S1-207
Interference
10:44 AM
02/16/3274
Planet Vez-2 - IMC HQ
The H.E.L.M
Music
Destiny 2 - The H.E.L.M.
Returning to the H.E.L.M, Michael and co. saw someone that was supposedly sticking around the dead Earth for… 'sentimental reasons'.
"Drifter? You're finally here?" Michael questioned with a dry chuckle.
The Drifter turned away from some new machine he was tinkering with. "Hey there, Mr. Legend. Haven't seen you since the Last City was thoroughly unmade. I got here a few days ago. How's Cayde been doin' since you changed his batteries?"
With a roll of his eyes, Michael responded. "Better than ever. Clean slate. Dr. Hammond cut away his debts. And with his new techno-hybridization, Cayde's physical abilities have improved. The first Sim-Exo."
"Awesome." The Drifter was quite intrigued.
Michael then looked over the odd mechanism with some orange energy inside. "So, what brings you to the H.E.L.M? And what is that thing?"
The Drifter shrugged. "Big Boss Blue said you were comin'. Offered me some made-up job: plugging the Pyramid's leaks. Keeping the Dark bottled up. Said it was 'compulsory'. I don't mind a little charity, but… you ask me, containment's just like holdin' your breath. Gotta let it out every now and then."
"Snack time." The Shadow chuckled.
"...Right. OK." The Drifter, slightly perturbed by the Taken King's choice of words, continued his explanation… his way. "Pyramids are making some moves. Moondust thinks we can use the Darkness we catch to charge that Seed. Might cut through all that pesky interference in the Cradle. Might let her tell you what Savathûn doesn't want you to know. Good thing too, cuz it is wacky out there!" The rogue Lightbearer chuckled a bit at his own words. "Look around. Hive's got a bunch of unsavory types looking to stake their claim. Jokers can't even see we're boxed in. All bets on you to pull through." He chuckled again, clearly seeming to enjoy himself. "No pressure."
Samus smirked. "Yeah. 'No pressure'. We've heard that one before."
"Hm." The Drifter hummed in acknowledgement. "By the way, I saw one of 'em 'Moonhawks' snag some kinda Dark engram. You think no one was lookin'? Had 'em hand it over for this to work." He handed Michael what appeared to be a purple pentagonal dodecahedron with streams of Darkness seeping out of it. "You ready to get Dark? Chuck it on the pyre and let's see what ol' Drifter can cook up for ya."
Looking down at the Darkness-infused engram, the ace Pilot raised one brow in suspicion. "That's-"
"Hey. I've been kit-bashin' gear since that jerk Ghost pulled me outta my grave. Got a knack for it, I guess. I'll work you up something nice."
Shrugging his shoulders, Michael tossed the engram into the machine, watching in awe as the Darkness was pulled out of the pentagonal dodecahedron and into the many nodes within the apparatus. He then placed the engram on a smaller machine next to it, which caused it to dissolve and glow, decoding into a new weapon.
At this, the Drifter let out a short, loud whoop. "That there is quite the gun. The Cold Denial pulse rifle!" He said. "Looks like the Darkness's taken quite a liking to ya."
Michael raised an eyebrow at the Drifter. "Well, the feeling is… NOT mutual. Besides, I already have a machine gun. I don't need a BF-R."
"Well… in any case, I'm giving it to someone who does." The Drifter said as he took back the weapon.
"How'd you even get that thing in here, anyway?" Samus asked, gesturing to the kitbashed apparatus.
"You see, your IMC was kind enough to gimme a spot in the H.E.L.M after they 'inherited' it from the Council. The ol' Cryptarchs even helped me set up two things: the Umbral Decoder and the Prismatic Recaster. Think of it as a Dark Cryptarch of sorts." As he spoke, a large machine with some Dark energy swirling inside materialized beside him. "Aaand it looks like my bank's comin' in."
The Shadow tilted his skull. "What bank?"
"My Dark bank." The Lightbearer reiterated. "The one used for Gambit till… y'know."
A chuckle echoed from the Taken King. "Thanks for the new troops."
"Unfortunately, brother, I was lyin'. These Taken… are different."
The Shadow shrugged. "Yes, I've noticed. It's like they were just… thought into existence, rather than being made from a pre-existing life form. It's actually fascinating. To make Taken… without taking. I must learn this power."
"You can thank the Nine for that. They just stuck their little haul onto my ship for… reasons." The Drifter then held out his hand in front of Michael. "The Seed, please."
As Rocco brought the Seed of Silver Wings out of transmat storage, Michael handed the object to the Drifter. "And you're sure you know what you're doing?"
"Yep." The rogue Lightbearer then tossed the Seed into the bank, which let off a soft glow as it reacted to and absorbed the Darkness inside of it. "The Seed soaks up Darkness like a sponge, so my bank wrings it dry again."
Michael smirked as the glow died down. "And now it's ready to go again."
"And so it is." The Drifter nodded, handing him back the Seed. "Good luck out there, hotshot."
10:49 AM
02/16/3274
Jupiter's moon, Io - Echo Mesa
Cradle Descent
Music
Destiny 2 - Interference (Ambient)
Touching down on Io, Michael, Samus, Jenny, and the Shadow began to make their way to the Cradle. On Spyglass's recommendation, they brought along a group of Spectres and a couple Stalkers for support.
"Umm… Why are we here, dad?" Jenny asked Michael.
"Investigation. Know your enemy." Her father answered. "Apparently, the Darkness is trying to talk to us, and Savathûn is keeping us from hearing it."
Jenny lowered her SMR, having more questions than answers. "So… the Darkness is trying to talk to us… after they tried to destroy us. I just don't get it…"
"Welcome to my beginning days as a Guardian. That was before you were born. I didn't quite understand it myself, so I just went with it until I… actually DID understand." Michael shook his head a bit. "Paracausality…"
"The servants of Savathûn fight to keep us from the messages of Darkness." Eris said over the comms channel. "Use the Seed to dispel their foul influence."
Jupiter's moon, Io - Echo Mesa
The Cradle
After fighting their way through any Hive that stood between them and the Tree of Silver Wings, they saw two Hive Wizards performing some kind of ritual, with a giant sphere of Ascendant energy in front of them.
"Priority targets! Take them down!" Michael called out, firing his Spitfire at the first Wizard, with Jenny focusing her SMR on the second, eliminating them within mere seconds.
Music
Destiny 2 - Interference (Action)
Once the sphere dissipated, in its place was the giant Shrieker from earlier, which immediately opened up and rained down Void projectiles on the group.
"Take cover!" Michael called upon his Void Light to manifest the Sentinel Shield, stopping the Shrieker's projectiles dead in their tracks. "Samus, you're up!"
"I can't use a Power Bomb here! Eris is in range!"
"How about an Ice Beam, mom?" Jenny suggested.
With a nod, Samus aimed her arm cannon at the Shrieker, the green lights around her elbow turning an icy blue. "That could work."
"And a Super Missile after that." Her daughter continued.
Samus chuckled. "Ice Beam and Super Missiles. That's how I've dealt with Metroids and X in the past. Here goes nothing!" She unleashed a chilling blast of arctic energy, coating the Shrieker in a thick layer of ice that stopped its impenetrable shell from spinning.
Lights changing back to green, Samus built up pure energy, merging five of her regular missiles into a more powerful projectile that shattered the Shrieker's frozen eye, sending fragments of both the Shrieker and the ice around it flying everywhere.
Samus [Super Missile] Savathûn's Witness (Savathûn's Hive)
Music
none
Pulling back the Void Light of the shield, Michael dropped to a knee. "They're getting stronger. Something's empowering them."
Without warning, a pulse of Ascendant energy phased the group through dimensions, taking them to the Ascendant Plane.
Ascendant Plane
Court of Savathûn
"You are children reaching toward a flame. The Taken Queen would not have you burnt. Pledge your allegiance and be reborn." A deep, gravelly voice boomed.
"I don't recognize that voice. Who was that?" Michael wondered.
"Nokris?" Eris replied. "Oryx's foundling and exiled brother to Crota. He is now bound to Savathûn as a catalyst for her interference."
"Nokris?!" The Taken King gasped in surprise and disbelief. "I… I killed him! I absorbed his life energy!"
"Necromancers can rejuvenate their life energy at will. As such, Oryx considered necromancy a violation of the Sword Logic. He has, as one would say, 'unkilled' himself." The Lightless Guardian then gave out a simple order for the Fireteam. "Silence it."
Samus readied her arm cannon. "He'll wish he never came back from Mars."
After traversing through the uneven terrain, the group came across a hallway similar to that of the Court of the Shadow on the Dreadnaught. They eventually saw a Rupture Gate, which sparked to life with Hive magic.
Music
Destiny 2 - Interference (High Action)
Michael's helmet started scanning the resurrected Nokris as he came out of the portal.
SCANNING…
ENTRIES UPDATED
1: Nokris
Supplicant to Savathûn
"You are but one in a chain of failures claimed and sunken." Nokris taunted as he started firing bursts of orange energy with his hand at the group.
"Automated infantry, target sighted! Engage!" Michael ordered.
The Spectres and Stalkers opened fire with assault rifles, LMGs, and L-STARS against Nokris, who appeared to stagger under the heavy fire. The Necromancer then summoned a soulfire crystal, which protected him with an impenetrable aura.
"Our shackles are strong. We must be strong to break them." Nokris boasted as Hive reinforcements appeared from several rifts, along with several larger Hive teeming with Ascendant energy.
Among those Hive were a familiar kind of Knight; the same kind once encountered on Mars. As the machines focused on the Ascendant Hive, the ace shot out a grappling hook to retrieve the volatile relic. "Mission update! Throw the relics dropped by the glowing Knights at the crystal!"
Passing the relic to a waiting Spectre, Michael conjured an Empowering Rift at his feet, boosting the output of his weaponry as the automated infantry unit lobbed the relic at the crystal, taking down Nokris's protective aura.
"Life and death are liar's tools. Weave your own lie." The Necromancer said, repeating his attack patterns and destroying a few Spectres in the process, but the Stalkers seemed to resist his attacks much better, much to his shock. "Damned machines..."
Michael landed a beam from his Charge Rifle, burning away a layer of cloth and armor from his target. "How do you like our automated infantry?"
"I do not! Perhaps I should give you something in return." As Nokris called forth his Necromantic powers, the one Stalker he managed to cripple latched onto his robes, sparks emanating from its power supply with an intensifying orange glow. "GET IT OFF!" Nokris growled as the Stalker started to heat up, only for him to quickly destroy the Stalker with a burst of orange energy before summoning not one, but two soulfire crystals, which gave him the same barrier effect.
"I've actually never seen a Stalker do that." Jenny shuddered. "Just crawling towards their target if you take out their legs and exploding if you damage the power circuits in their back? That's a bit freaky."
"If you ask Jack Cooper, he'd say that incidents like this weren't rare during the Frontier War." Her father replied.
Jenny then turned her attention back to the Spectres as they swarmed a Knight with unrelenting hails of lead. The Hive warrior fell to their might, leaving behind another volatile relic to throw at the crystals. One Spectre grabbed the relic, let out a loud, mechanical noise, and threw it at one of the two floating crystals, shattering it.
Another Knight swung its cleaver at a Stalker, which surprised it by catching the blade with one hand. The Stalker then drove the blade into the Knight before letting go, leaving behind another relic, which it picked up and shattered the remaining crystal with.
"Oryx. Crota. Xol. Gods with gods. End your faith and walk unhindered." Nokris boomed as the aura around him dissipated, freeing him to attack the group once again.
"Samus, you ready for the Double-Void Takedown?" Michael asked as he began forming a Nova Bomb.
Nodding, Samus focused Void Light into her arm cannon, causing the lights to flash to purple. The end of it opened like she was about to fire a Super Missile, only for it to release the Shadowshot.
As the Void anchor tethered all Hive in range, including Nokris, Michael unleashed hell in a single explosive strike. However, all it did was stagger the Necromancer even longer, though it did clear the field of all other enemy combatants.
"The Tree brings ruin. Fell its might or be buried in the shadow of its leaves." Nokris, who seemed to be exhausted as he attacked more predictably than before, rasped.
"Do your thing, Shadow." Michael stepped out of the Taken King's path.
Looking upon the Necromancer, the Shadow stowed his Touch of Malice and held up his Darkscythe, its blade aglow. "Gladly."
But before the Taken King could doom Nokris to the same fate as before, the Necromancer grasped the scythe with his hands. "The Grasp of Death. I will not suffer the same fate. I will not be mangled beyond recognition."
"Jenny! Now!" Samus called out, seeing the struggle over the Darkscythe.
Drawing in her Solar Light, Jenny manifested two handfuls of burning knives. "Shadow! Get clear!"
With three kicks to the Necromancer's face, the Shadow dislodged Nokris's grasp on his weapon and collapsed into Ascendant cinders, allowing Jenny to engage Nokris with a Blade Barrage.
Nokris shouted in pain and collapsed onto the ground as the knives made contact with him and exploded, leaving him severely weakened as he tried to crawl away from the group.
Reconstituting himself, the Shadow stood in front of Nokris, his Touch of Malice at the ready in case he would need to deliver the final blow.
"Shadow… I would dare to reveal a truth… now that I am done." Nokris whispered between ragged breaths, clutching an area of where one of the blades hit him. "It would seem that you… and the Taken Queen… have something in common." With that, the Necromancer's eyes went out as he finished his collapse.
Jenny [Blade Barrage] Nokris, Supplicant to Savathûn (Savathûn's Hive)
Music
none
As Nokris's corpse started to burn up into nothingness, Eris came onto the channel. "Nokris is an abomination, his name stricken from the World's Grave. You've done well to purge his stain from this failing court."
"{Why would Savathûn work with him?}" Rocco questioned.
"'With'?" Eris queried. "Nokris is an exploited outcast, Little Light. A Necromancer. Though I'm sure the 'Taken Queen' saw value in his craft; death rituals to buck the Worm's game. I dare not wonder how she meant to wield that knowledge."
"We shouldn't dwell on it, you know. He's not coming back from that." Michael asserted.
"Good riddance." Eris sighed in relief. "Savathûn's haze has diminished considerably, though not completely."
Jenny stepped up and kicked the lingering ashes. "She's still out there. Hiding."
"Then I hope she saw what became of her brood. Hold still. I will fetch you."
Green energy began to envelop the trio as Michael closed his eyes, waiting to return to the Cradle.
Unknown
However, instead of the Cradle, Michael ended up in the bowels of the Pyramid. In the distance was a smaller pyramid that seemed to be floating, with statues of humans, Cabal, Eliksni, and Hive looking up at it, forming a sort of circle. "What in the…"
"—-Don't you see? It is as we once said: In Light, there is only weakness. Only failure. Only death. But where the Light takes, the Dark gives.—-" The same odd voice from earlier spoke as his helmet started glitching up again. "—-No longer will you be a pawn. No longer will you watch the lives of those you care for be lost. Remember; in Darkness, there is only strength. Only victory. Only life. Ancient power awaits you on Europa.—-"
An Ascendant portal opened itself on the other side of the display, which Michael took as his exit.
Jupiter's moon, Io - Echo Mesa
The Cradle
Meanwhile, Eris had just finished decoding the Darkness's communication at the Tree of Silver Wings. "They leave one last message, saying to 'rinse the Warmind's mouth out with ten gallons of soap'." She said as she tried not to smile at this… 'phrase'. "I assume Rasputin has been… 'cussing up a storm'?"
"Rapid fire cuss words like nobody's business. I'm surprised a Warmind could… swear." Jenny shrugged, taking back the Seed.
"{He must've been pret-ty mad.}" Her Ghost, Axel, added.
Jenny then took notice of an absence. "Wait a minute. Where's da-"
Suddenly, without any input from the Shadow, an Ascendant portal opened behind them, with Michael stepping out. "They left me a message too." The ace Pilot said as he caught up with the group. "They said that an ancient power lies on Europa. We should notify Spyglass of our findings and assemble a search party."
"Understood. I will return to the Frontier." Eris was silent as she contemplated something before letting out a sigh. "I am exhausted. May I have a ride?"
And that is yet another chapter done. That is the end of the Season of Arrivals.
Up next is Beyond Light. See you there.