"So what you're saying is...I could beat him...but if I just take off his cloak first?" A Hunter spoke, exhausted, the Vanguard armor worn dented along the metal and torn through most of the fabric. The only thing that stood out was the thick, crimson fabric wrapped around his neck and draped down his back. It was incomplete, but one could barely make out the insignia of a well known fallen house in white. Along with the scout was a scarlet ghost, it's cherry lit eye giving what seemed to be an annoyed glare. "No, I said tearing his cloak was a wound to his pride, not to him. There's no way you could beat the Kell of Devils by yourself. I told you to go back to orbit! Now we're stuck with no signal for a sparrow, no connection to the Tower, no shield, and you dropped your gun in the fall...ugh. You know, that gun meant something to your mother." The ghost scolded the young man clad in guardian gear. He paused, blinking his eyes from behind his visor. The hunter looked around for a moment after, turning away from his angry ghost to take in his surroundings. Not much but snow, a lot of destroyed, abandoned buildings and a bunch of fallen planes. Relics of a golden age that he never experienced. The Cryptarchs and the Warlock Vanguard representative both wanted to teach him things of history, of a better time. But he'd rather think of grounded airplanes as a place for shelter rather than a graveyard for people who were on board them, trapped until they fell to their deaths. He was a Hunter. Knowing the lore and stories of his environment wasn't what he was fit for. All of that was just the environment to him. Beckoning for his ghost to follow, the Hunter ducked down and turned to enter a hull breach in one of the planes. Best to be out of the cold while they formed a plan. Once inside, he just sat down, plopping onto the floor and leaning his back against the plane, raising his knees a bit in case he ever had to stand up quickly. He took off his helmet to reveal dark brown hair and green eyes, his skin white and fair - though darkened slightly by a thin scar that stretched down diagonally on his cheek. His features gave away his age, one look at him showing that he couldn't be a year over twenty. Around the Tower he wasn't a new face, as he had grown up there, however to the forces of darkness he was new. He'd only been a Vanguard registered guardian for two months, not even enough time to harness his solar light into the popular Golden Gun technique, or harness arc in his daggers without shorting out his helmet display and sending his ghost into a near seizured state. His name his Aleksander Holliday, child to the renowned former shipwright and the new representative for Hunters in the Vanguard, Nicholas. No last name from his father, as was the case with many original guardians. "Hey, I was only joking. But still, I didn't know he would be that strong. The Vandal I was hunting was getting away, and it would be a horrible start for my first patrol session if I let a mark escape. I didn't WANT to board that ship-" "But you did-" "Yes, I did..." He spoke, interrupting the Ghost that cut him off first, raising his hand after, a gesture that silently asked his Ghost to calm down and let him speak. "Because I felt I needed to. That Vandal was hurting a lot of guardians in the Cosmodrome. I didn't expect that ship to take us to a base in Britain. I wanted to get on, put an end to the thing and then transmat home. I didn't expect to get pulled out the entire signal zone so fast. I'm sorry. As for the Kell...well, I didn't expect that either. I mean, he's been hiding out in old Britain all along? In some random building?Nobody could have known. Didn't expect him to be so tough either, so I'm sorry for fighting him too. I was unconscious by the time I was knocked out that window, so naturally I dropped the gun, so um...look. I'm just sorry for all of that, okay?" He spoke up, green eyes meeting one electronic red "eye" that seemed a lot less angry. "Alright Alek. Let's just keep moving before we freeze out here, I'm sure that the vanguard is searching for us already, tracking out light. I think we can-...wait. Fallen. Low class devils roaming outside. They're...hunting us?" The ghost added, a bit of surprise and concern in his voice. No shields, torn up armor with a broken helmet display, and no gun. Hunters of old only needed a Golden Gun and fair aim to survive before the city, but Aleksander couldn't control that yet. They only had a minuscule amount of light to use without the eyes of the traveler upon them anyways. "Do you think you can give me enough light for a Golden Gun? Or arc?" Alek asked silently, rolling over into a crouch as he peeked outside the hull breach to find a vandal and two dregs out in the distance. Their backs were turned, but one mistake and that could change for the worse. "Golden Gun is lost on you right now, and given your armor and our condition...I think you'd kill us before the fallen if you tried the Arc Blade technique. There is your...minuscule technique, but I've seen it kill a few dregs. Maybe it'll work on a Vandal?" The advice was given, and Aleksander jumped on it. He pounded the inner side of his elbow a few times, before a foot long blade slid from a compartment on top of his forearm. Just long enough to channel some solar light. Footsteps near silently crunched the snow beneath him as he exited the hull of the plane, sneaking up on the fallen ahead. He needed to be in range for his technique. A few yards would do. He would love to run in, but with no shields he'd be more worried about arc wounds from wire rifles and Dreg pistols than the cold. A cold sweat broke on him from the tension, his arm hesitantly raising to give his ghost its cue. He was close enough to hear the fallen chatter...it was time. The sounds of solar light forming alerted the fallen, and they turned to see the Hunter with flames surrounding the tip of his arm blade. Breath hitched before teeth clenched, and Aleksander swiped his arm horizontally, three solar blasts being fired simultaneously at the Fallen before they could fully ready their weapons. The dregs disintegrated as the light consumed their darkness, though the Vandal let out a hellish roar in retaliation, its body blazing, even crackling under the heat on some parts, but it didn't hinder the alien in raising its weapon. As a blue light began to glare from the barrel of the wire rifle, Aleksander ducked and crossed his arms in front of him, shutting his eyes. The sound of a laser leaving a bolt chamber was made, and the Hunter fully expected to feel arc tear through his body. Instead...the fallen fell into the snow, dead, a hole through its chest from obvious arc energy. Looking over to his ghost, Aleksander saw its glowing red light dim once again, the laser being hidden back in its tiny body as it briefly rotated its core. "Ah...thanks buddy." The hunter said, voice a bit shaky from what he expected to happen earlier. He stood on his feet, being met with a brief "don't mention it" from his Ghost before it went to examine the remains of the Vandal. "So...one good news and two bad news. Bad news is we only have enough light to, well...survive. There's nothing here for any other function. Good news is, we can leave the same way these guys got here. Fallen teleporter. Other bad news...we will have to teleport into one of their...bases. Your choice on where we go. I think they're all pretty bad, in my opinion.." The last sentence from his Ghost came with a grumpy voice that brought a laugh from the Hunter. "I think that since we've been blown out of a relic skyscraper by the Kell of Devils, we've been through the worst already. Cosmodrome, Earth. Old Russia. Chances are we'll run into some other Guardians anyways, and we have a transmat zone there. Plus, I know the territory." Alek spoke, a smile forming on his lips to reassure his companion. "I don't know about this...you sure we can't wait for the Vanguard to find us, I'm sure-" "You want to freeze? Ghosts can freeze too." Alek interrupted, a smirk on his lips. "No..." It mumbled in a grumpy manner, working the fallen tech. As a blue light began to envelop them, Alek looked on. The sun was beginning to set over the Horizon in Britain. The light flooded the abandoned streets and reflected almost beautifully on broken windows on the surrounding buildings. As he was transported, it gave a hope that the Vanguard was always going on about. That one day, Humanity will reclaim Earth.