- Part Three - Lord Shaxx was always an early riser. It was 5:12 in the morning as the old Titan stepped out of the Tower Watch's shade and was bathed by the eager-most rays of sunlight. The plaza was completely deserted. Other than the frames that would never sleep, the only people there were two guardians returning from a night patrol and Banshee-44 setting up shop. Lord Shaxx was always a methodical man. His first stop everyday was Kadi 55-30: everything nominal. The loudspeaker in Tower North scared the pigeons on Eververse's awning. "[i]Traveler approaching theta state[/i]," the voice echoed in the quiet dawn. Next stop was Xander 99-40. Lord Shaxx would manifest some animosity towards frames at times, but to the Bounty handler he was amiable enough. Xander 99-40 stood, forming a steeple with hits hands. As Shaxx came closer, its headlight followed the Lord of the Crucible. "[i]Good morrow, my Lord[/i]," the frame's headlight flashed as it sketched a light bow with its head. "[i]Morning, Xander[/i]," said Shaxx as he circled around, his right hand on the frame's right shoulder. "[i]Open up, boy[/i]". Xander 99-44's shoulders sagged, and rotated frontwards. The frame's back arched, and under the hard case towards the small of his back there was a small handle. One-handedly, Lord Shaxx rotated it counter-clockwise and pulled it, in a hissing sound and cloud of pressurized air. Inside he'd found the punch-card he'd left the day before, and replaced it with a fresh one. Vanguard Bounties were typically updated remotely and automatically, but Lord Shaxx liked deciding his new issue of Bounties every morning as he rode the elevator into the Tower. Rather than inputting them on his Ghost, though, he preferred to punch the old Golden Age punch-cards on the elevator himself. He would also look at metadata left by Xander 99-40 with completion analytics. Otherwise, he had said once, he would die of boredom on his way up. The handle slid back inside and Xander 99-40 straightened up. Shaxx patted him on the back and to a metallic [i]clank[/i], he said, "[i]See ya, Xander[/i]." "[i]Unto greatness forged in fire, my Lord[/i]," Xander 99-40 bowed again in goodbye. At this time a second announcement was on the loudspeaker: "[i]Traveler entering theta state[/i]." Lord Shaxx made his way to Banshee-44's booth to check on some orders. Often the gunsmith would report irregularities on Crucible surplus gear. Mostly defective parts and mismatched bullet grades. It was now 5:55 in the morning. This was the only time and place his helmet ever came off within the Tower Watch. He pulled out a single cigarette. It was the time for his daily smoke. He only allowed himself this one guilty pleasure. His favourite brand was "Old Fire Regal", the mint flavoured ones. Sometimes he would catch Banshee-44 staring his way, but Shaxx would shrug and the Exo would smile. At 6:08 he was making his way to the Crucible armoury, his final stop before resuming his stand at his work post. He liked to smell the sweat, the blood, the gunpowder, the liquid coolant, the lubricant, the red paint that lingered in the armoury after a hard Crucible. He also liked to inspect parts of the arsenal at random. If he caught a loaded gun in the armoury, some guardian would be in deep trouble. As soon as he picked a Painted Sammuramat-C, the service loudspeaker sounded again: "[i]Traveler in theta st[/i]-", the transmission was cut, and a different voice resumed it, "-[i]yeah yeah, shh. AHEM. Uh, yeah, the Traveler is in the theta state and um, Lord Shaxx to the Vanguard Hall please, I repeat, Lord Shaxx to Vanguard Hall now, please. Thank you[/i]." Cayde-6's almost drunken morning voice was unmistakeable. Shaxx cursed as he put the sniper down uninspected and trod to the Hall. Cayde-6 was waiting for him near his Crucible desk. In his menacing match announcer voice, Lord Shaxx threw a threat: "[i]I swear, Cayde, if this is another one of your pranks I'll have you blindfolded in a Live Fire Exercise.[/i]" "[i]D'aww[/i]," waved Cayde-6, "[i]now you made me wish I had a prank to pull on you![/i]" "[i]Cut to the chase, Cayde. What is it? Lost some cash gambling again? You have hundreds of algorithms to assess my patience - run a few for a change.[/i]" "[i]Whoa, calm down, old man. This is serious business, though. One of my cubs' callin' from the Frontier with new intel.[/i]" For a moment the Crucible Lord was taken aback. He could understand Zavala calling in for a favor for old time's sake, or Ikora looking for strategic advice, but Cayde-6 nigh on never would call on him. To be honest, the thought of having Cayde-6 owing him one without any type of cunning exploit made him grin inside his helm. Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey were hunched over the table, dragging holographic map data around. The Commander looked up to find Cayde-6 with his arms wide open and mouth gaping, as if to present Lord Shaxx as his trophy. The Crucible Handler looked bored, with his arms hanging. Zavala crossed his arms and said with a smile, "[i]You're late, Lord Sag[/i]." "[i]KAH! Lord SAG![/i]", Cayde cackled, but Shaxx's slow turning and silent stare washed the stupid grin off his face. The Lord turned to Zavala and crossed his arms, and said laughing, "[i]Shut up, Sharkface, you'll wake up Lord Saladin. Give me a sitrep[/i]." Cayde-6 dared not laugh at the sound of "sharkface", but Ikora Rey let out a giggle. She took the initiative of enlightening Shaxx. "[i]One of Cayde's Frontiermen just reported in from the West. Take a look at this video feed[/i]." The Lord of the Crucible looked intently at the Vanguard table as the maps slided away and a tridimensional video hologram booted up. After a while, his arms were already on his hips, as if demanding explanations, and he and the three Guardian mentors were leaning in and squinting to decipher the darkness. "[i]Is this what I think it is?[/i]" Lord Shaxx had asked, and turned to Cayde-6, "[i]Why did you send a Guardian down there?[/i]" "[i]I didn't[/i]," said the Hunter, "[i]He went on his own volition - he's one of my top scouts for a reason. He's a standalone, like you. And he's a hoarder, like you[/i]." Lord Shaxx let out an audible sigh through his nose, and hunched over the table with both his hands on the edge. "[i]I'm guessing this is all we have to go on?[/i]" he asked, not very kindly. "[i]Remember what I said, like, 4 seconds ago?[/i]" Cayde-6 gloated proud, "[i]one of my top scouts. He sent us metatext of the whole thing, class D Entropic encryption[/i]." He handed Shaxx a datascreen with a holographic mindmap. "[i]Wait,[/i]" said Shaxx, "[i]I know this metaprint. It's that Exo, heh... Sly bastard.[/i]" he allowed himself a chuckle. He turned to Ikora, "[i]Rey, what's your old shotgun's ID?[/i]" "[i]That's some old memory[/i]," she said, "[i]it's ADT-138984221...5- no, 6![/i]" "[i]I knew it. So it was your Invective he was carrying.[/i]" The Warlock mentor pulled the datascreen to her side. Her lips moved as she read her old special weapon's ID stamped on the derelict Hunter's metaprint. She turned to Cayde-6, fire in her eyes, "[i]Why didn't you tell me it was Bardo-105!?[/i]" If Exos could blush, Cayde-6 should be melting by now. "[i]Hey, uhh...[/i]", he started, "[i]call it a gentleman's agreement, will ya? Don't snitch on your own, sister. If he messes up I know it'll be my blood on your hands. I had to keep some things classified![/i]" In truth, Cayde-6 seldom knew where his "cubs" were. He knew Bardo-105, and he knew that Guardian was one of his best scouts. He did not, however, know he was on the Western Frontier, and he didn't know he was "hunting" again. "[i]Guardians[/i]," Zavala called, "[i]we have a derelict on the edge of the comm-link, and he's missing an arm. And somewhere on the Frontier an unidentified individual is holding Tower tech... Which gun did he lose again?[/i]" "[i]He hasn't lost it, it was stolen[/i]," Cayde-6 interjected. The others ignored him. Shaxx was holding the datascreen again. "[i]Hmm... TFF-2447423793. Let me look it up. Here, it's a-[/i]" He stopped. The Vanguard mentors were looking at him anxious. "[i]The Last Word...[/i]" he began again, "[i]Tex Mechanica...[/i]" Lord Shaxx seemed more sad than angry now. He gave the screen to Cayde-6, who he calculated was feeling most useless of all. "[i]Zavala[/i]," Shaxx did not look up from the map, [i]"remember the Ten Titan drill?[/i]" If Awoken could go pallid, Zavala would look ghastly by now, "[i]You cannot mean...[/i]" Lord Shaxx dragged the Western Frontier map closer. "[i]Here,[/i]" he pointed to a ruined area with a finger, "[i]this is the comms tower we had demolished.[/i]" Zavala's eyes traced a line form Shaxx's finger to a red cross on the map, as Shaxx turned to Cayde-6, "[i]Tell your Hunter to keep his arm.[/i]" The Hunter Vanguard Mentor blinked, then he realized. He turned away diligently with a whip of his cloak and started making communications arrangements. Zavala was hunched over the red cross. "[i]This here...[/i]" he began, hoping someone would answer for him so he wouldn't have to say it out loud. "[i]Aye[/i]," Shaxx rose again and crossed his arms, "[i]Tex Mechanica's old foundry.[/i]"