As we moved in closer to the final Seeder, I noticed a beam of energy blasting into the Fallen ranks, "they brought an Ogre with them," I shouted to my comrades. "Don't worry because the Fallen brought a tank," Omar pointed toward the back of the Fallen's ranks where it prepared a blast from its main cannon. "You know, why not let these guys duke it out for a bit," I called over to the team after the tank fired at the Ogre's stomach. "Cypher-10 does have a point," Omar replied as he signaled us to a halt. "Please, Mr. 10 is my dad; you can just call me Cypher," I jested with the group, but I only managed to get a cold stare from Zeke, and silence from Omar. "Right, so we're all going in together, looks like the Fallen are well equipped to win this fight," Omar paused to survey the battle. "So when the Hive are about to fall, we move in, and clear them out before we go after the Fallen." "Sounds reasonable," I chimed in, "but, err, any chance I could borrow your LDR for a bit?" Omar seemed to laugh to himself a bit, "sure, and if it means that much to you, you can have it." Omar removed it from his back, and handed it towards me. "Wait, really?" I was shocked, yet thrilled at his generosity. "Yeah, and besides," Omar let go of the weapon, "I was never that great of a shot with it anyway." A shriek cracked through the gunfire as the Ogre turned to ash, and fell amongst the dead. I figured now was a good time for some distance combat, so I took up position with the LDR against a rock. "Omar, mind a small change of plans if I stay back for a kill or two before moving up?" "Should be fine as long as you don't mind sticking with me until Cypher can move up." Omar pointed towards Zeke who was inspecting the stock of his Red Spektre. "I can do that," Zeke replied, while lowering his weapon. "Alright, fire when ready, we'll be moving up," Omar said as he and Zeke moved in closer to the Seeder. I took aim at a boomer wielding Knight, and took the shot once I had it steady. I quickly moved to a nearby Wizard with my scope, and took her down as well. In my peripheral, I saw Zeke and Omar push in to clean-up lower ranking members of the Hive, and I scoped over to drop another boomer Knight. I switched to my handcannon, and moved up to join the others. We cleared-out the remaining Hive, while dodging several attacks from the Fallen behind us. "Omar," I called over to him as I equipped my Super Good Advice LMG, "let's take out this tank!" Omar nodded back, equipping his LMG as well, and together we started on the tank as Zeke kept the ground troops busy. As the tank overheated and we started hitting it's core, I noticed a peculiar Vandal over to the right, and then it dawned on me who it was. "It's Randal the friggin' Vandal," I yelled over the radio, "the Vanguard will pay hella good for that guy!" The ship burst with arc energy, and got back up. Omar and I finished off the tank, and when we looked back for Randal the Vandal, he and Zeke were gone. "Damn it," Omar yelled as we ran over to where we saw Zeke fighting the Fallen, "well, it won't be hard to figure out where he went." Omar pointed to a clear trail of Fallen carnage that led to a small cave opening towards our objective. "Do you think Zeke was able to take out Randal himself?" I paused for a moment, "I mean, several fireteams have tried, and none have yet to kill the sucker." We rounded the corner, and several Fallen lay dead with multiple scorch marks on the walls and ground. In the center of all the madness lay Zeke's corpse, and no sign of Randal the Vandal. Before we could speak, Zeke's Ghost came out from behind a rock, "that Vandal got away, I'm lucky they didn't take me with them, and so is Zeke," his Ghost began the revival process. "He shouldn't have pursued without us; he's lucky to still have his light," Omar spoke to no one in particular as we watched Zeke awaken, and push himself up from the dirt. "Please, spare me your lecture," Zeke said to Omar as he picked up he weapons. "Sure," Omar replied, "let's just push in to the end of this cave where the Servitor lies, and get this done." We walked through a series of tunnels, past several exits, and kept on going until the cave opened-up to a wide cavern with several Fallen inside. "There's Zikics," Zeke pointed out amongst the collage of several different Fallen house members. "Devils, Wolves..." I said while scanning the room, "hell, even house of Winter is here, but what are these green markings?" I pointed to the banners hanging along the walls. "It must be the new faction they're all merging into," Omar replied as we crept up, "I'm surprised they haven't established a temporary Kell at this point; Zikics must be keeping them pretty busy with scavenging for them to go without a Kell." A noise broke out near our position, and looking over revealed that a Dreg had found us while walking the perimeter. "What's up, bitches!" I yelled as I blasted off the Dreg's head with my handcannon. Several Vandals rounded the corner, Zeke rushed them with his sword, while Omar and I focused in on one of the few Captians flanked by several Dreg. They didn't last long, so we advanced to more Vandals taking charge upon our position. Before Omar or I could fire a shot at them, our armor locked-up, and we couldn't move. "It's Zikics doing this," I tried to yell, but the radio broadcast was down as well, so neither of them could hear me. Zikics was above us on the incline, staring at our position, and making a terrible clicking-grinding noise. The Vandals in front of us open fired at our motionless bodies, and for once I thought this would be the end. A shotgun blast broke my thought quickly as Zeke stunned Zikics, and our armor systems came back online. Omar and I took out the Vandals in front of us with a few grenades and gunfire. "Glad I broke position this time?" Zeke's voice came through the radio. "You son of a bitch," I replied back laughing. "Well done Zeke," Omar chimed in, "he's right though, if spreading out stops Zikics from immobilizing all of us at once then we need to scatter-up!" "Will do," I replied as I pushed the flank, and Omar charged the middle as he dropped a Ward of Dawn. Zeke went the opposite way as me, and we cleared the room of the Fallen who served the mechanical mess that remains. Zeke moved in close to shotgun Zikics, but was frozen in place as the Servitor began grinding and clicking. Omar switched to his LMG, and open fired upon Zikics' side. At that moment, something broke off the Servitors side, and Zeke was free to move again as the clicking-grinding noise stopped. Zeke continued to blast Zikics with his shotgun, and I moved towards Omar in the center as I brandished my Golden Gun. "Nighty-night, cupcake," I said as I blasted Zikics with a single powerful shot of my fiery gun, and he fell to the ground in a flash of blinding light. Silence fell upon the battlefield for a moment as we stared at the wreckage of Zikics. "Nice shot," Zeke complimented me as he holstered his shotgun on his back. "Agreed," Omar voiced, "we make a good team; I wouldn't mind joining-up again if the need arises." "If it means killing more of these stinking Darkness infused vermin, then count me in as well," Zeke said as he kicked at the side of a nearby dead Captain. "Yeah, we were pretty cool," I said as I popped my hood back over my helmet. "Then we will meet again," Omar stated as we made our way back into the tunnels, to our ships, exchanged goodbyes, and left the area on our separate ways. - To read part 1 of A Guardian On Strike: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/207925406[/url]