Chapter 128 - Fragments and Pieces
[Last City | Tower | Hall of Guardians]
The hum of monitors and their glares filled the room alongside the flickering lights above, a storm raged outside, battering the observation windows that did little to derail the focus in the room. Zavala was elbow deep in his work, completely lost in thought, Cayde and his ghost, Artemis were overlooking their notes and contracts, their standard banter keeping light of their work, and Ikora was the first to look away to greet both Yuki and Rayla.
"Ah, Guardian, Yuki, I've been waiting." She spoke earnestly.
"Sorry for the wait, we were looking into my ship with Amanda, you would not believe the sand that gets in every port," Rayla lightly bantered, then she tapped the desk. "Guess it's time?"
"'Time'?" Yuki echoed.
It seems my hunch was correct | They have found something | Perhaps what we've been waiting for...
Siva's assumption brought Yuki's full attention as Ikora took note of the pair, she offered her data pad to Yuki, and in seconds she recognized the site as the Vex super structure on Venus, The Citadel. Then Yuki noticed the other images, a large mobilization of the Vex, the Hezen Protective judging by the white stripes on their brass chassis.
|They've mobilized quickly|
"They seem to be gathering around the base of the spire, why?," The bluette hummed, clearly wondering as SIVA. "Why bring this up, aren't they usually this active unless someone's provoked a response? Unless..."
"Exactly," Ikora waved a hand, completely serious. "While the Vex continue their efforts in gathering back their lost strength, the Splicer Baron has been located in and around the site frequently, and thanks to Tekres' and Rayla's efforts, we have figured out why we've had trouble tracking him."
Rayla huffed, crossing her arms. "He's been using the Vex Network to travel between planets and, worst of all, he's poked his way into the real Corridors of Time, the same that connects each and every world beyond this realm." The revelation brought a hammer down on the situation, and Yuki's face paled, realizing the implications.
"He's been going between other realms? Why? Isn't he meant to maintain Detainment?" But Yuki hadn't sensed any change to her body. She rubbed her chin, squinting. "Not unless he spends a brief moment in each world so I wouldn't notice a change?"
That could be a possibility | Unless we track him down | We'll be left to grasp at straws
"That's what Tekres was thinkin', so we're gonna use that little trick against him." Rayla clicked her fingers, nodding to the data pad as Ikora changed it to a basic structure of a Vex Cognition Mesh, the same as Dren used to tamper with Vex technology before. "See this? One's just outside the entrance to the tip of the Citadel, if we mess with the same frequency Tekres kept a record of from other points this Baron's jumped between gates, we can force him out of the Network and bag him atop the Citadel."
"Then this is it, we can't afford any mistakes, let's grab the others and head for Venus." Yuki declared without thought, and Ikora's frown opted to a confident stare
"I will be here to guide your Fireteams through this mission, we will commune once you have arrived within the entrance to the Juncture." She announced and the pair, and Solaire, nodded, turning toward the steps. "And Yuki?" They turn their heads to see the woman bow her head back at them. "I wish you and Aksis luck."
The girl's anxious smile formed. "S-Sure! Thank you!"
"Let's buckle up, bluey!" Rayla hollered, slapping her friend's back as they quickly departed the room.
[Venus | Ishtar Sink | Juncture]
The sulphuric rain pelted Yuki's visor, the downside of being human compared to her companions, Yuki had to wear complete body armour to shield myself from this rainfall, even the likes of Akio were unharmed by the droplets. But, there it was, shadowing them under a sickly yellow sky. The Citadel, a hulking, obelisk Jenga tower of bizarre geometric shapes. Up there, the Baron responsible for sealing SIVA inside of her, and the last obstacle on their way home, was waiting. Or he will be.
"Hey, coming?" Akio nudged Yuki's attention down a dirt bank toward the back right of the Juncture, where the glow of a conflux could be seen guarded by three Vex. Large brass, bulky machines with a white core hidden behind their chassis abdomen with a head consisting of a large, red eye. Wielding Torch Hammers, weapons capable of launching explosive slugs.
"Yeah, just... can't believe it's nearly been three months..." Where did the time go? Well, she couldn't focus on that now, really, theyI had a job to do. "Right behind you."
Akio nodded and vanished into a shadow ahead of the group. Yuki slid down the bank to a small river, running to hide behind a wall as Morbin slowly counted down with his fingers. When he closed his fist, an explosion could be heard overhead. Everyone peeked out, and sure enough, the three tough-looking Minotaurs were nothing but scrap clattering down the staircase, Akio kicking a head down past Yuki and Ceres. He and Hana saw to their defeat quickly.
"Zane, Rayla, get Rika, and Solaire to the conflux, patch the disruption frequency in quickly," Ceres commanded, the two running to bring out their ghosts to start tampering with the conflux. While that happened, the rest kept watch, waiting for any interception from the Vex, or heaven forbid, Devil Splicers. So far so good.
~You know, there's irony in all this~ Rika chimed in the comms channel.
~Hm, you believe so?~ Solaire inquired.
~Totally, I mean, this jackass used NARA to swipe Yuyu's power, now, we're using its own frequency to mess with his teleporting craze, pretty damn poetic if you ask me~ Rika was always quite passionate when it came to hating her enemies.
~There, the disruption's patched, we should hear him any moment now...~ Solaire commented while we quickly gathered to the pillars to the left of the staircase, climbing them. Ceres helped Yuki glide up with her abilities while the others followed suit, landing on the massive bridge in the middle of the valley.
~What the - why am I back on Venus? I didn't mark this as my reset point... Hrm, must be the Vex, how did they see through Dren's encrypted key...?~ So that's how! The comms went dark as Ceres' led the team through a narrow pass in the wall.
"That's what Dren was doing with the conflux in our world! It wasn't just to access the Vex Network, he was trying to make it so the Fallen could shift through the Nexus without being flagged by the Vex's security measures," Yuki explained.
"To think, one Splicer accomplished all that with only a key," Rayla shivered, not wanting to know what might have been probably. Her head craned over her shoulder. "Let's crack down on this joker hard and fast then!"
"Right!" Yuki agreed wholeheartedly, beside her, Tekres primed his rifle.
"I will take great pleasure in culling this so-called 'Splicer'," He definitely had a bone to pick with him.
~Good, with the Baron now temporarily locked out of the Network, your window to defeating this false Splicer is open~ Ikora relayed as they came into the open room of the Juncture, past a stairwell and several blockades, a large blue circular gravity lift could be seen, active as Vex stomped around the area. ~It appears the Vex have sent their own to handle the Splicer, cut through them, do not allow them to stall your mission~
"Akio, with me!" Velk, who had completely taken over Hana, flew high, snatching the brunette in her talons took to the vanguard first. White mist crystalizing the sulphuric moisture around them.
Airborne, Akio drew his black combat bow back, a red glyph appearing in front of his handle grip. "Will o Wisp!" Plucking the string, the arrow soared down into the middle of the gathered Vex Goblins as they took noticed of the group at the last second. The arrow struck a Goblin through its milky core, and a chain of explosions rattled the area, tossing Vex parts and 'Vex Milk' everywhere.
Hobgoblins, a hardened Vex unit fitted with improved optics and acute sensors in their horns. They have distinctive tails and were armed with Line Rifles, stood at the rear on the risen ground, a red glare appeared but in a wave of mist, a wall of ice blocked their shots. Fireteam Horizon dove over the mound of rime, Ceres using a weapon that, to Yuki's bewilderment at first, was twisted by SIVA, forming diamond black and red plates over the sides of the rifle with a logo on the stock. Outbreak Prime. Her burst rounds riddled a distant Hobgoblin, releasing a burst of nanites that sought the others, tearing their chassis' apart from within.
Morbin slammed his Void-infused knuckle into a newly arriving Goblin through a storm cloud of static and code, sending it flying into the others as he swung his right arm wide, trailing his machine gun wide to riddle both the area in front of him, and the Vex with high-calibur rounds. Zane slid under his gunfire, spinning on his knees with his own Quickfang, releasing its Whirlwind Slash to sever the legs of multiple Goblins, their plasma bolts hardly phase him as he used a path of ice left by Velk to slide around their line of fire, all the while laughing at the thrill.
Tekres was hidden from view, appearing next to a strange circular device with an eye in the middle, tampering with it to lower the barrier around the lift. Yuki, with twin sidearms locked and loaded, unleashed a hail of burst rounds into the Vex, clearing the stairway while the Hobgoblins took aim only to have their head taken clean off by arrows, causing them to go haywire, firing randomly. Ceres quickly disposed of them, clearing the way while Morbin held the stairs, seeing more storm clouds arriving.
"Just like with Skolas ~WE'LL TEAR THEM APART!~ yeah, we will," Morbin's dark tone was met with the slap of a new box mag into his machine gun, pulled back the slide sharply in preparation for the reinforcement. "Go, now!" He ushered, not bothering to waste time talking.
"Be safe, Morbin!" Ceres waved, watching him nod his head quickly as he unleashed a new payload of bullets. "Tekres, how's the lift?"
"Almost, security complex, learned from my Kell," He chittered, toying with his right forearm's bracer as wires fed into the circular mesh of brass arms until something clicked. "There, go, I shall cover your ascension."
"You're the Eliksni, Tekres!" Rayla patted his shoulder, running to dive into the lift. Ceres and Zane soon followed too with Akio being air-lifted beside the entryway by Velk, still unloading arrows to the Vex he could see to even the odds for Morbin.
Yuki stopped before the lift, turning to look at Tekres who drew his Wire Rifle, giving her a curt bow before swivelling around to blast the head off a Minotaur that appeared a mere instant later, while recoiling, Tekres grabbed his shock pistol an pumped several shots into its chest, bringing the beast down. Smiling beneath her helmet, Yuki dove back into the lift, content with the two. "Good luck, both of you."
They have given us more time | Let us see to our role | And end this fight
"Right, time to fight like there's no tomorrow!" Yuki yelled, the blue energy blinding her as her body was forcibly shot faster through the Citadel.
The lift spat Yuki out close to the top of the spire, only now the wind had calmed to a long howl. The sun glared through a thick layer of clouds swirling across the top of the spire, the ground wasn't visible anymore say for the protrusions across the Citadel. A massive chasm was between them and where the Baron was forced out the Nexus. The only way across were the many platforms flickering in and out of the sky.
"Ah, now I remember why I hate this place," Zane slumped, pointing at the various fragments of the land disappearing then reappearing. "Displaying landmass, only less Taken and Darkness entity and more 'Oh dear God I'm going to die',"
"There's those to contend with too," Velk noticed the storm clouds dissipating, releasing a flock of new Vex to fly toward them. They were triangular in shape, and upon opening up their shells, a writhing mass of filaments appeared. Red beams of light punctured the air, forcing the group to scatter. Velk easily warded them with her wings, threshing into the sky with Akio using Windwalker on his feet to glide alongside her. "We'll handle these things, you three head for the Baron!"
"Bring the pain, Yuki!" Akio bumped knuckles with Yuki, giving a wave before hopping into the air, plucking two arrows to blow the first Harpy into pieces as the red bolts flew randomly through the air, the pair diving around to evade.
"Come on, and watch your step!" Ceres warned, leading Yuki and Zane across the first floating construct of blocky brass and smooth stone.
The trio sprinted with all their worth, ignoring any and all burns they took from stray Harpy shots in favour for leaping to the second platform, Yuki yelping as her feet just barely made it as the ground behind her disappeared into a dissolving matter of code. Rolling onto the next floating isle, she quickly caught up with the Guardians and leapt to the next island, Zane hopping twice in the air to catch and throw her over the wider gap as he slid just a few inches from the edge. "Keep going, these islands won't last!" He hollered to the bluette, Ceres already gliding to the main island where the Baron waited.
Picking up as much speed as her burning legs could muster, Yuki saw the ground starting to collapse so she hopped between the remaining solid structure, dipping her toes against the edge before jumping with all her might, catching her fingers around the edge of the island. Two arms hoisted her up while Zane landed without issue seconds later. "Woah, okay, fear of heights now added to the list!" Yuki shook off the spine-chilling sensation, pulling out her twin Quickfangs. "Where to now?"
"This way, strange though..." Ceres murmured, watching the corners as they travelled right. Various Vex Gates were offline, but the remains of dismantled Vex dotted the area. "...the Vex are already dead?"
"He's no pushover, or she, not judging," Zane shrugged, holding out a beautiful handcannon. White metal coiled around a black frame with care like metallic wind, sharp thorns of gold dotted the black interior of the barrel, the hammer, and butt of the handle sharp and deadly, yet ever-so-graceful. Lumina. "Ugh, Deja Vu anyone?"
~You're tellin' me, first that 'Kell of Kells', then one of Oryx's Echo things, now this? I swear, its like the universe hates us or something~ Rika blew a raspberry at the reality of being back here again.
~Look, up ahead, between the pillars~ Ghost hushed, drawing them down into a crouch as they scooted up the rampart and behind a white wall with a Gate on the opposite side. Peering over the old remnants of Fallen power generators with tubes fixed into the three backmost Portals were active with red nanomachines powering their empty husks, NARA. And there, wearing the banner of the Splicer Devils was the Baron in question, the one that had been elusive for nearly three whole months.
He looked around the size of an Archon now, his armour underwent changes too, now most of his plating had been slimmed down, looking like black glass, and his helmet was now an angular mirror of the same texture with a slit of red for his eyes, four horns now protruding from the crown. The Baron tinkered at a console cobbled together with scrap and NARA, small swarms of nanomachines dancing in the air.
"Let me handle this," Yuki kept her emotions in-check, Ceres clutching her arm to stop her. "Trust me, please," The two stared in silence, clearing mulling it over before Ceres let the girl's arm free, nodding once with her weapon at the ready. Yuki nodded, and stepped up the rampart, moving around to the left and right into view of the sunlight and of the Baron. "You ready, Siva?"
|Ready|
"Oi, chandelier!" Yuki barked, drawing the Baron's head sharply. He stared at her, clearly disturbed by the sight of the girl who was standing tall. "What? Didn't expect me to tank that shot of yours, I'm hurt,"
"You... no, Kovikkel warned me of your... survivability, the very idea of ending your life was more of a fairy tale than fact," He clicked, leaving his console as something spurred to life between the sparking generators. "I suppose you're to blame for my early ejection from the Network, and with help I see..." His eyes followed the commotion in the skies beyond. "The Vex were... incredibly disappointing, they fell for parlour tricks, their parts were very useful,"
"Why are you working for Kovik? Why seal Siva away?" Yuki demanded, holding her ground.
"And you expect me to answer you, Thief?" He mused, rolling his wrist while picking up his spear, red bolts traveling up the shaft to the blade. "I can answer your second query atleast, consider it a reward for being such a persistent little rodent," With a mocking bow of his head, he traced the edges of his weapon with a claw. "With NARA's evolution at hand, to have something so... obsolete was deemed a mockery to its creation, the mere idea anything could hold a candle to NARA sickens us all, more than you know,"
Closing his fist toward her, his visor's glare brightened. "So I was tasked to stamp out SIVA, and test the limits of NARA's capabilities for my master, with each passing day I've grown near to my goal, and then you came along,"
Sensing this was the end of their conversation, Yuki withdrew her swords, a small gust of wind at her feet. "Fine, let's settle this. Now."
"Fine by me, little wretch," He cackled dryly. "You may call me, Fragment, by the way, as I suck your blood from your... corpse!"
Yuki didn't budge when that spear honed in on her chest, she kept her feet apart and her grip steady, she didn't make a sound as the air in the distance, past the noise of broken machinery and crackling magic, a sharp ringing resounded. A blue contrail flew past Yuki's face and struck the Splicer's center mass, knocking the wind out of Fragment as he erected a barrier, deflecting the secondary shot. "He's protecting his chest?" Yuki noted, more of Rayla's long-distance shots pelting the barrier.
That must be the source | The Detainment core is embedded in NARA | Strike now!
She was well ahead of SIVA. Lunging at the Baron, she shattered the barrier with a criss-cross of her swords, plunging both down in a slant, knocking Fragment backward as he threw his spear forward, skimming past the face of Yuki's right blade, nicking her helmet's cheek. She thrust her left but he warped backward, straight onto a trip mine. The red flash as all that alerted him before the backs of the Fallen's shins were blown wide open, then came a volley of crimson bullets, behind Yuki, knelt by the rampart was Ceres. A burst of nanomachines chewed into Fragment while powerful shots tore into his back.
"Uuuh, guys!?" Zane yelled over while loading a new moon clip, watching with worry as the massive damage inflicted on the Baron was quickly patching itself up, rewiring joints and replacing barding in a flash. "Our bullets are healing him!"
"It's NARA, the recovery period compared to SIVA is massive!" Yuki called out, rolling back from the slam of the shock spear, a ring of lightning biting at her soles while the Baron warped in front of her, forcing the girl to cross her sword and brace the slam, bringing her to her knees. "T-The core! His chest!" With a cry, she heaved herself to the left, avoiding the third slam that trailed into a wide slash, carving through her back but not grazing her skin, thankfully.
An orb of golden-white light struck Yuki's hip, and she felt immediately rejuvenated. The Noble Round proved its worth when a vicious haze of red plasma rocketed toward Yuki, her eyes flashed with the memories of both Ceres and Silvis, the weeks of training under their eyes, both textbook and practical. Her right arm swung down, slashing the first blast in half, she spun, striking horizontally with the left into an 'X' with the right and left following each other. Yuki doubled into a backflip, striking vertically with a wind-up of her right arm, then, unleashing Whirlwind Blade with her left, severing the last of the blasts and amputating Fragment's right hand, leaving a burning gash across his stomach. She missed.
"No way..." Fragment snarled, regenerating the lost limb in seconds while his lower left arm caught Zane's hand, throwing him over the Baron's head. Fragment vanished, this time, Ceres was forced out from cover as a bombardment battered her armour. She concealed her rifle and drew forth a scorching broadsword with a leather-bound hilt and T-Guard, the blade was tempered to glow like embers, the base of the blade embroiled with a crest of two armoured hands clutching a downward battle-ax. Flames erupted from her sword as it connected with the red shock spear, orange and red sparks hissing between their strikes as Ceres spun backward from a thrust, stepping once with her blade swung upward, releasing a combustion of flames.
Fragment was blinded, leaving him open to another two sniper rounds to the back followed by Yuki and Zane charging him down from the rampart behind him. To their bewilderment, Ceres crashed into them, and the trio scattered across the ground, evading the plasma barrage from the large wall to their right, again, Fragment teleported, creating a new barrier to follow his chest, keeping Rayla's shot from touching his vital point.
Zane, still on the ground, threw his arm out and fired into the small shield, the knockback barely phased the Fallen who locked the shaft of his polearm with the girls' blades. "How long you struggle to grasp a simple truth, Thief," He released a burst of crackling Arc energy, slashing Ceres' chest while jabbing Yuki in the gut with the blunt side before smacking her across the face with a sharp flick, disarming the girl from the recoil. "Without SIVA, you're nothing but a desperate child crawling in the mud,"
"Gee, thanks!" She spun around, tossing an incendiary grenade to his leg, blowing the limb straight off with Solar Light as Ceres stepped in front of her, Void Light surrounding her body as she expanded her arms, creating a lilac dome to steadily heal Yuki's wounds and Zane's while the Baron skittered back to the Vex Gates. One of which was active. "No..."
|He was stalling|
~I can't get a clear shot, his barriers are too thick!~ Rayla cursed, her sniper rounds pinging off the red dome. Scrambling to her feet, Yuki picked up her closest Quickfang in her right, rushing the Fallen.
"Follow her!" Ceres called, drawing Outbreak while Zane ushered forth a blade of pure blue plasma to his palm, zipping past the Titan in a blur.
"You're not going anyway!" Not this time! She had spent far too long waiting for this moment! "I've been training so hard, and for what!?" Silvis teaching her how to tinker with the likes of a computer and Skiff. "For what!?" Ceres and Zane teaching her to better fight with and the gift she now held in her hands. "For What!?" The day Izuku stared back into her eyes, completely defeated as Katsuki and Shoto were.
"Yuki!" With a buzz across her armour, Zane slipped past her left, blade inverted in his right. "I'll cut a path through, follow the lead and take out his core!" His body was ingulfed in lightning, a vibrant storm of energy rippling from his form. "Let's end this together!"
"Right!" She shifted behind him, watching as he slashed at the air, disintegrating the blasts conjured to intercept them while Fragment worked on the console connected to the gate.
"Hahaha, try as you might, you disgusting corpses!" Fragment hissed, releasing a volley of attacks from behind is barrier from the tip of his spear like a magic staff.
Zane sucked in a breath then began to swing and bend his Bladedancer dagger in a winding motion along with his body, effectively dancing in a flowing pattern, slicing everything in its path with the instant force of a thunder storm. He ebbed and flowed like a current, peeling through the attacks before a single one could dare to impair Yuki's momentum. Overhead, red bursts of bullets challenged the large plasma blasts, popping them with small swarms of nanomachines to attack NARA.
"Concentrate..." Yuki skidded with her left heel into the smooth metal surface, her right bent in the aforementioned direction. She drew her arm back, placing the tip of Quickfang against the edges of her fingers, "Focus on your core muscles, expand your breathing, and push that external force toward your hands and feet," Her eye dilated behind her helmet, and with a sudden burst of force, her body lunged behind Zane's. "Stone Slash!"
Zane dispelled his Light, dipping left as he left a single, wide arc in the air to bring the barrier down, locking Fragment's muscles up before he could step through the gate. He saw the quirkless girl barrelling toward him, that blade of hers poised to tear through his center, straight through NARA's core. A wicked grin coiled and pinched his false lips behind his reflective mask, and the plates along his body condensed in a compact but brief haze of red nanomachines, shrinking him down to the appropriate size.
Yuki didn't relent, watching the shroud fizzle away to - Her body suddenly seized, her heart stopped briefly when she stared back into those distinct emerald eyes, the wind tugging at fluffy dark-green hair. A small, gentle smile crossed those soft cheeks with freckles aligned into a diamond pattern. "... I... zuku...?"
That smile twisted into a sinister grin, a laugh escaping him. Yuki didn't react at all, feeling the pressure smash into her abdomen, shattering her stomaching plating as the force knocked the wind out of her and straight into Zane's arms. Two sets of gunfire hailed down on 'Izuku' but that hardlight shield made short work of that, but it did flicker occasionally. "See you soon, My Flower," He winked, falling backward into the white rift behind him.
Failure ran rampant in Yuki's mind, falling to her knees from Zane's grasp. Slowly, her fists curled up for her smash them into the ground. "Dammit, NO!" That was his power, illusions, but that strength, it didn't feel like NARA, something - no, everything Fragment was felt so disgusting she wanted to hurl. He used the face of Izuku to best her, if only for a moment, and he prevailed, gone from her fingers. Or so she thought... "The rift... it's still active,"
"You're not thinking..." Zane trailed off, lowering his hand. "Oh, yeah, you definitely are - Uh, no, Vex tech is nothing to mess with, ever, that portal could lead to an incalculable amount of realities, some, might I add, could be the very vacuum of space! I don't think you can breathe in space!"
Yuki didn't heed his words, picking her swords up while facing the buzzing gateway. "But... wherever it goes, is where Fragment is," Consequences be damned. "He wanted to go something, that means there's a way back."
"I have to agree with Zane, it's too reckless," Ceres objected, clutching her rifle. "Alone, that is."
"Ceres," Zane was understandably worried, holding her wrist. "Please, this... I don't know what will happen, or If..." He didn't want to imagine it, his hand shaking slightly.
Ceres cupped his hand, giving it a squeeze, "I think you're rubbing off on me too much," She murmured, tapping her helmet off his. "I'll come back, I promise,"
"And she won't be alone," Yuki added, grabbing both their hands too. "Me, Siva, and Ghost will be there,"
It was a very tall over, a gamble with technology not even the Guardians fully comprehended, a technology that has taken many lives already. But a Splicer had pierced it before, twice in Yuki's eyes. There was a way back, and it was through NARA and SIVA. If they could defeat Fragment, they could use the very tech he used to splice the Nexus and return. In theory, anyway.
Gradually, Zane let their hands go, stepping back as Rika appeared. "You better come back," His voice was unnaturally firm, taking Yuki by surprise but Ceres took that as her answer, patting his cheek before turning to the bluette. Both wasted little time, running to the edge of the Vex Gate.
"Bring us back something nice~!" Rika chirped to lighten the mood.
"Be safe..." Zane whispered to them.
"We will," The girls replied, and, without a moment to lose, stepped through in a vortex of blinding white code that pulled them down to the atom.
Somewhere...
Sat amongst the trees on a bright sunny day, a girl with short, messy bluish-white hair peered between the leaves at the rays of sunlight, a pregnant pause in her breath as she wondered out loud. "Why do I feel like I've done this before?" Was it a sense of Deja Vu? She wasn't certain so she shrugged, returning to toying with the screwdriver between her fingers, adjusting the device that looked like a pocket watch in her hand. "Just need a power source... and a big ol' McGuffin,"
She stared at the ceiling of green again. "Say, Universe, you got a spare insignificant thingy I can borrow?" Receiving no reply, the girl went back to her useless work. "Well, worth a shot I guess..."
To Be Continued...
No rest for the wicked once more! Now Ceres and Yuki are jumping between realms after Fragment, and what is the extent of his shapeshifting abilities? What world have they ended up in? And forgive me, I've not written Guardian fights in so long, with the exception of Rayla but as a Fireteam, I tried to give all of them a role to play in this chapter, ensuring to split them up for genuine reasons based on their skill sets.
So Tekres and Morbin for their brutal nature in combat. Hana, Velk, and Akio for their mobility and air control, and Rayla for her long-ranged style hence why she ran on ahead of them to get acquainted with her surroundings. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Guardians!
Next Chapter Intermission: I Once Was Lost
"Nothing good came from Vex Tech," Ceres crossed her arms as the world spun by in a flash of pale blue and white streaks.
"Zane... he lost his friends to the Vault of Glass?" Yuki remembered, looking to Yuki as they floated in the space between time as the Titan sighed, looking around.
"It left its scars, he was against my team heading back to the Vault for the same fear, he was right, as we did lose someone," But her sorrowful look lifted with gentle remembrance. "But he overcame his fears and saved us, and saved me from my own grief..."
Yuki smiled at this, looking forward. "Then let's make sure to return to him, show him that this technology can be beaten," That seemed to brighten the strawberry-blonde's mood.
"I couldn't agree more," She stared at the camera. "In the next world, I Once Was Lost - so, Continue On!"
"Towards the Light!" Yuki cheered.