The Hunter

"A lot of us are loners but that's not the only path, some of us know the difference a fireteam makes"

The last city, during the battle of Twilight Gap

"We've been ordered to pull back!" Shouted Lyna-4 to Shaxx and the other guardians

Shaxx looked up "what?" He asked, he'd heard what she said but asked anyway, not understanding

"Saladin is calling for a retreat, to rally the guardians for a counterattack" Lyna explained

Shaxx shook his head in disbelief and radioed the titan in charge "Saladin We can't retreat now, if we do the Fallen will overrun this sector and take the city"

The comms cracked to life a second later with the gruff voice of The iron Lord "The fallen are already starting to breakthrough in other places Shaxx, we need to regroup and hit them hard"

"We won't have time to regroup!" Shaxx shouted over the comms, losing his cool "they'll overrun us right now if we don't hold here!"

"Shaxx this is a direct order, retreat to the rally point right now or-"

Shaxx cut the connection and turned around

"Fireteam, we've been ordered to fall back and regroup with the others"

Lyna-4 spoke up "Respectfully Sir, fuck orders"

Shaxx chuckled "Alright we're staying behind, you want to go then you go, but those of you that don't mind breaking the rules, feel free to help us remind these aliens that they made a big mistake today" he said and holstered his weapon

He then slammed a fist into his open palm and his whole body was encased in lightning that cracked wildly

Lyna-4 found herself grinning under her helmet and reached into herself, feeling the warmth of the light as she raised a hand and brought that light forth in a bright flash as her hand cannon was covered in solar fire

Lyna glanced back and saw that those who had decided to stay were also calling forth their powers, all of them bursting forth in a blaze of Solar, arc, and void Light

"For the City!" Cried Shaxx

"FOR THE CITY" echoed the fireteam as the all turned and charged into the breach the Fallen had created

They killed the Fallen by the dozens, by the hundreds. When they fell, their ghosts revived them and they charged right back into the frey. They never gave an inch

Lyna stood back to back with Shaxx, the two standing atop a mountain of dead Eliksni. When their guns ran dry and they'd lost the energy to call upon the light, they relied on their blades, when those dulled and broke they used their hands

Snapping necks, breaking bones, the Fireteam was the eye of a storm of death. The Storm lasted for years, for an eternity, time seemed to fade away as they lost track of the dead, lost track of how many times they'd died only to go right back to killing

Until finally the storm subsided, and their reinforcements got there

The guardians swarmed the position and drove off what was left of the Fallen

Shaxx and Lyna-4 removed their helmets, covered in blood and gore, breathing heavily atop the corpses of the enemy

Lord Saladin walked up to them, even though they couldn't see his face, Lyna could tell he was furious from just the way he was carrying himself

The hunter and titan walked over to the Iron Lord

Lyna spoke up "now before you say anythi-"

"Do you have any idea what you did?!" Saladin roared

Lyna tried to get a word in but Saladin simply kept screaming

"You disobeyed a direct order for the sake of Glory!" He continued

"Sir that's not it at all" Lyna tried to say, finally managing to speak as he was taking a breath

"Shut it, I've had enough of your insubordination Lyna, if not for our losses id have half a mind to exile you"

Shaxx now spoke up "Saladin if we'd withdrawn then the fallen would have swarmed the city in moments, it had nothing to do with glory"

"Though that was a nice bonus" Lyna spoke up

"One more word out of you Lyna-4 and I will have you discharged"

"Now wait just a min-" Lyna started but Shaxx cut her off by stepping in front of her

"Leave my fireteam out of this, they were simply following my commands" he said "you direct any sort of punishment you want at me and I'll not avoid it but leave the others out of it"

He and Saladin stared at each other for a while longer, neither budging, until finally the Iron Lord turned and walked away

"Regroup and get me a damage report!" He yelled to the other guardians as he left the Fireteam to their own devices

"Stubborn bastard" Shaxx sighed

"Cheer up Shaxx" Lyna spoke up "we saved the city, that's gotta mean something right? I mean, it better because we died, a lot, and it was quite painful"

Shaxx snorted out a laugh "let's go get a drink"

"Ok but you're buying right?" The exo asked as they walked away

"I'm sure that whatever bar is still standing will be willing to give it's saviors a free round" Shaxx chuckled

"Well it better because I'm pretty sure my wallet is either disintegrated or lying under a pile of dead aliens"

The two shared a laugh together as they walked off to find a bar