Some Things Never Change

by The Great Wizzard

Courier Six has had enough. His companions have abandoned him, assassins hunt him wherever he travels, and despite everything he has done for the Mojave and it's people he has received no thanks and was even demonized for his actions. Alone in the Big Empty while trying to drown his worries in alcohol and chems, Six abandons his world only to find himself stuck in another.

18. 14 Goodbye and Good Riddance

Chapter 14: Goodbye and Good Riddance

I've been on the receiving end of quite a few chilly receptions throughout the ruins scattered across the Mojave, far more than I would have cared to go through if I had the choice. Sure, most of them were damn well deserved because people who tried asking questions before shooting usually ended up eating a lead sandwich, but some people could at least try to say hello before the shootout starts. It was only because I had received far worse welcomes than a solid kick to the family jewels that I didn't immediately start trying to kill everyone in the Spirit of Vacuo's hideout after Giles gave me a welcome that brought me to my knees.

The iron toed bastard came out of nowhere, so even if I wasn't putting all my focus into not tripping over my own two feet at the time, I would have never been able to stop him from trying to smash my dinglehopper and berries. Before I could even think about pulling Penetrator out of the hidden pocket inside of my long coat, Giles lifted me by collar and pinned me to the wall. I never pegged the guy as being the kind of guy to go for the other throat in a fight or be able to lift me and all of my shit with a single hand, but it looks like the old faunus was full of surprises. The only reason I didn't try to bash his head in with the butt of my pistol then was because I was too amazed at Snake Eyes to do anything but wonder how the hell he snuck up on me. Old man was lucky I had my mind set on figuring out where he came from to even consider ending him right then and there.

"You're late." He spat towards me, looking about as pissed as I felt.

"Nice to see you too buddy..." I sarcastically replied as I tried my best to caress my bruised boys.

I didn't think that Giles pinned me against the wall in a committed, if foolhardy, attempt to scare me was because of anything too serious, or at least, anything I needed to take seriously, so I gave him all the respect he deserved for taking me by surprise. Letting the snake eyed faunus have his moment in the sun certainly wouldn't have landed me in as much shit as me blowing his brains out the moment he let me, if anything.

Truth be told, I never expected the old man could move that fast with that giant hammer still strapped to his back. I guess fear really could make people surprise themselves. The faint sliver of panic I saw in Snake Eyes' namesake and my aching manhood definitely agreed with me on that point. Only three things could convince a man to go for an unprovoked nutshot. Since Giles didn't look like he had gone crazy or was more pissed off at me than usual, then he had to have been so afraid he couldn't think straight.

There was only one person I could possibly imagine being able to make the guy afraid of anything. If I was still stupid enough to believe Lady Luck wasn't out to screw me over at every chance she had, I'd be willing to bet everything I owned that Bunny Boy put Giles up to this after noticing I wasn't anywhere in the Spirit of Vacuo's hideout. The rat bastard must have been pretty pissed when he realized I left the gilded cage he set up for me if he managed to make Giles of all people worry.

"You don't know how much trouble you got me into last night Six!" The old man practically shouted at me, confirming my suspicions.

"Oh, I think I have a few guesses in mind..." I grumbled.

Giles looked like he was ready to whack me upside one of my heads again, trembling with enough fury to possibly leave a dent in my helmet if I was any judge of the guy picking me and well over one hundred pounds of extra shit I was carrying with a single hand like I weighed nothing at all. Thankfully for the both of us, he let me go without trying to feed me my own teeth and I didn't get to see if I could make a necklace out of his freaky eyes if he decided to throw the first punch. I mean, just because we were friends didn't mean I was just going to let the guy do whatever he wanted to me. I'd have died a long time ago if I was kind enough to let people step all over me like that, friends and former companions included.

As much as I want my Ring-a-Ding-Dinger to be avenged, I think I'll let that one slide. I can do at least that much for a friend. Might change my mind once I don't feel like limping the pain away though...

Thankfully Giles knew it was better to let me go before either of us could do anything he would regret. With that said, just because the old man figured it was better to stop a battle he could never win before it started didn't mean he was willing to let me walk freely either. "Forget it. Alex said he wanted to see you in his office the moment you returned. You better talk to him before he decides to do something about this." The old man said before returning to his post by the door as if nothing ever happened between us.

I didn't take the threat to heart because I knew it was a crock of gecko shit. There was not a single damn thing Bunny Boy could do to scare me since that would mean he would have to stop sitting on his ass and do something for himself instead of asking Antlers, Giles, or some other bootlicker to do it for him. There was the incredibly unlikely chance that he would threaten me with a viewing of one of his sex tapes, but I was willing to take that gamble and say he wasn't that desperate to get me to do what he wanted.

Even though I felt like teaching that slimy shit a lesson for trying to boss me around, I still hobbled my way to his office to see what 'punishment' he likely had in store for me. Although I could try blowing his brains out with the Mantlesian Anti-Material Rifle, M.A.M.R. for short because fuck trying to say that mouthful all the time, there was still a chance, no matter how slim it was, that he might be useful to me in the future. Killing important people bit me in the ass more times than I could count back in the Mojave, and considering that was one of the main reasons most assassination squads sent after me claimed to be gunning for me, I was not about to put another target on my head just to prove a point. Dealing with another bunch of trained assassins wasn't worth the satisfaction of killing that rabbit prick.

Of course, that didn't mean I'd never consider turning him inside out. I might have to reconsider things if he tries pulling a Benny on me.

That thought put a big ol' smile on my face right before the sight of him wiped it right off. The moment I walked into his office I could already tell that the next couple of minutes were going to be nothing more than pure torture for me. The scowl on that rabbit-eared dickhead's face made it unbelievably hard to not splatter his brains all over his desk now more than ever. Sure, I had an easy time holding myself back before since I actually had a half decent reason to let the guy live when Ironcock was still in charge of Vacuo, but with that guy dead and my new friends in the Xiong Clan able to supply me with anything I might need to make a quick escape, I didn't really have a reason not to kill Alex. All it would take was four seconds. One to draw the M.A.M.R., one to line up a shot right between the bastard's eyes, another to pull the trigger, and the final one to swing my aim over to the antlered woman to repeat steps two and three.

Still, on the off chance Bunny Boy might somehow prove himself useful to me in the future or capable of paying me a few thousand Lien for whatever job he was lining up for me, I kept my anti-material rifle holstered on my back and at let the shit-brick take a moment to stroke his ego as he stared at me like I couldn't kill him any time I felt like it. Julia was standing beside him like she typically did, looking just as pissed as cottontail was, but I hardly thought much about why she might be angry with me since I was more impressed that the girl was still able to stand up after spending three nights in the sack with him. That alone put most whores in the Gomorrah to shame, if not being a chem addict wasn't enough.

"Ah, Courier Six. How nice of you to finally show up." The overconfident fucker gloated as I made myself nice and comfortable in front of him. Sure, the smile on his face said he was happy, but since he was using the same tone as a hard working farmer who just saw his wife sleeping with a ghoul who's dick rotted away over a century ago, I knew it wouldn't take much to get him to drop the act. Rather than taking a moment to see what he would do if I did manage to push him over the edge, I decided to play tit for tat with him instead. If Bunny Boy wanted to make me suffer, then I wasn't going to suffer alone dammit.

"It's nice to see you too, buddy. I gotta say, I didn't expect to see much of you or Antlers over there this early in the morning." I said, before taking a moment to check my Pipboy which was still displaying how long I have been out of RobCo satellite service instead of the goddamn time like a normal watch would do. "Uhh… it is still morning, right? My mask's damn night vision is stuck on automatic again so I couldn't really tell while I was outside. I'm too afraid to check by looking at the sky because I do NOT want a reminder of why I don't take Cateye anymore."

"Yes, it is. Now would you be so kind as to explain why you have gone against my orders and explored Vacuo on your own?" Alex said, still pretending to continue with his charade.

"The kingdom or the-"

"Just answer the question, Courier." He growled before I could finish egging him on.

"Sure thing, Bunny Boy. I decided to look for some construction materials to fix up the room you gave me since the walls are a bit too thin for my tastes." I lied, giving him plenty of time to take the bait.

Although it might have been fun to tell him I was trying to make him and his little group of fuck buddies obsolete to me, something told me that would have ended very messily. Gloating definitely seemed like the wrong option here. Fooling someone who thought he was smarter than me? Not so much.

"Construction materials?" He asked me incredulously, somehow missing the obvious hint I was trying to slap him upside the head with.

"Yeah, construction materials. I thought you might appreciate it if I could dampen any noises while you were hopping down Julia's rabbit trail all night long." I teased, hoping he would see what I was getting at.

Both of those annoying love birds gave me a blank look after hearing me out, and I damn near played some of the, *ahem* 'blackmail' I recorded on my first night to make things real fucking obvious for them since they clearly were about as dumb as I usually felt. They were very lucky that I felt like saving that holotape for later, so instead of running through the Spirit of Vacuo's hideout with my volume cranked up as high as it could go while that shit was playing on loop, I decided to simplify things so that way even I could understand them after taking a couple hits of Slasher.

"I've heard you two fucking each other's brains out every single night I've spent trying to get some Graham damned sleep in my room, Bunny Boy." I explained, leaving no room for any potential misunderstandings.

Alex just looked at me dumbfounded as he took a moment to think about every last thud, slap, moan, and squelch the pair had been unintentionally assaulting me with while Julia turned scarlet at the same thought. I took my sweet time enjoying their shock before driving the nail I stuck into them just a little bit further for the sake of it.

"You know, I'm really impressed you were able to hold out as long as you could last night Alex. Most guys I know measure how long they last in minutes, not seconds." I said, barely holding in my laughter as he flapped his mouth open in order to say something to defend himself.

It was only after I realized it was going to take him longer to finish his brainstorming than one round of late night fun that I turned my attention to Antlers beside him. "At least you can recover quick enough to keep your girl entertained. Speaking of which, Julia I am simply amazed at how you were able to even stand up straight today. No wonder you're Bunny Boy's favorite little pet." I taunted with a manic smile, before that said smile was wiped off my face courtesy of Antlers doming me with the paper weight she launched at me.

We all took a brief moment to recover from the pain we were experiencing, although most of my time was spent feeling up my mask and aching face to make sure Antlers didn't put another fucking dent in my mask after I repaired it a couple of days ago. Despite the sudden lead that tried to cave my skull in, two faunus were clearly regretting their decision to speak to me more than I was. I would have had my fun with them a little bit longer, but Alex recovered from his sudden shock before I could torment him any further.

"Okay… I'll be sure to soundproof my room by the end of the day." He said as calmly as he could under the circumstances.

"Thanks, I'm sure the next lucky bastard you give that room to will appreciate it." I said, smiling as I saw him scowl at my little jab.

"So, are we done here or do you want to start talking about how much fun you've been had fucking your lapdog instead of letting me do it for you?" I asked him, ducking just in time to avoid getting clocked in the face by another paperweight Antlers threw at me. Fucking hell, how many of those god damn things do you need, Bunny Boy?

"Hey, watch it!" I shouted at her. "I still haven't fully recovered from my fight with Ironcock."

I was lying of course, because I never would have told anyone I was damn near close to dead, but Antlers at least had the presence of mind to look guilty about potentially killing me, not that it stopped her from trying to chuck a couple of metal weights at my head earlier. That earned her a few more brownie points with me.

Alex was a lot less reserved than Julia was. His ears were twitching with barely restrained glee at the mere mention of my 'near' death experience. Needless to say, but the idea of killing him now instead of later seemed a lot more appealing all of a sudden.

Luckily for him, he knew exactly what he needed to say to keep himself on my good side. "Julia, be careful not to hurt Courier. We wouldn't want him getting injured before he leaves for Vale." He chastised.

"Vale? Where the hell is that?" I asked him, pretending like I didn't already hear about the place after talking to Baba Xiong about an hour ago.

I had been ready to run for the hills the moment I saw just how bad things were on the streets during my little late night stroll. Getting a couple of freebies and a couple hundred Lien, the stupid plastic cards the people here use instead of caps, and a bit of extra help from the Xiong Clan weren't the deciding factor in my departure, but they certainly made it far easier to leave this shithole behind.

Things weren't looking good as it was with the mobs of faunus tracking down the few Mantlesian soldiers that hadn't bailed or holed themselves up with their countrymen, and I didn't think it would take long for even this city to go the way of Zion. The sooner I left Vacuo, the more likely it was I would be back in the Mojave by the time Ironcock's replacement started putting down the riots like any civilized person would; with every single soldier and gun he could find. I didn't want any part of that shit show, not until I got myself fixed up and back into fighting shape that is. I've lost enough of my squishy bits as is. I'd rather keep the few that are still attached free of any extra bullet holes.

I was thrilled that Alex didn't seem to realize why I was so eager to take the job he was offering me before he told me what my pay was, although he did at least have enough sense to look like I was up to something for not talking back to him for once. I honestly wouldn't have cared if he gave me a bottle piss for my troubles so long as we could say goodbye without trying to kill each other before Vacuo went to hell in a handbasket. After giving it a moment of thought, he seemed to accept my eagerness to work for him as me coming to his senses and bending over backwards for his favor.

I let him think I was just as loyal as Antler's when he started telling me about this job of his. He kept prattling on and on and on about how important it was that I wasn't discovered by Mantle, didn't let the person I was escorting die, I kept myself well behaved when I reached my destination, yada yada yada…

Wait a fucking minute.

"Are you telling me you want me to go on a fucking escort mission across the fucking continent?!" I shouted at the rat bastard, my Terrifying Presence slipping out at the very thought of having to babysit some shit for brains desk jockey across a fucking desert.

Again.

There was nothing that I hated more than needing to protect some bootlicker that couldn't tell which end of a gun the bullets came out of. Preventing some knobhead from getting torn apart by a couple of radroaches, let alone any of the big-ass Yao Guai that are apparently roaming around nearby.

I fucking hate escort jobs with a burning passion. The only reason I took the ones that I did back in the Mojave was because I was in some desperate need of some good publicity after some of the bloodbaths I caused. Considering how just about everyone who is anyone that knows about me wants to mount my head on a pike, whether they are NCR, Legion, or a random chem junkie, I'd say those days of mind numbing torture weren't anywhere close to worth the gut-wrenching torture I went through.

I was about to tell Bunny Boy where he could shove that little deal of his, but he apparently thought ahead for once and realized I might not be too enthused with his job without hearing a few details first. "I can understand that you might be hesitant to escort someone you barely know hundreds of miles across hostile territory where anything could happen to you." He confessed.

He kept a straight face for that much, but I knew he wouldn't have cared whether or not I lived or died so long as he got what he wanted from me. "That's why, in addition to providing you with the appropriate funds to ensure your cooperation, I am pleased to tell you that the person you will be escorting is quite capable of defending themselves against any threats you may come across in the wasteland surrounding Vacuo."

"The kingdom or-"

"City!" He practically screamed at me.

Geeze, it was a simple question...

"Great. Thanks for at least telling me I only have a couple hundred miles of barren wasteland to trudge through with someone who is semi-competent at not getting themselves killed." I grumbled. "So, who's the lucky son of a bitch you want me to tag along with, Bunny Boy?"

A part of me hoped the lucky man would be Giles because he was perhaps the only person who's company I found tolerable, if not outright enjoyable, in the Spirit of Vacuo. That of course would have been asking for too much, and Alex apparently thought so too.

"You're already looking at her." He said with a smile that looked about as friendly on him as it would have been on a hungry Deathclaw. It took me a moment to realize what the hell he was talking about since the only three people were me, him and Antlers, and once I finally noticed the way she was scowling at me, everything suddenly made perfect sense. It also was painfully clear to me that somebody didn't know a good travelling compa… partner, travelling partner when they saw one.

"Oh wow. What a coincidence." I grumbled, knowing full well that Lady Luck was laughing her ass off somewhere while flipping me the bird.

Fortunately, or then again, maybe not, it seemed I wasn't the only one pissed off about all of this. "I hate this just as much as you do." Julia growled, still not letting up with that soul piercing glare of hers for a moment. Still, considering that it was coming from a silver haired beauty in a well fitting suit of leather armor, she didn't intimidate me in the slightest if that was what she was aiming for. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"So, mind if I ask what exactly it is I am taking you to Vale for?" I asked, hoping I could at least know why I was going to be sent to another fucking kingdom with this horny bitch.

...antlers are horns, right? Fuck it. They are if I say they are.

"No." Alex told me, before deciding to crush my hopes of this being an easy job even more than he already had. "And before you ask, I will not be informing you of the route or destination you will be taking. Julia knows exactly where you need to go and when you need to be there, so it will be in your best interest to ensure that nothing happens to her."

Once again, I didn't hear a smidgen of concern in his voice when that slimy fucker hammered home the point that he was sending his girl out with someone he couldn't even trust with a destination. An ordinary guy would at least try to get the mercenary he hired to escort his favorite cock sleeve to be on friendly, and nothing more than friendly, terms before travelling. Although Bunny Boy didn't have anything to worry about with that last part, just about everyone in the Spirit of Vacuo who had seen the two of us in the same room together knew that Antlers and I got along about as well as diehard commies and capitalists.

The job already seemed off from the get go, but then again, nothing about the past couple of days seemed right either. I was probably overthinking things, so like always, I just stopped thinking and started doing instead.

"You know what? Fuck it, it's too damn early in the morning to argue this shit. I'll leave whenever the hell you want me to, Antlers. All I need to do is make a stop or two to collect a few orders I put in with some of the local merchants and I'll carry you all the way to Vacuo in under a month if you want me to." I told her, hoping I could finally stop talking to that smug bastard sitting behind his desk now that we had no further business to discuss.

Yet again, life seemed out to make me as miserable as it possibly could before I could start trying to change it for the better. "Actually, I was hoping the two of you would be able to depart Vacuo city by noon." Bunny Boy said, finally deciding to specify which Vacuo he was talking about without being asked to, although sounding as pissy as possible while doing it.

"Yeah, I can still do that." I said.

And hoped.

"My guns should be ready to be picked up by the time I reach the guys I'm getting them from. I can probably head out with Julia as soon as I figure out how the hell I'm going to take Frost out of the city with me." I continued.

To her credit, Julia didn't throw anything at me this time despite the murderous glare she shot at me more than making up for it. Alex looked as impassionate as usual, but his ears betrayed him once more when they shot up straight at the very mention of the bitch that ran me over twice.

They clearly didn't like the idea of me letting her live, and neither did I. To keep things nice and somewhat friendly between us, I went ahead and told them that we were at least in agreement on that point.

"Don't worry, I ain't going to let her live." I told them as sincerely as possible, making me sound shady as hell now that I think about it.

"Then why would you want to take Frost with you outside of the city? Surely you can just kill her before leaving, can't you?" Alex questioned me in an attempt to make me see reason.

"Simple, I finally know what I want to kill her with." I announced.

Both of them looked surprised, and it was Julia who worked up the guts to ask me what I had in mind. I was quite glad that she did, because the looks on their faces when I told them was absolutely priceless.

"I figured that a cold hearted prick like her would look mighty delicious to one of the first Grimm that gets its hands on her." I practically sang at the thought of that bitch getting ripped apart by a Yao Guai or worse.

"You want to feed her to the Grimm?" Alex asked.

"Yep, you don't have a problem with that, right?" I asked him.

"N-no, not at all. I should have known you had something like that planned for her." Alex sneered, as if he was someone who had any moral high ground to stand on after more or less creating a race war in his attempt to do… whatever it was the Spirit of Vacuo wanted.

What are they trying to do anyway? Oh, better yet, why the fuck do I care now that I won't have a damn thing to do with them after getting Antlers out of my hair? I haven't found a single fuck to give to whatever their cause is, and I ain't going to start looking for one now, especially if the Lingdao was on to something about them not liking humans...

Ah well, enough of that. None of that shit will matter soon. Getting some long overdue revenge on Frost, will. After letting Alex and his goons have their way with her for a few days, it's high time I put the finishing touch on her.

Personally, I wasn't too keen on feeding anyone to an abomination if truth be told. I might not have morals, but I do have standards. Thankfully, none of them have anything to do with crazy fuckers that want to kill me or personally screw me over. Frost had both of those covered in spades after the stunts she pulled, but there was another reason I had for feeding her to the bears. I really wanted to see if this whole 'Grimm sensing emotions' rumor I've heard about was real.

I personally think it's a crock of brahminshit, but since there was a chance that it wasn't, and with me being a 'misanthrope' according to the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester in Goodsprings, knowing whether or not I should stock up on enough booze to drink my pain away for the next couple of weeks would definitely be useful. I intended to bring enough bottles to last me until the next town anyways, but if I could convince Antlers to carry a few bottles for medical reasons, then I was definitely going to unload as much of my shit onto her as I possibly could.

I honestly thought I wouldn't have the chance to investigate that rumor until some bastard unluckier than me, if that was even possible, got themselves killed just by being close to me if I attracted a fuck ton of Grimm for no good reason. Luckily for whoever that poor fucker might have been, I had the perfect opportunity and test subject to help me test this rumor out. All I needed to do was set the bait and wait for some results.

But before I could go ahead and finally stop wasting my time with the dickweed in front of me so I could do some SCIENCE!-y shit, he started to dig through one of the drawers in his desk for something. Feeling that it would have been rude not to accept whatever freebie he was going to offer me, I gave him a moment to find what he was looking for before he tossed it to me. I tried to catch it, but since I was barely any better than a walking disaster, I caught the small hunk of metal Bunny Boy chucked my way with my face. From there I fumbled around for a moment or two before managing to pick it up off the floor so I could finally inspect as I did my best not to blow both of their brains out while they just waited there grinning like a couple of fuckwits.

There was a small little coyote looking head wedged between three claw marks painted onto the black medallion, both sides adorned by the simple yet striking image. The oversized coin fit nicely in the palm of my hand, just large enough so that it was a bitch to grab out of the air but frustratingly easy to keep a grip on otherwise. I could recall seeing a couple of other symbols like it plastered here and there throughout Vacuo, and I swear I saw some graffiti in a couple of alleyways that looked kinda similar to it too.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked Bunny Boy, tapping his little gift to me against my knuckles to see if it was a cheap little trinket like I thought it was. The sound of cheap metal ringing against the metal in my bones did not disappoint.

"If you believe it is a token of your allegiance to my organization and a pledge of your continued service in exchange for whatever else I can provide you in the future, then yes." He answered me.

Despite feeling an overwhelming urge to tell the slimy bastard to shove that damn thing up his ass, I decided it was best to concede this dick measuring contest before I could harden up and take him seriously. Shitty comparison aside, getting into a fight right now wouldn't help me in the slightest, and I was not about to give the rabbit fucker the satisfaction of seeing me pissed off before leaving his office. Rather than giving him a piece of my mind, I stomached all my disgust for the guy and did something I knew would surprise him and his personal lapdog. I was going to thank him for everything he had done for me.

Sure, I might be willing to fight an army for a goddamn half-decent drink, but even there's things even I'm not willing to do. Bunny Boy had his side chick sure as hell seem to think I can be bought off with a cheap iron medallion, and until I have a reason to shove a boot up his ass, I'll do everything I can to fuck with him by pretending one of his many yes men. If that meant I could get him out of my hair for the foreseeable future, then so be it.

"Thanks, Alex. It's nice to feel appreciated after all the shit I've gone over the past couple of days." I lied through my fucking teeth. The confused reaction on his face was absolutely priceless, and in order to keep up the charade I couldn't stop to laugh at him now. "I'll make sure nothing happens to Julia on our way to Vale. I would rather die than let you down now that you're willing to place your trust in me."

"Come on Antlers, let's get a move on already." I hollered as I turned away from Bunny Boy so he could stew in his anger for as long as he wanted to once we left.

"I'll wait for you by the exit to the sewers, Six. There's a few things I need to do before we can leave." Antlers said, keeping a straight face that would have fooled anyone else but me. The gal had been doing nothing but shooting me death glares or trying to hide in her own shadow most of the time I dealt with her, so seeing her typically colorful face draw up a blank instantly clued me into the crock of bullshit I was looking at.

Just like when Alex had a similar look on him, I didn't question it. I simply walked out of Bunny Boy's office and headed down to pick up Frost, shoved her in a duffle bag I 'borrowed' from nearby, wandered over by Giles after checking for any other goodies that weren't nailed down to the floor, and waited for Julia to finish whatever it was she still needed to do.

Thankfully she was taking her sweet time with whatever it was that was holding her up, so I had a nice, long moment relax before beginning what was probably going to be a couple of weeks of nothing but sand, sand, Grimm, sand, possibly some bandits, and more fucking sand. Not the most exciting way to spend your time out on the road, especially with a girl that had as much fight to her as Antlers and was easy on the eyes to boot, but I suppose I could always occupy myself by picking sand out of my ass crack whenever we stopped for a bit of rest.

Fucking sand. If only that shit wasn't so coarse and irritating whenever it found a way to slip underneath my long coat, life in the Mojave would be fucking perfect. Aside from everything there that was hell bent on killing me, of course, that was a bitch to deal with too, but I was getting pretty damn close to fixing that little issue before I was kidnapped by a bunch of psychopathic smartasses with dementia.

At least a little job across Vacuo, the kingdom, not the city, seemed a bit more enjoyable than one through an active war zone if the NCR and Legion haven't already finished killing each other yet. I mean, what was the worst that could happen?

---

"Well, that was certainly… interesting." Alex said, finally breaking the uneasy silence Six left behind.

Neither he nor Julia had been expecting the meeting to take such a sudden turn, but most surprising was hearing the Courier agree to perform one last job for them. Not only had he immediately agreed to act as an escort without any of the complaints or extortion they had been expecting, Six had also seemed eager to leave the city alongside one of the highest ranking members of the Spirit of Vacuo. While his sudden compliance was disconcerting, it was no less outrageous than anything else he had shown them so far.

"I cannot believe that idiot actually agreed to work for free after all his boasting when he first defied the Spirit of Vacuo." Alex rose from his desk to embrace the antlered faunus at his side as he continued to gloat. "With some luck, he will be little more than a rumor by the end of the year."

"Are you sure it would be wise to kill him when he seems so eager to help us now?" Julia questioned, grimacing ever so slightly as the firm arms of her lover tightened around her painfully at her question.

"Are you questioning my judgement, Julia?" He whispered into her ear. "Do you really think I wouldn't do what was best for the Spirit of Vacuo after everything we have been through together?"

"N-no!" She shook her head to reaffirm her devotion to her master. "It's just…"

"Just what?" Alex interrupted, turning her around so he was staring up at her eyes with a pained look. "Don't you trust me?"

"I do trust you Alex. I trust you more than anyone else on Remnant." She quickly interjected.

"Then what is it about that insane mailman that you think is worth risking everything I have worked for this past decade?" He asked her.

"Nothing!" She answered, trying to pull away from Alex failed when she was instead pulled in closer by the rabbit man.

"See? There is nothing that madman can do for us that we can't do for ourselves." He brushed her long, silver hair and tightened his grip on her with his remaining arm. "It is only a matter of time until he runs out of humans to fight, when the only people he will have left to entertain himself are us. I refuse to stand by and wait for that day to come when I could prevent any harm from coming to us, Julia."

"I know you will, Alex." The deer faunus said, letting herself be drawn closer to the man she loved. "It's just… he's finally starting to believe in our cause. I don't like working with that addict anymore than you do but killing him now, when he is finally starting to become one of us… it doesn't feel right."

"We are at war, Julia. We can't let ourselves fall apart just because we were too afraid of making a few sacrifices to protect everything I have worked for." Alex insisted.

"No, we can't." Julia agreed, but she didn't stop there. "But there has to be some things we can never do."

"You're right." Alex conceded. "Letting a drunken murderer run free isn't something we cannot allow."

"You know that's not what I mean, Alex!" Julia shouted, finally breaking away from the rabbit faunus as their tempers started to reach a boiling point. "We can't start killing people because they might turn against us! We wouldn't be any better than those humans from Mantle!"

"Yes, and look where that got your sister." Alex growled.

He regretted those words the very instant they left his mouth. Julia recoiled from shock having her late sister's fate leveraged against her like that, and quickly batted away his hand as he tried to pull her back into his warm embrace to make up for what he said.

"I shouldn't have said that." He apologized. "But you have to understand, I'm only doing this so that her sacrifice and the sacrifices made by everyone else who has helped us rise to where we are today were not made in vain."

"I don't like having to kill that crazed assassin anymore than you do, but I am willing to do everything it takes to liberate Vacuo and the faunus from anything that threatens us." He said, staring longingly in her emerald eyes as he did so. "Aren't you willing to do the same? After everything we have been through together?"

Julia held his gaze for a brief moment, before loosening her shoulders and coming a bit closer to him now that he had made his case. "I understand, but I don't know if I can kill one of our own people like that." She told him.

"I might be able to arrange something else in that case." Alex said, bringing her in for a quick kiss as he finally gave in. "Keep your Scroll activated at all times when you are out there with Six, and be sure to follow the directions on the map I gave you. I think I should be able to do something for that sad little man since you are so determined to protect him from me."

"Protect? Alex, I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't mean anything by what you said." He interrupted. "Even so, I think I should be able to contact one of our cells roaming the Wasteland by the end of the month. I'm sure they will be able to find a use for the Courier by the time you leave Vacuo."

"Thank you." Julia said.

"Don't mention it." Alex said, before walking with her outside his office. "You should probably hurry up and grab whatever you need soon. That damn mailman might leave without you if you keep him waiting for too long."

Julia took his advice to heart and sprinted down the hall to gather the map and a few weeks worth of supplies to take on her journey to Vale, leaving Alex free to walk back into his office and take a seat at his desk once more. With his most valuable asset was having second thoughts about killing Six, Alex needed to make a few calls to people who wouldn't think twice about eliminating the wild card that threatened his plans for Vacuo and anyone who could pin the mailman's demise on him.

But before he could arrange for the Courier's untimely death, there was someone else he needed to talk to first. The rabbit faunus didn't even bother to check whether it was his Scroll or Ironwood's that he pulled out of the secret compartment built into his desk, and dialed the only number saved within it. He didn't have to wait long for an answer, the woman on the other end seemingly anticipating his call long before he found a reason to contact her against his better judgement.

"Alex, what a surprise? Do you mind keeping this short? As much as I love listening, I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a rush right now." The sultry voice he had come to know and loathe purred.

"I will do my best not to interrupt you any longer than I have to." He groaned, making no attempt to hide his distaste at having to speak to the bothersome woman. "I thought it would be best to inform you that Six is preparing to leave Vacuo as we speak, and he's taking Frost with him so he can feed her to the Grimm outside the city."

"Really?" She said, letting out a small trill of laughter at a joke he was quite content with being left out of. "I'm surprised you are already proving your worth to our Queen. It truly was a splendid decision to keep supporting you after your previous failures, Hasenjunge."

"Will you be needing me to send out some of my men to retrieve her?" Alex asked her.

"And you're still so eager to impress my Queen? How splendid!" The sultry voice taunted. "No, continue strengthening your strongholds through the city and across the kingdom. I have something else in mind for retrieving Frost."

"Very well." Alex said as he ended the call before he had to deal with more of the woman's annoying ways.

"Now, how best to get rid of that fucking mailman?" He pondered now that there was only one last loose end to tie up.

---

One of these days I need to learn to keep my fucking mouth shut instead of tempting fate. I'll admit, after what the Lingdao told me about the Spirit of Vacuo and the lack of mutants in his little faction, I should have realized taking Julia with me to collect my supplies and letters I needed to deliver was an absolutely shitty idea.

I was smart enough to notice the way the two thugs manning the door reached for the weapons the moment they got a good look at Antlers, and I was just starting to think of an excuse for leading her to the Xiong Clan's hideout before the gal nearly got the both of us killed. I told her to take it easy and let me explain why I had a plus-one from what sounded like a group they weren't exactly on friendly terms with, but she instead did what I would have done in her shoes and rushed the two of them head on.

Calling what happened next a 'fight' would have been giving those two neanderthals way too much credit, because both of them went down in under a minute by the time Antlers pulled out her weapon. She came at them low and fast, swinging the blade of her weapon at the doorman closest to her, trying to take his arm off at the shoulder and only failing due to the guy having some exceptionally strong psyker bullshit protecting him. Although he was able to keep his arm, that didn't stop the guy from dropping to the floor like a sack of bricks afterwards when Antlers slammed the pommel of her short sword into his face.

Before his partner could hit the ground, the other thug tried to stab her with a pretty sturdy looking katana, one built by a genuine Shi blacksmith instead of the cheap knockoffs every other raider seemed to carry on them that would break in half the moment it hit something. Antlers sidestepped it with far more grace than I thought that brute of a woman was capable of showing off and proved that her choice in lightweight armor had been a wise one indeed. The speed with which she grabbed the collar of the guy that tried to impale her was about as fast as what I could manage with my desert ranger gear on a good day. Of course, I really couldn't do that right now on account of feeling like something a gecko shat out, but my point still stands!

The sucker she dragged towards her never had a chance to process how badly he fucked up, because Antlers knocked him on his back by decking him in the face with her forearm and kissed him goodnight with the heel of her boot before the sad son of a bitch could do anything but let out that familiar yelp of pain and surprise I knew oh so very well by now. Antlers was looking real smug with herself after having taken down the two obvious thugs protecting the main stairway leading to the Xiong Clan's underground hideout, and for a brief moment she looked like she was getting ready to try her luck against me next.

She changed her mind real fucking quick when everyone else who had been trailing the two of us since we entered the junkyard when over a dozen of these honorable criminals, I don't think I'll ever get used to putting those two words together, surrounded her from all angles. Unlike the two shit-for-brains guards that were a bit too stab happy for their own good, the fifteen or so men and women that had the both of us surrounded were armed with an assortment of rifles and wielded their weapons with far more discipline, much to my thinly veiled relief.

There was nothing I wanted less than to get in a shoot-out with the only people that didn't hate my guts the first time they saw me, especially if it was because Antlers overreacted when she came along with me to pick up some gear and a couple of relatively harmless letters. If I was going to be neck deep in shit, then I damn well wanted it to be my fault for ending up that way in the first place. Getting shot to hell and back for a horny… antler-y bitch I barely knew or liked didn't have the same appeal as a good ol' fashioned clusterfuck of my own making.

Thankfully, like every other mysterious motherfucker that felt like making a dramatic entrance or none at all, Shui Xiong picked the perfect time to show up and save the day. I don't know how long he had been watching me, or if he ever stopped now that I think about it, but he strode up beside me looking just about as happy with me now as he was when he found me getting ready to beat the shit out of some random bastard unluckier than me.

"Feng Xiong." He greeted me with about as much passion as a dead lakelurk.

"The fuck did you just call me?" I fired back.

"The Lingdao was quite impressed with your earlier display, Courier Six." He stated. "He was quite insistent on choosing your title within our clan for yourself."

"Oh, that's just great. Of course he'd call me 'Crazy Bear'." I grumbled at Water Boy's sudden revelation. "Of all the no good, goddamn bunches of complete and utter-"

"Is there a reason you have brought one of the ferals with you?" He interrupted me before I could insult his… well, our boss any further.

"Yeah." I said. "And watch your tone, boy. Last thing you want is a fight getting out of control just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

Shui gave me a long, hard look after I gave him my answer, long enough for things to get real fucking uncomfortable with us nonchalantly staring at each other while there was a Mexican standoff a couple of feet beside us. "Can you tell me the reason you brought the feral here?" He eventually asked.

"No." I replied. Shui accepted my answer for the time being, and then focused on the chrome bastard that has been nothing but an embarrassment ever since I rescued him from that sex dungeon.

"What about-"

"His name is Toasty, he is my friend, and yes, he can talk. He's just being a little bitch for some reason." I told him.

I was waiting for Water Boy to say something about Toasty the moment he saw us, and to his credit, Shui wasn't looking at me lost I had lost my fucking marbles when I introduced him to the murder happy toaster. I hadn't taken the pyromaniac appliance for my stroll through the city for obvious reasons, and with the genuine concern I was feeling from Water Boy's stare, I wasn't sure taping him on my shoulder again was that great of an idea either. Storing him away in my Pipboy wasn't any better of an option, because if Toasty wasn't just fucking with me and was actually in need of some repairs, he was going to be PISSED. I've got enough problems as is, a whiny toaster packing a death ray wasn't something I had the time to deal with right now.

Thankfully Shui Xiong didn't decide to ask about Toasty anymore than I wanted to tell him about the place I picked him up from. Rather than make the both of us incredibly uncomfortable, he shouted something in Shi to the guards holding Julia at gunpoint, hell if I know what he was saying 'cause Shi ain't my first language, and made them stand down. With that said, just because they weren't looking at her didn't mean any of those thugs stopped pointing their rifles towards her. Julia clearly wasn't happy with everything that was going on, but at least she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut and let me do the talking to get her out of the mess she walked into.

"Sorry about the mess, Water Boy." I apologized now that no one I particularly cared about seemed to be in immediate danger of being shot. "It won't be a problem if I take the girl along with me to pick up my gear, right?"

Shui gave my question a quick moment of thought before nodding his consent. "Since the only other option is keeping her restrained, I suppose I have no choice but to let her go with you to prevent another incident from happening." He said.

'Prevent another incident.' Well that doesn't sound ominous at all!

"Your other friend also has permission to join you." Shui added, giving Toasty a nervous glare.

You know what, I'm not even going to bother defending myself. Water Boy will rue the day he made fun of the appliance hell bent on destroying the world. If Toasty doesn't make sure of it, then I damn well will.

But before I do any of that, what the hell was Shui going on about anyways? Water Boy didn't say incident, but incident… oh shit.

I think I know why the Xiong Clan doesn't think too highly of the Spirit of Vacuo anymore. Whatever this incident was, if it was bad enough to be remembered without needing to give it a name, then it had to be pretty nasty. Probably would go a long way to explaining why Shui is calling Antlers a feral and why those other two knob jockeys wanted to shoot her on sight. Fucking hell, what the hell did I nearly get myself into by getting myself involved with Bunny Boy?

Screw it, that won't matter once I'm back in the Mojave. Only thing that does matter is getting my hands on enough firepower to get me back where I belong. Anything else can be someone else's problem to deal with.

"Six, are you okay?" Shui asked suddenly, dragging me out of my thoughts before I even had a chance to realize I was lost in thought to begin with.

"Yeah, yeah, just regretting a whole lot a shit right now is all." I said. "Anyways, how about you go ahead and show me what I came here for so we can both get back to making ourselves useful?"

---

"It's… so beautiful." I gasped as I saw the table covered with guns, bullets, and food that wasn't setting off my geiger counter just from being near it laid out in front of me. "I must've died and gone to heaven after all."

"Are you crying?"

"Shut up Antlers. Just… just let me have my moment." I fired back at the radstag girl that momentarily distracted me from the most majestic sight I have ever laid eyes on.

Damn, if this is the kind of shit I can look forward to for a simple delivery then I sure as hell won't mind getting more work from these Xiong guys in the future.

Spread before was a whole table full of amazing shit I couldn't wait to get my hands on. Shui was still standing guard beside Antlers and a few other henchmen in case she did something we would all end up regretting, but at least he was kind enough to let me inspect my new toys thoroughly instead of freaking out when I started racking in a couple magazines to get a feel for them. Most people that knew me tended to dive for cover the moment I pulled out a gun, rightfully so I have to admit, but I suppose that just shows how much respect the Xiong clan has for me when they didn't even flinch when I pointed a couple straight at them. I for one was more than willing to wait to test these sexy beasts until I left the city since so that way none of them accidentally got hurt.

That didn't mean I wasn't above inspecting every nook and cranny on them in public though. You can't ever be too careful about checking your tools before you use them. Trusting your guns to work instead of ensuring they work is a damn good way to get yourself killed when they jam in the middle of Deathclaw hunting. Believe me, I learned that one the hard way...

Anyways, the pistols the Lingdao and his boys gathered for me weren't anything particularly special aside from their caliber. There were four of them in total, all of them using bullets that were somewhere between 10mm and 12.7mm in size and much lighter than a pistol with a similar payload had any right to be when loaded.

Laying beside them was a submachine gun that also took the same size of rounds which I scrutinized soon after, saving the most impressive of the guns for last. Now, the sight of what I could only call an 11mm submachine gun hurt like you wouldn't believe, but since I was damn sure there weren't any 'Grimm' Deathjaws in Europe or anywhere else for that matter, I didn't let the unease of picking up the weapon bother me too much. There was a little… something pricking at my heart thinking about the chemed up dumbass that claimed to have seen both before I did, but I promptly ignored the feeling as best as I could before I started feeling sentimental again.

Although I hated fully automatic weapons with a burning passion on account of how shit they were, I suppose with how everyone in Europe seemed to be able to deflect a couple of small bullets before getting filled full of lead, I could use a spray 'n pray type of gun. Hopefully I would never need to use such a pussy-ass gun when the more manly weapons I walked in with could do the same job in a single shot, saving me a whole hell of a lot of time and ammo in the process.

I guess I could always just hand the damn thing over to Antlers if I feel like it. The gal could definitely use something other than that one sword of hers.

The Lingdao's boys gave me plenty of ammunition for those couple of lack luster guns too. There were about a hundred rounds for each type of magic bullet they could scrounge up for me. From what I could tell just looking at the pictures on some of them, I had plenty, ice, thunder, a goddamn rock of all things, two types of fire, smoke or maybe a poisonous gas, some sort of liquid, and two others I couldn't make heads or tails of. I honestly didn't plan on using the pistols the crime boss was willing to let me have, but that didn't mean I'd be pawning off the ammo for them like I would with most types I couldn't be bothered to use.

I've been dying to get some more of that magic bullet stuff ever since I accidentally created that icy smokescreen, and you better believe I had plans to see what kind of surprises I could make out of the new magical bullshit I had at my disposal. Now that I had a nice stockpile to mess around with, all I needed was a reloading bench so I could see what all I could come up with.

Aside from the potential to give my arsenal back in the Mojave an extra kick once I got back in fighting shape, the final weapon that was laid out on the table was something I fell in love with at first sight, and with nothing else between us I wasted no time in reaching for her. Laying there in the middle of the table, teasing me with that gleaming grey barrel and smooth wooden stock, was a pristine double barrel shotgun that was already whispering sweet nothings about the trouble we could get into together. I hardly believed I was standing at a genuine relic of Pre-War engineering since last I heard, those things cost a small fortune unlike the cheaper sawed-off variety. Yet, there it was, and it was all mine.

Hail to the king, baby.

...I don't know what that weird siren was for and I don't care. I ain't letting the Wild Wasteland ruin this for me.

Shui started shouting something about there being a loading port or some shit somewhere on the underside of the barrel as I went to load it, but I proved who the real genius between us was when I snapped the shotty open and slipped in two of my own 12 gauge shells into before flipping the barrel back into place. Water Boy shut up real quick after that, and I could only assume Antlers was just as disappointed in the guy as I was when she shook her head at my little show.

Sure, I had to put all of my strength into popping my shotgun's cherry, but I proved that Shui's little rant about my new problem solver being a lever action was just him talking about shit he didn't know. I knew my guns like the back of my hand, so of course I knew more than some random schmuck. It wasn't my fault I needed to break the damn weapon in because no one else apparently had been bothered to do it earlier, and that *crack*it made when I opened it up for the first time was one of the most satisfying sounds I have ever heard. That alone made the whole mess on the surface worth it.

"The Xiong Clan has fucking outdone themselves, Shui." I said as I digitized the ammo, weapons, and supplies I wanted to carry with me while ignoring the rest.

There were a couple of assault rifles and a sniper or two left behind once I had everything I wanted packed away, but I didn't bother taking them since they would have been nothing more than dead weight to me. Sure, I could have forced Antlers to carry them so I could break them down for spare parts in the future, but since the Lingdao was generous enough to provide me a couple of weapon repair kits alongside plenty of preserved food, water, and whatever fancy Mistralian booze he tried giving me earlier I didn't really need any of those extra guns.

All of the supplies I took were sealed without any signs of someone tampering with what was inside, so as hesitant as I was to pick up some meat I didn't hunt for myself, I still digitized it anyways. Not only was it probably not as radioactive as most things I could hunt for myself, but there was no way in hell it was human or faunus me- OH SHIT!

Do humans here eat faunus? Son of a bitch, why didn't I think to ask someone that earlier? Can't ask the Xiongs that now without them thinking I'm a looney, and Antlers will probably try to kill me after misunderstanding the question. Fucking shit. So much for a nice couple strips of jerky for the first time since Zion. I ain't eating those things until I know I ain't being fed people again.

I think I'll let Julia have those instead…

That lovely thought aside, there were two more things I needed to pick up from the Xiong Clan before I left the city to take care of one final piece of business. Sure enough, my uncanny talent of being in the right place at the right time fully prepared seemed to have followed me to Vacuo because the Lingdao marched down beside me carrying a map and hefty looking bundle of letters the moment I thought about them. It's weird how shit like that always happens to me, not that I'm complaining!

"I'm glad to hear that everything is to your liking, Feng Xiong." He greeted me, shooting a curious glance at Antlers before promptly ignoring her and the scowl she adorned the moment he walked into the room.

I decided to give the old guy a small bow and some lip service despite him calling me 'crazy bear', because decking the cheeky fucker upside the head wouldn't have gone over nearly as well with the nearby thugs that outnumbered me and Antlers three to one. "Yeah, thanks for letting me pick and choose the tools I'll be needing to make this delivery of yours. So, I guess those are the goods I'll be carrying to Vale?"

"Indeed." He replied, and before I could rip the letters and map out of his hands, I caught a mischievous glint in his eyes that looked about as comforting as a bouquet of grenades falling in front of my feet. "Are you sure I can't convince you to come back to me after you have made your delivery? I assure you that we can make it worth your time."

"If those Mantlesian fucks haven't left anything for me to come back home to, then I'll certainly give it a thought." I lied. "Now, is there anything else you need me for or can I finally go ahead and start heading over to Vale already? I don't have all day, Baba."

The thugs, Shui, and even Antlers went wide-eyed at the way I was speaking to the 'big scary' crime lord that I spent half an hour getting nice and friendly with in private like it was something to be surprised by. If I thought they looked surprised when I talked to the Lingdao like some regular guy on the street, then the sheer amazement spread out on their faces when the old guy started laughing afterwards made them look like they were going to snap at any moment.

"Yes, how rude of me to restrain a man as headstrong as you from doing what he does best, Feng Xiong." He chuckled. "Go, Courier Six. I will eagerly await news of your success. If you ever need the Xiong Clan's aide in the future, then do not be afraid to seek us out in the future."

"Will do. Xièxiè ni, péngyou. (1)" Those were the last words we spoke to each other before we parted ways, the Xiong Clan thugs now treating me with a bit more respect that they had been earlier and Antlers not letting out so much as a whisper as I dragged her outside by the hand so she couldn't cause another incident or incident.

Her silence didn't last long though, but thankfully she didn't raise too much hell as we made our way out of the city with the additional bit of baggage I retrieved, the person in question having been shoved in a duffel bag and left in the sewers until we were finished meeting with the Xiong Clan.

With a few weeks worth of supplies stored in my Pipboy and a couple of new options available to me in the next fight I managed to get myself as well, there was one last thing I needed to take care of before leaving Vacuo, the city, not the kingdom, behind, and I had every intent to enjoy it as much as possible.

---

Less than a mile outside of the city of Vacuo, far beyond the eyes and ears of any bystanders who could rush to her aide, a soldier who had finally ran out of luck stirred back to life. Hands and feet bound together to keep them restrained before the captor that brought her to the middle of the desolate stretch of desert she now found herself in, mouth gagged to silence any pleas for help, and two lone figures outlined in shadow from the rays of sun that blinded her, Cecilia Frost woke up to a sight she had been dreading for days ever since her initial capture. Now that her nightmare was now a reality, there was nothing for her to do but wait for the inevitable.

All she could do was rise to her knees in a feeble show of defiance against the red eyed monster that attacked her as he crouched down in front of her to gloat. It wasn't much, but it was far better than dying on her stomach like a wounded animal...

"Well, look who's finally awake. I told you we wouldn't have to wait long for this bitch to start moving." He remarked as he turned to the other figure standing behind him, sounding unnervingly calm as he glanced at his current partner, someone Frost knew all too without even needing to see her face. The woman's blackened leather armor, silvery hair, and pair of three tined antlers was all Frost needed to see to know who else would bear witness to her final moments.

"Whatever Courier. Just kill her already so we can leave Vacuo behind us. We already wasted too much time dealing with those humans earlier." She growled, her gaze never leaving Frost for a moment.

"Calm your tits, girl. We still got plenty of daylight left. Besides, you weren't the person this bitch..." The Grimm Wanderer's, Courier's, tone suddenly filled a sudden fury as he lashed out and delivered a solid kick to his prisoner's ribs, knocking her down and sending a wave of pain coursing through her body as she gasped for air. "This fucking bitch ran over with a goddamn car TWICE, Julia! TWICE! I am going to ENJOY this for all it is worth and there ain't a damn thing you can do to stop me!"

Julia backed away from the Courier at his sudden outburst, an uneasy look washing over her as she took a few hesitant steps away from him and reached for the sword dangling from her hip.

"Then make it quick." She sounded calm, but even Frost, dazed and disoriented from three days of the Spirit of Vacuo's 'hospitality' could notice the nervousness from the faunus woman from where she laid.

"If you can't handle the heat then get out of the fucking kitchen, Antlers." The Grimm Wanderer growled back at his partner as he grabbed Frost roughly by her hair and pulled her back to her knees.

"No. I need to watch this." Julia insisted, although Frost could not see or cared to think about what need there was for her to watch what would surely follow.

"Suit yourself then. Just be sure to keep your mouth shut unless you want to have your turn with her after I'm finished." The Courier said as he stood back up, drawing a knife that had been strapped across his chest with a familiar frayed leather belt tucked underneath his patch covered long coat.

"Well, where the hell was I?" He scratched his chin for a moment, his gloved hand scratching the underside of his gasmask rougher than most onlookers would assume to be comfortable.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. Funny, I almost forgot what the plaid suited fucker said. Guess I really am getting too old for this shit." The Courier mused, bouncing back and forth between the tranquil fury he had greeted his quarry with and manic glee the entire time.

"From where you're standing… fuck, kneeling, this must look like an 18 carat run of bad luck." He said, dragging his bowie knife across Frost's left cheek and leaving a deep, bloody gouge on her face. She tried to let out a scream, but the gag in her mouth turned her cry of pain into a pitiful whimper. He waited for her groans to finish before continuing. "Truth is, the game was rigged from the start. All because you fucked with the wrong mailman, just like everyone else that thought it would be easier to get rid of me instead of letting me live in peace."

"That's what you dragged us all out here for Six? To complain about her running you over?" Julia complained.

"I'M TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT HERE, ANTLERS!" Courier Six shouted at her interruption, his fury quickly turning to exasperation after being interrupted.

"Sorry, don't let me stop you from killing the most recent human to run you over with a car."

"...go fuck a cactus. The biggest, girthiest, driest one you can find." The Grimm Wanderer fired back, earning an indignant grunt from Julia in response.

"Welp, there goes my fucking moment. Thanks for that Antlers, you really are something special." He grumbled in defeat.

"Might as well get this shit done and over with since there ain't no point in trying anymore." Six said, giving the knife in his hand a quick flourish and stabbing the six inch steel blade all the way into his captive's guts. The Courier left it there, remaining perfectly still as he allowed Frost to recover from the initial shock that came from the sudden sensation of cold steel between her ribs before he tore it across her stomach and pulled several inches of intestine free from her stomach upon liberating his knife.

Julia stared on in shock, her eyes wide open and body trembling as she found herself powerless to do anything but watch as Frost collapsed on her stomach on the sand that was already turning crimson from her blood. Unfortunately for them both, The Courier was not finished with the Mantlesian soldier that had personally pissed him off yet. He carefully looked at his partner and studied her horrified expression for a quick moment before shrugging her off and returning his attention to Frost.

"Gotta be thorough when leaving someone for dead, Antlers. The last thing you want to do is leave them barely alive so that some random yahoo with more brains than sense can save their ass and let them track you down for some good ol' fashioned payback." Six said nonchalantly.

With nothing more to say to his partner, he then unceremoniously kicked Frost over onto her back, watching his victim try to cover her gaping wound before kneeling down beside her, and burying his knife in the middle of her exposed guts. From there, he took his time cutting his way out of her as he freed his weapon while the whole entire world seemed to freeze around them.

"Let's see you walk that one off with your little psyker powers, bitch. Might not be the same as running you over with a car, but I'd definitely say it was a whole lot more satisfying this way." Courier growled, wiping his knife off on his shoulder. "Well, for me at least."

With Frost mortally wounded, there was one last thing Courier had in store for her. Rather than finishing her off once and for all, he dug the NCR radio he had been given back when he didn't associate the sight of a desert ranger with free loot and placed it in the sand beside Frost. He took a moment to adjust one of the knobs on his Pipboy and then, when he was finally satisfied with a job well done, started walking towards the sun now that there was nothing left for him to do in Vacuo.

Julia shied away from him as he passed by, but he ignored it with a grunt of acknowledgement rather than commenting on it. "Come on Antlers, let's get going. You were the one that was in a big rush after all, so get your ass over here before I have to carry someone else through the desert again." He called out to her.

She needed no more motivation than that to sprint after him, taking up a position behind him where he would have no time to draw one of the two guns strapped across his back or able to lash out at her with his knife before she could strike him with her own weapon. If the Courier noticed it, then he simply didn't care. All he did was turn up the volume on the radio frequency he had set up earlier and listened in delighted anticipation as he continued walking away from the soon-to-corpse he left behind.

---

After putting that bitch down, I felt like there was nowhere to go but down. Not up, down. Vacuo was behind me, I had plenty of food and booze to last me at least a week, no one trying to fill me full of holes or run me over, and I'm carrying enough ammo to make the Gun Runners jealous again. The only way things could get better is if I had a woman of my own fawning over my every move and a nice, cozy bed to enjoy her company in. Since there was no hope of anyone finding my face fuckable, at least, no one that isn't batshit crazy or a necrophiliac, I was in the best condition I had been in months. Even with all the chems fucking with my head and body, I still felt like the king of the world.

Like all good tyrants intent on maintaining their authority, I immediately surveyed my kingdom for any threats to my continued rule. The only two threats I could find was Antlers, who was still keeping her distance away from me ever since I took care of Frost, and the fuckload of sand underneath my feet that I would probably be needing to dig out of my underwear every couple of hours. Sand in all orifices, folds, and pockets was just a fact of life when surviving in a desert, so there was jack shit I could do about that. The gal that was gripping onto the hilt of her sword too tightly to have any good intentions in mind however, that was something I could easily deal with.

I've talked down plenty of trigger happy idiots in the past, all of them far more intimidating and with far better reasons for trying to kill me. Talking down a moody princess who was a little spooked after seeing some Mojave style vigilante justice for the first time would be easy compared to the shit I was used to.

"Alright Antlers, spit it out." I barked at her, treating her with about as much respect as I would as a snooty child.

Sure enough, a stern voice was all it took for her to break that moody silence and replace it with moody whining. "Spit what out?" She asked me.

"Whatever's bothering you. Something's clearly got your panties in a bunch, so you might as tell me about whatever the hell it is before either of us consider doing something stupid." I told her. "The last thing we need when travelling together is to feel like shooting each other for keeping secrets."

Well, if she didn't look spooked before, then she sure as hell did after going wide-eyed after I called her out. Antlers must have had something on her mind, but rather than shoot her for even entertaining the thought of screwing me over, I allowed her to explain herself. Guess I really am going soft. Might need to make sure she doesn't assume that in case she gets any more bright ideas in the future.

"Why didn't you just shoot Frost?" She demanded to know.

"Really? That's the question that is making you too afraid to get within stabbing distance of me?" I joked, earning a scowl that looked so forced that even a Fiend wouldn't have been fooled by it.

"Fine, I'll tell you." I grumbled. "I had two reasons for taking my time with Frost. The first was to send a message to anyone who tries fucking me over again once they find what is left of that bitch."

She seemed to give this reason a thought, almost letting me get away with that half assed explanation before proving she was smarter than most people I was used to dealing with. "And the other reason?"

"This." I turned up the volume on my Pipboy to answer her question.

She looked at me like I was fucking crazy, obviously not understanding what the white noise and groans coming from my handy little helper was. Defending Toasty, who still refused to stop being a complete and utter bastard or speak to anyone but me, was enough of a headache already. Needing to explain that my Pipboy wasn't just a fancy paperweight as well sounded about as fun as bathing in a barrel of radioactive waste, so I was quick to justify why I was carrying it around with me.

"My Pipboy can pick up radio signals." I explained. "Didn't you see me drop something beside Frost before we left her for the Grimm?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" She asked me.

Before I could answer, my Pipboy picked up the sound of big, heavy footsteps from the NCR emergency radio I left behind with the bait I set out for my little experiment. I don't know what the hell was thudding around like a Super Mutant Behemoth and frankly, I didn't want to find out. Both me and Julia just stood together in rapt silence as we listened to the footsteps grow louder before a booming roar assaulted our ears, accompanied by a faint echo from off in the distance telling me that I shouldn't have taken the gal's insistence to haul ass as lightly as I did. Frost's feeble groans of pains and the roar we heard were both silenced by the sound of something being crushed before I lost my connection to the radio I left with her and radio static was all we could hear once more.

It seemed to me that we got real fucking lucky that whatever abomination or Grimm decided to feed on Frost was more interested in a meal that didn't fight back rather than us. That rumor about Grimm being attracted to negative feelings seems like it did have some truth to it after all. I guess that bitch's suffering apparently smelled a bit more delicious than how shitty I usually felt.

Since I really didn't want to fuck with whatever was probably taking it's sweet ol' time chowing down on Frost, I pulled out a bottle of booze that the Lingdao managed to scrounge up for me and quickly worked on opening it. The baijiu, or whatever the hell he called the bottle of Mistrallian spirits he tried offering me earlier, went down smoother than I expected it to, and I was already feeling a bit less shitty after downing it. I also felt like the world stopped spinning a little bit less, more so than usual whenever I cured a hangover with even more alcohol, but the difference between feeling 'incredibly shitty' and 'very shitty' was so small of a difference that it was barely worth mentioning.

Antlers looked at me like I was complete gutter trash for downing a fifth of booze in a single gulp when most people would have congratulated me and my liver for accomplishing the impossible, but I kept on ignoring her like I usually did. Instead, I pulled out a holotape and jammed it into the player built into my Pipboy.

The smooth and always soothing voice of Radio New Vegas' Mr New Vegas soon greeted me once the tape started playing, his words cheering me up just a little bit despite them coming from a recording I took before everything went to hell for me. Thanks to the booze, I wasn't able to think much about the past or Antler's complaints about making so much noise.

["It's me again, Mr. New Vegas, reminding you that you're nobody 'til somebody loves you. And that somebody is me. I love you."]

Heheh heh. Fucking love that guy. Ain't nothing better than a bit of good music from the only person that loves me anymore. What more could I ever ask for?

["Ya' know sometimes the journey beats the destination, and especially when your spurs go Jingle, Jangle, Jingle and you meet some nice gals along the way."]

True that man… true that. So let's get a riddin' merrily along buddy!

"Yippie Yay~
There'll be no weddin' bells today…~"

"Six, what the hell are you doing now?"

"Cause I got the spurs~
THAT JINGLE, JANGLE, JINGLE!~
jingle, jangle…~"

"You cannot be serious."

"As we go ridin' merrily along~
jingle, jangle…~"

"I swear if you sing along to that song any longer…"

"Oh, don't be like that Antlers! Come on and sing it with me!"

"SIX!"

"CAUSE I GOT...~"

---

Time since last contact with RobCo GPS services.

7 days, 13 hours, 38 minutes, 4 seconds...

7 days, 13 hours, 38 minutes, 5 seconds…

7 days, 13 hours, 28 minutes, 6 seconds…

---

Translations:

Xièxiè ni, péngyou. - Thank you, friend.

---

Author's Corner:

Finally, the slog of preparing for the journey to Vale is done and over with. This was a pain to write, but a necessary evil to queue up things in the future. I'm still surprised that no one has started to piece together the overall setting yet but all will be revealed in due time regardless. It is nice to see some of the puzzle getting worked on, regardless of whether or not the picture is being assembled is the right one…

I'm also still looking for a Beta Reader, for anyone that might be interested in helping me out every now and then.

---

Comments:

First comment posted by "Guest": So it's before canon RWBY, which is stupid, and Six is a bitch who despite being an army killer can't kill 25 people. I despise authors like you. I hope you choke in your sleep.

My first ever hate comment? Hell yeah! I'm saving this with the hate mail from my Dark Souls days. Your hatred is almost as inspiring as your horrific grammar! I mean, I have to be doing something right to earn TWO passionate reviews from you, right?

More from what I presume to be the same "Guest" who obviously never took grammar lessons: Of course he's weak and doesn't have his weapons, because retarded authors on this site can't make drama or tension without nerfing (their protagonists(?)). No, that would take a slight amount of skill.

Are you sure you aren't my old pal, Anxiety? You sure as hell sound like them...

Jokes aside, for this story I wanted to write the Courier as an 'above average human' from Earth thrown in a world where Beowolves, DEATHCLAW SIZED GRIMM, are considered weak like they are in RWBY. Don't forget; even the weakest of Grimm are far deadlier than most creatures inhabiting the wasteland. Beowolves are more or less Deathclaw sized wolves wolfmen after all.

The people of Remnant somehow have not been wiped out of existence despite such creatures roaming the entire globe, so they obviously must be pretty damn tough to have avoided extinction despite needing Dust to truly excel in combating the abominations. Let's just say that I am giving the average citizen of Remnant (and Grimm in general) a bit more credit than some writers do and leave it at that.

You definitely got me on the nerfing bit, but I honestly feel that going in guns blazing and crushing every problem from the start without any difficulties leaves a story with nowhere to go. Call me what you will, even though you already did, but I prefer having my protagonists suffer from their mistakes as much as they bask in their triumphs to make them feel more alive. Everybody has to fail at something.

...before anyone thinks of calling me out for hypocrisy, my W40K x GS crossover is an exception. Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, does not fail. If he were to fail, he would not be Cain.

CykaBlyatintensifies: Ah, The Hound's here. But soon, it will learn that messing with the hunter is a horrible idea. Anyways, this chapter supported my idea that Remnant is Earth only marginally. Nice chapter, keep up the good work!

While I will not confirm your theories or those of the previously included 'Arbiter of All Good Fan Fiction', recognition of several key details sprinkled throughout the story will allow for one to reach the right conclusion.

Oh, and thanks!

Destroyah7: (Ironwood is) Just lvl 30 I guess?

Who else remembers how much shit you had to kill to reach lvl 30 in New Vegas on your first run? Anyone who says that they didn't die once in the process is full of shit, and that's why I'm treating lvl 30 as the mark of a 'highly experienced' soldier on the Remnant side of things.

Don't forget: killing over a thousand men and twice as many monsters over the course of a lifetime can potentially be heroic. Doing the same in under a year, methodically organizing each kill by species, is not sane behavior or even close to heroic.

---

BONUS!

Weight: ERROR: ROBCO SATELLITE SIGNAL NOT FOUND*

Weapons:

11mm Pistol: 2
11mm Pistol: 2
11mm Pistol: 2
11mm Pistol: 2
11mm SMG: 5
Bowie Knife: 1
Double Barrel Shotgun: 6
M.A.M.R.: 25
Penetrator: 6.5

Apparel:

Boone's Hat: N/A
Desert Ranger Combat Armor: 20
Desert Ranger Combat Helmet: N/A
Major Ironwood's Hat: 1
Rebreather: N/A

Aid:

Baijiu: 19
Bread: 4
Cheese: 2
Dried Fruit: 4.5
Jerky (Unknown): 5
Salient Green: 25
Water: 18
Dried Veggies: 4.5

Chems:

Battle Brew: 2
Jet (x176): N/A
Psycho (x243): N/A
RadAway (x47): N/A
RadX (x64): N/A
Rebound** (x9): N/A
Sierra Madre Martini (x14): N/A
Slasher** (x5): N/A
Stimpak** (x10***): N/A
Super Hydra (x9): N/A

Misc:

A Courier's Choice: 1
Caravan Deck: 1
Coffee Pot: 1
Duct Tape: 10
Legion Ears (x581): N/A
NCR Dogtags (x273): N/A
Map: 1
Maria: 1.5
Mark of Caesar: N/A
Preserved Books: 8
Scrap Electronics: 5
Scrap Metal: 10
Scripture: 1
Sierra Madre Chip (x1000): N/A
Spare Mask Lenses: N/A
Thomas' Lucky Necklace: N/A
Toasty: 3
Unknown****: N/A
Vault 13 Canteen: 1
Various Photos: N/A
Weapon Repair Kits: 10
Wonder Glue: 9

Funds:

Caps (x54932): N/A
Gold Bar: 35
Legion Aureus (x43): N/A
Legion Denarius (x614): N/A
Lien (x? ? ?)***** : N/A
Pre-War Money (x1087): N/A
NCR $ (x5456): N/A

*Another feature I need a satellite for. Fuck you House. At least I can still make manual edits to my inventory.

**Must restock ASAP once in Vale.

***Need to find Broc flower and Xander root before supplies run out if they even grow in Europe... I might be fucked.

****Note to self: Figure out what this weird toy gun looking thing is before I manage to hurt myself with it. Possibly an experiment Big MT. I'm definitely letting someone else try it out.

*****Note to self: Learn how much a Lien costs compared to a Cap, and which colors are worth what.

---

Thanks again for all the love (and delicious hate) y'all keep on sending my way! Take care everyone, and I hope to see you again real soon.