Preface: Something of a follow-up to "Dark Hunts" and "The Huntmaster, Forsworn." Inspired during Solstice of Heroes 2021, following the lore of the Compass Rose shotgun implying the three Guardians depicted below were going to become a fireteam...
"You're sure this is the right place?" The Warlock asked as she ducked under a fallen tree, regarding the somewhat threadbare forest around them. "Ikora said this guy was hanging around Botza with the Eliksni refugees."
The Hunter nodded, turning and pointing into the distance. "He's not far from it. Botza's Wall is just over there." He shrugged, his shotgun resting on his shoulder. "Besides, this guy's a Hunter, and you know we like it outside the Wall."
She nodded doubtfully. Unlike her teammate, she had no weapons on her, though her Ghost was primed to compile one into her hands in a blink of an eye if needed. "You know anything more about this guy? All Ikora said was that he's a relatively new Light. You think he's one of the new Russian cohort?"
"I know a little bit. He's been making some waves in the past year or so." He nipped over a log and a pile of rocks as he went on. "Word is he First Rezzed out in the Reef somewhere."
The Hunter then paused, held up a hand to her, and with a twitch of his shoulder, let his Ghost decompile the shotgun. Turning to her, he indicated for her to look silently ahead of them. She caught up to him and followed his gesture, where she could see a small group of Eliksni in House Light colors clustered around a copse of bushes. When she looked closer, she saw they were gathering berries into fine woven baskets. She moved to rise from her crouch, but the Hunter shook his head and indicated for her to wait.
A moment or two later, a figure in a white cape and hood stepped into view from behind another tree. He was just distant enough that she couldn't make out his words as he called to the Eliksni, who looked up at him, then turned to see the pair of Guardians in the distance. She heard them chitter nervously and shy away, but the white-cloaked man held up a placating hand to them, then approached the Guardians. As he approached, she saw a gleaming hand cannon holstered on one hip, and after a moment's hesitation, he pulled out a black lacquered mask and slid it over his blue-skinned face before she could make out details on his features. A Ghost in a purple-and-silver shell flitted into view behind his shoulder.
"Hello," the other Guardian asked as he walked up to them. "Are you the two Ikora sent?"
"That's us," the Hunter agreed, standing up and making a point of showing that he didn't have any weapons holstered, less for the Guardian's benefit and more for the Eliksni. The masked Awoken nodded slowly, and then turned to the Eliksni, calling out something in their language. They seemed to relax, but they moved away, giving them a wide berth as they circled around to head back toward Botza, but the Awoken called out again, gesturing for them to wait.
Turning back to the Guardians, the Awoken shrugged. "Sorry, they don't completely trust other Guardians right now."
"I get it," the Hunter shrugged back. "Even if we ran with their Kell for a while, there's a lot of distrust to overcome."
"They call me Crow," the Awoken introduced himself. "This is Glint." His Ghost bobbed in the air in greeting. The Hunter and Warlock introduced themselves and their Ghosts, and then Crow added, "Also, there's something out here which has been stalking the woods out here for a while."
The Hunter tensed and turned his head to scan the vicinity. "Define 'something.'"
"It's Hive, whatever it is." Crow grimaced. "Based on what I saw back in the Reef, that's not a good thing."
"Very much not a good thing," the Warlock agreed. She turned to her partner. "I'll follow the Eliksni, keep anything hostile off their backs." At a nod from both Hunters, she swept off to shadow the refugees.
The Hunter turned to Crow. "Take me to where you last saw it." They began to move further into the forest. "How many has the Hive killed?"
The masked man shook his head. "No one, yet. It's strange," he agreed, off the Hunter's incredulous look, "but so far it hasn't killed anyone. Just... watching."
"Never heard of a Hive not taking the opportunity to kill something," the Hunter muttered, then paused a moment. "Wait a second." He turned to his Ghost. "Wasn't there something in those files Ikora sent over about some HVT that's been sighted around the system?"
His Ghost blinked their optic. "You're going to have to narrow it down. There's a lot of Hive HVT's on that list."
"No, there was that one listed as being sighted out in cis-Jovian... Enceladus!" The Hunter snapped his fingers. "That's where it was!" He started to step toward Crow. "Come on, we need--"
Further discussion was cut off when there was a flash of sickly green light, as corroded metal claws snapped up in a circle around the Hunter, who froze in place as a thick miasma filled the space between them. The Crow whirled, starting to draw his hand cannon, but then he dodged aside as a thin bolt of decaying star-matter punched a hole through the oak tree he'd been standing before. Both Ghosts chirped in alarm and decompiled out of sight.
Crow put his back against a large stone and tried to sneak a peek over it. He caught a glimpse of a large pale figure with the sweeping crest of a Hive Knight. It cradled a Boomer in its hands, but this one looked sleeker, smoother, with a longer barrel. With another flash and a blast of rotting stellar energy, the top of the stone was cracked, and Crow just barely got below the line of fire before it took his head off. As it was, it knocked his hood back and nearly blinded him.
There was a pause, and then a deep voice rasped out, "You cannot hide from me, Lightborn. I have you sighted."
Putting aside his surprise at a Hive speaking in the common human tongue, Crow eased his cannon from its holster, trying to gauge the distance, to extrapolate where the Knight was standing from the sound of its voice. "Bit rich to accuse me of hiding when you've been skulking around out here for weeks."
But instead of the rage that he expected to hear, the Hive replied dispassionately, "I am stalking the prey I have been set to hunt. I know where they have gone to ground."
Crow paused, glancing briefly over the cracked stone, but the Hive did not take the shot. He saw it glancing up from its Longbore's sights and staring into the distance. He followed its gaze and saw it was regarding the not too distant walls of the City. "You're taking a big risk, coming this close to the City. Lot of Guardians around here. You're just asking for someone like the Young Wolf to come down here and put you in the dirt next to Oryx."
"If I must be challenged in order to hunt the prey I seek, then so my will must be sharpened," the Knight intoned. "Aiat."
In his ear, Crow heard his comm crackle with the Warlock's voice. "Glint sent word to me. On my way back. Stay strong, Crow."
Crow raised his voice again. "Last chance to stand down and walk away."
"You overestimate your capabilities, Lightborn." The Longbore fired again, and Crow winced as he felt the bolt heating up the stone behind him. "I have been stalking prey across the cosmos since before your benighted system was birthed. I have hunted in the most inhospitable climes and killed prey whose power eclipses yours."
"Mine, maybe," Crow conceded. "But I'm not alone."
In a flash of movement, he dove out from cover, rolling across his shoulders, then springing to his feet and up a nearby trunk, kicking off of it in the same instant. The bolt from the Longbore punched a chunk from the tree, and then the Knight raised a hand to summon forth a shield of darkness to intercept the flurry of shots from Crow's hand cannon. When it lowered the shield, it saw that Crow's other hand had flung out a knife, tracking this and seeing it strike the base of the Hive-trap containing the other Hunter.
The Knight cursed in Hive-speak, stepping behind the cover of the tree and starting to move away at speed. Crow saw the Hunter coughed a few times as the miasma shrouding him dissipated, drawing a hand cannon of his own and starting to hustle for cover himself. And from further back, the Warlock's sniper rifle cracked and narrowly missed the retreating Hive Knight.
"I have underestimated you, Lightborn," the Hive rasped. "I concede the field today. But my prey will not escape me. And you would be wise to start hunting her as well."
As the Warlock joined the two Hunters, they saw the Knight conjure a rift behind it and retreat through it. "Dammit," she muttered as she lowered her rifle. "I shouldn't have left you," she told her regular partner.
"Don't worry about it," the Hunter assured her. "Neither of us could've known it laid traps around here." He turned to Crow. "We should scope out the area, just to be sure there aren't others around here."
"Agreed," Crow slid a fresh magazine into his hand cannon before holstering it. Then he looked at the Hunter. "You said something about knowing who that Hive was? Something about Enceladus?"
The Hunter nodded. "Yeah. Heard tell from another Hunter who'd been out that way, ran smack into a four-way battle of sorts in the caves there. Barely made it out of there. But her report mentioned a 'big pale Hive' that matched that guy's description. The annotations in the report from the transcriber said that the Hive was called Zela Tatu, the Huntmaster."
The Warlock looked up in surprise. "Wait. Yeah, I remember that report." She looked grim. "There was a follow-up one after the Black Fleet arrived. Said Zela Tatu was seen in supplication or worship to one of the Cryptoliths."
Crow frowned. "Great. I thought we'd taken care of all the Wrathborn by now," he sighed.
"That's the thing," the Warlock shook her head. "I'm not sure he's a Wrathborn. He doesn't act at all like any of the Wrathborn that were sighted a few months back. But it does sound like he's in service to Xivu Arath."
"We'll have to report this to Ikora and Zavala," Crow sighed again. "Even if we're going on a different mission for them, they have to be informed."
"Agreed." The Hunter paused, then coughed delicately. "Before we go into the City, though, you might want to fix your mask."
The Awoken froze, realizing belatedly that the shot from the Huntmaster which had nearly taken his head off, had in fact knocked the mask from his face. As he looked around frantically to see where it had fallen, the other Hunter held it up. It bore a few scratches from the shards of stone which had grazed it, but it was still intact. "No worries, friend," the Hunter smiled. "Your secret's safe with us."
"None of us are who we were before our Ghosts found us," the Warlock was smiling too. "And we don't care who you were. It's who you are that matters." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward the gate that led to the Eliksni Quarter. "You're looking out for Mithrax's people. And that makes you alright in our book."
"Come on," the Hunter clapped Crow on the shoulder. "Let's clear the area of traps. Then we can get your mask fixed."
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