Part 4 of my crossover with Legend Untold and OverLordTitan’s Frontier series "Rasis, Corrupted Archon," William arranged the Vandal's nonsense into a proper Fallen name and title, "He's the leader." "And the one who's been force feeding everyone poison," I added. "Assuming that all that came from whatever was left of the Vandal's mind, all these Fallen that drink the Vex think they're becoming immortal and all work for Rasis, who probably drank first and has his own stupid vision of godly hood. They have a camp somewhere and they'll try to infect us too," Spark organized the nonsense. "Don't forget that they like snapping rocks," Rush laughed, granting chuckles from William and Spark, but not me. "If they left a sentry there we must be getting close to their camp," I thought aloud. "He's a real Debbie Downer, isn't he?" Rush asked. "Only most of the time," Spark answered. This time I did smile a bit. • • • We were laying prone in the bushes, watching the anthill stir. Biggest and ugliest ants I ever saw. The Fallen had a rather small encampment here; only several dozen, which meant only a couple crews worth. "Rock," William pointed to a jagged boulder sticking out of the ground in the large space before us, then lowered his finger to the Fallen site set up at its base, "And camp." "Wow, that nut makes more sense than you Will," Rush snickered. "What's up with these ones anyway?" Spark asked, drawing attention to the Fallen themselves. Some looked normal just as the sentry we faced earlier did, but most had mechanical growths covering patches of their body, making them distorted and creepy. "The Vex cells must be spreading and building inside their bodies," William observed. "Scary," Rush commented. "Can we get this over with?" I grumbled. "I want them gone as much as you do, Orion," William answered, "But there's too many to charge blindly." "Never failed me before," I remarked. "Those other times you had friends to save your sorry rear end, Orion," Spark pointed out. "And he'll have one this time," William seemed amused. The corner of my mouth twitched up at that; William seemed like a good guy to be friends with. Then I scowled underneath my helm. No, I have enough to lose as is without becoming attached to this one. "Wait, seriously?" Spark questioned William, "You're just going to let Orion charge in and then swoop in once the Fallen realize what's happening?" "Not the first time," now I knew William was smiling. "One of our teammates is crazier AND dumber than Orion," Rush muttered. "And why did you decide preplanning wasn't worth the time after you just said we shouldn't?" I inquired. "Because Rush detected a Skiff approaching without its stealth on," he explained, "Our best chance is once it settles, so no time for a proper strategy." "I've always got a good strategy," I drew my cannon as I saw the Skiff drift into view, "Kill them and don't let them kill you." The Skiff came to a halt over the encampment seconds after I spoke, and William waved his hand to signal me forward. Summoning my Light, I let it wash over my body and looked down to make sure the cloaking had taken effect. Satisfied with my near-invisibility, I crept out of the brush and rushed into the encampment. I headed towards the center, figuring it'd be the best place to cause some confusion and knock out the most dangerous targets first. Several Vandals and Dregs almost bumped into me, stumbling around with twitching limbs, but nothing with the stature of an Archon. I saw a couple Captains though, actually seeming to have purpose and coherent speech as they guided their underlings. Whatever they were working to do at this camp, they were better coordinated for it than I had thought. Most of the space was taken up with scraps from Vex chassis or with the Fallen's crates. Peering inside an open chest, I found it filled to the brim with Mind Fluid. Along the way I even spotted some dead Fallen, seemingly battered to death and dribbling the white liquid. I finally found a single, ragtag tent near the center, flying a House Winter banner that had been marked all over with a single symbol around the central House mark. Unable to resist my curiosity, I peaked through the flaps to see a nothing but a table inside with a map of presumably Venus on top of it. To my relief, the only marking indicating an outpost of any kind was the one pinpointing this location. We wouldn't have to worry about them after this fight. A growl caught my attention, and I turned to see a Captain glaring at the spot where I stood intently. Without thinking I released the tent flap, letting it fall where the large Fallen could see. With a click of its mandibles it pointed its sword at me, thinking I was some lesser Fallen with stealth equipment that it could order to stop sneaking around. "[i]Reveal…no hide[/i]," it seemed to struggle with words, but at least it could state its thoughts clearly. With a grin I held my knife just under the Captain's neck and then became visible again. The Captain had just enough time to widen its eyes in surprise before I slit its throat. A flicker of movement in the corner of my eye resulted in a Vandal's head getting skewered by my thrown knife, releasing a loud hiss of ether. A couple Dregs came to investigate, and at the sight of me their warning cries sent an uproar through the camp. The Dregs both fell to my cannon, along with a few Vandals that rushed around from the back side of the tent. I could see the Fallen closing in all around now through the stacks of crates and drew upon my Light. A shimmering layer of Arc energy formed around my body and two daggers of pure lightning formed in my hands. With blurring speed I charged through the winding path of crates, hacking down Fallen by the score as the scrambled to locate me in the mess of supplies that made up this outpost. Link to part 3: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/233585498/0/0 Link to part 5: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/233587265/0/0