Masterpost: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/253000143
Zahir felt a familiar rush of energy and senses as his mechanical eyes opened to show him a crimson bush, whose branches had been flattened under the weight of his head. He pulled himself off of the ground of Nessus, taking in his surroundings. It was oddly peaceful, despite the conflict that had just passed. Radiolaria waterfalls silently rushed in the distance. Dormant Vex spires dotted the landscape. Wildlife flew, hopped, and crittered about.
The silence was broken by the sound of a sparrow, whose driver leapt off upon seeing Zahir.
Lacer rushed over to his friend, offering a hand up. “Did that rat get away? Damn… I called Eltanin to help, but she says she’s not tracking anything. I should’ve-“
“I got his name, though. He told me. It’s Wasp-14.” Zahir pat his chest, the sensation of exploding knives digging into it had still not left his mind.
“Yeah, like hell I’m believing a word he said to you. I know his type, a bunch of slippery jerks. Nobody’s actual name is Wasp.”
“And nobody’s actual name is Lacer. Your point?” Zahir rubbed his head as he stretched his arms.
“Hey, I have an excuse! You buckets of bolts have a name to go off of when you get rezzed! Which only furthers my point, we could actually get proof of Wasp’s real name!”
“I don’t think finding out his real name should be our priority right now.”
“Oh, I know, but I bet he changed his name ‘cause the old one was stupid. Something like… Benetnasch!”
“Benetnasch? Where did you get that?”
“I don’t know! But-“
“Wasp-14…” Eltanin pondered on the other end of the comms, way back in the city, “I’m not finding anything on him.”
“Of course you won’t. This guy doesn’t look like someone who keeps all his information lying around in the Vanguard databases.” Lacer crossed his arms and tapped his foot on a patch of red grass.
“Hey, something just broke orbit! Origin is to the West of you!” Eltanin called out, continuing to analyze intel from the centaur. The ex-warlock’s tenacity had paid off.
“That’s where that Wasp guy went. Let’s follow him!” Lacer yelled, tossing Zahir’s abandoned shotgun up to him. The titans both held out their ghosts and began loading back into their ships.
As his ship left the icy rock, Lacer took a look down at Nessus. It hung peacefully in the cold void of space. The sight was only broken by its back half being consumed by the colossal Cabal warship: The Leviathan. He turned his head forward, watching a live stream of information filter into the windshield.
“Wasp-14 is heading toward Jupiter.” Eltanin relayed.
“Jupiter? What could he want there?” Zahir asked.
“Dunno. Let’s just keep following him.” Lacer’s ship sped through the Sol. A flurry of multicolored lights began to surround and speed past his ship.
“He’s heading toward… a ketch?” Eltanin took a pause. “Wait, that’s-“
Lacer began to slow down as the gas giant came into view. What appeared in front of him, however, was not anything he had expected. A ketch with no banners. “What. The hell.”
“Tivik’s ketch?” Zahir quickly sped toward the ship’s loading zone, transmatting inside.
“Spekris! I know you’re here! What’s going on?” Lacer called, running alongside Zahir as the sight of more dead Fallen passed by his eyes. The tunnels and spacious hubs of the ketch stood silent, save for the faint sound of alarms.
The voice of the last surviving member of Tivik’s crew crackled through the overhead speakers. “You! Haven’t ya done enough? Killed my crew, my family, and now you’re cleanin’ up? You shoulda done it months ago!”
“Oh, I’ll do it right now! I’ll stroll straight on into wherever you are and give you what you deserve, you four armed freak!” Lacer taunted.
“Listen, whoever killed these Fallen, they aren’t associated with us. In fact, we’re trying to stop them.” Zahir picked up his pace. The ketch was beginning to make him uncomfortable.
“Ha! Guess you guardians aren’t as united as I thought, eh?” Spekris’ tired voice strained into a gurgling laugh. “Well, this is interesting. I still hate your guts, but I’ll tell ya where they are. Take this, and get this guy off my ship!”
Zahir looked down at the location marked on his visor. “He isn’t too far!”
“Great. Let’s bag him and throw his sorry ass in jail, or something. Dunno if the city cares about motes. We can kill Spekris, too, while we’re at it.” Lacer skidded to a halt and turned right to run down a staircase. As they reached its end, they saw a section of the floor burned away, leading to the floor below.
“It’s still hot.” Zahir leapt down, aiming his shotgun down the dark hallway that awaited. The pinged room lay just ahead.
“Let’s go!” Lacer crashed to the ground behind Zahir, and began to run for the door immediately. It creaked open, and a trio of knives struck Lacer’s torso through the thin horizontal opening, knocking him against the opposite wall. Angered, he fired back with his auto rifle.
Zahir slid forward, guarding Lacer from a near on-point sniper rifle shot. Lacer took the chance to charge forward after wreathing himself in protective void energy. He slid to avoid two quick shots as a shocked Wasp-14 came into view in the dark room. Lacer swung his left fist, knocking the hunter aside and into a wall adorned with Fallen trinkets and weapons.
“Don’t mess that room up! That’s Tivik’s stuff, ya know!” Spekris angrily spat. As if on cue, Wasp grabbed a shrapnel launcher that had landed on the floor beside him and fired at the approaching titan, melting away his void armor with a stream of angry molten projectiles. Zahir jumped forward to cover, delivering another devastating punch downward to Wasp’s skull. As he was not knocked away this time, Wasp took the close ranged opportunity to fire his sniper rifle three times at Zahir from the hip, easily downing the titan.
“I’ve already got what I need.” The hunter grunted, rolling backward and dashing for a staircase at the other end of the room.
“And what would that be?” Lacer began spraying at Wasp with his auto rifle again. The exo dove for cover behind a table, sputtering curses.
“You think you’re hot stuff, huh? I’m experienced in fighting guardians! I bet you guys have never even set foot in the Crucible!”
“The-“ Lacer sputtered as he began reloading. His next magazine flipped around in his hand like a wet fish. “Shut up! I’m very good at Crucible! You don’t even-“
A sniper rifle round cracked open the flustered defender’s helmet, and Lacer fell to the ground with a thud.
“What an idiot.” Wasp rose from his cover, marked by the smoke coming from the barrel of his sniper rifle. “I guess I can kill these two, just to be sure.” He looked over the two dead titans. Zahir lay on his back, destroyed by three high caliber rounds to the torso, just beyond the freshly killed defender titan.
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FIRST