Chapter 8
After regaining his wits, Lawrence walks up to Ana Bray, Fellow hunter and is the forefront in understanding the AI Warmind: Rasputin.
"Ah, Lawrence! Good to see you around. You looking to hunt some hive or find me a data cache or two?" Ana smiled at her fellow hunter.
"A bit of both? I got something I need help with. A special order you could say." Lawrence said
"Oh? What kind of order? A weapon? Armour or-?
"Armour. But not for me…" Lawrence then steps to the side revealing Horo who was still wearing her cloak. Ana raised an eyebrow in curiosity. It wasn't normal for Lawrence to make special requests for a single person. Especially after recent events.
"Show her," Lawrence told Horo.
She then lowers her Hood and raises her cloak. Revealing her wolf traits.
"Well...That's something. Someone special I take it." Ana said rubbing her chin. Lawrence then shares the footage of Horo in her wolf form with Ana. The sheer awe and trust among hunters proved enough why Lawrence needed a special request.
"Alright, So, From what I can tell your not a guardian correct?" Ana asked Holo.
"Nope. I am a wolf deity but I wish to hunt with Lawrence here." Holo answers.
"Ah. I see why you come here then. You need armour but not anything that the Vanguard can produce."
Lawrence nods.
"Think you can help us?" he asks and Ana thinks for a moment Getting an idea she smiles.
"You remember that data cache that I had you save from Zavala's orders?"
The hunter pauses for a moment recalling but remembers the data caches he recovered for Ana.
"Well one of them contains a prototype exoskeleton suit. I skipped over this as guardians didn't need it and Zavala said expensive to mass produce for the civilian armed forces. But since it's just for your friend here. I think I can make it work for her. WIth some modifications to deal with transformation."
Ana then opens a terminal searches for her files on the suit.
"What's an exoskeleton?" Holo asks curiously.
"Think of it like an extra layer of bones that hug the outside of your body but made of metal instead of bone matter. It would take a load of external forces, such as gravity, off your body. Letting you run faster and lift heavier things without feeling exhausted." Ghost explained. while projecting an example.
"Could it reduce the recoil from gunfire?" Lawrence ask.
"In theory, if you programmed the servos correctly." Ghost answered.
"Alright, you want the good news or the bad news?" Ana said walking back.
"Good then bad," Lawrence answered.
"Well, I did find the blueprints for the suit which I can modify to your preferences. But the data you collected didn't come with the power source specs."
"But you have found a terminal that has the specs but can't reach it from here." Lawrence guessed.
"Correct. I doubt I need to ask you to hunt them for me. It's at the same place as last time but just in another cluster." Ana smiles and then hunter nods. Lawrence then turns around the Holo who could already guess what he was going to tell.
"You want me to stay here." She said clearly not happy.
"The place I am going to is to tight for you to go wolf if things went south. Relax, this is nothing for a Hunter like me." Holo face still looked upset. He then looks over to Ana and gets an idea.
"Hey, Ana can you connect to my visual feed from here? She needs some more proof of my skill. Getting blown up by a Blight Maker and coming back kinda spooked her."
"Ouch. I hate that when running solo in the EDZ. I can whip up a feed via your Ghost. Good hunting." Ana nods and Lawrence looks back to Holo.
"You will be able to watch me like if you were looking through my own eyes," Lawrence explained. This ease her a little bit. Holo nods finally agreeing but pull him in.
"Just Remember your promise." Holo whispers
Moments later.
After easily cutting through some frozen hive our hunter reaches the Alton dynamo facility. As usual, there was a cabal squad roaming around trying to scavenge for resources.
"You want me to start broadcast?" Ghost asked.
"Go ahead."
After a few beeps, he had was now being broadcasted to a terminal back with Ana.
"Ah, I can see you now Lawrence!" Holo said over the comms. As now she could see what Lawrence was seeing.
"Time to go to work." Pulling out the Borealis again, he expertly kills the cabal squad with headshot after headshot. With the squad wiped out he jump over the gap and enters the facility with Ace at the ready.
"Expecting trouble?" Holo asked
"Always expect trouble underground, it's where the darkness has the advantage. This is where having keen senses will save your life. No issue for you though." Lawrence said as he entered the diamond-shaped doors. He takes a left and enters the familiar database room.
Ghost marks the terminal cluster that contained the blueprints on his hud. Readying himself he accesses the console and Ghost starts making a copy of the date.
"Are you sure about leaving ghost out? What if he gets destroyed?" Holo ask worrying.
"I am not a foolish Ghost. I use cloaking ability to hide my presence while Lawrence covers me." Ghost explains as said hunter looks around waiting for the expected hive assault
But all he could hear was the dead silence
"This is odd, it's not like the hive to let a guardian take something without a fight." Ghost comments as he copies. Lawrence kept his gun drawn waiting for a hive portal to crack open or even thralls come crawling from the vents.
Then he spins around and aims at the space behind.
"Show yourself," he commands. There was a moment before a figure flickers into sight.
"Hehe, I can't ever sneak up on you can I? You really are one of the best." A hunter decloaks. Female, mainly black with red accents. Lawrence recognizes the armour and voice.
"Chole? How many times I told you not to bother a fellow hunter on the mission!" he said lowering his gun, annoyed at her antics.
"Hey! I can't really test myself unless I face the best. Oh if you're wondering about the lack of hive. I went on an extermination patrol just a few minutes ago. Really dwindled the numbers." Chloe said.
"And you saw me on the nav map so you decide to have me nearly shoot you in the face," Lawrence said Holster Ace and returns to his ghost.
"Sooo, what are you doing here?" Chloe asked.
"Just grabbing some data for a personal project," Lawrence answered.
"Ah, well after that do you want to go on patrol with me? I would like to see you in action."
"You've seen enough of my skills as a hunter. Unless you are going to face off against a hive god, You can handle yourself." He pauses feeling the eyes of disbelief on him.
"I got plans for the next while."
Chole sighed, she was an old student of his way before the Red War and has done well in the way of the hunter. But Chloe wish to learn more from his perspective and admired the veteran hunter very much
"Very well then. What has you so-" A hive portal rips open and an Ogre steps out.
"Not good! That thing is jamming the system!" Ghost said as he couldn't complete the data copy.
"I go high, you go low," Lawrence said rushing in firing ace into its chitin hide. It roars into annoyance.
Chloe grabs her scout rifle and aims for the weak points in its leg armour.
Keeping his movement up, he equips his rocket launcher. It was a dark age model he got from the drifter. It's was no Gjallarhorn, but it did do the job very well and it's smaller frame was easier to manage. He ducks behind cover as the Ogre fires void bolts from its eye. He was pinned due to the suppressive fire.
Then three shots hit the ogre in the back of the leg join causing it to lose balance and take its eye off him for a moment.
Time to end it.
Leaning out of cover he swiftly aims done the scope and fires a rocket right into the eye. Bullseye, it makes its maker as the ogre cries in pain clutching its eye. Solar flames engulf his body as he charges Blade Barrage.
Triple jumping into the air, he spins on his axis and tosses the deadly blades into the ogre. It shreds and explodes the Ogre in Solar light.
"That was amazing Lawrence! You have the keen sense of a true predator" Holo said as she saw the whole thing. He was used to compliments but for some reason, her words made him a bit flustered.
All he does is nods and gives a thumbs up to Chole Thanking her for the assist.
After a short goodbye, he returns to Ana and Holo at the Main Bray facility. Holo tail wags seeing Him returned unharmed. As he walks by he pats her on the head getting a happy smile from her.
"I hope I proved myself enough for you to trust me. It's going to take more than some Ogre, Centurion or Captain to take me down. "
Holo nods.
"I look forward to hunting with you Lawrence!" She said with excitement causing the hunter the smile.
"Oh, so THAT'S why you're asking for some armour," Ana said with a mischievous smile as she looks over the data.
"W-what are you talking about? It's natural for hunters to work together." Lawrence found himself stumbling his words.
"Says the guy that has been running solo for nearly two years now. I got the data, I can see if I Rasputin and I can make some revisions to it. In the meantime." she tosses a small cylinder to the hunter.
"Holo told me that the Wheat around her neck keeps her alive, I figured you'd want something a little more functional. Just put the pouch in and it will keep it around her neck. It just needs a phase projector so that it can easily adjust in size." Lawrence nods understanding that it would allow her to keep the wheat safe and allow her to transform without losing it.
"Just hand that thing to Ada-1 and she'll do the rest."
Lawrence stashes it away into his pocket making a mental note to stop by the Black Armoury.
"Thanks, How long until you get a working suit?"
"About a week or so. Rasputin works wonders on projects like these." Ana mentioning about the Warmind of mars. The Hunter nods and says his goodbyes as it was time to head back to earth.
Mars orbit.
"Hey, Lawrence?" Holo asks curiously about something. Particularly about that guardian he met on while retrieving the data.
"What is it?" Lawrence said as he takes off his helmet.
"Who was that woman with you?" There was a slight tinge of annoyance in her voice as she asked Causing Lawrence to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, you mean Chole? She's a hunter that came to me for some training a while ago. Ran a few mission with her as well." Lawrence explained then smiled.
"Expect to see a lot of hunters around on patrol."
"Why's that?" Holo asked.
"Warlocks have their books, Titans have the wall but us hunters: The wilds are where we belong," Lawrence said feeling nostalgic paraphrasing a famous hunters words. Holo notices a small smile grew on his face. Whatever he was thinking about, it must have been a good memory.
'Why do I feel...happy?' Lawrence felt a weight slightly lift in his heart. Something he didn't felt in a long time. The only thing that changed recently in his life was…
Holo.
"Hey, What to grab a drink after some firearm training? I know a nice restaurant downtown." Lawrence offered, causing the wolf goddess to perk up and wag her tail rigorously.
"Yes please!" Holo said looking forward to it as they enter hyperspace.
'He seems to be cheering up.' Ghost thought to himself
After stopping by the city for a quick bite to eat, they head out to an area not too far from the Farm form some basic firearm training.
"First thing first, When handling a firearm you should ALWAYS treat it like it's load and safety off. This reduces the odds of accidental discharge to the minimum." Lawrence explains to holo as they sit on a long.
"Sound simple enough. But I know that some people didn't follow that rule and end up hurting themselves or others. I saw a farmer shot himself in the crotch once...I wonder how his family line went." Holo said Recalling on her fragmented memories.
"Probably was the ancestor of a warlock I know. The idiot tried forgot to turn off the while safety trying to impress the ladies at a bar. Shot himself right in balls." Lawrence said chuckling.
"Oh my, I hope he is still around." Holo laughed.
"He is, and unfortunately is a friend of his." Ghost said as Lawrence then pulls out a sidearm grade pistol with a suppressor. An 18 Kelvin model
He takes out the mag and pulls back the slide. "Here, keep the barrel aimed away from you and finger off the trigger.." he then hands the gun to her, handle facing her. Holo takes the weapon following his instructions.
"This is a sidearm pistol, it's mainly used for close quarters thanks to its easy handling and small size. Perfect for a starter like you." Holo looks at the weapon with curiosity but respect for its danger. Remembering how Lawrence held his hand cannons she holds the pistol the properly.
"Like this?" She asks keeping the barrel pointed at the ground.
"Yes. now here stand up." Both get up and the hunter grabs a mag off his belt.
"Now time to learn out to load it. Here." he then puts the mag into her hand and guides her to load it.
"Now tap the bottom a bit with your hand to make sure it's locked in and the slide then pulls back on the receiver," Lawrence said but noticed Holo distracted by something and her face was...blushing?
"Is something wrong?"
His words snapping the wolf out of her stare and refocus on the task. She taps the bottom with her hand and pulls back on the receiver loading the chamber.
"Sorry, what next?" She asks.
"Now aim for that tree over there." he points to a tree that was well in the weapons firing range. Raising her arms, she aims for said tree. She then feels some arms wrap around hers.
"Now square up your shoulders and strengthen your arms. It will give some kick but don't let it startle. Line up the holo-dot to the tree." Lawrence said adjusting her stance while holo smiled.
"Ok target lined up, here is the safety. Shift it and you can fire." Holo nods as she clicks the safety off.
"Fire 7 shots, slowly." Holding his hand's over hers to help with the recoil. Holo pulls the trigger.
The first shot spooked her slightly but after the fourth, she was getting used to the force two more shots and she stops.
"Nice job, Now I will let go and you will empty the mag." He moved back and let the wolf fire the rest of the magazine. Taking a breath she repeats the stance and fires the rest of the clip with only a little slag in accuracy but nothing some more training can't fix.
He gives her a thumbs up and gestures for the gun back. Holo smirks. she turns the safety back on. Ejects the clip and gives it backhand facing him. Expertly done. Ghost takes it back to his inventory.
"Caught on to my test I see." Lawrence takes the pistol and mag.
"I catch on well! What's next?"
"I would recommend heading back to the city. Fallen thrive in the dark." Ghost mentioned the current setting of sunlight.
"After some more practice, we can try some moving targets. But it's getting dark and I believe I promised you a drink." Holo gets excited and grabs his arm.
"Come on let's go!" She then stops for a pause.
"By the way...I really like your teaching methods," she said with a smile.
"I-I Just wanted to make sure the recoil didn't hurt you, that's all!" Lawrence felt his face turn red but again. His helmet saves the day.
Later that night.
It was past midnight as the hunter helps a drunken holo to his place. Turns out she was a real alcoholic when she wanted to be. Now he wasn't a stranger to a good buzz but the amount holo could drink might as well cause a whole fireteam of titans to be passed out for a week!
"Nayyy. That was amazing...I really love a good drink and meal...mainly drinking!" She says as she hangs off his back.
He was piggybacking her back to his place. Slightly regretting taking her out but she did seem happy.
"I would hate to take a look at her liver right now." Ghost commented as he opened the door for Lawrence.
"Nah, If she-cat rips apart a Valus. She can take that booze….But I better prepare a hangover breakfast tomorrow." Lawrence then heads to the bedroom and puts holo on her feet so he can remove her cloak. Holo then plops down on her bed smiling.
Feeling the urge to sleep grow on him he decides hangs his cloak up and Ghost swaps his armour for sleepwear.
"Wake me up at the usual time," he said to ghost as he places Ace and Last word into a very decorative case.
"I…" he turns around hearing holo mumble. He eye where slightly open looking at him.
"Lawrence…" She gestures him to come closer which he does.
"What is it Holo?" He notices her face is red.
"I..Don't..like-" She then falls asleep as her body demanded to leave a very puzzled hunter but he guessed it was the booze talking and decides to jump into bed as tomorrow would be more training. He also made a mental note to do some missions in between to keep up with his duties as a Guardian.
AN: Wassup? I am here with another chapter! Only 3-4ish chapters to go! So we got the infamous Chole running about and is curious about what is our Veteran hunter up to. will she end up being the jerk she is in the original S/W story or will being a guardian lighten her up? (pun not intended) We also get some more development on Holo's quest to hunt with Lawrence. As a heads up on how the heck the Exo suit is going to work if she needed to transform. I am taking the idea from the Spider-Man Homecoming suit. It loosens up with the click of a button for easy removal, just with some Exo-skeleton bits thrown in there. So if Holo needed to go wolf, she could easily drop the suit and em have it! oh and the would upgrade for the pouch is to make it easier write as she now doesn't need to worry about the wheat.
Now I wonder what those space rhinos are up to these days in the EDZ? Eyes up Guardians.