Chapter 4: The Prison of Elders
Prison of Elders, Reef
Firewing switched back to his Arctic Proxy armor shader before he got to the Reef. The Winter cloak had been left on just for provoking the Wolves. To know that a House that been brought under their control still lived would anger the Fallen to no end. The Hunter smirked at his plan as he was transmatted.
On his right was a Warlock, clad in Future War Cult's brilliant red and blue. She wielded Spare Change.25 with a solar fusion rifle on her back. A Titan was on Firewing's left, wearing The Crest of Alpha Lupi. He carried an auto rifle, but had his shotgun out. Matador 64. Their names were Amelia and Channel, respectively.
"Nice to have a Death member here," the Awoken woman spoke softly. She teased him. "Will it be theirs or yours, Hunter?"
"Theirs, obviously," Firewing retorted while pulling out Invective. He always used this in Darkness Zones. He looked over to the Titan. "Ready, Chan?"
The Exo scoffed. "That a joke or something?"
"Welcome, Guardians, to Prison of Elders. Fight! Win! Survive," Variks' voice boomed through the airlock.
Firewing looked at the four doors and randomly pointed at one. The shield propped next to it marked it as the Cabal. The door behind him opened to reveal a servitor. Dang it.
"Vex drones, unfeeling death. They will try to kill you. Kill them back."
The servitor disappeared, allowing the trio enter the Vex prison cell. The Darkness in this cell was weaker than it usually was, but not by a lot. Airborne was active as the door closed behind them.
Firewing turned left while Amelia and Channel took the center, the destroyed Time Gate towering above them. Round one began and ended several minutes later, a few seconds wasted to kill a hiding goblin. The second round was tougher as a couple Minotaurs teleported in, but it was nothing serious. The final round, however, saw multiple Axis minotaurs and Hobgoblins. Their precise shooting forced Firewing to stay behind cover, go invisible, knife the cyborgs, and repeat.
Channel pulverized the last hobgoblin while his compatriots dashed to the exit. "Enemies die. You live. Well done." Overall, the match went very well. Firewing got over half of the kills at 38 dead vex. No one got their heads shot off by the Axis hobgoblins, which they all knew was rare.
"Save some for the rest of us next time," Channel complained as they took a quick break. He was still trying to reset his sensors after getting punched by an enraged minotaur.
"Says the Titan," Amelia said. She watched the Titan do his best to blast the Vex to smithereens at point blank range. The problem for him was that Fire had been the same thing, except the Hunter was destroying them as soon as they exited the doors.
"Round Two. Hive spawn claw their way towards your light. Kill them dead, Guardian."
"Oh, come on!" The Death member had been pointing at the door leading to the Wolves. While moving to the Hive's cell, he spoke with an evil tone. "Time to teach these things how to stay dead."
"Amen to that," Amelia agreed.
The first round went by quickly. Firewing expertly cut down the thrall with his scout rifle while knifing those that made it through. When the wizard came out, Channel unleashed an ungodly roar and ended it with a very strong punch to the face. Amelia used a nova bomb to wipe out a congregating group of acolytes.
"Destroy mines, or die. Your choice." Varik's voice carried through the cell as the first mine appeared. Right in front of an ogre.
"Crap" was all the Hunter said when Channel dropped a Fist of Havoc on the mine. The mine was destroyed, but the ogre survived and retaliated with its eye beam. Chan ran for cover as Firewing put a quarter of his magazine into the attacker, ending it. He quickly switched to Invective and smacked a knight coming up behind him with the barrel. The knight stumbled as the barrel was brought around to point at its face. "Adios, sucker." The knight quickly burned to ashes and vanished.
Despite Channel getting killed from a wizard's arc blasts, the rest of the fight was a win. Amelia almost made it through without dying until a cursed thrall crept up behind her. On instinct, Firewing shot the Hive. The resulting explosion threw the Warlock's body into a rock face. In the airlock, he was met with a backhand and a glare from Amelia.
This time, the Hunter got it right. "Been waiting for this since I got back from Venus."
"Why?" Channel asked.
"Promised a friend I'd tell them he said hello." Firewing pointed at his cloak for the obvious hint.
Amelia and Channel looked at the cloak, then at each other. In perfect unison, Firewing's statement was responded with "Figures."
Seconds after they entered the massive room, Fire pulled out Sundial. When the first Wolf Eliksni entered, he shouted, "Kanisk says hello, Wolf dogs." After Sundial translated it, everyone turned their heads to look at him.
Three seconds passed, then Sundial proudly stated, "They're all yours," before disappearing.
Firewing watched as the Eliksni were starting to ignore Amelia and Channel and instead focusing on him. "Crap." The Fallen screeched and began to chase the insulting Hunter around the area.
The other Guardians viewed the spectacle with unbelieving faces. Channel spoke first. "Did that just happen?"
"Yep." Amelia's voice had the same tone of shock.
"Should we help him?"
"No." Channel turned to face Amelia after she said her words. A vengeful grin appeared under her helmet. "I'll consider this my revenge. Come on." She then jumped up onto a post and sat down. Channel followed and sat on the opposite pillar. They watched as their comrade ran from the Fallen horde, occasionally stopping to take out a few chasers.
"You guys gonna help?" He called out between breathes.
"Nope," Amelia responded sternly.
"Chan?"
"Not my problem."
It took seven minutes before the first round was complete. Amelia stood up and stretched while Channel laid back and turned off his optics. Firewing just pressed his palms against the wreckage of a plane and tried to slow his breathing down.
"Fallen reinforcements incoming. Mines must be dismantled. Or death." Variks' voice could not come at a more inopportune moment for the cyborg Hunter; he had just got his heartbeat down. Even worse, Sundial came out and, having recorded the words his Guardian shouted earlier, screeched the insult.
Sundial, I am so going to kill you. Fire let out a whimper as he once again led the Wolves in a series of laps. Amelia laughed at his expense and immediately went to disabling the mines. Channel turned himself off and did nothing to help.
After the last mine of the round was gone, Amelia went back to her original spot and took a short nap. Variks' annoucement woke her up as Channel raised his head. Over Sundial's screech, she told the Titan it was his turn to take of the mines.
"Fine," Channel said, followed by a sigh.
Amelia turned her head to see Firewing undergoing his ordeal for what he hoped would be his last time. She drifted back to sleep as Channel started to disable the first mine.
_
When she awoke, they were all in the airlock. Channel was leaning against the Cabal door, laughing at their Hunter friend. Fire was sitting down, head and arms propped against his knees. She could hear a muffled "I will never insult another Eliksni as long as I live" from under his helmet. "Oh, shut up" followed two seconds afterwards. She had no choice but to join her Exo companion in his ridiculing.
Firewing got up onto his feet before the Cabal door opened, dropping Channel into the servitor. The Fallen tech didn't even move.
"Warbeasts of the Cabal rise to the Challenge. Fight! Win! Live." The Hunter groaned as Lightswitch appeared in his HUD for a second. Last one was Trickle, and he did not need that in the previous round. The one before that was Specialist. Why did the Cabal get such an advantage?
Amelia smirked as they entered the Broken Legion's cell. "What, no insults or name calling this time?"
A tired "Shut up" was his response as she laughed. The Death Hunter just set up in front of one of the doors with Invective. The match ended not as quickly for Firewing or Amelia as it did for Channel. The Titan ended up getting smacked upwards by a phalanx and into the ceiling. His corpse stuck up there for a second before coming back down. Taking positions for the second round after she forced Fire to revive Channel, Amelia waited with her Gjallarhorn for the targeted Centurion.
The Cabal commander didn't last a full second when he entered the cell. Immediately incinerated by the rocket, the wolfpack rounds hunted down the others. Channel got hit again, this time cracking the Harvester's hull.
The third and final match was exactly the same, with the exception of Fire getting turned into a squashed sandwich. When he was revived, he muttered something unintelligible as he stomped to the airlock.
"Final round." The Vex door opened. At least it's not the Fallen, the Hunter thought. When the fight began, he took his self-chosen role of keeping the drones off his companions. The Overmind Minotaur was quickly defeated, surprisingly, but not after each Guardian lost his or her life once. Amelia and Channel got hit in the face by the giant's torch blasts, while Firewing was shot down by an Axis hobgoblin.
After returning to the airlock, the hunter retuned his light energy to Gunslinger. Variks called out. "House Judgement honors you, champions. You have won." The airlock's floor opened up. "Treasure waits below, Guardians."
They made their way to the Crystal Barrows, waiting for Channel to come down. Firewing gave way for Amelia as she approached the Queen's chest. "Ladies first."
Amelia looked at him before opening the Chest with her key. Her rewards were a key to replace the used one, Her Mercy, and an exotic engram. The last one shocked everybody.
Firewing went next. He got multiple strange coins and motes of light with... He fell to the floor as he lost his balance. The hunter got back up and pulled out Icebreaker. His laughs came out in breaths as he held the sniper rifle close to his body. "I've been looking for this weapon for at least three months."
Channel nudged past the breath-taken cyborg and put in his treasure key. The Titan smiled with joy at his companions before turning back to the chest. The glimmer transformed itself into several strange coins and a teddy bear. Channel rebooted his optics to make sure what he saw was real. The teddy bear rose out of the chest as a little girl's laugh emenated from somewhere before both vanished.
"What. The. ..." The Titan was speechless. Amelia and Firewing broke out into uncontainable laughter as their ghosts returned them to their ships.
"You totally deserved that nonsense," Firewing managed to get out before laughing again.
"Just shut up." The response was overflowing with exasperation when they set course for the Vestian Outpost.
_
Vestian Outpost, Reef
When the group arrived, Guardians were everywhere. It became obvious the large majority of them had spectated the whole run. Lucks came walking out of a laughing group. "Hahaha, nice run, brother. Literally."
Firewing approached the Titan in turn. Lucks expertly dodged the punch the Hunter threw at him, but got caught in a hug. Firewing spoke as he patted his friend on the back. "It was worth it. Sun." Icebreaker appeared in Firewing's hands as some of the crowd whistled in surprise.
"I'd say it was."
Fire let go and turned to Amelia and Channel. "It was a pleasure to fight with you two," He spoke as they shook hands.
"Fight? No, that was me carrying you," Channel quiped before taking an elbow from Amelia.
"More like him carrying you," She retorted at the Titan. The Awoken looked at the cyborg Hunter. "Thank you." Amelia then turned to go to the Outpost's Cryptarch. "By the way, we're even now."
Firewing called out after her. "No, we're not. You owe me at least one."
"Match for a match, Hunter," Amelia said, walking away.
"She got you there, Red Lightning," A Guardian said before returning to orbit. The crowd dispersed within the minute.
"I saved the footage you asked for, Lucks," Marcus broke the silence as he came out of the Titan.
"Footage?" The Death Hunter asked.
"Yeah. Your run in the Prison and of what just happened," Lucks chuckled before transmatting to his ship.
"You little..." Firewing growled before returning to Ceres Galliot.
(AN)- Hoped you liked this chapter. If you have been noticing, I try to put in references to other entertainment. Some may obscure, but most are out there. To extend the disclaimer, I do not own any of the things the references come from. I only own the OCs unless otherwise stated.
And yes, Airborne is just there. I haven't done PoE in a while.