Destiny (c) Bungie

The Last Hand

The Invitation

The infamous Prison of Elders was once a battle arena, opened to the Guardians by the Awoken Queen as both a punishment for the imprisoned wolves who betrayed her, and a mild if barbaric side amusement. Neither were of such concern to the Guardians, such was their all-consuming greed that the tiniest hint of material prizes was enough to summon them like vultures to a corpse.

The Prison of Elders was in chaos for an entirely separate reason now. A far less controlled scenario than the skirmishes ran by Variks the Loyal.

Two Jump ships weaved deftly through the debris surrounding the outer edges of the Reef towards its main docking ring, one black with white spade decals on the engine nacelles and the other shiny gun metal with red decorative decals. They swooped into the dock with near perfect synchronicity before peeling away. Two Guardians transmatted onto the docking bay, striding with confidence towards their waiting party of Petra Venj.

The first was Cayde-6 the Hunter Vanguard. An infamous Hunter known for his tricky nature, his wiles, his gambling and a sheer level of mischief that reached legendary status. The other was the human Acker Morin. Known to most as the Slayer of Oryx, the Hero of the Red War, among others and most commonly as Cayde's protégé. Rumour had it that Cayde took a shining to the kid not long after he returned to the waking world. Took the runt under his metaphorical wing – more than other newbies at any rate.

But there was a lesser title he was known by. A private almost conspiratorial title that was never spoken of in the open. Only behind closed doors.

Cayde's son.

Not adopted in the way Saint-14 referred to the Speaker as his father. Not fostered or surrogate, the way legend depicted the Man with the Golden Gun and his custodian. No. This was the flesh and blood son of Cayde. The man before Cayde was a Cayde-dash at all. Before the end of the Golden Age and the collapse of Humanity's budding empire.

It was highly frowned upon for Guardians sought out their past lives so this was a revelation kept between only the two of them. Not even their closest friends or confidantes were privy to this secret. It helped bind them closer in a way, allowing them to share this clandestine truth and build a relationship around it.

And in was partially in the name of that relationship that Acker was invited to this little get together. The other half because the kid was, for one so young in the light, damned good at his job.

"Petra Venj! Thanks for the invite." Cayde-6 said by way of greeting, the sheer glee in his voice was hard to contain.

Acker couldn't blame him. Being cooped up on the tower for so long would have driven him stir crazy too.

"Whatcha packin' for this party?"

Petra merely shrugged, snatching her knife from its holster on her side to present it. A fine curved blade with a slight grove in its lower half. A fine work of craftsmenship if Acker were any judge.

"Ooh! Do the thing! Seriously kiddo, watch this." Cayde indicated to the Awoken Paladin and Petra spared the knife only the vaguest of glance.

The weapon floated above her palm a foot, spinning on its axis before Petra snatched it out of the air again with a smirk, pleased at her demonstration.

Cayde shuddered while Acker looked on with envious eyes and a childish pout. "That'll never not freak me out…. Do it again!"

The human hunter reached to his own knife and pulled it out, holding it in a mimicry of how Petra performed her own little trick. Tongue poking out of his lip as he glared for a few seconds. He huffed looking between his own knife and Petra's ."I wanna do that…"

"Gentlemen, we can sway knife tricks later. Maybe." Petra declared, redirecting both men to the task. "Right now, Gen-pop is stampeding. Fortunately, the main arena and the lower level lockdown remain in place for the moment. But if the security systems suffered a total cascade failure, containing the situation is going to be… a problem."

Cayde smirked, "Just another day in the office."

"I'll see you gentlemen inside. Best of luck to us all." Petra inclined her head politely before turning back towards the prison at a run. The briefing was over it seems.

Acker pulled the Duke mk. 44 out of its holster on his hip to check the chamber. "So, ya wanna take the high road? Low road? Or is it gonna be dealer's choice?"

Cayde pointed towards the gun with a look of approval. "Still got that crusty old thing, huh?"

"Something to be said for power and efficiency," Acker smirked back, flicking the chamber back into place and caressing the hammer. "I like this old thing. Saved my life maybe once or twice."

"Yeah, Amen to that. Something to be said about power and efficiency," Cayde took a step towards him, "But I'd say there's a little something more to be said for power, efficiency and style."

As the Hunter Vanguard said that, he reached behind his back. Acker shot a puzzled look at his father before finally taking notice of the second black cannon next to the Ace of Spades. She was beautiful, a near identical replica to the Ace of Spades herself, sleek but in black and red. A red stripe diagonally across her barrel, and a spade on the grip. It took him another second to register that Cayde was giving the gun… to him.

The Exo grinned as his face lit up like a kid at Dawning. "The Last Hand. Suppose you could call her Ace's goth little sister, but she's got all the perks that came with it. Was saving this for your Light Day, but I figured I'd be generous just this once."

"Only this once? Heh." Acker took the cannon with trembling hands, peering down the sight, checking the barrel. It was all he could do not to bounce up and down like a kid on a sugar high.

"Got Banshee to customise it for you special. Perfect for a Southpaw. Even if you weird left-handed folk are evil."

"I'm standin' right here, you ass." Acker answered the jest with mock offense. His towards grin made him look even younger, like a giddy teenager. "You're the best dad ever."

"Ain't I just?" Cayde said with no small amount of pride, withdrawing the Ace of Spades and making his own preparations for combat while he casually sauntered to the railing. "Alrighty Ace, let's get this show on the road. Now remember this is a Cayde riff in six, watch me for the changes and try to keep up."

Cayde winked and Acker rolled his eyes.

"Now let's go to prison!" The Hunter Vanguard leaped backwards off the edge, whooping all the way down to the lower levels.

Acker shook his head and couldn't help his laughter, hearing his father's cheers of 'Got you!' and other taunting. "And here I thought I spent all my first life trying to keep him out of a prison."

"You love him. Don't deny it." Dusk appeared at his shoulder, bumping into his temple affectionately.

Acker rolled his eyes, slipping on his helm and brandishing his newly gifted Last Hand ready and rearing for battle. "Yeah, Yeah. The pain in the ass."

Author's note:

So, this is in canon with Ace of Spades. So there might be some slightly minor spoilers for that story. Nothing that would spoil massive plot points... yet. But could raise a number of intriguing questions.

Also, for those who don't know, the pre-order bonus for Forsaken was the Last Hand exotic ornament for the Ace of Spades. In this story, its obviously a replica that Cayde made from the Ace as a gift to Acker. For the curious, Acker's primary outfit at this point is the Vanguard Dare set with a Holeshot Cloak, in a black and red colour scheme. I've also changed his last name to Morin.

Sit back, relax and please enjoy what I have planned.

Regards,
Aurora313