1 . Name: Exac @ 2011-04-24 20:27

TTMTT, revised completely and beginning a somewhat regular update schedule so I figured I'd better repost it where it started. Didn't want to come back too soon in case I ran out of steam again but I think I'm back.
Here's an origin story.



Chapter One

A man sat alone in a large, empty kitchen. The moon's dull blue light attacked the floors and pristine counters and fell on the man, whose mind was so lost in thought that the muscles of his face had relaxed completely and left his mouth hanging slightly open. He breathed through it an airy sigh before wringing his gloved hands, which comforted him with their resounding squeaking. A door slammed somewhere in the abysmally large fortress. Shortly after, a bellowing Soldier stormed the room.

"The kitchen is not a lounge, nor your private quarters, officer," said the soldier, who, dressed entirely in his uniform and short not even of his shovel, marched to his startled victim and continued. "Furthermore, you are a disgrace to your own line of work! I do not need quacks on this team, I need men who are capable of sleep and of excellent performance the very second they open their eyes!"

"Herr Soldier, wh-"

"What is it, officer?" The soldier interjected. The Medic trembled from the slight breeze that snaked through the room. He had left his coat in his quarters.

"May I know why you are not only beautifully awake, but fully dressed as well? It is the first hour of the day."

The Soldier glared at the Medic as if he had insulted his country. "One must always be prepared!" He continued bellowing on his way to a cupboard. "If the BLU scum come waltzing in-"

"You know perfectly well that they cannot; no one can leave after a ceasf-"

"-then they will not have the pleasure of maiming me or my RESTING comrades." The Soldier poured himself a cup of water, eliminated it in one swing, and proceeded to frown at his teammate. "As to why I am here in this kitchen, it is because I was sorely dehydrated. Carry on, officer." As he turned to go, the Medic called him to a stop. The Soldier turned to a haggard man.

"We are the only ones left here, Herr Soldier. There are no more doctors, and there are no more soldiers. The corporation is mad if it thinks it can keep shoving the two of us into more skirmishes with BLU. They have at least three doctors, and I have given up counting their blasted Demomen." The Medic propped his elbows on his knees and ran both hands over his graying hair. He then stood and straightened to his full height.

"The respawn chambers activate only during battle. Every last dummkopf who stormed BLU without promise of rebirth is dead. It is clear that we are not receiving reinforcements. Respect my wishes, Herr Soldier. Do not attempt to ambush BLU at night as they did because there are things in this world I would much rather do than defend this hovel of a fort against Scot bombers with a needle gun."

The Soldier grunted and shoved his shovel behind his back.

"Only maggots disobey orders."

They retreated to their respective rooms. Neither man slept.

Chapter Two

The next day, the remaining RED mercenaries positioned themselves near a strip of land several miles from their base. Protect it, The Announcer said through the sound system. It was the only thing in the RED base not rotting in shambles. The Medic gathered the last of his equipment as the woman's shrill voice trilled in his ears, and followed the RED Soldier. They quickened their pace as they neared their destination.

"Have you taken all of the equipment?"

The Soldier panted after him, carrying sacks whose contents protruded from the fabric in strange and jagged patterns. "Yes...doctor..." He stopped to catch his breath, surveyed the terrain they were to defend, and continued.

"Though why we must defend a filthy, barren ditch..."

"Do not question orders, doctor. I do not question yours."

Several abandoned and half constructed buildings littered one side of a canyon wall. The closer RED moved into the area, the louder were the muffled explosions that erupted from a pair of gates a considerable distance away. Medic recoiled indignantly. "Verdammt, Herr Soldier. A brisk walk is all it takes for the madmen to take...this", said the Medic, gesturing disgustedly at the unremarkable valley. The Soldier made to berate his colleague for his un-American attitude before he heard the doctor's muffled chuckling. Ah, he thought."Set the traps, doc?"

"Ja, Herr Soldier. May this be their most memorable stroll."

For weeks, RED had been outnumbered by BLU so much so that it nearly shamed Medic to tears to hear from half of their drunken enemies that the other half were soundly sleeping off their Scrumpy in their base. They had learned, and for Soldier, in the most painful way, that direct combat was synonymous with suicide. Now they gathered as much equipment as they (namely, Soldier) could carry, and lay only the dirtiest traps for the brazen BLU with the little time they were given to set them up.

Medic trembled slightly as The Announcer declared the last sixty seconds of his guaranteed survival, and made hasty adjustments to their traps. The two quickly positioned themselves on opposite ends of the canyon. The Soldier hid on the roof of the highest building. The Medic, concealed by outcrops, gripped his instruments mere feet from the rattling gates.

They whined and clanged. Medic was never as close to the gates as he was then. The relative safety he was assured by the large, concealing stone outcrops and his delicate traps did nothing to stop the trembling of his fingers, the tightening in his chest, or the dryness in his mouth. How ridiculous, he thought, for a field medic to take such an active role in combat. He briefly wondered when these explosions of adrenaline in his system would ebb enough to allow him to even operate again.

Five seconds. He figured that the cogs would move now.

Four seconds. He heard them start, and for some unspeakable reason, his rather insignificant premonition calmed him.

Three seconds.

Two.

One.

In seconds, the gates slid open, followed immediately by a chorus of resounding pops whose violent rumble was all too familiar to the Medic, who drew his lip to a snarl. "Jump, schweinhunds."

As expected, a number of sticky bombs propelled the Demomen straight out of the gate at a speed that did not allow them to register the barrage of needles that struck them in flight. Four Demomen landed, pierced, halfway to the scattered buildings that RED was defending. Medic moved and hid himself behind another outcrop, wary of an enemy soldier and a pair of BLU field medics who stumbled out after their teammates."The dummkopf and his frauleins," he chided.

The RED Medic bit his lip; the solution in the syringes was too slow. He realized too late that the damned Scots had closed the gap between the gates and the control point too soon. He only prayed that his teammate would see the real threat before firing at the irresistible decoys.

An explosion rocked the canyon in answer, and debris spread quickly. The BLU Soldier and his two doctors retreated out of sight at the scene of the Demomen's death. The Medic swore, gripped his needle guns, and hoisted them onto yet another cross of rope closer to their control point. He waited.

The RED Soldier waited as well. He was used to blowing up Scots. He was also used to insulting his remaining enemies after he had done so. But most importantly, he was used to giving away his position in such a matter and leaving his only colleague to die or leave the captured area alone. But today would be a good day. "Wait 'til the Medic sees this", he boasted in a low whisper. "I will destroy the maggots myself, and then my checkup hours will be cut in half. Only five hour checkups, hah!"

Medic grew anxious. Nothing was happening for longer than he would have liked, and it was maddening. "Eight of you, always eight." Dark strands of hair stuck to his forehead and a drop of sweat parted from his jaw. Four Demomen. One Soldier. Two Medics. One was missing. He thrust his back against the stone he hid behind, suddenly aware that was blind to his immediate area, and almost giddy that he checked himself in time. He laughed gaily and rubbed his eyes behind his glasses, enjoying the wind's strange, gentle hiss. When he looked up, it was into the barrel of the Ambassador.

. . . . . . . . .

"Come on, come on." RED's Soldier was ready to split some heads, and the BLU cowards were grossly depriving him of the pleasure. He was no lover of guerilla tactics. "Come out, you miserable-" He stopped his mumbling and grinned as a BLU Soldier and Medic stepped out from behind a dilapidated building. The two ignored a gunshot that sounded somewhere to his left and the BLU Soldier fired several stray rockets. One screamed past the RED Soldier as he lay flat on the roof. His fingers and toes curled in anticipation. The wild sparks that eased out of the enemy Medic's medigun were not lost on him. What a treat, he thought ecstatically. Terminating the enemy doctor before or even after his charge gave him a particular pleasure.

"Fancy tricks are for magicians, son, not warriors."

Merely a screaming distance away from the conflict, the RED Medic sat still and silent against the concealing rock. He wore an almost peaceful expression, and his eyes had closed. His chest, however, rose and fell in erratic patterns.

"Do not humor me, doctor, I am well aware that I missed."

Cigarette smoke forced a poorly suppressed cough from the Medic, but his eyes remained closed.

"I do not intend to kill you."

The stranger's voice soothed the doctor. The RED Medic's hands and feet were restrained by torn cables, and he was unable to move his bruised jaw, but this man's voice calmed him. Was it because his ears were hardened to his teammate's crude grunts that he found this man's slow drawl almost musical? He opened his eyes. His attacker rubbed his hands together, as if to squeeze the blood and grime out of the costly black gloves. He knelt near Medic, careful to avoid dragging his coat on the ground, and blew more smoke into his face.

"I see newcomers do not faze you," Spy said with ill hid disappointment. "But what does it matter? To my knowledge, I replaced a BLU doctor. Why BLU needed three of them, I could not imagine. But now I see." He took a long drag and continued. "You are a clever group. So tell me, doctor, where are the rest? I see the giggling one on the roof, and here you are. Tell me where your remaining teammates are and I may even give you a chance to save them." The Spy left the cigarette in his mouth and listened.

Medic frowned and spoke slowly to avoid further pain in his jaw. "There is no one e-"

"You disappoint me, doctor."

"Your team will tell you, there are no othe-ahh!" The Spy gripped the doctor's chin.

"I am a busy man, doctor. You are not giving me much reason to let you live." The hand gripped tighter, and the Spy waited patiently as the doctor's face contracted in pain. The BLU Spy leaned close to the Medic and whispered in his ear as his hands mimed an explosion, "Is this terrible noise afflicting you? Would you prefer to cooperate in the silence of ceasefire?" He grinned as the doctor registered this and let out a strained cry. "Nein!", he breathed. "I cannot leave the Soldier alone for you schweinhunds, I cannot," Medic rambled in a sudden fervor. Each rocket that made contact behind him shoved his panic to a higher peak.

"I do not care for the company", the Medic howled over the rising din. "RED does not take care of its workers. They have lost my respect long ago." The doctor uttered a stuttering gasp as the combustion of a charged rocket rang through the arid air. He imagined the monstrously glowing BLU charging toward his comrade. He refused to hope that his teammate would survive an Ubercharge alone.

"Kill me, Herr Spy."

The cigarette dropped."Do it now before I take my own invitation." The BLU Spy opened his mouth and looked at the doctor incredulously as the conflict behind them grew louder."The damn point is yours, dummkopf! What else could you possi-" Medic stopped. The noise had ceased.

A gruff voice tore through the silence. The RED Soldier boasted triumphantly about maggots and America and glory and a thousand other things as his Medic, separated from him by nothing but a slab of rock, attempted to cry out, if only to vehemently congratulate him and order his own punishment for his lack of faith. The Spy frowned and stopped him.

"Interesting charade, doctor. Now." he said, gripping the Medic's jaw again. The pain drew sharp shapes and ripples into the doctor's vision. The Spy tilted his head thoughtfully. "Perhaps BLU may even be open to accepting a prisoner of w-", he stopped as his eye caught movement at the gates. Medic followed suit and immediately wished he hadn't. "Even the time it takes to reanimate your men is a quarter of ours," he said weakly, as the Demomen returned, destroying his traps on their way to the RED Soldier. The Medic hurriedly stuck his head from behind the outcrop. From his position, he could easily make out both remaining Soldiers. The RED Medic saw the second BLU doctor first, but the RED Soldier had already begun firing.

"THE SECOND IS ALSO CHARGED! GET BA-" The Spy's swift kick to the stomach silenced the Medic. He rolled out from behind the stone, tore the binds on his feet and returned the favor. The RED Soldier spotted his doctor and leapt from the roof with no spare thought. He was followed by the charged Soldier and Medic from behind, and by four unscathed Demomen to his right. The RED Medic disregarded his pains completely and yelled in a cracked voice:

"DO IT, HERR SOLDIER!"

"WE DO NOT SURRENDER", the Soldier answered, even as a critical rocket and a swarming mass of pipe bombs enveloped the man. It was only when he saw the blue figure behind his doctor that he swore quietly and fired one miserable rocket. A mere second after the projectile left its launcher, the Soldier's body flew wildly in all directions across the canyon base.

"Move, you idiot!" yelled the Spy. The Medic shoved the man away of the rocket and leaped into it himself.

As BLU marked the canyon theirs, the Spy glanced at the eventful slab of rock and then at a dismembered RED hand as it faded from the earth. He hoped that he would meet this doctor again. He hoped that he would again meet the man who not only asked for death, but smiled blissfully in its face.

Chapter Three

Several hours after the end of this mission, the RED base lost its silence courtesy of the unceremonious gagging of its Soldier. He stumbled out of the Respawn and sat in the Medic's waiting room, as he had done after every trip through the machine. The RED Medic always had the longest respawn time out of any mercenary who has ever given his life for RED. When he left the Respawn room, he noted the time again. Three hours, 34 minutes.

He strolled through the waiting room past the Soldier. The signup sheet bore the man's obnoxiously large and thick signature, which would dwarf all others had there been any. Medic turned to Soldier, his face white but tone commanding.

"Should there be a ceremony announcing your entrance?" Partially under his helmet, Soldier furrowed his brow questioningly.

"Y-you mean you're ready, doc?"

"Nein, I am standing here for my pleasure." The Medic entered the exam room, followed immediately by Soldier, who, in one fluid motion, strode in, shut the door, threw off his helmet, and sat on the exam table. He sat rigidly, and his eyes were moist.

"What's this, another respawn symptom?" Medic gently pulled at an eyelid. The Soldier shook his head.

"No, doc. You... just... you seein' me the very moment you exit the reanimation unit...it's just...so American. Today is a good day."

"I agree, Herr Soldier," Medic said, albeit monotonously. The doctor performed the routine check on both of them to be certain that all the important bits were there.

"We failed our mission, officer," said Soldier as the doctor returned his instruments.

"But we gave those maggots another hell of a show", he added. The doctor exhaled, and even smiled briefly. More importantly, they had come back together. He would sooner destroy his medigun than admit to anyone his uneasiness in being left alone in a battlefield. He had been "the last kill" for too many missions for his liking.

"I understand that you have information concerning the enemy, doctor."

"Wh... ach! Of course. They have a replacement for one of their Medics. A Sp-"

"SPY? I didn't think those worms would stoop so low. But to hire a spy...this could be a problem..." He rubbed his chin as the Medic noted his blood pressure. "Is he American?"

"Nein, he sounded European. Perhaps French." Soldier burst into gruff giggles. "Then we have absolutely no problem," he declared, and slapped the Medic on the shoulder. The doctor smiled feebly.

"Of course, Herr Soldier, of course."

When they agreed that they were put back together coherently, they went their separate ways. There was little to enjoy in the base save for chess boards with no pieces, an old radio whose knobs jammed, and whatever books the censors allowed. On many nights, the Medic simply reread his medical textbooks and journals. He tried to stay away from the notes tonight. They contained minute records of every member of RED that the doctor had examined during his stay at the company, compiled with those of other RED Medics. Tonight, however, he did not want to be reminded of those who were in a better place than he. Medic considered taking a stroll through the base, but it was a tired notion: the sort one would make jokingly. He bid goodnight to the Soldier, and went to bed.

The RED Medic awoke in the middle of the night. He left to see the Soldier, but he was not in his room. He panicked and searched the base, and at last found him sitting on a ragged sofa next to a silent radio. The doctor sat next to him and motioned for the Soldier to give him his arm. He gripped a slender needle and cleared his throat.

"Herr Soldier, we are the playthings of a dying company," he said bluntly. Soldier said nothing. The doctor rolled the Soldier's sleeve up to his elbow and disinfected the skin above a thick vein. "It is time for us to go. I have dismantled the respawn chambers," he whispered excitedly. Again, Soldier was still. The needle penetrated and the syringe's contents emptied. "I will come later, as always." As Soldier relaxed and succumbed to shadow, Medic detached a small capsule from a thin string around his neck, placed it into his mouth and leaned back on the sofa. His brow and the corners of his lips lifted blissfully and his eyes slowly shut.

They then snapped all the way open at the too familiar clang of metal that signaled the start of the day. "Nein... how can it be," he gasped. He felt his hands and his chest and his legs and rubbed his eyes. The capsule protruded from beneath his thin shirt. "Es war ein Traum...ein Traum..."

. . . . . . . . .

"Permission to observe how horrible you appear, officer."

"Nein."

"Then permission to take over kitchen duty."

"Why?..." Medic started. Oh, he thought. The omelet was not an omelet anymore. He disposed of the burnt thing and handed the pan to Soldier.

"Omelets are for sissies," he muttered, and found a box of old pancake batter. Medic sat at a large table and rubbed his eyes again. What a wonderfully horrible dream. Or was it the other way around? He played it again in his mind regardless, and found his fingers brushing against the flimsy string that held the capsule around his neck. It was an expensive thing, this pill. He had plans to use the smuggled treasure should he be taken prisoner during battle by the enemy, but with each passing day, it begged to be swallowed away from the influence of respawn.

"Medic."

"Ja?"

"There's a letter in the mail. A company letter. I figured I'd wait until you were-" The Medic wasted no time in retrieving this letter. It was the first they had received in so long that Medic wondered how they even knew what letters were anymore. He fumbled with it and tore the envelope impatiently, ignoring the food that was laid out for him. "To our vonderful employees", the Medic read aloud, "There will be a number of changes that you must be made aware of. First and foremost, your contracts have been modified..."

The Soldier looked up from his food. "Continue, doctor", he said, and grew annoyed with the Medic's silence. "Herr Soldier", he said quietly. "They are extending our contract indefinitely."

"Oh. Alright."

Medic put his hand over his mouth and let the letter fall.

"Quit your stalling, officer. I am just as excited as you at the honor of continuing our marvelous work, but that is certainly not the entirety of the letter's content."

The Medic picked up the page. Bending his back to reach down, curving his palm and tap finger and thumb on either side of the letter, placing the other gloved hand on his knee for leverage to straighten again - he felt nothing but a ravaging blackness in his mind, a disconnect from his body, and a hatred so consuming it ravaged even the reasons for it. The doctor continued before he found them.

"A train will arrive on the first of March und supply the base with additional supplies and men."

The Medic stared. He smoothed the wiry wrinkles in the paper and tilted it under a better light."...and men", he said again. He read the sentence again. Then once more. And another, this time just to hear how it sounded. The Soldier thumped his knuckles on the table loudly. The Medic continued, his voice breaking. "...There vill be two on the first train and one more on the second, which vill arrive a week later, und...und then..."

The Soldier grumbled and snatched the letter to read it himself. The doctor laughed. The sound was foreign to him, and its echo a bit alarming, but he did not care. The Soldier finished reading and moved the letter aside.

"I agree, doc. I find it positively laughable that they are sending more troops. I don't know about you, but I believe that we are doing just fine under these circumst-" He stopped speaking suddenly and cocked his head to one side. The doctor heard it too; it was a knock. A knock on the main entrance of the base. The Soldier thundered to the door as the doctor trailed behind. The RED Medic heard it open, and swore to forever remember his teammates' first words.

"Howdy!"

"Yo, I smell pancakes."

. . . . . . . . .

"Place of birth?"

"Boston. No really , doc, I'd love some pancakes right now."

"Not before your examination. Family?"

"Ma, seven brothers. Haven't seen dad for a while. Okay okay, but AFTER, can I have pancakes?" The boy winced as the doctor finished the last vaccinations. "Wait, why the hell do ya gotta know about my family?"

"I was wondering what sort of environment would push a boy as young as yourself to enter this line of work", the Medic said, and put away his equipment. He sighed. "To be frank, I am not surprised..."

"Hey, I'm not a "boy" and that ain't no reason why I'm here. 'Sides, you ain't seen me at work yet." He straightened his cap and leapt off of the exam table. It was at that moment that the Soldier slammed open the exam room door and pointed an angry finger at the newcomer.

"DOCTOR, WE HAVE A SITUATION."

"Nein, Soldier, this one is healthy this time." Ignorant of the doctor's diagnosis, the Soldier stormed toward the Medic, forcing the man a step back with his violent cloud of indignation.

"This is NOT a PRESCHOOL, Medic." He then faced the boy. "And YOU will march your preadolescent hindquarters back to the train station and wait for your mama to bring your sippy cup while the real men bleed!", he bellowed. The boy whipped a metal bat out of his bag, tipped the Soldier's helmet back and looked the enraged man in the eyes."Make me, Private chucklenuts."

The Soldier roared a menacing battle cry, swat the hand away and lunged at the boy, who leapt on the table in the small room and mockingly swung his bat at the air at an invisible baseball. The doctor pulled him, whining and kicking, off of it by his ear as the Soldier made another violent lunge. The doctor watched curiously as the second newcomer ran in and stopped the Soldier's arm. The stocky man sighed in relief and adjusted his collar. "Whoa, there. If this here's a dispute over our right to be here, then you can look at both our papers." He offered his own documents and motioned to the boy's on Medic's desk.

The Soldier ripped his arm from the man's grasp and snatched his papers. He scanned them and thrust them back.

"Eleven HUNDRED PHD's will not excuse this insubordination, private."

"Pardon me, sir, but don't it make sense to test our mettle in combat before sendin' us home?"

The boy slipped past the doctor's grip during the exchange and crept toward the door. As he stood poised to run, Soldier grabbed him by the same ear that was just freed.

"OW, WHAT THE F-"

"Maggot, I am not finished with you. And YOU," He peered down at the man's papers. "...Engineer." He hesitated. "What would an engineer possibly contribute to this fine team?" Engineer straightened himself and grinned at the Soldier and Medic as Scout finally regained possession of his ear.

"Have you any problems?", he asked, turning to the doctor. The Medic cleared his throat stiffly and looked in any other direction but at the man's wide grin. "We may have certain practical problems..." The Engineer chuckled and clapped his hands together.

"Then that's why I'm here."

The atmosphere in the base was all but calm. Soldier hovered incessantly over Engineer's shoulder as he demonstrated the sizable upgrade to the Soldier's and Medic's primitive grenade pits and needle gun mounts. The Soldier had become so engrossed that he had no objections to watching the Engineer toil away in his newly converted workplace until the stars glared. The doctor faced a similar and yet very different scenario. How strange, he thought, that the constant din of whining rockets and clanking pipe bombs did not bother him as much as one boy's persistent babble. His pounding head was soothed considerably by the gentle hum of the company treadmill, and by the rhythmic steps the boy made on it for the past three hours as part of an "examination".

Medic was unsure of what to make of the pair. Soldier was examining the other, so that had left him with the boy. He did not have nearly enough strength to prop a rocket launcher against his shoulder, much less survive it's recoil with an intact head, and had little knowledge of the field other than the primitive 'dodge, point and shoot'. And most frighteningly, he had little gear on him other than a bat, two company issued guns, a headset, and a can of soda. His muscular legs and thin frame entrusted him with a pace faster than anyone else's on RED, but an athlete is no warrior. Soldier may have been right, he thought. Maybe they should send the boy home.

"Nod off again, doc?"

The doctor stirred and frowned. "Why don't you take a break...in fact, rest up. Tomorrow will be your first battle and I'll be damned if you can dodge rockets with heavy eyelids."

"I get to choose my room though, yea?"

"Ja, just g-"

He ran off happily. The doctor sat a little while longer at his desk, propped his head up with his palms and struggled to remember a thought that had teased him in his half sleep. He thought of the boy, and the thought nearly resurfaced. Nearly. Medic sighed and gathered his personal belongings. He made for his room by walking through halls that, despite their emptiness, did not oppress him quite as malignantly as before. He thought of the eager Engineer and the tireless boy, and briefly marveled at their youth - that foolishness which placed them in the hands of Reliable Excavation Demolition. He rubbed his stiff neck.

Chapter Four

Medic and Soldier lead the boy to the day's battle ground. Soldier occasionally prodded him to keep him moving - or to relieve his newfound indignation with every "ow!" as Medic explained the day's objective.

"BLU has gotten control of an area of great importance to RED - an easily rebuilt outpost near the path of a supply train that carries equipment for both bases. If we do not seize the area as well as the territory near it before t- are you listening?"

"Yeah yeah." The boy moved away from the Soldier and closer to the Medic, rubbing his arm.

"Herr Soldier, bitte. Do not give me more reason to postpone your visits to the infirmary. Now, again - if we do not seize the area before they return, they will attempt to capture or ransack the train as well, leaving us with nothing. Do not look so surprised," he told the gawking youth. "We would do the same."

Their destination was a compact area behind the canyon that had towered over the dilapidated outpost buildings on the other side. A lone gate was set into a stone entrance that was now the only way into the old control point. As the three mercenaries made themselves familiar with the terrain, the Engineer ran past them as quickly as his bulky toolbox allowed. The Soldier grinned giddily as the doctor prepared his medigun.

Sixty seconds.

The boy had managed to climb on a protruding rock that listed precariously to one side over the gates. The Medic caught him fiddling with that suspicious drink again, and made sure to remember to check his blood sugar later. The Engineer and Soldier huddled together over some obscured contraption that had begun to bleep rhythmically.

Thirty Seconds.

"Yo, the Announcer always quacks this loud? Geez," said the boy, wincing and groping his head theatrically.

"Quiet, dummkopf! You will not even hear the gates open over your own drivel." The Medic then turned to the Soldier, who had been running to and from the Engineer with various bits of metal. "Herr Soldier, we must prepare!"

"Not yet, Doc. Y'all can relax" said the Engineer. His musically calm words infuriated the doctor. Engineer suddenly smiled in thought, and interrupted the doctor's impending outburst.

"Y'all ever had an engineer on the team?" The Medic stopped mid-thought and slowly shook his head.

"Nein. We are fighters, not toy makers," he said, gesturing to the Engineer, who laughed good naturedly.

Ten Seconds.

"I bet you'll like this here toy", he chuckled. A BLU Solider and Demoman approached the gate from the other side. Their mocking pounds on the metal seemed to provoke not only all of RED, but also their "toy", whose excited bleeping from under Engineer's swinging wrench invited an uncontrollable trembling in the boy. He remained crouched above the gates and tapped his bat to the wall of the canyon in rhythm to the bleeps. The Engineer finally stepped back from his work, allowing the Medic to see it for the first time.

Five.

Medic inhaled sharply under Engineer's careful watch. "Might wanna cover your ears, doc; this ain't no concert", he chuckled. The Medic didn't even hear the gates open. He didn't see the BLU step in. But he did see what remained of them.

The Soldier dragged the shocked doctor to the empty entrance. "Excellent work, Engie. Now let's uproot the rest of 'em before they run screaming to their mamas!" The Medic stopped at the entrance, earning a well resonating "COME ON!" from the Soldier. The boy, still rubbing his ears, leapt down and stood next to the Engineer as Medic protested.

"It cannot be so easy; they are expecting us. How will we avoid their traps? We do not have spare Demomen to fling at them." The Soldier snorted at the memory and abruptly stopped at seeing the boy, whose head was thrown upwards to catch the remaining contents of a bright can.

"WHAT IS THIS MUTINY? I DO NOT PUT YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD TO GUZZLE SOFT DRINKS AND PRIMP AROUND WHILE MEN DISCUSS EMERGENCY BATTLE STR -"

Soldier stopped raving only when the boy had charged through the entrance and returned after a full minute with a bloody bat.

"BLU Doc an' Demo, down..." he panted, doubling over. "Pair 'o Demos on either...either side of cliff...one hidin' in building...sticky bombs on walls..." he added. He exhaled loudly and folded his arms. "Gimme a sec and I'll get the rest for you geezers."

No one even considered giving him the pleasure, and every RED mercenary charged through, eliminated every BLU in sight, and secured the area. Dinner that evening was louder than ever before in Medic's or Soldier's memory. Admittedly, Soldier contributed more to the cheering and whooping than anyone, making sure to toast to the day's events as soon as every glass was put down from the last.

"...and then we gutted their last Medic and painted the canyon with him. And THEN, Engie gave the honorary shotgun blast into that Demo's face, and the point was OURS!" Soldier bellowed, swaying in his seat. "But YOU" he continued, patting the boy's back enthusiastically, "without your superior scouting abilities, we would have come out in more pieces than we would have preferred, son." Before the Soldier had a chance to, the Medic raised his glass.

"That's it, that's what I will put under 'position' in your papers, Scout", he said. Scout whooped and clinked his can against the doctor's glass and downing that drink.

"And to our excellent Engineer, who proved me wrong and has the good nature to not pursue the fact," Medic said, giving the Engineer a mockingly stern look. Engineer grinned and raised his glass with the others. Medic soon excused himself and left the celebrations early.

Things have turned in RED's favor comically fast, he thought. The doctor entered his room and locked the door. The room was large; it served also as his medical library. No wound to treat today, he remembered. Not a single bullet wound. Even the Scout recovered quickly from his brief skirmish. Then again, the enemy was surprised, and would not be again. They would also need to move into battles closer and closer to the enemy base. This would put RED at an immediate disadvantage if their supplies run low. The Medic sat in an armchair and quietly listened to the clangs of the tireless Engineer down below, and enjoyed the smell of an expensive cigarette. He slowly came to when he realized that he was not smoking.

He threw open a desk shelf, loaded the pistol inside, and pointed wildly.

"I know you are here."

Silence. The wind rattled against the closed windows, and the shadows cast by the dim lighting mocked his paranoia. His heart's wild pounding seemed to shake the room.

"Your cloak does not eliminate smell, dummkopf!" Medic chided. A muffled groan sounded from behind him, prompting the Medic to fire.

"I thought so," said a voice to his right before the ringing subsided. The Medic fired, and again did not hit anything of interest.

"I asked the company if it did, but who are they to indulge a mere mercenary?"

The Medic fired again, every miss worsening his panic.

"I suppose it is foolish to ask why you are here, Spy," said Medic, leaning against a bookshelf. He sighed heavily. "But to deliberately disobey ceasefire regulations? Even if you are successful in ridding RED of its one doctor, both companies will want your head," he said darkly.

"I'm aware," said the invisible man, then added jovially, "But I am not here as an assassin. Non, I am here to congratulate you." The Medic heard the man take a drag from his cigarette, which was either deliberately loud, or disturbingly close. To elaborate on which, the intruder's breath warmed the doctor's ear as he continued.

"On your new teammates. I like them; they are so young and impressionable. And naive. Do they know that a spy exists in BLU yet?" The Medic stopped his breathing as an unseen cold metal slid it's broad side against his neck. As it just barely broke the skin, the air betrayed a shimmering outline of the Spy, who quickly pulled back as the doctor swung his pistol against his arm, prolonging the shimmer. He quickly followed up and shot at the receding silhouette, which left no splatter as a parting gift so he assumed a miss.

"Pardon, docteur. I must not know my own strength." Medic exhaled sharply and glared in all directions, much to the audible amusement of the intruder.

"Regardless, I will not be the observer tomorrow as I had been today. I can't wait to see who you introduce to me first..."

Medic moved to block the door, only to see the window open and shut from opposite the room. His chest tightened as he stood there, waiting for the smell to dissipate and his nerves to calm. He shoved the pistol back into the drawer. The doctor was almost annoyed that the Spy had not killed him, and had even apologized at that pathetic nick at the throat. They were on opposite teams, ceasefire or no. This courtesy was entirely foreign to him. He slept fitfully.

The next day's battle was expectantly more interesting now that BLU registered their new targets. Engineer, having lingered a bit longer than before at the base, returned and built his sentry again. Under the hail of rockets and bombs, he explained to the Medic the purpose of the hunk of whirling metal at his feet. Thinking the Engineer utterly insane, the doctor simply nodded and accompanied the Soldier in his effort to push BLU back even further from the outpost. Teleporters? Medic immediately put the man's checkup as high priority.

The sentry stood on the roof of a high building within sight of the BLU gates. As the Scout ambushed a pair of BLU Demomen intent on destroying the sentry, the Engineer left it for a moment to gather more metal. He stopped and ran back to it as a rattle and hiss replaced the sound of fire. Scout was already there, staring at the malfunctioning gun confusedly.

"Yo hardhat, why's your stuff glitchin'?"

"Not sure, boy, but this thing is probably doing it... whatever the hell it is," he said, pulling a tangle of wire and battery from the gun. He heard a scoff from behind.

"A sapper, mon ami."

. . . . . . . . .

BLU Demomen charged at RED, not caring to hide their unnerving howls. Alarmed at the absence of sentry gun cover fire, Soldier and Medic shoved Scout out of the way and faced the charge themselves. As the Scout stumbled away from the imminent collision, his skull throbbed from a sudden onslaught of light and noise. He looked back to find the source of the eerie crackling that tickled his ears, and squinted at the blinding scarlet light emanating from his teammates' bodies. As Soldier emptied his rocket launcher at the swearing BLU, Medic yelled for Scout to find the Engineer.

The Scout, finished with alternating between awe and horror at the ubered pair, ran back to the sentry's building. When he reached the door, the carnage behind him stopped. Soldier stood sentinel while the doctor retreated past Scout for additional supplies behind their lines. The boy flew up the dark, angular staircase and took a shortcut to the roof. "Shit, Engie, why'd you bail on us when we needed y-"

Scout was on the roof now, looking over Engineer's wasted body. His shock extended for many precious seconds. His eyes grew wider and his mouth trembled because he wanted to swear; he wanted to swear more in the next minute than he would ever again, but he could not make a sound. He threw himself to his knees and felt the man's neck for a pulse with trembling fingers. At a loss with where a pulse would even be found, he pressed everywhere and heightened his hysteria. He shuddered as the warm blood seeped into the bandages wrapped over his own hands and ran down his forearms. His heartbeat exploded and he jumped at a sudden voice.

"I'm sorry."

He turned to see the RED Medic frowning at the body and shaking his head. Scout moved his mouth again, and to his intense frustration, he still could not produce sound. He gripped his cap tightly and kept trying. "D...doc, he's dead. He's dead, doc. Engie, he-he's dead..." The boy continued to mumble incoherently as the doctor gripped his shoulder gently. "It happens, boy, it happens." "No no no, doc, that don't happen to Engie. He just got here, that bastard just got here." "I know, I know." "Who does he think he is, doc? Dyin' from a fucking-, what is that? A knife s-stab? What kind of sh-shitty death is that? An' it's in the back, too," Scout rambled.

"Unfair, I know, Scout."

"Some fucker actually fucking backstabbed him. But how the hell, man? All o' the BLU are over th-"

The RED Medic smiled warmly as Scout stopped speaking and slowly slipped his shoulder from under the Medic's hand. "Doc...y-you came out of the supply building right as the sentry stopped beepin'." The doctor cocked his head confusedly as the Scout stepped back, bumping his feet against stray sentry parts.

"An...and now you're here jus' as I turn up... you gone traitor on us, doc, that it?" Scout picked his bat off of the floor and gripped it until the bandages strained. He was then aware of the entire battlefield, as if this truth freed his mind from linear thought. Soldier was retreating behind him, and what sounded like the enemy Soldier-Medic pair pushing into the area. And lastly, their own Medic was screaming obscenities at their Soldier for rushing without him when he had pulled back for supplies. Scout frowned and peered down in time to see the RED Medic run past the building, cast a stray glance up at him as well, and another of shock at his own doppelganger. In a moment that Scout promised to tell his seven brothers back home multiple times, he ducked, elbowed a lunging knife out of a gloved hand (not red as before, but black, he would tell them), and swung his bat as far into the attacker's chest as his adrenaline pumped arms would allow. The crunch of metal on flesh and bone was heard even by the bellowing Soldiers.

"Yo, that was SICK. Are your ribs always that loud, ya fuckin dingbat?" Scout yelled, his voice cracked but menacing. "And what the hell is this crap?" He picked up a paper mask from the floor. On it was a portrait of the RED Medic. He threw behind him and approached the man keeled over. He swung his leg to kick the BLU, who promptly caught his ankle and twisted until the Scout fell to the floor. They both returned to their feet, one grinning widely and the other clenching his teeth.

"Mon Dieu, non, that was the-", he paused to spit the blood pooling in his mouth, "-the loudest thus far," he said, making an extravagant display of his awe at the fact. The Scout didn't care to register the compliment.

"Why the fuck are you prancin' around with that stupid mask on, huh, stupid?" Scout knocked his bat against the roof threateningly and circled the man, whose grin became so sickeningly wide that he was forced to laugh out his joy.

"Now what the shit is so goddamn funny?" Scout said, his voice trembling out of fear and anxiety and rage and a thousand other things. The man adjusted his suit, bending only slightly in spite of what Scout hoped to be massive internal bleeding. "I was not expecting an audience with you so soon, but-" he paused again to spit, "- spies cannot be choosers."

"You're a spy?"Scout screwed up his face as if he had smelled his own socks after a mission. "Oui," the Spy said curtly. He frowned as he gripped the front of his bloodied suit. The Scout's breathing quickened. "Y-you killed Engie." "I am not stupid. I sapped his sentry and THEN killed 'im." As the Spy slipped a hand inside his jacket, an explosion rippled through the air and the RED Soldier landed between the two on the building.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS TEA PARTY, LADIES. YOU ARE THE ONLY BLU MAGGOT DENYING OUR VICTORY." He made to fire a rocket but was shoved roughly aside by Scout, who lunged at the Spy himself and in complete disregard of the revolver that emerged from the man's jacket and pointed at his chest. The knockback from the shot did nothing to the Spy's advantage because the Scout paused only briefly before leaping over the man and disconnecting his skull from the spine. The crack made even the Soldier shudder, however joyously. It was swiftly multiplied as canyon speakers projected the declaration of victory for RED.

He curbed it, however, before approaching the Scout, who immediately felt the penalty of his skirmish. Blood spilled through his shirt and down his legs. He felt rough hands on his shoulders and voices in his ears but paid them no heed as his knees buckled under his own weight.

Chapter Five

"Ah, jeez."

The RED Medic stopped organizing his tools and looked back at the Scout wearily. "Even the second the anesthetic wears off, your tongue does not rest. Calm yourself, we are in our base and away from ."

The Scout attempted multiple times to rise from his bed, with each attempt was met with a downward shove from Medic.

"But doc, where...where is he?"

"He?"

"Y...y'know..." His voice was soft and low, as if a higher pitch would upset himself. He avoided Medic's grey eyes. "Engie. What are we gonna do about Engie?" Medic straightened his glasses and resumed wiping his tools.

"Picked up, obviously." "What? By what?" "The Respawn, of course."

"What?"

Medic's eyes widened. He slowly turned back to his confused patient.

"Scout," he started uneasily, "did you happen to skip or skim over any part of your terms of agreement when you applied to RED?" He said this all slowly, as if to prolong the inevitable answer.

"Oh, that fat book they gave me after my interview? What's that gotta do wi-"

"Answer me."

"Pft, I don't need no manual to fight. Course I didn't read it, who does?"

A small scalpel made a series of fine clinks as it fell out of Medic's hands and met with the floor. He began to speak before the door to the infirmary creaked open and a second voice interrupted.

"Howdy, Scout! How you feeli-?"

Ach, nein, nein, nein, the Medic thought. He pushed the Engineer out as Scout bleated a hoarse cry and leapt out of bed, dragging his white covers with him to floor. The Medic hauled him back in and, deaf to the boy's indignant insults and furious questions, hastily snapped leather restraints across his ankles and wrists. After sedating him and tightening the restraints a second time, he stepped outside to a puzzled Engineer.

"Solly told me what the boy did. Thought I'd come over and congratulate him myself-"

"Nein, Herr Engineer, this is no time for that." Medic groaned audibly and rubbed his temple for a moment."He had not read his papers," he said softly. "The terms of agreement."

"Well that's a shame, but what does that have to do w-"

"He thinks you are dead, Herr Engineer."

Engineer's realization crept rather markedly onto his features. As the doctor walked away, he called after him, "We can just explain the system to him. He'll still stay, right, doc?" He looked on as the doctor waved away his questions and rounded a corner.

When the sedative wore off, Medic and Soldier came to the still restrained Scout and explained first, and with great detail, the monumental level of stupidity required for him to not read his own contract, and second, what was arguably the most important information in it: Respawn. Medic would never have thought that explaining the existence of a technology that would prevent death indefinitely would give him a bloodied nose. After sedating the boy again for throwing what was possibly the most violent fit the Medic had seen in his entire career, they left. Engineer was told that infirmary visits were out of the question.

Medic returned to his room. Night had fallen without his notice, and with a glance at the half lit clock, he counted four hours since the end of the day's mission. He closed the door and went to stand by a window. He was a rational man. He was a doctor, and a field medic at that. It was never the right time to stop working, or delay sleep that would compromise work. It was a rule he had imposed upon himself. Yet there he stood at his window and simply looked at the cratered moon. Cratered, barren, and probably filthy, he thought. He rubbed his neck with a bare hand. He felt a thin string around his neck. He had not given thought to the capsule since its allure was broken by the new arrivals.

Between the dull clangs in Engineer's workshop, he heard a soft shuffle. It could've been a rat. Regardless, his back found a wall. As his shirt grazed the peeling surface, a mournful sigh filled the room.

"Je suis désolé, monsieur. I did not mean to disturb you yet."

Medic turned toward the familiarly mocking voice with building panic, but not without a certain reassurance. Pondering over the nature of the last visit in the day's idle periods produced an unmistakable answer. His newfound knowledge, however, did little for the tremble in his voice.

"I know why you come here."

"Oui? Humor me, doctor."

"You come alone and when I am alone. You are the newest mercenary in the company; I am its first. If you are not simply playing with your meal, then this must all be a wonderful setup for an elaborate negotiation. Now hurry up and name your terms so I may refuse them."

This was followed by a brief silence, followed by a rising crescendo of poorly suppressed chuckles. Soon, the invisible man did not even bother to hide his raucous laughter.

"Bravo, doctor, très créatif! Still, that is not my intention. Not today."

The doctor heard a small click and a long inhale before cigarette smoke wafted through the room. He wondered how long the man had to wait before smoking to keep his cover, only to blow it with clumsy footing. The doctor would've wanted a smoke or three after that as well. Truthfully, he wouldn't have minded one in his own skin either.

"I feel that your team may benefit from a performance report, non? Surely you must know from the opponent's eye how fragile your young friends proved to be."

Medic's face must have done a beautiful job of conveying his indignation. He heard the invisible man take another drag before the infuriatingly calm voice continued.

"Make yourself comfortable, doctor, you are so tense."

"I will do what suits me, Eindringling. Now say whatever you wanted to say to me and leave." He had no power in his position, but to hell with whoever thought he would submit like a dog. Another long drag and the amused, disembodied voice continued.

"I suppose I should start with L'ingén-"

He fell silent. The Medic heard it too - footsteps in the hallway and soon after, a tentative knock on the door. Awaiting a split back for every second after he parted from the wall, Medic rushed to open the door to a bleary eyed Engineer.

"Ah dang it, thought I heard you talkin' to someone, and well, Soldier's asleep so I figured the boy must've calmed d.. ah, sorry doc." He tipped his helmet and shuffled off. Medic watched him go, almost disgusted at how close two strangers had apparently become over an insignificant train ride, but no less intrigued.

"Engineer," he called. The stocky man peered back.

"You must forgive me for doubting you twice. Scout would not have survived without the teleporter." Medic said. The Engineer grinned, his tired eyes still half lidded. "Much obliged," he said softly.

"Do your team an added favor, Herr Engineer."

The Engineer raised his eyebrows and listened.

"Watch your back. Also, ask the Soldier for a spare shotgun in the morning. I will not clear you for battle if it is not consistently in your possession." The doctor waited until the Engineer nodded in agreement and left before Medic reluctantly stepped back into his room and locked the door again. He turned around and his whole body jerked in shock.

The suit made fine creases at the elbow with each slow clap, and strips of light ran across a blue balaclava as the face behind it looked at him with an expression as calm and casual as the oily voice it possessed. A low 'ahem' and suit readjustment later, the man sat straighter in the doctor's armchair and raised his arms theatrically. "Monsieur, but you are putting me out of business with this 'watch your back' nonsense." The Spy then laid them on the chair's armrests and slipped a cigarette case from his jacket. "Do you smoke, doctor?"

His eyes may have lingered on the case a bit longer than it took to object.

"Oui, not today. Now, that-", he said, putting the case away, " leaves the bunny." The cigarette tip glowed. "Although I may as well include all of RED. " Medic waited as he took another unnerving drag.

"Charging into foreign policy without settling domestic disputes is very... dangerous, doctor."

The Spy propped his head up in the chair and raised his eyes in thought. "Who knows? Maybe RED will whip him into shape. And maybe," he added, "I can provide added encouragement."

"I doubt aid from a treacherous schweinhund is of any value."

"Mon Dieu, doctor, I do not rise to bait."

"You should. Then perhaps you will cease tirelessly dragging out my death."

"I 'ave told you before, I do not mean to k-"

"You have with you a revolver and a knife. I am unarmed because spare ammunition has been melted down to serve the Engineer's purposes. The pistol rounds I wasted on your shadow were the last."

"S'il vous plaît, doctor. If it bothers you this much, then next time I will-"

Spy stopped abruptly. His brow furrowed and, with what Medic thought was almost convincing concern in his tone, asked him if he wasn't feeling well.

The doctor scoffed and, while choosing only the most insulting retort, realized where the Spy was looking. The Medic glanced down at his own shirt collar and gathered from his white knuckles and creased folds that he was clutching it fiercely. From inside the shirt, he also glimpsed the tantalizing outline of a little white capsule that held the little blue pill. Just one bite, he realized, and these unnerving interrogations, these traitorous conversations, would be over.

Spy disappeared. The window creaked open of its own accord and the night was still again. The doctor grabbed the clock off the wall and hurled it through the window before closing it at the eruption of pained groans and foul French. He ripped the capsule from his neck and threw it blindly before collapsing into bed, remembering the BLU Spy's last words and thinking that it will snow in Dustbowl before he will allow a "next time".

Chapter Six

Engineer, having spent half a night laboring over various undisclosed projects, slept soundly until noon. Upon waking up, he regarded the sun's position in the sky with mute shock. He dressed as quickly as if he had missed ten missions, flew out of the room and crashed into someone just outside.

"Sorry, partner, thought I was the last one h-"

"Engie?"

Engineer froze at the small voice, and stopped rubbing his eyes to see it's owner. He cleared his throat awkwardly and lifted his goggles. He thought they distorted his perception, but no, the boy was just as sickeningly pale.

"Shouldn't you be in the infirmary, boy?" he started, but his voice trailed as Scout's face fixed itself into a disgusted scowl.

"I don't gotta be nowhere," Scout said darkly, "You don't tell me where to go, ya clone."

"Scout, what are you sayin'? Respawn ain't a clonin' machine, and I'm still-"

"Don't talk to me, you fake, don't fucking talk to me," Scout said and backed away. His knuckles were white, and he struggled to control his trembling lip. "I ain't gonna die like Engie did and have some...some clone prance around pretendin' to be me," Scout said, with his voice regressing to a cracked whisper, and his face twisted into a mess of fear and pain and disgust, and as Engineer opened his mouth incredulously, he understood that the boy had escaped the infirmary. Scout swore again and ran.

Engineer followed him down the same hallway which led to the mess hall. The attacks were ludicrous and unfounded but left Engineer more surprised at his own reaction than at its cause. He shouldn't be worked up by that boy; it wasn't practical. He soon learned from Medic that they were free to rest for the day while RED's new outpost began preliminary renovation. He also heard that Scout had left his bed sometime in the night and was not seen since. His teammates' reactions were not entirely alluring:

"A deserter is another word for traitor, which is commonly interchangeable with maggot."

"Dummkopf should have read the job description."

The Soldier was eternally in his own basement room; it was a room flanked by large closets containing what little metal, ammunition, and spare shovels they still had. There was no hope for whoever disturbed him there. As for Medic, Engineer would struggle to find anyone nearly as unpredictable and distant as he.

It was not his business. The boy would come to in due time. He would not get involved. He thought this rather intensely until his trembling hands refused to cooperate in light of his absurd need to find the boy.

The longer his shadow extended behind him, the more frantic Engineer became. He only had several lazy minutes of twilight left after hours of turning the entire base on its head in his search. Convinced that Scout was not in the main building, he had come outside to search the surrounding buildings. A two story timber shack near the edge of the base looked to him like a great place to stow away, but upon inspection, he found that no human had breathed the air inside in what must have been years. He shuffled past discarded papers and charts littering the floor and stood outside, looking at the menacingly crimson sun as it bled into the horizon. And then, seemingly out of nowhere at all, came a muffled cough.

"Scout?" The Engineer turned expectantly in all directions but could not find the source until he looked up.

"How'd ya manage to get on the roof?"

"Why the hell should you care?"

The Engineer motioned for him to come down. "Well, I did comb through the entire base lookin' for ya. Come on back, boy, you're sick as a dog." He stepped back for a better view. Scout turned his head away from his pursuer and lay limply on his back.

"I ain't bein' drugged by that creeper again, pal. Never again. An' I ain't about to follow a...a damn clone." At the slow drawl, the last of the glaring red light spilled past the horizon and snatched Engineer's patience as a parting gift.

"You keep this up and your death'll be no more honorable than mine."

Scout remained silent. Engineer appealed to reason a few more times until the ensuing silence escorted him back to his workshop. The place was darker for want of moonlight, but one lit lamp was ample enough. Engineer hoped that his last words hadn't skipped past Scout's consideration altogether:

"I got something in my workshop that might patch you up. No doc.