[i]Trials of a Guardian: Captured (Chapter 2: Part II)[/i] Bree's wrists were held tight by Crow, but it was his crotch she was aiming for. Bree brought her left leg up as hard as she could, her shin found his groin but it had little effect. His clothing dulled the blow and brought his full attention back to her. Crow’s grip on her wrists tightened as he pulled her body to his, as if they were lovers dancing. As her body came together with his, she cocked her head back and with every fiber of strength she had, slammed her forehead like a wrecking ball into Crow’s chin. He immediately released her wrists as the sheer magnitude of the blow made him stumble backward, she was free but staggered forward after delivering the head butt. [i]Don’t fall…[/i] Her mind cloudy, it took her a second to regain her focus and as soon as she located him, she charged in low. She stayed low on bent knees and in a quick flurry of thrusts, she jammed her elbow into his stomach. The first connected square and Crow gasped, she slammed her elbow even harder the second time as her adrenaline surged. It doubled him over as the air escaped from his lungs, he was sucking in air as he tried to fight off her attacks. Bree was already moving as she exploded out of her crouch like a rocket, the heel of her hand crashed into Crow’s nose. His head snapped back with a violent jerk, as her hand followed all the way through. Crow was reeling, blood poured from his busted nose, but he was still standing. He staggered backward holding his nose as Bree came rushing back in. She closed the gap between them in a flash and slammed the heels of both of her hands into his stomach with fierce desperation. Crow doubled over once more, the force was enough to drive him backward, and a long slow-motion fall to the solid blocks of the cell floor. His body landed with a sickening thud as he was helpless to break his fall, his face smacked the stone first and,in an instant, red pooled underneath him. Then, the first Vandal guard came into the cell; an auto rifle in its hands. Bree was grateful for the fact that the cell they were in provided a close quarters encounter, it meant less ground she had to cover to reach the Vandal. The other was the Vandal took a second too long to look down to where Crow lay unconscious, and by that time, it was too late. She was within inches of him. Her left hand wrapped around the barrel of the rifle while her right gripped tightly to the magazine. She put her agility and strength to the test as she wrestled with the Vandal for control of the gun. Bree twisted the rifle in its hands and in turn twisting the hands of the Vandal, its finger caught in the trigger guard and she jerked hard upward with whatever muscle she had left. The gun snapped vertically in one fluid motion, the bulkiest part of the barrel caught the Vandal in the face, smashing into its mask. The Vandal wobbled one step back before Bree was able to force the gun back into its face for another blow. She felt the Vandal’s grip on the gun loosen and her struggle became a little easier, but she had forgotten all about it’s other two arms. Like the bursting of a balloon, all of the air in her lungs rushed out of her as the Vandal slammed his right fist into her abdomen, then immediately followed with a left. She choked and coughed as she tried desperately to fill her lungs with oxygen, worse yet, she felt her grip slip on the gun. Bree tried to fight, but the burning became too great to withstand. She wheezed heavily as the Vandal ripped the rifle out of her grasp. She felt the cold steel of the rifle as the Vandal plowed the gun into her face. Bree fell backward and crashed down in a heap of broken bones and blood to the inanimate bedrock below. [i]Am I falling…?[/i] “Bree! Bree! Get up! Jesus Christ get up!” the screaming of her brother sounded as if he were on another planet talking through thick static. She opened her eyes and blinked several times, but her blurry vision would not clear as the ringing in her head grew louder. Bree stopped moving, she couldn’t get up, she couldn’t fight, she had nothing left and this is how she would greet Death. The Vandal took one step towards her and as the rifle in its hands raised to fire... a thunderous crack echoed through the small cell. The gun fell to the stones with a metal clank, the Vandal dropped to its knees, black blood spewed from the huge hole in the side of its face. It fell forward to the rocks with a thump and lay dead. Bree had fallen into the soothing darkness of unconsciousness, bleeding from her own face and from a gash in her stomach where the Vandal must have sliced her with a knife in their face-off, but Brayden’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Do no be afraid, creature, I am not going to harm you,” The Queen of the Reef cautiously moved into the bloody, body riddled cell. She was accompanied by her own Vandals, except her guard carried long, ugly spears sharpened to a razor’s edge with needlelike points. “Your Grace, please, you have to save my sister, please! She is all that I have left, please--- don’t let her die,” Brayden pleaded as little beads of blood dripped down his arms from where the shackles dug in. “It seems as though that [i]thing[/i] that is your sister, tried to kill [i]my[/i] brother. Why should it concern me if [i]it[/i] lives or dies?” A pair of dreg’s entered the cell and immediately scooped up Crow into their arms. Her translucent icy-blue eyes swept from Brayden’s face to Bree, then finally to her brother. “To the infirmary with him and alert me straight away as soon as he awakes, he is going to be in quite an unpleasant mood, I fear.” The Queen watched as the two dregs carried her brother out. “This one too,” she called out and a different pair of dregs picked up Bree, then vanished out of the cell gate. Her gaze slowly drifted back to Brayden, her Vandal guard still with her, she just studied him. It made Brayden uncomfortable and he shifted a little bit on the floor, his arms and shoulders ached tremendously until finally he was the one that broke the silence. “We weren’t trespassing, we were coming to you for help,” Brayden spoke quietly, his voice hoarse from screaming. “You are pretty much the last person we could turn to.” “Your sister and yourself are Guardians, are you not? Why not look to them to help you?” “It’s a long and complicated story, but if you would just hear me out, I’m sure there must be some sort of agreement we could come to.” “What happened to your face?” Almost as if the Queen didn’t even hear what he had just said. “Cut myself shaving…” “Shaving?” “Yeah, a couple of times. I’m not very good at it.” “Very amusing, creature.” “I thought so.” “What about your sister? Did she cut herself shaving too?” “Well, she did try waxing, but it burned her lip.” “What sort of agreement did you have in mind?” “You scratch my back I scratch yours,” Brayden was starting to find himself again. “You what? Why would I want you to scratch my back?” “I don’t know. Maybe you have an itch you can’t quite reach and your brother is too busy yanking his crank.” “You really want to die that badly, don’t you creature?” “If Bree is gone, then I would welcome Death with open arms.” [i]Trials of a Guardian: Lies (Chapter 3)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/107618648 [i]Trials of a Guardian: ALL Chapters:[/i] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/105589170/0/0[u][/u]