Rise of the Reaper part 13:grudge match
For the next couple of days, Reaper and Rose went through the motions of the day. One day, Rev popped up out of nowhere while they were cleaning their guns. "Reaper," Rev called out, "you got a message from Jada, sounds urgent." Reaper set his gun down. "Okay," Reaper said, "play the message." Rev nodded as he began to play the message. "Reaper," Jada said, "I noticed that you hesitated during our match recently. I'm challenging you to a one-on-one match with no outside interference. Message me back if you accept, I'll then state the map and conditions." Rose looked over to Reaper, a look of concern was across her face. "Are you gonna accept her terms?" She asked. Reaper shrugged. "She's not gonna take no for an answer," Reaper said, looking at Rev, "message Jada's ghost to ask her where we're gonna meet up to discuss the terms." Rev nodded and sent a quick message to Jada's ghost. Within five minutes, they got a reply. "They want to meet at the bar," Rev said, "but Jada requested that you come alone." Rose looked concerned. "It sounds like they're gonna spring a trap on you," she said, putting a hand on Reaper's shoulder. Reaper nodded. "Then, I'll spring the trap on them," Reaper said as he finished cleaning his gun. Reaper left his house and went to the bar to meet up with Jada. He spotted Jada almost immediately and went to sit down across from her. "Alright Jada," Reaper said, "I came alone as you requested, state your terms." Jada smirked. "I knew you would come alone," Jada said as she snapped her finger. Cinder appeared, knocking Reaper out. "Alright, boss, what should we do to him?" Cinder asked. Jada laughed menacingly. "Take his weapons!" She barked at them, "let's see if he can survive without an ability to fire back." Cinder took Reaper's weapons and added them to his inventory. "Ghost, teleport us to twilight gap," Jada said as her ghost warped them to the map. Reaper shook the cobwebs out of his head. "Reaper," Rev said, "thank the Traveler you're alright!" Reaper went to grab his gun, but was only grabbing air. "Rev," Reaper asked, "where's my weapon?" Rev looked around. "I don't know, Reaper," he said, "but this clearly goes against the rules of the crucible." Reaper nodded in agreement. "Yeah," Reaper said, "Something isn't right…" Rev looked up and saw a blast of solar energy head towards them. "Look out!" He shouted. Reaper took cover almost instantly. He then felt a gun at the back of his head. "That's enough squabbling, Reaper," Jada said as Reaper stood up and held his hands up. "Why are you doing this Jada?" He asked. "This was embarrassing for me and my team the other day," Jada said, "so this is payback." Reaper was shocked. "Your team was embarrassed just because you lost the other day to me and my team?" Reaper asked her as she pressed the barrel of her gun into Reaper's head. "That is far enough, Jada," a voice bellowed. Before us stood a being in all white armor. "Who the flying fuck are you?" Jada asked the being. "I am the bookkeeper known as Dramaton," he said, "and I've been watching matches in the crucible to make sure they're legit and square." "Why would you show yourself now Dramaton?" Reaper asked him. "I couldn't help but notice that Reaper couldn't use any of his abilities and was unarmed," Dramaton said, "which, according to the rules of the crucible, is a violation; care to explain this Jada?" Jada was speechless. "I believe I can explain this, if I may speak?" Rev said, appearing out of nowhere. "A ghost," Dramaton said, "you may speak." Rev floated next to Reaper and spawned a fresh loadout of weapons since his first set was taken. Reaper out of instinct took out his weapon, spun around, and pointed his weapon at Jada. "Yeah, why don't you explain to the bookkeeper how you lured me to the bar, knocked me out, took my weapons, and proceeded to attack an UNARMED opponent!" Reaper shouted. Dramaton looked at Jada. "Is what Reaper said true Jada?" Dramaton asked her. Jada hung her head in shame. "It's true," Jada confessed, "I spoke with my team and we arranged to take out Reaper because his team got lucky and ended our undefeated streak." Reaper shook his head in disbelief. "You and your team arranged this ambush due to the fact you guys are butthurt because you guys lost ONE match!" Reaper shouted, "I gotta admit, that's low even for your standards." Dramaton placed his hand on Reaper's rifle, lowering it. "That is low, you are correct, Reaper," Dramaton said, "but that doesn't constitute knocking out a guardian and stripping him of his weapons; therefore, whoever has Reaper's original weapons WILL return them to him and you two will have that one-on-one match as agreed upon with no outside interference, am I clear Jada?" Jada sighed. "Cinder, return Reaper's weapons to him," Jada said. Cinder appeared and returned Reaper his weapons to him. Dramaton smiled. "Now that his weapons have been returned, this one-on-one match can go as scheduled," Dramaton said, "may the best guardian win; it'll be the first to three kills." With that, Dramaton and Cinder disappeared and the match began. Needless to say, Jada got her revenge, beating Reaper in the last second, using her last shot in her golden gun as Reaper was about to unleash his fist of havoc. Upon rezzing, Reaper laughed as he approached Jada. "Well, you won fair and square," Reaper said, "although we both know that if that fist of havoc hit, I'd have won because we were tied two kills apiece." Jada was laughing as well. "We both know my golden gun ability is a one shot kill," Jada said, "there's no denying that." Reaper nodded but smirked. "Try getting through a defender's ward of dawn because I know one shot isn't gonna cut it," Reaper said, "it may take all three shots to dissipate the ward itself." Jada's laughter died down as everyone else joined Jada and I on the map. Rose walked up to Jada and punched her in the face. "Next time you try to take advantage of Reaper, you answer to me," Rose said, venom laced in her voice, "I swear you won't get a damn shot off." Jada wiped the blood from her lip before spitting some on the ground; Cinder tried to put a hand on Rose, but Reaper stepped in his path and cracked his knuckles. "Going somewhere?" He asks. Cinder growled and took a step back. "Keep that bitch of yours in line, Reaper or I will kill her!" Cinder said. Reaper just laughed. "I would love to see your sorry ass try because I'll be backing her up!" Reaper said. "ENOUGH!" Dramaton said, appearing between Jada and Rose, "Jada, you and the other members of fireteam Oblivion will be banned from ever participating in the crucible if I hear one more death threat come from any mouth belonging to your fireteam, am I understood?" Oracle stepped forward. "Dramaton, may I speak?" She asked. Dramaton turned to Oracle and nodded solemnly. "Go ahead, young one," he said calmly. Oracle stepped between Rose and Jada. "I can understand the anger coming from Rose because little did you know, Jada, that Rose and I were watching the match along with Cinder and Tulos," Oracle said, "but that didn't give your team the right to take Reaper's weapons and put him in a match with you unarmed." Jada rolled her eyes. "Get to your fucking point!" She shouted. "My point is, that was uncalled for and not right at all," Oracle said, "you knew that the bookkeepers would show up yet STILL you went through with it; it makes guardians like me sick to see a great team like yours stoop so low as to lure a guardian into a false sense of security just to ambush him or her and take their weapons and leave them defenseless." Jada was shocked. "Hey we had no idea they would show up," Jada said in her defense, "we didn't know they were gonna show up, and that's the truth." Oracle rolled her eyes. "Oh, sure you didn't, but I did my research about you and your team," she said, jabbing a finger at the hunter, "this isn't the first time you and your team has done this." Jada was perplexed. "What are you talking about?" She asked. Oracle threw her hands up in the air. "Now you're acting dumb," she said, "good god Jada, fess the fuck up for what you and your team's done for the past two years." Reaper and Rose looked at Oracle. "You're telling us this isn't the first time they've done this?" Rose asked. Oracle nodded. "They've done this five times before yet never got caught," Oracle said, "they're just pissed because they got caught." Tulos stepped forward. "Dramaton, may I speak?" He asked. He looked at Tulos with a bit of concern. "Go ahead, young man," Dramaton said. Tulos cleared his throat before beginning. "You say that my entire team jumped Reaper, right Oracle?" Tulos asked. Oracle looked over at Tulos. "Yes I did say that," she said, "are you saying that you weren't there at the time Reaper was jumped?" Tulos called on his ghost. "Ghost, pull up the surveillance camera footage from the bar," Tulos said. As his ghost pulled up the footage, it showed that Jada and Cinder was beating up Reaper while Tulos was at the bar talking to Barkeep. "As you can see by the footage, I wasn't even near the area in question when Reaper was attacked by my former teammates," Tulos said. Jada looked at Tulos before closing the gap between the two and grabbed him by the shoulder. "What the fuck do you mean by 'former teammates'?" Jada said. Tulos simply turned his head away from Dramaton. "What I mean by 'former' is because I was gonna tell you and Cinder that I was leaving the team," Tulos said, "I'm sorry if I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier, you ignorant bitch." Jada took her knife and slit Tulos's throat. Tulos went to grab his throat as he bled out. "Death is the only way you leave the team, Tulos," Jada said as she cleaned her knife from his blood. Oracle just snapped. "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" She shouted, "I loved him!" Jada looked at Oracle, spinning her knife on her finger. "Oh, bring it on, you filthy whore," Jada said. "That's enough, Jada," someone said, "stand down." To our surprise, it was Cayde that showed up. "Cayde," Jada said, snapping a salute. "One thing you never do is kill your teammates," Cayde said, "that's why your status as a guardian is hereby revoked." Jada looked at Cayde, shocked. "Revoked?" She asked, "that's bullshit and you know it!" Cayde shook his head. "The other leaders and I saw you and your team attack Reaper for no apparent reason and took his weapons," he said. Zavala showed up next to Cayde. "Cayde's ruling of revoking guardian status goes for you too, Cinder," he said, "a titan is known to help the needy, not take advantage of a fellow guardian." Cinder stood there, his jaw dropped. "That's bullshit and you know it," Cinder said. Oracle rezzed Tulos. Tulos took a huge breath upon being revived. "Oracle," he said, hugging her, "thank God you didn't get hurt." Oracle hugged him back. "I'm just glad you're okay," she said with tears in her eyes. Ikora showed up, putting her hand on Oracle's shoulder. Tulos looked at Ikora, his expression looking concerned. "Ikora, is my guardian status gonna be revoked like Jada and Cinder?" He asked. Ikora looked at him, shaking her head. "No, Tulos," Ikora said, "you were not involved in this heinous action." Jada looked at Ikora, shocked. "Wait just a fucking second," she said, "howcome Cinder and I get our status revoked and not him?" Ikora glared at Jada and closed the distance between them in three steps. "That's because he had concrete evidence showing that he was never in the area of the attack when it happened," Ikora said, "if you remember his ghost showing the footage from the bar, he was talking to the bartender while you and your bastard lover were attacking and practically mugging Reaper; you and Cinder don't deserve the title of guardian, you filth!" Cinder was furious when he heard Ikora call him a bastard lover. "Oh, I'm a bastard lover?" He said, sparks gathering in his fist, "I'll show you a bastard lover, you cunt." As Cinder ran towards Ikora, Zavala stepped in his path and caught his fist. "You ungrateful person," Zavala said as he broke Cinder's arm at the elbow, "you should NEVER speak negatively about the vanguard." Jada went to engage Zavala, but Cayde pulled out his signature hand cannon, the Ace of Spades and pointed it at Jada's head, pulling back the hammer of his gun. "Wouldn't do that if I were you,hun," Cayde said. Jada dropped her knife in defeat. Zavala and Cayde proceeded to summon a pair of handcuffs and proceeded to arrest Jada and Cinder. Tulos was helped up by Oracle and looked at Ikora. "What the hell am I gonna do now?" He asked, "I'm all alone, they were practically my family." Oracle looked at him and wiped a tear from his eye. "You still have a family, Tulos," she said. Tulos looked at her, shocked. "How do you figure?" He asked. Reaper put his hand on Tulos's shoulder. "You can join my team," Reaper said, "I considered you a distant cousin ever since you left with Jada and Cinder after we had those drinks at the bar." Tulos looked at Reaper. "Really?" He asked, "is that even possible?" Ikora looked at Tulos with a smile on her face. "Yes, it's possible as long as the entire fireteam agrees," she said. Oracle looks at Reaper. "Well, Reaper?" Oracle asked, "will you allow Tulos to join us?" Rose looks at Reaper, smiling from ear to ear. "I see no problem with him joining, do you?" She asked Reaper. Reaper extends his hand to help Tulos to his feet. "Welcome to fireteam Pantheon, Tulos," Reaper said.