Step 10: Become Legend.
"Er, hi. Um, hi. Yeah... so, I'm Martin. I think you've heard of me by now. I think. you probably have by now, but it's alright if you haven't. L-look, I don't mean your weird or uneducated if you h-haven't heard of me by now, I-I-I'm just saying it's okay if you... uh... if... I can't do this!"- Martin Anton, Celebratory Dinner, not-quite-a-speach.
"Die, you stupid machine!" Uldren banged on the controls. It was like Silverhawk's Sparrow had a mind all its own! He'd driven it all the way up here, now he couldn't figure out how to turn the darn thing off!
With a frustrated growl, his fist found a red button on the dash. There was a strange, loud beep, and a mechanical hiss and whir. Something snapped out the side of the vehicle. What the?
His internal question was answered when a rocket shot out of the new extension, and shot right into the Gate. He jerked backwards, covering his face with his arm.
"What the Saturn!?" he exclaimed, panting, heart hammering in his chest. Hey! Wait a minute...
He hit the button again. Another extension, another missile. One more would to the Gate in... he hit the button again, but there was a defiant clicking noise, and a frustrated groan escaped him. He leaned out on both sides, looking at the launchers; they seemed fairly simple to load. Surely, Silverhawk carried extra rounds on this thing?
He checked the side pocket, and, sure enough, found four rockets. He loaded one, and hit the bottom again.
The explosive projectile impacted the Vex metal, and the Gate was ripped open with shrapnel flying in all directions. As the smoke cleared, a section of twisted, melted metal fell to the ground from the frayed edges of the hole he had made.
He scrunched up his eyes, dreading what he was about to do next. Uldren wasn't one for flashy entrances. He wasn't one to charge his enemies on a vehicle like Silverhawk. But those things might be useful right now. Well, maybe not the flashy entrance but wha-
Oh, to heck with it all! With a scream, he kicked the Sparrow into high gear, all the while screaming mentally about how much he hated these machines, and he went flying through the air as the vehicle ramped off of a frayed, ramp-like edge in the destroyed door.
Oh, space urchins, oh, space urchins! He thought as himself and the Sparrow fell to the ground and kept going, slamming right into a Goblin. The was a massive Minotuar in the center of it all, and he swerve in an arch around it. OH, SPACE URCHINS AND THRALL SPIT!
He was starting to regret this idea very, very much. He brought the vehicle around, driving behind the cover of ruined walls to avoid driving off the edge of the platform… and nearly ran over Silverhawk and Martin. THRALL SPIT!
He slammed the breaks, and Martin screamed girlishly as the Sparrow skid to a sideways halt, a hair away from touching the Warlock. Uldren glared at him as he continued to scream until Silverhawk gave him a light whack up the backside of the head.
"Ahh, you do care!" She cooed to the newly arrived Prince, pretending to be flattered.
"I didn't do this for you." He sneered. He'd hoped never to lay eyes on her again. She seemed not to have changed much; she was wearing the same kind of armor she'd been wearing for most of the quest for the cure, her fedora was still intact, though looking lightly singed, and despite the shadow-cast dim light of the area, she still wore her aviator sunglasses, behind which, he knew, sky-blue eyes burned just as bright as a pureblooded Awoken's would.
A shudder ran up his spine briefly as he remembered her deathtouch. Stay as far away from her as possible. Reason rang in his mind. Though hers were hidden behind black glass, their eyes locked as he dismounted the Sparrow.
"Once, Silverhawk." He told her. "I'll let you go.Once."
He'd sworn to kill her the next time he saw her. But that promise could not be met right now; he had higher priorities. As with all things, she didn't seem to care about this threat. Instead, she flicked her shoulder, as if to say she got the message, and cheerily skipped over to her Sparrow. He noticed her insane rocket launcher on the ground near where she'd been sitting.
"Okay, whatever! Blazing entrance by the way; almost looked like a real Hunter!" he sneered at her as she pushed past him to get at the side satchel on her Sparrow. "You know, for such a supposedly intelligent race, you'd think that that Vex super-Minotuar deathbot would've thought to go around the ruined wall by now, right?"
Uldren took the auto rifle off his back, ignoring her and shooting down a Hobgoblin that had rounded a corner, Silverhawk seemingly oblivious to this. Martin was still looking at Uldren with shock etched into his features, the Deathening gripped tightly in his hands.
"Y-you shouldn't be here! What about the Queen?" the Warlock stuttered. Uldren met his gaze with steady anger, remembering well enough the Warlock's attitude from earlier.
"There are two other Guardians, near where the entrance to the Garden comes out. She's with them." he explained before firing at another Vex, causing Martin to flinch.
""Well, that's good!" Silverhawk chirped from where she was loading the Sparky-Sparky Boom-Boom Stick. He looked back at the Sparrow, where she had been standing moments before. What the[redacted^^]? With a snap, she slapped the rocket launcher shut.
"Oi, Pippin; we gonna finish this party or what?" she addressed Martin, who looked up with a scowl, lifting the Deathening.
"Stop calling me that!" he protested angrily. Silverhawk grinned at him.
"Never gonna happen!" she assured him. Uldren reminded them they were in a middle of a battle by shooting another Vex. Martin and Silverhawk nodded at each other.
"Doom and boom." they agreed simultaniously. Oh, space urchins. Can I get back on the Sparrow, please?
He supposed he ought to lay down cover fire for them. Martin and Silverhawk rushed out of cover, and he shot at the smaller Vex while they took aim at the large Minotaur. The Sparky-Sparky Boom-Boom Stick's three barrels flipped out, electronics whirring.
"Doom-" Martin said.
"-and boom!" Silverhawk finished. She fired, and so did he. Uldren was momentarily destracted as the rockets hit and the bullets flew, striking the Minotaur square in the abdomen; a direct and successful hit.
This distraction was all the Vex needed. He barely managed to move in time to avoid a line rifle blast meant for his own abdomen. He grunted in pain as it grazed his side, burning through the wire woven fabric, dark red-purple welling up in the wound. Thrall spit and space urchins!
He turned and shot at the Vex, backing up behind cover until the shock of the wound wore off. Forget this! He threw the auto rifle to the ground, and drew his hand cannon; so much more familiar in his hands. The dust from the explosions cleared, the Minotaur collapsing in on itself. Uldren shot another Vex, trying to ignor the new, stinging pain in his side.
"Whoo! Geronimo!" Silverhawk cheered as it went down. Martin kept fireing at the Heart as it sent out a blast of strange energy to a statue on the far side of the area. As the bullets hit, an eerry wailing seemed to spread through the air, as if the blob of pure Darkness was in pain. He hoped it was.
Martin's bullets ran out, and both he and Silverhawk ran back for cover, Silverhawk looking stupidly elated, Martin looking terrified on a level that was unusual, even for him. His internal question as to why was anwered when the stone broke away from the statue and revealed itself to be another Minotaur, even bigger and badder than the last one.
"Oh ****." Was all that came out of his mouth.
"Yeah, they're pretty nasty." Silverhawk agreed, dangerously close to his shoulder. He leaned away from her.
"Do you mind?" he asked nastily.
"No." she deadpanned. A blast of void energy dangerously close to them, and he swore internally and shut his eyes as it singed his armor, bits of rock flying up and scraping his face.
"We either need to kill that thing, or kill the Heart, fast!" Martin yelled as they backed further behind cover. The Minotaur went around the wall.
"Oh, so now they're smart enough to go around the wall, are they!?" Silverhawk exclaimed. They all turned to go around in the opposite direction as the giant Minotaur, only to find a regular Minotaur taking aim at them.
Both Uldren and Silverhawk took aim at it over Martin's shoulders, and shot at it. Their bullets hit in the same place, resulting in a hole right through its chest, wires sparking. Silverhawk turned her head to grin at him broadly as it slowly fell over, dead.
"Great minds think alike, huh?" she commented, much to his distaste. A blast directly behind them sent them on their way, Martin screaming as they rounded the corner.
"You know, I think we should kill the Heart. I mean, if we all die cause of the Minotaur, at least we'll have done what we were supposed to do, right?" the Warlock yelled.
"Good plan! I'll distract it!" Silverhawk declared.
"Distract what?"
"The Thrall-butt Minotaur." she deadpanned, taking out her blades, her rocket launcher now abandoned on the ground. She grinned at Uldren. "I'ma be blazing now, so be sure to cover your eyes, or you'll be blinded by just how frabjous I can be."
His only response was a sneer; he was too sick and tired of this to come up with a viable retort. Silverhawk rushed out to meet the Minotaur, lightning sheathing itself around her as she did so.
"Let's dance, bucket-head!" she called as she went, running between its legs. Uldren fired at several Goblins that were trying to take aim at her as she ran. Martin, meanwhile, was being unhelpful, as usual panicking and staring at nothing whilst gripping his helmet.
Useless nerd. He shot two more Vex, and then pumped the Heart full of lead. Suddenly, Martin gasped.
"That's it!" he exclaimed. Suddenly, he ran out into the open.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" Uldren exclaimed as he waved his arms around as if to catch the Minotaur's attention, though he was probably trying to catch Silverhawk's.
"Silverhawk! Lead it over here! Try to keep it in this spot!" he called. The Huntress seemed to notice this, and suddenly zipped towards the Heart. With a yelp, Martin ran back to Uldren. More Vex materialized in the central area.
"Uldren, there's too many of those little guys. Can you distract them while I do my thing?" the young Warlock asked.
"Is 'your thing' incredibly unhelpful?" Uldren asked rudely, one eyebrow raised.
"No; it's going to kill the Heart. Just... give them a target while I work, or something; try to keep them off of Heather, she needs to keep the Minotaur in that specific spot." he told the Prince before, without another word, running around back behind the wall towards the ramp that lead to the top of it.
Uldren groaned. I swear, if these idiots get me killed or thrown off a high height again... He shot at one of the Vex. Martin was right, there were too many, and some of them were beginning to focus on Silverhawk, though she was too fast for them to shoot, and the Minotaur accidently squished two of its own comrades in a futile attempt to get at her. How long could she use her light powers for?
A target, huh? He let loose an angry sigh. I'm going to regret this, aren't I?
He jumped out of cover, waving his arms around madly.
"Look at me, I'm a target!" he yelled at them challengingly. That got their attention pretty quick. He ran for the other side of the cover, and he could almost feel the heat from their guns on his back as he ran.
Silverhawk was in position. Whatever you're going to do, idiot number two, do it now!
A sharp pain lanced through his right leg, and he stumbled, falling quickly and painfully to his side, his chin striking the stone as he landed. Thrall spit!
The Vex would make short work of him now, that was for sure. Suddenly, there was something dark purple and scarlet and every color at the same time, flying through the air, jumping off of the top of the wall towards the Minotaur. He thought he heard Silverhawk yell something.
"Make it rain, Martin!" it sounded like. The scarlet thing, most likely the Warlock, landed in the Minotaur, which reflexively threw him off... towards the Heart. Martin's arm drew back, as if to punch the thing, and then Uldren realized what the every-colored thing in his fist was. He'd seen it before, during the quest for the cure.
Void light! Martin's fist flew out, and the void-made bomb with it, the ball of energy flying straight into the Heart. Martin hit the ground with a cry of pain as the void ripped through the Darkness, which, in turn, let out a piercing shriek that made Uldren curl up and cover his ears in vain. THRALL SPIT AND SPACE URCHINS AND CABAL ARMPITS!
Through blurred vison he made out the form of the Heart breaking up, the Vex Minotaur collapsing in on itself, and, at last, a flash of sickening light, blackness flying everywhere, and his senses left him entirely.
Oh my gosh! Next chapter is the last one! Well, then there's the epilogue after that. It's a really cool epilogue; all mysterious and evoking and all that nonsense. Leave you drooling for the next installment.
Order and Chaos: Don't worry; you will know the Onion soon enough. Amberstar of Thunderclan and I are roommates, so, naturally, she sees and hears all my ideas long before you guys do; sometimes before they're on paper, or even official yet! So we've got a lot of inside jokes about certain characters that haven't been written yet. True, this fic may have more reviews; but only because I'm more well known than when I posted Fever. I have a few more loyal followers. Popularity of a fic is generally judged, in my opinion, by how many favorites and follows that fic has; not reviews. And on word, Heartbusters is, total, roughly a little over half as long as Fever. I'm hoping to make Wolfsbane a little longer. I think, all in all, 15 Seconds will be the overall longest story of this series, depending on how much happens in Twilight.
Matteoarts: Well, you already listened to me squeal and gush in PM about how honored I was you read this so... I'll just squeal again and hope you leave another one.
Fierywarlock: Thanks, I really appreciate it. Especially the no rants part; I deal enough with the "Catholics are evil, intolerant people" at school. No one really gives a damn about how we 'feel', so we never ask in public, but here on the internet there's no one to glare at me. So thanks for understanding. ^^
Guest: I kind of did away with glide and double jump and stuff like that. For those of you who are confused and wondering about the mechanics I've changed and taken away in this series, I'll put a list at the bottom of the first chapter of Wolfsbane.
MaybeALittleBroken: Glad I could be of service to you! I knew you'd appreciate the reference. Shamefully, between fanfict, RoI, and NCIS without Tony, I've been unable to/forgotten completely about AoS. I knew I'd promised myself I'd write an Update for All The Strange, Strange Creatures to celebrate it and RoI, but I just kind of... well, I think I'm taking a breather from Marvel, actually. Because if I get onto any other fandoms, I'll lose my fire for this one, and then you guys'll swear vengeance of a thousand suns when I update again for the first time in over a year, sooo... yeah.
Sovietshadow: Yup, LoL. Amberstar and I use "galactic losers" a lot around the house, so I added it in here just for kicks. Oh, in case you didn't know, Amberstar updated Siblings again.
Speaking of Amberstar of Thunderclan, to those of you who also delved deep into her rather successful Twelve Days of RoI, she's posted a one-shot series about the Iron Lords, and an AU where the Traveler never visited the Fallen. So, if you liked Amber's funny little one-shots(the one at the end with the Iron Lords was my favorite, GheleonxSkorri 4 life), go check out her cheeky new little fics before she crawls back into the shadows again. Really funny and interesting what she's doing with Uldren in the Au Fallen one; it's hilarious. His personality is more akined to the "Crow" we were promised in early Destiny concept.
*Sigh* a shamefully short chapter, I'm afraid. In fact, the next chapter is short as well, and fairly fast-paced in the end events. The epilogue is barely 1,000 words... but it will probably be the juiciest thing you've ever read, in the context of plot in this story. For the epilogue is where the original plot really kicks off. Interesting thing about Wolfsbane; it's not an Uldren fic. Or a Silverhawk fic. It's a "get to know some other people" and "develop Variks and Martin's friendship" and "introduce these guys and explore the Reef a bit more" fic. It's already started, and I'm really enjoying writing about Variks. Get ready for some metaphorical confusions and existential crisis! LoL, and Martenj.
Some REALLY hilarious Martenj moments are coming in Wolfsbane. I was going to update tomorrow, but I'm in a good mood, because I got the new Wings of Fire: Legends book yesterday, and it is EVERY BIT AS GLORIOUS AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Next Time: The Reef gang beat a hasty retreat, and Martin embarks on an *in epic movie trailer voice*EPIC QUEST to *trailer voice*SAVE THE WORLD.
Cheers!^^