Hey there, TwoBears Magee here, and I am here to welcome you too 'The Ghosts of a Wanderer', This story came to me in a sudden bout of inspiration while playing Far Harbor, so I decided I would write out my insane mental rambling, and thing thing came out. It's a bit AU of RWBY and Fallout will have a few real life weapons instead of just a bunch of laser rifles and bethesda's shitty looking version of an AK *Cough*Chinese assault rifle*Cough* anywho, let's dive in.

And remember, reviews can save lives, (Well more like they make the story better, but I thought that sounded cooler.)

"Normal" - Talking/ Making Sounds

'Normal' - Thoughts

*Normal* - Radio Signals/Holotapes

[Normal] - Computer/Pip-Boy/Notes

I own nothing, if I did than their would be a Lone Wanderer in RWBY cannon.

The Ghosts of a Wanderer - Chapter 1

James 'The Wanderer' Hardigan has experienced a lot of weird situation, from being drugged by tree people, to being abducted by aliens. But it all looked like a cakewalk compared to the situation he was in now.

James wakes up with a wince of pain, his head resting on the steering wheel of the humvee he was driving not five minutes earlier. a hulking mass of pitch black fur, with white spikes all along what he assumed to be the back of the strange looking creature pinned between a dilapidated building and the front of the Humvee, the strange animal had white plates all over its body and dull red eyes that were staring lifelessly back at him through his cracked windscreen. 'Damn it, that was a gift from Sarah.' he thought glumly.

Clearly whatever this thing was, it was dead, but if James's time in the wasteland taught him anything, It was that you could never be too sure. Opening the driver door with a grunt, and stretching out his back. Hearing a few satisfying pops resonante from his back, he reach for his Pip-Boy and, with a flash of blue light, equipped his Reilly's Rangers T-51b Winterized Power Armor, and a .45 Auto Handgun.

Shifting his focus to the hulking black and white mass on the hood of his wrecked vehicle. James saulters over and Pointed the end of the handgun to the unarmored temple of the creature, and with a deafening crack, slammed a round home into the creature's head, letting pitch black blood and brain matter run freely onto the hood.

Now with one problem solved James wanted something to fill the eerily quiet ruined air street with music, James Looks down at his Pip-Boy, but paused and furrowed his brow at a strange message that popped up on the dull blue screen.

[ERROR - CANNOT FIND ROBCO OR VAULT-TECH SATELLITES - PLEASE CALL SERVICE CENTER FOR ASSISTANCE AT 1-800-VAULT-TECH - ERROR]

"Thats weird, I've never seen that before." he said quietly to himself, narrowing his eyes in curiosity. He dismissed the error and flipped to the Radio tab in his Pip-Boy, only to find a single radio signal.

"Vale News Radio? What the hell is Vale? Is it some sort of new faction?" he asked himself in confusion, James sat in the driver's seat of the humvee, leaving the door open and hanging his legs out the side, selecting the strange signal. It sounded awfully familiar to a certain DJ's radio station back in the DC ruins.

*Heyyy~ Vale~, it's me~, DJ Dogg~, your favorite disk jockey in all of Vale, and i'm here with a bit of news for all of ya. First off, It seems it's that time of year again, as a large congregations of colorful and armed teenagers are boarding airships this afternoon at the Vale International Airport on their way to Beacon Academy, yup thats right boys and girls, the big man Ozpin has gotta have a new record for most new hunters and huntresses in training this year or something, but onto other news, cooler news, the headline? The End Is Nigh?! Last week we had a calle-*

James quickly deselected the station, now silently sobbing.

"Its Galaxy New Radio all over again, he even sounds like Three Dog." James whimpered between sobs, 'What did I do to deserve this' James flips to the misc category in his Pip-Boy and selects a blue holotape labeled 'Old World Blues - The Best Of 2077' Early in his journeys, James had grown so tired of Three Dogs voice that he'd spent a little over 3000 caps just so he wouldn't have to listen to his god damned voice while traveling through the radioactive hell hole he called home.

*I Don't want to set the world on fire~ *

James immediately wiped the exaggerated tear from his face and smiled, this was his favorite song after all. He moves towards the back of the Humvee to scavenge whatever he could from the now wrecked Humvee 'I mean it's not like I can drive it anymore, I might as well take everything that isn't bolted down.'

*One badass cinematic looting montage later*

After fiddling with a few buttons on his Pip-Boy, the two laser rifles and three ammo boxes full of assorted ammunition he had found were digitized into his inventory with a bright flash of blue. Honestly, when he had found out he could change the color in the setting of his Pip-Boy, he essentially cried and hugged Stanley for like five minutes, 'Damn that default green fucking hurt my eyes,' he thought to himself, shaking his head again, he didn't usually get off track like this.

"Well I guess it's back to hiking the lonely road once again" he said to himself, nodding his head in approval, it had been a long time since he had flown solo and he was pretty excited, and at the moment his surroundings looked new, but they also looked insanely dull, 'why is everything so grey', it almost felt the same as when he first set foot in the heart of the DC Ruins only this place somehow felt shittier, and now that he was focusing on his surroundings, it was almost as if he had just walked into said ruins without colorvision.

To James, it felt almost as if he was being watched by something, as if inside every dark shadow, building, and alleyway, he was being watched. But he couldn't quite figure out what it was, it unnerved him and made him put up his guard.

'This place is freaking me the fuck out man, I don't know what it is, but I don't like it.' James thought to himself, walking down the rubble strewn street he looked back ahead of him and spotted something rounding a corner that, if he didn't have a robo heart, would have made it skip a beat.

Normally, James wouldn't have this reaction, in the wasteland it was almost as if he could sense if their was anyone nearby, but he never felt this thing, it looked a lot like a Deathclaw, only a little shorter, and without the horns or the foot long claws they get their names from. It was also covered in pitch black fur, white and red plates, and spikes, just as the creature that was on his Humvee had, but instead of the dull lifeless red of the other creatures eyes, this ones were glowing a bright and deadly crimson.

The creature spotted James, and let out a howl reminiscent of a Deathclaw Matriarch calling her pack, so it wasn't much of a surprise when a small hoard of creatures climbed out of every shadowed place surrounding him. All of the creatures looked exactly the same at the first one, only a couple of feet shorter, and gave off less of a death metal vibe judging from the smaller number of spikes on their backs. All of said creatures started advancing on James's possession, encircling him, and giving off short howls and snarls. Not a single one came within a couple of meters of him, leaving a gap in front of him for the larger creature of the group to advance forward and close the gap, 'most likely the alpha' James thought, eyes still gazing intently at it, for a few moments the large creature and James were just standing still, staring at each other. The large black and white creature slowly kited the opposite side of the writhing black ring.

Almost as if an invisible bell had rung, the creature bolted toward him, brandishing short but razor sharp looking claws, causing James to sidestep to the left and spot an opening in the creatures defence, and with a flash of blue he drew a long serrated blade crackling with electricity, and slashed the unarmored side of the creature. Causing it to let out a howl of pain in response, its muscles tightening and causing it to lose balance.

Quickly righting itself, the creature spun around with a wide horizontal slash that was easily dodged. James countered with a quick punch, the bone mask cracked to bits, causing bone fragments too pop both of its bright red eyes like grapes.

Now holding its face and writhing in pain on the ground James moved to finish the fight.

"Clearly I overestimated you," he says walking closer to the creature until he was almost face to face with the whimpering mass of black, white, and red. With a final assault however, the creature sent out a weak swipe attempting to take The Wanderer with it. Only for it to be easily swatted away.

"Ya know, I honestly thought you would give me a decent challenge with your size, all spiky and shit, but you're nothing but an overgrown molerat." he said loudly,trying too intimidate the other creatures, little did he know their was only one thing that was really listening.

Beacon Academy - Headmaster Ozpin's Office

"Are you sure we shouldn't send someone to investigate Headmaster? What if it's the White Fang?" said a blond woman holding a riding crop and a large scroll, watching a live feed from one of Beacon Academy's drones. Currently on screen was what looked like one of the original prototypes for the Atlesian Knights, mercilessly killing off a pack of Beowulfs in the middle of the deserted streets of Mt. Glenn.

"Glenda, I already contacted James, and he says he has no knowledge of any Atlesian personnel in the Vale area, however, you and I both know how James loves to play spy." Ozpin sighed, taking a long sip from his mug. "I want to know what this thing is, and I want to know before sundown Glenda, do you understand?" Glynda noded as he finished. Taking another sip, 'I have a feeling the plan will need some adjustments soon.'

Bullhead enroute to Mt. Glenn - A Ten Minutes Later

"Ma'am, we will be landing soon, are you sure you want us to guard the bullhead, I can send Johnson with you at least." came a muscular voice over the Bullhead's comm system. The owner of the voice belonging to none other than First Sergeant Jim McCoy, the former Atlesian Special Forces Officer turned Head of Beacon Security, he was a tall man, broad shoulders, and yellow accents on his armor denoting him as Security personnel along with the Beacon Academy emblem on his patrol cap.

"Do not worry Sergeant, I will be fine, just be sure to set up a perimeter and keep the Bullhead safe." Glenda replied as the Bullhead landed with a bounce in a destroyed intersection with burnt out cars and knocked over street lights, skeletons littered the ground as a grim reminder of the failure of Mt. Glenn.

"If you insist Ma'am, just be quick, the pilot said the landing might have attracted a few Goliaths." McCoy said, pulling his assault rifle from his back and gesturing to his squad to get out and set up defensive positions. As Glenda started her trek towards the strange machine roaming around Mt. Glenn.

Some road in the middle of Mt. Glenn

James was having a bad day, he thought that maybe, just maybe, these creatures would pose a challenge to him, but instead his sword just ripped through them like a hot knife through butter. Their armor was weak, and they were pretty stupid too. It was like fighting off a bunch of giant kittens with a Fatman. Any time they were successful in hitting him, it would just glance off of his armor with a shower of sparks.

"Jesus, you guys are pathetic, it's almost insulting how weak you guys are." James said, laughing and crushing one of the smaller Deathclaw like creatures heads between his fingers, coating the white armored hands in black blood and specks of bone.

Going into a more relaxed posture James looks around him to find the first creature dissolving into the air, along with a few of his earlier kills. "Holy shit, the brains at Big MT. would LOVE this I gotta get some before-" the distinct sound of rifle fire quickly distracted James, making him completely forget his train of thought.

"Ooo, Sounds kinda like a laser rifle, lets go and visit, maybe I can get some loot, maybe a new gun, heh, that would be cool." James said, breaking out into a sprint in the direction of the gunfire. Mind juggling schematics of laser assault rifles would look like 'Oooo, maybe I can make, like, a plasma assault rifle, or, or a plasma ROCKET LAUNCHER!' He thought while running, completely oblivious to the wall he was barreling towards.

Slamming into the decaying and bullet riddled wall with the assistance of his Power Armor, James broke a man sized hole in the wall into an intersection. Flinging chunks of cinder blocks onto the destroyed roadway, and falling face first onto the cracked asphalt, he just stayed that way, contemplating his life and such. Until he heard the telltale sound charging handles being locked into place. 'well Shit' was all james could think.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands on your head." he heard a strong voice yell in a tone that commanded respect. It reminded James of Paladin Gunny, The Citadels resident Drill Sergeant.

"Hey there Buddy, calm down, no need to make any hasty assumptions, I just heard gunfire and though somebody could use a hand, that's all." James lied hoisting himself up into a standing position, he was realling kinda hoping to loot them to be honest, James dwarfed the five men pointing strange rifles at him, all of them in the same pristine white combat armor with yellow accents, 'Wow, they are WAY too clean and organized for a bunch of wastelanders.' James thought to himself. His eyes finally resting on a significantly taller individual, only a couple of inches shorter than James's suit of Power Armor with red hair and a scar running down his left eye, and wearing a patrol cap, denoting him as the leader of the small troop of unknown men.

"The names James Hardigan, it's nice to meetcha Mr.?" James asked, sticking his hand out for the tall man to shake. He hesitated a moment, taking in the newcomer. A large suit of white heavy looking armor, it looked battle hardened, dents and scratches all over the armor, it made his armor look like it was fresh out of the factory. The helmet had a thin dark 'T' shaped visor and tubes coming out of the helmets 'mouth'. The armor had a four leaf clover with crossed cutlasses stenciled of the right side of the breast plate with the words 'Reilly's Rangers' written underneath.

"McCoy, First Sergeant Jim McCoy, nice to meet y-" Jim's hand was suddenly grabbed and forcefully yanked towards the hulking mass of white armor, putting him into a choke hold, taking extra care to not accidentally snap his neck and resting the barrel of his .45 to McCoy's temple. Surprising the other soldiers present, making them raise their weapons towards James.

"You Enclave sons of bitches, you can't trick me, nobody else uses that ranking system anymore except you guys. Now tell me where the hell your base is so I can rid this place of your filth just like I did in DC." James snarled, hate and anger in his voice. 'How did the Enclave get here. I thought I destroyed them already, sure they scattered, but the Brotherhood and I have been hunting them down. How are they still alive?' James thought, his mind going a million miles a minute.

"Enclave? Buddy you're making no sense, were Beacon's Private Security, we don't even know what the hell this 'Enclave' is man. Just let the Sarge go and we can talk this out like civilized adults." calmly said one of the men in the squad, "Just let the sarge go man." he repeated.

"You give me a good reason right now not to blast your 'Sarge's' head off right now." James snarled again, seething in anger and hate towards what he thought were Enclave troops.

"I don't think that will be necessary Mr. Hardigan, I assure you that they are just my escort here in order to look for you." Said female voice behind James, causing James to deselect his bulky power armor in favor of his Merc Grunt Outfit with a heavily modified chest piece salvaged from Desert Ranger armor he found in a cave in the sorrows camp in Zion Canyon, the switch causing a bright blue flash, temporarily blinding all occupants of the street except James. By teh time their eyes adjusted from the flash, James was gone.

"Where'd he go? Did he run away?" asked one of the members of the squad quickly, scanning the area with his rifle.

"Why are you looking for me, and if you're not with the Enclave than just who are you, your well trained judging from how your boys move, and those uniforms are way too clean for just a bunch of random raiders, are your from the west or something?" James asks from behind a concrete traffic divider to the right, dematerializing several grenades and his M1 Carbine while speaking.

"They are members of the Private Security Firm that Beacon employs, they are all ex-military, mostly from Atlas, I am Glynda Goodwitch, a Professor at Beacon, the Headmaster sent me out to retrieve you so that he could you and ask you a few question." Glynda explained, her demeanor screaming 'No nonsense'.

"And what happens after I meet with this so called 'Headmaster'? He need a job done or something?" James said doubtfully, but he kinda needed money, he had just spent all of his savings on 'Victory Booze'.

"If you decide to meet him, we will go from there, if you have any requests, I am sure the Headmaster will fulfill them in order to meet you in person, and he may have a job offering for you." Glynda said, obviously lying through her teeth at the last part, she didn't see Ozpin actually hiring him, she could tell he was dangerous, and Ozpin only hired straight from a trusted source in an Atlas PMC, not just random thugs off the street.

"I only have two requests, wait, three, three requests." James says, holding up three fingers over the cover for them too see.

"One, I want one of those badass looking guns" he said pointing at the rifle in McCoy's hands as if he wasn't hiding behind a concrete mini-wall.

"Two, I want Materials and tools along with a place to work," James said without hesitation, pointing his finger in the air.

"And Three, I want to get my Humvee hauled wherever were going." James finished, waiting for the woman's, only to receive a different voice

"Whats a Hum-vee?" the man's voice asked, cracking as it said 'Humvee'

"What's your name?" James asked his eye twitching in annoyance at the interruption and pointing towards the man from over the cover, felt as if they were talking to a sock puppet only without the sock.

"My names Bobby, how does my name matter in all of this?" the newly dubbed 'Bobby' asked confusion evident in his tone.

"Bobby, If you butt in on my business, ONE MORE, GODDAMN TIME, I WILL RIP YOUR CAHONES OFF, AND PUT EM IN MOTOR OIL, YOU GOT ME, 'BOBBY'." James yelled at the top of his lungs, making a ripping gesture with his free hand from behind cover and causing Bobby to jump backwards in surprise.

"OK, back to what I was saying, I would really appreciate it if you would bring my Humvee too, I kinda may have crashed it into a giant bear looking motherfucker, and it kinda has an Anti-Infantry HMG mounted on it, and I would really like to not lose it, I would have taken it with me, but~, Sarah said, and I quote, 'James if you use that gun with your bare hands you might hurt yourself', so long story short, she welded it to the chassis." James ranted, making a strangely feminine voice when quoting Sarah and making finger quotes from behind the divider.

Everyone present just stood their, confused as fuck, this man, who they have been having an entire conversation from behind a concrete half-wall, using his hand like a puppet, and still somehow scaring the shit out of half the people present, It was just a bizarre situation.

"I - I belive that can be accomplished Mr, Hardigan, Now please come out from there, I can't very well take you to the Headmaster if you're hiding behind a divider." Glynda said nervously, silently questioning the man's sanity.

"Ma'am, I only have one question." James stated, genuine curiosity written on his face and seriousness in his voice.

"Yes Mr. Hardigan?" Glynda answered, surprised at his serious tone.

"Will there be a mini-bar on the flight? Because seriously, I need a drink right now, today has just been one of those days." James replys, a shit eating grin forming on his face as he heard a quiet chuckle emanated from where he assumed McCoy was standing.

"No, no there will not be a mini-bar." Glynda said, facepalming and moving to board the Bullhead, slightly perturbed at how immature Beacon's head of security was being.

"Oh, well that's alright, because I brought my own~" James finished in a fit of laughter rising from behind his 'puppet stage', a white bottle from monty knows where in both his hands.

"Hey, hows about repaying me for putting me in a hold, by giving me some of that there liquid gold you got there?" McCoy asked, chuckling and eyeing the bottle as soon as James entered the VTOL as it took off for Beacon.

"I don't know gramps, I only have about twenty bottles vodka, and I don't like wasting good vodka." James explained, taking a long swig from the bottle and putting on a sly grin.

"Oh ho ho, kid, when I was in the Atlas Spec Ops Division, we had some of the best Atlesian liquor at our disposal, being a badass in the military got you the good stuff, and oh boy did we drink, but that's not the point, give me a swig, I can handle everything you have to throw at me." McCoy exclaimed, striking a dramatic pose and laughing with a cocky smile on his face.

"Whatever you say gramps." James said chuckling and handing him the unmarked white bottle, his sly expression screaming 'You're fucked' the only person too not notice it being McCoy.

"Thats right, come to papa." McCoy coed to the bottle, lifting it up and taking a good long gulp of the strong liquor. He immediately regretting it as he did a spit take, a strong burn going down his Esophagus.

"GAHH - what the FUCK is in that." McCoy choughed, holding his throat, the action eliciting a couple of laughs throughout the crew compartment of the Bullhead, sure, he had had a lot of alcohol in his life, and it all gave off a dull warmth going down, but this felt as if he was swallowing fire!

"Oh, did papa get a little too cocky with his "Liquid Gold'?" James teased with a voice one would typically use with small children.

"If you can't handle even a single sip of my alcohol oh great 'God of Liquor', than I think you should re-evaluate your life choices gramps." James joked, plucking the bottle out of McCoy's hands and chugging the bottle down, and moving to throw the empty bottle out of the open troop doors and down towards the landscape speeding by, only instead of throwing the bottle, it just fell too the floor, rolling out of the doors, as the landscape rolling by was no longer a ruined city.

It was a forest. An honest to god forest!

The Wanderer's jaw dropped, eyes widening. Causing him to sit down, his legs hanging out the side of Bullhead and subconsciously flipping a switch back and forth on his Pip-Boy with his other hand, a nervous habit as of late that only happened when he was deep in thought, black-out-drunk, or completely speechless.

And he was almost never any of those things.

"Where the hell am I…" James whispered barely audible over the rushing wind passing by the large door, his eyes glued to the sight of the rolling forest. Shure he had been to Oasis, but they had nothing on this place, this place was fucking Gorgeous.

"Were flying over The Emerald Forest Mr. Hardigan, is there a problem?" Glynda said, looking towards the man staring outside of the Bullhead, she couldn't see his face, but she could tell he was awestruck.

"Wow, I am totally out of my element." James said, turning his head and giving the other occupants of the VTOL a chuckle. 'I have no idea where I am, what the hell am I even gonna do?' He thought to himself, until the perfect plan came into his head.

'Ooo, I know, lets fuck some shit up!' He thought excitedly

A/N

And fucking shit up is just what you'll do James.

Alright, what did you think boys and girls, I want this story to be mainly light hearted and humorous, but there will be a few tear jerker moments too, (if I can write them right), anyways, tell me what you guys though. Did I write the action scene with too much description? or too little? Do the characters seem interesting and relatable in some aspect? That sort of thing, shoot me a Review or a PM if you want to ask questions and such. I love you all. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll tune in for the next (hopefully) exciting chapter of 'The Ghosts of a Wanderer'

P.S. If you find my reference, shoot me a PM and you'll get an internet cookie! YAY! (or maybe a shout out, idk yet)