Chapter 3: Going Nuclear

Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout: New Vegas or RWBY. The former is owned by Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks. The latter is owned by Rooster Teeth.

[Emerald Forest, Beacon Academy, Vale]

The group continued along with their walk through the Emerald forest. Weiss stood at the front with Cass and Boone behind her. At the rear were Marston, Ruby, and ED-E. Marston was currently enthralling Ruby with a story of one of his adventures. The girl listened intently while ED-E floated near the Courier.

"So, I walked into the saloon, hoping to get myself a drink and some leads. When I did, I saw the bartender Trudy arguing with some fella named Joe Cobb. Now Cobb was leader of one of the Powder Ganger gangs, and he was after a trader named Ringo. I found out that the good folk of Goodsprings were givin' Ringo sanctuary. I went to where Ringo was hidin' and had a little chat with him. Managed to convince him that the best way to deal with 'em was to take 'em head on. I left where he was at and went to talk with Sunny Smiles."

"Who's she," Ruby asked as Marston stopped to take a drag on his cigarette. He blew out some smoke before continuing.

"She's a local hunter who helped me back on my feet. Pretty nice gal. Anyway, the two us managed to rally the town together to stop the Powder Gangers. I convinced Trudy to get a lot of folk to help. Got that cheapskate Chet to give us his leather armor. Hell, managed to even get Easy Pete to lend us some of his dynamite. After all that, the Powder Gangers came to town."

Ruby listened in closely as Marston reached the climax of the tale.

"I was all ready and prepared when Joe Cobb came. I had a .357 magnum revolver that Doc Mitchell gave me, an old varmit rifle that was from Sunny Smiles, and a hatchet that I had bought from Chet. It ain't much in the terms of firepower, but I had to make due. When Cobb and his gang arrived, I decided to use diplomacy first before all the shooting started. I told him the compromise: he skips town and leave Ringo alone. Naturally, he declined, and the shooting began. My rifle jammed on my halfway through the fight, so I had to rely on my six-shooter and hatchet for the rest of the fight. It all went by so fast, so I don't recall a lot. But I know it all ended when I killed Joe Cobb."

"How did you do it?"

"I shot him," Marston replied as he puffed on his cigarette some more. What he told Ruby was only a partial truth. He first had driven his hatchet into Cobb's groin, and then had shot him in the head as he was screaming in pain. He decided to not mention that part because it was too gruesome for a kid like Ruby. Marston took his cigarette out of his mouth, holding it between his middle and index finger. He then finished up his tale.

"After the fight, I bid Ringo farewell, and he gave me some caps in gratitude. That night, there was a big celebration in the saloon. Trudy served some very nice drinks. In the mornin', I bid Goodsprings farewell and went off on my way."

"Wow, you're like a hero," Ruby exclaimed in excitement, which Marston simply chuckled at.

"Nah, I never really considered myself a hero. I think of myself as a just a man who does the right thing. Hell, as it stands, doing what's right is a rare commodity in the Mojave. That and fresh produce."

"The Mojave," Ruby asked in confusion. It sounded like it was the first time she ever heard of the place. Marston placed his cigarette back into his mouth before speaking to Ruby again.

"It's where I live. It's mostly a desert with few settlements here and there. Biggest settlement out there is New Vegas. Think of it as the Mojave's capital."

"So… it's like Vacuo," Ruby said, guessing from the context clues in the description. Marston frowned at Ruby's guess as the fears from earlier rose again. He hadn't heard of this Vacuo ever in his life. The best-case scenario was that the transporter had taken him and his friends way outside of the Wasteland and into another country on Earth. The only problem was that nobody had ever heard from one of those countries. Not since when the bombs dropped backed in 2077.

Once again, these thoughts were pushed out of his head as the group stepped out into a clearing. In front of them was what looked like the remains of a temple with a mountain behind it. Marston let out a low whistle at the sight. He'd never seen ruins as nice looking at these ones before. Usually, he'd seen things like the bombed-out ruins of Freeside or the crumbling remains of buildings in the Divide.

"Huh. So, this is what you were looking for," Marston commented as he looked over the ruins. Weiss simply shot him a look.

"Yes, and we would have gotten here sooner without you distracting us. I can kiss that A goodbye."

Marston simply ignored her comment as Cass looked at the heiress with a slightly annoyed look. She then decided to go and open her mouth.

"Tell me, princess: is it your time of the month or are you on full bitch mode 24/7?"

Weiss turned her attention to the caravan boss and glared at her. Marston let out a sigh and yet again got between the two before things turned south.

"Look, you're going to have to forgive Cass. She's the type to speak her mind. And if you plan on doin' violence, do it against those Grimm critters rather than my friends. Do we have an understanding, Miss…"

Marston stopped for a moment and then racked his brain. He then realized something.

"Ah, just remembered: I never did get your name, and didn't get mine. Probably had to do with you holding me up with that sword of yours and then walkin' off. Anyway, like I said to Bright Eyes earlier, my name is Daniel Marston. And you are?"

Weiss let out a sigh as answered Marston's question.

"If you must know, I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"So… your family has a big monopoly on dirt," Cass concluded as she rested her shotgun on her shoulders. Marston then gave in his two cents.

"If it's dirt that's rich in nutrients, then I could see it sellin'. Hell, my Pa could have used dirt like that when growing crops. We had to use brahmin shit as fertilizer to make our crops grow."

Weiss stared at the two in bafflement, as if they had grown a second head. Ruby, meanwhile, approached the courier as he dabbed some ash off his cigarette. Marston looked down at her and gave a friendly smile.

"What's on your mind, kiddo?"

"You know those people you brought up after I killed the Beowolf? I've never heard of them," Ruby said as she nervously looked down at her feet. The only reason she didn't bring it up earlier was because she was still in shock at finding a mysterious man in the forest. Therefore, questioning him was at the back of her mind. Marston placed his cigarette back in before explaining things to the scythe wielder.

"Well, let me start with the Powder Gangers, Bright Eyes. They were a chain gang escaped from the NCR. Get their name 'cause they like to use dynamite and powder charges. The Fiends are a bunch of raiders that plague New Vegas. Their brains are all fucked up because of the chems that they take. Last, but not least, there's Caesar's Legion. They're a bunch of slavers that like to dress up like the Romans. They've had a bone to pick with the NCR for the longest time. They ain't fighting anymore. I killed two of their most important people, and they all headed back east to like their wounds. Does any of that jog your memory, kiddo?"

"It doesn't," Ruby said, who now looked more lost than ever. Weiss then approached him, and held out her rapier in front of her. Marston's hand slowly went for That Gun, in case if she was going to do anything.

"And if you must know, this is what Dust is," the heiress said as she activated a mechanism on the sword. One of the red cartridges in the sword's chamber activated, and the sword's blade suddenly glowed red. Both Marston and Cass dropped their jaws, with the former's half-finished cigarette falling to the forest floor. Boone simply lowered his sunglasses while ED-E let out a beep of concern. The Courier gathered his bearings first as he addressed the two girls.

"Will you excuse us for a moment? We need to have a private chat," Marston said quickly as he grabbed Cass and Boone's arms and dragged them off to the ruins, with ED-E following his human companions. The group settled over near one of the ruins, specifically on one of the steps. Marston let out a nervous sigh as he addressed his companions.

"Alright… I think I've figured it out. We're not in the Wastes anymore. I think we're in some who new world."

"What was your first guess, boss: the furry deathclaw or that dust junk that Queen Bitch used," Cass said sarcastically. Marston simply shot her an annoyed look before continuing.

"That device we discovered in that bunker? I think it was some sort of transporter that takes you to another world. Hell, I had a nagging feeling about that ever since we got here, 'cause of the trees and Bright Eyes mentioning some place called Vacuo. But Princess showing us that dust sealed the deal for me. Hell, between that and those Grimm we've encounter, it all seems like something out of science fiction."

"…we come from a post-apocalyptic wasteland, boss."

"Well, my point still stands," Marston said as Boone, who had been his usual quiet self, decided to speak up.

"I've just found further proof to your theory, Marston. Just look over at the horizon."

Marston, Boone, and ED-E all looked towards where Boone was pointing at. In the distance, over past the mountain, was the faint outline of a city. Marston could barely make out anything in the distance, but one thing he could tell was the fact it had more buildings than New Vegas did. The courier then took his hat off, wiped the sweat off his brow, and placed his hat back on before commenting.

"Huh. That's interestin'. Anyway, from what I know, we're currently stuck here. I think our best bet is to meet up with Beacon's schoolmaster, and make arrangements to stay here. After that, we'll try to find some work 'round here."

ED-E suddenly let out a few beeps, which Marston frowned at.

"No ED-E, we're not going to tell these kids we're from another world. They'd think we're nuts, and I don't think they have the tech that allows people to jump worlds."

"So, what do we do tell 'em, boss?"

"Bright Eyes compared the Mojave to this Vacuo place. We'll just pretend we're from some weird part of it. Let's just hope they buy the story."

"Well, you best start practicin', 'cause more kids are coming," Cass said as pointed back towards the forest. Marston turned and saw that a few more people had emerged from the forest. The one that first caught Marston's eyes was a tall blond girl talking to Ruby. The girl had lilac colored eyes and golden blonde curly hair that went down to her waist. She wore an odd-looking tan get up. It consisted of a tan, short-sleeved jacket with a yellow top, an orange scarf, fingerless gloves, black shorts with some sort of tan wrap around. She also had what looked like a purple bandana wrapped around her right thigh, and completed off with brown knee high boots. On her arms was what appeared to be her weapon. It was a pair of yellow gauntlets that looked like it fired shotgun shells. It frankly reminded the Courier of the Ballistic Fist that he'd seen at Gun Runners a couple of times.

Next to the blond girl was a black haired one. She had golden eyes with black hair, with a bow on top of her head. She also wore an odd looking black and white ensemble that the courier had a hard time describing. On her back was what appeared to be a short sword of some sort.

Marston's eyes turned over to the next group of people. The first person he spotted was a blonde boy who looked, to put it kindly, unimpressive. He had blonde hair and blue, and looked rather scrawny. He wore a black hoodie with jeans and tennis shoes, and had an armor chest piece over said hoodie. He wielded a simple sword and shield. Next to him was a tall, redheaded girl with green eyes. Her hair was put up in a ponytail, and on her head, was a golden tiara. She wore a cuirass and pieces of armor that reminded Marston on the Romans. On her back was a circular shield and a red sword.

Marston then looked at the last two people of the group. The first was a ginger-haired girl with cerulean colored eyes that seemed to be filled with energy. She wore a white top with armor parts that had a heart cutout on the chest, a pink skirt, and white and pink tennis shoes. In her hands was a massive war hammer that had a hole in the blunt end of the hammer. Next to her was an Asian-looking boy with purple eyes and a purple streak in his hair. He wore a green robe-like shirt with white pants. In his hands were a pair of green colored machine pistols that had a pair of green curved blades underneath the barrels.

In Marston's opinion, they were all a colorful bunch. He then turned back to his companions.

"Well, let's go and get acquainted, shall we?"

He got off the ruins and walked forward, Boone, Cass, and ED-E following soon after. The blond girl noticed him as he approached.

"So, this is your new friend, Rubes," the girl asked Ruby as Marston stopped in his tracks.

"Yup! This is Daniel Marston, and he's a mailman!"

"I told you I was a courier, Bright Eyes. There's a difference y'know," Marston said as he sized up the group. He then jabbed as thumb back at his companions.

"And for those of you, wonderin', the three back there are Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Craig Boone, and ED-E. Now, I know who two of you are, but the rest of you are a mystery. So, if you would be so kind, can I have some names?"

"Sure! I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's sister," the now named Yang greeted as extended her hand, which the courier shook with a smile.

"Nice meetin' ya. I know a friend of mine that you'd get along with," Marston replied as he moved onto the black-haired girl.

"Blake Belladona," she said simply as he the courier replied with a nod. He then moved on to the next four kids, looking at the scrawny blonde.

"I-I'm Jaune Arc," he replied nervously as Marston let out a chuckle.

"What's the matter, Galahad? I ain't gonna bite," the courier said as he gave the boy a friendly pat on the back. This knocked Jaune back a bit as Marston moved on to the redheaded girl.

"Pyrrha Nikos," she said politely, greeting with a bow. Marston nodded as he looked at the last two of the group. The ginger girl spoke up first, her voice also full of energy.

"I'm Nora Valkyrie, and this is Lie Ren. Are you a cowboy?"

"Hmm, I guess I am. I don't have no horse, but I got the hat and the guns. Those fill the requirements, don't they?"

"You're a cowboy in my book, boss," Cass said as she stood next to the courier. She took out a hip flask from the inside of her jacket and began to unscrew the cap. Pyrrha frowned at this.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere, sweetheart," the caravan boss replied as she took a quick sip from the flask. Marston looked back at the ruins before looking back at the gathered group of kids.

"So, from what I've gathered from Ruby, y'all suppose to find one of these relic things and bring it back to the school? Sounds pretty similar to my job description."

"Mr. Marston, what are you exactly doing here," Pyrrha asked politely as the Courier replied.

"Well, I was on a job, with my friends, and I guess you can say we took a wrong turn. But I can explain to y'all later. Let me help you out for a bit."

Marston then walked back to the ruins, with everyone else following him. He then inspected the items on the pedestals. One was a in the shape of a castle top while the other one had the head of a horse.

"These look familiar. Don't they use 'em in that game? Y'know, the one where you move pieces across the board try to capture the other guy's pieces? The name starts with a 'c'?"

"You mean chess," Blake said as Marston snapped his fingers before turning around and pointing at Blake.

"That's the name! Never did play the game myself. Personally, I'm a fan of poker," he said as he took out his canteen and took a drink of it. Nora, meanwhile, took one of the castle pieces and balanced it on her head, dancing around joyfully.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle," she sang as both Boone and Ren looked on impassively.

"You deal with her often," he asked the younger man while he adjusted his sunglasses.

"Yes."

Suddenly, a trembling sound was heard throughout the forest. Everyone suddenly brought out their weapons, Boone and Cass aiming their weapons around while Marston unslung Medicine Stick and aimed it towards the forest.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Boone said under his breath as he slowly moved his finger towards the trigger. The trembling was soon answered as a giant scorpion Grimm emerged from the trees. The creature was slightly larger than the radscorpion queen Marston encountered in Camp Searchlight. Like its brethren, it was black with white armor plating covering its body, complete with beady red eyes. What stood out was the creature's stinger, which was a golden color.

"Well, this seems familiar," Marston thought to himself as he aimed his rifle. However, he suddenly decided against it and slung it on his shoulder. He'd figure that his rifle would just annoy the creature. He needed more firepower. With that, he turned towards ED-E.

"ED-E, bring out the bitch," he said as the robot replied with a beep. A flash of light then emitted from the robot's radar, and a weapon then dropped to the ground in front of it. It was some sort of shoulder-mounted catapult, its shape like a missile launcher. Said weapon had a transparent blast shield, a light blue body, and a transparent plastic bed that held the payload. Said payload was a bomb. Marston then picked up the weapon, and got down on one knee, taking aim.

"EVERYBODY STAND CLEAR," he shouted as aimed at the approaching Grimm. He placed his finger on the trigger and shouted at the beast.

"LEMME INTRODCUE YOU TO THE WONDERS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONRY!"

With that, he pulled the trigger and the bomb fired, soaring in an arc. It scored a direct hit on the Grimm. The exploded and went up in a huge mushroom cloud, and the Grimm let out a screech as it died. Marston got up and lowered the weapon as he looked upon his handiwork. Meanwhile, Ruby and Nora looked at the weapon in appreciation. Ruby had a look of awe in her eyes while Nora was practically salivating over it. Both rushed up over towards the courier, who had placed the weapon on the ground.

"What weapon is that," Ruby asked excitedly as the courier looked down at her.

"It's a Fat Man, Bright Eyes. It's a shoulder-mounted catapult that launches nuclear bombs. This here is a special version I picked up called Esther. She's handy in certain situations, but has her drawbacks. She weighs a ton, only has one shot to it, and carrying it for too long gives me a damn hernia."

"What!? Don't complain about it! Blow up more things with it," Nora said excitedly as she grabbed the courier by the coat collars and shook him. Marston quickly recovered before storing the weapon away on his Pip Boy.

"Well, if that's all, let's head on back to this school of your-"

Marston was interrupted when he heard a screech that echoed through the air. He searched for the source of the sound before something suddenly swooped past the group. Marston looked up at the newcomer. It resembled a huge, giant bird, like a crow or a raptor. It has a bone-like mask on its red eyes. The bird Grimm let out another screech, which reverberated through the air. Cass took out her flask again and took another swig of its contents. Boone tightened the grip on his marksmen carbine. Lastly, Marston summed up his reaction in a single phrase.

"Oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."

Next Time - A Rock and a Hard Place

A/N: Welcome to the latest chapter of Into the Great Wide Open.

I've recently made a discovery while writing this chapter: Cass is a really fun character to write. She'll probably have some of the best lines in this fic (and, in my opinion, already has some good ones in this chapter alone). It's sort of like how Sandor "The Hound" Clegane has the best lines on Game of Thrones.

I'd also like to give shout-out to The Crimson Commando. In his review of the last chapter, he guessed that Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds served as a inspiration for Marston. In that case, he'd be correct. Basically, the influence map for Marston can be summed up as the following: Malcolm Reynolds (badass long coat, strong moral sense, and loyalty to his crew), Norman Reedus (like I said in the first chapter, physical appearance is based on Reedus), Metal Gear Solid's Revolver Ocelot (the gun-slinging skills, which Marston will demonstrate in later chapters), Red Dead Redemption's John Marston (namesake), and Chris Pratt's take on Star Lord (some of his humor).

And I've you've noticed, Marston has currently come up with nicknames for Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune. A lot of other characters in the fic will be receiving their own nicknames as it goes (I have a couple of good ones in store).

I'd have to give my friend and beta Rocker1600 a shoutout as well. He suggested that Marston has Esther in his arsenal. I took the suggestion to heart, and the idea of Marston using it on a Deathstalker stuck in my head.

And yes, the chapter title is a reference to the Miracle of Sound song of the same name. The chapter also has a Firefly reference in it (if you need a hint to where it is, it pops up in Marston's conversation with Cass, Boone, and ED-E about their dilemma).

Anyway, please leave a review (since I appreciate feedback), and don't forget to fave and follow. I'll see you all next update (which won't be for awhile since I'm pretty busy as of the moment).