I messed up. It's all my fault. I failed him. Because of me...Em...she's dead. I knew we shouldn't have gone on that mission. Fucking Hive rituals...she sacrificed herself for me...it should have been me. She would still be with Ares then. I have to tell him...but...It's just me and him from Fireteam Hydra. Ember...Meri...Marn-19..all gone...and I can't even remember one due to Atheon. No more. It's time I went solo. No more deaths because of me.
I can't lose anyone else.
I just can't.
-Excerpt from Cain-1's journal [Age 707] (One of two parts, procured when Ikora's Hidden were found and injured. She asked nicely and received the log)
Cain rode in the back of the bandit truck the Vault Hunters had. He had a blue assault rifle with a curved magazine attached to the stock and a very large, battery shaped generator attached to the underside in front of the trigger guard. The weapon that had crowd control as its occupation.
The Zhalo Supercell.
The barrel rested against his shoulder. He looked to Salvador who sat next to him. "You know," He sat up and rested his hands one atop the other on the end of the barrel. "I never did get your names. Well, aside from Maya."
Salavador grunted as he shifted position. "Didn't think you cared chabõn. The name's Salvador. Your fangirl is Gaige." Said fangirl heard him and huffed in irritation, face red. "The military pendejo is Axton. Ninjaman is Zer0. And you met Krieg the lovable Psycho. That's all to our dysfunctional group."
"Huh. Noted. So what are we walking into?"
"We gotta wake up Roland's man Mordecai. Get to light up some varkids in the process." Axton called with a grin. The truck tipped as it ran across the rocky terrain.
"I see. Seems you aren't needed yet girl." A dejected Cain said as he patted the side of the Supercell which sparked a few times in what seemed to be irritation. "Soon. Soon." He cooed. The sparking subsided.
"Hey I been meanin' to ask amigo. Who the hell makes your guns? Lot heavier and a lot more kick and power than what we got. Not to mention...some seem alive." Salvador inquired. "Ain't nothin' from 'round here that's for sure."
"A friend from where I'm from made most of my arsenal. Some were gifts, some were trophies."
"Where are you from by the way?" Gaige asked from her area of the truck with Deathtrap, tinkering with the bot.
"Somewhere." Cain ambiguously replied.
"C'mon man. You can tell us." Axton pushed.
"Can. But won't."
"Why not?" Gaige huffed.
"I don't wanna."
"Why not?" Gaige annoyed.
"See previous reason." Gaige groaned in frustration. The others had nothing on the guy. No information at all. Would it kill him to throw them a bone and not be so damn mysterious? "It may actually."
Shit.
"I said all that aloud...didn't I?"
"Got it in one Firecracker. Tell ya what. I will throw you a tidbit. Where I come from? There are many with the skill I possess, and I'm not even the strongest, but I like to think I'm up there near the top."
"Whats that supposed to mean?!" Gaige cried, flopping over Deathtrap's shoulder in resignation.
Cain didn't reply as he hopped off. They arrived at a varkid's nesting grounds. He spotted a good sniper's position across the way. He'd keep that in mind if he ever needed it. "So. Let's light up some kids...that came out so wrong."
/ / \ \
/ / \ \
/ / \ \
Vault of Glass, Venus
Toles walked up to the door of the throne room. A Ghost dark as night floated next to her. "Nyx? Anything inside?"
"I sense two other Ghosts inside. Likely War Hounds." A slightly monotone voice stated.
"Wonder who. Well, time to open her up." She stepped over the symbol of the Vault in the floor and the door grated open slowly. Toles hefted her golden and black rifle against her shoulder, aiming down the sight in preparation. The symbol of a sun flashed as light from the throne room washed over it as it opened. Sweeping the room, she saw only machinery and two figures up near the back of the room.
Both had weapons instantly trained on her.
One was a hand-cannon, black with a wooden handle. The second was of a scout rifle type, faded coloring and black metal. Once both realized who they were aiming at they lowered the weapons and walked over.
The first had pale blue skin with long, slicked back white hair. Green markings went across his nose, forehead, and under lavender eyes twinkling with suppressed madness. His face was structured rather squarely and with a strong jawline many found handsome. He wore black robes made of cloth with SIVA-like pyramids along the front and back.
The second was human. Brown hair, styled in an undercut sat atop a smiling face with blue eyes shining with mischief. The robes the second Warlock wore were granted from the trials of Osiris. Bright blue due to his own choosing, the sun symbol of Osiris stood out against the dark hues of the robes of the Pariah.
"Pup!" The English accented awoken cheered as he brought her in for a hug. "Been too long it has!"
"Missed you too Fox." Toles chuckled.
"What? No hug for ol' Skitter? I'm hurt." A mocking voice called. Toles rolled her eyes with a smile and pulled him into a hug as well.
"Didn't think you guys were here. Thought I'd be alone at the Vault for a while. Where are the others?" Toles remarked placing a hand on her hip.
Fox perked up. "Shift-13 is on Mercury investigating the Vex tech there for any leads, and Jaba and Sevin are together on Io with Ashir Mir investigating the Pyramidion and other Vex structures on Io. As for why we are here so early..."
"Wellllllll~" Skitter began.
"We sorta kinda got some, ah, unwilling info-" Fox continued.
"By that he means we had a Stormcaller, Twiz, think you met him, yeah. We had him rip it from some Vex." Skitter brought her over to their set up of machinery.
"And from the info we gathered, we may be able to find where our Grand ol' Leader is much faster." Fox messed with some dials and passed her some goggles.
"By opening the time gates the Vex opened-"
"They sent him through many of them. Well. More of one massive time gate-like pulse. It works like a time gate does, but instead of needing a gate, it just activated the moment it touched his Light. It drew him through one timeline then through many other timelines rapidly one after another, sending his Light traces all across the timelines-"
"But! It doesn't mean we cant track him. It just makes it very, very hard." Skitter sighed. "Well. Test 907?"
"Test 907." Fox nodded. "You may want to put on the goggles now. It gets very bright."
Toles head spun. She would never get used to how those two spoke like they shared a brain. She barely had enough time to put on the goggles like she was told before the room alit in a blinding light.
Lilith stared at her ex with a mouth open in shock at his statement to the Vault Hunters and Cain that he said with either stupidity or insanity. "You...You're letting Tina, the EXPLOSIVES SPECIALIST, meet Cain?"
Roland raised an eyebrow. "I don't see the problem."
Lilith looked at him blandly. "You're introducing a man that can weaponize grilling tongs to a teenager that loves to make things go boom in any way possible. See the problem yet?" She waved her arms in exasperation.
Roland's eyes widened. He put a palm on his face and groaned. "I just doomed all of Pandora. Didn't I?"
"I don't know if you had a stroke of genius or just a lapse in judgement. But either way, we are all screwed Roland." Lilith sighed. "I'm going to Moxxxi's for a drink."
She trudged to the bar and slumped onto a stool and held up a V of two fingers as she laid her head on her other arm in order to try to hide from the impending storm.
"What's got ya down Lily?" Moxxi probed placing the shots down.
"Roland made either the best decision, or the worst." She groaned.
"Gonna need a bit more to go on than that hun." The owner of the bar said leaning down and resting her arms on the bar top.
"Tiny Tina?"
"What about her?"
"Cain. She's meeting Cain."
"Whats the issue?"
"Fire meets oil."
"...At least sales will go up once word gets out?" Moxxi chuckled nervously. She could see how this was bad. Tina was the world's most dangerous teenager. She may be a bit out there mentally, but she has the sharpest mind when it came to explosives. With the walking intelligent weapon Cain was? The list of what those two together could do with high level explosives?
It was endless.
Moxxi stared at the bottle of tequila in her hand. She flicked off the nozzle and began to drink.
/ / \ \
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/ / \ \
Total
Unrestrained
Destruction.
Just the way the Nighthawk liked it. The buzzard academy's metal groaned in pain as the entire base tilted to one side, sending Cain sliding across the floor. "I probably should get to somewhere not exploding. They don't need to know I'm neigh immortal just yet." Cain held onto a rung of a ladder as he looked out over the wanton destruction he caused. He 'breathed' it all in. There was a reason Zavala and Ikora were strict on his use of and access to explosives.
Granted that didn't stop him one bit, but it was the thought that counts right?
The reason for that being he had a habit for making them far more explosive than normal.
Even Lord Shaxx was considering eliminating his usage of explosives during the Crucible.
Hmpf, wimp.
There were two conditions under which Cain was allowed explosives. One, no friendlies were in the destruction radius. Or two, everything needed to die immediately and they needed assurance it would stay dead.
The explosions rocking the base drew Cain from his thoughts. "Alastor. Plot me a course through this glorious masterpiece."
A 'tch' came from his Ghost. "I knew that girl was a bad sign." The Light construct did as it was told.
Cain made a bee line for the edge of the rapidly breaking platform. He maneuvered through the burning and exploding rubble like a gazelle. His senses screamed to get low. He dropped to his shins, bent backwards, and slid right as a wall exploded to his left, sending flaming shrapnel right over the beak of his helmet. Cain blinked as he got up and hopped over a fallen steel beam. "Thank the Traveler for not scratchin' my helmet." Arriving at the edge, Cain smirked as much as he could as he skid to a halt and looked back at his masterpiece of death and fire. "Alastor. We'd be able to survive the fall right?"
"Don't be thinking what I know you're thinking." A explosion caused the entire area to shake.
"Need that answer Al!"
The Ghost shook it's head and sighed. This Guardian was going to be the death of him. "Yes."
Cain spread his arms and fell backwards.
The air ripped at his form as he shot to the ground. Flattening his arms to his sides and lifting his head, Cain sped towards the ground faster than the hawk his helmet was named for.
Flipping and twisting at the last second, the debatably mentally unhinged Hunter landed in a kneel with his palm flat on the ground. Dust billowed out from the landing and his cloak flapped in the wind the impact created. But damn did that hurt his circuitry and hydraulics in his legs. Alastor went about repairing his adrenaline junkie Guardian, he still wasn't sure how that worked without an adrenal gland.
The buzzard academy promptly exploded into a flaming inferno.
A young female's voice came over the ECHOcomms. "THAT'S HOW THE T-C COMBO WORKS BABY! YEAH!" The transmission promptly cut off after.
"I see why you told us to clear out." Maya dryly stated. Seriously, how destructive can this guy get? He takes out roughly seventy bandits including Badasses, then destroys an entire bandit stronghold on his own with nothing but guns and some explosives Tina gave him. Yet there are stronger ones than him? She just couldn't get a read on him. She knew he was holding back, heavily, and that irked her to no end.
Cain stood, servos and hydraulics in his legs near silently hissing as he did so. He craned his neck and pulled a piece of shrapnel that had been pinned in the crook of his armor. The flaming eyes of the Celestial Nighthawk faded back to the abyssal black. "What can I say? That kid gave me some material for some ideas I've had."
Axton pouted and crossed his arms in a huff. "Man, stop showing me up. I was the badass of our group before you showed up."
"Too late for complaints pendejo. Your title is long gone." Salvador quipped.
Krieg was cheering as he heard the screams of dying bandits that somehow still lived that slowly drowned into silence.
Gaige was staring at a patch of destroyed, scorched cloth on Cain's upper right arm. She saw metal beneath it. She cocked an eyebrow but stayed silent. She could bring the topic of why his arm was metal or why he had metal in his arm later. Something that made her eyes widen though was when the damaged cloth was repaired before her eyes with a little blue, barely noticeable light closing the wound in the cloth from the outside in. She shook her head. "Got the badonkadonks?" The mechnomancer spoke up returning to normal.
Cain pulled two definitely missile looking objects from his back. "Badonkadonks secured Firecracker." He chuckled. "Gotta say. Tina is my new favorite mini human. She's got spunk. Lets return these to their owners yeah?" The group nodded and treaded down the path to the truck in silence.
Tina clapped in happiness at their arrival. "I knew my big brudder would teach those baddies not to steal my ladies' badonks!" She tackle hugged Cain around his leg, clinging to the armored leather boot. "That. Was. AWESOME! You showed them suckas." Cain chuckled and ruffled the little psychotic teenager's head.
"Hey. You provided the booming fun. I just set up the finale." He remarked as he thought about just how he came to know this little demolitionist and why he hadn't met her sooner.
/ / \ \
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/ / \ \
"Tina's a bombmaker, and a friend of mine. I've saved her life a few times, and she's saved mine even more. She'll help you out, but here's a tip: don't make any sudden movements near her." Roland spoke over the ECHOcomm.
Cain perked up as their merry little group walked towards a mini mountain surrounded by mines. They had just spent the better part of half an hour trying to light enough varkids on fire to wake up Roland's spy, Mordecai. "Bombmaker you say?" Everyone felt the sneaking suspicion that this may be a bad idea.
"Yes?"
"Can't wait to meet her." Cain chirped. Yep. Definitely bad idea if Cain was happy to meet them.
Rounding a bend of the mountain they came across the mouth of a cave with a house and garage set up inside.
"Commmeee onnn innnn!" A voice cheered from inside. A small girl wearing a dress along with a small bandit mask on her head was currently dancing around a tied up bandit merrily. "All around the Sta-actus plant, the stalker chased the bandit. The stalker thought 'twas all in fun, POP-" She sang before jumping on a detonator, "GOES THE BANDIT!"
As the bandit exploded and the small girl jumped off and walked over to the Vaulties and Cain, the Exo chuckled. He did like her already. "Oh haiiii! Roland told me you were comin', still owe him for all that buttcrap with General Rancid. So, you gotta hijack a train, huh? Chiiiild's play! Lemme introduce you to my ladiessss." From there Cain had found a kindred soul in demolition.
/ / \ \
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/ / \ \
The Exo chuckled as the memory finished its run in his mind. Kid had spunk. She was taking a while however setting up the explosives after they had returned, perhaps she was trying to outdo the one he made, so Cain decided to work on a project. "Alastor. Transmat me the parts."
The Ghost obliged and a bundle appeared in Cain's pouch in a shower of blue. He dug his hand into the bag and drew the bundle out. Opening it up, there was a wooden box with a circular hole cut in the top, some metal bits and pieces, a glass emblem and a small crank. Maya looked over as the Hunter sat crosslegged and began to work with surprising precision on the small and seemingly fragile pieces. "What are you making?" Came the question as she squatted down, peering at the objects.
Cain hummed a tune as he worked. "A gift."
"For who?"
"Hmmm-hm-hmmmm, hm-hmmmm-hm-hm-hm." Cain nodded to himself as he carefully inserted the metal pegs. "Yeah thats how it went. But for my daughter." He went back to humming.
Every eye in the room went wide. "You. YOU have a kid?" Axton sputtered in surprise.
Krieg clapped. "DADDY BIRD!"
"No, no, no, no." Cain sighed as a peg broke. He pulled out the broken tiny metal and flicked it to the side. "Adopted. Raised her since she was a kid. Her birthday is coming up soon." He was right. Toles would be turning sixty-seven in a few months.
Guardians, the dermatologist's nightmare for aging.
She was sixty-six yet she looked to be in her early twenties as that was when she was chosen by her Ghost.
Gaige was relieved, but she didn't let it show. She sat upside down on a chair, legs kicking idly. "What's she like?"
"Sort of like you in personality Firecracker. Except taller." He teased while he used a tiny screwdriver to help secure the mechanism into place. She huffed. "But that girl is amazing. Determined, passionate, kind, an amazing singer, yet she has the temper of a hurricane, and a protective, vindictive streak a mile long. Just don't ever get in the way of her and her guns. Though she may have gotten that from me." Cain spoke with so much pride, he felt warm inside as he spoke of the girl he raised. "Like I said. She's amazing. Just like you guys." He missed the blush that filled the Mechanist's face. His fingers worked idly slotting pieces into place. He was proud of Toles, more than she would ever know. The sound of glass sliding into place took him from his reminiscence.
In his hand was a tiny music box, the size of his palm, black due to the mahogany wood he carved it from. There was a glass circle inlaid on the top with a white metal hawk insignia with the winds spread, traces of blue, orange, and purple spread throughout, the left facing wing was up while the right facing was down with the hawk head open to the right in a defiant caw. Cain channeled a bit of his Light into the box and the hawk glowed softly before fading. The box now held a slight...feeling of power to it. Cain nodded in satisfaction as he looked over it then tucked it away into a pouch on his person where Ghost trasmatted it away.
Tina opened her garage door. "DONE! Just put my damsels near the choo-choo track and SET 'EM OFF! Good plan?" She asked looking to Cain who pointed at her, gave a thumbs up, and nodded. "Great plan."
Krieg went to grab the damsels but Maya held him back. "Be careful big guy. Alright?"
The experiment nodded. "Gentle like baby meat." He hefted both and set them on his shoulders.
The group made their way out of Tina's home after a fistbump between her and Cain, then set off for Meltwater Crossing.
"Alright. Where do we set up?" Cain asked.
"One should go on the tracks, the other..." Axton rubbed his chin as he looked around. "On that rooftop." The Dahl soldier was nearly knocked over as Cain tossed one damsel to him. Krieg had handed them off to him half way there.
"I'll handle the rooftop. You get the one near the track." Cain moved quickly, scaling the building with graceful speed. Hanging on using only his feet, he set the damsel up and angled it at the track. He poked it's stomach.
"Alrighty! My ladiesss are ready! Back up yo butt or you gonna get blowed up! Wut wut! Thats a rap I wrote." Tina exclaimed excitedly over the comm. Cain climbed back down with the same skill and finesse and returned to the group. "Oh snaps, son! I hear the train comin'! Countin' down. Ten! Nine!" The damsel on the track went off making the area impassable in a definitely larger than planned explosion.
"Tina..." Maya warned.
"Wut? I was bored." Tina remarked as the other went off and hit the train. The resulting explosion knocked them all to the floor with the force. Cain stood up groggily.
He groaned as he saw the wreckage. Train cars had fallen over the cliff, clearly demolished, the pipeline collapsed, and the train came to a screeching halt. On fire to boot. "You just had to try to out do me huh? Alright. GAME ON!"
"BRING YOUR A-GAME SON!" Tina replied.
Roland spoke up with a chuckle. "Well, that's one way to hijack a train. The Vault Key's still up on that ice shelf. Better climb that wreckage to get there."
"I'm detecting robotic signatures." Alastor spoke up worriedly.
"Don't worry." An unfamiliar voice to Cain spoke. He looked around, hand shooting to his gun. Alastor was already tracing the signal. "Calm down Nighthawk. I'm on the side of the Vault Hunters. I'm Angel." The Exo looked to the mentioned group. They nodded. His hand moved off the Supercell. "If Jack really wanted to protect the Vault Key, it wouldn't be on a train alone. He'd have Wilhelm guard it." She explained as the group climbed the wreckage and entered the Terminus Plateau.
"Wilhelm?" Cain chuckled darkly. He had ran into the man before. "I got a plan if he shows. Follow my lead and hit hard when the signal is given. Sal? Zer0? You guys are our long range. So stick back. Gaige?" The red head looked up. His tone screamed obedience. He knew the danger Wilhelm posed. "Get Deathtrap ready. Maya, Ax, Krieg? On me." The group nodded as one and split as ordered. Cain looked to Alastor. "Bring out the 'horn." Alastor nodded. In a flash of blue a rocket launcher rested on his back.
It was beauty. A silver wolf head with feathers behind it adorned the front of the black launcher. Lines went across its sides, silver and reflecting in the light. Four fins ornamented its silver banded barrel. There was a long grip extending from the underside near the front. A dual scope rested on the side. This, was the Gjallarhorn. Salvador stared at the gun in awe.
"Sal. Use this. But be careful. If you thought my hand cannons had kick? This will blow your arm out of the socket if you aren't careful my friend." He gingerly handed the beautiful cause of cataclysm over to the gunzerker like a baby. "Take care of her. I'll be expecting her back after this." The man nodded, tears of joy pricked his vision as he imagined the mayhem and death this gun, no, this weapon of beauty, could cause.
Cain and his group approached the fortified train car. It slowly rose, then was tossed away by a yellow arm. Rising from the ice was Wilhelm. Bald with camera-like goggles implanted where his eyes would have been, his torso sat atop a pair of loader legs along with wide yellow gauntleted, piston looking hands, and finally a turret mounted on his back.
"WILLY!" Cain called spreading his arms wide.
Wilhelm growled. "Nighthawk." He spat.
"I know I sorta humiliated you that one time...and that other time...and then with that one bar maid...where was I goin' with this? Ah right. You and me are gonna settle this right now." Wilhelm was silent as he listened.
"How?"
Cain decided to use the most powerful force Guardians could access.
Thus he began to dance.
"DANCE BATTLE BITCHBORG!"