Action, I heard you like it. Enjoy. Part 2 in comments. A Fallen strike team lined up in front of the guardians. Ten Vandals and one Captain stood in attack position. The electric hum of their shock blades charged the air around them. Fallen markings were tattooed on their armor; blue and white signified the house of winter. Ophelia, Holly, and Raven huddled shoulder to shoulder drawing their weapons. Alexander hung back covering Dr. Shim. The Captain chuckled to himself before roaring loudly pointing his blade at the guardians. Holly and Raven were the first to engage, splitting off the Vandals into two even groups. “Watch how the pros do it rookie,” Raven said. She drew her blade, backhand, and focused her light. Arc energy surrounded her and burst into a bright blue and white armor. Raven swung her blade at the first Vandal meeting the shock blade. They locked stances only for a moment before the other Vandals joined the fight. They lashed out violently. Each had eyes red with blood lust, but Raven just grinned. Her movements were a beautiful dance of speed and power. Each swing of her blade was precise, cleaving huge lacerations across the Vandals. The first attempted to block her knife with its blade, but the power shattered the shock blade. Blood erupted from its chest and as it keeled over, a stream of ether blew from its helmet. The four other Vandals came from all directions trying a pincer attack. She socked the quickest Vandal in the gut sending it reeling back. Turning back, she round kicked another to the face, cracking its helmet and severing a couple ether tubes. She tightened the grip on her knife and in two quick swings severed the heads of the two charging Vandals to her left and right. Ether erupted from their bodies as each collapsed to the floor. Raven jumped on the Vandal she had kicked. Plunging her knife deep in its chest she shoved forward unleashing a wave of arc energy. The wave blew the Vandal back, its body disintegrating into the air. There was a small crackle of energy as the final Vandal slashed down, roaring, with its shock blade. Only a small pop was heard as the blade brushed over the blue and white armor. The light around Raven began to fade, and she drew her hand cannon from its holster. Pointing behind her, she fired six quick shots into the stomach of the Vandal. It writhed in pain reeling back. Turning, Raven took hold of the Vandal’s neck with her free hand and pulled it close. Taking her hand cannon to its head, there was a spray of blood, then a final eruption of ether, and the corpse was thrown to the ground. Holly stood silently. She walked forward allowing the five Vandals to surround her. She held her arms outstretched as they lunged for her, the same blood lust in their eyes as the ones that fought Raven. As painful as it was, Holly felt the shock blades pierce her body through and through. Everything began to darken and she stumbled back. As everything disappeared into the void, Holly’s light exploded into a brilliant flame. Fiery wings engulfed her and blew back the Vandals. Each were blinded and stunned. Holly slowly stepped forward and placed her hand on the chest of one of the Vandals. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly she violently force palmed the Vandal. It incinerated in a wave of fire and smoky ash. The smell of charred skin was all that remained of the smolder. She threw a fusion grenade at another disoriented Vandal. It exploded sending a plume of smoke and ether into the air. A pair of legs fell back smoking. Holly turned to the remaining three Vandals and drew her scout rifle. A hail of bullets filled the torso of one of the Vandals before it could blink. It grunted weakly looking to the others. Another fusion grenade attached to a Vandal before the dead Vandal’s shock blades hit the ground. Confused, the final Vandal turned to instinct and charged Holly. It did not get far, meeting the palm of her hand. There was on last burst of solar energy and the final Vandal burned into oblivion. Ophelia readied her assault rifle and stared down the Captain. Their eyes burned intensely with the desire to see the other dead at their feet. As each took a step, the other mirrored it. Ophelia’s heart began to pound with excitement, the adrenalin running rampant in her body. She controlled her breathing and focused on the Captain. It tightened its grip on its shock blades, ready to move any moment. The silence thickened as the suspense and anticipation grew to a breaking point. The Captain made the first move, and with lightning speed and monstrous power brought down its blades onto Ophelia. She jumped away but dashed back in, tackling the Captain in the side. It was like hitting a brick wall. The muscular creature barely budged as she lashed out with a free hand. The Captain swung its blade forcing Ophelia to arch her back dodging it. She could smell the smoldering air as the blade hummed mere centimeters from her visor. The captain used both of its lower arms to take hold of her and lift her into the air. Emptying her rifles magazine instinctively into the chest of the creature, Ophelia tried to disengage the Captain and regain her footing. The Captain let her do it, knowing it was pointless, the entire magazine did not even break the Captain’s shield. Laughing an alien laugh, the Captain tightened its grip on Ophelia and brought her face to face with itself as he positioned both of his blades across her neck. Ophelia dropped her weapon and clasped her hands over her head and a ball of fire engulfed her fists. She brought her arms down with as much force as she could and heard an electric crack. The Captain’s shields had shattered. Dropping both Ophelia and its blades, the Captain cried out in agony holding onto its face. The creature screeched louder as a chunk of charred flesh and helmet fell to the floor. Focusing her light, Ophelia held her hand out. A ring of fire formed and she grasped a flaming hammer. Solar light engulfed Ophelia, brighter than anything Alexander had seen. Each step she took left a small pile of cinders and melted metal on the floor. The air crackled around her as the light intensified. She was radiating a bright white when she finally took hold of the Captain. The Fallen creature screeched something so loud it could have shattered glass. The arm Ophelia had taken burned completely off and fell to the floor in a crispy lump. Dazed and confused the Captain could only look up as Ophelia raised her blinding, fiery hammer. She brought it down into the area of the creature between its head and shoulders. The armor melted instantaneously and the flesh peeled away. Bone and muscle were no match for the power. The angelic might dissipated as suddenly as it over took her. Ophelia took a deep breath as the air around her cooled. She turned away from the corpse toward Alexander and Dr. Shim. [i]Even bathed in fiery light, even killing what was likely a Barron ranked Captain, her form is gorgeous, [/i]Alexander thought. The group had cleared the Fallen strike team in less than five minutes. Alexander smiled in his helmet. [i]This is what true protectors of the city do,[/i] he thought. “Oliver,” Ophelia asked. “Do we have power yet?” “Soon, I almost have the system back online.” “Good.” “How was that rookie?” Raven asked. “Too bad you can’t ever be that good.” “Why did we even bring him along?” asked Holly. Alexander’s smile quickly faded. “It’s not like he contributed anything thus far.” “Raven and Holly,” Ophelia said. “Zip it.” The piercing glare quickly shut the pair up. An electric wave brought the Archive back to life. The computer flickered to life and defaulted to the input command screen. “Welcome Dr. Shim,” A female voice echoed over the speaker system. Dr. Shim quickly jumped in front of the command screen and punched in codes. Displays of her work came up as corrupted and broken. Files were missing and those that she could recover were fragmented and incoherent. “S***” she muttered under her breath. “God damned it, sonofab****, what the ever loving h***!” she screamed. “My files! What did you do you stupid machine!” “Oliver did exactly as you asked,” Alexander piped in. “That’s a load of c*** if I ever heard it.” The whisper in her head grew louder again. [i]Enemies[/i]… Dr. Shim slammed her fists into the computer terminal. “Dr. Shim,” Oliver tried. “I’m sorry, but you’ve been gone a very, very long time…” “I don’t care! My whole life’s research is gone! I can’t even get to my lab because the system says the entire underground was caved in during Atheon’s escape!” Alexander reached out in an attempt to calm Dr. Shim. She slapped away his hand, a quick jolt of pain shooting through her hand as it connected with the metal of his armor. Everything in her body burned and she felt like she was on fire. The voice in her head grew even louder. [i]Enemies[/i]… “Dr. Shim…” Alexander tried this time. “No! Everyone died in vain. I can’t even get the research that they risked their lives to get! Everything we did GONE!” Dr. Shim’s anger bubbled over into a burst of tears and she collapsed to her knees. The hole in her heart grew and something felt like it was ripped from her. She screamed as loud as she could but it did not help. She felt powerless against the wave of ongoing emotion flooding her system. The voice in her head began to shout. [i]Enemies[/i]! “You know,” Alexander began, kneeling by Dr. Shim. He placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I may not be in the same position you’re in, but I know a thing or two about loss. That feeling of emptiness, like something was stolen from you you can’t get back. It hurts, and we are truly sorry about that.”