Cayde-6 (
deal_me_in) wrote in
revivalproject2020-11-23 09:19 pm
โค Like Moths to a Flame
WHO: Cayde-6, Jonathan Sims, and Tony Stark
WHERE: The Green Quadrant
WHAT: ...IS THAT BLINKY LIGHT
WHEN: Sometime this weekish
WARNINGS: N/A - Will update as necessary
It had been a mystery that had consistently nagged at the Exo ever since he'd first noticed it. Taking up residence in the clocktower had only verified that he hadn't just been seeing things one evening, and every time he looked off in that particular direction of the city, the blue, intermittent glow beckoned, or perhaps taunted was the better term. He'd get to it, he promised himself.
Naturally he'd had it in his head that he'd try checking it out alone at first. That was back then, and being without his Ghost, he supposed it would be better to exercise maybe a little more caution than he tended to. He was sure that if he'd left a note saying where he'd gone, certain people might be upset with him. Clearly the answer then was to invite them along, and he'd be in good company. They had the time now, hopefully, and Cayde fully intended to make use of it before they found themselves suddenly on another extended space voyage. Jon had wanted to check out some places, and Tony, well surely he'd been curious about the light's source as well.
His message was pretty cut and dry so far as one could expect by way of invitations and intentions. He even hand-wrote them because he thought it'd be cute, and left them where he'd hoped his buddies might find them.
๐ฎโด ๐๐ฝโด'๐ ๐๐
๐ปโด๐ ๐ถ ๐๐พ๐๐๐โฏ ๐ถ๐น๐โฏ๐๐๐๐๐พ๐โ? โฌโฏ๐ธ๐ถ๐๐โฏ ๐๐ฝโฏ๐โฏ'๐ ๐ถ ๐
โฏ๐๐๐พ๐๐โฏ๐๐๐๐ โ๐โด๐๐พ๐โ ๐ท๐๐โฏ ๐๐พโ๐ฝ๐ โด๐๐ ๐๐ฝโฏ๐โฏ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐๐ธ๐โฏ๐ถ๐๐พ๐โ ๐ฎโฐ๐โโฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ.
๐ซ๐โฏ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐โฏ๐ถ๐โฏ โ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ซ ๐ถ๐ ๐โด๐๐ โฏ๐ถ๐๐๐พโฏ๐๐ ๐ธโด๐๐โฏ๐๐พโฏ๐๐ธโฏ. ๐ณ๐ช๐ณ๐ช ๐๐ถ๐๐นโฏ
Like as there would be some light planning at best, although the Exo wasn't very big on plans, but Jon and Tony might have otherwise to say, especially considering their previous exploration endeavor. Cayde packed the essentials, which amounted to his trademark hand cannon, a few knives, and one of the guns that he'd claimed from the Graq. At least those didn't blow up in his face when he tried shooting them.
They'd met up in front of Cal's workshop and then made their way out towards the far northeastern corner of the city, well beyond its main roads.
WHERE: The Green Quadrant
WHAT: ...IS THAT BLINKY LIGHT
WHEN: Sometime this weekish
WARNINGS: N/A - Will update as necessary
It had been a mystery that had consistently nagged at the Exo ever since he'd first noticed it. Taking up residence in the clocktower had only verified that he hadn't just been seeing things one evening, and every time he looked off in that particular direction of the city, the blue, intermittent glow beckoned, or perhaps taunted was the better term. He'd get to it, he promised himself.
Naturally he'd had it in his head that he'd try checking it out alone at first. That was back then, and being without his Ghost, he supposed it would be better to exercise maybe a little more caution than he tended to. He was sure that if he'd left a note saying where he'd gone, certain people might be upset with him. Clearly the answer then was to invite them along, and he'd be in good company. They had the time now, hopefully, and Cayde fully intended to make use of it before they found themselves suddenly on another extended space voyage. Jon had wanted to check out some places, and Tony, well surely he'd been curious about the light's source as well.
His message was pretty cut and dry so far as one could expect by way of invitations and intentions. He even hand-wrote them because he thought it'd be cute, and left them where he'd hoped his buddies might find them.
๐ซ๐โฏ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐โฏ๐ถ๐โฏ โ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ซ ๐ถ๐ ๐โด๐๐ โฏ๐ถ๐๐๐พโฏ๐๐ ๐ธโด๐๐โฏ๐๐พโฏ๐๐ธโฏ. ๐ณ๐ช๐ณ๐ช ๐๐ถ๐๐นโฏ
Like as there would be some light planning at best, although the Exo wasn't very big on plans, but Jon and Tony might have otherwise to say, especially considering their previous exploration endeavor. Cayde packed the essentials, which amounted to his trademark hand cannon, a few knives, and one of the guns that he'd claimed from the Graq. At least those didn't blow up in his face when he tried shooting them.
They'd met up in front of Cal's workshop and then made their way out towards the far northeastern corner of the city, well beyond its main roads.

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"Piece of crap," he muttered, tossing it over his shoulder. As he turned to look over at the other two for suggestions he flung his arms up as Jon suddenly seemed to explode.
"Whoa, hey! Watch the eyebrows!" he shouted, watching the Archivist run about with his hand on fire. He failed to smother a grin.
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In a very guilty panic, Tony immediately as after Jon to mirror his fire dance, hopping anxiously along behind him as much as he could as each jostle of his arm had him slowly doubling over. "Just--close it! Close--your hand?" he tried to explain, a command he had never had to even articulate properly to the armor with it wired directly to his brain, and very close to just bowling Jon over to physically do it himself.
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The command given by Tony takes much longer than it should to fully reach Jonโs comprehension and there are still a few moments in which he just stares widely at the other man, gauntlet still sprouting that sharp flame.
The flame sputters for a moment, causing Jon to jump once more, thrusting his hand away from himself almost as if attempting to toss it away. That the motion is pretty much aimed in Caydeโs direction, still situated in front of the tower, is unintended. As is the burst of energy erupting from his palm as a direct result, now rushing towards the Exo. โShit!โ
Has Jon managed to close his hand at least? Not really. But that problem may no longer be their most pressing one.
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He was up on his feet again just in case Jon ended up flinging any more surprises at him. Which frankly was the least of their problems when he heard the blast find a mark, only then realizing what he'd left to be hit.
The rebound came in a wave, like an equivalent exchange of force, but not necessarily a direct deflection of the energy burst that had been shot at it. It was however an energy burst that would effectively knock them back, its excess causing an additional surge across technical systems.
It was a little too late for Cayde to think he might have been better off taking a direct hit. He was knocked off his feet by the tower's defenses, electricity sparking across him as he hit the ground. His choked shout was cut off as his body seized and then collapsed, and beside him Sundance clattered and tumbled, her blue core flickering wildly.
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The sound it made felt to Tony like the deep rumble of an engine, stretched out and lasting for a strange eternity while he watched Cayde and felt like he could ask him very casually if he was alright, and compliment him on a very cool looking dodge from the unexpected attack. But that rumble was actually an explosion, and Tony barely had the time to take a breath. He stood a few feet further from the tower than Cayde, but was shoved over by the blast just as easily, forcing time to catch up with Tony all at once, making the fall seem impossibly fast, and making Tony unable to tell that his vision had gone white well before he collided with the dirt.
This arm was done for, they were going to have to make him a new one like the Soldier. At the very least, he could not be laying on this shoulder anymore, forcing Tony up much faster on his still working arm than his head really agreed with, squinting around his swimming vision as he watched something dark fall from his face and splash across the dirt. That was his nose bleeding again, another overload of Extremis like in the Agrii ship, and in the time it took him to puzzle that out he was dredging up what reserves he had to abolish this paltry pain threshold to fumble onto his knees and swing around in search of the Exo. "Boss, the energy--" he rasped, trying to steady himself enough on his knees to search blindly for Jon, trying to warn him about the overload as he stared at the sparks arcing up through the cloud of dust.
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He hasnโt meant for that to happen.
He doesnโt miss any of the details. Cayde dodging the initial hit is a short-lived relief, quickly cast aside when the tower is hit and what follows next feels like it plays out in slow motion and Jon feels himself incapable of looking away even as he is being hit and pushed back harshly himself.
The impact hurts and knocks the breath out of his lungs, but he doesnโt feel actually hurt. Thereโs a crackle coming from the gauntlet still on his hand, making it the first thing Jon looks at. And he winces. Tony will be mad at him for breaking it...
Then he hears the voice calling out to him in a much appreciated distraction from rummaging too closely about what the reaction to the broken piece of armor will be.
Jon sits up with a small groan. A grown that is quickly cut off when he catches sight of Tony more or less on his hands and knees, calling and searching around blindly - And Cayde. Lying motionless and crackling similarly to the gauntlet Jon is still wearing.
Opening his mouth to speak, Jon produces a very elaborate piece of silence. โโ-!!โ Heโs back on his feet half a moment later, crouching before Tony first and putting his one bare hand firmly on his shoulder, trying to gently push him to simply sit on the ground. โTony. Iโm okay! Please calm down. Look at me if you can!โ
And he casts a quick look over to Cayde while waiting for the response, catching sight of Sundance on the floor as well, resulting in another tight grimace. No. He hasnโt meant for that to happen.
โ...We need to help Cayde.โ He mutters almost like an afterthought, knowing just too well that there is very little he can do for the Exo and his Ghost. He will have to make sure Tony is alright first.
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"...I thought we banned Jon from using weapons," he drawled, his voice slightly staticky. He shook his head, then reached out for his Ghost, pulling her over. "A-also, ow."
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At least Cayde seemed to be moving by the time they got there, easing some of the tension in Tony's chest just slightly as he let himself drop to his knees in the dirt with the Exo. He kept one hand on Jon's arm all the while, because he had to drag it over to slap against Cayde's face, then grab Jon by the clothes to force him down with them where Tony could push his gloved hand against the ground. "You wear a lot of clothes for a metal man," he grumbled. Sundance should have discharged the moment she hit the ground, though, so Tony dragged himself closer on his hip to peer over her in Cayde's care, then pressed a pair of gold fingers to her as if checking for a pulse to see if he could make a connection.
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The frown doesn't come without near palpable worry when Jon offers his tight-lipped observation. "You aren't fine, Tony. You can barely stand and that arm of yours needs to be properly looked at." He withdraws his hand from Cayde's face but keeps the other on the ground if only to rest the gauntlet's weight somewhere, then lets his eyes fall on Sundance. "Is she- Alright?" Jon at least tries to sound hopeful, yet remains painfully aware of just how much of this mess is his fault.
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"Come on buddy, we've had worse than this, right?" This he murmured to his Ghost. She was still glowing, just stunned, he figured. That thing packed a punch, and he could still feel whatever its energy had done still wracking his insides. Just as well they didn't have anything shooting at them, they'd all be sitting ducks.
Eventually the Ghost's vertices began to shift, stiffer than a starfish, but she was up, and slowly she hovered from her Guardian's palm. "Sorry," was her first response, but Cayde shook his head at her. "Take your time." he glanced back at Tony and Jon.
"You two okay? Stark, you look worse than me. I'm calling it. We'll come back with a new strategy."
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The potential of a much better strategy, besides, didn't seem likely; they'd just be back out here to keep stumbling around and poking at the wrong thing. Tony pulled himself away from this tragic picnic, biting his tongue and letting Jon keep his concern on Cayde this time so he wouldn't keep thinking Tony was too weak for this, and shuffled closer to the damage the gauntlet had done with his arm hugged against his side. "What do you mean, strategy? Oppenheimer over there already cracked the code," he pointed out. The metal was still smoldering, giving a superheated whine as Tony carefully toed at the razor sharp furl that had been battered inward then peeled explosively away from the seam they had been contemplating, like the tear of a shotgun blast from the inside. What it revealed was blackened by the attack, but looked to Tony like a server room, dark and close, and lit faintly by a red glow somewhere deeper inside the narrow passage. They definitely weren't all going to fit down there. After a beat, Tony chirped, "Boss, get over here, show me your ass," gaze locked on that red glow.
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Right. Cayde is probably right. Leaving might be the sensible thing to do. On the other hand, they made it this far? They could at least have a look inside? There is a bit of an opening right there...
And just as Jon contemplates that, Tony calls for him to- "Excuse me?!" He calls out while turning to glare over at Tony, only to find himself greeted by a noisy lack of actual attention. And though he goes get back onto his feet, Jon does not approach right away. Instead, he sets his indignation aside for a brief moment to turn back towards Cayde. "...we can at least take a look. Maybe make a record with one of our phones. If... Those still work."
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But Tony and Jon were both as stubborn as he was, and with the former moving to check out the incidental progress made and Jon going to have a look as well, the Exo couldn't help but smirk a bit to himself, shaking his head. He finally got to his own feet, after one failed attempt and the next leaving him swaying almost drunkenly. He doubted he could take a step just yet without something spasming. Sundance flew over, shook herself out, and then as in her previous unexplicable feat, did her thing, the familiar wash of whatever space magic and Light amounted to, chasing off the remaining glitches that had plagued his systems.
"Much better. Hang on, I'm coming," he announced after the two, pausing as he grabbed the end of his raggedy cloak and a knife from his boot. He shore off a strip of the dingy gray-brown material and then marched himself over towards Tony, tying up the ends for a makeshift sling which he offered the man.
"Sundance, go with Jon." He'd feel better with someone along with the Archivist, and she was the only other one small enough.
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Cayde was offering him a scorched rag then, which Tony looked slightly baffled by until he figured out that this was Cayde trying to help. "You clean up well, Hot Stuff," he muttered, slightly dubiously, as he carefully ducked into the loop of the sling then tried to strategize the best way to deal with the rest of that problem without Jon making that face at him again. Sundance had done whatever that was twice now, and Tony couldn't be sure that he could take the results at face value or if they were more cosmetic than Cayde was making it look. He abandoned the issue of the sling for a moment to wrap his arm around Cayde's shoulders instead, tugging him in to lean casually where they could watch their petite guardians head into the belly of this beast together, and Tony could listen for that whir he was sure he heard Cayde making in the stillness.
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Jon has just reached the hole the blast from the gauntlet has left in the metal, and has started prodding the sharp, probably still hot edges with that very same gauntlet as if to try and bend them a little further inwards to make a little more space to move through. This doesn't come with much success, so the chance of him tearing holes into his clothes persists.
Hearing Cayde rejoin them as well and the Exo asking his Ghost to follow Jon inside, he looks over at Cayde first, then at Sundance before offering a small shrug towards her. "It's rather dark in there. Just... So you know." It's with those words that Jon carefully climbs through the opening to explore whatever awaits him within, his free hand searching for his phone to grant them some light.
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"Shhshh shh, just...I think your elbow goes that way and your wrist is kinda like..." He gave up trying to work it out verbally and didn't want to even try touching Tony's arm to adjust it that way for fear of hurting him more than he already was. So he accepted being leaned against, deciding he was content with playing peanut gallery and support as they watched Jon head on down. No strange sounds coming from the Exo save for smooth processes.
Sundance floated along after Jon, giving a small flare of her points as though shrugging back. "I've got it," she assured, drifting past him as her 'eye' took on a brighter, more directional shine to provide the light needed for the Archivist to navigate.
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Feeling otherwise instantly useless standing here, he did at least try another fumble with the sling, maybe a little rougher then than he should have been, but eventually did get his arm secured with some grumbled complaining and a final pat to Cayde's shoulder for the offer.
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He still pulls out his phone, but not to add more light, but to turn on the camera and open a feed to Tony and Cayde outside, filming the rows of machinery that really only reminds him of black-and-white photographs of very old computers. "Honestly? I have no idea what we are looking at here, but I don't think the Agrii built this. Not with the effect the tower had on us when we approached it." Jon adds some off-camera commentary, finding it highly doubtful that the Agrii would build something that would hurt them.
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At some correspondence from his Ghost, he pulled out his communicator to receive Jon's imagery as the Archivist recorded what he saw. The Exo held the tablet between him and Tony so they could both see, squinting.
"Hard to tell exactly just by looking at it from here," he muttered. "If there's any kind of main system to access, Sundance can try pulling some info."
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It might have just been how Tony had teased Jon for his destructive potential, but he had to point out, "People build plenty of things that hurt themselves. If the Agrii are capable is a different issue, though. It's hard to tell how much of any of this stuff is theirs. If you can't find any of those crystal rods down there, I'd be more inclined to think you're right."
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After passing that question on, Jon turns around himself to cast another look around. It's not necessarily a big space after all and he has to settle with a shrug. "As for those... Crystal rods? I don't believe so. At least I don't see anything made of crystal in here." He turns further to face the hole Sundance and him have come through before offering another thought. "Could this tower be producing the storms?"
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"If this thing's responsible for the storms, how the heck did someone build it right under the Agrii's noses? ...then again if it's the same one that can make changes to an entire control system aboard a ship when we're not looking, maybe installation isn't the problem." Cayde frowned, even as he tried to glance back down the hole. He hated being stuck topside, but there wasn't anything to be done for that. At least he could trust Sundance to take more care with things than he would, but even she had something of a streak for danger, probably got it from him.
"...I think I've found something," the Ghost reports, and Cayde feels simultaneously anxious and relieved. Who knew what this weird tech would spit at them next.
Below, Jon would see as the Ghost decompiled into that strange sparkle of light as it trailed towards and perhaps even into one of the nearby surfaces. But just before he'd be able to process that, Sundance flashed back into existence, popped right back into the space she was. She gave a bit of a shake, her little points twitching in what might have been irritation.
"There is some kind of system present. I'm unable to gain access- it's unlike anything I've seen before, but it's extremely encrypted. I suspect it would take some work."
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Meanwhile, Sundance was putting on a lightshow while Tony was trying to squint around her to make any more sense of the dark room than Jon could report, but it wasn't looking promising. The best he could offer was, "It doesn't really look like anything else here, and that all runs on that crystal system." He was already lifting himself slowly away from Cayde to peer down into the hole as he suggested, "Come on out of there, there's got to be a power system for this somewhere nearby."
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Especially not while stuck right within.
Seeing Sundance reemerging with her report, Jon frowns. "If it only takes some work, it's not entirely impossible." He interprets her words, then pauses briefly when Tony asks they return outside. With one more look at Sundance and a gesture for her to come along, Jon makes his way back to the still not remarkably inviting entrance they have created, making use of the gauntleted hand to take a hold on the jagged metal edge to hopefully avoid cutting himself on it.
"So- What may we be looking for?" He asks before even being back outside.
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He didn't seem particularly surprised at Sundance's report, although he shared her annoyance. At Tony's suggestion to the two, he nodded in agreement, waiting beside him in case Jon ended up needing an extra hand up.
Below, Sundance gave her own acknowledgment of Jon's observation, but she didn't argue against regrouping, and so lit the way up for the Archivist as they made their way back to the surface.
"What?" Cayde echoed at Jon's question. "Guess we take another look around. We definitely found something." The lack of the 'what' exactly they had found was the problem.
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