Chapter 1: Beyond the Sol System
Violet skulked the alleys of the Last City, sticking to the shadows where her black cloak and armor would hide her form. It's been awhile since she's been back home, having just returned from a long operation in The Reef. After the assassination of Cayde-6, Ikora deployed "her best spy" to keep tabs on the Awoken nation. The City and the Reef were tentative allies at best, and Ikora held no illusions that those circumstances could change at any time.
At first, Violet was tasked with rooting out Uldren Sov's allies. After they were found, it was typical to destroy the confirmed threats. However, this called for a more judicious approach. Instead, she provided a list of names to Ikora to tip off Petra Venj. When the Regent-Commander wondered how she got this information, Ikora only told her that it came from a trusted source. Perhaps another time, the Queen's Wrath would have regarded this with much more scrutiny. However, Venj found herself with enemies on all sides in the Reef, and the Vanguard had more than proved themselves allies to her. She jumped at the chance to deal with the traitors herself.
Violet helped track down the remaining Scorned Barons and after confirming their locations herself, she relished the chance to slay them right then and there. Unfortunately, Ikora told her to stand by.
"If you were looking at Cayde's murderers in the flesh like I am, you wouldn't be standing by," Violet argued with her leader, though her voice remained hushed and even. Ikora had a fierce reputation in the Tower, but Violet knew her better than most. The stories barely held a candle to the truth. More than fierceness, Ikora possessed a dark side that thirsted for vengeance against the City's enemies. Her role as leader of the Hidden was a testament to that. Her assignments to Violet more often than not reinforced it.
"I know. That's why you are in the field and I am not," the Warlock Vanguard admitted over the comm-link. Violet could tell she held back a biting tone.
The invisible Hunter watched Kaniks, the Mad Bomber through the scope of Patience and Time. Her breath was rhythmic and ready to be stilled given the order. Her finger rested on the trigger, ready to pull at a word. "I'm in position, IKO-006." A simple statement, but at this moment Violet may as well have been begging the Warlock for the order.
"Stand by, VIO-007," Ikora repeated. "We can't risk your operation."
"They would never find me," Violet assured. A cool reminder that she had done this plenty of times before.
"Even if they don't, the knowledge of an unseen assassin would put them all on edge. They might get more careful. The Barons are more likely to respond rashly to open confrontation. And we already have the perfect guardian up to the task," Ikora informed, almost smugly.
Violet hardly spent time in the City anymore. In the past century, she had only returned to the City a dozen times, so she wasn't very familiar with active guardians unless it was important to her task at hand. Even so, she suspected that she already knew who Ikora was talking about. A guardian whose exploits have been so legendary in a relatively short amount of time that they even reached Violet out in the frontiers. "Oh yeah?" she said rhetorically.
"The Kingslayer is already on their way." Ikora figured Violet already knew, but she humored the conversation anyway.
Violet smirked behind her helmet. She first came to know this particular guardian as Crota's End by her fellow agent, Eris Morn. Avenging the many slain guardians of the Moon campaign was already enough to elevate them to legendary status. But they just kept rising to new heights. She heard that they most recently added "Hero of the Red War" under their belt of accolades. That person was on their way. And she had a feeling that they were not going to stop with the Barons.
"Princeslayer seems like a step down from Kingslayer," she responded sarcastically. That earned a chuckle from the Warlock.
Violet continued to track down each Baron and updated Ikora of their positions. One by one, the Hidden Hunter watched a hurricane of a guardian blow through and slay them with a fury seldom seen. Witnessing it was in ways inspirational. She wondered if she was even capable of such rage. Her job required her to temper her emotions for so long, she forgot what she was like before becoming one of the Hidden.
Soon enough, Violet received news of the traitor prince's demise, but her job in the Reef wasn't over. The Awoken nation was still without its queen and Petra Venj was still building up loyalty as the acting Regent-Commander. She required unseen support, and that was where Violet was needed a little longer. Petra Venj still had a target on her back, though she found that no more assassination attempts were made against her. At least none she knew about. She had Violet to thank for that.
Eventually, the Queen of the Reef made a triumphant return and with it brought a reinvigorated nation. Ikora finally called her back home.
It had been years since she had been recalled from the frontiers of the solar system. It always felt odd to return to the Last City after bouncing from assignment to assignment for so long. Odder still that the Last City is what she still called home despite hardly ever being there. Home. There was something about the word that didn't sit right with her. She knew that the concept of home was supposed to be a source of comfort. And yet hers has been in the darkness behind the scope of her sniper rifle. Even now, she was free to walk the streets out in the open as no one would recognize her here anyway, but Violet was not the only Hidden that shared this quirk. In fact, Eris Morn was the odd one by being the most comfortable being known outside of their network.
Quickly and stealthily she made her way to Ikora's private library, avoiding the public mostly out of habit rather than necessity. When Violet arrived, she knocked rhythmically.
Ikora opened the door with a curious smile on her face. "Someone has manners, unlike Chalco."
"You and I both know that Chalco is the only one with the privilege of sneaking into your chambers." Violet cocked a smirk, patting the Vanguard on the shoulder as she walked past. She heard the Warlock snicker and the door closed shut.
"Yewan," Violet called to her ghost. "Transmat, please."
"Sure," Yewan responded coolly, though remained out of sight. Violet's helmet shimmered away as her ghost stored it on her jumpship, allowing straight black hair to fall to her shoulders, framing a pale countenance. She rubbed her nose tiredly, feeling the familiar scar across its bridge as she sat down at the Warlock's desk, letting her dark eyes fall on Ikora across the room, who remained standing.
"Yewan is still shy, I see," Ikora commented.
"He is," Violet noted mischievously, much to her ghost's annoyance.
"Am not," he protested, though the form of his onyx shell was still nowhere to be seen.
"How have things been back home?" Violet asked, taking the rare chance to relax in her seat. Times when she was not in the outlands or stuffed in a hideaway were few and far between.
"Things have been," Ikora trailed off. Violet's eyes did not leave her. "Difficult." Ikora met her eyes again. "Cayde has been one of my oldest friends. I…" She took a deep breath. Violet could tell that she spent a lot of time grieving already. "Sometimes I wish I could be doing field work again."
"Why not? Hunters do it all the time." Cayde did it, Violet thought to herself.
"You know I can't." Ikora held Violet's gaze.
Violet stared back silently and shrugged.
"Fortunately," Ikora continued. "Our illustrious hero is out there. Their work has been turning a lot of things around for us."
"You must be talking about me," Violet said dryly.
Ikora snorted. "I wish you could meet them."
"I can now," Violet motioned to the door. Ikora didn't respond, leading the Hunter to sigh, almost slumping into the seat. "Where am I going now?"
"You know you're my best," Ikora said matter-of-factly, though it almost sounded apologetic.
"If you say so," Violet shrugged before standing up. "Yewan."
"Got it," the disembodied voice affirmed, transmatting the black helmet back over his guardian's head.
"If you were just going to send me back out immediately, why did you even recall me?" Violet cocked her head to the side questioningly at her leader.
"It's been awhile since we've seen each other. I figured we should at least do this face-to-face before you go on your furthest operation yet." Ikora could sense that her agent was frowning behind the helmet.
"You know that you sent me to Pluto already, right? Don't tell me age is actually getting to you now." Violet crossed her arms over her chest.
Ikora paused. Longer than Violet liked. "I need you on a planet outside the Sol System."
It was Violet's turn to pause. The silence between them felt heavy. "So that's why you wanted to see me again." She very well might not return from this one. The Vanguard already knew about colonies outside the Sol System and they had heard about other galaxies from both Eris and Mara Sov. Still, the fastest means of travel were largely inaccessible and most expeditions that far were impractical. Not to mention that venturing so far from the Traveler meant a dwindling connection to the Light—something few guardians were willing to risk. The dangers were not well documented outside the Sol System and they had enough problems here as is—both the ones they knew about and the ones they did not.
"Looks like I have to stock up on way more supplies than I thought." Violet nodded to herself.
"You know you don't have to accept this mission," Ikora said calmly.
"You say that, but they're always important, aren't they?" The Hunter looked to her leader. Ikora didn't deny it. "Besides, who else besides me? I'm the best, aren't I?" she joked.
Ikora chuckled, but there wasn't any humor behind it.
"What's the mission?"
"Furthest planet from the Sol System that we have information on. We learned about this from Petra Venj, who got the details from Awoken pirates that arrived in the Reef. By their account, it seems inhabited, though they only orbited the planet and did not surface."
"This is the part where I come in."
"I need you to observe. What I'm about to tell you has not been made public to the Tower yet. Rasputin has informed us of the Black Fleet approaching. They appear to be vessels of Darkness. We need to fortify our defenses because they will be arriving on every planet in the Sol System soon. While we do, I want a reliable source who can take care of themself beyond our system. That's you." Ikora nodded. "Rasputin has been one of our greatest defenders, but even he has his limits. With the Black Fleet here, the Vanguard needs some way to anticipate incoming threats before they reach our system."
Violet nodded slowly, processing the details. "Will our comms reach that far?"
"I am not certain. If they do not, you and Yewan will need to set up a new link on the planet. Hopefully its inhabitants are sentient and advanced. If not, you have quite the work ahead of you."
"Even if they are, there's no guarantee that they will be cooperative," Violet noted.
"Correct."
Violet exhaled deeply through her nose, which coming from her may as well have been a loud groan. "I'll talk to Holliday to get my jumpship up to snuff." She made her way to the door, which Ikora opened for her.
"Good luck, Violet. Once you get things set up there, get in touch."
Violet watched the streaks of hyperspace fly by her as her modified Kestrel-class jumpship auto-piloted to the coordinates she inputted. Thankfully Amanda Holliday was less interested in the details of why she needed a modified warp drive and much more interested in the logistics of making such a thing. Even more fortunately, Holliday met the challenge in spades. It probably helped that doing so meant a huge payday. Base Kestrel-class jumpships were experimental as is. Modifying it even further meant a ridiculous amount of glimmer. Violet told her to send the invoice to Ikora.
"You probably have the most advanced ship in our solar system," Yewan commented, his onyx form finally appearing next to Violet in the cockpit.
"Only out of necessity," she responded coolly, though she couldn't help the corner of her lip curling up into a prideful smile.
"We've always heard how lawless it is out there. The Drifter came back from somewhere out there, and we know how he turned out," Yewan commented, though it sounded somewhat cautionary.
"I think that was a pre-existing condition for the bastard," Violet remarked, tapping against the pilot seat's armrest boredly. "We'll finally get to find out for ourselves what dangers lie beyond the Sol System. Though we know that there are enough spacefarers that some travelers stop by the Reef in our system. If they can do it, I'm sure we'll manage just fine."
"What if this is the last time?" Yewan asked with a hint of dread.
"Last what?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"Every time we're out in the field could be the last time." Violet looked at her ghost. "That shouldn't stop us from doing what we do. A lot of people count on the information we bring back." Violet tapped rhythmically against the arm rest again. "Even if we don't get any glory for it," she added.
"Jealous of the Kingslayer?" Yewan teased.
Violet scoffed. "Hardly. My talents are suited elsewhere."
"It's already been five hours," Yewan changed the subject. "We should be coming up on Pluto by now."
"And what is the ETA to our destination?"
"We should be arriving in fifty hours," Yewan answered, earning a deep sigh from his guardian.
"Guess I'll try to figure out how to make these rations taste good in the meantime."
"Arrived," Yewan noted as the jumpship finally came out of near light speed, slowing down within the planet's orbit.
Violet took manual control of the ship now, cruising slowly as she observed the planet. From orbit, she could see proof of civilization in what she recognized as cities. They seemed few and far between, and none were nearly the size of The Last City. That was a given, considering that was where all of humanity resided. She would have to get to the surface to make any more judgments about any of the cities, however. Dark eyes wandered away from the surface of the planet to the space around.
"No satellites." Yewan observed, receiving an affirmative huff from his guardian.
"You noticed, too. If they don't have any satellites, then they certainly have not discovered even basic space travel. Let's try not to scare them."
"I wonder if we're their first aliens," Yewan wondered humorously.
Violet chuckled, but her attention quickly shifted to the silhouette that approached from behind the planet. Pieces of debris that got larger and larger as the Kestrel cruised around until the rest of the form appeared. The Hunter let out a slow whistle as her eyes laid upon a shattered moon.
"Any ideas what did that?" Violet asked absent-mindedly.
"Something incredibly powerful, that's for sure. That's nearing the level of the Dreadnaught, the Almighty, and Rasputin—assuming that is the work of a single attack. Judging by the debris, I believe that to be the case," Yewan hypothesized.
Violet hummed to herself as she finally brought the Kestrel to a stop, leading to a loud hiss of the ship's engines. She brought up a holographic display in front of her, giving her diagnostics of the jumpship.
"What seems to be the issue?" her ghost asked, knowing full well that he could have scanned the ship himself if he wanted to.
"Nothing too bad for an experimental warp drive. We can still cruise, but going NLS right now will burn it out. We need to give the drive some time to rest." Violet began tapping the armrest again.
"And how long will that be?"
Violet almost hissed herself after seeing the estimate. "An Earth year."
"It's not like we were expecting to leave sooner than that anyway. And we have been on assignments far longer than that, too," Yewan reassured.
"And those times our warp drive wasn't toasting. Not having an escape option if things turn out for the worse doesn't exactly put me at ease." Violet tsked.
"This planet doesn't seem to have even discovered space flight. I think we'll be okay," Yewan reasoned.
"What about outside threats?"
Yewan didn't have a response for that. "We'll just have to manage."
"I know," she uttered, annoyed. Violet took control of the ship again and began cruising towards the planet's surface. "We don't have an Orbital Grid set up here yet, so we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way."
As they got closer to the planet's surface, Violet was able to get a better look at the landmasses. Five of them to be precise. Two of them appeared to be far less populated than the others—at least on the surface level. The one shaped like a dragon didn't seem to have any civilization at all, which she found most peculiar. She'll have to take a trip there later. For now, she had to focus on making first contact with the planet's denizens without revealing her origins yet and make judgements from there. She wasn't sure if they would react violently to what is essentially an alien to them. All the while observing any threats to the City, especially if they were aligned with the Darkness.
Violet attempted the comms link. "IKO-006, do you copy?" She received no response.
We'll add that to the to-do list, too, Violet thought to herself.
"Do you have an idea on where to land?" Yewan disappeared from sight as the Kestrel continued to descend.
"I think it's best that we take this slow. That desert will do."
Violet landed the Kestrel without issue, listening to the sounds of the jumpship powering down. She hummed to herself in a pleased tone when she didn't hear any further kinks. The Hunter stood up from the pilot's seat and made her way to the armory, scanning her vast array of weapons.
"Choose wisely. We don't have an Orbital Grid set up yet, so I won't be able to transmat different gear to you unless you're within a few hundred meters of your ship," Yewan reminded his guardian.
"I know," she mumbled absent-mindedly as she drew her personal piece from the armory. She twirled the familiar hand cannon between her fingers before taking a solid grip of the weapon. It had a polished black frame with gold engraved into the side, taking the shape of a dragon bearing its teeth towards the end of the barrel. Emblazoned into the grip of the hand cannon was the emblem of Tex Mechanica. The Hunter knew the weapon foundry were no strangers to shady business—so who better to commission a piece from on the low.
She aimed the weapon down towards the blast-doors of the ship with her finger off the trigger, activating her heads-up display within her helmet. After a few moments, she watched the ammo display turn from eight rounds in the chamber to one. "Still in working order," Violet said to herself, pleased. She lovingly called her piece Whisper, because there was nothing quiet about the handheld sniper. The Hunter holstered the hand cannon at her hip.
Next, she picked up Patience and Time from her armory. An old favorite of hers that she couldn't fathom why production was stopped for. While Whisper could match the power of the rifle and then some, Patience and Time was far more reliable for putting down powerful shots down range. Not to mention that it was a genuine stealth weapon, unlike the hand cannon. Perfect for her assignments as a Hidden. Violet slung the weapon over her shoulder.
Admittedly, this left her without close-quarters options outside of her Light-given abilities. Which was why she drew Quickfang from the armory. Lightweight frame swords were not very popular with most guardians since most wanted a sword that would pack more punch if they had to be that close. And against most of their foes, a heavy-hitting sword was exactly what the doctor ordered. However for most assignments Violet found herself taking, she favored speed. Combined with her St0mp-EE5, few could match her agility. The Hunter sheathed the weapon at her hip, opposite to Whisper.
"The usual loadout?" Yewan commented.
"You know it," Violet said, satisfied. She turned to the blast-doors. "Let's move out." The doors opened with a hiss, revealing a sandy wasteland before her.
"Are you sure we didn't land on Mars?" Yewan joked.
Violet chuckled. "How's the atmosphere?"
"Atmosphere and gravity is similar to Earth. You should have no issues even if you take off your armor," Yewan informed. "Ikora will be very interested in hearing that. It might lend more credit to the theory that The Traveler visited others before humanity—assuming this isn't natural."
"We can't tell Ikora anything until we establish a comms link. This planet lacks satellites, but I did see massive towers across the lands on our descent. They look identical to each other. Judging by the antennas, they're probably responsible for long-distance communication." Violet looked to her ghost. "If we can get you to one of those, I'm sure you'll be able to establish a comm link to Ikora."
"Likely," Yewan affirmed. "Let's not get gung-ho about it though. Like you said, let's take it slow."
Violet hummed as she looked to the horizon. She pointed in a direction, though at the moment there was only desert as far as the eye could see. "I think I saw a settlement in that direction. Let's take the sparrow and park it somewhere before arriving. What do you think?" she asked her partner.
"Sounds good to me," Yewan said as he trasmatted her sparrow in front of her.
Violet whipped up trails of flying sand as she sailed across the desert on her sparrow. It's been awhile since she's been able to ride her sparrow at full throttle. A custom drive Wayfarer-class sparrow. Compliments to Amanda Holliday, once again.
When the settlement was finally a dime on the horizon, Violet brought her sparrow to a stop. She stepped off the vehicle, opening her hand as a tarp was transmatted into her palm from the sparrow's storage. "Thanks, Yewan." Violet said as she threw the tarp over the sparrow, anchoring it into the sand lest it be blown away.
"I hope the locals are friendly," Yewan drawled out of sight.
"Hmm," his guardian vocalized as she began making her way to the settlement. "We stop by, see what we can find out about the area and its residents. If they're friendly, maybe they can tell us about any threats about. If we learn about anything Darkness aligned or potential threats to the City, we report to IKO-006 for further instruction."
"Sounds like a plan," Yewan agreed.
As they got closer to their destination, Violet realized that it wasn't necessarily a settlement that she saw. It appeared to be a mine of sorts, but what they were mining she did not know.
"Four individuals armed with rifles in front of the mine. They seem to be gas operated." Yewan directed within his guardian's helmet. There was a pause before he continued. "They appear to be human."
"Humans? All the way out here? Maybe some Golden Age colonists survived after all. Lightbearers by any chance?" Violet asked, low and even.
"I don't detect any Light from them."
As she approached the guards, they waved at her cordially. Perhaps they've seen guardians before, Violet thought to herself.
"Hey, didn't think we'd see the new security detail so soon!" one of the guards said cheerfully as Violet stopped in front of them. "Did you get the brief?"
Violet tilted her head to the side questioningly. She looked them up and down. They wore white uniforms with black accents and a badge on their left shoulder that depicted a snowflake.
"Guess not," the security guard shrugged. "Well we have it on good information that the White Fang are planning on hitting this Dust mine. We have more guards inside, but the company has been looking into outsourcing some work after the recent hits…" The guard trailed off before letting out a slow whistle. "Sheesh, look at your gear! You Vacuo mercenaries are more badass than I thought. Where'd you get that gear?"
Violet stared silently. Scratch that thought about them knowing about guardians, she thought to herself. The Hunter began cataloging the new information. White Fang. Dust mine. Company. Vacuo. "Trade secret," she responded coolly.
"Here, let me walk you through," the security guard ignored her comment, turning around and gesturing over his shoulder for her to follow.
Violet followed behind the guard, taking in her surroundings as she did. The entrance had plenty of heavy equipment on standby. Judging by the wear on the storage units and equipment, they've been out here in the desert for some time now. So far, it didn't look very far from the old machinery left in the Cosmodrome. They entered the mine, where it was much larger on the inside. The sound of industry was almost deafening as the guard led her further in.
"Why have the White Fang been hitting Dust mines?" Violet asked gingerly, raising her voice over the raucous noise. She hoped it was not too odd a question.
"Because they're animals," the guard shouted over the sound in disgust. "They want to steal all the Dust from us to blow us up to kingdom come!"
These Dust mines belong to a company and this Dust of theirs could be used as a weapon, Violet thought to herself. The White Fang sounds like an organization of some sort. Possibly pirates.
"Tell me about what they're capable of. Any abilities?" Violet asked evenly.
"Typical small arms. Pistols, rifles, swords, spears," the security guard began. "Nothing too special. I hear they have some folk with semblances though. Those are the ones that have been giving us trouble."
From the way the security guard is talking about it, a semblance is an ability. Were they Darkness-aligned?
"What do their semblances do?" Violet gambled. This would be a poor question if semblance referred to a singular common ability. Fortunately, her gamble paid off.
"I don't know myself. We just heard that they got 'em." The guard shrugged.
"—not animals." She heard. Violet looked to its source and found a young man standing up with a hammer and chisel in his hands. The young man looked haggard and dirty with soot and oil over his skin and clothes that could be better described as rags. Most peculiar of his features however, were a set of what appeared to be deer ears on his head.
"What was that?" The guard looked irate as he turned to the young man. He certainly seemed disgusted, but not at all surprised.
"The White Fang aren't animals!" the young man shouted defiantly. "We aren't animals!" He gestured to his fellow workers—if they could be called that. From where Violet was standing, they looked more like slaves.
"Shut the fuck up you filthy—" The guard raised the butt of his rifle to strike the young rebel, only to be stopped by a gloved, lightly armored hand. He turned to Violet, shocked that she was able to stop him with a single hand. "What do you think you're doing?" the guard hissed, his anger overcoming his shock.
So much vitriol directed to an unarmed man. It seems like the White Fang refers to these people. Dark eyes behind the helmet scanned the other workers. They all seemed to have an animal trait of some sort. For some it was ears, others it was tails. Others were more subtle, but whatever the case, every worker had this in common. Like the young man, some looked defiant. Most of them looked scared.
"What do you think you are doing?" Violet returned the question with more bite than she typically showed.
"What are you, some kind of faunus apologist?" The security guard shoved Violet's hand off of him. She chose to let go.
Faunus. What was that supposed to mean? Violet stared silently from behind the helmet.
The security guard found the cold gaze of the visor unnerving. He took a single step back as he turned to fully face her. "Hey, why don't you take that helmet off? Show us all what's under there."
Violet studied the man. He was getting tense. His hand squeezed the grip of his rifle tighter.
They're non-Lightbearing humans. I'll have to be careful not to kill them, Violet thought to herself. "No," she answered.
The guard grimaced, though Violet could see the twisted excitement behind it. "So the merc is another freak, huh?"
Even amidst the sounds of heavy machinery, the Hunter could single out the hurried steps behind her. She quickly stepped to the side, watching a sledgehammer swing forward where she previously stood, slamming into the face of the guard in front of her.
"Ah, fuckin-" The man fell over, clutching his face in pain.
A hit like that should smash a normal human's face in, she frowned in thought. She quickly pivoted, swinging her fist into the other guard's gut without using her full strength. As her fist made contact, she saw a shimmer at the point of impact. The guard winced and stumbled back as the air was knocked out of him. However, he was still standing and looking at the Hunter with hate in his eyes.
That looked like a shield, she mentally noted. Felt like one, too. But Yewan confirmed that they're not Lightbearers.
The guard dropped the sledgehammer and reached for the rifle that was slung over his shoulder. Violet quickly closed the distance and punched the guard straight in the face. She saw a shimmer of light shatter away from the guard's form before feeling her fist break his nose. Instead of letting the guard fall onto his back, she grabbed onto the man's sleeve as she turned, pulling him over her shoulder and throwing him on top of the guard who was beginning to rise from the ground. The two groaned in pain, unable to find the strength to stand up.
The miners stared in a stunned silence.
"Give," the young deer-eared man hesitated at first, but quickly resolved himself. "Give them hell."
Violet met the boy's gaze before nodding her head. The Hunter turned to face the other guards.
"Kick some ass, Violet," Yewan approved.
In a matter of minutes, Violet defeated the rest of the security detail within the mine. The long part was convincing and escorting the nervous miners out. Slowly but surely, the raucous sounds of the mine quieted down until only their footsteps echoed within the cave walls. She was sure to pocket one of each colored crystal she presumed to be the Dust that they were mining. As she escorted the last of the miners to the entrance, she saw that they were joined by others she did not recognize, but likewise also all had animal features.
White Fang, Violet pieced together as she saw the white emblem depicting some sort of beast somewhere on each of the newcomer's clothes. In addition, most of them wore intimidating looking masks that covered the upper portion of their individual that caught her eye though was striking indeed.
The woman had a dark complexion and wild black hair that reached down to her chin. She wore form-fitting clothes—a sleeveless black top with white trim and a diamond shaped cutout over the top of her sternum; white pants that were only partially visible as intricately designed thigh-high boots with large cutouts by the thigh area were pulled over them. Adorned on each forearm were black vambraces with red trim and along her arms were tattoos that were reminiscent of tiger stripes. Even more reminiscent of a tiger were the extra pair of ears on her head. Held in her right hand was a coiled metal chained whip with three blades attached at the end.
"You like what you see, hero?" the woman purred with a sly smile as she caught Violet staring before taking a few careful steps toward the Hunter in black. "The miners tell me about a masked faunus vigilante in black who came to save the day."
There's that word again, Violet began to break it down in her head. The White Fang probably refers to the organization with that emblem. The boy defended them but then said "we aren't animals" separately. Assuming he was referring to the White Fang and "we" separately, then "we" probably refers to people with animal features in general—faunus. It might make things easier for me if I go along with this story for now. Violet simply nodded her head.
"Are you supposed to be the strong, silent type?" The woman teased as the people who appeared to be her subordinates began tending to the miners and investigating the area. She looked past Violet, where her eyes seemed to settle on something—probably the two dozen incapacitated guards the Hunter dragged out of the mine.
"You didn't kill them?" the tiger-eared woman said quizzically.
"No," Violet said plainly.
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
Violet furrowed her brows at the question. "I didn't have to," The Hunter answered as if stating the obvious.
It was a simple answer, but the woman seemed to consider it greatly, as if the very thought was something she had been pondering for some time. She raised her head again and peered into the tinted visor of Violet's helmet. "Thank you. Your actions have greatly helped our cause. I'm Sienna Khan." She stuck out her hand, introducing herself.
The Hunter shook it. "Violet Wei."
Sienna smiled. "Well Violet, I hope you don't mind us reaping the benefits of your work." She tilted her head towards her subordinates who began collecting crates of Dust crystals into the backs of trucks.
Violet shrugged. "What are you using them for?"
The tiger-faunus hesitated for a moment, as if fighting different answers in her head. "Us faunus need to protect ourselves, but not all faunus are fighters. It's up to us," she gestured to her subordinates. "To fight for our own. Same reason as you, right?"
Violet considered the woman's words. She could tell there was more Sienna wanted to say. "I protect people," Violet responded plainly again.
Sienna stared silently at the visor. Apparently Violet's answers were of great philosophical ponderance for her. Finally, the woman looked away as she chuckled to herself. "Ghira and Adam yap in my ears constantly about the path we should take, and here you come with the most simple view."
"Is that so?" Violet said evenly as she took a look around, seeing the White Fang members escorting the miners to the convoy. "Where are you taking them?"
"We'll take them where they want to go." Sienna watched her subordinates help them into the trucks. "If they want to go home, we'll take them as far as we can without bringing trouble. If they want to join the cause, they'll come back with us."
"I see," the Hunter noted.
"You're welcome to join us, too."
Violet turned to face the tiger-faunus, who wore a confident smile.
"At the very least, let us offer you a night's rest. Whether you like it or not, you're the hero of today's raid."
"All things considered, this isn't bad for a first contact," Yewan commented.
Violet rolled her eyes at her ghost before nodding to Sienna. "Sure."