#slaps the doors to the narthex

[rhapsodomancer]

As I am acquainting myself with the Episcopalian church, I'm realizing that this is where all of the gay ex-Catholics ended up after the requisite period of shame-induced atheism or agnosticism, like. I guess I knew it but I didn't like, realize it

[fanficofmanyagenre]

The Routine

(2,027 words)

           It was like any other day for Trick-8; constant grinding of Strikes and the occasional high-level version of a mission, but with Robin-9, Splinter-23, it got difficult.

           “Guardian down!” Ghost said once with a tone of annoyance. They died so close together in time he didn’t even get to say it twice. With a sigh Trick killed the Colossus that was in the way and stared at the floating Ghosts in front of him that were awaiting revival. Sure, he died sometimes but not like this or nearly this frequently. He was even able to save them in some pretty tough firefights, but this was just getting painful to watch. The Centurions had been shelling him, not the Hunter and Titan.

           “I hate you both. So much. You know that? I think it’s been awhile since I said it. You know, more than five minutes.” The Warlock said as he revived his two “life-long” teammates. He really needed something that let him revive from a distance so he could keep moving on. Or at least an upgraded Light Beyond Nemesis to speed it up. As soon as Twenty-three stood up, he put a hand on Trick’s shoulder.

           “Don’t worry, I hate you too. I’m sure Robin does, too.” He then started towards the next room, leaving the Warlock standing there to shake his head. The Hunter just shrugged when Trick looked to him. It wasn’t always his fault they died, the rockets were heading for Twenty-three, not Nine, right?

           “A Tank?? Why would they bring a Tank to space?” Ghost shouted causing the trio to look at the opening hangar doors revealing said tank. Come to think of it, why did they bring a tank to space? It had to spin in place to even angle its front guns, and it was likely any shots from the main battery would hit the ceiling or the pillars. Why was saving the entire system so difficult sometimes?

           “Nine, keep us covered!” Trick yelled and pulled out his trusty sniper rifle Deposition VII. New Monarchy really knew how to make gear, and he was thankful for it. Instantly he hit the tank’s weak points; it’s hover thrusters. Twenty-three was shooting the tank as well, taking pops with his sidearm. Trick never could understand why he liked them so much. It was too much recoil for not enough damage, to him. The Titan claimed they were God-tier, however. Trick knew he wasn’t bad enough to be fooled by that crazy notion. Sniper rifles are totally viable, right? Right?

           “Guardian down!” The Warlock instantly snapped his head to where Nine was, a floating mass of particles contained in a Ghost in his place. Technically he hadn’t moved. He ducked behind a pillar so he wasn’t glassed by the tank’s main cannon, assessing the situation.

           “Twenty-three, go get him!” He shouted and threw a grenade towards Nine’s corpse. Luckily his grenade split into smaller grenades on explosion and then those also split into smaller grenades upon explosion, in addition to anyone he killed with it also turning into a grenade that exploded. Now there was only one Legionary by his body. Twenty-three ran up, popped his helmet off with one shot, then went to revive the Hunter. Before he was finished, however, the tank absolutely destroyed him. Trick was busy with a group of Psion’s that were putting up more of a fight than he expected so the tank wasn’t focused on him. When he heard the second shout of a Guardian dying, he looked over in shock before his eyes narrowed.

           “I’m tired of your bullshit…” The way he sounded, it would have been through gritted teeth if he had any. The next few moments were a blur. The Psions were killed with another of Trick’s grenades, he jumped up into the air and glared with his red eyes towards the tank, then unleashed a tri-Nova Bomb. When he landed next to his dead teammates he fired two shots with his sniper to kill the two Phalanx’s, clearing out the room entirely. The tank was now mostly gone, what was left was smoldering with void energy.

           “Well that went well! Let’s head for the bridge, see if we can reacquire the Brothers.” Ghost said. It was getting harder and harder to tell when his Little Light was being sarcastic or not. To be fair, the Warlock was just as sarcastic around everyone. Then he heard a radio scratch of Cayde buzzing in.

           “I can't tell you the number of scouts I've lost to these 'brothers' on Mars. They need to be stopped. Go careful.” Soon, they wouldn’t be a problem. Trick was glad his Ghost trusted him enough to keep it a secret he really enjoyed killing. Probably too much, actually. To think, Twenty-three is the one that uses Red Death; a forbidden weapon.

           “Don’t. Die. Again.” Trick growled to his team members, the point in his helmet almost mimicking his eyebrows being down. They didn’t have any time to waste and constant deaths really wasn’t helping that timer. Without a word, they ran for the bridge; the way they’d come. In the way was a large group of Taken. Nine stepped forward and fired three arrows into different Taken Acolytes, disintegrating them and leaving their friends to be tethered. This allowed Twenty-three to step up and pull out his flashy hammer. By the time he’d thrown all of them, only scorch marks remained of their interlopers. Once again, they were heading for the bridge, now with no interruptions.

           “I’m switching to Sunsinger. Solar seems to be more effective today.” Trick also had a feeling the absurd amount of grenades he’d get from it would be useful. Who didn’t like blowing things up? Come to think of it, both Radiance and Nova Bomb focused on blowing things up. It’s like, pseudo-Titan. The thought made Trick shiver, even if he slapped more enemies than Twenty-three. It was just so satisfying to see bad guys cower after he’d kill three knights or something big with a mere slap.

           “Taken and Cabal fighting for the bridge. Wherever the Brothers are, they aren’t here.” Trick glanced over to the sealed room, seeing Taken warping in to fight the owners of the ship. Those Cabal really didn’t stand a chance; not against the Taken. Even with their infamous king, Oryx gone, the Taken were too powerful. He almost felt bad for the over-sized murder turtles. Then again, they were asshats trying to blow up the entire system so maybe not. Up another few ramps and they were met with a small group of Cabal guarding a door that presumably lead to the core of the dreadnaught. At least they remembered to leave a small force to keep the Hive occupied. Unfortunately for them, Hive weren’t what followed them there.

           “I’ll take out the Colossus.” Twenty-three and Nine nodded and started on the other enemies. Five consecutive headshots later the Colossus was gone, as were the rest of the guards. By now the Cabal today were getting real annoying for the Warlock.

           “If the Brothers don't know their commander is dead, this attack could be some kinda bargaining chip. That's the power of the brotherhood bond. Kinda reminds me of me and Zavala! With less yelling, of course.” Trick chuckled softly as they ran onward. Having Cayde watch over them on missions helped relieve the stress, with his little quips. Even better when one of the other vanguard was there to listen with him, or even Eris. Cayde was a very good vanguard, whether he liked it or not.

           When the gate lifted into the Narthex, Trick was surprised. There were no Cabal in the room. When he glanced at the core he could almost feel the next remark coming.

           “There’s something wrong with this picture. You get three guesses.” All three sets of eyes rolled at the comment from Ghost; the explosives practically covering the core was obvious. Trick let Ghost out to deactivate the bombs, looking around cautiously. The sound of a massive door creaking open told them it was time to deal with the Brothers once and for all.

           “Oh, the Brothers are here! Take’em out!” Cayde said as the first brother, Valus Mau’ual stepped into the room. Instantly his boosters fired and he went flying for Nine, who managed to jump out of the way just in time. All three Guardians fired on him, taking the opportunity to do damage while he was the only one there. When one rocket staggered him, he called out and two side doors opened. Legionary’s poured from one door while Psions came from the other. In the quick chaos Mau’ual took the time to retreat back through the larger doors. The Cabal put up a bit of a fight, but were still no match for the trio of Exos. Then through the doors came the second brother, Valus Tlu’urn. The artillery cannon on his back was no match for the agile warriors of Light. Plus, they were tiny to him in comparison. Two waves of reinforcements came when he fled, proving much more difficult for the Guardians.

           Soon enough they were dispatched, though close calls were had all around. Then both brothers returned at the same time, now with new abilities. Whenever Mau’ual landed he left a massive solar spot like when Twenty-three’s hammers hit something. That restricted movement considerably with Tlu’urn’s mortar fire. He now had a shield around him that could protect anything inside it, like the arriving reinforcements.

           “Guardian down!” Trick didn’t expect to hear that. They were doing so well! Apparently not. Nine was just thrown into a wall so hard it killed him. He could see Twenty-three running for him, but Mau’ual was charging up to strike again.

           “Splinter no!” Trick shouted when he killed the last minion in the room, only to see Mau’ual replace his Titan. In anger, he pulled out Gjallarhorn and fired all the rockets he had. When the smoke cleared he could see the gear attaching to Tlu’urn. Now he really had to run. Mortar shells surrounding him, and he could see Tlu’urn charging him. He had no way of reviving his teammates without dying, and he could only do so much damage while trying to stay alive. The blast from the attack sent him flying backwards straight into a mortar shell. He could feel himself slipping away, everything going dark. He couldn’t fail now, his team, his family would die with him along with the rest of the system. As his eyes began to close the surge of energy rushed through him. Fire exploded from his body in bright, illustrious wings. One death today; not bad.

           The Warlock threw grenade after grenade onto the remaining brother, all the while moving back to his teammates. The stagger gave him enough time to revive the Titan and Hunter, who sprang into action. Three arrows of Void hit their mark on the Cabal leader, giving Twenty-three enough time to unleash a barrage of hammers. With one final bullet, the Valus fell and joined his two other brothers in the afterlife.

           “They’re finished!” Ghost announced, mainly for the supervising Hunter. They made it. Just barely, but they made it. Trick felt a hand on his shoulder, glancing to the Titan who gave him a knowing nod. Then the three of them scrambled for their loot. As close of a family they may be, loot was first come first serve.

           “I mostly keep doing this Vanguard thing for the perks and bragging rights, but I guess it's nice to keep the system from exploding, too.” Cayde said right before they got back to their ships. Trick had to agree on that one; the Tower was a one-of-a-kind home.

           “What do you mean an artifact?!” Trick shouted at Rahool, his helmet still on. He never liked to take it off unless he absolutely had to. His expression was probably one less than happy, however. The so called “Cryptach” just shrugged with the cheekiest of grins. Trick could hear Twenty-three and Nine laughing behind him. Maybe bringing them back wasn’t so good after all.