The Last Flame

No Rest for the Weary

"You saw what?" Zavala was not sure if he believed what he was hearing.

Christian summarized again, "Ogre, wizard torso on top of ogre's head," Alex and Ryan nodded, confirming what the hunter had just said.

"How could the hive create such a monstrosity?" Zavala placed his hand against his chin, "Get me Eris and Ikora."

***

"Never in all my life have I seen something so..." Ikora trailed off, clearly disturbed from what she had heard, "vile," she finished.

Ikora stood on the right of Zavala, who leaned on his desk with his hands. Eris stood on the other side of the titan, clutching her glowing ball, almost like she was comforting or confiding in it.

"We cannot allow this... thing," Zavala asserted, "to continue to fester. We do not know how or when the hive plan to use it and we cannot wait to find out. It must be dealt with immediately. The cave entrance may not be big enough for it to leave now, but who knows what sort of ideas the hive have for getting it out."

Eris stood silently in seemingly deep thought, then looked up. "I have heard rumors of this but never thought it possible. This wizard, who combined himself with the ogre, must be a disciple of Kazun, a hive wizard, not as prominent as many of the others whom you have faced before, who was said to have experimented on combining the forms of the hive. He died long ago while trying to combine himself with an ogre. It seems another wizard has followed in his footsteps and this time was able to successfully complete the ritual." After speaking, Eris retreated back to herself.

"Whatever it is, we have to stop it as soon as possible," concluded Zavala.

"So we what?" Ikora questioned, "Send three brave guardians to their death? Six? This fireteam already said that it seemed to only be stunned momentarily by even their heaviest firepower. No, we cannot fight this head on, we have to find some way to cripple it first. There has to be something in that cave that protects it, that strengthens it, that gives it its power."

Ryan interjected, "I saw a small opening in the cave wall where we found the ogre as we were leaving. I wasn't able to get a close look at it, but it looked like it was about big enough to walk through, like a passageway, and our best chance of finding a way to stop it would probably be to go farther down.

"Then we send in a small team to investigate the cave, three guardians sneak their way in and see what's in that opening. They report back here and we make our move," the titan vanguard looked at Ikora, "Then we do whatever is necessary to stop all potential threats to the city before they become a bigger problem."

Ikora nodded hesitantly, "In that case, I say there is no better team to send than the one who already has experience." the warlock looked at the fireteam of three guardians standing before her, "But I will not send you back into the unknown unless you are up for the task."

"We'll do it," said Ryan.

"You can count on us," Alex affirmed.

Christian crossed his arms, "A stealth mission you say? Count me in."

"Then it is settled," Zavala looked at each of the guardians, "You leave in five minutes."

"Alright, let's go," Christian turned around and started walking to the door. "I've got some gear to sort out."

***

Christian switched out his rocket launcher for his sword and his Wormhusk Crown for Graviton Forfeit, "I'm going to be running the only invisibility we have for this op, we're going to have to rely a lot on my smoke bomb depending on how many open spaces we are going to have to cross."

"Roger that, I'm keeping sentinel shield in case we get in another sticky situation again. Ryan, you got a healing rift equipped?"

"Way ahead of you. I'm going with Solar Attunement of Sky as well. I hope there are some open spaces once we get farther into the cave. Either way, mobility is probably going to be our friend with this one." Ryan said.

"Now you're thinking like a hunter," Christian smirked.

"Don't insult me," the warlock shot back.

"Yeah, yeah, I bet I could kick your ass in the Crucible any day."

"You wish," Alex chimed in.

"Hey, I'll kick both of yours... at the same time."

"Tell you what," Alex said, "When we get back, I'll take you up on that bet."

"Loser has to buy a bowl of ramen for the winner," Christian said

"Deal," Ryan stretched out his hand.

Christian shook his hand and reached out his other free hand to shake Alex's hand.

Christian rested his hands on his hips, "I'm going to be honest, I don't know if I can eat two bowls of ramen at one time."

"Hopefully you can afford to buy two," Alex responded. Then, looking back towards Zavala's office, he asked, "Everyone ready?"

"Ready," Ryan checked the magazine of his pulse rifle and put it back in the magazine well.

Christian flipped the cylinder of his Last Word back into place and holstered it, "Yee haw partner."

"Ok, let's go."

They all headed towards Zavala, who was back leaning against his railing, looking at the Traveler.

"Guardians," Zavala turned around, "I will be directing you through comms where I can. Ikora and Eris will be providing any additional information they can give you as well," he explained, "Prepare for transmat."

"No rest for the weary," sighed Ryan

Christian looked at him, "You can sleep when you're dead."

"Good luck guardians." Zavala offered as they were beamed into their ships.