Destiny: Legend Untold, Chpt 14 Pt 6

[u]Chapter Fourteen: Bread Crumbs[/u] Part Six This time a few dozen forms fell out of the anomalies, each landing with a metallic '[i]clang[/i]'. Amongst this wave I spotted a few Vex that looked different from the others. Instead of dish-shaped heads, they had two long protrusions sticking straight out to the sides of their heads like horns as well as an attachment on the back of the pelvic area that looked and behaved oddly like a tail. Their arms had more equipment and armor and the guns they wielded were much longer. Each of the Vex with that appearance started backing away from me for high ground as soon as they landed, letting the other Vex advance past them. [i]Typical move for snipers backing up forward troops[/i], I deduced, making a mental note to keep an eye on them. Risking collective damage from incoming fire wasn't an option this time with so many more adversaries, so I began to run to reduce the odds of being hit. Streaks of red flew through the air after me, only some colliding with my shielding while all the others flew by to scorch the ground or architecture behind me. I kept moving, unable to take a break to shoot back with such little cover immediately next to me, and the Vex foolishly clustered together while attempting to pursue me. Looking over my shoulder with an amused grin, I concentrated my Light into my hand and tossed back a purple Magnetic Grenade that attached itself to one of the Vex in the center of the bunch. To my surprise, several Vex suddenly dissipated into collections of glowing blue particles that seemed pixelated, their now undefined forms shooting away from the grenade to reform the Vex bodies safely outside of the blast radius. Only two Vex were destroyed by a grenade that had been intended for several. "What?!" Rush gaped, "They can use teleportation at short range too?!" "Incredible!" I exclaimed, taking the revelation in a much different way than Rush, "And all at the same time! The calculations needed to do something like that without error or collision are-!" My train of thought hit a wall. Or a column, rather, along with the rest of me. I had forgotten my surroundings as I ogled over the Vex, but had continued to run until I was suddenly halted with a flat '[i]thump[/i]'. Dust kicked up from the old metal as I stumbled backwards, chastising myself for my foolishness. "Not. A. Word," I growled, knowing Rush would make fun of me. "Oh, I won't say anything," Rush could hardly hold back his laughter, "And neither will the pillar." "Why you-OW!" a bolt drove into my shoulder, bursting through my shielding and leaving the smell of ozone behind. I looked from the smoking patch on my armor up to one of the horned Vex standing at the opposite end of the area, its gun realigning for another shot as its fellow Vex began to recover from the grenade diversion and search for clear shots at me once again. "Stairs!" Rush guided me, suddenly serious as the Vex began to box us in. I quickly spotted the staircase he was talking about and rushed past the pillar I had hit just as another bolt flew at me from one of the snipers. Rushing underneath the cover formed by the level above me, I slipped up the stairs and ran past shelves towards the back of the the room where the snipers were trying to figure out where I had gone. My pounding footsteps alerted them of my approach, but they still could not manage to shoot me as I vaulted the railing of the platform and tackled the closest one to me. The Vex skidded to a stop under my weight a few moments after we hit the ground, its metal chassis grating against the few exposed patches of concrete, and before it could make a move to get me off I swung a punch at its exposed midsection. My closed fist hit the Vex full force, but did not make a dent in the casing holding in the white fluid. An orange glow now surrounded the Vex I sat on top of, it's arms and legs curled up protectively around it as it lay there, completely immobile. Frustrated, I pulled my arm back and swung again, this time with an open hand that stopped a few centimeters before impact to let loose a pulse of energy. No reaction. "It appears to be locked in stasis," Rush commented as I puzzled over the curious orange field of energy. "How do we get through it?" I asked. "You wait, but we don't have time right now," Rush supplied. As I stood up, a bolt hit my back, busting through my shield, followed by another that tore a hole clean through my left arm. Yelping with pain, I dove off of the fallen Vex and looked back to see that two of the other horned Vex had gotten clear shots at me while I was getting up. Tossing a grenade at the two, I didn't have to keep my eyes on them to know that they teleported out of reach, but looking back did allow me to catch the downed Vex releasing its orange field and stumble up onto its feet. I put a column between myself and the Vex just in time to avoid a barrage of fire, and stood there for a moment while my Light restored my wounds. The hole through my arm no longer hurt beyond a dull throb, but I raised my arm in front of my face to see that a perfect circle was carved clean through my armor and even bone. Moments later the muscle closed back over the gap, refilling the empty space, and after that my armor was restored by Rush. "Let's not get hit by one of those again," I thought aloud, listening to the clanky steps of the Vex milling closer to me. Suddenly, a glowing object shot past my face and landed a few feet in front of me, casting a violet light over me and the rotting bookshelves. "They really know how to light up a room," I sighed ruefully before flipping around the column and jumping over the railing between me and the Vex. As expected, a small explosion sounded behind me as I charged the Vex, choosing to take them head on instead of skirting around as I had been doing. "Duck," Rush commanded, sounding almost bored, as I shot down a few of the closest Vex to me. I put my head down just in time to dodge a beam of energy from one of the snipers, then brought my fist up into another Vex as I rose again. "That joke was terrible, by the way," he informed me. "Well sorry for not-" I faltered for a moment when a few bolts broke through my shield and singed me through my armor, but quickly dispatched the Vex that did it, "-not being a comedian." "You act like you're a comedian. A sorry joke of a comedian, really. Ouch, harsh method," Rush commented as I tore off the gun arm of one Vex and used it to smash open the body of another before finishing off the first with a shot to the stomach. "Haha, so funny," I panted sarcastically, glad my Light was restoring my wounds as fast as I was getting them. "Snipers again!" Rush cried, dropping the jokes. I had cleared a space around me just big enough for the three snipers to get a clear shot, but the other Vex around me cut off my options of evasion even if I hadn't been too hurt for such big movements. All three tips of the snipers' weapons began to glow bright red, charging up for their shots, before I flung my arms out to my sides, wisps of energy coursing around my hands and stretching out around me. The Ward of Dawn's barrier came down around me just in time to catch the three charged blasts, along with a fair amount of weaker ones from the other Vex. Light coursed through me in my pocket of safety, instantly restoring all of my wounds and reinvigorating me. Then one of the Vex stepped in on my right, along with one that teleported through in front of me. My fist shattered the head of the one to my right, sending it reeling back, then I raised my cannon and shot the other in the chest a few times before it fell. Another came in along with the now erratic Vex that had lost its head, and I tore through both by swinging my leg through them in a sweeping kick before flipping around to punch through the stomach of a Vex that had entered from behind me. A dozen or so Vex remained, most passing into the Ward as I shook milky fluid off of my hand. Thinking quickly, I formed a grenade in my hand and jumped straight up, dropping the glowing ball of Light before bounding up once more to get out of the Ward's reach. The Vex all clustered in just as the grenade went off, and using a short burst of Light I propelled myself towards the snipers, managing to shoot one on the leg as I descended upon them. The harmed one quickly curled up and produced the stasis field around itself, leaving itself unable to assist its allies. I tore through the body of the next sniper and then shot the other in the head, blowing it off clean. To my surprise, it did not try to enter stasis and instead grew aggressive as the other Vex did, charging at me with electricity crackling over its limbs. Clearly not thinking, it closed the distance on me before it's gun even began to charge up, and I quickly grabbed its arm and pointed the weapon at the last sniper, which had just come out of stasis. The bolt tore a hole strait through the chest of my target, which I finished off with a couple quick shots from my scout rifle before taking out the frantic sniper with a quick punch. _____________________________ Link to Ch14 Pt5: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229276832/0/0 Link to Ch14 Pt7: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229277301/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0