Flux looked up at the banners and let out a sigh, his mind drifting. Two weeks ago, Commander Zavala announced the first ever class competition officially dubbed 'Guardian Games' which came as a shock to everyone since there was a giant war machine now in clear view in the sky. Despite this, he along with Eva Levante and several others somehow managed to decorate the entire tower and set up the event stage in a single night. In fact, all the towers' normal occupants were in on the action, offering special bounties in accordance with the festivities. Everyone from Lord Shaxx, the Commander himself, the Black Armory curator Ada-1, and the Drifter to name a few. Speaking of the Drifter, Eva Levante had asked him in person to create a special device specifically for the occasion which he was all too happy to oblige, saying "It'll be good practice".

On a side note, he secretly set up a betting pool among the tower residents to see which class would win. Word of this leaked somehow and now everyone within patrol space, excluding the guardians themselves, was in on it. Smart glimmer was on the hunters given that their numbers seemed more than double than both the warlocks and titans combined. Drifter himself, Tess, Rahool, Devrim, Eris, Failsafe, Ana and by extension Rasputin, the Spider, Petra, Shuro Chi, and Sedia placed bets on them.

Titan pride got Commander Zavala, Saint-14, Lord Shaxx, Lord Saladin, and Sloan to dump a rather heavy load of glimmer into the pool, believing their comrades would triumph. Emperor Calus also caught word of this and placed a bet through Benedict 99-40 simply because he adored Flux.

While not as overly zealous with their glimmer as the titans, Ikora, Brother Vance, Osiris, Asher, and somehow Toland bet on their fellow warlocks. Ada-1 also placed a small bet on the warlocks due to her fascination with the aforementioned class, curious to see how they would fare.

Back to the matter at hand though, Flux was feeling exhausted. Why? Today marked the Titans' fourteenth win in a row. At the start of the games, the hunters blew the other two classes out of the water which was to be expected since there were so many of them apparently. The titans secured a win the following day and continued onward which resulted in the current situation. That's not to say there wasn't any competition at all since several pockets of guardians still had that competitive spirit. But he'd grown tired of victory, it seemed like the warlocks had given up and the hunters all but vanished. This was most evident in both the Crucible and Gambit (if he was in the mood for it) as with each match there seemed to be more and more titans filling out the ranks. It was getting… stale? Repetitive? The other two classes brought a special flare to the straightforward lifestyle of a titan.

Despite his current mood however he was still ecstatic about the competition. In fact, just a couple hours ago he had returned to the Tower from the Lighthouse after an intense Trials run. He and two of his titan buddies went up against an elusive team of warlocks for their last match and things got pretty sweaty to say the least.

"Hey Flux!"

Speaking of warlocks, the sound of Tonitrus' voice broke him out of his thoughts. The warlock in question made his way toward him, navigating around a small crowd of guardians. As he approached, Flux spied a shiny new hand cannon strapped to his hip.

He smiled at him. "Hey buddy, just got back from the Lighthouse not too long ago. Pretty intense run I would say. That a Kindled Orchid?" He asked.

His friend's face plates shifted into a grin. "Yeah, Ada held a contest involving her forges. She said whoever finished a forge run first gets to fully customize a weapon frame of their choosing. Since my team won, I was able to create this little monster," he said as he patted his new weapon. "We cut it pretty close with that team of titans, but it worked out in the end."

Flux gave him a questioning look. "Were the other two members of your fireteam warlocks too?"

Tonitrus' grin fell slightly. "Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

Flux's optics shifted downward, his earlier mood resurfacing. "You too huh…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tonitrus asked, puzzled.

Flux looked back up at him. "You've noticed it too, right? Ever since our first victory two weeks ago the hunters seemed to have disappeared entirely. And the ones that are around are new lights."

Realization dawned on Tonitrus' face. "Ah, I know what you're talking about. There's a rumor going around the hunter community that the games are actually secret qualification tests for the Hunter Vanguard." He let out a small laugh. "I think it's pretty stupid but that hasn't stopped every capable hunter in the Tower to flee into patrol space."

"I think I understand now. I was wondering why I haven't heard from Ven, Sierra, or Jun for awhile. They think they're being scouted."

Tonitrus held up a finger. "Well, Ven is still pretty shaken up about that raid on the Dreaming City. The Vanguard basically gave him indefinite leave afterwards. Plus, he wouldn't want the position anyway… since you know… Cayde."

"Yeah..."

An uncomfortable silence grew between them as guardians left and right walked past them, a certain Crucible handler's voice echoing in the background.

Flux started up the conversation. "Even if the games were qualification tests, all the hunters we have available are kinderguardians. There's no one with experience around."

Tonitrus cupped his chin, thinking for a few seconds. "There is one guy who shows promise though, he roams around the EDZ. I think he calls himself Crow."

Flux gave him a questioning look. "Really? I heard he's anti-social. Prefers the whole 'lone wolf' thing a little too much, even keeps his helmet on all the time."

Tonitrus shook his head. "No, not anti-social. Just introverted… I think. Jun told me he worked with him on a patrol assignment, tracked him down somehow. He didn't talk much but handled himself pretty well. Though he apparently has made no effort to come to the Tower. Must've heard about the Vanguard position or something.

"Huh… well whatever his case is it looks like the Vanguard won't have a hunter for awhile. Or hunters for that matter."

Tonitrus nodded. "Yeah, hunters tend to liven things up when they're around."

Flux grinned, his mood lightening up. "They do bring a special energy with them to events like this. Plus competing only against warlocks has been getting boring."

His friend feigned offense. "Hey! You think we enjoy going up against a bunch of crayon eaters?"

"Why does everybody call us crayon-?"

His question tapered off as his ghost's childish voice rang through his head. "Flux, you're getting a voice message from Redrix. Should I open it?"

He mentally nodded. "Sure, thanks buddy."

Tonitrus piped up. "You alright?"

"Yeah, Gauss just said I got a message from Redrix."

A small smirk appeared on his face plates. "You use your ghost as an answering machine?"

Flux just shrugged. "I mean, don't you?"

He couldn't argue with that logic since most guardians did in fact use their ghosts like that. He looked around the courtyard of the Tower while his friends' optics dimmed, listening to what he'd received. That's one of the advantages to being an Exo, they didn't need helmets for communication. Though, the ghosts' ability to interface with Exos' neural systems was beyond him.

"Alright." Flux said, "This isn't official but apparently Commander Zavala is in talks with a weapons foundry to create a weapon prize for the end of the games to go along with the trophy."

Tonitrus' raised an eyebrow ridge, intrigued. "Really? What kind of weapon? And how did Redrix find this information?"

Flux shrugged his massive, armored shoulders. "He didn't say, but as for the weapon…" A goofy grin spread across his faceplates. "Drifter just so happened to have a heavy slug thrower lying around. Apparently, he was getting bored of the competition, something about losing a few bets. So, he offered the weapon to the Commander in hopes of spicing things up."

Tonitrus' jaw dropped. "Heavy slug thrower? Like the giant machine gun a Cabal Colossus would carry?"

Flux nodded, his grin growing ever wider. "Yup and he's working with the Crux Lomar foundry to give it a few more features. Every member of whichever class wins will have the gun sent to their vault, sounds to me like it'll be an exotic."

"It would be nice to have one of those…" Tonitrus muttered to himself. He blinked. His friend's grin had gone feral. "Uh, Flux? Why do you look like you're about to bite my head off?"

"Because my dear warlock…" Flux paused for effect. "That is a man's weapon. And a weapon like that deserves to be in the worthy hands of a titan."

Tonitrus' perplexed look quickly turned into a competitive grin. "Is that so punchy boy? If that's how you wanna play it, why don't you grab Joxer and Redrix again for another Trials run, let's see how you'll hold up against my warlocks!"

"Ha! You're on!"

Without another word both Exos ran towards the main hanger where Saint-14 was held up, eager to squeeze in one last run before the day was over, their competitive spirits reignited.