…and business is good!

It was a routine scouting mission for me, I was just supposed poke around the basin for any Hive that were getting too close for comfort and for Guardians who might be able to help us push them back to whatever dark hole they crawled out of.

It’s been rough in Hellas Basin as of late, between the Hive, Cabal, and the Guardians, us demons haven’t had very much room to expand our own operations out here, but that certainly hasn’t dissuaded us from trying to get a foothold in the region. Honestly, I‘m pretty sure nothing short of a hole getting blown through Mars would’ve kept us from expanding, and what kind of psychopath would do that? Luckily though, we worked out a bit of a deal with the Local Guardians and a miss Ana Bray who “owned” the area, we help keep the Hive and Cabal in check, we get a bit of space to ourselves.
While the majority of the basin was completely clear as I swept through it, I kept my eyes open and head on a swivel as I finally made it to the outer perimeter of the BrayTech Futurescape, aside from a few Hive Acolytes and a Knight milling about, activity was as just low as it had always been. I was just about to head back to base with a report when a loud, metallic “BWOONG” reverberated through the area, and I quickly snaped around to see a huge orange pillar of light shooting into the sky; and I knew that could only mean one thing.

Someone had activated the Escalation Protocol.

With a quick bout of Infernal swearing, I ran over to the pillar of light as fast as I could, knowing full well that the Hive were going to start swarming the area like a plague withing a few minutes.
Once I made it to the tower that was beaming light into the heavens, I saw that only one other guardian waited at its base, a Titan who was busy inspecting his weapons and counting his ammo. I rolled my eyes as I approached, but just as I got withing shouting distance, a dull roar emanated from just across a nearby hill and echoed across the area.

They were here.

I watched as a wave of icy white Hive shambled over the hill, all of them making a beeline for the tower, and by extension, me. Just as the first void bolt sizzled into the Martian dust at my feet, I was able to get my Sweet Business at my hip, my finger already on the trigger. A few slow opening shots quickly turned into a roaring buzz of gunfire as I unloaded a hail of bullets at the tsunami of advancing Hive; but they still managed to close the distance. I barely heard the beeping of my gun’s ammo counter as the Hive kept assaulting up in unrelenting waves, void bolts and bullets flying every which way as the battle raged on. I saw a white blur out the corner of my eye and I turned just in time to see a Thrall charging me, I threw a quick buttstoke with my gun, sending the thrall stumbling for just long enough for me to savagely swipe at him with my left hand. I grinned as I saw the long, sharp claws of my Ahamkara gauntlets brutally rip through the Thrall’s icy carapace before it fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. Without missing a beat, I quickly turned my gun back to the icy horde, my finger unmoving from the trigger as more bullets ripped their way through the throng, Hive shattering like glass by the dozen.

The rest of the battle is a blur to me, the roar of gunfire, savage claw strikes, the shrieking of the Hive as they fell one by one, but I do pretty clearly remember me shouting “GET SOME!” like a madman at the advancing hordes, but after what felt like an eternity, it was over. I lowered my rifle, all ten barrels glowing red and smoking as I looked over the field of icy shards that used to be a small army of Hive. I grinned, pleased with my handiwork before deciding to get out of there before the next stage of the Protocol started. But as I began to walk away, a voice from behind took me by surprise.

“Th-Thank you...”

I turned around, and I saw the Titan leaning up against a nearby rock formation, a Fusion Rifle dangling by his side in his off hand. Huh, I forgot he was here too. “Don’t mention it.” I said politely as I turned back around to leave. “Aren’t you gonna at least give me your name?” The Titan asked again. I stopped in my tracks before glancing over my shoulder. “Teufel. Now get going Titan.” I said, jerking my head towards the next tower “You’re gonna miss the next wave if you keep dilly-dallying like you are now.” I heard a low chuckle from the Titan as I started on the long trek back to base.

A few miles out, I took a quick glance around me to see if anyone was around, once I was certain that nobody was, I slung Sweet Business off of my back and cradled it in my arms for a moment. “I really ought to give you a proper name soon.” I said to nobody in particular as I took a moment to observe my gun, its sleek white body shining in the sun. Since nobody was around, I gave it a quick kiss, the smell of gunpowder filling my nostrils as I did so. “Thank Baphomet for this Masterwork.” I thought to myself before quickly slinging it back over my shoulder and continuing back to base, Traveler knows I deserved a break after all that.

---

*insert Destiny 2 main theme here*
Hello again everyone! miss me yet?
Eh, i suppose it was only a matter of time before i got a commission based on a current obsession of mine, this one being Destiny 2! I'd be barefaced lying if i said i wasn't a wee bit addicted to it ATM, it's just so dang fun! Especially with the new season released not too long ago! (Eris Morn is my absolute favorite character and i'm thrilled to see her getting more screen time) but yeah! you guys didn't come here to hear me yammer, you came for cool art! (and maybe the story too, IDK)
Hope you all enjoy!
Art by the fantastic   Recurrent!
Teufel is Mine!
Destiny 2 and all equipment therein owned by Bungie
(Author's note: No, this was not a picture to celebrate me getting the Sweet Business Masterwork. So stop thinking that.)
Reference-less ALT here