C6: Really? That's your idea? That sounds like a Titan good idea fairy came up with it. No offense Zav.

Z: *grunt*

I: Really Cain I know you are smarter than that. This is just...I don't even know.

C1: You know. You told me to inform you with the ideas I came up with for the Crota Raid. You never said you had to like it.

Z: Yes...well...we assumed they'd be more thought out. Driving an armored construction vehicle through the lamps? Its madness.

C1: Know what? It's my age isn't it? Just cuz I'm 976 years old doesn't mean I need some complex plan. I've learned simple shit works. So I'ma do it anyways. Ciao *C1 proceeded to fall out an open window into his ship with a two finger salute*

I:...he already has his team on the Moon doesn't he?

Z:*checks a report*...yes it seems so.

C6: Bingo...may as well send along the APC.

*C1 and fireteam WARHOUND proceeded to successfully slay Crota in his Ascendant Realm, fully slaying the Hive God*

Z:...*sighs upon finishing the report*We are never going to hear the end of this are we?

C6: That's my brother for ya big blue. Expect gloating, "I told you so's" and lots of dancing.

I:...I can feel the headache already.

Humanity discovered something on Mars that would uplift them.

The Traveler. A white being with the powers of a god.

With it, it brought new materials to create and accelerate Humanity's technology and propel them forward into the uncharted waters of a Golden Age.

Light. The source of power from the Traveler.

It advanced Humanity to a level to where they began to travel among the stars and expanded territory to other worlds. Lifespans tripled, technology advanced, peace was abundant, life was good.

But, as it has been said. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

The Darkness. The mortal enemy of the Traveler.

It hunted the Traveler across the galaxy. It arrived into the solar system and brought about a brutal end to the Golden Age. Humanity was crushed and scattered. All colonies across the system were presumed lost. Then, with its dying breath, the Traveler created the Ghosts. Small motes of Light that would seek out those worthy to wield the Light of the Traveler and combat the Darkness and its armies. Thus rose the protectors of humanity.

Guardians. The warriors who wielded the Light as a force of nature against the enemies of the Traveler.

First came the Iron Lords. From Felwinter Peak they protected the survivors of the Collapse.

The Risen were the ones who the Traveler resurrected through the Ghosts. They and other survivors sought refuge beneath the dead god's body and founded the Last City.

Time passed as the City expanded and the Vanguard were formed by Guardians. They were many, but at the same time not enough. Their enemies were numerous.

The Hive, those who appeared on the Earth's moon and sought to consume the Light.

The Vex, war machines who manipulated time as if it was a plaything.

The Fallen, once blessed by the Traveler then stripped of its Light.

The Cabal, the militaristic war people led by an Emperor.

These armies of the Dark warred against the newly blossoming City and its inhabitants. They sought to snuff out the Light permanently.

The Hive god Crota slaughtered hundreds, neigh thousands of Guardians during the Battle of Mare Imbrium forcing a retreat of the Vanguard and the surrendering of the Moon.

The Tower was constructed to house the Guardians. The Guardians were cast as a trinity.

The Titans, the unstoppable force on a battlefield and the immovable object in defending the Last City.

The Warlocks, the scholars who researched the Light and the forces of nature when threatened.

And finally, the Hunters. The scouts who went into uncharted territory, saved refugees and track the enemies of the Light to elimination.

The Guardians were made up of three races. Humans who were struck low by the Darkness. Awoken, who ventured to the Reef and evolved out in the space. And Exos, the war machines built for the defense of Humankind.

One Guardian, a Exo Hunter by the name of Cain-1 protected the Last City with a fiery passion.

He was there at the Battle of Twilight Gap.

He was there when the fireteam that slew Crota.

He was there when that team shattered the Glass Vault and killed the Vex God Atheon.

He was there when Skolas was slain.

He was there when they committed regicide against the Taken King .

He was there when SIVA threatened the world once again.

And now, the Guardian that had served nigh on a millennia was about to go down a path no one could have expected.

But he is the Nighthawk and in his case, unexpected was his speciality and everyday routine.

They say a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. If so, then the actions of a single being are enough to derail countless numbers of grand, far-reaching schemes.

The Nighthawk was about to put that theory to the test.

[ERROR]Unknown Location, [ERROR] Unknown time, [ERROR]Unknown Day

He hated the Cabal. He hated the Fallen. He hated the Vex. He hated the Hive, Crota, and Oryx. In that order . But the Vex had been upgraded to the number two slot out of six.

"'It will be a simple mission,' they said. 'You don't need to worry about The Vault.' They said. 'NOTHING WILL GO WRONG,' THEY SAID!'" Yelled a cloaked figure as he kicked the remnants of a chitinous ship wreck. "YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE INVITING CAYDE! YOU KNOW MURPHY'S LAW HATES ME! NOW I'M ON A TRAVELER-FORSAKEN PLANET THAT'S WHO KNOWS WHERE WITH NO WAY BACK TO THE TOWER! FUCK!" The figure finished his rant with a huff and sat down on a piece of debris from his ship, surrounded by bodies of half naked men with buzzsaw axes and faces covered by masks. He thought back to what brought him to this place.

A long table was between the four of them. Cain stood at one end of the table. He had his helm removed to show a black metal head with an orange paint splotch above his left eye. There were two light blue, flat fins where his ears would be if he were human. His face was somewhat angular.

The one on the opposite end was a blue skinned Awoken Titan named Zavala. To Cain's right was a dark skinned Human Warlock by the name of Ikora Rey. The one on his left was a blue, horned Exo Hunter by the name of Cayde-6. They were the official leaders of the Vanguard. "So you're saying The Vault has been...what, acting up ever since Atheon fell?" Cain asked Ikora.

She nodded. "Yes."

Cayde spoke up. "It may be nothing but a side effect from Ol' Glasshead's death. But we would like you to check it out just to be on the safe side. Simple right?"

Cain nodded but had a gut feeling about the mission. He must have shown his cautiousness to the Vanguard unknowingly because Cayde laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry brother. You killed their God. The Vex can't do anything to you Atheon didn't already. Nothin's gonna go wrong." Cayde said with his typical chipper demeanor. Cain stared at him with his dark blue eyes before exiting the room. Cayde's electronic eyes flashed in a blink. "What?"

A Ghost with a white sheet over it that had a hole for its 'eye' flew over. "You know how he feels about those type of phrases." The masculine voice chastised before following his Guardian.

Cain was already walking to the hangar. His ship rose from storage after Amanda Holliday, the Tower's shipwright, saw him approach. He repurposed the ship after he stole it during the event known as 'King's Fall' in which Oryx was killed. After the battle he had searched the inside of the dreadnought and found the unique ship. He thought it was a leader ship of sorts due to it being a pitch black as opposed to the bone white of the others near it.

Made of the chitinous bone-like plating and the same sinew of the Hive, the ship was as all other Hive creations, brutal looking and spoke death to all who dared oppose it. It needed repurposing on the inside, and Traveler above that took a lot of Glimmer, but it worked.

"Be careful out there Cain." Holliday commented as he went down the walkway to his ship. He donned a part of his gift from Lord Saladin, the knightly looking helm of the companions of the Iron Banner.

"Will do Holliday. Don't let the rookies be down in the lounge unattended. You know how that went." Came the gruff reply. Hunter rookies, the wildest ever. Last time they had been unattended...it ended with several new armor colors of the splashed paint variety, many destroyed Sparrows, a cat that was dressed in the likeness of the odd, golden colored Hunter Corn, and said cat somehow becoming a registered Guardian and even getting a Ghost companion. But that is a story for another time.

Cain powered up the Hive runes that controlled the ship and turned on the ancient cassette player he himself had installed and played his own made 'traveling mix' as he broke atmosphere.

"I walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire, I got a cobra snake for a necktie.." Cain leaned back in his chair as he made way for Venus, home of the Vault of Glass.

Getting into the Vault and heading into its depths posed no issues, aside from sneaking past the Gorgon which was a hassle, it was what he arrived at that caused the issue. The Vault's core looked as it always did with the shining glass back against the dark, cold, stone interior.

Cain walked in and lowered his Khvostov, the first weapon he ever found, after he swept the room from the doorway. He looked for anything out of place. His Ghost materialized over his shoulder. "This brings me back." Cain idly muttered. They lost one in the fire-team to Atheon...who was it? His head began to scream in pain as he tried to remember.

Why couldn't he remember? They had a full fireteam so who did they lose.

Ember? No. He remembered her. He lost her to the Hive.

Marn-19? No. He remembered that particular Warlock and his obsession with the Fallen.

Meri...he could never forget her.

Ares was still alive. So..

Who was the final member?

Who did they lose?

Who?

WHO?

WHO WAS IT?

B̵̮̱͛̔̚͜Ê̶̞̳̿̎ ̵͍̙̯̅͗́͌͂L̸̗̰̈́̊Ọ̸̌͌S̷͉̭͊T̵͙̞̩̪̂̽̀̓ ̷̣̳̠̘̈Į̶̹̰͔̠͒͝N̵̬̣͔̭̝̒͛͆̄ ̸̫͇̈́̄̃̈͘T̴̥̱̏̄ͅH̸̬͂͒E̵̗̟̤͋ ̵̭̖̖̙̼͊́̏́͝Ò̷͇̤̼C̸̭̭̝̒́͘Ē̴̢̮͉͈̫Ȃ̸̗̩̤̽̆͠Ň̶͍̘͔̗̓ͅ ̸͚̲̆Ó̵̢͎̈̊͝F̵̣͉͋͌̑̓ ̸̧͑̀̄̂̉T̸̻͍̦̼́͜Ḯ̸̱́̚͜Ḿ̵̟͙̓̏̑̚Ė̵̢̘̩́͒͠ ̶̛̦̲̲̝̯̾̊͝Ǵ̶̨̰̝̗̘̅͂͠Û̵̟̮͍̰̃͜A̶̭̕R̷̡͉͚̻͊D̸̯̪͓̼̎̆ͅI̸͔͝À̸̝͉̼̪͂̄͘ͅN̷̗͆̌̄

A sudden ramming to his head broke him from his trance as he stumbled forward. His Ghost looked at him in worry. "Alastor?" Cain called using the name he had given the Light construct.

"You were thinking about the battle with Atheon weren't you?"

Cain nodded. "Yeah...thanks partner," he took a calming breath. "Scan for any energy readings at all. I want to know if the old bastard had anything laying around thats going haywire." Alastor dipped it's frame in a nod-like gesture and went about the room scanning.

Cain hopped the small distance to the middle platform of the room in between two time-gates and moved to the main platform where the Time God stood and fell in battle. He climbed up the steps and walked to the small gap in the glass triangle.

Then he heard a low humming.

Fuck.

The Glass on either side lit up like the Tower during the Festival of the Lost as pure white energy coursed through it. The time-gates in the middle of the room activated and Vex poured out, very quickly numbering over fifty strong. "Dammit!" Cain spat in anger. Could one mission, just one mission is all, he asked, ever be fucking normal! "Alastor! We have to go! Bring the ship around!" He called as he began to unload the Khvostov's seventy-six round magazine against the war machines, carving a path through the hordes paved by scrap metal.

The Ghost did as ordered. Cain cursed as his gun clicked empty and threw the empty magazine at a Goblin's head. The force it hit with snapped the head back briefly. It trained its gun on the Guardian but was met with a boot to the face as Cain jumped off its metal skull and raced to the closing Vault door. He soared over the Vex, idly noting the number now nearly in the hundreds, too many to fight in this enclosed space, and landed on the center platform of the room. Two Minotaurs blocked his path. Rolling his eyes and groaning in annoyance he rolled as they fired. Using his Void manipulation he felt the familiar feeling of nothingness as he jumped and dove between the two and activated a cloaking grenade after strapping it to the leg of one of the Minotaur.

Now invisible, he ran out the door and tore himself as fast as he could go back up the disappearing platforms.

"Cain!" Came Alastor's dismayed voice over the intercom. "You went off comms for a moment. You need to hurry. That energy is building up fast. I'd rather not stick around to see what it does."

Cain nodded as feet pounded across stone, cloak flapping behind him. "Nothing is ever easy for us is it?" Grumbled the Exo.

"It wouldn't be fun otherwise." Cain didn't grace that with a response as the ground he ran on shuddered causing him to stumble then pressing himself against a nearby rock as he hid from the prying eyes of a Gorgon as it gazed at where he had almost shot out of in a hurry. The machine-man Guardian waited until it passed then bolted to the room where the Templar fought against them with it's legions. He climbed a pillar near the back of the arena and pushed off soaring to the overlook. Scaling it quickly, he nearly tore the ground apart as he ran as fast as he could using Arc Light to enhance his speed.

Another tremor shook the ground. He was less than a minute from the exit. "Hurry! It's almost finished!" Cain pushed himself harder to make it out in time.

Back in the throne room a peculiar looking Vex Minotaur approached the gap between the Glass. A ball of energy coalesced in the center. It reached out a hand.

Cain burst from the Vault door, seeing his stolen Hive ship hovering. "Alastor! Transmat now!" The sheet covered Light mote did as it was told and the Guardian disappeared in a beam of light.

The odd Minotaur grabbed the ball of energy and clenched its hand. There was a wave of energy that shot out and raced throughout the entire Vault.

The Hive ship hurtled through the sky as it prepared to break atmosphere. Suddenly its system's went haywire as a massive energy rocked the entire hull. "All systems are down! Dammi-" Was all Cain managed to get out before he, Alastor, and the ship disappeared.

"-t!" Roared Cain as they reappeared in space, angled towards an unknown planet's surface. The Hunter struggled to regain control.

He thought back to a lesson of Amanda Holliday.

If you can't land properly, crash spectacularly.

The ship ripped apart the ground and scarred the surface of the planet as the ship itself broke into pieces as it slowed its momentum. Hitting a massive boulder, it stopped suddenly and Cain crashed against the dashboard and darkness was all he knew.

"-in! Cain wake up! We have incoming!" Groaning as he awoke to Alastor's worry he stood shakily as he gripped the cockpit seat. He couldn't see and felt his face.

His helm was utterly ruined.

"Al. Cut. Now." Cain groaned out as he began peeling metal away with a hiss of hydraulics. Once his vision was unobscured due to the help of his Ghost, he stumbled his way to the back where his gun wall laid bare in the ship while peeling the remaining helmet away. Next to wall was a golden hawk shaped helm with a thin red line going over the eyes that separated the white on the outside half of the eyes from the gold. Considering his Iron Compatriot helm was utterly ruined, he decided to don his old friend, the Celestial Nighthawk. He looked at the gun that had fallen next to it.

Red-barreled and black gripped, Eyasluna laid ready to serve its master. His mind replayed the words said when he was gifted the hand-cannon. 'One day, young hawk, thou shalt sail beneath the silvered moon.' The words of a mentor and dear friend. Cain holstered the prized gun on his right thigh. "Alastor. How many and how long?"

"Over forty and less than thirty seconds away."

"Hostile?"

"Carrying dangerous looking weapons and driving armed trucks I would say yes." Cain let out a chuckle at hearing that.

"Well then, let's show them how we welcome strangers in the Tower shall we?" He donned the helm and prepared to show whatever planet he was on why it was a mistake to attack the Nighthawk of the Tower.

"Cain?"

"What is it Al?"

"They're human."

"So?"

"We are supposed to protect Humanity."

Cain sighed. "Alastor. They are humans. But they aren't OUR humans. Can't you feel it? They don't have Light. The Traveler hasn't been here. Not yet at least depending on where in the timeline the Vex sent us." He squatted over a body. "I don't like it either." He said as he felt his Ghost's gaze on him. "But they tried to kill us and I'm scared of what Toles would do to us if we died."

If Alastor could, he would smile. Cain's apprentice was scarier than the Nighthawk himself at times.

Cain huffed in frustration as he searched the bodies for anything useful. "I'm gonna shove Cayde off the Tower next time I see him." Seeing a strange device on the hip of one of the bandits, he picked it up. "Alastor. I found something. Mind scanning it?" The Ghost popped into existence and a blue light washed over the object.

"Its a communication device. Based on the data inside its whats called a ECHO-communicator. Connected to something similar to the Internet of Old Earth called the ECHOnet I'll look over the net when we get our bearings and don't have insane ax-men trying to kill us."

"Well. May as well keep it with us." He strapped it to his left hip and sighed. "This is bad. No way to contact the Tower. Crashed on an unknown planet. No way to leave."

"It could be worse."

"How so?"

"It could be raining." It seemed the planet hated them because right then the clouds overhead began to pour down their spiteful raindrops.

"I hate you so much right now." Came the Exo's groan. Cain turned back to enter the ship only to see a billboard of a couple looking into the distance. Due to the distance it was hard to read but Cain made out the words.

Welcome To Pandora