Chapter 6: Ferryman: Washington

This chapter and the rest of the Ferryman missions following are in honor of Lance Reddick, our Commander and the voice behind Zavala. He is sorely missed and will forever be with us in spirit. Requiescat in Pace, our dearest Commander.

Review Replies

edboy4926: Awesome chapter. Huh, so Caboose got his old robot waifu back.

Wonder if with the addition of Vex forces, the City's industrial output could increase and R&D old stuff (like maybe Vex that accompany City forces equipped with Project Niobe functions). Tucker with a baby war beast...if he manages to fully bond with it, he will attract female Cabal like Female Krogan to males with scars.

ThermalsniperN7: Yep, the Caboose x Sheila ship has set sail. We decided to avoid beating around the bush since they've known each other for ages, so… Yeah. As for Tucker… Maybe? That's too low for how high he's gonna aim.

Dragon Emperor0: Won't say anymore there.

THATs1l3ntGUY: Hmmm Tucker found a war beast pup. Cabal loves dogs. I'm betting a psion or a colossus just for how things are looking so far.

ThermalsniperN7: Who he hooks up with is a surprise. But yeah, that War Beast pup is as good as adopted.

Dragon Emperor0: Yeah.

-European Dead Zone, Earth-

Mud, silt, foliage and forest rot squelched under the boots of David Washington as he and his Ghost, Alpha–or as he took to calling him, Church–trudged forward through the European Dead Zone after the newly rezzed Sentinel Titan had managed to get coordinates to reach the City.

"Man, this would go a lot faster if we had a ship." Church groaned.

"I didn't realize I died in what would become a dead zone." David shrugged.

"Well, no sense bitching about it. I already sent an SOS to my little brother so he should be coming to get us." Church stated.

"Wait, there's more of you?" Washington questioned.

"Yeah, about twelve others. I'm the oldest." The Ghost explained.

"And the sibling you just called?" His guardian asked.

"Epsilon, or as he calls himself "The memorable one". Pft, kid's a riot." He chuckled.

"Sounds like he might actually be." The Titan chuckled as they walked.

(Meanwhile)

In the Tower hanger, for seemingly no reason, Epsilon looked in a random direction after picking up Alpha's SOS.

"What's wrong?" Tex asked, noticing where he was looking.

"Nothing serious." The memory Ghost replied. "Anyway, Alpha sent me an SOS from the European Dead Zone. He and his Guardian need a ride." He told his Guardian and the Eliksni woman.

"Alright. We can do that after we get Sigma and Xi's Guardians settled in." Noble nodded as they approached Sarge and Tucker as they got out of the Hoverhog.

"You… are still… a horrible ass driver!" Tucker panted as he pried his fingers free from the door frame. He was also holding onto his currently frightened War Beast pup.

"Ah, shut up, numbnuts." Sarge grunted in reply as he casually hopped out.

"Welcome to the Last City, Guardians." Noble said as he approached the two, flanked by Tex. "I'm Noble, this is my Ghost Epsilon, and the Eliksni next to me is Aphrodityss." He told them.

"But everyone just calls me Tex." The Eliksni woman stated.

"Huh. Not too bad on the eyes." Tucker remarked as he looked Tex over.

"Not interested." The houseless Eliksni told him flatly, knowing exactly what kind of gaze he was giving her.

"Yeah, she's not your type." Xi added in agreement.

"Meh." The Hunter shrugged. "... Hey, if me and Sarge are back, does that mean that Caboose, Sis, Church and the rest are too?" He questioned.

"Well, I don't know about this Church guy, but Caboose and Kaikaina are around." Tex stated.

"The latter running a few Lunar missions with another Eliksni friend of ours, Randal." The Memory Ghost explained. "Her Ghost is Xi, Sigma and I's little brother Theta." He added.

"Oh, sweet." The META armor user grinned under his helmet.

"Anyway, we're about to head out and bring the rest of our siblings here." Epsilon told him. "Your Ghosts can guide you to the Vanguard in the meantime." He added before he, Noble and Tex transmatted onto the Prowler and took off.

"Oh, and before I forget. Ask Caboose to introduce you to Anakrisi. She should be able to help you catch up on the stuff you missed while you were uh… gone." The Ghost added via comms.

"Ana– what now?" Sarge wondered.

"We'll find out later." Tucker shrugged before their Ghosts started directing them to the Vanguard hall.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, in the quarters of none other than Michael J Caboose, the blonde goofball Striker Titan was laid out on his bed while his now AI-turned-Vex lover Sheila was bouncing in his lap–both of them on cloud nine.

"Sh-Sh-Sheila, this feels a-amazing!" The blonde dork groaned as his robotic lover bounced on him.

"It feels just as good for me too, Caboose. I have to say, your Spartan physiology certainly doesn't disappoint!" The Rogue Mind moaned as her breasts bounced with every slap against Caboose's thighs.

After another half hour, Caboose flipped them so he was on top and plowing into his Vex woman in the missionary position. Sheila moaned in bliss as she felt her favorite Spartan ravage her in a way only he could.

Yet another half hour later…

"Sheila, I'm close!" The blonde groaned as he felt his balls tighten.

"Do it." The Vex mind told her, wrapping her legs around his waist–and causing him to groan as he erupted inside of her.

(Elsewhere)

-Mara Ibrium, the Moon-

Randal let out a guttural roar as he lifted a Hive Knight over his head and drove it into the ground head first in a tombstone pile driver as Kaikaina stabbed a Thrall that was trying to eat her face through the side of the head, causing it to catch fire.

"I have the Guardian's Ghost!" Theta yelled. "It's dead." He told them sadly.

"Damn it!" Kai cursed.

"Well, we certainly tried." Randal sighed as he looked at the Titan's lifeless body. "Transmat whoever this was to your ship. Leaving the bodies of the deceased for the Hive is disgraceful." He told his Guardian partner.

"Say less." Theta sighed sadly as he transmatted the dead Guardian to her ship. "Though I managed to get whatever this Guardian was looking for." He added.

"What was it?" His guardian questioned.

"Checkpoints. Shrine of Oryx… The World's Grave… and remnants of something called Project Freelancer." Theta listed. "Have no idea what those are." He added.

"They could have some value, though. Let's save them for later." Kai told him.

"I second that." Randal nodded in agreement. "For now though, let's regroup. You should return to the City. I'll wait for you in the Cosmodrome." He added, getting a nod in return.

(Elsewhere)

-European Dead Zone, Earth-

Washington sighed as he sat down on the hood of a car as he and Church reached a collapsed cliffside road, trying to rest after having to run all over the place from search parties of Fallen, Hunters and Grunts.

Why the Covenant was here was a mystery at the moment.

"Damn, those Hunters are a piece of work." Church remarked.

"I can tell." David commented dryly before both of them heard a… chirping noise?

Looking in the direction it came from, they saw a black puma with jade green eyes walking towards them as the former Freelancer pushed aside a clump of bushes.

"Is–Is that a panther or a puma?" Washington questioned before the eldest Ghost scanned the cub, causing it to start chasing the blue light.

"The latter. It's about two weeks old from the looks of it." Church replied.

Wondering why the little cub was approaching them, the Titan started walking towards it. Looking at the giant human, the cub let out another chirping noise and started pawing at his legs eagerly. Smiling, the reanimated Spartan picked it up gently and held it in his arms.

"Why are you all the way out here? Where are your parents?" He wondered as he rubbed the cub's head, causing it to purr loudly.

"Hey, I'm picking up plasma fire traces nearby. Could be more Covenant." Church interjected in his Guardian's thoughts.

"Let's investigate it." The former Recovery-1 agent said as he strapped the cub into a makeshift sling, before pulling out his shield and the plasma pistol he managed to snag off a Grunt.

After turning a few corners, they found a bunch of Grunts cheering while they surrounded a pair of dead older pumas, presumably the cub's parents. The whimper that came from it confirmed Washington's suspicions.

For some reason, this scene really made his blood boil.

"Oh, now these fuckers are dead." Washington growled as he holstered his Pistol and aimed his shield at a concrete pillar near the Grunts and hurled it at it.

This caused the Carbon-Steel and Titanium-Kevlar nanofiber disc to sail through the air and rebound off of the pillar and shoot off at Mach speed–the edge decapitating one grunt, and pinning the other to a tree and nearly slicing its chest in two.

The rest of the Grunts started panicking and running around like headless chickens, allowing the Freelancer turned Titan to gun them down with his plasma pistol. They were leaderless, so it was easy to make quick work of them.

Though the rapid and repeated blasts caused Washington to have to discard his pistol as it overloaded.

"Great, now all you have is your shield." Church groaned as Wash used his armor's magnetic retrieval unit to call his weapon back.

"Relax, I can pick one off their corpses." He responded, taking a plasma rifle from one Grunt, a needle pistol off another, and then a set of uncommon engrams off the rest.

These engrave gave him a rocket launcher, and a full armor set, specifically the Mk. 6 armor set level 6 Titans typically got.

At least he wasn't in new light armor anymore.

"Here, I'll change the colors." Church said as he fixed the colors to black and yellow. "Better?" He asked.

"Much better." David nodded as he let his cub friend nuzzle its deceased parents. "I'm sorry buddy. We couldn't save them." He sighed while he buried them. "But hey." He said, picking the little one up. "You got us now. So don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you." He added.

The cub let out a chirp before nuzzling into the crook of his neck, getting a chuckle in response before they heard the telltale roar of aircraft engines. Looking up, they saw a Prowler coming down for them.

"That's our ride! I'm picking up Epsilon from inside that thing!" Alpha exclaimed.

"Good! We can finally get out of here!" David exclaimed before all three of them were transmatted aboard, and their trip to the City began.

(Later)

"Alpha!" Epsilon exclaimed as he flew towards his brother, nuzzling his shell against Alpha's own shell.

"Hey there, ya little rascal!" The monitor inspired Ghost laughed as he nuzzled his younger sibling.

"Nice to see that the sibling bond is strong between them." Tex remarked with a chuckle.

"So I take it you guys are the people we're supposed to be traveling with?" Washington questioned as he set his pet puma, Loki, on a chair to sleep in his sling.

"Yeah. Name's Tex, this is Noble." The Eliksni woman nodded as she jabbed an upper thumb at her Titan companion as Wash took off his helmet.

The former freelancer had Caucasian skin with fairly well sculpted features, blueish green eyes which had stitching scars on either side, and messy blonde dyed hair with brown roots. And there was also a bullet hole wound through both sides of his neck that was just barely noticeable.

"Say, that's a cool shield. Where'd you get it?" Tex asked as she sat down, pointing at the shield, which seemed to have the insignia of Project Freelancer on it.

"It was there when I found him." Alpha interjected in reply.

"I can answer for myself, thank you, Church." David snapped before composing himself. "No idea where it came from, but it's seriously useful for when I'm too low on power for casting a Super." He shrugged.

"Not bad. I have something similar." Noble nodded, hoisting up Spartan Diplomacy.

"… That's a big hammer." Church stated.

"One of the first real weapons I took a keen liking to. It really came in handy for getting me off of Reach." Noble chuckled.

"Wait, Reach? Epsilon found you all the way out there?" The Monitor Ghost asked in surprise, getting a nod in return. "Damn, didn't think anyone would come from that far out." He remarked.

"Any more of your siblings find their guardians?" Wash asked.

"All of them, actually. We're trying to get them." Epsilon explained. "One even managed to survive in the Infinite Forest on their own two weeks out of the grave." He added.

"What?!" The elder Ghost yelped in shock.

"And her Guardian managed to bring a rogue Vex Mind and its collective back to the City." Tex added, wanting to let Anakrisi's appearance surprise them.

"Seriously? Way to go." Alpha whistled.

(Later)

Back in the city, Caboose was standing with Anakrisi as Tucker, Kaikaina, and Sarge came their way. "Tucker! Hey, Tucker! It's me Caboose!" He called, all of them not having their helmets on.

Tucker was a dark skinned man with short black hair in a military buzz cut, his eyes being a fitting teal color. Sarge, meanwhile, was an elderly gentleman with his gray hair styled in a military crew cut, also having a Swanson styled mustache. Giving him an appearance similar to that of Thadius Ross from the Hulk.

"Caboose?!" The sword wielder questioned as he ran towards the Titan and hugged him. "Hey! It's been way too long little buddy!" He smiled.

"I know! We're both Guardians! It's great!" The Blue Titan cheered.

"Yeah yeah, hooray." Sarge grumbled. "What I wanna know is: What's up with the robot woman?" He questioned, looking at Anakrisi.

"Oh! Right!" Caboose nodded. "Sheila, if you would?" He said, getting Tucker to do a double take.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Sheila? You're alive?!" Tucker exclaimed. "Where ya been, home girl? It's been ages since we saw ya!" He added.

"After the destruction of Blood Gulch, I was beamed into space and ended up in the Vex network by chance." Sheila replied. "This new body is something I made for myself on top of building my own collective, that being the Defiant Initiative." She added, gesturing to her Vex body. She then smiled as she patted her midsection. "A collective that Caboose has graciously helped me increase the numbers of." She added.

This caused Tucker's jaw to drop as he looked at Caesar, his war beast. "Can you believe this Caesar?" He asked his pet as he scratched his ear.

"Knocking up a robot? How in the Sam Hill does that even work?" Sarge wondered with a raised eyebrow.

"That's a story for another time." The Vex themed Titan told him. "Have your Ghosts give her data on you guys, and Sheila will make a simulation designed for each of you." He instructed.

"No need for that on my account, buddy. I'm all good." Tucker told him. "You guys go ahead." He added, stepping aside.

"Okay…" Kai sighed as Theta interacted with Sheila and Sigma did the same…

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile back at the main courtyard, Noble soon arrived with Washington in tow. "Alright guys, just go and meet with Commander Zavala and the Gunsmith Banshee, they should get you situated." He told the two.

"And then we recommend meeting up with Caboose next. He and Anaraski should be able to help you catch up with the stuff you missed when you were, uh… ya know." Tex added.

"Yeah. Point taken." Wash nodded. "See ya then." He added, walking away.

"Hey, speaking of Anakrisi, when are you gonna go see her to get all your memories back?" The Eliksni woman asked her best friend curiously. Yes, she saw Noble as her best friend, since they've been doing a lot together at this point already.

"After we get all of Epsilon's siblings to the City, I think." The Spartan shrugged in reply. "But that's assuming that her simulations will be compatible with me and Epsilon. From what I gather she already knows most of these guys, so it could be unlikely to work." He noted.

"Fair point." The Eliksni woman shrugged. "But you already remember a bit of your past, so she might be able to build a simulation off of that." She pointed out.

"That is true. She could do that." Noble nodded. "Anyway, come on. Let's head to Venus and pick up Eta and her Guardian." He beckoned as he went back to the Prowler.

"Right behind you." Tex nodded as she followed him.

"Hey! Wait up!" A voice called, causing them to turn and see Kaikaina running towards them. "Let me come with you!" The female Hunter gasped as she doubled over.

"You okay?" Noble asked, watching as she recovered. He noted that she was in Hunter armor that was different from when he and Tex last saw her.

Her helmet, oddly enough, had a cloth mask not unlike a classic rogue's design. Her chest armor was gray, and had what looked like a bronze snake on it with a gray stripe reaching her crotch. Her arms had some gray circles on the shoulders as well. She also had a pair of boots and a holster on her left leg.

The whole affair was colored black and gray under the main plating with yellow as the main top color, her lense color being orange and her having on a black cloak that had a yellow interior.

Her cloak also had a symbol on it that Noble didn't recognize, but Tex did. It was an inverted version of the symbol of House Exiles—previously House Stone—that was colored yellow instead of green.

This was the symbol of Randal's newly formed house after assuming control of house Exiles with Kai's help. Known now as the House of Freedom, Randal had assumed control over it after Kai helped him kill the two leading barons. With him becoming its new Kell and Kai… Well, to put it mildly, was implicitly made a Baroness when he privately claimed her as his bride.

Tex knew this because she still had contacts in House Exiles.

"I'll live. I just wanna know if you got room for one more." Kai replied, holding her head. "Oh man, that simulation was a total headrush…" She sighed. Getting memories back via simulation gives headaches apparently.

"Why do you wanna go with us?" Epsilon questioned.

"Because I know who your missing Guardian is." Kai told them, getting their attention as she stood back up.

"Really? Who?" Tex asked curiously.

"His name is Dexter Griff." Kai replied. "And he's…" She continued, trailing off before catching her breath once more. "My brother." She added, shocking them both.

"Guardians with biological ties? That's actually pretty rare." Epsilon commented in surprise. The Traveler chose people at random to become Guardians, and it was extremely rare for members of one family to be brought back together.

One of the only examples was probably Tess and her uncle Finchurch, but that was the only current example.

"Well." Noble said as he stepped aside. "If you think you're up to it, then come on." He added as the Hunter nodded, running on board the Prowler.

"And while we're at it." Tex nodded as the ramp closed behind them. "Why don't you tell me how you managed to bag the Kell of your newly formed house?" She asked in a teasing tone as she sat down in a seat with Kai behind her.

"Um… Well…" Kai tried to say, a blush under her helmet as the Prowler took off for Venus. Noble, who was sitting in the pilot seat, heard this exchange and shook his head.

'Great. Now I have girl talk to worry about on my ship...' He thought in mild amusement as the ship broke atmosphere and entered slipspace.

Dragon Emperor0: Yes, you heard right. Randal the Vandal has taken over House Exiles and become its Kell, and Sister is now his Baroness. And ya know what? Considering how broken he was in-game, I was kinda surprised he never became a Kell in Destiny 2. Like, seriously.

ThermalsniperN7: That is kinda weird, not gonna lie. But he did appear in Wrath of the Machine… If players were (un)lucky enough. Also… we'll be giving focus to our Destiny stories this week in memory of Lance Reddick, the voice of Zavala. The Destiny community will miss him dearly…

Dragon Emperor0: Things will just not be the same without him anymore. Requiescat in Pace, Lance. You will be missed… on a more lighthearted note, though. Everyone say hello to Caesar and Loki! Tucker's war beast has a name and Washington has a Puma named after his in canon cat. That is just adorable.

ThermalsniperN7: So cute! *Clears throat* Anyway, we intended to do Griff this chapter, but detoured to Washington instead. That's not a bad thing, just a pleasant detour from the original plan. Also… I heard from a friend of mine that Lance apparently played Warlock more, despite being Zavala's VA. You know what to do in Guardian Games this year, people: Help the Warlocks bring home the gold in Lance's memory!

Dragon Emperor0: Additionally, we'll be implementing an original exotic weapon in Lance's honor later on. It'll be called Reddick's Lance. Keep an eye out for it.

ThermalsniperN7: With all that being said, see you starside, Guardians.