Chapter 9: Snowing Secrets
The Grottos, Cosmodrome
The Wolves fell quickly. Their leader's cloaking field did nothing to help. A new team took their place; a captain, two vandals, and four dregs.
All bearing Winter's symbol.
They stood in front of the secondary entrance to RAS-2, Rasputin's bunker. The captain and vandals took first watch while the dregs did their best to open the door. The leader kept his eyes on the clifftop above them.
It opened an hour later and they were in. Cautiously, the team moved through the complex. The Eliksni entered a intersection. The forward vandal and two dregs took defensive positions while the others went right.
The captain was the first to see it. "Rasputin," he breathed. Through the viewport and past the AI's core were a pair of consoles. He turned to the dregs. "Get started. We'll hold here."
"Right," Deskis replied, "Come on, Yaelik." The pair ran to the equipment and began downloading information.
Skanas walked out to Kanisk's team. "Might as well come in here, you three."
"Go ahead," the sniper told his colleagues. "I'll keep lookout." The others dashed inside the computer room.
"You sure you want to stay out here?" Skanas asked.
"Best eyes on the team. Fallback route," he pointed towards Rasputin, "quick shot. I'm good where I am."
The captain holstered his shrapnel launcher and sat down on a crate. "Now we're doubly so," he said. The two friends laughed.
They looked back at their team. Mortix was part of Skanas' original team, as were Deskis and Yaelik. Kodos and Koros were twins, their only difference being Koros' white eyes. They were assigned to Kanisk, who fortunately had no trouble with new recruits.
Skanas had been in the Winter's Guard for years. The group's single role was to protect archives and any other information hub. Another objective that had merged with protection was gathering said data.
And that was what Deskis and Yaelik were doing now. The only problem was Rasputin. The duo needed to keep their distance from it or else they'd be...
The lights turned off, then flckered back on. Music drifted out of the speakers.
...caught.
"Really, Deskis?!" Yaelik shouted.
The other dreg growled. "It's not my fault."
"Enough!" Mortix roared before any punches could be thrown. "What's done is done."
"What happened?" Kanisk asked.
Kodos spoke up, "One of us accidently got too close to the AI."
Koros followed, "And it most likely contacted the Guardians for assistance."
Mortix looked at Skanas and was soon followed by everyone else. "Orders, sir?"
Skanas took a deep breath and glanced around the room. Move back to the skiff or stay here? If we stay, we'd probably get shot on sight... "How good are you six at their language?"
"Hmm..." Kanisk said. "I'd say Mortix. Unless one of you focused a lot on languages?"
"I'm pretty bad, so don't expect miracles," the other vandal stated.
"Alright. Kanisk, keep an eye on the corridors. If you see anything, get back in here." Skanas spoke in his "captain" tone.
"On it."
"Mortix, if it is Guardians, I want you with me when we talk. The rest of you will take supporting positions around the doors."
It was ten minutes since the accident and they finally came. Guardians. There were two of them, a Titan and a Hunter. Green-and-white and mottled brown, respectively. Kanisk ran back to Skanas and Mortix.
"Definitely ain't Hive," the Titan said. Lucas-3 was a Defender who happened to be on patrol when the Vanguard contacted him. Unfortunately, he came across Ryyk on his way to the bunker. "Otherwise, we would've killed a bunch of thralls by now."
"Thralls, acolytes, heck, I'd even take on Crota if he was here." Ryyk retorted. So far, this was a bogus mission. His radar suddenly went red in a sector. "Got something."
They got to the intersection and checked their scanners. "They're already with Rasputin," Lucas whispered.
Ryyk flashed his knife. "Party time, then." He rolled out from a crate to aim at a... Fallen Captain. A Fallen Winter Captain that had his shrapnel launcher holstered. He was flanked by two vandals, weapons sheathed.
Lucas strolled out and his optics widened. "What is Winter doing here?" He brought his pulse rifle up, out of reflex, when the captain and one of the vandals walked towards him nonthreateningly. The Titan slowly lowered his weapon in response and approached in turn.
The captain said something in his language, which the vandal seemingly repeated. "I am Skanas, Guard Winter," he spoke in rough English, waving a hand to his superior. "Mortixsss."
"I'm Lucas and this is Ryyk."
"Plea- good to meet you. We sssset off alarm."
"Alright then, but why are you still here?" Ryyk blantantly inquired. He wanted to kill something right now.
"To... point. Collecting data, sssometime now. Revealed ssssooner or later."
The Titan interrupted. "Wait a sec. How long have you been doing this?"
"Sssince Wolves broke free. Had help from Light."
Ryyk was shocked. "What? Everyone's got a shoot-to-kill order."
"Ha. And what are we doing right now, Ryyk?" Lucas laughed. The Hunter didn't reply. "Exactly."
Mortix huffed impatiently. "We go to Death'sss home. You watch usss go."
Ryyk was shocked. "How do you know about Fireteam Death?"
"They've helped usss eight cyclesss ago. Helped defend from Wolvesss."
The Hunter looked to Lucas for input. His companion merely shrugged.
"We go to Death'sss home now. You escort uss."
Lucas walked up to Skanas, the vandal opposite Mortix eyeing him on every step. "Okay, then. I think it's best if your skiff wasn't cloaked when we come in." He held out a hand. "Deal?" The captain shook it.
Mortix chuckled. "Was in plan. Deal."
The four ships barely made it to the hangar. All of them, except one, looked as though they had just been through hell. Truth is, they had. The pilot of the least damaged craft made sure the others landed first. When the elevator came up again, Hurricane landed and then transmatted to the courtyard.
The Dragons had a look of fear in their faces. Even Dmitri was shaking. Their Hunter laughed at their expense. "Come on, guys. Best to get this over and done with."
"Fireteam Dragon, please report to the hangar bay."
"And thus ends the existence of one of the Vanguard's best fireteams." 20 spoke in a solemn voice as he led the way to their doom.
They got a look at the damage to their ships. To put it bluntly, three vehicles would not be leaving the room in the near future. The fourth visibly needed repairs to an engine and a fresh coat of paint.
"Someone shoot me now." Krayt pleaded.
"You just got your wish, friend." Dmitri returned. He pushed the dark green Titan to the front of the group. They climbed up the stairs to view a very PO'd Amanda Holliday.
"Before I die, I just want to say it's Dmitri's fault." Krayt's excuse had no confidence in it whatsoever.
"Enough," Holliday said, getting straight to the point. "You know how much these things are worth right now?"
"Glimmer and/or sentimental value?" 20 asked before getting a smack from Dmitri.
The shipwright's sole response was circling her thumb and index finger. 0.
Hurricane made his way over to Holliday's side. "I warned you guys about flying over that AA emplacement."
Dmitri retorted, "It was just one turret. No harm, no foul." He stumbled back from a hard punch to the face. Man, she can hit hard.
"You didn't come out unscathed either, 'Cane." Krayt said.
"Oh, I know." Holliday gave an evil glare to the Hunter beside her. "Both intake vents clogged with heavy debris and a destroyed engine to boot." As she said "boot," she kicked Hurricane in the leg. Hard. Before he could grab his leg, her elbow connected with his face.
20 spoke up. "So what are we going to do now?"
"You're stuck with either another ship you have in your vault or buying a new one from me." Holliday pointed a thumb at herself.
"Seems I'm the only prepared one in this situation." Hurricane now had a missing tooth in his smile.
Dmitri ignored the comment. "So how much do we have to pay for a new ship?"
"Three times the normal cost." The shipwright deadpanned.
"22500 glimmer?!" Krayt shouted.
"25000 now." Her voice was laced with evil.
"Suckers." The Hunter breathed.
Death was in the courtyard, waiting for... something. Firewing was leaning against the railing, his head in his hands. Triton was focusing on Bad Juju and Lucks sat on the stairs, his helmet singing "Heartaches by the Number." Nobody went near them, which was good for the team. They knew what they were in for.
They had been caught.
Rasputin warned the Tower of an intruder in his bunker, and Ryyk had been sent to investigate. But the AI also gave word of when Death had apparently set off Charlemagne. The end result would be their questioning.
"You know we have to tell them about Winter." Firewing said.
The Warlock's reply was a simple "I know."
"What do you think will happen with us?"
"Best or worst case scenario?"
"Worst, please." Lucks requested.
"Exiled."
"Hmm. Doesn't sound too bad. Besides, we also have the Vestian Outpost."
Firewing perked up at the sound of several ships coming in. He saw Outrageous Fortune with a brown stripe adorning its fins. "There's Ryyk."
Another craft was behind it. A Fallen Skiff. The other Guardians on the tower saw it too and immediately raised their weapons. It positioned itself over the grass, then lowered its pylons. No one noticed it was Winter until a captain and accompanying team dropped.
Right in front of Triton, Firewing, and Lucks.
Triton stuck his hand out as Keith appeared. "Welcome to the Tower, Skanas. Good to see you again."
The Captain put his out and completed the handshake. "Same."
All the Guardians couldn't believe their eyes and optics. Triton had greeted the Fallen as if it was an old friend. Some looked at each other with a "what just happened?" face.
"How you doing, Kanisk?" Firewing asked as Sundial translated.
"Well. Did you keep your promise?"
"I did and paid for it."
Lucks laughed as he hooked an arm on Fire's shoulder. "You should've seen it. Sundial repeated the insult twice, so he was running for the entire round."
Kanisk smiled underneath his mask. "You will have to show it to me sometime later. I need to make sure our new recruits don't do something we'll regret." The sniper gestured to a pair of dregs, one with pure white eyes instead of ice blue.
Ryyk finally showed up with a Titan behind him. "Alright, guys. Time to get to the Speaker." Although he was still suspicious, he motioned for the group to follow him.
"Now is the best time for our own questioning." Triton whispered to his brothers. They nodded in confirmation and followed the Eliksni.
The Speaker took Zavala's place at the head of the table. The entire Vanguard and the various faction leaders were present. They were originally here to discuss Fireteam Death's fate. Now they had another to debate over.
Ryyk entered the large room first. "I present to you Skanas, Winter Guard." He backed to the side to fully reveal the Fallen team. A captain with a vandal and four dregs behind him. A second vandal had the rear.
Death followed the Eliksni closely. They all knew whatever action they took would determine their future. Triton made his way to the front to stand with Skanas, Keith hidden from the Vanguard. "My team stands with you." He whispered.
"Thank you." Skanas replied in the same voice.
The Speaker began before anyone else could. "Welcome. I believe introductions should be made." He gestured to each leader before him.
"Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard."
"Zavala, Titan Commander."
"Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard."
"Lakshmi-2 of the Future War Cult."
"Executor Hideo of New Monarchy."
"Arach Jalaal of Dead Orbit."
"And I am the Speaker, the voice of the Traveler."
Skanas nodded respectivefully to each of them. He stepped up with Keith beside him. "I am Skanas, Guard Winter."
Triton also came up. "Triton, Leader of Fireteam Death."
"We all know who you are, Triton." Ikora said, her voice a bit on edge. "Why are you here now? We'll-"
"My team is here is for the same reason Skanas is here." He looked at Skanas, who nodded.
Triton took a deep breath. Out of the Hellmouth and into Crota's Realm. "It's time to spill our secrets."
(AN) - Hi, guys. Hope you found this chapter humorous, especially with Dragon.
Holliday's always saying "If you crash this thing, I will find you." So I decided to make good on her promise.
I do not own "Heartaches by the Number"
Before I go, how would you feel about a possible HTTYD/Destiny crossover? I most likely wouldn't begin to work on it until I'm finished with "The Crimson Rider," but let me know what you think in your reviews.
Until next time, stay strong and OYA!