Destiny 2 - Account of a Shaping

The Titan held his auto rifle at the ready, even if there was no need for it at the moment. He watched as the jumpship flew over the landing zone, while his Ghost monitored the distant shape of the Lure. There hadn't been any major activity from the Hive throneship since shortly after its unveiling, but the presence of any Hive ship of its caliber meant they couldn't relax. The Titan watched as the jumpship's occupant transmatted down to the sands, then raised his wrist-comm. "Char to all points. Principal on site."

Ikora Rey strode toward him. "Thank you, Ferris. Where do we stand?" she inquired.

Ferris Char shrugged lightly. "Chalco is on-task with monitoring the throneship. Nothing new to report since the Wolf got yeeted out of it."

"And our Warlock?"

Ferris scoffed. "Unsurprisingly, no word from Fenchurch since he went on reconnoiter."

Ikora's lips twitched in an almost-smile. "In his case, no news is good news. What about with the Relic?"

He shook his head. "Search me. I'm just here to look menacing in case the grub-lovers decide to flex."

"Take a break from guard duty, Ferris," Ikora clapped him on the shoulder. "Stand down and relax. I'll have one of the others take over for you."

"Obliged, boss." Ferris stowed his gun and transmatted away, to go on break.

Ikora strode on across the red sands toward the rest of the Enclave. Several of her Hidden were on site, whether updating investigation boards and databases, or taking readings from various instruments, or just providing site security. Several looked up as she arrived, nodding in acknowledgment, then turning back to their tasks. She was glad of this. When she was here, she was not looking to socialize, and the Hidden were very task-oriented.

As she came up to the wall of Dark Matter, the door slid open as another figure ascended the steps, looking up with thrice-green eyes. "Ikora," Eris Morn greeted her.

The Mad Doctor of Silk Street

The one person none of the heroes or villains fucks with is known as "The Mad Doctor". he treats anyone who seeks his help, in exchange everyone turns a blind eye when he shows up to underprivileged neighborhoods to deliver free and technically illegal care. the new guy learns the hard way.

Foreword: Another prompt from r/WritingPrompts. Again, I was struck by inspiration when I saw it, and decided to write another thing in the setting of the Allied Heroes Commission, in the same vein as Wildcard: Luck of the Draw.

Wildcard: Luck of the Draw

You are a reformed villain who was given a new identity to start over. The years have been hard, but you've managed to finally turn your life around. One day, a bunch of masked people break into your house and demand everything you have.

Foreword: I still browse r/WritingPrompts, because there are some talented writers in there. I don't usually participate, because my brain doesn't always catapult an idea into the creative center quickly enough. But it did this time for the prompt above, because I had some ready-made stuff in mind already, with the worldbuilding I did for a superhero setting, complete with the character Wildcard. This may not necessarily go anywhere after this, but I felt I had to use it.

Destiny 2 - Transcript of a Resonant Study

TYPE: Transcription

DESCRIPTION: Verbal notes from a person of interest, concerning a session of study about a recently acquired artifact

PARTIES: One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Wahei Ohr [WO] (POI #0247); One [1] Ghost-type, designate Vizier [viz]

ASSOCIATIONS: Black Fleet; Darkness; Dark Matter; Deepsight; Calus; Egregore; Ohr, Wahei (POI #0247); Pyramid; Relic (Mars); Throne World (Savathûn's); Witness

// AUDIO UNAVAILABLE //

// TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS... //

Destiny 2 - Account of a Heralding

The Crow stood at the back of the H.E.L.M.'s main deck, listening to the bellowed commands of the Bracus to the incendiors ahead. Flames flickered off the walls as the Imperial troops burned back the egregore infestation, all the way back into the Crown's chamber. Two legionaries stood guard, pointedly keeping an eye on him specifically. He'd initially tried to follow to watch the incendiors' work, but the legionaries had stopped him. When he'd asked why, one of them had pointedly looked at the doors to the shuttered Psisorium.

Crow sighed, regret and shame still knotting his stomach about the incident. He leaned back against the wall, at least partially grateful that the phantoms which the Crown had conjured up had not contained the Optus in their number. As it was, the occasional hiss of "Uldren Ssssoooovvv" from the specters was disconcerting.

"Crow." He jumped slightly, and turned to see that Eris Morn had arrived in her usual quiet manner. She might have stepped out of a shadow, for all her silence in her approach. The Light's Witch nodded to him, cradling her bone, and glanced to the legionaries. "Have they finished yet?" They did not answer, but a couple of moments later, the incendiors came clomping back to the main deck, followed by their commander. Eris looked up and bowed her head. "Bracus Galm. Thank you for your assistance."

"Dirty work," he replied. Gaal'matel wore the armor of an Imperial Centurion, augmented for this task with the coolant modules necessary for incendiary work. Markings on his breastplate and pauldrons noted campaigns he had undertaken in the name of the Cabal Empire, but all but three had been struck through with a black slash-mark. The Bracus rumbled on, with a note of reproach, "But necessary. Should've been done sooner."

"Some people were claiming that leaving it alone let them wind their hooks in deeper, to pull apart the fungus-mind," Crow remarked. "I personally wanted it burned out, pretty much immediately."

Eris sniffed slightly. "There were reasons it was left to grow, but those reasons are immaterial now." She turned her thrice-green gaze from the Bracus to the windows at the head of the ship. "With the Leviathan growing dormant, I will soon have the Crown moved off of the H.E.L.M."

"Good," Galm grunted. "I've been into the depths of Calus's Menagerie. Saw what it did to that gladiator." He tossed his head to one side, a Cabal equivalent of a shake of the head. "The sooner that thing is away from here, the better. Find a hole and lose the damned thing down it."

"With the egregore purged, I can now perform a ritual to close its connection to the network," Eris bowed to the Cabal and moved past them toward the Crown's chamber.

The Bracus watched her go, then turned back to the Awoken. "She gives me the bone-tremors. She doesn't do the same for you?"

Crow shrugged. "You get used to it."

Galm shrugged. "Doubt that. But come with me. Valus Forge asked to see you."

The Hunter stood at that. "What-- why?"

"He heard what you and your Commander went through aboard the Leviathan." Galm harrumphed. "He wants to see you. Let's go."

Crow brushed a bit at his cloak, and went with the Bracus and his incendiors back to the Cabal fleet.

Destiny 2 - Account of a Catharsis

Wahei's head jerked up as she heard the clanging on the door to her sanctum, quickly releasing the tension in her arm, then flicking a finger at the wall. A curtain dropped to cover the space across from her, and she blinked a few times to lubricate her eyes, dried out after a long unblinking stare. She tapped her comm. "Who is it?"

"Wahei, it's me." Eris Morn. "This is urgent. Please!"

The Warlock took out her umbral rosary and tangled it in her fingers, making a few flicks across its hand-carved beads, shifting her wards down out of defense mode, and then unlocked the door. Eris did not enter as it swung open, instead looking firmly at her with her thrice-green gaze. "It is as I feared," she began. "We were too late."

Wahei did not need to ask. "Calus. He's ascended?"

Eris shook her head. "I do not believe he has yet, but the Lunar Pyramid has surged to life in spite of our efforts. It has begun resonating. I believe Calus is assuming control."

Wahei immediately turned to her equipment racks, pulling on her armor and robes. "We'll have to stop him. Do the others know?"

"Yes. If we strike now, as one," Eris continued, "at the heart of Calus's presence within the Leviathan, we may yet be able to prevent him from turning the power of the Pyramid against us."

The Warlock nodded. "I'll contact my fireteam. Morgan, Rega, and Shaman together should be able to help burn through any resistance you encounter on the Leviathan."

Eris Morn was no fool, and she noted Wahei's choice of words. "You are not coming?"

She shook her head as she considered her weapon rack. "I will be attacking from a different angle. Calus's psychic imprint is huge, and he's trying to slither out of the Leviathan like a crab grown too large for its shell. I'm going to cut him off before he can reach his new one." Wahei contemplated her weapons again, and decided that there would be a deep irony in using the trophies that the exiled emperor had given her as payment for services rendered. She holstered an Austringer on her hip, then checked the clip on an Epicurean, and examined the edge of her Death's Razor.

Eris blinked. "You're going into the Pyramid?"

Wahei slammed her sword into its sheath. "It's the only way to be sure I can catch his psychic shadow and force it into the Light. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to be sure he won't overwhelm me." She began to pack some items from her work table into her satchel as she went. She paused, and picked up a jar, one festooned with sigils and wards, iron wiring wrapped around it. Its contents shimmered faintly with a sanguine luster. "There should be enough power in this phantasmal energy I bound after a few containment rituals to kick off one final severing." She handed this to Eris, before sliding a second one into her pack. "And one for me, to use inside the Pyramid."

The Light's Witch examined the jar. "Egregore, bound and contained," she noted. She looked up again. "You've been paying attention to my work," she noted, with no small note of pride.

Wahei smirked. "You may be the foremost expert on Hive arcana, but I'm fast catching up."

"I've no doubt you'll see great things with your insights," Eris said, and clasped her forearm. "Be careful, Wahei. Going into a Pyramid always carries risks."

"I'm a Guardian," the Warlock shrugged. "Trouble follows."

Destiny 2 - Transcript of a Severing

TYPE: VANGUARD SURVEILLANCE REPORT

DESCRIPTION: Conversation between a person of interest and a phantom

PARTIES: ### [#]. One [1] Guardian-type, designate Wahei Ohr [WO] (POI #0247); One [1] Nightmare-type [u.1]; One [1] Memory-type [u.2]

ASSOCIATIONS: Calus; Crown of Sorrow; Darkness; Disciple; Egregore; Haruspex; Leviathan (Cabal Ship); Nightmares; Ohr, Wahei (POI #0247); Pyramid (Lunar); Scryer; Witness

//AUDIO UNAVAILABLE//

//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS...//

Destiny 2 - Transcript of a Mycelial Conversation

TYPE: H.E.L.M. INTERNAL SURVEILLANCE REPORT

DESCRIPTION: Conversation between persons of interest

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Guardian-type, Class Hunter, designate Eris Morn [EM]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Wahei Ohr [WO]; One [1] Nightmare-type [u.1]

ASSOCIATIONS: Calus; Crown of Sorrow; Darkness; Egregore; Haruspex; Leviathan (Cabal Ship); Morn, Eris (ERI-223); Nightmares; Ohr, Wahei (POI #0247); Pyramid (Lunar); Scryer; Traitor's Die; Umbranomicon; Witness

//AUDIO UNAVAILABLE//

//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS...//

Destiny 2 - Transcript of a Haunted Conversation

TYPE: VANGUARD SURVEILLANCE REPORT

DESCRIPTION: Conversation between persons of interest

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Cabal-type, designate Emperor Calus [CAL] (VIP #3801); One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Wahei Ohr [WO]; One [1] Nightmare-type [u.1]

ASSOCIATIONS: Calus; Crown of Sorrow; Darkness; Haruspex; Leviathan (Cabal Ship); Nightmares; Ohr, Wahei (POI #0247); Pyramid (Lunar); Savathûn; Scorn; Scryer; Witness

//AUDIO UNVAILABLE//

//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS...//

Destiny 2 - Account of an Exorcism

"Wahei?" Vizier's voice interrupted her reverie as the Awoken Warlock looked up from the Traitor's Die and the cat's cradle she'd fashioned from her rosary. Wahei Ohr blinked eyes that felt raw, dry, as they would do after an unblinking, unseeing stare into probability, and the maddening tangle she kept seeing.

As she came back to awareness, the Ghost went on, "There's an incoming message from Queen Mara via the H.E.L.M."

I need to pace myself. Morgan was right, I need to sleep more frequently. Wahei pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes and let them rest a bit. "Put it through."

The comm crackled and then the Sovereign of the Awoken's voice came through. "Guardian Ohr," she began. "The time is at hand."

Now she looked up. "The exorcism?" The ritual was at the center of the tangle in the skein...

"The beacons shine bright, and the Ley Lines are set in place," Mara Sov agreed. "My Techeuns are prepared to perform the ritual that will separate Savathûn from her worm. Although she claims she will help us in our fight against the Black Fleet and the Entity that commands it," and the Queen's sneer could be heard in her voice, "she cannot be trusted."

Wahei looked down at her journal. The two open pages were covered in automatic writing scrawl, overlapping and looping, but after decades of practice, she knew how to decipher her own handwriting, even in this state. The visions she'd glimpsed through the veil, the probabilities she'd scryed, as disjointed as she could perceive them. So many had been around this very event. "Seems like we've been waiting for ages," she muttered, "and yet this feels too soon..." I need more time to see the way through. "The things that she could tell us, even with the lies woven through them--"

"You have coaxed enough information from her for my purposes," Mara Sov interrupted. Wahei frowned. You, perhaps. But there are other players on the board, O Sovereign of the Awoken. As the Warlock ruminated, the Queen was still speaking of the danger that Xivu Arath posed, concluding with, "You once swore to aid me in my plans. I call on you once more, Guardian Ohr."

Wahei sighed to herself. "I'll gather my team and head for the Dreaming City." The Queen closed connection as the Voidwalker looked down at the circle that she'd drawn around herself. Runes and markings lined the perimeter, with several nodes containing artifacts she'd hoped would help focus her visions, including the components she'd pried out of Magda-9's forecasting device-- a piece of Reef Amethyst, a Splinter of Darkness, and a Shard of the Traveler. Placed in front of her had been the Wayfinder's Compass, which glimmered in a way that only someone familiar with paracausal energies might have detected.

She collected these all and slipped them into a pocket on her satchel, then began to slowly wipe the chalk markings of the circle off the cold stone floor. Vizier watched her. "What did you see this time?" the Ghost asked quietly.

Wahei looked up and out of the entrance of the cave where she'd holed up, the shape of the Pyramid sitting ominously on the horizon, through the haze of a distant snowstorm. Again and again, details change, but the outcome seems to be the same. How do I stop the ritual from failing?

"Constants and variables," she sighed.

Destiny 2 - Seeking Foresight

Wahei : warlock : kingslayer : seeker of insight

1 : the Ley Lines converge : the worm gods roar : for the Reef : Light against Darkness : the Rachis falls : a Techeun sniped : the ritual fails--

2 : Saint has doubts : the War God smiles : the Reef defiant : I see you : the shield breaks : the Queen crushed : the ritual fails--

3 : the Hive pours forth : hold this line to the last soldier : I see you : we're being overrun : an ogre bellows : a Queen Taken : the ritual fails--

4 : the ritual holds : I see you : there's too many of them : break against my shield : Light ascendant : risen from bones : the ritual fails--

5 : I see you : none shall enter : swarm and scorn and blight : snipers duel : hammer against rage : a blighted detonation : the ritual fails--

6 : I see you : hold this line : I see you : none shall enter : I see you : reach through the veil and twist : I see you--

7 : I see you : searching through the twisting lines : seeking a path to victory : there is a way past failure : all those roads lead to me : and it is majestic : majestic--

Wahei : voidwalker : shadebinder : Haruspex 

Destiny 2 - Transcript of a Tribunal

TYPE: Transcription

DESCRIPTION: Vanguard Tribunal 3647.59

CASE #: TRIB-3647-59-POI-0480 (Magda-9)

PARTIES: Twelve [12]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Titan, designate Commander Zavala [CZ]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Hunter, designate Shiro-4 [S4]; One [1] Human-type, designate Sarielle Shu [SS]; One [1] Human-type, designate Valentin Anders [VA]; One [1] Human-type, designate Deputy Commander Hammon [DCH]; One [1] Eliksni-type, designate Eido [EID]; One [1] Psion-type, designate Tsacsii [TSA]; One [1] Awoken-type, designate Zahid Pan [ZP]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Magda-9 [M9]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Ikora Rey [IR]; One [1] Exo-type, designate Elsie Bray [EB]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Wahei Ohr [WO]

ASSOCIATIONS: Black Fleet; Bray, Clovis I; Bray, Elisabeth [AKA Bray, Elsie; Stranger, Exo]; Clarity Control; Clovis Bray (corporation); Consensus; Crota; Crow, The [AKA Sov, Uldren]; Darkness; Eliksni; Endless Night; Eventide; Forge Star, The [AKA 2082 Volantis]; FOTC [AKA Civic Defense]; Great Disaster; Hive; House of Light; Last City; Light; Lux Ruinas; Mahal, Aunor; Namrask [AKA Akileuks]; Ohr, Wahei; Praxic Order; Reef; Sacred Splicers; Shadows of Salvation; Shadows of Yor; Stasis; Tribunal; Vergift, Dredgen [AKA Versenne, Magdalene; Magda-9]; Vex; WoS; Xivu Arath

// AUDIO UNAVAILABLE //

// TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS... //

Destiny 2 - Shadowfall III (END)

Elsie Bray led the way through the manufactory complex. "I've been down here before," the Exo Stranger told the rest of the team. "I know some of the places that Versenne might be located."

"No need." Jinju, Ana Bray's Ghost, piped in. "Looks like Vizier left some nav markers for us. Plus, Wahei had said something about Vergift going down into the Vex caverns. I'll bet she had Vizier mark the route for us."

Shin Malphur kept his hand hovering over the butt of the Last Word on his hip. "From what you said, Vergift worked in this place in her first life. I'll bet she's got traps all over. So, eyes up, everyone."

Aunor Mahal kept her pulse rifle ready. "When we find her, I want her taken alive, Malphur." He shot her a look over his shoulder, but the Praxic Warlock met his gaze firmly. "I don't care about your own personal code, gunslinger. The Praxic Order still seeks to redeem those who stray from the Light."

The Man with the Golden Gun scoffed. "Didn't work out too well when you captured Teufel, did it?"

Aunor whirled on him, poking him in the chest. "We still have to give them the chance. How many Warlords changed their ways after taking the Iron Decree?"

"For every Shaxx, there were at least two Citans," Malphur retorted. "And redemption depends on the person thinking they did something wrong. Guarantee you Vergift doesn't think she's in the wrong."

Ana looked back at them. "Can we save the debate for later? We should be keeping an eye out for traps."

"Agreed," Elsie piped in. "I'm picking up some kind of strange signal in here." She looked at Aunor. "Same one we picked up earlier, before the Golem turned up. It's probably how Vergift is monitoring everything in here."

"Let's just hope that Ohr's sensible enough not to engage her before we get there," Malphur grunted.

Rega-7 barked out a laugh. "Wahei can be rash sometimes, but she's not that foolish."

~*~*~*~

Destiny 2 - Shadowfall II

Versenne : engineer : Magda-9 : warlock : Vergift : armorer

1 : the City burns : an empty Sky : the Pyramid : your god has forsaken you : a Queen falls : a Queen rises : Darkness ascendant : salvation--

~*~*~*~
The entrance to the Braytech manufactory had been cracked open some time long before, snow and ice crusting over many surfaces inside the vestibule. The power had been cut off in this part of the facility, with only a handful of flickering emergency lights providing illumination. Elsie Bray didn't need the lights to see, with her Exo eyes, but Aunor Mahal did not have the same advantage, so her Ghost had compiled out and was shining his light around. Here and there, disabled security frames stood wreathed in ice, and fallen Exos had collapsed against walls or counters.

"Bahaghari, can you detect Wahei?" Aunor asked, warily regarding the area.