The Lost House

by SurefireReadingFF

The Black Garden is dead. Two Guardians, battered and bruised, walked in and stopped the heart once and for all. However, an ancient evil thought to be long dead stirs again, this time posing a direct threat to the City and the Traveler itself. Time is of the essence. Precision is key. Don't believe everything you see.

12. The Warmind

Chapter 11

The Warmind

Huntress Arla Nublier

5 minutes after the "Erasing"...

Arla gave up trying to pry open the door. It was not going to budge no matter what she tried. Her fingers painfully protested from trying to wedge them into places that did not have a crevice large enough to accommodate them. Tears streaked down her face as reality hit her once again, that Maximus may very well be dead, again. If the erasing was anything like she pictured it, a cylinder of fire that incinerated everything not built to withstand it, then there was no way that he could have survived. She would just have to depend on a mechanical malfunction. She and Charli waited for something to come over the intercom, some sign that the erasing had been successful or had failed, but the years had not likely been kind to the electrical systems and made it a miracle that several places still worked. No such message came, leaving them in the dark in multiple ways. After the "erasing," had commenced, the lights had quickly grown bright enough to be painful and, just as quickly, die out, leaving the pitch black to take over once again.

Guided by her helmet's light, Charli put a hand on Arla's shoulder. "If he's back there, he'll find a way inside," she said calmly. Arla said nothing for a moment, only staring at the door intently, as if her mind was going to force it open. After several seconds, she tore away her gaze and steeled her nerves. "Let's go then," the Huntress said, determined. She gathered herself and her weapons and proceeded down the hallway with Charli in tow. "We need to find the terminal to shut this place down."

"I think I've got a fix," Stargazer reporting, placing a diamond marker on Arla's HUD. "But I must say, I'm picking up some strange chatter over the comms channels."

"What do you mean?" Charli asked.

"Voices. Not Fallen. My guess is the Exo things, but they're speaking in some sort of coded language. Some of the words are in English, but not the majority."

"Could they just be switching languages with each word?" Arla suggested.

"I don't know," Stargazer replied slowly. "If they are, then they're using languages that aren't in my database."

"Can you pinpoint any of their locations?" Charli requested.

"Neither Vern or me could if we tried. They're running an encryption on it that I've never seen before. The data patterns connected to it run a sub-encryption that block out any unauthorized users from accessing their locations." Stargazer stopped talking for a moment while Arla and Charli continued to walk down the corridor, pointing their weapons at any flicker of motion. The Ghost continued after they marked a corner and turned it. "It's fascinating. If we can, I'd like to download the data for it from Caesar's mainframe. It could go a long way to improving our own channels and preventing groups like the Fallen and Cabal from tracking us so easily."

Arla thought it was a good idea, but she had her apprehensions about digging through anything that she wasn't going to be doing in the first place. "As long as it's on that main terminal. If it's not, then we leave without it. I don't want to draw those Exo things to our position."

"I think they're called Sentinels. At least, that's the word that keeps coming up in several languages that is quickly followed by a new voice."

"Makes sense to me," Charli piped up. "How much farther to the terminal?"

"Just a few more turns and we should be right there. Or at least, that's where all the data streams converge. Maybe a server room," Stargazer answered, slightly unsure.

"In that case, I'd expect some heavy resistance. Keep your eyes sharp." Arla and Chalri turned another corner. So far, there had been no sign of any "Sentinels," but Arla wasn't going to say there were anywhere close to the clear yet. That wasn't one of her primary concerns until this place was well on its way to being destroyed.

Arla continued to walk close to the relatively featureless walls, taking her time at any corners before peering around it to ensure that nothing was about to jump out at them. Since they had left the silo, the temperature had dropped significantly. The air also had a metallic hint to its scent, as if it had been released from a container after being stored for an extended period. It was something Arla had experienced aboard various ships when, as an Awoken soldier, served for a brief period on a Naval vessel. They generally tried to disguise the slightly unpleasant scent, but when the system reset itself every day, there was a fifteen minute window that made left the air raw. Nobody noticed. Such was the Awoken military machine that had existed all those years ago.

A foriegn footstep ripped Arla out of her thoughts. Instinctively, she raised a fist and put her finger on the trigger. "Hold," Arla ordered Charli. Their Ghosts shut off their lights, leaving them cloaked in darkness and depending on thermal readings. Both Guardians crouched down and kept their aim down the hallway as they crept towards the upcoming intersection. Another footstep echoed off the metallic, grated floor. "Watch our six," Arla said to Charli.

"On it," the Titan replied, followed quickly by a shuffle of her feet. "Clear six," Charli quietly announced after a few seconds.

Arla switched to the custom sidearm Heksis had made for her. A firearm, but, at the flick of a switch near the hammer, a grappling hook with nearly invisible wire. The projectile on the end that would hook into almost anything looked more like a needle that flayed itself out once it came in contact. Thus far, she'd been able to cut through rock, armor, and metal less than an inch thick. She held the gun in her right hand and crossed underneath it with her combat knife. She listened for the footstep again, not moving until she heard it. As expected, the slow and heavy step echoed off the wall not a second later. Tapping Charli's shoulder, Arla stood up and pressed her back against the wall, sliding over to the edge and peering around the corner. As she did so, a large amalgamation of red, orange, and yellow jutted out of the blue background about 8 feet away. With the small glance she had, she guessed it was standing guard but couldn't be too sure. There was little chance that the two of them would sneak by unnoticed, the sound Charli's armor made would be the giveaway and death of them.

Arla tapped Charli on the shoulder and placed a finger vertically over where her mouth was, signaling for her to be quiet. She then motioned for her to stay with her left hand while still keeping a partial hold on the knife. The Titan nodded and prepared to hold her position. Arla looked back over the corner and confirmed that the Sentinel's back was turned. Her heart pounded quickly as another shot of adrenaline surged through her veins. Keeping her sidearm aimed at the Sentinel, Arla silently stepped out of cover. Just as quietly, she took another two steps and found herself in the middle of the hallway. Suddenly, a voice called out, "Intruder spotted. Rectifying." Hurried steps bounded down the hallway directly behind Arla. A pair of energy streaks screamed on either side of her face as Arla froze at the sound of the words. Acting on instinct, Arla shot the grapping hook into the first Sentinel's back and flicked the trigger forward for the cord to pulll her along with it before her target even recognized what had just lodged into its back. En route, Arla positioned herself so that her feet would go straight into its back and flicked the gun back into its firearm mode. Springing off the Sentinel's back, she unloaded a single bullet into the back of its head and retracted the hook, rocketing towards the second Sentinel as it approached the intersection. She collided with it in a fraction of a second and knocked it to the ground.

With inhuman strength and precision, the Exo flipped Arla over onto her back and pinned her at the chest with its knees, driving its entire weight into keeping her on the floor. The Sentinel quickly threw a pair of punches that Arla barely escaped from with a timely throw of her head to the left and then the right. Arla's head spinning, she couldn't afford to let it, she swung her knife laterally across the Exo's throat, following it with the butt of her pistol. Its head snapped back and small blotches of fluids covered her HUD as Arla flipped the pistol back into its natural position and unloaded a single bullet into its chin and through the head. The Sentinel fell onto its back, dead.

Arla got to her feet. "We're clear," she announced to Charli. The Titan turned the corner with her gun raised, but when she saw Arla, she lowered it and slid it onto her back. "Not sure we can do that yet," Arla said. "Don't know how many more of these things there are."

"Impressive display," Charli complimented, pulling out her rifle again.

Arla smiled within her helmet. "Thanks," she replied, spinning the pistol on her finger and placing it in a holster at her thigh. "It's what experience and a little agility can give you. I know you haven't seen much yet, but I hope you realize that Guardians are not your average soldier."

"You can say that again." She paused for a moment before asking, "Why didn't you pull any of that back when we faced the Hive." Charli's voice sounded curious.

"Call it instinct and a bit of improvisation." Arla started walking towards the waypoint Stargazer set on her HUD, but Charli grabbed her arm before she got away.

"What about your...injury?"

Arla unconsciously rubbed the part where the Knight's blade sliced her chestplate, feeling the bruise beneath the repaired armor. It was still tender, but as long as she didn't overexert herself or take another slice to the gut, it would heal just fine in the next couple of days. What she wouldn't give for some of Dea's nanites or whatever those things were back on Mars. The maneuver she'd just pulled got awfully close to making the area explode in pain, leaving it a dull throb that Arla barely noticed due to the adrenaline for the moment. "It's fine," the Huntress assured. "I've fought with worse before."

"If you say so…" Charli nervously replied. She was concerned but for good reason. Arla could understand that she treated her teammates like family, something as dangerous as it was helpful. She'd personally seen how that sort of relationship could practically destroy a person, and with Lee's passing, she'd upheld her promise to keep her composure and mourn, for the most part, in private.

"I do," Arla said, pulling out the Hard Light rifle on her back. "Now, let's keep moving before more of those things show up. It shouldn't be too far."

The pair of Guardians continued down the hall on alert for any sign of movement that would alert them to more of those Sentinels. As they walked through the dark corridors by Ghost light, no such threat arose. Arla theorized that most of them had been deactivated or destroyed long ago, and that the ones they'd run into were stragglers that had miraculously survived the years since this place was supposedly ditched in favor of Rasputin or whatever succeeded this version of the warmind. Perhaps, the Fallen had taken them and were in the process of reprogramming them, a move that would make them even more dangerous than they already were and not a favorable outcome, but should it be true, Arla knew that they'd be ready for whatever they had to face.

Within the next twenty minutes of walking, Arla and Charli found a circular room with a transparent floor that was made of something thicker and much more durable than glass but looked just like it. The lighting inside was extremely dim emergency lighting that left most of it cloaked in shadow, but the two Guardians could still see some things. Metal pillars sloped with the curved edges of the almost spherical room until culminating at a single point at the ceiling. Below the floor was a multitude of black towers at least five feet tall a piece, totaling in probably close to forty or fifty. Arla couldn't tell what they were in specific, but something told her that that was what culminated into Caesar. To their right, there was a console with a keyboard that looked to curve around its user. The room was frigid, enough for their suits to amp up their thermal protection as they stepped in. For a few seconds, Arla's breath fogged up the bottom part of her HUD.

Charli looked down at the blinking, metal towers below them. "I'd say that looks like Caesar's brain." Arla internally agreed.

"Would you say that this is his crown then?" Vern, Charli's Ghost, asked.

"I'm not sure the real Caesar had a crown like you're thinking," Stargazer replied.

"Either way," Arla announced. "Let's get to work. Stargazer you think that you can get into that console over there?"

"Already on it." The purple Ghost flashed in and quickly hovered over to the machine, scanning the system before shooting an intermittent beam of blue-white light at the console. Charli walked to the center of the room, pacing slowly in a circle with her weapon lowered but ready should something show up. Stargazer drew back from the console. "Hey Arla," she called. "It requires an organic process."

"Coming," the Huntress responded, sliding Hard Light back onto its magnetic lock. "How far were you able to get?"

"The Welcome screen. The security past it is set up so that the Sentinels wouldn't be able to access it."

Arla approached the screen and stepped on the metal pressure plate. There was a hiss and a small buzz as a blue strip of light scanned her from her feet to the top of her head. The console and keyboard sudden began adjusting itself to fit her height and physique, making it all the more accessible without much movement. The screen was blood red and read "Place finger here," indicating the white outline of a box set below the text in the center of the screen. Arla glanced at her Ghost. "That's it?"

"As far as I can tell. Don't know for certain though," Stargazer responded. "We'll see when we get in."

Arla removed her glove and pressed her forefinger on the screen, holding the pressure until the screen faded away. She pulled her hand back and replaced the glove, clenching her fist a couple times to make sure it was on her hand properly. A few seconds later, a screen loaded up bearing various filenames and command keys. "We need to set a shortcut for the system to self-destruct before we do anything," Arla suggested. "Link it to a button or something. The Fallen can't ever get their hands on this technology if they get in."

"I'd say that's pretty likely now that there's a gaping hole in that silo thing," Charli added. "All they'd have to do is find it."

The screen began to flick quickly through several pages. It finally settled on one, and Stargazer asked. "It wants a time limit, minimum five minutes. Probably enough time for its power source to overheat and overload several other systems."

Arla did some rough math in her head, trying to figure out how long it would take them to get out of here. She factored in the ground they'd covered and how long it would take to run it if they stayed below a full sprint for most of it. "Give us 20 minutes to get clear. Sync that timer up to my HUD when we trigger it." Stargazer responded by placing a timer on the rightmost spot in the center of her HUD, leaving her field of view unhindered.

"Can you start extracting files while I dig for some things?"

"Got it. I'll let you know if I find something interesting," the Ghost affirmed. Arla began to tap at a furious pace through countless screens, looking for the one bit of information she absolutely needed to know. After scrolling through the assets screen for several minutes, she found it: the exact listing of every Sentinel unit in the facility as well as the exact area they were in. "Hey Charli," Arla announced. The Titan was sitting in the middle of the room with her weapons on the back. She turned around at the sound of her name. "I found a listing of the Sentinel units here."

"What's the news?" she called back.

"Well, they're all either reading KIA or Unknown. It's almost like the system isn't even allowed to know where they are."

"Have you checked that against the logs? They may have removed them when they deactivated the place after all," the Titan suggested.

"Funny you should mention that," Stargazer said suddenly.

"Why's that?" the Huntress asked.

"Well, it seems that the AI never actually went rogue according to the logs. Some unauthorized groups tried to break into it, alerting the Sentinels when they actually succeeded."

"Got any details on the attack?" Alra inquired, intrigued.

"Well for one, it didn't work. The system has several pictures of the intruders and was able to identify them as members of the Allied Earth Army."

"Just how old is this place?"

"Schematics suggest that construction completed before the collapse began. What's even more interesting was the commanding officer in charge of the raid." On the screen, she brought up a picture from a security camera featuring a pair of Exos walking side by side down one of the corridors. They both wore white armor and held large black rifles. On the leftmost one, blue paint, yellow eyes, and a very familiar face.

"Maximus," Charli said aloud in disbelief, appearing at Arla's side. "He never said anything about knowing this place to me. Did you know Arla?"

"No," the Huntress replied in equal disbelief. "He's never mentioned it."

"Well before you both go on thinking he's hiding something," Stargazer interrupted. "I think there's something you ought to know."

Charli walked off and began pacing again, much quicker this time. "Go on," the Titan prodded.

"According to logs pertaining to the raid, Caesar fired an electromagnetic pulse to knock out the Exos in the group as well as any electronic-based weapons they had. According to the Sentinels' maintenance records, the ones caught in the pulse experienced a severe loss in memory in addition to major malfunctions over a couple days." The Ghost was quiet for a moment as everyone digested what she'd just said. Stargazer continued, "This is only an assumption based on the Sentinels after the pulse, but I'm fairly certain that Maximus suffered similar consequences. He may not have any memories before it. If he does have any memory before then, it'll most likely be fragmented and unclear."

Arla placed a hand on what would be her chin if not for the helmet. "Maximus told me a story of one of his mentors during his early time in the AEA. I think the latter is a little more plausible. How strong was the EMP?"

"The logs don't say, but it was obviously enough to cause lasting damage. Let's just not provoke the system to put one on us. It would scramble me and your suit in an instant. Both of you would be in some deep trouble if we found any of the Sentinels that were somehow unaffected."

"Let's get the info we need and blow this place to smithereens then," Charli stated with finality, growing slightly anxious.

Arla turned to her Ghost at the console. "Have you been able to cancel its access to its armaments?"

"Working on it. I'm going to test an override that should hopefully do the trick." The Ghost was silent for a moment. "That's funny," it said aloud, backing away from the console momentarily before extending its beam once again. Several silent seconds passed as Arla continued to tap through several screens, trying to gather as much information as possible about the site and find what the Fallen had been able to tap into. Charli continued to pace, deep in thought, in the center of the room, stopping every few seconds to glance at Arla or at one of the pillars or just stare off into space for a second or two before snapping back and pacing again. "That is strange, extremely strange."

Charli stopped pacing again. "What is?" Something about her body language said that something was bothering her.

"I can't find any record of the Fallen accessing anything. None of this data has been accessed or updated since Caesar was deactivated. Its access to armaments was revoked centuries ago, and it seems like Rasputin's keeping...wait a second. Charli, find one of those Sentinels and bring it back." The Titan dashed off into the hallway without a second thought, as if she were thinking the exact same thing. Arla began to feel uneasy. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I think we may have just ticked off a sleeping giant."

"What do you mean?"

"I did some digging into the Sentinels. They're running Rasputin's OS, not Caesar's. Which means we may have just angered the Old Man."

Arla walked away from the console with her head thrown back, pacing in the middle of the room just as Charli did. "This is not good. Does he know it was us?"

The Ghost backed away from the console and hovered in front of Arla's face. It looked down and shook its shell as it spoke. "I don't know. That's why I'm going to get a complete scan on one of those things. See if their feeds were linked directly to Rasputin."

"And we just sent Charli to go haul a metal soldier by herself!" Arla realized.

"Let's go!" The Ghost needlessly said.

Arla turned towards the door and barely took a step before a different voice shouted, "GET DOWN!" Suddenly, a heavy mass crashed into her side and forced her to the ground. As she fell, a streak of red ignited the air with the sound of shattering glass. Arla's body suddenly exploded in pain as the weight drove her into the ground, her body and soul seemingly searing in pain just before unconsciousness enveloped her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Titan Charli Hendricks

'Geez, this thing is heavy,'Charli thought. Using her armor's generous strength assistance, Charli hefted one of the dead Sentinels on her back. All of the corridors looked the same to her, but Vern seemed to know his in some way unbeknownst to Charli, perhaps it was that he was a machine that could track and store data far more complex than her mind would ever been able to comprehend. Charli was able to keep some pace in her step, moving at just under her normal walking speed, but her footsteps were about three times as heavy, her legs burning by the time she recognized the hallway that ultimately led to the circular room with the terminal.

The Titan was on alert but exposed as she cautiously walked past corners that they had taken a minute or two to watch and then turn when Arla was sure that nothing was going to ambush them. The cover they used, like the walls and crevices between pillars, was not going to be much help with the body draped across both shoulders. She initially tried to hold the body across one of her shoulders and hold a weapon with the other, but the sleek metal plates covering the Sentinel slid across the equally smooth plates of her own armor and produced an extremely unpleasant sound as it slid in addition to a gut-wrenching screech when it hit the ground. By wrapping an arm around its legs and the other about its neck, Charli was able to keep it from sliding for the most part other than the occasional adjustment in her grip. The primary problem with her strategy though, one that Vern ensured to point out, was that she did not have any way to hold a weapon and carry the Sentinel.

Just when Charli thought that she was in the clear, she heard thumping footsteps coming from a corridor ahead. A second pair of steps, these much faster echoed behind her. Her heart joined the throng too as Charli debated whether or not to ditch the Sentinel and grab a weapon. The running steps sounded uncomfortably close as a couple seconds ticked by with her just standing in the middle of the hall with that robot draped on her shoulders. Giving into her instincts, Charli released the Sentinel and grabbed her pistol while spinning on her heel.

The world slowed down as she saw three streaks of blue scream by her head. She raised her weapon and fired a single shot just as the figure came into view. The shot went right into what Charli thought was the figure's shoulder, causing it to flinch but continue moving although slightly slower. There was an uncomfortable screech behind her, and the Titan snapped her head and weapon around to face the new threat, but it was then that she realized it was a Sentinel with a hole in the center of its chest, neck, and then the head. She snapped back to the first figure and found herself close to pressing a pistol in Maximus' face.

Startled, the Titan took a panicked step backward and tripped on her own foot, crashing to the ground with a loud thud and releasing her weapon in the process. Maximus extended a friendly hand. Accepting the hand, Maximus pulled her onto her feet and handed her the dropped pistol. "You always seem to have me at gunpoint," he joked.

Charli adjusted her helmet. "Yeah, sorry about that, but let's call it even since you've missed all the fun." The Titan leaned down to pick up the Sentinel she dropped, but Maximus stepped in.

"Here, let me get that," he said kindly, effortlessly picking up the Sentinel and throwing it over his left shoulder. "So what happened?" Charli drew her rifle and started following the marker Vern placed on her HUD.

"I could ask the same of you. We thought you were dead. What happened?" Her voice was full of surprise.

"In short, I don't think this facility's wiring has aged well. Whatever the 'erasing' is, it didn't work. Before that, I don't know what happened. I followed the marker Starco put on my HUD, and it led me right to one of these Sentinel things. Nearly had me too."

"It goes without saying that we've run into a few ourselves." Charli motioned for him to follow her as she started walking the way that she'd come. As they walked at a rather brisk pace, one question continued to nag Charli. "Hey Maximus."

Charli looked over her shoulder to make sure she had his attention. "Yeah?" the Exo replied.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Maximus picked up his pace slightly and got closer to Charli. "Go right ahead. Arla's probably a better source of answers, but I'll certainly try."

"What's the deal with Rasputin? I get what it, he, is, but last time I had heard about it was in a textbook before I enlisted. The authors said that it was operational at one point, but ultimately failed for a myriad of reasons. Before I left, Arla spoke as though it was online and working."

The Warlock was quiet for a few seconds before saying, "I'm not terribly sure myself. I had heard similar rumors throughout my time in the Allied Earth Army, but most of us believed that it was just dormant, and since all the engineers who could open it were dead, we believed that it was a fruitless effort to get in, especially when it can summon death from orbit."

"Hmm…" Charli said. She couldn't find any sign of misinformation in him, but he was inorganic and mechanical, so his metal poker face would be say the least. As far as Charli was concerned, there was almost now way she could tell whether or not Maximus was lying, so she decided to take everything he said with a grain of salt, believing him but not at the same time.

"You don't trust me?" he asked suddenly.

Caught off guard, Charli tried to cover her mind's tracks. "Of course I do," she lied. "I'd be crazy if I didn't."

"It's fine," he assured her. "I know I'm new to you, so I don't expect you to trust me right away. Just know this, I've got your back."

"And I've got yours. Let's get back to Arla."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Charli led Maximus down the same series of corridors she and Arla had traversed not too long ago, but the farther they went, the more unnerved wary Charli felt. Something about this place was off. That signal they were chasing shut off when the ship went down or at least went quieter. The ship went down almost too easily. While Charli was an excellent pilot with an amazing reusme of high-profile missions under her belt back on Mars where she established herself, in addition to her squadron, as a real difference maker behind the stick, sweeping abandoned bases was new to her, but her instincts told her something was definitely up.

There was absolute silence as they approached the server room. No footsteps, no tapping of keys, not even the sound of a breath. Charli's nerves began to grip her. Suddenly, Maximus was beside her, burden slumped on the floor behind them, with that yellow rifle of his drawn and ready to fire. "You sense it too?" the Titan asked, garnering a small nod from the Warlock as they posted up on either side of the door. Charli checked her magazine and pushed it back into the weapon. Maximus raised a hand and counted down from three with his fingers. When the hand became a fist, he swung his way through the door with Charli following almost immediately behind him. They swept every angle, marking every direction quickly before seeing Arla in a crumpled heap in the center of the room. "Arla!" Maximus shouted as he sprinted over to her, sliding onto his knees and dropping his weapon as he tried to get a read on her. Meanwhile, Charli continued to sweep the room, pushed by whatever had done this to her teammate. The Titan went about checking behind every pillar as Starco scanned Arla's body. After about a minute of tension, Starco announced, "She's just unconscious, but something's not...oh."

Charli checked another pillar, one of the remaining five. As with the others, there was nothing hiding behind it in the near blackness that encompassed them. She'd been using her helmet's light so as not to endanger Vern, something Zavala highly encouraged in an AO. "Oh what?" she called out. It was then that Charli found a black shape. Before the others could respond, she reported, "I found something." It was alien yet familiar. Two-foot long barrel, circular battery, gold coloration, looped and hollow stock. This had to be a Wire Rifle, slighlty altered from what Charli was accustomed to, but it was most definitely the Fallen's version of a Marksman's Rifle. "I think I've got a Wire Rifle over here." Pointing her weapon along the cirlce of light her helmet provided, she looked up and saw a vent with the cover removed. In it, a Fallen Vandal draped in a green cloak hung with its arms and head down, stains of its dark blood covering the wall above it. The Vandal looked different though, the armor more advanced and the creature looked more experienced, more like a Captain or beyond than a standard journeyman Vandal. Charli turned back to the rifle, placing her hand on the barrel. It was definitely not warm, but it certainly not room temperature either. It had been shot recently, probably just as recently as its former owner. "The barrel's still warm and we've got a dead Vandal in a vent. Does Arla have any new burn marks?" Vern whisked away the rifle into his storage, shooting a thought to Charli that it may prove useful.

Starco called back before his Guardian. "I'm not seeing anything new. Her shields and armor seem untouched but…" Charli tuned out his voice, focusing on her hunch that there was still danger present. She felt as though unseen eyes were driving holes through her shields and plating, watching her every move without...Charli swung an arm back, catching something and then quickly overpowering whatever she caught. Using her leverage, Charli brought whatever it was to the front and deposited it painfully onto its back, slamming the figure hard enough into the glass floor to leave several cracks. Wasting no time, she drove a knee into her prisoner's chest and rifle into its face. At the end of her sights was a white Exo with blue eyes wearing similarly colored armor, although several shades darker. Suddenly, two hands reached beneath her arms and pulled her away from the Exo before she could pull the trigger.

Maximus grabbed the other Exo's arm and helped her onto her feet. "What are you doing here?" he asked sternly.

She spoke in an accent that Charli could not quite place. The Exo was defintiely in some pain as her back was heavily arched as Maximus continued to hold her arm. "My intel was wrong. You need to get out here now." her voice was smooth and knowledgable but full of panic. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

Charli recovered quickly and grabbed her rifle as she got to her feet, aiming it at the stranger's face as she slowly walked forward. She didn't care about whether Maximus knew her or not. Arla was unconscious for reasons Charli didn't know, and as far as she was concerned, this was the only living thing in the room while she'd been out. She popped out of nowhere and tried to strike her from behind. This stranger was hostile whether or not Maximus knew it. "What wasn't supposed to happen?" Charli demanded as she stepped closer.

Maximus held out an open palm. "Look, Charli. There are some things you won't understand. Just put down the weapon. Dea's not an enemy."

Charli was only a couple feet out when she stopped. "Then what was she doing in the shadows?" she said through gritted teeth.

This "Dea" stared right at Charli, her eyes seemingly piercing her armor and looking directly into her eyes. "I was saving your hide. That assassin is not the only one here. Listen, you two need to get out of here before you wind up like Arla." The stranger let go of Maximus' hand and took a step towards Charli. The Titan responded by brandishing her weapon. Dea held up her hands. "I don't want to hurt you." She straightened her back. "Besides, you've proven your point." She looked at Maximus. "Look this place isn't what I first thought it was."

Charli kept her weapon raised but took her eye out of the sight, still wary. "What do you mean?" Maximus asked.

She snapped her head around towards Maximus. "YOU WERE SET UP!" she exclaimed, emphasizing each word. There was a short silence as both the Titan and Warlock were stunned by the sudden outcry.. "I was set up," she continued almost at a whisper. "It was the Falen broadcasting that signal, not the prototype. Caesar never got past the final stages of its trial run before Rasputin was fully developed, and Caesar began plotting to attack it. Before they shut this place down, they edited the logs, made it seem like this place was much more important than it really was." Her voice sounded desperate and genuine, but Charli still thought it could be an act. While it was a childish mantra, she still thought 'Stranger Danger' still held quite a heavy truth to it.

"Why would they do something like that?"

"They were getting overrun by the Fallen and needed something to distract them. Those pirates need resources and weapons. If they could obtain an army, then they wouldn't have to send their people to die. What other reason is there? We're all just trying to survive, and now I put that in jeopardy." The stranger sunk to her knees, pleading. "It's all my fault."

Maximus approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Charli warned. If they were set up once, Dea could be setting them up again with this act.

Maximus looked at Charli for a moment before turning back to the white Exo on her knees. "Listen," he said. "Dea's done a lot more for the world than she'll ever get credit for. Without her, we wouldn't be at the point we're at."

Dea slowly rose to her feet while he was talking, not taking her eyes off the floor. She seized one of his arms. "Then believe me when I tell you to get out of here. All three of you are being hunted. Get back to the Tower and don't leave for any reason. I wouldn't even risk going to the City."

Charli lowered her weapon. If she was going to strike, she would've done it by now. Clearly this Exo had something shorting out, spouting off all this nonsense about how they were being hunted. The Fallen were nowhere near that smart, being a pilot taught her that, they just had to overrun you and catch you off guard. In a game of wits, humanity would always win. She walked over to Arla and knelt by her crumpled form, ensuring that she was still breathing. "If you're not our enemy, then who did this?"

Dea pointed to the Vandal dangling from the vent. "It shot at her just as I arrived. I was able to tackle her just in the nick of time but…" Her voice trailed off into complete silence. Charli stood up and turned around, jumping backwards at the sound of a loud crunch beneath her boot. Curious, she returned to her knees and investigated the tiny shards of metal she had just stepped on. Most of them were sharp, jagged, and variable in size, but one of the pieces was not like the others, differing from the purple of the shards by being black all the way around. The odd piece out was spherical minus the large chunk taken out across the top of its smotth surface. Charli raised the piece closer to her face, inspecting it closely. She turned it around and saw a dark diamond shape in the sphere. Immediately, she dropped it and recoiled. Searching through the metal shards, she confirmed her suspicions.

Charli turned to face the other two. "You just couldn't get here in time for her Ghost," Charli concluded. Charli's heart sank as Dea's head nodded. There was a solemn silence that gripped the room. The Titan looked over at Arla's form and couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking at someone who was already dead, the breaths she drew the final ones. This place began to feel more and more like a grave. "What happens to her now?" she asked.

Dea walked over to Arla and picked up her limp form, her composure regained as quickly as it had been lost. "We need to get out of here before more of those assassins show up. They could be anywhere."

Charli remphasized her question. "What happens to Arla?" She looked directly into the stranger's blue eyes, seeing what she thought was cold and inhuman ability and thinking behind them.

"I...don't know," she relented. "I've never seen a Guardian outlive their Ghost. She may wake up; she may never at all. If she does, I have no idea whether or not all of her will still be there."

"She's not turning out like Bishop," Maximus asserted, checking his weapons. "If that ship was a front to get assassins in here, then we need to focus on finding a way out. Starco, are the ships still there?"

'Who's Bishop?' Charli almost asked, but Starco replied first. "Yes, but our scanners are picking up nearby Fallen activity. The ships are jamming their scanners, but if they make visual contact, then that's all she wrote."

"Then there's no time to waste," Charli concluded.

Maximus was the first to leave with Dea behind him, and Charli guarding the rear. Dea began to direct him on the quickest way out, calling out a turn after a few intersections passed. Charli would look back every few seconds. As they progressed away from the server room, everything got darker and darker, the air seemed to take on a certain malevolence as if something were hiding in any nearby crevices waiting to strike. Charli couldn't help but feel uneasy and on edge. Three trios of shots suddenly rang across the walls. "Sentinel down," Maximus reported. Other than that and Dea's directions, nobody spoke. Charli listened to her heartbeat and breathing, the quick thumps and deep draws that accompanied the silence.

Long minutes and carefully calculated steps passed until Dea finally announced, "This is it! Through the door." Charli turned around to see a thick metal door. Complex patterns of rods ran across its smooth surfaces, combining into a heavy lock that would make it almost impossible to open with brute force. The stranger turned to Charli and handed Arla to her. "Hold her for me," she said, dropping the Huntress into her unprepared arms. Charli nearly dropped her with the suddeness of the exchange, instead dropping her weapon. Though she couldn't see anything, Charli listened to the metal rods on the door shift suddenly and release violent blasts of sound that did nothing to help keep their presence hidden. If any of those assassins were down the hall, they certainly knew where everyone was. "How much longer you two?" Charli quietly hissed, not diguising her angst.

"One more lock and…" Dea reported. There was a sharp metallic sound, and dim light burst into the dark corridor. "It's open ! Go, go, go!" Dea took Arla out of Charli's hands and rushed through the door after Maximus. Charli bent down, picked up her weapon, began backpedaling towards the door. Just as she did, the light seemed to distort in one area ahead and to the right. At first, Charli thought it was a smudge and continued backpedaling, but just as she reached the door, the smudge jumped out and a red circle of light appeared near the top of it. Charli immediately opened fire just as she made it to the doorway. The smudge absorbed several bullets before toppling to the ground, pulling its own trigger as it fell sideways. A red streak of energy smased directly into Charli's leg, causing her to fall back as she crossed the threshold. Maximus immediately threw the door closed and pulled down a lever that extended a severly oxidized gate.

"You alright?" Maximus asked, helping Charli up. Her leg screamed in protest but eventually accustomed itself to the strain.

"Yeah," she repsonded. "Leg's a little screwed up, but I can walk." Looking around, Charli realized that the door had been guarding a lift, hopefully one that would take them to the surface. Judging by its larger than usual size, it was some sort of cargo lift, a somewhat reassuring sign. Charli locked eyes with each of her companions. Their eyes seemed to want something from her, but she couldn't tell what. It made her feel a little self-conscious. "Is something wrong?"

Dea spoke up first. "The facility's power grid isn't able to run the elevator on its own. It needs a little assistance."

Charli squinted her eyes in perplexion, trying to figure out what that meant. Before she could come up with an answer, Maximus added, "We need you to give the lift a jump." The pieces quickly connected in Charli's mind. The Titan slid her weapon onto her back and clenched both fists. Arcs of electricity blanketed her arms as Dea tore away a piece of metal, revealing several cables that Charli could only assume were part of the power supply. "No problem," Charli said, grasping as many cords as possible with her hands.

The lift shuddered and came to life. The lights came on, and Maximus immediately punched a button that sent them moving upwards at a rather brisk pace that caused everyone but Dea, carrying Arla still, to momentarily lose their footing. Despite that, Charli managed to keep a stable grip on the cords as the lift shot up towards the surface.

Maximus broke the silence. It sounded more like he was thinking out loud than giving out orders. "When these doors open, we need to get out of here. I'm going to take Arla's ship. Starco you've got ours." He looked at the white Exo. "Dea, you're with me." He then looked at the Titan. "Charli, can you still fly your ship?"

Charli looked back at him. "Of course I can," she said confidently, trying to disguise the discomfort that was her leg. She wouldn't really need her leg to pilot the ship, but that didn't make the pain any less difficult. Back then, a shot like that would've probably torn her leg off. The lift halted and Maximus threw open the door. Natural light and the roar of rocket engines burst through. She let go of the cables and followed the others through the door. Outside there was a landing platform that had once been covered by sand, but that sand was currently whipping about their heads due to the ships' proximity. Straight ahead was hers, and she'd never been so happy to see such a hunk of scrap metal.