Night fell on the cliffs where the Guardians decided to make their camp. There was only one way up to the ledge, making it the safest place they could find close to where Petra planned on meeting them. There was enough room for one large tent, which a scout from the area had to loan them as none of them were prepared to stay anywhere overnight. But the hunt might last longer than expected.
Wren and Franz had descended into the sparse forest below to gather more firewood and she could see the flames from above, sending flecks of gold into the stary sky. She led the way back up to the camp, arms full of wood. Beorn stood over a pot, cooking their dinner.
No sooner had Wren finished stacking the firewood, she heard a voice of greeting behind her. Petra had trekked up the pathway with a rucksack over her shoulder, pistol on her thigh.
"Hello Guardians," she said, dropping her pack near a pile of rocks on the outer edge of the camp. "I brought provisions for the next few days, incase this mission lasts that long."
"Cayde is sending some Hunters in the morning for supplies for us," Beorn said. "We're about to have dinner if you'd like some? Franz hunted some rabbits earlier and Wren found wild potatoes, so I made stew."
"Only if you let me make breakfast," she grinned.
"Deal."
Beorn filled their bowls and they sat around the fire to eat. At one point Wren felt Petra staring at her but didn't want to look up to meet her gaze. She chewed, slowly, until at last Petra spoke.
"I think I recognize that pendant," she said and Wren realized it was laying on top of her armor.
Wren wrapped her hand around it. "I- do you want it back?"
Petra chuckled. "No. I have more of them. I just never thought I'd see it again. Was it a gift?"
The smirk on Petra's pink lips gave away that she knew who had given it to Wren.
"Did Cayde give you a necklace?" Franz choked back a laugh, covering his mouth to not spew his food all over the place. "That's so sweet."
"Shut up," Wren hissed, kicking his boot which only made him laugh harder.
"The way he holds onto things, I am surprised, but I think he made a good decision on its placement." Petra glanced at Franz and smirked, then sipped at her stew.
"Wren's pretty popular with the men at the Tower," Franz teased. "Got a civi boy head over heels for her too."
"Oh?"
"That's not true." Wren said, dropping the pendant into her armor again. "Koro is just a friend."
"Koro? The boy at the ramen shop?"
"You know him?"
"I've served as Emissary for the Queen in the City for years. He's a kind person."
"Wren doesn't see it, but Koro is pretty smitten with her," Beorn said. "Sorry, Wren."
"There's nothing wrong with that," Petra shrugged. "It happens."
Wren was done with the conversation and decided to change it before it became too awkward. "So, what are we doing tomorrow?"
"We'll start by hunting the Silent Fang. You see, before I earned my position as the Queen's Emissary, I served her in the Reef Wars. The Silent Fang are assassins. Killers. Real charmers. They went after our commanders and we're certain they'll do the same with the House of Devils. Variks and I know their trips. We'll get them."
"You trust Variks?" Franz asked and Wren turned her head to Petra.
"I do," she answered with no hesitation.
Wren kept her gave a moment, then went back to finishing her dinner. Trusting Petra was one thing, trusting Variks was another. How was he alright helping the Awoken and Guardians to hunt his own kind? Wren couldn't imagine assisting the Fallen in hunting other Guardians. She had to question the loyalty of someone like that. Still, he was willing to help for the time, so she had little other choice than to go with it.
"I've been waiting on this for a long time," Petra said. "Taking on the Silent Fang. That's why I'm here now instead of staying in the Reef. This is important to me. To the Awoken."
"We'll do our best," Beorn assured.
"I wonder what Rorick and Sisre are up to?" Franz said as he collected bowls to rinse out with water from a canteen.
"Probably back in the Tower by now," Beorn said.
"They're the other two from your fireteam?" Petra asked. "I thought Guardians were in groups of six?"
"Our sixth would be Flak. He's—"
"An asshole," Franz interrupted. "If I wouldn't get tossed to Zavala I'd beat the shit out of him and leave him somewhere to rot."
"Ah, I see. Any particular reason for the hate?"
Wren tense up but she didn't speak. She didn't have to. Franz went off on a very colorful rant about some of the things Flak had done in the past until Beorn stopped him. Of course, Franz had a reason to dislike Flak, but none of the others knew what Wren knew and if they did, Franz would likely have done what he threatened, Zavala or not.
"I think I'm going to go to bed," Wren said, starting off toward the tent.
"I'm taking first watch," Beorn said, filling Petra in on the decision they'd made before she arrived. "I don't need the sleep so I may take watch all night. We'll see how I feel. If I need to, Franz goes next."
"Sounds good. I'm excited to get to work in the morning. Who knows, maybe I'll join you later if I can't sleep."
Wren kicked her boots off in the tent and laid down in her sleeping bag toward out of the walkway. There would be just enough space for the three of them and she wanted to make sure she wasn't in someone else's space. She turned her back to the rest of the tent when she heard Petra follow her in and lay down beside her.
They lay in silence for a time, but Wren could almost feel the energy coming off Petra. She wanted to say something, and Wren hoped that Petra wouldn't speak, but she did.
"I'm sorry if I made things awkward earlier," Petra said. "About the necklace I mean. It wasn't my intention. I really am surprised to see it again is all."
"I wasn't sure if it was okay for me to have."
"Don't worry about it, really. He's free to do what he wants with it. I do stand by what I said though. I think it wound up in the right hands. Goodnight, Wren."
"Goodnight."
Wren could hear Petra roll over beside her and she shuffled down in her sleeping bag until only the top of her head stuck out. Warm and full, she fell asleep to the crackle of the fire and the quiet talking of Franz and Beorn.
Petra and the Guardians neared the area of the Cosmodrone called the Breach shortly after dawn. Most of the area was quiet and they were able to slip past patrols of Dregs to reach an open doorway that seemed to have once had a watertight door. Wren remembered this place.
The hallway beyond was completely circular and held massive fans, the first of which was broken and lodged. The caging around it was torn back near the bottom, allowing the team to walk through. The next fan was spinning slowly, disrupting the red lights overhead into long black shadows.
They fought their way through the rusty, dark halls of the Wall. The Fallen here seemed to be on edge and there were numerous trip mines and traps lining the corridors.
"So much for a quiet approach," Beorn said.
"Who said we were going for quiet?" Franz asked, shooting another trip mine which blew a hole in the bulkhead to their right.
"They're going to know we're coming."
"Uh, yeah. I think that's the point."
"Variks, why are there so many traps?" Petra asked.
"Devils can detect comm signals as well as we can," Variks said. "They know. The Wolves have their scent."
It took several minutes to disarm or trip every mine and trap along the way, slowing the team considerably. The farther they went, the more Wren felt uneasy. She hadn't been here since she first woke up all those months ago. It hadn't been a long time, but somehow it felt like a lifetime and she was going back to where it all started.
They turned into the room where she remembered the lights coming on and Fallen scuttling back toward the darkness like roaches. Then once more into the hallway with the low ceiling. Beorn had to duck slightly to move through.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Petra said as they walked single file down the catwalk. "The Fang probably helped Skolas escape, but rumor was that the Queen had handed him over to the Nine. I don't understand how the Fang could have gotten Skolas past them."
"The Nine?" Wren asked.
"It's complicated. I don't even know if I can properly explain, but they are beings made of dark matter and are connected in some way to the planets. They control Unknown Space and getting past them? The Fang must have pulled of something serious for that to happen."
Wren didn't understand but she decided against asking anything further. They were almost to the other side of the Wall. The old Wall. The one that fell, beyond which lay the street packed with the remnants of vehicles from the Collapse.
"We're detecting Wolf comms ahead," Petra said, leading them down the last flight of stairs and out into the open.
They didn't come out where Wren thought they would, but the area was roughly the same. To the left was an abandoned road full of rusty vehicles. The wall extended to their right for several more yards and they caught a glimpse of a Fallen ship disappearing behind it.
A dusting of snow had settled there, sprigs of tough yellow grass poking out, refusing to be killed off by the cold. The ship dropped Fallen into an area where water had pooled in the rocky ground and they immediately scattered to the edges, none of them the wiser yet that Petra and the Guardians were lurking around the corner, watching them.
To the edge of the clearing another ship lowered, dropping a Servitor and Stealth Vandals who quickly disappeared, their forms vaguely shuddering on the landscape until they grew still and were practically invisible.
"Wish I had a rocket launcher," Beorn grumbled, pulling out his scout rifle.
Petra joined him. "Are we going for the Servitor first?"
"I don't want it putting out a shield."
"Understood."
"We'll take the little guys," Franz said, jerking his helmet toward the Dregs and Vandals around the corner.
"Just be careful and keep in cover if you can," Beorn said.
Wren gave a short nod before she and Franz ran around the corner of the building. Smaller Fallen dropped like flies, their blood tinting the water. An explosion far to the left of them signaled that Petra and Beorn had been successful in downing the Servitor and they'd likely be after that Stealth Vandal that had disappeared in that area.
"The Silent Fang are here," Petra said over comms and Wren saw them, a group of Stealth Vandals, larger than the others and armed with long blades dropped onto the rocks on the far end and vanished.
"Go to the water," Wren said, and the group converged in the middle ground, backs together and waiting. The Silent Fang weren't as patient as Wren thought they'd be. She anticipated them to try to take them out from afar or wait for them to try to leave but they splashed through the water straight at the fireteam.
One of them caught Franz across the chest with his blade, slicing open the Warlock's robes to the flesh underneath. He cried out and fell back, blood rushing from his wound where it was too deep to be cauterized by the Arc energy racing along the weapon's edge. Wren stepped over him, putting her feet on either side of his hips and began firing at the shimmering form, now spattered with blood. Its active camouflage faltered as her bullets made contact and with a few more shots to the head it fell dead near Franz' feet.
She turned to check on him and saw that Petra had killed two and Beorn was fighting one hand to hand, struggling to keep the Vandal's Shock Blades from cutting him. The Vandal was a few inches taller and his extra arms slammed into Beorn's sides repeatedly. Wren threw a dagger into the Vandal's throat and it staggered backward, gurgling blood that separated from Ether as it hit the air with a hiss.
Beorn's melee made contact with the Vandal and it crumpled. Franz' Ghost, Vira, healed him and he sat up in the water as a Stealth Vandal made himself known, pointing at them and yelling something before vanishing once more.
"What did he say?" Petra asked.
"That was the leader of the Fang," Variks said. "He called you a… well, it was an insult."
Franz grumbled under his breath about his ruined robes and charged the spot where he'd last seen the Leader of the Fang. Wren reloaded the Better Devils, scanning the area for any movement.
"Over there!" Petra said, raising her rifle to take a couple quick shots to their left at the side of the building. The Vandal's camouflage shuddered, revealing him just long enough for Franz to take aim. From across the way he shot a Nova Bomb, the Void energy tracking the Vandal even after his camouflage was active again. The energy passed Wren in a gust of icy air, exploding on the back of the Vandal and splashing to the rocks around him.
Franz was merciless and the Vandal soon lay dead, one of its blades broken in half. Franz muttered and cursed all the way back to them, trying to hold the torn fabric up around his chest. "Do you have any idea how expensive this fabric is?"
Beorn laughed. "You are pathetic."
"This color is so hard to find. I swear," he kicked the head of a fallen Vandal and immediately winced in pain. "Dammit! There better be some decent Glimmer coming from this."
"Let's find a place to rest," Petra said. "We've done good work. The House of Devils has been denied to Skolas. There is another Fallen House on Earth, but we'll need some time for the scouts to tell us their location. I think I can patch up your dress so your bare chest isn't showing."
"It's not a dress!"
Petra laughed and clapped Franz' shoulder. "Of course it isn't."
"I suppose our little party is over," Petra sighed, slinging her pack over her shoulder. "I've been recalled to the Reef so I'm afraid this is as far as I go with you. But I'll still be on comms guiding you."
"Thanks for the patch job," Franz said, shooting her a thumbs up. He ran his hand over the sewn place that Petra had managed to get nearly perfect.
"No problem. Next time try not to get cut in half by a Vandal. Are you still alright with me tagging along with Kiran?" she asked, turned to Wren.
"That's fine by me."
"Good. Farewell for now, Guardians."
They watched her go to her ship across the plain and take off, becoming little more than a star on the horizon by the time Beorn decided it was time for them to get up and go. They made their way to the Grotto and as they neared it, racing side by side on their Sparrows, Petra patched in to speak to them.
"The coordinates I sent you should take you to the Devils," she said. "Their House is different than the others. They hide in the shadows of the Cosmodrone. Waiting. Plotting. They're secretive and dangerous. If Skolas can bring the House of Devils under his banner, we're all in trouble. I'm game to—" her voice cut out in static. "Damn. I'm getting some interference. Hold tight."
"I wonder if that Hive… thing has anything to do with it," Franz said, gesturing toward the strange Hive tower that they'd not be able to classify yet.
"Maybe," Beorn said.
"Guardians?" Petra's voice crackled over heavy static. "I'm losing you. Try to find the source of the interference or I can't help you."
"We'll do what we can."
Variks' voice came through loud and clear. "Skolas is using High Servitors to jam the signals. Reef War tactic. May fool Petra, doesn't fool me. I shall be your guide."
"I have new coordinates," Beorn said. "We have to go into that Hive structure."
Snow crunched under Wren's boots as they ran across the rocky clearing where a few Hive had gathered under a Shrieker. Franz's impatience had him taking out the Shrieker before they had time to make a plan for escape and it nearly killed Beorn. Wren knelt beside where he'd fallen, shards of metal sticking out from charred robes.
"Dammit," Beorn said, his voice box crackling as his Ghost healed him. He glared at Franz. "You idiot, pay attention to what you're doing."
"Sorry," Franz said, holding out a hand to help Beorn up. "I didn't think about it. I'll be more careful."
Beorn accepted the apology by putting his hand behind Franz's neck and pulling him in to touch helmets before taking point going into the Hive structure.
They descended into the narrow caves and Wren tensed until they were able to drop off a cliff and onto a wider path below. Water dripped from the damp walls and Hive barnacles crunched under her boots. Stalactites hung overhead like daggers, awaiting someone to make too much noise and send the brittle stone raining down on them. Wren tried not to think about it as she crouched and peered around the corner into the next chamber.
"I see Fallen," she said. "And a Servitor. Maybe two? Hard to tell. There are a lot of objects in the way."
"Servitor is source of interference," Variks clicked. "Kill it dead."
"You heard him," Franz said, loading his auto rifle.
Among the crates and natural rocks was a piece of Fallen tech that might have been a sort of Glimmer drill, though Wren wasn't sure. A beam of blue light filtered down into the rock from the machine and Wren decided to go to the right and avoid getting too close.
Fallen and Hive were already fighting here, allowing the Guardians to sneak in and take them all down before most of them even noticed what hit them. Wren ran around the corner and slid to a halt as the Servitor's blast struck the wall beside her. She fell back as the Servitor advanced, turning its eye down toward her as it charged for another blast.
Her Golden Gun erupted in flames in her hands and three shots directly into the Servitor's eye made it explode in a shower of hot metal and sparks of electricity. Shrapnel caught Wren's shoulder and she winced, ripping the shark free before giving it a second thought.
Blood gushed from the wound and the fresh cut in her hand from the metal. Warmth spread through her injuries and the flesh mended before her eyes, only leaving slightly damaged armor in its wake.
Beorn took a knee beside her as she tossed the metal scrap away and he put a hand on her shoulder.
"That's not a smart move," he said. "Next time leave it in."
"What?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes the object can be slowing the bleeding. If we're in a Darkness Zone, it might just save you from dying where no one can help you."
"Oh, I really didn't think about it. I just did it."
"I understand. It's reflex. Just, try to be aware next time."
Wren nodded and he helped her up.
"The signal is still corrupted," Variks hissed, annoyance tinging his voice. "There must be a second Servitor. Push forward and find it."
Wren fell in behind Beorn, feeling a sense of safety being close to him as they went through narrow, round tunnels that looked like they were carved by giant moles. The rocks were dug out in huge, smooth clumps, casting deep shadows in an already dark space.
Sickly green light from Hive lanterns shimmered across slick walls and when Variks spoke, Wren shuddered.
"I was once House of Judgment scribe for House of Wolves," he explained. "Skolas was vicious, even for a Fallen Kell. I could not stomach his hate."
Wren wasn't sure why he was telling them these things. To scare them? Or perhaps to warn them. To keep them on their toes as they pursued the self-proclaimed Kell of Kells?
A low rumble through the caves told them that there was fighting ahead and as they walked, the sound of gunfire grew louder.
"Looks like House of Kings have stepped up to help the Wolves fight the Hive," Franz said. "Have we lost already?"
"I doubt it," Variks replied. "Kings and Wolves unite against common enemy. That is all. Keep moving."
The Guardians let the Fallen do a good deal of the work against the Hive before emerging to kill the remaining Fallen and the few Hive that had managed to survive. The farther they went, the less the caves were stone and the more they were like buried human ruins. Orange and white walls, rusted and flecked, still had blocky letters Wren couldn't read. Cement pillars were mostly in place but there were a few that were broken, rebar jutting in every direction.
Metal stairs, most in good repair, led them onward, the cave falling away and with it, a good deal of Wren's tension. Part of the ceiling was missing as well, letting in light from outside. They weren't underground anymore. A bird blew through the rafters, then disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. The Guardians ran up a set of rusty stairs and Variks decided to speak again.
"It is good working with you. And with Petra. Not all Fallen are lost, yes?"
Beorn's helmet turned slightly toward Wren and Franz, who shrugged, unsure of what to say.
"It's good working with you too," Beorn said.
"There's the other Servitor," Wren said, pointing her Better Devils through the room beyond where the purple orb could be seen floating between pillars and doorways. She holstered the hand cannon and went for her scout rifle, hoping to get a few shots off on it before it noticed them.
A Hive Knight stepped around the corner and intercepted the shot, its right shoulder ripped apart by the bullet. The Servitor turned its attention to the Guardians, but its shot hit the Knight's back, killing it to get it out of the way. A few more Hive emerged, caught in the crossfire but charging anyway with no regard to life or limb. They exploded into piles of ash that coated the Guardian's boots as they advanced as a unit toward the Servitor.
The Servitor crashed into a heap on the floor and Wren swapped out for her Better Devils again in close quarters. No sooner had they destroyed the Servitor, Petra's voice came in loud and clear over comms.
"Excellent. I don't know what you did but it worked. Variks, are you with us?"
"Yes, yes, I am here. Kings will see Wolves as well. They will not be pleased."
"The Wolves are approaching an old command center beyond the Rocketyard. That must be where the Kings are hidden."
"We'll head there," Beorn said.
The halls and rooms beyond were empty despite the Fallen banners hanging from the walls. The Kings must have vacated this area recently. There were still footprints in the dirt and random supplies scattered about. When the Wolves descended on them, the Kings must have left in a hurry.
The complex was sprawling, larger than Wren had thought it would be with winding corridors and dirt covered floors from decades, possibly even centuries of neglect. When it did open up, the wind whipped around them.
Buildings surrounded the open space, abandoned and tinged with rust. Fallen could be hiding anywhere, watching them from broken windows and shadows. Wren's eyes darted around, searching for any sign of movement as they progressed.
Just below and to the left was a makeshift bridge over what was little more than a puddle. The first Fallen Dregs jumped out from under it but Beorn put them down quickly.
"I remember during the battle of Twilight Gap, the Devils, Kings, and the House of Winter joined forces to take on the City," Petra said.
"I remember as well," Variks said.
"The House of Wolves could have turned the tide, but my Queen interfered."
Wren wondered what that meant but assumed it had something to do with the House of Winter following the Queen. She recalled the Fallen she had encountered in the Queen's court. How long had the Queen had them in her service? Obviously the Fallen could not be trusted if they had betrayed Mara Sov. It made Wren wonder how Petra could have such faith in Variks.
Ragged trees and ruins of vehicles littered the space. To the left a bright red light shone from a platform but they couldn't see where it was coming from.
"I don't see any more Fallen here," Beorn said.
"Head toward the King's Watch," Petra replied and the Guardian's obeyed, going toward the red light where they did find a small group of Fallen guarding a doorway.
"Found 'em." Franz said, tossing a grenade into the closely clumped Fallen.
The complex beyond was nearly deserted, with little sign of other life forms other than rats and rabbits that crossed their path, running from the sound of boots on stone and metal.
"I wonder if the Kings will help us against the Wolves," Franz said.
"No," Variks said. "You are here to deny Skolas the House of Kings, but the Kings will not know that. They will try to kill you. Kill them back."
"So much for the enemy of my enemy," Franz muttered.
"If the House of Kings has detected the Wolves, Skolas may have met his match."
"I'm detecting a lot of activity from the command center," Petra said. "I think you stopped the Servitor jamming just in time."
From there they encountered more Fallen guards; Dregs and Vandals defending their command center, but they were no match for the three Guardians. Shanks tried to shoot them through a row of shattered windows between two of the rooms, but it gave the Guardians plenty of cover to take the Shanks out from a safe distance.
"It's like the practice range." Franz laughed.
They continued to ascend, flights upon flights of stairs leading to open rooms and wide corridors. Franz seemed to be having fun until a Tracer Shank round clipped his shoulder and he hissed at the Arc burn it had give him.
"Targets at the range don't shoot back," he complained.
"Oh, quit your whining. This is a lot better than the range," Beorn said, giving Franz a playful nudge.
A single Captain guarded the hall that led to the command center, which was quieter than Wren had expected. A window spanned the far side wall, floor to ceiling but she couldn't tell what lay beyond through dense fog. A spaceship maybe? Dark silhouettes were all she could make out, but her attention was turned to a silvery orb floating in front of the window and the three Fallen Barons that stood around its pedestal. They watched a holographic display of the Traveler in the orb, a mass of Fallen surrounding them.
Two of them appeared to be Kings while the third was a Wolf, but it didn't seem to matter to the Fallen. They turned on the Guardians and attacked, charging with swords drawn.
Side by side Beorn and Franz glowed with Void energy, their Nova Bombs engulfing the Barons and staggering them. The room became colder and Wren shivered as she tried to focus on the King Baron that was closest to them. He raised his arms to shield his face, then blinked left, her shots missing entirely while the Warlocks concentrated their efforts onto the Wolf Baron who was backing away toward the windows, ready to let the Kings die before him.
The King Baron Wren had been shoot at slid low and tried to swipe up with his swords, barely missing her as she dodged, throwing a grenade at him and retreating away several feet before the explosion. The Baron roared and his Dregs attacked.
Wren dropped two before rolling behind a low set of steps to reload the Better Devils. She jumped on top of the platform and behind a column where a Dreg came around the corner on her and she pulled a dagger, plunging it into the Fallen's temple. It reached up to its head but its hands never made it before it dropped to the floor. She threw the dagger at the next one, landing the blow between its eyes, then she leaned around the column to shoot at the Baron again.
Beorn had snuck up behind the Baron and opened fire with his auto rifle to the back of its head, spattering bone and blood across the Dregs that stood in front of the Baron before they even knew what was happening. He tossed a grenade at them and glided backward away from the explosion.
Wren was so wrapped up in what he was doing that she didn't hear the Baron behind her until his shadow loomed over her, catching her attention before she dodged out of the way of his blades. The swords clattered on the ground where she'd been standing and Franz was on the Baron's back, firing into the back of his skull as Beorn had done the other.
Wren was able to help him finish off the Baron who fell from the platform to the floor below. The Guardians met beside the hologram of the City, reloading their weapons as Petra congratulated them.
"The Wolves are dead," she said. "And the Kings… well, they're still a threat to the City but at least they don't work for Skolas. I call that a win. Stand down for now Guardians. Find camp and send me the coordinates. The rest of your fireteam will be joining you."
"Well, you heard the lady," Franz said. "Let's get some food."