Author's Note:

So, a few things here. A lot of those timeline changes/diverging from canon I mentioned in the previous chapter are happening in this one.

It was brought to my attention that Blake may have already left the White Fang by this point in the RWBY timeline. However, when Blake leaves is relatively up for debate as is when Adam joins up with Cinder. There's no set point either of these two events are in the timeline. Mostly because there is no solid timeline for many of these events. Thus, I'm going to say they happened together for the story.

There is another large thing that happens in this chapter but I won't spoil it for you!

"Text"

"Speech"

Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout, RWBY, or any associated characters.

Remnants of a Courier

Chapter 14: Summer Stops and Winter Ends

The glove holding the small jutting piece of the ledge was covered in dirt and grime. Six didn't know how he had gotten himself into this situation.

Several figures were currently scaling a large cliff without equipment. Joshua let out another grunt as he used his leg to push himself further up and grab a small crevice. Rock climbing was not his specialty.

Luckily, it was starting to get cooler these days. It appeared the seasons functioned like Earth and summer was slowly coming to a close.

To his left, Blake and Emerald were climbing the cliff and to his right, Adam and Mercury were doing the same. Whoever thought this was a good plan was definitely wrong in the Courier's mind.

Stealth wasn't a huge factor for this mission and Six had elected to take his elite riot armor for the extra protection. However, taking the twenty-odd something pounds of gear along with his weapons made this climb much more taxing.

Joshua wasn't out of shape by any means but taking all his gear up the biggest cliff he had ever seen was a bad idea.

The group couldn't hear the animals that usually came out at night because of the sheer height of the cliff. If Six had to guess, he was maybe halfway up a roughly mile-long climb.

"Bet you're… Regretting that armor now… Huh, Dark and Brooding?" Mercury's words were cocky but even he appeared to be getting tired from the climb.

Unfortunately for Six, he didn't have that Aura to protect him should he fall. Due to this, rather than responding to the annoying teen he moved his hand upwards, grabbing a small jutting piece of the cliff.

"Less talking, more climbing," Emerald responded while tensing her body. Her legs bent in preparation before she used her Aura to jump up a good portion of the cliff and grab hold of a ledge.

Joshua grabbed the nearest exposed piece of rock to him before pausing his climb. While he caught his breath, his eyes wandered to Blake.

The Faunus wasn't particularly talkative and hadn't said a word to anyone outside of Adam. Whether she was shy or just didn't like them remained to be seen. Still… Something felt off about how she acted. Like she expected something sour to happen this trip. Other than that, Six didn't really have too much information about her to form an opinion.

The Courier pushed such thoughts from his mind for now as he continued his climb.

Six let out one last grunt as he raised himself over the edge of the cliff before rolling onto it. That had been… Taxing to say the least. He was breathing rather hard but Joshua knew he had to keep going for a bit longer.

Pushing to his feet, Six saw that everyone else had made it to the top before him. Mercury was already giving him a smirk. The kid likely saw the climb as a competition but that didn't matter.

That wasn't the end of the trip though. The group walked another mile or so in relative silence. The trees here were a peculiar shade of red and were blossoming at the moment. He hadn't ever read of trees like these before. In fact, even the dirt itself was red beneath their feet.

Once they reached their destination, it was another drop. It led down to a long railway track. Up there with them though were the large anti-aircraft turrets they had been briefed on.

"We're camping here for the night, the train should be here in the morning," Adam said as he set a small pack down. Everyone had been given a small pack of supplies to get some energy back over the night.

"Roger that," the Courier responded setting his own pack down. He had taken it along because dematerializing an object wasn't something he had shown any of them yet. They'd have questions he wouldn't want to answer.

A few energy bars and some water were contained in the pack. "This is "S," reporting in to let you know we've made it to the top. No issues up here, over." The Courier knew that Roman was going to want an update.

"Great news "S." It still seems like the train is on time so we'll proceed with the regular timetable. Try not to get killed; it'll look bad on me." Roman's words weren't exactly endearing but Six wasn't exactly looking for moral support.

They had all been linked via their Scrolls or in Six's case the comm unit inside his helmet to Roman's communication system. Likely a local radio so no one would pick it up at long distances.

Roman himself was back down and about a mile or two away from the cliff in their makeshift base. It would take them only a few minutes to get up the cliff and to their position with a bullhead once they had the turrets down.

Six took up position at the edge of the little "camp" they were setting up. There wasn't a fire or any talking. The group merely sat in a circle, resting.

"I'll take first watch," the Courier called out, ignoring the look from Adam as Faunus nodded towards Blake.

It was true, Faunus had superior night vision to humans but Six wasn't entirely human anymore. Besides, this wasn't about a tactical advantage but rather trust.

Mercury and Emerald also seemed to have some sort of mute debate with each other before Emerald rolled her eyes. A smirk crossed Mercury's face as he laid down and rolled over. That guy could get comfortable anywhere.

Joshua could make out the obvious as both Blake and Emerald took up positions next to him. Not only did no one trust him but the Faunus and non-Faunus were distrusting of each other. Six knew how well missions like this went with no trust.

The trio sat in relative silence for over thirty minutes. Emerald staring out at nothing and Blake reading some kind of book. It looked like some kind of romance book. Nothing Six was interested in but no reason to point it out either.

Six himself had pulled out his anti-material rifle and was looking down the scope.

After another fifteen or so minutes of silence and Emerald finally piped up, "so why don't you have a shifting weapon?"

She must be referring to his rifle. "Because I don't care to be flashy," Six responded, not bothering to look away from his scope.

"I'm just saying, your gun seems archaic and there's an advantage to having a weapon that doubles as both ranged and melee." Emerald's words piqued Blake's interest at this point, who looked up from her book.

"Yeah, and lots of moving parts that can jam. A gun's already likely enough to jam on its own, let alone adding lots of complex parts to it." Six finally looked away from his scope and towards Emerald before continuing, "and I'm sure bashing your gun against enemies does wonders for it."

"So, what do you do if they get up close," Blake asked, finally cutting into the conversation.

In turn, the Courier shrugged his shoulders. "That's the trick. They don't."

It was sort of true and sort of not true. He did have weapons for close range that he could switch to but feeding misinformation to possible enemies was one of Six's many hobbies.

Blake seemed satisfied with the answer so she went back to her book. Emerald, on the other hand, looked a tad bit irritated that she hadn't gotten a straight answer but remained silent.

The rest of their shift went by without a problem. They remained in silence before eventually trading off with Mercury and Adam.

Six pretended to sleep as to not give them any information that he wasn't exactly normal. Hell, Mercury already knew he didn't have an Aura. Probably felt assured since that made Six "weaker" than him.

If the time came for them to fight, Six would prove him otherwise. For now… He had a lot of waiting to do. Someone had to pretend that there was some level of trust in this group.

The train whistle signaled that it was time for the operation to begin. Six was a little annoyed that Roman hadn-

"Okay people, operation is a go, get moving. Team BAS head for the train, team EM head for the turrets." Roman's words brought just a little agitation to Six as he got to his feet.

Their naming conventions for teams were ridiculous in this world. Initials were a good way for enemies to figure out who you are. Regardless, he approached Adam and Blake.

The train by now was approaching in the distance and Six could see Mercury and Emerald dashing off towards the anti-air turrets. The only reason they had waited this long was to make sure no warning was given from the destroyed turrets to the train.

"On my mark," Adam said as the train began drawing closer and closer.

Neither Blake nor Six replied as they waited for the train to get closer.

The sounds of rails against wheels filled the air as it approached. Still Adam waited.

The conductor blew the whistle again, this time getting uncomfortably loud. Still Adam waited.

Six began doubting if he was going to have time to even make it to the train. Still Adam waited.

Finally, just when the Courier was going to look over at the bull Faunus, he spoke. "Now!"

The trio rushed towards the train though Adam and Blake managed to keep ahead of the Courier despite his cybernetics. Blake pulled the lead on Adam as well.

Six could feel his feet pounded against the red dirt and could even see his two companions kicking up some as they ran.

The black-haired Faunus was the first to reach the train and hop on board. She made it look easy with how elegantly she could jump in the air.

Red trees passed by but Six barely registered them as he jumped after, following Adam's drop.

All he could hear was the sound of rushing wind and his heart racing as he grew steadily closer to the train. It wasn't as long of a drop as the cliff they just climbed but it would hurt.

Where Blake and Adam landed with a soft thud and elegance. Six landed with a loud bang, denting the metal beneath his feet as he landed before rolling.

The Courier's bones whined at him from the drop but he quickly stood up to give the impression he was fine. They weren't broken and he had a job to finish.

Blake seemed to notice the noise he made as he landed, giving a second glance at him, but turned back to Adam.

The trio had landed a few cars down from where they actually wanted to be, the conductor's train. Six knew Adam had waited too long. The trio was on the roof of a railcar now.

"We have five minutes to get to the front of the train, move," Adam said as he began running ahead of Six. Blake followed suit with Six taking up the rear.

They quickly came across a hatch and opened it. Blake and Adam jumped inside without hesitation and quickly found that the railcar was filled with what looked like Atlesian knights.

The Courier had heard about these robotic forces in his research. Apparently, Atlas had an entire automated army at their disposal. Soulless, grey, red eyes, and built to kill Grimm. These were the smaller less dangerous models though.

Six didn't bother hopping down instead aiming his rifle at the Atlesian androids booting up.

The Courier barely heard the two say something about being dramatic below him before opening fire.

Six would admit that Aura and Semblances were definitely impressive. Both Adam and Blake moved at near blinding speeds as he made his shot.

In the blink of an eye, four androids were destroyed. The top half of one being blown off by Six, another being cut in half by Adam, and the final two being dismembered by Blake.

The two warriors were even blocking the bullets being shot at them with their blades. While Dust rounds were significantly slower than bullets on his world, it was still an impressive feat. Getting to witness Aura users first hand was a first for him.

One of the androids began revving up what looked like some kind of Gatling gun in its arms but subsequently lost its head from a .50 Cal Dust round courtesy of Six.

Fortunately for Joshua, he only had to pick off the stragglers and longer-distance androids from his safe spot in the hatch.

He even got to witness Blake use her Semblance, a strange copy appearing for a moment as she kicked one of the androids away.

The two were cutting through the knights like hot butter as they made their way to the other end of the railcar.

This made it so Six had to drop in to keep getting clear shots. He made another audible denting noise again as he landed before turning his rifle and causing another knight to cease existing.

Then Adam kicked the last android through the door and into the next car.

This car didn't have a roof over it. Instead, it had roughly two dozen knights according to Joshua's count and he didn't have a shot because Blake and Adam were in the way.

Six's compass had an uncomfortable number of enemy signatures on it as he finally made his way to the door.

By the time he shot his first round over half of the knights were disposed of. The two Faunus worked like a well-oiled machine. Blake would toss one to Adam before cutting down three surrounding her. In turn, Adam would cut the one tossed to him before turning and cutting down the rest in front of him.

It felt like he wasn't even needed here. Still, Six did his job, picking off the stragglers and making sure no one came up behind the two of them.

Within another minute or two, the rest of the knights were offline and the trio proceeded into the next car.

Despite their speed, the group was running out of time as they opened the door. They had one maybe two minutes left before they would be leaving the area where the bullhead could reach them before enemy reinforcements arrived. It was likely they weren't going to make it to the train at this rate.

As the group progressed into the car, Six noticed there were quite a few boxes and crates in this one. And it was surprisingly dark.

There were still plenty of hostiles on the train so it was messing with his compass but something felt off.

As Blake and Adam searched the crates in the room, Six idly glanced over.

"Perfect, move up to the next car, we've got what we need." Adam's words told Joshua that it was most likely Dust then and this room had more than enough for what they needed let alone the rest of the railcars behind this one.

"Set the charges in the next car, we'll separate this one from the engine," Adam commanded as he sorted through what boxes had what.

"What about the crew members," Blake asked showing a modicum of concern for the human crew aboard. Strange for a terrorist but Six supposed everyone drew the line somewhere.

Then Joshua finally figured out what was wrong. "There's something in here with us," Six said as he noticed one of the red tags on his radar move near them.

A machine that looked somewhat similar to the giant Robo-scorpion he had encountered in the Big Empty descended from the ceiling like a spider.

It was tall, about the Courier stacked on top of himself three times over, and glowing red with huge canons. Four legs supported its frame as it skittered towards them as a spider or crab would.

"Oh shit," Six muttered as he opened fire on the thing. This robot appeared far more durable than its brethren, with the large Dust rounds merely denting its armor. He'd have to try Burn rounds next.

Blake rushed it only for it to begin launching what appeared to be orbs of pure energy at them. Six rolled to the side as the female Faunus lunged at it.

The robot merely head-butted her, sending the girl backwards a few yards. It gave her no room to breathe as it loomed over it, ready to strike.

Adam himself barely did any damage when he cut at, receiving a kick from the robot and sending him reeling back.

Six loaded new rounds into his rifle and pressed forward, unloading the Burn Dust .50 Cal bullets into it. This seemed to stun it for a few moments as the rounds exploded on its armor, shredding some of it off.

This gave Blake time to roll back to relative safety and back to Adam and Six.

"We need to get out of here," Blake commented in a worried tone as the robot combined its canons into some sort of giant canon.

"What can't this thing do," Six muttered before rolling towards the side of the train.

The monstrosity launched a large beam of pure energy at Adam and Blake. The former holding up his blade and somehow not being disintegrated by the shot. Instead, both he and Blake were launched back through the door and to the railcar behind them. Aura was a real powerful thing.

"Six, get to the next car. We need to separate it from this one!" Adam's words didn't help Six as the metal monster was looming on him now.

The armored man slid forward and away from the leg that crushed the ground where he had been standing. Now he was laying directly under the large android.

Fortunately for Six, Blake seemed to grab its attention when she rushed back in and slashed at it. It kicked her back out again before chasing after her, leaving the Courier in the car alone.

Six didn't have long. He made his way to the end of the car and opened it. It led to another roofless car and Six smirked under his helmet.

Two of the high-priority targets were standing right in front of him.

"Father, don't you think it best for us to head further up the train? With Weiss?" That voice belonged to a younger white-haired boy. Six presumed him to be Whitley Schnee. The two currently had their back to him, allowing the Courier to carefully come up behind them.

"Your sister is in a rather foul mood. Besides, whatever small diversion is happening in the cars behind us will be handled by the Atlesian androids. They're top of the line and even have that prototype." The older man had a mustache and white hair. Most likely the head of the SDC.

It looked like the boy wanted to say something but held his tongue. Even the rich had family issues. The Courier equipped his Mysterious Magnum as he watched the two powered down knights at the side of Jacques.

"Excuse me," Six called out in a mildly taunting tone. It was only then that the two turned to face him. Joshua was a quiet individual even in his riot armor.

A look of shock adorned their faces for a moment as the knights powered on only to have their heads blown off with a few well-placed shots from Six.

"Who are you and where-" Jacques began before being cut off by Six.

"Where are your androids? Either destroyed or preoccupied with my companions." Six's answer brought a frown to the owner of the SDC. It was obvious the Schnee head figured out that he wasn't here for conversation.

"Well then, what are your demands," the older man asked still trying to maintain control of the situation.

Six sighed while glancing at the young boy. He looked no older than fifteen. Hell of an age to lose your dad. Six still had it worse.

Joshua pulled back the hammer on his revolver before responding, "you're misinterpreting my intentions here."

The older Schnee's composure almost broke at the realization but he kept his cool and turned to his son. "Whitley, go to the front of the train and get your sister."

"But fa-"

"Now," Jacques commanded, cutting off his kid.

The youngest member of the Schnee family looked between Six and his father, worry filling his eyes. Despite that, he nodded his head before turning and running towards the next railcar.

Technically the young Schnee was on the target list but Six wasn't in the business of killing kids… Usually.

The Wild Card King looked down at his Pip-Boy, only thirty seconds left.

"Sorry it had to be this way," Six's commented raising his revolver.

"Tell me, who sent you?" Jacques' question gave Six a moment of pause.

The Courier shrugged his shoulders before responding, "don't know who they really are or why they want you dead. I just know my job is to kill you."

The owner of the SDC squeezed his fists. "I can give you more than they can. I'm worth more alive."

It looked like Six had taken too long. Adam rushed onto the railcar with Blake in tow. On the other end of the car, the two youngest members of the Schnee family came rushing out.

The Butcher of House gave one last sigh before responding, "sorry, but you're worth enough dead."

A loud bang rang out as Jacques Schnee's head pulled back, a bullet between his eyes. A moment later, the head of the Schnee family lay on the ground, dead. Blood pooling on the ground around his head.

Six hadn't done anything like that since coming to this world and he had to hold back a sharp breath in. He didn't like killing parents in front of their children.

But… Six quieted the voices in his head that screamed at the cruelty of it. Letting a cold and comforting blanket of apathy envelop him. This was just part of the job.

"Father!" The youngest Schnee shouted out while running towards his deceased father.

The other one, Weiss Schnee if he remembered correctly, stood still almost as if in shock. There wasn't anger or sadness though. Maybe their family relationship was more strained than the Courier initially thought.

"What are you doing, the other two are right there," Adam called out as Six walked back to him.

Blake gave the bull Faunus a look of disbelief for a moment. Did she not know there were priority targets?

"We've got no time. Need to detach this car now." The Courier took a few steps off the railcar with the dead Schnee and stepped beside Adam before continuing, "and I'm not paid to kill children. You want it done, do it yourself."

The Faunus glared at him before taking a step forward. "Fine, I will."

The kid was kneeling over his father's corpse, completely unaware that Adam planned on killing him.

Before anyone could kill somebody, Blake rushed forward, jumping onto the railcar in front of them.

"Adam, you just can't… We're supposed to be better than that." Blake's words did little to deter Adam who continued forward.

"Goodbye," Blake muttered as she brought her blade down on the railcar connection, severing it. So, she was more of a bleeding heart than Joshua knew.

The cars disconnected and Adam and Six's end quickly began to slow down and separate.

There was a look of shock on Adam's face for a moment but it was quickly replaced by rage. Adam was about to rush forward and jump when the Courier called out, "stop! We have what we came for. Don't get killed for some petty revenge."

This halted Adam for only a moment. Whether the bull Faunus would have stopped entirely, it didn't matter. That moment of hesitation allowed enough distance to build where Adam couldn't make it to the car Blake was on.

"Damnit. Damnit! I can't believe she just left!" Adam spoke as he watched Blake disappear, past the red trees. The train was almost stopped now.

The Courier instead gave a fleeting glance at the sobbing boy and his father's corpse. He wasn't going to sleep tonight.

Six shrugged in response, turning his back to the Faunus as he turned on his transmitter. "Forget her, we finished the mission." He paused for a second before focusing his attention on relaying what had happened. "This is BAS, reporting in "T," over."

"This is your boss speaking; tell me you have good news."

"Mixed. We weren't able to get to the front of the train but we got the majority of the cargo separated. We're stopped at the edge of the pick-up zone." Six looked back towards Adam who seemed to be sulking while staring out into the red trees.

"I'll send the bullhead over. Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, bad news, the "B" of BAS just left and probably turned traitor. So we have a leak," Six said while turning away from Adam.

"Not now Neo, I'm in the middle of a call." Six could tell Roman was being bothered by someone with multi-colored hair. "What? Yes, yes, it's him why do you care? The mission went fine, leave me alone!"

The Courier heard Torchwick clear his throat on the other end before continuing, "that's fine. "A" was under strict orders to not tell her he was working with us. As far as she knows, this was just a White Fang mission."

"Then we suffered minimal losses, other than maybe pride," the Courier replied, slowly reloading his revolver with one hand. "Good news, we got Jacques Schnee."

Roman let out a hearty laugh on the other end before saying, "great news actually! He was the main secondary target. SDC will be crippled for years without its head. Plus, he was a complete snob, always hated that guy."

There was a pause in the conversation as Roman caught his breath. "Well, I'm sending the bullhead over. EM did their job. You'll grab the cargo, hop on board, pickup EM, and then head back. It'll be there within five."

With that, Six stopped the transmission. Adam was still sulking and Six figured he needed to get him back in the game.

"Hey, was she really that important," the Courier asked, taking a step towards the White Fang member.

"I…" Adam paused, collecting himself. "She has been by my side for a long time. I thought of all Faunus, I could trust her. If I can't trust her, I can't trust anyone." The Bull Faunus ran a hand through his hair.

Joshua could understand the feelings of betrayal pretty well. "I get it, I've had people burn me. But you can't let that consume you. Keep looking forward. Now get ready, the bullhead will be here in a few minutes."

This seemed to get Adam to pay attention to the mission again. He was still in a sour mood but at least the red-haired guy was back.

"I can't believe I'm taking advice from a human," Adam commented while moving over to one of the crates and sitting on it.

Six shrugged before sitting on a crate across from the Faunus. "I can't believe I killed a father in front of his son. It's one of those days."

A short silence descended over the two. Neither really wanting to talk.

Eventually, Adam spoke up, "you did good. Killing that bastard. That whole family is made up of monsters."

Six gave Adam a curious glance but didn't say anything.

"Let's just say the Schnee Dust Company treats us Faunus like we're less than trash. It's time they got what was coming to them." The Faunus' words were filled with hate from years of abuse and mistreatment, Joshua could tell. He'd heard men like that before.

Six understood, everyone was treated like shit back in the Mojave. Some treated worse than others. Still… One had to control that anger or it would consume them.

A frown formed underneath the mask as Six realized that anger had consumed him before. What had been thinking? Destroying everything and everyone he had helped before? Even if they turned on him, that's insane.

Six placed a hand against his mask while letting out a small chuckle. "Don't thank me, I was just doing my job…"

Ulysses was right about him.

The rest of the operation went off without a hitch. Dust and some decent weapons stolen, a clean getaway, and EM's pickup went smoothly. All in all the day could have gone worse. Still could have been better too.

The group made their way back to the temporary base. Picking up Neo, Torchwick, and Cinder. Six didn't realize Cinder had been watching the entire time.

"Well, the mission was a success with only a few minor hiccups," Torchwick called out. Everyone was in the back with the cargo and it was pretty damn cramped.

Of course, Torchwick got a seat on one of the ends. Nice and cozy. Neo was next to him, the Courier was next to her, and Cinder was on the other side of Six. And across from Joshua, was Adam.

Six was surrounded by people he hated, that didn't trust him, were psychotic, or hated him too.

Neo seemed to be in a chipper mood, she pressed her side up against him, elbowing his side. Six looked down to see her making a scooping motion with her hand.

"Is ice cream all you can ever think about?" Six's question caused the girl to silently giggle. It was kind of creepy seeing someone laugh without noise.

She then pointed to his pack before raising her hand to her face and making a biting motion.

Six sighed before reaching into his pack and pulling out a spare nutrient bar. He handed it to her and she immediately bit off the end, seemingly content.

It was going to be a long ride back…

Author's Note:

Hope you liked the chapter, let me know what you think of my interpretation of Adam! I think he had a lot more screen time in this chapter.

Likewise, for those curious… I'm hoping to use this chapter as a way to have a deeper connection between not only Blake and Weiss but to also give some connection between Adam, the Courier, and the Schnee family. I always felt that Adam should have been more involved with the Schnee family considered his scar and hatred for them.

Let me know what you think of these diverges from the canon timeline.

Current Gear:

Burned Man's Armor

Elite Riot Gear

Modified Stealth Suit Mk. II

Mysterious Magnum

Rebreather

Maria

Survivalist Rifle

Modified Anti-Material Rifle.

YCS/186 Gauss Rifle variant.

C4 – Plastic explosives (4)

Detonator.

Frag Grenades (5)

Frag Mines (0)

Combat Knife.

Plasma Grenades (10)