Preface: In the epilogue of Destiny 2's Season of the Splicer, bigoted antagonist Lakshmi-2 tried to remove the Eliksni from the Last City using Vex technology, but instead sealed her own fate and unleashed the Vex on the city. Includes my rendition of Mithrax and Saint's tag-team defense...
The Parlour, Magpie District
"Aw, great, looks like the voice of hatred's got words again." Rega-7 glanced up from her hand to look at Sleight-3, across the table from her. The other Exo was looking past her to one of the various screens that adorned the interior of the Parlour. Other patrons and players were looking up from their games of chance as well to see the controversial leader of the Future War Cult speaking.
Rega shook her head and turned back to the game. "Let her spew her bile all she wants," the Hunter tossed a card down and was dealt another one from Paul Kent. "I don't like her."
Sleight eyed her. "Really? Heard you spout a few unkind things about Fallen yourself, Rega, once upon."
She scoffed. "I don't like people who shoot at me. But hey, Saint's been speaking up for House Light. That's good enough for me."
Then Paul glanced around at the screens. "Wait. What'd she just say?"
The booths in the Parlour had speakers, and he reached out to up the volume on theirs in time to hear Lakshmi. "--have learned how to safely command the power of the Vex--"
Rega did look around now. "What?" The Hunter shook her head, slamming her cards down on the table. "Lakshmi, you rot-brained boltneck!"
"--will tear open a rift, banish the Fallen to the depths of--"
The Hunter shoved part of her earnings into the pot, pocketing the rest. "Sorry, gotta go! Paul, talk to you later!" And then she was gone, out the door at a run, with several other Guardians rushing out of the Parlour in similar haste.
Eliksni Quarter, Botza District
"All fireteams! Find and close that incursion point!" Ikora's voice carried an urgency that most younger Guardians hadn't heard before. Older Guardians hadn't heard that note since Twilight Gap. A haze filled the air of the Eliksni Quarter as Vex teleported in, turning their weapons upon anything non-Vex. Near the camp, House Light Eliksni were retreating behind walls, as their Kell stood between them and the machines. His shrapnel launcher thundered as he turned it upon the Vex.
"We are overrun!" the Kell of Light shouted into his comm over the din of battle. "Please, we cannot hold them off for much longer!"
An unexpected voice cut into the channel. "Do not worry, Mithrax! I am on my way!"
Mithrax blinked to hear it. "No! You must protect your people!"
But then a form in spiked armor adorned with purple ribbons dropped into view, slamming his glowing violet shield into the face of a lunging Minotaur, which cracked and fell. The Titan backhanded a Goblin with one hand, racking a shell into his shotgun with the other. He caught another as it charged, slapping a grenade onto its chest before booting it back into its fellows.
The Eliksni hiding in their shelter stared along with their astonished Kell as they beheld the silhouette of their nightmares outlined in the conflagration behind it. "You ARE my people!" the Saint declared.
Boundary of Magpie and Botza Districts
"What's going on? Why are there Vex?!"
The observer looked on as the two civilians lowered their sidearms, glancing past the cringing Eliksni before them, seeing the crackling of energies, the construction of data artifacts, and the warbling drones of the Vex over the noise of combat. One, their face paling, turned to the other. "This is--"
"--part of the plan, right?" the other asked, shaking. "I mean, this was what Lakshmi wanted, right?"
"She didn't say anything about the Vex!" the first blurted.
The civilians, sporting armbands with the crimson standard of the New Monarchy, fell into frantic, hissed conversation. No one would ordinarily have been able to hear them, but the observer was well practiced in hearing things whispered in secret. As they debated what to do, one of the Eliksni-- a caretaker of hatchlings that nestled close in the sling wrapped close to their body-- cautiously chattered a plea, one of their lower hands gently cradling the whining hatchlings, while an upper reached out in supplication. The civilians flinched instinctively and aimed their guns, prompting the caretaker to scurry back, as the other Eliksni angrily closed ranks and snarled at the humans.
"Children!" one of the Eliksni barked. He pointed a dactyl at the caretaker's charges for emphasis. "You aim gun at children!" He spread all four hands. "No guns here!"
"Stay back!" one of the humans ordered, holding their sidearm with a nervous two-handed grip.
"Brass-spawn stop not Eliksni!" another Eliksni interjected. "Will kill all! Help us safe!"
The humans brandished their guns again, but the Eliksni did not back down this time. The humans shared another uncertain look, until there was a crackle in the air, a shift in reality, before two Vex Goblins materialized, their cold red eyes focusing on them all. The caretaker was directly in front of them, and fell backward in alarm as one Goblin reshaped its hand into a Slap Rifle. The Eliksni whirled around, one rushing forward and trying to push the Vex's arm up and away from the hatchlings. Another Eliksni tried to shove the other Goblin back, only to let out a shriek as the Vex's hand grabbed it by the skull.
A staccato report echoed out, and the Eliksni wrestling with the arm-cannon flinched as a ricocheted fragment scraped its brow. Vex and Eliksni both turned to see one of the humans aiming his sidearm at the brass armored invader. With a scrape of metal, the Goblin threw the Eliksni grappler off by rotating its arm, and then brought it around toward the human. Another burst of fire came from the other human, sparks flying as the bullets collided with its skin.
One of the Eliksni called out, "Box! Shoot box!" They pointed at the glowing white radiolaria container. Both humans adjusted their aim, firing together, and the Eliksni jumped back as the white mind-fluid splattered from the shattered box. The Goblin crumpled, and the Eliksni struggling with the second Goblin maneuvered themselves out of the way, pulling one of the Goblin's arms up and back. Another burst of fire, and the Vex collapsed into a heap atop its spilled milk.
There was another crackle in the air, nearby, and the humans quickly beckoned to the Eliksni. "Come on!" One of them pointed to a building. "In there!" The other moved to help the caretaker to their feet as more Vex started to appear. Several of the Eliksni hurried to shelter, while one of the Eliksni that had fought the Vex grabbed one of the Vex arms from the heap, brandishing it like a club. Seeing this, their fellow picked up one as well, turning to the two humans and nodding their gratitude.
The hidden observer smiled quietly as the humans sang under their breath. "Rise up as one," one began. "March towards the sun," the other concluded.
Schnell Corporation, Botza District
The building had fallen into some disrepair over the past few years, since the Red War bombardments that devastated the district. Schnell Corporation had moved their operations to other buildings, and in any case, their manufactories were located in other parts of the City. This had served the infiltrators of the Kell's Scourge well, enabling them to set up camp in Botza District. After the Scourge's war machine had been smashed, Schnell had taken steps to try to reclaim their building. It was slow going, but in the past few months, they had sought to establish some rapport with the refugees in the Eliksni Quarter. This was in part because an Eliksni engineer had shown herself capable of modifying a meat smoker into a small, fuel-efficient ground vehicle, and they saw the potential in working with them to develop new technologies and vehicles.
The workers in the building and their Eliksni cohorts had tried to throw up barricades and retreated to upper levels as the Vex encroached into the lobby. Some began marching up the stairwells in slow, steady pursuit of the inhabitants, while others found a basement access and spread down there. Klyfiks helped pull furniture in front of the doorway, having to skitter back as a Slap Rifle shot punched through a table. A Minotaur loomed into view behind the makeshift barricade, shaping its spare arm into a blade and chopping through the furniture.
"Well," sighed Ron Davidson, the supervisor for the human workers, "I think this is it." He turned to Klyfiks. "And I was looking forward to working with you."
The Eliksni engineer nodded. "See each other in House of Silence, together," Klyfiks replied.
The Minotaur stopped suddenly, its frame turning away, and they could see the other Vex behind it swiveling around and marching back down the stairs. The workers and Eliksni shared a glance, then cautiously approached the barricade, hearing the Vex firing as they moved into the basement. There was a lull in the firing, through which they could just make out a faint, distorted three-note motif, before a distorted vocal screamed out.
"I'M A -- HEAD BANGER!"
"Oh shit," Davidson whispered as he pulled one of his workers, as well as one of the Eliksni, back from the barricade. "It's the Ruiner!"
Beside him, Klyfiks was likewise pulling people back from the barricade. "The Noisy Death," she confirmed. "Has killed many."
They could see flames flickering on the walls of the stairwell as the Vex began to fall under an onslaught of bullets, fire, and ice. All of the hiding survivors grew silent as they saw the dark-armored figure hacking through Vex with an axe made of fire, then lunge forward with a lance made of ice to plunge it through the Minotaur's eye. All the while, the Ruiner's pulsing, distorted electronic beat continued to play as she went about her work.
It did not take long. Soon enough, the Vex were all dead, and the Ruiner stood beyond the part-destroyed barricade, the flames around one fist fading, the ice riming the other diminishing. The Titan's helmet, with its v-shaped visor, turned to glance in the barricade's direction, but a voice called up the stairs. "Ruin, get back down here. Kalki's found the cache."
The Ruiner called back. "On my way." She glanced one more time in the barricade's direction, and the ice began to climb back up her arm from her fist. "Just give me a--"
"Now," the other voice, a raspy, man's voice, barked. "Soon as the Vanguard's mopped up that crazy boltneck's mess out there, I want us to be in the wind."
The Ruiner grunted. "Fine." But before she left, she hurled another frozen javelin through the barricade, spreading crystals of ice in a line, before stomping back down the stairs.
In the office, the survivors let out a collective breath. "Why Noisy Death here?" Klyfiks asked Davidson.
But the human supervisor shook his head. "Search me. I don't know," he translated a moment later. "But if I remember right, there was some old Golden Age weapons bunker underneath the district." He glanced at the stairwell. "I'm fine with waiting for, like, a week or so before we send anyone down to check it out."
Edge of Eliksni Quarter, Botza District
A fusillade of burning knives rained down, incinerating a troupe of Vex, and Rega-7 landed on a Minotaur, knocking it onto its back, where she fired her hand cannon into its juice box. She ducked as a Wyvern turned its Warp Lance on her, but then there was a purple flash as Wahei Ohr appeared in front of its optics, unleashing a blast of Void Light into it, knocking it back as it scattered to fragments and ash. "So nice you could join us, Wahei!" Rega groused as she swapped to her sniper rifle, taking aim at a Hobgoblin and punching a hole through its box.
"I was in the area," the Warlock replied, "thought I'd drop by and lend a hand." She lifted up a breech-loader and launched a grenade into another cluster of Vex. "How've you been, Rega? We don't talk much these days."
"Seriously!? You want to play catch-up now?!" Rega rolled her optics. "Not the time, Wahei!"
"Come on, when else are we going to do it?" Wahei glanced toward the circle of data artifacts and the Vex terminal in the middle, and mused, "Do you think we should--"
"--go help them? No, Young Wolf and the Splicers have got that handled." The Hunter shook her head. "No, we need to focus on thinning the swarm out here. They just keep coming, and if we don't slow them down, they could wreak havoc in the city."
There was a thoughtful silence from the Warlock, even as the two of them continued to battle the enemy. Rega knew what that silence meant, and she'd reached a mental count of three, when Wahei finally spoke again. "I don't know that 'swarm' is the collective noun for a group of Vex. 'Swarm' is usually reserved for insectoids and arachnids-- hence why we use it for the Hive, and formerly for the Eliksni-- although I'll grant you the malign connotations in the word makes it an attractive word to use for the enemy, regardless of the enemy's physiognomy--"
"I've missed your pointless rambling," Rega grumbled, shooting another Goblin dead, then flinging a knife into another's juice box. "But really, Wahei, this is not the time." She swapped back to her sniper and peppered an large Hydra's chassis with bullets. "Why are you in the area, anyway? I thought you were off 'seeking insight.'"
"I was, but priorities have shifted." The Awoken flung a vortex grenade into a group of approaching Fanatics, then flash-drew her sword and chopped through a Minotaur that had teleported close. "I've been tracking Bog's crew."
Rega stopped, looking at her. "Alone!?"
"Of course not alone!" Wahei snapped back. "I am not an idiot, Rega, in spite of all the muttering about it you do when you think I can't hear you. Morgan's been helping out where he can, and I've been getting help from others."
The gunslinger was about to retort when there was a shift from the center of the battlefield, as a red light shone from around the Vex terminal, then a brighter flash of light and Light. Rega-7 and Wahei looked at each other, and then the former toggled her comm. "Young Wolf, do you need further backup? What's going on over there?"
There was no response for a moment, and then they could hear the voice of the Kell. "There are too many Vex! We need that portal closed!"
A moment later, Saint-14's voice could be heard also. "Ikora, Zavala, any Guardian who can hear us! We are in need of aid! Is anyone near our position?"
"Saint! I read you!" Rega called out into her comm as she reloaded her weaponry. "We're on our way!"
But they heard Mithrax again. "We are alone. Then... we must fight as if this is our last!"
Rega-7 blinked. "Saint! Mithrax! Do you copy?" She turned as Wahei touched her arm.
"Something's interfering with the comms." Wahei was frowning. "Everyone is sending, but no one is receiving." She pinched her chin in thought. "But it's not just a normal blockage. Because the Vanguard can get their words out, but they can't hear any of us." Her eyes narrowed. "Someone's playing games."
"Come on," the Hunter shot a lingering Goblin dead. "We need to go help."
"You go," Wahei reached into a pouch on her belt, drawing out a looped length of leather cord with a number of hand-carved beads at various intervals. "Someone needs to clear up the interference, and I have a little experience when it comes to doing that." She wound the cord around her fingers and began forming a cat's cradle with it, muttering under her breath.
"Wahei?" Rega-7 glanced toward the Vex Terminal, then back to the Warlock. "What are you--?"
"Shush." Wahei's eyes weren't seeing her as she manipulated the cord and the beads thereupon. "I make all of this look remarkably easy, but that belies how difficult this is. Think of it like working a loom, but the warp and the weft are sometimes in parallel or even perpendicular dimensions, and the shuttle is in another plane entirely, and actually this comparison isn't really as accurate as I make it sound, but it's the closest you'll ever get to understanding the difficulties--"
"Not the time, Wahei."
But she gave a slight shake of her head. "Shush." The beads glowed with an unnatural radiance, and Wahei shifted one last strand of the cradle, before a portal opened behind her. It reminded Rega a lot of the portals she'd seen the Hive, or Eris Morn, conjure up. The Warlock dropped the cradle, wrapping the cord around her wrist and palm, then drew her own hand cannon, stepping through, but not before telling Rega, "Go clear out the Vex!" And before the gunslinger could follow, the portal shut.
Eliksni Quarter, Botza District
The defenders' weapons were running dry. Mithrax had had to cast aside his shrapnel launcher when the hopper ran out of material to churn and fire. He drew forth his wire rifle and tried to maintain the steady rhythm of aim-charge-fire, aim-charge-fire, as those Eliksni who had been fighting to protect their home ran out of ammunition and battery charges. Some had fallen, at last, under the Vex's relentless assault.
They drew back into the shelter of The Saint's Ward, several Eliksni whining, keening in instinctive terror of the monster's shell, but he merely urged them behind him, his arms held out to either side to maintain the Ward's integrity. Mithrax drew back to put a fresh magazine into his rifle. From inside, they could see several groups of Vex being drawn away from the refugee camp, other Guardians and City defenders luring them off with their attacks.
Then there was a warble from the gauntlet on Mithrax's wrist. He looked at it, then back up as the data artifacts and Vex constructs around them started to flicker and degrade. The Vex portal started to fade, just as a team of Guardians came back out of it, drawing off more of the Vex forces. Even so, the numbers were still great as the Vex kept advancing. Saint staggered briefly as his Ward finally faltered, but the indefatigable Titan just squared his shoulders and drew his Perfect Paradox. More refugees hurried toward them ahead of the advancing line.
Mithrax told Saint, "The Subjugated Mind has been defeated. The Guardian has done it!"
The Titan nodded, then beckoned to the Eliksni. "The Guardian has broken their portal! Keep behind us! We will not let them harm you!" He blasted a Goblin back with his shotgun, then saw a young Eliksni stumble and fall as a Torch Hammer blast hit the ground behind him. Saint stepped forward and helped him to his feet. "Stand, friend! You will not fall today!"
The refugees cringed back as they heard The Saint bellow with fury, but instead of turning his fists on them, he leapt forward and smashed a Vex to the ground. He laughed with battle-glee as he turned on the Vex with fire and fist. Mithrax shot down another Vex of his own, before looking over the ranks of the advancing machines. The numbers still looked grim for them. He glanced aside to the Titan known to them sometimes as the Violet King. "If we do not survive, this is the story the Eliksni will tell," and he gestured with a lower hand at him. "Of The Saint standing beside us."
Laughing, Saint-14 clenched a fist in the air in solidarity. "And you with me, Kell of Kells!" Thumping his chest, he turned back to the brass-clad army. "Together, we are enough!" Behind them, the Eliksni's hearts sang with confused pride, hearing the monster of their nightmares exalting their Kell so.
The refugees and the two men standing in front of them all stepped back as a Nova Bomb exploded in the front ranks of the Vex, annihilating most of them. Ikora Rey drifted from the skies, a smirk on her lips and a wink in her eye. "More than enough." She gestured to the battlefield, and they saw.
Commander Zavala, with Amanda Holliday at his side, had taken the field, coming up behind the Vex onslaught. There, in another direction, Praxic Guardians were leading FOTC militia forward. In another, two civilians charged in with two Eliksni brandishing clubs, the former having torn the New Monarchy armbands off and casting them aside. More Guardians were arriving on the scene as well, along with more FOTC forces. Together, Lights and Lightless, Mankind and Eliksni, charged forth to reclaim their city.
Nearby, a hidden observer looked on and pronounced themselves satisfied with the outcome, and with no visible change of expression, turned and departed.
Somewhere Else, At Once Near and Far
This was a place that one could visit, if one had the knowing. Most who knew of it used it as a waystation, of sorts. A place one stopped on the way from one destination to another. One did not stay here for long.
As the hidden observer arrived, they found a figure sat lotus-style on a stone, fingers steepled and wrapped in a beaded leather cord. "Going somewhere?" the interloper inquired.
The observer inclined their head. "Kingslayer. I did not expect you to find this place."
"It is well-hidden," the Warlock agreed. "It took me some time to find it. And even then, I couldn't really see it. Merely the suggestion of a shape of it."
The observer's eyes narrowed. "How did you find it?"
The interloper clicked her tongue. "I never tell secrets. But you understand this, don't you?"
They didn't reply immediately, merely looked at her. "So what happens now? Do you mean to kill me?"
She was silent, fingers still steepled, though now pressed to her chin as she looked upward in thought. "Eventually," she decided. "But first I'd need to make sure that I wasn't playing into your hand in doing so." She smiled at them, but it did not reach her eyes. "After all, there are such secrets surrounding you, and these I must untangle before I make a move."
They frowned. "Then why are you here?"
She shrugged. "Various reasons. Untangling your interference with our comms was just the excuse I gave to my friends. And, as always, gaining insight." She gestured about the waystation. "A very interesting place, this. I'll have to find one of my own to make use of. And being here... it gives perspective. Always important."
"I don't expect you to tell me what insight you've gained." They spread their hands. "After all, you never tell secrets, yes?"
"Oh, there's no secret there," she replied, cheerfully. "If you want two hostile forces to cease hostilities, you give them a common enemy. And to secure it, you remove the objectors from the equation, either by driving them out, or eliminating them completely." She nodded. "Masterfully done. But I'd expect nothing less. Such games are entirely within your bailiwick."
Now they smiled as well. "So you think you see the board, do you?"
"Not all of it," she shrugged. "But I see most of the pieces, and I can see the side edges. Perhaps not the other end of the board." She tapped her chin thoughtfully again. "Or, to use a different metaphor, I've been counting cards, I have a good idea what cards are in the other players' hands, but I'm still trying to make certain whether we're playing taroc or poker or some other game entirely. Last thing I'd want to do is think I've won by assembling a full house, only to find we're playing rummy."
They actually chuckled. "I could remove you from the game right here," they pointed out.
She chuckled as well. "You could try. But I think you wouldn't be able to do it before he finds you." She gestured over one shoulder with her hands, indicating a pale figure beginning to materialize on a not-too-distant rock elsewhere in this place. When they looked at her with shock, she chuckled again. "I told you. Various reasons for coming here. One was to expose this place and rob you of a bolt-hole." She flashed another one of those cold smiles. "To go back to the previous metaphor-- Check."
She pulled her palms apart to reveal another cat's cradle, the beads on the cord flashing, before she abruptly vanished. The observer cursed, seeing the Huntmaster taking aim with his Longbore. With a quick gesture, they vanished from the waystation, moments before a blast of decaying star-matter obliterated the waystation.
Zela Tatu lifted his gaze from the sights of his weapon. "Clever girl." And then he, too, vanished from the demi-plane in pursuit of his quarry.
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