#fireteam dauntless

“Thanks, Skinner.”

Silence fell over the room.  I could feel the tension rising in the room and I shifted uncomfortably.  I could tell neither of them wanted to go back there.  

“Alright, there you go.”  Skinner sent my Ghost back over to me. 

“Do the codes work?”

“Yup,”  Maverick said.  “We tried them out earlier.  We should be all set to go back to the Hellmouth.”

I looked between the two of them, and they both looked equally uneasy.  “Then let’s go,” I said firmly and finished off my cup of coffee.  I knew I wasn’t the Fireteam leader, but someone had to get these two out of the apartment and onto our ships.  “The sooner, the better.”

————— 

The three of us stood at the beginning of the Abyss, Maverick and Skinner were standing side by side ahead of me, their hands holding fast onto their weapons even though there wasn’t an enemy in sight.  We approached a platform where two Wizards were chanting, but before I could even react, the Hunter and Titan unloaded their guns and the Wizards collapsed into piles of ash.  I looked at them warily, but gave them a small nod regardless.  I noticed something in one of the piles, the glint of something lost ages before.  I approached the pile and brushed the ashes aside, revealing a dead Ghost.  My eyes widened.

“Guys, what do you make of this?” I called out to them.  No response.  “Skinner?  Maverick?”  I looked up and saw that they were standing on the glowing plate, waiting for the bridge across the Abyss to form so that we could enter the Keyhole into Crota’s throne world.  “Hey!  Guys!”

“Please, Storm, let’s just get Crota’s essence and leave.   I don’t want to come back here ever again,”  Maverick said with a sigh.  He didn’t even turn to look at me.  He was in total focus mode on this mission.

“Yeah that would be great.” Skinner added.

I sighed in defeat, but tucked the Ghost into my robes for safe keeping.  The Vanguard could identify whose Ghost it was if Maverick and Skinner didn’t know.  I joined them on the plate. “Okay,” I said quietly. “I’ll just show you back at the ship.”

“Okay,” Cayde began over the Vanguard channel.  “You’ve got the crystal.  All you have to do now is fill it with Crota’s soul.  The Hive are in the middle of some kind of funeral, so-”

“Not a funeral, a death ceremony,” Eris cut in.  “Crota’s essence is being prepared for the next realm.”

“Right,” Cayde resumed.  “So when you get to this ‘funeral’, Oryx will be watching close. Use Rasputian’s cloak to slip past the Taken.  Find Crota’s soul, wrap it up, and get out.”

The bridge fully formed and solidified.  I followed behind Maverick and Skinner as they began to cross.  I stayed close to them with a firm grip on my hand cannon.

“Where exactly are we headed?” I asked, more toward Eris than my fireteam.

“When the Deathsingers begin their song, you’ll know we are close.”

“What she’s trying to say is that she doesn’t know. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my ear to the ground.” Cayde added.

“And I will try not to step on his head.” Eris commented.

I chuckled a bit at her comment, but Skinner and Mav didn’t even react.

Halfway toward the Keyhole, Cayde started again, “Stay out of sight, fireteam.  We need you guys back alive. Ghosts, you have the frequency?”

“And your… modifications. We’ll be ready.”  Mav’s Ghost said with doubt.  None of us could blame him.  Cayde’s modifications tend to have… malfunctions.

“Then move quietly and unseen… like death,” Eris said.

My Ghost sighed.  I took one glance behind us just before we passed through the Keyhole, and saw the bridge disappear.  Well, I thought.  There’s no turning back now.  We entered the Keyhole and we were dropped into one of the two towers before the Bridge.

“Let’s hope this works,”  Mav said.  “Activate cloaking, Ghosts.”

After a small popping sound, we were gone from sight.

“I can’t see you!” I exclaimed quietly.  “Can you guys see me?!”

“Well that’s good then, it’s actually working this time,” Skinner said with relief.

Cayde spoke over comms with a warning.  “Keep your distance.  They can’t see you, but they can still smell you.  Eris can replace her ship—we can’t replace you guys.”

“I think he’s talking about you Metal Man,” Skinner snickered.

“Shut it Skinner, not now,” Maverick growled coldly.

“Cross the chasm. Enter their world.” Eris said.

I walked over to the edge of the platform and knelt down.  Using my sniper’s scope, I gazed down and scanned the area.  “Look down there,” I whispered to them.  Maverick came over to me and I handed him my scope.  “A tomb husk. I bet you that’s how we’re getting across this chasm.”

“I like it,” he said and handed the scope back to me.  “Alright, Skinner, you get the husk, Storm and I will wait by the Bridge.”

“Oh I see how it is…” Skinner began to complain, but Maverick cut him off.

“No, I’m not sending you over there because I can!” He said in an angry whisper.  “I’m sending you over there because you're better at stealth then us! Now please go get the husk.”

“Jeez!  Fine, I’ll get it, asshole,” Skinner grumbled before we headed out to the Bridge. 

Maverick and I took cover behind a lamp near the bridge, out of sight and scent from the Hive Knights that were patrolling the area. “What’s with the blue and red Knights?”

“Well the Red Knights are Swordbearers when we killed them the first time they dropped their Sword. And the Blue Knights are the Gatekeepers and they can only be killed by the Ascendant Sword the Swordbearers carry.”

“Oh and the Gatekeepers…?”

“They're the ones that kill Enigma and Paradox,” he hissed.  I could tell he was holding back his anger, and I gently placed a hand on his arm, squeezed genty, and let go.

Skinner ran up to us, holding the husk. “Here Mav, I got the husk.”

“Good now put it on that altar.”

He walked up to the altar and put it and as it faded the Bridge began to form. We crossed the bridge, snuck around the Gatekeepers that were pretty much guarding the doors, and ran over to the giant doors that led to Crota’s throne.

“Welp, time to open these loud ass doors.” Skinner groaned.

“Oh, come on, they couldn’t be that loud,” I murmured softly.

“And that’s where you're wrong,” Maverick said.  “Skinner, if you please.”

He touched the door and it very loudly began to open.

“You think they heard that?” I asked.

We began down the hall toward Crota’s Throne and the Deathsingers began their song.  “The Deathsingers!”  Eris exclaimed over the Vanguard channel.  “They are preparing Crota’s soul for the next realm.  Follow their cry.  It was just as this when I walked in the dark.  Their wretched songs in the wind as Eriana fell…”

We dropped down the hole and Maverick held up his hand to stop Skinner and I as Eris began speaking again. “Reach Crota’s tomb and take what remains of his soul.”

“There are a lot of tombs here—how do we find Crota’s?” Maverick asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

Maverick looked around the room, then visibly stiffened and froze in his place when he turned to us.  He was looking right through us.  Skinner and I turned around, and I felt my heart sink.  There were the bodies of two Hunters against the back wall, one was completely severed in half, and the other had a Hive Cleaver pierced through his chest.  Empty bullet casings and spent magazines littered the ground all around us.  Between the two of them were the remains of two Ghost shells, shattered into pieces, but their cores were recognizable and intact.  Maverick and Skinner both walked towards them, and I felt myself frozen in my place.  It was Paradox and Enigma, if I could guess it was anyone.  Maverick fell to his knees and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.  I walked closer slowly, but I gave him a bit of space at the same time.  He did the same for me when my team was found.  When we found them on Phobos.

“I failed you two.” Maverick started quietly.  There was tense pain in his voice. “I promised you guys that I would always be by your side.  No matter what.  And I failed at that. I haven’t been able to forgive myself for this and I still can’t.”  His shoulders were trembling.  Skinner and I knelt on either side of him.

“Come on Mav.” Skinner began. “We’ve got to get this mission done.”

“Look at the bright side, mon chérie, at least you have us.” I said, trying to make light of the situation.  He still had people to fight for.  At the time that I lost my team, I had lost everything.  It was hard for me because there was no one left.  But it must be even harder for him because he lost them when he couldn’t make the sacrifice that Gilly made for me.

“Storm you know how this feels.”  He snapped in an almost statically cold voice.  I winced at the harshness of his tone. “Your leader got you out.  He got you out because you have so much more to do.  Fireteam leaders are supposed to make sure their team makes it back alive.  Even if they don’t.  I should be here with the Sword through this STUPID ROBOTIC FRAME!”  He almost began yelling, he only lowered his voice when he realized he could have alerted the Hive.  “If you didn’t stop me, Skinner, I would be here with them, and only you would have made it out.”

He collapsed in the pool of Hive gunk in defeat, his head in his hands.  His body was trembling.  I felt so bad for him.  He couldn’t express emotions, he couldn’t grieve like I could.

Skinner placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. “No, I wouldn’t Maverick.  If you stayed with them and the events played out the same, I would’ve been with Vision and would’ve died in this Pit.  They told you to stay with us because they knew if you stayed with them, we would have all died instead of just half of us.”

“He’s right Maverick,” I reassured.  “But now we need you, you’re still our leader and we can do this.  Together.”

Shortly after the pep talk Skinner and I gave him, Maverick regained his composure, collected the cores of Paradox’s and Enigma’s Ghosts, and stood.  He walked toward the hall, scanned the area, and pointed at the floating coffin ahead. “There, that’s Crota’s tomb, let's get the essence.”

Skinner and I nodded and we started to follow Maverick. We avoided the Hive walking around so we didn’t get smelled out. We walked up to the tomb silently and Maverick whispered over the Vanguard channel, “We found it, Eris, what’s next?”

“Let the crystal drink deep from Crota’s essence.”

Maverick was holding the crystal, and looked at Skinner and I from over his shoulder.  He motioned for us to wait where we were, and walked up to the coffin.  My heart squeezed and I took a step towards him, but Skinner held my arm and shook his head.  He was right under the Deathsingers.

“It’s working!”  Maverick gasped quietly.  “How much do we need to pass as an Ascendent Hive?” 

“Only a taste, but steal all you can.”

Skinner and I were getting antsy just from standing there, but all of a sudden Maverick’s cloaking failed and he appeared underneath the coffin.  “Maverick!” I shouted, and Skinner immediately covered my mouth after.  He and I were still cloaked.  

“Somethings wrong!  I’m exposed!”  Maverick shouted as the Deathsingers began to scream.

“Lock for transmat!  Get out of there!”  Cayde yelled over the channel.  

“We must have Crota’s soul!”  Eris yelled.

“You’ve got enough!!  Lock for transmat, Ghosts!”

“I can’t!”  Maverick’s Ghost exclaimed.  “Everything is corrupted!!”

My heart was pounding and I could feel the blood draining from my face.  We were stuck here.  It was like walking into a nightmare as Hive began to run out of the doorways behind us.

“I can’t connect… Stay alive!  We’ve got to make it back!”  Maverick's Ghost said with a panic filled voice.

“Bring down the gun!”  Maverick shouted to his Ghost

“Now?!” 

“Yes NOW!”  A gun appeared in his hands in place of his Auto Rifle.  Then he turned to us.  “Skinner, cover us!”  Skinner nodded, took out his knife, and began taking down the Thrall that were running towards us one by one, under the cloak of darkness.  He looked like a shadow as the Thrall fell to the ground.

“Storm, Thunderstrike me with everything you got!”

“What?!  Why?”  I looked at Maverick in disbelief.  Now of all times, he wanted me to hit him with everything I had?  

“Just trust me!  Do it!”

I nodded and swallowed hard, drew all the energy I could from my entire body, and thrust my hand forward.  However, instead of a normal thunderstrike, all of the Arc energy in my body shot forward towards him in a concentrated beam.  I held my wrist steady with my opposite hand and I felt my feet lift off the ground a couple of inches.  I don’t know what came over me, but when the beam faded I collapsed to one knee, breathing heavy.  I was lucky that my cloaking didn’t fail.

Skinner rushed over to me and helped me stand up.  “Storm, are you alright?”  He asked me, his voice filled with worry and awe.  

I nodded my head and held up my hand.  “I’m fine,” I said quietly.  I looked over at Maverick, it was him that I was worried about.  The gun he was holding emitted green flames out its sides.  Maverick looked over at us.  

“Now can you two connect to your transmat?”

We checked with our Ghosts and saw that the link was able to pull us out of the area.  The two of us nodded in sync.

“Good now get out of here while you can!”

“NO!” I shouted without hesitation.  “We’re not leaving you here alone!  

“We’re a team, Maverick!”  Skinner added, “We stick together!”

“I’m not asking, I’m giving you an order.”  He snapped as Taken blights began to materialize.  He said something to his Ghost quietly, then turned his back to us.

All of a sudden I could feel myself starting to transmat out of there.  “NO!”  Skinner and I both shouted at once, just before we were teleported out of the Throne Room and back to the towers just before the bridge to get into Crota’s Throne, and the bridge had deconstructed.  We couldn’t get back to him.  Our cloaking failed shortly after we had landed.

I collapsed to the ground and felt dread gripping my entire body.  I pulled my knees to my chest and started sobbing.  Why would he send us away when we could help him?  Why would he try to do it alone? 

“No…. no… no…”  I held onto my helmet and pulled my limbs in close to my body.

“Storm!”  It was Skinner.   “Thank the Traveler you’re okay.”

I looked up at him.  My entire body was shaking.  “He sent us away,”  I cried.  “Why?  Why would he do that?  He’s going to die in there!”

The Hunter was quiet as he knelt down beside me.  “C’mon, Storm.  Maverick’s tough.  He’s going to make it out.”  He looked away from me, towards the door to Crota’s Throne.  “He… He has to.”

“But what if he doesn’t!”  I shouted through my tears.  “What if his Ghost can’t get a lock on for transmat and he can’t get out!”

He stared at me for a moment, then sighed.  “I don’t know, Storm,”  he admitted.  “We just have to have a little hope.”

“There’s nothing left,”  I whispered.  “I lost hope when I lost my fireteam.  You guys… you guys gave me hope again.  Maverick… oh, mon chérie, mon amour, je ne peux pas te perdre, pa comme ça… pas comme ça… reviens-moi s'il te plaît….”*

Skinner and I sat quietly.  I couldn’t stop crying, not even when my cries turned into strangled, stifled sobs and hiccups.  Skinner was trying to keep me calm and kept rubbing circles on my back.  I don’t know how long we sat there in silence.  Both of our Ghosts were insisting that we should go back to our ships, but we couldn’t find it in us to leave.  This entire time, we had no connection to the Vanguard Channel, like the signal was stuck in that room with Maverick.  We couldn’t even tell them that we had gotten out alive, or that Maverick was still stuck in there.  

All of a sudden, we heard the whurr of a transmat, and both of our heads shot up.  Maverick was on the ground, starting to sit up.  His armor was beaten and splattered with Hive blood.  

“You…  You pulled me out!”  He said in shock.  He slowly stood to his feet

“One of Toland’s tricks…” Eris responded with panicked relief as Skinner and I joined back into the Vanguard Channel.  “There is nothing I fear more than the Dark, but I will not lose another Guardian.  You’ve imprisoned the last whisper of Crota’s soul.  It is left to you now. Find Oryx on the Dreadnaught.  Destroy him.”

“You asshole!” Skinner yelled and jumped up from my side.  His hands were clenched into fists.  But instead of throwing a knife into his face, like he normally would, he embraced the Titan tightly.

“I thought I lost you.  We thought we lost you.”  He said before taking him just out of my earshot.  I looked away from them.  Even though he was out alive and in one piece, I was still crying.  My heart still hurt.  I was upset that he sent us away, angry that he made us leave him; I couldn't bear to look at him, and yet, I was flooded with relief that he was alive.

Maverick walked over and sat next to me.  “Storm, I’m…”  He started, but before he could continue, I hugged him tightly.  He almost didn’t know what to do for a moment, but he wrapped his arms around me regardless.

“I thought I lost you, mon chérie,” I whimpered.  “Why?  Why did you send us away before we could help?”  I felt betrayed all over again.  How could I put my trust in someone who wasn’t able to trust me?

“I… I wasn’t going to get three people killed.  So I wasn’t going to risk it, but I now realize that was foolish,” he admitted.

“Yeah, no shit it was foolish,” Skinner scoffed.

“And why did you have me Thunderstrike you?”  I asked as we pulled out of our hug.  “Or… whatever I managed to do.  I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Well not exactly,” he said as he pulled out the weapon. “It needed a supercharge and only you, a Stormcaller, could charge it.  I knew I wouldn’t survive without it.”

Dawn appeared at my shoulder, scanned the gun, and immediately started to yell at him.  Even I looked at her in shock. “Do you know what you’ve created, Maverick!?”

“What are you talking about?”  Maverick asked with a shake of his head.

“Don’t play stupid with me! You knew what her Light would do to the gun!”

“Mon chérie,” I said and got Maverick’s attention away from my Ghost.  “What is that weapon?”

Before he could answer, my Ghost cut him off.  “It’s a Weapon of Sorrow!  This one feeds on the owner’s anger and aggression!”

“And that’s how I survived!” He snapped at my Ghost.  “It’s the only reason I’m alive!”

“But can you control the weapon?”  Dawn was in his face, accusing him of some crime I didn’t know existed.  “Or will it control you?!”  I reached out and gently grabbed her shell, pulling her back away from him.

“Dawn, calm down,”  I said softly.  I paused a moment and looked at Maverick.  “Can you?  Can you control it?”

“I’ll control it.  I’ve told my own Ghost the same thing.  And don’t bother telling the Vanguard, they know.  Now can we all please go home?  I really don’t want to be here anymore.” 

“Yeah I’m with you Mav.” Skinner said.

“Me too.” I agreed.  “I… I want to go home.”

---translations---

I must have been the only one in the room that was clueless, because I looked between both of them and they were staring at me expectantly. “Umm who’s that?” I pressed.

“A Warmind.”

“A Warmind?” I was dumbfounded.  Warminds are Golden Age Artificial Intelligence that connected the entire solar system through warsats, satellites, and weapons.  “I thought they were lost during the Collapse?”

“Well, they were, until we activated the last array in Old Russia and reactivated him,” Maverick answered.

“He should be okay, right?”  The thought of venturing into a Warmind made a pit form in my stomach.  This may be familiar for Maverick and Skinner, but this was uncharted territory for me.

“After we ran Omnigul out of there, Zavala sent in a few teams to seal the vault. Only one team came back.”  Skinner said, and promptly took a bow.

“Oh, then why are we going to a killer A.I. then?”  I crossed my arms and glared at both of them.  I didn’t like this idea one bit, but if there was no other way, then maybe we didn’t have a choice. 

“Because we are the only ones to come out alive in recent times.”

“Fair enough. So what’s the plan Mav?”  I walked over to the table, where the two of them were standing over the mission summary that they got from Cayde.

“Well we land in the Forgotten Shore, make our way to his bunker, go in, find the codes, take the codes and get out. Should be simple enough, the Vault's been sealed since Omnigul, so nothing could have gotten in.”

“So let me get this straight.”  I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples.  Why did mission summaries and plans always have to be discussed right after I woke up?  “We're headed into the deadliest Golden Age Warmind and stealing from it?”

“That’s the gist of it yeah.”

I looked at the two of them, standing there as if this mission was no big deal, and sighed in defeat.  “What have I gotten myself into with you guys?” 

“A lot of fun, duh.” Skinner cackled.

“Well let’s get going then.”  I split off from them, giving Maverick’s hand a small squeeze before I left to get changed into my armor.  Skinner must have noticed, because I could hear him giggling like a giddy schoolgirl and the muffled sound of their voices.  I shook my head and smiled.  As much as these guys had a tendency to lead me down suicide missions, I don’t think I could live a day without them anymore.

— — — — —

We all boarded our ships later on in the morning and flew out of the Hanger, though we stayed in the atmosphere and fell into formation.  Our Ghosts synchronized our ships and we all set a course for the Forgotten Shore.  Before we arrived Eris came over sounding both angry and concerned "Stealing from Rasputian… You are entering a world you do not understand."

"Don't worry about her Fireteam." Cayde interjected, "She's still mad about what you did to her ship. We need stealth tech to slip by the Taken and Warmind's bunker has the codes we need."

"Do you really think it should be this easy?" I asked Maverick.

"Honestly no," Mav sighed, "I can almost say for certain that we are going to see some Taken in there."

"But the Vault's been sealed for months!" Skinner protested.  "There's no way Taken could have breached it."

"And that's where you're wrong, I've seen enough Taken coming out of thin air and the walls to know better.  But for now let's hope we don't have to fight Taken."

We landed in the Forgotten Shore and Maverick asked, "Cayde how do you know Rasputian will still have the codes?"

"I already stole it once, used my last copy making that stealth drive you blew up.  Eh, it was getting old anyways." He said.

We hopped on our sparrows and rode over the shore.  I followed Maverick and Skinner to an old building, and we quickly dispatched the Fallen that were outside of it. We made our way to the bunker in the basement of the building.  As we began to descend the stairs, it must have finally clicked with Maverick that we couldn’t get into the Vault if it was sealed.

"Cayde, how are we supposed to get inside?"  He asked.  

"You've got the same bypass frequency that got me inside."

"He will protect his domain." Eris warned.

Maverick didn’t even have to input the codes, the doors opened on their own.  As the door opened, we saw more Taken rifts and my heart sank.  It was never going to be that easy. I reloaded my weapon and followed Maverick inside, Skinner bringing up the rear.

"More interdimensional goo, the Taken are here," Maverick reported.

"What? Not possible," Cayde said "We sealed the vault after the Omnigul breach."

“Cayde look at this.”  He had his Ghost turn on a video feed to the Vanguard channel.

“Oh that does look bad. Okay, so if you see them ah, just shoot’em."

We make our way further into the vault and head toward the end of the hall before Taken started popping out of thin air as they normally do.

“How did they get in there?” Cayde asked.

“The Taken are not bound by terrestrial constraints.” Eris said.

“Yeah, I bet they’ll be constrained by terrestrial bullets.” Cayde added.

With that, we charged at the Taken.  We cut down the Thrall and thinned their ranks.  I hung back a bit and started sniping the Vandals and Captains towards that back of the room.  The Vandals, however, became Maverick’s main aim of aggression.  Most likely because they cast their own ward. Once everything was gone, I caught up to Skinner and Maverick and they led me further into the Vault.  This place was familiar to them, they knew the halls like the back of their hands.

We began to push toward the end of the hall where more Taken began popping out. More Thrall, a Vandal, and a Captain.  Captains have a tendency to throw literal Darkness blast at us, not to mention they teleport way too damn much, more than the Thrall do.  When everything else was dead, Skinner and I stood next to each other, watching Maverick ruthlessly blast off the captain’s leg with his shotgun, let it collapse, before lining up his gun and blasting off it’s head.

“Really?” I asked.  “Was that necessary?”

“What? He was pissing me off!” he snapped back.

“Nice one Mav!” Skinner said as he laughed and clapped at the display of aggression.

“Listen, Storm, if it was a normal Captain I would have shown it mercy. But these aren’t Fallen Captain’s anymore.  Killing them is mercy at this point”

“Okay I’ll keep your word on that one,” I said in defeat.  As much I hated the Taken and as much as my morals wanted to spare every creature, regardless of its nature, I knew he was right.  “Now let’s keep moving.”

We continued through the bunker walking through what looked like a cooling chamber, most likely for the computer cores. 

Maverick’s Ghost commented, “I can’t believe the Taken can track us so easily.  Oryx really does hate us.”

“Well you did kill his son.” Dawn pointed out.

“Yeah, please don’t remind me.  Skinner and I have a small army after us to do the reminding for you.”

“Which is exactly why we’re here. We need those cloaking codes.”  Cayde piped in.

We left the cooling room and took another left as a door opened for us.  Rasputin was leading us right to his data center.

“Do you think Rasputian is guiding us to the codes?” I asked.

“It’s entirely possible, he probably recognizes us and the threat at hand.” Maverick replied.

We went through the door and more Taken came out to greet us.  This seemed to be never ending.  The Taken Centurions were interesting to deal with; they summon this seeking missile to try and kill us thankfully it's shootable, it’s very similar to my axion dart grenades.

We fight through them with little problems. After they’re all dead the next door unlocks and opens. We follow the door down to what looks like a power tunnel and more Taken Thrall popped in. We cut them down easily and proceeded to the only door in that room. The next area was a small intersection where we stopped to catch our breaths.

“Ugh I’m covered in Taken goo again!” I exclaimed in annoyance.  I shook off my hands and watched it cake the wall.  I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning my armor when we got back.

“Oh, you’re covered in goo.” Mav muttered bitterly, and Skinner and I turned to face him. My eyes widened at the sight.  Taken goo covered most of his armor.

Skinner almost died of laughter. “Oh no! Look out for the Taken Titan!”

I couldn’t help it.  I laughed along with Skinner. “Wow, I thought I was covered but never mind.”

Maverick sighed.  “Very funny, you guys.”  He shook off his hands and wiped the goo off the face of his helmet.  We used this time to take a breather; we reloaded our weapons and replenished our ammunition. We went to the open door. As with the other rooms, more Taken came to try and stop us.  At this point, it was tiring

“Alright I’m done with these Taken. Skinner if you would please?” Mav asked, making a grandiose sweeping motion in front of him.

“My pleasure, Metal Man.” He said.

Shortly after, he brought out his knife and Arc Light swirled about his body.  He then began to cut down all the Taken in the room and more that they came after the first wave. After they were all dead Skinner took a bow.

“Hope you two enjoyed the show!  I know I enjoyed making it. It’s a shame though, I wanted to cut open one of those Vandals.”

I rolled my eyes at him and patted him on the shoulder as Maverick and I walked by.  “Excellent work, Skinner.”

“Alright now, let’s go.  We must be close.” 

We went through the door, and another… and another… and another… and another, until it finally opened up to the control center.  "Really? How many damn doors does he need?" I commented, my annoyance clear in my voice.  And just like that, Taken spawned into the room.

“Okay, enough's enough,” Maverick growled as Solar Light illuminated his entire body.  With that, he pulled solar hammers out of thin air and threw them at the Psions and Centurions in the room.  He cleared them out in no time.

“Cayde we’re clear which console are we looking for?” He asked as the Solar energy faded from his body. Skinner and I walked closer to him.

“Umm, the one in the back I think.” He said.

“Found it.”

“Alright, see what you can pull out of Rasputian. Hmm, there’s a joke there somewhere.”

Mav deployed his Ghost and it scanned the computer.

“These cryptosystems follow no logic I understand. I’m not sure it can be modified to work on a Guardian.” 

“Where do you think Bladedancers got their cloaking ability?” He said mockingly, “Grab the codes, I’ll upload my modifications.”

“If the Vanguard is satisfied, we can finally end this. Return to the Moon. Steal Crota’s soul.”

The three of us followed the path back out of the bunker; there were no Taken left to slow us down as we headed into the early afternoon sunlight and transmatted back into our ships.

“That was a successful mission if I do say so myself,” Maverick said over the private channel.

“Yes it was,” Skinner agreed.  “And I’m, uh, I’m gonna head to the bar.  I’ll catch you guys tomorrow.” He dropped out of the channel as silence fell between the Maverick and I.

When we landed in the Hanger, I turned to Maverick.  “I’m going to head home to wash off all this goo.  You’re welcome to join me for a pot of coffee.”

“I’m actually going to head home, too.  Have a good night though, Angel.”

— — — — — 

A few hours later I was sitting in my living area, glimmer piled on the table, and I was finishing up getting the Taken goo off of my armor. It was around midnight now and it was pouring rain outside.  I sat back on the couch when I finished and yawned.  I looked over at my Ghost.  “Ghost, open a channel with Maverick.”

I waited a couple of minutes before he answered.  “Yeah?” He asked aloud, like he didn’t really pay attention to who had called him, or that he was preoccupied with something.

“Allô, mon chérie,”  I said softly.

“Oh, Storm, hey… everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.”  I paused for a moment, and fiddled with the ends of my sleeves.  “Mav… I know where we’re going tomorrow.  Are you sure you guys are going to be okay.”

There was silence on his end.

“Mav?”

“I’ll be fine, Skinner will be fine.  Don’t worry about it.”  There was a chill in his voice that made me doubt him.  “You should get some sleep.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek.  “Maverick…”

“Angel, please…”  He was pleading with me now.  “Get some rest.”

“Okay.  Je t’aime, mon chérie.  Bonne nuit et fait de beaux rêves…”*

“Good night, Angel.”

--- translations ---

“Fuck off, asshole,” Mav grumbled.

When I heard the door shut, I sat up and held my head.  Maverick came over to me with a cup of black coffee, my usual morning pick-me-up.  He sat down on the couch by my knees. I nodded in thanks and took the cup from him.  “What did happen last night?”  I asked him quietly.

“I’ll explain when you’re sober,” the Exo whispered.

While I sipped on the coffee, Mav gently rubbed my back.  I closed my eyes and leaned my head on his shoulder. His touch was soothing and feather-light, almost like he was scared to touch me.

“Why are you always so gentle like this?”  I pressed gently.

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever you touch me, you are always so careful and gentle.  Like you’re afraid you’re going to hurt me. Why is that?”

There was a long silence that fell between us while he thought.  He sighed softly. “I… I don’t know. I guess I’m just scared of my own strength, or what I could accidentally do to you.”

I gazed at him lovingly.  “Mon chérie, you are too kind.  Whatever you do, you could never hurt me.”

He laughed aloud and looked at me, his red eyes ablaze with mischief and excitement.  “Oh, little angel, you have no idea what I am capable of.”

My cheeks warmed and I looked down.  I almost didn’t want to know what happened last night.  I closed my eyes and leaned back on the couch. The light was still straining my eyes, it made me feel like my head was splitting in two.  “Seriously, Mav, can we close the curtains, blinds, or something? My head is splitting.”

The Exo laughed softly and stood, then closed the curtains, flooding the room in dimmer lighting.  I took a sip of my coffee when he came back over to me. “Greasy food will help you, Angel. Trust me.”  He patted my shoulder and then walked back over to the table and sat down.

Ten minutes later, Skinner returned and slammed the door behind him.  “I have fooooood!” He shouted, making my ears ring.  

“Skinner, I swear on the Traveler, shut the fuck up,” I warned, clutching my head.  Both he and Maverick started laughing.

“C’mon, Storm,” Skinner said.  I felt his hands hook underneath my arms and dragged me to my feet.  I groaned in protest, although I followed him to the table, where he and Maverick helped me sit.  “Eating will help you feel better, sooner.” I lowered my head onto the table.

When Mav opened the box, my head shot up.  My enhanced senses went into overdrive and I propped my head on my hand.  It smelled amazing, and even more so when Skinner put a slice on a plate and placed it directly under my nose.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I was already half-way through my second piece. My headache was starting to lessen.  I moaned in delight and took another bite. “Oh my lord,” I mumbled. “Mmm… so good…”

Skinner nodded in agreement.  “Told you so.” Even Mav was having a slice.  After a few slices in, my head was clearer and I wasn’t as sensitive to the light.

“Mmh… so…”  I said after a couple more bites.  “Where do we start?”

“Right,”  Mav pulled a file from the stack next to him and opened it.  “Sepkis Prime. It’s the mission that Skinner, Vision, and I met.  We were all assigned individually, but we worked really well together and became a team.”

“Man,” Skinner said and leaned back in his chair.  “You know, we didn’t hit it off at all in the beginning.  I didn’t even want to be a part of the team, but Zavala practically forced me.”

“Really?”  I said in shock.  “How come?”

He shrugged.  “I didn’t work well with people back then, only ever co-op strikes when Zavala really needed me to..”

“It’s true,” Mav added.  “Vision and I hit it off right away, I guess it was the Titan thing.  It was rough trying to get this Hunter to work with us. After Vision and I took him to the bar after a mission, however, and we all really got to know each other personally, we became one of the best teams the Vanguard had at the time.”

I pondered on this for a moment.  “I see… so that’s how your team started.”  I sat back in my chair and took a sip of coffee.  “When I went digging, there were seven mission reports.  I assume you met the rest of the team along the way.”

“Almost all of them,”  Mav corrected. “We met Shadow in the bar.  The guy was lost and Vision insisted that we take him in.”

“Okay, and the others…” I shuffled through the papers.  “Ah, Jamison-6 and Aleckzander. How’d they meet you guys?”

“When I went to kill Draksis.”  Mav shuffled through the files and pulled another file from the stack and placed it in front of me.  I opened it up and skimmed through the document while Maverick continued. “Skinner was on a mission for Cayde and Vision was having an off day, though he didn’t say why and he didn’t want to leave the Tower.  The Vanguard paired me with the two Hunters. Hell, we worked like a well oiled machine in the field.”

“They were great guys,”  Skinner added. “A little rebellious and crazy, but the two of them were inseparable.  And they were always there when called upon.”

“Were they with you when you went to the Vault?”  I asked.

“Yup.  It was Skinner, Shadow, Vision, Paradox, Enigma and I.  Vault of Glass was a tricky raid. Especially in the Labyrinth.”

“The ‘Labyrinth’?”

“The Gorgon Labyrinth.  They’re these Harpies that patrol the Vault, though they’re mostly in the Labyrinth after you encounter the Templar, which was a giant Hydra that protected the entrance to the Labyrinth.  The Gorgons don’t kill you if they catch you. They erase you from existence, so we either had to sneak by quietly or kill all of them. We tried to get through quietly, but Shadow was spotted, so we had to take the violent way out.”

“Typical Titan,” Skinner scoffed.

I laughed softly and shook my head.  Mav was glaring at him. “You know I could wipe the floor with you right now, isn’t that right, asshat?”

Skinner placed a hand on the table and leaned close.  “Oh, I would love to see you try me in Crucible.”

“Okay, boys,”  I interjected. “Be nice.  What happened next? After the Vault.”

“After the Vault?  We all went our separate ways for a while.  We met up once a week or so to hang out and catch up, but Eris reached out to us… maybe two months later, about some Hive activity on the Moon.  She had reached out to us once before, after we destroyed the Heart of the Black Garden. We destroyed the Fist of Crota, but then Omnigul, the Will of Crota, tried to take over Rasputin.  Our mission led us to her, and Eris insisted that we had to put a stop to her work. And stopping her led us to Crota.”

We grew silent.  I was absently swirling my mug in my hand, Mav was staring at the last file in the stack which was now in the center of the table, and Skinner was holding his knife in his hands, the blade glinting in the room’s dim light.  I had read Maverick’s mission debriefing and I knew what he said had happened, but we all withhold information from the Vanguard.

“So…” I started quietly after a few minutes of uneasy silence.  “What actually happened.”

“The raid… it was almost too easy.  Everything went according to plan.” Skinner looked down at the knife in his hands.  “From the moment we entered the Abyss to the moment we killed Crota with his own sword.”

“We won,”  Maverick added quietly and I shifted my gaze to him.  “But… any and all Hive left in that Throne World went into an angry rampage before we could get out.  We ran since our Ghosts couldn’t establish a transmat link in the Throne World. Shadow was first.”

Skinner stabbed his knife into the table, directly through the mission report.  “He got held down by Thrall and before we could get back to him, a Wizard ripped the light out of his body.  His screams… still haunt me when I go to sleep.”

“We kept running,”  Mav continued, “but there was a ledge above that we needed to use to get out of the area, too high to jump to.  Enigma and Paradox helped the three of us jump up, then Enigma helped Paradox up to us. Before we could reach down and pull him up, a Gatekeeper knight pulled him down mid-jump, then slashed him in half.”

Skinner looked over at me.  “Paradox jumped back down after him to protect his Ghost.  He killed the Hive that tried to swarm him. He kept yelling at us to run, and we had no choice but to leave.  He was killed by a Swordbearer. Then both of the Ghosts were shattered.”

I nodded.  The two of them exchanged looks.  Maybe they didn’t want to continue reliving the mission that destroyed their team.  “You guys don’t have to—” I started, but Maverick cut me off.

“No, you should know.  You have every right.”

“Your team was killed because of our mission,”  Skinner added firmly. “You need to understand why; and why Oryx wants to finish the job that his son started.  He wants to destroy all Lightbearers because we killed his son.”

“Okay…” I placed my mug down and refocused.  “So what next. How did you get out?”

“We ran back across the bridge and back into the Abyss,”  Mav continued. “There were hundreds of Thrall chasing us.  Vision was overrun, but I could not let another one of my friends get killed.  Skinner and I killed enough of them to get them to flee, but they got a hold of his Ghost.  We were able to get Vision to his feet and out of the Abyss, and we escaped back to the surface of the Moon.  Vision’s eyes were almost completely clawed out, and since he had no Ghost to heal him, we had to get him back to the Tower to be fixed up.”

“Vision lost all sight in his left eye and about fifty-percent of his right.  If we waited any longer to get him out of there, he would have been totally blind.”  Skinner stood and walked over to the window.

“Wait… I thought it was just you two left.”  I looked between the Hunter and Titan. “Vision’s alive?”

“Well… yeah,”  Mav sighed. “He lives here in the City.  But he hardly speaks to us anymore.”

“Well, maybe not to you,”  Skinner said. “I call him every week.  He hardly leaves his house, but I can convince him to go drinking once a month… or two.”

“Skinner…” Mav almost looked sad.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He didn’t want me to.  He knows you still have a team to lead, so he didn’t want to bother you.  He’s changed a lot. He’s always bitter about something, at least until you get him blackout drunk.  Then he just keeps telling you how much he appreciates you and everything you’ve done to help him.”

Mav’s jaw clenched.  “He doesn’t answer my calls and that’s why?”

“Yeah.”

We fell silent again.  I stood and poured myself another cup of coffee.  “You know, I’d like to meet him,” I said.

“No way,” Skinner said quickly.  “Trust me, Storm, you really don’t.  The guy has no moral filter.”

“So?”

“No, Skinner’s right,”  Mav said. “If he doesn’t even want to talk to me, he definitely doesn’t want to talk to you.  He might see you as his replacement, and he probably already has opinions about you.”

I sighed and nodded.  “I understand.”

We all rejoined at the table, though Skinner just placed his hands on the back of his chair.  “But that’s beside the point. There’s three of us who made it out alive; three of us that didn’t.”

“Yeah, and this afternoon turned out to be more depressing than we anticipated,” Maverick concluded.

“Yeah, that’s just about everything, so I’m going to see Shaxx and jump into the Crucible… blow off some steam.”  And with that, Skinner said farewell, took his knife out of the table, and left Mav’s apartment, leaving the two of us alone.  Mav started to put the papers back in their files.

“Our team has gone through a lot, Storm,” he said quietly.  “You’re not the only one with a vendetta.”

“I know,” I sighed and closed my eyes.  “It’s just hard to remember that I’m not the only one who’s lost their family.”

Maverick stood and walked behind my chair.  His hands placed gently on my shoulders. “I know,” he said.  “But at least now you don’t have to go at it alone. None of us do.”

I leaned my head back against his abdomen.  I opened my eyes and gazed up at him. “Mav… do you mind if I bathe and take a nap for a while to get rid of the rest of my hangover?”

“Yeah, of course,”  he nodded. “I can take you home, or you can just shower here.  I never need to use it, but Skinner’s used it a couple of times when he used to crash here every now and then.”

“I’ll just shower here, if that’s OK.  It’s still way too bright out for me to comfortably walk home.”

“Oh, okay,” he said, almost sounding shocked.  “Um, it’s down the hall, second door on the left.  I’ll put some clothes out for you.”

I smiled and stood.  “Merci, mon chérie.”  I kissed his jaw, then left for the bathroom.  When I was going down the hall, my Ghost appeared at my side, and spoke once I closed the bathroom door behind myself.

“You’re being pretty stupid right now, Guardian,”  Dawn said as I started to undress.

“Why would you say that?”

“Do… do you really not remember what happened between the two of you last night?”

I turned the shower on and turned the temperature gauge to hot.  Heat didn’t really bother me, so I could enjoy scalding hot showers with no painful reactions on my skin.  “No, I don’t… Everything about last night is a blur. I get pieces every now and then, but nothing concrete.”

“Well… you see…”

I cut her off.  “No, peu de lumière.  Maverick said he would tell me, and I am going to hear it from him.  Am I clear?”

“You’re the boss,” she grumbled as I stepped into the shower, and then she disappeared.

I took my time in the shower.  While the heat didn’t burn my skin, it made my senses tingle wonderfully.  I used the shampoo and body wash he had here and scrubbed myself until I couldn’t smell the alcohol anymore.  I heard the door open and close again while I washed, and when I stepped out a couple minutes later, I saw a change of clothes and a fresh towel on the bathroom counter.  I smiled to myself, quickly dried off and dressed, then walked out into the hall. When I got into the living room, I noticed there were pillows and blankets set up on the couch, but Maverick was nowhere to be seen.  I tightened the drawstring on the sweats he left so they stopped slipping. I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged the heather gray t-shirt close. Assuming that Maverick was off doing something, maybe building one of his car models, I laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over my body.  Before I completely dozed off to sleep, I felt the blanket get pulled up to my chin and Maverick leaned down and kissed my head. I was smiling when I dozed off to sleep.

————— 

I woke up several hours later.  I yawned and stretched, then sat up and ran my fingers through my hair.  Maverick was dozed off in the armchair. I smiled softly and stood, blanket around my shoulders, and I knelt down in front of the chair.  My hand gently placed on his leg and I leaned my head in his lap. After a couple minutes of silence, I felt him shift and his hand gently placed on my head, his finger ran through my hair.  I smiled and looked up at him.

“Beau matin, mon chérie,” I murmured softly.  “Did you sleep?”

“Yeah,” he said as he stretched.  “Did you?”

“Oui,” I smiled and yawned softly.  “My hangover is gone and I’m feeling better already.”

“Good.”

We stayed in silence for a little longer, then I looked up at him.  “Will you tell me now?”

“Tell you what?”

“What happened last night?  Before my Ghost does.”

He gazed off, like he was pondering if he should tell me or not. “Listen, Angel, you were drunk, so you didn’t know what you were doing.  I just don’t want this to change anything between us if I tell you.”

“Mon chérie, why are you hesitating?”

He shifted a bit.  “Genny, you and I…”  He held his head in his hands.  “Fuck, this is really difficult to say.”

I could feel my face warming.  “Mav…”

His hand gently ran over my hair and then rest on my shoulder.  “Angel, I love you. Very much. You know that, right?”

“And you know I love you,”  I replied.

“And I would never hurt you, you know.”

“I know.”

He sighed and nodded.  “Okay… last night, when we all came back here, Skinner passed out in my room, so you and I stayed out here.  We… kind of got a little hot and heavy if you know what I mean. We kissed. A lot. And, uh…” He shifted some more and I felt my heart start  to race. I was starting to catch on.

“Mav… we didn’t… did we?”

“Oh, hell, no.  I wouldn’t do that to you while you were drunk.  But you… did let me touch your skin, even though I kept insisting that we should wait until you were sober, that way I knew if you actually wanted that, we could try, but only if you wanted to!”  He averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. “This is sounding way worse than I hoped it would.”

“No!”  I exclaimed.  I took hold of both of his hands.  “Maverick, listen to me. I love you very much.  And yes, I think I’ve felt the same exact feelings you have, but I never said anything because… I’m terrified.  So, yes, in my drunken mess, I was probably being more honest with you about how I feel.” My gaze softened and I looked up at him.  “You are so, so kind to recognize that I wasn’t myself. Thank you, thank you for me honoring me and my…” I couldn’t think of the right word to say.

His thumb gently ran over my bottom lip.  “Innocence?” He was smiling as if he felt relieved.  “I would never break your trust like that, Angel, you have my word.”

She fell silent and did as I asked.  “Okay, Skinner.  Stick close.  We aren’t that far off.”

“Right.  Falling into formation… now.”

Skinner’s jumpship fell into formation behind mine.  Within a few minutes, Phobos was in sight.  My entire body stiffened at the sight of it.  It was worse than when I left.

“Whoaaa…” I heard Skinner whistle over the channel, and I realized he had never been to Phobos before.  At least, he didn’t understand how bad the situation on Phobos was.  “That’s… a lot of Taken.”

“Dawn, can you open up the channel from Maverick’s Ghost?”

“The distress signal is still going, is there a way we can open a channel to get through?”

“I can try, but the interference from the Taken is making it very spotty.”

“Hear that Skinner?  Try reaching out to him.  I’ll be in the channel.”

“Gotcha.”  There was radio silence for a minute while his Ghost tried to establish a link.  “Maverick?  Maverick, are you there?”  There was a response, but the interference turned it to static.  I could almost feel Skinner’s frustration.  “Mav, where are you?!  I swear to fuck, Maverick, you son of a bitch, you need to get outta there, there are Taken everywhere.”

“[static] shit! [static].”  

The channel kept breaking up.  I tapped myself into the feed.  “Maverick? Maverick, it’s Genesis! Where are you, what’s your position?”

“[static]  Cabal [static]  shoot! I repe [static]  don’t shoot! [static].”

“The feed’s choppy, too much interference,” I said over the feed, more towards Skinner.  “Mav, stay where you are, we are coming down for an extraction.”

“Ghost, can you get a lock on the signal?” I asked.

“I’m scanning now, it’s hard.  I think his Ghost disabled his location feed, but I’m getting several heat signatures from this quadrant.”

I looked up at the map and my heart sank.  I recognized the quadrant.  It was nearby where Gilly, Adam and I encountered the Echo of Oryx.  “I was right, Skinner.  He went looking for my Fireteam.”  My Ghost linked up with his so that he could see the map. I highlighted a portion of it.  “This is where we went in.  The strongest heat signatures are right here,” I highlighted another portion for him, “about a half a kilometer inside.  I think I know how to get to him.”

“So be ready for a lot of chaos and stick close to your ass, got it,” Skinner said, then went back onto the channel with Maverick.  “Hang tight, buddy,” he said.  “We’re coming to get you.”

We both left our ships in orbit of the moon, both of us dropping into stealth mode.  Before we went onto Phobos, I exchanged my sniper for a fusion rifle.  There was silence when we transmatted down into the ground.  Skinner walked up to me.  

“Where are they?”  He asked me.  There were no Taken in the immediate vicinity.

“Ghost, can you bring up the heat signatures?”

The radar showed up on the screen behind my helmet.  Just like I thought, he went down the exact same way I did with my fireteam.  “Okay, Skinner.  Stay close.  This is going to be one hell of a rescue mission.”

Skinner and I descended down into the base on Phobos and Taken must have started sensing our movements.  We were fighting endless Thrall and Psions, but still pressed forward.  I could feel my throat tightening the further we went in, memories that I had tried so hard to bury were surfacing.  It felt like we were fighting endlessly, but thankfully I noticed that the heat signatures were getting closer.  “We’re close, Skinner.  I think they’re just past this door.”

He deployed his Ghost while I covered him, shooting down Taken Thrall and Psions that kept coming at us.  When we finally got inside and shut the door behind us, it was silent.  I was almost hyperventilating at this point.

“Are you okay?” Skinner asked me.  

“Yeah.  I’m fine.  Let’s keep moving.”

We walked down the hallway.  The silence was eerie and terrifying, but there were no Taken portals here.  The further down we went, the more I could sense Skinner’s desperation.  He wanted to find Maverick just as badly as I wanted to find my team.  Suddenly, he stretched his arm out in front of me.  

“I hear movement,” He said quietly.  “Wait here.”

Before I could even protest, he activated his Bladedancer and went invisible, and he was gone down the hall and around the corner in a blur.  I could hear the blood rushing through my ears as my heart pounded in the silence.  I heard gunfire and the shouting of Cabal, and I couldn’t wait.  I ran around the corner as Skinner shouted, in all his sudden arc to void subclass glory, “Only I get to kill him!”  Skinner drew back a void bow, and fired arrow after arrow at the Taken, killing them and they exploded into void light.  Since when was Skinner a Nightstalker?

When the Taken finally retreated, I lowered my weapon, and sighed in relief at the sight of Maverick alive, but Skinner screamed at him and stabbed him in the head.  

“No!!”  I screamed and rushed over to Maverick, where his Ghost came out and opened, trying to resurrect him.

“Come on, motherfucker!”  Skinner screamed as he pulled his knife out of Maverick’s skull.   “Res so I can kill you again!”

“Skinner, stop it!”  I shouted and yanked on his arm so Mav’s Ghost could actually do its job, while also lowering his knife, and put myself between the two of them as Maverick started to stand up.  “Leave him alone.”

“You are NOT protecting him from me, Genesis, now move!”

“No, asshat, calm down!”

I could hear the distinct buzz of Cabal weapons loading and locking onto a target, so I turned and reached for my gun out of instinct, but Maverick stood in front of us with his arms out, so the Cabal disarmed their weapons.

“Don’t shoot! They’re my fireteam!”  Maverick reassured the Cabal and slowly, they disarmed.  “Now is not the best time to be throwing knives into my head, we have bigger problems.” Maverick snapped at Skinner. 

“Yeah, and when we get back to the Tower I’m throwing another knife at you.”

“Fine but you get five seconds to run afterwards.”

“Will both stop fucking arguing?!” I snapped at both of them. “We need to get out of here, then you two can bitch at each other later!”

The two of them exchanged a look, Skinner obviously pissed and Maverick appearing apologetic, and they nodded.

“Genesis,” Maverick said, now turning to me.  “You need to see this.”

“Mav... what did you find?”

“You’ll see.”  He led me further through the armory.  We saw the leader of the Cabal mercenaries, a Centurion named Bracus Zahn.  He waved over to Maverick.

“I thought no one knew where you were,” Zahn said.  His perfection of the common tongue shocked me at first, then I saw the translator on his wrist.  How fortunate that Maverick managed to befriend a Cabal centurion that could understand the common tongue.

“The only two people who knew I was here are here now, so our arrangement is still a secret,” Maverick assured.  

“The transports are almost ready.  Just need to make a few more adjustments and we should be good to go.”

Maverick nodded, then turned to me again.  “Genesis,” he said quietly and placed his hands on my shoulders.  He was hesitating.  He nodded at the door behind him.  “All of your answers are in there.”

“What?” I asked.  My stomach dropped.  “Mav… if they aren't… then they're…”  I pushed past him and stood in front of the door.  I froze with my hand on the door control panel.  My Ghost revealed herself and looked at me.  “Genesis… there are no…”

“I know,” I said quietly.  I could feel the tears starting to sting in my eyes.  I pushed a button and the door open.  Each step I took as I walked inside felt even more paralyzing than the last.  There were eight Guardians laid side by side, their bodies bloody and beaten, each with their Ghost set beside them. My eyes gravitated down the line of them and I saw Adam first. I rushed to his side and fell to my knees.  His armor was torn and it was obvious he fought hard to make sure I got out, but the killing blow was clear:  there was a wound that went straight through his heart.  I reached up and pulled off my helmet.  I had to see him with my own eyes.

“Adam…”  I whispered.  “Adam… no…” I clasped his hand tightly in mine.  Age wise, he was younger than I was, but he was ten times wiser and smarter.  He didn’t deserve this.  “Je te verrai de l'autre côté.” *

I went to go stand, but Gilly was right on the other side of him.  His armor was battered so badly and his helmet was cracked over his left eye. I let go of Adam’s hand and turned to face our Fireteam’s leader.  Gilly should have been the one to get out, not me.  Not me.  I lifted his body and grasped him tightly.  He was the one I first met after becoming a Guardian.  My first friend.  I pressed my forehead against his helmet.  “Mon ami,” I murmured.  “Tu ne seras pas mort en vain.” **

I lowered his body down and gazed at both of my fireteam members.  I didn’t want to believe they were dead but it was bold and plain right in front of me.  I wanted to hope that they had found cover and were waiting for an extraction.  Maybe if Zavala let me go back, I could have saved them.  They were gone.

I felt a hand placed on my shoulder, but I shoved them away.  “Genesis,” Maverick said.  “The Cabal…. Gave them their highest honor.  They… they did everything they could to make sure you got back to the Tower.”

“It should have been me,” I said.  My voice didn’t sound like myself.  It sounded cold and dismissive... broken.  I wanted to bring them back.  I didn’t want their deaths.  I would exchange mine for theirs in a heartbeat.  “Adam should have escaped.  He was so young.  So talented.  So much ahead of him.  This was his last test to become one of Ikora’s hidden.

“And Gilly… he was our leader.  He didn’t tell me that was his plan.  He should have gotten Adam out.”  I didn’t realize that tears had begun to stream down my cheeks and my throat tightened.  “I was our long range assault, I should have been the one to cover them.  It was my job! It’s always been my job!”  I pounded my fist into the ground, and the pain that rippled through my arm helped bring me back to reality.  

“Genesis…” Maverick said quietly, and he knelt down beside me.  

“Don’t,” I said firmly and held my arm out to keep him away.  “Please.”

“I know this isn’t what you wanted.  But we have to get out of here.”

“Mav, I can’t leave them here.  I left them here once, I can’t do it again.”

“I know.  I’ve asked the Cabal, and they are going to help us bring them home.”

I nodded.  Before I left them so that the Cabal could get to them, I picked up Gilly’s Ghost and Adam’s Ghost’s core... the shell was in pieces.  I was taking them with me for now.  When I turned and Maverick saw that I had them, he nodded.  I looked at him now, and I could feel my own frustration with his decision starting to get to me.

“How could you do this?” I asked.  There were still tears in my eyes.  “Why did you come here? You could have ended up just like them.”

I saw the guilt in his eyes and he looked away from me.  “I wanted to find your team.  For you.  You needed to know what happened, but you couldn’t go because you were on probation.”

I shoved him back against the wall.  “Why did you do this to me!” I shouted at him and pounded my fists on his chest.  It was a fruitless attempt.  My legs were shaking and I couldn’t hold in my tears any longer.  “You could have died… I could have lost you… Skinner could have lost you.”  

“Genesis…”  He caught my arms to keep me from falling to my knees again.  “I’m sorry, okay?  I wanted to help.”  Silence fell between us and I tried to gather myself.  “I know this is hard for you, but we have to go.  We can’t stay here much longer and the Cabal are ready to help us out.  We will get them home.  I swear.”

I took a few deep breaths and nodded, steeled my heart, and stood steady on my own feet.  I tucked their Ghosts into my robes, close to my heart, put my helmet back on, and took a steady hold of my gun.  Two Legionaries walked into the room, ready to gather the dead Guardians.  I walked past them without a word, but I heard Maverick say, “Take extra care of these two.  Make sure they get home with us."

I walked back into the main hall, and saw Skinner leaning against the wall, flipping his knife in the air.  I could tell he was holding in pent up rage.  “Skinner,” I said and caught his attention.  “Let’s go.”  I stood by him and we waited for Maverick.  

“Skinner,” Maverick called out when he finally came out of the room.  I could see the Legionaries carrying out the Guardians that were lost.  I couldn’t take my eyes off my fallen fireteam members.  “I need you to do recon.  We need the path the ships with the least rifts and Taken in the way.  Can you do that?”

Skinner scoffed dismissively, but nodded.  “Yeah, I can do that.  One Man Army.”  Then he turned invisible and I watched him run away, scouting the route ahead.

“And Genesis,”  he said and turned to me,  “you stay with our Guardians and defend them with everything you’ve got.”

I could only bring myself to nod at him.  When he walked away to give the Bracus an update, I pulled out my Ghost.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“I’ll live,” I said quietly.  “Send the fusion rifle back to the ship and bring down my LDR.”

“Genesis… are you sure?”  She knew, but did so anyway.  I held my sniper up in front of my Ghost, inspecting everything from the barrel to the upper receiver, then cocked the gun and loaded a bullet into the chamber.  

“Without a doubt.”

--- translations ---

“Skinner?” 

“About 15 to 20 min if it stays quiet,”  Skinner responds.  Maverick relayed the information.

“And the short way?”  He asked again.

“Straight through the cafe and a 5 minute run down the hallway,”  the Hunter reported.

“So I vote safe, Zahn?”  Maverick turned to the Bracus.

“I’m with the short way.”

“Genesis?”

I paused before responding.  Maverick was leaving the vote to me.  While taking the short way was the fastest way out of here, it was too risky.  We could all die if we got overwhelmed. “Take the long way,” I said.  “I’ll cover you if anything comes up behind us.”

Zahn cuts in. “I could send some of my men down the short path as a diversion.”

“That’s suicide Zahn,”  Maverick protested.

“They understand that without sacrifice there can be no victory,” Zahn reaffirmed.

“As much as I don’t like it, they’re your men.”  Maverick turned to all of us in the room.  “Alright, then that’s the plan.  Let’s get moving people, let's not waste time. Skinner, you get to the air strip ahead of us and watch the Taken’s movements and radio if they start to catch on to our plan.”

“You’ve got it, o’ great leader,”  Skinner responded spitefully, then the channel cut off.

I stood and readied my sniper.  “Maverick,” I said, and he turned to me.  “I’ll cover you and watch for snipers.  Lead the way forward.”

Before we leave Zahn commands half of his Legionaries down to the hallway.  I nodded to all of them as they passed me.  They were ready to die in order to get us out.  All I could think of was Gilly.  He was ready to die in order to get us out, but I was the only one who made it.

“They’re probably not going to make it, you know that right?”  Maverick said to Zahn.

“I know and so do they, but I have taken their names so their sacrifice will be remembered.”

“Skinner are you in position?”  Maverick said over the channel.

“Yup, waiting on you people.”

“Alright let’s get moving people.”

As we all leave the armory Zahn motions for the Legionaries for the distraction toward the main door. 

Zahn gave his men a speech to boost their moral.  My Cabal was rusty, but it sounded like he was telling them this was for our escape, so not to falter. 

The rest of us head to the other way.  I stayed behind with a new legion that was transporting the dead.  A few Phalanxes and a Colossus followed behind me.

The comms light up again, and Skinner comes back through, speaking more to Maverick than me. “I still get to throw my knife at you back at the Tower right?”  He asked

“If we make out of here you can throw all the knives you want,”  Maverick sighed.

He laughed maniacally and cut the channel.

Our procession down the hallway was quiet, minus the sound of footsteps.  I kept glancing behind us, just to be sure we weren’t being followed. 

“Skinner your intel is solid, not a rift in sight.” Maverick said over the comms.

“You’re fucking right my intel’s solid,” Skinner said sarcastically.  “But the Taken are headed to the other door no doubt to help beat those Legionaries.”

“Good, less resistance for us.” As we’re moving forward, Maverick turns around and shouts the rest of us. “Alright Zahn, your men bought us a window let’s make sure we don’t waste it!”

“How's it looking out there?” Maverick asked Skinner.

“Quiet, most of the Taken went to the hallway. Good call on taking the long way.”

“Are there any snipers out there?”

“None that I can see, it's pretty clear, but there are rifts out here so we better make this quick ‘cause it will get ugly out here fast.”

“Well, we’re at the doors, is the coast clear?”

“For now, but with your fat ass I doubt it will stay that way for long,”  the Hunter snickers, and I couldn’t help but give a little bit of a sigh myself.

“Children,” I chided over the comms, “behave.”

“Alright, ass,” Maverick responded to Skinner, then cut out of the channel.  “Zahn, you and I should go out first and secure the ships.”

“Good idea, Light Warrior,”  Zahn responded, and commanded his men, splitting them up and telling them where to go.  I couldn’t help but keep glancing down the hallway behind us.  I started to get a bad feeling about this, it was way too quiet.  Before I could even bring it up to Maverick, though, I heard him tell Zahn to open the door, and they were gone.  I hurried over to the door and knelt down, glancing down scope.  I watched the airstrip as they ran, watching for trouble, waiting for this feeling in my gut to go away.  I moved my scope off from them once they reached the ships and scanned the runway.  

“Okay, Genesis,”  Maverick said over comms.  “It’s all clear, come to the ships.”

I thought I caught some movement down the other end, but it was gone in an instant.  “I don’t know, Mav,” I said as I lowered my sniper and stood.  “I’m picking up some movement from the other end of the airstrip.”  Even still, I motioned for the team of Cabal with me to follow, and we started to move.  My gut started to wrench, like something was about to happen, so I motioned for the team to go ahead of me.  I kept following them, but I stopped every five steps or so to look behind us and down the runway.  And just like that, when we were halfway to the ship, every portal came to life and Taken started to pour onto the airstrip.  

“Fuck!” Maverick shouted.  “It’s an ambush! Skinner, start taking them out, if you get compromised, come to me!  Zahn, tell your men with Genesis to protect them at all costs!”

The Cabal and I formed a body barrier around the ones who were carrying the dead.  I took out any snipers I could see from afar.  The first wave of enemies was brushed off with ease.  I quickly scanned the airstrip, and of course, back the way we came, I saw way too many Taken start to pour out of the hallway.  

“Move, move, move!” I shouted, waving for the Cabal to start running down the strip, and I brought up the rear.  “Mav, we’re about to have a lot of Taken behind us.”

“Copy that,” he responded.  

I paused for a half second to take out a couple more Taken snipers that appeared, it couldn’t have been longer than that, but a Blight started to form in the small distance that was between the Cabal and I.  I lowered my gun and backed away from it, and a gigantic Taken Knight spawned right in front of me

Why is it always me?  I thought spitefully to myself.  “Keep going!” I shouted to the Cabal, then pulled out my Sol Edge sword just in time to block it’s melee attack, but the pure force of it sent me backwards several feet.  I quickly caught my footing, but before I could even go in for an attack, I heard the distinct clang of a hammer, and I looked up in awe as Maverick slammed a Sunbreaker’s hammer into the Knight’s leg, causing it to fall back, and started hammering it’s face into the ground.

Maverick was screaming and shouting a long string of curses.  There was so much anger and rage in his voice it was barely recognizable. 

When the hammer finally faded from his hand, he stood, though his body was still surrounded by an aura of Solar energy.  He turned to me.  “Let’s go!” He shouted.  “Before I have to pound another Knight into the ground.”

I could only nod and I ran past him, catching back up to the team.  I escorted them the rest of the way to the Harvester without another problem, as most of the Taken had fallen back after Mav’s display of power.  The Cabal started loading them onto the ship and I stood by the ramp, scanning the runway.

“Skinner,” Maverick shouted once he caught back up with us.  “Come down here and watch her.  I still have to escort Zahn and his men to their ship. And Genesis,” he turned to me, “please try not to get killed.”

I held up my hands. “Hey, it’s not my fault everything has a hard on for me.”

He shook his head, but I could hear him chuckling to himself as he walked away.  Skinner appeared beside me, and he watched the entrance while I went inside to make sure everyone was secured for the ride home.  I knelt down next to my team members again, saying a small right of passing so they could have safe passage to the afterlife.  Whatever that was.

I stayed inside with them until I saw Maverick coming back from Zahn.  I joined Skinner back down on the ramp, and when he was within earshot, I said, “Alright Mav, everyone’s loaded on the ship, we’re just waiting on you.”

“Good,” he replies.  “I’m flying the Harvester. You, my Ghost and Skinner will be flying escorts. You’ll be behind me. Skinner and Ghost you’ll be to my sides. Alright now call your ships.”

“Aww, but wanted to strap you to the front of my ship,”  Skinner whines.  I rolled my eyes.  But of course, Maverick just had to indulge him.

“That’s a pretty fucking dumb idea, Skinner,” Mav responded.

“Yeah just as dumb as you coming here ALONE!” 

“Fuck off, I would have been fine.”

“NO you wouldn’t have.”

While they were arguing, I saw movement all the way back down the airstrip.  They were coming back for more, now that the Cabal were gone.

“GUYS!” I yelled.  “Taken!  Let’s GO!” 

“Can I throw Mav to them?”  Skinner asked.