Prologue - RISE OF A TITAN
Author's notes:
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The present: LOCATION: OLD RUSSIA, THE COSMODROME
Eliksni scampered and crawled over the ruins of rusted vehicles, arc blades and Queenbreaker's Bows in hand. Within one of the cars, a hidden ghost scanned for life forms and possible bodies to revive. She'd been searching for her guardian over the past three and a half years, but luck had been on her side.
Violet as she'd named herself continued scanning as she moved through the vehicles, seeing another pair of skeletons in the passenger seats.
"Ouch." She muttered, pondering what fate befell them when the collapse went down all those years ago.
With all this death and fallen scavenging around The Cosmodrome, she was about ready to pack it in and head back to the city. Until her optic caught the sight of a corpse, not too badly damaged, rotted completely or picked clean by the eliksni pirates.
"Wait a second, could it be…yes, knew I'd find one." She whispered out and opened up her shell, blasting a pulse of light over the body.
Slowly, the being felt sight, sense and return to its body. Muscles twitched with new life underneath its armour.
"Eyes up guardian. Can't believe that worked. You got no clue how long I've been looking for you." A voice rang from the darkness that slowly turned to light as her eyes opened.
"Where am I, who..or, what are you?" She asked the strange white shell floating in front of her, it spoke with a feminine voice and look at her through a single eye or rather an optic if you will.
"Oh me, I'm just a ghost. But now I'm your ghost and you've been, let's just say out of commission for a while now. So ya might see a lot of stuff that's gonna be hard to comprehend. Name's Violet by the way" the ghost said to her lady guardian.
"Uh, nice to meet you, Violet?" The Guardian spoke, unsure of what to make of all this. Until a distant growling caught her ear's attention.
"Shit, The fallen must be scouting their territory. We sure aren't safe here, time to get you to the city." The little light spoke up before materialising into nothing.
"Relax, I'm still here with you, We gotta move inside that big wall, quickly. After all, I wouldn't have brought you back just to get killed." Violet told her, trying to be reassuring.
The new light wasted now time heading for the immense wall before them, a broken doorway leading down rusted hall where dimmed light barely shined through and the sound of scurrying creatures made the walls sound alive.
"What now?" The titan asked her new companion, curious as to how they could deal with these aliens she called Fallen.
"Well if trouble does find us, you'll need a weapon. Come on." Violet told the Lady Guardian
"Alright." She answered her little light.
"Stay quiet, they are right above us. Might need some lightning, let me see what I can do." She told the titan while hacking through the security wiring in the immense room
"Dang hardened military systems and centuries of entropy working against me as usual," Violet grumbled.
A few moments later, the lights turned on to reveal countless fallen scurrying across giant pipes and shanks hoovering in search of hostiles. Before they all trained their eyes on the guardian and her ghost.
"They're coming from us! And I think I see a rifle, go grab it!" Violet barked and the lady guardian made a break for that weapon. Immediately loading the auto rife and adjusting her hand to its grip.
"Oh, I pray that you know how to use that thing," Violet told the titan, her attention then pulled to a scattering shadow ahead. The walls and metal piping clanged with noises, so she checked all her corners.
Suddenly a Vandal and Dreg jumped in front of the ghost and her guardian. The Vandal lashed out with two of its four arms. Without thinking the female Titan gripped her attacker's limbs and twisted them out of shape, putting the rifle to the spine and blasting through it. All the while using her alien's foe's body as a shield, she unloaded rounds into the smaller, less resilient Dreg and it went down with ease. Crumbling like a broken doll.
"Well, that certainly seems like something a titan would do." Her ghost joked
"What's a titan?" The female asked.
"Oh, just the type of guardian you are. A heavyweight fighter." Violet replied with eagerness and glee and could tell she'd made the right choice with this guardian.
"So you're saying I'm fat?" She asked
"Nah, just able to tank a lot of punishment and still be standing tall. Like a sturdy wall." Violet told her light-bearer.
"Right…" The titan replied.
"Their closing in. Not sure if we want to stick around." Violet chirped, and She nodded in response
As they exited the room, a few more fallen came at them. So Her guardian went on the offensive. Guns blazing and hands throwing down.
"You strike with alarming speed for a titan, only a hunter could through a punch with that much swiftness." The ghost joked.
"I could certainly get used to this." The human female spoke from underneath her helm. With the adrenaline now injected into her veins, she tore through more fallen and made her way across the next bridge where a mysterious box sat at the opposite end.
"Ooooo, that's a loot crate. Go open it. See what's inside." The ghost said to the Titan, who wasted no time cracking it open and claiming what appeared to be a shotgun and some stored glimmer. Taking a moment to admire the weaponry before loading it and moving on. Only to stop seconds later in front of a network of red lasers projected by some small devices suspended vertically on the walls.
"Those are, trips mines." The Lady guardian croaked nervously.
"Yeah, you best not touch 'em," Violet replied.
They sneaked under the first two sets of lasers. When more fallen approached and tried to box the duo in, they used the mines against those who set them down. Then pushed further forward, encountering more hostiles and coming to terms with how tight of a hold the Fallen had on the area.
Eventually, they made their way outside, into the divide, where an old tower where a series of abandoned rocketships were attached. But the duo's attention was immediately diverted from the view to the flare that shot into the sky, followed by several Eliksni ketches materialising into view.
"Ohhhhh shit." The titan spoke with that sense of sinking in her tone, they were certainly outmatched in this situation.
"Fallen ships! This close to the surface!? Move!" Violet barked aloud, she'd never seen this many Ketch arrive on earth before.
The sky cracked open as the craft burst into view, all the while An immense, six-legged spider-like tank dropped into the field. Fitted with an immense cannon on its top and smaller machine guns on its top.
"We need cover, now." She said as the walking tank positioned to take its shot at them. A thunderous pop escaped the barrel of the canon as it fired. The shot barely missed her as she jumped down to use a rusted storage unit as shelter.
"Not exactly how I thought our first day was gonna go." The ghost remarked
"How did you think it was gonna go?" Her titan asked from beneath the helmet.
"Oh ya know, just a smooth journey back to the city and traveller, get you up to speed with why I brought you back. Nice and Simple." Violet sulked in response.
"No such luck." Her guardian answered, slightly unnerved by the sound of machine gun fire from that walker.
"Hey who's that?" Said the titan noticing an approaching figure with a trailing cloak and a jet-pilot style helmet out of the corner of her own visor. This figure carried what seemed to be a Green and Blue Scout rifle, a rocket launcher sporting similar colouring slung over his back and a green sidearm with a gold wolf symbol hanging from the holster on one of his legs.
He was aiming at the same walker, which of course shot back with machine gun turret fire but missed as the being dived into a graceful roll before quickly opening fire himself.
"Seems to be a hunter, stealthiest of guardians. Quick on the draw with their guns but even faster with a throwing knife." Violet told her titan.
"I'll see if I can get his attention, hey over here!" She called out, to which this hunter saw her. He titled his head from the hiding spot, trying to gauge which type of lady guardian she was and how long she'd been alive.
"Looks like we got a new light that got on the fallen's bad side." His ghost whispered.
"Maybe so Pinkman, but if she's in trouble it is our job to help her out." The hunter answered.
"Do we have to though? Like, do we?" Pinkman spoke with venomous sarcasm in every word.
"Yeah we do, whether you want to or not." His hunter answered.
"Guessing you are a new light?" He said to the titan.
"A what?" She answered, confusion entangled in her response.
"Don't worry, I'll have you up to speed and to the city in no time." Replied the hunter.
"Hey, I made it this far, appreciate the help though. Where's the city though?" She inquired.
"Oh, just a quick flight away. Though every guardian's ship is a single seater so…" The hunter's words trailed off his tongue in that last comment.
"Right. Guess we'll need to get through that spider tank first though before I can even think about finding a ship." The titan replied, trying to make light of this situation.
"Yeah, that fallen walker ain't exactly gonna wave a 'permission to pass' sign" He joked.
"Hmmm, I might have an idea for how to take it down. But I will need a distraction." She told her new ally.
"So you need something that'll draw its fire but at the same time is too fast for it to…oh, I'm the decoy aren't I?" He answered, seeing what the titan was thinking.
"It is pretty simple, you draw that walker's fire while I move in to weaken it then you make the kill shot." The titan said.
"Hold up madam, we ain't here to play canon fodder for some titan we just met." Said a voice who sounded a little apprehensive about trusting this kinder guardian.
"Don't worry about him. That's my ghost, Pinkman. He's not mad, just a little stubborn. You can call me Herbert" he told her.
"I'M NOT STUBBORN!" His ghost barked
"That's enough Pinkman, so what's the plan, madam?" Herbert turned to the lady titan
"How good is your aim?" She asked with a polite tone
"I rarely miss my shot, and I make every hit count." He smirked
"Good, cuz we'll need that accuracy" She gave him a playful grin and they put the plan into action
Herbert moved into the open and drew his RPG to open fire on the walker. Sprinting with haste to avoid the laser tracking and immense cannon.
"Alright, let's move in." The titan told her ghost.
"Go for it!" Violet yelled as she hid herself
The lady titan charged forward and without a second spared she slid underneath the distracted walker, arc energy engulfing her right fist as she threw an uppercut into the Eliksni's war machine underside Cracking open its front area. Exposing circuits.
"Herbert, now!" She yelled.
Instinctively, the hunter took a leap with a blazing solar pistol in hand and struck a critical shot at the walker, disabling it instantly as it short-circuited and collapsed in an explosive deactivation.
"Damn that felt good! Nice shot as well." She said
"Thank you, not too bad yourself." "Herbert told his fellow guardian.
"So, that's what it feels like to use light eh?" Replied the titan
"Pretty much, I used solar light and seems you have been blessed with arc lightning." Said the hunter.
"Heh, pretty shocking am I right?" The titan laughed.
The words made her ghost roll as a human would roll their eyeballs, groaning as she did.
"Ma'am, not even an hour being your ghost and you are already making a pun?" Violet asked.
"Hey, gotta bring the thunder at some point, Violet." Her guardian replied.
"Ugh, guess you got are right. Still, we owe you one." Her ghost said to the hunter.
"Don't worry. They'll be plenty of time to pay me back we're all back at the city, if you need a ship I saw one just across the way just before the steppes. It ain't exactly in the best shape but should be able to handle a short flight back. He said pointing to the building behind the titan.
"We'll check it out and thanks." She said.
"It's what I do," Herbert replied smoothly, before heading off further into the divide.
"Come on Violet, let's go!" She told her ghost with a gleeful, adrenaline-induced vocal tone as they sprinted off.
"There's our ship, now let's clear them out." The ghost chirped and the titan opened fire on the enemy.
"We're clear, now let's see if I can get this old bird running," Sheila said as Violet began to inspect the hanging craft above them.
"Huh, definitely been here a while. Likely hasn't made a jump in centuries. Lucky for us the fallen ain't picked the old girl clean." Violet, was a little apprehensive about flying the ship. She'd just found her guardian and didn't need the titan getting killed on day 1 in a crash landing
"Think she'll fly though?" The titan enquired, a little anxious herself about putting trust in an old rust bucket.
"Relax, I can make her work." Her ghost reassured the titan. Seconds later, the air vehicle's engine and thrusters hummed with a bellow. Now it hovered steadily above the ground
"K this baby won't break orbit but will get us to the city, now about that transmat…" the lady ghost trailed off. While her titan turned just in time to see a Fallen Archon emerge from the tunnel with Vandals in toe.
"Bringing you in sis." The Ghost called and transmatted her Titan into the vehicle's cockpit. It didn't take long for them to steer the ship clear of the destroyed building's gaping roof as their Eliksni pursuers opened fire.
"We can come back for another round with them when you are better armed. Let's get you home." Violet told her as their ship took off and departed the cosmodrome. Unbeknownst to the hooded figure watching them fly into the distance.