Chapter 5: Lost Array

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TheClowningPrince: Just some notes so far. You'll find that sentences flow smoothly if you don't use the word 'as' so often. I would look at other transition words to use, or maybe break some sentences up. Also, you mentioned the MC to be two different heights, first 8ft and 10ft within two sentences. Which one is it?

Dragon Emperor0: It's part of his powerset. Sunshine causes Vulcan to increase in power and size throughout the day and decrease as the day wains. His regular height is 6ft and 11in, while his maximum height during his The One state at noon is a behemoth size of 12ft even. About the size of a Fallen Kell. It's an incremental change in between then.

ThermalsniperN7: Thanks for the tip on sentence flow, btw.


-Last City, Earth-

Vulcan turned his pocket watch over in his hand as he tried to think of the person who gave it to him, and despite his best efforts, he was only really able to remember her face.

It wasn't much, but at the very least it would allow him to recognize her if he saw her. Beyond that, he hadn't done much if he were being honest, aside from the occasional bounty.

The only thing that came close to interesting that happened in the past week was the fact that the Awoken Hunter he encountered before at the Cosmodrome had finally returned to the City. And most astonishing–she had the Fallen Randal in tow.

Her name, as he later found out from Amanda, was Sinmara. She was an Awoken who was rezzed in a region of the Reef known as the Tangled Shore.

Beyond that, it was annoyingly boring.

"Hey, Vulcan. I just got word of something that might actually be good." Sentry told him as she appeared.

"That being?" The Titan questioned, sitting up from his bed.

"Apparently there's an array station in the Cosmodrome's Skywatch we could try accessing to get more info on Rasputin." The ghost explained. "If you can get me in there, maybe I can open it?" She added.

"... Alright, let's go. Anything beats sitting here and being bored." Vulcan shrugged, getting to his feet and walking out the door.


(Elsewhere)

-Sea of Storms, the Moon-

In a cave not far from the Hellmouth's main entrance, Alex-7 and his Eliksni companion Aphrodite were huddled inside the cavern while Snake Eyes tried his best to heal up the four armed alien.

They'd just tried to infiltrate the World's Grave in order to get information on what the Hive were planning for Earth–and the two had gotten absolutely routed while trying to slay the Knight guarding the Grave's entrance, causing Aphrodite to become injured.

"Damn! Didn't think they'd be that serious about keeping that thing safe." The Exo cursed with the sigh, sitting next to the brightly colored Eliksni.

"Not much of a surprise, really…" Aphrodite groaned as Snake healed her to the best of his abilities. "The Hive generally don't like intruders." She added.

"We'll need backup if we're gonna get to it, then." Alex sighed as he stood with her.

"Well, I think I may know someone who can help us." Snake Eyes chimed in as he bobbed between the two.

"Really? Who?" The Void Reaper asked.

"You'll see." The drone replied vaguely as he made a call.


(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile back with Vulcan and Sentry, the two were making their way to the Skywatch, all while the Sunbreaker was blasting scores of Fallen and Hive back with Sunshot, causing supernova explosions and destroying everything around them.

"Hmph. Weaklings." The large Awoken scoffed, batting aside a Thrall like it was naught but trash.

They then stormed through the Hive breeding grounds that Alex had discovered before and onto the Skywatch, allowing his Ghost to start hacking the array station after they cleared it of Fallen.

"Okay, give me a minute to deal with this." The Ghost told her Guardian before she got to work. A minute later, a large door could be heard opening. "Vulcan, look outside! The array is activating!" She exclaimed.

This made the Awoken man turn to look, and sure enough, the array doors were opening up and a large satellite dish was rising up.

And almost mere moments later, several Hive Tomb ships started going towards them. Vulcan then took out his machine gun and started trying to gun the ships down.

Apparently they were tougher than a basic Fallen Skiff, so it took more than normal to take them down. He was able to shoot three out of the sky, but the rest got through his anti-air spray.

This then allowed Thralls, Acolytes, and a Knight to start charging towards him, forcing him to form his Hammer of Sol and start throwing it at them.

Explosions and solar fire blew the Hive up wave after wave, but the Knight managed to survive the attack and struck Vulcan with its sword, driving it into his shoulder.

But, due to it still being in the early hours of the day… That didn't do anything. At all.

"Seriously? Is that the best you can do?" He questioned in disappointment, the Knight in front of him quaking in fear.

Taking his hammer, he then drove it down on the creature's skull, causing it to disintegrate. This continued for several more waves, until a wave had a Hallowed Knight attack him, and actually started to drive the Titan back.

Pleased that there was some form of challenge to be had, Vulcan threw a haymaker at the Hive warrior and made it stagger back. Growling, the Knight swung his cleaver down on the Awoken Titan, who dodged it and retaliated with a hammer strike.

However, this was deflected by the Knight, allowing it to strike Vulcan in the back and cause him to fall to the ground. And as the strongest Hive he'd encountered readied its final strike, a disc of void light flew at it and sliced the creature in half.

"What?" The Titan uttered in confusion before he looked and saw a Hunter with a familiar scythe along with a rather brightly colored Fallen. "So, the Dragon Sin comes to join me along with his companion?" He mused.

"You looked like you wouldn't complain about getting some help." The Exo shrugged as he leapt down towards him, helping the Titan up.

"Please. I enjoy challenges." The Lion Sin scoffed before looking at Aphrodite. "Who's this?" He asked.

"Oh, this is Aphrodite. She has no house to call her own." Alex replied, gesturing to her.

"He's not lying." The Eliksni woman confirmed.

"Then I welcome you among our ranks. If you're willing to fight with us, that's good enough for me." The Awoken man told her as he holstered his pistol.

"So, what's going on here?" Alex asked, looking at the fully deployed array dish.

"Me and my Ghost are trying to see what we can unearth about Rasputin, and this array was part of that step." Vulcan explained.

"Speaking of which! You better get over here! It just activated!" Sentry yelled.

This prompted the trio to rush to the control console Sentry was at, and saw that the screens were lit up. They showed Venus, the moon and Mars, likely to say that they were locations of potential interest.

"Looks like Rasputin's everywhere now." Alex noted.

"Apparently." Vulcan nodded.

"But enough of that." Aphrodite told the two before turning to the Sin of Pride. "Listen, we need your help." She told him.

"With what, exactly?" The Lion Sin questioned, raising an eyebrow under his helmet.

"We need to get to a Hive information file on the moon. Problem is, it's heavily defended and the two of us couldn't get there." Alex explained, gesturing to himself and Aphrodite as he did.

"Hmmm, very well." The Titan hummed. "I will help you, since you asked so humbly." He continued as he started walking away. "But not today. My body is far too strained as of right now. Perhaps tomorrow." He added as he transmatted into his ship as it picked him up.

"Sorry." Sentry shrugged as she followed her Guardian.

"Well, at least we got some confirmation that they'll help out." The Eliksni woman sighed.

"True enough." Snake added in agreement. "I'll send Sentry the coordinates to where to go so they'll be ready." He added.

"... That guy is way too arrogant for my liking." Alex sighed in exasperation, before turning around as Aphrodite fell to her knees, almost fainting. "Whoa, hey, are you okay?" He questioned, taking her into his arms.

"Ngh… I think those wounds are starting to catch up with me…" The Eliksni woman hissed, holding her side where a Thrall got a lucky hit in.

"Come on. Let's get you to the Tower so you can rest." The Exo told her as he took the Eliksni and picked her up almost like a groom would a bride.

Aphrodite blushed under her helmet as they transmatted to their ship.


(Later)

While Vulcan was currently going over to Lord Shaxx to speak with him about a weapon commission he wanted to place into the Crucible handler–Alex was carrying Aphrodite to his barracks.

As he did this, he saw a rather large Fallen talking to the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6, and an Awoken female Hunter he knew from a few patrols they worked together.

'Sinmara? And is that Randal with her? When did they get an arrangement?' Alex wondered as he walked, spotting the signs of the two being rather close. Deciding that wasn't something to worry about, he continued on his way.

"Seems like we aren't the only ones building bridges between the Eliksni and the City." Aphrodite noted.

"It is good to see a fellow Hunter joining us in that regard." Alex mused as they entered an elevator and pressed the button for the barracks level.

"I am a bit surprised to see Randal here. I never thought he'd join up with the Guardians." The Houseless Eliksni mused.

"Maybe he got sick of the House of Devils and decided to leave like you did?" The Hunter suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably it. Those guys really did get annoying after a while." Aphrodite deadpanned as they arrived at their floor and started heading for the Exo's barracks.

"Well, don't worry. You're going to have a home right here with me. So you don't have to keep moving around." The Exo told her, looking down into the Spider-Crab woman's four ether pink eyes.

"... Thanks." Aphrodite smiled under her helmet as they arrived at their room and went inside. When Alex sat her down on the couch, she pulled him down with her and started snuggling with him, much to the Dragon Sin's amusement.

"... Man, I hope Elise doesn't shoot me for this…" He mused under his breath, realizing he likely just snagged himself an Eliksni girlfriend with what he'd just said.


(Meanwhile)

In an unknown location, one Elsie Bray perked up and looked around.

"Why do I feel the urge to shoot Alex in the face?" She wondered before shrugging and going back to what she was doing, figuring it was nothing.


(Elsewhere)

And back on the moon, three green glowing eyes illuminated the same cave Aphrodite and Alex were previously in…

Soon this figure came into the light and revealed the shadowed figure of a Hunter in tattered and broken armor limping her way out of the cavern exit of the Hellmouth… A Hive fire shrouded tomb husk grafted with Ahamkara bone floating in her hand as she crawled away.

"I have to… get to… the City…" She groaned, trying to stand up only to fail.

Though as she fell, she inadvertently triggered a patrol beacon–a control beacon that Sentry had her communication frequency tuned to.

Looks like Vulcan Sol had more than Hive to deal with on the moon later on…


Dragon Emperor0: As you can see, guys, this chapter is meant to set up a few things. 1. Eris being brought to the City and her later romance with Vulcan. 2. Vulcan taking over with the lunar missions to start Dark Below a bit early, or at the very least a prelude. 3. Alex going to Venus with Aphrodite to find Elsie and start the search for the Black Garden. And 4. The start of Alex and Aphrodite's romance.

ThermalsniperN7: We really want to move things along, so we may cut a few things out and mention them as already happening between chapters. We haven't decided yet… And Elsie is feeling the urge to shoot Alex. Should we fear for him or get the popcorn?

Dragon Emperor0: I'm thinking both. Also, guys, keep an eye on Sinmara and Randal. They'll become important towards the start of House of Wolves. Same with Aphrodite. Anyway, see you all next time.