"New mission from Zavala," Rorick said, throwing up a hand to stop the fireteam from boarding their ships.

Wren sat on the wing, her legs swinging over the edge and watched her fireteam leader as he spoke quietly to Zavala through the comms. "Yessir," he nodded, then turned to the team. "Those Fallen in the Archive were House of Winter. Guardians have been hunting their Kell, Draxis, for years and Zavala thinks he might be controlling the Fallen a cave system up in the Cinders. We've been given orders to push forward and eradicate them in order to keep the Archive safe.

"Hey kid," Cayde whispered as she slipped from the wing. "Kid?"

"I heard you," she said through gritted teeth so no one else could hear.

"You alright out there? I mean, uh…. Any report after the meeting with the Queen?"

"No? Why are you asking me and not Rorick?" Wren fell to the back of the group as they mounted their Sparrows and took off through the planet's narrow canyons, over cervices that sent her soaring and a few members of Cerulean to doing tricks on their Sparrows.

"I heard you had some issues with the Queen's brother, Prince Uldren."

"How did you hear about that?"

"I uh…. Might have been listening to the comms while you were gone just… look, never mind how. Are you alright?"

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?" she teased, her smile taking her off guard. She cleared her throat. "But I really don't want you listening in all the time. That's not okay."

"Promise I only listened while you were in the Queen's chamber."

Wren bit her cheek and thought about her conversations with Sisre. "I don't like it. Look, you can listen in but only if you tell me you are. Otherwise I can't trust you."

"I didn't mean to come off that way I just—"

"Promise or I'm cutting you off."

He hesitated. "Alright. You wanna pinkie promise on it or somethin'?"

"Cayde," she warned.

"Okay okay! Jeeze. I promise if I listen in again I'll let you know. Should we have a code word or something? I think we need a code word. How about ramen?"

"You say that all the time."

"Then what about Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?"

"Woah, woah…. Made up words aren't allowed."

"That's not made up! I don't think…. Fine what about lemon zest?"

"Fine. Now go away, I have work to do."

Silence.

Wren rode on for a couple of minutes before asking Kiran, "Is he gone?"

"I think so. But I didn't even know he was here last time."

The canyon opened to a wide area where the sun was low over the far rock wall, creating a yellow haze across the sky, light filtering between gaps in the jagged wall. Boulders like spikes protruded from the ground, obscuring most of the Fallen base along the back right wall. Dead, broken trees like blackened husks lay against rock outcroppings, their roots torn from the dusty ground where only sparse yellow grass clung to life.

Blue and white armor of the House of Winter Fallen stood out against the background and they were easily picked off as the fireteam moved toward the base as a unit, with the exception of Flak who seemed to be trying to prove something after his last failure and the way he'd clung so desperately to Franz. Rorick wasn't having it.

"Reaver Captain!" Beorn said, heading left to try and get under the platform where the Captain stood, his weapon firing three rounds of solar energy that burned the grasses.

Rorick dropped to one knee and shot a rocket into the Captain's chest and it stumbled back. Flak jumped up to the top of the platform and drove a knife into the Fallen's face, forcing him to the ground but even after the Captain stopped moving, Flak repeatedly stabbed him until Rorick flew up and ripped him off the corpse.

The group stared at Flak, still on his back, dagger by his side, panting. Blood splattered across his helmet and chest and Wren took a step to put herself between Beorn and Sisre. She expected Rorick to say something, anything, to Flak about his behavior but their leader didn't seem to know what to say. He adjusted his rocket launcher on his back and turned to the opening of the cave.

"Keep moving!" he demanded, his tone harsher than Wren had heard it before. Maybe he was being strategic about it and didn't plan on letting Flak off the hook.

They moved into the darkness of the cave, leaving Flak to take up the rear when he could compose himself. The way was lit here and there by orange colored lights, the glow reflecting off dark colored crystals that grew from the nooks and crannies. Wren reached up to break one off for herself, but it didn't budge. She considered using the butt of her gun to do the job but she didn't want to chance giving them away.

"There are likely tons of Fallen down here," Franz said, his voice barely audible.

Wren nodded and drew her Better Devils, letting the scout rifle drop over her back. They came to a section where the cave opened and water bubbled up from a spring into a shallow pool. On the other side was a metal platform and beyond they could hear footsteps in water and the sounds of Fallen speaking.

Rorick halted them, then pointed out Beorn and Wren to go with him to take out the guard and avoid too many people firing in such close quarters. They moved through the Vandals and Dregs like they were nothing and pushed farther into the caves, which became less rock and more metal, lights flickering, casting shadows across the walls.

The next cavern was better guarded than they expected but they made it through without any serious injury. When they cleared it, Wren took a moment to observe her surroundings. The Fallen had built ramps and scaffolding around the rock structures. They made their way to the highest point where a metal platform spanned from one wall to the other.

Wren expected more Fallen to investigate the sound of the gunfight that echoed from the rock walls, but none came. She edged closer to the opening at the far side, staring into the narrow tunnel until it curved out of sight, watching for any movement of shadow while Rorick set out their course of action and the others walked around looking for dropped loot or anything from the Fallen that might fetch some glimmer at the Tower.

No matter what the others said, Hunters weren't the only ones hoarding loot. The bounty might be different for all of them, the items deemed worthy differing between the classes, but they all did it.

When she felt nothing was coming for them she took her place beside Sisre as Rorick consulted a map. He gave it a once over and adjusted his weapon before motioning his helmet toward the opening where Wren just stood. They went in single file, Flak taking up the rear and keeping a good distance between himself and Beorn. The thought of what he'd done to that Captain made Wren uncomfortable. What if he tried to do the same to Beorn?

In a way she felt she was silly for thinking that; what reason would he have to attack a teammate in that manner? On the other hand, he'd attacked her before. And threatened her on more than one occasion and all for what? A thought that she was doing favors for the Vanguard to gain praise.

She gritted her teeth and shook her head. Everything she'd gained, she'd earned, except for the Better Devils. She moved her thumb across the grip. She loved the gun. Felt it was more an extension of self than a weapon, as much a part of her as her own hand, but it was a problem.

Fireteam Cerulean pushed their way deeper into the tunnel system, following symbols and torn banners of the Fallen house of Winter, boots shuffling over rock, kicking lose pebbles, clanking across metal grates that were laid on the floor. They weren't exactly quiet, and yet, no Fallen came.

Wren gripped the Better Devils, a tension in her shoulders growing. Being underground in such tight quarters was uncomfortable enough without the added danger of enemies popping up out of nowhere. Gunfights in caves… not something she enjoyed.

At last the cave opened up to daylight and for a moment Wren marveled at the red sky, until she realized it wasn't the sky at all but a massive ship beyond the boulders that surrounded the cave's entrance. She stopped a few feet outside, weapon lowering slightly as she gazed in awe. Were they enough for whatever was in that ship?

The others moved past her and Flak pushed her hard with his shoulder as he passed, turning his face plate toward her.

"Oops," he said and she could hear the condescending smirk in his voice. She fought the urge to pistol whip him.

They neared a railing overlooking a massive chasm, the other side barely visible through the dusty fog. It was the largest ship Wren had ever seen and her mind reeled at the thought of how many creatures could be on board when a smaller ship soared in toward it, then out of sight behind a rocky outcropping to the left.

"It's a Ketch," Rorick said. "The Kell must be inside."

"It was House of Winter. We're on the right track," Sisre said.

Rorick gave a curt nod and led the team toward the Ketch, through Fallen enemies until there was nothing left of them but blood, spilled ether, and scrap metal. Rorick led them up the ramp to the larger ship and to its door where they were met with a few more Vandals, Dregs, and a Reaver Captain who screamed angrily as he charged Rorick and engaged him.

The Captain loomed over Rorick as they locked hand in hand combat. It pushed down on him but Rorick used its strength against it and shifted to the side, yanking the Captain off balance and it moved past him. Rorick turned and his body crackled with Arc energy as he leapt up and slammed his fists down on the Captain. Part of its body dissolved with the force of the Arc black, but some more heavily armored places remained. He finished off his super on the last Vandal, which tried in vain to escape.

Rorick landed on the platform overhead, remnants of Arc energy crackling into the metal grating under his boots before disappearing all together. He led them through the first airlock, up never-ending flights of stairs through corridors that had no walls and Wren felt as vulnerable here as she had in the caves.

Brix came through the comms and said, "Someone in this ship is a throne room. That's where we'll find the Kell, Draksis."

"Making history. Again," Franz said, rolling his shoulders.

In the close quarters enemies dropped like flies. Rorick put his boot on the chest piece of a Fallen Vandal whose destroyed armor was different than the others.

"Kell's Guard," he said. "We're getting closer to the throne room."

Silence wasn't necessary at this point, surely the Kell knew they were coming, but the group went quiet anyway, ready to face the Kell. Anticipation prickled across Wren's skin and she moved with the fireteam, Better Devils firm in her grip.

"Pst, kid."

Wren jumped and hissed, "What do you want?"

"Just checking up on you. How's it going? You find the Kell yet? Any uh, any good loot along the way?" Cayde asked.

"Would you get out of here? I'm working."

"Okay, okay. But lemme know if you find any good loot."

"You alright back there?" Sisre asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Yeah, just have this annoying buzzing in my comm is all."

"I'm annoying?" Cayde scoffed. "Guess I won't be taking you with me to this cool place I found."

"I doubt it's that cool," Wren smirked. "But you really have to go."

"It's totally cool, I found a treasure map for it."

"Alright, now go."

The comm fell silent and Wren shook her head but she couldn't shake her grin.

They came out into what seemed to be a control room. Large curved panels with a language she didn't understand scrolled across the screens with graphs and what she thought looked like mapped out planets. Nothing about them indicated any sort of panic on the Fallen's end and that made Wren wonder.

Rorick opened the next airlock and signaled them with his hand. They fell into formation, Flak pushing her hard with his elbow again and this time she stomped his foot. He raised his gun to her and growled, as if he was about to hit her with his rifle, but he straightened himself before Rorick could notice.

Cerulean ascended several flights of stairs, getting ever closer to the throne room. All was quiet. There were no guards, no traps, nothing.

The throne room was a tall room with high arched ceiling, House of Winter banners hung along the right side and lights cast an orange glow to everything. There were raised tiers leading back to the other side of the room where a massive Fallen sat atop his throne. War cries met them when they ran in but the smaller Fallen didn't last long. Rorick and Beorn pushed toward the middle of the room, taking shelter behind a curved monitor as Sisre sat closer to the door, feeling more at ease with her scout rifle. Flak rushed left while Franz and Wren stayed right, keeping low and firing on the Kell, who hardly reacted to their bullets other than letting out an angry, hellish scream.

"Is… is that a giant Servitor?" Franz said when they put their backs to the right-side wall.

Wren looked up and sure enough, there was what appeared to be a huge Servitor embedded into the ceiling, it's glowing eye tracking around the room, but it didn't attack.

"I don't think it can hurt us."

Fire erupted across Franz's chest, the force of the blast tossing Wren back a few feet. The Kell was aiming at them, a gurgling noise akin to a laugh bubbling up in his throat until one of Rorick's rockets met his shoulder and exploded into a mass of fire and metal. Franz stood, armor charred, but otherwise he was okay. He glowed a dim blue where his Ghost had begun to heal him.

"You okay?" Wren asked, offering him a hand to help him up.

"Toasty," he coughed. "I don't recommend getting in the way of that."

Wren and Franz continued to fire at the Kell while Flak darted between Vandals and Dregs in a blue streak of Arc energy, using his Super to take out the smaller targets. Franz helped Wren jump onto the nearest console and she felt the heat of the Golden Gun spread from her hands through her entire body. Three shots fired into the Kell who stumbled back and fell to one knee for Sisre to take a final shot to his head with her scout rifle.

The Kell fell over dead and Beorn killed the last Vandal. The throne room was quiet They joined up at the throne, many of them with scorch marks on their armor and burn holes in their marks and cloaks. Sisre plopped down on the throne and patted the spot beside her for Wren to join. They sat and reloaded their weapons while Rorick spoke.

"Draksis was one of the worst plagues this system has ever seen. Without him, the House of Winter should crumble. I'm confident we broke their hold on the Academy."

"That wasn't so hard," Franz scoffed, ignoring the tilt of Beorn's head as he examined his friend's charred armor. "So we can go home now?"

"What, tired already, Warlock?" Flak shot.

"Enough," Rorick snapped, turning his faceplate toward Flak. "I'll contact Zavala and see what our orders are."

Rorick went back toward the airlock while the others hung around the throne, all but Flak who sat by himself farther away from the group. Rorick returned a few minutes later, hoisting his rocket launcher up on its strap. Sisre leaned forward slightly.

"Where are we headed?" Beorn asked.

"Not home," Rorick said. "Zavala wants us to go for the Gate Lord's eye."

"Right now?" Sisre asked.

"What do we even know about Gate Lords?" Franz asked.

The Ghosts appeared beside them and Brix took the lead.

"The Vex themselves are a problem as a whole," he said. "They turned the planet Mercury into a machine in a matter of days. Had the Traveler not stopped them, they would have spread through his system and far beyond by now. We'd not be here discussing how to defeat them."

"My resources say that Gate Lords are three stories tall and they guard the places the Vex keep locked out of time," Kiran said.

"Time?" another Ghost chimed in. "That doesn't sound right."

"Maybe not but that's what it says."

"We have to get into the Black Garden," Rorick said and the Ghosts nodded in agreement. "Ready up as best as you can, and let's go. We have a Gate Lord to kill."

"How are we looking? Zavala asked as they neared an opening a corridor leading to an outdoor area. Brix came over all their comms.

"Well, in order to track the Gate Lord I had to mess with their transfer gates."

"What does that mean for us?"

"You'll have your hands full."

"Great," Flak muttered.

"Do we have a problem, Hunter?" Rorick said, raising his voice slightly.

Flak stiffened but didn't reply and after a short stare down, Flak turned his faceplate away from Rorick and their leader pushed onward toward an open area outside that looked to have been a small base at one point. Everything was covered in moss and vines with only a few shapes of buildings and satellite receivers to show that it was man made.

Vex gates began to open as they neared and Goblins poured fourth until the gates were destroyed. The farther they went, the stranger the appearance of the land. The cliffs had been ground down smooth, the stone made to look like giant blocks sat around in patterns Wren didn't understand. Or perhaps there was no rhyme or reason and it was all a bunch of block thrown about by a haphazard toddler.

Lichen and long vines and moss became thicker as they cleared section after section of Vex, spending most of their time pushing alone into larger areas to destroy Vex as well as their gates, which Wren found a well placed grenade could take care of for the most part.

A Hobgoblin shot at her from above and she rolled to dodge out of the way when she was stopped and yanked back, the fired round landing a few inches from her helmet. She gasped and looked up to see Flak standing over her, his boot firmly planted on her cloak. He raised his weapon to fire and laughed when the next round whizzed past him and into her shoulder. She cried out and grabbed the fabric of the cloak, yanking hard enough that his foot slid on the soft moss and she was able to roll away, the next Hobgoblin shot being where her head had just been.

"What's your problem?" she yelled but he was already running away, back into the fray before he could be noticed.

Wren pulled herself behind a carved structure and sat down, breathing heavy as she surveyed the damage. Blood poured from the wound and her head swam, ears pounding with every beat of her heart. She let her head rest on the wall and Kiran spoke to her.

"Keep down for a minute," he said. "The Darkness is thick here. I won't be able to bring you back and healing might take a minute."

"That's fine," she said through gritted teeth. Warmth spread from her wound as Kiran did what he could to heal her and she closed her eyes for a minute, letting the sounds of the battle pass as she remembered the other times she'd died. They'd been quick deaths, leading to a void and Cayde… he'd been there. He made that void a place of comfort. It might not be so bad to see him again…

"All done," Kiran said and Wren snapped back to the present. She reloaded her Better Devils and ran out to join her team which had ascended the steps at the far end of the battlefield and Rorick was using his rocket launcher to take out the last gate.

"Good work, team," Rorick said, his gaze trailing Wren as she passed him to join Beorn and Franz.

Onward they pushed, past a Hydra and into a dark tunnel where their bootsteps echoed off the walls. The corridor narrowed in places and at odd angles, thin white lights were barely illumination at all, and overhead the tunnel was incomplete, showing a cloudy red grey sky above.

The next opening had them looking out over a cliff to a Vex gate that dwarfed the others by far. It sat on what seemed like the edge of the world, dropping off into an abyss with only the dark shape of something in the distance, barely visible in the fog.

"That's where we're find our Gate Lord," Rorick said.

Wren hopped up onto a mossy block and surveyed the area below. To the left was more of the strange, yellow colored water that she'd seen all over the planet, though she wasn't sure if this was as shallow as the other puddles or far deeper. The Vex that patrolled didn't seem to mind walking in it so she assumed they were shallow throughout. The water curved around the end of a set of steps that ascended all the way up to the massive gate.

They donned their scout and sniper rifles and made short work of the Hobgoblins and Goblins below, using the high ground to their advantage before they'd date test the Gate Lord. When the area was cleared below, Rorick turned to them for their plan.

"Sisre and Franz, I want you two up here with scouts and snipers keeping ads off our backs. The rest of us will go up the steps and engage the Gate Lord. Beorn and Wren, I want you two to keep right. If things get hairy I want you to drop off the ledge and go back up to safety where we can engage from afar."

Wren followed Rorick, slogging through the water and up the beginning of the staircase when they noticed they hadn't cleared the area as well as they thought. Dozens of Goblins sprang to life from the blocks that littered the path up to the gate, most of them hidden behind the giant structures.

Once they'd been cleared, Rorick took point and tread more carefully, stepping over bits and pieces of shredded metal to climb the stairs with more caution. At the top was a platform with a circle in the middle right on front of the gate. Wren walked around it, then stared up at the gate, craning her neck to take in its size. A low thrumming sound reverberated through her boots and into her bones, growing in intensity as she walked closer.

"I guess we have to step into the ring," Rorick said. "Beron, Wren, Flak, go down a flight and wait there. I'll summon it."

They took their places and checked their ammo before giving him the thumbs up. Fractalized white light started at his ankles and slowly built their way up until a shape began to materialize in the center of the massive gate. By comparison the Gate Lord wasn't as big but it still dwarfed Rorick, who was the largest member of their fireteam. The ground shook when the Gate Lord landed and they wasted no time firing on it. Rorick boosted high in the air and fired a rocket into the Vex's liquid belly, the glass barely cracking even as the explosion tore chunks from the metal frame around it.

The air around Wren began to crackle and she ran back a few steps as Vex materialized from nowhere, wasting no time on aiming as they fired on the Guardians. Wren lost sight of Rorick as a Vex round knocked her back behind a block. The Better Devils tore through metal and white Vex milk spattered the ground. Wren ran around to lank the right side, as she'd been instructed to do, and leapt up onto some blocks, tossing a throwing knife into the head of a Hobgoblin who began blindly charging her as it's head fell from its body. She jump kicked it backward and it fell from the structure to the rocks below.

Wren kept running, hearing someone behind her. Beorn was hot on her heels, his long strides overtaking her easily as they headed toward the gate. The Gate Lord fired on them, Void energy splashing around their boots and shaking the stone blocks.

The Gate Lord let out a mechanical roar and took a swipe at them with its massive left hand and Beorn pushed Wren out of the way before the hand slammed him into a stone wall. His body fell limp and she ran to him, shielding his body as the Gate Lord took aim on them. A sniper shot flew by and staggered the Gate Lord before another rocket hit its back, exploding into bright white light that temporarily blinded Wren. She fired blindly at the Gate Lord until she heard it crash to the ground, loose stones jumping with its weight.

Wren panted and turned to Beorn who was sitting up slowly, rubbing his head. She holstered the Better Devils and dropped to her knees beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she said.

"You would have done the same for me," he replied, and she helped him stand.

They hopped down to where Sisre and Franz were catching up to them, Franz immediately going to Beorn who insisted that he was alright. Rorick reached down and ripped off the Gate Lord's head and held it up triumphantly.

"This better get us in to the Garden," Sisre said.

Rorick handed the head over to Sisre. "I believe it's time to get our key from the Queen."