Destiny 2 - Bus Stop

Author preface: Got a little bit of inspiration from the trailer for "Season of the Chosen." Decided to write something for Destiny 2 again. The Guardians have to stop a rampaging Cabal road warrior.

The Legion had been renewed.

So much of their leadership had been lost since they arrived in this benighted system. The Dominus, his Consul, the Blood Guard, Thumos, Kargen, Val Ca'uor, the Flayer Sisters... all of them lost to the Lightbearers. After ages of unbeaten conquest, this backwater system had decapitated them and left them in ruin. Now the Empress had called them back. Restored their honor and given them purpose again. And this made them a threat to people outside the walls of the City.

The Warlock lifted her head as the Hunter gave a whistle. "Eyes up. There they are." Their Ghosts helpfully tagged the Cabal vehicles, even as he went on, "Looks like half a dozen Interceptors. The Land Tank's still past the ridge bend, so they can't be-- oh? What do we have here, gentlemen? The rhinos have themselves an R.V."

The third member of their team made a confused sound. "What is an Arr-Vee?"

The Hunter waved a hand dismissively. "Never mind that. This thing looks new. Until we can get a proper Vanguard reporting name for this thing, I'm calling it a Bus. Ghost, make sure to get footage of this." He leaned back into his scope. "It's got Imperial livery, not Red Legion. Looks like it's actually got wheels. Chunky run-flats. Armored to hell, too. And armed with turrets and cannons." He peered again. "Hold on-- I see the driver. It's Bruml."

"Hnnh," their teammate grunted. "Driving Bus, not Tank?"

"Eh, we've proven that bunkering into a heavily armored tank isn't going to save a Cabal leader," the Warlock replied. "Just ask Ta'aurc."

The Hunter chuckled. "Well, whether we wanted it or not--"

Their teammate interrupted. "Can Bruml be taken down?"

"I doubt it. Not at this range. That's plasteel or something like it." The Hunter lifted his head. "I don't take a shot that I'm not certain is going to hit. I shoot, and it just pings off that window, then all I've done is waste a shot and alert her that we're there." He scratched his jaw thoughtfully. "Get me closer and it's a different story."

The Warlock checked her weapons. "We'll need to take out those cannons and turrets if we hope to get that close."

"Interceptors, too," their teammate reminded them.

"We've got them," the Warlock replied.

At this, Mithrax nodded, rising from his crouch beside the pair. The Eliksni toggled into his comms, speaking in his people's language. "Have our Skiffs ready to move our people. Leave mine in hand. Keep the Redback ready."

"It will be done, Misraakskel."

Mithrax nodded to the Guardians. "You go. Take Interceptors. I go to Skiff, command from air."

"We've got this, Mithrax." The Hunter gave him a thumbs-up. "Stay safe."

"Be brave," the Light Kell returned, as he transmatted up to the skiff.

The Guardians hustled over to a Heavy Pike that had been left for them. "You're the better shot," the Warlock said. "I'll drive." It was a rough squeeze aboard the bike, but they just managed it as they zipped off to catch up to the Cabal convoy. The leader of the convoy, a Colossus called Bruml the Juggernaut, had been resupplied by Caiatl's forces, and this had included a Land Tank and this new armored personnel carrier which the Hunter had dubbed "the Bus." With the various Eliksni forces in the system refusing to bow to her, Caiatl had sent Bruml to smash any Fallen holdouts they could find.

As their Pike approached, a siren started blaring, and the Bus turrets rose from their mountings, swiveling their guns toward them, only to immediately get targeted by the House Light skiff overhead, which rained Shock fire down on them. The Bus thrummed from the hits, but did not slow as the turrets smoked and caught fire. Ahead of them, one of the Interceptors swiveled around and came toward them, but the Warlock nudged the Hunter. "Take my Bonechiller!"

He didn't waste any time, grabbing the shotgun from the holster and racking a slug into the chamber, then lining up a shot over her shoulder. The shotgun boomed, and the Psion driving the Interceptor went tumbling backwards without a head. The Hunter worked the action and lined up a second shot as another Interceptor came around. Its driver was no more fortunate than the previous.

The Bus didn't slow as the second downed Interceptor halted in front of it, ramming it out of the way. The Warlock hit the side-booster on the Pike, juking themselves past the wreckage, beginning to draw level with the cab of the Bus. Through the window, the Hunter could see Bruml glaring at them, scarred tusks displayed with a snarl. The other Interceptors were scrambling to flank them, and the Hunter grimaced. "Too many to shoot at once!"

"Take the stick!" The Warlock took the Bonechiller back, hopping up onto the front of the Pike as he slid forward to grasp the controls. She turned her head, tracking where the Interceptors were, cupping her hands around empty space at her side, and then purple Light flashed as she vanished. She reappeared on the front of an Interceptor, a burst of Void Light erupting from her into the Psion driver's face, wrecking the vehicle in the process. With another flash, she reappeared on another Interceptor, unleashing another burst. So it went, one Warp after another, until all of the Interceptors were ruined and their drivers annihilated.

She landed back on the Pike and dropped back into the seat as the Hunter now leapt into the air. He turned his head, seeing Bruml bellowing fury within the Bus' cab. Sunfire flashed in his hand as he sent a Golden Gun round through the window, but hardened war-glass was enough to diminish the shot's fury, shattering without overpenetration. In mid-air, he lurched sideways with a dodge, his knife jabbing into the window sill, then using it as a jump point to reach through and grab her nearest tusk.

"Pull over!" he shouted as he shoved his hand cannon through the window.

Bruml roared with fury and brought a thick arm up to knock the weapon away from her face as he fired another Golden Gun round, which blew out the window on the other side of the cab. He tried to bring it back around, but the Colossus grabbed him with her other hand, then slammed her crested helmet into his with a skull-crushing headbutt. The Hunter went limp, flopping out of the cabin, but cloak caught on his knife, so he dangled and banged against the side of the Bus.

The Cabal warlord stepped to the shattered window and grabbed for the knife-- only to bellow with rage again as the Warlock fired her Militia's Birthright into her face. The Colossus staggered back, and the concussion of the grenade's detonation knocked the Hunter's body loose. He landed heavily on the front of the Pike, but she was able to adjust her driving to keep him from tumbling to the ground. She stashed the grenade launcher and reached out to steady his body, lending her Light to help rez him faster.

Bruml stomped a heavy foot through the door with the shattered window, knocking it from its mooring and sending it cartwheeling past the Guardians. She stepped to the opening, hoisting up a Slug Thrower. "Ya fink ya can stop dis?" she shouted in Ulurant. "Don't ya know who I am? I'm da Juggernaut, gits!" She worked the action, priming the weapon with a hefty clacking noise, and leveled it at the Guardians' Pike.

That was when Mithrax dropped down from his Skiff with all the subtlety of an atomic bomb. The Eliksni roared his own challenge as his feet collided with the towering Colossus' face, driving her back from the open door. Bruml planted her feet, trying to bring the Slug Thrower back around, but the Kell of Light closed in, his swords flashing, one coming around in a long arc to sever the Slug Thrower's power cables, while the other actually lopped off the ends of the Cabal's tusks. She reared back again, roared and lifted a foot, but Mithrax was faster, stomping his own foot down with enough force to rock the Bus' cabin and send Bruml reeling against the far door.

"Mithrax!" The Kell turned as he heard the Warlock shout from outside. She pointed ahead, and he looked to see that his House had arranged the blockade. Earthworks had been hastily erected and derelict hab-pods had been dropped in the Bus' path. And beyond them, he could see the bulk of the Redback lumbering into position. Bruml was already ponderously getting back to her feet, and he could hear the other Cabal aboard the troop carrier tromping toward the cabin.

The Eliksni dashed to the open door and leapt into the open air, catching the skyhook dangling from his Skiff. The airship quickly pulled up and away, just as the Guardians were doing on their Pike, dropping back and away from the Bus as it continued to careen down the road. The Bus lurched a bit as Bruml came to the open door to bellow her fury again, then turned as she saw what they were approaching.

The armored Cabal troop transport juddered and shook, briefly thrown airborne as it hit the earthworks, but its mass and momentum was too great to be slowed by this. Bruml staggered, falling back into the cabin of the Bus as it caromed off the derelict habitat-pods, which crumpled and flattened under the transport's weight. It lost speed, but was still going, and Bruml got back up as she saw the Redback aiming its main cannon.

The big Spider Walker hunkered down as it finished loading the main gun, and thunder roared as it fired. The slug punched clean through the hardened windshield of the Bus, then through the internal wall at the back of the driver's cabin, before detonating in the main troop hold. The concussive force ruptured the armor from within, shattering the transport's suspension and sending several of its wheels pinwheeling away. The Bus left a furrow in the ground as it ground to a halt in front of the Redback.

The Guardians and the Skiff both drew up beside the wreckage, and several of Mithrax's House dropped out of the Skiff to surround it. Nearby, a human militia rode up on their trucks, swinging heavy machine guns around to train onto the wreck as well. Mithrax landed atop the Redback, brandishing his swords and bellowing a challenge again.

A roof panel from the driver cabin opened and Bruml crawled out, collapsing to the ground and slowly drew to her feet. She swayed, drawing a pair of Severus blades and roared her own challenge-- only to cut herself off when she saw the array of firepower trained upon her.

When the thunder of the fire died down, one of the militia pumped his fist. "Whoo! Thanks, Guardians." He turned to Mithrax and nodded to him. "And thanks to you, too, Kell."

Mithrax approached what was left of Bruml's body and prodded it with a foot. "There is always a loon that flies into the headwind," he declared in Riisan. In human common, he bowed back to the militiaman. "Thanking for help. Cabal threat to all. All must prove worth. Eliksni and human."

"Their new Empress doesn't see us as worthy of being equals?" The militiaman patted the machine gun in the back of his technical. "Then she'll find out how wrong she is, with ballistic force."

The Warlock smiled. "Spoken like a Guardian."