"This is Tec-9, reporting. Titan code:7854TEC."

A Titan exo was speaking in the hologram. He was clearly battered and heavily wounded; sparks flying and open circuits everywhere. Even his face seemed to have been crushed by something.

"I was sent to investigate the Fallen; they were keeping something heavily guarded. Something they clearly thought was too valuable or too much of a danger to let in... Or out. I realised that this was a danger that was indeed too much to let out."

As the three vanguards watched, Zavala had the most grim face. He had personally given Tec-9 the mission, and now look at him. He was dead and all they had to go by, was a holographic recording.

"These things, they, they seem to eat light. They drain and suck it away from you, like some kind of vacuum... And their screams. They're the definition of terror incarnate. They're a goddamn nightmare."

"I can't watch this anymore." Zavala growled, getting up to leave. A woman got up in front of him.

"You sent him to his death and you dare not at least grace his final wishes? Are you not a Vanguard?" Ikora Rey hissed, stopping him in his tracks.

"I didn't mean for him to die-"

"Of course not. But he did. So you will watch his final moments, just as we are."

Zavala took his seat once more as he continued to watch.

"They multiply at an extremely fast rate. Or they're simply too many of them. Either way, they come out of nowhere. I'm currently trapped inside the Skywatch and the Fallen are outside holding guard the door. I'm low on ammunition and... They ate my ghost. I watched it literally have the light ripped and torn away from it and reduced to a broken, empty shell."

"These things are dangerous. I understand why the Fallen wanted to keep them here, if we let them out,-"

A blood-curling screech broke out and the sound of running was heard. The Titan turned with shock before returning to the Hologram.

"I pray that this message gets out to the Vanguard. Especially Zavala. I know he will avenge me."

He turned once more with a machine gun at the ready. It rattled as it churned to begin producing its rapid fire.

"Come, insects of Darkness! I will stand and fight! For the Light!"

The titan roared once more as he sprayed the enemy before the Hologram cut off abruptly. There was silence for a few seconds, which was interrupted by the clapping of hands.

The three Vanguards turned their heads to see a woman with three glowing green eyes, leaning on a wall.

"Eris, leave imme-"

Zavala was interrupted by Eris as she walked towards them.

"I warned you... But you did not listen."

"Eris, you knew?" Ikora spoke up, eyes widening.

"Of course, I did."

"She told me her usual lies and deceit."

"Actually, I told you, you sent that man to his death. If he left, he would not return."

"As if you would know when one would die."

"There are many things I know, that you would need an entire lifetime's worth of experience to learn, dear Vanguard."

"Enough! You mean to tell me, you knew and you still did not tell me to recall him?! Why, Eris?"

"To prove a point and use his death as a beacon of hope."

Eris conjured a ball of light and thrust it towards the table where it struck the hologram emitter. With a soft green glow, the hologram emitter displayed a map with a blinking spot.

"Get that rock off my hologram." Cayde-6 said dryly, reaching down to pet his chicken. He was ignored as Eris expanded the map of the Skywatch.

"The Skywatch are being occupied by a parasite that I am very familiar with. The Hive."

"Absolutely impossible! The Hive haven't been here in centuries! We would have known!"

"Completely possible. Their scent of death lingers on this planet and has been becoming stronger since the Grimm first settled. It was only a matter of time before they showed up at our front door again."

"Mating season..." Ikora whispered, something that she had already been warned about. She was beginning to remember the reports and began piecing together the bigger picture.

"The initial Grimm that had been sent across Remnant must have been loaded to the brim of Hive eggs. They were just sacrificial pawns. The hive would feed off of their brethren and continue to grow."

"Correct, Ikora. The Fallen tried to deal with this matter as they had been the ones who were originally attacked. The House of Kings, especially. They attacked the Hive with all they had. But obviously could not completely defeat them."

"So they trapped them instead; sealing them in the Skywatch."

"Correct again. But that makes them even more dangerous. The Hive are good at doing 3 things. Eating, reproducing & collecting Tithe. If they are not given nutrients through outside means, they simply turn inwards..."

"They eat each other. Cannibalism. Survival of the fittest would ensure only the strongest Hive and Grimm are the ones that would eventually escape."

"It seems my Hive teachings are paying off."

"Yes, they are."

Eris caught a green orb that was flung towards her by Cayde.

"I told you to get that shit off my map."

"I know."

"Then next time, listen and obey."

Cayde walked past her and towards the door.

"Cayde, this meeting is not finished."

"Oh, I know. But something much more important has come up."

"What exactly."

"My student's personal weapon."

"Cayde-6, come back here, right now!"

Cayde was already gone. On the original blue hologram was two moving dots that were heading closer to the Skywatch. Their name's were Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long.

Eris noticed this and followed after him, a grim look on her face. She couldn't exactly let her favourite fan die today, could she?

With a roar of her engine, Yang rammed her Sparrow into a Fallen Captain; destroying its Arc shield and pushing it over. The Captain grunted and pushed against the sparrow as he tried to push it over. Yang grinned as she reversed away from him and then slammed into him again, completely throwing him over. Jumping off of her Sparrow, she twirled round to see Ruby decapitating the Captain with a single swing of her knife.

"You really love spoiling the fun, huh Sis?"

"Come on, Yang, I want to hurry this up and go home!"

"Boooooriiiiiing!"

"I wanna see my shows! That's not boring!"

"Why see shows when you could be out here killing Fallen and saving the City from disasters?"

"Boooooriiiiiing!"

"Hey, you just used my line!"

"It fits!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does-"

Yang was cut off as a Vandal screeched and leapt towards her; Arc blades flashing. With a burst of fire, Yang readied her fist.

"I'm trying to have a conversation here!"

Yang punched the Fallen away, sending it flying into a wall. It slid to the floor and twitched before dying silently.

"Let's just get this over with."

"I agree."

They headed into the hallways, to meet more Fallen waiting to ambush them. Ruby met them head-on, shooting her way through, while Yang kept up a Void shield to stop any incoming damage. Then she pounded the floor with a burst of Arc energy, disintegrating any Fallen near her. The Fallen continued attacking, but after a while, they all began running away. Ruby captured a Dreg and grabbed its comm device before firing a bullet into its head.

There was someone screaming down the line to all Fallen. Ruby's Ghost translated:

"Get out! Get out! If they want to sacrifice themselves so much, let them be! We can watch them tear each other apart limb from limb!"

"That's... Very ominous." Yang said, a shiver going down her spine.

"But who are they talking about? They can't be talking about us. We wouldn't kill each other."

"Then it must be whatever they're... Guarding?"

They entered further until they met a locked door. Ruby's Ghost began her job; trying to unlock the door. After a while, the door rattled and lifted open.

"What is this? Lots of motion ahead. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Don't worry, Scarlett, I'm sure it's just Fallen trying to mess with us."

They crept up the stairs and into the first room; pitch black. Scarlett turned herself into a flashlight, but even then, the darkness was still there creeping at the corner of their light,

"What's going on here? Where are all those Fallen?"

"By your feet."

Yang looked down to indeed see dead Fallen carcasses. Piles of them. Ripped to shreds and missing parts.

"What in the fu-"

"More movement. Further ahead. They're scampering around."

They continued to creep forward, hearing many different noises around them in the dark.

"Wait a sec."

They were so low they were almost crawling, and Yang pulled Ruby back to her quickly. Now they were back to back.

"What is it Yang?"

"These aren't Fallen. They can't be."

"Why not?"

"Fallen can't see in the dark!"

There was a screech like no other; one that sounded like the epitome of despair. Then things began to run at them, claws ready to pounce and kill them.

"What is that?!"

"Hive! They're here!"

Yang shot towards the first group of creatures, with her body coated in electricity. Just as she was about to reach them, a sword came flying out at her. She was knocked to the side, dazed but not dead. Her Aura had saved her from the hit.

"That hurt like hell! What even was that?!"

The perpetrator came out, heavily armoured and three vicious glowing eyes. It opened its set of teeth to release a sort of growl before picking up its dropped sword. Then it rushed forward to attack. Yang grinned and rushed forward to meet its swing. She danced around his slash attacks and then punched it straight into the jaw. This knocked the armoured Hive back, but it easily found its footing once more.

Ruby continued fighting against the smaller and still screeching Hive, shooting as many as she could so that she wouldn't be overrun. Just as she was abut to fire another shot, her Hand Cannon was blasted away from her. Seeing where the shot came from, another version of the Hive was aiming its weapon at her once more. Ruby disappeared in a flutter of rose petals before the shots could hit her again. Finding cover, she quickly grabbed her hand cannon and instead equipped a sniper rifle.

"Annoying!"

Yang was still battling the armoured Hive which seemed to not want to give up at all. She had began to crumble some of its defences, and its armour was falling away.

"Why won't you die?!"

She began firing shots from her gauntlets towards the Hive creature but still it came forward. She opted for another Fist of Havoc, launching herself at the creature. Instead, it stopped and did something completely unexpected.

Taking a guarding position, a black wall of shadow seemed to cover his front. Yang punched against it, but couldn't feel the shield even strain against her attack. Instead, it seemed to be sapping away at her Aura. Bouncing backwards away from the shield, she did a few somersaults and landed safely, while pulling out her prized possession.

Gjallarhorn.

Just as the shield of darkness began to lift, Yang fired a shot at it. She guessed that the shield couldn't be held for long, so she waited for the perfect opportunity.

The Hive creature was surprised to see the the rocket heading towards him and couldn't react in time. It hit him straight in the head, blowing him apart and his armoured body falling to bits. Yang was still weary of him and continued to blast him, lighting up the area and killing other Hive that had been attempting to kill them.

Ruby fired her final shot, killing the final Hive creature that was shooting at her. They were quick to fire and even faster to hide. These Hive were indeed a formidable foe, just like Eris said.

Ruby had a light bulb moment as she realised that Eris had indeed prepared her in case she ever did meet the Hive or Grimm.

Ruby remembered everything about the Hive that she had learnt. the ones who ran around trying to claw at them and shred them, were called Thrall. Those that had matured from thrall and had acquired the maturity to use firearms were called Acolytes. The one that Yang had faced...

That was a Knight. A strong one.

"Hello there."

Yang and Ruby turned around to see a familiar face. Well, 2 familiar faces actually.

"Cayde! Eris!"

Ruby ran up to them, giving them a big hug together. Eris sighed, but allowed it while Cayde laughed and patted the girl's back soothingly.

"Hi... Guys..." Yang was out of breath, she had been running on adrenaline since fighting the Knight. But now her light was barely coming back. Her Aura was moving at a snail's pace.

"Well you guys have been busy. Good job." Cayde commented, seeing the bodies of Hive disintegrate. He crushed a Thrall's head beneath his boot, turning it into dust.

"Let me heal you." Eris murmured, placing a hand upon Yang's head and chanting something, as her green eyes shined brighter. Yang felt her Aura shoot up as she was rejuvenated and she leapt in the air from the feeling of being over-powered.

"But... Why did you come?"

"To help you clear out the Hive. these things don't die easily, that's for sure."

A weapon materialised in Cayde's hands. It was a Scythe.

"Also, to give you this."

Ruby squealed and bear-hugged Cayde once more, this time completely pushing him over to the floor.

"Crescent Rose! It finally arrived!"

"Yeah, I did the paint job for it. It took a while but-"

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"It's nothing. Relax. I could do this all day."

"Well we don't have all day." Eris reminded, as she and Yang prepared to storm the main area. There was moaning and screaming from inside the last room. "There's a Wizard in there and I need it dead. Now."

Ruby quickly loaded her Crescent Rose, getting a feel for it before nodding to Cayde. Together, they stood outside the door ready to burst inside.

"On the count of three. One-"

"THREE!"

Yang blasted open the door and shot towards the Thrall, slamming her fist into one and then roundhouse kicked the next. They didn't even know what hit them.

"Or, we could just not bother waiting." Cayde sighed, as they all ran out and began their attack.

Yang punched 2 more Thrall out of the sky. Bringing her next fist forward, she launched off a fiery fist blast, that incinerated the rest of the Thrall screaming their way towards her.

"Woah! I didn't know I could do that!"

"You can't, normally. I've just given you a small boost of light. It won't last much longer." Eris explained, making a few hand signs and murmuring, before a darkness swallowed the Hive in front of her. She grinned in satisfaction.

"Good enough!"

Just as Yang was about to face off another Knight, it fell to piece before her. Literally.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, all the Hive were breaking down, falling apart at the seams and bit and pieces no longer staying together. Eris and yang could only watch as the Hive went into a frenzy but couldn't even react to what was killing them.

"This is so much fuuuuun!"

Ruby burst into rose petals once more, slicing apart another few Acolytes in front of her to shreds. Cayde followed through, rushing past the bodies to the 2 Hive Knights behind and dicing them up in a crackle of electricity.

"Holy shit, Rubes! I didn't know you could go that fast!"

"I didn't know either!"

There was another screech and the Hive Wizard let itself be known, summoning the rest of the Hive that it could. Thrall clambered out of the dark pit that it had been summoned and made their way towards the Guardians. Yang used her Gjallarhorn to blow them to smithereens before they even had a chance.

"Gotra, Eir Spawn! Little lights, be very careful! He is not to be trifled with!" Eris warned, as she herself prepared an attack. A lance of dark magic conjured in her hands.

"Right, got it!"

"Sure, Eris!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Gotra, the Hive Wizard, screamed again and began preparing an attack. It let loose a dozen blasts of magic electricity which the group dodged easily.

"Take a load of this!"

Yang fired Gjallarhorn again, and the missile found its path to the Wizard, exploding on impact and releasing its cluster grenades. Yet when the dust cleared, it was still hovering there.

"What?! There isn't anything alive that Gjallarhorn can't kill!"

"Hush, Xiao Long. It is using a magic shield. You've just destroyed it."

Ruby reacted first, flinging herself towards the Hive wizard and cutting it down. It screeched, this time in pain. Eris threw her lance, hitting it in the middle of its head and still having enough force to attach itself to the wall behind. It growled before becoming silent for once.

"Dead. Just like all hive should be." Eris murmured, her lance of darkness dissipating into thin air. The trio behind her celebrated

"Woohoo, we did it!" Cayde shouted for joy, before sitting on something and getting out a drink. He drank the entire bottle and then threw it away, before belching loudly. "'Scuse me."

"I'm so glad this is over."

"No thanks to you, Rubes. You went super damn fast!"

"Tell me about it! It was exhilarating!"

As they exited the Skywatch, Eris and Cayde parted ways with the 2 girls, wishing them good luck. Cayde promised to handle all the paperwork for them and do a proper report to ensure that only the most experience Guardians would be allowed near here. Eris said she would see them later, but didn't state where she was headed.

"Time for a snack. Want anything Rubes?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here first and get some strawberry ice cream."

"Now, that I can agree on you with."

Sword Art 1, Technique 3: Ice thrust

A katana glinted with power and a dial whirled into place. With a flash of cold air, the sword thrust through the Hive Knight's chest. It roared, but quickly froze over completely, then crumbled into nothingness around her sword. It joined the bodies of decomposing Hive that lay wasted across the ground, with icicles decorating them beautifully. Even some of the Hive were frozen within them. Heels clacked across the ground beneath until they reached another person, also battling a few Hive Thrall.

Sword Art 1, Technique 2: Ice slice

The woman raced forward with a quick swing of her katana, a layer of ice and frost cut the Thrall in half. They decomposed even before they fell to the floor. The woman was breathing heavily and turned quickly when she heard her sister clapping.

"Well done, Sister. You've become much more magnificent than before."

"Thank you, Sister. I could not have done it without your guidance."

"Yes, truly. But do not forget. To watch your surroundings."

With her thumb, she propped her katana from its sheath, a cold mist seeping from the sword. Behind her Sister was a Hive Knight that was preparing to attack.

Sword Art 1 Technique 6: Dance of the Frosted Flakes

Everything around her went into slow-motion as she cut rapidly at the Knight behind her sister. It hadn't even been a second. As time seemed to finally catch up, the younger sister finally turned around and the Hive Knight gargled before disintegrating. Realising that she had been saved, the sister knelt before her.

"Thank you, sister. Forgive me for troubling you."

"Troubling me? Weiss, get up. There is never a time that I would not help my sister in her time of need. Especially when our wretched father is-"

"Please, leave Father out of this."

"... I'm surprised you still respect him. No matter. Let us leave. The subjugation is complete."

They left the tunnels they had been in, returning to the main entrance and getting on their Sparrows as they began the journey to Atlas. Weiss answered her Sister.

"I only respect him for what I can gain. Soon, I will be the head of the Schnee Dust Company."

She sped up as she leaned into her sparrow, her sister following.

"Then finally, I will be able to choose my own fate. And change this destiny of mine."