No resonse.
She waved a hand in front of his face.
"Heh, and they say Exos don't sleep." She chuckled softly, figuring he was recharging or something, and walked out.
Some time later, the Exo lifted his head to the sound of a single-shot high-powered weapon firing, a reload, another gunshot. A sniper rifle. He walked out and looked around.
BLAM!
Click-click
BLAM
click-click
When he walked out of the cave, it was off to his right, but he couldn't see the source. The sniper must have been using cloaking tech. They were at a distance, off to the other lower peak of the glaciatic mountains.
BLAM!
click-click
BLAM!
Cayde caught sight of the rippling outline of a cloaked hunter as he approached. Kalara glanced over. "Morning, boss." she switched it off and rippled into view. The gun she had was a charcoal-colored sniper rifle, rather square in design; A rectangular weapon, compared to some of the others. Cayde tilted his head. "Omalon. Nice."
Kalara nodded. "Thanks. I know it's not an exotic, but I haven't missed one target yet with it." she aimed down the scope and picked off a Vandal. She looked left and a pair of Dregs were headed past each other. She aimed and fired once, droppping both."ooh, twofer." she knew the term went unrecognised. It had come from Lavender.
"Huh?"
"Ever heard the phrase 'Two birds one stone?"
"Yeah."
"Two Dregs, one bullet. Or two opponents, one bullet."
"Okay. I see. So, are we gonna get this party started or what?"
Kalara jumped up just in time to catch up with him as he started down the trail toward the ice. "oh no you don't!" She laughed as she double-jumped, landing just ahead of him as they headed down the trail toward the ice field.
They rounded a giant ice formation and found a hundred or so more Fallen on the ice field in front of them. Kalara loooked over toward where the first Fallen Walker had appeared from and spotted a second. "I think they're here looking for something."
"Yeah, I suspected that. What do you see?"
"Another Fallen Walker. And a lot more troups."
"well, looks like we have a challenge on our hands, Gaurdian. Are you up to it?"
A look from Kalara said "of course" without her having to say it. She summoned an orb of white energy.
"Yeah, thought so."
Kalara ran out onto the ice, launching the orb of white energy at the first group, leading the group toward where she was. To her left, Cayde paused as a Vandal's energy blast struck his armor and he felt the ice under him start to melt. Kalara ran and shoved him, falling halfway into the deepening hole. She tried to get a grip to pull herself back up out of it, hands scrambling against the ice at the edge. Cayde snapped off two more shots then leaned over to yank her up out of the refreezing mush.
"Thanks."
"no problem."
Kalara tossed a grenade at the group as she rounded the right side, twirling to phase as the tank fired. The giant bolt of energy passed through her harmlesly and she ducked behind a stack of crates. she glanced across the ice field, but the view was obscured by the mass of Fallen and their latest supply drop. She heard the thundering echo of her mentor's hand cannon, and caught a glimpse of movement in her peripheral vision. She was too late, and the stealth Vandal struck out with it's blades.
She reapppeared across the ice field, and decided to take the shorter route. She jumped, double-jumped and glided toward the group, firing her rocket launcher at the center. A good dozen went flying. She landed and twirled as she slashed a dreg, then a second, switched back to her auto-rifle and took out two more Vandals. Behind her, Cayde yelled "Look out!" and a rocket slammed into the Fallen behind her, sending her flying as well.
She reappeared again, shaking her head. She switched over to her sniper this time, and scanned the ice field. Something larger than the rest was moving at the back of the group. She zoomed in. "Ooh, an Archon." she jogged forward so she would be in range, and looked through the scope. No sign of it. She scanned the field, watching Cayde weave back and forth between Fallen. One Dreg, two Vandals. Another Captain. Two more tried to get behind him, he whirled snapping off two shots and they fell.
Something moved behind the small structure at the center of the area, Kalara assumed it was a building of some sort, and the Hunter backed off. Two shots from somewhere in the mass pinged off his armor, and Kalara kept her scope trained on whatever figure was behind that building. She suspected the Archon. she was right when it fired off three shots rapid fire, and Kalara fired off two shots of her own before Cayde appeared behind her.
She refocused, squeezing the trigger.
BLAM
click-click
BLAM
He walked up next to her, hefting an oversized rocket launcher and fired. The small missile whooshed into the crowd and exploded. Several angry-sounding roars echoed, and more Fallen dissapeared into the melted ice where the missile had struck. Kalara looked at it in suprise, noticing the symbol. "You have Jade Rabbit?"
"Yeah." he said it like it would be obvious. It made sense, given it was a Hakke weapon. Kalara knew her mentor had a penchant for that type. She smirked, and instead of saying something about getting upstaged, said "You know that's a Titan weapon, right?
"Is not." he sounded defensive.
Kalara chuckled to herself. "Is too." she started forward.
"No, it's not." now he was insistent.
Kalara shrugged. "Okay, whatever." She ran across the ice, leaving him standing there for a second, probably thinking about it. She laughed and launched herself across the ice, tossing a grenade right, switching midair to jump left and fire off a burst of shots at the Archon.
Now she brought out her own hand cannon, aimed at the Archon's head and fired.
Eteher sprayed as it fell, she whirled and fired off two more shots right, two Captains roared as they fell. Kalara spotted Cayde behind them and waved with her weapon. "Eighty-five. You're getting behind."
He gave her a look, head tilted slightly, as though to say 'really' and fired off another shot "Ninety Four." two more shots, three more shots. One to the left, two to the right. she wondered how anyone could be so accurate, but this *was* Cayde, after all. She slashed a trio of Dregs, stabbing the last for good measure.
The Fallen Walker was still on the other side of the containers beyond them, so it wasn't a threat just yet. Still, she was tempted to go make sure it wouldn't be any trouble anytime. She double-jumped, landing in a crouch atop the center building and sighed the other end of the battlefield. She hit her comm. "Hey, I think they know they're in trouble. There's a Baron at the other end of the ice field."
"We'll just have to take him out too, then."
Kalara tossed another grenade, picking off Fallen from her vantage point, she could make out the Fallen Walker between crates pacing back and forth. "Must have a designated area to patrol." she thought. She looked for the Baron again, but didn't see it until she spotted it closer, striding toward them. The crowd was thinning, and the Baron was angling over toward the center of the area where she was.
A pair of shanks floated up from her right, then two more from behind her. Her Auto-rifle took care of those. Then she jumped up and focused on void energy, sending it into the Fallen below. One Vandal jumped out of the way. And right into Cayde's sights
BLAM!
it fell, ether spraying from it's head.
Kalara counted twenty-five left. Time to make it count. she jumped up, tossing a ball of white energy into the nearest set. The vandals dodged, and the Dregs squealed as they dissapeared. She jumped off the buiding, brought up her auto-rifle and got three shots before she was close enough to swing her dagger, catching one across the midsection and throat and stabbed the second, pulling back to fire off the killing shot. The Baron had taken cover behind the crates across from her, and she spotted Cayde making a beeline for it.
"Barons aren't extra points, you know." she teased.
"That's okay. You stick to your easier targets. I prefer more of a challenge."
Kalara scoffed, but took out two more Shanks floating nearby. Suddenly there was a rumble and a shadow passed overhead. A Skiff rumbled in, hovering low behind them as more Fallen leapt from the bottom of it. Cayde sounded suprised across the comm "huh. They're early."
"Guess they heard somebody wanted a challenge." Kalara grinned.
The new group of fallen had them pinned between the Walker and the incoming group. Kalara took a quick count. "There's only about twenty or so. We can handle 'em." she glanced over at where the Baron had retreated to a distance, a pair of Vandals flanking it. She suddenly noticed it's weapon didn't look much like the standard Fallen weapon. Not that she'd seen a Baron more than once or twice. But she wasn't sure.
One of the Vandals shimmered out of view and Kalara commed "there's two stealth Vandals with that Baron."
"Oh I know." came the confident reply.
The new group was rapidly approaching and Kalara had to dodge a hailstorm of weaponfire. She launched a grenade to slow them down, several went flying, several more became trapped in the ice as more ran past.
To the right, Cayde backed off, trying to get a bead on the Baron. One stealth Vandal got too close and he fired. The Vandal shimmered into view as it fell. The second was behind him and lunged, stabbing the hunter in the shoulder before Cayde whirled and fired. Kalara was counting to herself with each one she shot, auto-rifle deafening in the frozen arctic air.
Cayde put his back to the crates and summoned his Ghost. It scanned his shoulder, then the Baron made a break for it. Kalara glanced over in time to see Cayde start to raise his gun and the Baron aim through the open space and fire.
A purple-and-black laced energy beam shot out of the weapon, Kalara nearly dropped her gun. She leapt up and summoned a huge orb of white energy, launching it into the Baron. Cayde strode over as she landed. "What was that!? I had him right where I wanted him."
Kalara looked behind him. "Missing something?"
He glanced over his shoulder. His Ghost that had been hovering close to him now lay on the ice, eye glowing, but completely unmoving. Kalara looked to the right, noticing how close the approaching group was. Cayde ran over and grabbed up his ghost, looking at it then back up at her with an unreadable expression. half a second later, a bolt of energy whizzed through the air, narrowly missing him. He fired back, two Dregs fell.
The Vandal behind the Dregs fired, knocking the Exo completely off his feet. Kalara hurled an orb of void energy at it, then focused on the remaining Fallen behind it.
Lavender hummed a tune softly as she walked down the steps and past Eris Morn, through the next room, nodding to Lord Shaxx as she passed. It had been four days since 'The dare' had been issued, and she was starting to worry. She figured the pair had arrived back late last night. She knew how they both liked to 'push the envelope' when it came to time restrictions.
She walked down the final set of steps to find Cayde's spot at the table still empty. She looked confused. Ikora looked over at her as she passed "Gaurdian."
Zavala straightened from where he'd been studying a data tablet. Lavender glanced over then back at him in confusion. "Gaurdian, did Baxtin tell you where she and Cayde were going?"
"...no. why? They're not back yet?"
"No. They were supposed to have fourty-eight hours maximum for their challenge. "
A suprised look crossed her face, and Zavala added "They are fourty-eight hours late and we can't raise either of them on the intercom."
Ikora added "we hoped you might know where to find them."
Lavender looked slightly worried, then thought for a second, then suggested. "Maybe they're just really having fun and lost track of time?" She could have sworn she heard the Vangaurd commander make an annoyed sound. Lavender asked "Has the boss taken anyone else out there? I heard Kalara say something about another Gaurdian."
Zavala thought for a second before replying "Shiro-4. Cayde's previous protoge'. He holds a post at Felwinter peak, but we have yet to recieve an answer from him."
Lavender nodded. "Hang on." she rounded the table and picked up one of the datapads, glancing up. "Don't worry, I'm no hacker. But I have paid attention when Kalara's on her tablet."
She typed something in, picked up the earpiece, switched to general comm so the leaders would be able to hear and respond, and tapped a button. It beeped once, twice, then a male voice came on. "Shiro here."
Lavender said "Hi. Aviaria Lavis here, calling from the tower..."
"Oh hi guys! How's everything back at the tower?" Lavender looked over at Zavala.
"Shiro four, this is commander Zavala..." Lavender could almost hear the hunter stiffen at the voice of the commander.
"I need to know the location of what is called 'the playground'."
"I, uh, don't know.. sir." Shiro sounded quite hesistant. A pause, then "May I ask why?"
"Your mentor has gone missing after taking another Gaurdian out on a 'Dare'. They are fourty-eight hours past the challenge deadline."
There was a brief silence, then "Maybe they're just really having fun?" Lavender ignored the look the commander gave her.
"That's what I said."
Another look, she swore it was a glare.
Zavala asked "Are you sure you do not know where they went?"
"No, sir. and I'm sorry I can't help you. But I hope you find them."
The comm clicked off. Lavender shook her head. After thinking on it, she finally said "Kalara said it was someplace cold." There was a pause, then "There can't be that many cold planets or places on planets, right?" she set Kalara's tablet back down on the table, trying to think where they could have gone.
Suddenly,a loud, shrill alarm sounded from Cayde's tablet. A high-pitched descending tone, repeating rapidly. A red triangle with an exclamation point in the center appeared. Lavender picked it up. "that's a panic alarm." She tapped the center of the screen. "It's her." Her head lifted. "They're in the Arctic. They're here on Earth."
Zavala answered "Find them. Bring them home."
Lavender nodded. she set down the datapad and strode around the table. "Gavin, need your team. We gotta go help Kalara. Meet me in orbit." she dropped her right hand from her comm and her left summoned her Ghost as she walked out, transmatting to her ship.
They teleported in to the frozen plain, ice as far as the eye could see. The wind kicked up trails of frozen particles whisping across the bare landscape. Gavin glanced at Lavender. "You're sure we're in the right place?"
She nodded. "Positive."
They started toward where the transmission had come from, and the freezing wind picked up, obscuring the icy plain ahead. Lavender tilted her head. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Gavin listened for any sound other than the wind, then shrugged. Just behind them, Saniya looked slightly to the right. "Thunder? or the ice shifting." she wondered.
A bright flash lit the sky ahead. Lavender pointed. "There!" they broke into a run, sliding to a stop at the edge of the valley.
Below them, thirty or so Fallen surrounded Kalara, who was holding what looked like a long glowing staff of some kind. Lightning sparked and circled it. She struck one fallen, whirled and struck two more simultaneously. They flew backward, disintegrating as they went.
The staff sparked out of sight, and Kalara pulled her arms in toward her body. A glowing white light surrounded her, almost appearing like a bubble shield. The energy exploded outward, the shockwave visible in the icy air. Twelve Fallen dissapeared and the ones on the outer edge were sent flying.
Kalara paused to catch her breath, heart pounding. Another wave came at her from her left. Behind her, she heard a chunk of ice hit the valley from the ridge above the valley where her camp had been hidden at.
She focused, and was about to summon another wave of void energy when a flaming hammer hit the Vandal running toward her from behind, disintegrating it and the one next to it. The third roared and turned. Again, the flaming hammer whizzed through the air, and the remaining Vandal went flying. Off in the distance, Kalara spotted a trio of Gaurdians racing toward her. Their warlock-class floated up in the air and hurled a pair of void orbs.
Gavin went into a sliding stop, switching to an auto-rifle. Their comms came on. Kalara commed them "Don't use any solars that heat your armor, and watch out for their energy blasts. The ice refreezes as fast as it melts."
Another rock tumbled down the rise and Kalara whirled, power-jumping away from them, then double jumped up to the top of the rise. The trio exchanged a look, but focused on the remaining fallen.
A pair of Dregs screamed from above as they flew sideways from the top of the ridge, crashing down into the Fallen below. Lavender looked up. A second later, a Vandal appeared from above, arcing through the air, Kalara with it. It hit the ice with the enraged hunter on top. It growled out an insult. Kalara replied in it's own language before imbedding her dagger in it's skull.
Lavender stared at her for a moment. "Wow." she was going to comment on how angry her friend sounded, but instead asked "You speak Fallen?"
"Iliksni. And yes."
An explosion sounded from above them, at the ridge. Kalara's focus snapped upward toward the source, and she swore loudly and jogged toward the trail that led to it, double-jumping away. Gavin punched another Dreg and jogged after her. Lavender backed up firing a couple of shots as they went. Kalara yelled over the comm "Ten left. Finish them off!"
The Hunter jumped up in the air and summoned a lightning bolt, hurled it at the group. Two Vandals ducked behind crates and she jumped sideways to change direction, shooting the first. Saniya glided across the ice and tossed a grenade at the second. The valley was silent, and the group scanned the ice field, littered with Fallen bodies, one half-frozen walker, and a second further on, still trailing smoke, half-sunken into the ice.
They jogged up the trail, past three dead Dregs, a Vandal, two more Dregs, and finally a Captain further up the rise. ahead of them, Kalara was hefting up broken chunks of ice and tossing them aside, muttering to herself. "Have to get in there. Hope it's not collapsed..." She hefted another peice, staring blankly as more fell into it's place.
Gavin walked up "Here, let me help." he summoned his flaming hammer and swung, ice melting as it flew apart. "No Don't!" Kalara grabbed his arm "You'll bring the whole thing down!" He looked confused, but the hammer dissapeared.
"There's a cave back there. My cave..." she trailed off suddenly.
She stood there a moment, then had an idea. She concentrated, and an orb of solar energy appeared in her hands. Small enough to melt the ice, but not big enough to heat the ice she stood on. She moved forward, melting slowly through it. The orb expanded slightly, and Kalara hovered slightly so she wouldn't angle downward. Pretty soon, an opening appeared. She let out a sigh of relief and landed, the orb dissipated.
She pulled off her helmet and tossed it on a nearby crate, then strode over to the right side of the room, where a row of monitors and a small computer had been set up. She ignored the trio of Gaurdians, and wiped a dusting of ice particles off the keyboard, muttering "Please work..." it beeped and one screen lit up, the other two blinked then came on as well.
Gavin hit his comm, but got nothing but static. He looked around the ice-cave. As though sensing his question, Kalara replied "It's not the ice. This entire area is in a jamming zone." and continued typing. Saniya wandered toward where the cot had been, looking around. Kalara muttered something else under her breath, then said aloud "Thanks for the assistance. You guys can go now." She could tell Gavin was staring at her. "Tell the tower the boss and I are fine and we'll be back soon."
"Lavender folded her arms. "Speaking of which-"
"Don't." Kalara cut her off. "I don't have time to explain right now, I'll explain later." Gavin walked over to where she was typing and noticed her Ghost hovering silently over one of the screens, staring off into space." Lavender walked over now, also. "What's up with your Ghost?" she followed the trail of wires from the computer down to the top of the box next to it. "Oh no."
Kalara's shoulders dropped. She whirled, anger tinging her voice. "Damnit, why couldn't you just leave and let me finish with what I'm doing!? But no. You had to get nosy, didn't you." She sighed. "I can't let you go back and tell them." Gavin took two steps back. He knew something was off about his former teammate.
His gaze flitted to the far corner to the right of the computers. A dark-colored weapon was laying atop the boxes. He couldn't get a clear view of it because the shadows, but he recognised the points sticking out from it, and the dull green light pulsing slowly.
Saniya had one hand behind her back, allready starting to focus on void energy, should their friend become violent. Kalara just stood there for a moment and Lavender realised she was trying to figure out how to keep them there. The Hunter hadn't planned ahead for this.
Lavender glanced at the door. Whatever trip mines had been planted there had been set off by the Fallen, so there was no way to trap them all inside. She looked at the computer screens. "You can't use another chip. So what are you planning to do?" she hoped she could talk her friend out of whatever plan she had in mind.
"Not working on data Augmentation. Data replacement." She ignored the sounds of disbelief. Gavin took a step forward, EMP appearing in his hand. "We can't let you do that." Kalara looked over, voice calm. "And you think you can stop me?"
Lavender put herself between them, motioning for him to stop. His gaze flickered over her shoulder then back to her. The EMP pistol dissapeared. Lavender reached up and pulled off her helmet as well. It would be better to talk face-to-face than through a helmet.
"So that's why your Ghost is acting so strange." she went over and looked at it, hovering in place, not even moving. She silently hoped it's data hadn't been erased yet. Kalara started typing again. "He stopped yelling at me this morning. Hasn't spoken since. Won't speak to anyone. won't move." she muttered "It knows it's no longer mine." She hit a key and the computer beeped.
She moved to the right, reached out for her Ghost.
Gavin moved quickly behind her. "I'm sorry."
There was a crash as the Titan's fist slammed into the computer, smashing it to bits. Kalara turned, shocked. Her voice was a whisper. "What've you done?" She collapsed to the frozen floring, staring at the ground, on her knees. He had to strain to hear her. "That was the one chance I had. My only chance... I'll never go back now."
Lavender glared at Gavin and squatted down so she was face to face with Kalara. "It's not the only way. There's another way to revive a Ghost." Kalara looked up slowly, not listening. Not understanding.
"You remember the crucible, when we were chasing down Nox on Venus?" A half-dumb nod.
"Okay. Here's what you didn't see happen."
-FLASHBACK-
Danaxia tiptoed hurriedly up to the door of the room her boyfriend had been, making sure her cluster grenade had taken out all the Gaurdians that were hunting him. She switched to her eMP and snapped off a row of shots. The Ghosts hovering there dropped to the ground. The thought flashed through her head to throw them in every direction so it would take twice as long for them to find their Gaurdians. She decided against it. Their deaths would come soon enough.
Nox was slumped against the window, legs broken, a bullet hole in his helmet. Danaxia hissed out a curse and focused her light energy into his Ghost. It hovered up and scanned him, then he dissapeared and a moment later reappeared on his feet.
The rogue Hunter walked over to where one of the Titans lay, and pulled his weapon from the Gaurdian's grasp. He backed up two steps, then kicked the Titan in the helmet. He looked over at where Lavender lay. Now walked casually toward her and squatted down, tilting his head. He looked at his gun, then muttered "Yes. This one has potential. Marked by the darkness."
He rose and went back to where the other Hunter, Kalara, was facedown. He picked up her ghost. He tapped it with the side of his gun to see if it would squeak. "I could use a snack." he chuckled. Nox rolled the hunter over with his foot, tossed the paralyzed Ghost onto it's Gaurdian and aimed his weapon. "Troublesome thing. You won't keep me from taking your friend."
He fired, purple-and-black energy lanced out from Thorn's dark maw, sucking in light as it went. He could almost hear it whisper to him "finally."
A light blinked from the right side as Saniya started to wake. apparently, she had only been knocked out. Danaxia aimed at her helmet and fired.
The pair walked out.
Some time later, none of them were sure how long, the two teams reappeared one by one. Saniya looked over at Lavender, then Gavin, who went to Kalara next.
The Titan paused a moment, staring, then stood, going past her to Zanthyr. He focused his light into the other Titan's Ghost, and Zanthyr dissapeared for a moment before rematerialising. Gavin wandered back to Kalara, but didn't try to revive her.
Zanthyr glanced at Kalara, then back to Gavin, confused. Lavender and Saniya walked up. "What? What's wrong?" Gavin knelt and silently picked up her Ghost. It's light flickered, then dimmed to where he feared it might have gone out.
Lavender hurried over. "Give him to me." He held it out, and Lavender took the ghost, focusing.
Electricity arced over her armor, then got brighter. Traces of void energy appeared, interlacing with it, and orange whisps lit up around her, mixing together into a soft white light.
The light got brighter and she focused on it, until a brilliant white light surrounded her, making the other Gaurdians step back and cover their eyes. The light faded and Lavender lowered her hands slightly,
Kalara's ghost floated up and turned to look at her. "I had no idea you could do that." It made a beeping noise and spun it's back finials, sounding impressed. "That was amazing!"
Lavender chuckled softly. "thank you."
It hovered a moment before going over to Kalara, scanned her, and she dissapeared, reappearing half a second later.
-PRESENT MOMENT-
Kalara stared at her for a whole minute. "You can do that?"
"I think *we* can."
She was silent another moment, then Kalara shook her head. Gavin asked "what's the problem? if it's a Hive replicate, We know how to handle that." Kalara looked at him, then stood and reached up to retrieve the weapon. It fell heavily into her hands. "This." she said "Is the problem!" she tossed it on top of the ruined computer with a heavy thhud.
It was an ugly black and grey color, a twisted mass of metal and bone. It barely resembled any of the Hive replications of Thorn they had ever seen. But this was different. Larger, heavier. And uglier.
The dark color of the muzzle faded into the charcoal and grey of the center where the metal had twisted and melted. Back further toward the handle, it was silver in color. In the center between the handle and the muzzle, what would once have been called the thornlike adornment had been twisted into a crude parody of stripes.
Three black stripes angled down the rear grip and the trigger-gaurd. Kalara stared at it. "The Fallen not only got their hands on a Hive weapon, they modified it using OUR TECHNOLOGY!" Lavender shook her head. "We still have to try. There's still a chance."
To prove her point, she summoned a handful of light. When Kalara didn't move, Lavender went over and picked up the green-colored ghost, pulling off wires. She focused, light reappearing in her hands, around it. Kalara joined her, focusing on light also. It got brighter, almost blinding. When it faded, there was a dull glow in the eye of the Ghost. It wasn't moving, however.
Kalara shook her head. Lavender thought quickly, then said "We need a focal point. Like we did before we learned how to cast light ourselves." Kalara nodded and turned, grabbing up the giant gun, tossed it back up on top of the boxes, and cleared the broken computer bits away. She set the green-colored ghost atop the crate and summoned her own. It looked at her, then Lavender, who smiled reassuringly. "Trust me."
Kalara's ghost turned back to the other as the pair started to focus. Lavender started to glow, and it turned bluish for a moment. Kalara was staring intently at her ghost, who was focusing the energy into a beam. The light got brighter, and Lavender lost focus, her light turning blue then orange before back to white, dimming slightly. Kalara's light was getting brighter.
She focused ever tiny bit of it she could, wiliing it to work. Even if it had to be every bit of the light she had.
The light flashed brighter and there was a blinding burst. The light faded and the Gaurdians blinked, trying to see what had happened. The Ghost hovered slowly up from atop the crate. Kalara felt the room spin and go dark.
A moment later, she opened her eyes, staring at a pair of feet. Lavender helped her up. She looked at her fellow Hunter, heard Lavender ask "You okay?" She nodded, trying to get her balance back. Lavender pullled her to her feet, and she swayed slightly. "Thanks."
"no problem."
Then Kalara had to lean on her when the room tried to go sideways again.
There was a shuffling sound from the alcove in the back, then Cayde appeared, brushing the frost off his armor. "What happened? Why are we up here?" He stopped, pointed at the group, then asked with disapproval "Why are they here?" he looked over at Kalara, who was still leaning on Lavender, smiling.
Her smile faded slightly "You don't remember?"
He thought for a second.
They were on the ice, he had just taken out the first stealth Vandal when the second landed a lucky shot. No problem, though. That's what his Ghost was for. It scanned him, and had just finished repairing the hole in his shoulder when his real target, the Fallen Baron, decided to make a break for it.
Cayde thought to himself "Making yourself an easy target, not smart. But the Fallen aren't the brightest critters in the galaxy." He brought up his hand cannon to take it down when Kalara launched a huge ball of light energy at it. 'Well, that's just dissapointing. Thirty Fallen in the area and the rookie goes for my target.' He strode up, intending to give her a thorough riling for stealing his target. He tried to sound dissaproving. "What was that!? I had him right where I wanted him."
Instead of apologising, Kalara looked past him and said in nearly the same tone "Missing something?"
'That has to be a joke.' he thought. He looked over his shoulder but found it *wasn't* a joke, and, in fact, his Ghost was laying on the ice unmoving. Too still. His thoughts darted back to the cosmodrome and he ran to pick it up.
A shot whizzed past. 'too close.' he thought, acting on instinct to bring up his hand cannon and snap off a pair of shots. The two Dregs fell. But he didn't see the Vandal behind them. Too late. Rookie mistake. It fired and the world flipped forward as he flew back.
He felt the impact of the ice on his back, tried to roll over. Caught sight of Kalara's boots as she moved toward him, firing at the Fallen, calling out to him.
Systems malfunction...
'Damn, caught something vital, too.'
...error..
the Hunter's vision swam and the world went dark. He could hear Kalara scream something, then nothingness.
Kalara must have seen the suprise on his face because she and Lavender both summoned a handful of light energy in reply.
"Uh-huh." he still looked confused. Kalara grinned from ear to ear. Instead of asking for an explanation (which would probably be long and technical and confusing), he asked "Hive weapon?"
Kalara's grin dissapeared. "No, not exactly." she walked over and yanked the thing off the crate in the corner. "This is what took out your Ghost." she set it on the lower crates with a heavy thud and backed off so he could look at it.
"wow. That is one ugly gun."
There was a rumble, and Kalara pointed at the monstrosity and asked her her Ghost. "Could you transmat that for me?" it did as Gavin moved toward the entrance. A moment later he reappeared. "we have company."
Kalara nodded. "Another Skiff. If we're gonna get across the ice field, we should go now." They made their way down the makeshift hall and Cayde asked "They set off the tripmines? Now I'm gonna have to set up more."
Kalara realised she forgot her helmet, and ducked back inside for it. Lavender already had hers back on. The skiff was off to the right, at the far end of the ice field. Kalara reappeared and headed for the side of the plateau opposite the trail. "I found a shortcut."
They jogged down and across the ice, Lavender slid to a stop to avoid an energy blast in front of her. "lookout!" Kalara grabbed her and yanked as the ice melted and gave way, snapping off a shot over Lavender's shoulder. A lone Captain was behind the crates.
Saniya glanced at the approaching crowd. "There's at least a hundred of them." Lavender jumped up, floated over the crates, and threw an orb of solar energy at the Captain before landing atop the crates. She jumped then jumped again to meet them as they ran across the ice.
Kalara called "Trail's just up ahead." They rounded the mountain and paused for a moment, then started to climb.