It was five O' clock, Sunday night. The family and I hung out and played games, but now it was time for Dad's favorite TV program--whatever Lord Shaxx was hosting. He grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, Mom diced up onions and tomatoes, I grabbed some root beers, and Conner flipped through the channels looking for TCL (Tower Crucible Live). As he was flipping through the channels, I saw one that said 'Strength of', but I didn't get to read the whole title. Anyways, we all gathered in the living room and waited for the match to start. Tonight, it was on Mars. On the fourth planet from the Sun, Guardians were stretching and checking their equipment. Shaxx's booming voice set the terms of the match--which was simply "claim victory"--and the two teams of three transmatted to the surface. Mayhem Skirmish was not a typical game-type, but it's the Age of Triumph. One team consisted of one hunter, titan, and warlock; their Egyptian style armor was a dead give away that they were Trials players--elitists. The same could not be said for their opponents. The other team had two hunters and a warlock--one of the hunters was the Iron Lord, Gideon Fidel, that helped us fight the Technomancer. I did not recognize the other two. The bottom of the TV screen brought up kill counts and fireteam names. Tonight it was 'Osiris Bosses' (I already got an idea of what to expect from them) against 'Fireteam Ares'. I had to admit, that was a cool fireteam name. The hunter on Fireteam Ares, that wore forest camouflaged armor, crouched down and propped his No Land Beyond sniper rifle up. He trained his sights for the far side of the map. Gideon whipped out his dual hand cannons and ran off while the warlock gave the other hunter cover; she carried the Last Word. "Got my back?" The hunter with No Land Beyond, Matson Murdock, asked while focusing on the iron sights. "Like always!" The excited warlock, Laurel Heron, replied. She kept scanning the hallways to make sure no one flanked them. The hunter kept his eye steady with the iron sights of his weapon. "Come on. Come on, come on, come on..." he mumbled as he watched the massive locks of the abandoned Cabal door shift. Someone was about to step through. As soon as the door opened, the hunter pulled the trigger and headshot the titan of the other team. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed before getting up to move. "Nice shot, Matson!" The warlock cheered. "He was wearing the mock of Saint-14; his head practically said 'shoot here'," Matson replied with a chuckle. The two Guardians ran outside, and the hunter propped his sniper rifle up. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone. Immediately, Matson's body exploded into ash. Laurel shrieked loudly and hid behind cover. She peaked her head over the box to look around. The enemy hunter was standing in a window above them, holding a sniper rifle too. The warlock summoned a solar grenade and threw it up; it flew past the hunter, but spiked him from behind with a fire-bolt. The hunter fell to the ground, but quickly got up and sprayed bullets from his old Doctrine of Passing. The warlock jumped into the air, fan-firing her golden hand cannon and finished off the hunter. Once the Guardian was dead, she ran over to her friend's ghost and revived Matson. "Nice, Laurel!" The ghost, Panoptes, cheered while spawning Matson back. "Thank you!" Laurel replied while giving an elegant curtsey. Gideon began speaking over the fireteam chat. "I think they're coming for you two! I'm not seeing them any--" gunshots and static replaced the man's voice. Laurel and Matson turned to each other. Once in the narrow hallways of the map, the hunter switched to his shotgun, but the warlock still carried her The Last Word. They stayed low and against the walls, trying not to be spotted. Matson peaked around a bend to see down the barrels of two auto rifles, and the scope of a sniper rifle. Laurel started to dry heave when she saw the gory remains of her partner splatter onto the wall behind them. A Void arrow stuck into the ground beside the Awoken woman. The pulsing orb of negative Light sprang outward and grabbed onto Laurel's throat. A smoke bomb detonated at her feet, choking her up and obscuring her vision. Laurel tried to back out of the smokescreen, but fell from a window and was hung by the Void tether. Gideon and Matson ran outside and saw the body sway before Crimson, Laurel's ghost, transmatted it. The two hunters turned to each other, then readied their weapons. The Iron Lord triple jumped into the window and aimed both hand cannons down the hallway. No one was there. Matson jumped up as well, keeping his finger on the trigger of his shotgun. Matson searched a small room near him and quickly cleared the corners. It was also empty. Outside, in the hallway, Gideon was quickly firing bullets and killed the enemy warlock. Matson spun around to give assistance, but watched as the Iron Lord's back shattered as a titan shoulder-charged him. Matson hid behind the wall before he was filled with bullets. He pulled his knife free from the sheath on his belt, then waited for the titan to come after him. The titan stepped through the doorway, and immediately felt a knife pierce his left lung. Matson pushed the wounded titan against the wall, driving the knife deeper. The titan struggled to push Matson away, but was losing too much blood. Finally, the titan died. As the titan's body dropped to the ground, Matson laughed and placed his knife back in its sheath. Behind him, he heard the sound of a shotgun being pumped. "Ah, f***..." Matson groaned. TCL censored cuss words for the viewers. "Heavy ammo inbound!" Lord Shaxx said to the six Guardians. Laurel stood at one of the heavy ammo crate spawn locations, waiting for her team to join her. Matson respawned, but Gideon was nowhere close. The Iron Lord snuck to the other ammo crate, where the enemy team gathered. He channeled Solar Light into both hand cannons, then charged forward. Three shots fired, three mounds of ash formed. However, the warlock self-resurrected. His wings illuminated the chamber and radiated with immense heat. Before the warlock could react, Gideon fired three more times into the Guardian's chest. "And stay down," he declared while taking the heavy ammo. Laurel ran outside with a rocket launcher mounted on her shoulder. Despite the immense size, she was quite mobile with it. She looked around, trying to get a lock on someone. After hearing gunfire, Laurel panicked and launched a rocket into the second story window. She earned a double kill. "Nice!" Matson said while running over to check Laurel's arm. Suddenly, she died with a shot through her heart. Matson caught her body, then dragged her behind cover. Growling, he switched to his No Land Beyond, then scanned the environment for the enemy sniper; luckily the sun was to his back. He caught a glimpse of scope glare, then quickly took a shot. The bullet shattered the opponent's scope, then punched through his eye. Matson channeled his Light and revived Laurel. "Thanks," she said while getting up. But, both Guardians were vaporized by a titan crashing into the ground with a Fist of Havoc. Laurel engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the enemy warlock, both trying to overpower the other. Laurel was force pushed down a ramp, breaking her neck in the process. Before the enemy could get away, Laurel quickly exploded in a blaze of Light, flying through the air and tossing fire-bolt grenades around the other warlock. After defeating the other Sunsinger, Laurel began walking away, her magnificent wings folding inward into her back. Behind her, the warlock self-resurrect again. The Awoken girl turned around, but was force pushed into a wall. Laurel grabbed the Guardian's arm, then whacked his helmet with the grip of her hand cannon. The warlock threw Laurel against another wall, then blew her stomach with a shotgun shell at point blank. The furious Matson, who had witnessed this, rushed at the warlock, Arc energy coursing all over his body. He launched a wave of electricity to the Guardian, stunning him, then double jumped into the air and plunged the knife into his chest. Next, Matson Blinked behind a titan about to melee him, then cut a deep, fatal gash in his spine. Time was running out, and the next crate of heavy ammo spawned. Gideon, Laurel, and Matson rushed over to one crate, but was frozen in place by a Dusk Arrow tether. Next, a Void grenade and smoke bomb was thrown into the group, killing all three in a matter of seconds. With half a minute on the clock, the 'Osiris Bosses' rushed over and began tea-bagging the bodies. "That's not right!" Panoptes exclaimed. Laurel self-resurrected, and quickly revived Gideon and Matson too. Upon standing back up, Gideon aimed his Golden Guns in opposite directions and got a double kill. Matson, super charged again, charged his Arc-blade and threw the knife into the visor of the hunter. They were just five points ahead when the game ended. Lord Gideon twirled both hand cannons on his fingers, then holstered them both simultaneously. Lord Shaxx narrated the game-winning scores while the six Guardians transmatted to their ships. "Well... That was an interesting ending," I said calmly while my dad cheered. He always got excited with close-call matches.