Under Control

After Asher found the machine he was looking for, he left Jess and Kaden to deal with the Psion Flayers. For the most part, it was an easy fight, before another Guardian arrived.

The Guardian was lightning fast, taking out Kaden's knees first, then wedged a crystal into his circuitry. Jess fought back for a while, before being stabbed in the back by another crystal. Within seconds, they were down and under the mysterious Guardian's control.

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As Max's Ghost piloted the Jumpship back to the City, the Warlock sat in the back across from the Hunter. "So your real name is Shin Malphur?"

Shin nodded in response.

"Why hide the truth?"

She looked down, "I can't say."

"Something about Palamon?" Max wondered, "Or is it something else?"

"Both," Shin said glumly.

"Ok, I'm here if you need to talk."

Shin scooted herself next to Max and looked into his eyes, "After my family left Palamon, it was attacked. The Mayor tried to maintain order by closing off the gates permanently, but that didn't stop the Dark Hunter from barging in. Most of the citizens were killed by that Hunter's gun, a wretched weapon that the dying call Thorn," she dug the Dredgen's hand cannon from her bag and said, "This gun."

Max gasped.

"A few days while I was on the road with my mother and sister, he found us. We ran as fast as we could, hid as well as we could, away from the Hunter. And that was our life before the City, mostly running and hiding."

Max sighed, "I'm sorry."

"When we arrived, Jaren Ward was the first person to give us a proper welcome, and a place to stay. He even taught me how to defend myself, how to be a good hunter. Because of him, I was admitted into the Guardian school, and now we're here."

The Ghost shouted over the ship's engines, "That doesn't explain the golden gun or your ability to channel Solar Light through it!"

Shin continued, "One day, during my classes, an announcement was made over the intercom; Jaren Ward was killed in battle, his Light drained and his Ghost destroyed. I cried in the bathroom afterwards. Later in the day, Cayde gave me Jaren's gun, saying if anyone should have it, it'd better be his protege." She felt the golden memento in her hands, navigating through the golden embossing that said "Tex Mechanica" and "Jaren's Last Word", then said, "Not a day goes by when I think about him, or anyone else I lost," then she turned to Max, "or nearly lost."

"And the Solar Light you wielded?" inquired the Ghost.

Shin shrugged, "I don't know."

Max straightened himself and smiled, "Shin, you're the most powerful person I've ever known, and I'm glad to have you as a friend."

Shin smiled back, "Thanks, Max."

The Ghost guided the ship into the Tower Hangar, then touched down and doused the engines. Max and Lilli walked out of the ship and into the hangar, breathing in the familiar air of the City. "Ah," they said unanimously, "Home sweet home."

Cayde was standing off to the side when he said, "Psst! Over here!"

Shin turned around and found the Hunter Vanguard standing in the shadows, out of sight. "Cayde! What's new?"

"Shh!" he whispered, "Come over here and I'll explain." As soon as Max and Shin were with arm's distance from Cayde, he said, "Listen, Zavala is looking all over for you and Leviathan. Things are bad enough as they are, Lilli."

"It's Shin now," she corrected, "And why is Zavala looking for Leviathan? What did he do?"

"He murdered one of the doctors in the hospital, ripped her spine out of her body. Ugh!" Cayde, Max, and Shin shared disgusted looks. "Also, Zavala wants to see you two in the Vanguard room immediately. I want to protect both of you, but Zavala has the rest of the Corps wrapped around his finger, so good luck."

Shin and Max sighed dejectedly before they reported to the Vanguard. Ikora bowed and greeted them, "Welcome back, Max and Lilli."

"Yes, yes," Zavala added, "Welcome back, Private Qu'lene. Although, I doubt that you'll be working with the Guardians anymore."

Shin exclaimed, "I beg your pardon, Commander!"

"You disobeyed my orders to keep you safe, alive and well for your ailing mother; yet you went with this Ghoul beyond the safety of the City and the Earth!"

"I was in Max's company for the whole time I was away! Doesn't the law say that a Recruit like me should be paired with a Ghoul, such as him?"

"Lilliana-"

"No! What's more than just floating around a Ghoul is that I helped him take down a Vex Gate Lord and vanquish the Black Garden!"

Ikora stared at Shin Malphur in amazement.

"And another thing!" Shin shouted for the last time, "You've done nothing to protect the City from whatever dangers came to our doors! When the House of Wolves invaded, you wanted to close off more of the City, leaving the slums to die!"

"Lilli!" he warned.

"The Hive invaded Earth and have an operative here, but instead of joining your brethren on the front lines to defend us, you sat here on your lazy bum, doing nothing but drawing up invasion plans to exterminate the Fallen!"

"Lilli!!"

"And one more thing: I killed the Black Garden! I destroyed its heart and its connection to Crota! I did all of this for YOU! Yet all you want to do is restrict and restrain me!" As she spoke she marched closer and closer to a scared Zavala, "I am not made of glass! I am made of steel and the sun! I am the one they fear as Shin Malphur!" Then she calmed down, "So I refuse to be anything less than a Guardian."

Max nodded, "What she said."

Zavala gritted his teeth and pounded the table, "Fine, Shin. I hereby promote you to Captain of Fireteam Omega. Now get out of my sight!"

Shin saluted, "Sir," and walked away with Max.

As Shin and Max entered the Plaza again, they heard a familiar voice say, "Hello friends." The tone was menacing and caused the pair of Guardians to turn around. From the shadow of one of the vaults, a pair of poisonous green eyes glowed in the sockets of an all too familiar Titan.

Shin gritted her teeth, "Leviathan. What do you want?"

Leviathan laughed, "What makes you say that? Don't you trust me?"

"Given the fact that you have eye colors similar to Crota's, and that The Black Garden confirmed your connection with him, I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to destroy the world."

Leviathan laughed harder, "Me? Destroy the world? HA! No no no! Crota doesn't want to destroy it, not entirely. And even if I wanted to, I don't possess the means. Not even Crota could do that!"

Shin breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, then we have nothing to worry about. Come on, Max. Let's grab a beer."

Leviathan pointed to Max and said, "You do."

Max looked at Leviathan confused, "Excuse me?"

The Dredgen Bane laughed again, "You don't remember, do you? I suppose not. You were resurrected with no memory of your past, and when you were reminded, your Ghost would take the memories away. The Traveler, this City is corrupting you, Max. But through Crota, I can restore you."

"And if I don't want to?"

Leviathan raised his right arm 90 degrees, hand open in a gripping manner. Thorn vibrated inside Shin's bag, trying to escape. The gun slipped out, Shin tried to grab it first from the barrel, but it slipped past her palms, cutting them open, and she screamed. The Dredgen Bane grabbed Thorn midair and pointed it at Max's skull, the barrel burned to life with a sickly green flame. "Let me rephrase, I WILL restore you!"

Max understood as he gulped, "Ok."

Shin drew her Last Word, "I won't let you take him!"

"No you're mistaken, my dear Shin," the Corrupted Titan grinned, "I'm taking you all to the Vault of Glass!"

Max looked shocked, "All of us? Not both of us?"

Leviathan motioned for three more Guardians to come forward, Jessica, Cassandra, and Kaden-2, all under the spell of Crota's crystals. "All of you," he affirmed.

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Atheon stood in the ethereal dimensions of the Vault of Glass. It saw the future unfold before its eyes, a future replicated in the form of the past. It saw this and ordered the Vault, "Protect our timeline from the Light and the Dark." And the Vault obeyed.