"Saul Benjamin! You cannot just sit here in your room and read books." Dawn snapped angrily, even as she smacked into the book I was reading in an attempt to knock it out of my hands. Normally, I liked her impulsiveness and brashness; it was a good contrast to my solemn and brooding personality.
But I was not in the mood for it today.
"Why not?" I asked, not even looking at my Ghost as she zipped around and sat on the pages; blocking me from reading the words.
"Because you need to socialize more, it's not healthy for someone to sit alone and sulk all alone." She said.
I just held up a finger. "One: I'm not alone, I have you." I held up another finger while Dawn seemed to deflate slightly. "Two: I'm not sulking, I'm thinking."
"You're sulking." She said flatly.
Okay… maybe I was, but I had earned the right to sulk a little bit.
I thought being turned into a guardian had come with a certain amount of combat prowess; but unfortunately, it seemed that I was the exception so far. No matter how much Cayde, Dawn, and Saxia claimed that I simply hadn't found my specialty yet; I just seemed to perform worse and worse in the Crucible every day.
The only two weapons I was proficient (read, able to actually kill someone) with was my Fortissimo-11 shotgun and Head-Strong hand cannon; and even then, I was only able to actually get four or five kills in a match.
I had a whopping zero wins in the Crucible, out of 50 matches; and a kill to death ratio of point three.
Pretty much any team I got put on would go out of their way to avoid me, or use me as cannon fodder; and… I really couldn't blame them honestly, given how much of a drag I likely was on them. And in free for all… honestly, that stung more; because whenever there was a mele/five way gunfight, no one would shoot at me out of both pity and also pragmatism because they knew I was the lowest threat.
Do I even belong here?
Thwack!
"OW!" I rubbed my nose and glared at Dawn. "What was that for?"
"Of course you belong here!" She snapped furiously, ignoring my question. "I. Chose. You." She got right in my face. "My light led me to you! If you weren't worthy or needed in some way, then the Traveler wouldn't have brought you here."
"Maybe that's all I'm needed for then, Dawn; just my memories." I said, crossing my arms and sighing. "I'm worthless… A liability…"
"Saul…" Dawn floated closer and nuzzled into my neck. "You're not worthless, we just haven't found your speciality yet. Your light shows that you are inclined as a Hunter, we just have to find out what kind of Hunter you are."
"Everyone keeps saying that!" I snapped, throwing my book at the wall in frustration while Dawn yelped and jerked away. Emotional outbursts from me were rare, but she knew better than most that I had a terrible temper that I kept under tight control as much as possible.
"I know why they're saying that, just to make me feel better and to not give up!" I slumped back down into my chair. Silence befell us then, as I just continued to sit there and mope; while Dawn floated there in front of me, clearly at a loss for words.
After a long moment, she finally said, "I… just looked through your memories."
I flinched and looked at her, and narrowed my eyes.
"What for?" I asked.
"Well… you were a part of your rifle team, right?" She asked, sounding more timid now.
I blinked and racked my brain a little bit, "Uh… yeah?"
Dawn floated in front of the window and stared outwards for a long moment, then looked back at me, "You frequently have stories about your father and his exploits… Did he ever do anything with sniper rifles?"
I smiled slightly and chuckled, "Well… there was this time some SAS and Navy EOD guys took him out to shoot a .50 Cal Sniper Rifle; said he got a minor concussion from shooting it, and those guys were using it without ear pro." I leaned back and frowned. "He also did paintballing when he was in college, used old woodland camo and painted his… face…"
It clicked then, what I needed to do.
I shot up out of my chair and pulled up my computer, typing rapidly as I tried to find what I needed. "Dawn, do you think you can store this, and replace my armor set when the next crucible match begins?" I asked, showing her the picture of what I wanted.
Dawn spun her plates around for a second, then she seemed to get my meaning. "Oh." She actually bobbed up and down in thought, "Um… yeah, but it will take awhile for us to prep it and get it ready. And you'll need a sniper rifle." She pointed out.
"I think Saxia has one I can borrow!" I exclaimed, before turning and dashing out of my apartment; "I'll be right back!"
Guardian Saxia Xal hummed loudly as she enjoyed the stream of hot water in her face and hair.
She normally didn't indulge in long showers like this, but after getting utterly crushed in the crucible today; she felt that she deserved it a little bit. I can't even blame Saul for this loss. She thought to herself as she scrubbed her violet hair, keeping her eyes closed to stop the suds from getting in her silver eyes.
She liked her fellow rookie, but his fighting skills (so far at least) were abysmal; even though he knew his way around a gun.
But the fact of the matter was that they had just done everything wrong, and nothing right; hell when the TL started blaming Saul for the loss, even Whisper-11 (who blamed Saul for every loss in team games), had stepped in and said they played like shit.
Saxia sighed when she heard a knock on her door, and shut off the water. "Give me a minute!" She shouted, stepping out and pulling on her bathrobe hastily.
Ignoring the water dripping off her, she walked over to the door and opened it; then stepped back in surprise as Saul practically burst into the room. The normally stoic and solemn Guardian was practically vibrating with excitement, and he was even smiling for once.
Very aware of her state of undress, Saxia could feel her cheeks turn purple as she cleared her throat. "Um… Hi Saul." She said, wondering what he was doing here.
"Sax, really quick, do you have a sniper rifle that I can borrow for the next week or so and for the Crucible melee?" He asked, talking so fast that she could barely keep up with him. "Semi-automatic preferably."
"Ah…" She swallowed, "I have a Widow's Bite, it's in my living room at the mome-"
Saul was a blur as he dashed over to her living room and grabbed her Widow's Bite off the coffee table, and he dashed back towards the door; but not before stopping and giving her a quick hug, to which she gave a loud squeak of surprise.
"Thank's Sax, you're the best! I'll make it up to you later!" He said, dashing out the door back to his own apartment.
The awoken Guardian opened and closed her mouth for a moment, then sat down on her couch and huffed; ignoring all the water stains she was getting on it as she rubbed her face.
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you this purple since the time that Whisper replaced your shampoo with hair dye." Her ghost remarked as he popped out of her head and floated in front of her.
"Fuck off Shade." She grumbled, swatting at him absently, before turning contemplative. "I wonder what he has planned. I don't think I've ever seen him this excited since… ever."
"Well, he said it's for the Crucible. This week will be the 12 Guardian Free-for-All, so I'm not really sure what he intends to do." Shade mused.
Saxia frowned and ran a hand through her hair, before she turned to Shade. "Bring up the betting pool for this week."
"Making a bet?" Shade asked as he brought it up.
"Yes." She answered, "He's…" She blinked, "He volunteered for the first bout."
"Okay…" Shade said, sounding nonplussed. "Either he's become suicidal, or he's really confident in whatever he has planned."
Saxia stared at the betting pool, and she grimaced slightly and looked away. She hadn't worked up the courage to tell Saul about it yet, mainly because she felt a little bad about participating in it. They had come into the tower together, and yet she had gone behind his back and participated in the betting pool that expressly humiliated him.
She stared at the most profitable bet, the one seen as the most sure fire by the Guardians of the Tower.
"Saul Benjamin, Scores last place in Crucible: 2,000 Bets; 1,000,000 Glimmer betted."
Saxia looked down for a moment longer, "Set a 100,000 Glimmer bet on Saul coming first next Free-for-All." She finally ordered.
Shade blinked at her, "Um… Sax, are you sure?"
She smiled grimly, "Rookies stick together." She said, before standing and shedding her bathrobe. "And I have faith." She added before strutting back to the bathroom to finish her shower.
"You'll find no allies on this battlefield, Guardians. Fight hard!"
I took a breath, then stepped onto the battlefield; well aware of all the camera's and spectators watching me and my 11 other opponents. "Alright Dawn, Ghillie me." I ordered.
"Got it." She replied, and my armor and clothing was replaced with a Ghillie Suit, while my borrowed Widow's Bite was also given the Ghillie treatment.
Immediately, I crouched low and snuck my way over to a cluster of bushes that sat on a small hill; giving me good concealment while also giving me a good vantage point. I crawled into the bushes and set up the sniper rifle, keeping an eye out over the battlefield; thankful that this one only had the three ruined buildings in the center, and the mass of trees and undergrowth covering the rest.
It had taken all week to get it set up, but Dawn and I had made a Ghillie suit from scratch; and we had multiple variants for said Ghillie suit, just in case we ended up in a desert, or urban, or winter environment.
But it was worth it, I looked like nothing more than an insignificant bush.
In contrast to how it was in the games, combat in the crucible was much less fast paced; which made sense, given how difficult it was to do things like aim and reload while running.
Which made something like what I was attempting not only possible, but viable.
Plus, it would feel pretty damned good to get some payback on these bastards, especially for how they expressly betted against me and how they wanted me to keep losing so they could make money. Dawn had discovered it partway through the week, and I will admit… that hurt, to know that they thought so low of me that there was a premade category just for me coming in last.
I took a breath, and released it, letting all worldly troubles fade away.
I had read about Gunny Hathcock, and how when he was sniping and hunting enemies; he called it 'Being in the Bubble'. Nothing else matters, nothing else existed except you, your rifle, and what you saw in your rifle scope.
I slowly swept the area, until I spotted my first victim.
The Guardian had their sights on a little two way duel going on between a Warlock and Titan; and they were clearly going to try and kill the survivor of this little duel. Given how deaths were a penalty, and kills were a point; you had to get as many kills and as few deaths as possible within the 20 minute time limit.
I took a breath, then released it.
I saw in my HUD one of the two duelists die, and the Hunter I had in my sights squared up with his Scout Rifle; and then he fired, and the second duelist's name appeared in my kill feed. I saw him relax slightly, and I could see the smirk on his face even though he was wearing a helmet. I knew that smug posture, and I was determined to wipe it away.
I hovered the cross hairs on his chest, took a breath, released it; and then squeezed the trigger.
CRACK!
Saxia watched in rapt attention as Saul got his first kill of the match, and she grinned at the stunned silence in the viewing gallery.
"So that was his plan." She remarked as she leaned back in her chair, while Shade chuckled loudly.
"Is this even allowed?" Whisper-11 asked as she stared out the window, her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched their teammate hide in the bushes. They had a first person point of view with all the participants, and they had stayed on Saul's to see what he planned to do.
Saxia's grin turned almost feral as Saul steadily lined up another Guardian, then he fired and took them out with one shot.
"One minute in, and he's already taken out two opponents with zero deaths." Markus, their team leader, noted as he looked at the statistics and the betting pool. "Normally, by this point, he would have five deaths and one kill if he was lucky."
"I guess he finally found his speciality." Prometheus-10 remarked as he swigged a shot of vodka.
Simon looked at Saxia and raised an eyebrow, "You said, 'So that was what he had planned'. I assume you knew something about this rookie?" He asked.
Saxia just shrugged, even as Saul lined up on another opponent and fired, taking him down. "Yeah, he came to my apartment earlier this week in a bit of a rush and asked to borrow my sniper rifle; didn't say what it was for beyond that it was for the Crucible." she explained, pointedly not mentioning that she had been in the shower and only wearing a bathrobe when she'd answered him.
That bit of info she'd take to the grave, especially since it seemed that Saul hadn't even registered it.
She tapped her chin, then added, "I'm gonna let him keep it, cause he clearly has more use for it than I do."
"You know, I thought that I was hallucinating when I saw that bet you made rookie, cause who in their right mind would bet on Saul actually winning a match."
Saxia yelped and jumped, while her teammates all hopped back in surprise.
Cayde-6 smirked, or rather he smirked as much as an Exo could smirk; and stepped into their viewing booth. "I'll be honest, I was coming down here to tell you guys that the Vanguard was thinking about kicking Saul out of the tower due to his lack of progress." The Hunter remarked blithely, ignoring the surprised (and in the case of Saxia, furious) looks directed at him.
"They were going to kick him out?!" Saxia demanded, the awoken hunter shooting up like a rocket and glaring at her boss.
Cayde just held up a hand, "I convinced them that he just needed a little more time; and then I saw the little bet that you made, and I was even more convinced that he needed another chance."
He chuckled, "You're a smart one, rookie." He said, walking up and ruffling Saxia's hair. "I figured you knew something the rest of us didn't, and what do ya know? The kid's a natural sniper."
Saxia straightened her hair out and pouted, before turning her attention back to the screen; even as Saul lined up on another Guardian. She looked over at his stats, and nearly choked in surprise.
"14 kills and 0 deaths!" She exclaimed.
"His killcount isn't anywhere near the others." Markus pointed out.
"But he has 0 deaths, which means that he has no point penalty's." Whisper countered, rubbing her chin. "He's top of the scoreboard by a small margin. Alice-13 is closest to him with 26 kills and 15 deaths."
Cayde chuckled again, "Well, you're about to be a million glimmer's richer if he manages to keep this lead." He said, gesturing over to Saxia, who blushed slightly at everyone turning to stare at her.
"I bet 100,000 glimmer on him placing first for this crucible match." She admitted.
Everyone's jaws dropped, except Cayde who just laughed even harder.
Feeling the need to defend herself, she snapped, "What?! He's my friend and fellow rookie, we look out for each other!"
Markus just shook his head and looked back at the viewing screen, and frowned. "Well he's certainly pissed off Alice. She's actually teaming now to try and sniff him out. Not really surprised, given that every time he's killed her it's when she was getting a kill."
Saxia's eyes widened, "What!?" She demanded, "But Lord Shaxx says that in free-for-all, teaming is not allowed!"
Cayde just shrugged, "He probably wants to see how Saul will react to it. Test him and all that." He narrowed his eyes and all levity dropped. "But trust me when I say that Alice-13 will be getting a stern talk once this is over, win or lose."
Saxia swallowed heavily, then looked back at the screen. C'mon Saul… you got this.
They were laying a trap for me.
It was plainly obvious given how the two Guardians in my gunsight were barely fighting each other, especially compared to how they had been fighting previously. And I knew that it wasn't exhaustion slowing them down, because Guardians didn't get tired.
"Dawn… do you see anything on the sensors?" I asked, slowly sweeping my rifle left to right.
I remembered that one scene from Saving Private Ryan, where the Americans had baited this German sniper by giving him a tasty target to shoot at; and then had their own sniper take him out once he'd revealed himself.
"I've got something, 300 meters, on your ten." She replied.
I slowly shifted myself, making it look like the bush was simply swaying in the wind as opposed to me moving; and I tried to find the counter sniper that was trying to sniff me out in kind. "Where are you…" I muttered, narrowing my eyes.
"Just so you know, you're tied for first place with Alice-13; with 21 kills and 0 deaths for you, and 42 kills and 21 deaths for her. No one else is even close to you two." Dawn informed me.
"And how much do you want to be that it's her trying to seek me out at the moment." I mumbled.
If I killed her, that would put me two points ahead of her, since she would lose a point and I would gain one. So long as I didn't die, or so long as I racked up more kills; I would win.
"Thirty seconds remaining!" Lord Shaxx bellowed into the speakers, and I winced slightly.
Alright… do or die now it seems. I grumbled as I searched for the counter sniper.
I blinked slowly when I saw what looked like a tree branch shifted slightly, and I immediately zoomed in on it.
There you are… I thought coldly upon spotting Alice-13, laying on a massive tree branch and holding a scout rifle. She had swapped out her earlier flashy armor for dull browns and greens; trying to mimic my own Ghillie suit to a limited degree; and it was partially successful since I'd had trouble seeing her until she'd made the mistake of moving.
But now, I had a bead on her, and I was not going to let her get away.
I glanced to my right, and saw that the two guardians that she had teamed with and used as bait were now back to fighting legitimately; since they had grown too impatient to continue the facade.
I looked back into my scope, and lined up on Alice; the Exo Hunter was still searching for me, and clearly she was growing impatient with how much she was shifting around and moving.
Either that, or she was uncomfortable and was trying to find a good camouflage position that was also comfy. Sad how those two tended to be mutually exclusive; and my current spot was no exception, since my legs were actually starting to cramp slightly.
I put the reticle right on her head, since I couldn't see enough of her body to get a clear shot on it. Then she turned her scope and looked straight at me. My heart skipped a beat, but I didn't flinch. I was in a better position, and I was ready to fire, she wasn't; and I knew from the way her eyes widened behind her helmet, that she knew that too.
I took a breath, then released it.
CRACK!
Saxia and everyone else in the room held their breath.
This was it, whether he landed the shot and killed his main rival and took first place for his first ever win on the Crucible; or he missed and she killed him, and he would add yet another loss to the crucible.
C'mon Saul, you got this.
I could see the bullet traveling in slow motion, the conical slug spinning through the air as it zipped towards its target. I could see Alice's eyes widen comically large as she tried to pull the trigger of her scout rifle; but it was far too late for that.
The bullet slammed through her rifle scope, through her eye, and then out the other side.
It was exactly like the end of that sniper duel in Saving Private Ryan, and I finally allowed myself to break out of the bubble as I gave a short laugh of satisfaction; even as Alice fell out of the tree and hit the ground lifelessly.
"5-4-3-2-1! Match over Guardians!" Lord Shaxx bellowed.
I breathed a loud sigh of relief, and slowly stood up from behind the bush. I swear, all of my opponents came out of the woodwork at that moment, and all of them leveled their weapons and fired.
I was still satisfied as I fell to the ground dead.
Doesn't count bitchs! I still win!
Cayde crossed his arms as he leaned against the table in the conference room, grinning ear to ear… or trying to, as he couldn't exactly do that as an Exo. "What'd I tell you guys? He just needed to find his specialty. And you all wanted to kick him out."
Ikora snorted angrily, "Yes, he has, and it's one that has limited usage in Guardian operations."
Cayde groaned loudly and threw his head back up in exasperation. "You're kiddin' me right Ikora? You're still considering kicking him out of the tower?"
"Yes." The Warlock Vanguard replied. "While I will admit that his… abilities as a sniper are impressive; it still has limited uses, especially considering the tempo at which our ground ops are carried out."
"C'mon Ikora." Cayde whined, "You're just being picky at this point. Why do you want him out of the tower?"
Ikora didn't respond, and she simply stared out the window of the conference room; while Zavala crossed his arms in his own chair. "While I still have my doubts as to whether or not Guardian Saul Benjamin's personality is a fit for his team; I will not deny that his combat skills do fit the roster… somewhat. He will of course need more training before I would send him into the field; but I think his teammates will be quite helpful in that regard."
Cayde grinned, "Thanks Zav! I'll be sure to make it up to ya in some way. Maybe some beer later tonight."
Zavala ground his teeth and looked away, "Don't make me regret my support, Cayde."
Cayde shrugged, "Well, you're outvoted Ikora. If that's everything, I'll be down to visit Mr. Saul and give him the good news."
Ikora said nothing for a long moment, so Cayde and Zavala both went to leave; making it all the way to the door when she finally spoke. "I don't trust him."
Both men stopped and looked at her, and she glanced back at them. "I sense… something off about him, and I don't know what. But I don't know if he can be trusted. Ghosts have picked the wrong people before, and I don't want their mistakes repeated now."
Cayde and Zavala glanced at each other, then back at Ikora. "'Kora, I'll keep an eye on him, don't you worry. And if he does something wrong, we snatch him up." Cayde finally said, "All good?"
Ikora glared at the Exo for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Very well… but he's your responsibility Cayde."
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of him."
A/N: Imma be honest gents, this will probably be a oneshot; since I'm not really sure what to do with this. I'm new to Destiny, and I don't feel comfortable writing a new fic; especially given how I still have two unfinished stories.
I'll be honest with those as well, I have been sitting at 0% progress for HL:E and AGAS; because I don't know where to go with them… or rather, I know where to go with them, but I'm not sure I like where one is going and have no clue how to get to the destination for the other.
So this is one of those little side projects that I do when I get creatively frustrated.
I have… at least a dozen stories and plot bunnies sitting in my folder that will probably never get published because I don't know what to do with them.
Hopefully, I'll think of something, whether it be making something more with this oneshot; find a way to continue with HL:E or AGAS, or something new.
We'll see…
In any case, leave a review and let me know what y'all think.
A TV Tropes page for my other fics would be great.
And I will see ya when I see ya.