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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 3

Grimm reality

Winter awoke from her nap and stretched, letting out satisfied sigh. Weiss was gone she noticed but she had left something for her on the nighstand "So sweet of her" Winter muttered as she grabbed the coffee by the table. It was cold but she just needed the caffeine, hearing her door creek open she reached for the plasma pistol on her hip just in case "Ah Winter, I'm sorry if I woke you up. I just wanted to see how you were doing"

Letting go off the weapon Winter smiled at her little sister "Thank you Weiss, I am feeling just fine. How long did I sleep?"

Weiss looked at her scroll and hummed "Like an hour at most, I had time to get food and speak with the ermm Mr. Courier. He seemed nice… has his eye always glowed like that Winter?"

The specialist smiled sadly "No, when I first met him he had green eyes, one of the clearest shades of green I have ever seen too. It began to change on…" Weiss saw her sister look uncofrotable as she recalled what happened "I-I rather not think about that place right now. Where is he by the way? I want to know what he and Headmaster Ozpin spoke" Weiss hummed as she recalled her conversation with the man.

"He said he was going out for a walk. I don't know where he headed but he did say that he would see you in the morning or something along those lines" Winter let out a sigh and grabbed her LAER "Do you have your weapon Weiss"

Weiss shook her head "No, I left in the locker. Is there something wrong?" Winter tossed her the small plasma pistol "He is in the woods, I bet curiosity got the best of him and he decided to mess with the Grimm. How is Grimm activity on Emerald Forest?"

"Well… they did dispatch a team recently so I assume that there are some out there" Weiss replied as they walked out of the room and headed towards the forest, the younger Schnee sister looked down at the pistol and frowned "How do… how do I use this?"

Grimm, assailed mankind since the dawn of time.

That's what history said. The more humanity changed and evolved the Grimm had changed too rising above to become better than humanity, to be better at killing them, it was assumed that the Grimm of today were deadlier than those from the past, even if older Grimm where more powerful by nature.

But such bizarre evolution and life seemed to be unnatural, as if someone was changing them to become better killing machines while making sure that the efficient killers did not pass away. Six remembered that the explanation from the headmaster seemed to be vague, the Grimm had always been there he said, the old ones are more dangerous. They have changed, so with what little information Six filled in the gaps himself with his own theory. It worried him a bit how no one questioned the why of it maybe it was because to the people of Remnant it was just the nature of the world here, a looming threat always present.

Like radiation back home, it was quietly on the back of your mind.

But he had to admit, it felt nice to be able to shoot the existential threat. It gave hope to actually push it back even if it was for a moment "Come on, show me what you got" Six muttered as the Beowulf growled at him.

Red met red as they stared at each other, the Beowulf smelled the air and growled in confusion. This thing reeked of metal and blood, almost human, but like him it was a mockery of all life and yet… the Grimm could smell it, the faint smell of fear. It was all it needed to know, the thing could feel and Grimm where designed to chase those that had emotions, the blessing of the gods.

So the beast fulfilled its purpose and lunged at him with all its speed, Six barely dogged it time as the white claws reflected the light of the broken moon. The first thing that came to mind was that the creature was fast, way too fast for his liking and the more he fought it the more the creature would gain the upper hand.

Like the Deathclaw of the wasteland, speed and raw power were its weapons.

So Six decided to use the same tactic he had used to kill Deathclaws before. VATS and hits to its vital organs, entering the state of slowed time Six saw it launch towards him with its belly exposed for a perfect shot, pulling the trigger with inhuman speed Six grinned as he saw blood erupt from the creature.

But it did not seem to stop it, it only made creature angrier "Shit"

The large claw struck him hard and launched him backwards, gunpowder barely tickled him, Six frowned and stood his ground "All right then… plan B" Old Glory shone brightly under the moon as the Beowulf launched itself at him again. A loud crack echoed as white bone splintered under the powerful strike, the creature was stunned for a moment as it was confused on what had just happened. Six grinned as he twirled the weapon around "Look at that, not so strong now huh"

Another strike on its gut split it open, seeing an opportunity the courier moved quickly to see what was inside so with his other hand he rammed his fist inside the wound and grabbed anything he could to rip out its guts but as he tried to do so only black smoke came out. His eyes widened as he could gape in shock "Wha-at?" the grimm quickly slashed at him to put some distance, it was barely clinging to life but the smell of fear was intoxicating to the killing machine, it compelled the monster to press on.

Now wary of the creature Six decided that he had to end this quickly if he wanted to live, so he reached for psycho and injected himself "FUckingg kill hahahah" Six grinned as the drug flowed through his veins and momentarily made him forget his own fears. Putting old Glory on his back Six ran towards the beast and reached out with both of his hands, grabbing the creatures head,the Grimm howled as blood erupted from its neck, Six pulled with all his might as the creature tried to bite him or do anything to get him off.

"By Oum" Weiss muttered as Six ripped the head of the Grimm, in a display of savage brutality Six raised the head above him as the body began to dissipate, Winter paid little attention to the scene, more interested in scanning the area for other threats, when nothing showed up in either her field of view or her PipBoy Winter let out a sigh and allowed herself to relax; no Grimm around. It had not taken them that much time to find the man, barely a five minute walk towards the loud shot of the riot shotgun that she had become familiar with, unaware that he had and audience Six dropped the head and frowned as the animal he had just killed began to fade into nothingness.

It was not natural.

But it could bleed, if it could bleed it could die and that was all that mattered. Out of the corner of his one eye he spotted movement and quickly twisted around to point at the threat, Weiss gasped as Winter simply waved "Oh it's you, I thought you were resting"

"It got boring" Winter replied as he walked towards his side, eyes still scanning the area just in case "Got what you wanted Six?" Weiss looked at the man as he scratched the back of his head in what seemed to be a nervous tick "… is not what I expected, it felt like fighting a robot not an animal, there was nothing on its eyes… no survival, hunger or anything, just the need to kill"

Winter placed a hand on his back "That's the curse of Grimm, they have eternally preyed on us, we have advanced so much and yet we know so little of them" Weiss nodded as the trio began to walk back towards Beacon, Six was quiet as they walked back while the two sisters talked about history. He paid attention sporadically but the only image on his mind were the red eyes staring at him with cold hatred.

"… but we have gotten better at handling the Grimm now haven't we Winter? Hunters and huntresses protect the kingdoms from them. That's why we train so hard so that one day Grimm become a thing that only exist in the badlands, I- I really hope you can see how much I have progressed Winter" the younger Schnee said as Six smiled softly. Seems like the baby sister wanted to impress her role model.

Winter for her part simply nodded "I have no doubt that you have become better Weiss. But your team on the other hand…" there was slight mirth in her voice but it made Weiss look embarrassed nonetheless. The younger Schnee even stopped walking for a split second.

"Things have changed! I- I forgot to add in my letters how much we have all changed, even the dolt Ruby has been taking the tournament seriously" the young girl said as Six eyed her with curiosity. Winter hummed "The little girl?"

Weiss nodded quickly "Yes, she is being surprisingly mature… for Ruby that is"

"Relax Weiss, I am just joking. You girls got this" this made the younger visibly glow with pride. Six for his part turned to Winter "This tournament seems like a big deal huh?"

Winter giggled at that, Weiss almost choking at the comment.

"Oh is not that big of deal, only the most important event on all of the kingdoms Six," Winter commented as Six rolled his eye "Sure sure make fun of the tourist, I might stick around for it if it's so good" the specialist gave him a look "So… you plan to leave soon then? Build the teleporter right away?"

Six hummed as they returned to beacon "I actually don't know, a part of me is itching to get the ball rolling. Mr. House's plan to renovate Freeside and the surrounding areas can be sped up with all the wood from here, new houses and maybe even a few guards post here and there for the Kings… but the part of me that just loves to explore doesn't want to do the main thing just yet you feel me"

"Like doing the side missions first?"

Both of the adults turned to Weiss who blushed under the attention "I…(cough) I have learned a thing or two about video-games here on Beacon, all against my will I assure you Winter"

"In a way yeah, but the most important thing is this" Six rubbed his hands together as he stared at Vale far off in the distance the serious look on his face gone "How many casinos do you think there are in the city?"

Winter snorted "Far too many, but may I remind you that you don't have any lien? Throwing them a bottle cap would result only in a punch here Six" Six shrugged and gave her a smile "Oh come on, you know that lady luck always smiles at me and besides money falling from the sky wouldn't be the weirdest thing that has happened to me"

"The old ladies do not count Six"

Six snapped his fingers at her "But Fisto does and the old ladies did a number on me you have to agree"

"We don't speak of that day… it was too bizarre for my liking. I see your hand Weiss, no do not asking him what happened. He will not shut up for like an hour" lowering her hand Weiss did as she was told but Six had already spotted it and wrapped an arm around the smaller girl "Finally someone who cares about the good stuff do you want to know about how I got mugged by a bunch of old ladies huh? Well I think that I should start by saying that that's not the first time that weird things happened to me, it all began with this fridge outside of Goodsrpings…."

Winter let out a sigh as her sister was assaulted with stories of the wild things that had happened to them on their journey as a familiar jingle played in the air and Winter braced herself for the worst. A poster with what looked like a cartoon version of her sister and her team if they had been squished down, smacked her on the face, Winter quickly slapped it way as she let out another long sigh.

"This his fault somehow… I am going to kick him for this"

Weiss on the other hand stopped the man as he rambled on, her attention on a particular word he had said "Wait… Brotherhood? Who are they? Winter never mentioned them"

Six smiled sadly as he let go of Weiss.

"They… they were some people that we needed to negotiate back in the Mojave wasteland"

Winter shook her head "Negotiate… yeah right. That's one way to put it, Veronica would certainly have other words for what happened that day" the comment made Six visibly flinch "Sorry"

The specialist simply shook her head "Just… you did what had to be done I suppose and now they are in another place. Weiss is getting late I suggest you head to your dorm, I wish to show Six the city tomorrow and I would like to ask for your help as you have been on Vale more time than me"

"S-sure Winter. I will wait for your message tomorrow then, goodnight Winter… goodnight Mr. Six" Weiss quickly left the scene as the air became tense, the couple on the other hand stayed outside for some time as they stared into the forest, so full of life "Did she go with them?" a soft question reached the ears of Winter. "She didn't, I think she had already lost her home before you destroyed the bunker. I don't know where she went Six and I hate to think about what happened because I don't know if it was good or bad. What gave you the right to choose their fate? Or House, heel even me? But… was it the only way?"

"I don't know, that's what makes it so hard. I hope to see Veronica again, I never told her about… never mind, the Sierra Madre is best left forgotten I think" Six said sadly as he pulled from his coat his trusty Vault 13 canteen and took a long swing from it. Winter leaned on his shoulder a bit, enjoying the intimacy and the quiet, who knew what awaited them in the days to come.

"Target spotted, Sanctuary is in view. Prepared to land whenever you are ready scribe"

The scribe from the Brotherhood gave a quick nod "Roger, head towards the middle of the settlement. The Minute Man already seem to be gathering there might as well ask them where the main target is"

The pilot turned to him "Understood, landing the vertibird" the loud engine roared as the machine began its descent towards the settlement. The scribe looked at his notes as he scanned the information about his mission, the information on the minute men while scares was useful for the introduction. He quickly spotted one of the key leaders so as soon as the vertibird touched the ground he exited the ship and walked towards the man with the hat and the laser rifle "Preston Garvey?"

Preston frowned a bit as the scribe extended his hand "Yeah, who are you and what do you want with Sanctuary?"

"Scribe Damian of The Brotherhood, we are here to speak with your general Paladin Nate" the mention of the general made Preston frown deeply as he motioned everyone to leave him alone with the scribe. The Minute Man motioned Scribe Damian to follow him "You missed him by a kilometer or so, he doesn't like to be here in sanctuary. He lives in the Red Rocket gas station it's close, follow me"

The scribe made a mental note that this man spoke of his general with what seemed to be barely controlled hatred. Motioning the pilot to wait for him the scribe followed as he took in the sights, houses made out of metal and wood all made the humble settlement look cozy and inviting, Garvey seemed to think so too. He waved at multiple of his subordinates as they reached a bridge.

In the distance the scribe spotted something that seemed to be out of time, they walked in silence until they arrived at the gas station, the scribe's eyes widened as he stared at dozens of Power Armors under the restored gas station.

"This looks like… like…"

Preston snorted "Like the war never happened, I know. General! You here?" there was a loud bang as smoke came out of the garage part of the gas station. "Yeah, im here"

"Then i will take my leave" Preston said as he quickly moved back towards sanctuary. Nate let out a sigh as he shook his head "Sorry about that scribe, he… well we have not seen eye to eye recently. Come inside please, I was just trying to repair a coffee machine" the man said as the scribe got to meet the famous paladin for the first time, he was of average and seemed well built. White shirt and grey pants was not something he expected the successor of Paladin Dance's legacy to look like.

The scribe walked inside and whistled impressed at all the restored technology "You have quite the impressive collection of gadgets and trinkets sir, fixed them all yourself sir?"

Nate simply nodded with a sad look on his face, to a place lost in time "Yes, what can I do for the brotherhood scribe?"

"Oh yes, I was sent by elder Maxson to inform you of a recent development that is of high importance. Do you remember the arrival of the Mojave chapter near the capital wasteland?"

Nate rubbed his chin "I do, I was away in far harbor when the new reached Maxson. The elder told me of some of what they said, is this… red eye monster hunting them down?" the scribe shook his head as he handed The Sole Survivor a small technical document.

"Worse, readings of energy reached us all the way over here. In the commonwealth, more specifically the Prydwen's scanners" Nate frowned as he read everything. This looked like it was powerful something this powerful to be picked up on the other side of the country was almost unheard off.

But eh remembered that there was something similar happened in the past, nuclear test sites could be detected from all over the American empire which would mean "They are using something to rival the power of a nuke"

The scribe quickly nodded "Precisely, we don't have the man power or the weapons to rival something like that. But there was something interesting from the report, it sent out a signal almost like the one the Institute used to teleport Synths all over the Wasteland, it is deeply concerning and it puts in question the theory that the institute was the most advanced technological menace the brotherhood would face. That's all I have for you, no doubt the elder has more orders so if you could follow me to the…"

Nate raised his hand and shook his head "Negative, I need to take care of something here. I will arrive at the Prydwen as soon as I can but I cannot let the area destabilize itself" the scribe offered a shor nod "Ofcourse sir, I will inform the elder of this. See you on the ship Paladin" a short salute followed as Nate was left alone once again, he passed his fingers over the faded name on his wedding ring. "It's happening again, something wants to destroy the world again Nora" he wished she would reply to him.

That by some miracle she would come to him and hold him. He was tired, so tired. All he wanted was to stay here, do the job that he was robbed by the military and the big war it was almost comical to him. Here he was a man that came from a long line of soldiers, a family that had built his legacy on war but he had wanted to be a repair man.

He loved to build, to connect. It was the reason he had been promoted and allowed the honor to wear power armor back in Alaska. Nate let out a long sigh as he took a seat "I really thought that was it… I just wanted to be with Nora and Shaun" the name of his boy made him feel sick. All he had done, all his blood was for nothing the war ended in brutal destruction and his own son was brainwashed by the Institute. He had nothing, he was no one and no matter how much he fixed, how much he rebuilt he alone could not fix this world. But he still had war… and it was his duty to answer so standing up once again he turned off the lights and headed towards the power armor station.

"Boss… you there? It's me, we got a bit of a situation. Mags and some pack fuck are butting heads. The big man is doing nothing to reign in his stupid mutt so I think it's up to you to… well you know, show the man the structure around here" his radio blared to life as Nate let out a small curse as he picked up his radio "I read you, I will get to Nuka World as soon as I can. Also I want you to prepare… that side project of mine"

Nate could hear the grin on the voice of his right hand man "Oh don't worry Overboss, your little toy is ready. Over and out" Porter Gage closed the communication as Nate pressed his hand over the chest of the Power Armor similar to the one he had used in the war. It did not matter what it was, or who it was. He had a duty to preserve America, as a Brotherhood member but more importantly

"As a soldier" the Sole Survivor said sadly.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 4

Night out on Vale!

"Weissssss nooooo where are you going? We are a teaaaaaam we are supposed to tell each other everything!" Ruby pleaded as she hugged the legs of the pale girl, it could not have happened at a worse time in Weiss' opinion, classes had just ended and everyone was out in the halls. Blushing with embarrassment Weiss pushed with all her might "Ruby get off people are watching!"

Ruby yelped as she was pushed away but quickly was once again holding for dear life onto Weiss "But you yourself said that this month we had to be closer than ever! What is so important that you can't tell us?" Weiss groaned as she looked at Yang and Blake for support, Blake was grinning under her book while Yang openly smiled at the two.

"You have to admit Weiss-cream, it is pretty odd. What's going on? Don't tell me that you have a boyfriend?" Yang said as she wiggled her eyebrows, Weiss simply snorted "No Yang we both know I got no my time for that, I have to many goals to accomplish and how would I balance it out with everything going on in the tournament"

Blake lowered her book "I dunno from what you told us your sister is a very busy person and she has a boyfriend now" Ruby giggled at Weiss expression that was a mix between anger and realization "She… well Winter had a very different situation happen to her, Ruby let me go I am going to miss the bullhead if you don't get off me"

Ruby fake whimpered as she let go, Weiss smiled at her and placed a hand on her shoulder "Thank Ruby, I will be back soon. Now do try not to get bored without me" Weiss said as she did a twirl and disappeared into the crowd to reach the bullheads, Yang looked at Blake and then at Ruby "We're going follow her right? I have to know"

"You bet! Let's go, we just need to be very discreet about this. I got my hoodie what do you girl got?" Yang snorted a pulled out her sunglasses "Incognito" Blake pulled her book closer to her face to hide it, Ruby nodded happily "Nice, then lets follow Weiss go go!"

Team RBY made their way towards the station using other students from different years to spy on Weiss who was waiting patiently for someone as she looked at her scroll from time to time. Ruby had to stop herself from yelling "She's going on a date!"

Yang chuckled softly "Aw even her icy heart can get melted, seems like that just leaves you two without game" Blake rolled her eyes "And you have something going on?"

"Gals and guys from all over want a piece of me Blake, but I prefer to spend time with my team. Please all of you can thank me later there really is no need" Yang said with a grin, Ruby quickly shushed her sister as she spotted movement. Weiss happily skipped towards someone and Ruby let out a disappointing sigh "Aw man, it's just her sister and Mr. Six"

Yang whistled "Man Weiss's sister has nice taste. What do you think they are up to?"

Blake hummed "Probably something high-class, her sister does not strike me as someone who would go to a park or something. That and well she looks even more serious than Weiss" Ruby nodded as they began boarding. They lost track of the trio but Ruby seemed to be fine with that "So here's the plan we are the last to leave the station to spot where they are and then-WHOA! Oh sorry sir I wasn't looking where I was-" A red eye met her silver ones as Six smiled widely at her.

"Hey I know you! Ruby right?" Blake slapped her own forehead as Yang put her sunglasses away "Incognito mode off" next to Six Winter looked incredibly unimpressed while Weiss simply glared "And what are you doing here?"

Ruby paled as she looked embarrassed "Eh, hehe funny thing. We all just… well you know me, I forgot to buy my… ermm a ma-magazine yeah! And Yang and Blake wanted to come along because…"-"We're here because Yang and Ruby thought you had a date" Blake said, they had been busted no need to dig their graves deeper.

"As if! I told you that I did not have a secret boyfriend" Weiss said as she glared daggers at her team leader, Ruby quickly hid behind Yang "But Weiss! I just… you know wanted to see if it was Sun's friend Neptunion"

Weiss blushed and looked away "We talk from time to time and that's not even his name for your information" a cold aura emanated behind Weiss as those words left her mouth. Weiss flinched as Winter glared down at her "And pray tell why did I not know about this… new friend of your Weiss?" as the poor ice queen tried to come up with excuses Six could only watch with amusement as the scene unfolded before him. It was nice, not a care in the world and everyone just enjoying meaningless things but he should really intervene if he wanted to save little snowflake more embarrassment. "Soooo, does Vale has any special drink?"

This made Winter turn her murderous glare to the man on the riot gear armor, the man simply raised his hands to show that he meant no harm "Soft drinks, like a soda or something. I kicked the habit I promise"

Yang snickered "Well not really, but they do have those drink with the umbrella on the top. I know I place" Six smiled at the kid while Winter let out a sigh "This… well as long as it doesn't have alcohol I don't care" Six chuckled as he pulled his canteen. Ruby immediately narrowed her eyes "Heeey but you just said…"

The courier simply shook his head "Oh no don't worry little red, I fill this water and even Sunset Sarsaparilla"

"Sunwhat"

Weiss looked at her sister apologetically "I'm really sorry Winter I don't know why they would do this" Winter to the surprise of the her sister chuckled "Because they care about you Weiss, I am glad to know you got friends. Even if they are quite noisy, I hope they are as good in fighting as they are noisy" Weiss looked at her sister with curiosity.

"Winter… I…"-"Holy moly, Yang! You have got to taste this!" Ruby said excitedly as she offered the bottle to her sister who sniffed it suspiciously and eyed the red eyed man "Do you really carry bottles of the stuff wherever you go"

Six smiled "Of course I do I am courier, I am supposed to carry stuff with me. Besides I wanted to see how the locals would react to the sunset sarsaparilla, better than Nuka Cola in my humble opinion"

Radiation did bring the favorite drink of the old world down in Winter's humble opinion, Yang took a small sip and made a face "Hey, this is pretty good! Where can I get this Mr. Six"

"Eh, I think I will bring some from back home. Maybe start a small business with it" Six hummed as he began to form plans on how to many things he could do here to make money, he needed to speak to House about that when he got back to the Mojave. As their transport shook and the attention of the passengers turned towards the station Winter narrowed her eyes as a familiar figure greeted her, turning to Weiss she gave her a small pat on the back to catch her attention "Atlas bots on the station"

Weiss hummed as she looked at her sister "Do you think something is going on in Vale?"

"Unlikely, things seemed to die down when the military arrived. From what I remember the only major incident was that of the scientist… and you already what happened after that" Winter said as the people began to leave the ship and head towards the city. The small group moved towards the exit as one of the robots approached "Specialist Schnee…. General Iron Wood… request" the bot said unable to finish its sentence, the bots still not fully capable of full communication. Even if it was programmed "I see… then I'll go just give me a minute. Weiss come over here for a minute" Weiss nodded as she quickly moved to her sister's side, the taller girl leaned towards her ear "Keep him occupied, I will be back as soon as I can. Oh and no need to hide who he is. I approve of your team"

Winter then moved to the courier's side who was staring at the robots with curiosity and typing quickly onto his PipBoy "Work called, sorry about this. Can you… get the things we talked about?" she muttered as Six simply smiled and winked with his one eye "Sure sure, don't keep the big man waiting. I would say stay safe but then again I doubt the Grimm can reach that ermm spaceship" Six motioned to Atlas' show of power. Placing a quick kiss on her cheek as a good-bye Six moved towards the first store that caught his attention, a dust store by the side of the station to be precise.

Winter let out a sigh as she prepared herself for what was to come, she almost laughed when she realized that this aggressive invitation could have been avoided if only her scroll had not been destroyed the moment she reached the Wasteland, but that was something to think nodded at robot "Lead the way"

As her big sister left Weiss quickly turned to her team "Ruby you're good at talking distract him while I figure out what to do" Ruby nodded quickly as she zipped towards the courier's side. Weiss then turned to her more mature friends with a worried expression "What do I do?!"

Blake blinked in confusion "What?"

"I just got told to take care of an alien!"

Yang chuckled as she put a hand on her hip "Come on Weiss, just because he is not from Atlas it doesn't make him an alien" Blake nodded quickly as she glared at Weiss who opened and closed her mouth quickly "Well… I'm not lying kind of, but still I never have" she gestured towards the city "you know shown anyone around this place, help me"

Blake smiled as her golden eyes glimmered with amusement "Don't want to fail big sister?"

"Yeah… and the headmaster"

Yang simply laughed "Don't worry, you don't have a thing to worry about look over there" the blonde beauty pointed towards Ruby and Six who were talking excitedly about dust and weapons. Weiss let out a relieved sigh "Good, now… what do you do in Vale? Like for tourism"

Blake blinked as she realized that there was not much to do other than eating and buying things "I… how about we just follow Ruby?" Blake suggested as the trio all nodded and walked towards the chatty duo "So if, hypothetically, I were to apply this gravity dust to like a very big mortar shell and then exploded it"

"That's illegal I think but it should make everything affected by the blast radius float for some time" Ruby commented as Six quickly tapped on his screen as she spoke, the leader of team RWBY eyed his gizmo with curiosity, it really was something that she had never seen before. Six leaned his gadget so the young girl could see it better "Isn't it heavy?"

Six shrugged "I think I got used to it, I have been using one all my life" all of his lives he wanted to say but he did not spook the child, Weiss and the other two approached them as Weiss stared at the tall man. Six gave her a smile "Winter told you to babysit me? Don't worry kid you and your friends can go and have fun, no need for you to spend time with Old Red Eye"

Yang laughed "Oh please you can't be that old" Weiss paled at that, she really hoped her sister was not dating an old man. Six brought a hand to his chin "No now that you mention it I don't think so, at the oldest thirty and at the youngest twenty seven if my theory is correct"

All sans Weiss stared at him in confusion, Ruby was the one to break the silence "Wait you don't know how old you are?" moving his hair to the side so they could see the scars Six smiled sadly "Nah, bullets got me good. Everything after the shooting I don't remember all that well, so technically I have been alive for only one year. It would make me pretty old if I was a mole rat" Six tried to say with humor but the horrified expressions told him that his joke had not quite landed.

Right, the humor here was not as dark as his… noted.

The rest of the evening was spent surprisingly fine. Ruby after she got over her shock led Six all over showing the parks and the different famous areas of Vale, the outdoors museum seemed to be the thing that captivated him the most "I like this statutes" he muttered quietly only Weiss picking up on that comment. Weiss did not speak much as the rest of her teammates did but she noticed how little things seemed to catch the attention of the courier. He did not say a thing, but when he noticed half eaten food in the trashcans, the people walking with dogs in leashes and to her surprise he watched for a long while the multitude of people all around him.

Blake sniffed the air as a pleasant smell reached her first "Anchovy Pizza" she said as her stomach made a noise, Six turned to the noise as Blake looked away in embarrassment "Well seems like the tour has come to an end, do you kids want to eat? My treat" Six commented as Ruby shrugged "sure I could go for a bite what about you girls"

"Sure"

"…fine"

"Hold on, I thought you said you had no lien" Weiss said as the others turned to stare at Six who reached into his pockets and pulled out a couple of bags "I don't, but I was hoping to trade with one of this, this works?" Six flashed a poker chip, Yang giggled "Not unless you want them to laugh at you"

Six let out a sigh and put that bag back into his pocket "Bottle caps are a no go according to Witner and NCR dollar would go down the same way so I guess I got no choice" Six twirled a golden coin on his hand. The figure of the deified leader of the Legion on display "Gold has value here right?"

"It sure does! Can I have one of those?" Yang said as she tried to take a closer look, Six flipped it in the air and grabbed it before she could try to read what it said. Grinning he moved to the stand that gave off the nicest of smells "Here for food on a cone?"

Six looked behind him "Five if you don't mind, how much is it?"

The man at the store gave him a number and the name Lien which Six simply nodded at "Yeah, about that I got no lien" the face on the man changed. "Are you making fun of me?" Six shook his head "Oh no, I would never do something like that, I am a traveler so I don't keep lien on me all the time. But I do got this" Six said as he flashed the small gold coin "Solid gold, easier to hide if you catch my cold" the man that owned the store eyes widened as he stared at him and quickly composed himself.

"Oh, you should have just told me sooner sir. Of course I will get you a menu oh and desserts and drinks are on the house!"

With the food all figured out he moved towards the group of teenagers that had already taken seat "They accepted, I'm glad that things are not so different from home"

"Hey Mr. Six if you don't mind, what's your home like? Seems like it is a dangerous place you know with the…" Yang tapped her head a bit making Six laugh "Oh its fine most of the time, sand and dirt makes for most of the landscape but to me there's no more beautiful sight. Nothing but you and nature well that and the… dangers, hey is that a faunus?" Six asked as he tilted his head in confusion, Blake quickly glared.

The rest of team RWBY gave him a look "Yeah… why?"

"Oh nothing is just the first time I have seen one, from the description I expected them to be more different honestly" he said as the rest looked at him like he was nuts "Never?" Blake said with disbelief.

Six shook his head "Never, Winter did tell me a bit. But I… well I expected them to be more animal like. Can't believe that there are people that hate them, looks human to me" the faunus in question was a reptilian waitress that brought them their menus and gave them a large smile, her teeth seemed to be pointier but Six simply rolled with it "You ready to order?"

"I'll have the one with the most meat on it thank you" the courier commented, Ruby waited for the woman to leave so she could finally ask her question "So… are you an alien?"

Weiss flinched as both Blake and Yang looked at their leader with curiosity, Six chuckled "Interesting question, why would I be an alien?"

"Well you did show up with a lightning storm and… well I noticed something, you don't use dust"

This made Six grin as he motioned the girl to continue, Yang raised a hand "Woah, time out. So that thing about a lightning storm rumors had to do with… I thought Uncle Qrow was investigating that and THEN Weiss' sister and Mr. Six showed up"

Ruby shook her head "Sorry, I didn't want to tell anyone because everyone seemed to be so worried but… I have to know! His shotgun did not use fire dust and when we were talking about Dust he really didn't know anything! He showed up out of a portal! It was insane, right Weiss?"

Weiss nodded "It's true, sorry for keeping this from you two but… I don't know if you would even believe me if I explained"

Yang and Blake turned to stare wide eyed at Six "Oh my… you really are an alien!"

"Nothing that interesting sorry, well you girls are Weiss' friends and Winter trusts her sister so I don't see the issue in telling the truth. I did show up out of a portal but I am not an alien" this seemed to deflate Ruby "But I am from another world"-"BUT THAT'S AN ALIEN!"-"Different dimension is what they told me, I am not so good with all this science nonsense I leave that to House and the Brains but the thing is that I am human as the day I was… born" Six finished awkwardly as he remembered that little detail about himself that stung just a bit.

Yang stared at him with her mouth open as she turned to her sister and then to Blake who were both in shock, Weiss being the only one who remained relatively calm "B-but… holy shit!" Yang commented as Ruby snapped out of her shock to glare at Yang "Language!"

"Bite me Ruby, this guy is from another planet! I- I need a second, oh m-man I think I…" Yang rested her head on the table "Wow" Blake on the other hand made a connection on her brain "Faunus don't exist in your world"

Six shook his head "No, never have. Not even the worst case of radiation can make you into one" looking at the shocked expressions of the three girls he turned to Weiss "Sorry I think I broke your friends"

"They'll get over it, it took me a couple of hours actually for everything to set in" Ruby on the other hand stood up as she brought her hands "I drank soda from another world! Oh my gosh that so cool!"

Yang muttered something while Blake seemed to have regained composure, the girl with the black hair looked at Weiss "Your sister, she went to his world" Weiss nodded "Yes, Winter had a very… interesting year" Ruby had recovered a lot and moved her seat closer to Six "Can I see alien tech pretty please"

"I think I left THAT at home, I don't got anything on me that's too flashy other than my pistol Maria" Six said as he discreetly showed off the beautiful gun. Ruby whistled as she extended her hands to see it, Six looked around and noticed that the restaurant was almost empty so he removed the magazine from Maria and handed her the weapon.

Ruby inspected the weapon and frowned "It doesn't seem very powerful"

"It isn't, I use it to kill bugs, but it has a more symbolic meaning so I keep it as a reminder of him" Six said as Ruby tilted her head "Why… is it from someone important to you?"

This made the courier laugh "God no, I hope he is rotting in hell. That gun is the one that almost killed me" Ruby almost dropped the gun as she quickly handed it back to its owner. As the food arrived and the group began to feast the table descended into a comfortable silence, as comfortable as it could get with an alien Weiss assumed but things did not seem to be so bad.

Before anyone could say anything a figure ran to their table, it was Winter to the surprise of everyone who seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere with a deep frown on her face "Thank you Weiss, you can leave. All of you can leave, head to the station now" Winter ignored team RWBY as she turned to Six with a worried expression and leaned in to whisper in his ear "We have a problem"

"AND THE OVERBOSSSSS KILLS ANOTHER ONE!" the announcer yelled, the arena roared in excitement giving life to the dead park again, the pack member became nothing but crushed flesh and bone beneath the overboss, Power Armor gave an edge that no human could match. But the spectacle of a mere mortal going against an unstable piece of armor filled the raider's sadistic needs for violence.

Nate simply frowned as he stared at them, they were watching him like hawks from their piece of shit seats, in this piece of shit empire of theirs. Built with things that were not even theirs… and the worst part was that he was a piece of shit just like them.

Porter Gage walked next to him as he grinned "See boss, your new toy is all ready for you" Nate closed his fist and then opened it, he slammed his fist against one of the bumper cars and nodded at him "Good work… Quantum Power Armor, I had almost given up hope on that last star core"

Gage motioned with his head towards the operators' side of the arena "They got it, wrestled it out of a dead bloodworm. Now I know you don't need me to tell you this but you should thank Mags" the second in command of Nuka World said motioning with his head towards where the woman was sipping wine with a content smile on her face, Nate gave a short nod and walked out of the arena and then towards the operators side. It was "fancier" if one could call smoother wood and less dead bodies fancy.

"Mags"

The blonde woman grinned widely "Oh my if it isn't our beloved overboss… I must say, pulverizing that man as a gift for me is so nice of you" her nail trailed over his armored chest. She smiled up at him "This looks suits you boss"

Nate gritted his teeth but managed a nod "And the one I have to thank for is you, what do you want as a reward?"

The woman smiled "Careful now… I might ask something you might not like boss. But no; consider this a gift" the raider stood up and tiptoeing, she pressed her lips against the tip of the X-01 helmet "See you around… overboss" Mags said with a sing song voice that made his blood boil. Nate walked numbly out of the arena as he watched as the slaves turned away from him in fear, at the distance he could hear the sounds of the park but he was too tired to give a shit.

"Ah boss, you here to run some jobs?"

Nate simply nodded "We are taking more territory, we are moving deeper west" his subordinate stared at him in confusion "But boss that is far away from the commonwealth, you sure? There's almost nothing there"

Nate took a step as he glared down "Are questioning me?"

The raider began to sweat bullets "No boss… I j-just wanted to let you know that s-some of the other might not be too eager to head there"

"I know, but that area has to be ours. There must be something worth taking there and I wont let anyone but us have it. See that it is done, I am leaving… I don't know when I will be back, Gage is in control for now, but the commonwealth is off limits, this brotherhood men have me worried"

The man quickly nodded "You got it boss"

Nate left towards the train station and waited for his transport to be far away from Nuka World to exit his new power armor, Nate exhaled as he passed his fingers through his hair. "Necessary… they are necessary for my plan" he muttered to himself over and over again as he looked at his PipBoy to see the things he needed to do. Curie, Piper and Cait all wanted to see him, just to talk but he was not in the mood to speak to them at the moment. The Minute Man like always needed help with a settlement… but he was too tired from all of it.

His only hope was the brotherhood, they had an actual crisis going on and he would be dammed if he left them alone.

As Nuka World became a small shadow in the distance Nate gripped his seat and then release it, his plan was working. He just needed time and all the pieces would fall into place.

He had to preserve this, he had to keep it like it was.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 5

Bridging the gap

Winter walked as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself and her tall companion as Six walked behind her with a soda he had stolen from Ruby "Man these things could kill a fiend high on jet, double the heart acceleration. That girl needs to tone it down with the sweet stuff might give herself a heart attack"

"I am close to a heart attack right now"

Six narrowed his eyes "So I guess this problem is something more than those creatures huh?" Winter nodded quickly "I was going over details about my disappearance and the storm that appeared with us. You won't believe this but there where signs of our arrival weeks before we appeared, can you believe that? Even before I went missing I was already traveling home"

Six blinked in confusion "I don't follow"

"Yeah I also don't fully understand, but that's not the emergency. Another signal is coming through" Winter commented as they arrived at a small part of the city under atlas control, a small ship awaited for them "Get in" Six nodded as he braced himself for the small trip. It amazed the courier how bright the city was, like if the New Vegas Strip was stretched across an entire valley with Beacon acting like a Lucky Thirty-eight look alike.

The jewel in the crown.

"Specialist Schnee! General Ironwood is waiting for you please follow me" a guard said as they arrived at the battleship Six wanted to roll his eyes at the rest of the staff that started muttering about him, yes those were two bullet wounds on his head. Yes he did use an eyepatch, shame no one could see the large scars on both his spine and chest it would make for a hell of party trick but he decided not to voice his comments for Winter's sake after all from the way that everyone saluted and nodded at her it would seem that she was quite the star here.

As a large door opened Six was greeted by the sight of a stressed general surrounded by about a dozen scientist "Sir!" Winter saluted as she turned to Six "I brought him, we can proceed with the…"

General Ironwood raised his hands and turned to the scientist "All of you, thank you. Take the night off and tell the staff sergeant that I am not to be bothered. As for you two… well you better take a look at this" Winter and Six shared a look as they approached a map of Vale with a couple of markers on it.

"Sir what is this?"-"We have identified a connection of both your arrival and disappearance, some of the meteorologist a couple of weeks ago came to Ozpin with worries about large gatherings of electrical energy across the region" Winter hummed as she identified the site of her disappearance and where she arrived.

Six narrowed his eyes "So… what is this one then?"

A marker blinked as the General stiffened "That's why you are here, from what Winter told me you and your boss are the only one who can authorize travels across dimensions. Is this Mr. House sending another group here?"

Six shook his head "No, it's not part of the plan we made. And unless it's an emergency I don't picture the man going back on a plan he spent so many days drafting" This made the general frown "So then I have to ask, are we under attack?"

"This… I don't think so no one in the wasteland knew of this and even if someone noticed no one could build something like that, NCR scientist and the Followers are not on the level of the Brains"

Ironwood turned to Winter for clarification on what the Brains where but Winter decided it was not time to open that can of worms so she tried to think of who else could have access to such power technology "… and what of the Brotherhood? Could they have tracked the signal down?"

Six tensed up as he gave a tentative nod "I mean, maybe. We did let them leave… shit just how big is the chapter of the brotherhood on The Capital Wasteland?" Winter hummed as she tried to piece anything in her mind "I have no idea, from what the scribes said they had lost communication and it had only recently come back online. But it doesn't matter if it is California or The Capital Wasteland… why would they do this?"

General Ironwood looked at them "I am afraid I feel a little bit left out of the conversation, this brotherhood of steel is not someone that was mentioned in your report speciliast Schnee. Are they a threat?"

"Negative Sir, they are well…"-"They are a quasi-religious group that has swore to protect technology because it ended the world and it should not be left in the hand of simple humans. So they raid and take technology from across the wasteland to and this is their words by the way: keep it safe" Six said as he frowned as he remembered his interactions with the group.

Winter snorted "They have more good points than what the courier Six makes it out to be. They have saved the world multiple times and they are correct in keeping some technology from the hands of the powers of the wasteland, nuclear technology to be precise"

Ironwood hummed as he turned to look at Vale from one of the large windows "Doesn't sound like a group that would try to invade us, so we can rule them out from the list of potential invaders?" Six rubbed the back of his head.

"Not just yet, Vegas and them have a… poor reputation at the moment" Six commented as Winter let out a sigh "They might think that he is doing something that might damage mankind, but the brotherhood can be talked to" Ironwood let out a sigh. Another gamble to take then, the general turned to his specialist and her… courier and watched them for a second, the courier seemed to be pondering something while Winter typed something onto her PipBoy as she had called the machine on her wrist.

Ironwood grunted "So we just have to wait and see then? Wait to see if they are friend or foe and then act accordingly?" Winter looked at the data and shook her head "We might have time, you said that the energy was detected weeks before the portal was opened both times so we have time to prepare"

Six hummed "I would hate to bring trouble here because of my fuck-up, if we can build the portal and check from the other side what is going I might be able to stop this before it reaches Remnant after all they hate Vegas and me not anyone else and as deluded as they are the Brotherhood are not monsters who attack anyone without notice"

Ironwood liked that a bit more, he turned to Winter who seemed to be a little uncomfortable with the idea "I don't know Six, I think it might be too early to build the portal. I trust in the Think Thank but…"

"I think I would have to agree with your friend Winter, avoiding a fight would be the better solution" the general commented as Winter nodded "Then that's what we will do then… sir"

Six grinned "Great now the only problem would be… where to get everything to build it" Ironwood snorted "I think we might have some spare metal pieces here and there, but a more suitable place would be a warehouse near Atlas so that we might have full control" the general paced a bit "But because Ozpin is here and I happen to have my hands slightly full at the moment with other matters it would be best if this situation is handled by both of us. I will request a small building on the outskirts of the city, can I count on you Winter to supervise this operation"

Winter nodded quickly "Certainly sir!"

"Then that's everything I wanted from you for now, I have another meeting soon so if you would excuse me" Ironwood said as he turned to look at the city below. Once he was sure that the door was closed and that both of his guest where out he turned to a secure communication link and began to type "Alien sorted, Queen is priority again" that Courier did not seem like he had any ill intentions and he trusted Winter as much as he could trust his subordinates, he had a duty. And the immediate threat was far more important than anything from that destroyed world.

Charity and aid could be given but he would prefer if that alien did not return.

"Ruby! Stop running so much we are supposed to be on a secret mission!" Weiss half yelled half whispered as she reached out and pulled Ruby by the ear, the young leader yelped as she tried to recover her footing.

Blake simply snorted at the comment "I thought that the Headmaster said to be discreet not that it was a secret mission" Weiss huffed as she turned away from her team "He… he was speaking in code! And regardless this is an important mission so keep quiet"

"I am not going to lie Weiss-cream I am not moving around shadows like you wanted it looks even more suspicious and besides this is almost like a day off you know. we get to walk Vale for abit and head to this side of town I have never been in and… there is almost no one around here you know" Yang commented as she gestured to the place.

Weiss opened her mouth but closed it as she looked around. It was true, few people lived here it was mostly grassy fields and what looked like to be some farms. "I…"

Ruby pat her friend on her back "Its ok to be wrong Weiss" the white haired girl glared hard at her making the younger girl remove her hand as she covered her smile with her hood.

When they got to the place Yang was the one that knocked on the large shed "Hello anyone home" the door immediately opened as Winter greeted them "Ah I am glad that headmaster Ozpin sent you Weiss come in I need your help sorting things out"

"Sister?! What are you wearing?!" Weiss said as she blushed and covered her eyes. Winter looked down at her shirt "Well it is a little tight I guess but you cannot expect me to use my real clothes to work on this thing, so I bought something that I would not mind if it was ruined"

Yang blinked as she had to reboot for a bit "I think I just saw heaven man"

Ruby zipped past them as she stared in awe at the large machine "This is awesome! What are you guys building?" a loud bang reached their ears as another piece fell into place. Six dropped from the floor as he let out a sigh "The thingy majiggy is on the other thingy majiggy. What's next" Yang turned to Blake with a small smile "I think I saw heaven twice"

Blake rolled her eyes "Stop staring just because he is shirtless"

Six noticed the team and wave happily at them "Oh hey! What are you girls doing here?" Winter placed the small chip on the table "They brought one of the missing pieces now we just need to load the information from our PipBoys to this and we should be able to begin testing"

"Finally, it's been pain to get this thing going" Six turned to Weiss as she still had her eyes covered "Something wrong little white?"

"PUT ON A SHIRT!" Weiss yelled as Yang quickly came into view and did an X with her arms "No don't listen to her"

Winter snorted at the small interaction "Teenagers" Six chuckled at the antics "It's hot as hell here. Not as much as the Mojave but welding this bastard together is more taxing than expected" Six moved as he looked as if something was off on the teleporter. "Winter about the power…"

"Yes, I am aware. Generators have been procured and are on their way not quite as powerful as Hoover dam itself but they should be able to make a one way trip to Vegas" Winter put the list down as she went to pick up a tool "Weiss are keeping you from your activities?"

Weiss shook her head as she avoided looking at the Courier "N-no, our abs -I MEAN our absence has been made known to our professors and we basically have the day off"

"Fantastic, then come help me over here. The rest of your team is welcome to join if they desire but I do not blame them if they don't want to participate" Ruby quickly nodded as she moved towards one of the tools "Team RWBY is happy to help on whatever this is"

Six grabbed a large piece of metal and began to put it where it belonged on the map "I swear to God first thing I bring with me is going to be a bunch of protectrons once I deal with all that bullshit"

"Protect-what?" Yang asked as she handed him a wrench "They are this robots that are used for everything, building, security hell even mining I saw some back in California"

Blake tilted her head at the comment "Is this California your home?" Six smiled "I don't know and I prefer not to know" he said with a wink, Blake stared at the courier with a bit of curiosity a large scar ran across his pine and one of his chest. Time seemed to fly as the group worked on the teleported only interrupted when the generators arrived.

"It's finished" Winter commented as she wiped the sweat off her brow and smiled at the teleporter "Easier to do when you only have to follow a manual. The brains most have calculated even the number of bolts needed on this thing to work"

Ruby and the rest of her team celebrated at the successful operation even if they did not fully understand what was going on, Blake leaned on Yang as she relaxed "Tired kitty cat?" Blake shrugged "It wasn't that taxing but…" Blake's eyes narrowed as she stood up "Something is wrong"

Someone kicked the door open as members of the White Fang stormed the place "Hands where we can see them anyone moves and"*BLAM* the man shot at Six piercing his stomach blood poured out as he groaned and fell to his knees "we do that"

Winter narrowed her eyes as she looked at team RWBY, unarmed. Not an ideal situation "What is that thing?" the guard said as he pointed at the machine "Does it matter?" Winter asked making the white fang member point his weapon at her forehead "Yes dammit it does! Do you think I wanna be here… fuck you and that stupid Torchwick just tell me what the fuck that thing is!"

Blake gritted her teeth, Ruby put a hand on her shoulder and told her to wait "Is a teleporter"

"Right and how do you start it?" Winter was about to say no but the thig moved his weapon towards Weiss and fired making her aura sparkle "Next one might break her, you willing to take that risk"

Winter was about to unleash her glyphs when she heard Six mutter to her "Do it" Winter let out a sigh and started the machine, bright lights flashed before their eyes as almost everyone had to cover their eyes from the lights. Six jumped towards them and grabbed the one who had shot Weiss by the neck "Your bullets don't hurt" he squeezed with all his might shattering the aura and then applied even more pressure. The white fang thugs stared in horror as Six ripped out the head of their friend with one hand.

"Who is next?"

All hell broke loose as Winter, team RWBY and Six fought against their armed opponents. Winter using her sembalcnce to either pin them or outright freeze them, with her speed and agility tripped them or distracted them enough so that the rest of her team could take them out.

Six punched another man and then stomped on the head splattering it "HOLY FUCK! Everyone pushed them into the-" Witer stopped his orders as she retrieved her weapon and fired a plasma shot at his stomach melting though him. Team RWBY looked at them slightly perturbed by the fight they where killing people.

"Weiss get behind me, Six get back here!" the courier wiped off some blood as he moved towards the group "Not many left I can maybe get them to…"-"Nobody move or I will blow this place up!" the last two white fang came into view as one of them held a massive RPG on hi shand Ruby winced "That's an Atlas military grade bomb"

"What are you doing man are you crazy?! That shit will kill us too!"

Six cursed slightly "Can that thing break you aura?" Winter nodded slowly as she grabbed Yang and Blake's hand and began to move towards the portal. Six gritted his teeth and placed a hand on the shoulders of the other two "I'M GOING TO FUCKING DO IT!" he yelled as he pulled the trigger. Ruby felt herself being yanked into the unknown as her entire world changed in the blink of an eye.

"Paladin it is good to see you again" Maxson said as his he watched the man enter the ship to his surprise the paladin was not wearing power armor or anything of the sort. But then again The Sole Survivor was daring if nothing else.

Nate nodded at Maxson "I got here as soon as I could. Raiders slowed me down but I think that is not surprising"

"Indeed, with the destruction of the institute the biggest monster of the commonwealth has been destroyed and people can walk without their presence on the back of their mind. That is a double edged sword, seems like every gang has decided to crawl from their pitiful hideouts and try to become the next big thing" Maxson handed him a small holotape.

Nate studied it "And this is?"

"Instructions paladin, once again something that should not be played with is on the hands of the wrong people, near the birthplace of the brotherhood the ancient city of Vegas is working to destroy the world again. Refugees from the dessert came to us for aid, someone there is doing the devils work a man more machine than man no better than a synth"

Nate nodded as he placed the information on his PipBoy "Do we have the fuel to make a trip that far into the wasteland?"

"Negative, after our war with the Institute our resources have greatly diminished and what's worse is that now we have two regions that need our attention, the Capital Wasteland's secrets are yet to be fully opened and the Commonwealth is in dire need of both us and the Minute-men, this raiders are becoming bolder every single day"

Nate let out a sigh as he swallowed his guilt "Right, so tell me this then. What do we do about this new threat?" the elder pointed at the holotape "I got in contact with multiple chapters of the Brotherhood, they have offered to escort you through the Wasteland starting with The Capital Wasteland, I won't lie even with all his… peculiar views Elder Lyons made a fine job keeping key positions safe, so traveling through there won't be much trouble. The rest of the Wasteland that's another story… look if you refuse this mission I completely understand I can send someone else but"-"I'll do it"

Maxson raised an eyebrow "Wont the minutemen need you?"

"They have many leaders now, people I trust that will do good. I will see this job done and maybe even see what has become of the country I fought for" Nate commented as he looked down at the mess that was the commonwealth. It hurt his soul to see his city like this but it was far better to see this than Alaska just the name made him shudder.

Maxson did not notice this so he simply nodded "Then I will have your transport ready right away. The Capital Wasteland is maybe one of the most heavily irradiated places on the world every single nuke that detonated there still has some effect over the land, things used to be worse there but it changed when she arrived and helped the brotherhood"

Nate hummed "She?"

"Yes, referred to as the Lone Wandered by the scribes. I even met her once, barely older than eighteen I think but that doesn't matter now, she left and the brotherhood will forever remember her service to us" Maxson said with a faraway look on his face. Nate let the man get lost in remembrance as he installed the holotape into his PipBoy.

It was a hell of a long walk but it made him feel slight comfort to know that he would not be alone all the time, as much as he enjoyed his solitude he needed people to talk to from now and then "OI! Where is he?! Where is that selfish piece of shit!"

Maxson rolled his eyes "Seems like your… friends have managed to infiltrate our ship. Find me once you have got rid of them" the elder said as he walked back to his usual spot. Nate on the other hand had to suppress a smile. Waling to the bridge he saw an amusing scene a fiery red head was glaring at a fully armored Brotherhood knight while a timid scientist hid behind said red-head.

"Please Madame Cait you must…"-"I wont reconsider shit, where is Nate?" seeing that things would get ugly if he did not step in Nate walked down the stairs.

Cait dropped her fighting stance and smiled at the man while Curie almost skipped over to him happily wrapping him in a hug "Oh it is so good to see you again monsieur… I have missed you" Nate played with her hair as he smiled "So did I" seeing that Cait was close he also pulled her into the hug "Oi, this is not… well it is quite nice" the redhead leaned her head for a moment against his chest but quickly pulled away when she remembered that she was pissed at him.

"No wait, you're an asshole! Where have you been?! You disappeared for weeks no one has seen you and what do we catch wind of? This blue wearing pajama fuck is on his waaay to the brotherhood, did you not even thin once to come see us?"

Nate let go of them and nodded "I did, but this took priority. Something is happening and I need to make a trip to Vegas"

"What the fuck is a Vegas?" Cait asked as Curie gasped "But that is on the other side of the country is it not?" Nate nodded "Yes but I don't mind. I need to clear my head anyways, after Shaun I… I feel a little lost"

Cait and Curie exchanged a brief glance "Want us to…"-"No, stay here. I need you to be my eyes and ears while I am gone, I think I will be back before Winter but I will try to keep weekly communication" Cait frowned at that but let out a sigh "Fine, if that's what you want then I won't fight ya. But please PLEASE remember that we are here ok?"

"Oui! It made me quite sad not to be by your side" Curie added with a small blush Cait nodded quickly with a large smile "Yeah what she said! But I mean it more" Nate chuckled a little "Don't worry, when I get back I am sure that I will have more free time… for both of you I promise"

Nate then let out a sigh and turned his back towards them "Please tell the others that I will be back soon. See you girls" as he walked away his soul desperately cried out to him to finally let go of his fears and just hold on to them. To make everything right, to clear things up and finally move on from Nora but as he closed his eyes he could only see war and in that war there was one word that rang in his ears.

Responsibility.

He was the last one, the last one alive that could hold the line.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 7

Different faces, same places

Weiss screamed as she fell, she felt dizzy as she twirled downwards. It took all her effort to stabilize herself into an appropriate landing strategy, out of instinct she repeated the one she had used in her initiation in Beacon.

Her aura gave away as the force of the impact shattered it, but she managed to stabilize herself enough to look around. "What?"

It was rubble, nothing but broken down buildings and vegetation. "But I was in…" a large crash next to her made her jump in fright as Six groaned as he dusted himself off "so that's how it feels like, jumping blind is a pain in the ass" Weiss ran to him and looked around.

"Where's Ruby?" Six was not listening to her, instead he was looking around the place with a frown. Weiss jumped as a large fly from her nightmares floated towards them, it spat at the young Schnee and she yelped as it burned through her clothes and skin, the Courier reached over and slapped the creature killing it.

She wanted to thank him but Weiss stopped herself before she talked, he was livid his red eye shaking as he gritted his teeth, holding his head Six cursed "Of course… out of all the places it had to be here, it had to be FUCKING Pinehaven, FUCK we are in California just my luck" he slammed his fist against the wall and let out a long sigh.

"Hey everyone! Look at what I found!" an exited yell came from somewhere and Weiss felt her worries evaporate somewhat. "Ruby! Over here!" the speedster appeared in the blink of an eye next to her friend holding a large robot head "Look at this! It's so cool but I have no idea why it was thrown in the garbage like that I mean cant they rebuild this thing?"

Six grumbled as he looked at the robot, a familiar caliber of bullet on the machine. 10mm, Colt N99 10mm pistol to be precise.

'Listen here, every single second counts kid. You don't feel for them, you don't hesitate. Anyone that is not your fucking friend is a threat understood?' a faint echo from a name that he did not remember whispered in his ear, just another ghost. But that did not matter he had to get this kids to safety "Right! Welcome to earth Ruby and Weiss I would have preferred to show you somewhere that is actually nice and fun but here we are in… the middle of nowhere a cursed little place near California, yay" Six said as he looked down at himself and then at the two girls.

Weiss was doing all right except for the acid on her arm, Ruby was just fine but neither of them had a weapon, looking at the horizon he recognized a place where he might get something for them "Come on, I know somewhere we can go while I figure out what to do. The main mission is to get you four back home, everything else can wait" Six commented as both girls nodded. A soft smile made its way to his lips "So please follow the tour guide at all times and do not interact with the local fauna or flora, both can kill you" they began to walk up the cliff Six looking at the rusted cars with nostalgia while Ruby and Weiss lagged behind for a bit.

"Weiss"

"Yes Ruby"

"We are in another world!"

"… yes Ruby"

"Do you think they have cool weapons here?"

Weiss looked at the horizon where it was nothing but destroyed houses and vegetation "I highly doubt that"

Six had stopped walking passing his hands over a small wooden sign, the sign read 'Black Bear lodge' and behind it a small cabin that had definitely seen better days, Weiss could see the emotions play before Six's eyes as he tried to come to terms with something but he shook his head and pressed on "I… there should be weapons here if prospectors and raiders left this place alone" he said as he entered the place followed by the duo. Ruby picked up an empty rocket shell and turned to Six "Jeez what happened here? Looks like there was a big fight" Six chuckled softly but said nothing more.

Inside the lodge Six stood still for a couple of seconds as he tried to remember where everything was, Weiss looked at him worried that there was something going on with him "Is something wrong Mr. Six"

"Hehe Mr. Six, no no don't worry everything is fine. I just need to remember where he put everything" Six said as he entered one of the rooms and opened lockers covered in dust he smiled as he spotted the hidden cache "Bingo, ok pick everything that you like and don't forget the ammo" Weiss looked at the weapons as she picked up a small rifle "What kind of ammo does this rifle use?"

Six hummed "Oh that, that's not a rifle that's a hunting shotgun. See the slugs? Use those and Ruby please do not point that thing at your face it's a laser rifle"

"Sorry"

Six on the other hand picked up a small handgun and rusted fire-axe "This will do for now, I think there should be a bag pack around here. You girls are going to have to change into something else"- "What?!"

"Your casual clothes are way too flashy and clean people will think that we're either rich or dangerous, best to not take that risk now. This part of California is crawling with raiders... or it was when I lived here" Six said as he grabbed a dusty long-coat and tossed it at Weiss.

The young Schnee looked at the option and frowned, looking at the other clothes she felt her frown deepen "What even is all this? What is vault 18?" Six placed a cowboy hat on the girls head and handed Ruby a sunhat "A radioactive hole in the ground, don't use those by the way. If you really don't find anything just wear something over your clothes"

Six grabbed one of the guns and inspected it, Colt N99 10mm. Useless in all honesty but it was better than nothing, but the duster that it was next to was more than welcome. Grabbing a desperado cowboy hat Six felt comfortable even if it was only in the looks department.

"You know I was kind of expecting a very different place when you said that your world was destroyed. It looks kind of like a forest in Vale, if you don't pay attention to the destroyed building and the ruined cars" Ruby said as she stared at the valley. "Nature has retaken most of this part of the world, civilization and the criminals say that this area of the world is cursed. I think that in time everything here is going to be nothing but forest and rust" Six commented from inside as Weiss still a bit miffed about having to cover her hair only grumbled something inaudible as she waited for them to begin to walk, Six emerged from the cabin ready as he smiled at the kids.

Ruby gave him a thumbs up "You look like a pirate cowboy"

"Thanks Ruby, so here's the plan. Winter should also be somewhere around the wasteland but the main issue is that we cannot know for sure. So our best bet is to meet back in Vegas, it should take us a couple of weeks to walk there"

Weiss felt her eyes widen "Weeks?!"

"Yes, I have done some work around here before so I know some shortcuts" Six began to walk as the two teens quickly began to follow. The area was too quiet for his taste, there should be something.

It had been so long, the area should be infested with creatures, and maybe even the odd raider here and there, the curse on the land had been "lifted" so superstition should have died down a bit. The fact that the weapons and clothes had been left undisturbed for so long made him scared but the kids didn't need to know that, something on this valley felt off (again) and the sooner they got out of here the better. Ruby looked at her weapon and tried to get used to holding it "What did you say this was Six?"

Giving a brief glance towards the girl and quickly looking back to the road Six extended his hand asking for the weapon "This is a hunting rifle, it's slow as shit but it packs quite the punch kind like the hunting shotgun that Weiss is holding but that one works better at close range, you can even use the hunting rifle as a sniper if you are brave and stealthy enough"

Stopping for a second Six grinned "How would you like to try it?" titling his head to the side, a group of mole rats approached them with aggression snarling at them. Ruby looked at him with a frown.

"They are just animals"

Six nodded "Yes they are, but the moment that you turn around they will try to kill you. It's in their nature to protect their home and they would do so very aggressively, so you two get ready" Weiss nodded slowly as the rodent like creature snarled at her. It was faster than she expected, the creature tried to bit down on her leg but a quick shot from the shotgun did the work.

As blood pooled beneath the creature Weiss looked away in disgust, not used to the creatures not fading away into dust. As for Ruby the speedy girl dodged out of the way and pulled the trigger, decapitating the creature with one bullet. Six nodded satisfied as with a quick shot he took care of the smaller creatures "Not bad at all, just remember to keep track of your ammo this older guns tend to take quite some time to reload"

Ruby inspected the gun, she wished she could take apart and rebuild it just to see what made it click "It could be improved, if only I had my things with me. Maybe when I get home, but that's for later as for now I will name you…" Ruby pondered as she began to list names on her head.

Weiss simply put in on her back, not something she planned on using for long after all. The rest of their walk was surprisingly uneventful Weiss spotted here and there signs that once upon a time humanity used to live on this place. Beneath her feet she spotted pictures and signs that showed the greatness of what was the Old World, unlike the mostly uninhabited Remnant there was something that cried out that this place had been more, the ghosts of civilization crying to not be ignored anymore.

Six for his part was more than happy to simply keep walking, his mind on autopilot as it retraced his steps out of Pinehaven, if he was a different man he would have stopped to reminisce, to stare at the world he had walked along those he had grown to love, those that became closer than family to him, but Six was not that man and he was glad he was not. Whatever remained was burned away on the fires of the Divide… twice.

He was Courier Six, and he was born on Goodsprings with two bullets to the head. And right now he had a responsibility to get this two kids to their home.

"Someone is following us, behind me" Six said as he took out his gun and put a gas mask on his face, alerting Ruby and Weiss who did as they were told "I don't see anyone" Ruby frowned as the air grew tense on the lone road. Weiss narrowed her eyes "They are hiding in the rocks, camouflage?"-"Not bad, but now that they know that we noticed them it shouldn't take them all that long to show up" Six commented as he holstered his weapon and raised his arms "We mean no harm, we're just travelers"

Ruby gulped as she watched six people come out of their hiding spots and smiled crudely at them, their faces covered in grime and powder, armor built with trash and metal. Raiders would be too kind of a word to describe. "Don't want no trouble huh? Then why are you walking the wasteland with such… pretty ladies behind ya? But I am feeling nice hand them over to us and you get to keep your life. Don't worry they will look with a collar on their necks"

Six looked at the group and then back to the girls "I have a better idea, why don't you crawl back to whatever sorry hole in the ground you came out off? Because like you I am feeling nice today, but my mood can quickly change. If you don't fuck off I will not kill you I will cut your limbs and eyes, I will leave you to die under the sun as the birds eat you alive"

Some of the group took a step back, the leader of the group reached for his weapon "And who the fuck do you think you are? We are the Survivalists! We outlasted everyone here! You are dead meat!" Six fired faster than the man could react the bullet destroying the hand holding the rifle, Ruby winced as the scream of the man pierced the air and Weiss looked away in disgust "FUCK! Get them!"

The other five tried to react but the three outlanders did quick work of them, Ruby opted to run fast and kick them while Weiss used her semblance to great effect, as for Six he simply removed the fire axe from his back and began to swing. It was over faster than anything the raiders had ever seen, the leader of the raiders tried to run away but Ruby quickly caught up to him "Nope" tripping him to the ground the leader turned to stare at them in fear.

"What the- monsters! Mutants!" he tried to crawl away but Six put his boot on his destroyed hand. Removing his gas mask slowly the courier kneeled down and gave him a smile, his red eye making the man even more nervous "Now, there's two ways this can end. You tell me what I want and you get to see another day or you don't and I make good on my promise from earlier. What will it be?"

The raider began to panic "He will kill me… I c-can't…"-"You have ten seconds" to emphasize his point Six did practice swings with his axe towards the wounded arm. The raider stared in horror as he mentally kept track of the time "W-wait… I can talk sure!"

"Good, now who are you and why are you here?" the raider nodded his head "Like I said I am part of the raider gang called the survivalist, we used to be under Elsdragon but when he died one of his top guys took control. We were just looking for more slaves, that's it I swear"

Slaver, out of everything it had to be slavers. Ruby and Weiss looked at him horrified and disgusted "Just looking?! You guys are monsters" Weiss yelled down at him. The raider did not seem to be sorry but he did apologize, Six figured that it was because his fire axe was still above his wounded arm. A loud shattering sound disrupted their small talk as from behind them one of the raiders had stood up, a small puddle of blood behind him. Winter stared at the pieces of ice on his skin in shock, he had ripped his own skin off to get at them, with one strike he had shattered Ruby's aura and had a gun at her head "No one fucking move or I kill the little bitch!" Six frowned as the man refused to move his gaze from him, seems like he forgot that Weiss existed.

"Stay back man! I just want to leave" an opening, he could talk him down. Six was about to open his mouth when a loud BANG echoed as the raider fell to the ground screaming. Weiss felt her hands shake as she held the shotgun, she dropped it and placed her hands on her mouth. Six grabbed Ruby and looked at her "You okay?"

The girl managed a weak nod making the Courier let out a sigh of relief, turning his attention to Weiss who was having a crisis. Disgusted with herself and what she had done "I killed him" Six turned to the man that was still screaming and noticed how the life began to fade "No you didn't"

A shot to his head ended the life as the 10mm pistol came into view "I did, don't worry you just hurt him" Weiss looked at him and felt her tear begin to drop down her cheeks "No you dint i… shouldn't have… I am supposed" Six pulled her into a small hug.

"It's ok, no need to cry. He doesn't deserve it anyway, you put down a monster no different than a Grimm" Weiss managed a weak nod as she looked at Ruby who was slowly pushing herself to stand up "How did… he shattered my aura with one rusty pipe?"

Weiss looked at the weapon and then at Ruby, her team leader was no weakling she knew that how on earth. Wiping some of her tears Weiss shook her head "No no, that's impossible it probably had an explosive or something"

"No Ruby is right, he used that. Winter was surprised by that too, she could shrug off bullets just fine but your auras are very weak to melee. Don't get close enough to anyone even a well landed punch can do the job" Six commented as he returned his attention to the leader of the group "Go" shattering the ice with his hands Six grabbed the man by the collar and made him stand up. For good measure he stabbed the man on the back as an incentive to make him run. Not deep enough to kill but enough to make him run.

And run he did, with a scream the man darted towards the wasteland leaving a small trail of blood behind. For his part Six turned to loot the unconscious and the dead, Ruby groaned as the headache began to get worse now that adrenaline was gone "Weiss, can you make ice for my head" the Schnee quietly got to work as she did as she was told, Ruby looked at her in worry "You didn't kill him Weiss"

"I… I know but I helped. And I don't know how I feel about that, I forgot that people here don't have aura and when he grabbed you and I saw an opening I- I messed up, a huntress should be more careful"

Ruby nodded as she rested her head against her taller friend's shoulder "It's ok, and even if you killed which again you didn't he was a slaver-SLAVES! Six!" the courier looked up from the weapons he had gathered.

"What?"

The leader of team RWBY walked up to him with wobbly knees "They said they have other slaves we have to help them!" Six frowned and shook his head "Like I said priority number one is to get you girls home we don't have the time to play hero"

Ruby stood her ground "Yes we do! If we don't stop them they are going to get more people! Its not about being a hero is about doing the right thing Six!" the courier simply frowned and shook his head again "No"

"T-then, I will go alone" that made the Courier stand up as he grabbed the last piece of useful ammo. Looking at the girl he noticed that she was serious, it was cute honestly but playing hero got you nowhere "I could simply carry you all the way back to Vegas you know. Tie you to my back"

Ruby blinked as she looked at Weiss for support who simply looked away "I am not taking sides here"-"But Weiss we cant just… is not ok… please Six" a soft plea pierced the Courier's heart as he let out a long sigh "… let me see something"

Kicking awake one of the unconscious raiders he grabbed him by the neck "You, what good loot do you guys have back in your shitty hideout?"

"G-guns, armor, some girls and… a highwayman that the boss fixed" that made the courier grin, so there was something of worth then "Thank you, goodnight" Six slammed him to the ground as his head bounced on the ground and consciousness faded again. Ruby looked at him with curiosity as Six began to track the trail of blood. "Judging by their pockets their hideout should not be that far away, come on then"

Weiss's eyes widened "You mean…"-"Yes, Ruby gets her wish. But this is the only time you get that got that red? And I am only doing this because of the highwayman!" Six said as the small girl cheered "Thank you! I promise I won't ask for anything else!"

Somehow Six highly doubted that.

Winter groaned as her aura shattered as she hit the ground. "Not again" was all she could mutter as the rocks below her threatened to pierce her skin, pushing herself off the ground she wanted to slap herself. She had not being careful enough, she should have used more of her abilities to stop this. but now there was no time to berate herself, she needed to find her sister's teammates.

The coordination was not put properly, but if she was correct it had been narrowed down to the correct coast at least, looking around there was little she recognized. Not the sand of the Mojave nor the red of the Utah, this was somewhere she had never been before looking down at her PipBoy she was glad to see that the small machine was rebooting after not having signal for some time and was connecting to the satellites outside of the planet.

"Find the blonde, find the goth" Winter said as she ran towards one of the cliffs so she could get a better view of everything, at the distance she could hear some yelling and struggle. As she reached the top Winter felt her heart jump to her throat as she came face to face with a familiar view. Spears, faces covered in masks, and the insignia of the bull, her PipBoy emitted a short beep as it made connection and displayed the map.

Arizona.

The Legionnaires struggled to keep Yang still as they tied her up "Enough wastrel!" a slap across her face made Yan's cheek bleed "Where is Blake! What did you do to her?"

The legion soldiers made a face "And why would I tell you anything?"

"Because if you don't you are going to have to deal with me" Winter said as she appeared behind them, the soldiers glared at her as they prepared their spears but a frumentarii stopped them.

Looking at her up and down the frumentarii frowned "The Witch of Vegas, heroine of the NCR and… apparently a fool. How dare you step into our lands?!" Winter glared back "It is I who should be offended, I come here looking to help and this is how you treat me and my assistants? Vegas wants to extend its hand to the Legion and you bite it?"

This made a myriad of murmurs spread across the Legion only stopping when a Decanus made his presence known. Reaching for his machete he untied Yang and pushed her towards Winter "Bring the mutant" the legionnaires did as they were told and from one of the cages they brought out Blake, pushing her towards Winter with barely disguised disgust.

"Only profligates would even consider having a mutant as a companion, now speak. You say that Vegas wishes to extend its hand to the Legion, why should we believe you? and why should I not have you killed, after all despite their mutant powers they did not kill even one of us"

Winter knelt down and helped the girls to their feet "Because they were not trying to kill you, look at your soldiers. Bloodied in places that would mean certain death to anyone, they held back and you know it and as for killing me you know what we did in Hoover Dam we pushed back not only you but the NCR with an army of robots, what's stopping us from doing it on your home? Kill me and my PipBoy will let everyone know that it's hunting season"

The decanus seemed to hum at that, a brief glance at his injured was all he needed to confirm the accusation "You speak the truth, fine I shall take you to Caesar so that you may… discuss"

Yang glared "Bastards, they are lucky they didn't cut my hair. You okay Blake?" the faunus girl managed to make a small nod "Fine" her eyes not leaving the soldier, the legionnaires looked at them expectantly and Winter wondered if maybe running was a better idea.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 8

When in Rome

"Red and Weiss are fine with me, meet you in Vegas" a short message but one that lifted a heavy weight from Winter's shoulders. "Understood, with Yellow and Black. Somewhere near the bull" she replied not wanting to alarm Six that she was actually with the Slave Army of the wasteland "Be careful, over here we are neck deep in the territory of the Bear. Will keep a low profile, first to get to Vegas wins"

Childish, but joking around eased her nerves a bit "I hope you enjoy loosing caps Six, do you remember that my favorite wine is expensive?" a winky face was her only response, seems like his short time in Remnant he had picked up some of the slang, she blamed Beacon and their informality. There was no way that anyone in Atlas academy used those abbreviations… or she hoped not.

"Stop using that witch" a legionnaire said as he pointed at her arm with his gun, Winter nodded slowly as she stopped using the device from Vault Tech. It was odd how little the Legion had changed since she last saw them Winter mussed as she stared at the legionnaires and the praetorians that escorted them towards a place unknown she expected that they would look a bit worse if she was being completely honest, they got beaten pretty badly at the second battle of Hoover Dam.

Blake and Yang walked nervously behind her as the glares from the soldiers were not lost on them "You ermmm famous with their group mam?" Yang asked the older woman.

Winter gave her a look that let Yang know that she could not say much at the moment "I… we know each other" was all she felt comfortable saying around the armored monsters, as their walk continued a small village came to view. Built with marble and obsidian a large statue of Caesar greeted them.

Some of the soldiers bowed while the decanus seemed to be less inclined to pay their respects, something that intrigued Winter but her questions were quickly put aside as she tensed up "Both of you behind me, now!

A towering figure walked towards them, Blake hairs stood up on the back on her neck and she suppressed a hiss as the stench of blood and gore reached her sensitive nose, Yang unconsciously adopted a fighting stance as Legate Lanius glared down at Winter.

"The Witch of Vegas, out all the emissaries from the city of cowards and sin I did not expect you to be the one that would step foot in OUR land" the legate said calmly as he waited for Winter to explain herself. Nodding slowly the specialist prepared herself to thread on the thin ice, while she was not Six when it came to words she knew how to have negotiations even if this was not a businessman, the Legate easily dwarfed CEO's from Atlas "Indeed and that's why I am here"

The legate seemed amused "A statement of bravery? Foolish, what's stopping me from putting on a collar on your neck and hanging your body hung to a cross to show that even in defeat the legion is superior to its enemies?"

Winter swallowed her nervousness "Because you would lose the aid we wish to provide"

A gamble from her part, a complete bluff. The legionaries were shocked when they heard the words from their enemy while Lanius remained still "And why should I believe in you?"

Winter thought back about what Six had said about the legion, their economy was one of the things had mentioned to Sarah if her mind was not playing tricks on her, so she hoped she was right "Because Vegas is willing to business with the legion, while we are the rightful rulers of the Mojave that does not mean that we want your territory, the Legion deserves to exist" she wanted to vomit as those words came out of her mouth.

No, they did not deserve to exist. Caesar had brought from ancient times ideas and laws that would set back humanity hundreds of years on culture and identity, the slaves both female and male could not be healed from the scars. The children indoctrinated since birth could not be saved from the endless war they would subject themselves too.

If it was up to her, their death would have been brought in their second defeat at Hoover Dam.

And yet here it was, licking its wounds. Slowly gaining its strength enslaving more and more souls into its ideology, sacrificing their humanity on the altar of strength and stability.

"Ah this is interesting" a disgustingly smooth voice said from behind the legate as Vulpes walked from the shadows followed by Lucius and Aurelius of Phoenix, their leadership intact she muttered, she had hoped at least one of the leaders died in the battle. The leader of the frumentarii stared at her with curiosity as the other simply glared with hatred.

But they would not kill her, The Legate had not order them to so they would not lift a hand to hurt them "It's no pity, on your eyes there is only hatred for us. And yet here you are unarmed and willing to… negotiate, what is Vegas willing to offer the Legion? And more importantly what does it expect in return" Vulpes commented as Lanius let the man speak. Winter nodded slowly "Trade, We are a neutral ground that separates east and west, Vegas belongs to the people of the Mojave but we don't wish to be enemies with either you or the NCR"

"A plan by The Man of the West" Lanius spoke as everyone turned to him "We saw how his machines made the Bear turn tail and run, but if they were to return in full force the city of Cowards would be challenged under the might of an united two headed Bear, both jaws going for the warlord House and Courier Six, why should we care? Why not let the Bear burn you and in the fires of confusion strike them at their weakest?"

Winter felt the legionnaires turn to her with expecting eyes, some even preparing their weapons "Because you would wait forever, Vegas will not fall. The NCR is bleeding money, they cannot pay for another war and even if they had the money they cannot beat us, I assume you saw what happened at the Fort as you retreated? They cannot be stopped, they repair themselves and do not rest, do you think the Legion or the NCR can stop something like that?" she finished.

Vulpes glared "If we are so weak, then why seek to make peace with us?"

Because she had teleported from her world to this place and was in a pinch, with no weapon and neck deep in enemy territory. Oh and two of her little sister's teammates stood behind her being eyed by the legionnaires like prey, she was forced to play nice with the monsters because fate hated her.

"We are not like you" she found herself saying "I want the best for everyone, this world has been wounded and it's only now slowly being revived. I don't want more conflict something new needs to be born"

Vulpes chuckled "Like Hopeville? They tried to create something new and they broke under the weight of the NCR and Legion, you are doomed and when the time is right, the bull will sharpen its horns on your bones"

"But for now… you have my attention, you wish to trade? Then our metal can be sent to you if we you can provide some things in return" Lanius said as ordered one of the tables to be brought to him "We discuss the terms now, then you leave our lands to never return. If there's more to say, then send the man of the West for he alone has earned my respect" as his soldiers brought a table and chairs to the middle of the town.

The tents and the flags on top of every building moving slowly as wind began to pick up. Winter nodded quickly as she sat down on the chair offered to her, the specialist turned to look at her companions "And what of my… friends?"

Vulpes looked at the girls "They will not be harmed, they are free to wander. We shall let those of the wasteland witness our superior cities and culture, we shall let them tell tales of our might" snapping his fingers a girl quickly ran to his side, the collar was not present and she was dressed in surprisingly nice dress and her body adorned with jewelry but Winter knew a slave when she saw one. The fear in her eyes as she looked up towards her master could not be faked "Y-yes?"

"Escort these two around the city, give them a tour" was all that the man said as he turned his attention to the negotiation table, Winter gave a nod towards the two as they approached the older woman.

She gave a soft bow as the two young huntresses in training were struck by how beautiful she was "Hello, my name is Elena" her curly black hair seemed to cascade down her shoulders as a soft smile was displayed on her lips, Blake was the first to notice but she looked tired.

"H-hi, my name's Yang and this is Blake, we are… not from around here" a soft giggle escaped Elena as she nodded "I could tell, you do not dress like neither tribal nor raider. Not that there's any of them anymore in the region"

Motioning for them to follow Yang let out a small sigh of relief as they left the crowded main plaza and walked into a more quiet part of the town, Blake stared in awe as everything around her seemed to be from a fantasy book, small houses built from brick and marble with small gardens all carefully tended as legionnaires walked around with spears and machetes in hand.

Yang breathed in as the smell of bread being made her stomach grumble, Elena noticed this and smiled "Are you girls hungry? I can only imagine what you had to go through to reach us here, please follow me the soldiers should have something"

"Oh no that won't be necessary, I was just…." Elena shook her head and she reached Yang's hand, the blonde blushed at the contact. Her hand felt so soft and the rich smell of perfume reached her nose "Nonsense I insist… it's the least I can do, are you hungry too?"

Blake slowly nodded, she was not too sure when they would have proper food again it was better if they had something now, the woman lead them to the mess hall where mostly soldiers seemed to be eating, some glared at the trio but kept in line when they noticed who was guiding them.

A collared girl looked up at her and smiled "Lady Elena!"

"My dear Geraldine, would you mind sharing some of what you have for these two? The best you have if you don't mind" this made a nearby soldier turn to her "Know your place, you cannot demand such thing from the sla-" a loud slap echoed across the room as the Decanus in charge glared at the boy.

Turning to the rest of his soldiers "You know your place, by order of Vulpes Lady Elena outranks you lowly cretins remember that" was all he said as he sat back down to eat, some of the older soldiers glared but the younger simply did not seem to care, Elena smiled apologetically to the girls as she returned to Geraldine "Sorry about that"

"Nonsense Lady Elena, I shall go fetch the food if you don't mind waiting just a moment" the girl said as she disappeared inside kitchen.

Elena let out a sigh and curious Blake finally spoke up "Seems like you have some insubordination going on"

"It's in their nature, they have been raised like this" she said with a neutral expression as Geraldine returned with two breads with meat inside nodding and adding a quiet thank you to the girl Elena led them out of the mess hall and into a small field. Sitting down next to the older woman the girls began to eat as they looked around Elena for her part seemed to be more relaxed now that they were out of the mess hall.

Yang looked at the woman "I have a question, ermm Lady Elena"

"Elena is just fine, you're not of the Legion so there's no need for titles with me" she said with a small chuckle "Ok then, Elena, wha-"-"Mommy!" a voice cut her off as a small figure ran toward them with tears in her eyes Elena quickly took the small girl into her arms and shushed her the blonde hair on her head gently caressed by her mother.

Blake looked at the scene and smiled, she should call her mother when she had the chance it had been far too long Yang on the other hand was reminded of the one she had lost and the one that got away. Elena gently wiped the tears off her blonde daughter as she looked at her in concern "What's wrong dear?"

The girls sniffled as she pointed towards some boys playing in the distance "They pushed me and-and took my toy mommy, the one that father gave me" Elena seemed to frown at that "Ah, I see. Don't worry dear I shall speak with their mother and get your toy back"

The girl slowly nodded but looked at her a bit confused "Daddy said to tell him first if this happened but I can't find him…"-"No. Don't tell your father I will deal with this" Elena spoke in a firm tone as worry flashed in her eyes, the girl flinched away from her mother as she nodded. "Good, why don't you come with us my little Ulpia? I am showing my new friends around the town"

"Oh, ok mommy" the small girl then smiled at the two girls "Hello I am Ulpia, I´m seven!"

Elena chuckled "Almost seven dear"

Yang smiled as she smiled at Ulpia "Hello! I am Yang nice to meet you!" Blake gave a short wave but did smile at the small girl "Hello" Elena waited patiently for the girl to finish their meals as her daughter asked them a million questions "So have you ever fought a Deathclaw?"

Blake shook her head "No"

"Aw, mommy says that she once saw one"-"Very far from were I was dear, your father quickly moved us to another area because of the scary monster" the mother explained as she picked up her daughter and held her in a hug.

Yang chuckled "Sounds like he cares about you" Elena looked towards the sky and did not answer the question, once both huntresses finished eating a small tour followed as Elena pointed at different sides of the town "And here a small arena is going to be built, it was put on hold because of the war but I hope that construction will begin soon again, it should begin here and end over by that hill" Blake looked at the distance and raised an eyebrow.

"It's going to be a little too big no?"

Elena smiled "That was the idea, a place where tournaments of skill can be displayed and gladiators fight mighty beasts from the wasteland. I think it needs to be big" the woman explained as Yang looked at the horizon, there were crosses on the hill and one of the crosses seemed to have something moving. Elena noticed this as she let out a sigh.

Both Yang and Blake looked at each other, the woman was hiding things from them, but if that was the case could they really blame her? A soldier approached them as he lightly bowed "Lady Elena, Vulpes Inculta has finished negotiations you are to return the two companion of the Witch"

This made little Ulpia gasp "Father is speaking with the Witch?"

Father, the little bundle of joy was the daughter of the cruel man with the cold eyes? Elena nodded at the soldier and turned to the two girls "I am sorry, seems like our little tour will be cut short. Shame I wish I could have shown you were we make wine, our city is one of the most beautiful of the empire"

"Are there many more cities?" Blake found herself asking, Elena carried Elpia on her shoulders as they began to walk. "Oh yes, the Mighty Caesar conquered many tribes and became the ruler of the greatest empire seen in thousands of years, so he made the conquered built cities of marble in the name of Mars. But not all cities are the same, this one is more… I would say beautiful because is overseen by my Master Vulpes Inculta while other cities like the one seen by Caesar are more brutish, but do not let the Caesar know that I say that"

Elena spoke in a playful tone but the girls could see that she was being a hundred percent serious behind the sweet tone. Yang looked around to se if there was many people so she could ask her questions "Is this C-Caesar the man in armor"

"Yes, the new Caesar. At the battle for Hoover Dam the mighty Caesar died and sadly with him a lot of the Legion did as well. I am afraid that right now we are all uncertain, The Legion lost a lot of slaves and the threat of a civil war is a reality, maybe the days of the Legion really are numbered"

Blake bit her tongue to say that it was good thing that the legion was dying, everywhere she looked she saw collared men and women fearfully looking at the soldiers in red. Even Elena wore a golden chain around her neck, not a steel collar sure but it was still a chain that tied her to a horrible man. Said horrible man smiled as he watched them approach, Elena put Ulpia on the ground and tried to hide the girl behind her skirt but Vulpes immediately noticed this and signaled the girl to come to him. The little girl quickly went over to her father, smiling as the hand rested atop her head in a bizarre display of affection "I hope everything has been to your liking?"

The sarcasm was palpable, he did not care. Yang was sure that she could tell him that she straight up hated his stupid city and it would not wipe that smirk off his face but she refused to say a thing, Elena would be the one to suffer if she said a thing "It was fine" Blake said first Vulpes looked at her up and down as he studied her.

"Mutants find our city mighty, I don't know if I am to find that comforting or worrying" he commented as Yang glared and slight spark began to emanate from her mane "Oi, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Vulpes did not look intimidated "Are you not like Winter Schnee? She is a mutation of the human genome. I can see by the way your soul burns and the way her ears twitch that you are not normal, fascinating to think what could have made you all this way"

Blake glared "The need to survive, we all fight. Man and woman side by side against the beasts" Vulpes grin widened as he turned to his own flesh "Do you hear that, female warriors. Maybe with the proper training you too could be a mighty hero for the Legion!"

Ulpia smiled at him "Yes! I get to be like you then daddy!"

It took Blake a small second to realize she had been played, a small glance at Elena said more than a million words. Vulpes excused himself as he went to retrieve Winter so that the visitors from afar could leave as Elena looked at her daughter leave with the monster "S-she's too young… I don't want her to…"

"He would not do something like that, he is just trying to scare us right?" Yang asked hopefully, but Elena shook her head. "He has been toying with this idea, total war. after the defeat of many of his best men to a female ranger Vulpes has wanted to use every asset, every soul for the war… no matter what type of slave they are, and now in this moment of change and with the bloodthirsty Lanius at the helm I don't know wha tot think…. Oh my sweet Ulpia"

Elena shook her head and ran towards her home, as tears could not be stopped.

Winter arrived a moment later as she rubbed her temples "Stupid metal man, made it a real bitch to get anything done. But I think we are in the clear we will be escorted all the way to the frontier near Vegas and we just have to cross through Novac to get to Vegas and we should be fine" when neither of the two answered Winter's expression changed to one of worry "Are you girls okay?"

Blake nodded "Yes, it just eye opening really. I hate how constantly I am reminded that Grimm even if they are monsters they are at least not cruel, they are beasts"

Yang shuddered as she remembered the crosses in the distance "Yeah, tell me about it. I think it would be best if we leave this place, leaving the worst this place has to offer and all that"

Winter let out a sigh as she began to walk towards the small party assigned to escort them out of Legion territory "As much as I would like to say they are, raiders, canibals and others are worst. Savage as it is, they have civilization Legion is just another face of the wasteland. It really made me appreciate what once seemed to be pointless political bickering back home, at least the loosing side was not hanged from a cross or made a slave"

This made the girls quiet down as Winter began to type away on her PipBoy, Six had not contacted her in some time and it worried her a bit so she decided to be the one to send a message first "Ran into the Legion, more specifically the New Caesar. Lanius wants to talk to you Six, probably challenge you to a fight too but we have been granted safe passage all the way up to their frontier, I will take the road to Vegas from Novac… please stay safe"

As she sent the message the Decanus that would "safely escort them" out of the region approached her "The witch of Vegas, you cost me men in the battle of Hoover Dam"
"It was war, you killed a lot of NCR that battle too" Winter replied calmly as the Decanus nodded "Yes, if they died then they were weak, but now that matters not. Come for the road is long"

The other two soldiers said nothing as they followed their leader out of the city, Yang was the only one that glanced back towards the city and spotted a small girl waving at her. Yang bit her lip but waved back as Ulpia turned to her father excitedly, Vulpes simply watched on as he prepared a report for Caesar. One of the only few good things the new Caesar had was that he did not care who died or who he lead in battle as long as there was battle and Vulpes would gladly give him more troops. He hardly cared about the sex of them, Legion could not die even if it had to mutate a bit to survive.

He would not fail like the Burned Man had failed, how that courier named Ulysses had failed, he alone would save the Legion.

Chapter Text

"Vulpes is delusional. Lanius is going to kill him when he finds out. Seems like a good time to strike at the legion, I will talk with Mr. House about it, careful on the way back" Six finished writing his small message as he let out a sigh of relief, she was fine.

The courier almost wanted to laugh but he could not because he was almost one hundred percent sure that he would freak out his two younger companions, they were already staring at everything with mild shock no need to creep them out further. Six caught Weiss looking at him with mild curiosity as they began their long walk towards the place were "supposedly" they kept the slaves. "Something on your mind kid?"

Weiss coughed into her fist embarrassed at being caught staring but her curious mind did not let her pass this opportunity "You walk like you know the route"

"I do"

Ruby raised an eyebrow "But I thought you had lost your memories because of the… bullets…" Six chuckled as he tapped the side of his forehead "I don't remember most, but as time has gone by I know bits and pieces. Things like walking here are second nature, I walked here before and just like putting on shoes becomes natural. Well this feels natural too"

Weiss gave a small nod, Ruby on the other hand seemed sad as the courier held his head "But, its like watching a movie in parts and all of them are jumbled. People come and go and I don't know if they are important or no." Weiss frowned "Doesn't it get confusing?"

"Yeah, that's why I only focus on the present can't mess up a story that you're living right? Come on we still have a lot of distance to travel… and look at that we have our first tutorial. White and Red please prepare yourself for the rumble in the plains of California, on this side with the most adorable eyes you have ever seen, please welcome a wasteland specialty!"

Ruby and Weiss felt a shiver go down their spine as the creature that Six attracted by yelling began to make its way towards them, lumbering like a zombie from the movies a feral ghoul growled at them its whited out eyes only conveying one thing: aggression. Six turned serious again as he motioned towards their weapon "You're going to learn to shoot, if there is one ghoul there are many more hiding. I know it looks human but it's not, that thing lost its mind a long time ago, the best thing you can do for it is to put it out of its misery"

Ruby jumped back with her speed to avoid an attack from the undead, moving behind it she shot at its head making the creature stumble for a bit as blood poured from the wound, it quickly turned around and slapped the young huntress away from him.

Weiss jumped towards the creature as she unloaded two shots into its legs and then another one into its head. The ghoul stumbled as it used the radiation around them to keep it going but in its anger it forgot about Ruby who aimed one perfectly aimed shot at its head exploding it like a balloon. Six clapped with a small smile "Not bad, ghouls are something we are going to come across a lot in this area. And if you see one that glows green just let me handle it ok?"

Ruby tore her gaze away from the blood as she barely managed a nod, Six placed a hand on her shoulder "Come on, no need to be shy. What's on your mind?"

"It used to be human… right?" Ruby asked as Weiss frowned as she watched the courier let out a sigh. Six took his hand off of Ruby's shoulder and pointed at the plains ahead "Yes, but they stopped being human long before it looked like this. The secret killer of the wasteland is the radiation from the war long ago, some are lucky and get to keep their mind while their body decays but some like this one the first thing that the radiation burns its their brains" Weiss shuddered a bit as they resumed their walk.

Silence reigned as they passed through hills and fields of grass with the sun now at its highest peak out in the distance the glimmer of something that somewhat resembled a building, Six took cover from the sun as he looked at his PipBoy in the shadow that was cast from the Red Rocket logo "Not too far now, water?" the two teens nodded as Weiss tried to look at his machine, Six extended his arm for her to get a better look at.

"Thank you… it must be frustrating boring for you to take care of us huh?" Weiss said as she studied the map, there was nothing along the plains except for a marker that they indeed were close by, just another hour or so of walking she supposed. Six for his part simply smiled at the duo "Nah, I find it fun to be honest. You two are capable and getting to know Winter's family is always a treat… got any juicy gossip from when she was young? Or was she always little miss perfect?"-"You won't be getting any dirt of my sister from me" Weiss said but a small smile did play across her lips. The courier laughed and ruffled her hair getting a loud "Hey!" from the heiress of the Schnee dust company.

Ruby smiled at the small interaction, guess Winter's boyfriend was not a bad person at all!

The courier and RW resumed their travels as little by little signs of civilization came into view,  they could see how the touch of man began to change the soil and the land. Ruby had to look away from the sight of a carcass of a Brahmin being devoured by radscorpions. Six for his part was more interested in the trail of footprints and tire-tracks that had not been wiped out by the wind and sand "Six, there's someone… oh my gods" Weiss covered her mouth in disgust as she watched a poor bastard crawl om the sand with both his legs cut off and his eyes gouged out.

Six gritted his teeth as he prepared his weapon.

"Please… s-somebody. K-kill me…" soft and broken sobs came from what remained of the man, Six walked slowly as he knelt down next to him "Easy there, don't move. I'll help you"

Six reached into his pocket and injected the man with some Med-X to numb the pain "Who did this to you?" the courier asked as the man let out a small sigh of relief as the drug numbed him from the pain "Th-that bastard… Jeremiah he… he's got more people… p-please…"

"Don't worry" Six took a look at his body and frowned as he spotted signs of a very pronounced infection on the wounds, the skin already blackening were it had been crudely cut. There was no way to save this man, he turned to look at the two teens and shook his head he tapped on his gun to let them know what was coming "I will make sure they pay" Six reloaded his weapon as the man barely managed a small smile at him, Weiss looked away and Ruby covered her eyes. Six pointed as the man felt the pistol touch his temple "Thank you"

It surprised Weiss how loud the gun sounded and how quiet everything was after, Six holstered his weapon and looked around for something. He spotted a lone shovel and decided he would do something nice. Ruby turned to Weiss and stared at her for a brief second, the white haired girl nodded as she understood what her leader wanted they helped Six to dig removing rocks and trash that had been swallowed by the land, Six let out a sigh as he finished and went over to the corpse moving it towards the grave he had just made.

Burying him took seconds and all that was left for him to do was a final thing for the soul. Reaching into his pocket he unpacked a small gift from the burned man, Joshua Graham and decided to read a small passage out of the book, he did a small payer for the soul of the man so that he could find peace in the afterlife.

Once he was done he turned to the two girls "Come on"

"I feel bad for him" Ruby said as she rubbed her shoulder, Weiss nodded sadly. The courier showed no emotion but he did hold his weapon with more strength "The wasteland is cruel, but people like the raiders make it worse. Aside from Vegas and the NCR this is mostly common… for now. Come on we are going to hunt some monsters" Six checked the ammo on his weapons, the smoke on the horizon told him that they were near their camp. He spotted a patrol coming their way and grinned, one of the morons was wearing ranger armor but no helmet.

Big mistake.

Reaching for his pistol Six activated VATS and placed a perfect bullet between the eyes of the man with the fancy armor, his companion jumped in fear as blood and brain sprayed him all over "WHAT THE FUCK!" he screamed as he tried to shoot at were the gunshot had come from. Petals and dust covered his eyes as Ruby ran at him and slammed her gun on the back of his head making him stumble Weiss shot at his knees making him fall to the ground.

The raider watched in fear as the tall figure of Six approached him "L-look man… we can talk about this" he gasped as Six grabbed him by the throat and lifted him with one arm.

"The time for talking has already passed, you can die slowly and painfully watching in horror is I rip you apart limb from limb or you can die cleanly with no pain. Where is Jericho? How many slaves has he got?"

The raider paled as he felt the terrifying presence come over him "No no wait don't! I- look Jericho is not someone who you want to mess with! That man is pure evil" Six grinned "Sounds like a challenge, I will consider this a public service instead of a bounty. Now, answer my question. Where is he? How many slaves?" Six pointed with his gun towards the groin area.

The raider gulped "H-he's always at the victory hall. Neck deep in booze and women, he will only come out if you challenge him to a duel in the middle of town. The slaves are at the farm man that's all I know I swear just le me go please you will never see me aga…"-BANG.

Six holstered his pistol and tossed the body to the side, the huntresses wanted to say something but he raised his hand as he felt a plan begin to form "Weiss, Ruby I am going to need your help. This piece of shit wants a duel? Fine; I'll give him one and that will be the perfect distraction. Get to the slaves and free them, I will take on the gang of nobodies"

Ruby nodded but Weiss was not so sure "But what if there are more than what you are thinking? They will overwhelm you"

"Don't worry little one. There's not much left of me to kill and besides this guys are just a bunch of parasites. Remembering the days of old when Elsdragon and his boys ruled the land. They think they are safe here in the outskirts of NCR territory but the time of raiders her has long passed, I will put the final nail in the coffin" Six began to undress the first man he killed as he donned the Ranger armor.

Jericho laughed as he slapped his knee at the sight before him.

"Dance man come on!" a slave was jumping as his boys shot bullets at his feet tears and sweat running down his face. He turned to look at the ladies he had by his side "Isn't this fun dolls?"

Fake smiles greeted him as the scantly dressed women tried not to earn his wrath. He was living the best life right now! Oh if only Elsdragon could see him now, sure his late boss probably would want him to do more grander things to get territory from the NCR but that time was past for the raiders. All they could do was live like this, hiding in cursed lands picking caravans clean and free from NCR and any other form of law, the Bear was returning from the Mojave licking it wounds. the chance of any army coming to save this people was close to none. 

Jericho smiled at that thought but his happiness was short lived as the doors to his place opened with a loud BANG as the saloon went quiet, a man out of breath looked at him with fright with his only eye shaking, the other a bloody mess with bits of nerves hanging out "Boss! We got problems!"

Jericho frowned as he stood up from his seat "Fuck do you want I was just going to..."-"This ranger just showed up boss! He killed the guards at the gates and is waiting for you in the middle of the base! Fuck man he grabbed me by the head and gouged my eye out!"

Shooting the guy in the head making it explode Jericho simply laughed with full confidence "All of you! you see this?" he gestured towards his weapon. A giant 12.7mm gun on his hand shined in the room "This is The Big O the most powerful handgun in the world. And its mine, no ranger fuck could ever defeat me. Come on lets show that bumfuck what we Survivalist are all about!"

Jericho rallied his men as they all stormed out to see who the one that dared to cross them, a masked figure waited for them making Jericho glare "Look at that boys, a big bad ranger. Guess I should shiver in fear and surrender at once, want me to leave quietly?"

"You are only getting out of this town in bloody pieces Jericho, you and your kind don't deserve to live"

Jericho scoffed and pointed at his arm "See this, I mark every single one of you NCR fucks that I kill. One… and nineteen more" the smirk grew larger as he pulled his sleeve a little bit further "you will be twenty one"

The only response Jericho got was the reveal of a small 10mm pistol making the rest of the raider laugh as Jericho reached for his bullet proof helmet "This is fucking sad ranger. Come on lets get this over with, one of the boys is going to shoot and that's the signal. Get ready ranger boy, you are going to meet all your friends that the Legion killed"

The two opponent squared off as everyone looked with disinterest at the fight. Jericho was covered head to toe in metal armor, his helmet could deflect laser rifle fire and plasma shots bounced off the metal armor. What was going a 10mm bullet going to do against something as heavy as a tank?

Jericho heard the shot but did not draw his weapon, he wanted to savor it. The shot predictably bounced off his armor. Exploding into dust, Jericho threw his head back and laughed "You have any idea how fucked you are?"-"Not as much as you... is it just me or do you look taller Jericho?"

Jericho looked around as things seemed to get smaller. He tried to take a step but he was unable to do so, the ranger fired another shot at him as his boys began to look smaller and smaller "Gravity dust is one hell of a thing. I snuck some in my pocket just in case and look at that. You're flying like a bird" more shots were fired as Jericho tried to suppress the cold shiver on his spine.

He was floating, holy fuck how would he get down! Jericho tried to shoot at the bizarre ranger but a well placed bullet disarmed him and the Big O fell to the ground.

Jericho screamed in terror as he gained more and more altitude "Don't worry, it goes away. But I think you might be a little too high for a safe landing" the rest of the raiders could only watch in horror as Jericho fell from the sky landing with sickening crunch. His legs completely shattered under the weight of his own armor, the raider screamed bloody murder. Six grinned as he noticed how the armor was in one piece but Jericho was not, bits of bone and organs began to leak out as some of the raiders threw up in horror.

Six removed the gas mask and grabbed the Big O, looking down at he checked the ammo type 12.7mmm huh? He could work with that "Now, the rest of you" the firefight that broke out ended in seconds. VATS had once again given him the edge over the ones that had been hyping his boss. The rest on the other hand had their weapons aimed at his head "Shows over freak!"

The courier let out a sigh as he prepared himself for a long fight, but from behind the raider slaves pushed them to the ground as they beat them over and over with their chains, Six stared in shock until he spotted a glimpse of black and white. Grinning he waved at the duo as Ruby and Weiss waved back, turning to the now crying Jericho Six stared down at him removing the mask that was supposed to protect him.

Deciding he would do the same Six placed the helmet next the broken body and smiled "Y-you!"

"I came back to finish the job, tell your former boss that I said hello" Jericho did not have time to scream as the bullet destroyed his face. Turning back to the two girls he was met with the heartwarming and slightly humorous image of the now freed slaves thanking the two young girls as the two looked embarrassed but at the same time proud of what they had done.

Heroes, heroines, hunters, huntresses.

It was nice, for them to be able to see a bit of their world in his. Rarely did things go so smoothly, or maybe he was just pessimistic at this point in his life, looking down at his dust covered bullets he smiled. Not as strong as they would be on Remnant for sure but they worked even if they were not supposed to.

Winter said that Dust only worked on the planet. That if they tried to use them outside they will not work and yet here it was working just fine, if he was smarter he would begin to try and comprehend the how and why but Six was just glad that it worked, he would be sure to let Winter know. Maybe there was something else here, was the connection they created doing this?

Questions for the smarter folk.

But what he could do right now was get to work on the highway man he just now spotted sitting near Jericho's corpse.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 10

Goodbye New Old World

Smoke rose from behind the highway man as Six felt the barely standing two hundred piece of metal groan in what could he only assume was the machine spirit saying "let me die". Six gave a gentle pat to the wheel to ease its woes.

"Hold on just a bit longer, get us to Vegas" Six head a snort next to him as Weiss looked at him from the passenger's seat with an unreadable expression "That's not reassuring like… at all" Six chuckled "Come on Weiss, have some faith I fixed this old boy myself"

Weiss gave him a glare "Ruby said you held the thing together with tape, a prayer and a lot of hits from a wrench"

"… I mean yeah, but I fixed it" Six gave her a grin. Weiss simply grumbled something inaudible as she tried to make herself comfortable on the ancient vehicle. She looked towards Ruby who was asleep on the back, envying her leader's ability to sleep like a log no matter were she was. Letting out a sigh she resumed to stare out of the window as miles of nothingness passed her by, the odd building here and there completely empty of life. But her mood did lift up when she spotted a heard of wild Big-Horners in the distance gently grazing the fields.

Six noticed this and smiled "Nice, Big-Horners. We're getting close to Vegas, I can't wait to get nice booze again. It's been too long" Weiss gave him a look "Didn't you say that you were trying to kick the habit?"

"I mean I am but... I wont drink much promise. Winter would skin me if I did go a little too happy hour on her" Six chuckled but Weiss simply remained silent. The courier turned to look at her to try and see what was wrong "Cap for your thoughts?"

Weiss looked at him and then at the gun he had place on the dashboard "… I feel bad for you"

Six raised an eyebrow "And why would you feel that?"

"You live here. In this place, I guess Winter's stories never really clicked until now. People live here without hope, with nothing resembling civilization and killing like monsters is just part of the day" Weiss looked outside again "And they fight for nothing… there is nothing out here to fight for."

Six shook his head "Not here that much is true you know. but that has more to do with the position this are of the wasteland is, we are in the border of the largest country in the world Weiss. People do care about the land, not just here… some years ago this place was considered cursed by many" Weiss looked at the courier with no name with curiosity as he prepared himself to tell a story "The NCR was in need to expand after something happened with their government. This area was considered but back then it was infested by raiders and… other undesirables. The fall of Vault 18 triggered a set of events that made the NCR considered all this area a waste of time, not when there was something bigger on the horizon"

Six motioned with his head as in the distance lights could be seen forming across the sky, a beacon of humanity. Weiss stared in awe as little by little she could make out in the distance something akin to civilization. Still too far for her too truly glimpse what it was but compared to the pitch darkness behind her as they left the territory it was a god send.

"Vegas, the only city that survived the apocalypse. Along with the largest energy generator this side of the country, the NCR abandoned the cursed area and put all their attention on that place. It became their top priority and I don't think places like this will become important for a very long time… not until the Hub or one of the important cities needs it to be. That's how life is around here, only time can tell what happens now that Vegas doesn't belong to the NCR"

Weiss hummed as she nodded "Winter mentioned something like that, you and your boss are the owners of the city right?"

"House owns the city and oversees most of the Mojave dessert. I just help him out because I believe he is the best hope for humanity to not only get back to its feet but thrive once more. Maybe with your help we can do it again" Six said with a small smile as Weiss nodded with gusto "As heiress to the Schnee dust company I promise to lend a hand, we only need to work out a deal with my father. Something flashy to catch his attention should do and he would gladly send more than enough to restore some cities"

Six saved that bit of information for later as he placed a hand on the teen's shoulders "Thanks kid I can tell why Winter is so proud of you"

"S-she… ehem, she told you that?"

Six chuckled "Of course she didn't; you know your sister. But I can see it in her eyes when she spoke of you and how she would look at the moon when she missed home"

Weiss pouted a bit but she could not deny the warmth that spread across her chest at the thought that Winter, her idol and her closest family member thought highly of her. She would not let her down "Go to sleep kid we still have some time to go before we get to Vegas, take a note from your leader. She knows what's up" Ruby snored from the backseat as a response. The white haired heiress smiled "No, I don't feel tired yet. Besides you need company, I have a sneaking suspicion that if left alone you would drink from that flask of yours. Don't think I didn't notice that you filled it with whatever those savages back there called alcohol"

Six laughed "Sharp eye eh? Fine I won't… for now anyways"

The Legion dropped Winter and YB off in the outskirts of Novac and immediately turned back, the only reason they didn't try to slit their throats then and there was because they had honor(or fear of Lanius).

Winter simply glared at the retreating forms "Are you two all right?"

"Fine" Blake muttered as she rubbed her feet through her shoes "But I could use some rest, I think we have walked for hours without end"

Winter nodded "We did, but staying long in Legion territory is never a good idea. Those bastards… I can't believe they still control part of this region" it was naïve to think they would run with their tails behind their legs back to their feudal towns. But she expected them to at least pull back a bit, without NCR presence Legion was content with watching with disdain towards the land they could never have, for Vegas and the other large settlements this was no problem. They could fend them off just fine but for small towns like Novac it was a constant worry, they could be raided or worse.

Yang for her part was busy trying to get scroll to work "Come on… come on, I want a picture with the large lizard"

Winter shook her head "I would suggest that you save that for tomorrow. The sun is beginning to set and you wont get a clear picture of it" she looked at Blake and Yang, both of the teens looked pretty tired and if they were lucky they still had a days walk to get to Vegas"

"Let's go. I own a small room in this place, we need to get our strength back" Winter motioned to the girls to follow her as she could see the sun begin to sink in the horizon. Some of the prospectors that were returning from their long days of work spotted Winter and the duo behind her and waved at her with gusto.

Winter waved back amicably as she entered the main town proper. Cliff Brisco walked out of the Dinosaur not noticing her until she coughed into her fist "Oh hello again! it has been some time since we last saw you"

"I was… busy"

The salesman laughed "I can imagine. I suppose you're looking for me for your key?"

"Yes"

Cliff emptied his pockets and handed her the key "Here you go. What happened to your owm key? I don't think we have another one for that room"

"Six has it, don't worry about it. I will give you the key back tomorrow, if you excuse me" Winter looked behind her at the two teens "I believe this two are about to pass out"

The man laughed as he motioned towards her room "Please, this is your place. Feel free to come and go as you please" Winter watched him leave and then began to walk up the stairs, a familiar sight made her nostalgic for days not so long past.

Her bed was just like she left it.

"You two can take the bed for today. I need to check some things. Don't mind the noise" Winter commented as she reached under the bed and searched for a hidden cache of basic necessities she had left behind, submachine guns, ammo, weapons and all types of other useful things to travel the wasteland were inside but sadly no stimpacks. The old world tech was too valuable to simply have it laying around somewhere it might not be useful, but she was glad to see leather armor and… ugh a vault suit.

Her PipBoy made a small noise as she went to check her Inbox "Near Vegas, Nipton" Winter typed back quickly "In the dinosaur"

There was no reply, as expected. He was probably hurrying here, it would be bad if he got caught in the deserted stretch between Novac and Nipton. Nothing but raiders and molerats if she remembered correctly, to her surprise a snore broke her out of her thoughts with Yang already asleep as Blake quietly read a book besides her.

But the girl looked ready to pass out at any moment. Winter gave her about two more minutes awake before tiredness forced her to release the book she was reading. So with that in mind she went back to cataloguing her weapons and sure enough in less than two minutes she heard a small thud as the book fell to her side. Chuckling to herself she went to pick it up and stared at the cover, it was one of the books she had found on Repcon underneath a destroyed desk a story of love and betrayal.

But the first few pages had been ripped off and the cover had been eroded by time.

It had been always a mystery to her, something she had wanted to ask but only ghost and ghouls might have the answer. A loud noise snapped her out of her thoughs and Yang and Blake out of their dream "What the fuck is that a car?"

Winter opened her window to see what the noise was but let out a relieved sigh when she spotted a familiar figure, going to the door she opened it and waited. Ruby was the first up the stairs, throwing herself at Yang to wrap her arms around her older sister "Yang! I missed you!"

The blonde laughed as she returned the hug "Hey there Ruby, I'm glad you're safe" Weiss followed Winter the one wrapping her arms around her and nodding at her "I knew you would be fine"

"We had some help"

Six was the last to enter the room smiling at Winter "Safe and sound. We had to make a small detour but it turned for the best. Got a sweet ride from it" Winter nodded as she let go of Weiss "I could tell, how on earth is that thing even working?"

"Prayers… from me to every god out there" Ruby commented as she tried to forget the horrible offense against all logic she had witnessed when Six had "repaired" the car. The courier simply laughed "Nothing some American ingenuity cannot fix. Did you girls run into any trouble?"

Blake frowned "Not trouble, only a glimpse at the worst mankind has to offer"

"We also found bad guys. But erm Six took care of them" Ruby said as her eyes darted to the pistol on his hip. Yang and Blake eyed him with curiosity as he let out a sigh "Slavers, a small time band of raiders that got too cocky because the NCR had better things to do than exterminate their sorry ass. The last of Elsdragons goons"

Winter tilted her head to the side "Someone important?"

"No, not since I was a kid" Six commented as Winter's eyes narrowed at him for a second but nodded. She turned to the room and let out a sigh "It will be difficult to rest… it is kind of cramped here"

Winter heard a keys as the courier looked for one with a small dinosaur attached to it "Jeanie Mays place, got the key off her corpse. I don't think the people of Novac would mind and if her ghost gets mad then she shouldn't have helped the Legion"-"Sounds like a plan, girls be ready to leave first thing in the morning. I shall come fetch you" Winter tilted her head as Ruby raised her hand.

Gesturing for her to ask Ruby happily smiled "Can we take a picture with the big lizard before we leave?"

"I also wanted that! But scrolls don't work" Yang commented with a exaggerated sigh, the specialist shrugged "If you get it to work sure, sleep and Weiss you are in charge"

Ignoring the cries about nepotism she closed the door and turned to Six who grinned at her "Aren't they adorable? Almost makes me want to have a kid"

Winter blushed and slapped his arm "No more from you mister" they walked in comfortable silence across Novac as most of the townsfolk prepared to close everything now that it was late at night. To their surprise a couple of Ghouls waved at them from a distance as they began their journey to their home "Guess not all of them blasted off in the rocket"

Winter shook her head "Or maybe Jason's promised land is just a big irradiated hole not so far from here, I would not be surprised if that was the case honestly… it would be funny and embarrassing for him if we showed up at his place"

Six grinned at that as he opened the door to their place for the night, a thin layer of dust had covered the house but it was not the worst place they had slept. Reaching into her bag Winter tossed Six a piece of ant meat which was promptly devoured "Oh man that hits the spot, you can tell this was a fire breathing one. They are spicier" Winter ignored him as she laid down on the bed.

"Your sister is smart, she and her team leader are quick on their feet. Managed to free a bunch of slaves while they were helping me out, Remnant has more heroes coming right up" Six commented as he laid down next to her, Winter wrapped her arms around him as she laid her head against his chest "She has much to learn… but she is doing far better than I could have hoped. Family is an interesting thing wouldn't you say"

A distant flash in his mind tried to fight but he squashed it "I don't know, the closest thing I have to family is Sarah and Rex. Stripe is an asshole so he doesn't count" a soft glare met his eye.

"You leave the small baby alone, he only attacked you once"-""Winter it's a smarter than average miniature Deathclaw"-"HE is a baby and you will leave him alone" Winter said as she closed her eyes and sleep took over her, Six passed a hand through her hair and tried to sleep but his body was not feeling tired. A side effect of so many implants and artificial organs was that he hard a time going to sleep, his brain had been left behind on the Big MT for its own safety but it was bitch to sleep without him.

The tesla coils were great to keep his body going like it was but they sucked a normal bodily functions, something he would have to pester the brains latter but it was just something else to add to his giant to do list, so instead of sleeping he headed outside and watched the discarded junk that had been left behind by prospector.

Things they could not make heads or tails of or things that just didn't sell well. Among them a small machine caught his red eye.

"Everyone get up!" Weiss yelled as she heard a small knock on her door, she heard her bones complain as she got up from the (surprisingly) comfortable bed. Opening the door, she was greeted by a smiling Winter "Hello Weiss, slept well?"

Weiss nodded as she yawned "Yeah, you look happy Winter"

"I had great company last night that is all, is everyone ready to leave? I would like to get to Vegas before midday" Winter commented as she peered inside and saw Ruby stumble towards the bathroom to presumably wash herself "Yes Winter, we'll meet you by the car in just couple of minutes"

Winter snorted as she closed the door but did go towards the car, that team leader had super speed after all. Maybe they wouldn't be that long, Six looked up from the car with a small smile "They weren't ready huh?"

"As expected, can't really blame them. That bed is very comfortable, how's the vehicle doing?"

Six slapped the hood of the car with a smile "This baby still has fight on it, I don't know how those crazy bastards did it but using flamer fuel as a main source is pretty darn cool. Maybe I'll ask the brains to modify it so that it runs on nuclear power like the ones on those commercials from the Old World"

"I would prefer if you did not drive around with a giant nuke in the machine, it would be bad for my nerves" Winter commented as she heard team RWBY finally arrive "We're here" Weiss said with a nod. Yang and Blake looked at them with a disappointed face "Man couldn't you just wait a couple more seconds Weiss, Ruby was the only one that got to shower. I feel all icky" Yang complained, Winter shook her head at their antics. "The lucky thirty-eight has plenty of showers, warm and cold. I would have waited until we get there honestly" Winter commented as Ruby looked like she had just kicked her dog.

Yang laughed at her sister while Blake simply suppressed a small smile.

"Oh wait we have to one small thing before we go" Six commented as he stood up straight, looking serious for once and reaching into his pocket as everyone looked him expecting him to pull out a gun or something like that "You almost forgot the picture!"

Ruby almost slapped herself as she remembered what she said yesterday, Blake looked at the gizmo with curiosity "And… is it working?"

Six gave her a look like he was offended "Of course, I fixed it"

"That doesn't make me feel better about it!" Ruby pipped up, Six rolled his eyes and pushed her forwards so he could take the picture. Team RWBY stroke a small pose as Winter watched on with a small smile.

Six handed them the picture when the camera had finished its duty, it had also died and wouldn't function ever again but there was no need to let them know that "Here you go, wait for it to dry" the courier sneakily threw the thing towards the other junk of Novac and walked towards the car.

"All right all of the young blood squeeze in on the back, Winter gets the passenger's seat and I drive until we run out of fuel. Which will hopefully be around Freeside"

The rest of the travel was quiet as the Mojave Dessert passed them by in a blur, Ruby would watch with quiet anticipation as the large building in the middle grew ever closer. Blake on the other hand paid close attention to the people around the area, many of the soldiers seemed to be leaving with sadness in their eyes while others walked with barely contained glee towards their destination.

Just like Six predicted the car started to die once their reached the large wall that protected the city of Vegas "Hey there boss man, nice ride"

"It's a gift for the King actually, it just needs to have some flamer fuel for it to work" Six commented as one of the Kings approached them. the gang member let out a small whistle and nodded at Mr. House's right hand man. Team RWBY stared in curiosity as more of the weirdly dressed group approached them and handed food and drinks, all to keep one man happy.

Out of the corner of their eye they spotted how the other people looked at them, quiet fear or respect. Winter got more respect, while the courier that rose from the grave seemed to be met with more worried eyes. The gangs offered to escort them to New Vegas through Freeside which Winter accepted, Yang covered Ruby's eyes as they passed debauchery after debauchery "Hey there good looking, come down to the atomic wrangler where the booze is cheap, the tables are friendly and the women are just like the booze"

Yang suppressed a small blush as the scantly clad woman almost threw herself at her only moving away when the King that was escorting them gave her a look "Sorry about that, you know how Freeside is"

Six simply smiled "It's what makes it fun!"

Blake disagreed, a lot.

Everywhere she looked she saw poverty while the rich ones all walked with armed guards towards the pearly gates of New Vegas "We have to report back to the King about his new car, see you soon… oh and could you let Sarah know that I said hi?"

Six glared with his one eye making the one king sweat bullets "I might" was all he replied as the robots hid their second in command behind them, Winter slapped him on the shoulder "She is not a kid you know. you cant go around bullying the boy she might like"

"She might like that one girl who is a mechanic too, don't like her either. Man they grow up so fast seems like just yesterday I was saving her from the Gomorrah" Six motioned at the securitrons to open the gates as Ruby gasped in shock "Welcome ladies to the last city of the Old World, welcome to Vegas"

The luxurious lights of the streets and the laughter of the drunks coming from the casinos were hypnothic in a way after a few days on the dessert and nothingness of the wasteland "Maybe is not all that impactful to you, because honestly after seeing your world the strip is king dwarfed in that sense" Six motioned with his hand to follow him as the doors to the lucky thirty eight opened "Take a good luck kids, this might be the last time you catch a glimpse of the Old World"

Team RWBY looked back as each one looked at different things, Ruby looked at the robots and the different weapons pranced around with careless abandonment, Yang looked at the bars and the casinos, Weiss stared at the people in the strip as they tried to forget the horrors that existed outside of New Vegas while Blake looked behind at Freeside at those who had to live with it.

"I- I think I am fine if I don't have to come back for some time to your world Six" Weiss was the one that broke the silence as they were ushered inside, Winter remained by Six's side for some seconds as they looked at the Mojave for some time. "Get the girls to the teleporter I'll have a word with House before we go back to Remnant"

Winter nodded and walked inside the building.

Six waited for the elevator to disappear into the depths of the Lucky Thirty-eight and then return to the main floor, letting out a long sigh he pressed the button that would take him to the penthouse. The coldness of the Penthouse was the first thing that always greeted him as the doors opened but he had grown used to that by this point. The securitrons made for him as he approached the big screen in the middle of the room, it took some time for it to come alive but soon enough the image of his boss appeared.

"You are here earlier than expected"

Six shrugged "Time passes by differently in their world, seems like our worlds are not as aligned as we thought"

Mr. House hummed, one of the securitrons brought a small bottle of wine and handed it to Six "Even if your arrival here is not what we expected this is still cause for celebration, transportation from this world to the other has been a success soon we shall be able to buy from them materials to rebuild this world and explore more from this universes wonders"

Six swallowed half a bottle in one gulp "We might not even have to buy anything at all, they are good people willing to help us out in our time of need… which makes the next part all the harder"

House waited patiently for him to articulate, Six reached for his PipBoy to see his notes "I might not be the smartest guy around but I noticed some things that I would personally consider a weaknesses, petty thieves outmaneuvering government, beasts almost driving them to extinction but above all they are not like us"

Mr. House hummed not really getting the last part "Not like us how?"

"Their souls boos, they are not as evil as we are. They are cruel sure and the oddball here and there might be comparable to a raider… but they are not us, they are a world of heroes and legends. Its almost comical to compare to our world, miles upon miles of green inhabited inly by monsters that hunt for souls. Their powder is magical, lights shit on fire and can even defy gravity but they are building shit on shaky ground. Most of their population lives in five kingdoms and I one falls the other might fall too, like a house of cards… I don't want this to be the case but if that were to happen maybe they need a different type of leadership" Six's red eye glowed slightly.

House calculated the information "So what would it be Courier Six, are you going to play hero with them?"

"For now"

House printed a document "But it never hurts to be prepared, in the document I have prepared there's some schematics that you might find quite useful. I think we begin to expand this enterprise, RobCo congratulates you on your promotion to ambassador of its franchise on the planet of Remnant Mr. Six"

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 11

Back home

Winter was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the power was diverted to the teleported, now that Mr. House had completely automated Hoover Dam alongside El Dorado substation the Lucky Thirty-eight had now acted as a Beacon (pun completely intended but she would never let anyone know) to all the Mojave.

The teleporter room resided in the deeper levels of the large tower, one of the many secrets areas that Mr. House had repurposed after the… peculiar incident after their first test back in the Big MT, the many faces of the same person made her smile at how silly it had been even if it was slightly traumatizing as well "Winter!" a voice snapped her out of her thoughts making her smile.

"Sarah" the small blonde ran to give her a small hug "What are you doing back here? It has been just like a day at most!"

Winter nodded "I know, we began construction on the new bridge between worlds but there was a slight… incident so now here we are. Right now priority is to return to my world and then set up the bridge, we should be able to send some materials to aid Freeside and West Vegas"

Sarah nodded "Yeah, by the way is Six around… I wanted to talk to him about something."

The specialist nodded "He should still be speaking with Mr. House, is there something wrong?" the blonde shook her head and adjusted her glasses "Not really, Marcus one of the Super Mutants from Jacobstown sent a message to him, the supermutants would like to set up trade with the city in exchange of protection of the road to Jabostown."

"Really now?" the few interaction she had with supermutants had ben less than pleasant, the nightkin that slammed her into the roof back in Repcon came to mind. Sarah for her part nodded "Yeah, I mean more wood and minerals from the mines sounds like a great deal. Raw materials are always welcomed, specially now that your friends on the Big Mt ask for so much of it"

Right, the brains always wanted something or another to progress "science" or to settle their petty squabbles, it was a miracle that they did not question anything about why Six (or rather Doctor Mobius) needed a multi-dimension teleporter and were he was going, she did not need them to experiment on aura and other things. Ethics were not on the list of things the geniuses were big on "And what is your opinion on the supermutants think there is something ulterior to it?"

"What? No no I don't think so, Marcus was very kind when Six and I went to Jacobstown to save Rex, he just wants the supermutants to live in peace. Seems like Six agrees with him."

Winter nodded "I am glad that his views on Supermutants changed."

"A lot changed about him, thank you" Sarah said with a small wink, Winter scoffed and ruffled her hair "Shut up, I need a favor if you have time. There are four teenagers in my room, please go get them. Gathering energy took less time than expected so if there's nothing else for us to do here we need to get back to my world and let the General about this whole fiasco. We are being spied on" Winter said as her eyes narrowed at nothing.

Sarah nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder "It will be all right, I'll be back with your teenagers hehe"

Winter was once again left to her own thoughts and distracted herself by making plans on her mind and trying to write a report on everything that had happened, the elevator opened making her turn around "I bumped into Sarah on the way down, House is wasting no time on making things efficient, eh?" Six said with a grin. His red eye watched with amusement how the machine began to open the portal "Soon we might have a permanent portal between worlds, it would be nice"

"Yes, but the next one must be built in a more secure location. I can't believe that we were sabotaged on Vale of all places, Headmaster Ozpin needs to strengthen his security over the region. I doubt this would have happened in Atlas"

Six chuckled "I don't know I've yet to meet the famous city, they tell me the women in there are real lookers"

"Careful Mr. Six I am a taken woman" Winter gave him a grin, under the light of the portal their faces grew closer and their lips were about to meet-"EHEM!" Sarah coughed into her fist while team RWBY simply giggled in the background.

Six gave them a fake glare "Couldn't you have waited like a minute?"

"If you want, we can go back to the room to give you space Mr. Mailman" Yang said as she wiggled her eyebrows, Six snorted "Nah no need, lets just get you girls back home. I think you had enough of the wasteland for now" Ruby nodded slowly "Yeah… I want to go back home, is less confusing there" the courier nodded and walked up to the machine that allowed the fantasy of traveling to another worlds a reality and pulled down the lever.

The screen narrowed down the location back to where the accident in Vale took place and began to open the portal "Everyone, team RWBY goes first then Winter and I will be the last one. Sarah feed Rex and that tiny devil" Sarah chuckled and walked up to give the tall man a hug "Take care"-"You too little one, if anything happens just reach out to Cass or Boone. Neither of them decided to leave the region"

Winter felt a small nudge at her side "Sister who is that?"

"Sarah… no last name as far as I know, she and Six are family. Not by blood but he has adopted her, not that anyone in the wasteland cares about that sort of paperwork" Winter commented as the portal opened and everyone waved at the girl before the jumped into the light one by one. Ruby was the first to land and feel her aura flare on her hand "What?" the burning remains of the warehouse greeted her as the sound of a firetruck could be heard in the distance "Wow is like if minutes have passed!" Yang commented as she appeared next to her alongside Weiss and Blake. Six and Winter followed, noticing their surroundings they shared a look "At least we are not at the moment of the explosion, that would have been worse honestly" Winter said with a sigh.

Six for his part shrugged "At least we are getting more precise, I think we are just a little bit to the left of where the original portal was. With a stationary teleporter I think we will no longer have that issue" a small Bullhead landed next to them as Ironwood followed by another specialist rant o them "Schnee! Are you okay?"

"Fine sir, we activated the portal in time to escape to Earth. As you can see we were accompanied by some students" Winter pointed at team RWBY who could only wave awkwardly. Ironwwod nodded "I am just glad everyone is okay. What happened?"

Six pulled out a burning corpse from the rubble "They happened; a small group of this little jerks appeared out of nowhere. Things got a bit out of control as you can see" Ironwood frowned and turned to look at the small group "I need to speak with Ozpin about this, seems like danger is around every corner here in Vale. We can't let this slow us down, we will figure this out. For now, lets just get you all back to Beacon"

The small group packed themselves into the Bullhead and let out a sigh "Feels like forever since I saw my room" Yang commented making Blake snort "It was like, three days ago tops" the blonde bombshell chuckled "But I can still miss it!"

Weiss turned to Winter "I guess it was worst for you huh?"

"Some days were… longer than others, but I had a goal in mind and that helped me focus and with the myriad of problems that the Mojave had to offer I was always busy. That year and something was over before I knew it" Winter said as she relaxed against the comfortable cushions. Ruby seemed to be sad as she looked down at the city "I will never take civilization for granted again"

Yang looked over at her sister in worry "You okay there Rubs?"

"I guess, I was just feeling sad about the people from Six's world. I wouldn't want what happened to Earth happen to us" Ruby commented, Weiss was the first one to comment "But that would be impossible Ruby, we don't have that kind of fire power. Even if some maniac wanted we couldn't wipe each other off the Remnant"

Winter nodded at Weiss "Indeed, but Grimm could" the general frowned at that "Your sister is right Schnee, we might have not a weapon capable of mass destruction. But the threat of Grimm is just as grave and even less understood than the malice of man, we are at war too and if we lose everything we have tried to protect will be lost."

A grave silence filled the ship as the words from the general hung heavy in the air, the only sound that could be heard was Six playing around with his PipBoy. When they touched down on Beacon the Headmaster and Glynda went to check on the girls "Are you okay?"

Ruby gave a weak thumbs up "Never better"

Ozpin smiled at the girl with the grey eyes and the turned to Six and Winter "Thank you for saving my students"

"You should be proud Headmaster, your students handled themselves like professionals on my world. Saved some slaves too while they were at it" Six said with a smile, Glynda shuddered at the mention of slaves and looked at the girls again just to make sure no bruises were on them. Yang smiled at the teacher "Aw I knew you cared teach"

Glynda snorted "I have always cared Miss. Xiao-Long" she flicked her finger over the forehead of the blonde making her yelp a little, as everyone began to leave towards their respective rooms Six and Ozpin stayed behind. "I saw your little signal Mr. Six, is there something I can do for you?"

"I just wanted to ask you some questions if you have the time sir" Six said as he prepared his PipBoy to show some images, the headmaster nodded and extended his hand as a go-ahead signal "Right, how can I open my own company here? I think I can begin to fulfil my part of the deal sooner than expected, I have right here everything I need to begin construction on some machines, protectrons and builditrons to be precise."

Ozpin smiled at the man "I might be able to help you with a factory, is the portal still priority for you? or are you more inclined to help us up our defenses with your machines?" Six gave a shrug and a small smile "I guess the portal is still more important, I think I would prefer to have robots from my home helping me work the factories and stuff. Sensitive information about the other world and other words that I am sure that your general friend can shower you with"

Ozpin chuckled "I guess that's true, for now let's focus on the portal then. I think for now is best if we build it close to home, our enemies are tracking our movements. Who knows where they might jump from, have a good day Mr. Six" the courirer nodded as he looked down at his wrist and gave it a little shake to see the full picture.

Protectrons and Builditrons where first on the list that was for sure, but next came the more powerful units. Securitrons, Sentry-bots and even the long thought lost unit, the Assaultron, were all in his little data base and the best thing they were almost impossible to hack or break once they were connected to a secure network and that Network was impossible to hack because it had a mind of its own.

"Hi! Thank you for not destroying me! I am super happy to help you in your endavours! And I am not just saying that because my programming is forcing me to!" Yes man wrote to him on his PipBoy making the Courier grin from ear to ear. He gave a quick reply to the rogue securitron that now resided on his wrist thanks to Mr. House and his knowledge of machines "Sorry about the cramped space I will get you a new home soon enough"

Six turned to look at the sky and spotted the shattered moon and some stars "Somewhere with a nice view my friend"

He had a lot of work to do, Remnant was safe now. But this Grimm things were just the tip of the iceberg, there was something here that he was not seeing and the air around him stank of change and schemes.

Ozpin was scheming, so is the general.

And now he would try his luck in their little pot of power.

"Sir, someone wants to speak to you"

Nate stopped tending to his weapon and smiled at his fellow brotherhood of steel member "One of the locals? I am sure that we can find some supplies for them. give them a helping hand and all that"

The knight simply shook his head and removed his helmet with a sigh "Negative, an ex member of the Brotherrhood of steel. Small looking woman wearing what looks like to be a potato sack, said she knows Elder McNamara only reason why she wasn't told to get lost"

"Oh… and why does she want to speak with me"

The knight gave him a look "She knows we are not from the area. And you are the one in charge of the operation, if you want suggestions I would suggest that you tell her to get lost. We don't need cowards who decided not to make the pilgrimage like her brothers and sisters"

Nate let out a sigh and stood up, walking outside of the small building where they had taken refuge in he was greeted with a smile and wave by a plain looking girl "Hi, so you are in charge of this expedition? Name is Veronica nice to meet you!"

The Sole Survivor nodded and shook her hand "Likewise Veronica, you can call me Nate. Is there something that I can help you with? Ex-Brotherhood of steel members usually either reenlist or want nothing to do with the order, so why approach us?"

"Because I am worried about my family… did everyone make it to DC?"

Nate felt a pang of pain at the word family but he hid it in time for Veronica not to notice it "Most of your chapter got to the Capital Wasteland in one piece, the others were wounded by the wasteland. But I think all managed to survive the trip, nothing short of a miracle… wich bring the question on why did you not go with them. The Mojave chapter seemed to be one that was pretty tight"

Veronica frowned "It was, we had to be. After what happened at Helios one, we needed everyone to give it their all to get by every day. Can you imagine that? All hands on deck, working hour after hour just to survive. Necessity made them closer… but their loyalty blinded them and look at were that led us. a bunker with nothing but rubble and broken memories"

"I am sorry to hear that, I really am"

Veronica let out a sigh "Don't be I just wanted to know if they made it to their destination okay. I knew I only had one chance when I saw your silly little suits walking around" Nate smiled and stood up "I am glad to have helped, if you wish when our business on the Mojave wasteland is concluded we could offer you a ride back to your chapter"

Veronica raised an eyebrow "Oh? Need something from this hell hole? I might be able to help if needed, I know the place like the back of my hand"

"No need, the rest of the knights that have accompanied me will stay here. But I need to do some things… see you" Nate said as he returned inside the building. Veronica stared at the door and then at the knights that were looking at her with wariness "Don't worry I won't stick around, I guess I have gotten used to being a normal citizen"

The knight closer to her raised his weapon "Then I suggest you get going, it was nice to speak with you. have a good day"

Veronica snorted and walked towards somewhere in the distance, the city of lights was days away if she walked but she did was not wearing power armor she could get there before them, something was happening why was the brotherhood of steel doing this mission? So many things came to mind but Veronica felt as if she knew the main reason why. She felt her hand close as the name danced on her mind.

"I saved you"

Those words made her blood boil… but they also made her want to cry. She just didn't understand, why sacrifice so many just for one person? What was Six thinking? He was a stupid man with stupid ideas, led by his feelings he had done horrible things… and now here she was alone in a place where everything hated her guts and fated to a life of obscurity because he wanted to save her.

And she was fine with that.

What she was not fine with was that in playing hero he had maybe kicked off another large conflict, one that she did not want to choose a side. One that she could not choose a side any more, she was civilian.

"A civilian that fixes your shit for only twenty caps… I guess you were right Christine I am the best handywoman this side of the country" Veronica muttered as she sat by a rock and contemplated on were to go next, Primm might be a good place to settle down for a couple of months.

Goodsprings would have been more appealing but she did not think she could live so close to that grave, with a sigh she looked at the moon and smiled faintly. Images of nights under the same moon danced behind her eyes, when she felt glad that she had found friends. A group of people that just wanted to save the Mojave.

"…ah man, here I go again"

Veronica changed course and began to walk towards Vegas, she would just warn them that was all. She was not getting involved, maybe she was just feeling thirsty and what better way to enjoy a strong drink than with a lady from Gomorrah.

The small figure walked alone across the sand as a Sandstorm roared in the distance.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm Over Remnant

Chapter 11

Call the mailman!

Six let out a long sigh as he fell his body beg for him to stop. He had forgotten how long he had spent here on the gym. He faintly remembered that he had walked into the gym sometime after breakfast.

"Right…" he watched the sun begin to set, he really needed to get one of those scrolls thingies he thought to himself with a chuckle "…guess I got a little distracted" the courier from the Mojave muttered to himself.

Resting in one of the benches he was just glad that most of the teens were practicing in ways to fight one another and that left the weights all to himself. But what he really liked was the training dummy that lit up when hit green meant that you had landed a successful blow and red meant that you had seriously hurt your opponent. It had been blast illuminating the room like it was that ancient holiday with the name that escaped his mind now.

Grabbing his trusty vault thirteen canteen he downed half of it enjoying the taste of the Quantum he had decided to bring with him, he enjoyed it even more now that he mixed with some whiskey. Cass was right this was such a great fucking drink "See Winter I am well behaved" he chuckled at that. His girlfriend had left Beacon and informed him that she would be gone for at least a week, so that meant that the construction on the portal had been halted.

It sucked mostly because he had nothing to do other than sit around on campus and look like a complete tool. After ten minutes of doing nothing he asked for directions and spent the rest of the day here, looking down at himself he snorted as his body already recovered all the stamina that he had spent punching for hours straight.

It was both a blessing and a curse, it made sleeping a bitch and a half but when it came to cardio there was no other man quit like him, the doors opened taking him out of his thoughts as red head walked in to the gym "Oh sorry, I didn't think anyone would be here at this hour"

Six smiled "Don't worry same reason I'm here"

The teen smiled politely at him but stared at him waiting for a reaction. The courier internally rolled his eyes, was he expecting to swoon over her or something? But as a small second passed the girl visibly relaxed and gave him a grin "So… you have been training hard huh? Are you a student from the other schools? I don't I recognize you"

The courier returned the smile "You flatter me, but no I am not that young. I am… helping the atlas military under Specialist Schnee, maybe you know her little sister" by the way the eyes lit up in recognition he assumed he was right.

"Oh so you're the guy Ruby spoke about, nice to meet you I am Pyrrha. We are the team that lives next to them." they shook hands and Six was pleasantly surprised by the strength behind it. "So you get to hear all their arguments huh?"

Pyrrha smiled "Not by choice if that's what you are asking"

They shared a small laugh as Six motioned to the gym "Well don't let me keep you waiting, I am sure that you are getting ready for the tournament and all that" there was a small pause as a frown marked the features of the beautiful warrior.

"I… don't know, I think I no longer feel like just punching will solve the issue" Pyrrha said as Six felt his senses begin to pick up an issue "Something wrong kid?" the red head let out a sigh "I don't want to bother you"

Six chuckled "You don't have to worry, you're a friend of Weiss you are a friend of mine" [Speech 25]-Successful Pyrrha smiled at that "Thanks, I guess I just feel like I am missing something in my preparation for the tournament. I need to practice with something unexpected, someone that is not from my team or Beacon… but I don't know how to approach people like Sun or Neptune without scaring them"

Pyrrha looked at her feet embarrassed "Sound kind of pathetic when I say it out loud" she laughed as her cheeks reddened a bit "Not all, variety keeps you sharp. Hmm there might be a way for me to help" Six said as he motioned to the boxing ring that was in the middle of the room.

"Like... right now? I don't know I don't want to hurt you" Pyrrha commented but Six saw the spark of competitiveness lit up in her eyes. So he decided to add some fuel to the fire "Don't worry about me, I can fight better than the average man" [Unarmed 50]-Successful.

The red then smirked and pointed at the ring "Then let's see what you are made of."

The two opponents entered the ring and prepared themselves for the fight, Six rang the imaginary bell and ran to the middle of the ring. Faster than he could see the girl almost became a red blur only slower than Ruby, as she jumped towards him she somehow twisted in midair to land a powerful blow on his side. Six gritted his teeth and grabbed her leg and tried trowing her to the side her to the side, but years of fighting experience made her land gracefully and jump in for another attack.

She watched in confusion as his red eye seemed to scan her and faster than she was expecting an uppercut almost grazed her chin, Six for his part was surprised that anyone could evade a hit on VATS. But he still had another arm to do the job, punching her straight in the center of her stomach Pyrrah was sent flying back as she gritted her teeth at the way her aura flared.

"You're strong" Pyrrah said with a small grin, the courier made a pained noise as he pointed to his side and then chuckled "Right back at you, ready for round two?" both combatants prepared themselves and ran towards one another countering and trading blows, Six could feel the teen enjoy herself as she ramped up the speed and she tried bold new strategies to break his guard, but she did not leave many openings. The courier couldn't help but smile 'This kid is really something else' she landed a picture perfect upper cut on his chin sending him stumbling back, Pyrrah almost jumped in for the kill but stopped herself, giving Six enough time to tackle her to the ground. Standing back up he smiled down at her "Not bad at all, you have a good heart kid. I would have finished the fight."

Pyrrah accepted the hand he offered to help her up "I didn't want to hurt you, your face is bruised. Did you not use you aura" Six blinked as he tried to remember what was his excuse "I don't have aura, an accident left me unable to use it" he pointed at the scars on his forehead "Let's just say I am lucky to survive"-"… I'm sorry"

Six raised his hand "There's no need to apologize kid, I omitted the fact to get a good fight" Pyrrah studied him for a second as she felt her semblance spark up as he walked towards his canteen, she could feel bits and pieces of metal all over him. Every time his heart pumped blood into his system she could feel something akin to metal expand and then return to normal, his brain seemed to click as he walked.

"That was awesome!" a yell from the side made them both turn as Six spotted Ruby and the rest of her team along other three that he did not recognize, but from the way they clapped and looked at Pyrrah he assumed they were her teammates "I cant believe you managed to tackle Pyrrah" Yang.

The courier shrugged "Your friend is a good person, when she saw I had no aura she hesitated and gave me an opening, simple as that. But the winner of this spar is her, if she had gone all out I would be in the floor seeing stars" the courier extended his hand towards the champion as he gave her a large smile "Thanks, I had a nice time" as the red head and the courier shook hands the invisible hand of destiny began to tie their fate together, Pyrrah's bright blue soul linked to Six's purple one.

"That was pretty cool Six, and without aura" Ruby said as she appeared next to him. The courier ruffled her hair "What can I say, I can fight better than ever before" he looked at the group and tilted his head in confusion "What are you all doing here, done with classes for the day?"

Blake shrugged "No really, I guess we were all just wandering around and then we heard the noise coming from the gym. Jaune here is apparently as psychic because he somehow knew Pyrrah was here"

"Worried about your girlfriend eh?" Six said making both teens blush, Yang and Ruby snickered amongst themselves. Weiss on the other hand seemed to be more preoccupied with her scroll "Six sorry to bother you but I just got a message from Winter, she says and I quote 'Tell that man to answer his PipBoy or I will strangle him' end quote" Six felt a cold shiver go down his spine as he reached for the machine on his wrist and checked his mail, there was indeed a message from Winter, brief and to the point like always.

"Atlas is interested in RobCo, I would prefer if you don't give them something too destructive" Six hummed as he read the message and wrote a small reply "Mr. Handy units and Protectrons, those are the ones that would cause the leas trouble, sorry about the wait"

Six began to plan on when to open RobCo Remnant but it would must likely be after they finished the portal, but he would have to wait fro the green light "Is everything ok?" Weiss asked softly as Six snapped out his small trance "Oh yeah, sorry I was just planning ahead. Well the one that is in trouble is me, Winter is doing just fine from what I under"

"Ah that's a relief, then we should probably get going we need to practice" the white queen said as Yang nodded "Yup, we're going to wipe the floor with everyone" the only that didn't seem to share the enthusiasm was Blake who lagged behind as everyone left to train "Something wrong?"

Six was surprised when a familiar book was handed to him "I… borrowed a book from the hotel we stayed at, sorry" the courier looked at the cover and let out a small whistle "Now this is some old school stuff. Don't worry, the intact books that I find on the wasteland I usually just bring them home so that they don't get ruined out on the wasteland, I forgot I even had this one" Blake looked at the cover and frowned "How can you forget something like that?"

"I've read worse, Legion propaganda is even harder to sit through. They don't have pretty pictures" Six said as he looked at the book, he felt some emotion run through him as he faintly recalled… someone made him read this, before. The Victory of America, that was it was called.

A piece of propaganda by the government that was released shortly after their crushing defeat of the red army, it was a fascinating little piece of pre wasteland history. One that he was sure it was best left forgotten "Want to talk about something?"

Blake nodded slowly "I guess I am just a little shocked, the hatred and the passive aggressiveness against life in that book scare me. I don't want the hatred of… the people of remnant to escalate to such a level, I don't want us to end up like you" Six opened the book and stopped at one of the pages that showed the power armored clad soldiers ripping the opposing army in half, the opponents depicted as demons.

"They were human too" Six heard Blake say, the courier nodded "Yeah, but once the fires of war start is easy to blur the lines. Savages, animals and more names are what are usually thrown around in the battles I have taken a part of" Six saw how Blake tensed at the word animal.

Six placed a hand on her shoulder "Don't worry kid, I don't think your world can hate at the level that mine did. They were running out of everything, their very existence was on the line and they decided that eating eachother was the only option"

"War… why does it always come down to war and violence?" Blake said as Six remembered a small message, from one courier to another "If war never changes than we as people have to change and the roads we walk"
Six said as the lessons of the Divide and the words of Ulysses echoed in his ears, he did not believe in or rather he did not understand some of the actions of the Courier that had once belonged to the legion. But those words seemed to echo with Blake who smiled "That's nice way of thinking things Six, thank you for listening to me"

Six smiled "Don't worry, helping out is what I do best" it was kind of a lie, he did not help people out of the goodness of his heart but he did have a soft spot for the team that Weiss belonged to.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Weiss was Winter's sister.

"Helping huh? Then you might be able to get a lot of jobs right around now, because of the tournament it seems everyone is having a hard time finding time to do stuff" Six felt as if a lightbulb appeared over his head and grinned "Anything that a mail man might be able to help"

Blake shrugged "Maybe, I think its best if you ask the headmaster"

Ozpin studied the courier with slight amusement as he sipped from his coffee "Helping around campus? If you can it would be most appreciated, but what made you want to do this?"

Six shrugged "Bored honestly, I am not one to sit around doing nothing and because I can't start work on the portal yet I think the best use of my time is to offer my services" the headmaster nodded "I can understand that, tell me how good are you with plants"
"I can take care of some plants" [Survival 30]-successful, Ozpin nodded as he wrote something down "And are you good with medicine"

The courier chuckled "You mean like… amputations?" [Medicine-25]-Failed; Ozpin shook his head as he made a line over something "And tell me… are you good at listening to other people's problems?" Six nodded "Sure, I like to help out people when I can" [Charisma]-10 Successful, Ozpin smiled as he handed him a list of things. The courier smiled a bit as he watched the part that said medical wing scribbled out, what did surprise him is that he had a long list of things to do "I would suggest that you start with the garden on the back, it was a project assigned to some second year students but with the tournament I don't think they would be able to attend it properly, maybe you can help them keep their grade"

"Yes I got heart cache by the number, troubles by the score~" Six sang as he twirled a shovel as if he was dancing with it, looking at his work the courier nodded in satisfaction as he stared at the newly watered and properly tended to flower and trees. He did not know why hunters needed to know botany but he was not about to question the curriculum choices of Ozpin and Co. He also made a mental note about how this part of the school was mostly deserted and hade a nice view of the emerald forest, a nice way for someone to sneak in.

Six scratched his neck as he sat down on the small office that was given to him for the rest of the day, for appearances sake he had put on a suit that in his humble opinion made him look like a jackass but by the nod he got from Glynda that came to check on him not so long ago it seems that management approved of the more serious look, a soft knock made him stop looking at his suit "Come in" the courier said as he prepared to play psychologist to whatever teen entered through the door "H-hello, is this… erm Mister Six?" the courier looked with surprise as he spotted a set of rabbit ears on top of the head of the kid "Sure is, how are you doing today?" they shook hands as he motioned for her to sit.

The rest of his way went like that, hearing teenage problems and offering some insight on how to solve their issues and give them some confidence, what most of them needed was actually a boos in their looking down at his PipBoy as another student left he began to type something for himself "Reminder to add students to the list of do not harm on the robotic units", Yes Man was quick to reply "Right! Consider it done :D"

Laughter and the sound of the gambling tables filled the air, the city of vice and sin made Nate sick, it paraded the dead body of the United States on the street and acted as if it was the real thing.

It was nothing more than a lie, a bitter and pathetic excuse for a joke.

The monsters and the rich of the wasteland traveled here to live out their dreams of fortune and fulfil their carnal desires. At least raiders were honest… they did not parade around pretending to be something that he had once loved.

The Sole survivor let out a sigh as he looked at the big tower, plan A was not going to be possible. There was no way he was going to risk the lives of his fellow brotherhood members for this monstrosity, he would just resort to plan B. Nate looked to the PipBoy on his wrist as the machine marked the one hundred percent, standing up he left the caps on the table and marched outside.

"Baby lets go to the ultra Luxe! I want to see the people in the masks!" a couple walked hand in hand as they walked towards the luxurious hotel, Nate felt an aching pain on were his ring used to be. It was nothing more than an echo of the past too, something else that he himself paraded around only in his memories.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm Over Remnant

Chapter 12

The long shadow of RobCo

Winter watched with a raised eyebrow at the poor scientist that was standing in front of her desk "Say that again, I think I might have misheard you"
"S-some of the scientist have requested nuclear material to be analyzed…" Winter raised her hand and shook her head "Denied, it destroyed a civilization of billions in a matter of seconds. We should not be playing with a power like that"

"But think of using this nuclear energy as a power source for Atlas! We will save billions of lien, we would no longer have to rely on dust for everything!" the scientist said. The specialist narrowed her eyes at him "My position still stands, no. You have not seen what it can do, turn people into mindless feral ghouls, mutation of life, capable of creating a divide on the land. Unless is a request directly from General Ironwood I will not allow anyone from Remnant to get their hands on nuclear material. Have a nice day"

Winter returned to the report she was working on, only when she heard the door to her office close, she allowed herself to frown. They might have good intentions; she could not blame them for wanting a different power source but it was almost inevitable that one bad person would take the power of atom and twist it into a weapon of mass destruction, she made a mental note to get a camara and go to the Divide and take a couple of pictures, that and pictures of feral ghouls to scare them off for now. If continued relationship with earth was a thing that was going to happen they needed to have regulations on all radioactive things.

Her PipBoy emitted a soft beeping sound making her look down at her wrist, seems like Weiss had delivered her threat. Writing down the robots that Six had listed she continued to work on the report, the door to her office opened once again as General Ironwood entered "Schnee, a moment if you don't mind"

"Sir" she saluted, the general nodded at her "I got a complain from one of the scientist, they said that you are denying them valuable information to process energy for Atlas" Winter snorted "I assumed they omitted the fact that they requested nuclear energy, I don't remember them asking for the plans to replicate Hoover Dam"

Ironwood shook his head "They did omit that, yes. Don't worry I had an idea of what was going on, the select few that we let on the little secret have been like children dying to see things from the other planet. While understandable I am afraid that some information might be leaking to people who should not be in the know, people like… well like your father"
Winter felt something akin to worry as she remembered that only Weiss was in the know about her travel to Earth, the rest of her family didn't even know she had gone missing. She wanted to go in person but she had not found the time to go and face her past, besides she had enough in her plate already with the construction of the portal and handling some minor missions for the General "I… yes, I think its best if everything that comes from Earth is handled and sold under strict restrictions, Courier Six is already thinking of opening a branch of RobCo and we could regulate what can be sold"

Ironwood seemed to nod "Better than having everyone wondering, actions most of the time say more than words. Winter the portal to planet earth is now top priority, Courier Six is to bring the most basic and inoffensive weapons and robots he can find. Getting the scientists and prying eyes off the real danger that lies on the wasteland he came from"

Winter nodded and saluted "It will be done."

Beacon's halls began to fill up as the last classes for the day ended. Many headed straight to the gymnasium to practice while others headed to their dorms to speak strategy, but team RWBY was content in simply walking today. The last couple of days had been interesting to say the least, the routine of Beacon was greatly appreciated to take their minds of the approaching tournament and the weirdness of the travel to the planet earth.

"Sooo… we are just walking?" Yang was the first to break the ice, Weiss shrugged "I had some things on my minds, I was just following Ruby" there was a pause as everyone turned to the small leader who blinked in surprise "Oh… sorry I spaced out, what are you guys talking about?"
Blake snorted "About how we are just walking, are we training today? Because if not I would like to finish my books"

"Your smut book"-"It has a story!"

Ruby let out a sigh "Sure, I don't think we need to train today. Everyone can go do their own thing" Yang narrowed her eyes at her sister "You okay little sis?"

"Yeah, I just need some time to think about somethings. Catch you later" and just like that she was gone in the blink of an eye, the only thing left was a small trail of rose petals. The older sister looked at the spot were Ruby had been and then looked at the horizon "Is she okay?" Blake asked as she followed the trail of roses with her eyes.

Weiss looked down at her scroll "Not much we can do now, other than trying to follow her. and she has super speed if you forgot, our best bet is to wait for her to come back to our room" Blake nodded "She is right, don't worry Yang we will get to the bottom of this"

As the team walked away Ruby exited from the pillar she was hiding behind and she headed to one of the abandoned gardens of Beacon, she knelt on a patch of grass as she brought her cloak closer to her. It felt like hours passed as the air cooled around her "You know, if your team looses because you catch a cold I will be beyond upset" a cold voice said from the side as Ruby turned to look at the white boots of a familiar face "Miss. Winter?!"

Winter glared down at her "Yes, what are you doing out here? You will get sick, come on lets head inside" Ruby shook her head "No… I am fine I just need a minute"

"… then if you don't mind I think I will seat next to you" Winter said as she sat on the spot next to Ruby, as night began to set across Vale the small team leader and the specialist shared a moment of serene silence as the broken moon appeared on the night sky "Are you proud of Weiss?"
The question caught Winter by surprise but she quickly regained composure "I am, she ha progressed a lot in a very short time. The tournament you guys will win be will be the crowning achievement of her stay here in Beacon"

There was a pause as Ruby smiled sadly "I see…"

Winter looked at her "You are… wondering about someone from the past" [Intelligence 8]- Successful.

Ruby nodded "Everyone's family is coming to see the tournament and I know its childish and lame of me to think about this… but I was wondering if my mom would be proud of me too. Would she have come to see me?" Winter hummed as she brought a hand to her chin as she tried to navigate the situation with tact.

"I am sure she would, everyone from your family is proud of you. From the few interactions I've had with your insufferable uncle he always put your name in high regard" Winter nodded at herself, happy with the answer she provided. Ruby for her part simply smiled even if she did not feel all that happy "Yeah, all the more reason to not disappointment I guess"

Winter gave her a look of disapproval "If you do things just because you are worried about others young Rose, you will eventually be left unhappy" standing up she placed a hand on her shoulder "Fight for others, but never forget about yourself." She never had, it was the reason she joined the army in the first place. As both left a figure watching from the shadows reached for a cigar, using a small match he illuminated his face as the eyepatch on his face absorbed most of the light.

"Never forget about yourself huh?" selfishness in selflessness, interesting idea.

The last bolt had been placed, everything was set. The portal that now resided in the heart of Beacon pulsed with power as Six waited patiently for the last of the energy readings to finish. Winter nodded as she pushed pass the lab coats that had assisted them in the construction this time "Everything is green, you sure you want to be the one to try it out?"

Six nodded and smiled "Sure! I need to bring some things along anyways. Give me a few minutes and I will be right back"

"Ok then, please be careful"

With those last words the portal was activated and the tear in space and time glared at Six, the courier simply smiled as he prepared to jump back into his home. As he crossed the portal the machine shut off as everything powered down, the scientist looked at one another and then at Winter "How long do we wai…" the portal opened again without anyone pressing a button, the scientists jumped in fright at the unexpected development. For her part Winter was just happy that this time around the portal was stable between worlds.

"Protect and Serve" came the robotic chant as in line about twenty protectrons and buildtrons marched followed by a large Sentry-Bot that glared at the scientists but kept its weapons away from them. Winter repressed a shudder when she remembered how a prime Sentrybot in the big MT nearly killed her and shattered her sword. The machines were perfect for killing, no wonder they used them so much in the great war, behind the small convoy Six walked up to them with a large grin "Hey there! Sorry I took so long I had to get some things too, as promised I brought some toys" Six opened his coat and showed off the weapons.

An assortment of handguns, powder and energy weapons hanged from the coat of the courier making Winter nod "What are you buying stranger?"
Winter simply snorted and grabbed a laser pistol "This are a good way to start, plasma might melt their hands. You, get this weapon to General Ironwood and the rest of the science team" Winter said as she handed the weapon to nearest scientist. The Sentry bot approached the specialist and scanned her, the blue light illuminated the room for a second before the machine stepped back "Face added to database, Winter Schnee"

Six nodded as he lowered his PipBoy "Nice it does work, control of the machines is now on my wrist" the courier said, Winter looked at the machine that rested on the wrist of the man with no name and frowned.

"You need a more secure way to control the robots" she said, the courier nodded slowly and looked at the small convoy of robots at his disposal "I know honey, but that's something that I am going to have to deal with later, for now. Ozpin owes me a factory" Winter gave him a look "And did he say were on Vale is the factory?"

Six shook his head "He said that it would be somewhere away from prying eyes, so I imagine is going to be somewhere close to the borders of the city or maybe even outside. I just hope the Bullhead is strong enough to transport all the robots". Winter notified Ozpin with her scroll and the small army began to walk behind them as they headed for the station.

Most of the students were in classes so they were not spotted by any students, Glynda was the only one that seemed to be aware of what was going on. She met them halfway, she looked back at the machines and shook her head.

"More robots… lovely" the teacher muttered under her breath, she looked with distrust at the machines. They were bulkier and slower than the one Atlas had, the material rougher and if she was not mistaken also heavier than what they used, she could hear it in the way the walked, the Sentry-Bot especially made a lot of noise as it slowly followed them. She just hoped that Ozpin's little gamble was worth it, Courier Six for all his eccentricity did not seem malicious and he had shown that he did care about the students which was always some bonus points in her book.

As they reached a bullhead Ozpin walked out of the ship to greet them "She's ready for flight" she motioned at them to get closer "As promised I have made an investment on RobCo, a small factory that closed long ago is now completely under your control. Is on the outskirts of Vale, near the forest. Perfect for your operation, I have made sure that only a special few know of its location"

Six shook hands with the headmaster with a big smile "Thank you! Just let me know what you need from the catalogue and I will happily provide" as the bullhead left and the protectrons all prepared themselves for construction duties, standing next to the Securitron Six wrote a small phrase in his PipBoy and let out a sigh "Faze one-complete"

Nate slammed the metal together as he prepared to build one of the craziest he had done yet, the machine began to shape around him as he used one of the most secluded workshops he had for this project. "Using a military scanner to retrieve the design of the machine, is such a brilliant thing to do! Were did you even get the idea for this Monsieur?"

"We used some in the war, around the red's submarines. Back in Alaska I helped with the operation" Nate commented as he remembered the hell he lived through in the cold snow of Alaska.

Curie nodded as she stared at the blueprints "This is for travel non? Were are you going?"

Nate looked at the power armor with the brotherhood insignia that was sitting on the far back of the workshop "I am going to kill a monster"

Chapter Text

Sandstorm Over Remnant

Chapter 14

Steel and bone

The Commonwealth - 1345 hours

"Everything is ready Blue, please be careful!" Piper said as Valentine watched with slight worry as the giant machine began to swirl around, he heard someone walk next to him "I don't like this Valentine"

Cait had become the closest to the sole survivor after they traveled and he helped her with some issues the synth was not aware of, Valentine had seen the change in the brawler and was surprised and in a way happy for what was changing in the man from the past, but something changed after the war with the institute and his trip to Nuka World.

Nate had begun to withdraw himself from everyone and he only came out of his workshop when the Brotherhood of steel requested he did, Nick was worried for his friend and with this surprise trip to the other side of the country his worries only doubled.

The old robot noticed how the sole survivor approached them and decided it would be best if he played it off "Yeah, don't do anything I wouldn't do"

If Nate smiled, Nick could not tell. Donned in an X-01 power armor the sole survivor looked ready for war, guns hanged from the frame making quite an intimidating sight, only a deathclaw or an insane person would be brave enough to fight him "Don't worry Nick, I will be back before you know it… and Cait please take care of Dogmeat for me while I am gone"

Nate held the minigun in his hands tightly as he steadied his nerves for what was to come, as he nodded at Curie to press the button the portal that opened around him and he was absorbed into the light.

Remnant- midday

Metal slammed against metal as smoke rose from the machines, the protectron manipulated with their large claws as the sentry bot oversaw the procedure and sent information remotely to the PipBoy of his master. The machinery screeched as if stopped by an invisible hand, a small chime played as a cheery voice sounded across the facility "Hi there! A drone is passing by trying to scan us, please all the new units shut down for ten minutes thanks!" Yes Man informed as all the robots went into standby mode, the drone passed them by as it scanned for energy readings and found no human inside the facility. The atlas drone left as it relayed the information directly to Ironwood as the general tried to see what the courier was up to, he had gotten some pictures and a small tour of the facility and while not impressed by their looks and mobility he was wary of the fire power they had, the laser melted through armor like butter.

So the general had requested Six to slow down production, he did not want an army of the things, something which Six had agreed and them promptly ignored. A separate set of Protectrons had dug underneath the facility and began building a larger production line, the main purpose of this part of the facility was to build the soldiers of Vegas, the Securitrons.

In Beacon Six twirled the platinum chip on his fingers as he watched with mild amusement at the flyers and propaganda for the big event, tournament day was just around the corner and everyone seemed to be running around with only that on their mind. He had almost forgotten about if he was honest, getting the factory to work had been in his top priority alongside hiding the securitrons and assaultrons that he planned to build, from what he had heard team RWBY was in top shape and alongside the red heads team were a favorite to win.

While he did have a favorite to win, only because he was incredibly biased in favor of team RWBY, he did want to see what JNPR was all about. But he would have to see the replay, the tournament was the perfect moment to produce some securitrons and assaultrons. He did feel a little bad about lying to the general and Ozpin, he was after all building what could be considered an invading force but Six was sure that he would not use it, until things got hairy with the creatures of the Grimm. Maybe it won't even be in what remained of his life but his pessimist worldview did not let him see any other outcome, those things were not alive someone was behind them with hatred for mankind and it scared the shit out of him. Magic and all this semblance bullshit was weird already but a powerful entity lurking in the shadows made his skin crawl with fear, Winter said that there was something in the Grimlands but that no one knew what it was, Six wanted to call bull on that. Ozpin and Ironwood had to know something, they were powerful people.

But then again, power did not mean knowledge. Lanius came to mind, the most powerful man of the Legion now and the best way to describe the Monster of the East would be to compare him to a hammer, powerful but unskilled.

Hell if he really wanted to get specific Six could point at himself. Second in command of Vegas, owner of a new army of robots and yet here he was scared of the monsters under the bed. Six chuckled to himself "Am I overreacting?" he muttered as he tried to reach for his canteen. Maybe he was just a fool, always trying to play the hero and then fucking it up at the end, bitter memories of California and The Divide came to mind but then again that was just the memories of a long dead man… weren't they?

"MR SIX! SOMETHING IS GOING ON AT THE PORTAL ROOM!" Six looked up as a scientist ran to him with a panicked look on his face. The courier of the Mojave immediately gritted his teeth and ran like a crazed man towards the room, even if he was slower then most hunters Six was still fast. Lightning erupted as the scientist tried to franticly escape from the room "Something activated the portal!"

"Inform Winter, stay back!" The courier said as a silhouette began to build in the center of the machine. Reaching for the Riot Shotgun and Old Glory Six cracked his neck. It might be Sarah, it might be one of the brains but he could not afford to risk it.

Narrowing his eyes he grinned "Whatever comes through there I am ready"

A flashing light almost blinded him Six felt his blood run cold at the sight before him, memories of a past he thought buried resurfaced "Y-you… YOU ENCLAVE FUCK!" Six jumped into the air as he brought down Old Glory on the helmet, the giant metal man took the blow to the chin as the lights on its helmet activated, red light shone down on Six as the minigun began to rev up.

"You're just as they said you would be" Six blinked in confusion as he tried to process what on the fuck this man was talking about, did someone from back in California… Six thoughts stopped as he watched with wide eyes at the insignia on the armor "You're brotherhood"

Nate gave a slow nod "I am… and you have to answer for your crimes Mr. Six, in the name of elder Maxson surrender yourself and we shall be fair in your trial, if not I WILL use lethal force"

"Crimes?! You assholes are the quasi-religious group that refuses to go away I did nothing wrong, but I am easier to reach than House aren't I?" Six said with small smirk [Speech 100]

FAILED

"You can't talk yourself out of this one. The brotherhood is needed on the wasteland and I won't let you stop them" Six felt cold sweat form on the back of his neck as he remembered the pain of those, weapons. So he activated VATS and tried to reach into his pocket to his immense surprise, the armored hand of the Power Wearing builder stopped "Don't"

Six simply grinned "Figured you had VATS too" with a strength that did not belong to a normal man Six yanked the man and slammed him against the wall shattering it and making Nate stumble back. From the smoke Six fired at him with the Riot Shotgun "Those were warning shots I don't want to kill you far from your home" Pointing at the window with his thumb the courier grinned "You are not where you think you are bud" Nate felt his heart stop as he watched the lush green forest and the beautiful vista "W-What?"

Six pushed Nate out of the window taking advantage of the small moment of confusion, the courier looked down and to his surprise Nate simply stared up at him with mild amusement "You really did think that would work?"

"Nah but it gives us room to fight!" against his better judgment Six jumped down with Old Glory in one hand and the Riot Shotgun on another, Nate fired with his weapon as the shells exploded around Six, the never ending minigun grazed the Riot Gear as the bullets dented the defensive gear, Six for his part simply swung with all his might with the golden eagle towards the helmet sparks flew as the paint job on the power armor was peeled off.

Nate reached for his 10mm pistol and shot Six in the head, the sole survivor narrowed his eyes as the head of the courier began to glow blue the Atomic-valence tri-radii-oscillator kicked in making the wound heal itself. There was a bit of a standoff as both men looked around to see that they were being observed. Students had heard the commotion, Six lowered his weapon "You want to fight, fine. But no bullets, you will hurt the children"

"Kids… they don't… they don't look like"-"Like I said you're not were you think you are" Six ran to him and planted a solid punch on the chest are of the power armor, the piercing strike pushed Nate back. Inside his head he wondered what type of freak this man was that he could punch and dent power armor, the kids all stared at him as if he was some sort of monster.

Where was he?

Cold it possibly be that he was not in…

"Over here jackass!" Six yelled as he slammed his palm against the reinforced lenses on the power armor, Nate exhaled as he refocused his military training kicked as he slapped Six away the power armor shattering his jaw but it quickly snaped back into place. Nate cracked his neck as he chuckled a bit "I had the best right hook in all the army. You're nuts if you think you can beat me in power armor"

Six simply grinned and kissed his fist "And I have the best punch in all of the wasteland, lets see who falls first!"

Both punches intersected half way as Six's fist shattered and then repaired itself he began to push back, but at the end the power armor won as Six hand split and he had to jump back there was a scream from the crowd as they looked at all the blood that poured from the wound. Reaching for a stimpak Six healed his wound as bone and muscle grotesly sitched put themselves back together "Miracle of the Old World eh?"

"It would be better if it stayed there" Nate almost growled as he prepared himself for the slug fest, Six now humbled decided that it was best if he fought with Old Glory, Nate on the other hand decided that his fist would do enough damage. As the clock hit twelve and the students of Beacon wondered if they should jump in to help, Six and Nate ran to one another and unleashed strike after strike against their torso, pieces of metal began to fall as they slugged it out. From the crowd Atlas soldiers pushed the teens out of the way with Winter leading the charge.

As she stared at the iron clad warrior her blood ran cold as ice formed in her palms, jumping down to the now bloodied floor she slammed her palms on the ground freezing both opponents before they caused more harm to one another, Six merely grunted while Nate remained quiet.

"That was…"-"Surrender, exit the power armor or we will melt it around you" Winter threatened as the rest of the Atlas Knights arrived as well as some human back up, Nate frowned but let out a sigh, ejecting the fusion core melting the ice around him immediately the General of the minutemen stepped out and flexed his muscles a bit, donned in his Reinforced Vault Suit the man out of time nodded placed the minigun on the ground.

Six looked at the man with mild shock "A… a vault dweller? Now that is interesting" Six pried himself off the ice with ease and looked at him up and down "You do look the type that would fall for the Brotherhood's bullshit", naïve is a word for your type." Nate simply ignored him as he stared at Winter.

"I am very sorry about the situation, we mean no harm. We are on hot pursuit of a terrorist" Nate gave Six a sideways glance, Winter looked around and frowned. Too many people, this was not something that needed to be public knowledge.

Six being here was already hard to cover up. So she froze the hands of Nate together and walked up to him "The General will decide what to do with you" Nate simply walked behind her his upgrades keeping him from feeling the cold ice. But he did take time to look around and breathe in the fresh air, it was so nostalgic in a way that he could not put his finger on just yet.

Was it the idealized version of the past that he was remembering? Or his home hundreds of years ago? Six followed behind them as his flesh cured itself and the Sole survivor stared at him with mild disgust, an abomination from the old world for sure. Six simply shook his head at the Vault Suit "What on earth did you to the poor vault suit" Nate refused to entertain him so he replied sarcastically "Oh I changed the color from blue to blue"

"Funny"

Winter for her part sent a message to Ironwood that she was needed, she also sent Ozpin and Glynda an apologetical glance as she passed them and boarded the Atlesian Bullhead. Surrounded by armed robots Nate almost felt irony as he remembered all his times on the Vertibird back in Alaska, lifting his gaze to stare at Six he looked at the man with the red eye with curiosity, with nothing else to don and no one around but the girl with the ice power Nate decided to ask a question to his target "Why run?"

"I didn't run"-"You did, you could have stayed in Vegas. I saw the city, its more than a den of sin. It's a fortress, the Lucky Thirty-eight still has the defenses that saved the city. Going to war with the machines you have at your disposal would kill the brotherhood. Why run?"

Six glared "I came here to start something new, to help our world heal and begin again" Nate frowned as he pressed his hands together to ease his nerves, he was not even on his ruined earth.

Lovely.

"So we are in another world… and the people here know what you are?"

"And what am I?"

Nate did not miss a beat and stared at the fain blue glow coming from his forehead "A killer, an old world monstrosity. You are exactly what I saw on TV when I was kid, the horror The Silver Shroud"

"Fancy vault the one that you lived in if you got to see the silver shroud" Six said as he glared at the man "I didn't live in a vault, I was frozen in one. I was there when we pushed the red menace back, the last day of the war was the first time I set foot in a vault"

Winter almost jumped back in shock while Six felt his jaw almost hit the floor "Y-you…"

"I don't hate you, but you are just walking down the same path as those before. The city of sin you have helped rebuild is nothing more than a dying man trying to remake the past" Nate interrupted him, Six gritted his teeth "I have heard all that before, and you are no Ulysses. We are not remaking the united states, Vegas is just the vehicle to rebuild mankind. Kickstarting construction and making something new, Vegas is a city, a small nation but it influence will make sure that the NCR and other surrounding nations all begin to prosper and trade"

Nate frowned and shook his head "You are just delusional, the world as it was once is gone. The only thing that you are doing is making sure that humanity wipes itself out again"

"Or maybe you are just afraid of another big change to the world, are you running too?"

Before either of them could continue to stab each other with words the bullhead arrived at the warship and a very concerned looking Ironwood was waiting for them.

Ironwood had been called many things, paranoid, overly cautious and controlling, but what many did not seem to understand is that in order to win the war against the enemy of all life he had to be this way.

Ozpin was tired, he could see it.

And the others could not carry such a burden, it was up to him to always check the shadows and right now shadows were everywhere. It was not just the festival anymore, there were people from another world jumping and causing mayhem and that deeply concerned him, he could not be fighting a war on two fronts.

"My name is General Ironwood" so he needed to be careful with dealing with this new possible threat. The man nodded at him "Sir" Ironwood noticed how the man slightly tensed up out of habit, like he was about to salute. That was interesting, but he would save that mental note for later.

Grabbing a file he stared at the pictures "The armor that you wore is impressive, heavier than expected"

Nate simply nodded, Ironwood let out a long sigh "You trespassed private property and open fire on a school, a kid could have gotten hurt" Nate did frown at that "I did not know I would be at a school, when I did the jump I expected to meet the target and then neutralize him"

"For what?" Ironwood asked as his eyes narrowed a bit "The brotherhood of steel is pursuing a dangerous man that destroyed an entire chapter, the Mojave Chapter to be specific" Nate said as Ironwood looked at the photo, Six could be seen covered on his own blood as he struck at the armored foe with the golden eagle.

Putting two and two together he let out a long sigh "Your target is Courier Six"

"He is"-"And why is he such a threat that he is worth pursuing to another world with no backup and maybe no way to go back?"

Nate looked at the general with a serious look "To save my world. I don't want to hurt your world, I would actually prefer if there was no connection between us. its just not natural." Ironwood narrowed his eyes, he looked at the files on his hand all of them with information on earth. Had they been mislead? Was there a possibility that Six was doing something beneath their nose?

"Continue"

Chapter Text

Sandstorm Over Remnant

More than just war

Winter stared at the cameras with a frown as she suppressed her instincts to disregard orders and simply lock the man again, but Ironwood wanted to try something. "You look nervous"

"I don't trust him"

Ironwood nodded slowly "Neither do I, but that doesn't mean that what he is saying doesn't have merit"-"He is biased"

"And you aren't? You do have an emotional connection to the man he is accusing of an act of violence against his organization"

Winter nodded "I was there when it occurred, casualties were low. Almost all of them were granted safe passage to the Capital Wasteland or California, I helped in the evacuation efforts. I don't think letting him wander around is going to change that he wants to kill Six"

"Six did commit a crime, maybe not under wasteland laws but a preemptive strike against a mostly peaceful organization is still a crime and as for letting him walk around he technically committed no crime, he thought he would arrive at a hostile place. He was not aware that he would show up in our world. He is not an invading force… yet" Winter let out a sigh "Maybe, but they would have never let someone like Mr. House continue with his plan and he was… well turned out to be the best option for me to come back home"

There was a pause as both stared at the footage of the man out of time walk on the streets of Vale, he was being followed by undercover officers and a sniper was trained on him at all times and just in case, a little birdie was following him with a microphone to listen to what he was saying.

"General he stopped near a diner, shall we intercept?"-"Negative, but be ready to do so just in case"

Nate walked inside the diner as he was hit with such a nostalgic smell that he was almost lost in memory, taking a small booth near the corner he waited patiently for the waitress to bring him the menu, a cute looking blonde girl with blue eyes smiled at him "Hello! Here's our menu just give a call when you are ready to order!"

"Thanks" he simply nodded; it was like he was back. Looking at the menu he had to control every ounce of self-control to not let himself get emotional, Burgers, milkshakes and pizzas. He would sneak out and eat them with his friends after school, the things the soldiers wished to eat when they were at base eating rations.

The blonde returned and he returned the menu "A cheeseburger and a strawberry milkshake please" he ordered without thinking, he had no money but he needed to taste it. To fool himself into thinking that he was back home, as she stared at his surroundings time seemed to fly and before he knew it the food was brought to his table. He thanked the waitress and took a bite.

"Is it good?"-"Its fantastic" Nate replied quickly as he let the flavor dance on his taste buds, out of instinct he looked at his PipBoy and there was no rads. The people here… they did not know, they had never had to down their food with RadAway and Rad-X, eating as quickly as possible so that he would not get shot from god knows were.

The waitress said something but he didn't quite catch that, but what he did see was the man that sat across him, Courier Six smiled at him and then turned to the waitress "I'll have the bacon burger and whatever soda you have. Here I'll pay for my friends and my meal" Six handed her the lien as the waitress prepared to give him change, Six simply shook his head and smiled "Keep it love, my treat" [Lady-Killer]-Successful, with a small giggle the girl moved towards the kitchen.

Now alone both waste4landers looked at each other, Nate frowned at him but pointed at his face "No scars huh?"

"Stimpaks are one hell of a thing, that and technology" Six shrugged as his drink arrived, taking a small sip from it he then turned at Nate "I figured you would stop here, it has the spirit doesn't it?"
Nate nodded and raised an eyebrow at him "And how do you know about… the spirit, was your Vault THAT American that it had diners and everything?" Six chuckled "Man I wish, no not really all I had was my comics and pictures from days past. My siblings and I used to fantasize, my sister would play the cook my brother would be the customer and I was the waiter"

There was a small pause as they enjoyed their meal in silence "Were you born there? In the Vault?"

Six shook his head as he looked towards the window with a confused expression "No… or at least I think I didn't"-"You think?" Nate asked with a raised eyebrow.

The courier nodded as he tapped the scars on his forehead "When I was shot on the head I lost almost everything, my previous life, my loved ones and my name. But as I traveled with Winter bits and pieces some times flash before my eyes, not that it really matters to me I am Courier Six now and that is all that matters"

"A clean start, huh wish I could have gotten something like that" Nate muttered as eh watched the burger that Six ordered arrive, Six gave him a look as he took a bite of his food so Nate obliged and began to tell his story. "I remember them so crearly, the last days, months, years even before I was frozen in the Vault. I close my eyes and its hard to me to believe that I survived the war, the meatgrinder that we had to endure day after day as the reds kept pushing forward and then it all ended"

Nate leaned back as he closed his eyes "The last days seemed to me like I was in a dream, I was back home. With my son… my wife, I could hardly believe that I was holding them in my arms again. The amount of death only meant that there was more resources to go around and maybe just maybe thing would go back to normal"

Six looked at him with sympathy "And then…"-"The end of the world, as my vault closed I watched as hellfire rained down on everything, the power of atom had been unleashed and it consumed everything. I thought that maybe… me and my family could live safe down there, when I woke up my wife was dead and my son had been kidnapped by the monsters of the Institute"

"Jesus…" Six said as he leaned back "Yeah, but I could still save my son. So I ran to the wasteland I had to find him or I would die trying"

Six watched as a deep frown formed on the tired face of the man out of time "Then… why?"

"Why did you become part of the Brotherhood of steel? They would never let things go back to the way the world was when you lived in it" Nate leaned forward and glared at Six "And that is exactly why I am a proud member of the brotherhood of Steel"

There was a pause as Six blinked in confusion "They are right, technology that advances faster than what should be allowed is what doomed the world the first time and it was almost what doomed us all when the institute tried to take over Boston and now look at you and your machine army. Don't you see how dangerous it is? One day when you and House are not around the machines could destroy all of Vegas, maybe worse"

"That won't happen, they are machines they can be controlled. They don't feel, they don't think all they are is a set of codes and if needed they can all be shut down" Nate scoffed "Lets hope you are right, the brotherhood is nervous about a city like Vegas"

Six glared "Because they fear progress, they know that as soon as they no longer have the advantage they fall like paper. The NCR made proved that, with their numbers they have kicked the mighty brotherhood back into hiding"

There was another pause as they continued to eat, but the tension in the air was palpable "And that's what worries me, we are getting close to the point of no return. We are about to doom the planet again"

"How?" Six asked as he leaned forward "War, the NCR or the Legion will move towards the capital Wasteland, the Brotherhood will mobilize with all their might and another civil war will erupt. Vegas will aid the NCR, and you and I will be on opposite sides of the battlefield"

Nate finished making the courier shake his head "That's a big IF, the NCR and Legion have been stopped. Neither is willing to make a move, if they want to survive they will stay put for decades to come and the Brotherhood needs to mind their own business in their side of the country, look I know you don't believe me but I don't want to fight the Brotherhood. I don't want to kill a group of people no matter how misguided I think they are"

"Misguided, yes but you fail to see the effect they have"

Six narrowed his eyes "Holy shit… you don't really believe in them" Nate let out a sigh "I believe in what they do, they take dangerous weapons and technology away from the common maniac and raiders. I might not follow their rules as a religion but they keep the world safe from another mad man with a thirst for power. They are necessary."

There was a pause as Nate remembered his raiders in Nuka World, another necessity that kept the wheel of the wasteland turning. But the courier did not need to know that, as he processed what Nate had said Six hummed as he looked out of the window.

"I remember some things from my past, the travels under the warm California sun. Faces that I no longer remember, with feelings I no longer have but you know what I remember the most?" Nate nodded at him to continue. \

Six looked down at his new PipBoy courtesy of Doc Mitchel and let out a long sigh "Fear, the nothingness of the wasteland. We hid in destroyed houses, seeking shelter in areas controlled by the NCR" There was a pause as Six looked at Nate with his red eye.

"I don't want to forever live in fear of the Old Night"

Neither of them said anything as they finished their meals, Six looked at the man that was slightly smaller than him and was reminded why he didn't go all out against him, use weapons that would actually do shit against power armor. There was a human there, a man that had no hope of understanding how this new world worked, forever destined to walk alone.

As for Nate he stared at the man that he had come to kill and let out a long sigh. Things had just gotten more complicated for him.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

One more day

There are many voices in the wasteland, a symphony of pain, survival and hope. The world itself burned centuries in the past and yet the war kept raging on, the ideals of the Old World had not just survived but thrived in the form of the New California in Vegas, while on the other side of the country something new was slowly being born. Under the watchful eye of the brotherhood technology is being controlled and people can begin to pick up the pieces of their broken lives or that was Ironwood would say if asked what he understood of his conversation with the Sole Survivor.

James liked the man, he was to the point and obviously had military background and he could not really fully fault him for the incident in Beacon, he really thought he was neck deep in enemy territory fighting Six as Winter liked to call him. The cyborg had proven to be valuable asset, Ozpin's little gamble with the man from another world seemed to have paid off. The protectrons that had been delivered after some new paintjob they looked right at place along the more sleek units they had been given by the Schnee company, sturdy was a word that he had heard being muttered by the troops, he personally preferred the word durable and their firepower while a little too… inhuman for his taste, they way that it burned through flesh and punched a hole though muscle, it overheated armor and after some testing it also detonated dust.

It was an interesting reaction to say the least, but one he had not shared with many people, no need to let Jacques know just yet were he had gotten the new robots.

So now that he had heard and studied both sides he had an idea on how to solve the issue, he informed Ozpin to get the portal ready. This was a delicate diplomatic affair, two representatives of a different world had a major disagreement on Remnant land but because of the uniqueness of the situation and the fact that the Sole Survivor claimed to meant no harm the best course of action would be to send him back to his world and ask that any disagreement they might have top be solved on their world.

As for Courier Six he wondered if he also would request for him to take a small vacation from this project so that he did not have to worry about multiversal situations, but Ozpin had stepped in to stop that. He said that the would like their contact from another world to see what Remnant was all about and what better way of showing that than with the Vytal festival and well if he knew Ozpin as he thought he did the old headmaster wanted to keep his eyes on the mane with no name.

"Sir, the transport is ready" a soldier informed him as he nodded towards him and looked at the giant armor next to him. It was a bizarre color, like a neon blue. Quantum Armor or something along those lines was what Nate had called it, it was impressive and if replicated at a mass scale an asset. The only thing that had stopped him from kindly… asking to have blueprints of the thing was the horror stories that came with the basic description of the armor.

Developed for a war that he could hardly picture, billions of lives being lost and the answer to stealth tactics by the enemy was to build a powerful armor that no amount of stealth would stop. Power Armor helped to push the enemy back and made it seem like they were too powerful to be defeated or that was the feeling until the bombs fell from the sky.

Ironwood even if he thought this entire chest game that Ozpin was playing was taking too long did not want to go the way of the Old World as Six called it, caution would be best to see everything and to search for an opening. All out war would make everything so much worse and he did not like to treat the life of his own men like expandable fodder for a battle against the Grimm without end, so for now Power Armor was something that Remnant would no be using just yet.

"Thank you, please send the man in"

The door closed and then quickly opened again as the bright blue of the vault suit came into view "How are you feeling?" Ironwood asked as he motioned to the chair near his desk "A little overwhelmed, its… its like I was back home. But then I look at the hair of the people here, the powers and everything else I remember that no. This is not my world, I don't belong here and I think it would be best if I leave, you have a beautiful world General don't let anything happen to it"

Ironwood nodded "Of course, I always welcome the advice of a fellow General. You will be sent home, the portal is already being prepared and you won't need to worry about retaliation on our part. We understand the situation"

Nate nodded "Thanks, I really appreciate it… I know I am out of line general but I recommend you do the same with Courier Six, he is messing with things that are not meant to be real. But I understand if you consider him valuable"

"Your input is appreciated, I am considering this option. Part of the reason why I brought you here, we have talked in length about the dangers of the Old World and his influence on New Vegas. But I wanted to know if given the sensitive situation and if he is what you say he is… would you assist us? Help us in sending home?" Ironwood was a careful man, a paranoid man some might say but he liked to have every single option available to him if needed and now he had the perfect person to do the job if Courier Six… overstepped in a way.

Nate stared at the man and nodded "We would, not just me but the Brotherhood of Steel. He is to be arrested and trialed for the destruction of The Mojave Chapter"-"And how do I reach you?"

"You know how to make the teleporter, just send someone to find me, I will know" the General nodded and shook hands with the man and turned his head to the armor "Take it with you, I think its best if something like this does not stay here" Nate nodded as he activated the Power Armor and entered it. The fusion core roared as the Quantum X-01 power armor came to life and it moved towards the door "Ready when you are general"

Six landed a savage blow against the punching bag as he rocked the small ring with the strength of his punches, the small ring was near the office of the factory. In his spare time and with the help of the Buildi-trons he had set up for himself quite a descent set up he would say, he gently shook his head to make sure that the sweat did not get into his eye and let out a sigh. He was slightly bored but what could he do now that he was more or less under house arrest. He had been asked by Atlas to stay in the factory for the time being, he assumed that it had to with the asshole from the Brotherhood, Six was almost sure that Mr. Popsicle was being sent back to the iron clad lunatics. He kind of figured that Atlas would do that when he saw Nate walking around Vale, poor bastard Six didn't know if it was nice or cruel to show the man out of time a world that resembled the one he lost.

Winter was surprised that he had shown up but she did not seem all that upset with him about his appearance at the small diner, the conversation he had with Nate must have proven to be enlightening in a way to General Ironwood. He hardly cared whatever the case was, his little project was almost done. A bunker half the size of the one underneath Caesar's camp had been built and populated by the mighty robot army, the raw components had been easy to come across and with the Platinum Chip the upgrade was quick and efficient, he thanked God that Ironwood had actually paid him for the robots.

Now he just needed to check the logistics of sending wood and building supplies to earth but he got bored halfway through and had Yes Man finish the necessary details, the AI had been tweaked a bit by Mr. House and now it only answered to him and the man in Vegas. Another piece in their puzzle that Six could not see clearly quite yet, seeing things that far out in the distance was not his forte but he just hoped that his little play of their paid off.

The robots where a precaution and he would eventually reveal them to either Ozpin or someone he could trust, maybe if Weiss took over her father's company, or maybe some of her friends they looked like they had a bright future ahead of them. But oh well time would tell, a small alarm on his PipBoy made him stop his pondering and training he moved to the cameras, the bulky terminal activated as it connected to the cameras outside "Well speak of the little devils" he opened the doors from his terminal and walked to entrance.

"Hello there kids, what are you doing out here?"

Ruby waved excitedly at him "Hi Six! Oh Weiss's big sister sent us to check on you… and we also kind of wanted to see the cool robots hehe" Six smiled at that "That's sweet of her, but shouldn't you be training? Isn't the big day like in a couple of days?"

"We are already done in training, we will rest out bodies to be ready for the Tournament" Weiss said, as she walked up to him and offered him a small bag. Six almost salivated at the smell, ah a burger so thoughtful of them. "Winter said that you probably forgot to eat"

Six chuckled and ruffled the hair on the heiress making her push his hand away with a huff "Hey! My hair takes time to make you know" opening the doors for team RWBY he motioned them to follow him. "Come on in, sorry about the mess we are not yet receiving visitors"

Yang whistled once inside enjoying the echo, while Blake narrowed her eyes at how dark it was "Did you forget to pay the light bill Six?" the courier grinned as he approached a large switch "No" he turned the lights on as the lights shone on the different machines like if they where in a museum.

"I just like to dramatically show off my toys" Ruby's eyes sparkled as she darted from robot to robot, to the young leader everything looked like something out of her comics, Six watched with amusement as the other two joined him while Weiss stood next to him, the courier smiled at her "I guess you are not that interest in robots huh?"

Weiss shrugged "I have spent some time with machines, father's company uses them for… many situations" the small heiress made a thin line with her mouth as Six hummed in understanding "Well, then I guess I don't have much to impress you. Your sister was more impressed of the mutated creatures and the people of the wasteland, she barely blinked at the robots"

"I can't imagine Winter being surprised at anything" Weiss said as Six smiled softly at that "She is hard to impress I must admit…. something on your mind kid? You look like her when you are worried"

Weiss blinked in surprise "I do?"-"Nah but I got you to admit that you are worried about something" a slight slap on his back that barely registered followed as Six remained quiet for the girl to process her thoughts.

"The big day is coming soon"-"Yes"

Weiss leaned back as she stared at her team tour around the facility and read the descriptions of the robots. she envied them in a way "I have to prove myself… I am not Winter, I cant be in the military but I can be a huntress. My parents will be watching and I need to show them that I am more, that I can carry the name not just by being the heir" there was silence for a moment as Six searched for the right words he wanted to say to the little sister of his girlfriend. "You will win, even if you don't hold the trophy Weiss"

"How?"

"To fight at that level and in such a stage at your age, is nothing short of incredible. I like that about you two always fighting your nature, trying to be more and better… something to admire" Six said as Weiss stared at him "And you? Are you not the same?"
Six made a face as he remembered the plains of California and the sand of the Mojave.

He really did not know the answer to that yet "My nature… I don't think I have one Weiss, I just want what's best for everyone I don't really care about proving myself" Weiss gave him a look "sounds almost like the hero from the knight novels"

Six actually laughed at that "And here I thought I was more of the pirate type according to everyone, but nah I was not made with the idea of that type of hero in mind"

"Made?" the question lingered in the air, Six looked down at his hand "Ancient history, nothing to concern yourself about. Neither genetics nor some general could change who I am now and now what I want is to show you something I was trying to make, don't tell the others" Six motioned for her to follow as he watched over his shoulder as he opened a small box. "Mr. Handy, a personal secretary, nanny and cleaning service all in one robot. I need someone to test them as butlers"

Weiss blinked as she got what he wanted "And you want us to… take it"

"Sure, tell me if he works and how it feels to have him around. The idea is to mass produce this babies and make a profit, you have fighting robots and the like but you don't have servant robots!" Weiss passed her hand over the smooth silver paint "They run with nuclear power"

Six shook his head "No… I don't want to bring the power of atom to your world. You guys don't need it, the situation is not bad enough for me to even consider the idea of bringing something nuclear"-"Are Grimm not enough of a threat to you?"

"Oh don't get me wrong I do think they are pretty dangerous and need to be destroyed as soon as possible. But hunters are effective from what I have seen and nuclear power is not something that you can just use and then forget about it. The genie would be out of the bottle and it would hang over remnant for the rest of time… I don't want for you"

"Hey Six! Why are there not more of the big guy?" Ruby zipped next to them as Six closed the box in time to not spoil the surprise. Six turned his eye to what Ruby was pointing and found the Sentry Bot looking down from his position. Carefully studying the movements of the teens, Six would have assumed that he was turned off if not for the red light that scanned the room.

The courier gestured towards the big gun on its hand "That, if I bring more of those it would be as if I brought like twenty men to fight for me. It doesn't look all that good, well and also the little fact that sentry bots are a pain the behind to make or reprogram" Six explained aways as the others joined, enjoying each others company.

The Vytal festival drew near and across the worlds a low rumble could be felt in the air. Nate felt it as he walked out of the portal surprising Nick and Dogmeat "That was quicker than expected"-"Think of it like my first visit to the institute… when we go back we will need way more firepower"

Salem and her minions prepared themselves as everything went just as planned, to captured in their own machinations to feel it.

Joshua Graham felt it as he finishing reading the scripture, he made a small prayer for his friend, winter felt a cold shiver go down her spine as if a snowflake fell on it and on the sands of the Divide Ulysses simply stared ahead as the winds of change transformed the dust in the grave of Goodsprings into a sandstorm.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm Over Remnant

Fall

Prologue

"Blue moon, you saw me standing alone"

The song echoed across the halls of the factory as a poorly set up light flickered illuminating the army of robots. Assault-trons and Protectrons, patrolled the larger securitrons as their screens reflected the shadow of a silhouette on the center of the large room.

The figure was assembling a chainsaw from scratch. The teeth seemed to glow as he gently grazed them with a small bone from a long dead Fire Gecko. The bone was cut by being merely touched by the teeth of the death machine making the man snort as he muttered to himself "Sharp enough" with that weapon fully ready for combat he passed his hand over the other tools of destruction, sniper rifles, shot guns and assault riffles were the name of the game, the red eye of the figure glowed as he stared at the golden eagle. The weapon had belonged to a fearsome courier that once fought for the bull and then for no flag at all, but the weapon now belonged to another Courier one that flew the flag of New Vegas and one of the few that had walked between worlds.

"Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own"

Six gripped old Glory as he glared at the screen of the small TV he had set up for himself, he tried to calm down but the worry that was making his artificial heart beat faster could not be quenched at the words on the screen "ATTACK ON BEACON! VALE CITY UNDER EVACUATION!" This was faster than he had expected, it broke his heart to know that he was right, that the comments and predictions by Mr. House had been right on the money.

That this paradise was always at the edge, a moment away from collapse.

"And the moment is now" Six muttered as he adjusted his Riot Gear and placed the platinum chip on the console. The machines all came to life as their weapons prepared themselves to tear everything down, from the depths of the facility a weapon that he had hoped to not use. Six picked up the secret weapon as he could only wonder if he was doing the right thing.

One thing was to use this weapon on his world, planet earth and its inhabitants were already dammed, condemned to repeat it; over and over again.

But here in this world the genie had not been let out of the bottle, if he did this… there was no saying what would happen. As he passed his finger over the fat-man he had smuggled inside the robots Six let out a long sigh, looking up to the screen he saw Beacon assailed from all fronts and a massive, winged creature circled the beautiful building. Was Winter there?

Winter's little sister, Weiss, was definitely there fighting for her life. Family was such an alien concept to him now, in his past life he had one but they had all been washed away along with the feelings for them with the bullets that pierced his brain. The one constant in his new life was her… Winter.

And he would not lose her, nor anyone she cared about.

So with that in mind he grabbed the FatMan and handed it to an Assaultron "Keep it safe until the time is right, I'll let you know" no need to delay the inevitable, Six activated the Pip-Boy as the machines all turned to him and began to follow him out of the room, Six spared one last glance at Yes Man and let out a sigh "Yes Man, begin Protocol: Winter"

War. War never changes, since the begins of Remnant mankind has waged a never-ending war against themselves and the forces of Grimm, the kingdoms engaging in a Great War that threatened their very existence and yet humanity always found ways to survive and thrive in the long shadow of the mistakes of the past. Unseen forces played their grand games as the a new era dawned. The death of heroes like Summer Rose signaled dark times, but humanity and the Faunus still chose to ignore the signs and keep on living on the edge, living in ignorance. But now as smoke rose from the beacon of hope, humanities false sense of peace was shattered and they awoke to the cruel reality that their war had never ended.

Winter wondered what hell looked like, a part of her imagined that it looked something like the Sierra Madre. But if it wasn't maybe it was something like this, a place you cared about slowly being torn to shreds by the monsters you hated and those that where supposed to protect it.

Beacon was burning and she could not get a hold of anyone via scroll or radio.

A disturbing song played in the halls as she did her best to find anyone, Beacon was being hit the hardest at the moment but she could see in the distance how smoke rose from Vale and the surrounding areas, this was planned attack something greater than just the nature of the Grimm was at play here and all she needed right now was to find her sister and get her out of here.

"Out of the way!" she cut the Grimm like nothing as she easily sidestepped the attack of the creatures. She used her plasma pistol to melt the door that was blocking her path, not bothering to wait for it to fully melt she kicked it down as she used the dorms to get to the highest point in Beacon, she could see flames erupting from there and the big thing that she did not know what to call also seemed to be circling there. She just needed to get there, she needed to get there for Weiss!

"EVERYONE FALL BACK!" a hunter screamed as his aura broke, the beasts had begun to rampage through the streets of the city, the people all desperately tried to reach the bullheads to evacuate but many began to fall behind as the Grimm began to cut down the number of survivors by the dozen. The hunter screamed as he tried to stall them so that more people could escape but the sheer quantity of creatures almost seemed to be unending.

The hunter gasped as he was cut by a large claw making stumble to the side "No…" the maw of the creature opened to rip his head off, making the hunter close his eyes and accept his fate.

"Exterminate" a machine gun drowned out the sound of the beasts as large explosions shook the city. The strong smell of powder made the survivors cough and look in surprise as the brute machines of destruction

"Move along please" plasma and laser rifle burned through flesh and melted the bones of the Grimm, black smoke began to rise to the skies as the ground began to shake as an army advanced towards Beacon. "Area secured" the army chanted in unison as they followed their leader.

Six reloaded the riot shotgun as he glared at the dissolving creatures "Units damaged?"

"Five, self-repair already working. Will be fixed in T-Minus two minutes" one of the Securitrons replied to him, Six snorted as he took aim at the weird flying creatures that darkened "Have the assaultron had any luck shooting those down?"

One of the assaultrons flanked him as it shot with their laser head to the sky and landed a hit bringing down a nevermore "Success, now one out of tens shots have landed" it informed him as Six hummed "That's too low, only fire if they begin to descend. Focus on ground combat." The formation that they were working with seemed to be doing the trick, but it was still to slow for his taste.

He needed to reach Beacon like yesterday "Yes Man?"

"HI! Everything running smoothly here!" the cheery AI replied from the radio on his PipBoy "Yes-Man how goes the takeover of the factories?"

"Oh well most of the factories in Vale are pretty much useless to us, because they don't make guns the nerds but the materials inside are great! With some time, we can remake them for our needs! Now that half the population is gone we can just take whatever we want!"

Six stopped walking as he heard that "What?"

"Oh I was using the scanner that a private company has for scrolls, now that Protocol Winter is active I accessed everything that could help us. And I found the way to look into the scrolls and security cameras of the city. Pretty neat huh?"

Six shuddered at the amount of control he now had "Yeah… neat, so you have been spying on how much people have died?"-"Yes!"

"That's creepy as hell yes man, but whatever just have the securitrons protect the remaining people. We need to get to Beacon ASAP, but we cant just abandon them" Six said as he resumed fighting the creatures of Grimm. He was glad that the securitrons had a self-repair function because it seemed like something was guiding more Grimm to their location. Did this things have like a hive mind or something?

Six grabbed a small girl by the collar of her shirt and pulled her behind him, he gestured to the rest of the survivors to come closer "Stay close to the robots if you want to live!"

One of the shaken up residents of vale looked at him with fear "How can we know this ones won't turn on us too!" Six shot at one of the Grimm with a dragon's breath round setting some of the nearby structures on fire as well as the Grimm, he smiled gently at them using his charisma to calm down the nervous survivors "Don't worry our security is something out of this world, I promise"

"Alert a large gathering of Grimm approaching" an message from Yes-man informed the robot army, Six let out a sigh and shook his head, he made a small prayer asking for forgiveness and turned to the one assaultron that had what he needed "We don't have time for this, give me the FatMan" he moved towards the end of the formation and watched as the killings machines all ran towards them in the hundreds "Sorry Winter" Six pulled the trigger as the small nuclear bomb flew into the air and landed in the middle of the creatures there was silence as the ground shook and then a blinding flash of light erupted as the survivors screamed in panic at the mushroom cloud that appeared on the horizon, it burned everything in its path and for the first time in Six's time Remnant his Geiger counter began to tick.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Fall

"In the history of the world of this world many times could be said that time froze" a cold voice said as it stared into the fires of Armageddon with cold indifference, thousands of lives, minutes uncountable and she had overseen it all. She had played the longest game to get to this, her hand behind almost every event that lead mankind and faunus-kind to this very moment.

And yet… this was new.

Next to her, the ones that called themselves her subordinates all stared with quiet horror and confusion as a large part of their army was destroyed. The grimm burned as the large mushroom cloud expanded their skin melting as tumors erupted from withing, fur fell to the ground and bone shattered, she could feel their deaths the way their life disappeared from reality "What in the gods name is that?"

No, not in the gods name. She remembered them and they did not create something like this, everything that was transpiring before her eyes was by the hand of man and their endless creativity for destruction but this should not be possible yet, not even the most technologically advanced nation had a way to produce such horrors.

Ozma had made sure of that "Those robots… they are not Atlas robots" a nervous comment behind her made her almost smile. Of course they weren't, Watts was not her only means to gaze inside the city but she let the man believe his delusions of grandeur, the old monster raised her hands as she turned to her followers.

"Beacon has fallen, everything is still going according to plan. It matters little what happens in the city now, but this new threat must be studied carefully, Cinder has yet to report but I am sure she has the power of the maiden on her hands. Leave, there is no longer any reason for you to be here" the sound of shuffling feet and a door closing reached her ear. They where all so obedient, so eager to please and yet none could give her what she truly desired.

Salem caressed the screen as her children all corroded and died by this invisible crater in the middle of Vale, there was nothing like this but she had found her answer.

This new power could do exactly what she desired, her red eyes shone with anticipation as more explosion ravaged the area, the roads becoming nothings but dust. The buildings reduced to rubble and everything with life melted and decayed to nothing "This is going even better than I could imagine."

If war doesn't change then men must, those where the parting words that Ulysses had said to him in the last of his tapes. The conclusion of the other courier after witnessing so much of what the wasteland had to offer, of what it had taken from him and from others, the birth and death of nations.

Those words had been burned into Six's brain and he had many nights thinking about the meaning behind them. Even with Winter sleeping next to him Courier Six did not understand the why of it, change to him was nature.

Everything changed, people changed and even he had changed.

The kid that had left Vault eighteen was no more, before Benny put two bullets on his head he had feeling that he no longer had what it took to be that star player that his memories oh so desperately tried to paint him as.

And his evolution didn't just stop there, he changed the moment he fell for her. He changed on the Big MT, he changed on the Sierra Madre where he felt he left part of his soul.

But most evidently he had changed on his last trip home. The Divide had changed him, the fire he had brought with him from California had turned Hopeville into the irradiated hell-hole that it was now was because he had changed.

Or at least believed he had changed.

So if he had changed, why was he doing it again? The nuclear blast swallowed the area that the Grimm had been approaching them, the last Bullhead had taken off with whatever people he could put inside and now only some atlesian soldiers and some hunters remained "Are you not going to leave too?" he asked them absentmindedly as he prepared another bomb.

Their expressions told him everything he needed to know, they feared the weapon on his hands "There might be someone trapped here. We cannot leave them behind, Vale is lost to us"

To them, yes that much was true. But not to him, not if he wanted the next step of the plan to succeed, so with that in mind he requested a ride with his PipBoy "Then I won't stop you from being a hero, I will bombard the Grimm from above hopefully they will follow me" Six said as a bullhead arrived, he ignored the blood on it and turned to his pilot a battered looking assaultron.

"We need to reach Beacon, the big building over there. Ignore the giant dragon, just land near the top of the tower" he yelled as the machine jerked forward and Six reached for his sniper rifle. Anti-Material Rifle he was no Boone but he knew how to use it, now all he needed was the right ammo for it, in his fingers laid one of the most expensive bullets he had needed to buy.

.50 MG explosive.

Loading the ammo carefully into his rifle he felt the bullhead shake, and a loud screech ah the dragon had spotted them. "Get close to that part of the building please and keep him distracted" Six said as he prepared to jump.

"Affirmative" the robotic reply reached his ears as he jumped, the robot crashed into the dragon momentarily stunning him. Six wasted no time and began to run towards the top of the tower. He heard the roar of flames and he pressed on faster, his artificial heart beating faster by the second he was almost there.

Slamming the door open Six saw what looked to be a locker fly away into the distance and a kneeling Pyrrah kneeling as a woman in red prepared for the killing blow. "No" he heard the soft whisper before he entered V.A.T.S, Ruby?

No, that didn't matter now. He had to save the girl, two shot was all he needed to do so. The arm first and then the head, it didn't matter how strong anyone was they would not survive this caliber and this weapon.

"NO!" blinging light exploded next to him as he pulled the trigger, Six heard the aura shatter as the bullet almost ripped the arm out of its socket a loud scream followed as the crimson woman turned to him "Who dares?!"

Six was no idiot, he knew that any monster capable of doing this two the gladiator lady could kill him in seconds, he was not as superhuman as the Father would have liked, so he needed to act fast. Jamming med-x., turbo and psycho into his system he ran as fast as his body would allow him, almost to the speed of a hunter. The crimson demon aimed her hand at him and flames fiercer than any flamethrower struck him, but Six would not yield, running towards her he ignored the red tornado of flames that covered his body and grabbed her by the head. Taking a piece out of the Legion books he used his brute strength to slam her to the ground and then he placed his thumb on top of her eye "WAIT!"

The flames that surrounded him were so strong that he could feel how some of the Riot Gear began to melt but that did not matter, he had suffered worse. The screams almost became deafening as he felt the eye burst under the pressure of his thumb, the flames died down as the girl clutched her face in agony "Do not move, if you want to live that is."

"You will burn for this!" Cinder screamed as the tall man removed his helmet, a red eye glared down at her, reaching for his shotgun Six aimed at her injured hand and fired. Blood erupted from the wound as he severed the limb, the screams that followed made him frown "Now now, don't act like a victim"

Six slammed his foot down on her only arm and grabbed her by the throat "You and I, we will be getting to know each other a lot better, but for now… have a good-night" Six slammed his fist on her head with all his might as he shattered her nose. He stared with some fascination at the weird black thing that had burned her, it almost looked like charcoal.

"Man I didn't know that anti material rifle did…" Six looked up as he stared at a frozen dragon. He turned to see Ruby and Pyrrah passed out on the ground "What the fuck?" was all he could mutter. Things slowly to click on his head as terrifying realization dawned on him, he had once again gotten lucky; Ruby had done something to the crimson lady and the giant beast, and he had just capitalized on it.

If he had not done anything would it have been the same? Or did he actually help in something?

"Hi! All of Vale has been either evacuated or in an area free of Grimm! Every single factory is under our control and best of all, Beacon has been secured! There are some pretty neat weapons and gizmos here. Oh I also found Winter and her sister… she seems mad, good luck!" the voice of Yes Man snapped him out of his musings, taking a look at the horizon and the city that now was either burning or eerily quiet

Six could only let out a sigh as he shut off his PipBoy, there still was much to do here. Looking down at the city Six he could spot the are where he had struck it with the FatMan "I also have some thing to clean up too I guess" he muttered to himself as he walked towards the wounded with some stimpaks on hand.

He held the head of Ruby as he checked for her pulse "Nice and healthy" seems like she had just passed, maybe something to do with the blinding light that had almost blinded him, she at least did not have any signs of being burnt like that other bitch.

As for Pyrrah she did need some Stimpaks but her breath was still labored and erratic even after he administered the Old World drug, there was something here that he did not know about, something that he maybe should not be messing with. "RUBY!" he turned to see Weiss kneeling next to her friend, Winter stood next to her sister as she stared at him with a large frown, Six wondered if it was the blood on him, the robots or the fact that he had unleashed the power of atom on her world.

"What did you do?" Winter could only ask as she looked at him up and down.

Six looked at the burning buildings, a reminder of the scorched earth and smiled sadly "I changed"

"…easy there, you girls are going to be okay" soft whispers reached her ears as she fought to open her eyes, Ruby felt like she had no energy. The pain on her head was constant and increasing. Forcing her body to react she turned to the side with great effort as her eyes began to obey her command.

White, blindingly so.

That was all she could think about, shadows danced around her area of vision as she heard hushed whispers "…yes general… many survivors… radiation."

Winter, she remembered her. Weiss's sister. Struggling to groan to catch the attention of the eldest Schnee sibling Ruby felt sensation come back to her little by little "W…Win…" there was a pause as she heard something being pushed out of the way as a cold hand touched her forehead "She is still burning up, Winter what do we do?" Weiss, she was here with her.

"For now we let her rest. Evac should be here soon, God what a mess"-"But Vale was… saved right?"

Ruby heard a long sigh "But its empty Weiss, there is no one here anymore. Nothing but another irradiated wasteland" there was a lot of sadness in the tone of voice, a betrayal that ran deep.

"Did… radiation freeze the giant monster?" Weiss asked tentatively as Ruby's vision finally cleared and she could see herself reflected on Winter's new metal sword, her silver eyes stared back at her "Something that we don't know… there is so much that we don't know, we are going back to Atlas and try to make sense of this attack, this was planned and who knows if we might be next"

Ruby turned her head to the side as she caught a glimpse of something red, soft breathing could be seen on the prone body as Ruby felt her body gently go back to slumber, but her soul was not as tired anymore as if a big weight had been lifted off her, after all Pyrrha was alive.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over remnant

Courier Six

"There is nothing you can do to fix this!"

It was a common saying that Vale had a wonderful atmosphere, more than any other kingdom on Remnant some said that Vale had such a fresh air of originality to it that those who visited it always missed it, even now Six was inclined to agree with that feeling, unlike the casinos of New Vegas their bars and other waterholes seemed to exist in abundance, one for every type of taste, he was more of a subdued guy so he quite liked this little place he had found himself in while looking for anything useful or maybe a survivor, with lots of woods in its design it appealed to him in a way, it was not his favorite sure because that place was held by Goodsprings Saloon but he assumed that had to do with the fact that he was a little sentimental.

"So that it then, it has all been a big lie!" Tearful eyes, a dark place his mind wished to forget. Another person he had no idea who it was yelled at him from a time long past, Six wondered how much longer he would be cursed by ghosts, but ghost was all that was left here anyways, it hadn't been long since the last Bullhead had departed and Vale had fallen silent.

Even unaffected places, like some residential areas and the part of the city he was currently in, had been evacuated and now all that remained was a ghost city of robots and himself. The Grimm had began to disperse from the area; with no souls to be found on the city and an army that seemed to regenerate from every wound the curse of remnant had moved on to greener pastures. Six pitied the poor village they might go too next "Please don't do this" Six chuckled as he remembered those words, the memory held weight even if the messenger was nothing more than fog, he downed another bottle as he made a face at the taste "No, this one is bad. Give me another type" he told the Protectron he had more or less kidnapped so that it could be his personal bartender.

The robot silently obeyed as he left Six to his fractured memories, the courier made a face as he tried to remember who had said that to him, it was not in the Mojave of that much he was certain. All memories that belonged to Courier Six, the man that was born on that grave of Goodsprings, were intact so this had to be before that.

Either in California or maybe in the Divide "But it wasn't always the Divide" he muttered to himself, according to Ulysses there was only one person to blame for the destruction of the once thriving new nation.

"It's me" startled Six looked up as a man entered the ruined bar, he grabbed a buttle of rum and he sat down next to the courier. The tall man nodded at him "Figured one of you would be around, how's Ruby?"

Qrow let out a long sigh "Better but she still moves sluggishly. Breaks my heart" Six frowned "Sorry to hear that, I wish I could have been faster. Maybe I could have done more for your niece."

"As far as we know, those two owe you their lives" Qrow commented as he looked at the machine with wariness "This one wont get hacked right?" Six shook his head as he pointed at the Protectron "It's too simple, it can only obey commands from someone it recognizes as its owner and in order to change that you have to get very close to the thing, but it would destroy itself before letting anyone tamper with it"

"Protect and Serve" the machine chirped as it placed the bottle of beer in front of Six, Qrow kept his eyes on his drink, the bags under his eyes telling an entire story of how much this had come out of left field for the people of this world "Ozpin is dead"

Six nodded "I know, I am sorry"

"The guy seemed unkillable all knowable, but here I am. The unluckiest guy in the world, alive and kicking while the one that could save this world is dead" Six drank from the bottle as he waited for Qrow to continue, but he was not in an impatient mood. Everything was going according to plan, not the path he would have like to take but all things considered everything was going fine.

Qrow passed him a small letter "General Ironwood, he requests access to Beacon to remove all important materials and information" Six nodded "Sure, he could have just landed and taken them. Is not like I own the place"

"That's not what he thinks, he thinks you launched an invasion. Took advantage while Vale was dying to set foot on this planet… it makes some sense if you're paranoid, the number of robots on Beacon don't help either" Six had to agree that it did look a little bit suspicious.

Six nodded "Yeah, tell him Beacon is all his. And that the people of Vale can come back as soon as the area is deemed safe by the general"

"The city might be safe soon, but Beacon is another story, the Cross Continental Transmit tower was destroyed and that frozen thing on top of the tower seems to be attracting the attention of more Grimm. Your little toys are the only reason Beacon is not a jungle of Grimm by now… Beacon and its surrounding areas will become just another ruin on this world"

Six hummed as he began to add to the plan that he had already set with House, Qrow gave him a sideways glance "Oh and Witner is the one that is being sent to retrieve everything."

"…makes sense" Six muttered as he stood up and downed what remained of the bottle of beer "Then I best be prepared, see you at Beacon?" Qrow shook his head "I am needed somewhere else. But good luck" the old crow let out a long sigh as he grabbed another bottle of hard liquor, things were just getting better and better.

"Hi! Welcome back, two giant machines are surrounding us on all sides!" Yes Man happily greeted Six as he entered the run-down academy. Six snorted as he looked up, yeah Atlas was sending more than a battalion it seemed.

All of them flesh and blood he would be willing to bet.

It would be very poetic, almost like a fairytale. The humans beating the metallic monsters, what a shame it was for them that he really was not looking for a fight. A small ship landed near him as the large wyvern's shadow cast over the roof, his red eye spotted a sniper on one of the ships he did not need to know that it was aiming directly at his head.

As the doors of the machine opened Six watched as Winter walked up to him flanked by her soldiers, weapons at the ready.

"Courier Six" Winter raised her hand to stop anyone from firing as she walked up to him her eyes darted to his PipBoy, Six got the message as he twisted his hand to look at the message. It was short and simple, follow my lead. A small smile made its way into his lips, he could do that just fine "Atlas acknowledges and thanks you for the defense of the kingdom of Vale, but we are demanding you surrender control of Beacon Academy for the retrieval of sensitive material."

Six simply nodded as he pressed some buttons on his PipBoy and the robots all seemed to power down "All yours specialist, nothing should be out of place" Winter nodded at her men as the entire force began to mobilize, Beacon was a massive facility but with the number of people that Six saw running around he assumed that they would be done in a couple hours.

Winter looked around making sure they were the only ones in the roof, leaning closer she looked at him up and down "Are you all right?"

"Not a scratch on me, you and Weiss?"

Winter stepped back as she frowned "She's home, shaken up but fine. I am glad she gets to rest even if its with them, but I don't have that luxury" she pointed towards the large dragon "Not the side effect of radiation I assume?" Six shook his head as he handed her a small envelope with some pictures inside.

"I asked Yes Man to reconstruct the scene with footage from whatever device he could use, they all cut at this point but I would bet a lot of caps that this" Six tapped the wyvern on the picture "has something to do with little red"

Winter nodded "Yes Man, the machine that Benny had at the Tops right? How did you convince Mr. House to let it live"

"I didn't, he captured it and modified it. Don't ask me how I do not know, but all I know is that Yes Man is going to be fighting me for employee of the month now" Six said as he pulled a bottle of whiskey from his duster, Winter narrowed her eyes at him as she wondered what the angle was here. "Ironwood wanted you arrested."

Six shrugged "I figured, if that's still the case I would not fight it" Winter let out a sigh and shook her head "The radiation was his main concern, but he changed his mind for some reason."

"So you were going to arrest me?"-"I wanted to tell you to run to the portal, but now here we are. Not a criminal but they would still like you to answer and help get rid of the radiation… I think it would be useless to tell them that it will not be as easy as they like to think"

There was a pause as the two of them enjoyed the comfortable silence "What will happen to Beacon?" Six found himself asking, Winter looked at the monster that was perched on its highest point "Many Grimm seem to be flocking to the area, attracted to that thing. The Securitrons are the only thing that keeps them at bay so I don't think anyone will reclaim it, most students will be either relocated or… well there are other career paths"

Six hummed "Do you think Ironwood would mind if I keep it"

"Keep it? Why on Oum's name would you want Beacon" Winter asked genuinely confused Six smirked "Oh you know I think I have an idea on how to fix the radiation problem" there was something that he had learned from the Legion, the NCR and House.

An army was good, but there was a more effective way of taking control and now he had the perfect opening that he had been looking for, but before all that could happen a lingering question refused to fade from his mind "Winter who attacked Beacon?"-"I don't know… but I am worried. That's the only reason I have not beat you to a pulp, something is happening and I feel like we are losing control"

Winter gave him a look as she looked at him up and down "Did you return to earth? They scanned the area for energy readings, but nothing came up"

Six shook his head "The last time I was on earth was when I brought the first batch of machines"-"Then how on earth did you sneak a nuclear weapon to my planet?"

"The chassis of the sentry-bot held the big parts, the other ones I snuck inside the protectrons with the ammunition too" Winter looked at the powered down machines and then back to the man that commanded them. "Why?"

Six looked to the side "I'm worried too"

"Oh?"-"I feel like there is a large shadow over this place, I have not felt like this since… since… I was there when Father…" Six clicked his tongue and shook his head, Winter reached for his hand.

Six looked at her eyes "I don't want to lose you"

"You won't, there is no need for you to do anything extreme" Winter said as she squeezed his hand "Is impossible for Atlas to fall like Beacon did, have faith in us"

Faith? He was no Joshua Graham, he barely felt human sometimes. But he squeezed her hand anyways even if his mind was already planning, scheming and preparing itself for the next step that was to come he wanted so badly to stay in this moment in time.

Frozen with her.

A cold bucket of water was dropped on her, she had known it was coming before he even grabbed it. She knew his type, a mercenary at heart and the only way he knew how to get things done was without any subtlety.

"You will regret this" Cinder found the sound of her voice to be alien, it sounded weak. Her hand bound to something she could not make sense of what it was, she felt the blindfold be taken off her face "Hey there twin"

Six grinned at her as his red eye clashed with her amber one "I WILL BURN YOU UNTILL THERE IS NOTHING BUT DUST!"

"I know, that's why I cut your hand and the other one will follow if you don't answer what I want to know" Six commented as he placed a knife on her lap "Humor me, what is this?"

Cinder spat at the knife on her leg "You will not break me"

"I don't need to, what is this?" Six said as he began to pierce her skin, Cinder glared at him but decided to play along while she found a way to free herself "A weapon, one I will use to cut your heart out"

Six snorted as he twisted the knife in his hand and then stabbed himself in the heart, Cinder stared in shock as he removed it like it was nothing and then he injected himself with another needle. Before her eyes the wound closed and the man grinned at her "Someone already did and no, you are wrong this is a tool doll."

"I am not in the mood to do this, who are you and what do you want?" the courier simply shrugged as he opened the curtains and Cinder felt her heart stop for a second "I am a no name nobody from another world and now… so are you" the Big Empty stretched before her, the carefully placed lobotomites and machines across the land all stopping to stare at the light coming from the dome.

Six turned to her again "As for what I want, something simple. I want peace"

"I am NOT a nobody!" she snarled stopping Six in his tracks, he snorted "Powerless and a nobody, there is no shame in accepting your new reality" Cinder shook with rage as she twisted and bent her own body to try to escape from her one good hand flames erupted as she tried free herself.

The smell of burning flesh reached them both as Six stared down at her hand "I would not do that; you only have one of those left. That material is the same thing that cosmic knives are made of it will not melt. It will keep burning and burning, you will melt your own arm off… what is that if not powerless?"

No… not again. She did not want to feel like this again, not after all she had done to run from that, Cinder gritted her teeth "I have the power of a Maiden!"

"I don't care what a Maiden is" Six said as he placed the knife again on her lap "… then you are not just ignorant you're blind, this power can change the destiny of reality"

Six smiled "And just like the knife is simply a tool, like you and I" Cinder glared "I am no ones tool"

"Then why don't you tell me who attacked Beacon?" Six wondered, Cinder faltered a bit as the courier reached for his canteen "Can't be loyalty, you have that look. You only care about yourself so why not sell your boss out for your own freedom?"

There was a pause as the two of the remained silent for a moment, Cinder's walls began to lower as her mind began to ask herself the same question. Her answer was always the same a terrifying pale thing that could not even be described as human, she would make her suffer in ways that she could not even begin to imagine "There are things that we should not have discovered, monsters that… NO get out of my head!" she closed her eyes as she felt panic began to raise her walls again, what if she was hearing?

What if this was another test?

"Do you like stories?"

Cinder chuckled "All the fairytales in the world would not make me talk" Six grinned "I hate fairytales, I like stories. Things that I can see and touch, my world is full of stories I can share if you give me time"

"Your world?"

Six snapped his fingers as a Robo-Brain brought him a small tape, Cinder stared in disgust at the machine with the pulsating brain as Six set up one of the spare projectors the brains had lying around the courier played a propaganda piece "My world. Or what remains of it" old world flags waved in the air as the world all seemed to sing in unison then the fire came, people burned down to skeletons as a mushroom cloud consumed everything"

"You.. you re not…" Cinder felt her eyes widen as she looked at him in shock "Not like you and still so alike its scary to think about it, my people destroyed the world and now that power is in my hands"

The dice of fate began was cast as Cinder felt a large hand being lifted off her shoulder as she felt an opening to be her own master once more, she had the power of the Maiden and here there was no way for Salem to reach her, the pain she was suffering right now as only a minor setback, her ambition burned brighter than ever before "Then, what is that story you wanted me to tell me?"

The dice of fate landed on six.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Winter

"And then we can hide here!" a small child ran through the empty halls of the mansion as a cold blizzard struck against the large windows. A slightly taller teen followed with a smile as she looked at the spot the little one was pointing.

Giggling she shook her head "there is no way we can hide behind the statues Weiss, it will be too obvious!"-"But Winter there is no other place we can hide! I mean you know we cant hide in dad's place and mom told us…" Winter gently grabbed Weiss's hand. It was warm, something that she could not say for her own hand, giving her sisters hand a soft squeeze she distracted her of the current drama that assailed their home. "Don't worry there are other places, as soon as this blizzard hits we can go outside and play in the snow"

Weiss moved closer to Winter as she looked up fearfully at her big sister "I don't want to go outside, the monster is there"

"What monster?" Winter asked genuinely confused about this, something was wrong… this was not how it happened. Fearfully Weiss pointed with her finger to the outside and there standing in the middle of the storm a dark figure seemed to be standing there trying to catch the snowflakes. Its head twisted towards them and Winter was filled with dread before she could tell her sister to run the creature shattered the windows and jumped inside with them.

Without the cover of the snow Winter got a good look at the creature, a mess of cables, machinery and pulsating flesh the creature howled in agony as it stalked towards her, as it walked sand dropped to the floor from its wounds. Winter looked at its red eye as it all dawned on her "Six?" the skull cried in pain as her vision blurred.

Gasping for air Winter sat up from her bed, she could feel her heart beating at a rapid rate as her brain assimilated everything "A nightmare… hadn't had one in a while" she muttered to herself as she looked at the clock on her small room. It was almost time to get up anyways, might as well get an early start now that she was awake. Reaching for her towel she headed into her shower and made sure that the water was as cold as possible.

"… he is not a monster" she muttered to herself as the water poured down on her naked body, she would never admit it to anyone, but she had fallen in love. It was a complicated thing in her mind, she thought there was only space for her work and her family but here she was thinking about her under the shower like she was a teenager agonizing over her school crush, but at least she knew that the situation with him was not as simple as simple physical attraction because of any sort of childish crush or admiration paled about what she knew she liked, the way they were similar in many ways but totally different at the same time. She saw her will to do things and the want to help others, but she also saw things always wanted to be.

Free from any past, any labels. Six had nothing to hold him back when he wanted to do something, no one expected the mailman to be something or be part of any mold and yet he had proven that he did not need any of their expectations or guidelines to changed the fate of his world.

She sometimes wanted that for herself, not a Schnee not a specialist but a woman that could change the world "How selfish of me" but she could not and that's why she projected a bit to him, she wondered if he did that too. She saw him look at her when she walked with Weiss, his face had turned serious and he seemed to be on another world for a second before he snapped back to reality and a smile returned to his lips.

Was it a connection? Family? She did not know and for some reason now she felt shy around him, like there was something going on underneath the surface of both of them and it bothered her deeply, she needed to do something.

Turning off the shower she decided she needed to fix this as soon as possible she could not risk it harming her judgement and performance, and it was also a nice excuse to see what was going on in Beacon. The academy was declared no mans land and was given to Courier Six for safeguard or more specifically the company, RoboCo.

Winter frowned as she heard the news, that darned House already planning on expanding and making a profit, seems like the little factory they where given was not enough for them and just like her father they decided to test how far they could take things, but a couple of new laws against otherworldly enterprises should keep them at bay if needed. Her PipBoy now placed on her wrist she checked for information and to her surprise Yes-Man had decided to reach out to her.

"Hi there :), Six says he has an idea and wants to speak with you when possible. He is currently back home but I can send a robot to fetch him. Bye :D!" the machine that Benny had made unnerved Winter somewhat, but she could not deny that it had its uses, she briefly wondered if she should speak with the General about this but she shook her head quickly. No, the poor man was already up to his ears in things he needed to worry about and Six having an idea was not something that seemed all that important but there was another way to exert some influence over the situation and that also gave her the perfect excuse to ease her worries about the other person in her nightmare.

Weiss was back home, waiting for something to happen. She had been a huntress in training and now that was all up in the air and worse of all she was with her family which was always draining, no doubt her father was trying something and her mother was no help. As for her little brother that was hard to know, she never understood what the boy was thinking or doing, in a way that was her fault for leaving when the kid was still very young but it was not like he made any easier for her the few times she had actually spoken with him.

But maybe it was time to change that, reaching for her scroll she saw that her schedule was clear for the next few days but she needed to always be at the ready if needed. So with that in mind she decided it was time she headed to Atlas and more specifically, home.

"There once was a kingdom of sand, the dunes tall as buildings and the air as hot as fire. Unlike any other place, the ones that ruled this kingdom where monsters of venom and spikes, the human tribes that surrounded the are all agreed in one thing: They could never match in power the creatures nor their terrifying king, an old creature that made its subjects look like ants next to it.

The reign of the king was unchallenged for a century, but that all changed when one kid arrived to the far away kingdom. With the flag of a two headed bear behind his back the young boy watched as the other tribes lived in fear of the king and its subjects and so he steered from his journeys path and decided that he would put an end to its reign. The king saw the boy in the distance and seeing that he was as small as his children ignored him, this scrawny teen was no match to him but the boy swore that this giant will be fell by his weapons" the courier leaned back as he read from a book, the sound of machinery made him look up as the Auto-Doc did its thing, turning the page Six smiled at the drawing he had made for the story.

"And so began the quest to kill the god of the sands."

Cold winds, colder looks and imposing sights, her home had not changed one bit since the last time she was here. Winter nodded at the driver so they could take the vehicle away. As she walked up the unnecessarily long set of stairs, she looked up to see how a small gathering had formed on the front door of her house.

The Schnee household all had gathered to greet her at the entrance, was it to show how she was the only one that had not fallen in line? She could not care less what they tried to show her, after all it she was here on a mission of her own "Ah daughter how nice of you to visit… how long has it been now?"

She would have liked if she could have prolonged her absence if she was being honest but desperate times and all that "Hello father, not sure. Maybe it was after you cut me off from grandfathers will but details in all honesty" and the family fortune and access to her own personal account she had since she was a child. She never broke and reached out to him like he had desired and that made his blood boil, Winter was sure of that. Jacques frown deepened making his mustache look funny in Winters opinion.

"You have some nerve just waltzing in here, what do you want? Forgiveness?" Jaques said as his wife Willow simply looked sadly to her first born "From you? Never, but I am not here to fight with you or anyone I have a duty to my family and the company that my grandfather built" Winter saw the smirk that formed on both her mother and sister face, Whitley smartly put his hand on his mouth.

"And what is that?" Jaques said as he motioned for the servants to leave as he motioned Winter to follow him inside "If this is about that disaster in Vale the Schnee company has no interest in humanitarian aid, I already told Weiss that…"-"No, this is not about Vale father" Winter cut him off as Jaques simply raised an eyebrow at her and looked her up and down, something had changed with her. He did not voice his opinion and decided to keep walking to his study.

The one that did reach out to hold her daughter in a hug was Willow "Are you all right dear, oh it has been so long since I've seen you" Winter allowed herself to smile "Hello mom, sorry about that. I'm fine let me get this out of the way and I we can sit down to talk" she turned to look at her two siblings and smiled at them "All of us all right?" she let go of her mother and sniffed the air, alcohol.

But thankfully not as strong as she remembered, now moving into the office she saw the man she called father look up at her with a bored expression "So, not a family visit and not a humanitarian effort by the General. What on earth could you possibly even want here Winter? I thought I made it clear that you have no place here unless you reconsider this ridiculous way of life you have chosen, for yourself mind you, and come back and help with the company"

It was funny really, seeing her father parrot the same words over and over again did not cause the same amount of ire in her. If he had said something like this just a couple of months ago she would have either walked out or tried to fight him word for word, but she was not the same woman. She was tired of all the squabbling, it was not something that she liked to waste her time with to begin with and now more than ever she just wanted to be able to move on from this nonsense and continued with her plan.

"What if I where to tell you that I am here to do just that?" [Speech-25] PASSED. This made Jaques stop and look up at her with confusion, he chuckled as he almost seemed to gloat in her surrender "Ah finally saw the light my dear?"

Winter snorted "I can do both things at the same time, but if someone is going to have access to this sort of thing I think it will be best if it's the Schnee company is the one that has it" Jaques now looked confused as he pointed at her "You… you're not making any sense! What on remnant are you talking about?!"

"The dust monopoly might be coming to an end" Winter said as her fathers eyes widened like dinner plates "Wh-what?!"-"I have come to ensure that we stay ahead of the curve"

Winter watched her father go through every emotion in the human mind as he could only wait for her to continue. There was a pause as Winter touched her PipBoy and displayed the interface to her father "This has run for two hundred years without dust and it will run for a thousand years more after I am dead" Jaques stared at the ugly thing and then back at her daughter.

"This retro thing" it doesn't look stylish at all"-"Does style really matters when eventually everything we have will be replaced? Cars that run for ever with no need to refuel, machines that cant be hacked by any conventional means and all of them produced by a new competitor in town with limitless resources" that last part of the sentence was an exaggeration, but it did make her father grow weary.

Jaques looked at his daughter for a moment and then to his scroll "And how come I have not heard of this new competitor, the council would have said something. Heck the spies that I have all over other companies!"

"Because they are hidden right beneath your nose, they might as well have come from another world"-"What do you want then?"

Winter smirked "I want to ally ourselves with them, we can stay in the loop… and I can keep a close eye on them?" Jaques shook his head "That is a lot of investment…"-"It wont be, I have a plan I just need the Schnee Company stamp of approval and raw metal. Me and their representative are acquainted"

Jaques seemed to ponder for a moment and then shook his head "I do not trust this type of deal. A partnership has the chance to damage the company name! If I were to even begin to consider this possibility I want to meet this so called representative that you are talking about" Winter frowned

"I think it would complicate things, it would be better if you left this thing to me" [Barter-50] FAILED. "No and this is none negotiable, the idea of even entertaining this is ridiculous I am only doing this because you are my daughter!" and he was scared of the possibility of something that he might not be able to crush under money or lawsuits. Winter let out a sigh "Fine, I'll bring him here when I have the chance"

Jaques nodded satisfied with his victory "Fine, now if you excuse me I need to work. Some of us don't have the luxury to run away whenever we feel like. I wont see you at dinner I assume?"

"No, goodbye" Winter closed the door to the study and let out a long sigh "You got almost everything you wanted" startled she turned to see Whitley who was staring at her with a grin "Is a bad habit to eavesdrop Whitley" the young Schnee simply shrugged as he walked with his sister.

Winter looked at the boy and frowned "You are skinnier"

"I have been exercising, I am very good in it. Won a competition" pride was evident on his voice, Winter chuckled "Then a celebration is in order, where is mom and Weiss I want to spend some time with all of you before I leave"

Whitley frowned "Without father?"-"You were eavesdropping, you know he is busy at the moment" Whiley let out a sigh and nodded. "Mother is waiting for you in your old room, as for Weiss I think she is speaking with her friend this so called Ruby."

Ah yes Qrow's niece, the one with the black and red hair "Good, see you in a bit" Winter then did something she saw Six do with Sarah, she ruffled his hair making her brother let out a string of complains and comments about his hair, but Winter did catch the small smile that made its way onto his lips.

"The god of the sands did not think about the boy for the following its days, lazing around the dunes and eating as much as it could. Fattening its already grotesque mass, with one of its massive pincers it plucked one of its own subjects and destroyed the creature. There was nothing in the world the god of sands worried about but out there in the distance something was rumbling, the boy had returned with a carriage ready to meet the beast head on in its own domain.

The world itself trembled as a spear was shoved on the sides of the beast, now fully awake the god of the sands screamed in pain searching for the one that had struck it and there was the boy running away from him in the carriage, the king launched itself against him as the chase began.

It seemed to be unfair, the monster was almost upon him but the boy had a plan. Near the kingdom of the sands laid a ruin from a civilization that ended two hundred years ago and that where his trap would be sprung" Six placed a metallic arm on the table as he wiped away the blood from its previous owner.

"That king… the god of the sand it was a giant Rad-scorpion" Cinder said as Six helped her put the arm on, she flinched as the metal pierced her flesh but was pleasantly surprised when she could move her fingers "Yeah, but that doesn't help the story I am trying to tell"

Cinder made a face at him "How… interesting"-"Now now no need to be so critical, it can lead to fights" a fiery glare was sent his way "But that's no longer an option with you right? I couldn't even if I wanted RIGHT?!" A bright fury burned in Cinder as she lit both her arms ablaze, but she could not move, she could not strike Six no matter how hard she tried.

The courier sat back down as he placed a small picture on his book "Well… no, not anymore."

"It has been a while hasn't it Winter, I remember when you wanted this mirror to be changed. We never got around it did we" Willow commented as her daughter walked into her old room, Winter smiled sadly as she went to sit at her old bed. They had not changed a thing since the last time she was here "Yeah, I guess we kind of forgot about that when the big fights started to happen"

Willow frowned "That Jaques, he almost did the same thing to Weiss" she knew, Winter remembered how she almost shattered her scroll when she read the message from her little sister. But that was all in the past now "Will you be staying?" Winter shook her head.

"I cant, I need to go to Vale and… well I guess sooner or later I needed to introduce you" Winter saw how her mother raised an eyebrow at her and she fought the need to turn away to hide her small blush "Well, I need to do bring a colleague of mine to meet with father and well you know I wanted to…"

Willow smiled as she sat down next to her daughter "No need to be embarrassed, what is this about?" it was an odd feeling of seeing her mother this way after some many years of isolating herself in alcohol. Winter allowed her mother to hold her hand.

"I met someone" she said quietly as she allowed the shields she had built around her family to lower, this made Willow gasp as she looked at her daughter in surprise "You have! That's… great honey"

Winter chuckled "you don't sound all that happy" Willow let out a long sigh as she squeezed her daughters hand "Love and relationships have all really soured for me. I really thought that someone could love me for who I am and… no that's neither here nor there. I am happy you have met someone that you like, how's he like?"

"A good man, with an honest heart" she said as Willow giggled and shook her head "But how is he physically? I never met anyone that you liked. I need to know the details!" Winter blushed as she stood up "I… will tell you over lunch, I want to spend some time with you and the other two before I leave for Vale, but I should be back in like a day or two and then you can meet him. But DON'T tell father about this, I don't need any of his little comments."

Willow nodded as she walked happily with her daughter the smell of alcohol long gone and for the first time in what felt like years Winter walked with her mother sober by her side "I won't I promise, now how about we eat something tasty, what do you feel like eating dear?" Winter hummed as she tried to think of something "Anything is fine as long as it's not grilled mantis?"

"Pardon me?"

"The ruins all crashed around them as the god of the sand pursued the carriage, the time had come to destroy the foolish creature that had dared hurt him. As he destroyed the carriage he was surprised to see that no blood had been spilled and the sand remained unsullied.

The boy ran underneath the monster while this one was distracted and when the beast began to leave the sand gave way and the trap was activated, the sands had betrayed their master as the old world opened to swallow the mighty beast.

The king tried to run but the boy had made sure that this was the last time the king terrorized anyone, a rope was tied around it and the king could no longer escape his fate, falling into the abyss the creature cursed the boy and his ruse. He was to big, to proud to even consider the possibility of being tricked.

The small boy walked back into the desert as he had to face the Father of all his troubles and the head to the City of Lights" Six closed the book as he grinned at Cinder. The woman rolled her eyes and clapped at the story "Ah masterpiece, if I didn't have my brain all scrambled, I would have cried. No really, I would have."

"You know for being partially lobotomized you have quite the attitude" Six commented as Cinder simply glared "Oh how about you return me to normal and I'll show some REAL attitude."

Six chuckled "Not yet, but who know once I kill your former master and make things right I can set you free. Lots of empty space down south or on the other side of the planet where you can make your own kingdom"

"Ah are you not willing to share?" Cinder asked with a mock pout "We both know what type of person you are. I will not take any chances, for now I like the new you not able to hurt me or disobey me" Cinder frowned but her brain did not allow her to despair at what was done to her.

Six stood up as he motioned for her to follow "Come on, we have some things to do Maiden" with his new "employee" tailing him Six prepared to open the portal. The story of the god of the sand was something that he had kind of made up on the spot but there was a small lesson that he had learned from his time in Vegas and the other parts of the wasteland.

People always wanted to see what they wanted to see and believe what they wanted to believe, a simple misdirection was all that was needed to slay a god and it was time that he put the performance of a lifetime!

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Bonus Chapter: Sand and Snow

There once was a dream. A dream shared by two worlds, a dream that many fought and died for.

Peace. To live without fear.

As the bombs fell on earth and the waves of Grimm and war suffocated Remnant that dream seemed to have faded from human memory. A mere illusion, the future became blurry and alien like the fog in Far Harbor or the Sandstorms of the Mojave, the prophets and the scholars unable to find a solution.

History did not have the answer, the gods remained silent, and the scientist saw it as a dead end, but a dream can not so easily be killed "What do you see?" Six looked up from his desk at the top of the tower and looked out toward the great green of Remnant.

Six smiled "Paradise"

"Should a paradise not be safe? To have peace?"

There was a pause as Six looked at the person on the other end, of the long table "It will, Winter's world won't end up like mine" there was a small chuckle as the person morphed to someone different, military attire, grey hair and a somewhat kind smile "And what of us? Does your world no longer matter soldier? With everything you and I sacrificed to keep it safe? Holy Hannah we gave our liberty for it, our lives for it!"

"I haven't forgotten, I will make it work, Sir" Six said with a waiver in voice, he coughed into his fist and shook his head. He was no longer the seventeen-year-old kid, he did not know why he still felt the need to be so formal with the man in his dream. There was a pause as the dream changed and he was no longer in the office that had once belonged to the headmaster Ozpin, he was in the wastes of the Mojave once more.

Sand beneath his feet, mutated creatures could be heard in the distance and the soft sound of the wind, Sarah; the girl he had rescued from the Omertas stood next to him "Can you make it work? Is it really worth saving?" the courier nodded slowly.

"I have to try, no matter what I must make sure that two worlds can be freed" the sands turned into grass as Six could feel that his dream was coming to an end, now he faced the one that he had failed the most.

Young, green eyes and a charming smile, Six stared at himself. At the boy he once was, before the bullets… before he lost hope in the dream. His past self grinned at him "Ready to do this to ourselves… again?"

Six woke up from his dream, with his heartbeat a bit accelerated. Pushing aside some papers he groaned as he remembered where he was. Ah yes, he was back in Remnant and… he had fallen asleep on his desk. Closing his eyes for a brief moment hr felt worry begin to form in his heart "I am ready, again and again. I will play the part I was made to play."

A small beep on his wrist made him look towards his PipBoy "Winter is here" a small smile made its way onto his lips as his worries faded into the back of his head. He excitedly reached for his coat and made his way towards the hanger. He did not know when she brought him happiness, it was a weird feeling if he was being completely honest.

Love.

When did he start to love? He knew that he had liked her ever since they had shared a laugh back in Novac, when Bright's ghouls where launched to God knows where. But love was more complicated, he just knew what he felt and that was that, in a way it was almost intoxicating but it was also a great weakness. It was making him question his every step, taking his will and strength away.

As the transport landed near him Six waited patiently for Winter to walk up to him, her blue eyes looked at him up and down and then smiled at him "Have I ever told you how good the Riot Gear looks on you?"

Six chuckled and gave her a quick kiss as he held her. "I… I have missed you" Winter leaned into the hug and looked at him a bit surprised.

"I have too, are you ok? You look worried" Winter wondered as Six simply shook his head, and gave her a smile "Nah, I just have a lot in my mind that's all"-"I figured, what do you need to talk about? I got the message from Yes-Man" she made a face as the name of the robot left her mouth.

Six nodded "Ah yes" the courier pointed at the building they were in, the carcass of Beacon and his new property. "I am proud to announce that Rob-Co Industries Remnant is now fully operational and ready to go. Assembly lines are ready for the production of Mr. Handy units, some weapons and… well Stimpaks are still something that we have to check if they work on you guys and the drugs but that's a big can of worms that is best if we don't open just yet. I just wanted you to know first… and if you have any thoughts on the matter."

"You… are doing this earlier than I expected. Remnant has not given you resources or have provided aid for the people on Earth" Winter said as they both looked at the forest bellow "Maybe not, but I feel like the best way for us to get things is to begin to produce, economics are not my forte I will be the first to say that. But I do know how to barter and for now we will begin slow, raw metal and other materials to rebuild Free-side and the wall around Vegas"

Winter nodded "And I have just the company in mind that could help you get that. And funnily enough that is the other thing that we need to talk about" there was a pause as Winter looked away embarrassed.

"Six… do you… I mean, can you come meet my parents?"

There was a long silence as Six fought the urge to laugh at the face Winter was making, but he was also a little nervous even if he would never admit it "Well… sure, I mean I don't have anything formal to wear when I meet them. Do you think they would mind the Riot Gear?"

Winter hummed a bit "Do you have anything else?"-"My vault Suit"

"Absolutely not, I will NOT allow you to wear that. My mom would think that you are an exhibitionist!" Winter said as she grabbed him by the collar, Six pouted a bit "Why does no one like the Vault Suits goddammit… then the Riot Gear will have to do. I can leave right away if you need me to. Yes Man can take care of the little details while I am gone"

Cold, that was the first thing Six though when he walked out of the ship.

Atlas was ridiculously cold, the cold wind hit his face making him test out something. He breathed out and smiled as it turned to fog. Winter walked next to him as she waited for the transport to arrive "Father is going to send a vehicle to pick us up, as far as he knows you are just another businessman… my mom and siblings are aware of who you are"

Six chuckled a bit "So serious, are you worried?" Winter nodded slowly "Yes" the courier looked at her and noticed the small frown on her face, reaching for her hand he gave it a gentle squeeze. There was a small pause as Six looked for the right words "I… also feel a little bit worried"

"You? That's not something I thought I would hear" she admitted with a small smile. Six shrugged "What can I say, I am better at dealing with raiders and creatures than being… you know human"

She frowned at that "You are human, never doubt that" before Six could say more a white limousine pulled up and its doors automatically opened "Ah Winter, I thought I would come here personally and greet this… partner of yours, I see that you are rather close"

Jaques was sitting there with a small smirk on his face. Winter felt her hand form into a fist as she pressed her lips into a thin line "Father" Six looked at the man and felt a small smile thug at his lips, he looked like if Mr. House fell in a bath of bleach. Only that his hairstyle was more modern.

"So you are the man my daughter spoke off, I must admit I have never seen a CEO like you" Six nodded "What can I say, I'm one of a kind. Nice to finally meet you I have heard a lot about you"

Jaques shook his hand with little enthusiasm, the self-imposed patriarch of the Schnee household seemed to think this was a waste of time but he kept glancing at him with wariness. Six could not blame the man in all honesty, he did look like he could break him in half. But he felt compelled to make a good impression on the man so he smiled at him "Atlas is very beautiful, nice weather compared to what I am used to"

"Oh? You live far from here then" Jaques said as he glanced out of thew window. "You could say that, I live in a dessert far from here" that caught Jaques interest "And your company is in this dessert?"

Winter tilted as she wondered what was Six up to "Yeah, RobCo is in the heart of it all" Jaques seemed to want to say something but bit his tongue for the moment "We are quite of ourselves, we made a city in the middle of a wasteland with just our machines. But we are missing some key materials. Iron, lumber and all that, Winter says that your company might be able to help with that"

"Yes… if something of equal value can be given to us in return" Six simply smiled and brought out a knife. Jaques jumped in his seat as Six cut his palm "WHAT ARE YOU… doing? What?!" Jaques looked in surprise (and horror) as the wound closed itself. Six placed a Stimpack on his hand "Our invention, one capable of accelerating healing at a rate not even thought possible. Just imagine how many lives can be saved… and how much you could charge" [Barter 50-Success]

Winter saw the wheels turn in her fathers head as he let his greed begin to take a hold of him "And… how many companies have you reached out to help you distribute this product?"-"Just you at the moment" Winter swore she could see the Lien on her fathers eyes "OH! Then the Schnee company would be more than happy to help you distribute this fine product, Lien and these raw materials that you need can begin shipping in…" Six nodded as the promises and the deals began to pour in.

"Not bad, dealing with my father I mean" Winter said as they arrived at her home. Six simply smiled "I did what came naturally, I just pictured House and it kind of worked out" he said with a soft chuckle as Jaques left to deal with a company business. Winter grinned a bit as that man finally left and she could relax even if just a bit "Come on I want to show you around" Six complied as Winter led him through halls and rooms that to him looked like they where out of a fairy tale.

Not even the lucky thirty-eight was so well preserved "The kitchen is over there, I hope you don't mind fancy food. I tried to get them to serve something more lowkey but they insisted on extravagant food"

"Nah its fine, I can eat just about everything" Six as Winter shuddered at the memories of grilled rat meat, mantis and even rad-roach, she placed a hand on his back as she led him to the dining room "It's a miracle that you managed to be this fit only eating that type of irradiated meat"

Six stopped briefly as he felt his tesla coils turn in his head "I… not always. I used to have normal food like the one before the war, the vault made sure of it" Winter glanced at him in surprise "Six! You are…"-"Yes, I remember. I think I remember all my past now. It came in waves after the battle of Hoover dam. Sorry I didn't say anything, it was a little overwhelming at first"

Winter placed a hand on his cheek "Hey its fine, I am just glad that its better now" she looked at him with a smile that made Six feel… peace. "I have so many questions I want to ask"

"And I got all the time in the world… after dinner"

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Choice or Fate:

Willow was a woman that thought she knew everything there was to know of her children and their personalities. Weiss was the responsible one if a little bratty, Winter was the no nonsense eldest sibling and Whitley was a calculating young man (and as much as it pained her to admit it he was the one she knew the least about, him being his fathers favorite) so she had already a picture on her mind when her Winter told her she was seeing someone.

A military type, that was for certain.

An Atlas military higher up, she had prayed that he was one of those office type of guy because she really would not want a muscle bound brute for her precious daughter, but as the shadow of the man fell over her she wondered if she would have preferred the dumb brute.

Tall, dark hair, tanned skin and handsome the man with the red eye smiled politely at her "Nice to meet you, Winter has told me all about you" the man outstretched his gloved hand. He looked like he was ready for war, maybe he was one of those special agents from Atlas? It would certainly explain why he looked like he came out of an action movie.

"A pleasure. And your name?"

This made Weiss and Winter look nervous all of the sudden as Whitley leaned in to see what information he could gather, the man smiled for a bit "Ah, sure my name is Six. Like the number"

"Oh? Not a common name that's for sure" the youngest of the Schnee said as he took a seat in the large table "There is a story there, but for now… yeah my name is Six" Willow saw something flicker in that eye, it gave off an eerie glow now that she looked at him more closely.

Weiss took her seat "Ah story, I thought you said… ah well never mid, is good to see you again Six" this made Willow raise an eyebrow "You two already know each other?" the middle child nodded as her eyes filled with sadness "Yes… in Beacon. He helped my team with some things"

Winter and Six sat next to one another as the food was served, Whitley looked at Six and then he snapped his fingers "You are the man father was talking with! He told he had a new business partner" there was a nod as Six wondered what the hell to pick first, everything looked so good and there was so many food. They could genuinely feed an entire settlement with all they had here.

As small talk filled the room, Winter smiled as Six remained polite and amicable. Willow excused herself after some time but to Winter relief smiled at both of them "It was nice to meet you, hopefully we will see you again soon" now that only the siblings remained Six looked over to Weiss. "Do you remember what room your team was in Weiss? I could have assaultrons and some of the protectrons gather your stuff and ship it" Weiss shook her head "Nothing that mattered in all honestly, right now they are just painful memories"

Whitley coughed into his fist "But maybe your former teammates would want it sister, don't be so selfish" a small grin from the boy as Weiss glared, Six frowned a bit but it quickly disappeared as he looked at Weiss "You could talk to them, I have not moved a thing… other than the dead Grimm. Maybe even come get it yourself" Weiss raised an eyebrow, Grimm dissolved. 

"I don't even know if we can call ourselves a team anymore. Everyone went their different ways and after what happened with Yang… I don't know" Six nodded slowly. Winter let out a sigh "Things are not ideal Weiss, but you cant let go of a dream now. All of us are strong, if not in will in mind. Just… rest for some time and then we will figure out what to do. Whitley" startled that he was being talked to looked at his older sister. "Y-yeah"

Winter smiled, if there was one thing she had realized back in the wasteland it was that she wanted to spend more time with her family "What about you? What plans do you have?" Whitley was serious for a moment but he did let his guard down a bit "Father wants me to assist some meetings and set up some things around the house… it is boring but I suppose I have to"

"So you're the one who is going to inherit the keys to the kingdom huh boy?" Six muttered to himself as he got lost in his own thoughts as the siblings talked, bickered and simply existed. A small smile formed on his lips as he closed his eyes "Are you okay Six?" Winter asked as she noticed her lover seem to be lost in memory "Yes, more than fine. You guys just reminded me of something, I used to… well my family and I we used to have this"

Weiss's eyes widened "You remember your family now!" Whitley raised an eyebrow at the word "now" but he just decided to listen

A small nod followed "Yes, I had a brother and a sister" Six leaned back in his chair as a sad look clouded his face "The nerds, I remember they bothered the hell out of me with their stupid games or bickering about biology, medicine or some other nonsense. They where good kids"

"And what happened to them?" Whitley asked as Weiss and Winter could see in his eye the answer. "They died an explosion took their lives" Six simplified as Whitley coughed into his fist "Sorry I didn't mean to…"-"Its fine kid, it was a very long time ago. I was about your age when it happened I think"

Weiss looked at Winter as the specialist frowned. They finished their meal and they all went on their own, as Six with no idea where he would be staying simply followed Winter around as he checked the mansion, it needed to be more fortified in his humble opinion and maybe have like a secret passage like the ones from La Fantoma, those where a good time.

Winter led him to a small garden as she sat down and motioned for him to follow "Tell me"

"Tell you?"-"Your past, I want to know… if you don't mind"

Six smiled as he sat down and caressed her hand "Well, it all started in a little Vault back in California"

"This is NCR territory state your name and business here!" rain poured down on the plains of California as Cinder raised her hands up in the air "Easy there, I am just a humble trader passing by. I brought water and some stims" the mission she had been given was an odd one. Walk all the way from Big MT to an area in California, and infiltrate a mine deep near a dense forest "Well… move along we have all we need citizen, Athens Mine is off limits!"

Cinder simply nodded and moved back into the road, it was a shame really, she had wanted to play at the trader for a little longer. Launching a tornado of fire, behind her she burned the men to nothing but ash faster that they could scream. The sniper stationed in one of the broken-down buildings tried to sound the alarm but his arm exploded with a well placed shot from Cinder's brand new weapon a 10mm submachine gun.

Using her maiden powers and her natural agility she ascended towards the man and grinned "M-MUTAaa-ARGH" his windpipe was crushed by her hand as Cinder watched with disinterest as the life faded from him. His weapon was neat, so she took it with her and scouted the area ahead. A small battalion was stationed here and most of them looked bored out of their minds, that would make it easier for her to simply get to her objective he could faintly see that the mine was sealed off, but she did not need to head on down the mine to achieve her objective she only needed to get close enough to activate a device. So she undressed the man and disguised herself as an NCR soldier, to make it more realistic she smeared the blood from the fallen man on herself and began to sprint towards the mine, Cinder remembered what she had been called by the guard

Deepening her voice she creamed at the top of her lungs the word "MUTANT!"

The NCR snapped out of their boredom and ran to the gate leaving the mine unguarded. Pressing the machine close to the entrance she felt her frown deepen "Empty, no uranium" that definitely threw a small wrench into their plan but it would delay not stop the manufacturing of the super cell for their latest project ditching the disguise she continued to walk towards her new destination, Helios One.

It was now empty after the NCR had moved back into their territory and it was guarded by the securitrons from time to time just to keep prospectors and scavengers out, or that was Six told her and if she was honest no amount of brainwashing could not make her think that the man was a bit of a disorganized mess.

As she walked Cinder allowed herself to relax a bit, it was weird. She knew she had been partially lobotomized and that her actions and wants where not what she would originally want and yet she did not feel all that interested in reclaiming her individuality it was almost comical considering how much she once valued her independence. To her surprise as she neared the Mojave a blinding light she recognized appeared in the sky near the drive in.

Using the teleporter that had been assigned to her she returned to Big MT and walked in on Six beating a man to a pulp "Oh hey there Cinder"-"That mine you sent me to is empty, the NCR had a few men stationed for some reason."

Six grabbed the Faunus by its fox ears and slammed him against the wall "Not very surprising in all honesty, that place is more a memory than anything else. But the machinery might be useful or they simply fear some old bastard might want to reclaim it for old times sake" cinder grabbed a cup of coffee as she glared down at the faunus dressed in white fang regalia "Brought a souvenir?"

"A spy, seems like the White Fang has taken interest in little ol' me. This sneaky fox got past the first line of defense" he leaned down and smiled at him "of ten, now are you going to sing or do I have to beat you up some more?"

Blood was spat on his face making frown "Charming"-"We do not answer to your kind human!" Six grabbed him by the throat and began to drag him to Dalla "I'm going to give one of the brains a new teddy bear to play with, you need to check Helios One and gather all the information you can about that place. We are not going to touch the energy in the region, lord knows that Freeside and the rest of the region need it"

"And what exactly am I looking there" Cinder asked with a raised eyebrow "Archimedes II, Remnant is mistaken if they think that Grimm and all this" Six chocked the spy "are going to be delt with just nuclear weapons. I saw what I wanted for the future Cinder, a world of hope. With no fear of being exterminated by man or monster, but to get there we need to get rid of the pests and we have the biggest exterminator to ever be made staring right at us. No need to thread all ground after all the bombs… they are not the best tool"

Cinder smirked at him "You're afraid… you don't want to keep using the nuclear bombs. You almost sounded relived that there was no Uranium in the mine" Six glared at her "Who knows, but for now just go to Helios I have a biology lesson to attend to."

The fox faunus extended his hand pleading at her to help, Cinder smiled cruelly and waved as the door closed.

"Ruby…" crushed trees, green blood and a the corpses of thousands of Gimm surrounded her. The young huntress ran as fast as she could to see what was going on she could hear the screams of someone as she reached the edge of the mountain and there she saw it, large mushroom clouds littered the land as from the Heavens light pierced the sky shattering mountains. "Ruby… this is not how its supposed to be" the voice was familiar, she knew who was calling out to her.

"Mom?" Summer Rose face was distorted barely visible, her daughter extended her hand towards her as the air around her began to grow colder and colder. Summer changed as she could see how she shone with a light like the one she had seen that cruel woman use "No Ruby, I am more" from the clouds lightning erupted and large storm formed from the center of it all an eye looked down on her.

Ruby woke up with a gasp as she held a hand over her chest, as she felt cold sweat run down her forehead. Letting her body drop against the bed again she rubbed her eyes as she looked at the alarm clock. It was early, too early for having dreams like this. Trying to distract herself she reached for her scroll and she decided to check the messages that she had not seen, she hated to admit it but she had been avoiding everything since that day, as she scrolled to the list and answered some of them halfheartedly she spotted two that actually mattered, Weiss and Pyrrah had sent her a message.

"Pyrrah" the young huntress muttered to herself as she opened the message, she had not heard from her since… well since she thought she had died, she faintly remembered the doctors saying that Six (somehow) had managed to stabilize her enough. The message was short and simple, letting her know that her recovery was going along fine and that she hoped that they could speak soon.

Ruby bit her lip as she thought what to reply, this was all new to her.

A message like "Hey I'm glad you're not dead!" did not sound like it was the best idea at the moment if she was being honest with herself, so she decided to think about it for a moment and set her scroll down. She wondered if Pyrrah had nightmares too, could she talk to her about that?

They where friends right?

It was odd, she felt like she could not reach out to anyone about what she felt, her dad was too preoccupied and poor Yang was going to so much more than her. Her two rocks where not there and she felt alone, maybe that was why she kept dreaming about her mom, she missed having someone like that in her life.

Taking the scroll once more, Ruby wrote a small message saying that she hoped that Pyrrah recovered quickly and if she wanted to talk she was here for her. Now the next person on the list was a different story, Weiss and her relationship was weird it started explosive turned cold and now they where friends in a way, or that was what she hoped maybe she had just sent her a bill or something like that. Giggling to herself she opened the message.

IceQueen: Hello Ruby, I hope you're doing fine. I recently had a meeting with Courier Six he says that we can retrieve our belongings from Beacon. I can fly over to Patch and then see where we go from there, if you would like that is.

Six? He had Beacon? that was weird, but she did leave a lot of things there. And it will be good to take her mind off things.

"Hey Weiss! :D Yes! Just let me know when you'll be here and I will give you the grand tour of Patch!" To her surprise Weiss was awake and began to write her reply and it was about what she expected from her.

IceQueen: I will… now go to sleep dork.

Smiling to herself Ruby turned to one of her stuffed animals "See, she is my friend and she does care" placing down the scroll she decided that her teammate was right, she needed to rest some more.

Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine a better world, one with no Grimm. What would a world with no monsters look like, she wondered. As she turned in her bed a sad thought hit her as she remembered that she already knew the answer and it had not been a pretty one, she had walked the irradiated land and it had made her hope that they could be different.

"We will be, I won't let it be like that" she muttered to herself as sleep took her once again.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Poison

"The area where the bomb fell is still under quarantine, the scans show that the energy readings from radiation have not gone down but rather settled. RobCo has dispatched multiple machines that have begun to remove the very soil but how far down the radiation has reached we do not know" one of the many scientists that General Ironwood employed commented as he put down the small paper he had brought with him.

There was a pause as the next person prepared his presentation, the general let out a sigh as he passed a hand through his chin enjoying the way that his newly developing beard felt. It had been a long time since he had one and now that time was so scarce for him it felt appropriate for it to be this way, he turned to look at the guest he had invited and he could feel how tense she was, Glynda thank the heavens had survived and she was now more or less the sole person in power that the council saw fit to help Vale recover a semblance of normality even if the pushback from the populace was massive.

"Not safe"-"It will happen again" was one of the many comments he had heard about first hand, something she must have heard about a dozen times over. "As for the rebuilding of the damaged areas some of them have turned out to be beyond saving, Atlas would have wanted to help but we simply don't have the manpower to do so at the moment, sadly I think some areas near the forest are lost to us" an engineer said as he showed with drone pictures the state of the outskirts of the city.

It resembled a wasteland out of a sci fi novel, in the pictures Ironwood spotted a lone bot walking around and not of theirs, one of the machines that Six did not saw fit to share with them. A securi-tron Winter had called it with something on its hand that they could not make out what it was "Then what can be done, the frontier of vale was the most affected. Is there really nothing Atlas can do, the other kingdoms?" Glynda asked as the representatives of each kingdom looked the other way.

"The city is standing, once it stabilizes it would be able to help the region around it" Glynda frowned at that "And what of the people, how do we tell them to wait?" silence was her answer as she could only shake her head in disappointment, Ironwood said nothing as he watched on the screen how Beacon had lit a giant light into the sky "I see, then I am afraid that we have nothing else to discuss, if you excuse me I need to stabilize the area as you put it"

The witch left, her heels softly echoing in the room "Meeting adjourned, please everyone but Pietro leave" the chairs emptied as Doctor Pietro Polendina moved himself closer to the general "Something you needed from me general?"

Ironwood simply shook his head "How are you doing doctor? Is she…"- "Stable, I won't let anything like this happen again. She must be kept close General especially with these new machines walking around! Who knows what they are capable of! Maybe they can infect her system or worse"

He meant RobCo, the new player in their delicate game of balance. That courier with the help of the mysterious Mr. House had sneaked in to their world schematics and raw material and they had built a battalion of machines right underneath their noses but regardless of their intentions they had saved lives that day and Six had not resisted to a through search of their facilities, he even said that he understood if he needed to be jailed.

It was something he briefly considered but the firepower that the machines under RobCo's control provided had helped to stabilize the region and calm the fears of the populace the last thing they needed was another Grimm wave to attack the city of Vale, the new company on the block already gaining good will from the populace by selling or giving away some of the Mr. Handy units to help clean debris and restore the city. It was a genius PR movement and it deeply worried Ironwood but he could also not cross out the possibility that the man from another world was just genuinely trying to help and get goodwill of Remnant to aid his dying world.

It was all too grey, but it was the color that men like him had to deal every day, so for now Six was being watched and until he overstepped his boundaries he will be promptly put down and sent back to his world, and if he refused…. "How goes the construction of the second portal?"

"Almost finished, the data that was given to us by the Soldier sped up the process and we had no need to ask the Courier for any data, I have routed personnel and power from our other failed projects to avoid any suspicion"-"And our anchor to the other world?"

There was a pause as the doctor typed some things in his scroll "Faint but there, I have here that is called… ermm Boston, more specifically Sanctuary. He chose the names that would show up on our screen you see" Ironwood nodded "Indeed, please doctor if you have need for anything just let me know. I must prepare for another meeting, so if you would excuse me" the general waited for the door to close to let his frown deepen as his shoulders sagged under the pressure, he missed Ozpin.

For all his secrets and obtuse ways of doing things the man had not only earned his respect, but also his admiration and he wanted to do their vision right, but it was complicated to know how to do so, after all Ozpin was always planning, always thinking on how to win this gran chess game against the dark and those plans had layers that no mortal man could begin to decipher, sometimes it even brought up the genuine worry that maybe he had not idea on how to win at all.

"No… he would not have done all that he did if he had no way to win" Ironwood said as he shook his head, he just needed to stay in course for now.

Vale has fallen.

Those words haunted Glynda, even now as she walked on the city streets and she saw people walking, shopping, living she could not help but worry that this was all a dream and that she would wake up in a Bullhead with the city in smoke but no, they have been saved "Move along, please" the bulky machine said as it patrolled the area, the protectron as she had learned they were called had become a common sight on the plazas and villas. Patrolling and helping to remove any criminal from the streets with laser accuracy, one of the gifts from RobCo to the police force of Vale.

From her apartment she could see the tall tower of Beacon now illuminated by red and yellow lights, she tightened her first a bit but it could not be helped that giant dragon thing would never let them use that facility again for a place of learning, so she would not fight the decision to hand over the facility to a group of warriors that did not tire and could stand duty all day every day. The leader of the company had reached out and requested a meeting for a business proposition, she had accepted and invited him to her home so that they could discuss this, so here she was waiting for the man to show up while she read what felt like hundreds of documents and things that needed her attention.

Ironwood trusted her and she could not let Ozpin down, this made her stop writing as she remembered the leader they had lost and she wondered how they were going to pull this off without him, but before she could go down this dark path of thinking her doorbell rang and she was forced to push the making of plan b's to the side "Hello again Headmistress nice place you got"

It was interesting to see how this man never changed style. Always wearing a form of armor, even if light she could see that he was armed to the teeth underneath that large coat of his "Always a pleasure, forgive me for scheduling this meeting so late. I had to catch a bullhead to the city after speaking with… the people from Atlas"

"Nah no worries, I don't sleep all that much" Six said as he followed her to the small table she had in the middle of her apartment "Hell of a view" Six commented as he looked towards at Beacon "Used to be much more comforting sight I have to say, to look at the place where new hunters where being trained, now the most prestigious academy lays in ruin."

Six nodded "Right, forgive me for the comment. But I am glad that I brought this up because I was wondering… well I couldn't help but see the announcement that Beacon as an academy was planning on opening again, was wondering if you needed the installations again"

"No… we do not, I appreciate the gesture but I don't think we could ever go back to that place, too many lives lost, too much pain and that thing atop of the building would never let us be at peace" Glynda said with a sigh, Six simply nodded as he looked at the building "I wont lie, that thing attracts the Grimm like a beaco… ahem a moth to a flame, but because I am the only human inside there I think they are confused as to what is killing them" the courier said as he typed away "I see, not planning on using anymore of that power that has part of the city quarantined"

Six barely flinched at the comment "Not really, the mini nuke was something that I had to do out of necessity, I don't want to use the same thing that destroyed my world. Is venom, once its inside a system it will not let go" not that everything that could be done with radiation and nuclear power was bad, but Six did not want to let the people of remnant know that. Best if they did not experiment on it until much MUCH later in their timeline "That is a relief to hear, not to pressure you or anything but what type of business venture did you want to talk to me about? I need to get some things sorted out after this"

She was blunt, to the point. Glynda was no negotiator like Ozpin, she wondered if this was the right approach to take with a man like this but to her surprise Six simply smiled "Not at all, I also have some things to take care of so I will go straight to the point. I want to help out with the construction and financially with this New Beacon that you are planning. We have recently secured a great business deal and it felt only right to give back to this kingdom that has given us so much, if you don't mind that is."

Glynda blinked as she slowly nodded at him "Y-yes, I wouldn't mind. We have yet to secure a location but if you are willing to help then we accept it… but you are not doing this out of the goodness of your own heart are you?"

"I saw something that day atop the tower, things that defy any logic. This is not a war against beasts, there is something out there isn't it? Something making these things and acting from the shadows"

This made the witch narrow her eyes "And if there is something out there Mr. Six?"
The courier's red eye met her gaze and she could see how serious he was "Then it must be eradicated, humanity needs to live on"

"Then… we might have some things we can discuss Mr. Six"

Cinder had been brainwashed, lobotomized and stripped of her free will, but no amount of brain scrubbing would ever be able to remove the things she enjoyed, fancy wine, red dresses and the suffering of others.

She was enjoying two of those things as she sipped wine and watched someone die.

"I must say these facilities are something else" Cinder muttered to herself as the process of someone being chopped into pieces and then put back together into many different shapes and forms as RoboBrains and lobotomites where being made in the house of horrors that was the Big MT, but now she could not feel fear from it, nor sadness that she was no longer the master of her own will she was the right hand woman and she had everything.

Or something like that, leaning back she placed a hand on her PipBoy and smiled "Oh, this is interesting"

Little Sarah was on the Big MT, Six's adopted little sister. Walking out of the facility she was in she took a small stroll towards the Sink and waved with a smile that made the small girl shiver a little "Now this is a surprise, we where not expecting anyone from Vegas to use the teleporter to here. What can we help you with?"

Sarah did not like this woman, at all she was cold and she did not understand why Six had decided that she was going to be his second in command. She had trust in him sure, but it would not be the first time that Six acted like a dumbass and almost died because of it "I brought the toy, the one that belonged to that kid from Freeside. Why on earth do you guys want a toy?" Sarah hesitated to hand over the space looking gun over to the woman but she did so in the end, Cinder looked at the thing up and down and nodded to herself "Good, one more piece to the puzzle"

"You don't know what this is for?" Sarah asked as Cinder leaned against the wall, Sarah looked away to not blush. The dress and the legs are a bit too distracting for her poor eyes "I have an idea, but I do not have the full picture. My little trip to Helios was enlightening" Sarah snorted at the pun "But why he needs this toy thing I don't know, but you know him better than me. Do you have an idea why the sudden interest in toys?"

Sarah shook her head "No, I don't. He is being weird" Cinder simply chuckled as she twirled the weapon on her hand and noticed the logo on it, now that was familiar, she had seen it back at Helios but why the toy connected to the solar panel facility she did not know. Their plan had not changed, they needed to earn the people's trust to make it seem like they were the good guys and once that hope and goodwill had been built face two could kick in, Cinder waved as Sarah left and she was left alone.

"The power to kill a god" she murmured as she thought about face two.

The brief discussion of their plan echoed in her butchered brain as she remembered how he had described it, a slow poisoning of the mind of the populace with propaganda and displays of power to change fear into patriotism and bravado, all this to anger the Witch and draw the creatures out of hiding and once the throat was exposed… "Bang" Cinder said to no one in particular as she pointed at nothing with the toy gun.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Touch the stars

"RobCo welcomes you to its exhibit!" Weiss let out a long sigh as she walked next to her father in what she could only describe as yet another boring business trip, it seemed like it was yesterday since she walked the streets of Vale with her teammates, now she was like a dog on a leash. It really frustrated her how much freedom she had experienced and now she had lost it… she had lost them.

Blake had gone missing, Ruby had tried to reach her but to no avail. Yang was recovering as best as she could but she had not replied to her messages yet and according to Ruby she had withdrawn a lot from everyone, the only one that she had been speaking to almost daily was her team leader, Ruby.

It was funny how much her opinion on her had changed, from thinking she was just a kid that was trying too hard to someone she respected and could proudly say was her friend, she really missed her "Weiss eyes forward" her father whispered aggressively as they approached the main stage. Robots from science fiction book all walked on the stage as they performed various tasks, the Mr. Handy unit that she had been gifted was the one that most people seemed to be interested on as it folded clothes and tended to a fake house that had been set up. It was a little fascinating how she could see Six's handprints all over the stage.

What she did not understand was his fascination with the colors blue and yellow, it was a bit too tacky for her taste "Weiss?" that voice… she knew that voice "Ruby? What are you doing here?" the two stared at each other for some time and then ran to embrace one another.

"Weiss! This is no time to…"-"Oh come on now, it think one should always make time to speak with friends!" before Jaques could reprimand his daughter Six seemed to materialize out of nowhere with his other daughter next to him. Jaques frowned at the smug expression on Winter's face but held his tongue "That and I invited Ruby and her family as special guests, so they would be seeing each other anyways."

As the two company heads began to talk Weiss noticed how much Six and her father contrasted, Six was sporting what Weiss could only describe as the most jet black suit she had ever seen, a red tie and a fancier eyepatch with bits of gold on it. That and he had groomed his hair instead of simply grabbing it in a messy ponytail while her father was in his all white suit and his neat short hair.

"I… have so much I want to say hehe I don't know where to start" Ruby said as Weiss chuckled a bit and pushed her forward. "Not to worry we have time, this things tend to take a long while to get going" Winter overheard her as she snorted to herself, she was happy that her sister had found a friend. Now that the situation with Weiss had been successfully resolved she turned her attention to her father "I must say that the production on those stimpacks of yours turned out to be quite profitable, we would be willing to invest more in your company IF you have something that is able to rival that product"

Six grinned as he shook his hand and Winter wondered what he was up to now "Oh don't worry, just stick around for the show and I promise to show something you have never seen. If you would excuse me" Six excused himself as he walked with Winter to the back "I hope you know this, but I hate this type of things" she muttered to his ear making Six laugh "Don't worry they are not my scene either, my place is either behind the scenes our out on the field. But after today I won't need to do something like this ever again" this made Winter narrow her eyes as she stopped him.

The two stared at each other's eyes for a second as she pressed her hand on his cheek "What are you up to? You called me out of nowhere, said you wanted to show something but now you are all secretive about it. Is something going on?" Six dropped the act for a second as he pulled her in into a hug "I think I have everything in place Winter, those plans that we made back on the Lucky Thirty-Eight are all falling into place. But I am a little scared now…"

"About what happens after? You will always have a place with me I hope you know that" she said softly and maybe it was just her hallucinating but she swore that his eye was green for the briefest of seconds. Six held her hand and placed a soft kiss on it as he walked towards the stage.

The courier let out a long sigh as he prepared himself "Well then, all in now" moving the curtain to the side he stepped into the light as some in attendance turned to look at the mysterious CEO of RobCo, smiling at the crow he tapped the mic and raised a glass of wine "Ladies and gentleman, I would like to welcome you to RobCo's first" and only he mused to himself "exhibition gala! Before we begin I would like to thank our sponsors The Schnee Dust Company for the wonderful place they secured for us" Six pointed at Jaques as the man did his best to look humble at the praise.

"And the Headmistress of Vale Academy for attending" Glynda simply nodded at him, from the crowd he spotted Ruby and Weiss looking at him with wide eyes. Six smiled a them briefly "No I know that many of you have come to expect a showcase of our machines and our pharmaceutical branch I decided that today my friends is a day to look to a brighter future"

Hushed whispers reached his ears as he snapped his fingers and from the curtain a disguised Cinder pushed a massive projector to his side "The day that Beacon is a day that will go down in history as one of the biggest tragedies in recent history" some eyes turned to Glynda who seemed to be uncomfortable under their gaze. Many of the citizens blamed Beacon for not being able to protect the city of Vale but Six quickly directed their attention back to him as the machine came to life "This catasthrope was not something that anyone could have predicted or prevented, the threat of Grimm becomes more and more dangerous by the day and we need Hunters. We need the protectors of mankind"

The machine came to life as blueprints for a massive building appeared and Cinder wheeled in a replica of the building "And Vale is not going to stay behind, RobCo is building something that will keep the dream of Headmaster Ozpin alive. A New Beacon that will help protect mankind, with state of the art technology and the backup of our war machines"

Some clapping could be heard as Six prepared himself for the coup de gras "But that is not all I wanted to say today" this seemed to silence the room as Glynda and Winter both looked at him with concern. Cinder grinned as she flipped a switch and the building opened its roof, the stars shone above them and the old Beacon tower could be seen in the distance "Above us there is a place like no other, a place that our founder Robert House decided was the next best hope for mankind. A place that before tonight was out of reach for Remnant"

Six pulled out a detonator and grinned "But we are something out of this world" there was a large explosion coming from Beacon as a massive rocket was launched into the atmosphere. Six looked up with a grin as the nuclear powered missile headed towards the heavens and escaped the atmosphere "With the satellite in orbit now RobCo can transmit to every single part of Remnant in a matter of seconds, and there is no need for dust for it to work all solar powered" that was a lie, inside Archimedes III laid a powerful nuclear reactor with an even more powerful AI controlling its every move. Six grinned as a chorus of cheers emanated from the crowd "The future is now! The future is here in Vale. The future… is all RobCo"

Salem tilted her head to the side as her servants all watched with jaws agape at the screen "Watts, there is no need for more of this. You may take your leave" the powerful witch wanted to feel angry but she could not.

This was something that had made her pause to think.

The skies and everything above had been the realm of the gods, not even the most powerful bullhead had ever come close to leaving their planet. But this was not something she expected to happen… not yet anyways, she knew that there would always be someone trying to escape. The more she corralled the masses the more they would try to flee but she thought she had every exit leading to the slaughterhouse.

"C-cinder?" Emerald muttered as she stared at the disguised woman. Over the years she had worked under the powerful woman she had seen many a disguise from the fiery woman. Salem might not have cared what happened to Cinder, only the maiden's power but she did care. Why on earth was she with that guy? Salem hummed for a second as she turned to the table and smiled.

It was something that made everyone present shiver, something that was supposed to be a reassuring expression on a human being looked off on the face of the timeless witch "The game has changed, prepare yourselves. The Grimm shall cover the land, suffocating the life out of all" the witch laughed as the faint red of her veins glowed red and the entire castle shook.

No more plans, no more chess. "Oh Ozma, your precious children will give me what I want! After so long someone else has defied the very gods and with the relics in hand nothing will stop the destruction of EVERYTHING!" she cackled to herself as she watched the broken moon above them all.

After so many years, war had finally returned to Remnant.

"Ruby are you feeling alright?" Weiss asked as she sat down next to her friend. She handed her a chocolate chip Ice-Cream making Ruby snap out of her trance "No… I am fine, I was just looking at the moon. Wow can you believe that Six sent a machine up into space, this is like… a historic moment!"

Weiss chuckled "Oh yeah, don't worry I heard all about it. My dad is over the moon about it… dammit Yang" Weiss grumbled as she cursed the woman that had given her the pun sickness. Ruby giggled a bit as she took a bite out of the ice cream horrifying Weiss "I bet he is, your dad looks like he only has money on his head. No offense"-"None taken. But in the end I am just glad that Beacon is being reopened, but the name is way to tacky for my taste. New Beacon, that's just awful"

"Are you coming back? I mean… if Beacon opens again do you want… you know…" Ruby tried to say making her friend chuckle "I would come back here in the blink of an eye, going back home made me realize one thing"

She glared at nothing as she closed her hands "I want to carve my own path Ruby, I don't want to walk with uncertainty anymore. I want to be more than just my family name and I want to spend my time with people that I care about. So yes, to answer your question if you want to reform team RWBY in New Beacon I would come back in a heartbeat. Who cares what my dad has to say"

Ruby smiled widely as she pointed at the skies "Heck yeah! Than I need to speak with Yang and Prof… I mean Headmistress Glynda and we have to somehow find Blake but team RWBY will never die!" the young girl made a couple of dance moves as Weiss decided that she would ignore her as she tasted her vanilla ice cream.

Watching from above, Cinder leaned against the side of the building she had decided to hide and frowned at the girl that had bested her. "Oh how cute, then we will be seeing more of each other" she muttered to herself as the fire maiden formed a flame around her arms and watched the sky. The world kept moving forward, bloody evolution would make sure that Remnant and its hunters all played their part and if Six's gamble was really going to work than they could only pray that the toy gun really was the answer to their Salem problem.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Nation Breaker

"… to continue the legacy left by the previous headmaster, Ozpin. We thank all of you who returned to this academy, today we show the world that even if we have stumbled in the past we are still a Beacon of hope for Vale and mankind" it was certainly a powerful speech Six thought to himself.

Evoking the past but also laying out the plans for the future. Headmistress Glynda would succeed as leader of Beacon of that he was sure, Six nodded content with sitting on his chair to the side of the multiple teachers and other political figures that he quite honestly did not care enough to remember now. Atlas had sent some guards but to his disappointment no Winter, but it was fine he guessed "Not like I need to be attached at the hip with her or anything" shaking his head with a smile he waited for Glynda to re-introduce some of the key figures that would run Beacon and how their roles ahd changed, what date classes would pick-up again and what to expect.

Six looked around and he did spot Weiss and Ruby but sadly not Yang nor Blake, he could not blame the two. One lost an arm and the other according to some intel he had gotten from the security cameras around seemed to be determined on a mission of her own, so some shuffling of the teams was going to be needed in order for this to work but he would leave that to the ones that actually knew about academics.

Six heard his name and looked towards Glynda "… if not for the generous donations and land provided by RobCo we would not be here today. Please Mr. Six the time is yours" nodding he walked over to the podium and smiled at the crowd. Dressed in riot gear armor, his red eye glowed down at the students "Welcome to New Beacon, we thank you all for being here. Now I don't think I can give a speech that can surpass the one that our Headmistress just gave so I wanted to take this time to answer some of the questions that you might have about the building, security and all that good stuff"

Six scanned the area as he watched with curiosity, who would be the one to break the ice? A familiar face raised his hand making Six smile "Ah Mr. Arc a pleasure to see you again, what do you want to know?"-"one of our teammates is still suffering some ermm… medical complications… is the infirmary up and running?"

A glimpse of red could be seen near him, Pyrrah "Yes, up and running with the latest of technological marvels that we can offer… your friend is going to be just fine with us, trust me" Jaune could not tell if he had winked or blinked because of the eyepatch but he did nod at him, making Six look for other raised hands. Basic questions followed and Six answered them in quick succession but one hand did make him raise an eyebrow, scarred all over but with a defiant glare Cardin Winchester waited patiently for his question to be answered.

Six saw how Ruby and the others looked at him with disdain, even a form of anger. But why not? He had answered all of the vanilla questions already "Yes, you. The ginger one"

"When do we take revenge?" a simple question, one that he could have just grinned and said something along the lines of 'soon' but as everyone looked at Cardin and then at him for an answer Six motioned for him to elaborate "My team died, we fought to protect the city and the school and now I am the only one that is left. My family we fought a long and bloody war… and you know what after every lost battle, we took our revenge. So I want YOU to look at me in the EYES AND TELL ME! When do I get back at those things?! When do I get to avenge what I lost?! When do we take the war to them?"

Loud, booming, decisive and best of all angry at the world. A perfect soldier "War… it makes a strong man weak and poor man rich" Six said as he looked at him "The difference comes to character, and if you don't think character is the only factor deciding victory then you have been playing the wrong game, this whole time. My home was playing the wrong game and they found out what it meant to be found faulty of character and for their failure… my people paid the price. Now out there a horde of creatures are waiting for us to break, do we let our rage take over?"

Cardin tightened his fist and shook his head "Exactly, we can't let them see our weakness. Not when the wounds are still bleeding, but when I look at you; at ALL of you I see character, warriors and heroes that did not break when the going got though. That character that I was talking about? I can see it in every one of you here, you don't just carry your legacy here, you carry our future with you. Some might see wasted potential… I see a fire wanting to burn brighter than ever before! Don't forget you're the A team and that war that you all want we are not going to just beat the beasts back, we're going to eradicate them!"

A loud chorus of cheers and the sound of clapping filled the stadium as Six grinned and stepped back Glynda gave him half a glare as she passed him and she slapped the podium with her riding crop to get everyone's attention "Please search for your new dormitories under the list that was provided to you. Most of them are temporary so don't get too attached just yet"

As the students all dispersed and the professors took their leave Glynda turned to Six "I do understand that for some time your only connection to this world was someone from Atlas you must realize that we are not them. They are not soldiers"

"I know, but even if they are not, they are still fighting a war that will engulf the planet… which is something that I don't like. My planet can tell you what happens when a war of that magnitude gets out of control. I don't want soldiers nor do I want a war here on Remnant"-"Then why…"

Six smiled sadly as he shook his head, reaching for his hat he walked out of the room but he did answer in a quiet voice "Because we all have a part to play" Glynda narrowed her eyes at him wondering what he meant, if there would be no war… then what was the point in having soldiers?

"Fantastic speech, no really I mean it I was moved to tears" Cinder fake clapped as Six entered their private Bullhead. He chose to say nothing and extended his hand "The toy" nodding the crimson woman handed him the machine. There was silence for a second as Cinder looked above the skies besides the moon she spotted a faint flicker "RobCo released four satellites into orbit more than enough to cover the entire planet. While everyone's eyes where here on Vale your beloved machines sent a fifth one into the domain of the gods… everything is in place"

Six nodded as he hid the toy gun underneath his long coat "In place not fully finished, we still got plenty of work down here before we can burn the witch. The kids are only the first step" Cinder smiled from ear to ear "You know... I know that I must agree with you on everything, but I like this plan only because I find it very funny. But I don't like that you brought HER back to the front lines." The courier raised an eyebrow "Who?"

"The silver eyed red hood, that girl is not normal" Cinder said as she touched her missing eye making Six hum as he remembered the petrified dragon a top Old Beacon, but even so she was just one girl "I don't think we need to worry about her, she is a nice kid" Cinder glared "Exactly. Heroes and heroines are all the same, she will not understand what you want to do and she will try to put a stop to it… don't come crying to me when you have to fight destiny itself Courier Six" Six raised an eyebrow at that as he wondered what the hell Cinder meant, Ruby was just a girl.

A student at the academy that just happened to be friends with his girlfriend's sister.

But then again to Father Elijah he had been just some random courier, a no body that didn't even factor in the grand scheme of things. His mind to focused on the war with the NCR and avenging the brutal defeat of the Brotherhood of Steel at Helios One "And now here I am… trying tom hold the sun" Six muttered to himself as they approached RobCo tower. Even from a distance the change could be seen, the once beacon for humanity had been stripped of its grandeur and was slowly being transformed into something else, something from the old world.

Offices and laboratories performed a perfect front and a sufficient enough backbone for what Six wanted this place to be, while at first people had been hesitant to return to ground zero of the attack on Vale the need for a jobs beat their fear. And thanks to the fact that their CEO did not have a paycheck the bonuses and the many amenities made sure that RobCo began to be the number one employer in the area, even if many of their competition accused them of stealing parts that right in the middle of the attack on the city. They never had any proof of course.

"Hey there boss, we handed the robots the samples that you asked… are you sure you don't want us to look at it?" a scientist greeted them at the port, Six simply smiled and shook his head "Oh no need, its just something that I planned to store"

But regardless of what society thought of the image that he gave what mattered was what was on the inside, after they passed a certain point the cameras all died and after placing a key on the machine Six opened the secret passage to an elevator "I don't like this stupid cape that I need to wear" Cinder commented as she made her face visible again.

"It does make you look more intimidating" Six commented as the elevator stopped and they entered their true kingdom, a series of subterranean tunnels containing everything that he would ever need to fight a massive war but most importantly a powerful computer that allowed him to communicate with something outside the planet. "Yes Man, report"

It took some time but the AI replied in his usual cheery voice "Hi there! Thanks for the new home boss! Plenty of space up here if you don't mind my pun hahaha… but as for the report I have looked for movement of this Grimm things you have asked about and as we suspected there is an epicenter where they spread to the rest of the world" Six found it incredibly funny how the place where all the monsters came from had the form of a dragon. "As always Cinder you spared no detail"-"I cant, this thing on my head wont let me" Six grinned "I know"

"Oh but there is more, seismic activity detected from the region is making it clear that something is stirring there. Plan A could still be executed but we may have to look for outside sources to bolster the ranks" Six hummed as his missing eye began to itch, the machete of the legionnaire that had tried to kill him now nothing more than a phantom. 

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

The finger of God

"Clean energy for New Beacon, thanks to RobCo's construction of the solar power plant that has yet to be named it seems like in the future we might only need the sun to light our houses!" radio reports echoed as one of the guards shook his head and changed the station.

His buddy gave him an annoyed look "What the hell man I was listening to that!"

"Is not like it matters for us here in the frontier, the council isn't doing shit for us out here man. All this talk about progress pisses me off cause we never see it out here… only Grimm and death"-"All right what the hell is up with you today? Is this because of"-"YES DAMMIT, she was just a kid and she got split in half by that massive Death Stalker, and all because they couldn't spare the reinforcements"

The other guard clicked his tongue and nodded "I feel you but Vale is barely standing as it is, truth to be told it's a miracle that the entire continent has not fallen to chaos. The attack on the capital could have lead to the fall of an entire continent… is scary how close we where to loosing it all" he nodded as he returned to looking out of his scope "Yeah but still is not like… GRIMM!"

A large hoard of Beowolf and Sabyr advanced with great speed towards the outpost, ignoring the counter offense by the soldiers who could only watch in horror as more and more of the beasts ran out from the forest "I… I'm sorry" they had failed Vale, the only thing they could do was hope that the remains of their destroyed outpost let the city know of the coming horde.

"Heads up!" rose petals almost blinded him as a red blur passed them by and fired at the Grimm, Ruby Rose reloaded as she shook her head at the amount of creatures heading their way "That's a lot of them, Weiss can you…?"-"On it"

A cold breeze made her shiver as Weiss unleashed strike after strike of ice dust freezing the floor along with some of the Grimm. "That wont stop them for long Ruby, get those men out of there" Weiss said as she spoke into her scroll. A red blur passed her by along with the screams of the ones with being rescued taking some steps back she looked at the giant horde of monster and frowned "There are more than what we expected"

"Then good thing we are here huh?" Weiss almost jumped in fright as the headmistress ripped the very ground around them and used it as a weapon, rocks and rotten pieces of trees where launched at the Grimm as Glynda unleashed her full might against them. Looking at the forest around them the feeling that someone was watching, this was to be a simple recognizance mission she would not let her students die here. Reaching for her scroll she pressed a small button on the side, nothing happened at first but then the forest was illuminated with red light as the mighty securitron army rolled out of their hiding spot, their laser melting trough bone and fur like paper "Engaging target" The horde was reduced to cinders in mere seconds as the machines scanned for more target "Area secured"

The machines all returned to their post as their primary objective became priority once more, Glynda frowned as she watched the machines wheel themselves around the dark forest searching for something. Minerals? Caves? She did not know, the man that was leading the machine army had disappeared from the face of the earth after his speech at new beacon, the only one that seemed to have contact with him was the specialist from Atlas Winter Schnee something that could be understood, from what she understood the two where in a romantic relationship. "We can't thank you enough mam, you and your students have saved the lives of my group"

Glynda nodded at them "Don't worry, you should accompany us back to the nearest settlement. You can inform your superiors that this outpost has fallen and needs to be reinforced."

"Like that is going to happen" the guard said sadly as he shook his head, Weiss walked towards them as she sheeted her weapon. Raising an eyebrow at the comment she gave the guard a look "What do you mean?" the guard seemed to hesitate but then shrugged as he decided that he did not get paid enough to hide secrets from the people that had just saved them from the grip of the Grimm.

Looking at the forest ahead of him the guard frowned "It is getting worse… every single day we loose another outpost. I don't know how long the frontier can hold, they seem dead set in reaching the city of Vale… Headmistress I know you don't need me to tell you this but I think this past weeks the Grimm have been licking their wounds and they are coming back. Vale can't defend itself we need reinforcements" Glynda nodded as she began to walk away.

"Vale wont fall" was all that the guard heard as the witch disappeared into the mist, turning to the young student he blinked at the dark forest "Your teacher is kinda creepy" Weiss simply shook her head "You have no idea" reaching for her scroll she signaled Ruby and the others that they needed to head back to the bullhead. Looking at her other messages she spotted one that her sister had sent. Things had gone back to normal now, Winter while a far would check on her via letters or messages to her scroll it was nice to know that she cared, this one was brief but in her humble opinion sweet. Especially for someone as serious as her sister "Good luck on your mission"

There was a blur of red next to her as she pocketed her device, Ruby dusted herself off as she let out a sigh "What a mess" Weiss raised an eyebrow at the tone of voice her team leader was using. The small girl seemed to be frowning as she placed Crecent Rose on her back.

Weiss coughed into her fist snapping the young leader out of whatever was going on with her "Cap for your thoughts?"

"Hah! That's Six's catchphrase I will tell him you stole it!" Ruby said with a small giggle as Weiss simply snorted as they began their walk towards the Bullhead "He should feel honored that I borrowed something out of his foul mouthed dictionary… but seriously is something wrong. You should feel exited, we just conducted another successful mission"

Ruby let out a sigh as she looked ahead.

The forests dark grays and greens dancing on her silver eyes as she struggled to find the words to describe what she was feeling "It feels weird… no Yang no Blake and I feel more like… I don't know something different than a huntress" Weiss brought a hand to her chin "We are not working as a team that's true, more like a military squad. But you heard what the teachers said, it wont be like this forever as soon as the teams can be reassigned things will go back to normal, different but normal"

"… what if I don't want that Weiss? I don't want things to change" Weiss stopped walking as she let out a sigh and decided to choose her words carefully, change was all she had ever wanted. To not have to live in the box that was created by her father and the company that had her last name but she would not lie that it stung to not have her friends here with her, she missed Blake and the way she approached every mission and not she would ever admit it to anyone but she also missed Yang's puns but she assumed that it had to do more with the person that told the puns rather than the puns themselves.

But even if she did not like it she could not go back. She did not want to be in Atlas anymore, her mother the only thing she missed of that cold and unforgiven place "I understand, but the ability to adapt is what make us different than everyone else. We need to evolve to keep going"

"Bloody evolution, I know but even so… I can miss the old days right?' Weiss chuckled as memories of everyone she shared that room in Beacon flashed before her eyes "Of course, I also miss those days" as they arrived at the bullhead they watched as the other students entered the large machine as they dusted off their weapons and waved at them to get in.

Cardin surprisingly waited for them, when they got close he pointed with his thumb towards the cockpit "Something is going on there, no one wants to go in and speak with the headmistress. I would have gone but she doesn't like me so I was hoping that you could see what the hell is going on"

Ruby nodded as she dashed forward and knocked on the door "Hello, is everything okay" Glynda slammed the door open and looked at her students as she steadied her breathing "We need to get back to Vale now… this grimm where just a diversion there is a massive army of them heading to the city right now. We need to help them evacuate, Six is not responding and I cant contact General Ironwood"

Everyone in the machine turned as white as sheet of paper. Some cried, some simply knelt down while others like Cardin prepared their weapons, Weiss reached for her scroll and sent a brief message to her sister detailing the situation and she spotted Ruby doing the same with her dad "We are close to Vale… my god…" the pilot announced over the intercom as the students stared in horror at the giant black horde of monster that seemed to be closing in on the facility "What do we do headmistress?"

Glynda opened her mouth to speak but then closed it as she tried to think on what to do, they where almost infinite from all the species that they had record of she spotted Alfas and even some Ancient ones, the city could not win this war. They might not even be able to evacuate "We need to..."-"INCOMING SHIP!"

Weiss ran to the side of the bullhead as she tried to see what was the thing that was approaching them "… Vertibird" she muttered as the ship that Winter had described in her logs about the wasteland soared past them as the machine opened and a familiar figure came to view.

Six placed one boot on the ledge as he reached into his pocket, looking at the massive horde Weiss almost felt her passing out when Six pulled out a toy gun and pointed it at the beasts "What on Oum's name is he doing?" static erupted from the scrolls as something took control over them, a message to everyone on Vale and secretly also to the grimm lands.

A simple passage from an ancient book.

"And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder one of the four beasts saying come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death" Six pressed the button as everything went quiet.

The grimm stopped their march as something glowed above them, next to the broken moon a light seemed to be shining down on them, the students saw it too as they tried to get a better look at the thing in the skies. Then in a flash the clouds where burned and the skies where parted in half as light erupted down on the massive grimm army Six covered his eyes as the laser decimated the army it was over faster than he expected melted bone and fur seemed to be all that remained. Weiss held her hands close to her mouth as she witnessed destruction in such a massive scale that it was almost ludicrous to think about.

Six for his part simply nodded satisfied with the test "Clean up the rest" he spoke into his Pipboy as the robots illuminated the burnt land with laser rifle fire. He sent a message to Glynda to follow his ship to New Beacon as he placed the Euclid's C-Finder back in his pocket "That was… impressive, such power of destruction and you did not need to use the nuclear bomb" Cinder said as she sat next to him fiddling with her own PipBoy while also checking her scroll.

"Like I said we need to avoid using nuclear power as much as we can. I don't want your world to end up like mine"-"Shame then, the robots that you had following those children around found it. Traces of raw uranium beneath Remnants mountains ignored because it was not dust"

Six simply hummed as he closed his eyes.

Ironwood slammed his hands on the table as he stared in horror at the reports "How on earth… how did the Grimm move so fast? How did we not notice?!" Winter stood next to her boss as she watched the monsters all get closer and closer to the city.

Weiss was there she needed to get there and "And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder…" she knew those words. Winter felt her blood run cold when the skies parted and a massive laser decimated the grimm and the land around it.

"Archimedes… HE BUILT ARCHIMEDES?!" Winter felt rage consume her as she stared in disbelief at the scorched ground. Ironwood could only stare in shock as he watched the remaining grimm struggle to move as their flesh melted to their bones and their eyes fell out of their sockets "W-Winter what…"-"Sir permission to head to Vale, I need to get rid of that weapon ASAP"

Ironwood stared at the specialist and then nodded "Permission granted but do not destroy the weapon"-"Sir?" the general took some steps towards the window and let out a sigh "I am no fool Winter I see a declaration of war when I see one, the great evil that lives in our planet has taken the first move. She dares us to meet her unfathomable evil with the lives of our hunters… with our children's lives and by some miracle, you brought a monster to meet her on the battlefield."

"He is not… Six is more than what he was made to do" Winter said as Ironwood nodded "Maybe, but even if he is, my conversation with paladin Nate still makes me wary of him"-"Then why?! Why don't you want the weapon off his hands?"

Ironwood said nothing as it clicked on her head "A decoy… you want to use him as bait"

"If he wins this war, he will be a hero. If he looses he has given us more than enough time to counterattack and free ourselves of the future that is to come"

Winter stared at the general for a second "Then we have to help him win" the specialist said as she prepared to leave, saluting before leaving for Vale she failed to see how Ironwood hardened his gaze as he stared at the horizon "Do we?"

Chapter Text

Sandstorm over Remnant

Who are you, that you don't know your history?

"Death from above!" Ruby ignored the headliners as she scrolled through her scroll. The past thirty minutes or so had been utter chaos, even now she could hear the reporters outside new beacon trying to get an audience with Glynda for a comment on what had happened. The massive wave of Grimm had been annihilated in less than a minute, this had never happened in the history of Remnant.

But at the same time, Ruby knew that the people were scared, who was to say that the giant laser of doom would not be used to wipe out an entire city when it felt like it? Ruby shuddered at the thought and returned to look at her scroll, she noticed how a message popped in her screen " You okay sis? Need me and dad to go get you?"

"Yang…"

No, she did not want to go back home just yet. Something was going on here and she wanted to get to the bottom of this right now "No, we are all safe. Six's laser took care of all the Grimm"

She waited for a response, her sister took her time replying "Dad says that he understands but that we will be going anyways. He is worried about what is happening on Vale, uncle Qrow also dropped by the other day and said something like that too. Just keep safe ok?"

Ruby simply replied with a thumbs up and let out a sigh she stood up as she decided to walk with no destination. Just to take her mind off things and maybe try to sort out how she was feeling, as she walked through the new facilities offered by RobCo she noticed how blocky everything was. Brutalist and with all the statues it almost felt oppressive but now that she really thought about she had seen this type of building before, she remembered the ruins… the dead world.

"Ruby what are you doing here?" a soft voice made her turn her head towards the fountain. Pyrrah waved at her from the spot she was sitting, Ruby smiled at her as she zipped to her side "Hello! What are you doing?" the red head smiled at her friend as she motioned her to come closer.

Ruby sat down next to her as she noticed what Pyrrah was staring at "I was reading the plaque, Begin Again by Michael Angelo. I wondered why the placed this here… it seems like a sad statue don't you think?"

A woman in a dress, a gold bar on her hands "Almost looks like real gold over there… but why do you say its sad?" Pyrrah simply shook her head as she let out a sigh "I don't know maybe I'm projecting, but she looks sad to me" Ruby looked at her face and noticed how the line in her lips inclined slightly downwards. Was it her imagination?

"I think… I think I see it too"

Pyrrah stood up with some effort as she held her side "Does it still hurt?" Ruby helped her up as she frowned at the state of her friend.

"A little, I just need to be out of action for some more time and I should be back to normal. Honestly my pride is more hurt than anything" there was so much that Ruby wanted to say to her friend but to her surprise Six entered the large room as he carefully avoided the flowers and just stared at the fountain, Pyrrah stumbled a bit as she walked towards him making Six alerted to the fact that they where there with him "Oh hey there kids! Sorry to intrude I was just thinking"

Ruby nodded as she stood next to him for a moment "This fountain… you made it right?" Six let out a loud laugh as he shook his head "Oh hell no, I have never had an artistic bone in my body. This one was made by a friend, why did you think it was mine?"

Ruby blushed a bit as she pulled her hood up "I-I mean I just assumed because it has the same logo as your canteen and… no yeah that makes no sense" Six chuckled as he brought out his canteen "Its fine, this is the logo of company… it has been dead for a long time in my world but it somehow always manages to rear its head in my life" Six noticed how he captured the attention of the two so he decided to elaborate a bit more "Vault-Tech, bunch of cruel bastards but they did make sure that you were prepared for the future with their vaults and all that jazz"-"Vaults?" Pyrrah inquired as she tilted her head to the side. Six lost his smile as he turned to look at the gold bar that was held by the statue, water dropped softly into the fountain as if tears descended from the heavens "Places to keep humanity safe when the world ended. Underground vaults buried beneath miles of steel and stone… they lied, they weren't safe"

Ruby frowned "Then why… why do you keep that memory around?" Six looked at his canteen and then at the statue "Some of us got lucky, Angelo was raised in vault and he loved it so much that he feared the outside world but even now his work carries the love for his vault here"

"And you?" Pyrrah asked the two teens noticed a million emotions passed trough the face of the courier in the fraction of a second "I don't have such a high opinion of them, but I guess I just cant let go of the memories right now… maybe I never was able to let go" Six downed the contents of his canteen and then turned to them "Glynda was looking for you, she wants all the students to be ready in case more Grimm show up"

Ruby nodded as she zipped towards the headmistress office, Pyrrah remained by his side for some time "Something on your mind kid?"

"I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life" Pyrrah commented as they fell into a comfortable silence "Don't mention it, I'm happy to see you recovering so fast. How's Jaune?" the redhead giggled a bit as she covered her face to hide the small blush that spread across her cheeks "Seems like everyone has noticed the change in our… relationship, he's fine"

Six smiled as he watched the fearsome warrior blush at the mention of her boyfriend "That's what I wanted to hear, go on kid don't keep your boyfriend waiting" Six was left alone as he watched the statue of Vera Keyes. It had been gift from the Vault Hotel, Sarah and her brother had wanted to speak with him about the future of the hotel and the workshop, it took some drinks and some promises to have them in Vega's pockets once more.

Liberty to restore some of the vault and some pictures from the wasteland to assist on Angelo's creativity problem and between all that was needed to complete the negotiations, once all that was done Six got to tell the tale of the Sierra Madre. It had been a long time since he had such a captive audience so he tried to paint a picture to the siblings, Michael was so taken with the story that he got to work on the statue as soon as he finished the story and before Six knew it, the large statue was gifted to the shadow man of Vegas.

"Begin again" caught off guard Six jumped to the side but relaxed when Winter watched the statue, she opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. There was much that she wanted to say but her emotions threatened to get the best of her, they shared a look as Six approached her "I'm sorry"

Winter gritted her teeth "So you DO know what this means right?! War, you just declared war against whatever the hell is commanding the Grimm" Six raised an eyebrow "You know about that?"

"I-I… subtleties have gone out of the window nowadays thanks to someone" she gave him a glare but her eyes turned to worry as she looked at his eye "I don't know what is out there, I just know that there is something bigger than both of us pulling the strings. Does it not scare you?"

There was a pause as Six nodded slowly, the soft sound of the fountain sounding like tears falling into the floor bellow "I feel scared… but not because I might die… I don't want to lose you… I don't want you to hate me" for the first time since they had met Six let all his walls crumble around him, Winter held his hand and for the briefest of seconds she saw the green eyes that she had missed so much, the eyes that had been robbed from on the Sierra Madre.

"You don't have to do this, we could run. We could settle down on Zion Valley, far away from all of this… just give the tools t-these weapons to people like Ironwood, he can end this eternal war it's what he has trained for all his life! It's all he has ever wanted"

Run from all of this.

Six felt his hand sweat as he paled, there was a way out. To stop doing this to himself over and over again, he was tired of repeating history "Could I be that selfish?" he had set up all the pieces, someone like Ironwood could take over and no one would be none the wiser.

But he knew his history, he had been at the mercy of generals that just followed orders from up top and did what was good for the Republic for the greater picture of "civilization" and "progress" so he knew what he had to do.

Six lifted his hand and gently passed his thumb over Winters cheek "I love you… more than you could ever know" her skin was so soft, pure. He wanted to keep her safe, free from the wasteland back home and free from the horrible war that was to come, but he could not ensure that he could protect that which he cared about if he ran with her.

"The Witch of Vegas"

Their peace was cut in half as a massive symbol of Caesar's Legion strolled into the garden, Winter felt her blood run cold as Legate Lanius glared at her from beneath his mask. Jumping back she brought out her sword and looked at Six surprised. The courier simply lowered his head and let out a long sigh "Lanius?! What is he doing here?!"

Weiss was in this building! If any of the legion brutes got their hands on her she would not be able to live with herself.

The legate strolled next to the courier and closed his hands "Vegas has extended its hand to the Legion in our time of need. The arch-traitor, Vulpes, has defiled Caesars memory and committed heresy, women fighting in the legion… deceit and terrorism as far as the eye can see, even striking at the cities of the legion our civil war threatens to destroy all that we have worked for. And in our time of need Mars sends an envoy, a messenger to help me deliver the head of the traitor to my war table"

Winter could not believe her eyes. They had worked so hard, they had bleed buckets of blood to keep them out of Vegas "I know this is…" Six never got to finish that sentence as Winter punched him so hard on the nose that it broke "THEY TOOK YOUR EYE! THEY TRIED TO KILL ME!"

"I know… but they are the blunt weapon that we need. We will come down on this old Witch like a hammer and free this world, Lanius will get Vulpe's head on a platter and protection from the NCR. They will not kill the bull while it licks its wounds" Lanius crossed his arms as he nodded, satisfied with the agreement.

The ground rumbled before Winter could say more as the las piece of Six's puzzle arrived, a massive truck arrived and with it a foul stench that Winter could not forget "The Sierra Madre, the Divide… all of them picked clean for the new war to come" Ulysses jumped down from the truck as he looked at Winter briefly and then back at Six, he handed him a control that looked like the one Elijah had used for the holograms and another one that looked like a detonator.

"The ghosts have woken up, the time has come… are you ready to repeat your history?" Ulysses did not wait for a reply as he walked towards the balcony and took in the view, it was beautiful unlike anything else, Lanius did not move he stuck to the shadows and ignored everything around him.

It did not make sense to him, and he could not conquer it, so to Lanius it did not matter where he was all he cared about was the resources he was promised that he would get for aiding the Man from Vegas and the death of Vulpes. Keeping the NCR away was just a nice bonus he got from all of this.

"W-what are you doing?" Six looked towards the forest and smiled "Your world its so beautiful. This evil that has been haunting you is threatening to take all that away, to make it this paradise into a wasteland like mine" six closed his fist as his red eye glowed with rage. "I wont let that happen, that THING thinks that we will wait for it to strike us, that we will cross our arms and rest on our laurels… I say no"

Six pointed at the truck "I will rain down nuclear Armageddon on the Grimm, release the cloud and choke them all out. The holograms will destroy what is left and my army will march and take whatever the hell is on the other side to its knees, nothing will escape… Lanius will crush the retreating forces and then you will all be safe." Winter could not believe what she was hearing. Ironwood said that Six wanted war but she never thought that he would take the hunters and the military out of the equation.

"T-the general will not tolerate this"-"I know" Six smiled sadly as he looked at her with quiet resolve "I will be sent to stop you" she felt tears roll down her cheeks as she desperately wanted to reach out to him and stop him.

Heartbroken at causing her pain Six turned on his heel as he took the first steps into damnation "I will wait for you…" Winter took a step towards him but Old Glory stopped her Ulysses glared at her.

"You fail to see… you fail to understand what he sees thought the shattered eye. Something greater than both the bear and the bull… you will not stop what's to come… War has come to your planet… be thankful that it is not your hands that will covered in blood at the end of this road"

Alarms blared above as New Beacon trembled as the portal between worlds was used to its max capacity, Winter faintly heard Weiss and her friends run to her side as from bellow the school a massive army of steel walked flanked by Legionnaires. The shattered moon hung above them all.

Red as blood... an omen of what was to come.

Chapter Text

Sandstorm Over Remnant

Checkmate

Failure.

Across the centuries Salem had not known failure, every step she took, every piece that she moved had a purpose and she had always gotten what she wanted. Few setbacks for sure the world was nothing if unpredictable and ever evolving, but never something that dammed the grand picture, her mission to challenge the very gods themselves had never once being close to being stopped.

As she looked across the ruins of her castle, her children dying to the invisible killer as across her kingdom nuclear hellfire reigned down and the very finger of god itself could be seen above the clouds ready to fire at her again after destroying her home to rubble something primal surged from her insides, an emotion she had not felt in centuries.

"Hehe… HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Salem laughed, tears fell down her cheeks as she could not control the amusement that emanated from her very soul. She wiped the tears away with her sharp nails and for the first time in centuries she let out a satisfied sigh as an amused smirk firmly rested on her cheek. The rubble that had once been her castle and the smoke coming from the approaching enemy would mean the end for most, but for her? This was nothing more than a setback, a mere diversion from the norm and she had to say this was the most entertained she had been in a long time. Ozpin and his lackeys had tried sure, but they lacked the power for this and she had no doubt that this was the work of something otherworldly something that she did not understand yet…

They had opened the gate to something that they should not have, something that messed with their reality and the rules that the gods had written down so long ago. And that excited her, she felt radiation lap against her skin as it tried to eat her but to no avail, like all the tools of man this was just something else that would eventually be turned against them. Salem looked as the smoke cleared and she could see her new enemy.

She could see him now, riding so proudly into battle on his metallic horse. He thought himself death surrounded by his metal locust but the boy had not met anything like her before looking around she spotted how her throne was intact, smiling to herself she walked with grace towards her seat and waited. Salem crossed her legs as she rested her head against her hand, one of her Grimm approached her as it died ready to protect his mistress.

Salem shook her head and slit the throat of the dying beast "No need for that my dear" she could faintly see the invisible killer dance around her fingertips as she smiled at all the endless possibilities "Rest now, soon you shall return to this world more powerful than ever but for now…" she looked up as the man-made machine landed near her.

The old witch smiled "I have a guest to entertain"

New Beacon Academy, sometime earlier:

"… something greater than the bear and the bull… you found it not in our home… but on the stars" Ulysses watched from the window of New Beacon as Six and Yes Man planned the attack on the Grimm-Lands. "Something that can give us hope, something that can make us become so much more, but it must be defended. I must save it from these beasts" the other Courier replied.

Six barely looked up from the screen as he poured everything of himself into the planning and the maneuvering of units "You are wounded… a clear mind is needed to win a war…" Ulysses commented as a simple observation.

"I was almost crazy and dying when we fought" Six looked up with a grin "And I remember wining"-"Crazy yes… but not heartbroken… two different types of madness" Ulysses said without turning away from the window as he watched this nation continue onwards even after the grim attack on their city. Clicking his tongue Six returned to the screen as he tried to make sure they had enough bullheads to mobilize an entire invading force… but if needed he could just take the ones that the Vale Council had left around after they had quietly fled from the kingdom.

Cowards.

They failed to see that once a kingdom fell there would be a domino effect, one by one they would all fall and not even the mighty Atlas would be able to fight off the entire world and then… silence, a world reduced to nothing. And there would not be any haven from that.

"There is a call from General Ironwood coming in" Yes-Man said not caring enough to stop his strategizing, the AI just sent it to his screen to let him deal with the no doubt irate general. "… sure, let's get this out of the way" Six muttered as the machine clicked a bit and in no time the scowling face of the general appeared.

There was a pause as both men looked at one another but Ironwood broke their staring contest as he looked to the paper on his hand "Concealment of a super-weapon, illegal smuggling of nuclear devices INTO MY PLANET and if Winter is to be believed… you are going to war with something you don't understand. Ozpin gave his life… my friend and mentor… his own life Six to keep the world safe and ignorant of what is happening, because if the people knew mass panic would ensue. This is not a request; I am done being nice. Return to your planet, as an offer of goodwill we will keep trade with Earth but you are not to set foot on Remnant ever again"

Six nodded "Oh I hear ya, don't mean I will obey. Vale is dead, people might not realize it but it fell the moment Ozpin and Beacon fell. I merely used its corpse like a puppet to make the people believe that there is a chance, that things won't fail because if Vale fails all of you are next and you know it… don't you General?"

Ironwood narrowed his eyes at him.

"You have no possible way of knowing that"-"Everything is a ripple. Vale was only the first strike in the water and no one did anything to stop it… so I will, I will have to decline your request. No worries, this is not a decision enforced by RobCo I am doing this alone"

There was silence as the two glared at one another "Then you are just a criminal that needs to be put down"-'"See you around Ironwood, next time we meet I will be hailed as the hero of your little ball of dust" slamming his fist down on the call button Six's red eye glowed as everything had been prepared.

Lanius strolled in as he watched the war table with mild interest "My troops are eager to spill blood, when do we strike"

"Now" Cinder sat next Six as he prepared Archimedes "I got footage of HER castle, its crawling with Grimm" the sky glowed as the machine prepared to fire once more, and this time at maximum capacity. The black-haired girl grinned as she leaned against the taller man.

Six raised an eyebrow at the action as she mumbled into his ear "Intoxicating, right?"

"What?"-"The feeling that you are in control, that you have the power to kill with the simple press of a button. Makes me wonder if the relics are like this" Six made a mental note to ask what the relics were and to also check where the sudden affection from her came from.

Turning to the screen that housed Yes Man, Six nodded at him as he reached for the key on his pocket "Prepare the nuclear missiles, they strike after the laser" twenty red dots appeared all over the Grimmlands and one more that would hit the castle shortly after the first barrage, set to destroy whatever the laser had not managed to kill. There was no need for a grand speech, no need for him to justify what he was going to do activating the key and pressing the button only took about a minute and yet he could feel his shoulders sagging under the weight of his actions.

Silence followed as Ulysses watched the skies "… here it comes…" a massive shockwave shook the school as Archimedes fired at maximum capacity illuminating the sky as New Beacon trembled as the nuclear arsenal was launched.

The drone shook as the castle exploded; the laser burned everything to the ground as the Grimm melted to their bone and the dark cloud of their death began to cloud the sky and blot out the sun. "Confirmed strike across the entire continent, every part will be covered in radiation soon. You have a less than an hour to get to that castle" Yes Man communicated as Six began to mobilize his troops.

"Lanius your men will guard the border of Vale, repeal any creature that tries to cross the border. My Robots will head to Vacuo and do the same" Lanius nodded as he motioned for his men to follow him into the flying machines.

Six handed him a brand-new machine gun "Better take care of them, you get to keep them after this war" Lanius tossed the weapon to one of the legionaries "I have no need for this weapon, I will crush the beasts with my sword"

Present time, Grimmlands:

"Approaching target" Six faintly heard one of the assaultrons say as the vertibird landed near ground zero of the laser strike, taking the most powerful weapons at hand Six grinned as the Fat Man on his arm shone eerily under the red light of this land, the power of Atom ready to reduce anything that still lived to radioactive dust.

If needed he could just pump it full of lead with the Riot Shotgun or beat it to a pulp with the super sledge on his back.

Six signaled another bullhead to land near him, if all went according to plan this was just overkill but he could never be too sure when it came to dealing with things that he did not understand… but everything died, of that he was sure "Enemy spotted, be ready to engage. Courier Six moving in" the short announcement echoed in the empty valley as Six spotted a funny looking chair as a massive woman grinned at him.

"Welcome" her voice was elegant, ancient, alien… Six felt his blood run cold and his limbs refused to obey, his determined walk was brought to an abrupt halt under the cold eyes of the monster.

Salem did not move an inch as she observed the man before her, she breathed in his scent and chuckled "Barely human, are you? Is that why they sent you tin man? Do they think that a metal abomination can beat me after oh so many years?" Six swallowed as he kept his fingers on the trigger of the Fat-Man.

"It has been working" was the short response he provided, Salem waived her hand as she looked at her ruined kingdom "Grimm don't die, I don't die. All of this has only been a minor setback"

Six snorted "Says the woman standing in her ruined castle" Salem nodded "I guess to mortals this does look like a victory… but I spent some time building this place, so I am a bit annoyed at having to rebuild it all" standing up from her throne Six aimed with the Fat-Man as Salem simply shook her head.

"So far from home, so very confused and oh so very weak"

Six blinked as Salem disappeared and the cackling could be heard all around the ruins "Lost target, scanning" One of his robot companions said as Six reached into his pocket as he prepared the button that would activate his trap. Six noticed something move into the corner of his eye as he jumped and activated V.A.T.S to aim the shot with the Riot Shotgun.

To his horror Salem strolled next to him even on slowed time her red eyes never leaving his, aware that he was watching her. With a slap from one of her tentacles, Six felt his Riot Gear be torn apart as he was flung back and slammed against one of the rocks. Moving quickly, he shot Salem who took the blast to the face instead of evading it with her superior speed. The shot seemed to bounce off her as she grinned at him, the light around her seeming to be sucked in and then snuffed out by her presence alone, as her long shadow fell over him "And now that that didn't work, what else do you have up your sleeve?"

Six pressed the button as an army of assaultrons jumped from the shadows firing lasers at the enemy, who created a large tentacle that crushed the metal constructs to bits as she never took her eyes off the courier, before Salem could comment the second bullhead landed on top of her as the red cloud exploded all around them.

"A LITTLE GIFT FROM THE SIERRA MADRE YOU BITCH!" Six yelled as he ran away and prepared the fat-man. Salem crushed the head of an assaultron between her fingers as she breathed in the toxin. It was addictive, it reeked of death and rust. It burnt the lungs of her children, but to her this was the sweetest perfume she could ever get.

It was the smell of death "This… this I can use" she heard the trigger be pulled as across the skies the power of atom descended towards her "YES MAN! Prepare Archimedes now! FULL POWER!" Six pulled out the toy pistol and aimed "And don't stop firing until I say so" the Fat-Man exploded as the ground shook as his Geiger counter ticked standing so close to the blast.

The cloud, an atom bomb, radiation and laser weaponry of the highest caliber shot from the most advanced robots his world had to offer… it had to be enough right?

She had to be death, RIGTH?!

"Did you expect me to cry out? Did you expect me to feel pain? I don't feel pain child, all I feel… is rage" she was not affected, the witch still lived. Taking a short step towards him Salem glared as Six stumbled back pressing the button on the weapon. Her veins glowed green as she assimilated the nuclear energy around her, her hand grotesquely being reshaped into a large knife as black ooze poured to the ground, burning it "You have outlived the amusement you provide, be a good alien and die"

From the skies a horrible sound deafened whatever living thing that remained on the area as the red clouds above where burnt. Archimedes split the sky as it landed with all its might atop Salem, Courier Six keeping his finger on the trigger as the ground gave way reduced to cinders and melting into a dark pit. Six fell back as his ears rang and he could barely see, desperately trying to get to his feet the courier heard as some of the bits and pieces of his armor fell to the ground.

Stimpacks were quickly injected. Med-X, Buffout and even some mentats all of them downed with Whiskey as the courier managed to look around. The red cloud was gone, whatever remained of the castle had been destroyed and all the assaultrons destroyed, looking up Six looked at the surrounding areas and frowned "Got to get out of here" a small glimpse of gold made him stop in his tracks, mouth agape Six stared as the throne stood in the middle of the crater, untouched by everything. Not a smidge, not a dent and dark chuckle emanated from the massive hole in the ground. Six gripped his shotgun as he carefully approached the edge, he could not see the bottom. Did it stretch for miles down there?

"Tell me something mortal" her voice echoed across the large chasm as dark tendril began to snake towards the top "Why have you not been swarmed by all my children? Why do my beasts still roam the kingdoms? All the alphas, the elders, the mutants. Species uncountable still roam the world and they shall keep doing so forevermore. I am ETERNAL and I will not stop until everyone last human and faunus is dead and even the very gods bow to me… for what they did to me so long ago"

Six felt one of the large tentacles wrap around his neck as it brough him closer to the darkness bellow "It will happen, you cannot stop it. If not today in a hundred years, a thousand. To me it does not matter. All you have done is given me new tools to make them all suffer and for that you are to be rewarded"

Six was tossed to the side as the tentacle glowed green, the Geiger counter on his arm ticked and then it split creating another one that turned red just like the cloud from the Sierra Madre "You get time, time is nothing to me but everything to you. But how much will I give them? A year? A century? Run along now little tin can man and I recommend that you don't look back"

The tentacles retreated into the dark the green glow of radiation fading slowly but never disappearing, Six looked at the throne and then back at the darkness form where the tentacles had come from and there he saw it, a pair of red eyes burning into his very soul.

He had gotten too close to the abyss and now it was looking back at him. Something primal overtook him, something that he could not control. They say that one of the oldest emotions is fear and that the oldest fear is the fear of the unknown.

Six ran away.

As fast as his legs could carry him Six jumped into the vertibird he had arrived so full of confidence and looked at the pilot "New Beacon, NOW!" Six steadied his breathing as he brought his hand to his face "Fuck…FUCK!" Slamming his fist into the metal denting it a bit, Six felt the crushing weight of his defeat as he slumped into the floor. He had given her tools to hurt humanity more, it did not matter to her. She could come back again and again and again, always increasing the threat she represented and now Remnant was doomed… maybe not now, maybe not in a thousand years.

But all the same the end was coming and he was not sure that he could stop it… if he ever had a chance to stop it. Was this planet truly doomed? What was Ozpin's plan to stop her? Did he even have any?!

"What the hell even is she?!" Six muttered to himself as a black crow flew next to the vertibird. The bird flew away as it watched the vertibird grow smaller and smaller until it faded in the red sky. The bird landed near a forest, turning into a man with black hair "Jimmy… you're not going to believe this. I think the Courier managed to bring down the Queen. No sign of her, Grimm are retreating into the forests in droves… the laser? Yeah worse than we thought and the large missiles that we spotted are even worse. They have leveled mountains and shattered the entire continent, there's also this cloud that he used but… never mind that now. We need to talk, Grimm just became the least of our problems"

Qrow let out a sigh as he checked to see if Ruby had gotten his message, Glynda had replied but she did not seem all that interested in replying. "Come on Red… you might be in the dragons' nest right now and the beast is heading back with a pile of gold"