[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257258007/0/0]Link to Chapter 3, Part 2[/url] [spoiler]All chapters of the War of Lies will be linked to the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257167399/0/0]Table of Contents[/url] as they are posted every Monday[/spoiler] When I didn’t respond, the employer went on. “We’ve been monitoring you,” he explained, and again I wondered how they could keep eyes on us in our current situation, “And that crew you’re following has been digging straight to a valuable asset of mine.” When he said “mine”, he meant Seren’s. “We’re certain that they located it a week or so ago whenever some of the tech concealing it started to act up…” Someone told the Syndicate about it for a bribe. “…and that they’re preparing to capture or destroy the entire bunker. It’s unmanned so we weren’t able to detect what they were up to at first, and now it’s too late for anyone but you to respond.” They only just realized what the Syndicate was up to when they decided to check in on my team and look over some maps. My team is expendable. “So you want us to sabotage their plan?” I questioned idly, amused by how much this man gave away blabbering when he was worrying about keeping his own head attached to his body. “Of course I do you imbecile!” He snapped, but I was so humored that I let it slide, “As soon as you get those blundering degenerates out of the way we will relocate all the equipment.” “Well…” I made a show of taking my time thinking to make him more upset, “I believe we can do that. And since trying to cause some trouble was in the job description, I believe you won’t even have to pay us any extra.” “Extra?!” he finally lost his temper, “You’ll be lucky if you even get half your pay for all this trouble you’ve put me through!” Now I was serious. “If you don’t want [b]more[/b] trouble, you’ll revise that last statement right now.” “Are you threatening me?” he scoffed, rage still burning in his eyes, “The man who hired you and is keeping you alive? You’d dare stand against Seren’s authority?” “Oh, I don’t have a problem with Seren,” I assured him coldly, “In fact, I wouldn’t have any complaint at all against explaining to her why she found one of her top scumbags mutilated in his own home, headless, wreathed by his own entrails, and with a sign strapped over where his balls should be that says ‘I’m sorry I didn’t pay those nice boys that kept Seren from killing me’. I’m sure she would understand and hire us for another job on the spot.” His face flushed, which as one would imagine is quite the spectacle when it happens to an Awoken. “Fine!” he acted as if he was still in control, but his anger was clearly just simmering under the fear, “Full pay, as long as you get the job done!” “And if we don’t?” I inquired in the most intimidating tone I could manage. “Then you’ll still be paid more than enough to accommodate your services,” he responded. “That’s what I like to hear,” a sinister grin stretched across my lips, and I knew he could see it through my lightly-tinted visor, “And, uh, one last thing. If Shrowder dies, it’d be in your best interest to pay Drip at least a tiny bit of that idiot’s cut. That poor bug has had to spend weeks with the man without being allowed to rend his limbs from his body, and we sure wouldn’t want him to be left unsatisfied.” Somehow his face managed to grow even paler right before the screen went black. As the messenger floated away, I planted my hands on my hips and for the first time in months felt thrilling anticipation swell in my chest. This was definitely a good day. “I swear I’m gonna kill you guys after this so I can stop worrying about you stabbing me in the back,” Shrowder declared, having heard everything from his place at the drop off. “I wouldn’t stab you in the back,” I scowled as I moved back to the ledge at a crouch, “I’d be face to face with you so I can see that stupid look on your face fade away forever.” “Drixaas stab back,” the large Fallen told us, clearly not joking at all, “Not give Roder…chance.” “Love you, too, pal,” Shrowder sighed. “Pal?!” Drip raged. “No no! It means friend, remember? Friend!” Shrowder finally let go of his rifle to put up his hands defensively, “Not an insult!” “Not friend of Roder…” Drip rumbled quietly, but settled down. “So…” Shrowder cleared his throat, “What’s the plan, Shrief?” “Oh, now you care what I think?” I jeered, rejoining them to look down at the enemy site. “Hey, even I can’t take that many without a plan, and you’re the plan guy,” he said dismissively. Closest thing to a compliment I had ever heard him say. “Okay…” I put my hand to my chin thoughtfully and stared at the encampment below long and hard before speaking again, “Well, now we know what they’re digging for.” “Yep. Bunker,” Shrowder stated, clearly not thinking it important at all. “So they’ll have equipment for digging the tunnel and busting open said bunker,” I continued down my train of thought. “Why are we talking about digging?” Shrowder interjected. Drip remained silent, understanding that I was going somewhere with this. “I’d expect that they have plenty of explosives down in that cave now,” I grinned. “…” Shrowder looked at me silently for several moments, but eventually had to open his big mouth, “For a second there, I almost liked you.” “Not Drixaas…style, but…Drixaas likes plan,” the Fallen’s voice was accompanied by a satisfied hum, “Drixaas likes plan very much.” “All we need to do is wait for a chance to slip through their watch and then our work will be cut out for us,” I finished. “Slipping between the patrols is easy, but we’ll be in a tunnel we don’t know the layout of, surrounded by enemies,” Shrowder noted, for once sounding professional, “We’re gonna need one hell of a distraction to-“ A resonating boom shook the air, all too familiar to the three of us. It didn’t take long to spot the Harvester gliding through the air in a descending arc nearby. It wasn’t clear if they had come to attack the Syndicate, but they had clearly seen the ship now and had no plans of backing down. Shouting broke out below us, and the mad scramble to battle began. More soldiers came out of the ship, and others from the direction that they had been taking their mining equipment. “…To lure them out,” Shrowder finished with a chuckle. “Drip,” I got the Fallen’s attention, “You get us into that cave quietly. We can’t let them radio for help.” “[i]The sentries will be dead before they know I am there[/i],” Drixaas spoke surely in Eliksni. “Shrowder, once we’re inside you’ll need to help Drip get me to the explosives. No gunshots,” I ordered. “Done,” the infiltrator replied smugly. “I’ll rig the place to blow and then we’ll get out, see if we can do anything about their ship, then get the hell out of here,” I wrapped up the plan. It wasn’t very detailed or full proof thanks to all the unknowns, but I trusted these two to make it work. Before long Shrowder and I were watching the mouth of the tunnel from behind some rocks. Sounds of battle nearby kept me tense, especially since a second Harvester had come with troops to back up the first. The Cabal might end up doing most of our work for us, but that wasn’t so good when it meant they could block our escape route. Two guards stood in front of the hole carved out of the stone, guns held tightly in anticipation. Luckily, they were prepared for Cabal to come marching over the dunes, not for a stealthy incision. A flicker of distorting light above the cave revealed Drip’s position to me a moment before he pounced. Sand kicked up between the two Syndicate members, who both jumped in fright and turned to face the Fallen as he uncloaked. But they were too slow, and Drip cleaved a Shock Blade into the ribs of each of them so that they slumped forward from the impact and didn’t twitch once after. Rising to his full height, Drip pulled his swords back in towards his body and let the corpses slide off into the sand. “You know, I expected it to take longer,” Shrowder announced to me. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257258077/0/0]Link to Chapter 3, Part 4[/url]