[b]Into Hell[/b] Disgusting pale creatures lay scattered about the ground, some covered in a powdery ash. Small glowing embers scatter the dark metallic floor among the remains of the alien creatures. Their skin is not only ghost white but also a strange combination of damp and dried leather. The bodies of fallen Guardians also litter the room, their lights and Ghosts taken from them. A heavy feeling of sadness fills the capsule like room. A large cylinder sits in the center and a dark green hue sets an unsettling tone in the room. Concordat Guardians slowly retrieve the bodies from the room and carry them medical evac ships just outside. "These creatures appear to have no eyes, strange. I wonder how they're able to get around." Edison-12's Ghost comments. "Well obviously, they have some sort of ultrasensory or sixth sense like ability." Edison-12 remarks as he kneels down next to one of the dead aliens. "It also appears that their armor has been absorbed into their skin." The new aliens species intrigues him and he brushes his fingers over it's flesh. "That's quite disgusting....I must have a sample." Tesla-18 says as she starts to remove a sample of skin from a specimen. "I've never seen anything like this!" Her Ghost exclaims. Chiharu stands nearby, her legs shoulder width apart, her arms crossed, and her eyes ever watchful. She looks over what remains of a small town, charred bodies and destroyed buildings everywhere. Nearby is a large lake, its surface on fire from an oil spill that was ignited. Behind her, inside of small capsule like ship, were Tesla and Edison. "Look at these rusted lands, it makes me sick. Whatever these Hive things are, they're going to pay." Chiharu then crushes a Hive skull under her foot. Edison-12 moves away from the body of the dead Hive acolyte and begins to try and understand their navigation and computing systems. The screens and holograms only display glyphs of a language Edison can't even pretend to understand. Though many were reoccurring and primitive that some made sense to him. "These worm like creatures seem must be important to their culture. Its glyph appears often in these texts." Edison-12 says as he stumbles through series of glyphs, not entirely sure of their meaning. "Sir, you probably shouldn't be messing with this." His Ghost comments with a hint cautiousness. "Discovery requires experimentation doesn't it?" He replies in a curious tone. The sound of scratching fills the capsule like ship, Edison and Tesla wince at the painful sound. Following the scratching comes the sound of gargling and groaning coming from one of the corners of the room. "What in the bloody Darkness was that?" Edison questions turning towards the origin of the sound. A lanky white figure lumbers out from the shadows. Its razor sharp claws cut into the metal wall as it shamble past it. The creatures jaw stretches open, revealing its sharp piranha like teeth, and it lets out a deafening scream. Edison and Tesla flinch from the noise and the skeletal creature jumps onto Edison-12 knocking him to the ground. He holds the creature away but it frantically slashes and snaps its jaw at him. Its thick clear saliva droops out of its mouth splashing onto his metallic skin and glass like optical receptors. Edison tried to turn away in disgust but the creature had him pinned. Soon a shot rand out and the creatures dead weight fell onto him. Smoke from the barrel of a scout rifle spewed out above him, and Edison quickly forced the creatures’ lifeless body from on top of him. "You ok?" Chiharu askes, offering out her hand to help him up. "Ye-yeah. Thank you." He takes her hand and pulling himself up. "Eddy, here let me help you!" Tesla-18 yells out in a worried tone and tries to comfort him. "I wonder how Leon and Shay are doing." Chiharu asks before firing another bullet into the pale weak creature. [u][b]-- Not Far From the Rusted Lands --[/b][/u] "Leon we can't let that man escape. He possess an item we can't understand. If we don't know what it is or what it can do there's no telling what it'll do to him." Shay says over his comms channel as he sprints through a destroyed building. He leaps over destroyed desks and slides under broken walls. He comes to a hole in the wall and he leaps across to the building on the other side. He grabs onto a rusted damage fire escape ladder. It breaks apart under the stress of his weight. Shay uses his glide ability to regain his balance and lands on a nearby platform. A man wearing older guardian armor ruffles through a satchel, removing random pieces of scrap and tossing it aside. He removes a ritualistic like device from his pocket. The item looks like a piece of cloth wrapped around a metallic like wax substance. The cloth is stained with a dry red liquid and is tied around the idol with a bit of string. He takes the idol and places it in the satchel, he quickly stands up when he spots a pair of feet enter his peripheral vision. "Turn that item over to me, and you don't have to get hurt." Leon says reaching his hand out. The man, appearing to be trembling in fear, reaches his hand into the satchel. "Slowly now..." his other hand moving towards his side arm. The man removes a sparking blue object from the satchel. Leon quickly draws his side arm and aims it at the man. "Put that grenade down now!" The man smashes the device into the ground beneath him and he's quickly shrouded in a dark cloud. Large bolts of lightning and arc energy burst out from the cloud. Leon fires several rounds into the cloud and when the smog disperses the man was gone. "What, where'd he go?" Leon questions trying to understand what had just happened. Shay lands behind him and examines the ground where the man was standing. "Sorry sir, I lost him." Leon says disappointed. "Don't worry about it, I saw the whole thing. I've never seen arc power like that." Shay says standing up and looking around. A loud screech rings out from all around them. The skeletal figures of the lesser Hive creatures start crawling towards them. Soon Leon and Shay are surrounded by the creatures. Shay removes his side arm from it's holster and looks over to Leon, who reloads his weapon. "It's appears we've woken the Hive." Shay's Ghost comments.