Sorry I haven't posted in so long, life is super busy. I made an edit to the last chapter, but its pretty insignificant. Enjoy ~Predatorage I walked up the stairs that led to the Tower courtyard. The courtyard was almost always empty, only used when someone important was visiting the Tower, and almost never visited for the same reason. That’s why I liked it here. The water on either side of the central walkway gleamed in the midday sun, and birds, larks by the look of them, stood amongst the grass that swayed in the wind. To my right, stood Lord Saladin of the Iron Banner. He was speaking with two other guardians, a male titan in grey armor striped in blood red, I couldn’t tell his species because he left his helmet on but based on his posture and colour choice, I guessed exo. His companion was a warlock carrying a battered old shotgun. He was a newbie, wearing a simple bond and light blue armor. “Hello boys.” I said as I walked up, and they turned to leave. The titan gave a mere grunt as he walked past me. Rude. The warlock smiled and I returned a nod. “Saladin,” I said after the two passed, “how goes the tournament?” “Porter.” He replied with a certain happiness in his voice, like he was glad to see me. He stepped down from his platform in front of the massive burning sigil emblazoned with the Iron Lord’s emblem, and racks of armor and weapons brought for the champions of the crucible. He shook my hand and said, “What can I do for you?” Saladin had a certain respect for me, as I did for him, founded in the first tournament since the Red Massacre, where Shaxx and Cayde had each assembled teams to compete. “I was hoping you had some information on the Taken.” I hushed my voice. “I thought we were keeping that information away from guardians…” Shaxx’s voice came from behind me. My heart skipped a beat. This whole thing could be done right here. “Good thing I’m a Vanguard.” Shaxx crossed his arms across his chest, “I heard nothing. For the record though… I stand with the Vanguard on this.” “Good to hear.” I think my sigh of relief might have shown a little. “A promotion?” Saladin asked, “Congratulations.” I nodded in recognition, “Thanks, Sierra too.” “Anyways, the Taken… Well, their presence is weakening across Mars and Luna, your work I assume, but make no mistake, they still hold a grip on those worlds. Other than that, all I can tell you is that Oryx can manifest a “shade” of himself by drawing on the power of the Taken, kind of like a shadow.” “Yeah, we’ve run into them, nothing else?” “No, too unpredictable, they’re a mystery to us as much as you.” “Thanks anyways.” I grimaced. Damn, guess we’re still stuck with Eris’s vague coordinates for intel. “We’re at your back guardian.” Shaxx said, “I’ll turn a blind eye.” “And I’ll keep mine open.” Saladin continued. “If the Taken stand in your way, crush them.” He grabbed his fist fith his other hand. “Crush them.” Shaxx echoed. “I’ll keep in contact.” I said before I turned to leave. As I walked away, Shaxx called, “If you have some time, tournament’s not over yet.” “We’ll see.” I smiled, I could go for a few rounds of zone control, good stress release. I walked down to the far end of the courtyard, and leaned over the railing that stood between me, and endless miles of undisturbed forest and mountain. In the time we’d been talking, the larks had flown away, and now some sat perched on the Tower’s high walls, while some soared through the cool air. Another, larger bird, a hawk of some kind, flew amongst them, grasping a struggling lark in its talons. Instead of running from the predator, the other birds began to attack the hawk, dive bombing it, and flying into its face, too nimble for the hawk to catch, and too fast to outrun with its prey. The hawk eventually gave up, letting the lark go free, and taking off into the mountains it had come from. Echo suddenly appeared in front of me, “We should go, Sierra’s probably waiting.” “Right…” I said, still lost in thought. “Yeah, let’s go.” I shifted back into reality, picking myself up. I moved my rifle sling to my other shoulder and walked passed Shaxx and Saladin, still in conversation, with only a slight nod while other guardians walked in and out of the usually deserted part of the Tower. The dorm doors slid apart in front of me as I entered. “Knock, knock.” I called out into the empty room. “Who’s there?” Sierra replied, leaning over the railing of the loft with a smile, already changed into her clothes. “What’ve you been up to?” I asked as I opened up my closet and changed out of my armor, my rusty old dog tag jingling together, into a pair of jeans and a dark grey t-shirt with the Vanguard emblem on the right sleeve. “We picked up some interesting new gear.” Scarlet said, excitedly. “Really?” I asked, walking up the stairs to where Sierra stood in front of one of the computer terminals. “Yeah,” Sierra responded, “some armor piercing ammo synthesis for that sniper rifle I got in the last Iron Banner. Which Banshee just finished modifying.” “Nice,” I replied, “a little bit of extra firepower never hurt anyone.” “Yes it did.” Echo interjected, “It hurt plenty of people.” Sierra laughed. “True” I said with a grin. “Also…” Sierra said, turning around to pick up something she had set down on the table beside the terminal. “Some one sent me a little gift.” She turned back to face me holding a set of shiny new knives. The two blades were light grey with a dull metallic shine. They were each about five inches long with three hooks along the back edge. They had a slight forward curve and the ring was at the top of the hilt rather than the bottom. “Damn.” I said, I was kinda jealous to be honest. “They’re just like Reyna’s. Custom ordered” She said, watching one of the knives twirl around her middle finger before she slid it into a sheath and set them down again. “You should thank her before we leave, can’t imagine those were cheap.” “Planning on it. You know where you want to eat?” “I’ve got an idea.” I replied. “Perfect. Just give me a minute to finish up here.” “Sure thing.” I looked over her shoulder at the terminal’s display. It read Requisitions across the top, above a few search filters and a list of Vanguard issue bracers and gauntlets. “What’d you get up to?” Sierra asked me while she scrolled down the page. “Well, Saladin doesn’t have any information on the Taken that we don’t already.” I said, resigning to one of the couches and picking up my holopad. I looked through the list of messages, one from Cayde with the info on fireteam Epsilon, mission updates and requests from Zvalla, an angry paragraph from the New Monarchy about all the Awoken we’d brought, and Ikora’s update to the rest of the Praxic Fire order authorizing us to engage the Taken at our own discretion, but noting it isn’t officially supported by the Vanguards. “Neither did Shaxx.” Echo chirped, hovering above my left shoulder. Sierra stopped halfway down the stairs. “You told Shaxx?!” She said loudly in a voice that said she was about to call me a moron. “He’s on our side.” She let out a sigh of relief and continued down the stairs, walking up behind me and putting her hands on my shoulders. “Well, we’re not alone, on this. Now we just need official support.” “And since when have we ever cared about official support?” I smirked and put down the holopad to make air quotes around the last phrase. I stood up, “Come on, let’s go, I’m starving.” Scarlet and Echo both vanished as we walked out the door that slid shut and locked behind us. Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382[/url]