Chapter 6 - Primaries and Secondaries
The air smelled of sulfur as they walked up to the ruins of Twilight Gap. Bullet holes, particle burns and detonation indentions scarred the Rusted structures. The wiring that connected to the Satellite radars seemed aged with frays as they made slight whistles in the cold mountain wind. Kant stood underneath the industrial crane tracks, his boots sending up dust and shell casings to ring along the broken concrete before settling among the shrubs. The only thing Kant could hear was his own breathe, the hum of his radar and the sound of the wind hitting against the old dusty industrial complex. Kant hesitated before venturing into the complex, feeling uneasy about the silence on the Crucible grounds.
"Lord Shaxx, I thought this was a active crucible ground, there isn't anyone out here by the looks of things, or everyone is dead and awaiting a reset of revivals..." said Kant as he kept eyeing the door of the industrial complex.
"It is Guardian, there were Sixteen Guardians out there, our read out says you and six other guardians remain active, may i suggest acting with precision yet being as subtle as possible," replied Shaxx before the comms cut.
Kant couldn't help, but think about the Crucible Commander. Shaxx was always quick to the point, but he always had a air of either arrogance or annoyance to his tones. It was rather hard to put a finger on and no one would dare raise the wrath of Shaxx in their direction, after all he was the Guardian who successfully counter attacked the Fallen during the great Collapse. The clicks of Hume checking his weapons brought him back to the situation. It had been quite some time since Kant or Hume had participated in the Crucible training sessions and even longer since the last Iron Banner festival that Lord Saladin hosted every sidereal month. He began his crucible ritual of visualizing a dot right in the middle of his visor HUD before looking down and checking his Suros PRI-44. Kant's Patience and Time sniper rifle was still held as a engram by his Ghost. As the gust of wind threw up more dust Kant kept thinking about Shaxx's last words, act with precision yet be as subtle as possible. Fading out with a cloak was about as subtle as it got, but the loud report of the exotic fire arm would give away his position quicker than light speed. Maybe he needed to think smarter than what usually happened in most training crucibles where people ran out and shot at anything that moved.
"Hume, we will work together until the end and then we may have to fight, but I know you want to show Gavric why he should respect you and I don't want to get in the way of that," voxxed Kant.
"Ya, that dim is going to get whats coming to him, I don't care if I have to go through Stern to give him a lesson," replied Hume as he ran off to the opposite side of the rail yard, barely peering around the corner.
Kant hated the way Hume always went about getting in cover, peering out widely before leaping into the next area of cover. Kant shook his head before slowly walking into the dark of the Industrial complex. He leaned down, cycling his inventory to upgrading material before pulling out a Sapphire wire meant usually for upgrading the standard Hunter equipment, he stretched it across the door way at the top of the stairs so that who ever it tripped would take a nice tumble down the stairs. Kant could only imagine Stern, the giant Titan tripping on it and slamming down the stairs loudly. A grin slowly slid on to his face as he backed away from the door way.
A loud report echoed from outside followed by two other reports of a loud crack of a shotgun and a pop of a scout rifle. Someone had stirred up the hornets nest and it seemed like three of them were off to a loud start. Shots rang out more sporadically before reporting with the pings of the bullets hitting against the rusted steel outside. Kant slowly peered out making sure he kept himself hidden in the shadows as he saw Gavric go by cartwheeling with fire raining around his hands as he sprung off the ground and pressed into a corner. Gavric's head was bouncing to some sporadic beat only he could hear before he planted both feet into the corner of the walls and jumped forward. If Kant hadn't been paying attention, he wouldn't have noticed Gavric pull out the twin throwing daggers from his holsters before whipping into a front roll and slinging the blades back from under the Track before continuing to roll out of the open. Kant slowly pulled up his rifle on Gavric before he noticed Stern was sitting on the actually track keeping the young Hunter in over watch. The two were working together just like they were, but they were sticking together closely encase things went wrong. Without warning Stern hurled a void grenade into the opening near Kant, Kant leaped out of the way before the Dark energy exploded outward before imploding on itself leaving the struggling vegetation dead or dying that had escaped through the cracks of the concrete work site. A loud thud could be heard in the distance as Kant knew Stern was now hunting him and Gavric would be tagging behind him.
"Hume, I have Gavric and Stern on my tail, think you can lend me a hand, they both seem to be working rather well together for a free for all training," said Kant through fast paced breathes.
"I have my own problems, figure out a way to gain the advantage!" yelled Hume as a quick hiss could be heard in the background followed by a lot of rummaging.
What kind of trouble was Hume in and was it near the amount of trouble Kant was in himself, or was there even worse dangers out here in the Gap? Stern slammed into the wall besides Kant barely missing him as he shoulder charged past, a knife ripped through the scarf trailing from his cloak. These two seemed out for blood as Kant threw down a smoke grenade before heading past Gavric up the stairs before hitting Gavric in the side with a burst of fire. Gavric shield shimmered, showing direct hits, he quickly double jumped out of sight before coming down firing off a stream of auto fire from his auto rifle. Kant backed off the staircase hoping to funnel the two up the walkway. He looked to his right and saw a guardian dressed in all black pinned to a shipping freight, knives stuck through him pinning him to the freight. Who ever had done it, had lacked remorse and taken pleasure in the action of snuffing his light as well as leaving him as a grotesque totem of what was to come to guardians who resisted their might. He glanced away wondering where to turn as he looked to his right seeing a opening that led to the ground floor he had just come from. Cranes hanging out over the wall to the valley below was the only mark the Gap had left on the skyline. A Huge grey blur distorted the sight before Stern crashed up the on to the second floor with Kant.
"Give up Hunter, we could track you all over the gap, your Light grows every time you enter the dark, it leaves you luminescent to those who are use to hunting prey through the shadows," Sterns gravely voice remarked before he looked over at the staircase.
Some rummage sounded from the staircase before Gavric emerged through the staircase without fault. How had he passed through the opening without falling had been Kant's thoughts before seeing Gavric stoop over and snag his knife buried in the concrete.
"That's a cute trick there Kant. I haven't ever seen sapphire wire used in that manner, but I am sure it works against those who aren't trained in the art of war." said Gavric arrogantly.
Kant bolted through the door before coming to a halt at the sight in front of him. A small giggle could be heard, but not from the figure sitting before him, a arc of energy dissipated from the blade sticking through Hume's stomach. Kant sight instantly enraged as his fist shook before drawing light into the blades behind his back. A thin rose hued Titan jumped down from the rafters before landing on the body of a warlock who had been slaughtered earlier. Corpses of fallen comrades laced the room, thirteen to be exact. Kant wasn't even worried about the threat behind him things had leaped to personal by the way they were keeping Hume alive by not removing the blade.
"You were right Date, young, angry and foolish," giggled the Titan in pink.
Both Gavric and Stern hit the corners of the doorway before reaching out and yanking Kant back through the door.
"Stop and Listen dim! Those two are elites, one even from Dead Orbit, look at their regalia Hunter, look at what they are made from!" Yelled Stern as he slammed Kant into the wall fighting his pushes to face the two elite on his own.
Kant looked into Sterns helmet, just seconds ago he had been ready to end his light, but now he sounded almost scared.
"We need a plan then and not one that just scratches the surface, I have a few things I have picked up in my travels, but I know how using enemy weaponry is frowned upon especially in the training grounds," grinned Kant as his smirk quickly faded with the scream of Hume having the Arc blade twisted in his gut.
"Gavric, you like to be the center of attention well, I need you to do what is best and gain their attention, Stern, I know you have to protect him, but I need you to intercept the the Titan while Gavric intercepts that Warlock. I am going to need your trust to get this done even if we don't like each other."
"Whoa! I thought I had missed something. I guess I missed when we decided to make you leader, I don't know if that decision was made before we saved you or just seconds ago," Gavric stated throwing a small hand on his hip as he seemed to be on the verge of a tantrum.
"I have two cartridges of solar heavy ammunition, We can work something out," said Stern before pushing Gavric through the opening, leaving Kant to view them.
Kant whipped through his inventory as he felt the surge of light and radiance come pouring out of the room, Stern had really been cautious about them and it was made even more clear by the fact he had enacted his void shield protocol to come down when ever he saw fit, causing his fists to glow with the energy of black holes. Kant found the corrupt file he was looking for that contained all of his trinkets and souvenirs from him being out in the field as he picked up a few laser trip mines as well as two Gravity disrupting bombs which forced gravity to be so heavy it seemed to slow anyone who walked in the field, sometimes against lesser fallen and hive, it could even buckle them to the floor.
Kant whipped through the signals from the briefing they had earlier with he vanguard and voxxed over to Stern, Hume and Gavric.
"Hume, it may take us a bit to save you, but I have a plan and Gavric and Stern said that we can work together to face a common enemy. When i come out do not, I repeat do not follow me back into the room no matter what. You three have to trust me," voxxed Kant as he took a deep breathe in hoping his well planned traps would work. Here goes nothing Kant thought to himself as he crouched until he was invisible, before wading into the chaos.
Gavric swung to one side of the room spinning as he kept throwing blade after blade at Date, the black and white clad Warlock, the warlock seemed to be shooting the blades out of the air with his hand cannon before kicking Gavric back into a wall as he had ran up close to try and fight him in close quarters combat.
Stern grimaced before shoulder charging into the rose Titan, which she in turned shoulder charged into him causing them both to slide back behind their partners. Kant needed to hurry, but he couldn't move fast without blurring the background behind him, he slowly crept up behind the Warlock before looking down at Hume, a fiery red glow could be seen in his neckline below his helmet, his light was ready to burst.
Kant waited until the titan moved to strike Stern before throwing the smoke bomb and stabbing Hume with a knife, ending his suffering under the Arc blade. The Warlock whipped his Arc blade in front of him thinking he needed to defend himself from a attack from the front, little did he know the real threat behind him. Kant quickly enraged causing Arc energy to fly from his twin Vorpal daggers he carried before he quickly lashed out at the warlock.
The Warlock was fast, chuckling under his breathe as he parried the first movement in Kant's blade dance. Kant relentlessly began slicing into his sword letting himself left off the ground and let light send him on his path of retribution, Arc energy whipped from the blades meeting sending scars to the ground as well as to Hume's body still laying on the ground while it also whipped at Stern, Gavric and the enemy Titan.
"This will get you nowhere, Kant," said the Warlock with a sickly sweet voice," We knew you were back there the whole time, why do you think that we shifted our formation and paradigm?"
Kant ignored his question as he kept battering into the Arc blade as more streams of energy whipped from it before he lodged one of his charged vorpal blades into the sword rendering them both useless. He quickly rolled back smirking hoping that his second gravity mine would do what he needed it to do.
"I didn't know the Dead Orbit wasted their time on novices like us, let alone greet us with their elite, seems like a waste of time to me," quirked Kant as he watched the Warlocks body movement while watching the Titan in the corner of his vision.
"You are, but a stepping stone to a much greater future, one without you in it," said Date moving forward on Kant.
Kant pivoted and swung a foot out before rolling through the trapped doorway, dipping to the side to make sure not to set off his trap, He barreled through the door quickly turning and firing his hand cannon at Kant. Kant held his breathe as he waited for the blast, from the dark black hand cannon... and the mine mounted above the Warlock.
A loud pitch screech filled the air causing everyone to pause except for Kant who rolled out of the direct fire,the shot from the Warlock pierced his leg, but he didn't have time to nurse it as a small electrical orb pulsed mere inches away from the rafters of the Building, but a few feet above the warlock.
"Date run! Ooof!," Screamed the rose hued titan as Stern grabbed her and slammed her into the ground while Gavric flipped into the air before landing with his daggers jammed into her chest.
The warlock jerked his notice to the Rose colored titan before looking up. He was too late to react as Arc energy imploded inward on the orb, causing the very gravity to distort, pulling rafters down upon him as well as making the Warlock seem to weigh hundred of pounds, it was squeezing the air out of his chest.
"No, I will not bow to anyone!" Bellowed Date as electrical energy began pouring out of the pile before it exploded revealing the Warlock floating on pure Arc energy, the Lightening seemed to pour from every limb, his visor on his helmet seemed to explode with the electric power as he glared speeding towards Stern and Gavric.
"Run, leave the titan and run!" Yelled Kant into the voxx as he ran out of the building that was still falling in some areas due to the distortion mine.
"You don't have to yell it's a radio, jeez don't you have any... Oh Shit!"
A loud crack let off through the voxx as he could hear what seemed to be rafter crackling as they filled with electricity, it seemed to be finding a way to ground itself.
Kant sighed knowing he should just leave, but he ran back inside the electric charged building. He came back to see Stern holding a void shield up as it absorbed all the energy from the lightening shots. Gavric seemed to be looking around hoping that the Arc energy would fade before Stern's shield did.
Stern slowly buckled as his arms dropped to his sides, panting.
"It has mere seconds, run Gavric and i shall hold him here. Do as I say now." said Stern almost casually.
"I don't think I am gonna have to worry about it. look," Said Gavric amazed as Hume stood up, with burning flames bellowing out of his back, the corpses on the ground disintegrating and a harsh heat filled the room.
The warlock turned around feeling the blast of heat from the solar energy and came helmet to helmet with Hume, who if he didn't have flames bellowing out of him and his wake not looking like molten magma and slag, could have been mistaken for a happy person.
The Warlock Date lashed out at him with a energized fist, which he was instantly matched with a fiery set of knuckles.
"You held me on the ground alive until my comrades got here, so you could watch me in anguish you monster, you did it to the guy before me as well you fiend!" Yelled Hume furious, his fists hitting the Arc infused Warlock quicker than most could see, sparks from hot metal and electricity seemed to spray off the two. To the untrained eye it could be easily be mistaken as a firework display with a laser light show in between.
"What can i say loud moaning bait brings the crowds," said Date chuckling under his breathe at his own sick joke.
"It also brings forth anger," Said Lord Shaxx stepping out of the shadow grabbing the two warlocks fists in mid air," don't you think it a tad bit wrong, to inflict pain upon a fellow Guardian Date, we have had this talk before you know and it never ends in your favor."
"Lord, sometimes you have to do what is necessary regardless of the risks or consequences. I figure of all the Champions of Twilight Gap, you could understand." Date said flippantly, his energy had been dispersed at the touch of Shaxx's gauntlet.
Hume looked down at his hands before crumbling in exhaustion.
"Lord Shaxx, let me have retribution for those who were wrongfully harmed by this Warlocks hands." said Hume trying to sound dignified.
"As well as your own revenge I assume? No, I don't think so Guardian. I would hate for you and your new team mates not to see eye to eye." said Shaxx before kneeling down next to the pink Titan.
"The vanguard sure knows how to pick these Operational fire teams, don't they?" Joked Gavric trying to relieve the tension in the air, yet being greeted by the vision of helmets turning, staring at him before they continued.
The ghost of Shaxx came out and hovered over the corpse of the rose color titan, before scanning her, a Plume of energy floated before his Ghost began to inject light into the glowing mass. As if the titan was being born out of nothing, the energy slowly began to take shape into a fetal position Titan. Gavric stared at the scene intently as the others checked their firearms and munitions.
The Titan's greaves dropped to the floor with a small thud before she drew her weapon.
"At ease Guardian, the exercise is over. There have been some minor miscalculations as well as foul play it seems, but I think we can keep that to ourselves." Shaxx said before turning his helmet in the direction of Date.
"You all should head back to the Tower and turn in, we don't want to send you to Venus during the night so we shall wait till they have the sun's light. Look over your briefs, pay close attention to the Fallen War bands and also the models of Vexx that have been seen in that area, if you see Hive, voxx in to me and only me, understood?"
"Yes Lord Shaxx," they all answered in unison.
"Well seeing as we will be working together i feel I should introduce myself," said the rose hued Titan, "the name is Lise, I am certified in medical qualities without the use of light, Survival skills, i have dabbled in Cryptography a little, enough to understand how to decipher ammo files to use at the ready, oh and I am also a Guardian. Duh!" She slapped her helmet at the last bit.
Hume voxxed over to Kant privately.
"Seems a bit dim if you ask me," slighted Hume.
"If that is all we have to worry about in this fire team, I think we can manage."
"Not to cut introductions short, but I need a word with Guardian Kant, so this Warlock is Date, he is going to be your Commanding officer, as you can see, if you don't follow directions no telling what could happen to you out on the War grounds."
Hume didn't know what worried him more, that a War hero wanted a private word with him or the fact that a sadistic Warlock who seemed to be working for Dead Orbit was going to be leading him from here on out.