Chapter 27: Aksor, Archon Priest

Vistrek's autorifle thundered as the titan advanced, drawing fire away from the others, high-caliber rounds screaming off Aksor's still-smoking armor. The Archon's shrapnel launcher roared its fury back in molten slag. Vistrek dodged back and forth, then planted his right foot to dodge left. The rock gave way under the huge force of a titan changing direction and Vistrek stumbled, but managed to keep his feet beneath him. Unfortunately, that left him an easy target and shrapnel slammed into his chest. The tough, Light-infused armor buckled, but held, and the force of the impact drove Vistrek back two steps.

Aksor was lining up the kill shot when three-round bursts from Alice's pulse rifle crunched into his mask, throwing off his aim and sending his next shot wide to blow apart a rocky outcrop in a cloud of fragments.

The Archon turned, giving Vistrek time to fall into cover. Alice ducked another blast and Whisper opened fire with her SMG. The low-caliber bullets plinked uselessly off the Fallen's heavy armor.

Aksor feinted towards Alice then leaped towards Whisper. She sidestepped and yanked on the Light, blinking forward and past the Fallen. Unfortunately, the Archon had seen that trick before and didn't miss a beat, triggering his own teleportation gear and appearing in front of Whisper just as she turned to look over her shoulder.

She grunted as two massive hands clamped down on her like vices and lifted her off the ground. Her feet kicked as she struggled, her right arm and SMG pinned uselessly to her side. Fire from Alice and Vistrek pounded in, but Aksor's shields had regenerated and shrugged it off. With his lower arms he fired back blindly at the other guardians, while his upper dominant hands slowly crushed her.

Each joint in her body creaked under the strain, then the stock of her SMG snapped. Her left hand scrabbled desperately for a weapon, but the angle was awkward and her shotgun slipped through her fingers as it transmatted into being. She reached for it, but it was too far, too far…

Then Vistrek was there. He pile-drove into the Archon, sending him stumbling backwards and the iron grip abruptly released, dropping her to the dust. Aksor roared as his now-freed hands closed on Vistrek, forcing away his autorifle. Vistrek met the challenge, arms locked, pitting strength against strength. Despite the Archon's greater size, a full head taller than Vistrek, and better leverage, the titan refused to budge.

But the crafty Archon dropped the scorch cannon and drew an arc blade with his extra hand and drove it up and through the gap in Vistrek's fieldplate in his armpit. Vistrek's knees buckled as blood spurted out of him.

Whisper leaped onto the Archon's back, knife drawn, and sliced the ether feed lines on his helmet as Alice arrived. The Archon dropped to a knee, gasping, and the warlock raised her hand to the Fallen's face. Alice didn't quite touch him as the Light coursed through her and the mask began to crack and crumble, crushing inwards as Alice rewrote the Archon's very atomic structure. The Archon roared in pain, then cut off in a horrible gurgle, then fell silent as the mighty warrior fell backwards, dead, his face a nightmarish caricature.

Alice and Whisper looked at each other in silence as their ghosts worked on them, putting Whisper's joints back together and bringing a gurgling Vistrek, laid out and feet twitching, back from the brink of death.

"Boom! I told you they'd pull it off." Cayde-6 waived his fingers pantomiming an explosion. "At the rate you're going, we'll have to call you three The Guardian, huh? Ikora? Back me up on this."

Ikora Rey ignored her fellow Vanguard member and looked over the conference table at the trio of guardians standing there. "Well done you three. Aksor's defeat avenges the deaths of many, many losses over the years, and strengthens our ties with the Reef." She glanced at each of them in turn. "It also marks a number of strikes in rapid succession. We will transfer glimmer to each of your accounts from the Reef's bounty, then I am asking that you each take some time off. Pursue personal projects, learn more about the City and its people, pick up a hobby. You each are young, promising guardians with long futures ahead of you, and I don't want to see any of you burning out." She smiled. "You won't hear this often, especially from me, but… go have some fun."

For her part, Whisper decided to have a look at a bazaar she'd heard about nearby. After getting directions from Blabber, she made her way down and found it on top of the wall in the shadow of the Tower. Humans, awoken, and exos milled about, buying and selling from each other energetically, occasionally interspersed with intimidating-looking guardians decked out in gleaming finery. The Lightless gave a wide birth to these glittering guardians, like lords in a castle.

Whisper, looking around with wide eyes, was much less intimidating. And she was amazed by the sheer number and variety of goods on offer. She'd assumed, with only a single city, that there would be only limited options, but that was clearly mistaken. I guess it's easy to forget just how many people there are in the City.

She wandered through the stalls, watching and listening to the merchants. A thin human man called out over the crowd. "Fresh vegetables here! Picked this morning!" The next stall over had both hand-woven and machine-woven apparel, its decked-out awoken owner cheerily exhorting passers-by to get their Festival outfits now. Next over an exo gunsmith labored on a fusion rifle beneath a sign reading Gaunt's Wizards – Custom Weapons. Then there was a professional-looking stall adorned in white and blue, its awoken attendant cheerily describing himself as a salesperson for the Eververse Trading Company outlet location.

Eventually she found a larger booth manned by a middle-aged, slightly overweight human that was starting to bald. He looked up at her, then grinned when he caught sight of Blabber and gestured grandly. "Hell there! I'm Sebastian, and welcome to Sebastian's Firearms and Weaponry. You have the look of a guardian in need of a weapon, if I may be so bold. May I interest you in our custom selection?"

Whisper considered for a moment. Her last fight was something she never wanted to experience again, hence here presence here. "Two things. A sidearm, something I can use in an emergency without transmatting in, and something to get through really heavy Fallen armor."

"Like Archon armor, eh? You inspired by that new fireteam, the Guardian, to go after the big targets? I can respect that."

Whisper cocked her head to the side. "Uh, something like that. What do you have?"

"For sidearms your best bet is going to be a Häkke." He led the way as he talked to a large rack covered in an assortment of pistols. "There aren't any standard models as it's a niche market, but there are options with aftermarket tuning. Most are short-range and hit hard. The Sagramore-A has the most range, at the cost of stability and reload speed, the Lamorak-A is somewhere in the middle, and the Chilonis-A has the lowest range, but is quickest on the reload and stability. On the other end of the spectrum, the Hawkwood-A is practically an SMG, but it has low impact."

Whisper considered as he pointed out each weapon in turn "The Chilonis-A sounds about right. What other options are there?"

The salesman nodded gravely, trying to keep his excitement hidden. "If you're looking for something really high-end, those are a lot harder to find and will set you back. New Monarchy has some specialty orders in with Häkke to make Conviction II's and Impeacher V's. You'll have to get in good with New Monarchy to get your hands on one, though."

Whisper frowned. "Are there options that don't involve the factions?"

Sebastian rubbed his fledgling beard thoughtfully. "Hmm… well, Häkke also has contact with Lord Shaxx for some specialty models like the Havoc Pigeon with a suppressor, or Anton's Rule, which can fire bullets infused with elemental energy like solar or void. Häkke also supplies the Iron Lord with prizes for the Iron Banner like the Ironwreath-D, also suppressed, and the Binding Blaze, which has a bayonet of all things. Now, I may have access on a secondary market for those, but they don't come cheap." He looked over at her hopefully.

Whisper shrugged. "I'm pretty sure those are all out of my price range. Let's stick with the Chilonis-A for now. What about dealing with armor?"

If Sebastian was disappointed, he hid it well, and carried on. "Well, there are specialty weapons like explosives and sniper rifles, of course, or a dedicated anti-armor weapon like a fusion rifle. But if you're talking a general-purpose weapon that's fairly good against armor, you want the heaviest bullet you can find with the most punch behind it, which means a hand cannon. Unlike the sidearm, the hand cannon looks flashy and is popular with guardians, so there is a lot more variety. Tex Mechanica is the classic, of course, with their Bandit line from the basic Mk. 24 to the turned Mk. 36. Their Duke line is also well regarded and reliable with the Mk. 10, 20, and 21. The Maverick Mk. 20 is more all-purpose with its higher-end Mk. 36, but you might be more interested in the Searcher Mk. 20, a high-caliber cannon intended to penetrate armor, or the tuned version, the Searcher Mk. 37. Other options are Häkke with their tuned Azurduy-A and Cassoid with their oddly named Mos Calamus I, the faster-firing but not as powerful Mos Ganon III, or Mos Scala I."

Whisper transmatted out of storage her The Devil You Know she'd picked up from Banshee. "How does those compare to this?"

Sebastian tried not to stare. "That… that's the legendary Devil You Know. How did you… I mean… Look, that's better than pretty much anything I carry. The Azurduy-A does hit harder, but also fires a lot slower and only has six bullets to the twelve in yours. I can't think of anything that that gun can't punch through."

Embarrassed, Whisper changed the subject. "I'll take the Chilonis-A, I think. Could I try it out?"

Sebastian gave himself a shake and deliberately drew his eyes away from the legendary hand cannon. "Erm, certainly! If you'll follow me." He quickly led the way back to the sidearms and pulled down the weapon, which looked almost indistinguishable from pre-Golden Age semi-automatic handguns, then directed her towards the back of the warehouse to a makeshift firing range. He pulled on some ear protection then gave her a thumbs up. "Ready when you are!"

She carefully loaded the unfamiliar magazine, checked that a round had chambered, clicked off the safety, aimed down the iron sights and squeezed the trigger.

Sometime later Whisper stood fully outfitted with two tough, treated-leather holsters, one at the small of her back for the sidearm, and one on her right hip for the hand cannon. The larger weapons she would still have to transmat in and out, but she wanted at least those weapons easily on hand in the future. Sebastian sat near the register on a worn, comfortable couch chatting. His disappointment over the hand cannon had been at least mostly assuaged with the purchase of the sidearm and holsters, which put a sizeable dent in Whisper's savings.

"So," she asked, "you called my gun legendary, and you mentioned basic and higher-end weapons. What's the difference?"

Sebastion leaned back on the couch, considering. "Well, aside from the quality of the weapon itself, the easiest way to tell weapons apart is from how they're made. On the low end of the spectrum are common weapons. Foundries can churn those out purely from automation, no touch-ups required. They work, they're fairly reliable, and they can be used by us Lightless folk, which is about all that recommends them. Next you have uncommon, which require some hand-tooling and tuning after the fact. They're more precise. Rare weapons use a basic chassis, but there's a lot of hand work on each one, and they use some smart-matter and other materials that glimmer can't substitute for. They're hard to come by, expensive, and highly valued. Then there are legendary weapons. They're made completely by hand using spinmetal, relic iron, and other unique materials. They are always custom-made for the bearer. They're not technically one of a kind, but they're close, there aren't many of them, and they're really expensive." He hesitated for a second, then sighed. "And I guess there's the truly one-off exotic stuff. I don't deal in those and wouldn't even if I could somehow afford to. They tend to be irreplaceable, made of experimental, volatile, and almost always dangerous materials, and I'm pretty sure only a guardian can use one without killing themselves."

Whisper nodded slowly. That made sense, and she shared Sebastian's deep suspicion of exotic weapons and armor. "Tell me about the other manufacturers if you don't mind. I'd like to get a feel for what's available more generally."

"Of course!" The weapons merchant brightened at his favorite subject. He hopped to his feet and led the way back into the endless racks of weaponry. The workhorse of the City is Häkke They make a variety of weapons ranging from basic to high-end, and their philosophy is functionality and reliability. As you can see," he said with a casual gesture to a row of autorifles that looked strikingly similar to the battered Kvostov rifle Blabber had repaired for her when she first woke up, "they take their design cues from ancient times, making their weapons at least visually recognizable to folks from the Golden Age, or even earlier. And if you can't see it, you can still recognize a Häkke weapon by the name, as their weapons have a historical ruler followed by a letter."

He changed course towards another series of racks, this one occupied by a much smaller set of gleaming, oiled weapons. "And speaking of the Golden Age, if that's what interests you, Daito was a Golden Age manufacturer that's been brought back from the Collapse. They tend towards weapons that are very effective in the right hands, but require discipline and precision to use. Their designs can be a little all over the place, but their naming is pretty consistent, with a Golden Age city followed by a two-letter designation of the weapon type and a number, like the Cydonia-AR2."

Next Sebastian pointed towards a wall of brightly colored weapons with elegant lines. "SUROS weapons are the most flexible, making all-purpose weapons with an aesthetic built around smooth lines. They're always easy to tell because they put SUROS in the name of every gun. The most advanced weapons, at least if you believe their salespeople, are made by Omolon, who have developed a liquid ammunition system. Don't ask me how it works. Hmm let's see… Veist is the newest foundry, themed around poisonous snakes, I think. They make lightweight, maneuverable, and fast-firing weapons, and are best know for SMGs. Those are the main ones, though there are some others for more niche markets. Crux/Lomar, of course, are known for their high explosives. Cassoid has been experimenting with energy weapons. Oh, Tex Mechanica, of course. They're throwbacks to the Dark Age, when the second you stepped beyond the wall you were in the frontier. Rugged, high impact, durable, and expensive as could be, they'll build each piece custom for the purchasers, and sell only to guardians. Then there's the smaller outfits, like Nadir or the GNT Exo Collaborative that modifies rocket launchers for the Vanguard, the Raku Workshop and their Buffalo_SOLDAT working group, and so on. And lastly you have solo operators, like Gaunt here in the bazaar."

Whisper tried to wrap her head around it all. "That's a lot."

The storeowner grinned. "But it's my mission to help you find something just right for you. So whenever you have a question or are looking for a new weapon, you know right where to find me."

Vistrek stood uncomfortably aware of the looks he was getting. It seemed manifestly unfair that passersby stared at him while completely ignoring the smaller, but infinitely scarier, warlock next to him. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Alice? I thought she said these things were more… personal."

Alice marched ahead into the small textile shop, glancing over large bolts of fabric on the walls and sample strips of dies. "I'm sure, Vistrek. They are personal, but what's more personal than a gift from her fireteam?"

The titan followed, carefully keeping his arms close to his side to avoid crushing anything by accident. "If you're sure, then. I'm just used to having a little… clearer objectives. Take that hill, eliminate those Fallen, that sort of thing. This… I just don't really know what I'm looking for."

Alice considered the yellow section, pulling out a bright yellow with black cross hatches and an even brighter yellow with orange accents around the edge, while watching from the corner of her eye as the small, finely dressed owner wavered between helping a potential customer and getting out of the way of a guardian. "We're looking for something that she would like. You know her as well as I do, Vistrek. What do you think she'd like?"

Vistrek tentatively tugged on a piece of fabric. "I don't know. Something… practical? How about this?" He pointed to another bolt of fabric, this one in mottled grey with darker camouflage patterns to break up outlines.

Alice looked stepped over and considered it thoughtfully. "Hmm… not bad, Vistrek. Good idea." She pulled further on the fabric, feeling the texture. "See, that wasn't so hard now, was it? We'll take this. Can you shape it into a cloak for us?"

Cayde-6 looked up guiltily and quickly put his hands behind his back as Whisper walked into the Vanguard's office. "Hey, my favorite hunter! What can I do for you?"

"I don't even want to know. And you say that to every hunter, don't you?"

He grinned. "Only the ones closest at the time."

Whisper rolled her eyes. "I'm heading back out soon. But before I go, when we first met I asked you about exos and you said you would tell me more."

The Vanguard member turned serious, placed the strange-looking piece of technology he'd been hiding on the table, and gestured for her to follow him. He led the way out to the battlements and looked out over the mountains, hands on the old stone.

After a moment he spoke quietly. "Alright, yeah. You've done well, very well, and you've done right by the Vanguard. So, here goes."

Whisper moved next to him and looked up at the cold, icy peaks as her fellow exo spoke.

"Us exos are haunted. Sounds ominous, I know, and maybe a bit of a stretch. But really, it's the best word – kinda sets the stage in the way raw facts don't. See, all guardians have past lives but unless you have any definitive info on your person or in proximity – looking at you, you sneaky, sneaky girl Ana – that past life was wiped clean. Gone. Reborn in the Light and all, you become what you become."

"Us exos, though? We've got ghosts in the machine. Not capital-G, open-doors-and-know-things ghosts. I mean, like, fragments of—I don't know, pieces of something that could be memory. Whatever it is, it's enough to give us a starting point to maybe, possibly, imagine who we were before we became who we are."

Whisper considered this. "So these… flashes… that I've seen. They're memories?"

Cayde-6 shrugged. "Could be. But if you're thinking of trying to track that down, just know that many have lost themselves going down that road. That and, you know, Big Blue ain't a big fan of his guardians poking around what they used to be—something about duty, rules, not losing sight of why we were chosen. But maybe more important than that, most of us 'Chosen Ones' don't have the luxury of a past, so rubbing it in doesn't seem right."

They stood in silence for a few moments, listening to the distant hum of jumpship coming and going, then Cayde clapped her on the shoulder. "Sounds like I gave you something to think about, then. Good luck out there, hunter. Bring me back something cool."

Whisper stood there thinking for a long time, then turned and made her way to the hangars.

A/N: Apologies for the long delay on this chapter. It took a bunch of research, and then a whole bunch of IRL stuff came up leading up to, during, and after the holidays. Big thanks to DragonGU for sticking with me and helping me proofread this.

Lore Referenced:

Weapons:

77 Wizard

Sagramore-A

Lamorak-A

Hawkwood-A

Conviction II

Impeacher V

Havoc Pigeon

Anton's Rule

Ironwreath-D

Binding Blaze

Bandit Mk. 24

Bandit Mk. 36

Duke Mk. 10

Duke Mk. 20

Duke Mk. 21

Maverick Mk. 20

Maverick Mk. 36

Searcher Mk. 20

Searcher Mk. 37

Azurduy-A

Mos Calamus I

Mos Ganon III

Mos Scala I

Harbinger

D1 Grimoire:

Eververse (D1 Grimoire)

Armor:

ISTANU-GNT Razor (boots)

Raku Vindicator (chest armor)

0A0X Nightmask (chest armor)

Not a Fallen Hood

Pleiades Hood

Takaneome Ranger's Hood

Lore Books:

The Man They Call Cayde: Call