Cayde once again started the duel as he spun the Ace on its side and inbetween his fingers. He grinned as he holstered it once more. The crowd went wild as Banshee did the same thing but launched the Last Word up in the air and holstered it. The two were neck and neck in terms of trick ability. Cayde grinned and pointed at Banshee. "Ya know, you do a decent job swinging that thing around, though we can all agree I have more finesse." "Is that what the kids call 'sloppy' these days?" Banshee flipped the Last Word to where the grip was pointed at Cayde. "I've seen much better." "Oh yea where?" "Does it matter?" "Sort of." Cayde drew a knife and flipped it inbetween his fingers. "Though I doubt they would be better than me." "How?" "Well..." Cayde drew the Ace and spun it while simultaneously spinning the knife. He juggled them then holstered both. "That for example." The crowd laughed and cheered as Banshee paused. He thought for a brief moment. "How about this." He set the Last Word on his counter. "I'll give you one last shot at beating me." "What before you give up now?" "Before I meet you here at 8 sharp on Monday." Cayde laughed. "You don't have an ace up your sleeve! Your bluffing!" "Then you have nothing to lose." Cayde grinned. "Alrighty Bansh." He drew the Ace and his knife. "Prepare to be amazed." He spun both objects in his hands before throwing the Ace and knife up. The caught them just before they hit the ground and used their momentum to cause them to spin from their grips on the tip of his fingers. He slowly raised the Ace up and spun in reverse atop of the knife. They stayed that way before Cayde reversed the order to gun then knife. He then flung them up in the air, caught his knife and stuck his hip out so the Ace plopped in its holster. The crowed went wild as Cayde cracked a grin and put his knife away. "Beat that old timer." Banshee nodded slightly. "Very nice performance, is that all?" Cayde paused and looked around while keeping his head stationary in thought. "Yea that's about it why?" Banshee put his hands on the Last Word. "My turn." He pulled the gun in half and began dismantling it swiftly, except he made every part he took off spin in the air and landed perfectly in a spot while keeping the casing of the gun spinning. He cleaned, checked and double checked each piece to make sure it was correct before reassembling it. It took him close to about a minute then he pulled out a cartridge, jammed it in the chamber, aimed straight up and fired to prove his point then he unloaded and holstered the gun. The crowd went ballistic as everyone cheered for Banshee. Cayde stared wide eyed and his jaw dropped. Banshee looked at him then pulled out an oil can. He put two quick squirts into Cayde's mechanics and lightly slapped it shut. "Keep that thing oiled Guardian and you won't have that problem." Everyone laughed as Cayde rubbed his jaw dumbfounded. "You ready to declare defeat Cayde?" Cayde thought then shrugged. "No of course not, but you did bring up a good point in trick shooting, can you actually hit your target." "Oh?" Cayde picked up a piece of Glimmer from his pile and flicked it in the air. He aimed and fired as the tiny cube spun and went hurtling down and landed in his hands. A clean hole was in the middle. "Betcha can't beat that?" Banshee replicated the process with the same results. "I can." Cayde's eyes twitched as the reality dawned on him. "Alright..." He picked up another Glimmer and threw it far. He aimed and fired and made and tried and true shot. Banshee did exactly the same. "I hope you aren't stalling Cayde." "What?! Me?! Stalling? Oh Bansh you are such a tease." He laughed as the crowd murmured their response. Cayde picked up another cube and tossed it, but this time swiftly pulling the Ace out of holster and firing. Perfect shot. "Ha! Beat..." The crack of a gun stopped his sentence as Banshee did the same thing without even looking at the piece he threw. The crowd went silent and looked at Cayde. Cayde racked his fingers on his head a bit. "Just a lucky shot!" He threw a piece high in the air and shot without looking. The piece landed in Banshee's hand as he held it up to check. The hole was slightly off center. "Not so lucky shot..." Cayde paused. "Alright... I'll consider this a tie, and I've come up with a pretty good tiebreaker!" "If it's Snipers you are considering then..." "Oh no my friend." Cayde pulled out his knife. "This." Banshee paused. "Seems a bit unfair." "What? No of course not, you deal with knives all the time! This will be a fair way to break the tie." Banshee grunted. "In your favor yes, but I'll play along. Hand me a knife." Cayde pulled a spare from his back pocket and handed it to Banshee. "Alright here we go!" He threw up a piece of Glimmer and cut it clean in half with a throwing knife. He grinned in triumph as he grinned at the gunsmith. "Beat that!... Wait what are you doing?" Banshee was digging through his drawers. "One moment." He pulled out a pair of stiff looking gloves. The were comprised of lots of wires, lights and fixtures that were all dim with no use and a bit of dust were on them. He wiped it clean gently and slipped them on. They powered to life with a simple click. "Uh... What is that?" "My philosophy is that guns are better than a knife. However..." He gently held the knife in this hand as he checked the balance. "A good knife is sometimes better than an empty gun." He handed a piece of Glimmer to a Titan. "Throw it high and that way." The Titan nodded and chucked it at hard as he could towards the North Tower. Banshee waited slightly before readying the knife and throwing it. It soared through the air as it cut clean through the cube. Banshee then held his hand up and the lights flickered red. The knife stopped mid spin, orientated back and shot straight through the Glimmer once more and into Banshee's hand where it slowed down and slowly spun as he waited for someone to pick up his shot. A Hunter walked over and picked up the four evenly cut pieces and brought them back. Cayde's eyes went pale as Banshee handed him back his knife. "I will see you at 8 Monday morning. Zavala and Ikora already know to let you come here." Cayde stayed utterly silent as everyone cheered Banshee's name. He put the gauntlets away and the Last Word back in its case. He collected the Glimmer and went back to work. The crowd dispersed as the events of the Light Festival began. Cayde soberly sat at the end of Banshee's counter while Banshee stood quietly waiting for something else to happen. "That was cheating you know that right?" Said Cayde. "The first throw wasn't, the second was simply getting your knife back." "I can spawn more knives...." "Well now you don't have to spawn one." Cayde grunted and stood up. "Well either way, nice job Bansh." He waved and walked back to the Vanguard Hall to prepare for the fights. Banshee watched him leave, waited a moment and followed. "Just to humor him for a little while." https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/175309936/0/0 link to part 2 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/166830655/0/0/1 link to the Exotic featured in this story: Telekinetic Assassin