I set the hot plate to low and simmering. The stew was going to take a while to properly cook down, but the guys at Zion knew their stuff. Going by the smells filling the air, so did I.

"Alright, we've got a few minutes." I said, settling down on my cot. "Where should we start?"

"You mean you're not just going to start dumping information on us?" Yang asked

"Why bother? The last two times I've done it you've all either found it impossible to understand or boring as sin." I said, inspecting my equipment "I've given you a grounding, if you've got questions, ask them. I'm sure there are some things you want to know."

Both JNPR and my teammates exchanged glances for a moment, as though silently determining where to begin. Snowflake seemed to be the first to come up with something, turning back to me.

"I believe it would be most prudent for us to ask about-"

"Monsters!" Ruby shouted "I want to talk about monsters!"

Ruby's sudden outburst caught snowflake off-guard. Nearly caused her to fall out of her seat on her bunk, even.

"… Monsters, eh?" I asked.

"But… but-" Snowflake stuttered "That's not what-"

"Weapons too!" Ruby added.

"A double header?" I asked, rubbing my chin "Certainly a challenge, but doable within the time constraints."

"But-" Snowflake stuttered again.

"It should at least be entertaining to see your reactions to some of the Mojave's native beasties." I said, giving the stew a quick stir "Given the way most of you have reacted so far."

"But I wanted to talk about something else!" Snowflake finally managed to spit out.

"Oh, really?" I said, pretending to finally notice "Which is?"

Weiss gave me a scowly pout, clearly nonplussed about being ignored. "… I wanted to know who President Kimball was."

I blinked, cocking my head in confusion "Kimball?"

"Who?" Jaune asked.

"You mentioned him during the first day of last semester." Weiss clarified primly "Though I've allowed it to remain unanswered until now, I would like an explanation."

Being completely frank, I'd forgotten I had as well.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby said, as though now remembering herself "Um… all three?"

"…no." I said shaking my head. "I'll either do the monsters, the weapons, or the factions. I'm not doing all three Ruby."

"But you just said-"

"We're burning daylight, Tiny." I clarified, tapping my pip-boy "I got things to do."

"Aww~" Ruby whined.

"I think I would like to know more about the people where you're from as well." Blake said, eyeing the stew pot hungrily. "You haven't spoken much about them."

"Well they really haven't had much reason to come up in conversation." I clarified "If that's you saying you'd rather hear about that right now, that's two to one for the vote."

"But… monsters." Ruby pouted.

"We can talk about them next time." I promised "We're on a tight schedule Tiny, no real time for dithering tonight."

"… Ok~" Ruby sighed, defeated, mumbling something under her breath about 'stupid presidents'.

"Alright, and no complaints elsewhere?" I asked, looking to JNPR.

I received no complaints from the peanut gallery, but I did notice Nora giving Ruby a reassuring pat on the back.

"Alright, so factions have it tonight."

"Why do you keep calling them that?" Weiss asked.

"Because using the term 'Nation' would imply any of them are larger than they actually are." I answered "Shall I begin?"

Weiss scrutinized me for a moment, then nodded.

"Right then, to answer your first question: Aaron Kimball is the president of the New California Republic, or NCR to most of the Mojave."

"They certainly sound like a nation." Blake said.

"The word 'republic' is used loosely here. Considering the NCR is built mostly from small communities and settlements that sprung up around the ruins of the pre-war territory of California. Of the three original 'Big' factions to have a presence in the Mojave, they were the second oldest. As well as the second best established."

"Where did they come from?" Weiss asked "You said all the nations of your world died with the war."

"I did, and they did. The NCR sprang up out of a place called Shady Sands. Founded by the survivors of one of the myriad Vault experiments planned before the war. Though in a lot of ways they're modeled after the Old-World United States."

"So… they're the bad guys then?" Ruby asked, deciding to take part in the discussion after all.

"Far from it, actually, that's a different group called the Enclave." I clarified "For the most part, the NCR is populated by people just trying to survive and recover from everything that's happened in the last two hundred years. Most of its citizens are actually hard-working people who just keep getting dealt bad hands. Doesn't help that their leadership is comprised of expansionist assholes either."

"And Kimball is their leader." Weiss surmised.

"The current one anyway." I nodded "They change out leadership every few years, depending on the leader, and Kimball had enough clout to earn the job, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?"

"He's… not exactly suited for the position. Nor does he have the best taste in subordinates." I said, picking my words. "I'm not particularly fond of him, or the job he's done. But I've got no ill-will for the NCR as a whole."

Weiss nodded, seeming accepting that as an answer.

"You said there were two other factions like the NCR?" Blake asked.

"Yep, The Mojave has dozens of them. Though most of them are just small communities there are, or rather were, two that rivaled the NCR in terms of size and man-power: The city of New Vegas, and Caesar's Legion."

A ripple went through Ruby, Weiss, and Yang at the mention of the Legion. Though everyone else, Blake included, seemed a little out of the loop.

"Caesar's Legion?" Ruby asked "You mean… the one from the story you told us?"

"Mhmm."

"The group that's lead by a demon?" Yang asked, catching the confused attention of JNPR and Blake.

"That part was more figurative than literal, but yes."

"Um… what?" Jaune asked, voicing his team's confusion.

"I don't have time to regale you all with the story of the Burned Man." I explained "So here's the short version: A charismatic historian convinced a bunch of people to follow him into battle. They won, and began taking slaves of their conquered enemies. Intending to make an empire that resembled one from way before the war took place."

"Oh." Jaune said, clearly horrified by even the abridged version of events.

"Mm." I stirred the pot again "I gave Ruby, Weiss, and Yang a slightly more in-depth story of the Legion's founding once. I never got the chance to finish it, but that's a story for a different day."

"So one of these 'big' factions was a group of war mongering slave drivers?" Blake asked.

"Yep, don't even want to think about what the Mojave would've looked like if they'd won."

"Won what?" Pyrrha asked.

"The second battle for Hoover Dam… which I haven't told you about either, have I?"

Blank stares and a few shaken heads answered me.

"Right." I said, thinking "… Well, to put it as simple as I can, Hoover Dam was a monument built before the war. A hydro-electric dam designed to produce electricity to power the City of Las Vegas, now known as New Vegas. It's one of the few major structures in the Mojave to have survived the war, outside the city itself."

"How's that make it important?" Ruby asked.

"Dunno" I shrugged "It's just the largest free-standing supply of fresh water and electricity for hundreds of miles. In the middle of a desert. Can't really imagine why it'd be important."

"O-oh." Ruby met my sarcasm with a wince.

"I know it's a lot, but please try and keep up, this is all going to be on the test next week."

"We're taking a test!?" Nora whispered, rather loudly, to Ren.

"The point stands, the dam is a massive source of power in the Mojave. Both literal and figurative. If you hold the dam, you hold the region."

"So of course people are going to fight over it." Blake said snidely.

"Bingo." I nodded "I mentioned the first battle briefly in the story I told you three." I motioned to Ruby, Weiss, and Yang. "The Legion failed to take it that time, but not by much. They made a second attempt later, and it cost them greatly."

"I'm guessing they fought the NCR both times." Weiss surmised "… But you said there was a third 'faction'."

"I did, and if you've been paying attention, the city of New Vegas should ring a few bells."

"It does." Weiss snipped, clearly better at handling sarcasm.

"Good." I nodded "As stated: The City of New Vegas existed before the war as the city of Las Vegas. Known primarily both before and after the war for being a town of booze, gambling, drugs, and all-around luxury if you knew where to look. You wanted it, Vegas typically had it."

"How'd it survive being blown up?" Nora asked, clearly prepping for that test.

"It almost didn't. Y'see, for the most part Vegas was a city owned, privately, by a man known as Robert House. House was a lot of things: Smart, charismatic, ambitious, and rich enough to buy out the SDC dozens of times over."

Snowflake looked surprised by that.

"The man owned RobCo, the company responsible for some of the larger technological innovations of the Old World. He was powerful, and he wasn't dumb. He saw the war coming from a mile away and planned accordingly. Having his company develop him a sort of 'stasis' pod, and complex network system that would artificially connect him to New Vegas."

Both JNPR and RWBY gave me confused looks. "He what?" Yang asked.

"… He uploaded himself into a computer and took over Vegas's computer systems."

"Oh! Cool."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"If he could do that, why didn't other people?" Weiss asked.

"Some did, I think, but it wasn't an easy process, and I have to imagine it had more draw-backs than benefits." I continued "Either way, House connected to Vegas's defense grid and used it to shoot down any nukes that got too close to 'his' city for comfort. His actions are actually what lead to the Mojave being one of the more habitable regions of the wasteland, radiation wise."

"… Ok" Blake said, clearly piecing the information together "So, there's the NCR, which is like the world from before the War. There's the Legion, which is a group devoted to enslaving people, and then there's House, who from your basic description was apparently a despotic tyrant."

"House would actually have said he's an autocrat." I offered "He wasn't some flawless messianic type character, but he wasn't necessarily evil. He saw Vegas as his, yes, but he also treated it as a responsibility. Remember, he'd lived through the war I told you guys about, the time where things started turning ugly. He knew what it was like for things to be worse, and saw it as his duty to do better. Was he good? Fuck no. Does that mean he was the literal devil? Again, no."

"That really doesn't clear it up." Blake said, her face turning sour.

"Well, not all things are clear cut. Things tend to be a lot less simple than that when put into practice." I shook my head "But those were the three major factions vying for control of the Mojave. Eventually the second battle of Hoover Dam took place, and the rest is history."

"Who won?" Ruby asked.

"Of the three factions mentioned?... none of 'em."

"Wha-?" Ruby asked.

"What do you mean none of them won?" Weiss said, elucidating what Ruby probably meant.

"I mean, none of them won." I gave the stew a final stirring "The NCR was stretched thin to begin with. They were expanding their territory faster than they could sustain it, and didn't have the forces needed to hold the dam. The Legion, while brutal and not lacking manpower, was a faction that actively shunned 'advanced' technologies like modern medicine and automatic weapons. The numbers didn't matter as much once the bullets started flying. As for House… Well, he fell out of the running long before the actual battle took place."

"That sounds like a fancy way of saying he died." Blake noted.

"… pretty much, yeah." I agreed.

"so… who won then?" Ruby re-iterated.

"Again, No one really."

More confused and nonplused looks were sent my way.

"While House was ultimately taken out of the running, someone took his place. They rallied the smaller, but not weaker, factions surrounding Vegas to their cause and lead them into battle. Supposedly so that all the nonsense with the Legion and NCR could finally come to an end. Unfortunately for everyone, they succeeded."

"There are more factions!?" Ruby whined, exasperated.

"Yeah, plenty. The Brotherhood of Steel, The Boomers, The Followers of the Apocalypse, The Enclave, The Great Kahns, and The Factions that run New Vegas's casinos to name a few. There's even more than them, but they're some of the bigger ones."

Weiss took a deep breath "… Ok! So, what happened?"

"Well, after that mess finally settled, The Legion was beaten down to the point they'd crumble to nothing within a few months, even if the NCR and newly minted city-state of New Vegas didn't begin hunting them down immediately afterward. As for the NCR and New Vegas… well, things were tense for a bit, but seemed to blow over. Sometime after the battle, the NCR and New Vegas came to an understanding of sorts. The NCR to continue drawing power from the Dam, and travel through Vegas while they continued their expansion eastward. Vegas on the other hand, would remain independent, would retain the Mojave in its entirety as land, and would receive a portion of whatever gains the NCR made from their people in the Mojave. In addition to any other bonuses their expansion would bring."

"That doesn't sound like an even trade." Blake noted.

"It's not, the guy who replaced House is a complete jackass." I shook my head "At some point the NCR will hypothetically get strong enough to come back and take Vegas by force if they feel like it. But for now things are good. Barring some issues it's still a far sight better than being stuck under House, made slaves by the Legion, or having to give up the freedoms that independence brings to be part of the NCR. Not perfect, but rarely is anything."

I checked the stew one last time, then rose and began pulling my Riot Gear on.

"What're you doing?" Jaune asked.

"Getting ready to topple a criminal conspiracy and make mischief on a grand scale." I said, slipping the armored vest over my head and belting it in place. "Before you ask, no, you can't help."

Jaune gave me a confused look, then turned to my teammates. "Is… is he serious?"

"Ehh…" Ruby groaned, not sure how to answer.

"As much as I ever am." I answered for her. "The stew should be ready in about another ten to fifteen minutes, but I've got a ship to catch, so you'll have to enjoy without me."

"Why did it have to be fish?" Ruby whined.

"Because it's fish stew, tiny. Don't knock it till you try it."

"Where'd you even find the fish to make it?" Blake asked, sneaking noticeably ravenous glances at the meal.

"Would you believe me if I said I caught it? We are right next to the ocean after all."

I'd actually stolen it from the cafeteria's kitchen. It was one of the ones we'd used to hit each other with, and they were planning to throw it away. Naturally, I cleaned it off and appropriated it. A little drywall never killed anyone.

"But what about the rest of the factions?" Weiss asked "I have questions!"

"What more do you want to know?" I griped "Outside of the big three, most of the other factions only dealt with politics and issues concerning their immediate area."

"You can't just bring them up and then not tell us about them!" Weiss complained.

"Well, what could you possibly need to know about them?" I shot back "It's not like you'll ever have to deal with them."

"Well!... Well!..." Weiss stuttered, clearly flustered and trying to justify herself.

"You did promise to tell us what we asked." Pyrrha offered "While you may not have a reason to tell us, you also do not have a reason to not."

I shot Pyrrha a look, which she returned with an apologetic smile.

"… A fair point." I conceded, settling back onto my cot as I laced up my boots. "I'm gonna make this quick, so keep the questions to a minimum, got it?"

Weiss nodded, listening intently.

"The Brotherhood of Steel is a monastic, pseudo religious order dedicated to the preservation of pre-war technology. Their origins aren't well known but a companion of mine, Veronica, used to be a member. Specifically a scribe. They were founded by a man named Maxson, a member of the American Army prior to the Great war."

Weiss nodded, listening intently.

"Maxson was a captain, set to act as head of security for some secret projects the Old World government was running before the great war… You remember the FEV?"

Again, Weiss nodded and her eyes widened.

"Well, that's what he was put in charge of, though he hadn't known it at the time. Once he found out though, he apparently led a mutiny against the research team responsible for it. Unfortunately, at the same time, the bombs fell. Forcing Maxson to make a choice between destroying the FEV, or saving the lives of those under his command and their families… To his credit, I believe he tried to make the right choice."

"So he let the 'FEV' remain, so he could save the lives of his team?" Ruby asked.

"Sadly, yes. I still think he was trying to make the right choice, but whether or not he did is ultimately dependent on your own views." I nodded to Ruby "He was only the first leader of the Brotherhood anyway; he can't be held accountable for the nonsense his successors caused."

"They don't sound bad." Yang offered.

"That's because I haven't gotten to how they are now." I corrected "The Brotherhood started with some rather well-intentioned goals: protect the weak, preserve the technologies of the past, and prevent their future abuse. Given Maxson knew about the FEV, to an extent, this basic credo makes sense. Once his time passed though, the original intent behind it was lost. The Brotherhood became a dogmatic, feudalistic order that prioritized the preservation of Old-World technology above all else. If they so much as catch wind of some piece of tech that could be deemed 'too advanced', they'll raid whoever has it. Which made their decision to use archaic terms like knights and paladins rather emulative of how they viewed themselves."

"But aren't knight supposed to be the heroes?" Ruby asked "That's what they always are in the stories."

"Well, historical knights are different, Tiny." I said "They're more a caste of warriors than anything else. Which is ultimately what the Brotherhood can be at its worst: Dogmatic, ruthless warriors who abuse the technology in their employ so that they can prevent anyone else from abusing it."

"Hmph, wow." Blake huffed, amused "That's pretty… hypocritical.

"I don't have a lot of sympathy for them." I agreed "Besides the fact that they actively refuse to change, and they treated Veronica like crap. I can understand their logic, to a degree, but their self-destructive decisions and ironclad dogmatism make it hard for anyone to be on their side." I finished lacing my boots and focused, having to jump along to the next topic. "Moving along to a similar group, we have the Followers of the Apocalypse. Who are almost the complete inverse of the Brotherhood in every way."

"So they're pacifist anarchists who believe technology should be shared?" Yang asked, clearly joking

"Actually, yes." I nodded "That's exactly what they are."

"Oh." Yang's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"They're actually pretty good people. They're a largely humanitarian group devoted to reclaiming, repairing, and reproducing old world Tech for the betterment of mankind. They're some of the best doctors in the wasteland and are generally accepted wherever they go. The only downside, is they're a humanitarian organization that relies on charity and generally doesn't profit from the good they do. That doesn't change that they're good people, just that it's harder for them to do good work."

"Well that sucks." Yang said succinctly.

"Big time." I agreed "Another companion of mine, Arcade, is a doctor for them. He's easily smarter than me or snowflake to boot…" I checked the clock on my pip-boy, the last airship was going to be shipping out shortly, but I still had some time. "I think I've got time for one more faction. We'll cover the others next time before doing what Ruby wants."

"Very well" Weiss confirmed "Which one do you believe is most important then?"

"Meh, it varies." I shrugged "Honestly, they're all important in their own ways. Just not in such a fashion that any of them stick out…" I thought about it for a moment, figuring out which one would likely require the least logical effort to follow. "… Given what we've been talking about, I guess the last group we can cover tonight would be the Enclave… Or their remnants, at least."

"You've mentioned them twice so far." Weiss said, nodding "Who are they?"

"It's more accurate to ask who they were actually." I answered, looping my belts "I'm fuzzy on the specifics, like most things, but I know the gist. The Enclave were originally the remnants of the Pre-war American government, having secluded themselves in the locations that were safely nestled away from the bombs."

"Umm…" Nora said, clearly trying to remember "Wasn't the government, like, the bad guys?"

"I think they shared that title with the Chinese." I shrugged "But after the war, they were most definitely the bad guys. Especially considering their role in the creation of things like the FEV and Vaults."

Nora paused for a moment, clearly recalling our previous conversations "… The stuff that saved people and turned them into giants, right?"

"Good on you, you may just pass the exam yet." I chuckled "Yes, those were projects majorly funded and sponsored by the Enclave. Like I said, most of what I know is pretty spotty and biased. The NCR has records on them. But most of them are in the form of criminal records, wanted posters, and data sheets regarding crimes against humanity."

"Definitely the bad guys." I heard Ruby mumble.

"Basic summary, as I understand it: They tried to purge the wasteland of all mutant life using a modified strain of the FEV. Given that something close to ninety percent of all life in the wasteland is 'mutated' though, they were effectively committing genocide."

Horrified silence reigned for a moment, before I broke it continuing.

"Naturally, that didn't happen, otherwise I'd either be dead, or non-existent. Someone managed to infiltrate the Enclave's main headquarters and blow them to kingdom come. Records are fuzzy on who, but I've met people who'd been there, so I at least know it's accurate."

"And the Remnants… are the people from the Enclave who escaped?" Blake asked, still sounding horrified "How could they try to do something like that and just… escape?"

"Because not everyone in the Enclave was a genocidal whack-job Kitten." I answered "Most of them just grew up in it, being taught that what they were doing was right. That they were going to 'Rebuild America' and 'Take it back from the dirty mutants'. Most of them were probably ordinary people, trying to make the best of a bad situation. I think on some level, you of all people can understand that."

Blake's bow flattened to the top of her head and her eyes drifted downward. She got it.

"Besides, just because there was still something redemptive in them, doesn't mean most of them weren't bad apples. It's not like they got off scott-free either. Even the ones who had something redeeming to them got bounties placed on them, and were hounded like the rest. The Remnants I met were all decent people, Arcade included."

"-Wait, the doctor?" Yang asked.

"The irony is not lost on me, or him for that matter." I chuckled "Like I said, decent folk, except for Moreno. That guy needs to take the stick out of his ass."

Blake's eyes drifted back up from the floor and looked at me for a moment. A soft smile graced her face for a moment, and only a moment. But I saw it. Which was good enough for me.

"Y'know~" Nora said, leaning towards me "You know an awful lot about all these guys, for someone who's 'just a mailman'."

"Hey, I lived there and moved around a lot." I shrugged "You learn to remember people's names after a while, Dora."

Nora gave me a pointed look, which I ignored and finished prepping. I slid my duster on and holstered the weapons I was bringing with me. I wasn't going to outright look for trouble, well actually I was, but this place had fights like the Mojave had sand. I was re-learning lessons I shouldn't have been, but I was learning them quick.

"I'm headed out." I stated, though it wasn't really necessary "If I'm not back by sunrise, you can assume I've been critically successful. If I'm not back by lunch, assume I'm dead in an alley somewhere."

"Please don't die." Ruby said, clearly taking me more seriously than she should've been.

"Hmph, I'll be fine." I turned to look at Yang and Weiss "You two got the info?"

"Naturally." Weiss said, holding out a slip of paper "You'll be able to contact the SDC help desk for information using this contact code and ID number. Though I don't know how you're going to get anything out of them, they'll only give that kind of information to board members, and family such as myself."

"You let me worry about that." I said, pocketing the paper, even as my pip-boy made a digital copy… somehow. "You focus on enjoying dinner, since tomorrow you're going to be stuck connecting dots on a map."

"You sure you don't want one of us coming with you?" Yang asked "I'm always up for a fight."

"Assuming everything goes to plan, there won't be much of a fight to be had… yet" I held out a hand "The locations?"

Yang took out her scroll and expanded it. A list of what I could assume to be the locations dotted the screen.

"I looked back over the places I've been to and grabbed all the ones you'll probably have the most luck with." She said, holding the device out to me "You can borrow my scroll if you want."

"Tempting… but-" I reached out my pip-boy and tapped it against Yang's scroll. Through some means I still don't entirely fathom, the information transferred over to my pip-boy. Added locations and objectives tallying off in a list. "-I think I can get by with this for right now."

Yang's eyes widened "How did you-?"

"No clue" I answered "This thing's strange like that. That'll just need to be one more thing we talk about though I guess."

Not waiting for any further questions, I flicked over to the data screen and set my objective to the job at hand. A litany of markers cropping up on my compass as I did.

"Alright, time for me to run or I'll miss the airship." I gave a wave and moved for the door "G'night ladies, Jaune, Ren."

They waved me off, and I was out the door. As I walked, I checked over the objectives and headings available to me. There were quite a few.

What's New Pussy Cat

-Completed: Collect the information and clearance from Weiss and Yang.

-Reach the CCT tower before it closes for the night.

-Travel to and search Crow-bar for evidence.

-Travel to and search Burnie's for evidence.

-Travel to and search Stardust for evidence.

-Travel to and search 7th Heaven for evidence.

-Travel to and search the Cave for evidence.

-Failed: Travel to and search the Cave for evidence.

-(Optional): Search the Cave ruins for evidence.

The list of objectives stretched beyond that as well, those were just the ones to immediately catch my eye. A part of me had to wonder how much of this was a hobby for Yang, or an obsession of some kind. Not that I had much ground to judge from. Aside from that, it also gave me plenty to work with.

Having found my heading, I beat feet to the docks. I had work to do.