Ronin walked briskly into his office at RUIN headquarters, small as it was. It would suffice, he preferred to stay in the field anyway. Less paperwork that way, he thought to himself. As he stepped through his empty doorframe, he saw that those he had invited were already there. Waiting for him in various positions of relaxation were Chief of Security Evelyn-7, Colonel Reyes, and Herra Eido. Ronin made a sound like clearing his throat.
"Hello, all. I don't like wasting time, so I'll make this as quick as possible," he stated, folding his hands in front of him and straightening as he saw all their eyes on him, noting that Herra looked supremely bored already. "While I have interacted with some of you already" - he nodded to the colonel - "I would like to formally introduce myself. My name is Ronin-7, investigator and new operative of RUIN. Thanks again for the invitation, Chief."
Evelyn smiled and nodded. "Glad to have you, investigator!" Ronin half-bowed and turned back to the group as a whole.
"Now I will be the first to admit that I was hesitant to join up at first, but given recent… developments, I find myself in need of a support system. Short version, I failed badly and people died. Not Guardians, but ordinary, Lightless civilians." Ronin's shoulders tensed, and his eyes shifted to purple as a small vortex began to form in his palm. "I couldn't save any of them, and I… " - his shoulders fell and the vortex dissipated - "I realized I can no longer deal with the threats we face every day by myself. RUIN is my solution to that."
"So what's the long version?," Reyes piped up, half-raising his hand as if in a classroom. Ronin turned to him, shocked that anyone was curious enough to ask. "If you're willing to share, I mean," he added.
"Well, ah, the long version is less complicated than it sounds, to be completely transparent. Before the Witch Queen's timely demise, I was assigned to protect a geological survey team collecting samples from Savathun's throne world. We wanted to see what effect, if any, the Light had on the foundations of the throne world. We split up to gather more samples, and…" Ronin closed his eyes for a moment, grimacing as he brought forth those memories he had been trying to get over for months. "The teams were ambushed. One Knight, in an area supposedly abandoned by both Hive and Scorn. It - he - ambushed them, and one by one, I got to see all of their signals go blank. He got to me last, killed me before I finished turning around."
Herra clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Rather sloppy of you, don't you think, Investigator?" Ronin's eyes snapped to her and flared, and for a moment he considered throwing a punch before realizing she was trying to get a rise out of him. He took a deep breath and continued. "Yes, it was, and I do not intend to make that mistake again. Lucky for me, Trish was smart enough not to come out until he was gone." The Exo held out his hand and a Ghost materialized, its shell covered in Neomuna-esque technology.
"Hi everyone!," the Ghost squealed excitedly before vanishing once more.
"This particular Knight is one I know to be active still, and I am pursuing any leads that arise. I do not expect your assistance, but if you are willing, I will gladly accept at any time. For right now, all I have is his name," Ronin shrugged and shook his head as if to say, I did what I could. "He goes by Volth."
Evelyn's eyes shot to where Herra sat, and saw her expression darken in mere moments. Ronin remained unaware and bowed to the assembled officers. "Thank you for your time, all of you. I look forward to working with you all in the future." With that, he turned and walked away, transmatting away as soon as he was out of sight.