It had been a while, two years since he first arrived here and there was still nothing but hope of getting off this planet in his heart. That was all he could do at this point, give a little hope. Over the two years though, he had been busy. Travelling across the globe, eliminating Grimm, bandits, and some less than savory individuals who targeted either him or civilians. He didn't know that he had built up quite the reputation for some frontier towns in the four Kingdoms. If anything, he was more of a local legend within the towns. The legend of a man who wore a cloak and did his deed before leaving shortly after, only taking a reward if it was supplies. Some heard him talk while others didn't get the chance to, some didn't even want to hear him utter a word.
There were several speculations about him, where he came from, who was he, what was he? Was he a part of a black ops unit or a government experiment, no one knew. All that some people knew was that he traveled for so long and never stopped that it was hard to pinpoint where he would end up next. Silence was what he was known for, that and a predatory gaze that seemed to make even some of the most veteran Huntsmen shiver. The gaze of an apex predator before it sunk its jaws into the throat of its prey.
Despite it all though, he was just a quiet man. Someone who wished to leave this planet sooner than later. He didn't really have a preference in regards to where he went, some places suited him better than others but beggars couldn't be choosers. His cloak covered his entire body now, it worked well when some thought that it would hinder his ability to maneuver. He was always thinking too. Planning the next move, the next way of getting to the location, and the time it would take. His main goal was to find that woman who had the warping technology. It took about six months but eventually her name came up when he was in a little tavern listening to the different people. Her name was Raven Branwen and apparently she, like him, was always on the move.
It would take time to eventually catch up to her trail but he knew what to do. Just tail the recent events of bandit raids, and the pieces would eventually fall together like a puzzle. It was just a matter of time before she slipped up and he was on her trail. He didn't have resources to help him so it put him at a handicap, but like always he would eventually get what he needed out of her.
He's come across a variety of Huntsmen and Huntresses during his time here, some which didn't see eye to eye with him. He didn't care. It was always him who turned out to be the bigger person when push came to shove. Half the time it was ego clouding their minds but some had more bite than bark and it simply made him react as he was trained. Some he maimed, others he's killed, it didn't matter to him. Overconfidence was beaten out of him during his early days of training, brutally. It often served in his favor when he could use that against them and that gave him opportunities to initiate a fast, yet brutal, elimination.
Some regions he was known as a demon wearing a cloak that scared some people but to most he was a local legend that seemed to take out any threat to humanity then leave shortly after. Settling down didn't sit right with him and he was always moving. The most he's stayed in a place was maybe a week and a half but that was if he was lost and needed to gather information. Certain places he avoided like a plague. The city of Atlas, the academies, and other major places where he stuck out like a sore thumb.
The way he survives efficiently is by staying away from those places and always staying in the outskirts. Someone had to keep an eye on the outer settlements. Although he was only one Spartan and couldn't save every single settlement nor save every person, it seemed to be more efficient than going to an academy and dealing with whatever problem they have. At most they would try to recruit him, capture him at worst and force him to cough up any information.
Shaking his head of these thoughts, he sent another signal to any UNSC vessel that could possibly be patrolling then began to start walking in a random direction. Vacuo was one of those desert regions that often held some less than savory individuals. Raiders in this region seemed to be more violent than the ones back in Mistral. It didn't matter to him, they all fell eventually.
His last several months here he had been busy quietly bringing down a violent syndicate within the continent. It took him a month to find out their influence, two months to gather legitimate intel to bring them down, and the next few going around bringing it down without putting civilians in the way. They knew about him, they knew whenever he struck because whenever he had attacked, there was nothing left. No bodies in their complexes or camps, no way to tell where he came from nor how he got there. Just... an empty camp with nothing left.
Entire camps gone in a single night. All with their inhabitants missing. Like someone had made them disappear...
By the time they realized what he was, it was already too late. He had practically erased their presence from the city and surrounding settlements. The government seemed to have trouble finding him also, whenever they caught wind of him he was already gone. The sad part about it was that he didn't even have any vehicle other than the ships he jumped on, yet they still couldn't catch him. Yes, they knew about him but they never got the chance to actually corner or catch him.
Vacuo was just another continent that he seemed to not really care about. The inhabitants were interesting and he'd say that much but nothing really struck him too impressed. He knew it was time to leave when a squad of military personal had trailed him. While they did manage to surround him with their numbers, he did end up killing a healthy portion of them when they fired a shot at him.
The same thing happened in Atlas a year after he first arrived. He killed an entire platoon for trying to capture him and from that point on, he kept himself even more hidden in the wild than before. He learned that in order to actually survive in that kingdom that he needed to be more careful than before. Though they did have some interesting concepts of technology, it was nothing he hasn't seen before.
Just as before that he'd done countless times, he hitched a ride on a ship and traveled to the next continent, which it turned out to be Vale. It's been a while since he's actually been here, usually the ships he catches a ride on lead him to the other three kingdoms. It had been over two and a half years since he's actually been there and this had been his most preferred continent. It held the right temperature that he was comfortable roaming in and had an interesting mix of people from the other three kingdoms. Mistral was the only other kingdom that he preferred to travel in but the other two didn't strike him too impressed.
The only thing that was bothersome was the amount of protests within this kingdom, they seemed more frequent. Some weren't as bad as others but they all held the same message screaming 'We want rights!'. Didn't they realize that there could be protests in more appropriate places? Not in the middle of streets where people needed to get to places or an ambulance needed to pass by. Either way, he didn't care. He didn't care that racism nor did he even attempt to care. He simply felt nothing towards it, it was like a drop of rain that seemed to pass off his back like anything else.
It had been three years since he's been here and to say things were the same would be an understatement. Some things changed but nothing really happened that he hasn't heard about. Just more protests, strikes, and other topics he cared not for. The outskirts didn't really have that but the city seemed to have loads of them. It was the main reason he stayed out of the city's walls, too much attention that could be brought to him. Plus, the outer settlements required much more of his attention and it was more appealing to him than the city.
Although the city was structured, it was the structure he was used to though. Not of that mattered though, their politics nor problems were his and he wasn't going to expose himself into the light because he wanted to play politician. He decided to stay out of the city since he pretty much committed a double homicide in the previous years. Those robbers were simply doing the crime at the wrong time since he was in the area. Sure he could've incapacitated them but there was no telling what connections they had and killing them just guaranteed that they wouldn't pull another stunt like that again.
So here he was again, just walking in the forest. The only sounds that were really around him were the birds chirping, leaves swaying in the wind, water in the distance, and wildlife going about their business. He looked down at his TACPAD and sent another signal as he had done regularly. Instead of doing it every day like he had done in the past, the decided to do it every two or three days to avoid someone picking up on the signal.
His cloak would move to the side when the wind blew it. It was nothing special, just a brown tattered cloak from years of hardships but it is one that he's grown attached to, it kept him hidden from prying eyes since most wrote him off as a travelling hobo but it also kept him warm when he needed breathing room from the confines of his armor. His armor, he wore ninety percent of the time because it, along with his weapons and equipment, were the only things he had left of the UNSC and he'd rather die than hand them over willingly.
It was the only sense of home that he had.
As he bent down to pick up an medicinal herb, he suddenly perked up when he heard the faintest snap of a twig before whirling around and fired his shotgun. The Beowolf that tried to sneak up on him suddenly had its skull missing from its shoulders while he just moved to the side when the body skid in the spot he was just in. Blood and brain matter sticking to the ground and making a mushing sound when he stepped in the gore. Grimm weren't even menacing to him to be honest, they were more troublesome than anything. He put the weapon back on his back before heading over to his cloak and bag before putting the herb in the bag and slinging it over his shoulder after he put his cloak on. He had memorized the map recently and knew that there was a decently sized settlement where he could potentially trade with some.
Security at the front gate was to be expected, and all it took was to wait for the guards to switch positions before he managed to slip inside. There was one major street that had houses on either sides but also what looked to be stores and other establishments. He looked around for what looked to be a trading establishment before he found one after an hour of exploring.
The little bell at the door jingled loudly and the lady at the register greeted him warmly while he just nodded in acknowledgment. He browsed the selection carefully and found some canned food on the shelves before grabbing a bit some other items then proceeded to head to the register. The blonde woman smiled at him and brought up the price before her smile faded a bit when she informed that he didn't have enough lien. He didn't say anything and just put the items back before heading out of the store, looking both ways before walking towards his right.
It took an hour and a half to find something that even resembled a bounty board and it was in something known as a guild. There were countless people there; some were talking, others were drinking, and some were even making payments with the lady at the front desk. She gave a cheery smile at the small man that made the payment, presumably a farmer, before she caught sight of him. He was staring at the bounty board for a while before picking up a Death Stalker bounty. The payout was good and judging by the picture, it was dangerous since it was isolated in the top right corner.
The paper was plucked from the nail holding it in place and he carried it over to the desk, where the woman was standing. She had bright brown hair that was woven into braids with yellow-gold eyes. She had to look up a bit since he towered over her and her knees seemed to wobble a bit even in her chair at the aura he seemed to be emitting. For some reason though, she couldn't help but flinch when he put the bounty on the counter and waited for her to look at it.
"Sir, this is the most dangerous one." She tried to coax him away from it.
"No one is taking it, and the Grimm is still there. It is a problem." He said stoically. She flinched at the tone of his voice but later brushed it off when she realized that, that was how he sounded. He just had a no nonsense personality. The only time he really spoke was to find out the location of the Grimm before heading out shortly after, ignoring the looks he was receiving from the countless people in the building. Ignoring the guard at the front gate, he walked past them and stayed on the path for a couple of miles before coming to a fork in the road. He pulled out the map and gazed at it for a while before taking the path to the left. Eventually that path ended and he was in the wild again.
He walked for a couple of hours in the forest until he came across a waterfall that was beautiful had he taken the time to admire it. Behind the waterfall though was a massive cave that was pitch black. He merely walked through the water and set his bag down on his cloak before turning on his night vision. Towards the back of the cave, he could see the Death Stalker staring at him with all of its eyes while its stinger slowly started to raise and glow, presumably trying to lure him in. He wasn't fooled. If he didn't have knowledge nor recognize a scorpion when he saw one then yeah, he would be fooled.
All he did was equip his DMR before aiming quickly and firing a single shot at its eye, watching as the round sailed through the air and rupture the eye like a wet balloon. It shrieked out in agony and its eyes seemed to wiggle around violently before suddenly honing in on him. The giant Grimm was a lot faster than what it looked and it was suddenly on him in an instant. It tried to crush him with its pincers but he just ran and slid underneath it, equipping his shotgun and firing at its middle leg joint on its right side. The leg came off in an instant and another ear splitting shriek echoed throughout the cave.
Its tailed whipped at him from behind but he activated his armor lock just in time for it to bounce off of him. He kept it up as the tail struck more and more viciously as time passed. His armor lock started to pulse more as time ran out and as soon as it did he rolled to the side just in time to see the stinger lodge itself in the ground. It was clear it was stuck judging by how it seemed to try to dislodge itself from the ground. He took this opportunity to place the barrel of his shotgun against the joint between the stinger and the tail before pulling the trigger.
Blood and ligaments splattered against the ground and air as another shriek echoed throughout the cave. The stinger came off without much trouble and its tail started to flail violently around the cave, smacking into every wall it could. It managed to stand up wobbly before he slammed his entire body into its remaining middle leg and listened to the crack as it snapped in half. More shrieks echoed throughout the cave and he started to target each one of its legs while narrowly avoiding its pincers and rogue tail. The snapping of its exoskeleton and tearing of flesh was like music to his ears as he methodically started taking the remaining off and watched as it barely had any room to move around.
The cave itself was large but it was clear that the Death Stalker was used to ambushing its prey, using its size to overwhelm them. Fortunately for him, he was used to larger foes trying to overwhelm him but never this large. Years of dodging countless attacks that could end his life in an instant honed his skills enough for him to easily manipulate the area to his advantage.
As he fired his shotgun at the last leg and watched it collapse onto the ground with a thunderous thump, it's tail suddenly wrapped around him and begun to squeeze tightly. He could feel it trying to crush him but it was clear that it was failing. The stinger may have been gone but that didn't mean it couldn't manipulate its tail to grab him. It was old enough to probably learn that trick and it suddenly placed him in one of its pincers and began to squeeze. His shields began to glow in protest and he merely flexed his arms to give him enough room to wiggle out of it. When there was enough room, he place his hands on either side and pushed the pincer apart.
When it was apart far enough and he fell onto the ground, he jumped up onto its head and brought out his knife. His arm turned to a blur and the knife pierced the tough exoskeleton with ease and he began to drag it towards its torso. It flailed around violently trying to throw him off but he kept dragging until its soft inside were visible. He wasted no time and brought out his shotgun before pulling the trigger several times. Each shell he fired tore a large hole into the body and eventually the flailing stopped. For good measure he jumped up high and let the weight of his armor and body slam into the head, caving it in as blood and gore flew all over the cave. This whole engagement took several minutes due to its armor and thinking of a strategy to bring it down but this was the time he estimated. Maybe he was getting slower though...
He took a few calming breaths before he slid off the slowly disappearing body and went to retrieve his bag and cloak. Some of the insides had managed to fly over to the entrance of the cave and splatter on his cloak. It created a few black and red spots on it along with some gore but he didn't care. He merely slung his cloak on before slinging his bag over his shoulder and began to walk towards the settlement. It was dusk by the time he exited the cave, which was understandable, he was walking for a few hours and when he left the settlement the sun was starting to dip over the horizon.
Time seemed to come to a crawl as he traveled back to the settlement and a brisk sense of peace filled him as he enjoyed the scenery and the sounds of the wildlife. The only sounds that he enjoyed while his boots impacted the ground softly. The minutes of walking turned into an hour and eventually even that turned to hours before he even saw the settlement in the distance. The lights from the settlement were on and as he approached, the guards at the entrance suddenly went on alert when he approached.
He merely walked by them and walked towards the building for a while, only to notice that the lights were off and the door was locked. His eyes were locked on the door for a minute before he turned back to the gate. The closer he got to the gate and saw the guards, the more he noticed that their weapons were at the ready for him to do anything that set them off. All he did was stand near the gate and flicked on his night vision while gazing out into the wild. They couldn't see anything but his cloak that flowed in the wind to reveal a small part of his boots but that was it.
They didn't trust him. It was like he wasn't entirely human and that unnerved them. He was an anomaly and that made them wary.
After all, people were often afraid to embrace the unknown.
While the guards were asleep and the sun peeked over the horizon and trees, he finally moved after a long night of just staring and keeping guard. He merely went over to the guards that were keeping watch and shook them awake, waiting for them to finally notice him there before ignoring their startled cries. They thanked him for letting them take it easy for the night while he just nodded and begun to walk towards the guild building. There were people already in there and the moment he stepped in, he went to the counter, only to have to wait while a huntsman flirted with the guild girl. She plastered on a fake smile while just nodding at everything he boasted about. It didn't fly over Six's head that she was annoyed but didn't have the heart to tell the man off.
"You should've seen it. I dodged like this and it didn't even stand a chance when I-" The man droned on and Six had stopped listening. His mind was elsewhere as he patiently waited for the man to stop boasting about his feats and move. It seemed that the others were fed up too but for some reason didn't have the galls to tell the man off as he continued to boast about the fact that he defeated an Ursa with a spear. He even named it after himself, which Six thought was completely unnecessary in the highest regards considering it was nothing but a tool meant to assist its user.
As more time passed by, he stood at a table with long chairs and begun to wait quietly, ignoring people that glanced or stared at him. Pretty soon the man left and Six finally went to the counter and set the bounty paper with an large slash through it, presumably to signal that he had completed it. She blinked when she realized that he had returned before giving him a rehearsed smile.
"Oh, um... I-I really didn't you to be back." She gave a sheepish smile.
"You expected me to die?" He questioned.
"N-No! Of course not. I merely..." She stumbled with her words before looking at him from underneath his hood before sighing. "Yes..." She sighed. Her hands suddenly went to her ears in fear of him yelling at her but she was just met with silence.
"..." He really wasn't mad at her, that bounty had been up there for quite some time he presumed and it meant that those who had taken it probably died trying to take the Grimm down. It was old and had a lot of scarring on its body so it wasn't a surprise when she tried to coax him away from it.
"I'm sorry, I just thought you'd perish like some of the others who take it." She admitted.
"I didn't." He said. Again, she flinched at his tone but wondered if he was mad at her. She didn't really enjoy irritating people as much as she didn't enjoy boastful people.
"Well, I need to consult with some of the others. That bounty has been up there for almost a year so we need to go get your reward and send scouts to verify if it has truly been eliminated." She said then disappeared into the room behind her. His hearing picked up various whispers as he went to the table with the long chairs and waited patiently for her to return. He knew it would take hours for those scouts to verify that he had actually done the task and he was fine with it. Sometimes he kept forgetting that this wasn't the UNSC and some things were extremely far back to where they needed to use actual people to verify if a task is done. It didn't bother him that they needed to verify that he did it, possibly because people lied in the past to get their reward.
For the time being, he let his mind wander around about his predicament with the UNSC and how to think of a more effective way to contact them. He usually sent signals and messages to come to this world and retrieve him but he doubted it would even reach past the atmosphere. The whispers got louder and eventually that grew to chatter about him but he didn't really care. He posed no threat to them nor did he want to but if they provoked him then he had every right to retaliate and defend himself.
Pretty soon after an hour or two, he was called over to the counter by the guild girl and she handed him something, it was a stack of lien that would last him a while and a little silver tag. He merely took the large some of lien, stuffing it in his bag and proceeded to walk out but stopped when she cried out for him.
"You forgot your tag!" She said suddenly.
"My what?" He questioned as he turned to look at her while holding the door open.
"Your tag. You know, to show your ranking? It shows people that you're an experienced huntsman." She said.
"I'm not a huntsman. Give the tag to someone else." He said then began to walk out the door. She seemed taken aback by his dismissive attitude and wanted to chase after him and give him his tag but she thought about what he said, he said he wasn't a huntsman but he managed to take down one of the more dangerous bounties without a problem. It's not like he was rude about what he said but more along the lines of he didn't care. He really didn't care about status and was simply doing his job. If she were to give him half the reward then he'd probably be fine and shrug it off.
She preferred him more than the obnoxious buffoon that was trying to sway the silver tag from her grasp. The doors opened and he was back after several minutes, looking at the board once again and picking the next thing, a group of bandits that had been terrorizing settlements for some time. He set the paper on the counter and stared at her, for some reason she broke into a cold sweat while he just waited patiently for her to stamp it, signalling that it was his. Once she did, he left without another word while the other people in the building just stared at him.
Nobody took that bounty because taking it meant certain death. Who would want to take out one of the most lethal bandit groups in Remnant?
A month went by before he even made an appearance in the settlement. Here she was listening to the bragging man boast about his skill before she saw him, the titan in the cloak that took the bandit bounty. He just went to the counter and waited like last time, waited for the bragging oaf of a man to stop before he put a couple of knives on the counter. After he did that and watched as her eyes seemed to widen a bit, along with her companion, the entire place went silent. He just waited patiently for her to grab the lien and sign something to him. Nobody knew how he did it, how he managed to track down the large bandit group and eliminate them that quickly but no one dared to ask. Judging by the bullet holes in the cloak, he had encountered them.
Just like last time, he took the lien but left the silver tag. The only thing he did differently was bring out his map of Vale and instructed her to mark his map, which she did all too eagerly for some reason, then put it in his bag. She liked him for his deeds that he's done. She admired people who didn't boast about their skills but merely did their task without compliant and leave it at that. Sure his apathetic nature and speech could use some work but it's like he was raised that way. For the first time in a while, she flashed a genuine smile when he said he'd probably be back in the future.
"Have you thought of working as a huntsman?" She asked as she followed him out of the settlement. To be honest, she asked if he could wait for her until she ended her shift and he was going to leave but she offered him information and the shortest way to the next settlement. She recognized his type, the simple wanderer that didn't really like staying in one place very long.
"No." He answered.
"I think you'd be good as one." She commented.
"No." He denied.
"I think you would. Plus, where do you intend to go next?" She asked.
"The next settlement." He answered curtly.
"... When do you intend to visit this settlement next?" She asked, he had managed to give them breathing room for a while.
"Some time in the future. This settlement is more interesting than some of the others." He said. She had grown used to his tone of voice and while she was made aware that he didn't trust her in the slightest, he did say that she was a capable person that should learn to stand up for herself. Neither of them were friends but he did respect her enough as a person to see her as an individual that had a different outlook on problems.
"Well, I hope we meet one another in the future again." She beamed brightly while he just looked at her then nodded before leaving the settlement. It was already decided that they would be meeting in the future. He valued her for her vast knowledge of information regarding different topics and the surrounding area, saving him countless days of walking when she had told him that the settlement he was going to be heading to was destroyed. She valued him for his no nonsense attitude and the resolve to take care of the problems that no one wanted to even touch.
There had been rumors about him, of a man that usually did his deed then left as quickly as he came. No one knew who he was nor where he came from. He was quiet as the wind on a soft night but as deadly as a hurricane if provoked. Over the past three years, there had been countless stories and rumors about him, ranging from tall tales to local legends. Nobody knew his name and some just said it was a simple number, which led to even more questions being raised. Was he the sixth of his kind or part of a squad? No one knew who he was.
All anyone ever saw was the tattered cloak that flowed in the wind, holding a local legend that wished for nothing but to be alone and go back home.
So, I apologize sincerely for my hiatus with all my stories. Now I know some of you have been waiting patiently and be disappointed to see I haven't updated in months but rest assured I have been working on them, slowly but surely. School hasn't been kind to me and I've been devoting all my time into getting it up. Some of you have sent me messages asking me when Johnny Topside will be up and I have news for you all, it's almost complete and will be up by in a week or two, I think.
I did a little time skip to get the story flowing a bit and it seemed to work out a bit so hooray on that part. If you read the chapter and noticed the guild girl and got the reference then hooray for you, she's a character I enjoyed a lot and I can't do anything but give credit to the person who designed her. Now some of you may think that he's catching feelings and sorry to shoot some you down but no. He doesn't trust anyone and is emotionally cuts himself off for unknown reasons. Now that's not to say he won't form some sort of allied relationship with someone but he's not someone to make friends just like that nor talk about himself. Now onto reviews.
Victor John Foxfire: Who knows, maybe he'll shape someone else's future. Thanks for the long review.
scottusa1: Thank you, later.
Vadalmilai: Don't worry. He's gonna keep his lone wolf attitude the whole story for the most part.
Malgrath: Key word: try. He won't though.
Guest: Yep.
Lord of Moons: Here's some more, hope you enjoy.
Josephi: I don't either.
Rathaloski Mozsko: Thanks, mate.
Hamilton406: Don't worry, mate. I'm not gonna have him join Ozpin or go to Beacon, I've grown out of that trope since I first started and am going to stick with him being alone for the most part. About him being a wanderer, it's kind of the trope of this story. Thanks for voicing your opinion.
The Baz: I'll work on it.
isco657721: Thanks, mate. Here's another one and the other story will come soon enough.
Guest: He might, he might not. It's pretty much up for debate with me.
VGBlackwing: No, Ruby's already been born in this. She'd be five at this point and Yang would be seven. Anyways, about the White Fang, I do agree with you about them. Don't worry about the rant, I do enjoy them.
Guest: I've been getting more and more lately, and it's starting to piss me off to the point where I barely check my private messaging because of it.
sacke110: Thanks for that. Yeah, he had to leave them but like you said, he's not capable of taking care of them. He's not a parent like some Spartans and in this story, he emotionally closed off. About those emails, yes, they are everywhere and it's starting to get out of hand at this point.
Marco Geddes: Thank you, here's another chapter.
Lord Demolitions: I don't know about that. He might but he might not.
Blaze1992: She may have an appearance later in the story.
Inbound2: Thank you for that. About The Mantle of Remnant, he probably does a better job at writing than me to be honest. It's a good story and I didn't mean for mine to turn out like his but overall his is probably better.
Thanks for the reviews everyone, it means a lot to me. I don't have much to say other than thanks for patiently waiting and if the story doesn't meet your standards or it doesn't turn out the way you wanted then oh well... I'm not here to impress everyone and sorry I can't meet your standards. Also, I'm sorry if the quality of the chapters has been going down, it's a little difficult going back to this after stepping away for so long.
Anyways, thanks for that and I'll see you all on the flip side. Take it easy everyone and goodbye.