Destiny: Legend Untold, Chpt 12 Pt 5

[u]Chapter Twelve: The Old and the New[/u] Part Five "FIRETEAM DOMINANCE!" Drew resumed his shouting. "I swear, his names are getting worse," Sierra grumbled. "B-But, I came up with that one..." Sally's hurt voice spoke up. "Uh oh," Sierra said worriedly. "Hey guys the round is starting!" I interjected, Sierra letting out a relieved sigh at the distraction. In moments our boots were touching solid ground, three Guardians not of our team appearing around us as well. We were in Exodus Blue, an area located in the Cosmodrome and only recently secured for Crucible use. The remains of colony ships and their launch platforms pierced the low-lying clouds that drifted lazily across the sky, and the Exodus Blue structure in turn towered above the ground below in an attempt to touch the sky like its neighbors. We stood amongst the usual remains of the Golden Age; crates and tarps laid out everywhere and metal beams and walls broken down from the wake of the Collapse. "Clash! Engage and execute all targets!" Shaxx's booming voice tapped into the coms of each Guardian as it did every Crucible match. "Let's show Glamour what we can do," I told my team as Shaxx left the channel. Weaving through the stacks of crates, Sierra took position aiming down the sniper lane on the right while Drew took the narrow-way on the left and I took the building through the middle. Our three teammates all rushed past us as they saw our strategy, two of them taking the indoor route on the current right edge of the arena and another picking his way down the sniper lane. As I moved behind the terminal columns and crate stacks within the entrar building, I heard shots go off and my HUD alerted me of an enemy death, then two sniper rounds sounded and two of my teammates were down as well. Crag was sniping, as expected. My HUD's motion sensor went off and I flipped around the crate I was behind to confront a charging Hunter. My opponent had known I was there, but even with his hand cannon raised in preparation he was not ready for the speed in which I closed the distance between us. Only one round from his cannon impacted my shield as I stepped forward, and just as the Hunter's knife appeared in hand for use, my first swung down from its quick arc into his helmet. The Hunter was knocked to the ground by the force of my blow and was still collecting himself as I leveled my count rifle and fired a couple rounds into his head, already looking away from him for my next target. In those few seconds that I had been occupied, another enemy had moved into radar range, and as I turned around to face the hole that was busted into the side of the building, a blur of pink and white shot inside. Trixie's approach was fast and marked by a trail of Arc energy, and as she came at me she used that energy to surge toward in a Shoulder Charge. Knowing that when a Striker used Shoulder Charge they could use the Light required for the attack to direct themselves off course towards their target, I made a small move rather than a large, easy to track one. By moving back a bit with the impact and pushing her right arm up and away from me, I managed to reduce the impact so that I was merely caused to stumble backwards with my shielding taken out. Trixie paused for a moment with surprise at my survival, but was quick to draw her hand cannon from its place on her hip. But I would not give her time to finish me and kicked at her knee. She took the blow well because of her metal body, but was a little shaky as she swung a punch at me so I was able to block and jab at where her ribs would be. But Trixie endured my blows and brought her fist up into my chin, knocking me away from her. In the next instant, we both had our weapons raised and exchanged one shot each. After the few brief seconds of revival, I found myself coming to my feet several meters from where Sierra was currently bunkering down. It really was helpful for events like the Crucible that our Ghosts could revive us in areas a short ways off from our last death, as long as there was a strong enough presence of Light. Sierra only tilted her head towards me for a brief moment as I moved up closer to her and the sniper lane, but I knew she would cover me so I took a chance peeking out. "Rush, Wire Rifle," I requested, securing my scout rifle on my back. "Crag's covering the inside hall," Sierra reported cooly, "I'm having a bit of trouble getting in; some amateur counter-sniping." "I'll get you a clear shot," I responded, my stolen Wire Rifle was already in my hands. Stepping out into the open, I quickly spotted my target: a Titan, crouched up on a toppled chunk of the building with sniper rifle in hand. Holding down the trigger, a blue glow shone out from the nozzle of my Weapon, drawing the attention of my opponent. A bullet flew past my head just as a blue bar of molten metal surged forth from my rifle's barrel, sailing through the air to burry into the Titan's shoulder. Sierra fired another round immediately after that pierced the skull of our opponent, launching his body from its perch. "Let's go," Sierra commanded, already moving for the large pipe that led through a whole in the building's wall like a tunnel. Jogging ahead of her, I dove out of the tunnel and into the building fast enough to just barely avoid the sniper round that flew over my head, landing in a roll that carried me behind a column supporting the roof. Sierra stepped out of the tunnel immediately after my maneuver and fired a shot off at our attacker, resulting in a his of pain from what I could tell was Crag's voice. He fired at Sierra in turn and she hid back in the tunnel, but I was already stepping out from behind the column to finish him. Unfortunately, when I pulled the trigger there was no blue glow or hum of the cartridge heating up, and after a moment of confusion I stepped back into cover, another bullet from Crag deflecting off of the concrete just by my shoulder. "What gives?" I asked Rush, switching back to my scout rifle. "The Arc battery must have run dry. You really should have had a gunsmith look at that and improve the battery life," Rush answered. "You never told me these things ran out of charge," I scolded my Ghost. "You never asked," Rush retorted. "Shut up and help me," Sierra interjected. "Hey guys I found Trix-" Drew was cut off with a metallic thunk, and after a moment my HUD reported that both he and Trixie were down. "She keeps doing that," I shook my head. "There goes a chance for a flanking maneuver," Sierra muttered, and at that we both leaped out from behind cover and took Crag down together. "Ow," Sierra grumbled, recovering from a shot Crag had managed to land on her side, "He is one stubborn son of-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as a splay of energy bolts shot through the gaping hole in the building's side and finished her off. Suddenly Veronica was rushing in, the fusion rifle she had used on Sierra still in hand. Surprised by the speed she moved at, even in her heels, as well as the fact that I hadn't sensed her approach, I fumbled to raise my weapon in time. But it was too late, and I only managed to get one shot off at her shield before she was upon me, twisting my arms out to my sides and using them to pin me back against the column. "Crag told me you like learning," Veronica said sweetly, "Too bad that brain of yours isn't inside a Warlock." Collecting myself, I pushed Veronica off of me, leveling my gun at her as she landed gracefully on her feet. "Maybe I can teach you something," the Warlock spoke almost to herself. "Such as?" I inquired. "Step one, keep asking questions, even if you haven't received any answers," Veronica instructed. "What are you-?" I began, but was cut off as a sniper round from Crag blasted through my skull. He had snuck a clean shot on me from outside radar range while I was distracted. I was dying more than usual this match; Fireteam Glamour was very skilled. But even so my team managed to get plenty of kills on them as well and we kept the score neck and neck. Trixie fought much as Drew did, although she was a bit more cautious as she couldn't take as much of a beating as him. Crag sniped the whole time; even when he was attacked close up he would still manage to land shots without looking down the scope. The hand cannon on his hip remained untouched. Veronica was a phantom: hard to kill and cruising through skirmishes at a quick pace. Each time I encountered Veronica she would drop another instruction or phrase: "Knowledge is power", "don't restrain, manipulate", and "the Void is the answer", to state a few. Of course, during some encounters she was just flirting. At one point I was crouched behind a Fallen crate in the building marking one edge of the arena and shooting down anyone who came across the opposite end, but I made the mistake of staring down the barrel too long without checking my motion tracker. Something red and close-up moved in front of me to block my view, and I looked up expecting to see an ignorant teammate but instead found my head at level with the low-cut collar of Veronica's robe. With reddened cheeks I quickly snapped my eyes up to look at Veronica's face, but found the barrel of fusion rifle instead. "Eyes up, Guardian," Veronica chided, then pulled the trigger. ____________________________________ Link to Chpt 12 Pt 4: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/223245529/0/0 Link to Chpt 12 Pt 6: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/223245910/0/0