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[Outskirts, Devil's Lair]
Devil's Lair, the core base of the House of Devils. At first glance, it was a mountain range. One that had its roots deep into the earth. But what the others didn't know was that the mountain was hollowed out.
Inside its ore veins were hundreds of Fallen bases, and at its flattened peaks were hangars for their skiffs. Not even a speck of dust could enter or leave the mountain with the House of Devils.
Every piece of technology from the golden age till the collapse could be found within. In short, it was a treasure trove guarded by the most Elite Fallen house on earth.
But its outskirts? That was a different story. At the base of the mountain, its rocky valleys met the borders of the Mothyards and Kings Watch. Though silent and expansive, today they were tighter—narrow, alive with old hums and whispers.
Void pressed forward through the dark ridge under the valley, the dull pulse of ether-processing units glowing faintly along the walls. His footsteps were slow, deliberate, a hunter moving through a den that hadn't yet realized it was compromised.
The network flickered. A quiet ping from Obsidian's HUD interface drew his eye.
"Movement," Obsidian said, voice even. "Multiple Skiffs launched from their lair. Departing from the hangar above the mountain. Broadcasting deep-band House of Devils codes."
Void narrowed his eyes. "Trajectories?"
There was a pause as Obsidian ran the calculations. "Four likely zones. West Dock. Grottos. Lunar Yard. Deadsea Basin. Most vectors point northeast. Fast acceleration. High altitude."
Void nodded, "Use the network backdoor, survey chatter. I wanna know what they're doing."
He stopped at a junction, placing his hand on the wall. Obsidian projected a faint map in the air before him, tracing the Skiffs' arcs across the Cosmodrome. His fingers danced across the overlay, adjusting filters, watching signals jump and fizzle.
Then came the static. Brief. Sharp. A flash of interference spiked across the network, followed by low chatter in Eliksni. Coded. Urgent.
"Decrypt the chatter" Void muttered. "Let's hear them."
Obsidian complied tapping into the exploit Void had left buried in the Fallen's relay systems during the Rocketyard strike. The whispers came through—crackling Eliksni banter layered with fragments of translated meaning.
Void listened in. And as the chatter continued, he heard the very words he was looking for.
Something about vaults. A machine. Patterns and confirmation.
Void's pulse quickened.
"...they must have found it," he said under his breath. "Rasputin."
A half-second later, he was moving.
He broke from the hallway and raced toward an abandoned transport shaft. The sound of his boots against rusted steel echoed in the dark. He ascended quickly, emerging into the wilds above. The sky over the Cosmodrome was streaked with cloud and smoke. Distant Skiffs trailed faint glows like comets above the wreckage.
Void's eyes locked onto the skiffs in the distance, he jumped and summoned his sparrow, riding behind them at super sonic speed.
"Lock onto one with that log, I need coordinates." Void sped up.
"Roger, sending pathway into visor. They're too far for a network hijack, we're losing the signals." Obsidian pulsed.
Void raced, cloak billowing behind him. The sparrows engines screaming as he pursued the Skiff into the storm-blasted terrain. Over debris fields, collapsed satellite towers, and shattered roadways, he chased. Eventually, it dipped into a canyon.
"They're dropping altitude" Obsidian pulled up a topographic map, surveying their location.
"What's ahead?" Void leapt off his sparrow, and jumped into the canyon, light laced his boots as he slid down the rugged rock.
He spotted the Skiff docked at a hidden landing pad tucked behind a rocky terrain.
"There's no golden age records. Looks like a sealed off and collapsed copper mining shaft. City never had to tech to explore further. "
Void followed on foot, flickering. Ah neared the skiff, he saw a few Fallen squads trudging down a narrow mineshaft.
It was half-buried in rock—supported by a rotting wood frame.
Void crept closer, prowling at the edge of the tunnel.
Then, he finally entered. Void could see that the tunnel ran deep.
He moved like a shadow along the walls, quiet and precise, his steps muffled by layers of dust and broken metal. The Fallen squads ahead hadn't noticed him—too eager, too loud.
Ether hissed in the narrow passage as one of their captains barked orders in low, guttural Eliksni. They carried scanners and relic-tech, heads twitching as they traced the hidden signals beneath the Cosmodrome.
It was dark—barely lit by old hazard lights strung along the upper walls, flickering with a dying amber hue. Pipes lined the cramped ceiling, some snapped and hissing cold vapor.
Void kept low, shoulders brushing the jagged edges of broken girders as he squeezed through the narrow spaces. Every few meters, the path seemed to close in further. Cramped. Rugged. Like crawling through the bones of something long dead.
Obsidian whispered into his ear. "We're close. Bunker integrity is failing. Power spikes ahead."
"I see them," Void replied, crouching beside a rusted bulkhead. Just beyond, the tunnel widened into a sunken chamber.
And there it was—buried beneath layers of rock and collapsed tech. An ancient war vault. Gold and red plating stamped with sigils of the Golden Age. The Fallen had gathered around a sealed door, tools clamped against old access ports. Sparks flew as they forced it open.
But Void could only grimace. They didn't know what they were waking up.
The doors slid open with a seismic groan. Crimson light spilled from within. A low rumble echoed from deep inside the complex, followed by a rising mechanical pulse.
Then, Void's system lit up, an old quest flared.
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[Golden Age Vault Encounter (2/15)!]
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"You feel that?" Void muttered.
"I do," Obsidian replied. "Something's coming online."
Inside, the Fallen clicked their jaws, voices rising in triumph.
But as they walked inside the bunker, it stirred. Rasputin h ad answered.
The bunker lit up like a flare. Defense nodes dropped from the ceiling, sleek and angular. Turrets emerged from recessed compartments. Red beams activated, tracking targets instantly.
"Protocol: Black Contingency," a synthetic voice boomed through the corridor.
All hell broke loose.
The defenses opened fire—lasers, ballistic rounds, and pulse weapons tearing through the tight chamber. Fallen shrieked in fury and pain as they scattered for cover.
The Captains fired back with scorch cannons and arch shots. In the heat of battle, Void watched from the shadows, eyes narrowed.
Then he moved.
Dashing forward through smoke and shrapnel, he weaved through blind spots and past the fighting. Void raced inside, knowing he didn't have much time.
He darted across the dark complex, racing its empty halls till he reached its centre. Then he found what he was looking for—a live terminal still hooked into the Warmind's local grid.
Void paused, approaching it like a shadow.
He slapped a palm on it. "Obsidian! Trace the signal. I want to know where Rasputin's other bunkers are hiding."
"On it."
Code streamed across the terminal as Obsidian infiltrated the Warmind's system. Data nodes flickered. Slowly a map began to render. Void keenly listened on the fight outside, it was still going strong.
But then the interface burned red. Void's heart sunk.
A force like a hammer slammed into Obsidian's connection, sparks flying from the terminal.
"I'm being locked out!" Obsidian shouted. "He's traced me—he knows!"
"Don't lose him now!" Void cursed.
But it was too late.
The walls of the room seemed to shake. The abandoned tech whirred to life, all cameras in the room turned to Void, scanning him up and down. In an instant, Void could feel it, Rasputin was watching.
Rasputin struck hard, purging the link in an instant. Obsidian was ejected, it looked at Void once more, as if recalling who he was, then with a hiss of smoke the terminal died.
Void breathed a sigh of relief. His ears picked up on the conflict outside, 'They're almost done breaching in.'
Across the bunker, the fighting was winding down. Fallen vandals had rallied and disabled the last of Rasputin's turrets. The Fallen captains led their squads inside.
But with its defences purged. The Warmind made its final choice.
The lights dimmed. A voice boomed.
"Contingency Omega: Initiated. Self-destruct in 5 seconds."
Void's eyes widened.
"Motherfu-."
He didn't wait. In a flash, Arc energy surged through his body—bright blue lightning wreathing his form. The air cracked with voltage.
He sprinted.
The storm flowed with him—feet blurring, body arcing like a bolt through the collapsing corridors. The tunnels behind him detonated one by one, the heat of the explosion nipping at his heels. Rubble fell. Pipes burst. Fire clawed after him like a beast.
Five seconds. Three. Two—
Void burst into the open air, leaping free just as the tunnel behind him caved in.
The bunker vanished in a plume of smoke and fire, and then the canyon trembled.
Only silence remained.
Void exhaled, sparks still dancing along his arms. "That was close," he muttered.
Obsidian flickered beside him. "Too close."
Void stared at the rubble. He knew Rasputin hadn't liked what he tried to do. It was gonna fight back now. And it wasn't going to be quiet.
"Did you manage to get any coordinates?" Void asked, dusting himself off.
Obsidian opened its logs, trying its best to render the map again, "No...He wiped my database. But, I can try to stitch the map together. We might just locate one more bunker."
Void sighed, "If that's all we can do then sure. Any update on the other Fallen skiffs?"
"Nope, doesn't look like they descended. This was probably the only bunker they had intel on. We're too far to listen in to their ships comms." Obsidian flittered, healing Void with a pulsing light.
"Alright. Let's dial it down. We need to pick up on their comms and find the bunkers. Rasputin's smart. It's probably going to reinforce all its bunkers now. Search for power surges, Golden age lines." Void's mind raced.
"He's a machine, not a phantom. He's bound to leave a trace. Track all network frequencies. Anything that pops, anything at all, track it down." Void called his ship.
"I've got eyes on the Cosmodrome, I am using the backdoor relays as an antenna. If he really is reinforcing bunkers. We're bound to find out." Obsidian agreed.
Void nodded, then sighed "Let's circle back to the Skywatch outpost. We gotta check out the Hive problem too."
Void triggered his transmat, and his ship soared towards the skies, patrolling the edges of the Cosmodrome for any changes. A moment later it shot towards Skywatch.
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