[COLD OPEN — DESERTED TRAIN YARD, NIGHT]
Wind howls through rusted rails. A broken bullet train lies derailed in the middle of the zone. A single figure walks along the tracks: TARI NOVA. Her Nova Lance is slung across her back. Every step is measured.
Narrator (V.O.): Before she became the star-eyed sniper of SkyVault, she was known by another name. A name she buried in silence, until the assassin who once raised her... came calling.
[FLASH — BLINDING LIGHT. GUNSHOT.]
[TITLE SEQUENCE]
VANGUARD OATH — EPISODE 3: "LANCEFALL"
[INT. VAN HQ – WAR ROOM]
Holograms show an increase in activity near the abandoned sector of Skylatch. A string of assassinations — all targets connected to a former black ops unit known as Orchid Veil. Tari's eyes widen as one name appears on the victim list.
Tari: (quietly) …Orin Shade.
Kael: You know him?
Tari: He trained me. Back before I was Vanguard. If he's dead... the one who killed him is coming next.
Echo-7: New target is you, then.
Yuna: Why would your old unit be hunted now?
Tari: Because one of us didn't stay buried. And she doesn't miss.
[INT. VAN HQ — ARMORY]
Tari calibrates her Nova Lance. A glowing blue core hums as she breathes deeply. She stares into a cracked mirror. Her reflection shimmers — and changes. A younger version of herself stares back, dressed in all black.
Voice (O.S.):
"Do you still remember the sound your heart made... when you killed the first time?"
Tari punches the mirror.
Kael (O.S.): You don't have to do this alone.
Tari: Yes, I do.
[SCENE SHIFT – SKYLATCH SECTOR]
The Vanguard arrive in a silent ghost-zone. No power. No signals. Fog coils like breathing mist. Jax walks ahead, alert.
Jax: I don't like how quiet it is. Even the echoes are holding their breath.
Niko points to a mark on the wall — a sniper's tag. A sigil shaped like a bleeding flower.
Tari: She's here.
Suddenly: FLASH — A BLAST RIPS THROUGH THE FOG. Jax is thrown back. Echo-7 deploys a shield just in time. A glimmering bullet hangs frozen in midair, caught in one of Echo's drones.
Voice (O.S.):
"Hello, little sister."
Perched above them on a crumbling monorail beam: LUX VEIN — Tari's former partner. Silver armor. Crimson hair. Rifle glowing with prism light.
Lux: Didn't think I'd get to kill you under moonlight. Poetic.
Tari: You're late.
Lux: You're predictable.
[FLASHBACK – ORCHID VEIL MEMORY]
A training compound. Young Tari and Lux sparring with training rifles. Bloodied, bruised, laughing. A mentor claps slowly in the background.
Lux (V.O.): We were taught to kill like art. Paint with silence. Aim with grief.
[BACK TO PRESENT – SNIPER DUEL]
Kael and Yuna are forced to fall back as Lux releases suppression grenades that distort time perception. Niko tries to phase behind her but is intercepted by planted traps. The battle narrows to Tari vs. Lux.
Tari dashes across debris, using shattered walls as cover. Lux's shots tear through metal like butter.
Lux: You were always the soft one.
Tari: And you were always the coward. Killing the unit one by one? You're scared they'll remember what you did.
Lux: I want them to remember. That's the point.
Tari jumps midair, spins, and fires a blue-tinted pulse round — Lux counters with a prism round. The blasts collide and explode into refracted chaos.
[INT. MINDSPACE – BOTH SNIPERS STAGGER INTO A SHARED MEMORY]
They stand in a memory echo. The moment they killed their mentor. He's still alive here, wounded, crawling.
Mentor: Don't… do this…
Tari hesitates. Lux pulls the trigger.
Lux: That was your choice. Mercy is betrayal.
[BACK TO REALITY]
Tari stumbles, shaken. Lux approaches, rifle aimed. A final shot hums in the chamber.
Lux: Say goodbye.
Kael tackles Lux just before she fires. Echo-7 disrupts her weapon. Yuna rushes to Tari.
Yuna: Stay with me.
Tari: No more running.
Tari steps forward, raises the Nova Lance, and fires a beam directly at Lux's core. Lux is thrown off the rail. Smoke. Silence.
Kael: Did you…
Tari: No. She's not dead. She never dies that easy.
[EPILOGUE SCENE — LUX'S ESCAPE]
Lux limps into the shadows, her armor cracked. She stares at a holo-photo of her and young Tari. A faint smile.
Lux: Next time, I won't miss.
[VAN HQ – MEDICAL WING]
The team regroups. Tari lies in a healing pod. Kael watches quietly.
Kael: She held back. On purpose.
Yuna: She wanted you to remember.
Tari opens her eyes.
Tari: I never forgot.
[NEXT TIME ON VANGUARD OATH: "Circuit Wound"]
Echo-7 is infected by a virus left behind by Prismmaw — and begins to lose control of his synthetic body.