Sandstorm over remnant
Courier Six
"There is nothing you can do to fix this!"
It was a common saying that Vale had a wonderful atmosphere, more than any other kingdom on Remnant some said that Vale had such a fresh air of originality to it that those who visited it always missed it, even now Six was inclined to agree with that feeling, unlike the casinos of New Vegas their bars and other waterholes seemed to exist in abundance, one for every type of taste, he was more of a subdued guy so he quite liked this little place he had found himself in while looking for anything useful or maybe a survivor, with lots of woods in its design it appealed to him in a way, it was not his favorite sure because that place was held by Goodsprings Saloon but he assumed that had to do with the fact that he was a little sentimental.
"So that it then, it has all been a big lie!" Tearful eyes, a dark place his mind wished to forget. Another person he had no idea who it was yelled at him from a time long past, Six wondered how much longer he would be cursed by ghosts, but ghost was all that was left here anyways, it hadn't been long since the last Bullhead had departed and Vale had fallen silent.
Even unaffected places, like some residential areas and the part of the city he was currently in, had been evacuated and now all that remained was a ghost city of robots and himself. The Grimm had began to disperse from the area; with no souls to be found on the city and an army that seemed to regenerate from every wound the curse of remnant had moved on to greener pastures. Six pitied the poor village they might go too next "Please don't do this" Six chuckled as he remembered those words, the memory held weight even if the messenger was nothing more than fog, he downed another bottle as he made a face at the taste "No, this one is bad. Give me another type" he told the Protectron he had more or less kidnapped so that it could be his personal bartender.
The robot silently obeyed as he left Six to his fractured memories, the courier made a face as he tried to remember who had said that to him, it was not in the Mojave of that much he was certain. All memories that belonged to Courier Six, the man that was born on that grave of Goodsprings, were intact so this had to be before that.
Either in California or maybe in the Divide "But it wasn't always the Divide" he muttered to himself, according to Ulysses there was only one person to blame for the destruction of the once thriving new nation.
"It's me" startled Six looked up as a man entered the ruined bar, he grabbed a buttle of rum and he sat down next to the courier. The tall man nodded at him "Figured one of you would be around, how's Ruby?"
Qrow let out a long sigh "Better but she still moves sluggishly. Breaks my heart" Six frowned "Sorry to hear that, I wish I could have been faster. Maybe I could have done more for your niece."
"As far as we know, those two owe you their lives" Qrow commented as he looked at the machine with wariness "This one wont get hacked right?" Six shook his head as he pointed at the Protectron "It's too simple, it can only obey commands from someone it recognizes as its owner and in order to change that you have to get very close to the thing, but it would destroy itself before letting anyone tamper with it"
"Protect and Serve" the machine chirped as it placed the bottle of beer in front of Six, Qrow kept his eyes on his drink, the bags under his eyes telling an entire story of how much this had come out of left field for the people of this world "Ozpin is dead"
Six nodded "I know, I am sorry"
"The guy seemed unkillable all knowable, but here I am. The unluckiest guy in the world, alive and kicking while the one that could save this world is dead" Six drank from the bottle as he waited for Qrow to continue, but he was not in an impatient mood. Everything was going according to plan, not the path he would have like to take but all things considered everything was going fine.
Qrow passed him a small letter "General Ironwood, he requests access to Beacon to remove all important materials and information" Six nodded "Sure, he could have just landed and taken them. Is not like I own the place"
"That's not what he thinks, he thinks you launched an invasion. Took advantage while Vale was dying to set foot on this planet… it makes some sense if you're paranoid, the number of robots on Beacon don't help either" Six had to agree that it did look a little bit suspicious.
Six nodded "Yeah, tell him Beacon is all his. And that the people of Vale can come back as soon as the area is deemed safe by the general"
"The city might be safe soon, but Beacon is another story, the Cross Continental Transmit tower was destroyed and that frozen thing on top of the tower seems to be attracting the attention of more Grimm. Your little toys are the only reason Beacon is not a jungle of Grimm by now… Beacon and its surrounding areas will become just another ruin on this world"
Six hummed as he began to add to the plan that he had already set with House, Qrow gave him a sideways glance "Oh and Witner is the one that is being sent to retrieve everything."
"…makes sense" Six muttered as he stood up and downed what remained of the bottle of beer "Then I best be prepared, see you at Beacon?" Qrow shook his head "I am needed somewhere else. But good luck" the old crow let out a long sigh as he grabbed another bottle of hard liquor, things were just getting better and better.
"Hi! Welcome back, two giant machines are surrounding us on all sides!" Yes Man happily greeted Six as he entered the run-down academy. Six snorted as he looked up, yeah Atlas was sending more than a battalion it seemed.
All of them flesh and blood he would be willing to bet.
It would be very poetic, almost like a fairytale. The humans beating the metallic monsters, what a shame it was for them that he really was not looking for a fight. A small ship landed near him as the large wyvern's shadow cast over the roof, his red eye spotted a sniper on one of the ships he did not need to know that it was aiming directly at his head.
As the doors of the machine opened Six watched as Winter walked up to him flanked by her soldiers, weapons at the ready.
"Courier Six" Winter raised her hand to stop anyone from firing as she walked up to him her eyes darted to his PipBoy, Six got the message as he twisted his hand to look at the message. It was short and simple, follow my lead. A small smile made its way into his lips, he could do that just fine "Atlas acknowledges and thanks you for the defense of the kingdom of Vale, but we are demanding you surrender control of Beacon Academy for the retrieval of sensitive material."
Six simply nodded as he pressed some buttons on his PipBoy and the robots all seemed to power down "All yours specialist, nothing should be out of place" Winter nodded at her men as the entire force began to mobilize, Beacon was a massive facility but with the number of people that Six saw running around he assumed that they would be done in a couple hours.
Winter looked around making sure they were the only ones in the roof, leaning closer she looked at him up and down "Are you all right?"
"Not a scratch on me, you and Weiss?"
Winter stepped back as she frowned "She's home, shaken up but fine. I am glad she gets to rest even if its with them, but I don't have that luxury" she pointed towards the large dragon "Not the side effect of radiation I assume?" Six shook his head as he handed her a small envelope with some pictures inside.
"I asked Yes Man to reconstruct the scene with footage from whatever device he could use, they all cut at this point but I would bet a lot of caps that this" Six tapped the wyvern on the picture "has something to do with little red"
Winter nodded "Yes Man, the machine that Benny had at the Tops right? How did you convince Mr. House to let it live"
"I didn't, he captured it and modified it. Don't ask me how I do not know, but all I know is that Yes Man is going to be fighting me for employee of the month now" Six said as he pulled a bottle of whiskey from his duster, Winter narrowed her eyes at him as she wondered what the angle was here. "Ironwood wanted you arrested."
Six shrugged "I figured, if that's still the case I would not fight it" Winter let out a sigh and shook her head "The radiation was his main concern, but he changed his mind for some reason."
"So you were going to arrest me?"-"I wanted to tell you to run to the portal, but now here we are. Not a criminal but they would still like you to answer and help get rid of the radiation… I think it would be useless to tell them that it will not be as easy as they like to think"
There was a pause as the two of them enjoyed the comfortable silence "What will happen to Beacon?" Six found himself asking, Winter looked at the monster that was perched on its highest point "Many Grimm seem to be flocking to the area, attracted to that thing. The Securitrons are the only thing that keeps them at bay so I don't think anyone will reclaim it, most students will be either relocated or… well there are other career paths"
Six hummed "Do you think Ironwood would mind if I keep it"
"Keep it? Why on Oum's name would you want Beacon" Winter asked genuinely confused Six smirked "Oh you know I think I have an idea on how to fix the radiation problem" there was something that he had learned from the Legion, the NCR and House.
An army was good, but there was a more effective way of taking control and now he had the perfect opening that he had been looking for, but before all that could happen a lingering question refused to fade from his mind "Winter who attacked Beacon?"-"I don't know… but I am worried. That's the only reason I have not beat you to a pulp, something is happening and I feel like we are losing control"
Winter gave him a look as she looked at him up and down "Did you return to earth? They scanned the area for energy readings, but nothing came up"
Six shook his head "The last time I was on earth was when I brought the first batch of machines"-"Then how on earth did you sneak a nuclear weapon to my planet?"
"The chassis of the sentry-bot held the big parts, the other ones I snuck inside the protectrons with the ammunition too" Winter looked at the powered down machines and then back to the man that commanded them. "Why?"
Six looked to the side "I'm worried too"
"Oh?"-"I feel like there is a large shadow over this place, I have not felt like this since… since… I was there when Father…" Six clicked his tongue and shook his head, Winter reached for his hand.
Six looked at her eyes "I don't want to lose you"
"You won't, there is no need for you to do anything extreme" Winter said as she squeezed his hand "Is impossible for Atlas to fall like Beacon did, have faith in us"
Faith? He was no Joshua Graham, he barely felt human sometimes. But he squeezed her hand anyways even if his mind was already planning, scheming and preparing itself for the next step that was to come he wanted so badly to stay in this moment in time.
Frozen with her.
A cold bucket of water was dropped on her, she had known it was coming before he even grabbed it. She knew his type, a mercenary at heart and the only way he knew how to get things done was without any subtlety.
"You will regret this" Cinder found the sound of her voice to be alien, it sounded weak. Her hand bound to something she could not make sense of what it was, she felt the blindfold be taken off her face "Hey there twin"
Six grinned at her as his red eye clashed with her amber one "I WILL BURN YOU UNTILL THERE IS NOTHING BUT DUST!"
"I know, that's why I cut your hand and the other one will follow if you don't answer what I want to know" Six commented as he placed a knife on her lap "Humor me, what is this?"
Cinder spat at the knife on her leg "You will not break me"
"I don't need to, what is this?" Six said as he began to pierce her skin, Cinder glared at him but decided to play along while she found a way to free herself "A weapon, one I will use to cut your heart out"
Six snorted as he twisted the knife in his hand and then stabbed himself in the heart, Cinder stared in shock as he removed it like it was nothing and then he injected himself with another needle. Before her eyes the wound closed and the man grinned at her "Someone already did and no, you are wrong this is a tool doll."
"I am not in the mood to do this, who are you and what do you want?" the courier simply shrugged as he opened the curtains and Cinder felt her heart stop for a second "I am a no name nobody from another world and now… so are you" the Big Empty stretched before her, the carefully placed lobotomites and machines across the land all stopping to stare at the light coming from the dome.
Six turned to her again "As for what I want, something simple. I want peace"
"I am NOT a nobody!" she snarled stopping Six in his tracks, he snorted "Powerless and a nobody, there is no shame in accepting your new reality" Cinder shook with rage as she twisted and bent her own body to try to escape from her one good hand flames erupted as she tried free herself.
The smell of burning flesh reached them both as Six stared down at her hand "I would not do that; you only have one of those left. That material is the same thing that cosmic knives are made of it will not melt. It will keep burning and burning, you will melt your own arm off… what is that if not powerless?"
No… not again. She did not want to feel like this again, not after all she had done to run from that, Cinder gritted her teeth "I have the power of a Maiden!"
"I don't care what a Maiden is" Six said as he placed the knife again on her lap "… then you are not just ignorant you're blind, this power can change the destiny of reality"
Six smiled "And just like the knife is simply a tool, like you and I" Cinder glared "I am no ones tool"
"Then why don't you tell me who attacked Beacon?" Six wondered, Cinder faltered a bit as the courier reached for his canteen "Can't be loyalty, you have that look. You only care about yourself so why not sell your boss out for your own freedom?"
There was a pause as the two of the remained silent for a moment, Cinder's walls began to lower as her mind began to ask herself the same question. Her answer was always the same a terrifying pale thing that could not even be described as human, she would make her suffer in ways that she could not even begin to imagine "There are things that we should not have discovered, monsters that… NO get out of my head!" she closed her eyes as she felt panic began to raise her walls again, what if she was hearing?
What if this was another test?
"Do you like stories?"
Cinder chuckled "All the fairytales in the world would not make me talk" Six grinned "I hate fairytales, I like stories. Things that I can see and touch, my world is full of stories I can share if you give me time"
"Your world?"
Six snapped his fingers as a Robo-Brain brought him a small tape, Cinder stared in disgust at the machine with the pulsating brain as Six set up one of the spare projectors the brains had lying around the courier played a propaganda piece "My world. Or what remains of it" old world flags waved in the air as the world all seemed to sing in unison then the fire came, people burned down to skeletons as a mushroom cloud consumed everything"
"You.. you re not…" Cinder felt her eyes widen as she looked at him in shock "Not like you and still so alike its scary to think about it, my people destroyed the world and now that power is in my hands"
The dice of fate began was cast as Cinder felt a large hand being lifted off her shoulder as she felt an opening to be her own master once more, she had the power of the Maiden and here there was no way for Salem to reach her, the pain she was suffering right now as only a minor setback, her ambition burned brighter than ever before "Then, what is that story you wanted me to tell me?"
The dice of fate landed on six.
A/N: let the good times roll, and speaking of good times I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Cinder is fun to write about. I forgot how much I enjoyed her character but as I rewatched RWBY she became one of my favorites. Next update should be for Six's prequel and then we are back to this story.
As a side note I really wanted to tell you all for the support on these stories, I really appreciate it. If you see something that might not make sense or spot any grammar errors just let me know, see you soon!
