Destiny 2: Frozen In Time

Chapter 23: The Fallen

By the time the four guardians reached the last city it was clear who was behind the attack. Among the fleeing citizens and the warring guardians a certain fallen exo was spearheading the charge and the main enemy appeared to be what was left of House Salvation.

"I thought we had destroyed them all!" Suzuka says in shock.

"I don't think we killed ALL of them though! We have to take them down!" Drifter calls out as he brings out his hand cannon, Trust, and alongside Suzuka and Gold they all begin popping dreg and vandal heads like candy.

"There's more than we thought..." Spe-7 mumbles. "That is not good at all."

"They just don't stop coming!" Gold shouts as Zavala and Ikora personally emerge to fight alongside the others.

"We never anticipated this!" Zavala says. "We must hold!"

"At the very least we still have the light with us." Spe-7 replies.

"But this is different. We're fighting a guardian..." Suzuka says.

"She's right... We've held our own against entire armies, even Ghaul and the entirety of the Red Legion, without our light." Ikora replies. "But this is Taiki we're talking about... The one who has slayed gods and didn't break a sweat... This may be our final fight."

"He may be a guardian, but it is many against one. We know our weaknesses, and his are no different." Zavala says.

"We haven't fought against one that has fallen to the darkness..." Ikora replies. "They may have the same weaknesses but they also have the same strengths as we do... If we can't permanently destroy his ghost, then he will just come back!" Her suspicions are confirmed as when Gold explodes Taiki's head and takes him down, Ghost simply brings him back, and not even shots from Malfeasance can dent him. Any shots fired from Thorn are quickly dodged, and other attempts to hit Taiki directly with the cursed gun are thwarted by a nigh impregnable barricade.

"I can't land a shot on him!" Suzuka calls out as Taiki simply brings out the corrupted Ace of Spades and starts returning fire. Every shot fired from the hand cannon explodes with a strange black energy that lingers and seems to slow anyone that dares to stand near it.

"This isn't good at all..." Gold mumbles as she tosses a grenade- only for Taiki to literally bat it away with a sword and it ends up landing on Zavala instead.

"Get back!" Zavala shouts as the grenade explodes, dealing massive damage to the vanguard leader, but he still stands after the explosion.

"Are you okay?!" Ikora shouts.

"I'll live!" Zavala shouts back. "Quickly push back the Fallen!" As he says that though a pair of skiffs emerges, having broken through the tower's defenses, and a squadron of captains emerges. "Whatever Taiki did to the House of Salvation, they're certainly peskier than normal!"

"They just don't let up!" Suzuka yells as Taiki charges towards her, throwing a powerful punch that sends the equine warlock flying.

"Suzuka-chan!" Spe-7 shouts before a wild kick from the fallen titan sends her flying as well.

"Spe-chan!" Gold yells as she attempts to throw a kick to stun Taiki- only for him to grab Gold by the leg and send her flying like the others. When the trio can finally recollect themselves they see Taiki eyeing Zavala with murder in his eyes.

"Taiki! Stand down!" Zavala shouts, but it's futile as the fallen titan simply backhands the commander in the face and Ghost emerges.

"You never deserved the position you hold right now." Ghost taunts as Zavala's ghost emerges. "You were a coward, abandoning YOUR entire race in favor of... Them..."

"I had no choice!" Zavala shouts. "Taiki, if you're still in there, put your weapon down!"

"You left them no choice... So we shall leave you with the same..." Ghost says as Taiki puts a bullet through the commander's head and another one straight through Zavala's ghost.

"GAH!" Zavala shouts as he falls.

"ZAVALA!" Ikora shouts as she hits Taiki with a nova bomb. Taiki gets hit with the bomb dead on and he flies off the tower, presumably to his death, but Ghost still survives, bringing back the fallen titan where he stood before he ate the nova bomb and Taiki proceeds to unleash his darkness, encasing his arm in tendrils and punching the ground. Dark tendrils erupt from the ground like spikes, and Ikora glides above the ground to avoid getting impaled.

"Ikora! Look out!" Suzuka shouts as Taiki then proceeds to charge forward, and with no way to quickly move out Ikora eats a punch from the fallen titan that sends her crashing into a wall, knocking her unconscious.

"And just like that the warlock vanguard falls..." Ghost says evilly as Taiki proceeds to put a bullet through Ikora's ghost before taking out the vanguard member herself. With the vanguard completely destroyed Taiki only looks to the trio of guardians as the drifter himself had taken off well after Zavala was killed.

"You three are lucky, but the next time we meet, only one of us will walk away alive." Ghost says. "If you wish to avenge them... Meet me in Old Russia." And with that Taiki vanishes off into the darkness, leaving Suzuka and company struggling to figure out what had just happened before them.