They continue through tunnels and rooms of angry prisoners, fighting their way to the central control room. Proxy jumps on the back of a Colossus and sprays an entire magazine into the back of its skull. It collapses and he reloads. "Well, that sure was fun." He gives them a thumbs up. They walk forward a bit towards what looks like a dead end. Before either of them can say anything, an old speaker squeaks to life. [i]"F- f- fiiight. Win. Live!"[/i] Shadows legs shiver and she almost drops her gun. "VARIKS?" She seems a little too excited to hear an old speaker that almost sounds like the old prison warden, Variks the Loyal. A fallen loyal to the Awoken Queen before the Red War. "Woah woah, relax! That's that creepy servitor thing Variks used during-" "Prison of Elders!" She cuts him off. She's almost on her tip toes with excitement. A door opens on the ceiling directly above them. They all begin to float into the air and shoot up a tube into the old abandoned Prison of Elders room. This one looks like the one they used for the Fallen, but there are Cabal and Vex fighting here instead. Shadow almost screams out in joy as she rushes straight into the fight with guns ablaze, laughing the whole way. Icarus looks to Proxy for a response. Instead, Proxy begins firing on a small group of Cabal to his left. Icarus shrugs with a smile and charges in after her. [i]"AHHH!!!"[/i] Flashes of carnage go back to back as the three easily tear through a hoard of enemies. "If I remember correctly; and I know I do, there should be a 'gift' coming riiight..." Shadow stares at an empty platform. [i]"A gift for you, Guardians. Take it yeesss?"[/i] Shadow mimics that last part. "Yeesss??" She runs toward the platform as a Scorch Cannon rises from the center. She picks it up and laughs manically before cutting herself off and turning to Icarus. "I'm not crazy, by the way. Just so you know." She blushes again. "We're all a little crazy. Show me what you got there!" He points at her, then to the center of the ring where a splinter mine transmats in, surrounded by a group of Vex. Shadow lines up her shot and fires an orb of solar energy directly at the mine, waits, then BOOM! A massive explosion takes out every Vex in the area, but the bomb is untouched. Icarus jumps up on a crate, then onto the mine and begins tinkering around with some wires. "I'll handle this, just keep them off me!" Proxy begins firing in every direction as more Vex come seemingly out of nowhere. As Shadow makes her way through all the enemies, two more mines appear, just like the last one. "Uhh, Icarus?" She shouts out. He looks up just as he pulls three wires out of the mine and it collapses to the ground. He looks up to see the other two and his smile drops. "Oh come on! Proxy!" Proxy runs to him and scans the wires. "Got it." He puts his rifle away and vaults into one of the other bombs, almost immediately finding the wires and dismantling it. Icarus messes with the other as Shadows launcher clicks out of ammo. "Damn!" She chucks it at a nearby Psion and backs up to the center. Firing away, she backs into a wall where there wasn't one before. She turns around to find a huge dome in the center of the room. From inside, the sounds of a lift screech up to it, and deep foreign chatter from inside. Icarus finishes dismantling the bomb just in time. "Whew. Glad that's over with." He pats his hands together and walks back to the center. The dome creaks open and smoke and steam shoot out the top. [i]"Mighty Cabal Warrior, challenges you."[/i] The speaker is distorted and hard to make out. Shadow doesn't hesitate. She stands one foot in front of the other, raises her hand and forms an iridescent golden gun from thin air. Her amber eyes glow brighter as she lines up her shot. [b][i]BANG! BANG! BANG![/i][/b] The shots hit perfectly, and the champion vaporizes into nothingness before them. The door on the far side clicks open and the speaker starts again. [i]"You've suuurvived the Prison of Elders- sss. Treasure awaits below, yeesss."[/i] Shadow collects herself. "Well. That. Was. AMAZING!" She jumps up and rushes toward the air lock. Icarus laughs and follows her. "Come on Proxy." Proxy turns and drops the dead Psion he was holding. They all peer down the long shute that leads to their supposed treasure. "So, who's first?" Shadow asks. "Just kidding, it's me!" She jumps down from hanging platform to ledge and so on until the bottom with Icarus and Proxy close behind. They all see a glorious chest waiting to be claimed. As Shadow reaches out to open it, Icarus appears wary. "Wait, aren't there supposed to be three chests? And purple, not blue? Something feels off.." Shadow ignores and opens the box. Glimmer pours out into the floor before blinking out of existence. "What the..?" Shadow looks confused. Suddenly she's covered by a force field of arc energy. The floor begins to open and the chest disappears. "Shadow!" Icarus throws a frag grenade at the field as she falls down the shaft. It explodes and damages the trap. Both he and Proxy jump down the shaft towards her, when suddenly, their descent slows. They all peacefully land with no harm. Puzzled they look at each other, then their surroundings. A room suspended from the entire prison sits with Cabal and Vex fighting. Again. They all make their way in, ready to fight another hoard of enemies. But after shooting maybe three or four, that's it. Nothing else. Just an eerie silence. Even Proxy seems timid at the scene. "Old [i]friends[/i] are here!" The voice warps in behind them. A massive glitching servitor burns the air around them. "Oh shi-" the servitor erupts with flame from every direction. Icarus grabs Shadow and dodges behind a pillar for protection. "PROXY!!" His shouts can barely be heard over the flames. No response. Just the burning roar of fire. The servitor stops and collects its energy. Through the smoke, gunfire can be heard rattling off. Proxy stands tall, completely scorched, firing clip after clip into the massive blinking blue eye of the wardens machine. Icarus goes to grab his gun, then freezes. He can't move. [i]"B u r n I t D o w n."[/i] He stands straight up, eyes green with a raw energy. He stands directly in front of the servitor as it powers up for an attack. Proxy runs out of ammo, but continues to attempt to fire. The servitor sends a beam of raw solar energy into Icarus' entire body. "Icarus, you idiot! Get out of there!" Shadow screams at him to no effect. The servitor stops firing and gazes at him. He is covered in burnt ash and soot, but does not stagger a muscle. Icarus begins to float into the air until he's level with the machine. He puts his hands together, then reaches out as far as he can as a super thin beam of light appears from his chest and directly into the eye of the servitor. They both just sit there until the beam cracks through the back of the servitor and continues to fire a precision beam into the wall on the other side of the prison. Icarus and the wardens servitor both collapse to the floor, lifeless. "What in the actual-" Shadow starts but Icarus' ghost, Stonecraft appears. "[i]We should get him back to his ship. Don't worry, he's not dead. Maybe.[/i]" Shadow and Proxy both lift him up and towards the opening they came in through. His ship is brought down into the hole that is the prison and they lay him down. Shadow just looks back at the room they were just in one last time. On the very far side, a dark shadow figure skips out of view. They all take off back for the city. Icarus is totally motionless, but his eyes burn with green soul fire the entire trip home.