~I don't own Mass Effect or Destiny, all copyrighted content goes to their respective owners~

"You are here to make a difference, to either improve the world or worsen it. And whether or not you consciously choose to, you will accomplish one or the other." – Richelle E. Goodrich


Arc I - Chapter 5

Progress

Out in the grasslands of old Russia, stretches of unending planes were only interrupted by the occasional broken building or rusted farming equipment. Aside from the few trees that nested chirping birds, it was a peaceful, quiet place.

Streaking across open the grass lands, wind whipping her rusty red hair in all directions, Jane had to resist the urge to whoop out loud. The Fallen vehicle that Fubar had identified as a Pike was always an absolute blast to drive.

Revving the engine, she leaned forwards, watching the alien speedometer rise into the red as she whipped across the open fields. Every time she sat down on the bike, Jane had felt nothing but a sense of childish joy.

It was also cutting down their travel time, according to her Ghost, they were now hitting the boarder for Kazakhstan. The poor thing was still suffering from that hand cannon shot from the Fallen Vandal. His ability to fly hampered to the point where he now spent most of his time tucked away in the hood of her cloak.

"Would it be so painful for you to drive a little slower?! Please!"

And ever since they had acquired their new mode of transportation, the little light had made a habit out of criticising her driving skills. Constantly.

"If I had a stomach, I would be regurgitating its contents by now!"

Gunning it over a small ditch, Jane couldn't help but hit the boosters, the Fallen vehicle soaring through the air and as it came down they only narrowly avoided a low broken brick wall.

"Oh be quiet, you back seat driver! We're fine…" A sharp tug on the handle bars had them avoid a lamp post, signifying the overgrown thicket they were driving over was in fact an old overgrown road. "See? Perfectly fine!"

Deciding to follow the overgrown road, it was only a few minutes before the vegetation began to slowly recede. Buildings and more rusted out cars beginning to dot the landscape more frequently as they moved towards the old Cosmodromes. The spires that still pierced the sky marking the way forward for her, and as they began to get closer still, a new construction began to appear over the horizon.

The massive metal wall that seemed to grow in height and length the closer they got was one of the checkpoints her Ghost had told her to look out for. Fubar had been rather skimpy on the details, but from what she had gathered, she would be fighting more Fallen once she got past it.

It was as the sun began to crest in the sky that the road she had been following finally ended. The constant stream of rusted out cars leading right into the wall, where massive blast doors had long closed on them.

It looked to have recently snowed, leaving everything uncovered with a thin layer of white power that did nothing to conceal the bones of the dead. The skeletons that quite literally littered the road seemed almost haunting, with Jane spotting several that seemed to have died sitting in their seats, with little indication as to what had actually caused their deaths.

Personally, Jane was figuring some sort of chemical or gas attack, the bodies of the fallen people were most likely people seeking shelter from it within the massive walls that protected the Cosmodrome.

Coming to a halt just outside the blast doors, she killed the engine. The Pike was too big to fit through the broken and rusted holes that dotted the old defensive structure. If she was going to continue, it was going to have to be done on foot from here on out.

Unloading all her equipment from the bike, she grabbed her new backpack first, containing some extra clothing, tech and ammunition, before slinging it over her right shoulder over the top of her cloak, her rifle following a moment later.

Checking that her knives, grenades, spare ammunition and her new hand cannon were firmly attached to her belt, she pulled her hood up over her head and a thick piece of fabric she was using as a scarf over the top of her nose, before grabbing her spear and attaching a spare grenade from her bag to the engine block of the Pike.

Sprinting for the nearest cover, she dived behind a nearby car wreck just in time, as the Pike erupted into a giant fireball a few moments later. Giving it a few more seconds, Jane wasn't surprised when the Pike burned for a few long seconds, before the flames found whatever it used as fuel, sending shrapnel and flaming debris in every direction as it exploded once again.

"Well that was subtle." Came Fubar's expected comment, a few moments later. Her wounded Ghost peeking out from between her scarf and her hood to survey the flaming wreckage.

Rolling her eyes at her sarcastic companion, Jane picked herself up and dusted her clothes off.

"Oh please, like I was just going to leave a perfectly working vehicle here for the Fallen to scavenge once I'm gone."

As if to prove her Ghost's point, several cries rose up from back the way they'd come, followed by more from inside the wall. The shrieks were undeniably from the Fallen, and Jane muttered a few choice words under her breath as she got herself moving.

Making her way towards a rather damaged section of the wall, Jane once again checked that her ammunition was safely secure on her belt. The slightly glowing boxes were something she was finding strangely difficult to adapt to.

The boxes would respond to her touch, materialising a specific type of ammo magazine in her hand that she could then insert into her hand cannon or sniper rifle. However, for some strange reason, she kept forgetting that she needed them, instead expecting her guns to inexplicably reload themselves after a few moments of waiting.

Reaching the base of the wall, she vaulted on top of a car and used her spear to prise one of the rusted panels off, jumping up inside before pulling the sheet of rusted metal back into its original place.

Turning to look around, Jane found herself in some sort of service corridor, with structural supports criss-crossing above her head while old and damaged electrical wiring dangled like artificial vines in metal trees.

Light was intermittently piercing the walls, making visibility possible but difficult.

With the press of a button, the shock blades on the end of her spear came to life, providing Jane flickering but useful lighting as she forged ahead, heading deeper into the old construction.

Coming to a set of metal mesh stairs that seemed to go on forever, they eventually lead her to out into a better lit area, where old windows still painted with faded lettering and logos allowed orange tinted light to aluminate rusted grating and machinery.

Looking around, Jane saw several different directions she could go. Some looked to be following the edge of the wall, while she assumed that the two doorways set between the old faded blue machinery lead further into the abandoned facility.

"Fubar? Which way?"

Poking his head out, her injured Ghost projected what looked like rudimentary schematics in front of her. A few points and lines indicating paths that would no doubt lead her though the maze of machinery and metal.

Zooming in on a specific section, her Ghost spoke up. "I've been through here once before, though it was a different section of the wall." He claimed, "It's all fairly uniform though, so the second door leading further in should lead you into the ventilation systems."

The map moved on, highlighting several large looking metal tunnels.

"Follow the vents and you should come out the other side, though you may have to take detours if the bulkheads are closed."

Quickly memorising the basic route, Jane nodded, allowing the map to fade and her Ghost to retreat under her clothing once again, before she set off on the provided route.

Several times she had to stop, the sounds of skittering Fallen and broken debris forcing her to ask Fubar for alternate directions. Eventually however, she found a doorway that lead into the ventilation shafts, the large cylinder shaped rooms were dotted with enormous fans that were once used to move massive amounts of fresh air, now sat twisted and still.

Ducking under the large fan blades, light soon asserted itself as they made it to the other side. Revealing a large body of water off to the left, while what looked like the remains of the road seemed to rise up on broken concreate pillars and go in several directions.

The nearby buildings looked more intact, the place looked like a snipers wet dream combined with a conventional army's worst nightmare. Although despite making all of these observations, Jane found her focus fixating on one rather key detail. Namely, the several hundred Fallen spread out and clearly occupying the entire area.

Ducking back and low, Jane watched as several drop ships flew by, kicking up dust and loose vegetation, flying over the top of her head and back towards the way they had come from.

"I thought this place was supposed to be frequented by Guardians, not occupied by an entire Fallen House." Jane whispered.

While her Ghost muttered about time and his own surprise, Jane shouldered her rifle and looked down its scope, trying to get a closer look at the Fallen troops moving bellow. What looked to her might be a Captain walked into view, and she got a good look at the markings displayed on its armour.

Describing the colour and symbol, Fubar managed to identify them as the house of devils, which did nothing to improve her mood. Instead, she began moving along the edge of the outcropping she was situated upon, aiming for what looked like an old fire escape.

Keeping a careful eye out for potential snipers, Jane made her way down the rather rickety stairs to the ground, before immediately seeking cover in a nearby ruin.

There was a lot of action taking place, Dregs were being herded into line by Vandals, while what looked like scouting parties rushed into the old wall, back the way she had come. Hell, there was enough Fallen moving around that Jane could call them a battalion.

As if to make matters worse, the sound of metal hitting concreate started ringing out, like a steady beat, and Jane watched with growing worry as what looked like a tank on legs came into view.

"Okay," she whispered, seriously worried. "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?"

Peeking out from her hood, Fubar seemed equally unnerved.

"You blew up the Pike on the other side of the wall, they probably heard it and thought it was an attack." The worry in her Ghost's voice was obvious, "Though the size of the response is strange, it's as if they're expecting an assault."

"Or an invasion." Jane muttered. The way the lower ranks seemed jittery spoke volumes to her, these Fallen were expecting an attack. A big one too.

Turning, Jane began to make her way through the ruins of what were once buildings, curving her path to skirt around the edges of the main concentration of Fallen, having to continuously duck behind cover from small patrols of Dregs and floating drones Fubar called Shanks.

Vandals lined the majority of the vantage points she came across, and she made a point of staying inside buildings, where the likelihood of getting spotted was much less likely. Eventually discovering a blown out building that had an intact cellar, which with a bit of effort Jane managed to hide with some stray debris.

The cellar itself was rather small, which was why it had probably been overlooked by the Fallen in the first place. Which was fine, since the building it was under was far enough away from regular patrols to be a relatively safe place to hold up, and as Jane scouted out the nearby buildings, she discovered the remains of a building, the remains of its third story giving her excellent coverage for the nearby area.

As Jane got herself settled, she discussed with Fubar their next move, eventually deciding that their best bet was to wait a few days for the Fallen to calm down, and move on to one of the smaller Cosmodromes, or just steal a Fallen dropship and bail for the Last City.

Naturally the first idea, and there for the most boring, had been made by Fubar. Her Ghost clearly wishing to avoid confrontation, but Jane wasn't so easily unnerved, and she was already running ideas through her head.

As the day finally started to end, Jane sealed herself in her makeshift bunker and prepared to get some sleep. She had a feeling that something was on the horizon, and wanted to be prepared to capitalise on it when it arrived.


Authors Note:

And the infamous driving skills are rediscovered, though honestly I was never great at driving the Sparrows back in Destiny 1 either. I'm looking to show how damage and wear from previous fights can impact the future, since being able to just repair everything on the spot would be rather boring.

The next chapter is shaping up to be both an action piece and heavy on the plot, so it will probably take a bit longer than I would like. But on the upside, I'm writing longer chapters!

And to those who are worried this story is looking to just re-tread the plotlines of Destiny 1, have no fear, I'm looking to expand a bit on the lore that takes place before the first game begins. Jane the Dragon Hunter sounds like an awesome title, and the next chapter should explain just where in the timeline Jane has ended up.


Thank you for your continual support everyone, and thank you to those who Review, Please do read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not as much. Of course, reviews are my life blood as a writer on this site, and every time my email goes off it motivates me to write more.

~ JunkMail