Masterpost: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/253000143/0/0 In an unknown location, Arcturus strolled around a well-lit underground lair. His dark blue robes fluttered above the floor as he approached a large Vex frame resembling a hydra, but heavily modified with two long arms and a diamond shaped head. It was suspended in the air by multiple bronze claws. “Damocles.” He spread his hands out before the chassis. “We are so close to accomplishing our goal.” He looked behind him, at the rows of stolen mote banks and piles of their contents conveniently out of view of the Vex chassis. The thought-voice responded instantly. =I lack something. This chassis cannot be manipulated with our current equipment. Track down this sister mind of mine. We will dub it Damocles to hide my identity.= “Hide your identity? Ah, I see. When this sister mind is dealt with, your name will go with it.” Arcturus fired up a communicator as he returned to the hallway of mote banks. “Be on your a-game, fellas! Wasp’s around here!” Lacer combed through the dense red Nessus foliage in his path. Zahir walked straight through the leaves, followed by Ascella, who cut the branches with her knife for Procyon and Auva to pass through easily. They broke through the forest and were met with a large bowl shaped indent in the ground set against a corner of two towering stone walls. Vex marched upon the center of the indent in waves, which housed a large hydra. It ferociously launched its torch hammers at Wasp-14, who weaved through them and the countless slap rifle bullets with ease. “Hey!” Auva yelled to get the hunter’s attention, but only drew the fire of several goblins. “I’m itching to teach this guy a lesson. Let’s go!” Ascella launched a shadowshot in front of the team, and they got to work. Zahir leaped forward and destroyed a line of goblins with a slam of arc energy, Procyon began firing his hand cannon at the hydra, and Auva gathered void energy in her palm. Lacer’s finger lightly caressed the trigger of his sniper rifle as he looked over the field. Vex, guardians, a hydra, more Vex, and trees flew by his scope. “Guys! Where the hell did Wasp go?” The titan panned over his surroundings again to be sure he hadn’t missed the hunter. The chaos of the battlefield fell silent to his ears as they were rushed with blood. He looked left and right again, breathing heavily. “Right here, tub shoulders!” A large barrel peeked out from behind a tree, and the vast shape of a drake tank followed. It turned its barrel toward Lacer, the target of highest elevation. “Shit!” The titan began forming a shield of void energy and he was quickly struck by a massive bullet. “Lacer!” Ascella ran toward the resulting explosion as her comrades continued battling the Vex. “He has a tank?!” Auva smashed a goblin’s head into the ground before she began to back up. The distant vehicle clicked as it ejected a large shell. “Get ready!” Zahir ran forward and braced himself. Auva had used her nova bomb to decimate a group of minotaurs, and Procyon’s chaos reach was used to burn away at the hydra’s chassis. That left his thundercrash. “Uh oh.” Wasp watched the approaching missile titan through the tank’s heads-up display and kicked the hatch open above him. “Time to abandon ship!” He sprung out from the tank, catching as much air as he possibly could. Zahir barely managed to avoid hitting the tank and thrust himself upward to change his trajectory. Wasp showed no emotion as he ran away, continuing the chase. He was faster. He’d be able to catch the hunter… “There we go! Thanks for making my life a whole lot easier!” Wasp kicked against the hydra’s shields and jumped away, leading the titan straight into the Vex mind’s body. A brilliant explosion of arc energy sent pieces of bronze flying everywhere, catching the attention of the other guardians. “So you were after this Vex.” Zahir looked around him, trying to pinpoint which piece of the robotic menace his enemy was after. “Yeah. This Damocles is gonna fetch a pretty penny.” The hunter boosted into the air, performing a backflip to catch a circular mind core. “Hey, that’s not good!” Ascella watched the scene while holding Lacer, whose head had begun regenerating from his skull, “whatever messed up Vex tech that caught you guys and killed Altair is gonna get even more out of hand if he gets that mind core! I just know it!” Zahir, Auva, and Procyon fired their weapons at Wasp, who began retreating to his tank. “Ugh…” Lacer clutched his head as he regained consciousness and took in the situation for himself. My pride’s gonna suffer for that one… Hey, Ascella, you ever hear the story of how Efrideet…” “...Threw Saladin like a spear? Of course I do. She’s a model hunter!” “I need you to try your best.” Lacer pat Ascella on the shoulder and jumped into the air. “Woah- hey! Are you saying I’m not as good as her?” She caught the titan in her arms. She was glad Lacer elected to use slimmer armor than most of his class. “You can have time to be jealous later!” The last of his sentence jolted in his throat as he was thrown by an angry and adrenaline pumped hunter. “Alright, you two cent gun for hire!” Lacer raised his fist as he sailed through the air in a tangle of limbs. “You better grit those teeth!” The titan didn’t quite land a punch, but his body crashing into the hunter was enough to send the two tumbling down a hill. “Get offa me!” Wasp grunted, spinning as he descended. He jabbed his elbow upward at the base of Lacer’s helmet, knocking it clean off and exposing his shaggy brown hair. Lacer was soon flung off of the hunter by another attack before they reached the base of the hill. They both took a moment to collect themselves as they stood up. Wasp brushed his shoulder and began to chuckle. “What’s so funny, punk? I’ll hit you for sure this time.” The titan cracked his knuckles. “I knew it. I know who you are. Your skill with a sniper. Your vanity. Your face. Your stupid name!” Wasp held a knife in one hand and pointed at Lacer with the other. “Stupid name?! Hey, take that back!” Lacer lashed out and began stomping forward. “Your pride, too. You’re Bootes, aren’t you?” Lacer’s foot slammed into the ground as he stopped. His face remained solid. “I knew it. I knew you didn’t die!” Wasp began to laugh again. “You know I took after you, right? You inspired me to become a mercenary! And now look at you. You’re a lackey for the Vanguard. What’s next? You gonna settle down? Start a family?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lacer retrieved his helmet from the ground and put it on. “Lacer?” Zahir stepped over the hill, calling out after his friend. Lacer clenched his teeth. Of all times to show up, this would be the worst. “What’s all this about taking after you?” The exo titan kept his eyes trained on Wasp and drew his pulse rifle. The footsteps of the rest of his team followed behind him. “Didn’t ya notice?” Wasp gripped a hand cannon holstered at his waist, “the best one out of all of you at killing guardians was this fool! Tell me, how much do you really know about him, huh?” “I’m not listening to a word you say.” Zahir trained his sight forward. “Tell us about this Vex mind. Tell us about your boss. You’re outnumbered.” “I’ll get outta jail like it’s nothing. Go ahead and arrest me.” Wasp bluffed nervously as Auva, Procyon and Ascella appeared beside Zahir. He didn’t expect to run into so much resistance on a simple retrieval mission. “Ya know, you’re awfully quiet.” He turned his attention to Lacer. “Why don’t you spit it out, eh? Tell them the truth! You were a heartless killer who’d do anything for a mountain o’ glimmer, right?!” Lacer was visibly shaken by Wasp’s words. He felt several pairs of eyes burn into him from behind like watchful beasts ready to snatch him up. “It’s not true.” He whispered for nobody to hear. Procyon’s fingers twitched. He felt a rising amount of tension fill the air. He wasn’t going to watch as the one man he had left to look up to, his fireteam leader, was shamed in front of him. He didn’t care if Wasp was telling the truth or not. In that moment, all he saw was vulnerability. Pure vulnerability. A stream of arc energy erupted from his hand, and the ground began to split under their feet.