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It wasn’t an easy task, capturing a Wizard. Even for the mighty Guardian that murdered Crota and Oryx, the actual act of capturing a hostile required a great deal more finesse than killing it. After a fierce battle in an old Cosmosdrone subway, famed Warlock Alexis Volkov managed to exterminate a minor Hive nest and was bringing home its strongest member as a trophy. Unconscious and stowed in the back of her ship, the Sails of Osiris. She and her ghost were returning home after finishing up some patrols.

“Alexis are you sure about this? Never, in the history of the City, has this been done.” Her Ghost, Jericho, voiced his concerns.

“You worry far too much” The Warlock began “Who do you think I am? All the crazy things I’ve done, and you think keeping a hostage is beyond me?”

Jericho was right to be concerned, a stray Dreg or weakened Legionnaire captive would be somewhat easy to handle. Not a Major Hive Wizard, a spawn of Crota and some ungodly creature on the moon. In truth, Alexis was losing her mind slowly but surely. In defiance of every Vanguard policy she had become deeply invested in lore of the Darkness and the powers the Hive derive from the Sword Logic. Not uncommon for Warlocks, but still highly frowned upon. He knew that she desired a powerful Hive for questioning, maybe even an attempt at rehabilitation.

“We’re coming up on the City.” Jericho announced as the ship roared through the clouds

“I’m steering clear of the Tower, we’re going to my place.” While most Guardians lived in the barracks of the Tower, or even slept in their ships, many desired a normal life and moved out into town.

Her apartment was a building in the middle city. Being a Guardian, Alexis easily made enough glimmer to afford to pay rent on the penthouse, which was of course the largest space. Although she expected to stay in her ship for a while tonight.

Passing over the great Wall and by the ruins of the old tower, Alexis made a b-line for her apartment. More specifically the space ship landing zone on the roof she had paid top dollar for. As they parked, her ghost broke the silence.

“Alright then Guardian, no more secrets. Not from me anyway.” Jericho began “You beat up a Hive Wizard, maybe even a Deathsinger, chained her up and brought her to the City. Tell me you have a plan.”

“Of course,” Alexis said

“Can I hear it?”

“You’d just laugh and call me nuts.” The warlock waved her hand dismissively as she undid her pilot seat buckles. Why did her ghost always feel the need to question her?

“Alexis I’m bound to you forever. If you’re crazy, then so am I.” Jericho actually sounded sincere for a moment. A welcome change.

There was a brief silence.

“I’m going to use my captive to tell me all the juicy little secrets of the Hive, the Moon and maybe beyond. Even Toland only ever had secondhand accounts until the day he exploded thanks to Ir Yut.” Ghost’s curiosity broke her out of her malaise, she deeply enjoyed going over plans and thoughts out loud.

“What makes you think you can control her?” A fair question. The Wizard in the cargo hold was currently subdued because of chains infused with Light but knocking something out is a different ball game to making it speak. Training may be required.

“Nothing really. But I do know the Light can be a very persuasive force, and here? Directly beneath The Traveler? I’ll have all the Light I would need.”
Jericho sighed, a tiny electronic sound. She loved her Little Light but his cautious behavior and doubts always annoyed her.

“Alright, I believe in you.”
With that the pair left the cockpit and went around to the back of the vessel. It was already late when they returned, a few minutes past 1 AM, surely all the other tenants were sleeping or close to it. That would make it slightly more difficult to keep a low profile if things got out of hand

“Obviously, I won’t be bringing her inside for dinner. The ship should be sound proofed well enough.” Alexis punched in the code on the external keypad and prepared to open the door.

“The good news is that she isn’t a thrall, I don’t expect her to scream purely out of spite past the first few minutes.” Jericho weighed in. It was at this moment that the pair had split for now, Jericho was to wait inside the building so that the two females could have a private conversation. Without her anchor, her connection to light was weakened but that still left her leaps and bounds ahead of her prisoner.

The next minute was tense as the door opened and the Warlock went inside. The cargo hold was so cold that she could see her breath, she almost felt bad for the creature before remembering that she lived in space for most of her life. The room was dark and much larger than you’d think for such a small ship. She could already see it though, the Light in her bonds was luminescent. The Wizard actually looked gentle in its unconscious state. Her body raising and lowering as she took each breath, it was enough to forget that this creature was a murderous fiend.

The chains she was tied in weren’t particularly ornate or very special really. She brought them from a local hardware store a month ago and had been practicing on how to infuse them with her power. Alexis had found that Arc (obviously) and Solar energy were the best for metal conduction. She had gotten the idea to try fighting with chains after watching some pre-Golden Age animation and thinking it plausible. Something with an “N”. Regardless, it was still mostly a hobby as her preference were swords and auto rifles.

There was a single strand that stuck out from the Hive body before her, it was this that she grabbed and gave a small jolt. The beast came alive and thrashed a bit before realizing it was futile. The two then stared at one another

“Hello.” Alexis began “My name is Alexis Volkov, and you now belong to me.”

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As expected, the creature thrashed violently in response to the light. She cried and banged her chitin-armored body against the floor for what seemed to be a lifetime before settling down, even a little.

“Are you done Wizard?” Alexis winced “I would like to start the interrogation if you don’t mind”

In response, the Hive began to chant an incantation, unaware its power is stunted by the heavenly body above the ship. A slight mist of poison gas erupted from her maw and she waited to see the light bearer before her die. More time passed as the two females stared each other down, a silent contest of will, to see who would be captive and who would be master.

“You do not die human?” It spoke at last

“I was hoping you could speak English. I can’t actually speak your language and I didn’t want to have to pass notes all night.” The Warlock’s gaze softened slightly.

“Free me.” The Wizard growled “Free me or suffer” Alexis took this opportunity to shock the creature again. A slightly smaller jolt to act as an irritant. The Wizard chose to grunt loudly instead of shriek, then the two witches got back to staring at each other.

“Tell me your name.”

“I am Yu Mala, of the Hidden Swarm. Singer of Death and student of the Logic. My children have already wet the ground with the blood of you humans on many occasions.” The Deathsinger, Yu Mala began to raise herself as Alexis provided the chain with more slack. It still burned but it was much more manageable than a dedicated appliance of energy.
The witches now stood near equal height, Alexis at 5’8 and the Wizard floating at her eye level. The conversation could now begin.

“How long have you been alive? Where were you born? Do you live in the Ascendant Plane or here among us mortals?”

The questions fired off rapidly, Volkov did not expect any answers immediately, but if she simply kept speaking maybe the beast would get annoyed.

“Do you know Savathûn? Have you even seen her? I was told she was in hiding, are the Hidden Swarm hunting her?”

This went on for some time. Yu Mala was stubborn, her arms were crossed in a way that we humans use to signify annoyance. Alexis sighed.

“Please Yu. I don’t want to spend all night hurting you.” Her tone took a sudden shift towards compassion. The Warlock furrowed her brow and tilted her head, hoping she could appeal to the creature’s survival instincts.

A sound like an old door creaking filled the cargo hold, this was Yu Mala’s own sigh. “If you must know, human, I have been alive in this system for 3 of your centuries. When I was young, I lived in Our Lord Crota’s throne world, where I studied the Death Song at the feet of Lady Ir Yût. Another casualty of your tribe’s blasphemous trespasses.” There was venom in that last statement.

“Is that when you became a Deathsinger? After Ir Yût was killed?” The woman’s curiosity piqued again. She had always wondered if the Hive policy of “kill and replace” applied to their lower echelons.

There was more silence. Yu Mala’s emerald eye’s flashed, unlike most Deathsingers her helmet exposed her face, it was so striking that Alexis almost forgot her incoming statement.

“I’m no novice to the ways of the Hive, you know. Many of us Guardians have perused the files you store in The World’s Grave with great interest.” Yu’s face contorted, was she…smiling?

“You amuse me, Alexis” Using names now, good progress “To even entertain the idea you Guardians truly know anything about our ways or our throne worlds is laughable. You were resurrected recently, no? We are an empire that spans an ocean of stars, while you primates were crawling from the muck, we had already exterminated a million, million species. This interrogation is a farce if you wish to pretend to be my equal.”
“If you honestly think I’m not worthy of your time, that I’m ignorant, then teach me.” Alexis had finally revealed what was in her heart. Her goal has always been to turn evil on itself and that is impossible if one cannot understand it. She was happy Jericho wasn’t piping up, maybe he was afraid. Or embarrassed “Tell me what you see with those beautiful eyes.”

A dark throbbing sound emanated from the chained-up Hive, Yu Mala began to chuckle. Her tone became condescending “Oh, the walking corpse wishes to learn how to play with death?”

“I’ll feed you. I can shelter you” Alexis began to plead, to bargain, the opportunity to learn more apparently overpowered her dignity “I can’t let you leave but I can protect you. Please teach me more!”

The monster’s answer came as thunder on a cloudy night.