The guardians stepped to the door that had the word ‘vault’ stenciled on it. The door opened with the same metallic clank as the others. Inside was a long hallway with locked armor and weapons cages lining either side of the walls. Each cage contained an armor stand with the respective guardians gear and weapons. There were only cages being used, so finding their respective armor wasn’t difficult. “I’m going to go get the guards. Someone might not notice if they aren’t there, but if they are just laying out in the open, im guessing that someone will know something is up.” Azrix said walking back outside. Soon both of the guards were inside the vault and locked in their very own cages. While Azrix was away, Velox had used his absence to change from her prison clothes into her padded under suit. She blushed and averted her eyes as Azrix stripped down to his underwear and began putting on his own suit. “Think you can zip me up?” he asked showing her his back. “You know Nymph can do that for you.” She retorted. “Yeah I know he can, but right now he is hacking into the dry-dock where the ship is located. Wouldn’t want to bother him.” Reluctantly she zipped his suit up. Without a word he turned her around and did the same with hers. They began putting the pieces of their armor on and helped each other with the more difficult parts. Within five minutes, the two were fully armored and had their weapons in hand. Velox’s armor felt heavier than normal. The weight was a comfort though. As they exited the vault, movement caught Azrixs attention. The detective from tower security had rounded the corner and stopped stunned by what he was seeing. The three froze not knowing who was going to make the first move or what that first move might be. “Azrix… Velox… what are you doing?” he asked cautiously. “Detective I don’t expect you to understand but we have a mission and we cant be delayed any longer. Im going to ask you to turn around and pretend like you didn’t see any of this.” Velox said. “I see. Mind telling me what this mission is?” he asked his hand dropping to his stun batton. “We are going to save the human race and wipe out the darkness once and for all.” She answered raising her scout rifle slightly. “Oh is that all?” He said taking his hand off the batton. He knew he was outgunned. “Perhaps if you were to explain the details of this mission, the tower might be able to assist you?” “Don’t think so. We don’t know who we can trust right now. That includes everyone in the tower.” Azrix answered. The detective reached in his pocket quick as lightening and withdrew a small communications device. “All stations be advised, we have two guardians breaking out of the brig! Names Azrix and Velox! Most likely course of action is to attempt to get to a ship and leave earth! Lock down all air traffic and ground all aircraft currently docked!” “Nice detective. You still won’t stop us.” Velox said as the gate slammed shut and locked. They made their way quickly out of the main front entrance just before the blast shield doors came down. Outside in the large hallway, people walked about conducting their business as usual unaware that two prisoners had just broken out of the brig. They merged with the bustle of traffic and slowly made their way towards the impound yard. “You sure didn’t take your sweet time getting out of there.” A voice sounded somewhere behind them. Azrix and Velox looked over their shoulder and saw an Exo warlock walking behind them. Serpa hovered over his shoulder. “You must be the one who got us out of the brig.” Velox said. “You would be correct. I was wondering… I was wondering if we might discuss the details of your last mission now that you are out.” He said in a timid voice. “A little busy right now. Tower security was notified of our escape. We have to get to our ship as quickly as possible. Once we are out of earth’s atmosphere, we can sit down and talk about the details.” Velox answered. “Of course. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going?” the Exo inquired. “Someplace far away from here. This is probably the last time we will see the tower for a while. In fact, we probably just signed our banishments.” “You wouldn’t by chance be going to Venus would you? I need to go to Venus. That’s where I want to study the Vex. I’m hoping that any information you can give me might help me pinpoint what area I need to go to.” “You don’t get out much do you? You don’t study the Vex. You kill them and examine what’s left over.” Azrix shot back. The group turned down a hallway and started making their way towards a bright illuminated sign that read ‘impound’. A group of tower security guards ran past in formation heading towards the entrance of the brig. “I suppose you are right, but the truth is, I’m not very good at going out into the wilderness. In fact the last time I was in the wilderness is when Serpa brought me back. I was hoping to tag along with you if that’s alright?” “And why would you want to basically banish yourself with us?” “Well I have read and re-read all the information that the tower has on the Vex and still don’t have enough. I hypothesize that the Vex were not originally created to fight a war with the humans. I just need a few key pieces of information to prove that my theory is right. And besides, I made an alteration to the guardian barracks room and the barracks manager is bound to notice eventually. I really don’t feel like dealing with the paperwork and the fee.” He said chuckling in a synthetic tone. “How did he come up with that conclusion?” Azrix whispered to Velox. “Not sure. He is an Exo and he is an egg head. Who knows how long he has been going over all that data.” “True. He did save our hides though so we do owe him that information. Let’s see how he fairs when we tell him. If we don’t like him, we can just drop him off on one of the nearest planets and leave him with his ship. I don’t think he is that much of a threat.” “I don’t like it, but a deal is a deal.” She answered. “Alright Exo you held up your end of the bargan so we will hold up ours. We will tell you what we know about the Vex but if we don’t like you, we leave your ass on the closest planet. If we do like you, then you can come with us. Sound fair?” Azrix said. “More than fair! I’m already packed. I am to understand that you do plan on going to Venus then?” “Yes. But we have to make a stop first. The impound yard is just around the corner.” Velox said. The group turned the corner and saw the large hanger doors leading to the impound dry-dock. In front of it stood ten guardians with weapons trained on them. Behind them stood a tall figure garbed in white and black robes. A white mask hid his face. The speaker never left his office. Not even for the most urgent matters. The three guardians stood now very unsure of their success in escaping. Part 4 can be found here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/122173087 Eden Chapter Index can be found here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/122172284