Not much in terms of A/N this time so let's just jump into it.
Lord Saladin watched as Frederick, Summer, Qrow and Tai left. He smiled knowing that this long awaited nightmare will finally be put behind him. The camaraderie made him remember his brother's and sisters. Fighting side by side. But he felt the presence of another. Which wasn't his friend Tira Karn. But rather the Speaker himself with three Titans in black commando type 0 armor with blacked out visors. Saladin narrowed his eyes with distaste.
"Speaker… to what do I owe this visit?" Saladin asked.
"It is about the heathen that still continues to breathe around our champion." The Speaker said as he walked to the center of the room.
"What does Frederick's, personal beliefs, have to do with anything Speaker? All he did was help me in a time of need, assisting in the battle against SIVA." Saladin replied crossing his arms.
"Drei reported to me that he used his… gifts… to destroy the Fallen resurrected champion." The Speaker stated. "And caused the destruction of ancient technology in the Plaguelands."
"Spare me the false concern, Speaker, I know what you're here for." Saladin stated as he slammed the handle of his axe on the stone floor, the sound echoing around the chamber. "And my decision is final, he has more than earned the right to claim the title of Iron Lord."
"No. Not while his heretics bring about discord throughout the City, which only has only spread their corruption. We've had dealt with one blow due to the faction wars. Let us not have another due to his false god." Speaker stated.
Saladin furrowed his brow.
"Is this genuine concern, or are you trying to justify your jealousy? Jealousy of a power that has long escaped your grasp, and understanding?" The Speaker's bodyguards leveled their rifles at Saladin, but the Iron Lord didn't even flinch.
"Is this a threat? Speaker?" Saladin's grip tightened around the handle of the Iron Axe. "You and your cohorts should already know that this course of action would be most, unwise." The way Saladin said that last word made the Speaker's bodyguards step back, an almost palpable chill settling in the room. After a few tense seconds, the Speaker waved for his men to stand down.
"Frederick cannot be allowed to claim the title. And you would do well to ensure that. Take care… Lord Saladin."
And with that the Titans fell in behind the Speaker as they all left the Iron Temple. When the doors slammed shut, Saladin turned back to the bright burning brazier in front of him.
"How long before you realize Speaker, that all this… will be your undoing."
00000
The smell of burnt metal and flesh filled the air as the group entered the keep, the corpses of the smoldering machines laying dormant as they moved through the area.
"How you handling it fireteam?" Shiro asked over the comms. "Qrow made it out ok?"
"It's pretty hard to keep a bird down, Shiro." Qrow said in response. "Sure, the thing might be airborne, but the Fallen don't know anything about Remnant. We still have my sister to call on just in case we need something like this."
As they journeyed through the complex they came across a large chamber. Summer was reminded of the Prison of Elders due to the similarities to the three large domes scattered across the place, minus of course of all the SIVA tentacles all around the place and the torn banners of the House of Kings.
Qrow took a look around and drank from his flask. "What the hell is this place?"
Drei materialized and went to a console and scanned it. "This place is called the Archon's Forge. Once, it belonged to the House Kings as a sort of combat arena. In order to rise above their stations, Fallen were to fight one another, the strongest were then elevated, the defeated were either demoted or killed. After the Splicers ran them out, they took it over and used it as an arena for new recruits to prove themselves."
Qrow nodded. Next time we get here, I should probably invite her…
Tai, however, couldn't help but notice the lava. "Wouldn't they not wanna get incinerated or something? Doesn't seem like the brightest idea to fight around lava."
"The Fallen aren't exactly the type to not play dirty, what with being scavengers and all." Shiro explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if they threw each other in that in order to win."
"Sheesh; talk about no morality…" Tai muttered under his breath.
They swiftly passed through the Archon's Forge and entered a cave, ignoring the dead splicers and machines that surrounded them as they moved through. As they did this, red tendrils raced to a shank, causing it to whir to life with a guttural laugh. They turned to face the presence of Aksis once more, as he too followed in.
"So you found out our Keep's weakness, well done Rose! I thought it would be a little too much for your mushy brain and ghost to figure it out, which I then would've had to spill it out for you, but you worked it just fine!"
"What do you want, freak?" Tai challenged the shank, entering a combat stance in case he decides to blow it up on them.
The Archon gave a mechanical laugh. "Nothing. I just wanna watch as you lead yourselves to your doom. Watching as the infamous Summer Rose has her teammates ripped from under her, faced with three foes the likes of which she wouldn't be able to counter. Three of which, by the by, are but mere... experiments of ours."
An alarm sounded off in the distance, catching their attention.
"Well well well! Would you look at the time? For it seems that the cavalry has arrived…"
As Aksis flew away, a squadron of dregs accompanied by an elite splicer captain came rushing at them from down the path. Summer simply unsheathed Boltcaster as Qrow and Tai fired their weapons, dealing with the small fry as Summer engaged the captain in battle.
One of the dregs' head popped in a shower of blood, causing a glowing red orb of SIVA to pop out and home in on Summer, catching her by surprise and causing her to stumble, letting the captain have a moment of opportunity.
The captain, knowing it could not hope to match Summer in combat, stayed at range with a shrapnel launcher, moving back as she ran at him with her sword's barrier up. As soon as the click was heard, not only had the captain's allies been slain, but it was about to meet a sword through the gut, his shield taken out by a couple of swift slashes from Summer. The sword pierced his chest, and he fell limp on the ground as Summer pulled out, infected ether staining the ground.
"Hey, do you mind asking the old man in the background if he likes what I've done with the place?" The Archon asked mockingly. "It looked a little shallow, this cave. Like him, but with total darkness and no flair, really boring..."
"Mark my words, Archon." Saladin growled through the radio. "You and your ilk will not survive. This place shall become your tomb."
"Maybe? Maybe not?" It laughed. "But I think I should let you know that many 'Fallen' have already stepped up and taken it beyond here… you remember Taniks The Scarred?"
Summer's eyes narrowed at that. The Hunter Vanguard killer...
"He was fully machine. Now he's even more. A machine demi-god in service to us, and us alone. Made his base on Luna." As they turned a corner, they saw it speed out of sight, only catching a bare glimpse of it as he chortled at Saladin's ignorance. "If you honestly thought we'd just sit here all day as you amassed your forces, you're sorely mistaken. Already have we begun operations to setup replication complexes elsewhere. This is but a testing ground… the beginning of the end. The Alpha stage to the Omega stage. The end of humanity, and the rise of the Perfected Eliksni."
They came into The Warrens, thankfully a more opened up area compared to the cave they were just recently in. Small groups of splicers awaited them upon entry, but were no match for the swordsmanship of Summer Rose, who made swift work of the enemies before her.
They heard the Archon tsk from another cave entrance. "Someone is getting antsy~. You'd best save all the energy you can you three. Wouldn't want to not have any real results from a lack of preparation…"
"You yourself should've saved all the SIVA you could've kept too, but instead you came out guns blazing." Qrow pointed out, as they followed the voice deeper within.
"As if you could stop us now." The arrogance was evident in his tone of voice as he mocked them. Annoyed, they followed the voice into some vents, finding the shank on the other side of the grating.
"So tell me, how is your friend Rahndel doing?" Aksis asked curiously. "Annoying bastard he is. Would make for an excellent soldier though."
Growling in annoyance, Summer pulled out Thorn and shot the shank, shake and explode. They made their way through the vents, jumping out of the opening to see yet another splicer on their right.
"Y'know, it's rude to interrupt others..." Aksis said with his new body, a bit of annoyance creeping in. As he said this, a few splicers had popped out of their cover to collectively fire at them. Qrow slid to cover and morphed, while Tai and Summer quickly shot them down. Moments later, the sound of a sword cutting through flesh made itself known, followed by surprised and confused fallen death cries.
They continued making their way through, until a set of lasers blocked their path.
Drei then materialized, moving over to a console. "I'll have this down in a moment, prote-"
Just as he tries to finish his sentence, the lasers promptly deactivated, causing Aksis to laugh. "Did you honestly think I was going to just pull another one of those? Blind little lights!"
Tai responded by caving Aksis' face in. "Just shut up already damn you! Ugh..."
They then went through another series of vents, before coming into an old control room.
"So when we stop the production of SIVA; because it'll be that easy, what then?" Drei asked Shiro over the comms.
"Kovik, one of the more well known splicer priests, has been experimenting with Hive. Saladin is hoping that you four could shut him down quick." As he said this, the three went up to a console, Drei materializing it to unlock the door on their left. "Other than that? We'll be going straight to Aksis and his cronies. We have others that are coming to deal with the like of Taniks and the resurrected prime."
"On note of that, maybe we could convince that Randal guy to help." Tai offered. "If it's beyond Earth already, he might not have a place to run away to. He might help us out with the others."
"Doubtful of that… stay on your toes fireteam. Coordinates say you're nearing the replication chamber." Was all he said, before Shiro got off the line.
As Drei finished up with the console, the door opened to reveal a couple splicer dregs, that were swiftly shot down before they could react. As they were about to get a move on, Qrow spotted something on the monitors above the console. A SIVA cluster that seemed to resonate SIVA, but wasn't targeting them. The others took note of the lack of footfalls from him, and turned around.
Drei took note of where Qrow was looking, and flew up to inspect it as well. "Interesting… this is a SIVA fragment. Oddly enough without any coding to it." Drei then looked at Summer. "Seems like we have another treasure hunt on our hands."
Summer groaned in annoyance. "I swear, if I have to grind another Court Of Oryx, just to find out what these do…" She then shook her head. "Put it in storage."
Drei bobbed in response, and started to digitize the fragment. "There's an audio file that happened to be in this. Playing it now, and archiving it for later."
"-don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want…" A feminine voice cried out over and over again in abject terror, sending chills down their spine. "Ghost? Ghost, where are you?"
As the audio file ends, the three couldn't help but shudder in response to the message.
"That was almost like something out of a horror film…" Tai muttered aloud.
"That… was Skorri." Saladin said, horror and rage gripping his voice. "I never even got to see her die, or even hear her last words."
"Calibrating the scanner to locate SIVA fragments within the radar." Drei said, as he finished putting it in storage. "Summer, I believe Tyra would find these of interest. There may be data of Clovis Bray in older, other fragments."
"Maybe at a later date…" Summer said, facing away from them as she turned back to the door. "Let's just keep moving and focus on the mission. I'd rather not have a fragmented memory of a life story."
Tai couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the pun, while Qrow rolled his eyes. But oddly enough, despite saying it… Summer didn't so much as crack a smile. But none of them noticed it. For how could they?
They moved down a set of stairs, spotting a splicer captain that gave them the stink eye, before noticing Summer's expression. It paused, before laughing at her. "You found it, didn't you little Rose? Hey," It then pointed to a pile of SIVA webbing. "Perhaps you should also consider looking here. She left it behind after all."
The captain with his voice then moved to a hatch. "I'll be down here watching your demise. Oh, and if I were you by the way? You should consider going in alone, and let your teammates deliver the medallion. Your teammates. Will. Die." Was all Aksis said, before jumping into it.
Summer took a deep breath, before sighing and moving over to the webbing to inspect it. Sure enough, a wolf medallion laid inert inside of the webbing, dust covering its shape. She held it aloft in her hand, as Drei moved it to storage.
They looked to the hatch. No ladder or stairs. Just a leap of faith onto a slant of metal.
"I'll go down and scout. Summer, you know what to do if we're getting Tai down." Qrow then morphed again, and flew in.
"Oh come on, I'm sure it isn't going to be THAT big a fall." Tai says, as he then attempted to go down. Summer catches him by the collar of his shirt as he gets a good look at how far down it is.
He looks up with a sheepish smile, meeting her amused grin. "Please?"
"What did I say about becoming a Fallen?" She jest, as she then jumps in.
"I'M STILL MIGHTY!" Tai cries out, torn between joy and fear as they slid down, wind rushing past them as they neared the ground. Summer double jumps at the last second while holding Tai, stopping their momentum and safely landing on the rocky ground before the replication chamber. Fallen peered out from the edges, and were about to shoot them. Much to their dismay, they failed to notice Qrow transforming back to normal behind them, as he then proceed to knock them off the cliff with a couple cleaves from his sword, killing a dozen splicer dregs and a captain in mere seconds.
A signal flare was shot on their right, alerting all that still remained that they were here. As splicers poured in from the right, Summer held Thorn at the ready, while Tai pulled out his hand cannon.
"Body shot them. The red orbs come from their heads." Summer warned.
"I'm fairly familiar with that already." He said in response.
The two then shot down a squadron of dregs and vandals with ruthless precision, the splicers unable to land a single hit on either of them. They then pressed through them as Qrow pushed from behind, slicing down dregs and vandals as he went. As they came face to face with a servitor and a few shanks, Summer had Drei swap her to Gjallarhorn, and fire a rocket at them, decimating them within seconds.
Another shank flew down, speaking again with a mock voice of Drei. "Why, I just built that! Did you really have to do that Summer? Couldn't just ignore it like all the other guardians?"
Drei almost immediately materialized. "SWITCH OFF YOU WRITHING TENTACLE VIRUS!"
"Heh. Cute." Aksis said, before flying over to her. "Ah, but here it finally begins. You seemed to have ignored my warning, a shame really. Now nobody will know that you died with honor."
"She's gonna win whatever we're going up against you freak." Qrow said, as he hoisted his sword at him.
"Ahhh, the beauty of ignorance… once I've taken you three as part of my mind, soon you shall see past the light and dark and be free." They could hear the smile in his tone as he spoke. "Well, regardless you're coming up on our prototypes. Treat them as rough as you like… you won't break them." The shank then flew away, narrowly dodging a swipe from Qrow.
Qrow sheathed his sword. "Bastard." He spat.
They then moved back up to where Qrow originally was, the doors automatically opening as they approached. They saw a large, dark and empty hallway, SIVA strands barely visible within the darkness.
"Dark and creepy." Qrow couldn't help but comment.
"At least they're good artists?" Tai offered nonchalantly.
"I'd say their moral standards are pretty low though." Summer couldn't help but note.
"They do seem to have FALLEN in that department." Tai followed up on it being a joke, causing the two to giggle. Qrow sighed.
"Just my luck that you two are doing this the whole mission…"
They then proceeded down the hallway, lights turning on as they went.
"I did what I could to protect them. I knew what would happen if somebody found it though." Saladin spoke over the comms as they walked. "We were touched by the light… I didn't even think about anything that's not the dark could possibly take us. Until it did."
As they traversed the SIVA bridge leading into the chamber, Summer couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. Like they were walking into a tomb…
Qrow put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jolt. She turned around to see him beaming with a smile that practically radiated 'we got this' as he nodded.
Summer took a deep breath.
And went in.
What at first looked like cocoons or strands when they came into the room, turned out to be more of the zombie humans… except bigger. Almost unnaturally so.
"These are human…" Drei muttered aloud.
"Human? That ain't right." Tai muttered as well.
"Not possible." Shiro said.
Saladin simply remained silent. He never wanted to entertain the idea, but he had a feeling of what was going to happen next, for it was obvious to him what this experiment is.
As they went to activate the self-destruct console, they picked up movement on their radar.
"Y'know what?" They then turned to see the shank from before. "I think it's finally time I show you what I've been up to."
As the doors began to become blocked by SIVA, they heard a distorted audio file, indiscernible on whether or not it was male or female. "NO! I HAVE TO-"
"The Iron Lords… are mine." He said, as the door was plugged up by SIVA.
They turned around, weapons at the ready. Gone was one of the dead, and in its place… no axe.
They looked up at the ceiling to see a revenant Iron Lord fall to the ground, an axe in it's morphed hands.
The dead have awoken.
00000
Diluation:And so somewhere, a war with the cabal starts on Mars. Now onto the reviews.
Iron Lord Gore:Um... (brings out perfect paradox) you do realise that is his FUTURE right? I made peace with it with that said do you really know where he is ... screw it im just gonna ask osiris by the way another great chapter.
Diluation:Honestly, I just wanted to use the TSLAYP thing, like the Guest pointed out. Incoming spoilers for those who don't read the tabs.
Aquilos:*glares*
Diluation:Not the Iron Rose, the CoO Destiny lore spoilers.
Aquilos:Ok, you're good.
Diluation:This said though, Saint-14 is actually 100% dead, even with Osiris's control over the Forest. Osiris doesn't even have that much control over it even with what we did, as in the final lore tab of the verses, it is implied that the Vex have already replaced Panoptes, or have sent another mind from another Infinite Forest-like place. So even with what we did, our efforts were for essentially nothing but meeting the hermit in that DLC.
Mastermind4892: That was fun! I loved the part with Ruby, do NOT use your phone in the middle of one of Lord Shaxx's matches! In the words of one Byf's own friends, "Shaxx isn't straight, he sexually identifies as a megaphone!"
Aquilos: That actually gives me an idea for an Omake…
Literally everyone else: Nervous Sweating
Animeak116:OH JIMMY NEUTRON I MISS THAT SHOW
Diluation:...
Dustinz:...
Aquilos:...Why are you reacting on here? YOU WORK ON THIS!
VATS:*innocent whistling*
Diluation:Goddamnit, that makes two that accidentally did this… three, and I might as well make it a party.
Aquilos: I mean if you do we can go do like, Menagarie? Idk, I haven't played since June.
Animeak:I didn't get to see the last final bit of the chapter because I was busy. So when i read the final product, I was surprised by the Jimmy Neutron reference.
Diluation:I bet my maxed out warlock on D2 and D1 that another one of us joins in on this.
Anyhow, redditus inspiratione! Per audacia ad astra!
~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~