Into the Great Wide Open Chapter 7: Resume of a Mojave Courier

Disclaimer: I do not own either Fallout: New Vegas or RWBY. The former is owned by Bethesda Softworks and Obsidian Entertainment, and the latter is owned by Rooster Teeth.

[Workshop, Beacon Academy, Vale]

"So how about we modify your rifle so it can turn it into a broadsword?"

"Nope."

"How about a halberd?"

"Uh-uh."

"An axe?"

"I love me a good axe, but I don't want to that to the Survivalist Rifle."

Marston and Ruby stood at one of the many work benches in Beacon's workshops, where the students could tune and modify their weapons to their hearts content. Ruby stood next to the courier as he did his work. Marston was intimately familiar with workbenches, have used several of them back in the Mojave, and this proved no different. He picked up another tool from the work bench and started to delicately adjust the rifle's front sight. Ruby, meanwhile, frowned at Marston's refusal to upgrade his weapon.

"Oh, come on! It would be so cool," Ruby argued as Marston continued on his repairs.

"To you, it would, but it ain't my kind of thing. I like to keep my guns and blades separate from each other… unless it's a bayonet."

"Is that all," Ruby asked.

"Yup."

Marston then looked up from his work and then down at Ruby. She looked sad and disappointed, reminding the courier of, for some odd reason, a sick puppy dog. He let out a sigh, and decided to explain his reasoning to her.

"Look, Bright Eyes, I know wanna make me one of those hybrid weapons, so I can fit in with you and the rest of your friends. But you have a lot of time to train and master that Crescent Rose of yours. It would take me awhile to get the handle of a hybrid weapon. Besides, it seems like you like to specialize, and that ain't my kind of thing."

The sad look on Ruby's face began to disappear as Marston elaborated while continuing his work.

"Like I said earlier, I consider myself to be jack of all trades, and a master of none. I like to keep all of my bases covered. I don't just stick to That Gun. I like to use all kinds of guns. Rifles, shotguns, submachine guns. You name it, and I'll probably use it. I also like to have a melee weapon on hand, be it a hatchet or a knife. I've even trained myself to fight with my hands… mostly through bar brawls.

"So do you see my line of thinking, kiddo," Marston asked as he inspected the final repairs on the Survivalist Rifle.

"I… think I do."

"Good," Marston said as he picked up his rifle and inspected it. He had taken apart and thoroughly cleaned the rifle, as well as oiling down the worn, wooden furniture of the rifle. He then aimed it upwards and looked down the sights. He smirked as the sights now perfectly lined up, instead of bending off to the left. A small smile grew on the courier's face, glad to have finally fixed the rifle.

"There, it's all better now," the courier said as he slung the rifle over his shoulder. Marston would usually have a smoke after doing such fine work (but not at a reloading bench, for obvious reasons). However, he didn't want to incite Glynda Goodwitch's wrath. He turned down to Ruby, who was beaming at him.

"Welp, that concludes my business in the workshop. You got anything you wanna do here?"

"Nope," Ruby replied cheerfully as the courier gave a nod in response.

"Good, let's head back to my room and see how good your team is at sorting out my junk."

The two walked out of the workshop and into the hallways of Beacon. Marston walked besides the huntress-in-training. His right hand held onto the sling of his rifle, to prevent it from slinging around too much. Ruby looked up at the courier as he scratched his goatee.

"So, where'd you learn how to fix your guns," Ruby asked, trying to make some small talk.

"It's a skill I had to learn. Fixing your own weapons is a hell of a lot cheaper than paying somebody to repair them for you. But I've always had an affinity for tinkerin' with things since I was a kid. Needed something to keep myself occupied between my lessons and my chores."

"Oh, where'd you grow up?"

"On a farm. My pa grew maize and raised sheep. My mama kept a stable household, raised me and my siblings. Taught us how to read and write, and to add and subtract numbers. Nothin' too fancy, just the basics."

"Hm, sounds kinda boring."

"Ya think it would be, but I liked it. Nice and peaceful, nothin' be exciting or scary happenin'. But ya have to stave off boredom on a farm. When I was six or so, my pa came back from town after selling some of our crops and sheep. He had a brand-new present for me: a BB rifle. After supper, he took me outside and taught me how to shoot it. From then, shooting became one of my hobbies. Pretty damn good at it. I eventually moved up to huntin' game when I was 12 or so. Asides from that, I learned how to tinker and fix bits of machinery. Got really good at it."

"Cool! I've tinkered around myself."

"Really now?"

"Yup! I used my skills to make Crescent Rose. Well, I had help from my uncle, and I based it off of his weapon."

"AH, interestin'. I've managed to modify weapons or make somethin' from scrap, but they don't hold a candle to your sniper-scythe, lil' lady."

"Thanks," Ruby beamed, happy to have somebody compliment her sweetheart. She looked down at That Gun, kept securely in the courier's holster.

"So, I know you said you like to vary up what kind of weapon you like to use, but is there any reason why you like to use a revolver?"

"Simple: they pack more firepower when compared to your average pistol. Plus, they're unlikely to jam, unlike your standard automatic pistol."

"Ah, cool," Ruby said, understanding his reasoning as the courier looked back at her.

"I guess you wanna try out some of the weapons that I have in stock?"

"Yeah…" Ruby said, rubbing the back at her head. She was a bit embarrassed about how she acted earlier when she saw all of the weapon's in Marston's room.

"Well, I got a proposition for ya: on a day when there's some free time, I'll take you to a shootin' range or trainin' area that we have around here, and I'll let you shoot some of my guns. Sound like a good deal?"

Ruby suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked up at the courier, her eyes positively beaming and full of excitement.

"Really? You'd let me do that?"

"Yup," Marston replied with a nod and the tip of his hat. Ruby let out a loud, squeal of joy before hugging the courier tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're too awesome, Mr. Marston!"

"It's just Marston, kiddo," Marston said calmly, barely reacting to the fact that the young girl was squeezing the life out of him. Worse damage had been done to his body. A thought entered his head as Ruby finished her hug.

"That settles it: Veronica would get along splendidly with both Yang and Ruby."

[Marston's Dorm Room, Beacon Academy]

Meanwhile…

"Why does he collect so many tin cans," Weiss asked as she gingerly picked up one of the many cans from the pile. Every inch of it was covered in rust, stripping away its original varnish. She placed the can on one of the spare beds, which had a pile of various bits and pieces of what would usually be considered trash. It ranged from duct tape and pilot lights to lunch boxes, scrap metal, and various pieces of electronics. ED-E flew over to the pile, scanned it, and, within a brief flash of light, added it to its storage.

"What can I say, the boss is a bit of pack rat. Likes to pick up random crap and claims that he can repurpose it," Cass said as she inspected a trail carbine. She worked the weapon's action, the lever moving gracefully and making a satisfying cocking sound. Cass took the rifle and placed it on the wall next to her bed. Lined up were various long arms, including her shotgun Dinner Bell.

Boone, meanwhile, was currently inspecting his anti-material rifle. The weapon had been outfitted with modifications bought from Gun Runners. This included a custom bolt action, suppressor on the tip of the barrel, and carbon fiber parts. This made the deadly weapon all the more lethal. The sniper worked open the bolt and stared down the chamber. Liking what he saw, he snapped the bolt back in place and put the rifle back against the wall.

"I found this," Blake said as she approached Boone with a pistol she had found in the weapons pile. It was a 10mm pistol, a weapon that was incredibly ubiquitous throughout the Wastelands. However, this pistol was cleaner when compared to a standard 10mm, showing it's gray coloring. This pistol was also thoroughly modified. The magazine was extended, a sound suppressor was attached to the barrel, as well as a laser sight underneath it. Boone took the weapon from Blake's hand and began to inspect it.

"Hm. 10mm. Nothing really special about it, but it's reliable," the sniper simply said as he pulled back the slide, released it, and check the load on the magazine.

"So, I'm guessing from the attachments, this is used for stealth," Blake surmised as Boone reloaded the magazine before switching the gun's safety on.

"Correct. Marston told me he got the pistol in a town called Goodsprings. I remembered him buying the attachments from a weapons vendor named Alexander. In bluntest terms, the man was a real prick. My friend had to do a lot of haggling and negotiating to get them."

The two's brief conversation was interrupted when a sound of tumbling and clanking. Everyone in the room turned towards the pile, where Yang stood, proudly holding what could only be described as a rocket launcher. Most notable about the weapon was the drawings on the barrel. The first was a red maple leaf, while the second was five stars, with one big one surrounded by four smaller ones.

"Look what I found," Yang said cheerfully as she obliviously swung the weapon around. She pointed at Weiss, who understandably began to freak out.

"Watch where you're pointing that thing, you dolt! It's not a toy!"

"The Ice Queen's got a point, Yang," Cass said as she held still, not sure if Marston had previously unloaded the launcher or not. "You better put that thing down before you blow us all away."

"Alright, fine," Yang said as she placed the launcher against the wall near Marston's bed, and everyone else in the room let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Yang walked by the desk near the bed, before something caught her eye.

Hidden amongst all of the pistols, books, and bits of odds and ends on Marston's desk was a well-worn and faded photograph. Yang picked it up and began to inspect it.

From what she could make out, the photo was of a family of five standing in front of a two-story farmhouse made out of worn out, brown wood. The first was a man who appeared to be in his early 40s that stood at a good six feet tall. He had brown hair that reached his shoulders and the back of his neck, along with a full beard that covered most of his face and brown eyes. He wore a tan long sleeve shirt with well-worn Demin pants, brown boots, and what looked like a red bandana tied around his neck. He had a well muscular frame that was hidden underneath his clothes. Despite his appearance, he had an aura that gave off a feeling of warmth and kindness.

Next time him was presumably the man's wife. She stood around 5'7" or so and looked like she was in her late 30s. She had bright blue eyes and dark brown hair that was kept up in a bun. Freckles decorated her cheeks. She wore a cream-colored floral print dress with a white apron and a beige cardigan. Completing the outfit was a pair of simple shoes.

Standing in front of them were three children. The oldest was a 12-year-old boy, with messy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a white shirt and patched overalls with y-shaped suspenders, complete with boots. The second oldest was an 8-year-old girl with brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair was kept in a ponytail and she wore a light blue colored dress. The last was a boy that was around 5 years old, who was clearly pouting in the picture. He wore similar clothing to the oldest boy.

"Is… is this Marston's family," Yang wondered to herself as she put the photo back on the desk. She felt bad for going through something that was probably personal to the courier, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She placed the photograph back on the desk as she heard the door to the room open.

"I'm never going to get use to these damn doors," Marston muttered as he walked into the room, pocketing the scroll as Ruby went in after him. Marston looked down at the huntress as he further complained about Beacon's architecture.

"Why the hell couldn't this place be made with normal ol' doors with normal ol' locks? They can just give you all a key for the room. No need to use a scroll to open it up."

"Hey, I didn't design the place," Ruby retorted as the courier sighed to himself.

"Sorry, I was just venting there."

"So, your visit to the workshop work out," Cass asked she approached the two.

"It sure as hell did," the courier said as he unslung the rifle and showed the sights to Cass. "Usin' this thing will be less of a pain in the ass for now on."

"Hm, good," Cass said as she jabbed a thumb back at the pile of weapons and junk. "Everything's been going smoothly on our end. The pile is slowly but surely getting' smaller. Only thing of interest that's happened is Yang almost blew us all up."

"Hey! Nobody told me that thing was loaded," Yang protested, which quickly fell on deaf ears as both Marston and Ruby gave her a glance before the former returned to his conversation with Cass.

"So what did atomic blonde get her mitts on? Esther? Red Glare? One of the grenade rifles?"

"Nope, it was Annabelle."

"Huh. Didn't know we had it with us. I thought Veronica claimed keeps on it after the whole Black Mountain incident."

"A lot of weapons have been poppin' up here that we didn't know we had in the rustbucket, boss."

"Fair point," the courier commented as he noticed Ruby deciding to help out with the organizing effort. The young huntress noticed a rifle stock sticking out of the pile and pulled it out. The weapon was a 5.56mm varmint rifle that had been heavily modified. The standard wooden stock had been replaced with a black synthetic thumbhole stock. Etched upon the stock in white was a mole rat's head next to 69 tally marks. Completing the rifle was a night vision scope, an extended magazine, and a sound suppressor.

"Lemme see that, kiddo," Marston said as he approached Ruby.

"Sure thing," she said she handed over the rifle. Marston smiled as he remembered the rifle.

"Ah, the Ratslayer. Like to call it that since I found it in a cave full of rats," the courier explained as he inspected the rifle, looking down the scope and working the bolt. "Good little gun. May not look like much, but it packs a real punch. Prefer to use for snipin' or when I need a more sneaky approach."

The courier completed his inspection and looked up at Ruby, who looked less than impressed at the rifle.

"What? You don't like it?"

"No, it looks fine. It's just that I like my sniper rifles to have a bit more kick and power, y'know?"

Ruby then turned around to show the courier Crescent Rose, kept on her back in its compact, carriable form. Marston gave a nod in understanding as he rested Ratslayer against his shoulder.

"Ah, I get it. You'd probably like Boone's anti-material rifle."

Ruby perked up at the mention of the gun, her eyes shining with a tinge of excitement.

"He has one of those?"

Marston scanned the room to see if the sniper had retrieved the weapon. Sure enough, it was now resting up against his bed. Boone, meanwhile, was inspecting his old hunting rifle with Blake.

"Yup, it's right over ther-"

Before Marston could finish his sentence, Ruby used her semblance to rush over and grab the rifle. She hugged it like an oversized teddy bear while letting out a squeal of joy.

"THIS IS SO COOL!"

"Please put that down," Boone said flatly, not even bothering to look up from his inspection.

Weiss, meanwhile, approached Marston, who had placed Ratslayer with his other preferred longarms and was sitting on his bed.

"Your associate tells me that you like to collect trash and repurpose it. Can you tell me exactly what you repurpose it into?"

"Oh, all kinds of things," Marston said as he grabbed a pack of cigarettes off of his desk and took one out. He placed the cigarette into his mouth and lit up, all the while continuing his explanation to the Schnee heiress. I mainly like to make explosives out of them. Grenades, bombs, mines and the like. It's amazin' what you can make out some tin cans and a bit of gunpowder."

"Could you not smoke that filthy thing so close to me," Weiss said, annoyed by the smoke coming from the courier's cig.

"Alright, alright," he said as he put the cigarette by crushing it in his hand. "Just don't go and snitch on Goodwitch about me smoking in the dorm rooms."

"Can at least help us take care of your weapon pile," the heiress asked annoyedly. The courier got up and took off his duster, placing it on the back off his desk chair.

"Fair's fair," Marston said as he rolled up his sleeves and approached the weapons pile.

"Let's get to work, shall we."

A Few Hours Later…

The clean-up and organization of the Mojave gang's weapons went smoothly, as they placed various longarms against the walls, sidearms along the desk, and the various odds and ends stored inside of ED-E. However, because of the limited size of the room combined with the number of weapons they had; Marston had opted to store some of them on his Pip Boy.

Team RWBY left soon after, namely due to the fact that it was nearing the evening, and the girls had some assignments to do.

"Bye, Marston," Ruby waved back as she left with the rest of her team. The courier was leaning against the open door frame, waving back.

"See you 'round, Bright Eyes," as he went back into the dorm and closed the door behind him.

"Y'know, they're a good bunch of kids," Marston commented to his companions in the room.

"That Weiss girl is kind of bitchy, though," Cass commented as she removed a few of the surplus 10mm pistols from her desk, trying to make some room. The courier shrugged in response.

"Well, from what I can understand, she's from money. What can you expect?"

Marston sat down on his bed and bask in the silence of the room. It was odd having this much free time on their hands. Back in the Mojave, he had a lot of things to keep himself occupied, be it jobs to do, places to explore, or marauders and Legionnaires to shoot up. He relished the bits of free time that he had. So having so much of it at his disposal while waiting for Ozpin to get back with them felt a bit peculiar. The courier then broke the silence of the room.

"So… y'all want to do somethin'? I was plannin' to catch up on my reading. Unless you have any better ideas?"

"A few rounds of poker are a good way to pass the time," Cass offered, and the courier nodded in approval.

"Sounds like a grand plan, Whiskey Rose. You up for a game of cards, Boone?"

"Sure," the sniper replied plainly, as ED-E floated near Marston and let out a series of beeps. The courier gave a chuckle at the Eyebot's message.

"Sorry, ED-E but it's kind of hard for an eyebot to play cards. You have a damn fine poker face but can't play on the account of a lack of arms."

ED-E let out a low, disappointed beep as Marston reached into one of the pockets on his satchel and took out a deck of cards. They were laminated and on the back of them were the logo for the Lucky 38 casino. Marston began to shuffle them as the group sat around in a circle, preparing to play their game.

Early next morning…

Marston stirred from his slumber, cracking his eyes open. He peered his eyes over towards the window, where it was still dark out. He righted himself up and stretched out his arms, his muscles tensing up as he worked out the kinks.

The courier peered down at the desk next to his bed. On the corner of the desk closest to his bed was his scroll and A Light In Shining Darkness. Marston slept with a pistol near his person out of habit, just in case somebody or something tried to ambush him while he slept. While he was safe in the dorms of Beacon, this was a habit that he wasn't going to get rid of any time soon.

Suddenly, the scroll began to vibrate and rumble. Marston tilted his head at this before picking it up and looking at it quizzically. Putting two and two together, he pressed the diamond button on the scroll and it extended. A glass screen appeared with a picture of Glynda Goodwitch's stern visage on it. Underneath that was a timer and a red button.

"Hello…" Marston said apprehensively into the scroll. Goodwitch's voice quickly answered him back.

"Ah, good, you figured out how the scroll worked."

"Welp, I guessed it was similar to a piece of pre-war tech called a telephone. Seen plenty o' them around in my travels."

"Hm, I suppose you had no trouble moving into the dorm provided to you?"

"Just with opening up the door. Who the hell designed this place and decided not to include a regular old doorknob."

Goodwitch ignored Marston's complaining before continuing.

"I'm contacting you because Headmaster Ozpin has a job offer for you and your associates and would like to meet with you to discuss the details. Would meeting at noon work out for you?"

Marston pricked his ears up at the mention of the words job offer. Ozpin finding work for them was good, but a job offer was even better. He quickly broke out of his thoughts and answered Glynda.

"Yeah, noon sounds fine. Gives us plenty of time to prepare"

"Good. We'll see you then."

Goodwitch hanged up on him and Marston set the scroll back down on the desk. He got up and groggily walked to the bathroom, clad in only his drawers. Flipping on the lights, he turned on the faucet and let cold water run down. He splashed it on his face, getting the last bits of sleep out of his system. As he finished washing his face, he noticed his hair in the mirror. It had been some time since he had last trimmed his hair. The way it tickled his neck and got into the back of his ears had really started to bother him.

Deciding to do an impromptu haircut, Marston walked back into his dorm, and grabbed his gunbelt, kept on the back of his desk. He walked back into the bathroom and placed his gunbelt on the sink counter. He drew out his bowie knife, Bloodnap, and began his amateur haircut. The courier pulled up a decent amount of his hair, placed the edge of Bloodnap on the specific length he wanted to cut it, and did the deed.

After five minutes, Marston was done with his haircut, hair clippings now littering the bathroom countertop. His hair was now much shorter, almost looking close cut in places. Satisfied with his new haircut, the courier swept up his hair clippings and placed it into a waste basket before beginning to freshen up.

Half an hour later, the courier walked out the bathroom, freshly showered and fully dressed. The courier was now dress up in an outfit he like to wear when he visited any of the casinos on the Strip. It consisted of a slightly dirty brown suit coat with matching suit pants along with a slightly tannish dress shirt with a bola tie. Instead of his usual well-worn boots, the courier wore a pair of dress shoes.

Marston finished buckling up his gunbelt as he sat down at his desk. He brushed aside some of his belongings to make space. Once he had enough space, he opened up the desk drawer to find a pad of paper and some pens.

"Huh, that's awfully nice of 'em," Marston said as he took out the pen and paper pad, and wrote at the top in big letters, "Resume of Daniel Jackson Marston".

The courier turned on the lights on the room so that he could write better. This stirred Cass to wake up and stared over at her friend and employer. Dressed in a tank top and her undergarments, she let out an annoyed grumble as she addressed him.

"Do you mind, boss? It's like, 7 or so in the mornin'."

"Exactly. It's seven or so in the mornin', and as they say, the early bird catches the worm."

"What are you even doing up so early?"

"Got contacted by Goodwitch. Ozpin wants to meet us around noon or so to discuss a job offer he has. I suppose that wants a resume of sorts."

"Wouldn't him seeing us kill 'em Grimm convince him another?"

"You have a point, but I want him to know that I'm capable of more than just shootin' & killin'. I've picked up a lot of skills durin' my time in the wastes."

"Fine, have it your way," Cass said as she pulled the blanket and covers over her head, trying to get some more shut eye. Marston, meanwhile, began to write his resume down.

[Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy, Vale]

Marston casually leaned back in his chair as he watched Ozpin read over his resume that he had written over two sheets of paper. Cass and Boone sat behind him while ED-E absentmindedly floated around the room. Glynda stood next to Ozpin as the headmaster read off some of the things Marston had written down.

"Hm… employed by the Mojave Express before working for one Robert House, then working for the New California Republic."

The headmaster continued on further before reading off some of the odd jobs that the courier had worked.

"Let's see, you have worked as a thief, a hunter, negotiator, repairman, doctor, drill instructor, assassin, debt collector, bounty hunter, mercenary, drug runner, prostitute recruiter…"

Ozpin stopped and focused on one thing written on the resume before looking up at Marston with a flat look on his face.

"Emperor killer?"

Marston sheepishly removed his ever-present hat and scratched the back of his head as he elaborated.

"Not to toot my own horn, but I killed the leader of a nation of slavers and marauders called Caesar's Legion. The leader's name's in the title, and he modeled himself off another famous emperor named Caesar. I killed the bastard myself, so that technically makes me a killer of emperors."

"This is quite the resume you have, Mr. Marston," Glynda commented as Ozpin read through the rest of the resume in silence.

"I've said it before and I've said it again, I've done a lil' bit of everything."

"Indeed," Ozpin said as he put aside Marston's resume before addressing the man himself.

"When I saw you and your companions fighting in the Emerald Forest, I assumed that you simply knew how to fight and kill as a way to survive. However, meeting you in person and reading your resume, I have come to the conclusion that you are a man that has accumulated a wide variety of skills over the years."

Marston gave a nod as Ozpin continued, wanting to know where he was going with this.

"As of now, a group like yours with a particular set of skills is exactly what I need right now."

The Mojave Gang's attention was caught with that sentence as the headmaster elaborated.

"While I am headmaster of Beacon Academy, I am also concerned with the security and safety of Vale as a whole. And there is much more that threatens it than the Grimm. As of lately, there have been a series of high scale robberies of Dust by a man named Roman Torchwick. Ruby Rose, who I recall you first encountering upon arriving here, foiled one of his robberies but the man managed to escape. We currently do not know why he's stealing Dust, but it has caught our attention because of how valuable Dust is as a resource. Furthermore, there has been rumors of terrorist activities as well.

"I can't send in a group of hunters, as they are primarily trained to deal with the Grimm. They are also seen as keepers of peace and not soldiers and cannot openly deal with it with sullying their reputation. This is where you come along, Mr. Marston, as you are the missing piece of the puzzle. You ar-"

"Look, I hate to ruin your pretty lil' speech, but do you mind getting to the point," Cass interrupted, who hated the dramatics of Ozpin's explanation and just wanted to get to the part where he hired him. Glynda gave the caravan boss a stern look.

"Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

"Nope. My dad left when I was a little kid. My mom wasn't much better."

"As I was getting to before Miss Cassidy interrupted, I would like to hire you on as a task force of sorts," Ozpin continued. "You'll be charged with investigating, seeking out, and dealing with these threats."

Marston leaned forward as he heard what the headmaster had offered him.

"So, basically, you want us to be your special forces or black ops group that does the dirty work that your hunters can't or won't get themselves involved in."

"Correct," Ozpin replied with a nod. "For your work, you shall each be paid a hunter's salary, along with lodging and access to the resources of the academy at your full disposal."

Ozpin then nodded to Glynda, who went to another side of the room and brought back what looked like a briefcase. The courier raised an eyebrow at the briefcase, wondering what was inside of it.

"I also have an incentive for you as well. I took the liberty of converting the gold that you provided into lien."

Glynda proceeded to open up the case, which was filled with lien cards of various different colors. The courier let out a smile at seeing a pay day so soon.

"Alright, alright, alright! Now we're cookin', teach!"

"I suppose you'll take my offer, Mr. Marston," Ozpin asked as Glynda closed the case.

The courier stopped and began to weigh the pros and cons of the offer. On one hand, Ozpin was completely enigmatic. It was hard to get a read on the man. On the other, his goals and intentions were noble, and that was honestly more than he could say about Robert House. He then looked back at both Cass and Boone.

"Take it. It's too good to pass up," Boone said bluntly as Cass gave her two cents.

"It's a good deal, boss. I say take it."

Marston then shrugged his shoulders, turned back towards Ozpin and extended his hand.

"It's a deal."

Ozpin grasped the courier's hand, and the job was made official with a handshake. The Courier let out a smirk at this.

"Gotta say, teach, this is gonna be the start of an interestin' working relationship."

Next Time - Pale Steed

A/N: And I'm back with the next chapter of Into the Great Wide Open!

Remember last time when I said I didn't know when the next update would be? I did not expect that it would be roughly two years later.

My reasoning for it being so late would have to be a combination of procrastination and life in general just flinging me around like a pinball. Since the last update, I have been kicked out of Ball State, worked three different jobs in Muncie, accepted back into Ball State, moved back into my parents in Fishers, gotten a job as a bagger at Kroger's, started up my own film review blog (which I want to turn into my main profession), and I am now on my last semester of college. My creative spark is still going strong in the past two years, but my urge and drive to write was at its lowest. I still want to continue this fic because I have way too many ideas for it.

Asides from that, I have increased the number of movies that I see in a year (with at least a few every month), as well as starting hobbies of collecting both anime figures and Blu Rays (the former is on hold until I move out of my parents' house). I've also been playing a lot of new awesome games, such as The Outer Worlds and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (I'm disappointed by the lack of Bloodstained fanfics so far).

As for the chapter itself, we mostly had character interactions this chapter, along with a hint at Marston's past, and a major development (namely, Ozpin offering the Mojave Gang a job as a spec ops work that does the unpleasant dirty work). And the next chapter will consist of mostly the same.

I've also published a spin-off anthology to this fic called It's Always Sunny in the Mojave, which chronicles some of Marston's adventures back in the Fallout world. Starts off with him getting revenge on Benny. I also jumped on the Fate multicrossover bandwagon with Fate/Redemption. Please check out both of them if they catch your interest.

This time, I promise that the next update won't take almost two years, or I'll beat myself up over it.

Until the next chapter, take care!