Crow breaks the silence. "So should we all walk to opposite ends of the map and count down or-"
Atalanta flicks the safety off of her rifle and I drop into a battle stance seeing her sight up the hunter. The Maul appears in my hand. "Scatter!" *thomp….BANG* A blinding light cuts through the gloom and I can only hope Crow is able to escape before she begins to fire. I rush off towards the encased portion of the map and prepare to set up for a long fight.
A quick flick of my wrist and a grenade appears in my right hand before I throw it against the wall, covering the door I entered through. Swapping to my death rifle I aim to prepare to fire a tracking dart on any pursuers.
Silence and stillness are all that meet my sights as I move into cover. "Crow, you still alive out there?" I hope that Glint is listening out for us.
"Thank the traveler you fired that grenade, I'm out on the cropping with my sniper hunting for her, no sign yet though" His voice is tinged with worry and the distance between us hits like a fist.
"I'm at the opposite end of the site, meet me at the separated piece to your right? I need places to set up my traps and you want clean sightlines." I begin to sweep the rooms I pass as I run near the outside wall of the building.
"Knowing her she is planning on ambushing us in the tunnels all across the map; I see you coming towards me and can cover you." The glare of his rifle serves as a confident eye watching my pilgrimage.
"Got it, if I see her I can hit her with a tracking marker to make this less difficult for us both. Any ideas what we do if she decides to break out the light?" I keep scanning as I run and quickly ready to shoot as I pass the last room in the facility before the clearing by Crow. "SPOTTED HER!"
One quick shot on the back was definitely felt by her but probably left no lasting impact on her armor, but that's not what mattered with it.
A small yellow diamond appears on my helm's hud as the rifle's tracking systems came to life "share this with Crow, information can never hurt us" My Little Great Machine hums in agreemant.
"I see your little friend Coeniks, keeping an eye on any entrances by her position. And to answer your other question, we pray and fight like hell if she decides to go super."
I finish my run to his position and the drum grenade launcher appears within my hands. "Ready for me to kick the hive nest?"
"Whatever you plan to do, do it before she gets creative."
I channel my solar energy into my arms and hold my burst rifle within my lower arms. A single grenade launches from the drum, bounces against the edge of the door frame, and explodes near that yellow diamond. Atalanta lifts out of her cover and towards the depths of the building, but my burst rifle barks to life as the blue shots track towards her back in angry triplets. She nearly slips out of view before they can connect and- Crack!
Crow's sniper rifle paints her brain against the opposite wall as her ghost flies out of view. Glint appears and cheers his guardian on. "Good shot Crow! She's gonna be mad."
He chambers a new round. "Don't remind me, I'm gonna get the brunt of her anger when we do have to get face to face with her. Nice trick with dual-wielding by the way, that's gonna catch people off guard." He scopes in and starts his overwatch again. "Your tracker is gone, isn't it? We will need to spot her the old fashion way."
"Yes, one aimed shot is all I need, but it means nothing upon revival. I just hope that we won't need to approach her any time soon."
"I'd not be so sure of that guardian, I will be changing the rules of this little game." Ikora-kels' voice caught Crow and I by surprise. "Your ghosts will have added a ring around the both of you, depending upon the range of your weapons this ring will change size. Kills with weapons will only count within your ring, but light kills have any range."
"Damn, guess we need to face her in her territory now, my sniper gets no range to work with now." Crow swaps to his hand cannon as I place my grenade launcher back into transmat.
"Time to trap, trick, and enrage then. I have energy for another trip mine and a good solar slash; I'm getting close to my many-armed secret as well." I begin walking into the labyrinthine depths of the rusted structure with Crow in tow.
-scene change-
"That little bird brain is going through a wall next time I see him." A shotgun cock and I'm running off to the clearing to retrace their steps.
Obvious footsteps paint a clear path for where Coeniks-1 walked within the facility; he hung to the windowed hallway and railgun placements. The path only went inwards at a small, dark hallway near the end of the site.
Walking into the obvious trap with all the bravery of Shaxx himself I prepared to get out some of my anger. The hall was silent as a tomb as I walked towards the sunlight, and the silence was broken by Crow running past the door as bait.
I waited. And waited. And waited.
Expecting someone to come to check to see that the bait had actually even caught anything; I was prepared to light up the end of the hallway at any sign of movement.
Hehehehehe
"Son of a- " Coeniks's weight hit the ground and I turned to see him throw a trip mine at me, illuminating the undetonated grenades that littered the ground near to the walls. The world burned as solar light blasted the both of us to kingdom come.
-scene change-
"Was that REALLY necessary to do, you died along with her." Crow's irritation could do nothing to quell my joy at her reaction.
Thunderstruck on the other end of the map "I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART 1 TIME FOR EACH GRENADE IN THAT HALLWAY, DO YOU HEAR ME."
"I have never done anything more necessary in my short life, are you ready for the ship fires to start?" My light hung orange bright and excited around me as I surveyed the battleground. "Shame we are about to permanently alter such a historic place."
The irritation of my companion was palpable "You keep her attention, I shoot her with Golden Gun, okay?"
"Perfect"
We ran into the open air and prepared to meet our arc-charged maker.
"She seems to be pretty quiet right now thankfully I am keeping an eye on all the entranCES-" I look to Crow and see a gloved fist push through the floor itself.
The hand grabbed the floor and then the platform exploded into blue and white. The bird raised his cannon skyward and imbued it with the light of the sun before pointing it towards the Titan. He squeezed the trigger and the shot went wide as lighting imbued hand threw him into a nearby pillar.
I knew it was time to show the full might of my light.
I lept skyward and pulled at the idea of the traveler; a small ball of orange light shining just out of my 4 mortal arm's reach.
But I was more than a mortal Eliksni, and two arms of blessed fire ripped that small star out of the sky and forged it into a scorch cannon.
I slammed back to the earth with a scorch cannon, the Maul, and my burst rifle all held within sun-blessed hand.
Atalanta stared me down and let the thunder free with her rage. She clenched her fists and then she lunged.
Then she moved.
I felt a skiff strike me at full speed as she charged through me, my light barely protecting me from the fury within those arc-charged fists. A hook followed by a knee, then a backhand sent me spinning across the battlefield. I struggled to my feet and stared into that blank helmet.
A golden gunshot interrupted her stare as it stuck her spine, and Crow readied another as she turned to him. A flash and she was upon him, grabbing his arm and throwing him to collide with me.
I fired my scorch cannon and a blinding grenade at the same time, hoping each would hit the ideal target. The grenade flew past the flailing hunter and blinded the living thunderbolt as I hoped my gambit would pay off.
"I am gonna make you CHOKE on those grenades" She ran towards us and lifted Crow again. "Time to beat a newbie with another newbie"
I never expected someone to be able to use a living being as such a harsh weapon, but each rageful strike weakened both his and my light. I choked out one final laugh through my bruised and broken chest.
She threw Crow aside yet again. "What could possibly be funny at this point?"
"We are here to watch… your…. back" I released the trigger on my scorch cannon and the shot that had been cooking since it hit Crow began to detonate in the small of her back. I looked at the broken pile of man against the far wall as he gave a final thumbs up and died.
The world turned orange for the 2nd time today as Atalanta and I turned to ash under the full force of a light-touched Sun.