Titan stormed up to the door of the building that housed the one who called himself Speaker. Slamming his foot into the door he sent it flying open, shuddering on its hinges. The Speaker was leaning over his desk, looking around at the papers that had scattered when Titan entered. He sighed, then turned to face Titan, his mask as still as stone. "What is it mister.... Titan? As you can see, I was very busy until you burst in." Titan walked up to him. Looming over the Speaker, he waited for a few moments before speaking in a dangerously soft voice. "What game are you playing at? Who are you? And what gives you the right to claim to speak for an enigmatic object?" The Speaker shook his head, then walked over and closed the door. "Sit down please. Normally I have people with those questions thrown out, but I respect the work that you've done for this city. Besides, I think I need you on my side." Titan sat down on a chair, the wooden frame creaking as he rested his weight on it. He leaned back, awaiting an explanation. The Speaker sat down, his posture indicating a nervousness he had never shown in front of his crowds. He cleared his throat as he fidgeted with his sleeves. "I feel that the people need someone to give them hope. No," he said as Titan leaned forward to interrupt, "not a feeling of safety, a feeling of hope. They need someone to let them feel heard when they cry to the Travel. They need this support, this lifeline in these dark times. They need a purpose beyond surviving, something to look for. This wall that you plan on building will only happen if people truly believe life will get better." Titan leaned back, rubbing the bottom of his helmet, running over the small scars that remained from past battles. He nodded his head at the wisdom of this plan, this process that the Speaker had obviously considered for a while. He still had one question though. "Why do you say that you speak for the Traveler? You and I both know that you don't." The Speaker tugged at his sleeves again, and responded in a sheepish voice. "It's the only way a normal person like me can have any credibility for the masses. The younger Guardians need it too. They're learning about how high on the food chain they stand, and they need someone to keep them humble and still keep them hopeful." Titan nodded, then stood up and walked over to the Speaker and rested one of his large, heavy gauntlets on his shoulder. The Speaker gulped nervously as Titan spoke in a low voice. "You ever use this power to do wrong, and my fist will replace your head." The Speaker stood, looking significantly smaller as Titan strode out of the room. -------- [i]A long time later...[/i] Titan stood on his small balcony near the Tower, looking over the bustling city below him. He sighed as he looked at the Wall, a hundred years of work or more standing tall above the buildings. He walked back inside his small apartment and started the long trek towards the training grounds. He had yet to come up with a name for them, but young Shaxx had taken to calling them the Crucible. He chuckled, realizing how old he was to be calling Shaxx old. He remembered being at least a century old by the time rumors of Shaxx first appeared. He still had that same fire about him, although Titan could do with a bit less yelling. Walking for so long let him think on how the aliens had advanced. Rumors from scouts said that the Fallen houses were gathering their strength and heading this way. Titan shuddered at the possibility of thousands of those bugs bombing the city that he protected. He needed to go out on an expedition of his own to verify these rumors. In fact, he needed to get out more often anyways. He thought about just how long it had been since he had gunned down some of those raiders, and felt a distant urge to punch something. He shook his head and continued on. ------ An explosion rocked the building as a Skiff fired into the Wall. Fallen flooded over cover, arc bullets filled every space in between, and yet somehow Titan managed to find a space to breathe. He shook his head, wishing that he'd gone on that scouting run, maybe done a couple of raids on the convoys the Fallen were in. He looked back at the battle, watching Fallen die by the dozens, but still managing to push back the Guardians and slay some of them. He looked up at the Traveler, willing it to do something, to do anything to help them. Nothing happened, and he knew that nothing would happen, but it didn't keep him from hoping. He turned back to the battle and rushed in, silently criticizing the Traveler for abandoning Humanity, for not doing more to help. He cracked the skulls of two Captains together, dropping them to the ground dead. The Vanguard had wanted him to stay back, said that they needed his tactical expertise. He had laughed in their faces, saying that his plan was to kill the Fallen and walking out. He had chuckled heartily at the look on Saladin's face. He knew they were worried about how well he would be able to fight. After all, he was older than any Guardian ever, living or dead. They should know by now that he would do things his way, and break the Fallen or die trying. Loading his last mag into his rifle, he wiped the dust from his helmet's visor, wishing just a little that he had stayed out of the battle. It had gone on for too long, and the Fallen kept coming. He'd seen so many of the people he had mentored fall, and he hated the Traveler for allowing each death. He had cut his communications a long time ago after Saladin told him to fall back for the hundredth time. He had held this stretch of the Wall the whole time, but it had come at a cost. The fireteam of young Guardians that he had brought with him had died, leaving him alone fighting off the Fallen foolish enough to test him. He looked back at the Traveler again, then shook his head, gritted his teeth, and started punching. -------- Titan knelt in front of the graveyard where so many of his students were buried. Everyone else had left already, but he stayed, his armor streaked with dust and scored from the arc blasts that had hit him. Seeker hovered next to him, looking at the ground. The Ghost didn't say much anymore, hadn't for at least a century, but Titan could feel the sorrow emanating from the little drone. All of these Guardians had played their lives out for the Traveler, and it had done nothing but watch. Titan pounded his fist into the ground. None of them should have died. With a heavy heart, he got to his feet and started the long trek back to the Tower.