Chapter 9: It's a Classic

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"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors."

"Shoot!"

"Ha!" Ivory laughed. "Scissors beats paper!"

"Not if paper turns into an origami bird and flies away." I teased, forming a bird with my hands and making a flying motion with them.

"That doesn't even make sense!" She exclaimed.

"Clearly, you still have much to learn about human culture." I continued, amused by her confusion.

"What...?" She groaned as Zero walked into the room.

"Don't worry, she's just messing with you." He reassured, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I have to go to the Reef to discuss some things with Petra. I'll be back tonight." He glared at me quickly. "Please don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. You're still recovering."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved him off. "Go do what you have to do."

He nodded and left. I quickly turned to Ivory.

"Let's do something fun." I smirked.

"Didn't you just hear your brother?" She scolded me. "You're supposed to stay here."

"He didn't say that specifically. C'mon, let's at least just go for a walk." I insisted. "I'm tired of being cooped up in here all the time."

"Fine." She sighed, standing up.

We slipped into our armor quickly and made our way above ground.

"So where do you want to go?" Ivory asked boredly.

"Ah..."

"Look who decided to rejoin the outside world!"

I turned around to greet a familiar face from the FWC.

"Hey Patrix." I grinned.

His optics flashed back, which I could see since he didn't wear his helmet outside very often.

"So you're finally good to work again?" He asked.

"I wish." I groaned. "We're only out for a walk."

"Mind if I tag along? We could make it fun." He grinned.

"Fun how?" Ivory chimed in.

"Glad you asked! So you remember all that food they gave at the banquet last week? That finally killed everyone's vegan diets?"

"We're going hunting." I realized excitedly.

"Exactly." He grinned. "You think you're up for it?"

"Maya, Zero didn't want you doing anything dangerous." Ivory reminded me quietly.

"C'mon, like there's any race more stupid than the Fallen." I laughed. "We'll be fine, and it will be fun!"

"Jesus... fine." She finally nodded.

"Great! We can finally send all those potatoes to hell!" Patrix laughed.

"It's not like you even have to eat. Why does it matter to you?" I frowned.

"Hey, just because we're machines doesn't mean we can't have our own guilty pleasures." He retorted.

"See, he gets it." Ivory pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes playfully.

We didn't have to walk much before encountering a group of Fallen. We hid behind the cliff to avoid their sight.

"Ghosts, our weapons." I ordered.

My pulse rifle quickly fell into my hands as Ivory's hand cannons fell into hers.

"There's no need for that." Patrix stated. "I can get them already cooked."

With that, he summoned a Nova Bomb in his hand and hurled it at the group of Fallen. Ivory and I quickly stepped out to finish the rest of them off before going to inspect the pile.

"Damn it, Patrix. You burned them!" I exclaimed.

"Oops." He chuckled sheepishly.

"Let me show you guys how it's done." Ivory chuckled, summoning her Golden Gun and taking aim at something behind me.

I ducked as she took fire, hitting a Vandal that seemed to have been sneaking up on us. We quickly went over to inspect it.

"Precision kill." Patrix tisked. "The head's gone. And there's not enough meat in its arms and legs."

"What about its torso?"

"I don't think I'm ready to try its organs yet." He sighed.

"Damn it." Ivory groaned.

"I guess we'll stick to old-fashioned shooting." I said sarcastically.

~~~

"I can't wait to try these later." Patrix remarked, carrying a hefty stack of Vandal bodies over his shoulders.

"Me neither." I grinned. "To hell with potatoes!"

"To hell with potatoes!" They continued to chant after me.

"I guess I'll take these back to camp, then." Patrix chuckled. "Anyone coming?"

"Nah, you're a big boy. You can take care of it." I teased him.

"Whatever." He grinned, turning to leave.

"You still want to stay outside?" Ivory whined. "It's getting late. Zero will be home soon."

"Just a few more minutes of freedom before going back to my cage." I replied blankly.

She sighed and followed me as I walked further down the canyon.

"You know, you never told me what you were chasing after, that day we found the air filter." Ivory said quietly.

I snorted. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Try me."

I stared at her for a moment and sighed. "You know how some people say that the Exo stranger is just a hallucination caused by prolonged exposure to Vex technology?"

That had to be it, right? What other explanation was there?

"You mean you actually saw her?!" Ivory gasped.

"Well, not her..."

We suddenly heard something shuffle behind us. We turned to find two unarmed Vandals. They just stood there for a minute before turning to leave.

"What the hell?" I frowned as I heard another noise.

Before I knew it, we were surrounded by other Guardians, all pointing their guns at us. After a quick glance at their armor, I let out a loud, frustrated groan.

"I can't believe this..."

"Shut up and put your hands where we can see them." One of the New Monarchy agents ordered.

Ivory looked at me and let out a small whimper as we did what we were told.

"So this is where you've been hiding." The Titan continued. "We had our suspicions when the last group we sent here had disappeared. Where are the rest of you?"

I stayed quiet. My mind was processing about a hundred thoughts at once. Once again, we were outnumbered. This time, we were cornered. Now, I had Ivory with me. If they killed us, our Ghosts could resurrect us after they left.

"Hey, we're talking to you." Another one barked. "Where's the last group we sent here?"

"Dead." I finally spoke.

"You killed them."

"I didn't have to." I smirked. "The Vex did it for me."

"Liar." The Titan hissed. "The Vex are under our control. As are the Fallen, the Hive, and the Cabal."

"They're machines." I replied with an air of dignity. "Don't you think that those of us who've been living here for the past few months would have learned a thing or two about their technology by now?"

Yes, I was bluffing. I dared to play a bit further by slowly reaching towards my belt.

They all directed their guns at me. I stopped moving.

"There may only be two of us now, but we have the Vex at our disposal." I let out a small chuckle. "So unless you want to end up like the last group, I suggest you leave immediately."

It was their turn to go quiet. Some turned to each other, as if trying to determine their course of action. Finally, a Huntress spoke up.

"Go ahead and summon them." She spoke loudly. "You may have the Vex, but we still have the Fallen. You're outnumbered either way."

Damn it!

Ivory and I watched as Dregs, Vandals and Shanks began to appear by their side. If they killed us, we'd still be able to escape. But if not...

"We're giving you one last chance to tell us where the rest of you are. Otherwise, we'll have to do it the hard way."

They're not going to kill us. Damn it. They were still waiting for us to make a move. I looked at Ivory and put my hand on my belt again. My bluff wasn't dead yet.

"You're going to regret this." With that, I hurled an arcbolt grenade. "Run!"

Ivory and I made our escape as they took the damage from the grenade. Whatever we did, we could not go to the camp.

"Unbelievable!" Ivory cried. "You're a crazy woman, Maya! You're going to get us all in trouble."

"Let's just focus on keeping them away from camp." I shouted back. "Ghosts! Sparrows!"

We hopped up onto them as soon as they appeared and took off. Within seconds, we heard them coming behind us.

"Don't let them get away!"

"We have to shake them off somehow." I growled.

"I have an idea." Ivory said. "Let me get close to you."

I kept my sparrow going straight as Ivory closed in. Soon, I felt something heavy land behind me, making me swerve and almost hit a cliff.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm going to borrow your rocket launcher. Try to drive steady."

"Just don't kill us. Ghost, give it to her."

I continued flying down the path, trying to ignore what was going on behind me as I tried to get us to safety. Soon enough.

BOOM

I nearly swerved us off the course, having to dodge several trees before getting back onto the road.

"Don't let that thing control you!" I barked. "Keep it steady!"

"I'm trying!" She barked back. "How in the bloody hell do you control this thing?!"

BOOM

BOOM

"I hit them! I did it!" She cried.

I was able to continue driving smoothly this time, to my relief.

"Great idea, Ivory!"

"Thanks! I remember seeing this in The Terminator."

"You and your old movies." I groaned.

"Shut up! It's a classic and it helped." She shouted.

"Whatever. Are there anymore left?"

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

"Nope!"

"Alright. I'm taking us to the Endless Steps."

"What?!" She shrieked. "We can't hide there! The Vex will kill us before the New Monarchy does."

"Just trust me. This worked for me the last time they came."

"You think the Vex are going to kill them for you again?"

"We have to take this chance." I sighed. "We can't let them keep following us."

We hopped off the sparrow as soon as we arrived. Quietly, we managed to sneak past the Vex without being detected until we found a decent place to hide.

"Zero is going to kill us when we get back to camp." Ivory panted.

"Nothing our Ghosts won't be able to fix." I joked. "Let's just stay..."

A Minotaur stood before our hiding spot, idle. I quickly took out my pulse rifle and attacked, but it was not alone.

I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes. I was not going to let them take us easily.

Ivory tried to help me in fighting them off, but we were outnumbered. A Blade Dancer knocked Ivory out with their Arc Blade. Another Stormcaller was electrocuting me relentlessly, leaving me paralyzed with pain.

I should have listened to Ivory.

I want to dedicate this chapter to Arnold Schwarzenegger, because watching The Terminator helped me get out of a third of my writers block. Another thanks to my sister for helping me figure out what this chapter was going to be about. Yeah, my writers block was (and still is) that bad. Sorry for the short updates, guys. I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things, so please be patient with me.


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