- Part Eleven <RUPTURE> // Δ/Д (Delta~De) - "Your move, vagrant." The words rang in his head along with the soft hiss of his very own capacitors' uncompromising charge and discharge. He sighed through his broken jaw. When he inhaled once again, he could hear his coolant simmering on his chest. "You break one quarter of my body, you steal from me, burn my gun, and break my sword... and then you ask me to join you?" "I..." began the stranger, "it was the only way I knew that'd make you see." "Oh, I'm sorry," said Bardo-105, "you're right, I should've seen it." The hunter grabbed the doppelganger's messer by the hilt and pulled it from the sheath. After examining for a second, he continued, calmly, "I'm sorry, but you die here." With a clockwise pivot, he slashed at the stranger with a whirl sinistra. The Blighted barely had time to shadestep away - not without getting grazed on the head. As he landed and regained his balance, the dark Flame returned to his right eye, accompanied by a heavily distorted synthetic scream. Black clots and curd plopped onto the floor, wriggling and coagulating. "What a tosser!" yelled the stranger, "are you ready to testify, though?" "Testify to what?" "Your assisted suicide!" screamed the stranger, as he disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke and blight sparks. He then reappeared next to Bardo-105's Ghost, grabbing it with his right hand and then making a run for it. "Hey!" shouted the Hunter, "come back, you wanker!" and he immediately gave chase. The stranger threw tables and boxes into the floor to try and stop the Guardian, but he vaulted over them just as easily. When Bardo-105 almost caught up - he was so close he could smell the blood on the Blighted Exo's cloak - and was preparing a swing, the stranger tore between dimensions again and disappeared. Utter silence settled. For a moment, the Hunter could hear his new arm's rotors brushing inside. One of them sung a soft metallic tune: surely the strain had displaced some bearings. His breath was also periodically wheezing through his broken jaw. But then, steps... above him. He faced the nearest flight of stairs and started going up, and soon caught up a trail of blight clots and interdimensional slime. But also a smell of molten plasteel. For precaution, he got his Havoc Pigeon out. For lack of a Ghost, he resorted to low-contrast ocular stimuli processing - a way Exos had to achieve low-light vision, tiring as it was. After he bent a corner, his tracker lit up with motion and he sprinted after it. He cleared one last door. Suddenly sunlight burst in. After adjusting, he noticed he was in the decontamination room - his Hand Cannon was still there... in two halves. After collecting it, he heard five short muffled bursts in rapid succession. [i]crack-crack-crack-crack-crack[/i]... Oh the sweet sound of Smoke Bombs detonating on proximity... After that, a dry thud. And then silence gain. When he got outside, he found the stranger face down on the floor, squirming to a crawl. "Don't move," said Bardo-105, as he slowly walked towards the body, "the toxin will turn your blood to gelatine." The Blighted answered only in a silent sigh that lifted some dust off the ground his face was buried in. The sun was just ahead, so he brought his hand to his forehead to shadow his eyes. He stopped next to the stranger and put a foot under him to turn him around. Then he pointed the sword at his chest. "I..." began the stranger, "I know which one you are... now." "And which one is that?" asked Bardo-105, finding the doppelganger's reactor with the sword's tip and scratching the glass gently. "The one who won't bond..." the stranged coughed bloody phlegm as he spoke. "Don't worry," said the Hunter, "we won't bind our minds... but we'll have a bond alright. One in iron. At least for a second here." After speaking, Bardo-105 thrust the messer down right into the stranger's reactor core, instantly shattering the glass covers and smashing a million intricate circuits in between with a crushing, scraping sound. The stranger laughed and spit more blood. "Are you ready..." he spoke with the last of his strength, "...to testify?" The Blight was now gushing out of his eye and pooling next to his head. He grabbed the blade and pulled it out. To Bardo-105's utter shock, on the tip of the sword was impaled his Ghost, which the stranger had hid inside his reactor. Still pulsing, the Ghost's Light blinked once or twice, and then vanished forever. The Guardian went to his knees. "You..." he was fumbling for more words but found none. "No..." began the stranger, "you listen to me... You might never find such mercy as you've given me this day. Sweet release... but I'm only one of many. Here..." The Blighted Exo raised a hand, and a purple gem transmatted into his hand. "The Betrayer will know this amethyst... Take Mag... and do not lose that sword..." Those were the stranger's last words. *** [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/188427656]Alternative timeline[/url] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/180879277/0/0]Table of Contents[/url]