[[DATE UNKNOWN... SEVERE RUNTIME ERRORS! ERROR CODE: GORGON! UNKNOWN RECORD OF CONVERSATION. REFERENCES TO WARLOCK-JANIE, UNKNOWN ENTITY. FWC CLEARANCE REQUIRED.]]
[[FWC CLEARANCE GRANTED.]]
[[RECORD ABYSS 221-43-3958 BEGIN]]
[[SUBJECTS: BREAKER-77 (B-77), HENRY GORDON (HG), REDACTED WARLOCK (JH), STEELHEART-5 (S-5), JOB WEISS (JW), John Falkner (JF)]]
The night fell over the tower like a thin blanket, caught just properly by the air as to engulf what it was tossed over. The process took minutes, but each minute felt like hours. An Exo and two Humans etched with pen and Light lines across architectural plans. These plans were of a place with strange, alien geometry and shapes upon shapes; a machine’s intellect had spun the spirographs upon one another to create the subject of these maps. The Vault of Glass had been declared a mark by Breaker-77 [[FWC ACOLYTE, PRE-GOLDEN AGE]], Henry Gordon, and [[REDACTED]]. They had enlisted two hunters, and a second Titan. The second three are unimportant, in much the same way the first three are important.
After the better part of a day of maps being drawn, lines being traced, and flashbacks endured, Breaker-77 spoke.
BREAKER-77: You are aware though, that no matter how well these plans are laid out, it’s all gonna go to shit when the alarm gets tripped?
HENRY: I mean, yea, it is, but we’re good enough to figure that out!
STEELHEART-5: That’s what you and I are here for, Breaker.
B-77: That may be true, but heists never go as planned. Or, if they do, you’re running into a trap full of... Those who dislike your work.
S-5: You act as if this is some “heist,” like the ones bandits did on the people of pre-Golden Age years. Those dark times have come and gone.
B-77: Trust me, they ain’t that far gone. Regardless of what we call this mission, it’s going to be a rough time. We can go in, infiltrate all the way through the theoretical mazes, and find it’s all exactly as ol’ Henry here has predicted and-
HG: Don’t forget Janie!
JH: [[REDACTED AUDIO]]
B-77: Yea yea, your girlie there too, my point stands. Prepare for the worst.
HG: It can’t go wrong! The math’s been backed up by three Ghosts, Ikora, several other Warlocks - might I add only 80% of them told us we were stupid! - and even matches up with some old records we dug up from Osiris.
S-5: Osiris was a bad influence to draw from, young Warlock. Be wary.
JOB WEISS: Yea, he was a bad egg. When he walked, the Sunbreakers walked with him. It was a bad time.
JOHN FALKNER: -huff of agreement-
HG: Yea, but it all checks out. So what about it? We meet in the morning at the Waking Ruins, knock the front door in, and go for it?
B-77: If there was ever a heist I was excited for, breaking into a time-immune hole in the crust of a nasty jungle planet would be it.
HG: YEA! C’mon Janie, let’s go get drinks! First one to pass out - or get booed off the karaoke stage - buys!
[[Henry Gordon and [REDACTED] leave.]]
JW: Are we sure we should be working with those two? Ever since they got together it’s had... Unusual impacts on your performance.
JF: I don’t trust that kid with Janie. Too reckless, too simple-minded. Well no, that’s not true. He’s extremely intelligent, just short-sighted and impulsive. A Sunsinger if I ever saw one.
JW: Look, if you want to creep some more we can-
[[John and Job leave.]]
S-5: We’ll have to put those for across our backs and carry them out, won’t we?
B-77: I’m more worried about what would happen if we need them to carry us out.
S-5: Two warlocks, two Hunters, and two Titans? If we prepare our Void Light, we should be fine. The Wards of Dawn will hold, even in the darkest hole of the Vault. By the way, Zavala wishes to speak with you.
B-77: I didn’t reckon you Stoneborn types as those who told jokes. Just old stories that were old when they happened?
S-5: It’s not a joke, though?
B-77: Damn, I was hoping we’d have a bit of humor before the heist.
S-5: I must reflect on some of the parables of Saint-14. I’ll see you in the morning.
B-77: Don’t get too involved and fall asleep!
[[Breaker-77 heckles further, comments irrelevant.]]
[[FAST FORWARD: SEVENTEEN MINUTES.]]
The Hall of the Vanguard was dark, lit only by a solitary candle and a stack of maps. They were copies of maps and plans created by the rest of Breaker’s team, the one that would siege the Vault of Glass. Although five are on record as having gone down, there were six separate reports, filed in triplicate. Zavala stood over the table, the light from his Awoken heritage dancing gently across his forehead. His eyes open as Breaker enters the room, and he brings a laser-like focus to the Exo’s face.
ZAVALA: I see Steelheart-5 brought word.
BREAKER-77: Yea, he did. Thought he was joking at first, considering you and I aren’t on-
ZAVALA: Breaker, I know what you and Shaxx do.
BREAKER-77: Shit, look, SUROS was harassing Shaxx for the Crucible, and I roughed them up a little.
ZAVALA: Although you are competent, appear incompetent.
BREAKER-77: What?!
Z: It is imperative I inform you, before you speak words that would force me to exile you from the City, that I do not know precisely what you and Shaxx do. I am aware, however, that the City has a string of... Interesting problems. I also know that your arrival at the tower lines up perfectly with when these problems began.
B-77: You’re... Fine. You got me on a line. What’s your angle?
Z: Henry Gordon.
B-77: Yea, what about the loudmouth?
Z: It was brought to my attention by Steelheart-5 that Henry has dabbled in Osiris’ lore in order to better understand the Vex.
B-77: Yea, it was the closest thing to an expert he could find besides rambling monologues from old Speakers.
Z: Osiris left into the Vex world of Mercury for reasons only he can explain. Needless to say, his departure was at the worst time imaginable for us. We almost lost Twilight Gap due to his taking the Sunbreakers to Mercury.
B-77: Sunbreakers?
Z: Irrelevant. You need to focus on the now. Henry Gordon and [STATIC], two Warlocks that were little more than nuisances before meeting one another. At the time of their... Partnership? They took to the worlds with zeal. A union of Void and Fire swept across the Cosmodrome and beyond, stopping in Mars and Venus as they plundered the Vex ruins.
B-77: How does this relate? I dig the exposition, but this is not what I think of by “now.”
Z: Breaker. You are an Exo with a more brutish and... “Efficient” methodology than most Titans, and are colder than the steel of a Hunter’s blade. Should Henry Gordon begin showing signs of going rogue, you are to disable him.
B-77: The kid’s a loudmouth but I highly doubt he’d-
Z: You are to do so with extreme prejudice. With the reports leaving the Moon about surging Hive activity, almost as if they were woken by something other than your antics, we cannot afford to lose a Warlock to other powers. Should [STATIC] pose a threat, you are to deal with her in the same way and scrub the mission.
B-77: Why not get Stoneborn McStudious to do it? He’d likely understand the gravity of shutting down a pair of rogue Warlocks.
Z: Because, Breaker, you are a thug. Steelheart-5 is a holy crusader, and would rather spare a Warlock without thinking of the consequences of such. He would, like Saint-14, seek an explanation and redemption rather than outright breaking Henry. Considering your name, I trust you with this objective more.
B-77: That’s... Intense, Zavala...
Z: I speak for the City, its people who shake at the mere mention of The Darkness, when I say another Warlock brainwashed by the Vex will bring doom upon us all.
There is a strange silence. The room is still, but not as though there is an acceptable pause of digesting information. It is as if the room was supposed to play out further discussion, with more explanations and extensive arguments. After several minutes, Breaker-77 begins alternating between “Janie” and “Henry” for 223 seconds, a second between each repetition. After another pause sits in the air for thirty seconds, Zavala simply speaks.
ZAVALA: I will be in touch through your Ghost.
[Breaker stares about the room, as if aware of the strange events that unfolded. He does not address them, instead leaving. Cayde-6 enters the room, yawning as he gets a bottle of old whiskey from under the table.]
CAYDE-6: So... Was that the Vault team’s leader?
ZAVALA: Yes.
CAYDE-6: On a scale of one to “any plan written up by Cayde,” how well do you think the six of them will do down there?
ZAVALA: Say that sentence again?
CAYDE: Y’know, how do you reckon the five of them will do?
ZAVALA: Get Ikora. I believe I have an idea... But she will need to help me get my mind sorted.
CAYDE: Whoa, you need her psychic mumbo-jumbo?
ZAVALA: I believe her... “mumbo-jumbo” is the only way to accurately know what is going on.
CAYDE: Being cryptic doesn’t suit you.
ZAVALA: How many do you count going that way?
CAYDE: Five.
ZAVALA: When you first asked, you said six.
CAYDE: Oh... Well, considering they’re fighting Vex, and Vex do that timey-wimey stuff? Yea, I’d say Ikora is the one who would help. That, and this bottle of Ji-
ZAVALA: Don’t drink it, not yet, anyway. Not until we have Ikora sort this out. Go get her. I need to inspect these reports.
[Cayde-6 huffs, but ultimately leaves with a roll of his eyes. He begins singing off-key, as Zavala reaches for a sixth report from his table. As his hands grasp beyond the fifth report, he rests the hand on the bridge of his nose.]
Ellie frowned and immediately stood up, taking out her knife that had been strapped to her thigh. " Speak your name, guardian! What gives you the permission to just come into my room without MY permission and even through the window! "
