Chapter 05- Overheard

“WRESTLING!” Frost winced then made an unintelligible noise that indicated irritation. She glanced up from her datapad that currently displayed her book while taking a sip of herbal tea whilst looking around for the source of the disruption to her peace and quiet.  She put the data pad down, one hand automatically going to the towel on her head to ensure it stayed in place after the sudden movement.  

She adjusted her open robe over her soft pyjamas and reflected how peaceful things had been in the clan house recently.  A peace she did not see coming nor expect to last very long given the constant antics of her clanmates.  However, she had intended to take advantage of this rare opportunity and spend every precious moment of this peace nestled in her favorite ratty chair in the clan house common room catching up on the postings to her favorite fiction boards.  She had enjoyed the multiple attempts that her fellows guardians had made to recreate or replace the lion’s share of lost Pre-Fall fiction.

“Frost, your heart rate is spiking.”  Persephone apparated into existence.

“Do you hear that, little Ghost?”  Frost asked, not really expecting the Ghost to have heard it.  “That’s the sound of trouble.”

“Should I bring your weapons?”

As the assorted hoots and hollers of two of her clanmates echoed down the hall and she realised her all-too-short peace was at an end,  She sighed and took one last sip of her tea and giggled at Persephone’s last question.

“Not just yet.  Give it five minutes.  Take this please?”  And handed over her datapad.   

The Ghost took it from her to be stored as data itself and vanished. Frost  inhaled in preparation and set her teacup down at the exact instant the door flew open so fast that it fell off one of it’s hinges with a bang.

“WRESTLING!” Ronnie, the giant Titan exclaimed, her hand outstretched from just slamming the door wide. “WOOO, WRESTLING!” resounded Th13teen. The Hunter pushed past Ronnie and flexed his arms, strutting around the room.

Frost rubbed her temples. “Okay. Okay. Clearly you two lunatics have found something new to occupy your pea brains. What is it this time?” “It’s the BEST” Ronnie shouted. She gesticulated wildly “Shaxx is adding unarmed combat to Crucible and he wants us to organize into groups of two-” “TAG TEAMS, BAYBEE” Th13teen interjected.

“-and fight each other in a round robin tournament!” Ronnie grinned from ear to ear.. 

Frost picked up her teacup as a protective measure, feigning the most unimpressed air she could. “And what do you get for winning, pray tell?” “BELTS!” came the response from Th13teen.

“Belts?” Frost asked.

“Belts,” Ronnie clarified. “Belts,” Frost confirmed. “BELTS!” Th13teen reiterated. “BIG, SHINY GOLD BELTS!” “Shiny...gold,” Frost peered up at the big Titan, decked out as she was in gold filigree armor “why am I not surprised? Ronnie, If your armor gets any shinier you might as well wear disco balls on your buttplates.” “No, no, for the duration of this tournament, I’m now going by the name ‘Ronnie-2-Shotty’” she grinned and glanced at Th13teen who nodded in approval, “because I got the shotguns right here” she flexed, indicating her not unimpressive, Frost conceded- biceps.

“And I’m going by ‘JOEY THREE-BOWS” Th13teen squealed excitedly, perching atop the back of another sofa lounger. 

“And together,” Ronnie bellowed “we are…” Th13teen leapt off of the sofa back and Ronnie caught him, swinging him around once and landing him on his feet where they both took up flexing poses and shouted in unison: “THE NEW VOID ORDER!” 

Frost palmed her own face.  “As fascinating as all of this is, I’ve had my fill of your...enthusiasm for the day.  I’ll be outside.” She got up and strode past them, pink robe fluttering as she did.

“You’re gonna come and see us wrestle, right?” Frost waved dismissively “Break your necks on your own damn time, boss lady. I’m going out to the garden to get some more reading done.” She turned back as she was leaving and regarded Ronnie directly “and by the way, try not to let anybody else break your shiny butt, okay?” “Why’s that?” Ronnie smirked back with a touch of defiance.

“Cause that’s my job.” Frost deliberately lowering her voice and holding Ronnie’s gaze for as long as possible while she watched the overconfident Titan’s face turn from Awoken blue to embarassed red. Frost turned and left just as Ronnie was trying to come up with a good retort, a move that Frost knew hammered the point home: I’m in charge here, Ronnie, you just think you are. 

As she stepped out into the clan house courtyard and took in the morning sunlight, something once more came to interrupt her solitude. A stranger approached the garden path. A Warlock, dressed in fine black and gold robes, her shoulders and neck adorned with long black feathers at the hems of her outfit. She was shorter than Frost, with dark human skin and a head of bright orange hair framing a severe face, made up with black eyeliner and gold lipstick. This woman seemed to glide up the path though Frost was sure she was walking, and she would have almost gone through her had she not halted abruptly. 

The woman flashed a smile that didn’t seem to reach her eyes, one that clearly was not lacking in practice.

“Good day, madam,” she nearly purred with a voice that was like black licorice. Tart and husky, but dripping with enough sweetness to cause cavities. “Can you tell me if this is the Pax Bisonica house?” “Well yes but why?” Frost cocked her hand on her hip. She wasn’t too sure why this person was here, but the atmosphere of ostentatiousness was already made cloying with Ronnie’s grandstanding, the last thing she needed was this peacock padding around the place. 

“Is Veronica here, darling?” the Warlock’s mouth curled into a smile and Frost envisioned her as almost snakelike. 

“Veronica? There’s….nobody in the clan by th-” “Oh yes, of course,” she deflected “Ronnie, she goes by Ronnie these days, I’m sorry.” “Oh” Frost raised both eyebrows, genuinely disarmed. Veronica? Really? She filed that away for later use. “Y-yeah, Ronnie’s inside.” She stabbed a thumb backwards over her shoulder and moved aside for the visitor. 

“Thank you darling,” the shorter woman bowed her head and glided past Frost without another word, making for the door. Frost narrowed her eyes and waited till the woman was through the doorway. She didn’t trust this one. Not at all. Not that Frost trusted many people, she still hadn’t gotten used to living with the members of her own clan, such as it was. That said, though, if this woman meant them harm, she was going to at least stay on top of things. They were family, after all. 

“Persephone,” Frost summoned.

“Frost,” her Ghost offered, dryly as she appeared.

“Suit me up. We’re going stealth.” 

*** Frost slipped in through the door and immediately sprang into the rafters, padding between them like a cat. Her void light flickered around her and began bending the low ambient light around her armor, rendering her functionally invisible. If anybody looked hard enough they might be able to see her, but nobody would really be looking up at the rafters in their own clan house. She swiftly made her way to the commons room via the roof supports. 

As she entered the room, she saw the new arrival speaking with Ronnie, who stood before her, arms crossed, but smiling? They were talking, low and quiet, which was unusual for Ronnie. Frost also noted that Th13teen was absent?

 Frost’s Hunter inquisitiveness kicked into overdrive and she listened intently, using her headset’s sound amplifiers to zero in on the words being said. “...not since Io, no.” Ronnie said, with a slight chuckle.

 “I know, it *has* been a while, darling, I’m sooooo sorry.” The new woman drawled out her words theatrically as if rehearsed. “So what brings you back to our neck of the woods?” Ronnie leaned back on her desk. 

“Why….you do, Veronica, my dear.” The Warlock leaned in as Ronnie leaned forward. Frost’s breath hitched in her throat and she reached for her knives, anticipating an attack, however, what happened next surprised even the seasoned guardian.

The smaller woman stood on tiptoe and leaned in further. Her gold-painted lips met Ronnie’s and the larger woman brought her arms forward and around the Warlock’s waist. They entwined. It was long, slow and silent, and if there had been any sound still in the room, it would have been brought to a hush.

Frost muttered a quiet “fuck, fuck, fuck” as her fumbling fingers found no purchase on the knife handle and it slipped out of it’s sheath, causing her to grab it blade first before it could fall to the ground and give her away. She exhaled, realising that her gloved fingers were in no danger and reclined to sit in the rafters. 

Well, she thought, watching the two women kiss. This is...new. It was no secret that Ronnie was...involved with a great many people. She often implied as such. But this was the first time Frost had seen evidence with her own eyes. She frowned, though she wasn’t sure why. 

The two women broke apart and Ronnie chuckled. She reached up an armored gauntlet to cup the smaller woman’s face playfully “Oh Deja, you haven’t changed a bit.” Deja cupped her hands around Ronnie’s larger one and smiled sweetly at her “I’m still just ‘little old me, darling. And I was hoping you’d like to catch up on old times some more.” “Oh?” Ronnie said, perking an eyebrow. Deja slipped back from her and gestured wide with her arms “Some friends of mine have abandoned a little outpost on Saturn, darling. It’s a cozy little apartment at the top of one of the less destroyed buildings in the city. It’s as furnished as it gets and all the amenities work.” She smiled her little snake smile again. “They’ve finished their little expedition to collect Vex samples there and they offered me the place.” Ronnie looked down and chuckled. As her eyes rose to met Deja’s she asked “and what are we going to do in a remote apartment out in the middle of Saturn, Deja?” Deja bit her bottom lip and cocked her eyebrow “why, darling, we would make our own entertainment.” Frost mimed a gag. Persephone giggled in her head. 

Ronnie laughed, loudly at first, then softer, looking around. “I...when were you planning to go?” she said, standing and walking over to Deja, resting her hands on the Warlock’s hips. Frost found herself chewing on the inside of her helmet restlessly, watching this all play out. 

Deja swayed her hips gently under the Titan’s touch “Right now, darling. We’d have the whole weekend to ourselves.” Ronnie’s eyebrows arched in the middle, surprised and a little sad. She smiled weakly for Deja. “Ah...Deja, I can’t. I have plans.” Deja play-frowned “Unless it’s Vanguard business, sweetheart, I’m sure it can wait.” Frost smirked to herself. Of course, she thought, Ronnie wants to go do that wrestling thing with Th13teen. She’s not going to go romp with some....two bit spell-slinger that just walked in here with her gaudy makeup and her- wait. 

Frost sat back against the support beam. Why did she care? Whatever Ronnie did in her spare time was her own business. It’s not like she had a horse in this race at all. In fact, getting Ronnie out of the place for the weekend would benefit her more. She could have the whole place to herself and enjoy a good long marathon reading session. She looked down, hoping now that the big woman might reconsider the weekend romp. 

Ronnie sighed and pulled her hands back from Deja. “It’s….I had plans.” The wrestling, Frost nodded to herself. Knew it. “See,” Ronnie continued, “Frost’s been wanting some peace and quiet for a while, I was going to go find some books for her down at the Ishtar collective and bring them for her. I was gonna send everybody else out on patrol and just give her some time to...enjoy herself.” Frost nearly fell out of the rafters. 

Deja crossed her arms “And? You could just give her the books and then come with me, Darling, I don’t see why-” Ronnie scratched the bridge of her nose, trying to feign nonchalance “I was gonna…maybe hang around. See if there was anything I wanted to read too?” Frost cocked her head. Ronnie could read? God that would be a funny thing to say right now, but she held her tongue and listened. 

Deja perked an eyebrow at this as well. “You? Since when were you ever the bookish type, you’ve never, since we’ve known each other picked up-” a slow dawning came over her face. “Wait. Wait a moment. Who is Frost? Is she the one I passed on the way here? Awoken? Medium height, towel on her head? PJs?” Ronnie nodded slowly “uh, yeah, if you just passed her, yeah, that’s her.” Deja smirked. “Oh. Oh yes, I get it now. Is that your type now?” Ronnie coughed and stepped back towards her desk “I- I’m not sure I know what you mean.” “Veronica!” Deja insisted, she raised her voice for emphasis, “I thought you despised Hunters, and now you’re involved with one?” Frosts eyes snapped wide. INVOLVED? Hold on a moment here, lady-

“We’re…” Ronnie chuckled softly “we’re friends.” She looked up and smiled wide and warm. Frost suddenly forgot her own line of thought. She hadn’t ever seen this particular smile on Ronnie’s face. It was...wistful? Wry? Deja softened too. Her frustration gave way to a similar smile and she crossed to the desk and leaned on it beside Ronnie. They shared a quiet silence for a moment. Deja slowly reached out and stroked the back of Ronnie’s hand. “What’s she like, this Hunter of yours?” Ronnie chuckled softly. “She’s…unlike anyone I’ve ever met. She’s smart. Sharp too, like a knife. Always knows what to say. N’ she’s super capable. I just...I like being around her. She makes me forget myself and like…like she’s all that matters.” A slow creeping blush build up in her face as she spoke. “She’s like a literal goddess.” Deja leaned her head on Ronnie’s shoulder. “She sounds wonderful, Darling.” “She is,” Ronnie said. They turned to meet each other’s gaze and Ronnie cupped Deja’s face with a hand and drew her in for a short kiss. 

Frost leaned back against the support pillar and drew her knees up close to her chest. Her heart was thumping in her chest again and she felt flushed. 

“Come on” Ronnie said below her “least I can do is take you to lunch. We can catch up at least a little.” “We can” Deja said, “but if we’re not going to my little romp, honey, I might as well stick around a bit. Help out around the place some and all. After all, I do need to meet this woman who’s made such an impact on you…” Their voices trailed off as they left the room. Frost decloaked and let out a breath. That….that had been a lot. 

“Hey.” Frost jumped. Sitting across from her on the support beam, a shape coalesced out of the darkness to reveal golden robotic facial features. Th13teen threw her a cavalier salute. 

“So,” he chuckled “‘literal goddess’ huh?”

Goddammit.

Chapter 04- Sunset

Frost edged the door open quietly, the clan house sounded oddly quiet. For the first time in weeks she entered in to a house devoid of sounds of bickering, fighting, boasting or bragging. Good, she thought, at least I don’t have to put up with other people right now. 

She trudged down the short main hall in silence, limping slightly from an injury that her most recent resurrection hadn’t quite healed and exhaled as she pushed open the door to the main office where she could sit for a moment and collect herself before everyone came back from wherever they had gone. Or at least that’s what she had planned on doing. What she hadn’t planned on was coming across Ronnie, lightly dozing, feet up on the main desk (Erina would have pitched a fit but she wasn’t here right now). 

Not in the mood to tiptoe around her, Frost sighed resignedly and plopped herself down in an armchair across from the mountainous Titan woman, the noise of which seemed to make Ronnie stir slightly.

“Mm...wha….” she yawned, smacking her lips lightly as she came alive, stretching. 

“Mornin’, sleepyhead” Frost greeted, slumping in the armchair. 

“Hey.” Ronnie stood and rubbed the small of her back through her armor. “Where you been?” Frost shrugged dejectedly. “Trying to make some headway on a bounty but no dice. Where’s everyone?” Ronnie cracked her neck and rummaged for a semi-clean flagon. She found one with a little beer still left in it and sucked it down as she looked for a refill in the nearby fridge. “Out on some patrols, I imagine” she answered over her shoulder. “God, do some dishes, you animal” Frost sneered. Ronnie’s manners were not the most fitting for someone who liked to dress in as much gold armor as she did. Not to mention the lacy robes she often wore in lieu of pajamas. That was a whole other dissonance, Frost thought bemusedly. “Where’s Th13teen in particular?” “I think he’s gone hunting up some Golden Age bow tech with Grimm,” Ronnie poured herself a tall glass, ignoring the smaller woman’s admonitions. “What’d you need him for?” “Eh,” Frost muttered, pulling a knife from her holsters. She yanked one of her gloves off and idly began picking at her fingernails with the knife. “I’ve been trying to pull a bounty on an Elixni wannabe-Kell out in Trostland. Thing is, he’s holed up good in one of the old Pre-Fall buildings and he’s got an unending supply of guards.” She made a face and looked up at Ronnie “been driving me nuts for about a week. As fast as I make kills, he seems to recruit more guys.” Ronnie perked an eyebrow as she sat back at her desk and took a swig of her beer. “Mmh. And you think ol’ Joey Three-Bows is gonna help you clear out the bug den, huh?” Frost snickered in spite of herself at the nickname. Th13teen did have a bit of an obsession with his favorite weapon type, opting to carry one in each weapon slot regardless of the occassion. “Yeah, having another Hunter with me to watch my back, you know?” 

“What you need is a Titan” Ronnie smirked. 

Frost made her best unimpressed face. “How figure?” “Well if this guy is just throwing dudes at you, what you need is to make kills in volume, not worry about being all stealthy like.” Frost was going to say something against that, but it did make sense. It was a kind of knucklebrained, sword-first-into-danger kind of sense, but it was sense. She had come to expect this kind of thinking from Ronnie at this point, but it had not been quite as useful as it had been right in this moment. Broken clocks are right twice a day and all that, she thought bemusedly. “Look,” Frost said, pointing her knife at Ronnie “I’ve killed plenty of people in my time…” What would have been a threat to most rolled ablatively off the giantess. She smiled broader. “Regale me.” 

Frost shook her head, “look, you can come out there with me if you want, but I’m telling you, unless I get a skilled Hunter out there, there’s no way we’re cracking that outer wall. There’s got to be at least three waves of Dregs, not to mention sniper Vandals in the windows.” 

“You keep selling me harder on this,” Ronnie laughed. She reached across the desk and grabbed her helmet by one of it’s horns and dragged it over to her. “Come on. Show me where this place is. Worst thing we can do is take a crack at it and see what gives, yeah?” 

Frost exhaled dramatically. “Give me like five minutes, then we’ll go? I’m tired.” She slumped in her seat for emphasis. The Titan smiled and put the helmet back down. “Sure thing,” she said, not quite as loudly as she usually spoke. “Pour you a beer? I promise there’s a clean glass around here...somewhere.” Frost managed a smile. 

***

No sooner had the erstwhile Kell’s lifeless body hit the floor than Frost dropped to her knees in exhaustion. She braced herself against a rusted bit of exposed scaffolding and caught her breath in long, loud gulps as she used her helmet’s enhanced vision to verify that the big Elixni warrior was in fact dead. His body riddled with her own arrows and knives and, she had to admit, a generous helping of bullets served hot and fresh from the barrel of Ronnie’s auto rifle. 

“WOOOO!” the same Titan called out, trundling up to the heap of alien crimelord in front of her and jabbing it with her toe. “He’s dead!” Frost rounded the corner from her cover and quickly composed herself as best she could, but she couldn’t hide the shakiness in her voice from being winded moments prior. “Alright. Finally. God that took forever.” She walked up to find Ronnie sitting on the back of the carcass, looking up at her with the blank visage of her helmet’s faceplate. The big woman was covered in alien body fluids, blood and grime, but she had the enthusiasm of a child winning at a sporting event. Where did she get this wellspring of energy from, Frost wondered? 

“See?” Ronnie said, jabbing a thumb towards herself “Titans have got your back, every time.” Frost waved a hand at her languidly as she spun up her Ghost, Persephone, to make a text report quickly to inform the pertinent parties of their conquest. Her eyes darted over letters, selecting them with a gaze while she spoke. “Yes, yes, I’m very impressed, couldn’t have done it without you, yadda yadda.” Message sent. Unable to keep herself upright for much longer, she picked a bare spot on the floor and sat crosslegged in front of the Titan. 

“Hey, win or lose, that was still fun though.” Ronnie stood and began looking around the room for weaponry, loose engrams and whatever she could find. 

Just as she was doing this, a message flashed in Frost’s visor and she checked it. “Oh hey, bounty payment’s in. I’ll wire you half of this, it only seems fai-” “Keep it.” Frost looked away from her message. “What?” Now that was unexpected. Ronnie, who was always hurting for money and always kept the clanhouse in poor repair, turning down a payday? The woman who would rather keep herself in gold armor and lacy sleepwear and a constant stream of alcohol was turning down what amounted to a fairly massive paycheck. “You can’t be serious, Ronnie. This is a lot of money.” “And you earned it.” The big woman was rolling over Dreg carcasses casually, skimming bits of Glimmer from each one. “I was just along for the ride.”

Frost tilted her head and pushed herself up to her feet, walking over to Ronnie. “I’m offering this to you. You worked hard for it. Like I said, I couldn’t have done it without you.” Frost couldn’t see past the facemask. She had no idea what Ronnie’s face looked like right now, if she was joking or being serious, but the blank faceplate turned to her. “I just wanted to come out here with you.” Frost froze. Ronnie’s voice was quiet, subdued. A tone she had never heard in the Titan’s voice before. 

“I just…” Ronnie turned her head away and seemed to be looking out a window. Outside the sun played setting oranges over the landscape. Warmth gave way to cooling and stillness washed over them both. “I never really get to come out and do fieldwork with you. It’s...it’s nice.” Frost recovered from her initial surprise, but, not wanting to abruptly shift the tone of the conversation, decided to lead it, see where it went. Quietly she asked “coming out here and killing alien criminals is...nice?” Ronnie chuckled softly under her breath. The helmet bowed and her usually bravado-fueled stance softened a bit. “It is nice….I mean...when I’m out here with you at least.” Frost felt her heart quicken slightly, though she was unsure what that meant. She ignored a mental tug from Persephone to check on her vitals, silencing the Ghost with a psychic shush. 

Ronnie turned back to face her, that damned blank faceplate not giving anything away. “I like being with you,” she said, with earnestness and meaning. She was direct and blunt, much like a hammer, but delivering a message of silk and perfume. Her voice wavered a little. “It makes me happy whenever we get to spend time togeth-” She was cut off by Frost raising a gloved hand up to her face. Or where her face should be. Before even she knew what she was doing, Frost had placed her hand on the big woman’s faceplate and softly she rubbed the thumb over a smear of blood on the shining surface. A moment hung and the sun moved from warm oranges to a muted blue. Frost breathed out, not really having thought this whole thing through, she pulled her hand away slowly and muttered “You...uh...you had something there.” Ronnie raised her own hand to her cheek. “Uh...uh-huh.” Silence.

“Look” Frost cleared her throat. “I-uh…” She made a face she was thankful Ronnie couldn’t see. What was happening here? Did she want whatever this was to happen? This woman was basically her boss, barely a friend. Sure they’d been through a lot together at this point, but where was this admission coming from? What did any of this even mean? She shook her head clear of all of this and focused her thoughts quickly. She was hungry. Certainly she was hungry. Okay, she thought, good, let’s focus on that. 

“Ronnie,” Frost said. She noticed the Titan had barely moved, barely breathed since she last spoke. She was holding for a reaction, some kind of acknowledgement. “If...if you’re not going to take the payment then…can I at least treat you to dinner tonight?” 

A breath. An exhale from behind the mask. “Yeah.” Some of the brightness returned to the Titan’s voice. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot. You wanna get some Ramen?” Frost smiled. She was already intending to go to her favorite Ramen place in the tower, and she knew Ronnie liked the place too. “Okay,” she responded. This she could handle. This was good. This was a start. “Also, is that a new helmet?” Ronnie cocked her head to one side and reached up to touch her own horns on her massive headgear. “What, this? No, it’s the same one I’ve always worn.” Frost exhaled quietly, having diverted the conversation. The horns had always actually been a nice touch, she thought. They were strong and proud, standing out and proclaiming powerfully who this woman was. They arced outward from her forehead, thunderous and ostentatious, gleaming in the now fading twilight.

They were beautiful.

“They look tacky as shit,” Frost chuckled, shouldering her scout rifle and turning on her heel to walk away, leading on to dinner and wherever this night and all others would take them. 

Chapter 03- Wounded Deeply

“RONNIE.” Frost kicked the door in and it swung on it’s one good hinge to slam open. The lithe Awoken Hunter slammed her foot down and strode confidently into the room. She walked right up to the one good desk in the middle of it and to the other large Awoken woman behind it before the Exo Warlock off to one side could respond. “Frost.” Ronnie said, cooly, “to what do I owe the pleasure and door repair fee?” “Shut it, boss lady” Frost sneered, “I’ve just about had enough of you and I’m in no mood for jokes.” “You never are,” the Titan noted, leaning back in her chair and swinging her feet up onto the desk, which made Erina-7, the Warlock, shudder. She did so hate seeing their one good desk get scuffed. “You sent me into a strike with two fresh-off-the-Tower Guardians who didn’t know what they were doing and left me there with no backup.” “Come on, you were new once too. They have to learn the ropes sometimes. And what better way than with a good teache-” “FIFTY TIMES, RONNIE. I DIED FIFTY TIMES.” Frost barked angrily at the larger woman. Nervously she plucked a knife from her leg holsters and fidgeted with it in her fingers. “One of them saw me die over a cliff edge, so do you know what he tried to do? He tried to ressurect me…” “As one doe-” “OVER THE CLIFF EDGE, RONNIE.” Frost shouted, gesturing to an invisible cliff off to her left “WHICH MEANS I FELL TO MY DEATH AGAIN, AND THEN DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE TRIED TO DO?” Ronnie tried to hold back a chuckle, but it seeped out the corners of her mouth. “He didn’t…” “HE RESSURECTED ME AGAIN. AND AGAIN.” Ronnie threw her head back and howled with laughter, spilling her drink over the desk, which elicited a deep groan from Erina. “It’s NOT FUNNY” Frost shouted, hurling the knife at the Titan, whereupon it stuck into the desk between her legs causing her to fall over backwards. With a loud tumble and crash, she righted herself and stood, coming face to forehead with Frost. “I’ve had enough” Frost said. “I’m challenging you for leadership of the clan.” “What?” Ronnie snapped “you can’t be serious.” “I’m dead serious, lady. We’ll put it to a vote.” “You know the rules, Frost. The vote doesn’t even count unless you have at least one clan member in support of it.” No sooner had she finished her sentence than a shiny gold head peeked around the corner of the doorframe “I’m for it.” “Goddammit Thi13teen, stay out of this,” Ronnie sighed. “That’s one! And that’s all I need, Ronnie. By this time tomorrow we put it to a vote and we’ll see just who leads this clan once and for all.” “Hey, hey, bring it down a notch” the taller woman exhaled, clearly knowing that she was on shaky footing at this point. “Look, we serve this clan by the brave example of one of the most courageous men to ever walk Pre-Fall Earth. I think it only right that we ask of his example how best to settle this matter.” Frost perked an eyebrow, her mood settling a little. “What are you suggesting?” “I’m just saying, we should ask ourselves, in time of internal disagreement, our guiding principle should be this” she framed her fingers into quotes. “‘What would Raul Julia do?’” Frost thought about that for a moment. She had sat and watched the clips with Ronnie and the other members of the clan, it had always brought them closer together. These fleeting memories of a Pre-Fall Earth. Their nights when they had downtime and could all gather together to entertain themselves were still worth all of the headaches the big Titan often put her through, and she knew it. She smiled in spite of herself. As much as she was still angry, there was much to be said for the way things were. Finding her conversational footing, Frost looked down in thought and smiled. She looked up at Ronnie and smirked, narrowing her eyes “Why I imagine good ol’ Raul would either end up in a swordfight” she smiled “or entwined in a kiss.” Never before had Frost seen the blue skin of an Awoken turn red so fast. A hot rush rose to Ronnie’s cheeks and she stumbled back a step. “Uh...whuh...ah...um…” She turned to Erina-7 who mustered a shrug and a “ya got me” headshake. Ronnie turned to face Frost again and said, definitivley “ah….uhhh...mmm…” before making a random genuflection and stumbling out of the office with uneven, rumbling steps. She passed Th13teen in the hallway who strode in with a bucket of popcorn. “Aww. Over already? How’d you get her to stop talking?” Frost smiled sweetly and stole a couple of kernels. “Fear of intimacy.”

“I’ve noticed she’s got that, yeah.” Th13teen said, turning back to Frost. “So you our new leader yet?” “No,” Frost chuckled, staring after the lumbering woman who was now leaving the building in a hurry, “I’ll let her stay leader a little longer, I guess.” 

Chapter 02: Accuracy

SHUNK “How’re you holding up there, Ronnie?” SHUNK 

The haft of the arrow slid cleanly into the skull of the hulking Cabal Legionary, cutting off all his motor function, the life leaving his eyes just around the same moment as Th13teen knocked another arrow and pivoted at his waist to find another target, just about the same moment as the muscular Titan near him dropped another arrow to the floor. “DAMMIT” she shouted. “How the hell do you use these damn things all the time?” Th13teen shrugged and let the arrow fly. SHUNK. Another dead Cabal, as gunfire roared around them both.

“Talent,” the Exo hunter smirked. 

Ronnie growled in response “Grimm, status report,” she barked into her comms as she scrambled to ham fistedly knock an arrow into her bow finally.

“BUSY” the Exo Titan growled from across the battlefield. He was busy pumping rounds from his massive chaingun into the waves of Cabal encroaching on them, yet keeping the crowd away from the other two as best he could. “HURRY,” he snarled, blood spattering his gold chestpeice. Ronnie huffed “the big guy says we should hurry up.” “Oh come on,” Th13teen laughed. SHUNK. “You wanted to prove you were at least competent with a bow and I’ve got all night.” “I wanted to prove that these things aren’t as good as a good Auto Rifle,” Ronnie shouted, letting another arrow fly wide of a Cabal soldier. SHUNK. The same soldier felled by Th13teen’s arrow a split second later. “I dunno” the hunter said, knocking another faster than Ronnie could notice “sounds more like a *you* problem there.” Ronnie quivered with quick anger. “FINE” she screamed, throwing her Arsenic Bite bow to the floor. “But if I have to use a bow, I’m going to use my favorite one!” “Hey now, that’s not in the spirit of this excerci-” “Stuff it,” the Titan drew herself up to her full height and made an elaborate flick of her wrist, summoning her Ghost which now twirled lazily in her hand. “White, give me Trinity Ghoul.” 

The mass of metal polygons and light in her hand twitched a couple of times and said, in a cool, measured voice “Processing payment….aaaaaand done. It’s in your inventory, Ronnie.” “Thanks,” the tall Awoken woman waved her Ghost away and reached behind her, a shape materializing in her hands. As she drew it in front of her, it manifested into an elegantly curved white shape. A bow, exquisitely carved and crackling with lightning and magic. Th13teen stood awestruck. He’d never seen this weapon before. How long had she had it? The fact that Ronnie owned *more than one* bow was striking enough, but this thing. This thing was special. Ronnie stared downfield, curling her lip into a sneer as she slowly raised her arm, rod-straight. Her back arched, cocking her chest forward and she shut one eye. As she pulled the arrow back, the lighting trembles, shocking the air around them both. Coils of crackling light drew into the bow, coalescing into the arrowhead, vibrating with power. With an exhale, Ronnie let the arrow fly, and it soar to the other end of the battlefield where it buried itself cleanly into the ground between several Cabal. Th13teen scarcely had time to open his mouth and react before the arrow exploded in brilliance. Arcing arms of lightning stretching out, striking down three of the soldiers and leaving several others scrambling for safety. Ronnie turned to him and smiled. Th13teen blinked at her. “I think I’m in love.” “Excuse me?” the mountain of a woman seemed visibly shaken. “Not you,” Th13teen clarified “the bow.”  

Chapter O1: The Great

Tink, tink, shlunk. Tink, tink, shlunk. The idle noises drifted through the air of the small room as the Exo Hunter hunched over the metal box in front of him. His nimble fingers danced over dials and screws, muttering under his breath several times in a row. “Damn,” he exhaled.  The mass of muscle layered under chrome armor chuckled in the corner, swigging from a flagon of beer and swinging her feet up onto the nearby desk with a ponderous thud as she reclined in her seat. “You’ll never get it open.” “You think I would,” the Exo huffed. “I mean it is technically mine after all, and I’d really like to know what was so important that I felt the need to keep it from me.” From around the corner to the hallway, another Exo peeked, a Warlock. She scrunched up her faceplates. “I thought I heard your feet on the desk again, Ronnie. Off. Off. You’ll ruin the last bit of good furniture we have.” The Awoken Titan made a jabbering puppet gesture with her fingers and stuck her tounge out at the Warlock. “My clan house, my rules.” Thirt13en sat up and his hands left the lockbox for a moment. “Yeah, speaking of that,” the Hunter gestured to the singed clan banner hung behind the Titan. “Why the bull-head?” The Titan looked up and remarked “goes with the name.” “Yeah, that’s another thing” Thirt13en said, sitting back, trying to distract himself from the box. “Why that name?” “Pax Bisonica?” Ronnie said, scooting her beer across the table as Erina-7 tried to jam a coaster under it, fruitlessly. “S’based on a thing from some clips I salvaged from a Warmind.” The hunter perked an eyebrow “you salvaged data from a Warmind?” “Don’t be so impressed,” Erina said, settling for at least wiping the desk with a cloth. “She’s only gotten little snippets. Mostly recorded plays, but with elaborate sets and pyrotechnics.” “Movies” the Titan sneered “they were called movies. There was a whole industry set up around them. Probably the height of culture and art.” Erina made a face “the only culture you have is the bacteria keeping your beer from going flat.” “Wait, wait, wait,” Thirt13en held up his hands “so still...what does any of that have to do with the name.” Ronnie swung her greaves down with an audible thud that made Erina jump a little. She stood to her full height and raised her armored hands above her head “it’s based on a speech by one of the finest thespians of his time. A tale of power and loyalty the likes of which haven’t been seen on this world in a thousand years.” Erina sneered “It’s good, but it’s not that good, you may be overselling it. In fact, it’s even, daresay, a little overacte-” “Hey!” the Titan barked. She picked up her flagon and raised it to her lips, keeping a steely gaze on the Warlock. “In this house, we do not besmirch the name of the great Raul Julia.”