Destiny is owned by Bungie & RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth (No Longer A Corporate Entity)
Welcome to the archive: This was once upon a time a published story on both FFN and Wattpad. I took it down because I lost interest soon after starting it but since I have the catalog and I've put unfinished stories on here before so I've decided to add this to the catalog so it may see the light of day again. I did take the original ANs out though so thats why there aren't any besides this one. FYI this was made before the Final Shape came out.
-OtherwiseR00K
Chapter One
"You tell Zavala…and Ikora, the Vanguard…was the best bet…I ever…lost…" Those were Cayde-6's last words to the Guardian before his death. Cayde had died in the lowest section of the Prison of Elders in the Reef on the outskirts of the Sol system.
His death sparked a one-guardian war against the Reef and anyone associated with the killer, Uldren Sov. Unfortunately, Cayde would never be aware of this, he'd never be aware of his death being avenged. Cayde would never be aware of the fights that followed the alliances, or the Young Wolf's growing legend.
But this was a double-edged sword as the Guardians of the Last City would be unaware of Cayde's existence after his death, unaware that other places will learn of guardians, unaware of the revival of the Vanguard's Hunter.
Cayde-6 was given a gift, he would live on. Just not the way most Lightbearers would expect.
The Void was a comforting place, it was dark sure but it had a feeling of calm. The Void was nowhere and everywhere it was a place where impossible things could become possible. One such impossibility was a portal of light opening and the corpse of Cayde-6 coming through the portal. His body is still broken and devoid of light.
A moment later and his body is fully in the void and the portal closes, drenching Cayde's corpse in darkness. His body floats, it doesn't fall nor fly it simply floats in the same position as before.
A moment later and a figure rises to his side, its featureless face looks over the body before finally, "Gunslinger of the Vanguard," it spoke, its voice not coming from the figure but around it, the voice is echoed across the void and reverberates back to the figure, "your life has been stripped from you. Your weapon, a tool used to save those too weak to save themselves, a tool made from the bones of memory you cling to and a weapon given to you," the figure brings up their hand and the void configures into the shape it wants, the Ace of Spades sits within the beings hand, "a tool used against you."
The being takes Cayde's hand and places the Ace of Spades in it pressing the hand against Cayde's chest, "You will be the instrument of my will, just as the Traveler used you and the guardians to protect its own, I use will use you to save others. To be the guardian of so much more."
Light split the void, opening a scar into a forest bathed in moonlight, "I wish I could assist you further, but I'm incapable of doing so outside my domain. You will need a guide," the figure opens its palm to show a small grey orb with a darkened optic, the void surrounds it and shell forms around the orb, "she will assist you through your journey as she has since the beginning."
It placed the shell on Cayde's chest as his body began moving toward the scar of light, "Forces will attempt to snuff your light, don't allow them to Cayde-6," his body slipped through and fell to the forest floor, "may the Void guide you're way," the scar sealed and the being was left in the void, "Good luck Guardian."
"Cayde?"
"Cayde?!"
"CAYDE!"
Blue optics snapped open and all his instincts as a Hunter and Guardian made Cayde lurch forward the Ace of Spades pointed forward and prepared to fire, his eyes moved from side to side trying to find the enemy but-
"Cayde!"
Cayde turned and was assaulted by a ghost slamming into his chest, while the force was minuscule and not enough to push him over it knocked his senses back from high alert. Cayde looked down to see the ghost looking back up at him with small shakes as if she were sobbing.
"S-sundance?" Cayde questioned, his ghost never showed this much emotion.
"Oh, honey! It was so dark, there was nothing for so long!" the female ghost continued sobbing into his chest, obviously the ghost wasn't actually tearing up but was simply replicating the action.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Cayde holstered Ace and cupped the emotional ghost in his hands, "Kiddo, what's wrong, your never this chatty."
"C-cayde, I-i," She kept stuttering as if what she was about to say was to hard.
"What? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong-"
"I died."
Cayde froze, something was knocked from his memory banks to the forefront of his mind-Sundance exploded from the round shot through her, the shockwave blowing off Cayde's hood.
"I-i died, Cayde," the ghost trembled in his palms, "I didn't t-think about what happens when a ghost dies, b-because it usually brings a strange feeling, b-but I never thought it'd be like that."
Cayde stared at Sundance and more memories were coming to his mind-Uldren Sov stood over him with the Ace of Spades pointed directly at him.
BANG!
"I-i'm so sorry, Kiddo." Sundance's pale optic pointed up to Cayde as his bright blue optics looked down at her, "i-i think I understand how scary that is."
Sundance didn't say anything, the realization washing over her as the two just stayed in silence. Cayde backed up into a tree and slid to the ground, sitting with his hands resting on his lap, looking down at Sundance.
"But, hey, we're here aren't we?" Cayde asked, "We're somewhere, possibly Earth, and hey we can go to that spicy ramen shop to cheer ourselves up. If someone from the City saw us being sad sacks they'd think the universe was ending," that got a small giggle from Sundance, "Zavala and Ikora would never let me live it down."
"Zavala would, it's Ikora we need to look out for," Sundance answered.
"True, true, so want to go on an adventure?" Cayde prompted.
"What kind?"
"The find where we figure out where we are and get back to the Last City kind," Cayde stood and Sundance flew from his hands and over his shoulder, "besides I need to get Ace back from the hands of that rat Uldren."
"Um, Cayde?"
"Yeah?"
"You already have, Ace, honey."
"What? No I don-" Cayde stopped as he felt the hand cannon in his holster. He pulled it out and looked at it, the Ace of Spades looked as it always did. He was confused, but then realized he'd pulled it on instinct after waking up.
Cayde looked over it again, flicking the cylinder out and looking at the ammo loaded into the chamber, "Huh," he twirled it in his hand before holstering it, "yeah I do, strange."
"Strange?" Sundance asked.
"Ace was used to kill me." Sundance stayed quiet but the words hung over them both, the question hovering not too far above.
How did Cayde have the Ace of Spades?
"Okay, that's odd." Cayde said shaking himself free of the question, "Alright we got a few things that need to be done, 1) find a way to contact the Last City," Sundance looked around their position, trying to get an idea of where they were, "2) get back to the City," she looked up and froze, "3) get back out to the Reef-"
"Uh, Cayde," Sundance said, getting the Hunter Vanguard's attention.
"Hold on a second I need to plan this out."
"No, seriously Cayde, I need you to look at this."
"What?" Cayde looked at Sundance and she spun her shell up toward the sky, Cayde turned his head and froze.
"Please tell me I ain't seeing what I think I'm seeing."
"I see it too Cayde."
"Yeah I know, I just wish this was a hallucination."
"Agreed."
The Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 and his ghost Sundance stared up at the shattered moon.
Chapter Two
Cayde leaned up against a tree, his hand on his chin and his mind on the situation, "So, to recap, we have no clue where we are."
"Yep," Sundance replied, hovering a little away from him.
"The wildlife is similar to Earth, we literally saw a deer-looking thing like two minutes ago. I somehow have the Ace, even though I remember Sov taking it. We're alive even though I remember you being, well, shot and I died telling the Guardian not to blame themself."
"They'll still blame themselves, you know how they are."
"Yeah, but I'm holding hope. Anyway, the moon is shattered all to hell and I can't remember a planet in the Sol system with that kind of moon, ergo we must be outside the solar system."
Cayde looked at the sky in thought, he knew they had to be far from Earth since he could not recall a planet like this in Sol so they had to be outside of it. If this was a planet outside the Sol new things could be here, never seen before.
Another line of thought reared its head in Cayde's mind and so he looked at his hand and willed the light to ignite and solar fire erupted in his palm. The Light still reached him.
"Sundance, how far would we have to be for the light to not possibly reach us?"
Sundance's shell spun as the ghost thought, "I..I don't know, I'm aware the light reaches us at the edges of the Sol system but, I don't know its actual range."
"Well, it must be pretty far if you're still getting the Traveler's light."
"Yeah," Sundance said, hesitantly as if something was bothering her, "I guess it does."
Cayde noticed the unease in her voice but just assumed she was worried about getting back home and so he went back to thinking.
Cayde snapped his fingers as an idea came to him, "Sundance can you see if you can detect any radio waves?"
"Yeah." Sundance rose higher into the air, about the height of the tree canopy, and her shell split. She stayed like that, her shell spinning around her like moons, for a moment before they snapped back and she came down, "I'm picking up a signal, though it's rather weak and pretty primitive."
"Yes! Can you tap into it from here?"
"No, it's far too weak, we'd need to be closer."
"Okay, which way is it?" Cayde asked in excitement at the prospect of getting off the planet.
"North, and if I'm calculating correctly the signal begins getting stronger about 250 miles north."
"That's not so bad," Cayde waved off the distance and looked North.
"Yeah, but Cayde, we need to keep in mind the possibility the species on this planet isn't as advanced as ours. It's very possible they haven't even gotten to their moon-"
Cayde put his finger to Sundance's shell in a shushing gesture, "Eh, eh, we ain't got time for negativity, Sunny."
"It's not negativ-"
"Doesn't matter, you could jinx us, so just zip it."
"But-"
"Ep."
"Cayde-"
"Eugh."
"I really don't thin-"
"ZIP IT! Don't jinx it!" Cayde grabbed Sundance and shook her, "We can't jinx this, we gotta get home dang it!"
"AL-RIGHT-I-GET-IT-ST–OP S-HAKIN-NG ME!"
Cayde let go of Sundance who spun dizzily in the air before righting herself and glaring at Cayde, "Good, now we got some distance to go so it's time to let her soar once more!"
Cayde turned and summoned forth his steed, a sexy sleek beast of a sparrow, tuned and modified by Cayde-6 with some assistance from Amanda Holliday. Course' if Holliday ever learned of the sparrow carcass he used as a frame for the Gambler's Palm she'd probably kill him.
Cayde lovingly stroked the hood of the sparrow, "Oh, baby, you sweet sexy thing. Your time has come, make me proud."
Cayde climbed onto the seat and revved the boosters, it purred like a cat high on nip. Cayde nodded and pushed the handles forward, rocketing off into the night, "WHOOHOO! YEAH!"
Yelps of jubilation and joy echoed through the forest.
Four Hours Later
"Knock, Knock" Cayde prompted as he continued swerving between trees.
"Who's there?"
"Nobel."
"Nobel, who?"
"Nobel, that's why I knocked!" Cayde 'eh'd', hoping for a giggle of some kind but got a sigh of exasperation.
"Alright, alright guess you've heard that one before. How do you say hi to a Hive Thrall?"
"Buckshot?"
"Nope, Hi Ven!"
"I think you're running out of jokes, Cayde."
Cayde gasped as if he'd just heard the Colonel had stubbed its toe, "Impossible, the joke vault can never run out! Just gotta think of another one..."
"Your jokes can wait, Cayde, we just crossed the threshold."
"Really? Huh, how convenient. Okay, look for space-related projects and anything relating to the species on this planet."
Sundance was quiet a moment, searching for the things Cayde had asked for, "Cayde?"
"What'd you find?"
"Um, a lot."
"Cool, then point me toward the nearest Cosmodrone and we'll be on our wa-"
"Cayde, they have no Cosmodrones. They haven't even gotten out of the planet's atmosphere."
Cayde pulled the brakes on the sparrow, stopping him near instantly, "What?"
"They haven't gotten any active space programs as it was abandoned after the substance used to fuel everything was learned to become inert after leaving the atmosphere."
"What?"
"Also," Sundance's voice faltered slightly, "Humans are the species on this planet."
"What!? Wait, but, huh?"
"I know, I'm still processing this. Another human planet, the City would be ecstatic at this discovery."
"Wait, wait, wait, you said they didn't even break the atmosphere. How were you getting a signal, then?"
"The tower I've tapped into is massive. From what I can tell the tower was built with a massive range in mind for the continent but strands of that signal went further than the limit, I'm still rummaging through the data but from what I can tell there are three others beside this one, we just appeared closer to it."
Cayde was quiet. His mind whirling for a solution to the issue, but, the Queen of Hearts wasn't connected to him as he couldn't feel the transmat.
"The fuel, what is it?" It couldn't have been anything he was familiar with if the substance became completely inert outside the atmosphere.
"A crystal mined out from the ground, it powers quite literally everything and they named it Dust."
"Dust? They named a power source after dirt particles?"
"Yeah, it's a little strange. But this Dust is all they've discovered to power their machines, so unfortunately we're…"
"Trapped here." Cayde finished for her. The two lapsed into silence, Cayde thought over the things he'd never see again. The sunrise over the Last City, the young Hunters that came to him for help, Zavala's fun-killing, and Ikora's comebacks.
Cayde leaned back into his seat and turned his head to the sky, it'd been getting brighter as he traveled for the signal range and it looked as if dawn had just arrived. His mind took in the beauty of the dawn, the oranges, purples, and blue, "Well, could've been worse, at least the dawn is as beautiful as it should be."
Cayde sighed, "Hope they can handle themselves without me."
Grrrrr
Cayde's head snapped over to the tree line, a large shadow was watching him, and Cayde noticed multiple glowing orange eyes watching from behind its own fiery orange eyes.
Cayde dismissed the sparrow and pulled the Ace of Spades from its holster, "Sundance, I thought you said humanity was the only notable species on this planet."
"Never said that."
"Well, you didn't imply anything else," Cayde watched as the smaller shadows began leaving the tree line and he could get a good look at them. They looked like bipedal wolves, with long arms and long legs with some muscle on them, of course, he couldn't see much more than that as their fur was pitch black.
Most were just that, large wolves with black fur, a few had more though. White plates decorated their bodies, these ones seemed in charge as they were further in the back. They were noticeably larger too.
"Alright, what are these things," They hadn't attacked yet so Cayde kept Ace pointed down but ready if they did.
"Grimm, Beowolves to be precise."
"Name tracks." Cayde looked at, what he believed to be, the younger beowolves and saw they were growling fiercely but still staying back.
"Beowolves will usually hunt in packs, humans to be precise, they are simply the most common form of Grimm."
"So they hunt humans?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, then why aren't they charging, the younger ones look as if they want to make me a chew toy."
"They have a pack mentality, which means they must listen to the Alpha."
Cayde looked past the beowolves and to the large shadow, still in the shadow of the trees, "So that must be the Alpha."
"Yes, I believe it is observing you, trying to figure out how dangerous you are."
"Why, I thought it was an animal. Animals aren't that smart."
"Grimm are different, if what I'm reading is to be believed, the older a Grimm is the more dangerous they are as they get older they get smarter."
"And how old would this Alpha be?"
"At least a few decades."
"Oh, great, so what are my odds of getting out of this without dying once?"
"Don't know, we're not using dust bullets so I can't give you a proper answer."
Cayde nodded and aimed the Ace of Spades at one of the younger beowolves and suddenly the whole pack howled. The howl was loud and seemed like something you'd hear at the entrance of hell, Cayde didn't waste any time and had already sent two bullets forward as the pack charged.
The two rounds punched through two of the young beowolves head, killing them instantly. Cayde sent a few more rounds and a few more beowolves met their end, Cayde had to duck to avoid a swipe from the first beowolf to make it to him and he shot it in the head.
Cayde ducked another swipe and jumped to kick the beowolf, he used the thing's head to spring himself back and landed in the canopy of a tree. He reloaded Ace and sent a throwing knife toward the approaching beowolves, it hit an older one and didn't seem to do much.
Cayde shot two more from his perch and jumped when the beowolves attempted to get at him. He flipped over them, getting two more shots in, and two more dead beowolves. Landing in a crouch, he went to a single knee to duck under a beowolf lunging before fanning three shots into the things back
It hit the ground in a heap and didn't move again.
Cayde stood to his full height and reloaded the Ace, he turned on his heel for any more of them, and when he only saw corpses he spun Ace in a casual manner, "Heh, yup, haven't lost a beat-"
"CAYDE!"
SLASH
Cayde stumbled forward and looked to his right, he had forgotten about the Alpha.
The Alpha stood taller than the rest of the beowolves, it was much taller than the shadow he'd seen displayed so it must've been crouched. The thing barely missed the top of the tree canopy.
It was big, and most certainly scarier. The thing's claws were long and jagged and its bone plating was larger and seemed a little thicker, its spikes erupted from its elbows and shoulders and the mask was more angular with spikes pointed back.
Cayde went to aim Ace and suddenly realized the problem with that. His whole forearm was missing, "Aw, come on, that's the second time in nearly a year!"
Cayde didn't miss a beat and ducked under another slash from the Alpha, he used his left hand and unsheathed the knife on his hip and held it in a reverse grip. The Alpha seemed to notice the knife and growled, its eyes glinting in the sun rising above the canopy.
"Come on, Wolfy, let's go."
As if responding to his challenge the Alpha slammed its paw down where Cayde was, he sidestepped it and slashed at its wrist. It pulled back and tried backhanding Cayde, who jumped over it with a twirl, slicing it in the same spot.
Cayde took a gander at the spot he'd slashed and saw the Alpha could still use the joint even with the tendons having been severed. Cayde rolled away from a stomp, jumped from the roll, and stabbed the Alpha in the back, using the knife to pull himself up onto the back of the Alpha. He ripped the knife from its position and ran up the Alpha's back, it attempted to get him off but Cayde had already made it to the neck.
Cayde brought the knife down hard into the thing's nape, going down to the hilt. The Alpha roared in pain, it tried shaking Cayde off but he held on and twisted it before sliding down the side of the neck bringing the blade with him.
Cayde carved the Alpha's throat out and kicked off it, the knife tore through the bottom of the Alpha's chin and out the jaw. The Alpha fell as Cayde landed a little away from it.
Cayde looked over at the Alpha, not sure if it was actually dead so to make sure he threw another knife at the thing.
It didn't respond.
Cayde relaxed with a chuckle before remembering his arm, he looked down at his stub and turned toward the area his arm may have landed. Walking over, Cayde easily found the remains of his forearm and the Ace of Spades not very far from it.
Cayde grabbed his arm and looked it over, "Hey, buddy, help me out here."
Sundance appeared above his stump and looked at it before looking back at Cayde, "This is why you need to pay attention, Cayde."
"I know," It was something of a bad habit for Cayde, that would have to change as he didn't want a repeat of…Cayde shook his head, better to not go down that avenue of thought.
Sundance scanned the stump and Cayde placed the arm onto the stump. She hovered around it while shooting off beams of light, practically welding it back together, she made sure to fix the wiring as well so Cayde could actually move the limb.
Cayde tested his arm, rolling it and testing his wrist movements and fingers. Satisfied Cayde picks up Ace, wipes the dirt off, and holstered it.
"Fleabags done and dusted, arm reattached, and many questions on my mind," Cayde turned toward Sundance, "the first being what the Grimm are exactly."
"If you're wondering if they are the Darkness, you'd thankfully be wrong, however, they appear to be made of a darkness. I'm not so sure as to what though."
"So, they're completely made of this other darkness?"
"Yes, besides the bone from what I'm reading," Cayde turned toward the bodies and was surprised to see the fur dissipating off the Alpha.
"Uhh, is that supposed to happen?" Cayde gestured toward the Alpha, Sundance turned and looked curiously at the phenomenon.
"Apparently, yes, the Grimm corpses tend to vanish after they die. The older they are they leave more behind though, bones, mask plates."
"Well, I'm sure that helps with cleaning up after a slaughter." Cayde watched as the corpses dissipated, the younger one having disappeared while he wasn't paying attention. The older ones left behind the masks and a few bones while the Alpha left its whole skeleton behind.
Cayde momentarily wondered if any museum would want the bones but discarded the thought and turned back to Sundance, "Alright, are you picking up any local signals, radio, the tower network at all?"
"Yes, I'm picking up a signal about twenty miles North-East."
"Alright, we got our next destination." Cayde went to summon the Gambler's Palm but Sundnace stopped him.
"Wait, Cayde, we should take the bones with us."
"Why?"
"For monetary reasons, Grimm bones can fetch some hefty amounts of money."
"Why would we need money? We got near enough Glimmer to be rivals with Shaxx for Pete's sake-"
"Cayde, not a space-faring race, haven't gotten past the atmosphere, they don't have Glimmer."
Cayde stared at the ghost for a long moment, "So you're telling me, all the Glimmer I have accumulated over my centuries as Guardian means diddly squat money-wise here."
"Yup," Was Sundance's quick and brutal reply.
Cayde sighed long and raspily as his entire body bent over as if deflating. He'd spent centuries collecting, raiding, gambling, clearing entire poker tables for the glimmer he'd earned, and it was practically worthless to the society here. Well, at least that wasn't Glimmer's only value.
"Alright, alright, getting bones, finding what the hell they use as currency, and then back to cleaning tables for whatever they use as money. Heh, that'll be fun."
Cayde walked over to the boneyard he'd made and went collecting the bones, digitizing them into the inventory Sundnace held in her drives.
Once done, Cayde summoned the Gambler's Palm, "Alright since I'm going to meet the locals, it'd be best to know the general things about this planet. Sundance, compile a file about this planet and tell me about it on our way."
"Alright, Cayde, first things first is this planet," Cayde sped off toward the signal as Sundance continued, "is called Remnant."
Chapter Three
"So these Huntsman and Huntresses are basically what the Guardians are to the Last City?" Cayde asked. The Gambler's Palm racing through the forest for the settlement.
"Yes, eighty years ago after the Great War the last King of Vale believed the Kingdoms needed a proper defense force, and the Academies were founded soon after," Sundance answered, giving a thorough lesson on Remnant had proven easy in the thirty minutes they had.
Even though Cayde wasn't a fan of schooling, he knew he'd stick out like a Vex trying to blend in with the Cabal without it, he needed to know things about Remnant. A thirty-minute history lesson was the price.
"Beacon, Shade, Haven, and Atlas Academy, right?"
"Correct, now what are the Kingdom's names?"
"Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo." answered dryly, he really hated the history lesson. How the hell did Warlocks love this stuff?
"Good, now I'd recommend dismissing the sparrow as we are close."
Cayde listened and let the speeding sparrow dissipate under him and dug his soles into the dirt, slowly he slid to a lesser speed and began walking as if he hadn't just gotten off a speeding vehicle a moment ago.
"Okay, should've asked this earlier, but are Exo's or equivalent a thing on Remnant?" Cayde asked as he walked through the woods toward the destination.
Sundance was quiet a moment, likely searching the net for anything, "No, I'm afraid you'll have to wear a helmet."
"Ughhh," Cayde groaned, "and deprive the people of my beautiful-beautiful horn?" he gestured to the horn protruding from his head.
"Yes, it will hurt them, but I'm positive they're strong enough to get through it," Cayde could practically taste the sarcasm oozing from Sundance.
"Yeah, yeah," Cayde brought up his inventory and his robotic face scrunched slightly, "I really need to organize this thing."
Cayde searched his inventory, weapons, armor, glimmer (that still stung a little), and finally helmets. Cayde looked at the only helmet he had, he had multiple actually but they were all the same type.
"Welp, I'd meant to sell this to the Guardian but," Cayde's head suddenly disappeared behind the black Dustwalker helmet that materialized, "desperate times call for desperate measures."
The straight line of a visor flickered on with a light blue, the normal version had a green visor but the Guardian had asked for a custom job. Cayde was honestly thankful the helmet was still on him as he did not like the color scheme of the original helmet. He had no idea how the helmet made yellow look so ugly.
Cayde walked past a pair of trees and onto the dirt road carved out between the trees, he turned his head left and immediately saw the settlement. It was most certainly protected.
Large logs set up as the wall with steel reinforcements set up on the bottom middle and top with parts of the logs still visible. The wall had some people on top, clearly looking for any Grimm, a few were looking at him as he approached. He could tell a few had tensed up even from where he was.
Cayde's eyes scanned over to the left of the wall and noticed it was damaged, minimal but Cayde could still see the cracks and claw marks. The large gate was also noticeably dented, it seemed this place was attacked recently.
Speaking of gates, Cayde had finally reached it-
"Buzz off, Atlesian."
-and was barred from entering.
"Really," Cayde said, his fists on his hips, "you'd bar someone for thinking there from Atlas?"
"Yeah, but it's obvious with you. The helmet is high tech and I've never seen anything resembling it, ergo you're from Atlas with all those high and mighty principles that come with it." The guard with blue hair said, a frown decorating his face.
"They are high, Briggs, they're whole Kingdom floats," the guard with red hair said.
"Not my point, Jay!"
"Besides that, the helmet looks different," Jay spoke up, "his resembles an older version that's been modified."
Cayde was momentarily surprised, "Sundance, can you confirm that?"
"Huh, yeah they do look a little like the Dustwalker helmets, strange," Sundance confirmed.
Briggs looked over at his fellow guard, unaware of the quick conversation between Cayde and the ghost "And how the hell would you know that?"
"The mouthpiece for one," Jay began, "lacks any protection. Which I think is the stupidest decision by Atlas, why not protect the whole head, it's like you're putting a target on your soldier's teeth. I mean Atlas is supposed to be the most advanced kingdom but they somehow continue to do stupid shit, I mean before they changed it to Atlas, Mantel had banned art for some gods' forsaken reason! The worst part is Atlas still pulls this stupid shit, I mean just a few days ago General Ironwood arrived in Vale with a fleet! A fucking fleet! Is he trying to make Vale distrustful of them!? Another thing is their complete fuckery with the faunus and the SDC, it's literally the most racist toward them in polls so I'm half wondering if Jauque Schnee's hand is up the ass of the Atlas Round Table!"
Jay was panting now, his face red from the breath he'd expended on his rant. Briggs and Cayde stared at Jay, surprised by the sudden outburst.
"Uh," Cayde began, "you alright, buddy?"
"Jay, what the hell was that?" Briggs asked, not expecting the rant from his partner.
Briggs sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm not a fan of Atlas' recent decisions. Anyway, this guy doesn't look Atlas, the helmet could've been stolen for all we know or salvaged, point is the rest of his attire doesn't look Atlesian, ergo I don't think he is."
Briggs stared for a moment, then switched his focus to Cayde, "You can go in," before Cayde could get a word in though, Briggs pointed at him with narrowed eyes, "But if you cause any trouble, I'll personally throw your ass in the cells."
"Hey, I'm as innocent as a saint, there won't be any trouble from me," Cayde said.
Briggs didn't seem to believe him but he still brought up his radio, "Open the gate, enough for a single person."
At the order, the gate slid open, and the gears squeaked and groaned before stopping just enough for someone to slip through. Cayde walked past the two guards two-finger saluting Briggs and slipped into the settlement.
Cayde glanced back at the now-closing gates before taking in the image of the settlement, mentally comparing it to a piece of art shown to him by a young warlock. The settlement wasn't large and only had a few buildings, all wooden with brick and metal decorating them.
Cayde turned his head over toward the damaged section of the wall and saw people climbing scaffolding set up to help the people repair it. Cayde watched for a moment before continuing forward.
"Alright," Cayde began, muttering to himself, "first things first, need to find a way to sell the bones, then look for a bounty board and hope being an unofficial hunter works."
Cayde looked over the buildings he passed, one of them looking like an old western saloon called the Watering Hole.
Cayde wasn't unaware of the eyes looking him over either, it made sense to him, a place just attacked would be paranoid. Monsters or humans didn't matter. A new thing just after an attack was always scrutinized.
They didn't do more than that so Cayde barely gave them any notice, he was still looking for a place to sell bone-
"Cayde, on your left," Sundance said, snapping Cayde out of his thoughts.
Cayde looked to his left and saw what Sundnace meant, a small stand with the sign Grimm Charms nailed above on a wooden board. The stand had a black tent with red lining and a few skeletal pieces decorating it, obviously Grimm bones.
"Huh, good catch Sundance." Cayde began walking over, the old lady seemed to notice his path and smiled that elderly grandmother smile. Though Cayde could see the small bit of anticipation in her eyes.
"Hello, dearie, are you here for the mysterious charms the Grimm may give you?" The Vendor asked.
"Maybe," Cayde began, "so these are all real Grimm bones?"
The old woman chuckled, "Oh, yes, I sell genuine remains of humanity and Faunus' greatest enemy," the old lady gently grabbed a thick armband and presented it to Cayde, "This is a carved-out femur from an Ursa, made into a wristband."
Cayde took the wristband and slipped it on his wrist, he examined it and nodded, "It's nice, but I do have a question."
"Go on."
"Do you buy bones by chance?"
"Yes, I do, but why wou-"
THUD
The noise made several passersby look over and then gape in utter surprise. Who wouldn't be surprised at a large beowolf skull appearing out of nowhere?
The Vendor sat in a stupor, surprised at the sudden appearance of the skull, before immediately getting near it and using a magnifying glass to examine it. Cayde was honestly surprised at how quickly the old lady could move.
"Larger than normal…older too by the feeling and look of the mask…an Alpha?" The lady looked back at Cayde, "Where did you get this?"
"Killed it."
The old lady sighed exasperated, "I figured that, I mean where did you kill it?"
Cayde thought for a moment, "About twenty miles south, I think. Why?"
"Because it seems you've completed a bounty on the board," a voice spoke up behind Cayde.
Cayde turned around to see a woman approaching through the small crowd of spectators, the woman was at least middle-aged and had a smart look to her. Her swept-back blue hair was pulled into a bun and the rectangular glasses added to the smart look.
"This is an Alpha that had been causing trouble for our supply routes, you killing it made the trails much safer," The woman passed Cayde and looked closer at the skull as she spoke, "and it just so happened to have a rather hefty bounty to it."
"It did?" Cayde asked in surprise.
The woman turned around, her glasses slipping to her nose as she looked at him over them, "You didn't know?"
"No, lady."
"Hmph, I'm doubtful of that but you did bring it back so you have evidence of the kill," She walked to stand beside him and stared into Cayde's visor, "Are you even a Huntsman?"
"No," Cayde wouldn't lie here, plus he doubted his position as Hunter Vanguard would get him anywhere, "afraid not miss…"
The woman smirked, "Oh no, people die quickly in this profession so learning the names of the souls is unnecessary. Giving mine is also foolish for the dead who have no use for it."
"Hard policy you drive, Lady. So how much was the bounty?"
The woman fished into her coat pulling out a scroll, if Cayde remembered the device correctly, and turned it on, "The old Alpha Beowolf disrupting the supply line reward was 24,000 Lien."
Cayde was surprised, he didn't expect that much, "That much? It didn't seem so tough."
The woman smiled, "That beowolf pack killed the few Hunters sent to deal with it and destroyed multiple supply caravans from Vale. It being tough is not the issue, the problems it caused were what made its bounty so high. Also if what you say is true, then those Hunters were either weak or the Alpha was weak compared to you."
Cayde didn't like the way the Lady smiled and decided to change the subject, "So the money?"
The Lady nodded, "Please follow me, sir," With that, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Cayde looked back at the Vendor, still inspecting the skull, "Alright, you can keep it see you later."
Cayde followed after the Bounty Lady not realizing he still had the bone band on his wrist. The Vendor wouldn't care however as she was relieved she had gotten the skull for free, she didn't feel the band was a good enough trade for it but wouldn't bring it up.
Chapter Four
Cayde followed the Bounty Lady as she led him through the street of the settlement. Cayde continued looking around at the place, noticing a large greenhouse for the first time.
"How did I miss that?" Cayde questioned.
"Hmm?" The Bounty Lady glanced back questioningly.
"Sorry, talking to myself," Cayde explained. The Bounty Lady nodded and turned her head forward.
"What do you think of this place, Sundance?" Cayde asked through the link between him and his ghost.
"I think it's in need of a guardian," Sundance responded.
Cayde looked at the settlement again, and he agreed with Sundance. The settlement looked alright, it wasn't filthy and it wasn't falling apart but the people were very obviously affected by something. Cayde looked at a young man speaking to a woman and saw the expression on both faces, they were trying to distract themselves from something. He may have been in the Tower for a long time and his skill had rusted somewhat but one thing he never lost was the capacity to read people.
He could see straight through the strained smiles and slightly forced laughter, that these people were running low on hope and needed a light in the dark.
Cayde-6, ex-Hunter Vanguard would be that light, he'd burn the darkness away with a quip and a shot from the Ace of Spades.
While making money along the way.
Cayde tuned out of his thoughts as he and BL approached a building. It wasn't anything remarkable and it looked more like a home than a bounty office. Walking into the building Cayde was greeted by a rather big reception room the walls lined with mounted Grimm skulls and weapons.
Cayde whistled at the sight of a Gatling gun sitting in a case, "That caused some damage I'm sure." he said out loud.
"Oh, yes, it sure did." The woman said in amusement but Cayde could hear a sense of nostalgia in her voice.
"Is it yours?" Cayde ventured. The woman didn't verbally answer him, instead glancing at him with an 'I know what you're trying to do' smirk.
Cayde simply shrugged at his failed attempt. The two walked up to a makeshift desk and while Cayde stopped at the desk the woman just slid over it before planting herself behind it, "So, first things first."
She reached down and pulled out a scroll, though it was noticeably bigger, and turned it on. The hard-light dust powered on and the screen turned from black to white, showing multiple folders and a grid-like pattern near the bottom.
"You said you weren't a Huntsman correct?" The woman asked.
"Yeah, never went to the Academies. This brand of awesome is all self-made," Cayde replied.
"Hm, this does pose an issue," Cayde crossed his arms but motioned for her to continue, "Since you are not a registered Huntsman I can not determine your skill nor can I set the bounties for said skill. I'm also suspicious if you actually killed the Alpha Beowolf yourself and didn't take it off the actual Hunter who did it."
Cayde hummed not at all offended by the woman's slight acsation. This very thing had been a problem the Vanguard had faced before of course they'd made it to where the bounty was locked to the guardian who took the contract and no others, "That's a problem."
"Good to see you have brains. Yes, I can't give you the reward without proper evidence. Now usually the evidence would be the bone you brought back but that's usually backed by records which you don't have." She said emphasizing the last three words.
"Then what can I do?"
The woman's grin could've made a Thrall think twice, "Simple, you prove yourself. If you think you can."
Cayde chuckled, shaking his finger at her, "Lady, them's gambling words and I'll have you know I've been gambling all my life."
"Is that so? Hmm, we'll see I suppose." The lady scrolled the screen on her scroll to a certain file before opening it and giving the scroll to Cayde. He took it and looked at the screen.
It was a bounty contract on a pack of Ursa.
"A pack? I thought Ursa was more solitary?"
"They usually are, but it has been proven that they do group up under an older Ursa Major. Unlike Beowolf packs, a pack of Ursa, even the younger ones, can tear through smaller settlements with relative ease."
"Hmm, so is that what happened to the wall?" Cayde asks, gesturing his head in the wall's general direction.
"No, that was a swarm of younger Grimm. They're a usual issue and not one we can typically predict, the sensors can't detect them from more than a mile out."
"Sounds like you need new sensors."
"Sounds like something you and everyone else keep telling me," she snarked, "Anyway, the Ursa has been attacking other settlements around the area. They can usually repel them but recently the pack leader has been getting involved and the few settlements that were in the area suddenly became just us."
Cayde looked down at the scroll as it changed to show a map of the settlements surrounding the one he was in. He watched as the blue icons turned red until one remained and it was larger than the others.
"So you think they're on a collision course with this settlement?" Cayde asked.
"I know they are. The Ursa pack wiped out the smaller settlements we personally helped start, each one roughly forty miles away. The Grimm are attracted to negativity and tell me what you saw out in the streets."
"A lot of people trying to be happy when they can't."
"Exactly, the people have heard of the startups being destroyed. A lot of people had family over there, so I'm sure you can guess what that does to someone's emotions."
"Alright, I get it. Tell me where they are."
"We don't know exactly, my best guess is somewhere to the south as that was the last place they attacked. All I can give you is a general location, you'll have to find them yourself."
"Shouldn't be that hard, large heard leave trails."
"It could work." The woman shrugged, "Though you will need transportation if you wish to get this done quickly."
Cayde was a split second from saying he already had something but-
"Cayde they don't know about Gambler's Palm and we'd like to keep it that way," Sundance replied.
-realized it'd be more trouble than it's worth.
"Yeah, transport. Definitely need that." Cayde said.
The woman nodded and slid back over the desk before motioning Cayde to follow her. They walked toward a door which led to a small storage area. Cayde looked around at the items clothed in a white sheet, forgotten or left to be used later.
The sound of clattering metal made Cayde's head snap in its direction to see the woman pulling off a sheet to a nice-looking motorcycle. Cayde had seen some old motorcycles before, a lot of Warlocks kept them as pieces of history, Ikora had a few pictures of old vehicles she'd found over her time as a guardian.
This bike reminded him of one, it looked a lot like a picture of a military bike pre-golden age if he remembered right. Though this one had differences, its paint was scratched all to hell only showing the steel beneath and the tires looked a little custom. Like, put together by cannibalizing other parts and adding a metal covering to the sides of it.
Certainly interesting enough for Cayde to begin workshopping a name in his head.
"Meet the V-2 Valean Military Bike," the Lady said dusting it off as she spoke, "This bad girl will get you where you need to go one way or another."
"Oh, she is just purty," Cayde commented as he walked up.
"Most would agree. Most would say the bike is a symbol of oppression, but I always thought they were idiots."
"Oppression?" The Lady turned and looked at him like he was stupid until her eyes gained an understanding.
"Right, out of the Kingdoms. Sixty years ago the Faunus revolted against the oppressive system, this bike was made after the V-1 was found to be lacking in several areas. Some faunus see the bike as a symbol of those times. A symbol of the people who fought to keep them in line."
Cayde looked over the V-2, he could somewhat understand that. Thorn was a weapon used to kill guardians and strip them of their light, so the future iterations became a symbol of the followers of Dregden Yor.
Cayde didn't blame the weapon though, he blamed the person who used it.
"Now, the bike is a collector's wet dream. People would give an arm or leg just to find one after so many were destroyed in the Faunus Rights Revolution."
"And you're just giving it to me?"
The Lady simply smiled, "Yes, it's not doing anyone any good just sitting here. I never use it as it can't transport anything too big and I only ever leave to pick up things from Vale. So yes, you may have it."
She grabbed something from off the bike, a large cylindrical can with a faded color to it, and handed it to Cayde, "You'll need that, the bike hasn't been fuelled in a few weeks so make sure you fill it with that refined dust."
"Well thanks, guess my birthday came early," Cayde responded.
"Perhaps it did," With that, she began walking back to the main room but stopped as she opened the door, "Oh, and good luck."
With that she left the room, leaving Cayde alone with the motorcycle. Cayde stared after her for a moment before looking back to the V-2, "Alright. Sundance, can you scan the motorcycle, and make sure it can actually get me where I need to go."
Sundance appeared over Cayde's shoulder and immediately went to scan the bike, using the CCT to compare the parts in the bike to newer versions on the market. After a thorough dressing down she turned back to Cayde, "It'll work, everything is there but it doesn't have any of the features the Gambler's Palm does. However, it seems a bit better at quick swerves and turns."
Cayde hummed, nodding as he made up his mind, "I guess we're gonna need to test this girl. If no one has ever seen a sparrow than I need to get used to it. Besides, maybe we could test using raw solar energy to use as fuel."
Sundance looked at Cayde with a flat stare, "You're still on about that?"
"What? It's a good idea."
"Cayde, it could very well blow the motorcycle up."
"Yeah, well I'm trusting you to make the parts to harness the solar energy."
Sundance sighed but didn't say anything against it, if she were honest she wanted to see if it worked as well. She was just a little bit hesitant to test something as volatile as Solar as a power source, much less a fuel source.
Continuing on Cayde grabbed the cap leading to the tank and poured the refined dust into the greedy maw of the V-2. Once again Cayde was set on a path forward, and it would let the V-2 Valean Military Bike ride once again.
Chapter Five
A murder of crows fluttered off as the V-2 roared its engine as the bike tore up the grass and dirt beneath it, leaving a trail from the settlement it came from. Its occupants cackled with glee.
"CAYDE, SLOW DOWN!"
Well, one of its occupants.
Cayde didn't slow down, instead, he turned sharply to avoid a rotten tree stump at high speed and barely avoided the remains of the tree the stump once held.
"CAYDE, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF!"
Cayde laughed as Sundnace yelled in his ear, "Why are you so scared, I've done stuff like this on the Gambler's Palm!?" Cayde ramped off a small mound of dirt and fell a small way before slamming into the ground, now going down a leaf-covered hill, the leaves fluttering behind him as he went.
"YES, ON A HOVERING VEHICLE! NOT A WHEELED DEATH TRAP THAT YOU'RE TESTING THE LIMTS OF!"
Cayde huffed at the remark but kicked back the bike to make it ride on its back wheel as a log embedded in the ground lay in his path so he ramped off the surface before landing back onto the ground.
Cayde honestly had no clue how this would go. He'd seen motorcycles in museums dedicated to vehicles in the Last City but had no inclination to actually learn how to ride one. He assumed it was similar to a sparrow with the overall design bearing a resemblance of the sparrow to the motorcycle and thought it would be the same.
Boy golly was he wrong.
The first thing he learned was it wasn't as intuitive as the sparrow so he had to be more forceful with it. No slight adjustment and slackened grip, for now, this girl was a rebellious one but one he would tame in the end.
The V-2 was certainly a beast in its own right, he knew it was nowhere near as powerful as the Gambler's Palm but it would get closer as he began to tinker with it. He really needed to figure out a name for the bike. If he was gonna keep it, it needed a name.
"How far out are we?" Cayde questioned.
"About thirteen miles," Sundance said, her voice still racked with anxiety, "I'm still hating this."
"Ah, lighten up. You've never complained about the speed I go at before."
"That's because I know you won't crash a sparrow, you've barely used this bike and you're using it as if you've been riding it for years."
"Do you have no faith in me, little light?"
"Don't call me that, and no. The last time you tried to drive something new you veered it off a cliff because you wanted to try and drift it as close as possible to the ledge."
He remembered that. It was a little after the guardian killed Gaul and Cayde was on overseeing duty for patching up the City, while also getting any and all Red Legion hardware out of the streets. Cleanup disguised as scavenging.
Honestly, Cayde had never been able to get that many Hunters to help with cleanup duty. Even Ikora and Zavala were impressed.
Anyway, Cayde had found a Red Legion tank in rather good condition and decided to take it for himself. A few days afterward he was on the outskirts of the Last City and was testing the tank out by himself.
He'd wanted to test the tank's maneuverability and attempted to drift using it and it worked. He could drift using the Red Legion tank. So he decided to stress test the thing. Long story short, he flew right off a cliff, into a deep ravine, got crushed, and then revived. Took a few hours to climb back up from the wreckage and he'd lost a pretty cool toy.
Zavala and Ikora gave him shit when he got back to the tower as well so yeah not a great day for Cayde-6.
"Please, there aren't any ravines nearby for me to cra-!" Cayde cut himself off and yelped as he swerved past a boulder he nearly crashed into. His new course sent him up a mossy log that was leaning onto another tree that was on the other side of a creek, which Cayde hadn't noticed.
He sped up the mossy log barely keeping himself balanced and zipped off right before he hit the tree. The bike slammed into the ground barely missing the edge of the creek.
Cayde was quiet as he continued forward but noticeably slowed down a bit and Sundance radiated a smug satisfaction through their shared link.
"How much farther?" Cayde asked, trying to forget what just happened.
"About fifteen miles," Sundance says.
"Alright, well to pass the time, why not tell me more about this crazy world we find ourselves in."
"Really?"
"Yeah, those comments about the Faunus Rights Revolution made me realize I'm sorely lacking in information. I can't be lacking in common information, history, terms, and normal everyday things. I need to know about them."
"Huh, you usually wing things. Where's this coming from?"
"I can't mess up here, this isn't the City where if I mess up Zavala or Ikora even the guardian could pull me out of it. I need to be more careful here."
It was quiet for a moment, the rumble of the V-2 the only noise cutting through the quiet, "Alright, where should I start?"
"The Faunus Rights Revolution."
"Okay," she was quiet for a moment before she finally began, "Sixty-three years ago the Faunus revolted against the oppressive laws and rules laid out for them. The powder keg had been set a few years prior when the last King of Vale, then a member of the newly made Vale Council, made the decision to offer a country for the Faunus. It was an Island south of Anima that was named Menagerie."
"Wait, wait, they named an island meant for Faunus, menagerie? That's incredibly racist."
"For Earth's meaning yes. However, Menagerie means something different for Remnant, its actually used to describe safety or harmony. Anyway, some Faunus saw the Island as a gift and were happy while others simply believed it was meant to be a way of getting rid of the Faunus."
"Gee, I wonder why."
"Hush Cayde. So the Faunus rose up and fought the Kingdoms, hoping to make them listen or wear them down. The aftermath of the Great War still ran deep through the Kingdoms and a global revolt was literally the last thing anyone needed. A few years later the Kingdoms acquiesced at the pleas of the previous King of Vale who in all honestly seemed like a stand-up guy."
"Yeah, he does sound pretty good."
"Afterward many laws were put in place to protect the Faunus, Vacuo is the only real place that had already been friendly to Faunus before so not many laws were enforced there. But racism wasn't so easily stomped out and a group of militiamen led by Captain Delano Winchester attempted to attack Fort Castle."
"Fort Castle? Seriously?"
"Yeah, naming conventions seem pretty on the nose. Anyway, this attack wasn't sanctioned by the Vale military and was more of a rogue operation. Its remembered as the true final battle in the Faunus Rights Revolution and ended with the Captain leading it being ambushed as he forgot to account for the Faunus' night vision."
"Hm, sounds about right. Forgetting something like that is something nobody should forget about when planning an ambush."
"You once forgot Gaul's name."
"Yeah, because it wasn't important. I didn't need to know Gary's-"
"Gaul," Sundance interpreted but Cayde kept going.
"-name, all I needed to know was where he was and a way to get to him. Me and Ace would've done the rest."
"Sure, anyway, after Captain Winchester's colossal failure and his inability to account for something already widely known he was discharged from the military and disgraced. His family was held in similar regard and from what I know they hold a grudge against the Faunus for this blight on their name."
"Huh, yeah that'd do it. Racists be racist and have a poor sense of failure. Got anything else?"
"Hmm, well I could explain how Atlas became a floating Kingdom."
"Wait what?"
Sometime Later
"-gravity dust is crazy." Cayde decided after listening to the story of Atlas being hefted into the sky by said variant of dust.
"Yes, however, its inconsistent…go ahead and stop we're close," Sundance said dropping her previous thought for a more important one.
The V2 rumbled to a halt before digitizing under Cayde as he stepped off the disappearing motorcycle. Cayde looked around the forest, he was mostly just glancing around but he was looking for any signs of something coming through the area.
He noticed some trails but dismissed them as only the local wildlife because of their size. Grimm were large but could come smaller just not as small as a deer or fox trail.
"Sundance, are you getting anything on your scanner?" Cayde asked as he looked at animal tracks he didn't recognize.
Sundance appeared over Cayde's shoulder, her shell spinning slightly, "I'm picking up movements around our area but I'm getting a larger group movement about a mile east."
"Do you know what they're doing?" Cayde asked.
"Not really, I can guess they are just milling around. They may not sense any negativity so are just moving about."
"Thanks, Sundance, I'll take it from here."
Sundance disappeared as Cayde began to formulate an ambush.
The Hunters of the Last City were if nothing else known to be the rebels of the Guardians that occupied the City. They weren't bookworms like the Warlocks, who could also navigate political matters with the grace of a bird soaring through the sky. They weren't as proud as the Titans whose beliefs were harder than tungsten.
No, Hunters were whatever they wanted to be. They didn't subscribe to authority and usually stayed outside the walls and out exploring what was once beautiful, learning things they wanted to learn and being free to do so.
But if Warlocks finessed their enemies with the mysteries of the Light and the Titans bulldozed them with the sudtly of a tank, Hunters preferred to get the drop on them and take them out as quickly as possible.
Cayde planned on ambushing the Grimm, leaving all of them as solar ash on the wind. He looked up to the tree canopy, trees made for a pretty good hiding spot. Cayde jumped up and landed on a sturdy branch before taking off through the trees and toward the movement.
He'd had some experience running across trees from his earlier days of being a Guardian. It was nostalgic in a way. The leaves wipping by, the split-second decisions at the speed he was going, and the thrill of simply running.
Eventually, he came to a stop with an excellent view of a clearing of beautiful flowers.
It was also housing a pack of Ursa so its beauty was dimmed a bit.
Cayde looked over the pack, observing them and counting them up in his head.
…4,5,6,7…
Most were just milling around in a cluster, they seemed younger as they lacked more of the bone pieces he'd seen on a few pictures of an Ursa but they were all close to each other and basically lined up for a thermal grenade.
…10,11,12,13…
A few were spread out from the group. About three, all of them older than the group but only one really had his attention.
16
The Ursa Major was large. Taller than the Alpha Beowolf and a lot more muscle-inclined, though Cayde doubted they had actual muscle and they were just bulky in general. He looked over the clearing and thought about how far he could get if he jumped. The clearing was maybe 10 yards so he could probably make that distance with three jumps.
Cayde nods to himself, With his plan in mind he looks over the groups, judging the distances and waiting.
"And…action," Cayde murmured.
Cayde summoned two thermal grenades into his hands, curled his legs, and leaped. He soared through the open air, his cape fluttering behind him as a younger Ursa happened to look up and notice him.
It roared just as Cayde chucked a thermal grenade directly at the group. It soared toward the roaring Ursa and went directly into its mouth right before it blew and solar energy blasted outward in a small shockwave, the energy itself acting like a virus as it tore through the surrounding Grimm.
The other Ursa took notice but it was too late as Cayde used his second jump and tosses the other grenade directly into the second crowd. The grenade detonates on impact making another wave of solar energy vaporize the Grimm into nothing but solar dust on the wind.
All three remaining Ursa, including the Major, look up at the currently descending Hunter and roar. The two younger ones charge where Cayde will land but Cayde uses his final jump and flips into a side roll before folding his arms into an 'X' and summoning solar knives to his hands.
He strikes out with his arms aiming the first three knives at the closest Ursa and each blade hits the head, chest, and left knee respectively before it turns to solar dust. Cayde twists his body in mid-air before throwing the last three knives once again destroying the second to last Ursa within the clearing.
The Ursa Major roared, its roar far more powerful than the others. It didn't charge though and instead stood on its hind legs and used its front claw to grab a nearby tree and snap the trunk in half. It tossed the tree at Cayde with another roar.
"Oh, Crap!" Cayde exclaimed at the incoming tree that may skewer him or would just break his parts. Either way is not fun.
Cayde quickly manifested a trip mine and tossed it with precision at the incoming tree before slinging out the Ace of Spades and aiming one-handed, his other hand slipping to the knife stored on his belt.
The Ace of Spades fired, its distinctive gunshot ringing out as the bullet sped toward its target and hit the trip mine dead on. The explosion shattered the tree, sending chips of wood flying, one of them snagging on Cayde's hood pulling it down but not stopping Cayde's fall.
Cayde rockets through the destroyed tree and fires off two rounds on the Ursa Major. Both land into its eyes which make it roar in pain while stumbling back into another tree. Cayde continues falling directly toward the Major and flips his feet forward.
He takes out his knife and as he lands on the flailing Major he brings the knife down onto the Major's mask. It pierces through going down to the hilt and all movement ceases. Cayde huffs and pulls the knife out as the Ursa Major begins falling forward.
Cayde casually steps on and turns toward the direction the Ursa is falling, noting the darkness beginning to drift off the Ursa's form. He rides the falling Grimm down and hops off as it lands face-first on the ground.
He spreads his arms out then puts his hand on his chest and bows to the now cleared…well clearing, "And scene! Ha, still got it."
Sundance appears above Cayde's shoulder and he looks at her, "So, little buddy, how'd I do?"
"A solid 7.5/10." She replied.
Cayde sputters, "W-what?! That's at least a 9.2/10! What about the crowd kills?"
"Those were fine, I took points off because of the last bit. The Ursa was able to get a shot on you, otherwise, you would've gotten that 9.2."
"So falling through a splintered tree takes points off?"
"No, getting nicked and losing your hood does that."
Cayde checked his head and yep, his hood was down. He quickly fixed that, "So it's a cosmetic problem."
"Yes."
"I didn't even know you were counting those." Cayde glanced behind him at the now dissipated Ursa Major's skeleton.
"You should have," Cayde went to the skeleton with Sundance following him, "we had a whole conversation about it."
Cayde stopped and glanced at her, "We did?"
Sundance's optic narrowed, "Yes, honey, we did."
"Was I tired?"
"You were drinking."
"Ah, that probably did it. Could you digitize the skull for me?" Sundance complied and a beam shot from her optic the skull then faded away now within Sundance's inventory. The second of many Grimm skulls that would occupy the space.
Cayde and Sundance wouldn't know it for some time but their futures on Remnant would be anything but boring.
So what do you think?