[u]Chapter Fourteen: Bread Crumbs[/u] Part Seven "You know," Rush began as I looked around at the mess of metal and goo littering the ground around me and in my Ward, "You're really hardcore when you're not worried about killing things." "Yeah..." I wasn't as enthusiastic as he was about the carnage, "Don't tell anyone." "Too late, Sierra's already seen it firsthand," Rush reminded me, "What we can't figure out is why you're so against it; you won't survive forever aiming at kneecaps." Before I could respond, metal scuffed on concrete behind me and I turned to find one more Vex standing there, gun leveled. A few bolts scorched my shielding before I managed to grab the gun and point it away from me, unable to wrestle it out of the Vex's grasp. It had come up while I had been distracted and not watching my motion tracker. I looked the machine in the eye, watching the optics adjust as it analyzed me, probably formulating how it would try to kill me next. A shudder passed over me as I again thought of the intelligence of these entities. What was smart enough to send dozens of units at once without accidentally misplacing anything, then proceed to repeatedly and successfully root out, surround, and engage a trained warrior? My thoughts slowed as the Vex raised its left hand, giving me a clear look at the few long and slender fingers that it had. Then a violet light built up across the entire surface of the hand facing me, quickly growing stronger. "Rush, what's it-?!" My question was cut short as a wave of energy shot straight out from the hand and into my chest, sending me stumbling backwards with a hand over my burnt skin. "Attacking you," Rush answered matter-of-factly. "I got that," I grunted in pain, taking a moment to let my wound heal before turning my gun on the Vex and riddling it with holes. "Rush, armor please," I groaned, looking all around the area as I waited for signs of more Vex coming. "Done," Rush replied as the gap in my chest plate was refilled. "Alright, I think we're finally done..." I trailed off as one more orb of light formed in the air several meters away from me, bringing the stormy clouds with it, "...here...oh come on!" This time, however, only two Vex fell from the anomaly, landing with much heavier and louder clangs than those before them. They towered a meter or so taller than any of the others had, their massive bulks created by layers of armor that left no sign of a fluid container visible to me. Their single red eyes trained on me and they lower their right arms, which wielded cannons just as bulky as they were. Now I responded quickly, firing several rounds into the nearest one. Worry coursed through me as each bullet dissolved against a faint barrier of violet Void energy that surrounded the machine, leaving my target completely unfazed. With a roar that sounded like two metal plates grating together, the one I had shot began firing giant bursts of energy at me from its cannon, quickly joined by its ally. The lobs of purple curved through the air and pounded the ground around me as I dodged and began running for my Ward, which still stood only a few meters back. The ground-razing barrage of fire continued on behind me and beat against my Ward as I reloaded and though of a better way to take the machines down. Moving together, the two started closing in on my Ward, not letting up their onslaught for a moment. "Close quarters it is," I let my hand cannon disappear from my hands, planning to summon my shotgun next, "Let's see how big of a punch those shields can take." But my shotgun never appeared in my hands as I was surprised by the Vex. One moment the large Vex had been walking towards me very quickly, but not fast enough to bother me, and the next one teleported right in front of me. I swung a quick punch, but it wasn't good enough to break through the shield, and before I could do anything else its thick metal arm was coming down on me. All I could do was raise my arms in defense as it came down like a hammer, pushing me down to a knee as I strained to keep my arms from collapsing. Keeping my right arm up against the weight of the Vex's arm, I jabbed it twice in the abdomen using my left hand. The first finally knocked out the protective shielding around the Vex, but the second left no mark aside from a shallow dent. The behemoth let out a series of low-pitched cries and raised its arm to swing at me again. Rolling out of the way just in time to avoid a blow that shattered the concrete where I had been, I channeled Void through my arm and lashed out with palm extended. A pulse shot outwards from my spread fingers and launched the Vex backwards several feet before it landed on its back outside of the Ward. Before I could collect myself the other was upon me and I had to leap backwards out of the Ward, finally getting my shotgun in my hands as I landed. After only a moment the Vex followed me outside the protective dome and I fired a slug at it, only to watch it pass harmlessly through empty air as my target teleported right in front of my face with arm already coming down to smash me. More prepared this time, I feinted backwards and shot again, this time catching it and blowing through its shield. As it straightened up and fired a blast from its gun at me, I put another shell into it that made it stumble back a step with punctures in its casing. But before I could finish it the other teleported next to its ally, apparently having gotten back up after its fall, and began firing at me to drive me back. Instead of backing off, I charged through one of the admittedly painful blasts and tackled the Vex at its legs, flipping it onto its back over my shoulders. A screech behind me told me that the other had recovered and I quickly jumped forward, spinning around to face the machine as its hand sunk into the dirt. With a strong, concentrated burst of Light from my feet, my legs swung around under me and then above me as I ended up upside down and brought down a powerful axe kick on the already-lowered head of the Vex. The frame caved in under the force and metal bits as well as glass sprinkled down to the ground from its damaged optics and head. But after only a moment it straightened up jerkily with electricity sparking over its now twitchy body, and I realized that I had just done more harm to my well being than its. It swung at me wildly, backing me up as it tried to smash me apart, that is until I tripped. The other Vex had not managed to get up yet, probably because it was still trying to figure out what to do, and now turned its eye on my as I landed on its bulky chest. A crooked smile came over my lips as I brought my eyes back up to the spastic Vex, and just as it swung another chop I rolled backwards off of the downed one. Metal creaked and groaned as the Vex's hand sunk into its comrade, bending and tearing through sheets of metal. White fluid leaked out of the openings in the armor and weak sparks of electricity sparked a few times before the Vex stopped squirming under its ally. But that did not deter the other Vex as it yanked its hand out and closed in on me again. However, in this state it completely disregarded the shotgun that I held planted against my shoulder and aimed up at its stomach from my position on the ground. With a few quick rounds the machine fell like a tree, landing on top of the other. Reloading and dusting myself off, I got up off of my back and looked down at the two. Although it could no longer move, the eye of the Vex on the bottom still glowed weakly, but I brought an end to it with a single round. "We should come here more often," Rush chuckled, coming out to scan the machines littering the ground, or at least the ones that were still mostly intact. "We need to get to the Reef," I ignored his battle lust, "Where is it?" "It's what we usually call the Belt now; the Asteroid Belt, that is, just past the orbit of Mars," Rush told me. "Let's go then," I requested, "Oh, and make sure you send all the footage of what we saw of the Ishtar Collective and the Vex to the Vanguard, along with a report. I'll give my own report personally once we return from seeing the Awoken." "I'd rather stay with the Vex than visit the Awoken..." Rush sighed. "Why's that?" I wiped off some Vex fluid that was still splashed over my arm. "Because the Vex are nicer to strangers," Rush answered. "Your sense of humor is inspiring," I said flatly, now trying to shake the fluid from my arm off of my hand. "I'm serious," Rush turned his eye to me, giving a dead stare. I listened to him this time, and looked around at the Vex once more. "They're our best hope for beating the Vex," I told Rush. "Fine," Rush gave in after a moment, turning back to his scanning, "But I will be sure to include how stupid you are in your lousy report. How come I have to make all the reports anyway? I hate them." "Stop whining...what was it? Little Light?" I grinned evilly. Rush looked at me again, his blue eye glowing fiercely. "Next time you die, I'm not reviving you." _______________________________ Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, the next will be up tomorrow with all the chapter links in place. [i]Reminder that to submit a character for a Legend Untold story you must PM me or leave a comment[/i] Link to Ch14 Pt6: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229277104/0/0 Link to Ch15: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229311527/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0