[b][u]The Huntsman[/u][/b] Taniks ran a routine check of the base, activating the defense grid and communications jammer. When that was done he re-deployed the Shanks he uses for security. They would act as sentries, making sure no one would come within a mile of Thieves Den, and if they did, he would be the first to know about it. His ship, The Blood Hound, was docked at the centre. He contacted Syniks over the comm. "Maintain the base, run all essential procedures. Make sure to relay all irregular communications to me." Syniks rumbled in response. Taniks went to the armory to fetch his armaments. Once he was all prepared, he approached the edge and leapt, falling into the jungle below. _______________________________________ Taniks landed in a crouch, then immediately began to run. He had placed multiple tracer beacons around Venus, they would only trigger if something as big as an Ahamkara tripped it. One of those beacons had registered a ping. The beacon that was triggered had been placed in the Ember Caves. Taniks made good time, reaching the Ember Caves on foot in under thirty minutes. When he got there, he was confused to find nothing around. He checked the beacon, and was even more confused to find that the beacon had not been activated at all, had not been tampered with, perfect condition. Another ping on his tracker caught his attention, this time from the Shattered Coast. He frowned. "That can't be right..." he muttered under his breath, thinking. He uncovered a Heavy Pike that was hidden in one of the caves to ease transportation, then rushed off towards the Shattered Coast. Upon arrival, he was perplexed yet again to find nothing disturbed, the situation had repeated itself. The Ahamkara must be on the move, he thought. Another ping rang out and he set off again, towards the Citadel. As he sped along the Shattered Coast, another ping appeared on his tracker, from the Ember Caves again. "No, no, no!" he shouted, slowing down. He looked at his tracker, watching as every single beacon lit up like a flare at once. He swore, beating his fist against the wind-shield of the Pike, cracking it. The Ahamkara was pulling tricks on him, sending him on a wild chase. His communicator beeped, Syniks was contacting him. He hesitated, could it be another trick? He shook his head. If he couldn't trust Syniks, who could he trust? He answered. "What is it?" The Servitor rumbled, an urgent tone to its noise. Multiple hostiles had tripped the sensors outside the base, ‎destroying the security shanks. Syniks reported the intruders wielding powers of light. Guardians. He thought. The undying soldiers of the Great Machine. Only they would dare to disrupt his hunt. He accelerated the Heavy Pike, and sped back towards Thieves Den. _______________________________________ He returned to find the base ransacked. Shank frames broken and strewn across the ground, the Walker tank destroyed. His eyes burned to see the broken shell of Syniks, cleaved in two pieces. These Guardians would pay for what they have done. He activated the security feed, searching for them. He found them on the other side of the den, in the stone crags. He killed all the other feeds then boosted the audio. "And I'm telling you not to trust the scanner." the leader replied. "The Ahamkara wasn't here, and now we know the Fallen are hunting it as well." the leader's armor beared the scars of a veteran. He held a sniper rifle in his hands and had a sword sheathed on his back, the hilt protruding from his cloak. This man lived for the hunt just as much as Taniks did. "Andal." one of the robed Guardians spoke up. "The Ahamkara led us here for a reason. I think it wants us to slay something." "Slay what?" a guardian wearing a cloak spoke up. "A beat up Servitor? Some shanks? Give me a break." Taniks now understood why the Ahamkara had led him on a wild chase, and why it led the Guardians to his base. The Ahamkara wanted them to kill each other, to eliminate all threats to its survival. "Very well, i'll play your game for now." he said softly to himself, and deactivated his jamming systems, letting his signal be broadcasted across the base. "But once i'm done with them..." he watched the monitor as the Guardians found the signal, then made their way to his location. "I'm coming for you." _______________________________________ The six Guardians entered the cave, scanning their surroundings for threats. "That's odd." Andal's Ghost piped up. "I seem to have lost the signal, the Ahamkara might be messing with it again." Andal Brask, the Hunter Vanguard, shook his head. "No, this is different, something is in here with us." his eyes grew wide. "Watch out!" he called out to one of his Hunters. But it was too late for the Hunter. Taniks retracted his metal claws from the roof of the cave, and dropped down onto the helpless Hunter, stabbing him through the chest, then grabbing his Ghost and crushing it in his grasp in one swift motion. The Titan was the first to fully recover, and threw his flaming hammer at Taniks, who knocked it away. The hammer returned to his hand and he charged Taniks, swinging the hammer with rage. Taniks danced away from the Titan, dodging his blow. His advantage was short lived as a round from a sniper rifle scorched his armor. "Open fire!" Andal shouted, and the other three Guardians released a storm of rounds that he barely avoided. He lunged into the fray once again, his blades a mirror of the whirlwind. He stabbed one of the Warlocks through the chest and plunged his blade into the ground, impaling the Warlocks Ghost. He had faced Guardians enough to know that if he did not kill the Ghost the Guardian would come back again and again in an endless cycle. The second Hunter, enraged at his friends death, rushed at Taniks with a shotgun. Taniks reeled, the force of the buckshot shaking him. He responded by grabbing the Hunter by the neck, crushing his windpipe with one hand while spraying down the other Warlock with his Repeater Guantlet. With his other arms he stabbed his blades into their ghosts. Only Andal and the Sunbreaker remained. Andal unsheathed his Arc Edge and the Sunbreaker threw his hammer. The force of the hammer knocked Taniks into the wall. He ducked instinctively as a whirling disk of Arc energy cut into the wall above his head. Taniks went on the offensive, forcing the Guardians out of the cave and into the docking bay. They leapt onto the Blood Hound and Taniks leapt between them, fighting them on both sides. Taniks gained the upper hand, slashing two of his blades across the Sunbreaker's Throat and his Ghost, ending him permanently. He turned to face Andal. "You killed my friends." Andal seethed, swinging Arc Edge, he launched another whirling storm at Taniks, which he dodged again. "And you killed my friend." Taniks shrugged. "Fair is fair." he swung his blades in a fluid motion, strike after strike that forced the Hunter Vanguard to keep on the defensive. "Nothing about this is fair!" Andal stabbed towards Taniks' chest, which he easily evaded. "Our prey is pitting us against each other! Don't you see?" "Yes, I do." Taniks' blade moved faster than thought, slashing the air above Andal's head. The Hunter Vanguard's confusion turned to rage as Taniks displayed Andal's dead Ghost on the edge of the blade. "If the Ahamkara wants us to fight, then let it believe we slew each other. It will give the upper hand I need to win." Andal roared and charged towards Taniks. The mercenary met the charge by ramming two of his blades through the Hunter's chest. "Find peace, dead warrior." he kicked the dying man in the chest, pushing him off his blades and sending him to the abyss. The Hunt was just beginning. _______________________________________ [i]To be continued.[/i] Next Chapter: http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/170375235/0/0 Fireteam X & other fanfics: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/114713352/0/0‎