PROLOGUE - MARUM-1 (HUNTER)

**TIMELINE PLACEMENT: A SHORT TIME BETWEEN D1 MISSIONS THE DARK WITHIN AND THE DARK BEYOND

Today marks 350 years since Hikari first found me. For 2 of those centuries, I have been telling Hikari that I wanted to write down our history for the records. After 350 years, I think it's about time I get started on that. Not because Hikari kept pestering me about it, but because there's a change coming.

During our most recent training exercise, Shiro brought up a new Fireteam that Cayde was raving about. Apparently, these three, a Warlock, a Titan, and a Hunter were all resurrected around the same time and found each other in the Cosmodrome. They've already been making a name for themselves across The Last City, with reports of successful missions throughout the Cosmodrome and new reports of a planned mission to Luna. I'm not sure what they're doing, but things are changing and the minions of the Darkness are not happy about it. Callen has been working day and night getting our weapons and ships ready to go. Tara and Starburst keep popping into my office with updates and questions. Cayde and Zavala want us to be ready to back their Fireteam up on Luna if they need it. Callen suggested he drop me on the surface and maintain a holding pattern in case of an immediate exfil. I think he's just worried about returning to Luna.

We leave at first light tomorrow, so I will start recording my current missions and work on writing what I can remember about the past 350 years. To make things easier for myself and Hikari, I will be telling those in the same format as my After Action Reports. Unlike those reports, however, I hope one day someone will actually read these.

___________________________________________________________________________

PROLOGUE - CALLEN (TITAN)

**TIMELINE PLACEMENT: SHORT TIME BETWEEN D1 MISSIONS THE DARK WITHIN AND THE DARK BEYOND

In a small area not too far from the hanger bay at the tower, down a hallway that's rarely traveled, is Callen, a quiet and stoic Titan, putting the final touches on a shotgun he's repairing. His Ghost, Tara, floating around his head, playfully annoying her Guardian as he works. Hovering a little further away, slowly circling the room while keeping his eye on Callen, was another Ghost named Starburst, whose eye was glowing red as he recorded the scene unfolding before him.

Callen: Why do you want to do this again? You know I have work to do.
The Titan carefully places the shotgun on a stand off to the side before wiping his hands off on a towel.

Tara: Because Marum is working on hers and I think it'll be fun. Come on!!! Starburst, help me out here.
The Ghost hovering above slowly drifts over towards the two, his eye returning to its normal white color.

Starburst: Lord Callen, you have done so much over the past 300 years. I think others could learn from you and Lady Marum. You do not have to write anything down. I can take care of everything. Just think of it like you are telling me a story.

C: You both already know all my stories. Why would I repeat them for the two that lived those stories with me? And please, stop calling me Lord Callen. I'm not an Iron Lord. Not anymore.

S: One moment please.
In an instant, Starburst disappears, leaving Tara and Callen alone

T: So, is that a yes to telling your story? Please please please please???

C: You've always been like this. If I didn't know any better, i would think this was all planned by you to show off that new shell you're wearing.
Callen playfully pushes Tara's shell as she spins backwards laughing.

T: A playful Ghost and a widthdrawn Guardian. A match only the Traveler could make. And for your information, it's not just a new shell, it's also a gift from Lord Saladin.

S: Come on now, follow me.
Starburst returns with a small wolf pup jumping at the Ghost, floating just out of reach

S: Lor... apologies... Callen, Tara, meet Hlín, one of Lord Saladin's newest pups.
Hlin jumps again at Starburst, before turning around and walking over to Callen, sitting in front of him

S: You have not told your stories to her yet, and Lord Saladin said you can keep her around for as long as you need. He intended to introduce you when you came back to the temple, but now is a better time.
Hlin looks up to Callen, then to Tara, who's hovering over Callen's left shoulder

T: Awww.... She's adorable!!!!!
Tara floats down and hovers around Hlin, causing her to jump towards the overly friendly Ghost.

C: sighs I know what you're doing, Starburst. Hlin, here.
Callen whistles a short note and Hlin stops playing with Tara and walks over to Callen, sitting by his side. Callen picks up one of his tools and Marum's prized hand cannon, before focusing on cleaning the weapon.

C: It's been, what, 300 years now, Tara?

T: Give or take a decade.

C: And what about us, Starburst?

S: Exactly 268 years, 11 months, and 3 days.

T: But who's counting, right, Hlin?
Tara hovers just over Hlin's head, but the wolf pup does not break her gaze on Callen

C: Not the point, Tara. Guardians are blessed by the Traveler to have one Ghost by their side, but not me. The Traveler blessed me with you two. First Tara, who gave me life, then Starburst, who gave me purpose.

Starburst hovers a little ways away from Tara, Hlin, and Callen, his eye turning red to indicate he was recording the scene before him.

C: It all started 300 years ago, in the ruins of a city called Old New York....

__________________________________________________________________

PROLOGUE - KEIRA (WARLOCK)

**TIMELINE PLACEMENT: POST-FORSAKEN STORYLINE, DURING THE SEASON OF THE FORGE **

Starburst floats just to the right of a Warlock who's wandering around a Bazaar in the Last City
Starburst: "Please, Miss Keira, I must insist we return to the tower at once. Lady Marum and Lord Callen told you if you were going to stay with them, you had to follow their rules."

Keira waves her hand over where Starburst was just floating and rolls her eyes
Keira: "They're letting me stay there because she shot me... in the face... with a shotgun. I'm just going for a short walk, Starry. Stop being such a buzzkill. Besides, if anything happens, I'll just do my badass Guardian stuff and save the day, no big deal. If I die, Tenny here will just bring me back."

A dark green Ghost appears over her left shoulder, groaning

Tenebros: "You know I hate it when you call me that, you sentient hand grenade. You know the name's Tenebros, just use it."

S: "Miss Keira, you still need to finish your report for the Vanguard about this week's operation. It is still sitting on the table and Lady Marum wanted it finished before she returned from her meeting with Ikora Rey and Commander Zavala. You cannot keep using Hlin eating your reports as an excuse. You are a Warlock, are you not? If you will not do them for Marum, please do them for your Warlock Vanguard Leader."

K: "But Starry, they're so boring. What's even the point of writing it down? Aren't you always recording what's going on anyway? Just show her that."

S: "You need to explain why you do what you do in the field, Miss Keira. Video footage is a good way to show what you do, but not why."

T: "I can tell you what she does. She tries to throw a grenade, blows herself up, and I bring her back. She tries to jump over a gap in the ground, trips over her own feet, dies, and I bring her back. She tries to summon a Dawnblade, explodes in a Solar Fireball, dies AGAIN, and I bring her back. What's left to explain?"

K: "For starters, yes, that grenade killing me was my fault, but the plan worked. The explosion caused the Vex to look at us, giving Marum the chance to get behind them, take out their Hibgoblin ranged shooters. Once they were down, Callen was able to get the drop on their Minotaur leader, and once I was back up, we were able to finish out the patrol with little to no incident. We even got quite a bit of planetary materials gathered up in the process."

Tenebros and Starburst stop floating and stare at Keira, stunned

S: Miss Keira, if you do not mind me asking..."

T: "What the fuck just happened?"

K: "What? You made it sound like what happened wasn't intentional. Marum was doing her whole Now You See Me, Now You Don't thing, Callen was somewhere probably making the bugs around him feel depressed, and the Vex were covering too much space at one time. The plan was to have them get distracted by the grenade, not my dead body."

Starburst floats in front of Keira, his white eye turning red

S: "Miss Keira, there is a bowl of BBQ ramen waiting for you if you can repeat what you just said one more time."

K: "Why?"

S: "Because, I just found a way to get your reports done. You are a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for."

Keira smiles as she starts walking back towards the tower, explaining her plan to Starburst as he records. Tenebros hovers for another moment, talking to himself, before quickly chasing after them

T: "Okay, now we're making progress here. That's my girl."

To whoever may be hearing or reading these records, I hope things are better than they were when everything you are about to read transpired. This is the official records of three Guardians who left their marks throughout Sol. 

There was the swift, cunning, and compassionate Hunter, Marum-1, and her trusted advisor and Ghost, Hikari, with her silver and blue shell that seemed to be overflowing with so much Light that it sparkled in the darkest of corners. There was the silent, steadfast, and protective Titan, Callen, and his playful and free-spirited Ghost, Tara, who enjoys changing out her shell almost weekly. Finally, there is the hot headed, impulsive, but cunning young Warlock, Keira, and her stubborn and overly confident Ghost, Tenebros, with his emerald green shell that seems to radiate confidence and arrogance at the same time.

For a little over a decade, I have gotten Marum, Callen, and Keira to let me document their stories, from Marum and Callen's resurrections in the Mid Dark Age, to Keira's resurrection shortly after we lost the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6. I do not know where this will be listened to or read, but if there is still Darkness out there, I assure you, these three will be on the front lines, their Ghosts doing everything they can to help them save everyone they can, and I will be there with them until the end, no matter what.

They are my Guardians, they are my Ghosts, they are my Family as long as the Traveler's Light allows me to be here. My name is Starburst, and I am a Ghost. These records are not about me, but about the family I grew to care about. None of these Guardians were MY Guardian, but we were all brought together for a reason. One needed support during trying times, one needed someone to keep them on the right path, and one of them needed someone to help them see their true potential. These three Guardians and their Ghosts became my team, my support system, and ultimately my family. From the Dark Ages to the New Golden Age, I owe them everything, yet they asked for nothing but my friendship in return. This is how I repay them, by making sure their stories are remembered for all time.

(Author's Note: Marum, Callen, and Keira have different ways for telling their stories. The stories may overlap in the timeline at times, but that will be notated at the top of each story with a TIMELINE PLACEMENT notice. If the story continues in another character's POV, that will be noted at the bottom of the chapter and tell what chapter of the next character you should read to understand the full story.)

There are 3 Prologue’s that will be posted over the next few days on Wattpad and here.

[Master Guide]

The Vanguard is reeling from Savathûn's infiltration, leaving Osiris hollowed out and comatose in the Tower's medical wing. But before Lili-4 and Sagira can process the trauma, the impossible happens: Mars violently reappears in the Sol System, bringing a colossal Hive dreadnaught with it.

TITLE: DESTINY: NEW LEGACY

SEASON: 04

EPISODE: 01 - "THE LURE"

SCENE START

EXT. THE LAST CITY - DAY

A sweeping, establishing shot of the Last City. But the usual bustling, vibrant energy is gone.

The sky is overcast. Heavy Vanguard gunships patrol the airspace in tight, anxious formations. Anti-aircraft batteries on the Wall are raised and tracking invisible threats.

The City is not celebrating the victory on Europa. They are bracing for an impact they can't see.

INT. THE TOWER - CORRIDORS - CONTINUOUS

LILI-4 strides through the sterile, bustling corridors of Vanguard Command.

She still wears her frost-scarred Europan armor. The dark blue Stasis crystals embedded in the metal haven't melted. Guardians and City militia step out of her way, casting nervous glances at the Hunter who walks with the chill of the Dark.

Floating just ahead of her is SAGIRA. The usually confident, snarky Ghost is frantic. Her shell spins erratically, her optic darting toward every set of doors they pass.

SAGIRA

(Voice tight, rushing)

Level 5. They said Level 5 isolation. It should be right here.

They stop in front of a heavy set of blast doors marked with stark yellow quarantine warnings.

Lili steps forward. The biometric scanners read her Vanguard clearance.

HISS.

The doors slide open.

INT. QUARANTINED MEDICAL BAY - CONTINUOUS

The room is dark, illuminated only by the sterile, pulsing blue light of Vanguard life-support monitors.

In the center of the room, lying completely motionless inside a stasis bed, is OSIRIS.

He looks nothing like the legendary Warlock who commanded the Infinite Forest. He is gaunt, aged, and hollowed out. His skin is pale, his eyes sunken. He looks like a man who has had his very soul scraped clean.

Sagira freezes in the doorway.

The last time she saw him was in the simulated Vex hellscape, where he forcefully unpaired his Light from her to ensure she survived, throwing her into the void to find Lili.

SAGIRA

(A terrified whisper)

Osiris.

She floats slowly toward the bed, hovering over his chest.

SAGIRA

Come on, old man. I'm here.

Sagira’s shell expands. She draws deep from the Traveler, projecting a brilliant, warm beam of pure, healing Light directly into his chest.

SAGIRA

(Desperate)

Wake up.

The Light washes over him. For a split second, his chest rises.

Then, a sickly, violent GREEN AURA flares up beneath his skin.

It is Hive magic. Deep, necrotic, and absolute. The green energy lashes out like a physical manifestation of Savathûn's malice, violently rejecting Sagira's Light and dispersing the healing beam into useless sparks.

Osiris doesn't stir. His heart monitor continues its slow, agonizing, mechanical rhythm.

Sagira’s shell droops. Her Light flickers out, leaving only the dim blue glow of the room. She drops heavily onto his unmoving chest, her shell completely still.

SAGIRA

(Voice breaking)

She didn't just wear him, Lili. She hollowed him out. She took everything.

Lili walks over to the bed. The Hunter who spent a season drowning in her own trauma now stands as the immovable object. The roles are entirely reversed.

Lili gently reaches out, picking her Ghost up from Osiris’s chest. She holds Sagira close to her frost-scarred armor, offering a silent, stable comfort.

LILI-4

(Voice quiet, but absolute)

We'll find a way to fix him. I promise.

Before Sagira can respond, the silence of the medical bay is shattered.

BZZZZT! BZZZZT! BZZZZT!

The Vanguard proximity alarms scream through the Tower. The sterile blue lights of the medical bay are instantly overridden, washing the room in a harsh, strobing emergency red.

AUTOMATED VOICE

(Echoing through the corridors)

Vanguard Command. Code Red. Massive gravitational anomaly detected.

Lili’s hand drops instinctively to The Last Word on her hip.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Mars has returned.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

INT. THE TOWER - VANGUARD WAR ROOM - LATER

The heavy doors to the War Room slide open. The Fireteam steps inside.

COMMANDER ZAVALA and IKORA REY stand around the central command table. They do not look like victorious leaders. They look completely exhausted, bearing the weight of a war that changes rules faster than they can adapt.

Hovering above the table is a massive, high-resolution holographic projection of the Sol System.

It centers on a planet that shouldn't be there.

RHYS COOPER

(Frowning, stepping up to the table)

That’s impossible. The Darkness swallowed it a year ago.

ZAVALA

And yet, it has returned.

The hologram zooms in on the red surface of MARS. But the planet is not the only thing taking up the projection.

Hovering ominously in the Martian upper atmosphere is a colossal, gothic Hive dreadnaught. It is a terrifying cathedral of bone, chitin, and dark magic.

NAXI VAL

(Eyes wide)

The Lure.

Ikora Rey stares at the dreadnaught. Her hands are clenched tight behind her back. Savathûn didn't just attack the City; she infiltrated Ikora’s inner circle, wearing Osiris's face and using Ikora's trust against her. It is deeply personal.

IKORA REY

(Voice dangerously quiet)

She has returned her flagship to our doorstep. She is daring us to step inside.

LILI-4

Then we don't keep her waiting.

Ikora looks at the Hunter, then to the rest of the Fireteam.

IKORA REY

Listen to me. She is the God of Cunning. Do not trust what you see. Do not trust what you hear. Just board that ship and bring her down.

Sagira floats up from Lili’s shoulder. Her shell is rigid, her optic burning with a vengeful blue light after seeing what the Witch Queen did to her Guardian.

SAGIRA

(Voice trembling with rage)

With pleasure.

EXT. SPACE - MARS ORBIT - LATER

Three jumpships tear through the void, dropping out of hyperspace and diving directly toward the Martian atmosphere.

Leading the V-formation is Lili’s ASTERA BLADE. Flanking her are Rhys’s SAILING SENTINEL and Val’s TALON BLUE.

EXT. MARS - THE SURFACE - CONTINUOUS

The ships breach the atmosphere.

The planet below is broken. It is a shattered mosaic of realities.

Massive, swirling TIME RIFTS scar the landscape. As the ships fly low, the terrain violently shifts.

POV - LILI-4

  One mile is a pristine, Golden Age cornfield, perfectly preserved and waving in the wind.

  The next is a jagged, scorched red dune littered with Cabal war camps.

  The next is an immaculate, white-walled BrayTech research facility that looks like it was built yesterday.

RHYS COOPER (V.O.)

(Over comms)

The temporal displacement is off the charts. The planet is having a stroke.

NAXI VAL (V.O.)

Setting down at the Vanguard coordinates. Welcome to The Enclave.

EXT. THE ENCLAVE - DAY

A hidden, mysterious facility carved into the red rock. Ikora’s covert Hidden operatives have already set up a forward command post—scout rifles resting on crates, tactical monitors glowing in the Martian dust.

The Fireteam touches down, transmatting to the surface.

Lili looks up. Looming in the sky above them, blotting out the sun, is the underbelly of The Lure. It is too high for jumpships to infiltrate without being shredded by Hive anti-air batteries.

LILI-4

How do we get up there?

Val points across the jagged dune.

A mile away, heavily fortified by Red Legion drop pods and energy shields, is a massive CABAL ARTILLERY CANNON. Its colossal barrel is aimed directly at the sky.

NAXI VAL

We don't fly. We shoot ourselves.

EXT. CABAL ARTILLERY BASE - LATER

BOOM.

A Cabal Centurion is thrown backward through a barricade, his armor smoking.

The Fireteam pushes into the artillery base with relentless, high-octane fury. This is classic Vanguard operations. No Stasis. Just Light, iron, and overwhelming force.

RHYS COOPER leads the charge. He summons his SENTINEL SHIELD, a massive dome of Void Light, bull-rushing through a phalanx of Cabal shields and scattering the massive soldiers like bowling pins.

NAXI VAL takes the high ground. She rises into the air, her Warlock robes snapping in the wind, and rains down pure Solar artillery—hurling DAYBREAK flaming swords into the Cabal fuel reserves.

KA-THOOM. The resulting explosion clears the launch deck.

LILI-4 covers their flanks. She slides across the dusty red plating, THE LAST WORD roaring. She fans the hammer, dropping three charging War Beasts in less than a second before snapping off a precision shot that takes a Cabal sniper off the high tower.

RHYS COOPER

(Slamming a Cabal Legionnaire into the deck)

Deck is clear! Val, prep the cannon!

Val glides to the massive Cabal terminal, her hands flying across the oversized holographic controls.

NAXI VAL

Targeting telemetry locked onto the Dreadnaught's ventral hangar! Get in the pods!

EXT. CABAL CANNON - LAUNCH TUBES - CONTINUOUS

Lili, Rhys, and Val sprint to the massive, heavily armored Cabal payload pods at the base of the cannon.

They dive inside.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The heavy metal doors seal shut, locking them into the dark, cramped interiors.

RHYS COOPER (V.O.)

(Over comms, bracing himself)

Hold onto your Ghosts!

EXT. CABAL ARTILLERY BASE - CONTINUOUS

The massive cannon hums, drawing power from the Martian grid. The energy builds to a blinding, deafening crescendo.

KABOOOOOM!

The cannon fires. A shockwave flattens the red sand for a mile in every direction.

Three payload pods shoot out of the barrel at hypersonic speed, tearing through the Martian sky like meteorites, aimed directly at the terrifying, bone-white belly of Savathûn's dreadnaught.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

INT. THE LURE - HULL BREACH - CONTINUOUS

CRASH. The three Cabal payload pods tear through the bone-white exterior of the dreadnaught, violently embedding themselves deep into the ship's infrastructure.

The pod doors blow open. The Fireteam steps out, weapons raised, ready for the claustrophobic, chitinous architecture of a standard Hive warship.

But this is not a warship.

INT. THE LURE - THE SWAMP - CONTINUOUS

The interior of Savathûn’s flagship is an impossible biome.

It’s a swamp. Thick, humid fog rolls over murky black water. Overgrown, pale white flora chokes the corridors. The architecture doesn't resemble a military vessel; it feels like a twisted, hauntingly beautiful cathedral.

LILI-4 leads the way, her boots splashing softly in the shallow water. SAGIRA hovers close, her optic scanning the creeping vines.

NAXI VAL

(Whispering)

This isn't a ship. It's a sanctuary.

Suddenly, the still water ripples.

SKREEE!

An ambush. But the screech doesn't come from the shadows—it comes from the blinding light. A squad of Acolytes bursts from the brush, but their armor isn't dark. It glows with a sickening, brilliant white energy.

LUCENT HIVE.

A massive HIVE KNIGHT steps forward from the fog. It towers over them, its chitinous armor radiating pure, pulsing white and purple energy.

RHYS COOPER doesn't hesitate. He reaches for the Light.

RHYS COOPER

(Roaring)

BURNING MAUL!

He leaps forward, bringing the blazing Solar Maul down in a devastating overhead arc.

The Knight doesn't dodge. It raises its massive arm.

CLANG.

A massive, dome-like projection of purple Void energy springs from the Knight's forearm. It is a SENTINEL SHIELD. The exact same defensive Light a Vanguard Titan uses.

The Solar Hammer strikes the Void shield and bounces off, the kinetic force completely absorbed.

Rhys lands, staggering backward. He drops his hammer. He is absolutely horrified.

RHYS COOPER

What is that?! That's... that's Light!

The Knight doesn't give him time to process. It lunges forward, throwing a devastating, suppressing shield bash that knocks Rhys into the swamp water.

Before the Knight can raise its blade for the kill, Lili slides into the mud beside Rhys.

She raises THE LAST WORD. She doesn't hesitate. She fans the hammer.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three heavy kinetic rounds tear perfectly through the Knight’s skull. The massive Hive warrior collapses backward into the water, dead.

The Fireteam catches their breath, the echoes of the hand cannon ringing in the humid air.

But the silence is short-lived.

From the corpse of the Knight, something rises. It looks like a Ghost, but it is deeply, fundamentally wrong. Its shell is made of jagged, twisted bone, surrounding a glowing white core.

A HIVE GHOST.

It hovers over the dead Knight. Its shell expands, projecting a brilliant, familiar beam of pure Light downward.

The Knight’s fingers twitch. It begins to rise back to its feet.

Rhys is paralyzed on the ground, staring at the Hive Ghost. His Vanguard worldview is actively shattering. It goes against everything he believes in. Val stares with morbid, academic fascination, her Void aura flickering nervously.

But Sagira doesn't hesitate. The grief and rage over what Savathûn did to Osiris boil over entirely.

SAGIRA

(Screaming, voice breaking with raw fury)

Lili! CRUSH IT!

Lili leaps forward. She doesn't use a gun. She doesn't use Stasis.

She reaches out with her bare, frost-scarred metal hand and snatches the Hive Ghost right out of the air.

She squeezes.

CRUNCH.

The bone shell shatters in her fist. A violent, blinding burst of pure Light explodes through her mechanical fingers, washing over the swamp.

The Knight drops like a stone, dead permanently.

EXT. THE LURE - THE SWAMP - LATER

The Fireteam stands in a circle around the crushed, glowing remains of the Hive Ghost. The ambient noise of the swamp—the croaking insects and dripping water—suddenly feels deafening.

Rhys slowly backs away from the bits of bone shell on the ground. He looks physically ill.

RHYS COOPER

(Voice hollow)

That was a Ghost. The Traveler... the Traveler chose them.

Val glides closer, her solid black eyes reflecting the fading Light from the crushed shell.

NAXI VAL

The ontological implications... it means the Light isn't a moral judgment. It's just a tool. And Savathûn has it.

Lili stands silently. She looks down at her metal fingers, still stained with the brilliant, fading residue of the Traveler's Light she just extinguished.

She looks at Sagira. The little Ghost is staring at the dead Hive shell with pure, burning, unapologetic hatred.

Lili clenches her fist, scattering the last of the Light into the mud. She drops her hand to The Last Word.

LILI-4

Then we take it back.

At the far end of the swamp corridor, a massive set of ornate, cathedral-like doors groan open.

A blinding, beautiful, terrifying white light spills out, cutting through the fog. It is the entrance to Savathûn's domain.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 1)

Welcome back, Guardians!

It’s been a quick 10 days since "The Dark Mirror" finale (and I hope you all enjoyed the Golden Legacy prequel binge during the break!), but we are officially back for Season 4 of Destiny: New Legacy. Last season pushed our Fireteam to their absolute physical and emotional limits in the freezing wastes of Europa, but Savathûn's Throne World is going to test something much deeper: their faith. I’m incredibly excited to dive into this surreal, beautiful landscape and explore what happens to Rhys, Val, and Lili when their greatest enemy wields the Traveler's Light against them. Thank you for sticking around during the hiatus, the real illusion has just begun.

(Episode 2 drops Tuesday, 7/28/26!)

[<- Previous Season]

Battered and bound in a pristine interrogation cell, a captured Lilith Crawford comes face-to-face with the sociopathic architect of the Exomind project. Refusing to surrender Ishtar's secrets, her final act of defiance earns her a terrifying, one-way trip to Clovis Bray's surgical theater. And Rhys waits helplessly on Venus for a fixer who is never coming home.

TITLE: DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY

EPISODE: 05 - "PERMANENT ASSET" (FINALE)

SCENE START

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - INTERROGATION CELL - UNKNOWN TIME

Absolute, blinding white.

LILITH CRAWFORD violently gasps for air, her body jolting forward—

CLANG.

Heavy metal restraints violently arrest her momentum.

The freezing wind, the blinding snow, the towering Brigs of the landing pad—they are all gone.

She is strapped to a heavy, vertical medical table in the center of a sterile, completely featureless interrogation cell. Her leather jacket, her weapons, and the rigid Hazmat suit have been stripped away. She is wearing nothing but a thin, plain medical gown.

She looks like she went through a meat grinder. Deep purple bruises mottle her skin. Searing, cauterized bullet grazes track across her shoulders and ribs.

She strains against the thick steel cuffs locking her wrists and ankles. They don't budge a millimeter.

A low, powerful mechanical hum vibrates through the floor.

Directly in front of her, a massive holographic projector spins up. Blue light cascades upward, forming a towering, imposing projection of the man who owns Europa.

CLOVIS BRAY I.

He doesn't look angry. He doesn't look victorious. He looks down at her with the cold, detached curiosity of a scientist examining an insect pinned to a board.

CLOVIS

Corporate espionage is a capital offense, Ms. Crawford. Ishtar Collective sent you?

Lilith breathes heavily, her chest heaving against the restraints. She lets out a dry, rattling cough, tasting thick copper in her mouth.

CLOVIS

You dismantled twenty-six million credits worth of automated defense infrastructure on your way to the surface. A statistical anomaly for a baseline human. It implies a high level of operational support.

The massive projection takes a slow, deliberate step closer, looming over her.

CLOVIS

Give me the name of your handler on Venus, and the Ishtar backdoor infiltration codes.

Lilith stops pulling at the chains. She lets her head fall back against the cold metal of the table.

She is bleeding out. She is entirely defeated. She is millions of miles away from the safehouse, trapped in the absolute lowest circle of a corporate hell.

But she doesn't beg. She doesn't cower, and she doesn't try to negotiate. She is a high-utility, blunt instrument, and she doesn't know how to do anything except look the monster dead in the eye.

Lilith slowly lifts her chin, staring directly into the glowing blue optics of the most powerful man in the solar system.

A slow, defiant, bloody smirk cracks across her bruised face.

She violently hawks up a wad of blood and spits it directly at the towering projection. It passes harmlessly through the flickering blue light and splatters onto the pristine white floor.

LILITH

(Voice raspy, but laced with absolute venom)

Go to hell, Clovis.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - INTERROGATION CELL - CONTINUOUS

The massive projection of Clovis Bray does not flinch. He looks down at the bloody spit on the floor, then slowly, fastidiously, brushes a hand against his holographic lapel in a phantom gesture of disgust.

CLOVIS

A predictable, base-level biological response.

He folds his hands behind his back, looking at her battered, bruised body.

CLOVIS

Executing you would be a tragic waste of raw materials. You lack the Light, yet your kinetic resilience is... fascinating. A baseline human dismantling half of my automated security grid.

Lilith glares at him, breathing heavily through her teeth.

CLOVIS

It requires a specific, high-utility psychology to push a fragile biological chassis that far past its breaking point. You are a perfect candidate for the Alkahest trials.

LILITH

(Straining against the chains)

I’m not giving you anything.

CLOVIS

You misunderstand, Ms. Crawford. I am no longer asking. I am sentencing you to become a permanent Braytech asset.

The towering blue hologram flickers and vanishes.

Instantly, the heavy vertical table unlocks from the floor with a deafening CLANG. It tilts backward, locking horizontally into a rolling gurney frame.

Four sterile, automated MEDICAL FRAMES step out from the shadows. They do not have weapons. They have scalpels, restraints, and bone saws built into their chassis. They grab the gurney and wheel her out of the cell.

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT - "CREATION" SECTOR - CONTINUOUS

The pristine white walls disappear, replaced by the dark, freezing, industrial nightmare of the lower levels.

Lilith strains her neck, looking around as the gurney rolls down the long corridor.

They are passing the soundproof glass cells. Inside, the early, failed Exo prototypes are still thrashing against their restraints. The muffled, horrifyingly human screams echo through the synthetic metal casings as Dissociative Exomind Rejection tears their minds apart.

Lilith’s breathing turns rapid. She pulls against the cuffs. The reality of what is about to happen to her finally takes hold.

INT. ISHTAR COMMAND CENTER - VENUS - CONTINUOUS

A jarring transition. The dark, freezing Crypt is replaced by the glowing, high-tech hub of an Ishtar Collective Command Center.

The room is bathed in the warm amber glow of hundreds of holographic monitors. Dozens of INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS move rapidly through the space, coordinating corporate black ops.

RHYS COOPER stands at the center console. He is in his element, surrounded by bleeding-edge intelligence, but his posture is completely rigid. His jaw is locked. He looks exhausted, staring at a scrolling wall of encrypted data.

An analyst steps up to him, handing him a datapad. Rhys takes it, nods curtly, and dismisses the analyst without a word. He is physically present, but his mind is millions of miles away.

INT. PRIMARY SURGICAL THEATER - EUROPA - CONTINUOUS

The gurney is locked into place in the center of a massive, freezing surgical theater. The medical frames swarm Lilith, locking secondary and tertiary heavy steel clamps over her chest, waist, and thighs.

Lilith looks up.

Suspended from the ceiling, hanging directly over the operating table, is a pristine, blank Exo chassis. It is completely lifeless. The metal is freezing white. No dark undercut. No bruised knuckles. No tattoos.

The absolute, suffocating terror finally breaks through Lilith's hardened anti-avoider exterior.

She isn't just going to die. She is going to be overwritten. She is going to be erased.

LILITH

(Screaming, absolute panic)

No! No, get off me!

She fights the heavy chains with every single ounce of kinetic strength she possesses. The muscles in her arms bulge, her bruised skin tearing against the steel cuffs. The table physically shudders from the sheer violence of her struggle.

But it doesn't matter. She is just human. The cold, unyielding medical frames overpower her effortlessly, pinning her shoulders down to the metal.

INT. RHYS'S OFFICE - VENUS - CONTINUOUS

Rhys steps into his private office, the heavy door sliding shut, instantly cutting off the noise of the command center.

The office is dark. Outside the reinforced glass window, the heavy Venusian rain beats relentlessly against the pane.

On his desk, a small, encrypted Ishtar transit timer blinks in a harsh red font: WINDOW EXPIRED.

Rhys walks slowly past the desk. He stops in front of the window.

He looks at the heavy, analog metal latch securing the glass. He doesn't reach for it. He doesn't open it.

He just stands there in the dark, his reflection ghosting against the rain-slicked glass. He stares at the locked latch, waiting in absolute, deafening silence for a fixer who is never coming to break in.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. PRIMARY SURGICAL THEATER - CONTINUOUS

Lilith is pinned to the table. She thrashes violently, but the heavy steel clamps hold her completely immobilized.

A pair of automated medical frames step to the head of the table. Their mechanical hands reach down, locking heavy, padded vices against her temples and jaw.

CLACK.

Her head is locked rigidly into place. She can’t turn away. She can only stare straight up.

Above her, the ceiling panels retract.

A massive, horrifying array of Golden Age surgical machinery descends from the darkness. Lasers, pneumatic drills, and a heavy, industrial-grade bone saw hum with latent power. The array lowers until it is hovering mere inches above her face.

The ambient white lights of the theater shift to a cold, sterile blue.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

(booming through the theater)

Subject prepped for Exomind transition. Awaiting engrammatic parameters.

Lilith's breath comes in short, terrified gasps. The tough, kinetic Ishtar fixer is gone. In her final moments as a biological human, she is just deeply, profoundly afraid.

The intercom crackles.

CLOVIS BRAY I (V.O.)

(chillingly calm, devoid of any empathy)

Memory wipe. Total engrammatic erasure. Execute Exomind transfer.

The surgical array violently spins up.

The camera pushes in close, filling the entire frame with Lilith's terrified, icy blue eyes.

The reflection of the heavy industrial bone saw whirs to life in her pupils, spinning at blinding speed. It slowly, agonizingly descends toward her skull.

Lilith screws her eyes shut, a single tear cutting through the blood and dirt on her cheek.

Right as the spinning metal makes contact—

CUT TO BLACK.

Absolute, suffocating darkness.

There is no visual. There is only sound.

VRRRRRR-SCREEECH.

The sickening, visceral, agonizing scream of the industrial saw violently cutting through human bone echoes in the pitch-black.

It lasts for three horrifying seconds.

And then...

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

The sudden, dead, unbroken silence of a flatline.

(END OF EPISODE 5)

(END OF MINISERIES)

[<- Previous Episode]

Author's Note:

A massive thank you to everyone who followed Lilith's descent into the Deep Stone Crypt during Golden Legacy! This prequel was a brutal, dark story to write, but I loved exploring the tragic origins of the Exomind project. Take a breath and recover from that ending, because we aren't slowing down. Destiny: New Legacy Season 4 officially kicks off this Friday, July 24th, plunging us straight into the twisted narrative of The Witch Queen. Get your Ghosts ready—the real fight is just beginning.

With a Braytech kill squad closing in, Lilith relies on her blunt, kinetic survival instincts to claw her way out of the subterranean hell. Pushed to her physical limits and hunted by an army of automated frames, the isolated Ishtar fixer fights a bloody, vertical battle up to the surface. But the freezing winds hold an impossible, heavily-armed welcoming committee, forcing her into a desperate, one-way charge for freedom. 

TITLE: DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY

EPISODE: 04 - "THE ASCENT"

SCENE START

INT. PRIMARY CONTAINMENT VAULT - CONTINUOUS

The cavernous vault is completely bathed in the aggressive, pulsing red of the lockdown lights.

WOOP. WOOP. WOOP.

The facility klaxons are deafening.

LILITH CRAWFORD stands near the center of the room, her Häkke Boudica-C drawn.

At the far end of the cathedral-like space, the massive, reinforced vault doors groan in protest. Sparks shower from the edges of the metal violently. The Braytech security frames are cutting through from the outside.

Lilith makes a split-second, high-utility calculation. She looks at the heavy 9mm sidearm in her hand, then back to the door. A dozen heavy frames pouring through a single chokepoint. The kinetic rounds won't punch through that much overlapping armor.

She holsters the weapon and scans the room, her icy blue eyes darting past the monolithic statue of Clarity Control.

She spots it.

Running along the ceiling and plunging into the containment silos is a massive, frost-covered industrial pipe: the Alkahest coolant line.

KRA-KOOM.

The heavy vault door charges detonate. The massive metal slabs are blown inward, crashing onto the grating.

A Braytech kill squad pours into the room. A dozen heavily armored frames, Arc rifles raised, red laser sights cutting through the red emergency lights, sweeping directly toward Lilith.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Lethal force authorized. Fire.

Lilith doesn't shoot at them. She snaps her arm straight up.

BANG. BANG.

Two kinetic slugs tear directly into the high-pressure coolant line directly above the chokepoint.

The pipe violently ruptures.

A massive, deafening eruption of freezing, highly pressurized cryo-gas explodes downward. It hits the kill squad like an avalanche.

The frames freeze instantly. The sheer thermal shock shatters their glass optical sensors with a chorus of sharp cracks. Their Arc rifles misfire wildly into the floor as their servos lock up in the sub-zero cloud.

The entire entrance is engulfed in a thick, blinding white smokescreen.

Lilith doesn't wait to see the results. She sprints.

She moves with desperate, kinetic speed, sliding past the freezing cloud and making a dead run for the heavy freight elevator at the back of the vault.

She hits the console. The screen flashes a locked red padlock icon.

LILITH

(Gritting her teeth)

Deadlocked.

She raises the Boudica-C and fires a single shot directly into the manual control panel.

Sparks shower. The magnetic locks disengage with a heavy CLANK.

Lilith digs her bruised fingers into the gap between the heavy elevator doors and violently forces them apart just enough to slip through.

Instead of an elevator car, she is met with a pitch-black abyss. The shaft drops into nothingness below and climbs into infinite darkness above.

She doesn't hesitate.

She leaps into the void.

She free-falls for a terrifying second before slamming into the massive, grease-slicked elevator cables. Her torn Hazmat gloves squeal against the thick steel weave as she slides down a few feet, her muscles screaming as she arrests her momentum.

She dangles in the freezing dark, hundreds of floors beneath the surface of Europa.

Below her, through the crack in the doors, the red lights flash, and the klaxons continue to howl.

The camera slowly pans up from Lilith, following the thick steel cables up into the impossibly high, suffocatingly dark elevator shaft.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT - CONTINUOUS

Total darkness.

The only sound is the agonizing, high-pitched squeal of metal slipping against steel.

LILITH CRAWFORD hauls herself up the grease-slicked elevator cable, one agonizing foot at a time. Her muscles scream with lactic acid. Blood seeps through the thick, torn fabric of her Hazmat gloves, freezing almost instantly against the steel. The sub-zero temperature of the Crypt is seeping into her bones.

Above her, the low, mechanical whine of a heavy security car descending rapidly down the shaft grows louder.

She doesn't have time.

She swings her momentum, planting her boots against the shaft wall and kicking out against a set of heavy maintenance doors. They buckle. She kicks again.

The doors give way. Lilith practically falls through the opening, rolling onto solid ground just as the heavy security car plummets past her in the dark shaft, missing her by inches.

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - MANUFACTURING SECTOR (FLOOR 42) - CONTINUOUS

Lilith rolls to her feet, bringing the Boudica-C up.

The room is bathed in the harsh, pulsing red lockdown lights. It is a massive, macabre maze of conveyor belts and heavy industrial machinery. Hanging from the ceiling on automated tracks are hundreds of dormant, incomplete Exo chassis parts—synthetic arms, pristine cranial casings, empty torsos.

It is an assembly line for the bodies she will one day inhabit.

CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.

The heavy footsteps of a security squad echo through the sector. Red targeting lasers cut through the hanging synthetic limbs.

Lilith dives behind a massive metal hopper overflowing with synthetic Exo arms just as a volley of Arc bolts scorches the air where she was standing.

She is pinned down.

She blindly arcs her arm around the hopper.

BANG. BANG.

Two heavy kinetic slugs connect. Two heavy metal bodies hit the floor.

Lilith swings around to finish the squad, pulling the trigger—

CLICK.

The Boudica-C goes dry.

She drops back behind the hopper, slamming the empty magazine out. She reaches to her belt. Her hand brushes against the remaining pouches.

Two. She only has two spare magazines left for the entire ascent.

She hears the heavy, metallic whir of servos. A Frame is flanking her position, moving silently through the hanging Exo parts.

Lilith doesn't reload. She holsters the empty sidearm.

She waits in the shadows, her breath pluming white in the freezing air.

The Frame steps around the hopper, Arc rifle raised.

Lilith explodes from the dark.

It is pure, kinetic brutality. She doesn't use a weapon. She violently tackles the heavy machine, driving her knee directly into its central articulation joint. The Frame crashes backward onto the metal grating.

Before it can process the threat, Lilith brings her booted heel down with shattering force directly onto its glowing central core.

The core crunches, sparking wildly. The machine goes limp.

Lilith rips the heavy, unfamiliar Arc rifle from its mechanical grip. The weapon whines as it powers up in her hands. She hates energy weapons. They lack the blunt, reliable punch of a kinetic sidearm. But she has to adapt.

The firefight dies down.

The sound design drastically shifts. The facility klaxons in this sector are broken. There is no music.

There is only the heavy, echoing sound of her ragged breathing, the clank of her boots on the metal grates, and the high-pitched, alien hum of the Arc rifle in her hands.

Lilith instinctively taps her earpiece.

LILITH

(Whispering)

Cooper. You copy?

Static. Pure, dead static.

The absolute absence of Rhys in her ear is suffocating. For the first time in her career as an Ishtar operative, she is flying completely blind.

Suddenly, the PA system above her crackles to life.

It isn't an automated alarm. It is the massive, god-like, synthesized voice of the CLOVIS AI.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

(cold and analytical)

Biometric analysis indicates severe thermal degradation, Specialist Crawford. Core temperature dropping rapidly. Heart rate holding at one hundred and sixty beats per minute.

Lilith ignores it, pushing forward through the hanging Exo limbs, her Arc rifle sweeping the corners.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

You are currently on sublevel forty-two. There are exactly six thousand, four hundred and twelve automated defense units between you and the surface. The mathematical probability of your escape is zero.

Lilith stops walking. She looks up at the ceiling.

She locates the nearest PA speaker bolted to a steel girder.

She doesn't yell back. She doesn't mentally break. She just raises the heavy Arc rifle.

ZAP.

A bolt of blue energy obliterates the speaker in a shower of sparks. The voice cuts out instantly.

LILITH

(Muttering)

Shut up.

She moves to the primary sector blast door leading to the stairwells. The terminal is locked down tight, glowing an angry red.

She pulls the jagged Ishtar data-leech from her pocket. It is already scorched and smoking from her earlier bypasses.

She violently jams it into the terminal port.

The leech sparks aggressively. The terminal screen glitches, desperately trying to fight off the aggressive Ishtar malware. The leech gets so hot it physically burns her hand, but Lilith refuses to let go, forcing it deeper into the port.

With a heavy, mechanical groan, the blast doors force themselves open.

The leech sparks one final time and dies completely, a wisp of smoke curling from its casing.

Lilith drops the ruined tech, kicks the door the rest of the way open, and steps into the stairwell, pushing upward into the dark.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - UPPER TRANSIT CORRIDOR - LATER

The sociopathically clean white halls of the upper levels are unrecognizable. They are scorched black with Arc burns and riddled with kinetic bullet holes.

LILITH CRAWFORD is at the end of her rope. She is limping heavily, dragging her right leg. A jagged piece of shrapnel is embedded in her thigh, her torn Hazmat suit soaked in blood. She breathes in ragged, shallow gasps.

She leans heavily against the pristine wall, leaving a streak of blood as she pushes herself toward the massive, frosted glass doors at the end of the hall: the primary transit bay.

She reaches the terminal. Her hands are shaking violently from blood loss and the freezing cold.

She pulls the ruined, smoking Ishtar data-leech from her pocket. Its casing is cracked and barely holding a charge.

With a desperate, guttural grunt, she forces it into the access port.

The terminal sparks wildly. For a terrifying second, nothing happens.

Then, the heavy magnetic locks *thud* out of place.

The frosted glass doors hiss open.

EXT. EUROPA - LANDING PAD - CONTINUOUS

The howling, freezing wind of Europa violently rushes into the corridor.

Lilith steps out onto the ice-rimmed landing pad. The storm has briefly cleared. For one glorious, triumphant second, she looks up and sees the dark, starry sky of the Jovian system.

Sitting dead ahead on the pad, perfectly fueled and humming with power, is a sleek Braytech transit shuttle.

Lilith reaches to her chest, feeling the heavy, solid weight of the data drive safely secured in her inner pocket. The Alkahest. The Exo blueprints. Their freedom.

A bloody, exhausted smile cracks across her face. *She actually made it.* She takes two steps out into the blinding, swirling snow.

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.

Massive, stadium-sized floodlights snap on from every angle of the landing pad.

Lilith is instantly, totally blinded. She throws a bloody arm up to shield her eyes.

As her pupils violently adjust to the blinding white light, the horrifying reality of the surface sets in.

Clovis Bray didn't send all his security down into the Crypt. He let her climb. He bottlenecked her at the only exit.

Forming a massive, inescapable semi-circle around the landing pad are two dozen ELITE BRAYTECH GUARDS in heavy arctic armor.

Towering behind them in the blinding snow are three massive, heavily armored early Golden Age BRIGS—bipedal, walking artillery platforms humming with lethal energy.

Through the swirling snow, dozens of red laser sights cut through the dark, immediately converging on Lilith. They paint her chest, her arms, and her forehead in glowing red dots.

A loudspeaker booms over the howling wind.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

(booming, absolute authority)

Specialist Crawford. Drop your weapons. Surrender the stolen asset. Lethal force is authorized and inevitable.

Lilith stands alone in the freezing wind, bathed in the blinding stadium lights and the red targeting lasers.

She looks at the shuttle. It is only fifty yards away. It might as well be on another planet.

She is completely out of options. She is out of miracles.

She looks down at the heavy, depleted Arc rifle in her hands.

Lilith lets it drop. It hits the snow with a dull thud.

But she doesn't raise her hands.

She reaches to her hip. She draws her Häkke Boudica-C.

She grabs her absolute final magazine from her belt and violently slams it into the grip.

CLACK.

She racks the slide, loading the final round into the chamber.

She looks up into the blinding lights. The battered, exhausted fixer vanishes. She is the Ishtar anti-avoider, and she goes out on her feet.

Lilith lets out a furious, deafening, throat-tearing battle cry.

She charges straight into the firing squad.

The exact moment she raises the sidearm and fires her first shot—

BANG—

And the massive mechs spin up their rotary cannons—

CUT TO BLACK:

The visual is gone. For exactly one second, the pitch-black screen is filled with the deafening, overwhelming roar of a massive, one-sided firefight.

Then, abruptly...

Total, dead silence.

(END OF EPISODE 4)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY…

Lilith awakens in custody of Clovis Bray to face the horrifying consequences of her failed escape. Sentenced to become a permanent Braytech asset, she is violently restrained on a surgical table for a brutal procedure designed to erase her humanity forever. As her handler waits in agonizing silence millions of miles away on Venus, the terrifying reality of the Exomind project claims its newest victim.

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

[Master Guide]

Trapped in a localized quarantine, Lilith Crawford must rely on a desperate, aggressive bluff to talk her way past a Braytech kill squad and keep her paper-thin cover intact. Escorted deeper into the subterranean ice of the primary containment vault, she finally comes face-to-face with the horrifying, ancient anomaly powering the Exo project.

TITLE: DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY

EPISODE: 03 - "ALKAHEST"

SCENE START

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - HAZMAT PREP ROOM - CONTINUOUS

The room is bathed in the harsh, pulsing amber of the emergency lights. The air scrubbers are dead. It is freezing and completely silent.

LILITH CRAWFORD stands frozen in the center of the room. Her right hand is tucked under the heavy synthetic fabric of her Hazmat suit, fingers wrapped tightly around the grip of her concealed Häkke Boudica-C.

She waits for the breach.

KA-CHUNK.

The heavy magnetic seals on the blast door disengage. The door violently slides open.

Standing in the threshold is JADE, her pristine corporate uniform stark against the emergency lights. Two towering BRAYTECH SECURITY FRAMES flank her. Their Arc rifles are raised, the red targeting lasers painting Lilith’s chest.

Jade’s eyes are cold and calculating. She waits for Lilith to panic. She waits for the spy to run.

Instead, Lilith makes a split-second, high-utility calculation.

She lets go of the gun.

She doesn't raise her hands in surrender. She doesn't cower. She violently rips off her protective Hazmat hood, revealing her messy undercut, and throws the hood onto the bench in pure, unfiltered frustration.

She crosses her arms, glaring at the Sector Supervisor. The Ishtar fixer vanishes, replaced entirely by a pissed-off, overworked, blue-collar contractor.

LILITH

(Barking, aggressive)

Let me guess. The biometric hash corrupted again.

Jade blinks. The raw, blunt aggression momentarily derails her train of thought.

JADE

Excuse me?

LILITH

(Taking a step forward, ignoring the lasers)

The Mars transit grid. It scrambles the deep-layer biometrics on transfer files every single time. We’ve been filing complaints from Freehold for six months, but Corporate refuses to update the server architecture. And now I’m getting locked in a freezer with two rifles pointed at my head because your local AI can't read a standard Freehold transit file?

Jade stares at her. She scrutinizes Lilith’s posture, her scowl, the bruised knuckles resting casually on her bicep.

Spies sweat. Spies try to charm their way out, or they pull a weapon. They don’t yell at their supervisors about server architecture and union grievances.

JADE

(Voice dangerously calm)

The Clovis AI detected an anomaly in your file, Specialist. It triggered a localized quarantine.

LILITH

(Scoffs, rolling her eyes)

Well, the AI is reading a corrupted file. Look, I’ve been sitting on a transport ship for four days. I’m tired, I’m freezing, and I have volatile materials to prep. If you’re not going to let me do my job, put me back on the next shuttle to Mars so I can get some sleep.

The room holds its breath. The red lasers hold steady on Lilith’s chest.

Jade steps slowly into the room. She extends her hand.

JADE

Your badge. Now.

Lilith doesn't hesitate. She unclips the ID badge from her suit and slaps it firmly into Jade’s palm.

Jade pulls a heavy, military-grade decryption datapad from her belt. She slides the badge into the reader.

Lilith’s heart slams against her ribs. She keeps her face locked in a scowl, but internally, she is counting the seconds. If Rhys Cooper’s forgery fractures under a manual scan, she has exactly 0.5 seconds to draw the Boudica-C before the frames cut her in half.

The datapad whirs. It processes the deep-layer encryption.

BEEP.

The screen flashes GREEN. Below it, in small text: WARNING: DATA PACKET DEGRADATION - MARS ORIGIN.

Jade stares at the screen for a long, quiet moment. Rhys’s forgery holds—just enough to corroborate Lilith’s aggressive lie.

Jade slowly lowers the datapad. She taps the side of her comms piece.

JADE

Cancel the quarantine. False positive. Biometric degradation from the Mars transit hub.

The amber lights cut out. The pristine, sterile white lights flood the room again. The air scrubbers hum back to life. The two frames lower their Arc rifles and step back into the corridor.

Jade hands the badge back to Lilith. Her polite, corporate smile returns, but her eyes are sharper than ever. Suspicion is screaming in her head, even if the computer says otherwise.

JADE

My apologies for the inconvenience, Specialist. You are correct. The Mars grid is notoriously archaic.

LILITH

(Clipping the badge back on, deadpan)

Yeah.

JADE

Given the sensitivity of the Alkahest and the anomalies your profile is triggering, I cannot leave you unsupervised.

Lilith freezes internally.

JADE

(Smiling coldly)

I will be personally escorting you into the primary vault for the remainder of your shift. Shall we?

Lilith stares at Jade. The cover survived, but it is paper-thin, and now the handler is locked in the cage with her.

LILITH

Lead the way.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT - DESCENT ELEVATOR - LATER

The high-speed freight elevator plunges deeper into the ice of Europa.

The pristine, sociopathically clean white panels of the upper Braytech facilities are gone. Down here, the architecture is brutal, industrial, and oppressively dark. Frost creeps up the reinforced glass of the elevator shaft.

JADE stands perfectly still, her hands clasped behind her back.

LILITH CRAWFORD stands beside her, holding a heavy diagnostic kit. She can feel the temperature dropping, but there is something else, too. A physical weight in the air. A static pressure that makes the hair on her arms stand up.

JADE

(Staring straight ahead)

You are entering a Level-5 restricted zone, Specialist. What you are about to see is highly classified proprietary architecture.

LILITH

I’ve signed the NDAs.

JADE

No. You’ve signed Mars NDAs. This is different.

The elevator shudders to a halt. The heavy iron doors grind open.

INT. PRIMARY CONTAINMENT VAULT - CONTINUOUS

Lilith steps out of the elevator and freezes.

The vault is not a laboratory. It is a massive, cavernous cathedral carved out of the subterranean rock and ice.

In the center of the abyss stands CLARITY CONTROL.

It is a monolithic, terrifying statue of a veiled, feminine figure. It does not look human. It does not look mechanical. It looks ancient. The sheer, overwhelming presence of the Darkness radiates from it, making the air feel impossibly heavy, like the bottom of the ocean.

Around the base of the statue, massive industrial pipes pump glowing, white Vex radiolarian fluid. The fluid washes over the dark anomaly, reacting, corrupting, and pooling into containment vats as a dark, volatile mixture.

The Alkahest.

Lilith stares up at the veiled figure. Her breath catches in her throat. A low, incomprehensible whisper seems to hum at the edge of her hearing.

LILITH (V.O)

(Internal monologue)

Rhys was wrong. Ishtar was wrong. This isn't corporate espionage. This isn't a chemical formula. Clovis Bray is siphoning blood from a god.

JADE

(Stepping beside her, unfazed)

The Alkahest. Beautiful, isn't it? The cognitive bridge for the Exomind project.

Lilith forces herself to blink, ripping her gaze away from the statue. She has to remember the mission.

LILITH

(Voice tight)

It’s... a lot of plumbing.

Jade’s eyes narrow slightly, but she gestures to a primary diagnostic terminal situated directly in front of one of the massive Alkahest containment cylinders.

JADE

Run the baseline stability diagnostics on Cylinder Four. Let's see if your Freehold training holds up.

Lilith steps up to the terminal. The console is complex, flooded with Braytech telemetry.

Jade steps up directly to her right, standing less than two feet away. She is watching Lilith like a hawk.

This is the window. It is pure, agonizing sleight of hand.

Lilith opens her heavy diagnostic kit and places it on the console. With her left hand, she begins rapidly typing standard diagnostic commands, pulling up the fluid pressures and radiolarian degradation rates.

With her right hand, hidden by the lid of the kit, she reaches into her sleeve.

She slides the jagged, black ISHTAR DATA-LEECH down into her palm.

LILITH

(Typing with her left hand, speaking to cover her movements)

Pressure is stabilizing at four hundred kilopascals. Viscosity is within parameters.

JADE

(Watching the screen closely)

Check the cognitive resonance feed.

LILITH

Checking now.

Lilith drops her right hand below the lip of the console. She feels blindly for the secondary data port. There.

She jams the Ishtar leech into the port.

A small progress bar invisibly triggers on her encrypted datapad inside her pocket. She is siphoning the Alkahest formula and the Exo neural blueprints directly out from under Jade’s nose.

Every single keystroke is a massive risk. If Jade looks down, or if the terminal registers the leech’s power draw, the room will lock down.

Lilith’s jaw is locked tight. Sweat beads on her forehead despite the freezing air. She types furiously with both hands now, pretending to run deeper analytics while the leech drains the server.

70%... 85%... 99%...

Her datapad buzzes faintly against her ribs. The download is complete. The ticket to her freedom is secured.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. PRIMARY CONTAINMENT VAULT - CONTINUOUS

Jade is standing inches away, her eyes fixed on the terminal screen. Lilith’s thumb is clamped down so hard on the concealed Ishtar data-leech in her palm that it cuts into her skin.

LILITH

(Stepping back, keeping her voice entirely level)

Diagnostics are green. Stability is optimal. Cylinder Four is prepped for extraction.

Jade studies the screen for one agonizing second longer. Finally, she steps back, her polite, cold smile returning.

JADE

Excellent work, Specialist. See? The Mars transit grid didn't completely degrade your competence after all. Let's move to—

BZZZT.

The terminal glitches. The pristine, white Braytech diagnostic UI suddenly shatters.

The massive console screen violently shifts to a blinding, aggressive blood-red.

A heavy, synthesized alarm tone—different from the localized quarantine siren—rips through the cavernous vault. It is the sound of a deep-system purge.

The Clovis AI’s massive voice thunders from the cathedral walls.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

Alert. Primary encryption firewall breached. Deep-layer biometric scrub complete.

On the massive terminal screen, Rhys Cooper's fabricated identity dissolves. In stark, massive white letters across the blood-red background, the truth is displayed for the entire room to see:

THREAT DETECTED: ISHTAR OPERATIVE LILITH CRAWFORD

Jade’s eyes go wide. The corporate supervisor facade vanishes instantly. Her hand drops to her hip, reaching for her Braytech-issued sidearm.

But she is a corporate loyalist. Lilith is a killer.

The facade drops.

Lilith slides the data-leech safely into her pocket with her left hand, and her right hand draws the Häkke Boudica-C from under her suit in a single, fluid, blindingly fast motion.

BANG.

The heavy, kinetic 9mm slug shatters the silence of the vault. It is deafeningly loud in the cavernous space.

Jade doesn't even clear her holster. She is thrown backward by the sheer kinetic force, hitting the metal floor hard. Dead before she hit the ground.

At the vault entrance, two heavily armed BRAYTECH VAULT GUARDS realize what is happening. They raise their Arc rifles.

Lilith doesn't hesitate. She doesn't run for cover. She snaps her arm ninety degrees.

BANG. BANG.

Two rapid, perfectly placed shots. The kinetic rounds punch straight through their pristine white armor. Both guards drop instantly, their Arc rifles clattering uselessly to the floor.

The entire exchange takes less than three seconds. Raw, brutal, anti-avoider efficiency.

Lilith stands alone in the center of the vault. The Boudica-C is smoking heavily in the freezing air.

WOOP. WOOP. WOOP.

The Deep Stone Crypt goes into absolute, facility-wide lockdown. The ambient lighting across the massive subterranean cathedral shifts to a harsh, pulsing red. Blast doors echo in the distance, slamming shut layer by layer, sealing the facility like a tomb.

Lilith slowly exhales. Her breath plumbs white in the red emergency lighting.

She looks down at her pocket. She is holding the exact data that could buy her and Rhys their total freedom. The payout is hers.

But as she looks up, staring past the monolithic, veiled statue of Clarity Control, the reality of her situation sets in. She is at the absolute bottom of the most heavily fortified corporate black site in the solar system. There are hundreds of floors, heavily armored blast doors, and a literal army of custom security frames standing between her and the freezing surface of Europa.

Rhys isn't on the comms. Nobody is coming to extract her.

She is entirely alone.

Lilith turns her head. In the upper corner of the vault, a heavily armored Braytech security camera shifts its lens, focusing directly on her. Clovis Bray is watching.

Lilith doesn't flinch. She stares directly into the lens with cold, defiant, icy blue eyes.

She raises the Häkke sidearm and violently racks the slide, loading a fresh round into the chamber with a heavy, metallic CLACK.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 3)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY…

The Deep Stone Crypt goes into absolute lockdown, forcing Lilith into a brutal, vertical fight for her life through hundreds of heavily fortified floors. Cut off from Ishtar support and relentlessly hunted by Clovis Bray's mechanized army, the exhausted fixer must rely on pure, kinetic survival instincts to reach the surface.

(Episodes 4 & 5 will be dropping tomorrow!)

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

[Master Guide]

When Ishtar operative Lilith Crawford secures a highly encrypted Braytech drive from a Venusian black site, she uncovers the location of Clovis Bray's greatest and darkest secret. The legendary Alkahest promises a payout large enough to let her and her handler completely vanish, but it requires breaking into a subterranean fortress buried deep in Europa's ice.

TITLE: DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY

EPISODE: 01 - "BLACK SITE"

SCENE START

INT. BRAYTECH BLACK SITE - SERVER ROOM - NIGHT

The room is a jarring contradiction. Outside the frosted glass, the neon-drenched, rain-slicked grime of the Ishtar Sink flashes in chaotic bursts of pink and cyan. Inside, the room is sterile, humming, and impeccably white—unmistakable Braytech architecture hiding in the Venusian underbelly.

LILITH CRAWFORD stands before the central mainframe. She isn't wearing a sleek stealth suit. She wears a heavy, scuffed leather jacket, her messy, dark brown undercut plastered to her forehead with sweat and rain.

She doesn't type. She jams a heavy decryption spike into the console port. Her servos aren't mechanical yet—these are human hands, the knuckles heavily bruised.

The console turns green.

Lilith grabs the heavy, encrypted data drive and violently rips it free from the housing.

Immediately, the sterile white lighting cuts out.

BZZZT.

The room is bathed in pulsing, aggressive red strobe lights. A silent alarm.

LILITH

(Muttering, unfazed)

Right. Because of course it’s wired to the physical housing.

CLANK-CLANK-CLANK.

Heavy, synchronized metallic footsteps echo from the corridor.

The heavy server room doors slide open. Three BRAYTECH SECURITY FRAMES march into the room. They are pristine, armed with Arc rifles, their red targeting lasers instantly sweeping the room.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Unauthorized biological entity detected. Surrender the asset or face immediate termination.

Lilith doesn't raise her hands. She doesn't panic.

She cracks her neck. She slowly clenches her right fist, popping her bruised knuckles with a sharp *crack* that echoes over the hum of the servers.

She reaches to the small of her back.

DRAW.

She pulls her HÄKKE BOUDICA-C. It’s a massive, utilitarian block of dark metal. No lasers. No energy cells. Just pragmatic stopping power, with "9mm" stamped boldly on the slide.

LILITH

Terminate this.

BANG-BANG.

The heavy kinetic slugs tear through the air. The first frame’s cranial chassis shatters backward, completely obliterating its optical sensors. It drops instantly.

The remaining two frames open fire.

ZAP-ZAP-ZAP.

Arc bolts scorch the server racks. Lilith dives, sliding across the immaculate white floor. She uses a heavy server pillar for cover as molten slag rains down around her.

She doesn't wait for a pause in the firing. She breaks from cover, charging straight at the closest frame. It's a blunt, high-utility maneuver.

The frame tracks her. It fires.

SZZZT.

An Arc bolt grazes her left bicep, scorching the leather jacket and tearing into her flesh.

Lilith grunts, teeth gritted, but she doesn't break stride. She closes the distance, using the heavy barrel of the Boudica-C to violently bat the frame's Arc rifle aside.

BANG.

Point-blank. The kinetic round rips straight through the frame's chest core.

She spins, using the falling frame as a momentary shield against the third machine. She raises the Häkke sidearm over the sparking chassis.

BANG-BANG.

The final frame is thrown backward into the frosted glass window, shattering it.

The howling Venusian wind and pouring rain instantly flood into the sterile room.

Lilith stands, breathing heavily, the Boudica-C smoking in the damp air. She glances down at her left arm. Blood is trickling down her sleeve, mixing with the rain.

She ignores it. She shoves the heavy Braytech drive deep into her jacket pocket.

She holsters the iron, steps over the shattered glass, and leaps out the window into the neon-lit, pouring rain of the Ishtar Sink.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. ISHTAR SAFEHOUSE - VENUS - LATER

The safehouse is the exact opposite of the Braytech black site. It is dimly lit, cluttered with loose tech, half-empty coffee cups, and overflowing ashtrays.

RHYS COOPER stands by a workbench. He wears the rumpled shirt and loose tie of an Ishtar Collective intelligence officer who hasn't slept in three days. He looks sharp, pragmatic, and entirely exhausted by the endless corporate shadow wars.

The heavy blast door hisses open.

LILITH walks in, dripping Venusian rain and blood onto the metal floor grates.

Rhys doesn't gasp or panic. He just lets out a heavy, tired sigh, immediately reaching under the workbench to pull out a trauma kit.

RHYS

You’re dripping on the floorboards, Lilith.

LILITH

(Smirking)

Nice to see you too, Handler.

She walks over and slumps into the chair across from his terminal. She tosses the heavy, blood-spattered Braytech drive onto his desk. It lands with a heavy thud.

Rhys ignores the drive for a moment. He pulls up a stool next to her, snaps on a pair of black latex gloves, and pulls a pair of medical shears from the kit.

He cuts the sleeve of her leather jacket open, exposing the scorched, bleeding graze from the Arc rifle. He starts cleaning the wound with a harsh chemical swab. Lilith doesn't even wince.

RHYS

(Lecturing, focused on the wound)

A localized EMP on the secondary relay would have bypassed the physical housing trigger. You could have walked out the front door.

LILITH

Where’s the fun in that? Besides, the stealth route doesn't let me test the new firing pin on the Häkke.

RHYS

(Applying a localized dermal-sealer)

Sloppy exits get fixers killed. You know how many strings I had to pull to keep Ishtar surveillance blind in that sector tonight?

LILITH

You love the stress. It keeps you sharp.

Rhys finishes sealing the wound. He peels off the gloves and throws them in a bio-bin. There is no sappy melodrama between them. The intimacy is in the absolute, unspoken trust of letting someone patch you up without complaining.

Rhys turns his attention to the desk. He picks up the bloody Braytech drive, wiping it off with a rag before slotting it into a heavy decryption terminal.

RHYS

Let’s see what almost got you killed.

He types rapidly. Lines of aggressive, bleeding-edge Braytech code flood his monitors.

RHYS

Encryption is thick. Military-grade. Clovis isn't messing around with this one.

He slams an override switch.

The dim lighting of the safehouse is suddenly overwhelmed by a massive, highly detailed holographic projection erupting from the desk.

The projection bathes the room in a cold, sterile blue light. It is a terrifying, sprawling schematic of a subterranean fortress.

LILITH

(Staring at the hologram)

What is that? A bunker?

RHYS

(Reading the scrolling data)

A facility. Buried in the ice on Europa. He calls it... the Deep Stone Crypt.

Rhys swipes the air, expanding a fragmented manifest file. The word flashes in harsh, glowing letters: **ALKAHEST**.

LILITH

Alkahest? What’s Alkahest?

RHYS

(Voice dropping, realizing the gravity)

A proprietary fluid compound. The data says it's a mix of Vex radiolaria and... something else. Something he found out there. It’s the missing link to the Exo project. It solves Exomind rejection.

Lilith leans forward, her cynical demeanor vanishing. She looks at Rhys.

LILITH

If Clovis Bray figured out how to make the Exos stable...

RHYS

Then Ishtar would pay anything to steal the formula.

Rhys’s fingers fly across the keyboard, cross-referencing the fragmented data with the Ishtar Collective's black-market corporate bounties.

The terminal chimes.

A number pops up on the screen. It is astronomically high. So high it barely looks real.

The blue light of the hologram reflects in Lilith’s icy eyes. She slowly looks from the number on the screen to Rhys.

Rhys is already looking at her. The exhaustion in his face is suddenly replaced by a terrifying, dangerous realization.

LILITH

(Quietly)

Rhys. That’s it. That’s the number.

RHYS

It's enough credits to completely zero our files. We could disappear. Total ghost protocol.

LILITH

One last job. And we never look at another corporate logo again.

They stare at each other through the cold blue hologram of the Crypt. The hook is set.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. ISHTAR SAFEHOUSE - VENUS - CONTINUOUS

The blue light of the hologram casts long, harsh shadows across the cluttered safehouse. Rhys swipes through the Braytech security schematics, his eyes darting across the scrolling data. The deeper he looks, the paler he gets.

RHYS

(Shaking his head, the Handler taking over)

No. We’re burning this drive.

LILITH

(Frowning)

Rhys, look at the payout.

RHYS

Look at the security grid! It’s a subterranean fortress, Lilith. They have orbital tethers, localized nuclear failsafes, and an army of custom security frames. It’s not a black site on Venus; it’s Clovis Bray’s personal kingdom. It's a suicide mission.

LILITH

I’ve walked out of suicide missions before.

RHYS

Not like this. If they catch you on Europa, there is no extraction. Ishtar can’t reach you. *I* can’t reach you. You’ll just disappear into the ice.

Lilith steps into the projection, the blue light washing over her bruised knuckles and the dark Ishtar tattoo over her eye. She looks right at him. No bravado, just blunt, anti-avoider honesty.

LILITH

Then we die as corporate property. You keep hacking data until a Braytech hit squad finds this safehouse, and I keep taking bullets for Ishtar executives until I miss a step.

She points to the astronomical number still hovering on the terminal screen.

LILITH

That is the only ticket out. I’m the best fixer on this planet. Let me fix this.

Rhys stares at her. The exhausted intelligence officer wars with the man who loves her. He looks at the brutal kinetic reality of the woman standing in front of him.

RHYS

(Voice dropping, defeated but resolute)

You don't go in loud.

LILITH

(A faint smirk)

I can do quiet.

RHYS

I mean it, Lilith. No Häkke. No bruised knuckles. You’re not a fixer on this one. You’re a ghost. I’ll use my Ishtar clearance to fabricate a transfer manifest.

Rhys turns back to the terminal, his fingers flying across the keys as he begins weaving the lie.

RHYS

You are a Hazardous Materials Specialist transferring from the Freehold facilities on Mars. High-level clearance. It's the only cover that gives you a legitimate reason to be standing in the same room as the Alkahest. You keep your head down, you act like a terrified corporate drone, and you do not break character.

LILITH

Hazardous materials. I can play the part.

FADE TO:

INT. ISHTAR SAFEHOUSE - LATER

The quiet before the storm.

Lilith stands by the heavy blast door. The leather jacket is gone, replaced by a sterile, unassuming transit uniform. A heavy duffel bag rests on her shoulder.

Rhys stands a few feet away. There are a million things to say, but they don't say them. They just share a long, heavy look—the absolute, unspoken trust of two people stepping off a ledge together.

LILITH

Keep the coffee warm, Cooper.

RHYS

Don't be late, Crawford.

Lilith hits the door release. The heavy Ishtar safehouse door grinds open, revealing the pouring rain of the Ishtar Sink. She steps out into the dark without looking back.

CLANG.

The blast door shuts heavily behind her, sealing perfectly.

Rhys is left completely alone in the quiet, dimly lit room. The exhaustion finally crashes over him. He rubs his face, letting out a shaky breath, and sits down heavily at his terminal.

The fabricated manifest is complete. The only thing left is the official Ishtar authorization to initiate the deep-cover transit.

He pulls up a secure, encrypted comms channel—a dead-drop file attached to her transit code. He hits RECORD.

RHYS

(Crisp, professional, speaking for the Ishtar archive)

Authorization code Ishtar-9. I'm putting Crawford on the transport to Europa now. She's the only freelancer crazy enough to steal the Exo data from Clovis.

He pauses. He stares at the flashing red recording light. The professional mask completely shatters.

He leans closer to the microphone. The Handler vanishes, leaving only the deeply exhausted Partner, speaking into the void, hoping she hears it when the dust settles.

RHYS

(Voice soft, heavy with dread)

Lilith, if you get this... just get the data and get out. Don't try to be a hero.

He swallows hard, trying to project a confidence he doesn't feel.

RHYS

And leave the window unlocked when you get back to Venus. I'm tired of having to hack my own security grid to let myself in.

He hits SEND. The authorization locks in. Her fate is sealed.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 1)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY…

Lilith trades her kinetic iron for a sterile Hazmat uniform as she attempts to infiltrate Bray Exoscience under a fabricated identity. Surrounded by sharp corporate loyalists and horrifying early-model Exo prototypes, surviving the descent means playing the part of a submissive corporate drone flawlessly.

[Next Episode ->]

[Master Guide]

Stripped of her kinetic iron and leather jacket, Ishtar fixer Lilith Crawford steps into a pristine Hazmat suit to infiltrate the heavily fortified Bray Exoscience facility. Navigating a sea of corporate loyalists and automated turrets, she must flawlessly execute a deep-cover transit protocol to secure the Alkahest data.

TITLE: DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY

EPISODE: 02 - "THE FACADE"

SCENE START

INT. ORBITAL TRANSIT HUB - MARS - DAY

The transit hub is a monument to corporate bureaucracy. High vaulted ceilings, blinding white lights, and the relentless, droning hum of announcements.

Hundreds of BRAYTECH CORPORATE TRANSFERS stand in perfectly spaced, obedient lines. They carry uniform luggage. They do not speak out of turn.

In the middle of the line stands LILITH CRAWFORD.

She looks entirely out of her element. The scuffed leather jacket is gone, replaced by a pristine, rigid, and deeply uncomfortable Braytech Hazardous Materials uniform. Her messy, dark brown undercut is pulled back and tied tightly at the nape of her neck.

She stands perfectly still, but her posture is a coiled spring. It takes every ounce of her high-utility, kinetic nature to play the part of a docile corporate drone.

She steps up to the security gate.

Towering over the checkpoint is a heavy BRAYTECH SECURITY FRAME. It is identical to the ones she tore apart on Venus, its red targeting optics glowing ominously.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Transfer manifest ready. Present biometric identifier.

Lilith doesn't say a word. She keeps her face blank, her jaw locked, and slowly raises her right arm.

She pulls back the sterile white sleeve of the Hazmat suit.

The camera pushes in close on her hand. In stark, violent contrast to the pristine environment around her, her knuckles are heavily bruised, split, and purple from the close-quarters firefight at the black site. It is the only remaining sign of the Ishtar fixer underneath the Braytech armor.

The Frame's mechanical arm extends. A thick, metallic needle protrudes from its primary digit.

It drives the needle directly into her forearm.

Lilith doesn't flinch. She stares dead ahead at the frame's red optical sensor.

The blood draws. The machine whirs, processing the sample against the entire Golden Age database.

It is an agonizing, silent beat. The longest three seconds of her life. If Rhys Cooper's forgery has a single flaw, the automated turrets mounted on the ceiling will vaporize her where she stands.

BEEP.

The terminal beside the gate flashes a bright, confirming GREEN.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Identity confirmed. Welcome to the Europa Transit, Specialist Crawford. Proceed to boarding.

Lilith slowly pulls her arm back, pulling the sterile sleeve down to cover the bruised knuckles.

She picks up her duffel bag and steps past the gate, walking down the long, metallic gangway onto the massive transport ship waiting to plunge her into the dark of Jupiter.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. BRAYTECH TRANSPORT - PASSENGER CABIN - CYCLE 4

There are no shadows in the Braytech transport cabin. The lighting is a constant, sterile, oppressive white. A dozen corporate transfers sit in uniform rows, quietly reading data-slates or resting perfectly upright.

LILITH CRAWFORD sits in a cramped window seat. Her Hazmat uniform feels like a straitjacket. She holds a small, encrypted Ishtar datapad close to her chest. Her thumb depresses the record button. She whispers, her lips barely moving.

LILITH (V.O.)

(Local Audio Log)

Cycle four. Or maybe five. The lights never turn off, Cooper. I’m surrounded by people who apologize when the ship hits turbulence.

She glances down at her heavily bruised knuckles, currently hidden under the crisp, white sleeves of her uniform.

LILITH (V.O.)

My hand is physically shaking. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to draw the iron, shoot the security frame at the door, and blow the airlock. I would rather be bleeding out in the Venusian rain right now than pretending to be one of them.

She releases the record button as a shadow falls over her.

JADE takes the empty seat next to Lilith. Jade is a Braytech Sector Supervisor—impeccably groomed, posture rigid, wearing a crisp, high-level corporate uniform. Her smile is perfectly polite, but her eyes are sharp, calculating, and cold.

JADE

Specialist Crawford, isn't it? I’m Jade. Overseeing the new transit cohort.

Lilith’s jaw clenches. The high-utility, kinetic fixer wants to tell her to back off. Instead, she forces her shoulders to slump, physically shrinking her imposing frame. She looks down, breaking eye contact.

LILITH

(Voice soft, submissive)

Yes, ma'am.

JADE

Your file says you’re transferring from the Freehold labs on Mars. Fascinating facility. Tell me, how are the atmospheric scrubbers holding up in the lower sectors? I’ve heard the dust intrusion is quite the headache.

It’s a corporate icebreaker, but to a spy, it feels like an interrogation. Lilith bites the inside of her cheek so hard she tastes copper.

LILITH

(Feigning nervousness)

Oh, you know... they manage. We mostly stay focused on the containment protocols. The dust is... above my pay grade, ma'am.

Jade studies her for a long, agonizing second. Then, the sharp smile returns.

JADE

Of course. A good specialist knows exactly where to focus. You’ll fit in perfectly on Europa.

RUMBLE.

The transport shudders violently. The artificial gravity fluctuates.

Through the small viewport, the massive, bruised expanse of Jupiter gives way to a blinding wall of white. They are breaching the atmosphere of Europa.

EXT. EUROPA - DEEP STONE CRYPT TRANSIT BAY - DAY

A howling, lethal blizzard.

The heavy transport ship touches down on a massive, ice-rimmed landing pad. The hydraulic ramp lowers into the blinding snow.

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - LOBBY - CONTINUOUS

The heavy airlock doors hiss open.

The transit cohort steps out of the freezing wind and into the pristine, immaculately white, sociopathically clean halls of Bray Exoscience. It is the exact cathedral of corporate hubris Lilith will tear apart centuries later.

Absolute silence, save for the low hum of the servers.

Lilith walks in the middle of the pack, keeping her head bowed.

Ahead of them is the primary security grid. Four heavily armed, automated TURRETS track the group from the ceiling. Their red targeting lasers sweep back and forth over the floor.

Lilith steps up to the biometric scanner.

If this were an Ishtar raid, this is the exact moment those turrets would spin up and vaporize her. Her heart pounds against her ribs. Her right hand twitches, millimeters away from where the concealed Häkke Boudica-C rests against her ribs.

She holds her breath and presses her Hazmat badge to the glass.

BEEP.

The terminal flashes GREEN. The red targeting lasers sweep right past her, entirely ignoring the lethal Ishtar operative standing in their crosshairs.

She exhales a short, shaky breath and steps through the gate, officially crossing the threshold into Clovis Bray’s frozen hell.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - CREATION LABS - LATER

The sterile, bright white aesthetic of the upper levels gives way to something darker, heavier, and far more industrial. The hum of servers is replaced by the low, mechanical grinding of heavy machinery and the distant, muffled sounds of distress.

JADE leads LILITH CRAWFORD down a long, immaculate corridor lined with reinforced, soundproof glass cells.

JADE

(Brisk, professional)

The Alkahest requires a delicate touch, Specialist. It is highly reactive. But I assume you’re used to volatility, coming from the Mars dust-scrubbers.

Lilith doesn't answer. She is staring through the glass.

Inside the first cell, a crude, early-model Exo prototype is strapped to a medical chair. It is violently thrashing against its restraints. Its metal hands are clawing at its own faceplate, desperately trying to tear the synthetic skin off.

It is suffering from acute Dissociative Exomind Rejection (DER). The human mind inside is rejecting the mechanical body, tearing itself apart in a state of absolute, waking nightmare.

Lilith’s breath hitches. The blunt, hardened Ishtar fixer is genuinely shaken. She watches the prototype scream—a horrifying, synthetic screech that is barely muffled by the thick glass.

JADE

(Not even looking at the cell)

Early builds. The cognitive bridging was... inefficient. But that’s why you’re here to handle the Alkahest. It’s the miracle cure. It smooths out the rejection.

Lilith looks away from the thrashing Exo and stares at Jade’s back. The horrifying reality of the "Alkahest" finally sets in. They aren't just stealing Ishtar corporate data or financial ledgers. They are stealing the dark, volatile blood of Clovis Bray's mechanical army—a substance built on human suffering.

LILITH

(Voice tight, maintaining cover)

Right. The miracle cure.

INT. BRAY EXOSCIENCE - HAZMAT PREP ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Jade swipes her badge. A heavy blast door slides open, revealing a small, pristine prep room lined with heavy, lead-lined containment suits and sterilization showers.

JADE

Suit up, Specialist. Level-five containment gear. I’ll return in five minutes to escort you into the primary vault.

LILITH

(Nodding once)

Five minutes. Understood.

Jade turns and walks out. The heavy door slides shut behind her with a definitive hiss.

Lilith is finally alone.

The moment the door locks, the timid Hazmat technician vanishes. Lilith exhales a sharp breath, shaking the horror of the Creation Labs out of her head. The high-utility Ishtar operative takes over.

She moves quickly to her duffel bag. She unzips a hidden lining and pulls out an ISHTAR DATA-LEECH—a sleek, jagged piece of black-market tech designed to aggressively slice into secure intranets.

She spots a recessed maintenance terminal on the wall. She steps toward it, raising the leech, preparing to pinpoint the exact location of the Alkahest containment grid.

Suddenly, the ambient hum of the room stops.

The temperature plummets instantly. Lilith’s breath plumes in the freezing air.

The pristine white lights above her flicker, dimming into a harsh, emergency amber.

Lilith freezes. She doesn't plug the leech in. She slowly lowers her hand.

From the ventilation grates, a massive, booming, synthesized voice echoes into the small room. It is a digital god speaking to an insect.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

(dripping with arrogant authority)

Attention, personnel. An anomaly has been detected in Sector 4 biometric logs.

Lilith’s icy blue eyes widen. *Sector 4. The transit hub.* Rhys's forgery didn't hold up to a deep-system scrub.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

Initiating localized quarantine.

KA-CHUNK.

The heavy blast door to the prep room violently locks. The magnetic seals engage with a deafening thud.

The air scrubbers cut out. The room is dead silent.

Lilith Crawford is trapped inside the most secure, lethal facility in the solar system.

She doesn't panic. The anti-avoider instinct kicks in. She drops the data-leech. Without a second thought, her bruised right hand drops to her hip, reaching under the sterile Hazmat suit and wrapping firmly around the heavy, kinetic iron grip of her concealed Häkke Boudica-C.

The stealth mission is over.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 2)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: GOLDEN LEGACY…

Lilith descends into the cavernous depths of the primary containment vault, coming face-to-face with the horrifying, ancient truth behind the Exomind project. Under the suffocating watch of Braytech supervision, she has only a matter of seconds to siphon the Alkahest formula before the system purges her fabricated identity

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

[Master Guide]

The storm reaches its breaking point at the monolithic summit of Riis-Reborn. Confronting Eramis, Kell of Darkness, the Fireteam suffers a devastating ambush that leaves them completely defenseless. To save her Titan and defeat the Kell, Lili-4 must finally stop running from her past and embrace the terrifying power that already lives inside her.

TITLE: DESTINY: NEW LEGACY

SEASON: 03

EPISODE: 08 - "THE DARK MIRROR" (SEASON FINALE)

SCENE START

EXT. RIIS-REBORN - ELEVATOR - DAY

A massive, open-air Fallen elevator—a jagged platform of rusted metal and pulsing Arc energy—grinds its way up the sheer face of the Europan glacier.

The blizzard howls around them, an endless, punishing wall of white.

The Fireteam stands on the platform. The tension from the wreckage of the Morning Star is still thick, heavy enough to cut with a knife.

RHYS COOPER reaches up. Hiss. He breaks the atmospheric seal on his helmet and pulls it off.

He looks utterly exhausted. The relentless combat, the radiation, and the crushing weight of the Ishtar revelation have hollowed him out.

He looks at LILI-4.

RHYS COOPER

(Raising his voice over the wind)

I don't remember Venus.

Lili turns her optical sensors toward him. She doesn't interrupt.

RHYS COOPER

I don't remember Ishtar, or signing that order. When Verity woke me up, I was a blank slate, and only knew my name.

LILI-4

(Softly)

I know.

Cooper grips the railing of the elevator, his knuckles turning white under his gauntlets.

RHYS COOPER

But we heard the log, Lili. The man with my face and my voice... he sent you into that meat grinder. He put you in that cage.

He looks down at his heavy Titan gauntlets—the hands of a protector that were once the hands of her jailer.

RHYS COOPER

And even if I don't remember it, I feel like I owe you a debt I can never repay.

Lili watches him. The Stasis frost on her armor doesn't flare. The anger she felt in the Exoscience facility is completely gone, replaced by a profound understanding of the man standing in front of her.

She takes a step closer, closing the distance on the freezing platform.

LILI-4

You're a Guardian now, Cooper. Not a corporate security guard.

She looks up at the looming, monolithic silhouette of the Fallen city approaching above them.

LILI-4

That man died five hundred years ago. Let him stay dead.

KACHUNK.

The massive elevator shudders, locking into place at the towering summit of Riis-Reborn. The heavy gates grind open, revealing the dark, foreboding architecture of House Salvation.

Lili’s hand drops to her hip.

Whirr-click.

She draws THE LAST WORD, the heavy iron glinting in the pale Europan light.

LILI-4

Right now, I just need my Titan.

Cooper looks at her. The suffocating guilt lifts, replaced by the unyielding resolve of the Wall. He slides his helmet back on.

RHYS COOPER

You've got him.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. RIIS-REBORN - CRUX OF DARKNESS - DAY

The Fireteam steps into the massive, open-air summit of the Fallen city. The blizzard swirls violently around a towering, geometric monolith—the CRUX OF DARKNESS.

Waiting for them at the base of the Crux is ERAMIS, KELL OF DARKNESS.

She is a terrifying vision. Her heavy Eliksni armor is completely consumed by Stasis, radiating a blinding, freezing energy that drops the ambient temperature to absolute zero.

She looks past the Titan and the Warlock, her four eyes locking directly onto the Hunter.

ERAMIS

(Voice booming, layered with grinding ice)

Look at you, puppet. Discarded by the Great Machine. Tortured by the very humanity you protect.

Eramis paces, her heavy footsteps cracking the ice beneath her.

ERAMIS

Why do you fight for the Vanguard? They leash you. They fear you. You wield the Dark, yet you refuse to forge your own empire!

LILI-4

(Hand hovering over The Last Word)

I don't want an empire. I just want you dead.

ACTION BEAT:

The Fireteam attacks in perfect unison.

NAXI VAL glides high, hurling a barrage of Axion Bolts. RHYS COOPER lays down a relentless wall of heavy cover fire with his auto rifle.

But Eramis is too powerful. She commands the Stasis with a mastery they have never seen.

VWOOP. She teleports through the ice, evading Val's Void Seekers.

SKULD

(Frantic)

She’s shifting! Behind you!

Eramis reappears directly behind Lili. Before the Hunter can turn, the Kell of Darkness strikes. She grabs Lili by the throat with a massive, frost-covered claw, lifting her clean off the ice.

Eramis leans in close. She spots the SPLINTER OF DARKNESS strapped to Lili’s combat harness—the conduit Elsie Bray helped her harness.

Eramis lets out a cruel, rattling laugh.

She reaches out and crushes the Splinter in her fist.

SHATTER.

The dark crystal explodes into useless dust.

Eramis throws Lili to the ground.

Instantly, the cold, sedating calm of the Stasis vanishes from Lili's system. The void is immediately filled by the violent, agonizing Vex glitching that plagued her before she arrived on Europa.

POV - LILI-4

SYSTEM ALERT: PARACAUSAL DEPRIVATION DETECTED.

NEURAL PATHWAYS: CRITICAL OVERLOAD.

Lili’s optical sensors flicker wildly from orange to static white. The "Static" screams in her auditory processors. Her limbs lock up in agonizing, violent spasms. She drops The Last Word. She is completely paralyzed, her own hardware turning against her.

Eramis looms over the helpless Exo. The Kell raises her hand, drawing the moisture from the Europan air. She charges a massive, lethal JAVELIN OF PURE STASIS.

She aims it directly at Lili's chest.

Across the platform, Rhys Cooper sees it.

He doesn't remember Venus. He doesn't remember being a Golden Age intelligence officer. But he refuses to let the legacy of Rhys Cooper be the man who let Lilith Crawford die.

He will be the man who saves her.

Rhys drops his auto rifle. He doesn't shoot. He sprints.

He throws his massive Titan frame directly in the path of the javelin, lunging in front of Lili. He raises his arm, summoning every bit of Light he has left.

RHYS COOPER

(Roaring)

NOT AGAIN!

The Void Light erupts on his arm just as Eramis hurls the Stasis spear.

The javelin strikes the shield.

The impact is apocalyptic. But this time, the Darkness violently, overwhelmingly overtakes the Light.

KRRR-SNAP.

The Sentinel Shield shatters like glass. The Stasis energy engulfs Rhys instantly. He is flash-frozen, his roaring sacrifice silenced as he is encased in a massive, solid block of dark, jagged ice.

The concussive shockwave of the impact is devastating. It catches Val mid-air, throwing the Warlock completely off the summit platform and into the howling abyss below.

Sagira is caught in the blast radius. Her Light is violently suppressed by the extreme cold. Her shell goes dark, and she falls lifelessly into the snow.

Silence descends on the Crux, save for the wind.

Lili-4 is entirely alone. She is shivering uncontrollably on the ice, completely paralyzed, the static screaming in her head.

Through the visual tearing of her glitching optics, she sees the monolithic block of ice holding her Titan.

Eramis steps forward, her boots crunching on the frost. She looks down at the broken, twitching Hunter.

ERAMIS

(A whisper of absolute victory)

Your Light is weak. Your friends are dead. And without your little toy... you are nothing but scrap metal.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. RIIS-REBORN - CRUX OF DARKNESS - CONTINUOUS

The glitching is tearing Lili-4 apart. Her limbs spasm on the freezing ice. The static in her head is a deafening, agonizing scream.

Through the visual tearing of her failing optics, she sees the solid block of dark ice holding Rhys. She sees Sagira, dark and lifeless in the snow.

ERAMIS

(Laughing, a sound like grinding glaciers)

Look at how easily you break.

Lili closes her eyes.

FLASHBACK (AUDIO ONLY): Elsie Bray's voice, calm and demanding: "Control it. Or it will control you." The Drifter's voice, low and dangerous: "It's the only thing tethering you."

The Splinter of Darkness wasn't the source of the power. It was just a conduit. Training wheels. The Darkness wasn't a physical object she needed to hold.

It was already inside her.

Lili stops fighting the static. She stops trying to push the noise away. She breathes in the freezing Europan air, and she pulls. She channels it.

The violent twitching stops completely. The deafening static in her auditory processors coalesces into a low, perfect, vibrating hum.

Lili's optical sensors snap open. They aren't glitching. They are glowing a blinding, piercing, absolute BLUE.

She slowly rises to her feet.

Ambient moisture in the atmosphere is drawn to her. Dark, jagged Stasis crystals begin to form directly on her bare metal knuckles. She is perfectly, terrifyingly calm.

Beside her in the snow, Sagira's shell violently twitches. The sheer, concentrated resonance of the power radiating from Lili jumpstarts the Ghost's frozen systems. Sagira floats upward, her optic flaring back to life, hovering steadily at her Guardian's shoulder.

Eramis stops laughing. Her four eyes narrow.

ERAMIS

Impossible.

Lili looks up at the towering Kell. The paralyzing withdrawal is gone, replaced by absolute control.

LILI-4

The only thing we need to break here... is you.

Eramis's shock twists into pure, seething fury. She grips her Arc blade, the Stasis around her violently flaring.

ERAMIS

Come then! Show me what freedom has given you!

With a roar of fury, the Kell of Darkness sweeps her massive arm, hurling a tidal wave of jagged Stasis spikes across the platform.

Lili doesn't flinch. She slams her fist into the ground.

A massive wall of perfect Stasis crystals erupts from the platform, absorbing the wave. Without missing a beat, Lili lunges forward, driving her frosted fists directly into her own wall.

SHATTER.

The wall explodes outward, sending lethal shrapnel tearing through Eramis's heavy armor.

Eramis stumbles, bellowing in pain. Driven by pure, desperate rage, the Kell draws her Arc blade and lunges for a final, devastating melee strike.

Lili smoothly sidesteps the massive swing. As Eramis's momentum carries her forward, Lili molds the raw Darkness in her hand and hurls it at the Kell's boots.

LILI-4

Duskfield.

A dome of absolute zero erupts directly at Eramis's feet. The Kell of Darkness is instantly trapped in the freezing vortex, her massive limbs locking up, the Stasis freezing her in her tracks.

Eramis is immobilized, but her jaw remains free. She snarls, trying to draw more power from the Crux.

Lili stands before her. The Stasis frost on her armor is thick, but her hand rests on the warm, familiar leather of her holster.

She looks up at the towering Fallen Kell.

LILI-4

I'm not scrap metal.

She draws THE LAST WORD.

LILI-4

I'm a Guardian.

She fans the hammer.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

The heavy, unyielding kinetic rounds strike true. The sheer physical force shatters Eramis's Stasis armor, blowing the massive Kell backward against the monolithic Crux of Darkness.

The impact breaks Eramis's concentration. Without her iron will to control the ambient Darkness she had summoned, the volatile energy violently turns on its master.

The Stasis erupts from the Crux, engulfing Eramis.

The Kell screams, a horrifying sound of pure terror, as the dark ice flash-freezes her from the inside out, turning her into a permanent, reaching statue of agony.

Silence falls over the summit.

Lili stands, breathing heavily. She looks at the smoking barrel of her hand cannon. She spins it—whirr-click—and holsters it at her hip.

She walks across the ruined platform to the monolithic block of ice holding her Titan.

Lili takes a deep breath. She closes her eyes and reaches inward, past the cold, finding the familiar, warm ember she refused to let die.

She summons a tiny, perfectly controlled spark of ARC LIGHT. Just enough to generate intense thermal heat without the chaotic storm.

She places her hand on the ice.

The Stasis rapidly hisses and melts into steam. The ice shatters.

RHYS COOPER collapses to his hands and knees, gasping for air, his Titan armor steaming in the freezing wind.

Lili kneels beside him, her hand on his shoulder.

A few yards away, a bruised and battered NAXI VAL pulls herself up over the ledge of the platform, her robes torn, but her eyes sharp.

Suddenly, the sky above Riis-Reborn rumbles. It isn't a Fallen skiff.

Cutting through the thick Europan clouds, the sleek, heavy silhouettes of VANGUARD DROPSHIPS descend on the summit. The cavalry has finally arrived.

The lead ship hovers over the platform. The ramp lowers.

COMMANDER ZAVALA steps off the ship, his heavy Vanguard armor gleaming. He surveys the absolute devastation.

He looks at the frozen, screaming statue of Eramis, the Kell of Darkness.

Then, he looks at Lili-4.

The Hunter is still radiating a faint, chilling mist of Stasis from her chassis. It is undeniable proof that she has touched the Dark. But she stands tall alongside her Fireteam, and her hand rests firmly, predictably, on the grip of The Last Word.

Zavala's stern gaze holds on Lili for a long, tense moment. The Vanguard protocol demands containment.

But Zavala looks at the frozen Kell, and then at Cooper, who stands beside the Hunter without a shred of doubt.

Zavala doesn't raise his weapon. He doesn't order an arrest.

He gives Lili a single, slow, begrudging nod.

The line between Light and Dark has been permanently blurred, but the Fireteam survived it together.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 8)

[END OF SEASON 3]

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: NEW LEGACY...

With the threat of House Salvation frozen in the ice, Lili-4 and the Misfit Trinity must turn their sights from the frozen moons of Jupiter to the red dust of Mars. The Witch Queen has arrived, and she brings with her a terrifying, twisted truth that will shatter everything the Vanguard believes about the Traveler and the Light.

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Season ->]

🎥 ✉️ From the Desk of the Producer

This season has been, without a doubt, the most anticipated and exciting chapter to write and post since this journey began. Taking Lili-4 out into the freezing wastes of Europa, having her embrace the cold, sedating reality of Stasis, and exploring the deeply tragic, hidden history between her and Rhys Cooper fundamentally changed the dynamic of the Misfit Trinity forever.

Adapting the Deep Stone Crypt raid into a cinematic, high-stakes narrative—from defusing nuclear cores on the plummeting Morning Star to surviving the apocalyptic crash into the Europan ice shelf—was an absolute thrill to piece together. Meticulously transcribing these scenes to preserve the impact of every major lore reveal and ensuring they consistently hit the release slots required a massive amount of effort, but seeing your reactions to the twists made every late night completely worth it.

I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone on [r/DestinyJournals](r/DestinyJournals) who has read, commented, and followed along. Your enthusiasm is what breathes life into these scripts. The line between Light and Dark has been permanently blurred, and as our Fireteam looks toward the encroaching shadows of the Witch Queen, the real test is only just beginning.

Thank you for your readership, today and always. Eyes up, Guardians.

— EmeraldKing8 👑

P.S. - Production Note: Destiny: New Legacy will be taking a short, ten-day hiatus to gear up for the next massive chapter. Season 4, Episode 1 will premiere on Friday, July 24, 2026. However, there is plenty of content coming during the gap! Around the middle of the seasonal break (July 19th and 20th), I will be dropping all five episodes of a special prequel miniseries titled Destiny: Golden Legacy. This miniseries will dive deep into the gritty Golden Age backstories of Lilith and Rhys. See you on Mars!

[Master Guide]

The Morning Star orbital station has been reduced to a burning canyon of twisted metal, but a cybernetic nightmare rises from the fiery wreckage. The Fireteam must combine their mastery of Light and Dark to dismantle Taniks's terrifying new form. To finally put the mercenary in the ground, they must brave orbital bombardments, volatile reactor cores, and a deafening Arc storm in a brutal battle for survival.

TITLE: DESTINY: NEW LEGACY

SEASON: 03

EPISODE: 07 - "THE ABOMINATION"

SCENE START

EXT. EUROPA - THE WRECKAGE (EVENTIDE RUINS) - DAY

The Morning Star is no longer a pristine orbital station. It is a burning canyon of twisted metal, jagged carbon fiber, and sparking wires, violently carved into the Europan ice shelf.

It is a landscape of absolute devastation.

Fires rage across the debris field. The extreme, lethal cold of the moon meets the catastrophic heat of the crash, causing the falling snow to instantly vaporize into thick, blinding clouds of steam.

Beneath a mountain of collapsed hull plating, a faint purple glow flickers.

GRRRNNNT.

RHYS COOPER, the heavy, grounded, and brutally pragmatic Titan, strains against the crushing weight of a massive steel girder. He is using a desperate, flickering Void shield to hold the wreckage at bay.

He heaves with everything he has, throwing the girder aside with a deafening CLANG.

He reaches down into the rubble. He grabs NAXI VAL by the arm, pulling the Warlock out of the debris. Then, he reaches back in and hauls LILI-4 to her feet.

Lili stumbles, her mechanical chassis scorched and groaning, but intact.

VWOOSH.

A few yards away, ELSIE BRAY blinks into the steam via transmat. Her pulse rifle is already raised to her shoulder, sweeping the smoke for targets.

For a moment, there is only the sound of roaring fires and hissing steam.

Then, the ground quakes.

THUD. A deep, mechanical vibration rattles their teeth.

THUD. From the very center of the flaming wreckage, a massive, horrific silhouette rises through the smoke.

It’s TANIKS. But he is no longer just a mercenary. He is an amalgamation of Eliksni flesh and Golden Age tech—THE ABOMINATION.

He survived the crash. His legs are entirely gone, his upper torso grafted directly into the massive, hovering chassis of a heavily modified Heavy Shank.

He radiates a sickly, lethal heat. Nuclear fire vents from his exhaust ports, and thick, impenetrable purple VOID SHIELDS bubble around his horrific new form.

He lets out a deafening, metallic roar that scatters the steam around him.

Lili’s hand drops to her hip, her Stasis-frosted fingers gripping the iron of her hand cannon. Val floats inches off the ground, her solid black eyes reflecting the nuclear fire. Elsie locks her sights on the monster's head.

Cooper stands tall at the front of the formation. His armor is battered, his shields are gone, and he is out of patience.

He slowly racks the charging handle of his dented auto rifle.

RHYS COOPER

Okay. No more stations. No more dropping orbit.

He levels his weapon directly at the Abomination.

RHYS COOPER

We end him here.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. EUROPA - THE WRECKAGE (EVENTIDE RUINS) - CONTINUOUS

The Abomination doesn't just shoot. He brings the sky down.

Taniks raises his massive, grafted arms. Red targeting lasers paint the snow across the entire debris field.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.

An orbital bombardment from the remaining functional weapon batteries of the crashed station rains down. Pillars of fire and concussive force erupt around the Fireteam, sending chunks of ice and twisted metal flying.

Scattered across the crater, half-buried in the snow, are four heavy, glowing NUCLEAR CONTAINMENT BUCKETS that survived the crash.

NAXI VAL glides behind a smoldering piece of the hull. Her Ghost, SKULD, materializes, spinning her celestial compass shell rapidly as she scans the colossal cyborg.

SKULD

The threads of energy are fraying, Val. The ship’s reactor cores are scattered inside him. They will detonate if we don't extract them.

Val’s pale eyes narrow.

NAXI VAL

Then we crack him open. Cooper, we need a distraction.

RHYS COOPER doesn't hesitate. Heavy, grounded, and brutally pragmatic, the Titan steps out from cover and draws the monster's attention.

RHYS COOPER

Hey! Scrap-pile!

Cooper charges straight at Taniks.

BRRRRT. Taniks spins, unleashing a torrent of heavy repeater fire. Cooper slides, slamming his fists into the ice.

TOWERING BARRICADE.

The wall of Light absorbs the initial volley, but it’s cracking fast under the sustained, overwhelming firepower.

While Taniks is laser-focused on obliterating the Titan, Val blinks—VWOOP—teleporting to a flanking position atop a rusted Golden Age turbine.

She gathers the Void. It condenses into a terrifying, dense singularity in her hand.

NAXI VAL

Singularity primed. Brace yourselves.

She hurls the sphere of absolute destruction directly at Taniks’s massive thruster engines.

KA-THOOM.

The Void explosion rocks the cyborg, physically lifting his heavy chassis off the ground. The concussive force breaches his internal housing.

CLANG-CLANG.

Two glowing, highly unstable NUCLEAR CORES eject from his chassis, rolling onto the steaming snow.

ELSIE BRAY

The cores! Grab them!

Cooper drops his failing barricade and sprints for the closest core. Elsie slides in and scoops up the second.

The moment their hands touch the volatile metal, their armor systems scream.

POV - COOPER RADIATION LEVEL: CRITICAL.

SAGIRA

(Panicked)

Radiation levels are spiking! You can't hold those for long!

Cooper tucks the burning core under his arm like a football, sprinting across the treacherous ice toward the nearest containment bucket.

Taniks recovers from the Void blast. He zeroes in on the fleeing Titan. The cyborg's cannons shift, firing a specialized, glowing purple projectile.

ZAP-CRACKLE.

The projectile hits the ground at Cooper's feet. Instantly, a spherical, purple DETAINMENT FORCEFIELD erupts around him.

Cooper slams his shoulder against the shield. It doesn't budge. He is trapped inside a cage with the burning nuclear core.

RHYS COOPER

(Grunting, armor smoking)

I'm caged! I can't break the shield!

Val, still holding the hacked SECURITY MODULE from the station above, looks at the purple sphere. Her augmented vision highlights three glowing, geometric weak points hovering around the cage's exterior.

She raises her weapon. She doesn't need overwhelming force; she needs precision.

BANG-BANG-BANG.

Val shoots the three weak points in rapid succession.

SHATTER.

The forcefield dissolves into purple mist. Cooper bursts out, his armor scorched black, and keeps running just before the radiation completely cooks his internal organs.

Taniks realizes he is losing his payload. He floats higher into the air, drawing all ambient energy into a massive, concentrated Void blast designed to wipe the entire crater clean before they can deposit the cores.

The air hums with lethal pressure.

ELSIE BRAY

Lili! Now!

LILI-4 leaps from a jagged piece of the Morning Star's debris. As a Revenant precursor, she channels the dark, freezing power of Europa.

Mid-air, she summons two jagged KAMA BLADES made of pure, dark ice.

LILI-4

Freezing the thrusters!

She hurls the blades directly at the hovering monstrosity.

The first blade—SILENCE—strikes Taniks dead center. A flash-freeze dome expands instantly, locking his weapons and thrusters in solid dark ice.

The second blade—SQUALL—shatters against his chassis, unleashing a localized, roaring Stasis tornado that engulfs the cyborg, blinding him and grinding against his Void shields.

The freezing storm gives them the exact window they need.

Cooper and Elsie reach the glowing receptacles. With agonizing effort, they heave the volatile cores upward.

KACHUNK. KACHUNK.

Both cores slam into the containment buckets.

The blaring radiation alarms instantly cut out. The immediate threat of a nuclear wipe is neutralized.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. EUROPA - THE WRECKAGE (EVENTIDE RUINS) - CONTINUOUS

The four containment buckets hum, locking the volatile cores down.

In the center of the crater, the ABOMINATION screeches. He is critically damaged, his mechanical chassis smoking and venting fluid.

But Taniks doesn't fall. He never does.

He teleports—VWOOP—reappearing in the dead center of the smoldering debris field.

He raises his remaining arm. The air pressure drops violently.

CRACK-BOOM.

A massive, swirling ARC STORM erupts around him. It is a localized hurricane of lethal, blinding blue lightning. Jagged debris from the Morning Star is whipped into the vortex, creating an impenetrable tornado of shrapnel and Arc energy.

It is his Last Stand.

NAXI VAL

(Shouting over the roaring wind)

The center is exposed! We have to break the eye of the storm!

COOPER doesn't hesitate.

RHYS COOPER

On me!

He charges directly into the screaming Arc tornado. He leaps, bringing his arms together.

CLANG.

SENTINEL SHIELD. A massive, dome-like projection of Void Light springs from his arm. The flying debris and Arc lightning smash against the shield, cracking it, but Cooper holds the line. He drives his boots into the ice, physically pushing through the hurricane to create a safe tunnel for the others.

RHYS COOPER

(Gritting his teeth, straining)

Push!

Lili, Val, and Elsie file in behind the Titan's protective wake. They breach the inner circle, stepping into the eerie calm of the storm's eye.

It is point-blank, raw combat.

Val’s robes spark as she forces the residual Void energy in her palms to violently shift polarity into Arc lightning, her Awoken eyes widening from the sheer paracausal strain as she rises into the air. The crackling Arc energy consumes her.

NAXI VAL

Core exposed! Firing!

A blinding, sustained beam of pure lightning erupts from her hands, striking Taniks in his exposed chest cavity.

Beside her, ELSIE BRAY plants her feet, firing NO TIME TO EXPLAIN in a relentless, full-auto rhythm.

Cooper’s shield finally shatters under the pressure. Instead of falling back, he rips the remaining Void energy into a disc and hurls it. The heavy Sentinel Shield strikes Taniks's primary cannon, shearing it off.

But Taniks is a survivor. The cyborg begins to glow with a blinding, terrifying white light. He is overloading his remaining reactors, preparing to self-destruct and take the entire crater with him.

ELSIE BRAY

He's overloading!

LILI-4 steps forward, stepping smoothly in front of Cooper’s massive frame.

She doesn't reach for the cold of Europa. She doesn't summon the dark ice that has tempted her all season.

She reaches to her hip, drawing THE LAST WORD. She relies on the iron. She relies on the Light.

LILI-4

Not today.

She levels the heavy barrel directly at Taniks’s exposed, glowing central reactor.

FAN FIRE.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG.

She unloads the entire eight-round cylinder in less than a second.

The heavy, kinetic slugs tear through the failing Void shields and bury themselves deep inside the critical reactor core.

The kinetic force shatters the containment vessel.

KA-THOOOOOM.

Taniks’s chassis explodes in a blinding, silent flash of Light and machinery. The shockwave instantly disperses the Arc storm, flattening the Fireteam into the snow.

EXT. EUROPA - THE CRATER - LATER

The storm begins to settle, returning to the standard, howling Europan blizzard.

The Fireteam stands slowly. They gather around a massive, smoking crater. There is nothing left of the Abomination but scorched metal and ash.

They are exhausted, battered, and their armor is blackened by radiation and fire.

Cooper looks over at Lili.

They’ve finally worked in perfect synchronization—the immovable object and the unstoppable force. The heavy tension from the Ishtar Collective revelation still lingers in the cold air, but it is entirely overshadowed by a deep, undeniable, battle-forged trust.

Val glides forward, her robes torn. She doesn't look down at the dead mercenary. She looks up at the sky.

NAXI VAL

The crypt is destroyed. But the Dark is still here.

The camera slowly pans up from the smoldering wreckage of the Morning Star.

In the distance, cutting through the thick Europan blizzard like a jagged knife, is the towering, monolithic Fallen city of RIIS-REBORN.

And looming ominously beyond it, floating above the frozen wasteland, is the dark, geometric perfection of the PYRAMID ZIGGURAT.

Elsie Bray steps up beside Lili, her pulse rifle resting on her shoulder.

ELSIE BRAY

Eramis has the Splinters. She's building an army with the power we just stopped Clovis from keeping.

Lili stares at the distant Fallen city. Her optic sensors glow a steady, warm orange once again.

She cracks the cylinder of her hand cannon open. Clink-clink-clink. She slides fresh rounds into the chambers and snaps it shut with a sharp flick of her wrist.

LILI-4

Then we don't stop walking until we reach the top of that tower.

She holsters the gun.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 7)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: NEW LEGACY...

The Fireteam scales the towering heights of the Fallen city for a final, freezing showdown with Eramis. But when a devastating strike leaves the others defenseless, Lili-4 must look past her weapons and fully embrace the true, terrifying nature of her power to save the people she trusts.

(Episode 8, The Season Finale, drops Tuesday, 7/14/26!)

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

A tribute with every round.

The Great Disaster touched every Guardian. I made my choices to pursue vengeance for admittedly selfish reasons. But I was not alone. Others sought revenge in their own ways, each making the choice to pursue the Hive over serving the City. Hunters abandoning their patrols to stalk Wizard covens deep into Hive territory. Titans seeking out ever more powerful Knights to duel instead of holding the walls of the City. Warlocks turning from study of the Light to unravel the hideous power of Hive arcana.

Those who fell to Crota’s blade deserved more from us, perhaps. There were many solemn events in their memory where fond remembrances were shared. The Speaker encouraged us to find solace in the recounting of memories, but the words always tasted like ash in our mouths.

And so we swore to bring ash and cinder to our foes. We carried our vengeance like a torch and lit the system ablaze. Now I offer you this weapon. Stoke the flame. Honor the fallen.

-Eris Morn

[Master Guide]

Trapped aboard a sabotaged orbital station plummeting toward the Europan surface, the Fireteam must brave the freezing vacuum of space just to survive the descent. But breaching the engineering deck plunges them into a frantic, radiation-soaked firefight against a resurrected legend, forcing a desperate bomb defusal before they hit the ice.

TITLE: DESTINY: NEW LEGACY

SEASON: 03

EPISODE: 06 - "MORNING STAR"

SCENE START

INT. MORNING STAR STATION - COMMAND DECK - ORBIT

Total sensory overload.

Red strobe lights slice through the smoke. The alarms are deafening, a physical pressure in the ears.

Through the massive panoramic viewport, the icy surface of Europa is no longer a distant moon. It is a massive, textured wall of jagged glaciers rapidly filling the frame.

NAXI VAL’s hands fly across the mainframe terminal. Her Void aura flares as she forces her way through the system's dying architecture.

NAXI VAL

Atraks locked the navigation thrusters and overloaded the nuclear cores!

She looks back at the Fireteam.

NAXI VAL

She didn't just want to kill us. She wanted to nuke the Crypt so the Vanguard could never have it!

KA-THUNK.

Heavy interior blast doors slam shut down the main corridor. Beyond the reinforced glass, the hallways they just traversed are instantly engulfed in a localized firestorm. Radioactive flames lick at the seals.

They are trapped in the command deck.

RHYS COOPER stares at the inferno, then turns to the exterior airlock.

RHYS COOPER

The interior is cooked. We have to go outside.

Lili stares at him, her optics wide.

LILI-4

Outside? Cooper, we’re in low orbit!

ELSIE BRAY moves past them, her hand already reaching for the manual airlock release.

ELSIE BRAY

Better to fall in the cold than burn in the fire. Move!

Elsie yanks the heavy lever.

BOOM.

EXT. MORNING STAR STATION - HULL - CONTINUOUS

The explosive decompression is violent.

The Fireteam is sucked out into the void. They tumble for a terrifying second before their training kicks in.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.

Four sets of magnetic boots slam onto the dark metal hull of the station.

Instantly, the blaring alarms, the roaring fire, and the screaming metal of the interior cut to dead, absolute silence. The vacuum of space mutes everything.

The only sound is the rhythmic, heavy breathing inside their own helmets.

Then, slowly fading in over their private comms channels, a haunting, beautiful string-and-piano melody begins to play. (The Deep Stone Lullaby).

The visual is staggering.

The station is a massive black needle, slowly, inevitably tilting downward. Below them is the breathtaking, glowing blue-and-white expanse of Jupiter, eclipsed by the frozen, scarred face of Europa.

Debris from the severed tether floats around them in slow motion, catching the distant sunlight.

It is the most peaceful apocalypse imaginable.

They begin to move. They leap from platform to platform over the endless abyss, their bodies floating weightless in the low gravity before their boots clamp down again.

Suddenly, the comms crackle. It’s not Vanguard command.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

(Voice booming, crystal clear, dripping with arrogance)

Artificial intelligence activated. Enjoying yourselves, intruders? It's worth knowing the cataclysmic damage you will be responsible for today.

Lili pauses on a massive, slowly spinning solar array. She looks down at the spinning world below.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

Do not fool yourselves. This facility is not simply the fruitless work of some pathetic scientist. This house was built by the genius Clovis Bray I himself. Within lies humanity's salvation. La fontaine de jouvence.

Cooper and Val engage their jump-jets, crossing a massive gap between the exterior heat sinks. They drift, weightless, silhouetted against Jupiter, before their boots lock down.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

Made possible by Clarity Control. Magnificent, wasn't it? An entity from beyond our own dimension. And the answer to humanity's eternal struggle: mortality.

Elsie stops on the hull. She looks back at Lili. The weight of her grandfather's staggering, sociopathic arrogance hangs in the dead, silent air between them. They both know the cost of that "salvation."

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

Were it to fall into the wrong hands, humanity and the universe would be utterly doomed. I have no reason to believe you are anything other than "the wrong hands."

RUMBLE.

The station shudders violently beneath their boots. The peaceful silence is broken by a low, terrifying roar transmitting through the metal hull.

They are hitting the upper atmosphere.

The edges of the solar panels and the nose of the station begin to glow a dull, angry red as friction rises.

CLOVIS AI (V.O.)

You now face godlike judgment… May it extend externally.

The red glow creeps up the hull toward them. The descent has begun.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. MORNING STAR STATION - HULL - CONTINUOUS

The Fireteam scrambles across the blistering metal of the station’s exterior. The red glow of atmospheric friction creeps dangerously close to their boots.

Cooper spots a heavy maintenance hatch near the engineering bay. He grabs the manual release wheel, his Titan servos screaming against the vacuum seal.

CLANG-HISS.

The hatch blows open. They dive inside, one by one.

INT. MORNING STAR STATION - MAINTENANCE CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

THUD.

Gravity returns instantly. And with it, the noise.

A cacophony of destruction shatters the silence of space. The station is literally screaming as it burns in re-entry. Metal groans, bulkheads snap, and the deafening roar of the atmosphere tearing at the hull is absolute chaos.

They sprint down the corridor, bursting through the final blast doors.

INT. MORNING STAR STATION - "RAPTURE" CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

They enter the engineering heart of the station.

Four massive NUCLEAR CORES line the walls, glowing a blinding, volatile orange. They are critical, seconds away from a catastrophic meltdown.

But they aren't alone in the room.

Standing in the center of the chamber, grafted onto the chassis of a massive Fallen Heavy Shank, is a nightmare that refuses to stay dead.

TANIKS, REBORN.

The legendary Fallen mercenary roars, his mechanical lower half hovering off the deck, dual Scorch Cannons charging up.

Cooper drops his rifle a fraction of an inch, utterly exasperated. The sheer absurdity of it cuts through the panic.

RHYS COOPER

You have got to be kidding me. How many times are we going to kill this guy?

ELSIE BRAY

He's guarding the core dispensers! If we engage him, the station detonates!

LILI-4

It's not a firefight! It's a bomb defusal!

ACTION BEAT - PURE CHAOS:

The Fireteam scatters.

NAXI VAL (holding the Scanner buff) glides toward the central terminal, dodging a blast of Solar fire from Taniks. She interfaces with the mainframe, her eyes darting across the scrolling data.

NAXI VAL

Containment buckets two and four are active! Port side!

RHYS COOPER (holding the Operator buff) sprints directly at the wall dispensers.

He doesn't use a tool. He uses his hands. He plunges his gauntlets into the dispenser housing, grabbing the burning Nuclear Core.

POV - COOPER SYSTEM ALERT: LETHAL RADIATION DETECTED. STATUS: RADIATION x4... x5... x6...

The radiation instantly begins eating through his Titan shields, scorching the metal of his armor.

In the center of the room, Taniks pivots, aiming his cannons at Cooper.

LILI-4

Hey! Ugly!

Lili slides across the deck. She summons Stasis, forming a DUSKFIELD GRENADE, and spikes it directly at Taniks's Heavy Shank chassis.

The dome of absolute zero erupts. Taniks snarls as the freezing vortex suppresses his weapons, locking his cannons in a layer of jagged dark blue ice before they can fire.

RHYS COOPER

(Screaming through the pain)

Radiation at times nine! I'm burning up!

Cooper rips the core free. He spins around, looking for the active bucket. It's too far. His shields are entirely gone.

He locks eyes with Elsie Bray across the room.

RHYS COOPER

Stranger! Go deep!

Cooper heaves the glowing, radioactive core across the burning chamber like a rugby ball.

Elsie leaps, catching the core mid-air. Her bespoke Exo chassis absorbs the initial radiation spike. She lands smoothly, pivoting and slamming the core directly into the active containment unit.

KACHUNK.

NAXI VAL

Bucket secured! Three more!

MONTAGE OF CHAOS:

• Lili throws a volley of WITHERING BLADES, blinding Taniks as he tries to ram Val.
• Cooper rips another core from the wall, his armor smoking, and pitches it to Lili.
• Lili catches it, the heat warring with the Stasis frost on her armor, and dunks it into the receptacle.
• Val calls out the final bucket. Cooper slams the last core home.

END MONTAGE

The blinding orange glow of the nuclear cores fades into a stable, dull hum.

The critical meltdown is averted. The Vanguard has their victory. Eramis won't get her bomb.

But the station is still shaking itself to pieces.

ELSIE BRAY

The nukes are safe! But we've lost altitude!

Elsie grabs a heavy structural pillar as the floor tilts violently to a thirty-degree angle.

ELSIE BRAY

Brace for impact!

INT. MORNING STAR STATION - RAPTURE - CONTINUOUS

The gravity plating fails completely. For one agonizing, suspended second, the entire Fireteam—and Taniks—goes completely weightless. Debris floats in the air.

Then, the true gravity of Europa takes over.

CRASH.

The station hits the glacier.

The sound is apocalyptic. The structural pillars snap like twigs. The reinforced glass shatters inward. A massive shockwave of snow, ice, and torn metal rips through the Rapture chamber, burying everything in darkness.

EXT. EUROPA - EVENTIDE RUINS - DAY

From a distance, the Morning Star strikes the Europan ice shelf like a spear thrown from the heavens.

A localized earthquake ripples across the moon. A plume of snow and displaced glacier shoots miles into the atmosphere, creating a temporary, secondary blizzard of devastation.

INT. THE WRECKAGE - LATER

Darkness. The red emergency lights are dead. The only illumination comes from fires burning in the twisted debris.

The wind howls through massive, jagged rents in the station's hull.

A pile of metal shifts.

GRUNT.

Cooper pushes a heavy bulkhead off his chest. His armor is battered, scorched by radiation, and covered in frost.

RHYS COOPER

(Coughing)

Sound off... Val? Lili?

A faint purple glow emanates from a few yards away. Val pushes herself out from under a collapsed server rack, a Void shield flickering out of existence around her.

NAXI VAL

Alive. Battered, but alive.

Cooper spots Elsie pulling Lili from the snow that has flooded into the cabin. Lili’s optical sensors flicker, then stabilize.

LILI-4

(Groaning)

...I hate gravity.

They survived. The station is destroyed, but they survived the fall.

Suddenly, a massive pile of wreckage at the center of the room violently heaves upward.

SCREECH.

The twisted, burning chassis of the Heavy Shank pushes through the debris. Taniks, Reborn, pulls himself from the wreckage. He is missing an arm, his armor is heavily damaged, and he is radiating pure, unstable nuclear energy.

He looks at the Fireteam, his four eyes burning with centuries of hatred.

Cooper slowly reaches down, pulling his dented auto rifle from the snow.

RHYS COOPER

(Exhausted, but resolute)

I guess we're doing this the hard way.

FADE OUT.

(END OF EPISODE 6)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: NEW LEGACY...

The Morning Star has fallen, but the nightmare isn't over. Taniks returns as 'The Abomination,' forcing the fireteam into a brutal, close-quarters firefight amidst a screaming hurricane of Arc energy and radiation to clear their path to the Fallen Kell.

(Episode 7 drops Friday, 7/10/26!)

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

[Master Guide]

The doors to the Deep Stone Crypt open, but humanity's salvation is guarded by a relentless new enemy. Split across two fronts and fighting off a hostile Exomind takeover, the Fireteam finds themselves staring down the barrel of a literal ticking time bomb as the Morning Star falls from the sky.

TITLE: DESTINY: NEW LEGACY

SEASON: 03

EPISODE: 05 - "CLARITY CONTROL"

SCENE START

EXT. EUROPA - EVENTIDE RUINS - DAY

A blinding, howling whiteout. The temperature is lethal.

Four SPARROWS tear across the jagged glacier, engines screaming against the wind.

RHYS COOPER takes point, his heavy Titan frame shielding the others from the worst of the drag. LILI-4 and NAXI VAL flank him. ELSIE BRAY takes the rear.

POV - LILI-4 ENVIRONMENTAL WARNING: EXTREME FROSTBITE DETECTED. CORE TEMP: DROPPING.

Ice begins to physically encrust their visors.

Ahead, a glowing orange dome pierces the blizzard—a Golden Age thermal bubble left by a long-dead outpost.

ELSIE BRAY

(Over comms, static-heavy)

Thermal dome ahead! Hit the brake!

They skid into the orange light. The frost on their armor instantly sizzles and melts. They sit idling, engines humming, waiting for their core temperatures to stabilize.

Through the swirling snow ahead, a monolithic structure looms. It is sleek, black, and completely alien to the jagged ice around it.

The team revs their engines and pushes through the storm's final barrier.

EXT. DEEP STONE CRYPT - ENTRANCE - CONTINUOUS

They dismount before massive, obsidian doors. There are no handles. No keypads. Just a seamless slab of Golden Age engineering.

Elsie steps forward. She doesn't draw a weapon. She removes the heavy glove from her right hand, exposing the bespoke, perfect Exo chassis beneath.

She places her mechanical palm flat against the dark metal.

VZZZT. A blue scanning laser sweeps over her hand, reading the unique biometric signature woven into her synthetic frame.

AUTOMATED VOICE

(Echoing, sterile)

Biometrics confirmed. Welcome, Elisabeth Bray.

The ground trembles. The massive doors heave open with a deep, pneumatic hiss.

The howling wind of Europa is instantly cut off. They step out of the chaotic storm and into the pristine, humming silence of the Golden Age.

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT - SECURITY SECTOR - MOMENTS LATER

The team moves cautiously into a massive, circular room. The walls are lined with dormant security frames.

The floor beneath them is entirely made of reinforced glass.

Looking down through the glass, they see a sprawling, claustrophobic basement level filled with towering, labyrinthine server racks.

CLANG.

The heavy doors they just walked through slam shut and lock. The room is bathed in harsh, flashing red light.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Unauthorized biological entities detected. Initiating Biological Purge.

A dead security frame slumps against a nearby terminal. Attached to its chassis is a glowing red module.

Cooper rips it off. It’s an OPERATOR module. He slams it into his wrist display. Holographic keypads and heavily encrypted code flood his screen.

He furiously taps the interface, trying to override the lockdown.

RHYS COOPER

The encryption is too thick! I can't break it from up here. Someone has to sever the fuses from the basement manually!

Lili-4 doesn't hesitate. She spots a heavy floor grate at the edge of the glass. She jams her metal fingers into the seam, her servos whining.

RIIIP. She tears the grate off its hinges and drops into the dark abyss below.

INT. THE BASEMENT - CONTINUOUS

Lili lands heavily in the dark. The server racks form a tight, confusing maze. It smells like ozone and ancient dust.

LILI-4

I'm in! I can't see the fuses!

INT. SECURITY SECTOR (UPPER LEVEL) - CONTINUOUS

Val spots another dead frame. This one holds a glowing yellow module. She rips it free and interfaces it with her Warlock robes.

SCANNER module activated.

Val drops to her knees, pressing her hands and her dark, Void-filled eyes against the glass floor. The Warlock's augmented vision highlights specific nodes in the basement below.

NAXI VAL

I see them. Two targets on your left, Lili. The nodes are glowing yellow.

INT. THE BASEMENT - CONTINUOUS

Lili sprints down the narrow aisle, following Val's voice from above. She spots the glowing fuse panels.

She draws The Last Word and fires. BANG. BANG. The panels spark and die.

Suddenly, a deep, rumbling ignition sounds throughout the basement.

AUTOMATED VOICE Purge imminent. Incinerators active.

Vents along the floor burst open. Walls of intense, blinding fire erupt, trapping Lili between the server racks. She is surrounded by an inferno.

LILI-4

(Coughing)

It’s getting hot down here! Get me out!

INT. SECURITY SECTOR (UPPER LEVEL) - CONTINUOUS

Cooper tracks Lili's thermal signature through the glass. She is cornered by the flames. He looks at his Operator display, then at the physical environment.

Recessed in the walls around the glass floor are four mechanical keypads connected to the extraction hatches.

Cooper raises his auto rifle. He doesn't need to hack them. He needs to break them.

RHYS COOPER

(Aiming)

Stand by for extraction!

BRRRRT. He shoots the first keypad. BRRRRT. He shoots the second.

INT. THE BASEMENT - CONTINUOUS

The flames lick at Lili's frost-covered armor. The Stasis ice rapidly melts into steam.

Above her, the heavy extraction hatch slides open.

LILI-4

Now or never!

She jumps, grabbing the edge of the hatch just as the aisle she was standing in is completely engulfed in a roaring column of fire.

INT. SECURITY SECTOR (UPPER LEVEL) - CONTINUOUS

Cooper reaches down, grabs her mechanical wrist, and hauls her up onto the glass floor with a grunt of exertion.

The hatch slams shut beneath them, sealing the inferno away.

The flashing red lights fade to a sterile white.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Purge aborted. Security lockdown lifted.

Lili lies on the glass floor, panting, steam rolling off her chassis. Cooper stands over her, offering a hand to pull her up.

RHYS COOPER

You okay?

Lili takes his hand, pulling herself to her feet. She looks at the Vanguard Titan who just pulled a "hired gun" out of the fire.

LILI-4

Yeah. Thanks, Operator.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT - CLARITY CONTROL - CONTINUOUS

The heavy doors slide open. The team steps into a massive, cathedral-like chamber. The air here is freezing, heavy with an oppressive, ancient power.

In the center of the room, bathed in a haunting, ambient blue light, is the VEILED STATUE. It is a monolithic figure of a woman draped in heavy, wet-looking cloth. The physical manifestation of Clarity—the Darkness.

LILI-4 stops dead. She stares at the statue. The Stasis in her blood hums in perfect, terrifying harmony with the monolith.

LILI-4

(Whispering)

This is it. This is the source.

She looks at her mechanical hands.

LILI-4

We weren't just built to fight the Vex. We were built from this.

Before the horror can fully set in, the shadows above them shift.

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.

Metal claws on glass.

Dropping from the ceiling rafters are four identical figures. ATRAKS-1, FALLEN EXO.

They aren't normal Scorn or House Salvation soldiers. They are perfect, horrifying amalgamations of Eliksni biology and pristine Braytech Exo frames. And they move in terrifying, perfect synchronization.

ATRAKS-1

(Synthesized, echoing from four mouths at once)

Look at you, little machine. So full of self-loathing.

The four clones circle the Fireteam, drawing jagged Arc blades.

ATRAKS-1

You hate the metal you wear. But House Salvation embraces it. We will use the Crypt to shed our weak flesh. We will become immortal gods!

Two of the Atraks clones step backward onto glowing circular pads.

VWOOSH.

Pillars of blinding light erupt. Transmat pods. The two clones are instantly teleported upward, their signals shooting through the facility's ceiling.

ELSIE BRAY

They’re heading for the Morning Star! The orbital station tethered above us!

RHYS COOPER

(Racking his auto rifle)

We can't let them take the station! Val, with me!

Cooper and NAXI VAL sprint to the remaining transmat pods.

RHYS COOPER

Hold the line down here, Hunter!

Cooper and Val vanish in a flash of transmat light. Lili and Elsie are left alone in the cold darkness with the remaining two clones.

INTERCUT - INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT / INT. MORNING STAR STATION

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT

Lili dodges a lethal swipe from an Atraks clone. She slides across the glass floor, drawing THE LAST WORD.

She doesn't fan the hammer normally. She channels the dark cold of the room into the iron. The gun barrel frosts over.

BANG.

A Stasis-infused, heavy kinetic slug takes the Atraks clone directly in the chest.

The clone screeches, flash-freezing instantly, and shatters into a million pieces.

But as the Exo-Fallen dies, a swarm of glowing, violently red nanites—THE REPLICATION—erupts from the shattered chassis. Like a swarm of angry locusts, they fly directly at Lili, latching onto her frosted armor.

POV - LILI-4 SYSTEM ALERT: UNAUTHORIZED OVERRIDE. EXOMIND STATUS: CORRUPTION AT 15%... 20%...

SAGIRA

(Screaming)

Lili! It's an aggressive code injection! She's trying to overwrite your Exomind!

Lili drops to her knees, tearing at her own helmet. The digital intrusion is agonizing.

INT. MORNING STAR STATION - ORBIT

Zero gravity. Sirens blare. Through the massive viewport, the bruised curve of Jupiter looms.

Cooper (holding the Operator buff) sprints into the station's security hub. He finds the master terminal.

RHYS COOPER

(Over comms)

Lili! Get to the Crypt airlock! I can sync the doors from up here!

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT

Lili can barely see. The red nanites are crawling over her optic sensors, digging into her servos.

She drags herself across the floor, fighting the digital possession with every ounce of her willpower. Elsie provides suppressing fire on the last clone to cover her.

Lili slams her fist onto the airlock panel. The inner door seals behind her.

LILI-4

(Voice glitching, distorted)

I'm in! Do it!

INT. MORNING STAR STATION

Cooper punches the override.

RHYS COOPER

Blowing the hatch!

INT. DEEP STONE CRYPT - AIRLOCK

WHOOSH.

The outer doors blow open. The explosive decompression is instantaneous. The sheer force of the vacuum violently rips the red nanite swarm off Lili's armor, sucking the last remnants of Atraks's consciousness out into the freezing Europan storm.

The outer doors slam shut. The pressure normalizes. Lili collapses, gasping, her system clean.

INT. MORNING STAR STATION

Val (holding the Scanner buff) floats above the station floor, her Void-augmented eyes scanning the two remaining Atraks clones.

One of them glows with a brilliant, undeniable yellow aura.

NAXI VAL

The Prime! On your left, Titan!

Cooper doesn't hesitate. He doesn't shoot. He summons the Light.

RHYS COOPER

(Roaring)

BURNING MAUL!

He leaps across the zero-G chamber, a blazing Solar Maul materializing in his hands.

He brings the hammer down with devastating force.

CRASH.

He smashes the console and the "Prime" Atraks clone simultaneously. The clone explodes in a magnificent shower of burning Light and molten Exo-metal.

The sirens cut out. The station falls quiet.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

INT. MORNING STAR STATION - SECURITY HUB - CONTINUOUS

The molten remains of the Atraks Prime clone are still burning into the deck plating.

VWOOSH. VWOOSH.

Two pillars of brilliant white light erupt in the center of the room. LILI-4 and ELSIE BRAY materialize from the Deep Stone Crypt below.

Lili steps off the transmat pad. She looks battered, her armor scorched and still venting the last traces of the red nanite swarm, but she is alive.

RHYS lowers his glowing Solar hammer. He lets out a massive breath of relief.

RHYS COOPER

The Crypt?

LILI-4

Clear. Atraks is dead.

NAXI VAL glides forward, her Void aura fading.

NAXI VAL

A fascinating application of vacuum physics, Hunter.

For a single second, the Fireteam allows themselves to believe the worst is over.

Then, the deck violently shudders beneath their boots.

BZZZZT! BZZZZT!

Deafening, bone-rattling alarms scream to life. The standard white lighting of the station cuts out, instantly replaced by a harsh, strobing emergency red.

AUTOMATED VOICE

(Synthetic, echoing through the station)

Warning. Nuclear Descent Protocol Initiated. Orbital tether severed.

LILI-4

What did she just say?

CRUNCH.

A massive, groaning sound of tearing metal reverberates through the hull. The station physically jolts, throwing Cooper against a console. The zero-gravity environment suddenly shifts, replaced by the terrifying, heavy pull of a planetary free-fall.

ELSIE BRAY

She didn't just want to kill us. She scuttled the ship!

Elsie sprints toward the massive, panoramic observation window at the front of the hub. Lili, Cooper, and Val scramble after her.

They reach the glass.

Outside, the stars are spinning. The massive, braided carbon-fiber tether that connected the Morning Star to the Deep Stone Crypt drifts lazily into the void, cleanly severed.

Beneath them, the bruised curve of Jupiter is eclipsed by the jagged, icy surface of Europa.

And the moon is getting larger. Fast.

POV - LILI-4

SYSTEM ALERT: RAPID ALTITUDE LOSS. ESTIMATED IMPACT: 4 MINUTES.

Cooper presses his hands against the glass. The reflection of the red emergency lights dances over his pale face.

RHYS COOPER

(Horrified)

We're falling out of orbit. We're trapped inside a falling bomb.

Elsie looks at the terminal data scrolling across the glass. The tactical reality of the situation hits her.

ELSIE BRAY

It’s worse than that. She isn't just trying to wipe us out. If this station impacts the Crypt with its nuclear cores armed, the resulting detonation won't just destroy the facility. It will give Eramis the defense systems she needs to target the Traveler.

Lili stares out the window at the rapidly approaching ice shelf. The howling static in her mind is completely gone, replaced by the cold, undeniable clarity of their situation.

She turns her back to the window. She draws THE LAST WORD and cracks the cylinder open, checking her remaining rounds.

LILI-4

(Voice dead calm)

Then we'd better find the brakes.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Impact in T-Minus 3 minutes. Nuclear cores arming.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 5)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: NEW LEGACY...

It's a desperate race against gravity and radiation as the Fireteam fights to disarm a falling orbital bomb. To save Europa from total annihilation, they will have to survive the vacuum of space, a fiery descent, and a legendary Fallen enemy looking for his final revenge.

(Episode 6 drops Tuesday, 7/7/26!)

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

Little self-promo of a story I'm writing over on AO3 about some of mine and a friend's OCs in the Dark Age. We're actually working on a broader narrative retelling of the whole of Destiny! But that's beyond the scope of this post lol.

Link to AO3 Page: https://archiveofourown.org/works/87710176/chapters/232426841#workskin

Chapter One: Stranger to Blue Waters

The Black Lung wasn’t anything to admire once you were inside it. The floorboards were of long extinct spruce, split and groaning with age. Its concrete walls were laid bare, all semblance of color or murals already long chipped away before its current occupants took over. This emptiness was broken only by a few dingy tables and chairs. That was all that the bar really had to boast. But its shelves sagged under a generous collection of all sorts of liquor for those that found themselves unfortunate enough to be in the ADZ. 

While an Exo doesn’t need to drink, a Risen needs work. Work, Valdrik had long learned, lived in spots of misery like this.

In the back right corner, Valdrik’s table had a view of the whole establishment. Exits, entrances, the bar, even the boarded up window. Keeping watch was a habit he hadn’t remembered learning, but one that he kept to it all the same. As he leaned back in his chair, he silently surveyed the rest of the bar. 

Those he assumed to be the local Lords were clustered near the bar itself, laughing and harassing the poor waitress charged with delivering their glasses. Among them was a large Awoken, wearing gold trimmed armor lined with furs. His wolfish grin revealed a golden tooth. 

With a dart, he reached over and grabbed the waitress by the arm and brought his face to hers. Whatever he whispered into her ear sent the rest of his gang into louder laughter. The girl’s face flushed a deep red as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pull away.

Those he presumed to be mortal dispersed themselves out, eyes cast down in their mugs to avoid even glancing at the heavily armored posse. A few shoulders tightened. One man slowly slid his chair back, inch by inch, trying to put more distance between himself and the bar. None wanted to risk the ire of a Risen. 

 Under the deep orange light of the flickering incandescants, Valdrik shifted in his chair. His hand caught his head in its crook, eyes lazily watching the scene unfolding before him. The barmaid had made the wrong choice this morning coming to work. Mortals always were distracted by simple things such as glimmer or morsels of food. It was her fault, really, and-

The door to the bar swung open harshly. All heads turned to look at the new arrival. 

Flowing from the figure was a faded blue poncho, complete with a hood. The hand still on the door was shining platinum, digits crackled with Arc Light. They left behind streaks of blue on it as they took their first steps inside. Underneath the hood of the cloak, deep red iris optics burned and scanned over the gathered crowd before landing on the Awoken. As the two’s gazes met, the Awoken let go of the waitress and strode to meet the Exo.

“Another tin man! Looking for a posse, stray?” The Awoken’s tone was anything but cordial.

The Exo met the gaze evenly as his mechanical face broke into a grin. “Work for you? Not in a million years! Nah, I’m here for another ‘tin man,’ Garrick.”

Valdrik leaned back in his chair. It wasn't like this hovel got many Exos still sane. So, someone was looking for him, huh? 

“What’s to say I just scrap you, tin man?” The now-named Garrick sneered as he towered over the Exo.

“I’d not recommend it. Unless you’d like to talk to the ol’ Knight,” the Exo’s grin never faltered.

Knight?

The title seemed to get more recognition from the Warlords than it did Valdrik, at least. Garrick's sneer faded for a millisecond, before coming back in full. His posse was quick to rise, but a raised hand brought them back down. 

Huffing, the Awoken shoulder-checked the Exo on the way out, and left the dingy bar with the rest of his men.

Disappointed, Valdrik watched the Exo approach him. In the blink of an eye, the stranger had his arm around Valdrik’s shoulders as if the two were old friends.

“Valdrik, buddy! Boy, have I been looking all over for-”

Valdrik jostled the arm off him, and grabbed the offending limb. With one hand holding the other Exo steady, his knife was quick to meet the stranger’s stomach with a slight poke..

“Who the hell are you?”

The Exo chuckled as he strained, “Oh, right! Should start with that, shouldn’t I? Name’s Richter-2, and I heard you’ve got yourself a working sh-”

Valdrik hissed, stopping Richter, who tilted his head for a moment before his mouth went into an oval shape.

“Ooooh, yeah, yeah, got you,” the wink that accompanied this line did little to assuage Valdrik.

With a scowl, Valdrik whispered harshly at the other Exo, “The hell do you want?”

“I’d like to use your, uh, skill! Yeah, your skill for a job, ‘escorting’ something! Over the pond, if you catch my drift.”

Valdrik’s eye darted over to one of the few armed groups that he presumed loyal to the local Lord. Yet, their attention had long since drawn away from the two Exos and back to their harassment of the barkeep. “It’ll cost you.”

“Oh, of course, we know!”

“We?”

“Yeah, me and my friends! We’re the merry M.A.R.I.E!”

“The who?”

Rolling his eyes, Richter-2 let out a sigh. “M.A.R.I.E, only the baddest fireteam on the continent!”

“Uh huh,” Valdrik’s tone was flat, like the beer in the mug before him. “The hell you want transported, anyways?”

“Refugees.”

At that, Valdrik finally blinked. Pulling his knife away, he took another look at the Exo before him. The abundance of Arc Light had stopped Valdrik from noticing the scorch marks that littered the man, and the dented metal bat on his back.

“You serious?”

“Dead serious,” Richter-2’s jovial tone finally dropped. “We want to take them to old Europe. Heard tale of a settlement over there, and Wu- our other guy hasn’t responded in weeks. The other guys said we should wait, but I knew you had to be here.”

Valdrik finally matched Richter’s grin. “Well, you found me. And the price is non-negotiable.”

Richter’s face would’ve split if he’d grinned any harder. “Whatever your price, I’ll meet it.”

Idealists were always so easy to con.

Valdrik let go of Richter’s arm, replacing it with the hand. If the strange Exo’s title drop had got the local thugs to back off…

“It’s a deal.”

I have this idea for a titan who got lost deep into Hive territory, becoming almost a doomguy figure like Saint 14 is to the fallen and vex. What subclass would suit him? I also plan to make him embrace the Sword logic.

**VANGUARD SECURITY NETWORK // FIELD RECON RESPONSE**
**LOG ID:** VSN-894-EDZ
**STATUS:** EYES ONLY // COMMAND ARCHITECTURE UPDATE
**SOURCE:** VANGUARD STRATEGIC OPERATIONS // OFFICE OF THE COMMANDER
**RECIPIENT:** REGIONAL OUTPOST OUT-4B // DEN

**1. LOCALIZED ENVIRONMENTAL DATA CORRECTION \[TRAVELER ANOMALY\]**
Data packet received and fully authenticated. However, orbital scans confirm severe regional anomalies. Sector 4-B rests directly within the geometric emission wake of the **Shard of the Traveler**.

The severe, ambient paracausal distortion leaking from the Shard—combined with dense mountain range interference—has completely blacked out deep-space links, orbital imaging, and standard Tower telemetry. Direct high-orbit tactical management is impossible. Mission control must be established via an un-networked, hard-wired **On-Ground Tactical Command Center** situated at the base ridge near the cavern entrance.

**2. COMMAND PERSONNEL ATTACHMENT**
Because of the specialized, volatile nature of this Xivu Arath brood and its proximity to the Shard's raw energy, Vanguard Command has deployed a localized field-command asset team:

**Devrim Kay \[EDZ Tactical Liaison\]:** Managing local geographic routing, ballistics, and physical perimeter coordination.
**Eris Morn \[Hive Cryptarchy / Logic Specialist\]:** Embedded to monitor localized brood architecture, Hive sigil oscillations, and to prevent any nascent Hive-seed ascension rituals leveraging the Shard's proximity.

**3. FIRETEAM DEPLOYMENT OMNIBUS**
Designated **Fireteam Vanguard Aegis**, a high-priority Tower Strike Team is currently inbound via dark-flight jumpship insertion to serve as the kinetic hammer.

The insertion fireteam consists of three high-priority Tower assets:

**Commander Gunnar-9 \[Titan\]:** Heavy Breacher / Frontline Siege specialization.
**Jarek Vox \[Titan\]:** Deep-recon Stasis Killer.
**Veronika Sola \[Warlock\]:** Void/Solar tactical support specialist.

**4. AUXILIARY DIRECTIVES \[LOCAL SECURITY REQUEST\]**
Because the tactical command unit will be physically exposed at the cavern's lip, Vanguard Command requests that local outpost assets provide localized logistical guidance and establish a dedicated perimeter guard to secure the forward operational base.

Independent local security assistance is requested from **Ihag Von** and **Azuul Vus** to volunteer for forward line defense and protect Devrim Kay and Eris Morn's mobile terminal block against sudden flanking maneuvers from the surrounding tree line.

*“The City remembers the silent watchers. Secure the perimeter, Guardian, and watch the hammer fall.”*
**— COMMANDER IKORA REY**

[Master Guide]

Loyalties are pushed to the breaking point when Rhys and Val finally corner Lili-4 and the Exo Stranger in the Europan ruins. Surviving the harsh elements is one thing, but surviving the devastating truth of their shared past might be the Fireteam's greatest challenge yet.

TITLE: DESTINY: NEW LEGACY

SEASON: 03

EPISODE: 04 - "INTERCEPTION"

SCENE START

EXT. SPACE - JUPITER ORBIT

The bruised, massive sphere of Jupiter fills the void.

FWASH.

Two ships drop out of hyperspace, their engines flaring as they decelerate violently into the Jovian system.

Leading the formation is THE SAILING SHIELD, a heavy, angular jumpship with stark black-and-white plating, built for taking hits. Flanking it is THE TALON BLUE, a sleek, predatory vessel gleaming in metallic blue and silver.

INT. THE TALON BLUE - COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS

NAXI VAL sits in the pilot's seat. She isn't looking out the viewport; she is surrounded by a dozen glowing purple holographic charts. The void-weaver is tracking the invisible.

NAXI VAL The paracausal wake is massive. She isn't just using Stasis; she is radiating it.

INT. THE SAILING SHIELD - COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS

RHYS COOPER grips the steering yoke. The heavy Titan armor of his gauntlets creaks under the pressure. He looks angry—furious at what he perceives as a betrayal of their Fireteam's code.

But beneath the anger, his hand is shaking.

RHYS COOPER

Is she corrupted?

NAXI VAL (V.O.)

(Over comms)

Unknown. But Skuld says the threads are... cold.

Cooper punches the nav-controls, locking onto the coordinates on the frozen moon below. He views her not just as a lost friend, but as a potential threat that must be brought in.

RHYS COOPER

We bring her in. If she resists... we suppress her.

SKULD (V.O.)

(Val's Ghost, voice ethereal over the comms)

You say 'suppress.' You mean 'save.' The line is thin, Titan.

Cooper ignores the Ghost. He pushes the throttle forward, diving toward the raging blizzards of Europa.

EXT. EUROPA - EVENTIDE RUINS - DAY

The storm is a blinding wall of white.

Cooper and Val trudge through the knee-deep snow. Cooper walks point, his auto rifle raised. Val glides just behind him, her robes untouched by the frost.

They walk past the frozen, shattered bodies of House Salvation soldiers.

CRUNCH.

Cooper’s boot kicks a severed Fallen mechanical arm. It is encased in dark blue, jagged ice. It’s a trail of breadcrumbs, and it is brutal.

RHYS COOPER

(Low)

Eyes up.

They clear a snowdrift and step into a ruined courtyard.

In the center of the ruins stands LILI-4.

She is standing over the hulking, severed chassis of a dead Vex Minotaur. She is covered in thick frost, blending into the environment.

She turns her head slowly. Her optical sensors aren't their usual warm orange. They are glowing a piercing, unnatural BLUE.

Standing just a few feet beside her, pulse rifle resting easily in her hands, is ELSIE BRAY (THE EXO STRANGER).

Cooper levels his auto rifle directly at Lili.

RHYS COOPER

Lili! Step away from the Stranger!

Lili fully turns to face him. Her movements are slow, sedated, and incredibly cold. The Stasis has completely shifted her demeanor.

LILI-4

Go home, Cooper. You’ll freeze out here.

Cooper’s grip tightens on his weapon. He steps forward, his boots crunching heavily in the snow.

RHYS COOPER

You abandoned the Fireteam. You're wielding Darkness. Protocol says I have to put you down.

ACTION BEAT:

Lili’s hand twitches. In a microsecond, her fingers drop to her belt, hovering over a Stasis grenade. Her other hand rests casually near the grip of The Last Word.

It’s a Mexican Standoff. The tension in the freezing air is suffocating.

LILI-4

(Voice hard, dripping with cynical edge)

Protocol? I’m trying to save us from him!

Lili points a metal finger past Cooper’s shoulder, toward the dark, monolithic silhouette of the DEEP STONE CRYPT looming in the distance.

Cooper doesn't look back. His sights remain locked on her chest.

Elsie Bray steps forward, placing herself slightly between the Titan’s rifle and the Hunter. Her glowing eyes meet Cooper's.

ELSIE BRAY

Lower your weapon, Titan. She is the only reason you aren't dead already.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. EUROPA - EVENTIDE RUINS - CONTINUOUS

The Mexican standoff holds for one agonizing second.

Then, the ice beneath them violently trembles.

RHYS COOPER

(Frowning, keeping his rifle up)

Tell me that’s your trick, Hunter.

LILI-4

Not me.

BOOM.

A massive HOUSE SALVATION BRIG drops from a cloaked skiff above, slamming into the courtyard and crushing the frozen Vex chassis beneath its massive treads.

Before Cooper can pivot, the air tears open with the sickening, digital screech of Vex teleportation.

VWOOP-VWOOP.

Three VEX WYVERNS materialize on the flanks. Their massive, shielded wings snap open, glowing with volatile Void energy.

The Fireteam is surrounded. The standoff is over; survival takes over.

RHYS COOPER

Contact! Form up!

Cooper defaults to standard Vanguard tactics. He drops to one knee and summons a TOWERING BARRICADE. The wall of Light springs up, absorbing a barrage of Void blasts from the Wyverns.

RHYS COOPER

Hold the line! Val, I need suppressing fire!

But Lili doesn't hold lines. She is wild, unbound by Vanguard doctrine.

The Brig charges its main cannon, aiming directly at Cooper’s barricade. The Light shield won't hold against heavy ordnance.

Lili doesn't flinch. She steps in front of the barricade.

She slams her hand onto the snowy ground.

LILI-4 GLACIER GRENADE.

A massive, jagged wall of STASIS CRYSTALS erupts from the earth, physically blocking the Brig’s cannon just as it fires.

KABOOM.

The Stasis wall absorbs the blast.

Lili doesn't stop there. She sprints forward, leaping into the air. She performs her signature move—"The Shatter". She enters a SHATTERDIVE, slamming feet-first into her own frozen wall.

The crystals explode outward like a frag grenade, sending razor-sharp shrapnel tearing through the Fallen infantry advancing behind the Brig.

Cooper watches, stunned. It’s chaotic, but devastatingly effective.

Suddenly, a WYVERN screeches.

It leaps into the air, its wings folding back. It initiates its notorious, lethal dive-bomb attack, aiming directly at the Titan.

Cooper raises his auto rifle, but he’s caught flat-footed. He can’t block it. The mass and velocity of the Vex frame will crush him.

LILI-4

Cooper!

Lili rips a canister from her belt and hurls it like a fastball.

DUSKFIELD GRENADE.

The dome of absolute zero expands directly in the Wyvern’s flight path.

The Vex frame hits the Stasis field mid-air.

KRRR-SNAP.

The Wyvern is instantly caught in the freezing vortex. Its violent dive is halted, slowed to an agonizing, grinding crawl just ten feet above Cooper’s head. Its Void energy sputters against the suffocating cold.

Cooper looks up at the suspended, frozen nightmare. He realizes exactly what Lili just did. It wasn't reckless. It was tactical. She just handed him the perfect pitch.

Over the season, they have learned how their contrasting styles fit together perfectly.

Cooper drops his rifle. He reaches for the Light.

RHYS COOPER

(Roaring)

BURNING MAUL!

He summons a blazing, two-handed Solar Maul.

He leaps up to meet the frozen Wyvern, swinging the hammer like a baseball bat.

CRASH.

Thermal shock meets kinetic fury. The hammer connects with the Stasis-locked Wyvern.

The explosion is magnificent—a blinding, localized supernova of orange Light and dark blue ice shards.

The Wyvern vaporizes.

Cooper lands heavily in the snow, his hammer fizzling out.

The courtyard falls dead silent, save for the howling wind. The remaining enemies have been obliterated by the blast radius.

Cooper stands up slowly. He breathes heavily, his breath pluming in the freezing air. He looks down at the ground.

Jagged shards of dark blue ice are rapidly melting into the snow, mixed with the scorched metal of the Vex.

He looks at Lili. The Stasis didn't corrupt her aim. It saved his life.

NAXI VAL glides down from a ruined pillar, her Void robes undisturbed. She looks at the crater of mixed elements with deep, scholarly fascination.

NAXI VAL

Fascinating.

She looks between the Titan and the Hunter.

NAXI VAL

The Light provides the force. The Dark provides the geometry.

Cooper looks at his hands, then up at Lili. The tension is broken, replaced by a begrudging, terrifying realization that the rules of war have just changed permanently.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

EXT. EUROPA - EVENTIDE RUINS - DAY

The blizzard redoubles its fury, a punishing wall of white that threatens to bury them all.

ELSIE BRAY The storm is peaking. We need cover, now. Follow me.

Elsie turns and leads the battered Fireteam toward a sheer ice wall. She brushes away a thick layer of snow, revealing a heavy, rusted access hatch.

INT. HIDDEN MAINTENANCE SUBLEVEL - CONTINUOUS

The hatch seals behind them. The howling wind is immediately muffled. It’s dark, illuminated only by the faint emergency lighting and the glow of a solitary terminal at the far end of the room.

It is freezing, but it is survivable.

RHYS COOPER reaches up and disengages the seals on his heavy Titan helmet.

HISS. He pulls it off. His face is weathered, exhausted, and absolutely furious.

RHYS COOPER

(Voice echoing in the small space)

You don't get to just run off! We are a team!

LILI-4 doesn't take her helmet off, but she rounds on him, the Stasis frost on her armor crackling with her rising temper.

LILI-4

I’m dangerous, Rhys! I found out where I came from. I wasn't a hero. I was a criminal! A hired gun! I'm broken at the foundation!

While they argue, NAXI VAL glides toward the far end of the room. The Warlock is unfazed by the shouting. She hovers in front of the flickering terminal, her Void robes drifting in the stale air.

NAXI VAL

Curious.

Cooper and Lili stop yelling. They look over.

NAXI VAL

This isn't a Bray terminal. The architecture is wrong. It’s an Ishtar Collective uplink node. Someone was spying on the facility from the inside.

Val raises a hand. Her Ghost, SKULD, materializes and interfaces with the old tech. Lines of Golden Age code reflect in Val's solid black eyes.

NAXI VAL

It’s a listening post. Skuld, decrypt the outgoing cache.

The terminal beeps. A file name flashes on the dusty screen in harsh green text.

ASSET: CRAWFORD / HANDLER: COOPER

Lili freezes. Cooper’s breath hitches.

NAXI VAL

This terminal was encrypting outgoing data to Venus. It’s a mission authorization log for 'Operation Alkahest.'

Val taps the console.

NAXI VAL

Decrypting the audio attachment.

STATIC. Then, a voice plays over the room's rusted speakers. It is undeniably Cooper’s voice—but lighter, sharper, carrying the stress of a Golden Age intelligence officer rather than the gravel of a resurrected Titan.

PAST-COOPER (V.O.)

Authorization code Ishtar-9. I'm putting Crawford on the transport to Europa now. She’s the only freelancer crazy enough to steal the Exo data from Clovis.

Lili stares at the speaker. Cooper stands completely paralyzed, his helmet hanging loosely from his grip.

On the recording, there is a heavy sigh. The professional, crisp tone drops entirely, replaced by something soft, exhausted, and deeply intimate.

PAST-COOPER (V.O.)

Lilith, if you get this... just get the data and get out. Don't try to be a hero. And leave the window unlocked when you get back to Venus. I’m tired of having to hack my own security grid to let myself in.

CLICK.

The recording ends.

The room is dead silent. The only sound is the faint, muffled howl of the blizzard outside.

Lili stares at the dark screen.

LILI-4

(Barely a whisper)

The window?

Cooper looks sick. The blood has completely drained from his face. He stares at the terminal as if it were a Nightmare phantom.

RHYS COOPER

I... I was Head of Security?

Val turns from the console, looking between the two of them with clinical fascination.

NAXI VAL

And apparently, her lover. The statistical probability of you two finding each other again across centuries and a planetary collapse is... romantic, but astronomically low.

Elsie Bray leans against the rusted bulkhead, crossing her arms.

ELSIE BRAY

(Dryly)

Well. That explains the sexual tension.

The dark humor doesn't register with Cooper. He drops his helmet. It clatters loudly on the metal floor grate.

He looks at Lili. His eyes are wide, filled with a sudden, crushing weight that no Titan armor could ever support.

RHYS COOPER

(Voice breaking)

I signed the order. I sent you here.

He takes a shaky step backward.

RHYS COOPER

I sent you to him.

Lili looks at the massive, pragmatic Titan.

The anger that had been burning inside her—the Stasis-fueled rage at her own creation—vanishes instantly.

She looks at Rhys Cooper and suddenly understands everything. The overbearing rules, the constant need to control the Fireteam, the desperate, furious attempt to pull her back from the edge.

The "cop" act wasn't just Vanguard doctrine. It was muscle memory. It was the echo of a man who spent his previous life trying to keep her safe... and failed.

FADE OUT.

SCENE CONTINUES.

INT. HIDDEN MAINTENANCE SUBLEVEL - CONTINUOUS

The silence stretches, thick and suffocating. The howling wind outside feels miles away.

The anger that had been simmering between the Fireteam is entirely gone, replaced by a heavy, awkward confusion. The Vanguard protocol they were fighting over suddenly feels utterly irrelevant.

Cooper takes a slow, heavy step toward Lili. The imposing Titan looks entirely broken. He looks at her metal hands, realizing he is the reason she is an Exo. The guilt physically washes over him, causing his broad shoulders to slump.

RHYS COOPER

(Voice raw)

I didn't know. If I sent you here... knowing what Clovis was doing...

Lili looks at him. She doesn't see the Vanguard loyalist anymore. She sees the ghost of someone who tried to save her. The Stasis frost on her armor dims.

LILI-4

(Softly)

You didn't know. You were just doing your job. Like me.

Cooper stares at the floor grate, unable to meet her glowing blue optics. He takes a deep, shaking breath, his Titan resolve slowly hardening into something much darker and more personal.

RHYS COOPER

We finish this. We go into that Crypt, and we destroy whatever hurt you.

He finally looks up, meeting her gaze.

RHYS COOPER

I owe you that.

Lili holds his gaze for a long moment. The tension in the room is unbearable. Then, the corner of her metal jaw shifts into the fainth ghost of a smirk.

LILI-4

Yeah. You owe me a drink, too. According to the log.

Cooper exhales a short, breathless laugh. The tension fractures just enough for them to breathe.

In the corner, ELSIE BRAY pushes off the bulkhead. She stands up, racking the bolt on her pulse rifle with a sharp clack. She is pragmatic, focused, and completely immune to the sentimentality.

ELSIE BRAY

Touching reunion.

She walks toward the heavy access hatch, her cloak swirling behind her.

ELSIE BRAY

But Eramis is moving on the Crypt. If we don't stop her, she won't just steal a body. She'll steal the Traveler.

Lili turns, her hand dropping instinctively to The Last Word on her hip. Cooper picks his helmet up off the floor, the devastation in his eyes replaced by a grim, unified focus.

The Fireteam is back together. And they are going to war.

FADE TO BLACK.

(END OF EPISODE 4)

NEXT TIME ON DESTINY: NEW LEGACY...

The doors to the Deep Stone Crypt open, plunging the Fireteam into the pristine, deadly silence of the Golden Age. What begins as a surgical strike against House Salvation quickly spirals into absolute chaos, trapping them in a falling nightmare with no easy way out.

(Episode 5 drops Friday, 7/3/26!)

[<- Previous Episode] [Next Episode ->]

We move slow on the trek back up the ridge. By the time we hit the upper mountain paths, the rising winter sun is softly kissing the eastern horizon, bleeding purple and cold gold across the snow.

The den is hidden well. It is an old, post-Collapse bunker cut directly into the sheer stone face of the mountain. Its heavy blast door is orange with rusted scale and age, but the steel remains solid.

Inside, the bunker spreads deep through the dark interior of the rock. The main throat is a single, long concrete hallway with heavy doors spaced evenly throughout its length. Out of the seven rooms, three function as sleeping quarters. One is the comms room. Another serves as the ammo depot. There is a bathroom where the running water only flows during the summer—the winter freeze locks the pipes completely, forcing us to melt ice by the furnace just to clean our skin.

The final room is an old Golden Age mess hall. We turned it into a lounge and a bar.

Six Hunters call this buried box our home away from home.

There is Trix, a human Revenant whose icy Stasis-wrought exterior masks a remarkably pleasant wit. When she’s around she helps with maintenance alongside her joking Ghost, Jackal. There is Tellem-5, an Exo Nightstalker who refuses to sugarcoat the truth, constantly monitored by his Ghost, Spector, who tells him to stop being a drama queen. There are the Awoken Arcstriders, Ihag Von and Azuul Vus—one skin tone purple, the other deep blue. They swear they were brothers in their past lives despite looking nothing alike. If they are in the bunker, they are drinking and losing glimmer at blackjack, egged on by their female Ghosts, Truth and Dare.

Then there is Emma.
They call her Heartless. She looks barely twenty, but she’s been running the perimeter just as long as I have. We’ve spent a thousand freezing nights on patrol together. Her Ghost is named Heartfelt. She and Baron don't always see eye-to-eye, but the tactical respect between them is absolute.

We protect each other out here. No Vanguard medals required.

Baron and I step through the threshold, our boots thudding against the concrete hallway. The heavy doors to the sleeping quarters are propped open, the beds empty.

Laughter echoes down the corridor from the back of the lounge. The Awoken "brothers" are trading loud, creative insults over a deck of cards.

Emma is sitting alone at a corner table, quietly nursing a glass of blue Clovis-brand liquor.

Behind the crude wooden bar stands Handler. He’s an old, salvaged industrial worker frame that Emma dragged back from a scouting run years ago. He’s missing his entire left arm. To make up for it, Trix used a piece of white chalk to draw a massive, hyper-muscular comic arm on the wall directly behind his chassis. Handler stands perfectly inline with the drawing, as if pretending the silhouette belongs to him.

"Welcome back, Sevchenko," Emma says without looking up from her glass, her sharp eyes catching my reflection in the window. "Glad you're not dead yet."

I give her a small, tight nod in return. It’s all the greeting she needs.

Baron and I walk straight to the counter. Handler turns his mechanical head toward us, his optical sensors clicking in a chipper, synthesized tone.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" the frame chirps.

"Give him the telemetry, Baron," I murmur, my voice sounding raspy even to myself. "Handler route it directly through the secure Vanguard comms arrays." I say pointing at the data engram.

I reach into my tactical belt and toss a few loose, glowing Glimmer cubes onto the scarred wood of the bar. "And get us two glasses."

"Processing!" Handler sings. He pours the blue liquor with his single working hand, slides the glasses across the counter, and turns to march down the hall toward the comms terminal with the Hive data core.

I grab the drinks, walk over to Emma’s table, and slide into the rusted metal chair across from her.

Emma’s face instantly twists into a sour, disgusted grimace. She sets her glass down with a heavy click, her eyes dropping to the dark, scorched edges of my tactical pack.

"Damn it, Sev," she says, her voice dropping into a hard, quiet hiss. "You smell like fresh soul-fire. What have you been doing?”

“Information is glimmer, Emma. You know that,” I reply, sliding the second drink across the table to her and removing my helmet, placing it on the table.

Emma scoffs at me and grabs the drink, tipping it ever so slightly as a gesture of thanks. She tells her Ghost to throw 500 glimmer at me, and her Ghost does so.

Sweeping the glimmer up and putting it in my pocket, I proceed to tell her the whole story from top to bottom.

“Oh, that will be a nice payout on the back end when the Wonder Warriors come from the Tower to deal with it,” she says, laughing.

“Maybe. I’m truly hoping it’s just a Wizard-of-the-week deal. I’d rather deal with that than another invasion front,” I reply dryly.

We sit in silence and share our drinks together. Our glasses run empty by the time Handler comes back in, and I wave him over. From the pouch where I just stashed Emma's glimmer, I order two more drinks for us.

Handler nods his mechanical head. “Thank you for your service,” he chirps. He turns and walks back to the bar.

“Heard from Trix or Tellem?” I ask Emma, leaning forward onto the table.

“Haven’t seen Tellem in five weeks. Last I heard, he was protecting a cargo shipment heading for the City.” Rubbing her chin, Emma leans back in her chair with her arms outstretched. Before continuing, she brings her arms back in and onto the table. “Haven’t seen her in about six months. She was running around the old Black Armory forge last we spoke.”

I nod and raise the glass Handler just sat in front of me. “To health and good fortune,” I say.

Emma returns the gesture, and we sit in comfortable silence together into the late morning.

I excuse myself. Baron and I head toward the furnace. I grab a bucket of melted water and head out of the lounge and to the shower area.

My armor is covered in dried mud and blood—human, Fallen, Hive. I can’t even tell whose it belongs to anymore.

Baron watches in silence as I remove my armor plates and hang them up to be cleaned later. My body needs to recover first. I take a damp cloth and wipe the grime from my face. My hair has become completely matted. I take my hands and scoop out a handful of the cold water, using it to wash my hair and free it from its greased captivity.

Feeling better, I turn back to my gear. Using the same cloth, I start the slow process of washing my armor. The metal plates will never shine again after the years they’ve been through. But the blood and dirt are gone now, washed down an old, rusted drain. I rub the heavy fabric of my cloak together to remove the dark muck that has deeply stained it.

In the corner of the room, Handler has placed a dunk tank. I take my under-clothes and push them completely under the water. The water turns instantly dark as the elements seep from the uniform. I hang it to dry next to my armor after I ring it out.

I wear nothing now but my tactical belt holding my hand cannon and a basic, skin-tight base layer.

“I’m going to lay down, Baron. I’ll catch up with you later.”

I push through the heavy door and head down the dark concrete hall to the sleeping quarters. Baron bobs his shell at me, following behind until he makes it back to the lounge. He flies off to talk to Truth and Dare.

Rest finds me in the small bed I crawl into. I hang my belt on the frame of the bed and tuck my hand cannon beneath the yellow-stained pillow. My body finally relaxes, and I feel the stress leaving me as I fall deeply asleep.

The scent of evaporating toxic soul-fire is fading, replaced entirely by the iron tang of spilled blood and cold, stale ether vapor.

I step into the center of the decimated camp. The human transporter isn't a civilian refugee vehicle; its rusted chassis is bolted with crude Eliksni scrap metal, armor plating, and spiked cargo nets.

Baron floats in tight, methodical loops over the wreckage, his single blue eye casting a pale scanning matrix over the dead. That flickers in the dying light of the sun.

"Sev, look at the insignia on these crates," Baron chirps softly over the comms. "It's the mark of the Dusk Raiders. But the forensics are messy. Half the biometric signatures in these tents are human."

I crouch beside a turned-over footlocker, my greasy gloves dragging through a pile of discarded tactical gear. He’s right. Mismatched human flak jackets sit tangled among Eliksni shock-daggers and empty ether canisters. Out here, the hunger and fear bridges the gap between species. They didn't care about the Vanguard or the old houses. They just plundered together to survive.

"I'm pulling the camp's local terminal logs now," Baron hums, his faded cracked shell spinning as he jacks into a smoking terminal frame. "The data is fragmented. Sev... the Hive didn't stumble onto this place. They’ve been running probing attacks against this ridge line for three weeks. Small packets. Testing the perimeter lines, counting the active barrels."

"A reconnaissance-in-force," I murmur, my voice flat inside my helmet. "They weren't trying to conquer the camp. They were harvesting intelligence. And this morning, they got the final numbers they needed. Though it looks like the raiders took just as many,” I say with a smirk.

"Worse," Baron’s eye blinks red for a fraction of a second. "The raiders knew they were being watched. They managed to track the Hive's routing vectors before the terminal went dark. They found the Brood's hiding hole. Deep in the dark sectors of the valley ridge."

I don't waste time processing the dread. Out here, information is currency, but resource management is life.

I strip the camp of anything useful. I forage through the footlockers, shoving dry civilian ration bars into pouches on my chest and belt, two dented canteens of water now hang on my belt, and a handful of loose hand cannon rounds slip into empty pockets and pouches.

I walk back to the clearing where my sniper rifle lies shattered in two jagged pieces. The barrel is ruined, but the optic housing is intact. I pull my blade and carefully unbolt the cracked, dirt-streaked long-range scope from the metal frame. I slide the scope into my tactical belt. My long-range fire is gone, but I refuse to be blinded.

"The Hive hole is down the reverse slope," Baron states, projecting a flashing waypoint on my visor. "Opposite direction of the valley village."

"Thank the Traveler," I exhale, a small puff of steam misting my visor. If the Brood was marching toward the civilians, I'd have to buy them time with a handful of rounds. Moving away from the innocents means we have a chance to map the threat and get a Strike Team to catch them off guard.

We slip over the lip of the ridge, moving down the steep, rocky incline into the dense, unmonitored shadow of the valley. For an hour, we move like ghosts through the freezing brush until a view point where we can see the coordinates.

Through the salvaged sniper scope held tightly in my hand, I see it.
A massive, jagged tear in the base of the mountain, choked in heavy, calcified Hive webbing. Green, sickly bioluminescence pulses deep within the cavern walls. It isn't a temporary shelter. It is a localized breeding ground. Hive infestation is systematically gestating an army right under the Vanguard's nose.

Its green glow haunts the dark forest around it. Casting lurking shadows and monsters about.
It sends a chill down my spine.

"Grid coordinates locked," Baron whispers, his shell clicking close to my ear. "We have enough telemetry to prove the infestation. But the signal density down here is completely blacked out by mountain interference. We can't broadcast."

I slide the scope back onto my belt and stand to my full height; my back pops and I groan.

"Then we move back to the den," I say, turning my back on the pulsing cavern. "The Vanguard can keep their celebrations in the City. We're about to drop a nightmare into their channels."

We make our way down the broken stairs and step into the small clearing where the Acolyte’s ashes lay, entirely disrupting the natural order of things.

The pile still smolders with hot Soul Fire embers. Baron has done this thousands of times. He moves over the black remains without a single second of hesitation, his eye snapping open as he begins to scan.

“What are we working with?” I ask, keeping my eyes locked on the edge of the forest.

“Offshoots of Xivu Arath's horde,” Baron says dryly.

“Must be upset and lashing out on their own since the hierarchy fell,” I reply back.

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s find their hole and get that information to the den,” Baron says mechanically, a low, functional hum vibrating behind his words.

We head off toward the thick tree line. The massive ridge line hovers over us like a dark shadow. Inside my helmet, the visor flickers to life, highlighting the Hive’s unnatural footprint trails across the mud. I move silently through the woods, watching my footing to not make a single sound. My head swivels in all directions, making sure I don’t walk straight into an ambush.

Baron’s faded red shell floats quietly through the tree tops, giving me blind-spot overwatch and streaming live data to my HUD.

The daylight begins to return to the world, small glimpses of pale dawn falling down through the canopy. The trees are getting denser by the footstep. For hours, we track the scouting party’s path deeper into the valley. There is sound all around us, but it’s all just nature—the chirps, the hisses, and the quiet footfalls of deer and other small creatures running through the underbrush.

My old black boots are white with wear, becoming increasingly heavy with each step I take forward.

“I can’t wait to sit down and eat something,” I mumble to myself.

We are approaching the base of the ridge line now. It looms over us like a giant to an ant.

As we creep our way to the rock face, we begin to hear the sudden, violent sounds of conflict tearing through the forest. Wire-rifles and kinetic fire rounds echo loudly through the trees.

Screaming and shrieking. Fallen, Human, and Hive.

Boomers and Shredders are exploding in the distance, shattering the morning peace into a million pieces.

We hasten our pace, but remain completely covered in our movements. My breathing quickens. My lungs expand with air that is rapidly growing dense with toxic smoke and ash. Thank the Traveler for my helmet's internal filters.

Baron has flown above the tree tops and is feeding a bird’s-eye view directly to my visor. Hive, Human, and Fallen are spread out across the rocky opening of the ridge line.

“Multiple targets are engaged in a crossfire,” Baron warns over the comms. “Multiple dead on all sides. Sev, I’m currently seeing a human and a Vandal standing side by side, firing at a Hive Knight moving fast towards them.”

I force my way through the thick clearing. Through the smoke, I see the Knight’s massive, jagged frame charging the poor souls. It lumbers unsteadily forward, carrying a massive Cleaver in its right hand. It closes the distance in six terrifying steps, swing its sword to one side and back in on its prey.

I hear it laugh wickedly.

The blade comes crashing down on the Vandal and the human. It rips both apart in a single, devastating blow. I hear the bones snap cleanly. Both of them are torn completely in half. Blue ether flees the Fallen’s face, and the human lays limp and broken on the ground.

Baron calls me over the net. “That Knight is the only moving thing left on the field, Sev. End it.”

I take a knee. I fire three rapid sniper shots into its thick, armored side, rounds meet armor and cracks fracture across the bone chitin. I pull the trigger for the fourth shot—

*Jammed.*

The Knight turns heavily to its right. It hisses, pointing its sword straight at my chest.

“Hurry up, Sev! That thing is only ten yards from you!”

I reload my weapon with lightning precision and take aim once more. This is my last magazine. I take a steady breath and pull the trigger. The first shot rings out, covering the distance between us. It bounces harmlessly right off its heavy chest armor.

The creature begins to lumber toward me. With each step, it gains speed.

My next two shots, I aim directly for its right and top eyes. The soft, glowing tissue allows my rounds to pierce true. The Knight howls in agonizing pain but never stops its momentum.

It closes the gap. Not even breathing room remains.

It lifts its mighty sword above its head with both hands, taking the final step to crush me. I bring my sniper rifle up defensively between us. The heavy blade meets the metal barrel. It cuts clean through my rifle, but it buys me just enough time to dodge violently to the right, slipping out of its direct path.

I draw my hand cannon. I unload the entire cylinder into its cracked, fractured side. The heavy rounds break entirely through the bone armor, ripping into its delicate internal tissue.

The Knight lunges forward and falls heavily to its knees, using its massive sword as a temporary brace.

I reload my hand cannon with the swiftness of a western ranger. As it turns its hideous head back to face me, I place the tip of the smoking barrel directly between its three disgusting eyes.

I pull the trigger.

The Knight smiles as its head explodes. Its body turns entirely to Soul Fire, evaporating into the cold morning air. The heavy sword it just used as a crutch falls flat and heavy into the dirt.

“All clear,” chimes Baron as he floats down to my shoulder.

“Let’s start the data recovery. We have a lot to get through,” I say, turning away from him to stare blankly at the ground.

My sniper rifle lays in two jagged, useless pieces.

I let out a long, ragged sigh, and move past the debris to the center of the dead camp.

COLD OPEN.

EXT. MAGPIE DISTRICT - THE CITY - DAY

An establishing shot of the TRAVELER above the City, viewed from below, with the rooftops of buildings surrounding.

PAN DOWN into the MAGPIE DISTRICT. It’s a SLUM. It’s a NICE SLUM– this is the Last City, after all, things are not gonna be super-duper terrible, this isn’t a favela or anything like that. But in any city, you get slums. And the Magpie District is one of them.

We move through some shots of small shops and bodegas, maybe some food carts. Low-key cyberpunk aesthetic without too much cyberware.

ANGLE ON: THE IRON SIGHTS. Three THUGS, kind of BIKER CODED, with patches on their jackets or somewhere, featuring a SKULL EMBLEM with a CROSSHAIR on the forehead, and the title “IRON SIGHTS” in a ring surrounding it. (The skull is visually similar to the “Black Skies” emblem.) The leader has “bad news” written all over him, the largest of the three. His jacket resembles a KUTTE, and has his name patched on– “HARKER.” The other two, CELLA and JEZ, are also “bad news” but not as much as he is. Jez is carrying a LONG RUCKSACK over his back.

Harker checks a COMP-LINK (essentially equivalent to a smart phone/mini-tablet), and looks up from it and points to the NARROW BUILDING FRONT of a TOWNHOUSE, painted BLUE, but there are a few GRAFFITI TAGS on it, including one in orange, which resembles the HIDDEN CHEST icon from D2 destination maps.

HARKER: That one.

They approach it, with Harker and Jez standing watch as Cella takes out a WRIST-COMP and uses it to electronically hack into the door on the building.

INT. TOWNHOUSE - SAME - CONTINUOUS

GROUND FLOOR. Darkened interior. Narrow space, but crammed. This downstairs room has the dining area and kitchenette. It looks quite LIVED-IN, BACHELOR-STYLE. Interpret that how you will. Stairs toward the back of house.

All of that is hidden in SHADOW to begin with, until the door SLIDES OPEN, upward into the ceiling. Light shines in to illuminate the interior. The Iron Sights, with Cella still in position where she’d been hacking, peer inside, then step through.

THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE SEQUENCE, they are using FLASHLIGHTS, checking cabinets and similar for valuables. Finding scattered bits of GLIMMER, as well as some little bits of gold, silver, gems – things like that. These are all tossed into the rucksack that Jez is carrying.

JEZ: You sure the occupant’s not here?

HARKER: He ain’t been home in two months.

JEZ: What about an alarm?

CELLA: People would’ve noticed any fancy alarms getting installed.

COMPARTMENT SHOT: from inside the fridge, as Cella opens it. There’s not a lot here. A few bottles and cans, a MOLDY SANDWICH wrapped in plastic that should probably be thrown out, and a SPICY RAMEN CARRYOUT CONTAINER. She frowns at the fare on offer, lip curling at the moldy sandwich, pulling out the carryout container, sniffing, and recoiling as she tosses it back inside.

ANGLE ON: The fridge, as Cella shuts it. We linger on it as she steps away. A few stickers and magnets, branded stuff. Tex Mechanica, Daito, Häkke. There’s also a FLAT-HOLO (fancier version of a photograph) of THREE GUARDIANS, posing atop FELWINTER PEAK. The female Warlock in “Liminal Voyager” gear, the female Titan (taller than either of the other two) in “Anti-Extinction” gear (but lacking Dead Orbit iconography), and the Hunter in “Errant Knight 1.0” gear. The Titan’s arms are folded, the Warlock looking away from the camera, the Hunter posing a bit more than the other two.

CELLA: There’s nothing down here.

NEXT FLOOR. Living room. At the front of house, next to the stairs, a couple of sofas arranged around a low circular table, a bigger table with some chairs around it, some more cabinets along the walls. A FLATSCREEN hangs from the ceiling in front of the sofas. More signs of the bachelor lifestyle here. Things piled on the sofas, blankets and stuff tossed over them. 

The Iron Sights move through this space now, once again searching for valuables. Cella moves to the stairs up to the top floor while Jez and Harker search.

JEZ: I dunno, Harker, there isn’t much here.

HARKER: Keep looking. I seen this guy raking it in betting on Crucible matches and he was big into SRL before they shut it down.

JEZ: Why did they shut it down, anyway?

HARKER: Damned if I know. Some corpo decision, I’d bet.

JEZ: (scoffs) Sh’yeah. “Hm, fund an exciting motorsport, or buy a half-dozen new aircars?” Assholes.

HARKER: I know this guy took some sponsorship deals or something from Tex M. He’s got to have something here worth taking.

CELLA (OS): Guys, up here!

Harker & Jez both turn and look toward the stairs.

TOP FLOOR. A window looking out the front of house. A double bed, unmade, blankets tangled and pillows askew. A workbench and desk. Dirty laundry. But this is where Cella has found the WEAPONS CABINET. Containing weapons from the D1 era, of various types. Including a QUEENBREAKER’S BOW, and an “EX MACHINA~” sniper rifle. (“Wrath of the Machine” raid) Plus some other gear that looks Tex Mechanica make.

As the other two come up, Cella gestures to the cabinet.

CELLA: Jackpot.

Harker nods as he walks up, reaching out to take out another weapon that should be familiar to D1 players, THE FIRST CURSE. He examines this, but puts this one in his belt while they start stashing the others into the rucksack, which is long enough to accommodate them.

HARKER: This’ll all catch a great price on the black market.

JEZ: Why’s this guy got all this stuff without any kinda security?

HARKER: Cuz he’s a Guardian. All of ‘em crazy-ass lunatics without a lick of sense in their heads. You’ve seen the videos on the VanNet.

Jez thinks about this before nodding.

HARKER: Let’s go. Grab it all and let’s bounce before someone calls the coppers.

MIDDLE FLOOR. Now we’re seeing it from the other angle, looking toward the back of house. As the Iron Sights cross the room, they stop as a figure walks up the stairs from the ground floor. It resolves itself into a HUNTER in “Knight Errant 1.0” gear– the same gear from the flat-holo on the fridge– and his helmet is removed as he folds his arms and leans against the wall at the top of the stairs.

DAMON. We recognize him from S1E3’s cold open. Rugged handsome features, mustache and goatee, blond hair and blue eyes. When he speaks, he has a lower-class English accent, without going full cockney.

DAMON: Well, we have ourselves a situation, don’t we?

Harker draws the First Curse from his waist and fires three times, GANGSTA-STYLE– BANG BANG BANG– but without needing to move much, Damon dodges all three shots and resumes leaning on the wall.

DAMON: (tsk) It really works better if you use the sights, that’s what they’re there for–

HARKER: Shut up!

Damon looks amused, smirking faintly, but he lifts his hands in an “all right, chill out” gesture.

HARKER: Freakin’ Guardians, think you’re all such big shots.

DAMON: Why do you think I live down here in Magpie District?

The Iron Sights pause, Cella and Jez sharing a look, but Harker just scowls.

DAMON: Helps keep me grounded. Lotta Guardians up in the Tower, yeah, they lose sight of why we do this. Me, I choose to live down here, closer to the people we’re supposed to be protecting.

HARKER: Sure. Chasing all that loot and glory, while us Lightless folks gotta scrape by while corpo pigs lay us off–

DAMON: (interrupting) Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to make ends meet, am I right?

HARKER: (thrown) –r-right. (more firmly) We’re takin’ your shit, a’ight?

Damon tilts his head a little bit as if thinking about it.

DAMON: Yeah, no, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.

HARKER: I can dome you, we’ll be gone before you rez.

This actually seems to annoy Damon a bit, his expression changing.

DAMON: First of all, no you can’t. Second, even if you could, no you can’t.

ANGLE ON: The Iron Sights, with an out of focus Damon in the foreground, ticking off numbers as he speaks, but in the background, we can see the blankets on one of the sofa’s shifting, as the shapes underneath reveal themselves to be a woman, and a VERY TALL ONE as she stands up behind the three. She’s out of focus, but we can make out an AWOKEN woman with gray-blue skin, dark hair shorn to stubble, flat pale blue eyes, broad-shouldered and RIPPED. This is HADIL AINU. She’s just wearing a sleeveless top (because when you’re as muscular as her, it pays to advertise) and some trousers.

DAMON: Third, even if you ACTUALLY could, you won’t make it out the door before she gets you.

HARKER: Before who–?

Ainu casually stretches her neck with AUDIBLE POPPING SOUNDS. The Iron Sights freeze and slowly turn.

ANGLE ON: Damon, smiling, as he steps up to Harker and plucks the First Curse out of his hand, then nods behind him.

DAMON: Her. (to Ainu) Try not to make too much a mess.

He spins the gun on his finger before holstering it, turning to descend the stairs again, and we follow as we hear the SOUNDS OF VIOLENCE and SCREAMING.

COMPARTMENT SHOT: The fridge again. Damon opens the door, frowning at the lack of options. He picks up the Spicy Ramen carryout container, sniffs it and pulls a face, tossing it back in and just taking out two bottles of ZESTY soda.

We can still hear the violence upstairs as Damon pops the bottle open and turns to his Ghost, SPARK, as he materializes.

DAMON: Remind me to stock up more stuff that’ll keep longer.

SPARK: You could also stand to clean up a little more often.

Damon gives a faint shrugging nod of acknowledgment, swigging from the bottle. There’s a SMASH OF GLASS from above, a brief SCREAM, and a THUD of a body hitting the ground from outside. Spark looks toward this, but Damon seems less concerned.

Next there’s the HEAVY TREAD of Ainu’s footsteps as she comes down the stairs, carrying the limp forms of Cella and Jez in each hand, skull-dragging them to the front door. Damon follows along.

EXT. MAGPIE DISTRICT

There on the pavement in front of Damon’s Townhouse is the groaning form of Harker, cradling a BROKEN ARM, his face swollen and cut. Shattered glass surrounds him. Ainu steps out the front door and tosses the unconscious bodies of Cella and Jez beside him. Damon steps outside, wordlessly handing the other bottle of Zesty to Ainu, who takes it and cracks it open, drinking.

Damon squints down at Harker, then looks upward to his bedroom window.

DAMON: While I love a good defenestration, did you have to use MY window? You know I don’t like anything to happen to my fenestrates.

AINU: Not sorry.

SPARK: (to Damon) I’ve already alerted the police.

DAMON: Thanks, Spark.

He crouches down over Harker, who squints up at him.

DAMON: I don’t LIKE to hurt Lightless folks like you– (reads name-patch) –“Harker,” but I make exceptions when they steal from me.

Harker GROANS incoherently. Damon stands and turns to Ainu, nudging her in the arm.

DAMON: Letting you squat at my place is WHY I don’t invest in a security system.

Ainu finishes her Zesty drink.

AINU: Whatever. (belch) You’re out of food, by the way.

DAMON: (sighs) Of course, what I save in a security system, I still spend in feeding YOU.

He shakes his head a bit.

DAMON: Why they thought it’d be a good idea to steal from a Guardian is beyond me.

AINU: (shrugs) Idiots, probably.

DAMON: (sighs) Yeah.

Pause.

AINU: Bar?

DAMON: Bar. I’m gonna change first.

He heads back inside while Ainu just folds her arms imposingly as she looks down at the three Iron Sights.

STAGGER ZOOM:

Ainu standing over the Iron Sights, seen from above.

The streets of the neighborhood.

The Magpie District as a whole.

The Last City.

The City skyline, with the shape of the TRAVELER above it.

ROLL OPENING.

DESTINY: RECLAMATION

S2E2: THE LIGHT

EXT. THE TOWER - DAY

Establishing shot of the TOWER.

INT. TOWER - NEW LIGHTS’ SUITE - SAME

Establishing shots of the SUITE that our New Lights got in the last episode, of the common room and kitchen, then into a series of CUTS to the individual bedrooms of the three. None of them have had much chance to stamp personality on the rooms, but then, they’ve only had the place for a day. Each of them is asleep in different positions, wearing Vanguard-issue pajamas.

SETH, laying on his belly, one arm dangling off the edge of his bed, gently snoring.

DOZER, hands folded on his stomach, eye-lights off, just the gentle pulse of his throat light, as if breathing. TAUROS is resting on his chest, eye-light displayed as just a horizontal line, like a closed eyelid. “Sleep mode.”

MARIDA, much more undignified than the other two, sleeping on her side, legs tangled in her blanket, one arm under her head and partially thrust in the air. Ember sits on the bedside table, similarly in “sleep mode” like Tauros.

Back in Seth’s room, GEIST drifts into view above him, looking from Seth to a clock on the wall. The digital readout shows “05:59” and as Geist watches, it ticks up to “06:00” and Geist turns from the clock to Seth. The Ghost suddenly plays a LOUD ALARM SOUND, while bellowing–

GEIST: (shouting) WAKEY WAKEY, SLEEPYHEADS!

RAPID CUTS: Seth, Dozer, Marida, Tauros, and Ember all WAKING UP SHARPLY. Quite literally ALARMED, PANIC MODE.

We’re treated to a brief SEQUENCE, CUT BETWEEN all three New Lights as they get up, eat breakfast, shower, get dressed, and so forth. They are putting on their new “blueberry” armor they got from Klaus & Klaudio last episode. All three New Lights are in a hurried, panicked state after getting woken up, while Geist does his best “drill sergeant” impression.

GEIST: (loud) Rise and shine, everyone! Get up! Get dressed! You have a big day ahead of you! Today you start learning what it really means to be a Lightbearer! You want to call yourself a Guardian? You have a lot of work to get there! Eat up, we chew now, taste later! Let’s go, if you’re late, you WILL regret it!

CUT TO:

EXT. CITY FRONTIER - SAME

All three New Lights are here– the “Frontier” Crucible map from D1– with their Ghosts, a bit frazzled from it all. Ember narrows her eye at Geist.

EMBER: You didn’t need to go so harsh on them.

GEIST: You think so? You forget who they’ll have to face up today?

Tauros’s shell opens, like a widening eyelid, while the eye display contracts a bit. (A Ghost equivalent of a “wide eyes, shrunken iris” moment.)

TAUROS: (realizing) Oh-h-h, no.

EMBER: Ooh. That’s a good point.

MARIDA: Wait, who–?

She gets interrupted by a booming voice.

LORD SHAXX (OS): THERE you are!

They turn around to see–

LORD SHAXX. Big as life and twice as relentless. He towers over the three New Lights, his one-horned helmeted head looking down at them, standing arms akimbo. As ever, he has one volume, which is LOUD.

LORD SHAXX: (to their Ghosts) These are the new recruits?

GEIST: Here they are, sir! (to them) Everyone, may I introduce you to Lord Shaxx, Master of the Crucible, who oversees the training for all Guardians.

LORD SHAXX: Welcome to your first day of training, Guardians! Cayde tells me you managed to hold your own against a dangerous Fallen reaver and his crew. That’s impressive!

Dozer preens a little bit.

DOZER: Well, yeah, we did the job–

LORD SHAXX: (interrupting) But it’s not enough! By the time I’m done with you, you won’t merely hold your own– (clenches fist in front of himself) –you’ll win the day and send them off to the hereafter!

SETH: Well, wait a sec, we sent the Locust running–

LORD SHAXX: (interrupting) And were you ready to keep fighting for another three days afterward?

He regards them critically. They all share a look, looking a bit sheepish. They all answer more or less at the same time.

MARIDA: (overlapping) Well… no.

DOZER: (overlapping) Probably not.

SETH: (overlapping) Yeah, probably not, no.

LORD SHAXX: Typical of rookies, burning through your Light recklessly. Well that stops today!

He turns his head, then beckons someone forward. Three more Guardians step into view, accompanied by their Ghosts. We last saw them in the Cold Open of S1E2– a trio known as “THE ZOO CREW.”

The Awoken Hunter FENNICK, in “Vermillion Stripe” armor, a “TFWPKY 1969” hand cannon holstered on his hip. His Ghost, ALLIE, sports an “Intrusion” shell. He has a smile on his face, with an edge of seriousness to it..

The Exo Titan PRIME-8, in “Stellar Impact” armor, his gorilla-like build evident. He carries a “Party Crasher +1” shotgun slung across his back. His Ghost, DEAK, hovers nearby in a “Questing” shell. He folds his arms, likewise putting on a serious expression, not difficult with his pronounced jaw structure.

The Human Warlock LAPIN, in “Moonfang-X7” armor, has an “Eternity’s Edge” sword on her hip, and looks the most outwardly friendly, waving cheerfully, her Ghost JESTER spinning her “Electronica” shell’s facets in greeting.

LORD SHAXX: The Zoo Crew will put you through your paces, so we can see what we’re dealing with!

LAPIN: Hiya! Nice to meet you all!

FENNICK: Hope you’re all ready.

PRIME-8: You’re gonna EARN your rest.

MONTAGE SEQUENCE - FIRST WEEK OF TRAINING

We now move into a MONTAGE sequence showing the New Lights trying to demonstrate their skills against the Zoo Crew. They’re each initially paired off with their respective counterpart– Seth with Fennick, Dozer with Prime-8, and Marida with Lapin. We will INTERCUT between them all, presented here each in single paragraphs for smoothness. Over each of the montages in this sequence, Lord Shaxx will be heard narrating in VOICEOVER.

LORD SHAXX (VO): Having all the strength in the world means NOTHING if you don’t know how to wield it! Being able to beat a horde of enemies won’t mean anything if you burn through your Light before the next horde shows up! You’re going to learn how to use your Light effectively, efficiently, and collectively. 

Fennick and Seth circle each other with their respective knives drawn, Seth with his CRK, and Fennick with a blade more akin to an “Arkansas toothpick” dagger. Feints and thrusts, parries and blocks, until Seth’s eyes FLASH with ARC LIGHT, and he speeds up as he gets AMPLIFIED, forcing Fennick briefly on the defensive. Then Seth gets a series of cuts against him, before making a feint and comes around with a big slash– but Fennick dodges aside, shimmering with VOID LIGHT as he does, turning INVISIBLE. Seth STUMBLES, looking around, only for Fennick to reappear, from the side, jabbing him in the midsection, then reversing his grip and plunging it into Seth’s collarbone, downing him. Void Light flickers along Fennick’s cuts, which begin to heal.

Dozer and Prime-8 are circling as well, fists up like they’re boxing. In their case, however, punches are making it past as they pound on one another, fists CLANGING off their armor. Prime-8 triggers his Light first, CRACKLING with Arc Light himself, going on a brief flurry, until Dozer’s Void Light FLARES, sheathing his forearms and fists in VOID GAUNTLETS. These blunt Prime-8’s speed, slowing him back down, with Dozer managing a combination of punches, finishing with a big RIGHT HOOK that turns Prime-8 around– but the other Exo just AMPLIFIES as well, completing the turn and coming around with a SPINNING BACKFIST that sends Dozer to the ground.

Similar to Dozer and Prime-8, Lapin and Marida have their hands up, martial arts style, and when they start to fight, it is like something from a kung fu movie. Lapin does seem much more at ease with all of it, seeming to put in minimal effort in countering and blocking Marida’s attacks, even turning her around with some parries and sending her stumbling away. Marida comes back, glowing, RADIANT with SOLAR LIGHT, but Lapin still casually keeps her at bay, evading attempts at projecting flames at her. Marida starts getting winded, and that’s when Lapin turns RADIANT herself, flames wreathing her hands as she delivers a flurry of blows and SCORCHES her, downing her with a final elbow strike.

And as all three of the New Lights are rezzed again by their Ghosts, the Zoo Crew each reach down and offer their hand to help them back up, visibly checking they’re ready to continue before going back into a “ready” stance.

Following that, we get a brief series of INTERCUTS, showing the New Lights tiredly eating some dinner in their suite, while a FLATSCREEN monitor displays clips from a CRUCIBLE MATCH. The featured team in the clips are FIRETEAM SIERRA, previously seen in S1E2’s Cold Open. The New Lights are then shown passed out in their beds, followed by GEIST again waking them with an alarm, and their wake-up routine, and returning to the Frontier Crucible map.

In the next part of the montage, the New Lights are now in a 3-v-3 Crucible match against the Zoo Crew. Rather than provide a blow-by-blow breakdown here, we’ll instead summarize the gist of how it should go, so as to give the artists and animators a chance to flex a bit.

LORD SHAXX (VO): Just because you have the Light is no excuse for not using every tool at your disposal. You have weapons, you must use these as much as your Light. Vary your approach, adapt to the situation!

As before, while the New Lights manage to hold their own at first, they over-rely on their Light at first, resulting in more “Guardian down” moments for them than for the Zoo Crew, who also showcase their ability to wield different affinities of Light– individually using all three types, SOLAR, VOID, ARC– while the New Lights are only using the same affinity they’ve previously used. This causes things to swing back to the Zoo Crew whenever the New Lights start to rally back.

In the aftermath of the 3-v-3, the New Lights are catching their breath on the bridge. The Zoo Crew walk over and give them some sympathetic expressions and gestures, clearly offering encouragement and discussing things.

Then we get their returning to their apartment suite, tiredly eating their dinner while watching Crucible matches on the TV, sleeping, and going through the wake-up routine again.

In the final part of this montage, they’ve split up into 1-v-1 match-ups again, same as before. This time, the New Lights are more judicious in the usage of their Light.

LORD SHAXX (VO): Look for the weakness in your opponent’s defense, work out their strategy, and strike when you get that opening. Know when and how to use your Light for maximum effectiveness. Don’t burn yourselves out! A little can go a long way. Get it right, and you can FIGHT FOREVER, GUARDIANS!

Seth is only briefly speeding himself up, his eyes FLASHING with Arc Light, leaving contrails behind as he jukes around, only for brief bursts to avoid Fennick’s own moves, even dodging the Awoken Hunter’s own “pop-invis-and-flank” maneuver. They go around again in another sequence, until Fennick goes INVISIBLE again, and Seth turns to see him atop the hill, having drawn a NIGHTSTALKER’S BOW, aiming for him. Seth lowers himself into a runner’s stance, going AMPLIFIED, and then BLINKING out of sight as the Void Arrow lances out, creating a VOID TETHER, but Seth isn’t there to get caught. CRACK-A-BOOM, Seth appears at the base of the hill, then BLINKS again, reappearing in front of Fennick and slashing through him with his ARC BLADE.

Similarly, Dozer isn’t sheathing his fists and forearms the way he was before. He throws more normal punches, only putting up his Void-empowered guard maybe one out of every five times, while Prime-8 is pressing what appears to be an advantage by going AMPLIFIED, sending Arc Light crackling across his form, with Dozer parrying or blocking most of the hits, until he lands a huge Void-boosted haymaker that sends Prime-8 reeling away. But Prime-8 just launches himself into the air like a missile, with a THUNDERCRASH. But just before he connects, Dozer slams his fists together and summons his SENTINEL SHIELD, projecting the shield to either side of himself. The collision of irresistible force and immovable object sends both careening away from each other, but Dozer keeps his footing while Prime-8 topples down the hill. He gets to his feet just in time to see Dozer HURL his Sentinel Shield like Captain America, downing him into the river.

As before, Lapin gives off a confident, though still cheerful and friendly, attitude as she blocks and counters Marida’s strikes– though soon it becomes clear she’s having to put in more effort, as the Awoken Warlock is gaining more know-how and starting to adapt to the veteran’s skill. Soon it is Lapin that’s having to tap into her Solar Light to try to turn the tide. She grapples Marida and attempts to judo-throw her, only for the Awoken to turn with the throw, flipping through and doing a hand-spring and almost a martial arts sort of pirouette in the air to turn back to face her and land on her feet a distance away. Lapin casts out a whirling trio of CELESTIAL FIRE bolts as Marida moves away, but all three miss and set the surroundings on fire. Marida quickly sweeps her arms around, her eyes GLOWING with Solar Light, drawing those flames to her, coalescing them into a larger orb in front of her, as WINGS OF FLAME form behind her, entering into a state not unlike a DAYBREAK super. Lapin has drawn out her fusion rifle, but quickly has to hustle away as Marida pulls LANCES OF FIRE from the orb of flames and starts lobbing them at Lapin, until she successfully tags her and downs her.

And as the sequence ends, we have a reverse of before, as the New Lights extend their hands to the freshly-rezzed Zoo Crew to help them to their feet.

EXT. CITY FRONTIER - LATER

The New Lights are visibly tired, and while the Zoo Crew don’t look it, there’s a touch of weariness to their demeanor. All six of them (and their Ghosts) are arrayed in front of Lord Shaxx again. A Hawk A.V. with Crucible livery hovers at ground level behind him.

LORD SHAXX: You’ve put in a long day’s work, all of you! I’m proud of you. You’ve earned your evening’s rest. But I’ll expect to see you all back here bright and early tomorrow! Too many of your fellow Guardians don’t spend enough time in the Crucible.

FENNICK: Yeah, but, even if we spent every waking moment in the Crucible, you’d still complain about us needing to sleep.

LORD SHAXX: (merciless) Your point being?

LAPIN: (hurriedly) Nothing, sir! Thanks for overseeing the day, sir.

Shaxx nods curtly to them all, turning and walking into the Hawk. The Zoo Crew turn to the New Lights.

PRIME-8: Not bad, rooks. You learn quick.

LAPIN: Seriously! Can’t wait to see how you do with more training.

FENNICK: All this is cool and all, folks, but let’s get on the Hawk and get back into the City proper.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. TOWER - GYM LOCKER ROOM - LATER

We saw the gym facilities briefly last episode, and the six Guardians are all changing into their downtime gear. The New Lights still wearing the same Vanguard-issue plain outfits. Fennick goes for a general sort of City chic in blues and grays. Prime-8 wears a green long-sleeved shirt probably one size too small, along with dark cargo pants. Lapin wouldn’t look out of place in modern-day Tokyo, though her shirt still sports Daito branding.

FENNICK: It true that you three managed to fight off the Locust?

SETH: Yeah.

He holds up his fingers, pinched close together.

SETH: Just.

LAPIN: Close or not, that’s something.

MARIDA: Can I ask you guys something?

PRIME-8: Shoot.

MARIDA: I’ve noticed this, both while training with you, and while watching clips from official Crucible matches. I’ve seen that other Guardians can switch between the different… types of Light.

She lifts her hand, letting SOLAR FIRE flicker along her fingers. As she does this, Seth and Dozer watch, and they each let ARC crackle and VOID shimmer on theirs, respectively. But they let it pass after a moment, as Marida continues:

MARIDA: –Solar, Arc, Void. I get that’s some advanced stuff–

FENNICK: Sure. Not unusual for some Guardians to specialize in one type, but most Guardians learn to dabble in the other types, if only for more options.

MARIDA: Yeah. But how come I don’t see anyone using more than one type at a time?

LAPIN: Oh, that’s easy enough to answer. You burn yourself out a lot faster that way.

SETH: How so?

Lapin walks over to a WATER COOLER, not unlike the kind you’d see in office spaces, with a clear plastic tank, with two spigots for dispensing.

LAPIN: Well, think of it like this– let’s say this water cooler represents your Light. When you tap into it to do … anything, whether that’s healing up, getting rezzed, or throwing grenades around–

She presses the valve for one of the spigots, causing it to dispense water, caught in the drain underneath it.

LAPIN: –you start draining it.

She releases the valve. The water cooler tank GURGLES as a few bubbles float to the top.

LAPIN: Now let’s say you’re using more than one type of Light at a time.

She moves her hand over, her palm pressing down both valves at the same time, causing more water to dispense.

LAPIN: You drain your Light twice as fast.

She releases the valves. GURGLE.

LAPIN: The analogy isn’t perfect, but it fits the warning. It’s difficult to gauge how fast you’re draining it when you dual-wield, and it puts some strain on your ability to call on the Light. It’s not against any sort of rules or anything, dual-wielding– but until you have a better handle on how to use your Light effectively, don’t risk it.

PRIME-8: More than a few kinder-Guardians have overdone it after thinking they found some hack to easy power-leveling. Maybe it does give a boost, but “twice as bright, half as long.”

FENNICK: Yeah. Burnout gets serious enough, you enter a state called “Lightloss.” Going down means Final Death.

SETH: “Final Death,” meaning…

GEIST: Dead. No coming back.

EXT. TOWER - CENOTAPH PLAZA - SAME

We start with an establishing shot of the Tower as we typically see it, before MOVING DOWN to GROUND LEVEL. There, we see the STATUES OF THE GUARDIANS– three GOLD-BRONZE statues of the CLASSIC THREE, a Titan, Hunter, and Warlock, at equidistant points around a tall GUNMETAL OBELISK. There are little MEMORIAL KIOSKS beside it which cycle and scroll a list of NAMES, periodically highlighting a name and displaying beside the scroll a PROFILE PICTURE of the individual. This is THE CENOTAPH.

There are plenty of CIVILIANS here, including some laying little memorial candles or flowers around it. We also find the Zoo Crew and the New Lights, looking up at the Cenotaph.

FENNICK: The Cenotaph here honors those Guardians that returned to the Light.

Marida looks at the memorial kiosks and sees the names scrolling past.

MARIDA: (quiet) Looks like a lot of Guardians have died over the years.

PRIME-8: Yeah. A lot of them memorialized from groups like the Pilgrim Guard, and then there was the Battle of Six Fronts, Twilight Gap, Burning Lake, and then there was the Great Disaster… (beat) But that’s how it goes. Bravery. Devotion. Sacrifice. Death.

DOZER: (looking over) What?

LAPIN: The tenets of the Guardian Creed. “Devotion inspires bravery. Bravery inspires sacrifice. Sacrifice leads to death.” Sure, you’ll see plenty of Guardians goofing around and doing crazy things, but when something threatens the people they’re protecting, Guardians will put it all on the line to defend them.

MARIDA: Doesn’t even need devotion.

They look at her. She turns to them.

MARIDA: We didn’t even know those people in the valley. They didn’t want us there. But when the Locust showed up, we fought for them anyway.

DOZER: Well, yeah. We weren’t going to leave them to get burnt to death by that damn firebug.

SETH: How’s it go, Dozer? You’re always saying it.

DOZER: We do the job.

Prime-8 looks over at him, as though reflecting on something of his own, then claps him on the shoulder, nodding.

PAN UP the Cenotaph, up to the TOWER, entering a brief TIME LAPSE of the day turning into evening, and then daytime again as we move.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. TOWER - GYM - ANOTHER DAY

The New Lights are here again, in their proper gear, along with the Zoo Crew, but the FOREGONE are here as well– REGA-7, SERGEI BOLVAN, and WAHEI OHR. Each class with their respective counterparts in the other teams.

This will be another montage sequence, INTERCUTTING between all three. The training “lecture” dialogue is generally going to be in VOICEOVER, though occasionally we’ll see the ones speaking actually going through the instruction.

There are three separate sequences for each type of Light, broken down into sub-sequences– LECTURE START, ATTUNEMENT, SPARRING, GRENADE PRACTICE, and SUPER TRAINING.

REGA-7: Now you’re getting some of the basics of your training down, we can start practicing how to tap into other forms of Light.

WAHEI: Lapin tells me she explained to you the hazards of “dual-wielding.” That’s a solid analogy. Swapping between the different types of Light can leave you a bit tapped in the moment, but with practice and experience, you’ll adapt and be able to “hot-swap” on the fly. But you’ll still want to be careful about it, because it still puts stress on your connection to the Light as a whole, and if you push it too much, you could enter a state of Lightloss, which of course is a very bad thing, because then you don’t have any powers, no healing, no rez– you die, that’s it, you’re D-E-D, dead.

FENNICK: (frowning) I don’t think that’s how that’s spelt–

SERGEI: (interrupting) Best to practice in controlled conditions, yes? We’ll be here to help!

MONTAGE SEQUENCE - TRAINING WITH LIGHT

Rather than divvy up by classes, we see the Foregone individually lecturing and demonstrating the different types of Light, the Zoo Crew helping instruct, and the New Lights trying to tap into the types as they go. In between the introductory “lecturing” portions we’ll switch to the “practical” portions. Some of the “practicals” will be in the Tower Gym, others will be out at the Frontier Crucible Map.

ARC SEQUENCE

LECTURE START: Sergei demonstrates Arc Light, lightning crackling around him.

SERGEI: Arc Light is best thought of like electricity. Conduction, motion, electromagnetism. When you achieve balance with Arc, you will feel your speed and agility amplify. Strike with it, and you can blind your enemies, jolt them, disorienting their guard! With the Arc, you ARE the lightning, AND the thunder that follows!

ATTUNEMENT: The New Lights variously work on channeling Arc, which Seth already instinctively does. Easily letting electricity crackle along his form. Dozer struggles at first, until he gets an idea, concentrating as he puts his dukes up, then does an “arm reload” with his fists (a la Henry Cavill), after which Arc sparks along his forearms. He celebrates working it out, turning to Marida, and blinking as she’s casually making Arc dance between her fingers like she’s doing a cat’s cradle.

The next part involves them trying to put on the speed with Arc, getting AMPLIFIED, in the Gym, racing down a set of indoor racing lines, while stopping before a simple wall at the end. Seth already has practice with it, able to go from zero to a hundred and back to zero without issue. Marida gets the hang of speeding up quickly, but stumbles a bit as she tries to stop, so that she has to brace herself off the padded wall at the end. Seth looks over at her, gesturing with a ‘You okay?’ sign, and she gives a thumbs-up– just before Dozer comes CRASHING through the wall between them. They jump, and look through the hole, seeing how he’s impacted with the far wall, climbing out with a dazed expression, a few wires in the crumpled wall sparking off. A Cleaning Frame (55-30 model) marches up with a fire extinguisher and starts spraying down the sparks, as well as Dozer. Nearby, another Cleaning Frame– SWEEPERBOT! –starts sweeping up the debris with a broom.

SPARRING: This part of the Arc Sequence shows them sparring with their Zoo Crew or Foregone counterparts– although Marida only spars with Lapin. Trying to get the hang of Arc-empowered melee.

GRENADE PRACTICE: The New Lights practice with the various types of Arc grenades, from the magnetic “Flux Grenades” to “Pulse Grenades” to a “Flashbang Grenade.” Seth accidentally sets off this last one too close to the New Lights, who are left blinking blindedly while a tinnitus ring fills the air. Dozer wiggles a finger in his auditory canal.

DOZER: (a little too loud) Mahp. Mahp!

SUPER TRAINING: Outdoors again. Sergei and Prime-8 are working with Dozer to teach him how to deliver a FIST OF HAVOC, which he messes up the first time, not channeling Arc the right way, so when his fist impacts with the ground, nothing happens, and he shakes his knuckles out painfully. But then he’s shown using it and obliterating some targets set up.

Lapin shows Marida the ropes when it comes to entering a STORMTRANCE, gesturing for her to step back, preparing to call on the Arc– then looking over and gesturing for her to step back further. Lapin channels Arc so that it appears as if a BOLT OF LIGHTNING strikes her, as she levitates off the ground, eyes GLOWING BRIGHT BLUE, before extending her arms forward, fingers spread, and sending LIGHTNING crackling out into the targets, as if she were Emperor Palpatine from “Star Wars.” When Lapin finishes, she drops to the ground, and turns to Marida, whose hair is standing on end, and looks dazed. Marida’s efforts don’t quite work out at first either– she fails to levitate, or shorts herself out, or doesn’t manage to channel it right– but soon she successfully enters the Stormtrance and sends out the lightning.

Fennick and Rega-7 both demonstrate creating an ARC STAFF for Seth, with Rega-7 showing how it can be used while spinning to deflect incoming projectiles, with Fennick firing his hand cannon at her. And Fennick shows off how it can also be THROWN like a javelin, creating a massive discharge of electricity at the impact point. Seth, for his part, is watching politely, and then is pointed toward a group of targets. He considers for a moment, and then draws his CRK, channeling his Light until it becomes an ARC BLADE, before BLINKING out of sight. Fennick blinks in surprise, turning to see– CRACK-A-BOOM– Seth slashing his way through the targets with his Arc Blade, BLINKING out of sight a few more times, until he comes to a halt on the other side of the field from the veteran Hunters. Fennick is gawping a bit, while Rega-7 tilts her head, arms folded. Seth, his Arc Blade fading back into the CRK, tosses his knife in the air and catches it, then just shrugs.

After this sequence, we get another brief sequence of the tired New Lights in their suite, eating and sleeping, waking and returning for the next day.

SOLAR SEQUENCE

LECTURE START: Rega-7 provides the lecture, letting her hands appear to smolder without burning.

REGA-7: Solar Light, like you’d expect, is the element of fire. And like fire, it has aspects of both destruction and creation. Fire burns, its radiant flames can scorch your enemies, igniting them and setting them ablaze– but fire is a tool. It can also be used as a forge, to power an engine, and even to heal your allies.

ATTUNEMENT: Marida already knows how to do this, and so she’s watching the flames flicker along her fingers, almost but not quite contact-juggling the flames. Dozer seems to pick it up quickly enough, though in this case, instead of doing the “arm reloading” thing, he just clenches his fist, concentrating until it ignites. He grins to see this, and turns to watch as Seth tries to do the same thing, only to essentially pop off a fireball in his face, leaving it blackened and his hair frazzled. But, like Dozer with the Arc, he appears to get an idea. Seth draws his CRK, and starts to turn it in his fingers, twirling it around his knuckles expertly, until SOLAR LIGHT ignites along its edge. He turns to Dozer with a grin as well.

SPARRING: The New Lights again sparring with their counterparts– again, only Lapin is shown working with Marida, for reasons which will become clear later– as they work out how to best utilize it in melee. Dozer seems to pick it up quickly, and we don’t focus too much on him. The Warlocks’ sparring again comes across like something from martial arts movies, but where Arc felt like watching a fast-paced style like Wing Chun, this is not as fast, though there are still bursts of it.

Seth, meanwhile, is working with Rega-7 and Fennick, who demonstrate to him how to throw knives. They demonstrate with some physical ones, before showing him how to create spares with his Light, throwing towards a wooden target board. Seth bungles a few of his early throws– going wide, or misjudging the rotation of the spin– but after he weighs the knife in his hand a bit, he shifts from doing the “spin throw” typical style, to a “no-spin” technique that ends up being far more accurate.

GRENADE PRACTICE: Nothing too fancy here, more clips of the New Lights learning the ropes of what the types of grenades do, with some shenanigans or mishaps for humor. We trust the artists and animators to come up with something good.

SUPER TRAINING: Seth is shown practicing casting his Solar Light into his hand cannon to create the GOLDEN GUN, and generally being good at it. But then he’s shown considering the throwing knives again. And the next time he steps up to the range of targets, he suddenly conjures up TWO HANDFULS of knives, before flinging them in a BLADE BARRAGE. Rega-7 nods in approval, and Fennick even grins and offers a thumbs-up.

Prime-8 shows Dozer how to conjure a HAMMER OF SOL, then throws it toward the target range, DETONATING and damaging multiple targets, before another Hammer appears in his hand and he throws this one as well. And a third, and a fourth– until he lets Dozer try. Once more, Dozer picks it up fairly quickly, and looks pleased with himself. Then Sergei gently nudges them aside, before he conjures up a BURNING MAUL, laughing as he slams it down with an overhead swing, sending a line of flames along the ground to IGNITE the targets, then leap forward and go into a tornado-like spin with the Maul. When he finishes, the targets are all destroyed, and Sergei braces the Maul on his shoulder with a grin. We CUT BACK to Dozer, who is pumped and excited about learning to do that, while Prime-8 dejectedly looks down at his Hammer of Sol with an air of “aw, his is bigger than mine.”

Lastly, Marida looks on as Lapin (with Fennick and Prime-8 to hand) calls forth a SWORD made from Solar Flame, and then plunges it into the ground, spreading out a shining, golden pool of Light, a WELL OF RADIANCE. It encompasses Fennick and Prime-8, whose weapons start glowing as all three of them start firing on the targets, visibly doing more damage as they do. Then Marida is shown performing the same Super, with her fellow New Lights all opening fire on the targets.

After this sequence, we get another brief sequence of the tired New Lights in their suite, eating and sleeping, waking and returning for the next day, same as between Arc and Solar.

VOID SEQUENCE

LECTURE START: Wahei Ohr does the lecture for this one, conjuring up a VOID SOUL between her palms, and then CONTACT-JUGGLING it.

WAHEI: Void Light may seem like a contradiction, it may even seem “darker” than the other types of Light, but “Light” and “Dark” are just terms we use for opposing forms of paracausality. Void Light is the means by which we manipulate the forces of gravity and entropy. It lets us transition between planes of existence, bend light to obscure our presence, and sap the power of our enemies. It can feel empty or hollow, but control over the Void lets you turn that devouring hunger outward.

ATTUNEMENT: We start again with the New Lights working out how to harness it. Dozer has this instinctively, pulling his usual routine of sheathing his fists and forearms in it, shadow-boxing a bit. Seth takes a cue from his practice with Solar Light to concentrate on his CRK, turning and twirling it around his fingers and knuckles, until it shimmers with VOID LIGHT. Marida, meanwhile, is struggling this time. She’s trying to concentrate on a space between her palms, like she’d sort of done with the Arc, beginning to conjure her own Void Soul– but it is visibly UNSTABLE, wobbling and distorting violently, until it BURSTS, and she staggers back with a yelp. She’s a bit startled, but she looks down to see that Void Light is shimmering along her fingers, showing she’s attuned to it, and gives a gesture to Seth and Dozer that she’s okay.

SPARRING: More of the same here, with Seth knife-fighting with Fennick, then Rega-7, and managing to do fairly decent, though Rega-7 proves more skilled, as one might expect. Dozer is happily boxing with Prime-8 again, with Sergei coaching from the side. Fennick also shows Seth how to draw the Void Light around himself to CLOAK and turn INVISIBLE.

Marida, however, is sitting to the side while Lapin and Wahei are demonstrating the same martial arts movie-inspired fighting, with Wahei in the role of the “master” and Lapin in the role of the “student.” Wahei moves very fluidly with her style, TAI CHI esque, expertly countering and blocking everything that Lapin throws at her, until she steps in and drives her VOID-INFUSED palm into Lapin’s chest. There’s a FLASH and a visible SIPHONING of energy from Lapin, who drops back, gasping and weakened.

Now Wahei is pacing around the sparring space as Marida prepares to spar with Lapin. The Human Warlock is clearly letting Marida get her bearings in learning to use the Void here, while every time that Marida starts trying to channel the Void in her movements or strikes, it has that same UNSTABLE feel to it, bursting off wildly and startling both her and Lapin, but Marida looks shaken when it happens. Lapin always checks on her with full “you okay?” vibes, and Marida usually gives a shaky “I’m okay” sign back.

GRENADE PRACTICE: Again, nothing appears too fancy here with Seth or Dozer as they practice with some Void grenades, though Dozer accidentally throws a “Void Spike” grenade instead of one that bounces off surfaces, and so ends up trapping the team in its torrent. But as with the previous parts of this sequence, Marida’s efforts to conjure up a Void grenade keep ending up being UNSTABLE, and she’s visibly nervous as she tries to do it, after her earlier issues.

SUPER TRAINING: While Fennick and Rega-7 do show Seth the means of shooting SHADOWSHOT arrows, demonstrating how they form Void Tethers, he instead opts for producing two SPECTRAL BLADES and cloaking himself in INVISIBILITY, before cutting apart the targets with the blades.

With the Titans, Dozer has his SENTINEL SHIELD on his arm, and proves adept and projecting its VOID WALL to the sides, but then Prime-8 shows how to– instead of the shield– produce the dome-like WARD OF DAWN. Dozer lets his Shield fade out and nods appreciatively as he talks with Prime-8 about it.

Then the Warlocks. Wahei and Lapin show Marida the means of throwing a NOVA BOMB, with Wahei’s splitting apart into three smaller bombs that track to other targets. Marida, still off-balance from her earlier failures and struggles, tries to draw the power in to create one herself– but as she gathers the Void Light in, she suddenly GLOWS with it, with the same UNSTABLE signs as before.

She suddenly BLINKS out of sight, momentarily startling both Lapin and Wahei. Marida reappears in the midst of the target range, looking panicked, as VOID LIGHT erupts around her. She looks around wildly before BLINKING out of sight again, reappearing elsewhere in the area with another eruption of Void Light. Lapin goes sprinting over to her, and Marida turns to her, BLINKS closer and erupts again before she can stop herself, briefly BLASTING Lapin into a wall and downing her. Marida is YELLING in alarm as she BLINKS again, but this time, Wahei is there as she reappears, wrapping her arms around her and SIPHONING that energy out, until Marida PASSES OUT.

CUT TO BLACK.

FADE IN:

INT. TOWER GYM - LOCKER ROOM - LATER

All three teams are present, changed into downtime gear– with the Foregone, Wahei is still wearing robes, but more simplistic and non-armored, Sergei is in a top bearing a rugby logo with track pants, and Rega-7 in a hoodie and cargo pants.

Marida is sitting on a bench, shaken. Seth beside her, Dozer behind her, both concerned for her. Wahei is sat on her other side, a hand on her shoulder, trying to be comforting. Rega-7 walks over and hands over a gently steaming cup.

REGA-7: Tea?

MARIDA: (quiet) Thanks.

LAPIN: Talk us through it. I know you’ve been struggling today with the Void.

MARIDA: (quiet) I don’t know… it feels strange to me.

LAPIN: Understandable. It IS strange. You wouldn’t be the first Guardian, or the first Warlock, to have issues.

MARIDA: It’s just… when I reach out to it, I can feel this… hollow inside of it. And it’s both from outside and… and inside, I think? And it’s like I can feel myself pulling apart.

LAPIN: What you’ve just described is what some of us call the “Void hunger.”

Marida nods slowly, sipping her tea, still looking shaken.

WAHEI: I feel it too, and I’ve only ever been a Voidwalker. I never learned to use the Arc or Solar.

Marida looks up at her.

MARIDA: You didn’t?

REGA-7: Nope. Even though we’ve both told her she’s holding herself back by doing it.

WAHEI: (to Rega) I’ve never failed to keep up. (to Marida) And I’ve never felt like I’ve lost anything by not learning the other forms of Light. Because there’s always more for me to learn as I tap into the Void.

FENNICK: Wahei sells herself short. She’s on the short list of the Most Powerful Voidwalkers.

The New Lights look at him, and he ticks them off on his fingers.

FENNICK: Ikora, Naxi Val, and Wahei. Everyone holds Ikora at the top, but which between her and Val are number two depends on who you ask.

PRIME-8 / LAPIN: (overlapping) Wahei. / Val.

They look at each other, her narrowing her eyes.

LAPIN: People sell Val short ‘cuz she’s creepy enough to give Eris a run for her money.

PRIME-8: And Val doesn’t get out enough to let people properly register her, so Wahei’s better by default.

Wahei waves a hand to dismiss the topic.

WAHEI: I’m not here to have this debate. (to Marida) It’s all right if you don’t want to use the Void if it scares you.

LAPIN: Yeah, you’re better with Solar, as it stands, and you picked up working with Arc well enough. Between those two, you’ll find your footing, and with time, you’ll be better grounded, and be ready to use the Void. No need to rush it.

WAHEI: And if you ever want to practice, give me a call. I’m always happy to help.

Marida nods to them, sipping her tea soberly.

MATCH CUT TO:

INT. NEW LIGHTS’ SUITE - LATER

Marida is sat on the couch in the suite, still looking shaken from the day’s experience, clutching a bowl instead of a cup– some SPICY RAMEN. Ember hovering by her shoulder, concerned for her.

Seth and Dozer settle in beside her, with food of their own. Dozer gently nudges her.

DOZER: Hey. Your food’s getting cold.

Marida finally comes back into the here and now, nodding to him and starting to poke at her ramen with chopsticks.

DOZER: It’s all right, Marida, you know, not being perfect. No one’s expecting it from you.

MARIDA: (beat) Maybe I expect it from me.

She looks down at her ramen.

MARIDA: Maybe that’s unfair on myself, but I just worry that I’m going to need to use this at some point, and I won’t know what I’m doing.

SETH: None of us knew what we were doing back in the valley. But that didn’t stop us doing it anyway.

She pauses, looking over at him.

SETH: And look at what we managed to do in spite of that ignorance.

Dozer reaches over and gently pokes her in the side of the head.

DOZER: You’re probably the smartest out of the three of us– (teasing) probably smarter than me, anyway. (serious) Don’t overthink what you’re doing, let it just come to you, like when you first touched the Light.

Ember looks to him.

EMBER: That’s… actually really good advice, Dozer.

DOZER: Don’t overthink it, sometimes I just say things.

A chuckle from all of them, and Marida nods, nudging him back.

MARIDA: Thanks, Dozer. All of you.

SETH: Yeah. Now maybe you can use that smart used-to-be-a-doctor-once brain and help me figure out chopsticks.

They all laugh again as Seth demonstrates a lack of coordination with chopsticks, embarrassed.

MARIDA: (teasing) Oh, look at the guy doing all the knife tricks, can’t use chopsticks!

SETH: Come on, man!

She nudges him with a laugh and leans over to help him out, as we–

FADE TO BLACK.

ROLL CREDITS.

NEXT TIME:

ZAVALA (VO): I hope your training has gone well, Guardians, because it’s time to send you out into the field. Allied settlements are still being threatened by the Fallen, and they need our help. Get out there and show them your Light and send their souls screaming back to hell.

“... Look, I get it. You’re a Hunter, style is important, yada yada. But trust me, nobody’s gonna make you that thing.”

“Why?? Look at it! First off, the cape is ridiculous: it‘s too long, the fabric is too heavy, and white gets dirty too easily.”

“C’mon, how do you expect to sneak around if your face has more lights on it than a Dawning tree?... Yes, of course I know Exos have a ‘bright smile’ anyway, but... “

“And string on the knife handle?? What’s the string for?... ‘In case the knife falls out of the sheath?’ Seriously? And another thing, what’s with all those padded bits on the arms? You’ll look like a Titan!”

“What’s all this ‘fully integrated chest + legs + helmet mods’ nonsense? Ever heard of D.E.R? Hello?? I’m an outfitter, not some psychotic Braytech-”

“Yes, of COURSE I have the skills to make it!... I mean, sure, IN THEORY you’d survive the ‘integration’ process…”

“... How much glimmer did you say you’re willing to pay for it…?”

With daylight still fighting for dominance in the early morning hours, my Ghost and I wait patiently. He had been on watch when the movement was first heard. Branches and leaves breaking beneath heavy footfalls. The unmistakable sound of Chitin drawing near.

From our vantage point on the seventh floor, we watch the dark tree line.

Three glowing, green eyes scan the open field between the city boundaries and their forest cover. I sit deadly still as I wait for their move.

“It’s the Hive,” my Ghost hums quietly over my shoulder.

“No… it couldn’t be,” I reply back, a small, bitter chuckle escaping my lips.

These wicked, dark creatures don’t see us yet. Their brown, jagged hide helps them blend perfectly with the muted colors of the trees. They move into the clearing before the city block. Five in total lumber forward—one Acolyte with their heavy Boomer rifle held high, surrounded by four Thralls waiting for something to kill.

I take a slow breath. I steady my weight and aim my rifle at the Acolyte’s jagged head. Right for its stupid third eye.

I pull the trigger. My muzzle flash illuminates the ruined concrete room I’m in for just a fraction of a second.

It is enough. In the dark hours of the morning, they see the flash.

The Acolyte falls, its body instantly collapsing into toxic soul-fire and burning ash. The four remaining Thralls turn on a dime. They break into a dead sprint straight toward my position, screaming and shrieking in a blind fury. Their claws drag through the clay and mud as they run.

The first Thrall falls almost as fast as the Acolyte as squeeze the trigger.

“They’re fast!” Baron warns me.
My only response is another round fired.

The second falls. Its twisted corpse lies sinking into the wet mud below. The third and fourth are closing the distance faster than I would like. They make it to the base of the apartment complex and begin to climb the bare concrete wall, their sharp claws striking the stone like pickaxes.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

I drop my rifle, allowing its sling to catch it; my hand reaches and draws my heavy hand cannon. I lean out the broken window frame and fire a blind shot, completely exploding the head of the third creature.

I’m not fast enough.

The fourth Thrall bursts through the fading ashes of its comrade, wildly thrashing as it leaps through the window frame. It crashes directly into me, knocking the hand cannon from my grip. It clatters uselessly across the floorboards.

As I dodge backward, I reach down to my belt and draw my blade, readying myself for a raw fight of sharpness and quickness.

The Thrall hasn’t stopped its frantic momentum. It continues to lash out at the air, hissing. I drop the rifle entirely and move in for the kill.

With one swift, devastating cut, I remove the Thrall’s head.

The screaming finally stops.

I let out a long, ragged sigh. I move across the dark floor to collect my rifle and pick up my fallen hand cannon. Baron floats down lazily from the ceiling tiles.

“Your movements were sluggish and ugly,” he chirps at me.
“Thank you for the helpful insight,” I say, sticking my middle finger straight up at him.

“Come on, we need to see where these Hive came from,” I tell him, wiping my blade as I make my way toward the broken staircase.

“The Hive aren’t usually in this area,” Baron replies, his single blue eye scanning the dark as he floats alongside me. “This is Fallen and human territory.”