Hello everyone and all, Melody here. This is probably getting uploaded later than I wanted but I got distracted being sick and binge rewatching all of Black Lagoon and Darker Than BLACK. Anyway, I don't have a lot to mention here so let's get into the chapter.

Sincerely, Melody

Normal P.O.V.

It had been a week since Leon got the call from Ozpin and now he sat in front of Ozpin and his group. Directly across from him was a young woman named Amber. The job Ozpin gave him was rather simple, he is to guard Amber and assist her on her travels and he'd be paid handsomely. They even offered to take in Mercury and Sally and start teaching them how to fight. To say the offer wasn't amazing would be a lie but it had Leon very suspicious.

Taking a sip from his mug of coffee, Leon leaned forward and spoke up. "Why the hell would you all want someone like me for this job? I mean you explained already but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this. Also, how did you even find me? I make it a point that I'm only known in the underworld."

"Well Mr. Rivers, you technically don't exist, the only records that we have are from the past year and a half. You appeared out of nowhere and you started targeting murderers, terrorists, drug dealers, human and faunus traffickers, thieves, and individuals that enjoy a certain type of media that I'd prefer to not name but we all know what I am referring to. And to how we found you, I had Qrow here watching you for the past few months while Amber was here completing her training." Ozpin explained as he looked over a list of the various "good deeds" Leon had done over the past year and a half along with how he even discovered him. "You seem to have the need to protect the innocent and good people. Why not protect someone that can potentially save the world one day?"

With a deep sigh, Leon reached into his pocket and pulled out an unopened pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "You all want to know something?" He questioned casually, seemingly disregarding everyone as he started to slam the pack against his wrist.

"What would that be?" Ironwood asked while giving him an annoyed look.

"Well I haven't smoked a cigarette since I was 22; 23 maybe. Kind of find it disgusting but I have a feeling what I'm about to do is going to push me back into the habit. So, is it fine if I smoke in here?" Leon asked and peeled the plastic off the pack, took the paper over the cigarettes off and took a single cigarette out.

Glynda looked as if she was about to speak up but was silenced by Ozpin before she could begin. "We don't have any ashtrays in here." He informed the younger man just shrugged and motioned to his own nearly empty coffee mug. "That's fine then."

Leon frowned but lit the cigarette and took a long drag from it. "Fine, I do it but you have to make sure Sally and Mercury stay safe. I'll also be contacting them every weekend or so. I don't want either of them to think I abandoned them." He explained before he even let out the cloud of smoke. "I don't wanna end up like my Dad…" He added quietly then he simply held out his hand which was almost instantly shook by Ozpin.

"We'll see you here tomorrow then." Ozpin informed him as everyone stood and exited the room.

Leon made his way back to his apartment at a lethargic pace. Honestly he was tired of having to save the world or protecting someone who would but his nature simply wouldn't allow him to ignore something like this. Back when he was in the Pitt he decided to save that baby and help the raiders simply because he despised the bastard that told him to kidnap her. He ended Harold's suffering even though what he was made him a marvelous thing for the wasteland. He ran into the water purifier before Sarah even could question him to put in the code to activate it. To be honest though, his sense of morality was shot when compared to the morals and ethics and philosophy he discovered on Remnant.

As he trudged up the stairs to his apartment he saw his neighbors. A faunus couple that thought he was also one, generally all the tenants with the exception of Sally, were faunus. The woman whose name he couldn't really remember waved to him. With a small but dismissive wave, he dug out his keys and stepped inside only to be nearly tackled by Dogmeat. A chuckle escaped him as the mutt started to lick his face; For a trained killing machine, the mutt was extremely affectionate. Sitting on the couch in the living room was Mercury and Sally, playing a video game with each other.

"Heya Captain." Sally greeted without looking away from the game, Mercury only giving a nod as he focused.

"Hey Sally, Mercury. So I'm going to be leaving on a job tomorrow. A long one. The kind that means you won't see me for a very long time." He explained and pushed Dogmeat off of him gently. Then he went to the fridge and pulled out a full blood bag and poured a glass.

Sally went stiff when she heard that and instantly paused the game before looking at him. "What do you mean?"

"I got a job being a sort of bodyguard/caretaker to someone really important. Now I usually wouldn't do this but I feel like this is something I have to do. I'm being called to this, call it fate or even an act of God if you believe in the fucker." He explained calmly before taking a sip.

"So what about us? You still have to show me how to do what you do, you promised that!" Mercury exploded as he threw the controller he was holding to the ground.

Normally something like that would annoy Leon somewhat but this time he understood. "I get that but my employer is someone that can teach you that kind of stuff. At least his other employees can and a lot better than me. Ozpin, the man who runs Beacon hired me."

Even though hearing this hurt her, Sally just nodded and gave him a determined smile along with a salute. "Got it Captain. I trust you're making the right decision. Just know that Sally Skyfire and the rest of Mothership Zeta will be ready whenever you need us." Tears formed at the corners of her eyes but she didn't let them fall, too stubborn for them to.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the trio talking and explaining ways for them to contact each other if there was ever an emergency. Leon also gave Elliot a call to inform him of his new job, leaving out any details that couldn't be disclosed. The former medic understood and told him that a shuttle would be ready to launch whenever it was needed.

Six's P.O.V.

I sat in the meeting room with the rest of the team as we waited for Flynn. Porfirio's leg wasn't able to be salvaged because of the lasers' fire being so precise it destroyed the nerves, bone, tendons, and muscles in that leg. Now he had a nice, silvery replacement that could literally kick like a mule. The chatter going around wasn't about anything in particular but we knew we had a mission to go on. I read over the briefing in front of us. It was simple, we had scout out what has been theorized to be a White Fang hideout. Once that was determined, we had to go in and clear it out and take any survivors in for questioning. Frankly, I'm shocked that not any of the others had problems with this considering half of the team were faunus.

Once Flynn arrived we all went over the briefing and went to finish our gear checks. Dinnerbell was cleaned and loaded with 0/0 buckshot, A Light Shining in Darkness was also clean and loaded. I looked over and saw Eirwin checking and recalibrating her scope with her rifle at her side. Gilford was trying to decide which grenades he should bring; Having trouble deciding between high explosive, electric dust, and fragmentation. Porfirio and Meoquanee were both at the Bullhead already talking to Flynn.

"So how's Emerald doing Six?" Eirwin asked me with a smile as she looked over to me.

I simply shrugged. "She's doin' fine. Started teachin' her how to fire a revolver, actually left my revolver with her so she can practice shootin' while I'm gone." I explained and slung Dinnerbell over my shoulder.

This made the smile on her face bigger. "That's nice to hear. I assume she wants to be a Huntress then?"

"Yep. Support her every step of the way." I nodded with a smile.

"Honestly, she's lucky to have an older brother like you. Kinda makes me wish I had a sibling growing up." She chuckled a bit as she looked away and mounted her scope back onto her rifle.

This gotta laugh out of the portly grenadier as he finally decided on his grenades; Lightning dust to be specific. "I thought I was like an older brother to ya?"

Eriwin shrugged. "Yeah well we are in the army together, you're my brother of arms."

Gildford just continued to laugh. "True, true. Just make sure to stay behind me when I'm firing Dirge Singer." He motioned to his grenade launcher as he spoke.

"Will do, I'll make sure Banshee's sights aren't on you then." Eirwin said then loaded her rifle.

With all of our prep done, we made our way to the Bullhead. Loading up all of our equipment we had prepared only two about half an hour. The cargo hold held enough for us to survive for three weeks out in the tundras of Atlas. Meonquanee put the coordinates into the computer then finished engine preps. After that we took off and the mission started. During the trip I stayed bundled up in the heavy duster Emerald made me buy the other day. As I sat I stared at Porfirio's metal leg. It looked like a normal leg really but made of a titanium alloy and had hydraulics in the foot to increase his kicking power. Honestly, it was well made and looked strong but it was simple in design.

"Do you have a question Six?" Porfirio asked once he noticed me staring.

I reached back and scratched my neck with my cybernetic hand before I replied, "You uh, you used to it yet? It took me forever to get used to my arm and now that I modified it I have to get used to it again."

The lynx faunus shrugged. "Not completely but it helps me get back to combat faster meaning I can help more people." He answered plainly and patted the cybernetic.

This caused me to smile. "Least yer getting used to it quick."

"You know something Six," Gilford spoke up which got my attention. "Even though ya've told us some stuff about yourself and the extent of your augmentations, you haven't explained how you got your arm. Care to share?" He asked as he casually rotated the cylinder of his Dirge Singer.

I paused for a moment as I thought about it. Reaching down I stared at the three fingered hand then clenched my fist and grew a sad smile. "Sure, I'll tell ya." I replied and took a deep breath then let it out after a second in a low sigh. "I was travelin' with a friend of mine named Boone. We were hunting down an illegal slave trade organization in Vacuo called The Legion. Recently we had killed their leader and his right hand but there were still stragglers out there. We found a camp filled with them and the slaves they were going to sell on the black market." I explained as I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a ratty old wallet I had found in a burnt out house and liked enough with the simple ace of spades design, always loved the symbol. "Planning out an attack that would leave the slaves unharmed, we decided that I would draw them out since I was already a cyborg with subdermal armour. We attacked at midnight, the Legionnaires' chased after me and Boone stayed on the hill taking them out with his rifle. While we fought them, one of them hacked at my arm with a serrated machete. Damn thing was strong enough to rip into my subdermal armour and caused it to flay and rip into my bones, muscles, and veins. Honestly it hurt lika bit-"

"How the fuck are you even alive?!" Eirwin interrupted with an alarmed look on her face.

I just chuckled and shrugged. "I'm built like the guy who trained Hercules." Saying that just got weird looks from them. "What?"

"Who's Hercules?" Gilford asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, that's a character from a movie I saw a while back." I informed them with a wave of my hand. "That's not the point though. Anyway, so after I had my arm cut off by a rusty hacksaw Boone shot the guy in the back of the head and rushed down the hill to help me out cause I was out of painkillers to make me go on for a bit. He grabbed me and started to drag me away as they started shootin' at us. I still don't know how we survived but we did and he was able to get me to a safe place so I can get my arm fixed up," I said and reached into my wallet and pulled out an old photo with burnt ends and worn from time. "We met up with one of our friends' named Ganon and he was able to take off my arm. I didn't know at the time but while I was put under, Boone was suffering from internal bleeding. He had been shot around six or seven times; Adrenaline was rushin' through us both so we didn't notice. While he was sittin' and waitin' for me to wake up he was given some potent painkillers and bled out while sittin'. He refused treatment until I was fine, not quite giving a damn about himself." I sighed again as I felt tears prickle at the corners of my eyes. Looking down at the picture, it showed myself with Boone and Veronica, she had her arms slung over our shoulders and had a giant grin plastered across her face. Boone looked uncomfortable and I was laughing with a large grin. I held up the picture to them and the trio looked over to it. "Boone died and I couldn't do anything to help him cause I was fuckin' sleepin'. After that I went to the people who made the rest of my more advanced cybernetics and had them make me a new arm. Named it after him so I always have my best friend, first friend really, at my side; Helpin' me fight my battles even from the afterlife. He's the last thing they'll never see." I finished with a solemn smile on my face.

Everyone was silent for a moment, just staring at the picture and myself in shock. Eirwin spoke up first, giving a sad smile in the process. "I'm sorry for your loose, really. Sounds like he was a great friend."

I nodded numbly and wiped the corners of my eyes. "He was."

"That an ex girlfriend or something in the middle of you two?" Porifio asked and pointed out Veronica.

I started to bellow with laughter at that and slapped my knee. "God no! Hahahaha, she'd never wanna date either of us. She was a lesbian and had an amazing girlfriend named Christine. Nah… She was just my second best friend." My laughter seemed to improve their moods and caused them to chuckle with me. "I haven't laughed like than in a while really. I wasn't meanin'ta sour yer souls, it ain't a sad story in my eyes. I still have part of Boone's soul with me and I know he's in Heaven with his wife and kid. I think I remember him sayin' he wanted a daughter but I'm honestly not sure."

"What happened to his wife?" Gilford asked rather gently compared to his normal rather blunt tone of voice.

I shook my head. "That's enough grief for today. We can talk about that on a later day." I informed them then the back of the Bullhead returned to the state of silence it was in before. I simply folded up the picture and put it back into my ratty wallet, then leaned back and shut my eyes, letting darkness takeover my world.

Normal P.O.V.

The next day Leon, Sally, and Mercury arrived at Beacon bright and early with Dogmeat in tow. Slung over the Wanderer's shoulder was his Victory Rifle, at his right hip was his Alloy Steel 10mm Pistol, at his left was his Zhu-Rong V418; A duffle bag filled with medical supplies, a cryobox holding ten full blood bags, toiletries, and a couple of changes of clothes. He was dressed in his full Regulator regalia including his Sheriff's Hat and Lucky Shades. Sally and Mercury both had packed suitcases and each had a pistol given to them by Leon. Ozpin and Amber smiled as they saw them approach, Amber even offering them a friendly wave which was replied with their own waves. Ozpin handed Leon an encrypted Scroll once they were near which the Wanderer took and slipped into one of the pockets inside the duster.

"It's nice to meet you both. My name is Ozpin and I'll be your guardian while Leon is away with Amber here." He greeted kindly, offering a smile to the children.

"It's nice to meet ya too Mr. Ozpin, I'm Sally Skyfire at your service, second in command to Captain Cosmos. You both know him as Leon Rivers though." She greeted cheerfully and gave a salute.

"And I'm Mercury Black, not quite as eccentric as she is." He said plainly as he stuffed his free hand into his pocket.

"You okay with animals Ozpin? I wanna leave Dogmeat here with them. Part of me always with them, you know?" Leon asked and motioned to the faithful hound who was sitting at his heel, alert for any danger.

"Normally we don't allow it but in this case I'll allow it, I assume he's trained?" Ozpin questioned as he looked at the mutt.

"She, and yes she is," Leon answered before looking down to Dogmeat who looked up at him. "Stay, protect Sally and Mercury as if you were protecting me. Got it?" He questioned to which the mutt replied with an assertive bark. "Good. Glad we understand each other."

"You can talk to dogs? Neat." Amber commented which caused Dogmeat to look over to her and give a happy bark.

Leon reached into his duster and pulled out a pack of smokes and lighter. "Ready to go Ms. Amber?" He asked while lighting the cigarette which made Sally scrunch her nose and glare at him. "What?"

"You told me you quit." She replied with some venom in her voice. Leon just shrugged and let out a puff of smoke. "You're going to get cancer you know." She informed him as she crossed her arms.

"Sally, it'll be a miracle if cancer kills me and you know I don't believe in miracles." He replied and took another hit. The young girl just continued to glare at him for a moment before he relented and dropped the cigarette, stomping out in the process.

"Happy?"

"Very." She replied before losing the glare and rushing over to him and embracing him in a near bone crushing hug; Bone crushing for him at least.

"What's wrong?" He asked once he noticed her start to sniffle, loosely wrapping an arm around her in the process.

"I'm going to miss you…" She quietly replied, muffled by the rough leather of the old coat.

Leon sighed and started to pet her head. "I'm not going away forever, I promise." He said while taking over his hat and placing it over his heart.

Mercury just stared at them as they did this, not quite sure how to react. He felt like he should give a hug to his savior but he didn't want to touch him or anyone for that matter. All he did was watch with Ozpin and Amber as the duo simply comforted each other. Ozpin and Amber felt a twinge of pity at the display since they were the ones to cause this but that was washed away once the pair separated and saw the look of determination in Sally's eyes.

"I'll train to be able to work with you one day on your mission Captain, this one and your other one." She said as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

Leon smirked at her and started to laugh. "You better, I'm going to need you one day to make this job easier on me."

With that said, Leon and Amber got all of their supplies together and left Beacon's campus to start traveling the world to protect people. They loaded onto a Bullhead that would take them out to a remote village to start their journey. It was mostly a silent ride which kind of made Amber unsettled as she stared at the assassin dressed as an old timey sheriff. Leon didn't seem to be much on the subject of talking so she clawed in her brain to find topics to talk about. As she thought a subject entered her mind. So with a smile, she spoke up.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself? We're going to be together for a while so we might as well get to know each other, right?" She suggested kindly.

Leon sighed and took out a smoke and lit it. "Well I'm around 27, not quite sure; Kind forgot about it to be honest. I was raised in a cult, I hate God, I'm married, kind of find myself boring." He explained as he took off his shades and looked at her with his ice blue eyes.

Amber's smile grew. "So you're married? Where was your wife though?" She questioned curiously.

"Back home in a medically induced coma." He answered grimly.

"A-ah… What happened to her? If you don't mind my asking." she said quickly, now feeling awkward.

"Attacked by a Grimm." He answered plainly with the same grim tone. "Want me to tell you about her?"

Amber, seeing a way out of the dark corner the conversation quickly went to. "Yes, of course."

Leon smiled slightly. "Her name is Bittercup, born in the slums of a village is Mistral. To describe her I'd say she's kind of a stereotypical goth woman, likes being pale, kind of apathetic, and doesn't like dealing with bullshit." His smile grew as he spoke. "When we met she was a guard for her village but didn't quite care about her job, rather would be applying makeup. Guess what she used for makeup at the time?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Regular two lien foundation?" She suggested which just got a headshake from the Wanderer.

"Nope, not even that. She used crushed chalk. The town was so poor that she couldn't even get that stuff." He explained with another laugh, letting out a puff of smoke in the process. "We got to talking, she mentioned some guys that were wanting her to be kicked out of town. Me being the fresh out of the cult guy that barely understood the world was smitten with her almost instantly so I went to see what was wrong. Helped convince them not to kick her out and even helped deal with an attack caused by some Grimm. That started our relationship, after I dealt with some… Let's call them problems, I returned to the village and we started an official relationship. I even proposed the same night and we were 'married' the next week."

"Why aren't you wearing a wedding ring then?" She asked once she noticed he was in fact, not wearing one.

"We didn't have the money for that so we got each other's name tattooed over our hearts." He answered and casually unbuttoned his shirt and showed the tattoo. It simply said Bittercup written in nice cursive.

The rest of the trip became a lot more bearable after that as they finally started to open up to each other. Amber was happy about this because she learned he was an extremely, if bluntly, honest person. The future seemed brighter because of this. Oh how the future would prove them wrong.

And with that, that's the chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. It was fun writing some of the backstory out for Six and Leon. So before I'm going to get to the reviews I'm going to put down the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats for the Wanderer.

Strength: 5/10

Perception: 10/10

Endurance: 4/10

Charisma: 9/10

Intelligence: 7/10

Agility: 10/10

Luck: 1/10

Note: These are the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats for a level 30 Wanderer with five points in Intense Training and Ant's Sight. If he seems overpowered but not quite as powerful as Six, that is because he is max level but still twenty levels below Six. Anyway, to the reviews!

ILikeHotDogs: Thanks, I'll watch out for more punctuation errors but knowing me I'll probably miss some, or a lot. Run on sentences are my bane, I try to watchout for them but I can't help it. I'll let ya know when I need any help!

Rio Skyron: I don't know whether to be proud that my writing has caused nightmares or embarrassment. Well the personal fiction story I'm writing is horror so I view this as a plus, I also apologize about that. Honestly wasn't my intention so I sincerely apologize.

Kpmh2001: I'm glad you find it interesting! I hope you still think that with this chapter, and really when anyone thinks about it anyone from the Wasteland would probably think the same way. They are literally an outsider looking into a world of which they have never known with the exception of most Ghouls and the rare people like Sally and the Sole Survivor.

Anyway as I already said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review because I love reading what you all think of the story so far. I don't have much else to say so have a good evening, morning, afternoon, so on so forth, I have to get to sleep because I have work in five hours prior to when this chapter is uploaded.