The Shadows of Primus Umbra set out into the Sol system, preparing in their own ways to bring the fight to the Forgotten. Ace, Ryan, Wolf and Pyro moved to tear down a facility and hijack a weapon of war while Shade had journeyed to find weapons of mass destruction constructed by his hand, in a lost bunker deep within the sands of Mars. The 5 of them had found relative success in their missions. Their 6th, however, wasn't having the same luck.
He'd landed on IO hours ago, and made contact with his asset in mind. A rickety Warlock, fidgety, agitating, but brilliant all the same, even with a piece of himself missing, had been the target of Hades' quest for answers. His name was Asher Mir, and he was famous not for his massive intellect, but for his short fuse and temperamental spattering, the Man was truly a pain in the ass to work with. But, Hades knew that if anyone would know what to make of this chimera of races, it would be him. Of course, he'd have to do a favor for the man too. Asher was not totally unreasonable, but he'd want some sort of payment for his time.
Hades walked along Io's geyser field, Ronin followed closely beside him as they approached the Warlock and his equipment. Asher had preferred to work in the field, close to his subjects and it showed. Tubes and wires connected to laptops and machinery. Sensory fields lie in a pool of Radiolaria, scanning the Mind fluid while also powering his equipment. It was a clever set up, though cleaning that equipment must've been risky.
Hades approached Asher, nothing in hand.
"Well?" The afflicted Awoken snapped at him. "Did you bring me what I asked for?!"
Hades looks to Ronin, who nods.
Ronin transmats an object from a green beam out of thin air and to the ground with a large thud and clank. Asher inspects the object, and finds that it's the head of a Gatelord, completely intact, severed from the rest of the oversized Minotaur's body.
"One Gate-lord's eye, as requested." Hades said calmly.
"I asked for its eye, not its head. I expect this kind of brutality from a Titan."
"I don't carry a knife on me." Hades Shrugged. "Still, there's an Eye in there somewhere."
Asher Sighed. "I suppose there is…what is it that you need?"
Hades pulled a vial full of white and green liquid out of his robe pocket. "Just an analysis please."
Asher took the vial and ran it through his sensory data.
"Hmm…" He pondered, curiously scanning the results of the scan for interesting tidbits and information. "What you've brought me…it's quite astounding. The Cells in this fluid seem to have radiolaria merged into their vacuoles, Mitochondria and cell wall."
"I'm sorry, what?" Ronin asked the Warlocks.
"The Wizard's Cells are merged with Vex Milk." Hades filled him in.
"Quite. But this is atypical to any Vex conversion I've ever seen." Asher held the vial in his hand and up to the light. "The Radiolaria aren't converting the Cells, in fact they've replaced the Cells most vital components and, if anything, amplified them to be more efficient. As if, it were the result of an evolution several thousand generations in the making."
"No, that can't be right." Hades crossed his arms, deep in thought. "Hive get to be old, ancient even. But Several hundred Generations? That's not right."
"Right or not, it's what we're looking at. I'd love to get another sample of whatever specimen you took this from." Asher handed the vial back to Hades. "The findings could help greatly." Asher grimaced, holding his side with his stand in Vex arm. It bled Radiolaria, and there were no signs of scabs or natural defenses to protect it. He would never draw concern, but Hades knew plain as day that cell by cell, piece by piece, he was becoming one with the Vex. The Man needed that breakthrough. Perhaps more than Hades did.
Hades uncrossed his arms and pushed the vial back into Asher's hands. "Keep it." He said. "I'll bring you a bigger sample next time, though she won't be living."
Hades turned around and walked down from Asher's field office. He raised his hand, summoning Ronin to it. The Silver Ghost floated over and prepared to transmat them both.
"You're Hades, yes? The Warlock that runs with Titans and Hunters?"
Hades was quiet for a second before answering. "I am." He said simply, turning his head slightly to look back at Asher.
The Awoken Warlock let a smile escape his lips. "Don't let them see you bleed, Warlock."
Asher could not see it, but Hades grinned under his helmet, he nodded before Ronin transmatted them off of the Moon and into the Holborn's Splint. They'd found out a great deal more about this Wizard and her biology, but there were still questions to be answered. So, Hades and Ronin continued on their quest.
Their quest took them to Mercury, specifically the gateway to the Infinite Forest, a planet wide network used for Simulations. Therein, they made contact with the legendary Osiris, or rather one of his reflections - a Paracasality based simulation of him. They knew that Mahren was part Vex, somehow. Now, they needed to know to what extent.
Hades recounted his encounter with the Forgotten Confidant. Of their battle from the Primus Umbra Living room, into a realm that was not quite right. How it was like some bastardization of an ascendant realm and Vex gate network. Large, yet quite empty. How, in fact, it resembled the atmosphere of the Infinite Forest, only in neons and bright lights. He told the Reflection everything and it listened intently. When he had finally finished, Hades looked to the Reflection for Guidance.
"Well? What do you think?" Hades asked the Golden after-image.
"What I think…" It began, voice echoing through many different simulations and timelines. "...Is that you already know the answer to that question."
That was about as unhelpful an answer Hades could have asked for.
"Ah, no. I have theories. But an answer is far and outside of my current state of mind."
"Then that's where you'll find your answers, in theories." The reflection floated along, motioning to the entirety of the Infinite forest. "Theories as vast and as seemingly infinite as this network. Among them you'll find your answer. But, given that you've already visited the one called Asher-"
"How did you...?"
"-I'm confident you'll land on a hypothesis that will prove to be fact. You already know your answer." The Reflection spread his arms, forming a portal leading back to the entrance of the Infinite forest. "Come." It beckoned. "You've two more to meet before you wage war with the Forgotten. Be wary, young Warlock: Those that shine the brightest, also cast the longest shadows. ".
Hades was, for once, somewhat lost on Osiris' words. He provided absolutely no useful information to the Armored Warlock, and left him more frustrated than anything. Not wishing to waste anymore time, Hades nodded in agreement and the Reflection went off and entered the portal, exiting the Infinite Forest, somehow leaving with more questions than he had entered with. Likewise, Ronin was just as confused.
"Do you have any idea what he was going on about?" The Little light questioned.
"None." Hades sighed, his trip to Mercury wasted. "It's always riddles and trials with that guy."
Before Ronin can respond, the Clan comm network buzzed inside the Warlock's helmet. He was getting a call.
"Talk to me." He answered, getting straight to the point.
"Shipyard's almost taken, these guys are falling back." Ace said, the sounds of gunfire and paracausal energies echoing at the back of his call. Hades could even make out the distinct 'clang' of Ryan's Burning Maul, followed by several serious sounding explosions. "Never Run from a Burning Maul!" Hades heard the Exo say in the background of Ace's commline. "You'll only die tired and burned!"
"As you can probably tell, things are going well." Ace added.
The Voidwalker smirked. "Glad to hear you guys are having fun." He said with a rather genuine smile. "Once you've kicked the squatters out, have your ghosts inspect the shipyard's inventory. There should be something waiting for you. Let me know what we need to get in in the air and I'll make it happen."
"And how do you know they've got a ship out here?" Hades could visualize Ace raising an eyebrow with suspicion as he asked his question."
"I know people." Hades replied. Love his clan as he might, he wasn't exactly ready to disclose his status as one of the Hidden - and all that that entailed - to them just yet.
"Uh-huh…" Ace wasn't entirely sold on Hades' explanation, but the battle behind him couldn't be ignored anymore. "I'll call you back soon."
"Depending on it."
Ace hung up, leaving Hades quite content. Things were proceeding very well, in a short matter of time they could enter the fray and chase after these Forgotten and that made the Warlock feel as accomplished as he did anxious, which was an emotion Ronin seldom saw in the Man.
"Well?" The Light began, trying to keep up the Momentum and take Hades' mind off of the battles yet to be fought. "Osiris said that you have two more people to see before we can step into war. Who did you have in mind?"
"Honestly, I was only going to talk to one…" The Voidwalker confessed. "Remember when we chased after her? The realm we entered?"
"Yeah, it didn't quite feel Ascendant. I could sense no darkness. Infact, the only paracausality I felt was us."
Hades was relieved to hear that, though also perplexed. He was busy fighting the Wizard, so he hadn't been paying too much attention to his surroundings. But one thing was unmistakable, as it was consistent with Ronin's findings. He could feel no darkness in that realm they traveled in, which both Guardian and Ghost knew was impossible. To form a Throneworld, you need to abide by the Sword logic, the law of the Darkness and the commandment of the Hive. To wield Darkness was to manipulate the causal space through emotion-fueled Paracausal might. Without it, a wound in reality could not be torn and a Throneworld could not be formed.
"I knew it wasn't just me." Hades replied. "But still, a third opinion couldn't hurt. And there's only one man in the reachable Sol system that can offer that."
"Mmm." Ronin grumbled. He knew exactly who the Warlock was referring to, and that gave him pause. Being an expert in Darkness was not synonymous with someone who was trustworthy…
Hades and Ronin made their way back to the Last City, to Tower North. For there in the recesses of the military installation, positioned in the Vanguard's blindspot, their 'man with the 3rd opinion' skulked. The man considered himself a 'Light hiding amongst a sea of Light'. He schemed and plotted with the side hustle he'd dubbed 'Gambit'. He called himself 'Drifter' and he had access to a means to an end.
Tethered to his ship, The Derelict, the Drifter had somehow managed to wrangle himself a pocket of the Ascendant Realm. It was there that the Taken and Primevals he employed for his side hustle originated. And, it was with him that Hades would - hopefully - find his answers.
Hades and Ronin entered a backroom lit in emerald light, not far from the Tower Bazaar where Civvies sold their goods and food to Guardians and other Tower Workers. The Warlock crouched under a gate and came to the sight of the Drifter speaking to a squad of hunters.
"Mmm, mmm! Look at this haul!" He marveled at a scanner in his workspace. On the screen, what looked like a vat of black and white energy was filled to the brim. "Y'all really hooked me up here."
"Yeah, yeah." One of the Hunters started, clearly not interested in the true implications of the Gambit they'd played. "We're here for our cut."
"But of course, brother!" The Drifter shifted aside and transmatted a cart of weapons between himself and the other lightbearers. "Here. Got ya all set up with some dark age tech. Real vintage compared to the stuff you find nowadays, but it'll do you good. Trust."
The Hunters picked from the cart, one took a pulse rifle named Bygones, another a Scout called Distant Relation. The third loaded up on a Sniper named Dreaded Venture, while the last picked a Hand cannon, which seemed to hype Drifter up the most.
"That there's my favorite piece. I call it Trust, always carry one on me cause Worlds End and when yours does you'd best make sure you have a partner you can rely on."
Of course, Dark Age guns weren't the only thing they were paid with. Glimmer, Enhancement cores, Upgrade Modules, the payout was decent. So much so that it allowed the Hunters to ignore the Drifter's ramblings and go on their merry way. "Remember, don't talk about Gambit!" The Man said as they turned and left the vicinity.
As the Hunters left, Drifter noticed Hades standing there.
"Well, well. If it isn't my favorite Warlock, or should I call you Dredgen these days? You keeping that Exotic piece you and I built in check? Seen you use it the other night, you're getting real good at killin' other Guardians."
"Easy Drifter, I'm not here to talk Gambit today."
"Oh but why not my brother? You bank more motes, burned more Primevals than I can count and put more Guardians in the ground without using any of that fancy Linear Rifle crap. You keep it old school, and I dig it. Plus, I mean look at you! Black and Green from head to toe, boy you were born for Gambit."
"For real man." Hades insisted. "Not here for Gambit. But I am here to see about dropping a body."
"You lookin to drop someone?" Drifter questioned. "Who would wanna mess with someone named after the God of the underworld?"
Hades looked to his ghost, Ronin nodded and came forward, interfacing with Drifter's scanner and displaying an image of Mahren-seth for the man to see. Now, the Drifter had seen many abominations in his lifetime, but the Wizard on the Holo was a special kind of sort.
"Ooh-wee. Yeah, she looks like she crawled outta the same place you got your name." He gested. "What kinda beef you got with a Wizard that looks like that?"
"She…took a friend." Hades hesitated, not quite sure if Cletus was still alive or not. "I'm looking to get him back, but first I need to know something."
"Ok. Ask and I'll deliver, friend." Drifter grinned.
"That mass of Dark energy you tow around on your ship, I want in."
The grin dropped from the Drifter's face. He looked at Hades, perplexed. "No you don't." He said, plain and simple, replacing his normally friendly tone with a serious one. "That aint a gamble you wanna take."
Hades crossed his arms. "I can handle myself."
"Not against what's in there, hotshot. I promise you, you aint felt darkness like that."
The Drifter's shift in tone was making Hades and Ronin wonder just what he kept in that ship. They must've had the same perplexed look on their faces, because even Drifter seemed to catch wind of it and decided to throw them a bone.
"You really wanna feel the Ascendant Realm that bad?"
"I need to confirm something." Hades stood firm and resolute.
"Hmph, yeah I bet you do." The Drifter scoffed, eyeing the Warlock up and down before reaching a decision. "Follow me."
The Drifter parted a curtain in the back of the tower and walked through, Hades and Ronin followed him in. They walked deeper into a long vacant storage room in the tower lower level, it was devoid of foundry storage, but there were a few shipments of Tex Mechanica weapons bundled up and put in place, clearly taken from their original carrier. In the back of the room, something tall and wide sat draped in tarp. The Drifter walked closer to the tarp, while Hades and Ronin watched.
"Tell you what, I like you kid, you put in work and we all get paid. I hooked you up with that Taken killing piece you run around with, granted you the Title of Dredgen, and brought you into my crew, you earned all that. This one's on the house…"
Drifter pulled the tarp off, revealing a clear, cylindrical vat half filled with Dark ethereal energies.
"Is that a Mote bank?" Ronin asked.
"Half full of Darkness?" Hades added. He turned and snapped his gaze at the Drifter. "You just keep a clot of Darkness in the Tower's basement?!" Oh, the report he was going to have to file with Ikora over this…
"Relax, It ain't volatile, so long as it doesn't leave that tank, you're all good." Drifter invited Hades to get closer. "You probably ain't seen this much darkness before, huh? Why don't you confirm your sensibilities and go for a swim?"
Hades hesitated. Drifter was right, he'd never been in contact with so much raw darkness before. But, he needed to be sure. He took a step forward, before Ronin turned back in shock.
"You're not actually going to do this, are you?"
Hades didn't answer as he began to rise up above the mote bank on paracausal power.
"Hades, it's raw Darkness." Ronin continued. "Remnants of Darkness in the air makes it difficult, or sometimes even impossible for me to bring you back. Putting yourself in that much? I have no idea what's going to happen to you."
"I'm not going in, I just need to be around the stuff for a moment, that's all."
"Even so, this is dangerous and unsanctioned. Even for you."
"Well, you know what they say,." Hades hovered in the air, putting his hands under the lid of the bank. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained…"
Ronin watched on, visibly uncomfortable while Drifter watched in awe as the Warlock Hades gently pried open the bank. Immediately, he could feel the full weight of the dark energy. It constricted his mind; crushed his senses. The Warlock visibly recoiled at the mere presence of the stuff. It wasn't long before he'd gone still, his acutely tuned Warlock senses becoming so overwhelmed that he began to dissociate from his own body.
The Warlock was starting to hallucinate. He saw many things in the Dark…
Agony.
Pain.
Death.
And he was caught out in the middle of all of it.
Around him was a Dark forest. Bodies lay at his feet, some he didn't recognize, many he did.
Ace.
Wolf.
Ryan.
Pyro
Shade.
His friends, Primus Umbra, lay at his feet in pools of blood that soaked the Earth. He looked down at his hands, they were caked in blood…and he was holding a weapon.
A Hand Cannon, only it was not his beloved Old Fashioned, nor was it the Malfeasance he'd constructed with the Drifter. The weapon in his hand shared a familiar frame with his beloved Old Fashioned, but it's metal was twisted, splintered. It lacked empathy or romanticism and instead brandished something sinister and malicious.
The Hand Cannon's barrel was splintered. Its handle was jagged and wrapped. Its revolver was dirty gold with a kind of gear tooth binding. It certainly wasn't his Old Fashioned…and yet, it felt just the same just turned into a weapon of Darkness. A New Purpose, Jagged, Angry and Thorny, and he'd committed Dark acts with it.
Suddenly he could hear a voice. It was faint, weak and fading fast. He turned to his left, the voice's familiarity was coming back to him.
"Ronin?" He asked. The Warlock turned; there he found his Ghost in pieces on the floor.
Ronin's shell was shattered and cracked. The light was leaving his core and he looked to Hades with open, pleading eyes. "Hades…" He begged the Warlock.
Suddenly, Hades' firing arm began to raise. This was command he hadn't given it, an order he could not stop. Slowly, he raised the jagged weapon towards his friend. Against his wishes, tension in his finger tightened around the trigger. The hammer slowly pulled back and the cylinder began to move. Try as he might, the Warlock had no control of his body.
He began to panic, "Stop, stop!" He pleaded to himself. But his body just did the exact opposite. It was like he was watching someone else through his own eyes.
He felt his finger squeeze down on the weapon's modified hair trigger.
BAM
A flash of light. A loud noise. And suddenly, he was suddenly back in that tower basement, hands still on the lid. Ronin was before him, a worried expression painted across his face. A thin trail of gunfire rose to the ceiling. A Handcannon was shot, but it wasn't the one Hades'd been holding. He looked aside to see Drifter aiming his Hand Cannon up into the air, wearing a scowl on his face.
Hades shut the lid and dropped to the floor, darting to the back of the room, desperately trying to get away from the Darkness in that container. Ronin followed him. "Easy, easy! It's alright, you're still with us." The little light Pleaded.
It took a moment for Hades to register what had happened. He reached for his ghost with his right hand, but stopped just before he touched him. This was the same hand that held that weapon, the same one that pulled the trigger and that gave him pause.
Ronin could see the conflict within his Guardian and he pressed himself against Hades' hand, completing the gesture on his own. The gesture soothed the Warlock, and began to ground him back in this reality.
Hades reached his holster with his left hand, removing the Hand Cannon within, it was The Old Fashioned, Shaded in Midnight Talon, like it had always been. The Warlock breathed a sigh of relief as he set the weapon down.
"Whatever you saw, whatever happened, it wasn't real." Ronin reminded him. "You're alright."
Hades' breathing started to slow back down. He clasped at his chest, removing the front armor piece, and feeling his heart; it was racing. He was having something of a Panic attack, the first and only one he'd ever had in his life.
Drifter approached the two, stowing his Trust in his holster. "You didn't even try to fight it." He began, his scowl changing to a look of utter disappointment before Hades' eyes. "It called to you, and you didn't even try to fight back…" The Drifter's scowl was replaced with a somewhat somber-filled smirk. "You really are part of my crew, huh?"
Hades would not answer.
Drifter knelt down to the Warlock's side. "So…you get the answers you were lookin' for?"
Hades nodded. "Yeah." Was all he could make out at first. Ronin expanded, healing his body and relieving him of the panic attack. "Yeah…she's not Ascendant. I'm sure of it now."
"Gonna go to war with her?" Drifter asked.
"I was gonna go regardless of her status." Hades answered.
"Good, it'll be interesting if nothin' else. I'm pretty sure there'll be no one left by the time you're done." Drifter stood back up, and started moving towards the bank. "Best get a move on. And don't tell anyone 'bout what you saw down here."
Hades got to his feet and Ronin followed. "Only…" He began, a wave of embarrassment washing over him. "...Only if you do the same."
The Drifter made a zipping motion across his lips, theoretically sealing them. That was all that Hades needed to see.
Hades left the basement and the Drifter's corner, but not before overhearing Drifter one more time. "Go be a bad guy." The Man said with a smirk as the Warlock headed back outside to get some air.
Along the Tower wall, Hades leaned along the guard railing. He removed his helmet and just let the wind soothe him. Ronin watched on in silence. Whatever happened down there, Hades would tell him on his own terms. Someday. But, as a call on the Umbra network came in, the Ghost knew it wouldn't be today.
The Ghost approached hades, his central eye blinking with the call. The Warlock nodded, and Ronin put the call through, using his core as a speaker.
"Go." He answered, making an effort to make himself sound ok.
"Shipyard's taken." Ace answered on the other end of the line. "Ship's good to go, all things considered. The Bay doors are big enough to house all of our ships, maybe even more!"
Hades perked up a bit. "That's excellent news. How soon can the Ghosts get her in the air?"
Ace hesitated. "That's the issue. I mean, we can get this thing in the air, right now. But, it's Binary locked. There's some kind combination the Concordat must've put in place to keep it secure. Buck, Wraith, none of the ghosts can crack it, they need a Concordat's code combination. Without one, this thing's going nowhere…and…kind of rinsed the base, so we're not exactly on speaking terms with one."
Hades had an idea. "Maybe you're not, but I might be." He said as he picked himself up from the railing.
Ace had no idea what he was talking about. "Huh?" He questioned.
"Nothing. Just sit tight, discourage the curious. I'll get you that encryption key."
"Uh, alright, if you say so."
Hades hung up his end of the line. "Seems Osiris was right." He told Ronin. "I do have another person to meet with.
"Seems that way." Ronin added.
Hades accessed the comms network and called Shade.
"Hades!" Shade answers with an extra level of glee in his voice. "What's up?"
"Yo, how soon can you get here? We gotta pay someone a visit…"
It did not take long at all for Shade to reach the tower from there, he, Hades, Ronin and Saber ventured into the City's Anchor District where Bastion, The Last City's only Maximum security Prison, resided. It was here that the City kept the citizens who are not too privy on keeping the peace. Being on the Vanguard's Payroll allowed Shade and Hades to enter the Prison unopposed. (Hades' secret life as a member of the Hidden also gave him an even higher level of clearance that Shade didn't have.) The 2 entered the facility, Hades had called ahead to set up a meeting with a specific adversary.
Hades and Shade entered the observation deck of an interrogation room where guards stood, watching over the prisoner in question. The Prison's Warden, a Ghost wearing a wide-brimmed hat by the name of Alcatraz, was awaiting their arrival.
"Ah, if it isn't our guest Guardians." He greeted them as they entered the door.
"Evening, Alcatraz." Hades replied.
"I trust our guy here hasn't been too difficult to handle?" Shade asked the Warden.
"Ha, you kidding? The Man's been more or less a vegetable since you brought him in."
Shade and Hades look at each other, then back at Alcatraz. "Are you sure?" Shade asked. "Last time we saw him, he was very active.
"Well, all do respect, last time you saw him he had a ghost and could fire lightning out of his fingertips."
The two Guards moved out of the way of the observation glass, revealing the Captured Concordat Lieutenant, and Ex-Guardian, Zane sitting at a table. He was handcuffed and he looked terrible. His skin was pale and boney, it was a genuine wonder how he was still alive.
"You guys brought him in at the tail end of September." Alcatraz continued. "He hasn't been very responsive since. We have to force feed him sometimes."
"Why is he doing this to himself?" Shade asked no one in particular.
"One theory springs to mind…" Hades began. "It's probably because I killed his ghost."
Alcatraz looked stunned at the idea. "So, it was you huh? I gotta say, we Ghosts get mighty attached to our Guardians and vice versa, sometimes. I can see why he talks about you so much now."
"He does?" Hades asked. "You just said he was inactive."
" Oh, he is." Alcatraz clarified. "But when he is active it's all: 'I hate Hades, I'll end Primus Umbra, Death to the First Shadow', you know, all that noise."
Hades and Shade shared a glance. "Think he'll be useful?" Shade asked.
"He's gotta be." Hades replied. "We don't have any other choice, and we need that ship."
The Warden looks at them, then Zane, then decides to proceed. "Alright" He said. "Fair warning, in case you didn't know because we sure didn't when we got the man, Zane still has his powers. As such, the cuffs he's restrained in have light dampeners in place.
"Light Dampeners?" Shade questioned, his face wrinkling in slight disgust.
Alcatraz nodded. "Reverse engineered from the very same tech the Cabal used to shut the Traveler up last year. "They only hold a short charge right now though, we'll have to put him back in his cell, where the tech is more common place, in about 15 minutes."
"Thank you sir." Hades said as he and Shade walked into the room. "This won't take long."
When the door opened, Zane first saw Shade. He didn't have a reaction to the Titan, but he did recognize him. It wasn't until Hades entered the room that Zane jolted up off of the table he was still chained to "YOU?!" He shouted, roaring out at Hades, veins popping up across his face.
Shade stepped between Hades and Zane, instinctively protecting his friend. Hades gently moved him aside, stepping forward to face the man. He sat at the table across from Zane, calm as could be. He didn't feel threatened by the Ex Guardian at all.
"I'LL DESTROY YOU FOR KILLING ZATHURA" Zane roared.
Hades didn't even flinch. "Zathura-" He began, only to get cut off as Zane spat at his emerald visor.
"You don't deserve to even THINK about his name!" Zane shouted, his composure totally gone. Shade moved to his side and forced him to sit back down while Hades wiped his visor of spit.
"Stay down, and shut up already!" Shade snapped, but this didn't quell Zane's anger at all. Hades could see the fury in Zane's eyes, he knew he needed closure of some kind. So, he did what anyone would do.
Hades took off his helmet, allowing Zane to see his face. He looked him dead in the eye with remorse and grief. Truthfully, Hades never really got over killing that ghost. He knew that he'd snuffed out a light when he did that, and it has followed him every day since. Still, he had to make a decision and he did. If he had to make the decision again, he would. And he wouldn't hesitate this time.
"Zane." He began, looking for the words to say. "Your Ghost knew the risks when he chose to go to war with you. You knew the risks when you decided to join the Concordat. You know I didn't want to do it but, being on opposite ends of a conflict, I had no choice. If you truly care about your Ghost, you'll stop this directionless rage and put it toward something good, like protecting the City."
"The City?!" Zane was somehow even more upset. "The Consensus is directionless and ineffective, The Speaker is dead! The Vanguard is still down a member, if the City had any brains, it'd let the Concordat take over!"
Shade sneered at Zane. "Yeah, a City run by thugs and killers, sounds like a good plan to me."
"Interesting, to hear that coming from an Exo, built to preserve humanity? And built to end it all the same. You're a war machine, built for nothing more than killing and thievery. The Traveler definitely saw it, hence why it allowed Ghosts to bring your kind back. So don't try to play high and mighty with me, when you're even worse at your core!"
The blatant Racism in Zane was starting to get under Hades' skin. Still though, he persisted.
"Regardless of what you think of us Zane, we all want the same thing. There's a group of Hive with the ability to enter the city and destroy all they please. We're gonna take the fight to them. I think you'll be pleased to know that there's a good chance we'll die. But if we're going to die, at least allow us to weaken the enemy for the Concordat to finish the job."
"You want me to help you?" Zane's disgust with Primus Umbra continued on in his tone.
"Actually no, we don't want your damn help." Shade spat back at the man. "We just need your password." Shade handed Zane a PDA with pictures of the Ship in dry dock at the Shipyard.
"Oh, I see now, so that's what this is about. You need my key code to take our ship to fight your enemies."
"Our enemies." Hades cut in. "We have reason to believe that these things are in control of the Hive Dreadnaught and are planning to move it into position to attack. You were around for the Taken War. You saw what it did to the Awoken fully operational, yes? We can't allow something like that anywhere near the Earth." Hades paused. "Zane…please. You're a Warlock, you're thinking it over, I know you are. But the longer we fight here, the less time we have to fight out there."
Zane sits silent a moment, contemplating what he has to gain in withholding this passcode from the Shadows other than spite. He hated Hades and his Clan more than the City for what he did to his ghost. But, he also knew that an Enemy without a modicum of fear for the Traveler and it's boundaries, was an enemy not to be trifled with and the Neo Concordat could not rule a crater. So, he came to a conclusion..
"Ok." He said simply, his first calm sentence of the engagement.
"Ok?" Hades repeated, his brow raised.
"That's it?" Shade asked.
"The Concordat cannot rule over a ruined City." Zane explained. "Plus, if you die fighting these things, that's a win for me. So: ok. The Passcode is spartanrise'. No caps, one space. That will give you access to the Ship's online offenses."
Shade writes that down on the PDA and sends it off to Ace, Ryan, Pyro and Wolf. The mission is go, they have greenlight.
"And with that, we're done here." Shade leaves the room.
Hades stands up, "Thank you" he says with complete sincerity.
"Go fuck yourself." Zane says, matching his Sincerity.
Hades leaves the room after Shade. As Zane was being prepared to return to his Cell, the Shadows would make way for the Shipyard in Siberia and the Warship on lockdown there. If they were to have any hope at rivaling the Dreadnaught's usurpers and defeat the crazy Wizard who'd taken it, then they'd need every scrap of firepower they could get.
End of Chapter 4