No Icebreaker Bow for You!

TOWER PLAZA — CITY, EARTH
Solstice of Heroes, 2025

The heat shimmered off the polished stones of the Tower courtyard. Guardians milled about in garish Solstice armor, basking in their accomplishments. Banners fluttered. Eva Levante passed out celebratory gear and lemon cakes. But all that mattered to the three fireteam members standing before her was the bow.

The Icebreaker Bow.

A fabled weapon from a forgotten Golden Age prototype program, said to combine the ammo-regenerating functionality of the old Icebreaker sniper with the silent lethality of a void-sculpted combat bow. It was the chase weapon of the year. The prize at the end of the “Rimeheart Reclaimation” questline. All you had to do was finish the five ridiculous steps of pain and triumph.

And everyone got one.

Well… almost everyone.

---

ACT I: THE BEGINNING OF THE QUEST

Senior Ashton, the Titan, stood like a wall of steel and blue glow. A brute of a Striker who made punching things into light confetti look like an art form.

Don't Go out Sad, the Warlock, Void subclass, lover of lore, secrets, and precisely aligned shaders. Her Ghost had been fitted with a transmat mod shaped like a teacup.

And then there was YK151, the Hunter. Cloak always fluttering, never matching armor colors, knives for days, and the confidence of someone who always pulled off the last-shot final blow. Every team needed a Hunter to die first, scout ahead, and claim credit.

Together, they began the quest.

They conquered the Braytech Facility on Europa, solved the Vault of Whispers puzzle that involved a dozen increasingly cryptic lore drops about Rasputin’s long-lost arctic project, and even beat the "No Ammo, No Abilities, No HUD" mission — “Trial of the Empty Quiver.”

And at the end of it?

A portal opened. A shard of starlight descended.

And there, in a glimmering display of triumph, each Guardian stepped forward.

Senior Ashton: “I got it. Whoa. This is… oh, it generates void arrows.”

Don't Go out Sad: “The reload animation is a poem. Literally.”

YK151, excited: “Alright, my turn. My bow—!”

Eva Levante’s smile vanished. She looked down at YK151’s screen.

A pause.

And then:

“No Icebreaker Bow for you!”
– Eva Levante, with perfect Soup Nazi delivery.

---

ACT II: THE MELTDOWN

YK151 stared at the reward screen. Instead of the shimmering void bow, there was a blue engram. A BLUE. ENGRAM.

“…Maybe it’s bugged?” Haggard offered.

“I’m sure it’s a glitch. Check postmaster?” Don't Go out Sad said hopefully.

YK151stormed to the Postmaster. Nothing. Not even a shader.

“Maybe I have to decrypt some lore?” YK151 guessed. “A secret step?”

But no. Bungie forums. Reddit. Tower chat. Everyone got it. Everyone.

But the Hunter.

One post:

"Hey, is anyone else on step 5 and not getting the bow? I'm a Hunter."
Reply:
“Oh yeah that’s working as intended. Hunters don’t get one. It’s lore-accurate.”

Another post said that Hunters in the lore "refused to help in the Icebreaker Project," citing a cryptic quote from Cayde-6:

“If I want something cold and deadly, I’ll just stare at Zavala’s expression.”

---

ACT III: THE DESCENT

Over the following days, YK151 tried it all. Re-running the quest. Resetting it. Switching subclasses. Wearing all blue shaders to “trick” the algorithm. He even attempted Hunter-only matchmaking in Iron Banner, convinced there was a secret completion method.

One time, YK151 watched a Titan get the bow by accidentally deleting their inventory and visiting Eva while naked.

And still…

“No Icebreaker Bow for you!”

Even the Drifter tried to help.

“Daaaaamn, kid. You really pissed off the bow gods. This thing’s cursed.”

The Vanguard was no help either.

Ikora: “Perhaps this is a lesson in patience.”

Zavala: “We all must endure the trials the Light places before us.”

Cayde (through a pre-recorded hologram): “Wait, you actually expected things to work for Hunters? Cute.”

---

ACT IV: THE VOW

One night, standing at the edge of the Tower, YK151 watched a group of blueberries test their shiny new bows on the training range.

He turned to his Ghost. “They think they broke me.”

The Ghost beeped nervously.

“I’m not broken,” YK151 muttered. “I’m… forged. I’ll find that bow, one way or another.”

“Are you… going rogue again?” the Ghost asked.

YK151 pulled his cloak tighter and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

From behind a crate, Eva Levante looked up from her tea, a faint smirk forming.

“Still no bow,” she whispered. “But he’s finally learned the lesson.”

---

TO BE CONTINUED...
(Next Episode: YK151 hacks Rasputin’s backup archive on Titan’s seafloor, dodging SIVA tendrils and Ghost-infested war-frames, to uncover the true origin of the Icebreaker Bow... and maybe get his hands on it — or something worse.)