It was a normal day at the Tower, that day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping...and the Hunter Vanguard was taking a running leap off the main courtyard. Why, you may ask?

Well, if you were Cayde-6, you would know perfectly well why. Your life sucks. You're stuck in this Tower while your friend Tevis brags over the comms about whatever baron he'd just killed.

You really, really hate your job, and you wonder exactly how drunk you were when you took the Dare, until you remember that you're an exo; you can't get drunk.

And then the Queen's Emissary comes along with the exact. Same. Problem. The job sucks, you life has hit a low point, you're going through an early mid-life crisis, no-one will let you go out and kill stuff, and your own home is sucking away at your sanity. Naturally, you two bond over this, and then one of you comes up with a crazy idea born form boredom and desperation; go rouge for a day.

Now, usually, Petra Venj would never have agreed to this. But, under the influence of the one-and-only-ever-amazing-Cayde-6, she'd realized that this was the only way to save her sanity. And so the plan begins.

"You and me, against the world...We attack at dawn." he'd said, causing her to roll her eyes, though she was filled with anticipation non-the-less.

But, alas, you are not Cayde-6, so you don't have any idea what this plan is; you're simply concerned with the fact that he's launching himself over the courtyard railing.

"FREEEEEEEDOOOOOOM!" the exo screamed as he jumped. Guardians yelled and screamed, horrified as he disappeared.

A ship rose over the railing, a Ceres-Galiot, with Cayde-6 doing an air-guitar on top of it. The horrified gasps turned into wild cheers, Hunters whooping and whistling, while their Vanguard continued acting like a rockstar. He did the moonwalk, spun around, and made gun symbols with his hands in the direction of the crowd.

"Au revoir, dear friends!" he called, pulling a handkerchief out of his sleeve and waving it in their direction as the ship slowly drifted it's front away from the Tower courtyard. Commander Zavala stormed out from the Guardian's hall to investigate the commotion, and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head when he caught sight of the Hunter Vanguard.

"CAYDE-6!" he roared, his bellow cutting through the sound of cheering Hunters.

"Sorry, Zavala, but I need to rescue my sanity! I can't trust this mission with anyone else!" Cayde said solemnly, one hand over his heart. "I greive for the City's safety if I do not return successful."

"FLY, LITTLE EXO; BE FREE!" Called one Huntress, who was wearing a bright red fedora and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Cayde saluted her.

"Fly I shall, my friend! Fly, I shall!" he vowed. The Galiot took off, and the exo assumed a "super-hero" pose, standing on one foot with one fist drawn back and the other one pumped forward, jaw set. The Hunters, and even a few Warlocks and Titans, erupted into pandemonium. The Huntress threw her hat into the air victoriously, one Hunter jumped up onto the shoulders of two others, fists in the air. A titan fired his auto rifle into the sky, and his Hunter companion did likewise with their hand cannon.

"NO SHOOTING IN THE TOWER! PUT THAT VOID BOW AWAY! TEVIS, WERE YOU IN ON THIS!? HEY! WATCH YOUR MOUTH, WARLOCK!" Zavala tried to gain control of the whooping, cheering Guardians, but to no avail.

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYDE!" he screamed to the sky, dropping to his knees. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Yay! Cayde gained his freedom! This is just a short piece I thought of earlier today. I always pictured Cayde and Petra getting along well; they're both kind of stuck with positions of authority; promoted downwards, so to speak. Though, it is said Petra was given her post after a mission went bad; perhaps the one where she lost her eye? It would make sense, in a way, to keep you military genius out of the fighting if they're missing their depth perception.

But we know Brask was killed in battle with Taniks, which leads to questions like; Why was a Vanguard fighting anyway? Did a fallen as big and noticeable as Taniks find a way to get into the Tower unseen? Or is Brask's fate the reason Vanguards are restricted to the Tower? Or had he already challenged someone to the Dare again and won? You know, I've always wondered what the Vanguard Dare actually was. Was it like, a retrieval mission of some sort, or a Sparrow race or something? A targeted kill? If so, he could have been challenging someone when Taniks attacked, or Taniks could have been the target assigned by the over-confident Brask.

Anyway, I'm done thinking aloud now. This has a lot of Cayde in it, so get ready for some pithy jokes. XD

Next time: Petra and Cayde go on an all-out rampage through the Cosmadrome, and Tevis is sure that Cayde is insane.

Cheers!^^