[u]Chapter Nine: A Name, a Door, and an Angry Russian[/u] Part Five "Is that-" I began. "The Array," John and my Ghost confirmed simultaneously. We continued forward, moving between cargo crates and around a radio antenna to a ramp that led to another entrance to the building. A large banner hung over the entrance, golden in color and baring a white Fallen symbol. Fallen bodies and piles of Hive dust and bone littered the ground, the Fallen wearing armor of yellow coloration and occasionally displaying the symbol on the banner. These were members of House Kings. The entrance at the top of the ramp had Fallen crates littered around it, several with more banners draped over them. As we passed them I grabbed a smaller cloth that had the symbol on it, a cloth about as long as my thigh and wide enough to wrap around my arm, and stuffed it into a pouch that I had attached to my chest plate a few days back. Inside lay the skeletons of long-dead Array operators and a series of computers and screens that were currently flashing with all kinds of code and images. Nothing living occupied the room. I opened a channel to the Vanguard. "We just got to the Array control systems, what happened here?" I inquired. After a moment Cayde's voice came through. "Oh that other Guardian beat you to it and activated the Array. Yeah he was just standing here holding off wave after wave of Hive. Wonderful fight, that boy makes me proud," Cayde explained. "You're gonna love watching our mission recording," Sierra mumbled sourly. "Huh?" Cayde asked distractedly, "Oh yes yes I bet you guys did a great job fighting through those little Hive and Fallen skirmishes." "Were you even paying attention to what happened to us?!" Sierra asked angrily. "I was paying attention!" Cayde defended, but then seemed to cave in to the guilt, "Well actually was... I had to... I wasn't paying attention." Sierra seemed pretty ticked off but somehow managed to calm down after a few moments. "You're luck you're such a great Vanguard," Sierra muttered, "It's alright Cayde." Drew and I stared at Sierra in shock; she didn't act nice or apologize. Ever. She noticed and I could feel her icy glare stabbing at us from behind her helmet. "Ah that's my girl!" Cayde exclaimed, clearly overjoyed that she had forgiven him, "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you and watch your mission recording. You see, Zavala? This is why Hunters are better, they forgive each other." Drew seemed a little confused by that last comment and I let out a quiet sigh. Even in my short time I had noticed that many Hunters were lone wolfs and not very friendly towards others, even each other. And especially not very forgiving. I'd have to admit that Cayde is an exception though, aside from the lone wolf part. "That's enough Cayde," Zavala's exasperated voice came in on the channel, "Report, Guardians." "We managed to get through Rasputin's barrier and made a rather large pile of Hive remains. We also left behind a horde of upset Hive and just now arrived at the target location. The good news is that the other Guardian had a whole lot less Hive to deal with because of us," I described to Zavala. "You have my empathy for the unfortunate bump in your mission, Guardians," Ikora's voice told us, "But why would Rasputin do that to you?" Before I could answer Cayde rejoined the conversation. "Hey, uh, Zavala," he said nervously, "This Frame is telling me that we can't control the Array." "What?!" Zavala and Ikora exclaimed. We heard frantic typing and Ikora issuing commands. After a moment she stopped and told us, "Rasputin has taken the Array from us." I though for a moment why everyone else let out their current frustration at Rasputin. "He wanted to cut down the risk of a Ghost interfering with his plan," I mused. "So he stopped you to increase his chances of taking control unnoticed," Ikora finished, for she had heard my suggestion. "We must attend to this and try to get a response out of Rasputin," Zavala stated in a determined tone, "Return to the Tower, Guardians, and hope that the Vanguard doesn't require your skills soon." Right before their coms cut out I heard Cayde's voice saying, "That sneaky little-." The channel went silent. "If I had only gotten past that door faster..." my Ghost mumbled regretfully, appearing above my shoulder. "Hey, it's not your fault," I soothed him, "Rasputin would've been tough for any other Ghost, you're now more qualified to go against him than anyone else." "Still took a long time to open one lousy door," Sierra teased. "You didn't have to rush me," he replied. "That's it!" I shouted, interrupting the conversation. "What?" My Ghost asked? I looked up to him and smiled. "You're name is Rush." He mulled it over for a moment, the separate sections of his shell whirling around him. "I love it," Rush told me. ________________________________ Link to ToC:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0 Link to Chpt 9 Pt 4:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/215289356/0/0 Link to Chpt 10 Pt 1:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217491857/0/0