Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 11

Back home

Winter was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the power was diverted to the teleported, now that Mr. House had completely automated Hoover Dam alongside El Dorado substation the Lucky Thirty-eight had now acted as a Beacon (pun completely intended but she would never let anyone know) to all the Mojave.

The teleporter room resided in the deeper levels of the large tower, one of the many secrets areas that Mr. House had repurposed after the… peculiar incident after their first test back in the Big MT, the many faces of the same person made her smile at how silly it had been even if it was slightly traumatizing as well "Winter!" a voice snapped her out of her thoughts making her smile.

"Sarah" the small blonde ran to give her a small hug "What are you doing back here? It has been just like a day at most!"

Winter nodded "I know, we began construction on the new bridge between worlds but there was a slight… incident so now here we are. Right now priority is to return to my world and then set up the bridge, we should be able to send some materials to aid Freeside and West Vegas"

Sarah nodded "Yeah, by the way is Six around… I wanted to talk to him about something."

The specialist nodded "He should still be speaking with Mr. House, is there something wrong?" the blonde shook her head and adjusted her glasses "Not really, Marcus one of the Super Mutants from Jacobstown sent a message to him, the supermutants would like to set up trade with the city in exchange of protection of the road to Jabostown."

"Really now?" the few interaction she had with supermutants had ben less than pleasant, the nightkin that slammed her into the roof back in Repcon came to mind. Sarah for her part nodded "Yeah, I mean more wood and minerals from the mines sounds like a great deal. Raw materials are always welcomed, specially now that your friends on the Big Mt ask for so much of it"

Right, the brains always wanted something or another to progress "science" or to settle their petty squabbles, it was a miracle that they did not question anything about why Six (or rather Doctor Mobius) needed a multi-dimension teleporter and were he was going, she did not need them to experiment on aura and other things. Ethics were not on the list of things the geniuses were big on "And what is your opinion on the supermutants think there is something ulterior to it?"

"What? No no I don't think so, Marcus was very kind when Six and I went to Jacobstown to save Rex, he just wants the supermutants to live in peace. Seems like Six agrees with him."

Winter nodded "I am glad that his views on Supermutants changed."

"A lot changed about him, thank you" Sarah said with a small wink, Winter scoffed and ruffled her hair "Shut up, I need a favor if you have time. There are four teenagers in my room, please go get them. Gathering energy took less time than expected so if there's nothing else for us to do here we need to get back to my world and let the General about this whole fiasco. We are being spied on" Winter said as her eyes narrowed at nothing.

Sarah nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder "It will be all right, I'll be back with your teenagers hehe"

Winter was once again left to her own thoughts and distracted herself by making plans on her mind and trying to write a report on everything that had happened, the elevator opened making her turn around "I bumped into Sarah on the way down, House is wasting no time on making things efficient, eh?" Six said with a grin. His red eye watched with amusement how the machine began to open the portal "Soon we might have a permanent portal between worlds, it would be nice"

"Yes, but the next one must be built in a more secure location. I can't believe that we were sabotaged on Vale of all places, Headmaster Ozpin needs to strengthen his security over the region. I doubt this would have happened in Atlas"

Six chuckled "I don't know I've yet to meet the famous city, they tell me the women in there are real lookers"

"Careful Mr. Six I am a taken woman" Winter gave him a grin, under the light of the portal their faces grew closer and their lips were about to meet-"EHEM!" Sarah coughed into her fist while team RWBY simply giggled in the background.

Six gave them a fake glare "Couldn't you have waited like a minute?"

"If you want, we can go back to the room to give you space Mr. Mailman" Yang said as she wiggled her eyebrows, Six snorted "Nah no need, lets just get you girls back home. I think you had enough of the wasteland for now" Ruby nodded slowly "Yeah… I want to go back home, is less confusing there" the courier nodded and walked up to the machine that allowed the fantasy of traveling to another worlds a reality and pulled down the lever.

The screen narrowed down the location back to where the accident in Vale took place and began to open the portal "Everyone, team RWBY goes first then Winter and I will be the last one. Sarah feed Rex and that tiny devil" Sarah chuckled and walked up to give the tall man a hug "Take care"-"You too little one, if anything happens just reach out to Cass or Boone. Neither of them decided to leave the region"

Winter felt a small nudge at her side "Sister who is that?"

"Sarah… no last name as far as I know, she and Six are family. Not by blood but he has adopted her, not that anyone in the wasteland cares about that sort of paperwork" Winter commented as the portal opened and everyone waved at the girl before the jumped into the light one by one. Ruby was the first to land and feel her aura flare on her hand "What?" the burning remains of the warehouse greeted her as the sound of a firetruck could be heard in the distance "Wow is like if minutes have passed!" Yang commented as she appeared next to her alongside Weiss and Blake. Six and Winter followed, noticing their surroundings they shared a look "At least we are not at the moment of the explosion, that would have been worse honestly" Winter said with a sigh.

Six for his part shrugged "At least we are getting more precise, I think we are just a little bit to the left of where the original portal was. With a stationary teleporter I think we will no longer have that issue" a small Bullhead landed next to them as Ironwood followed by another specialist rant o them "Schnee! Are you okay?"

"Fine sir, we activated the portal in time to escape to Earth. As you can see we were accompanied by some students" Winter pointed at team RWBY who could only wave awkwardly. Ironwwod nodded "I am just glad everyone is okay. What happened?"

Six pulled out a burning corpse from the rubble "They happened; a small group of this little jerks appeared out of nowhere. Things got a bit out of control as you can see" Ironwood frowned and turned to look at the small group "I need to speak with Ozpin about this, seems like danger is around every corner here in Vale. We can't let this slow us down, we will figure this out. For now, lets just get you all back to Beacon"

The small group packed themselves into the Bullhead and let out a sigh "Feels like forever since I saw my room" Yang commented making Blake snort "It was like, three days ago tops" the blonde bombshell chuckled "But I can still miss it!"

Weiss turned to Winter "I guess it was worst for you huh?"

"Some days were… longer than others, but I had a goal in mind and that helped me focus and with the myriad of problems that the Mojave had to offer I was always busy. That year and something was over before I knew it" Winter said as she relaxed against the comfortable cushions. Ruby seemed to be sad as she looked down at the city "I will never take civilization for granted again"

Yang looked over at her sister in worry "You okay there Rubs?"

"I guess, I was just feeling sad about the people from Six's world. I wouldn't want what happened to Earth happen to us" Ruby commented, Weiss was the first one to comment "But that would be impossible Ruby, we don't have that kind of fire power. Even if some maniac wanted we couldn't wipe each other off the Remnant"

Winter nodded at Weiss "Indeed, but Grimm could" the general frowned at that "Your sister is right Schnee, we might have not a weapon capable of mass destruction. But the threat of Grimm is just as grave and even less understood than the malice of man, we are at war too and if we lose everything we have tried to protect will be lost."

A grave silence filled the ship as the words from the general hung heavy in the air, the only sound that could be heard was Six playing around with his PipBoy. When they touched down on Beacon the Headmaster and Glynda went to check on the girls "Are you okay?"

Ruby gave a weak thumbs up "Never better"

Ozpin smiled at the girl with the grey eyes and the turned to Six and Winter "Thank you for saving my students"

"You should be proud Headmaster, your students handled themselves like professionals on my world. Saved some slaves too while they were at it" Six said with a smile, Glynda shuddered at the mention of slaves and looked at the girls again just to make sure no bruises were on them. Yang smiled at the teacher "Aw I knew you cared teach"

Glynda snorted "I have always cared Miss. Xiao-Long" she flicked her finger over the forehead of the blonde making her yelp a little, as everyone began to leave towards their respective rooms Six and Ozpin stayed behind. "I saw your little signal Mr. Six, is there something I can do for you?"

"I just wanted to ask you some questions if you have the time sir" Six said as he prepared his PipBoy to show some images, the headmaster nodded and extended his hand as a go-ahead signal "Right, how can I open my own company here? I think I can begin to fulfil my part of the deal sooner than expected, I have right here everything I need to begin construction on some machines, protectrons and builditrons to be precise."

Ozpin smiled at the man "I might be able to help you with a factory, is the portal still priority for you? or are you more inclined to help us up our defenses with your machines?" Six gave a shrug and a small smile "I guess the portal is still more important, I think I would prefer to have robots from my home helping me work the factories and stuff. Sensitive information about the other world and other words that I am sure that your general friend can shower you with"

Ozpin chuckled "I guess that's true, for now let's focus on the portal then. I think for now is best if we build it close to home, our enemies are tracking our movements. Who knows where they might jump from, have a good day Mr. Six" the courirer nodded as he looked down at his wrist and gave it a little shake to see the full picture.

Protectrons and Builditrons where first on the list that was for sure, but next came the more powerful units. Securitrons, Sentry-bots and even the long thought lost unit, the Assaultron, were all in his little data base and the best thing they were almost impossible to hack or break once they were connected to a secure network and that Network was impossible to hack because it had a mind of its own.

"Hi! Thank you for not destroying me! I am super happy to help you in your endavours! And I am not just saying that because my programming is forcing me to!" Yes man wrote to him on his PipBoy making the Courier grin from ear to ear. He gave a quick reply to the rogue securitron that now resided on his wrist thanks to Mr. House and his knowledge of machines "Sorry about the cramped space I will get you a new home soon enough"

Six turned to look at the sky and spotted the shattered moon and some stars "Somewhere with a nice view my friend"

He had a lot of work to do, Remnant was safe now. But this Grimm things were just the tip of the iceberg, there was something here that he was not seeing and the air around him stank of change and schemes.

Ozpin was scheming, so is the general.

And now he would try his luck in their little pot of power.

"Sir, someone wants to speak to you"

Nate stopped tending to his weapon and smiled at his fellow brotherhood of steel member "One of the locals? I am sure that we can find some supplies for them. give them a helping hand and all that"

The knight simply shook his head and removed his helmet with a sigh "Negative, an ex member of the Brotherrhood of steel. Small looking woman wearing what looks like to be a potato sack, said she knows Elder McNamara only reason why she wasn't told to get lost"

"Oh… and why does she want to speak with me"

The knight gave him a look "She knows we are not from the area. And you are the one in charge of the operation, if you want suggestions I would suggest that you tell her to get lost. We don't need cowards who decided not to make the pilgrimage like her brothers and sisters"

Nate let out a sigh and stood up, walking outside of the small building where they had taken refuge in he was greeted with a smile and wave by a plain looking girl "Hi, so you are in charge of this expedition? Name is Veronica nice to meet you!"

The Sole Survivor nodded and shook her hand "Likewise Veronica, you can call me Nate. Is there something that I can help you with? Ex-Brotherhood of steel members usually either reenlist or want nothing to do with the order, so why approach us?"

"Because I am worried about my family… did everyone make it to DC?"

Nate felt a pang of pain at the word family but he hid it in time for Veronica not to notice it "Most of your chapter got to the Capital Wasteland in one piece, the others were wounded by the wasteland. But I think all managed to survive the trip, nothing short of a miracle… wich bring the question on why did you not go with them. The Mojave chapter seemed to be one that was pretty tight"

Veronica frowned "It was, we had to be. After what happened at Helios one, we needed everyone to give it their all to get by every day. Can you imagine that? All hands on deck, working hour after hour just to survive. Necessity made them closer… but their loyalty blinded them and look at were that led us. a bunker with nothing but rubble and broken memories"

"I am sorry to hear that, I really am"

Veronica let out a sigh "Don't be I just wanted to know if they made it to their destination okay. I knew I only had one chance when I saw your silly little suits walking around" Nate smiled and stood up "I am glad to have helped, if you wish when our business on the Mojave wasteland is concluded we could offer you a ride back to your chapter"

Veronica raised an eyebrow "Oh? Need something from this hell hole? I might be able to help if needed, I know the place like the back of my hand"

"No need, the rest of the knights that have accompanied me will stay here. But I need to do some things… see you" Nate said as he returned inside the building. Veronica stared at the door and then at the knights that were looking at her with wariness "Don't worry I won't stick around, I guess I have gotten used to being a normal citizen"

The knight closer to her raised his weapon "Then I suggest you get going, it was nice to speak with you. have a good day"

Veronica snorted and walked towards somewhere in the distance, the city of lights was days away if she walked but she did was not wearing power armor she could get there before them, something was happening why was the brotherhood of steel doing this mission? So many things came to mind but Veronica felt as if she knew the main reason why. She felt her hand close as the name danced on her mind.

"I saved you"

Those words made her blood boil… but they also made her want to cry. She just didn't understand, why sacrifice so many just for one person? What was Six thinking? He was a stupid man with stupid ideas, led by his feelings he had done horrible things… and now here she was alone in a place where everything hated her guts and fated to a life of obscurity because he wanted to save her.

And she was fine with that.

What she was not fine with was that in playing hero he had maybe kicked off another large conflict, one that she did not want to choose a side. One that she could not choose a side any more, she was civilian.

"A civilian that fixes your shit for only twenty caps… I guess you were right Christine I am the best handywoman this side of the country" Veronica muttered as she sat by a rock and contemplated on were to go next, Primm might be a good place to settle down for a couple of months.

Goodsprings would have been more appealing but she did not think she could live so close to that grave, with a sigh she looked at the moon and smiled faintly. Images of nights under the same moon danced behind her eyes, when she felt glad that she had found friends. A group of people that just wanted to save the Mojave.

"…ah man, here I go again"

Veronica changed course and began to walk towards Vegas, she would just warn them that was all. She was not getting involved, maybe she was just feeling thirsty and what better way to enjoy a strong drink than with a lady from Gomorrah.

The small figure walked alone across the sand as a Sandstorm roared in the distance.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Hope you like this chapter and I wanted to thank you all for the support, you guys and gals are truly amazing. More Remnant next chapter as Six gets to see more teams from Beacon and beyond, the tournament is just around the corner after all. See you soon!