A/N: I didn't think I would ever update this, but I was suddenly hit with inspiration. If you are wondering where my other story updates are, all I could say is hopefully soon.

Chapter 2: We've All Been Dead Before

Jackal-24 laid out on her back, staring up at the blazing sun. She felt bad for humans and the Awoken who could never truly grasp the beauty of the stars, for they would blind themselves from their radiance. It must have been hours of her bored sun-gazing before she finally sat up with a heavy sigh, despite having no lungs to exert. She looked out to the horizon, shifting her focus to the sound of the ocean as the makeshift raft her Ghost created continued to drift them to their destination. "How long has it been since we've set sail, Ghost?"

"It's been three months now," the sapient drone answered in a bored tone. The Exo Hunter groaned before her Ghost quickly spoke up again. "I'm just as tired of this as you are, you know. But we should be close to land by now. As a reminder, we could have been on land two and a half months ago, but you insisted we keep going north."

"I stand by it," Jack said, though she didn't sound nearly as confident as she did when she first suggested the idea. "If we want to learn as much as we can about where we are, we should investigate the place with the most tech. And you said you detect the most signals from some northern continent."

"Yes, yes, I recall," her Ghost materialized, looking out to the horizon beside the Exo. "I also remember you talking about how your duty as a Guardian is to help the people here fight the Darkness. You've never been so quick to turn tail, Jack." Her Ghost turned to face her, managing to appear quite smug despite its limited expressive ability.

Even though she knew her Ghost made that comment in jest, she couldn't help but get defensive. "I know what I said, but there is no reason for us to be idle about finding a way home. The sooner the better." Jack continued to stare out at the horizon until the silhouette of land finally showed itself. "Besides, what's the alternative? Go out and be a hero for awhile? Get to know the locals and fight for them? Fact of the matter is that we will leave them at some point."

Her Ghost floated about beside her in silence for awhile, allowing for both her and her words to settle. Jack is usually quite lax about any and all situations, but becomes prone to ranting the longer she is at something. Still, her words rang with truth. "Don't want to get attached, huh?"

It was her turn to be silent now.

"You're getting antsy." Her Ghost spoke up.

"Shut up."

"Finally!" Jackal-24 triple-jumped off of the raft as soon as they were within distance of the shore. The Exo began stretching, even though she never physically felt fatigued. "Feels good to actually move more than two steps."

"It's a good thing your Fireteam weren't the ones making this trip. They wouldn't have lasted without food or water," her Ghost noted.

"I'm sure Hayes would have taken this opportunity to test the effects of dying from starvation over and over again, or something." Jack shook her head as she unholstered Sunshot from her hip. "Warlocks are so strange."

"Don't let Ikora hear you say that," her Ghost warned, though it was followed by a chuckle.

"She's an exception. I've seen her fight in the Crucible before she took up the Vanguard mantle. Wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with her when she has Invective in hand, that's for sure." Jack shivered at the thought as she peered up at the militaristic buildings that stood proudly in the distance.

"Well, that was a long time ago. If you faced her in the Crucible today, do you think you would win?" The Ghost asked its Guardian, who always boasted of her own skills.

"I have some Iron Banners and Flawless Trials under my belt now. At the very least, I could give her a run for her money," she snickered. "Maybe not when she's angry. Too fierce, probably, even for me," the Exo added.

"I'm picking up a lot of signals from those buildings over there," her Ghost changed the subjected, turning to face the same structures Jack was already looking at. "Must be all sorts of tech. Even more than what the Tower has."

Jackal-24 let out an impressed whistled as she began walking in the direction of civilization. "Sheesh, they got it going here, don't they?" The Exo Hunter stopped in her tracks when she realized what that meant. "Wait, what?" She turned to her Ghost, who had been following behind her. "What do you mean they have more tech here than the Tower?" The eyes of the Celestial Nighthawk helmet flared at the thought.

"I didn't realize it before," her Ghost began. "But landing here, I have a better grasp of just how advanced this planet actually is. It's more or less comparable to Earth right now, and they managed that without the Traveler."

"Holy shit," Jack raised her free hand and placed it against her head, as if it could help her wrap her mind around the situation. "And these guys are humans, too." She let out a boisterous laugh at the discovery. "Oh, man! This is crazy, Ghost! Just wait until we tell the Vanguard about this. They're going to want to make contact immediately."

"Don't you think this is weird, Jack?"

"How do you mean?" The Exo asked, turning and walking back in the direction of civilization again.

"How is this planet able to sustain itself this much without the Light of the Traveler?"

"Hmm," she sounded. "That's…actually a good point. I guess they got to this level by themselves."

"That's all you have to say about it?" Her Ghost looked at her incredulously.

"We'll figure it out as we go."

"I encourage you to think more before you act," her Ghost said for what must have been the millionth time in the decades since it first revived her. Though, not once did this construct of Light regret it.

"So, Ghost, what do you think?" Jack stood on the rooftop of a building, but even then she still had to look up at the enormous building supported by four buttresses. "Did you manage to take a look at anything?"

Her Ghost returned to her after going ahead to do some quick recon. "I went up there to take a look. I couldn't stick around for long without someone seeing me, but as we guessed, this is a comms tower."

The Exo Hunter naturally rested her right hand on the Sunshot at her hip, while the other steadily tapped her fingers against her leg. "Something this big is a comms tower? Must be connected to every damn place on this planet then," she muttered her thoughts out loud. "Big buildings always means really important, so obviously it's heavily guarded."

"Correct," her Ghost informed succinctly as to not disrupt her thought process. It was rare when she actually took a moment to think.

"And I can't imagine I can just waltz in there and ask if I can give the comms a whirl," the Exo sighed heavily.

"Correct," her Ghost repeated.

"Shit, I really thought this would be easier," Jack cursed to herself. "Of course I can't do that. They're going to think that I'm a spy or an idiot. I can't say that I'm a Guardian—they wouldn't know what that means. I can't say that I'm not from around here and I'm looking for a way home—that's way too suspicious. After all, it doesn't look like they've discovered interstellar travel. We would be seeing a lot more ships around," she continued to talk out loud.

"I agree. All of those options sound less than ideal," her Ghost interjected. "I'm afraid of what will happen if anyone finds out what you are."

"Why does that matter?" Jack looked at her tiny partner, who could tell she was frowning with confusion despite the Celestial Nighthawk hiding her face.

"I have only seen humans around. No Awoken and certainly no Exo. Although, there do appear to be many lifeless machines acting as guards," her Ghost added. "If you're found out, they might take a special interest in you."

"That would be inconvenient," the Exo Hunter grumbled. "No Awoken and no Exo, huh?" She lifted her hand up and looked down at it, curling and uncurling her fingers several times. "It's not like the Collapse would have reached this place, so of course there wouldn't be any Awoken. And I guess they didn't…invent Exo," Jack said uncharacteristically solemn.

"Jack…" Her Ghost trailed off, half sympathetically—half cautiously.

"I know. Can't afford another reboot," the Exo stated bluntly before letting out a steady sigh. "I'm fine. So," she moved on. "Looks like there's no way around it. We're just going to have to sneak our way in." The Guardian crouched down and focused on drawing out her Arcstrider abilities until she became invisible. Satisfied, Jackal-24 jumped down from the rooftop and leisurely made her way to the comms tower, walking straight past the two mechanical guards and into the building. It wasn't for long, but she was able to study the automatons. They seemed similar to the retired combat frames in the Tower.

Jack was surprised at how well this was working. As long as she continuously maintained the invisibility by crouching every so often, she could walk past everyone. However, in accordance with the notorious Murphy's Law, her luck ended when she reached the elevator. Eager to get inside away from all of these guards, the Exo took a step forward as soon as the doors opened, only for a large man in a white overcoat to step out at the same time. Shit, the Exo Hunter thought to herself before quickly backing up, accidentally bumping into one of the patrolling guards, breaking her invisibility.

"Intruder!" The mechanical guard sounded loudly, alerting its machine brethren to rush over and raise their built-in weapons at her.

Confusion flashed over the large man's face for only a moment before he steeled his demeanor and whipped a revolver up to her face. "Who are you and who do you work for?"

"Uhh," Jack sounded, slowly raising her hands up from her side. "Any chance I could use your comms? I'm looking for a way home, you see," she said hopefully.

The large man only narrowed his eyes at her, keeping the barrel of his revolver aimed right in between her eyes. "You're under arrest."

Of course that wouldn't work, Jack seemed to deflate a little, though her mind continued to race, looking for a way out. "This looks really bad, I know. You see, I'm a Guardian, and—"

"You can talk in custody," the large man cut her off, gesturing for the automaton guards to detain her.

Jack immediately dived for the elevator, causing the large man to discharge his weapon. Fortunately, the bullet only grazed her helmet. She slammed her fist into the elevator button to shut the doors, but the large man in the white overcoat grabbed her by the neck. "What in the—" Before he could finish the thought, Jack reared a fist back and swung it into his face, releasing an electrical current accompanied by a bright flash. Jack felt his grip weaken from being disoriented, so she swung her arms down into his, forcing the man to let her go before kicking him out of the elevator, crashing into the robotic frames behind him. The elevator finally closed and began going to the top floor. She let out a sigh of relief as she leaned against one of the elevator walls.

"I don't think that was a very smart idea," her Ghost sounded frustrated with her. "Now they're going to be on high alert and you are branded as a criminal. This is the worst possible scenario for a first contact."

"I wasn't exactly fixing to get myself arrested," Jack argued. "If I was detained, I doubt I would be able to hide what I am. Have you ever heard of anyone who was allowed to wear full body armor while detained? They'd discover the truth in a heartbeat."

"I know what we said before, but would it have been that bad? Maybe we could have talked this out."

"You're telling me this now?" Jack said in an exasperated tone as she unholstered the Sunshot from her hip. "I doubt it would have worked out anyway. The military types always want to get their hands on the latest tech. I don't think it would have been a very pleasant scenario either way."

"Well, what's done is done. I'll see what I can do once we get up there."

The large man rolled off of the Atlesian Knight-130s, picking up his engraved revolver that fell on the floor beside him. He looked down at his hand that had gripped the intruder's neck, recalling what he felt. That was certainly not flesh.

"Orders, General Ironwood?" The group of AK-130s said in unison behind him.

James Ironwood turned to the robots before turning on a mic hidden in his overcoat. "Prioritize evacuating all non-combatants before putting the CCT Tower under lock down. Then neutralize the intruder," he relayed. The AK-130s immediately began putting the orders into action. Ironwood began running for the staircase, ready for a long way up.

Jack already had her Sunshot readied when the elevator doors opened. She stepped out and quickly scanned the floor, finding no one in sight. "They must have evacuated everyone," she mumbled to herself, holstering the hand cannon.

"To be fair, you are a terrorist to them." Her Ghost reminded.

"Hush, you." The Exo Hunter carefully walked between the aisles of computers and other such screens. "Ghost, can you figure this stuff out?"

"On it," her trusty partner responded, materializing by her side and floating over to various computers, scanning each and every one. "Wow…"

"What is it?" Jack asked as she sat herself in a chair, propping her feet up on a worktable.

"For starters, we're in a kingdom called Atlas, which is located on Solitas, the northernmost continent of this planet, Remnant. Earth has no information of any of this," her Ghost trailed off before continuing. "We were right that this is a comms tower, but it's probably the most important comms tower to exist on this planet. This is the communication hub for Atlas and is connected to all the other major kingdoms. If there is any way for us to contact Earth, this would be the way."

"Fat chance that's going to work, right?" Jack asked rhetorically, piecing together where this is headed.

"This is the most important form of communication on this planet, but it is only linked between the kingdoms. It was not designed for interstellar contact."

"Figured," she groaned. "Please tell me this wasn't for nothing."

"I wouldn't go that far," her Ghost answered, much to her relief. "We have some useful information. The other kingdoms are called Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo. We should probably leave Atlas as soon as possible and see what we can find in the other kingdoms. Vacuo seems pretty lawless—it would make for a good place to lie low."

"If we're trying to get off this planet, I don't think a place with no authority would be of much help. We need a place that likely has the tech we need."

"Atlas does."

"Real funny."

"Alright, well that leaves us with Vale and Mistral."

"And which is closer?" Jack asked, quickly standing up as she heard hurried footsteps, making her way to a window.

"Vale," her Ghost finished scanning the computers, disappearing from sight.

The stair exit door bursted open, with Ironwood standing in the doorframe, seemingly not even the slightest exhausted from running up the stairs to the top floor all the way from the bottom. "You are coming with me," the general growled, aiming the revolver at Jack once again.

"I really wish we could have worked this out. This got way more complicated than it needed to be," Jack half pleaded, carefully backing up closer to the window.

"If you really mean that, then come with me peacefully and I assure that no harm will come to you," Ironwood chose his words carefully, even softening his tone. He was a firm believer that power is the best language for negotiation, but he got the feeling that it wouldn't work with who he was dealing with.

"I want to believe you," Jack nodded her head casually. "And if I were somebody else, I would. It would make things a lot easier. But I'm not somebody else, so I can't."

"So be it," Ironwood said plainly. Force was the answer after all. He rapidly fired rounds this time, moving forward as he did so.

Jack managed to dodge the first two, only for the consecutive rounds to embed themselves straight into her torso. "Damn it!" She screamed in pain, reaching for the Sunshot at her hip, only for Ironwood to firmly grip her wrist. The Exo cursed mentally, regretting underestimating this man in the slightest. He moved much faster than she thought a man of his build could. Brute force wasn't her forte as a Hunter, but being an Exo certainly gave her more strength than most. With her free hand, she gripped onto the man's collar and pulled him closer, headbutting the General to disorient him before attempting to throw him off of her. Despite her efforts, Ironwood kept a firm grip and twisted her around with him, only for the both of them to crash into the window—their combined weight and force sending them flying through. Ironwood grit his teeth, wishing he were more mindful of the glass panes that lined the entire top floor. He immediately began calculating how to survive this. Even with his aura, a fall from this height would kill him. If he fell on top of her, he might just be able to make it. Before he could complete his thoughts, Jack grabbed onto his collar with both of her hands, pulling his face in front of the Celestial Nighthawk's eyes. "You fucking moron!" She shouted as loud as she possibly could. She looked down towards the quickly approaching ground and then back to Ironwood, tightening her grip. "Fucking hold on to me, damn it! Don't you want to live?!"

It was rare when James Ironwood would find himself absolutely dumbfounded, yet here he was, plummeting down from more or less eight hundred feet with no idea what this woman's plan was. If she had a way to make it out of this situation alive, it was within her best interest to do so and leave the enemy—in this case himself—to die. The only logical reason why she wouldn't is if she needed him as a part of her plan, though that did not seem to be the case. Is she trying to save me? He thought to himself.

"Just do it!" Jack yelled. She could understand that he was hesitating from skepticism, but now was not the time. They had so very little of it before they would become well acquainted with the ground. The Guardian felt his arms wrap tightly around her waist, looking back at the ground after Ironwood finally complied. Please, work! She thought to herself as the ground came faster and faster. In the moments before they made impact, the Hunter used her triple-jump to break terminal velocity, though it was not nearly enough to give them a safe landing. Jack made sure she would take the brunt of the fall before it all went black.

Jackal-24 woke up with a gasp, attempting to sit right back up, only to be stopped by a weight on top of her. She craned her neck forward, finding the large man lying unmoving on her. The Exo waited a few moments, fearing the worst. Even if this is a different planet, she was still a Guardian. This man did no wrong—he was just doing his job. To be responsible for the loss of an innocent life would go against everything Guardians stand for. Fortunately, Jack felt the man's heartbeat and breathing, albeit both were faint. She slid out from underneath him, being careful not to agitate him as she gently laid him against the ground. Jack took a quick glance around, finding no one in sight. "They must have evacuated the area," she said to herself before looking back at the man at her feet. Now that she was standing over him, the Hunter was able to see the extent of his injuries. They were severe to say the least. Most of the damage was concentrated on the right side of his body, likely the side he chose to break his fall against her. If she wasn't made of metal, he might have fared better. His right arm and leg were mangled—the bones undoubtedly shattered into irreparable pieces. The right side of his torso had visibly less damage than his limbs, but she could imagine his ribs were in places they shouldn't be. It was a miracle that this man was alive. She intended to keep it that way. Jack knelt down, lifting up the man as carefully as she could onto her back—though the intense pain shocked him awake. Ironwood screamed out, his eyes snapping open only for moment. He realized his head was over the shoulder of the stranger before his eyelids became too heavy to remain open. Just as quickly as he regained consciousness, Ironwood was out once again.

"What's your plan?" Her Ghost sounded from within her helmet.

"There has got to be a hospital around here, right? Show me the way, Ghost." Jack demanded desperately.

"Are you sure, Jack? There's no question that you will be detained when you—"

"He's dying, Ghost!" She cut him off impatiently.

After a short pause, her Ghost finally relented. "I scanned a map of Atlas earlier. Giving you a waypoint to the closest hospital now."

A/N: This seems like an appropriate place to end the chapter. If you enjoyed it, please leave a follow, favorite, and a review! It is quite motivating to know when my work is being enjoyed.

Thank you for reading. Until next time.