"THROW MORE GRENADES!" Shaxx's voice boomed over the loudspeaker though it was barely audible over the crack of gunfire echoing off the Pacifica walls.
"Titan on your right, I'm seeing a shotgun with a sword to follow up. Argo I'd suggest peaking with your scout at this range to clear it for Liza." Sydney motioned to their hunter and warlock companions as they fanned out keeping each other in visual range. "We take this one home and tea is on me" Sydney slipped behind a hip high wall checking their hand cannon's cylinder.
"Make it a coffee and I'm in" Liza slid right to the corner that Sydney indicated whilst waiting for Argo's signal that he was in place to cover any surprises.
"Hallway is clear, proceed with caution Liza. I have you in my scope so if anything goes sideways go ahead and drop down" Argo leveled his scout rifle bracing it against his knee.
"It's gone sideways" a raspy voice materialized behind Argo as they pulled the trigger of their hand cannon.
"SHIT, we saw the titan down the hall but lost sight of their hunter! Liza, that means you're in their firing range, you need to fin…" A single clap of rifle fire broke Sydney's sentence as Liza fell off their radar. "Ok that leaves just me, the titan and their invis hunter…cool" Sydney dodge rolled out from their cover and broke out into a sprint. Sydney looked up into one of the arena windows and saw Liza and Argo standing next to the other team's pissed warlock.
"DOWN TO ONE, CAN SH..THEY BREAK THROUGH?" Shaxx's face appeared on one of the boards that normally showed the map and a score breakdown as well as contestant profiles.
As Sydney came up to a blind hall they dropped into a slide narrowly dodging a shotgun blast before returning fire with their own smg fire directly into the charging titan's chest.
"TWO COMBATANTS REMAIN, HUNTERS FIND YOUR PREY!" Once again Shaxx's voice sounded like a whisper in Sydney's ears. They peaked back at the perch that Argo met his end on.
"Why would I stay there my friend?" Before Sydney could react the hunter was behind them and pushing a knife through the durasteel of Sydney's helmet. In a flash Sydney's ghost materialized and transmatted the corpse out of the arena and next to Liza.
"GOD DAMMIT! That always hurts I don't care that I come back from, it's still a fuckin knife through my fucking head! Hugo do you always have to do that? Would It kill you to just…I don't know stab me in the heart? Maybe stab my kidney and let me bleed out? Do you have any idea what a knife sliding behind your eyes feels like…it feels like…it feels…IT FUCKIN HURTS OKAY!" Sydney took off their helmet and threw it on the floor as they approached the hunter responsible.
"Ya right, stab you in the kidney and let you come back with SMG fire in my face or maybe go for the heart and get thanked with a golden gun? Pass, I'll stick with one hit one kill tactics." Hugo threw back his hood laughing at Sydney's rage. "I'll make it up to you three, since we are the winners we will treat you to say…ramen?" Hugo threw his arm around Liza and Argo.
"Hell ya! But I'm gonna need your ghost footage of you catching me off guard" Argo mimed Hugo holding the hand cannon to his head and pulling the trigger. "I knew you was on the field but I'm not gonna lie I forgot you have been dabbling in invis lately.
"Argo…how are you so enthralled by your own death? Doesn't it hurt you?" Liza huffed, still clearly upset at her own death at Hugo's hands but not nearly as upset as Sydney.
"I'm not afraid of Death, I can't die, you can't die, no one in this room can die" Argo foolishly unholstered his scout rifle and in an instant a blue-silver flash streaked across the room and a crater appeared where Argo was standing.
"A TITAN…ALL LIGHTBEARERS WILL FOLLOW PROPER GUN ETIQUETTE WHILE IN MY TOWER, MY CITY, MY CRUCIBLE" Shaxx was standing in the crater while Argo's corpse withered away in an arc storm, across the room he was being transmatted back by his ghost.
"I'm sorry Shaxx I don't know what I was thinking…I guess I wasn't" Argo looked at the ground clearly embarrassed. Getting scolded by Shaxx was like getting scolded by his own father…not that he remembered him.
"You'll have plenty of time to think about it while you assist my redjacks clean up the arena" Shaxx's normally booming voice narrowed into a quiet booming.
"I'll stay behind to help as well, Titans are stronger together" Hugo's teammate brushed some of the dust off his pauldron and walked next to Argo.
"Alright so Natia you're passing on Ramen; can I get toneback from everyone else?" Hugo clapped his hands clearly wanting to get a move on. Everyone grunted their approval as Argo and Natia transmatted into the arena, then shortly the rest transmatted to their ships to converge on the tower.
"Guardians Hugo, Sydney, Liza, and Cinder-6 proceed to docking bay Tau and follow landing pattern blue…and welcome home guardians" A crisp voice rang through the comm lines from Tower Control. "Please be advised Saint is once again hosting his trials this weekend, keep an eye out for fireworks and minor debris in the skies"
"Copy that. TC. Saint started the party and we are cleared for Tau-Blue" Sydney throttled back as they entered the upper atmosphere. Hugo and Liza were playing chicken to see who could reach the hanger first.
"Guardians Hugo and Liza are you in need of assistance? We are not showing any signs of deceleration from your ships, we will clear pad alpha in case of emergency. All ships and personnel please clear pad alpha, alert the engineer corps and medical that there may be injuries" Tower Control broke through the general comm line that Sydney had switched over to.
"That's a negative tower guardian Hugo and myself were testing some maintenance we did to our craft, decelerating now" Liza's blue-gray ship engaged its landing boosters a split second after Hugo's ship did the same.
"Copy that Guardian Liza, I will notate that in our records as well as your tower profile. Please be advised that all maintenance needs to be registered with the shipwrights and that tower airspace is not a proper testing ground." Tower control sounded exasperated as they disengaged their broadcast overrides. "All personnel please stand down, it's just two dum…pilots having minor difficulties."
"Children, must you show off and cause trouble?" Cinder-6 while normally quiet due to being both the oldest and youngest of the group crowed in on the fireteam line. "I'm not shy about doing some stunt tricks just ask Cinder-3 but tower space is as busy as it's ever been. We are dodging Eliksni, Cabal, and Awoken ships around here some of whom don't respect tower space like WE should"
"Cinder is right you two, Natia and Argo are already stuck cleaning up the crucible. It would be a shame if you two had to help Saint keep the hangar cleaned up while me and Cinder got lunch." Sydney added to the scolding while lifting the mood a little.
"Copy that, you're right, well you and Cinder are right." Hugo, sounding defeated, gently landed in the bay as a set of redjacks approached both his and Liza's ships.
"Guardian Hugo, you are to report to Hangar Theta. Your presence had been requested" The redjack at Hugo and Liza's ship gave their message almost in sync.
"Yep…there it is. You called it Cinder, we are on clean up duty…guess we will catch up to y'all after lunch" Liza threw her helmet back into the cockpit while grabbing the out held broom from the redjack.
"Well Cinder you still want Ramen or what are we thinking?" Sydney threw their arm around Cinder's neck as they both walked toward the hangar skyway.
"Hey…since you babied out and hit your booster before I did you want a rematch or what? Bet I can make it down to Theta before you" Liza glared over at Hugo who had also grabbed a broom and was following Cinder and Sydney beside Liza.
"Damn straight I do" Hugo broke out into a run, passing the two ahead of him followed shortly by Liza who threw the broom she had at Hugo and caught it on the bounce back.
