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Vanguard

Chapter 1

Rupture

A/n:

Alright, well this is probably going to be the strangest fic I write for a time. Also, maybe the most fun.

When I was a kid, I read Percy Jackson and the Olympians, thought it was a the shit.

Then the first four ended, and I thought it was done.

Come back a year ago, turns out, ha ha, it's not

Somehow

And with all of the high school and college now in my brain, it doesn't make as much sense as it did before.

So after reading a bunch of PJO fics, I wonder "What would happen if Sci Fi came to punch this fantasy in balls"

Metaphorically speaking.

And what better choice to pick than one of my favorite groups of space-god-killing immortals from a fun, if flawed, game known as Destiny?

Because the stars of the show are going to be the breaking things in half.

But I'd also like to thank NothingExistance, or Trav because that in no way shape or form rolls off the tongue, for his help.

He's a lot more up to date with this PJO stuff, so he's been my resident advisor/expert with that.

Destiny, though?

That I am quite familiar with.

In an average café in central Philadelphia, an unassuming looking man with brown hair and brown eyes in his mid to late 30's wearing a brown trench coat over a white shirt and khakis sits down at one of the outdoor tables. The unassuming man in the average café soon orders a typical black coffee, one he sips absentmindedly.

It is then that the unassuming man in the average café drinking a typical drink pulls out a decidedly extraordinary device. A sleek diamond-shaped object with a small spike coming out of each face, approximately the size of his hand. Looking at it for a moment, he places the object down in the center of the table, the spikes acting as legs to hold it up straight. No sooner is it placed than does the man hear a small humming sound emit from it.

Confident that it has worked, the man pulls out a newspaper and goes back to sipping his coffee.

Moments later, two other individuals, a man and a woman, both of African descent and in their mid to late 30s, walked up to the café and sat down at the table with the unassuming man. The man was tall and of a lean shape, wearing dark jeans, a light grey shirt, and a black leather jacket overtop, and having a clean shaven head. The woman also had a shaved head, leaving only a slim trim of dark black hair on her head, was shorter than the man but still just over 6 ft tall, and wore light tan pants, a dark purple shirt, and a light grey high collar long coat over it.

Taking a moment to look around, the African male turns back to the white male and asks, "Cayde, are you sure this is the best place to discuss this?"

"Relax," The now named Cayde nonchalantly responds, not even looking up from his newspaper, "Hiding in plain sight is the best disguise, after all."

"But it's rather…open…to have a discussion of this nature." He countered.

"Zavala," Cayde began, looking up at the man in question, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"Besides, this little doohickey will keep our actual conversation nice and private." Cayde said as he sat up and flicked the device he had put on the table. "We can talk freely, and all anyone else will hear is something boring, like how financing your house is going or something."

Zavala gave the woman to his side a skeptical look, silently asking for her input on the matter.

"It's sound technology, Zavala. I've used it several times, as have my Hidden." She answers.

"Very well, carry on, Cayde." Zavala all but sighs.

"Great!" Cayde smiles, dropping the newspaper on the table and clapping his hands together.

"Ok, so as you know, the year right now is apparently 1990 A.D., whatever that meant." He began excitedly.

"Well, I found out what that means in terms of how it relates to us. See, we're back in the past, obviously, but from what I can tell, we're around a millennia or so in the past, before the golden age." He explained.

"Before the golden age?" the woman questioned, "How far before?"

"Well, not that far. Well, not for us. Probably a century at the most." He answered.

"While we don't have a fantastic idea of when the Golden age happened, and a terrible idea of what came before, the documents and files that we've seen about the first meeting show technology that is within reach of humanity right now, or at the very least within the century." He continued

"I've also discovered some rather interesting things about 'present' earth, but why don't you tell us what you found about getting us back home, Ikora?" Cayde suggested.

"Very well," Ikora acknowledged.

"…I am no further along in figuring out how to get us back to our own timeline." She answered.

"But can't you just use the stuff in the Vault of Glass to send us back?" Cayde asked

"That Vex Tech is so far beyond me I don't want to try it. Besides, we know what happens to those who try to delve too deep into the secrets of the Vex." She explained. "The Vex, for some reason, wanted us to be back here. Or at the very least, Atheon did."

"You make it sound like those aren't one in the same." Zavala noted.

"My spies have told me that apparently Atheon is…split…from the rest of the Vex, that he represents a different faction. One that rejects the black heart." She answered.

"Does that mean that it's aligned with the light?" Cayde asked.

"Probably not, but it's possible that Atheon considered doing this a better alternative than the revival of the Black Heart. Why, I couldn't tell you." Ikora disagreed.

"What about Kabr? His relic had a hand in this too, do you think his light interfered with whatever the Vex were trying to do? Influenced it in some way such that we got sent here, to this timeline?" Zavala suggested.

"Well…it's possible." Ikora considered.

"Why here? Why not home, instead of stranded back in the past?" Cayde asked.

"Actually…I think this might have been the best possible outcome." Ikora suggested.

"What?!" Cayde recoiled, bewildered by what she was saying.

"Think about it. We have an incredible chance here. There is no Darkness here yet, we are immortal. The Golden Age hasn't even happened yet. We have a chance to stop the collapse before it even begins." Ikora conspired.

"…you're really serious about this, aren't you?" Cayde said after a stunned moment.

"Of course." She confirmed.

"I'm not sure I like this. It feels like running from the fight where we're needed." Zavala frowned.

"Zavala, we can make the biggest difference here, not in our own timeline. Here we can properly shape and prepare humanity for the coming storm." She tried to convince him.

"How would the Traveler react to us?" Cayde asked.

The other two paused as they considered the question.

"I…I'm not sure…" Ikora admitted.

"It couldn't hurt." Cayde said.

"Agreed." Zavala nodded.

"But, on the note of what you said earlier, Ikora," Cayde began, switching topics, "Regarding there not being any Darkness."

"That's not exactly true."

"What do you mean?" She frowned, not liking the implications of that statement.

"While you two were out scouting mars and Venus, and I did my little recon here, I got some…weird readings." He answered.

"Define 'weird'." Zavala stressed

"Just send us the data." Ikora amended.

"I'll do both." Cayde said as he pulled out a small device made of what appeared to be glass that fit in his hand.

"What I found…" He spoke as he tapped several places on the screen, "Was several signatures that resembled light and darkness, but weaker. Some of it reminded me of Hive magic, but more grounded, instead of being tied to an ascendant realm or their space gods."

"Or…" He said as his device dinged to signify a completed action, "regular magic, as opposed to the fancy space magic we're used to."

"Regular magic?" Ikora said with a skeptically raised brow, pulling her own device out.

"Yeah, it's the best thing I got. Your ghosts can confirm it, but Kaylee agrees with me on it, and I always trust her gut." Cayde confirmed.

"Awe, thanks Cap'n." A disembodied female voice said to Cayde, not that anyone else could hear it.

"Your ghost doesn't have a gut." Ikora said distractedly, looking through the data he gave her. "Neither do you, for that matter."

"And yet somehow, it's still better than yours." Cayde quipped.

"Where did you find this…'magic'?" Zavala asked, trying to focus on the practical meaning of this.

"All over the world. But usually focused in certain areas. I didn't want to get too close to those places just yet, instead try to stay safe and keep my distance, but I did notice some pretty strange phenomenon just walking around." He answered.

"Like?" Zavala said in a tone both interested and annoyed by Cayde's games.

"Like a non-human entity walking around a city without anyone taking notice of it." Cayde answered with a smirk.

"Define non-human." Zavala frowned.

"Well, there's lots of them, but most of them seem to have a human base. For example this one." He said as he sent them another file, this one containing video. "It's some kind of old lady bird person, just walking around naked in the middle of New York City, and nobody takes any notice."

"Maybe it's normal to them?" Ikora suggested.

"Considering that a naked regular human walking around the city drew more attention than her, and the 'magic' coming off her, I'd be willing to bet it's not." Cayde pointed out.

"So maybe this 'magic' is shielding her presence from the humans?" Zavala suggested.

"That's what I figured." Cayde agreed, "What makes this worrying is the fact that many of these resemble mythical monsters known for being enemies of humanity."

"Now, while I don't know whether or not these legends hold any merit," Cayde admitted, "I do find the fact that there are mythical monsters walking around that humans can't even perceive worrying."

"Indeed." Zavala frowned as he looked at the report.

"Maybe it's similar to what you and Zavala are using, Cayde?" Ikora suggested.

"Maybe in effect, but it's not the same thing. These devices I have are applying a camouflage field over us. It looks real, it feels real, and you can't see through it. Enough pressure will burst it, but otherwise it's good enough to trick Oryx." He explained, "This was more like something that affected the minds of the observers, which is why I could see through it."

"Was it because you don't have an organic brain or because of your light?" Ikora asked.

"I…actually don't know." Cayde realized, "Maybe both?"

"It didn't take any violent or aggressive action, correct?" Zavala asked.

"No, just seemed to be moving somewhere with a particular purpose." He answered.

"Then in that case, I think it would be best to put that issue aside for the moment. We'll keep an eye on it, but it won't be a priority." Zavala said.

"I agree, right now we have a bigger issue to deal with." Ikora said, trying to switch topics

"Alright," Cayde acquiesced, "I just thought I'd bring it up since it seems…weird."

"Understood." Zavala nodded, "Now, how should we…prepare for the coming storm?"

"We have lots of stuff stashed in our ships. Data, weapons, hell, the jump drive alone would catapult these guys centuries into the future." Cayde pointed out. "I vote we give 'em Ikora's"

"Or perhaps we could give them Cayde. An Exo like him would be invaluable." Ikora quipped back with a half-hearted glare.

"Hey." Cayde glared, jabbing his finger towards her, "Not. Cool."

"We shouldn't give humanity too much too soon. We aren't the Traveler, we can't be too obvious about it. Jump drives, cheap space travel, energy weapons and anti-grav technologies would be too much of an obvious jump." Zavala said, ignoring the banter before him

Willing herself to stop arguing with Cayde, Ikora turned to Zavala. "That's not a bad idea. If we can control the rate at which humanity evolves, we can better prepare them for the coming Darkness, and let them make better use of the golden age."

"So…how are we going to give it to them?" Cayde asked the obvious question.

"Could go through the military." Zavala suggested.

"Couldn't that start a war? If one country suddenly get's more advanced tech, the others might get worried." Cayde pointed out.

"Perhaps we should work through a company?" Ikora put forth.

"And maybe focus on less aggressive tech?" Cayde added.

"Like what?" Zavala asked.

"We could start with a medical company, work to expand the human lifespan to what it is in our timeline, bit by bit. That way we slowly build up our credibility until we're ready to implement the real changes." Ikora said.

"And in the meantime, I can work on scouting out this whole 'magic and monsters' thing." Cayde suggested.

"And I'll work on setting up some kind of home base." Zavala added.

"So we're in agreement then?" She asked for clarification, "I'll start up a medical company, Cayde will look into this 'magic', and Zavala will set up our base of operations."

"Sounds good to me." Cayde smiled

"Agreed." Zavala nodded.

"One question though, Ikora." Cayde interjected before they could leave.

"Yes?" She acknowledged.

"What is your first step going to be?"

At this question, Ikora grinned one of her famed grins of cunning she was known for in the Crucible.

"I'm going to cure cancer."

In a dark corner of the underworld, three ancient beings toiled with their task.

They spun and wove the threads of destiny, binding together time and space with needle and yarn. They were the Fates, and they determined everything.

Until today.

For as one sister spun the yarn, one thread appeared from nowhere. Strange, but not too strange, she dismisses it. But then the thread begins to glow. It's glow grows to blinding luminosity as the ball heats up.

Soon she is forced to drop it with a yelp of pain, her hands burning. The other to stop to stare in wonder and horror at what is happening before them.

The single thread replicates and grows, consuming more and more of the ball, soon spiraling out of control like a cancer as the ball grows to monstrous proportions.

Then the threads shoot off to the knitted destinies, infecting them as well. Before long, the bright light has encompassed every active prophecy, destiny, and fate they had. The threads begin to do impossible things, threading into themselves, dividing and replicating, suddenly disappearing in one place, only to re-appear elsewhere.

The Fates can only look on in terror as they realize one thing. They are no longer in control of Destiny.

Nothing is.

"What could do this, sister?" One asks.

"Nothing, it should be impossible." Another answers.

"And yet it is not."

"Then whatever it is, it can only have one name."

"Yes sister, I agree"

"For we are dealing with nothing short of FateBreakers."

5 years later…

"Ah, Zavala, Ikora! Glad you could join me." Cayde greeted excitedly, yet distractedly, his back turned from the screen as he worked on a project.

Rather than the public café used last time, on this occasion they had decided to meet in a far more discreet location.

"Cayde…what are you doing?" Zavala's voice asked.

"Well, I was bored, so I decided to make a house of cards while I waited." Cayde answered, still focused on the task before him.

The man in question was wearing form fitting tan, white, and grey clothes, resembling light armor, all under a black hooded cape covered in red symbols. He stood inside a mostly dark metal room, the light from the screens behind him being the only light source.

"Well, since we're all here now, we can begin the meeting." Zavala said.

"Wait, I'm almost done. Just give me a sec." Cayde stalled, raising his hand to carefully install the last piece of his work.

"Cayde" Zavala warned in an annoyed tone.

"Just let him do it. You know he'll be impossible if we don't let him finish." Ikora's voice admonished.

"Aaaaaaaand….there." Cayde said as he put the cards down ever so carefully

"Tadaa!" He cried sarcastically, spinning around to present his masterpiece, a full house of 52 cards.

But instead of being greeted by flesh and bone, they saw metal and circuitry. For Cayde was not a man, but an Exo, a sentient android built for war, and reborn in the traveler's light. Small Blue lights in place of eyes and a lower jaw separated by a small slit in place of a mouth. His face was a pale blue, save for a grey plate of armor over his forehead with a solitary horn sticking out of it.

And yet, for all his iron, he still managed to be the most expressive of the three.

Cayde looked back at the screens displaying his two comrades, both of whom were giving him unamused glares. Ikora looked much the same, though now wearing purple robes. Being the only human on the team, she had no need for the disguiser. Zavala, on the other hand, did.

His true form had the same basic structure of his disguise, but the coloration was all off. Instead of being a dark skinned man, his skin was a pale blue, while his eyes were bright blue. The thing that stood out about that, though, was the strange ethereal glow about him. His skin seemed to have some sort of energy faintly traveling over it, while his eyes were glowed brightly with power.

He wore heavy plated silver and red armor. The armor plate on his left shoulder was an oversized and curved red piece and on his chest were several painted and engraved medals.

Zavala was an Awoken, a race of humans that had tried to flee the coming darkness during the collapse, and had returned from the edges of the solar system…changed. Apart from some strange powers they had, they were still human, with all the faults and boons.

"…Are you done?" Zavala scowled, almost at the end of his rope, which was exactly what Cayde was trying to accomplish.

Still, Cayde knew when to back off and actually get serious.

"Yeah, I'm done." Cayde replied with a bored tone. With a snap of his fingers the house of cards disappeared in a flash of white, having been transmatted back to his inventory.

"So, how are things on your end?" Cayde asked.

"Right now I've actually made significant ground in the company I started." Ikora announced.

"Oh? What's it called?" He asked.

"The Ishtar Collective." She smirked.

"hmm, good choice." Cayde nodded in appreciation.

"I thought so. Right now, the company is small, but producing promising research. I've been slowly pooling together the most promising and trustworthy people for the company, while feeding them the right hints and pieces at the right time to lead them in the right direction." She explained with that that small self-assured smile of hers.

"I already know what the solution is, I'm just trying to 'show my work', more or less, so it doesn't seem suspicious. In a year we should have our first prototype ready for initial trials."

"Didn't they find it a little suspicious for someone of your caliber to just pop up out of nowhere?" Zavala asked.

"Hmm….yes and no." Ikora considered.

"For part of it, they wouldn't care so long as I have the money and the expertise. For those that still doubt, I was able to forge identification. I even managed to infiltrate the necessary offices, databanks, and schools in order to authenticate it."

"Wasn't that dangerous?"

"Please, infiltrating a Fallen Ketch is dangerous. This was child's play." Ikora scoffed.

"But was it worth the risk?"

"Considering that I'm as legitimate as I can possibly be without being legitimate, I'd say so."

Zavala sighed in exasperation, but realized that Ikora was going to do what she was going to do, and she knew how to play this game far better than he.

"Cayde, how are things on your end?" Zavala inquired, switching topics.

"Well, first off, I just want to say, love the fact I can do fieldwork again. Just wish I had more stuff to kill." Cayde noted half-jokingly.

"Cayde-"Zavala said in an unamused tone.

"Second, turns out this whole 'magic' thing goes a lot deeper than we thought." Cayde interrupted, turning serious as he began his report.

"How deep?" Ikora asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Apparently there's almost a whole other world hidden right beneath the one on the surface. There's a lot of different words and terms to describe the two, depending on what region you're in and what culture you ask. Some call it the magical and mundane world." He explained.

Then he paused, chewing over a piece of information before decided to recall it.

"I've also heard the world on the surface being called the mortal world. Something I don't like the implications of." Cayde warned.

"Why not?" Zavala questioned.

"Because if they're calling world on the surface the mortal world, that must mean that there's something in this magical world that is immortal. Something big enough to warrant the distinction." Ikora explained.

"…Something like the hive?" Zavala suggested.

"Or their gods." Cayde supplied

"That news is worrying. What about their capabilities? Is the Magical world a threat to humanity?" Zavala

"That's the million glimmer question, isn't it?" Cayde remarked, leaning against the table he had made the house of cards upon.

"It's also really complicated. When I said it was a whole other world, I wasn't kidding. It has its own factions, cultures, races, peoples. And humans are still a large part of it. Sort of, anyway."

"You see, a large fraction of this world is composed of magically inclined humans called mages, or witches and wizards depending on the region. They essentially have a diluted and weakened form of light in them. Within them, the vast majority want to keep humanity around, though some consider mundane humans to be second-class citizens."

"Human Wizards?" Zavala said skeptically.

"Hey, the name came from far before we met the hive. It had to start somewhere." Cayde admonished.

"Cayde's right, the names came from well before we met the traveler. During that time they were just considered stories, but perhaps there was some truth in it after all."

"Now, outside that are large groups of demi-humans, monsters, creatures, and a whole bunch of other things. Some are intelligent, others are really just beasts. And in general, there are a wide variety of rules for how to kill all of them. Some need silver, some need celestial bronze, etc etc." Cayde continued

"But, I have good news." He announced.

"Which is?" Zavala inquired

At his prodding, Cayde drew his favored oversized revolver, the Ace of Spades for effective, "Any and all light infused weapons and gear is effective against them."

"So we can kill them?" Zavala verified.

"Oh yeah. I even killed a few monsters that were supposed to be straight up invulnerable unless you used a special magic metal or something." He confirmed.

"They only thing I had trouble with was some of the things that were incredibly heavily armored. Like this one big lion thing I found. I mean, eventually I just shot it to death, particularly in the face, but it was one hell of a bullet sponge." Cayde explained.

"Nothing we aren't familiar with." Ikora dismissed.

"True." Cayde acknowledged, "But that's really all I got. What about you, Zavala?"

"I...might need your help soon." Zavala admitted.

"You what?" Cayde jerked, surprised by the admission.

"After lots of digging, I've finally located the black garden. But it's significantly more defended than it was before. I'd rather not face it alone." He explained.

"How is it defended?" Ikora asked.

"From what I could see? A Cyclops, No less than three Hydras, dozens of Minotaurs, and countless Harpies and foot soldiers." Zavala listed, "And the darkness there is extremely thick. I'd rather not take any chances in there."

"Alright." Cayde agreed with shrug, "If it means keeping your ass alive and taking down the Black Heart before it becomes a problem I'll lend a hand."

"The Black Garden would be a good place to set up base. The Crucible expansion Shaxx set up in there proves that it's viable, and no other place in the solar system is as secure or has the resources we need. Plus, being able to study the Black Garden more deeply would be invaluable." Ikora responded thoughtfully.

"She means 'yes'" Cayde supplied, earning him a halfhearted glare from her.

"Good. In the meantime, I'll work on shoring up the beachhead." Zavala nodded.

"We'll be there in a week. I have some things I need to wrap up before I leave and Cayde can help me with them." Ikora stated.

"I can?" Cayde questioned.

"Well if anyone can infiltrate the United States Pentagon and steal top secret information without anyone ever suspecting anything, it's you." She factually replied.

"Well I'm flattered, but why am I doing this?" He asked.

"Because we need to know what they know about this...magic." Ikora announced.

"And, we need to get Zavala a new identity."

A/n

Now, one of the many things that inspired this was a fic called, "Humanity Knocks Back", in which the author had humanity take and X-Com approach to the worlds of Vampire Rosario and Bleach. Basically it was a "Humanity Fuck Yeah!" fic, where the typically underestimated, tossed aside, and "powerless" humans become contenders and even victors up there with the big boys in the universe through science, teamwork, stealth, and in general being devious bastards that don't know the meaning of surrender.

So, despite the presence of the Vanguard, they are not going to be soloing their way through everything.

As seen by the creation of the Ishtar Collective, they are going to be upgrading humanity to the point where they can fend for themselves.

Because if there's one thing I noticed, looking back at PJO, it's that Rick Rordain seemed to downgrade humanity. Like, he used several notable and prominent humans in history as examples of Demigods. As if to say, "All of the best humans were actually that good because of the gods. Not because humanity is awesome"

Plus, a lot of the things about the Gods in general just make the physics in me hurt. Like, Apollo in general.

And as for the Fatebreaker thing, here's how that makes sense.

In Destiny, there is a faction known as the Vex, who are cyborg robots with hive-mind characteristics and can control time, to an extent. They have computers made out of planets that allow them to predict the actions and thoughts of individuals with simulations so accurate, the individuals go insane because they can't tell if they're real or a simulation of the Vex.

Basically, the Vex can see, and to a certain extent, control the future. Just like the Fates.

But Guardians, thanks to their light, are one of the only things they can't foresee, predict, or fully control. If the Vex can't do it, and they turned Mercury into a giant machine in a matter of days, then I'm going to say that the Fates can't either, making them Fatebreakers.

They are not constrained by any prophecy made, and can completely invalidate even the most basic one because of their unpredictability.

I'm also going to be working the basis that Space Magic is greater than regular Magic. Which makes sense cause space makes earth look like a tiny insignificant little atom in a grain of sand at the bottom of the fucking ocean.

I'm also going to be working on the theory that this is mostly the same universe as the one they left, with a few minor differences. And I might be doing minor crossovers or references with other works of fiction if it fits, but I'm going to try not to just have this turn into a 40-way mashup where everything is a crossover or reference to something else.

That would be...ugh.

Do not want.

But this is also an experiment. I'm going to be posting 4 chapters of this over the next month as a trial run to see how it does. If it does well, I'll continue, if not, I'll drop it.

So in any case, I'll be seeing yall later with chapter 2. Hope this one piqued your interest.