Destiny, Side Episode III: Tempting the Devils
Previous Episode: Episode VIII, The Last Array
Next Episode: Episode IX, The Devils' Lair
The Cosmodrome, Old Russia, Earth
Day 021
Titan Fria took a knee behind a bluff and let her rifle rest against her leg as she caught her breath. She had been through at least five little skirmishes since she and her fireteam had arrived in the Cosmodrome, and she could feel them start to add up. "Sköll, how're we holding up?" She muttered to her Ghost.
"Well enough." He replied. Fria rolled her eyes: the Ghost had a bit of a gruff personality, and he responded to just about any question with the same answer. "The Devils are out in force today."
"Yeah, I noticed." Fria said, grimacing. The Awoken woman let out a terse breath, closing her eyes as she sighed. "Let me know if anything big comes our way." She added, before paging the rest of her team. "Vick, what are you up to?"
"Just a sec." The Hunter replied. Vick clamped one of his eyes shut as the other peered through the scope of his Pompeii-series Sniper Rifle. Through the glass and tech, he watched as he slowly panned the crosshair up the body of a Vandal sharpshooter perching on top of a small building on a hill until it rested on his skull. "Gotcha." He muttered, before squeezing the trigger. His rifle kicked against his shoulder like a mule as it roared, and through the sight Vick smiled to see the sniper's head vanish into a plume of white ether. Lowering the rifle from his shoulder, he looked down from where he had been crouching to the Titan hiding behind her bluff. "Sorry, just had to wrap something up."
"I saw." Fria drolly noted. "Where's Solomon?" Vick frowned, scratching the side of his helmet through gauntleted fingers.
"Uh, I kinda lost track of him after that last scuffle." He admitted, whipping his head around as he looked for the errant Warlock. Solomon-12 was one of the smartest individuals Vick had ever met, and he was a credit to Fireteam Nomad, but the Exo had a black hole in place of curiosity. If you weren't careful, he could easily talk a hole in your head-or actually drill one, if you weren't careful with what you said around him. Vesper still laughed about that revive, to Vick's eternal chagrin. His search stopped when he noticed a shape examining one of the rusted tanks in the distance. Vick raised his rifle and peered through it, to see the unmistakable form of a Warlock searching every square inch of the ancient armored vehicle. "Found him." He sighed, before hopping down from his perch to join Fria on the ground. "He's checking out those tanks near the Wall."
"Again?" Fria asked, surprised. "I thought he had gotten bored of them." Vick just shrugged, letting his long rifle vanish as he replaced it with a hand cannon. "Solomon, what are you doing?" The Titan called, exasperation in her voice.
"Hm? What?" The Exo replied, sounding startled. "Oh! I was just examining these wrecks. Fascinating design, really, but poorly equipped to handle any threat I can imagine Golden Age-"
"We can look at a bunch of rust later, Sol." Vick interrupted. "We've got a job to do." In truth, calling it a job was a bit of a misnomer. Ever since some green-eared Guardians had stumbled unto some Hive breeding ground, the Vanguard had been calling every able-bodied fireteam they could into the Cosmodrome in order to try to stem the tide. Vick had heard a rumor or two that the one Exo that he had escorted out of the Ishtar Sink had been a part of that team, but the Hunter doubted it. A lot of bluster was passed around in the Hunter Bar, and he had long since learned ignore most of the "news" you heard there. He smiled as he remembered a particularly heated debate between a fine-looking specimen of a Hunter and some tipsy Warlock over a bit of rock being some dragon bone, but that was a long time ago now.
Solomon finally made his way over to the other two, his Ghost hovering over his shoulder. If Solomon was fascinated with just about every speck he came across, then David was obsessed. It was a match made in hell, and there had been more than a few nights where the two had gone from dusk till dawn discussing the ramifications of some minor atmospheric disturbance or fragment of a page of a book that was mostly burnt. As the Warlock came to a stop, his Ghost dissipated into his armor in a flash of blue light. "Sorry about that, I got a little carried away."
"It's fine." Fria replied, giving a reassuring pat to the Exo's shoulder. She turned to face Vick, her rifle hanging from her hand. "So, what now, Vick?"
"Well, I can't say I know." The Hunter admitted, folding his arms as he thought. "This area is looking a bit dry right now. I think we should try looking for trouble somewhere else."
"The Wall?" Solomon proposed, shrugging his shoulders in the direction of the monolithic structure looming over the Divide where they stood. Fria shook her head.
"No, I don't think we're going to find anything particularly interesting in there." She said. "How about through the Rocketyard, over that way?" She gestured to a bluff rising beyond the building where Vick had shot the Vandal. "I've been hearing weapons fire all day from that way. I bet there's something interesting going on."
"Good enough for me." Vick said. A moment later, his Sparrow apparated underneath his feet, and the Hunter jumped on before letting the engine howl to life. Fria and Solomon shot a glance at each other before following suit. Together, the three members of Fireteam Nomad rode towards the distant sound of battle, streaking across the frozen ground like a blur.
><><><><><><><
Chaos was the name of the day in the Rocketyard. Between every overturned container, behind every fallen piece of wall from the ancient structures that surrounded the place, and on top of every little perch that could be found fought the Fallen and the Hive. Deep purple bolts of void energy lanced out from the Shredder pistols in the hands of Acolytes, met by glowing blue arcs of plasma floating from the barrels of arc rifles and pistols held by the Fallen. Every so often, the sound of a high-pitched scream would call out as a Boomer arced up and exploded into a flash of painful light as it impacted against anything unfortunate enough to be in its path.
Vick grimaced as he examined the situation from the saddle of his Sparrow. Trying to blow right through would only get him and his team killed, meaning that they would have to deal with it on foot. The Hunter clenched his fist and raised it high before hopping off of his vehicle. Fria and Solomon immediately did the same. As the three regrouped, their Sparrows disappeared into blue light as they were transmatted away. "What's the play?" Vick asked, looking over at Fria. The Titan thought for a moment, looking around as she ran the situation in her mind.
"I'm not seeing any alternate routes. We move right up the middle, take out everything in our way." She readied her Marshal, letting her mind clear. The Titan was still getting used to fighting the Hive, but the Fallen? The Fallen was a foe she could handle. She smiled as old memories flashed through her mind, one that faded when she remembered her first death. She wondered if her squadron-mates still remembered her, or if they still lived. The Reef War was a long time ago. "I'm ready when you are." She said, opening her eyes.
"Let's do this, then." Vick said, and started forward. He darted ahead, his footfalls muffled by the snow and the dampening properties of a Hunter's boots. The Hunter was an agile man, ducking underneath fallen debris and over forgotten equipment that covered the Rocketyard. Every jump, every vault, and every slide didn't even seem to slow the man down; as much of a loudmouth as Vick could be, he was damn good at his job, and had been doing it for quite some time now. When he made it through a gap, he found himself coming out the other side in the middle of a water-filled crater surrounded by Hive and Fallen. The two factions, at first, didn't even regard the arrival of the Guardian. That changed rapidly when Vick's hand cannon rang out six times, and Acolytes and Dregs alike fell with each roar. Angry shouts echoed off of rusted hulks as arc bolts and boomer shells reached out for him to fulfill their deadly purpose.
Solomon ran in next, and let his pulse rifle do the talking for once. The high-pitched chatter wasn't too far off his actual speaking voice, but it was far more deadly. A Knight, beleaguered by the fire, took a stumbling step back and suddenly raised from the ground a black, burning shield to protect itself while it recovered. It never got the chance, as the Warlock threw a twisting ball of Void energy at it. The grenade detonated, and cut through both the shield and the Knight's armor, the warrior of the Hive screaming in its tongue as it turned to ash.
Fria was the last to enter the fight, but she made her presence known rapidly, her Auto Rifle chattering in her hands as she let a Captain have it. The alien staggered as his shields took impact after impact, and howled as it vanished entirely. A few shots later, and the Captain fell to the ground, limp. With that, the fight was over, and the three Guardians stood in the middle of the battlefield as they caught their breath. Fria let the magazine slide out of her rifle as she replaced it, while Solomon hefted the cumbersome bullpup rifle up on his shoulder as he pulled out the mag and slapped a new one in. Vick, meanwhile, slid out the cylinder, slapped his slugs in, then slammed it shut before giving it a spin. "Looks like we're clear here." The Hunter drawled, sounding almost disappointed. "If this is the best they've got, we don't have much to worry about."
"I'm not sure now is the time to get cocky, Vick." Fria retorted, frowning. He wasn't wrong-this had been far too easy. Where was the rest of the Hive? Where was the rest of the Fallen? "I think we're missing part of the picture."
"I think I know why." Solomon suddenly interrupted. Fria and Vick turned to see where the Warlock had gone, but the Exo had vanished. He popped his head out from around a corner, off on some ledge that he had found in the half a second afforded to him when no one had been looking his way. Solomon could put Vick to shame sometimes, so long as something caught his eye. Vick bounded towards him, warping space as he jumped up, then up again, to reach the Warlock.
"Oh." Vick mumbled, stunned. Fria jumped up towards her teammates, now curious. The moment she jumped up, her eyes widened.
"Oh." She copied, her weapon falling to her side.
On the other side stood a massive, spider-like machine with a long cannon on a bulbous turret, dozens of Dregs and Vandals, three Captains, a smattering of Servitors and Shanks, and most impressive of all, a great purple sphere that hummed and growled in arcane machine-speak, spikes protruding from its shell as it hovered in mid-air. They were staring at a Prime Servitor, and as they watched, the machine-god glanced up and screamed in something like static as it stared right at them. The Spider Walker whined and charged its cannon, and a red beam landed right on Fria's chest. The Walker fired.
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When the dust and smoke of the cannon shot settled, the Guardians still stood tall, surrounded by a purple semisphere that had absorbed the blow like a sponge. In the center stood Fria, grunting in exertion as she held her hands wide and against the edge of the bubble. "Damn, that was some quick thinking." Vick said, relieved. "Thanks for the save, Fria."
"You can thank me later." She muttered, wincing underneath her helmet. Holding open a pocket of Void Light was difficult enough, but it wasn't getting easier as arc bolts started to smash against its exterior.
"So, what's the plan, Vick?" Solomon asked, gripping his pulse rifle tight. "That big Servitor has gotta be our focus, right?"
"I'm more worried about the Devil Walker." Vick frowned. "That main gun is killer. 'Sides, I doubt the Fallen will let something as important as a Prime out to play for long."
"Ah, good point." The Exo tapped his toe as he thought. "Maybe if I rush forward and hit the Vandals with a Nova Bomb, It should open you up to start hitting that Walker with grenades or something." The Hunter shook his head, folding his arms as he tucked his hand cannon under his shoulder.
"Nah, I'm thinking you use the Bomb to put the hurt on that Walker. I can use my Golden Gun to deal with-"
"Will one of you get down there and kill these bastards?" Fria screamed into her comms as she felt the bubble start to collapse.
"Alright, alright, no need to shout." Vick chided as he let his cannon disappear. The Hunter closed his eyes, and suddenly his body shined with an inner fire. In his hand a revolver made out of burning Solar Light flashed into existence. He grinned as he opened his eyes, and jumped outside the bubble. The Hunter sliced down from the ledge he had been standing on, and swung his Golden Gun towards the tallest Fallen he saw. The Captain in his sights stared at the weapon, confused, but he didn't have much time to understand as Vick pulled the "trigger." The weapon roared like lightning, and a beam of Solar fire lanced out from the barrel. The alien burned away like it had stood next to the sun the moment the stream of concentrated Light had hit it. The Hunter's cloak, a simple green thing that flattered in the breeze, rustled with every movement Vick made as he paced through the center of the maelstrom. Another Captain rushed forward, arc blades in all four of its hands, only to meet the same fate as the Hunter let starfire loose from his Golden Gun. His last shot lanced out at a poor Vandal that tried to flee from the field, exploding in bright orange light as the Solar fire connected.
From above jumped Solomon, deep purple energy growing in his hands as he floated down. The Exo concentrated and let the ball form and churn with the deep energies of the Void before powerfully pushing it forward. The Nova Bomb raced for the Devil Walker, and Sepiks Prime hovering quietly above it, but as it raced forward the Warlock forced his hands together before spreading them wide out. The powerful orb of Void Light suddenly shattered, splitting into three smaller projectiles before they impacted into the Walker. The machine, to its credit, survived the blast, but the explosion shook the earth and the Dregs and Shanks surrounding it vanished without a sound, disintegrated wordlessly. The Walker's armor was cracked from the force of the blow, and much of its leg armor was broken, the front left leg gone entirely. It gave a mechanical whine before slamming into the dirt, the front section of the autonomous tank sliding forward to reveal a glowing red core.
"Rocket!" Fria shouted at the top of her lungs. The Titan had taken a knee and shouldered her Deacon-series rocket launcher. Over the din of battle, the woosh of a rocket being fired out of the tube cut through it all, as the projectile sped for the core as fast as its engine would allow it to. The warhead connected with the core with an explosion that engulfed the downed Walker in smoke and fire. When the dust settled, the core was completely destroyed, sparking and burning around a shapely crater where the rocket had made its mark. A second later, the Devil Walker sparked as some self-destruct mechanism triggered, and the tank exploded dramatically, sending debris everywhere. The Prime Servitor hanging above was smacked across its underside by a free-flying turret, and screamed in unintelligible Servitor-speak. It made a sound like a growl, and in a flash of purple light dissipated away.
"Damn, it transmatted away." Vick cussed, his hand cannon returning to his hand.
"It's fine, we got the Walker." Fria replied, letting the rocket launcher apparate away in favor of her auto rifle. She dropped down from where she had been perched and slowly marched over to her teammates, her weapon hanging loose from one hand. She smiled under her helmet and gave a nod to Solomon. "Great work there, Sol." If an Exo could blush, Solomon would have.
"Uh, yeah, it was no problem." The Warlock replied, looking away embarrassed. He looked away from the shallow pond the three of them were standing in and up at a large, cavernous building up a slight rise ahead of them. A broken rail-line seemed to run through it, blocked by a massive pile of debris and broken trains leading back across some rusted turnstile and back into the rest of the Rocketyard where it had come from. "The Fallen must have been defending this structure from the Hive."
"That?" Vick said, pointing at it. He crossed his arms and scratched his chin idly, his gloved fingers scraping uselessly off of his helmet. "I think that's just some scrapheap they were standing in front of." Solomon shook his head, brushing off the Hunter's dismissal.
"No, no, I'm sure of it." The Exo pointed at some shapes standing against the wall, thin sticks with orbs on the end. Fria squinted to get a better look at them, then recoiled when she realized what she was seeing-human skulls on a spike, a savage "stay out" sign that marked when the Fallen had found something they were determined to defend. "That must be the Devil's Lair." Solomon said, his hand falling back to his side.
"Vick, I think Sol's right." Fria added, her heart pounding a little faster with excitement. "We need to report this to the Vanguard." The Hunter gave a slow nod before giving a flourished wave of his hand.
"Alright then, call your ships, Nomads." Vick spun his hand cannon against his finger before slapping it against his thigh, the armor magnetically locking the weapon in place with a clack. He gave a wan smile under his helmet as he heard the echoing roar of his jumpship grow louder and louder. "Looks like we've just hit the jackpot."
Next Episode: Episode IX, The Devils' Lair
The Cosmodrome, Old Russia, Earth
Day 021
Titan Fria took a knee behind a bluff and let her rifle rest against her leg as she caught her breath. She had been through at least five little skirmishes since she and her fireteam had arrived in the Cosmodrome, and she could feel them start to add up. "Sköll, how're we holding up?" She muttered to her Ghost.
"Well enough." He replied. Fria rolled her eyes: the Ghost had a bit of a gruff personality, and he responded to just about any question with the same answer. "The Devils are out in force today."
"Yeah, I noticed." Fria said, grimacing. The Awoken woman let out a terse breath, closing her eyes as she sighed. "Let me know if anything big comes our way." She added, before paging the rest of her team. "Vick, what are you up to?"
"Just a sec." The Hunter replied. Vick clamped one of his eyes shut as the other peered through the scope of his Pompeii-series Sniper Rifle. Through the glass and tech, he watched as he slowly panned the crosshair up the body of a Vandal sharpshooter perching on top of a small building on a hill until it rested on his skull. "Gotcha." He muttered, before squeezing the trigger. His rifle kicked against his shoulder like a mule as it roared, and through the sight Vick smiled to see the sniper's head vanish into a plume of white ether. Lowering the rifle from his shoulder, he looked down from where he had been crouching to the Titan hiding behind her bluff. "Sorry, just had to wrap something up."
"I saw." Fria drolly noted. "Where's Solomon?" Vick frowned, scratching the side of his helmet through gauntleted fingers.
"Uh, I kinda lost track of him after that last scuffle." He admitted, whipping his head around as he looked for the errant Warlock. Solomon-12 was one of the smartest individuals Vick had ever met, and he was a credit to Fireteam Nomad, but the Exo had a black hole in place of curiosity. If you weren't careful, he could easily talk a hole in your head-or actually drill one, if you weren't careful with what you said around him. Vesper still laughed about that revive, to Vick's eternal chagrin. His search stopped when he noticed a shape examining one of the rusted tanks in the distance. Vick raised his rifle and peered through it, to see the unmistakable form of a Warlock searching every square inch of the ancient armored vehicle. "Found him." He sighed, before hopping down from his perch to join Fria on the ground. "He's checking out those tanks near the Wall."
"Again?" Fria asked, surprised. "I thought he had gotten bored of them." Vick just shrugged, letting his long rifle vanish as he replaced it with a hand cannon. "Solomon, what are you doing?" The Titan called, exasperation in her voice.
"Hm? What?" The Exo replied, sounding startled. "Oh! I was just examining these wrecks. Fascinating design, really, but poorly equipped to handle any threat I can imagine Golden Age-"
"We can look at a bunch of rust later, Sol." Vick interrupted. "We've got a job to do." In truth, calling it a job was a bit of a misnomer. Ever since some green-eared Guardians had stumbled unto some Hive breeding ground, the Vanguard had been calling every able-bodied fireteam they could into the Cosmodrome in order to try to stem the tide. Vick had heard a rumor or two that the one Exo that he had escorted out of the Ishtar Sink had been a part of that team, but the Hunter doubted it. A lot of bluster was passed around in the Hunter Bar, and he had long since learned ignore most of the "news" you heard there. He smiled as he remembered a particularly heated debate between a fine-looking specimen of a Hunter and some tipsy Warlock over a bit of rock being some dragon bone, but that was a long time ago now.
Solomon finally made his way over to the other two, his Ghost hovering over his shoulder. If Solomon was fascinated with just about every speck he came across, then David was obsessed. It was a match made in hell, and there had been more than a few nights where the two had gone from dusk till dawn discussing the ramifications of some minor atmospheric disturbance or fragment of a page of a book that was mostly burnt. As the Warlock came to a stop, his Ghost dissipated into his armor in a flash of blue light. "Sorry about that, I got a little carried away."
"It's fine." Fria replied, giving a reassuring pat to the Exo's shoulder. She turned to face Vick, her rifle hanging from her hand. "So, what now, Vick?"
"Well, I can't say I know." The Hunter admitted, folding his arms as he thought. "This area is looking a bit dry right now. I think we should try looking for trouble somewhere else."
"The Wall?" Solomon proposed, shrugging his shoulders in the direction of the monolithic structure looming over the Divide where they stood. Fria shook her head.
"No, I don't think we're going to find anything particularly interesting in there." She said. "How about through the Rocketyard, over that way?" She gestured to a bluff rising beyond the building where Vick had shot the Vandal. "I've been hearing weapons fire all day from that way. I bet there's something interesting going on."
"Good enough for me." Vick said. A moment later, his Sparrow apparated underneath his feet, and the Hunter jumped on before letting the engine howl to life. Fria and Solomon shot a glance at each other before following suit. Together, the three members of Fireteam Nomad rode towards the distant sound of battle, streaking across the frozen ground like a blur.
><><><><><><><
Chaos was the name of the day in the Rocketyard. Between every overturned container, behind every fallen piece of wall from the ancient structures that surrounded the place, and on top of every little perch that could be found fought the Fallen and the Hive. Deep purple bolts of void energy lanced out from the Shredder pistols in the hands of Acolytes, met by glowing blue arcs of plasma floating from the barrels of arc rifles and pistols held by the Fallen. Every so often, the sound of a high-pitched scream would call out as a Boomer arced up and exploded into a flash of painful light as it impacted against anything unfortunate enough to be in its path.
Vick grimaced as he examined the situation from the saddle of his Sparrow. Trying to blow right through would only get him and his team killed, meaning that they would have to deal with it on foot. The Hunter clenched his fist and raised it high before hopping off of his vehicle. Fria and Solomon immediately did the same. As the three regrouped, their Sparrows disappeared into blue light as they were transmatted away. "What's the play?" Vick asked, looking over at Fria. The Titan thought for a moment, looking around as she ran the situation in her mind.
"I'm not seeing any alternate routes. We move right up the middle, take out everything in our way." She readied her Marshal, letting her mind clear. The Titan was still getting used to fighting the Hive, but the Fallen? The Fallen was a foe she could handle. She smiled as old memories flashed through her mind, one that faded when she remembered her first death. She wondered if her squadron-mates still remembered her, or if they still lived. The Reef War was a long time ago. "I'm ready when you are." She said, opening her eyes.
"Let's do this, then." Vick said, and started forward. He darted ahead, his footfalls muffled by the snow and the dampening properties of a Hunter's boots. The Hunter was an agile man, ducking underneath fallen debris and over forgotten equipment that covered the Rocketyard. Every jump, every vault, and every slide didn't even seem to slow the man down; as much of a loudmouth as Vick could be, he was damn good at his job, and had been doing it for quite some time now. When he made it through a gap, he found himself coming out the other side in the middle of a water-filled crater surrounded by Hive and Fallen. The two factions, at first, didn't even regard the arrival of the Guardian. That changed rapidly when Vick's hand cannon rang out six times, and Acolytes and Dregs alike fell with each roar. Angry shouts echoed off of rusted hulks as arc bolts and boomer shells reached out for him to fulfill their deadly purpose.
Solomon ran in next, and let his pulse rifle do the talking for once. The high-pitched chatter wasn't too far off his actual speaking voice, but it was far more deadly. A Knight, beleaguered by the fire, took a stumbling step back and suddenly raised from the ground a black, burning shield to protect itself while it recovered. It never got the chance, as the Warlock threw a twisting ball of Void energy at it. The grenade detonated, and cut through both the shield and the Knight's armor, the warrior of the Hive screaming in its tongue as it turned to ash.
Fria was the last to enter the fight, but she made her presence known rapidly, her Auto Rifle chattering in her hands as she let a Captain have it. The alien staggered as his shields took impact after impact, and howled as it vanished entirely. A few shots later, and the Captain fell to the ground, limp. With that, the fight was over, and the three Guardians stood in the middle of the battlefield as they caught their breath. Fria let the magazine slide out of her rifle as she replaced it, while Solomon hefted the cumbersome bullpup rifle up on his shoulder as he pulled out the mag and slapped a new one in. Vick, meanwhile, slid out the cylinder, slapped his slugs in, then slammed it shut before giving it a spin. "Looks like we're clear here." The Hunter drawled, sounding almost disappointed. "If this is the best they've got, we don't have much to worry about."
"I'm not sure now is the time to get cocky, Vick." Fria retorted, frowning. He wasn't wrong-this had been far too easy. Where was the rest of the Hive? Where was the rest of the Fallen? "I think we're missing part of the picture."
"I think I know why." Solomon suddenly interrupted. Fria and Vick turned to see where the Warlock had gone, but the Exo had vanished. He popped his head out from around a corner, off on some ledge that he had found in the half a second afforded to him when no one had been looking his way. Solomon could put Vick to shame sometimes, so long as something caught his eye. Vick bounded towards him, warping space as he jumped up, then up again, to reach the Warlock.
"Oh." Vick mumbled, stunned. Fria jumped up towards her teammates, now curious. The moment she jumped up, her eyes widened.
"Oh." She copied, her weapon falling to her side.
On the other side stood a massive, spider-like machine with a long cannon on a bulbous turret, dozens of Dregs and Vandals, three Captains, a smattering of Servitors and Shanks, and most impressive of all, a great purple sphere that hummed and growled in arcane machine-speak, spikes protruding from its shell as it hovered in mid-air. They were staring at a Prime Servitor, and as they watched, the machine-god glanced up and screamed in something like static as it stared right at them. The Spider Walker whined and charged its cannon, and a red beam landed right on Fria's chest. The Walker fired.
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When the dust and smoke of the cannon shot settled, the Guardians still stood tall, surrounded by a purple semisphere that had absorbed the blow like a sponge. In the center stood Fria, grunting in exertion as she held her hands wide and against the edge of the bubble. "Damn, that was some quick thinking." Vick said, relieved. "Thanks for the save, Fria."
"You can thank me later." She muttered, wincing underneath her helmet. Holding open a pocket of Void Light was difficult enough, but it wasn't getting easier as arc bolts started to smash against its exterior.
"So, what's the plan, Vick?" Solomon asked, gripping his pulse rifle tight. "That big Servitor has gotta be our focus, right?"
"I'm more worried about the Devil Walker." Vick frowned. "That main gun is killer. 'Sides, I doubt the Fallen will let something as important as a Prime out to play for long."
"Ah, good point." The Exo tapped his toe as he thought. "Maybe if I rush forward and hit the Vandals with a Nova Bomb, It should open you up to start hitting that Walker with grenades or something." The Hunter shook his head, folding his arms as he tucked his hand cannon under his shoulder.
"Nah, I'm thinking you use the Bomb to put the hurt on that Walker. I can use my Golden Gun to deal with-"
"Will one of you get down there and kill these bastards?" Fria screamed into her comms as she felt the bubble start to collapse.
"Alright, alright, no need to shout." Vick chided as he let his cannon disappear. The Hunter closed his eyes, and suddenly his body shined with an inner fire. In his hand a revolver made out of burning Solar Light flashed into existence. He grinned as he opened his eyes, and jumped outside the bubble. The Hunter sliced down from the ledge he had been standing on, and swung his Golden Gun towards the tallest Fallen he saw. The Captain in his sights stared at the weapon, confused, but he didn't have much time to understand as Vick pulled the "trigger." The weapon roared like lightning, and a beam of Solar fire lanced out from the barrel. The alien burned away like it had stood next to the sun the moment the stream of concentrated Light had hit it. The Hunter's cloak, a simple green thing that flattered in the breeze, rustled with every movement Vick made as he paced through the center of the maelstrom. Another Captain rushed forward, arc blades in all four of its hands, only to meet the same fate as the Hunter let starfire loose from his Golden Gun. His last shot lanced out at a poor Vandal that tried to flee from the field, exploding in bright orange light as the Solar fire connected.
From above jumped Solomon, deep purple energy growing in his hands as he floated down. The Exo concentrated and let the ball form and churn with the deep energies of the Void before powerfully pushing it forward. The Nova Bomb raced for the Devil Walker, and Sepiks Prime hovering quietly above it, but as it raced forward the Warlock forced his hands together before spreading them wide out. The powerful orb of Void Light suddenly shattered, splitting into three smaller projectiles before they impacted into the Walker. The machine, to its credit, survived the blast, but the explosion shook the earth and the Dregs and Shanks surrounding it vanished without a sound, disintegrated wordlessly. The Walker's armor was cracked from the force of the blow, and much of its leg armor was broken, the front left leg gone entirely. It gave a mechanical whine before slamming into the dirt, the front section of the autonomous tank sliding forward to reveal a glowing red core.
"Rocket!" Fria shouted at the top of her lungs. The Titan had taken a knee and shouldered her Deacon-series rocket launcher. Over the din of battle, the woosh of a rocket being fired out of the tube cut through it all, as the projectile sped for the core as fast as its engine would allow it to. The warhead connected with the core with an explosion that engulfed the downed Walker in smoke and fire. When the dust settled, the core was completely destroyed, sparking and burning around a shapely crater where the rocket had made its mark. A second later, the Devil Walker sparked as some self-destruct mechanism triggered, and the tank exploded dramatically, sending debris everywhere. The Prime Servitor hanging above was smacked across its underside by a free-flying turret, and screamed in unintelligible Servitor-speak. It made a sound like a growl, and in a flash of purple light dissipated away.
"Damn, it transmatted away." Vick cussed, his hand cannon returning to his hand.
"It's fine, we got the Walker." Fria replied, letting the rocket launcher apparate away in favor of her auto rifle. She dropped down from where she had been perched and slowly marched over to her teammates, her weapon hanging loose from one hand. She smiled under her helmet and gave a nod to Solomon. "Great work there, Sol." If an Exo could blush, Solomon would have.
"Uh, yeah, it was no problem." The Warlock replied, looking away embarrassed. He looked away from the shallow pond the three of them were standing in and up at a large, cavernous building up a slight rise ahead of them. A broken rail-line seemed to run through it, blocked by a massive pile of debris and broken trains leading back across some rusted turnstile and back into the rest of the Rocketyard where it had come from. "The Fallen must have been defending this structure from the Hive."
"That?" Vick said, pointing at it. He crossed his arms and scratched his chin idly, his gloved fingers scraping uselessly off of his helmet. "I think that's just some scrapheap they were standing in front of." Solomon shook his head, brushing off the Hunter's dismissal.
"No, no, I'm sure of it." The Exo pointed at some shapes standing against the wall, thin sticks with orbs on the end. Fria squinted to get a better look at them, then recoiled when she realized what she was seeing-human skulls on a spike, a savage "stay out" sign that marked when the Fallen had found something they were determined to defend. "That must be the Devil's Lair." Solomon said, his hand falling back to his side.
"Vick, I think Sol's right." Fria added, her heart pounding a little faster with excitement. "We need to report this to the Vanguard." The Hunter gave a slow nod before giving a flourished wave of his hand.
"Alright then, call your ships, Nomads." Vick spun his hand cannon against his finger before slapping it against his thigh, the armor magnetically locking the weapon in place with a clack. He gave a wan smile under his helmet as he heard the echoing roar of his jumpship grow louder and louder. "Looks like we've just hit the jackpot."
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