Angel and Logan walked around the Tower plaza, taking in all of the sights. Guardians ran around, collecting gear or chatting with their fireteams. The titaness and warlock went to the edge of the Tower and looked down at the City below; it was beautiful. Logan tapped Angel's shoulder and pointed to the Traveler. "Did you ever dream to see it like this?" He asked. "I can't remember," the woman replied in a somber voice, however she accepted that it was fact. "Logan?" She asked. "What happened?..." "What?" The warlock asked in reply. "Down stairs, he said you were reported AWOL... What happened?" From the look in Logan's eyes, Angel knew she triggered some dark memories, some that were possibly repressed. The warlock took in a deep breath of fresh air. "I was once apart of the Vanguard, I was a soldier basically. I saw things I hoped to never see again... I also did some stuff I could never forgive myself for..." [i]"Orders came in loud and clear, boys! We drop into the Hell Mouth and thin out the Hive. Eris also wants us to find a husk pit; something for her studies. This is nothing we haven't done a hundred times before," Dwain-55, a hunter and leader of the fireteam, stated. "Any questions?" Sophia, another huntress, raised a hand. "I'm a woman..." Logan chuckled as he checked the sights of his sidearm. Dwain rolled his eyes. "I am very much aware of that. My apologies," he said sarcastically. The hawk carrier hovered over the Hell Mouth, then cracked open the cargo hatch. The lead hunter peered over the edge, then turned back to the team. With an elegant back flip out of the ship, Dwain fell into the foggy abyss. "I don't know why, but I hate it when does that," Sophia said before jumping as well. Logan smiled, stretched his back, then jumped at last. Deep in the moon, the three Guardians dropped to the ground with an audible thud. Merlin, and the other two ghosts, lit up like flashlights and looked around. Odd rocks, which looked more like fungal spores, were oozing a green mist that made visibility nearly nonexistent. Logan picked up his boot, pulling it out of some substance that could only be described as "mucky", then he tried to scrape it off on a moon rock. Sophia yelped when she felt something slither across her foot. Dwain looked down to see a wyrm larva burrow into the grey soil. Something chattered, like teeth; that was exactly what it was, this was a thrall feeding ground. The occasional high-pitched shriek could be heard. "This is disturbing..." Logan said over the radio. Dwain and Sophia nodded. Finally taking one step forward, the exo led his team into the shadows, and Logan and Sophia fearlessly followed. Instantly, the Guardians felt the heaviness of the Darkness on their backs. Forty-eight minutes passed, and the Guardians were chased to the edge of a steep cliff. Parts of their armor was ripped off, or torn to shreds. Flesh was gashed, and blood stained what armor remained. The team had already run out of ammo, and were now fending off the thrall and their dagger claws with nothing but their wits. Logan tried to force push the Hive back while Dwain carried the limping huntress. "If we can get back to the plate where we dropped down at, we might have a chance!" Dwain stated. He looked over the cliff to see that there was land below him to drop down on. The hunter carefully sat Sophia down, then drew a Dusk Bow from the Void. "Hurry up!" Logan shouted as he watched a knight, wielding a massive weapon, approach them. Dwain shot an arrow into the ground, then pulled the bow under Sophia's arms to use as a harness of a zip-line. With the huntress coasting to safety, the hunter and warlock jumped down too. Dwain and Logan carried Sophia together as they tried to run to the well lit disc in the middle of the blackness of the abyss. The cries of Hive grew louder once again; they had the advantage of navigating this maze. Finally reaching the plate, the two less injured Guardians laid Sophia down, then prepared to fight. Dwain drew a massive katana from his back. Logan took one of the crystal torches that lit up the plate, and wielded it like a staff. The glowing yellow eyes of thrall surrounded the Guardians, but lingered in the shadows. "What are they waiting for?" Logan asked. Suddenly more eyes appeared, but they stood a foot higher than the thrall. Knights, dozens of knights. Now, the Hive made their advance. Dwain sliced through the husks of thrall gracefully, cutting one down right after the other. His sword was expertly made and had a fine edge. Logan swung the staff around, knocking the Hive in the skulls and shattering them; he occasionally used the luminescent crystal as an exotic spearhead, and pierced many thralls' chests. The two Guardians took a few gashes and naws on their arms, but they defended each other--and Sophia--greatly.[/i] "What happened?" Angel asked while holding Logan's hand. The warlock, while not crying, was turning red and choking on his words. The grieving man turned to Angel, refusing to look her in the eyes. "I tried to be a hero..." he uttered. [i]"Silajir, what about conjuring a portal?..." Merlin asked. "I know you haven't mastered the art yet, but it could work!" The ghost continued. Logan, agreeing with Merlin, turned to Dwain. "Could you keep them off of us?! I might be able to get us out of here!" "Just do it!" The exo shouted back. Logan waved his hand around, conjuring a disc of Void Light. Once it was wholly formed, he force pushed it to open up a portal. The warlock stepped through to see that he successfully opened a portal in the City, all the way on Earth. "Come on!" Logan yelled. Dwain picked up Sophia and began carrying her to the portal, but as soon as the hunter stopped cutting down the Hive, the Hive began cutting him up. Wires frayed and sparks shot out; oil spilled on the lunar soil. Dwain lost all function in one leg, so he began to limp the rest of the way. The warlock tried to jump back through, but the portal closed on him. The last thing Logan saw was the betrayed and suffering faces of Dwain and Sophia.[/i] "Over the course of the next couple of weeks, other Guardian teams found their broken ghosts and brought them back to the Tower. Zavala gave a debriefing that I overheard, 'We were able to retrieve images from a ghost found in the Hell Mouth, believed to belong to the fireteam leader, Dwain-55. It shows Logan Mann opening a portal--an ability not practiced by warlocks--and leaving his team behind... I am sorry to say that Dwain-55 and Sophia El were KIA, and Logan Mann is reported AWOL'." "Zavala didn't seem mad at you today..." Angel said weakly. The warlock nodded. "Further evidence showed that I did attempt to help, but the portal closed on its own. Merlin believes it was the strain of opening portals across vast distances..." Logan added. "Except I never returned. I couldn't face the Vanguard aftward. Instead, I fixed up the old militia armory and stayed there until Merlin detected a ping of Light in Chicago... You." Alice turned to Merlin out of disbelief, but the ghost nodded to confirm the story. It was true. Every detail, every described lash, every emotion felt. It was real, but for so long, Logan tried to deny it. "Yeeaah, I feel Commander Zavala will be pretty pissed with both of us after today," Logan said while patting the railing, trying to change the subject. Angel opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. Finally, she said: "Well, it's a good thing we don't need him..." The two Guardians and two ghosts watched as the last rays of sunlight shown on the face of the Traveler.