren't admittedly going to plan, she could at least learn more about her world, and maybe turn this situation in her favour. Besides, they'd obviously never dealt with anything like her before, or they'd be using some kind of Light neutralizing cuffs or tech, of which she couldn't detect any present.

She still felt achy, though that was more phantom sensations than anything else, as her Light had healed her muscles and wounds caused by the tasers. Speaking of, that was actually quite clever on their part, though it wouldn't have worked had she been wearing her armour. She wondered if they had actually realized that, or if they had just been running on a hope and a prayer. Regardless, there was nothing to do about it for now, and nothing for her to do except rest unless she probably wanted to get tazed or butt-striked again.

Site 47, Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia.

Lieutenant Shane Walker.

The Nu-7 trooper was roused from his slumber by a rough hand shaking him, and as he flailed for a moment and gathered his bearings, he glared up at Zull as the man stepped back and crossed his arms. "Hammer 2 is back, they've brought in someone who they think is the traveller. Doctor Martin wants you there for the interrogation. You've got five minutes, Boss."

Five minutes, eh? More than enough time to get up and ready. He rolled out of bed and set to making himself presentable, feeling refreshed and awake. Four and a half minutes later, he found himself outside the same interrogation/interview room he'd been in only the night before, this time with two armed and armoured Nu-7 Troopers standing guard outside, and Doctor Martin instead standing behind a one-way mirror looking into the room.

Nodding in greeting to the Doctor, Shane turns his attention to the room where, wearing slightly bloodied civvie clothes, a tanned woman with black hair and white facial tattoos stares directly at the mirror, an easy grin on her face. He turns back to Doctor Martin and asks, "Are we sure this is them? How'd Hammer 2 nab them?"

The Doctor sighs and shrugs, "I'm honestly not sure it's them, though Hammer 2 reported the same glowing effect that the traveller showed when using their so-called 'transmat' abilities. They stole a car from the neighbourhood where they first appeared, and we tracked it to an abandoned lot outside Roanoke, and Hammer 2 staked it out. This woman approached under the guise of a civilian and assaulted the team, Lieutenant Davis and Corporal Cook were both shot twice, non-lethally. According to Sergeant Veri, she's strong enough that he couldn't escape a strangle-hold she locked him in."

The Lieutenant raises an eyebrow and casts another look towards the woman. "How'd they take her down, then? Did we get the weapon she used?"

Martin once more shakes his head, "No, the weapon disappeared when she dropped it, and she took two high-charge tazers before she went down. Note that any wounds she sustained in combat have already healed."

Now that the Doctor mentioned it, her clothes, while bloody and a bit torn, revealed no wounds or even bruises beneath. "Doctor, why did you want me here?"

Shane already knew the answer, before the other man even spoke, and he withered a little inside. "I want you to be the one to speak to her. If it is her, you're the only one she's spoken to outside of the initial contact."

Site 47, Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia.

Warlock Juno.

When the door finally opened, after nearly half an hour of sitting in silence, her grin only widened. Oh, perhaps the Foundation did have a sense of humour! "Lieutenant Walker, how nice to see you again! Conscious and coherent this time, too!"

He groaned, and she suppressed a chuckle at his reaction, leaning back in her seat. "I assume you're here to 'interrogate' me? They sent you because you're literally the only person I've talked to, right?"

Sitting down across from her, he spreads a surprisingly thick folder out on the table, sorting through several papers. He sounds nothing except exhausted when he finally responds, "Yes...thank you for saving me after you shot me, I suppose. I'm here to ask you a series of questions, and I would kindly ask you to answer them truthfully and to the best of your capabilities, understood?"

Oh, this would be fun. She waves airily and deliberately answers casually, "Sure, sure, fire away!"

He nods and takes a breath, "Let's start off simple. What is your name?"

"Juno." was her quick and concise reply.

He raises an eyebrow even as he writes down on a notepad in front of him, "Just Juno, no family or clan name?"

She shrugs, "If I had one, I don't remember it anymore."

"Noted, where are you from, Juno?"

She grins, "No clue. Don't remember that either."

Again, she earns a surprised look from him. He wasn't trained, or he wasn't a very good interrogator. "You...don't remember?"

"Nope! I think it was somewhere in Eastern Europe?"

"What makes you think that, Juno?" He asked, deviating from the scripted questions, but deeming the comment worth pursuing.

"That's where I was brought back. The EDZ was not a fun place to be resurrected."

"...Resurrected? Are you saying you were brought back from the dead? What is the EDZ?" His words were carefully paced now as if to suppress his own disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm a Guardian, Risen, Wielder of Light, yadda yadda, whatever you want to call it. The EDZ is the European Dead Zone, Quarantined after the Collapse."

"Right...you have established that you are not from this time. When are you from?"

Juno pauses for a moment to think on this, comparing the Post Collapse Calendar to the current one, "Probably… the early 2730s? Post Collapse time-keeping isn't what it used to be."

"You've mentioned 'the Collapse' several times now, what is it?" The Lieutenant asks this slowly, cautiously, as if he almost doesn't want to know.

Juno sighs, leaning forward. "Before I can tell you about the Collapse, first, you must know what came before." She pauses for a moment, sorting what to say, "I think it was the early 2100s when the Traveler came. At first, it was thought to be a malfunctioning sensor array on Mars, but when we set people to fix it, we found an entity unlike anything we'd ever imagined, and it was terraforming Mars."

"Humanity made contact with this mysterious object, called it The Traveler, and it bestowed upon us gifts unlike any other. A Golden Age began and lasted for nearly three hundred years. Then...the Darkness came, and our Golden Age ended. The Eliksni were the first to arrive, scavengers of a Fallen Empire, chasing after the Traveler to reclaim their own Golden Age. After them came the Hive, evil incarnate, creatures so dark that they pull their power from the abyss itself. The Vex, creatures of metal and time, were always there, inhabiting their ruins and vaults on Venus and Mars, changing the worlds around them and growing ever stronger. Finally were the Cabal, soldiers of a mighty Empire that spans a significant portion of the Galaxy. Humanity was crushed under the weight of their anger, their rage and desperation."

"The Traveler, though, was done running. It sacrificed itself, banishing the Darkness from Sol, and giving Humanity a second chance. It created the Ghosts to seek out and resurrect the greatest warriors and soldiers of ages past, to bestow upon them great powers and responsibilities, so that we may never suffer a second Collapse." She reaches out with one hand, palm up, and with a shimmer of light energy, Surf appears, shell twirling as he chirps and looks at the amazed Lieutenant. His dark blue shell, a compass engraved around his one eye, is eye-catching. He disappears after a moment, retreating to safety.

Shane leans onto the table, a hand dragging down his face. It would likely take him a few moments to process the information she'd dumped on him, and that was perfectly fine with her. She once more leans back, crosses her arms, and waits.

After about two minutes by Juno's count, the Lieutenant was either called out or signalled for a recess somehow, and she was once more left alone in the room. Surf appeared in a shower of sparks around her head, and gave her a squinty look, if compressing the front sections of a shell could be considered a squint. "Are you sure it was the best idea to dump information on these people like that?"

She sighs in turn, shaking her head. "No, it's not. They won't stop coming after us if they don't know what we're trying to prevent, though. I'll bet you twenty Glimmer they still try to keep us here."

The Ghost rolls over, spinning. "That's a fools bet, no deal. Regardless, I suppose I see your point. I don't like it though, I especially don't like them knowing about me."

"Some concessions are necessary, buddy. Trust me, I haven't forgotten about Cayde and Sundance, I never will, but I won't let the same happen to you." Juno chides, well aware they were likely being recorded, not that it would make any sense to the Foundation without context.

Site 47, Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia.

Lieutenant Shane Walker.

Doctor Martin gave him a dour look as soon as he stepped into the observation room. Shane rolls his eyes in turn, "Yes, I deviated from the script, but we got more information than we had ever expected, no?"

The Doctor sighs and nods, "I suppose we did. To think, she's undead and has anomalous powers. It sounded like there were others like her, too! XK-Class Scenario, Undead Soldiers, extra-solar invasions. It's like our worst nightmares all rolled into one!"

Shane nods sharply in agreement, only paying half attention to the Doctor, while trying to wrap his mind around this alternative future. "Don't forget her armor is more powerful than we can gauge right now, Doc. My full team couldn't punch through her shields, let alone the armor itself."

His comment seems to draw the Doctor out of his thoughts, and the man jerks his view back to the Lieutenant. He snaps his fingers, "Lieutenant, you still need to complete the interview, we still have more questions before we transfer them to a cell."

Shane takes the comment in stride for a moment, before his thoughts grind to a halt. "You want to try and contain her here? Are you mad? We don't have any idea what abilities she actually can use, and we can't disarm her because she'll just 'transmat' her weapons away!"

The Doctor's eyes narrow, and he waves off the concerns. "There are ways around that, Lieutenant, though your concerns are noted. Get back in there now, we don't have all day!"

Lieutenant Walker steps back into the room and draws his attention towards Juno. She sees him and sits up, purple...things...twirling between her fingers like marbles. They disappear with a little pop and handful of sparks as she dismisses whatever she was using or doing. "You've got more questions for me, I assume?"

He nods, sitting back down across from her. "Yes, we're getting to the tail end of it now, and we've got just a few more questions for now."

She smiles knowingly and claps her hands together, leaning forward. "Then you'll tuck me away in a nice cell somewhere for the rest of my unending existence, yes?"

Suddenly, Shane felt like he rather needed something to drink, as his throat and lips were feeling rather dry. He swallows and keeps going, not letting her throw him off balance. "First up, we'd like to know what kind of powers you can use, and how?"

She sighs and leans back again, giving him an almost...humoring look. "That'd take forever to go through everything I can do. Do you want the fun stuff, or the boring stuff?"

There wasn't even really a choice, "Let's start with the boring stuff, hmm? The fun stuff can be discussed after, so neither of us get disappointed by the end of this."

"Hmm, well, to start, you already know I can fly, or Glide, rather. That's one of the most basic abilities my kind possess. I can enhance my mobility further with Blink, which allows me to teleport short distances. I can heal myself and others using a Rift or Well, and I can enhance weapons and armor the same way."

What. She can teleport? That's not fair! Outwardly, he raises an eyebrow and gives her a grave look. "And these are your boring abilities? What are the 'fun' ones?"

"Well…" She smirks at him, "For one, I don't stay dead. You can kill me, sure, but I won't stay that way, and I'll just kill you back."

Ah, that could be an issue.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me thus far, and especially to all my friends who've helped me write this and keep it going. I typically don't like ending chapters on cliff-hangers, but this one felt appropriate, and the chapter would've been a lotlonger if I kept it going till where I had intended to finish it. See you in the skies, and Juno and Surf will return!

Editing assistance, yet again, from OmegaEntertainment.