[b]2/3[/b] The hunter clung to the left side of the cave and moved through the rocks near the walls slowly, with each foot step carefully placed to not make a disturbance, leaving no indication anyone was even there. It became clear as the hunter moved forward that the figures were just some low ranking Fallen, four slim Dreg foot soldiers and a slightly more armored Vandal squadron leader, on a patrol route. The hunter was sneaking towards the patrol as they advanced towards him unknowingly. He grabbed one Dreg from the outer right side of the group as they walked past him, pulling the alien soldier into the shadows and muffling his voice as the hunter quickly slit his throat with a swift pull of his blade. The hunter pushed the body aside and whispered something to his invisible ghost, breaking his stealth, then he stood up quickly to throw the knife in his hand at the other Dreg on the right who was closer to the front of the patrol, the knife entered near the back of the alien’s skull and he dropped like a rag doll. This grabbed the attention of the Vandal in the middle of the group first, who turned to the hunter to promptly be struck in the chest with the hunter’s other knife drawn from a sheath on his boot. This stunned the Vandal long enough for the hunter to draw his weapon and fire off a quick shot towards the Dreg on the left of the patrol closer to him, dropping the alien rapidly and increasing his concentration, followed by two shots to the furthest Dreg and finally a single round through the chest of the Vandal. The hunter had decimated the squadron in only a few seconds and the ghost appeared by the hunter’s side, illuminating the cavern again, as the hunter’s vision returned to a normal hue. “Very nice.” the ghost remarked. “The abilities granted by the Traveler’s light are magnificent, aren’t they?” “Yeah…” he responded as he glanced at the gun in his grip and then looked at his left hand, closing and opening it again. “The gunslinger’s trance is something else, one good shot and then they’re all gone… The speedy switch was great by the way, Jenkins.” The hunter said as he walked over to the body of the Vandal. “Oh it was nothing, the conversion between different forms of light isn’t that complex when the vessel is sentient.” the ghost said, explaining how the hunter was able to augment his abilities from close quarters to ranged. “I’m surprised you didn’t stay with the arc based light for the engagement however, considering ‘up close and personal’ is your preferred method of engagement.” the ghost said as he hovered behind the hunter to get a better look at the gray digital patterned shotgun on his back that had replaced the sniper rifle from earlier. The hunter pulled the knife from the Vandal’s chest, sheathing it and turning his attention to the dead Dreg. “I needed them out of commission quickly… A couple gunshots is better than the warning siren they could give off between the precious seconds that it takes not only for me to regain my focus after a blink, but for it to recharge for another strike. Don’t forget why we’re here. We need to get this relic with minimal resistance.” he explained, squatting by the Dreg. “Ah yes, that titan fellow… Hank, was it?” the ghost asked as the hunter retrieved his second knife. "Yeah, the one that was with us in New Beijing. It shouldn’t have gone down the way it did, I should’ve been there but I couldn’t, then I was too slow…” “It’s not your fault. Everyone dies, Kennedy, even you go down occasionally.” “He didn’t just go down, Jenkins, he died died. His light was extinguished” “Yes, but even guardians die from time to time.” the ghost explained, “One person cannot subvert death forever and- Wait. Why do you care? You’ve never cared.” the ghost questioned, rotating again. “Do you remember where, err, when I came from?” the hunter asked. “Earth, United States of American death circa 2020 based on biological and molecular decomposition.” “I was a person back then, Jenkins. With a family and values and stuff. When you resuscitated me I-” “You were nothing sir, nothing but dust and echoes, and I-” “I was nothing?! You were a shell when you found me! Nothing but the Traveler’s pet! I taught you wit, how to think!” “I knew how to think, the gifts of the Traveler-” “The Traveler gave you life not compassion, or gusto or anything else. You taught me how to live in this God forsaken world, and I taught you how to be more human, I gave you a personality so you weren’t just some mindless robot butler! If it weren’t for me we wouldn’t be having this discussion!” the hunter yelled at the ghost, who in turn blinked his singular, robotic eye. “I see your point, Kennedy. I apologize. Go on.” The ghost floated there in silence after, the hunter looked down the path a head and listened for voices or footsteps. He heard nothing and turned his attention back to his ghost, the other Fallen must’ve been much further down in the catacombs of the inner asteroid. “Thank you. Do know how I was raised? With a sense of responsibility. I would take blame for the problems I caused, I would learn how to fix them and then just fix them. I can’t fix Hank dying, but I can prevent it from happening again. That’s why we’re here, why we need this relic.” “I see, please, tell me more about your family though.” the ghost inquired. “I’ll tell you a bit now, but we don’t have time to just sit around so I’ll tell you more when we get back to the Tower if you want.” the hunter said as he began walking down the catacombs again, “I got raised with a set of good ‘ol American values, cause my grandpa was in World War II, yea know? Everyone’s grandpa was in World War II, the greatest generation or something. Taught us how to be responsible.” “Ha.” the ghost gave a robotic chuckle. “What’s so funny?” the hunter asked, a bit offended. “I find it highly improbable that everyone’s grandfather participated in the same war based on ages of fertility in human beings, the average time span of conflicts, and other such factors. That was a joke, was it not?” “It was, now you’re getting it.” the hunter grinned, “Let’s keep going, I feel we’ve got a ways to go. The hunter kept on the path, his ghost floating next to him as they dodged stragglers from patrols, weaved through tunnels and slinked behind rocks. [b]Eventually the ghost stopped.[/b] “What’s wrong, Jenkins?” “Detecting a source of light, contains spin metal and relic iron, traces of… Gold? Wait. That’s it! It’s the relic! Looks like our information was good, approximately 486 meters ahead.” “Alright, let’s get to it!” the hunter said as he began to run though the last chasms of the catacombs, his ghost in tow. After a bit he stopped, stumbling attempting to keep his balance as he kicked up some dust and small rocks. “Enemies detected, Kennedy. Less than 100 meters.” "Yeah, I can see them on my radar interface…” the hunter said as low toned grunts and indecipherable speech faintly echoed through the caves. “Same as before?” “No solar this time Jenkins, sounds like captains. I’ll need the arc light to disrupt their shields.” “By my readings s you’re full of light, enough to channel an arc blade.” “So we have our plan, then?” “You’re not a striker sir, you’re not even a titan.” the ghost said, both worried and a bit angry, afraid of what the hunter was about to do. “You’re right,” the hunter crouched and looked his ghost in its robot eye “I’m a blade dancer.” The hunter grinned widely at his ghost under his helmet as he disappeared in a snap of lightning. “Kennedy, no!” but it was too late “Ugh, at least he’ll die doing what he likes…” the ghost disappeared and followed the life signal of his guardian. The hunter entered a room with three large fallen Captains, each equipped with shrapnel blasters and clad in dark blue armor, standing in a triangular formation. Behind them was a stock pile, full of Fallen weaponry, armor, ammunition, looted riches and something that gleamed silver. The hunter followed the right wall around until he was standing in line with the middle of the formation. “Catch!” the hunter yelled, tossing an arc bolt grenade in the center of the three captains. They each gave a confused grunt as a small, glowing blue ball landed in between the three of them. Suddenly the air between then cracked with the snap of lightning and their shields were weakened. The hunter unsheathed the knife from under his arm, with the blade pointing towards the ground, and raised it to the ceiling, channeling arc light into it as he emitted a blue aura. The hunter then slashed upwards into the air in front of him and sent a wave of lightning across the ground to the front most captain, the Captain’s shield was broken with what sounded like a loud gunshot. He then ran at the captain faster than he normally could, imbued by the arc light, and slashed across at the Captain’s chest. He stumbled and gave off a scared sound, his armor broken and electricity surging through his body. The hunter followed up with a swift blow from his left fist to the Captain’s hip which was accompanied with a crunch, the larger Captain fell to one knee as the smaller, human hunter drove his arc blade through the hole in the Captain’s chest piece. The first Captain gave a blood curdling shriek with his dying breath.

[b]3/3[/b] The other two Captains began firing clusters of red-hot shrapnel at the swift hunter, who was merely a blur. The hunter looked at the Captain to his right and sprinted at him for a few steps, extended his left arm with an open hand, and then pulled it back to his chest in a fist. He blinked, and teleported to close the gap between himself and the Captain. The hunter swung the arc blade in his right hand, he hit the Captain’s left arm. He slashed backhandedly, he drug lightning across the Captain’s stomach and shattered his shielding. He attacked with his blade once more, going to slash at the captain’s head but the arc light dissipated. The hunter’s knife merely glanced the captain’s helm, he passed the knife to his left hand as he completed the slashing motion and reached for his hand cannon with his other as the Captain staggered. The hunter managed to fire three shots point blank at the Captain’s chest as he regained his stance. He fell with a fleeting whimper. The hunter was now aware of the gun fire from the third Captain as his own shields flickered. He dove forward, jumping over the dead Captain before him, and rolled to spring back up while facing the Captain. He blinked at him, not close enough. The hunter fired off three more rounds at the Captain as he now charged at the hulking alien, two connected, breaking the Captain’s shields. The Captain stammered from the hits. The hunter pulled the fist that still held a knife to his chest, the tip pointing at the Captain. He jumped. He closed the gap with a fluid blink strike and struck the Captain’s chest, bouncing off the alien’s armor. The Captain swung his set of lower arms upwards and knocked both the blade and gun from the hunter’s hands. He reached over his shoulder and, with the magnetic hold releasing, drew his shotgun. The hunter dropped on his back and fired four consecutive shots at the Captain, hitting his leg, chest, and glancing his shoulder as the weapon kicked upwards. “Thank God for Dead Orbit modifiers…” the hunter thought. The Captain fell forward, the barrel of his gun glancing outwards off the rocky interior of the asteroid as it hit the ground, and his weapon pointed away from the hunter. The Captain punched the hunter’s helmet with one of his upper arms, and the hunter’s shield broke with a loud pop. “Not like this...” he thought, briefly stunned from the blow. The hunter used a striking kick upwards with his left leg, making the Captain wince as he then tried to push the alien off of him with his foot. He pulled his right knee up to his chest, reached for his boot, and drew his left arm across his face to guard himself in a fetal position. The alien merely bounced slightly from the hunter’s attempt to free himself from underneath the alien. The alien fell closer on top of the hunter, and yelled at his face as the ghost watched from the far side of the chamber, the smaller guardian eclipsed by the spider-like humanoid. Suddenly the alien collapsed. His body rolled off of the hunter, and the hunter stood. His boot sheath empty and a handle protruding from the alien’s neck. The ghost merely revealed himself and blinked. “Now,” the hunter sighed, “about that relic…” He said, turning his attention to the cache of weaponry and spoils. The hunter walked forward, looking down at a pile of scavenged metals and various alien armors when he picked up something sized for a human. “Ah, here it is. Jenkins, do you know why this relic is so valuable?” the hunter asked inquisitively. “Please, sir. Enlighten me.” the ghost replied, curious. “This armor absorbs and stores the light of a distant star, you could say it’s hungry like the wolf. Heh… Anyway, it then allow its wearer to channel the light to help out your pack if you know what I’m saying.” “Why all the wolf puns, Kennedy?” the tired ghost asked. “This is the Crest of Alpha Lupi,” the hunter said, turning to show the armored vest to his ghost. The armor was made of a silver metal, embroidered with various branches and vines, and featured a large, golden wolf’s head in the center of the chest. “And with it, we’ll never have a situation like Hank’s again… He thought he could take on a Baron if I showed up later to help him out, like a surprise attack. He was right but I was late, so the baron killed him. If I could’ve channeled the light he needed fast enough into his ghost, I could’ve resuscitated him before-” “DON’T. SAY IT.” the ghost said angrily, flying close to the hunter’s face. “…before the baron crushed his ghost.” the hunter said grimly, staring into the eye of his ghost. “I lost a battle brother, but you lost a real brother, Jenkins. I told you not to forget why we came here.” “I didn’t forget, I just didn’t want to remember…” the ghost sulked and floated backwards, away from the hunter. The hunter and the ghost stayed where they were for a few moments, remembering those they had lost, thinking of those they could’ve saved, swearing it wouldn’t happen again. “…Ready to go home, Jenkins?” The hunter looked up from the armor he held in his hands to his ghost, “I think the Fallen have caught on to our scheme.” he said, hearing movement and alien grunts. Absolutely, Kennedy.” the ghost said as he briefly channeled light into himself and the hunter, causing them to glow a bright white before they dematerialized from the inner asteroid and were suddenly aboard the jet like ship. “Thank the Traveler for this light-link technology… Now let’s get this ship back to the Tower Hangar before the Vanguard notices.” the hunter said as he sat down, then piloted his craft silently out the back of the Reef and charted a course for the Tower. [b]Thank you for taking the time to read this and I'm sorry for the formatting errors![/b]