Chapter Text
The unpleasant sensation of the connection being tested had faded after a few hours the previous day, but shortly after Crow woke up, it returned in full force. This time wasn't as bad; it felt less like someone was grabbing his entire nervous system and more like a clean pressure. It was still mildly uncomfortable, but there were less pins and needles.
"Let's take a walk while you test your network connection." Cayde suggested. "You're climbing the walls."
"No I'm not." He said as he dangled from a ceiling trapdoor he found earlier("Swiftriver's, never did find his body").
"Get down and let's go." The exo rolled his eyes. "We ain't meant to stay cooped up in offices, it does things to you."
They made their way through the green halls of the old Tower, quietly save for the occasion where Cayde couldn't help but pointing a place out.
"Hey, that's where my buddies and I would skip out on training. Drove Caliban mad." A nook behind some stairs.
"This is where we used to teach younger Hunters pursuit across dangerous terrain. Really should drill you later if it's still safe. See where you're at." If by 'terrain' he meant 'lack thereof'; it was a massive open room with beams and other strange structures sticking out of the upper walls. Some of it looked like it was supposed to move.
"Annnnd that's where Andal would pass off cache intel to us." A closet near the hanger.
"Isn't that illegal?" Crow asked.
"Nope, just morally gray." The exo told him cheerfully.
"I take it you gave Shiro things?" He asked dryly.
"Other people yes, him, no. He was too busy annoying Saladin into being his friend, Traveler knows why." Cayde rolled his eyes as they made their way to the courtyard.
"He actually gives some solid advice. Saladin, I mean." Crow shrugged. "He's helped me out of a few rough spots. And he doesn't walk on eggshells when it comes to Uldren. I think he's so old, he's seen it all before."
"He's so old the dinosaurs are jealous, Crow." Cayde snorted. "Did he even blink when the Witness showed up? Or did he just grab his axe and get ready to throw hands?"
A sound splits the air, terrible and familiar, and resonant energy coalesced in the courtyard.
The two of them didn't need words; they bolted through the nearest entrance, and dashed to the nearest secret tunnel to Cayde's office. They're almost there when it happens; the pressure worsens, suddenly and without warning. He can feel Mara like she's standing right next to him. It feels like someone has thrown a rope around his mind and yanked him to a stop with it. He barely registers Glint calling Cayde back.
The pressure builds, and builds, and every nerve in his body feels like it's been strung up. Then, when he thinks it can't get any worse, there's a sensation like the air around him cracking, and lig h t n i n g
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