Franz put his helmet on and Sisre gave it a playful slap from behind.

"Don't break this one," she teased.

"We're restocked and ready to go," Rorick said as Cerulean left the stockpile and the few Hunters who were guarding it from Hive.

It seemed that the falling warminds had ceased, which meant that the surface was relatively calm. They traversed the path with ease, keeping on foot while making their way toward a cave system that Ana had mapped for their Ghosts.

They traveled single file through small streams, cervices, and under natural arch formations until at last they reached the mouth of a cave. Wren's grip tightened around her weapon but she found the fear response wasn't as bad as it had been before. Of course being completely trapped had been a horrible experience and the memories of the water tank and being stuck under a burning city for days after Ghaul's defeat had raced through her mind but she didn't feel the same quickening in her heartrate like before. Her palms still sweat and she continued to think the cave was going to collapse around her, but it had eased some.

"Xol is tearing apart Rasputin's Neural Network," Ana said. "If he does enough damage, he could trigger a chain reaction that will devastate Mars. All I know is we have one advantage left… the Valkyrie."

"What is that?" Rorick asked.

"It's like a spear. Wren used to before."

Her team looked back at her but she only shrugged. "It wasn't hard to wield."

"I'll never trust Rasputin," Zavala said, "but we'll need every weapon we have to stop Xol… even one that's powered by a Warmind."

"If we overload Rasputin's core, we can use the excess energy to overcharge the Valkyrie. I think that's our only chance of really hurting Xol."

"Are you saying even our rockets are useless?" Rorick asked.

"Not necessarily…" Ana began but Franz cut her off.

"Ro, the damn thing collapsed a cavern on us. You saw how big it is."

"It won't hurt to have it, just in case."

"Fine," Rorick grumbled. "Just tell us what we need to do."

"Up ahead you should find a cavern with an entrance to the facility," Ana explained and sure enough, the tunnel opened to said room. The Guardians jumped across to a platform that spanned the far side of the cave. At Wren's right was a thick sheet of ice that looked like it had collapsed over the original entrance from a different section of the cave.

Hive had congregated toward the other side, being to her far left. The area was obviously architecture associated with Rasputin with sharp diamond shapes, complex pillars, and snaking wires running through black metal.

"Open the cooling vents on the inhibitors," Ana instructed. "Then hit it with everything you've got."

As a single unit Cerulean moved forward, taking down the Hive with ease. Toward the end of the room was a closed door to their right, then ahead was what Wren assumed was the inhibitor Ana was talking about. It was like the other pillars but inside was some sort of energy source glowing like fire. It was completely contained. On the left side of it was a row of consoles which Rorick made his way up to.

Brix floated out and moments later a small diamond shaped door opened on the side of the inhibitor facing Rorick.

"And…. Now we blow it up?" Franz asked.

"Yes. I suppose. The rest of you stand back. We don't know what it'll do."

"Remember when we use to carry those damn nuclear cores around?" Franz said as he stepped behind a pillar with Sisre.

"Um… I remember Wren carrying them…"

"Oh… right…well anyway, I hoped that was the last time we'd be in a position to be blown up like… constantly. Why do we have much explosions lately?"

"Franz, I saw you get decimated by a Cabal tank like, two weeks ago. We always have bad things happening to us."

Franz grew quiet for a moment, the only sound Wren could hear from where she'd crouched below the control panels was Rorick shooting into the inhibitor. It fizzled and sparked but the explosion was relatively contained to the inhibitor itself.

"Is that why you want to quit?" he asked.

"Franz," Sisre sighed. "This isn't the time for this conversation. I promise when this is over we'll all sit down and have a talk about it, okay?"

He walked away and her shoulders dropped.

The door slid open and an AI voice echoed through the cavern.

"Attention, Neural Net Inhibitor offline. Core power levels rising. Continued fluctuations will result in a critical failure. All personnel are advised to initiate safety protocols. Remember: a safe work environment is a happy work environment."

The Guardians paused a moment, looked at one another, then Franz pointed aimlessly at the ceiling.

"Okay, that was the funniest thing I've heard all day."

"We can laugh about it later," Rorick said as alarms began to blare through the building. Red lights flashed warnings as Cerulean jogged through the door, killing a few confused Hive before reaching another room with a similar inhibitor.

"Brix says he's getting strange readings from that," Rorick said. "I'll let him scan it. Keep alert."

A moment later the little Ghost hovered over a panel on the floor. "Uh oh," he said. "Seems there's an issue with the Neural Network—"

"With the inhibitor offline, the Neural Network is going crazy," Ana said. "I'll try to stabilize it. Defend the area!

Brix vanished in a flash and Cerulean stood back to back in a circle, facing out from the panel and consoles. The outer areas glowed with Hive summoning circles and within moments they were overrun with hive. They defended their area against the Acolytes and Thrall while a Knight emerged with a couple of Wizards at his side.

He raised his sword high and the Hive rushed the Guardians. Sisre didn't wait for a command from Rorick, she crackled with Arc energy and raced into their numbers with ease, more graceful than he male counterpart but just as vicious in her onslaught.

It was like watching a dance; Titan and lightning, moving as one. All the rest of Cerulean had to do was clear the opposite side of the room.

Rorick said nothing as Sisre returned with the Knight's sword in hand. She tossed it at his feet and though Wren couldn't see her face, she could almost sense Sisre's cocky grin.

"How many points is that?" she asked and Rorick grumbled disapprovingly.

"Got it!" Ana said. "Neural Net is online and ready. Now for the inhibitor vent…it's open! I have a little surprise for you too."

The vent door on the inhibitor slid open and right in front of Rorick, the Valkyrie appeared, much as it had with Wren. He looked over her shoulder at her and she gave him a reassuring nod. He let his rifle hang by the sling before grabbing the Valkyrie firmly in his fist. It crackled with energy and he stepped back, then threw it at the inhibitor vent.

It didn't take as much for the explosion to trigger and after a couple of throws Wren could tell Rorick was interested in the Valkyrie. He rotated it in his hand, observing it, then it vanished.

"Core power levels approaching critical overload," the AI said. "Personnel are recommended to evacuate."

"Guess we don't have that option," Sisre said.

They never really talked about the stresses of what they did. It was implied. Always in the back of Wren's mind and she knew the other had to think about it too, especially after every loss they'd suffered, but now, knowing Rorick and Sisre wanted to retire, made everything they said catch her attention. No, Cerulean didn't have the option of evacuation. Most Guardians didn't, but when she thought of their unique position as the wonder crew of the fireteams, they were often put in worse positions more than others.

It made sense for them to want to leave, but it made Wren wonder if they had that option. If Zavala would allow it, and if so, does that mean that Wren and Franz would also be split up, or would they remain together and be given the choice to pick their next teammates? Would moral across the board drop with Cerulean semi disbanded?

Wren zoned out, considering the possibilities until gunfire brought her back to her senses. They'd found another inhibitor, this time outside of the building and in a cavern that had an open end to the outside where blinding white light poured in, making it impossible to look at it very long. They had other fish to fry anyway. Mainly the Hive that were trying to prevent the Guardians from advancing.

Just like Cerulean, the Hive obviously didn't take heed to the flashing red lights and warnings to evacuate. As usual, they would fight until they were ash. There was no retreat for them either. And so that was what happened. They attacked though they might have known it was futile to do so, and Rorick destroyed the third inhibitor.

"Great work!" Ana praised. "Get to the core before it goes critical. It's time to forge a new Valkyrie."

The silence that followed as Cerulean moved forward only made it more obvious to Wren that Cayde had not been on comms in a while. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he here but lurking? Funny how annoying he was at times but when he was gone, she missed it.

When they reached the next chamber, the doors slid closed behind them and Wren jumped. She spun to look at the door, then back when the familiar sound of Hive summoning circles called her attention.

At the other side of the room, facing them, was a Wizard who rose clawed hands high, summoning forth many more Hive that appeared in several circles all over the room. Cerulean had no time to take positions before the Wizard was shooting balls of energy their direction.

A couple of them hit Rorick square in the chest before Franz could shove him out of the way and erupt into Void energy that chilled Wren. He moved through the center aisle, ripping apart Hive with pure energy and leaving a trail of ash in his wake.

Sisre and Rorick huddled while he healed, with Sisre defending him against the Hive that came from the right, so Wren went left, jumping onto an upper walkway and throwing a grenade that took out the first round of Hive. It allowed her enough time to steady her footing and take aim on the second rush before they could recuperate from the blast.

Still, there were too many. The bottoms of her boots were wearing thin and she tried to keep moving as Hive tried to shoot her from below through the grating. They were largely unable to, but she had to admit that staying on the move was a lot to think about when a whole group of Thrall were pushing and tearing her direction.

Franz circled around and headed them off from the other side, the two Guardians catching the remaining Hive between them and closing in until they were all dead. From above, they could see the room better and Wren could use her scout rifle to her advantage.

The problem was the Wizard. She was badly damaged from Franz's attack, Wren could see as much with the way she struggled to float, knocking into pillars and rails only to use them to right herself once more. Giving in would be a disgrace to her and she was intent on hurling everything she had at them, even if it meant using up every last drop of energy she had.

"We could really use the Valkyrie right now," Rorick hissed, he and Sisre forced back to a position toward the back of the room.

"Stabilized!" Ana said. "…Kind of. But the Valkyrie is ready!"

"That doesn't sound promising," Sisre grunted, dropping to one knee as one of the Wizard's blasts hit the wall behind her and rained down with sparks of energy that danced across her armor.

"There should be nodes around the room you can use to access the Valkyrie, same as before."

"I'll have to find a way to—" Rorick began, only to be cut short when Franz glided down from the walkway toward the center of the room where a node was glowing bright red and orange.

"My turn to have some fun!" Franz said and Rorick cursed under his breath.

Franz wielded the Valkyrie with ease, laughing whole heartedly as he struck down Hive with fiery blasts. Wren hadn't heard him laugh like that in a long time and it brought a smile to her face as she picked off some of the smaller Hive her scout rifle could handle.

"All right. I need you to throw the Valkyrie into the core and force and full meltdown," Ana instructed, but Franz wasn't finished with his fun.

He decimated the Wizard, finishing the job his Super had been just shy of doing. It wasn't until he stood before the core, glowing a molten orange, laughter dying on his labored breath, that he finally faced the core and prepared to throw the Valkyrie in.

Cerulean went to join him, standing a few feet back on the steps while Franz raised the weapon above his head, then threw it in as hard as he could. A flash of light blinded Wren for a moment, then the AI from earlier gave them another message:

"Complete core meltdown initiated. If you can hear this message, you are too close to the core."

"The Valkyrie is surging with energy far beyond what my sensors are capable of analyzing," Vira said, worry tinged her voice, concern for her Guardian who was nearing the core where the Valkyrie was being reforged. Franz reached in and grabbed it, feeling the weight of it.

"Good," Rorick said. "We'll need all the help we can get."

A door slid open and Franz led the way through, destroying the Hive on the other side with ease. He didn't even need the others to shoot, they only followed.

"Don't let that thing go to your head," Rorick warned, a hint of playfulness in his tone.

"This thing is way better than before," Franz said and the fireteam followed him, racing through the complex. Sirens continued to roar and the flashing lights were accompanied by damaged infrastructure and sparking wires hanging out here and there.

The Valkyrie vanished from his hand and Franz wilted, slowing his pace for Rorick to take the lead. Still the fireteam stayed close together. Wren could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing on edge and she knew something was about to happen. Something big. She peeked over her shoulder, but there was nothing there. Nothing followed them.

Cerulean began to sprint through a tunnel Wren assumed was for launching drop pods, the ceiling made of glass so they could see outside. Still they didn't see Xol coming. The worm god ripped through the tunnel just ahead of them, sending sparks and glass flying in all directions. Metal twisted and curled in its wake and Wren was thrown to her knees as the crashing and groaning of steel grew louder, than trickled off.

She looked up and the rest of her team was downed as well, with Franz firmly planted on his rear. They were shaken but alive, and Xol was gone. From somewhere in the distance Wren could hear the distinct roar of the worm god and shuddered, wishing Cayde was there to keep her calm.

As if on cue he spoke to her and she exhaled quickly, relieved.

"Sorry I was gone Sugarbird, had some stuff to take care of. You doin alright? Get Kiran to share the feed with Sun so I can watch."

Wren didn't need to speak, Kiran took care of everything for her. Cayde let out a low whistle as Wren neared the edge of the now destroyed tunnel and looked down.

"Did uh… did Xol do that?" he asked, trying to force humor in his words but he fell short. Wren could hear the shudder and the confidence he'd given her cracked.

"I've never seen anything so powerful!" Brix said. "Be careful."

"We try our best," Rorick said before leading Cerulean down to the platform below.

They didn't have much space to fight Xol. The edges were railed in for protection, but there was nothing beyond them. Falling off was as much of a danger as running out of places to retreat if the Hive became too much to handle. Wren assumed there would be Hive. Droves of them. If there was one thing the Hive could be counted on for, it was their ability to overload an area around their so called gods.

Wren wanted to huff about it. Claim that they should have more faith in these gods to fight their own battles, but when she thought about it, the Traveler was similar. Where was it now? So far all she'd seen it do first hand was take down Ghaul, which she was thankful for, but what about now? What about with Xol or the hundreds or thousands of other threats that came for them regularly? It was up to the Guardians. It was up to them. To Cerulean.

Xol reared up over the edge of the platform and roared, six great jaws opening wide like some disgusting carnivorous flower seeking to devout them. His body flashed with green lights, like bioluminescent streaks for the dark depths of caves. There didn't seem to be any eyes and if Xol had them, Wren couldn't discern where they were. However, when he opened his great mouth, a bright round light from within was like a beacon to the Guardians. That must be a way to wound him.

His jaws snapped closed before Wren could take aim and Rorick ordered them all to take cover behind some crates and other features of the makeshift arena. Fire burst from Xol's mouth, trailing behind Rorick in a line of flame and black smoke until the Titan slid into cover.

"Rorick!?" Sisre called.

"I'm fine. Just a little singed."

Franz wasn't waiting for a plan. He'd pulled out a pulse rifle that would give him more range than the auto he usually favorited and was blasting away toward Xol. Every once in a while, the worm god's mouth would spark and glow and Wren considered those as hits even if they didn't effect the creature in any other way. He shook his head and snapped his jaws before bearing down on Franz' location with fire so hot Wren could feel its heat from several yards away.

Sisre took the opportunity to fall back toward the direction they had come from. Two pillars rose to support what was once the tunnel they had been walking in and between them was a small are where she could be relatively protected while she sniped from afar. Rorick glanced her direction but instead of following, as Wren was sure he wanted to do, he headed for a position closer to Xol.

Wren did what she could to get shots off between Xol spewing fire, but it felt pointless. He didn't appear to care at all, even when Rorick's rockets managed to make it into his gaping maw. Over the roar of fire Wren could barely hear Rorick command her to use her Golden Gun.

She forced herself to move, forced her feet to get her out from behind cover in order to take aim and fire, returning flame for flame into Xol's mouth. For the first time the worm god shuddered, tucking his face toward his body like an injured snake. He curled and wound around himself, then dove down below the level of the arena.

Everything shook and the sky glowed a strange green before Xol was upon them again, slamming into the floor so hard it knocked Wren to her knees. He dragged his body across the arena, sending the Guardians running in every direction to avoid him while Sisre's thunderous shots rang out from the back. The floor splintered and broke apart, leaving rubble in Xol's wake.

"Try to hold on a little longer," Ana said. "I'm bringing the Neural Net online!"

"If you could hurry that would be fuckin' fantastic!" Franz yelled, taking shots at Xol's body as he slid by, then vanished over the edge.

"Auxiliary power has been activated! Get to a node and power up the javelin!"

"Shoot from cover!" Rorick demanded, taking the Valkyrie in hand.

Xol rose again from the edge of the arena and roared, allowing Rorick a moment to send the javelin into the worm god's mouth. The force was enough to stun him, sending his head reeling while great green lights opened and glowed along his sides, just below his head.

Cerulean didn't hesitate to fire upon them. Wren hoped they were thinner than the rest of the thick hide that covered Xol's body and allow them to deal some damage but if they were, she couldn't tell. Sometimes their shots would cause bits of ash and debris to float away in the breeze but if it was doing any significant damage to him, wasn't clear.

What did seem to be working, however, were the constant javelins Rorick launched at Xol. The weapon was powerful enough to stagger Xol, send him reeling, freezing, then curling in on himself in pain. He roared and dove down again, beyond their reach, and no sooner than his tail whipped over the edge of the arena, did green summoning circles appear all around, bringing in Hive to defend their god.

Franz used his Super, taking out a good many of them before they had time to ready their weapons but there were still so many of them that Wren had to fall back closer to Sisre.

"Keep fighting!" Rorick urged but what choice did they have? It was fight or allow Xol to win.

Rorick kept the Valkyrie going, throwing one after another until Wren could hear him gasping for breath from the effort. He was wearing down and so was Xol but soon he'd have to pass off the weapon or he could get stuck in a position of slowing to the point that the god would have an easy time picking him off.

"Rorick, trade with me!" Franz said, running toward their leader.

A summoning circle flashed to his right and an Orge appeared out of nowhere, fists raised high and it roared into the arena. It struck the ground and sent Franz sprawling toward Rorick who couldn't stop his onslaught of Xol.

Wren ran to Franz as he tried to stand and pushed him out of the way before the Ogre's Eye Blast struck her and everything vanished in searing light. The silence that followed told her all she needed to know.

She lay on her back, staring into the darkness of her death place, then sat up, waiting for some quip from Cayde about being too careless, but instead she saw something coming her way. A flame. Small but bright.

It neared her in a swerving line, as if it struggled to make a straight path. At first she tilted her head, curious, but as it neared it became much larger, circling her in a wall or fire before she had time to run. The blaze flashed across her gauntlets as she raised them to shield her face but after the initial blast she found she could look around.

"Cayde?" she called into the circle of flames, spinning wildly until she saw the flames part for a shadowy figure, stepping closer slowly. Limping.

When he stepped into view Wren gasped. Blue optics flickered from a face she almost didn't recognize. The metal plating of his body was jagged and black liquid gushed from a hole in his belly, staining the leather of his armor and disappearing into the water at his boots. His clothes were ragged as he took another weak step forward.

A deep, guttural chuckle carried over the roar of the flame and a voice from the darkness said, "The Light fades…."

Xol. She was hearing him, but how?

Wren made a move for Cayde when his knees buckled and he began to fall but the flames jumped between them, keeping her away as he was consumed, burned alive. Hie face turned to her and he spoke one last time before his eyes went out but she couldn't hear him over the fire and Xol's laughter which was growing weak and sputtering.

"Get out!" Wren demanded, unable to process what was happening.

A strange gurgling moan came from Xol and all went silent just before her eyes snapped open and she shot up into Sisre.

"Woah, calm down," Sisre said, petting Wren's shoulder. "It's over. We won."

"I can't believe it. You did it! You took down a worm god!" Ana praised while Rorick and Franz took a knee before the god's corpse. They were both breathing heavily and trying to steady themselves but also laughing and congratulating one another.

"We all did. We're a team now, Ana. A good one," Rorick said.

"C'mon," Sisre said, extending a hand to Wren to help her up.

Wren hesitated, still shaken by what she'd seen. Sisre went to Franz and Rorick, the three of them happily celebrating together the downfall of another god but Wren could hardly get her bearings.

"Cayde?" she said.

"I'm here. Congrats kid! Another one down."

"Y-yeah…"

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I um… nothing. I'll tell you when I get back."

"Huh. Alright then."

"Congratulations Cerulean," Zavala said. "Meet me at Rasputin's core."

"And right after that, you come home to me."