Even through the helmet, Malachi could smell the foul stench rising from the mass of Hive bodies. It masked the stench of gunfire and gasoline that circulated the area. The Hive ran slightly uphill towards them, launching a full scale attack. Military guns that were mounted on the facility at the top of the mountain fired at the tombships that tore through reality. One succeeded in destroying a ship. The other two were knocked out just as quickly by axion bolts. The mixture of the big guns firing and the army cries below disoriented Malachi, but he pushed through.

Burn marks scorched Malachi's armor, yet he hadn't gotten hurt. Macey explained that the Light from The Traveler supplied a temporary shield. Once it was broken, it would take a minute to regenerate, leaving the guardian vulnerable. Malachi cringed as an arc laser collided with his shoulder. He slammed the butt of his hand cannon against an acolyte's eye, causing it to stumble back blindly.

"Reloading," he called out tiredly over communications. Fireteam Riptide had been in this fight for over an hour on Russian soil. They had managed to push back the Vex and make them retreat, but that was mainly from the help of the Hive. The Hive had brought in the big guns, and by big guns, it meant three huge ogres that shot beams out of its one eye. "These are some ugly fuckers."

His teammates snickered in agreement. The ogres were two, to three stories tall, but their backs were hunched, making them seem smaller than they actually were. Their bodies were mainly made of a hard-boned exterior, designed in a sickly white with blue splotches on them. Their jaws were tiny compared to the huge, bulging sac-like substances on its upper face. One ogre leapt first to battle and unleashed a stream of purple light from its 'eye'.

The three guardians sent waves of bullets towards the ogres, aiming directly at their single eyes. Malachi launched a grenade at one, and as it went off, he used his super ability, the golden gun, and obliterated it. The ogre cried out in a deep growl and crumbled into dust.

Alaura took a few hits from enemies behind her. She was about to say something until Malachi turned his attention towards them, allowing her to keep her focus on the ogre in front of her. Unhooking the rocket launcher from her back, she aimed it quickly at the ogre's eye and fired twice. It still hadn't gone down, but at least it was close. The ammo from her sidearm did the trick, sending the ogre back down to the depths of hell it crawled out from.

Purple light emitted from Tanis' hands. He set aside his scout rifle, which did little damage to the ogre. He conjured energy and jumped upwards, launching his hands out and sending nova bombs towards the giant enemy. The bombs went off like bright purple fireworks. The ogre shrieked and attempted to run, but died shortly after. The three guardians took a few short seconds to breathe.

The Russian civilians had made it out of the city. Wherever they may go, the guardians hoped it was somewhere safe. Malachi looked into the sky for a brief moment and looked away, reloading his weapon. He had to do a double take to confirm the weird feeling that formed.

Nothing jarred Malachi more than the sight before him.

One after another, commercial airplanes fell out of the sky. Malachi could imagine the fear. Imagine the panicked screams of passengers in chorus with one another. Imagine the pilots frantically pushing buttons and checking numerous stats, their minds racing with both memories of loved ones and successful outcomes. His jaw locked in place as he watched the planes fall out of sight in the land beyond the mountains.

Alaura yelled orders and tactics through comms, the words going in Malachi's ear and out the other. Tanis registered her words and acted on them, but Malachi fell behind. The Hunter's muscles grew tired, causing him to lose focus. He wasn't a soldier. In one life, he might have been, but he was a gun for hire. Missions never needed this level of commitment or duration. He hadn't worked this hard in so little time in his entire life.

"Malachi, I need you up on that ridge. We need sniper cover," yet another order through comms. Malachi wanted to tell himself he could keep up with the fast pace, but his body told him otherwise. Alaura noticed his lack of response and her eyes flickered towards him. He was a little bit behind the rest of them, chest heaving and reactions slow. She launched a grenade towards the middle of a clustered group of Hive thralls that ran around the corner, causing all of their corpses to go flying. "Malachi, are you okay?"

The Hunter grunted, "I'm fine." He was already going out of his comfort zone to work with a team. If they found out he couldn't keep up, they'd see him as an anchor. Malachi wanted to be anything but that. The team's jerk, the team's stone-cold player, the team's worst listener, being any of these sounded more pleasing than the team's anchor. Malachi looked over at the ridge above him. The edge of the cliff hung high up, but it's not like that was a problem. That's where his jumping ability came in handy.

Tanis, in all his ambition to find out more about the Traveler's light and push himself farther, discovered a new ability. The ability to jump to higher heights. Tanis could glide slowly to high objects and land with ease. Alaura was able to lift herself into the air at a little faster pace. Malachi had it easy when it came to higher obstacles. He had the ability to double jump very quickly.

Now, it was time to put that ability to good use.

Malachi launched himself off the ground and focused on the Light flowing through his veins. The strength that shook his bones exerted itself on his entire body, pushing himself upwards once more. He reached up towards the hard rocky cliff, but failed to grab onto the ledge. He fell back down onto the ground and nearly crushed his left ankle on impact.

"You sure you're fine? It looks like you're having trouble," Tanis almost laughed. He threw his hand out like a Jedi using force pull, and drained the energy from a nearby acolyte. The new energy reverberated through him, allowing his reactions to be quicker.

A couple of curse words left his mouth out of anger and pain. He clenched his hand tighter onto his hand cannon and prepared to jump again. He stood on a pile of debris for better height. He shot a thrall that headed his way, sending the bullet right through its skull. It crumbled down onto the ground and disappeared into the dust.

"I-" Malachi jumped up and summoned some Light to help him jump again. He managed to land on top of the cliff successfully. "I got it, Master Jedi." He smiled slyly at his reference as he pulled the sniper rifle off of his back. Tanis didn't respond, but Alaura snorted in acknowledgement.

There was cover fire. Knowing that allowed Alaura's muscles to relax slightly. She could focus on what's in front of her, not behind, and still be safe. An empty clip fell out of her automatic rifle, and she reloaded it as quick as she could. Her red eyes flickered up and saw enemies falling down, left and right, without a break. Tanis swayed to her side and neglected the enemies marching on his right. "Tanis, watch your own side, or you'll get overwhelmed."

The Warlock mumbled under his breath and continued to fight. He aimed for Hive warriors on his right and mowed them down with a machine gun. More reinforcements piled in from a little ways away. The tombships kept coming, and that only made Alaura worry. This battle couldn't take too long. They were running out of ammo and energy. The only thing that kept them going was knowing they were helping to save the galaxy.

"You two really don't like following orders..." Alaura trailed off. After being on a fireteam for so long, it was hard getting used to not giving orders. This—fighting in different types of wars—was her way of life. Changing her tactic communications would impact her whole style of fighting altogether. It's not me that needs to change. It's them. They need to take this seriously. She was met with silence from her fireteam members. "I'm just trying to keep you two alive."

Jarvis chipped in, even though none of the team members could see him, "It's best to listen to Alaura. She knows what she's doing."

Dinklebot informed Tanis of hostiles on his left. The guardian took care of the problem with ease. Dinklebot was proud of Tanis for how far he had come since they met. From knowing nothing to knowing many things. The passion, the drive, the yearning for knowledge this Exo had astonished the ghost. He spoke up for his guardian, "Tanis is a quick learner on the field. He'll be okay."

There was no point in fighting, even though that's what Alaura wanted to do. Exos might have been built for war, but Alaura wanted to look out for her team. What person in their right mind wouldn't? Dinklebot might have been trying to help, but it wasn't needed.

Enemies scattered on the field. Most headed towards the two fireteam members on the ground. Some stayed back and tried to attack from afar. Malachi thought he was safe. He took a few enemies out and reloaded his sniper rifle. The electronic screen on his viewport highlighted a few enemies with a red square. Macey was trying to warn him of an impending attack. Malachi peered down the sniper's scope to get a better look, only to find out a huge amount of arc bolts from knights headed his way.

He jumped up from his position and attempted to make a run for it, but the bolts were closer than he thought. In a matter of seconds, the world around him erupted in noise and pain. Most of the bolts missed, but sent shockwaves of electricity on the ground near him. One bolt hit him in the shoulder, destroying his Light shield altogether. Malachi felt a weight lift off of his shoulders, and a sense of worry washed over him. The last two bolts impacted his torso; Malachi shrieked and hit the ground hard.

Alaura snapped to look in his direction, and her body reacted quickly. She ran in his direction without even thinking. Her mind got lost in the memory of watching her old fireteam die. The pain. The suffering. The distant look in their eyes as they passed away. Determination pushed its way into her thoughts. I'm not going to let that happen again. Alaura called out as she fired at a few enemies from her hip, "Tanis, c-"

"Cover you. Already on it," Tanis interrupted her. He backed up slowly, but kept his aim on the enemies. He fired mercilessly until his magazine ran out.

"Alaura, the knights are shooting once more. If you're caught in the line of-"

"No!" She cut into Jarvis' sentence as she propelled herself upwards onto the ledge. Her heart pounded at the possibility of failure. Another lost life would be on her hands. She didn't know if she could take another. Alaura threw out her arms in a protective stance in the line of fire, and closed her eyes as she waited for her doom.

Except nothing happened.

Her eyes opened slowly. The two guardians were encased in a domed shield made of a bright purple substance, similar to the clouds near the Awoken's new home. Light coursed through her fingers and onto the bubble, supplying protection from enemy fire. Alaura chuckled breathlessly in genuine surprise, "I got you." Malachi groaned, bringing her back to the situation at hand. She knelt down next to him, unsure of what to do. It wasn't like they had an evac or a contingency plan. "Where are you hurt?"

Malachi grit his teeth and tried to control his erratic breathing. "Shoulder and abdomen." When the bolts hit him, a burst of electricity erupted from the point of impact. At one point, he swore he couldn't feel his body at all. It had gone numb from the arc bolts. But now he could feel the agonizing pain sweep through his muscles. Blood dripped from his shoulder, but he couldn't tell how big the wound was. Malachi almost laughed at the thought of how he used to think getting shot with a magnum bullet took the cake for pain. Experiencing this was much worse.

Macey materialized next to her wounded guardian. She projected his diagnostics, highlighting his open wounds. None showed internal bleeding, which both of them counted as a blessing. Macey put her comment underneath the diagram, "He's bleeding minimally, but he'll live."

Jarvis spoke up, his words echoing through the Titan's helmet, "His shield should be back up at any moment."

Alaura thanked them for their information and turned back to Malachi. He'll live. He's fine. Just gotta get through this damn battle so he can rest. Knowing he was okay diminished her worry. She hadn't failed another person, and was thankful for it. She held out her hand towards him. "Can you get up?"

Don't show the pain. Suck it up. He winced and grunted as he moved. The pain was bearable now that his shield had regenerated, but that didn't stop him from feeling like complete shit. Malachi grabbed her hand, allowing Alaura to help pull him up off the ground. She saved his life. Didn't even hesitate to give up her own for him. "Thanks for having my back."

The Titan gasped in a fake, overdramatic way. "A thank you? Tanis, please tell me you heard this." She grinned widely. A 'thank you' from a person like him showed gratitude, and so far, that was rare.

Tanis' voice crackled over comms, "Loud and clear. The ghosts might even be recording this, so we'll have proof."

A scoff rose from Malachi's throat. He winced as he tried to stand up straight, but slowly got used to it. "You guys think you're so funny."

"It's fun to tease you. Can't blame us for having fun." Alaura shrugged and reloaded her weapon. When that shield went down, she had to be ready.

If it made Alaura have fun, it was worth taking the punches. She'd been so down lately about everything. She couldn't catch a break. Malachi hoped that she at least smiled at his expense.

Wait, what?

Malachi, get yourself together, man! You've never been this sympathetic for someone that isn't family. The thought echoed in his mind. He scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion as beads of sweat dripped down from his brown hair. He shook it off and turned his attention to the bubble they were in. "How did you do this?" He asked as he reached out to touch the dome. It was thin and murky like fog. His hand passed right through it.

"I don't know..." Alaura peered around at her surroundings. More arc bolts from the knights hammered against the dome, but didn't break through. Both her and Malachi flinched when the bolts impacted against it, frightened for their lives for a split second. Nothing happened.

Jarvis listened in on what they had said. He gave his own theorized input, "When we got caught in the blast and you changed into...Awoken, it must've altered you in a super powered way too. You were touched by Darkness itself, so now you can conjure it up in a form of Light that is helpful to you."

I guess being Awoken has its perks... Alaura thought to herself. As much as she hated being different, this aspect did come in handy. A new ability meant new possibilities. The dome began to flicker, meaning only one thing.

It was dying out.

Alaura grabbed her weapon with a steady hand and exhaled heavily to relieve some stress. There were more enemies that needed to be taken care of. "Ready?"

"Always," Malachi replied, rolling the barrel of his hand cannon into locked position. He found the strength to keep fighting. Letting his team down was not an option.

Both of their attentions shattered when Tanis started yelling out, "They're retreating!"

Alaura's red eyes flickered from the army below to the sky. They were bending down, as if they were kneeling in front of a king, and transported up into the tombships. This was their chance to thin their numbers. Taking the opportunity to strike was far better than waiting it out. It was a huge risk, but her team would follow her to the depths of Hell. That's what she wanted to believe, at least. She looked at her teammates with resolve and stated confidently, "We have to get reinforcements and go after them. They're already hurt. Let's shoot them down before they heal and recuperate."

Malachi let out a sigh of relief. It was over. Thank god. The thought of relaxation and sleep crossed his mind, bringing a smile to his sweaty face. He put the hand cannon in its holster on his hip. "We already won. We pushed them out."

Silence reigned over comms. Tanis discussed a few things in private with Dinklebot for a brief moment, probably bickering on who was right. Those two had been growing closer and closer lately, and Malachi deemed that as a bad thing. Tanis wondered about everything as is, and if he couldn't talk to his own teammates without consulting his ghost first, this was going to be a huge problem.

The communications line crackled back to life. Tanis spoke on his end, "She's right. If we don't do it now, they'll gather their forces and be two times worse. We need to take them out now."

Malachi tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "I hate when you two are right."