With my recent Destiny writing under "The Wahei Transcripts" tag, I introduced a trio of Guardians who had turned to the Darkness, Shadows of Yor extremists calling themselves the "Shadows of Salvation." I gave a little focus to each of them with the recent Exotic Weapon Concepts. And my brain working the way it does, I soon got a few sparks of inspiration for how to give a little focus to them.
This time the focus is on Hadil Ainu, aka Dredgen Ruin, a Lightbearer who has never shied away from doing dark things...
The Ruiner
THE DARK AGE
The hills sat the base of a mountain range in the 32nd Sector of Old Russia. There was a network of caves in the mountains. A lot of mountains in Old Russia had them. Some of them were from some pre-Golden Age conflict or other, but many had been repurposed during the Golden Age, and further still since then. Some belonged to the Warmind, and everyone with a lick of sense stayed away from them. But others had been occupied by something else.
In later times, the Lightbearer would be called a Titan. At this point in history, however, they did not distinguish between them. They were simply Lightbearers. The Risen.
Warlords.
The Titan stood above the hills on the ridge above. Their armor somewhat hid their femininity, with its broad shoulder pauldrons, with the fur collar sprouting from the neck. It was all a dark gunmetal shade, the helmet sporting a slightly V-shaped visor. The Titan loaded shells into her shotgun, then glanced aside to her Ghost. "They're down there?" The Ghost bobbed silently in the air. "Patch me to the others."
There was a warble in the comms, and she heard the growl of the Warlord Citan. "Did you find it?"
"Yeah. Right where the scouts said. I might have found their escape hatch."
"Cut them off. Drive them out the front door into us."
"Consider the bugs dealt with." The Titan racked her shotgun. She toggled off the comm, then looked to her Ghost. "Tishina, you've hacked into their internal comms?" Another bob from the Ghost. "Good. Play me some... entrance music. Let them know who's coming."
~*~*~*~
The Eliksni had burrowed into the hillsides to find caves to occupy. They had been at it for some time, and might have passed without notice for some time longer still, had things gone differently. But one of House Metal's scouts had been incautious and had been spotted while reconnoitering some of the human settlements nearby. The House of Metal had not intended any troubles with the locals, because they had Lights among them. That had already seen what had become of too many of their fellows when Lights got involved.
There was no Metal Kell anymore, the Metal Barony had all perished, and all that was left of their House were scattered crews like theirs, and the Captain was shouting his crew into shoring up defenses. "The Lights will be upon us soon!" He grabbed a passing vandal and pointed them down a different tunnel. "Make sure the skiffs are ready to depart. We cannot linger. Mothers and hatchlings first."
But then there was a squeal over their comm-mesh and his eyes widened. Someone had spliced into their comms. There was a deep, distorted three-note motif that played, and then a distorted voice screamed over the comms.
The mesh remained jammed by pulsing, throbbing, distorted, electronic beat as explosions rocked the caves. The Metal Captain felt his heart sink as he realized the explosions had come from their hidden skiff-bay. The Lights had come in through their escape route! He and his strongest fighters ran toward the docks to find the skiffs burning and crumpled. A figure wearing broad-shouldered armor was inexplicably dancing between the shock rounds being fired toward them. Their armor was streaked with ash and ether as they leveled a shotgun and blasted a cringing mother into a smear on the ground.
The Captain roared his fury, a bellow echoed by his crew, who leapt toward the Light, who was still swaying their head to and fro to the distorted beats of the music. The first vandal to reach them wasn't fast enough with their sword as the monster snapped their blackened helmet forward and caved in their skull with a vicious crack. Flames burned in the Lightbearer's fist as they crashed it into the next vandal to reach them.
By the time the Captain reached the Light, they had slaughtered everyone else who had come at them. He drove his foot into the cave floor with concussive force, but to his astonishment, the Light planted their feet and turned their shoulder into the blast wave, so they only skidded back a meter or so before racking their shotgun and blasting off his leg. He fell with a howl of pain, and the Light followed up by tearing one of his arms off. Hefting his scorch cannon on their shoulder, the Light then reached down to grab one of the curved horns protruding from his armor, using it to drag him along behind them.
The distorted music continued to blare as the Light set about their terrible work, dragging him along and forcing him to watch as his own weapon was used to burn out the caves. The Lightbearer was still bobbing their head and rocking their body to the strange tunes, and once or twice he thought he could hear them chuckling in enjoyment.
Finally the Light used their monstrous strength to simply toss him with one arm onto the burning pile of bodies they'd left behind. He tried to push himself up, facing them as he choked on his ether. "Why?!" he demanded. "Why come for us? We were going to leave you be!"
The creature stared at him blankly. And then came an almost detached response. "Because you were there."
The Metal Captain stared back, aghast, until the Light leveled their shotgun and ended him.
The Lightbearer let the music end as they climbed back out of the caves. Outside, three other Lightbearers were waiting, and the one in front, a hulking brute with towering shoulder guards, glared. "You didn't save anything for the rest of us?" The Warlord Citan grumbled. The Lightbearer shrugged. Citan grunted. "Eh, one less nest to worry about." He clapped the other on the shoulder. "Solid work, Ainu."
Hadil Ainu smiled. Or at least showed her teeth. "Let me know the next time you need something dealt with."
~*~*~*~*~*~
THE LATER DARK AGE
The village had defied the Warlord's demands. He had asked for tribute in exchange for his protection. "Me and my Risen have protected you from the Fallen. They had set up a nest in the hills until we burned them out. Our protection is not free. You will show your gratitude in tribute." They had responded by throwing bricks at his messenger. Lord Citan was busy dealing with renewed pressure from the Iron Lords, but the village knew that he would deal with them.
But they were not defenseless. An Iron Lord called Acheron had come to the village to help shore up their defenses. Armed with a big auto rifle and a sword nearly as tall as he was, they allowed themselves to hope they might be able to find sanctuary once the Iron Lords came more in force to annex their part of the sector.
As would be noted by a man who later walked a path of sorrow, however, nothing dies like hope.
It happened late at night. One of the men left to stand watch had fallen asleep. When he came suddenly back to wakefulness, he saw that his fellow sentry was dead, a bloody smear trailing up the side of the gate, to wear the man's body had been transfixed, a twisted length of rebar holding him up there. An alarm had been raised and Acheron came running, along with many other willing-to-fight villagers to see the horrible sight. And then, from unseen speakers, a distorted three-note motif blared out, followed by the screaming vocal.
"I'M A -- HEAD BANGER!"
Acheron was grateful no one could see his face paling beneath his helmet. "Ainu," he breathed, turning to the villagers. "Eyes up!" He roared, his words nearly lost beneath the deep pulsing electronic beats that echoed from the unseen speakers. "Citan's sent the Ruiner!"
There was the boom of a shotgun, and one of the defenders went flying into the dirt. Screams followed this, and the Iron Lord fought his way through the panic to the front where he could see the dark-armored figure, who racked a fresh shell into her shotgun and leveled it toward him. Pellets burst off his armor as he lowered his shoulder and smashed into her at speed, the collision sending her off her feet and through a building, which collapsed atop her.
Acheron spun back to the villagers. "Get out of here! Head down to the river and follow it up into the hills! Ghost, send word to the Peak. I'm going to need backup." The distorted music had ceased as he pulled up his auto rifle, approaching the rubble. As he climbed atop it, he heard the distorted voice from the song growl out again, "I'm a - head banger."
He leapt back as the rubble exploded outward with the eruption of the music again, seeing Ainu rise to her feet. He fired at her, seeing the bullets strike home, but she showed no sign of reaction, apart from a grunt of pain as one round pierced through her shoulder. Flames licked along her armor as she shaped them into an axe, which she flung at him. He jerked out of the way of it, but this had let her close the gap and slap his rifle out of his hands. He caught her other fist as it came around, snapping his elbow into her jaw to try to drive her back. She rocked back, but slammed her knee into his midsection, crumpling his armor.
Acheron snapped his hand down as he flung down a flashbang. This kept Ainu back long enough for him to draw out his sword, but when he lunged in with a downward swing, she had conjured up a flaming broad-axe herself, using the shaft to block his swing. They stood locked for several moments, the ground cracking from the force they were trying to bring to bear on one another. "C'mon, c'mon," he subvocalized. "Where are you?"
"Almost there," a voice responded in his ear, and he relaxed, which was a mistake. With sharp twist, she parried his blade aside, letting her axe vanish into flames, as she grabbed him by the gorget and hauled him forward, just as she brought the crown of her helmet square into his faceplate. There was a sharp flash of pain and he knew no more. Ainu let him drop as she turned now to the villagers, who were scrambling to flee from the sight of her. She reclaimed her shotgun from where she'd dropped it, but then she stood up into the path of the bullet that brought her down.
~*~*~*~
When Hadil Ainu was rezzed a little while later, she sat up to find herself surrounded by Iron Lords. Acheron was there, none the worse for wear, and with him were the Iron Lords Efrideet and Felwinter. All were glaring at her, and the last had a shotgun cradled in a deceptively light grasp, but one she recognized was firm and quick. She reached up and made a show of feeling the side of her head where the bullet had gone through, and chuckled. "Milords," she offered, dryly.
"Citan is dead." This pronouncement came from Felwinter, his pitiless glowing gaze fixed on her. "And he's not coming back."
"You need not join him," Efrideet added. Beside her, Acheron's face pinched in disgust, but he held his tongue as she continued, "Hold to the Iron Decree, and you may continue to live. Use your Light to protect the people, rather than slaughter them."
Ainu stared flatly at them, before her lip stretched up on one side. "Where do I sign?"
Acheron finally could not hold himself silent. "You're going to let her go? You know the things she's done, don't you? Why they call her the Ruiner?"
Efrideet turned and fixed him with a glare. "Radegast was clear. We offer all Warlords a chance."
"One chance," Felwinter added, flatly. "This is it. No more after this."
Ainu shrugged, still smirking. "I did what I did. You want to let me live, that's on you."
Acheron glared at her, then sighed, clearly unhappy. "Maybe if we keep her aimed at the Fallen, we might prevent more massacres of the Ghostless." He finally nodded to Efrideet, who extended a hand to Ainu.
She didn't look at it, just stared down the impassive Iron Lady, then grasped her hand and stood. She maintained the grip, squeezing, but Efrideet showed no sign of discomfort and simply held that gaze. After a moment, Ainu shrugged, releasing her hand and reclaiming her shotgun.
She gave the Iron Lords a smile. Or at least showed her teeth. "Let me know when you have something needs dealing with."
~*~*~*~*~*~
THE EARLY CITY AGE
Ainu just wondered where the nearest bar was. She turned to the nearest armored figure, asking, "Where can I get drunk around here?" And then paused as she beheld who she was addressing.
Saint-14 looked down at her from beneath his crested helmet. "You are Hadil Ainu."
She inclined her head. "And you are Saint-14."
She couldn't see his eyes, but she could picture him narrowing them at her. "The one they call 'The Ruiner.'"
Ainu smiled. Or at least showed her teeth. "Ah. My reputation precedes me."
He harrumphed. "Yes. It does." He folded his arms. "Why should I let you into our City?"
The other Titan's lip stretched up on one side. "Aren't any Lightbearers who have sworn the Iron Decree welcome in the Speaker's City?"
His finger prodded her in the chestplate. "You. I have heard the stories of what you have done."
Again, her lip curled up slightly in amusement.
"All before the Decree."
The Saint harrumphed again. "Some more recent stories than that.
Whole towns razed with no survivors."
"No survivors?" Ainu chuckled. "Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" To that, he had no answer. She folded her arms, meeting his gaze. "Are you going to let me in the Speaker's City or not?"
He grunted. He moved aside, and jerked a thumb. "Go. If you want drink, look for a place called Brask's Keep." She started to leave, but paused when he added, with a growl, "If you make any trouble, you will regret it."
Ainu gave him a smile. Or at least showed her teeth. "Heaven forbid I give the Titan Vanguard a reason to get mad with me."
~*~*~*~*~*~
THE LATER CITY AGE
The crowd at the Parlour was grumbling in front of the big boards. The big Crucible match they'd all been anticipating had run into some problems. One of the Guardians on Bravo Team hadn't returned from a Vanguard operation in the Cosmodrome. Word was the hapless Lightbearer had pissed off the Warmind and had a warsat dropped on them. A last-minute substitution had been made, but no information could be provided on who it was. Barker assured them all that they could reclaim their original bets if they so desired, especially those that had been about specific Guardians. Standard team bets would stand as-is. "You have until the match begins to make changes to your bets!" Barker had said.
Consider the Parlour's "Big Board." Before Crucible matches like this, it would list information about the Guardians involved in the match: their class, preferred loadouts or signature weapons, and their record in recent matches. Once the match got underway, it would update to reflect the weapons they were actually wielding, listing their K/D ratios and similar, while the match itself played on various monitors throughout the Parlour's bar.
Barker stood on a small platform behind the counter, where his clerk frames were taking bets and quoting odds. The Parlour's master clapped his hands and grinned. "All riiiiiight, it's fight night!" He gestured to the Board behind him. "Tonight's featured contest from the Crucibl-- Four-on-four Survival from Bannerfall! On Alpha Team, we have Fireteam Enoch! Korsana, the Awoken Hunter with a knack for dancin' 'tween the bullets, but watch out for that grenade launcher she calls the Play of the Game! But don't let her distract you too much, 'cuz her partner, the Hunter called Bazza, or he'll pin you down with a Shadowshot, if he doesn't nail you with a sniper shot and send you into the Hereafter!" He mimed shooting a rifle to punctuate this, and went on. "Then you have the Dawnblade Hono-4, the Exo pyromancer with blazin' speed and the might of Susanoo to call upon! And let's not forget Enoch's Titan, the devastator called Reese. He might be slow to start, but when he gets there, he's a Party Crasher you don't wanna be in front of!"
Some wag in the crowd called out, "Yeah, enough about them! Who's replacing Bravo Team!?"
"I know that was you, Jezza!" Barker pointed at him. "Hush up, now, I was getting to them!" He adjusted his tie. "Now, Bravo Team wasn't going to be a full four-person fireteam, but the three members of Fireteam Jericho still wanted to do their match, so they got a new member. Unfortunately, while the information was provided to the Crucible handlers, that information hasn't been passed along to us--" He paused and raised his hands in a calming motion at the uproar. "I know! I know! Sucks for us, too, 'cuz we were lookin' forward to seein' Ortega shoulder tackle his way through a wall!" He grew more sober. "But Ortega did not return from an op on Mars. We can only assume he has returned to the Light." He clapped his fist against his chest and bowed his head, a motion echoed by many of the crowd, with murmured variations on 'rest in peace' coming from them.
"Now, of course, we got Fireteam Jericho. Outlander Jericho, the Strange Suspect we all know and love--"
"Why doesn't he ever show his face?" This was from the same wag as before.
"Shut it, Jezza!" General laughter. "Outlander Jericho, tricky Gunslinger we all now and love. His partner, Blue-19, rockin' a brand spankin' new SUROS Regime--" Barker paused, smirking as a brief 'oooh' susurrated through the crowd. "Yeah! Very fine weapon, that. And then there's the Tengu Operant, Serhosh. We all know he doesn't use very flashy weapons, but that's okay, because if you give him a chance, he'll drop a Nova Bomb on your heads!" He paused and nodded with a smile at the cheer. "And that's all we have on Bravo Team." He ticked them on his fingers. "Jericho, Blue, Serhosh. Their fourth member is a mystery." He paused as one of his workers spoke softly to him, leaning down to listen. "Okay, I stand corrected. We know that whoever they are, they're a Titan."
Barker spread his hands. "That's all we have, folks! We are," he glanced at the clock, "twenty minutes from match start. You have until the teams start transmatting in, to finalize your bets."
~*~*~*~
Korsana compulsively checked her hand cannon's magazine as she rounded the corner and moved through the alley to the tree at Bannerfall. She came to a stop beneath the stairs in the alley. "Anyone else got eyes on Jericho?"
"I'm up on the perch," Bazza said, sighting through his sniper's scope. "Briefly caught a glimpse of Blue hanging back by their bridge. No sign of-- no, there's Jericho. Spotted him ducking into their tunnel."
"I got him," Reese cut in. "Heading across the lane to intercept."
"No sign of their fourth?" Korsana asked.
"Not yet," Hono-4 answered. "We know they're a Titan, but--" his transmission was cut out with a boom, and then they heard Hono's Ghost exclaim, "Guardian down!"
Korsana snapped her head around in the direction her helmet's HUD indicated. "Anyone got eyes? Was that their fourth?"
"I can't see from here," Bazza replied. "Where was that? Mohawk?"
"Further back, Bravo corner?" Korsana squinted down the alleys. "I can't see--" She stopped as a figure in dark, broad-shouldered armor stepped into view, as a distorted three-note motif played over the speakers in Bannerfall. A screaming vocal roared.
"I'M A -- HEAD BANGER!!"
"Oh shit!! It's the Ruiner!" Korsana immediately dashed back down the alley toward their spawn. She spun and leapt aside as a grenade caromed off the ground, exploding and filling the immediate vicinity with flames. On the comms, she could hear Bazza and Reese shouting as they engaged Fireteam Jericho, while her own Ghost piped a text feed into her HUD, showing that they'd managed to take down Serhosh. But she barely had time to pay attention to this as Ainu dropped from a balcony, charging forward with a shotgun in hand.
The Hunter quickly spun aside again as the Ruiner fired that shotgun, hearing the weapon booming. Korsana snapped out her knife, managing to jam it between Ainu's chest armor and one broad pauldron. The Titan whirled around, grabbing her by the cloak and then flinging her away. As she rolled to her feet, she could see Ainu reaching up to grab for the knife, but had to jerk back out of the way as the Hunter fired her hand cannon. Korsana was dimly aware of her teammates calling out positions and engagements, but she couldn't focus on this while Ainu stashed her shotgun, conjuring Solar flames into an enormous broadhead axe, advancing on her.
"Guys, I could use a little help here!" Korsana screamed as she emptied her hand cannon's magazine. Ainu showed no sign of slowing even as some of the shots struck home, but twitched the axe head up to intercept one that threatened to hit the V-shaped visor on her helmet. The Hunter backed up as Ainu started moving faster, intent on a charge, only to stagger as Reese finally came around the corner and unleashed a blast from his Party Crasher, catching the enemy Titan in the back.
Reese sprang forward, Arc Light crackling around him as he began to descend with a Fist of Havoc, but Ainu spun around, bringing the axe around in a two-handed swing that caught him under the ribs and nearly cut him in two. As he hit the ground with a thud, the axe smoldered into ash that blew in the breeze, and Ainu started to turn back, which was when Korsana flipped over her shoulder with an acrobatic flip, grabbing her knife as she went. She used this as a fulcrum for her turn, swinging down and into the Titan's chest, before dragging the knife downward as she pushed off and backward, tearing a vicious gash. The knife remained lodged now in Ainu's chest as the Titan slumped to a knee, the thumping music halting.
Korsana landed, performing a backflip to bleed off her momentum, pulling out her grenade launcher as she went, but Ainu's hand came up, casting out a towering barricade that intercepted the flurry of explosives that came her way. "Bazza!? Hono?!" Korsana shouted into the comm. Subvocal, she added, "Ghost, how many respawns do we have left?"
The voice that answered, however, was Reese. "Just used the last one." The Titan erupted to his feet as he charged Ainu, bowling her back into, and then through, a wall. He knocked her flat, then grabbed the knife out of her chest before slamming it back down through her helmet. He stood back up and pumped a shell from his own shotgun into her body, just for emphasis.
"Thanks, Reese," Korsana said, as she quickly reloaded her hand cannon. "But Bravo's still got another respawn. We should get out of here, because the Ruiner's going to be pissed when she gets back up."
"Where we at, team?" Reese asked as they quickly hurried off through the arena.
"Hono's down," Bazza offered. They could hear the crack of his sniper rifle, and answering fire from a SUROS Regime. "Busy with Blue, but her shield's down."
"On the way." Korsana burst out of a doorway and hip-fired her hand cannon once, twice, punching through Blue-19's armor. Wounded, the enemy Exo turned, bringing around the auto rifle, but then Reese plowed into her, armor crackling with Arc Light, knocking her into a diminishing cloud of sparkling ash. "One down," he noted into their comm.
Bazza's sniper cracked again, and Reese turned to see Serhosh stagger back, clutching a grievous gut wound, but as the Titan turned toward him, the Voidwalker flung a nodule of purple energy into his face. The blast of Light evaporated Reese where he stood, but Korsana caught him with her hand cannon. "Two down."
She flinched as she heard the telltale sound of a Gunslinger drawing out their burning knives, glancing up as Outlander Jericho leapt through the air, almost pirouetting on nothing as two handfuls of flaming shivs down toward them. Korsana spun and dodged out of the way, but Bazza was not so lucky. Jericho landed on the sniper's perch where Bazza had been firing, but didn't have time to dodge before Korsana drove him back through a doorway as an Arcbolt grenade landed in front of him.
She started to move after him, but then heard the distorted vocal behind her. "I'm a -- head banger." Korsana spun around and grunted as Ainu sunk the Hunter's own knife into her chest. The Titan's head was exposed, helmetless. Ainu gave her a smile. Or at least showed her teeth. "This belongs to you," the Ruiner growled.
Korsana could taste blood. But she grit her teeth. "I have something for you, too." She saw Ainu tilt her head, and took immense satisfaction in seeing her eyes widen as, with a crack of lightning, she thrust her Arc Staff through the enemy's chest. She carried that sight with her as she sagged and collapsed from the injury to her chest.
~*~*~*~
The eight Lightbearers were transported back to the Tower in the same conveyance. Seven pairs of eyes (and seven additional eyes from their attendant Ghosts) were all locked on Hadil Ainu as she sat in her seat. The Awoken just looked at nothing with a detached air, with one corner of her mouth stretched upwards. No one said anything for a while.
Finally, Korsana turned to Jericho. "How the hell did you recruit her for this?"
He spread his hands. "Would you believe I just put a post on the VanNet for it? No, seriously, I was about to worry I'd have to tell Shaxx we'd have to forfeit, but then she responded." Jericho looked at Ainu, who didn't look at any of them.
"You know," Hono-4 offered, "if you'd told us that you'd lost your fourth, we would have agreed to a three-on-three. I mean," he looked at the other members of Fireteam Enoch, "I'd have backed out if we knew they were down a fourth."
Bazza nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "When I heard Ortega had RTL'd, I was sure you guys would have asked for a continuance or something."
Jericho sighed. "Yeah. Retrospect and all." He looked at Ainu again. "Wasn't expecting to get a response from her, though..."
Korsana nodded slowly, and looked at Ainu. "Hey." She tried not to flinch as the Awoken's flat eyes turned to her. "About that Arc Staff through the chest..." She shrugged and offered a hand out. "No hard feelings?"
Ainu just stared at her. "...What are feelings?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
THE CURRENT AGE
The buildings of Riis-Reborn were cold, encrusted with ice, but there were heating lamps and generators everywhere to keep the Eliksni warm. Too many of their people had succumbed to the call to war by the Kell of Darkness and House Salvation. There were Lights prowling this place which was supposed to be a haven to protect them. The hardliners who still tried to maintain the fight against the Lights and humans were no longer as kind as they had been. The Dark Council Guards lashed out against any perceived betrayals, hunting for traitors, paranoid about backsliders and weakness.
Naturally, this only made more and more reach out through intermediaries, including Variks Oathbreaker, to Misraakskel. Europa was no longer safe. If it ever was. Anything the Light Kell could do to get them out of here to somewhere safer would be welcome. But until they got word to escape to a skiff or ketch, they had to bunker down in the increasingly abandoned Riis-Reborn.
A matron cradled a hatchling, who squirmed and chittered in worry, trying to calm it, quietly humming a lullaby for the child. A pair of vandals were peering through shuttered windows and cracked doors. Misraaks would be here soon, they just needed to hold out for a little while longer.
But then the comm-mesh speakers crackled. A distorted three-note motif blared from them as the door was kicked inward. A dark figure in broad-shouldered armor stood framed there as the vocal screamed.
"I'M A -- HEAD BANGER!!"
And before the Ruiner went about her gruesome work, Hadil Ainu gave the Eliksni a smile. Or at least showed her teeth.
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