This is the first fan fiction I've ever posted. Hope you like it. Illium waved her hand through the neon yellow cloud that spiraled around her head. "Hold still." Her ghost said, scanning the swarm of bright particles, widening and narrowing her beam. Rembrant and I sat on metal crates next to the hand railing of platform, anxiously awaiting a diagnosis of the anomaly. "Well?" Rembrant asked impatiently. "It's like nothing I've ever seen." The ghost said after a moment. "They're nanites. Nanorobotics, thousands if not millions of them, each one thinking and acting in accordance to one another, but independently at the same time." Rembrant and I looked at each other, worried. "What else can you tell us?" I asked. "Nothing much more other than their movement pattern, which is totally sporadic by the way. It resembles a virus more than any sort of technology. Other than that, they're just too small to get a good read on." She withdrew her blue beam, and floated away from the hunter. "But I do seem to be picking up a signal emanating from the swarm in its entirety, but it doesn't seem to be going out anywhere." I crossed my arms and leaned back slightly against the railing, groaning with anxiety, and trying to formulate some plan of action. "Should I contact the Vanguard?" Rembrant asked. "No, not yet. I don't want a city wide panic over something that could just end up being a microscopic light show. I want you to go up while I run a medical; see if there are any records of guardians running into this, nanite virus." He nodded, grabbed his helmet and computer gear, then began climbing the steps outside of the Archive. I turned my attention to Illium, who was watching Rem leave, concern covering her usual braveness. I dragged the metal box in front of her seat, which pulled her attention to me. "No one is going to lock you up in a quarantine Illie." I said, trying to discern her worry, but still unsure of my own words. "Don't pretend like there's nothing to be worried about." She said. "I know Vanguard procedure for this sort of thing." "Well no one is going to the Vanguard right now. Not until I give you a once over myself." I raised my hand for permission. Once she nodded, I pressed two fingers against her neck at the base of her jaw, and closed my eyes. I could feel her pulse reverberating through my body like an echo, firing off the synthetic neurons in my head. Medical software and years of experience began working together, as I received the information from nothing more than the pulsing of her blood through her veins. My synapses began working through the data they were getting, looking for any sort of issue in Illiums body. There were none. I opened my eyes, and withdrew my hand, looking as Illium with intense curiosity. "Well, whats wrong with me?" She asked. "Nothing." I couldn't help the surprise at her health. "You're completely fine." "Sebastian!" I heard Rem call from the base of the steps. He motioned for me to follow as he shot back up the stairwell. "Stay here." I said, and ran towards the exit. I looked back at her on my way out, and noticed a strange grin that was crossing her face while she followed the rushing of the mites. I ignored it and raced to the top. I found Rembrant outside, scrolling through a tall, holographic page of script his ghost was projecting. Mine appeared beside me once we were outside the Archive, curious to read whatever it was he was staring at like a horror story. "Rembrant. What'd you find?" "You wont believe this." He said, finding a specific potion of dialogue. "There've been hundreds of reports of these nanite swarms over the last twenty four hours. Its spreading like a plague." Beside the pages, the ghost displayed a large map of Earth. Thousands of neon dots were coloring the globe, and they kept spreading. Just when globe was completely colored, the Earth shrank, and the rest of the inner solar system was added to the map, each planet coated in light of the infected. "We didn't receive any transmissions because of the Archives radio shield." "Idiot." I murmured, addressing myself. "I knew I should have set up a signal bouncer at the entrance. Tell me what we know." "Ummmm..." He said, swiping the screen, the words racing by. "Looks like the whole thing originated from the Dust Palace on Mars." "How's it spreading?" I kept my eyes on the map. "Not sure, but its running through the Crucible like a flood." "I'm sure Shaxx's thrilled." "There seem to be five strands." He kept reading. "Each one is identified by the color of nanites swarming the guardians head." "Notable side affects?" There was a brief pause before, "Oh, that's interesting." "What?" I turned from the floating display, stepping behind Rembrant to read for myself. "Guardians infected report experiencing, heightened states of mind, greater reflexes, combat enhancement, even super strength. You know, as apposed to the usual." I pressed my index finger against my chin, thinking harder than I had since my last world threatening emergency. "The Vanguard tried to implement a Quarantine." Rem continued. "Tried?" I instantly regretted what I'd told Illium not moments ago. "The infection spread too quickly. Now they're just banning travel to the City." "What about the uninfected? I could just run to my lab and-" "No go. City restrictions apply to all guardians as of ten hours ago." I leaned up against a wall and considered banging my head against it. We couldn't go back to the City, and for all we knew, the infection could have spread to us as well. A question suddenly forced it's way to the front of my mind.. "Rem, who's posting this information?" I looked at the red symbol at the top right hand corner of the page. "An organization called, Owl Sector. Some kind of science division in the City. Never heard of them." The name struck an old memory, buried under millions of others. "I have, but I can't remember where from." Suddenly, we heard a loud crash from the Archive. The ghost withdrew the holograms and we sprinted down into the hallway, skipping many of the stairs. Once we were in the main console room, I dove for my hand cannon, and lifted it to eye level. Rembrant had already pulled his sidearm from his hip, aiming it likewise. "Illium?" I shouted, my voice echoing through the chasm like room. "Hey boys!" She said, stepping out from behind one of the center columns. We lowered our weapons in relief. "Illium what was that?" Rembrant asked. I looked at the hand rail, noticing several places were it had been severely bent, leaving a hand print shape behind. I looked to Illium, who was just smiling while she walked towards us. By reflex I nearly pointed my cannon at her. She stopped at my twitch, then raised her hand in defense. "Check this out." She grinned, and bent down. Locking her fingers in the grate of the catwalk, she ripped the whole panel up with one hand, and tossed it like a pebble into the foggy abyss below. "So much for titans being the strongest around." She laughed. "There's that strength." Rembrant murmured from behind. "Illium, we need to get you out of here." I said. I felt Rems hand on my shoulder, and he whispered, "Sebastian, where would we take her?" He was right. The City is the only place we would have a reason to take her. There wasn't even a purpose in leaving the archive. Then, I realized, we didn't need a reason to leave. We had every reason to stay. I turned around and went back to where we were sitting, finding and picking up my helmet. I strapped it on tight, then threw my leg over the guard rail, making my way down the ladder. "Where are you going?" Rembrant shouted once I was half way down, well into the mist. I hit the floor, and felt the ladder vibrate as the two guardians followed. On the far wall through the fog, I saw the door. Rem and I had shut it immediately after the swarm attacked Illium. "What are you going to do?" She asked, walking up behind me. "I'm going in, and I'm going to find out what those things are." I locked my revolver in its holster beneath my long coat. "You expect to find all your answers in there?" Rem asked. "No, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing." I pressed my fingers in what little seam there was running down the center of the door. Pulling as hard as I did caused the servos in my shoulders to whir. The metal creaked, but it wouldn't budge. I let go and hunched over, giving my hardware a rest. Illium crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against the door, looking at me. "I'm not some mental patient you know? I'm perfectly fine." "Maybe so. Maybe I'm wrong, and you're right." I said standing up straight. "But what if you're wrong? Over half the guardians in the system have this, virus. What if it turns out to be something bad? We need a contingency Illie, and it doesn't sound like the Vanguard is anywhere close to finding one." She pulled her mouth over to one side of her face in thought. Finally, with a shrug and roll of her eyes, she brushed me out of the way, and hefted the doors apart. Our ghosts lit up the dark hallway, which still seeped with darkness. Rem and Illium locked on their helmets, and we slowly descended into the Warmind bunker.