Destiny 2: Frozen In Time

Chapter 1: Friend or Foe?

When the trio touched down on Europa, they immediately noticed that there was a perpetual winter, one that hindered their running capability a good deal.

"Looks like we'll be needing our sparrows more often now..." Spe-7 mumbles. "But you don't have one Gold."

"I think you'll have to ride with Spe-7" Suzuka says as Fang summons hers. "There's no way that mine has room for a second person."

"Hey, there's that weird pyramid thing again..." Gold says as she notices one of the big pyramids sitting atop Europa's atmosphere. "What would the darkness want with Taiki and this place?"

"Everything okay Twinkle?" Spe-7 asks. "You're fairly quiet."

"Yeah..." Twinkle replies. "It's just, we feel so powerless against the darkness... We already lost Taiki to it, and the last time we came face to face with it we just ran..."

"I'm getting a distress signal! It's being broadcasted on all channels!" Fang says as Suzuka looks to the ghost.

"What is it?" Suzuka asks, and the message plays out.

"My friends! We are all in grave danger!" The voice says. It sounds very raspy and old- almost inhuman.

"Who is that?" Gold asks.

"Darkness walks among us!" The voice continues on.

"I've heard that voice before..." Spe-7 mumbles. "Taiki was talking to me about it one time after we avenged Cayde..."

"Wasn't his name... Variks?" Suzuka asks. "Whatever the case where is the signal coming from?"

"It's coming from here... On Europa." Fang replies. "We need to find the source of that signal, fast. If we don't get to Variks first, someone else will."

"Right!" Spe-7 says as Twinkle summons her sparrow. "Gold! Hop on!"

"Right." Gold replies as she hops on with Spe-7 and the trio zoom off to find the source of the signal. "Who is this Variks guy?"

"He was the one that started a prison riot and it left our hunter vanguard dead." Spe-7 explains. "He traded the prison for this?"

"Well if I were responsible for Cayde's death I'd probably hide out here as well." Twinkle mumbles as the trio spot fallen skiffs followed by a ketch, but these ones are much different than the others- these ones sport blue and white colors and their emblem is much different.

"Who ARE these guys?" Spe-7 asks.

"No time to ask! They're dropping in!" Gold shouts as a pair of skiffs descend and a group of vandals and dregs emerges, ready to duke it out with them. "Incoming!"

"Whoa!" Suzuka shouts as a shock grenade explodes and knocks her off of her sparrow, and said sparrow veers into Spe-7's path, knocking her and Gold off as well.

"Ouch!" Spe-7 shouts as she tumbles along the snow, and the fallen close in.

"Stay back!" Gold shouts as she gets up to one knee and aims her hand cannon at them, ready to blow them away, but the enemy does not stagger back- if anything they aim their weapons directly at the equine titan's head. "I mean it! I'll shoot!" She's cut off by a wild rocket fired from Spe-7 that blows all of the unknown fallen away. "...Thanks!"

"No need to thank me." Spe-7 says as the trio get back on their feet. "But what's inside that igloo?"

"Well... Let's go check it out then." Suzuka replies as the trio looks at the igloo that's sticking out like a sore thumb. They attempt to run towards it, but just as Spe-7 suspected they fall when they try to run- their shoes not gripping the powdered snow very well. After lots of falling and getting covered in snow the trio finally makes their way to the igloo where they discover that it's actually been transformed into a cross between a living quarters and a debriefing room.

"Whoever's been staying here must have been carrying something associated with the darkness because I'm detecting traces of it in here." Queen says. "Can you bring me to that terminal?"

"Sure thing." Gold replies as she walks over to the terminal and Queen scans it.

"I'm getting a company name..." Queen says. "It's coming up as Braytech."

"Braytech?" Suzuka asks. "From what Taiki and the vanguard told me there was a colony here on Europa that was from that industry... I think the place was called Eventide? Whatever the case, somebody was using tech here to track people... Variks probably."

"I've found the true source of the signal, let's get moving before it's too late." Queen says. "If we can pick this up, anyone else can, and they might have done it before we did." As the trio heads out though they notice that more Fallen skiffs are waiting for them, and they appear to have blocked off the way to Variks with a shield. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Those servitors must be the ones putting up the shield, but what in the world happened to them?!" Spe-7 asks, noticing that these servitors bear the strange emblem that the other Fallen on Europa bear but they appear to be battered, misused and some of them even sport patches of rust- as if these servitors had been abused.

"We'll take them out all the same!" Gold shouts as she unleashes her solar energy and conjures up the fiery anchor once more, wildly swinging and wiping out the Fallen just like she did before, and with every slam she creates a flaming shockwave that incinerates those that are unlucky enough to be within the blast radius. With the servitors gone the shield goes down and Spe-7 and Suzuka summon their sparrows once more.

"Quickly, whoever Variks pissed off, they won't leave much of him left if we don't get to him in time." Spe-7 says.