Matt handed the binoculars to Aleeza, detaching his sniper scope, "There's quite a few of them down there."
Aleeza whistled softly, "Yeah. I've not seen this large a group for years. Aria, you seeing this?"
"Yeah. I make over 3000 individual fallen, assuming I've counted them all. Maybe more." Aria had removed the extra faceplate on her helmet, revealing a darkened visor, "I'm seeing a few banners, Kings, Devils, Winter?"
Aleeza snapped her head around, "Are you sure? Winter aren't known for Earth operations. Matt, could you get any closer?"
He shrugged, "Maybe. I'd rather not risk it though, not with that many fallen around. We can get back to the tower quickly from here, but I think they have AA, so our ships would be pushed to fly though and pick us up without exploding if it all went to shit. I reckon we have enough with the rough count though." He shrugged again, "It's your call Aleeza, but if it goes to vote, I'll vote for leaving."
Aleeza nodded, "Well, neither Aria nor me could get close without being seen, so we go. Lena, we're ready to go."
She disappeared in a flash of blue light, a ship dropping low to the ground as it flew away.
"Nova, you ready?"
"Yeah, just about. OK, bringing you up." He felt a moment of weightlessness, saw Aria vanish, then felt the hard deck of his ship beneath his feet.
"Good. Got you." Nova sighed.
"What do you mean?" Matt looked at her, wondering what could have happened.
"Well, there was this one practice that I did where I missed you with the transmat and picked up 80 kilos of dirt." Nova sounded embarrassed.
Matt waved it off, settling into the cockpit, "At least you haven't got half of me, but missed the other half, that would have made a proper mess."
Nova materialised, shaking her shell theatrically, "Don't joke about that."
-X-
"Aleeza. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Missed you." Aleeza smiled.
"How was the recon? New guardians any good?" Carina smiled back, knowing how frustrating new guardians could be.
Aleeza shrugged, "Better than I was expecting. Then again, Matt and Aria always work well as a team."
"Oh, those two." Carina grinned, "Did Matt shoot anyone?"
"No, not anyone he didn't mean to. He is almost scary good with his sniper now."
"Sounds like a challenge." Carina grinned, "I'll talk to Shaxx."
Aleeza nodded, "I'll bet on Matt then. Any news about Wei's plan?"
"You mean outside of the fact that she wants to take the moon off of the hive, and the factions seem to be all about that right now? She's said that she wants to take every guardian who wants to go, but Saladin is sceptical."
"The old man is here?" Aleeza looked slightly shocked. "He's not scheduled for another 3 weeks."
"Surprise tournament. Recon I'll enter this time." Carina had drifted over to the vault terminal, and was now searching though its contents for something.
"I think I'll take this one off. Don't want to steel all of your fun." Aleeza glanced at Lena, "Matt and Aria have just finished a match. If you're quick, you should be able to convince Shaxx to let you into their next match. You got a second, they were doing rounds in doubles."
"Yeah. If she wants me." Akiva walked around the side of the vault terminal, slipping a shotgun onto his back, "Ready?" he asked Carina.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yup. See you in a bit, sister."
Aleeza smiled, "Just so you know, I'm betting against you."
Akiva shook his head, sharing a knowing smile with Carina, "She's the worst."
Carina laughed, "Yeah. That's why we both love her."
-X-
"Doubles Salvage." Shaxx voice boomed over the ruined buildings, "Secure the relic, and watch your back."
"Yeah Matt. Watch my back. Don't shoot it." Aria grumbled.
"Jeez, OK." Matt slammed into the wall, his knife already in his hand, "Ready?"
Aria nodded.
Matt jumped, knife white hot. It melted the wall, cooling quickly. He coiled up, swinging backwards once. He leapt out, sailing across the open space, bringing his sniper up.
A gentle red glint forced him to make a snap decision. He moved, seeing a titan come into his sights. He started falling, the titan swooping across his sight. He pulled the trigger, the recoil sending him spinning slightly. He felt the shot tug at the hood of his clock, "Aria, one in green cubby, sniping." He winced as several shots splattered against his shields, dropping them to half.
Aria sprinted forwards, aiming back down the line of the shots that hit Matt. She saw a Titans helmet, pulling the trigger she saw two bursts hit them, but before she could fire a third killing burst, they ducked.
Matt ducked behind a wall, watching his shield replenish, "Aria, you know where they are?"
"Yeah, same place." Aria yelled over the percussive sound of sniper shots.
Matt nodded, compressing his light into a grenade. He rolled out from behind the wall, grenade sailing towards the cubby. The two Titans scattered, one sprinting into a partially collapsed building, the other leaping out towards the silo.
The first bullet hit him in the chest, the impact knocking him backwards.
-X-
Carina grimaced, having missed Matt head with her first shot. She fired again, the bullet ripping though his chest as he slumped, dead. She snapped her aim towards the archway, watching the gap from which Akiva had been shot. A grenade arced out from the gap, lightning shattering her shields. She heard a noise behind her, turning to see a knife flying towards her, Matt already turning back behind the wall.
Damn he's good..
The knife hit her in the head, hard.
...
...
Akiva looked over his shoulder as she materialised, blinking repeatedly to clear the static from the high energy released during the process, "He's fast, I'll give him that."
"What about Aria? Did she try anything?" Akiva crouched down next to a special ammo synthesis point, taking a handful of shotgun shells out of it.
"She got me with a grenade. They seem to be well co-ordinated, so I guess we'll have to step up our game." Carina laughed, "Well, I guess I might start trying."
Bullets splattered against the wall near Akiva' head, he flinched, diving behind cover, "I told you he was fast." Carina peaked out, snapping off a shot with her sniper. She ducked back fast, a trio of bullets smashing into the brick behind her.
-X-
Aria rounded the corner fast, her momentum slamming her though the wall, her knee connecting with Carina head, throwing the other titan into the wall behind her. She ducked, sliding to maintain her speed as Akiva pulled the trigger, pellets shredding Matt as he leapt in front of Akiva, knife just not leaving his hand. Aria heard the dull thump of a body hitting the floor, turning her shotgun on Akiva. He didn't have time to turn before the pellets hit him, knocking him back into the hole Aria had made barely 5 seconds ago. She crouched next to Nova, methodically reloading her shotgun, "Thanks." She touched Nova's shell, letting her light bolster the recovery process. Matt materialised, blue light dispersing in a cloud.
"Nova, remind me not to do that again." He groaned, drawing his handcannon.
Aria laughed, "Glad you took the hit for me. I've heard shotguns hurt."
Matt laughed, "Yeah, they do. I won't dive it next time."
They jogged towards the old building, a logo painted on its wall, faded with age.
An object screamed though the atmosphere, slamming into the ground, punching though several walls. It had a pointed shape, a long tail-like guidance system wall still smouldering, green smoke leaking out of a crack in the metal skin. It shuddered, the entire ship moving turning in the ground. Some of the bricks dropped slightly, before exploding outwards, a large metal plate shoving them away.
Matt looked uneasily at Aria, who readied a grenade, "Jenny, I think we should tell Akiva and Car..."
Creatures swarmed out of the ship, screeching in some unknown language. The piled out, small almost skeletal creatures that seems confused, before one of them spotted the guardian pair. It screeched, Matt shot it in the head. The creatures swarmed towards them, screeching incoherently.
They backed up, shooting into the mass of creatures swarming towards them. "Carina, Akiva. Uh, a hand." Aria said, calm as only an Exo could be in this situation.
"Yeah, we saw it come down. You OK?" Akiva said.
"Just about. These little skeletal things keep running out of it." Aria explained, "They aren't too hard to kill though."
Matt spun away from a blot of purple light, which smacked into the wall, spraying brick dust over his cloak.
-X-
He flicked a grenade into the opening, smiling under his helmet when bits of the creatures flew out, burning. A larger creature charged out, holding a sword that looked to be made out of some sort of stone. Fire flicked around its torso, before dying away. It saw Matt, roaring again it charged. He opened fire, stops pinging off of its armoured head and chest. It slammed its sword down with surprising speed, Matt diving out of the way. Aria moved towards it, shotgun ready, but was forced to duck when a barrage of the purple light flew towards her, missing by centimetres. Matt turned his attention back to the large sword wielding creature, which swung again. He drew a knife, diving out of the path of the sword once again. He rolled to his feet, knife held ready.
The creature slashed horizontally, aiming for his midsection. Matt met the sword with his knife, guiding the blade over his head with a quick arm movement. Hiss knife lit up, glowing with heat. He swung towards the creature, feeling it hit the creatures armour, with seemed to absorb the heat from the knife, which quickly returned to its normal metal hue. He grunted, ducking to avoid a fist intended for his head. He stayed close to it, hoping that in such close quarters, he could mitigate the effectiveness of the sword.
He felt a hard impact in his side, feeling and hearing ribs crack under the impact. He staggered backwards, yelling out in pain, left hand reflexively grabbing at his right side. He fell to one knee, planting a hand in the ground, barely holding himself upright.
-X-
Aleeza sprinted towards the railing at the edge of the tower, "Lena, you better be ready." She looked up, feeling familiar weight return to her shoulders as her pulse rifle returned to her back. She leapt off the tower, seeing her ship flair up hard below her. She landed on top of it, sprinting towards the open cockpit. "Nice flying."
"Thanks. You ready?"
"Just go." She rushed to pull the restraints over her shoulders, feeling acceleration push her back into her seat. The last thing she had seen before the feed was cut was a Hive Seeder smashing into the buildings near Matt and Aria. She saw the arena approach on her Nav system, they were closing fast, "Lena, go for a fast insert." She felt the acceleration ease, they were going as fast as Lena dared to fly this close to the ground. She checked their altitude, barely 200 metres above the ground. Aleeza stood, walking towards the centre of the ship, loading her pulse and fusion rifles, waving her hand though the air, summoning her solar light. She would not lose any more friends. She shuddered, the cries of one of her past teams as they fell to the Fallen, their ghosts lying shattered.
Lena's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "GO!"
She landed, shots snapping across the gap between the buildings. "Matt! Aria!" she shouted on an open channel.
"We're fine. Ish." Aria's slightly synthetic voice came across the comms. Aleeza breathed a sigh of relief, "You need a hand?"
"Yeah, actually, that would be great. They just keep swarming out." She heard shots though Aria's mic, along with the actual sound half a second later. She ran towards the markers on her HUD indicating Matt and Aria. "Oh shit." She heard Matt swear in the comms, "You alright?"
"Just about... ... there's some big bastard just come out of the ship, got a sword and all, don't think anyone told him we're moved on." Matt sounded slightly out of breath.
Aleeza grimaced, Knights were hard to kill, even for experienced guardians. She slid around a corner, a hole where a wall used to be showed her the Seeder. It had landed at an odd angle, punching though more than a few walls before stopping. She heard the roar of a Knight, the clash of stone on metal. Leaping forwards, using her light to buffer her fall, she saw the entrance to the Seeder. Her hand flew out, solar light compressed into a deadly sphere, it landed in the centre of the door, bursting out an aura of scalding light. Shrieks emanated from inside the Seeder as some of the Hive inside burnt.
Matt cried out in pain.
-X-
Akiva started running towards the impact site of the first Seeder. Neither he nor Carina saw the second one screaming though the sky, shearing though the metal structure near them. It had come in very shallow, none of the doors had opened. The topmost door blew off, a knight clawing its way out into the air.
Carina shot it, its screams silenced.
They both set off towards the first impact site. Akiva smiled when he heard Aleeza on an open channel, knowing that his sister would be able to handle a few hive.
Matt's cry of pain dropped a hole in his stomach...
-X-
Shaxx's terminal was a christmas tree of warning lights, most of them had however been moved to the corners, with the majority of the screen taken up by a conference call members of each faction, his Redjacks and the Vanguard.
"Dahlia, you lead this. You've fought Hive before."
Text scrolled across his screen, Understood. Dahlia was clearly doing something using her voice, probably shouting at the newer frames.
"Factions, I want ships patrolling the area around here ASAP." The faction leaders nodded, their displays winking off.
"Ikora, can you get med teams out there, Cayde and Zavala, send 6 each, if you can."
Cayde nodded, for once not cracking a bad joke, the gravity of the situation drew out a Cayde that very few knew existed. The Cayde that Shaxx was used to dealing with wouldn't stop laughing at his own terrible jokes, constantly cracking wise, even in what most would consider seriously bad situations. The Cayde he was dealing with now was mono-tone to his usual self. Hell even Zavala seemed cheery compared to Cayde, which was a first.
"I'll send Wei, she's looking to get all the extra time fighting any hive available for fighting." Zavala turned, talking into a separate channel.
Less than 10 seconds later, ATC detected a ship leaving City airspace, fast. Not one of the ones clocked to be sent to the arena. 30 seconds after that ship had left, a group of ships shot off on the same trajectory.
He closed his eyes, hoping he had been fast enough.
-X-
Wei felt the ship turn, gees pushing her into her seat, "Ready for hard landing."
She braced, the ship realigning its trajectory. She heard the cockpit cover slide backwards above her head, the seat shuddering as various mechanical systems engaged. The seat kicked her out of the ship, which spun up and away from the ground. She braced, ground rushing up to meet her. The impact gouged a trough out of the ground, water pluming behind her. She sprinted towards the latest impact site, out past the arena bounds. The hive had already started to swarm towards her, their landing having been smooth. She opened fire, hearing further impacts behind her as she ran forwards. Thrall fell, screaming incoherently as their bodies were chewed up by a barrage of bullets. A knight stomped out of the Seeder, Boomer held ready to fire. It fired one shot, the response from a sniper rifle destroying its head. The body fell backwards, crushing an Acolyte. Wei jumped, the shot from the boomer detonating on the ground below her. She felt the shockwave knock her forwards slightly, using it to gain more momentum. She closed the gap to the Seeder door in mess than 10 seconds, lighting arcing across her body. Running forward the last few metres to the door, she leapt forwards, concentrating the light around her fists.
Light shot across the ground inside the Seeder, reflecting off of the metal frame. Hive screamed, their bodies being destroyed by the shear amount of power inside the ship. Wei turned, walking out of the door, a small explosion rupturing the top of the Seeder, green fluid leaking out, evaporating in the air.
-X-
The knight flipped the sword in its hand, stepping towards Matt. He took a breath, feeling his broken ribs grate against each other. One last chance.
He pushed off his planted foot, hands coming together, a tripmine held in his right, knife in his left. He pushed the knife against the base of the tripmine as he shoved it in the knights face. The tripmine beeped once, arming itself due to the pressure from the knife. It detonated a second later, throwing him into a metal wall. He heard bones break, his whole body in agony. He hit the ground, passing out from the pain.
-X-
Aleeza rounded the corner, the knights body falling backwards, a narrow hole in the front of its head. It slowly toppled over, parts of its helmet falling out of the back of its head as it fell.
She looked away from the knight, her gaze falling on Matt, his armour charred, lying broken on the floor, Nova flitting around him, blue light repeatedly shooting out of her optic. A shot from an Acolyte forced Nova away from her Guardian, darting towards Aria, who was furiously returning fire, trying to give Nova some time to heal Matt.
She spun, her light bursting out. Hive shots turned towards her, she watched as they bounced off her armour. Throwing herself forwards, she smashed her palm into the first Acolyte she saw, its body dispersing into atoms. Flames flickered around her hands, her light lashing out. Acolytes and Thrall burned, Knights staggered away from her, unable to get close to such a violent source of light. A wizard screamed, bolts of darkness barely dimming the light. She threw a grenade at it, its shrieks as it died snapped her out of her blind attack. She felt her radiance die, light collapsing in on itself, no longer being sustained. She found the micro-reactor, in the centre, flicking another grenade into it. The metal melted, sloughing away onto the deck. The reactor detonated, the explosion causing her shields to drop almost completely. She looked towards where she had last seen Matt, Nova now focusing her light on one bone at a time, slowly repairing each one in turn. Aleeza jugged over to Aria, who was sitting against a pipe. "How is he?"
Aria sighed, gesturing towards the three warlocks forming a semicircle around him and Nova, "At the moment, not great." She slumped backwards, head resting against the pipe now, "Nova was struggling to heal him until the warlocks showed up, they seem to be helping."
Aleeza looked over at the group, one of them occasionally glowing gently, "Yeah, the Phoenix order are good medics, especially in the field. He'll be fine." She sat down nest to the Exo, who stared at the floor, "Trust me, I've seen them patch up much worse under fire."
-X-
"Shaxx, Dahlia. Arena secure. Hive incursion contained. Three guardian casualties. All stable."
Shaxx let out a breath that he hadn't realised he was holding. Hive were not something to take lightly, but having new guardians right in the thick of a surprise attack. "Who's the injured?"
"Redjack Unit00, Redjack Unit05, Guardian 16452."
Shaxx glanced down at his desk, damage reports flashing up on his screen. Unit00 was badly damaged, but the mind core was intact. Arcite was a good frame, one of the best, but Shaxx had needed a crucible handler for a long time. He would understand. Unit05 was KIA. Damnit, good frames were getting harder to find these days.
Guardian 16452. Matt. Shaxx swore vigorously, one of the new guardians in that fight. Wounds correlating to a tripmine, self inflicted plus impact damages. Nothing from hive weaponry.
He walking into the Vanguard meeting where the faction leaders were arrayed around the large table, they were bickering, the vanguard standing and listening.
Cayde looked up, "Shaxx. Anything?"
Shaxx nodded, "Yeah, I've lost a Redjack, and one will be retired, Guardian 16452 was injured, not much was in the report, apart from that he's stable. The Hive have been contained, and the last few are being rounded up as we speak." He paused, looking around the table, "I can now recommend an attack on Luna. Now, I need to talk to my Redjacks about this."
The factions looked surprised, Cayde nodded, as did Ikora. Zavala turned away, talking to his ghost. Shaxx turned, walking out smiling underneath his helmet.
-X-
Nova spun her shell, floating next to Aleeza and Aria.
"How are you?" Aria looked at Nova.
"I'm fine. So is Matt, before you ask." She turned away, "He should be back up tomorrow."
The doors opened, and the 2 guardians walked though it, the ghost drifting in behind them. The New Monarchy representative stood up, opening the conversation, "You know why we're all here, I presume."
Aleeza nodded, "Yeah. How a new guardian managed to hold off a knight for long enough to come up with a way to kill it. And to kill it. Nova."
Nova shot forwards, optic flickering into a transmission mode. Aria took over commentary, "Matt engaged a "knight", as you call them." The footage projecting from Nova's optic animated, showing Matt meet the knights first slash, deflecting it away from his head. He danced in towards the knight, knife glowing as it slashed towards the knights chest. The knife cooled as it hit the knights chest. The consensus watched the fight, staring at the footage.
Matt spun away, ducking under the first horizontal swing. He blocked the second swing, flicking the blade over his head with barely a movement. They watched him try the same trick heating the blade with his light, his knife flying towards the knights head this time. Again, the knife cooled on impact, the FWC rep shook her head at the repetition of the tactic. Aleeza smiled under her helmet, seeing Matt utilise various tactics she had used against him in the past. He closed the distance between him and the knight, moving fast enough for the footage that needed to be slowed down and repeated for the consensus. Nova spun the back of her shell, Aria and Aleeza recognising the movement from when Nova and Matt had shared a laugh over some in joke. She found the need for the consensus for review the footage of Matt moving at a very standard speed for a hunter funny on some level.
The footage played in slow motion, the flat edge of the knights sword smashing into Matt side. Aleeza flinched with the impact, watching Matt fall to one knee, his knife exchanging hands at a speed even the camera couldn't capture properly. His right hand hit the floor, keeping him upright. Aleeza watched the hand on the floor, knowing that Matt was for every crazy manoeuvre that would help him best his opponent. She saw his hand lift up, the grenade forming from his light. He shot forwards, Nova slowing the footage again. Matt fly forwards, his cloak flicking poetically in the slow motion. His hand came together, left hand holding his knife, braced against his thumb. He brought his knife up to his right hand, pushing both of his hands together. The grenade triggered, laser light flickering out, passing over the knight. It detonated in a flash of white light, the knight stopped instantly, parts of its helmet blasting into the wall.
Matt flew backwards, smashing into the wall. A damage report showed up on the display, Nova shuddering as it happened. It showed broken bones all major ones in his body had shattered either from the shockwave or the impact.
Nova cut the footage, flying out of the room, her shell shivering.
"That's how he did it. He took advantage of the available equipment, as hunters are told to do, and killed the knight, as rather large expense to his physical health." Aria turned away, Aleeza following her lead. Aria looked at Aleeza, speaking loud enough for the whole room to hear, "That was a waste of time."
Aleeza laughed in response, "Yeah, get used to it."
Thanks for reading.
Really enjoyed writing this one.
What did you think? What do you think of the whole story so far. Please review if you have the time, critique/advice is appreciated.
Until next time.
