El Dia De Mi Suerte II

Ruby's excitement was out the roof!

They just got done with their initiation, it was super exciting, although it was kind of long and started to get boring after the 10th team, Ruby was even dozing off at one point of the ceremony but bounced right back up once her team was called up. She was made the team leader, while she was super happy that she was a leader she also super nervous, after all, she was only a socially awkward 15-year-old with a gun fetish.

At the time though she was mostly elated, the full weight of being a leader and therefore the responsibility for the lives under her command hadn't fully hit her yet. Even her sister was happy for her, giving Ruby a massive bear hug. Speaking of her sister, she was on her team! Yang wasn't her partner sadly, that would be Blake, she was quiet and didn't talk much, especially to Weiss. She instead preferred reading her book even during the ceremony. Ruby was pretty sure she wasn't reading it because she rarely ever flipped a page or maybe she was just a slow reader.

Then there was her partner Weiss, she was kind of a B-I-T-C-H but Ruby didn't vocalize that bad word or even dare say it in her head since Yang and her dad would always tell her to never say those bad words. Ruby thought Yang was a hypocrite though because whenever dad was gone for long periods of time, she'd bring over a boy into her room, she heard a lot of cursing coming from Yang and loud banging sounds.

When Ruby would ask her what all the ruckus was about Yang would tell her that she and that boy were just practicing some wrestling moves, it was weird because Yang was always more of a boxer than a wrestler.

Ruby only found out what that meant when she started hanging out more with her friends from Signal more often and she would tell them what her sister told her. Oh, boy, was she beat red.

Among other culture shocks, she saw poor people for the first time ever when her dad started letting Ruby going out to the Vale on her own. Real poor and homeless people, something she'd only ever see on TV or in the movies. She met a homeless bum once at a Burger Queen when she was with her friends and he was asking for change, Ruby gave the man 5 Lien and he thanked her profusely. Then he walked out the Burger Queen never to be seen again.

Ruby didn't know why he walked away; the line wasn't that long.

But back to Weiss, she was still a B-I-T-C-H and was a hard person to talk too because of that one time she knocked into her luggage and caused a small explosion. It was her fault for shaking that dust vial in her face! She also kept making bitchy remarks at her and had a bitchy tone to her voice too. Ruby was sure that she'd turn around soon enough. Hopefully. If she was going to be like this for the next four years, then she might as well had let the Nevermore eat her alive.

Anyways the ceremony went off without a hitch. What Ruby found strange was that Jaune got put in charge of his team, which didn't help but make her question Ozpin's decision-making skills. It made her feel worse because vomit boy was a nice guy but that's about it, the fact he survived Emerald forest at all was amazing. They had Pyrrha Nikos on team JNPR, she's a world-class fighter and really cool too. In Ruby's mind that pretty much summed up what a leader should have among other things, a very simplistic view since leaders don't need to be good at everything but they should inspire confidence and lead by example even if they're not the best of fighters.

Still didn't mean Jaune was any of those things.

Regardless she wasn't going to let that tarnish her good mood, hopefully, Jaune would get better as the school year progressed, if not then he'd provide comic relief at his expense.

With the ceremony over, the ballroom was left open to the students so they could celebrate and get comfortable in their new teams, it was awkward at first since not everyone knew each other that well, people came from all over Remnant often having to leave their friends and families behind in order to attend Beacon so there were only a few groups of people that knew each other well. Her team mingled with each other and team JNPR trying to break the ice, it was imperative that they got along because it'd make cheating on tests easier if they could bum it off each other or copying homework.

Not all students at Beacon had the best work ethics, hell not all of them were even sure why they wanted to become Huntsman besides the money and fame or their parents being Huntsman as well so they decided they would just continue the family tradition.

It went for a little while, it started getting dark out and luckily the teams were along well during the few hours they got to talk with each other.

Then someone yelled out "Saturdays are for the boys!"

It confused Ruby because it wasn't Saturday, it was Tuesday.

Other boys didn't seem to care because they started yelling it back, that's when all hell broke loose. A few people smuggled in backpacks full of beers and started handing them out, people started shotgunning beers and smashing the empty cans onto their heads or threw them haphazardly around the ballroom.

At first, it was just a few hooligans but then it started engulfing the entirety of the ballroom turning it into a bro fest of chaos. They didn't even give any of the girl's drinks. Any boys that handed girls a beer was instantly and constantly berated.

"Pussy!"

"Simp! Simp! Simp!"

"You're a fucking Beta Broooooo"

Jaune was one of those people getting berated.

Ruby lost her teammates in the chaos, somebody got a hold of the aux cord to the ballroom speakers and started blasting loud rap music where it was a bunch of "haw haw"

She quickly made her way out of the ballroom; it was far too loud, and it started to smell like Uncle Qrow after he went out on a bender. She left and went to her team's dorm room, before the ceremony they moved in their stuff after a quick break, tomorrow she planned on fully decorating it with her new team. The room was empty, with nothing more to do Ruby plopped herself onto one of the beds and watched Dust Tok videos on her scroll before putting on her pajamas and calling it a night.

Tomorrow would be their first day of actual school at Beacon, she missed her friends from Signal but she'd still be able to see them in Vale on the weekends or after school and she liked sending them letters even though she could just call or text them on her scroll. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and she was sure it was going to be the best.

Earlier in the day…

Junior watched as construction workers went to and fro within the nightclub reassembling the glass pillars and making any repairs that the club needed. He was smoking a big cigar and had his left arm lapped over the head of the booth seat.

He was far from relaxed; he was more stressed if anything.

The past week was a complete train wreck. First Roman came and tried stiffing him out of his guys, then a hot-headed bimbo came in a crushed his hopes and dreams of ever having children, then Roman goes off and gets his boys locked up in a failed Dust heist and demanded a full refund.

Junior made the unfortunate decision of telling him to go fuck himself.

Now he has Romans mute sidekick currently watching over him 24/7, making sure Junior refunded Roman in full and then watch over Junior in case he tries to do anything unsavory towards Roman and his associates.

Junior looked over to where said sidekick was now, she was stuffing her face with an absurd amount of Neapolitan ice cream by the bucket full.

Her severe ice cream addiction was conveniently funded by the gracious Junior himself. When she wasn't annoying Junior or eating ice cream then she was scaring his customers off or sending her own goons to take care of people on Romans shit list. If it weren't for the fact that she was good at her job then he would have had her whacked since yesterday, but currently, the cards just weren't stacked in his favor.

While Junior was constantly being monitored, he still had a business to run. He'd see his usual customers, informants, or bookies come in. Besides being an information broker Junior also had a few gambling rings within Vale city, mostly sports and horse races, he could never get into the bolita game, on the account of the Vacuan cartels protecting their numbers rackets with a religious fervor.

Although Neo had the habit of scaring off his customers, it was costing him money, besides the repairs and bailing out the guys he also had to foot the medical bills for the people injured at his club. Not because he had a bleeding heart or anything like that, merely because they couldn't sue the bimbo so the only person they could sue was Junior. If he went to court, then the government would be investigating his establishment and if he whacked the people suing him then that would only serve to add more suspicion.

Junior had one of his guys outside the club to bring in his customers or informants. Today was slow, relatively, he still had a whole team looking over information and compiling it for Junior to look at later, but only when they had something particularly juicy would they go see Junior in person with a report.

Melanie and Militia gave themselves a vacation mostly because Neo scared the shit out of them, and they got their shit kicked in by a teenager 4 years younger than them.

So, when his guard came in with someone among his usual group of visitors he was surprised and a little annoyed, but he supposed his guard didn't bring him in for no reason. The guard told Alex while he talked with Junior.

"Boss, there's a guy here to see you, he says he has a favor to call in for a Warren Sloe,"

"Alright bring him over,"

The goon waved Alex over, Alex walked over to Junior having to leave his duffel bag in the entrance hallway. He stood in front across from where Junior was seated in the alcove circular booth, still puffing away at his cigar. Junior gave Alex a hard stare, looking him up and down, letting the silence build up tension within Alex.

Junior thought he looked like the man.

But in reality

He looked constipated, Alex wasn't all that intimidated, he saw this man's nut sacks put in a vice grip by some teenage girl so that washed away any type of intimidation factor. If anything, Junior was the one squirming, he looked into Alex's eyes and saw the abyss stare back at him.

Taking another puff of his cigar, Junior put it out on the nearby ashtray and halted his wimpy attempts of a staring contest.

"So, you're Warren's little sidekick huh?" said Junior sinking into his seat, if he couldn't win the staring contest then he might as try to demean him with mean, mean, words.

"I'm here to cash in his favor,"

"Before we get to his favor, I have a question,"

"Fine, ask away," Alex didn't really want to entertain this clown any longer than he needed to, but it paid to play along.

"Why does he want to call in his favor now and send an errand boy of all things,"

"We need it for an operation, we're in need of some extra manpower and we have no choice but to source it ourselves, through you of course,"

"What's this 'operation' you're talking about,"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss those details,"

There was a moment of silence, Junior was mulling over what Alex said which wasn't a whole lot. It was certainly a risk since he didn't have enough details but usually, Warren was dealing with bum fuck White Fang in the city and his boys could manage against them with a level of competence.

"Alright I can do that, I'll contact Warren and send him some of my boys,"

Alex's deadpan stared hardened for a moment, it wasn't actual facial movements but something he learned from Boone when he heard complete bullshit being spouted, it came from being extra silent. If that was even a thing.

"Not looking for your moronic goons, we need professionals, people with military backgrounds,"

The guard beside Junior's alcove looked visibly irritated by that statement. Junior himself leaned into the table trying to stare down Alex once more.

"What you're looking for is a little too pricey at the moment," said Junior in a low and aggressive voice

"Is that so?"

"I don't know if you already looked around the club but it ain't exactly cheap repairing all this, I'm in a precarious situation right now and can't go spending big bucks on every favor someone wants to call in. So, you either take the muscle I have or nothing at all,"

"I'll take nothing at all, I'm out,"

Alex turned to leave, briskly walking out of the club and grabbing his duffel bag on his way out. The lady eating ice cream was noticeably absent from the bar stools, he heard her slip out while he and Junior were conversing.

Where did she go? He had no idea and didn't care that much.

Alex walked back home planning on telling Warren the bad news over the scroll. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with Junior, while Alex considered himself persuasive, sometimes a person has their mind made up and there's not much he can really do about that.

Settling on Junior's goons would have been a total disaster, most of them were outfitted with whatever they could get their hands on, which meant melee weapons, pistols, and submachine guns. Alex doubted any of them knew any basic squad tactics, how to breach and clear a room, or even how to launch an ambush.

Quickly dispatching them without breaking a sweat was a major indicator, well he himself wasn't a good indicator because he's dealt with the worse the wasteland had to throw at him, he still took notes on their tactics, which was piss poor.

Another thing was the melee weapons, while Alex himself wasn't totally against the use of them, it just wasn't practical in what he and Warren needed to get done.

'Nutless can brag all he wants but those guys are literal dead weight, good enough as cannon fodder I suppose,'

Reaching his apartment door, he threw his duffel bag onto the kitchen floor then plopped himself onto his couch, sending dust and roaches flying all over. The roaches were something he could never fully get rid of in the apartment for whatever reason, they seemed to cling to every crevice of the apartment to an unnatural extent.

The apartment room was much cleaner than when he first got it, mice he managed to get rid of no problem except for the more ballsy mice. These mice were the ones that did 3 tours of duty, have 7 kids, and got a little coke addiction.

Pulling out his scroll, Alex dialed up Warren, he got his phone number while they were at the diner. The phone rang and rang before it went to voicemail.

'probably busy, I'll give him a call later,'

Alex decided to get a nap in while he waited for a callback, he called his eyes waiting for that sweet sleep to embrace him. At the last second, the fear of his ghosts jolted him awake, his eyes opened briefly before closing them again. Things like this would still happen from time to time even with the recent years of him being surrounded by friends, the mental scars still lingered.

He laid awake with his eyes shut for a while, there was still no call from Warren. Alex waited for a little while longer tapping his index on his belly at a steady rhythm.

All the nerves in his body were screaming for him to get up to do anything. Alex tried to keep it under control but no matter how many mind tricks he tried to pull on himself, Alex still had those nerves telling him to get up and do something.

Reluctantly, Alex got up from the couch and started pacing back and forth. There wasn't a whole lot of room to begin with, so the paces were rapid.

Boredom.

Boredom was setting into Alex, it was the best word to describe it. It still wasn't quite close to describing what he was feeling. There was something else mixed in with the boredom, the word was always at the tip of his tongue either because he forgot the word, or it was simply non-existent.

With an audible frustrated sigh, Alex sat back down rubbing his face, just waiting for that call from either Warren or Ozpin to tell him to come to kick down some doors. He'd contact Sangria, drop some of that info and ask nicely if she can put it in a good word with the VAIG commander, get the ball rolling. Problem was that he wanted to pitch the idea to Warren first, Alex would go to Sangria either way but if he went now then she might say 'fuck it' and run off with the law enforcement to raid the farm.

That would put Alex under the microscope and severely strain his relationship with Warren. Possibly getting Alex fired or killed in the worst-case scenario.

The more Alex thought about it, the more he started getting concerned that Sangria would turn out to be another Oliver. Trying to one-up the Huntsman so her police force can look like heroes in the current climate, it was more dick-waving he didn't care about.

Another thing that crossed Alex's mind was Aura. He's managed just fine without it for years, but it was never bad to get a little protection, if Ozpin couldn't kick over a little dinero for his little team then he might as well get him to unlock his Aura. Although Alex didn't even know if he could even obtain Aura based purely on the fact, he was never meant to exist on Remnant.

On the subject of money though, Alex was beginning to doubt that handsome ransom he promised, or at least not as much as hyped it up to be. It added an extra layer to Alex's frustration.

He continued to get up pacing back and forth, sitting down then getting back up rinsing and repeating. This was different from the itch on his ass, it was more like he had to finish something, but Alex, for the life of him, couldn't find out what that thing was. When he was much younger it was never much of a problem but nowadays it plagued him.

Alex would still go out into the Wasteland by himself or with Hoplon but the company would sometimes require him to stick around Vegas for long periods of time. Alex was so use to his life moving at such fast and intense speeds that in his free time he would feel uncomfortable, most of it came from having to confront himself. It was never this fast though usually, it took some time for it to build up, maybe it was the fact he couldn't just leave Vale and start trekking across the kingdom.

Alex sat back down for the last time grabbed his backpack next to his couch, grabbing his Pip-Boy and flipped through it checking his inventory looking for something. He managed to find what he was looking for.

It was a Jet inhaler.

On a relief mission in northern Wyoming, he stopped by Casper and paid Jack and Diane a visit. They were doing well for themselves along with the rest of the Great Khans. The Khans still retained their hard edge but their warbands slowly shifted to a more professional force, and there was more of an established government, but its society was still very aggressive and gung-ho. They helped greatly in applying pressure on legion forces in Colorado, they did so mostly at Alex's behest.

At the time before the rebels broke off from the legion, the Khans were more concerned about expanding into south Dakota and Nebraska, Alex managed to convince Papa Khan to go into Colorado.

Alex also saw Arcade while he was there, Arcade went with a Followers mission when the Khans reconciled with them. Arcade's decision to go to Wyoming was to get scarce from the NCR, while he stayed at the Fort to help the injured while the battle at Hoover Dam raged, he felt it was time to move on like the rest of the Remnants once the battle was over. Arcade went to Vegas to get away from the NCR in the first place, but now that it was an official state of the NCR he needed to leave once more.

It wasn't that emotional of a reunion with Arcade being Arcade and Alex being Alex, but it was good seeing each other once more.

Back to the Jet inhaler, it was something Jack cooked up, he wasn't very specific about what was in it but it wasn't the usual Jet, it was swapped with something else. Jack said it would help calm his nerves and even help him sleep. Alex was wary of taking it, but Jack wasn't a moron and it would have to be an absurdly strong drug for it to floor Alex.

With his decision made, Alex took a big hit of the inhaler, emptying it in one fell swoop. Not the smartest of decisions, but in his cockiness, he thought he could brush it off.

Alex could feel the first effects shortly after taking the hit, he felt like he was sinking into the couch and time seemed to slow down. That lasted for a little while, for how long Alex didn't know but it felt like ages. Then the euphoria started to kick in, Alex sprawled himself over the couch. The drug was easing his mind and the nerves he once felt were gone.

It was fairly relaxing all in all. Alex closed his eyes and started to fade off into sleep. He didn't know how long the process took but it sure did feel good. He just hoped he didn't sleep for too long he didn't want to miss a call back from Warren.

Sometime later…

When Alex awoke, he found his world upside down.

Literally.

He was dangling from a hook or something like that, blood was flowing into his head and if he could see himself in a mirror he'd look as red as a baboon's ass. Alex was wearing nothing but his underwear and had a ball gag in his mouth with his hands tied, a very incriminating sight.

The room was pitch black with his natural night vision picking up vague outlines of other hooks, perhaps he was in the back of a butcher shop or a facility like that. There was water dripping to the left of him. Alex wanted to activate his Bionic eyes to get a better visual of the room, but he could feel someone watching him from within the darkness.

If he activated his bionic eyes now, they would make his eyes glow slightly but here in the pitch-black room it would have been very noticeable, he would keep his hand hidden for now.

The water continued to drip in a steady rhythm, the effects of the drugs had long worn off at this point, he knew damn well this was too vivid to be a hallucination or one of his nightmares. Somebody must have tailed him and was watching him. Then snatched him up when he was passed out on the couch being too drugged up to stop them. Alex would curse himself for not making sure he wasn't being tailed but at this point, it'd solve nothing.

Instead, he had to bide his time, he could still feel the eyes on him. Whoever captured him was expecting him to freak out or assessing him before they revealed themselves. He was just guessing reasons as to why they captured him or haven't revealed themselves. Unfortunately for them, they'd be in a serious world of hurt once Alex found his window of opportunity.

Alex didn't have an idea as to who decided to kidnap him, he hasn't been in Vale long to warrant the ire of anybody. It certainly couldn't be his employer or Sangria, not the White Fang because he would largely be an unknown to them, even after the hostage rescue and the capture of Milo he had his identity hidden during those operations. That only left Roman and Junior, Junior was the least likely, he made one remark about his men, but he didn't say anything else besides that unless Junior was thin-skinned. That only left Roman, but then again, he wasn't even sure if he got a good view of his face.

Alex would have to interrogate his kidnappers for some answers.

He didn't know how long he was dangling there, the eyes remained ever constant and Alex remained ever calm.

Finally, he heard a door opening, there was light emitting from his back showing parts of the room in front of him. The door slammed shut and it was dark once more, a light switch was flicked illuminating the area where Alex was hanging from. He heard footsteps approaching him.

Two people.

Alex heard leather rubbing against skin, they were both encased in leather. The footsteps stopped, there was nothing but dead air and the sounds of water dripping.

'Damn water,'

Then he heard it.

The cracking of a whip. It happened a few times before Alex himself was whipped on the back. Alex made no noise in response, not giving these sick fucks the satisfaction. He was whipped again and again and again. The whipping ceased letting the stinging pain on Alex's back to radiate and linger.

Someone came up from behind Alex and into his field of view. A man, covered head to toe in a gimp suit carrying rope. The freak stared at Alex with wide bloodshot eyes for a while before opening his mouth.

"This little boy has been very, very naughty. Master wants to teach this little boy a lesson,"

Alex didn't respond. How could he?

"Oooooo, is the little boy scared?"

'I still have a ball gag in my mouth, fucking dumbass,'

"Hahahaha," the gimp cackled much like the super mutants of the Capital Wasteland.

The whipping resumed while the gimp punched his stomach or thrust his pelvis into Alex's face. He was going to make this fucker pay.

The whipping stopped soon after and the gimp in front to him unhooked Alex and undid his chain with the help of the other gimp, whoever tied up Alex did a piss poor job but even if it was secure it wouldn't have stopped it from his enhanced strength.

It was time to spring to action.

As far as he could tell neither of them had any actual weapons, there was perhaps torturer weapons within the room but that wasn't going to stop Alex from exacting his revenge, they also seemed more like drug-crazed fetishists than actual combatants, then again he made the same mistake assuming that about many a raider Warband and fiends and they could put a fight, somewhat.

Alex broke free from his bonds and punched the gimp man directly in the face with such a force that it caved in a portion of his face leaving it a bloody mess. The man fell hitting his head on the sleek concrete floor, if the punch didn't kill him then the hit on the head most certainly did.

The gimp to Alex's left tried grabbing Alex and restraining him, he ended up with a knee to the groin and a punch to the stomach that sent him flat on his ass. Activating his bionic eye, he was able to get a better view of the room and sure enough, there were a lot of torture devices strewn about the entirety of the room, enough to make his asshole pucker.

'These sick fucks'

Alex undid the straps that were securing the gag and let it fall to the floor. His jaw was sore from however long the gag was in his mouth, he gave It few movements to let it stretch its legs so to speak.

Alex then ripped the mask off the gimp

"Who the fuck sent you,"

The gimp didn't respond, merely trying to crawl away in fear of Alex.

"I said who the fuck sent you!" Alex stomped and shattered the man's left ankle.

The man howled out in pain.

"GONNA ANSWER MY QUESTIONS NOW ASSHOLE!"

"I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!"

The man was writhing in pain sprawled out on his back with tears in his eyes, Alex shattered his other ankle.

The man let out another cry of pain.

In terms of interrogation, Alex was going about it poorly. At this point he didn't care, he'd just been kidnapped from his home while trying to sleep in peace only to awake in some gimps den for no discernable reason besides a 'Master' wanting to punish him for whatever transgressions he committed.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you!" the man cried out

"Start talking,"

"I don't know her name but she's a mute, works for Roman, told us that you were one of the good guys and told us to take care of you. That's all I know I swear,"

"What does she look like," said Alex pacing in front of the gimp

"Like the fucking ice cream…Neapolitan,"

So it was most likely Roman then, it was possible that whoever this person was operating on their own as well and was a demented person. Either way, somebody must have passed down the order, either Roman or whoever the hell that lady is. This wasn't the first time an organization or a group of people tried hunting him down, but this was the first time any of them successfully managed to kidnap him, mostly because of Alex's slip up.

Most of Alex's enemies back in the Wasteland would have just killed him in his sleep, he built up a reputation of being somebody that was too resource-intensive to capture.

Alex continued to pace back and forth in front of the gimp, thinking of what he was going to do next. The gimp was still rolling on the ground moaning in pain. Alex knew that going back home was dangerous, there could be somebody posted within in his or watching the apartment in case Alex had any more visitors, but he still had his Pip-Boy in there along with all his firepower. If it wasn't already scattered to the winds, then he needed to go back in and retrieve it.

It could be dangerous in the long run if they figured out how to access the Pip-boys inventory, while Remnant was more advanced in other areas of technology than compared to Pre-war America, it still would have been a disaster if somebody accidentally de-materialized a plasma grenade. If Alex couldn't get to his Pip-Boy, then it'd leave him even more helplessly stranded.

Alex went on a limb and asked the gimp about all his stuff, he may or may not have known, but it was worth a try.

"Gimp, where the fuck is all my shit,"

He took a moment to respond, "We…we brought it here," the gimp muttered fuck under his breath "we were gonna sell it off once we were done here, it's out in the front, over there," said the gimp pointing the direction from where one of them came in from.

In a stroke of good luck, that circumvented the whole process of going back home in nothing but his underwear, he can grab his things and relocate to another part of the Sewers. It wasn't as if Stacy would care if another dead beat vanished out of thin air to not pay their rent. First, he needed to contact Warren.

Alex looked over the gimp, still writhing in pain. He outlived his usefulness, grabbing the discarded off whip off the floor he wrapped it around the man's throat and began strangling him. The man struggled, trying to squirm his way out or hitting Alex repeatedly but to no avail. As his struggles were ceasing so was his life.

Alex picked up the lifeless body and put it onto one of the butcher hooks letting it dangle from the man's back, Alex did the same with the other body. He let them dangle from the hooks penetrating their skin and muscles.

Exceedingly dark, even for Alex, but he needed to send a message. Whoever would come to check up on them would only find their bodies on hooks, a clear message that Alex wasn't fucking around and wouldn't tolerate this kidnapping nonsense.

It was moments like this that showed Alex that he stared into the abyss for far too long, compared to the morally stand up kid leaving the vault for the first to the modern Alex. It wasn't like he was an edge lord without humanity going around monologuing with people he was ideologically opposed too. It was just that the Wasteland showed him sometimes you must growl back in order to stave off even worse morally bankrupt degenerates.

Alex left, exiting out the door from where the gimps came from. It was the back of what further up looked like a storefront for a butcher shop. It was completely empty save for Alex, he looked to his right and lo and behold there was all his stuff, or at least what little he had. It was all stacked up onto his shitty couch, even his clothes looked fine, guess they were polite enough to not rip it off him.

'Didn't even spare the damn couch from their thievery,'

It truly was a piece of shit, Alex honestly didn't even know why they bothered, but he guess they really did want to milk him for all his worth.

He got dressed grabbing his usual street clothes, slinging on his duffel bag he then grabbed his Pip-Boy from the backpack and slipped it on. This time around it would stay on, suspicions be damned. He'd rather not get caught with his pants down again, he got lucky this time, but this was way too close for his liking the Pip-Boy would have to stay strapped lest he wants his only viable path home along with his firepower to vanish.

The Pip-Boy itself was loud in terms of visuals, but it would easily be underestimated here on Remnant as the Pip-Boy looked bulky and archaic compared to the other more sleeker technologies.

Grabbing his scroll, Alex exited the store, making himself scarce before anyone decides to show and check up on the gimps. He couldn't go back to his apartment that's for sure, with all his papers he could find a nicer and more legit place, but he still didn't really have the funds to do so. Next time he was in Beacon he'd ask Ozpin when his paycheck was coming in.

He was still in the sewers; he made his way out of the shadier parts of the city and to one of the parks that was in the nice-ish part of Vale. Taking a seat at one of the park benches he started flipping through his scroll, he received a few texts and missed phone calls from Warren, mostly telling him to call back, the last text was from a few hours ago asking if he was alright, not knowing that Alex was getting humped in the fucking face at the time.

Alex called up Warren.

"Hey Alex, you okay?"

"Nah, I'm pretty fucking far from okay," Alex could still feel the immense stinging on his back, not the worst he's been through and certainly not life-threatening but mostly his rude awakening was what was putting him in a damper mood.

"What happened?"

"I went to talk with Junior, tried calling in your favor, in short, it didn't go so well but I'll tell you about that another time,"

"Damn it, Alex," Warren sighed "What happened then?"

"I think someone working for Roman tailed me back home, she was at the bar eating ice cream. I 'interviewed' one of my kidnappers and said she worked for Roman, he might have just been telling me what I wanted to hear though. She sent some guys to get me while I was trying to catch some sleep," Alex neglected to mention that he had huffed a drug shortly before hindering his senses and is what basically got him in this situation in the first place.

"Okay, okay," Alex could hear Warren over the scroll fumbling to grab his keys "where are you right now?"

"At Tangerine park,"

"And the guys?"

"Dead,"

"Alright, I'm coming to pick you up, I can't let you stay at my place, but I'll get you squared away,"

Alex waited a little while before Warren showed up in his car, Alex threw his duffel bag in the back seat before getting the car.

"You grabbed your stuff from home?" asked Warren

"No, they took my shit and were planning on selling it after they offed me,"

Then Warren noticed his Pip-Boy

"No offense Alex, but what is that piece of junk strapped to your arm,"

"It's a prototype from my grandfather's company from way back when has a sentimental value plus it's sturdy as all hell,"

Warren started driving, thankfully not pressing for any more details.

"Look, I can't get you a place right now, so I'll have to throw you in Beacon for now,"

That's something Alex was not very excited for.

"Uh, I don't know about that, I'd rather not get crushed to death because some kids decided to have a showdown in the courtyard," Alex knew he'd make it out unscathed if that did ever happen but that would cause some questions for someone without Aura surviving a body thrown at them at high speeds.

"Yeah I know it sounds weird, but it's the only thing I can do on such short notice,"

"Well thanks anyways,"

"No problem, and here take this," Warren handed Alex a yellow card "It's a keycard, Ozpin keeps a couple of rooms in the east wing for agents who are stopping by and need a place to crash,"

"Thanks, and about the raid,"

There silence in the car for a few moments, the deal with Junior went sour and now Warren was grumbling, he was the first to speak

"What happened with Junior?"

"Went sour, said the favor was too expensive and that he could only provide his men in his current state,"

"Fuck," muttered Warren, "I think we might need to see Ozpin for help after all,"

"What about the law enforcement," Alex threw his pitch in, it'd make things a hell of a lot easier if they could get a VAIG unit as they were the only competent fighting force besides maybe the SWAT teams or the Huntsman.

"No way, they're not exactly going to be subtle,"

"Neither are the Huntsman," Alex quipped back, while very entertaining to watch fight, it wasn't very exciting to watch the supposed defenders of humanity breakdance just to get a door open.

"I mean in the way that they're going to brag to Ozpin and name drop us or heavily allude to us. We're pretty much the only one of his agents actively on the White Fangs trail, so our asses would end up on his dinner menu,"

"Alright, alright, jeez," guess that idea was out the window and confirming his suspicions that Sangria was more of an Oliver.

It wasn't long before they reached the bullhead ferry.

"I already let Ozpin know you were coming, said your apartment was compromised. If he asks for any more details tell him White Fang was tailing you. Do not mention Roman or Junior at all,"

"Of course not,"

"Alright I'll meet up with you at Beacon tomorrow, we got a meeting with Ozpin the morning anyways,"

"Thanks a bunch, Warren, see you later,"

Alex made his exit and over to the bullhead. He wasn't exactly thrilled about being stuck at Beacon for however long he was going to be there, but it was either this or tough it out on the streets. As soon as his work-related things were finished, he'd look for a new apartment in his free time. Being around a bunch of hormonal teenagers wasn't exactly ideal, he also wouldn't be comfortable with working on the MK II while he was there.

It tied in with his other concern, that he'd most likely be watched a lot more closely now that he was at the school and short walk away from his boss's office.

The Brightside of crashing at Beacon was that he could gain access to the selection of obscure books it had in its library, normally reserved for students or faculty, Alex was sure he'd be able to convince Ozpin to let him use the library. Oh, and the armory as well.

Alex pushed these thoughts out, for now, he finally landed in Beacon and was making his way over to his temporary abode. Ozpin had sent him a map of the school since there was currently no one available to help guide him to his room.

Alex would run into the occasional student, but they didn't really pay much attention to him, most were still celebrating in the ballroom. Celebrating their new teams and surviving Emerald forest. In the background he could hear echoes of "Saturdays are for the boys," which confused Alex because it wasn't Saturday, it was Tuesday.

Not many were in the dorm rooms, especially in the east wing as it's primarily reserved for foreign students participating in the Vytal festival, it was eerie walking the empty halls at night. He arrived at the door; door number 6.

'Fitting'

Alex scanned the key card and the doors lock was disengaged, entering the room it was far more spacious and cleaner compared to the piece of shit he was staying in for almost a week. The room even had its own kitchen and a personal bathroom.

It was a shame it was on campus and that'd he'd have to leave soon but hopefully, he'd be able to find a place as nice as this once his pay started to kick, he was going to be on Remnant for while so he might as well get cozy.

He threw his duffel bag on the bed and got a shower in.

With his Pip-Boy still on.

It was a habit at this point.

He washed thoroughly, the lashes on his back weren't too bad now so he enjoyed his shower. Tonight, he'd sleep while being on full alert, a skill he developed while sleeping out in the Wasteland.

Tomorrow they'd get back on the mission and try to solve their manpower dilemma and appeal to Ozpin.

AN: Okay so maybe I lied a little about Alex not going to Beacon but it's only a temporary stay and I wanted him to get a few interactions in with the main cast of RWBY. This chapter was kind of rough to write because I'm a procrastinator and because I scrapped the first version mid-way through writing it. I also started up my 4th or 5th run of Fallout 1 so that contributed as well. It also made me think of writing a crackfic with the Chosen one for some reason, you don't see that many fics with him. Plus, Fallout 2 was way more out there with the pop culture references and breaking the fourth wall than any other Fallout, so I think it'd suit the theme. Anyways, enough of my ramblings, hope you have a good one.