The Machine Lords

Crota stared at his blade and his Oversoul, thinking about his past in the Vex Gate Network, face to face with two of the deadliest Vex Minds...

Crota was dropped into a cell. He began to reach for his sword, until he realized that Xylar stole it from him. Curses! That damned Overlord robbed me! If he could wield that sword, then he would be able to invade the Throne Worlds at any given time!

At that moment, a neighboring voice said, "Unlimited power, eh? That's what your sword contains?" The voice laughed, "You should've thought twice about attacking the Vex, Crota, Son of Oryx."

The Hive Prince turned to the origin of the voice, realizing that it was a large Hydra, covered with moss and vines, giving it the appearance of an elderly person. The wisdom that it carried made his voice sound harsh, yet calm. This Mind had a purpose, and Crota was about to find out what it was. "And you are?" he asked, returning the tone.

"I have no name or title other than Undying. You, on the other hand, have been known as the Bane of Worlds, Annihilator of Light, and Eater of Hope."

"Just skip to the end," quipped the Hive Prince.

"I have no purpose other than building worlds for my kin," the Undying Mind continued, "What made me dangerous to Xylar was my rebellion against him."

Crota asked, "So, you're not going to torture me?"

The Mind laughed, "Torture you? I didn't think it was possible." He burst out laughing so much that he almost detonated himself and the wall. "You're the Hive Prince, the very sword of your father, and you're saying that someone has tortured you?"

Crota maintained a firm tone, "Xylar, Oryx, Savathun, Ir Halak, and Ir Anuk. The world is against me."

The Undying Mind's expression transformed from light-hearted comedic relief, into a dark seriousness. "I'm sorry."

Oryx's son waved his arm in a reassurance, saying, "It's alright."

The Undying Mind floated close to the cell wall and revealed his set of scars. Each wound that punctured his metal frame was unique in size and in shape, and each one held a different charge, a different purpose. "You and I are alike in certain ways, we are disgraced by our masters, we've been punished by our kin, and we long for our own places to call home." Crota nodded. He understood what the Mind was saying, but he still didn't trust him. The Hydra then said, "In response to your earlier comment, I can help you escape."

Crota began to stare at the Undying Mind with a confused, yet challenging look. "Go on."

"It's very simple, this plan of ours. I can transport us out of these cells so that you can retrieve your sword. Once you have it, we will leave this planet for good."

Crota argued, "How do I know that you won't betray me?"

"Trust me on this."

Crota swallowed his pride. "Alright then." But I still don't trust you completely. He blinked his three eyes, and when he opened them, Crota realized that he and the Mind were on the other side of the cells.

"Now," continued the Mind, "To find your sword." They rushed down the left side of the small hall, running through tunnels and nodes, hoping that they wouldn't be caught. While hiding in the shadows, Crota saw a few Goblins and began to rush towards them. The Undying Mind held him back. "Wait," he whispered.

"Why?" hissed the Hive Prince, "I need to kill them, I need to regain my father's favor."

"And you will. But barging in will only get you imprisoned again, or worse, killed."

Crota groaned quietly. The Undying Mind sneaked to the right side, while the guards came from the left and moved to the hallway opposite the one the ex-prisoners stood in. They crept through the passageways, with Crota watching the back and the Mind leading the charge.

After 30 minutes and 10 close-calls, the duo arrived back in Xylar's throne room. Hanging on a wall, inside of a programmable throne case, was Crota's sword. The Undying Mind took one good look at the encased sword, and said, "It will take me awhile to hack into the network in order to disable the security."

"Why?" protested the Hive Prince.

"Because we don't want to be-"

Crota anxiously tore through the case and grabbed his sword. The alarms blared again.

"-CAUGHT!" finished the Hydra. "YOU HAVE BROUGHT US TO RUIN, BUMBLING OAF!"

"What ruin?" retaliated Crota, "It's just noise anyway."

Xylar teleported himself to his throne. He taunted, "I'm impressed, Crota. For a while, I wondered if you were ever coming for your sword."

"Why couldn't you let me go?"

"Because you trespassed in MY territory."

Crota raised his voice, "I was left to die."

"And by your Sword-Logic, you should have."

"You know NOTHING about us."

"On the contrary, your time here has taught us everything about the Hive."

Crota raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"You're brutish, dull, and explosive. You guys get carried away, easily. You have no sense of true purpose in this universe."

Crota rushed for The Timeless, but when he struck, Xylar warped himself across the room, and Crota landed on the floor. The Undying Mind rushed to the Prince's side, grabbed his sword using telekinesis, and swung it vertically, creating a portal. The mossy Hydra knocked out and scooped up the Son of Oryx with one of its three shield matrices, dragged him through, and sealed the wound in the fabric of space.

He growled as his failure, his impatience. But my new plan is flawless, and now it's time to bring Leviathan back to life. He twirled his Sword in the air with dark magic, chanting loudly as he took the hilt and stabbed the Sword into the ground. The runes of his world lit up, the Oversoul glowed and pulsed a deep and bright green, then it screamed in a high-pitch before falling silent again.

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Leviathan woke up from his coma, looking at the green crystals embedded in his body. Wait! Where are the others!? He then turned to look at the shards in the jar, Ah, there they are. Leviathan opened the jar and took the shards in his hand. The shards formed a sword similar to Crota's, except this sword was ethereal. The Titan stared at the sword, hypnotized by its luster and its power. I will reap this City, master. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from 50 meters away. The sword fell back into shards and Leviathan placed them back in the jar before tucking himself back into bed, making it appear as if he never woke up.

A doctor entered the room and examined Leviathan. "Day 3: Subject 3529 is still in a coma," she said into a recorder, "Beginning to remove the rest of the crystal shards now." She took a pair of pliers and dove into his chest. Leviathan grabbed her neck, ripping her spine from her body. The bloodied corpse fell to the ground. Leviathan took the shards in the jar then placed them in his right arm; the shards in his body went to his left arm. From these shards, two swords could be summoned at will, for melee or throwing attacks. Leviathan took the doctor's scrubs off of her corpse, wore them, and stuffed her body under the covers with her spine. As he left the room and closed the door, a nurse came by and said, "Good morning, Dr. Harko!"

Leviathan simply nodded and smiled before leaving in the opposite direction. He took a quick look at the map in the hallway, before walking to the elevator. Another nurse said, "Hold that door open! I'm going down!" Leviathan reluctantly held the door open for the nurse before going down to the ground floor. "Lovely day isn't it, Dr. Harko?"

Leviathan nodded.

"3 code blues and it's not even lunchtime," The nurse looked at his watch, "And I'm due in the X-ray room in 15 minutes! Could you please send these forms to Dr. Bray for me?" The nurse handed Leviathan the papers and said, "Thanks, Dr. Harko! You're a life saver! Even your thesis says so!" The elevator doors opened to the 2nd floor and Leviathan exited to find the lobby. He took a quick look at the forms, Head wounds, comas, code blues, pffft. I say DNR. He tossed the forms into the garbage along with his scrubs, then lured, killed, and stripped a janitor, giving him the perfect disguise to walk out undetected. Master, thy will be done!

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Max and Lilli landed back on Venus, searching high and low for something to be considered a Vex Gate Lord. They stormed the bowels of the Ishtar Academy, tore up the Vex inside their Citadel, and even killed a bunch of Vex in the Waking Ruins. Nothing warranted a Gate Lord to pop out of the Vex Gate System. Lilli sighed, "Ugh! Let's face it, Max! We're not going to find a Gate Lord like this!"

Max surmised, "If we haven't killed one, we must've angered one by now."

The Hunter shook, "We couldn't! The Vex are always replacing and increasing their numbers by the minute!"

Max nodded lowly, "yeah, that's true." He thought about their next plan carefully, then asked, "What about a bigger Vex?"

"A bigger Vex?" Lilli asked, "Just how big!?"

"I don't know, something absolutely big and important." Max snapped his fingers, a lightbulb lit up inside his head, "The Academy! Remember how we felt strange quakes there?"

"Yeah?"

"What if a Vex Mind is doing that? We could kill that, rip out its brain, present it to a large enough gate as bait, lure out the Gate Lord, kill it, and present its head to the Queen?"

Lilli pondered about it, then said, "Hmm, it might work."

Off in the distance, surveying the two Guardians in the Waking Ruins, stood a Titan in mysterious Vex plating, who disappeared just as he spontaneously appeared.

Max and Lilli descended from the Academy's interior hallways to a Vex architecture that tunneled through the Venetian crust. The architecture also winded down a few hallways of its own, before reaching a massive cylindrical chamber made of a dark jet grey metal and pulsing white lasers in select alcoves and ledges. One laser didn't follow the rules of its kind, and that was the large one in the center. As soon as Max and Lilli touched down, a hissing robotic voice said, "Ah, guests! In my Nexus! Welcome!"

Lilli asked, "Your Nexus? Who are you?"

"I am known by many names, across many minds, or just one if that's your thought process."

Max inferred, "A hive mind?"

"Yes, and no. I am one mind, of one clarity, but I have multiple bodies, multiple frames."

"Yeah, but what is your name!?" Lilli asked again.

"I'm not obligated to tell anyone what my real name is, 'Lilliana Qu'lene', unless you want me to reveal yours to your boyfriend."

"BOYFRIEND!?" Max and Lilli shouted at the same time.

"Oops, my bad. We're not there yet."

Max was getting a little impatient, "Look, Mr. Vex Overmind, we're in dire need of a Gate Lord-"

"-to get into my Black Garden, right?"

The Guardians were stunned, "How did-"

"You still don't know about my true power? Imbecility of the Guardians!" The Vex Overmind said to itself, "Let's just say that my inferences become your reality. And I infer your extermination!" A rather wide floating Vex with a central metal spine dropped from the ceiling, forming a large chassis, a Vex Hydra.

Lilli grabbed a stunned Max and ran for cover, "MOVE!"

The Hydra blasted large Void bombs at the Guardians, first missing, then anticipating their next move. Max was hit once, knocking him out of his daze. "OW! That hurt! A lot!"

"Get used to it," Lilli snapped, "We're Guardians!"

"No, you don't understand. Fallen and Hive projectiles don't hurt this much, but one of those bombs..." he pointed to a hole torn through his stomach, "...yeah."

Lilli stared at the hole and screamed, "Oh my Traveler! Forget the bombs tearing through your stomach, you're barely bleeding!"

"I'm what!?" Max took another look at his fresh wound, clean of any blood whatsoever. His eyes widened, "What the Hellmouth am I made of!?"

The Hunter shook her head, "I don't know! But forget your wound for now, we need to deal with this Hydra!" She fired a few rounds of her own hand cannon into the Hydra's single eye. The Hydra retaliated with 5 void bombs shot into Lilli's direction. She dodged just in time. "Max, can you move?"

The Warlock tried to get up, but groaned, "UNH! No! Not entirely!"

"Ok, just lob grenades at that machine, and move past your pain one step at a time."

Max crawled toward an opening in the raised cover and threw a Vortex Grenade at the Vex, following it with 10 scout rifle rounds into the chassis. Nothing could damage the Hydra. Max crawled back into cover and said, "Nothing's working! This thing is invincible!"

Just then, another Guardian from above the cylindrical Nexus shouted, "GERONIMO!" and smashed her whole body into the Hydra's thick skull, Arc Light coursing through her body in one giant Fist of Havoc.

The Hydra was crushed from the immense force, almost flattened. "U-U-UN-UNFORES-SEEN VARIANT D-D-DETected-" The Hydra's processor died, and the shell with it. The Titan wasted no time in opening the metal skull and igniting the radiolarian fluid inside.

Max tended to his wound, "Thanks, whoever you are."

"Cassandra Velnag, Captain of the Firebreak Order. Commander Zavala sent me here for you."

Lilli was curious, "What for?"

"He saw you move against his orders on the Moon, he recorded your conversation with the Queen of the Reef, and now you attempt to work your way through a Vex installation. 3 charges, one case: Betrayal of the City."

"But we-"

Cassandra continued, "And might I add, "Lilli Qu'lene", that you were demoted to a desk job, but now-"

Lilli interrupted furiously, "Desk job!?"

Cass payed no attention to the Hunter, "-you are stripped of your Guardian duties completely and are hereby under arrest!"

Max stepped forward, "Forgive me, Cass, but was Lilli formally demoted? Like, with a memo or notice?"

Cass didn't blink.

"Ok. How about the rule where Recruits are supposed to have at least one Ghoul accompanying them during their missions?"

Cass was taken aback, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Codex IV, Chapter 11, Section 5, 'No living Guardian Recruit is to be without a custodian Ghoul at any time outside City walls.' Did they teach you that?"

Cass looked at The Warlock confused, "no..."

"Also, Codex III, Chapter 1, Section 1, 'No Speaker, Vanguard Commander, or any other high ranking official has any authority to issue any unjust punishment.' Section 2 describes the punishment for such a case, do you want me to recite that, too?"

The Titan's brain spun laps inside her head as she groaned, "Ugh! No!"

"Then take these words back to Zavala, and these words alone: 'Don't touch my friend again, or else.'"

"Or else what?"

Max scoffed, "I don't know, maybe I'll expose his plans to rule the City with an iron fist."

Cass surprisingly took 3 steps back and spoke into her comms, "Commander, I lost them. I found their tracking beacons, but they just disappeared." Silence followed, "Understood, Commander. Moving to the Moon next." She turned off her comms before telling the Guardians, "You know what to do."

Max said, "Yes, but where are the beacons?"

"In your cloaks."

Max and Lilli searched their respective clothes until they finally found a small bump in their backs. "Oh..." the Warlock said, "um...can you help with my beacon?"

Lilli sighed, "Sure, so long as you'll help me with mine?"

"Yeah."

Just as Lilli surgically removed Max's beacon from his robes, a Vex shrill resonated in the room. "Oh no!" The Hunter exclaimed, "Quickly, do mine! Use my knife!"

"What!?" Max was shocked, "But I never-"

"Just do it!"

Without a second thought, Max grabbed the knife and punched it through the cloak, straight through the beacon. He heard a small crunch as the small electronic device was shattered, pieces falling out of the cloak and onto the floor. Max quickly crushed his own beacon and handed back the knife to Lilli. "Sorry!" he shrieked.

"No time for apologies!" The Titan shouted, "Go to the Ishtar Labs in the Waking Ruins, keep walking past it until you reach a large Vex gate! That's where your Gate Lord is! Now go!"

Lilli and Max rushed as quickly as they could to the labs, avoiding Vex, Fallen, even Guardians as they moved. When they finally reached the large gate, Lilli spotted masses of Goblins and Hobgoblins patrolling the tropical area around the large gate.

The Vex that were marching through the valley between the Ishtar Labs and the Vex gate, which sat on a large hill covered in Venetian flora and Vex stone architecture. Oddly enough, the Vex surrounding their gate were bowing in reverence.

Max asked, "Why would robots want to worship anything?"

Lilli shrugged, "I have no clue."

A Goblin began to approach the Guardians, curious as to what was on the hill opposite the gate. Max and Lilli hid out of sight of the Vex, careful not to make a sound. The Goblin inched closer to the Guardians, wary of its surroundings. Lilli prepared her hand cannon, Max grabbed a pebble and tossed it past the Goblin. The pebble bounced and skidded on the ground. The Goblin looked to where the pebble hit the ground, but didn't move. Instead, it scanned where it landed, then recreated its flight path from Max's hand. The Goblin screamed, Lilli stabbed it in the eye and shot 3 rounds into the radiolaria, destroying the Goblin.

The rest of the Vex stopped, and turned to Max and Lilli, angrily whirring in their direction. Max said, "You ready for this?"

Lilli laughed, "You know, I was going to say the same thing!" She jumped up and fired 4 rounds into the Goblins, killing them instantly. Max threw a Vortex Grenade at a batch of Hobgoblins, sucking all of the nearby Vex into another dimension. More Vex Goblins stepped out of the gate in rows of 7. Lilli met them with more lead bullets in their radiolarian cases. Hobgoblins also started to march out of the gate, only to be stopped by another Vortex Grenade.

Then it stopped. The gate stopped spitting out Vex drones entirely. Max and Lilli stared at the gate, waiting for their next challenge. Nothing happened. Max breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, that was breath-taking."

Lilli sighed, "Yeah it was, but where is that Gate Lord?"

The gate screamed and came to life again, this time issuing a two-story-tall Minotaur onto the hill. Max was shocked by the size of the Minotaur, "Is that our Gate Lord?!"

Lilli nodded, "Large and menacing, yep! That's the Gate Lord!"

The Gate Lord fired its dual Torch Hammers at the Guardians, Lilli and Max dodged the lobbed bombs before they hit the ground. "What's the plan!?" Max shouted over the gunfire.

"I don't have one yet!" Lilli shouted back.

Max fired at the Gate Lord with his scout rifle, before the Lord fired back at the rock which Max hid behind. "Well we need to find one quickly! I don't think we can last!"

"Just say it! I won't last against this!"

"I didn't say that!"

"But you thought it!"

"No, I said 'we', not 'you'! And I meant it too!"

"Why!?"

He jumped up from his rock and launched a Nova Bomb at the Gate Lord's chest, ripping through its chest, its radiolarian case, and tearing apart its limbs and severing the Gate Lord's head from its shoulders, bringing it crashing down to the ground. Max softly touched the ground and said, "Because I see you as a Guardian, pure and true. You've fought a Dark Hunter in the Chamber of Night and survived, you plowed through the largest number of Vex anyone has ever seen, and you helped me take down a Gate Lord! It isn't the Traveler's Light keeping you alive, nor is it mine; it's your skill."

"Wait," Lilli held up her hands, as if Max was talking too fast, "you don't see me as a burden?"

"Never," he affirmed, "You are strong enough without the Light, and Zavala be damned if he says otherwise."

Lilli nodded, "Ok." She walked over to the Gate Lord's pieces and asked, "Now, what to do with this head?"

"Let's ask the Queen." Max opened a comms channel to the Reef and said, "Capt. Petra Venj? Tell the Queen we have the head of a Gate Lord." There was a pause before Max said, "Your majesty? We have a Gate Lord's head. Now what?"

Queen Mara spoke through the comms, "Rip out its eye, that's your key to the Black Garden."

"Thank you, your majesty," then turned to the Hunter, "Lilli, we need the eye."

Lilli crouched and started pulling out wires and metal pieces with her hands and knife, until the eye just fell out of place.

Mara didn't hesitate before concluding, "I have shown you benevolence and helped you on your quest, Guardian. Should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call on you and expect you to answer, indefinitely."

"I understand, your majesty."

Lilli took the eye and said, "Now where's the Black Garden?"

Max's Ghost perked, "Guys, there's a lot of weird Vex activity on Mars, specifically Meridian Bay."

Max asked, "And just how is that weird?"

The Ghost answered with, "There are almost nothing Vex related on Mars, which means two things. Either the Vex are starting to convert the planet, or..."

"...The Black Garden is on Mars," Lilli finished, "Great work, Ghost!"

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Cassandra stood before Commander Zavala, her judgement filled the Vanguard room. Zavala squinted at Cass, "You lost her?"

Cass started, "Sir, they found their beacons and-"

"And I saw everything from here!" he barked, "Your beacon approached theirs, and then for some reason, they dissapeared into thin air! Perhaps you can explain why that happened."

Cass placed the beacon pieces on the table, "I crushed them out of rage. That's why the blips dissapeared. As for Lilliana and Max, they're in the wind."

"Find them!" he ordered, "Bring them to justice!"

"But sir, Lilli has proven herself to be stronger than most Recruits. Wouldn't it make sense to award her instead of punish her?"

"Need I remind you of her previous charges? She assaulted a Guardian while in the Tower, led unauthorized assaults on the House of Wolves, the Hive Fortress on the Moon, and now the Vex installations on Venus!"

"Sir, have you ever thought that she's trying to prove herself to you? To help you extend your authority?"

Zavala rose up and bellowed, "RECRUITS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAD CHARGES! NOW GO OUT THERE, AND BRING HER BACK!"

Cass saluted, "Sir! Yes, sir!" and left the room. When she was clear of the Vanguard, she sighed, "Oh boy...how did I get myself into this mess?"

"Because you're a part of the Firebreak Order," said another voice. It was an Awoken Warlock with a similar skin color to Lilli's.

Cass turned to meet this Warlock, "Hey, darling! How's life?"

"Fine. How's my sister?"

Cass sighed, "Still on the run. Zavala is convinced that she needs protection."

Jess shook her head, "It's all because of Speaker Hedge. When Lilli and I graduated, he was so hard on her that she had to break the law in order to serve. It doesn't matter if she's strong, Zavala will always try to restrain her."

"Because she isn't a Ghoul like you or me," Cass finished.

"It's dumb, I know. But that's the City we live in."

Cass nodded, "So what now?"

Jess answered, "We go to Speaker Alamo."

Suddenly, the City alarms blared through the night. Cass asked, "What's going on?"

Jess answered with, "We're about to find out!"