A sequel to Trapped But Never Alone

It had been three days since they first became trapped within The Witch Queen's Court. It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission he took on as a favor to Eris and Ikora. The Cradle both inside and outside had become a hotbed of Hive and Taken activity ever since the Pyramid arrived and The Tree of Silver Wings was discovered within The Cradle. There were so many factors in play Viper just couldn't wrap his brain around it and quite bluntly he didn't want too.

Aria was scanning Hive Lock Runes to a door she thinks houses the exit to The Ascendant Plane while Viper was keeping a lookout for any Hive that might show up, "Any luck Aria?" He asked while keeping a steady finger on the trigger of his gun, "I literally just started V. This place is intentionally trying to hinder me with so many variables that it's hard to decipher what's right from wrong for these locks." He looks at the locks she's working on, "The Witch Queen sure loves to keep us on our toes eh partner?" Aria breaks the first lock, "It's not just that. This realm of hers is designed to lead us astray. If we're not careful we will die. One wrong move can easily be the end of us." Viper continues patrolling the area surprised he hasn't seen a single hive pop up yet. Given previous missions involving Hive as soon as Aria starts trying to break locks usually the Hive come swarming in to prevent it but this was different and it was gnawing at him pretty badly why one little difference could be bothering him so much, "Aria, are you absolutely sure this door will be our ticket out of here?"

Aria unlocks the second rune and begins work on the final one, "Positive. I got one more lock to go V. Just hold tight we're home free. The last lock is an easy one." Even with his ghost's reassurance he still has this unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong no matter which way you sliced it. That foreboding feeling of being watched within her Court never leaves you and it still rings true even now. He thought after being trapped in here for three days The Witch Queen would get tired of watching him but no that uneasy feeling kept digging itself slowly into his body.

"It just doesn't make any sense..." He thought out loud as Aria continued her work.

His ghost responds, "What doesn't?" The Hunter raises his arms up in frustration and yells, "All of it! She's clearly been watching us the whole time. Sending the occasional wave of enemies to try and kill us as we try to find the exit and here we are at the exit behind the usual locked door. Typical hive routine should be them swarming to stop us from opening the door and yet..."

Hearing her guardians words she pauses for a moment and finishes his thought, "And yet why hasn't anything attacked us already?" Things suddenly feel too quiet between the two. Even the winds that usually rage within The Ascendant Planes feel like they came to a halt.

Viper quickly realizes the truth behind the whole situation and turns around to grab his Ghost, "Aria! Get away from-AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" A blast of Hive Soulfire sent Viper-7 flying backwards, "V!" Aria screams as she sees her Guardian struck down and tries to rush to help him but she's quickly encased in a cage of soulfire unable to move, "Such a fool." Aria turns around to see an abnormally large Wizard holding her in the palm of her hand, "You realized the truth behind our deception too late MY little toy. As the one known as Vashith, Loyal To The Witch Queen Savathûn I will enjoy dissecting you to understand what makes you tick."

Gunfire quickly goes off aimed at Vashith as Viper comes charging forward at full tilt unloading his whole magazine at her, "Like hell I'll let you do that!" The Wizard smiles, "Your Guardian certainly has bravado. I'll give him that." With her free hand pulsing with soulfire she makes a gesture and a wall of flames tries to impede Viper's path. But it doesn't stop him. He swiftly jumps onto some Hive corruption and leaps over the flames while quickly drawing his Quickfang ready to behead Vashith.

Vashith looks terrfied at Viper and lets out shireking wail like all Wizards are known to do as Viper quickly closes the gap between himself and the old hag before him, "Shut the hell up and just die already!" Viper swings his blade in one fluid motion.

But it doesn't cut her head off. His blade made contact with a Wall of Darkness. He looks surprised; bewildered even at what his blade came in contact with and said, "I thought only Hive Knights could do this." Vashith smiles impishly once more before grabbing Viper's head with her free hand. Viper dangling in the air in shock over her grasp of him as she continues to gloat, "The Hive of The Witch Queen are much more powerful then you can ever hope to be." Viper quickly slashes her wrist with his sword causing Vashith to scream in pain and anger. She grips his head tight causing Viper to scream in pain even though it was muffled by the palm of her hand. Vashith in her anger throws Viper's body into the air.

"NO! VIPER!!!" Aria screams in fear over the sight unable to get to him to help him. She watches as he flies through the air before hitting a wall and falls past her sight down the edge of a cliff. She floats listlessly in sadness over being unable to protect her Guardian and sounds like she's crying. Vashith cackles and looks down at Aria, "Don't you worry my little toy. I will be your new friend for a long time." The Wizard flies off with Aria in hand.

Down the cliff where he fell the Hunter in his cunning quickly drove his sword into the walls of the cliff to stop him from falling to his death. He used his Hunter knives as climbing picks and even revealed hidden blades within the tips of his boots and began climbing back up the cliff with a vengeance burning in his soul like no other. As he rached the top and stood before the door that Vashith, Loyal To Savathûn left through. He said with venom in word, "Nobody takes my Ghost and makes her cry!" Viper-7 reloads his hand cannon and begins his pursuit to save his ghost, "Don't worry Aria. I'm coming to rescue you."