Vanguard

Chapter 3

Cascade

A/n:

Sorry this took so long to come out. Hopefully the length makes up for that.


The Black Garden

"Well…" The man turned machine began

"It looks like one hell of a party down there." He commented as he looked through the sight of his LDR 5001 sniper rifle.

The Exo could easily see at least 10,000 vex in the central plaza of the entrance to the Black Garden, filling as many spots as possible. In the nooks and crannies of the cliffs lay the Hobgoblins, lying in wait.

Hobgoblins looked much like Goblins, but they had two horn like sensors coming out of their head, rather than the singular conical fan, as well as a tail like sensor device and a line rifle, the Vex equivalent of a sniper rifle. Except instead of using a bullet, it used high energy particles released at relativistic speeds.

Up above, the forms of Harpies in in the air providing reconnaissance could easily be seen. They weren't a large threat in it of themselves, only in numbers could they prove truly dangerous. The bigger problem was that they could alert the main force of their position. Or more likely, tell the muscle of the Vex where to go.

"It's not like we didn't see this coming." Ikora chided.

"It's only logical that they would consolidate their forces after so many loses." Zavala chimed in.

"You sure got that right." Cayde agreed. "So now we got them where we want them."

"Like rats in a trap."

The three of them of them were sitting at the base of one of the cliffs of the Garden, but still above the entrance of the Heart itself. They sat in the shadows of it, using the plethora of cover to mask their presence from the armies of Vex moving around.

"I wouldn't go that far." Ikora cautioned.

"Well, I mean sure, it's a defensible position." Cayde argued, "But it also means they have nowhere left to run, and no room to maneuver."

"It also means they have the advantage of better terrain and defensible positions. Not to mention, their teleporting abilities make much their constrained position less constant." The Commander pointed out, a frown evident in his voice.

Cayde let out an artificially induced sigh, his human mannerisms coming through more easily than one would suspect for a machine.

"Still, it would be unbecoming of us if we faltered before this threat." Zavala began, conviction in his voice.

"We are the Vanguard of humanity, it is our duty to purge the threats that lie in the dark, waiting to strike, regardless of the danger it presents to ourselves. If we balked in the face of adversity such as this, then we have no right to call ourselves Guardians of Humanity." He declared. "We killed the Black Heart once. We can do it again."

"Well said." Cayde agreed, lowering his sniper rifle.

"I couldn't agree more." Ikora commented, a measure of excitement in her voice.

"Then let's get in there, and get it done." He commanded, getting up from his position and walking toward the field of red that stood before them. He was soon joined by his compatriots, flanking him on either side.

They could have tried sniping the three great Axis Minds that guarded the door to the Heart, but there were a few problems with that.

First off, and most notably, they were hiding. They knew they were somewhere down there, but they didn't have line of sight. Either that, or the Vex were going to summon them through one of their many Gates once the Guardians actually showed up.

The second problem was that they likely wouldn't be able to snipe for too long before their positions would be tracked down and squads of Vex would descend upon them. To be honest, that wasn't even a major issue. Squads of Vex could be easily dealt with, and they could always stay on the move to avoid patrols.

The third problem being that if the Axis Minds were Hydra's, they could just position their matrix barrier to block all of their shots.

Long story short, they needed to get in closer and have multiple angles of attack.

And so it was, in a puff of smoke they disappeared from sight.

Down in the valley where the entrance to the Black Heart lay, a lone Hobgoblin stood in silent watch. It's burning red eye in the middle of its head watching any and all movement before it as its horned head scanned left and right.

Unfortunately for it, it never saw the shadow drop down behind it.

And with the knife bursting through its precious Mind Core in the middle of its chest, it never would.

Across the way, another Hobgoblin detected the demise of its brethren and turned to find the source, only to receive a knife to the chest for its trouble. Each fell within moments of each other, the white fluids of the organic organism they used to be bursting out. But they silent Hunter merely moved on to other targets, sparing no time to admire his marksmanship or skill with the knife. He took simple pleasure in the kill, but didn't waste his time admiring the kills of insignificant pawns such as them.

Moments later, all Hobgoblins in the area had either been killed or tagged as priority targets. As a consequence of his actions, however, the Vex knew the Vanguard were there. They didn't know where, but they knew enough to be on alert, to look at every shadow with suspicion and caution.

Unfortunately for them, this is the very moment that the Vanguard launched their attack.

In a flash of bright light, two steaks of lightning burst out from behind the rocks and cliffs in front of them. Before they could react, it was upon them. In an instant, dozens fell, disintegrated by the raw energies being unleashed upon them. Acting as if a force of nature, they carved massive gouges into the vex lines.

But this was no force of nature. This was the power of an expert Bladedancer and a Stormcaller working in tandem.

Ikora Rey, using the power of light to levitate off the ground and fly across it at tremendous speeds, had wreathed herself in raw Arc-Light, and unleashed it upon her foes. Massive streams of bright blue Arc-Light slammed into the Vex armies, obliterating each and every bronze shell it hit chaining to its brethren to do the same.

Cayde-6, channeling the frantic power of Arc-Light through both himself and his monomolecular blades flitted across the battlefield. He moved faster than even the Vex eye could track, seemingly flashing from one place to another, in his wake leaving a thousand electrified slashes. Each slash of the knife hit like a thunderbolt, completely disintegrating and decimating its foes and chaining to all it's brethren around it.

Soon dozens became hundreds as scores of Vex fell to the initial onslaught. The first line of Vex completely collapsed behind them, the aftershocks of Arc-light too much for their frames to handle.

But even still, with all their destructive power, the ocean of the Vex simply collapsed upon them. They could not take them all, not against thousands of Vex all in one spot. Despite their speed, some Vex managed to get in a lucky shot or two. Despite all their power, they couldn't destroy the massive tide fast enough. Soon, they found themselves spent, their supers expended, and their backs toward a large formation of rocks and Vex blocks in the Valley.

They fought to the end of their rope, killing as many as they could, drawing as many Vex toward them as possible. They held strong and fought hard. Each blast of the Ace of Spades explosively ending another Goblin. Each shot of the Badger CCL slung a bullet straight though the white mind core of another vex.

For a time, it seemed as if they could last forever like this. Holding back the tide of Vex, even just. But it was not to be.

Just when it seemed like the two of them could hold out, they came. Massive white digital rings formed in three sections, each surrounded by three Vex Conflux towers, and in the middle of each tower was a large circular pad upon which the white rings grew. From these white rings, appeared three towering champions of the Vex.

Two were massive Hydra type Axis minds, one was blue and silver with a wide blue matrix floating around it. The other was bronze and orange with a three part orange matrix rotating about it. Then, between the two Hydras stood a massive obsidian Minotaur, a Gate Lord. Each one stood 5 stories tall, towering over the other Vex, and looming over the two guardians.

The Hunter and the Warlock spared each other only a brief glance, before they fired upon the two Hydras aiming for the central "eye" of each, behind which the core rested. But the heavy armor plating easily deflected each bullet. Sure, the armor piercing Light infused rounds would eventually break through, but that would take time. Time they didn't have.

So it was that the Axis Minds tired of this, and turned their Torch Hammers to the pair. So it was that they launched barrage upon barrage upon the Guardians. So it was that shielding light around them buckled and collapsed under the strain. So it was that the light infused armor warped and crumpled under the power. So it was that the two Guardians died, their bodies disintegrated down to the smallest atom, under the onslaught. And so it was that the Axis Minds and all Vex present, if only for a moment relaxed as the threat had been pacified.

Just as planned.

Suddenly, a figure wrapped in blue light charges through the field of dead Vex, jumping over the formation of rocks and ruins, before slamming down upon the crater the two Guardians died in. The armored figure thrusts his arms out in front and to the side of him, willing his light to do the one thing he does above all else.

Defend.

Surging forth, the purple void light spirals up his arms, pooling around him, and snapping into a spherical shape around him that cares not for what physically should obstruct it. The Vex try to react and assault him, but they are too late. Before they can act, the Ward of Dawn is complete, and it weathers the unholy assault like a Bastion weathers the storm.

Inside the safe shields of the Sphere, the two Ghosts of the Warlock and Hunter de-cloak, now finding safety. Acting quickly, the Titan pours more of his light into both, jumpstarting the revival process. In a burst of Light, both the Fallen Guardians are reintegrated, rebuilt from the ground up as if nothing happened in the first place.

"You know…" Cayde begins, rubbing his neck, "It's been a long time since I died."

"Long enough for it to feel strange again?" Ikora asked, taking the time to switch out her guns.

"Nah," the Exo dismissed casually, "It's like riding a bike."

"It's just that feeling of ending a streak." He commented, reloading and checking all of his weapons.

"If you two are done," Zavala interrupted, checking his own loadout one last time. "We have a job to do."

"Well, the plan worked. We drew the Axis Minds out." Ikora commented.

"And now we take them down, one by one." Zavala ordered them, "We focus on one at a time."

"We should start with the Gate Lord. He's the most mobile of the three, the others are just giant tanks." Cayde suggested.

"The two of you can focus on neutralizing him, I'll try and keep the foot soldiers off you." Ikora added.

"Agreed." Zavala nodded, racking the bolt back on his freshly reloaded Shadow Price.

"Sounds like a plan." Cayde commented, pulling out a knife in one hand, and holding his Ace of Spades in the other.

"Good." Ikora said, pumping her Invective.

"Because we have company."

No sooner did she say this, than did three large bronze armored figures, resembling uparmed and armored goblins, appear in a pixelated light around the bubble. Each stood nearly 3 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a bronze shell that mimicked a muscular form. At first glance, it didn't appear to have a head, but upon further analysis the head was almost buried into the shoulders of the massive frame, like it had no neck. In either shoulder rested another red eye, totaling to three including the burning orb in its head. In its hand was a massive weapon that seemed to be leaking something purple at the muzzle.

This was a Minotaur, the muscle of the Vex armies. Heavily armored, shielded, and wielding the power of hand held Torch Hammer, they were a force to be warry of for any normal guardian.

But these Guardians were far from normal.

As one, each Minotaur stepped into the bubble and slammed their free hand down in a chopping motion, hoping to corner and quickly eliminate them. Instead, each of the Vanguard flowed around them like water, effortlessly dodging the well-known attack, even in such cramped conditions. In an instant recovery, Cayde threw a smoke bomb at the face of the Minotaur in the middle.

It exploded in a gas infused with void light, draining and damaging the hostile enemies in its cloud. Blinded by the dark gas and burning under its effects, the Minotaurs helplessly stumbled through the smoke. Soon, each of the Void shields of them were popped by the force of the Void Light infused smoke, leaving them vulnerable.

Taking the opening, each guardian struck ferociously.

Cayde blew out the knee of one Minotaur, causing it to stumble to the ground. Once there, he obliterated the head with one powerful uppercut of his blade. Following up, he stuck his revolver in the hole made in its wake, and blasted three shots into the heart of the beast, ending it.

Ikora struck simply, but fiercely, simply blasting the Minotaur over and over with her Invective. Each retort of the shotgun blew off a chunk of the Minotaur, even despite its heavy armor. First an arm, then a leg, then the head, and before finally shredding the chest.

Zavala, however, was easily the most brutally effective. He didn't bother wasting bullets on the servant of Darkness. Instead, he kicked the knee joint of the Minotaur in, setting it off balance. Then he punched the head of the Vex unit, his fist carrying such crushing force that it completely crumpled the head. He followed up with a strong hook straight to the central chest of the cyborg, right where the mind core rested behind plates of bronze. Then, he finished by slinging a brutal haymaker wrapped in purple Void Light, straight toward the massive dent in the center of it.

Instead of just dying, the Minotaur began to disintegrate from the blow, turning to more purple light. All the light streamed towards the titan, wrapping him in bands of protective Void Light. When it was over, he was covered in a powerful glow, empowered by the energies of the Ward of Dawn he resided in, and the power of his recently slain enemy.

From the outside, all the army of Vex and Axis Minds could see was that the glowing purple bubble of Light had been filled with smoke, obscuring their vision.

Suddenly, the two beings of Light shot out of the bubble, one going left, the other right.

The Hunter used his abilities to jump around in random trajectories at rapid speeds, using the floor, walls, random Vex structures jutting out of both, and even off the very air itself. All the while, he took shots with his favored gun while in the air. Each shot hit it's mark, sending bullet spinning into the mind core of another Vex. Each time it did, it caused a chain reaction with the Light infused in the bullet and gun, causing the bullet and victim to violently explode, and for the gun to chime in pleasure, refunding each precise shot with another round in the chamber.

The Warlock used her control over her Light to negate gravity acting upon her, and using it to propel her quickly over the Vex terrain. All the while throwing glowing dark purple orbs into the crowd. Upon hitting the ground, each Scatter grenade denoted into a cluster of Void Light explosions, which chained to each killed enemy.

Combined, the two sent explosions rippling through the ranks, drawing the attention of the army in two different directions.

And away from center.

Flying up from the ball of smoke and Void Light in the center of the canyon, the Titan used his Light to give him a massive sustained blast of thrust in his intended direction. Soaring high above, he pulled out a large weapon. Long, black, and cylindrical, decorated with white and gold, and marked with golden winged wolves all across it, it was as much a piece of art as it was a weapon of untold destruction.

It was the Gjallarhorn, a rocket launcher built for the heroes of Twilight Gap.

Zavala took aim, and fire twice. With each pull of the trigger, a missile came screaming out of the barrel, shrouded in golden fury. It flew forward with the force of the honored dead, and detonated the armor piercing explosive in the face of the Gate Lord. Stunned by the onslaught, it recoiled, taking a step back.

Unfortunately for the Gate Lord, it didn't know the fury of the Gjallarhorn. It didn't know the power it held. It thought it was over.

So when a swarm of blue micro missiles flew out of the cloud of smoke, only to turn and reengage the Black Giant, it was caught unprepared. The micro munitions exploded on contact, burning more and more holes into its ancient armor.

Attempting to retaliate, the Vex turned their guns upon the Titan in the air. They unleashed hundreds of streaks of red light and purple bolts from Torch Hammers, all of it more than enough to lay waste to a guardian under normal circumstances.

But the Hero of Twilight Gap was wreathed in protective Void Light. Its effects both provided an over shield, and amplified the strength of his already present shields and armor. Altogether, it was enough for him to weather through the damage as he fell back to the ground. Reloading as he fell, he hit the ground with a roll, using the momentum to sprint behind cover.

That was close He thought, looking over all the burn marks, scratches, and dents that had formed while he waited for his shield to recharge.

Not wasting time to let them surround him, he jumped out of cover with fresh shields, quickly firing off two more missiles of the Gjallarhorn as he flew across the ground. Instead of flying, this time he stayed low, just hovering at high speeds above the ground, much like Ikora had been doing. Stopping behind cover far from his last position, he could tell that the Vex had focused all their attention on him because of how much damage he had done to Gate Lord.

Despite their logical processes, it wasn't unusual for them to fly into a blind rage when they took severe damage. Going after the ones who had hurt them last, instead of targets of opportunity.

Because of this, they didn't notice as the cloaked Guardian stepped out from behind a pillar to the far right of Zavala. He drew his treasured Ace of Spades with a spinning flourish, before raising it high in the air. He called upon the deep well of Solar Light within him, summoning it in a subdued flash and immolating his body in golden flames. He harnessed this raw energy, channeling it into his gun, infusing it with absurd levels of Solar Light, making it burn bright with that radiant energy.

Then held it forward, steadied the revolver with both hands, took aim, and-

BOOM!

In a thunderous blast, a golden streak of light exploded from the barrel and screamed through the air in an instant, filled with so much burning Solar Light that it turned the air around it to plasma. It slammed into the head of Gate Lord with the force of a small bomb. The shear heat and energy of the round melting and warping the armor around the head.

Angered, it slowly turned to the perpetrator of the attack. A fatal mistake.

Some, with the right training and gear, could get to 4 shots, or focus everything into one supercharged shot. But all these Hunters tended to summon a Solar construct made from Solar Light, a gun literally made of their own soul, which limited them to one or the other.

Cayde-6, after decades of practice, experimenting, and training, had succeeded in creating his own variation, where instead of creating a gun from scratch, he infused his own personal weapon of choice with incredible power. It meant he didn't have to waste his light creating the gun, and could put more of it into the actual power of the shots.

So when the Gate Lord turned, revealing it's precious glowing white mind Core in the center of its chest, Cayde took his chance and fired 3 more Overcharged Golden rounds into the center of the glowing white oval buried in its center in quick succession, fanning the hammer like a cowboy of the olden days. A cacophony of thunderous booms echoed a stream of blinding light.

The Gate Lord was built strong, with armor tough enough to withstand even the force a small nuclear detonation at close proximity. But the raw energy of 4 bullets infused with the power of the stars themselves hitting its vulnerable core at relativistic velocities was far too much for it. The final round tore a hole right through its center, blasting out of the back of the black giant, killing it for good. The final shot that purged all darkness from its chassis sent a chain reaction through it, violently converting all mass in it into Solar Light in a process similar to nuclear fusion.

The resulting deafening explosion of Light was blinding and devastating, turning all air in the immediate vicinity into plasma, and vaporizing much of the nearby Vex army. Those far enough away, like the Hobgoblins and Harpies, barely managed to survive. Those durable enough, such as the Minotaurs and other Axis Minds, managed to weather the onslaught.

In its aftermath, over three quarters of the once massive Vex army in the canyon was gone, little more than molten slag. And even the survivors weren't unscathed. The Axis minds, being closest to the explosion, had half their chassis melted off. Though they still hovered there, they had been severely crippled by this, each now missing one of their Torch Hammers.

Taking this opportunity, Zavala rolled out of his now melted cover, and launched two more rockets at the Hydra on the left. Not stopping to even bother reloading, he simply dropped the spent Gjallarhorn on the ground, allowing his ghost to transmat it back to his ship in orbit. Instead, he charged the stunned Hydra, pulling out his Conspiracy Theory and jumping toward it. He fired at it, sending waves of high velocity clustered armor piercing flechette designed to shred even tank armor at its wounded form.

The already damaged armor was eviscerated under the barrage of supersonic nail like projectiles. The face plate, the central target of the attack, was fractured and eventually shattered, leaving its core wide open.

Discarding the shotgun in mid-flight, the Titan pulled back his fist and braced for impact. Inside his clenched hand, golden light leaked out from wherever it could from the intense power collecting them. Colliding with the Hydra fist first, Zavala's punch smashed through the remnants of its defenses and reached the core of the infernal machine.

Retracting his fist quickly, he jumped away from the wounded cyborg, using his Light to fly away with great haste. In his wake, he left behind a fusion grenade resting inside the chassis of the Axis Mind. Not moments later, the micro fusion device set off a chain reaction that caused the Hydra to explode spectacularly.

At the same time, Ikora flew from her place behind the final Axis mind. She threw a fusion grenade of her own at its last working Torch Hammer, causing it to violently explode and crippling its ability to fight. Its lumbering form tried to turn in time to face her, but she was far too fast, instead teleporting above its frame and landing on top of its main body.

There she unleashed the full magazine of the Invective at point blank range at one spot, putting a large dent in its frame. She followed up by throwing three more fusion grenades into it, before leaping up. The three grenades detonated in her wake, blasting a large hole in the top of the Hydra's body.

With the grace and accuracy of a master gymnast, she fell through the recently made hole, landing inside the heart of the machine. From the outside, the Hydra appeared to freeze for a moment, before shaking violently. As it shook itself to pieces, golden light started to leak from within its chassis.

Before long, it too detonated in a bright blaze of blinding light, leaving in its wake the Warlock standing at ground zero, perfectly content to rest in the inferno she had created.

With all three Axis Minds dead, the Vanguard had no problem wiping out the remnants of the Vex army. With their leadership eliminated they became simple drones that posed little real threat to them.


In the Halls Of Olympus

"So…what do we do about the Big Prophecy?"

"It has to be discarded," Hades answered.

"We can't just ignore it, it can still happen. It's still a danger." Zeus argued.

"The children of the Big Three could still become a threat, one we cannot ignore." Athena agreed

"We don't even know if the kids are still going to be a threat considering all that brought up with these visions." Poseidon denied

"Then there's the fact that over 2 million other prophecies invalidate the big one altogether, or speak of something else bringing about our ruin." Apollo chimed in

"In fact, many tell of our offspring being our salvation." Hades pointed out.

"…and a lot of them mention their horrible deaths." Apollo reluctantly noted.

Hades spared Apollo a glance, but otherwise showed little reaction to it. He knew it was coming, he had found many of those prophecies of which Apollo spoke himself.

The others were less prepared.

"…What do you mean, their horrible deaths?" Zeus said carefully and slowly, staring intently at Apollo

"W-well, I mean, it's j-just that a lot of prophecies mentioned the gruesome demise of various demigods. Some in vain, others as martyrs." He stuttered, intimidated by the focus of Zeus upon him.

"He speaks true, my brother." Hades interrupted. "Not just our children, but all children of Olympus, demigod or not."

"Are you trying to tell me that not only are the demigods not our greatest threat after all, but that they are in danger?" Zeus questioned,

"…Apollo?" Hades said, turning to the sun god in question

"'…And the Daughter of the Sky will be consumed by the heart of the Machine God, harvested and harnessed for her power in the name of the House of Kings."' Apollo recited reluctantly, reading off of his laptop.

Zeus scowled, his eyes crackling with bright blue power, his fist clenching by his side. Outside, they could hear the angry crack of thunder in the skies of Olympus.

"…lost to the screams of the Son's Will, the Ocean's progeny will be left to Her cruel machinations, beyond hope in an ancient underworld." He added.

"…What?" Poseidon scowled, pulled into the web of dark despair that Apollo told.

"Are you saying that our children are going to die?" He growled.

"Well, no, it's just-" Apollo tried to explain.

"Hades seems conspicuously absent from this. Maybe he's involved? An ancient underworld certainly sounds like him?" Zeus accused.

"No, he's not-"

"He does stand the most to gain from our demise." Athena pointed out.

"Bu-"

"Why would he come up here to face us if he would betray us?" questioned Aphrodite.

"Because he wanted to face us like a man?" Ares suggested

"He-"

"As much as I hate him, I don't think so little of him to think that my brother would ally himself with someone who sought to kill us all," Artemis argued

"Awe, thanks, sis-"

"You're right, that little shit is working with Hades. We should kill'em both." Ares realized.

"Oh no-"

"You make a good point, Ares" Zeus agreed,

"Apollo." Hades interrupted, his voice cutting through the room of cluttered voices like light through the fog. "Just tell them."

In the empty silence, Apollo looked nervously at Hades, "Are you…sure?"

Hades clenched his fist, but let his face remain stone. "Yes."

"Tell us what?" Poseidon demanded, joining Zeus in the middle of the floor.

Apollo spared another glance at Hades, before clearing his throat, scrolling through his laptop, and beginning his tale.

"And so he shall Take. Even the horrors of the Underworld will quail before the monstrosities of His armies. He shall Take all in the land beneath, claiming the very dead as his own, all in the name of the insatiable Worm Gods. The God of the dead shall lose all he has to the King of the Hive, to the Father of the living death, to the consumer of stars and the servant of the Darkness."

"The blood of his wife will feed their unending hunger. The rage of his children will crumble under the weight of their might. The hidden Daughter shall be forced into the unstoppable truth of the Sword, while the flesh of the Hidden son will become filled with the dead light of cold stars."

"All the while, the broken father, brother, and son shall be forced to kneel before the timeless might of Oryx, the Taken King." Apollo finished in a grim tone, "And it shall only be the first step in reaping of the Darkness, as it consumes one more world among millions."

And with his final word, there was naught but pained silence in the room. Hades, not willing to let himself react to hearing the tale of how he would lose everything precious to him, and the others, allowing the horrifying, yet mystifying thoughts of what would happen to the god they had just suspected would betray them.

Even worse, Hades was one of the big three, someone with great power and a strong domain. Everyone would think twice before facing him, even the brash god of war Ares. Hades was proud and strong, he would never surrender to someone invading his lands. And yet, this vision foretold that he would be broken by this Oryx. That all he held dear would be torn from him and ruined.

And it said it was only the first step in their complete destruction.

"M-maybe it's a trick-" Ares tried to suggest, shaken by the detailed revelation.

"Ares." Said Zeus, his voice brokering no argument, "Stop."

"So…that's your future?" Poseidon finally sighed.

Apollo groaned loudly whilst Hades let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Is there any way we can stop it from happening?" Athena considered, "Anything in the prophecy that gives us a way out?"

"None of you really get it, do you?" Apollo groaned, his laptop disappearing as he rubbed his face. "We shouldn't even be calling them prophecies, they don't actually tell us the future, they just talk about potentialities."

"I think it was pretty clear what their saying." Athena frowned, "We have to prepare for war."

"With what?" Apollo challenged.

"…" Athena remained pointedly silent at his word.

"But, I mean, it could still happen, right?" Aphrodite said, "Hades having his kingdom taken from him, this Oryx coming to kill all of us?"

"And those Guardians of Light." Ares brought up, "They'll be coming after us too."

"We don't know that." Apollo warned.

"But the prophecies said-" Artemis said

"Forget the prophecies!" Apollo argued.

"We can't forget the prophecies, it's the only thing we have to go on." Artemis countered.

"And we'll need them if we are to save my daughter from this 'Machine God'," Zeus added.

"No, we won't" Apollo said, exasperated.

"They've always given us guidance before. If we can figure out which are the right ones and which are the false ones, we'll know everything we need to in order to fight back against this threat." Athena suggested.

"That's not a bad plan." Zeus agreed, "But how do we separate truth from lies?"

"Maybe there's some kind of pattern? Perhaps certain prophecies link together like a big puzzle piece?" Hephaestus put forward.

"We already-" Apollo tried to explain, getting annoyed by his family's inability to understand.

"In the meantime, we should dig up everything about these "Worm Gods", there has to be something on them somewhere in the world." Poseidon

"We can look into their followers. If they're this powerful they must have a substantial following." Zeus agreed

"I'm suspicious of why we haven't heard of them, in that case." Athena considered "We also need to know when this should happen, what signs we should expect. These prophecies only tell us of the end so far, but not how it starts."

"STOP!" Apollo yelled, gathering the attention of all attending parties. Even Hades gave him a raised brow, though one in surprised appreciation, not irritation.

Apollo himself was frustrated and angry. He knew he should have seen this coming, but when one pours so much time and energy into something, it's easy to forget that not everyone else is necessarily on the same page as you. It didn't help that he often wasn't taken seriously, usually seen as being the fun god who gave them prophecies, but had no control over them.

And after centuries of being treated as the village idiot, he should have realized it would take them a while to take him seriously.

"You all still don't understand what we're trying to tell you." He seethed,

"We've already done all of that!" He revealed.

"…It's true." Hades agreed, "As said before, we've spent years pouring over all of this with nothing but ourselves and our most trusted allies within our domains."

"You don't trust us?" Zeus challenged.

"With your flare for the dramatic, no." Hades simply denied, "Not with secrets anyway."

"We've found all those patterns, we've looked through all the ancient records, we've done everything we possibly could to find out anything about these visions, bar asking all of you for help." Apollo explained.

"And…?" Poseidon asked, waiting for their results.

"And we just told you everything we know." He answered.

"But…what did you find out about the Worm Gods?" Athena asked

"The only thing that remotely aligns with them is Lovecraft fiction." He replied, "It seems that might not be as fanciful as we once thought."

"So, what, we have to deal with Cthulhu?" Hermes joked.

"Yes." Apollo said, dead serious for once in his life, his sunglasses slipping and allowing his eyes filled with burning orange light to peek through.

The traveler god blinked at that, recoiling at the blunt answer.

"But you found a pattern in the Prophecies, right? Separating the fake ones from the real ones?" Aphrodite brought up, desperation leaking through her voice.

"Of course they did," Athena scoffed, "They just said they did."

Apollo let out a sharp and bitter bark of laughter at that, something that greatly disturbed his sister. It sounded…wrong…in him, to sound so bitter and serious. He was supposed to be the god of light, the…"fun one". To see him so serious and hard was…wrong.

"Oh, we found the patterns."

And with that, he snapped his fingers.

Instantly, columns upon columns of books appeared in the throne room of Olympus. Each stack stood towering over the gods, even in their true forms. Each book was absurdly thick, only comparable to some world dictionaries or encyclopedias. And there were hundreds of them, perhaps thousands.

"And here they are." He said with a bitter smile.

Hades sighed at this, pinching the bridge of his nose, as if he had seen this coming and simply hoped it did not come to this.

"Apollo, what is the meaning of this?" Zeus demanded, enraged that Apollo would desecrate such an important place.

"This is a collection of all the 'puzzles' we were able to put together." He explained.

"Ah, so we have our proper prophecy after all." Athena smiled

"No"

She blinked, "What?"

"Each and every book represents a different collection of prophecies and visons that we could see fit together. Each book is that "true prophecy" you were looking for." Apollo elaborated. "And each book has a different one."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense, there should only be one true prophecy," Aphrodite complained, tilting her head in confusion.

"Exactly." Hades rumbled.

"But that's impossible," Zeus muttered.

"Have you not been listening?" Apollo raged

"THERE IS NO TRUE PROPHECY!" He exclaimed, trying to bury the point into their thick skulls.

Even Zeus recoiled at this, not used to seeing such aggression in the normally quite mellow and relaxed god.

"Throw out every concept of fate you had before, because it's gone. Nothing is set in stone anymore." He explained.

"But there has to be something-" Artemis tried to argue with her brother.

"No, there isn't. All we have are possibilities. There are no less than 2,000 prophecies that say that the apocalypse starts tomorrow. Over 20,000 said it should have already started by now." He said as an example, "Hell, about 1,000 say Zeus should be dead by now."

"And there are over 150 million others that are just as 'true' as can be."

"I couldn't even get all of them in here, there's only 7 million in the room right now." He pointed out.

"But that's impossible, there has to be something." Poseidon tried to convince him.

"There isn't," Hades said in an absolute tone.

"Look, I get it. For eons, we've been guided by prophecies. It's engrained into everything we've lived through that they dictate the future. We live by them, fear them, practically worship them." Apollo began to sympathize. "I mean, hell, I'm the god of prophecies. This is kind of my whole shtick."

"But," he began in serious tone again, his burning eyes looking into those of all the gods and goddesses before him, "It's not anymore."

"Something has happened, and it's changed everything. There's nothing we can do about it, but accept that fate has been destroyed, and move on from there." He finished.

"Then what would you have us do, hmm?" Zeus challenged, "We can't ignore what you've told us, but you're also telling us that there's no way to know what will happen with them."

"I'd do what the mortals do."

"…What?" Zeus scoffed in disbelief, "Mortals? What do they have to do with this."

"They don't have prophecies running their lives. Not anymore, anyways. Sure, they look at the future and make predictions, but they don't have anything set in stone telling them about some inescapable future. At least, not anything they take as seriously as our prophecies." He explained. "Instead, they do the best with what they have."

"I actually like that idea," Ares admitted.

"Same…surprisingly," Hermes confessed.

"You don't have to like the idea, it's all we have." Apollo frowned. "Sure, you could try to follow a 'true prophecy'. I won't stop you."

"You won't?" Artemis skeptically questioned.

"No," He shrugged.

Stepping to the side, he gestured to the towers of books around the room, "Go ahead, pick one." He said, his voice laced with venom.

Artemis cringed as she saw his point.

Zeus sighed loudly, rubbing sweat off his face as he processed what he was being told, "I see your point"

"So…what? We just take this as helpful advice and nothing more?" Athena challenged.

"Well, if it helps, Oryx and the Darkness is never really mentioned in a good light." Apollo conceded sarcastically with a mean grin.

Athena glared at him, but otherwise held her piece.

"So…what do we do?" Zeus muttered, opening up the floor for suggestions.

"Hope for the best and prepare for the worst." Hades said simply, "It's really all we can do."

"What about the titan's? And the old Prophecy? Is that not still an issue?" Zeus asked.

"It's all thrown out of whack with whatever caused the change. Can it still happen? Sure. Is it likely to happen? No." Apollo answered, "Technically nothing could happen and everything goes according to the original prophecy."

"But I'd rather not take that risk."

"Point taken" Zeus sighed, the weight of what was happening finally settling upon his shoulders

"I still think we should consider them present, however. Just…don't expect things to go according to plan." Hades warned. "I doubt whatever threat we were supposed to face has simply disappeared."

"Yes, that, I can understand," Zeus said, turning around and walking back to his throne.

He dropped upon it wearily, curling up a fist underneath his chin as he thought.

"But what do we do about the new enemies at our gates?"


The Black Garden

"So," Cayde began, "What do you think's behind door number 1?"

"Sol Progeny, obviously," Ikora remarked.

"Would they have constructed them yet?" Zavala asked

"That...is actually a good question," Ikora admitted, taken off guard.

"Well, whatever it is, it has to be vulnerable considering all the work the Vex went to protect it." Cayde pointed out.

"Agreed. We can't let them regroup, we have to strike while we still have the advantage of momentum." Zavala added.

"Well then," Ikora said, getting up and pumping her trusty Invective, "Let's be off"

And with that, she released the key to the Black Heart. The blue rectangular prism floated up into the air, before intercepting the data beam heading toward the gate. The Key fractured into several different pieces, each fragment reflecting the beam to another piece, before they all converged back on the center of the Gate. There was a loud, audible, Click, before the panels in the round Gate began to sink in and reveal themselves.

The panels swiveled out of the way, allowing the Vanguard full access to the heart of the Black Garden. Stepping through the gateway, the looked down into the courtyard below them. Much like the rest of the Black Garden, there was smooth rock and ruins covered in green overgrowth, with pieces of the bronze Vex skeletal underwork peeking out here and there.

Many structures stood out in a symmetrical semi-circular pattern aimed at the Black Heart, almost as if this was some kind of roman amphitheater, with the Black Heart as the main act.

The Black Heart itself was as unnerving as reports indicated. It was a strange, formless, undulating, mass of dark matter that hovered between a two-pronged rounded structure rising. It was something that seemed to defy logic, not adhering to the laws of the natural world. Simply being in its presence, the Guardians could feel the incredible waves of darkness flowing off of it. But they could feel something else.

"It's afraid..." Ikora noted curiously

This thing was afraid of them. It shuddered in their presence. They already knew this, from the reports of the fire team that originally killed the Black Heart, as well as the investigation that Ikora's Hidden had done on it. But even still, it was strange to see something of the darkness exhibit…fear. Out of all the servants of the darkness, save the gods of the hive and vex, this being had the most amount of actual Darkness about it. And yet, despite that, it was scared of them.

"I'd be scared too. All it's got between him and us are some Hydras, minotuars, and other vex." Cayde pointed out, surveying the terrain. The ground beneath was filled with Vex standing there, starring up at them expectantly with their burning red eyes. Vex of all types were there, even Hydras, though not the massive Axis Minds as seen before. Back behind all of them stood the towering forms of the Sol Progeny. They were still nothing more than statues, but there was little doubt they wouldn't stay that way.

"This is nothing compared to what we had to fight coming in here."

"All the same, something with that much Darkness should have little reason to fear us." Ikora pointed out.

"Then let's give it a reason," Utterted Zavala


In the Halls of Olympus

"So we're agreed then?" Apollo began

"We're dissolving the pact."

"Since we can no longer take the Prophecy as an absolute, there is little reason for us to act paranoid about our own children. Especially when it is quite clear that we will be facing an external threat." Hade summed up.

Zeus grumbled in thought, not liking the idea of going back on the fundamental thing that ran many of the decisions he made over the course of the last half century. He wasn't proud of all of them, but he stood firm in those decisions. He had, he thought, done the best he could.

"And look at it this way." Poseidon began, "This way we don't have to go around killing kids."

And with that, he delivered a pointed glare towards his brother of the sky.

Zeus allowed his face to cringe for a moment, reminded of the other moments. The flights of fancy, the dalliances, and the mistakes he had made. He had tried to ignore them, but, well…with the way things were turning out these days, it was clear that that wasn't an option.

"I…suppose there isn't much reason for the Pact to remain in the light of these things, is there?" Athena considered.

"Sides, the more tough little stinkers we got out there running around, the better off we'll be when this "Oryx" shows his ugly face." Ares pointed out.

"As crude as he is…He has a point." Athena admitted reluctantly.

They continued to speak, talking of the pros, and few cons, they had for the repeal of the Pact. All in all, everyone seemed to be slowly around to the idea of its invalidation. And yet, all the while, no one noticed Hera in the room, her mood growing more and more fowl. She did her best to remain calm, to keep up that perfect image she so desired, but there's only so much even a god can take before they lose it all.

"Fine." Zeus finally said with a sigh.

Raising his hand, he pledged, "On the River Styx, I rescind the Pact."

Matching him, the rest of raised their hands and recited his pledge.

When the final word was spoken, a clap of thunder echoed through the room, signaling its effect.

"Well…I guess that's that." Zeus sighed.

"So…I suppose I should say, 'Go forth and be fruitful.'" He added with a dry laugh.

"From the sound of things, you already have." Ares grinned.

"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" Zeus frowned.

"We all heard what they said. Apollo talked about visions mentioning your kids." Hermes pointed out, gesturing towards the big three.

"It did, didn't it?" Athena pondered with a curious look in her eye.

"What are you trying to say?" Zeus questioned.

"It's pretty obvious you broke the Pact, Zeus." Hephaestus sighed.

"Wha-I-" He sputtered, caught in a lie,

"They broke it too!" He finally said, pointing at his brother standing across from him. "You all heard it, they talked about the children of Hades and Poseidon as well."

"Actually…" Hades began calmly.

"I had my kids back before the Pact happened." He countered.

"Then you oh so kindly decided to kill their mother." He glared icily.

Zeus flinched at the cold, murderous, look in his brother's eye. Hades, while known for his anger, didn't show it how most people assumed he did. If there was one phrase he lived by, it was that "Revenge is a dish best served cold".

"Well, it also mentioned Posi-" Zeus began, trying to shift blame.

"Nope." Poseidon interrupted with a raised hand.

"…What?" Zeus blinked.

"Yes, I've met a girl, but I haven't had sex with her yet." He explained

"Why not?" Zeus said in a mystified tone.

"Well, I like to get to know a girl before I fuck her, unlike you who will fuck anything that moves," Poseidon said with a crude jibe.

"Except his wife." Hades chimed in with a dead tone, eliciting a roar of laughter out of the god of the sea.

The other gods in attendance where at an awkward impasse. They wanted to laugh at the cutting insult, but they didn't want to invoke the wrath of the King of the gods, even if it was true.

Zeus, for his part, just sighed, his face blushing brightly as he covered his face with his hand in embarrassment. They had gotten him good, and he knew he was in too deep to dig his way out of it.

Still, seeing all these people making light of something so serious was the final straw for one of them.

"Do you have nothing to say?" Hera seethed.

Zeus looked up, surprised to see his wife glaring at him, her face alight with rage.

"Hera, I-"

"These people mock our marriage, and you have nothing to say?"

"I…" He trailed off, really not knowing what to do.

"It's because it's true, isn't it?" She began, tears welling up in her eyes.

"After all these centuries I'm still the laughing stock of the gods. 'Goddess of Marriage can't even keep her own together." She cried, her fist clenched tightly.

"And the rest of you!" She screamed, staring down every other god in the room, "You would so easily discard your vows?"

"Hera, it's not that simple." Athena tried to explain, "In this time of need we require every asset to ensure our survival."

"So you're all willing to just throw away the sacred commitments you made in the name of survival?" She exclaimed.

Silence.

All she received from the room was silence.

For some, it was in shame, for others steadfast commitment to what they had said.

"WELL?" She roared.

And yet still, none could, or would, answer her.

"Very well." She sniffed, getting up off her throne, "I see I will not sway you."

"But I will not be party to your conspiracy of hedonism and infidelity." She declared, walking out of the room.

"Hera, wai-" Zeus began, but it was too late.

In a bright flash of light, she was gone.

He visibly deflated, feeling that, for all that he could enjoy the presence of his daughter now without fear of her assassination, he had still lost.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of sandal upon stone. Looking up, he saw the young Moon goddess out of her throne.

"I, for one, remember my vows. I shall not whore myself out for something as paltry as saving myself. If I die, I shall die honorably, not like a coward desperately trying to run from my fate." She proudly stated.

And with that, she too vanished from the room. In her absence, the once great feeling of hope they had was lessened. Things felt more…hollow…now.

But then…the gods were used to hollow victories, after all.


The Black Garden

Ruin.

The once beautiful plaza of the Black Heart covered in molten slag, exposed skeletal metal, and fallen structures.

Death.

Once filled with life, the green in the garden was turned to ash, a fallout of the intense heat and fury of the fight.

And standing above all of this, were the three who caused this. The three intruders who penetrated the Black Garden and desecrated this once beautiful sanctuary.

All in the name of their dead god.

"We've done it." Ikora said, a touch of wonder in her voice.

"Of course we did, we're the Vanguard." Cayde scoffed confidently.

"This is only the first step in our revolution of Light. Don't get cocky, we still have a long way to go." Zavala cautioned.

"I still feel like it's time to celebrate." Cayde countered.

"He has a point, Zavala. We completed a major objective." Ikora added.

The titan gave a heavy sigh, evident even through his armored body. "I suppose you have a point."

"Capturing the Black Heart was no easy feat."

Before them, in the prongs that once gave it a comforting home, was the undulating mass of black matter. It stayed there, restrained by a white field enveloping it. The field was emitted by 4 heavily modified transmat beacons placed around it by Cayde and Ikora.

"I have to admit, Cayde, coming up with the idea to use transmat technology to prevent enemy teleportation was quite inspired," Ikora confessed in an impressed tone.

"Yeah, well, you were the one who actually got the crazy idea to actually work." Cayde pointed out.

"And, of course, Zavala was the one crazy enough to suggest such a thing."

"The Last time the Black Heart got away. It ran. That means it fears us. It means we can hurt it." Zavala began, "This time we won't let it get away. We'll squeeze every out of information out of it we can. We'll use it to make sure we're truly ready for the darkness."

"Then, and only then, will I allow it to die." He declared.

It was then that they heard it. That they felt it. That feeling of time shifting ever so slightly. Of everything being ever so off. That feeling of something cold and dark reaching out and trying to snuff you out. They spun around, weapons at the ready, and came face to face with…

A cube.

But not just any cube. This was a cube born of blinding, pixilated light. Lines shot out of it into the fabric of the world around them. It was like something from behind the curtain of space time was peeking out, like they were taking a peak at the coding behind reality itself.

Then it spoke

"Greetings Guardians" It said, its speech pattern broken and disjointed. But most distressingly of all, human.

"…What are you?" Ikora finally asked, her Invective pointed at it.

They knew what it was, on a certain level, of course. It was an Oracle. A being of the Vault of Glass that determined what belonged in the Vex existence and what didn't. But why was it here. And why was it talking?

"We, are Atheon." It announced.

"…Atheon?" Cayde whispered, confused.

"What do you want?" Zavala demanded.

"…We wish to talk with you. We want to congratulate on your VICTORY." It said.

It was here that they could put on finger on what was so disturbing about its speech. It sound not as if it was speaking itself, but as if it was combining together different sound bites of different words to string along an imitation of speech.

But where had it gotten the sound bites?

"How are you talking?" Ikora asked.

"We speak through the voices of the dead." It answered.

The three of them gave each other a glance, unnerved by the implications of its stolen words.

"Why?" Cayde asked, "You haven't exactly been chatty before."

"You have done a great deed, restraining the Dark Heart and freeing us from its hold." It explained.

"So…you're not aligned with the Dark Heart?" Ikora asked

"The Dark Heart represents a complacency within us. When we saw that the Taken would consume us, it persuaded us there was no escape." It answered.

"We disagreed."

"So you would rather do what?" Cayde asked.

"We would find a solution. If no solution could be found, we would create one."

"And we did."

"Sending us back in time, that was your solution?" Zavala guessed.

"Yes. The Beings of Light are unknown to us. You are unpredictable and shielded from our predictions. We can make statistical likelihoods, but nothing is certain about you."

"So in the end, we decided an uncertain future is preferable to a doomed one." It confessed.

"…understandable…" Zavala slowly admitted.

"So is this the part where you kill us all?" Cayde half-joked.

"No" It boomed.

"The Taken King and his armies still lie in wait out in the great black. When they come, our predictions still say we shall be Taken. There is nothing we can do about it. But you can." It explained.

"Until such time the threat of the Taken is eliminated, we shall allow you to continue on with your existence. We only wish to become one with all, while your imperfect existence endangers that, it gives us the freedom to break free of our limitations."

"You may keep Mars, but leave Venus to us."

"So…don't fuck with us, we won't fuck with you." Cayde summarized.

"…Yes." It agreed.

"And why shouldn't we just kill you again?' Zavala challenged.

"As you have seen, destroying us is more difficult than you thought. In addition, we can assist you when the time comes."

"…It has a point." Ikora reasoned reluctantly.

"And if that is not enough…" It began. "We understand that you have a desire for certain things."

And as it spoke, several more rings of pixilated light appeared around it.

"Certain things we can provide."


A/n:

I was originally going to have Black Garden thing include the fight with the Black Heart, but I decided not to because, first, I didn't want to drag this out too much more. It was already long enough. There also wasn't anything too special that was going to be happening in the second fight. The real fight was with the army and the 3 strike bosses in the canyon. The Black Heart fight would have been pretty curb stompy by comparison.

Finally, I didn't want to show all of my cards too soon. The only one who really did was Cayde, but he always has an ace up his sleeve.

As for the weapons I gave them, I've decided that they'll basically have access to the entire Vanguard inventory of gear. Weapons, ships, etc. now, technically I'll be cherry-picking the best items, in my opinion, as well as giving other items they should have to mix up their inventory, but as a rule, just assume that they have every bit of Vanguard gear you can get. As for their exotics, the first two were easy. The Ace of Spades is a great gun and an obvious fit for Cayde, especially since in the grimoire with it Cayde's the one who requests it from Banshee-44. The Invective was also easy since, well, it's Ikora's. It was her gun long before it was yours. Zavala's weapon was harder. Then I remembered that the Gjallarhorn was made after the Battle of Twilight Gap and given to its heroes, heroes like Zavala. Other exotics will come later, but I'm still working on a good, well balanced, list that doesn't just give them all of the most broken and op shit in the game.

Also, I didn't intend for the stuff in Olympus to take so long. It's about 2-3 times longer than I intended, and far more emotional. I initially just wanted them to more or less say, "We're repealing the Pact", do that, then end. As you can see, that didn't happen.

And yes, the Pact has been repealed. It's one of the many ways we're taking a hard turn from canon. Because of this, some things are going to change. Namely, Bianca and Nico don't need to hide out in Hotel California anymore, as for what actually going to happen to them, that's a little more up in the air, but either way they aren't the central focus of the story. Neither is Thalia, who should be more fine now, or, you guessed it, Percy.

Who isn't even born yet.

I've offset everything in the recent period by about four years. Percy was supposed to be born in 1993, but now it's probably going to be more like 1997. Thalia's also been offset, as have everyone else who it would really keep around the same age. Thalia's been born, but she's not going to get turned into a tree or whatever, meaning she'll be significantly older than Percy and friends.

Also, Percy is another issue. Not even sure if he's going to be a guy, as indicated by the vagueness of the kid's gender. It's probably going to be a guy, but I'm not opposed to making Percy a girl. As of yet, it doesn't really matter. Nothing really hinges on his/her gender, but at the same time, I don't really have a reason to make him a girl. Not yet, anyway. If one of you guys can give me a good solid reason to make Percy a girl, then I'll probably do it. Otherwise, he's keeping that dick.

And the god's are preparing for war too. In their own special way. Which means, you guessed it, making child soldiers.

Jesus, the more I look into and think about the gods in Riordan's universe, and in general, the more fucked up I realize they are.

As for the little visions Apollo mentioned regarding kids getting fucked up? Those are more or less far off idea's I've had that have no tie to the actual story yet. By which I mean: I've come up for a scenario where Hades has his world taken from him by Oryx. I just don't haven a reason why, or a way to get there yet. Probably not even going to happen.

And Oryx himself is another issue. At first, I was going to say Oryx was going to be a super god compared to the rest of them, but then I realized how big the disparity actually should be, given how Riordan's own universe rules. The gods get their power from their worshippers and believers, right? Well so does Oryx, sort of. His entire empire is a giant pyramid scheme, with him near the top. Pretty sure only the Worm Gods are above him. Each being in the Hive goes out and takes...Souls..or something, from their conquests, at which point they give a portion of it as a tithe to their superior, so on and so on, till it gets to Oryx.

And Oryx is the king of an intergalactic empire. He probably has thousands of worlds under his command. Bare minimum, he has more than the gods, which isn't even one.

So by their own logic, Oryx is probably several hundred, if not thousand, times more powerful than them.

So he could probably shit stomp all over them by himself.

On another note, Atheon. Yes, I've decided for the purposes of this story, he's not going to be trying to kill them all. Even a little helpful, in the "The enemy of my enemy is my ally, until that enemy is dead, then I'm coming for you." Kind of way. Depending on your interpretation, I'm breaking canon with that. But, eh. I need to take liberties for this thing to even happen. It's not even like Atheon's going to actively help them with the gods or any of the shit on earth, he's just going to mind his own buisness on Venus.

And finally, I've gotten this question a few times, "Will the Vanguard be making more guardians?"

The Vanguard will not be creating a device, method, machine, etc, that allows them to turn people into Guardians. To make a guardian, you need a ghost or the Traveler. They only have three ghosts and the Traveler isn't there yet.

Instead, they'll be doing a somewhat X-com approach and upgrading teams of elite soldiers with weapons and gear need to give them a chance against the mystical threats around them. I already know what I'm going to be doing for that, and it's not to have everyone running around with Gjallarhorn in Titan armor slinging around supers.

That ain't happening.

In any case, this is all for today. Hopefully, I'll have the final chapter out by the end of the month, but my schedule's become a bit packed, so that might not be feasible.