Chapter Text
Cayde’s P.O.V
“I fold… Why do we even agree to play with you Cayde” Shaxx sighed, throwing his cards down on the table causing me to chuckle. “I mean, who here other than Amanda or Ikora has ever beaten you? And before you say anything Zavala, Sera helped you win that round” Shaxx said causing everyone to laugh.
“Speaking off, how are things with you and Sera? I hear she had a run-in with Shin Malphur in Cape Town” Saladin asked as I gathered the cards, beginning to shuffle the deck again.
“She did, he still has both hands I believe… Though overall, we are good, we worked past the main issue of finding that line where work begins and ends following her trip to Mercury. I can’t foresee there being any other major issues, unless Malphur cops another feel again, then I shall have to deal with her murdering him” Zavala said, taking a sip of his whiskey, Saladin and a few others chuckling.
“It is a hard line to find, but once you do, it helps, a lot” Saladin said taking his cards as I dealt once more, a few people giving away the strength of the hand before the round had even properly begun.
“I can’t see you two having any issues, had a chat with her the other week, she pulled this move, flipped a Titan that grabbed her from behind onto his back and put a bullet between his eyes, great move! She said you had been teaching her how to use her weight and momentum to her advantage since she cannot always rely on her guns or knife… She then said something about it is one thing having strength, but another thing being able to use it effectively, but that wasn’t my point…” Shaxx said, Amanda chuckling.
“Then what was?” the shipwright asked, raising a brow as Shaxx shot her a pointed look.
“When she talks about you, her eyes light up, even for an Awoken, it is obvious what you mean to her, how much she loves you and adores you. You can see it when she looks at you as well” Shaxx finished. Zavala smiling as he looked down at his cards… Damn him, if he was not focusing on his hand, I could never tell if it was good or bad. And thinking about Sera was the biggest distraction the man had.
“She like the sniper rifle you had me make?” Banshee asked as he jiggled his cards about… So, he had a decent hand. Fuck.
“She never leaves without it, her kills outweigh the number of bullets fired” Zavala chuckled, I smiled to myself. My Hunters were a talented bunch.
“Good, I am glad she is putting it to good use” Banshee stated, throwing a few peanuts into the middle of the table, a few others following suit, though Amanda simply placed her cards down face up and looked at Zavala.
“You plan on putting a ring her hand anytime soon?” Amanda suddenly asked, everyone going still for a moment, Shaxx opening his mouth and then closing it again whilst Saladin raised a brow.
“Amanda, that is a bit of a personal question to ask…” Ikora stated, Amanda, looking to her and shrugging. “But since you have asked… Zavala… Care to enlighten us?” Ikora asked, only I was unable to hold back a chuckle. Though we all looked to Zavala who sighed and placed his cards down, face down annoyingly.
“It is something I have put some thought into, but that is as far as it goes currently. I trust you can all keep this information to yourselves” Zavala stated, myself and Amanda letting out squeals of excitement!
“Oh! How wonderful! If you need any advice on how to pop the question, let me know, after all, you can’t just get down on one knee with a Hunter, especially a Hunter of Sera’s calibre” I said, Zavala just sighed.
“Anyway, shall we get back to the game?” Ikora asked, Zavala, smiling as everyone agreed and the round resumed, Amanda oblivious to the fact everyone had seen her cards.
_____
Arjic’s P.O.V
I stood and dusted myself off, Sera already partway down the alley, glancing back at me and gesturing for me to follow. I did so silently, we had agreed that having the comms active could give our presence away, something we did not want to happen.
As I caught up to Sera, we made sure our cloaks covered our armour and weapons before starting to move through the back streets.
“I have to say, I am impressed at the size of the settlement” I muttered as we went, our Ghosts mapping the layout as we went, Sera glancing back to me, pausing for a moment.
“Though why are there not more people around, half these buildings are empty, why does he need to have such a large settlement?” Sera asked and I shrugged, who knew, that man was most likely off his rocker. “We have almost completed the outer circle, I think it will be best to zigzag across the settlement after that, get a good idea of just how many buildings there are, what they are for and the number of people around” she whispered and I nodded, following her lead.
As Sera rounded a corner I glanced back, ensuring no one was following us, but before I could round the corner Sera came back and pushed me up against the building, putting a finger to her lip. I nodded, Sera peeking back around the corner after a moment.
“Two Titans patrolling. Would have been screwed if it had been two Hunters” Sera sighed as we continued on our journey, being a little more vigilant when it came to corners. We managed to avoid a few more Light bearers patrolling, all of whom were Titans and Warlocks.
“I don’t like how there are no Warlocks. It puts me on edge” I said as we circled around the large building in the middle of the settlement. Steering clear of the front entrance that was guarded by two Titans. Their marks the same as the one I saw in the clearing earlier.
“We may have already been spotted, I count three different Hunters in nests on that tower” Sera whispered as we entered another side street, a shadow on the wall opposite us catching my attention, a knife in the hand of whoever was casting the shadow.
“Quick” I whispered, grabbing Sera’s arm, and pulling her around the next corner and then through a few more side streets, stopping once the pit in the bottom of my stomach was no longer vomiting out a sense of dread.
“Arjic, what did you see?” Sera asked, glancing back around a corner.
“We have been spotted, someone was investigating the path we had just taken, their shadow gave them away” I sighed, Sera looking to me and smiling.
“Good spot… I think we best circle back around the edge, make a note of where the power units for those guns are and get the hell out of here” she said and I nodded, following her lead once more around the perimeter of the settlement. Orion and Ansel making notes of all the power nodes and how best to disrupt them.
“I think that is all of them” I sighed, Sera nodding, looking just past me, her eyes narrowed. “What is it?” I asked, not daring to look over my shoulder.
“I could have sworn I saw movement and a shimmer in the air. Though it could just be my mind playing tricks on me” she sighed, shaking her head and turning to continue to our exit. “Let’s get out of here, it makes me, unsettled” she added.
“I could not agree more” I sighed, the two of us making it to the exit, Sera producing a smoke bomb from her belt as we emerged on the other side.
“Ah! Arjic!” Sera called, I turned to see her fall backwards, a knife sinking into her armour whilst an arm had a hold of her cloak. I quickly grabbed my knife from my boot, slashing and stabbing at the arm holding her cloak until it released its hold and Sera was able to pull away. As we took a few steps away from the wall, Sera used the smoke bomb. It allowed us to move at a decent speed towards the nearest cover in the form of a clump of trees.
_____
Sera’s P.O.V
As we reached the group of trees we stopped and Arjic moved my cloak, wincing. “What is it?” I asked, placing a hand on my back, wincing as I applied pressure to what I assumed was a stab wound.
“As they pulled your cloak back, they stabbed you…” Arjic said, I just nodded, both Orion and Ansel getting to work to heal the wound, though they were taking their sweet time about it. “Come on, we can’t afford to hang around” Arjic sighed.
It isn’t closing. I don’t know why!
Beep! Beep. Beep, Beep. Beep!
We need to get back to camp, see is Shin knows anything about this. If not, we need to get you back to the Last City.
“Zavala is going to kill me” I sighed, though Arjic chuckled as he put an arm around my upper back and we began the journey back to camp, moving at a decent pace.
_____
Luca’s P.O.V
I sighed as took another sip of the rum I had stashed in one of the crates before leaving. Shin looking out over the horizon. It had been a tense night, neither of us had really spoken, the fact Sera and Arjic were in the settlement with no comms active had us both on edge.
“Someone is approaching” Shin suddenly said, and I shot up, watching as he looked down his scope, lowering it suddenly and heading out into the night without a word, I picked up my own rifle and looked out. Managing to locate Sera and Arjic and Shin reached them, Shin helping Arjic support Sera… She was wounded. Fuck!
As they arrived Sera rested against some crates whilst Arjic unclasped her armour, discarding it on the floor. “What happened? Are you OK?” I asked, going over, Sera grabbing one of my hands and squeezing it.
“I can feel it throbbing, and not like a normal throb, it is in a pattern… Fucking hurts” Sera said, gritting her teeth and Shin started to examine the wound, poking at it. I glanced around as a black liquid began to seep from the wound, the wound itself looking angry and infected.
“Don’t move… I have just the thing” Shin stated, Sera casting a glare at him as he told her not to move. He then went over to one of his crates, opening it up and hastily digging through. “Got it… I shall apologise now, this is going to hurt” he said as he opened the little tub, scooping some of the glowing balm out into his fingers.
“Just do whatever it is you are going to do you great…. FUCK!” Sera cried out Shin proceeded to stick his fingers inside the wound as far as he could get them. As he did so Sera bit down on her cloak and squeezed my hand to the point, I was sure she was going to break a bone. Though as Shin withdrew his fingers from the wound, smearing some balm around the wound the black liquid began to splutter out, being forced out as the wound closed, healing completely. The only trace it was ever-present was a small scar. I looked to Sera and the relief on her face was clear as she let my hand go.
“There” Shin stated, seemingly breathing a little slower and smiling, at least for a moment. He probably did not anticipate Sera whirling round and punching him as hard as she could in the face, his nose cracking and breaking as she did so. I burst out laughing followed by Sera, Shin smirking and shaking his head as his Ghost went to work healing the broken nose.
“What the fuck!” Arjic exclaimed, looking very confused and concerned.
“It is a Hunter thing, he hurt her, granted to save her life, but that means she gets a free hit, and it was a pretty good one as well!” I stated, Arjic just shaking his head and going over to where my rum was sat and taking a swig.
“You Hunters have some pretty strange customs and quirks. Always makes me wonder how you all know them despite mostly working alone, you are not exactly… Pack animals” Arjic stated, walking back over with the rum, and handing it to Sera who smiled and took a swig.
“There is more than one way to work as a pack. We leave messages in the forms of symbols, we talk when we see each other in the wilds, passing on messages and information. Oh, and you can’t forget Cayde, he gives every new Hunter a rundown of the little things when they reach the city” Sera stated, passing the bottle to Shin who also took a swig.
“And before Cayde, Andal Brask did the same…” he said, passing me the bottle.
“Anyway, what was that balm?” Arjic then asked, nodding to the balm on the crate Sera had been leaning against.
“It is just your bog-standard medical balm imbued with void energy. I met a Warlock a few years back who gave it to me, saved my life on a couple of occasions… Especially when it came to the blade that stabbed you tonight Sera. It is a Hive blade from what I can gather, stings like a bitch, the wound will fester and kill a Guardian within a day if they can’t get the correct treatment for it. The little shit who wields the blade seems to be referred to as Dredgen’s little assassin from what I have heard others say whilst patrolling… Never seen themselves, however, only known they were there when it was too late. Luckily the Warlock taught me how to make the balm, she was something else, intelligent beyond belief” Shin said, taking a seat on one of the crates as Sera gathered her armour up, assessing the damage done to it.
“So, you can get along with Warlocks… Or is it just the ladies you like?” Sera asked, Shin just taking the rum back off me.
“Don’t you need to alert Cayde to the fact you are safe?” Shin then asked, Sera’s expression changing from a smirk to that of a deer caught in a bright light.