The Courier wandered the halls of the pristine Beacon Academy, based on how he's not locked away in a jail cell yet, Ozpin probably have some more jobs for him later down the line. As he pass by the students the in the halls, their curious gazes making him walk even faster than before, he thought about this place and what it could possibly be, or where it could possibly be.
His Pip-Boy hadn't pick up any sign of radiation in a long while, except for that time with the train but the fallout of the Mini-Nukes were minimal at worst and ignorable at best. Arcade told him about that, something about how Mini-Nukes are dirty bombs like the ones dropped in the Great War. The Courier was sceptical when Arcade told him that nukes normally have a low amount of radioactive fallout, normal nukes that is, not the specialized ones used two hundred years ago.
He determined that the Mini-Nukes were the same, using radioactive materials to deliver a substantially more powerful payload rather than spreading radiation everywhere, so they were basically really powerful grenades with a light amount of radiation side effect. He wondered if anybody got irradiated when the train went off in the tunnels, the Courier hoped not, he never wanted to deal with feral ghouls ever again.
The Courier thought about smashing the tracker and running away a few times now, especially when that bird dude was passed out from the moonshine that the Courier took out. But something stopped him from just running away, for all that he spouted back there on the train about going through with his and whatnot… maybe he'll stay as Ozpin's appointed merc for a while longer.
Once they're done with him then he'll be done with them, when that final mission comes, they can kiss his ass goodbye. But right now? Might as well try to get the most out of this arrangement before he hauled ass to Vacuo or something. Ozpin didn't provide him with a Scroll though, probably because he thought the Courier's Pip-Boy was a modified wrist-mounted one, and that he never brought it up in the first place.
He used the computers in the library to open up a world map, imagine his surprise when it's not his world that he's in right now. Explains all the greenery he supposed. He thought about this for a moment before realizing that if anyone were to find out, Ozpin included, then that'd just make shit infinitely more difficult for him in the long run.
Apparently, everybody living in the cities has a profile attached to them stored in a place called the CCTS; Ozpin said to him back in that police station that he technically didn't exist, as a result of his profile not being there on the CCTS. Speaking of, how did Ozpin know that he wasn't in the databases? Unless the old headmaster went off on facial features alone then it was highly unlikely how he would've known that the Courier wasn't on the databases.
Two possibilities, fingerprints or blood, and seeing as how the Stealth Suit covered his body completely, the only reasonable explanation as to how they know that he wasn't in the databases would be a blood sample, probably taken when he was asleep.
Oh well, maybe he should sleep more frequently so that he won't just collapse during important moments. Before he came to 'Remnant', as this world was called, he'd stay awake for weeks on end, despite having a bionic brain; sleep still plagued the Courier as if he were any ordinary person. Thanks to his insomniac behaviour, he found out that Mentats worked really well to repel sleep! How interesting, probably an unintended side-effect, they were really smarty after all.
He read about all the cool, zany, and different places he could go to after his eventual escape from Ozpin's clutches, Mistral looked like his kind of place, crime everywhere, casinos everywhere, brothels every other street, perfect. Reminded him of Freeside a lot, just a lot less dirty. Atlas seemed like a nice place to visit as well, snow was rare in the Mojave, and you can only find them in Jacobstown so Atlas looked really appealing to him.
Vacuo just seemed like another Mojave so he'd rather avoid that place.
Mantle seemed nice but living under a floating island with minimal sunlight would definitely make the Courier go mad.
Maybe he'd stay in Vale… as a wanted criminal so nevermind.
He'll make his vacation plans later; right now he has to act as security for some kind of upcoming event called a 'dance' where people dance and music plays so that they can dance harder. It sounded pretty interesting, maybe he can introduce these youngins' to his type of music, hoped they like Western.
The dance's not until a couple of days from now, seeing as how the White Fang's ramping up their bullshit, it'll probably be delayed until the next week or so. He really hoped that he wouldn't get thrown back in jail before he got to attend the dance.
The dance's supposed to be a preface for something called the 'Vytal Festival'; the Courier didn't know what it is but it sounded pretty cool so he hoped he won't get executed before that as well. Maybe he'll infiltrate the CCTS and insert his made up profile into the databases so that he can finally buy the local alcohol without having to steal them.
The dance takes place at night, minimal security and everyone's too busy being bombarded with music to really pay any attention to a sneaky mailman breaking into their data vaults. Making up his mind about his future plans, he entered the training grounds at the request of Glynda, probably so that she could beat him up in front of the students.
To the casual student of Beacon Academy, the Courier was an assistant teaching aide, who might as well not have any job to do seeing as how everyone in Beacon was qualified and competent at their job. Most teachers here don't need an assistant with them because they're good teachers, Ozpin just made up a job for him on the spot because that'll look less suspicious.
Besides, only one team in the entirety of Beacon knows about his past actions as a White Fang terrorist and he only ever beaten up one child of said team, nothing too damning, they've probably forgotten all about him already.
Stepping into the training hall, he immediately noticed the black-haired Blake girl sitting in the stands staring at him with undisguised hatred in her eyes. Okay, so maybe they haven't forgotten about his actions with the train.
The Courier also noticed that every student's eyes were on him, nobody seemed to know who he was except for team RWBY and that dorky blonde kid with the punchable face, "Ah Mr. Courrier, I've been waiting for you for the past twelve minutes," Goodwitch approached him with a glare, did she have any other expression other than frustration and hate? Probably not, "You're late when I specifically told you not to be late, where were you?"
"The school's really big," the Courier laughed, attempting to come off as cool and relatable to the students watching in the stands, he already took a bunch of Mentats and alcohol before he got here and getting the student population on his side would probably delay his execution by a day or two, "Sorry, I've just been walking around and admiring the architecture, not because I was lost, obviously, how are you?"
Someone snickered when the Courier held out a hand for Goodwitch to shake before getting silenced by her whipping her head to face them, the Courier looked too, the one that laughed was the same kid that that thief Roman captured back in that mountain cave.
Black hair with red streak, weird 'combat' dress, big-ass scythe, yep that's her.
"Doesn't matter," Goodwitch huffed and turned away from the Courier, "You're the new assistant teacher hired by Ozpin, correct?"
"That's right, so how will I assist in teach today?"
"Every teacher in Beacon Academy is capable of defending themselves; it is my job to make sure the new hires do too."
"So you're going to beat me up?"
"Precisely."
"Damn."
"I assume you have all of your equipment on you, Mr. Courrier?" Goodwitch took out her riding crop and whipped it to the side, the Courier saw nearly every student flinched at the motion.
"Sure do," the Courier took out his Old Glory, "So when do we get started?"
"When your Aura's synced up with the machine," shoot, he forgot about that, "I'm waiting, Mr. Courrier, why isn't your Aura showing on the screen?"
"Oh uh… I- umm… does it matter? Maybe it's broken! I can repair it later… let's just start now, don't want to keep the students waiting am I right? Hehe…" they say Aura's the physical manifestation of a person's soul, usually obtained through rigorous training or a near death experience… then why the fuck doesn't he have it? It would've been so useful during his romp through the Sierra Madre!
Must be a world-specific thing… or he just doesn't have a soul, both sounded pretty plausible to the Courier.
"Hmm… I supposed you're right."
"Great! Awesome! Cool, let's start now, yeah?"
"Indeed."
The Courier fought many things before, people too, of all different sizes, skills, and weapons. Explosives? Been there. Guns? Done that. Plasma? Anything new? He thought that Glynda would just be another tough melee opponent, similar to that of Legate Lanius or those Marked Men fucks in the Divide but with an extra forcefield or two before he could actually get some real damage in.
All of this was thrown out of the window when Goodwitch flicked her riding crop and sent a hailstorm of rocks at him, and they weren't pebbles, oh no, they were rocks the size of his head!
Holding back a surprised yelp, the Courier ducked underneath the flying projectiles, letting them slam into the ground below, more rocks started flying right afterwards. Realizing that he can't dodge every single fucking rock launched by Goodwitch, the Courier whispered, "Stealth Suit, have Implant GRX on standby and activate a charge now!"
Thankfully, no one heard what he said; the Stealth Suit called him her 'best friend forever!' before dosing him with a small amount of Turbo from the Implant. The rocks slowed down to a more manageable level, the Courier sighed before using the Old Glory to bat away the rocks and dash towards Goodwitch.
Implant GRX only lasted for three seconds and he had ten doses, so he had a total of thirty seconds of Turbo to support him during the fight. Goodwitch looked surprised at his burst of speed and jumped back before he could swing the Old Glory at her, missing by a small margin as the Implant wore off before he could get a hit in.
From the looks of it, Goodwitch finally realized that the Courier wasn't just some ordinary White Fang goon with negligible combat ability, finally taking the fight seriously; she took out a vial of Ice Dust and used her Semblance to attack the Courier with a shard of ice, or rather many shards of ice.
Goodwitch also noticed something; the Courier always dodged her attacks instead of letting his Aura take the hit, either he had an extremely low Aura that wasn't picked up by the machine or he had no Aura at all. Goodwitch did not like the sound of either option.
A storm of ice shards meant another dose of the Implant, but every time the Courier would get close for a swing of the Old Glory, Goodwitch would always back away faster than he could follow through with his attack. The Courier only had three seconds to move through Goodwitch's attacks and attack her at the same time, if he understood correctly; Goodwitch could very well beat him in combat if she wasted his Implant's Turbo supplies.
Only eight doses left and he had made zero progress so far, he needs to step up his game, and fast!
Activating the Implant again, the Courier took a hit of Jet and quickly moved in front of Goodwitch, instead of weaving through the rocks and ice shards, he just ran through, not caring about the sharp edges slashing through the skin of his face while the Stealth Suit protected him from any harm.
Goodwitch tried to back away but the Courier, still under the effects of the Implant for another half a second or so, grabbed her riding crop and pulled her towards him. His face riddled with slashes as blood dripped from every wound, before Goodwitch could use her Semblance, the Courier headbutted her as hard as he could.
Goodwitch's Aura shimmered as it protected her from the Courier's powerful headbutt; her head was knocked back but the Courier, using his grip on her riding crop, pulled her back in again for another headbutt.
The students gasped and whispered amongst one another as the Courier stood there bloodied, his hand holding on to Goodwitch's weapon as he prepared himself, his vision blurred, the sounds become muffled. Right now was just him fighting her; the students might as well not be there.
The Courier's head was stopped in place by a strange force as Goodwitch used her Semblance on him, holding his head in place as she called off the match, "Time out! Mr. Courrier! Care to explain why you didn't use your Aura for the match?"
The Courier blinked before letting go of Goodwitch, he reached a hand up to his face, tracing the wounds he got from Goodwitch's ice shard attack and look at his fingers, true enough, there was blood. A lot of it.
"Oh I don't… have… Aura…" the Courier chuckled nervously as the Stealth Suit injected him with a Stimpak, "Don't worry though… the wounds, they uh… heal really quickly…"
Glynda watched in mild shock as the Courier's wounds closed, the gashes being knit back together as the blood dried on his face, "It's a part of my…" Just lie, Courier, they wouldn't know anyways, "Semblance… yeah, it's my Semblance."
"Semblance?" Goodwitch asked incredulously, "Forgive me for doubting you, Mr. Courrier, but your 'Semblance' made it so that you have no Aura?"
"Hey, if Semblances can do shit-" "Language." "Sorry, stuff like picking up rocks and throwing it at people without any drawbacks then it should be able to do something like this as well!"
"Can it?"
"I don't know! These things are weird; they're like freaky magic in a way," some of the students laughed at the thought of Semblances being similar to magic, "Take your Semblance for example, how can you pick up a rock with your Semblance? Does your Aura provide the force needed to lift the rock?"
"In order to move something, you have to apply a force to it!" the Courier continued, "Your Semblance somehow moved a rock but what force did you apply to the rock? It's like magic! Like actual magic!"
Goodwitch seemed to wince every time the Courier mentioned magic, something to bring up later he supposed, "We will have this conversation later, Mr. Courrier, preferably after you cleaned yourself up," and with that, Goodwitch shooed the Courier out of the training hall by picking him up with her Semblance and throwing him out.
Damn it. This'll complicate things; maybe he should've just let her win…
Picking himself up from the floor, the Courier wiped the dried blood of his face and made his way back to the room provided to him by the headmaster, unaware of a pair of red eyes following him as he walked through Beacon.
Looks like FFNet finally got their shit together, I'll be answering the reviews now, yay.
maskedkeeper: This chapter should resolve your issue, I hope, because the Mini-Nukes were not dirty bombs intending to spread radiation like the ones in the Great War. In game, when they explode, the Mini-Nukes only leave behind a small amount of rads per second before that disappears with time.
The people of Vale probably won't be hit with radiation sickness anytime soon because anyone near the wall would be vaporized instantly and the only ones allowed to even enter the area of explosion would either be Huntsman or the police.
Anyways, thanks for reading!