I do not own Destiny or any of the characters.
New Problem
Hunter sighed as he reached the real world again, pulling his Splicer Gauntlet off. He'd begun to use his own so thst he and the Hero could work separately after his first time inside the Vex domain. It was the oddest experience he'd ever felt, for both him and Elsie. The Hero had warned that everything was green or blue, and dangerous things were red. He'd said that the ground felt solid and yet nonexistent, and that gravity and space felt unidentifiably wrong. But for Hunter and Elsie, who were made from SIVA, it was different. Hunter had experienced a world of ones and zeroes, which he could interpret at a glance without having ever learned binary code. He could tell the difference between a gap and a platform, and between a Vex and a wall. He could tell a Minotaur from a Goblin, and the Opressive Mind controlling the domain from the other Vex. And he'd opperated at the same level of skill and ability in this world of binary code by way of his SIVA inputing commands for actions in Binary Code, as well. He couldn't understand how he'd done it, but he had, and it had worked. Elsie's description of her experience matched Hunter's, but it had felt so intrinsically unnatural that they'd decided to part ways with the Guardian. Since then, they'd destroyed several more Oppressive Minds. As of yet Mithrax had not found anything worth while.
"Where to next? Hunter asked Mithrax using their communicators.
"The Tangled Shore," Mithrax said. "The Vex domain there collapsed but was not destroyed. It is functioning again, but there is something different about it. It is working in ways foreign to anything I have seen from the Vex."
"Understood," Hunter said.
He and Elsie warped to their ship and flew to the Tangled Shore before hacking into the Vex domain again. However, this time, there was something definitively wrong. They both focused, forcing themselves to percieve things as physical, rather than in binary code, and despite everything looking roughly as the Hero had described, something felt off. And then, words reached them.
"I see you," the words whispered in their brains, seeming to appear voicelessly in their memories more than anything actually speaking. "Crawling around my domain like insects. I commend you for finally integrating fully. I had thought my firewall could keep you out, but I underestimated your wills and the power of your machine bodies. However, this realm answers to only one master. You are nothing. You know nothing of power. Thrashing around like a wounded animal."
Hunter and Elsie started forward, hacking through any doors or walls they came through as they followed glowing lines of data on the floor toward the true Vex domain.
"Unaware that you are already dead," the words continued. "Your failure is written in time."
They dropped down a series of zig-zagging, slanted walls before landing at one end of a tiangular tunnel, and someone in it spun, only to lower his submachine gun.
"Hunter," the Hero said.
"Hero," Hunter greeted him, he and Elsie following the Hero down the tunnel.
"I have seen your graves," the words informed them.
"You getting these messages, too?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah," the Hero said.
"I don't think it's the Oppressive Mind here," Elsie said.
"Then maybe we can track the source through its messages," Hunter said as the tunnel turned into ramps, then a long hallway with what appeared as a laser grid behind them, but which Hunter knew from experience was a decompiling analysis system. Basically a firewall to remove malware or viruses, and fatal if it hit them.
They jumped down into a massive pit and landed carefully at the bottom in another hallway, the field closing in on them. They sprinted along the tiny walkways along the left and right of the corridor, barely keeping ahead of the field. The entrance to the Vex domain was just ahead, visually a portal, but with a shield closing over it repeatedly as the Vex struggled to lock down their access.
"I see you," the words continued. "Rent asunder. Broken. Taken."
A moment later, they were through, and a presence Hunter hadn't even been aware of, except by its words, was gone. Before them was the Vex domain, except for one key disparity between what Hunter was seeing and what the Hero had described. There were no Vex here. There were Taken, and Taken Blights.
"You seeing Taken?" Hunter asked.
"A lot of them," Elsie nodded.
"Everywhere," the Hero agreed.
"As long as it's not just me," Hunter nodded.
They worked their way through the corrupted domain quickly, slaughtering the Taken, leaping from one platform to the next. Having passed through the domain once before, it took them no time at all to reach the Oppressive Mind. When it appeared, however, it had Taken energy flowing from it, but looked like any other Vex. It roared, opening fire at them, but they fired back with a Rocket Launcher, Elsie and Hunter both forming one from their SIVA exclusively for this one shot. The resulting explosion ripped the Oppressive Mind apart.
"Can you feel that?" Mithrax asked. "The threads of night unraveling, as if a veil is being lifted? The network is laid bare, its thrads converging on..." he stopped for a moment. "What...is this?"
"Mithrax?" Ikora asked. "What's wrong? What do you see?"
"An infestation," Mithrax sais. "I have found the Vex at the source of the Eternal Night. Quria, the Dreaming Mind. Its code has been...corruoted by Taken Magic."
"Savathun," Ikora growled, then sighed. "We've been played."
"Quria has been commanding the other Vex, poisoning their minds, directing them at Savathun's will. The Endless Night is of Savathun's design."
"It would seem the Witch Queen has oitmaneuvered us," Osiris said. "But perhaps, she did not count on us seeing her hand so soon?"
"Then we strike now!" Saint said. "Mithrax and I will lead force! We bring the fight to Quria and crush it!"
"We cannot rush into this," Mithrax said. "We must find a safe rout through the Vex domain where Quria is hiding."
"Any time we give is time for Savathun to scheme! No scheming! We shoot!"
"I know, Saint," Ikora said. "But we have to be careful. Mithrax, will you report your findings to our Guardians back at the H.E.L.M.?"
"If that is your wish," Mithrax agreed.
"We will fight, and soon, but it will be on our terms, not hers," Ikora said. "Come home, all of you, so that we can discuss our course of action."
Everyone agreed, and as soon as Hunter, Elsie, and the Hero were free of the Vex domain, they headed for the Tower. Hunter allowed the Hero to go an talk with Ikora, instead heading to the Eliksni Quarter while Elsie went to see Ana.
"You've been coming here quite often," Mithrax said. "Have you begun to trust us?"
"I'm just doing anything I can to avoid the Vanguard," Hunter said.
"Do you disagree with Ikorakell, Zavalakell, and Shirokell?" Mithrax asked.
"Shiro-4 I have nothing against," Hunter said.
"Four?" Mithrax asked. "Ah, yes. His Exo Human designation."
"It's actually the number of tines they were reset and revived as an Exo," Hunter said. "Now that they're a Guardian, that won't be changing. Anyway, I have no problems with Shiro. But Zavala and Ikora I do. Zavala moreso. I assume you heard of Cayde-6?"
"Indeed," Mithrax nodded. "The universe is lesser for his loss."
Hunter smiled, nodding, drawing the Ace of Spades and showing the emblem on the side. "Cayde chose me as his successor, both for his gun, all his possessions, his debts, and his position as Hunter Vanguard. Zavala and Ikora both refused to allow it, exclusively because of my...upgrades. They don't trust me to control them. So, no. I'm not a huge fan of Ikora and Zavala at the moment. I trust Ikora to figure out the best course of action for this, but I'm not a huge fan."
Mithrax nodded. "You believe that it was your right to be the Hunter Vanguard."
"I believe that it was the last wish of the man who was a father to me, and that they all but spat on his memory by refusing," Hunter said.
"I see," Mithrax nodded. "I understand how you feel. It wasn't about leading, but honoring your friend. Your family. Your House."
"Exactly," Hunter nodded.
"I could make you the Hunter Vanguard," Petra's voice hissed in Hunter's ear.
Hunter's body went rigid, his eyes going wide and his breath stopping.
"What is it?" Mithrax asked.
"Check me for a virus or curruption," Hunter said.
Mithrax began to scan Hunter with his Splicer Gauntlet instantly.
"All you'd have to do is wish it, and the title could be yours," Mara Sov's voice hissed, Hunter shutting his eyes, trying to block her voice out.
"I can detect nothing," Mithrax said.
"I need to go!" Hunter said hurriedly, warping back to his ship as Spark warned Elsie, Ana, and Shiro to meet them there.
"What's wrong?" Elsie asked immediately.
"Riven," Hunter said.
"Just state your wish," Riven purred in his ear in Elsie's voice, then shifted to Petra's again, "and you can have anything you want."
"She's speaking in my mind again," Hunter said.
"That's impossible!" Ana said.
"We ripped her heart out!" Shiro said.
"I'm calling Petra," Elsie said, just before the ship's communication systems activated.
"Hunter, what's..." Petra stopped, staring at all of them. "What's going on?"
"Riven is speaking to Hunter," Elsie said. "Is there any way she's still alive?"
"No," Petra said, then frowned. "Maybe. Not alive, exactly, but transcending death. There's been a sharp spike in Taken and Hive flooding into the Dreaming City, starting about when Riven died. It's possible she pulled some trick when we killed her. Come to the Dreaming City so that the Techeuns can see if they can find out what's going on."
"Okay," Hunter said. "See you soon."
Ana set a course instantly, and Elsie took Hunter to their room so that they could be alone.
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