"And that my dear fleshies is how the Vector team got out of that situation." Asher's voice was smug and full of amusement. "Dren was suuuuper pissed that I switched the blame to him! His face," he made jazz hands as he swung his arms out. "Priceless!" Miko and Raf were laughing at the Exo's antics and Jack was shaking his head with a chuckle.

"Hey Asher," the Exo turned his attention to the younger boy. "You said you can turn invisible?" Asher grinned before gathering his light and disappeared. They all stared at the place he was last at in awe. "How are you doing that?"

"It's my equipment," they jumped as the voice came from beside Miko. "Back on our world it's called stealth tech, only Hunters have the compatible energy to continuously use it and have it on for an extended period of time otherwise the cloaking only lasts long enough to get to cover." he re-appeared beside Jack.

"Wait...Hunters? And how exactly does the technologies work?"

"Nerd alert," Miko muttered and Jack sighed at her.

Asher laughed and manually looked through his inventory, "Let me just grab something aaaaaannnd...here ya go Raf." he handed over a small box like chip. "Most Guardians that are reborn have their light manifest into a class. There's Hunters, like me, Titans like Dren and Warlocks like Imara. Each class has certain equipment that can handle the type of light energy they release. Hunter's have this in theirs but waaaaayy more equipped." A clink had the Exo man turn, his hand resting on his side arm before turning back after determining it was nothing. "Do you guys usually walk when your friends are busy? It's pretty far and we've been walking for hours!" Miko followed his example and did the same dramatic pose of trying to catch his breath.

"It's only been thirty minutes guys and don't worry I got us a ride." Just then a white sedan pulled up and a woman rolled down the window.

"Are they alright Jack?" Jack nodded with a tired smile. "Alright hop in, tomorrow's Saturday so I'll probably be able to drop you off." Asher stared at the women before looking at Jack and then continued to do this back and forth motion. "Jack who is this?"

"Well...it's a long story mom."

"That's what a mom looks like?" Asher asked before striding forward and getting into her face. The lady leaned away, "Wow...Holiday was right...moms do have a certain glow to them." His voice was in awe.

"I...Thank you?" Raf tapped his arm and Asher moved away to look at him.

"That's Jack's mom, she knows about Bu-...the bots that are resting." Asher gave along oh in answer. "Don't you have a mom?" Asher tilted his head before shaking it slowly.

"Humans created us during the Golden Age does that count as having a mom or do you actually have to know them to have one?" The lady frowned in confusion while the three gave each other a glance.

"Hold that thought," Jack went over to the car's window. "His name's Asher, he's a new guy with Optimus. He saved him and our friends." she nodded, suspicion in her eyes since Jack only told her the partial story. Asher perked up, his hand on his sidearm before gently pushing Raf and Miko towards the car.

"Alright if you guys are getting into the car do it now...I'm picking up something." Jack and the kids piled in right when Hunter appeared beside him. "What've you got Hunt?" Asher climbed onto the roof and sat down as he turned invisible. He could hear Jack explaining stuff to his mom before she took off.

"I answered their questions, a few only since I needed to follow after you." Asher hummed, Hunter returned to his mind space. "I've been picking up strange signals from close by. I have yet to identify what signal is what in this Earth so I can know what is an enemy and what isn't." Asher agreed before letting out a soft yawn. He knows it's a very Awoken/Human gesture but it stuck since he hardly needs to sleep until he's downright exhausted. "I've told you to rest once in awhile, if you keep this up you'll crash and it will be the most pathetic death for a Guardian." Asher sighed.

"Anything on the scanner?" Hunter brought up the scanner and it showed nothing so Asher turned off his cloaking and leaned down to look at Jack. "You guys are clear, I gotta head back and get some rest. Hunter won't stop nagging me." Hunter gave an offended feel. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, bye Momma J!" He jumped off the moving car, Jack's mother screeching to a stop at the action. A vehicle appeared under him before he took off at top speed.

"You've got some explaining to do Jack, big time."

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Asher made it back to the compound in one ultimate piece, this thought was found amusing by Hunter, and as soon as he was inside Ratchet was staring down at him. "Heya there Ratchet, sir." Asher waved for a while before he stopped and let out a sigh. "Can this wait until tomorrow I need to rest before I crash from my streak of being awake?" Ratchet pointed to the couch brought in for the humans.

"Thank you for your kindness." Hunter said when he appeared.

"How long have you been without recharging?"

"I don't know, six...twenty, 40 days?"

"20 Asher, you need to rest so our light can recharge." Asher shrugged and hopped onto the couch. "I will wake you when morning comes." Asher gave a thumbs up before his optics closed, Hunter left his helmet on just in case.

"Asher wake up," said Exo groaned and turned but ended up falling on the floor. He sat up quickly and drew his sidearm.

"Who dat?" he yawned when he saw Hunter. "Dammit..." he holstered the gun. "What's up Hunt?"

"The three Autobots have woken up, Optimus asked me to retell our story while you slept. They now wish to ask you questions before the three children get here." Asher groaned and stood up with a stretch.

"Alright, ask away then!" he said joyfully as he turned to the bots standing behind him.

"If you're able to somehow be transferred here then is it possible for this...King to come through as well?"

"In all honesty bluebell? There's a possibility, both the Fallen and Cabal are all beings lured here by the darkness that followed the Traveler centuries ago in my time. Either they don't exist or they haven't left their home, either way it's less likely that they'll appear here because of that. The Traveler hasn't appeared and in what recorded history we have it appeared a year ago." Hunter hovered beside his partner at the explanation, providing support. The yellow bot beeped in question making Asher tilt his head. "Didn't you see the part with Eris?" both he and the green bot shrugged while bluebell sighed. Hunter projected the moon again, "We learned of the Hive when a Guardian was given the task to follow the trail of another Guardian who went dark some days before." Zavala appeared. "To think our Vanguard sent one his newer Titans to find them."

"Give us a background on this Vanguard, who are the Guardians exactly? Are they the only humans alive among the Exos and Awoken? Why are this Hive species such a cause for concern?" Asher looked at Hunter who gave the best impression of a shrug. Bluebell sure was thorough in her questions, probably because Optimus and Ratchet already spoke with Hunter.

"The Guardians, as I said before, are born from the Traveler's light that we Ghosts provide. We search all over the solar system to find our partner. The Guardians are the last line of defense against everything threatening the survival of the city. Our Guardians are not the only humans alive, there are others among them that live in the city alongside some Awoken and Exos. The Vanguard is made up of some oldest, more experienced Guardians in the tower. Aside from the Speaker, they handle operations and missions the Guardians take and also provide equipment for said Guardians depending on what is brought to them. Normally a Guardian cannot move without the approval of the Vanguard but many have had to make calls without it. The Speaker is our direct line to the Traveler, it lost its voice after saving the remaining people left. He speaks for it, he guides us from the echoed whispers of the sleeping being." Asher lowered his hood and his helmet disappeared. They seemed unaffected by Asher's appearance.

"The Tower is home to the Guardians, it's where we spend our free time when we have it and most of it, for Awoken and Humans, is spent resting. For some they go down to explore the city but it's very rare."

"Why?" Asher has officially dubbed him Big Green.

"When a Guardian does go we try to blend into the crowd but almost always the people seem to notice who and what we are."

"They fear their protectors? Typical human behavior." Asher shook his head at Ratchet, the Mech having finally come into the room.

"They do not fear us, they worship us as children of the Traveler. They swarm around us, asking us to bless them and to continue to fight for them. Hell they pray to us when they shouldn't!" More beeps came from the yellow bot. "It's because Guardians were brought back with the light the Traveler provided from the Ghosts. They literally see us as children of their savior and it's...well it's damn unnerving how some of them take it to heart. Some welcome us as the soldiers we are. Some Guardians have let that get to their head and they use it to buy certain goods for cheaper but over time that notion was snuffed out, The Speaker spoke to us once. It was four months after I was reborn...he said that we weren't Gods, that, although we were born from the Traveler's light, we shouldn't abuse it. We can die, we will die either in the war or of old age." The Speaker appeared before the mounds of Guardians standing in the square, some standing on the roof of a building. "The Speaker said, "Do not doubt you are not born from the light of the Traveler, for you are. His children you might be but that should not lead you to believe that you are above the people living in the city below. The light has changed you yes, it has given you power to fight for our survival and has extended your life but that does not mean you will not grow, there is always a possibility of falling out there. Though we all hope it will never happen it will and it has in the past. You are not Gods, you are not invincible. You are a beacon of hope, a Light in the Darkness plaguing this world; do not take it for naught." He woke up a lot of Guardians that day."

"Were you one of them?" Asher just laughed at Ratchet's question, Hunter took it upon himself to answer.

"Asher was never the type to take things of worship seriously, he often took medicine and such to the city. As advanced as we were from the Golden Age many of the equipment failed at times and needed to be fixed."

"That was my job back before I was a Guardian, unlike others I remembered who I was before the fall. I used what time I had to myself to help in the city." Asher shrugged. "If I could help other than just fighting then I would, it's how I met Imara and Dren. We all thought the same, they remembered what they were not who. Imara was a doctor and surgeon, a damn good one according to medical records. Dren was a bit trickier, he was a standby emergency rescue. He had basic medical training but he mostly took to counselling, there were people who needed that."

"Hunter said that the city was living that way for centuries, why exactly would they need counseling if they've lived as such for so long?" Asher snorted at Bluebell's ignorance.

"Let me ask ya something Bluebell," she scrunched her face at the name. "When you return from war you bring back whatever you see, when you can't fight any more you tell stories, you talk to others to figure out what you're supposed to do now and while talking there are others around to hear your tale. So here's the question, if you fought a war that outlived you; if you managed home alive and told your tale, would you do it to help yourself or scare the others out of spite because they didn't fight, tell me what would have been your reason?" she stayed quiet, her eyes narrowed. "When I first woke up I had to the go out and fight, I had no training and no idea how to handle a gun properly. I was unlucky, the Cabal were warriors who had taken over Mars. That's where Hunter found me, I was reborn there."

"Mars was the last place I searched." Hunter added in.

"On a planet so secured by the heavily armored, 200 pound space turtles that I was stuck hiding away like Eris did on the Moon until Draco went through their Exclusion Zone and I managed a ride out of there with Prince Uldren. I was stuck there for weeks, scavenging for food and water and killing beings 2 times my weight. It helped that I found a sniper rifle, their helmets are surprisingly not as great as their body armor." He paused and took a breath. "We don't know each other's story once we reach the tower, mine spread because it was the Reef that helped me out and that was only because I took out the majority of the Cabal trying to kill an injured man. I was lucky but most born on Mars are not, we avoided Mars. We were fighting on both fronts, a war with the Cabal would have drowned us but we didn't have a choice."

"The Speaker told us the Darkness was almost upon us, he said that once upon a time they told stories to frighten the children that lately the stories had stopped but…" Hunter's shell shifted nervously.

Asher sighed, "The children and everyone living behind the walls of the city were scared anyway. Hunter was right, those before us built a wall to protect the city; we count every second we can buy the people living in it." The bot he dubbed, Honey Bee, beeped for about a minute. His mechanical hands doing all sorts of motions before be finished with a confused sound.

"The Hive, Zavala found out how long they were hiding in the moon. It turns out they were there before even the Traveler arrived. It wasn't until we began to expand did they fully awaken. The Hive are a factor to be taken seriously, in this universe there's a possibility they don't exist because the Darkness and the Traveler have yet to be sighted but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be alert. Just don't go looking any deeper, that's part of the reason they even started appearing." Asher leaned against the rail as his partner finished his rant, Hunter took offense to calling is that.

"The real problem I think is not the Hive from this place but from ours, hopefully they took care of Oryx completely like they did Crota. If that's the case then I don't think we have anything to worry about. The only being to figure out how the rift works would be Oryx himself, he is the one to create that security…at least I think he did." Asher shrugged. "Anywho, the only way I think I'll get home is by opening another rift like that."

"Like a space bridge." Ratchet input.

"The only problem with that is that it's like a doorway and as Locien says, "a doorway opens from both sides" so there's the risk of letting any type of Hive and Taken creatures back this way." Hunter said, mostly to Ratchet.

"And that is a risk we cannot take." The bots looked back to Asher.

"Why not? If it means getting you home, why not do it?"

"We just listed all the reasons Big Green." Asher sing-songed.

"Whatever comes through that door we can handle it! If they're as small as the humans then they'll be a piece of energon cake. We've fought bigger things." Asher laughed at his enthusiasm before he looked down and grew silent. This caused the three to tense at the change in the air.

"When Hunter and I went to Earth to retrieve Cayde's stealth drive, we fought Taken creatures and the Fallen. Our biggest threat wasn't the Fallen whose presence was a constant in our war it was the creatures Oryx created. Hunter saw the Fallen when they first arrived on Earth. It took them months to gain control of it and the Taken did it in a few hours." Asher shook his head. "If it hadn't been for Hunter I would be buried ten feet under or worse…I would have become one of Oryx's servants, fighting to fulfill his will."

"Oryx doesn't kill those he captures, he takes them. He makes them bend to his will, he gains an army overnight. The Taken King is feared for a reason, we only hoped that Eris had told us of him sooner." Hunter disappeared.

"There's a reason I wasn't afraid of fighting one of those bots. There are Fallen Archon Generals, Cabal leaders and Hive Knights both normal and some Taken that are probably about the size of Blubell." Asher stood up straight. "I can't risk this universe, you Autobots and much less the Decepticons. If Oryx were to get his claws on you…This place wouldn't stand a chance. There's no argument and no discussion over it. I'm never going home. Guardians are born to protect civilization and if staying in this place does that then I will gladly do so." The elevator doors opened, Jack, Miko and Raf appeared; laughing at something Miko said. Just like that the conversation was over and each human teen was glad to see their friend up and about.

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"Are you kidding me? Tell me you're not pulling my leg Hunter!" Hunter sent his partner an amused feel in return. Asher jumped into the air, his fist pumped up as he yelled, "Yes! So then we can go out and explore the universe? Sweet!" Asher jumped off the platform and started running towards the elevator but Optimus picked up the man with one finger before he could get out. "Hey, let me down Swordfish! I wanna see the worlds in their primes!"

"And what worlds would that be Asher? You've stated before that this Earth is not your own and in turn this system is not as well." Asher slumped in the Autobot leader's hold. "Earth is not as you remember, the humans here have no idea that we are living among them."

"Then how are the Decepticons still hidden?" he grumbled out.

"They have a cloaking device hiding their ship as well as their life signs, certain humans know of us because of them." Ratchet looked to the children talking to their partners.

"Hmm..." Asher got comfortable in Optimus' grip. "Can a cloaking device be installed in my ship?"

"I could make a device from scratch," Asher perked up. "But even then we would still be missing the core." He slumped back into the hold, letting his arms and legs dangle from Optimus' finger.

"For now it is best you do not leave the base, I'm sure there is much we can show you here." Asher groaned, letting the Prime transfer him to his open palm. "You will need a room to recharge, it may be best to share." Hunter sighed at the mental grin his partner held.

"Hey I don't mind sharing as long as I get to share with you hot stuff." The room went quiet, the silence seeming to stretch on for miles upon miles before Miko burst out laughing with her partner. Asher looked up to Optimus and found the Cybertronian looking anywhere but at Asher. The Exo burst out laughing, rolling around on the open palm of the autobot's hand. "Your face! Oh my ghost, Priceless! Sorry Swordfish but it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up!" Asher rolled off and yelped in surprise. Optimus caught him and Asher coughed into his hand in embarrassment.

"You must be careful Asher, such a height can offline your spark." Asher rolled off the hand and used his boosters to help him land safely.

"But I won't die see? I'm a survivor is what it is, we Guardians are made of sturdier stuff." Optimus sighed before turning to his friends. "Awww, Hunter Mr. Swordfish is ignoring me!" Hunter sent his partner a comforting warmth and Asher sighed before turning to walk down a large hall. Another sigh from Optimus but Jack jogged after the Exo with a wave to the others. He caught up and Asher only nodded at him.

"I don't think he's okay you guys." Raf commented and his partner agreed with a series of beeps. "Yeah he seems...sad."

"Why would he be sad? He's a pretty awesome guy with all these high tech gadgets and super powers!" Big green hummed as he looked from Miko to where Asher and Jack disappeared to.

"If there was a way to get back home but I couldn't I'd be down in the scrap heaps too." Bluebell added in.

"He can't go home?" Raf asked.

"I thought he was stuck here for a bit?" Miko added after.

The two Autobots looked at one another before Bluebell answered, "He said it's a risk he won't take. If he opens a rift to get back there's a chance those things can come through when he goes in."

"So you can't go home at all?" Asher nodded. "Won't they need you?"

"My team can handle anything that comes after, besides...they had Locien with them and he was the one the Oryx wanted." Asher lowered his hood. "I think, no I know Oryx has been defeated. There was too much at stake to turn back."

"But why were you the only one who ended up here?" Hunter appeared in front of the duo, Jack jumped in surprise. "I mean how exactly did going through that gate you showed us get you here instead of to that guy?"

"We tried going through the rift after Hunter and I established a transmat zone on the dreadnought, it rejected us and did not let us through." Asher stopped and faced Jack. "Something else came through instead, a shadow of Oryx came through and tried to kill us." Asher patted the teen's shoulder. "Don't worry, we defeated it somehow but the question remained; how were we supposed to get to Oryx? Eris told us, we needed to become our enemy." In a flash, taken armor covered Asher from head to toe and Jack took a step back, he looked...scary. "Only ascendant Hive could pass through so we needed to find a way to become that." Hunter returned his previous armor.

"Ascendant Hive?"

"Those who had access to his throne like his son, Crota."

"But you said you destroyed him."

"Yes we did before he was able to return, there was a crystal that held his soul. We needed to go back to the pits to get it, Eris said it was possible that it still held a whisper of his soul."

"And did it?" Asher continued his trek.

"It did not," Jack came up beside him, Hunter floating along on the other side. "We took the crystal and went deeper into the dreadnought, they were preparing his soul in a ceremony. That was our only chance to become ascendant; regardless of the dangers...we didn't have a choice. We were lucky though, Locien volunteered to come with us, he and Cayde found a way to hide for an extended period of time. By the time we returned to the tower, he had us all set to go back. We managed to get close enough to absorb some Crota's essence but they found us out. We had to fight to survive and for a moment we thought it was over." Asher laughed some. "Man, Dren started apologizing about all these random things thinking that was the end for us. Ya know he even admitted to loving Imara when Eris' voice came through our com and she used a spell to teleport us out of that war zone." Asher started outright laughing, "Man was Imara pissed! We didn't see Dren around for a while; turns out Imara was mad because it took the thought of permanent death to finally admit he loved her. Man those two were always dancing around each other, it started getting annoying after a while. Jim and I were always plotting, trying to get them to confess and when Imara asked him out to the city he took Maira with them! Can you believe that guy? Jeez, he never got the hint."

"Uh..." Hunter hovered over to Jack.

"It's his way of coping." the Ghost answered the confused teen.

"Anyway, that crystal with his essence had an effect. It changed our army and tried to corrupt us but with Eris' help it only got to our armor. However...she warned me that the amount we managed to swipe at the ceremony wouldn't be enough to get more than a few people in through the portal. The important thing was to get Locien through, he was the one with enough Light to face Oryx."

"So what? You guys did something to make sure the "key" didn't apply to you?" A door opened and the two found themselves in an empty room.

"Hunter and I made sure to absorb the least essence, we told Eris our part was over." Asher looked around before throwing his hands up, "Welcome to my new room Jack!" his voice returned to that childish delight. Jack glanced at Hunter who let out a sigh.

"If this is too hard on you, we don't have to talk about it." Asher slowly lowered his arms and turned to Jack. His blue optics blinked back at Jack before they closed. He trudged over to Jack and rest his head on the teen's shoulder with a deep sigh. "Uh...Asher? Are you alright?"

"No...I'm not. It's just sinking in that I'll have to be living like your friends, that everything I knew is gone, everyone that became my family...I'll never see them again." Jack looked at Hunter but the Ghost had disappeared so he patted at the Exo man's back. "I remember what and who I was before I died the first time. I remember getting friends and having someone to protect. I lost them all once, I gained new friends and a family, more people to protect and now I've lost them all over again. If I make friends here and I get to go back I'll lose those too and then what? Is it better to be isolated from everyone? I thought that at first but then I started telling your guys stories about my team, about our war, what we gained and what we lost and...I just don't think I have that option anymore." Asher stepped back and started pacing angrily. "What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm a Guardian damn far from home! There's nothing to fight here, nothing for me to protect! This Earth has humans who've never seen into the Darkness, who haven't seen the Traveler's light, they haven't expanded! Venus, Mercury, and heck the Moon are all desolate! Everything I know is gone, it's just a memory!" He turned to Jack. "Who the hell am I supposed to be?" he yelled out, frustration clear in his robotic voice.

Jack didn't know what to say, what would he tell him in the first place? That he has friends here? That there are humans to protect here? "I don't know what to say, how am I supposed to tell him anything when he's been through three different wars and is still worried about what he is?" Jack shook his head and sighed, "You're a Guardian aren't you? Yesterday when Miko, Raf and I left you didn't have to go with us but you did, why did you?"

"Your partners are Autobots right?" Jack nodded. "Then obviously the Decepticons know about you guys, you three on your own was a kidnapping waiting to happen. I couldn't let that happen, not when I could protect you."

"There you go, that's it right?" Asher blinked at Jack before his optics glowed brightly, he was a damn good counselor!

"You're absolutely right Jack! There are Decepticons here I need to protect humans from! Hear that Hunter? We're back in business buddy!" Asher started dancing around before whooping loudly and laughing. "Thanks Jack, you're an awesome fleshie."

"No problem, I'll let Optimus know you found a room for yourself." Jack started backing out of the room. "And don't forget, you got us now. Miko, Raf and I may not know about what you're feeling but Optimus and the others? The war destroyed their home and even now it's continuing here on Earth, they know and they can help." the door swished closed before it popped back open, "Oh yeah before I forget, Bluebell is Arcee, the yellow bot is Bumblebee and the green guy is Bulkhead." the door closed once again behind Jack and Hunter felt the warmth spreading through his partner's mind.

"Right...Hey Hunt, they really are worth protecting aren't they?" said Ghost felt the Asher's inner turmoil settle a bit and Hunter couldn't help but feel grateful to the young human.

"Yes, they most certainly are."