Chapter Text
Endless Steps, Ishtar Sink, Venus…
Two Months after the Deimos Crisis…
Two more shots rang out, followed by the metallic clatter of two Vex Goblins collapsing into pieces. The remaining Vex units let out a collective mechanical screech of what could only be rage as they withdrew further up the stone steps - firing at their attackers all the while.
Overwhelmed by the sudden counterattack, the two Guardians at the base of the Endless Steps quickly dove to take cover behind stone formations on either side of the slope. The storm of red-hot plasma fire was relentless as the two Guardians struggled to return fire.
“Cayde wasn’t kidding: The Vex can really turn on the heat in a flash.” one of the Guardians – a Hunter – told her companion as she leaned out of cover to spray the retreating robots with a round of bullets.
“We’re more than enough for a couple squads of drones,” the Warlock replied as she peeked around the concrete slab. She only had a second to spot her targets before a stray round clipped the edge of her cover inches from her face, disintegrating part of the stone and blasting a shower of dust in her face. “Just keep them distracted while I flank to their left.” the Warlock commanded, flipping the safety on her Fusion Rifle off.
“Yes, ma’am.” The Hunter drawled while swapping in her shotgun, firing a couple rounds to bait the Vex into attacking her. She waited a few anxious seconds for the Vex to refocus their efforts solely on the Hunter before skirting along the uneven stones to the left of the slope. With the rifle in one hand, the Warlock glided and clambered up the blocks of concrete until she had flanked the cluster of Vex.
Sitting on her haunches with her back to the stone, the Warlock closed her eyes, concentrating on the sounds of battle and the source of the plasma fire. Once she was sure she had an approximation of the distance between her and the Vex, the Warlock vaulted out of cover towards them.
A blazing, outstretched hand met the nearest Goblin, disintegrating it in a pulse of Solar Light. The next – a Harpy – was similarly reduced to ashes by a blast from her Fusion Rifle. This drew the attention of the rest of the machines, who turned half their forces to focus on the Warlock.
Running to avoid the initial barrage of laser fire, the Warlock tossed a solar grenade in the middle of their ranks, creating a fiery vortex that tore apart most of the Vex frames.
Only a few were left now; a handful of Hobgoblins that shielded themselves and a Minotaur, who’s energy shields had taken the brunt of the blast. The Minotaur was the first to respond, aiming its torch hammer ahead of the Warlock and firing a blast that threw her to the ground. She tried to bring her Fusion Rifle on it, but the weapon took too long to charge as the giant robot fired another shot.
This time the round made direct contact, slamming the Guardian against the wall behind her with enough force to fracture the concrete. The impact knocked the wind out of the Warlock, sending a sharp pain all throughout her body as she tasted blood in the back of her mouth. With only seconds to react before the next blast incinerated her, the Warlock channelled the Light through her palms and boots in order to propel herself off the wall with a powerful burst of glide.
She barrelled straight towards the Minotaur, closing the distance between them in under a second as she slowed herself with the Light, kicking her feet forward to deliver a swift high kick to the machine’s firearm. The blow knocked the Minotaur’s torch hammer upwards, sending the next round from the explosive weapon into the air.
A second kick to the chest caused the Minotaur to stagger backwards as the void round exploded harmlessly above them.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, the Warlock drew her scout rifle on the metal giant and fired five times: twice in its leg to cripple it, once to blow off its shoulder and twice in its chest. Milky radiolaria poured out of the bullet holes as it slumped backwards after the final shot – lifeless.
The Warlock was given no time to rest as the three remaining Hobgoblins came out of stasis just as the Minotaur fell, aiming their line rifles at the Sunsinger. She aimed her own rifle back at them, but did not manage to pull the trigger before one of the Vex snipers flashed with a dazzling light.
At the centre of the flare was a dagger, sticking out of the Hobgoblin’s metal chest. A second flash of light followed it as the Hunter suddenly blinked in front of it, her hand on the dagger as she yanked it out, rolled over the Hobgoblin’s shoulder and took a swipe at one of the other Hobgoblin’s legs.
The metal sniper lost its footing as its legs were cut out from under it, giving the Bladedancer the time she needed to reach around and stab the first Hobgoblin in its core, spilling white fluids all over the ground.
This left her open to the one remaining Hobgoblin, however, which stole the opportunity and fired a round that struck the Hunter in her side. She yelped in pain as the beam of charged particles pierced a hole through her abdomen, and went down clutching the Hobgoblin she just stabbed.
Tumbling with the corpse of the first Hobgoblin beneath her, the Warlock now had a clear view of their remaining adversary. With one shot to the head and one to its core, the last Hobgoblin fell to pieces before them. The Steps were silent once more as the Warlock gingerly limped to her companion.
“Westmark,” she called out as she rolled the Hunter off the metal frame. “Westmark, are you alright? Talk to me!”
The Hunter, Aeon Westmark, did not respond verbally as her shoulders trembled and she gasped inside her helmet, her whole body shaking.
She’s going into shock! Worried for the state of her companion, the Sunsinger checked the wound in her side. Complete penetration, she noted, taking off her helmet to get a clearer look. Wound’s completely cauterised, too. No vital organs in proximity of the wound…so…
“It’s not fatal. You shouldn’t even be in that much pain. What is it?” The Warlock, an Awoken, assessed bluntly.
With what sounded like choked gasps, the Hunter reached for her helmet’s release with both hands. Only when the helmet was off did the Warlock realise that she was not choking, but laughing. Aeon’s pale complexion was crinkled with mirth as her bright-orange hair tumbled out of her helmet in locks. “Absolutely nothing!” she laughed. “I’m having the time of my life!”
Sighing in annoyance, the Warlock pushed herself to her knees next to the Bladedancer. “Consider yourself fortunate – an inch closer and that round would have punctured your stomach. Then there would’ve been the fifty-fifty chance that the plasma wouldn’t cauterise the wound in time, causing your stomach acids to dissolve you from the inside.”
“Oh, you’re such a mood killer, Mira,” Aeon replied with a grimace as she pushed herself into a sitting position. “Can’t you just have fun for once out in the field? I mean, this place is gorgeous and I’m gorgeous and you’re-- ah, shit!” Aeon suddenly fell back to the ground, clutching her shoulder and features twisting with pain.
“Aeon? What is it?” Mira exclaimed, worry back on her face as she leaned over the Human woman.
“I think one of those Goblins clipped my shoulder-- it really stings,” one hazel eye opened to look pleadingly at Mira. “Tell me if it’s bad.”
Leaning over the Hunter, Mira gingerly peeled away the hands over her shoulder to examine it for subdermal damage. She ran her thumb over the armour multiple times but didn’t find so much as a scorch mark. Frowning, she turned her attention back to Aeon. “There’s no wound here. Are you sure-”
Before she could finish, two arms wrapped themselves around the back of her neck and pulled her flush against the Hunter. There was no grace to the way their lips met, nor the dance they took part in for the few seconds before Aeon relaxed her grip around the Sunsinger’s neck.
Mira pulled away as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Smirking down at Aeon – who smirked right back, she rolled her amber Awoken eyes before leaning back down for a second, longer kiss. The feeling of the Hunter laughing against her mouth sent an electric trill down her spine that had nothing to do with her Arc polarity.
This time when she pulled away, Mira smacked the Bladedancer in her shoulder – hard. “Focus,” she chided. “We’re getting close to the source of that distress signal.”
“Urgh, it’s just around here somewhere and we’ve taken care of all the Vex,” Aeon whined with an exaggerated groan, throwing an arm across Mira’s waist. “The small fry'll come out once it picks up our Ghosts’ pings. Let’s have some fun until then.”
Just as she was about to retort, the hair on the back of her neck prickled as static filled the air. A second later, the crackle of a Vex portal opening could be heard – growing louder by the second. Turning to stare up the slope to the top of The Endless Steps, the Sunsinger saw the edges of a smoky static cloud forming in flashes of light.
Pushing herself to her feet, Mira held out a hand for Aeon without taking her eyes off the flashing lights at the top of the steps. “C’mon, Westmark. Job’s not done yet.”
With a sigh, Aeon accepted the hand and together, the two Guardians jogged the rest of the way up the steps. When they reached the top, they were met by a squad of Goblins led by a Vex Cyclops – standing guard before the now-inactive Vex Gate at the top of the slope.
As soon as they crested the ridge, the Vex began firing on them and advancing on their position.
Firing a few potshots to cover their retreat, Mira and Aeon managed to take out a couple Goblins as they crowded behind a concrete block to the right of the Steps. “Is that a Cyclops?!” Aeon shouted over the repeated booms of explosive Void rounds from the Vex squad.
“Yeah, exciting isn’t it?” Mira replied half-heartedly as she peeked around the edge of their cover. The Goblins were just now descending the stairs, and would be on them in a matter of seconds. “I can take out the Cyclops, but I’ll need you to keep the Goblins busy.”
“I’ll do you one better,” Aeon remarked as she drew her knife, holding it up in the air as a bolt of lightning came down and energised her whole form. The blade she held in her hand was now twice as big and nearly three times as long. “Kiss for good luck?” she asked with a cocky smirk.
“And get a kilowatt of Arc energy to the face?” Mira asked rhetorically, shaking her head while chuckling. In her free hands, she summoned her prized rocket launcher – The Cure – and gave it an affectionate pat. “Besides, I don’t believe in luck.”
Aeon rolled her eyes at that. “Whatever.” She breathed out before rounding the corner and flinging her knife at the nearest Vex drone, blinking away in a flash of light. Mira waited with her back against the wall, listening to the sounds of destruction just around the corner for a few seconds as a smile crept up her face.
“I like her.” The Warlock mused as she loaded her weapon with heavy ammunition synths.
“I know,” Mira’s Ghost, replied over their personal communication frequency. “That’s what disturbs me.”
“For what reason might that be?”
“The last time you liked someone like this didn’t exactly pan out so well,” An explosion of Arc lightning further up the stairs interrupted the Ghost. “I’m not exactly thrilled to see how this ends.”
Several deep booms indicated that Aeon had garnered the attention of the Cyclops, which was now taking blind shots at the Hunter. “Oh, she’s mature. She’ll get over it – until then,” she held the rocket launcher close to her chest, patting it gently as she sized up the jump she’d have to make. “The clown cartridge and I have some work to do.”
Without waiting for any cue, Mira leapt and activated her glide, which carried her to the top of the stone column and gave her a perfect line-of-sight on the Cyclops. The large, stationary Vex unit turned its attention to her immediately, taking its aim off Aeon as it charged another blast.
Mira reacted quicker – emptying the rocket canisters in her weapon, with an extra rocket materialising in the chamber thanks to the special cartridge. Each round blew off a part of the Cyclops’ armour in a blast of Arc energy; shredding it down to its bare, exposed core and inner chassis.
When the dust settled from the final blast, the Cyclops slumped forward like a wilted flower – the light in its eye dying out. Sighing with relief, Mira ejected the empty cartridges from her rocket launcher as she floated down to join the Bladedancer on the lower landing, finishing off the last of the Goblins.
With her knife in both hands, Aeon brought it down on a prone Goblin – stabbing it through the back and spilling radiolarian fluid everywhere. Mira cleared her throat to announce her presence before speaking. “I think we’re clear.”
“Yeah, just took down the last of the Goblins,” Aeon replied, smiling as she stood. “Hey, check out what Jolly found trans…whatever-ified in one of them.” She continued as a purple Engram materialised in her open palm.
“Impressive,” Mira chuckled as she began climbing the steps. “Let’s see if the Cyclops had anything on it to match that find.”
“It’s mine if I find it first!” Aeon suddenly cried as she sprinted up the steps past the Warlock.
Not one to be outdone, Mira ran after the young Hunter.
When she reached the top of the slope, however, both Guardians froze as the corpse of the Cyclops began to groan and whine with sounds of deep mechanical strain. Purple light returned to its central, exposed eye as it locked onto the Hunter and emitted a high-pitched noise as its light became blinding.
“Aeon – move!” Mira exclaimed as she rushed to push the Hunter to the side, but Aeon did not respond.
She was frozen with shock – staring down the barrel of a cannon powerful enough to incinerate her and her Ghost, if they were both so unfortunate.
In a split-second decision, Mira shoved the Bladedancer aside just as the Cyclops fired a beam of unstable Void energy from its eye. The laser was like a pulsar from a new star and she could feel the intensity of its radiation long before it reached her.
With nowhere else to go, Mira held her arms out in front of her and turned away from her impending doom. A cold feeling ran down the Awoken’s entire body – as if all the blood had suddenly rushed to her feet.
Strangely enough, however, Mira swore she could feel a strange warmth in her heart, as well as an incessant buzzing in her head.
The blast hit her, but instead of washing over her body like a wave of plasma, it stopped when it met her hands – pushing against them like torrent of water. She opened her eyes and was shocked to find the beam being refracted in three directions away from her. Just an inch in front of her outstretched hands, a shell of energy protected her from the beam – refracting it like a prism and splitting the beam into three smaller beams that shot out around her.
“Holy cats, Mira!” she heard Aeon exclaim without taking her eyes off the Cyclops. “How are you doing that?!”
“I don’t know!” Mira shouted back as the beam pushed her to the edge of the landing, threatening to knock her down The Steps.
“Well, you’re doing a great job!” though they were meant as encouragement, the Hunter’s words grated on Mira’s nerves as she strained to push back the beam, causing one of the split plasma streams to nearly slice the Hunter in half.
Beads of sweat formed on the Sunsinger’s brows as she felt her concentration waning. Nausea threatened to overtake her as her breathing became more erratic and her vision blurred.
Just across from her, however, bouts of purple fire began erupting from the Cyclops’ central eye like geysers. Very soon, the whine of the laser took on an even higher pitch as the Cyclops began to rattle while cracks formed along its body.
Those cracks grew larger and larger before the Vex sentry finally exploded in a ball of fire – flinging pieces of its frame across The Steps. A particularly large, jagged shard flew over Mira close enough to slice a couple hairs on her head, clattering as it fell down the slope.
Just like it, Mira suddenly felt the strength leave her body as her legs gave out from under her. She would have followed the chunk of shrapnel down the Endless Steps if it weren’t for Aeon, who dashed over and caught the falling Warlock at the last second, lowering her gently to the ground.
“Easy! I gotcha,” Aeon cooed soothingly as she brushed some damp clumps of hair out of Mira’s face. The ginger ran a thumb over Mira’s cheek as her breathing evened out, rubbing in slow, relaxing circles. “How’d you do that?”
“I’m…not sure,” she croaked out, her throat suddenly bone-dry. “Lumiere.” She called as she held out a hand. Her Ghost, now named Lumiere, responded by materialising a metal drinking canteen in her hand as he appeared.
“That was incredible, Mira,” Lumiere commented as the Sunsinger took a generous gulp of water. “I was reading your energy signatures as you were deflecting that beam! Your electron and neutrino counts were off the charts – I didn’t know the Light could act that way!”
“Can you figure out exactly what it is I did?”
The Ghost paused as it considered the Sunsinger’s request. “It’ll take me some time to make sense of these readings, but I think I can figure out exactly what it was you were doing - theoretically.”
“Well, I suppose I’ll accept theoretical,” she breathed out, tossing the canteen back to her Ghost – who caught it out of the air with a transmat beam – as she pushed herself to her feet. “Now let’s go and find that--”
“Um, excuse me?” A timid voice whispered, coming from the other edge of the landing. Aeon suddenly made a grab for her shotgun and jerked it towards the source of the noise with one hand.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mira saw a shape dart behind the inactive Vex gate, in the direction where the voice had come from. Recognising the soft mechanical ticking of the object, Mira lowered the Hunter’s weapon with a gentle hand. “Wait!”
With her other hand, she directed her Ghost to investigate the disturbance, silently reaffirming the command with a thought. Lumiere complied without question, darting behind the Vex gate while the two Guardians watched silently.
A few seconds passed by before the Warlock’s Ghost returned from behind the gate, with another smaller Ghost in tow. The second Ghost had an ice-blue shell and trailed a few feet behind Lumiere, nervously twitching its shell around.
By now, Aeon had decided to lay the shotgun on the ground at her side, instead reaching out an offering hand to the new Ghost. “Hey there, little fella.”
The Ghost hesitated for a moment before approaching the Hunter. “H-hello? Are…you two Guardians?”
“We are,” Mira answered for the both of them. “What’s your designation, Ghost?”
“One-nine-three-one-twelve,” the Ghost recited with more confidence. “But the other unpaired Ghosts in the City network call me Snow.”
“Snow,” Mira repeated, watching as the Ghost’s eye brightened in joy. “We received your distress signal. Are you alright?”
“Y-yes. I was able to hide myself from the Vex, though if you hadn’t shown up I don’t know how long I-” it paused, floating over to hover over Aeon’s outstretched hand. “Are you two alright? I don’t often see Guardians in action –you two look pretty roughed up.”
“Pssh, that was barely a thrashing. We do this every day.” Aeon replied with a dismissive wave and chuckle.
“We’re here to escort you back to The Tower, or the nearest Vanguard FOB – if you’d prefer.” Mira continued.
The Ghost, Snow, glanced between the two Guardians in silence for a moment. “Thank you,” it spoke with wariness in its voice as it turned the stare off at the ocean beyond the plateau. “But I can’t go with you. Not yet – not when I’m so close.”
Mira and Aeon shared a concerned glance as the Bladedancer turned her attention back to the Ghost. “So close to what?”
“My Guardian!” it exclaimed in excitement, loud enough to cause the Hunter to flinch. “Sorry. For the past two days, I’ve been tracing a signal across Venus that pings out over regular intervals. I…think it’s a message – a call for help from my Guardian.”
“How can your Guardian be sending you messages? They’re still, well, dead.” Lumiere asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m the only unpaired Ghost on Venus that’s been able to pick it up and I’ve never even heard of the frequency until two days ago. The Vanguard scouts also say they can’t detect it, so it has to be my Guardian calling out to me!”
“What-”
“Say you’re telling us the truth,” Mira interrupted Aeon, giving the Ghost her full attention. “Where’s this signal leading you?”
“Twenty hours ago, the signal was intercepted by a Vex data spire further along the coast,” Snow continued his explanation as he drifted towards the edge of The Steps. Gathering her strength, Mira moved to follow the pygmy Ghost with Aeon’s help. “It stopped shortly after that. I’ve been trying to get there ever since,” Snow turned back to face the Guardians and for some reason, Mira swore the Ghost’s optic looked bigger than it was a moment ago. “I thought that if I could hack into the network without the Vex noticing, I could find out the source of the signal.”
“But the Vex did find you,” Mira corrected, causing the Ghost to tilt its head down in shame. “You got as far as the Endless Steps before you had to hunker down and call for a rescue.”
“Mira!” Aeon chided in a surprised, offended tone.
She’s good at feeling for others, Mira thought to herself and Lumiere. “I’m just stating the facts. The Steps are at the edge of Vanguard operational territory – you were exceptionally lucky we came as soon as we did.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Snow apologised in a tone weighed down by sadness. “It’s just…I’ve been searching for my Guardian for so long. I know I’m close.” The light-cyan Ghost turned back to the two Guardians with determination in its eye. “I can’t give up now, so I’m not going with you until I find the source of that signal.”
Briefly, Mira pondered the prospect of hitting Snow with a Ghost restraint – theoretically, of course, she didn’t have one – or asking Lumiere to stun the smaller Ghost with a neuralising beam – if he knew how to. It was clear that the Ghost would refuse to cooperate with them until it got what it wanted. This would likely lead to a struggle and escape attempt if they forced it along.
Out in enemy territory, an unwilling or resistant ward would prove to be dangerous to all of them.
With a sigh, Mira held up her hand to summon her Ghost, resolving to carry out their only viable option. “Ghost?” she asked, speaking her question without having to say it aloud.
“I’m not detecting any unusual signals – on any of my known frequencies.” He replied, expanding his shell to tune his frequency receiver.
“I don’t think Jolly’s getting anything either,” Aeon added, an orange-coloured Ghost in her outstretched hand also scanning for signals. “Jolly, do you know anything about this spire Snow’s talking about?”
“Only from mapping data,” the Ghost replied in a feminine voice. “It’s a massive Vex tower further along the coastline – right at the edge of the Golden Beach.”
“Any designation?”
“Guys from the Cryptarchy just call it The Silereum,” Jolly turned to her Guardian and did her best impression of a shrug before continuing. “It’s said to be a Vex fortress and the largest hub of network data this side of the region-- not as heavily guarded as The Citadel, but we can still expect resistance.”
“I know what I heard! Please, you have to believe me.” Snow pleaded with the Guardians, his shell drooping in sorrow as the silence stretched on.
Eventually, Mira breathed out a puff of air as she weighed up her options, again. “What do you think, Westmark?” she asked.
Humming to herself while flipping the knife in her hand, Aeon glanced at the two Ghosts by her side while her mouth twisted in deep contemplation. “I think…I’ve still got enough spare ammo to go another round and,” she caught the knife with a flourish as she brought it to point at Mira. “You haven’t used your Supercharge this entire time.”
“And that means?”
“It means we’ve been holding back in case we ran into heavier trouble on our way back – y’know, like you taught me to?”
The Sunsinger let out a satisfied huff as she batted the knifepoint away gently. “You’re not wrong,” she then turned to regard the little Ghost they had found. “Fine, Snow. We’ll escort you to the spire so that you can find your mystery signal. After that, we return to the Vanguard Base in Maat Mons. Deal?”
“Deal!” the Ghost chirped, spinning its shell as it did a flip. Aeon laughed at the display of joy as she activated her wrist-pad.
“I’ll call the ships in to pick us up outside the Waking Ruins. You’d better stick close to me on the way there,” She said, addressing the smaller of the Ghosts. “And you’d better show the little fella some A-grade Ghost hospitality.” Aeon continued, addressing her own Ghost.
Floating over to Jolly, Snow hesitantly made an electronic chirp by way of greeting. In response, Jolly floated over to bump her shell affectionately against the smaller Ghost. Letting out a light laugh, the blue Ghost bumped her right back as they dematerialised into Aeon’s personal storage.
“Salvage any ammunition or equipment you can from the battlefield. I’ll radio ahead to Venus Ops and War Cult to update them in case we need backup,” Mira ordered as she held Lumiere closer to her face, waiting on him to patch her communications. “Chances are we’re going to make a lot of noise by the time this is over.”
As she spoke, several streaks of lightning crackled in the yellow-tinted atmosphere from an approaching storm. Along the distant shore, the flashes of light illuminated the shape of an uneven black tower – standing out like a fang from the Venusian surface.