S1-144
The Pyramidion

1:17 PM
09/21/3272

Jupiter's moon, Io - Echo Mesa
The Rupture

Music
Destiny 2 - The Pyramidion (Ambient)

Another day, another Strike. This one was on Io. Michael was there with Samus and the Shadow.

Zavala was heard on the comms. "Fireteam Intrepid just landed. This is a hit operation on a priority target. Who are they looking for, Ikora?"

"Brakion, the Genesis Mind. It controls the Pyramidion, the conversion engine consuming this moon. We must not allow the Vex to corrupt this sacred place as they corrupted Asher Mir." Ikora reported.

"I know quite a bit about Brakion. After all, I 'recruited' a few Vex from the Pyramidion. They told me what they knew about him, and by 'told', I mean I absorbed their knowledge." The Shadow stated. What was once a mindless army of stolen souls had become a physical extension of the Shadow's power and intellect.

Up ahead and down below were two Vex Synch Plates. Michael and Samus stood upon one while the Shadow stood on the other with a Taken Gate Lord. Vex appeared to keep them out of the Pyramidion, but they were just completely destroyed.

With the Vex cleared out, the entrance to the Pyramidion opened. "{Door's open. Where can we find the Genesis Mind?}" Rocco asked.

"In the self-organized criticality of the synthoneural terminus." There was Asher Mir's 'scientific' gibberish again...

"What?" As expected, Michael had no idea what Asher just blabbered.

"No one knows what that means, Asher. Just make your way insi-"

The Shadow interrupted Ikora. "The self-organized criticality of the synthoneural terminus, huh? I believe I know where that is."

"THE SHADOW UNDERSTANDS ME!" Asher praised in excitement.

"That's because I had to use the knowledge I gained from the Vex in order to understand what you just said." OH, BURN!

"Anything we should know as we go into the Pyramidion?" Michael asked, readying his Spitfire.

"The Genesis Mind worked tirelessly to block my Fireteam's advance on his terminus. He reconfigured reality itself to stop us. It would not surprise me in the least if he intends to employ the same strategy with you, assistants." Asher stated.

"{Reality seems pretty well configured in here, but we'll keep our eye out.}" Rocco stated, checking around the place.

Jupiter's moon, Io - Echo Mesa
Pyramidion

Music
Destiny 2 - The Pyramidion (Action)

Coming across the first chamber of the Pyramidion, the Fireteam witnessed a few Taken appear. "{Oh, good. Taken ninjaing out of thin air. Just what we needed.}"

"'Ninjaing'? Really, Rocco?" Michael laughed.

The Taken, after dealing with any nearby Vex, turned and saw the Shadow, then vanished, adding themselves to his army.

After clearing out any Vex in the immediate area, the Fireteam advanced onward. Laser defenses were strewn about randomly, yet with precision, which the Vex are, unsurprisingly, capable of accomplishing.

They jumped down a drop with lasers in it, reaching a new room unscathed. "The Taken and the Vex are alike in more ways than not. Both races are designed to serve a single higher power." Ikora mused over the comms.

"I am the higher power which the Taken serve, but I was not the original."

"Yes, I am aware of that, Shadow. Oryx created them, used them for revenge, but you repurposed them after his downfall. With his heart contained within the Touch of Malice, Oryx is incapable of freeing himself from your single-minded ranks." Ikora replied as the Shadow added a Vex Minotaur to his army.

Music
Titanfall 2 - Substation

After taking down the remaining Vex, the Fireteam traveled through a Vex Gate, ending up in a room with more lasers, which were alternating on and off.
With good timing, and the Shadow walking through the lasers unharmed, they made their way to another drop, guarded by a self-toggling barrier grid.

Asher Mir was heard on the line. "I have not spoken to my old Fireteam since... the accident, nor have they spoken to me, and so we prove the resilience of comradery."

Up ahead was a room with three Synch Plates. They each stood on one, causing Vex to appear and attack. The large swarm of Vex was wiped out, allowing further progress into the Pyramidion.

"Asher can't figure out where you are. If he drops out, it's because he's thrown a tantrum and broken his microphone." Ikora said.

"I heard that, you wretch!" Asher spat over the comms.

Ikora chuckled. "He feels safe saying such things because he is on Io and I am not."

"Mark wouldn't like hearing Asher call you that, just so you know, Ikora." Michael stated.

"M-M-Mark? Mark-18?! Keep that Exo away from me... Please..." Asher seemed afraid of Mark-18 for whatever reason.

"I know. He's very defensive of those he chooses to follow, which is why he pledged his loyalty to the Counsel. Not New Monarchy, not Future War Cult, not Dead Orbit, just the Counsel. The same goes with Hayden and Tanner." Ikora explained.

Moving lasers obstructed their progress this time, but that did nothing to stop the Fireteam.

More Vex were cleared out with ease as Ikora was heard again. "Asher's studying data on your current position. I believe he's said 'Impossible!'... twelve times and counting. Here. I'll patch him in."

"Impossible! Impossible...! But could it...? No no no no, that- that's impossible! Impossible! Why? What could govern such an impossible discrepancy?" Asher was heard again as the Fireteam surpassed a tubular corridor with spiraling lasers. "You should now be entering a Hilbert space, if the Taken have not misaligned the Pyramidion's base geometric intuitions."

"{Gesundheit.}"

"I did not sneeze, you fool! It is an infinite dimensional functional space, the Vex often... Oh, why am I wasting my breath?!" Asher was getting pretty mad now.

Music
Destiny 2 - The Pyramidion (Action)

On the other side of a Warp Gate was the 'Hilbert space' Asher mentioned. Another Warp Gate was blocked off by a barrier and a large group of Vex. Samus jumped up to unleash a Shadowshot from her Power Suit's arm cannon while Michael readied a Nova Bomb. A significant margin of the Vex had been eradicated, clearing the way to one of the four confluxes required to deactivate the barrier.

Rocco managed to successfully disengage one of the Vex security locks on the barrier, leaving the other three confluxes a priority.

Samus reached a second conflux guarded by Vex, watching as the Shadow, who had melded with a Taken Minotaur, cleared them out with harsh brutality. He unmelded, then surrounded the conflux with a Taken Vandal's 'Ward of Darkness', allowing Samus's Ghost to disengage the second lock.

Michael used his Satchels to clear out the area around a third conflux, bringing out Rocco to hack into it while Samus made her way to the fourth and final conflux.

A Vex Hydra stood before them, blocking the way forward. Samus made quick work of it with a charged Ice Beam shot, followed by a Super Missile.

"{We went through a gate, and now we're at a scary bottomless pit.}" Rocco reported.

"What? There is no pit! Only the fractal shores of a radiolarian lake!" Asher was unaware of the fact that there was no lake.

"Asher, why don't I provide you a visual feed?" Samus sent the feed to Asher's equipment.

Asher groaned in annoyance. "Look up."

"Why would there... Oh." Michael saw a lake of radiolarian fluid disobeying the laws of physics.

Closing the feed, Samus jumped down the pit, followed by Michael and the Shadow. They landed in a familiar location. "I remember this place. Sagira lead us here when we were looking for the map of the Infinite Forest." Michael said.

"Fascinating. This is not your first trip to the Pyramidion." Asher most likely wanted the details on that adventure, but it would have to wait for another time.

"{We're in some kind of... interdimensional terminal.}" Rocco stated, looking around the area.

"The synthoneural terminus. You're on Brakion's doorstep!"

"Inform the Genesis Mind that it has guests." Ikora ordered.

The Shadow stood upon the Synch Plate just in front of the massive Vex Transfer Plate, summoning their target.

Music
Destiny 2 - Brakion, Genesis Mind

The giant Warp Gate sparked to life, releasing a large Vex Unit that walked out of the temporal field and onto one of the corners of the triangular area.

SCANNING...
NEW ENTRIES

1: Brakion
Genesis Mind

Upon being hit with one of Samus's Super Missiles, Brakion warped to another corner, pulling up a triangular prism barrier around itself for protection while shooting at the Fireteam with a seemingly heavily modified Line Rifle.

Michael used his Light to form a Towering Barricade, protecting him and Samus while the Shadow went to one of the two surrounding Synch Plates, causing it to stop powering the Mind's shield. Thankfully, Michael and Samus were standing on the other Synch Plate once it unlocked, allowing them to shut down Brakion's shield.

A charged Ice Beam blast and a Super Missile through Michael's A-Wall made the Genesis Mind warp to the third corner, with another shield around it.

The Shadow stayed on the Synch Plate he was standing on, using his Touch of Malice to deal with the surrounding Vex reinforcements.

Michael and Samus disconnected their Synch Plate, and with the Shadow still on his own, Brakion's shield was brought back down, all while Vex units were being destroyed.

A blast from one of Michael's Andromeda Cannons and the Genesis Mind had returned to its original location. Brakion took more damage, causing pieces of its alien chassis to break off. It warped to the center of the area, firing at the Fireteam with the Line Rifle as more Vex reinforcements arrived.

After sustaining a few hits from Michael's Charge Rifle through an A-Wall, the Genesis Mind's head was destroyed, leaving its radiolarian membrane exposed. Despite the lack of a head, Brakion still shot with active precision, as if it didn't actually need a head in order to see.

Brakion seemed to be taking everything that the Fireteam could hit it with, until Samus's arm cannon reconfigured again, with the lights of her Power Suit changing to a fiery orange, and from her arm cannon came three Golden Gun shots, penetrating and breaking Brakion's abdominal weak point, ending the Genesis Mind.

Samus [Golden Gun] Brakion, Genesis Mind (Sol Collective)

Music
none

The remnants of the slain Mind fell to the ground, clambering into pieces as Asher came on the line.

"Well? Did you find Brakion? Did you sever its arm from its chassis and send it spiraling into the infinite?"

"{Uh... Ha, ha. I-i-it's dead. It's... It's real dead.}"

Wanting to finally hear some thanks from Asher for once, Michael grabbed a hold of the severed arm of the late Brakion, dragging it to the closest edge. With the deed almost done, Rocco decided to share the visual feed with Asher. Michael then pushed the arm off with his prosthetic foot, sending Brakion's arm tumbling into the abyss. "You... You DID send his arm into the infinite...! Michael W Johnson, for what you've just done, I have one thing to say... Thank you." Hearing such gratitude from a normally aggravatingly, infuriatingly, irritatingly, and annoyingly insufferable man of flagrant disrespect and lack of care for others would be the equivalent of a homeless wash-up on the streets winning the lottery with a ticket found in a garbage can, and that's how the Fireteam felt at this very moment.

Well now. Took me longer than I expected.

I kept losing track of what words Asher was saying through this whole ordeal.

See you next time, Guardians.