Destiny 2: Frozen In Time

Chapter 16: Reaching For The Stars

"Just as I suspected... She's been killed too. The House of Salvation has just been completely decapitated..." Suzuka mumbles as the trio comes across Kridis' corpse somewhere in Riis-Reborn, not too far from where they fought Eramis. Taiki's handiwork shows itself clearly as Kridis appears to have a giant opening in her chest where the fallen exo must have stabbed her, and as if to torture the poor Fallen there are bullet holes lining her legs and arms before a final one has been put through her head.

"What in the name of the great machine did Kridis do to deserve this?" Variks mumbles in distraught, having left his building to personally join the trio of guardians and find Kridis before it was too late. "The House of Salvation still stands. Kridis is just the last one on Europa."

"They really spread themselves out did they?" Spe-7 asks, but Variks makes more insect-like chattering noises while shaking his head.

"If anything, our last member of House Salvation stands inside the Morning Star." Variks replies. "She is known as Atraks, The Wild Card."

"We never saw her though." Gold says.

"That's because she was working behind the scenes." Variks replies. "Eramis must have sent her to the Morning Star when things got rowdy, yeees? By doing this Atraks still carries on the House of Salvation, even in the face of such great losses like this."

"I'll bet you Taiki is already in there slaughtering them." Spe-7 mumbles. The old green vandal wheezes as if laughing.

"There is no way he is going to be able to slaughter the entire army of Fallen that has been amassed in the station at once." Variks replies. "For you see, they have a secret weapon that I have been keeping tabs on." Spe-7 begins to look frightened. "You three have not been around long enough to witness this, but Taiki has."

"What is this secret weapon?" Suzuka asks.

"You see, there used to be more houses than as there are now." Variks replies. "There were five houses that once stood before: House Devils, House Winter, House Kings, House Wolves and House Judgement. They all used to stand tall and they held power unlike any of your kind had seen. Then there were those that stood under no banner, were loyal to no kell. Far and few they were, but none were as notorious as Taniks, The Scarred."

"He sounds scary..." Spe-7 says.

"He is almost like you guardians... He finds a way to bring himself back to life, or people do it for him." Variks replies. "And since he worked so closely with Eramis... I feel he may be sitting in that very station himself."

"But how do we get up there?" Spe-7 asks. "We can't just take our jumpships into the station or otherwise the Fallen might just shoot us down."

"Even if they couldn't there is no way for your ships to fit in." Variks replies. "What you must do is find the portal that will warp you inside. That in itself may be hard, but you should be able to get inside the station to find Taniks, Atraks and possibly your fallen friend."

"Where do we even begin?" Gold asks.

"Go to Eventide and look for the Deep Stone Crypt." Variks replies. "From there you will find access to the station, but expect unwelcome company. If Atraks is already in the station then she has most likely secured the crypt with her troops."

"We'll get through, and we'll get to the station." Suzuka says.

"If you do get there before Taiki does, please try to make sure that Taniks and Atraks stay alive." Variks replies. "Taiki's wrath is not one that I would wish upon my worst enemies..."

"Okay... We're going in to save them?" Gold asks. "Wasn't all of House Salvation trying to kill us beforehand?"

"They may try, but once they see Taiki and how you're going after him, they may just let you pass by without a fight." Variks says. "They will see that you are not as ruthless as he is."

"I feel like we need to prepare first." Spe-7 says. "But at the same time if we wait around like this, it may be too late."

"You best make haste." Variks replies. "Taiki will stop at nothing to fulfill what the darkness commands him to do."

"Then let's get going." Suzuka says as the trio rushes off, leaving Variks to navigate back to where he is normally stationed. They then reach the outsides of Eventide and Suzuka begins tracking the location of the Deep Stone Crypt from what information Variks has transferred to Fang.

"Have you got a lock on yet?" Spe-7 asks.

"Got it!" Fang replies. "It's going to be a rough fight there though. Not only are the Fallen holding the crypt tight in their grasp, there's a blizzard going on in there that'll make even Ghosts freeze to death."

"Then we'll just have to get creative." Suzuka says. "I have a lock on the crypt, let's start from the roof of Eventide!"

"Roger that!" Spe-7 replies. "Operation Morning Star is a go!"

"...Operation Morning Star?" Gold asks before whipping her hand cannon out. "Whatever, let's get to Atraks and the others before he does. If anything he's on that warpath, starting from when he killed Eramis. Let's go!"