I realized when I met with her directly that she terrified me. "These are the bounties. Quick, complete, and with intact ghosts is the objective here. You think you can do that?" I asked her again. She simply stared. I can't really prove that she was staring. Her visor doesn't have anything that I can easily discern as an eye hole. I think she's an Exo, because she has that sort of empty feeling they tend to have. She has to be an Exo. Even for an Exo though, she was cold. They say the Light has a certain feeling---they're right. She has it. But it can also be cold. She was cold, she was certain. Scared the shit out of me. She stared directly at me. Her gear was something like a Hunter, but she didn't bother with a cape. Form fitting, all dark black and gray. Designed to slip in and out of the shadows as I'd seen her do numerous times already. She could pass in and out of any area with as little resistance as she could pass a blade through a neck. She was almost too good at it. "...come on, I need an affirmative. This is serious." I pressed. She moved, and I thought my life had just ended. I realized that if she decided to kill me, I'd probably never know the difference. She seemed like the sort of be able to do it so suddenly, so smoothly, that I'd just fade from life none the wiser. Or maybe it would just be quick and painful beyond belief. I couldn't remember what dying felt like, and I didn't want he to remind me. The move was to come closer to me. To lean in, pressing her hands on the table which separated us. Her voice was soft. Maybe regulators in her helmet filter out the usual clip of an Exo's voice. She has to be an Exo. Nothing can be that alive and that cold other than an Exo. "It shall be done." She whispered. "You know my work." I shivered. I wanted to think that she sounded proud of herself, because a hint of pride would have made something more human of her. But there was no pride. There was fact. And again there was fear, beneath a strange draw toward her. Strange indeed. "...alright. Alright. Are you sure this is all you're going to need of them? I---I made sure to get some intel, help you out a b---" She interrupted me.I did not speak over her. "Their names are spoken just loudly enough in the din." She whispered. "I can hear them. I will silence their voices---and their throes will fade in the wild." I just sat very still. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to offend her, somehow. She lingered close for a few long moment, perhaps the longest of my whole life. And then she stood up straight. Looked around once. Then turned, and left. I'd brought my payment as a show of good faith. I'd brought vodka as a joke. We'd agreed to meet among the rubble of New Russia. She took neither. I didn't know at the time. I didn't know that there were beings in the universe who would help start a war for free. I didn't sign up to be anyone's proxy army or martyr. But neither had they. I had no idea the kind of warfare the Vanguard Assault Lance was really capable of bringing. I should have asked who they were before. I should have asked about that hearing. I didn't. Dusk? Dusk didn't care. I don't think she cares about anything anymore.