The Titan fired his auto rifle, wishing he didn't have to. His bullets skimmed the edge of the sinkhole, driving the defending Vandals back down below the edge. In the brief respite, he examined the strange view before him, of an entire community of Eliksni in chaos, seemingly, before their arrival. But as strange as the previously arraigned chaos was, it was not nearly the strangest thing. He took cover.
"Sadaria, Tiana, you see that on the far right?"
"Yes," The Warlock replied coolly between shots, keeping the snipers in the rocky rafters pinned down. "I see everything."
The Hunter replied next. "You mean the Captain totally losing his shards? Or the tall Marauder running around yelling with his weapons still on his back?"
"The Marauder. Looks like he's trying to get everyone else to stop shooting at us."
After a pause, the Hunter replied. "Josh, do you really think you're seeing that, or is it just something you want to see?"
"Whatever it is, I want a closer look. I'm dropping down, Tiana, cover me."
Without waiting for a reply, the Titan jumped over the cover and charged towards the rising Vandals, electricity crackling in the air around him. Recognizing that if they didn't move they would soon be dead, the Vandals leapt away, scrambling down the stairs. Grinning to himself, the Titan disengaged his shoulder charge and leapt down after them, firing his rifle aimlessly to discourage return shots. He landed heavily and, gathering the light into his forearm, summoned a barrier that towering over his position. He could see the Fallen through the shimmering shield, and their scattered chaos.
The Warlocks disgruntled tones came through. "Josh, if you sit behind that barrier for too long, they're going to start looking for other targets, namely me."
The Hunter slid next to him, her cloak trailing behind her, calling up, "You're a Warlock, make some pretty lights to distract them or something!" The Hunter turned to the Titan. "What's the plan? See anything interesting? And you're not allowed to say me, you've used that one already this week."
"Yes," the Titan said, helmet hiding his smile at the Warlock's grumbling over the comms, but he sobered quickly. "When we arrived the node was very distinctly in this cavern, but I think it was moving." He pulled the transponder out. "And now, it's... not."
"What?"
"It's not in the cavern at all, but-"
"Hey, guys?" came the warning from above. A roar sounded from the Fallen lines, drawing their gazes. The Captain had risen from the lines and charged, a small squad of Marauders and Vandals alongside him. The Fallen's general fire had focused, and a webbing of cracks had appeared in the Light-woven shield; it would not hold for much longer. The Hunter and Titan readied their weapons and prepared to exit cover with much return fire.
And then something happened that the Titan had never expected to see in his entire Light-lengthened lifetime. A Servitor, humming a low warbling cry, swooped in at high speed to crash right into the advancing Fallen. It bowled the smaller aliens over like so many pins, and caught the Captain against its rushing form. Without any extra movement or ceremony, the Servitor slammed the Captain into the wall of the cavern, pinning the bellowing figure there.
The Titan and Hunter paused. Then at the Fallen lines, a Vandal, dressed in gray robes, began shouting to the other Fallen, aided by the previously seen Marauder. Contention arose around them, it seemed apparent many disagreed with whatever was being said. Some glanced to the still Guardians, obviously confused as to why they were not currently being shot at, but others seemed to marvel at the fact that their ancient enemies were not returning fire. The Captain, enraged beyond belief but bound by tradition to not harm his Servitor, scrabbled uselessly at the rock wall against the machine's determined mass, shouting orders.
"Josh? What should we do?" The Hunter whispered.
He analyzed the situation. "Sadaria, are they still shooting at you?"
"No."
"Then everyone, hold your positions. I want to see where this is going." He mentally tapped on his Ghost. "Constance, what are they saying?"
She appeared beside him; her elegant black and silver shell gleaming dully. "Well they're arguing, that's certain. The two want the others to stop fighting and retreat, claiming a certain individual is coming? The Captain is shouting at one of them, demanding freedom, but I can't tell which; possibly the one in robes."
One tall Vandal took initiative, shouting at the smaller fugure and shoving him to the ground, then, turning and aiming his human-made sniper rifle, he fired in the next second. A blast of orange fire and sound; the Warlock cried out in pain.
"Sadaria! Status!?"
"What do you think?!" she snapped, coughing, "That was at least a .30 caliber round!"
"Joshua!" Constance said, "The other snipers are listening to the Captain's orders, to bring down-"
A flurry of wire rifle bolts, and the Titan could hear the Warlock's scream echoing in the cavern as well as through the comms. He cursed and rounded the corner of his barrier, his auto rifle clattering against the hopeful silence, forcing the snipers back, the Hunter's hand cannon felling two. But the damage had been done.
"I'm going Dawnblade" the Warlock gasped, "it's the only way I'm going to survive, Joshua."
"Do what you must," he ground out, "just…" He looked across at the Fallen lines, and at the brawl that had started. The two figures of the Vandal and the Marauder had been joined by a third; a scarred female, and the trio were deeply entrenched in a furious fist-and-knife battle of their own against their other house members. The Titan realized then. "Sadaria! Don't kill them, make a wall!"
He was none too late. The clear RING of the Dawnblade reverberated in the cavern, and the eyes of all were drawn to the radiant figure, wreathed in Light with wings of fire, wielding a sword of the purest flame. The Warlock cast down her fury, and the ground between the Fallen and the Guardians erupted in solar energy.
He glanced down at the node in his other hand, and his eyes widened. He looked up, seeing a rapid figure in the corner of his eye. The Hunter saw it as well and flicked up her hand cannon, aiming down sights. "Joshua! Your flank!"
"Tiana, no!"
The Ace of Spades spat once, sending the Fallen tumbling against its own momentum, and blue blood suddenly streaked the stone floor.