"How can we be so unlucky?" Kaedro groaned, "We've been searching the records for where the Machinist might be for hours and we're no closer to figuring it out than we were when we started."
"Yes, it's...discouraging," said Bazzle.
He was fairly certain that Harley had found the Machinist and had likely already won. He glanced out of the window. Thieves' Landing was extraordinarily quiet. Enemy activity was currently very minimal.
"Has Wrythal responded yet?" he asked.
Kaedro shook his head. "Nothing yet."
Bazzle refrained from sighing. As frustrating as it was to not be able to do anything about their current situation, he had to keep a clear head. Suddenly, he heard a low droning sound.
"Kaedro, do you hear that?"
The Exo tilted his head. "Yeah, sounds like a Sparrow."
Bazzle scanned the landscape through the window, looking for any sign of movement. The droning steadily increased in volume and something flickered on the edge of his vision before an extremely familiar Sparrow emerged from the road that led to the Jetsam of Saturn.
"It's Ace!" said Kaedro unnecessarily.
He made as if to leave the building but Bazzle stopped him.
"Wait. We need to know where he's going."
They watched as Harley approached the entrance to the Spider's hideout, slowing down. He got off of his Sparrow and walked in.
"Visiting Spider? Is he getting the next location?" asked Kaedro.
"Most likely… We should stay here until he returns."
"You don't wanna go in after him? We could probably stop him right now."
"I'd rather not risk it. The Spider is assisting him and he may decide to interfere."
"Good point."
They sat in silence for a while, watching the entrance to the hideout and waiting for Harley to emerge. But when he finally returned, he wasn't alone. Petra Venj was with him, along with a handful of the Spider's minions. Kaedro cursed.
"No way we can get to him now. Not with Petra and those Fallen there."
Bazzle nodded. "We shall have to follow them," he decided, "Eventually, an opportunity will arise."
They watched as Petra and Harley exchanged a few words before Petra split off, walking in a different direction. Harley summoned his Sparrow and the Fallen mounted Pikes that had been waiting nearby. Then the group sped off, out of the Landing.
Bazzle grabbed his helmet and hurried out of the building, Kaedro close behind him. Once they were on the ground, they summoned their own Sparrows and set off in pursuit.
They followed at a distance to avoid detection. Sway and Jyn hid their IDs so Harley wouldn't discover them through Prism. Bazzle didn't know the route they were taking, but their destination was clear as they drew nearer and nearer to the massive Awoken tower he'd seen on the horizon.
When they came to a path made of smaller linked asteroids, he and Kaedro held back. Harley and the Fallen were now on foot, joining up with even more of the Spider's associates. They even spotted a couple of Fallen Walkers stationed along the path.
The reason for such firepower was made clear as Scorn pressed against them, trying to keep them back. Harley worked with the Fallen to clear the path as an Awoken ship swooped by overhead.
"Guess we know where Petra went," said Kaedro.
"Let's move," replied Bazzle.
They made their way along the path, now clear of Scorn. The Fallen that remained paid them no attention, letting them continue uninhibited. Eventually, they reached a massive asteroid littered with bodies - some were Fallen but the majority were Scorn.
The path cut through a short cliffside, winding its way through until it let out to a wide platform in front of the tower. Standing before the tower's entrance was the Fanatic. The two Guardians pressed back into the shadow of the cliff. Bazzle felt Kaedro move next to him, as the Exo drew his gun.
"Wait," Bazzle warned.
He pointed to the figure that stood between themselves and the Fanatic.
"If we act now, Hayden will know we're here."
"Damn it…" said Kaedro.
Bazzle watched as the Fanatic addressed Harley.
"You enjoyed killing them? You enjoyed putting them in dirt - where you belong? Did it make you feel good?"
"Not as good as how I'll feel after what comes next," Harley retorted.
He sprung into action, throwing a grenade and sending an arrow after it, causing it to detonate in the Fanatic's face. While the Fanatic was blinded, the Hunter dashed forward and landed several shots with a shotgun before having to dive for cover and the Fanatic sent out an Arc blast.
"Kaniks. Reksis Vahn. Yaviks. Pirrha. Araskes. Hiraks. Elykris. Tell me… I wish to know how it will feel… when I kill YOU."
Harley didn't respond. Instead, he blasted the Fanatic in the chest with a rocket launcher. The Fanatic snarled and vanished, reappearing inside the tower. Dark smoke covered the ground as Scorn appeared, shooting at Harley.
All of a sudden, Harley's body erupted in flames as he summoned his fiery staff, twirling it in a deadly configuration against the mass of enemies, burning them to cinders. The second his flames burnt out, the Fanatic raised his own staff, causing Arc energy to shoot out, wrapping around Harley and pulling him in.
"I will pay any price...to be there when you die…"
Harley, for his part, was shooting arrow after arrow at the Fanatic until the Baron released him. Once he was free, Harley took cover behind a pillar as another Arc bolt was sent his way. Then the Hunter stood completely still.
"What's he doing?" hissed Kardeo, "He's gonna get himself killed!"
Suddenly, flames raced down Harley's arm, resolving into a Golden Gun. Bazzle and Kaedro watched in astonishment as Harley stepped out from behind the pillar and fired twice at the Fanatic's chest.
The Fanatic looked down at the smoking holes in his body as he crumpled, summoning just enough strength to wheeze out one final message.
"The Scorn...are...forever…"
Then he was still. Bazzle watched as Harley drew himself upright, wiping his forehead with the back of his glove before proceeding through the doorway at the opposite side of the room. Once he was out of their line of sight, Bazzle and Kaedro stepped into the courtyard.
"Did I just see Ace summon a Golden Gun?" said Kaedro disbelievingly.
Bazzle nodded. "What's more is he drew on his Light directly after killing those Scorn. Guardians avoid doing that for a reason."
"Yeah, a move like that would exhaust anyone. I really hope he doesn't get himself killed."
"As do I… But we need to move. The Fanatic was the last of the Scorned Barons. Only Uldren is left. We must not let Hayden get to him."
With that, he turned and headed into the tower.
Harley moved through the interior of the Watchtower, paying no heed to the graceful architecture or mysterious artifacts. At one point, he would have been fascinated by them. But not now. Now he had but one goal and he was fixed on it with single-minded intent: kill Uldren Sov. He wouldn't say it, but the Fanatic had been right. It had felt good to eliminate the Barons. To bring down Cayde's killers. And now that he was on the trail to the man who'd pulled the trigger, he would not be dissuaded.
Distantly, he was aware of Prism asking Petra about some of the things they encountered in the Watchtower, but he didn't pay any attention to the answers.
Up ahead, he saw a doorway shimmering with Taken corruption. He'd noticed the dark patches of the stuff littered about, how could he not? But this was the most extensive he'd seen so far. Taking a steadying breath, he stepped through the doorway. Instantly, he found himself in the ascendant plane, yet his surroundings indicated that he was still in the Watchtower. He pressed on, ignoring the rifts, blights, and the sensation of being watched.
The voice of Mara Sov echoed through the space.
"Open the door, Brother. OPEN THE DOOR."
Uldren's reply sounded faint and weak in comparison.
"I can't… No…"
Harley stepped through a portal, once again in the Watchtower. He continued forward.
"The line between dimensional planes is thin here," noted Prism.
Harley entered a room with Taken in it. He paused, hands clenching around his bow. He took a shaky breath. Uldren was above him somewhere. He felt an elusive pull in the back of his head drawing him to the prince. The Taken would not keep him from his goal. He took them out swiftly, at range, before continuing on.
More appeared when he entered a different room with a tree inside. Some sprinted at him while others stood by. These too, he made quick work of, stepping through another portal.
"Obey me," said Mara Sov, "FREE ME."
Harley felt his connection to Uldren grow stronger, more tangible. It was as though the universe wanted him to find Uldren. Wanted him to kill him. Uldren must pay.
More Taken appeared in his path. Uldren must die.
A Thrall ran up to him and Harley raised an arm to ward off a blow, but the blow never came. He dropped his arm. The Thrall wasn't attacking. Why wasn't it attacking? He looked around at the rest of the Taken. Kill Uldren Sov.
They weren't moving. They simply stood, watching him with their swirling white faces. Kill Uldren Sov.
Harley took a step forward. The Taken made no move to stop him. He set off again, running. Kill Uldren Sov.
Mara Sov's voice rang through the ascendant plane. "FREE ME, O brother mine…"
"No," said Uldren, "No, no, no, no… Something's wrong."
Harley kept going. Kill Uldren Sov.
"Harley…" said Prism, "Something isn't right. Did Mara sound...off to you?"
Harley didn't reply. He didn't care if Mara sounded different. Killing Uldren was what mattered. He jumped down onto a platform swimming with Taken energy. A massive Taken Knight appeared before him. He raised his bow but before he could shoot, the Knight summoned a portal. Harley looked between the portal and the Knight. When the Knight made no move to attack, he jumped through. Kill Uldren Sov.
Bazzle and Kaedro were running through the tower as fast as they could. They had no idea how far ahead of them Harley was. He could have reached Uldren already for all they knew.
They entered a portal and found themselves in an ascendant version of the tower. There were no Taken, but Bazzle heard the Awoken Queen's voice echo as though she was there with them. They didn't pause, running through the rest of the space and out the exit portal.
"Did you hear that?" asked Bazzle as they ran.
"Yeah," said Kaedro, sounding troubled, "I thought Mara Sov died in the Battle of Saturn."
"I thought so too," said Bazzle darkly.
They entered another portal but found Taken waiting for them.
"What the-" Kaedro cut himself off in favor of dispatching the Taken.
A Thrall rushed at Bazzle and Bazzle punched it square in the chest, causing it to disintegrate. It was fairly easy to eliminate the Taken, but he was troubled by their existence, something he mentioned to Kaedro as they continued.
"Hayden should have killed those Taken when he came through. Why were they still around?"
"Maybe new ones showed up?" suggested Kaedro.
"I don't think so… But there's no time to speculate on it now. We must catch up to him."
They had to kill a Taken Knight to summon the exit portal, which just reinforced Bazzle's feeling that something was wrong. They hurried through the corridors, maneuvering around enormous blights in their path. Bazzle knew they were getting close.
Finally, they rounded a corner and found the entrance to a massive chamber. Ahead of them, Bazzle could see Harley standing, facing something at the other end of the room. They had made it.