If you missed the last chapter of REEF MOB, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/222853240/0/0]here[/url], or if you need to find a previous chapter, you can find them all in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/218618986?sort=0&page=0]Table of Contents[/url]. Please give a bump or leave a comment if you enjoy this and any other chapter! ***  Day Three. The door opens again. Avi taunts us again. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ We have no idea.[/i] We’ve fallen unconsciously into this repetitive cycle, reminding us forcibly of the Trials once more. But these aren’t the Trials. This is something new. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ No, they’re cowards who run before the real fight can begin. They’re just looking to score some points for bragging rights and then they bail. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ We’ll just have to keep thinking of a way to keep them here, then.[/i] Avi’s shot hits us in the side of the head, knocking us back a pace. “Still too lost in your own head to see what’s right in front of you!” he bellows gleefully. “Man, I wish I’d been put on a team against you. Would’ve made it to the Lighthouse just off of you alone!” I hear Ari and the red army's outrage in my mind, but I hold them back again and they sourly remain at the back of the arena. [i]Let him have his fun. Let him taunt us more. Get cocky, get overconfident, give me just one opening –[/i] But he hasn’t yet – Avi’s much smarter than we gave him credit for. His teammates, though… “Hey kid,” we whisper, using the tendrils spread throughout our chamber to amplify our voice and throw it around the arena to disorient him. Just as we’d hoped, he whips his head around at the sound, caught off guard – but that’s all we need. We nod to the tendrils embedded in the bulkhead behind him, and in an instant long, wicked spikes jut out, puncturing his armor and pinning him to the wall. “URGH!!” he unconsciously grunts, wheezing, gasping breaths seeping through his helmet. “Damn moron!” Avi shouts at him, growling in anger. “Told you if you take your eyes off him for a minute – “ We call out the same spikes from the tendrils closest to Avi – he somehow senses them and rolls away, hitting his boosters and fly into the air. “Nice try, Djido!” he roars as he whips out his wire rifle, firing at us in midair. “But you’re still too slow!” Two shots puncture our head again, but we feel SIVA’s repairs already underway. Behind us, we can sense the transmat light grabbing the injured Disciple, saving him from the hell we’ve created here. This has been more or less our routine for the past few days: the Disciples arrive to fight us, we take out Avi’s teammates, he shows up the next day with more. We’re at a stalemate, and we can’t figure out why. [i]How does he keep surviving us? Granted, he’ll transmat out of the arena when things get too intense, but still – Why can’t we finish him off? He was always good before, but there simply hasn’t been enough time for him to get this good. Could there?[/i] Avi fires two quick shots from his wire rifle again, both shots hitting us in the face. “Just wait ’til the heavies drop!” he taunts, continuing to run and leap through the air as he reloads. We don’t respond – there’s no point. He’s just an insect taunting us, buzzing around our head and stinging us – and every time we go to swipe at him, he darts away – [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ Can’t believe we didn’t think of that.[/i] A smirk tugs at our lips. [i]He’d never see that coming.[/i] Still smirking, we calmly fold our hands together and sit down, taking a deep breath and quietly waiting. “Giving up again already?” Avi jeers. “Took you a lot longer to throw in the towel last time. You’re even more pathetic than I thought you’d be.” He shoots us in the head again, clearly enjoying himself yet still too cautious to draw any closer. His teammate, though, quickly lets his confidence get the better of him. “Hey Avi, check it out!” he calls, stepping toward me as he pulls out his shotgun. “You ever take down a boss in here with a shotty alone?” “Don’t get too close!” Avi shouts as his teammate cocks the shotgun and saunters confidently over to me. “What, you think I’m worried about those bloody needles of his?” he sneers as he smacks his fist against his armor. “Titans break whatever stands in their way.” We can’t help but smile – [i]Titans always say that, but even as a Guardian we could handle them easily.[/i] The Titan gets close enough to us to level his shotgun in our face. “I wanna see if his whole head will grow back,” we hear him quip. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ Only one way to find out.[/i] The Titan pulls the trigger, but SIVA’s already thought ahead – our blood coagulates into a shield the millisecond it sprays out of our face while simultaneously forming a spike that juts out from our decimated skull – “UR – “ is all we hear as our face reforms around the spike – as our eyeballs reconstitute themselves, we see the spike jutting through the front of the Titan’s helmet, keeping him attached to us. We look past him to Avi, shaking his head from a safe distance. With a quick jerk of the head, we flip the Titan, throwing him behind us as the spike reforms into our tongue. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ Yes, it is a neat trick, but doesn’t make it any less gross. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ That word still has very different meanings for us –[/i] “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” Avi groans at us. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ Well, he’s not entirely wrong…[/i] But we just smile again at Avi in response. “Come a little closer and we’ll show you firsthand,” we jeer. “You really have turned to the Darkness, haven’t you?” [i]The Darkness. He still thinks in binary terms, despite the teachings of the Disciples. How has he still never learned that the Light can be just as wicked as the Darkness?[/i] “We have not sought you out,” we whisper to Avi, throwing our voice around the room. “We sought nothing but to save our friend. You have come to us, seeking to make your name through violence. Yet we are the Darkness?” “You made your choice, Djido, don’t try to twist it – “ “Destiny made us what we are. No choice.” “Destiny make you a quitter, too?” “Destiny drove me from the game because we were nothing but players. There was no purpose in the constant battle – “ “You’re right,” Avi snaps, a new edge to his voice. “I am a player. But it’s only through constant battle that we grow strong enough for what’s to come. To face minions of the Darkness like you.” [i]A player determined to win can only be beaten by another player determined to win.[/i] We remember the lessons that Toland’s beating taught us. [i]We were taught by the sword, through suffering, through loss – Avi has learned through repetition and games and reputation – … …yet there’s not much difference between us, really. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ No, I –[/i] But SIVA’s right – I [i]don’t[/i] really want to kill him. He’s alive because I’m keeping him alive. There are things he still needs to answer. “[i]Avi,[/i]” Brother Vance’s voice booms over the arena’s comm. “[i]You need to transmat out now.[/i]” We feel a slight thrill at hearing Brother Vance’s voice, but an even more surprising thrill at Avi as he shakes his head, looking confused. “No, not this time. I can beat him.” “[i]Avi, this isn’t the time – [/i]“ “I don’t need teammates, I can beat him. I know I can – “ “[i]Avi, don’t risk –[/i] “ “I CAN BEAT HIM!!!” Avi roars back. We continue sitting, watching Avi as we feel a shift in the air. [i]He has something to prove – We do not.[/i] We smile once more as Brother Vance falls silent and Avi turns to us once more. “Then prove yourself,” I say to Avi as he glares back at me. [i]Prove yourself, Guardian![/i] Toland shouts in my head. Avi reloads his weapons as we continue silently watching him, still as the grave. “Oh, you don’t need to tell me twice,” he says, cocking his gun. “Too bad you won’t be around to see it.” I smile wider. “Only one way to find out.”