Chapter Four: The Escalation
The Vanguard was always meticulous when it came to their battles. When the scouts came home with their reports, the hammer would either fall on their foe, or the Hunters would replace the scouts. At least you could tell when the hammer was poised to strike. -Anonymous
The second Jesse, Zack, and I arrived back at the Tower, the three of us made our way to Spearhead's bunkhouse. Perhaps it was an unconventional place to rest up and heal, but I'd sworn both Warlocks to silence, and this was the most secure place I could think of. If word of what the Hive could now do got out too quickly, there would be panic among the Guardians. As brave as we all were, even the smallest seeds of doubt - especially in our current situation - could lead to catastrophic consequences. But I also recognized that waiting too long would put more lives at risk than was worth it. So my plan was to first contact Ikora and have her stop by with a covert group of Sunsingers, and then take what she learned to the Vanguard so they could decide exactly how to break the news to everyone else.
All things considered, the twins were very accommodating for my requests, though I think Zack was more to thank for that than Jesse. The Sunsinger still seemed exhausted from his efforts earlier, which showed in his pale features when he removed his helmet for Raven to store away. Zack had also removed his helmet, and I was glad they elected to just keep their robes on instead of changing into more comfortable loungewear. They were both identical to look at, the only difference being Zack's hair was kept in a closer cut to his head than his brother's. Jesse had opted to keep his about shoulder length and wrapped up in a low and lazy ponytail. I had to admit, both of them were fairly handsome.
"You're going to need to remove your chest piece," Jesse stated bluntly as he dragged a chair over to where I was laying on the couch they had, my hair freely draping over the arm of it. So much for politeness from him. Still, as he was the closest thing we had to a doctor in the Tower, disobeying would be childish, even if I was fairly modest. Granted, I still had my undersuit on, but the idea of removing my armor to reveal it made my face turn a bit red. Nevertheless, I had Ghost dematerialize the chestpiece, and I watched Jesse's face deepen into a frown at the sight of the sword wound he hadn't had the power to deal with.
"Is it just as bad as my shoulder?" I inquired, partially out of curiosity, and partially because I needed any practical subject to talk about.
"It's a shallow wound, considering the size of the swords those Knights have. But it's got the same characteristics of your shoulder wound. Green ooze, no doubt sore to the touch, and I think you already know it's going to hurt when they heal it."
Yeah, I was planning on actually bracing myself this time, since I now knew what to expect. Nevertheless, I felt myself frown. The Hive had never had weapons like this. And the way Jesse had described healing my shoulder had stuck with me. It was almost like the wound was fighting the Light. So then what would happen if the wounds were left unattended? Would it be like an infection or poison? Those things could be healed with the Light and I could still be revived. But what if this Hive taint drained my own Light in such a way that I couldn't be revived? Or worse, what if it could corrupt my Light and twist me to serve the Darkness? That last thought had me shiver. I would rather die than be apart of the Darkness. My shiver drew Jesse's attention, and he sighed, clearly unamused as he withdrew to an armchair to await Ikora.
"Stop thinking about it. You won't have to deal with anything more than a possible scar once you get healed. Thinking about how much it's bothering you isn't going to do anything but upset you."
"Try to take a quick nap, Cassidy," my Ghost suggested, his tone far more understanding than Jesse's was as he manifested into being next to me. "I'll be sure to wake you when Ikora gets here with her Sunsingers."
Nodding slightly, I tried to settle down. Despite the worry worming it's way through me, I found that the exhaustion from the ambush won out. It seemed like barely a minute had passed before a gentle hand was shaking me awake.
"Guardian Drake? Wake up, Cassidy."
I'd recognize Ikora's voice everywhere, and I opened my eyes to see a curious and concerned frown on her face.
"Ikora," I greeted sluggishly. "Come to fix me up?"
"That and study what exactly the Hive have done to make wounds like this." Her hand grazed just the edge of it, and I had to hold back a hiss. Jesse came to stand and look over her shoulder, and a grimace crossed his face.
"It's getting worse," he informed her. "We should probably just heal it now before something unexpected happens."
"Yes, can we not leave one of my best Nightstalkers bedridden while you play researcher, Ikora?"
Cayde had swept in, cape billowing behind him as his long stride ruffled the ends of it. I had no idea how he knew I was here until my Ghost popped up.
"I figured it would be prudent to contact Cayde and have him meet us here," he explained. "That way he can see for himself exactly what the Vanguard has to deal with now."
"Oh believe me, I've seen plenty of this already. We've had Nightstalkers coming back with these kinds of wounds since you gave the order to come back to the Tower. The Sunsingers are working their Light to the limits to take care of everything. Whatever it is the Hive can do now, it makes them a bigger threat than they already were. As soon as you've recovered, Cassidy, I want your report. I've summoned most of Spearhead to the Hall of the Vanguards so that we can reevaluate our strategy."
Yeah, it seemed like we'd underestimated the Hive. Although no one could have been prepared for this, I felt partially responsible just from a standpoint of being in charge. I could have at least warned them to watch for anything suspicious. Or not to engage unless they had no other choice.
"You did well, Cassidy, all things considered. We lost three Nightstalkers, but I think your orders of 'do not risk your lives for the mission, disengage when you feel like the situation is hopeless' saved several lives. Spunky and smart. I think I taught you well."
The smug amusement in his voice had Ikora rolling her eyes as she allowed the two Sunsingers she'd brought with her to finally heal me. As I was expecting, it hurt just as bad when Jesse had healed me. Slightly worse, even, thanks to the size of the sword slash itself, and it took everything I had not to thrash around screaming. Somebody grabbed my hand, and judging from the grunt of discomfort the person gave, they hadn't been expecting me to crush their bones into dust. When the pain stopped, I felt just as sweaty and stressed out as I had earlier, but the terrible throbbing of my wound was gone. The two Sunsingers looked drained just as Jesse had down in the Pit of the Moon.
"That's going to leave a scar," one of them informed me. I shrugged, inasmuch as I could while lying down. Scars were nothing new to any Guardian. I already had a small collection. One more wasn't going to kill me. I had Ghost materialize my chestpiece again and I sat up, rubbing a gloved hand across my face. As with all healing, there were still some minor phantom pains, but nothing I hadn't felt before. Still, I felt exhausted and drained. A two hour nap was what I really needed. That would at least give me enough rest to hear what the Vanguard had to say.
"Thank you," I finally responded as I stood up, before switching my gaze to Cayde. "Expect me in an hour to an hour and a half in the Hall of the Vanguards. I just need to take a quick rest."
Cayde nodded and stepped aside to let me pass, and I was grateful that he hadn't protested my desire to recuperate, despite the dire situation that had developed. Regardless, I wandered through the Tower until I got to the hangar and gathered my ship. After that, I was off to the heart of The Last City. Real estate was a tricky business in the city. The further away from the Traveler you were, the lower prices were. The best homes were directly under where the Traveler was. I had a home between the rundown part of the city and the top homes it had. A regular old suburb, though the city as a whole still had problems with crime in every district. There weren't all that many Guardians to patrol the streets.
Nevertheless, as I materialized on the street and allowed Ghost to fly the ship back to the Tower, I still had to suppress a sigh of relief. My house was my hideaway. No one in the Tower knew I had a place out here that I knew of. Most of them assumed I just slept in the Tower. But no, I wasn't a fan of the quarters the Guardians kept. It was too crowded, too noisy, and I wanted to be undisturbed every now and then. My house was nothing fancy. It was a single story, two room house. Three if you counted the bathroom. The kitchen and living area were one in the same, and both could use some cleaning, I noted to myself as I walked in the door. The bedroom was probably in similar disarray. A nice hot bath is in order, followed by a power nap, followed maybe by food. Food especially sounded amazing.
Shelves lined the walls bearing trinkets from my time as a Guardian. A picture of my first fireteam sat proudly on the center shelf, surrounded by other knick knacks. The shock pistol from the first Dreg I killed. The sword of a Fallen Captain that had been the first one to kill me. I smiled at that memory. I'd been terrified that death would have been permanent again. I had an old music player from the Golden Age that I had discovered while looking around in old cars. Unrepairable, but still cool. There was a scorched and dented piece of metal from my first ship. I still remembered the verbal thrashing Holliday had given me when I made it back to the Tower. However among all the other treasures, my eyes went back to the framed photograph of my first - and to-date only - team.
The only other Hunter of the group, Kara, was dead, courtesy of a mission gone wrong against the Cabal. The Titan in the group, Caleb, was still alive.
He also hated me.
Another reason I hated working in fireteams: it was too familiar. The last thing I wanted was another team to mess up with. No, I only wanted myself to take the fall if I failed again. Instantly I regretted reminiscing as a sense of old bitterness further ate at my fortitude. Bathtime. I absolutely loved my bathroom. I'd blown an obscene amount of glimmer to have a large tub made by one of the craftsmen the city had, and as a result, it was the true sanctuary of my house. I'd spend hours just relaxing, much to Ghost's chagrin. I filled up the tub quickly and ditched my armor and clothing. The second I entered the water, I let out a sigh of bliss.
Yep, nothing could make problems disappear faster than a bath. Ghost stuck with me, but opted to float silently around the room until a couple minutes had passed.
"I've noticed that Guardian Fenway knows how to provoke your temper quite easily."
A groan left me. I half wanted to play off him talking about Zack, but knew that wouldn't fly. I knew very well that he meant Jesse.
"Yes," I responded, drawing out the word. "But why does that matter? He's an infuriating Warlock with a huge ego. We've met plenty of Guardians like that."
"Yes, but as it seems like we'll be working with him in the foreseeable future, I think you need to try harder to not be drawn into arguments with him. You can't afford distractions like that right now."
"He's the one who starts it!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "I don't know what his problem with me is, but he's the one who needs to get over it, not me."
"Yes, his attitude needs to be reigned in, but if you don't reciprocate then he should, in theory, get bored," my Ghost pressed further, in full-out scolding mode. Times like that made me feel like a child, especially when he was right. If an argument between Jesse and I were to break out in the middle of a fight, who knew what the consequences could be? Then again, we didn't necessarily have to work together again, and if I had to pick a Warlock to work with, it would be anyone but him. With luck my previous run-in with Jesse Fenway would be my last. Of course that was tinged with an inevitable feeling of disappointment. All things considered, most of Spearhead had been accommodating for my sticky situations. It was almost a shame I'd be back to doing solo work now that my part was relatively over in the operation. I'd probably just be sent to scout more locations for the Vanguard while Spearhead tried to track down the matron.
Not that I was entirely against that. Self-sufficient, self-assured, I knew I could work alone if I had to, and I know I wanted to, but some small part of me wanted to work more with my heroes.
Time passed quickly after that. I skipped straight to getting a small bowl of soup before falling asleep in my bed. Half an hour later, I was up and in my Fear Eater armor, a Cloak of the Leopard slung over my shoulders. All of it was dyed black, if only because I preferred to scout at night. It made things harder for me to see, but on the flip side it made it harder for the enemy to see me too. I elected to leave my helmet off as Ghost brought my ship down and teleported me into it. Gripping the controls, I was up and turning back towards the Tower. I made it to the hall about five minutes before I was expected, unsurprised to see that Sasha and Cayde were already present. Judging from the shaking of their shoulders, the two were sharing a joke. Sasha was the first to catch sight of me, and she waved me over with a friendly smile.
"Hey Cass, we've been waiting for you. Everything healed up? Rest ok?"
I nodded as I made it to the Hunter's side of the table.
"Yes, thank you, Sasha. Nothing more than a scar according to the Warlocks, so no lasting harm done. We're going to need to keep a better eye on armor integrity in the future though. Getting hit with the shots the Hive have now is just excrutiating. Moreso than normal," I added as her eyes twinkled with mirth. It was honestly astounding how she found humor in seemingly every situation.
But she didn't have time to say anything else as the other members of her fireteam filed in, followed shortly by the Vanguard. From the paled look on Ikora's face, she'd been busy healing people herself, however she still carried herself with dignity. Zavala showed none of the exhaustion that Ikora did as he strode in and took his place at the head of the table with Spearhead's Titans. He didn't bother with any pomp and circumstance as he began to speak.
"Guardians, I received word a few minutes ago that one of the Nightstalkers that made it back needed to be put down."
His tone was heavy with finality, and I could see the light humor that Cayde and Sasha shared die out immediately. The Hunter Vanguard had stiffened, and despite the fact that he had no muscles, I could tell his jaw had gone tight. Slight unease filled me. It took a lot to make Cayde mad. It took a lot of anything for Cayde to lose his sense of humor. Unfortunately, losing one of his Hunters was one of the things that could do it.
"What do you mean they had to be 'put down?'" He asked with uncharacteristic calm that chilled me to the bone. "And why wasn't I told first?"
"The Tower Guard were the ones to tell me because I was in charge of their placements. According to the report, the Guardian in question began seizing up before flatlining. His Ghost tried to revive him, but something happened. He came back around all right, but his wound wasn't healed. If anything, it was festering worse, and both him and his Ghost were clearly corrupted by the Darkness. The Tower Guard had to take him down because he turned his weapons on the Warlocks trying to help him."
Ikora now was paying sharp attention to the Titan Vanguard, her eyes narrowing into dark slits. Cayde had started pacing, his one-of-a-kind cape flowing with his movements. Agitation was clear in his every movement as he rubbed a hand over his jawline. Sasha was watching him with an abnormally subdued expression, a sad frown pinching her face.
"Who was it?" Cayde finally asked, taking a place next to Sasha again.
"Guardian Halsey-7," Zavala replied after a heavy pause, and shock further filled me. Exos weren't organic. Though they had feelings and nerves just like the rest of us, their wounds didn't bleed. I hadn't even thought that the Hive's new weapon would affect the Exos like it would the Humans and Awoken. But now we had evidence to the contrary. And worst of all, the infection didn't stop at killing the Guardian: it also corrupted them, and the Ghosts that did the reviving. Clearly this information was still being absorbed by the Guardians surrounding me as silence fell. And despite the fact that we had all of the abilities in the universe to fight the Darkness, there wasn't much we could do against the fear I could see growing on everyone's faces.
Fear on the faces of Fireteam Spearhead, and that fact chilled me to the bone.
But the Vanguard wore looks of only grim determination, including Sasha. Catching her look, Spearhead one by one trained their expressions in similar fashions. Nate chuckled under his breath from next to me, and I almost leapt up in surprise. I hadn't even seen him come in.
"Watch Sasha work her magic," he said smugly, though I could still tell he was both uneasy and grieved by the loss of a fellow Hunter. I tried to shove my own feelings deep down. Halsey had been a good Nightstalker. His loss would be felt in our ranks for years. But as Sasha took a step to join Cayde at the table, she took the forefront of my focus. I was shocked when a chuckle left her.
"Quite a mess we've got ourselves tangled in again, right, Spearhead? Well now we know that the Hive aren't just piles of chitin and goo waiting to happen. But hey, we beat the hell out of Oryx together, and some of us were there as far back as when we faced Atheon. One more Hive god or goddess - whatever isn't going to kill us. Besides, I'm betting my bank account of glimmer that the Vanguard has a plan."
Felix scoffed under his breath at the end of her speech, a sound of amusement that relaxed through group a little bit further. Jesse gave the fireteam leader a small nod, his cold blue eyes unreadable, and just like that, the mood in the room changed to a subtle flame of desire to do something - anything - to stop the Hive yet again. Zavala, noting this sudden focus, jumped right in.
"Clearly it's too dangerous to send just the Hunters out to gather intelligence. Capable as they are, the weapons the Hive have are too dangerous for any one person to go alone. Therefore I'm ordering that all Guardians travel in fireteams of seven."
That, I noted in surpise, was unheard of. The largest teams were usually groups of six only. The last time fireteams of more than six had been ordered, it had been to defend the walls from an onslaught of Fallen centuries ago.
"These teams," Zavala was still saying, "will consist of whatever class you want the seventh to be, but must have two Hunters, two Titans, at least one of them a Defender, and two Warlocks, at least one of which must be a Sunsinger. Ideally the team would have two Sunsingers."
Spearhead looked at each other. They had their team set up almost perfectly. Zack seemed disappointed slightly, which I could understand. He would tap into his Sunsinger abilities to help the team, but Voidwalker was his calling. I'd feel like a limb of mine was lost if I had to tap into anything but the void.
"Cass will join us then. We need someone to fill our scouting shoes after all and who better to do so than a Nightstalker?"
Sasha's cheery voice had me whip around to face her again. My shock must have shown on my face, because the other Hunter gave me a small, amused smile.
"It makes the most sense," she explained. "We've already worked together once, and you also worked with our illustrious Warlocks. You at least have a base idea of how we work. Plus, I like you. You don't fawn over Nate."
The Bladedancer immediately let out a noise of protest that I barely comprehended in the face of Sasha's decision. Spearhead now needed a seventh person to join them, and her first choice was me. It was completely insane. A moment too good to be true. I hadn't even dreamed last week that I'd get to work with anybody from Spearhead, let alone join their fireteam. But here Sasha was in the flesh, offering me the chance to join their ranks.
I felt like I needed to pinch myself to see if all this was actually some crazy dream.
But my Ghost was prodding me mentally to answer, so I squared my stance and nodded, though I was quivering with pride.
"I'd be happy to join Spearhead for the duration of this mission, Guardian Carrington," I said formally, earning an amused snort from the other woman. But she smiled and offered her hand nonetheless, just as she had on the highway where we had met.
"Welcome aboard, Guardian Drake."
Things moved quickly in the meeting after that. Now that it was decided that Guardians were to travel in such large numbers, Spearhead wasted no time in gathering together in their own personal bunkhouse. I felt a little out of place in the common room they had, especially as they all began taking seats. From the familiarity in which they did so, this was clearly a practiced event. Not wanting to make waves, I took a place leaning against the wall. Nate, catching the movement of discomfort, patted his leg.
"Always a spot free on my lap for you, Cass," he said with a bright, inviting grin. I offered a polite smile back but shook my head, feeling a blush heat my cheeks. His grin widened before he turned around to face the door, where Sasha herself emerged after a couple of seconds. The other Hunter was garbed entirely in her armor, even her helmet. Her cloak was dancing around her legs as she walked, but stopped as she took a place at the head of the group. Here, I noticed, the atmosphere was much more relaxed than the meeting with the Vanguards. Not everyone had kept their armor on. Jesse and Felix, for example, had opted to swap to more comfortable loungewear of gray sweats and solid white t-shirts. Maria had followed suit to get comfortable in sweats, but Zack, Nate, Sasha, and myself had opted to keep our armor on.
"Today is a big step for Spearhead," Sasha began, placing a hand on the holster of her Hawkmoon. "We have yet another new member to welcome. We haven't had a welcome party since Nate came to us," she noted with some mild amusement before sobering.
"But we have to remember that Cass being here is a result of the Hive stirring up trouble. We've beat them down twice before, Spearhead. You can be damned sure we can do it a third time. And once we find this Wizard, we're going to kill her and mount her head over our mantelpiece. How does that sound?!"
Both Titans gave a whoop of glee that Nate echoed. Zack, too quiet to do more than grin widely in agreement, nodded, while his twin was shaking his head in mild amusement. I wasn't sure how to express my feelings - awe being the reigning one - so I stayed quiet, a small smile of agreement that mirrored Zack's.
"Yeah, I thought you'd all like that," Sasha continued with a chuckle. "Of course we also have one more duty to perform, Spearhead: bestowing the new member with her own room, hand decorated by us I might add," she said as she turned to me. "Ready to see where you'll be staying in the bunkhouse?"
I felt my smile grow a bit more forced. I was beyond flattered that they'd already gone to the trouble of prepping a room for me. But my house in the City was my sanctuary. It made me feel like I didn't have the world's responsibilities on my shoulders. It was more of a home than anywhere else was, even moreso than the wilds outside of the City. Most importantly, I didn't have to deal with Tower politics or the ever present possibility of running into Caleb. But still, Spearhead had gone through all the trouble for me. I owed it to them to at least see what they had in store for me, and maybe make an effort to stay in the room a night a week. Maybe two nights a week tops.
"Sure," I answered back with what I hoped was bright eagerness. "Lead the way."
Sasha didn't hesitate another second before doing just that, spinning on her heels and walking down the corridor leading to their rooms with ground eating strides. The rest of us followed in her wake, excited jabbering taking place around me as the team meshed together. As for me, I still felt out of place. But that feeling abated slightly as Sasha stopped in front of a door and beckoned me forward. The legendary Hunter slid the door open, and I peeked inside, my jaw dropping almost instantly. The floor was a lighter shade of gray. It was just as basic as the one at my house. The walls and ceiling, however, were the color of the void; a purple so dark that it was almost black. A representation of my own talents. The urge to summon my bow was strong as I looked around. The furnishings were fairly simple. A single bed was against the right wall, hugging the doorframe and offering an ample view of the rest of the room. A door leading to what I thought must be the bathroom was on the left side, and a small kitchen was on the opposite side of the wall. There were two armchairs and a holo table that took up the middle of the room, likely to allow people to watch in-progress Crucible matches or Sparrow Races. A closet was to the left of the kitchen that had sliding doors, and I wondered how big it was.
I didn't get a real view of decorations until I walked in.
Simple shelves lined the left wall. A small painting of the Traveler was propped up on one of them. But by far, what struck me most was what I saw over the bed. Spearhead's own version of the Wolfpack emblem, the same wolf that adorned their Strength of the Pack cloaks, but colored a stark white instead of the gold on the cloak. On its cheek was a simple, multicolored 'S,' clearly standing for their fireteam name. The 'S' was orange, blue, and purple, a color for each element, coming together to form one letter. By a lot of standards it could be considered tacky, but it just seemed so them. I could just picture Sasha laughing as she threw out the idea to the team, and it was just so out there that they agreed to it. But then that was what Spearhead was: the unlikely miracle workers. The slayers of gods. Another detail caught my mind. Each member had, in some way, signed the wolf, be it by their own different symbols.
"The two Void symbols in a yin and yang together... Zack," I identified. "Maria, the shield is yours. Felix, yours is the flaming fist. Nate, you would go with a heart with an arc blade through it-"
"I thought it was brilliant!" He interrupted as I listed it off, looking all-too-pleased with himself. Sasha did the honors of smacking the back of his head.
"Too obvious, you big flirt," she chastised with a reluctant smirk. The other Hunter snorted, rubbing the impact sight as he pointed at the wall.
"Yeah, because your moon with wings doesn't scream 'Sasha,'" he retorted, pointing to her design. The gun was an artful representation of her Hawkmoon, a full moon with a striking hawk inside of it. A smile danced across my lips. Sasha had been almost as obvious as Nate, but even I had to admit that Nate didn't lack for effort at least. Counting the symbols up, I realized quickly that Jesse's was unaccounted for. Sasha was even faster to realize this as she turned to the Warlock and threw her hands on her hips.
"We were all supposed to paint something, Fenway."
I turned in time to see the Sunsinger shrug, his expression devoid of pretty much anything save for his usual scowl.
"I didn't know what to put down."
Groaning at the excuse, the fireteam leader shook her head, turning to me.
"Well aside from that disappointing discovery, what do you think?"
I cast a final look around. They'd done all of this for me. The decorating, the furnishing, the entire room spoke to just how close they were as a unit, and how much they wanted to welcome me. I wasn't sure I was worth all of that. Not yet at least. But she was expecting an answer.
"It's beautiful," I answered truthfully, taking a seat on the bed and further taking everything in. The response seemed to satisfy the Gunslinger, and she motioned to the door.
"Come on Spearhead, let's let Cass enjoy her space for a bit. We'll regroup later."
Most of them walked out without complaint, casting 'welcomes' and 'see you laters' over their shoulders. I shot a puzzled look to Sasha, briefly snapped from my reverence of the room.
"What are we regrouping for?"
The smile she gave was far too gleeful for the answer to be innocent.
"We're going to go hunting of course."
And to think I'd expected a quiet evening.
A/N; Heh, forgot the author's note the first time xD In any case, I am so pleased to hear you've been hooked, Jayfeather. I hope that I continue to keep you enthralled as the story progresses. As for predictions... well we shall see who is who down the road, shall we?