Arknights: Fractured Memories

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Gift

June came from the storage room in her shop, carrying a decently sized box. She placed it down on the counter and called out for Six who was currently browsing the shop. "Hey Six! Here's the armbands I got." 

Six stopped looking at the trinkets in the store and walked towards her. "Thanks." He said before opening the box and started looking through the armbands. 

"Why do you even need armbands for?" June asked, watching Six sort them out while leaning on the counter.

"Honestly I think the things I need aren't even called armbands now that I look at these." He said in annoyance while showing one of the armbands.

The liberi laughed, "Well, what do you actually need then? I probably have something of the likes laying around here." 

Six thought about it for a moment while putting the armbands back inside. "Well... You got a wrist mount? Specifically a comfortable leather one that goes around quite a bit of your forearm?"

June thought about it for a moment, "Well I might have something... want it to be a blank slate so you can modify it?"

"Yeah I'd like that." Six said as he finished putting it all back in the box. June took it and started walking back into the storage room but not before looking back at six. "I think you want a wrist rack and not an armband."

Six facepalmed while June laughed as she put the box back where she got it.

'God I'm such an idiot. This is what I get for making my cybernetics only give me what I should have without them and not what they could actually give me.' Six sighed, 'But I left that life behind. I can live in peace now.'

When Six first came to Terra, he wasn't always the same as he was now. Back then he had been confused and cornered in a world where he didn't have the advantage anymore. He was ruthless and cunning when he first took upon becoming a mercenary in this new world, donning the codename 'Divide' with his saturnite infused elite riot gear. He had gained a reputation, although not nearly as legendary and big as it was before in the Mojave.

He had a reputation for being able to use guns. And strong ones at that. Apparently, the guns in this world required meticulous and precise control over arts to even be able to use one properly, and even then he found out that while the range is just about the same between gunpowder guns and arts guns, they seemed to lack the same kick as gunpowder guns did. Their... killing power is middling at best and even then the only ones that can really bring out their effectiveness in fights are Sankta.

Which is why the Notorial hall is after him. Or something. He's not really sure what they want from him if he was being honest. He'd have thought they would want him experimented on or captured, maybe even interrogated for being able to use guns while not having a halo or any wings of sorts but... he can tell from Ciel that they want him for something else... something that his gut tells him would need the mercenary 'Divide' and not 'Six' the guy living in some random town so he refuses to do any business with them. 

He's left that life behind. No more being the spotlight, no more factions vying for him to join their side and most definitely nothing here is gonna stop him from living the quiet life.

He quickly made sure June was still in the storage room before pulling out a colt navy revolver from his jacket to examine it. Old Scratch felt at home in his hand, more so than Sweet Revenge at times. Living in a frontier village is one of those times.

Six chuckled to himself before hiding it again in his jacket. 'Guess Marko was right in the end, with us being one and the same.' Once he dies he'll probably thank the bastard for showing him how corrupt the NCR could be at times. Well, after punching him in the face first.

Soon June came back with a blank wrist rack, "It's not a wrist rack," or not. "But it's a wrist mount you can basically modify to put anything on. It's made of hard leather and is extremely durable which is basically a requirement for you if I'm being honest." June teased, "Here take a look." Six ignored the teasing and took it to have a closer look.

It was... pretty damn good all things considered. Good quality stuff. Six smiled, 'Just what I needed.'

"Why'd you need it anyway" June asked.

"Gift." Was all he answered.

"For your daughter?"

Silence took hold.

"..."

June's smile was a mix of victorious, teasing, and smug. All in one.

"I'm not a dad."

June's smile didn't fall. "You didn't deny her being your daughter~" she said in a teasingly saccharine tone.

Six looked away, refusing to say anything. Wrist mount still in hand.

"She literally lives with you, she sleeps in your house, you cook her food, you buy her clothes, you-"

Six pulled out some money out of his pocket and slammed it down on the counter, not breaking it since he made it so his implants are only enhancing his body to what it normally would have been without them, before sprinting out of the store.

June only shook her head, smile still on her face.

--

Six opened the door to his house quietly, Rosmontis and Ciel still asleep since he went to get the wrist mount extremely early.

He started thinking about what June had said before quickly dismissing it. He had better things to do.

Like making Rosmontis a unique, one of a kind item in both worlds.

A custom Pip-Boy 2500A model.

Yeah he really wasn't helping his case was he?

Sighing, Six went ahead and opened a secret compartment and took out the handheld Pip-Boy 2500 before going to his workbench and beginning to modify the damn thing so he can make a non clunky but still wrist mounted Pip-Boy for the girl.

His Pip-Boy 3000 was more compact thanks to the Think Tank and had extra features like materialization and dematerialization but Rosmontis would only get the standard features like mapping, checking for injuries, and more importantly, making and taking notes. She had trouble remembering after all.

'Wonder if I should put the Stealth Suit's AI into it...'

Author's note: And so ends this chapter. I also feel the need to clarify some things.

1. The Pip-Boy's will act differently in the story compared to the game. Mostly because I don't see a reason why or how it can detect things like karma and reputation.

2. All models of the Pip-Boy's can make and not just take notes. I just feel like this makes sense.

3. The Marko in this story isn't the canon one from New Vegas Bounties. It's a mix between the one from the rewrite mod on Nexus and my own headcanon for him. Khagan and the rest of his group also don't exist for plot reasons so it's only New Vegas Bounties and nothing else. (And the things that reference Khagan are taken out if this story's canon.)

4. The gun comparison is something I made up from what I've read on the lore and what I feel like would fit for the story while giving Six an advantage. Remember, he doesn't have arts so he can't use vehicles. Which is a problem team rainbow had in the Originium Dust event when they tried to use a Terran car.

I also haven't decided yet if I want to put the Stealth Suit AI onto Rosmontis' Pip-Boy so you can comment on whether you'd like to see it or not.