The Cosmodrome - Sokovia - Earth

3rd person POV...

The fields, mountains, and lakes of Sokovia were once a beautiful paradise, along with everything else on the planet Earth. Nestled in that great landscape were the glittering towers and pristine walls of the Cosmodrome, a place for humanity to set off in ships to explore the universe.

During the Golden Age of humanity, what was once a ruined landscape was instead transformed into the Cosmodrome, a place where people could board ships that would take them beyond the planet's atmosphere, and explore the stars. The Cosmodrome was built over the massive crater left there—which had been a reminder of Ultron's destruction—effectively covering it up, and the landscape was restored.

Now thought, the landscape is once again a wasteland filled with ruins. The Cosmodrome wall is hundreds of years beyond repair, multiple breaches within its surface. The great towers were rusted and nonfunctional, and the waters were unclean and polluted, with no life anywhere. There were no green plants, and the highway that carried hundreds of cars towards the Cosmodrome and back was destroyed, the vehicles themselves rusted beyond recognition.

Despite all this, roving among the terrible wasteland came a small white floating object, moving amongst the wreckage and scanning different areas. It would let out sounds of disappointment before narrowing its single blue optic, continuing onwards.

What it did not realize, however, was that it was being followed.

Peeking over the rise behind the small white object were three humanoid beings with four arms, wearing reddish colored clothing and armor, masks covering their faces except for their eyes. One of them was much bigger than the other two, carrying a heavy rifle in his hands.

His name was Rahn, a Captain of the Fallen House of Devils.

Raising his rifle, Rahn looked through the scope, spotting the small floating object scan a car, then move on. His eyes narrowed dangerously through the scope.

Centuries ago, long before his lifetime his people, the Eliksni, prospered greatly, until the Whirlwind came, destroying everything and leaving his people as broken scavengers. This brought them to Earth, where they found the Great Machine that brought them wondrous life. Now though, it is in the hands of beings called humans, which seemed to have encountered the Whirlwind just like they did. However, the Great Machine protected these humans for some reason, instead of them! Humanity did not deserve its greatness, so they were at constant war with the humans to reclaim their lost god.

Rahn did not know what the white floating machines were called, but he knew what they brought. As such, he would not allow this one to succeed in its task. Giving orders to his two Vandals, he let out a great roar, signifying the start of their hunt, and grinned underneath his ether mask.

The little machine turned to look behind him, a sense of worry coming over him as he heard Rahn's roar. These past few days he was being hunted by a pack of Fallen, which set him on edge. If he didn't find his Guardian soon…

Shaking away his worries, he pressed on, continuing his scans, although with a sense of urgency. If his Guardian wasn't around here, then he would be forced to escape the area on his own in order to not be caught by the Fallen. He scanned a skeleton laying half inside and on the hood of a rusted car, wincing slightly at the sight.

"Ouch," he says quietly.

Moving up the hill, he suddenly stops and shifts slightly, sensing something nearby. Curious and for the first time, hopeful, he moves closer to where he felt the Light and scans a patch of dirt and crumbled bone next to a car.

"Is it possible?" he whispers excitedly to himself, expanding his body into a glowing blue orb, his white pieces floating around his core.

There was barely anything left but, it was there. The Light shone very brightly, more than he could believe. If he had a mouth, he would have the widest smile on his face for the first time in his life. He focused his Light onto the old remains, bringing them back together to form a humanoid shape.

"There you are!" he exclaims happily.

With those words, he scrunched his body inwards before quickly expanding it with a blinding flash of white, as his Guardian was reborn.

There was nothing.

Then, there was Light. She groans quietly, slowly lifting her head up as she comes to her senses. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was… what was it? There was a battle... robots were everywhere, and a chilling robotic voice was giving a terrifying speech... what was it?

"Guardian… Guardian? Eyes up Guardian!" a small male voice says in excitement.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the voice, and she blinks repeatedly, looking in front of her. Getting used to the light, she notices some strange floating machine in front of her face, colored white with a glowing blue optic that shines with… excitement?

"W-what?" she croaks out in confusion, voice weak.

"It worked! You're alive!" the machine exclaims happily, not noticing her confused state. "You don't know how long I've been looking for you!"

Focusing on the little machine with her memory coming back to her she frowns thoughtfully, with a look of surprise on her face.

"Are you one of Tony Stark's inventions?" she asks curiously.

The machine stops, confused, and maybe a little offended.

"Huh? I'm not an invention. And who is Tony Stark?" he asks, causing her to blink in surprise.

Who didn't know Tony Stark? The famous Iron Man, and one of the Avengers?! The machine continues to talk.

"I'm a Ghost! Actually… now I'm, your Ghost and you… well, you've been dead a long time. So you're going to see things you won't understand," he says.

"I- wait what?" she exclaims in confusion, a frown on her face. She brushes a strand of her dirty blonde hair out of her face. "How could I be.. dead…"

She trails off in the middle of her sentence, noticing her surroundings with wide eyes. Where was she… what the heck was this place?! She began to hyperventilate, silently freaking out. Noticing her panic, Ghost rushes forwards.

"Hey hey, come on you're going to be fine!" he says reassuringly. "Do you know your name?"

"S-Sophie Matthews…" she chokes out, staring at her shaking hands, flexing them.

"Ok. Well Sophie, I can't entirely imagine what you might be going through right now, but I'll help you however I can ok?" he asks comfortingly.

She shakily nods her head. "Ok."

Ghost takes note of her accent, figuring that she must be of Sokovian nationality, which would make perfect sense considering their location. A sudden roar echoes through the air, startling Sophie and causing Ghost to look down the hill, noticing small figures heading towards them in the distance.

"What was that?!" she yelps in fright, looking around with wide eyes.

"This is Fallen territory. We aren't safe here. I have to get you to the City." Ghost says urgently, turning to her.

Looking at the ground, he scans a strange glowing piece of twisted metal, causing it to dissolve and reform into the shape of a helmet her size. It was a simple tan color, and Sophie then noticed she was wearing light armor pieces from shoulder to toe with a brown color scheme. It wasn't the comfiest thing she had worn, but it fit her perfectly, feeling comfortable enough and outlining her figure.

"Here, put this on," Ghost says, gesturing to the helmet.

Sophie does so, pulling it over her head and tucking her hair into it, the helmet snapping on with a satisfying click. Bobbing in approval, Ghost moves closer to her.

"Now hold still," he commands, floating towards her face before disappearing in a blue flash. She whips her head around in alarm.

"Ghost?!" she says fearfully, afraid of being left alone in this unfamiliar and scary place.

"Don't worry, I'm still with you," his voice says in her head, making her jump in surprise.

"Where are you?" Sophie asks nervously.

"I'm in your head, alright?" he replies, slightly exasperated. "I'm not going anywhere."

Sophie's a little unsettled at everything that's going on: waking up in a frightening new place, having a strange talking machine dissolve into her brain, and apparently learning that some strange creatures called 'the Fallen' are after her. Still, this 'Ghost' at least seems to be helping her, and it's not like she has any better options.

Hopefully this is all just a crazy dream. Maybe she's dreaming about Halo? As a girl gamer enjoys that game, plays it often. Jokes around with her friends as well about the whole 'girl gamer' memes…

"Focus Sophie!" Ghost exclaims, and she jumps in surprise.

"Ok… ok," the Sokovian girl whispers to herself, taking a few heavy breaths.. "What do I do?"

"We won't survive long out in the open like this. Let's get inside the Wall," he says.

Sophie looks over at the massive broken down wall standing about a hundred feet away, sighing to herself. Glancing over where she heard the roar, she takes her chances and then sprints for the wall. Seeing a small set of stairs leading to a door, she makes her way to it and enters the Wall. A light on her helmet suddenly shines, illuminating the dark area.

"Okay, I need to find you a weapon before the Fallen find us," Ghost says.

"But, I don't know how to-" she starts to protest.

Something suddenly makes a loud clang above her, and she flinches with a quiet yelp of fright.

"Quiet! They're right above us!" Ghost whispers scoldingly.

Sophie keeps her mouth shut and continues walking down the rusted corridor, illuminated by the orange setting sun, before reaching another short flight of stairs. As she moves to walk up them, she suddenly sees a large, bug like figure crawling up a rusted pipe just behind the broken wall, and freezes with fear.

"Ghost… What was that?" she whispers.

"A Fallen. We need to move," he urges.

Swallowing nervously, she nonetheless continues onwards, cautiously moving deeper into the wall. She walks up the old stairways and trudges through dark corridors, flinching at every sound and creak of metal. Eventually, Sophie walks through a small entryway and comes out into an open space. She's standing on a catwalk, the darkness surrounding her making everything empty and dangerous. She can't see anything around.

"What now?" Sophie asks nervously.

Ghost materializes in front of her, and she jumps in surprise before calming herself down. Ghost illuminates himself in a ball of white light, and starts hovering around the empty space.

"Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark. We won't. We need more light. I'll see what I can do," he tells her.

As Ghost hovers through the empty space, illuminating a few pipes and walls in the dark, Sophie glances around anxiously. The idea of something popping up and attacking her is at the full front of her mind. As she glances back over at Ghost again, she freezes when the light briefly illuminated another alien, who quietly slips out of view. Ghost doesn't seem to notice, and instead starts shooting blue beams of energy into an old control panel.

"Another one of these hardened military systems and a few centuries of entropy working against me," he mutters.

The empty chamber then becomes revealed as Ghost activates the power, briefly blinding Sophie. When she blinks the dots out of her vision, she gasps in fear at the sight of several Fallen growling and snarling on a nearby bridge, looking right at her. Ghost quickly shoots back over to her, a pair of flying robots in casual pursuit.

"They're coming for us!" he exclaims.

Ghost materializes back into Sophie's head as she backs away in a panic, stumbling into a closed gate. The gate then lifts up courtesy of Ghost, and she wastes no time in rushing inside.

"Here! I found a rifle! Grab it!"

Sophie's gaze falls onto an old looking assault rifle that's leaning against a storage crate, and she swiftly picks it up. She looks over the rifle, fumbling with it before holding the gun in what she believes is the proper way.

"I hope you know how to use that thing," Ghost comments.

"I tried to tell you, I don't!" Sophie replies anxiously.

"Oh… well I'm no expert on weapons either, but here's a crash course: you turn off the safety button, aim, and pull the trigger to fire!" he says.

"What's the safety?" she demands, fumbling with the gun awkwardly while moving through the dark corridor.

"That switch on the side."

Sophie spots the safety and then flicks the switch, setting it into firing mode. She then tightens her grip on the rifle and continues on her way, turning around a corner. At the far end she suddenly spots movement of a creature slinking out of view

"What was that?" Ghost whispers.

"You're asking me?" she asks incredulously.

Keeping hold of her nerves, she tightens her grip on her rifle and then cautiously moves forwards again. When she turns the corner she quickly aims the rifle, only to spot no one here.

When Sophie starts to move forwards again, the ceiling above her is suddenly blown open as a creature drops its way through, snarling and shrieking at her. Sophie yelps and stumbles back in surprise, prompting the Fallen to strike.

The lowly dreg scurries forwards and pulls out an electric knife, swinging it at her. Sophie just barely manages to get out of the way of the slash, aims her rifle, and then shoots. The dreg screeches in pain as the bullets impact against its skin before collapsing to the ground, dead.

Sophie stands frozen for a moment, eyes wide at the realization that she just killed something.

"Keep moving Sophie!" Ghost urges.

She shoves away her fear and unease, telling herself that the aliens are trying to kill her. It's either kill or be killed right now. Shaking her head, Sophie begins moving again, jogging down the winding hallways. Turning around a corner, she spots two dregs that shriek at the sight of her, and begin shooting their energy pistols. Sophie quickly ducks for cover against the wall, and as the dregs rush forwards she peeks out and aims with her rifle, shooting them down in a hail of bullets.

"You should reload your rifle," Ghost advises.

"And how do I do that?" she asks.

"Pull out the clip, and I'll give you a new one to place into rifle!" he tells her in exasperation.

Sophie does so, and then blinks in surprise when a new magazine appears in her hand. A little confused, she nevertheless puts the magazine back into the gun, and continues on her way.

"There's more ahead! Keep it up!"

"Doing my best!" she replies anxiously.

Sophie makes her way down the hallway when the roof burst open again, depositing a much bigger Fallen, this one having four arms. Sophie yelps in surprise, and it growls at her, holding two sharp swords that spark with electricity.

"A vandal!" Ghost recognizes, although not being very helpful.

Sophie aims her rifle and fires, but the vandal swiftly ducks away from her shots and scurries forwards on the ground like an insect. It then pops up in front of her and swipes a sword, smacking her rifle out of her hands. She gasps in alarm, and is then shoved to the ground when the vandal punches her with one of its arms.

The vandal shrieks victoriously and starts jabbing at her with its swords. Sophie rolls from side to side desperately to avoid the swords, crying out fearfully as she attempts to crawl away. One sword is then stabbed into the ground inches from her helmet, and she stares at it with wide, terrified eyes.

"Sophie, do something! Don't let the thing kill you!" Ghost exclaims.

Roaring, the vandal raises an arm with the intent of stabbing her through the chest. Acting on instinct, Sophie thrusts our her palm and smacks the vandal in the chest. To both of their surprise, glowing purple energy swirls around her hand and is then expelled when she hits the vandal, knocking it several feet away.

Sophie looks at her hand in shock, confused and bewildered at what just happened. The outraged growl of the vandal brings her focus back, and it charges at her, swiping its swords through the air. Sophie ducks underneath the swords and tumbled to the side. Coming up behind the vandal, she brings her hand back and then thrusts her palm out again, hitting its face as it turns to face her. Like before, swirling purple energy is expelled from her hand like magic.

The vandal is sent hurtling through the air from the hit, slamming against the wall with a pained screech before lying motionless on the ground, it's head seemingly burned to a crisp, it's skull caved in.

"Whoa… how did I do that?" Sophie asks in amazement.

"That was your melee ability. All Guardians have a certain power based on their subclass," Ghost says cheerfully.

"My subclass?" she asks, confused.

"You're a warlock! Your melee ability is Energy Drain, which lets you take energy from enemies to increase your other abilities."

"Other abilities?!" she asks again, baffled.

The sound of Fallen roaring and growling in the distance stops Ghost from saying whatever he was about to say.

"You know what, I'll explain later. We need to get out of here," he reminds her.

Heeding his advice, Sophie picks up her rifle from the ground and then continues down the hallway, being a lot more cautious. She still can't get over how she has some strange magical abilities now. Is she one of those special people, like the Avengers or something?

But still, where is she…? How could she have possibly been dead?

Another small group of dregs pulls Sophie out of her thoughts, and they shoot their shock pistols at her. Sophie ducks away from the blue laser blasts and retaliates with her own fire, swiftly taking out the dregs. She even manages to score a headshot, and when she does the dreg's head explodes in a cloud of purple vapor.

"For creepy alien people with laser guns, these guys suck," Sophie comments.

She gives the headless dreg a look of unease and disgust, walking past it and shivering slightly.

"Dregs aren't tough at all. They're basically cannon fodder for the Fallen," Ghost explains.

"You don't say," she replies dryly.

"Oooh, look! A loot cache!" Ghost says excitedly, and she looks down to see a small crate right in front of the stairs leading down. "Let's see what's inside."

Sophie grabs the lid of the loot cache and lifts it up. Inside she sees a shotgun, raising an eyebrow at it.

"That looks dangerous," she says.

"It certainly is! It's a Preacher MK.22, a close range, heavy shelled-" Ghost starts to explain.

"Yes I know what a shotgun is," she dryly responds. "But I can't carry both guns."

"Sure you can! I'll just place it into your inventory!" he replies.

"My inventory…?" she asks, widening her eyes when the shotgun dissolves into nothing right before her eyes. "Whoa! Where did it go?!"

"I turned it into digital matter and placed it into your inventory. It can carry tons of things, and I can switch out whatever you'd need in an instant," Ghost says proudly.

"How does that even work?" Sophie asks, before shaking her head. "You know what, forget it."

Sophie makes her way down the steps, disregarding the now empty loot cache. What she finds when turning around the corner though, makes her stop in her tracks. Several red lasers protrude from small devices stuck into the wall, emitting a faint humming noise. The hallway is covered with them.

"Trip mines! Don't touch them!" Ghost warns.

Sophie gladly follows her advice, and carefully makes her way past the trip mines, edging alongside walls or crawling underneath the beams. When she comes out on the other side she breathes a sigh of relief, and walks through a door at the end of the hallway.

She instantly comes to a halt, widening her eyes in shock as she enters a larger room, filled with crates and rusted barrels, and a square pillar standing in the center of it.

The small force of at least a dozen Fallen also come to a halt, staring back at Sophie in momentary surprise. Both parties keep staring for another few seconds before the Fallen begin growling. There are eight dregs and four vandals, a few more probably in the room as well.

"Oh... this is bad," Ghost says meekly.

As one, the Fallen all roar out a battlecry and either fire shock pistols or charge at her. Sophie makes a mad dash to the side of the rom where there weren't as many Fallen, ducking behind a large storage crate. She peeks up and shoots her rifle at a few dregs, swiftly taking them out. While she's reloading, a dreg leaps over the crate for her with a knife out, and she thrusts her palm out to kill it with her melee.

A vandal then charges around the crate and throws out a fist, knocking her to the ground. Sophie grunts in pain and scrambled back as the vandal advances, her weapon out of reach.

"Ghost, shotgun!" she cries out.

"On it!"

The vandal shrieks, leaping at Sophie with claws extended. A shotgun then materializes into her hands and, reacting purely out of reflex, she pumps the shotgun and sprays the vandal full of heavy bullet shells. The vandal is blown back, and Sophie scrambled back to her feet.

"Woah!" she exclaims, awed by the force of the gun. "Take this!"

She charges at a few Fallen and starts spraying shotgun pellets everyone, swiftly killing all of the dregs in one shot. Another vandal takes a swipe at her with its swords, but she ducks away from it and then blasts it in the chest.

The last two vandals roar in outrage and bring out their own rifles, shooting flowing bolts of energy at her. Sophie attempts to dodge the bolts, but one of them strikes her in the shoulder and caused her to shout with pain, seeing a large burn mark. She gasps, her bravado quickly fading and drops to one knee from the pain, clutching and her shoulder.

"Sophie!" Ghost says worriedly.

Blinking away her tears of pain, Sophie raises her shotgun and shoots the vandal, but the gun clicks empty. The vandals screech in triumph, pulling out their swords and stomping over to her. Sophie casts the gun away and backs up in fear, thrusting out her palm again. It stumbles backwards, but the second vandal slashes her arm with its sword.

Sophie screams in pain again and scurries back in fear. The vandal raises its sword to strike the killing blow, but Sophie kicks her feet out with a cry, knocking the vandal back. She scrambled for her rifle, picking it up and pointing it at the vandals. The first one she hit charges at her with a growl, and she opens fire with a wild spray, killing it. Getting back to her feet, Sophie screams as she charges at the remaining vandal, punching it with her Energy Drain.

The vandal screeches as it dies, falling to the ground with its energy completely sucked away.

With the fight over, Sophie's adrenaline fades and she starts to whimper in pain, her shoulder burned and a deep slash cut across her arm. Ghost then materializes out and hovers in front of her, worry clear in his bright blue optic.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright!" he says.

"How?!" she demands through tears, wincing heavily at the pain.

In response, Ghost shines a bright light over her wounds, and Sophie gasps in surprise when her wounds starts to heal, disappearing as if they never existed within a few seconds. The pain is gone, and her robes are also repaired.

"How…" she breathes out in amazement.

"You're a Guardian, and I'm a Ghost. I can heal you from just about everything using the Traveler's light," he explains happily.

"...the Traveler?" she asks.

"You don't know-? Oh boy… there's a lot you need to learn about…" Ghost sighs. "Now let's go!"

He disappears back into Sophie's mind, leaving her confused and amazed at what happened with her healing. Remembering the situation she's in prompts her to get back to her feet. She picks up her Khvostov rifle, and Ghost takes the shotgun back into her inventory.

Seeing a door, Sophie walks through it and makes her way down a cement pipe towards the exit.

"The Fallen have a tighter hold on this place than I thought," Ghost remarks with unease. "Just a little bit further. Let's hope there's something left out there…"

Walking out of the dark cement pipe, Sophie finds herself now inside of the cosmodrome at a place called the Divide, which is a wide open plain of old grass. Several abandoned structures litter the area, and in the distance are incredibly massive towers shaped with huge spheres, where ships would've been launched.

"What is this place…?" Sophie asks quietly, moving forwards into the open space

"This was an old Cosmodrome," Ghost explains. "There's got to be something we can fly out of here."

"This place is huge," she murmurs, walking through the open yard.

Several quick booms interrupt the echoing silence, and the night sky is lit up as four red flares are shot into the sky.

"Incoming!" Ghost says in alarm.

Far above the Cosmodrome in the air, the sky suddenly seems to warp and shift, and a massive ship emerges from the distorted air in a bright flash: a Fallen Ketch. Moments later the shockwaves resulting from the emerging Ketch reach Sophie, and she flinches from the loud boom. Alongside the ketch appear several smaller ships, which quickly make their way towards the surface. She gapes at the size of the Ketch, fear building in her as the Fallen fly closer.

"Fallen ships! This close to the surface?!" Ghost exclaims in shock.

"They're are bigger than those flying Chitauri whale… things!" Sophie gapes.

"Chitauri? They've been extinct for centuries!" Ghost replies in confusion, much to her bewilderment. "Anyways, we need to move now! No doubt they're trying to get to us!"

Sophie doesn't bother voicing her confusion or arguing: everything about what's happening right now is already confusing enough. Spotting a warehouse up ahead that Ghost seems to be directing her too, she begins to sprint across the open field.

A dropship suddenly flies over to her, and begins shooting explosive energy bolts. Sophie stumbles as one impacts near her, and then ducks into a small ditch on the ground in a desperate attempt to avoid fire. It quickly stops though, and she looks up to see several Fallen materializing onto the surface.

"Great," she mutters.

Asking for her shotgun, Sophie fumbles with it for a moment as she works to reload, managing to get the large shells into the loading slot. Cocking the shotgun, she gets up from the ground and runs at the Fallen, who begin screeching at her. She blasts a vandal point blank as it leaps for her with slashing swords, and then shoots a dreg. The others fire their shock pistols, but Sophie manages to evade them with speed that even surprises her, and then rushes up to them. She shoots one dreg down, and another comes forwards to slash her with its knife. She ducks away from it and then smacks it bluntly the head with her shotgun, before shooting it down.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," she says hopefully.

No sooner had Sophie said that, than a blue laser struck against her abdomen, causing her to cry out in pain, stumbling backwards. She looks up, spotting two vandals on the roof of a small structure, shooting long-ranged lasers at her. Sophie groans in pain and hides behind the mound of dirt, where all of the dead aliens were laying.

"Come on!" she groans, wincing. "Ow…."

"I've got you, just keep shooting them down!" Ghost says, and her injuries begin healing on their own.

"Easier said than done," she retorts, flinching away as a laser impacts against the dirt near her, spraying dirt into her face. She takes a deep breath and starts muttering reassurances to herself, and switches her shotgun for her assault rifle.

"Ok Sophie… you got this. It's just like playing Halo…" she murmurs, tightening her grip on her gun. "Just aim, and fire. Aim and fire."

Steeling her nerves, Sophie pops up from her cover and turns around, raising her rifle. The vandals are far away, but looking through the cracked scope she lines up the shot for one of the vandals and then squeezes the trigger. Bullets rain from her gun and slam against the vandal, causing it to stumble back. She struggles to keep holding her rifle in place, the recoil knocking her off, but she manages to kill the vandal. The other vandal roars angrily and fires another shot, which she ducks away from. Doing the same thing, Sophie manages to take out the second vandal as well, although misses several shots due to the range.

She sighs in relief and then continues rushing over to the warehouse, glancing nervously at the ship's flying overhead.

"What's Halo?" Ghost asks.

"It's a video game…" she starts before thinking about it. "Actually, it's pretty much like what we're doing now. Aliens invade earth, and the player has to fight them off."

"But this is real life!" he replies.

"Oh really? I never noticed!" she bites back.

Sophie moves to enter the warehouse, but a flock of hovering robots appearing from inside stop her dead in her tracks, and she quickly aims her rifle at them.

"Shanks!" Ghost identifies unhelpfully.

The shanks start shooting lasers at her with their turrets, and she hides behind a metal crate, peeking out to shoot a few down. Pulling her head back to avoid being shot, Sophie suddenly feels a strange feeling coursing through her arm, and purple light starts to glow in her hand in the form of a ball.

"Ghost?" she asks nervously.

"Throw it!"

Sophie glances out and chucks the ball of purple light, which lands right in the center of the Shank swarm. Instantly the light expands into a swirling void vortex, engulfing the Shanks. They begin to sputter and fall to the ground as the vortex grenade damages them, becoming disabled beyond repair.

"Whoa, What was that?" she asks in amazement.

"That was your vortex grenade! You've now reached that ability! When you get stronger you'll be able to craft different types!" he explains excitedly.

"...huh," she remarks.

"Oh, wonderful!" Ghost suddenly says hopefully. "I'm picking up signs of an old jumpship. That could be our ticket out of here!"

"That's the first good news I've heard all day!" she replies.

Reloading her assault rifle, Sophie makes her way into the warehouse, following the trail Ghost is setting for her in her helmet in the hopes of locating a ship to escape in.

Rahn growls with controlled rage, infuriated by what has been happening so far. Barking at his troops, they continue crawling over the old starship in the search of machine parts, while others stand guard. As for him, he was standing in the center of the room with his shrapnel launcher, waiting for the enemy.

The little machine of light has just resurrected a new Light Warrior: the so-called 'Guardian.' That Guardian is completely new and inexperienced, a pitiful excuse for their ranks. Killing her should be easy! And yet it's proving to be the exact opposite, and his forces are being humiliated by her! And Rahn is furious: angry with his minions for being so pathetic, and with the Guardian for refusing to die.

But he would make sure she does. The House of Devils will not be brought down, least of all by a newborn runt! He will end her life, that he is completely sure of.

Or he'll die trying. Nothing less.

Sophie steps cautiously through the dark hallway, now getting very close to the ship from what Ghost was saying. She's already passed through several small control rooms, killing a few Fallen stragglers.

"It's just up ahead!" Ghost states.

Smiling in pure relief and joy, Sophie takes off at a jog in the direction of the ship, and enters a small docking bay. Hanging from the ceiling in a bunch of loose cables is an old, worn out Arcadia Class Jumpship. Sophie just about cries in relief before skidding to a stop, seeing a much larger Fallen standing right in front of it.

The large Fallen growls at her, holding a large weapon in its hands. Like the vandal it has four arms, along with two swords hanging from its waist. However this Fallen is at least double the height of a vandal, if not taller. On his head is what looks to be a crown of some sort, and hanging from his back is a crimson colored cape, most likely a sign of rank.

"Uh oh… that's a Captain. Very tough," Ghost says nervously.

"Light-bearer!" he growls out.

Sophie widens her eyes in surprise. "You can speak English?!"

"Your primitive language is most revolting but, yes, I can speak it," he grunts.

"Well, what do you want from me?" Sophie demands, putting on an air of bravado.

"What do we want? We want what you humans STOLE from us!" the Captain snarls. "The Great Machine came to us, gifted its glorious power so that we could prosper!"

"Great Machine?" she asks in confusion.

"I think he means the Traveler," Ghost says.

"I don't know what that is either!" she hisses back at him.

"You humans do not deserve its protection! You are not worthy to touched by its blessing! It should've protected us! Not you!" the Fallen Captain roars. "And you shall be punished for killing Eliksni."

"That's not my fault!" she argues. "Besides, you guys attacked me first!"

"So you say, Light-bearer," he growls. "I am Rahn, and I shall deliver your judgement!"

Rahn then barks and growls in his own language, and a chorus of howls fill the room. Vandals and dregs pop out from hiding and make a rush for Sophie. Caught off guard, she stumbles back and lobs a grenade at a group of dregs, which are caught in its burning vortex and killed.

"Ghost, shotgun!" she cries out.

Her assault rifle disappears and is replaced by her shotgun, which she swiftly aims at a jumping vandal. She guns it down, and hits another vandal with her Energy Drain. Rahn then starts shooting his shrapnel launcher with angry grunts, firing glowing shrapnel at her. Sophie ducks to the side and makes a dash for a large pillar, hiding behind it. A dreg runs around the corner, and she blasts it before it could swing its knife.

She peeks her head out and then guns down the next two vandals that try jumping at her with swords raised. Catching sight of Rahn, Sophie moves out of cover and charges at him. He fires his shrapnel launcher, but she ducks out of the way and shoots her shotgun. Rahn stumbles backwards as the bullets impact against his armor. Raising her shotgun, Sophie squeezes the trigger for the finishing blow.

An empty click has her widening her eyes in horror.

Rahn instantly retaliates by throwing out a fist, punching her in the head. Sophie goes tumbling back with a cry of pain, losing her grip on her shotgun. The Captain roars before shooting his shrapnel launcher at her, and she rolls out of the way. As she tries to get up, Rahn is instantly on her again with a snarl. He grabs her armor and effortlessly lifts her off the ground, throwing her against the pillar.

She lets out a scream of pain when she feels something in her arm snap. She whimpers in agony, slowly looking up as Rahn approaches. The Fallen Captain chuckles in satisfaction, leering over the wounded Guardian.

"Such a shame. You only had a few minutes of your new life," he scoffs in contempt. "Though I must say I'm doing you a favor."

Rahn pulls out one of his swords and raises it over her, preparing to stab it straight through her skull. Clenching her fist tightly in her unbroken arm, Sophie struggles past the pain with gritted teeth, and glares up at him. Yelling, she thrusts her palm out as he swings his sword down, expelling a heavy hit with her Energy Drain ability. Rahn stumbles back with a pained gasp, missing his swing by only a few inches and dropping his sword.

At the same time Ghost heals her broken arm, and she yelps in pain as the bone snaps into places. Tentatively moving her arm, she looks on in amazement at finding it completely healed, as if nothing ever happened. Rahn roars furiously and charges at Sophie, his claws extended on all four arms. Acting on instinct, Sophie rolls out of the way as he swipes two arms, his claws shredding through the cement pillar like nothing. Her assault rifle materializes into her hands and she wastes no time in shooting at him.

To her surprise however, Rahn suddenly begins to teleport a few feet, avoiding her shots.

"That's not fair," she mutters to herself.

She rapidly switches her aim to try and hit him again, but Rahn just keeps teleporting, getting closer to her. Eventually Sophie's magazine is emptied, and Rahn seizes the opportunity to lunge forwards, smacking the rifle out of her hands. He then wraps a clawed hand around her throat and effortlessly lifts her off the ground, beginning to choke her. Sophie gasps in pain, pulling desperately at his hand as he restricts her airways. She thrashes in his grip, and Rahn chuckles again, raising another arm to slice her open with his claws.

Pulling her feet up, Sophie kicks his chest as hard as she could to dislodge herself, and she collapses to the ground as he loses his grip on her. Rahn brings his arms up and then swings them down, about to plunge his claws through her body. His attacked is suddenly halted as his own sword appears buried in his chest, the electric blade sizzling and burning his skin.

Rahn looks down in shock, finding Sophie holding his sword, which she had grabbed after falling to the ground. Unable to speak, Rahn slowly topples lifelessly onto his side, dead within moments. Sophie pants heavily, sitting down on the ground with an arm laying on her bent knee, completely exhausted from the hard and extremely painful fight. Ghost then materializes into view beside her, his optic looking between her and Rahn in amazement.

"You did it! You killed a Fallen Captain!" he exclaims excitedly.

"Yeah... that sucked," she heaves, hanging her head. "Are all Captain's this hard?"

"Usually. And there is a lot of them," he replies, and she starts to groan. "But that's not something to worry about! This was your first fight against a Captain! After some training it's a lot easier to beat these guys! Experienced Guardians can mow Captain's down like cannon fodder, so you'll get there in no time!"

"Yeah right," she scoffs.

"So pessimistic," he mutters in response, turning towards the ship. "Alright, let me see if I can get us out of here."

Ghost flies over to the ship, and Sophie watches him go before forcing herself to her feet with a groan. Sparing one last look at Rahn, she slowly makes her way over to Ghost as he scans the ship, picking up her two fallen weapons along the way.

"It's been here awhile. Hasn't made a jump in centuries. We're lucky the Fallen haven't completely picked it clean," he comments.

"Will it fly?" Sophie asks.

Ghost turns around to face her, his blue optic lighting up. "I can make it work."

He hovers towards the hull of the ship and then disappears inside. Sophie waits anxiously for a few moments, joy and relief filling her as the ship hums to life. Orange flames burst out of the thrusters, and the cables detach as the ship shudders, the hull creaking for a moment before it stabilizes, hovering in the air. Sophie stares at it in awe, having never seen a ship or a plane hover like that before, much less the fact that it's an actual spaceship. And she's gonna fly it!

"Okay, it's not going to break orbit, but it just might get us to the City," Ghost informs her. "Now, about that transmat..."

A loud roar echoes down the tunnel, causing Sophie to freeze up in fear. The roar itself sounded much louder than Rahn's. Turning around, Sophie sees two vandals crawling out of the large dark pipe, and from behind them emerges a massive figure that completely dwarfs the vandals, and in fact even makes Rahn himself look small.

Her first view of the huge Fallen are its many glowing red eyes, followed by its large, clawed hands. It climbs out of the pipe and looks directly at her, growling deeply in its throat. When it jumps out and stands to its feet, she gets a good look at it. The huge Fallen is wearing gray armor and a red cape, which flows over the front of its body. A huge two-pronged crown adorns its head, and in its hands is a shrapnel launcher bigger than Rahn's. The insignia on its cape identifies it as an Archon: a Fallen priest.

"Uhh... Ghost?" Sophie asks meekly, backing up in fear.

"Bringing you in!" he says.

Sophie almost welcomes the sudden sensation of her body disappearing, and then finds herself looking at the inside of the ship's cockpit, where she was seated in a chair. Ghost lifts the ship out of the docking bay, directing it into the sky. The two vandals shoot their wire rifles in an attempt to stop them while the Archon quietly watches, stomping forwards.

"We can come back for them when you're ready. Let's get you home," Ghost says.

"Home..." Sophie murmurs glumly.

She looks around at the landscape from her view in the ship's cockpit, finally getting a good look at her old home. She recognizes the mountains and lakes, but what was once a beautiful Sokovian countryside, filled with lush forests and snowcapped mountains, is now a desolate wasteland. The city she remembers is completely gone. Replacing it are destroyed walls and ruins she doesn't even recognize, and what natural life did existed seemed diseased and polluted, leaving the whole place uninhabitable.

Sokovia has been Sophie's home for all of her life... and now it's gone.

From the roof of Dock 13, she watches as the new Guardian's ship rises into the sky, the thrusters causing her cape to flutter in the wind. The presence of a Fallen Archon right beneath her means nothing, and once the jumpship disappears from view she makes her own exit as well.

She knows plenty about who this new Guardian is, has seen even seen her before; though not in person. But what she does know is that this Guardian is the key to humanity's survival.

Ghost14lebi: Lot's of years, I'm already calling it haha. If I don't finish everything by 2021 then there will be a two year long break because I'll be unable to write during that time (church missionary).

Guest: She's a custom Guardian, and it follows the game story as you can see. :)

Shadow Solaris: Yup, all things have there end eventually, no matter how great there are. As someone once said: "Part of the journey is the end."

AnnoyingSquishy1.o: I like your enthusiasm! glad you enjoy my stuff!