As Osiris approached the plaza near the Eiffel Tower, he could hear the sounds of explosions and Vex weapons fire coming closer. To their credit, he could see the French Police had set up a barricade of cars in a half-circle to provide cover, and they were forgoing their sidearms in favor of long rifles. The Vex forces consisted of ten Goblins leading the charge, four Hobgoblins to the rear in sniper positions, two leading Minotaurs, and in the back…the Escalation Mind itself.
The Vex Mind had already constructed a Conflux, and was likely transferring the data it had collected to the Collective's network. Osiris gritted his teeth and revved his Sparrow, charging headlong into the fray.
As the Police turned around at the noise of engines, Osiris kicked upwards and off of his Sparrow, launching the hoverbike towards the Goblins. Then, he drew one of his various Vex-tech modified weapons, in this case a Scout Rifle, and fired several shots into the Sparrow's engine.
The resulting blast took out four Goblins, and the remaining Vex immediately snapped to focus on Osiris, recognizing him and the threat he posed. Upon seeing him take cover next to them, one of the Police officers looked at him in surprise, mostly due to Osiris exchanging his civilian clothes for his usual combat robes, which were armored.
"Merde! Where'd you come from? Who are you supposed to be?"
"That doesn't matter right now, focus on the battle at hand!" Osiris retorted, dropping two additional Goblins with shots to their cores. The two cyborgs' Radiolaria cases exploded, leaving only their legs to keel over and fall to the ground.
"Listen up!" Osiris barked again, making each officer flinch noticeably. "Aim for the white core in their chest, that's their primary weak point. Use your long rifles primarily, those pistols won't do enough damage. Stick to cover, and keep your heads down."
"What about the large one in the back?" an officer called.
"That one is mine." Osiris stated, stepping out of cover and tapping into his Light. Engulfing himself in flames, which coalesced into an ornate sword, he leaped into the air on wings of Solar Light. This particular usage of Solar Light was a Sunsinger technique called "Daybreak". Virtually unheard of except for the most exceptional Warlocks in the Tower, Osiris had only recently mastered its usage in combat.
As he swung the sword, waves of flame impacted against the Vex infantry, melting them down into slag with great ease. As Osiris focused on the front, Paris's resident heroes dove in from the rooftops.
"What's going on?" Ladybug called to the officer in charge, who merely motioned over his shoulder to the fight in front of them.
"That's something you don't see every day…in fact it's rather purr-plexing!" Chat Noir quipped, only to have to leap out of the way as a Minotaur's Torch Hammer sent several shots his way. As Chat Noir drew his staff, he lunged at the cyborg, only for it to vanish right in front of him. As he scanned the environment, the Minotaur reappeared behind him.
Before he could even cry out, the Minotaur's clawed left hand had grabbed Chat Noir by the throat. Ladybug threw her yo-yo, in an attempt to pull the cyborg off balance, as she aimed to land a kick to its midsection.
However, a dull purple forcefield erupted, and protected the Minotaur from the impact. The Vex Unit turned to face her, with her yo-yo still wrapped around its hand. With barely any effort, the hulking cyborg swung Ladybug up and over its chassis, and onto the ground.
Ladybug gave a howl of pain as she impacted, leaving a crater in the pavement beneath her. Then, the Minotaur turned its attention back to Chat Noir, raising its Torch Hammer directly to the feline hero's temple.
Then, a small orange orb stuck fast to the Minotaur's head, and began to glow brightly. Chat Noir kicked himself away with help from his staff, just as the Fusion Grenade detonated. The Minotaur's shields were destroyed, and the unit itself was knocked for a loop. As Chat Noir helped Ladybug to her feet, Osiris approached with a raised eyebrow.
The Minotaur weakly raised its Torch Hammer again, but with a snap-hiss and a roar of flame, Osiris incinerated the Minotaur with a single wave of his hand.
"You two are Ladybug and Chat Noir?" he asked.
"That's us…and you are?" Ladybug asked, clearly confused by
"I am Osiris, and now is not the time for introductions such as this." he responded, casually ducking under the second Minotaur's clawed hand. With a nonchalant air, he attached a second Fusion Grenade to his attacker, and sent another wave of flame out from his hand.
The grenade detonated, which killed the Minotaur, and the melee attack sent its flaming chassis towards the remaining Goblins and Hobgoblins. What happened next was comparable to a bowling ball knocking several pins aside. Except the ball was a flaming hulk of scrap metal, and the pins were several unfortunate Vex units.
As the Vex stopped moving and their cores went dark, Osiris turned to face Ladybug and Chat Noir, and then to the Escalation Mind. The Mind stood up, looked at the three of them, and emitted a mechanical sounding groan of anger.
However, it soon vanished in a flash of blue light, and the Conflux faded away into nothingness. Osiris huffed in annoyance, realizing the infantry had been stalling him in order to protect the Escalation Mind, and ensure it finished whatever task it was ordered to do.
"Odd." Sagira said in Osiris's mind. "I got some data from the conflux while you were Vex weren't interested in a drawn-out battle, they were trying to lure in our two superheroes for some reason."
"Good to know." Osiris murmured. Then, he looked at the two speechless heroes with a sigh of frustration.
"You two had no idea what you were doing, getting involved in this." he sighed. "However, it seems that if the Vex are so interested in you, then I suppose I'll have to work with what I've got."
"The Vex?" Chat Noir asked. "Are those the robots that we just fought?"
"Yes, and I fought them. The both of you only got in the way." Osiris huffed. Ladybug and Chat Noir began to speak in protest, but Osiris raised a hand to silence them.
"Spare me whatever it is you were planning to say." he placed a hand to his forehead in frustration. "You two may have plenty of experience fighting Alumatized supervillains, but you have absolutely faced nothing like the Vex. You charged right into the battle without any sort of a plan or strategy. Your focus on getting in close with a staff and…yo-yo...left you vulnerable in the approach, a mistake that was easily exploited."
"Finally, I may not need your help to stop the Vex, but you will definitely need mine." Osiris added.
"Then how are we supposed to fight them?" Ladybug asked incredulously.
"You can't…" Osiris began to say, but then he turned to the side and began to mumble under his breath for a few moments, before he turned back to the two heroes.
"...but I suppose with my help and tutelage, you can learn." he sighed, before turning back to the lead police officer, who immediately straightened his posture.
"Keep this scene contained, and destroy the bodies of the dead Vex," he ordered. "I cannot overstate that there is nothing for you to learn from their technology, and those that do so while unprepared are driven to insanity. If you cannot do that, then lock them in a secure container and throw away the key. Do not let anyone access them."
"Yes, sir." the officer replied, and they quickly began pulling the scrapped Vex into a rudimentary line for pickup. The lead officer quickly began speaking into his radio, and before long, several vans appeared, marked with the logo of the Paris Police and the text "HAZARDOUS MATERIALS DISPOSAL TEAM" on both sides.
"What happens now?" Ladybug asked Osiris, who merely motioned to a nearby cafe, whose lights were still on.
"Now, I shall teach you about what it is we are up against…and how you can survive it." Osiris replied. The two heroes nodded and followed behind him quietly, unsure of what was to come.
