"Hey greenhorn! Get over here, I need you to explain something."
Shit.
As he reentered the hangar, Kendrix glanced over to where the voice was coming from. Sure enough, Holliday was looking right at him, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised to the rafters. And she was standing right next to the jumpship.
Told you you weren't subtle enough. Proxima said in his head.
Can we talk about my lack of social skills later? We've got more pressing matters.
Kendrix reluctantly walked over to where Holliday was waiting, trying to look innocent and stupid.
"Is there a problem?" he asked as he reached her, doing his best to sound confused and trustworthy.
"You could say that. Do you care to tell me why your ship has the biggest energy signature I've ever seen from something this size?"
"I thought you said you wouldn't go inside it," Kendrix asked with a hint of irritation, before realizing that objecting to her actions probably wouldn't win him much support.
"I didn't," Holliday said, her voice flat. "I didn't even give it a routine scan. The hangar's monitors picked it up passively while checking up on things. They found it without even having to look."
That didn't bode well. Kendrix's mind floundered to find a convincing explanation. Fortunately, it wasn't the only thing working on the problem.
"Oh, you're right, I'm sorry."
Kendrix glanced to where Proxima had appeared at his shoulder.
What are you doing? he asked mentally.
Just follow my lead, ok? she replied, before continuing aloud.
"We found this ship with a bunch of Fallen camped around it. I picked up some weird energy readings too; I think they were using it as some sort of cache for their Glimmer?"
Holliday cocked her head to one side. "A bunch of concentrated Glimmer would explain the weird readings my tech picked up on. But why would the Fallen hide their loot in a jumpship of all places?"
"Not sure," Kendrix said with a shrug, picking up on Proxima's story. "Maybe they wanted to be able to run off with it quickly if something went wrong?"
"Maybe," Holliday replied with a frown. "That'd be mighty risky, though. That much Glimmer in one place can be a real hazard in a volatile environment like an aircraft. Which makes me wonder why you left it in place for your flight back," she said with a glance at Proxima.
To her credit, Kendrix's Ghost did an excellent job of looking sheepish, especially given she didn't have a face.
"I guess in the heat of the moment I forgot all about it," Proxima replied, her synthetic voice apologetic in tone.
Holliday let out a disgruntled sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Fine, fine. But will you at least get it out now?! The thought of this thing going off is giving me a migraine."
"Absolutely, right away," Proxima assured in a chipper voice. "Fair warning, though, the Glimmer seemed pretty ingrained. It might take me a minute to transmatt it all out."
"That's fine, just get it done."
Proxima vanished in a flash of light, before wordlessly directing Kendrix to get in the jumpship. He did as he was told, and once he was comfortably sealed in the cockpit, spoke aloud.
"So what now?"
"Good question," Proxima replied, appearing in front of him.
A series of curious whirrs emanated from the ship's control console as their metallic friend made its presence known.
"Hey there. So, long story short the people outside have noticed you're not normal and are expecting us to remove all of the Glimmer from your body."
The console's noises became much more frantic and erratic.
"Hey, it's ok!" Kendrix assured the worried machine. "We're not gonna rip your guts out. We've just gotta find some way to hide your energy signature so that they don't notice you anymore. Do you have any way of doing that?"
The resulting beeps sounded uncertain.
"Right, right. You can't actually talk. Proxima, is there a work-around here?"
"Sorry, I can't understand it either. It's neural net accepts data just fine, but transmitting it back doesn't seem to be an option… and it's structured in a way I can't really decode, so no mind-reading. Sorry, it's… hard to explain."
"Hmmm… well, it can beep just fine. Anything we can do with that?"
Proxima thought for a moment. "...maybe. Ok big guy, I'm going to put something else in your head, alright? Don't freak out."
Kendrix felt a slight tremor run through the jumpship as Proxima sent another data pack, but the transforming machine otherwise kept its cool. Then, the console elicited another series of beeps. However, these ones were different. Instead of the whirling, changing, almost musical notes that had characterized the robot's previous attempts at communication, this series consisted of only two notes of the same pitch, one of which was slightly longer than the other. These two notes repeated in a seemingly random order in a long stream before suddenly stopping.
"What was that?" Kendrix asked, confused.
"Morse code. An old system from before the Golden Age. Each letter and number is represented by a series of dots and dashes, which can be expressed audibly by short and long notes. It's slow and imperfect, but right now it's the best we have."
"Ok. So what did it say?"
"Hang on… let me translate for you this time." Proxima gave a nod-like bob to the console, which then released another series of notes. This time, however, Kendrix felt Proxima's thoughts in his head, translating each letter as it was spoken.
H-E-L-L-O.
"Hey!" Kendrix said back. "Glad we can finally have a dialogue. Now, about hiding your energy signature, do you have anything for that?"
Another series of beeps replied.
D-A-M-A-G-E-D.
"So you do have a way of doing it, but it won't work because you're damaged? Shit. Can you fix it?"
N-E-E-D- -E-N-E-R-G-O-N.
"Energon? What's energon?" Kendrix didn't recognize the word whatsoever. "Do you mean Glimmer?"
Y-E-S.
"Ok, yeah. We managed to get a hold of some. Proxima?"
"Where am I headed?" his Ghost asked, looking at the console expectantly. Instead of another series of beeps, however, the console's display lit up with a soft blue glow, showing a diagnostic image of the ship, with a single area highlighted in orange.
"Got it." Proxima replied with a nod before vanishing in a flash. Kendrix could hear her explaining her actions inside his head.
I'm at the affected area. I think I've identified the damaged system. I'm going to inject some Glimmer and try to speed up repairs.
Kendrix gave a mental nod, then went back to waiting in the cockpit. After a minute or two of irritated beeping from the console and mental grumbles from Proxima, the pair seemingly finished.
"Ok, I think that's as good as we're going to get." Proxima said with a sigh, reappearing at his shoulder.
"Alright," Kendrix said hesitantly, turning back to the console. "Give it a go."
A confirmatory whirr echoed out, and then the ship's systems went dark. A moment later, they came back online, though somewhat dimmer.
"Proxima?" Kendrix asked nervously.
"I'm not reading much of a signature anymore. I think it worked, at least partially."
Kendrix let out a small sigh. "Ok. Give it however much Glimmer it needs to fuel the rest of its recovery, then we'll check with Holliday." Proxima nodded, froze in the air for a moment while occasionally twitching, then returned to focus.
"Done."
"Ok. Let's do this." Kendrix opened the exit hatch and pulled himself out of it part way so that he could see Holliday where she stood, tapping her foot impatiently.
"You done yet?" she called up at him. Proxima appeared at his side and replied.
"I think we've got it all. Care to run your scan again and check my work?"
Holliday smirked back, snagging a datapad from her belt and tapping in some sort of command. She stared at the display for a few moments with a slight frown while Kendrix held his breath, fearing that the ruse would fail and they'd be found out. Eventually, Holliday spoke.
"Readings are still a little funky, so you might've missed a few spots. Not quite nominal, but on the whole, it's a hell of a lot better. At least I don't have to worry about the damn thing blowing a fuse and vaporizing half of my shipyard."
"So are we free to go now?" Kendrix called down half-jokingly. "Cause I feel like I'm about ready to pass out." That last part was a bit embellished for the sake of trying to get them out, but Kendrix really was exhausted.
"Yeah, yeah," Holliday said with a chuckle. "Get your ass to bed, greenhorn."
Kendrix nodded his thanks. He jumped down from the ship and started trudging towards the hangar's exit with Proxima following close behind.
You think our friend will be okay? he asked Proxima tiredly.
I'm sure it'll be fine on its own for one night.
Fair enough. Kendrix paused for a moment as his mind became aware of a crucial detail he'd overlooked.. Where am I going to sleep?
Proxima chuckled softly inside his head. The Tower has some quarters for Guardians to stay in when they're not out seeing the system. Come on, I'll show you.
Kendrix dutifully followed the map that Proxima displayed on his hud, going back out onto the main platform and finding his way to a set of elevators. He passed a few other Guardians going about their business, their flashy and flamboyant armor and gear catching his eye. A few gave him curious glances, but none of them decided to say anything to him. He was too tired to decide if he should be offended or relieved.
He rode one of the elevators down for about a dozen floors, then exited when its doors slid open. Proxima guided him down the softly lit hall beyond them, past a number of identical regularly-spaced doors, before coming to one that his hud had highlighted. Kendrix pressed against the door and it swung open easily, revealing a small, undecorated, and conspicuously windowless apartment.
It would have to do.
With a sigh, Kendrix closed the door behind him and walked over to a small side room with a sink, toilet, and shower. At least the place had running water, that was good. He stepped in front of the mirror, saw himself in his disheveled, bloodstained armor and found himself sorely wishing he'd decided to clean up a little before making his debut at the Tower. Then something occurred to him.
"You know… I don't remember what my face looks like."
"If it's anything like your personality, it'll probably make you want to keep that helmet on until the end of your days," Proxima said, appearing at his shoulder. She looked almost excited.
"Har-har," Kendrix said sarcastically. When he made no move, however, Proxima continued to prod him.
"I don't think keeping it on that long is really an option, though. The smell alone would be cataclysmic."
Kendrix sighed. "You're right. Here goes nothing." He slowly reached up and took hold of his helmet, twisting it slightly to release it from where it clasped onto the rest of his gear. He slowly pulled it up and off of his head, revealing what lay underneath.
Kendrix started. The face looking at him from the mirror was completely and utterly… underwhelming.
Kendrix cocked his head to one side as if to make sure the reflection was his. Sure enough, the man in the mirror copied his every move. His hair was a darker brown, all plastered against his head by dried sweat from the day's excitement. His nose was small and slightly crooked, and his lips were thin and pallid. In fact, his skin as a whole seemed rather pale. His jaw was soft and a touch tucked back. Even his eyes weren't anything special. They were green, but not emerald green or forest green. More like a faint, lichen green.
"Huh," he said flatly. Some of his disappointment must've bled into his tone, however, as Proxima was quick to comment.
"There a problem?" she asked, a hint of mirth in her voice.
"No, it's not- I mean it's fine, but… I guess I was hoping for something a little more... heroic?"
"'Heroic?' Seriously? So, what, like, hair as dark as night, golden eyes that simmer like flame, a jawline that could grind bones to dust?"
"I… guess?"
Proxima scoffed at him.
"Oh please. You're a Warlock, not a Titan. Scrawny and pale looks good on you."
"Thank… you?"
"No problem. Although, I will say that a little beauty sleep never hurt anyone."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Kendrix walked back into the apartment proper. When he went to pull off his armor, however, it all suddenly vanished, courtesy of Proxima. This left him in nothing but his undersuit, which he then peeled off too.
He walked over to the small bunk waiting at the far end of the room and climbed slowly under the sheets.
"Wait, aren't you going to shower first?"
"Nope," Kendrix said as he pulled the sheets up to his chin. His eyes quickly fell closed. "I'm way too tired."
"You're disgusting."
"Goodnight to you too, Proxima."
Sleep came for him quickly.
AN: Sorry this took so long. I've been busy and motivation is a bitch to come by.