A/N; Hello All, I'm here to be fully transparent with my readers. You may notice whilst reading that my grammar, even my punctuation isn't stellar. That's because it's self-taught, so just a forewarning for those reading that it may be rocky in places but I have tried to make it as easy to read as possible.
Additionally, I've been eager to write a crossover of these two for a good while now, so I hope you enjoy it. The Prologue will be focusing on constructing the Courier and his 'eccentricity'.
Prologue
The Bear
The Mojave glowed a vibrant orange hue as the heat haze washed over it creating a beautiful, mystifying effect.
In those dunes a man sat in a comical set up of a lounge chair covered by the shadow of a parasol. In a worn, scarred hand he held a beer, behind him was a mountain of bottles much the same.
The drawl of Mr. New Vegas on a radio which was fastened in the sand.
In the man's lap, a LAPD riot helmet with a crude '6' carved into its front. "Ever since I got dismissed it's been a helluva time", he gulped the beer in his hand, an obvious slur to his words "now I'm out here, by myself.", he ran his hand over the dents in the old helmet in his lap " just like the old times."
His mind called back to Goodsprings, venturing out of the town into the Mojave. The many hardships he faced before he came across his first companion.
"Suppose back then at least Victor kept track of my trail…" he sniffed, taking another long gulp before tossing the beer back into the mound of them.
A Distant crack of a rifle being fired could be heard as a bullet exploded one of his bottles into a million pieces. "Now the only one's keeping track are the ones trying to kill me" he reached down into a cooler beside his chair and pulled up another beer.
"GIVE US BACK OUR CRAM YOU OLD GHOUL" a voice called across the dune, carried on the sound of gunfire.
Six recoiled in his chair "Cram? Why Cram?". He looked into his Pip-boy for the logs of what he had on him, scrolling through AID he found it. X300 Cram. Why did the raiders have so much? How was he carrying that much? All questions best left unanswered.
"...OH! Yeah" he remembered now "must be that 'Alcoholic Dementia' or what not that Arcade kept yapping about" Six took a long swig of his beer before he put it down and dug it into the sand so it wouldn't spill.
"See, I pull these stunts all the time".
Whizz
"I'd say I've become borderline suicidal after the dismissal".
Crack
"I ain't got nothing anymore, no Benny to kill, Hoover to win, Ceaser to kill or really anything to kill or do. It's all done and NCR won't let me leave the Mojave so here I am." he stepped out from under the parasol, fastening his helmet onto a bandaged face.
Revealing a very scarred body that was almost completely naked aside from a pair of piss-stained brief's he'd hiked halfway up his asscrack.
"Now it's tormenting raiders and playing 'hide from the deathclaw'" he started sprinting down the dune he'd set up his chair in towards the group of raiders shouldering rifles.
The firing squad pelted the armourless Six with bullets, punching holes in his flesh. Unfortunately for them, Six had a lot of blood to bleed and half the time he couldn't feel it.
Endurance [10]
"I'm fuckin' invincible!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, adrenaline rushing to his brain as he closed the gap.
One of the raiders had readied a baseball bat and cracked Six square in his skull, watching the hulking man recoil from the blow must have been satisfying. His helmet flew off, but he didn't go down with it.
He turned to face the Raider with glowing red eyes. With a swift movement he headbutted the man. Watching him drop to the ground, he had dropped his baseball bat which Six was quick to relieve him of as he scrambled to his feet to ready his fists.
"One badda, badda" Six started, the world glowed a deep green hue 'Head x1' he thought "Swing" he swung the baseball bat and the force ripped the head clean off, flying towards one of the other attackers.
Strength [9] + Bloody Mess
The head landed on the barrel of one of the hunting rifles. Just as the trigger was pulled and it exploded into viscera coating the head's previous companion.
"Uh, uh-AAAAAH" The Raider screamed, wiping her companions blood from her eyes just in time to watch their baseball bat collide with her ribs, bone splintering and piercing flesh she gurgled blood as she collapsed to the ground her body now broken in a 90 degree angle.
More shots rang out, one crippled Six's right leg.
"Keep your distance and you'll be fi-"
Whoosh
A Baseball bat careened through the air like a tomahawk, lodging itself in the eye of the talking Raider and expanding his eye socket considerably. Needless to say, killing him.
The remaining three paced back, encircling him and as they went to rack their bolts he grabbed the leg of their right angled friend and tossed them at the furthest away Raider.
The body flew like a boomerang and toppled the Raider, the other two watched him sprint and dive to the one closest to him, getting a shot off into his stomach before he grabbed their head as he dove and dragging them to the ground with him.
On the ground with a quick and sickening twist Six snapped the Raiders neck, leaving the last two.
Bang
Another shot into his right arm this time.
He was losing blood fast, Six needed to finish this now if he wanted to finish his beer. He reached to the dead Raiders hands and rolled onto his back with them on his front creating an impromptu shield. He had mugged the Raiders hunting rifle and finished racking it.
Two shot's thudded into the dead raider, Six blew one of the last two's skull open with the Rifle. As the last raider racked their rifle for a final shot Six charged them with a body shield.
Crack
The Raider shot through their previous companion's skull, the bullet collided with Six's Riot mask. He fell back rather dramatically, dropping into the sand with a dull thud.
"I-I DID IT!" He celebrated, before looking around to his mutilated companions a sense of melancholy ran through him. Yet that turned quickly to confusion as he went to loot Six.
Where once was a gargantuan mailman there was now a 'suspiciously Courier shaped dent' in the sand.
Worry filled the Raider as he looked around, it wasn't until he noticed the shadow blocking the sun to him that he realised he was fucked.
A Final scream rang out.
"Now that nastiness is over" The Courier walked away from the Bloody Mess he had left behind and towards his discarded helmet. As he limped towards it he pulled a stimpack out his briefs and jabbed it into the bleeding flesh of his left and arm.
'Much better' he gave a relieved sigh as he fastened the helmet back on. 'Now back to my beer-'
As that thought crossed his mind he noticed the shifting dune below him that was quickly caving in. "shit, shit, shit" he muttered as he attempted to run/crawl up the collapsing sand as it dropped him into a deep dark hole.
LUCK [1]
There was a lot he could survive, a gun to the head, a cannon ball sized hole in his abdomen. But fall damage? That was another can of worms.
'Walls are too far to dig into' he thought, trying to calm his panicked nerves.
He remembered though, from the Big M.T. A Device he'd been given to go back whenever he needed to. The Transportalponder ™.
Pulling it from thin air he enthusiastically pulled the trigger.
Cannot teleport whilst falling
Six's eyes twitched, he pulled the trigger again.
Cannot teleport whilst falling.
He was about to throw it to the wind in frustration when he remembered "It's a uh… frequency thing, that's how it works. Yeah… I remember, so I just gotta fuck with those frequencies to get it to go where I want."
He twiddled with his Pip-boy praying he had a grace given minute before the ground embraced him. Six's wristwatch started spewing nonsense frequencies, a scrambler on his wrist.
He pulled the trigger again, a smile on his face he was sure it would work.
*Error* Unclear Frequency, unable to telepo-
Six slammed it into the palm of his hand, causing the Ponder to rattle violently at the blunt administrations.
Intelligence: [4](-)
*Error* Unclear FreQuenCy, DefauLting to NeaResT FrEquEnCY… Unabl-
Six whacked the device with his palm again, watching as a piece of it flew off into the sand never to be seen again. The Ponder began to rattle violently, glowing a deep red, a clear warning sign put in by its creators.
*Error* Uncle- *Error ear *locating signal* signal locked… handshaking *Initiating random teleport*
"Haha, I'm a geni-" Six's boasting was interrupted as his body was taking apart atom by atom, dragged painfully into the Transportal he had created and to be vomited out in some other god-forsaken hellhole.
Good Riddance.
—
"I'm Sorry Six, my hands are tied."
"After all I did? I can't even leave?"
"They say you know too much, letting you into the wider wastes would be-"
"A Liability? Me, I who gave you everything. Me who liberated the Dam, silenced Lanius and killed Caesar?"
.
.
.
"I'm Sorry"
—
Location Discovered… Emerald Forest
Deep within a vibrant green forest a blue haze of particles regurgitated a certain Mailman onto the forest floor. Said mailman tumbled on the ground, rolling a couple times before coming to an abrupt halt as he collided with a tree.
He shook his head, which audibly rattled like a broken machine.
"Landed it" Six said confidently, only just realising he was still practically naked and covered in blood. "Little chilly here" he said, noticing the draft that moved between the trees. Quickly he hiked on his jeans, boots and the rest of his Veteran get up.
Spinning around on his heels he assessed his immediate surroundings "green" he sniffed "I hate Green".
Ever since Vault 22 he could never see plants the same, he always kept a spare flame pistol on his person. Of course the NCR assured him that nothing escaped the incineration of the spores within the Vault but he NEVER trusted what the brass told him.
"S'pose it could be worse, could be in quarry canyon" he laughed to himself, before remembering the quarry canyon wasn't funny.
Raising his Pip-Boy to his face he flicked to the Data tab."World Map… where is here!" he flicked onto the page but was displeased to find only a local map, a shit one at that and there was this weird symbol in the top-right of his pip-boy.
"'Due to insufficient satellite presence the Pip-Boy is unable to establish an accurate terrain map. A Local Map has been provided using the internal scanners of the Pip-Boy'" He paused, rereading it in disbelief. There was never not a Vault-tec satellite.
Sighing, and accepting the Pip-boy was the one piece of tech he couldn't administer blunt-force trauma to, to make it work he moved on. The Local Map displayed…
'A Temple… Hillside hike to Beacon Academy and Hunting Grounds.' the last of which he was standing adjacent too. "Spits me out in fuck knows where and I'm standing wack bang next to some beasties killing floor" he huffed "great".
"Least I'm breathing I suppose" he looked around "what now then?"He waited for a moment. Expecting an NCR transmission telling him to load into a bird and fly back home or that they were gonna nuke him from orbit.
10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. 6 hours was his limit of waiting. Six stood up, looking over his impromptu campsite, he paced, thinking. He was somewhere with proper foliage and not the kind that spiked his rads or tried to turn him into a plant monster… 'A Vault?' if it was it was a massive one.
Bzzzt "-ello" his long range radio buzzed to life "can you hear me?" He knew it was too good to be true.
"This is Six" he buzzed back into the man on the radio "what do you want?" he snapped at him admittedly annoyed at the possibility of someone hailing them for their problems, again.
He heard a quiet 'peculiar name' on the other end of the radio before it responded solidly "listen to me young man, you are in Grave Danger. The Nest of Grimm you are next to have been rattled for the purpose of the initiation test today. You have to get out of there!" the voice seemed… genuine, Six had dealt with enough liars now to spot'em.
"What's your name, who do you work for" It was less of a question, more of a demand from Six who internally was on his hands and knees hoping he wasn't about to get 'My name is x and I'm a long range comms officer with the NCR'.
"My name is Professor Oobleck, I'm a Veteran Hunter here in Vale.", Vale? He'd never heard of no Vale "you have to move, the Grimm are waking to the young hunters and huntresses being sent towards the forest. East of you is a Temple, a Nevermore nests over it. All you must do is avoid its sight and hide! I will guide you to safety so don't worry"
He had to admit it was always nice when he woke up from a traumatic head injury or de-atomisation and a Doctor or Professor was waiting to tend to him.
He Began walking and sure enough in the H.U.D he saw red pips begin to emerge… absolutely everywhere. Followed by a deafening cacophony of howls which killed the ambience of the forest, which was now replaced with a sinister ambience of clawing creatures growling in the dark and howls sounding in the distance.
"Hey Professor, this is your forest right?" Six asked breaking into a light jog, he had too much gear on him to run.
"Not technically no, however it is in my jurisdiction, why?"
"Y'think the owner of this stretch of land would mind some landmines on his property?"
A Cough and sputter crackled through the radio "I-I'm sorry did you say l-landmines?"
"Yeah, you know 'beep, beep boom'"
"Are you saying you've found some you'd like to report?"
"No? I'm saying I'll place 'em" Six stated, as if his intent was obvious and not deranged.
"I'm sorry I'm slightly taken aback" the older man coughed, composing himself for a moment as six ducked and hid in some bushes, a bunch of scraggly black and white mongrels dashed past him. "No you may not place landmines on what is essentially, Beacon Academy grounds".
"I see." Six pulled a landmine out his coat, ignoring the discouraging sentiment and threw it like a frisbee into the path of another tide of mongrels before assimilating with the bushes once more.
"You just threw something, what did you- oh no"
*Boom*
Mongrel parts flew across the path "See, easy, just clearing a way and laying a trail to stop myself being tracked, it ain't no big deal" howling sounded off nearby which was echoed on all sides of the Courier.
The woods just got that much darker.
"No! No trail! And certainly no more explosives. If you are capable of defending yourself please try not to interfere in the initiation. You may skew results." Oobleck sounded slightly less friendly after his warning wasn't heeded.
"You said that before professor" Six figured he'd humour the man, better to make a friend than an enemy. 'Least that's what Veronica woulda said, probably shoulda thought of that before going against his advice' he sighed "What initiation?" tactical topic change.
He vaguely recalled the Legion had initiations for their recruits, things like fighting each other to the death in a pit. Snakes in a pot style, to produce the deadliest recruit. Of course the NCR had their own share of initiation rituals as well, much less violent though and with alot more drinking.
"Your… not from around here, are you?"
"What gave it away? '' he peered from his bush, watching a bear the size of two yao-guai plod past him.
"The Initiation is a ceremony for aspiring huntresses and huntsman to prove they have what it takes to join Beacon"
"And these things that seem to just not stop coming?"
"You mean the Grimm?"
"If that's what you call 'em, sure as hell ain't any critters I've ever seen" he ducked from bush to bush towards the temple. The sound of distant gunfire carried on the cool breeze.
"Did you hit your head quite hard recently, perhaps a concussion of some sorts?"
He didn't look or sound that stupid did he? It was commonplace to ask if you didn't understand something after all. "I recently had my skull excavated by a .9mm. Why do you ask?"
"You were shot. In the head? Recently?" A hint of concern crept into the Professor's voice.
"Yes, my brains, the Mojave sands. It was a Moonlit date" he sighed "look, it's not important. Story for another time. The Grimm, please" he tried to re-rail the topic before ducking deep into a bush as a Grimm stuck its head in searching the greenery.
"I feel I shouldn't brush over a brain inj-"
"Look I'm fine, I got enough chems to prop me up till withdrawal kicks in, that's when you worry. Now tell me about these things" Six spoke rather curtly, his slightly raised voice brought the attention of the one nose deep in the bush even deeper.
The feeling of a .357's cold steel barrel entering its nostril caused it to rear its head back, however it was too late.
*click* the hammer went down and the contained noise of a .357 being fired in the confines of a skull sounded off. It was dampened but it still made an audible bang.
Six hightailed it from the bush and dove into ditches and brambles for cover, hoping they'd avoid the difficult terrain. He was about a minute away from the Temple if his Map was feeding him the right intel.
He began crawling out of the dirt and making his way, steadily on his belly towards the Temple. That was until he felt the familiar pain of a creature biting into his ankle. "What now?" he groaned, turning to see a bear had wrapped its jaws around his foot.
It began rushing backwards dragging him out of the bramble he was using for cover "aHHHH" he shouted as his coat slid up past his neck when the bear thrashed him into the air before he was slammed down into the open.
With the wind knocked out of him, The bear let go and went to circle him, watching him as he coughed and spluttered. "F-fuck" he wheezed..
"Six, are you alright?" Oobleck sounded off on the radio and Six rolled his eyes at the question. His ankle had been crippled.
He raised the pistol and fired a shot at the bear.
*twing*
It ricocheted into a nearby tree 'You gotta be fucking kidding me.' he thought, exasperated. As it rose on its hind legs ready to crush him, just as it went to drop its massive weight on his body he rolled out of the way.
His breaths were long and ragged. Six pinged another shot off of its hard shell 'fuck I'm just pissing it off. Need something… need an edge.' he thought, thrusting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of chems and other things.
'Med-x, Psycho, turbo? Don't mind if i do.' he with expert precision used all the medicine in seconds. The bear simply watched bewildered at the bizarre human in front of it.
Six's eyes twitched violently, he began snorting and huffing like a bull as all the chems hit him at once. Flipping the revolver round so his hand was grabbing the barrel "BRIIIING IT OOOOOOON!" He the beast roared and charged him.
As it went for a swipe, he retaliated with inhuman speed.
You have crippled the Ursa Alpha's right paw
The beast's hand went slack, it felt every bone in its paw shatter from the force of the pommel colliding with it. "Knees x 4" before it could even comprehend its broken hand the Courier hammered its kneecaps to dust with the pommel of the .357.
Using its tree trunk like arm it went to bludgeon him, but just watched him duck beneath the limb with ease. 'I love turbo,' Six could feel and see everything. After ducking he went to uppercut the tip of it's jaw with his pistol's pommel.
Weapon condition is dangerously low
The wristwatch chimed as the wooden handle shattered to splinters as it slammed into the Ursa's jaw. Yet as the force carried through its head, it knocked the Ursa unconscious and to the ground.
Six sniffed aggressively, pacing forward and backwards whilst adjusting his mask. He looked down at his broken pistol "you broke my pistol! You BASTARD" he raised his boot and brought it down in a finishing stomp to the creature's skull with a guttural crunch.
As he huffed and puffed he rammed the pistol back into his pocket and looked around, his radio buzzed to life again. "Six are you alright?" Oobleck, again.
"Yeah Prof I'm diddly darn dandy. Just uh," he paused as the world started to speed up. See Psycho and Turbo didn't mix well because well, Turbo slowed your senses and Psycho gave you the energy and murderous intent of a juvenile deathclaw. Six was now experiencing a rush of unnatural adrenaline that was contained by the Turbo.
"Six?" Oobleck asked "Six? Can you hear me?"
"I, I gotta do something. Ah '' It felt like standing on burning coal when he stood still. "Gotta kill something. Fucking anything" his voice was a low, predatory growl as he scanned his paths.
"I'm sorry did you say kill?... hello?"
—
Upon the edge of Beacon cliff Oobleck sat, an Old radio in his hand and a headset from a bygone era of Remnant. The last thing he heard on the radio were the words 'kill' and his look of concern must have been plastered on his face because his friend, Ozpin rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Is everything alright?" Ozpin asked, he had left the monitoring of the man to Oobleck whilst he watched the students tackle their initiation.
"I'm afraid not, this man, whoever he is" Oobleck pulled up his scroll which displayed Six with a handful of syringes jabbed into his neck and an inhaler plugged into his mask, it cycled to another image of him half covered by a bush about to throw a landmine "Is very dangerous, armed and equipped with potent stimulants.".
"Have you any idea how he could have arrived in the forest?" Ozpin observed the pictures, taking in every detail he could, looking for anything that could identify the Mysterious Stranger.
"The, uh, Portal he arrived in", Oobleck showed more images "appeared to be similar in nature to a scrapped project at an Atlas military research facility."
"Why was it scrapped?"
"The survival rate of the test subjects was 1/1000 and deformities could often be shown", Oobleck sighed "It's archaic research really, I was grasping at straws when you brought it to me as his arrival just appears so utterly nonsensical."
"Was he reasonable? Any identifying mannerisms?"
"His voice I suppose, his accent is similar to someone from Vacuo" Oobleck took a sip from his coffee cup as he thought back on the brief conversation he had with the man. "He's very curt, displayed irrational thought but he also said he was shot in the head recently" the Headmasters brow raised "which would explain why he was absolutely oblivious to danger and the Grimm, he seemed to have totally no idea what they were or where he was".
"Shot in the head? That narrows his origin slightly, perhaps an officer from somewhere? What was his name?"
"Six, his name he said, was simply 'Six'" Oobleck heard the headmaster take a sip of coffee followed by a 'hm'. "Ozpin, I really should say. After he took those combat stimulants he seemed a good bit more violent, just after dealing with the Ursa he mentioned 'Gotta kill something'" there was a long pause "You don't think the man would hurt the students, do you?"
Ozpin gave Oobleck a weary look before turning to the picture on his scroll "I don't know, and if we cannot say for certain we must be prepared for any eventuality".
—
There he was lumbering through the forest, dosed to his eyeballs on psycho and med-x. Somehow he was still coordinating his path, he had a goal. The Temple, so he'd make it there and hunker down till the insatiable hunger for bloodlust that psycho gave him washed out of his system.
He'd managed to stay still long enough to stim his leg. The flesh regrew, scabbing, scarring till it looked like it had healed months ago.
Six wandered out of the treeline, looking in awe at the marble architecture of the temple he was led to.
Location Discovered… Canyon Temple
It was as he walked into the open that he heard it. Must have been the pitter patter of at least a dozen feet. Before he knew it, he was surrounded. He'd been followed by a pack of twelve of those 'beowolfs'.
He had a moment to deal with this, to draw a weapon
'Do I need a weapon' he paused 'fuck no, I ripped Violet and her pack apart with my bare hands. These mutts are bigger but just by a bit'.
He reached into his pocket and munched a handful of buffout, as if he wasn't doped enough. Punching his sleeves love & hate slid out which he put on as they fell out with a cinematic flare. Finally he fell into a boxing stance.
'They let me munch and crunch and put my knucks on. What are they waiting for' he looked around with bloodshot eyes, he just couldn't focus on anything else other than them.
"COME ON, LET'S FIGHT ALREADY" He screamed as he charged forward, but as he moved to breach the circle they'd formed around him, they simply back pedalled, still they moved the circle to confine him. Clearly they were waiting for something.
He heard a distant cry that echoed, it was like a wailing deathclaw matron. Looking up he saw a beast larger than any he'd faced glide above him, he entered Vat's and his perception slowed time.
'Nevermore, the biggest bird I ever did see.' but what worried him, even as he crested the peak of his psycho frenzy was in its claws were two girls. 'Ruby Rose, Wess Something.' The Beowolf's howled at the sound of the Nevermores screech as if to signal to kill the Courier.
"YOU THINK THAT THINGS GONNA BE ENOUGH TO BRING ME DOWN" He slammed his fists together. As he did a hail of feathers as big as he was, which was big, plastered the landscape almost turning him into Six Popsicle, a Sixsicle if you will.
An audible gulp came from six, he wasn't allowed time to worry though as he was accosted from all sides. He ducked down and weaved to his left, four of them had tried to pounce on him so as he ducked under the leftmost he sprung up again and brought his drug enhanced fist down on the wolf's spine. It yelped and dropped to the ground.
Three of them turned to look at him with hungry eyes, 9 more closed in from his back. So like a Bear he began to maul his enemies in a haze of teeth, claws and hooks he ripped through them.
His blood slicked the ground as the melee carried on. They were smart though, they'd draw back and use the downed feathers to psyche him out and pounce on him from out of sight. It was a bloody mess and he lost chunks of flesh and armour.
But even if they were smart, Six had lived hard, taken beatens, been chunked by deathclaws and ripped to shreds by Yao-Gui. This wasn't shit compared to that. Before long he was gaining ground he swore he could hear others voices, people, but it didn't matter. He had a fight to finish.
'5 more to go' he looked down, his hands were bruised and bloody. He smiled a gruesome grin beneath his mask. He raised his hands up, moved his mask to the side and hucked a glob of blood to the ground "That all you got you mutts".The Beowolves were losing ground and bodies, but it didn't matter because they had backup.
A Bellowing cry and a volley of feathers, three dull thuds as three feathers thumped into six. Almost nailing him to the ground he stood on. Six was breathless for a moment, and it didn't go unnoticed. They pounced on him.
It didn't matter though. Six spun and collided his fist with one, collapsing its snout to the base of its neck. Another sunk its teeth into his shoulder, it whined as he reached back and pummelled its skull, cracking it like an egg.
Another was trying to savage his leg, he grabbed it's jaws and with a grunt and a heave split it down the middle. He was going to win, he knew it.
Med-X has worn off.
There it was. His body collapsed. His Pip-Boy paper doll flashed all limbs as crippled. "Shit" he slurred as the wolves began quite literally ravaging him and pulling him apart.
Psycho has worn off
He blinked, he expected it to have lasted longer. Oh well, not that it mattered. He would die here, picked apart by wolves.
"Get. off of him" he heard a shotgun blast, followed by a flying sword passing his peripherals and impaling a Beowolf.
Six gave a 'hm' as this processed in his brain.
"Are you okay?" the voice sounded alot like… no.
"Cass?", his vision was blurring at the edges "I'm fucking bleeding out, you tell me. Hurry up and stim me"
"What?" he squinted, bright blonde hair, freckles? Could just be the black spots in his vision though and tan cropped jacket.
"You ain't Cass"
"No-ope."
"Left pocket, stimpack in there"
She rummaged through his pockets and procured a Stimpack "What now?"
"You ain't never-" he sighed "stab it into my right arm and depress the syringe. Slowly"
She followed his instructions to a T, which unfucked his limbs. For now. He peeled love and hate from his knuckles and put them back in his sleeves. Or at least he tried to, his coat was in tatters.
He turned to look at his saviours, a rainbow of colour assaulted his eyes as he did. It was times like this that he missed the mojave and its washed out colours. He spotted bright pink and almost cried.
Still, it amazed him just how clean they all were. Even the highest class of gamblers on the strip didn't look as good or healthy as these kids.
He coughed beneath his mask and pulled himself to his feet or at least tried.
"Woah, let me help you" the blonde offered him her hand.
"Appreciated, but I'm good."
"You sure? You lost ALOT of blood", she watched as he stood up and cracked his back "okay, yeah you're good".
"Thanks for the save"
"No problem but you really shouldn't have been fighting without aura, it's like you were trying to get yourself killed!" he said nothing in return to that statement and turned to look at the bird that had left three of its feathers in its back, the stimpack had pushed the foreign bodies out.
"See them two" he pointed up at the bird, "Those two…" he paused "that aren't there anymore. Where did the two kids from up there go?"
"If you mean Ruby and Weiss, they dropped, they're fine. For the most part".
"You lot the initiates here then" he scanned them all
"That's us." she paused "and I don't mean to sound rude, but, who are you? We were told it would be strictly observation from the teachers."
"Yeah, I know, snakes in a pot style" he nodded at her and turned to look at the bird again "Look kid, I'm not supposed to be here. Freak accident landed me in this green hell hole. So I'm gonna ask you all a question because I'm good like that."
He pointed to the Nevermore that was coming back around and to the scorpion he had just taken notice of. "I can blow those two to kingdom come. But, since this is your show, I'll let you decide if you want me to give you the easy route".
"Pfft, if you were packing that sort of firepower why didn't you use it on the Beowolves" she laughed "you don't have to try and look cool for us".
Six sighed and twiddled with his Pip-Boy before reaching into his tattered coat and producing a Missile Launcher "'Cause lil lady, there's no fun in pulling the trigger and watching it be done in one."
"Did he just?" The Blonde began.
"Pull a Rocket Launcher out of thin air? Yes, he did".and the silent till now Raven Haired partner spoke up.
"Tick tock, it's gonna be here soon, take a vote or something" He sat down on a rock and began loading the missile launcher.
—-
"Okay Gang, group huddle" Ruby dragged everyone into a circle and looked over at the ragged and torn man loading his weapon. "Do we want the mysterious stranger to blow up the Nevermore?".
"There's no reason not to. Right? We already got the relics" Jaune chimed in "There's no point in risking one another if we can end it quickly, that's all I'm saying."
"The initiation isn't just about retrieving the Relics. We have to prove ourselves capable warriors. When we've graduated do you think a Mysterious Man with a missile launcher is just gonna appear when you meet a Grimm you can't beat?" Weiss chided.
"Blake and I have already done plenty of butt kicking, so I think we're fine on the whole 'proving ourselves as warriors' thing." Yang shrugged "personally I think we should take his deal, not everyday you get to see a guy in cowboy boots blow up a Nevermore ''.
"Same here!" Nora thrust her hand up and Ren nodded in agreement.
"As long as everyones safe, I'm happy" Pyrrha beamed with a happy smile.
"Guys" Ruby began, a serious look on her face "We gotta do this. The Professor told us we'd have to fight Grimm, this isn't just part of the test, it is the test. Hunters don't retrieve relics, we protect people from Grimm, we fight back the darkness. To let it spread without dealing with it goes against our core principles. If we want to be students of Beacon, we have to do this."
There was a resounding agreement from the 'gang'. "Well looks like we have a decision then" Yang wrapped an arm around her little sister with a wide smile "way to go sis" she whispered down to her and Ruby gave her a sheepish smile.
The Man approached them "Made up your mind then?"
"Yeah, we're gonna deal with it ourselves!" Ruby beamed.
He put a hand on her shoulder "Good choice kid, get out there and kick some ass", he produced a handful of ammo "Figured you'd all make this choice from what the guy on the radio said. So here's some ammo, I've been hearing gunfire all day, you must be running low"
They all peered at the ammo in his hand, it looked like theirs but subtly different. Nonetheless they took his offer, they had time, the Deathstalker was near to freeing itself but the Nevermore was perched atop the temple's peak watching and waiting.
"By the way, what's your name? I feel a bit rude just y'know taking ammo off of you without knowing your name" Ruby asked whilst loading a .50 into her rifle.
"Courier Six"
"Like a Mailman?" Jaune raised his brow at the man.
"The very same" he smiled but of course, his mask obscured it "What're your names?"
Ruby smiled at the man, he seemed pretty friendly even if he was armed to the teeth. "I'm Ruby. That's my sister Yang" she pointed to Yang who replied with a grin and a peace sign.
"Weiss Schnee" Weiss introduced herself flatly.
"You're the two who was dangling from that things feet" Six chuckled to himself "Glad you two got down alright".
A small blush of embarrassment crept onto Weiss's face, she was humiliated to have been seen in such a hopeless position.
"I'm Ren and this is-"
"NORA!" Nora threw her hands up in a V as she introduced herself in a gleeful tone.
"Energies good, you're certainly gonna need it soon", Six glanced back at the Deathstalker moments from freeing itself."And you two?".
"Blake. Nice to meet you" Blake outstretched a hand to the man, the action itself appeared slightly stiff.
"Awful tense, but it's nice to meet you too." He shook her hand.
"Would you not be tense in a life or death situation?"
He shook his head, "being tense is for civvies. I need to be cool"
'Civvies?' Blake looked him up and down 'I suppose he looks the part for the military… or at least, he did.'
"Jaune Arc" if Blake was tense, Jaune was a plank of wood.
"At ease" Six gave a light chuckle and patted the boy on the shoulder. "Sword and shield is gonna be hard to use there kid, you sure you don't want a spare piece?"
A part of Jaune REALLY wanted to ask for the Rocket Launcher, but he couldn't "No, I- It's a family thing. I'd be doing the weapon a disservice if I didn't use it".
Six nodded "Get creative then kid, Crawlers coming this way and you lot have a job to do!" He walked past Jaune with a final pat and towards where the 'relics' were held.
And just like that they sprinted off, to commence a grand beginning to their stay at Beacon.
—
As Six walked away he practically gagged 'God felt like I was morphing into Victor there for a second' sighing he slid down one of the inner walls of the Relic building. 'It's good though, no sense demoralising kids who just wanna do right by the wastes'.
As he reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle of whiskey he slid his mask to the side and glugged from it. He watched as the light show began, acrobatic maneuvers he thought no human was capable of performing. Scythe rifles, shotgun gauntlets and hammer grenade launchers among others.
"Six?" The radio buzzed to life
"Hey, it's you! What's up Prof"
"We'd like to talk to you, here at Beacon, myself and the Headmaster have some questions for you if that would be alright"
Six pondered the invitation for a few moments, staring down at the whiskey bottle "Yeah, I suppose I could come see you fellas. Got some questions of my own brewing."
"I see, well we'll be happy to answer anything so long as you answer our own. Come up with the students after they're finished"
"You don't think they'll fail?"
"No, do you?"
He pondered again "Always that 5% chance of failure"
"I'm sorry?"
"You wouldn't get it, Pip-Boy things." he took a swig from the bottle.
"I see. Well, see you here" the radio transmission abruptly ended.
Six watched in awe at the fireworks display he was seeing, it was beautiful, like nothing he'd ever seen. Then they did the thing, Ruby got sling shotted by a Ribbon before running up a near sheer cliff face and decapitating the Nevermore.
"Goddamn, what backwards hole have I ended up in. If the pain wasn't so real I'd reckon I was dreaming!" he chugged the rest of the bottle and pushed himself back up the wall.
Six walked back towards the now 7 team members. Coughing, in his mind running back to remember how Victor was so positive.
"Hey again, great job putting those two down! Was some good teamwork from y'all. Now whaddya say we get you all back up to Beacon?" Six questioned and they all looked between one another.
"Are we not getting picked up?" Weiss asked
"Afraid not, from the sounds of it you're using a hillside hike right around", he pulled up the Pip-boy "there, but don't you worry I'll set you right. Pip-Boy ain't never led me astray." he walked past them all towards the start of the hike.
"Y-you've done this before, right?" Jaune looked down into the canyon the Nevermores body had plummeted into, the fog that lay atop it gave it a bottomless look.
"Climbed dangerous mountains? Plenty of times, just keep it tight and move slow".
Six was already beginning his way up the carved path "Where did you say you were from again?" Yang questioned him as she hugged the wall and shimmied in behind him.
"I'm from the Mojave, big dust bowl, lot's a deadly critters"
"So like Vacuo?"
"Ain't never heard of Vacuo, but sure, if it's sandy and filled with hellspawn you're going in the right direction."
"Why is your armour so scary?" Nora popped up with the real questions.
"It's pre-war, made to put down Riots in L.A before the bombs dropped. It's a status symbol for Veterans like myself but also damn good armour".
They were about half way up. Making good progress, the ledges weren't as steep as he thought they'd be. "Gotta say, I ain't never seen weapons quite as fancy as y'alls".
"All Hunter weapons are unique, we tailor them to our specialties" Weiss hugged the wall for dear life as she crawled up (not literally) the side of the cliff.
"That so?"
"Yeah, unless you're carrying a family heirloom like mine" Jaune held out his shield and the Courier nodded.
"So you all gonna be 'hunters' then"
There was a collective agreement. "I don't know why else we'd enroll in Beacon?" Yang replied.
"Well it's just we ain't got 'Grimm' nor 'Huntsmen' where I'm from. Just lots a people, with lots of guns." as he said that, they paused.
"There's no Grimm where you're from, at all?" Blake asked, stunned.
"Nope America is plagued by a different kind of monster" he climbed up to the cliffs edge "here we are, go meet up with your friend I got business with your teachers to be".
They all walked past him, silent, but clear they had questions.
He deflated as they walked away "Quite the fighters, aren't they?" A thin man with a cane walked up to Six.
"Yeah, they're little spitfires alright. Never seen anyone pull off the moves they did that's for sure, reckon they'd give me a run for my caps."
"They'll make up the next generation of Huntsmen, so I'm glad you have such a glowing assessment but I do have to wonder, who are you?"
"Six, Courier Six. I'm a Ranger with the New California Republic, or I was."
"Ozpin, Headmaster here at Beacon Academy. Glynda, could you please arrange the students into the auditorium for the team announcements"
A Woman, frilled blouse, tight skirt and riding crop if Six didn't know better he'd say she worked at the Gomorrah. "Yes Headmaster".
Six's eyes turned to look at the Academy in question, tall, blindingly beautiful it almost put the Lucky 38 to shame. "Walk with me please, I'd like you to be seen by the Schools doctor, you sustained considerable injury".
"That won't be necessary, I've got enough stims to fuel me for a decade now so I'll live." Six paused "But I'll walk with you, I have questions, many in fact."
"Please" the men began to walk away from the 8 students.
"This place, Oobleck called it Vale. Where is this, I can't get any satellite connection" he held up the pip-boy.
"Yes well, I can't say I know of any 'vault-tec' I can tell you that Vale is one of the four kingdoms of Remnant and this is one of the great Academies, Beacon."
"Remnant?"
"The Planet"
"You mean Earth?"
"The last time I checked Six the planet was called Remnant. Home to creatures of darkness called Grimm"
"You ever hear of 'America' or 'The Mojave', anything like that?" Six was becoming more worried as the conversation continued.
"No. I haven't. But It's possible you could be from a different continent?" Ozpin continued. Putting Six somewhat at ease.
"Yeah that seems plausible I suppose. What about the Great War, nuclear bombs, World decaying to nothing".
"Bombs never dropped here Six" that was… vague. "And we haven't had a war for quite some time".
'Well at least I know this isn't a Vault.' Six took a moment to think as they walked.
"Your arrival here was unexpected, would you care to share how you managed to spontaneously appear out of thin air?"
"Ah, that. Sorry I reckon there isn't any sending me back. I broke the Ponder when I came through. It's a sci-fi esque device made by the eggheads in Big M.T, teleports you to a set signal."
"Teleportation?"
"Yeah it's nothing amazing though. Like I said It can only teleport to set frequencies."
"So how did it send you here?"
"Well, I fell into a sinkhole and despite how durable I am I can't survive drops to certain death. So I whipped out the Ponder, gave me a lot of trouble but I scrambled its frequency detection and with some blunt encouragement I got it to do a random teleport".
"Hm." It was the headmaster's time to consider now.
"Look, I ain't big on asking favours but I need to go back. Somehow, and If I don't, the outfit I used to work for is going to tear apart everything in the Mojave looking for me and beyond that. They'll probably think I've ran off or that one of my old companions helped me flee. I can't be making more problems for them than I already did."
Six wasn't keen on going back, hell he wanted to stay here. The air didn't choke him and the scenery was good, the people didn't seem half bad either so far. 'But I can't let them suffer for my own selfish wants'.
"Why would they search so fervently for you? Are you dangerous?" That question stung him. He had to think about his reply.
"Yeah. I am, I chose a dangerous path. One of liberation and democracy" he spat "what a fucking joke... Look so long as your folk don't start any issues with me, I ain't liable to go messing with them."
"It doesn't instil confidence" Ozpin paused to sip his coffee "But I know a desperate man when I see one. So, on account of the skills I witnessed today I'd like to propose a temporary offer to you." Ozpin stopped and turned to look at Six.
"You see, here at Beacon we hunt Grimm, it is the purpose of humanities defenders. If you are willing, I'd like you to work alongside the 1st year teams for a short period whilst we discern how to send you home."
"Why me?"
"One, I believe it to be transactional, I assist you, you assist me. Two, the children here are mostly inexperienced in the more vile aspects of humanity and you appear to be well versed in that specific area. Three, I cannot allow someone who is armed and dangerous to wander Vale free and unchecked".
"So it's to keep a leash on me"'just like the fucking NCR'
"No, not to keep a leash. We have no idea of who you are, or if we can solidly trust you and as much as I enjoy putting faith in people. The short conversations we have had with you along with the observations have proved your temperament can be volatile. If you show you can be trusted you will be allowed to roam and furthermore if you find it constraining here at Beacon you will be free to leave"
"And what If I don't accept your terms? What then?"
"We would have to detain you on school grounds until we could hand you over to the Vale police for further questioning".
Six tapped his foot "It doesn't look like I have much of a choice here. So what would it make me if I took your deal?"
"Teaching Assistant, I suppose." Ozpin sipped his coffee.
"You suppose" Six scratched his helmet in frustration "Look before I take the deal I got some asks I gotta make."
"Please, go ahead."
"I need a bed, lots of wonderglue, a reloading bench, primers, gunpowder, clean water, food and most importantly. I need you to tell me how you intend on sending me back."
"That is… acceptable terms. What I can tell you so far is that there is an old project headed by an Atlas research facility that specialised in teleportation. I'll have Oobleck dig into it and see what he can find for you. When I can, I will update you on the progress we have made."
Six looked down at his feet, he was in deep water, far from home and without a clue how to get back with the NCR probably overturning the Mojave to find him. "Good, right I'll take your deal Oz. Just tell me if you need me, I'll wait around for someone to show me where I'm sleeping"
Quest Started… Caretaker
Six glared down at his watch 'you be quiet, you haven't even got a satellite'.
"Why don't you join us in the auditorium for the team announcements?"
"Sure, where am I going"
Ozpin smiled at Six "Follow me".
—-
Ozpin wasn't sure what to make of the man, he was violent, yes, but he was earnest in his plea. Concerned for the wellbeing of others he'd clearly left behind whilst scrambling in a desperate bout for survival.
He felt bad to chain Six to Beacon but he couldn't allow an unknown man with such ruthless capability free. 'It's better he believes I can assist him for now. Dust knows what would happen if he pleaded with other parties'.
Still the Auditorium was filled with whooping and cheers as the teams were announced. It was a time for celebration.
It was after the announcements of the teams, that Ozpin turned to Six who he had left off stage, and told to take his coat off as it was rinsed in his own blood. "Finally I'd like to announce an addition to the teaching staff here at Beacon".
"Please welcome, Six!" and on cue the Courier took the stage behind the headmaster. "Some of you may have met him during initiation, he is a Combat Veteran and will be assisting in practical combat training and off-campus duties as a Teaching Assistant."
"Greetings all, I'll be teaching you Self-defence whilst I stay here at Beacon, please don't hesitate to ask if you need assistance with training" Six had been told to keep the visceral of his usual speech to a minimum as Ozpin didn't want to scare his 1st year students.
"Very good, thank you Six." Ozpin gestured for him to step down, the Man had been told to keep his origin to a minimum. For what reason? Ozpin had convinced him the people on this continent had enough issues dealing with Grimm to worry about a different continent filled with raiders and warring factions posing as new governments.
The two newly announced teams watched the lumbering man step down. "I told you he was a plant by the Headmaster Ren!" Nora said, pointing at Six.
"Nora. It's rude to point" Ren sighed.
"So he was just joking about the whole 'there's no Grimm where I'm from' thing?" Yang folded her arms.
"He could be from a gated community" Blake replied, scanning the man head to toe. He was covered in wraps beneath the coat, his body looked like it had been mummified.
"Whether or not he is, I certainly won't be taking combat advice from a man who let his aura go before fighting a horde of beowolves." Weiss huffed "pure stupidity".
"Hey, maybe he was just trying to even the playing field for us?" Jaune put his chin in his palm as he thought aloud "after all, he did ASK whether or not we wanted him to deal with the Nevermore and Deathstalker, right? If he thought we could handle that pack he would have asked as well".
Yang shrugged "There's still something off about him" not fully convinced of the legitimacy of the Courier.
"Well, I, think he's cool. He gave me bullets" Ruby produced the very large .50 rounds the Courier had given her.
The crowd of young hunters pondered their new teacher with sceptical looks. "Could all first year students report to their dorms to make sure all their personal effects have been delivered correctly" Ms. Goodwitch called into the microphone.
As the teams finished dispersing and all that was left was Six, the Headmaster and Ms. Goodwitch. The Huntress stepped down "Please follow me Courier, I'll show you were you'll be sleeping".
"Lead the way Miss?"
"Goodwitch" she replied curtly "I would ask you not use any of those drugs you used during the initiation on School grounds".
"You mean my chems? Wasn't planning on it, when I use 'em too often they have really bad side effects"
"Like?"
"Loss of higher brain function, amnesia and violent paranoid schizophrenia."
She was taken aback "Why would you use them in the first place then"
"Well Ma'am I can't do any of the acrobatic nonsense them kids can. I walk, I punch, do the occasional hop here and there but nothing fancy. The Chems tend to overwrite the restrictions in my brain, pain, muscle strain and perception are the main ones."
"So what, they're a needed edge in combat then."
"Sometimes. I prefer alcohol as my drug of choice though. It doesn't turn me into a fiend after 5 doses, I only use chems when I'm out of my depth and need to be more aware, stronger and sometimes scarier than I usually am".
Although it wasn't precisely what she'd hoped to hear, Glynda lowered her guard slightly, the man was brutally honest about his use of combat drugs. 'I suppose if he's never fought Grimm before it would make sense he'd see it as a situation he'd need to use them in'.
"Try to be conservative of your use of them in the future then. The children don't need to think that drugs are necessary to win engagements."
"Yes Ma'am, it's your class if what Oz told me is correct. You tell me how you want to spin it and I'll go with it" Six replied.
"Please. Don't call me Ma'am. This isn't the military".
They stopped outside a large door "Is this it?"
"Yes, you'll be sleeping and living here for the duration of your time at Beacon. It's a spare dorm so you're close to the Students. Your job will also include acting as Campus security, is that understood?"
He nodded his "Clear as day Ma-" she glared "Ms. Goodwitch"
"Good, here's the key. Get settled in, I want you to be in Class before the students arrive tomorrow so we can go over some of their strengths and weaknesses and what we have to work on with them".
"Understood" he swiped the keycard on the door, pushing it open "I'll see you tommorow at?"
"2PM for combat classes".
"Got it, goodnight Ms. Goodwitch."
"Goodnight Six".
—
Six walked inside his room, it smelt good, looked good. It had working stoves and a bed all to himself that didn't look like it had been nuked. He smiled, wearily. It was amazing, yes. But he couldn't enjoy it forever, he had to go back.
"I'll enjoy it whilst it lasts" he walked into the white tiled, pristine bathroom, unwrapping his body as he began to draw a warm bath "this place, it's like a lethal paradise." he chuckled to himself.
After soaking his wounds and re-wrapping his body he began to repair his coat before he went to bed. He sat sewing scraps of leather and brahmin hide onto his old dishevelled Ranger duster for a good two hours before he hit the hay.
Six's eyes drifted shut and for once his sleep wasn't accompanied by the deafening sound of gunfire.
–
I tried to pull all the pieces out, but I think there's still some in there. Still. Did the best I could for you.
…
What do you see?
…
Hope
—
Inside a supply closet in Beacon Academy, a swirling vortex of red spewed the slack body of a young man out onto the floor. Quickly he righted himself in the supply closet, a 10mm pistol in his hands.
"Doc!?" He whispered, panicked, looking frantically around him.
"Who's in there?" A voice asked on the other side of the supply closet door, it creaked open slowly. Light poured into the dark closet revealing the crouching young man. "Who are you?"
–
Prologue end…
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the prologue to 'The Grizzly' I'm currently re-playing Vegas to help me iron out inaccuracies or mistakes I might make + I really enjoyed NV and haven't played it in ages.
So there may be changes to previous Chapters when I release new content if I think I've somehow messed up an aspect of the Courier's journey.
Anyway, feedback is always appreciated. Have a good one fellas.