Harem's been called out...
We've been tasked with helping Petra Venj, one of my oldest friends, with protecting the Prison Of Elders... there's been a breakout.
My harem and Cayde all step out of our ships as we meet Petra Venj, outside the entrance to the Prison of Elders.
Cayde: Petra Venj... thanks for the invite!
Petra sees me and smiles...
Petra: Long time, no see, Y/N. Good to see you.
Me: You as well, Petra.
A couple of my girls are confused.
Ruby: Uh... Y/N? Who's this?
Me: Oh... I forgot to introduce you guys... Petra, this is the biggest fireteam in history, Fireteam Harem... my fireteam. Harem, this is an old friend of mine named Petra Venj... we used to work together a lot when some of the Fallen were trying to mess with Vex tech.
Yang: Like good ole' Cayde?
Cayde: Aye! Shut up about that! It was an accident.
Yang laughs a lot.
Me: Anywho... what're we doing for this party? Whatcha got?
Petra: Oh... the usual.
She smirks as she draws her knifu.
Cayde: Oh-oh-oh-oh! Do the thing!
He turns to the Harem.
Cayde: Seriously, watch this.
Petra takes a second to somehow magically float her knife and spin it a couple times. She catches it and Cayde shudders.
Cayde: Urghh... that'll never not freak me out... Do it again!
Petra: Later.
She puts her knife away.
Petra: Maybe. Right now, Gen-Pop is running wild. Fortunately, the main arena and lower levels remain on lockdown. But if the core security systems fail... containment is going to be... a problem.
Cayde stands stoically.
Cayde: Just another day at the office...
I laugh a little to myself. Then, Cayde pulls out his famous Hand Cannon.
Cayde: All right, partners. This is a Cayde riff in 6. Watch me for the changes and, uh... try to keep up.
I smirk as I pull out both Last Words.
Me: No problem, man. Shall we?
Cayde: LET'S GO TO PRISON!
He jumps down a large pit.
Cayde: WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!
I hear shots fire as he starts to kill things...
Me: Alright, team. This is a large Strike operation. Shoot any creatures of Darkness to kill... our main objective is to quell this prison outbreak... ready?
Harem: BONZAII!!
Me: LET'S GET IT IN!!
We charge and start to dig in.
Cayde: Oho! These guys REALLY wanna dance!
Petra: This riot HAS to end here! If these killers get out, the Reef will be overrun.
Me: So we split up and take them out!
Cayde: And a one, two, three!
We get into one of the wings and it's almost perfectly destroyed. Darkness was everywhere!
Me: LIGHT EM' UP!!
My fireteam immediately started going to town, using most of their weaponry equally to get an equilibrium built. As soon as all of them died, a massive explosion rang out throughout the facility.
Cayde: Hang on! Who's blowing stuff up without me?
Me: Whoever it is, they're bouta die.
Petra: I'm going to get eyes on that explosion. You guys keep trying to lock down the area, and join me when you can.
Me: No need. We're on our way...
Petra: Okay, scratch that first part... the sooner you guys get here the better, since that blast opened up a bunch of cell blocks.
We make it to Petra a few minutes later.
Petra: I love field work!
Me: Glad you do, Venj.
Petra: Unfortunately, that explosion killed security in the lower decks.
She walks to another door and into it.
Venj: I'm going to go check on the high value prisoners down there. Harem, it's your job, as well as Cayde's, to get to the security hub and get Security back online.
Me: Copy... Harem, let's light it up. Ghost, please?
Ghost: I think I already know what song you want! Playing Light it up by Camellia now.
As soon as we step into the next cell block, tons upon tons of enemies come after us... and Light it up plays.
It sounds like a normal track first, but after a few seconds, it goes into a hyperdrive-like state... let's do this!
To the beat of the track, we start killing everything in our path. I'm actually really happy that this track exists.
Cayde: What're you guys at? I'm at 16... 17... 18!
Me: More than we can count, Cayde!
Cayde: Damn it!
I laugh as we continue to get attacked by a huge army. Yang saves our asses, however, with her powerful Hammer of Sol. Not even another minute later, they're all dead.
We meet Cayde again, a little later as he shoots a Centurion a couple times with his Golden Gun, making it vaporize.
Cayde (while tossing a grenade): Can I just say that I'm having the time of my life?
That grenade he threw makes a mushroom cloud while I hear a bunch of Cabal dying.
Me: WOO!
We continue to murder mobs on our way to the security hub... when we get to a catwalk, Ghost speaks.
Ghost: We're approaching the security hub now, Petra.
Venj: Copy that. Everything's gone dark around here, so I'm stuck taking the long way to Supermax.
Me: Understood... let's hope the prisoners down there haven't broke containment yet.
We get to another side of the catwalk and to a door that opens to reveal Cayde jumping on a Cabal.
Cayde: LOOK OUT BELOW!
He knifes it as it stumbles backward near a pit.
Cayde: Woah woah! WOAH WOAH!! THIS IS NOT PART OF THE PLAAAAAAANNN!!
He fell...
Ghost: Cayde!!
Cayde, however, reappears on a Shank like the badass he is.
Cayde: Scratch that... it's definitely the plan. Meet you guys at the security hub!
The shank flies him in all different directions as he gets to the hub. However, we have a larger problem... literally.
Me: OGRE!
The big ass mofo fires its eye beams at us while we attempt to take it out... it takes a few seconds to deal with it though.
Me: Okay... next, the hub.
We walk up to the door while Neo pulls out her Ghost.
N.G.: This says we need warden-level access to enter... Cayde?
Cayde: Hang on... I got you. Standby for promotion.
After a minute, the door opens to show Cayde messing with things.
Cayde: Impeccable timing, as usual.
He throws away a wrench.
Cayde: Now, all we have to do is turn it on!
He pulls the activation switch and a bit of beeping ensues. Hive sounds ensue from the floor.
Ruby: Oh no...
Jaune: Sounds like we got company!
Cayde: Check the floor!
A couple system channel things rise out of the ground. Hive and their gunk were all over them.
Cayde: Urgh. These hive are gunking up the works! Get them out of there, will ya?
Me: Will do.
A bit of hive come after us and we immediately destroy them. After getting rid of everything in existence that belonged to the Hive, the systems retreated back into the floor.
Cayde: Hive gunk scrubbed... now it should work!
We walk over as he continues to mess with things.
Ghost: Remember to purge the buffers!
Cayde: Right. Right. Of course. One question, how do I do that?
Ghost: Press the red button.
He turns to the control panel, which has a ton of red buttons.
Cayde: THEY'RE ALL RED!
Me: Then press all of them!
He goes to spam all of the buttons... then they turn green.
Cayde: I can't believe that worked!
Me: We are amazing at this.
He pulls the lever again and there's more beeping from earlier...
Cayde: Okay. Well, that did NOT work.
More systems come out of the ground with Hive all over them.
Cayde: Don't worry! We got this... just do your thing!
Ren goes ahead and immediately pops Spectral, murdering everything in his path.
Me: WOOOO!!
After everything was cleared again, Cayde tries the lever again.
Cayde: Come on! Come on!
It doesn't for a second... so he just shoots the thing and everything goes green again.
Cayde: AND STAY DOWN!
Me: Nice... tech support with extreme prejudice.
He goes to the console.
Cayde: Okay... everything's working, but now it's asking me for some kind of secondary activation? Should be a terminal out there on the catwalks... I'd come with you, but I heard this place has turrets, and I really want to fire them.
Some of my fireteam members laugh, especially the hunters.
Me: Ahh... Cayde and your turret fetish... well, we'll be off killing things!
Cayde: We're a really good team! Lemme get that door for ya.
He opens a nearby door as we walk out...
Cayde: Ooo... these turrets have a Manual mode, eh? Interesting!
A lot of mobs appear and the turrets gun them down.
Cayde: Hey, guardians! What do think of my new guns!
Me: Awesome!!
We continue to kill mobs until a big cabal murders one of Cayde's Turrets.
Cayde: Uh-oh...
Me: We got this.
My fireteam opened fire with all of the Infinity Weapons we had, almost dropping the creature in under a minute.
Me: Alright, there we go.
We go through the newly unlocked door and activate the security system.
Me: Alright, Petra. Security is back online.
Petra: Alright! I'm just going to check a few things, then we can call it a day.
Me: Understood.
We wait for a minute while Petra delivers us news...
Petra: Shit! SHIT!! GUARDIANS! THEY'RE FREE! This isn't a riot! It's a prison break! Cayde, listen to me. There's an airlock on Deck Zero! It's the only way out this far down! They're going to escape!
Cayde looks up to the almost destroyed security hub.
Cayde: Not if I get there first.
Me: What're you doing?!
He climbs up and immediately shoots the whole thing down. My fireteam came down with him down 20 floors... he fell further.
Ghost: Cayde! Petra! What's going on down there?! Come in, Cayde!
Me: Oh no... he took out the communications!
Blake: Looks like the only way we're saving Cayde is going down there and actually saving him.
Me: Yeah... come on!
We run through and find what seems to be... a darker Ether?
Me: What... Ghost?
I pull him out to look at this.
Ghost: Whatever it is, be on the lookout for Fallen... but this ether... it looks wrong.
Blake: No shit, Sherlock.
We continue looking around for a moment until we find Fallen, but they aren't Fallen.
Me: What are these things?!
They see us and go on an attack. They seem tougher and they hit harder than Fallen, as seen by a melee from one of their maces almost one shots my shield.
I see Nora leap up, smiling greatly as she uses her Fists of Havoc. She Hulk-Smashes everything in the room.
Me: Woo... man, I love that.
Nora giggles before blowing a kiss at me. I laugh a little as we continue.
After a bit, we come across more enemies that we murder, then a fused door.
Me: Shit... fused shut... through the vent it is.
I shoot a vent that was on the left side of the door and we continue...
Neo: This is getting a little creepy to say the least.
Me: You're telling me.
We continue for a little longer until we drop down into another room. This time, glowing... Eh... Scorn, was it? I think that's it... anyway, these Fallen don't look good.
They crawl towards us, then jump at our faces. When they get in melee distance, these things blow up!
Me: Argh!!
I feel my shield go down and I run from these things. Eventually, we kill all of them, but it costs us a little with a few deaths that we suffered.
We go through a door that these things blew through, and as soon as that happened, all of us feel a massive amount of light pass through us... I'm filled with dread.
Ruby: Wait... oh no.
Ren: Wait... Was that his-
Me: It was. Cayde's Ghost just died... we have to hurry! He can't resurrect without her, so we have to hurry and help him before he dies.
We run until we meet a massive ass Scorn thing.
Me: Shit... we're going to kill that thing. Right now!
We instantly use our supers in cooperation, since a lot of Scorn was in this room. Yang somehow summons a larger Hammer of Sol that I never knew existed too... wow!
Well, it takes about 30 seconds for everything in the room to die. But I heard a gunshot from none of us... no... NO!
Me: Hurry... get the door open!
Cinder goes next to it and gets it open... but there's a load of big ass scorn... and a sworn enemy of mine. I raise one of my Last Words to him.
Me: ULDREN!!
He looks at me and laughs...
Uldren: He didn't feel a thing, Y/N... hehehehe...
The airlock he was in closed as I pull the trigger. It bounced off the door.
Me: Shit!
We all get down to Cayde, who had a massive hole in his chest.
Cayde: He- hey, guys... how's my hair?
Most of us remain in shock and silence...
Cayde: Silence... heh... typical.
He coughs a lot. Ghost comes out and looks at Cayde's damages...
Ghost: No... there's nothing I can... I'm... sorry.
I slam my fist into the ground.
Me: No! You can't die on me yet...
Cayde: Look... Y/N... this isn't on you... this is what I get for playing nice...
He chuckles, then coughs a bunch more.
Me: I...
Cayde: Don't say anything, alright? Just... do two things for me. One... become the Hunter Vanguard in my place... no one deserves it other than you... and secondly, tell Zavala and Ikora... the Vanguard is the best bet... I ever...
He seems to be losing his breath...
Cayde: ... lost.
He goes limp. Ruby attempts to shake him up, but it was too late...
I take his Hunter Vanguard insignia as my own... I'll be needing that later... but for now, all of us sat there in silence. I hear some of the fireteam shed tears as footsteps came running in.
Petra's voice rings out.
Petra: No...
That's all she said... I take Cayde's body and look at the Airlock that Uldren left in with that massive group of Scorn.
Me: Uldren... by my life, weapons... and my soul... I will make sure that you receive endless torture, suffering and death for this. You have my promise.
I walk with my fireteam up to the surface, where my comms come on again.
Me: Vanguard, this is Harem... mission failure.
Zavala replies to my solemn tone.
Zavala: What the hell happened over there?!
Me: Zavala... you'll be expecting a new Hunter Vanguard... as well as a dead body.
I hear him take a sharp intake of breath as I get on the ship...
Maybe an hour passes, and we're together. All of my fireteam members, Zavala, Cayde's Body, Ikora... and me.
Ikora: He has the worse jokes... even worse timing... I wanted to laugh... I really did.
I look at the sheet that Cayde's body was under... and I made a vow to myself... I won't let you down, Cayde.
Me: This is on Uldren Sov... all of it is.
I look at Ikora in the eyes and we make a communal agreement.
Me: I think I know what we gotta do... we're going to take as many people as we can... and we're going to take the Reef by storm...
Ikora: As soon as we find Uldren... we will mount that son of a bitch's head on his own throne. For our fireteam... for Cayde.
A moment of silence...
Zavala: No...
I spin towards him.
Me: The fuck did you just say??
Zavala: We are not an army. We are not conquerors. We are Guardians... We need to keep our eyes here, on our home, our people, the Traveler... the Reef was lost the moment it lost its Queen... so if another Sov wants a stretch of lifeless rocks... let him have it.
Ruby: You're wrong...
Zavala turns around and looks at our group.
Rin: Cayde was like a mentor for us...
Yang: Cayde might've died... but I don't feel that his soul is at rest, with that asshole still roaming this system...
Me: The least we can do is claim our vengeance... so if you will excuse me, Harem will be back with more blood on our hands than not. Uldren is ours... and there's nothing you can do about it.
We walk out and head back to our dorm. We all hung out in our room... I guess it's just a time to reminisce... I don't know. But after we hung out for a while, we basically mutually agreed to start our hunt tomorrow. For now... we slept.