Author's Notes:

And we're finally back. I've reached a satisfactory point that I can start uploading again. I'm a little behind on where I want to be in the side story but at the very least I'm ready to continue Remnants of a Courier.

Going forward, the upload schedule will be every two Saturdays. Or two weeks from today. This will continue for the next year and (hopefully) a half if everything goes right. By then we should have reached the conclusion to the Chaos Theory arc.

I hope you all enjoy the read!

"Text"

"Speech"

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

Remnants of a Courier

Arc 4: Chaos Theory

Chapter 55: Truth Emerging

Placing another small wood carving onto his desk, Six hummed to himself as he waited in his room. It was a miniature version of Raul the ghoul, the gunslinger, the Vaquero, and Six's friend. He placed it down next to the carving of Lily.

That was Rex, Lily, and Raul done. Now he just had to finish Ed-E's.

How long had it been since he thought about them? Did he even really get to mourn the loss of his friends? The gruesome ends they met were something he should have prevented. Could have prevented, if not for the traitors in the Mojave.

When he returned, there would be Hell to pay. No one got away with killing his friends. Nobody.

Glancing at the digital clock in his room, Six noted it was 11PM. Neo should be there any minute. It had been two days and she apparently wanted to meet.

Of course, Six had materialized all of his explosives and his Survivalist Rifle, ready in case this was an assassination attempt. Keeping his eye on his compass the entire time.

Sighing, Six reached into his mini-fridge–a wondrous piece of technology–and produced another sugary drink, blue in color. Not bothering to read the logo, Six downed the drink and felt that familiar burn of carbonation in his throat.

A sweet and acidic taste hit his mouth and Six couldn't help but think of mutfruit. The mutated fruit of the wastes had a similar acidic and sweet taste. Though the burning sensation didn't come from carbonation but rather radiation in the fruit itself. Good fruit in the Wasteland.

Six looked down at the name of the drink and noted it was a fruit of some kind, a multicolored berry with the name "Mushfruit Soda" labeled on the side. A Menagerie drink, interesting to Six.

But he didn't have time for interesting drinks as he noticed a green blip on his compass enter the room. However, when he turned, Six couldn't see anyone. She was using her illusions again and she hadn't made a sound when entering.

"Close the door and let's talk."

A light 'click' filled the room as the door closed and an invisible wall of glass crumpled into nothing in front of Six. Behind it stood the multicolored Neo in her true appearance. No student uniform, no lies this time, just a meeting between a gleeful murderer and a terrorist.

Despite a flick of her multicolored hair and a grin on her face, her narrowed eyes confirmed to Six that she was still annoyed that he could detect her despite her illusions.

The thing was, since she created physical illusions, they technically did work on him, but his compass was the perfect counter. And no one escaped the Courier's Perception.

"And what can I do for you, Miss Neapolitan?" Six quizzed as he leaned back in his chair.

When the woman nodded her head towards the wooden figures on his desk, Six turned and glanced as well. Right, he hadn't put those away.

"It's a hobby."

The reply earned a confused look from the psycho who tilted her head to the side and pointed at them again. Then at him, then at them again.

"Yes, I do have hobbies," Six began, feeling a tad bit annoyed. "And yes, I do have downtime despite what Roman and Cinder do to make it otherwise." He leaned forward, tired of her games. "Can I help you?"

The mute rolled her eyes at his words before producing a note from one of her pockets, handing it to him and getting comfortable on his bed. A rather long note.

"To my Second Favorite Employee,

Given recent events and my incarceration, I've had time to think. Not as much time as you'd expect given James and his specialists visiting to get information from me. They won't. Why, I even got a visit from the mysterious and illustrious Headmaster Ozpin. But still, I've had a bit of time.

At first, my knee jerk reaction was to say no to your offer. This plan has been a long time in the making and Cinder is a very scary woman when angry, let alone betrayed. But I realized something about what you said.

When I played over the words you said on that train over and over, I came to a realization. You tricked me. You tricked Cinder.

You kept your cards close to your chest. Didn't tip us off, did your research, found our plans, and made plans of your own. All while you still did your job. You're kind of a nutcase. I mean, who in their right mind would try to do that all at the same time? You have resources that I have no idea how you got a hold of and the funding to back it. You're a certifiable threat to Cinder. And I hate her guts anyway.

You even offered me something bigger than a score or Lien, a position of power, real tangible power to affect things on Remnant. But more importantly than all of that.

You tricked me. You tricked Cinder. And if you tricked us, who can't you trick? James, Ozpin, everyone? And if you tricked her once and she doesn't know, you can do it again.

This doesn't mean I'm completely on your side, mind you. I just think you're a decent alternative. Consider this an 'I won't get in your way' truce. Similar to what you said Adam agreed to. I won't help you but I won't get in your way either. I'm just feeling out which option is better.

But in a show of good faith, I'll give you a little detail.

I'm on the main Atlesian airship that has a direct line of communication with every other airship and a direct means to control them and the androids.

Hope you win,

Roman Torchwick, the Greatest Thief to Ever Live

P.S. Emerald's Semblance is causing hallucinations for people that only they can see and hear."

Six couldn't help the smile that split his face, a smile that most would have found disturbing on the usually stoic Courier. One that hurt it was so wide.

This was it! Finally, he had all the information he needed for the Festival. With this, he could finally put the last pieces into place for the event. And it was going to be a grand event indeed.

With Roman on the ship, he'd escape, probably with the help of Neo on the day of the Vytal Festival. The conman would either upload Queen's Gambit directly to the Emperor Maxim–the ship Ironwood was holding Roman on–or Roman would open a direct channel to the CCTV tower where Cinder could transfer it from.

She'd have complete control over the airships and the androids, have the White Fang attacking the city, and the Grimm causing even more of a mess. With all the Huntsman out, it would be easy for a team to slip inside Beacon using information that Six had provided from the inside. From there, quick access to the Maiden; Cinder's ultimate goal.

What event would kick it off though? It had something to do with Emerald if what Roman hinted at was correct. A hallucination given to a specific individual during the Festival perhaps? Something that would shock the crowd and cause mass fear and panic.

Cinder's team would be participating in the Festival… With boots on the ground, it had to be someone at the stadium. No one in the crowd would be important… The teachers would be nigh untouchable…

Wait, the students. With her control over the CCTV tower and almost every system across Vale, she could probably control the stadium and more. And if the students were fighting, all Cinder would have to do is pair a student with one of her own to have them accidentally get hurt or even killed. A flock of negative emotions from live television all over Vale, then a White Fang attack, weakening their defenses for the Grimm.

But then how would they get to Beacon from there? Maybe slip away in the confusion?

Six glanced down at his Pip-Boy and navigated through his folders, going through every profile on the students he sent to Cinder.

Then his gaze paused on Pyrrha's file. Cinder had specifically asked for team RWBY's and Pyrrah's. Was it because they were the targets?

No, team RWBY was simply harassing her plans. But she definitely wanted Pyrrha… Perhaps she had been looking at other Academies as well.

Twisting a dial on his Pip-Boy and searching through the roster for the Vytal Festival, Six found nothing of note save for the AI that would be participating in the tournament. But Cinder hadn't seemed to care for the AI's existence. Though it would be convenient if Pyrrha and this 'Penny' fought. With the not-spartan's Semblance of polarity, it would tear the AI apart and solve Six's problem for him.

Six filed the idea away as possible but unlikely as Cinder hadn't registered any interest in the AI so far. If that changed, he'd bump the priority of the AI.

That was enough theorizing for now. It didn't matter who in the end Cinder decided to target if that even was her plan. As long as she caused the disruption to get to the Maiden, it would open up Vale and the fleet for Six's plans.

Closing the holographic display of his Pip-Boy–another thing he had Remnant to thank for–Six turned his attention back towards Neo to find that she had gotten a little too comfortable on his bed.

The Courier sighed as he noted that she had completely passed out on his bed. He still glanced at his compass to confirm it was her and not an illusion.

Having no desire to wake the mute psychopath from her nap, Six turned back around to his desk. He dematerialized the figures he had been carving before placing new items on the desk. A few vials of Acid Dust, a shell casing, primer, charcoal, nitrate, and a few tools with them.

Time to see if Acid Dust could be useful for gunpowder.

Neo awoke to find she was still in her plaything's room. Honestly, she was a little disappointed. Not by being in his room of course but by the room itself. And that he didn't try to kill her. After all, they had pushed the man around quite a bit.

What would someone expect to see if they broke into a murderous terrorist's home? Religious paraphernalia, weapons, skulls, other exotic items? No. Josh's–the name she preferred for him in her head–room, much like his House persona, was plain. A workbench, a minifridge, a chair, and a bed. That was it. In fact, the only thing of particular note were those action figures he was carving.

And glancing over to the bench, they were gone now too. But replaced by something new.

Strange brass-colored bullets sat on her plaything's desk. Strange, most bullets were colored by whatever Dust they were housing. Non-specialized or standard Dust rounds were a greyish-white color, most made by companies in Atlas.

What was even stranger was Josh still being awake. Had he not gone to sleep? Neo had arrived pretty late and she liked her beauty sleep.

Right now, the man in question had his weird wrist-scroll–A 'Pip-Boy'–displaying several different lines of what Neo assumed was code. Probably that Common… Common Atlas Programming something? The CAPL thing he kept researching. It wasn't Neo's fault that the name was stupidly long.

Sitting up from her spot on his bed–which felt suspiciously like it was rarely used–Neo turned and grabbed her Scroll before rapidly typing in a message.

"Morning," her plaything greeted as he continued to alter whatever words and letters were on his screen.

"What're you doing? And hey." She sent back via text.

"Working on some code, just a little change to a certain program to make it more useful."

His response earned an annoyed glare from her as she stood up. Word games weren't something she enjoyed. She was the one who got to be coy, no one else.

Josh turned and stared back at her while tilting his head. "You and Roman decided not to side with me completely, so I'm not going to tell you."

Stupid Roman, now she didn't get let in on the secret! And she did love a good secret.

"By the way, this rumor going around. About you and me. End it."

Oh? Oh! That was interesting. He was demanding she end these little rumors about the two of them. The scandal, the intrigue, the stupid students that believed them! How could she stop such entertainment!

Plus it messed with Josh apparently, another bonus!

The beautiful and cunning criminal that she was, Neo of course gave an eloquent reply. A firm shake of her head and a wide smile.

"Why not?" Josh's tone had grown indignant at her denial. "Don't tell me you're actually enjoying these rumors?"

Then a fun idea entered her head, a fun and mischievous idea. The best kind!

A few quick taps of her scroll and she sent a new message.

"Maybe I'm jealous?"

Her plaything read the message and merely stared at it for a few moments. Eventually, he turned his head back towards her. "Jealous of what exactly? I thought you only ever thought about Roman."

A pout formed on her lips. How dare he assume such, she was a woman with her own life too. Just because some hussy was coming along and taking his time didn't mean anything. Not that it would matter soon thanks to Josh. Soon Cinder wouldn't be in the picture.

Maybe she'd get a better reaction out of her plaything if she capitalized on his weakness.

Neo's pout turned into a grin as she activated her Semblance. That familiar feeling of flexing a muscle returned as she put on her new look.

Now, even Neo was taller than the child she was trying to impersonate. But being off by a little less than half a foot wasn't too bad.

Long red hair and a green hoodie adorned her body as a medical patch covered one of her eyes. If she wanted to, she could even make herself seem smaller, replicating the girl's height. But that was a little too much effort for a prank.

And now she stood in all her glory as a slightly taller Carmine. She gave that same pouting look but this time she did her best to throw her best hurt puppy-dog eyes along with it. It would be fun to see his react-

A gloved hand gripped her throat and Neo let out a wheeze as she felt her back slam against the wall behind her. Her feet were dangling off the floor as she looked up into the bandaged face of Josh.

Green eyes of fury met her own as the side of Josh she liked surfaced.

"Listen carefully," he began, the hand around her throat squeezing tighter. "Your attitude has been beyond a nuisance to me. I have put up with it because I want an alliance with Roman and that is the only reason why you continue to breathe."

Her back slid along the wall as her plaything raised her further into the air.

"But make no mistake, there are limits to my patience. This is one of them." His grip tightened further, threatening to cut off her oxygen despite her Aura. A monstrous strength for someone without Aura.

His voice was low but gravelly. No, not gravelly, she'd liken it more to crackling or maybe a roaring fire? That was new and interesting!

"Attempt to meddle with Carmine or even mention her name and I will kill you, find Roman, and tell him exactly why it's your fault he has to die too. Understand?"

Neo rolled her eyes but nevertheless nodded her head. It wouldn't be good to have to kill her plaything yet. Because despite his bravado they both knew the truth.

The fake student lowered the tip of her umbrella from Josh's ribs, a move she had pulled when the fake instructor had initially rushed her. If he had truly tried to kill her, she would have in turn ran him through.

And just as he began lowering her, a knock came from the door.

Six turned his gaze away from her and to the door. The anger that had threatened to snap Neo's neck then and there was still slowly subsiding but he needed to compose himself now.

Dropping Neo unceremoniously, Six made his way over to the door as he pointed to a corner expectantly.

With a small pout, the mute did as she was told, getting into the corner before using her Semblance to make herself disappear. Good, that was at least the immediate concern out of the way.

The Courier took his time undoing the extra locks he installed on the door, letting whoever it was on the other side stew for a moment.

That tactic turned out to be a miscalculation when Six opened the door to be greeted by grey hair and a set of glasses.

"Ah, Instructor House, I've been meaning to have a chat with you," Headmaster Ozpin greeted with a small smile.

Author's Notes:

I don't usually like cliffhanger chapters (save for big events) but this current chapter felt really disjointed so I split it in two.

Six during the first arc upgraded his Pip-Boy to share many of the features of a modern scroll with all the durability and security of a Pip-Boy. Still liking a physical aesthetic, the Courier's Pip-Boy has a combination of analog and holographic controls.

I hope you liked this chapter and look forward to the next one coming the 23rd.

Reviews

As promised, I'll be going over a few questions and comments left by you wonderful readers. I won't do this for every chapter but I did promise it for this one!

clog: "neo better be in his room in a French girl pose with a goddamn rose in her mouth cause we gotta find out wtf is going on between them, on a side note I think sulfur might be a little to prominent an element to write off completely it has a SHIT ton of uses its used for."

Author: I hope the chapter was enough for you regarding Neo. And as for sulfur, don't worry, that will be addressed later. In fact, I've had a very in depth discussion with one reader about that specific element.

Fiumi: "Will Arrowfell game canon be used? It would be interesting to see the BRIR team since they are mercenaries"

Author: Reference the Author's Notes at the end of Chapter 54. The games MAY be lightly referenced at times but I will only be taking small bits and pieces from them.

doomforzombies16: "So I take it Six would side with the brotherhood to completely destroy the institute if he was in the commonwealth at the time? Id be interested in a story where Six does find out about the institute (and all the "fun" in the commonwealth/far harbor) but I understand that you have alot planned"

Author: I would say that's fairly accurate. Six does not like AI for a couple different reasons. As for the Institute, not in this story, but maybe in a future one.

ivan1305: "oh so he is going to nitrate celulose using acid dust as the sulphuric acid and make it into nitrocelulose smokeless powder, but where is he going to get the nitric acid?"

Author: This will be the last question I cover as it's a fairly important one and something I need to address more now.

Acid Dust, and many of its cousins (as there are many different sub-types of Acid Dust), have entirely replaced certain elements on the periodic table. As in, those elements do not exist on Remnant. This will be explained in a later chapter, but for now, make of this what you will.

Outro

And that's it. We're back in the swing of things. Stay tuned and I hope you are excited for the next chapter.