CH. 8- Time for some news
A/N: It's been a while since the last update! I know! But I hope this was worth the wait, please be gentle with the reviews. As always, I do not own Destiny, it is the property of Activision and Bungie.
Snow was drifting lazily through the broken space that was the window of the building Archivia had deemed would be their base of operations. The data cache sat up there with them near the innermost wall.
The way it sat there humming quietly, just made Raz want to kick it through the next wall.
"Calm down Raz, if you don't check your anger you will shock Jo." Archivia informed the Titan idly as she studied the information her Ghost was pulling from the cache.
"Huh?" The sudden break in his concentration made him realize that small arcs of electricity were jumping from his hands and around his arms all the way up to his head. "How am I even doing this?" He asked as he shifted in his armor, trying to find a more comfortable position on the ruined floor. This was harder to achieve as Jo's sleeping form was leaning on one side, and her armor didn't make her light in the slightest.
"A study I have seen other Warlocks approach is the different powers we Guardians possess and what fuels them." She paused as she caught herself. "Well, aside from the Light of the Traveler that gave us these gifts." She strode away from the Fallen tech and sat in front of the pair.
"They say that certain aspects are affected by one's mentality or their emotional disposition. For example you, a Striker class Titan. You're power grows as you become more frustrated or angry. Driving your explosive potential through anything unfortunately caught in your path." Raz nodded at her logic and she pointed at Jo. "She on the other hand is a Defender Titan. She is more patient-Don't give me that look! I can feel it through your helmet." Archivia pointed at Raz's armored head and he raised his free arm in defense. "As I was saying, as hard is it to believe that she is patient, she has a very balanced head when it comes to combat. She also possesses a very strong desire to protect those who are close to her."
"Well that makes sense, I guess." He commented as he let his helmet dematerialize. He could now feel the cold air on his skin and it felt good. "But just because she is overprotective doesn't mean she has to be too close." He joked as he adjusted the small Awoken woman again, she mumbled in protest as she continued to sleep.
"Well, can't help the fact that she likes you. So you are stuck with her, just accept it." She nodded as Raz gave her a confused raise of the eyebrow. "She only works with those she likes and those people include me, Sage-22, whom you punched on your revival and the last one is Entity. He was the other Exo that was with Jo when you came back to the land of the living."
"Sometimes," Raz began as he thought hard. "I wish I had stayed dead. Too many damn nightmares of my past life and what I know are something that doesn't matter anymore." He shook his head as he quelled the memories that tried to flood his vision. Archivia's brows knitted together in response to his musings.
"You dream of your daughters again?" She let some concern enter her voice as she took off her helmet, now letting Raz see her face.
"No, I didn't." Archivia didn't look to believe his answer and she sighed before breaking eye contact.
"You know, Jo's offer still stands, we can-"
"Don't, I- just don't, please?" The pain was evident in his voice as he looked at her. A small jump in Arc energy nearly hit Archivia as his arm slowly moved to his waist.
"I'm sorry Raz, I'll leave you be." Archivia apologized and left without another word. Trying to ignore the bursts of electrical energy that were now dancing across the man's armor and dissipating into the knife he held tightly in his free hand. She smiled however as she spotted Jo's smaller hand curl around the larger man's and he closed his gently around hers. They still had time, she'd let them have their happiness for now.
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"So you are the rumored Watcher, aren't you?" The voice of Snow was subdued and slightly anxious as he looked at the Vandal that had his arms folded in front of his body. He looked almost bored to tears.
"Do many speak of me? But I have heard that name from a few, and have taken it upon myself." His head cocked to one side as he watched what the Warlock was doing closely. Which at this point baffled him; it was a series of rapid movements on a holographic interface and what looked like an analog system. Nothing should have been working together as well as it was for this Warlock.
"There are Guardians who speak of you. The Vandal who watches and waits in the shadows." Snow slowed down his typing to look closer at a display at his right side. Satisfied that it was what he was aiming for he sped back up on the analysis of the sphere. "There are rumors that you are on our side; I'm inclined to say you are generously neutral in this struggle."
The Vandal nodded his head as he pushed himself off of a bulkhead and moved silently towards the sphere to look at it again. His four eyes began to squint as he looked over the smooth surface and the band that crossed the middle. The data was being transmitted through the small IR node on the band; this would be quick, only if they could make sense of what they were pulling from the sphere. They were missing the key, and the Warlock had stated that he had a friend looking for it right now. Watcher was being skeptical.
"Well we have some data. But it isn't complete, and some of it is coded." Snow said suddenly. "My associates will have the rest of it ready for us soon enough." Snow was looking at the data in front of him intently. "There are a few glyphs I don't recognize, can you take a look at this?"
Watcher nodded as he walked around the jumble of equipment to join Snow at the work station. He lowered his body slightly to get a better view and his breath caught. This was it, well, almost. It was obviously missing a few key parts.
"The Reef. They are hiding somewhere in the Reef."
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It had been almost a week since the incident on Venus had passed; the Guardians of the Tower grew more and more frustrated as they were confined to the Tower and the Vanguard had yet to emerge from their council. It was starting to unnerve several Guardians, and the fact that there was a veritable wall of Titans between the crowd and the door made tensions almost physical. The Vanguard was up to something important, but was keeping it from those who followed them.
"What is the Vanguard hiding from us? We deserve to know what we are going to do!" A voice called out over the other cries and obscenities from the others around him. "We should just bust down this door and demand answers!" Multiple Guardians nodded and shouted in agreement with this action.
"Wait!" A Hunter stepped forward from the Titan wall and nodded to one before taking a few more steps into the open. "The Vanguard is trying to solve the problem with the aid of the Speaker in cooperating with the Reef for minimal damage-"
"Why the fuck are we cooperating with them? We should give them payback for what they did on Venus!" A large Warlock interrupted the Hunter and riled up the crowd a little more.
"Yeah! Those fucking cowards abandoned us when the Darkness came! Why should we play nice with them?" Another voice called out. Several other voices joined in about getting back at the Awoken.
The Hunter raised his hands slightly to try and calm down the ever escalating agitation within the crowd. He was growing worried and took a hesitant step back. He even let a few traitorous thoughts slip through his mind. What was taking the Vanguard so long to decide on an action? Didn't they know how bad this was getting? The Reef embassy wasn't getting this much trouble, why was he assigned to this post?
"Get back!"
"Back the fuck up!"
"We will be forced to subdue you!"
He was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't notice the crowd moving closer along with the apparent leader of the mob, the Warlock. Several Titans moved past him and towards the Warlock and the gathering Guardians behind him, who along with the crowd was moving closer to them. He was shocked to see that the Titans had already raised their rifles in an aggressive position but not at the people directly. Things were getting out of hand far too quickly.
The whole situation deteriorated suddenly as the Warlock reached the Titan line and violently exploded.
"I said stay ba-!" The Titan nearest to the Warlock had been cut off in mid shout as he was caught in the heart of the fireball and was vaporized in an instant while the few that were near him were blown to pieces by the immediate shockwave.
There was a long moment of silence that seemed to drag on for hours as everyone was trying to process what had just happened.
The silence didn't last all that long, only for a few heartbeats.
Chaos ensued as the shell shocked Titans raised their rifles and opened fire. The first ranks of the Guardian mob didn't stand a chance at the Vanguard's elite cadre of Titan guards. They were torn apart and their Ghosts popped into existence and tried to stay low to avoid any stray gunfire. But the one sided battle didn't last long as the mob turned into a full blown riot and several Golden Gun shots went off and turned several Titans into dust.
"Fuck! Take cover!"
"Get us some damn support! Call in the Platforms!"
"Get the Vanguard out of there!"
The many Guardians who had come were still fully armed and ready to leave the Tower, and the fight quickly was turning on the Titans. Even with their position and gear. There was only so much they could do to suppress the angered Warriors of the Light.
"Why the fuck you still standing there?!" A Titan yelled at the Hunter who was assigned as their watch captain. "We need help!" A round bounced off the Titan's heavy shoulder plate and forced him to hunch his shoulders slightly so not to take any unnecessary wounds.
The scrambled and panicking yells of the Titans made the whole situation more surreal as the Hunter silently stood there, watching it all unfold before. He tried to convince himself that this wasn't happening, even shutting out the Titan in front of him. He kept telling himself in the brief time this firefight had started that he would wake back up to stand guard the next day. But a flash of light and a brief flare of pain brought his hopes to an end as another bomb went off when a Hunter dropped at his feet.
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"What is going on out there?" Ikora Rey called to one of the Warlocks stationed in the room. The response of the woman was a shrug before she went to check on the door.
The thick doors did well in muffling the sound of the gunfire and explosions, reducing them to mere thumps and cracks. All of that changed as the Warlock opened one of the sides of the door. The full on noise of battle reached the Vanguard's ears and even the stoic Commander Zavala looked worried.
"Your Hunter has failed us, Cayde. It has turned far worse than predicted." The glare Cayde received from the Titan commander was scalding to say the least. "We need to regain order and fix this problem first!"
"You don't think I am aware of this?! I had all of the spare Hunters for our security over by the Reef embassy! Those guys aren't being touched and I'm going to have to send them here to handle what your Titans obviously can't!" Cayde shouted back as the Warlock returned with a group of wounded Titans. Several of the Guardians posted inside the room slipped out to provide support.
"Get a hold of your Hunter, Cayde. I will assist in pacifying the Guardians." Ikora stated as she pulled out her shotgun, the Invective.
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"The Hall of Heroes is under fire, unless you can give us any solid leads you need to report back to provide support." Cayde-6's voice cut in on Travis' earpiece as he tried to move as silently as possible in the rubble of a building.
"Things escalated quickly, haven't they, sir?" Travis chuckled darkly as he pulled himself over what looked like collapsed stanchion. "But I eliminated several teams due to time constraints, and am closing in on one of the full teams that are jammed to us. I'm closing in on them now."
"You think this is funny?" Cayde's voice sounded upset on many levels. "But- Just hurry up! Get this under wraps and we can figure out what to do next." The Vanguard's voice left his ear and the buzz of the open link died as well. Cayde was busy, and it was getting worse.
Travis finally ascended to the next floor through one of the many holes and could now hear voices. He edged around a corner and drew his weapon of choice. Thorn. He wasn't sure if the Vanguard would allow him to use such a weapon on other Guardians, but they said at any cost. So he took that as permission to use the Darkness infused weapon. He checked the loader on his handgun to make sure it was loaded, didn't want to get shot realizing he hadn't reloaded it since his last firefight.
Satisfied with the contents of his gun, he kept getting closer to the voices he was following. It was two of them, a man and a Ghost. Recalling the fire team roster, it would be the Titan, Raz. The notes said he was not the greatest at CQB, but could pack one hell of a punch as well as being rather reckless. That could be a problem if he wasn't taken out quickly.
"I'm telling you, Guardian, the jamming signal is nearby. I just haven't found it yet."
"How have you not found it yet? We've been here for almost a week!" That one was obviously Raz, he was close, and loud.
"It's not as easy as you think it is. The signal is bouncing off many different relays in the area."
"I know that! Just, follow the signal in one flow and you will eventually get to the source. It gets weaker after every bounce." This man actually sounded more… intelligent than most Titans he had ever met. "But whatever just make sure they don't come over here ok? I gotta pee."
"Don't worry, my scanners still work." The Ghost, Twinkles, replied dryly.
Travis took this opportunity to silently enter the room and he was what looked like a bombed out office. The room was large and had a massive chunk missing, and his target was peeing off the side. While singing 'I'm a little teapot', this made Travis shudder as he opted to draw his knife. Silence was a better weapon than gunshots.
"-here me shout. Tip me over and- Auuggghh! God! OW! FUCK!" Raz yelled out in pain as he felt a blade pierce right in the gap between his armor plates of his body armor near his armpit. "Shit! I just pissed myself!" Raz yelled as he tried to stop peeing, put himself away, and kick the offending Hunter off of him.
Travis backed away from the flailing Titan and cursed his luck; he had overestimated where to stick the blade to incapacitate the other Guardian. Raz was extremely tall, and like most Titans he was covered in armor and muscle. The stab apparently hurt like a bitch, but would not stop the walking tank completely.
"Jesus that hurt." Raz turned around to face his attacker, and got a good look at the Hunter. "What the Hell man? We aren't in the Crucible, no suppressors here to keep us from dying!" He yelled as the Hunter adopted a ready stance. "Ah Hell, here we go." Raz cracked his neck as he dropped into a fighting stance and without another thought charged at the Hunter.
Travis ducked under the first strike and tried to lodge his blade into an opening in the Titan's armor. The blade clinked against the heavy plating and he was forced to dance away as Raz swept his arm back trying to catch him with a massive backhand.
Rethinking his tactics Travis reached down and grabbed a throwing knife before hurling it as fast and hard as he could at the behemoth. The Titan who had already been bearing down at him in a sprint let some of his Arc power flow out of him and a translucent shield slowed down the blade before it impacted his shoulder and staggering the Titan slightly.
Raz let out a battle cry as he swung his right fist towards the Hunter who nimbly jumped out of the way and slashed his blade at the extended arm. The blade didn't go deep, but it cut Raz at the elbow causing a hiss of pain as he retracted his arm and kicked suddenly. Travis was unprepared for the boot, but he felt that he took it relatively well. He didn't feel any bones break and he was only sent a few feet away from his target.
"It's a shallow strike, shall I call for assistance?" Twinkles asked within the safety of Raz's helmet. His only response was a quick shake of his head. "I see, well if you haven't noticed he is much faster than you. So plan accordingly."
"Stupid machine, I should let Jo have at you when I'm done here." Raz grumbled as he squared back up with Travis. "Alright Hunter, we going to keep fighting? Or are you going to tell me what you are doing?" His only response was another knife being thrown at him that he barely dodged in time.
Raz had dodged the knife with a spin and in that motion reached for his side arm. The weighty hand cannon he drew quickly and Raz set the hammer and squeezed the trigger in one fluid motion and followed it up with several other shots.
Travis let his shields take the first bullet and he dove for cover behind a ruined desk as he reached for Thorn. The gunshots were incredibly loud, he would have to deal with the Titan very quickly, and his fire team definitely would have heard that. Taking a moment he heard the sound of the loader being swapped out and he stood out of cover to shoot the exposed Titan. What he didn't expect was that Raz had been charging and Travis panicked.
The first two shots went wild and the third struck the charging Guardian in the chest. The effects of the hand cannon were immediate, but not enough to stop him. Before Travis could fire he could hear what he could only call a sonic boom and tried to dive to the side but was clipped. The Arc infused charge sent him reeling and into the wall coughing and sputtering. He was also certain his shoulder had been dislocated, he was lucky he was only clipped.
Picking himself back up Travis didn't see Raz, did he run? That was when he saw the new hole in the wall, and Raz's hand holding on to the edge. He wasn't sure what to make of this, but he had to be careful.
"Son of a bitch… Shit." Raz grumbled as he tried to reach back up with his other arm, and spotted the Hunter standing above him. Raz looked between the Hunter and what looked like a stairwell beneath him, and cursed. "Don't you fucking dare!"
Travis stomped on Raz's hands forcing the Titan to drop fifteen feet before he hit the first step and started to crash and roll his way down.
"Fuck! Ow! Shit! Son of a- shit!"
Travis watched as the Titan disappeared from view and straightened his cloak. He'll find the Titan later, but first he needed to secure the other two. He paused before looking at the ground by the edge where the Titan had fallen. The hand cannon of the man lay there and it was definitely built for a Titan. He picked it up before sliding it behind his belt across his back. He could use it later before he had to turn it in for evidence.
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"- are you? Do you copy Raz?" The voice paused as there was the sporadic sound of gunfire and cursing in the background. "Raz! We need to get out of here! If you can hear me get to your ship and go to the coordinates I'm sending you!"
Raz groaned as he sat up slowly, and looked up the dark shaft he had fallen down. He grunted in even more pain as he pulled himself up to one knee to assess the damage he had taken. His armor was a bit cracked and it looked like the yellow and green paint of his armor was getting scraped off pretty well, he'd need a new coat of both. But overall his health was fine; his body had healed while he was unconscious.
"If you copy me Raz, go to those coordinates! Jo and I are extracting the last bit of data we need and then we will join you!" Right, that was Archivia, and Jo was in the background, laughing. Her laughter was also accompanied by the sound of heavy machine gun fire, seems like the little Awoken had taken the chance to try out her new weapon. Good for her.
"This is Raz, I copy the order. Ow. I'm going." Raz held out Twinkles before he felt himself be pulled apart and into his ship. He didn't land gracefully in the cargo hold, but like his first entry in his new life, he crashed into the deck plating. "Ow, again." He held out his hand while lying on the floor. "Twinkles, autopilot this thing, I'm tired."
Raz's head thumped against the plate and he groaned as he began to doze off again.
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Travis dived from cover to cover as he tried to avoid the enormous amount of gunfire heading in his general direction. This awoken, Jo, had burned through at least three boxes of ammo while switching before cursing and laughing like a giddy child. He risked poking his head out again to see if she was reloading or not just to duck back in as the gunfire resumed.
"Jesus, she must have synthesized more ammo. There has to be some way." He looked behind him and crawled along his half wall to keep himself out of sight as he relocated. Pulling out his handgun as he reached the end he pulled himself around the corner and fired semi blindly at his target.
"Damnit! Fuck that shit burns!"
He grinned as he was rewarded with a few solid hits and the ceasefire of the tiny woman. Quickly reloading he stood up and fired a few more rounds haphazardly.
"C'mon Jo! We got the data and Raz is gone! We gotta go now!" The Warlock grabbed the smaller Titan by the shoulder pad before she transmatted herself out and into her jumpship above.
"What? No! Damnit!" Travis cursed as he fired again but watched as the bullet sailed through where Jo had been. "All that work." He muttered as he lowered Thorn.
It wasn't a complete loss, however, he could still look at this Fallen tech. Whatever they were after was on here and he could use it. He did, however give it a swift kick for good measure to vent his frustration and that was when he noticed it. One single word had been scrawled on the side of the Fallen equipment that held a large amount of significance, and led him into a bit of confusion. Why would they write this? Weren't they going rogue? It didn't matter; he would report it and hopefully gather a team to capture this rogue team.
He was going for the Reef.
P/N: I hope you enjoyed and thanks to RC, Reilly, and Lazypersons for loaning me your OC's! This story wouldn't have gotten this far without it. Also, thanks again to Reilly and RC for their encouragement and support for me to get this done. I hope I can wrap this up on a regular basis, cause we are getting to the finish here! Remember people! Keep on keepin' on!