"What happened?" Pantera nearly screamed in a mixture of worry and anger. He was told about Amanda being found, injured in her own room but not about the how...that in itself made him worry a good deal.
"Like I said Pantera. Zavala's investigating and Cayde is out asking questions." Ikora replied as calmly as she could. Though it was obvious that she was masking the worry beneath her voice. "I'm pulling your team from the mission and sending a couple of Hunters to patrol the area."
Amilo remained silent as Pantera looked at her. "Okay. We're on our way back." He replied. "What room is she in?"
The Vanguard didn't reply immediately. Just whispered something before answering "231B. The same hospital you were placed in."
With that, the comms went silent. Leaving Pantera in a state between angry and worried, with anger more present than any other emotion. He could feel the negative emotion getting the better of him and didn't mind it in the slightest.
"Pantera," Onar spoke up. This caught his teammate's attention. "Get back to earth. She'll need you more than me or Amilo will." The Hunter just turned away, shouldered his Shadow Price auto rifle and began the long walk back to the Ishtar Sink.
Amilo could feel the present anger in the air as she watched her new friend walk away. There wasn't much she could do for him at least she thought there wasn't. She hesitated but eventually followed Pantera with Onar, reluctantly, following her. "This is going to be a long flight back home." She whispered to herself.
Amanda strained to smile as Pantera entered her room, her head hurt too much from the beating she received from her ex-boyfriend. "Hey" She barely managed before wincing in pain.
The Hunter felt his heart sink at the sight of his beloved. She laid on a hospital bed with her left arm in a cast, stitches across part of the side of her head, bandages covering the stump of her amputated right leg and two black eyes. The thought of someone harming her only lit the fires of his anger, but he pressed the feeling away for the time being. For now, he had to be with her.
Pantera leaned over her and kissed her forehead as a tear fell his eye. "How are you feeling?" He asked, then instantly regretted it.
She only chuckled slightly and smiled as she grabbed the neck of his cloak and pulled him close. "Better now that you're here." They kissed for a long moment, forgetting where they were and what the situation was. In that moment, it didn't matter.
The Traveler's Rejected bar was set in the more rundown part of the Last City. It was known for strong alcohol, sexy strippers [both human and Awoken], and several other things. One of which was the bouncer himself, Karl the titan. He had a reputation for throwing out multiple people at once and even throwing down some booze with the occasional customer. Though he had zero tolerance for those who would cause trouble while he was on the job.
Standing in at near 7 feet tall, having dark skin, short black hair, Karl was a rock. He had known since his rebirth that he had trouble with anger. This didn't stop him from always trying to ignore it, to push it away and attempt to focus on more positive emotions in life but it did so little. He could see his hands shaking and feel the anger focus on himself at what he had done. "It wasn't supposed to be this way." He barely managed as a tear fell from his brown eyes.
The familiar sound of glass breaking snapped him back to his work. Another riley customer had too much to drink and was starting a fight with someone else. He brushed a tear away and gathered himself as much as he could before walking towards the pair. As usual, it was over a woman. It was always over a woman that either both men had slept with or one was jealous of the other and just running their mouth.
The aggressor in the situation threw a punch that met Karl's chest. He could see that the Titan was unphased and knew that there was going to be consequences for what he just did. Before the man could apologize, Karl grabbed the smaller man up by his shirt with one hand and begun the walk towards the exit. "Come on man. I won't start any more trouble." the man pleaded.
"You caused enough trouble tonight," Karl said emotionless. "Go home. Sober up." He threw the man out of the door and into a nearby dumpster. The man went to get up but was met the Titan towering over him. "I mean it." He finished before turning and returning to his job.
Though there wasn't any relaxation to be had. Karl could tell something was amiss inside the bar. The music had stopped and the familiar sound of an exo speaking was clear. "Not here to jam anyone up, just looking for answers. If anyone has any, please step forward." The voice was familiar to him but Karl didn't place it with any exo he knew of. Just shrugged and continued back to his chair.
As the relaxation of being back in his favorite chair began to creep into his body, he remembered what he had done to his beloved. The scene replaying within his mind, and the anger towards himself grew even stronger. Then the music resumed playing after a brief moment. Pre Golden Age rock began to play and send the bar into another headbanging party. Whoever Fozzy was...Karl enjoyed their music, especially the songs known as "Judas" and "Painless". He couldn't explain the reason but no one questioned him or his feelings.
Pantera was dressed in plain clothing, a normal long-sleeved purple shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Though he didn't have shoes on, which was against hospital rules, but if anyone had an issue with it, they kept quiet. He had been at Amanda's side for the past three days and did what he could to help ease her discomfort when the doctors and nurses were busy.
The doctor said Amanda was cleared to go at any time. Though she couldn't help but feel like she did when she lost her leg. "Are you sure I'll be okay?" She asked Pantera.
Pantera shrugged. "I know you'll recover dear. As for the asshole who did this you."
"He has anger issues." she cut him off and looked at her casted arm. Subconsciously her hand reached for the bandages across her face. "I made him mad and I paid the price."
"Why? Why did he get mad at you?" He asked sharply, knowing all too well what the answer was. Nothing had to be said to the Hunter, he knew it from the look in her eyes. Karl was angry at not being with Amanda and he took his anger out on her it was plain and simple. Nothing complicated, straightforward jealousy. "I love you Amanda but I'm going to have to handle it."
She remained silent as she nodded slowly. The thoughts of what could happen began to creep into her mind and flooding her with fear. How it felt to worry...She shook out of her worry. "Okay, Pantera." Her voice low, barely above a mumble.
What had he just done? Did he just make a vow to kill an unknown guardian?...No. It wouldn't be right, It wasn't right but he did. Deep in Pantera's mind, he was already thinking of a way to fight whoever laid their hands on Amanda. "Sorry dear." He said openly.
"Are you certain about this?" Spectre questioned before the small paintbrush touched its shell.
Amilo sighed in annoyance. "Spectre. Every time you move it moves the wet paint." She dabbed the brush into the purple paint, "Yes. I'm sure. You want to be as bold as your guardian, don't you?" The Ghost remained silent, not risking the Warlock becoming angry at moving while it spoke.
Amilo's Ghost materialized next to her and watched for a moment. It watched Amilo's teammate's Ghost undergo the same thing it once did. "Painting?" It asked in a female voice. Amilo noded, unwavering from her task at hand. "What are you painting?"
She stopped and dabbed the brush in the paint. "A panther." Replying before she returned to painting. "Feeling jealous Nimby?" She teased.
"No. Just curious." The ghost responded before looking at its reflection in the small mirror. The standard Ghost shell was solid white with orange tips but Nimby saw hers was blue with jagged white lines. She could remember the day Amilo began to paint on her shell, how she felt special...Well...More special then she felt considering what she was. "Do you think you could paint my shell again?"
The Warlock stopped painting, sat the brush to the side and began blowing on Spectre's shell. "I just went over your shell two months ago," She said before taking another deep breath and blowing on Spectre again.
Nimby could see Spectre that was remaining as still as possible for her guardian. She thought for a moment about the painting and began searching her memory for panthers. A few seconds later it realized the reason why Spectre was painted light purple with a nebula colored panther along the bottom of its shell. A large feline predator that stalks its prey from cover before striking or emerging from the shadows. It was fitting for Pantera, the Hunter did tend to stick to the shadows during crucible matches and only revealed himself when it was necessary.
"Okay. You're done." Amilo said to Spectre. The Ghost floated up and looked into the small mirror. "What do you think?"
Spectre remained silent.
"I think he looks nice," Amanda responded as she limped by.
Onar knelt next to his friend and was amazed at how well she did. "He looks like Pantera's Ghost alright." He replied.
The Hunter shook his head. "At least Spectre isn't an easy target now." He said before the Ghost floated towards him. Then he saw the detail in the art. A small shadow of a man pulling back on a void bow while surrounded by what appeared to be Vex was painted on the left side of the shell, on the right was a man sitting with a large panther standing over him, snarling towards any who looked at the shell. "He definitely does look my Ghost now."
Pantera snapped awake from a nightmare, instantly reaching for his knife. Nothing. The blade was absent, away from where he kept it during the night. It didn't help his panic like state. Amanda leaned up and touched his cheek, causing the Hunter to turn and begin the descent back to calm.
It was ridiculous that he had to be patient but the weeks of waiting, being away on missions for the Vanguard, and less than optimal rest had taken its toll on his mind. Though for every second he was with her, he was sane and able to keep the anger at bay. It was all that mattered to him until the one who assaulted her was found.
Pantera soon began to hold Amanda close with his human arm. Allowing the stub, where his mechanical arm usually resided, remain exposed. The words between the lovers gone unspoken as they kissed, their tongues dancing within each other's mouths. They remained still and began to breathe heavily as they parted and rested their foreheads against one another. No words needed to be said, the lust in the air was more than enough.