Ancient Powers

Max, Lilli, and Leviathan reemerged from the Grotto and into the Forgotten Shore, speeding across the rusted ships to a Terrestrial Complex on the other side of the Shore. Leviathan picked up some intelligence reports on the House of Kings holed up in the Skywatch and the Terrestrial Complex. Before they could even reach the road leading to the complex, something caught their attention and pulled them aside to one of the ships. An ancient antenna poked through the hard ground, emitting some radio signals into every communication device in the area, including their helmets. "Для всех, кто может это слышать, я подвергаюсь атаке! Пожалуйста, ответь!" No one responded for a while. The signal spoke again, this time in English with a heavy Russian accent, "To all who can hear this, I am under attack! Please respond!"

Leviathan turned his comms on and said very plainly, "This is Leviathan-3 of the Last City's Guardian Corps. State your name, rank, and intention."

The voice said, "I am Rasputin, Warmind of Earth, and I need help! An evil cult of zombies are knocking at my door!"

Max widened his eyes, "Hang in there, Rasputin! We're coming to save you!"

Leviathan spat back at Max, "No! We're not!"

Lilli looked at Leviathan for a good and long minute, "No, we are! This mission has become bigger than just pursuing Fallen based on your hatred of them! The Hive have already claimed the Lunar Complex and most of the Skywatch, they've burrowed into the Earth, and now they're attacking Rasputin!"

The Titan scoffed, "A Warmind is nothing compared to us, and we've beaten the Hive twice now! Now the Fallen-"

"Are you really going to abandon someone in need of our help over your petty and unreasonable hatred of the Fallen?"

"They burned our City, and now I shall burn theirs!" He stormed off without saying another word.

Lilli and Max stared between each other and Leviathan's departure, before saying, "As we said before, we're coming to help you, Rasputin!"

"Thank you! I'm giving you coordinates to my bunker. Enter through there ASAP!"

Max and Lilli followed the Warmind's location to a black diamond tube resting beneath one of the rusted ships. Inside the tube was a surprisingly bright and futuristic tunnel with a stairwell leading down into the Warmind's Bunker. The main part of the Bunker was called the Seraphim Vault, the large containment area for Rasputin's computer core stack. This was to the side of a small bridge at the end of the stairwell. The bridge was perfectly nestled in a large, but short tunnel, the end of which led to the rest of the Bunker.

Incoincidentally, the Spawn of Crota was also there. Thrall thrashed at anything they could get their claws on, Acolytes blasted and hacked at console terminals, and Knights slashed at circuit boxes. Max and Lilli rushed to the bridge, and as soon as they reached the last stair, every single Hive turned to the Guardians, and let out a single, blood-curdling scream.

The Thrall horde charged at Max. The Warlock fired scout rifle bullets into the horde, bursting their heads open with each bullet. Lilli ran forward, jumped over the Thrall, and threw 3 knives into 3 Acolytes, killing them instantly. The Knights retaliated with their swords, but Lilli was quicker. She aimed her hand cannon at one's head, right in between the eyes, and fired. Surprisingly, the bullet punctured the head and threw the Knight's helmet away from its wearer. Lilli wasn't so lucky with the next 3 Knights; she prepped her weapon, aimed, fired, but failed to kill the next Knight. Max got the two behind the frontal Knight, but couldn't reach the third in time before the sword attempted a slam into the Hunter. Luckily, Lilli dodged it and shot the Knight in the head, killing it. Max caught up to her and asked, "Are you ok?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but we need to move on."

They entered the Seraphim Vault, only to discover it has been thrashed into pieces, with only the central computer core intact. The Hive in the room turned all of their attention to the Guardians, charging without regard for anything in their way. Max tossed a Vortex Grenade at the horde, dissolving them into dust, then absorbing the dust into nothingness. He closed the Vortex and ran to the main console. "Ok, Ras," he said, "I'm just going to perform a diagnosis on you."

"Make it quick!" The Warmind demanded, "I think I can hear another wave coming!"

Just like that, a green ring appeared in the observation room and expanded in its air, teleporting Omnigul into the Seraphim Vault. "Ah! Little Lights!" The Will of Crota cackled, "So glad you could join us!"

Masses of Thrall spawned around the core, screaming at a vile high pitch. They charged at Max and Lilli at alarming speeds, but the Guardians were ready. Lilli pulled an incendiary grenade out of her pocket, pressed a button on the side and tossed it into the horde. Once it exploded, the horde began to burn and run away in fear; some Thrall had tiny pieces of shrapnel stuck in their backs and arms. Omnigul growled, "LOW LIFES!" and swiped her hand over the Thrall, dissolving them, "I should've sent the most faithful first!"

Acolytes and Knights appeared next, not hesitating to attack the Guardians from the get-go. Max and Lilli split up, shooting down as many Hive as they can. One of the Acolytes' guns tore into Lilli's arm, forcing her to take cover. Unfortunately, her arm won't heal itself over time.

Max shot down a few Acolytes before moving onto the Knights. Omnigul screamed in vain, "MIGHT OF CROTA! COME FORTH AND LAY WASTE TO THE EARTH!"

A giant Orge appeared from a giant green portal, enraged at everything it saw. The Might of Crota charged at the core, but Max hurled a huge Nova Bomb at the Ogre, catching its attention. The Might growled, charging after the Warlock at an albeit slow speed.

The Hunter tore a piece of clothing off and wrapped it tightly around her arm, squeezing the wound. She then ran to the Ogre and stabbed her knives into its butt, climbing up its back. The Ogre tried to shake her off, stupidly clawing at its own back, failing to grab Lilli. She kept climbing and dodging as best she could, until the Might grabbed her by the legs and lifted her in front of its ugly face. "Wow," she said, "You make Leviathan look handsome."

The Ogre payed no attention to her joke and opened its mouth, ready to eat her. Lilli repulsed, "Ugh! That's just disgusting!" She took out one of her grenades, pressed a button, and tossed it into the Ogre's mouth. "Allow me to clean up that gunk for you!" She tossed a few more grenades in, then stabbed the Ogre's hand, causing it to drop her to the floor. She tucked and rolled, saving herself from the fall. The Ogre growled again, then it convulsed. Its insides were being set ablaze, the flames eventually worked their way to the outside, burning the Might of Crota alive. The Ogre let out a final guttural cry before it collapsed into a pile of ash and dust.

Omnigul screamed, "MUST I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF!?"

Rasputin played loud opera music on all the speakers in the Vault, Omnigul screamed in agony and disappeared. Max and Lilli covered their ears whilst laying down. Rasputin stopped and apologized, "Sorry, guys. But I needed to get that witch out."

"It's a Hive Wizard," Lilli corrected, "and she works for Crota."

The Warmind asked, "Who's Crota?"

Max shrugged, "We're trying to figure that out ourselves. Can you help us?"

"How!? I told you-!"

"All we know is that his cult comes from the Moon."

Rasputin paused, then asked, "Did you say, 'the Moon'?"

"Yeah, we did."

Rasputin paused again, contemplating his next choice of words, "I might be able to help, but my usual means of communicating with the other planets and their Warminds is shut down."

"So what can we do?"

"Simple, you'll need to manually turn it on."

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Leviathan stood tall over his recent victory over the Fallen House of Kings. He fought them in the Terrestrial Complex first, then exterminated the rest in the open area of the Skywatch, right in between the Lunar, Terrestrial, and Jovian Complexes. There! Now to deal with the Devils...

Lilli interrupted his thoughts over the comms, "Leviathan! We need your help!"

The Titan grunted, "About time you apologized."

Lilli let out a disgruntled sigh, "I'm not apologizing for your behavior."

"Then why would you call me again? Hmm?"

"We need you to go to the Terrestrial Complex, flip a switch controlling a satellite array, and stand guard."

Leviathan chuckled, "For what?"

"Ummm..." Lilli stopped, choosing her next words correctly, "for Fallen?"

He laughed, "Ha! I just killed the Fallen there!

The Titan nodded, "Fair enough." He dashed back into the Complex, ran all the way to a smaller open roof area, found the master control switch, and flipped it on. Immediately, all of the consoles sprung to life.

Outside, three satellite arrays began to open up, revealing their triangular shapes. Leviathan stood in shook at them, "They work!? After all this time!? That's...impressive..."

The sky around the Skywatch turned into an ominous green as three green orbs appeared just above the platform outside the console room, spawning Thrall on the left and right sides, and Acolytes down the middle.

Leviathan grumbled, "They lied to me!" He cocked his acidic auto rifle and fired into the Hive hoard. More Thrall and Acolytes appeared, this time led by 3 Wizards and a Knight. The Titan jumped from place to place, thanks to his Exo frame, and fired 3 shotgun shells into the 3 wizards. The Knight and 3 Acolytes surprised and jumped the Titan, bringing him down to the ground and started thrashing at him.

He growled, overcharged his systems with Arc energy, and slammed the ground, sending Acolytes and Knights in every direction, and then he got up. His armor was now scratched, revealing his metal 'skin' and wires. "Gabe, repair my armor," the Titan demanded. Silence emanated from the Ghost. "Gabriel!" More silence. "GABRIEL, GET OUT OF MY BACKPACK RIGHT NOW AND REPAIR ME DAMNIT!"

"I don't respond to my old name, Leviathan! You, my Ghoul, of all people should know this!" she cried.

"We don't have time for this! Repair me right now!"

"Not until you apologize!"

"No! I won't!"

3 large Acolytes appeared out of nowhere, carrying nothing but a set of Hive runes. Leviathan turned to face them, but before he could attack, they tossed a rune at his chest, attaching itself to his frame, stunning him. Gabriela remained in the backpack until the Acolytes approached the Titan. "Look at the fragile Guardian," one hissed.

The second one said, "So weak, and helpless!"

The third finished with, "Don't fret, little one. We'll take you back to mommy. She will make you feel better!" To the other two Acolytes, the third said, "Take him back to the Hellmouth! It's time for Crota to return!" They chanted in the Hive tongue, teleporting a screaming Leviathan and themselves back to the Moon.

Max and Lilli arrived at the Complex just as the sky began to clear. We're too late!