A/N: Sorry this took so long, been working not only on this chapter, but four other chapters for this story.
On a few related notes, received my last shipment from the RT store. Been back on their store and its completely empty now. Sad. Posing a hypothetical question/scenario to you all: Say a year or so down the road, someone wants to revive RTX but on a smaller scale. Rent out a theater screen or three, show some of their shows on the Big screen (Red vs Blue, Immersion, RWBY, etc...), recreate some of their merch from scratch and maybe have some of the RT crew to sign shirts, take pics etc... Would one have to go through legal mumbo jumbo to start a fan expo and if so, how? And would anyone be interested in going to said expo if one were to start one? Just a thought that's been in my head since hearing the news.
Mercury, Sol
The way back to the Lighthouse from Pariah's refuge for Saint-14, Nora and Sagira was to say not really exciting.
On the way back, Nora took it upon herself to test out her current mastery of her Light. But the only thing worth testing said abilities were a pair of Vex Harpies of the Descendant Collective guarding a chest. After using Magnhild bathed in Solar Light, reducing them to melted slag, the two opened the chest. What resided in the chest was some glimmer and a King Cobra 4fr Linear Rifle for Saint-14. Nora recalled that Guardians leave these sorts of chests for newly resurrected Guardians to help them on their journey along with anything they had on hand. Since this chest wasn't invisible as per tradition, looks like the Vex took care of said Guardian if the buried remains in the sand were any indication.
Giving the dead Guardian a proper pyre thanks to Saint-14, the two continued back.
Arriving inside of the Lighthouse, Nora and the Titan went straight to Pyrrha and Jaune near one of the desks. Lux Syphoid was also near pressing buttons on a pedestal bathed in heat with some Vex parts that she was tossing.
After inquiring on Nora's progress, which she did by lighting her hand on fire, Jaune shared their progress as well. "Turns out that Lux's past life as a member of the Cult of Osiris had many insightful things regarding the Vex and some of their work."
"For example, she managed to find out a way to tell the difference between the simulations in the Infinite Forest and real enemies." Pyrrha said as she handed Lux a Vex arm.
"Turns out that if you melt down any destroyed Vex ranging from Goblin, Hobgoblin or Harpy; and place them into a machine like this…" She said gesturing to the machine in front of her. After a few blasts of heat and a beep. Lux reached into the furnace, and gently lifted her weapon. A Pulse Rifle with wires filled with Radiolaria and Vex circuitry. "You create a weapon that can see through the Simulations within telling the difference between them." She finished.
"And not only that, they have no trace of the Vex's influence." Pyrrha said picking up a Scout Rifle from the table, said weapon also having Vex circuitry.
One of the things that Guardians said to the people of Remnant were not to mess around with deactivated Vex bodies due to them still having some influence on others. Said influence includes hallucinations, minor temporal loss, and suicidal tendencies. Classes in the Huntsmen Academies taught how to properly handle Vex remains, yet there was still vex parts and architecture being sold on the black market.
"I figured that when we go back into the Infinite Forest, we'll be better prepared." Lux said gesturing to the table, several pulse rifles, Scout rifles and submachine guns laid. All made out of Vex parts freshly made from the forge.
Saint-14 gazed at the weapons and selected a submachinegun by the name of The Conqueror 2 and a scout rifle called Garden Prodigy 1. "These weapons will prove useful. But how will we find the Infinite Mind?" He did have a valid point. The Infinite Forest is, well, infinite and it could be hiding anywhere withing. And unlike the two Guardians, the three huntsmen in-training are mortal, even with Temporary Light.
"We've got that covered." Jaune said as he picked up a book from the table. "Another thing we found in her past life's journals is that each planet the Vex convert into machine worlds serve a purpose to the greater whole."
"Mercury served as a machine world to crate numerous simulations of the past, present and possible future. Others are computational algorithms, information storage worlds, and many more." Lux said as she turned to a page.
"And Nessus is both a prediction and information world. And we got ourselves an expert."
00000
Turns out that expert was an old Golden age AI with a split personality by the name of Failsafe.
"I'd be more than happy to tell you much about the Vex here on this planetoid along with where to get the information you need." Failsafe said before she beeped, signifying her depressed part of her mind taking over. "However, it's going to cost ya."
The group of two Guardians and three huntsmen in-training had arrived in the valley that served as one of the many Landing Zones that the Guardians set up on Nessus. They arrived in the valley, overlooking the crash site then made their way on foot inside. Luckily no Fallen scavengers came and provoked them. After entering the ship, they met with both versions of Failsafe and explained what they needed.
And it looks like she wants something in return.
"What do you need dear Failsafe?" Saint-14 asked the AI.
"Long ago, I was part of the Exodus Black crew. When we crashed here, they went out. And they didn't come back. It bummed me out." A click. "I would like to know what happened to them."
A silence fell on them as they looked at one another. "Uh Failsafe? You do know that was hundreds of years ago? Their probably…" Jaune couldn't finish the sentence not knowing the right words to use. "Dead for exactly 127 years. But I'd like to know." "To get closure."
00000
It was decided that Pyrrha, Lux and Saint-14 would be the ones to find the remains of Failsafe's crew, while Jaune and Nora stayed with Failsafe. Thanks to the latter, they knew where to start looking.
When the Exodus Black crashed, the crew made some form of shelter from the remains of the crashed ship right near the crash site. Said fortifications now stand to the current time. Looking around the site, it was Lux who found the remains of two crew members. Finding a data pad and cleaning it up, they discovered it filled with journal entries of the crash itself, studying the changing centaur that is Nessus. Thinking that the other crew members had data pads with their own entries, using bits and pieces, Geppetto and Lucius made a tracking device that would lead the group to them.
Hopping onto Sparrows, with Pyrrha sitting behind Lux as they drived, they passed through the area called the Glade of Echos: a large glade littered with the remains of the Exodus black Ship along with fallen Vex architecture caught in the crash. As they drove, they passed groups of Fallen barring the banner and colors of House Dusk Winter Chapter House fighting some Vex. She couldn't see the outcome of any of the small skirmishes she saw as they sped by.
Passing over hills and through the large canyon-like walls of this small centaur, they found themselves overlooking a huge vista called the Arcadian Valley. The most dominant piece of the landscape being a huge lake of Vex Radiolaria that led to a waterfall that fell deep into what she assumes is the core of the planet.
"According to this data pad, the next diary should be near the shore." Luscious said as the group of three drove down towards the shore. Getting off the sparrows, they went in search of the body. They soon found it near the shore of the lake, hand outreached towards the milky liquid. "I don't see the data pad." Pyrrha said, keeping her feet well away from the Radiolaria. She read in her studies that in its liquid state, it acted like acid to anything not Vex, melting through anything in seconds. Lux used the device and hovered it over, then sighed. "Looks like the data pad is…moving?" A good distance from the shore, the three saw a large fish with the head of a Vex goblin breach the surface, jump into the air and fall right back into the Radiolaria lake.
The three stood in shocked silence.
"Was that a fish?"
"Yep."
"I'm assuming the fish ate the data pad."
"Yep."
"We got to fish for it?"
"Yep."
Finding a small bush that for whatever reason the vex didn't eradicate it during their conversion of Nessus, and utilizing some spare weapon parts and an armor material called Sapphire Wire, the three managed to create fishing poles. And so, they did the most ancient of human traditions: fishing.
Materializing some lawn chairs from her ship, Lux, Pyrrha and Saint-14 sat and fished on the shores of the Radiolaria Lake. Every so often, a Cabal troop carrier flied right over them, but gave them no trouble since they just flew right by and off into the distance.
"Any idea what the Red Legion are up to?" Pyrrha asked. The Red Legion had been quiet for some time, both on Remnant and in this system. Some rumors that there was infighting between them to see who will be the new Dominus of their Empire. Others said that said leadership, were getting picked off one by one by Guardians and Huntsmen via bounties.
"Doing something, but let's deal with this situation for now." Lux said, drinking a lemonade she got from her storage.
"Fallen group at my three o'clock." Saint-14 said not bothering to look in said direction. "Fallen group backing off now." It was true, a group of Fallen from House of Dusk Winter Chapter crested the ridge separating this bit of shore from the rest of the region. The second they got a glimpse of Saint-14, they chittered in their own language, which Pyrrha assumed was, "Oh shit!", they turned tail and ran for their lives.
"It looks like the Fallen are still scared of me." Saint-14 laughed.
"That might have to change when you eventually meet with members of House Light." Lux said. The Titan stopped laughing and huffed in acknowledgement. His fishing pole soon started to shake. "Looks like we got out little fish!"
Said fish jumped out of the Radiolaria a good ten feet away, line sunk into its mechanical head. Lux used her scanner to ensure that it was the right one, which it was. Saint-14 started to reel it in. That was until a gigantic shark-like Grimm came out of the liquid and clamped its jaws around the fish.
"Razorfin!" Pyrrha said identifying the Grimm. She heard that someone released a bunch of Grimm onto a few of the planets in the Solar System as a sick joke, but didn't expect a sea faring Grimm to be here on Nessus.
This one must be an Alpha given the size and the bits of Vex machinery fused into its skin. She thought to herself. The Vex must have tried to convert it, but failed with it adapting to its current living conditions.
"So, this is a Creature of Grimm I've been hearing about! Strong beast. But I'm stronger!" Saint-14 shouted as he gripped the pole in both hands and pulled with his strength.
"Thank the traveler that Summer isn't here. She would have made a dozen 'we need a bigger boat', jokes by now." Lux said as she brought up the newly forged Pulse Rifle and peppered the Razorfins body with bullets. Pyrrha followed suit and converted her weapon into its rifle form and fired. "Ha, I love that movie!" Saint-14 simply said as he applied more strength. This Grimm was strong, but it couldn't handle both the Titan and the bullets. Letting out a roar, it called in reinforcements.
Ripples in the water signaled their arrival as smaller hand-sized versions of the Razorfins jumped out of the waters and with their jaws wide, attacked the Warlock and Pyrrha.
Pyrrha shifted her weapon back into a blade and brought her shield up. Slicing one in half, she blocked three that hit her shield.
An Alpha Razorfin were solitary hunters, but their smaller kin were pack hunters, capable of swarming their enemies. Lux used her weapon to shoot more as they jumped out of the Radiolaria. Soon the swarm was quickly eliminated. Saint-14 pulled with an almighty roar and brought the Alpha Razorfin onto land. It tried to struggle, but the liquid was much too shallow for it to do anything. It was powerless when Saint-14 headbutted it, killing it. The body soon dissipated showing what it last had as a meal: A Cabal shield, the remains of Volkswagen buggy with the number 53 on the hood, a Fallen Arc Spear, a lava lamp, and the fish they were fishing for.
Saint-14 grabbed the fish, getting a good look at it. "You are one ugly fish." He said as he bid Geppetto to take a quick picture of him holding the fish before gutting it and retrieving the data pad.
Listening to it, the group heard the story of how members of the Exodus Black came to the lake and encountered Vex for the first time. How the Vex were studying them with nonhostile intent. That was until one unfortunate individual had an itchy trigger finger and shot one of them, causing the rest of the Vex to respond in kind.
With the journal entry ended, they soon followed the signal to the final one. Jumping back onto their sparrows, they followed to the final one.
The final data pad led them deep underground. Going through tunnels littered with the Fanatic variants of the Vex. Basically headless drones that kamikaze towards their enemies and explode, bathing their opponents in Radiolaria fluid. After going through several dozens of them, they finally made their way to a cavern with a Vex Hydra dominating the room. After Saint-14 charged at it and headbutted it into scrap metal, they found the final data pad underneath the rubble of a collapsed part of the room along with the buried bodies belonging to them. Listening to them, they heard the final logs of the crew of the Exodus Black.
00000
"So, my crew. That's what happened to them?" Failsafe asked when the group came back to the Exodus Black.
"I'm afraid so Failsafe. The Vex, having never met humanity back then, scanned them. One of the crew got spooked and fired upon them. The Vex responded in kind and killed those they didn't take with them. The survivors were put through a series of tests. Unfortunately, during a tectonic shift, possibly due to the Vex transforming the centaur into one of their machine worlds, the place the prisoners were kept got crushed by fallen rock and stone, killing them." Pyrrha said giving a cliff notes version of what the data pads contained.
"I see…thank you for giving me closure." A beep then a switch to failsafe's other half. "Well…a deals a deal. A vex information terminal will be located in the region called Artifacts Edge."
00000
They arrived in Artifacts Edge, a region on Nessus. Arriving at a huge drop with a huge vex tower, they waited out in the open. "Are you sure that there's a Terminal here?" Jaune asked over the comms.
"Nessus isn't like most Machine Worlds. The Vex information terminals are constantly in motion around the centaur, only staying in one location for exactly three minutes and twenty-six seconds." Failsafe said over comms.
"That's pretty accurate." Lux said as she readied her weapons.
"Well, it was the only thing to do on this Centaur. Count how long their present." Failsafe said in her depressed state.
And like clockwork, a small platform with a Vex terminal appeared before them. Lux, Saint-14 and even Nora brought out their ghosts and they began to scan the terminal and begin downloading.
"Shifting through the files. Searching for files pertaining to Infinite Forest and Panoptes…found it. Extracting." The ghosts said one after another.
The area around them became hazy signaling a vast amount of Vex approaching. Lux, Saint-14 and Nora charged up their Light. Pyrrha brought her weapons up and Jaune got his up as well, staying behind to shield the Ghosts as they worked.
The first of the Vex were Hobgoblin and Goblin varieties. The Hobgoblins stayed back and gave covering fire as the Goblins marched and fired at the same time. Saint-14 created a sentinel shield using his Light and tossed the shield at the Hobgoblins. Some shielded themselves, while the rest got obliterated. Some of their shots made it through, but thanks to Jaune, he managed to shield himself and the Ghosts. Pyrrha used her semblance to shove Vex over the chasm or crumple their bodies to end them. That was when the Vex decided to bring in their big guns.
Vex smoke appeared and a dozen Vex Minotaurs appeared. They marched forward, some swatting their smaller brethren out of the way. Lux and Nora activated their Supers. Lux in the form of her Dawnblade and Nora her version of a Titan's Hammer of Sol. Lux rose into the air with Solar wings outstretched and hovered over the battlefield, swinging a sword made of fire onto the approaching Vex Minotaurs. Nora just swung her hammer melting and knocking them down. Pyrrha with jaune placing his hand on her shoulder channeled his semblance into her amplifying her magnetism allowing her greater effect.
That was when the Vex decided to no longer fool around. They manifested Vex Hydras and Cyclopses around them, pelting them with lasers. Saint-14 made a Ward of Dawn shielding them from incoming fire. Nora followed suit and added her own to strengthen the shield. Bolt after bolt impacted it. "Minute twelve remaining!" Lucius said over the bots, still gaining as much info as needed.
And suddenly, the firing stopped. The Vex simply vanished.
Their Ward of Dawns finally dissipated allowing the group to look around. They were confused as to why the Vex simply left, but they didn't have much time in it. The platform beneath their feet shimmered and they ran off it before the platform along with the terminal vanished.
Not too far where the group was recovering, near the pathway that led to the forest of this centaur, a Vex Harpy watched them unseen. This Harpy was different from the rest of its kind. For starters, its optic was blue instead of the red. Its body was dull grey. And finally, this Vex had the mind of a human. A human long dead and converted. Normally a mind converted would be beholden to the Collective itself, but for some strange cosmic reason, it was not. This particular Vex unit had enough of its free will to create a false SOS and send it to the Vex that just disappeared. By the time they realize the falseness of the SOS, this group will be gone.
It could go with them, back to the Exodus Black. Back to Failsafe. As it watched the group leave, it decided not to. It knew that it couldn't go back, back to before. Its best that she moved on, think him dead. And so the vex unit that was Captain Jacobson of the Exodus Black drifted back into the forest and out of sight.
00000
The group made it back to the Exodus Black and they went over what they found.
"Most of the files we recovered are mostly communications between numerous Axis minds of the Sol Collective." Sagira said to the assembled.
"Sol Collective? I don't think we've covered it in class." Jaune said. During their time in Beacon, they went over all of the enemies the Guardians fought against. Numerous Fallen Houses, sect of the Hive, and even the many armies of the Cabal. But the largest collection was the Vex. Each subtype had a particular look, purpose and region they are specially made for.
"Apparently, all of the actions Summer Rose and other Guardians had done had resulted in a creation of this Vex Collective. We also managed to get a few bits of information regarding the Infinite Forest and where Panoptes is. Apparently, our Infinite Mind flits between numerous simulations of the Past, Present and Future, observing and documenting them. Tomorrow, the Infinite Mind will be in Simulant Present 1,252,017. We also received this video."
Sagira brought up a video of a certain member of Team JNPR walking alongside a Vex Harpy of large size through a corridor lined with Vex Minotaurs watching as they passed.
Jaune, Pyrrha and Nora looked at Ren, alive and well.
"We're coming for you Ren."