Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Guardians.

Light bringers.

Iron Lords

Dead things.

Neon nerds.

So many names for users of Light and Dark, but one fire team was widely known by their enemies, the Hive considered them god slayers, and often believed that if they were to be slain by sword logic, they would become mightier than the Hive god. Cabal saw them as an unstoppable force.

But for one thing certain

“On your left, Guardian!” a small drone warning, her guardian

Ghosts, small sapient machines created by the Traveler. Their purpose? to locate and resurrect deceased individuals capable of wielding the Light.

A guardian

“Got 'em! That’s five for me without reloading, you two better keep up or drinks are going to be on you—” The woman was interrupted by a flash of blue and purple, instantly clearing the horde in front of her, the aftershock blowing her cloak back rapidly.

“…Well, supers don’t count!” the woman shouted at her allies before rolling away,  narrowly dodging a Hobgoblin railgun shot before she countered with her own attack. The machine exploded from a single shot from her hand cannon, but it was soon replaced by another.

(This was a Hunter, true to its class, daring, fast, she blazed her trail, and on occasion followed a rule or two.)

“This is all your fault. I could’ve been asleep all day, Pilma!” the Warlock snapped, pausing his rant just long enough to peek from behind the rock they were using as cover. He pulled the trigger on his fusion rifle and let the charged burst fly vaporizing two Harpies in an instant before turning back “Asleep!”

“Come on, so what if the Witness is dead?” Pilma replied with a shrug. “Think about all the loot just sitting out there, while everyone’s too busy partying to notice.”

The Warlock let out a frustrated groan and facepalmed against his helmet. this fucking loot gremlin, Sometimes, he was genuinely convinced Pilma had been dropped a few too many times after her resurrection.

Before he could fire back a sarcastic comment, a new voice barked over comms, snapping at them both to bring their attention to the marching death robots in front of them.

Screeeeech.

...And the zombie-like Shadow Troopers crawling in behind them.

“Hey!” the voice robotic and feminine “Both of you focus up, more Vex teleporting in…by the Traveler. They brought more Wyverns!”

The ground trembled with the familiar, mechanical clank of Vex reinforcements transmitting in

Their Cyclopean optics flared to life as Wyverns deployed, servos whirring. Conduits hissed open, and radiant flaps exposed internal energy cores Void charge building rapidly for a synchronized barrage.

But the robed one was already airborne.

The radiant Solar energy once coursing through his form dimmed, shifting in an instant, replaced by the raw, volatile current of Arc energy.

With a graceful glide into the air, lightning flaring around his arms, A concentrated beam of pure Arc energy surged from his hands, lancing downward in a searing torrent with surgical precision, cleaving through Vex alloy and destabilizing their Radiolaria cores.

They were reduced to sparking ash before they could fire a single shot, their charging ports still glowing faintly as their shattered remains clattered to the ground.

Pilmas peek over. “…Traveler always favored Warlocks and Titans.” A grumble before a thundering slam made its presence known.

The mission was supposed to be simple, just another routine op for someone like them.

After the Witness was finally defeated, the Tower was alive with celebration. Most Guardians welcomed a well-earned rest. The Titan and Warlock certainly did. But the Hunter? She barely lasted a day before dragging on another mission. Tricking them with the old. ‘Hey, let me be fireteam leader quick.’

Now here they were, deep beneath the shattered crust of Nessus, chasing a Vanguard-designated High Value Target through the overgrown ruins and mechanical veins of the terraformed planetoid.

What the Hunter hadn’t told the others was that the intel on this op was practically nonexistent. Most Vanguard personnel were still celebrating which meant. No recon, no comms support, not even a proper mission brief does. They were going blind.

Sure, they’d cleared dungeons with even less to go on. But the Warlock was in no mood for another mystery. His robes were still singed from the last one. The Titan didn’t complain, but his silence was louder than usual.

The Hunter just kept moving, eyes sharp, Ghost scanning the moss-covered Vex architecture ahead. He claimed it was urgent. That the target mattered. He never said why.

And in the underbelly of Nessus, that silence was starting to sound more and more suspicious.

No, the real nightmare wasn’t the mission going sideways.

It was the massive Wyvern stalking them through the winding caverns, tailing them like a predator. Now it was finally making its move raining hellfire across the chamber, molten void blasts shaking the ground as it sealed every exit with strange, humming Vex blockades.

And just when they thought things couldn’t get worse?

A Taken Hydra the size of Rhulk blinked into reality, wreathed in shadow and screaming distortion, summoning Taken Thralls and Psions to cause havoc forcing the team to keep moving no matter what.

But don’t worry, the Hunter had a plan.
One she didn’t disclose... at least, not until after she’d already acted on it.

She came sliding back to the rock where the Titan and Warlock were crouched, reloading behind cover. Grinning, she dropped down beside them and said:

“So! I found some Vex plates and used them to rig together a volatile Vex core. I armed it right in the middle of the room while invisible. We’ve got, oh… maybe ten—”
She paused, counting on her fingers. “—nope, five minutes. Tops. Before we and our Ghosts are vaporized into very stylish piles of ash.”

“……”

“……”

“Why ya silent? Something on my helmet?” The Hunter asked, hand rubbing her Celestial Nighthawk, her ghost mentally smacking her single eye. as the Titan, who was silent the whole time, started to close in on her.

“Let’s see, carry the five and the whatever that symbol meantaannndd done! portals up let’s get hell out of here!” The Warlock’s ghost called out, his guardian protecting him as he finished getting the Vex portal up and running.

“Great!” The Hunter’s ghost purple and black said before addressing the ogre in the room. “Say, Artemis from one to another, I just have to say. Tell your barricade barbarian to stop using my Hunter as a shield!”  The Titan turned her head, blocking another Hobgoblin laser shot with Pilma’s body before using it as a mace against it.

“Enough! Let’s move!” the Warlock barked, raising his hand and unleashing a volley of flames.

A Goblin screeched as it melted under the blaze, the kill overcharging his exotic gauntlets with radiant energy. Without pausing, he lobbed Solar grenades to both flanks, walls of fire erupting on either side to halt the advancing Vex and Taken.

“Go!” he shouted, holding the line.

The Titan barreled through the chaos, Pilma’s limp body slung over her shoulder. Once she was clear, the Warlock followed.

.

.

.

The portal dropped them from the sky, as the ground rushed up to meet them, both the Warlock and Titan activated their hover abilities at the last second, gliding safely to the grass.

Then came the Hunter.

She landed with a solid thud.

No hover. No double jump, just gravity.

“Welp!” a Ghost chirped, materializing beside the Warlock. “That was a leap of—”

“Sparks,” Yokai cut in, her voice flat and dangerous. “Finish that sentence, and what I do to you will make the Red War look like a fucking joke.”

She punctuated the threat by slamming her shell against his with a sharp metallic clang.

The air vibrated with the sound of churning metal.

Taken energy bleeds into the Vex data stream, warping the edges of the portal and forcing it unnaturally wider.

Above them, a pair of stacked, glowing white eyes pierced through the rip in reality, staring down from the sky like judgment made manifest.

“Why is it giving chase?! Taken Hydras don’t give chase!” Artemis shouted, scrambling through her Guardian inventory.

The Warlock and Titan opened fire, unleashing round after round into the massive, black, metallic beast. But the shots barely scratched it. The Hydra dropped from the air like a meteor, slamming into the ground with crushing force.

Both Guardians dove out of the way just in time as the impact sent shockwaves rippling across the battlefield.

Amid the chaos, the Hunter’s Ghost silently floated over to her Guardian’s fallen body. While the others were too busy trying not to die, the Ghost began the resurrection sequence quietly, focused.

In a flash of white light, the Hunter gasped back to life.

“Motherfucker stay back—!.” Pilma was up swinging until she realized only her ghost was in front of her. “Ion used my body as a shield again, didn’t she?” she asked.

Her Ghost nodded. “Oh yeah, it was like swinging around a flagpole.

She groaned, rubbing her ribs. “I swear, I die once and suddenly I’m a utility item.”

She looked toward the ongoing fight lasers flying, grenades exploding, the Hydra pushing through everything like a juggernaut.

Honestly, she should let them die a couple more times before helping.

But that Hydra was huge.
Which meant one thing:

Big stack of loot.

In the shadow of a smoldering helicopter crash, a lone Nikke fired one last round, taking down another Rapture before a searing laser blast forced her back into cover.

Dirt and ash clung to her torn outfit.  scratches lined her arms and legs. A battered name tag clung to her uniform

Marian.

Her hands trembled as she slammed a new magazine into her rifle. The clicks echoed louder than they should’ve in the chaos.

The Raptures were closing in.

She stole a glance at the wreckage behind her. The helicopter was in ruins. There was no more cover. No way out.

This was it.

She was going to die here.

Alone.

Surrounded.

She’d never know what it meant to have a family.
Never meet her commander.
Never live to see the surface retaken.

Just another name swallowed by the dirt

A Rapture’s massive leg stepped over the edge of her broken cover, its mechanical form casting a long shadow over her. It stared down at her, its red eye gleaming, Malice or maybe amusement, its talon already stained with Nikke’s blood.

She wasn’t going to be harvested.

She wouldn’t be turned against her fellow Nikkes.

With shaking hands, she raised her rifle and pressed the barrel beneath her chin choosing to go out on her own terms.

.
.
.

But before she could pull the trigger, a blur of light seared across her vision.

The Rapture above her shuddered and then disintegrated, vaporized into nothing. Dropping three small orbs that clinked on the ground.

Stunned, Marian lowered her weapon and looked up.

And what she saw made her forget to breathe.

A monster loomed in the distance, unlike anything she had ever seen. A floating abomination encircled by three glowing, levitating shields, pulsing with hostile energy.

Around it, three figures moved in perfect harmony dodging, weaving, striking with deadly precision. Their movements weren’t just combat.

They were dancing with death.

“W-What’s going on?!” she whispered.

Whoever these people were, they didn’t seem to notice her or

The Raptures!

Heart pounding, she grabbed her rifle, slapped in a fresh magazine, and opened fire. Raptures landing from the skies, others seemingly drawn to the noises.

Moments ago, she’d been ready to end it all.
Now? She didn’t understand why, but something inside her refused to back down.

It was like a switch had flipped like a banner of war

She didn’t know who they were.
She didn’t know what had just saved her.

But she knew one thing for sure:

If she couldn’t make sense of any of this right now… Then she’d do the one thing she was built for

Fight.

“This thing isn’t slowing down!” the Warlock shouted, slamming a fresh magazine into No Hesitation.

“Ion, you’re with me!” The Titan nodded, a banner made of Strand pulsing to her healed.

He fired healing rounds into her back as she surged forward, shield raised. The Taken Hydra unleashed another barrage of energy, the blasts hammering against her defenses. Her shield sputtered and cracked, but she didn’t slow down.

With a burst of Light, she launched into the air then, in one fluid motion, summoned her Sentinel Shield.

She swung her arm forward and slammed the disk into the Hydra’s face, landing in a roll as the enemy reeled back, its form distorted and momentarily suppressed.

Then came Pilma, sliding into view, eyes locked on target. She raised her fingers in a mock gun gesture as Solar energy surged, cascading up her arm and shaping into the blazing form of the Golden Gun, empowered by Celestial Nighthawk.

She didn’t fire immediately.

She waited.

“Come on, Come on.”  

Watched as the Hydra’s shield rotated there. A gap. Its eye was exposed.

She fired.

The shot cracked the air like thunder, her cloak fluttering from the recoil but just before the shot could land Something dropped in front of the Hydra.

The blast hit it dead-on.

And exploded. Smoke and embers filled the space. But when the dust cleared the Taken Hydra was untouched.

“Again!? You missed again!?” the Warlock shouted, ducking just in time as the Taken Hydra slammed the ground where he’d been standing. “When we get back to the Tower, I want that Exotic dismantled!”

“It wasn’t me!” Pilma snapped. “It was the Vex? Wait. What the hell is even that!?”

In front of her hovered a strange object disk-shaped, almost Vex in design, but not quite. It floated silently, its smooth shell refracting light in unnatural ways. Her HUD struggled to lock on, displaying only a flickering string of question marks.

She waited for a ping from her Ghost. Instead, Yokai’s voice came through, uncertain

“I don’t know. The Vanguard database isn’t giving me squat.”

Perfect. Just perfect.

And speaking of things that didn’t make sense...

Pilma frowned.

When did Nessus get so… green?

She blinked. Looked around.

This wasn’t Nessus.

The ground beneath her wasn’t coated in yellow dust it was grass. Real, living grass. Soil beneath her boots. The flora around them was lush, vibrant green, nothing like Nessus’s usual blood-red biome.

Hold on…

This wasn’t Nessus at all.

How in the Traveler did they end up back on Earth!?  The Vex never made portals to Earth besides that one time with Lakshmi—

Focus, Pilma! Now isn’t the time to drift off like a damn Warlock!

It didn’t matter what these new Vex frames were, if they’re first thing is to shoot first then they were a threat to her weapons and drip…and her teammates.

She turned, spotting someone sprinting toward her, waving frantically and shouting something she couldn’t quite make out. They pointed behind her, urgency clear in their body language.

Why? Was there something--Oh, shit!

A blast of Darkness surged toward her, crackling with energy. It struck her square in the chest, hurling her backward like a ragdoll.

She hit the ground hard, rolling through dirt and ash, until she skidded to a stop at the stranger’s feet. Groaning, she forced herself upright, vision swimming.

“Are you alright?!”

No…her pride wasn’t.

“Argh!” Pilma rose, shaking the dirt off her cloak as she did The stranger was a…woman? She didn’t look like a guardian, her attire screamed that. Though that gun in her hands looked pretty sweet.

“She isn’t,”  Yokai said inside Pilma’s head. “I’m not detecting any Light or Darkness inside of her. Could be a Civilian.”

Pilma frowned. Civilian? Shouldn’t they all be in the Last City or something since the whole Season of the Defiance fiasco, the Shadow Legion kidnapping people from kidnapping

"Um hello? Are you okay?” the woman peered down at her.

She snapped out her thoughts, grabbing the woman by the shoulders and turning her away.

“Go on get! Official guardian business over here, don’t need another civilian injured in Jericho’s report.” Pushing the surprisingly heavy woman. Who managed to get out of her grip..

“Get back?” The woman blinked “Who are you? Are you Nikkes? What is that armor, where’s your Commander, what was that bright yellow—” The Hunter grabbed her shoulders again. This time shaking violently trying to calm her down.

“Lady calm the hell down, will you! I get it, not every day you see a Hunter in pure perfection like myself.” Marian could only blink as the other woman flattered herself.

“A Hunter? Last City? What are you—”

“WHERE THE FUCK IS PLIMA?!” The Warlock’s voice thundered over the distant crack of gunfire and the rising boom of explosions.

“Guardian down.”

 “Ah shit, the fight!” Pilma holstered her knives, yes holstered. Before a sparkle of shimmer above her materialized a gun in her hands.

 Still trying to process what just happened as the sparkly woman completely ignored her questions and took off running back into the chaos

With a frustrated puff of air,  Marian tightened her grip on her rifle and sprinted after her. She had no idea what was going on, but if she wanted answers that bird helmet wearing woman had them

She struggled to keep up with the Hunter’s maddening pace but eventually spotted two more figures ahead. One wore black and red robes, armored and imposing. The other had their back turned, clad in bulky silver armor streaked with old scorch marks.

They were all focused on the same thing, a towering black machine in the distance, humming with ominous energy. She slammed into the rock they were using. All three eyeing her through eyeless visors and helmets. “Um, Hello.”

“Who the hell is she—,” The black and red stopped himself,   knocking his helmet. “You know what? Out of all the weird crap in the universe we've dealt with, I’m just gonna roll with it.”

“Okay…I’m Marian.”

A small drone, purple and gold, zipped into view and hovered around her before speaking. “Sup. I’m Yokai. We didn’t meet before, but my Guardian here, Pilma. You tripped over her.” The drone gestured with a small piece of its body toward the others.

“Those two over there are Jericho and Kali,” Yokai added.

The bulky one, Kali gave Marian a nod while calmly reloading a very heavy-looking machine gun.

“Hey!” A second drone zipped into view, this one black and blue, voice sharper. “Not to interrupt your little meet-and-greet, but it’s only a matter of time before that Taken Hydra finds us. I assume you’ve got a plan, Jericho?”

The red and black threw his head and groaned. “Why do you all always assume I’ve got a plan for this shit?”

“Because you’re always the Fireteam leader,” Pilma, replied dryly.

Jericho sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose behind his helmet. “Ugh. Screw all of you… except…” He looked at Marian, pausing.

“Marian,” she reminded him.

“Yeah.” he peeked over the cover, studying the Taken Hydra now ravaging the area around it, blasting debris to find them at this rate it’ll find them, and they won’t have any safe cover to use against its artillery. “We’ll do a  bait and switch.” Jericho planned.   

“One of us would be the Bait, get in front of it make it chase you down while the others attack it keeping their distance until it’s time to switch. Pilma your first.”  

“What? Why me?”

“Because as the appointed Fireteam leader, I have to make the harsh decisions, so you do it.”

The Hunter groaned. “Of course, that immediately goes to bite me in the ass. Fine.” Drawing her hand cannon again and giving it a once-over before running off toward the Hydra.

“Hey!” Pilma shot at Taken Hulk “Floating puppet!”  The bullet bounced off its shield, but it got its attention. Glowing white eyes glaring down at her as Darkness blasts swell from its corrupted cannons.

“Hey, Yokai…I remembered to swap my resistant mods to Void right?”

“Nope, still Solar.” The ghost said inside her guardian’s head.

Fuck.

She jumped away from the attack, before rolling away from another soon after, blitzing through decayed cars as it began to chase her down.

Warlock motioned for them to follow. “Now! After it!” They fired at it, ammunition spent while it chased Pilma down. The Hunter never goes too far so it won’t give up its attack but never gets too close either.

After a particularly hard blow to its hull, it teleported before reappearing seconds behind the three. Dropping its body in an attempt to crush them all in a single slam.

“Watch out!” She was suddenly tackled out of the way, hitting the ground as dust and small debris scattered around her.  Eyes fluttering open to see the Warlock looking down at her face hidden behind the visor.

“You alright, no light?” He helped her up.

“Y-Yeah, thank you.”   

“Argh! Fucker got away!” Pilma shouted walking toward them

He nodded, but his eyes quickly caught a small gash on her forehead likely from a rock hurled loose by the impact. Gently, he reached out and cupped her chin, tilting her face toward the light.

“Hey! What are you doing?” she protested, pulling back slightly.

“You’ve got a cut on your head. Hold still.”

Flames flickered to life around his fingers, then shifted, coalescing into a soft, white glow. She winced as he brought the light close to her skin.

But the pain she braced for never came.

Instead, a serene warmth spread through her, melting away the ache. The throbbing vanished, replaced by a tranquil relief that left her feeling whole again rested, and renewed.

“I—what was that?”  she breathed.

“Healing grenade.” He looked at the wound again. The bleeding had stopped but the gash was still there…strange usually that would’ve healed also. Solar was quite adept at healing organic tissue. Whatever the reason there was no point in leaving it exposed.

“Pilma can you tear a bit of cloak—”

“I’ll stab you.”  She said flatly and with no hesitation.

He sighed. “Never mind then.” he tore the hem of his robes, ripping the material into several narrow strips. Carefully, he wrapped the makeshift bandage around the stunned woman’s head, binding the wound with steady hands.

He stepped back, eyeing his work. “Not exactly medical grade, but it’ll keep the gash covered until we get back to the city.”

Marian blinked, slowly raising her hands to touch the cloth.

No one had ever done something like this for her since... well, ever. She stared at him. Could this be their commander? What kind of commander knew how to wrap a wound like that cared enough to?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a large explosion in the distance another part of the area of the ruined city. They looked up as multiple shadows from the clouds loomed overhead flying toward the sound in a mass.

“Those are some big Harpies,” Pilma muttered, letting out a low whistle.

Marian’s gaze locked on the sky, watching the Raptures descend like a swarm toward the source of the explosion. The sound had a man-made quality to it loud, focused. Not Rapture tech. Definitely not standard.

Not unless…

Something about the direction tugged at her memory, itching at the back of her mind. The way the Harpies moved the path they followed—

Then it hit her.

The rendezvous.

The squad she was meant to meet before the crash. The ones waiting for her team to arrive.

Panic flickered through her chest. If the Raptures were heading there by air, no less they wouldn’t just be outgunned. They’d be trapped. Pinned down with no cover, no escape.

She clenched her fists.

She couldn’t just leave them to die. Not like this.

But what could she do?

She had no squad. No transport. Not even a proper chain of command anymore.

… There were three heavily armed strangers standing right in front of her.

Two individuals lay pinned down in the middle of an unnamed street, rusted abandoned cars their only source of cover as they fought back against the incoming Raptures the best they could.

But it was only a matter of time before they ran out of ammo and options, one of them knew that, she wasn’t dumb…for most things.

It was hopeless, she didn’t even know why they were staying. They both saw the crash, no one could have survived that not even a Nikke.

But her teammate was as stiff as they come, refusing to abandon their post.

Even with their commander dead, a few feet away.

“Damn it, Rapi!” Anis shouted, ducking as a laser bolt scorched past her head. A Crawler fired again, forcing her behind cover. “We can’t stay here, I’m down to my last patch of rockets!”

Rapi didn’t look in her direction, while calm and collected, she reloaded her rifle with practiced speed. “We were ordered to hold, so we hold,”

“Can’t you see how hopeless this is!? Our commander is dead! Communications is dead! And soon we will be too!”

Rapi stood and fired, her rifle barking light. A Crawler exploded in the distance, but another took its place through the smoke. Anis grabbed Rapi’s shoulder and pulled her down. Forcing her to look into her eyes. “We can’t stay here. Damn treason, we need to—"

Before Rapi could answer, the sky darkened not from clouds, but from a roiling swarm of Daikons descending overhead. Red eyes blinked in unison. Energy weapons hummed, charging.

Anis looked up and whispered the only word that fit.

“Shit.”

Like a raging storm, red-hot lasers rained down from the Daikons' cannons. A barrage of heated lasers coming down from the sky and directly above them, each blast powerful enough to shear the roof off a bunker. There was no time to run only to brace for impact.

….

They heard the impacts deafening, explosive but the pain never came. Anis, heart hammering in her chest, cracked one eye open.

Around them, their cover was obliterated charred metal, vaporized asphalt but they were untouched. She blinked in disbelief. Everything shimmered in hues of violet. A translucent dome pulsed around them, absorbing the onslaught as if it were harmless rain. The energy crackled softly but still stood.

At the center of the dome stood a figure clad in heavy armor, unmoving, arms outstretched. That same violet energy surged from their palms, feeding the barrier that protected them.

Rapi stared, stunned. “What the hell…”

Anis, for once, was just speechless. The Daikons repositioned in the sky, their weapons glowing ominously as they prepared for another volley. But before they could fire, their targeting systems flared with urgent warnings.

From a distance, a massive sphere of crackling purple energy tore through the air, spinning violently as it closed in.

One Daikon turned to evade, but it was too late.

The sphere struck, detonating on impact in a brilliant explosion of violet light. But it didn’t end there the blast twisted inward, collapsing into itself like a collapsing star. A sudden gravitational pull yanked the remaining Daikons into the implosion.

“What in the world is going on!?” Anis looked toward the figure for answers. “Who the hell are you!?”

The figure said nothing, the shimmer of the dome still radiating from their outstretched hands. Instead, they gave a slight nod toward the battlefield silent but deliberate.

Anis and Rapi followed the gesture.

From the smoke and chaos, two figures sprinted toward the horde of ground Raptures. One of them suddenly launched into the air, using the dome itself as a platform to propel even higher. As she spun midair, her body ignited flames curling around her limbs, trailing embers in her wake.

Then came the knives.

A cascade of burning blades rained down, each one glowing with solar intensity. They pierced the Raptures' armor effortlessly then detonated, bursts of fire and ash tearing through the enemy ranks.

In seconds, molten wreckage and scorched earth were all that remained.

Anis and Rapi sat there in stunned silence, the protective dome around them flickering out of existence. An entire force of Raptures—gone, just like that.

Then came a voice, hesitant and polite.

“E-Excuse me… are you the rendezvous squad?”

A Nikke approached, brushing off dust as she helped both of them to their feet. She even patted down Rapi’s skirt with awkward care, flashing a sheepish smile.

Whatever warmth that smile had was immediately shattered by Anis’s shout.

“WHO THE HELL ARE THEY!?”

The poor girl flinched, hands raised in surrender. “I-I don’t know!” she stammered. “They were fighting this creepy-looking Rapture and crash-landed near me. They call themselves ‘Guardians’ or something, but honestly? Everything they say is total nonsense.”

“It can’t be that confusing,” Rapi muttered.

Just then, one of the strangers strolled over relaxed, cloaked, and seemingly oblivious to how tense the moment still was. She tilted her helmet slightly, giving a low whistle as her eyes scanned Rapi’s rifle.

“Nice auto,” she said, nodding with approval. “What’s the roll? Graverobber? Kinetic Tremors? Or are you running classic Kill Clip?”

“…I’m not sure,” Rapi replied, brow furrowed.

The stranger gasped softly. “What’s the RPM? Personally, I can’t stand 360s. Too damn slow I could clear a Lost Sector before one of those empties a mag. The last auto I loved was Chroma Rush… so smooth. A real beast.”

“I… see,” Rapi said slowly, clearly not understanding a single word.

Anis opened her mouth to ask something, but another figure approached this one dressed in sleek black and red armor robes, his presence far more composed. He gave Marian a brief nod after scanning the battlefield, then turned his attention to Anis and Rapi. Notably, none of the strangers removed their helmets as they spoke.

“Area’s clear of Vex,” he reported. “We should be safe for now.”

He gestured toward Anis and Rapi. “I assume these two are part of your fireteam?”

“Hey!” Anis snapped. “Don’t just brush us off like that, weirdo!”

He paused. “Weirdo?”

“Yes, weirdo! Who—better yet, what are you people?”

He tilted his head slightly, genuinely confused. “We’re Guardians. The name doesn’t ring a bell?”

Anis crossed her arms. “Not even a little.”

The cloaked one put a hand on her hip, cocking it with exaggerated sass. “They must be from the boonies,” she said. “Like… stray Neomuna citizens. Maybe they escaped some outdated simulation or something.”

“Can we at least get names out of the way?”

“Oh sure.” she pointed at herself. “I’m Pilma, that over there is our Fireteam Leader Jericho.”

“Begrudgingly,” he muttered as she pointed toward the last person on her squad. “And that’s

Rapi muttered under her breath, “What is a Lost Sector…?”

The ground began to tremble, cutting through their conversation like a blade. Dust spilled from the crumbling ruins above as a deep, guttural rumble echoed across the battlefield.

All eyes turned upward.

Perched atop a decaying skyscraper, a massive Rapture loomed in its grotesque form silhouetted against the broken skyline. Then, without warning, it leapt.

The impact shaking the earth with thunderous force. Cracks spiderwebbed through the pavement, and the shockwave sent loose debris flying.

From its armored shell, swollen red boils pulsed and writhed, oozing with a sickly light. With a sickening squelch, tendrils burst from its sides long, barbed, and twitching.

Pilma backed away from the beast, reaching for her handcannon as she did. "That's one weird-looking Harpy." 

"It's the Blacksmith! It must've been attracted by the explosions." Marian called out. 

"Oh really now--" Pilma shot back but before she could finish a tendril shot at her sending her flying into the nearest wall.  

"Are you okay!?" Marian shouted a mysteriously shaped Hunter hole. 

"Tell Artemis and Sparks not to clip that." Pilma groaned from the hole. As the Blacksmith charged another attack this time with its rotary guns. 

"Everyone behind Ion!" Jericho shouted pointing at the Titan, who was stretching her arms. They did just as the Rapture fired. 

Ion was faster, summoning her Sentinel Shield and slamming it down creating a barricade that stopped the bullets in their tracks. "We need to get Ion close to that thing." Jericho went quiet before turning to the woman behind him. 

"I got a plan but I need a large group to enact it; do you all trust me?" He asked.

Marian gave a firm nod. Rapi looked uncertain. Anis crossed her arms and said flatly, "Hell no."

But in a battle where death was the likely outcome, any plan with a shot at victory was worth the risk.

Jericho nodded, then counted down under his breath. "Three... two... one go!"

He sprinted from behind the barricade, and without hesitation, the others followed except Ion.

Right into the open.

"This is your plan!?" Anis shouted. "You're going to get us killed!"

He didn’t respond, eyes locked on the monstrous machine ahead. The creature began to shift, its massive form turning slowly toward their exposed position, weapons glowing hot.

Come on, that’s it... Focus on us, Jericho thought, flexing his fingers in anticipation.

The machine locked on.

“It’s going to fire…”

He hoped it would. That was the point—draw its full attention, give Ion the opening she needed.

The weapons ignited, and a barrage of searing energy lit up the battlefield. But Jericho was ready. The Dawnblade flared to life in his hands, slamming into the ground and casting a Well of Radiance beneath their feet.

Flames of light surged around them. Bullets struck, but every wound was instantly mended by the radiant aura. To the enemy, it looked like they were taking damage but they stood tall.

Then came the tendrils.

"Now, Ion!"

A shadow leapt from cover the Titan soared through the air, her Twilight Arsenal gleaming. With precise force, she hurled the spectral battle axes: two slashed through the mechanical tendrils mid-strike, and the third embedded into the ground right at Jericho’s feet, sealing the maneuver.

Without wasting time, the Warlock grabbed the axe, hurling at the Rapture finishing the weakening effect. 

"Open fire!" 

Bullets didn't just fly, they soared multiple casings hitting the ground as the rounds found their target until the Rapture struggled to stand before dropping dead unmoving.

"It's down." Jericho sighed, stowing his no hesitation just as the Well of Radiance ended, its duty done. 

While Jericho and Ion inspected the smoldering remains of the creature, Anis stood off to the side, still reeling from the effects of the Radiance.

She had taken damage she was sure of it. And yet... she hadn’t. Wounds that should’ve dropped her had vanished in seconds, mended by that glowing aura as if pain itself had been denied.

The sensation was unlike anything she’d ever felt. 

Her thoughts spun.

Jericho and Ion stood over the strange, lifeless Vex, its body flickering with residual light and energy. Sparks and Artemis emerged from their Guardians’ inventories, scanning the entity with their focused, rhythmic pulses.

A sudden screech of tearing metal split the air.

Eerie, guttural sounds echoed as the sky above shimmered and twisted a telltale blight warning. The Taken were forcing their way into this plane.

Shadows deepened around them as the Taken Hydra returned fully restored, but now even more massive. Towering beyond its former size, it pulsed with chaotic energy, dwarfing even Rhulk. Its rotating shield spun with impossible speed, warping the very air around it.

But that wasn’t all.

Taken rift portals erupted behind the Hydra, splitting space open like jagged wounds. From within them, corrupted bindings slithered out black tendrils of raw Taken energy that lashed toward everything and everyone in reach.

Three of them struck fast, targeting Marian, Anis, and Rapi. 

"Watch out, red head!" Rapi was knocked out of the way by Pilma, the Hunter appearing from purple smoke knocking her away from the tendril, that pierced through her chest instead. 

Pulling her into the Rift instead.

"Pilma!" Jericho and Sparks shouted, but their Hunter was already gone. He turned to Ion, going to shout the news but saw the Titan batting it out with a horde of those things approaching from her blind spot. A tendril sneaking up on her and pulling her through a rift.

His Fireteam...gone.

All while the Taken Hydra just watched. 

It won't be watching for very long; he'll make sure of that. But as he stepped forward, someone grabbed his arm, yanking him back. “We can’t stay here!”

Jericho shoved them off. “I have to get them back. I can still—”

“Jericho!” Sparks’ voice cracked like thunder over the comms. “Focus. You need to get these people out.”

“I can’t just leave them!” he snapped, voice raw.

“You know those four,” Sparks said, firm but not unkind. “They’ll find a way back. They always do. But right now? You’re the only Guardian standing between those things and everyone else.”

Jericho hesitated, heart pounding, breath ragged inside his helmet. His grip tightened on the rifle, fists clenching just to keep the Solar energy from flaring out uncontrollably.

But then... he relented.

and cover the three as they made their escape.

They ran for nearly ten minutes ducking through ruins and alleys, until Sparks finally gave the all-clear.

No regular Taken moved like that on their own, coordinated, watching, waiting. another question poking as his mind. why were they brought to earth of all places. years of conflict and the Vex had never purposely invaded earth so why did one of those gateway lead them here. 

"Hey, you, okay?" a hand placed on his shoulder, turning his head to meet the red head. her face was stoic but there was a softness in her red eyes, he shrugged it off not in an anger, he just didn't someone touching him right now.

"Yeah. they'll survive...they always do if not then at least their ghosts will funny stories to tell when their done resurrecting them." he chuckled but fell silent by the look of confusion on their faces.

Marian stepped up behind him. A quiet presence. She smiled, warm and genuine, the wind tugged gently at the makeshift bandages wrapped around her head fabric torn from his robe, now hanging loose, barely holding

“They’ll come back,” she said softly. “They always come back.”

Anis glanced up from checking her weapon, eyes narrowing. There was something… off. Jericho didn’t hear it too focused on scouting ahead, peering down the alley toward the edge of the ruins. He didn’t see her eyes shimmer faintly

“They’ll come back,” she repeated again, now behind him, fingers twitching near her rifle.

Anis straightened, her unease sharpening into alarm.

Jericho spoke without turning. “I need to contact the Vanguard. They need to know about this new—”

Bang!

Bang!

The shot cracked like lightning, echoing through the hollow street.

Marian jerked backward, a dark spray painting the dust as she crumpled to the ground.

Rapi stood behind her, rifle lowered, smoke curling from the barrel. She had purposely stepped out of Marian’s line of sight the moment the repeating started a subtle symptom, but one she knew too well.

A warning sign.

Not of confusion, but of corruption.

"She was corrupted." Rapi said quietly but her voice steady, her eyes lingering on the body. "Anis, are you alright?" 

"Yeah." Anis said after a pause, the shock beginning to fade. wiping some of the blood of her cheek.

Rapi followed Anis's widen expression, looking back to find the body of Jericho slumped against the wall, unmoving, a red trickle coming from. the top middle of the helmet.

Then her expression shifted eyes widening, color draining from her face.

Rapi followed her gaze.

Jericho slumped against the wall, he once used. The crimson line stood out starkly against the dark armor, seeping from the wound Just like the others. Just like Marian.

Another one gone.

Rapi blinked slowly, trying to process it. All of them those strange, supernatural warriors were dead. Two had given their lives to protect them. And now Jericho shared their fate, all because she’d been too slow to react.

Maybe she deserved to be dea—

....Wait what was that?

A small object stirred beneath Jericho’s body. Not an object a drone, she thinks. It emerged in a smooth, sparkle of particles sleek and strange. Black and blue plating shimmered under the dim light, trimmed with intricate gold. Its shell unfolded like petals, separating into a sphere. From its core, a soft blue glow pulsed outward.

“What is that—” Anis began, but her question was cut off by a sudden, ragged inhale.

They both recoiled in shock as Jericho’s body lurched.

The Warlock sat up, gasping for air. His hand clutched at his helmet the hole was gone. The wound healed, erased as if it had never existed.

"What just happened? Argh my head!" 

But they didn't reply instead backing away, shocked mouths agape as the once very dead man was standing in front of them well...alive.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Something on my helmet?" all while his ghost just shook his shell.

Chapter Text

The area ahead was quiet. The once ruined and cobbled roads of the city gave way to a more barren stretch as they moved into the rural outskirts. The group rarely spoke, save for the soft whispering between Anis and Rapi. Jericho trailed a few feet behind close enough to see them, but far enough to remain out of earshot.

“Have you tried again?” he asked his Ghost.

Spark hovered beside him, his shell rotating with subtle unease. “I’ve tried thirty times already,” he said. “And like all thirty times, the signal came back blank. Not 'No Signal.' Just… nothing. Like the Vanguard channel doesn’t even exist.”

Jericho didn’t like that. He really didn’t like that.

The last time Vanguard communications went dark, the Last City was being bombed by the Red Legion, and they lost the Light.

That was not a fun week for anybody.

He couldn’t transmit to his ship nor call down his sparrow, the ship must have been stuck in Nessus’s orbit but still. He should’ve been able to call another ship from The Tower to pick him up.

Jericho looked at his Sunbracers the glove hands still covered in specs of dirt from burying Marian. Corruption, he had heard that term before but not how Rapi described it. It wasn’t Darkness that corrupted Marian but something else.

Just who were these people?

He could see them whispering ahead of him, with the occasional skittered glance back from the one in yellow, Anis…that was her name.

They were purposely keeping their distance from him now and he needed to know why. So, with a huff, he walked up to them.

“So do you have any transport to get back to Last City, a vehicle perhaps?” he asked the two when he approached startling Anis, but Rapi seemed to keep her composure.

There was that puzzled look, again whenever he mentioned things like the Last City.

“The Last City?”  she repeated, then correcting him without missing a heartbeat. “You mean the Ark?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.” The city went by many names.

Rapi gazed off into the horizon,  “Not far,” she said after a moment. “There’s an elevator nearby.”

Elevator?….it kind of made sense, the walls of the city were enormous and not every wall had an access point on the ground, still they would’ve spotted said giant wall a mile away, but they were nowhere in sight.

Before he could ask, a voice called his name.

“Hey.”

Jericho turned. Anis was looking at him, hesitant, like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to speak. But something in her eyes said she needed to.

“What was that back there, you died and here you are talking and walking like you didn’t just catch a bullet to the brain.”

Okay now he was generally confused, they knew about the Last City but not how resurrection worked?

Man, just how defunded was the City’s education curriculum? 

“I was brought back by my ghost,” he answered.

Rapi’s posture stiffened for a brief moment at the mention of ghost. Jericho noticed the slight hesitation, but he didn’t let it linger. They hadn’t fired on Sparks when he first revived him so they could trust him for now.

In a burst of Light, Sparks materialized into Jericho’s outstretched palm, the Traveler’s creation tilting his shell in a gesture of greeting.

“Sup, I’m Sparks.” the small machine announced in a chipper tone.

Anis and Rapi studied the little being, its singular golden eye swiveling in their direction, scanning them with curiosity. Sparks twisted his shell with playful energy, before suddenly erupting into a burst of light, startling both of them.

Anis let out a sharp breath, stepping back with a mix of surprise and annoyance. Sparks' laughter bubbled from his metallic frame. “Oh, I’m sorry! I couldn’t resist. Works on kids.”

Rapi raised an eyebrow, brushing himself off. “So, it’s some sort of resurrection device, then?”

The question hung in the air, and Jericho noticed the way Sparks irked at the simplification.

“Hey! I do more than bring Jericho back from the dead! I managed inventory, I’m a scanner, I can—”

“Open doors,” Jericho interrupted, the corner of his mouth curving upward beneath his helmet. Sparks shot him a small, playful bump, sending the tiny ghost flying into the air with a gentle nudge.

Jericho’s helmet clicked as he turned his head. “It’s true. You’re a pretty good door opener.”

Sparks floated back, settling neatly into Jericho’s palm with an exaggerated huff. “Okay, fine. But I’m also so much more than that the past ten years together, you should know that.”

The two Nikkes watched the Exchange, it was quite…human.

But Rapi knew they needed to get a move on, the sun was setting, and fighting Raptures in the dark wasn’t an ideal situation to be in. Powers or not

Bzzrt!

A burst of static crackled to life from Rapi’s hip.

“H-Hello? I—is this thing active? If there are any squads still operational, p-please respond.”

Rapi snapped to attention and rushed to her comm link. The voice was damaged, barely cutting through, but it was coming from Central Government. The Alva particles must’ve dropped off in their area they were in the clear, at least for now.

She tried to respond, but the operator’s voice kept repeating, clearly unable to hear her.

“Here, let me take a look.”

Sparks floated in, his eye glowing as he scanned the device. A few quick flashes of light, a soft mechanical whirl and then he backed off, looking satisfied.

“Repeat, please respond.”

“We hear you.”

 There was a sigh of relief on the other end. “Oh, thank goodness! We lost communication with the rest of the squads in the area… is it done?” the operator asked.

“Affirmative, Blacksmith has been defeated. However, there have been… casualties. A report will be compiled and sent.”

Rapi’s voice was steady, but behind her, Anis stood silently, her gaze fixed down the road toward the battlefield, where Marian’s grave remained.

“I understand… Wait is your commander with you? Deputy Chief Andersen would like a word with him.”

“He’s gone. It’s just me and Anis now.”

“I see…” The operator’s tone shifted subtly, but before she could continue, her voice sparked up again. “But I’m picking up another signature right next to you. It’s not Rapture or Nikke, but it’s… very confusing.”

Right. Time to explain the new stowaway.

Rapi stepped forward a little. “We found a human or what we believe to be one roaming the surface. Requesting a meeting with the Deputy Chief.”

“A human on the surface!? And they’re not from the Ark? I’ll send word immediately. We’ll await your arrival. Take care out there.”

The communication cut out. Rapi stowed the device away, then turned back toward Jericho and Sparks the latter tilting his shell in quiet curiosity.

 “We should get moving, the sun is starting to set. Come on, we’re not far.”  Rapi pushed guiding them forward.

An hour had passed when Rapi led him to a massive door embedded in the ground. She pressed a button on a nearby podium, and with a low hum, the doors slid open to reveal a waiting platform large enough for all three of them.

“Okay, this is new.” Jericho thought, stepping onto the platform with Rapi and Anis. It began its descent, the surface doors sealing shut behind them, cutting off the last traces of sunlight. The only illumination inside the elevator came from intermittent strobe lights that flickered across the walls as they continued downward.

“Jericho,” Rapi called to him. “You should hide your weapons and your ghost when we get to the Ark.” She warned.

“Why their planning on dissecting me?” Sparks joked but Rapi didn’t meet his eye.

“I see….I’m just going to stay inside your inventory, Jericho for now…don’t die man.” Sparks said disappearing and taking Jericho’s weapons with him.

When the platform finally stopped, Jericho stopped to survey the city in awe, this wasn’t The Last City, no far from it. An entire city deep in the underground of Earth, just how did the Vanguard not find this?

Ahead, Rapi motioned for him to follow her and Anis. Jericho fell in step, his eyes scanning every corner, every structure. The city was a stark contrast to the Last City’s futuristic urbanism and Neomuna’s neon-soaked skyline.

This place felt... older. A strange blend of both, yet undeniably different. Its Architecture spoke of a time before the Collapse perhaps even before the Traveler itself.

Suits, dresses clean, tailored, almost formal. Others looked like they’d stepped straight out of the old war magazines and crumbling billboards Pilma used to scavenge, proudly flaunting what she called their “drip.”

Though it seems he wasn’t the only one who seemed curious by interesting looks. The many people he walked past shot him quizzical looks, others eyeing his helmet while many seemed drawn to his Sunbracers.

He stuck out like an Unstoppable champion.

“It’s impressive entire city hidden away from the rest of…well everything. How come guardians, Fallen, and Hive never found this place?”  Sparks’ voice echoed unexpectedly inside their minds, making both of them flinch. He wasn’t beside them just a sudden presence in their heads.

“What the—how can I hear you like that?” Rapi asked, startled.

“I’m still here just not here at the same time,” Sparks replied. “Honestly? It’s a Ghost thing. Even though we don’t fully understand it.”

“I see...” Rapi answered, It would be better just to roll with it at this point.

“Really? Not even the Cabal? Oryx? The Final Shape?” Sparks asked. “They had to have felt something—the Final Shape nearly crystallized everything on Earth, even if just for a moment.”

Rapi shook her head, brow furrowing. “I’m sorry, but none of that is in the Ark’s records. There’s only mention of the Raptures nothing else.”

She wasn’t lying. Her expression was too honest, too confused by what he was saying. Whatever she knew... it wasn’t the same history Jericho had lived through.

It was starting him and his ghost uneasy.

Upon arriving at the large building, he followed the pair closely as they led him deeper inside. Though something along the way caught his interest, he kept it to himself for now. He was already drawing enough stares from those who noticed him. “Right here, this door,” Rapi said, gesturing toward an entrance guarded by two women dressed in distinctly military-style gear.

One of the guards stepped forward to stop them, while the other pressed a hand to her earpiece. A moment later, she gave a small nod and motioned them through. She closed the door behind them once they were inside.

They crossed a decorative room, its quiet elegance contrasting with the tension in the air. At a desk on the far end sat a man, reading a piece of paper. As they approached, he lowered it and looked up to greet them. 

As they approached, he set it down and looked up, eyes settling first on Rapi and Anis then pausing on the stranger with them.

“They did mention you were bringing someone,” he said, his gaze lingering on the unfamiliar figure. He took in the attire, the stance. If he was surprised, he masked it with practiced composure. “I wasn’t expecting someone like him.”

He stood, adjusting his cufflinks with a precise motion, then stepped out from behind the desk to meet the man face to face.

“Where are my manners?” He said with a faint, formal smile. “I’m Deputy Chief Andersen and you are?”

An hour later

Jericho waited, hands behind his back as Rapi explained everything, as she told her story, he couldn’t help but feel brought up by some details. She made it seem like these Raptures were a daily occurrence.

If they used transport helicopters and vehicles, then someone from the Vanguard would have taken notice of them regardless of where they were.

But all these years and nothing.

Things were just not adding up.

Andersen listened intently, nodding along until she was done. Rubbing the bottom of his chin in thought before speaking. “We lost a lot today, Commanders and Nikke alike.” He looked at Jericho.

“It seems you lost people too, I’m sorry for that.”

“No need, I will find them—” in the corner of his vision, he noticed Sparks slowly floating toward the man’s desk. He settled at the front of Andersen’s computer and began scanning it in secret. Just what was Sparks doing?

“We will have their Nimphs checked to confirm your story.” Andersen’s voice brought Jericho’s attention back to him. “But for you, you’re going to need to stay in holding for the time being.”

Even with the helmet on, they could see the Warlock visibly tense at the mention of being held. Not wanting to alarm him, Andersen quickly clarified, “Not in a cell just somewhere we can keep an eye on you. You may not realize it, but there are certain precautions we take with the surface.”

It did work to some extent, Jericho relaxed his muscles, and the flames on his gauntlets deactivated. At first Jericho considered the possibility that he’d need to fight his way out but at the same time, it wasn’t like they were directly being a threat to him. When the Eliksni started to immigrate to the Last City many were put in holding due to security reasons.

“Guardian, you aren’t going to believe this.” Sparks spoke from inside his head already back to his side. He sounded urgent.

“I understand,” Jericho sighed.

“Good,” Andersen nodded.

The doors opened, and four Nikkes entered, each wearing the Elysion sigil on their uniforms.

“They’ll take you someplace to wait,” Andersen said, then turned to Rapi and Anis, one who had been unusually quiet the entire time. “You two, head to the repair station. You may all leave.”

Once everyone had gone, Andersen returned to his desk, finally exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. What he had hoped would be a meeting with the Commander of that squad had instead left him playing host to some mysterious, possibly unstable individual who had survived on the surface all this time.

But he wasn’t a fool.

That man was definitely not from the Ark, his armor alone made that clear. And if there was even the slightest chance to reclaim the surface...

He’d be a fool to squander it.

Grabbing his phone, he dialed the one number belonging to the person who had demanded all reports be sent directly to her when it involved a certain Elysion Nikke. As the line rang, he leaned against his desk, waiting. A moment later, there was a click on the other end.

“What is it?”  

“Something that you might be in a treat for.”

Chapter Text

Jericho’s foot tapped in rapid succession as he sat on a cold steel chair in a small room, they had placed him in. The soldiers who had escorted him wouldn’t answer any of his questions, only speaking to instruct him to sit before exiting the room.

It felt more like an interrogation room than a place of rest, he was taken to one room for almost an hour then taken to another with just a single table, two chairs, and a security camera locked directly on him. Soon enough, Sparks spoke from the inside of his helmet, his voice dripping with worry.

“Eyes up, Guardian. We’re being watched.” Spark called, making him huff.

Well of course, he saw the camera, and he highly doubted they’d leave him in a room to his own devices, especially since he refused to take off his helmet.

“Not like that, this room isn’t real” Spark quickly cut in before continuing. “We’re inside some kind of simulation room and whatever created it, is watching us…well specifically you. I’m hiding out in your inventory, so they can’t detect me.”

Okay, that is definitely…worse, than being put into a normal room, does he have eyes outside the room, how many people were watching them?

“I give about maybe three or more, but who knows…but there is something, I really need to discuss with you, about our current predicament. I don’t think this plane—”

Before Spark could finish, the room began to change before their very eyes. The walls phased into open terrain, expanding into a much larger space. Barricades and large cubes sprouted from the ground. The floor shifted into streams of data as he looked around, the construction coming to a halt a signal of its completion.

Jericho immediately tensed, under his helmet, he looked around in a battle-ready stance, Sunbracers immediately activating.

“So, I guess talking out is out of the question?”

You think!?

There were very few things that could surprise Ingrid, very few things, being CEO of Elysion manufacturing left her with mountains of responsibilities, whether it was overseeing weapons development, putting freshly made Nikkes into training, or the security of the Ark railroads.

Then there were the Black Ops missions on the surface dispatching squads for supply runs in hostile territory and dealing with irregulars whenever they appeared. Safe to say, she was a very, very busy woman. So, when she was called away from her duties, there had better be a damn good reason. And Andersen had better have one.

To be frank, his phone call didn’t warrant her coming all the way to the simulation room herself, they weren’t friends to an extent but could settle for each other’s company then the mutually disdained Syuen.

As she entered through the automatic doors to the observation deck, she found Andersen staring down at a data pad. The moment the door slid open, he looked up with a focused expression and raised a hand to stop her before she could verbally tear into him.

“I know, I know. Before you eviscerate me, I want to show you something,” he said, handing her the tablet.

“After the recent operation involving the Blacksmith, I was hoping to meet the surviving Commander in charge,” Andersen explained. “However, according to the latest reports, only two Nikkes survived one from Elysion and one from Tetra.”

“I know about that operation,” Ingrid replied flatly. “What exactly does that have to do with you dragging me to the simulation room?”

He gestured to the tablet again. Raising an eyebrow, she looked down at the footage combat data recorded from a Nikke’s NIMPH. Her interest piqued when a certain Elysion Nikke appeared on-screen. Point of view itself from the Tetra Nikke but she recognized the Nikke: Rapi.

While she couldn’t remember Nikke’s point of view, she knew the Nikke in her view, Rapi. It seems they were pinned down, the Nikke grabbing Rapi and trying to get her to retreat. Ingrid watched the video with the same stone face, she always wore, she had seen Nikkes perish through this video, expecting no different.

The video showed the squad pinned down. The Nikke with the camera was trying to get Rapi to fall back. Ingrid watched with her usual stone-faced expression; she'd seen too many Nikkes die through these recordings to expect anything different.

But this time, things were different… very different.

Three unidentified individuals crashed onto the scene, wielding powers she had never seen before, nor had she ever seen the creature they were fighting. Eventually, two of the newcomers were dragged away, leaving just one. Forcing them to retreat,

Then one of the Nikkes became corrupted… and killed the man just as he turned around.

Rapi did not waste a second to drop the Nikke when she did.

Ingrid’s eyes narrowed when a small drone left the man’s body bringing the man back to life without so much as a scratch as if nothing had happened.

“What in the world am I watching, Andersen?” she asked.

“Something we’re going to have to decide how to deal with,” he said, gesturing toward the observation window. “Because he’s already down there.

Jericho tensed at his radar flash, getting into a battle stance expecting the worst, thousands of pixels coming together to form into a-

“Hello!” —woman? No, a hologram of some kind? She looked… exotic, for lack of a better word: long green hair in pigtails, long pointed ears, and was she sitting on a halo?

He took a step back as she floated closer to his visor, studying his outfit with a finger on her cheek before backing away, looking puzzled.

“You’re not a Nikke, buuut you’re no regular human, are you?” she inquired, disappearing and then quickly reappearing next to him, poking his helmet. “Hmm, how do you feel about getting shot at?”

“I—What—” Jericho stuttered, but the hologram clapped her hands together, already deciding for him.

“Great. We’ll start small just a couple of little Frisbees. Good luck!”

And with that, she was gone.

He couldn’t even get a moment to gather his thoughts before mechanical cries caused him to look up at the limitless ceiling, multiple circular ‘Vex’ closed in on him not a moment later they began to fire at him, heated laser shots, hitting him and the ground around him forcing him to fall back behind a barricade.

“Well, isn’t this a warm welcome…what gun you want?” Sparks asked, her voice crackling through the comms.

“None, I got this.” Jericho stepped out from behind the barricade as the machines closed in. He waited timing it just right then snapped his fingers. A wave of flame erupted from his fingertips cascading down. Within seconds, they were nothing but piles of molten metal and solar ash.

“See? I told you—” The ground shook behind him with a heavy THUD, cutting the Warlock off mid-sentence. He froze. Slowly, very slowly, he turned around only to find a towering, quadrupedal beast glaring down at him with glowing red eyes.

“Oh. That’s... new,” he muttered.

The creature’s side mounted cannons began to glow, heating up with a low whine laser sight locking directly onto his head.

“Sooo, still want that gun?” Sparks asked again. Jericho’s arms slumped in defeat as he nodded

“Yes please.”

Outside the Repair Station.

Rapi waited outside the station for Anis as do to her ‘special circumstances’ she was allowed to leave early. Arms crossed, deep in thought about the current predicament they were in.

Her thoughts lingered back to the man, she brought to the Ark but not just him, but his missing teammates as well. But one thing was obvious; they were alien compared to the Ark’s way of life.

They could have very well been lost Nikkes, she remembered old books, referencing the mobilization of both genders when the Raptures first invaded Earth.

But she also had her doubts about that. If it were true, wouldn’t their bodies be grotesquely modified? Especially Jericho, the time of the early success of the Nikkes bodies and the barring of male soldiers due to mental strain was already set in stone.

But Jericho seemed to be normal at the very least on the outside. She was snapped out of her thoughts by the doors opening and Anis walking out.

"I take it, everything was alright?" Rapi asked making Anis roll her eyes before faking a cheerful expression. "Yup! They gave me a lollipop for being such a good girl!" The expression dropped when she finished.

"Was that necessary?" Rapi raised an eyebrow. 

Anis sighed. "No. Today has just been...a lot, they had me wait in there for hours even after they took the data from Nimph...how did they let you so early?" She asked, making the Elysion Nikke look away bashfully 

But before Anis could press further, Rapi's phone vibrated loud enough for both of them to hear. Anis watched the relief appear ever so quickly on her teammate's face, taking the phone out and reading the home screen before quickly pocketing it.

"Come on, we’re being requested back to the Deputy's office." 

"Wait already? What more can they want from us now?”

“We wont know until we get there, come on.”

While on their way there, Rapi glanced over to Anis, confliction on the Tetra Nikke face, wanting to ask the question that were plaguing both their minds but seemingly not too to speak on it. Rapi sighed knowing that if a conversation isn’t made, it’ll bite them when they get in front Ingrid.

“Go ahead, say what you’re going to say.”

“What do you think their doing to Jericho?”

“Not our place to ask.”

“Yeah, your right…maybe their cutting him open, you know? Trying to see what ticks.”

Rapi hesitated at such a morbid train of thought though Anis has always had a pessimistic outlook on things, not like Rapi was any better as many could attest to her more robotic personality.

While she didn’t want to agree with her teammate, this was the Central Government, they were talking about, chances are they had Jericho under an operating table, being poke and prodded to see how he worked. Something like him could be beneficial study and could be what the Government needs to fight against Raptures.

But that doesn’t mean Rapi couldn’t feel sad about his fate.

“A person like him would be treated with the utmost care.”

Anis snorted at such a Rapi statement. “Riiight, gotta treat their new guinea carefully, don’t want to break it to early.”

Rapi didn’t want keep thinking about it but chose to keep quiet until they made it all the way to the HQ and into the simulation room, where Ingrid was waiting for them, one hand on her hand. “I’m glad, you made it.” Ingrid said with a neutral tone eyeing Rapi though it was hard to tell if it was true sincerity or just her way of speaking.

“Wait,” Anis blinked. “Why is the CEO of Elysion here!?”

Before anyone could answer, footsteps echoed from the dark. Andersen stepped into view, adjusting his cufflinks. “Because we have an important task for the two of you,” he said, before continuing. “Your task is to study and report back any findings about your new commander while under his command.”

“Sir?” Rapi asked, unsure of what he was implying but Anis wasn’t as subtle.

“Not if you heard around the grapevine, Deputy but our original Commander died before we could meet up with any other squad against the Blacksmith.” 

“I know about that... 

Andersen gestured toward the screen, where Jericho stood in front of a destroyed Arkanoid-type. Various smaller Servant and Husk types lay reduced to ash where their remains had once been. The masked man held his rifle, taking aim from the hip as one of the Raptures twitched only to explode moments later. Jericho remained unfazed, letting the weapon drop to his side.

"I’m talking about your new Commander.”

...Both Nikkes stared at the Deputy with a confused expression taking a moment to process the information before words finally came to pass.

"Huh!?/I'm sorry?"

Chapter Text

When the doors finally opened leading out of the simulation room, Jericho had a half mind to bolt straight out of the room and fight the rest of the way out, damn the consequences maybe he can cloak his way out. But considering the Traveler made him a Warlock and not a Hunter, those things were harder to access with a kit like his. He didn’t raise his gun when Andersen walked in but had his ghost transmit his gun away and crossed his arms to show that he wasn’t pleased with this recent altercation, they just put him through.

When Andersen stepped, he studied the simulated battlefield around him, many of the Raptures bodies were gone, atomized with only those small white orbs that laid where they once stood. “When you think you see everything.”

“I assume there will be a reason, for almost getting me killed, so suddenly?” Andersen raised his hands in a mock surrender, wanting to explain before, he ended up like the Raptures around him.

“Just wanted to see if what Rapi said was true and safe to say…she was very much telling the truth.”  

Jericho fought the urge to scoff, if this how they verify stories, he’d hate to see what they do when actual evidence was brought. He’s gotten a warmer welcome from his first encounter with the Scorn back at the Reef.

Andersen started to walk back out of the room but stopped when the Warlock didn’t follow. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I have no intentions of harming you. I just want you to talk.”

Jericho hesitated for a moment before following him out, unsure of what he was walking into.

They ended up back in Andersen’s office, where Jericho immediately noticed two very familiar face of Rapi though there was another woman he couldn’t recall but held one of those looks that screamed make a one wrong move.

Once everyone was accounted for, Andersen closed the door behind them. “Who’s she?” Jericho asked, nodding toward the woman who was studying him. Her eyes seemed to pierce straight through his visor, but he didn’t flinch.

“Ah, this is Ingrid,” Andersen began. “CEO of Elysion Manufacturing. She’s here to—”

“Make sure to put a bullet in my head in case I say something she or you doesn’t like?” Jericho cut in.

The room fell silent at the sudden remark. Rapi made a noise half protest, half warning but Ingrid didn’t look amused. It kind of reminded him of Ikora whenever Pilma reported from a strike  or that one time his Hunter making a very inappropriate joke to Crow about all Vanguards having to be bald to take the role.

Jericho wondered if the Tower maintenance crew ever patched up that hunter-shaped hole in the courtyard.

Andersen coughed. “Nothing that… drastic just want answer some questions that’s all.”

Jericho was conflicted but when realizing he was still miles under the crust in the Earth there wasn’t exactly a way to simply walk out but he did whisper to his ghost to try to contact Vanguard channels one more time incase.

“Yeah about that…”

“How exactly did you end up on meeting with first contact squad in the ruined city.”

First Contact squad? He remembered the woman Marian, was it? fighting off a swarm of what he’d assumed were Vex. But the more he thought about it now, the less sure he became.

They’d looked wrong.

Too organic.

Vex preferred rigid, mechanical forms bipedal constructs like Goblins and Minotaurs, or the Wyvern chassis if they wanted something bigger. But those things? They looked to fleshy, while some looked similar to Harpies and Hydras that doesn’t explain the look. He hadn’t had time to question it back then, not in the middle of a firefight, but now the doubt sank in heavily.

And how he got here was a whole another mess.

“I was on Nessus, upon getting into a fire fight with both Vex and Taken, me and some members from a friends Fireteam ended taking a Vex gate and ended up on Earth.”

…and Judging by Ingrid confused face, he might get ready to duck.

“Nessus?” Andersen raised an eyebrow.

He gave a nod. “Yes, or more commonly known as 7066 it’s a Centaur minor planet off the perihelion. Terraformed crawling with Vex and Fallen.”

“I see…” Andersen said slowly, letting Ingrid digest the information. “ And that creature that engaged you and Rapi’s squad was from said planet?”

“Not necessarily, the Taken exist in the Ascendant Realm, it technically exists everywhere around our plane of existence.” He paused, then added with a shrug, “But don’t quote me on that. I’m not a Taken scholar, just someone who’s been shot at by a lot of them.” Jericho then stopped before sighing. “You don’t have a clue on what I’m saying do you?”

“Not a clue.”

“Okay, just how long have you all been underground—”

“BECAUSE THIS ISN’T OUR EARTH!”

They jumped at the new voice joining in, from behind Jericho’s helmet, Sparks transmitted floating around everyone to get their attention before taking a ‘breather’ finally getting to say what he wanted to say after being cut off at every turn.

“What the hell is that!?” Ingrid demanded, Sparks tilting the top of his shell in greeting at her before turning back to his guardian.

“Finally, Dear Traveler, you don’t know how long I  wanted to explain to you about our situation.” Sparks said to his guardian.

After recovering from the sudden outburst, Jericho looked at his ghost in confusion. “What in the hell are you on about?”

“Okay, so you know when you was talking to Andersen over there, and I snuck away to scan his computer?”

Andersen stopped adjusting his cufflinks. “You did what?”

“Anyway,” Sparks continued, “I cross-referenced this world’s history with ours. There are a lot of conflicting dates. For one, the timing of the Raptures—” He turned to Rapi. “Raptures, right?”

She nodded.

“Right. So, the timing of the Raptures invading, and our Traveler’s arrival? Completely different. Not to mention the complete absence of the Light anywhere. And the Vanguard channels? because they. Don’t. Exist!”

The Warlock stood still, silent for a moment, his helmet showed nothing, no furrowed brow, no wide eyes only the subtle shift of his posture hinted at the storm of thoughts racing behind the visor but only one word could leave his mouth.

“Fuck.”

It made a lot of sense, there was things around here that sent alarms off in his head, but he moved past it, hoping on his hidden city beneath the Earth theory was true. But there was no Light, no comms to the Vanguard or the Last City, hell when they were on the surface not a single Fallen was seen.

He was somehow in another world…

His Light manifested, constructing a single chair, that he fell back  into in exasperation, mildly shocking those around him but he wasn’t bothered.

Why can’t the Traveler or Universe or whatever cosmic deity give him a rest? He bet right now his old Fireteam members were probably resting up in City, drinking drinks and food in the mountains.

Well maybe Legion was, Miles was probably having a knife fight with a Knight somewhere.

Shit...Pilma and Ion, they were no longer in just unfamiliar territory but now, completely out their leagues, not just him.

He got up, the chair disappearing right after he did.

“I need to find them.”

“Them?” Ingrid asked.

Jericho turned slightly. “Ion and Pilma. Guardians under my watch. If they’re still alive or even just their Ghosts they’re stumbling around blind, no clue what’s actually going on. And if something happens to them…” He exhaled, eyes narrowing. “Let’s just say an old Titan buddy of mine would make sure my next death actually hurts.”

He beckoned to Sparks, who floated to his shoulder without a word, the Ghost already scanning local signals and frequencies. Jericho began checking his gear, strapping on weapons, adjusting his gloves.

“I’m leaving. Thanks for the hospitality, but I don’t have time to sit around.”

Seeing the opportunity, Ingrid stepped in smoothly. “Then let us help.”

She gestured toward Rapi. “She’s been on the surface more times than I can count. If anyone can track down your people, it’s her.”

Jericho paused, then looked at Rapi, then at Ingrid, who remained silent, her expression unreadable, just a faint frown lingering on her lips. Dealing with the Drifter always made him cautious but stopped himself from asking the catch, if there was a problem, he’ll deal with it later.

Drifter always say use an extra hand, if they betray ya then…that’s what his  ghost is for….crazy man.

So, he nodded and left without another word, Rapi following soon after nodding to Ingrid once the two were gone, Andersen looked toward Ingrid.

“Well? What do think?”

Ingrid crossing her arms. “I think, I would’ve been much more comfortable talking if Absolute were in this same room…but I don’t think he’ll be a threat to the Ark, yet.” Andersen nodded looking at the tablet, the same Taken Hydra on screen. Once sitting in his chair and leaning back with a sigh. “What about the footage of the simulation room?”

“Already archived and deleted off the central database, if not without a few hiccups from Einkk, I think that was most I’ve seen an AI have ‘fun’ throwing Raptures at a person like I said I don’t he’ll be a threat, but I want to review this footage in case.”

"Fair enough," he muttered, though his mind was elsewhere. He had another question. One that had been gnawing at him. "Do you think Rapi and Anis understand their mission?"

Ingrid scoffed, a quick burst of frustration escaping her. "Rapi is one of my best Nikkes. I trust her. As for Anis... Well, I can’t speak for her entirely, but I’m sure they know what’s expected of them."

As the duo headed exited from the building, Rapi spotting for the grenadier, standing the sidewalk, she seemed to be people watching, but stopped when she noticed the two, cutting off Rapi before she could open her mouth.

“Yeah, Yeah another mission, let’s just go.”

The walk to the elevator was short and quiet but upon entering it, Anis let the barrage of questions fly. The differences between his city and theirs, how did he got his powers or just poking at his armor.

“So, what’s under her helmet?”

“my face.”

“And you never take it off?”

“I do.”

“So, take it off.”

“No.”

“Why? Are you hideously deformed or—”

Rapi , seemingly having enough butted in, “Anis, stop bothering the Commander.” Jericho eyes widen under his helmet at the title, looking at Rapi bewildered.

“Commander?! Where did that come from?”

“Men and Women that lead Nikkes to battles are Commanders, and since you are technically leading this group, that’s makes you Commanding op, for this.”

The Warlock held back groan, just great even in another universe, he had to be Fireteam leader, though supposed it was better than if Miles was Fireteam leader last time he was, they were battling under the seas of Titan looking Oryx’s corpse. At the very least the gun nut wasn’t in his ear.

The elevator door opened, and they were back on the surface, the lush green of the wilderness.

“So, what’s the plan here, oh captain my captain.” Anis asked.

Well, that’s thing, he had no plan at the moment, his ghost couldn’t pick any of the signals of Pilma, Ion or even their ghosts, so chances were they couldn’t track his either, but if they weren’t like Miles and used common sense then they would’ve went back to the battle site if they were dropped off somewhere close and made camp if the close was clear but even that was fifty, fifty if there was still remaining enemies.

But his ghost stopped him, Materializing in front of everybody to get their attention. “Guardian, I'm picking up a distress signal it's faint, but I think I can—” a garbled voice came from the ghost’s shell, distorted.

“Roger, Delta—Uh Foxtrot…Argh! to hell with this! Jericho, Ion, you guys there!?”

That voice…that was Pilma!

“I don’t know where I am, but I can’t contact anyone, can’t even transmit to my ship! These fucking things won’t stop coming for me, I’m hold up at some old radio tower—Shit! More of these things, Yokai repeat the message”

There was the sound of gunfire before the Audio cut off.

“Sparks, can you track that signal?”

“Not really, those Alva particles are messing with my systems.”

That’s when Rapi moved up, her voice calm but focused. “There’s a small town east of here. It was repurposed into a base during the early stages of the Rapture invasion. If she’s using an old radio tower, that’s probably where the signal’s coming from.”

He nodded, already feeling the familiar pull as his weapons materialized into place. “Good enough for me. Can you lead the way?”

Rapi gave a sharp nod. “Roger that.”

“Then let’s move.”

It took them twenty minutes to reach the base. The road ended at a barricade of concrete walls, crowned with a massive, rusted gate that sealed off the entry. Abandoned tanks and decaying vehicles were scattered in front positioned in a crude line, likely part of a desperate last stand. Looming above it all, the silhouette of a radar dish jutted over the wall, still clinging to its bent metal frame barely.

“So, we heard gunshots over the message, but is it me or is it too quiet?” Anis asked.

“Yeah, let’s hope Pilma dealt with them before we got here,” Jericho replied, moving in first with a heavy grip on his exotic pulse rifle, The Outbreak Perfected, as he approached the main gate. Anis and Rapi followed close behind.

“You guys, wait here. I’ll see if I can open it from the other side,” he instructed, not waiting for an answer before floating to the top of a tank. From there, he used the elevation to go higher, grabbing onto the wall and scaling it.

There was a grunt on the other end. “Hold on, stand back.”
Silence followed then a surge of crackling heat. Anis leaned her head closer to the gate, only to throw it back when a heated blade pierced through.

“Woah!”

The Dawnblade started at the top and slowly cut downward, carving a hole big enough for the two to squeeze through before Jericho desummoned it. “Watch the corners, its hot.”  Once inside past a couple of make shifts tent, there an old constructed military base connected to a watchtower with its antenna still deployed, with signs of a recent battle.

“Sparks got anything?” the guardian asked.

“Hmmm… not quite,” the Ghost replied, its eye flickering. “But I’m picking up faint traces of Arc and Solar energy.”

As they approached a pair of sealed blast doors, Jericho gave a cautious knock—light, just enough to test for movement or signs of life beyond. Nothing stirred. The air remained still.

The outer structure of the building had held up surprisingly well. Aside from the cracked windows and the slow wear of time, it looked intact. If the doors had stayed sealed, there was a chance Pilma had managed to hold out inside.

“Gonna laser-sword your way through this too?” Anis asked, her tone laced with teasing.

Jericho shook his head. “Already used it on the outer gate. It'll take time to recharge.”

His eyes scanned the area and landed on a small guard post to their left, half-buried in debris. A dimly glowing terminal flickered inside, and just beside it a switch. Likely the mechanism that controlled the blast doors. “You know the saying from Eris, ‘in the Traveler final breath, he created ghost to open—"

He rolled his single eye. “Yeah, Yeah I’m on it.” he flew over toward the terminal hovering it before shooting beams of Light on it.  “It seems, Yokai and Pilma got the power running if not barely, I got this, I’ll be precise as a precision rifl—”

BZZZT.

A blaring alarm cut him off, sirens howling around them.

They turned slowly to look at the ghosts lingering nearby, all of them wearing the same expression: Really?

Sparks gave a sheepish noise. “….In my defense, I was never good at math.”

Raptures fell from the sky carried by their winged variants descending through the clouds. By their estimate, at least fourteen had been drawn by the noise marching toward their position in a four-wave assault.

“Find cover!”

There were some old concrete traffic barriers that used, their position soon hailed by incoming fire from the first wave. “We’ve got four Husk class closing in, all Shank units.” Rapi called out. Those were certainly bigger than any Shank back home, Jericho thought but nodded.

With a single peek, both Rapi and Jericho destroyed two of closest attackers with combined fire. The next two meeting the same fate from Anis’s grenade launcher but the next wave didn’t halt their advance merely walking over their comrades corpses without falter.

Jericho fired first, his shot slamming into the nearest Rapture and staggering it just long enough for a cascade of Celestial Fire to engulf it, tearing it apart in a burst of Solar light. His Sunbracers flared to life, power surging through his arms. In one fluid motion, he hurled a wall of Solar grenades downrange. The grenades ignited on impact, creating a burning barricade incinerating any Raptures that charged through and forcing the rest to halt, screeching behind the blaze.

“Two flyers overhead, I can’t reach them!” Jericho called out, eyes tracking the circling machines.

“Already on it!” Anis snapped back.

She raised her grenade launcher, adjusted the angle, and fired. The arc was perfect. The explosive sailed through the air and struck one of the Daikons dead-on, blowing it out of the sky. It spiraled downward, slamming into a second Daikon mid-air both crashing in a fireball of twisted metal and sparks.

Whether realizing their current plan wasn’t working or through some silent agreement instead of attacking by fours the remaining Raptures decided to all attack at once.

Rapi counted another four Servant class all crawlers with the last two flying out of site before she could get a good look at them. “When is door going to open!?” Anis shouted over the laser fire.

“I’ll keep their attention.” Jericho called forth Helion, the solar mortar, dripping with heat before jumping over the barricade.  Another solar grenade, sundering their armor the Helion lobbing flames of fire, keeping their attention on him, regardless of the near close calls from their weapons.

But the plan seemed to work, the Raptures seem to more attracted to closest target running toward them then the farthest, adjusting their cannons toward the approaching figure. “He’s gonna get himself killed!” but that solar energy returned and soon covered his body, the Dawnblade returning, with each swing a solar projectile came from the blade, stirring the Raptures scorched bodies, ignitions happening simultaneously.

Through the smoke and ash, Jericho emerged, giving a thumbs up toward the two making Anis sighed as he walked back toward them. “And Ion thinks Arc is better than Solar…well she gets Bolt charge.” He then sighed, looking toward his ghost still working on the terminal.

“Let me guess, after beating back that wave, your somehow just done, opening that door?”

The small drone, scoffed. “I’ll have you know I was done when leaped over the barricade…but yeah I’m done—Rapi, look out!”

Both Nikkes looked past each other vision, two Raptures barreling straight toward, their circular bodies reaveling their designation

Lentigos. More accurately known as suicide drones.

Before either could react, a powerful force slammed into them, knocking them to the ground just as the Lentigos reached their position. The drones collided, exploding in a fiery blast.

But the explosion never touched them.

Jericho had thrown himself into the blast zone, shielding them with his body. He groaned from the impact as the smoke cleared, his armor scorched but intact. “Told Miles, Icarus Dash was useful, out of the crucible, to bad I won’t be able to rub it in his face, you two alright?”

He help the two up. Anis was fine, dusting herself while Rapi did same but refusing to meet his eyes—well visor but did thank him before bringing their attention to the blast doors opening as Sparks flew to Jericho side. 

Walking inside, he looked around but saw no sign of Pilma anywhere, taking another step, he was quickly pulled back by Anis and Rapi, not realizing he almost stepped into a massive crater that took up ninety percent of the room.

“Hey! Are trying to get yourself killed.” Anis reprimanded, making him sheepishly rub the back of neck.

“Sorry.” He apologized, making het huff and look down at the crater. “You don’t think, your teammate did that did you?”

“Not unless, if she was bored enough but with everything happening, unlikely.”  He replied.

Rapi looked around, seeing some stable ground, they can cross. “Come on, we can walk around.” 

After getting around, They stepped into another room—its walls lined with darkened screens. Most were cracked from age or missing entirely, while a few still flickered weakly with fading power.

But there was no sign of Pilma.

“She isn’t here,” Rapi said quietly.

“What the hell?” Anis muttered. “She leaves a message telling us to come here and doesn’t even bother to stay?”

Rapi ignored her, moving to stand beside Jericho and Sparks. Sparks was scanning the antenna control systems while Jericho was already half-buried beneath the console, tinkering with a mess of old wires.

A small arc of energy jumped from Jericho’s fingertips, and the controls hummed to life. Sparks immediately began extracting data.

“There’s another log from Pilma,” Sparks announced. “Playing it now.”

The speakers crackled, then Pilma’s voice came through strained but steady.

 Those blast doors should hold them for now, but we’ll be holed up here awhile. I destroy five, and ten more show up. We had to cut power to most of the base so only the blast doors stayed active to keep them locked out.

But one thing’s for sure… these aren’t Vex.”

The message paused, a faint hum of static filling the room before Pilma spoke again.

 “Something isn’t right, though. Maybe I’m just being paranoid more than usual but I feel like I shouldn’t be here. Like walking into an Ogre’s den.

This place… it’s some kind of resupply station. Corridors below lead to an underground train system, but there’s this constant rumbling beneath my feet…”

The exact moment, she said that, they heard the room rumble in the audio then silence followed before  Pilma’s voice returned, quieter.

 “Yokai, stay here. I’m going to check the doors.”

Another stretch of silence. Faint footsteps faded away, leaving only the low hum of the recording. After a minute, Yokai’s voice came through.

“These logs can’t be accessed without restoring full power to the terminal. I didn’t want to worry Pilma, but… something’s been watching us since we arrived.

I don’t know what it is but it’s there. And I don’t think we’re on Earth anymore. The geography, the landmarks none of it makes sense. Maybe a Vex simulation? That would explain the absence of the Light… everywhere.

Our next plan should be—”

Gunfire erupted, cutting the voice short. The sound of hurried footsteps followed Pilma’s voice now frantic.

 “YOKAI! WE NEED TO LEAVE, NOW!”

“Why? What—”

“RIGHT NOW! IT BURROWED THROUGH!”

As soon as the recording ended, it left the trio silent, as Sparks tried to get more, only getting one but corrupted and needed time to decipher if he wanted to get something out of it.

There was no blood or shell remains, so at the very least, Pilma and Yokai managed to escape this room but still their fates was still unknown and it didn’t sit well with Jericho at all.

“Sparks, what time was this recording made?”

“Hmm, hard to say there isn’t a date on these things and almost everything in here is damage so time recording are a no go.”

“She mentioned being followed and holding up here, could have been a couple hours ago.” Rapi suggested earning a nod from Jericho. As the three theorized Anis unconsciously sat on a chair as a way of rest.

That fell under her ‘weight’, falling on the ground, ass first.

*rumble*

The room began to shake.

“None of you fucking laugh!” her face red.

“Uh guys, I’m picking up a threat on my radar, like REALLY big.”  Sparks warned, Jericho pushing the two out, as the room caved in around them, running back to the lobby as they were about to head toward the exit, the rumbling got more intense almost knocking Rapi off her feet if Jericho didn’t hold on to her and get her back to her feet. A series of sparks came from the crater, and something emerged from its depths, a series of drills gnashed at them attached to a snake like body. “I think we found, what sent Pilma packing! Seriously just our luck to run into a Grave Digger.” Anis gulped as they slowly backed away before sprinting down the corridor.

“The Train system, go before this place collapse on us!.” Jericho ordered. Barreling past the doors that lead deeper inside, there an underground railroad, there wasn’t much time to admire the place, finding a freight train still intact, urging the Nikkes on board before Jericho took the cab, looking at the controllers with an awkward look. Jump ships, Vex anomalies and all sort of the paracausal mess, he was used too.

But apparently trains were a whole another beast of their own, so much archaic controls.

“Jericho!” Anis shouted.

“I’m trying! Hold on!” He hovered his hand over the controls, gambling on instinct. With a grimace, he yanked on a frayed rope above him.

HOOOOONK.

The train let out a deafening horn.

The rumbling stopped.

Then immediately redirected.

Toward them.

“Jericho!”

Commander!”

Okay, that was on him, trying another attempt, he slammed on a red button turning on the trains lights. With frustrated shout, tried another button until his ghost hovered near a lever next to the control panel. “Guardian, this one!” Jericho pulled the lever back, and then the train lurched forward, steam exiting from its pipe as it barreled down the tracks into tunnels.

“Thanks.”

“Thank with after you pay me.”

“But I don’t pay you.”

The ghost gave him a long stare. “We’re gonna talk that later, by the way.”

The base became smaller and smaller until the tunnel darkened, Anis let out a sigh of relief leaning against the safety rail, as everyone took a moment to catch their breath. “see, nothing to worry about—” Rapi started, making Anis eye bulge, jumping up to stop the red head from continuing. “Rapi, No—”

Too late.

The ceiling of the tunnel exploded the train just barely dodging the massive form of the Grave Digger, the Lord class giving chase through the narrow tunnel, its body banging against the walls of the tunnel as it closed in.

“…I’ll keep my mouth shut now.”

In the cab, the Warlock jumped when a loud crash came from behind the train before he heard his name being shouted from the outside. Leaving his ghost to tend to the controls, (The small ghost arguing, he had no limbs to actually tend to send controls, but Jericho left him anyway.) to see what the fuss was about.

…Oh, come on.

Jericho fired alongside Rapi and Anis, their shots sparking against the hulking, snake-like Rapture as it closed in. The machine lurched forward, its massive drill barely missing the tail end of the train by inches.

He grimaced. If they didn’t stop this thing soon, it would bring the entire tunnel down before they could escape. They needed to end this fast.

Then it hit him.

“Sparks! Give me my Apex Predator and try to boost our speed!”

“I am literally three inches tall!” the Ghost protested, his voice rising with static frustration. “Fine here!”

With a flash of Light, the legendary rocket launcher materialized in Jericho’s hands. Sparks turned his gaze toward the throttle, hovering for a moment before sighing.

“By the Traveler…” he muttered, pressing his tiny shell against the lever and shoving it forward with all his might.

The train surged ahead, its wheels screaming against the tracks.

Jericho turned to Anis.
“When I say now, we hit the roof right as it lunges!”

“What?! Are you insane?!” she shouted back. Then, after a beat: “Fine! If I die, I die!”

They sprinted to the rear of the train, taking position at the edge. The Grave Digger followed their every move, drills grinding against the tunnel walls, sparks and chunks of stone flying.

It pulled back, preparing another strike.

Jericho held his breath with a finger on the trigger. He needed to time it perfectly.

The Grave Digger lunged.

“NOW!”

Missile and grenade launched in unison, slamming into the tunnel ceiling just as the Rapture struck. The explosion ripped through the stone above, sending a cascade of rubble crashing down.

The creature’s drill was inches from them when the ceiling collapsed, burying its neck under tons of debris. Metal shrieked. The Grave Digger’s body spasmed once then its head tore free, rolling lifelessly down the tracks as black oil pooled around it.

The train roared on, pushing past its limit, slowly, the rumbling subsided as daylight began to break through the tunnel ahead. The sun greeted them on the other side its fading light washing over steel and dust, the horizon quiet and still after the chaos.

“Well, I can say one thing for certain, with the bullshit, I deal with all these, this might be one thing I never did, as ten years of being a guardian, yay me” Jericho sighed stowing the weapon on his back as Anis made a noise in agreement.  “Tell me about over a soda, maybe six…Rapi’s paying.” She side eyed her teammate, who sighed.

“Fair enough.”

With the threat behind them, they all started to settle—until a small, spinning blur shot toward them from the front of the train.

“Yeah, so…” Sparks began, voice strained, “I can’t stop this thing. It's not slowing down. You guys need to jump. Like, now.”

Of course. One last bit of ridiculous nonsense to top off their day.

Without a word, Jericho reached out and grabbed both Nikkes under the arms. Then he jumped. For a moment, they hovered airborne as the train sped off beneath them, vanishing over the horizon. They hit the ground a second later and  Anis immediately punched Jericho in the arm. “H-Hey! Don’t just grab someone like that without asking first!” 

He rubbed his arm, damn she harder than Exo. “My bad.”

 Rapi eyed the retreating train, looking at him in worry. “Think that’ll be problem?” Jericho followed her gaze, casually shrugging. “Nah. It’ll stop on its own—”

A loud crash echoed across the wasteland, followed by the piercing shriek of another Rapture in the distance.

Jericho didn’t even turn his head.

“...On second thought, where’s the nearest elevator to your Ark?”

Rapi led them toward the elevator, the fading sun casting long shadows across the broken ground. None of them noticed the figure watching from a distant vantage point—still as stone, its form twitching once before dissolving into a swirl of darkness.

Voices echoed in the void it left behind. Countless, whispering, hungry.

They asked. It answered.

And one truth remained:

The prophecy will not come to pass.
Not for them.
They will see to that.

 In the barren silence of space, two ships emerged from slipstream and slowed their approach toward the terraformed planet of Nessus, the Mandate of Strength and the Metropolitan Frigate. After drifting through high orbit for a time, scanning and searching, they finally found what they were looking for.

Three ships.

Drifting. Silent. Still in orbit.
Waiting for their pilots.

“Ikora, we’ve located their ships—holding orbit over Nessus,” a young, robotic voice crackled over comms. His green-and-yellow shell twisted with anticipation as the ship drew closer.
“Roger that, Vigil. About time. Even if we haven’t found them yet, at least we know their last stop.”

His Guardian scoffed, adjusting the controls so his Ghost could interface with the ship logs.
“You make it sound like they’ve already bit the dust, Ikora. Come on, now you know us better than that.”

“Yeah,” another voice cut in cockier, younger, with a grin hidden behind the mic. “If you’re gonna have your final death anywhere, Nessus is like, blueberry-level danger. That's not even tragic, that’s just sad.”

“Miles...” the first Guardian warned, his tone low with restraint—but thankfully, his Ghost stepped in.

“Ignore him. He’s still bitter that Pilma got the exotic from Operation Salvation’s Edge, and he didn’t.”

“Hey, buzz off, Vara!”

“If I did, I’d take the Light I gave you with me,” she fired back, her voice calm but sharp.

The two immediately resumed their back-and-forth, the frequency filled with familiar bickering. The others wisely tuned it out, focusing on the task at hand. The ship logs told a different story—these vessels had been in orbit for quite some time, yet all signals from their Guardians’ transmit zones were… silent.

“Ikora,” Legion said, frowning as he scrolled through the data, “these logs don’t sit right. I’m forwarding the nav-data back to the Tower for review. Me and Miles are heading down to the surface to start searching.”

There was a pause. Then Ikora’s voice returned, firm.

“Hold off on that, Legion. Return to the Tower first, we need to brief Zavala. Between these Echo signatures and the Conductor’s last known location being unknown, I won’t risk losing another pair of my best Guardians. don't worry we'll have two boots on the ground soon."

“You said we’re your best?” Miles repeated, smug. “Vara, record that for me.”