[b]Broken[/b] Part Three By now some of the Cabal at the back had realized what was going on and turned to confront us. Several more were shot or wrestled to the ground before I saw the female Titan soar through the air, flung away by a Cabal soldier, and hit the ground dead. A few of us screamed viciously at the sight of another comrade falling and renewed our offensive, each moving forward down their own route through the mess of battle. A Warlock fell, followed by a Titan, but five Cabal went with them. My fist smashed into the helmet of one of the towering Cabal, doing almost nothing but upsetting it, but the alien did exactly as anticipated and took a swing at me in retaliation rather than shooting. Using my speed and smaller size, I ducked away from the blow and pumped the Cabal's head full of lead. But as it tumbled to the ground, another lumbered up from my side. Pointing my gun at it swiftly, I pulled the trigger and was answered with the horrifying sound of a clip clicking empty. The Cabal raised its arm, brandishing a sword that it intended to bring down on my head as I stumbled backwards futilely, but before it could bring its thick arm down a knife blossomed into existence in the middle of its face. It fell like a tree, and I made sure it was completely still before turning away. Behind me stood the Hunter who had been carving up the Cabal with his knives, arm still drifting back down from the throw. I gave him a tired smile, and he started to raise the thumb of his outstretched arm in a thumbs up. Before he could finish the gesture, a streak of red energy flew straight through his head, leaving his body to sway for a moment before crumpling in a heap. My eyes snapped around to find a Vex Hobgoblin standing at a gap in the Cabal line that they were prying open. The Hobgoblin fell to the Cabal before I could personally avenge my ally, but I accepted the small pleasure of watching it break apart and threw my rifle to the side then drew my sidearm from my belt. Pausing for a moment longer, I bent over and gently pulled the Hunter's cannon out of its holster, knowing he would've wanted me to use it. Without further delay I charged on again, my left arm finally able to move enough to use the sidearm despite the immense pain. Dual wielding the small weapons, I shot down several Cabal before I had to stop to reload the sidearm. While doing so, a bolt from a Vex weapon singed my calf and I snapped my cannon up to blow a hole in its Mind Fluid container. A War Beast and a Goblin charged me, but I handled them easily with the sidearm while flicking my right hand deftly to reload the cannon one-handed. Two Cabal turned to face me from behind the cover of a few other beating energy shields, and though I handled one, I was lucky that the Vex smashed into them before they could shoot me. One of the shielded Cabal was thrown my a Minotaur, and the other Cabal that had been aiming at me was crushed underfoot while the remaining few were killed off by a pressing wave of Goblins. My eyes flickered around the battle as I moved to avoid the advancing Vex, rounds from both Vex and Cabal weaponry flying all around me, and I soon found the only Guardian left standing amidst the chaos. It was the Defender, crouched behind an upturned piece of concrete and harassing some Cabal that hadn't fallen to the Vex yet. Soon it would only be us and the Vex... As I watched on and reloaded my weapons, I saw a War Beast scramble up a heap of rubble behind the Titan, outside of his field of vision. Unable to shoot at it while my weapons were still unloaded, I called to the Guardian frantically, "BEHIND YOU!" But it was too late, and he turned as the hound-like creature was leaping at him. Just before its claws reached the surprised Guardian, it was suddenly yanked out of the air and slammed onto the ground with enough force to shatter concrete. A Minotaur marched over the dead alien, pixel-like shapes of energy still drifting around it from its teleporting movements. I almost thought it was going to bypass the Titan, but then he started shooting it and it turned its gun on the crouched opponent. Molten, violet energy flew from the maw of its Torch Hammer, pounding the Guardian down onto the ground and melting away his armor and flesh. The towering Vex raised one heavy brass leg up over him and brought it down for good measure, the sound of crunching bones finding its way to me over the sounds of fighting. A Ghost could be seen in his hand, gripped tightly even in death. Despite my surroundings, I let my weapons sink down to my sides and looked around me. The Cabal presence on this street was all but gone, only a few bearing shields still standing amongst the sea of their fallen brethren. I could see some of the Guardians; some Titans, laying broken on the ground, the few Warlocks that had gotten caught up with our little gathering, strewn around and torn like discarded paper, and Hunters, snuffed out like candles that had wandered too far into the dark. Worst of all were the Ghosts, some of their shells were visible next to the bodies of their Guardians and others were shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces that littered the ground. Metallic footsteps rang on the ground, drawing nearer, and I dragged my eyes up to the Minotaur, which had noticed me after pulling its foot out of my ally. It stared at me for a moment, red eye adjusting and calculating as it looked down on me. My grip tightened on the handles of my weapons, but the Minotaur didn't move. I knew it was simulating; predicting me. Then, I grew crestfallen as I realized that it could probably simulate me now; I was nothing more than a normal human now, hardly a threat at all to the Vex, and the Minotaur clearly knew it as it continued on its way. That whole encounter had probably been anticipated and planned for. It had known that if it paused for a moment I would think things through and decide not to fight. I was defeated. The Light was broken. Obviously agreeing, the Vex around me began combing through the streets calmly despite my presence. It was almost as if I wasn't even there. I was no threat. The hum of engines approached from behind, and I turned just in time to watch a Cabal fighter shoot by overhead. Then I caught sight of the missile it had fired at the Vex-filled street, and the world flashed white. • • • I woke up gasping, with heart pounding and body aching. My eyes snapped open, only to squint shut again at the scorching light. After several moments I managed to pry my eyelids apart, slowly growing accustomed to the sunlight. I tilted my head slowly from side to side, taking in the scene around me. It was much as it had been last night; the torn up ground littered with the corpses of Cabal and Vex, only now there was a gaping hole in the ground only several meters to my right. That would be from the missile that knocked me unconscious. Most of the buildings that had still been standing last night were now collapsed or at least more damaged than they had been. Fires still burned on in many of the buildings and streets I could see down, though they had all clearly calmed and died down in the hours since they had started. I flexed my hands and stretched my arms and legs a bit, reacquainting myself with my body's movements. While doing so, my hand brushed something small on the ground, and I closed my fingers around the handle of a hand cannon. Raising it in front of my eyes, I saw that it was the cannon I had picked up earlier and then holstered it on my belt. Now trying to pull myself up to a sitting position, pain spiked through my body and the breath flew out of me, causing me to fall straight back to the ground. Breathing heavily as I recovered, I gently touched my hand to my right side to find my armor torn away and burnt skin exposed underneath. I hissed at the deep pain in my ribs more than the sting of my flesh, and yanked my hand away. Broken rib. Getting up was seeming more difficult by the second. Rolling onto my left side and propping myself up on my left arm, I found that my shoulder still protested with the pain of my battle wound, but it supported my weight. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself up, careful to keep from moving my body in a way that would bring back the pain in my side. My feet eventually managed to scramble beneath my body, but they held my weight unsteadily and I glanced down to find my right leg had been hurt almost as badly as my side. I must have landed on the same side that the explosion scorched after it tossed me. Landed hard. _______________________________ Link to part 2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229945590/0/0 Link to part 4: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229945699/0/0 Link to Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0