Author's Notes:
Hope you like the longer combat orientated chapter.
"Text"
"Speech"
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, Fallout, or any associated characters
Remnants of a Courier
Arc 4: Chaos Theory
Chapter 59: Academic Anarchy
It had only been a day since he had slipped malware onto the CCTV tower and Six was getting an abundance of information. It was too much for his Beholder Initiative to handle at the moment as it didn't have the sheer resources or power needed to hold and process that amount of data. Six would have to work on expanding the hardware being used and the storage space utilized. That meant more servers to share the workload. That meant a higher upkeep cost and security measures needed to-
"Hey, instructor House!" A familiar student shouted at him. As Six turned, he spotted Cardin approaching. "I want ya to meet someone."
Since the students had the day off–due to the faculty being called away to some meeting–Cardin had brought Alex.
Six was actually going to complete some paperwork for Glynda on combat records for the students. While Six didn't like her mistrust of him that she made clear, she was a hard and organized worker which made his job a lot easier. One of his easier and favorite tasks was analyzing the fighting styles of the students.
With that in mind, he was on his way to his room and had been loitering in the hall. From the unprotected messages that Cardin had been sending, Six knew that Cardin planned on bringing Alex to Beacon and had waited for them.
And judging from the kid at his side, Six believed this to be Alexander Logarius or Alex. The kid looked like a mini-Cardin save for their eyes. Where Cardin's was a sky blue, Alex's was a dull grey, similar but lacking that silver shine that Ruby's eyes had. He was still tall and lanky for his age but that was just his youth. If he was anything like Cardin, he would probably bulk up.
"And who are you?" Six questioned, already knowing the twelve-year-old's name.
The boy extended his hand forward with his back straight. A polite and serious greeting left the boy's lips, "I'm Alexander Junco Logarious, it's nice to meet you instructor House."
This earned an annoyed look from Cardin who poked his forehead. "How many times do I have to tell ya it's weird to greet people like that?"
Alexander Junco Logarious. Six tried to recall the name's meaning. Junco was a kind of grey bird. Alexander meant hope? Or was it righteous? And Logarius was either warrior or defender. There was definitely a meaning behind the name but he didn't care to ask. Remnant had strange naming practices.
Despite Cardin's words, Six extended his hand and shook the boy's. "Ulysses House, training instructor, security guard, and part-time teacher's assistant at Beacon Academy. A pleasure to meet you."
The response earned a satisfied grin from Alex and an annoyed glare from Cardin.
"Okay, okay, enough with the formal shi-tuff-" Cardin corrected "-Alex, this is someone who helped me become as awesome as I am now."
While Six did help Cardin train, it had only been for the past few months. Granted, it was grueling training designed to increase performance and knowledge drastically in a short period, but still.
"Thank you for your work," Alex said as he bowed his head. What a weird if overly polite kid.
The Winchester tsked before pulling his cousin's head back up. "None of that, a Huntsman needs to have his pride."
"It was really no issue," Six replied as he waved his hand dismissively. "It's my job after all. I take it you're showing him around the campus?"
"Yeah, I wanna show him what he can look forward to once his Aura is unlocked. It'll be a bit longer before that but giving him some motivation couldn't hurt."
Cardin's explanation made sense but it still made Six frown. Aura was a vital part of this society and for most people it took either long years of meditation, a life-or-death situation, or another Huntsman to unlock their Aura. And with the way the Kingdoms regulated Aura users and unlocking Auras, it would be a while before Alex unlocked his.
Not that Aura had saved his uncle…
"W-Why, why isn't my Aura…"
Maybe there was something he could do for this kid.
Six glanced over their shoulders to ensure no one else was too close.
"Cardin," Six began as he leaned in towards the two. "What would you say to getting his Aura unlocked early?"
"You want to unlock his Aura? I had the same idea but you know that leaves a Huntsman drained. And then unlicensed Aura unlocking is pretty illegal."
The Courier shook his head before replying, "No, there's something new on the market, hasn't hit stores and hospitals yet but it works. They call it the L.I.F.E. system-"
"Stupid name," Cardin interjected.
"-and it can unlock Aura for people without the same cost. And it hasn't been regulated yet by Vale so it's legal to use."
This piqued Cardin's interest. "What? How is that even possible?"
Alex looked between the two, somewhat lost in the conversation. "Why won't Vale let people unlock their Auras?"
Grimacing, Cardin turned to his cousin. "Well, think about how strong and scary an Aura user is to a regular person. If we had a bunch of unregulated people with Aura, it would be very hard to keep track of them. Then they could do bad things and get away with it and people without Auras wouldn't be able to stop them."
Six also noted to himself it was a great way for Kingdoms to keep control of their Aura user population as well. Keeping the power firmly in their hands.
"But this method would be a loophole, one they can't make illegal yet." Six chimed in.
A pensive look crossed Cardin's face as he glanced at his cousin. "I'll need to think on it," he began as he crossed his arms. "This seems kind of shady to me."
"I understand, but don't take too long. Vale is already trying to legislate their ownership of it. They'll be seizing the device soon. Until then, I could get you in and use it."
Cardin nodded his head as he looked down at his cousin. "But that's not for you to worry about," the tall student said as he slapped Alex on the back. "Let's go find Jaune and my team."
Not that the tall student would have to wait for long. Six turned and spotted the blonde leaving the library with a comic book in hand. All part of his plan so he could ditch Cardin.
The Huntsman-in-training's eyes moved up as he smiled. "Hey, Jaune-y boy, I got someone I want you to meet."
Six watched with a grin as the blonde in question jumped from being addressed. Jaune turned around before realizing who called out to him and smiled.
"What's up-oh is that Alex I see?" Jaune said as excitement filled his voice. He darted over to the two as he continued, somehow oblivious of Six, "You know Cardin has talked about what a big shot you are. Acing all his training, looking to be the next Ozpin. I've been excited to meet ya."
"Anyways, I'm Jaune Arc. I know how much of a pain family can be. I have seven sisters myself. Just remember that Cardin loves you and-ow!"
"Dial it back idiot," Cardin chastised as he slugged the blonde's shoulder.
There was a moment of silence where Jaune nursed his arm and Six watched on with a smile on his face. There were definitely perks to working at Beacon, and seeing students be happy like this is one of them.
"Are all of your friends like this?" Alex questioned as he glanced up at his cousin.
"Eh," Cardin began as he shrugged his shoulders. "Jaune is from a different team. The rest of my team is usually pretty chill."
Six was about to excuse himself from the conversation when the floor beneath him shook. At the same time, a loud noise–which Six instantly recognized as an explosion–blasted their ears.
All four turned towards the source, something at the front of the academy had just exploded with enough force to shake the entire building. That couldn't be good. Was it an accident, an attack? Six racked his brain for what could have caused it.
"What the fuck was that?" Cardin questioned, forgetting House's no curse rule.
"I don't know, but I'm going to the security office to find out, stick with me," Six ordered as he began jogging towards his workroom.
The trio behind followed as he used his scroll to pull up Gratius' contact information. The Voidwalker was going to be needed.
As his Pip-Boy rang, Six picked up the distinct sound of a scream coming from the same direction as the explosion. Followed by another, and another. Something was causing the students to panic now.
"This is Gratius, I take it you heard that too?"
"I did," Six affirmed as he approached the door to the security room. "Meet me in the security room."
"Affirmative," the Voidwalker replied before ending the call.
Using his badge, Six opened the door and found an empty room. Some paperwork was strewn around the room with an empty chair. Where was the guard on shift?
He turned to the screens and looked them over before he realized how urgent the situation was. The current on-shift guard was at the front entrance and the cameras could see him lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Above him were several armed figures dressed in white and black uniforms with grey masks covering their faces. White Fang.
But that didn't make any sense, what did the White Fang stand to gain from this attack? It went against their own plan and Adam agreed to work with Six, or at least, not against him. Maybe it was a rogue splinter group?
Questions for later as the trio behind him piled into the room.
"G-Gods…" Jaune muttered as he saw the screen. "What is the White Fang doing here?"
Cardin made sure to wrap an arm around his younger cousin and hide him so he couldn't see the screens. "Fucking animals," the bully muttered, doing his best to remain calm for his cousin. The Courier had no doubt if Alex wasn't there he'd be shouting and cursing at them.
The sounds of the door opening again behind them caused the group to turn to spot another security guard. Gratius had arrived and looked their group over.
"What's the situation and who's dumb enough to attack an academy full of Huntsmen in training?" The Faunus questioned as he turned towards the cameras.
Six was about to reply when his Pip-Boy buzzed. Looking down, the screen displayed the caller ID for Amber Huey, the security officer for Beacon and his direct boss. Six made sure to answer it before putting it on speaker for everyone else.
"House, we have intruders on the first floor Science Hall, the front courtyard, and the cafeteria." Amber wasted no time delivering the information as her voice sounded hoarse like she had been yelling.
"Classes were out today so there's not as many students running around the halls. Some are fighting back but the enemy has Aura users and a few with their Semblances unlocked. Expect a mix of both in their ranks."
That was bad, it meant that this attack had good funding.
"I tried getting a hold of Ozpin but-" Huey was cut off as the sounds of gunfire ensued. "Damnit! Where are the Dust vials? Throw them, throw them!" Another explosion cut off followed by static for a few moments.
Six saw the worried look of the students in the room but didn't have time to console them.
"Are you okay?" Gratius was doing a good job of keeping his tone neutral as the static slowly cut out.
A moment later, Huey was back on the line, "Yeah, we're okay here. Is that the new hire? Good. The Science Hall intruders are pushing into the workshop where we're at. I've got a couple guards and a few able students here."
"I need you and House to get to the security room, get on a camera and give me a sitrep."
Six grimaced as he replied, "Good news, we're already here. Bad news, they already took care of the guard on shift here. I don't know where the last two guards in this section of Beacon are and we have a lot of panicking students in the halls here."
There were three shifts for the security guards at Beacon. Each shift consisted of 10 members and took eight-hour shifts during school nights. There was another set of shifts for the weekend. The issue was that they rotated two of the members to be on call each week. That meant there were eight–now seven–guards in the building.
While some of the students were fighting back, they had been taken by surprise and weren't used to fighting people. Worse yet, the White Fang soldiers were taking hostages. All it took was them pointing a gun at their friends and the students dropped their weapons and joined the hostages.
Checking the monitors again, the cafeteria already had six hostages in it. This was too coordinated and planned, someone had to have schemed this for a while now.
"More bad news then," Huey said as the sounds of students loudly panicking in the background could be heard. "Ozpin is missing. I think he and a good portion of the teachers were called off-campus. Apparently, there was another large-scale White Fang attack south of the city. And the Atlas and Vale military forces are on a joint operation there too. We might be able to-"
"Wait, the people attacking us are White Fang," Cardin piped up from behind Six. "Why are they there too?"
"If I knew why I'd tell you. Though they are acting weird."
"What do you mean?" Cardin pressed. "A murderer is going to murder. This seems pretty typical to me. In fact-"
"Cardin, shut your mouth. We don't have time for your shit." Six cut off the student who had the decency to at least look embarrassed. "What were you saying?"
The officer continued, "The White Fang are destroying the bodies of their comrades if they go down. Some kind of mix of Acid and Fire Dust."
Somewhere nearby, another scream rang out followed by another building-rocking explosion. Six was forced to grip the counter to not fall over as static filled the line. He could see loose dust falling from the ceiling of the security office, covering them in a thin layer.
"Listen, my point is, we're not going to be getting backup for a while. With Beacon being so far out and any backup elsewhere, we're probably on our own."
Her words had an immediate effect on the students whose eyes went wide. Yeah, this was getting bad. But, it did present Six with an opportunity.
"Find more guards, take the cafeteria, move students there. We'll try to-and…Do-t-we'l-" The officer's words were cut off as static filled the line.
"Looks like they just took out internal communication," Gratius said as he turned to Six. "I noticed on the way here we couldn't make any outbound calls."
Six sighed before finishing for the Voidwalker. "And with Beacon being far enough outside of Vale, it's likely no one in the city even knows there is an issue yet. Do you know why the teachers were called off campus?"
"Apparently to assist Ozpin with whatever other attack is going on. From what little I heard before communications went out, they blew a giant hole in the outer wall of the city and a lot of Grimm are showing up."
Gratius' explanation made sense but it was all too coincidental. This couldn't be Adam as it went against everything the Faunus was planning but at the same time it was too large scale to not have officers from the White Fang involved. Too big for a small splinter of the Valesian White Fang cell to get going and too nonsensical to be White Fang officers. Something was off.
The real issue was that Six didn't know how long the attack had been happening. Since the first explosion, maybe five or ten minutes had passed. But that didn't mean they hadn't started before that either.
They needed to gather students and teachers, then take the cafeteria. Then they could fortify it and repel the attackers. With no help coming for a while, that was the best course of action. The problem?
Six glanced toward Jaune, Cardin, and Alex. What to do with them.
There was also the matter of not being able to use his full arsenal since he wasn't in his Mimic gear. That would make repelling these "White Fang" harder.
The Mimic… An idea began forming in Six's head as he said, "Gratius, hunker down here with these students and keep an eye on the cameras. I'm going to look for the other guards and teachers then come back. Then we can take the cafeteria."
"But we can fight too!" Cardin shouted at House as he glared the instructor down.
Not backing down, the Courier turned and took a step toward Cardin. "And you will, but not now. I need to be quiet while I find more people to fight with us. Unless you think you're a quiet guy?"
A frown graced Cardin's face as he opened his mouth before closing it. Even the prideful student knew that he was never going to be stealthy.
"Good, stay put. Gratius, update me when I get back."
The Faunus nodded his head as Six stepped out of the security office's door and into the hall. It was nearly empty now as most students had probably rushed off to hide somewhere. An eerie thing for a school of this size.
The Courier rushed for the nearest public bathroom before dipping inside. He took a few moments to ensure it was empty before getting into a stall. It was time for the Mimic to make another appearance.
He did his best to be quick but even with materializing what he needed, it took a few minutes to don the armor in its entirety in the cramped space.
But what greeted Six in the mirror of the bathroom were those familiar glowing red optics and white bone-like mask of the Mimic. The Terror of Vale had arrived, and it was time to greet the uninvited guests.
.44 magnum in one hand, the Mimic stalked down the halls of Beacon. Each footstep thudded against the carpeted floor and echoed down the now empty halls. He had to be careful of the cameras but he'd been working at Beacon for a while. Besides, if a camera or two saw him, that wouldn't be too bad.
As he approached a corner, Six could hear shouting with footsteps fast approaching.
"Stop or we'll shoot!" A muffled voice called out.
Only to be countered by another, "Don't stop running kid!"
Both were distinctly male from what he could hear as the footsteps got closer.
Six stepped to the corner but stopped at its edge and waited. He listened as the footsteps fast approached before a person rounded the corner and collided with him. Since the Mimic was ready, the guy bumped into him and fell back around the corner flat on his ass.
The teen was a brunette with shoulder-length hair and darker skin. He seemed to be a Faunus based on his yellow slitted eyes and was wearing what looked like leather armor. Strange that the White Fang would target him. He also had no weapons on hand though that wasn't a surprise. Students usually didn't have them on hand unless in combat class.
"You have to hel-" The student began before looking up at who he bumped into, his voice dying in his throat and turning into more of a croaking sound.
"H-h-help…" He muttered in pure terror as he began to crawl back and away from the Mimic, obviously recognizing him.
"Someone restrain him before he gets up again. And put a bullet in… That…" The same muffled voice trailed off as the Mimic stepped around the corner and into view, his Duster swaying from the motion.
Besides the kid who was to his left, Six spotted four individuals who were hiding behind White Fang uniforms. With their disguises, none of them particularly stood out from each other.
One was standing on a security guard's back with the man face down with a gun pressed to the back of his head. Six couldn't get a good look at the guard but he could see brown hair.
"Oh shit, ope…"
The man didn't get to finish his order as Six activated his V.A.T.S. Their movements became sluggish and slow as his senses were kicked into overdrive.
With the way the White Fang masks worked, it left the lower portions of their faces unguarded. That was enough for Six who was close enough to have a high chance of hitting at this range with the help of V.A.T.S. Making his selection, Six raised his revolver and opened fire.
The first was dead before they even began raising their weapons, a bullet having gone through his mouth and out the back of his throat.
As the others began raising their weapons, he fired on the second, using V.A.T.S. to assist him. Second verse, same as the first, he went down the same way as his friend.
The first dead body finally hit the floor as his revolver rounded on the third, another shot ripping through the air. Before it could connect, he was already twisting his arm towards the fourth.
The last man was almost finished raising his gun as the third grunt began falling to the ground. Unfortunately for him, Six was faster on the draw, putting a final round down range.
Satisfied, Six deactivated V.A.T.S. and waited for them to fall. Only to hear three thuds hit the ground.
The last man's head had rocked backwards from the strike but he remained standing. And instead of falling, his head tilted forward again as he raised his rifle.
Fortunately for the Courier, his enemy was using regular Dust rounds which began pinging off his armor. It still made him grunt from the impact and kinetic energy. Since this man had an Aura, Six shifted his priorities.
Another shot rang out and cut off the barrage, but instead of hitting the Aura-enhanced intruder, the gun flew from his hands and clanked off a wall before falling to the ground.
Whoever he was fighting didn't hesitate, and instead of panicking, the assailant rushed forward with the intent to tackle Six. But he was stopped as a hand wrapped around his leg. The guard that had been restrained was now free and had used the opportunity to help the enemy of his enemy.
The intruder grunted as he tripped and fell to the floor, a hard cracking sound ringing out as his head slammed to the ground. That sounded bad, not that his well-being mattered to Six.
Not wasting the opportunity, Six stepped forward before bringing his foot up and slamming it on the back of the man's head. When the intruder attempted to get to his feet and shrug off the foot, Six had enough.
He wanted this man dead, and he was close enough that Aura wasn't going to save him. The Courier lifted his leg, and as the intruder hopped up to his knees, he was met with the barrel of a revolver hovering in front of his forehead. But instead of his Aura protecting him, the round bypassed that protection as Six let his killing intent show.
To the outsider observer, it would seem like the round had penetrated his Aura as a green layer shattered over the man and a bullet ripped through his head. But to those paying attention, the intruder's body stiffened as the bullet tore through flesh and skull, and his Aura shattered after that.
In the end, the same result occurred. The man's body went limp as he fell to his side, dead. One group of raiders down. An unknown number to go. Just like the Mojave.
Six turned his attention to the two other occupants of the room who were looking at him with both awe and fear.
"You took them out like it was nothing…" The boy finally spoke, causing Six to roll his eyes. He turned away as he began searching the bodies of the dead intruders.
As he rifled through their pockets, not finding anything too interesting, Six spoke through his mask's air filter, muffling his voice. "Any Huntsman could have taken them out. Get running to the security room, there's more of your kind there."
"Oh," Six continued as he kicked a rifle over to the kid. "And take this with you, might need it."
The Aura user had a Burn Dust grenade, good. Other than that, pretty standard issue equipment he didn't need. Taking a second look at the Aura user, he also found a small scroll that looked a lot like a PDA.
Scrolling through its interface, it showed the location of some backroom teacher's lounge close to the student dorms marked on a map. That wasn't too far away. He'd have to investigate.
Then he heard the click of a safety going off and he turned around. The kid had picked up the rifle and was now aiming at his back.
The Courier sighed as he looked the teenager over. The kid was shaking and was more likely to accidentally shoot himself than Six. Rather than tell him that, Six stared him down as he swung the cylinder out and began reloading each Dust .44 round manually.
One, and the kid was sweating bullets.
Two, and his shaking hands were making it hard to aim.
Three, his eyes dilated and his breathing was bordering on panicking.
Four, and the guard finally got to his feet and placed a hand on the barrel of the rifle before lowering it for the student.
"That's enough, we won't fight you," the guard said as Six got a better look at him.
A dog Faunus judging from the tail Six was noticing. Brown hair and sharp teal eyes stared back at him.
The man let out a sigh, the bags under his eyes contrasting with his light skin. "Thanks for the rescue, we'll be on our way."
Six didn't bother replying as the guard placed an arm around the student's shoulder who was still shaking and slowly led him away. Instead, he turned back to the scroll that was in his hand. A message was now displayed on it.
"All members KIA, initializing sterilization protocol."
The thing in his hands began melting as acid oozed out of it and Six was forced to throw it to the ground with a hiss of pain.
Turning back, he could see the rest of the dead intruders were undergoing much the same process as the scroll. It appeared that there was a failsafe on their bodies and when they died… It wasn't pretty.
Six watched as their clothes, skin, bones, flesh, and more began falling away as a sizzling sound filled the air. An acrid scent hit his nose as he turned away. He didn't need to see where this was going.
"Just like Huey said, they must be using Acid Dust to get rid of evidence," Six muttered to himself as he pulled up his scroll and marked the lounge near the dorms on his map.
Flipping his compass on, Six followed after the new objective as he finished reloading his revolver.
"Mister Sandman, bring me a dream," Six muttered to himself as he stepped into the lounge. Behind him, two more intruders lie dead, disintegrating into nothing. And in his hands rested the Survivalist Rifle.
He had tried to find the device that was doing that little disintegration trick of theirs. But it was either very well hidden or internal. And while Six could eventually solve that mystery, that would take time and trial and error, time which he currently didn't have. Besides, there was no way that trick of theirs would get rid of all the evidence, that was up to Vale's investigators to figure out.
Though now that he thought about it, dissolving on the spot made them similar to Grimm in that regard.
"Make him the cutest that I've ever seen…"
The lounge wasn't too large but what was more noteworthy was the pair of open containers resting on a round table near the refrigerator.
"Give him two lips like roses and clovers…"
The exterior of these boxes was a grey metal but the insides were a series of switches and lights. The smaller of the two had a display and noted that two hours remained. A power box most likely. The second had several frequencies listed and had a smaller screen next to the switches with the information "CCTV Blocker Active."
This was likely blocking the signals going in and out of Beacon. Jammers were varied in how they worked and Six wasn't sure how this one was being operated. Anything from filling one common frequency with an overabundance of traffic or replicating another frequency back at devices. He didn't have time to figure out how this one worked.
Raising his rifle, Six took aim while finishing the chorus.
"Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over."
Sparks flew as six rounds penetrated the machine. It sputtered and whined before finally shutting down, falling to the ground from the force of the impacts.
As soon as it did, his Pip-Boy sprang to life and buzzed him constantly. He disabled the small prototype Stealth-Boy that hid his wrist-mounted computer before looking at its screen. Several different texts from students and faculty alike attempted to reach him.
He ignored them, choosing instead to call Gratius.
The line rang in his helmet's comms before he heard, "Was that you that just brought communications back online?"
"It was," Six replied, knowing full well that this little attack would fall apart very soon. It had taken all of fifteen minutes to track down the jammer.
"Then you need to get out of there," The Faunus warned. "They're sending multiple squads to your position to get that jammer going again."
Six turned for the door before placing a mine and activating a Stealth-Boy. He was running low on them but unlike bullets from his world, he had the necessary components to create more. Making a mental note to make more Stealth-Boys, Six made his way back into the hall.
"We also had a new development. Try not to run into any black and purple mercenaries. Apparently my coworkers got called in and we have multiple Voidwalker teams operating in the area to clear the intruders."
What? Why were his Voidwalkers here? He didn't clear any mission.
"Why are they here? How did they even know something was happening?" Six questioned as he began running down the hall and towards the cafeteria. He needed to see what was happening for himself and secure that area.
"Apparently the Council somehow knew the attack was happening shortly after it began. But with Vale and Atlas' forces dealing with the border attack, they didn't have any specialized forces with Aura to combat the White Fang. Someone must have offered mercenary services as an idea and the Voidwalkers were ordered to intervene."
That was all too convenient. This was a setup of some kind. Who would want to attack the school and his Voidwalkers? There were a few that would attack one or the other but not both. Maybe the White Fang would, but these couldn't be the White Fang under Adam. That, or Adam would be having a visitor very soon.
"We've got a few students and teachers here now. I was going to push towards the cafeteria but it looks like the Voidwalkers are already heading there."
The Faunus' words didn't put him at ease. It made him feel like something bad was about to happen. Six picked up the pace, going from a jog to a full-out sprint as he raced to gain control of the situation.
"Keep me posted, and the Mimic may be on site. If you see him on the cameras, don't mention it to anyone."
"Roger sir, I'll keep it quiet," Gratius replied, being the dutiful soldier he was.
The Mimic whipped around several corners, barreling down the halls at top-neck speeds. He was still nearly invisible and he capitalized on it by shifting his running gait, stepping carefully as he ran, and making himself a Silent Runner.
He flew past a few more classrooms before hooking a left and stumbled into an unwelcome scene.
A barrage of gunfire forced the Courier to duck back around the corner he had just come from as a firefight went on in the hall ahead. This was the hall that led to the double doors of the cafeteria, he could see four purple and black individuals dressed in body armor of his design at the far end of the hall firing and retreating from three individuals.
Two were the standard White Fang he had run into but the last was different.
A man dressed head to toe like a cowboy was currently pressing his leather boot into the ribs of a prone Voidwalker mercenary. His worn jeans and a grey button-up shirt were contrasted by the brown duster that ran down to the back of his calves. On top of his head sat a classic brown gus hat. Then a bright blue scarf hung around the man's neck.
The man himself was human, with fair skin, and a short grey beard growing in that was matching the greying tufts of hair that poked out from under his hat. His brown eyes looked tired and that matched his skin which was beginning to wrinkle in a few spots. Six would guess the man was in his forties most likely.
More importantly, currently out of the holster attached to his ornate belt, was a large revolver. Its design was similar to that of Logarius' in that it was blocky. But instead of being entirely rectangular, it featured several grooves that looked similar to grips along its barrel and down to the cylinder. A strange-looking blade was jutting out horizontally along both sides along the bottom of the barrel. The standard grey metallic sheen and black grip adorned the weapon. It looked… Eccentric.
Said revolver was currently smoking and the mercenary below him was most definitely dead with the bullet hole in his mask.
The other two men at the wannabe cowboy's side were attempting to strip the armor and weapons from the Voidwalker.
This clown show had killed his man and was fucking up his plans. That wouldn't be allowed.
Taking a moment, Six made sure to materialize his new powerfists before clipping them to his belt under his duster. This would keep them hidden for now, right next to the Mysterious Magnum.
Taking advantage of being behind the cowboy, Six darted around the corner and fired his Survivalist Rifle.
The first three round burst ripped through one of the grunts at the cowboy's side, causing the second grunt to let out a startled "oh shit" and turn to him. He didn't have time to raise his weapon before three more rounds crashed into his center mass, causing him to fall.
Not wasting any time, Six took aim again and unleashed another three-round burst at the cowboy now. But the intruder was faster than his dead comrades.
The cowboy crouched down, gripping the dead White Fang grunt on the ground. His other hand shot out and caught the still falling second grunt before moving the body in front of him. The rounds hit the dead body but nothing else.
"Looks like we've got a new contender!" The man called out as he charged at the Mimic, using both dead bodies as cover from the Voidwalkers shooting at him from behind and from Six.
Narrowing his eyes, Six pulled the pin on the Burn Dust grenade he scavenged earlier and tossed it at the feet of the cowboy.
In response, the intruder laughed before slamming one dead body he was carrying down on the grenade but he refused to stop running. Instead, he charged forward and tossed the second body at Six as he called out to him.
"You really are here! I didn't believe my employer but we can finally get a good fight in!"
Oh good, one of the crazy ones.
Crazy, but not stupid. That body would serve as a distraction to close in.
The Courier lunged back around the corner he sprang from and into cover. He used the momentary respite to materialize a Burn Dust mine, arm it, and toss it to the ground as the grenade went off around the corner.
He then sprinted ahead of the blast radius as he heard, "You devious littl-" before the mine went off. As it did, he about-faced and dematerialized his rifle, which was out of ammo. Choosing to equip his revolver in one hand as he pulled out the training tray that he had used against team RWBY during their sparring.
When the smoke cleared, parts of the hall's corner were entirely gone now and the area was covered in pitch-black scorch marks. But as Six expected, the cowboy walked out of it perfectly fine.
"I," the man began as he pointed a hand at the Courier. "Can see why they want you dead."
Now that they had a moment, Six could hear more clearly the paced way he spoke. Emphasizing certain words with what Six would call a slightly southern-tinged accent.
Instead of answering, the Mimic fired a round at the man who leaned his body to the right to avoid the round. This made Six narrow his eyes as he thought of a new strategy.
Still walking forward, he put his hands up as he continued, "Now don't get me wrong, but shit, I admire you. I mean, the revolver, the outfit… The way you got EVERYONE running SHIT scared of you."
Activating V.A.T.S Six made sure to time his shots carefully as he aimed first for the intruder's left shoulder and then for his center mass.
When the man leaned to his right again, he found another bullet waiting for him and was forced to bring up a hand to block it, likely draining his Aura.
"And then there's shit like that!" The man admired as he flung his arms out to the side, bent his leg down, and used the moment of straightening it to spin away from Six. What the fuck was he doing?
"The audacity and immediate adapting! Absolutely PERFECT!" The man's tone was practically ecstatic even with his back turned to Six.
Then it shifted, far lower. "There's just one problem…"
Not wasting his chance, Six took aim and fired again while shuffling away from the deranged idiot.
But as he pulled the trigger, the wannabe cowboy flipped a gold coin that Six hadn't noted before. And when the bullet tore through the air at its target, the man slipped, ducking for just a moment and having the bullet go right over him.
What?
The man caught the coin as he leaned back up and partially turned towards Six. He could see that the intruder had a massive grin on his face as he held up the coin and said, "You're stealing my bit."
This must have been the man's Semblance. It required further testing before Six could counter it.
"Oh, and before you get any ideas of having backup, your boys in purple were grabbing their dead friend and running."
That was probably true. When a Voidwalker went down or was injured, it was standard procedure to pull out unless something truly critical was in danger.
"By the way, my turn," the man taunted as he raised his revolver and fired. When Six went to block the weaker Dust bullet with the tray, it instead exploded and Six hissed as he felt the heat nip at his fingers and the force wrenched what little remained of the tray away from him.
The intruder smiled as he made three clicking noises with his tongue. "Gotta be careful of that, Burn Dust is a scary thing!"
The man fired again but this time Six was ready. Reading his movements and noticing the man liked to aim for center mass, Six leaned as the man pulled the trigger, causing the bullet to sail past him and explode somewhere behind him.
"Since I know you're THE Mimic, you can go ahead and call me Jet Cernunn. It's my given name you see." As he spoke Jet continued to walk forward, slowly closing the distance and obviously not taking this seriously yet.
"With those introductions out of the way," Jet began as he leaned forward. "Let's get the fun started!"
Jet rushed forward again, lunging to the left as he hopped out of the way of the first bullet Six sent at him. Then to the right as another missed. But with him closing the distance, he didn't have enough time to avoid the last that slammed into his arm.
Six had a plan, he just needed Jet to get in close so he could finish the fight in one blow.
Once Jet was within fifteen feet, he came to a skidding stop with his feet wide and one arm at his side. The revolver was at the man's hip and his free hand was hovering over the hammer of the revolver.
"Careful Mimic!" The man shouted as Six's eyes widened. "I'm a BIT of a good shot!"
The cowboy slammed his hand down on the hammer multiple times in quick succession, successfully fanning the hammer and sending the last three rounds at Six.
The Mimic was forced to lean too far to his left for the first, dropping to one knee but dodging the first round. This left him compromised for the second shot as he rolled even further to his left and crashed into the wall. The third managed to hit him as he tried to get up, causing Six's body to crash into the wall as the explosion rocked him back. But his armor held.
"Can ya keep up?!" Jet shouted as he pressed a button on his revolver, causing it to shift. The barrel split in half and turned at a ninety degree angle. That horizontal blade that was sticking out of the bottom of the barrel was now in full view. It twisted and turned so that it was facing up and down now, the edge shining.
It was then that the cowboy flipped his gun-blade into the air and it finished the rest of its transformation. The grip of the blade moved upward, becoming straight with the shifting barrel and forming a handle as the shifting barrel came back and formed around the grip, reinforcing the handle.
When it finished, a shining silver bowie knife flipped back down into a reverse grip in Jet's hand, which was currently raised in the air only to be plunged downward towards Six in a stabbing motion.
Six dropped the empty Mysterious Magnum before reaching into his duster and grabbing both of his powerfists.
His left hand shot out and delivered a bone-shattering blow to Jet's blade arm. The right sprung forward and used Burn Dust to explode into the intruder's chest.
The cowboy let out a coughing noise as he skidded back from the blow a few feet, giving the Courier a modicum of room.
Smiling even wider, the intruder lunged forward again but this time delivered a straight kick at him. Only for the Courier to dive for the side and let out a torrent of flame from his gauntlet.
"What the SHIT!" The man cursed as he took fire at point blank. This didn't stop him; he sent another kick at Six, this time smashing the powerfist and wrenching it from his hand and into the far wall.
"You know," the man began as he brought his knife down, "I haven't had this much fun since my Cleaner days!"
Of course this guy was a former Cleaner.
Six reached up and intercepted the man's knife by catching his wrist. But even with his enhanced body, it still only barely held off the man's knife.
In retaliation, Six was forced to use Cold Dust to launch a projectile from his gauntlet; a pale ice spear ramming into the man's gut and causing him to grunt in pain while backing up.
There wasn't going to be any mercy from this enemy. It was easy to see that the man was out for blood though Six still didn't quite understand his motivation.
Scrambling to his feet, Six just barely had enough time to dodge another straight kick sent at him. This time, Six managed to wrap his arm around it and keep the cowboy immobilized.
This was it, with him having nowhere to go, Six prepared to strike through the man's Aura and kill him in one blow.
But as he cocked back his remaining powerfist, he saw the coin get flipped again. And when his powerfist connected, it exploded.
A shower of ice and electricity covered both of them as Six felt searing pain creep up his arm. He gasped as he tried to move but found that he hadn't actually been blown back and his body was unresponsive due to the Lightning Dust coursing through him, causing him to twitch uncontrollably.
Glancing to his side, he could see that the Dust combusted in his gauntlet which caused a massive ice ball to form. Due to how it formed, it had several spikes protruding from it and looked like the explosion caught in real time.
He could also see the cowboy, his entire front end–including his face–was stuck in the ice. Did that mean he was dead? It still left him stuck in the iceball too. His arm and Jet's upper body were trapped in ice.
But as he tried to regain control of his body, Six noted that the ice was cracking. Well, on one hand, Jet was still alive. Bad. On the other, he was about to be free-
Ice chunks flew everywhere as the frozen explosion exploded again, embedding little pieces of ice into the walls as Six fell back and continued to spasm.
Several seconds went by as Six felt his muscles contract involuntarily and pain wracked his body. But eventually, his muscles slowly relaxed, twitching less and less. If Six were a normal man, he had no doubt it would have killed him. Hell, he'd have to check his status on his Pip-Boy after this to make sure it hadn't done anything internal to his less human parts too.
Slowly sitting up, the Courier saw the same spasming movement calming down in Jet. Not that he'd let the man get up.
The Courier slowly got to his feet, every muscle aching. His arm twitched from an after-effect of the Lightning Dust, causing more shooting pain. Looking down, The Courier saw his arm was bent at an uncomfortable angle. Either his arm was dislocated or broken but he had no time for it. He instead materialized his combat knife; it was no Blood Nap, but it would have to do.
It took a moment but slowly he made his way over to the downed man. Every step was like a jolt of pain going through his body. He'd definitely need to sleep this one off.
As he neared, he could see the cowboy's duster had been blown over from breaking free of the ice and Six could see Jet's back. And a bushy little white and brown tail pointing at the ceiling. Huh, he was a Faunus.
A pained yelp escaped Jet as the knife dug into his back. Or, it would've, if it didn't bounce off an invisible barrier. He still had Aura left after that? Why was it always bullshit with these people!
Anger now fueling Six, "fuck it," he muttered as he knew for a fact he had enough killing intent to punch through the wannabe cowboy's Aura, raising his knife for a final time and bringing it down.
"Get off me ya crazy BASTARD!" The Cleaner shouted as he turned over in a flash and a fist collided with Six's mask. A crack ran through the lens as Six was flung away and slammed back first into the ground with a pained gasp. Six hated Aura strength.
Sitting up, Six spotted Jet getting to his feet and forced himself to do the same. Moaning, Six got to his knees, then his hands and knees, and finally to his feet with another groan. He could taste blood now.
"Ha… Haha! Holy… SHIT! You don't have an Aura!" The Cleaner commented, noticing his mask. "What kind of crazy outlandish and straight suicidal madman are you? Who would do all you've done, without AURA!"
The man descended into laughter before being cut off by coughing as he leaned against a wall, cursing as he did. "Shit that smarts…"
The Cleaner's hand moved to his shoulder where Six's combat knife had been embedded. Six must have done that when the cowboy smacked the shit out of him. "Didn't know my Aura was that low…" The man muttered before gripping the knife and tearing it out with a small spout of blood.
"Alright, ready for round two?" The man said as he stood to his full height. Recovering thanks to Aura as it began closing the wound. Stupid, cheating, bullshit Aura.
Not responding, Six gripped his forearm tightly before twisting sharply. An uncomfortable snapping noise was heard as he shifted it back into place. He didn't know if it was broken or dislocated. But as long as it was back in place, his enhancements would heal the rest with time.
The Cleaner blinked at the sight before smiling. "That was kind of bada-"
"Beast coming through!" A new voice called out, a young, brash, stupid, and oh-so-familiar voice.
Six forced himself to lunge sideways, slamming into a wall as a bright ball of fire rushed and slammed into Jet, and another explosion engulfed the man. Six prayed that was enough to actually put him down.
Looking to his left as he leaned his back against the wall, the Mimic saw a congregation of people including everyone he had left in the security room.
"That's how it's done Alex!" Cardin shouted as he raised his mace.
Noting the situation turning sour, Six knelt down and picked up one of his gauntlets, the non-exploded one. He still had a revolver, knife, and broken gauntlet to retrieve.
"Weeeell, shit. That is how it's done isn't it?"
The smoke cleared to reveal a still standing Jet who was smiling like nothing was wrong. Even as his Aura flickered a shimmering gold around him, now low from taking a beating from his Voidwalkers, Six, and Cardin.
"Now where the shit…" The Cleaner trailed off as he glanced around, finding his weapon lying on the ground a few feet away from him. "There ya are beautiful!"
But as Jet leaned down to grab his weapon, a bullet hit his hand, causing his Aura to flare again.
This time it was Jaune who had taken his .45 out and was currently aiming it at the intruder. "Don't think about it," the teenager ordered as he glared the taller man down.
Unlike the other two, Gratius raised his rifle and fired. Behind him was a small mob of people ready to fight. Looks like they were planning on taking the cafeteria after all.
Six knelt down and scooped up his revolver he had been scooting towards as they engaged Jet. Who–in response–calmly knelt down and grabbed his weapon as his free hand flipped that damn coin. And suddenly, Gratius' gun jammed.
"Dust damnit," the Faunus guard muttered as he began trying to fix the jam, checking the chamber to see what was in it.
"Well, I thank you for a mighty fine fight!" The Cleaner said as he shifted his weapon back to its revolver form and stowed it. "But I think this is where we part ways."
The Courier grabbed his discarded and bloody knife as he stared at the coin-loving mercenary, not trusting the man to keep his word.
"As a thank you, and since we got interrupted, I will say that whatever you folks are digging into, Ozpin, the Voidwalkers, it's got someone high up rattled." The Cleaner pointed his finger toward the ceiling and flicked it away from himself. "They want it all to just disappear and for people to stop looking. Why I bet by now, they already wiped everything they needed to. Still couldn't get you and the Voidwalkers though, tough bastards, I'll give you that."
Was he… Telling them why they were here? At least partly? He really was a dumb cowboy knockoff.
"Oh yeah, here," the Cleaner said as he kicked the gauntlet towards Six. "Wouldn't want ya, losing your toys!" The man descended into another fit of laughter before he received another .45 round, this time to the face.
"Everyone's a critic…" The intruder trailed off. "Ah well, see ya around!"
And then all Hell broke loose as Jet turned and ran down the hall. The rest of the students and faculty rushed in their direction and Six clicked his tongue in irritation as he was forced to toss another Fire Burn grenade at them.
This did get them to pause as one of them shouted, "Grenade!" Giving the Courier just enough time to scoop up his damaged gauntlet and pop another Stealth-Boy as the explosion blinded his attackers.
And as they regained their vision, they looked around in confusion.
"How did he just… Disappear? That's bullshit!" Cardin shouted as he looked around.
"We don't have time for complaining," Gratius ordered, covering for the Mimic. "We need to run down that loudmouth before he escapes!"
"That wasn't… Weird to anyone else?"
Jaune's comment was only acknowledged by Alex. "You mean that the weird guy was weird and told us his entire plan?"
"Yeah… That…" Jaune confirmed before being shoved forward by a few people behind him.
"Get moving!"
"Right!" Jaune obliged by running forward and nearly tripping on his feet. Funny that in a possibly life or death situation he was fine. But outside of it? A bumbling fool again. He sure had come quite a way.
The Mimic watched from his position pressed against the wall and invisible. As long as he didn't move and no one bumped into him, he was fine.
And as the group of students and faculty charged past him, Six knew he was in the clear. All he had to do now was change in a room and head to the cafeteria.
House sighed as he readjusted his vest. Much to his chagrin, Six had to scrape and cut the Burned Man's vest to make it look like he had gotten in a scuffle. That and he had stopped to pick up some straggler students.
Right now, three first-year students he vaguely recognized as being in Oobleck's class were following him to the cafeteria. A faunus and two girls. Luckily for him, they were quiet. Which was good, as there could still be more "White Fang" nearby.
Someone had set this up. They had lured his Voidwalkers there to be killed. Shit, one of them did get killed! The thought threatened to send Six into a vile rage. But he had to control himself right now. He couldn't lose his cool when there were witnesses.
The group was trying to cover something up. What that was, Six wasn't completely sure. But they were targeting not only his Voidwalkers but him as well. They wanted both the PMC and The Mimic gone. Probably to keep whatever secret hidden.
He'd gather a bit more information before tracking the bastards down and killing them.
Talking a familiar and burnt left turn, Six led the trio to the cafeteria before opening the doors and seeing a relieving sight.
Students and faculty were organized into small groups and handed food as needed. Others were standing guard and Gratius was talking with a couple of other security guards.
"Situation report," Six ordered as he spotted teams RWBY, JNPR, and even CRDL huddled together. It looked like, despite their differences, an event like this made safety in numbers a necessity.
Gratius turned to him, nodding his head before replying, "The workshop is secure. Communications are back up. There are still pockets of fighting here and there but the Voidwalkers are handling it now. Otherwise, it's just a matter of making sure everyone is doing alright and keeping them fed while we wait for proper authorities to show up."
Good, the situation was under control and he could rest a bit.
"Anything else of note?" Six asked only for Gratius to pull him aside and begin whispering to him.
"We ran into an intruder that got away. We think he was a freelance mercenary not associated with any one group. Jet Cernunn. We're looking into him but he'll likely be branded a public enemy of Vale and a fugitive."
A good start. At the end of the day, Jet was a small fry compared to what was planned. If Vale took care of the mercenary, all the better.
"One other thing, one of the assailants had their arm completely blown off." Gross. "But that isn't important. A lot of his clothes were ripped off and the cameras caught a tattoo of a dog eating a Valesian Burrower before he self-destructed."
Burrows or Valesian Burrowers were a small rodent-like animal from what Six knew. They were local to Vale but had been spotted in other Kingdoms. They closely resembled a mix between a small molerat and certain kinds of mongooses.
Where had he seen that before?
"It's the logo of the Dogs of War, specifically their Vale branch."
Son of a bitch.
Six had no proof of it at the moment but he was almost certain that this was somehow involved with that fucking Councilor Dream. But why? What would he have to gain? Unless it was something he was doing that was being dug into? Possible, but it would have to be something terrible for him to take these lengths. Attacking Beacon Academy? That'd be prison for life at least.
"Don't tell the students but I'd relay that to Huey when you see her," Six replied, sure that the security officer would get that information to Ozpin. And maybe the Headmaster would actually solve a problem for once.
Gratius nodded his head before being called back over to his fellow guards.
Turning his head, Six spotted all three of the problem teams staring at him. Great, did they say something about him?
But the longer they stared, the more… Suspicious they looked? Taking another glance, yeah, they were all either glaring at him or worried because of him.
Six felt someone bump into him and had to hold back a hiss of pain from his healing wounds. When he turned, he spotted the blonde hair, tail, and knowing glare of Sun walking toward the others; his teammate Neptune followed along.
Did team RWBY really… No. They did not just spout… Of course they would. Why wouldn't they want help in taking the Mimic down. They had told the other two teams. Six just felt his problems multiply.
They couldn't do anything about him yet but they would probably be on his ass for the next few weeks. This was a direct consequence of his actions the day before.
No… No. It wasn't all a waste. At least a few of them could likely be won over if he was careful. They probably somehow blamed him for this attack.
Nope, not his problem at the moment! Six turned and headed for the kitchen only to be cut off by yet another unwelcome sight.
A frowning Cinder with her lackeys and a smiling Neo, looking at him with accusations in their eyes.
"Before you ask, no. I have no idea why this happened. I'm as much in the dark as you are. I'll compile a report later."
The Courier cut off any accusations they might have as he grabbed Neo's wrist and marched to the kitchen.
"C'mon, we're getting ice cream."
And her response was a muted 'squee' from the psychopathic girl who probably wanted to murder him.
Author's Notes:
Cardin's eye color changes between volumes, so I went with blue to differentiate him and his cousin.
The name Alexander Junco Logarious for this story is meant to represent "Righteous Grey Defender" and is associated with the junco bird. This is to keep with the bird themes of team CRDL. He may be inspired by Icarus.
Jet Cernunn is based partially off Jetstream Sam and Cernunnos and the color naming convention can be roughly based on brown with accents of blue.
A "gus hat" is essentially a type of cowboy hat.
Gear:
Burned Man's Armor
Elite Riot Gear (Modified: Mimic Edition)
Stealth Suit Mk. II (Firmware Version 1.6)
Civilian Clothing
Beacon Uniform
Rebreather
Maria
Survivalist Rifle
Mysterious Magnum
Modified Anti-Material Rifle.
YCS/186 Gauss Rifle variant (Magnetic Version)
Stimpaks (10)
C4 - Plastic explosives (0)
Burn Dust – Plastic explosives (5)
Detonator.
Frag Grenades (1)
Burn Dust Grenades (54)
Gravity Dust Mines (3)
Burn Dust Mines (40+)
Combat Knife.
Plasma Grenades (3)
Plasma Mines (0)
WulfsBann Power Fist (x2) (Mobility Modification)