Hello everyone and all, Melody here and it sure has been a redhot minute. Now you're probably wondering why I've been gone for a while, or you're not, either way the reason I haven't updated is because I was dealing with my final year of schooling, working a full time job, moving three times, moving to a new state, and getting a new job that has a schedule so unstable a house built on sand is less likely to collapse. Anyway that's probably not why you're here but before we get onto the chapter I just gotta say I'm going to be typing the next two or three right after I finish typing up this one. I do this so I don't lose any ideas and eventually get bored of the story because I didn't even know where it was going. With that I'll end my mad rambling caused by a lack of sleep, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Sincerely, Melody
Normal P.O.V,
The Monday following the mission was a strange one for Six, he didn't expect to have so many questions asked by his new team and least of all he expected to be called in to see General Ironwood. When he arrived at the General's office he also didn't expect to see that Winter Schnee girl he had met a few of weeks prior. With a salute, he was ordered to sit as Winter took out her scroll to jot down notes.
"So Captain Blutmond has reported you have extensive cybernetics, is that correct?" Ironwood asked as he leaned in a bit and rested his head on his interlocked hands.
"Yes sir, I have a great deal of cybernetic systems in my body. Ranging from my whole entire arm to a probability calculator in my head." Six replied casually as he leaned back a bit.
Ironwood nodded as he heard this. "Tell me what else you have." He ordered.
Six smirked a bit. "My pleasure. Well, first cybernetic I got was a Logic Coprocessor implanted into my head to help me retain information easier. After that was some Subdermal Armour, especially into my forehead but that's just titanium. Shortly after I was abducted by some mad scientists who reinforced my spine, add more stuff to my brain, and took my heart. After that I-"
"What do you mean by they took your heart?" Ironwood interrupted with a suspicious look in his eyes.
"I mean exactly what I said. I don't have a heart in me. I can show you the scar as proof but I'd have to take off my vest and shirt and that'd be impolite in front of a lady." Six answered and looked over to Winter.
"I'm in the military Sustrai, I've seen my fair share of shirtless men in the barracks." She told him sternly while hardening her eyes.
Ironwood nodded to Six after she spoke up and the Courier went to remove his vest and his button-up shirt. Once he finished he stood up and revealed the numerous surgical scars to the pair. "I don't got any scars from wounds really, just numerous surgeries." He explained then pointed to a large one right over his heart.
"Understood, continue then." Ironwood said and relaxed ever so slightly.
"Yeah well, I got ones for strength and some for reflexes and agility. The two I enjoy the most are my Phoenix Monocyte Breeder which aids in repairing damage mixed with the heart it seems to slow my aging just a bit and my eyes which were replaced with cameras that have scanners in them which allows me to figure out what kinds of tech makes something up." He answered while pointing out a few more scars.
"Do you know who made the implants?" Ironwood questioned as he looked to the different scars.
Six simply shrugged. "I know the Brains, that's what those scientists like to be called, made the heart, the reinforcements to my spine, and some of the stuff in my head. Why do you ask if you don't mind my questionin'?"
"Even though they can be found all around Remnant, they still are rare enough to know only a couple of companies produce them and the ones you have seem far too advanced for ones that the general public can have." Ironwood explained then motioned Six to put his shirt and vest back on. "I need you to make a report of all of your cybernetics and send it to Winter so I can look it over later, you are dismissed." He ordered as Winter handed Six a card.
Six stood and saluted the duo before taking the card and leaving the room. As he made his way down the hallway he noticed an older man with white hair and blue eyes pass by him, the Schnee emblem emblazoned on his tie. Once he was out of the building he made a quick call to Emerald as he looked around. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he looked over to an alleyway and saw the Pale Man staring at him. Before he could make his way over to confront him, the Pale Man opened a nearby door and vanish. Very few could make the Courier sweat ever since he killed the Legate but seeing a man he killed alive and kicking unnerved him greatly.
Waving down a taxi, he quickly got in and started making his way back to Flynn's house. The drive wasn't a long one but it got him thinking. From what he had seen while in Remnant, Aura had regenerative properties but not strong enough to heal a blast to the chest with 0/0 buckshot. An idea that formed in his mind was that it might be an experiment from the Big MT and with what those Brains did, he wouldn't be surprised. Given the information, he had about them and the tech in his body it would make sense but why not confront him in person and take him home. His mind swirled like a whirlwind has numerous thoughts and theories formed.
He didn't even notice he arrived at the house until the taxi driver piped up with a cough and looked back at him. Laughing it off, he took out some money and paid the man as he got out. As he walked up to the front door, his mind still raced even as Bruna opened the door to let him in. Even Emerald wasn't able to rip him from his thoughts as he sat at the table with a small notebook and started jotting down details in sloppy handwriting. It wasn't until around six in the afternoon that he stopped writing stuff down because there weren't any more pages. Once he looked up he noticed the trio of Emerald, Lothur, and Nadja staring at him with questioning looks.
"Yes? Whatch y'all need?" He asked as he raised his eyebrow.
"Ugh, well you have an intense look on your face and you aren't responding to anyone. Bruna was contemplating calling Flynn or someone about it." Emerald answered with a weary tone as she stepped forward to him.
Six nodded and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Sorry about that Darlin', I didn't mean to scare or worry y'all." He told them as he stood from his seat and closed the notebook.
"Sooooooooo…" Lothur started as he scratched the back of his head. "Whatcha writing about?" He asked with an uneven tone.
"Just a few ideas I got 'bout somethin'. Nothin' to worry about it." He informed them and placed the notebook into a pocket.
"If you say so, anyway Dad wanted to see you in his study." Lothur told the Courier then the trio went off to help Bruna with dinner.
With a long sigh, Six made his way to the study where he saw Flynn filling out a few papers. The discussion the two had was really just a recap of the meeting Six had earlier and why when Flynn got him he saw Six in a trance-like state, writing stuff down like a madman. This lead to Six showing Flynn the notebook and him explaining what had happened to him in his past. At first, Flynn didn't believe and word and questioned Six's sanity but his views were swayed once Six played recordings on his Pip-Boy and showed the vast amount of notes he had collected from the Mojave and Big MT. It was strange, to say the least and Flynn honestly didn't want to believe but the vast amount of proof Six showed him was honestly hard to deny.
Six made Flynn swear to not tell a soul and honestly he did. Of course, he had hundreds of questions but for now, Flynn just let sleeping dogs lie for now. He just had one majour question he wanted to ask.
"How old are you Six?" Flynn asked, the discussion of cybernetics and the things they could do confused him greatly.
"My entire age or the age from when Benny put a bullet between my eyes?" Six replied with a raised brow.
"Entire please, it seems simpler."
"It ain't but to answer that, I'm around 50 plus years old but I don't remember much of my time from before the bullet. I consider myself 23 because it's been around 23 years since I took the bullet." He answered while scratching the back of his head.
"When you said you were 23, I honestly believe you. You can't really tell." Flynn admitted with a sigh.
"I had a really good plastic surgeon." Six replied with a deep bellow of a chuckle.
"I'll keep that in mind. Well, I assume Bruna and the kids are finished so let's go eat. We can continue this talk another time." Flynn said as he and Six stood, only getting a nod in reply.
? 1st Person P.O.V. In Mistral
I made my way through the forest with my faithful mutt at my side as we neared the house where our target lived. The man was named Marcus Black and he had a decent bounty on his head in certain parts of the Mistrilian Underworld but some people in Vale were also paying and my contact was usually good when it came to jobs. As I neared I saw a simply looking cabin with a large man with grey hair outside chopping firewood and a younger boy brought to him. Something that caught me off guard was the fact that the kid had cybernetic legs. I climbed up a decent sized tree and slung Victory from my shoulder and looked through the scope. The boy stumbled as he brought some more wood over to Marcus and dropped some logs onto the ground. That seemed to incite fury from the old bastard as he threw the ax down and smacked his ham sized fist across the back of the kid's head.
I felt my blood boil and my gaze steel up as I carefully aimed the rifle at the son of a bitch's head. I could use V.A.T.S. and make aiming easier but the small chance of failure pushed that thought aside because I wasn't going to shoot a kid. I heard Dogmeat growling beneath me at the base of the tree and I shushed him quietly. I tried to focus my hearing onto what the man was saying but I couldn't, even with his shouting it just sounded like incoherent bullshit.
I stayed in the tree until I saw the kid get practically thrown back inside the cabin. Once the kid was out of sight, Marcus went back to chopping firewood. A smile formed once I knew the coast was clear and I inhaled deeply. With the pull of the trigger and a loud bang, I saw the bastard's head explode an instant later. He fell over like a sack of tatos and blood spurted all over the fire block. He may have been a great assassin but He probably wasn't expecting an attack so brazen. With a satisfied chuckle, I climbed down from the tree as the kid ran outside freaking out.
Dogmeat and I made our way over to the kid and the corpse. When he looked up at me I saw what appeared to be tears of joy. Once I walked over to him he stood and stared at me. Dogmeat, being friendly as he was, rushed over and immediately sat in front of him with his head down, wanting to be pet.
"Who are you?" I heard the kid's voice crack as he asked with shimmering eyes.
"The name's Leon Rivers, I'm a bit of a bounty hunter and law bringer in my own way. What's your name kid?" I asked while slinging my shoulder back over my shoulder.
"Mercury Black, the son of this piece of shit." He answered while looking down to his father's body and delivering a swift kick which broke bones in the corpse.
"Nice to meet you Mercury." I said and offered my hand to shake which he took almost instantly.
"Thank you so much for what you did. You have no idea how much this means to me." He admitted as he violently shook my hand.
"No problem, I would've shot when I saw him hit you but possibly shooting a kid ain't something I want to do." I explained to him before walking over to the corpse while taking out a disposable camera and snapping a few pictures.
"Considering you just offed my Old Man I have a question for you." He spoke up and I only replied with a nod. "Could you take me with you and teach me how to do what you do?" He asked which caused me to stop still. "You look like an old sheriff from those old tv shows." He explained as he pointed to the badge on my Regulator Duster.
"Let me guess, you don't have any other family?" I questioned while looking over to him, only getting a somber look from the boy. "Noted. Well I'd be a bastard damned to Hell if I didn't offer my aid. Sure kid, you can come with me. The others will probably enjoy having someone new around. We'll have to go all the way to Vale though. That's where I live for now but I tend to move around a lot." I explained and put the camera into one of the pockets of my duster. "You need anything from here before we go?"
"Ain't nothing here I want to remember." He answered coldly.
I motioned him to follow as I started to make my way out of the forest with Dogmeat at my heels. I could easily hear Mercury walking behind me. The walk was silent and it took a couple of hours that by the time we arrived back in the little village called Eros I was staying in for the time being. Even though I was once called The Lone Wanderer, it's nice having people along with me. By the next morning, we were already back onto our way to Vale where my contact was waiting for me.
When we arrived in Vale I showed Mercury to where I was living with most of my group. Sally got on well with Mercury and the two seemed to form a friendship. I just made my way to the bar where I met my regular contractor. When I entered the club I saw a large bear of a man behind the counter dressed in business casual along with his men wearing their black and red suits.
"Hey there Rivers, another job done?" The barmen, Junior asked as he cleaned a glass with a rag.
"Yeah." I replied as I took out the camera and showed it off.
"Your man's in the back, usual room." Junior told me and motioned his head back to the door.
I nodded and made my way back to the meeting place and knocked on the door three times with a pause before the last. A muffled voice came as a reply and I stepped in to see Roman Torchwick sitting on a couch with a cigar and Neo sitting beside him. I sat across from him and put the camera on the table. Letting out a puff of smoke he picked up the camera and took out the film.
"Yeah, this is him alright. Those people are going to be happy about this." Roman told me and motioned to a briefcase on the table. "Good job, you never disappoint. Your payment, half a million like they said. The guy they sent trusted me enough to keep it with me and give it to you once you got back."
"How many people wanted him dead?" I asked as I grabbed the briefcase and opened it up to count up all the lien.
"Lots but the group just sent one guy with the payment. No names were exchanged as usual. So Leon let's get a drink sometime soon. We haven't seen each other in a few weeks." Roman said as he handed the camera and film off to Neo who smiled at the pictures.
"I actually need your help with something. Wanna discuss it over a drink now?" I asked as I took half of the payout of the case and set it on the table.
"Back to business as always. Sure, what do you need to discuss?" Roman questioned and took a drag from his cigar while pulling out another and offering it to me. I saw Neo off to the side on her scroll messaging Junior.
"I need help locating someone. Has a Pip-Boy just like mine, evidently the guy was staying at the village I was at for a long time before up and disappearing on a Bullhead. I'm curious to see if he's that pale fucker Frank." I explained briefly right as Junior walked in with three glasses and a bottle of bourbon along with a bottle of wine.
Roman raised an eyebrow before motioning to Junior. "That's the info broker, why ask me?"
"I was going to hire both of you to do this." I answered and poured myself a drink. "Having you both look into it would make the information come quicker."
This caused Junior to look at me then sit down at another one of the seats in the darkroom. "How much are you paying?"
"Hundred and twenty-five thousand to each of you. Wasn't planning on using the money on this but hearing about this guy interested me." I explained and took a sip from my glass and Roman and Neo both poured themselves a drink. The wine was sinfully sweet and put a smile on my face as it stained my teeth slightly.
"We can do that for you Rivers but we at least need a name in case Frank is using an alias." Junior informed me with a sigh.
"Six Sustrai, probably the worse alias I've ever heard if it is one, worked with the local mechanic but that guy wouldn't say much," I told them then finished off my glass and stood up. "It was nice talking gentlemen, and lady," I said while nodding to Neo who sent back a smirk. "But I have to go. I'm taking care of Marcus' kid and have to show him around the apartment before Sally makes him go insane." And with that, I left with a wave.
And with that, the chapter is finished. Probably not as long as people would like I assume since the wait was so long but as I stated earlier, life got in the way. Anyway, let's get to the reviews.
Guest: Yeah but he's adapting as stated in chapter one but rap and metal are both sound torture, the only music he likes from Remnant is country and blues.
Legate Ragnuris: I'm glad you love the story, sorry it took forever but the future is here now with this chapter and the next couple.
So the next two or three chapters will be out about two weeks following this one, a week in between each hopefully but work is a bitch. Also I know I said this would be a time skip chapter but I had some ideas and wanted to establish them early so they don't seem out of place later on. So I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review because I love getting feedback from y'all.