The Buried City

Intro: The Exo

The night was young and the City was lit with ceiling lights, headlights on vehicles, streetlights and spotlights. It was a calm and quiet night. People were passing by with bags full of food and water trying to get home, some were doing simple trading at small market stalls while children played nearby. One stand had a longer que than the rest of them as it was selling paper books. Paper is rare nowadays so anyone who has paper books are going to get rich quickly.

Children started cheering and running up to three figures laced in body armour walking down the market alley. They had just come from a mission, supported by the scorch marks of Fallen weapons and freshly wetted boots. The three figures arrived at a small restaurant opposite the market stand selling the paper books and walked through the door. The restaurant was full of all sorts of people, tall and short, large or small, young and old, all wanting some time away from the hard work in the city. The three figures stopped as they walked through the door into the light to see everyone staring at them. Obviously, none of the people had seen a Guardian with their own eyes, let alone three of them at once. The bartender, tall but thin, questioned the three Guardians with shock and excitement but quickly tried to "keep his cool" as the restaurant resumes to its usual routine.

"Ah, three fine Guardians walk into my place. Must be my lucky day. What would you three like?" The Hunter, clearly frustrated by the constant celebrity treatment, goes to yell at the bartender when the Warlock cuts in.

"We aren't going to be staying long. We just need to meet with this person." He takes a small picture of what seems to be a robot with a massive hole in the side of its head caused by an explosion from some sort of miniature rocket, from his Warlock robes. The bartender takes the picture from the Warlock with great sympathy whilst saying,

"The Exo's in the back. Be nice to him though, not many could survive what he endured." The three Guardians all nod showing appreciation whilst the Warlock puts out his hand expecting the picture to be placed in his palm when the bartender asks if he can keep it. The Warlock hesitates for a second but ultimately accepts his request. The bartender then gives them the keys to the Exo robot while showing deep appreciation. The Hunter grabbed the key quickly, not intending any disrespect to the bartender but felt to embarrassed to say anything. They all walked round to the back of the restaurant to meet a brown wooden door with a small crack in the wood down at the bottom hinge.

"After you," entailed the Titan to the Hunter as they entered one at a time. Sitting on a small wooden stool was a deactivated but badly damaged Exo tied to the chair by a weak rope.

"Right, so... Who's gonna talk first? Eric, you gonna do it?" Staring at the Hunter, the Warlock shook his head and replied,

"I think you should do it Soren. After all you always talk about how you don't need us to get the mission done." The Hunter smirked with a devilish stare at the Warlock when the Titan started to tinker with the Exo when she said,

"Guys, this guy isn't going to be very stable. It looks like the impact fired some of his brain, but he is still able to access his memories and is still able to speak. He's going to be more like a frame rather than a person."

"Lucky us" droned the Hunter. The Exo suddenly awoke screaming in pain and terror whilst jumping up and down on the chair and dodging left to right over and over.

"Soren, what did you do!?" Screamed the Titan when she gets knocked back by the Exo's frantic behaviour.

"Hey, I didn't do anything okay!? All I said was lucky us." The Hunter, legitimately confused, stood watching the scene that was unfolding in front of him in bewilderment. The Warlock suddenly leaps at the Exo when Arc light comes oozing out of his palm into the Exo.

"Eric no! You'll kill him!" Yelled the Titan, informing the Warlock of the dangers of using Arc light on a non-Guardian. The Exo stopped as the Warlock managed to channel enough Arc light into the Exo's hardware to become somewhat stable. He stood up quickly, leaving the Warlock on the floor.

"Sensors Active. Engaging Communication Subroutines. Three Wielders of the Light Detected." The three Guardians stood together baffled at what the Exo is doing.

"I thought us Exo were a human mind inside of a robot body, not all... Well, robot." The Hunter stated in confusion. He was correct, however. The Exo are a Golden Age invention where a human mind could be transferred into an Exo body, which is why the Exo are so human like in behaviour and physical appearance. Whatever was happening to that Exo in the room was defiantly not normal.

"Male Stormcaller Warlock Nicknamed 'Eric' On Right Hand Side, Male Gunslinger Hunter Nicknamed 'Soren-3' On Left Hand Side, Female Sentinel Titan Nicknamed 'Sect' Directly in Front of Unit." The Exo twitched a couple of times between pauses. "Last recorded Location of This Unit: City of Freehold, Meridian Bay - Mars."

"The Buried City? Why was he there? I have a slight suspicion that this isn't the person we thought he was... At least not anymore." Eric stopped for a second to think. The only explanation that he can come up with is that the human mind that was inside of this Exo body swapped places with some sort of AI, which he then concluded that he is still on Mars. "The only way we are going to get this information is if we go to Mars and get that human mind back. Otherwise, my time has been wasted when it could've been spent in the Warlock libraries."

"Woh woh woh, not so fast. We don't even know if the transition happened on Mars, if there even was a transition of minds." Sect seemed to be on board with the plan but wanted to eliminate all other possibilities just to be certain of the human mind's location.

"Brain Wave Transition Detected. ETA 4 Days, 14 Hours And 23 Minutes Since Brain Wave Transition with Exo Unit 'Jack-7'"

"Well at least he has a name now, right?" Soren stated while Eric pulled out his Ghost to signal for transmat to the Tower Hanger.

"I will meet you both on Mars, I just need to take this guy to Banshee-44 for repairs. Now remember that it's Meridian Bay, not some place like the Sun okay Soren?" The Hunter looked at the Warlock with disgust, but he was obviously joking. Soren has been known to crash several times; however, he is a Hunter, and most Hunters are known to not take things very seriously.