Nathaniel revived Victor deep in the base's inner workings. "Matson's already acting protective to Laurel. Really is looking promising, Vic..." "From now on, Nate, keep your observations to yourself." "I'm sorry, but, I'm starting to take Commander Zavala's side in the matter. The only issue I see at the moment is that they are uncoordinated... If you were to actually train them, that could change." Victor walked through the base, watching his radar for threats. At the same time, he learned to watch his environment. Matson with that invisibility was becoming a pain. The titan found himself at the edge of the base, and at the mouth of a cave opening. He stopped and watched. Footprints. Someone was leaving footprints in the dust. Victor shifted his stance and raised his rifle. Matson appeared. He channeled arc energy into his knife and his body crackled with power! Victor gasped, then turned tail and ran. The hunter was in close pursuit. Matson slashed his blade in air, launching a wave of energy after Victor. The energy locked up the titan's armor and caused him to fall on the ground. Matson sent another wave of energy that electrocuted the titan where he lay. Once again, Nathaniel revived Victor. "Do I even have to say it?" He asked. "Why?" Victor asked. "Why are you so intent that these... 'children' come with me to Mars?!" "Why aren't you? I mean, these 'kids' have charisma..." "Charisma?" Victor huffed. "You think charisma is going to save them?" "A simple moral boost can make-or-break a team. Maybe if your unit believed that, Sector Twelve wouldn't have fell..." Nathaniel knew what dangerous waters he stepped into. Victor snapped his head toward the ghost. His visor seemed to melt as Victor stared fiercely at him. "You... son of a b****!" He walked towards the ghost, each step causing a thundering boom. "They fell because the Cabal overrun them. Their numbers, we couldn't handle the sheer numbers. My unit fought till their dying breath! Do not [b]dare[/b] mock their efforts!" Nathaniel flew just high enough so that the tall titan couldn't reach him. "And when they fought the Cabal, did they seem to believe they could win? Did they seem like they believed they could survive?" Victor stopped and thought. Behind his visor, his eyes darted everywhere as he recalled the event. [i]"We need air support! I repeat, we need air support! Danger close! Danger close!" Victor yelled into his headset as he peaked over a wall and at an advancing Cabal force. Phalanxes were a line of a wall covering legionaries and centurions as they pushed the Guardians back. Five strikers jumped in and pounded the ground with their fists simultaneously. However, psions with their psycho-kinetic abilities deflected the arc attack. The titans, left exposed, were gunned down! Their armor were riddled with entrance and exit holes. Their bodies dropped into the sand. The Cabal stepped on their corpses as they marched on. A Guardian jumpship flew over and carpet bombed the first wave of Cabal. The phalanx wall was broken! The jumpship came back around, but three harvesters dropped from orbit and shot down the ship! The engines were ablaze and the ship crashed into the base not far from Victor-- in fact, debris and sand, turned glass from the explosion, hit his armor like rain from a summer storm. More legionaries were deployed from the drop ships and pressed their attack. "They're not stopping! They just keep coming!!" A warlock, Charles, yelled as he hid behind a barricade. He reloaded then raised up, but several slugs pierced his chest plate and helmet, causing his head to explode. Charles, who was pouring blood from his skull, slumped over the barricade. "Guardian down! Guardian down!" Yelled Lydia as she slid over and raised a ward of dawn. "Come on, come on! Wake up!!" She cried as she poured her remaining Light into him with no success. She grabbed his body and dragged him behind cover and pulled out a medic kit. Just then, a centurion walked into the shield with a ceremonial sword drawn. Victor hid behind cover, sitting in the rustic dust, to reload. He watched in horror as the titan's helmet, cracked at the visor and dripping blood everywhere, rolled against his foot. His lip trembled, and anger built up in him. "F*** off you bas****s!" He yelled as he jumped to his feet to gun down the Cabal, but a hunter grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back down. "We need to pull back!!" The titan tried to get free, but the hunter held him down. "Victor!! It's too late for them!!"[/i] That last line echoed in Victor's head. [i]"It's too late for them!!... It's too late for them!!..."[/i] He shook his head trying to return to reality, then charged away from Nathaniel, furious. "Vic, I'm sorry..." Nathaniel said as he flew beside the titan. "But you can't deny that they died because of their recklessness. Cooler heads could've prevailed..." "SHUT UP!!" Victor snapped. "SHUT UP!! Just... shut up..." Nathaniel drew back a bit. Victor crouched down and breathed deeply, trying to get the event out of his head. [i]"It's too late for them!!..."[/i] The titan stood up, then placed his hand on a piece of Warmind tech. The machine howled at him, then the metal buckled and popped as he tightly gripped it. Just then, the big mouth hunter stabbed him with a knife! He pulled out the knife as the titan looked to him. Victor, towering over the hunter, grabbed his arm, twisted the wrist backwards, broke the arm at the elbow-- all while the hunter fell to his knees and cried in agonizing pain-- then, with the arm literally bent out of shape, used that same knife to stab the hunter through the back of his throat. After the hunter died, Victor fell to the ground. He laid his back against the piece of equipment. He coughed up blood into his mouth and slowly let his body go weak. "Captain?" Laurel asked. Victor's armor creaked as his head made a poor attempt to look at the warlock. His head dropped back. Laurel drew her arms together, then threw them out as she exploded with fire! Brilliant wings shot from her back. Victor raised his arm to cover his eyes. Laurel placed her hands on the wound and cauterized it, then injected Light into his system. Victor tried to regulate his breathing now that he felt power course through him. He stared at the warlock as the the fire slowly died and her large, beautiful wings folded into her back. "... Why?..." He asked, astonished. "Why would you use your super to save me? This is Rumble... I'm considered your enemy..." "Sometimes, you have to look past titles..." Laurel patted his shoulder then left Victor. He watched her as she walked off. Victor continued sitting. He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly as he thought. "Weapons down, Guardians! The game is over!" Shaxx announced over the headsets. Guardians transmatted out of the arena and up into orbit above Luna. "Can we play another game?!" Laurel asked excitedly. "Yeah, that was fun actually," Matson added. For a moment there was no reply, which was concerning Laurel and Matson. Finally, the titan said, "No. I believe I've seen all that I needed to." "So, where are we going now?" Matson asked through the headset. He looked out his cockpit windows and at the different ships out there with him. He spotted the hunter not far off-- he scornfully stared back at Matson-- who grew a smile across his face. "Back to the Tower. You'll need your rest for tomorrow's challenge." Victor, Laurel, and Matson set course for Earth then left the Crucible lobby.