THE ANNEX

The Drifter was having a pretty good day all things considered. He hosted some Gambit, got to listen to a bunch of complaining about Ada's weapons, and now he sat at his little desk eating some delicious mystery… food . He heard footsteps entering his quarters and instinctively put his hand over Trust. 'Who could possibly be coming to see me around these hours? ' The Drifter turned and saw none other than Ana Bray walking into the room. He put on a smile, the hell of his palm still resting on Trust.

"Well if it isn't the Milf of Mars! " He chuckled to himself. Ana scoffed in front of him and put her hand on her hip.

"How many times do I have to ask you to stop calling me that? Don't they call you Sad lonely rat man that lives downstairs? " The Drifter chuckled,

"Not really, you see it doesn't quite roll off the tongue. I gotta thank Saint-14 for that one though.

"Now, Why have you found yourself in my… office?" The Drifter was still wary.

"The Vanguard wanted me to come get you for a meeting, I don't know quite what's going on but I imagine they had me come instead because if they issued a summons you would've flaked on it." She had an amused smile on her face. ' They know me too well'

"Alright where we headed, as much as I don't particularly enjoy the Vanguard they must have a pretty good reason for having the both of us attend this little gathering "

"We'll be meeting in Zavala's Office. Just follow me, try not to stare Rat Man ."

And so they left…

THE HALL OF GUARDIANS

A meeting was currently taking place amongst the Tower's military commanders. Zavala stood next to Ikora Rey, across from them stood Ana Bray and The Drifter. Ana had received a return order to discuss a pending emergency while The Drifter was still confused as to why they had him arrive at this little gathering. The Drifter stood forward,

"I don't have all day to be up here having your little staring contest while I could be out hosting gambit matches, why are we all here Commander ?" Zavala looked at him with a serious face and then to Ana.

"We have a serious problem at our feet. Ana you were called here today to be our current sit-in Hunter Vanguard… And you Drifter… we believe you might have some knowledge or information that may help us with our debacle." Ana stood there wide-eyed. She opened her mouth to speak,

"I can't remain here at the Tower! I have to tend to Rasputin's mindlab and prevent intrusions!" Zavala turned to respond,

"Ana…. you may remain stationed in the Hellas Basin, but we need help with the current duties that have no filled positions."

The Drifter realized what this meant. This was a serious problem.

"Where the hell is Cayde? I ran with him long enough to know he wouldn't just disappear out of the blue like that Commander ."

Zavala spoke,

"It isn't just Cayde… The Warlock Roland also went missing on the same mission. Complete radio silence, we haven't heard any words back in 4 days; our emergency vanguard channels have picked up no distress call from either Sundance or Caesar."

The Drifter had a face of complete shock. This couldn't be. The Drifter had ran with Cayde plenty sure, but Roland was a powerhouse in Gambit, and he had seen the warlock's power in action himself, he was particularly peeved when he was rudely awakened inside of his head and watched him kill the last ahamkara.

"And how do you propose I help you find those brothers? Sure I know a lot of things here and there, but Drifter's been out of the field for a while."

"We've heard of your exploits in the system, especially around the asteroid belt. So tell me Drifter , do you know anything about the Cocytus A-113 space facility? Roland and Cayde had been deployed on an under the radar Vanguard mission to assess the base and the signal coming from it; We have had no contact since just prior to them entering the facility."

Oh boy did he know about the Cocytus.

The Drifter looked to Zavala,

"Oh I can tell you about the Cocytus but this conversation stays between us, and on one condition."

Zavala gave the Drifter a serious face.

"We may be able to satisfy your condition if the Vanguard agrees to meet these conditions."

"All I ask is that I get to ride shotgun for this rescue." The Drifter had a grin on his face.

Ikora spoke up,

"I have no problems with this… Zavala?" She turned to him.

"Then it is done, you may be a part of the operation." Zavala nodded.

"It's kind of weird to explain but bear with me boss." The Drifter pulled out his ghost,

"Alright Wrench, pull up a map of the Cocytus." and he complied.

"See I learned about Cocytus after receiving some strange visions, you lot might not believe me but I've seen a second collapse. I received some strange transmissions originating from the station and when I arrived I had realized exactly what it was. This shitty old broken station is one of the few places where The Nine can exercise their power, I came here for two reasons; To prepare myself and a few others for the coming collapse, as well as under the order of The Nine. That day was the same day I had the Derelict attached to my ship. The Nine placed an entire pocket dimension full of Taken on the back of my ship."

Zavala and Ikora both had a look of surprise at the mention of The Nine, even if what he had been saying was a deception, the truth remained that the Derelict did exist. That enough would be proof of The Nine's intervention.

"Very well then, we will be deploying you to the Cocytus to perform a rescue operation, don't get yourself lost. Even if we don't trust you we need every available Guardian for the upcoming threat that Rasputin warned against. You are to leave for Cocytus in 24 hours, report all of your findings and bring home our soldiers." The Drifter felt pretty good at those words, even if he had a dislike of the Vanguard. Maybe he could start something new, 'specially if he could help Cayde and Roland while he was at it.

The Drifter turned to leave.

"Don't worry about it… I'll find out what I can about the disappearance, just make sure I'm well fed when I come back."

He left the room to go make preparations for his mission. Ikora, Zavala, and Ana stood in the same room. A strange tension filled the room. Ikora turned to speak to Ana first,

"What have you found so far Ana?" Ana put her hands down against the table,

"It doesn't look good. Since Rasputin's armaments and surveillance has been re-established the strange ships on our perimeter have begun closing in. By my estimates we only have a few months before they've entered our sphere of influence. Rasputin is… concerned, and it has me on edge."

"In that case we can only hope our heroes make it back home before then. In the meantime we need you to manage devoting resources to Rasputin for war preparations, the Vanguards' assets are now to be under Warmind supervision. I believe this should suffice for today. Meet with us again tomorrow to discuss more matters while The Drifter is on his mission."

They all left for their stations and hoped for the best.

Ichiraku Ramen… with our heroes…

Roland, Cayde, Izuku, and a homeless skeleton sat at the stand slurping up delicious noodles.

"I hope you don't mind if I invite a friend real quick, he's the only other person who knows about my secrets."

Cayde looked up from his bowl.

"I don't mind. So, tell us about yourself All Might. I have a suppression field up right now, nobody can hear a thing." Toshinori Yagi heard the world around him muffle; the distant chattering, footsteps of the bustling crowds walking around them… until everything happening around them went mute.

"Is this your quirk? Mr…." He asked the Hunter.

"No just some neat tech, really- It's Cayde by the way, I don't think you can really say we have quirks. We'll tell you after you tell us what you have to say. You know, the good ol' I'll show you mine if you show me yours." This caught Izuku's attention but he remained silent to listen to the conversation. This however had All Might thinking heavily on what they could mean. He decided to begin telling them of his time limit.

"Five years ago I was in a fight with a villain, and during our fight he destroyed my stomach as well as my respiratory system. The fight wasn't televised, and the government kept it under wraps to keep the public from panicking." All Might explained the details of his injury. Roland looked over to All Might,

"I've seen you all over the place since I've been here, are you some sort of big deal?" He asked.

All Might had been in a bit of a stupor after that, he had been known worldwide as a living crime deterrent, the Symbol of Peace ; How could they possibly not know who he was?

"I'm the number one hero, and Symbol of Peace. What I want to know is who you two are, and what those things you did were, you said you were both quirkless?" They were interrupted by someone sitting down at the end of the table. The sounds of the world around them briefly returning and fading back to mute silence as the man in the trenchcoat sat down.

"Hey Toshi! You needed me here?" The man in the trench coat asked All Might. All Might smiled at him,

"Actually yes, I was wondering if you could listen to our conversation Naomasa!" He turned to the Guardians, "And don't mind him, he's a trusted friend. If anyone can keep a secret, it'll be him."

Cayde looked over to Naomasa, taking a lingering glance at him. 'I suppose if this legendary Symbol of Peace trusted him then he might be worth his weight' He turned his head a little more towards All Might.

"This is going to be far-fetched but I'm going to need you to keep this under wraps for obvious reasons, discretion is an absolute must." All Might, Izuku, and Naomasa nodded.

"Okay good, how- hmmm- It's hard to describe really. I guess you could say we are from another timeline or parallel reality-" All Might looked skeptical but Naomasa was in silent shock. Izuku was trying to wrap his head around those words. ' Parallel worlds? How did they get here? There must be some purpose for them having found themselves here, I mean aside from travelling to other worlds, why ours in parti-' Izuku's thoughts were quickly interrupted by a nudge to leg by Cayde. Roland chuckled, whispering to Cayde.

"Looks like we got a warlock here." Cayde gave him a little grin.

Naomasa opened his mouth to speak, "Explain this world, and tell us about your quirks."

Roland was the one to respond this time.

"We come from Earth, in the far future. Hell… nobody really knows what year it is anymore. Humanity is on the brink of extinction, - truth- In the 21st century it came… the Traveler. We don't know why it came or where it came from, but it started Humanities golden age. Lifespan tripled, humanity began reaching across the stars to colonize the universe, our technology jumped at an incredible rate. But you know what they say, good things only last so long. Something ancient had been hunting the Traveler, something as old as time and darker than a starless night sky. Humanity was nearly destroyed. The Traveler sacrificed itself pushing back the darkness, and in its last stand it created the ghosts," He motioned to Caesar for emphasis "These little guys have one noble mission, find one who can wield the Traveler's Light against the Darkness- Cayde do you mind finishing, My ramen is getting cold."

"We are those who were chosen by the Traveler, we wield the Travelers' Light to defend humanity. We can do a lot of stuff, manipulating energy, healing, generally being super badasses." - truth - Naomasa heard not a single lie. All Might turned to him with disbelief only to be met with a nod from Naomasa. Roland added,

"This includes you now too..." Looking towards Izuku. Izuku looked back,

"I-Izuku Midoriya, Mr...:"

"Roland, and this here is Cayde." Waving to his friend. Cayde took off his helmet, shocking everyone.

"I'm an Exo, it's not really important right now though. We need to get you situated first though alright Ace" Cayde said to them.

"Y-yes sir!" Izuku replied.

"Just stick with Cayde, or the coolest guardian alive. Sir is too formal for my taste." Cayde said back.

"Yes S-Cayde!" Izuku had almost slipped up on that one.

All Might slurped up some more of his ramen, and returned his serious gaze to the Guardians.

"How did you find yourself here in our world? From the sound of it neither of you seem to be too happy being here."

Roland replied, "We accidently got transported here, followed an unknown signal and got sucked up into here. We're trying to find a way back home, seeing if there are others like us, stranded."

All Might looked back over to the group and stood up.

"I have some matters to attend to for now, Take this number if you need to contact me." He scribbled down his number on a little piece of paper and handed it over to them.

"Will do, we'll keep you updated so long as you keep this quiet alright. We'll be finding a place to stay for a bit."

They all stood up and Roland looked to Izuku,

"We need to explain some things to you, you're a fresh rezz so we'll need to teach you what that means. Also take this." Izuku nodded. Roland handed him All Might's number. Izuku held the small scrap of paper like it was a holy artifact, looking at it with wide-eyed excitement.

"Yeah I'm still having trouble believing everything that's going on right now honestly, I mean… The Villain, All Might, It- I thought- it felt like I died for a while-"

"-Yeah, about that, let's get out of here and explain some things. Next time All Might!" Roland waved to All Might. The Guardians walked off with Izuku.

Roland, Cayde, and Izuku found themselves at a clearing in a dirty beach.

Cayde was the first to speak.

"Sooo….. Where do we go now?" Roland looked over to Cayde while holding his chin, thinking hard.

"I have an idea, not sure if it'll work though… Hmmm, try- Can Sundance still reconstitute your ship, we took mine boarding the Cocytus." Cayde felt a little glimmer of hope.

"Sundance, can you summon Queen of Hearts?" Sundance flashed into existence.

" Looks like I can, I'll drop it in stealth, it's going to take almost every drop of glimmer you have on you right now to reconstruct though. "

"Anything for a place to station ourselves, get it running."

Sundance floated away from Cayde, studying the area. There were large piles of scrap and garbage littering the beach. This is good, I can make work of this . She started glowing brightly the scrap around her being pulled closer with large amounts of glimmer coming forth and reconstituting the ship. A large blue haze appeared and suddenly a ship, Cayde's ship, the Queen of Hearts burst forth into material existence. Izuku watched the whole thing slack-jawed. Just yesterday he was living his normal life, nothing much other than being bullied and weak. Yet in one day he found himself amidst the craziest situation he ever could have possibly found himself in.

He took another good look at the ship, the ramp being lowered down slowly until it met the sandy ground. Cayde gave him a good slap on the back,

"Come on Ace, we need to have a one on one with the newbie."

Izuku's small frame slowly followed them into the ship, looking up as he entered a new chapter in his life. A new chapter in his world's history, not that he knew it at the time.