[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257929219/0/0]Link to Chapter 6 Part 2: Doors[/url] [spoiler]All chapters can be found in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/253302742/0/0]OoT table of contents[/url][/spoiler] The white light speckling my vision began to clear as I stepped away from the Vex Gate, finding myself facing a room of their alien design, void of stone and plant life like where I had come from and instead made entirely of oppressive metal walls. I felt something stir by my side, and turned my head to find a Vex Goblin staring at me. A mechanical whine behind me made me spin to find another Goblin already turning to confront me. I pushed both my arms out and engulfed both Vex with fountains of Void Light from my hands. Stepping away from the portal hastily, I raised Sierra’s hand cannon and swept its gaze around the room to make sure it was clear. Once I was sure, I let my aim fall and slumped against the wall opposite the Gate. “Traveler, they’re creepy,” Rush appeared in front of me and shuddered. “They were just guarding the Gate,” I said to relax him as much as myself. “But… when the Vex guard something…” Rush began nervously. A familiar whine whistled through the air, followed by a white light and streams of electricity and digitized matter. “You had to say it,” I groaned. “They’d have come anyway! The Vex don’t care about theatric timing!” Rush argued as he vanished from the air. Not waiting for an entire company of Vex to come down on my head, I spotted a hallway to my left leading uphill, and another to my right leading down. With the Vex, down usually meant out when you were in a structure that didn’t show any signs of being underground, so I pushed off the back wall and sprinted to the descending passageway. Red energy bolts whizzed by and the metallic footfalls and shrill cries of the Vex sounded behind me as I dashed down the hall and made it around the first corner. I didn’t run much further before slowing to a walk. “What are you doing? They’ll catch us!” Rush panicked. “Calm down, we’re out of their jurisdiction. They won’t leave the zone they’re supposed to defend,” I soothed him, “Well, probably. We need to worry about the Vex that will be waiting ahead now.” My Ghost let me walk in silence for a moment. I was trying to seem calm for him, but since this whole mess started just being within Vex territory was almost enough to make me break down. Rush could probably sense a little of my worry, so I was thankful for how hard he was trying to keep himself collected as well. “Did you see what subtype those were?” I questioned. “Hezen Protective,” he answered. “That…is not good,” I mused. Those gold-colored Vex meant we were somewhere on Venus that the Vex didn’t want anyone to be. “Hey!” Rush’s sudden shout made me stop and whip up my revolver, “Oh, sorry. I’m starting to get some radio signal. We must be close to an exit.” “Try reaching Smoky,” I instructed, going into a brisk jog, “Or anyone nearby.” It didn’t take much longer to follow the passageway and its jagged turns down and out onto a stone platform of Vex craftsmanship, the cloudy Venus sky a relief for sore eyes. Vex Architecture surrounded me, built out of the side of the structure I had just left and leading down to a vegetation-coated hillside. Columns and contraptions that served purposes known only to the Vex rose all around, and I found myself turning around as I looked up at some of them to see if I could determine what this conversion site’s purpose was. The monolithic tower of dark metal that jutted out of Venus’s surface like a wicked nail was all too familiar to me, although I had never stood quite this close. It took up much of the sky, its spires and pieces that drifted through the air separate from the main body seeming to force the low clouds to part so the entire structure could be seen. “That’s… that’s the Citadel. How did we get here?” Rush voiced my own thoughts. Two specks of flittering white coded matter drifted in front of my face, followed by the buzz of teleportation, the scrape of a heavy metal foot, and finally a heavy impact against my back. My body smashed into the wall so hard that everything went black, and when the world started to reform in a haze I was sprawled out on the ground, head tilted back to face the Minotaur that had hit me. I felt its footsteps ringing against the stone as I tried to get up, but moving my legs sent such a pain up my back that I screamed and went limp again. The Minotaur was upon me already, its emotionless red eye looking down upon me as it raised its foot up high. My arms snapped up and caught the weight just in time to save myself from being squashed like a bug, but they gave out a moment later when a new wave of pain rode down my spine. I felt the sharp pain of ribs breaking as the Minotaur’s weight sunk down on me, but my pain came out of my mouth in only a strained sputter as I pushed again to keep the Vex from finishing its downward motion. Rush appeared by my head, safe from harm underneath the Minotaur, and his shell whirled around him as he washed my body in Light. Bones mended within me, pushing upwards with my arms as I heaved the Minotaur off of me. The large Vex toppled, laying prone for a moment as I sat up and took in oxygen with a strong wheeze. The Minotaur’s feet shifted to plant themselves flat against the ground as I wobbled to my own feet and Rush transmatted back into my armor matrix. As the Vex braced its hands on the stone underneath it and launched itself back to an upright position with explosive force, I drove my fist forward to meet its exposed stomach. My strength against the momentum of the rising Minotaur was enough for me to bust straight through its radiolaria tank, causing the Vex to keel over one last time as its life blood spewed out of its mechanical body. It was once the first Minotaur was surely defeated that the second revealed itself to me, blasting its ally’s lifeless chasis so that I was knocked backwards by a combination of explosive firepower and a wall of metal. My feet found purchase as I came up from my tumble into a crouch, and I started pooling Light in my hand while the Vex recalibrated its aim. Before I could throw my grenade or my opponent could fire again, gunfire peppered its energy shield, bursting it and making the Minotaur stumble. That was when another Guardian soared into view, lightning surging around his body as he slammed into the Minotaur with enough power to destroy it instantly. I let the Light fade out of my hand, but only relaxed after the other Guardian made sure the Minotaur was dead and looked back at me over his shoulder. Letting my weight rest on one knee, I sighed with relief as the other Guardian approached me and I noticed another coming from my side. “You reached someone,” I thanked Rush quietly so only he’d hear. “I sent a signal on an open channel,” Rush informed me, “They must’ve heard it, but I didn’t know they were coming. They didn’t respond.” My brow furrowed in thought, “Why wouldn’t-?!” I was knocked over by smashing force against my helmet that made my head spin, then spun onto my back by a kick to the gut that left me gasping. Helpless in the wake of the surprise attack, I watched as the two Guardians stood over me and noticed the green box-shaped fist emblems across their chest plates. Then, one spoke. “Congratulations, you’ve been recruited into the Concordat.” [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/258065362/0/0]Link to Chapter 8: The Concordat[/url]