I do not own Destiny or any of the characters.
New Problems
Hunter walked up beside Ikora, staring down into the city where repairs were already underway. Above them, more Eliksni were arriving, more refugees joining House Light. Hunter was skeptical that all of them were actually there exclusively to join House Light, but Mithrax promised to be able to weed out any infiltrators from, most likely, Salvation.
"Our enemies grow more numerous by the day," Ikora said.
"What else is new?" Hunter asked. "We've always been fighting up a cliff face."
"Somehow, I think you could just jump over the cliff and kill them all for us if it were that simple," Ikora said.
"No, but I would recommend an orbital bombardment," Hunter said.
"Yes, you're quite fond of those," Ikora smiled wryly.
"You know we're not going to win this war," Hunter said.
"We don't have a choice," Ikora said. "We have to win."
"I may have a way to help, even if not fully guarantee our victory," Hunter said. "But I need your help."
"What do you need?" Ikora asked.
"Ghosts," Hunter said. "Any that don't have a Guardian anymore."
"You plan to choose Guardians for them?" Ikora asked. "Who?"
"The Blademasters," Hunter said. "We can't win without them. At a minimum, the Vex have created an enemy that even the Hero of the Red War can't face, only a Blademaster."
"Gegeines," Ikora said knowingly.
Hunter nodded. "Exactly."
"Are the other Blademasters as good as you?" Ikora asked.
"Many of them, yes," Hunter said. "However, for a Blademaster, I'm only average. There were many who far exceeded my skills."
"You're being modest," Ikora said skeptically."
"Not really," Elsie said, walking over. "He was about high average when he left the Blademasters to be with me."
"Do you know where the others all are?" Ikora asked.
"Some," Hunter said. "Some were ripped apart too badly for even a Ghost to restore them, some were incinerated, so there's nothing left to restore, many were on Mars, Titan, and Io."
"How many could you realistically find?" Ikora asked.
"A few dozen," Hunter said. "But with Sain't help, one of those will be the greatest Blademaster of all time."
"The greatest?" Ikora asked. "Who is it?"
"He's the Blademaster who trained me after I became a Blademaster," Hunter said.
"How do you become a Blademaster?" Ikora asked.
Elsie's face fell, and Hunter remained silent for a long while.
"There will be no new Blademasters," Hunter said. "Ever."
Ikora watched him for a moment before nodding. "I'll gather those I can. I'm not sure how many will agree."
"We need at least four," Hunter said. "That will cover my trainer and the three High Masters." He turned to walk away before pausing. "And I need to see Cayde's body."
"Why?" Ikora asked.
"Because I miss my father," Hunter said, then walked away, Elsie at his side.
As they reached the courtyard, however, Ana ran over, pale and panicked.
"What's wrong?" Hunter asked.
"Those ships that were here, with the new species...they're at the Deep Stone Crypt!" Ana said.
Hunter and Ana warped to their ship instantly, Ana following suit, then flew to Europa. As they warped down at the edge of the blizard, in the same place as they'd warped to last time, Shiro and Saint appeared with them, along with Banshee.
"Banshee?" Elsie asked.
"I decided it may be time for me to retrieve my memories of my past, before becoming Banshee Forty Four," Banshee said. "I may not be a Guardian, but my body was built more durable and powerful than other Exos, so I shouldn't be a hinderance."
"You won't be," Hunter said, forming him a barrier generator. "It won't help against the species we're going to meet, who you won't be fighting, but if we meet Vex, it'll help a little. A couple shots at a time."
Banshee nodded, pulling the harness on before they all ran through the access tunnel and summoned their Sparrows, Elsie using her own this time, a long, thin one with an arrowhead-shaped nose, copper at the front and alone the sides, and a set of tabilizer fins behind the seat. They all sped off after Elsie and Hunter, who both were silent and tense, and everyone noticed the fan of knives held between Hunter's left hand's fingers. After several tense, cold minutes, they all reached the safe zone around the Crypt. A few minutes later, they skidded to a stop in the midsts of the wreckage left by their battle with Taniks. A handfull of Pawns were walking around, and all turned on them immediately, only for Hunter and Elsie to very carefully slaughter them as they headed for the partially-uncovered entrance to the Crypt.
"They're headed for Clarity Control," Elsie guessed.
"Definitely," Hunter nodded. "Everyone be ready!"
The others all nodded, tensing, and a few moments later, they leapt from the ledge of Clarity Control, only to find it empty. Clarity was gone. Hunter cursed, looking around.
"You're too late," the Crypt AI spoke up. "Clarity is aboard their ship now."
"You're still alive?" Hunter asked.
"No thanks to you," the AI said. "Take the copy of Clovis Bray to the control room at the bottom. I will unlock his body's memory core for you."
"Are there any more in the Crypt?" Hunter asked.
"None of that species that radiates Darkness," the AI said. "But they've activated the only model of Exo Clovis regretted making."
Hunter and Elsie glanced at each other in confusion before both spoke. "What model?"
A deafening chorus of shriekes answered them.
"Clovis Bray wished to create life uaing his Exo technology," the AI said. "At first, he tried giving AIs a body, but it wasn't enough, so he began to experiment. Finally, he created a sentient species with the body of a highly modified Exo. It started out as a simplified AI, but it duplicated into a full species. Incapable of speech, but as sentient as any human. And a thousand times more savage. Before he realized how dangerous they were, he had created thousands. He shut them down, but he recognized their use as weapons if unleashed on hostile worlds. So they've been in storage beneath the Crypt. Now, they are free, and they will wash over Europa like a flood."
Shiro's hand shot to his ear instantly. "All Guardians! Evacuate Europa!"
Then, the floor exploded upward, Exos, non-Human Exos, surging from inside. Hunter failed to keep count even at first glance, as the Exos covered every inch of the floor, walls, and ceiling around them, but they ignored them, instead ripping through the door and flooding outward. Almost all of them, at least. As most flooded outward, every so often a small group would charge into the clear area at them, only to be greeted with a hail of bullets and slaughtered, even when charging from behind or an odd angle. Each that died released a spray of metal chunks and Radiolaria, as all non-SIVA Exos did, but the piercing shrieks they emitted made Hunter's SIVA shiver uncomfortably. Finally, the last of the creatures had passed, and Hunter walked over to one he'd shot through the head and knelt, examining it. It was thin, but with exposed, and very powerful, Exo-muscle bundles lining their arms, legs, and torsos. Their legs sported extra knees and a digitigrade stance, allowing for the monstrous speed the experimental Exos had, their heads were devoid of eyes instead simply having a smooth plate with the top missing in a long oval and exposing a mesh plate as solid as the normal plate. It had retractible claws, and a six foot, potentially extendable, tail with a smooth, slightly curved, double-edged blade on the end about two feet in length, making the tail eight feet total. The worst part, however, especially on Europa, was that its entire body was snow white with pale, ice-blue accents.
"We won't be able to kill them all," Shiro said, understanding the problem. "They'll be essentially invisible on the surface."
"We'll worry about that later," Hunter said. "It'll take them time to spread anyway, and the blizzard should slow them down a little. Shiro, go tell the Vanguard about them. Banshee, let's go get you your memories."
Banshee nodded and he followed Hunter and the others deeper into the Crypt, to the room where Hunter and Elsie's ship had been. Elsie led Banshee to the computer so the Crypt AI could unlock his memories while Hunter, Saint, and Ana began to gather weapons and ammo to drop off to whatever forces the Vanguard sent to Europa. Finally, Elsie and Banshee joined them, Banshee now with the Lament on his back and a shotgun in his hands. Hunter remot-piloted his and Elsie's hip in and they all warped in with their stock of weapons. Then, Hunter flew back out and met the Vanguard's forces a mile outside the blizzard. They dropped off the weapons, warned them what they were up against and how hard to see they'd be, then headed for the Tower. As much as they hated to leave before a massive battle, Hunter, Elsie and Saint had more pressing matters to attend to, even if Saint didn't know it yet.
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