SURPRISE! Bet you didn’t expect me to post again after only two weeks (I’m so sry I take so long to write all these long chapters)! I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to finish all the upcoming chapters this quickly as well, but I can’t make any promises… But anyway, I know you’re all going to love this (hilarious) chapter. I’ll let my story speak for itself now, and make sure to check out the note at the end of the chapter (if u haven’t noticed I always put important stuff in the end-of-chapter notes) [i]Chapter Twenty: The Master[/i] Part One “Drew, I don’t think that’s something ANYONE wants to find on their desk,” I reasoned, “Especially not the Vanguard.” “But Cayde would think it was funny,” Drew argued. “That’s not my point,” I responded. “But if I could just-“ Drew pleaded. “No,” I told him firmly, “You can’t do it.” “Aww,” Drew whined, “Fine.” “I can’t believe we have to have this conversation with you,” Sierra shook her head, but then paused, “Actually, I can believe it.” “You guys aren’t any fun,” Drew sighed. “What you do isn’t fun. It’s stupid,” Sierra countered. “Crazy stupid fun!” Drew waved his arms in exasperation, trying to justify himself. A low hum filled the air, making the three of us turn to watch a Harvester cruise by a short way off from us. “More Cabal,” I noted, “That should cheer you up, Drew.” “Yes it should,” the purple-clad giant grinned. Picking his helmet up off of a rock and slipping it back over his head the old-fashioned way, Drew began running after the transport ship. “Guess we should make sure he doesn’t get in over his head,” Sierra began trudging through the sand. “Aw, you do care,” I teased. “Shut up,” Sierra laughed lightly. We walked between the dunes and cliffs of rock on the outskirts of Freehold. This was where the Vex and Cabal fought most; waging battles across mass expanses of sand rather than staring down their barrels at each other from neighboring buildings. We had already walked into several light skirmishes against the outermost Cabal lines surrounding one of their bases. They were constantly reinforcing the Exclusion Zone against the Virgo Prohibition subtype of the Vex, while the Virgo Prohibition worked tirelessly to draw out the Cabal’s strength. It was impossible to get any bearing on who was winning. We came around a bend in the ravine we had been following to find Drew smashing his way through a group of Legionaries that had probably come from the Harvester we had seen. The Titan tossed around the aliens like they were toys, despite their larger size. “Should we help him?” I checked with Sierra. Drew flipped a Legionary over his head and then kicked a Psion several feet up into the air before turning to pump some shotgun shells into more. “I think he’s fine,” the Huntress patted my shoulder assuringly, then leaned against the wall of stone and began inspecting the edge of her knife. The Cabal were too busy with Drew to worry about us anyway. But that didn’t stop me from keeping an eye on things. The purple-clad Exo was “in the zone”, as he liked to call it. His focus shifted from one enemy to the next, constantly adding to the corpses strewn at his feet. Even when his shotgun ran out of ammo, he just used it to club a Legionary over the head and then switch to his auto rifle rather than reloading. The Legionary was finished off with a few bullets to the head, and when the next came Drew spun on it with fist wreathed in Arc energy and reduced the Cabal to sparks in the air. A Phalanx tried pressuring Drew by advancing with its shield, but the Titan simply shot the Phalanx’s hand and delivered an electrified kick to the chest when it flinched. The last of the Cabal forces tried closing in around Drew as he worked his way into the middle of the fight, but his arms alighted in a blue glow as electricity swirled around his fists and sparked across his whole body. Pounding the ground, Drew released a Fist of Havoc that annihilated all the remaining Cabal. As Drew stood up again in a patch of sand now cleared of even the corpses, I looked down at my hands and pondered. “That’s a pretty cool invisible thingy you’re looking at,” Rush commented. “Oh, uh…” I put my hands down awkwardly, making Rush laugh and Sierra snort in amusement, “I was just thinking…” “I heard mention of an invisible thingy,” Drew strode up to us with satisfaction in his step, “I wanna look, too.” Sierra facepalmed while John tried to explain, “Drew, if something’s invisible, then you can’t see it.” “But Will saw it,” Drew argued. “I can’t believe someone as stupid as you lived during the Golden Age,” Sierra groaned. “What makes you think I lived during the Golden Age?” Drew scoffed. “Are you kidding?!” Sierra shouted. “Hey, none of us remember our first lives,” Drew defended. “You’re an Exo!” Sierra reasoned. “Yeah,” Drew clearly didn’t get what that meant. “You were revived on Mars!” she tried again. “So?” the significance again flew over Drew’s head. “Traveler above, Drew!” John exclaimed. “Your idiocy knows no bounds,” Sierra sunk her head into her hand. “Hey! I know what that means now!” Drew was offended. “It took you a month to realize it sounded like idiot!” Sierra accused. “I didn’t think about it a whole month! I just didn’t remember the word the first time and it popped in my head a month after you said it!” Drew protested. “Guys, please, it’s-“ I tried breaking them up. “How did you not know what it meant without having to think about it?!” Sierra ignored me. “You try getting your brain scrambled sometime!” Drew loomed over the Huntress, who was unintimidated, “Bet you can’t tell me how much force the Sun would explode with if its core destabilized.” Drew froze, clearly trying to process what he just said, while Sierra and I looked at each other in confusion. “Do you actually know that, Drew?” I inquired. “I think I do,” the Titan rubbed his head as if through hair that wasn’t there, clearly shocked by his own knowledge. “Well?” I encouraged. “Hmmm…I know…agh, lost it,” Drew snapped angrily, “Man, I felt kinda smart for a sec there. Must be what you always feel like, Will.” “Yeah…” I was disappointed that Drew couldn’t remember, “I guess physics was more your speed than literature in the Golden Age.” “Dang it, what’s with you guys?!” Drew threw his hands up in exasperation. “Exos were made in the Golden Age, Drew,” I explained, “So that’s when you were alive.” “Oh…” Drew responded sheepishly. “Anyway,” I moved on, “The invisible thing was just a joke. I was actually thinking about how you use Arc abilities.” “Yeah, I never wanted to be a Defender like you, so I just stuck to Striker,” Drew replied. “Do you think I could learn how to be a Striker?” I asked. “You’ve…you’ve never really shown a knack for anything but Void before,” Rush thought aloud, but was clearly considering it as a possibility. “I mean, have you ever tried using a different energy type?” Sierra checked. “No, but I bet I could since everyone else can with only a bit of training,” I said confidently. Realizing that Drew had grown uncharacteristically quiet, I looked over to find him quivering excitedly. “MY BOY WILL WANTS TO BE A STRIKER!” he bellowed, then scooped me up and crushed me in a bear hug. “Gah!” I choked, feet kicking in the air, “Ye-Yep! Need! To breathe!” “When are you gonna start learning?” Drew was beaming. “I was…” I sucked in a deep breath as the Titan released me, “Was hoping you’d teach me now.” “ME?!” Drew pointed at himself and leaned his head in close to mine, “You want ME to teach YOU?!” “Yeeees?” I answered unsurely. “This is the greatest day of my life,” Drew mumbled, looking off into the middle distance as he marveled. Link to Ch19: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/245636354/0/0 Link to Pt2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/246287583/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0