The Queen of Hearts

Chapter 11: The Arena

Cayde was nudged awake by Daydra. "They're coming," he whispered, "and Torres is ready. It's time."

He felt a spike of adrenaline and shot up to his feet along with the others as a large group of Fallan approached the energized cell. He shook his head to make sure he was awake. It was a rough night. Talia's screams had stopped after a few more hours, and he had sat in the cell for just as long, hoping she wasn't dead. Eventually Daydra had convinced him to try and get some rest. But now it was time to get his head in the game. He would find Talia, no matter what state she was in.

The Fallen arrived and a stout captain barked an order in Eliksni. The shield died and the cell doors opened. Immediately tens of vandals and dregs rushed in with electrified spears, threatening to impale them if they didn't cooperate.

"Okay now," said Cayde, "no need to be rough, we'll do as you say."

The captain stepped forward and punched him square in the metallic jaw. Shiro caught him as he reeled. "Probably best to say nothing," he whispered, "if you can handle that."

"I'll try," he replied with a smug grin.

The captain barked again and the guards moved in to grab them, but before they could, Torres yelled at them, as loud as his lungs could muster. In his hand, a fiery sword appeared, burning bright as the sun. The Fallen scrambled to ready weapons and form a line.

"Hear me, you freaks! I will not be going anywhere! We all know it will be to our deaths!"

"Torres!" Daydra's authoritative voice cut through the noise. "Get ahold of yourself!"

"No! I'm not participating in this. If this means my death, so be it!"

"Think of your ghost!"

"I am!" He took the sword in both hands and flipped it upside down. "I do this… for him." To everyone's horror, he lifted the sword and plunged the blade deep into his chest. He cried out and fell to the floor.

Both the Fallen and guardians stood there for a moment in silence, before a Vandal inched forward and poked the body. It said something in Eliksni and the captain shook its head. Then it barked new orders, and a few of the guards began to drag Torres' body out of the cell.

Cayde, Shiro and Daydra watched them do it, all stunned and looking to each other for explanation, but they had none. Before they had any time to process, the Captain ordered them to move, and they were corralled out of the cell and into a crowd of warriors. The pack began to make its way up a nearby stairwell, shoving the guardians along into the heart of their complex.

It wasn't until now that Cayde began to understand just how massive their complex was. As they emerged from the stairwell, his eyes were assaulted by thousands of industrial lights, bathing a massive warehouse in bright luminescence. Everywhere he looked, Fallen engineers and workers built weapons as far as the eye could see. There were spider tanks, pikes, and grounded drop ships, all painted with a yellow Kings sigil and being fitted for battle.

Daydra casually moved up next to him, a grave look on his face. "Talsiks is much further along than we thought," he whispered. "Look." He gestured with a nod to the far left where several more spider tanks were being fitted with a sleek, refined generator. "Those are the shields we are meant to destroy. There aren't just more of them, but they've been improved too."

Shiro fell into line behind them. "They played me for a fool," he said. "I think I saw what Talsiks wanted me to see. To misdirect us into thinking we had a chance. This… this is beyond us."

"Ah don't beat yourself up too much Shiro," said Cayde. "You're still the best scout I know."

A vandal growled and smacked Cayde with the butt of its spear to keep him quiet. Reluctantly he relented.

The pack led them through the entire warehouse and through a great hall. Attached were several rooms with sealed doors made of reinforced glass. Inside, Talsiks' scientists worked on a variety of gadgets and experiments. The sheer scale of the operation made Cayde's head spin. Shiro was right, this wasn't something a team of six could have accomplished. They needed an army to take all of this down. Or perhaps an orbital strike. But that would require establishing contact with the Vanguard. As long as the EMP dome remained operational, that was not a possibility.

Soon they entered a new section of the building, with cells much like the ones they were kept in. Except these were larger, and filled to the brim with snarling Hive Thrall. Shiro seemed surprised. "So they do know about these creatures," he observed quietly.

Daydra nodded. "Must be why they moved up their defensive lines."

A plan began to form in Cayde's head. The Hive were ravenous monsters, but perhaps their ferocity could be used to the guardians' advantage. Suddenly he wished Torres and his journal of secrets were present to help him formulate better, and he sighed.

His thoughts were interrupted by a nudge from Daydra, who gestured behind them with a dart of the eyes. He turned her head back and her eyes widened at what he saw. Every Fallen they passed had stopped what they were doing and had begun following the pack, forming a huge crowd behind them. Even now, hundreds more were joining the surge to wherever they were going. A bad feeling began to rise in the pit of his stomach. Where were they going?

His question was soon answered as they turned and began ascending a massive staircase, at least thirty people wide, up to a set of enormous double doors. Some guards threw the doors open as they approached, and Cayde squinted as harsh sunlight suddenly flooded through. Before he could process what was happening, they were thrust out into the open. He frowned as his feet sank into sand, and he spun around in disbelief. They had entered what appeared to be a giant ovular arena filled with rocks, sand and gnarled logs from the nearby swamp trees. Around the arena, thousands of Kings were congregating on benches, rising multiple stories high.

Directly across from them at the other end of the arena, a balcony was constructed overhead with an optimal view of everything below. From this balcony, Talsiks stood tall, smiling as the guardians arrived and the enormous room filled with his underlings. They were becoming loud and rowdy now, shouting in Eliksni at the guardians. Cayde imagined they were some variations of insults and profanity.

A heavy thud sounded from behind them as the double doors shut forcefully. Then the guards dispersed, leaving them alone in the arena with thousands of eyes on them.

Daydra spat in the sand. "So, we're to be today's entertainment."

Cayde lifted a foot from the ground and shook it. "I hate sand. Gets all in my gears."

"Endure it," said Daydra. He turned to address Shiro too. "Our priority here is to stay alive. There's a good chance that if you die here, they will destroy your ghost as well to make sure it's final."

Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. "No pressure then."

"Stick with me and you'll be just fine," he said. "We're not losing anyone else."

"You got it, chief."

The crowd suddenly quieted as Talsiks stepped up and outstretched his four arms to the guardians. "Welcome, Lightbearers," he said. His voice must have been amplified, because it boomed across the entire arena. "Today is a very special day. It is the Churik'Tas, an Eliksni holy day in celebration of the ones we have lost. Recently we have suffered a loss at your precious City, and the number of Eliksni we remember today is great."

The crowd seemed to grow collectively solemn.

Talsiks leaned over the railing and pointed a wicked finger at them. "That is why, on behalf of the guardians that slew so many of our kind, you shall receive punishment. Behold!" He raised a hand in the air and the ground on the other side of the arena dipped as sand emptied into a large hole. From that hole, rose an abomination the likes of which the guardians had never seen. The beast was enormous, towering far above them with a thick, gross body and huge, powerful arms supported by stout legs. Its head was bulbous, but they could make out a set of three green eyes staring back at them. The thing roared, and the crowd went wild. Luckily, the thing was restrained by chains. An energy shield went up around the arena to protect the spectators from the monster.

Shiro cursed. "What an ogre of a beast. It is clearly Hive, and very hard to kill."

Daydra sighed. "I guess we have our work cut out for us. Oh, how I'd love to be home right now, having some of Ivy's famous beef stew."

Cayde chuckled. "Well, if this goes the way we want, we'll have you back in your cozy cottage lickety split."

Talsiks raised a hand to deliver the end of his speech. "I wish you luck in this battle, guardians. I expect your utmost effort, or your ghosts will pay the price. Fight well, or die forever."

With that, the chains were released from the Ogre and the creature pummeled the earth with another roar.

"I got this," said Cayde. It was difficult to draw Light for what he needed to do because his ghost was kept far from him, but he had decided to take a page from Torres' book and start gathering Light far in advance. Now he was brimming with power, and he would unleash it upon this foe. He raised his hand in the air and a hand cannon made of fire appeared there. His entire body ignited with solar energy, and he lowered the gun's aim at the creature's head. "It's just too easy," he said to himself. He pulled the trigger, and a beam of fire collided with the ogre's head. It reeled back, and Cayde prepared to fire another shot. But to his surprise, the monster's head snapped back and its singed eyes fixed on him. And they were glowing purple.

"Cayde, look out!" Daydra shouted.

A massive beam of purple energy erupted from the ogre's eyes straight toward Cayde. His mechanical eyes widened, wondering if he was about to meet his end. So soon?

That outcome was avoided as suddenly Daydra was there, tackling Cayde into the sand just before the beam hit. The energy exploded behind them, and most of Daydra's cloak was burned away. He cursed and rolled, sprinting forward as the beast charged another energy attack. Unfortunately he couldn't get there fast enough as the beam prepared to fire again, so he quickly summoned a flaming knife and threw it with expert precision. The weapon drove into one of its three eyes and it roared. The beam fired, but it was just a little off, making impact right in front of Daydra. The impact catapulted him backward and he tumbled in the sand with a few grunts and groans.

Cayde had recovered and came up behind Daydra, firing one more shot from his gun, but the flaming bullet missed the eyes and singed the head again. It seemed to damage the beast well enough, but it was so meaty that it would not come close to killing it. His solar energy died out and he cursed. "How the hell do we kill this thing?!"

"The eyes!" said Daydra. "It's vulnerable in the eyes!"

Once again, energy began to build in the creature's eyes, preparing to hit them again. Daydra scrambled to get up and out of the way, but the sand was difficult to maneuver in. The beam fired, and Daydra shut his eyes, thinking that was it. He couldn't get away in time. Images flashed in his head. Of Ivy; he wondered if she would forgive him. Of his children. How cruel of him to leave them without a father. I'm sorry, he thought. I'm so sorry.

But the killing blow did not come. Instead there was a loud exertion of energy, and the crackling of arc energy. Daydra opened his eyes to find Shiro twirling an arc staff. The motion created a makeshift shield, and it deflected the ogre's attack back where it came from. The monster cried out as the returning beam severed one of its arms.

"Shiro…?" said Daydra.

"This is a little technique I picked up working with Lord Saladin!" shouted Shiro. "The Iron Lords were very creative warriors! I've got this. Regroup and prepare for a counterattack!"

Cayde helped Daydra to his feet and generated a scatter grenade in the palm of his hand. "Come on, let's kick this thing's ass."

A flaming knife burst into existence between his fingers. "After you, hot shot."

A trio of dregs dragged Torres' corpse down a long service tunnel deep underneath the complex. They rounded a bend and pulled him through a set of double doors into a large industrial room. Against the back wall, a giant incinerator roared with a furious flame that made even the dregs wary of approaching. They inched towards the open hatch in its front carefully.

Now seems as good a time as any.

There was an explosion of solar energy from Torres' body, and the dregs were thrown back as he rose into the air on wings made of fire. He opened his eyes, smiled, and snapped his fingers. Small burning projectiles shot from his fingers and burned a dreg to a crisp. Then he turned and flung out his palm, launching a solar grenade between the other two dregs. They burned away in an instant. Light fading, Torres touched down on the metal floor and sprinted for the door. He poked his head outside to make sure the coast was clear. "The Order is going to lose their minds when I tell them about this," he said to himself, rushing down the hall to peer around the next corner. For a few minutes he methodically pushed to the next intersection or corner, making his way further to the center of the complex until at last he found a nexus with a staircase up into the main complex.

Unfortunately, some vandals were standing guard there, and he sighed. "I am really not cut out for this type of combat." He pressed his back against the wall just behind the corner and focused on drawing in more Light. It came much faster this time and he smiled. That meant he was getting closer to his ghost.

This time he called upon his favorite element: the dark, crushing void. Taking a deep breath, he sprinted around the corner straight towards the Fallen. They exclaimed something in Eliksni to each other in surprise and fired their weapons. In that moment, Torres reached out to the Void. He gave his entire body to it, converting himself into energy. He blinked, and the Void teleported him behind the Vandals, spitting him out in physical form again. He skidded on his feet and quickly whipped around, a huge purple vortex forming in his hand. He thrust out his palm, and the grenade arced to the ground between the Vandal's feet. The power sucked them in and immediately crushed them into nothing. Torres smiled at his work, then began climbing the long, winding staircase.

At the top, he cracked a door open to an enormous main corridor. A few Fallen were passing by, but they appeared to be stragglers and did not notice his spying. When they had passed, he opened it further so he could peek around it. They all seemed to be going to the west end of the complex. The remainder of the area seemed to be deserted. He thought it strange, and hoped the others were faring well in his absence. His goal laid in the opposite direction towards the east side of the complex where Shiro had previously confirmed the existence of a headquarters, where their captive ghosts were no doubt held.

As Torres made his way there, the huge halls and rooms remained devoid of life. He found it eerie how empty they were, and remained cautious as his connection to the Light grew stronger. His ghost was close.

At the end of the hall, he arrived at another set of double doors and threw them open. He was surprised to find a massive control room before him, and a slew of Vandals spread out around the room, staring at him in shock. "Ah hell-" he said, before immediately blinking away to dodge the electric bolt of a shock rifle.

Chaos unfolded in the control room as Fallen scrambled for weapons and others fired upon a warlock that was almost too fast to shoot. Torres frantically phased in and out of existence using the Void, and occasionally tossed grenades at his adversaries, sucking them in and vaporizing them.

Some of them tried to escape, but Torres teleported across the room and launched a small ball of void at the nearest Fallen. It vaporized in an instant, then exploded, causing a chain reaction that spread to every nearby body. They all disappeared in a symphony of energized explosions.

In the aftermath of the battle, Torres leaned on a control panel, breathing heavily. "They really made me work for it."

He inspected the various panels, checking to make sure they weren't too damaged. On one of the screens, he saw a video feed of an arena. A huge Hive monstrosity was kicking up a sandstorm, and in the middle of it all… "Traveler's Light, they don't have much time, do they?"

He relaxed and felt for the connection to his ghost. There was a pull, and his eyes drifted to a barred door off to the side. It was heavy and thick, with huge metallic locks keeping it secure via a keypad and DNA scanner. He scoffed. "I don't have time for this." With the Light being so close now, he pulled an overwhelming amount of power out of the Void and coalesced it in his hand. Then he thrust it into the door. The Nova Bomb tore through the metal in a glorious explosion that rocked the complex. Without a moment to lose, Torres stepped through the gaping hole. There were sure to be more enemies headed there now, so time was of the essence.

The room was dark, but he could make out rows of reinforced containers, big and small, with glass faces so you could see inside. It was like a menagerie of technology and fauna. He saw large alien relics, small unearthly creatures, a black mass of swirling goop, and at the very end of the room-, "Our ghosts!" He sprinted to the row of five small containers lined up on a shelf on the back wall. The ghosts spun and bobbed excitedly when they saw him.

He swiped the container holding Beowulf and smashed it against the wall with a void powered thrust. Beowulf flew out shakily. "Careful!" he said. "You trying to smash me too?"

"Save it, we need to move fast."

The ghost sighed. "Always so dramatic."

Torres smashed the remaining containers and Reeki practically knocked him out trying to fly past him. "Please m-m-move! Talia is going to die! I can feel it! I must be there to bring her back!"

"I understand," said Torres, holding out his hand to block the way, "but you can't go alone. Help me free the others so they can help you while I go looking for the communications array."

Reeki shuddered and his eye glitched red. His shell scrunched, narrowing his vision. Torres caught his breath. He had never seen such a display of anger in a ghost. But it quickly subsided as Reeki thought the situation through. "F-f-fine," he said, zooming around Torres into the control room. "I will c-c-cause some chaos. Set them free." He began to scan some of the machines and shooting beams of light at them, causing complex-wide malfunctions and breaking their firewalls.

Torres shuddered at the sight. He felt it best not to further fall on this ghost's bad side. "Beowulf, help him while I scramble their security response."

"With pleasure. Come on guys."

The other ghosts followed, and together they set a series of events in motion that would cause the entire complex to descend into madness.