"Lance! Lance, can you hear me?" Chelsea's voice echoed over his communications.
The Titan stood at the entrance to Rasputin's Mindlab. While he still had his reasons for despising the AI behind him, regardless of his intentions, he had no choice but to stand guard. Uncrossing his arms, Lance sighed, he hadn't heard from her for a few weeks, ever since they had gone to Mercury, but she had reminded him that when dealing with the Vex, time was nothing but a train of thought.
"I hear you, and it's a relief. Is everything okay?" he asked, his eyes peering into the vast frozen plateau beneath the Mindlab, where Xol and his army of Hive had been frozen for countless generations.
"Yes, we're still in the middle of our assignment, but we should be done relatively soon." Chelsea replied, as he could picture the genuine smile on her face.
"I'm glad to hear it. You haven't been too overworked, right? That fledgling Warlock and Tina have been pulling their weight?"
"I heard that, dick." Tina sneered.
"That'd be a first." Lance snickered as he shook his head. "I'm a little preoccupied with an assignment of my own, Chels. Are you guys in need of back-up?"
"N-No, not anything of that sort. I just wanted to check in with you." Chelsea replied, as he smiled.
"Well I'm glad you did. I won't lie, I was starting to get really concerned." he grinned, as he felt the structure beneath him begin to quake. "Hey listen, I'll have to get back to you in just a bit. Remember Oryx? Yeah, a Hive Worm God's decided to come out of hiding, and-"
"WHAT?!" Chelsea yelled, causing Lance to flinch. "You can't seriously be planning to take that thing on by yourself?!"
"Not fully. I've got the Sentinel helping Ana Bray devise a weapon capable of taking down the Hive Worm God. Though I guess you could say that if it attacks pre-maturely, then yes, I'll be fighting it alone."
"You- chzzts- be- zzzrt -areful- tssssssst-"
"O' feeble Light, enemy mine." Xol's voice echoed throughout Lance's mind, though this time he steeled himself in anticipation for the mental onslaught. "My children swarm the belly of this rock so that we may thrive away from those that would harm us. The intentions that I, Will of the Thousands Xol, sought were for the rise of a new brood, separate from the Osmium throne. "
"In the recent past, your lineage's fists slayed countless of my writhing, festering young. You instilled fear into those that embraced the shadows, under the surface of your planets. Your filthy Light bearers all exalted as Heralds for the falsities your Traveler promised, in return slaughtering mine own brood. What a view, your festering souls must have enjoyed atop the corpses you stacked."
"Your young literally kill each other to tithe their higher ups. The last thing I'm taking a lesson in morality from is the Worm that likely started the whole 'Sword Logic' and 'Tithing' process." Lance grunted as he sprinted for the nearest platform, Xol still not showing himself.
As Lance's boots made contact with the platform, however, he saw a massive tail shoot up from over the side of the platform, batting him straight into the nearest wall. Lance grit his teeth as the taste of copper filled his mouth within seconds. Breathing became difficult, and by the absurd pain in his chest, he knew his ribs were broken and likely puncturing his lung.
"You speak with such confidence, when it wasn't even you who committed these atrocities to my broods. You remind me of the Osmium King, who killed Akka, Worm God of Secrets, for the power to summon and control the Deep Dark. You grew jealous of the ones more advanced than you, and you stole their life, stole their power, and claim it for your own." Xol's monstrous voice rumbled in his head. "The only thing that blasphemous Auryx 'took' was the life of a comrade, and used her body as a means of creating her Dreadnaught. You take the credit for your ancestors atrocities to my people, where is the one called Stratus Drake?. "
"Wouldn't you like to know." Lance grunted, as he collapsed to the floor in front of him. Blood trickled down his forehead, out of the bottom of his nose, and from the corners of his mouth.
"So I was right. Directly or not, you slayed your own lineage to seek their power and fame." Xol mocked. "You are no different than that hungering conqueror, Oryx."
"Shut up." Lance growled, punching a fist into the ground, attempting shakily to stand. "According to the Book of Sorrows, your meddling in the Proto-Hive's lives are what caused them to become corrupted. Your worms are what took what could have been a noble and righteous people, and turned them to the ways of the Dark."
"I have no sympathy for the monsters they are now, and I will gladly slay every one of their sorry husks, and crush the worms wriggling around within." Lance snarled, clutching his chest with his left arm. "The Hive you Worm Gods manipulated, by your wickedry, are the reasons for countless deaths of innocent lives! Including the life of my beloved's ancestor."
"We didn't start this war." Lance took a step forward, as the Hive Worm God slithered up to full height around the platform he stood on, towering over him. "-but we're damn well gonna finish it."
Xol's hideous maw opened, exposing a pustule like 'eye' that glared at him. A beam of sinister energy erupted from the Worm God's mouth, zapping over the greater length of the platform. With sufficient healing from his Ghost, Lance was able to muster a dive behind cover, plucking his Pulse Rifle from his back. Burst after burst was fired into Xol's face, and even when the bullets struck the eye, Lance saw almost no effect.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Alright, I have the codes." Demeter said as she sprinted through a horde of Cursed and Frozen Thrall.
The dull explosions of the Cursed Thrall exploding behind her were immediately softened by the greater roar from outside, as the facility around her shook. Ducking around a corner, Demeter pitched her shoulder into a glass door, ramming through it. An alarm blared overhead, but given the state of the rest of the first Golden Age facility, she hoped it wouldn't prove too much of an issue.
"You're approaching the Forge. I'll request Rasputin send you the prototype weapon. When my sister created it, she decided to name it the Valkyrie, so if you see anything referring to the Valkyrie project, go there!"
Demeter nodded as a trio of Acolyte snipers fired on her position. Producing her Pulse Rifle off of her back, she fired a trio of bursts, one for each enemy, into their heads, killing the lesser enemies immediately. Forcing her way into what Ana had briefly referred to as a 'Server Room', Demeter found a singular node in front of her, floating of it's own volition in the center of the room.
Approaching it, Jewel floated up without Demeter's instruction, and began scanning the system. With a silent nod, the angular pyramid shaped device glowed the same familiar orange as Rasputin's generators she had seen strewn about the facility. With one mighty flash of light and some data, a sleek looking spear appeared before Demeter.
"The Valkyrie is a spear." Demeter smiled as she appreciated the craftsmanship of the weapon.
"I never actually got to see it in person, but that's the weapon we'll be completing to help Lance take on Xol. Plug those codes into the nearest Terminal, then, chuck the Valkyrie into the Forge, and that should overcharge the weapon considerably." Ana replied hurriedly, before coughing gently. "Ghost, you should stand by for her resurrection."
"What?!"
"No time, just do!"
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Lance grunted as once again, the mighty Redwood sized tail of the Worm God struck him into the nearest wall. He gasped for air as he felt his consciousness slipping. Collapsing to the platform, Lance's visor was heavily cracked and damaged, with a few holes within it. He thanked his lucky stars that the Traveler had terraformed Mars to permit him to breath, otherwise he would have surely been in trouble.
Besides the stench of the giant Worm God, the fresh air did manage to help ease his delirium. Still, the edges of his vision became fuzzy and black, as he felt his consciousness continue to slip.
"If you are ever in any doubt-." Nathan's voice echoed in the back of his mind. "Puff your chest out, and declare to yourself that you will not take a step backwards. When it is your turn to retaliate, strike with everything you have, do not permit the enemy a second attack."
Lance felt numb from the his waist down, and no matter how much he struggled to move, he felt unable to do so.
///////////////////////////////////////
"Being a symbol to the City, even in the last few years of the Golden Age; it's never easy." Drake had once said, arms crossed. "Your father Caldwell read too much into the fame and notoriety that the name Stratus has on the City. Our family has done a great deal for the betterment of the people, and they in turn have done a great deal for us. Your father never could understand that."
"So, you're not upset that Grandpa Nate didn't accept the Light and become a Guardian, like you or myself?" Lance couldn't help but ask, as Drake turned his attention to Lillian.
"I was a miserable excuse for a father. I was never informed he existed until well after my first resurrection." Drake grunted. "Any disappointments I may have had in that were immediately voided the moment I abandoned my son recklessly during the battle of Twilight Gap. I gave up on life, because I didn't see a reason to keep fighting."
"But if you had known he had existed?"
"Then I would have stopped being the Vanguard Commander." Drake said, almost too quickly for Lance to comprehend. "My father, while I will always respect and admire him, never took time away from his duty to be my father. He was my mentor, nothing more. When my mother died in the Ishtar Sink on Venus, he became obsessed with the machines that dwelled there."
"I was abandoned by my father when my mother died, and I, inexplicably, continued the cycle when Lillian died on Luna. Some day, if you are ever presented the chance to be a parent, should consider hanging up your Guardian title, and focus on keeping your family and the City safe." Drake placed a hand on his shoulder. "Family is everything, and it is what drives us Stratus Titans to be the Wall against which the Darkness breaks. Whether we're on the front line or the last line of defense."
"You have an awesome responsibility with this name you've inherited." Drake continued. "Nathan was wise enough to remind you that the name is yours to mold. What stories do you want the City to speak of you? Nathan chose to be a proprietor for a very successful and happy Orphanage for ALL of the City's homeless youths. Your father chose to be a snob who sought power, and I, I was the man who fought Crota and lived."
"Regardless of what you choose, nobody has a word to say about what you will make of yourself. Just always remember to put your family first."
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"Lance!" Chelsea's voice called out, snapping Lance from his hallucinations, as Xol's body coiled up on itself, his steely muscles tightening, ready to pounce on Lance's position and finish him off. "If you die and leave me to tend to this child alone I will NEVER forgive you!"
Lance's eyes snapped open as the words rattled about in his head for a moment. Xol's body lurched forward, collapsing any source of cover in front of Lance, and quickly consuming Lance's position. A plume of dust billowed into the sky, as Xol withdrew with an alien snicker. As the dust parted, however, Lance stood with a purple disk in his hand, a sphere of Void Light wrapping around his front from the Sentinel shield in his hand.
"That Light, that terrible, yet succulent morsel. You thought it would hurt me?! That was feeble, incredibly weak for one whose brood was considered one of the most powerful!
Lance snickered to himself as the shield cracked and disappeared, his lack of knowledge in the technique limiting the amount of time he could utilize it. Xol's mouth opened as the energy beam began to charge within it's maw. A flash of orange data streams appeared just before Lance, on a singular Rasputin node just in front of him. The sleek, overcharged form of a Spear appeared in front of him. Hefting the weapon in his unbroken left arm, Lance spun on his boots and tossed it with all of his might.
The Spear arched through the air, piercing the pustule like eye of the Hive Worm God. A shrill shriek filled the air as the monster's form bucked, writhing in pain. With the beast distracted, Lance pulled all of his reserve Light into his right arm. Arc energy, infused with both Solar and Void Light, a technique he had once seen Drake perform, surged throughout his arm.
"That's because, I didn't put my back into it!" Lance roared, charging at Xol.
The Worm God, blinded as a result of the Valkyrie destroying it's only eye, resorted to it's other unholy senses to locate the Guardian. The charge Xol had already maintained continued to swell in size and intensity, as Lance drew ever closer.
Lance's Light on his arm flared as he thought about his great ancestor Sol, Kabr, Drake, Nathan, Caldwell, and even Amethyst, passing their Light down generation after generation. Each one with the hope that their Light, would be the Light to liberate the City of the Darkness. As each of the Stratus family members passed on their Lights, the power in his arm swelled to great intensity.
The overwhelming power he exerted caused miniature shockwaves to ebb off of his person, rings of dust scurrying away beneath his feet. Solar flares erupted from the temples of his helmet, as Arc bolts raced between his appendages, and Void tendrils wrapped themselves around his legs. Lightning crackled in the sky above them, as storm clouds began to form, the distant booms of thunder rattling the sky.
"You bring great pride to me Lance." Drake smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You were my means of making amends to my son Nathan, and now, it's your turn to lead this family."
Lance saw Drake hold out an orb of Golden Light before him, as Lance's Light infused hand reached out and grasped it. Rain began to downpour on their position with the intensity of a monsoon, while thunder claps drowned out the screams of Xol and the crackling of the energy beam he was stock-piling. A single bolt of lightning crashed down on Xol's head, causing the Worm to lurch upwards. His beam fired, zooming past Lance and causing a crater within the Hellas Basin behind Rasputin's Mindlab.
The explosion of sinister energy rippled behind Lance, creating a silhouette of his front as he roared, the sound alerting Xol to his location. As before, Xol's body coiled in on itself, and pounced at a speed almost too fast for a normal human to follow. A Guardian, however, had no issue keeping up with him. Planting his feet firmly, Lance twisted his torso, swinging his fist upwards, while using his enhanced thrusters to gain momentum and height.
"HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNGGGGGG!" Lance roared as his fist made contact with the significantly larger Worm God's hide.
Golden Light crackled and swelled over Lance's fist as he heard the sickening crack of cartilage within the Worm break with relative ease.
"FIST OF-" Lance's voice boomed and echoed throughout the open plateau, as the storm above them swelled even further.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAALESSSSSSSSSSSS!"Using his strength, as well as the Light imbued in his arm, Lance spiked Xol's head down onto what had once been a radio tower, now decrepit and sharpened by Xol's wanton destruction. The metal of the spiked tower pierced Xol's neck, as the Worm flailed. a shockwave erupted from Xol's point of impact, as anything not immediately bolted down was immediately blow away by gale force winds.
Lightning infused with Arc Light cascaded down on Xol's form, as a tornado erupted and consumed the Worm from the point of impact. Lance landed, steeling himself to combat the winds he had created, as hunks of metal and otherwise cycloned in the air above him, lacerating the Worm God.
With one final shriek, Xol's body ceased movement of any kind, and withered away into nothingness.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Demeter stared with widened eyes at the show of absolute power she had just witnessed. She had been thankful that she had found something to latch onto when the Tornado struck, but felt her heart palpitating in both fear and complete fangirling. Behind her, she could hear the familiar footfalls of Commander Zavala, accompanied by Ana Bray at his side.
"I had only heard about the ultimate of Stratus Titan techniques, and in all the many lives I have lived, I have never truly bore witness to it." Zavala said, dumbstruck. "This is the power that a Traveler's chosen wields, and this is why their family will forever go down as the greatest protectors of the City."
"What he means to say is, the Stratus' have always had unheard of power that comes with being one of the Traveler's first chosen. Every Guardian is essential to the defense of the City, but they are the ones that will always shine the brightest." Ana smiled. "Don't be discouraged, Zavala caught me up to your Legend in the making. This was personal for Lance, and I think we should let him enjoy it."
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Lance and Demeter stood off to the side, along the side of Zavala, but behind Ana. The door leading into Rasputin's personal chamber unlocked, leading the four Guardians in to the vast chamber. In the very center of the chamber, a lone sphere of orange and red data swirled upon itself. Lance reserved his aggression as they approached. after all, the Valkyrie that Rasputin had offered him had been beneficial to the fight.
A sharp mechanical noise echoed from within the chamber, as the sphere of data brightened and dimmed, as if to simulate a 'voice'. Much like how Cayde or other Exo's mouths glowed to symbolize they were talking. In Russian words that Demeter couldn't understand, Rasputin spoke. Almost instantaneously, however, Ana translated.
"The Bray family shaped me into an all seeing savior, while your Vanguard-" Ana glared at Zavala and Lance respectively "-attempted to use me as a primitive weapon."
"After what he did to the Iron Lords, he's god damn lucky my Vanguard ancestors didn't scrap him." Lance scoffed, as Demeter nudged him on the shoulder with a quick shake of her head as in to say 'I'd rather not piss it off.'
Rasputin's core continued to speak the foreign, dead language, as Ana began to pace, continuing to translate it word for word. "That cycle ends today. I, Rasputin, define the reality of my existence."
"My sights have stretched to the end of this star system and perhaps beyond. Never again shall Humanity have threats unseen. From this day forward, I am Rasputin. I am the Guardian of Humanity, who shall defend his charge by my own terms. I have no equal."
"Do I hear 'egotistical' much?" Lance sighed with a shrug. "I was told of Golden Age movies that mentioned self aware machines claiming themselves to be god-like. It's what many people back then expected to be the cause of the Collapse."
"Shhh." Ana hissed, turning back towards the core, as Zavala stepped forward.
"He's right. What have we done? We've permitted this... monster to become self aware. We're all in-"
Ana held up a hand to the console on the walkway before her. With a simple scan of her hand, a picture of her face, albeit with longer hair and glasses, flashed on the screen. "We've got this. After all; I'm the Voice of Rasputin."