Episode 1: War Games Shaxx watched his screens, each one showing a multitude of crucible matches, it was a pretty busy day, and every single arena was in use. He was particularly intrigued with a Clash match on Shores of Time, Alpha Team was crushing Bravo, halfway through the match, they haven't even died once! But Shaxx was rooting for Bravo, he loved battles where the underdog won, made for great memories. "Shaxx? You might want to see this..." his Quartermaster, Arcite, replaced the crucible match on his screen with a lineup for a rumble match about to start on Widow's Court, an arena that had only been recently opened up to the Crucible. "What am I looking at here?" he asked Arcite, annoyed that the Frame had shut off his entertainment. "Most of these guardians' call signs are checking out, but look at that Hunter, bottom of the list. He doesn't even have a name. But that's not even the most interesting, look at this." he inspected the Hunter. "Armor is standard mix of Vanguard Gravebreaker and Jacknife. But the most interesting thing is that he only has one weapon." Shaxx stared at the Hunter's weapon. It was a Hand Cannon that he had seen many times in the crucible to a large degree of success. but those were lesser versions, cleansed of darkness. This one... this one was still touched by darkness. Shaxx sat back in his chair, remembering the last time he had seen a weapon like that in the crucible, there had been death and chaos. He spoke the weapons name aloud... "Thorn..." _______________________________________ Widows Court. Dredgen's boots hit the ground with a thud as he vaulted over a wall. If he hadn't heard the sound of the Fusion Rifle charging, he would have evaporated, not to mention lose their target. "You see the target?" Toland's voice crackled as Dredgen turned and fired back, killing the Titan with the fusion rifle. "No, too busy trying not to die." Dredgen gritted his teeth as he threw his knife, catching an unaware Warlock in the skull. "I don't see why either of you couldn't have helped." "You know very well why, Shaxx will be all over us if he sees three unidentifiable guardian. Not to mention if we die, we don't get another chance. You have the best shot of staying alive here." Dredgen traded shots with another Hunter, barely ducking out of the way of a final shot. "Remind me what to look for about the target? And why we're even involved." The reason they were infiltrating a crucible match without the Vanguard's approval was more complicated. Kabr had looked at the data of crucible matches that Cayde said had been rigged, there was nothing wrong with any of the combatants behaviour, but there had been one trend. Regardless of win or loss, all of the loot, massive amounts of it, were rewarded to one player on the team. The Trinary Cultists put themselves on both sides of the match and raked in all the loot. Weapons, Armor, Engrams, Motes of Light, Strange Coins, and more consistently, Passage Coins. The Trinary Cultist Toland had put a tracker on, a Hunter named Ramsey, was competing in this rumble match. Toland sighed, "His cloak, it's blue with an orange skeletal beast painted on it." Dredgen clambered to the top of a wall, surveying the battlefield. "I see him, he's fighting in the shelled out building. But how am I going to question him without Shaxx pulling the plug?" "Good, there is one place where the cameras won't pick you up, inside the Cathedral in one of the corners. You've got to find a way to force him there." Toland inspected Ramsey. "Ok he's built for long range, has a Hand Cannon and a Sniper, try and force him to stay long range, get him to run." Dredgen fired at Ramsey, and he acted as predicted, started moving towards the cathedral as Dredgen kept up a steady fire rate. "He's moving, i'll handle this from here." Ramsey had put himself in a corner. But there was something Toland had overlooked but Dredgen had spotted, Ramsey had a partner, hiding in the church, with a shotgun aimed at the door. Dredgen wrenched the shotgun upwards, the wielder reacted too late, and fired it into his own skull. Ramsey tried to run, but Dredgen shot him in the leg with Thorn. He screamed, the pain of Thorns poison numbed his leg, and he dragged himself to the corner. "Why is the Trinary Star rigging crucible matchs? What is the purpose of this madness!" Dredgen shot Ramsey in the arm, causing him to roar as the poison hurt him even more. Ramsey laughed. "You have no idea who you are dealing with. The Trials will fail! And the Traveller will fall... I just wish I could be there to see it." He drew his knife, but instead of lunging at Dredgen, he stabbed his ghost, clenched in his hand, cutting all the way through the bone. He then slit his own throat. Toland swore. "Dredgen, you've run out of time, Shaxx is going to find out if you don't get the hell out of there!" Dredgen looked down at the Ramsey, then at his watch. "Damn it." _______________________________________ To be continued. Next Chapter: http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/136485179/0/0 Table of Contents: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/114713352/0/0 (Fireteam X is back for Book 4! if you haven't figured it out by now, this series is set as sort of a background in House of Wolves with most of the story being the 'behind the scenes' of what we do in game with a few little extra storylines here and there. But Book 4's gonna be covering some heavy hitting stuff. Fight in the Crucible, and prepare for the Trials of Osiris!)