[b]Standing With Giants[/b]
"Get down!" A man's voice demands. Abi turns in its direction and is tackled to the ground as a wave of dark energy crashes by. Her eyes are tightly shut as she collides with the ground. She opens them to see Leon lying on top of her. "Jeez, did they give any kind of combat training at the FWC? No wonder the Consensus hasn't acknowledged you guys." He stands up and removes the side arm attached to the waist of his hunter gear. He turns his head down towards her as his helmet transmats onto him. "Stand aside and let the professionals work."
Leon turns to face the enemy and fires several rounds in his direction. The bullets crunch like a can and drop to the ground as if hitting an invisible wall. Shay comes back to consciousness after hearing the shots fire off. He places his hand on his side where his armor has been damaged. There's a deep cut in his flesh where his body must've grazed a piece of glass or metal.
The mysterious Guardian prepares to attack Leon by channeling his dark energy into his right hand. He thrusts this hand forward, Leon quickly braces himself for impact, and suddenly the man is warped away. Leon puts his arms down and looks for the man but can't find him anywhere in site. A few feet away the mysterious Guardian appears and unleashes his stored energy into a group of innocent bystanders. The ground tears apart and the civilians are swept off their feet by the false Guardians attack. Like before he suddenly warps away. Leon reloads his firearm as Shay stumbles towards him.
"We can't kill him." Shay says with staggered breath.
"But sir, he's hurting the innocent. He even attacked you." Leon argues.
"If we kill him we won't have any answers for his actions. Any ideas on what's happening to him?" He asks to no one in particular.
"He appears to be transmatting uncontrollably." Leon's Ghost comments appearing next to his shoulder.
"I think he's warping out of space and time, probably like how the Vex move from planet to planet." Abi explains as she approaches the two of them.
"Close but not exactly." A voice says from behind them. The group turns to see Edison-12, Tesla-18, and Chiaharu walking towards them. "He's actually warping controllably between dimensions." Edison-12 continues to explain.
"The device that man is wearing is incomplete Hive technology, if it doesn't get removed he'll be stuck in that other dimension soon." Tesla-12 adds to Edison's comments. As she finishes the false Guardian warps back into their dimension, the pure darkness flowing out of his body scorching the ground beneath him. The entire Helldiver's team draws their weapons on the mysterious Guardian, except for Shay who limps towards the man.
"Sir don't!" Chicahru calls out, Shay gives her a look and she lowers her weapon.
"You need to stop what you're doing and remove that device which you stole." Shay begins to explain, "If you don't you'll end up in that other dimension for all eternity."
"This shouldn't be happening. I just wanted to be a Guardian, a warrior of light and defender of the innocent. I thought by simply being a good person I could turn this dark power into a source of light to help others." The man mumbles, his eyes staring off into the distance, not looking at anything in particular.
"I have a clear shot!" Leon calls out.
"No don't!" Abi demands.
"All over, there's people being pushed down, being robbed of their freedom. Being killed by this thing called the darkness. How am I any different from the rest of you? How do I get chosen? It's not good enough to just be a man anymore. You have to be more, you have to be a Guardian." The man continues.
"This privilege wasn't free, you know that now. It cost me everything. It cost me my life." Shay explains taking a step closer to the man. I shot rings off behind Shay and a bullet whizzes past him. The bullet ricochets off of the mysterious Guardians helmet. A crack forms down the center and splits open, the two halves drop to the ground. The man turns to look at Shay, the last bit of life slowly slips out of his eyes. He smiles as if saying thanks and he falls to the ground. Shay turns to his team to see smoke spewing out the end of Leon's side arm.
"I told you not to fire! What in the Darkness were you thinking?!" Shay scolds.
"Relax Ghandi," Leon begins to say, turning to Tesla-18 who gives him a smile. He turns back to Shay, "it's a tranquilizer."