[b][u]Chapter 6: Into the Jungle (1/2)[/u][/b] Artemis sat in the cockpit of her ship, staring down at the planet below. She hadn't returned to Venus in over half a millennia since she had been reborn as a Guardian. Unfortunately there was no reliable way off of the planet at that time, so for over a decade she had to survive in the jungle with her twin brother. She winced in pain at the thought of him. Pain was all that Artemis can remember. The deaths of friends, family, dreams. To her, Venus was a home, yet it was also a living hell, a memorial to all she had lost. She remembered standing at the edge of reality, and watching the churning chaos generated by the thrashing coils of Apophis. It wasn't a sight she could forget. "Should we begin descent?" Ghost asked, startling her. "Or are we to remain in orbit?" he looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face and a confused tone to his voice.‎ She shook her head. Not yet. She would not have returned if asked by anyone other than Saladin. When her mentor Hunter Vanguard Andal Brask was killed, the former Titan Vanguard had understood when she had refused to take his place and had allowed her to follow her own path. But the fact Osiris was working with him almost made her say no. She had never liked the old Warlock Vanguard. He had always flaunted the rules like he wrote them, neglected his duties at times. But no-one could deny the power of his light, or his willingness to go further than anyone had gone before. Their constant arguments over anything from ideology, theories, even a bet on what the temperature of Mars was at that time. It was a strained relationship. But she needed something new to do. Constant skirmishes with the Fallen House of Devils and House of Kings were starting to get stale. She was no closer to finding out the identity of either of their Kell's. But hopefully she would resume her mission after this side job was over. "Begin descent Ghost." she spoke softly. She mulled over her task. Get to the Endless Steps and properly seal away a portion of her Void energy. Artemis was many things, but she wasn't a coward. She would complete her task. But as the ship descended to the planet below, a sinking feeling in her gut reminded her of one thing. She should never have come back. _______________________________________ As she raced across the Shattered Coast with her Sparrow, heading towards the Endless Steps, Artemis' feelings were reciprocated as two Pikes from the House of Winter began pursuing her. Artemis gritted her teeth. While her Sparrow was definitely faster than the Pikes, their Arc cannons made it difficult to evade them. She had to change tactics. She pulled back, matching her speed to the Pikes so that they were neck and neck, unable to fire their cannons at her. She looked to the right driver and immediately ducked before the Vandal could cut her head off with his blade. Artemis pulled out her knife just in time to parry another slash from the Vandal. A vicious battle ensued, with the Vandal on the left joining in, forcing her to watch on both sides. Her knife was a blur trying to deflect each blade before they could strike a fatal blow. Ever with her skills she wouldn't last much longer. An arc explosion behind them caused all three combatants to momentarily lose their focus. Artemis quickly glanced behind her and saw that a Heavy Pike had joined the chase. She cursed, and quickly used her lateral thrusters to burst to the right, taking one of the pikes with her. She got out of the firing line just in time before the Heavy Pike unleashed it's payload. Unfortunately for the Pike on her left, it had not expected it, and drifted into the barrage, igniting in a massive fireball. The Pike next to her tried to push her back into the Heavy Pikes firing line, but Artemis was prepared. She spun her Sparrow counter-clockwise, making it look like she was drifting a turn set at the edge of a cliff, forcing the Pike to spin with her. She threw a Voidwall Grenade over the Vandals head and let their momentum carry them forward. Artemis leapt off her Sparrow a split second before they ran over the Voidwall, destroying their under-carriages and igniting both vehicles into a fireball even bigger than the first one. The flaming wreckage slid over the edge of the cliff. She shadestepped, rolling to her feet and turned to face the oncoming Heavy Pike as it barreled towards her. She knocked an arrow to her bow and counted to three. She let the arrow fly, and the driver came crashing to the ground! But the Heavy Pike still hurtled towards her. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively shadestepped backwards over the edge of the cliff, grabbing onto the edge at the last second! The Heavy Pike skidded over the cliff and fell to the lake below. She let out a deep breath and started pulling herself up. "Ghost, transmat me another Sparrow, we need to make up for time." Artemis brushed the mud of her shoulder. Ghost summoned her another Sparrow and they raced off towards their destination. _______________________________________ [i]To be continued.[/i] Part 2: http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/163946213/0/0 Table of Contents: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/114713352/0/0