Destiny: Volume 1 (Completed)

Strike: Cerberus Vae III

"I think you could follow a trail of broken worlds all the way to their home." (Grimoire: The Cabal)

Alex was able to make contact with Royal and Ox. After they had finished with their assignments from the Tower, we would all meet up and go to kill this Cabal commander. Alex made sure that Gold got home safely and soon I found an access point into the base of where Valus Ta'aurc resided. We just had to get inside. I sat with Alex on a hill and rested. He floated next to me. "Guardian...about the Queen." He started. I looked at him. "What about Mara?" I asked. "Well...if you were to introduce yourself properly then maybe she would come to you and be back into your arms. I hope at least."
"Alex, don't. I let her down. I couldn't protect her. Not like I promised..."
"Then don't let her down again. I'm sure you can speak with her whenever we finish our business here hopefully we can actually make sense of all of this. Maybe you two can work things out. Together." He said. I smiled slightly at the thought of us coming back together once more. It would be exciting. A reunion after being lost for what seemed like hundreds of years. "Yeah...maybe you're right." I said. Suddenly I heard two ships break orbit and I stood up. It was Ox and Royal. They both teleported in front of me and their ships vanished into the sky. "Hey you guys. Glad you could make it on such short notice." I said. "Anything for a friend." Ox replied. I smiled. "Royal, you've met Ox before right?" I asked. "Kind of. We just kinda saw eachother in that fight against the Gate Lord but we haven't really chatted since then." Royal said. "Well. Ox, Royal. Royal, Ox." I said introducing them to one another. They shook hands and we began to make our way inside a mountain like base under the surface of Mars. "So...what are we doing again?" Royal asked. "Were taking out Valus Ta'aurc. An evil tyrant leading the Cabal. We won't be able to find the spire to charge the eye and enter the Black Garden while he's holding strong defenses. So we're gonna take him out." I said.
"This should be fun." Ox replied. We all walked around the empty and fortified base underground and soon we were outside once more. On a different area of Meridian Bay. It was an open area with an outpost in its center. Behind it was an even bigger open space that was occupied by Cabal forces. "Valus Ta'aurc's ship is just on the opposite side of this area. Indicators show he's still here. We should clean up this area first before we continue." Alex said. I signaled Ox and Royal to spread out and wait for my mark. I walked to the small outpost and there was another Cabal with a giant chain gun waiting for me. "Hey! Down here!" I shouted. It looked down at me and began to raise its foot to stomp me. Before he could, Royal took the shot and killed the Cabal soldier. More began to flood the area and swarm us. Ox and Royal joined up on me and we made our way to the top of the outpost and camped there. We began to fire upon any Cabal that was in our way. Our goal was to wear them out before they could get into groups and rush us. It was working excellently and soon the waves of enemies stopped. "Where is the rest of them? Shouldn't there be more?" I asked. Alex appeared. "This is nowhere near all of them. If it was, then this planet would be empty. Let's go to that open space and see what's left." Alex said. I nodded and we made our way out of the outpost and towards the open field. It was almost like a battle arena. "What's out here?" Ox asked. "It's not what's out here. It's what's coming. Ship inbound!" Alex said. We all moved and soon a giant ship dropped off a tank to fight us. "Jesus." I said. The tank hit the ground and looked right toward us.
"I think we should run." Ox said. We all broke into a sprint as the tank fired a shell towards us. Luckily enough we got out of the blast zone and found cover. It was focused on me but that wasn't anything new. Ox and Royal began to fire upon the tank. Soon after examination we discovered its weak spots. "The engines! Shoot the engines!" I shouted. We all began to fire upon the tank once more. The tank itself was fortified with a heavy engine and four boosters to get around. Taking out the boosters on either side would cause the engine to pump more power to compensate which would cause an overload. The boosters gave out one by one. Catching fire and soon it was smoking like crazy. Ox came out of cover glowing in yellow flames and a gun in hand. He fired off three rounds and the tank finally exploded into flames. All was silent. "Did we get it...?" Royal asked. We slowly approached the tank and saw that it was nothing but destroyed and burning metal. "Yep. We got it." I said. "Now that that's out of our way, where to now?" Ox asked. I summoned my sparrow and got on. "We go straight to Valus Ta'aurc. He'll be waiting for us I'm sure of it. Let's go." I said. Everyone agreed and we took off towards his base of operations. It was a landed ship that was burrowed into the ground. Cabal stood on guard outside. We couldn't afford another fight against these guys so we decided to sneak around them. Ox and Royal had it easy since they were hunters. They had to be careful. They moved in silence and I was trying to keep up with their speed. Once we were inside the ship it was time to make some noise. I began to look around for an alarm or a switch to pull. "Maybe no ones home." Royal said. "Yeah right. I'm sure someone's here." Ox said. We continued to make our way through the ship and inside what appeared to be a loading station for cargo.
"This seems...inviting." I said. We all looked around and wondered in the huge open space. Soon we began to hear something unlocking. We looked down at the end of the corridor and saw a door. It slowly opened and the ground shook. It was Valus Ta'aurc. His footsteps shook the very ground beneath him as he held an even bigger heavy machine gun. He shot off a few rounds into the air and let out a raging battle cry. "Umm...I don't think we needed to set an alarm off." Alex said. We all scattered around the room as he walked in and opened fire upon my fireteam. Moments later, Zaval began to speak. "Guardian? Have you found Valus Ta'aurc?" He asked. "I dunno Zavala. Does the sound of gunfire give it away?" I said sarcastically. "Now is not the time for bickering Guardian."
"I thought I wasn't a Guardian. What happened to that?"
"You are being reckless. Grab your team and get out of there. You are not fit to go after this target."
"No. I'm not leaving. All because you think I'm unqualified you want me to be held up in the Tower. I refuse! I'm not scrapping this mission Zavala. I'm killing Ta'aurc myself and I'll bring you a trophy to prove my worth."
"Hargraves. Do NOT--"
"Alex, kill communications with the Tower." I said. Soon Zavala's voice didn't matter anymore and I began to go all out. I threw grenades and we all ended up from being pushed back by Valus Ta'aurc to pushing him back. I lead the push and I threw a huge Novabomb. Bigger than what I've thrown before and it consumed both Ta'aurc and some of the door that was behind him. Once he vanished I took a knee and began to catch my breath. The others ran to me. "Parrish. You alright?" Ox asked as he helped me up. "Yeah...I'll be ok..." I said. Royal handed me my gun and I took it and placed it on my back. "Thanks guys...this fight is almost over and done. We just need to charge the eye and get into there Garden." I said. They nodded and we called for extract. Outside of the base our ships were waiting for us. Alex floated over. "I have Ta'aurc's helmet. We can bring that to the Tower." He said. I smiled and we all loaded up in our ships.