“You are even more naive than I thought,” Ikora said as the sadistic grin stayed spread on her lips. “Again!” The Titan, responsible for issuing the beat-down to Bree, lunged forth his foot directly into the side of her ribcage. The sheer impact of the blow was immense and sent rippling shockwaves through her bones and inner organs like an aftershock. Almost immediately, she curled into the fetal position and began expelling blood onto the floor from her mouth, her body racked and heaved in sharp coughs. Then, came another kick. The Titan could feel the brittle bones in her body snap like kindling at the smashing of his foot into her, even he was grinning underneath a helmet that hid his face. “This wasn’t suppose to be this way, Bree, or should I say bitch? Doesn’t feel too good does it?” A nod of Ikora’s head, but instead of a swift kick to the side, it was a devastating connection between his knuckles and her face. The resulting sound was sickening to the stomach, the instant his fist collided, dozens of tiny bones within her skull splintered, cracked, and fell to pieces. Bree’s hands were still bound behind her back and as the momentum of the punch carried her forward, she was helpless to break her fall, her already busted nose found the polished tile once more with a dull thud. Her face throbbed in pain, blood leaking from multiple seams in her face that had been ripped open, and now, she was just barely hanging onto consciousness. “You are such a fool……….” The words floated through the air like bubbles, popping and wobbling their way into Bree’s ears. “......Dredgen……..Queen…..” It sounded as if Bree’s head was submerged in a pool of murky water. “Set-up by us……you fell for it….” Unexpectedly, Bree was savagely hauled to her knees and held there so she wouldn’t fall over. She couldn’t even lift her head to look at Ikora, her beaten body sat limply on shaky knees. “When has anyone ever come across a machine gun that malfunctions?” Ikora’s laugh was just as odious as her smile. “The Queen would never need help from the likes of you and your brother, but you were so blinded by the fact that we banned you from the Trials that we could have told you, the Speaker, was going to accompany you on an intergalactic space flight to a new planet and you would have believed it. Your stupidity astounds me.” Bree only managed to lift her head to look at Cayde-6, her eyes almost swollen shut and mumbled, “C...Cayde...hh...h...hel...help….” but he didn’t, Cayde couldn’t watch this disgusting display of brutality. “Cayde isn’t going to help you, Bree, this has been a group decision, even your own mentor wanted you gone, how does that make you feel?” Bree’s Hunter cloak was torn and thrown into a crumpled ball on the floor, then it was set ablaze by the Warlock. “You are nothing to us, Bree, your pathetic excuse of a life was ours to waste. As a matter of fact, you are nothing to nobody, who do you think will miss you when you’re gone? Not a single soul, that’s who.” The Titan drove a clenched fist into her stomach, causing her to spill more blood to the floor from her lips that were cracked and bleeding. The pain was so severe, she couldn’t even cry or even think, she just sat on her knees convulsing in shooting stabs of agony and suffering. “Have you had enough, Guardian? Go ahead then, beg. Beg for mercy, atone for your sins and maybe the Gods in Heaven may yet forgive you,” Ikora said. Bree’s body was starting to shut down, her breathing became long limbering gasps for breath, her heart was beating fast which only pumped more blood out of her wounds. Dizziness swooped down over her, all the gleaming bright lights blurred and became fuzzy, her eyes slowly closed as her head drooped forward. “This is too much fun. The magnitude of pleasure that I get from watching this horrid creature finally get what she deserves, I can’t even put it into words. Look at her, just a broken toy, bowing before the ones who have the true power---” Ikora was cut off by the screeching sound of Cayde-6’s chair. He stepped down from the platform in which their table was seated and he approached the battered Guardian that used to be in his charge. Commander Zavala immediately stepped in front of Bree, her Fatebringer still clutched in his right hand. “That’s far enough, Cayde. We all know that this has to be done,” Zavala commanded sternly. Cayde-6’s eyes glowed a soft red, and they stared directly into the eyes of the fearless Titan. Cayde stood tall, his metal hands curled into balls of heavy fists. But, Zavala wasn’t intimidated, the brute force of his nature rendered him incapable of experiencing such an emotion, and he wasn’t about to endure it now while staring down the weak Hunter. Ikora continued to watch on intently, but the staring match continued on for what seemed like hours, while in reality only a few mere minutes ticked off the clock before Cayde-6 made his move. It came as a surprise to everyone that Cayde was capable of moving at such a blinding speed, and it came so swiftly that Commander Zavala could do nothing to stop it. With a frightening amount of ease, Cayde-6 pried the Fatebringer out of Zavala’s grasp and shoved him away from the tortured, frightened girl. The Warlock and the Titan stepped up, but immediately stepped back down as Cayde raised the mighty hand cannon to Zavala’s face, the locking cylinders rotated and the gears turned as the first round slipped noisily into the chamber. “Cayde! Have you lost your Goddamn mind? What are you doing!?” Ikora was fully out of her chair now, but stayed up on the platform watching in horror as all of their best-laid plans were about to fall apart over this foolish Hunter and his irrational feelings for the loathsome Bree. A tense moment passed, and nobody dared to move. Cayde-6 had the tiny red dot of the sight zeroed in right between the eyes of Zavala. “Think about what you’re doing, Cayde, take a minute to stop and think about everything you’ll be throwing away if you pull that trigger.” Zavala sounded like a hostage negotiator trying to talk down the abductor. “Come on, give me the gun and let’s end this nonsense.” Zavala held out his open hand to him. “Enough, Cayde.” The gun stayed aimed rock steady, up until the moment that Cayde-6 swung the barrel from Commander Zavala, down to within a foot from Bree’s forehead. All he could hear was the sad, broken hearted whimpering of the Hunter who was once one of the most fearless, most ferocious fighters he had ever seen, and was now just a shattered fragment of the girl that he used to know as Bree. In a final effort that sent excruciating pain searing through her body, Bree managed to raise her head, and all she could see was the silver barrel of her gun, and Cayde-6 pointing it at her. Cayde looked into, what he could see, of her eyes. The pain, the torment, now, it would finally come to an end. Not bearing to look, he turned his head away from her, his eyes just stared blankly at the floor that was covered in blood; and pulled the trigger, ending her life. [i]Trials of a Guardian: Deliver Us from Sin (Epilogue)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/123607085 [i]Trials of a Guardian: ALL Chapters (Appendix)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/105589170/0/0