Eyes Up, Guardian

Chapter 31

"And to make matters worse," Estella cut in as Ada brought up the mountains on her map. "He won't even tell us why."

There were a few long moments of silence as Damian glanced around the room.

"That's it?" He asked, his brows raising.

Ikora nodded gravely. "That's all we have so far. But you two should get going, Saladin is growing impatient." She told them, "Tessa, you can go with Damian to the observatory, then join Shiro-4 on the coms during the mission."

"We'll get all of that smoothed over with Saladin," Cayde promised, "You'll be back in combat in no time." He said, "If you want to be, of course."

She gave a bit of a smile at that, though to be perfectly honest, she had no idea what she wanted. With Damian's light flowing down the bond between them, she felt like she could do anything. His light had even bolstered her own, and when he'd healed her the first time, she hadn't realized until later that he'd healed every injury she'd still had from Nokris. Even still, she was worried about the two of them being in combat together, after what had happened last night, she didn't want to put herself into any danger if he would react the same way as he had before. Regardless, they were all problems and questions for a later time.

It didn't take long for them to gather their armor and weapons, soon they were in Damian's ship, zipping towards Old Russia. As they were growing close, Saladin's voice sounded over the coms.

"Guardian, a group of Fallen have captured Fellwinter Peak." He informed them. "My team and I are en route, but we won't get there in time. I need you to secure the observatory at the top." He said. "It is imperative that the Fallen do not establish a foothold on that mountain."

Tessa wished Damian good luck, and after he gave her a quick hug, Kylie transmatted him out of the ship and onto the snowy ground below.

Damian's boots crunched in the snow as he landed easily, the ship zipping by overhead as he drew his gun.

"If the Fallen are working their way up that mountain, their goal is to take Vostok Observatory." Saladin's voice sounded in his ear. He tried not to be annoyed at the man's prejudices.

"What would the Fallen want in an abandoned outpost?" Kylie asked, already placing a marker to lead him towards it.

The path he stood on was thin and covered in snow. The right side led up a hill, though large rocks kept him from trying to climb up it, and the left led down the mountain. From the looks of the rocks that lined the path, he didn't want to try going down, either. Instead, he headed forward, the sun reflecting off the snow so brightly he found it difficult to see, and Kylie had to dim his helmet display.

"Things." Saladin said, and Damian bit back a huff, "Better left buried." He finished.

Ahead, the path curved to the right, moving up the mountain. Through the haze of wind and snow, Damian could see what looked like the wires of an old ski lift.

"There's a gondola near your location." Saladin told Damian as he climbed along a fallen tree bridging a gap in the path. "Take it up to the observatory."

Damian rounded a corner, ducking low as fallen Shanks shot towards him. He raised his gun and quickly shot back, using a scout rifle he'd gotten after the battle with Oryx. Thankfully, compared to the battles he'd been in recently, a bit of fallen proved to be no problem. It felt like it had been so long ago since he'd fought regular old fallen. Maybe the Taken and hive weren't the worst of his worries now. He hoped not, if anything could put up a better fight than Oryx, he didn't want to contemplate it.