Aries-13:

"Okay, okay, pass through here. Mind the low ceiling. Vex never make these places easy to navigate. Useless hunks of metal. It's like they don't want me to steal everything not bolted to the floor."

Aries moved with practiced precision. There was a time, when he was in his own body, that navigating cramped craves was difficult. Annoying even. His broader frame always bumped against the naturally formed rock and his cloak was ripped more than once from protruding roots and greenery.

But that was then, when he still had a body to call his own. Terra's body was lighter, more slim. And she always made a habit of wearing a thinner cloak. He always figured she knew better than he did. Small wonder she had survived for so long.

"But you didn't have to go this far, Terra," He murmured. As he turned a corner, a lone Goblin was walking towards him. Without breaking stride, Aries put a bullet in its leg joint and drove his knife into the white glow of its chassis as it collapsed in front of him. He didn't stick around to see if it died. A very large and a very angry Titan was coming after him.

So basically a regular Titan.

"Probably cranky he ran out of protein powder," Aries muttered. He had watched for a long time. Saw every little thing Terra did when she joined Kal and Marvin. Kal was...dull. But dull people did potentially dangerous things.

Case in point, their current problem.

"You just take a rest, Terra. I'll drive in the meantime. When you wake up, we'll have picked the vault clean, left those two schmucks behind, and retire to a nice beachfront property on Venus."

He wasn't sure if she could hear him. There was more he wanted to say. A lecture or two about the finer points of avoiding owing debts and killing other guardians, perhaps. But those could wait. He had to get the both of them out of this mess.

"But when we're done, hoo boy you're getting an earful."

Aries skidded to a stop before he fell off a ledge. The sheer drop was stomach churning. He couldn't see the bottom of the chasm. On the other side was a flat wall with a ledge only a couple feet wide.

"Gotta be a way through. Always a way through." he mumbled. A sharp, harmonic sound caught his attention, like matter being torn and reassembled over and over again. To his left was a floating platform. Further away, he watched another one disappear in the blink of an eye.

"Okay, this is doable. A little time jumping never killed anyone, right?" Aries backed up a few steps then broke into a full sprint, jumping off the ledge and the last possible moment and landing into a roll on the platform. He didn't stop to catch his breath, letting his momentum carry him forward to the next platform as the one under him began to wink out of existence.

"Should have memorized the pattern. Should have done the smart thing. Why do I never think to do the smart thing?"

Aries shoved all worries aside, focusing on jumping and landing and rolling. Before he knew it he was on the last jump. His robotic legs whined as he pushed himself harder and launched himself towards the edge.

He came up short.

Aries shot his arm out and grabbed the ledge with his fingertips. His other hand found purchase and he hoisted himself up, "Made it. Nice to see my luck hasn't changed. Let's see that Titan do that."

"Terra!"

Aries looked over as saw Kal, a storm of thunder and lightning surrounding him. From across the wide gap, his glare was like a child on the other side of a window. Completely powerless to take what he wanted and doomed to watch as Aries stole the treasures of the vault. Then he jumped, the hunter was sure he'd just plumet to his death and be stuck until the others caught up but he hovered, the electricity centralizing on him.

A loud boom filled the cave as he took off one arm outstretched and he flew across the chasm at a breakneck speed.

"Terra isn't home right now, leave a message after the tone," Aries took off down the siding toward the entrance, firing his handcannon in Kal's direction without looking back to see how the Titan would land. Though, he knew that he made it to the other side when he heard a second boom just a few yards behind him.

"Then I'll make her answer!" Kal roared back.

"What a charming guy," Aries said as he pushed himself harder. It vaguely occurred to him that he was still using Terra's voice. Anyone else would probably have been confused. Kal seemed too angry to care.

Aries sprinted up a set of stairs and turned left into a new area. He scarcely had time to admire the cavernous room with its high ceiling and wide open space. At the far end was a staircase. And beyond that was his prize.

"The Vault of Glass. End of the road," Aries stopped at the foot of the staircase and checked his ammo. Terra had apparently come in light. He only had enough bullets for a few full cylinders. With a rampaging Titan behind him and God-knows-what ahead of him, he was short on options. He holstered his gun and pulled his knife from its sheath, testing the weight in his hand.

A flash of blue light appeared next to him and Gaia floated into his view. Even if she didn't have a face, her worry was plain as day.

"A-Aries, you have to stop this! Please, I-I...don't want you to get hurt."

"Appreciate the concern, but you try telling him that," Aries pointed to the bursts of electricity rapidly gaining on them, "Actually don't. I don't think he's in the right state of mind to be told anything."

"You stabbed him!" Gaia said.

"It was more like a poke."

"You cut through his armor!"

"I poked him a little hard."

There was a loud boom from behind and Aries dodged back onto the center platform away from Kal with a good infinite drop between them. "Terra! Why!?"

"Why did I stab you? Sorry, finger slipped. Won't happen again. Promise. Cross my heart." Aries drew a small cross over his chest, "So you mind going back the way you came? I gotta open this here vault and get out of your hair. We're square after, right?"

Kal twitched, like his head was buzzing. "I trusted you, I liked you. You were my friend and you stabbed me!"

"Why does everyone keep thinking I stabbed you?" Aries muttered, "But listen Kal, things are getting a bit complicated, okay? Trust me on this one, it'd work out for all of us if you just left me to my own devices. This vault is gonna save our skins. Well my skin. Both mine and hers. When the dust settles and you clear your head a bit, we can have a conversation like civilized folk, okay? I'll bring the wine?"

"If you needed help, then why didn't you tell us, why stab me, and why run? We are doing this to save everyone, not for money. You don't make any sense, Terra."

"Alright fine, you can bring the whine. Just head back with the rest of the boy scout troop and I'll be there in...ah, couple weeks? Might be more, honestly," Aries said.

"Y-You're terrible at negotiations," Gaia sighed.

"Gotta shake the rust off. I've been dead a few years, you know?"

"I-..." The vex eye on Kal's helmet narrowed until it was pin sized. "I'm going to wreck you."

Kal roared and leaped across the gap smashing his fists down to make an explosion of arc energy.

Aries quickly dashed back onto the staircase, feeling the crackle of arc energy as the blast hit where he stood moments ago. There was no point in debating anymore. All their chances flew out the window, "Gaia, get outta here! We're about to get real uncivilized."

"Aries, Kal isn't...he isn't himself right now. The armor he's wearing... i-it must be doing something to him. M-Making him act irrational. You have to get it off him!"

"Boy, I hope Darla isn't going to be around, cause she's gonna drool once I start stripping him," Aries flipped the knife in his hand into a reverse grip.

"D-Don't make stupid jokes. You're in a woman's body too, you know?"

"Good point. Forget I said anything."

"J-Just be careful. It's going to kill Terra if something happens to you."

"Yeah, it'll probably kill me too."

Kal turned around and leaped over the gap and landing right next to Aries. He brought his fist back and threw a right hook right at the hunter's head.

Aries leaned to the side, the air rippling next to him from the sheer force of Kal's punch. His knife came up in the blink of an eye, slicing into the meat of Kal's inner forearm where the armor was thinnest. That didn't stop the Titan though and he wrapped his arms around the hunter picking him up and throwing him across the entrance into the opposite pillar.

Aries crashed into the stone work and hit the ground hard. He rolled to his feet, clutching his side as Gaia appeared, "A-Are you okay, Aries?"

"Hah...peachy," He said as he rose to his feet, "What's Zavala been feeding these guys? Diesel trucks? I don't remember them being so beefy."

"You're out of practice, A-Aries. Don't take stupid risks or everyone will be in danger," Gaia said.

"Gaia, you belong to a Hunter. Stupid risks comes with the territory," Aries dropped into a stance, carefully watching Kal for his next move.

The titan put his hand back and thrusted it forward, lobbing a grenade at Aries.

He dashed to the side where the grenade bounced far enough away and moved in as Kal was reeling his arm back from his throw, making several quick stabs at his abdomen and stomach and backed off before Kal could retaliate.

Kal let out another roar but this time it had a tinge of synthesizing sending a shiver down Aries's spine. If that armor was really made from Vex parts then it could have been converting Kal into a robot himself. The longer this took, the more likely Kal would lose himself in mind and body.

"Shit, really fighting the clock on this one," Aries spun on his heel and launched a hammer kick aimed straight for Kal's neck. The madman caught it though and brought his elbow down on the leg, breaking it.

A sharp, vicious pain shot through Aries spine. The kind of pain that left him unable to even cry out. When he hit the ground, he nearly blacked out. By some miracle, he rolled out of the way of Kal's fist as it pounded the ground and he swung his knife with all his might. The blade made contact. Its razor sharp edge sliced through Kal's helmet and Aries could feel it cut skin, deeper than any cut he'd managed before.

Blood and radeolorian started to leak from the wound and down onto Kal's armor drenching it in even more shades of crimson. "You made a big mistake, echo."

"It's Exo, and I could say the same about you, Porkchop."

Marvin:

"God Marvin, loosen up your grip a bit. Contrary to the bedroom, I don't like being choked." Darla said, yanking a bit of her hood out of Marv's grasp.

"And contrary to what you may have heard about the bedroom, I don't enjoy being slapped, yet that does not deter you from constantly doing so to me." He said, readjusting his grip in the near total darkness. Not for the first time, he thrust his hand out with a burst of solar energy, which did almost nothing to light the room.

"Darla, at least he's just grabbing your hood." Ergerox threw from the back of the group. "Declan, for some reason, thinks that just because it's dark, that I won't know it's his hand that keeps 'accidentally' grabbing my ass."

"What makes you think it's my hand?" Declan gasped, "I mean, it is, but what gives you the right to accuse me?"

"You're literally the only possible option because Darla is in front of me, and Marv is...well, Marv."

"The Void works in mysterious ways."

"What do you mean by that comment Ergerox?" Marv looked back to try and glare at her, before realizing it would be pointless since she couldn't see his face, even if he didn't have his helmet on.

"Alright guys, keep it calm. We're almost through this… I hope." Darla said, though her usual unwavering tone had started to crumble. A tell that had Ergerox gripping Marv's shoulder a little tighter.

"Lothos, still nothing in the journal about this?" Marvin asked.

"Nnnoo. The correct waaaAy would've be3een to go through the open door. This is at best a SHOrt cut."

"Short cut my- OH SHIT!" Darla's cloak suddenly tensed in Marvin's hand and pulled downward dragging him over a ledge.

Ergerox planted her heels, barely managing to drag Marvin back before he fell, but there was a loud rip as Darla's cloak tore at the sudden force.

Marvin carefully found the edge and knelt down by it. "Darla! You Okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Though I found a light here! It's literally right in front of me!" There was the sound of scuffling. "I'm gonna step through it and heal up! I broke my arm in the fall and all this darkness is keeping Vic from healing me!"

"How far down is it?"

"Far enough that I'm fucking busted up!" Darla yelled back.

"Oh, good, it's survivable." Ergerox suddenly kicked Marv's ass, quite literally, and he fell down face first. He managed to twist in the air so his feet were facing downwards, and he activated his jump jets. He still felt both his legs break as he hit the ground, and crumpled over in pain. Right before Ergerox landed directly on his right femur, breaking that as well. "OWW! What the actual Light?!"

"Oops, my bad." She said insincerely, dragging him by his wrists into the light as Lothos popped out and began healing him. The scrap of Darla's cloak fell from his limp hands and she snatched it up and tossed it to the gunslinger.

"Ah damn, that's a lot of it." Darla looked back at her cloak and saw that it had been torn in half diagonally leaving loose threads and fabric everywhere. "Looks like I'm gonna need a new one now. Damn."

"Tell me you didn't seriously break my legs just because that happened?" Marvin groaned as he pushed himself up, legs still wobbling.

"What a drag. The Vex are really trying my nerves with how much they adore their underground complexes. Like they've never heard of practical interior decorating," Declan brushed the dirt of his robe, "How much farther until we get to the Vault? Because I'm getting the feeling Kal and Terra are about the blow the damned thing up with how much they were at each other's neck."

"Maybe if I'm lucky they'll just kill each other." Marvin muttered. "Then the Speaker will pair me with a competent fireteam...present company excluded I mean."

Ergerox suddenly kicked him in the back of the shin, and he felt his bone crack again. "Sorry, nervous twitch."

Marvin limped to the edge of the cliffside and saw that different platforms started phasing in and out of existence. They seemed to be in a pattern, and as he observed he thought he might see a way down. Jumping from platform to platform, if timed right, would in theory lead to the distant ledge.

"Oh, this looks fun." Ergerox said sarcastically.

"Fun for you, you haven't had your legs broken twice in the last 3 minutes." Marvin responded, still watching, timing when they faded in and out, considering the best route to take down. He suddenly noticed something. "Lothos? Give me a sniper rifle."

"You are out of ammo for it anywAY." Lothos commented, nonetheless materializing it in his hand.

Zooming in against the far ledge, Marvin's suspicion was confirmed. "I see scorch marks down there- like someone deployed a Fist of Havok directly on top of the ledge...time-manipulating properties of the vex aside, my glimmer points to Kal as the culprit."

"How much glimmer you talking about betting here?" Ergerox asked.

"I'm not literally betting glimmer on it!...500 says it is though."

"Eh...make it 1000."

"You pay me 4000 if it is them, I'll pay you 8000 if it isn't."

"Oh you're on!"

"Hey Ergerox, if you ever need money, I got a job or two you can do," Declan said with a wink.

"Hey Marvin, if I throw him off the cliff right now, would it kill him for good?" Ergerox glared.

Feeling satisfied at the possibility of getting back at her for breaking his legs at least a bit, and also somewhat disgusted at his fellow Warlock, Marvin put away his gun, looking at the platforms one last time. "Probably not, but let's just wait till well we're out of here, and *then* you can kill him."

"Ugh, fiiiine."

"Okay, I've got a way down." Probably. "Follow my lead." He took a running jump into the thin air, and a platform materialized beneath him with near perfect timing. He jumped again and landed on another as it formed, moving slightly ahead of the curve so that the others could follow him.

"I'll wait behind incase anyone falls. I can help you with revival so we can keep moving." Darla said, crouching near the edge of the cliff to rest herself as they went down.

"And once I get across I can guide you." Marvin said, in motion again. He jumped right, then almost as soon as he landed he bounced off and jumped left onto another platform, then took a running leap off the end of that. He activated his glide and managed to get across to the ledge, moving to the side as Ergerox was almost literally landing on his heels again.

"This is going to end terribly, I just know it," Declan took a few steps back and threw himself off the ledge. The second gravity started pulling him down, he activated his glide and hung in the air long enough to hit the ground at a stumble, "Vex never make things easy, do they? No grand staircases or nothing."

"Or better yet an elevator...Knougett, can you tell what made these scorch marks?"

"Yes. You owe Marvin 4000 glimmer."

"Damnit!" She flipped Marvin off even as she handed him the glimmer.

He took it with a smirk. "Darla, you ready?" He called up.

Darla looked down at the platforms from her perch before standing up and just stepping off and falling down toward the abyss. Everything was still for a moment before Declan shoved Marvin out of the way and ran to the ledge shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Oh fuck, Darla what the fuck?!" Declan raced to the edge of the platform and peered out.

Darla was about forty-five yards away from them and ten feet higher when she reached into her robe and pulled out her knife, throwing it behind her and blasting out an electrical surge. She then started slicing through the air, lurching forward as she did so. The light itself was giving every swing more force than anyone of her size could conceivably produce until she reached the edge of their platform and it gave out.

She landed with both heels on the ledge but maintaining perfect balance. "There we go. Something wrong, Declan?"

"...Yeah, yeah this team's leader has got something in her head for pulling a stunt like that," Declan wiped a hand over his face, "But it's fine, it's fine, really. Not like it took a few years off my immortal lifespan or anything."

"To be fair, she's still a hell of a lot better than my team leader." Marvin sighed. "But seriously Darla, warn a guy before you do something like that. I'm not one of those bloody, thanatonauts, so I don't particularly have an interest in finding out what a heart attack feels like."

Darla was already headed to the ledge to begin shimmying before answering. "Yeah, well we don't have time to waste waiting for me to get across those platforms and I made sure to figure it all out in my head before jumping. I wasn't just standing on the ledge watching you guys."

"Hmmph, still." Marvin answered, following the others behind her, keeping an eye out in case vex decided to show up.

The group moved in silence for the rest of the way as they could feel a tension hanging in the air. If Marvin was correct about where they were, the main chamber wasn't far. And since Kal had been confirmed to be there, it was more than likely Terra wasn't far ahead either. Which meant they were probably about to stumble on either the two of them fighting, or- given the way the vex structures tended to bend time- their long dead skeletons.

Knowing his luck, Marvin was betting they'd both still be alive, and somehow screwing up everything for all involved.