PART 1

The sun beat down on the sand, giving Velvet reason to wear her lightweight cloak. She bounced up and down on her beast of burden, a large four-legged camel. The small slit over her moist mask allowed her to dart her eyes back and forth across the land and covered the ears that were tied back to her hair. Though she was looking for a certain establishment, all she was able to see was sand. Her mind, in an exhausted attempt to keep herself awake and sane, lest she see a mirage, began to go over the history of the land she was traversing over.

The Barren Sea. One of the largest ecosystems on Remnant, even if there isn't much life to speak of. This used to be the bed of the Sanusian Sea. No one knows why, but the ocean receded drastically, leading to another land mass on the southwestern area of the continent. There isn't anything here. The only people crazy enough to live out here are criminals and those who want to exploit the dumber faction of the former. Lovely place.

After several more moments of walking, the sight of Velvet's destination came into view. It was a small, dusty wooden shack hasitly placed next to an oasis. It was, quite literally, a sight for her sore eyes. She snapped on the reins in her hands to command her camel forward. It groaned a cry of annoyance, then did as commanded. It was several minutes before he finally did reach where she had intended to go. Once there, she quickly spotted a small post for which one may tie their animals. Next to these were two black motorcycles, which caught Velvet's mechanically inclined eyes. She shook the pleasure away, reminding herself that she was there for a purpose. Quickly tying the leather straps around the wooden post, she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the potential trap that would be laid inside.

The entrance was a set of double wooden doors with a large space underneath, giving way to the sand that vyed to enter. As she was set to open the door, she saw an elderly woman come into view with an old wooden broom. Her frayed, silver hair and wild eyes gave Velvet reason to become slightly startled. The two stopped dead, eyeing each other. The old woman looked her up and down warily, as if trying to ascertain whether or not Velvet was going to rob the establishment. "You got any weapons on you?" She asked in a raspy voice.

"No." Velvet lied. "I'm just here to meet someone."

The woman squinted, then slowly moved out of the way to allow Velvet passage. Velvet moved forward, not taking her eyes off of the woman. Even as she moved towards the bar at the opposite side of the room, she kept her eye locked in the peripheral edge of her vision.

Velvet completed the short walk, attracting the attention of everyone else in the bar. She paid them no mind, or entertain the question of why they were looking. She took a seat, folding her arms on the bar in front of her. Coming to the realization that she was still wearing her headgear, Velvet made the decision to not take it off. The last thing that she wanted was for someone who was too knowledgeable to make her and cause even more problems than she already had.

She soon attracted the attention of the bartender. He donned black stubble over his chin and upper lip. His graying hairline had since abandoned him, giving the impression of a large forehead. The man scowled, like the older woman had, eyeing her from the waist up. A second later, he reached underneath the table and raised a clear beer glass, slamming it onto the area of the bar in front of Velvet. "What'll it be?"

"Water, please." Velvet asked in a polite tone.

The bartender scoffed and brought a clear pitcher of water from a space underneath the bar on the other side. As he was pouring, he offered a thoughtful, skeptical glance to Velvet. "It's been a long time since I've heard that word in here. I'm going to have to guess that you're not from around these parts. Business or Pleasure?" He joked, picking up a second glass and a rag to wipe it with. Velvet chuckled politley, then grew silent once more.

"Yes." She said ambiguously. The bartender eyed her, then nodded, breaking his gaze to look at the glass. He walked away to tend to some other business that Velvet did not know nor particularly care for.

Velvet raised the glass to eye-level, viewing the contents of the glass. She swirled the water around, intently gazing to test whether or not the water was tainted with poison. Ozpin had trained her to dectect the signs of such tampering by simply looking. After swirling the glass some more, she put her trust in her abilities and placed the glass to her lips.

She remained silent, ignoring the stinging coming from her ears as a result of the bow. Velvet felt it a necessary sacrifice to prevent someone making her out and causing more trouble for her than she already had. Her lip twitched as she mentally ignored the irritation. To take her mind away from it, Velvet analyzed all that she had saw when she had entered the unnamed bar.

There's 11 men and women in here. I think I've seen a few of them on some Wanted Posters here and in Vale. Two of them have bags of throwing knives strapped to their hips, four others have pistols. It's a safe bet that the bartender has a gun as well. He couldn't have had a business here this long without it. The other five have blades of some sort, two with short daggers, one with a katana, and the other two have...what were those? I'm not sure of the name. They remind me of the type of blade that Scarlet uses. Hmm. Probably should've found that out before...Cutlass. That's what it was. It's been too long since he and I last talked--wait. No. Focus on the mission at hand. You can reminisce later.

Velvet shook her mind, a desperate attempt to clear her mind of the awful things she was forced to witness as her enemies made their move, an unprecedented one, and brought death and destruction to Beacon Academy. She shook away the sight of Rojo on that night, and replaced it with a resolve of why she had ventured to Vacuo in the first place. Velvet, without the guidance of Professor Ozpin, took it upon herself to gather more information on the enemy. That investigation led to the disocovery of the two-tipped spear that Salem and her faction sought to throw against the world; an attack on two of the three undamaged combat academies.

She learned, from Qrow and Dorian alike, that Ruby, Nora, Jaune, and Ren had taken it upon themselves to travel to Anima in order to prevent the attack on Haven Academy. She had traveled to Sanus herself to handle the second attack, which, in her mind, would prove to be far less troublesome for Salem's forces to execute. As her and Qrow had discussed prior to her departure, it would be almost impossible to garner a large enough response to prevent such an attack in a place where law and order was almost nonexistenet to begin with. Dorian, Qrow and her had discussed, then decided that it would be wisest for Velvet to go to Vacuo and attempt to do the impossible. The two supplied her with 500,000 Lien, carefully instructing her to find any information that she could on what they were up against there, then find a crew willing to aid in her fight. "Don't expect people around there to do it out of the goodness of thier hearts. Even when faced with the total annihalation, they still won't do other people's work for free. That's where the Lien comes in. In the unlikely chance that you can't find anyone willing to do it for free, you have a fallback plan."

That was a small part of the reason that Velvet was in the bar to begin with. She had arranged a discreet meeting with an informant that asked her to only refer to them as 'Foxtail'. They had claimed to have vital information regarding her mission, details that could prove essential to her stopping whatever it was that Salem's forces had in store for Vacuo. Although the risk of this being a big trap was immense, Velvet knew from the start that she would have to take many risks if she wanted to progress in time and stop the destruction of Shade.

"My. This place is looking really...shady. Wouldn't you say?"

Velvet didn't turn her head, but used her peripheral vision once more to lay her sights on the middle-aged man that had sat next to her and used the codeword in the correct fashion. "Thank you for coming to see me. I understand you have something to say?"

The informant chuckled. "The pleasure is all mine. Before we start up with that, I need a drink. Bartender!" He called out. "Dragon's Tongue on the rocks!"

The bartender grunted apathetically, quickly gliding over to the rack of drinks behind him. He swiftly poured the drink to Foxtail's specifications. As he did, he scowled at the customer, looking over to Velvet momnetarily before returning to his work. Velvet cast an uncertain eye over her informant.

He was a scraggly-looking man, with tan skin and a sharp chin that was covered with stubble. He looked extremely thin, his spindly fingers rapping the bar underneath them. He donned a worn orange vest with bright orange fringes. The edges of his denim shorts were in tatters, but he didn't seem to be the type to care very much about such a trivial detail.

"Now that we have that little bit out of the way," he said, taking a shot of his auburn beverage, he looked over to Velvet with a sneer. "we can get down to business. What are you offering for this...valuable info?"

"I don't suppose you'll do it for the good of the planet?" She asked in a semi-joking manner, garnering only the snorting of Foxtail for a response.

"Oh, Sweetheart. You must not know a lot about how things work here. Aside from Shade, the only things that carryany weight around here is blood and money. If you've got none to offer me, then we have nothing to talk about." He began to rise from his seat slowly.

"1,000." She said. With this, Foxtail rested on the seat once more. He broke his gaze from Velvet.

"That's more like it. Now, I happen to have the names of all of the Queen's lieutenants, and all of their little lackeys."

"Old news. I already know about the lieutenants and their subordinates. There's only two to speak of."

"Three." He said, snickering at Velvet's ignorance. Rather than give a reaction, she simply crossed her arms on the bar.

After a small pause, she started the dialogue once more. "I'm listening." Velvet was wary, but she knew not whether she could afford to not follow such a potential lead.

"I'm sure you're familiar with a certain Arthur Watts?"

"You could say that." Velvet said, choosing her words carefully, sure to not give away unnecessary information.

"Good. I don't think I'd consider you worth my time otherwise. Well, he has a little lackey of his own. He's never seen with her, keeping her in the shadows for reasons only the gods know. She's the one pulling the strings for the Queen here in Vacuo. Planning something really big. A lot of big back-alley deals have been happening. They've been hiring an army's worth of thugs and lowlife Huntsmen, Grimm tamers, demolition experts, the works. I'd be a liar if I told you that I was sure what it was exactly they're playing at, but I can tell you that, whatever it is, it's bad news for your people."

Bad news for everyone. Velvet observed, a stern expression coming over her as she was brought into the light about the malicious planning and preparations. Qrow's going to want to hear this right away.

"What's her name?" Velvet asked almost immediatley after.

Foxtail took another swig of his drink, wiping the excess from his lips. "Dunno."

A wave of annoyance passed through Velvet at the vague and disappointing answer. "What?" She asked in a biting tone. Normally, she would refrain from using such a voice, but the informant had aroused enough in her to give her a reason to momentarily inhibit her moral. It was a rare occurrance that she dreaded, but accepted at the same time when it did happen.

"I only know the 'why'. Only the people on the inside know the 'who'."

Velvet nodded, looking to her hands. "Where are these meetings taking place? Who's harboring them?"

Foxtail shot up two fingers. "One, I don't know. All I know is what I've heard. Two, refer back to my earlier statement. All I know is that it's going on somewhere on Sanus." He chuckled, then took another shot. "Really, you should get some more training on this interrogation stuff. Not very becoming for you to be chasing your tail."

Velvet had to keep herself from hitting Foxtail for that comment, but, once again, she restrained herself. She remained silent, waiting to see what Foxtail would say next. When he began looking around, Velvet felt that the near-fruitless conversation had come to a close. She decided to begin leading to the end. "This doesn't get me any closer to stopping whatever it is that they're planning to do."

He bellowed out in laughter, leaning forward, then turning to Velvet. "Who says that I want you to stop them?" He whispered, swiftly placing a knife tip to Velvet's abdomen, chuckling once more.

Velvet lowered her gaze to the blade, saying nothing immediatley. "That's a poison-tipped blade. If you don't come quietly, then we're going to have some problems. The Queen won't want you if you're scratched, but she'll pay nonetheless."

She took a deep breath. This was a small possibility that she knew could happen from the moment she walked through the door. Qrow and Dorian alike, who had continued her training after Ozpin's demise, taught her that the only people who are sure that they know everything that will happen and when, are the ones lining the ocean floor and cemetery plots. "You're going to want to remove that, and walk away. This is your only chance to do so."

Another cackle from Foxtail. "Oh, sweetheart. Either you're in denial or you're too simple to understand just how bad you're in. I'm not going to let you go. See, there's a Million Lien bounty on your head. Half of that for your corpse. Frankly, I'm fine with either." As a taunt, he began to press the tip in further, threatening to tear her clothes and her skin underneath. Her ears betrayed the sound of everyone else in the bar drawing their weapons.

"I'm not."

Before he could react, Velvet tightly gripped Foxtail's wrist and twisted. He cried out in pain, dropping the blade with a clatter onto the floor. With his free hand, he reared his hand back to strike Velvet. Catching sight of this, she raised her nearest leg and propelled it into Foxtail's abdomen, nearing the point of inflicting serious injury. He flew across the room, as a particular Grimm did all those years ago, slamming into several of his counterparts. Several groans and cries of pain erupted, along with disorientation in the masses. This gave Velvet time to prepare for the inevitable battle to follow. She heard a voice call out from behind her, and saw the bartender rise up from under the bar. Before Velvet could misinterpret, he threw a shotgun to Velvet, and commanded his wife to get behind the bar with him. "Just don't break it. It's a family heirloom."

Velvet nodded, then hopped onto the bar. She flung off her cloak to allow herself more mobility. "Oh, hell!" One of the thugs cried out, pointing an accusatory finger at Velvet. "It's the Maiden! I didn't think she was the one Salem put a bounty out on. Screw this!" The thug quickly holstered her weapon, then ran out the doors.

"No, I'm not a--oh, forget it." Velvet tried to explain, but gave up when they began to fire their guns and throw knives at her. She ran the length of the bar, as three swordsman charged. While dodging bullets, Velvet hopped upwards as the nearest one swiped at her calves. Once she planted her feet, her armored toe guard dug into the aggressor's chin. Wincing in pain, he flew backwards into a table.

"Sorry!" She called out, looking back to the fear-stricken bartenders. Velvet hopped down onto the floor of the bar, intently getting in-between the katana-wielder and the coutillier.

Once they were close enough, Velvet raised her own weapon to nose level, thrusting it once in each direction, left and right. The stock and barrel of the gun struck each of her adversaries, sending them clutching at their faces and crumpling to the ground. Her manuever complete, she called out to the bartender. Once he warily slid his head upwards, Velvet tossed the gun back at him. She quickly thanked him, eliciting an odd expression from its recipient.

Velvet turned back to her opponents. 7 left. One Dagger-wielders, two with throwing knives, four gunmen.

The gunmen began their assualt once more, firing as their partners threw knives simultaneously. Velvet, thinking on her feet, reached over and exerted great strain to lift a table from the floor with both her hands. She swung it in front of her, taking the brunt of the knives and bullets' damage. She rotated once more, throwing it into the crowd of seven that were clumped together. One of the would-be assailants dove out of the way a split second before the table hit its mark.

Wasting no time, she scooped up one of the discarded pistols as Velvet ran at her. A look of desperation came over her goggled eyes as she raised the pistol and unloaded the clip in Velvet's direction. Velvet leapt in the air and planted her feet on a nearby wall. Leaping towards her opponent, Velvet swifly used her leg to brush the knife out of the leather-gloved hand and into the wall Velvet had just employed. On her feet again, Velvet threw a punch towards the girl. She swiped away Velvet's hand, giving Velvet the need to swing her other fist around. The same result ensued, allowing the girl to go on the offensive. She offered a swift array of punches and kicks, leaping through the air.

Velvet found each strike more dificult to block than the last. It had been quite some time since she was forced to go up against an opponent. She knew that, if she hoped to survive, the fight needed to be ended quickly.

Quickly, gaining a better understanding of the patterns of the other fighter, she awaited the moment to properly put a counterstrike into place. As the girl was set to drive Velvet's back into the bar, she leapt into the air to deliver a helicopter kick to Velvet's temple. In response, Velvet lifted her hands upwards, clutching the girl's ankles. For a split-second, Velvet could see the manifestation of the dread that filled the other girl as Velvet wasted no time in throwing her down to the ground.

The dagger-wielder, battered as a layer of sand once on the floor uprooted from the battle came to rest upon her, gazed up at Velvet from her back. Without saying a word, she clutched at a hidden pouch on her belt-loop underneath the loose, olive-green poncho that covered her down to her upper thighs. Once Velvet caught sight of the glint of steel, she kicked the blade away, sending it skittering across the floor. To prepare against any other countermeasures, Velvet slammed her heel, with the smallest amount of restraint, ensuring that she didn't kill the misguided girl who had picked her for an adversary.

The couple who kept the establsihment in a relatively running order slowly popped their heads up over the edge of the bar, eyeing the wreckage around the area. Velvet expected them to be upset for her wrecking of their tavern, but, they reacted in the opposite instead. "Thank you so much, dear. After all the other lowlives around these parts hear about what you did, there's no way that they'll think to cause trouble here again. What can we ever do to repay you? Anything." The old woman crooned, her husband standing by her, silently agreeing with a nod.

"Oh, that's not necessary, ma'am. It's just who I am." Velvet said with a grin as she waved off the couple's offer.

"And, just," The old man began, "Who are you?"

Velvet swelled with pride as she took a small pause to offer a reply to the elderly man's question. She turned to them, cocking her hips and placing her hands on them.

"I'm a Huntress."

Well, Huntsmen and Huntresses, it's here, as promised! The next installment in The Velveteen Faunus Saga. Hope you all enjoy it!