I approached the League of Blades temple. I pushed open the front gate to see Jesse talking to a huntress in emerald green armor. They both stopped and looked to me, Jesse crossing his arms and the huntress placing hers on her hips. "Have I, come at a bad time?" I asked as I awkwardly shifted my stance in front of the door, that was slowly closing behind me. "Not bothering me. Just giving my final report," Jesse turned back to the huntress, "Many hunters still fight alone, skilled in many styles of combat; but some, some have come together to form deadly squads," Jesse took a breather, "Him, he's a part of a squad". "Thank you, Mr. Cantrell. I believe you received your payment?" Asked the huntress. "Yes, Ma'am. Which means, I will be on my way," Jesse turned away and walked off. The huntress turned to face me, causing her cloak to drag across the ground, "Why are you here?" I turned to her and answered, "Uh, pardon my ignorance, I've been gone for some time now. Where is John Von Wenger? He's the head hunter, isn't he?" "He was killed three weeks ago. Cause of death is unknown. Now, I have taken his place. I'm sorry, we have not officially met, have we? I am Lishmi-6. And you are?" I smiled, "I am Alan Moores". "What did you come to say, Alan?" "Oh, yeah, so, why are we doing this? We're hunters, not soldiers but here we are training like some. Why?" "This was Mr. Wegner's plan. I just took over it. After the Taken attacked, he wanted to form a private military. He hired Jesse Cantrell to train us," Lishmi walked around me as she spoke. I spun around and watched her, "Military? Look, I'm all for fighting the Taken, but why not let the Vanguard know? They have several great training facilities and could use the numbers. You should let us join--" "No! The Vanguard would not permit us to come to the City!" Lishmi leaned in towards me. "Why? What's wrong?!" I asked as I stepped back. "Several hundreds of, already trained mind you, hunters of an unknown private clan? If you were Zavala, would you allow such an alliance to happen?" "If it was necessary, yes. And the Taken are a good enough reason," I turned back to the door. Lishmi held her hands in front of her, "If you are running back to your squad, tell them that I am summoning all hunters for a council". I hiked through the woods, the humidity was rising, I could feel it sticking to my face. I looked up to see clouds forming above-- another Venetian storm. It left my helmet off but pulled my cloak up. Colt popped up beside me, "What's on your mind?" "It doesn't seem right. Something is up with her and I don't like it," I shook my head quickly. "So, are you going to get Kourtney and them to start a revolution?" Colt asked as he floated backwards to keep up with me. "Nooo. No, no, I think the Vanguard might have something to say about it first," I continued walking back to our hideout. I was about half way back to base when Echo Squad met up with us, "Where did you go?" Kourtney asked. "Talked to the head of the League. Change in management I see," I felt a thought slipping on the edge of my tongue, "Oh! Yeah, Lishmi is wanting us to join her. Some big announcement". Alpha continued walking past, "Yeah, we got the message a moment ago. We were heading there already," Guldrean followed him. "So, what was I meant to do? I came all this way just to tell y'all, when I could've stayed..." I spun around as Alpha and Guldrean walked on by. Kourtney walked with me back to the base I [i]just[/i] left, "Well, what were you talking to Lishmi about?" "Eh, nothing too important. But can I ask you something?" I asked as I looked down at her. "Ok, what?" She looked up to me. "What do you think about joining the Vanguard?" I glanced up at the clouds still forming above, "They're good people". Kourtney stopped to think, "I have been to the Tower a few times, but never thought about joining the Vanguard. Do you work for them?" "I do, uh, did," I said. Kourtney and I were just a few hundred yards from the building, and we could already hear Lishmi's voice, "Normally, I would hold this outside, but as you will see above, a horrible storm looms over us..." I looked up to notice that the storm seemed to focus in one large disc in the sky. "Alan, come on," Kourtney kept walking even though I had stopped. "Hey, uh... Hang on a second..." I continued to watch the cell develope, more and more. The coloration was all wrong for a storm. It was an evil color. A familiar color! I grabbed Kourtney's arm and ran away from the structure, "Get back! That's not a storm! It's Ta--" The cell fired a massive burst of energy into the tower of the building, sending us flying through the air! I woke up and rolled my head around, I was flat on my stomach. Rocks and ash seemed to fall in slow motion-- the whole world was moving in slow motion. A deafening, unending ringing filled my ears. I raised up, cringing in pain; I could see Kourtney laying still on her back, and Monica was scanning her repeatedly while crying. I slowly crawled over to her, she was so close to me, but it felt like a year before I reached her. I rolled over and leaned against a large boulder as I dragged her body onto me. I thought I could hear her breathing, but nothing was clear to me. I brushed off the ash that covered her face. I looked up, and I saw him. Phantom stood there, laughing at my suffering! But the wind that blew ash around in the air, blew him out of existence. I didn't know if he was real or not. Monica and Colt tried to say something to me, but I couldn't hear either of them. I sat still, holding the motionless girl and stared at the ruins. Through the smoke, I could see a glowing red orb flying around-- It was Centauri! Soon, a hunter carrying another appeared. As they came out of the smoke I could tell it was Alpha, and he was carrying Guldrean. Alpha was missing half of his face plate, and his right leg was not working anymore, dragging in the dirt behind him. He laid Guldrean on the rock beside me, then collapsed. Centauri scanned Alpha, trying to get a replacement leg for him. Beanie, Guldrean's best friend on this planet, flew over to his body. He chirped and scratched his arm, trying to wake him up. But he wasn't going to. His ghost was lost in the attack. Alpha placed his head in the cover of his hands as he looked at Guldrean. I did not move at all, but my senses began to clear up. Thoughts raced through my head. My heart began to burst out of my chest! I looked down at her flushed face, her hair filled with tiny rocks. She was breathing, I could feel it, but she was not awake to see the destruction. The death. Luckily. I could feel rage build up in me, I had to move! I softly laid Kourtney against the rock and walked over to the crater left by the energy burst. My body cascaded in fire as I yelled out in anger, "Oh, Traveler! They're dead! They're dead! That son of a b**** killed them!! They're dead!!!" I fell to my knees as I scooped up rocks. "What the h*** happened here?!" Yelled a person behind me. I turned around to see a warlock and a titan standing side-by-side. The warlock wore navy blue robes, and a silver helmet. The titan wore steel colored armor, and a helmet with a face carved in it. I turned away and continued to sulk. I couldn't speak.