I posted the first chapter of this LONG ago, so it may possibly look familiar to some of you. Something possessed me to write a chapter 2. ---- The dusty air smelled lightly of explosives and fire. The rumble and clatter of battle in the distance seemed to come in waves, alternating with the quiet breeze. Mostly a typical day on the field, though it was a tad hotter than the combatants were used to this time of year. But to the wounded Scout, it was a hellish day. Although the din was off in the distance it still made his head ache with each boom. He could scarcely breathe without choking on dust. He thought he would melt before he fell back into his team's territory. Finally he could hear the periodic beep of the sentry. Though the noise usually irritated him, at the moment it was sweet as birdsong. Clutching his wounds, he stumbled back into shoddy structure overlooking the BLU point, desperately looking for the sanctuary of their Engineer's buildings. All he found was a fresh sentry, still in the automatic process of building itself up. "Yo... H... Hardhat... Where...?" His voice trailed off weakly as he shuffled towards the sentry, leaning against a wall for support. But the Engineer was absent. The cool floor felt good against his face. A grunt briefly interrupted his hum of 'Rocky Top' as he hefted the large toolbox in his arms to get a better grip on it. He was in good spirits today. The whole team was performing competently for once, making his job of keeping the middle point secure much easier. Despite the weight of the toolbox he had a spring in his step as he returned to the spot he had chosen to build his nest. The area was quiet at the moment, giving him the perfect opportunity to build without distractions. As he stepped over the threshold, though, there lay Scout, bloodied and bruised. But still breathing. He stopped short and his eyes darted around the room looking for the RED who may have done this. He decided quickly that the coast was clear - it was awful quiet, after all, and no Spy would leave him there alive even as bait - but his wrench would be close at hand just in case. "Good gravy, son, what chewed you up an' spit you out?" he exclaimed as he dumped the toolbox on a nearby crate and knelt down next to his team mate. Scout mumbled something incoherent as Engineer carefully hoisted him up and pulled him over to the side so he could sit upright, leaning against the wall. The movement made him groan. "Stay put, boy, I'll getcha fixed up." He looked him over hastily, noting the huge red stain on his right side and what looked like a bullet wound in his left shoulder. He wondered how and why he came all back here when there should have been a Medic on the front line there to take care of him. He dug around in a trashed storage closet and came up with a medkit. "Hold onta this while I get mah dispenser up, get some medicine in ya." He said as he shoved the medkit into his hands. As he relocated his oversized toolbox and mashed some buttons on the PDA, Scout had regained enough consciousness to get his backpack off and yank off his shirt, his hat and headset falling off with it. The movement must of irritated his wounds, because he had a hard time suppressing whimpers of pain. Engineer sighed at him from over the dispenser and watched as he had a hard time wrapping bandages around himself. "If you'll wait a dang minute I'll help ya," He chided. "I got it, I got it... fuck..." He sighed as he managed to get the bandages wrapped around his waist at least once. Subsequent passes were sloppily done, leaving the bindings loose. With a whirr and a few clicks the dispenser lit up and started producing healing vapors. Scout heaved a long sigh of relief as the cool medicative beam surrounded him. But the moment of comfort was lost as he shifted his position to sit closer. He hissed every bad word he knew in one long string as he clasped a hand over the larger wound in his side. "Don't you move too much now, it'll be a minute before the pain's all gone." Engineer warned as he got up to move to Scout's other side. He shooed Scout's hands away from the bandages and carefully pulled them off so he could reapply them properly, clicking his tongue at the pathetic job he had done. How did this kid stay alive anyway? "How's the front line?" Engineer asked, to make conversation. To get Scout talking about something useful before he started protesting to Engineer's aid. "Was goin alright til we ran right into a pile'a sticky bombs. Fuckin' Demoman-" He gasped as Engineer pulled snugly on his bandages, "Ffffffuck, why ya gotta make it so damn tight?" He took in a deep breath, "Anyway, got separated from the group, a Solider just about blew my fuckin' legs off." By the time Engineer finished patching up his middle, it seemed like the dispenser fumes were finally kicking in. Scout was becoming calmer - squirming around less, cussing less. He still looked unhappy about having to sit still but at least his protests had ceased. He at least waited until his shoulder was wrapped up to ask, "Can I go yet? They need me up there y'know." "Naw, I think yer done for the day. Least til Doc can come heal y'completely. This is just a patch. Y'prob'ly gonna have some internal bleedin' if y'get back in action." Engineer concluded as he tied off the bandage securely. "Y'can help me keep watch right here." Scout scoffed quietly, "Ain't no big deal. Just got to get him to fix me as soon as I get back up there, yeah? B'sides, we got respawn." He shifted his position a bit, as if to get up. He seemed to have regretted the action right away because he sat right back down and leaned against the dispenser. He was more busted up than he let on. But at least we wasn't moaning in pain anymore. Engineer sighed as his persistence as he got up to tend to his machines once more. "Scout, I wouldn't count on respawn to make everything right. It ain't reliable." Engineer said as he mashed a few buttons on the dispenser to up the dosage of healing fumes. "It ain't? Wait whuzzat for?" Scout asked drearily, tilting his head to watch Engineer work. "Oh just a li'l something t'calm y'down." "Y'druggin' me up, y'tricky asshole." Engineer chuckled softly to himself as he returned to work, leaving Scout to doze off by the dispenser. After almost an hour, victory was declared. Engineer had gotten all of his machinery up and running, and Scout had slumped over by the dispenser soundly asleep. He had made a trek from one end of the area to the other to set up his teleporters at the base and near the front line as the last point was being attacked. RED was quickly crushed from there on. With his work done he returned to his sentry nest while the rest of the team chased off their defeated rivals and took over their base. He snagged a cool can of beer out of his dispenser and took a seat next to his unconscious ally. Soon the rest of the team would make their way back and the Medic would arrive to heal Scout's wounds completely. Scout looked peaceful now - his wounds must have numbed up totally by now. He probably needed a good rest anyway. It was a wonder that the scrawny, reckless yankee survived on the battlefield at all. His train of thought was interrupted when his sentry screeched bleeps and began gunning down something outside. A dying scream followed shortly after. Engineer was quite used to this happening out of the blue, but the noise made Scout jerk awake. He sat up abruptly as his hand flew to his nearest weapon, the pistol at his side. Engineer pat him on the shoulder in a gentle fashion. "S'alright, stay put." Scout's eyes darted around for a long moment until he came to realize there was no danger. He heaved a long sigh as relaxed again, slumping over to lean against Engineer. "Scared the shit outta me, man," He breathed, "Fucking hate the noise those damn things make..." His eyes closed and allowed his head to flop over onto Engineer's shoulder, slipping away from consciousness again. He was sitting close. Odd behavior out of him, especially after being so fussy about receiving help at all to begin with. The fumes must have made him loopy. Even after recovering from the shock he was slumped over on top of him. Perhaps he had passed out again. It was a little uncomfortable, but Engineer let Scout rest against him for a little while. "Hey man," Scout started quietly, "You saved my ass... I owe ya big time." His eyes remained closed and he loosely held Engineer's arm. "Thought I was gonna die... Sorry I was bein' a dick about it." "What'n hell's gotten inta ya?" Engineer shifted away instinctively as he felt Scout's grip on him. Scout looked up at him sleepily and his mouth formed a scowl. "Well 'scuse me for bein' grateful!" He grumbled as he released his hold. He sat upright again and averted his eyes, sighing softly. There was some red at his cheeks. "Jeez." He pushed himself up off the ground, keeping a hand close to the wall in case he was unsteady. Engineer got up with him and reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged his hand away weekly. His stubbornness was returning, which meant his energy was recovering as well. "Hehe, I just ain't used t'ya bein' so nice. Didn't mean t'insult ya." Engineer gave Scout a gentle smile. He relaxed. "How's yer wounds? Can y'walk back or y'wanna wait fer Doc to get back here?" "Can't even feel 'em. I'm fuckin' starvin' though, let's head back." Scout replied as he snatched up his shirt, hat, and back pack. He wobbled a bit as he tossed the bag over his good shoulder. Engineer gingerly rested a hand at Scout's back as they walked back to the base.
Ch. 2 Even this vicious battleground had some civility on the weekends. There was absolutely no combat on the weekends. Sure, it would have been easy to launch a sneak attack while the other team was cat napping, but no one ever took up this opportunity. Weekends were sacred, and a few days of rest were necessary after a hard week of killing. And if one person disturbed the sanctity of the weekend ceasefire, it was sure to put an end to those peaceful breaks. Which is why the Scout was kept inside the base over the weekends, and why he hated them so much. He couldn't wait for Monday to roll around again so he could get back to fighting. The rest of the team made sure Scout made no trips to RED base to bash in some heads during the ceasefire whenever he had a serious beef with them. Of course, if he REALLY wanted to tear the REDs apart in his free time, he sure as hell wasn't going to let his own team stop him. He'd be half way across the map before they even knew he was gone. He was strutting down the hall on his way out to test this when he caught up to the Spy. He clasped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing. Wouldn't that be rich if he sneaked up on the sneak? He watched him turn into the Engineer's shop and just HAD to know what was going on there. He pressed himself against the wall and listened in, peering around the corner slowly. The Engineer was rifling through a large pile of documents - probably blueprints, it was hard to tell at that distance. He didn't seem to be working on any of his machines like usual though, as his hardhat, gloves, and goggles were left behind on his workbench. Scout hadn't actually seen him without his gear before now. Scout found himself a little surprised at how normal he looked. He was half expecting robot laser eyes under his goggles or maybe a bulging giant genius brain under his helmet. Engineer looked up from the papers as the Spy game in and adjusted his reading glasses. "Hey there, Spy. Sad t'say I ain't found any leads yet." He tidies up the mound of documents before standing up. "Gimme another day to look through 'em, ifya don't mind." Spy shook his head and held up a hand. "Nono, I am not 'ere for the papers. You may keep them. I 'ave unsettling news." He leaned against the wall, disdainfully kicking aside an greasy rag near his foot. "The enemy Pyro has not respawned since he was killed over two weeks ago." Scout slowly made his way closer so he could hear better, ducking behind a large crate of machine parts. One less RED sounded like GOOD news to him, so he must have misheard some part of that. Engineer rubbed his chin pensively. "Damn, two weeks? That sure is unsettlin'... Last time we had a respawn glitch it was, what, four days?" "Five days. But surely we cannot risk assuming this instance is another glitch." "Mmhm... Everyone's just gonna have to keep themselves alive 'til I get it fixed. I suppose a total ceasefire is out of the question, huh?" "Tch, I doubt that a ceasefire could be maintained long enough." "Hm... Can we radio the administration then?" "They should already know of the respawn issues if these cameras actually function. /SHE/ would know, at least. I do not think we should count on the administration to be of any help. Just fix it before we lose the advantage of numbers." There was a brief silence, followed by a sigh. "Alright, I'll do what I can. Keep yer eyes peeled for any more information on it you can find, I gotta feelin' that machinery access'll ain't gonna be easy to get into. They don't want anyone tinkerin' with somethin' that important." "Of course. Good luck, laborer." Scout held his breath and ducked back behind the crate as the Spy passed. He paused, plucking a cigarette from his case, before commenting, "You are not very sneaky, you know," and took his leave. Scout only glared and took a peek back to see if the Engineer had caught him too. He watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow. "Uhh... That wasn't supposed to be a secret, was it?" Scout asked as he stood. Engineer shook his head. "Naw, gonna have to tell the rest of the team about it anyway. But eavesdroppin's still bad manners." He collected the documents, which on closer inspection were actually detailed maps, and stored them away in a box. "Now if you were listenin' good you know what this means: Don't let yerself get banged up as badly as y'were yesterday or y'might die for real. Howya feelin, by the way?" He wiped off his reading glasses and put them away in a small case. "Yeah yeah, I'm good. So that Pyro's dead for good? If we take out the rest of their team does that mean we win the war?" Scout took a seat on the table, shoving aside a few pieces of scrap metal. "You really wanna end this by killin'm all? Permanently?" Engineer gave him a disappointed look. "That ain't right." "Hmm..." He scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. "Well I guess not. I'd get bored if the war was over anyway." Engineer sighed and smacked him upside the head. "You like scrappin' too much, boy." "Owwww, hey man, I think YOU'RE the one wanting to scrap!" He hopped off the table and stared down at the other man, grinning. "Well old man? You pickin' a fight with - ACK" His taunts were interrupted by a swift headlock. "HEY KNOCK IT OFF," he screeched as the Engineer gave him a rough noogie. Laughing, he released the flailing Scout. "Get on somewhere now, I gotta work on my machines." He plopped down on his stool and donned his work gear. "Y'oughta be restin' up anyway, after all that bloodya lost yesterday." Scout let out a frustrated little growl and scowled at him. "I'm FINE and you aren't ANY fun. You worry too damn much." He stormed out of the shop and slammed the door behind him. The Engineer sighed softly, shaking his head as he returned to work.
Please continue :)
I like what I'm reading so far and would love to see a next installment soon ish. You had me laughing at the part where Scout was surprised at how normal Engie looked compared to his own imagination. Very Scout of him.
I dunno if I'm only seeing things, but I feel like I have read a lot of fics where Engie and Spy are the ones who try to communicate with the administration. I feel like the two of them looking over papers on a work table in Engie's work shop has become something of a trope for the fandom. Not that I'm complaining though, most fics will usually take the story in different directions once this baseline has been established. I look forward to seeing where you take yours, and I especially look forward to your characterization of the other classes, especially with what looks to be a dramatic situation on the horizon.